Morning Routine

Chris (The Big Yellow House) and Carmen (Mom to the Screaming Masses) did their morning routines on Wednesday. Well I finally made it over there to read their question of the week and decided -even though I am almost a week late - to join in. Tomorrow I will try to get over there to read the new question of the week about raising a large family.
I used to homeschool like Chris but after 5 years decided it was time to send them off to school so my morning routine is more along the lines of Carmen.

5am-5:30am Alarm #1 goes off. I stumble to the bathroom while hubby goes to retrieve alarm #1 from her bed. I turn off alarm #1 with nursing while hubby gets in the shower.

6am - Alarm #2 goes off and I hit snooze, deciding if I really want to get up and shower or lay and sleep for another 9 minutes.

6:09 - I get up trying not to disturb alarm #1 and head to the shower. Grab a mini candy bar and try to get the light to stay "on" in the "off" position (remember we live in a fixer upper house and it's something we haven't fixed yet). Hop in the shower.

6:30 Out of the shower and dressed. Hubby is usually still sitting on the toilet with his towel wrapped around him, contemplating the task of getting dressed.

6:35 Start making rounds to get everyone out of bed - my high schooler SHOULD be up and gone by this point. I don't get him up as I'm to lazy to get up any earlier. I just tell him good bye before he goes to bed at night!!

6:40 Get Ellie from her crib and deposit her into her high chair with cheerios. Get Taniyah (AKA alarm #1) from my bed and deposit her in to her high chair with cheerios. Hope that they don't protest to loudly.

6:45 Heat up a cup of coffee and go back through rooms to pull blankets off of any stragglers who still lurk in their beds.

6:48-7ish Get Angie and Makkiah dressed for preschool. This entails taking one of them into the livingroom and dressing them quickly before the other one seems them "naked". Hope that the other one doesn't come into the livingroom as we then have a major meltdown that somebody saw them "naked" - even if they are half dressed. Then inventing something for the dressed one to go look for while I dress the other one, who jumps behind me anytime they hear anyone near the livingroom to make sure that no one seems them "naked".

7-7:15 Brush Brayana, Destini, and Angie's hair. For anyone who has tenderheaded, drama "princess" girls you know how this dance goes. Brush hair while the current princess is screaming and hopping around. You must be quick on your feet and very skilled to complete this task with not one but three of these beautiful princess girls.

7:15-7:20 Give Makkiah his medication. Refill cheerios on baby trays or give them shredded mini wheats for a change of pace and a little peace and quiet.

7:20-7:25 Make the rounds a third time to remove any stragglers from their beds, in front of the TV or computer to make sure they are 1)Dressed in appropriate clothes that weren't worn yesterday 2)they have brushed their teeth and hair 3)they have washed their faces and put on deodorant 4)they have socks on their feet and 5)that they have any of the miscellaneous 5 million papers that get sent home on any of the assorted days that need to be sign, filled out or completed and returned to school that day or they will "be in so much trouble and their teacher won't like them and life will be miserable".

7:25-7:30 Sign, fill out, and complete any of the miscellaneous 5 million papers that get sent home on any of the assorted days that need to signed, filled out or completed and returned to school that day or they will "be in so much trouble and their teacher won't like them and life will be miserable". Question again why they didn't give me the papers when they got them only to be given the answer of "you didn't ask!"

7:30-7:40 Round up Angie and Makkiah so that I can play the "I-know-I-should-let-you-brush-my-teeth-but-I-don't-really-want-to-do-that" game and wash their faces.

7:40-7:42 Brush my teeth while Angie and Makkiah look at me in amazement that "you brush your teeth too Mom!"

7:43 Make sure that the babies in their high chairs have sufficient cheerios to hold them over for the next 10 minutes

7:44 Tell Brayana, Destini and Jaleel that it is indeed time to get shoes on to go to the bus stop and end Destini's never ending question of "Is it time to go yet?" I swear she would have us standing at the bus stop at 5am if she could just to make sure that she wasn't late for the bus - which for the record she never has been late for!

7:45 Walk Brayana, Destini and Jaleel to the bus and stand around with a bunch of little kids whose parents aren't there so they think they can act stupid.

7:53 The bus comes and I can go home, releasing my children into the safety of the bus driver. (For the record, I still walk them to the bus since we have a large homeless population at the park near our house and I just don't like the idea of my kids being out there with no adult. Seems I'm the only one who feels that way but "oh well")

7:55-8:05 Walk home and get the two babies along with Angie and Makkiah loaded into the small van with the help of my 14 year old. Make sure that Angie and Makkiah have their backpacks with extra clothes for preschool.

8:05-8:13 Drive Angie and Makkiah to preschool and wait outside the door for preschool to open

8:15-8:20 Herd Angie and Makkiah into preschool and sign them into their respective classes while 14 year old sits in the *warm* van with the babies.

8:25 Drop 14 year old off in parking lot down the hill from her school because I'm mean and hate getting into the whole dropping off/picking up traffic hysteria that comes along with driving a child to school.

8:30 Get home and unload the babies from the van and lug them into the house

8:40 Feed the babies real food for breakfast and eat some breakfast myself.

9:00 Start one of many loads of laundry that I will do throughout the day, change/bathe/and dress babies, and try to check my e-mail while they play in the living room.

Since I only have the two babies at home from 8:15 to 11:45am I try to get as much as I can done. Unfortunately I don't get as much done as I would like because I still have two babies in the house who need supervision.

Hallway!!

We finally have a hallway all the way down the hall!

One of our bedrooms (Ellie and Taniyah's) you had to walk through to get to the back of the house - kitchen, master bedroom and laundry area. We had a long pole and shower curtain up to make a "room" for the two babies but if you walked down the hall while they were sleeping, well you didn't have a sleeping baby anymore.

So, on Saturday night Rod & I went and picked up our order from IKEA. We now have a "wall" of linen closets. They go from floor to ceiling and open into the hallway. If you walk down the hallway they look like closet space and it provides a great barrier between the hallway and the bedroom. And since they are white they don't make the hall look to dark or dreary.

I will post a pic when I get some taken. I need to go put all the shelves in so I can utilize my new space:-)

Teething Pain

Tanoyah is getting her 4 molars in.

ALL at the same time.

And in true Taniyah fashion they are taking FOREVER!

I swear they only go a cm a week!!!

Just shoot me now!!

Oh that's right I'm not the one in pain.

Just sleep deprived!

That spinning thing!

Rod, Ladaria, Tyreque and I are sitting and watching American Idol. Watching all the people who think that they can sing but really can't is always great entertainment.

So Tyreque turns around and I'm not sure where it came from but he says that he's always wanted to go on one of those things that you hold onto and they spin around when someone pushes them.

Rod and I laugh. A merry-go-round!! One of those playground staples when we were YOUNGER!! Never even thought that my children have been deprived by not having them around anymore.

We reminisced about jumping on and off of them, holding the middle bar and putting our feet out while it spun around and the infamous puddle around the outside that you inevitably landed in no matter how hard you tried jumping over it.

So now I feel old!!

ACTION

Brayana, Destini and Jaleel are now on the Aim for Faith Junoirs Team. Last night was the first practice for the new younger team and they really seemed to enjoy it. They wanted to practice when they got home and they all got up early this morning so they could practice before school! We'll see how long this last!
So far they have two presentations that they will be doing. As they practice more they will be able to do more things but first things first.
I've been busy here at home. Sorting clothes that were given to us and washing them before they either find a home with my children or I pass them on to someone else. Sorting through curriculum to list on E-bay and working on Children's Ministry stuff. Rod and I are also taking a class on Tuesday nights at the church. It's an evangalism class which also includes homework. I should be doing mine but instead I'm updating this so some people will stop complaining:-) I try to get as much done as I can while I just have the two babies in the morning but the time seems to pass way to quickly!
Hope that everyone is having a good week and I will try to update again soon.

The start of a weekend

Rod and I went to a leadership conference at our church last night and this morning. It was really good and I learned some things.
THen we went to Big Lots. We are looking for some shelves to put in Brayana and Ladaria's room so that they have places up higher to put things they don't want the babies to have. I think I found what I want at Walmart but thought I'd check out Big Lots first.
I also told Ladaria that I would braid her hair this weekend so I have top find a couple of hours to do that. I braided Brayana's 2 weeks ago and it's time to redo it. It's so nice to not have to fight with her everyo morning about brushing her hair. Makes my life easier.
I will try to get some new pics on here and will install the CDROM so that I can put the vacation pics on here.
Checking things off my list!!

I'm still here

I'm sure you all thought that I fell off the face of the earth. Nope didn't happen. I've just been busy - doing what I'm not sure but I'm sure that I have accomplished something in the last two weeks. If nothing more than cathcing up on laundry and making sure everyone has been fed!!

Yesterday Makkiah had a pulmonary appt. Just when we think things are looking up that kid throws us a curveball.

He's had croup episodes three times since Thanksgiving. These episodes have gone on for days at a time. Needless to say he is back on all his meds - Flovent, Atrovent, Nasonex, Singular (up to 5mg tabs), Zyrtec, and Prelone (5 days at a time and thank God this is his fifth day). He was also started on Prevacid for his reflux. Up unti lJune he was on Prilosec which was a total pain in the butt because it has to be compounded and refrigerated. Therefore it can't be mailed but has to be picked up from the pharmacy. That entails at least a 45 minute wait, sometimes almost two hour wait, for a medication that just needs to be taken out of the fridge and handed to me!! It was SO frustrating!!!!!!!

The prevacid we open up and dump the little, teeny, tiny balls onto yogurt, pudding, etc and then he has to swallow it. No chewing allowed.

The things about his steroids (prelone) is that it causes him SEVERE mood swings. Usually it makes him very aggressive. This time it seems to be making him cry at the drop of a hat. I swear he is worse than a girl going through PMS!!! But there is nothing that he can do about it and he needs it to breath SO we push on.

He'll be trialing the prevacid for a month and if we see no decrease in the croup symptoms then it's back for another bronch with the peds pulm and peds ENT. Everybody cross your fingers and pray that it works. The brocnhs don't bother me but if he doesn't have to get it done it's so much nicer for all of us but mainly for Makkiah.

Hope everyone is having fun and enjoying winter. Personally I'm ready for summer!