So let's say that your child has stayed home from school (or another activity) or come home from school/activity because of sickness. Now, would you let that child go over to a friend's house to play? I wouldn't, but apparently the neighbor mom doesn't feel the same. A little after 1 p.m. the doorbell rang and it was the older neighbor girl. She was only too happy to announce that she wasn't at school because she was sick and that her mom wouldn't let her go outside until she took medicine and could Accalia and Cole play and could she hold Tylan? Oh, and could she play inside? She didn't seem sick, but maybe she has a bit of a cold or had an upset stomach or something. Still, if you're sick enough to stay home from something, don't come over and spread those germs around us! That's really thoughtless of the mom IMO.

Other than that, today was a busy day with Cole's tumbling class (he loved) and Accalia's gymnastics class (she loved). Apparently all of my children love that dance studio and the teachers. Ella started crying when we left so Cole's class could start, and Tylan was held by two of the instructors and couldn't stop smiling and cooing.

It feels as if we've been out of the house more than in it today, which isn't a bad thing. It just means that nothing has gotten done and it really needs to get down. I'd be horrified to have visitors in this house right now.

While there are many things we miss by living in a small town (around 13,000) like Yankton, we definitely don't miss large amounts of violent crime. Unfortunately, that happened here Sunday afternoon when a 58 year old man allegedly (he called 911 to report the shooting and confess) shot and killed three people at an apartment complex. One of the victims lived in the same complex as the shooter, and the other two were friends of the one. The man apparently was waiting for them as they got off the elevator and shot them each multiple times. There are rumors that this was all because of the one victim playing loud music. The other two victims were planning to be married on Monday, and now they're reporting that one of the victims was pregnant. In a town the size of Yankton, it's hard to have something like this happen and not be affected personally. The one victim who lived in the complex was the son of Cory's boss at the community mental health center when he worked there.

So that seems to be what's on everyone's mind around here. In the meantime, life goes on for the rest of us as normal. That apparently means I'm going to bed increasingly late and waking up earlier and earlier. Last night was horrible with Ella. I'm not sure what was going on, but she went to bed rather early and woke up crying every half hour or so. I brought her downstairs, which didn't help, and finally took her back up. She was past the waking and crying for the rest of the night but was still up frequently.

Yesterday we went over to visit friends in the morning and to meet their new guinea pig. Accalia and Cole have decided we need a guinea pig now. Accalia had her first ballet class of the new year, and this morning Cole has his first tumbling class. Then Accalia has gymnastics later today. Monday and Tuesday are the dance studio days around here.

I guess I should try to get myself, Ella and Tylan ready since we're up.

Tylan is starting to become more interested (for very short periods of time) in things other than just nursing and sleeping. When she wakes up for one of her alert periods, she'll actively seek me out to coo at and smile at and try to see if anyone else is nearby. She smiles at Cory and the other kids, too. Her fussy periods in the evening are also becoming less frequent. It's not as if they last very long (usually), and I've been through this with three other children all around the same age. It's just nice to see that she's moving past whatever developmental phase is causing it all.

Yesterday evening Ella had her first bee sting - first of any of the kids - and was not a happy camper. Thankfully she didn't see to have any sort of bad reaction to it, although I've heard that it's the second sting that usually is when a bad reaction will appear. She had been outside with the other kids and came inside crying. I could see a red spot right below her eye and saw something black sticking out. At first I thought she may have gotten a little thorn stuck in her skin, but we quickly figured out it was a bee stinger.

Tomorrow Cole is the only one having a soccer game. Accalia's was postponed until Thursday because there was a lack of referees. Cole's age group doesn't use referees, so he's good to go. Next week is the final week for fall soccer. I'm assuming both kids will want to sign up again in the spring since they both enjoyed it so much.

Okay, time to get ready for bed so I'll be able to get up in the morning!

In the early afternoon, I could tell that there were several things going on that would quickly lead me to be a very cranky person.
1) It was a rather warm and humid day, and without the air on I was getting very uncomfortable.
2) The living room needed vacuuming and the kitchen and dining room floors needed sweeping because one of the kids had tracked in some sand.
3) There was an electronic game hiding somewhere that was turned on and beeping and I couldn't find it.
4) I really, really wanted an iced coffee but hadn't gotten one in the morning as originally planned (in my mind).

So, I closed up the house and turned on the air. Then I vacuumed and swept. Then I found that damn game beeping in a closet underneath a pile of board games. Then I changed Tylan's diaper, piled the kids into the van and went to get that iced coffee. Isn't it nice when you decide to take those simple steps to turn around your mood rather than just letting it grow darker and darker? I know I'm guilty of sometimes not wanting to take that time or use that energy and would rather stew in whatever negative energy is swirling around.

In fact, sometimes lately I feel as if I'm much, much too negative - sometimes out loud and sometimes just in my mind. So, as a way to turn that around, I'm going to list one lovely thing about each of my children that happened today:

Accalia - Today she bought something that she'd been saving up for and let Ella play with it for a while when she really wanted to have it all to herself.

Cole - There were a couple flies buzzing around the house, and Cole killed both of them with a fly swatter. Then he left them on the floor and stood watch because he thought the dead flies would attract any other flies that might come to try to rescue them. I love how his mind works.

Ella - Whenever she gets out of the van, she always stops to plant a kiss on Tylan's head and say "hiya!" as she passes by.

Tylan - She's starting to grab things with her hands in that flailing, lucky to have made the connection newborn way, and she'll grab onto me when I shift her around. I love how snuggly that feels.

It's getting late and I should eventually start getting ready for bed, I guess.

Thought I'd post a quick update while the three older kids are watching a DVD and Tylan is sleeping in the sling.

We had a very nice weekend in Mankato and made it back Monday (my 32nd birthday). It was a busy weekend as usual with lots of time spent with the cousins. There are also two girls that live across the street from my parents, and they come over to play when the kids are there. On Saturday, eleven of the grandchildren on the Eibs' side had their picture taken, and we all actually survived! It was quite the crowd.

Tylan did a pretty good job of traveling. It was easier on the way home when we left in the morning and traveled during the time of day where she's usually napping more. Even though Tylan still sleeps the majority of the time, she's definitely past the immediate newborn phase of falling asleep no matter where she is. If she's been awake and alert, she wants to be walked around in the sling to fall asleep. Kind of hard to do driving in the van!

Yes, at five weeks old Tylan already seems so big in some ways. She's outgrown the newborn sizes of her diaper covers and the few pieces of clothing she had in that size. When she wants to stand up, she'll stiffen her body as if she's trying to stand up herself until I hold her up. Then she'll try to bounce with her feet so I move her up and down.

So much to do at home and I'm once again far behind on emails. Cory is working a lot this week and weekend, so I won't have the luxury of a second adult around much of the time to help out with the things I'm behind on. There's not a lot going on this week. Both Accalia and Cole have soccer practice, Accalia has art, and only Cole has a soccer game this weekend. Next week classes at the dance studio start up for Accalia and Cole.

We need to pack today for our trip to Mankato, and I'm really not that excited about the task. I'm sure it will go more quickly than I imagine. We're not leaving until later in the afternoon tomorrow, too, so we won't have to rush around in the morning. Look at me, I'm trying to psych myself up!

Cole has soccer practice tonight, and Cory will be around for that. So he'll either take Cole by himself or we'll all go and hang out at the soccer fields. We may end up doing that just so I can take a break from the neighbor girls. It's better now that they're in school and have to go in earlier, but spending the day in school doesn't always help out their moods. I think it would make a big difference if they came home from school and just sat inside their own house for a little bit, relaxing, having a snack, etc. That usually doesn't happen unless the older one has homework to do before she can go outside. Otherwise they rush out the second they come home.

Accalia had a soccer game on Tuesday, so the kids and I headed to that since Cory had counseling appointments. An old acquaintance from LLL was also there since her daughter was playing on the other team. We hadn't seen each other in more than a year, so it was nice to catch up. She has a new baby, too - a four-month-old girl.

Tylan has fallen back to sleep now so I'm going to try to get a shower in if she can stay asleep for a few minutes.

Tylan has been in a very conversational mood today. Normally her noises are more of the "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want my brother or sister to stop kissing my head" grunting variety, but when she's awake and alert and content, she'll just stare at you and almost perfectly mimic a conversational tone of voice and make sounds that are similar to "hi". The other kids love that. Cole is just eager for her to do new things. When I mentioned today that Tylan is four weeks old, Cole asked if she'd start crawling next week.

Yesterday I was knocked down by the same stomach virus that Accalia had Sunday afternoon/night. I woke up early in the morning and just knew I was going to be sick. Thankfully it's a fairly fast moving virus, and the worst of it (the vomiting) only lasts 4-5 hours. I was so tired, though, and could barely stay awake when I wasn't running to the bathroom or changing a diaper or getting food for someone. I called Cory around noon to see if he could come home early (first time I've ever done that), and he was able to get home within a couple hours. It would have been sooner but he still had to do rounds before heading out. So once he got home, I took Tylan and headed upstairs to sleep for a couple hours. That helped so much, and I was actually able to keep food down by the end of the day. I just really hope that Cole and Cory stay healthy and that everyone is in good shape for our weekend in Mankato.

Mel, a big duh from me for not even thinking of trying out boys jeans on Ella! I dug out a couple old pairs of Cole's and they fit almost perfectly! So that's taken care of.

I'm trying to catch up on laundry and especially getting it put away. Accalia has a soccer game tonight, but Cory won't be able to make it since he has appointments.

While there always seem to be reasons to not be satisfied with life, I'm counting my blessings and holding them close to me. A woman I've worked with in LLL over the past few years lost her husband to a massive heart attack. I'm not sure of her husband's age, but I'm assuming it's the about the same as hers (late 30s, early 40s).

Thankfully, our lives have been pretty uneventful over the weekend. Yesterday the kids were so excited to see a huge, double rainbow in the afternoon. Today, while Cory was working just a few hours at the pizza place, we dropped in so his boss could meet Tylan. Apparently she's been asking quite often about being able to see the baby. Later in the afternoon, as we were getting ready to all go together to pick up a few groceries, Accalia declared that her stomach hurt and she felt like throwing up. So Cory stayed at home with her (she loves it to be just the two of them because they sit and play video games together), and I took the other three to get a few groceries. Accalia did indeed throw up and has continued over the course of the evening. She's been in bed since around 7 p.m.

Now I think I'll see about getting Cole, Tylan and myself to bed.

It was another busy Saturday morning. Cole had a soccer game at 9 a.m. and Accalia at 10:15 a.m. It had rained for part of the night and I wasn't sure if they would want to play games on the wet fields, but the fields were full when we arrived. I was only able to see Cole's game because I had to leave for La Leche League. Ella (and Tylan, of course) came with me while Cole and Cory cheered Accalia's team on. Two mothers attended the meeting, including one whose fourth baby arrived on Cole's birthday (Sept. 3).

Cory works for a bit today. Accalia and Cole have been outside playing with the older neighbor girl for much of the afternoon. I think tonight we're probably just going to hang out and watch a movie.

I'm still on a quest to find a pair of jeans that will actually fit Ella. I found a place online that sells jeans that fit over cloth diapers and should be roomier than the slim jeans every other store seems to sell, but unfortunately the size Ella needs was out of stock. I usually don't even bother looking for jeans for Ella since she's never fit into them as an infant or toddler, but on Saturday in Mankato all of the grandchildren on my side of the family are getting their picture taken together, and my younger brother suggested all of the kids were blue jeans and white shirts. Sure, that sounds simple enough, doesn't it? It's not as if Ella is abnormally large. She's definitely more solid than any of my other kids and doesn't have the tiny thighs or bottoms that they do. I may have found a pair from Kmart that will work, but I have to exchange the pair I bought to see if a larger size will be okay. Ella fits into a 3T for the length, but this particular brand has 3T fitting 28-33 pounds, which is way too slim for Ella. Ella's about 37 pounds right now.

Yesterday turned out to be rather eventful for both Cory and myself. A while before Accalia had soccer practice, the kids and I decided to head to the store to look for dress shoes for Cole and Accalia. About half a mile from the store, Ella started throwing up all over herself and her car seat. Of course I didn't even have wipes in the van (since I'm apparently extremely organized), but I managed to get Ella stripped of her clothes and cleaned up, and we headed back home. Over the course of the next few hours, Ella threw up three more times. I have no clue what was causing her to be so sick, but it only lasted for that time and then she was fine.

Since I really didn't want to take Ella to soccer practice if I could help it, I tried to call Cory to see if he could come home early, but he wasn't answering his cell phone. Turns out he had it off because he was in the middle of doing a cell entry with an inmate who was on suicide watch but somehow had a razor and was cutting all over himself. Cory didn't actually enter the cell but left that up to the guards who were in riot gear and used a shield to knock the inmate down. Apparently there hasn't been a cell entry in the past eight years at that prison.

Anyway, the kids and I took Accalia to soccer practice. Ella fell asleep right away. I drove to get an iced coffee for myself and an ice cream cone for Cole, and we drove back to the park to sit in the van and talk while Accalia practiced and Ella and Tylan snoozed. At least that part of the day was relaxing.

Still haven't gotten around to shoe shopping, but maybe we'll do that tomorrow. Cole has soccer practice in the evening as long as it's not raining.

More pictures of the kids...






Yesterday I woke up feeling so achy, but I don't think I'm getting sick. I think I just slept in a really poor position. I shouldn't complain about our nights at all, though. If I didn't get up to change Tylan's diaper once during the night, I probably wouldn't get up at all. She'll stir when she wants to nurse or shift positions, but at this point I don't have to get out of bed with her because she's wide awake or fussy. Of course, that will change in an instant.

Tylan has had some fussy evenings lately, and last night Accalia kept asking what was wrong. I explained that even if the diaper's dry, the belly's full, etc., sometimes babies will just cry a little bit. Once I had Tylan back in the sling and moving around, she was out almost instantly. Tylan does seem to be a rather gassy baby and spits up a bit more than Ella or Accalia did, so that might cause her some discomfort every now and then.

The other kids are doing great. The majority of the adjusting that Ella has been going through seems to have been taken care of within the past week. Not that she doesn't still have her moments, but one day last week she woke up and was back to her old self with much less clinging and whining. We'll see if this continues.

Accalia has soccer practice tonight, and we have a few errands to run, but that's about it for today. I've been feeling extremely unmotivated, although I did catch up on all thank you's that needed to be written.

Tylan's awake and not interested in sitting still at the computer, so I'm going to get moving.

Today was the first Saturday morning of soccer games for the fall season. Cole had a 9 a.m. game, and Accalia had a 10:15 a.m. game. It was pretty cool for Cole's game - around 50 degrees - but it was fun watching all of the little ones running around trying to remember the correct goal towards which to kick the ball. It was warmer by Accalia's game - around 60 degrees - and Accalia seemed to have a lot of fun even though she didn't get a whole lot of time on the field. The kids will have games at the same time next Saturday, and there will be a total of three practices during the week.

This afternoon were tryouts for The Nutcracker, which Accalia had been looking forward to for a while. We got there at the time her age group was supposed to be trying out, and the school (tryouts were at the middle school) was filled with dancers of all ages. As we registered, one lady told us they were running about a half hour behind schedule. But, after sitting around for about an hour, we finally heard them calling for the age group that was supposed to try out about three hours before. We hung around for another half hour, sitting around with friends, before Accalia was accidentally hit in the mouth with a friend's knee. She had a bloody mouth, started crying and eventually decided she didn't want to sit around and wait another couple hours to try out, so we left. I don't blame her for not wanting to wait that long. I wonder if it runs that far behind every time or if this was out of the ordinary.

Ella needs a diaper change and has started screaming about something, so I need to stop.

Life is absolutely crazy right now. There's not enough time to get anything done, it seems, which is probably why our house looks like it's ready to host several archeological digs. We're all doing fairly well, though, and continuing to slowly adjust to Tylan's arrival. It feels like a tough adjustment to me. It's not that it's hard adjusting to caring for a newborn again, although it's certainly quite time consuming. It's just really hard trying to balance the needs of three other children, especially a two-year-old who definitely has her moments of showing she's having a rather rough time. It's much easier when Cory is at home and there's one of us who can fully devote ourselves to Ella (being able to carry her without a baby in the sling is a big one, it seems). It makes envy those families where both partners are at home!

Since I blogged last Friday, there have been a few things going on. The weekend was kind of a wash with Cory working so much. I guess the highlight would have been the kids and I having another movie night and watching the newest Little Mermaid movie out on dvd. They really enjoyed that.

Cory was home on Monday because of the holiday, and the most I remember from that was doing the grocery shopping. Oh, we also finished watching last season of Prison Break so we could watch this season's premiere on Monday, so that was our big accomplishment.

Tylan had her two-week check up with the pediatrician on Tuesday and is doing great. She weighs 8 lbs. 12 oz. (gained nearly a pound since leaving the hospital) and is 21 inches long (1 inch gain).

Yesterday was Cole's 6th birthday. He wanted to go up to Sioux Falls for the day, so we also got a chance to see how Tylan would travel on a longer trip. She did great, and I hope she does fairly well when we travel to Mankato in a couple weeks. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, and the older kids and Cory had a blast. Then we caught a matinee of Wall*E, which we all really liked. After that, we went to Toy R Us because there was something there that Cole wanted to spend his birthday money on. It was a really nice birthday for Cole, and I think we were all exhausted by the end of it.

Soccer is starting up this week for Accalia and Cole. Accalia had her first practice on Tuesday, and Cole has his tonight. Both kids have games on Saturday morning, but thankfully they're at different times. Accalia also has try outs for the Nutcracker Ballet Saturday afternoon. I was really hoping Cory wouldn't be working yet so he could keep Cole and Ella with him, but that's not going to happen.

Still have to get pictures off the camera. I'll try to do that soon.