Early mornings

Why is it the one day that Ethan sleeps in past 5am, Chloe is up at 4:55? What is it that our kids have against me getting sleep? In actuality, I need to get to bed earlier, and get up earlier as well. 5am is when I should be up so that I can get some stuff done for the day before the kids get up. However, when you are up past midnight, it is hard to make yourself get up that early everyday. I know I am a morning person, as are our kids... well not Alex, and I don't think Ethan always will be. However, the girls are! When I sleep in, even if it is just untill 7:30-8:00 my whole day is off. That is why I need to get back to going to bed earlier, and getting up around 5am. That would probably help Adam get up as well, if I was already up.

Uggh, why is it that I can always think so clearly when I am typing it out. However, when 5am comes around, I just want to roll over and pull the sheet up to my chin?

Fake snore - potty

Ethan has this great fake snore. He does it now and then while he is playing. I noticed the other day while he was trying to go to sleep, he was doing it. Then again today, after being tucked in, he just lays in his bed quietly "fake snoring". It is sooo cute!! I don't know if he thinks it will help him fall asleep faster or what, but is is to cute!

Also, he went potty for Daddy tonight. I am so proud of him!!! I know that I just don't have the time to sit with him like I should. But tonight Daddy sat in the bathroom talking with him for a couple minutes, and he did a big pee after staying dry for a few hours. He is such a big boy!!!

gluten and casein

18 months ago, I tried to change our diets. I tried to go gluten and casein free for Alex. It costs soooo much that I gave up. Now we are having alot of problems with Alex. I feel so bad, I know that if I could change his diet that he would feel better, I just don't know how to do it! I could really use prayer right now. I need to find a way to cut it out of Alex's diet. Last time I wasn't really willing to force the whole family to switch to soy, and we can't get rice milk without vanilla in Knoxville. I guess I need to just do it. I can get rice for cereal and drinking straight, and soy for in food. I should probably try to get Alex in to a dietitian. In the mean time, I will plan to switch out our milk and start pushing rice over pasta.

While I am typing, Alex came in to give me a hug. He does this often... the poor kid. It has to be hard to be so loving, then so out of control, then back to super loving.
Lord, please give me direction on how to help Alex and our family!!!

ick part 2

Adam called me after he read the "ick" blog. We talked about how funny it is that Ethan can't stand to have "ick" on him. Then we had lunch. At meal time, Ethan almost always gets something on himself. Today, as happens often, he spilled something in his chair. He stands up as fast as he can and steps as high as he can and points to the offending food and says "ick, ick!" When we don't help him right away (shocking that with 4 kids we can't keep him clean at all times!) He will add an "eww" as well. So there he is pointing and telling me ick. I get teh seat cleaned up and he exhamins it to see if it is safe to sit, but as he sits, he feels his sticky shirt. He starts squirming and pointing at his shirt "ick, ew mom, ick ick!" I wish I would have taken a minute to grab the camera. He had a very small piece of jelly on his shirt, but the look on his face was to funny. He scrunches up his little face like it is the most disgusting thing on earth.

This little boy makes me laugh so hard every day!!! God sure has blessed our family!

My sleeping angel, you can kinda see the "ick" on his shirt by Elmo. He was mad that I didn't let him take a bath or even change his clothes.

ick, ick, ick...

Ethan loves to make a mess, but HATES the mess once it has been made. In fact, he will often stop in the middle of it to tell us "ick" and has to get clean right NOW! I was sitting here reading a friends Blog and Donna was making a snack (PB&J) for her and Chloe. I hear Ethan say "Ick, ick, ick!" Followed by "Oh Man!" from Donna. LOL it turned into a 3 ring circus as I let the girls deal with it untill they asked for help. Ethan had put his whole hand into the peanut butter while Donna had her back turned putting the bread away. (She is to young to know you have to start with the messiest food first) Then he put his hand straight to his mouth(of course). He had it everywhere. The girls got him a stool and had him washing his hand, but somehow he knocked the stool over and then got Peanut butter all over the counter and floor. That is when I stepped in to save the girls. It was so cute, they were working together so well!! They really wanted to take care of it.

They are so very sweet!!!

ABC's

We always sing our ABC's while we wash our hands. It is a trick that makes sure they keep their hands in the water more than a second. Chloe used to know her ABC's perfectly, then when she hit her head in November, that is one of the things she lost. It is soooo cute when she sings them. She sing up to S, but puts in X and finishes from X. So she skips s t u v w. We don't know why, or how to change it. We keep reminding her, but it is "q r x, y and z..." She also says "last year" and "next year" instead of tomorrow and yesterday. So each day is a year in her mind.

She has grown up fast trying to keep up with Donna, but this is a reminder that she isn't as old as she thinks just yet!

blankets

Today I was very mean!!! I washed all of the blankets in one load of laundry!!! Not the sheets, just the special "friends" and other special blankets. Our youngest 2 are very close to their blankies. Ethan was so mad at me he was stomping his feet, and poor Chloe ws just lost and sat their sucking on her little lip with tears.

It really made me think, what am I so attached to that it would "hurt" to let it go? I know the answer, but don't want to admit to it. I am the kind of person that as much as it hurts, I can let it go... however I wil replace it with something else. I used to watch to much t.v. I broke that habbit and started to spend to much time on my PC. I broke that and picked up eating to much. I broke that and ended up spending to much time on the PC again. Now I am stuck in the circle... I need to fill that space with prayer and bible reading not worldly "stuff". I need to show my kids healthy habbits, and moderation. I'm trying, and I pray that I can get there sooner than later. I am soooo tired of the battle.

This is totaly off subject, but how can a little 1 year old that is so exhausting be soooo full of peace? As I sit here waching him sleep, it calms me and helps me to know just how much our Father loves us. After all, he gave me this little guy to love and take care of. Does God look at us with the same eyes I look at Ethan with and think "How could I love someone so much?" It is hard to believe that God loves us, even more than we love our children... That is huge!

So sweet

I had told the kids to pick-up while I was working in the kitchen. It seems they all agreed that they didn't want to clean. I picked Ethan up and took him to his bed. As I turned around to look at the kids again, this is what I saw.

It didn't take Chloe but a couple seconds to take over Ethan's space. I Sooooo love when they are like this!!!

So why on earth am I poosting this now? I could be tearing everything out of the kitchen to clean and packe it up. I better run!

Clutter

I had a friend that told me this week that her father-in-law told her she still had time to teach her girls that they were "born to work". She said "but I think I was born to have fun, not work" lol I soooo understand! I don't think I was "born to work" either. HOWEVER, when you look around my home you can tell that I feel that way. It is time to de-clutter our home in a very big way!!! I took a van load out of our house today, I will drop it off in the morning at the "Almost Free Shop". (It is an awesome place run by a local church. Most things cost a quarter or less. You can bring them anything you would take to Goodwill, however it sells for far less, so I fell like it is a better way to go. I can't always afford Goodwill, I do buy stuff for the kids from the Almost Free Shop often.) Sadly, you can't tell that I took it out...

We also looked at a house this weekend. It is a house that we have admired across the street, knowing we couldn't afford it, but knowing it is the perfect size for us. Well, it got repossessed, so it is far cheaper now.It is half the cost it sold for 2 years ago, and now in our price range. The problem, our home isn't ready to go on the market, and we would have to sell our house first. ugggh

So we are working on finishing up all the projects we have started. The realtor told us he didn't think re-roofing would get us enough out of it, so not to bother. Actually, I'm very happy with the price he said we should put it on the market for.

So now we work our backsides off to get this house in shape and get rid of 12+ years of clutter. More importantly, we pray and pray hard!! IF this is the house for us, the kids would each get there own room. It is so hard, I cry at the thought of the girls not being forced to share a room. They need their space, but it would be not only dropping my standards on a kitchen, but more or less tossing them out the window. The kitchen is smaller than our upstairs bathroom is here. However, if our kids could have their own rooms AND a play room as well as a formal living room and a family room and a HUGE laundry room etc. The house has almost double the square footage of what we have now. uggh Prayers, we would really love it if anyone reading this could say a prayer that we know what to do here. For Alex, this will be hard no matter what, but maybe a short move would be good before we made a large move. Also, Adam and I need a kick in our butts to get rid of our clutter!

As for our blessing today... if we get the house or not, we are working on de-cluttering our home and finishing all of our projects. That is a HUGE blessing!

Birthday Gifts

Donna is a child that likes to spread out her gifts. She will ask before opening any gift, and she only wants to open one or two a day. (She takes the paper off them, but waits to take them out of the box) One that she opened today was a "little Pet Shop" toy. It had 2 puppies and a little pink soft rug. Chloe asked if she could play with one as I was opening it for her. She says "sure, you take the first one", and hands it to her. Ethan is sitting beside her begging "pease! pease!" so she smiles and says, "mom let him play with it, I'll be the rug first." 30 minutes later, she is still the rug, and very happy to play with her brother and sister that way. I am so very blessed to have such a sweet child!