Ants and painting

We have been overcome by ants again.  Ack!  We have spent most of the last three days killing ants, then mopping to make sure we get up all the ant spray, and trying to figure out where they were coming from and where they were going too.

The picture above I took and posted on Facebook, just because I thought Jessica was so cute.  My friends all immediately thought she was showing of her artwork.  Artwork that I have been considering painting over this week.  I have been thinking hard about doing it everyday this week...but always decide there is something better to do.

So this morning Jessica started to do her new favorite activity which consists of climbing from the big rocking recliner in the living room onto the counter and then jumping back onto the recliner, more like diving, head first.  So I decided to rearrange the living room a little bit.  While moving furniture I saw them.  ANTS!  Not a million, as we had already cleaned up the million yesterday, but a few dozen, coming in a crack in the caulking between the floor and baseboard and munching on three or four little pieces of food.  Food that our maids should have seen and swept up on Monday, before all of our ant problems started.  But that is another story.

So I then proceed to spray and kill the ants, wipe it all up, and get the mop to mop the floor.  Then I proceeded to finish rearranging the furniture, only to discover that the wall behind the chair was filthy.  While I was cleaning it I decided it would really be much easier to paint over the pencil and pen, then it was to get it off.

This way of thinking is my norm.  I would rather paint the walls then clean it.  But I never stick with just one wall.  I end up doing several walls.  I did the two pieces of wall leading into the breakfast nook that were really dirty, the wall by the door leading outside, the wall behind that chair, the wall that holds up our main kitchen counter, and three walls that had blue marker all over them.  The good news is my walls now look clean.  There is only a small amount of blue marker you can still see peeking out.  Jessica also can not jump from the chair to the counter and back again.  And hopefully I have gotten rid of the ants.

With any luck the teachers found Isaac, who thought he was "helping", cute when he showed up to school today with paint on his clothes.

Exhausted

I am exhausted.  Really, it is for several different reasons.  Just being a mom of five kids, no matter how much I adore them, is very tiring.  The stress I go through on a daily basis with Jim is enough to drive anyone crazy.  Just waiting and wondering if he is going to make it to school without having a meltdown, if he will go to karate, if he will come home yelling at us, if he will have a successful day at school.  Always being on guard, never being able to relax.  It gets very stressful.

Then there are the health issues going on with Isaac.  Last spring he got really sick, and even after surgery, it didn't get better.  End of summer comes and he started getting green drainage from his eyes so I take him to another doctor who wants to redo his blood tests and do the CF test the previous doctor suggested.

A couple of weeks ago we did the CF test and did all the blood testing.  Today we went in and the CF test was negative and the blood testing was fine, except for one area of the blood count, the eosinophils.  It was elevated.  It was elevated before, and elevated more now.  Since Isaac's immune system looks fine, and he has tested negative for all of the allergins, the doctor thinks it could be a parasite!  A what? That doesn't sound good.  I guess it is more common than we think, but it still doesn't make me relax.  He is starting today on a treatment for it that will last 10 days.  In a month we will redo his blood tests.  If that number has gone down then we will know we figured out that part, if it doesn't we will have to look into more possibilities.  However, a parasite does not account for the sinus drainage he is having.  We may end up doing another CT scan.

JJ has started basketball now and last night was his first practice.  I think that was by far the most boring thing I have ever sat through!  Good thing he is so cute and tries so hard.  Hopefully his team will do better this week than they did last week, when they got all of one point.  It was sweet though, the point came in a last minute penalty free throw and all the parents, from both teams, stood up and cheered.  That is how a recreational basketball league should be.

Next week starts Michelle's volleyball practice.  Two hours a week for a 30 minute game.  As long as she learns something I don't care.  She really wants to try out for and get on the volleyball team at school next year.  But gosh, one more thing to add to my week.

I always dread fall and spring because of all the activities, but then welcome them at the same time.    It makes the evenings go by fast, keeps the kids from getting bored, limits the fights.  But just absolutely exhausts me.  One day though I know, I will miss these days.  My babies will be grown and gone.  I will wish that we had one more day to run around like crazy and be too busy.

A friend just posted this on FB.  It is so true and so meaningful right now.

Insults

As we enter the third week of school for the kids and the second week for Isaac, things seem to be going well for everyone!  However, today "I" am not doing "well" as I feel completely insulted by one of Isaac's teachers.  He has three teachers.  One that is there everyday of the week, another that is there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and a third who is just there on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Well today is Tuesday.

Isaac goes to school at 9am and I pick him up at 2pm, so he is only there for 5 hours of the 12-15 hours a day he is awake.  I have expressed to them that I prefer it if Isaac does not nap because he will go to bed by 6pm if I choose, or later depending on what we are doing that night.  He is awake by 6am no matter what, many times as early as 5am, and I think it is important that he gets at least 12 hours of sleep.  He is only 3 after all and by his actions it is clear that he needs it.  Like any three year old who has been up for 10 or 11 hours, by 4 or 5 he is cranky, whiney, and at times inconsolable.

So anyway, I go to pick him up and he is sitting in a chair coloring.  I asked her if Isaac took a nap and she, with a bit of an attitude it seemed to me, said no.  Then with a lot of attitude she asked me, "When do you guys have family time if you put him to bed at 6?"  I was completely not expecting this and stumbled on my words as I told her that it is normally between 6 and 7, depending on what we are doing and that we ALWAYS have dinner together.

As I left of course I came up with better responses.  Lots of them.  Not all nice either.  But it comes down to the fact that I feel completely insulted.  She doesn't have a clue what goes on in our house so she should not assume, anything.  I understand that there are parents out there who have kids in daycare till 6 pm and the only time they have with their kid is the hour or two until bed.  I am blessed to be able to work from home and most of the time James is home as well.  IF John goes to bed at 6, that gives us 7 hours in a day for "family time".  I think that is more than most families have.  The rest of the kids are home about 3 in the afternoon.  We then have sports, activities, dinner, church, and a ton of other things we do together, plus weekends full of quality "family time".  Who is she to assume that my son is missing out on "family time" because I prefer to allow him to not have a nap so that he can get to bed at a decent time. No three year old needs to be up at 9pm.  I don't even permit my 11 year old to be up then.  She needs sleep so that she can be successful at school.



So that is my vent for the day.  In other news it is definitely fall!  Yesterday I left the house nine times.  Seriously.  Today so far it has been four.  I think I only have to leave one more time today, to go to Michelle's meet the teacher night.  We get to be middle schoolers and switch classes every seven minutes.  Yesterday was Jim's first boyscout pack meeting.  He was so excited.  This is JJ's fourth year in boyscouts and Jim has been itching to join...for all four years.  He was so adorable in his uniform last night and so PROUD to be a boyscout.

Skinny urge

Sometimes I get what I call a skinny urge.  Unfortunately it does not happen often enough or last long enough.  But every once in a while I get an undeniable feeling of being sick of being fat.  Sick of being overweight.  I am on the taller side for a female, 5'7", and carry my weight well, but still, I have about 80 pounds I need to lose.  I have started and stopped so many diets in the last few years that I don't even tell friends anymore when I am going to start one.  I have no faith in myself that it will last.

That isn't to say that I have never been successful.  In 2003 I lost a lot of weight.  Then I gained it back.  Again, in 2005 I lost a lot of weight, getting down to about 155 before I got pregnant with Jim.  That is the last time I have been that low.  Both times I did it with the low carb diet.  I know it is successful, I know I could do it again.  However, the last few times I have tried it I have found myself getting very bored.  I only lasted a week, ONCE.  I don't know what I want to do to lose weight.  I tried Weight Watchers and was successful for a couple of weeks.  Tried counting calories and was successful while I did it.  It seems everything is successful, but finding something I don't get bored on isn't.

Not only is boredom an issue with me, but so is finding and keeping the motivation.  A house with five kids is very stressful.  I have a hard time staying motivated when I am so stressed that I just eat.  I never feel better afterwards, I just do it.

I need to do something.  Drink my water.  Watch what I eat.  Throw out the ice cream.  I need to WANT to be skinny more than I want that ice cream. And when I do feel that way I need it to last.

Getting back into a routine

It has been a long week and a half as the kids got settled into school last week and I tried to get settled back into a routine.  Michelle is having a lot of fun at middle school, but is starting to feel the pressure of homework.  She also comes home telling me everyday about all these guys that have crushes on her.  I was never a popular kid, boys didn't have crushes on me, so I am glad she is the opposite, but I have also been stressing to her that she better have all A's on her report card in just 4 more weeks.  JJ is also constantly talking about girls.  I spoke with his teacher last Friday and he is the life of the party, and has several girls following after him with puppy dog eyes.

We had one misstep on the bus last week between Irwin and JJ leading me to drive Jim to and from school everyday.  I just can't put him in situations where he might not succeed, and the lack of supervision on the bus, mixed with all the other kids personalities and problems, proved to not be a good place for him.

This Tuesday was Isaac's first day of his 5 day a week, 3 yr old preschool.  He was SO excited to go back to school and he loves his new Spiderman shoes (as you can see in the picture above).  Jessica has actually transitioned well to having no one home and I am enjoying the quiet during the day.  I told my mom yesterday that I am finally starting to decompress from all the noise this summer...and then the kids get home from school.

Now starts the busy fall schedule.  We literally have to arrange dinner around activities.  This afternoon, from 4:45 to 5:30 the kids have karate.  Then JJ has basketball practice (yay they found a coach) at 6:00.  I will make dinner before I leave and James will eat with the kids while I take JJ to basketball and JJ will eat when we get home.  Last night church started for all the kids AND Jim was signed up for boyscouts.  Tomorrow night is the leadership karate class and then on Saturday we have a soccer and a basketball game.  Sunday will be chruch, then relaxation day, and cleaning day, as we prepare to go back to school on Monday.  Oh and Michelle has Girl Scouts which means I have to make a run to the GS Store sometime tomorrow.  Jim will have soccer practice on Tuesdays and JJ basketball on Thursdays.  In a couple of weeks volleyball will start up for Skylar.  It is exhausting but it makes the afternoons/evenings go by fast.