multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2760. starting the day off in the pool swimming laps {not so hard on the knees and hips}
2761. crafting success following a failed attempt
2762. the excitement and joy of cousins being reunited
2763. thrifting with my niece and sister-in-law
2764. getting into bed after a long day :: good and tired
2765. compliments from strangers
2766. morning in Buffalo with my mom and the little girls
2767. inspiration
2768. celebrating a friends 40th
2769. safe travels for a friend {now praying she gets home as smoothly and safely in a couple weeks}
2770. creating
2771. beautiful fall days
2772. the delicious dinner for 13 Kirb made the other night
2773. nap time
2774. the thrift store
2775. our church
2776. long, warm showers
2777. an extra hour {theoretically to be spent sleeping, but that doesn't usually work out so well when young kids are in the house -- but I'll take the extra hour, even if I can't enjoy any extra sleep}

Alrighty, that's it's for this week. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2685. 2 years of life for Sara
2686. a good nights sleep for all 6 kiddos
2687. easier nights for Rebekah
2688. the amazing blue of the late-afternoon sky
2689. good swim practice for Joe
2690. pink cups at Dunn Bros.
2691. football players in pink socks ::

2692. double coupon day at the gas station :: $6.25 saved
2693. Joe's new glasses ::

2694. clean laundry
2695. the library
2696. Sara's mispronunciations that I love
2697. a little bit of rain for the thirsty ground
2698. protection on the football field
2699. looking forward to some company from out of town
2700. a new baby born to a friend on 10.11.12 :: how fun is that?
2701. lots and lots of creating
2702. a good end to Jacob's 8th grade football season ::

2703. an attentive sister and divine protection for Sara when she choked on a pistachio shell while we were in the van :: thank you, God, that Rebekah noticed her choking and for Kirb's lightning quick response and throat sweep that took care of what could have been a completely different situation with a terrible, terrible outcome. Praise God! We are so very thankful!
2704. some much-needed rain
2705. the sound of rain on the roof :: it had been so long, I'd nearly forgotten
2706. enjoying a good movie with my love after the kids were in bed
2707. Jacob's fabulous football coach :: encouraging, positive and kind. Jacob loved him!


Alrighty, that's it's for this week. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2599. the early-morning sound of the paper guy backing out of the driveway
2600. the way Anna calls the newspaper "the news" :: i.e. "The news is here mom."
2601. our annual neighborhood block party/potluck
2602. meeting the newest neighbors {a new couple who moved in down the block and a 10-day old baby from across the street that I hadn't met in person, only in pictures
2603. a visit from Kirby's brother
2604. bike day at preschool
2605. 45 kidless hours to celebrate our anniversary
2606. sleeping in
2607. 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep
2608. 16 years of marriage
2609. watching Jacob's football game :: coffee in hand, Kirb by my side and no kiddos to keep an eye on
2610. shopping at i like you
2611. massage
2612. long-standing, meaningless-to-the-rest-of-the-world traditions between me and Kirbs that make us both smile
2613. dinner at Chatterbox
2614. my sacrificial parents and their willingness to stay with our lively brood!
2615. coming home to our half dozen
2616. transferring birthdays and special dates into my new 2013 calendar {that I almost paid full-price for, but then saw the exact one I wanted in the clearance section for 70% off :: someone had written on about 3 pages of it and then returned it, so it was "used" . . . hey, I've got white-out!}
2617. checking things off "the list" that have been on there for MONTHS
2618. Sara singing Toby Mac
2619. great finds on a trip to Goodwill
2620. re-affirmation that the book is always better than the movie
2621. "Step into Africa" with the 4 bigs. a fabulous experience. SO glad we went!
2622. writing a letter to Melvin
2623. new babies
2624. 5K coming up this weekend for me, Rebekah, Lydia and Joe
2625. "for all your goodness I will keep on singing. ten thousand reasons for my heart to find" :: love it!


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

mutltitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2580. fresh sheets dried on the line
2581. a glorious late-summer day
2582. running with Joe
2583. safety when I got rear-ended {I was pretty shaken up, but neither me nor the vehicle were injured -- although I can't say as much for the car the guy who hit me was driving}
2584. the Sunday morning bird choir
2585. now these 3 remain :: faith, hope and love. but the greatest of these is love.
2586. hope!
2587. prayer
2588. climbing into bed at the end of the day
2589. shared tears
2590. successful transition to a big girl bed for Sara :: I'm AMAZED at how smoothly it went!
2591. re-arranging, cleaning and de-cluttering the girls' room
2592. a good sale on toilet paper right when I needed it!
2593. finished projects :: after months and months of having an idea in your head, it's nice to see it come to fruition
2594. my really, really, really hard-working husband
2595. perfect weather
2596. friends
2597. the fact that my husband loves me -- a fact I am especially thankful for during the times when I'm not very loveable {which, believe it or not, is quite often!}
2598. old pictures

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

multitude monday {yet another two-weeker}

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2429. Joey telling me about his crazy dream
2430. dragonflies all over the place in the evening sky :: so cool
2431. Sara's face covered in chocolate after eating her pudding pop on a 90+ degree day all by herself -- Little Miss Independant
2432. falling asleep again when I had given up on sleeping any more for the night
2433. hanging up beautiful art in our basement hallway :: all done by our kiddos
2434. genuine gratitude from my kids
2435. a great morning of shopping in Buffalo :: great bargains!
2436. being "carded" at Trader Joe's buying beer for Kirb
2437. the boy pushing his mini cart around Trader Joe's belting out "Mighty to Save" without an ounce of concern that someone might not like the fact that he's singing in the grocery store
2438. lemonade stands
2439. kids occupied for hours and hours {see #2438}
2440. a fun baby shower
2441. night out with a friend
2442. dinner at IKEA
2443. IKEA shopping {with a gift card!}
2444. the farmer's market
2445. unexpected, encouraging email from a friend {Hi Katie! . . . thanks, you made my day}
2446. girls enjoying a birthday party at the roller rink
2447. an absolutely perfect weather day
2448. evenings at the park
2449. visit from Mel, Chad & the kids
2450. exciting news
2451. my Grandma's TV debut {she's toward the end, if you watch the clip}
2452. BopBop and Joe taking a bike ride
2453. Rebekah singing with and praying for Sara before she goes to bed :: to hear her pray that Sara would come to know the Lord makes me so joyful, grateful and blessed!
2454. my friend Jodi's little guy, Eli, on the news :: what a brave little man he is!
2455. a cool, beautiful morning run
2456. music and how it touches me so deeply
2457. lots of time to create -- it makes me feel alive and refreshed
2458. apologies, hugs and forgiveness
2459. Joe reading to me from "Farmyard Tales" until I fell asleep
2460. dancing flames and glowing coals
2461. decorating the basement
2462. a family walk
2463. the sounds of the night :: taking time to really listen and hear them all
2464. Sara's laughter
2465. finding videos on my ipod that Anna recorded of herself
2466. beautiful evening walk with my love {and Sara . . . we left the others at home with a movie!}
2467. seeing kids playing tennis in the middle of the street while out on a run {and the fact that I knew the kiddos made it even better}
2468. laughing as a family
2469. my mom :: she is such a blessing in my life!
2470. crafting up a storm and being totally caught up on orders for the first time since May :: that feels good!
2471. Smashburger with Rebekah
2472. "throwing away" Sara's nuks :: bittersweet, my baby is getting so big {unfortunately still not "big" enough to sleep through the night!! honestly babe, let's get that one nailed down already!}

2473. Joey's desire to be baptized
2474. my patient, loving, meal-cooking, dish-washing, kid-putting-to-bedding, hard-working, cute husband


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday {or maybe the one after that} for the next installment.

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on a wonderful, amazing blog that I read each day.

"One Thousand Gifts":

1450. girlfriends
1451. surviving the heat wave {record-breaking heat and broken AC}
1452. Joey -- our family entertainer!
1453. another school year in the books
1454. the wonderful friends that my kids h ave -- what a blessing!
1455. summer
1456. the kindness of a stranger
1457. my village mates {as in "it takes a village} I have so, so many wonderful, top-notch people in my "village" and I am so very thankful for them!
1458. kindergarten graduation
1459. eight months of Sara
1460. being in good company with other teary moms {see #1458}
1461. the beginning of the summer sleepover season {we've already had 3 and school just got out on Friday}
1462. wonderful, wonderful worship and teaching and time spent worshiping with friends at their home church
1463. vacation planning

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

GOOD morning

Sara had a slightly-rougher-than-usual day yesterday. She's not much of a crier, but she was pretty fussy all day {relatively speaking} and was just screaming by evening. So unlike her! The 5 older kids were all in bed and Kirb was holding her and she was clearly bugged by something and wouldn't settle down. Finally I nursed her {AGAIN!} and, although I don't think that particular nursing session had much at all to do with actual hunger or nutrition, it did the trick to calm her down and put her to sleep. We deposited the calm little bundle in her crib sometime between 10 and 11 {after laughing exceptionally hard at the "headlines" on Jay Leno!} and SHE SLEPT UNTIL NEARLY 5:30. Amazing! If you know anything about my babies, this is pretty much unheard of! My kids have never slept through the night until after their first birthday -- at least with regularity, there was a fluke here and there. Anyway, I'm not going to even hope for this to become a pattern at this point, but I sure appreciated the extra-long stretch of sleep last night {well, except for the Anna interruption in my sleep about 2:30 -- curses on full-body zip up pj's and a toddler who can't manage to get them off by herself in the middle of the night when she has to use the potty. Oh well, at least she didn't pee in her bed!}

thankful thursday

Today I am thankful that Anna didn't get up until after 7 . . . you see, her pattern lately had been to get up when the first number on the clock still glowed 5 in the darkness. I did not appreciate this new pattern a bit! Kirb leaves for work just after 5 and though I usually try to get up shortly after 6, I don't get much done when I have a 2-year-old early morning companion. The point of getting up early is to get some stuff done before the kiddos start rollin' out of bed. I tried to convince her it was still nighttime, tried to have her cuddle in bed with me . . . tried a lot of things, but to no avail. Once she got up, she was up and ready to go! Hopefully this 7:15-ish wake-up time will become a pattern and wasn't a fluke!

I am also so very, very thankful lately for my amazing husband who has been picking up a great deal of slack that I've left laying around the house while I crawl under the covers and nap and try to get over this really nasty chest cold I've had for just about 3 weeks now. He's been extra great! I do ok during the day, but by the time he gets home from work I'm usually completely spent and pretty much worthless! Thanks, babe! I'd be in a heap of trouble without you! {And really, if you know him -- and us -- well at all, you already know he does the lion's share of the work around here normally, so these days, he pretty much does it ALL!}

I am thankful, too, for our new school year resolution to have devotions together every night as a family after dinner and read from the Word. Joe isn't quite on board, but the rest of the kids are really excited and into it. I was inspired to really get this underway more regularly and "formally" {although that's not quite the right word} after reading this great, inspiring post on my very favorite of all blogs. Check it out! {then, maybe even give it a try}.

Today, I'm also thankful for the little things. Like the fact that today is picture day and this year I had the option of making ONE online payment . . . which meant I didn't have to write out 4 checks. Sometimes the little things can make a bigger difference than you'd think!

I'm thankful that when I got up at 4:30 this morning, to go to the bathroom in the dark and saw a man walk by my kitchen window and freaked out a tad, that it was just the man delivering the newspaper and not someone with bad intentions, like I immediately suspected it was! {imaginations are in high gear at 4:30 a.m. in a dark house where everyone else is asleep!}

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here.

"One Thousand Gifts":

693. a lady riding an old-school Schwinn on a Sunday morning wearing a really cute skirt
694. overnight rain
695. clean laundry
696. a family day trip
697. these powerful words::

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

698. the sound of teeny little toddler feet running toward her momma
699. kids super excited about rocks700. good friends
701. cleaning, sorting and PURGING!
702. antibiotics
703. the sleep of a REALLY worn out kiddo

Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.

story problem answers . . . and a winner . . . or not!

Here are the answers to Sunday's story problems. {click here if you didn't see the quiz. The answers make more sense if you know what the questions were!} Nice attempts, everyone::

1. 2/3 {we are of the mindset that unborn people are people nonetheless, so -- WHOO HOO -- more bed space for me. At least theoretically.}
2. 1/2, via the same logic as #1:: {4 people in the bed. I "house" 2 of them and thus, get half -- 2/4 -- of the bed.}
3. 17 {ok, try to follow along, this one is tricky::all 5 kids get put to bed initially -- early, at that, because they were all extremely tired and/or extremely crabby! +1::Anna is all weirded out by the change of having the kids home or something and will NOT stay in her bed or keep quiet -- we haven't had this problem since day 2 of "big girl bed" a few weeks ago, so I move her, temporarily, to a pack 'n play in the basement because it is driving her 2 sister/roommates insane. +4::we move the 4 remaining children, who are sleeping, to the basement when the tornado sirens are going off in our neighborhood -- also, someone reported seeing a funnel cloud near the intersection of Snelling & Larpenteur, which is SUPER close to here, although I never heard actual confirmation of that. +4::we move everyone back into their "normal" places for sleeping, except for Jacob who is comfy and says he wants to stay in the basement. +1::Joe decides, later, he would prefer to join us in our bed. +1::Joe is grinding his teeth, which makes his mother come dangerously close to the brink of insanity, and, it is her birthday by this point, after all, so she asks for his relocation to his own bed once again. Her wonderful husband obliges. +1::Jacob returns from the basement where he claims there are scary bugs. He has reasons for not wanted to go upstairs to his own bed and thus chooses the couch instead. 5+1+4 +4+1+1+1=17.}
4. 36

No one got them all right -- Kirb was the closest, but we came up with different answers for #3 and since it's my quiz, my answer is right and his is wrong! Better luck next time, I guess! Thanks for trying everybody!

story problems:: a pop quiz {prize involved!}

Think you are "Smarter than a 5th grader"? Try your hand at these story problems::

1. Shana and Kirby share a bed. They believe that all people, regardless of age, are entitled to the same amount of space in the bed. If this is true, how much of the bed should Shana get?
2. If Joe joins them in bed -- until being removed for teeth grinding -- how much of the bed should Shana get then?
3. How many times, on the night of July 17th/18th did the team of Shana & Kirby {heavy on the "Kirby"} put a child to bed?
4. How old is Shana today {well, technically, not until later this evening . . . but, you know!}? Yup, it's my birthday. Happy birthday to me!
   

Answer all 4 questions correctly and win a prize. If more than 1 of you get 100% on your pop quiz, I'll have to randomly pick one of you to get the prize {nope, I don't know what it is yet}, but just know in your heart that you are all winners! Answers posted later this week, when I'm done with all the stinky post-camp laundry! You have until then to enter. Ready? Go!

my apologies . . .

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize {in advance} to the future wife of my 4th born child. The kid is cute as can be, quite funny and very sweet. I'm sure he'll make a fabulous husband some day {especially if he takes after his dad!}, but along with all that you will have to share a bed with him. And that, let me tell you, is not so fun! He, somehow, takes up the entire bed. Also, he flips around and thrashes so often that it's a wonder he gets any rest at all. Plus -- and this is the worst part, in my opinion -- he grinds his teeth like mad. It's pretty much the worst sound you can imagine!

He had a little trouble sleeping when we were visiting his grandparents last week and I ended up sleeping with him one night. Wait, that's not right: I lay, miserable, in bed next to him wishing the grinding and the movement would stop so that I could have a teeny little chance of sleep in the smallish space left for me after his 5-year-old body took up the vast majority of the surface area of the mattress!

Anyhow, as further proof of my lament, I share with you this picture:I rest my case . . . or not, depending on who I'm in bed with.

You gotta love the little man anyway though! God bless his future wife. We're praying for her already!

thankful thursday

I'm so thankful -- this week especially -- for my motivated and hard-working husband. On Saturday we had a pretty open day with not much going on . . . wait, let me back up::

We moved into this house more than 12 years ago. Just the 2 of us. We have 4 bedrooms: a big one and a teeny-tiny one upstairs {our house is a 1-1/2 story} and another 2 {pretty normal sized} on the main floor. Since Kirbs and I were the house's only inhabitants when we moved in, we took the big upstairs room. It seemed a pretty logical choice. When we found out baby #1 was on the way the teeny-tiny upstairs room right next to ours seemed to be the logical nursery choice.

Fast forward 11 years and nearly 5 kids later and things have changed. Mostly little changes here and there. The first, more major change came last summer. We had decided 5 kiddos seemed to be a good fit for our family and we weren't planning to have anymore {I am reminded of Proverbs 16.9} so we moved to one of the downstairs bedrooms and the 2 older girls took over the big upstairs room. The boys continued to share the other downstairs bedroom and Anna was in the nursery. Well, fast forward again and we decided that having the newborn in the "nursery" upstairs and the momma downstairs {as opposed to right next door} wasn't the best set-up. So we tried to figure out how best to re-distribute people in bedrooms.

Now, back to last Saturday . . . I don't remember there being any intentional decision {or even discussion of such} toward a major whole-house overhaul, but alas, somehow, it happened. A crib, set up more than 11 years ago in a sweet upstairs nursery, was disassembled. Countless pieces of furniture were moved, vacuumed under {YIKES!} and rearranged. Drawers were emptied and their contents moved to a new room. Toys and clothes were sorted through and there was lots of purging! {Whoo Hoo!}. By bedtime on Saturday Anna was going to bed in a "big girl bed"{my white iron-framed big girl bed from my childhood, to be exact} in the big upstairs room where all 3 girls now reside. Jacob {finally} had his own {little} room and was arranging and re-arranging his things to make it just right. {He's back where he started his life . . . in the "nursery" that he moved out of 9 years ago to make way for his little sister -- who is now bigger than he is}. Joey now has the downstairs room to himself until the little bundle arrives in October to occupy the crib that was re-assembled on the west end of his bedroom {under the tree with the bats . . . hope they don't scare the wee babe!}.

Kirb did the vast majority of the work, while I sorted through stuff and got rid of bunches of stuff that we didn't need cluttering up our house . . . and our life! He did all the major lifting, moving, vacuuming, disassembling, reassembling and hauling. Also, he provided the motivation when his tired, burnt out, pregnant wife plopped down on the couch with a book!

We're not 100% settled yet. Some clothes are still in the wrong places {heck, some of my clothes are still in the closet upstairs and we moved downstairs nearly a year ago!} and some re-organizing still needs to be done. But, a transition that I hoped to finish by the end of the summer is very nearly done before we even flipped the calendar to July. Isn't that great?

Had I known when she got out of her crib on Saturday morning, that Anna wouldn't ever get back in it, I would have been pretty bummed and spent much of the day grieving, but doing things this way -- without a plan, I didn't have time for any of that. She is still learning {it's only been 5 nights!} to stay in her bed when we put here there, but she's been sleeping all night in her big girl bed . . . once we finally get her to fall asleep, that is! Tuesday night she only got out twice before falling asleep. She was really, really tired though, which helped. Gotta love summer days {and no more naps -- at least lately} for completely wearing a 2-year-old out!

Here are a few pictures of the transformation of the Stoll house. Enjoy::

Anna sleeping in one little corner of her new bed on Sunday morning::

We'll work on staying at the "head" of the bed later, maybe . . . along with using your pillow and actually covering up with something {although it is summer!}

Jacob's new pre-teen pad::

Joe's room {he now sleeps on the top and can play underneath, where he used to sleep}::

Crib ready for baby #6 {these 3-or-so months will be the first break this crib has seen in over a decade. For nearly 11 and a half years someone has slept in it every night. It's been worth every penny of what we paid for it in 1999 . . . and then some!}::

Amazing how clean everything is in these pictures. If only it would stay that way . . .

Oh, and . . . Happy July!!

2::an update

Well, 2 o'clock in the afternoon came and went and I hardly noticed. Must be because I didn't even have time to sit down or breathe or even pee yesterday during the day . . . it was quite a busy one! And then, wouldn't you know it, 2 a.m. came and went unnoticed as well and I slept right through {thanks to your prayers . . . and some Tylenol PM to makes the odds better!}. I did wake up a little before 5, but went, pretty much, right back to sleep! How great. Hopefully today will go just as well! Thanks for all your sweet comments, commiserations, suggestions and prayers!

what's up with 2?

Lately, I've been waking up in the early morning . . . sometime in the 2 o'clock hour, and can't seem to get back to sleep. I'm tired. Really tired. I want to be sleeping again. But instead I just lay there flopping around, trying to get comfortable. Hoping to fall back to sleep. Usually, there's nothing in particular that woke me up. No crying baby, no kiddo scared from a bad dream, no snoring husband {well, usually that's not the problem}. I just wake up. And stay that way. Sometimes if I lay there long enough I'll fall asleep again. Unfortunately, I'm not a patient person and just laying there is not easy! Sometimes I get up and try to sleep again on the couch so my flip-flopping all over the bed doesn't wake Kirb up. Sometimes I just give up all together and read a book or pay some bills or make some cards or just get some general stuff done around the house {as long as it's not noisy stuff}. But even if I get lots of unexpected word done or finish a really good book, I'd still much rather be sleeping!

Fast forward 12 hours; a full revolution of the clock::without fail lately, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon I completely hit a wall. I can't do another thing. I'm completely worn out. I need a nap! Sometimes it passes rather quickly; I can lay down for a few minutes {hopefully with my eyes shut, but that can be dangerous if a certain smallish girl does not also have her eyes shut with sleep!} and feel better. Sometimes I got to bed and am still in my gross fog of yuck.

So, I wonder . . . what is it about 2 o'clock? I'm not really big on "lucky numbers" or such things, but for some reason I've always been partial to multiples of 3. I just like them, what can I say. Maybe 2 is just getting even for the years and years of preferential treatment I gave to her {or is it his?} neighbor #3. I kind of doubt it, but it's a thought!

Anyway, I guess until it passes I'll just have to push through that 2 o'clock hour for a while. Hopefully it won't last much longer!

To cheer up this post, here's a current picture of my favorite 2-year-old in the world! I have no complaints about her {well, I suppose I do. It involves markers . . . but that's not the point at the moment!} Isn't she a doll?


{For you really observant people who noticed that this blog entry was posted at 2:07 in the morning . . . good for you, that's impressive! But, nope, I didn't really write it at 2 in the morning. It was actually 7. But you can schedule blog entries to post whenever you want them to, so I thought it would be fun to have it be time stamped at that time.}

Thankful Thursday

This one's gonna sound crazy, but the past couple days in a row Anna has taken to waking up a tad before 6. Today, this is what I'm thankful for.

I'll explain::

Being kiddo #5, Anna doesn't get a whole lot of one-on-one time. She goes to bed first. The only time all the other kiddos are gone {at school and preschool}, she naps. She is really never the first one up for the day. So, her time is always shared with siblings aplenty. But this short time in the early morning, it's just the 2 of us. Daddy is already gone, the other kiddos are all still sleeping.

We snuggle. We read. We chat. Then she tells me "night night" and goes back to bed. It's been about 15 minutes usually . . . and {once I pull myself out of bed} I love it! We read the same 3 books. She's obsessed. Goodnight Gorilla, Just in Case you Ever Wonder and From Head to Toe. They are her favorites. We snuggle in the little chair. Then she lets me know she's ready and I tuck her back into bed and begin my day.

Much better than an alarm clock, wouldn't you say?

I'm quirky::Part II

I warned you it would be coming, and here it is . . .

I'm Quirky::Part II::

I am only capable of rolling over clockwise in bed: Let's pretend it's the middle of the night and I'm sleeping. I'm laying on my left side and decide that is no longer comfy and I would rather be laying on my stomach {I'm mainly a tummy sleeper!} Instead of rolling 90 degrees to the left to land on my stomach {since that would involve the least amount of work} I roll 270 degrees to the right. This also lands me on my stomach, but not as quickly or easily. I understand that it takes long and involves more work and movement and all, but somehow my body {or mind or something} is unable to roll counterclockwise. It's weird. I know! But that's the way it is.

{if you missed the first "I'm quirky", you can check it out right here}

Oh, what a night::

Man, I'm tired!

One of our kiddos has been struggling quite a bit lately with sleep stuff. Mainly, not falling asleep. It's horrible. There are tears, anxiety, stress and lots of attempts at things that might help. So far, no luck. I think we might have to see a sleep specialist. It's beyond us. It's beyond our pediatrician. 4 or 5 hours of sleep is really not sufficient for an elementary school kiddos {or the parents, for that matter!}

{To protect the identity of our kiddos and not "out" them on their issues I'm gonna not tell you who is who -- or at least try!. You can guess if you want. Or, if you've heard my laments already and know who's who, you can just feel proud in what a wonderful friend you are to listen to my constant complaining/lamenting/venting . . . or something like that! Now, only one of them sleeps in a crib -- thus having the ability for us to contain her in a bed -- and sucks on a nuk. So, I'll just flat out tell you when it's Anna. It would just be silly to try and hide it.}

So, here we go. Tuesday night February 16th, 2010::

I was at a meeting and got home about quarter to 10. I said "Hi" to Kirbs sitting on the couch working on his laptop, and asked him how the night was and if everyone was sleeping. He said the night was good and that all but one of the kids {our non-sleeper} were out. I was supposed to go check on the non-sleeper. I did. There didn't seem to be too much stress or anxiety yet, but no sleep either. I gave an "order" {and idea I learned from a friend whose kids had sleep trouble too. "Order" sounds a little harsh and mean, but it's not. You just give a relaxing thought process prompt, like "think of something you wear that starts with every letter of the alphabet"::Anklet, Boots, Cowboy hat, Dress. You get the idea. Then I gave kisses and hugs and left the room. A little while later non-sleeper walks into the living room, obviously not sleeping! We say "would it help if you laid down in our bed?" It seems that might help so we try it. By the time we're ready to sleep it has worked. All 5 kiddos are asleep. However, we really don't want to move non-sleeper out of our bed at the risk of disturbing the much-needed sleep. Kirb opts for sleeping on the couch {what a guy!} and I climb in bed with non-sleeper. Non-sleeper has also, in the past, been known to have night terrors. Night terrors are nasty buggers if you know much about them and, in my opinion, non-sleeper had an extra nasty case of them.

So, it's 11-something. I'm in bed {NOT with my husband} and my husband is asleep on the couch. But everyone seems pretty good . . . they are all sleeping at least.

For now!

About 2ish maybe, I hear crying from upstairs. This can only be Anna. Everyone else just comes right into our room . . . since they aren't "caged" in their beds or anything. I grab her glass of milk, in case she's thirsty and head upstairs. She's lost her nuk. This is the main problem. I find her nuk under the crib and give it to her and snuggle with her a little bit. Read a book, offer her a drink and, after about 15 minutes or so, put her back in her crib. She cries for about 2 minutes and then all seems quiet again. Not much later {maybe just a few minutes} I hear her crying again. This time I hear Kirb get off the couch and plod up the stairs. I fall back asleep, so I'm not sure how long he is up with her or what her problem is. Normally, this is something I'd find out when he came back to bed, but since we weren't sleeping together I'll just have to remember to ask him when I talk to him later.

Maybe 3ish or so, another kiddo shuffles into our room. Non-sleeper is where Daddy should be. This is confusing to newly awake kiddo. I say "c'mon over here and climb in on mommy's side". Now, I am sleeping between {I'm not a fan of being "between"!} non-sleeper and snorer/teeth grinder. Plus, non-sleeper has been having bad dreams or something throughout the night and thrashing around in bed and sitting up and all manner of stuff that has made it hard for me to really sleep. So, I give up and leave non-sleeper and teeth grinder/snorer alone and go to curl up on the remaining couch. {I realize there are a couple empty beds in the house at this point, but that just seems to require a little more effort that I can handle, so I head for the couch.} Since Kirb is on the big couch, I take the love seat and a child-sized blanket {also, all that's left} and wad myself up in a ball and try to catch a few z's.

A little while later one of the remaining two kids who has yet to give us any trouble on this night, comes out to tell us there's been a little bed wetting trouble. Wonderful! "Hop in teeth-grinders bed and go back to sleep" Kirb instructs. I barely wake up.

I hear Kirb's alarm {cell phone} go off about 5. {He wakes up about 5 and goes to the Y first thing, cleans up there and then heads to work by 7}. I tell him to have a good day and could he please strip bed-wetters sheets for me. He does and heads off.

A little after 6 Anna starts SCREAMING again. The hysterical kind of screaming. Lots of yelling "Momma!" and crying. I think {hope!} that maybe she'll fall asleep again, but quickly realize that that's not going to happen. I roll off the couch and head up there to check on her. I get her nuk off the floor and snuggle a little. She does that post-hard-crying-thing where she gasps for air every few second in effort to catch her breath again . . . I'm confident that almost every one of you knows exactly what I'm talking about. It's so pitiful! She wants a "book" and "pony" {ponytails in her hair}. I tell her it's night time and she's supposed to be sleeping. She asks me, "Jake Jake?" and I tell her Jacob is sleeping. She asks, "Joey?" and I tell her Joe is sleeping. "Hid-dee?" I tell her Lydia is sleeping. "Daddy?" I lie and say Daddy is sleeping . . . if she knows he's "at work" she might think it's daytime! "Beka?" Yup, Rebekah is sleeping too, honey. So then she starts pointing to my facial features and naming them. "No." Yup, that's Mommy's nose. "Eye". Yup, that's my eye -- please don't poke it!. "Hay". Yup, there's my hair. Nope you can't have a "pony" right now in your hair. We'll do that in the daytime! She clearly wants to be awake and not go back to sleep, but I can't take it anymore. I don't know how much sleep I've actually gotten, but I can tell you that it's not nearly the amount that I need! I put her back in her crib out of desperation and crawl into a vacant bed in the room next door.

Anna screams. Pretty quickly, the return of her screaming wakes up the only child who, otherwise, has slept all night. It's about 6:30. I give up and get up {for good} and get Anna up and take her downstairs. Good morning world. I guess I'll start my day. No bright eyes, but I'm up . . .

As I type this it is 7:29 and all 5 kids are up. At least a couple of them normally sleep until about 8 and Anna occasionally doesn't get up until 9 or so. I have a feeling it's going to be a LONG day!

FYI

I don't like the sound of grinding teeth . . . just in case you wanted to know. I can't sleep if there is someone laying right next to me grinding their {little} teeth! It drives me crazy! I don't mind little visitors in bed at night, but when they decide to sleep sideways and grind their teeth, that's when they get promptly returned to their own bed!

Thankful Thursday

Last night was a good night!

I said yesterday that I feel like I'm just barely keeping my head above water lately with the adjustment to the new school year, new job, new schedule and all that jazz. Plus I just have about a million things to do {like I always do}. Not to mention all the normal, day to day stuff that has to go on to keep this place runnin': laundry, homework, clipping 50 fingernails and 50 toenails that get disgustingly long with incomprehensible speed, packing lunches, paying bills, bathing small people, cleaning, feeding people, buying groceries, changing diapers and on and on. A big part of the problem is that our evenings have been insanely busy and scheduled the past 2 weeks. We have discovered that that is NOT a good thing {we've been a little slow to catch on to this lesson}. Even though we are passionate, and often gifted, at the things that are taking up our evenings, they are often not the best choice for our family. I think people might have the impression sometimes {wrong, though it is} that we parent our 5 kids rather effortlessly and can take on one more "little" thing without it effecting our family too much. That is just NOT true. It's a lot of work for us to parent the kids and often stresses us out. We adore our kids and, I think, handle having 5 kids better than lots of people would, but it still is LOTS of work! We need to re-evaluate some stuff and prioritize our family a little higher once again. {I feel like this is a never-ending cycle in our lives. We get to this "valley" point and re-evaluate and cut back. Then we cruise along nicely for a while. Then we forget how bad it really was and, a little at a time, add "small" things back in that bring us back to point A again where we start the whole thing over. The whole process is emotionally draining and stresses me out!}

Just a little side note: I have not read more than 3 consecutive pages in a book of my choosing or made even 1 card in weeks and weeks. If you know me at all, that is a BIG deal. Also, it makes me a little less fun than usual when I'm deprived of these "me" things in my life!

Ok, so back to the "thankful" part {you thought I forgot and was just going to gripe the whole time, didn't you?} I am thankful for our evening yesterday! All 7 of us were home. We sat down to a non-rushed, yummy dinner together. Homework got done, for a change, without much complaining or procrastinating. We took a walk and played at the park. It was a beautiful late summer night!! {I hope you were outside too!} Kirb did have to be gone for a little bit, but it was after Anna was already sleeping and the other kids were getting ready for bed . . . and, he returned before they were even sleeping. Amazing! I can't go anywhere "quickly"! So, I know that, technically, we weren't ALL together for the ENTIRE night, but it was WAY, way better than we have been doing at being all together for an evening in a really long time!

On top of that, we {Kirb and I} were in bed by just after 10, which is also kind of unheard of around here. Often, I'll fall asleep on the couch around 10ish while Kirb keeps working or watching a movie or something. Then he'll wake me up, I'll brush my teeth and get into bed. But that's really not the same AT ALL as being in your own bed kind early. On top of getting into bed early, I also got to sleep all night long. Anna has been sick the past 3 or 4 days and has NOT been sleeping well. She did wake up once last night and needed a little more Tylenol, but Kirb took care of it! {Honestly, I didn't even hear her or notice that she needed anything until I felt Kirb getting back into bed.} Ahhh. What a difference all that makes when it comes time to get up in the morning.

Have a great day!

A fun evening as a family. A good nights sleep. I am thankful!