My Little Rant

First, I will apologize to everyone who is waiting for an e-mail response from me: I'm sorry. I will respond soon. I promise. This week has been worse than others. The other weeks, I work about 12 hours a day with the kids. This week, it is even more. I get up at 4:45AM. The kids are here by 5:15AM. Somehow they have a lot of energy, even though they just woke up. The kids start to leave around 4:30PM, and the last one is usually gone by 5:30PM... It is this last child that is dragging my day out. It isn't his fault, of course. When 5:30PM arrives, I am ready to crash. After everyone is gone, I still have to give my kids a bath, fix dinner, and clean the house for the next day. Ideally, I would be in bed by 8:30PM. It doesn't happen that way most days, which makes my next day that much worse from lack of sleep.

Anyway, this last child... I have been having problems with his mother because she makes a lot of stops before she picks him up. She doesn't want to take him on her errands. I want him to be picked up by 5:00PM, and since she gets off at 4:00PM, this shouldn't be a problem. This week, she has training until 6:00PM. Today, she called me at 6:15PM to ask if she could stop at the grocery store before she picked him up. I said "No. Why don't you just let me pick up the things you need when I go." Of course, I didn't want to go out to the store after my long day, but I figured it was better than having to watch her son for an additional 30 minutes to an hour (with no extra pay, I might add). She said, "OK, that'll work." 7:00PM came and went with no sign of her. She showed up at 7:30PM with a full tank of gas and 10 bags of groceries... But wait, the story continues... She left my home, and 10 minutes later, she was calling me on my cell phone. She asked if I was going out somewhere tonight (at this point it is 8:00PM)... I said, "No, I am about to go to bed. I have to get up at 4:45AM." She proceeds to tell me about how she really would like me to drive 30 miles round-trip to pick up her son's prescription for her. This is the son that JUST left my house!!! 14 1/2 hours with kids that are not my own, and I just want to be with my family. Don't try putting logic here because she has a car, she has a full tank of gas, and she doesn't have to get up until 7:00AM tomorrow... Why would I be the one to pick up the prescription?

It has been a long road to get to that point because I am a very generous person. I do try to help people out, especially friends. She burned her "help" bridge several months ago when my whole day off was spent on running her around from place to place in my car (when she has a car and is a perfectly capable person~ she just doesn't want to do it alone)...

About a month ago, it got pretty ugly when she asked me to watch her son on a Saturday. I told her "no" and proceeded to explain why (5 days a weeks, 12 hours a day with 9 kids... I need my time with my family to recoup). Well, at 10:00PM, she sent me a text saying that she would be bringing him in the morning... The same morning I told her that I WOULDN'T watch him. I again told her "no", and told her I was serious. She was at my door that morning. When she came to pick him up later that evening, LeCount told her how wrong it was... She apologized, but it was over at that point. I had already watched him all day.

The only thing that keeps me sane at this point is knowing that they are moving to another city in about a month, so it will be over for me in a little while...

Sorry, some times itis best to just get it off your chest... WHEW!!! That feels better. Now I am going to bed. Good night!

Not SO fun activities for the cleaning adult...

Playing with sand and painting are definitely on the long list of things that are not fun for the person that has to clean up after the children. Of course, if you only have 1 or 2 children, it is not so bad. The day we did the sand, 4 of the kids had to get a bath, and get their hair washed (as you can see~Morgan dumped sand on several people including herself). What fun! Today it was paint. You can see what Morgan did with her paint. There was something that I didn't get a picture of though~Jaden painted the wall!!! Great fun!!!

Birthday Party!

Jaden had a great party! Lots of friends, family, food, and fun!!! Daddy cooked hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. Grandma Leslie made a chocolate princess cake. There were games and crafts that everyone did (including some of the adults). The kids played "put the crown on the princess" (like pin the tail on the donkey), made foam princesses, picture frames, and tiaras.

These kids sure grow up fast!!!!

Always a big event for us!

I love these customer service driven stores! Has anyone been to Market Street? They have some pretty great items. One thing in particular that always gets me going back is the batteries for digital cameras- $3.99. I, also, love their chocolate cake (even LeCount eats it, and he doesn't go for sweets). We don't really shop there that often (once a month or less) because it is far from us. However, on Saturday, we needed to get out of the house. Nathan wasn't sleeping, as usual, so I was hopig the car ride would be the trick. They alway think we are going on a big adventure, even when we go shopping. I picked up the batteries that we needed, and then, we headed out. Market Street is like rookshire's in that they don't want you to take out your own groceries. They don't even have a place to put shopping carts outside. So, we get an escort to our car, which makes wrestling 3 kids a lot easier :0)

So sleepy...

Nathan has not been himself the past couple of days. He has been going without naps, or he will take a 10 minute nap and wake up screaming. Today was the same. I had him sitting in the chair that I feed him in, and I was feeding him some peas. I heard Morgan wake up from her nap, so I went to get her out of her crib- When I came back to Nathan, this is how he was!! Don't let him fool you- he slept for a total of 30 minutes today- Including the 10 minute nap he got on the couch. When I picked him up from the couch and laid him down in his crib, he woke back up screaming... But, I couldn't leave him on the couch- Not with the other 3 kids running around that I have to take care of- So, what was I supposed to do?
Advise from parenting experts needed- He sleeps with his mom in her bed when he is at home, and so, he doesn't care to sleep in his crib when he is here. I have thought about letting him sleep where he is comfortable, but it can't be somewhere dangerous like the bed because he is definitely mobile... So, the floor? And then, when he wakes up, how will I know he is still safe and not getting into things? He REALLY needs some sleep, and I need a break, too.

I have to take a break REALLY soon!!

***Nathan's first photo shoot- he can sit up, crawl, and has two teeth***

I am so worn out!! I think I could sleep for a week straight and still not feel rested. It is hard when I watch the kids continuously, instead of having 2 days off. Last week, I worked from Monday through Saturday, but on Saturday, it didn't end until 6PM. My only day off was Sunday, and then, I had to get other stuff done that I couldn't get done while all of the kids were here. Plus, the mystery shopping, and Amazon & Ebay sales... Today was particularly bad because I thought grandma Leslie was coming (the last time she came to our house was over a month ago). She had at first said Wednesday and Thursday she would come out. Then, she said that she couldn't do Wednesday because she had to take someone to the doctor... Then, I got an e-mail saying that she would be here on Wednesday. Wednesday (this morning), I found out she would not be coming. She told Jaden that she would come on Thursday instead. So, I called her last night to make sure she was coming, and she's not. I say all of that because I think that is the only way that I was able to keep my sanity. I knew that she would come every now and then, and I would have ADULT contact. Plus, the kids love to hang out with her, which frees up my lap. It gets tiring when I am in the house changing 25 diapers, putting kids in time out, feeding them breakfast, lunch and dinner plus 3 snacks, and having them not all take a nap at the same time (so not even a 5 minute break for me- no lunch hour or rest period). I wish so much that I could just stay home with my two kids- Without having to watch other kids for so little money. Nathan is 7 months old, and today he took 2 naps for a combined total of less than 30 minutes!! I just want to sleep for a long time...

Doing too much...

I am having trouble that a lot of people have. I am trying to do TOO much, but I don't know another way to be. It was different when I was going to a job. I worked a lot of hours because I felt pressured to get it all done, but when I came home, I didn't have to do my "work" from the job. Now that home life and job life is the same, I find myself spending more time working. For example, it may look like I am playing on the computer, bu I am actually working. I am running the Ebay business which right now is over 150 listings. It fluctuates between 150 and 220 listings per week. People that are Ebayers know what I am talking about. Then, I am, also, running my book business that is at least 100 books a month sold (that means packing them and shipping them out). Then, who can forget the kids: From 6AM until 5:30 PM, I am watching anywhere from 2 kids to 8 kids- Monday through Sunday morning... It varies depending on the care that each parent needs. Of course, there is also the mystery shopping that we are still doing. LeCount does most of the shops now that I am so booked. You would think we would have all kinds of money, since we are working non-stop... Everyone knows that is not the case- we just have to work harder for the money than we did before the lay offs. Whew! I am so tired! I have to get to bed now. I wore myself out just talking about work :0)

So tired!

I totally missed posting yesterday. I am so tired! It has been a long week! I have been watching the kids (ours, plus the other 3- Rebekah, Josh, and Nathan) until Friday. Then, Saturday, I watched baby Nathan until 6:00PM, and picked up two more kids right after that at 6:15PM. The two other kids are two kids that I watched once before- Braydon and Brynna. I took all 4 of the kids to the Wiggly Play Center where they have toys, bounce houses, and TVs playing the Wiggles. Then, Braydon and Brynna spent the night. It is 12noon on Sunday, and they are still here but down for a nap. Everyone got up nice and early this morning (except LeCount, of course). Whenever these kids get picked up, I am going down for a nap... and I will write a better post after I am back to being sane :0)

They never get tired of this!

Juneteenth Celebration

We are still on dial up. These pictures took about 1 hour to put on here. Anyway... These are pictures from yesterday. We went to a Juneteenth Celebration. Baby Nathan came with us because his mommy is working Saturdays now. There wasn't much going on at the celebration, so we didn't stay long. It was hot anyway :0) The bounce houses that they had for the kids were in the scalding sun. I only let Jaden play on them for a couple of minutes, and I told her to only touch the ground of the bounce house with her socks (because it looked like she would get burned if her skin touched it).

The celebration led to a discussion. Now that Jaden will be 4 years old in August, she understands a lot... So, most outings lead to some kind of discussion. I explained the meaning of "slave" and what some of the slaves went through... and why we celebrate June 19th. For thouse of you that are out of the state, or just not up on your history, here's a summarized version of Juneteenth:

Dating back to 1865, it was not until Major General Gordon Granger landed with his Union troops on June 19, in Galveston, Texas that Texans learned for real the Civil War had ended and the enslaved were free. While word may have traveled slowly around the still predominately unsettled portions of our country, this particular news arrived an incredible two and one half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation back in 1863.
Attempts to explain the delay in getting the word to Texas has spawned several versions, one being the military messenger was murdered en route, others being that federal troops purposefully withheld the information in order to prolong the workforce on large plantations and farms.
General Order No. 3, issued by General Granger, however, made no bones about it. Slavery had ended. “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
The anniversary of “Juneteenth” (June 19,1865) soon became an annual celebration in Texas, and as former slaves now created new lives in other parts of the country, they began celebratory traditions in those areas, furthered by their descendents. Today, Juneteenth is celebrated across our nation and quickly spreading beyond, encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures.