James is FOUR!!

Before we get to James…

Almost six months ago now I bought a program called Adobe Lightroom to use for editing pictures.  I had heard great things about it and was able to snatch it up at a super price.  I kept putting off installing and figuring out how to use it because I wanted to be caught up on all the things before I sat down to play with editing.  Except I am a homeschooling mother of five young children, and I am NEVER caught up on ANY of the things.  So finally I just got frustrated with the my current editing system and installed LR.  Then I found a webinar on how the heck to use it, and I let my house fall to pieces around me as I figured out a couple of the basics.

And… I LOVE IT.  It’s like somebody wrote a program based on how my brain works.  Hallelujah! I have by no means whatsoever figured it out (I could probably devote my life to the thing and never figure it out), but I think it’s going to streamline how I edit photos and how I organize them. 

I installed it yesterday and began by playing with some pics from James’ birthday.  One thing I know about myself is that I need a lot more practice and experience with color casts and white balance.  I just haven’t cultivated the eye for it.  But I can see myself gaining some confidence there, so that’s a start.

James’ birthday was last Saturday, and originally I had planned to celebrate with just the seven of us and then invite the extended family over for a celebration including the babies’ birthdays later in the month.  But then my dad and step-mom were down, so I decided to do something a little more special on James’ day and include all the grandparents.  Dad and Renee offered to pick up some chicken and fixings for lunch, Mom picked up the cookie cake, and Mamma and Pop brought ice cream.  All I had to do was clean the bathroom. (Wait… did I clean the bathroom?)

Before the lunch party, I took James out front to make sure I grabbed a few shots of his adorable four year old self before the day got away from me.

If you ask him, he will tell you he was sad because Gran wasn’t there yet. (She was bringing the cookie cake, and he knew she was on her way.)  But I ADORE this face.

I will do a separate post on the birthday party since I haven’t finished organizing those pictures yet.

Then in the evening I took him out for his “official” four year old photo shoot.  Normally we hit the pumpkin patch, but I decided to do something a little different this year.  Our church is undergoing some major construction, and I’ve been noticing that a couple of big machines are always parked by the sanctuary after their work day.  It’s not blocked off or particularly dangerous looking, so I thought it would be a great place for Mr. James’ fourth birthday shoot.  He was very good and agreeable about not touching anything.  We just looked.  And posed.  :)

Before we left, we climbed up the stairs by the sanctuary to look down at the construction scene.  It was fun.  :)

So… James.  At four years old.  I’ll write everything I can think of about him.

• He’s still got a great sense of humor.
• He plays so well with his big sister Natalie.
• I’m pretty sure he thinks of Joanna as his second mother, and she is very sweet with him.
• He loves to snuggle me, which I can never get enough of.
• He’s always thinking about the next meal, even while he’s enjoying the one he’s eating.
• He can whine and throw a fit with the best of them.
• He’s not particularly interested in writing or learning letters or numbers, but he’s curious about what his sisters do at school, and he asks questions.
• He calls Joanna and Natalie “the sisters” and Michael and Thomas “the brothers.”
• He can make his brothers laugh by being silly.
• He looooooves playing with his Thomas the Train engines.  They’re kind of his dolls.  And actually, he will play dolls for real with Natalie.  That’s love, man.
• There are just so many wonderful things about him – he loves to sing and dance.  He would rather be inside with me than playing outside. 
• He likes being “big” but plays the baby card sometimes – “I’m too little to ______”
• He has his own bed but can often be found snuggled up with Natalie on the top bunk.  He snores.
• We haven’t switched over to cold weather clothes yet, so he’s still wearing 3T short sleeved tops and 2T shorts.  I’ve gone through the cold weather things and he’ll be wearing 4T tops and pajamas and 3T pants.  I’ve started separating the boys clothes in the closet into a bin for the tops and bin for the bottoms in each size.  I’m pretty sure Michael will follow the same pattern.  :)
• He will usually go and get himself dressed in the mornings, and he does a pretty good job of coordinating things.
• He likes to dress up and play pretend.
• He’s become more interested recently in coloring and painting, and he does some nice work.
• He throws a fit when I drop him off at Sunday School or the nursery, but of course he has a blast.
• He loves that I teach his children’s choir class.
• He loves dessert so so so very much.  I think cookies and ice cream are favorites, but he’s not picky.
• He doesn’t take naps but will occasionally fall asleep in the car if the conditions are right.
• He’s just this adorable fabulous boy, and I can’t imagine my life without him!

Day in the Life in September, sort of

So September was CRAZY, and I never posted my DITL pics or schedule.  I took pictures that day, and at some point that week I even wrote down what I remembered from the day.  But I could not manage to find a few minutes to put it all together.  So at some point in the month, I took a picture of what I wrote and put the notebook away, letting myself off the hook for the post.  It was a good decision.  I just typed up October’s post, and my slightly obsessive compulsive self can’t leave September empty, so I’m posting that picture of my notes as well as the pictures I took that day.  It’ll be better than nothing when I look back on it.  :)

Well, that was fun!

Day in the Life in October!

So it’s the 9th and I’m typing up the DITL post from the 8th.  Go me!!

5:50am – woke up to a baby crying.  I got ready to feed while Matt changed their diapers and brought them to me.

This sweet face was up a little early as well:

6:00 – nursed the babies, then sent them back to bed.  They never went back to sleep (yuck!!), but it was okay for me because Matt didn’t have to leave right away.  I got to lay in bed until about 7:45 I think.

8:15 –  Nursed the babies again and Matt left for Jury duty in Humble.

This is my face while nursing.  :)

The big kids got ready while I was doing that.  After I fed the babies I changed them, got them dressed and cleaned up the dining room and kitchen somewhat from the morning.

8:50 – we left for Young Mom’s Bible Study up at the church.

By about 9:30 I had dropped off all five kiddos in two buildings and sat down at my table for some yummy breakfast.

We had Bible Study from 9:30-11:30, including a “Let it Go” sing along. (Oh I should have grabbed a picture of that!)

At 11:30, I picked up James first and found him singing along to an old VBS DVD.  Love it!!

We picked up the girls, then walked to the other building for the babies.  Sweet (ornery grouchy tired) Thomas was asleep in Miss Suzy’s arms.  I grabbed the boys and fed them one after the other on the big pew in the hallway. (I kept forgetting it was the 8th and that I needed to take pictures.)

We left the church about noon and Michael fell asleep in the car.  We drove through for some lunch for the kiddos (my Wednesday coping mechanism) and headed home to eat.  He actually stayed asleep until probably 1:00.  I brought his car seat into the laundry room while the big kids ate.

I read some to the kiddos while the babies ate their lunch.

At 1:30 Matt called to say he was on his way home!!!!  I was praying he’d get done early and be able to spend the afternoon with us, but I wasn’t counting on it.  He served on a petit jury for a traffic violation in the morning. 

Mom also called at that time and was headed over with some costume stuff for James.  She is helping me A TON to put together our Wizard of Oz coordinating costumes for the kiddos.  It’s going to be adorable!!

Joanna took the opportunity to read to Gran some things she’d written in her new journal.

2:30 – Gran left (Thomas is trying to follow her out), and Matt sat down for some leftovers for lunch.

We had a much needed lazy afternoon, including naps for the babies, a movie for the bigs (in the picture Matt is trying to clean the back of the DVD), and a little online Christmas shopping by me.

I nursed the babies around 4:00 and we headed to the church at 4:45 for dinner and children’s choir.

From 6-6:30 I taught my adorable three year old choir – The Lil’ Angels.  I have about a dozen this year – wahoo!

Then Matt and the boys and I headed home to get them ready for bed.

7:00 – nursed the babes one last time. 

Another nursing selfie! (Those are baby heads and hands, for the record.)

About 7:20 sweet Lisa dropped our girls off and everybody got ready for bed.  I headed out about 7:40 for a couple of errands, all alone! I went to HEB to grab a couple of things and then the library.

Joanna has gotten into the Nancy Drew mysteries so I picked up a couple for her.

This is one of those weird full-circle parenthood things, because those were my very favorite things to read as a child, and I got started on them in the second grade.  {Side story: apparently I didn’t enjoy reading, and my (PhD in Literature) father did not find that acceptable.  He found a copy of Nancy Drew #18 at a library sale and made me sit down and read it with him.  I was HOOKED!!  I’ve been a crazy reader ever since.}

Now, back to our post…

By 8:45 I was back home having cookies and milk with Matt.  We watched the Castle episode from Monday night.

Then I’m pretty sure Matt got up to get ready for bed and I crashed out a little bit.

We had lights out by 10:55, which is too late, but what can you do.  :)

This is a picture of the clock from my bed, taken with my iPod.

And that was it!

Sick and Hot

Last Wednesday we came home from dinner and choir to a very warm house and a not functioning outside A/C unit.  Boo.  We survived the night, but I slept very badly (I’m not so good with hot).  I thought we would just stick around and wait for the A/C guy to come in the morning, but I kinda had a breakdown so we went to my mom’s to wait.  Did I mention I don’t do well with hot?  Also, this little guy woke up with a high (for him) fever and feeling yucky.

I hate it when they’re sick, I really do.  But I do love my snuggles.

We ended up at my mom’s for the whole morning, and even though we brought school work, I was pretty busy holding Michael so we didn’t get much done.  :)

At one point Grandpa David took the big kids to a little pond near by to feed the fish.

Michael did this most of the day.  He slept on me or Gran, then he nursed, then he slept some more.  It was like having a newborn again.  :)

I think it was a little after noon that our unit got patched up at home, so we left Gran’s after our house had a chance to get down to 76 or so. 

In fact, with the fan on, I had to put a little blanket over naked Michael while we snuggled.

Joanna was A LOT of help with Thomas for the few hours until Matt got home.  I was stuck.

By bed time Michael’s temp seemed to be lower and by the next morning he was back to normal – weird snuggly fever virus.

The next afternoon (this is Friday now), James put himself to bed.  I think that’s the universal signal for “I don’t feel good.” I had to move him to put Thomas down for nap, and so I felt that he was super warm.

He had the same symptoms as Michael – fever, sleepy, feeling yucky, and just wanted to be held by the momma.

I gave him some Tylenol, he had a nap on me, then he woke up like a new man.  He ate dinner and played before feeling crummy again and then throwing up everything he’d eaten all day.  He just threw up the one time, but it earned him a spot on our bedroom floor for the night.  Thankfully we all slept well, and the next day was Saturday!!

He seemed totally fine but later in the day complained of his mouth hurting.  He has a buddy who got strep this past week and described his throat hurting the same way, so I checked.  I used my handy iPod flashlight to see some nasty tonsils.  Ew. The RediClinic was already closed for the evening and thankfully James felt better after some Tylenol, so we waited until the morning to take him in.  I was already planning for us to miss church, since I really didn’t want to pass along anything or receive anything new, thankyouverymuch! Our friendly neighborhood PA did a strep test – positive! – and sent us home with a lollipop and a prescription.  Since then James has been feeling great and playing as usual. His throat is starting to look a little better.

So, in the last month, I’ve had thrush twice and been on Diflucan for a total of four weeks and Nystatin cream for some of that time.  The babies never got it but they were treated with Nystatin for part of that time just in case. (I don’t want it again!!!) Natalie got swimmer’s ear, which I didn’t pay attention to right away so she’s finishing up drops for that. Michael had a double ear infection the week before his fever virus and we just finished antibiotics for that.  James is on antibiotics for the strep.  Joanna is the only who has so far escaped taking any kinds of meds.  :)  We’re ALL taking probiotics.  And of course I’ve developed a great charting system for remembering all of these meds!  Goodness fall! 

So I guess I’m thankful for the chance to build up all of our immune systems, but I wouldn’t mind a break!

Thankfully I felt up for getting stuff done this weekend and spent quite some time just getting the house in order.  I had piles of things in our bedroom headed out or coming in or that just needed to be put away, and it all got done.  I managed to keep up with my to-do list today, and it just feels fabulous.  I don’t feel like I’m drowning like I have most of September.  Now, my bathroom is gross, the kids closets need a few cold-weather things thrown in, my pantry and kitchen need some serious organization, and I’m not sure my stove will ever be clean again, not to mention the patch of floor under the babies high chairs. :) BUT… I’m treading water.  Hallelujah!! 

And now, I’m going to sit on the couch with my husband, eat some cookies, watch some television, and then hopefully go to bed early.  Momma needs her sleep!