What's new?!? Let's get chatting!

Or procrastinating...

I'd thought I'd start a "what's new?" thread! Spill the beans! Kids, life, work, health, travel-whatever!

Me: busy. I make sugar cookies which keeps me very busy. Also stressed. Some days I enjoy it, some days I dont. It takes a lot of time away from my family. I'm currently in a herniated disc flare or whatever, so I've been in pain for over a week. Currently waiting for a Percocet to take effect so I can accomish something (a lot!) today. And I just turned 35. Whomp. Lastly, I need to get back to the gym and eating healthy. Stressed, exhausted, on the go, and I've gained half of what I've lost and its...depressing. And my sister is getting married in August. In good news-I'm going to be an aunt any day now! SIL is due 3/30 with her first-a boy! Yay!

Dh-insanely busy with tax season. I look forward to April 15! He's studying for his CPA exam as well, so i really won't see him until May...

Nicholas-soccer kid extraordinaire. This kid eats breathes sleeps soccer. It is UNREAL. He watches it all day. Plays it every chance he can. He is really good. He's only 7, and is on the New England Premier league team. At 7. So it's a travel team, and we will travel every other weekend about an hour away. They will most likely get crushed(they are the youngest-it starts at u9), but he is super excited. He also will play for the town we live in, and he will play with some members from the NEP team in another league(game only as they already practice together). In school, first grade, and he is doing amazing. The teacher has a rough class, but she praises both boys up and down. Makes my heart happy. And he just found a series he loves in reading(Captain Underpants), and finished the first book in one day. He's super excited!

Anthony-my voracious reader. Holy hell. He's got to be closing in on 50+ chapter books simce July/August! He's a wealth of knowledge, blowing people away with his topics of choice-currently the titanic and Pearl Harbor. He is the sweetest sweetest kid, and he pulls at EVERYONES heart strings. He will be trying baseball again in the spring.

Annabella-oh to be 5! Lol! She's in kindergarten and loving it! She has quite the sense of style, or she's blind to different designs lol. She loves to have fun and be silly. It's crazy to think how much she has grown up. It's so fast! She's doing really well in kindergarten and right where she should be heading into first grade. We really need to read more with her, but something I'm trying to work on! She takes Irish step dancing on Saturdays and she really seems to enjoy it! My grandmother would be tickled pink to see it! She also does soccer and will be starting up soon as well. She's also counting down the months until her sixth birthday. The other day she asked, "mommy, what day are you going to buy my birthday cake?" This child keeps us laughing for sure!

Travel- During the kids spring break in April, we are hoping to stay with my sister on the outskirts of Boston for two days and take the kids into the city. Dh and I will be going to San Antonio Texas in May for his yearly conference! I can't wait! So exciting! We want to take a family trip around our anniversary(July). Not sure if we will do the cape(ocean) or something different and go to Vermont and Ben and jerry's, Cabot cheese, etc. Family will be here from Italy at the end of July so that will take a lot of our time. August finds my sister getting married and we will be in New Hampshire from Thur-Sun. And lastly, there is a big cookie conference in September in Salt Lake City that I REALLY want to go to. It's held every 18 mths and this year it's not during tax season, so it's my year to go. I need to make it work!

That's about it on my end! We've been in the new house for ten months now. Love Love love it! And I just recently hired a cleaning lady to help with the sh!t on my plate. I was able to keep it up for a solid week. And then...cookies took over.

So what's new in your world?!? Let's catch up! Now that my meds have taken effect and I can walk, lol, I've got some work to do myself!

 

I'm still new here.

My pregnancy: Still pregnant. At times I feel like I could go at anytime but nothing major is happening.

My singleton:back with her dad. Missing her like crazy. Almost potty trained.

So's daughter:we have her for a whole week. Pray I don't kill her

Me and so: We just moved in to a new place and we love it. We are so much happier

 

We are T-9 days from our Disney cruise so it's literally all I think about!
Other than that, gearing up for warmer weather, Tball practices, hoping to get H in a small dance class to see if it'll be worth my $ come fall and looking for ways to save $$$!
I'll also be high gear exercise and eating right after the cruise. I've done fairly well and lost 11lbs since about February but I'm still about 10-15 from my goal. I read this book "It was me all along" and related to her life too much! So while I'm still logging my food on myfitnesspal I'm just trying to make good choices and not fret if I make a bad one. And exercise, I love when I do it but getting me to do it is like pulling teeth. Anything other than running or elliptical and Im like a baby the whole time!

 

well I'm off orientation and back to nightshift at the new job.  Tony's office is so-so.  People are buttholes about getting online quotes or calling in and then never calling back.  Kids are getting big - they will be 9 in May - no vacation this year as we don't have anyone working for us (and we poured every last penny into the business so we are literally scraping by),,,they'll play baseball in the spring and soccer from August until October...they are smart and healthy....
 
other than that....well nothing I guess...

 

I've been away for a while. Dealing with older toddler/preschool aged children is not a strong suit for me and having 3 at once in that age range has been... we'll go with taxing. But I'm starting to see improvement.

Me: Work is crazy as always. And I've had something going on with my sinuses that I can't seem to shake. I'm going to have to squeeze in a doctor's appointment sometime if it doesn't clear up soon.

DH: Has got to find a new job. the place he is at is toxic and he's starting to bring some of it home. Which I get that you can only keep it at bay so long but it's increased the stress levels for the whole house.

On the plus side, we're talking about possibly trying for a fourth child in a few months if things settle out a bit so I'm excited about that.

Vivi: Just turned 5. I can hardly believe it. Still working on getting her to listen and follow directions better but she says some of the funniest and sweetest stuff sometimes.

Livie: Imitates her big sister in everything - for better and worse. She and V are so close and it's cool to watch. It also means that she talks really well for only being 2.5.

Sophie: Is more of a loner. Most of the time she doesn't seem to care if her sisters leave her out of stuff. We'll see how long that lasts. But she is also a cuddler. So mommy gets cuddles when the other 2 are off doing their thing. Now if we could just get her eczema under control...

 

Just got the girls tentative soccer schedule. 8 games and I'm pretty sure the girls are missing 2. My sister is getting married may 1, about 3 hours from where I live. Soccer game is the next morning at 10am. Have to get their 1/2 hour early for warmup. I can't see that yapping. Dh thinks we can do it, but I know there is no way.

dani is also recovering from a sprained acheeles heel that is taking forever to heal. Going back to dr in a week hopefully she will be cleared for sport and gym. If their first game is not changed, she will have to sit it out.

 

DD and DS (the twins) are in their last year at our small pre-school and will have to change into public school for grade 1 in the fall:
DD is totally ready for a change and new challenges. She enjoys paiting and drawing and crafting and has a real creative talent. She has also matured a lot in her gross motor skills - she was always tall for her age (at 5.5 she is now wearing clothes for age 7-8) but she is now catching up, becoming stronger and more confident in her movements. She has a forceful personality and is a real leader which is great, but she is also an interesting mix of sweetness, clinginess and being Miss Cuddles and behaving like a hormonal pre-teen which is sometimes exhausting.
DS is reading very well and is our little scientist, at the moment his main interests are dinosaurs and the solar system/space/flying. He loves constructing, especially with Legos, and is happiest on his own in those phases; he is more of a loner anyway. The good news is that despite his health challenges (he has had multiple surgeries last year and this year and I have at last one doctor's appointment with him each week) and despite the fact that he is pretty small for his age he is totally athletic and good at sports, he plays soccer and hockey at pre-school (informal and non-competitive) and does judo, weather permitting he is always running and biking and playing with balls.
 
Our baby boy is 10 months old and just pure joy. He is the happiest child I can imagine, smiling, outgoing, talking, always exploring and on the go as he crawls, scoots, cruises around the house, watches his big siblings and tries to join in their activities, "helps" me around the house. The downside is that he is often too busy to nurse or eat during the day and wakes up a lot at night to nurse which is not so nice for me.
 
I am so happy to be at home with my baby boy - I love being a SAHM and our life as a family has improved so much that it is totally worth the loss of my income and some extra budgeting, at least for the time being (I do worry about retirement savings though). DH's job is crazy busy and it does not look like things will calm down any time soon, so he is more or less a weekend-dad at the moment and the kids miss him a lot.

 

Me:  I started working a part time temp office job that I love.  I am working for a pharmacy advocate company, doing spreadsheets to help them out with a lawsuit they are a part of.  The hours are good because I can drop the kids off at school, go to work and I am home around noon, so no need for aftercare.  I can also bring them to work in case of an emergency, like I had to with a snow day a couple of weeks ago.  I've lost 11 lbs since January and I'd like to keep it going.
DH:  Doing good.  Working hard.  The Police Department is working towards accreditation which has meant some changes in his department, so they are trying to work out how to be more efficient with those changes.  Still in back pain, is looking for a third or fourth opinion about what to do with it. 
DD/DS:  She got an excellent report card the other day.  She's doing dance and her recital weekend is in June.  I will be signing her and DS up for swim lessons.  DS got a good report card as well.  Both of them to love to read, write stories, draw and just make up their own things that they act out.  
We will be able to get the beach house this summer.  It is on stilts as the state of NJ is recommending, so we are pretty excited about that.

 

Nancy
how exciting that you have a part time job that is flexible enough for you to bring the kids with the winter we just had.
 
 
My DH is driving me nuts.  He wants us to leave albany at 6/6:30 am the morning after my sisters wedding to make the girls soccer game saturday morning.   We know of 2 out of 8 that we have to miss.  I'm hoping that since the schedule is not 100% that maybe they will change the 2 to times we can't make.  

 

Me: I also started a new job about 3 weeks ago working as a part time office admin for a local midwifery practice. And I really love it. I get to spend all day with midwives, pregnant women, and new born babies PLUS keep all the things organized. If you asked me to describe my dream job, that would pretty much be it. I'm still doula-ing as well so it's pretty much win-win-win.

Justin: is busy at work. He was promoted over the summer which was good but also stressful for a while (they were short staffed at the time so he was having to do his old job, his new job, AND train the new staff all at the same time). I was a little worried how things would go with me working a regular, out-of-the-house job now, but he's totally stepped up and it's awesome.

Riley & Danika: both girls have lost a tooth. They were super excited about the idea until it actually happened and they realized blood is involved. Now they're determined not to lose anymore teeth at all (I literally see Danika holding her current loose tooth in place all the time :laughing. They just finished their first ballet class, which they loved, and will be doing a pottery class starting in April. Next week, Justin's taking all the kids down to Fernie with his parents so they can do some skiing. I can't go because of my new job but I'm kind of looking forward to having the house all to myself for three days! ardon:

Emmett: he isn't so sure about this whole dayhome thing although he usually tells me he's had a good time once I get home. Recently he's been asking to wear underwear every once in a while so I'm hoping diapers will be a thing of the past sooner rather than later. If he does start using the toilet, then we'll likely enroll him in preschool in the fall. If not, then we won't.

 

Work is fantastic and busy and interesting!  I have a bunch of travel coming up again this spring, but I'm looking forward to it and may be able to bring my family on a couple of the trips which is nice.  Two weeks ago during our last snow storm, DH and I lost our minds and booked a last minute trip to puerto rico for easter!  I can't wait to get away for a week and soak in the sun.  We are going with another family so the girls are going to have a blast with all the kids
 
The girls are enjoying second grade.  I decided they couldn't do a sport this winter because it was too much with school, brownies, and violin, but they did football in the fall and will do either baseball or lacrosse in the spring.  I'm so impressed with how their violin playing is coming along... and that they both truly enjoy it and look forward to practicing every night.  Its such a joy to me to be able to share this with them since I've played since I was a little girls and are part of orchestras when I have time even as an adult.  
 
In family news, I'm deep into planning two baby showers for April.  My sister is due at the end of may and my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) is due a week later so I just ordered two cribs and mattresses and am having twinfant flashbacks  We are all super excited for the babies to arrive and my sister and sister-in-law are such cute pregnant ladies.
 
Thats my quick update.

 

These are great to read! It's great catching up, whether it's a little blurb, or a chapter book(sorry lol)! Keep them coming! 

 

Work is super fun. I've been reflecting a lot lately since I just passed my 3 year hire date and we are 4 years past all the crap that happened at my last job. I never thought I'd be in the place I'm in career wise being a supervisor. There is no way it would have happened at my old company. I'm still not 100% in the job since I'm very nervous about numbers so I'm not in the billing system but I'm learning it. I'm day to day operations and have brought in new families and my job is secure into next school year.  
 
My Rheumatoid Arthritis is fairly okay. Very stiff in the morning and ouchie all day but I deal. My left knee seems to be getting better as my right knee is trying to kill me in the morning. I have my canes around but am 50/50 using them.  I just feel more secure with them.
 
I love my new car. I miss little red but I feel much safer in my new one. (2015 Nissan Versa) I commute 60km a day so its good to have something solid on the road.
 
Nephew Kyler is amazing. He'll be 17 months Monday and totally hilarous. Its been 6 months and sometimes it feels like he has always been here and others it is like he is brand new. Connie goes back May 11 (9 month parental leave for adoption in Ontario) for 6 weeks then she'll be off for the summer. 

 

Me -- Just getting over a sinus infection. I have so many sinus issues. It's nice to finally feel normal again and be able to sleep at night.
 
DH -- It's been a year since he went to the doctor and found out about all his health issues. He lost 55 pounds, has kept it off, and everything that was a problem before looks great! (b.p. weight, cholesterol, blood sugar) It's amazing how losing weight and exercising completely fixed his issues he was having.
 
Lauren -- Officially a sophomore at the community college. She was just diagnosed, today, with strep so I've got my fingers crossed that no one else gets it.
 
Matthew -- His acne is so bad I ended up taking him to a dermatologist.    I'm hoping with the things she prescribed that things will improve!
 
Jacob & Nicholas -- Nothing exciting. Today was the first day of their last quarter of middle school. Come August, they will be high schoolers. Where did my twin babies go?
 

What ship? Where are you sailing to?
 
We're scheduled to go on the Fantasy to the Eastern Caribbean in October. We're still not sure if we can make it work with the kids missing school but we're trying to figure things out.  The best part about this...an online friend that I've known for years is also going to be cruising this same time so I will finally get to meet her and her family! :Clap: :woohoo:

 

Me: I've been so busy lately! I started going to a gym on a regular basis (I try to go M-F) but I haven't seen much in the way of results so that's super frustrating. 
 
Chis: He's been busy at work. It is what it is. We are both ready for him to move up, but things have been stalled out because of some restructuring that took place last month. I'm ready to just know where they'll move him. (And us.)
 
Reagan- She finally lost her other front tooth, so now she's our toothless. She hates it, poor thing. But she's loving dance. They got their costumes for their recital last week and she's beyond excited about that.
 
Jason- He's taking gymnastics and he loves it. I've decided that it works best if I don't watch. He's never had any fear when it comes to being physical or high. Put those together and it's just an hour long heart attack for me!
 
Caleb- My baby turned 1! I can't believe it. He's walking/running everywhere now. But he sleeps like a champ, so that's good.
 
 
We leave April 4 to go to San Francisco for a week. The big kids are so excited. We talk about it every single day. We're going to Alcatraz, so they've wanted to read about that and learn about it. And they are excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge. They love bridges (it's weird, but they have since they were really young- maybe because we lived in an area with a lot of them?) so that's one of the highlights for them. We'll be staying with Chris's step-brother and his family, so we are all looking forward to seeing family that we don't get to see very often. And they came to Louisiana two years ago and we were able to take them sight-seeing, so they are excited to return the favor.

 

Well, we just returned to school after a week off from spring break. For the break we hit the beach in a condo for the week. I love getting up each morning and doing a nice long walk on the beach- it gives me peace. We visited the nearby Fort Clinch, fished, played cards and relaxed to the sound of the waves.
 
DH is fully recovered from his appendectomy surgery, back to work non stop and trying to get every hour of OT offered. It took a good 8 weeks for him to get back to normal, and his really isn't totally ready to do major cardio workouts.
 
My job is great. I stay busy and the library really is the heart of a school!
 
P, P and C are having a great spring. They just completed a winter season of basketball and will be starting volley ball in the nest few weeks. All three girls are strong on academics and really enjoy school. Peyton and Paige just completed a living museum at school. Each student studied a person of history, wrote a report, completed a visual project and them had to dress in character. School classes and family members were invited to come spend the afternoon touring the "living museum." P and P loved learning about Henry Flagler and Harry Houdini, their favorite part was picking out the outfit to wear for the living museum. Chloe is becoming my superstar math student. Her class is also and ipad classroom- they do about 50% of assignments on the ipads.
 
I really don't like time flying past me at such a fast rate, but on the other side- I'm counting down til summer! 

 

Just got back from our spring break ski trip, we had a blast!!  The kids loved it and did really well.  I want to live in Colorado!! 
Ryder is playing soccer and the girls are doing ballet.
We are gearing up for the summer.  This is the first year that I am not putting them in daycare, rather we are signing them up for camps to stay busy all summer.
We are planning our next vacation now to Cozumel-another family trip-the kids are super excited. 
That's about it for me...cant wait for spring weather, camping and just being outside.

 

I feel terrible just seeing this!

Work- A bit manic. The first year, I thought it was me catching up, but now I realize it's just the culture. I still enjoy it, but it's still exhausting.

The kids- They've gotten so grown. Why didn't y'all warn me?? Alexis and Samantha are starting to read. For Samantha, it's been very organic and she's even writing some. Phonetics really clicked for her. Alexis is quick with numbers (adds and some subtraction)- she seems to understand the logic well. They are by and large still loving sisters, but some fantastic spats have started happening with some regularity.

Paul- He was recently offered a position as the director of the summer youth arts programs at our local community college. Happened quite by accident (I'd consulted with them on a community kitchen they're applying for grants for) but it's been wonderful and a huge confidence boost for him.

I'm active in a Moms group, the neighborhood association, and have- so far- managed to avoid the PTA. I feel ragged most days, but it's a happy exhaustion. This is a good season for our family.

I miss y'all. I wish we could have our chats in person! I'm so happy to hear how well everybody is doing.

 

We're going on the Wonder western Carib. 4 days! I'm gonna pee my pants I'm so excited!!

 

Ok, my update:
 
My youngest is doing VERY well in school and actually helped his big sister with some school work tonight.  I'm a little bittersweet with this as you can imagine.  He is in First grade.  He has some frustration issues at school and does share a para (aid) with another classmate at school.  This will be phased out next year in second grade.
 
My next oldest is Audrey.  She is doing ok in school.  She is consistently just below mark on all the standardized MCA (or whatever they are called) tests.  She is big social issues.. doesn't seem to realize 'appropriate' behavior to keep/gain friends.  She doesn't feel like anyone cares for her and doesn't have any real friends.  She is getting counseling once a week to try to help her impulse control and possible ADHD.  Audrey won 2 awards at the 4th grade recognition award ceremony.  The 'big' one was an HONESTY award.  That night, when I once again praised her for that, she got all sullen looking.  Hmm... she admitted to me that for the last few months she hasn't been telling me the truth about how many minutes she's been reading a day.  I told her she had to earn back my trust.  A little back story to this is that when I took her to her first 'talking' (counseling) appointment, I told her that she had to tell the truth and she looked at me like I had two heads.. why wouldn't she tell the truth?!  Haha!  She was having nightmares about getting in trouble with me for not telling me the truth about the reading.  I think she is sleeping easy now that she's told me the truth.  Heath wise she is still on her seizure meds.  She has not had a seizure since November 15, 2012. 
 
The oldest is Clayton (by a minute).  He does Very well academically and won 5 awards at the recent recognition award ceremony for 4th graders at his school.  Before this ceremony he was so excited to give me the tooth that fell out (he pulled it out) at school.  I almost forgot about the tooth fairy!  Whoops!  My kids all still believe.  He is in Cub Scouts.
 
I am still working part time at the school with a student in a kindergarten classroom.  He is a very sweet kid with medical issues.  Let's just say, it's a perfect fit.  I also 'teacher sub' because our district doesn't have enough licensed substitutes.  I've been doing this since November and I really have been enjoying it.  Pay is significantly more which is nice.  It certainly helps!  I am on the fence about what to do next year.  Potentially I could be placed with a student who I am not comfortable with.  I'm not really big on students with 'behaviors,' which is typical of kids who needs paras.  I do however love being an employee of the district.  It's going to be a hard choice.  I may try out for a kindergarten aid spot that will be opening up when someone retires.  That said, I wouldn't mind being a full-time teacher/IA sub.  But, then I don't gain any seniority in the district.  It's another hard choice.  I am teaching the next two days and a half day mid April so far.  Teachers are starting to approach me.  I did send out an email today telling them that I am available to teacher sub, but I think most already know.  I do prefer this school over any of the others in the district which is why I did the email.  I have a feeling that some teachers will be losing their jobs due to lower enrollment so it should be interesting.
 
  That's all folks! 

 

well my big fun for the day. I'm looking for a student doula to help with my birth and we had a natural gas leak in our new place

 

Work is insane, we're still trying to catch up from when all of the Members of Congress got voted out and new ones came in, there is a lot of payroll associated with each office leaving and starting.  Plus the ACA/DC Exchange is cuckoo crazypants.
 
Royce had his tonsils and adenoids taken out in early February, he has no more sleep apnea and doesn't even snore anymore.  The best thing is, he caught a cold, and it went away.  It didn't turn into bronchitis, sinus infection, tonsillitis like it has every other time.  He's doing great in school and boy scouts. 
 
Alice has had some problems with school, not with her academics, but with some other things, and was recently diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety, all while being highly gifted.  We're trying to take care of the ADHD and hopefully the rest will fall into place.  I would really love for her to like school and to like herself again. 
 
My cat is still alive, my other cat is still loud, and my dog now has a cherry eye.  Which makes me really sad.  It's entirely cosmetic, but I think I'm going to have to have it fixed because I cannot look at him without cringing.  We got new couches.  Mikey is the same.  I'm going on vacation without all of them this summer and I am stupidly excited.