Little Bits of Christmas

Finally.

From Christmas with my family...

Elizabeth with Aunt Amy's new kitten.
Pepop & Gracie kickin' it Blitzen style.
The whole of my Mom's side of the family. Those pink blurs you see
with my parents, those are my girls who were so pumped up on
sweets they couldn't even stay still for a three second camera flash!

From Christmas Day...

My little cuties!
Sarah Grace struts the Dora sunglasses.
Really? I can open this?

What didn't make it under the tree?

Sassy Sarah Grace in her sassy sports car.

Showing off her driving skills while she winks at the camera man!

Cool-T and his Sis-E

A clearer shot of the Man and his Caddy.

Customer Needs Assistance In Fashion, Please!

Hello. My name is Aubrey, and I am a redneck.

Let me clarify that a bit. I have a tendency to do redneck things from time to time. Or perhaps just brain dead things. Sometimes those two words collide though, don't they? Especially for inhabitants of the South Land?

Right?

After two weeks of being stuck in the house for various reasons (rain and/or sick children), our pantry needed to be reminded of it's reason for existing. Saturday night after dinner I nursed Anna, kissed my children good-bye, and headed out the door. Armed with my list, I was ready to tackle Wal-Mart.

It dawned on me that I was actually childless for a grocery shopping trip and that I could take the time to meander up and down the aisles at my leisure, to take in the amazing selection of junk food. I was really able to think about what I needed to make certain dishes, and without the chatter of little people, I had time to come up with some different dinner ideas.

As I finished up in the grocery section, I moved onto the baby area. Diapers? Check. Wipes? Check. I noticed that footed pajamas were beginning to be clearanced out and since Thomas was devastated that his last years pajamas were entirely too small for him, I checked to see if they had any in his size. Not that he needs any more pajamas but I thought I would check. Besides, I was by myself! I had plenty of time and the ability to think without my sweet little interrupters.

I moseyed on around the store, just looking at stuff. Trying to figure out if there were things we needed that I hadn't written on my list. I browsed all the toys that were marked down, thinking ahead to birthdays. I took a spin through domestics, looking at sheets and colors and dishes and towels and kitchen utensils. Just perusing, you understand. Basking in the aloneness.

People, I was WAL-MARTIN'!

Finally, I decided that it was probably time to leave. There must have been something in the air. As I headed towards the registers I realized that, true to the company's nature, there were only about a quarter as many lanes opened as there needed to be. I picked a line that looked promising and settled in for the wait. A magazine caught my eye so I picked it up. I had taken in well over half of the magazine's pages filled with prettily decorated rooms and lovely gardens by the time the conveyor belt had room for me to start tossing groceries up.

As I paid and gathered up the last of my bags I glanced around me and noticed a couple of teenage girls looking at me and looking something between horrified and humored. I wondered if maybe my hair was sticking out oddly or perhaps I had managed to rub up against something that had rubbed off onto my clothing. Being the super self-conscious kind of girl that I am, I shrugged it off and made my way out of the store.

I was walking past the people greeter when I looked down and noticed it. I'd been walking all over Wal-Mart, a highly public place, in my house shoes. I had neglected to put on real shoes in my anxiousness to get out of the house and take care of business unassisted.

Help! I'm in need of redneck intervention!!!!!

The Sick Update

Thankfully, the older three are finally all on the mend. You would almost never know how rotten the week started out. We dragged all four of them into the pediatrician on Monday and left with what passes for a clean bill of health. No RSV, no Croup, no Strep. Just something viral to wait out.

As the week progressed, Thomas and Sarah Grace returned to their old selves. Elizabeth struggled a bit longer, but she eventually kicked it to the side also. Our little Anna, on the other hand, got progressively worse.

The past couple of nights, I have sat up in a recliner with her resting as best as she could on my chest. Suffice it to say, that meant little rest for either of us due to her coughing fits and stuffy little nose. It clenched at my heart to listen to my baby rasping for hours on end.

Today we took her back to the doctor's office. Joshua played outside with the older three while Anna and I went inside to have her checked out. Lungs? Fine. Ears? Fine. Nose? Fine. Throat? Fine. Conclusion? There is really no way to cure it. The doctor asked what we were doing to treat her, and I just looked at him blankly. He's a doctor, right? He wants to know what kind of medications we are using, right? He had mercy on me and asked if we were using the nose bulb. Yes, we are. Letting her be upright as much as possible? Yes, we are.

Those two little questions kicked my brain into gear and I was able to (almost) verbalize our treatment plan, such as it was. I couldn't find the word 'humidifier' in what is left of the ol' gray matter, but after waving my hand around for a moment and uttering words like 'water' and 'fan', the smart and patient man with the letters behind his name supplied me with the word I was floundering for.

It was a bit of a boost to my sleepy ego that everything I said we were doing were things he wanted us to do and everything he suggested for us to do we were already doing. Not so very long ago, I got all flustered when we would take a sick child to the doctor and he would rattle off this seemingly endless list of precautions we should take, symptoms to be leary of, and way to help ease the suffering of the sick child.

Back to Anna, though, he did give us a prescription for a decongestant mild enough for infants. I gave her a dose of it just after her seven o'clock nursing and quickly succumbed to a peaceful sleep. That was 4 hours ago. She missed her 'last nursing of the night', but I'll not complain. That little girl needed some rest.

I laughed as I read the side effects for this drug...drowsiness and dizziness. Oh, and one should not drive or operate heave machinery while taking the medication. I had this mental image of Anna doing the cross-eyed-infant thing and sitting behind the dash of a bulldozer, nodding off.

Speaking of nodding off, I think I had best be done for the night. My pillow calls.

Snippets & Snatches

Days with a houseful of littles tend to be a blur occasionally.

Oh, all right. A lot of a blur, a lot of the time.

What I'm sayin' is, things tend to get busy. The children say and do things that make me laugh, sometimes out loud, sometimes a bit hysterically (you know, where it's laugh or cry/scream), and occasionally the kind of laugh that you have to simply walk out of the room to let the giggle escape and recompose your face to a more Mommy-ish look before you proceed. I make mental notes to jot these things down, thus the blog.

However, occasionally, and more so recently, I forget what it was that I was trying to remember. Follow me? But today, TODAY, ladies and gentlemen, I remembered them. Well, some of them.

Like this conversation between Perfect Stranger and Thomas:

PS - How old are you?
Thomas - I'm 4 and I am not looking forward to being 5.
PS - How come?
Thomas (tapping his teeth with his fingernail) - Teeth. They'll fall out.

For some reason, this conversation struck me as funny. Am I the only one? Apparently, I haven't filled that poor child in about the wonders of the Tooth Fairy.

Then there is Elizabeth and her amazing grasp of the English language. I mean, seriously, I think I have a pint size genius on my hands. The child cranks out these words and phrases that I know no other child her age I have ever met comprehends. Oh, yeah, including her older siblings. This morning when she was finished with her breakfast, she held out her cup and said 'Cup, empty. More please.' Yeah, I know. It doesn't sound like much, but she not even 21 months old yet! And you should hear her sing 'Baa, Baa Black Sheep'. Girlfriend can break it down!

As for Anna, she is flirting around with a full fledged smile. Her eyes are alight and the little corners of her mouth curl up sweetly into that almost-but-not-quite smile. The ones that so many folks try to chalk up to gas. Either way, it is a sight that warms this Mommy's heart. I know these moments are fleeting, and I choose to savor each sunny second of them.

And my Sarah Grace, I think one of the biggest things that she has going on right now is a need to be listened to. She will repeat a question or phrase until you verbally acknowledge her. She will sit and read a storybook to us, spinning a tale including everyone from Baby Jesus to Ariel and Spiderman. When she has completed the story, she will look up with those wide and lovely eyes and ask, 'Was that a wonderful story, Mommy?'

And of course I answer yes, because even if I have forgotten every word of it, the look on her sweet little face is etched into my memory, making whatever the story was perfect.

In Which We Watch The Inauguration

So, of course, like many other Americans are today, I am parked in front of the television witnessing history. Like many other Americans, I have my children by my side as we watch the events. And they are regaling me with more than a few of their unique observations, view points, and questions. While not exactly live feed, I guess, I have decided to post them as they come.

As the crew marched out to the stage:

Momma, what are they doing?
Why are they all dressed up?
Where are they going?
Why are there so may flags out there?
Wow! Is everyone there? Did Daddy go to see the pwesident be sweared?

As Joe Biden was sworn in:

Mommy, is he giving us five? Can I give him five?

As Aretha Franklin was singing:

Mommy! She singed that song funny! Why is she singing like that?
I like her hat, Mommy. It is a princess bow hat. Can I have a princess bow hat like that?

As Barack Obama was sworn in:

Can I give him five, too, Mommy?
What is he swearing?
He forgot to say it again, Mommy.

Views of the crowd:

Mommy, she has fwags on her head!
I want to go to the castle and see the pwesident.

And last, but not least...

Is it over yet, Mommy? Is Word World still gonna come on? I sure do miss Word World!

How We're Looking

I made the comment last night that I wish we didn't cycle through sickness, I thought it would be tidier if we were all sick at once.

Oh, be careful, Little Mouth, what you say.

Last weekend, Sarah Grace kicked off the fun. She spent Sunday and Monday and part of Tuesday walking around in a fever induced fog. No other symptoms. Wednesday, she was sluggish, but no fever and seemed happier. Thursday she started coughing. She still coughs if she is over active or after laying down for a while. Nights are tough. For the most part, though, she is back on her feet. She even went to church with Joshua tonight.

Sarah Grace excitedly came in and told me all about her date
with Daddy to church and then out to eat!

Tuesday, I joined in on the fun. Yesterday, Elizabeth started. By bedtime she was a sweet but pathetic bundle of sunshine. Anna, who has been blessing me by sleeping six+ hours at night, opted to try out the three-ish hour routine again last night. Between meals at some point, Thomas started crying out. His throat was bugging him badly and he had spiked a temperature.

Thomas musters a smile for the camera. Such the ham.

It was a l-o-n-g night. And a bit of a long day. A houseful of crabby kids never makes for a smooth day.

Elizabeth insisted on wearing a bow. A girl must always try to look her best.
Those sweet eyes gave her away, though. This baby doesn't feel good.

Thankfully, I didn't take it as badly as the kids seem to have gone down. Joshua hasn't blinked yet.

The conversation with the fish must have been dull.

Why I Blog

There are posts swarming through my head. Christmas gatherings with family, Christmas day, and then the aftermath of Christmas. I jumped ahead and posted about New Year's. I have even posted some pictures of things we have been up to since then. And soon, I will get around to the Christmas posts. Perhaps even a few posts about our transition from a Family of Five to a Family of Six!

Well, 'soon' is a term I use loosely. Let's face it. My maternity leave, as I am calling it, has d-d-definitely effected the blog. Definitely. However, though my blog suffers from a lack of wordage, others in the blogging world have found the time to update. And those that I read, I have followed very faithfully.

And I noticed something. I follow two kinds of blogs: People I Know In Real Life and Blogs That I Find Encouraging. I don't follow folks who are simply funny if they aren't encouraging and real to me. I have my own little list of sites on Google Reader. Some of these ladies inspire me, others challenge me, some just make me think. Some are young Mommys who are muddling through the same kinds of things as I am, others have been there, done that, got the badge, and assure the rest of us that we can too, all the while sharint pointers. Some are working Moms. Some are pastors wives. Some volunteer out tons of time and energy to make the world around them and their children a slightly better place to be in. I depend on many of these ladies to help me through. To point me in a new direction. To boost me along on a slow, ragged day.

As for me and my blog, I don't write and post pictures much for fame and blogger stardom. I blog for me. I blog for my young and growing family, that we may have a written account of our days and weeks and years. I blog for my extended family that live just far enough away that visits are few and far between. I blog to decompress, to find the silver lining to gray clouds, even if that silver lining is just the ability to laugh about the cloud in the first place!

So if your reading this blog, thanks. I am glad you care to hear about things that are going on in our little corner of the world. I hope you enjoy the pictures, laugh at our antics, and cheer at our accomplishments. But mostly, I hope you receive some kind of encouragement every once in a while. I hope you can read between the lines and see the love that we share here in our home. Even amidst the less-than-fairy-tale days.

Because the encouragement and love I see are what make me want to re-visit a blog.

Hullo, 2009!

Pictures for your peepers.

Fudge making...Sarah Grace is an awesome candy cooker!


Thomas and his 'babes'

Thomas & Layla Jade

Thomas & Anna

The kids and Aunt Amy poke enough candles in a cake to warrant having the fire department on stand by.

Elizabeth found her own reading nook.

Sarah Grace models her pink Piglet outfit and pink sunglasses. Rose colored view or not, that is still hot chocolate ALL OVER HER OUTFIT!

Buh-Bye 2008...

We spent a good portion of the day with the Fannings on New Year's Eve 'last year'. Lora stayed huddled up in her bed trying to recover most of the time, and I wandered back and forth between her and the three ring circus that is our combined families. Mostly hanging out with her, should the truth be told. Joshua and Andrew were troopers, though. Not only did they watch the seven older ones (all between 20 months and four years old), they cooked dinner as well. And then cleaned the kitchen!!

(Adam, Ian, Sarah Grace, Sam, Thomas)
(Elizabeth, Ellen)

Lora and I made the superb effort of caring for these two...

(Willa & Anna)

And though it may not sound fun to some folks, it was relaxing and enjoyable. And all the kids slept through the ringing in of the New Year. Just as they should!

Rescheduled

I mentioned a post or twelve back that we had planned a family date night to include a car ride through the Botanical Gardens. Friends, we finally made it. About three days before Christmas, and the kids are still asking about when we get to go back to see all the 'lovely and beautiful lights'. Suffice it to say, they enjoyed it. So did Joshua and I, but I think we were more entertained by the commentary the children provided as we drove through.

We did learn this year that we intend to do the walk through tour next year, weather permitting. The line to get in was in.cred.i.ble. See? Plus around the curve a bit farther.

But we finally made it to the patrol car with the flashing lights, the turn in, the welcoming lights. And the older three kids were allowed to leave the confines of their car seats and join us up front to look out the windows. The back windows are, shall we say, dirty. (Filthy. Caked with handprints and nose prints and snot streaks. The kids assistance in cleaning them includes baby wipes or napkins that have wiped grease off their hands or mouths. Ugh. Not good ideas for window washing, let me just share that gem of wisdom.)



Oh, and that set of tail lights...make friends with them. We did. For nearly an hour and a half, they were our guide. We followed them around every curve and over every bump. When they braked, we braked. We had us some real bonding going on there.


So anyway...Elizabeth crawled up in my lap, Sarah Grace helped Joshua drive and Thomas steadied himself between the front two seats and jabbered right in our ears as we toured the Galaxy of Lights.



It was, honestly, great fun. Several of the displays elicited very imaginative images and hilarious descriptions from Thomas and Sarah Grace. Below, you will see Thomas' car wash. The lights were hung in strands making it look like sparkling snowflakes falling to the ground. Or that was the intended effect. In the Freeman vehicle, it was 'like going through that car washer tunnel'. (It didn't do anything for the cleanliness of the windows, I assure you.)


Elizabeth was very excited by the 'yights' and insisted on informing us each time she saw a new lit up something. Which was every 2.4 seconds. After the first three or four minutes, she decided that she was tired of the word, or perhaps her little eyes and brain were in such overload, she just forgot to say it out loud. She was taken by many objects that she knew the names of, but none so much as the 'deh-yuh' that were feeding in the fields. She got very excited each time she saw deer or something that vaguly resembeled a deer.

There was a long stretch devoted to Mother Goose characters. We drove slowly and recited the rhymes to each lit up dipiction of the characters. Humpty Dumpty was entertaining, but Sarah Grace regaled us with a little known fact about Jack Be Nimble. Joshua and I had just finished chanting the rhyme...

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack jumped over the candle stick!

when Sarah Grace, not missing a beat, tagged on...

and his pants smelled like toast!

Joshua and I giggled like teenagers as the family contemplated the smell of Jack's pants.

So, come about that first week of December next year, er, this year...whatever. If ya'll are looking for entertainment, come on with us. With four trying to verbalize their thoughts, next trip promises to be more grand entertainment!

***DISCLAIMER*** No, I am not a great photographer, but be nice. We were riding in a car on a semi-rainy night. Don't I at least get brownie points for providing illustrations???