My poor little Dynamite got something in his eye last night (Friday) while at IHOP with his grandparents. His grandma tried to flush it out and did all she could, but nothing seemed to help. When Dreamer and I arrived to pick them up he was crying in pain; it was so sad. He was obviously tired, so we tried to pacify him (and the others) and just get them home to bed. When we got home I looked up how to properly flush out an eye, gave eye drops and flushed his eye again, all to no avail. One of the instructions online was to rest your eye, with it closed for 5 minutes. Because it came from the all-knowing Internet, he was willing to follow along and before 5 minutes were over he had zonked out. I thought whatever the problem was would work itself out by morning, but it didn't take long before he woke up and was crying again. Dreamer went up and started a movie for him and helped him calm down, but within a couple of hours he was crying again. I gave him some Tylenol and soothed him unti he was asleep again. 30 minutes later he woke up crying again. Repeat all night long. I slept on the couch and he slept on the recliner. Poor little guy.

After going to 2 eye doctors and finding they were closed because it was Saturday, we tried Shopko's optical department. After numbing his eye with "magic" eye drops, the doctor eventually found a green "fiber" in his upper eyelid - said it looked sort of like fishing line. It had been scratching his eyeball every time he blinked, so by the time the doctor looked at it, he had a "substantial abrasion" on his eye. Long story short, the doctor put some drops in his eye to help prevent infection, dilated his eye, and sent us home with a prescription for a steroid/antibiotic ointment to be put in his eye 3 times a day for 5 days. We go back Tuesday for a follow-up and he gave us his cell number in case it gets worse. I really liked the doctor (Shawn Murray) and will definitely go there again. He was wonderful with Dynamite! Within a few minutes of leaving the optical department, Dynamite was his old self. He still complained of pain, but he no longer required being guided as if completely blind and was no longer on the verge of tears with his hand clasped tightly over one eye. Before we got in the car, he hugged me and told me thanks for caring about him in that super-cute tone I only hear when my kids are humbled with sickness and I'm able to help them. As soon as we got in the van to go get the other kids, he fell asleep.

Throughout the day today he has continued to be in some pain, so we're continuing with Tylenol, but other than that he seems completely back to normal.

The pictures above were taken tonight. He fell asleep again right after I put his medicine in his eye - very unusual for him! Of course, he's awake again now and probably will be for hours because of his little cat-nap. Right now I can hear him in the baby monitor singing (between yawns) Hush Little Baby to Cutesome who is wimpering in his crib. How precious is that? I am thoroughly exhausted and have terrible headache but am grateful that I could help my favorite little 5-year-old.

Annoying, Yet Memorable Advertising

The other day Vivacious was counting her money and had a stack of dollar bills. She left them sitting on the floor and Dynamite (age 5) said, "Vivacious, you should put some eyeballs on that money and say, 'This is the money you could be saving with Geico'."

This got me thinking. Just imagine all the good things we could fill children's heads with if instead of commercial advertising we had positive messages or something like that. What if those highly-paid marketers spent their time figuring out how to get children to really believe positive messages about themselves or others rather than working so hard to design commercials that sell the products they are paid to promote. Now that would be time well spent.

Life Gets In The Way

Have you ever noticed how life gets in the way? I haven't posted on this blog for 19 days - not for a lack of wanting, but because I have been really busy.

Cutesome got sick again with some kind of flu bug, then his asthma flared up again and now he has a cold along with the wheezing and rattling in his chest. There's just nothing like a sick baby to keep you from doing other things. The I went a little bit overboard on an Activity Days activity and spent a TON of time making a game to teach the kids about money and life. (Thanks to my sister, Jenny, it turned out great and the kids had fun too!) I'm also babysitting Gage a few days a week this month and Rob has been working lots of late nights and Saturdays and the girls have extra dance practices to prepare for the recital. And then there's all the usual stuff: yard work and 4-days-a-week baseball and t-ball and laundry and feeding the family and housework and 2 dentist appointments and some doctor appointments and book group and school programs and helping kids with homework and I still house clean for another family and trying to find time for each kid to get enough attention.....you know, just the usual for a mom. I seriously don't know how my mom did it with 6 kids so close in age. And I only remember once when she left the house and I wondered if she was ever coming back. Of course, she did - and on the very same day, too! (You're my hero, mom!)

Since the beginning of May I've been waking up at 6:30 a.m. (way too early) so I could have a shower and get dressed before waking up the kids at 7:15 to get ready for school and I've been trying to make breakfast most mornings so they get less sugar and more protein. And there is SO much more I want to be doing to be a better person and a better mother and a better sister and friend and daughter and.... So if I seem distracted or if I don't notice something you need help with please be patient with me!

Today my visiting teachers came (both mothers of 2 children not yet in school or other activities) and talked about how we should get together more often and I honestly could not figure out how I would work that into my life right now. How do you convey to someone that you honestly would love to spend time with them, but that you just don't have time right now? It sounds lame and fake. And in just 2 short weeks the kids will be out of school and I'll have all 4 home.

The other day when Dreamer left to work I told him there are days I really miss just going to work and only having to worry about my job for 8 hours and have a nice quiet drive to and from to just think. He, of course, envies me being able to stay home and have more time with the kids. Don't get me wrong - this is EXACTLY the life I signed up for and I love it; I'm just ready for things to slow down a bit. Hopefully summer will provide some much-needed rest for all of us. And we won't be doing 4 days a week of baseball ever again. Maybe soccer, though, because Olivia and Alex both want to try soccer next. I guess I do it to myself, but hopefully it will benefit the kids in the long run.

I think I hear Avery. Break time is over.

Funny Dynamite

As I was sitting here checking email, I wasn't really listening to what Dynamite was rambling on and on about. The next thing I heard caught my attention. He said, in an exaggerated, movie-star voice, "Listen to me, Darling!!"

Miscellaneous Pics

I could hold this baby all day long when he's asleep. Since he is likely our last one, I never want to put him down. Having 3 others that are growing up too fast and that grew out of being babies in no time at all makes my heart break, knowing just how quickly this beautiful stage will be over. I am watching him grow with excitement because of how wonderful he is and for the joy he brings me, but I can't help but feel sad at the same time. What a blessing children are.

Confidence loves to cook. She frequently makes breakfast on the weekends. In the photo above she had just made breakfast burritos and omelets (to order) for Dynamite, Vivacious and herself. She reminds me in a ton of ways of the American daughter on the movie, Spanglish. I can't remember her screen name just now.

Dynamite is so darn affectionate. Tonight I kissed his cheek and hugged him before bed and he said, "Mom, it's like my brain is telling me to always snuggle with you and love you forever. And I think you are so beautiful, even in your pajamas." He says stuff like this to me all the time in the most sincere, affectionate way.

Isn't he adorable? What if they made hammocks this big (proportionately) for adults? Tell me this doesn't look super comfortable!

Sometimes Cutesome has to be coaxed to sleep.

My sister and her husband are so wonderful with my kids! This is them, pictured with Cutesome and my niece, Madi.

Baseball - 4 Days a Week

Dynamite & Vivacious both decided to do baseball this year. What I didn't know when I signed them up is that their teams would play on opposite days. So, we're at the ball park Mondays and Wednesdays for Vivacious and Tuesdays and Saturdays for Dynamite. And can I just tell you that Vivacious' team does not stick to the hour and 15 minute game time?!

Ice Skating During Spring Break

He's a MAN!

Dynamite was extremely upset when Confidence and Vivacious put a girly Easter hat on Cutesome. His words: "Get that hat off him, he's a MAN!"

Spring Has Sprung!

Confidence sitting on the tree swing in the corner of the front yard.

Look at these beautiful flowers that come up each spring! I love them, but have no idea what they are called.

I am so excited that SPRING is finally here! I love the flowers and the leaves on the trees and the green grass and the not-too-hot sun and the kids playing OUTside! I even like yard work this early in the season (give me a month or two and I'll be dreading it again). We took the picture above so we could show the cute flowers (name unknown) that come up next to the rose bush each spring, but the sun was shining in the kids' eyes too much when they faced the right direction and somehow we missed the flowers from this angle.

To Be A Rock

"The rock feels nothing. No matter what you do to it, no matter how many times you kick it, or how loud you laugh at it, or what filthy words you write on its surface or if you lie about it and say awful things about it that are not true, the rock does not care. The rock does not hear you. The rock does not feel you. The rock sees you dimly and not well. You cannot murder the rock. You cannot wring out its soul as if its soul were no more than a dirty dishrag you'd used to wipe up blood off the bathroom floor. The rock has a soul but its soul is small and looks like mercury and moves like mercury and does not exist in time as we know it.

"The rock exists in slow time. One minute to a chunk of dull rock is one hundred years to you and me. The rock does not weep. The rock bakes in the sun. The rock gets hot to the touch, too hot sometimes to touch. The rock does not buy a candy bar to eat on the way home from school. The rock does not go to school. The rock sits wedged into the hillside. The rock waits. If you sit on it, the rock does not give way. You cannot knock the air out of it because it has no lungs and no stomach and no heart. It is good to be a rock, or, it is not bad to be a rock."

The preceding is an exerpt out of the book, Fat Girl by Judith Moore.