Two Years

It's been two years since I last posted.
The last two years have been a roller coaster of ups and downs but I will do the best I can to do a brief updates. Last October we sold our house, and had to temporarily move into a smelly small apartment. Let's say that 6 people in a two bedroom 1.5 bathroom 800 sq feet apartment on the top floor with a dog is not fun. Thankfully, we were able to purchase a new house in our old neighborhood within 3 months of closing on our old house- I don't think I could have taken another month in that apartment!
After selling our old house we used the profit from it (the good thing about buying a foreclosure is that there is usually a pretty decent profit) to pay off every single thing in our lives. And for 3 months we were completely debt free for the first time in our 9 year relationship. Yep, even the vehicles are paid off!!
Baylie:
Baylie has just turned 9! Can you believe that?! One more year and she will cross into the double digits. She is finishing up her 3rd grade year and is doing very well in school. She has come so very far in the last couple of years. Something in second grade clicked in her head and suddenly she became the spelling queen. She's funny and loving and very maternal. I can't wait to see what the next few years bring for her academically because she is far surpassing anything anyone could have imagined (especially me!).
Daisy:
Daisy turned 7 in December. She is rocking 1st grade. She is so smart, I am blown away by how fast she picks things up. Last weekend she finally got the hang of riding her bicycle without the training wheels, we celebrated by buying her a new helmet with a unicorn on it :) I wish desperately we could afford to put her in sports- like dance or gymnastics. Daisy is thoughtful and witty and very helpful. Watching her grow and learn has been so much fun.
Pepper:
Pepper Jeannette...oh Pepper my Pepper. She is crazy and funny and spirited and so much more. She is getting ready to start kindergarten in the fall and is very excited. She's been in early intervention for about a year getting speech therapy, the school therapist thinks this will probably continue into grade school for her pretty pronounced lisp. The school calls PJ a "very strong will child" meaning that when she doesn't want to do something even the almighty power of God couldn't make her do it. We all that hard headed. She has a beautiful kind soul and she simply doesn't take any crap from anyone...ever.
Weston:
Weston is so smart, and funny and ALL boy. I love having a boy, he makes things....interesting. He's 2 and a half and is some where between the terrible two's and the threating threes, with just a hint of the forceful fours. He loves dirt and mud and tractors, but has to have Baylie's old purple blanket to sleep every night and lugs it everywhere with him when we go to town. He loves things that sparkle and shine- the brighter the color the better. He's at a stage where all he wants to do is help...he could help someone to an early grave I think! My life is definitely a little brighter with him in it and way more complicated in the best sort of way.
Everything else:
James and I are still doing good, 9 years of marriage and coming on 10 years of dating and I still love him- I call that a win. At Christmas we added another member to our family in the form of a 4 legged friend. His name is Cowboy and he is 1/2 standard collie, 1/4 border collie, 1/4 chow. He's been a challenge. Right after our move into the new house he started having seizures. For almost a month he had test after test and what seemed like an ever increasing dosage of medication to help control them. The medication cause excessive urination and behavior issues with the kids. It was looking bleak with him, we were pretty certain we would have to re-home him to someone that could afford his meds and dr. bills and had time to work with the peeing and behavior, but as suddenly as they came they left, we were able to back him off the meds and eventually stopped and they haven't been back home since. All the issues we had with the meds vanished as well.
I promise to update more. As I read back through all my old posts from the years of blogging I realized I missed writing out my thoughts, the kids crazy antics and the ever changing dynamic of our household. Those memories are written there for me to read whenever I feel like it for me to keep preserved and cherished for the future. Things I have forgotten with time and a busy life. And I know in the last two years there are things that I should have put down, cherished memories that are buried somewhere in my subconscious that may or may not resurface. And, so I will no longer blog to do it, but instead as a kind of indestructible memory album.
That is all for tonight.

A minute finally

We have been so busy lately, its been hard to find a moment to come on here and update!
First, Pepper Jeannette turned 3 last week!! Wow, its so hard to believe my baby girl is already 3! She's so naughty and challenging and beautiful and funny and sassy! What a cheeky girl she is. The other day I had my back turned to her as I was outside grilling. She came out and said "Hi momma!" It sounded just like Daisy so I replied without turning to see "Hi Daisy!" To which a very indignant Pepper retorted "I'm NOT Daisy! I'm Pepper!!" Then she turned and huffed back in the house. Oh how I laughed and laughed. My firey little whipper snapper makes me want to tear my hair out with her antiks and laugh with her humor and wit. She had a luau in the park to celebrate her birthday, and has now found a love of  "mingos" aka flamingos. I have my sister and my grandparents on the look out for a stuffed one for her.

Okay before you ask this is her birthday doughnut lol. A friend of mine was having a fundraiser and instead of a cake I bought PJ birthday doughnut on her actual birthday. The party had real cake and cupcakes!

My little luau princess!

Her real birthday party cake- Pink Lemonade! The picture looks pink and gray, but it was honestly pink and purple lol.

Weston and great grandpa.

Presents!!

 

I like making cupcakes. I just made a bunch for a friends baby shower. Theme was "Little Man" and she jumped on the 'stache trend.

 

Daisy did a princess cheer camp the first full week of this month. She had a lot of fun and did a great job! After her preformance we came home and she was being goofy with the umbrellas we used for the pink lemonade cupcakes.

Baylie got student of the month this month! Second year in a row she's recieved this honor! We are so very proud of her and how hard she works in school.

My sister in law and I have been training to run a 5k using the couch to 5k program- we've been at it about 3- 3 1/2 weeks now. This last weekend we did our first 5k- we kind of did a run walk and finished it in about 45 minutes. Thats not bad since we are only on week 3ish of 8! Either way we had fun and we can say we did it. Its race #1 of 5 in the 'feet dont fail me now' series our local rec center puts on. The next one is on June 13th and its only a 2 miler. BUT the next one after that is on July 4th and its 4 miles! But, we will have completed our training by then and should be able to rock the socks off of both of the next races! We aren't doing it to win or for time but to say we did it. And to get in shape.

This is after we finished- no one passed out or had a heart attack- we consider that a win!

 

 

I cant leave off my little man. He's 10 months now and finally started crawling properly. He's trying hard to stand on his own. His vocabulary consists of "momma" "dadda" "dog" "no-no" and on rare occasions "hello".  He understand far more than that though. He's so happy and laid back, such a great little person.





 

Autism Awareness Month- April

This poem is NOT by me, but its beautiful and perfect. I am not a fan of the awareness ribbons, so I have decided that the puzzle piece butterfly is my prefered symbol for Autism Awareness.
April is Autism Awareness Month. So in honor of my Baylie:

God’s Beautiful Butterfly
I am a child who has Autism,
Who may not do things exactly like you.
But that does not mean I am useless,
I have feelings and emotions, just like you.

I can hear the things you are saying,
Even though with words I cannot yet speak.
I may not be able to play sports like you,
But that does not mean I am weak.

I know there are many things about me,
That you simply do not understand,
But please don't assume things about me.
Talk to me, and perhaps offer to shake my hand.

I may have a mind that works differently,
Pages in a book – I may flap instead of turn,
But that does not mean you can't teach me,
You might be surprised at just what I can learn.

If you think when I don't cooperate, I'm misbehaving,
And conclude that I'm not disciplined enough,
Please take a moment to consider,
That the road I am traveling can be tough.

When you stare at me, point, or start to whisper,
It makes me sad, and I so want to cry ---
Why do you view me as some crippled caterpillar?
Why can’t you see that I'm God's beautiful butterfly?

~~~~~~~~~

February update

Wow, here we are in February already! And, it's been a while since I've updated this thing so here we go!

Baylie continues to like school. For the past 4 or 5 months she's been insisting that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. I tell her that's a great choice, but she will have to work hard and do good in school. She seems okay with this. She struggles a little in class, especially with reading/spelling/English, but she is improving and that's all that matters to us. She's a very loving big sister, she adores Weston and Pepper. She still fights a lot with Daisy, but I think its due to their close ages and general sibling rivalry. We've all been fighting a cold, but she seems over the worst of it now. She just lost her top 2 front teeth...on the same day! The tooth fairy sure had to fork it over that day! As of right now she has 3 holes in her smile, 2 on top and one on the bottom. This makes her absolutely adorable when she smiles! Baylie turns 7 in 3 weeks...7!!! Holy cow!!! To celebrate we are having a bowling birthday party!

 

Daisy is doing very good in school. She is now a registered Kindergartner!! She get's to start next fall at the same school Baylie goes to- provided she passes her screening on the 22nd of March. This is scary for me as Daisy is my little clown and, though I know she can pass the screening no problem, I worry that she will pick that day to be goofy with the tester and pretend like she doesn't know the answers. Talk about stressing her mommy out! We've been talking about how she will get to go to the big girl school like Baylie and how she needs to do good on the test or she won't be able to go to school any more. Perhaps a little over dramatic, but with her, over the top is best lol. She too loves Weston and is a very good helper with her little brother and sister. Daisy turned 5 in December! She had a small little party with family only, but we've promised her a "graduation" party in May when she graduates from preschool. Her cake was my first ever butter cream fill in picture- I now know that you must use thinner butter cream to "fill in" the picture. Live and learn I guess, she was tickled with it though- which is all that matters really :).

 

Pepper is...well...Pepper. She is lively and naughty. She love to push boundaries and buttons. But, she is one of the most loving children I've ever been around. She's so funny and her little voice is so cute. She had surgery last month to take out her tonsils and adenoids and to put in ear tubes. Surgery was rough on her. She ate lots of Popsicles but wouldn't drink anything. The Popsicles weren't enough to keep her hydrated and by her 3rd day out of surgery she went down hill in a hurry and landed in the hospital over night hooked up to an IV. The doctor said she was moderately dehydrated, but at that point the dehydration had made the swelling in her tonsils so much that she refused water completely, so he recommended the IV. After she came home the next day, she was a changed child- much more lively and active and willing to sip at her water. Since then she has made a full recovery and is up and bouncing around as usual. We have notice a difference in her speech and balanced, which tells me we absolutely made the correct choice in doing everything at one time. The picture is her waiting in surgery prep.

 

Weston is growing so fast! He is already 7 months old. He's now showing interest in crawling. He was interested before but couldn't get his big ol' belly off the floor, but over the past couple of days he's just about got it down. He didn't try hard before because he discovered rolling. And, I don't mean front to back woo-hoo, but rolling with a purpose to get from point A to B. Its so funny to watch him roll everywhere. He's my only roller. He loves his sisters and continues to be the easiest baby I have had. His happy relaxed demeanor attracts attention wherever we go, but I can't complain since he's the most handsome boy ever ;-)!! He's sitting up for longer amounts of time and he says "momma, dadda, and no-no". Just yesterday he started shaking his head no- which is super funny to watch. He is certainly a highlight in our lives.

 

 

 

Sick of it

Sick of what? Well sick of being...sick! In the past 18ish months, since we moved into this house, there has only been a few months (this past summer) where everyone was healthy. Recently, its been crazy bad! We had PJ with a throat infection at the beginning of the month, got that healed up in time for me to get Influenza A and of course everyone else got it too, right over Thanksgiving. We were just getting everyone over that when yesterday PJ got a stomach virus. At the moment I am feverishly praying that I secluded her enough yesterday that no one else will get it. I washed my hands so many times they are raw. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong here. They get vitamins, probiotics, sunshine (though probably not as much as they would if we had a fenced yard) my house is clean (as clean as it can be for having kids and a dog lol). Since school let back in I just cant seem to keep everyone on the up and up. I've come to the conclusion that its our house that's causing the issue. I think we may have mold. The inspector found some when we bought the house, but he told us that most of it was dry and what wasn't I cut out of the walls and replaced. I am thinking either its come back OR I missed some. But either way I have never had so many migraines, except when I lived in Florida, because I am allergic to mold it gives me wicked bad migraines and headaches. Also, my nose has been stuffed up since we moved in- also part of that mold allergy. So, I don't know what we are going to do about it. We'd like to move (it was our plan to move from here when we bought the place, it was only supposed to be our 'starter' home) but I don't think we can financially swing that right now. Its very frustrating to know its probably your house making your family sick and there's not much you can do about it for a while. I think this spring we will look at selling this place. After we get some doctor bills paid down and paid off then we will have a little more breathing room.

In other news, my little dude is about to turn 5 months old! How is that even possible? He's so cute! The other girls, when not trying to fight something off, are doing well. James is doing well too, he's trying to get into the weld shop at L&H for the set hours and the indoor work. His knees really bother him in the cold, and this year seems particularly bad for him and we haven't even got to the really cold stuff yet! That's about all the Soesbe news I have right now!

random thoughts for the month

Thoughts on baby:
My little big guy is 3 months old already! He's almost 18 lbs (17.12 as of a week ago) and 26 1/2 inches tall. That puts him firmly in 9-12 month clothing and starting to edge toward the 12 month side. He's so sweet and such a good baby. We are really enjoying his soft giggles and cute grin. He makes even bad day feel a little better.
Thoughts on diapering:
We are still cloth diapering. I have begun to feel frustrated with our currant brand because of leaks. It seemed that no matter what I did he ALWAYS leaked right aroung the legs. I adjusted the diapers, stripped them, double stuffed them and still they leaked. We were going through 3-4 outfits a day plus blankets and constantly washing the carseat pad out. I was really feeling like just selling them and going back to disposables. But at the encouragement of a friend of mine, who insisted that it was a brand thing, I decided to buy a different brand of diapers. She uses velcro closure diapers. They are fast and adjust better than the snaps do. But I was worried that the velcro wouldnt last with the constant washing. So, after some research and asking my moms (in my online mom's group) I was pointed toward a brand called Flips. They are made by the same company that makes BumGenious diapers. So after a few weeks of nail bitting and hem-hawing I pulled the trigger and bought 3. Well I thought I bought 3 complete diapers (thinking that the inserts were included). It turns out that the sale price I bought them at- buy 2 get one free- was only for the covers. So I was stuck, and decided to improvise by using the inserts from the other diapers, it also gave me a way to test to see if it was the inserts with build up on them or just the diapers. The verdict? Its the diapers and the brand. I absolutely LOVE the flips. LOVE LOVE them. They hold well, the inserts I have work great with these covers. The velcro is awesome, so much more fitted and faster. I also dont have to worry as much about it wearing out as you dont have to change the cover with each change, just the inserts. (Unless of course the cover gets dirty, then you should change it too.) But we have been leak free for 4 days and I am so glad- they have come through washing and drying perfectly too. Bottom line: spend the extra money for decent brand name diapers. But the inserts can come from anywhere. So long as they dont have build up. The inserts I have are nice and inexpensive.
Pictures to come soon!

2 months, school, and an update

School is back in session (Yay!!) and both big girls are back to the routine. And now, that we are creeping into fall I realize its probably time for a family update.

Baylie: Baylie is now in 1st grade! Its amazing to me that she's now in real grades that dont start with letters. She's loving school and her new teacher. Thankfully we have the same aid that she had last year and she's in a class with a few of the students that were in her class last year as well. Its made the transition much easier for her. Currently she's fighting the "start of school cold". Daisy brought it home last week and promptly shared it with her sisters. Baylie has it worst of all of them though, so she got a free pass to stay home yesterday and rest. We are hoping for a really awesome school year this year!

Daisy: Daisy is in her last year of preschool at the Center. She really loves it. So much so, that yesterday when I went to pick her up she was crying because she didnt want to leave. I am excited for her to have her last year and graduate this spring. She brought home the cold last week, was sick for about 2 days with the sniffles and a slight cough and now shes pretty much healed up. So unfair that she gets everything 1/2 of what everyone else gets. lol.

Pepper: Pepper is a sweet beautiful amazing child with a naughty streak as big as a house. She loves ticking off playing with her sisters, and loves her baby brother a lot. She's very smart and has recently started counting. So far she's got to 5. I can't wait for her to start preschool next spring and to watch her bloom, as I'm sure she will. She got 2 new molars in this last week, so she's been a bit on the grumpy side, but she's starting to come back around now that they've broken the surface.

(This picture of pepper is copyrighted, I have permission to use it. Everyone else does not. Please do not copy this picture for any use)

Weston: Weston is now 2 months old!!! I keep telling him to slow down but he just wont listen to me. "Little" man is about 24 inches long and 16ish pound. We had to buy him a new car seat a couple weeks back because he'd out grown the first one. He gets stronger every day and is an amzing sleeper at night. He is deffinately a joy in our lives. I told James that it was a good thing Weston was the last baby and not the first, otherwise I would have wanted a whole baseball team of them! lol.

James: James is still working for L&H. He really enjoys working for them. He no longer puts in the Megadoors (unless they are short handed), instead he now works for the oil field crew. He loves it out there :). Today is his company picnic, and I am hoping Baylie feels well enough that we can go. Recently, he under went a little operation to ensure that Weston is indeed our last child. I say thats fair since I pushed out 4 babies and have gone through 2 surgeries as a result of my close pregnancies. He's an amazing husband and father. I couldnt ask for a better life partner than him!

Me: I'm doing well. Still feeling a bit on the tired side, dispite having a good sleeper. Its taken me about a week to find a routine that worked for all of us where school was concerned. I am working through ways of trying to save us money now that all those doctor bills have come in from having Weston. I am looking to homemade freezer meals, homemade snacks, and trying my hand at homemade laundry soap as well. Learning to go back in time is harder than it sounds, but its something I need to learn for the financial well being of our family.

That's about all for now.