My Christmas Spirit is Gone

So now that Christmas is over I find myself wanting to take down all the reminders of Christmas. The tree, the lights, all the decorations, everything. In fact today I was upset about something totally unrelated to Christmas decorations but all I could think about was ripping everything down, packing it in a box and putting it in the garage, like that would help or something. I don't understand. When I was decorating, it made me so happy to look at everything. Now I just have a feeling of something else that needs to be done. But I know as soon as I take them down, I'll be sad that Christmas time is over and gone again. Of course, now I have my birthday to look forward to. And Rayelle's and Terhan's. Yeah. Maybe it's the high of all the holidays that has finally left. Anyway, thought I'd just blog it. My Christmas spirit is gone....until next year.

Christmas in Kansas

So this year we went to Kansas for Christmas. We stayed at Andy's dad's house. I really liked going. It was a lot of fun. The car ride was so stressful. It took us as extra 2 1/2 hours to get there because of Kaiya. But once we were there she was a great little trooper. She let everyone kiss her and cuddle her. She loved the attention! The kids really loved going to Papa Jim's house. However this is the last year I'm telling them when Christmas day is until it's here. Picture this scene: It's dark outside, very late, nice and warm snuggled under covers. You fall asleep for maybe an hour and are suddenly woken up by your door opening. Two little heads peek in, "mommy" they whisper, "is it time to open presents?" ummmm, no. "Go back to bed." So you sleep a little bit longer, maybe another hour. Then again, "mommy, now?" "Go to bed." Then again at 3 o'clock in the morning, "Mommy, is it time to open presents yet?" "NO!! It's still dark outside." terhan- "but there's a little light right there" "Terhan that is a street light. Now if you wake me up one more time...." "Good night Grinch...I mean Mommy" Just kidding. That last part was my embellishment but the rest is totally true. My kids woke up three times between 11 and 3 to ask if it was time to open presents. I just about lost it! AARRGH! LOL! I remember being more excited about presents than sleep! Those were the days. Now I'd gladly give up a hundred presents for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep! Anyway, we had Christmas at Papa Jim's then on Saturday we went to get together with Andy's dad's side of the family for a Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. The kids played really well together and there was a lot of goodies. We had a great time seeing everyone. Our only disappointment was that it didn't snow enough for us to go sledding like we did last year. The kids would have had a blast. Maybe nest year.Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy new year. Love you all.

The Definition of Frustration

*Frustration is bathing the kids only to find them rolling in the dirt five minutes later
*Frustration is dressing the baby, smelling poop then undressing baby only to discover she had only farted
*Frustration is then putting her in the carseat and then she poops
*Frustration is unscrewing all the screws to change the batteries in a toy only to discover that you've actually taken the toy apart and the battery compartment is a little flip-open thingy on the side (yeah did that today- twice)
*Frustration is losing the binky under the crib in the middle of the night and trying to find it half-asleep with a baby screaming her head off only to have her fall asleep right as you find it(the dust bunnies were trying to steal it)
*Frustration is having nothing that fits your new post-baby figure
*Frustration is cleaning the house all day only to have your kids tear it apart in minutes
*Frustration is grabbing a glass out of the dishwasher only to discover after you've finished your drink- they were dirty (don't pretend this hasn't happened to you)
*Frustration is buying your kids new shoes only to have them find and jump in the only mud puddle for three counties
*Frustration is being sick and all of a sudden your kids act like they've downed a case of Red Bull....each
*Frustration is needed quiet but all hell seems to break loose
*Frustration is needing help and the house is silent as a tomb
*Frustration is not being able to pee without hearing, "Mommy are you done yet?"
*Frustration is, you know that new paint set and markers you bought that said washable...yeah they're not!
**The Dissolver of all frustration- a kiss from your kids followed by "I love you"
**That and a shot (or two) of something really strong!
Welcome to Parenthood!

I was looking through some of the old pics on our computer and came across some pictures of when we lived with the Quintanilla family in the summer of '06. Terhan was 1 1/2 and Rayelle was 3 1/2. They look so little! There are also some pictures of the Quintanilla kids. They are all having so much fun. The pictures make it look like such a happy time and it was in part but it was also such a stressful time in our lives. We had just bought our first house, then Andy lost his job with no notice and we eventually had to move in with our friends just to stay afloat. Four adults and seven kids under one roof! I absolutely loved that I got to live with my best friend though. To cook, clean, and raise our kids side by side was so much fun. I think it was the biggest test our friendship has endured but after all was said and done our families still remain very close. Now that is the sign of a strong, solid relationship. Even with hundreds of miles between us, we are still as close as ever. We love them like family. I just wish we had a few pics of us adults!


Terhan playing in the sprinkler

Rayelle and Emily

Rayelle, Ian and Mario

I love this picture because Terhan and Ian rarely got along but this day I walked in the room and they were sharing the chair so nicely! I just had to take a pic and document the moment.

This was at the Willis house. I know this house has some bad memories for the Quintanilla family but this was a good day. We set the kids loose to play with chalk on the porch and they decorated themselves instead! This is (right to left) Emily, Rayelle, Ian, and Maya.

The Sigh of Relief

You know that feeling you get when all your kids are in bed and asleep...(sigh)yeah that one. The wonderful blissful sound of silence. The fabulous feeling of knowing the next few hours (or minutes depending on how much of a fight they put up!) are totally yours. Do with them as you wish. Should I start that book I've been dying to read? Should I take a long, hot bubble bath? I am so not doing dishes or laundry. NO! This is my time, for just me, doing what I want. It comes but once a day and is gone so fast. What should I do? what should i do? what should i do........ ZZZZZZZ. "MOM!!! I NEED YOU!!!" "WAAAAHHHHH!!!" "HONEY, WILL YOU GET ME SOMETHING?" Oh well, maybe tomorrow night I'll get to all those other things I've been dying to get to. Maybe. Until then I will think and dream of my time by myself when the last kid is tucked in and fast asleep and I can breathe that sigh of relief.

My cute little boy


I'm not doin' nothin'

My mom and Kaiya

All wrapped up like a present

Our family :)

New House

Oh my goodness, we've finally got everything into our new house. Yeah! Everything from our storage unit in Houston and then all our stuff from the apartment. You never know how much stuff you really have until you move. It seemed like every time we thought we were almost done, two hours later we still are packing. However, it's been worth it. Our new house is huge. Everyone is welcome to visit. Give us a call, we'd love to have you. I will post pics of the house later. I've been so busy trying to unpack. I feel like I haven't even made a dent in the boxes. They seem to multiply when we sleep :) So some new things that have happened in our new house: Kaiya has rolled over, front to back then less than a week later back to front! My baby is growing up. She's already three months old! Well, I really don't have time to post everything I want to. Hope you like the pics I do have time to post. Some are from our family reunion at Thanksgiving. More on that later! Love you all.

Birth Center Tea

Today all the women who have had their babies in the last few months at the Birth Center got together at the Center. We all got to tell our birth story and have snacks and see everyone's baby. It was such a wonderful experience. To listen to all the stories, some good, some not so good, was just so heart warming. There were two women there who had to be trasported to Baylor Hospital during thier labors and one baby who had to be transported after she was born. It was heart-wrenching to hear the emotions of the mothers who didn't have the birth they had imagined their whole pregnancy. As I listened to all the women I found myself a little jealous of some of them. Most got several hours of first stage labor where they could walk around, take a bath or shower, get massages from their husbands. My labors have always been so fast I've always gone from light contractions, to heavy, to push, in a very short amount of time. Twice my heavy laboring was in the car on the way to the hospital (and birth center). I feel like I was always so scared and in a panic that I didn't enjoy the process. Now that I'm pretty sure we're done, I'm relieved but also saddened that I will never get to experience the miracle of birth again. However, every time I think about the delivery I thank heaven I'm done! Anyway, these two pictures are of the babies at the tea. The close-up is of Kaiya (middle). Half the babies were screaming but she was just laying there the whole time. As soon as she was set beside the other babies, she locked arms with both of them! I thought it was so adorable. It's an incredible picture that I will always treasure, just like my baby.

Camping

So we went camping this last weekend with the Conroe Vineyard. We had so much fun. We borrowed a friend's pop-up camper. We are definitely never tent camping again. The pop-up was a lot less stressful than a tent. The kids are old enough now that they were able to go play with their friends and not wonder too far except one incident. Terhan and Elijah, both almost 4, decided that they didn't want to wait til after breakfast to go to the park so they walked their together. Now the park is about a five minute brisk walk for an adult. I had just checked on them and the next minute (okay it was probably ten) they were gone. After much freaking out (because there is a lake) we found them both walking back from the park. Later Terhan said they decided to come back because the yellow slide was wet. On one hand I was terrified that he had gone off by himself. On the other hand, I was proud of his confidence to go all the way to the park with just his friend by his side. I've tried so hard not to hold on to my kids too tight and to let them have age-appropriate independence, so why should I be surprised when he exhibits it? All in all we had such a great time. Andy and I played games with everyone and stayed up late talking and laughing. The park ranger had to tell us twice to be quiet. I felt like a teenager at a sleep-over! The kids were so excited to get to eat all the thigns I don't regularly let them, like s'mores and cheese curls and pop-tarts and hot dogs. I guess one weekend of junk won't ruin an otherwise healthy diet (let's hope!). Kaiya also loved it. Mommy wasn't distracted with all the things she needed to do so she was free to carry her around ALL THE TIME! She also got to sleep snuggled right beside me in the pop-up. She was in baby heaven! All in all we had such a fun time that we're planning on camping regularly. I think we'll make some pretty great memories together as a family. Post a comment with your e-mail if you'd like some more pics. Also, I have a few pics of the Jones kids if they want them, give me your e-mail. Happy Days!

camping pics

Halloween pics

Mommy Days

My days are labeled two ways, Good or Bad Mommy Days and Good or Bad Housewife Days. Play with the kids, no yelling, outside physical activity(for the kids), good nutritious meals- Good Mommy Day. Dishes done, house picked up, laundry washed and put away, cooked nice dinner, changed clothes and brushed hair, good attitude- Good Housewife Day. Yelled at kids, spent most of the day in their room, hot dogs for lunch (okay and dinner)- Bad Mommy Day. Dishes piled ceiling high, laundry forgotten, still in clothes worn yesterday (see previous post), really bad attitude- Bad Housewife Day. It seems though that I either have a Good Mommy Day and a Bad Housewife Day or a Bad Mommy Day and a Good Housewife Day. I rarely have both Good Mommy and Housewife Days but my Bad Mommy and Housewife Days seem quite high in number. Why is it one or the other? I think that after so many kids (the number is different for every woman, mine is three) you go into survival mode where your brain shuts down all unnecessary functions (like short term memory) just to make it through the day. So the Good Housewife Program and the Good Mommy Program take too much power to run at the same time, so the brain picks one and shuts the other one down. However today was a pretty even balance of Good Mommy and Housewife. Not super on either end but not horrible. I got major grocery shopping done, straightened up the house and even got some boxes packed. On that note, Terhan said some hilarious today. I was packing up some of my craft things and Rayelle was hiding from Terhan. So Terhan is walking around the house yelling for Rayelle. He can't find her anywhere. Finally he looks over and me and sees what I'm doing and says, "Mommy, did you pack Rayelle!?" I love this job and wouldn't trade it for the world.

Motherhood- clean clothing optional

Ever had one of those days where you wake up and realize you've been wearing the same clothes for two days? So you think to yourself, as soon as i finish feeding the baby, i'll change my clothes. But by that time your other kids need breakfast so you decide to eat with them. Then of course you have to clean up. While you're washing dishes, you remember you were going to change. You decide as soon as you're done you'll change but before you're done cleaning up (because the dinner dishes from the night before are still is the sink) the baby cries. So you go entertain her. Finally she falls asleep and you remember the dishes you left. You finish those (but it's almost lunch time) and look down and discover, you still haven't changed. So you go to the closet to change BUT remember (lots of forgetting in this story) that you haven't done laundry in three (okay four) days and you have no clothes (well pre-preg clothes but who can fit into those), so you gather a load to wash and off to the washer you go. So on with your day. Hours later, oh yeah, where are my clean clothes....still in the washer. Into the dryer they go. On with the rest of the day...feedings, more dishes, dinner, bedtime.....wasn't there something I needed to do? Oh well, I guess it can wait til tomorrow. :) Motherhood- clean clothes optional.

Our Trip To The Zoo

We went to the zoo yesterday and boy was it a trip. First off, Kaiya hates her car seat. She screams everywhere we go. If you rock her car seat back and forth she is usually quiet but as soon as you stop she screams. Well you can't really do that safely and drive so she usually just screams on all our trips. So we start out every outing with a large amount of stress. So we are all packed up, put everyone in the car and cue Kaiya, "WWWWAAAAHHHHH." So for half the trip (it's a 30 minute drive) Kaiya is crying, Rayelle and Terhan are singing Twinkle, Twinkle at the top of their lungs because they think it's going to make the baby stop crying, I'm trying to navigate traffic and three people call me all at the same time. Yeah, fun times. We finally get to the zoo and I am excited because I just know the kids are going to love seeing all the animals. Wrong. "Hey look Terhan, there's a monkey!" He says, "Wow. Let's go see the lions." walk walk walk "Look Terhan there's a lion!" "Cool. Let's go see the tigers." walk walk walk "Look Terhan, there's a tiger." "Umm, let's go see the..." And on it goes. They weren't even excited. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Then Terhan decides to throw a rock into the hippo pond with the hippos. At this point I want to scream. One good point though, we went to the zoo last year and took a picture on this huge metal alligator. Well this time we found the alligator and took another picture. I'm going to post them side by side. I am anxious to see how much they've grown in just a year. Time flies by and I'm trying to savor every minute even if it means mass chaos every time we try to go somewhere because I know one day I'll look in the backseat and it will be empty and I'll wonder where my screaming babies are. :)

My first blog!

Hey everyone. So this is my very first blog ever. I've never been too interested in blogs but lately I feel a whole bunch of stuff just begging to be written down and read by others. Some funny, some sad. I hope you enjoy it. If a certain blog sounds familiar to you (like you've been through it too) please write me a comment. I need to know someone else is going through the same stuff! I love you all and hope to share many things with you. Love, SM (SuperMom)