Where Has All the Time Gone!?

So, I have all of these ideas and ideals of what my house, car, kids, yard my self and even my blog should look like. Do any of the real things resemble the ideals or the ideas? No way. Does this bug me? Yep. What am I going to do about it? I really don't have a clue.
Because the time has all gone away. I will admit that I vacillate (see? I still know some big words) between thinking I should spend all of my time being mommy. The poem that says "...cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow..." would sum up my philosophy on life. The stacks of papers that need to be gone through can wait. The dust on the end tables...who cares? As long as the big stuff is swept up and the dishes are done once a day...what does it matter?
Then there are days like today! Today I see all of the messes as if through one huge magnifying glass. Ugh. The ideals come back.
I want to have a home I'm proud of. I should be able to hold my head up high as a housewife, right? I don't want my kids to ever ever be ashamed if someone comes over and sees our home. If someone drops by (although in our society today that is pretty rare I guess) I want to be able to welcome them in with a smile. Not frantically wondering what they will see that I didn't clean up, pick up or throw away. Worse than that...what will they smell!?
I am after all a housewife (aka Stay at home mom, aka domestic goddess--ha ha). And to be a successful housewife you should follow these instructions, right?
But where is my lipstick? Yep. The (now) 3 year old used it all up on her face.
So, how can I freshen my lipstick before he comes home? He being the king of this (very small, messy) castle? Besides, if you wear lipstick it gets really messy kissing your babies.

So, what is a mom to do when she wants her house to look neat and smell...passable? Ok, so I could take the trash out. I think one of the biggest answers is to clean out the clutter. We have a very small house for the size of our family (at least by today's standards). I laughed when a couple that is planning their wedding and life said the house they are buying is small. They have never been married before, therefore have no children. The house is 1500 square feet. Ha. That's not small. I can show you small. We are a family of 6 living in 1000 square feet. So, here goes nothing! I must get on this project! I feel no peace in all this mess. I'm going to *gasp* take some before and after pics. Because I want my work to really show. I want everyone to know what I've spent my time on. My energy. My (former) naptimes!!!!!

It might be slower going than for some people because I do have a baby (that is right now screaming-but that's because he chose not to nap today) and I do have to educate my children. The plan is to go through every room and evaluate what needs to be gotten rid of then do it. Garage sale in a couple of weeks! Woohoo!

Sickies

Cough Cough. Fingers in mouth. Cough cough. Nose picking.
Barf Barf. Fingers in mouth. Barf Barf. Drinking out of someone's cup.

It will NEVER end if this cycle keeps up.
Last week (including Saturday) I had all 4 kids to the doctor! Haley had her 3 year check up on Wednesday. I had to add Linds in to that appointment because she has developed asthma.
Then, Jared had something wrong with his tongue. The doctor thinks a virus...I think it's an allergic reaction. Because it went away and then started again yesterday.

Meanwhile, Haley had developed a cough (after her appointment of course). Ok, no biggie. Until she coughed on Nathan. It is a big deal for a 3 month old. Even a big, healthy one! So, off to the doctor we went on Saturday. Breathing treatments. Blessedly, no RSV (he tested negative-they thought he sounded like he had it).

Harold stayed home from work on Monday. Sick.

Tuesday, Jared threw up and has other stomach...symptoms. Still. (Yep, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday.) Partly because we keep feeding him "normal" food No more. From here on out it's the BRAT diet (Banana, Rice, Applesauce and Toast) until he's completely over all symptoms.

So far no one else has had the stomach symptoms...we shall see. We are exactly 2 weeks away from leaving for Missouri for our vacation (to see my grandparents whom we haven't seen for almost 2 1/2 years!). If anyone is sick, we obviously can't go! :(

I'm going to quarantine everyone in their OWN room. No more breathing on each other. The end.

Routine?

So, I am having the hardest time lately finding the balance between routine (or schedule) and being flexible. It seems we lean towards chaos. I don't want to be so rigid (and I can't)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe it's been 3 years today since we welcomed Haley Lorraine into our family. It's been a wild ride to be sure! From our first true colic experience to daring stunts we couldn't imagine a little girl (sugar and spice and all that) could even come up with-let alone execute. She has fascinated us, frustrated us. Amused us and confused us. Made us laugh and made us cry. She is a gift from God to be sure and through her He has humbled me daily. If I ever smugly gave anyone who reads this blog advice on parenting...I'm sorry. I'm over it now.
Here's to a great 4th year with our little girl! *cheers*

Shopping!

Ok, so this isn't what I look like while shopping. In fact it's not even close. Picture this: A woman who is looking very harassed. One child being worn (whether in the sling or the Bjorn...). One child being chased-because she was dumb enough to think that a stroller wasn't entirely necessary. It. Is. Trust me. Haley can make store managers ask them to leave no matter how much they promise to spend. Then the boy that is trailing along behind her (7 year old boys don't like shopping anyway) is tossing a football found in the store up and catching it. Only he didn't. Instead she is now the mother whose head has had a football bounced off of it in the checkout line at Old Navy. The 10 year old girl simply wants a chance to look at clothes and decide which outfits would best suit her and talk about those outfits. But, with all the chaos...the mother in the revised picture is not always very patient with the big girl.
Then, even though the mother learned her lesson and put the 2 year old in a stroller at the next store, the 2 year old often escapes the stroller or uses it as a stepstool to get clothing articles. But don't worry, the 7 year old boy will gladly snatch them from her and stubbornly and silently play tug-of-war with her over an article of clothing (that she wasn't actually causing any harm by looking at). But, she is not silent. She is screaming. Loudly.
The mother then decides that it's just not worth it to be in the store at all. The mother then leaves the store with a frown on her face and vows never to do that again. But she will. It's called insanity!

I don't know. I feel like my life is so un-noteworthy right now. Who wants to hear about poopy diapers, waiting for new cloth diapering supplies in the mail (excitedly I might add), washing said diapers, homeschooling, dealing with pre-teen angst (do I really have a pre-adolescent child?? one that fits into the "tween" category? OH MY GOSH!), sibling rivalry, a two-year old that keeps me on my toes all day long...and my longing to lose weight but seeming inability to do anything about this issue?? Who wants to hear about all of that on a daily basis? I don't. It's my life. I love it. BUT...it's not really worthy of a blog entry every day. Besides, when would I do that?
But, I do have a few pictures! Wanna see them? Okay. I knew you would.

Drowning!

I think I'm drowning in tears around here. No, not mine, but Haley's and Nathan's. It always seems as if someone is crying. That's why I haven't posted in so long. I'm tired. The good thing I can say: Nathan is having fairly good nights. Go figure.
I would like to know what is up with this. I'm starting to feel like it's "personal" somehow. Three out of four of my babies have screamed all the time. :(
I'm a good mom. My babies are well cared for...why do they cry? All. The. Time.