I was blown away

I struggle at times with a declining faith in humankind in general. I get rather disillusioned with the dishonesty I see and just people treating one another badly in general. On Friday, November 16th I had such a great moment that renewed my hope in our society just a little. It didn't take a big event, just a small act of kindness.

Going shopping with four kids is no picnic and the norm is for me to get stared at, and of course the comments such as "are they all yours?" and "you have your hands full!" Yep I do. These comments don't bother me anymore although I still fight off the urge to say "no they aren't all mine, I just like to bring extras with me cause it's SO fun shopping with kids." Anyway, not once until the other day has anyone offered to help me when I struggled. For the most part my kids are very well behaved. However, it's hard to control when the baby will get fussy or IF Zachary, who is very much 2 will decide to pull a 2 year old trick. Eric and Mark are usually fine beyond the expected asking for every.single.thing.they.see. So, I'm at the cash register. I had gathered my groceries with Ben in my arms because he decided the cart just wasn't working for him and was crying his sweet little eyes out. Pushing the cart with Zack and Mark pushing a large load of groceries. I was unloading my stuff onto the check stand as fast as possible while holding a squirmy baby but the man behind me didn't glare because I was going too slow. He didn't comment on how many kids I have, he didn't say "WOW, ALL boys?" he said, "You take care of that baby and let me help you." I was blown away because as I mentioned this has never happened before. It made my entire day. I must have thanked that man 7 times while he was unloading my groceries. I still can't believe it but I was so happy to see someone helping another person. I hope I see more of this. How refreshing and really really helpful this man was to me!

Conversation of the Day

From Mark --

Me "I love you Mark"

Mark "Mommy, I don't like pretty words... and love is a pretty word."

Me "So what kind of words do you like" (fighting back laughter)

Mark "Cool words"

Me "ohhhhhh what kind of words are cool?" (still stifling laughter--he was oh so serious)

Mark "like race cars, and stuff"

I'm shaking my head typing this. I guess the quest to be "cool" has begun... at four...

To end the conversation I laughed and said "well, buddy, I can't help it. I love you." and he was silent.

Ack!

It's been forever since I posted here... I did mention I wasn't good at keeping a blog/journal right?

Anyway, huge things have been going on!! Well, one big huge thing... we bought a house. I love it! It's much bigger than the rental and almost brand new! It was built in 2006 but a musician bought it and she travels all over playing her music so I know she wasn't here most of the year she owned the house. http://www.lynnearriale.com/ Anyway it is beautiful! I love it here!e

Other new things :) Eric is loving school! The transition switching was so smooth! He is reading more words every day. It is so fun to watch that develop. Mark loves his new Pre K too! In fact, we were having trouble at the old school with crying, etc. but for some reason not at this one. YAY! Zack is talking up a storm! I think he is probably caught up to his age level now. It appears once again, mommy was worried for nothing. Benjamin is crawling all over and he can go from sitting to crawling and back to sitting again. He's just growing too fast!

Thanksgiving is coming soon and we are going to Georgia to visit some good friends! I am so excited to be in the Atlanta area for a few days. I just love it there. I love it here too, of course, but I sometimes miss Georgia.

That's about all that's going on with life right now. Just busy as always, chaotic, but I love it all!

Zack hurt himself :(

This happened almost 2 weeks ago but Zack did the craziest thing. He climbed up into Eric 's bed (top bunk) when I thought everyone was sleeping. Somehow he fell off and busted his head open. It was awful. We rushed to the ER (piled everyone in the car & just Zack and I went in.) Thank goodness it was quick and we were in and out in 2 hours. 7 staples later. We got home at midnight and took the bunkbeds apart. I just can't risk that happening again. It was way too horrifying!



Zack in the hospital with his head wrapped (they put anesthesia gel on him & he kept trying to take the tape off... I couldn't hold the boy still even with his head injured!









The staples

The day of staple removal ( (Monday)

He's 2

Two years ago right now I was sitting in the hospital. My water had broken at 4 AM at home and I assumed contractions would start. They didn't so I waited. I was trying not to use pitocin, and to be patient and let things happen on their own. Again, nothing happened. Finally at 1 PM we started the pitocin and at 2:22 PM Zachary was here. I am so sentimental today! Right now he is playing with his toys with his big brothers and we are about to go for a walk and think of some fun things to do today. Tonight we will have cake and icecream.

Mother injures herself cleaning cobwebs... story at ten (rolling eyes)

Ok, mental note for the future. When picking a chair to stand in to reach the cobwebs in the entry way do not pick the rolling computer chair. I just about flipped the dang thing over... Leave it to me to get ambitious & almost hurt myself being lazy getting the closest chair...

He's not a baby anymore... ***SIGH****

It has been coming to me for a long time that Zack is just no longer a baby. It didn't hit me hard even when Benjamin was born. He was only nineteen months old and obviously still a baby. There were just two "babies" in the family. I still refer to Eric and Mark as "the big boys" and Zack and Ben as "the babies." This has evolved from the bigger boys being "the boys" and Zachary being "the baby". Forever I used the excuse that Zachary was too good at being the baby in the family and used to that status so who was I to push him out of that just because we had another little bitty one. But now, I see him moving on. It started to hit me when I realized he will be two very soon. When the other guys were two they were big boys by golly!! But Zack was still my baby. He's starting to talk more and others are starting to understand him, and while it is late (possibly another factor in my denial at him getting bigger) it is so much fun! And now, with his second birthday imminent (two weeks from today) he is spending his very first night in a big boy bed. Now, I've put him back in bed three times since beginning this entry, but now he's sleeping and when I put him in there and said "Zack's bed, night night sweetie." He had the biggest smile on his face. I love it!

I put this bed transition on hold for so long because ... I don't know. I didn't want to go through the transition, I was worried he wasn't ready. But he has been climbing out of the crib on rare occasions for a while now and after our recent trip to Oklahoma he was getting out every morning. Even then I was hesitant but this afternoon I went to check on him in Eric's room and he was quite happily laying in the bottom bunk. It was almost nap time so I put the blanket on him and kissed him goodnight. He is just ready.

He's not a baby anymore, but he is still an awfully cute little boy!