how is your day?

just a quick not to check on your day. how is it so far? mine...it's almost 11 am and already cara has been stuck on top of her father's bureau (which stands about 5'), topless i might add, and jack set off the smoke alarm. you see, he decided that i have been on the computer too long, so he set the kitchen timer for me. really, he just turned the oven on to 370 degrees. oh, and the air conditioner is still broken. have a good one!

new religion (possibly a little tmi and a little "risque")

i'm thinking of breaking off and starting my own little sect of catholicism. i was raised roman catholic (and i'm irish to boot...you're shocked when you read this and realize i have five children, i know). but, the older i get, i am seeing some inconsistencies in the teachings of the catholic church. i think in my religion, i will keep all the same rules and stuff (that would be A LOT of work to come up with all of that stuff, like commandments and what not), but i will spread the word about how i think god is.

my god is not the benevolent, all forgiving god. nor is he the stern god who is counting sins and passing down judgement. he is more of a...well, i don't know, kind of a regular guy, with a warped sense of humor and the power to act on it. the teachings in my religion would be more "do what he says, or you'll be sorry" than "thou shalt not..." or even, "if you're going to play, you're going to pay" type of philosophy.

for example, in catholic school, we are taught that sex before marriage is a HUGE sin (sex at all except for the purpose of procreation is a no-no). so, in my religion, instead of going to hell when you die, you wind up pregnant before you're married and then have to tell your parents and aunts and uncles and meet your boyfriend's family as "the pregnant girlfriend." none of which is much fun, trust me. so, now you are married and you have sex, just for the sake of sex (not procreation, in fact you even try to prevent pregnancy). haha, got you...you will have 4 babies in two years. (at this point, i do have to admit that sometimes i think children are WAY too extreme a punishment just for having sex).

this was all brought home quite clearly for me this weekend. one of my cousins got married. my husband was the dj at the wedding (my husband was also the dj at the bar that i worked at 10 years ago. that's how he wound up as my husband). i think it is safe to say that everyone at the wedding had a great time. i, in particular, had a really great time as i was feeling a little nostalgic about being somewhere that tommy was dj'ing and my sister and i were there with no children. i also thought it would be a good idea to drink slightly more heavily than i would on any other saturday evening. my god's response to this...a communion party for thomas' classmate. i knew about this ahead of time. i was fully prepared for it (everyone's clothes were laid out...the boys outfits were ironed). however, when we started to get ready for the party (in our house with the broken air conditioner on a 90+ degree day), the girls LOST IT. freakin' flipped out. took off shoes and socks, cried hysterically, ripped the bows out of their hair, pulled at their dresses and untied their sashes...LOST IT. was this really necessary? i was going to the party (late, but we were going!). i even went to mass, WITH all three boys. shouldn't that have cancelled out some of my partying from the night before? so i left them home with a babysitter (thanks, liz!) and put them to bed. apparently, this did not please my god, because i found myself paying for my actions again later. when we got home from the party, the little darlings were well rested and sweet as pie. around 9:30 when i was falling asleep (i was so tired i did not even attempt to watch "the tudors"), the girls decided to rebel...again. by 11:30, i gave up on the bedroom and took the girls downstairs where they could watch tv until they fell asleep and i could lay on the couch. what time did they finally fall asleep? 2:30 am. for real. the lesson i have learned from all of this? no partying (literally) like it is 1999 (thomas was born in january 2000. my rockstar days ended in 1999). and don't take the easy route out and leave kids home. my god is having none of that. i'm pretty sure he is up there having a good chuckle at me, though.

mother of the year part 2

tommy just took the boys to the dentist. all three of them. this is the one aspect of parenthood i will not be responsible for. i HATE the dentist, so i am not going to be responsible for making my chidlren undergo the torture that is the dentist's chair. it's pretty dumb really, considering tommy had to take a day off work to do this, but oh well...i take care of all the other details, i am giving myself a free pass on this.

now, here is where i really begin to question my sanity...as i send my sons out the door to the dentist, my daughters are crying (because they want to go too. they have no idea i sent them off to be tortured). what do i do to make them stop crying? why i give one a taffy, one a fruit roll-up and then both of them gum. for real?!?! what kind of example is that. here, you don't have to go to the dentist so let's find the worst stuff for your teeth that we have in the house and eat it all at once! mother of the year indeed.

ps - the picture is of the girls showing you their gum. cara has been wearing the tutu nonstop for three days now. she also swallowed her gum immediately, but when i said show me your gum, she opened wide.

also, last week i was given a friendship award by my friend at her sane with out drugs blog (http://sanewithoutdrugs.blogspot.com/) and i am to pass it on to five others! thank you again for giving me this. i would like to forward it to:

1. http://bethsblog43812.blogspot.com/

2. http://girlintheglasses.blogspot.com/

3. http://lovinmylovebugs.blogspot.com/

4. http://teepants.blogspot.com//

5. http://bethsayswhatishouldhavesaid.blogspot.com/

i picked these girls simply because i really like their blogs. hopefully, someday i will earn how to post links and this will look a lot cooler, until then, sorry.

mother of the year

so this morning i get up to get thomas ready to go to school. i wake him up, collect all the sippy cups from other children, tell him to brush his teeth (because he needs to be told this EVERY SINGLE MORNING), gather up his uniform and lay it out for him and go downstairs to make his and tommy's lunches. i reach into the microwave to get the bread for his daily pb&j sandwich and come up empty. no white bread. hmmm...so he has pb&j crackers. i tell him to make pretend he is a giant eating little itty, bitty sandwiches. he looks at me weird. i get his snack out and go for his juice box and, you guessed it, come up empty. luckily, i find one hidden in the back of the fridge that is missing it's straw (the girls CONSTANTLY help themselves to juice boxes but are unable to put the straw in, so we wind up with a lot of beat up looking boxes with no straws). i scrounge through my silverware drawer and find an odd straw and throw that in his lunch box. poor kid. at least he has a nice communion banner, right?

"dear" letter

i am so stealing this idea from other bloggers. think of it as my highest compliment...

dear third grade teachers,

i understand that church should be decorated for first holy communion, i really do, but banners? do you really think that the third graders are sitting at home making these banners by themselves? also, do you think that people just have these supplies laying around their houses waiting to be put to good use (besides my cousin lisa, who probably does have these supplies)? couldn't we have done posterboard signs or something? because when i spend almost $60 on supplies for said banner, and then my baby starts putting the letters for his name on there crooked, it really, truly pains me to let him continue. doing this project caused me to use almost more self-restraint and patience with my child than i usually have in me. i really wanted it to be a project we did together, but come on, he's a nine year old boy...do you really think his vision for this banner and mine were the same or his ability to draw and cut out a chalice and host? also, it has to be felt...are nine year olds allowed to use hot glue guns, because at our house the hot glue gun was aimed at two different siblings and then laid dripping hot glue on the dining room table (partially my fault...i should not have told them it was a hot glue GUN, nor should i have used the nickelodeon magazine as a place to sit it).

anywho...i think we did a good job, thomas designed (with a little inspiration from his dear mother) and i executed. and i did let him put the letters on, even though they are not perfectly straight. however, i drew the line at sewing the ribbons on, i didn't think he was up to weilding a needle and thread yet...maybe for his confirmation banner.

love,

thomas' control freak of a mother

solution to my dilemma

first, i would like to thank everyone who expressed concern and offered advice on my previous post about my zoloft dilemma. i have decided that it is time to concentrate on myself a little more right now and hopefully everyone will benefit. instead of going right back on the zoloft, i have decided to work harder at my diet and make a concerted effort to get to the gym regularly. my gym offers babysitting, which my kids think is lots of fun and it allows me to do something for myself, alone, for an hour each day. my hope is that by taking better care of myself, i will improve my own self image and how i value myself, which will in turn make me a happier person, which will then help me deal with my children and all of the other things that go on in a more positive way. if, however, i find that i am still snappy and grumpy towards the kids (after improving myself), it's back to zoloft.
thanks again for all the kind thoughts and good advice. i really do appreciate it!

leather furniture

today, i discovered the very best thing about leather furniture. when i went to buy a couch a few years ago, i thought "no way can i buy leather furniture. the kids would ruin it!" so i bought a really pretty couch that was totally destroyed in three years. this time around, i did my furniture shopping at a really high end furniture place (sam's club) and decided to go with the three piece set for $1000.00. i figured if i got three years use out of that, it would be worth it. my three pieces are dark brown leather chair, couch and ottoman. i am pretty happy with them as i can wipe up any spills pretty easily and dust them off with a damp rag. they are starting to look a little worn from things being spilled on them and not wiped up quickly enough, but it doesn't bother me too bad.
this leads me to today. i was up at 8:30 am and off to the gym. stopped and picked up some fruit to eat with my special k (instead of the bacon, egg and cheese muffin from mc donald's that i really wanted) and came home and fed the kiddies. immediately after eating, i took thomas to get his baseball team picture done and then went back home to shower and dress for the day. this was all accomplished by 11:30 am. tommy had all of the kids bathed while i was gone, so we got everyone dressed and i hopped in the shower. i had a great day planned. i was going to my parent's house (they have a great big yard and enough toys to amuse a daycare center full of kids) to hang out and maybe take a nap (tommy had to work this afternoon and night). while i showered and tommy got dressed, apparently the girls were doing some experimenting...with a half gallon of syrup...and my living room furniture (again, anyone want to tell me how much fun they think it would be to have twins?!?!?!). this was discovered when caroline came up to me in the bathroom and said "ka-ie makin mess with syrup. i say no. i keen it up, see." as she holds out her sticky hands and shows me her shirt.
needless, to say, by 12:30, the girls had their second baths of the day, second set of outfits and my furniture had been thoroughly cleaned with what appears to be every single clean dishtowel in my house. if you can get past the fact that my house smells like the original "log cabin" and the slight stickiness when you rest your feet on the ottoman, it really wasn't a total disaster. buying leather furniture may have been one of my best decisions yet! something to keep in mind next time one is considering car upholstery.

a dilemma (not a fun post...no kiddie stories today)

as indicated in today's title, this is not my normal "haha, my kids are funny" kind of post. i am in the middle of a dilemma right now and i feel the need to get it off my chest. i am hoping that in putting everything in writing, i will be able to get a better grasp on the situation.

when jack was six months old (he was my most high maintenance infant, having what we called "jack attacks"), i had thomas at home, was babysitting my nephew and found out i was pregnant again. i spoke to my obgyn about the fact that my emotions were a little crazy (i mean no offense using the term, i do it all the time, sorry) and that i had little to no patience with thomas and my nephew. i felt bad that i snapped at them and yelled so often, but i couldn't seem to stop myself. my midwife prescribed zoloft for me. i really liked it, as i did not feel like a zombie and i was way better able to deal with what was going on in my life.

i have been taking zoloft for over four years now regularly. i have missed a week or two here or there, but have kept up with it pretty steadily. considering that 15 months after jack was born, i gave birth to dennis, and 12 months and 3 weeks after dennis was born, i gave birth to katie and cara. it seemed like a good idea. at one point, i had a six year old here with me, and four children, ages two and under. i think that is a lot to deal with for anyone, but especially for someone with a history of depression in their family.

a few months ago, i realized my prescription was running out, and i started to take just one pill a day (i always took two before). i still felt the same. around 3 or 4 weeks ago, my prescription ran out completely and i had no refills (i always take it at night, so i kept forgetting to call my obgyn in the morning).

this week, i have noticed that i have had a headache for like four days now. not a migraine or anything, just an overall achiness. i have also noticed that when i have energy, i feel way more energetic than usual (i've been going to the gym, with the 4 youngest, who go to babysitting there); but also when i am tired, it is debilitating. i am much quicker to snap at the kids, but i also laugh harder at them and have more fun with them when we do things together. i am also having horrible issues with my self image right now. i am not at all happy with my appearance (or my hair, but there is not a whole lot i can do about that. i am thinking about looking into extensions, though), but i have been making way more effort to diet and get to the gym.

i am sort of feeling like everything was sort of numbed while i was on the zoloft. i never felt as bad about myself as i do now, but i was never through the roof thrilled, either. i feel that zoloft kept me on a very even keel. now i have to figure out if i want to continue with that or try to slog through it on my own. i am trying to figure out what is best for my children, a pretty even tempered, easy-going mom, or one who frequently laughs out loud, but yells just as much, too. i am also trying to figure out what is best for me. maybe if i continue to feel this bad about things, i will be more motivated to do something to improve the situation, which will make me happier in the long run. am i subjecting my children to a maniac in the meantime? i don't think it is a bad thing, by any means, to be an even tempered, easy-going person with five young children in the house. on the other hand, maybe with five young children in the house, i am supposed to feel like a crazy person.

i have a call in to my obgyn to talk to her about what i should do. hopefully, i will be able to come up with a situation that will help both my children and myself be happy. sorry for being so serious. thanks for sticking with me here.

as a reward, i will relate a funny story from dennis this weekend...we were driving to my grandparents house at the shore (about 2 hour drive) and were stopping at dunkin' donuts for coffee and munchkins. dennis (3 years old) said that he needed donuts. my husband tried to convince him to get munchkins (much better for the car ride), when dennis said "i need a donut. i'm a cop!" we have no idea where this came from. we never disparage police here because: a) their cops (and philly has been a really tough town to be a cop in recently) and b) my father is a retired philadelphia cop (who now works as an investigator for the state). tommy took dennis in to dd with him, and as they were coming out, two cops walked in. dennis yelled "look! it's cops!" i've included a picture of the little angel so you can get a visual of who was trash talking the philly pd.

kreativ blogger

i was given a little blogging award by one of my favorite bloggers. i am so excited! thank you very much, amber! i love your blog and i very frequently laugh out loud while reading it! thanks!

now i get to post this pretty little button on my blog and then i have to provide a link to amber's blog (which i really don't know how to do. i hope it don't screw it up). then i have to list seven things that i love and then provide links to seven blogs that i love (again, hoping i do this successfully).

so, for anyone who is not family and is reading my blog, i thought i'd give a little background. i have five children, a nine year old boy (who was quite the surprise and born approximately 3 years before i married his father), a four year old boy, a three year old boy and twin two year old girls (again, huge surprise, both the pregnancy and the fact that i was having twins, which i found out at 20 weeks). people tell me all the time that i should write a book, have a television show in my house, etc. etc. finally, my sister, meghan, convinced me to start a blog. so i did and people told me they liked it. the more time i spent "blogging" the more interested i became. then one day, meghan called me and said "you have to check out this girl's blog (http://whisperingwriter.blogspot.com/). it is pee your pants funny (i may have taken a little creative license there, but you get the idea). and it really is pee your pants funny (again, thanks meg!). from there, i found links to other really great blogs and i came across a really cool blog called "the secret is in the sauce" (http://www.thesitsgirls.com/) which provides links to about a billion other blogs.

now, i am always surprised when people say they like my blog, but i am glad that i am entertain so many people. now, on to my lists. enjoy!

amber at airing my dirty laundry...one sock at a time gifted me with this little button. find her at http://whisperingwriter.blogspot.com/. thanks again!

things i love

1. accessories - i think that i often dress kind of boring so that i can wear really great accessories. i have lots of shoes (many of which are completely impractical), necklaces, headbands (meghan once described the box with my headbands as 'the headband mother lode'), etc. i really, truly love girly stuff. and, i have passed this trait to my daughters.

2. my ipod- the ipod is pretty much the single greatest invention of all time. it makes trips to the shore fly by, a half hour on the treadmill bearable, parties more fun. i could go on. i am a music person, i listen to words of songs, married a dj, just, in general, really like music, all kinds. i love my ipod because with it, i never have to listen to a song that i don't like. i can drive for two hours and know every single word to every single song that i hear. i love that! also, (and this is where my true craziness begins to emerge) i always think, "if they made a movie out of my life, who would play me? who would play tommy?" etc. i have pretty much the whole cast picked out at this point and now, thanks to the invention of the ipod, i've already done the soundtrack! my blackberry is a close second favorite invention, but nothing beats my ipod.

3. reading - i love, love, love to read. anything, but especially (and this is kind of a dirty little secret) romance novels. i like to pretend that i am more worldly and sophisticated, but give me a good book that doesn't require a whole lot of deep thought with a happy ending, and i'm a happy girl. susan elizabeth phillips is my favorite. (some weeks i can read 3 or 4 books...crazy i know)

4. dirty dancing - i love this movie completely. i even love the soundtrack. i fully understand that it is totally cheesy and I DON'T CARE. when my first real boyfriend broke up with me, i watched it seven times in one week. i love it.

5. historical fiction - i really enjoy historical books, tv shows, etc. the only problem is that i then feel the need to research the characters and see how much is true and how much is fiction. my current favorite is "the tudors" on showtime. great, great show. (i really liked deadwood and rome, too, as well as "the other boleyn girl" book series by phillipa gregory)

6. shopping - i love to shop for the social aspects of it. don't get me wrong, i love to buy stuff, too, but i really enjoy going shopping for a day with my mom or mother-in-law or sister, etc. just to spend time with other women and talk and have lunch, etc. i like all aspects of shopping, trying stuff on, going in a million stores, everything.

7. the hairdresser - i love to go to the hairdressers. i love to get my hair cut, colored, highlighted, styled, whatever. i will try anything, long hair, super short hair, blonde, black, red, you name it, i'll give it a try.

blogs i love

1. amanda at http://piecemealpeople.blogspot.com/

2. valentine at http://lettersfromvalentine.blogspot.com/

3. http://missionmotherhood.blogspot.com/

4. hit 40 at http://sanewithoutdrugs.blogspot.com/

5. http://thehigbygang.blogspot.com/

6. stephanie at http://oohbabyonline.blogspot.com/

7. tricia at http://momgoincrazy.blogspot.com/

thanks to everyone who reads my blog! i hope you enjoy it!

personal grooming addendum

just thought i'd post the pictures of the boys' new haircuts, too...lest they feel slighted. enjoy!

ps - i included pre haircut pics, as well, so you can see how desperate the situation truly was.

personal grooming

so...one of my least favorite facets of motherhood is personal grooming. everything that needs to be done is at the least, unpleasant, at the worst, war.

baths are a huge hassle that take so much energy and make such a big mess and always involve tears and yelling and me covered in sweat and dirty bath water.

nails...where to start...maybe the fact that i find NOTHING more disgusting than nail clippings. nothing is worse than that. thinking about them right now makes me a little queasy. now consider the fact that if everyone gets their nails done on the same day, I HAVE TO CLIP 100 NAILS. yes, 10 fingers + 10 toes x 5 kids = 100 nails. yuck. to make the situation even less tolerable is that i usually have to wrestle no less than 2 children into nail clipping position while they cry and drool and wipe snot all over me.

haircuts are not too bad at this point. for awhile, they were the worst of all, but apparently only thomas and jack have a real aversion to having their haircut. for the most part, everyone sits pretty still and does what they are told if they are bribed with a taffy beforehand (i have no qualms whatsoever about bribing my children to behave). thomas has completely gotten over his fears and gets his hair cut peacefully and frequently now. thank god. jack (who weighs close to 60 pounds at this point) still has to be wrestled into position and held down, but he is the only one at this point. we also have to swear that we will not go near him with clippers, only scissors (as a quick sidebar, in september, when i let jack drop out of pre-k, he announced to the world that he quit school and haircuts). tonight however, was an exercise is hair cutting frustration. i took the girls to get hair cuts before easter (the boys are going tomorrow, much to jack's chagrin). i told the two different hairdressers that i wanted chin length bobs with short bangs. katie's hair is sitting on her shoulders in the back, it is slightly shorter in the front. the bottom of cara's earlobes are visible. really? katie and cara can tell me where their chins are, why can't the hairdresses that i paid (and tipped because i feel bad not tipping even though they didn't do what i asked). katie's haircut was extremely frustrating because the crazy lady had her in the seat for almost 10 minutes before she started cutting. apparently, katie would not sit still enough or look down in the correct manner. for real, lady? i can't get her not to go the bathroom in her pants, you think she is going to sit perfectly still with her head at just the right angle? come on! start cutting...i know it's not going to be perfect. she's two for goodness sake! the saddest part of the whole story is that i have to do this again tomorrow...with the difficult crowd. ugh.

by the way...for anyone interested...dennis is doing pretty good with the potty training. the girls are no longer being trained at this point.

naked monday

so, i am tackling the potty training issue again today. i have decided that as it is chilly and rainy here (plus it's monday, and who wants to do anything on a monday) the three youngest are going to walk around bottomless all day in the hopes that they will start to use their potties. all three potties are sitting in front of the tv just waiting for use. (this was actually prompted more by the fact that i am totally out of pull-ups, than the weather, but regardless, it is the plan for the day.) i really, really do not want to buy pull-ups ever again. i am sure i will, but i don't want to.
i'm wondering how many messes i will clean up from the floors today. actually, i'm kind of thinking of rolling up the rugs and then maybe i'll be less upset when someone has an accident. probably not, though. i'm still going to have to clean it up. yuck.
well, in putting a "glass half full" spin on things, i will try to believe that this will be a successful venture today and the easter bunny will be bringing all kind of fun new underwear to our house on sunday. that's a good positive attitude, right?
i'll keep everyone posted.

ps - all of you cousins that don't have kids yet...this is a life lesson to you, take note!!!!

pps - katie and cara have already peed...not on the potty.

a great day

i am just writing a quick post to let the world know that today was a really good day and my kids are awesome. i do not often say things like this, so i am definitely keeping this for posterity ( i can see myself saying to them "on april 1 2009 i thought you were awesome. i even posted it for the world to see.") anyway, we had a busy, crazy productive day and the four little guys really were so well behaved i couldn't believe it! i haven't even broken out the "f" word once since 8:00 this morning!

at 9:45 this morning, i had a doctors appointment. we got there by 10 am (i didn't say perfect day, just a really good one), but the doctor decided to see me anyway (yay me!). jack, dennis, katie and cara were very well behaved. no fighting, no tantrums, etc. TWO different people even commented on how well they all listened! from the doctor's office, we went to the gym where i pay an extra $5.00 a month for babysitting (seriously, i took 4 kids, ages 4 and under to the gym with me. how's that for dedication?). they actually cried when we had to leave because they had so much fun in the play area. no complaints from the sitter and i didn't see one single fist fight on the little closed circuit tv that shows the playroom and hangs above the treadmills. from there i decided they could use a reward and we went to mc donalds. i even let them eat inside, no drive thru!!!! for some strange reason, this is the equivalent of going to disney for my poor kids. while in mickey d's they were so good! no fighting, no tantrums (see a pattern here) and they actually sat nicely at the table and...ATE THEIR FOOD (as opposed to telling me they are starving so i will buy them a happy meal where they then get a toy and proceed to play with it while not touching their food)! they didn't even make a mess. no spills or anything. they were even good at our final destination (cara's doctor appointment).

i was so proud of the whole little crew. when all of the senior citizens commented to me how good they were and how beautiful they are, i actually agreed with them today. maybe, just maybe, we are doing something right here after all!

ps - two of them are crying right now while dennis and jack fight over something and whip dishtowels at the girls while i try to type here and monitor thomas' homework and keep the other kids away from here. sigh...back to normal.