to run around like a chicken with your head cut off. Or maybe that is only those of us who procrastinate? Since the arrival of little Elodie, we have been busy. Mostly surviving. She is growing, growing though. As you can see.... Elodie at one month.... Elodie at two months.... Miss Chubby Cheekers.....with blue eyes. The three (!) bigger kids are adjusting well. At this point none of us remember life without the newest Princess. Xander turned two in November. Complete with a Yo Gabba Gabba party. Elodie also gave us her first smile. Kiki and little Kiki November passed and we hit the ground running in December. We spent the first weekend making tamales. The kids and I decorated aprons and made gingerbread houses. Though I could not let them decorate it. Next year: a small village where each child decorates a little house of their own. Oh yes. Front of house....gingerbread is not the easiest to work with. side view And that brings us to today. Finishing up Christmas prepar...

Yep, that is what has been going on. Life is keeping us busy. Running around like chicken with our heads cut off. Awesome. I am not one for busy either. I do not like to be busy. It does not work for me. I am a cloud dweller, my personality type, and we cloud dwellers need time to just be man. It seems our calendar (another thing I am not fond of.....calendars. Goes along with the dislike of schedules. Gag. Ties you down dude....) has been jam packed for the last two months. I have found a moment to just be on this rainy Saturday. Though Emma is trying to rob me of that ("Mom, let's play Life. Come on." ) We spent the last week taking care of my two nieces and nephew so my sister and her husband could actually take a vacation ALONE. And not be running in 400 different directions every day. I always enjoy being "mom" to six. Even though the girls are now 16 and 14 and it seems I am not ready for that yet. Teens are from a different planet. And ...

I am now armed with more evidence on two things: my kids therapy and cloth diapering. The following pictures will not only cause Davis trauma later in life but they prove that cloth diapering can be cost effective. Davis is sporting a medium Fuzzi Bunz diaper. It also fits Alexander. Something tells me that they are not joking when they say most kids potty train out of mediums. Xander is also sporting cloth by the way of a fitted and wool cover. As if that were not enough, Emma and Davis decided then to play baby. Now we have Davis not only in a diaper but with a binky sitting in a doll stroller. Ah, kids. To finish off, I got the kids hair cut over the weekend. Oops. Went a little short on Davis. But it will grow back. Right? (I do not like it this short. He looks far too old.) Emma just got hers trimmed up. A lot.

One: Your child is really sick when they ASK to go to the doctor. As in, "Please take me to the doctor." Sad. Two: One way to get everything in your house clean is to have someone pee or puke on it. Everything in this house has been freshly laundered. Three: I got a copy of Working Mother in the mail today. Ironic. It is for moms who work out of the home. Yet I do not think I have ever worked harder in my life since staying at home. I AM a working mother. I just do not get a paycheck at the end of two weeks. And besides, why in the world did I get a copy of this magazine? I sure as hell did not order it. Back to your regularly scheduled programs........

Davis has the flu. As in the actual ,real, we swabbed your boogers and it came back positive flu. He is on Tamiflu. Hopefully he does not vomit it up. Poor little guy has been miserable the last day. Not eating and only lying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket with a cold washcloth on his head. I think he smells too. Between being super hot, wet washcloth head and no bath since Saturday, the boy is ripe. Ah well. I let him rest and will wash him when he feels up to it. The reason he even got looked at is because Xander had his well baby check today too. That boy is almost off the charts in length. *I* have a child that sits in the 97% for his height. No wonder the infant car seat seemed too small for him. He is weighing in at 13 pounds 4 ounces. So he is actually tall and skinny. Must get it from his dad. That poor little guy has had to be moved to his big boy car seat. Which means he has to get a blanket thrown over him as we go to and from places. Poor kid is fre...

I have two confessions today. #1 The reason I cloth diaper is because they are so cute. #2 The reason I had kids is so that I would never be alone. The reason I had so many is so that THEY would never be alone. Kids are good. Xander is getting big as you can see in the photo. Cloth diapering is going well, we are using them 90% of the time. And by we, I mean me. Breastfeeding is going great too. Before long he will be able to eat rice cereal. At about 5-6 months or so. This time I am making my own. And the other day at Target I bought re-usable grocery bags too. Mark asked me what it was like to be so crunchy. I laughed. Though Emma did tell her father he was not doing any help to our environment by getting a plastic bag at the store yesterday. Maybe I am a bit more green than I thought.... My other baby boy will be four in about 2 weeks. FOUR?!?! Where did the time go? Of course that girl of mine will be EIGHT in March......when did I get so old?

Not only has two months passed since Alexander was born, but an entire year has gone. I have had many thoughts and written about 20 blog posts in my mind. Finding the time to type them out is a whole 'nother issue. All in time I suppose. For now we are freezing our bahonakies off. But for today I leave you with this..... How could one not look forward to all the new year has to bring when you get to look into this face every day? Add in two more adorable smiling faces and well...... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!! May 2008 bring on even more blessings.....

We have called our belly buttons as well as our nipples buttons for a long time now. Davis is aware that Alexander drinks milk from my buttons. Today, Davis informed us that he has milk in his buttons. He was going to feed Emma and Max (the dog). It went something like this: Davis: I have milk in my buttons. Emma: giggling Davis: Here Emma, drink it my milk. Go ahead. You'll like it. Taste it. (While walking toward her, lifting up his shirt. Then trying to grab her by the back of the head and shove her on. ) It was hysterical. Really. I was laughing so hard. And trying to nurse the baby. He tried to get Max to drink after Emma refused. Max was not having it either. Who knew breastfeeding could be dangerous?

Time does fly by. Mr. Alexander Pants (why I call him that, I have no clue) was one month old yesterday. He is doing well. We all are. I realize this photo looks a little funny because of the angle, but I love it. Alexander's eyes are open and he looks like a little man. I think he may be thinking, "weird lady, put down the stupid camera and give me your boob." And the best gifts EVAH... (Davis wanted to holded his baby....)

Ah, what a year. With Emma and Davis I was pregnant during the holiday season. With Alexander he will be weeks old for the holidays. Such a different way to do things. We have been blessed with three wonderful, healthy kids. Which is more than we ever could have hoped for. We have been blessed with each other, Mark and I. And who and what we are now is more than I think either of us could have ever dreamed it to be. It is not perfect no. But it is a wonderful life none the less. We are thankful each and every day for our kids, each other, and our family. With what we have in those things, what more is there to ask for? And when you look down after feeding your newest little one and this is what your eyes take in... Could anything be wrong in the world? Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. I know we are....

Soon I will post baby pictures of all three kids and see if anyone can figure out which child is which. They all look very much alike at birth. It should be fun....

First, I put in pictures of the kids room after it got picked up. Looks much nicer now. Second, my mom commented that they looked cramped up there. Let me assure anyone that it is more about having too much stuff. To see how much space they are sharing I found the house layout with the square footage. Anyone care to guess how much square footage my kids are being shoved into? I will put then answer in the comments for this post. And if you think it is unfair that they share this amount of space..........I am not sure what to think.

Okay, okay. My Aunt Fid did help with the shower. She has a gorgeous house and she offered it up yet again as the party spot. Not only that, but she helped out with the food and set up. She is truly a blessing as well. She also got me these great slipcovers for my ugly old couch. (and once again excuse the mess) So not chopped liver..........but still not the Kiki. Fair enough? Oh and the pink rocker? Yes, I am aware that it is....interesting. Emma bought it from my brother in law, as in Kiki's husband for two kisses. Long story.............but the pink rocker is Emma's and we had to find a place for it. It is a Lazy Boy one and it is really comfortable and in good shape. Just a different color......

Oh around. We got the rooms all rearranged and whew! A lot of work. But all is done now. Except, the stairwell and the room we are in now need to be painted. The baby's room is on it's way. The always on top of things and over the top in things Kiki, is coming by Friday to put her special touch on the room. Which happens to be the entire bedding collection. I was going to wait and just use a blanket for the baby but Kiki? Um no, that will not do for her future niece, as she believes it is, or nephew. She choose the most beautiful bedding......how lucky am I? A sister who has great taste and is willing to come over and do that? Oh yea, I scored in the sibling department. Once it is done, I will take some pictures. The awesome Kiki also insisted on another shower to which I asked that she keep it low key. My sister is all the utmost in party planning. And she did keep it low key..............for her. But to the lay person, it was still magnificent and oh so lovely...