Raspberries

No, not the fruit!  All my babies have blown raspberries when they were little (6 months-ish) before they started talking.  It's one of the first ways they communicate.  I have really enjoyed Anna, my youngest, blowing raspberries all day long.  She has really developed personality.  She rides in my baby backpack and blows raspberries at the back of my head all day long. 

I do however have to draw the line of raspberries at 4am.  It loses some of it's cleverness at 4 am.  It makes you laugh at first, but then it's 4 am and you want to go back to sleep.  Not Anna, she doesn't want to go back to sleep.  She wants to smile at Daddy, blow raspberries at Mommy and NOT go back to sleep.

Homemade

So, I have found a new outlet for my creative caretaking.  I love my family and want to do everything I can for them.  We are also living on a shoestring with six kids so I have recently looked to saving any which way I can.  My mother turned me on to pinterest and I didn't think anything of it, but just recently tuned in.  I have gotten so many FREE ideas for the kids or super cheap tricks and household wonders.  My most recent favorite was a dual discovery.  I read about making your own dryer sheets and it couldn't be easier.  Let me preface this with the fact that we currently rent a house because we live no where near the house we bought.  Our washer and dryer leave much to be desired because they make our clothes smell and leave them, possibly, dirtier than they were before.  So, before I started using the local laundomat (=lifesaver), I started using dryer sheets by the dozen. 

I love my clothes smelling good, but with six active kids and a weight lifting husband, there's a lot of smell to get rid of before adding the good back to it.  The idea I found was to soak hand towels (I used cloths) in fabric softener to throw in your dryer and use for approximately a month.  Sounds like the deal right?  Well, that's not all!  Not only does it work well for that, but it also makes your house smell FABULOUS while it's drying.  The key is to find the right fabric softener for your family.  We are an active, outgoing family and we have my husband's work clothes to think about too.  Rose geraniums isn't going to work.  My kids and I went to Wal-mart and started smelling fabric softeners....and they all smelled GROSS until I came across Mrs. Meyer's fabric softener in Lavender.  It was heavenly and it smells very spicy to me, not like lavender at all but more like cinnamon to me.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it and my house smells great (and we have dogs so that's a feat). 

Here's how I did it.  I bought a pack of wash cloths from Wal-mart.  They are the kind you buy that are 20 for $5.  I poured some fabric softener into an old wet wipe container and started soaking a cloth in it.  I got the cloth totally wet and then twisted to get all of the excess fabric softener off.  You then hang the cloth somewhere to let it dry completely.  You have to let it dry completely for this to work.  It took about 3 days for me, much like the pin I read from pinterest.  While it was drying, my house smelled like a spicy heaven....again remember six kids, a husband that works out and some dogs so that is something!  Give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

Unemployment/Employment

My husband and I have been victims of the recession...we like to think of it as a depression because that's what it does to us.  That being said, we have taken turns being unemployed.  He recently got a job, we moved and I couldn't find one.  I'm a school teacher and things are tough all over for education.  I was going to be having a baby early on in the school year and we have managed to do it.  I have an opportunity to interview for a job and am worried.  I have grown so much by having to stay at home with my kids.  I'm a better housekeeper (because that was my job).  I'm a better parent because I'm not completely exhausted all the time between six kids, teaching, coaching and housework.  I'm wondering if I can juggle it with more effectiveness this time or if it will be a complete disaster again.  Only time will tell.....

Too Open with Kids

I have breast feed (or nursed as my Nurse Midwife likes to correct me) all of my children.  When I was nursing Frankie, my number three, my oldest girls breast fed their dolls.  My boys never considered that a part of their lives, but all my girls have.  Now that I'm nursing my youngest the kids are always seeing me popping "them" out to feed Anna.  This is all Anna eats/drinks, so I'm feeding her a lot now that she is 7 months.  That being said, it's always nice when your personal life gets publicized.  I am carrying Tony (age 1.5 years) across a field while one and two are practicing Lacrosse.  So what does Tony fixate on, BOOBIES.  He starts grabbing my breasts and saying "Booby, Booby, Booby!"  He is just starting to talk and I'm not one to discourage, but I have to draw the line at his happy exclamation of Booby!  I don't get embarrassed by my children pointing out the natural and obvious fact that I nurse my kids (even in public, although discretely).  But, I don't really want my one year old son grabbing my boobs at a Lacrosse practice with such joy either.

The Grand Multipara

I learned about this title from my Nurse Midwife with my last child.  It makes me feel like a super hero, The Grand Multipara.  It makes me think of a tee-shirt I saw on a pregnant woman, "I grow people! What's your super power?"  This blog is going to be about my family and the chaos that comes from having a husband, six kids, three dogs, two ferrets and turtle.  It'll be about my adventures in becoming a Nurse Midwife....have to become an RN first, I guess.  It'll be about feeding and caring for a family during these hard economic times.  My husband and I are just doing our part to stimulate the economy.  (see evil genius tshirts for more snarky large family, pregnancy or nursing tshirts)