1 AM

More than anything right now I wish I were laying in my own bed asleep.  I've got the flu that's been passed around this house.  I'm completely exhausted and ready to bite someone's head off.  So why am I at the computer at 1 AM?  So that I don't eat my own young.  Alice is in my room screaming right now.  No, we're not trying to let her cry-it-out again (though that's not in our too distant future.)  I'm merely sick of how many times I've gotten up with her already tonight.  I went to bed at 10:30, and she was up by 11 wanting fed.  I fed her thinking then she'd sleep til 2 AM, which seems to be her routine.  Instead she woke at 12:30 fussing/cryingg off and on. I let her go til about 1 when I could take the lack of sleep no more and in desperation pulled her into bed with me to sleep, a move I don't usually resort to until much later in the night but being sick has me feeling more desperate.   Alas, she didn't want to go back to sleep and I ended up wrestling a tightly swaddled fish for a while before I could take it no more, put her back in her bed crying, and left the room.  Her snoring father might just get a punch in the face as well if I didn't leave.

Man, I want my bed.  It's been a hard week for us.  Jossy woke up screaming from an ear infection a week ago which resulted in a Sunday visit to instacare minutes before they closed, driving there in horrible snowy road conditions.  The next night she was woken by some strange leg pain, which went away after some prayers, singing songs, and a blessing.  On Christmas Eve Dan started feeling sick with a cold and by morning he was pretty miserable.  That afternoon Lacey came down with a fever so she and Dan stayed home while I took the other kids to Christmas dinner with my family.  Good thing they stayed behind because 30 minutes later she was throwing up.  Poor sick Dan got to clean that up off of the couch, throw pillows, stuffed animals, clothes, carpet, etc while I enjoyed Christmas ham.  Lacey continued to be sick all night and into the next morning.  Little sleep was had that night.  When she got better the next afternoon, Matty got a fever.  Thankfully no puking for him, just misery with what we think is probably influenza.  3 days later and he still has his fever off and on. Dan's still felt sick this whole time and I started getting something Saturday.  I went to church anyway today (yesterday?) just to lead the music in primary.  By evening, Jossy had the lovely fever and sore throat come upon her. 

Seriously. Sick. Of. Sick.

I probably would say more about how blessed we are to have medicine to help keep fevers low or how nice it is the kids aren't missing any school for it I guess, but instead I'm feeling slightly less cheery due to screaming baby in the next room . . . and coughing from Lacey's?  *sigh*  Oh and the clock yelling "You should be asleep!!!" isn't helping.  A visit from Aunt Flo is just icing on the messed up cake.

Sometimes a girl just needs to complain.  I'm giving Alice 20 more minutes to cry, then I'll give up and feed her.   Who knows when I'll get to fall back asleep though.  The train station in my room isn't helping.

13 more minutes now.  

6 minutes. 

Is 6 minutes close enough?  I don't think she's going to sleep in that time.   Where's that personalized baby manual when I need it?  It says on it "Guide on Everything For Your Child: Alice May" but I can't find my copy anywhere.

3 minutes.  She's quieter now.  Better wait out the 3 minutes I guess?  Ugh.  I'm tired.

-1 minute.  She's silent.  Dare I use the bathroom before laying back in bed???

Christmas Card (Director's Cut)

Here are a few more cute ones that didn't get used:

And lest someone falsely think we are the amazing "one-take Taualii's," here's a small sampling of our other 140+ attempts at a good picture.   I give you blurry moving children, closed eyes, not looking at the camera, mid-yawn, and weird looks. It's HARD to get 4 kids to look and smile together!

Miss 6 Months

Our Miss Alice was once affectionately called "Big Al" for her size.  Like my other girls around this age, she has fallen down the growth charts quite a bit and is now "Little Al."  She's around the 8th percentile for weight and is just under 14 lbs.  She's still about 60th% for height, but she started around 90.  And so it goes with my girls.  I'm no longer worried about it.  She's growing and has some cute chunk on her, that's all that matters.  :)

I could stare at her cute blue eyes all day.  She's hard to make laugh but peek-a-boo will usually do it.  The other day she laughed super hard at Jossy bumping down the stairs on her bum over and over.   She's fine with strangers holding her for the most part but it doesn't happen often.  She can almost tripod sit, but really it's my fault she doesn't know how.  She's seriously such a content baby 95% of the time that I end up leaving her to lay on the floor playing while I go deal with the other 3 screaming kids.  She's adored by her siblings.  She doesn't babble or make much noise really unless she wants a change of scenery, a new diaper, or is tired.  She LOVES her daddy and eats her solids best for him.

She's not sleeping through the night.  We tried letting her cry-it-out a month ago and nothing improved after 3 nights, so we'll perhaps try again after the holidays.  She typically wakes twice a night to eat, but occasionally only once and more often 3 times.  The other night after her shots she had a fever and slept 9 hours!!  Too bad I wasn't sleeping.  If only she'd send me a memo telling me what her sleep was going to be like that night, I could be more prepared!  She's still in our room (long story) so it's hard to let her cry for long periods during the night when all I want is sleep.

Tom of 2013

This year good ol' Tom the Turkey was a well-anticipated guest in our home.  He even got a special treat of being LAMINATED this year so Mom doesn't have to keep cutting out feathers for him every year.  Wahoo! 

We adorned his feathers with our gratitude for things like milk, Lacey's milk, Grandma, sleep, animals, friends, life!, Daddy, Tom (the turkey,) Alice, candy trees and air, fun, exercise, the princess festival, toys, family, bed, a raise, bottles, Mom, Grandpa, sports, chocolate, Matty, warm house, cousins, all my family, puzzles, Jesus, dates, and a job. 

Thanks, Tom, for reminding us just how blessed we are!

5 Months and First Foods

Alice is already 6 months now, but here's her 5 month pic:

 Alice is a pure joy to have in our family.  She has such an easy-going temperament.  Oh, and she LOVES to stick out her tongue.

 

She also had her first taste of solids in the last month.  

 

 

 

 And just because she's too cute, Lacey gets to sneak in on her sister's post.

One Determined Boy

About a week or so ago, we put the kids to bed and Matty was messing around wiggling a loose tooth.  I told him to stop wiggling it and go to sleep.  That particular tooth had only been loose a couple days and I knew if probably wasn't ready to fall out yet. 

Dan and I went downstairs and discussed in great detail what we would get everyone for Christmas (we're trying to actually get it done early for once) and what things we'd strongly encourage Santa to bring them.  Around 10:30, Dan looks up from the table and goes, "Matty!" I turn around and there's my son with a pale ghost face.  I thought "OH CRAP!  HE HEARD US!"  I quickly asked him what he was doing up.  He lifted up the small tooth in his hand.  I said, "You've been up this whole time to get that tooth out?!"  He nodded and BURST into tears.  Oh no worries, not because of any conversation Dan and I were having but merely because he was so tired!!  He said the tooth just wouldn't stop bugging him so he had spent 2.5 hours lying exhausted in bed, wanting to sleep, but couldn't because of that stupid tooth.  Dan and I probably shouldn't have but we laughed so hard!!  Of course I wish he had just gone to sleep when I told him too, but it was all still funny to us.  We made him take a picture next to a clock before sending him back up to bed with an envelope for his tooth. 

 

Poor kid.  He feel asleep in about 2 minutes flat after that. 

How Do You Choose?

Really, how am I supposed to choose from hundreds of pictures of my kids playing in the leaves???

 (And if you're not new to my blog, you know that number is not an exaggeration. That is if anyone is still reading this thing.  I think I get 3 people who semi-regularly comment so it's hard to tell.)

Cut down to a measly 32.

The kids had a great time as always during our annual "go rake up and jump in the leaves at a local park instead of re-raking the leaves in our own yard 20 billion times" outing.   Mom and Dad did NOT have a such a good time this year.  The kids were above average levels of wild and very close to seriously injuring each other several times because they wouldn't listen.  We may have told them we won't do this again next year because of their behavior.  We'll see if we remember that next year or not.  At least the pictures are cute.

Random Goodness

It seems like just yesterday Alice had no hair.  

How quickly time passes.

You are NEVER too young to accessorize!

(Especially if you have big sisters who make you.)

Twins can be born years apart.

Sometimes Mom's gotta have her fun.

 If your child asks you to come see what they drew,

always go look.

If you use an awesome fertilizer but don't mow your small lawn for a month,

you may regret it. 

Sometimes there are no words.

 Even though she's a baby, she can still be too big for your lap.

 Weirdos live here.

(Totally fell asleep like this.)

 

It's confirmed. Time passes too quickly.