A chance encounter

Often people stop me to ask if ALL the children are mine, which usually leads to me smiling and nodding politely while thinking, "go f*#k off." I have done this while listening to perfect strangers commenting on the state of the economy and how expensive it is to raise children, I have done this after being asked if I know how children are made, I have done this while stepping on my oldest child's toes to keep him from being rude to the stranger in question. Frankly, I dread strange people approaching me in public places.

Yesterday, while at Costco, I anticipated an exchange similar to the ones vaguely described above when an older gentleman stopped me in the food court and pointed to the kids and asked, "are all these yours?" I smiled and nodded, and he said, "I bet you think you've got a lot of kids don't you? But, you don't. These kids here are nothing. Me, I've got 19, we have five sets of twins. Now, 19 is a lot of kids. I don't want to have more."

I was so pleasantly surprised. Speechless. Heh! Talk about perspective.

A quiet weekend

Mommy and Jelly Bean after our lunch date. We had lunch today at Chili's, and then we had dessert at the coffee shop in the book store. It was a really fun time. We are wearing eco-conscious Mickey Mouse tees. Mine isn't exactly flattering, but, at $7 and $4 they were a bargain. LB and I went out for lunch yesterday. LB is more like me in that he is pretty conscious about what he eats, and he requested lunch at Whole Foods instead of a restaurant. We enjoyed the fare from their grill and topped our meal off with some overpriced gelato...I had the peanut butter and banana mixed...yummy!!!


Hercules, Little Boy, Jelly Bean, Hubby, Baby Girl, Big Boy, and The Little Lady waiting for ice cream. This was kind of a lazy weekend (for some of us more than others) so today we took the children out for ice cream before Daddy had to leave. At least one family moment was stolen before the weekend ended.



LB and JB reading her book. JB really loves horses and after looking at a giant horse book, we found her a fiction book about horses. Mommy is going to go back and pick up the giant horse book and hide it away until her birthday in August.



The Little Lady. I went shopping for clothes that could possibly fit me yesterday, and all I managed to find at the mall were clothes for the kids. This is one of TLL's new dresses. She is way cuter than I am anyway.

The award for Father of the Year

After waking my husband up from his nap this morning...

Me: I'm going out for a little bit.
Hubby: Who are you taking with you?
Me: I am going by myself.
Hubby: You mean you're going to leave all the kids for me to babysit?
Me: Yes. I'm tired, I am not feeling good, and I need a break. You don't seem inclined to give me one, so I'm going out for a bit.
Hubby: You think it is safe to leave six kids with just me?
Me: As safe as you think it is.

I have now been back for a couple of hours, he has since declared that we will be lucky if he lives another year before we kill him. Damn good thing Father's Day has already come and gone this year.

A few sour grapes

I am tired. I am also dizzy. This is not a winning combination. I still need to make a follow up appointment for next week with my OB/GYN. I have a suspicion that a kidney infection has remained from my recent *yuck* but, I am in no hurry to confirm my suspicion unless I start to run a fever. Fun, fun, fun.

In other news, my 11 month old has given up sleeping. She is now waking up around 1:00 in the morning and going strong until 4:00. Of course this overlaps with one of BG's feedings...which means that I get to listen to TLL scream at the top of her lungs until BG finishes her bottle. My kindness and compassion are much diminished in the middle of the night, and I am not going to win any parenting awards for loving conversations held during these hours.

My husband is home. I promptly went to sleep when he arrived this morning...until he woke me up to say he needed a nap. This is after arriving today, which meant staying an extra night at the hotel to rest up for his trip home. He *could* have been home by dinner time last night, but, he chose to stay and rest after his stressful week. Don't think that I am failing to understand how important it is for him to get his beauty sleep. Really. After all this is the man I love, the father of my children. *Fucker* Okay, so maybe there is a smidgen of latent bitterness.

My niece graduated from high school this week. I am so proud of her. She managed to stay out of trouble and keep her nose clean and walk away from high school with her diploma! This is no small feat in my family, where my sisters and myself found more trouble than we could handle before finishing school. *You go Sis, you did a damn fine job with your baby girl! I am so proud of you both!!!*

I'm ready for the summer fun to start in earnest...bring it on! We're going to rock this summer!

What we've been up to

The Little Lady in the bath at Nana's house. She didn't miss too many meals while I was sick.



Baby Girl in her Nana's loving hands.




The Little Lady very happy to see her Daddy. She didn't have anything on her Mommy in that department though.



Mommy holding Baby Girl (1 month and 1 day old) on her first 'train ride' and Hercules excited to get going on our ride!

Back home again

Yesterday BB, TLL, BG, and myself came home to stay. We had been staying with my grandparents so that I could have some help (they gave me lots) and rest (not so easy when you miss your own bed) but, it just felt like time to come home. After my first night since leaving the hospital, looking after the babies by myself...I feel pretty good. I got to spend some quality time with BB and the girls were actually pretty gentle on me last night. H will be home later today. I am looking forward to seeing him. I have missed my little devilish one quite a bit.

I didn't mean to sound so dire in my last post, I guess I am just still a little shaken up. Should be that I finish these fine antibiotics and live happily ever after. I was just astounded at the speed at which everything happened when I fell ill. I had made pancakes that morning and had been getting the kids ready to go to the mall, when the bottom dropped out and I was in pain and gravely ill. Glad that is over.

Thanks for your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. It has helped enormously to know that there are people out there that said a little prayer for me and mine.

I have some awesome pictures of my girls getting baths at Nana's house, and I will try to post those later. Here is hoping for a good day...for all of us!

In the blink of an eye

I am feeling a little like death warmed over...literally. Last week I started having really severe abdominal pain. All at once it seemed like. It got worse until the pain made labor feel trivial, I gave in and called my Aunt to stay with the children and take me to the emergency room. The next few hours passed in a blur.

They admitted me to the hospital, where I've been hanging out in the ICU until last night. Last night, I finally managed to convince all of the doctors to let me go home. Of course, now I am feeling so bad, and am so scared of missing any indication of a relapse, and having symptoms that went away early in my hospital stay...that I'm a big bundle of nerves on the verge of tears.

So, if you are inclined, please say a little prayer for me and my family, pray that I will only get better from here on out. Pray that I will get to see my six beautiful children grow up...and please go hug yours. Please look at them them way I am looking at mine right now...not taking anything or any moment for granted.

Kids, I love you. You are my life.