Sick.

It is almost 9:30am, and I have already been up for 6 hours. That's right, I have been up since 3:30am. That is when Kadance started throwing up.

One of the most amazing things about being a mother, in my opinion, is the ability to hear your child in the middle of the night, no matter how deeply you are sleeping, and no matter how quiet they are. Last night, at about 3:30am, I woke up to Kadance quietly calling "Mommy........Mommy........Mommy". So I got out of bed and went to her room to see what was the matter. She was standing in the middle of their dark room, and wanted to come out. I told her no, she had to go back to bed, because it was still night time. She kept saying no, she didn't want to go back to bed. I finally got her into bed, and as I was lying her down, I felt yucky wetness on her pillow. Uh oh. I turned on their light, which of course woke the boys up, and sure enough, there was puke on her pillow, and on her sheets. So I changed her sheets, got her a new pillow, and got her and the boys back to bed. I was *hoping* it was just a fluke thing, and she coughed and gagged or something, and wasn't really sick.

Unfortunately, I no sooner finished rinsing out her sheets and crawled back into bed, and I heard it - she was throwing up again. I jumped up and raced into her room with a bucket. But I was too late. She had already puked all over her new sheets, pj's, and in her hair. So I stripped her bed again, stripped her, and got her in the bath. Gairod got the boys back into bed, again, and I set up a bed on the couch for Kadance. There I sat for the next 4 hours, holding a bucket for her every time she threw up.

It has now been about 2 hours since she last threw up. She has eaten a piece of toast, and she *says* she is feeling better, but she still looks sick. I don't think it is over yet, but at least it is slowing down.

One of the things I DON'T like about having so many kids, is that it is very rare for just ONE kid to get sick. So as soon as one does, I am on guard, watching and waiting, to see who is going to be next.

Not enough hours!!

I have decided there are just not enough hours in the day. Actually, there are not enough hours in the evening, when the kids are in bed!

I have so many things that I want to do, but I can't seem to find the time to do even a fraction of them!

The triplets go to bed at 7pm. I usually try to go to bed at 10 or 10:30pm. So that leaves me 3 hours in the evening (as long as Sage isn't being fussy), to get everything done that I NEED to do (dishes, finish laundry, Jade lunch made, Sage bathed, Sage fed, cleaning), and try to fit in a few things that I WANT to do.

I want to clean/organize the house. Since it is almost impossible for me to clean or organize anything during the day, when the kids are around, the only real time I have to do this is after they are asleep. I struggle big time trying to keep up with the basic cleaning, let alone doing any deep cleaning and organizing!

I want to scrapbook. I really like scrapbooking, and every day that goes by, I am getting further and further behind! Part of the problem is that I have no where to keep my stuff set up, so it takes so much time to get everything out and set up, that I end up with hardly any time left to actually scrapbook!

I want to exercise. Until we get the basement done, and I can get a treadmill in there, I have thought about doing Wii Fit. But when am I going to do it? I can't do it during the day, the triplets would be ALL over it! lol! So the only time is in the evening.

I want to watch TV. I don't watch THAT much TV, but I do have certain shows that I watch every week, and I don't like to miss them. Since most of them are on while the kids are still awake or I am trying to get them to bed, or on Tuesdays when I grocery shop, or Thursdays when Jade has gymnastics, I end up having to tape most of them. Then I am always playing catch up, trying to find the time to watch the shows I have taped!

I want to spend time on the computer. Obviously I like to blog, and I also like to spend time on Facebook, and a few boards on Babycenter. I spend a bit of time on the computer during the day, but certain things like blogging, are easier to do when the kids are in bed, and I can actually concentrate on what I am typing! lol!

I want to spend time with Gairod. Gairod is my husband, and I love him. He leaves for work VERY early in the morning, and usually doesn't get home until at least 7pm. There are always things that happen during the day that I want to talk to him about, he wants to talk to me about his day, and we want to spend time together in general, to stay connected!

I am finding it impossible to do all these things every night, or even every few nights. For example, tonight, I did the dishes/cleaned up the kitchen, got Jade's lunch ready, bathed Sage, fed her while I watched part of a taped show, put her to bed, folded a basket of laundry while I watched the rest of the show, and typed this blog. It is now 9:45pm, and I am tired, and thinking about getting washed up and going to bed. I didn't get ANY of my daily cleaning done. I have a busy day tomorrow, and I will be out all evening tomorrow too, so I won't get anything done then either.

I need to figure out some way to get more done!

6 weeks old!

Sage is 6 weeks old today! I can't believe how fast time is flying by! My doctor is away this week, so both of our 6 week check-ups are going to be next week, at 7 weeks.

Sage is doing well. She still has a bit of a cough from her cold, but other than that she is doing fine! She is sleeping well at night for the most part. Last night she went for 6 1/2 hours, and the night before she went for 7!! Sometimes she will only go for 3 or 4 hours though.

I pumped and froze some breast milk for the first time this morning. Well, the first time with THIS baby, since I exclusively pumped for 3 1/2 months with the triplets! I don't plan on giving Sage a bottle anytime soon, but I figured it would be a good idea to have some milk in the freezer "just in case".

Sage is growing. She is not a little newborn baby anymore. She is starting to grow out of some of her newborn, and 0-3 month clothes, and is now wearing some of her 3-6 month outfits.

Sage is starting to be a bit happier when she is awake. She really likes to move, so is happiest if someone is holding and walking or bouncing her, or if she is in her swing. Thank goodness we got a swing! I have never had a swing for ANY of my other babies, but Sage spends A LOT of time in hers - in fact, she is happily napping in it while I type this!

What the heck?!

For some reason the last few days I have had a major urge to clean, organize and de-clutter my entire house! Unfortunately, the frustrating part, is that I DO NOT have the time to do it! lol!

I don't know WHY I all of a sudden have all this motivation, but it is great! :)

Our house is so small, and full of stuff, that I am constantly trying to re-organize, get rid of stuff, and make better use of what little space we have.

Yesterday I was working on our front entrance. They are FINALLY done our road, so we can park in front of our house again, and use our front door! YAY!

I reorganized and cleaned out our jackets, and hats/mitts. Only having one small closet for 7 peoples worth of jackets, shoes, snow pants, hats and mitts, definitely makes it tricky to keep it clean and organized!

Update on my sister.

I have been meaning to update on my sister for a while now, but honestly I just didn't even know where to start. Especially since every time I talk to my mom, which is every couple of days, there is some new drama going on!

Things are not getting better with my sister, in fact they are getting much worse. In September, my sister decided to go back to work, since she was out of money. She had apparently saved up ten thousand dollars while she was pregnant, and has spent it all. On what, I am not sure. So she went back to her job as a waitress at Boston Pizza, working evenings and weekends. So guess who is babysitting Lily? If you guessed my mom, you are right! So now my mom is working full time all day, and coming home and looking after Lily almost every night. Half the time my sister doesn't even come home until 3 or 4 in the morning. The restaurant is NOT open that late, so what she is doing, who knows.

My parents have tried talking to her, but she doesn't listen to anything they say. All she does is yell and fight with them. They want to kick her out so badly, but they are terrified of what would happen to Lily. My sister basically neglects Lily. She is out all night, so what do you think she does all day? She sleeps. And while she sleeps, she leaves Lily in her crib, crying. Lily is 8 months old. She needs interaction, she doesn't need to be stuck in the house with a mom who sleeps all day, and ignores her.

My sister is still sleeping with the Loser, and keeps bringing random people over to my parents house. My mom said she doesn't even feel comfortable in her own home, because she never knows who is going to be there when she wakes up.

My mom is so stressed out, this is seriously killing her. She is physically exhausted from working full time and taking care of Lily all the rest of the time, and she is mentally and emotionally exhausted from all the shit my sister puts her through. It is seriously non-stop drama, and I can't even get into it all, or I would be typing all night!

I keep telling my mom she needs to call social services, and see what they say. She NEEDS to figure out a way to get Lily away from my sister, and kick my sister to the curb. That may sound harsh, but it is what she needs. She will not listen to reason, and just keeps digging herself deeper into a hole. She does NOT need to be dragging Lily, and my mom, down with her.

My mom found pot in her room, and like I said, she is going through money like crazy, so who knows what other drugs she is doing.

She is neglecting Lily, and it sickens me.

Uh Oh......

It's happening again. That uncontrollable feeling of wanting another baby. Sage isn't even 6 weeks old yet, and it's back!

Right after having Sage I felt content. I was happy with our family size, happy with the gender mix up, happy with everything. I felt done. Now all of a sudden I am getting that urge again, to have just one more baby.

Maybe it's because I feel very content and happy right now. Everything seems to be running very smoothly, and I feel very in control. I don't feel overwhelmed or stressed, so in the back of my mind I think "I could handle one more!"

I need to get rid of this urge, because I KNOW Gairod would NEVER agree to another baby. It took a lot of convincing to get him to agree to #5, and one of our terms were that that would be it, NO more.

I think I have a problem. I think I'm addicted to being pregnant and having babies!

Will I EVER really feel done? Maybe I am just scared to move on to the next phase of life? If I had one more baby, would I again want one more after that?

I don't know, but I need to somehow get rid of these feeling!

Cole's Speech

You may remember, a while back I talked about being concerned about Cole's speech. I filled out a form, and got him on a waiting list for an evaluation. On Tuesday, Cole finally had his speech evaluation.

I dropped Kadance and Hayden off at my cousins house, since we weren't supposed to bring any siblings. Obviously Sage had to come with me, but she just slept and ate. lol! It was quite a long appointment, about 1 1/2 hours. That is LONG time for a 2-year-old to concentrate, and do what is asked of him!

She started out with comprehension, which I was quite sure he didn't have a problem with. I was right. She had a bunch of pages of pictures, and she would ask him to point at certain objects (apple, shoe, etc.), and situations (raining, eating, etc.). She said she would go through them until he got 5 wrong, and then that would be the level that he is at. She got up to the 4-year-old level, and decided to stop, since he still hadn't gotten 5 wrong! Definitely NOTHING wrong with his comprehension!!

Then she moved on to the Language test. He did okay on the language part, but she said at his age it is hard to tell, because if he has speech problems, it can be hard to know where he actually is language wise. Does that make sense? For example, she she pointed to a picture of 2 babies, and asked him "what are those?" Cole said "Baby". So does he understand that there are 2 babies, and just can't say the "s"? Or does he not understand the concept of plurals?`

When she got to the speech part, that is where we really saw his problems. She had a bunch of objects and flashcards, and would ask him to say the name of the object/picture (for example: A picture of a flower "can you say flower?", and Cole would try to say "flower") He replaces a lot of sounds with other sounds, and omits a lot of sounds. She didn't score that test while we were there, because it would have taken too long, but the official results will be in the report they send us. She said that he is moderately delayed in speech.

So Gairod and I have to go to two parent classes, to learn some things to work on at home. Then after 5 weeks of working at home, I have to call her and go back in. Then we will see if there is improvement, and if we need to do speech therapy.

I am kind of frustrated/disappointed. We had to wait a few months to get him evaluated, we finally find out that he IS delayed, and now we have to wait even longer to actually get him some help!! They only have these classes a few times a month, and Gairod is working long hours right now, so we won't even be able to go until the end of the month. Then we have to wait 5 weeks AFTER that to go back in!

So I guess we just wait, and hope he doesn't get even MORE delayed in the meantime!

5 weeks (and 1 day) old!

I was going to do this update yesterday, but I got busy, and ran out of time!

Sage is 5 weeks old. All of a sudden she seems bigger, and doesn't seem to have that tiny little newborn body anymore. She is still wearing 0-3 month clothes, but she just seems bigger for some reason! lol!

Sage still has a bit of a cold. It is mostly in her chest now, and she has a nasty little cough, but she is eating much better, and seems to be feeling better.

Sage definitely seems to be getting into more of a regular routine as far as eating is concerned. She likes to eat about every 2 - 3 hours during the day, and she has been pretty consistently going for a 5 - 6 1/2 hour stretch in the evening/night. The only problem is she likes to have her last feed at around 7:30pm, so I am not getting to sleep for her long stretch, as I don't usually go to bed until around 10 - 10:30pm. I have tried waking her up to eat before I go to bed, but it doesn't work, she is just too sleepy. I have also tried holding her off, and not feeding her until sometime between 8pm and 9pm, but she doesn't go right to sleep after this feed, and is somewhat fussy, so then I end up being up until 11pm or later, trying to get her to settle and go to sleep. So I am not sure. I would like it if she would eat a bit later than 7:30pm, but only if she would go right to sleep after! lol! She still sleeps for most of the day, but when she is awake, she is more alert, and smiles more! :)

Long "Overdue"

Yesterday I got a library membership. I know most of you are probably thinking "So what? That's no big deal!" But in this house, it is! lol!

Poor Jade has been asking to go to the town library for well over a YEAR! When I was a kid, we ALWAYS went to the library, like at least once a week. I LOVED to read, and devoured books! When Jade was younger, we had so many books at home, that I didn't see the need to go to the library. But since Jade learned how to read, she has been asking to go to the library.

Jade reminds me of myself. She has a passion for reading, and is VERY good at it. They have library at school, so she gets books there, but like I said, she has been asking to go to the town library, and we just haven't made it there yet. I was planning on taking her in the summer, but we really didn't end up doing much of anything over the summer. Plus, with the triplets, it has been hard to find the time to go. There is no way their stroller would have fit in the library (it is a very small building), and now that they don't need their stroller I am still scared to take them in, because of the fact that they would probably destroy the place! Think about it - three 2-year-olds, in a building full of paper books, all at their level?? I can just imagine the destruction that would happen in a very short amount of time!!

The other day, Jade's class took a field trip to the town library. They are having a reading contest, and Jade REALLY wanted to participate in it. So yesterday, after school, while Gairod was at home with the other kids, I took Jade to the library and we got a membership! :)

Seeing the delight in her face when we pulled into the parking lot almost made me cry! I SHOULD have done this a LONG time ago :( But we can't go back now, so all we can do is go forward! I am going to try and take Jade to the library once a week, and eventually I will get up the courage to take the triplets too!

Halloween Continued!

Halloween morning I dressed the kids up in their costumes and took pictures (see previous post!). I figured that would be better then trying to get pictures before we go trick-or-treating, when everyone would be bundled up, hot, and I would be rushed.

Then Gairod and the kids cleaned out the pumpkin (I was feeding Sage, and taking pictures! lol). This was the first year that the triplets were actually old enough to understand the concept of Halloween, and were excited to participate in all the activities!!

Cole trying to take the top off the pumpkin - BEFORE it was cut! lol!

Hayden intently watching Gairod cut the pumpkin!
I love the look of disgust on Hayden's face! lol!

Again, Hayden looks disgusted, but he really did enjoy it!

After our pumpkin was cleaned out, we went to Kody and Kim's house for our annual "Pumpkin Carving Party". Gairod carved our pumpkin, Jade cleaned out and carved another pumpkin - all by herself, Sage slept in her wrap the whole time, and the triplets ran around and ate WAY to many cookies, jello, cupcakes, candy, and other assorted treats! lol!

Jade cleaning out her pumpkin!
Jade's pumpkin that she did ALL by herself!

Gairod's pumpkin (it's Pablo!)
Our family of mini pumpkins!

After the party, we came home, and the kids had quiet time (Hayden fell asleep). Then we had supper, got the kids dressed up, and headed out trick-or-treating! This was the first year that the triplets actually trick-or-treated. We have taken them out every other year, but they have always just stayed in their stroller, while Jade trick-or-treated. It was SO cute watching them all run up to the houses, and yell "trick-or-treat!" We trick-or-treated for 2 whole hours!! They got WAY too much candy, and EVERYONE was exhausted when we got home! All in all, it was a GREAT Halloween!! :)

All the kids trick-or-treating!