It's Finally Over

The medicinal saga has come to an end. Rounds of applause and cheering are in order. It's been a long year of daily dosing. Finally. She. Is. Done.

Sally is TB free! She still bears the scars. She'll wear the brace until the anniversary of her surgery, but her back is strong and getting stronger every day.

Cloth Diapers

If I were normal I would write an informative post about cloth diapers. Topics would include: cost effectiveness, type of diapers, stuffing for the diapers, detergents, the cool hose thingy that you can attach to your toilet for those nasty changes...It's been done though, and done very well. Google cloth diapers and you can read to your heart's content. I didn't use them until we got Josiah. Even then, I didn't decide to sink a bunch of money into diapers that I would only use with one child. A six month old, at that. My industrious sister was expecting her first and she decided to buy one diaper, dissect it, and recreate it herself 30 more times. She's nuts, absolutely nuts. She and my mom made some for Josiah. They were so kind, but I personally think they wanted to try them out on a live baby before finishing the big batch. These diapers are so cute. Sickeningly cute on an adorable, chubby baby that's cuddling with a puppy. A word of caution. These diapers can be extremely tempting to puppies. It could be disastrous if cloth diaper wearing child is not closely monitored around excitable puppy. Messes and injuries could result.

I'm So Clever

Without a doubt, the comment I get the most is, "You sure have your hands full!"

After hearing this for the fifteen millionth time, I got tired of answering with a lame, "Yes. I do."

Like, what else can I possibly say to that?
"Ya think?"
"Huh? I've only got five, you should see my sister she has 11."
"You talkin' to me? "
"Wha...don't tell me those stinkin' kids are following me again."
"Oh, no, they are all little blessings sent straight from heaven." That said while gritting my teeth and wrangling a screaming toddler from the overloaded cart at the grocery store. Honestly.

One day it just popped out. I must have had just enough sleep to be thinking coherently.

"Yes. I have exactly one handful."

Hardy, har, har. I explained it to the kids later and we all had a good chuckle. That has become my stock answer. My 'handful' and I are always eager to see the reaction I get with that response. We giggle about the quizzical looks that I get and it's turned an annoyance into a game. Instead of them being a 'hand full' and nuisance, we walk away from the exchange with smiles.

Dinner

One at a time they trickle into the kitchen. It's the smell that draws them. They start to crowd in on me, getting underfoot. Soon, they are pestering and pulling on me. They all want the same thing.

"Up!"

"How do you do it?"

Coffee and prayer, my friend. Lots of coffee and even more prayer.

The Move

Early Saturday morning Seth and I pulled away from our house. He was in a 26 foot truck and I was in The Van. Moby had been transformed--instead of transporting children it held my wrought iron patio furniture and a TV. I was kind of excited about the prospect of spending a few quiet hours driving to the storage unit. We got onto the highway and I started seeping from my eyes. I'm a brickhouse, honestly, I don't sob often. I guess I finally sat still enough to realize that we are really moving.

So, doomsday closing is next week. That means the kiddos and I have been living in an empty house since Saturday. It rained Monday and Tuesday. Today, Eli said, "All I can think about is the xbox. Please can we play video games?"

Um, no. I can't bear the thought of little minds melting while the sun is shining outside. The babe is asleep and it's the perfect time for me to scurry around getting the last bits into boxes. I shuttled everyone outside and found a forgotten bag of play sand in the shed. Beautiful! I raced inside and started on another box. Until everyone started complaining about needing some "guys" to play with in the sand.

Everything in the house is gone except the bare necessities. So, I grabbed four plastic spoons and drew faces on them with my black sharpie. Viola! Guys! That should have bought me at least 30 minutes, but the guys needed helmets and the guys that are girls needed curly princess hair. I added helmets and hair with my box-labeling sharpie and pressed on. As I walked through the house collecting odds and ends I noticed that my feet were getting very sandy. Upon inspection, there was sand EVERYWHERE. These little people were actually coming into the house to use the bathroom and tracking wet sand all over the place. I grabbed the broom and took to sweeping up the mess. Then, I heard Josiah yelling from upstairs and my 'getting stuff done' time had passed. I had packed three-fourths of a box. I had sand all over the floors. I was down four plastic spoons and saw the dog shredding the now empty play sand bag.

It would seem that I take half a step forward and five steps back.