Baby on the loose AGAIN in School Room

She has learned how to photocopy!!

School starts in one week and I've been rearranging and organizing this room (which is VERY chaotic right now). I hadn't noticed she slipped back in until I heard the photocopier (which I relocated to the floor underneath my desk).

Yep! She photocopied her hand!! What really irks me is that she didn't even bother to close the top so LOTS of color ink was wasted to fill the paper with a black/red background.

I'm starting to get nervous about this upcoming school year. No longer is the right math curriculum the most important issue (Singapore vs. Saxon ... don't even ask ..... I can't decide). I don't care that this house isn't completely clutter free.

What I want to know is ... which duck tape is the strongest and most humane?? ;-)

And does CPS frequent the blogs of homeschooling mothers with toddlers? LOL!!

What REALLY gets me is that all this is happening right underneath my nose!! Its not like I'm napping, talking on the phone or BLOGGING!! She's in the same room with me (except for this time)!! I just don't know how to keep up with her stealth capabilities. Were my first 4 children only preparation for this one??

Consequences of Having Baby in School Room

She will take a permanent Sharpie Marker and scribble all over your BRAND NEW 2 ft X 3 ft Wipe Board and 11 in. X 14 in. mini wipe board. You will be TOO UPSET to take take pictures for your blog. You will swear she is never allowed back in the learning room until Kindergarten. Smoke will come out of your ears!!

Oldest child will remind you that you tried to use permanent marker on another wipe board and it didn't stay permanent. Maybe you could try to clean it.

You swear you will buy stock in Expo Dry Erase Cleaner AND put all permanent markers in top drawer of filing cabinet.

Huggie Wipes will clean up baby's face.

And THEN you take pictures because you are relieved and amazed with the results of both boards and baby's face.

You also find out that Expo is an eye irritant and shouldn't be handed to baby for photo shoots.






How's your Monday morning going?!?

Consequences of Pen Pals

Today some of my girls received their first letters from new pen pals.

I was in the middle of cutting some fabric (more skirts) when I heard the girls squealing and tearing into envelopes. They were so excited to be getting their own mail. After re-reading them several times, they started composing their responses.

It wasn't until Catherine walked into the living room that we remembered about ..... THE STAMPS!! The girls had been stamping and in their excitement had left a table full of ink pads and stamps available for a little 22 month old troublemaker (AKA "Cousin IT").

Thank you Jennie! ;-)

Skirts

I finished the skirts yesterday. Here they are! In case anyone wants the pattern, I used Simplicity #8550.




I was happy to break in my new sewing machine cabinet. I see many more projects coming soon!

Teaser

I'm off to the store to buy some material for making skirts and aprons. I'll be back soon and when I'm finished I'll show you the finished product. Now how's that for a teaser?? Just think of this as a long commercial! Now you have to stay tuned and check back frequently so my visitor count at my sitemeter will go up!! ;-)

My Blog Rating

I hope this doesn't mean my blog is too boring?! Maybe I need to spice it up a bit? Thanks Jennie for the link!

More Pictures (of my blocks and girls)

Wooden Blocks

They’re here! My blocks The wooden blocks for the kids!! They were excited to see them. I dove in Kolbe started playing with them alongside me immediately.

Craig is very happy for me! He knows I’ve always wanted large wooden blocks. I promise to share! Here’s proof of me sharing:

Because I never outgrew playing with dolls .....

....... last night I curled my "dolls' hair." And three little girls went to bed full of anticipation and joy!!


This morning they were happy with their curls. My "Shirley Temples" are now playing band/rock star, complete with drums and tambourines.

No curls for this one!! Just a goofy smile and bed hair for Catherine!

My Weekend

I've been staying home these past few days. Keeping everything light. Catching up on reading to the kids or delighting in watching them read on their own. Isabelle and Anna have blossomed and I find them reading everywhere. Isabelle has declared herself a "good reader" and that she "loves to read."

Last night during our family prayer time, Sophia said she was thankful for our baby in Heaven. Its been a habit to pray for the baby every night and I think she felt she had to somehow include him/her.

Since I'm not up to cleaning and organizing, Craig has been a sweetheart. He's been making delicious meals. Caught me up on my laundry (I'm so embarrassed he was able to do it so easily) and built me a new bookcase for the school room. I've also been relieved of diaper duty!!

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CHANGING THE SUBJECT ........

This morning was made for a funny blooper video!! Last night we had a 20 second power outage. Long enough to turn off ALL the clocks in the house. When we went to bed Craig only "updated" our alarm clock according to his watch. This morning we got ready and were ready to go to mass when we realized we were late!! We would be over 10 minutes late by the time we left and arrived to church!! Since we wouldn't be able to attend 10am mass, we decided to go to the parish next door for their 11am mass. So we waited 40 minutes and then loaded everyone in the van.

As we were driving to the church I looked at the clock in the van. It read 9:50 AM!!!

ME: "Craig, is the time in the van right?"

Craig: "No, it can't be. It should be 10:50 AM."

Well, we turned on the radio and it turned out it was 9:50AM!! The church we were heading to DID NOT have a 10am mass but we were too far away from our church to make it in time.

Turns out Craig set our alarm clock to his watch ACCORDING TO EASTERN TIME!!!! He had been in Connecticut this week.

So we were late AGAIN to the 10am mass at our church for the second time. This time Craig was VERY frustrated so we went and had tacos. Then we drove home and just waited for the noon mass at OUR church. The kids were thoroughly confused!! They thought we were just skipping mass and going straight to the tacos!! Especially since we went back home after eating breakfast to wait for another hour!!

But we arrived 15 minutes early for the noon mass (which we have never attended) and got first pick of pews.

So later it dawned on me that I woke up and showered at 6:30 AM instead of 7:30 AM!!!

The clocks have all been updated!!

That was our morning.

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Yesterday (Saturday), Craig went to the local Catholic bookstore to buy himself some books. I asked him to pick me up a statue for the front yard and a picture of the Madonna of the Streets. I've hung it up above my desk. I've decided this will be my memorial for the baby. Something simple. To the casual observer its a picture of Mary holding the Baby Jesus. But to me it is also a reminder that she holds my baby too. Very comforting for me but also a private memorial. Only Craig knows the second meaning behind the picture. I've chosen not to mention it to the kids.

Thank You Dear Friends!!

Thank you so much for your heartfelt prayers and sentiments! They have helped enormously. I'm feeling much stronger and hopeful and can't wait for Craig to come home tonight! In the meantime I've been over-mothering my little chicks.

I thought I would be in the throes of sadness (and I am sad) but I've been keeping myself busy. I'm taking care of things I've put off. Catherine has been telling me for weeks everytime she needs to go potty. But I've been too lazy to act on her cues. Well, I got her potty out today. And some of her training pants. I'm about to order more.

I should have kept the Sandy Diapers I had. But I was convinced I was done cloth diapering. I completely forgot I sometimes use them for potty training. But that's okay. They went to a very dear friend! ;-) Remember, you-know-who, they can be used later at potty training time too!!

I also went to the store to get staples for a yummy lasagna dinner. While I was out I picked up clothes for the kids. I know I'm over compensating and indulging the kids. But I just can't help myself. I got them fruit roll ups, chips, and ingredients to make blueberry muffins for tomorrow morning.

And I ordered BIG wooden blocks that have been on my list for over a year. Every time I went to order them I was stopped by the $20 shipping fee. But last night I told myself, "What if they grow up and never have large wooden blocks because I didn't want to pay the $20 S&H?"

I also took Isabelle and Catherine to the movies last night to see Ratatouille. I just couldn't bear to stay home. Three of the kids spent the night at my mil's. Isabelle couldn't since she had VBS. So we turned the night into a date. And got home way past curfew. We enjoyed the movie and laughed alot! And when we got home we went to bed. She slept with me and Catherine.

I'm looking forward to Craig coming home. I will probably have to hand over my debit card. I feel an overwhelming need to clothe, feed and take care of my family. I also went to mass this morning and it was beautiful as always.

UPDATE

Well, I got back from the midwife around 2pm. Since they had to squeeze me in I did a lot of reading in their waiting room. The midwife was not able to find a heartbeat. And the ultrasound showed a completely empty sac. No tube even. The sac and placenta kept forming up to 7 wks 3 days but the baby stopped growing right after implantation, they think.

The kids were sad and even asked if they could pray for it to come back to life. Thankfully, I have both my mothers here and they both came to watch the kids. I'm disappointed about what will not be and so is Craig. But I can't even begin to say how much all the prayers have done for me. I always hear people say that they can feel the prayers helping. And I've always wondered if that was true.

I felt peace going to bed last night (knowing someone as far away as Australia would be praying for me while I slept!!). And although I was sad in the office, I know that life must go on. And I can't stop looking at my five miracles. I'm even more astounded that they survived and are here with me now.

Now I just wait for my body to finish and heal. Time to readjust my thoughts and plans for the next several months. I think its still sinking in. Thank you so much for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.

Prayers Please

Please storm Heaven with your prayers for me and the baby. I started spotting a little early this morning about 4am. I feel fine but fear the worst although I'm hoping for the best. You're prayers would be appreciated.

*Update: Thank you so much for your prayers!! I was finally able to get an appointment for tomorrow morning with a midwife. Craig just started a new job 2 weeks ago and I was just waiting until we had medical cards and were in the system. So I hadn't made any appointments. Well, now I'm considered an "unestablished patient" and everyone I called said the wait was 3 weeks for an initial visit. I've been on the phone all day and called this place several times and they finally decided to allow me to come in tomorrow morning despite not having all our insurance information or being established. I can be quite persistent when need be.

Sophia walked in on me crying and started asking questions. She automatically assumed it was something with the baby. I didn't tell her anything, though, because I'm still hoping for the best!! I really am! The kids will be devastated otherwise .. and so will I. So please just keep praying. Craig feels bad because he left out of town this morning and won't be back until Thursday but he's been wonderful in getting me all the information he can. And his mom is going to watch the kids for me. I'll know more tomorrow. I just pray that tonight is uneventful. And that I stay composed so as not to alarm the kids.

I'm really hoping this is nothing.

Secret to keeping kids entertained for hours ......

... at least mine anyways!! LOL! Craig gave the kids an old voice recorder he didn't need anymore. The ever-resourceful Isabelle found batteries and got it working. They've been upstairs for over 2 hours recording their singing & talking. They've recorded radio shows, interviews and superstar songs. They're hilarious!!

And their repertoire is even funnier. They just finished singing Feliz Navidad followed by Who Let the Dog's Out. I'm just glad they're learning Spanish!!

Its like de ja vu. I remember doing the exact same thing with my sister with my dad's old recorder.

Back to folding laundry for me. I have mountains and mountains and mountains of clothes to fold. So much for being organized. :-/

*Update: Oh my goodness! Apparently my kids think they can rap! Where have they even heard it?!

Miss Potter

We just finished watching Miss Potter for our family night movie and we LOVED IT!! Isabelle just came in and took our Beatrix Potter book off the shelf to go read a quick story before bedtime. She intends to read as many as she can tomorrow.

And the Beatrix Potter pictures that used to hang in their room (but weren't hung after the move because they were deemed too "babyish") have been requested back up on the walls. YEAH!!

There was LOTS of moaning and groaning when I announced tonight's movie. I'm glad they changed their opinion. Well ... except for Kolbe. He fell asleep right away and missed the whole thing!!

I've been inspired to make sure the kids spend more time doing nature studies and painting & drawing. This film is a wonderful inspiration to spend more time reading these stories to the children. A truly delightful movie!

How We Spent the 4th of July

H/T: Veronica

My Meez!!

This was too much fun! If only I looked this calm while pushing Catherine and trying to keep up with my family!! LOL!! This is one of our favorite places to visit. I would have added a Pan Dulce to my free hand but that option wasn't available. ENJOY!

PICTURE OF THE DAY: Another "Catherine" Sleep Pose

Well, right when I thought Catherine couldn't top her last sleeping spot, she found another one!!

Poor thing! She takes her daily nap at the same time every day in her high chair. However, when I get busy and forget to put her in, she takes matters into her own hands.