Let the Countdown Begin

This past week another great milestone was I hit 30 weeks pregnant.  YAY!  I can start counting down now.  Counting down is so much better the end is nearing, the end is still the end of July.  I am going to be miserable in July and probably grumpy in June.  I have so so much packed into the rest of May it will fly in a blink.  Good and bad because every second that happily passes quickly till I have a new baby is another second gone of my other babies lives.  I do so much wish time would stop and I could have more of it with my precious children, even if that meat pausing pregnancy.

For now lets focus on 30 weeks!



The whole pregnancy has gone pretty quick.  I am feeling well.  Good days, bad days, today a sunburn day.  I am busy as ever and baby is okay with it.  I have heartburn all the time.  A soda with me always, it helps.  But has also helped me put on a lot of weight.  I am at 167 pounds, OVER what I delivered at last time and still 10 weeks to go.  Good thing my gym has babysitting.



Many things are harder.  I can barley lift my little 25 pound princess.  The babies do not fit on my lap.  I am generally uncomfortable and am very tired of climbing swing sets and bleachers to retrieve kids.  I don't have any specific craving but I am hungry all the time.  Baby moves constantly, I love it and it reassuring.  Evan thinks its funny and often touches my belly.  Smiley and Faith have no idea that a baby is coming.  They are to young to understand so I don't even try.  The older boys are excited by more focused on themselves and what they have going on.  However they do get disappointed that I do not take the on bike rides anymore.  I will try my best to fit one in this week.  Last time I did was at t he beginning of the month and I drove in the car with the windows down behind them.  Does that even count?

I have bought almost nothing for this child.  I have a lot of baby items all ready and should look at what I need clothes wise since Faith was born in March and this one will be in July.  But having done this 4 other times I no how truly little you do need.  I bought 1 pack of diapers.  Ha!  I know I will be making a trip to Sam's club soon.  And I would love a side by side pink jogging stroller.

Doctors appointments are every two weeks but I always call and cancel.  I find an excuse and push them three weeks apart.  Baby is doing good heartbeat stays in the 140's and I have other things to do.  If something were amiss I would call them.

Overall and thanks to God it is good.  Let's keep counting down.

Resetting your future and goals

Sometimes consistency is good.  The familiar and comfort of routine is easy to fall into and hard to step out of.  It can often lead to doors left close, opportunities missed and staying in the same place.  I truly hate "what ifs".  If I what if'ed my life I would be depressed and resentful.  When my kids start what if'ing I put a stop to it right away.  But there's are usually the dumbest ones with no relevance and completely in left field.  However that is the ways anyone's are if they are doing it about the past.  You can not change the past.  It is over, behind you.  But the future is still ahead of you and you can do almost anything in it.

When I was a teenagers I  never really wanted to go to college.  The sororities and parties sounded fun but I otherwise was not interested.  I did not like school work and did not want to do 4 more years voluntary of harder school work.  College was just not for me.  Ironically I am hearing the same from my oldest now.  Mom, I don't think I will go to college.  But he loves school and has a long time to decide that.  I have almost no doubt he will change his mind.  He want's do be a video game developer.

But at 17 I did go to college.  I did not know what else to do.  I went for 5 years to 3 different schools.  Community college, a Private university, and an international abroad study.  There were good parts.  I loved traveling the world and through school I was allowed some of the best experiences of my life.  If I had time and money I would do so many more international studies and trips.  Yes now I can take vacations to all those places but when you go on a student trip it is quite different than a tourist trip.  It is a bit more "real".   But it did not turn into anything.  I was not ready for college or prepared for afterwards.  I was to young.  It was not the right time in my life for the studying academic part of it.  I did not have the right focus and the organizational skills for it.  So it all fizzled out to be just an experience I went through.

As I job hopped afterwards for years I knew I was not doing much with my life.  I was also very broke and very much in debt.  I had raked up tons of student loans with no real job to pay them back.  Then I had kids.  I wanted more for them better for them.  I thought I love these babies I want to help people have babies too.  How hard could it be and what would I have to do to become a midwife?  I shortly looked into it but as time flew the idea went to the back burner.  I found other decent paying jobs but hated them.  I continued having more kids and again time just kept flying.

This past fall pregnant with my 5th child and working in a job I like but does not cut it financially, and the help of a Joel Oestien book Your Time Is Now, I again thought about the idea of going back to school to do what I want to do and will be the avenue to afford all these kids.  The what if's hit, if I would have started this when my first child was born I would be WELL done by now.  But I quickly squashed that.  I can't complain about a what if I can only do from this day forward.  With Joel's motivating thoughts in my head, with my older mind that is not shy of hard work and challenges, and a positive attitude I applied for college again as an adult.

Soon I was accepted.  Not only accepted by accepted into the pre-medical/biology program.  I had looked closer at being a midwife but deemed that is not really for me.  My personality and it could work but with a few more years I could be a real baby doctor.  After 5 kids it is about time I am on the other side of the table.  But knowing I have 5 kids and am in my 30's I talked with the advisers about that reality and I just don't have the time most students do.  That is why I am doing the biology route.  If I find out this is too much for me to handle I can stop with a new bachelors that could still let me work in labs and this I am only looking at a 2-3 year commitment, the took my other college credits into consideration.  If I choose to go on the 4 more years through medical school that door is already there for me I can take it if I want pending acceptance to medical school.  Not necessarily the easiest thing to do.  All still could be done before I even turn 40.  Not to shabby.

So this past week I have started school again.  I was a little nervous but that has now been replaced by business.



Why the tinkerbell?  I don't know.  My son added it there, he thought it was nice so I left it.  I do feel old and obviously very pregnant.  I am the only pregnant one in class.  I was worried about being the old mom in the class.  But I am not the oldest and there are other parents as well.  I am the only pregnant one.  And the only one with 5 kids.  I took the two babies there today to the bookstore only and whoa was that an experience. I was chasing them around, leaving stuff all over, reputing their finds back on the shelf's, 2 big mess through the clothes diapers changes and BTW colleges do not have changing tables in the bathrooms.  I was unable to get what I need and was told just to call on Monday.

This summer I have 3 classes and in fall 2.  I do not have the time right now to go full time since I have to work to pay for 2 private school tuitions and food, kinda important.  But I am off for the summer so I spend my time managing all the kids, their activities, and a lot of studying.



What has turned out to be wonderful is how happy the kids are for me.  When I come how my oldest excitedly asks me Mom did you have fun at college today?  Did you learn a  lot?  I love being this example for him.  Me sitting in front of that wall was the same I took their first day of school pictures in front of.

It is not going to be an easy road.  I know that.  If it takes me longer than so be it.  But at least I am on the road.  And the road is beautiful.

My Mothers Day

It was nice.  It was a pretty normal day to be honest.  I would have liked to have something different than normal.  I would have like to have a fancy day where we all dressed our best went to a nice restaurant by my standards (the kids think if it does not have a drive through it is fancy).  Linens, fresh flowers, china, soft colors, music and and great view.  Something we don't normal do, can you imagine why?  That is why it is something I would have liked, it is not the same old thing.  But I have young kids and they need to be babes.  So he headed to the park to play and bar b que.

It was a great day weather wise.  So nice.  And I had all my littles with me they were happy to celebrate mother's day.  That made it it fun.



They had worked on some projects at school and made sweet cards for me.  Evan made me a scarf which I tied in my hair that day to make sure I wore it.   He even made me breakfast of toaster french toast sticks :)





My second mother's day with all four.  Next time I will have another little girl to add to the photos.

They played on the playground for a long time.  I spent more time than I would like chasing them around it and pulling Faith down from places she should not have climbed to.



That was another reason I wanted something differnt.  I am always pulling her off stuff and it is getting harder and harder.  I wanted a break for a day from that but no.  But she had so much fun and of course made her many faces while sliding.







over and over and over



This one and her faces!  She is so animated, so funny, makes us all smile.



The boys played on the playground too but they had fun in the creek  most of all.





And for Jay he cooked some kabobs.  At least I did not have to cook.



It was a nice day.  I love spending time with the children.  They are so wonderful and are the reason I get to celebrate Mother's Day.

Wyatt's First Mothers Day

Almost 1 month ago, April 19, our cat became a mother of 4.  We weren't really thrilled.  We did not exactly want to keep the stray that kept coming around unknowingly full of kittens.  So we certainly did not want 5 cats.  But the boys did.  We kept Wyatt and when she had her kittens are plans of getting rid of them the first day diapered to become petting them and taking lots of pictures.  They are just so stinking cute, damn.

Jay was sleeping or at least trying to April 19 when he heard chirping from my closet.  I heard him yell "Karen I think I hear kittens!"  I ran up stairs in disbelief.  I had made a birthing box for Wyatt in the basement but as she normally does she was hanging out upstairs in our room.  Yes there she was in my closet with 4 tiny kittens crawling over her.  Ruined a few of my dresses too, but at least not the carpet.



We moved them all to the box.  They were so tiny.  Thankfully there were only 4.  Three spotted and one orange.  I don't know what they are, the boys say it is 3 boys and 1 girl just like our family but who really knows.  I still don't know.



They nestle so close together.  Eyes were shut.  I did not know newborn kittens could even make noise.  I know nothing about cats.  That was also why I was surprised when Jay said he heard the chirping.



We brought them all down to the basement where the children proceeded to name them.  My Evan just loves them.  He loves all animals.  They should be thankful he is here.  Although after we saw them we knew we had to take care of them plus Wyatt.

We pretty much left them alone minus the constant snapping of pictures.



We gave Wyatt extra milk and food and left it up to her.  We did not handle the kittens but would check to make sure they were all still there and living.

As you can expect they kept growing.  They seemed to be doing real well.



Still I did not do anything but change there towels and a little cleaning up.  Wyatt was doing a great job as a mother.

At 9 days they opened there eyes.  The were creepy looking completely black.  Creepy but still cute.





That is Goldie she is my husbands favorite.



Wyatt does not like us messing with her kittens.  She meows heavily anytime we are with them.  Yes that is my basement where the kittens live.  It is a dug basement very common here in PA and very yucky.  We do not use it and I never go down there, spiders and all stay there.  I have been down there more in the past  month that I have been down there the entire time we have lived in this house.

As the kittens will be 1 months old this week they have become the cutest and playful little things.





Evan is as crazy now as ever about them.  They are the first thing he runs to when he wakes up or comes home from school.  He is always down there playing with them.



At 8 week we can give them away and we plan to.



We have all ready found a home for Goldie.  But any of the others are up for the taking!



We are not keeping any but Wyatt.  You can keep as many as you would like they are so cute after all.



That one the kids named Wyatt Jr.  They say she looks just like her?



She has a gray nose that is the only way I can identify her.



The other two look alike to me.  I probably snap pictures of the same cat over and over thinking I am getting the two different ones.



It has been an unexpected experience having kittens around.    One I never had thought we would have.  In the end I am sorta glad it happened.  It has made the kids happy.  It won't ever happen again as we are getting her fixed asap!  Even good experience you don't always want to repeat.

Happy first and LAST mothers day Wyatt.  You are a good kitty mom.

Diaper Wreath

For our new little girl some friends decided to surprise me with a sweet wreath.  You have seen diaper cakes, now diaper trikes but have you seen diaper wreaths?



It is a bunch of diapers wrapped around wire I imagine?  I don't really now I can't bring myself to open it.  Little patriotic clothes folded and tied to the diapers with red white and blue ribbon.  A big bow attached and glittery stars all around.  The best still itty bitty tiny patriotic sandals.

When they made this for me they new the baby was going to be  July baby.  But it was when we still did not know if it baby was a boy or girl.  It is good she turned out to be a girl because they had faith and got girl clothes!

I love it.  It looks so good and is something too cute I will have to replicate.

Gates Can't Hold Them

These two keep me hopping.  Espically her my climber.  I knew a perfect princess was to good to be true.  She climbs and gets into thing constantly.  I can't even pick something up before she has climbed to the top of the fireplace, iltterly.   I am so worried.  We have baby gates throughout the house.  They at least slow down this twosome.  But stop them absolutly not.  They go under.



Poor babies mama has you locked in the other room.



hahaha not for long mama



I am a super princess you can't stop me.



Ah ha I did I did it!  Now to get my brother with me.



okay Smiley just do what I did.  Crawl under the botttom and you will be free.



Fine I will help you.  Let me hold up the gate just come on in.

I wonder what they were thinking.  I wouldn't see them?  As I am sitting 3 feet away snapping pictures of their whole escapade.  I know they just don't care.  Mommy will laugh and kiss us she always does.

Wow these two.  What will they think of next?  How am I gonna combat it?

Race for Education 2012

Yesterday was the great race.  The boys got ready to run their 2nd race for education.  What a big deal this is for all the children involved.  They are excited for weeks.  This year the head of school added some extra excitement too.  The school set a goal to raise $18k from their race for education.  The kids raised that fast.  So she challenged them if they could raise $20k by race day she would get them a real gaga ball pit outside.  It came so close.  The day before they were only $200 away.  I thought they could do it.  The parents would not let it slip away with that little to go.  There are around 180 students at the school so if every kid brought in $2 they would pass the goal.  But the day came I had heard nothing but assumed the best.  And yes they did it.  They got a new gaga ball pit!  Not to mention over $21k for MAC computers and Smartboards, a pizza party and a Rita's party (it is Italian ice).

This is such a big fun day at the school.  They really do a great job pumping it up.  My kids went to bed at 8 the day before so they could rest.  They however stayed up past 9 just chatting about different ways to run, who's the fastest, how many laps they are going to do.  They were hard to silence so they would sleep.  And waking up was like waking a kid up on a holiday.  I simply whispered get up its time to get ready for school and they popped up it is race day!

Families come out for this event too.  And by a change of plans I had the two babies.  We all went to cheer on their brothers.  They sorta lined up, more like a heard of cattle they were corralled and then they were off!



The theme of ROCKY, eye of the tiger,  played behind them as they started off so enthusiastically.



They made the first lap this blustery day!  If they had kites they could sail through the race.  It was such a nice day when the wind would stall but was chilly otherwise.  At least it was not raining.  They came around finishing the first lap.  They were all still going strong at a pretty fast pace.



After that it started to break into the walkers and the runner.  They run for 1 hour but can break whenever they want and can run any speed they want.

Gregory ran at a steady pace.



But he did stop for a few breaks and some power walking with his best friend.




Evan on the other hand is not much of a runner.  He would sprint around a few times then sit under the shady tree for a while.



Families can not only watch and cheer but race too.  I sent Smiley who wanted to race with Evan and that got Evan moving.



They started out together.  Smiley wants more than anything to be like his big brothers.  But Evan wants almost nothing to do with his little brother but tease him.  So he sped off.  Leaving my littlest boy behind.



Smiley tried to catch up and made it 2 laps a quarter of a mile, before he stopped and saw the swing set.



Remember after all he is only 2.  It is more fun to slide.  He had a good time.




The big kids did great.  An awesome job!  They both beat their best of last year.  Gregory ran over 6 miles and Evan over 4 all in under an hour.



Comparing punch cards, they get a punch for each lap.

As fun as the race was the babies and I went home to wait for the big boys to return for our favorite part.. the celebratory dessert!



We had a yummy delicious cake this year.  Well all the kids worked off their calories ahead of time as for me oh well.  I wish driving burned up calories.



As if a race was not enough they also had a baseball game that night.  Exhausted me and the babies fell asleep in the car waiting for the pregame practice to end.  I did not mean to but a few minutes was needed.  For the big kids they sure were not easy to wake up this morning.  I shook them, rubbed them, turned on the lights they were like elephants not ready to get up.  And that night it was withing 3 minutes of them laying on their pillows they were sound asleep.

Gregory was limping around this morning complaing about his legs hurting.  I gave him some ibuprofen and a hot shower.  He still was not top notch.  I showed him an inspirational quote

Source: fitfighter.tumblr.com via Elizabeth, on Pinterest

And then told him to get to school.  When he came home I asked how it went and he said they all were hobbling around.  Hahaha  But they all were there.  I am so proud of my boys, their friends, all of the Montessori kids.  Rest up children there is another race next year!