Quick Message

So I have been wanting to write several posts on here, but I haven't really been able to be online lately. For some reason, with this pregnancy every time I play on my laptop or my phone it makes me so nauseous I can't function, sometimes for hours. It's hard, because I have a lot going on that I want to talk about, but not enough time. I guess I will just settle for a little post now, before I start feeling sick, and then I will do a little bit at a time when I can.

The kids went back to school today. They had been on Spring Break, and since they have year round school here, they were off for two weeks. Hailey enjoyed getting to bring home the class fish for 2 weeks. Actually I think Hayden loved it the most. I have been considering getting a fish, just because whenever he was throwing a tantrum or having a meltdown I could just be like, Do you want to look at the fishy? and he would immediately stop crying and laugh and point at the fishy. He loved it and wanted to look at it all the time.

It has been really nice and quiet this morning. Amelia and Hayden slept in, without the older kids to wake them up. Hayden is usually a really late sleeper, getting up around 9 or so, but the kids kept waking him up around 7 while they were off. It sucked, because he would be a little terror all morning because he wasn't getting enough sleep.

We are moving to Phoenix this weekend. On the 20th we went to church at what would be our new ward, and everyone was great and we really liked it there. It was nice that they have such a huge primary, since the ward we are in right now is so small. The new ward has such a large primary, they have opening exercises in the chapel. It's weird that they have church 2 - 5. I have never heard of meeting at that time. While I was there, I was able to meet with the Primary presidency to make sure that we will still be able to have Brooklyn's baptism April 30th. I was worried that moving was going to mess that up. We have family coming from different states, and that was the one day I could get everyone here.

I am so not feeling this move. Not that I don't like the house, or where we are moving to, I just really don't want to move. Like the actual packing and moving part. I need to have the house packed by Friday, and I am nowhere near being done. So far I have only done the master closet (which is actually a lot, it's about the size of one of the kids' bedrooms), the playroom, the office, the family room (dvd's and stuff) and most of my home decor. It seems like there is still so much to do. I have been filling out the paperwork for the new school (times 5) so that I can turn it in Friday. They said as long as I get it in by Friday, they will be able to start on Monday and they won't miss any days of school.

Well, there is a lot more that I want to say, but I am starting to feel sick and I really need to pack. I guess I will try to get on here later tonight, or tomorrow, and try writing some more.

Scorpions Suck

Last night Brooklyn got stung by a scorpion. It was so sad. It was on the floor in the hallway upstairs (and I don't know how it got there) and she thought it was one of her brothers' plastic toys and picked it up. At first when I heard her screaming I just thought she was being dramatic and trying to get attention, until it turned into "hurt" wailing. I told John to come deal with the scorpion (who had been flung back to the floor) while I took care of Brooklyn. There isn't really anything that you can do for the pain, but I put a wet compress on it and put her hand above her heart like John told me. He called Poison Control, and they said the same thing and said they would call back every hour for the next 3 hours to check for warning symptoms like drooling, rapid eye movement, or difficulty swallowing.

John gave her a chocolate klondike bar, and she said it didn't make her finger feel better, but it did make her feel better. I gave her some children's pain reliever, and then she got to stay up with me for a few hours watching tv and visiting so I could keep an eye on her. The pain wasn't just in her finger, it affected her whole hand and went up her arm all the way to her armpit. Apparently that is normal, but it was sad that I couldn't do anything that would make the pain go away, other than try and distract her. Around 10:30, once I felt sure she was going to be ok, I went ahead and let her go to bed and told her she could come and get in bed with me in the morning.

Today she has been doing better. She said that her finger still hurts, but it's not hurting her entire arm like it was last night. She was still able to play outside this morning, until she fell, off her scooter and scraped her leg. Poor girl. Now she is just hanging out inside, so that maybe she can make it through the rest of the day without hurting herself again.

Smell Ya Later!

I forgot to add the best part of having my house back - A SPOTLESS HOUSE!

Yes that does merit all caps! If I had before/after pictures to show you, especially of my carpet you would know why! Man, it was driving me crazy because it was really starting to look like crap around here, and since moving here I have (I think) done a really good job of keeping my house decent, if not spotless. However, adding 5 people totally changes that. My carpets were so disgusting I couldn't stand it. Some people didn't think anything about letting their kids carry drinks and stuff around outside of the kitchen, or wearing filthy work boots on my floors. Things I never allow, and tried not to allow with our company, although apparently unsuccessfully. It is hard to keep a house clean when you have a bunch of people staying with you that hangout in all of the living areas of the house, but only clean up their room and have their daughter do the dishes once a week. The rest of it was left to me and the kids. Ugh! Like I don't have enough to do already.

Now, before this turns into a total complain blog, I just want to say I have been really impressed with how hard my husband and kids worked to get my house back in order and to keep it that way. John shampooed ALL the carpets in the entire house. It took 2 bottles of cleaner, but almost 1 full bottle was used just cleaning the room our guests were staying in. I rearranged the girls' room, and put everything back where it used to go. I used lemon cleaner to wipe down all the wood furniture (oh that smells sooooo good!!), all the floors got mopped and the bathrooms got scrubbed. It was like an exorcism for our house, but for dirt. Haha

Of course, the laundry room is another story . . . . Sigh. Although it is getting better. I sorted through my 5 million boxes of kids clothing, and got out all the kids' summer clothes. I figure since it's been in the 80's all week, and is supposed to stay that way, that we don't really need winter clothes out anymore. So I packed up what they had clean in their rooms, and then I have just been sorting it out of the laundry as I get it done. It is just so hard to keep up on laundry for this many people! I feel like I am doing a million loads of laundry every day. I really don't know what to do differently to make it less of a huge chore. What I really wish was that we could get another washer and dryer! My laundry room is HUGE and it has more than enough room for another set. I could probably fit a couple more sets in, if I didn't have a couple freezers and a laundry sink in there. It is the size of a decent kids bedroom, and I love it!! Anyway, I am hoping that I can convince John that we need another set, because that would definitely cut down on how much time is spent on the stupid laundry. I told John that someday, when we build our own house, we are going to have basically a laundromat in our house. An entire room of industrial washers and dryers that can do a bunch of laundry at once, and not take forever. Oh, if only it was going to be someday sooner.

Speaking of which, I better go switch the laundry over and start another load . . . . . . .

Alone At Last - Sort Of

You hear that? Sweet Silence.

It's the sound I have been enjoying during nap time every day, since our company moved out. Back in January, we had some friends move in with us. It was a high school friend of mine, and her husband and three kids ages 11, 3, and 8 months. They were living in another state and having major problems, so we offered to have them come and stay with us to help them get on their feet. They moved in the beginning of January, with the intent to stay until June so her 11 year old daughter could finish out the school. year since it would be her 6th school this year. While I really felt like it was what we should do to help them, I honestly have to say I am glad that they ended up moving out after about 12 weeks.

While I knew that it would be stressful having another family living in my house, I don't think I appreciated just how much of a struggle it would be. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, because it was new and everyone was on their best behavior. Well, as much as possible for 10 kids and 4 adults. However, slowly people started getting on each other's nerves, and things really went downhill once they got their own place. They got it back in February, but it wasn't going to be ready until March. I really felt like once they knew they were getting another place, things just went to crap. I almost felt like it was like, now that we know we're not going to need you we don't have to be as nice as we were. The worst was her 11 year old daughter, who was sharing a room with my 3 girls so she didn't have to be stuck in a room with her parents and the two little boys. She was constantly being a jerk to my daughters and saying mean things to them, and pitting them against each other and lying. I'm not saying my girls are perfect, and they had their fair share of being little butts too, but it was frustrating that I felt my friend is totally in denial about her daughter's behavior. All little kids at least occasionally lie and act like jerks to each other, but my friend seems to think that her kid is the exception to that and that she NEVER does. It was so frustrating to me because several times my husband and I stood there watching her lie to her mom's face, and she just couldn't accept that it was possible. Even when I was the one telling her that I was right there and here is what happened, etc. It got to the point where everyone was living in the same house and avoiding each other. Well, except her husband, who was really laid back and didn't really do anything other than go to work and sleep. By the time they were moving out I was pretty much counting the days and couldn't wait for them to leave, because of all the drama her daughter was causing with my kids. I guess it affected me more than I thought, because last night after John talked about getting together with them so they can get a bunch of stuff that they left at my house, I had nightmares about her daughter. Haha. Pretty lame, but I guess my subconscious knows that I have no desire to get together with them and see them, even if I am trying to be nice and act like I do. It's hard because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I really feel like living together did hurt our friendship. We weren't super close friends or anything, just casual friends from high school who we felt like we should help out, but it is still kinda sad. I just tell myself that I have so much other stuff I have to deal with that is more important, that I just have to accept that not all friendships are meant to be lifelong friendships.

And then there were 8

So I thought this warranted it's own post, instead of being lumped in with the family update. Our family is expecting another baby on September 14th. I am officially 12 weeks, as of yesterday. It was funny when John and I found out that we were going to have another September baby. Both Amelia and Hayden (our 2 kids together) were born in September, and this baby is due smack in the middle of their two birthdays. I told him I guess we really like to have babies in September.

This is the cake we used to tell the kids. They were all excited. Well, except Hayden, who had no idea what was going on. It took John and I a while to get used to the idea, but I think it is finally starting to sink in. After past experiences I have had, I will be more excited once I have the ultrasound where we find out what we're having, and I can see that the baby is ok. Ever since William died, I am always paranoid when I am not far enough to feel the baby move and know that he is ok. Even though I have had 3 more babies since then, I worry that something's wrong and I just don't know it because I'm not far enough along to feel the baby moving all the time. Even then, I still can't relax until I have that baby in my arms and I know they are here and ok. Ok, enough of that. I am trying to be positive and tell myself everything will be ok and I am excited for this baby. It would be nice to have another girl, since we are currently 4/3 with boys winning, but honestly I really hope it is a boy. Hayden is only 18 months, and his closest brother is 8. It would be really nice for him to have a brother close in age to him. Either way, I am just happy he will have a sibling close to him, since Amelia is 4 years older.

Update

Man, I haven't posted on here in forever! I don't even know where to start! I guess I will do a little family update, and then do individual posts with pictures when I get the chance.

Since my last post, we:

1. Celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad's whole family. It was a lot of fun, because in addition to my parents being here, Robyn and Jacob's families came down. I hadn't seen Robyn in over a year, and I finally got to meet my new niece.

2. Celebrated Christmas with my moms family. We did Christmas morning at our house, and then spent the afternoon/evening at my grandparents house. Afterwards, we went with Kim to this really cool house in Phoenix that you can walk through their yard and they have TONS of lights.

3. The week after Christmas, my ex-in-law's came down from Utah to stay with us for a few days. It was nice to have them. I love them a lot, and we had a lot of fun taking the kids to the zoo and just hanging out.

4. New Years wasn't that exciting, because we spent it by ourselves. We spent most of the night eating, watching tv, and watching John tape off the kitchen to paint.

5. On January 4th, Hailey turned 11. It was pretty traumatic - for me anyway. Ha!

She was excited to get "teenager stuff" like body wash, and her very own purse complete with pens, paper, and gum.

6. We had lots of "fun" dealing with black mold when a leak in the kids' bathroom started pouring into the garage, and everything had to be gutted. Thank goodness for renting! It was a miserable couple of weeks freezing because it was so cold in the house due to the huge HOLE in the floor of the bathroom!

7. We are considering moving. I know that is crazy, but so is John's commute. It takes him an hour or more to get home. And the HOA that has been harassing us for various, ridiculous reasons. We have found a house we really like that is really close to John's work, and it's cheaper than where we are now. So it would save us rent money and gas money. Not to mention that it would cut John's commute down to a third of what it is now. We are still deciding what we want to do, because we love where we are so much, but it is a definite possibility. It is a hard decision, because as much as I hate the commute and the cost of it, I really love this house and ward. The only reason I am entertaining the idea is because I finally found a house that I actually like as much as this one.

Anyway, that is what we have been up to. Kids are great. Doing good in school, behaving decently at home, growing faster than I can clothe them, and driving me crazy. But I love them and I'm happy. :)