picture time!

Here are some pictures of the kids from the last month.  I'm terrible about taking pictures anymore, and even worse about sharing them, lol!  Enjoy!

Emma preparing to do a handstand at the Christmas show.

Megan being Megan at the Christmas show. She did do her dance though.

Brooklyn didn't care for the peaches, but loved the spoon

Jackson with his new toy he got for his birthday

The girls when I was trying to take pictures. Megan REALLY wanted to hold Brooklyn.

The boys being goofy

Brooklyn trying to escape

YAY!

Got some good news on Friday.  Jackson actually grew 2 inches, and gained almost 4 pounds in the last 6 months.  I think I breathed the biggest sigh of relief in the pediatricians office when he told me those numbers.  The doctor said Jackson is obviously still small, but he gained and grew taller, and actually moved up in the percentiles as well, so he's not really concerned at all.  I cannot tell you how much better I feel about Jackson being such a little guy.
Unfortunately we also got a little crappy news on Friday, I'm still sick!  I came down sick back on November 14th, and my body still hasn't kicked this crap.  I am now onto round 3 of antibiotics to try to clear up this nasty sinus infection I have.  I have to go back to the doctor in 3 weeks for another check to see if everything has cleared up.  Also, the doctor did some bloodwork on me just to make sure everything else is working properly, and to find out why I've been so tired.  My fingers are crossed it's nothing serious and just a side-effect of being a mom of 5, lol!

Jackson is 2!

Wow!  Jackson is 2 today.  He is such an amazing little man, and he cracks me up every day.  He is still really tiny, everyone comments on it (which is really annoying from strangers by the way), but he seems like he's healthy and normal, just small.  He was supposed to have a check-up in the morning, but the pediatrician's office is opening late because of the bad weather, so I have to call to reschedule.  Anyway, he talks a TON!  He is picking up new words every day, and he can actually be understood a lot of the time.  He is showing some interest in using the potty, but we've been taking it slow and following his lead on it.  Some days he'll ask to go on the potty and actually use it, and some days he'll ask and not go, or it will be just a minute too late.  But, I know we're making progress, and I hope it won't be long before he gets serious about it.
Jackson has pretty good motor skills too.  His newest thing is jumping with both feet off the ground at the same time.  Sounds silly, but that really is a milestone and takes some coordination.  He still hates using utensils to eat, but I don't really care.  I figure he won't eat with his hands forever, and at least he's eating.
Jackson is quite the funny guy, but we love to refer to him as a little old man.  The more you watch him the more you can see he really is a little old man.  Recently I've started referring to him as Mr. Fredrickson, which is the name of the old man from the movie UP!.  Pay attention long enough, and you'll start to see the resemblance.  I think we should get Jackson a cane to walk around with to make it even more complete, lol!
I just love that little boy, and even though he is definitely hitting the terrible two's hard, he's still a lot of fun, and you can't help but like to spend time with him. 
Sadly, no party for Jackson today. We've all spent the last week fighting a stomach virus, and poor Jackson is just now starting to feel better. The kids were very sad for Jackson he didn't even get cake on his birthday, but I promise he'll get one in the next day or two.

Fingers crossed his check-up goes well.

slow growing

well, like all the other kids, Brooklyn has really slowed down in her weight gain, but she's still healthy.  At her 6 month check-up she's up to 15 pounds 5 ounces, and 25 1/2 inches long.  That's not up much from her stats at 4 months when she was 14 pounds 4 ounces, and 25 inches long, but at least she grew.  Fingers crossed she continues to grow and stay healthy.  I find it hard to believe she only grew 1/2 of an inch, but I really don't think they do an accurate measuring job every time, so who knows.  She is outgrowing a lot of her pj's in the length, so I think she's still doing fine.  I have a feeling her slower weight gain has to do with her increased mobility, but I'm not expert.  I always stress so much about the kids' weight gain, but chances are I have nothing to worry about.

Brooklyn is 6 months old

So sad, my sweet baby girl is 6 months old already!  It feels like it was just a month or two ago we were in the hospital with a newborn, but I think it live in a weird time warp world where things happen at hyper speed without me realizing.  So, yep, here we are at 6 months.  Brooklyn is so sweet and snuggly I just want to eat her up.  But, now that she has figured out how to get around on here own, she doesn't have as much time for snuggling, and would prefer to chase after the toys her siblings leave lying around.  That's right, Brooklyn is crawling. I'm sure a lot of people would say it's not officially a crawl, but I think it is.  It's a half crawl half army crawl scooting thing, but she is fast and always gets where she wants to go.  She can't sit up unassisted, or even using her hands as support, but I have a feeling it won't be long because she keeps pushing herself back onto her hip like she's trying to sit.  Megan crawled before she sat, and she learned how to sit by just pushing herself back onto her butt while crawling one day, so I expect Brooklyn to be the same way.
For a while she was sleeping really well and only waking once or twice a night to eat and go right back down, and would be in bed about 12 hours a night.  Now, she totally sucks at this sleeping thing.  At first I think it was due to teething because her bottom two teeth have cut through.  Then I got sick, so we were wondering if she was just extra hungry.  I wasn't eating much at all, so I'm sure the quality of my breastmilk was kind of crappy, but now that I am at least eating a little more, her sleeping habits are still awful.  Today though, she seems to be running a fever, so I guess she is coming down with something.  I miss the days of being able to put her to bed at 7:30pm and know I would only see her a couple times before morning.  Now she is up and down all night, and I'm exhausted because of it.  Not only am I trying to recover from an illness, but Brooklyn wanting to nurse at least 12 times a day is sucking the life out of me.  But, as Sean pointed out, our only other option is to try to give her some formula (she hates bottles by the way), and I'm not ok with ending breastfeeding because it's gotten hard, so we're plugging along.  If everyone could pray she starts sleeping better again, that would be awesome!
Even though I complain about the crappy sleeping, I do love nursing Brooklyn in the middle of the night when the house is quiet and dark.  She is so peaceful and content it almost makes me forget how exhausted I am and how much I'd rather be sleeping.
Brooklyn still hasn't had anything other than breastmilk, but I definitely think we're close to introducing some solid foods to her.  She is very interested in what we are eating at meal times, and tries to grab our stuff if we are holding her.  Unfortunately, our high chair died.  It survived 7 years and 4 kids, but we just couldn't make it last through one more kiddo.  So I ordered a new one, and Brooklyn's entry into solids will have to wait until it arrives.  I tried to find a replacement cover since that was the really horrible part, but our high chair was such a dinosaur, there aren't replacement covers out there for it.
Brooklyn loves her older siblings.  Even Jackson, as long as he's not trying to sit on her.  She thinks Nathan is hilarious, and Emma can calm her down almost as well as I can when Brooklyn gets upset.
These first 6 months have passed by in such an exciting blur, I'm sure the next 6 will be more of the same.  Even though we didn't plan to have Brooklyn, I LOVE having her as part of our family, and cannot imagine life without her now.  Thanks to God who knew we needed Brooklyn, even though we didn't.

Days like today

Some days of my motherhood journey are wonderful and amazing and make me feel so incredibly blessed.  The kids all (pretty much) get along, and everyone listens and we have a lovely family dinner, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something right on the crazy road I'm on.
Then there are days like today that there are more tears and yelling than smiles and giggles.  More fighting and arguing than loving and talking about our days.  It's so exhausting trying to keep my cool when the kids are having meltdowns, and still trying to manage the wife and mom responsibilities.  I already feel constantly behind on all the things I should be doing, but days like today make it seem impossible I'll ever reach a point that I won't be behind.  They also make the things I'm failing in stand out more, and matter more.  On the good days I can overlook the dishes in the sink, and the crumbs on the floor, and know that those are not the things that truly matter right now in life.  Days like today make all my failures stand out more, and make any success I've ever had virtually disappear. 
Days like today make motherhood  feel harder than serving time on a chain gang.  Days like today make me wonder why I felt I could handle not just 5 kids, but any kids at all.
Days like today are not the days I'll remember when my babies are grown... and for that, I'm grateful.

Life gets in the way.

Oh my goodness, I think I just need to give up on blogging.  Normally I just post something quick on facebook and everyone I know is on there, so that's just a much easier way to keep up.  Lately though, even facebooking has taken a back seat for me.  I have nothing interesting to say.  Seriously, the life of a stay at home mom is pretty un-interesting.  Today's excitement was Jackson's pooping in the potty.  Really, who wants to hear that?  It's a big deal in our house, but to everyone else, it's just gross.  Other daily activities include laundry, dishes, making meals, nursing a baby, changing diapers, homework with the big kids, running errands, and getting the kids to their activities.  Most weeks pass in such a blur it's over before I know it, and it's time to start all over again.
In addition to the daily grind, we've had plenty of weekend activities, including two camping trips.  I love when we can get away as a family, even if it's just for a few days, but it's also really exhausting for me since I'm the one who packs everything, unpacks everything, and washes everything once we're back home.  I can't really complain too much though, because I don't think I'd let Sean do the packing, even if he offered.  I'm pretty sure we'd all end up with one extra shirt, and maybe a toothbrush, regardless of how long our trip is.  lol! 
I wish I could be better about blogging, but without something fabulous to say, and not a lot of readers dying with anticipation to read something from me, the motivation just isn't there most days.  Of course the motivation to scrub bathrooms isn't usually there either, but I have done that more than I've posted a blog entry in the last two months.