white cloud stitchery: my shoe and a roll of toilet paper. 'nuff said.

I'm spent. This week has been such a struggle. Dealing with some intense family issues, preparing to say goodbye to my husband, a minor fender bender, getting sick, 3 sick kids, and a baby girl who couldn't poop, but puked every 5 minutes really wiped me out . So this is just me. Plain and simple, getting stuff out of my head.

I am pretty sure that Miss Everleigh would win the title to Little Miss Spit Up 2010, if there were such a thing. Her diaper bag always has no less than 3 back-up outfits. And I have finally wised up and started throwing in a back-up shirt for myself. I would venture to say that she spits up at least half and sometimes closer to three-quarters of what she takes in. She started doing this really frightening thing that seemed like she was choking or possibly having a seizure. They have put her on Zantac to help (they think she just has really bad Reflux), but it has not really changed things much. She also has a fussy period-- around dinner time, of course-- which has made life super interesting. Since I share with you my many foibles and flops, I'm thinking I'm allowed just one 'woo hoo me!', right? Last night, with an incredibly fussy baby wrapped next to me in the moby, I swept, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the kitchen, and got dinner ready in under an hour. Don't worry-- when I cooked the pasta and was near the stove, Evie was in the swing. I was very pleased that I managed to juggle 3 hungry, rambunctious children, one fussy baby, and cooking and cleaning by myself. Gold star for me!!

Oh yeah, did I mention my husband deployed on Wednesday? No matter how many times we do this, it NEVER gets easier.

--Making a mental note here to kiss my husband (like I mean it!) more. If you have a child, you know that the first few months after having a baby, you tend to focus on-- well-- the baby. And with 3 other kids, there was not much time left for Jeremiah and I. Then we all got sick and that killed my plan to go out with him, just he and I. So I am vowing now-- I WILL find someone to take care of my kids and WILL make the time to go out with just my husband when he gets home. Because as soon as I woke up and I realized he was gone, I got so sad that I did not give him a movie kiss!--

The drinks by Izze......oh. My. DELICIOUSNESS. My favorites-- the Sparkling Clementine, Pomegranate, and Blackberry. So DARN GOOD! I'm going to have to make a trip back to Fresh Market to get some more. You just gotta try 'em!! (I was disappointed in the Peach one.)

There's this theory I have. I think there was chemical in the air this past year that caused uteruses to contract. And for those of us that were pregnant, it meant our babies got squeezed a little tighter. Ridiculous, you say?? Well, I know SEVERAL babies all born in the past year that have strawberry marks on the foreheads- including Evie. I knew she was head down and in place for quite some time, but I am not kidding, I have seen so many other newborns with the same mark, it's made me wonder what's up. I've never had a baby with a strawberry mark before, she's my first. And I think it's the cutest strawberry mark in the world!!

A short short that had me in stitches: I am picking the kids up from school yesterday, and my little man gets in the car with a serious look on his face. He says, "Mom, guess who put one of your shoes and a roll of toilet paper IN MY BACKPACK????" I immediately start laughing-- like from my belly, laughing. He continued "They fell out of my backpack and one of my friends found them on the floor and said 'whose are these', and I said 'Wait! I think that's my mom's SHOE.'" By now I am totally cracking up and can barely hear him. Can you imagine.....being in 1st grade and having your mom's shoe and roll of toilet paper spill out of your backpack. Just the randomness of finding one of your mom's shoes on your classroom floor, with the rest of the class AND the teacher, staring at you and the shoe, and the TP. Gosh, I just love my Jack. I wonder if he just grabbed the first 2 things he found and put them in Tyler's backpack, or if he put thought into it........Tyler interrupted my laughter and said 'Mom, it wasn't funny. It was really embarrassing. Here's your shoe-- next time please don't leave it out." With that he handed me my sparkly flip flop as I pulled out of the parking lot. And I'm still laughing.

And now for some pictures........