#WeAreNotTheHeadmaster

I finally feel like this circus is coming under control. Having a baby throws you through a loop, and it being the 4th- it's a #hurricanetornadoapocalypse. In the white rabbit's hole. He's almost 4 months, Harlow is almost 3, Lauren almost 7, and Taylor almost 12 (gasp!). Helpers in their own right, and destructive in their own ways. There are definitely pro's and con's to having them gaped as they are. They're all in different stages of life, with each stage it's blessings and curses. For me, if the house is a hot mess- guess who else is a hot mess?? To try to think of everything I want to do, need to do, and have to do.. it makes me want to scream in to a pillow. You seriously will wish Mary Poppins was real. I tell ya, that first 2ish months is hard work. To survive it, make lists. Cheap meals, easy meals, freezer/crockpot meals, daily must have done's, do 1 load of laundry a day and what each day it will be of (clean, dry, put away), a daily schedule of house chores (so hubby knows what you need done), and try to schedule the big stuff on the weekends (or his day off), eat dinner late (after the bigger kids are in bed) once a week if you can. I seriously could go on. What calms you? For me I LOVE liquid Ivory body wash. One sniff and I swear I relax.

 #1 Use that time (bath time) to be alone. Make sure he understands you want to be alone and not bothered every night for 30 minutes to unwind. The other rats don't follow him to the bathroom all day long like they do to you. You NEED 30 minutes alone. 

#2 Wind machine. Get one. Walmart $30 (also on amazon). Kids are loud. Can't get around it. There's one in Jason's room, and ours. We all sleep like husbands. When I'm feeding him in his room, I can't hear the TV and playing going on right outside his door in the loft. Only unless someone is crying hard, and even then it's not loud enough to make him jump/wake. It's amazing and lifesaving. One small pound of weight off your shouldersI've got some tips for the ladies that are having their 2nd, 3rd, 4th...of the litter.

In the AM, pour 4 glasses of water (no ice). Place them around the house. I put mine: in his bedroom, mine, kitchen, and bathroom. The most important requirement of BEING is drinking water. You will forget. It's inevitable. Something is always needing to be done, someone is always in need of help or to be dealt with. It's. A. Circus. #YouAreNotTheHeadmaster.  They are all fighting for that position. But lets face it. The smallest one is the leader ;o)

Get that fan! Everyone should have one. Buy one a month until you are all set. Nobody will be waking anyone else up. Start with the baby's room of course.

Buy double of whatever. Cans.. Can't have enough of those. Fruit, cream of whatever, soup... You will forget a lot of things. If you have doubled something then you won't run out so much.

Make muffins on Sunday, double batch of course. You will be hungry, and every time you THINK about eating..the baby will want to eat. Handheld food is LIFESAVING. Plan accordingly.

Let him hold the baby, and you clean the tub. Yeah he could just do everything for you..but you just spent 9 months off and on feeling ok. And then you had a baby. And now you feel 30% back to normal. Do something that isn't baby related. It'll take 10 minutes. 10 minutes of you focusing and physically moving and doing something "normal".

If you don't put the others in bed by a certain time every night, START. You need to have that time without the constant game -on repeat- of "follow the leader" (the leader being YOU!). Plus even if it's just 30-60 minutes of time with your hubby, it's adult conversation time. You're surrounded by midgets all day. Talk to someone your own size. 

You have a smart phone (most), download kindle and get books. While you're feeding the baby, read. It's a way for you to escape- without really leaving ha ha. I get an email everyday with a list of free books to download from amazon to my kindle app. OHFB ->subscribe.

If the baby needs to nap, and the hubby is home- strap the baby to you, put on some headphones and go about the house doing chores while listening to YOUR music. Let him mind the chillin's. Be sure to do the dance move, "That's nice! Now go find your father!". It will involve slight bouncing (for the baby), smiling while nodding with a thumbs up, and then pointing in the direction of said Husband. 

 

I think you're now prepped and ready. These are my few tips that can really make a day seem not as bad as it looks. And I've had some bad days. But it gets better my friend. Then it will get bad. But then it gets better again. Now, tips for when he's TDY.. that's a whole other post. Bottle of wine anyone?

The past 3 months

I can't believe that title. Has he been here for that long all ready? Jason, it's time to slow the time down mister. Well, let's recap:

May 22nd, 2014 I was induced. Didn't take long at all. Pitocin at 630am, Epidural at 1130am, water popped at 1230pm, and born at 2:04pm. No pain, because they chose when to give me the epidural instead of me usually waiting until I'm in pain. I felt jipt, I'm not gonna lie. The birth was fast (one push, yo!), and recovery crazy easy. And then we were hit with 12 solid days of COLIC... I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy! 3pm-11pm of crying. Couldn't make my baby boy happy. It must be because he's the fourth, last one, only boy, or I'm older (pick one lol) that instead of getting bitter/mad/insane...(again, pick one!) I just felt sad.. Sad I couldn't help him, and I cried along with him most nights. I was just so happy he was here, even though he was screaming his head off. Turns out he had reflux too. The minute he had the meds, there was HALF the amount of crying. It trickled off too. He was 2 weeks when it started and it was gone by 10 weeks. The "baby jesus" move, also known as the elevator would make him instantly stop crying. We held one hand under his neck and the other under his butt. Up down, up down, up...down.......up......down. I think I can...I think I can.. I can't. "Honey your turn!" Thank God CJ got 10 days paternity leave, and then we went to AZ (his moms) for 3 weeks. If he had been gone..I dunno.. I may have lost my mind!
So now everything is going pretty darn good. Let's start with the first kid:

Taylor Rae

She has been... *sigh*..*tear...The BEST! A part of me is sad how big of a gap there is between Jason and her, but then again- she will remember EVERYTHING. What a nice thing that is. Such a big help too, even when she isn't asked. She started 6th grade this year. I cannot wrap my head around it, yet I'm just as excited as her. Middle school was my favorite honestly. She's super happy and just eager to get out the door every morning. Hope it lasts lol. The school did assessments on all the kids, and right away we found out that she's reading at 8 grade level, go Taylor! Little smarty pants. And shout out to Grandma Cindi for sending her clarinet for Tay Tay to use! She loves it!!

Lauren. Riley. Coles.

 LoLo... She has changed so much, and for the better, over these last 3-5 months. Taylor has "played" less and less. And that has been hard for Lolo. But what she didn't realize is that Harlow is closer in age than Taylor. It's taken her some time, but now she willingly plays with Harlow and 50% of the time it's pleasant. They actually share a room now. I know before I said Taylor volunteered to share with Harlow, but while family was visiting for Jason's birth and after- all the girls shared Lauren's room. So after they all left for good, we sent Taylor back to her room, and rearranged the room for Harlow's stuff and bed. Lauren asked after a week, "Hey when is Harlow going back into Taylor's room?" Never.... HA! You should have SEEN her face! Priceless. We pointed out how well it's been going, and how she loves to play. I think she may have bought it. She started school today. Last year was half days, and so this is her first year of all day school. THANK YOU JESUS! She required a lot, I think she just needed to be challenged instead of being challenging because she's bored. This summer she learned to tell time on the second hand clock, addition, and to count money.

Harlow Renee. 

Has turned into a string bean. Not that she was ever a chunk butt, but she's shaped like her Daddy, no ass! She was so sad watching her sisters go to school. This morning we walked Lolo to her first day and Harlow had her own "pack pack" too.. It's pitiful. BUT she's starting preschool early. Birthday is in December, but friends of mine run it out of their house. They said they think she'd be fine! She's just freaky awesome at listening, applying, following directions.. her comprehension is ridiculous. Counts to 16 (I think Taylor didn't start counting that high until 6 months from now), has known her abc's since 2, and her vocabulary is pretty darn big. Her main issue is she has a high palate and can't say certain words correctly. Stawberry, spicy is ficy..."S" with a secondary starting sound (make sense?) comes out wrong. So maybe 3 years of preschool (could be less?? If they test her and allow her in at 4 3/4 years old) would help with that. Excited to see her blossom!

Jason..my sweet, squishy, cuddly, handsome boy. 

His smile is just so sweet. He's teetering on 6-9 month clothing, in size 2 diapers, and EATS like a champ. Naps like a pro. Right now, the current family favorite HA! I need to get that onesie from Target..

Me? I'm good. 

Dropped 35 of the 45 gained so far. Just tracking calories now, having the breastfeeding WORK for me. #MomOf4WithA3MonthOld RUNNING?? #Ain'tNobodyGotTimeForDat! Eventually I'll have time when he has a more predictable schedule.

Just passing time while CJ is at continued training in New Jersey for the month of September (BOO!). Us girls just started watching "Once Upon A Time" on Netflix- we love it! Trying to watch it all so we can record the NEW season with Frozen characters. #PassingTimeWhileDaddyIsGone

Have great week y'all!