The Ambitious Life

I am thankful for... 1. Friends who take time on their day off to play at the park with us.  Seriously the text message of "I have the day off, what is something that is hard for you to do with all the kids that we can go do?" was amazing.  We went and we played hard at the park.  Erica also took a lot of pictures that are too cute!  I can't wait to see them all. 2. Having the Hubs here to help me parent.  When dealing with children's attitude issues sometimes a fresh set of eyes is helpful.  I'm glad I don't have to do this alone. 3. Girls who love to color.  Seriously.  They get up from their naps and color for an hour in my office almost every day.  It's beautiful.  I get more work done and they are happy.  Granted, my office is usually trashed at the end of it, but whatever! :) 4. Home Fellowship Group (aka Bible study).  We've been on break for a little bit but are starting up next week.  I'm excited. 5. Hom...

Again, I am not an expert...but there are certain things that have worked for me that I'll share here.  Meal planning was a HUGE issue for me when I first was married.  First of all, if I lived by myself I'd probably be a vegetarian for the simple reason that cooking meat stresses me out.  A lot.  I also tend to not think about food until I'm hungry...really really hungry.  I also tend to get super cranky when I'm hungry so lets face it, just not a good combination. Early in marriage I tried a lot of different approaches to meal planning but too many times we'd get to 5pm and I still had no plan.  Plus, going to the store every day or every couple of days turned out to be really expensive.  It just wasn't working.  Then I tried some online programs that provided meal plans and grocery lists.  In theory this would work really well but I wasn't enjoying the meals - they were either too plain or included ingredients I didn't like.  (I'm a...

I was told I would never have children without medical help.  I was raised thinking two kids was a good 'normal'.  Hanging out with my husband's family used to be so overwhelming because with 10 kids, there is always a lot going on.  Still, big family life fascinated me so I read blogs and books where moms talked about how they did it all with their large crews.  I watched in awe as they seemed so calm with so much going on around them all the time. In 2009 my body decided to defy science and go ahead and have a baby anyway.  What do those doctors know?  Then while I watched her grow over the next five years, I watched our family grow as well...and we now have five children, five years old and under.  I'm not really sure how that happened (I mean, I know how  it happened).  The math doesn't even seem to make sense even with a set of twins.  But yet, here we are. So that all being said, I'm not an expert as this big family thing. ...

This has been a hard week.  And it is Tuesday.  For example - today I was thrown up on by little man...while I was on the phone so I couldn't do too much about it quickly.  Then one of the boys who shall remain nameless decided throwing poop was fun.  Compared to some horror stories friends have shared, we got off easy with clean up!  I've had to make some tough decisions, hunt down parts for various broken machines, try to get a repairman over here, and fill out paperwork while holding a sad toddler. End of the day, if that's the worse that happens today it's still a pretty good day.  Here is what I'm thankful for... 1. Perspective.  In my old age I've gotten better at saying "this is not worth getting worked up about".  I don't do it perfectly but it is nice to sometimes be able to take a step back. 2. Workouts!  I got up early this morning and did a workout video in my office.  HIIT - for beginners.  I am not entirely sure...

I'm good thanks for asking.  It seems like after a new baby I get asked that a lot.  Most days I'm great.  I'm a little sleepy on nights when the wee one doesn't want to sleep after his second bottle.  But yes, at 6 weeks he is generally only waking up for two bottles a night so I have little room to complain.  (With the twins at this point I think I was still prepping 8-10 bottles PER NIGHT for them.) I am finding that adjusting to baby #5 isn't nearly as difficult as it might sound at first pass.  (And again, please remember I have easy babies.  They sleep well and aren't super cranky.  I am NOT supermom.)  He is a delightful little one and I'm excited for him to be a bit more interactive, but at this point he is a good cuddle-er.  What I have to remember though is that even though he is delightful to cuddle (and needs it a lot for comfort as all newborns do) he cannot take all of my "touch time" in a day.  You know that point w...