Sickeness

My house is full of sickies!! First Asher was running a fever and had a headache, for like 2 days. A few days after that the other two got it. And you know how a baby is when sick! Then Asher got a cold, which turned into a sinus infection and it wasn't long again before hte other two got it! So now, Asher is almost all better. He's a little stuffy and has an occasional cough, but he doesn't have thick green snot coming out of his nose at all times. Canaan's didn't turn into a sinus infection, so he's almost over it as well, with a slightly runny nose and residual cough. Genesis is still full blown into it, with snot everywhere, coughing at night etc. And of course, yesterday it hit me. I had to take DH to the dentist to get his top two wisdom teeth pulled out b/c one of them was breaking apart and causing him major pain. By the time we got home I had a huge sinus headache, and a stuffy, runny nose.

Luckily the house was clean two days ago so I've been able to let it a slide the last two days. My head is still killing me and I feel dizzy whenever I stand up. Of course now would be the time that we desperatly need me to do laundry. Thank goodness for 5yr olds!!Asher has been a huge help on laundry. I seperated it and start the washer, but he loads it up and helps me switch things to the dryer and empy the dryer. I don't think we'll be getting anythign folded today though ;)

I've been taking lots of vit C and garlic, but I'm not optimistic since the kids were taking it too and it still lasted over a week for them. If I could just get rid of this sinus headache I'd be alright I think.

Yay for a clean house!

So Sunday morning, DH went to work and then so did I! I spent all day cleaning this house from top to bottom. It looked better than it has in months. DH was so happy when he got home and saw it. As much as he says he understands that I'm sick, he also gets annoyed at a dirty house! Of course by the time he got home I was so tired and sick I didn't do anything but lay on the couch for the rest of the day, but he didn't care. The house was clean. So it is my goal to keep it from falling apart again in the next couple weeks until my morning sickness is gone. Yesterday and today I've done great. I've gotten the dishes done, the floors swept, all the toys are picked up in the evening. And I've even gotten a few other things done that I didn't get to on Sunday. Celebrate with me YAY FOR A CLEAN HOUSE!!!!

Lack of Motivation

I lack serious motivation. I have a tendency towards laziness. Over the last several years I've made huge strides, but as soon as I have a semi-decent excuse to not do my jobs, I don't do them. So my house is falling apart big-time. Yes I'm nauseus. Yes, I'm tired. But I'm not THAT nauseus, and I'm not THAT tired. I can still be doing my jobs! I haven't actually thrown up, which I guess is good, lol. And I only feel mildly worse when I'm working. So I need to jsut get over it and do my job! I'm slowly adjusting to having morning sickness and more is getting done, but I'm still barely keeping up with the basics. My love-seat is covered in clean clothes. Half folded, waiting to be put away. My dishes are only getting washed every other day rather than twice a day. The bed isn't getting made, the floors aren't getting swept. It's horrible. Luckily my DH is understanding, but he also knows my tendency for laziness so sometimes he gets frustrated. He has helped me out some though and has actually cleaned the house twice in the last couple weeks. I'm thinking about asking him to do one thing for me every day, if he's up for it. Things that I"m just not getting to but need to be done. Like mopping the floor, cleaning the bathroom. B/c I really am wiped out after just daily stuff, if I even get it done.

A post on a message board the other day really gave me some things to think about. A mother of many children (I think she has 12) was saying how after you have about 4 or 5 kids you really need to work like a professional. It takes more skill, more education and more dedication than the average mom of few. (No offense to moms of few, just stating the facts!) So right now is my training period and I need to take it seriously! This is my chosen profesion. It needs my dedication if I'm going to be any good at it as my family size increases. Of course about the time I was ready to get started we had a water line break and I was without water for two days so the laundry and dishes fell even farther behind. I'm just now getting caught up from that with dishes and laundry all washed. I guess I'm telling myself that I need to get off the couch and get to work! It's almsot 10am and I"m still in my pjs!

The changes morning sickness brings

Today I went grocery shopping with my sister-in-law and her grandmother. All our groceries were in the back of the minivan (with the back seat taken out) and while somewhat separeted they still kind of meshed together. After we got back, DH was unloading our groceries and I was going through and trying to pick out what was ours and what wasn't. DH picked up a bag "Hotdogs, that's not ours" "Um, yes it is honey" "Oh. Well this bag with 4 boxes of Mac n' cheese isn't ours..." "yes it is" "oh." The joys of a mommy with morning sickness!

Been MIA

I know, I've been MIA. Wouldn't you know it, insomnia kicked in actually right before my bfp, then the kids got sick, and now morning sickness has hit. So I'm not in much of a mood for anything right now, lol. The tiredness is kicking in too so I've lost like half my internet time since I'm now sleeping during that time, lol. My house is falling apart already and I've probably got a good 6wks of this left. Save me now.

So much for the benefits of not being pregnant

Because I just got a positive pg test this morning!! It was a very faint line (but DH saw it, so it couldn't have been too too faint) so I'm gogin to test again in a few days, but it was definatly positive. We're pregnant!! Baby #4 is due somewhere around January 16th. It's a little later than normal for us, but that's ok :) I"m so excited. I've been jumping around the house all morning. Now I really need to get this house in order so it will stand the 3 months of morning sickness and extreme tiredness!

Good things about not being pg yet.

Right now I actually feel very content in not being pg. I have faith that God knows what is best. So yes, I would love to be pg, but I'm actually really enjoying my family how it is right now. I've got an awesome cleaning schedule going and I've finally got my schedule through the day and sleeping figured out. I have time for extra pursuits, like baking and gardening that if I were pg I would probably be too tired to do any of it.

Best of all, I'm loosing weight! I've never been a very big person, but I keep a few pounds after every baby along with a few skirt sizes. I seem to recall that shortly before getting pg every time people start commenting that I look like I'm loosing weight, but after getting pg it didn't much matter. Now that I've gone the longest ever (since getting married) not being pg, I'm back down to pre-Canaan size and weight, and it's still dropping! In a few more months I may be pre-Asher size. It's awesome! Now if I only I could get rid of this mommy pooch.

I'm also really enjoying nursing Genesis. Usually by now my milk is starting to dry up and I haven't had to worry about that. Genesis seems to really need nursing right now anyways. She's still majorly teething and now she's sick :( My poor baby threw-up earlier this after and has a fever. She spent the last few hours just sitting in my lap and now she's sleeping. Of course silly me took her diaper cover off b/c she had put Dominoes in it and didn't get anythign back on her, so her diaper is all wet and now my skirt is too, but I don't dare wake her. I hope she feels better soon.

Lack of concentration

Ugh, I have had no concentration lately. I can't focus at all. Whenever I try and read, I end up just skimming. This of course ends up making me not blog either b/c I loose my train of thought half way through!

Yesterday some people that DH knew growing up stopped by. Dh knew both the husband and the wife and they seem to be really great people! She's a sahm and likes to cook and bake, which gives us a little somethign to talk about. She brought a delicious trifle, it had strawberries, pudding, brownies, cool whip, etc. Yummy. When I told DH to get the bowl for her to take home she said we could finish eating it and she'd just get the bowl back later. Which I think is a good thing, right? B/c if she hated me and didn't like us then she would have taken the bowl, not left it behind to retrieve later. Kind of like on TV when someone goes on a date and they leave somethign in the other person's car so they have a reason to see them again. Hmm...does this show how desperate I am for a rl friend?

Speaking of rl friend's, the neighbors across the street are really nice. We hang out a lot just b/c our kids are always playing together and are back and forth across the yards. There isn't a ton of conversation though, which I feel is partly my fault b/c I'm not a great conversationist, but I think she has the same problem, lol. So I've been trying to find things to talk about, but keep coming up short. I've asked about her hobbies, but she apperantly doesn't have any, which sounds a lot like I used to be! I only recently got into sewing and baking and such.

Despite my lack of concentration, I've actually had a really productive week. I stayed on schedule pretty much every day, except I slept in on Wed. We've started school back up, which is goign ok. I need to find somethign to do with Genesis though b/c she keeps getting into everythign we're doing. I've tried special toys, crayons, etc and nothign is working. I can't do school during her nap time b/c DH is home. I thought about having Canaan play with her when I'm doign school with Asher, but I actually want him present while we're doing school b/c there's a lot he can pick up on, and he sits so well. I think I'm goign to try letting her at the table until she starts getting too out of hand then making her play alone in the living room. It'll probably take me a while to train her, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

I've also got a ton of stuff to go through to get ready for yard sale, so that's been keepign me busy.

Been missing this week

I've just has one of those weeks, surely you know the kind, right? But I'm goign to start getting back on track tomorrow. Which actually starts my weekend, but whatever. I need to do spring cleaning and do the big clothes switchout. And I'm actually looking forward to it. Odd.

This is kind of funny. Last Thur I went down to DH's grandma's house to clean for her. She's getting up there in age and can't do quite as much as she used to be able, so I went to help out. I mopped her floors, vaccuumed, dusted a bit, cleaned the bathroom and helped her move some furniture around. We went back later in the week to visit and she said somethign about "a lady came to clean my house a few days ago" and I was thinking "well that was nice of someone... duh, she's talking about me" lol. I thought it was a bit funny.

That's all for now, just wanted to post that I was till alive.

And for those who might be interested, lol, I live about an hour from Louisville.

My menu

I'm so proud of myself. Two days before grocery shopping day and I've already got my menu made out, grocery list done and everythign printed out. Maybe you all can help me out with something. I used to always plan 5 meals a week, with an assumed pizza day on the weekend. The other day of the weekend we eat leftovers. I was constantly only cooking 4 days a week, plus pizza. I always had one meal a week that just wasn't getting cooked. This frustrates me to no end. I swear I had spaghetti on the menu for two months before we finally had it. So when I had to cut down the food budget two months ago, I started only planning 4 meals, plus pizza and leftovers. Every week I was having to scrounge around the last day and find something to cook for dinner! So after a month of that I went back to 5 meals for my last shopping trip. Wouldn't you know it, we've skipped a meal both this week and last. ???? Anybody know why that is? Ooh, here's an idea...maybe I'll start planning 5 meals one week and 4 the other. That might work. Anyways, here's my menu for the next two week, starting Sunday.

Sunday: Santa Fe chicken w/rice
MOnday: Taco lentils w/beans
Tuesday: Black bean lasagna
Wendnesday: Macaroni and cheese w/hamburger&veggies
Thursday: Tomato and Spinach pasta toss

Sunday:Spaghetti w/salad and garlic breadsticks
Monday: Creamy spinach ravioli
Tuesday: Taco lentils
Wednesday: Chicken Fajita skillet
Thursday: Shepherd's pie

A few notes: The two spinach meals are something we haven't tried before. I got the new Kraft magazine last week and DH went through and picked those two out as things to try. The creamy spinach ravioli is made from lots of prepacked, preservative filled things. Not my top pick, but hey if it makes DH happy. Chicken fajita skillet is DH's all-time favorite meal. It's not mine though and it has lots of Velveeta cheese in it, so it only makes the menu every other week. If it were completely up to dh, it'd be on there weekly along with taco lentils, but he understands that's not exactly cost effective!

The breadsticks to go with the spaghetti, I got the recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com and they are awesome. I made them about a week and a half ago, to go with spaghetti, but I never made the spaghetti, b/c everybody filled up on breadsticks! DH requested that I make them to go with the spinach quiche we had last week and I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see them on the menu. They are super good!

Let me know if you want any recipes!

Tax day!

Everybody got their taxes filed? We jsut got ours done this weekend. Actually, they're still not even considered "filed" yet. We have to send in a signed paper, but we're not supposed to send it in until the IRS accepts our 1040, which they haven't done yet. Even though I sent it in on Sat. I'm thinking about mailing it out today anyways, so we don't get penalized for being late! I would have loved to get this done sooner, but DH didn't get one of his W2s and was dragging his feet on getting it. He just finally got it on Friday. It doesn't matter too much though b/c pretty much the whole refund will go to back support he owes. We might get a few hundred dollars. We WILL get all of the rebate this summer though! Yay for htat. We only get $1500 but that's $1500 in free money, so I won't complain :) And actually DH never filed his 2006 taxes (I've been one him about getting me all the W2s for that too!) and we'd probably get a few thousand back even after they take the penalties out. So I REALLY want to file those, but again, DH is dragging his feet and there's really nothing I can do about it.

I think my landlord is going to quit answering the phone when he sees my number, lol. I swear I've had to call him every other week just about since we moved in. This weekend I had to call him b/c the water heater was not working, again. Yeah, 2nd time in 6wks. Fun. So he came over yesterday morning and "fixed" it, telling me to call if it didn't work, or stopped working, etc. I had to call him in the afternoon to tell him it was working, but all the hot water was scalding hot! I can't have scalding hot water coming out of the faucets with little kids around. So he said he'd come by again today and fix that. Then I had to call him *again* in the early evening b/c I had no hot water again. Ugh. So today he's goign to replace it. Good bye hot water woes!

It's Monday again!

So we had a great time this weekend. For some reason weeks go by really fast with DH having Thur/Fri off. Because we have our weekend, and then it's the real weekend with a Sabbath rest and then DH works in the morning, so we still have that night time together. It's great. It's like the week is really only 3 days long.

On Thursday we spent a good bit of time outside, the kids playing with neighborhood kids and us talking to the neighborhood adults (at least in the evening). We have the only swingset in town, so we get a lot of kids over when we're out. I've established a "please don't use our swingset when we're not outside" rule. It just makes me feel better. Right now we have an old cheap metal swingset and if the kids get all swinging in the same direction (especially if htere are bigger kids on it) then the whole set starts rocking. Scary. But in some awesome news, a friend of ours, her dad has a big solid wooden swingset, but no swings and nobody every plays on it, so she asked her dad and we can have it!! We've been wanting a wooden playset, but no money. The swingset we have now was actually a Freecycle find 4 yrs ago when Asher was just a toddler. So hopefully either this Thurs or Fri or next DH will go help tear down the new swing set and bring it over to set up. And after all that work he put into putting this one up, lol.

I hope everyone has a great week!