Push Through

When life seems to be too much, like today, I like to view this picture of my daughter. It Reminds me to push through! I wish I would have been able to grab the camera faster. She was pushing it all by herself. Inch by inch, she made it to the elevator. We were cracking up the entire time as she grunted and took each step. Thanks Darling for giving me inspiration.

- Sara

Sara's 2007 Year in Review

January set the tone. My brother got pulled over for a DUI on the military base here in town. Moron. He has no idea why he was in that area of town much less why he was trying to get on base.

February was a dismal month. Not only did my daughter lose her privilege of a friend oriented birthday party, my husband had to be halfway around the world from us, and we had two separate ER visits, but the incident I very affectionately termed "crash and burn" happened.

March is a blur. Cheerleading was winding down, karate was picking up, and the post funeral era hit.

April took a turn for the better. Consignment sale season hit as well as the opening of our pool! So what if the water was still 50 degrees and we couldn't put a toe in longer than two seconds, it was nice to look at blue water instead of a nasty green tarp.

May the excitement mounted. School was almost out. My birthday and talks of a Vegas wedding began. I joined karate which sparked my competitive nature again.

The summer was a blast. Days filled with bike rides and weeks filled with BFFs in my pool. We even took a trip to Chicago with Ryan. I hit a milestone with my niece. We potty trained! YAY! But most importantly, I joined the very fun and exciting Chit Chat Moms. :) :)

August was a fun fight as well. I love a good challenge. My brother put me in charge of getting his daughter enrolled in the Montessori program which my kids attend. It was a roller coaster ride, but just days before school was to start, she got the call! She was in!!!!

September brought after school sales and more consigning! I had my first experience with volunteering for a sale and found the deals were more unbelievable when you shop very FIRST. I will never go back to public day again! Oh, did I forget to mention I got married too?

October was a sewing race of costumes.

November was a crocheting race.

December was a blur.

And here we are at 2008.

Last thoughts on 2007?

The Good
My brother sobered up
My sister moved back to Omaha for a spell
My other sister passed math for the last time ever!
I got married
I got an ipod
I got a new craft room
I attained purple belt status

The Bad
Crash and Burn
Mom flipped out
Brother's ended a business partnership
The mall incident
Daughters stitches
Ryan's toe catastrophe
(wow, I should post some blogs about these, I forgot about them until now)

The Ugly
The IM conversations with BFFs telling them about my Dad
My spills down the stairs
My ex-husband's most wanted moment
My drinking night
(yeah, blogs to come about those!)

- Sara

Shopping with Quads

And while we are talking shopping, we had another rude comment lady that put a twist on our pet peeve. MomBFF was shopping in the mall for a cocktail dress for her husband's company's holiday party. Since it was only two days after the shooting, she asked for BFF support to come with her. It was near lunch time, but since we all had hair appointments to make, we pushed through!

I was super excited they all were being behaved. I had my daughter in my mei tai sling (thank goodness she is still under 30 pounds) and the other three were sitting in a nice little bunch in between the racks MomBFF was browsing. A lovely sales associate came over to see if we needed help and said something to the effect of, "I remember those day, wow that takes me back," but then she said one of those things that can come off harsh, "Don't worry, it will get better."

Okay lady
1. These aren't my only kids. I have already done "this part" with two others. I don't need you telling me "it will get better" since I am already an expert at the near future!
2. Get better? What needs to get better? We have three two year olds and one 15 month old sitting quietly in an upscale store.

Why does EVERYONE assume that four kids at this age are hard? They aren't! Maybe, just maybe ***WARNING, rant coming*** if you don't spend all day with your children and shove them in a daycare for 12 hours at a time and then pick them up only to feed them fast food in the car drive home and set them in front of a TV until bed time and send them to grandma or even "dad's house" for the weekend and don't KNOW you children very well, then MAYBE THEN you would think four toddlers are hard. But for me and my friend, we have it covered.

-whew- I feel better. I don't really think anyone parents that way. And I get that for many people four kids would be something they want to get through to the "better." I just wish they could recognize that for some of us out there, this is the best part!

Oh, and she, unlike most people, did come back and make it better. She sensed my annoyance when I answered her with, "Oh I don't know, I think this part is really good." She said she only meant that she and her brother where terrors at that age, as well as her own children. Then she complimented how wonderful they were being.

Of course if the lady at our second store had made the comment, I would have understood. By the time we hit the next store it was past nap time and the kids had had enough. One was running circles around a rack, one was attempting to make snow angels on the tiled floor, one was trying to escape the mei tai, and I was playing tug of war with a scarf and the fourth one hoping it would keep her from taking off.

That particular sales associate simply said, "Oh wow! Are they quads? They look like so much fun!" Go figure :)

- Sara

Crap Shoot Comment

So I am in a store looking for extension cords since our yard needed three more to become a complete Christmas wonderland. I had my MomBFF with me and all four of our toddlers. She took the boys in her cart while I took the girls. I chose the wrong gender! My daughter wasn't particularly happy about being stuck in a cart that morning and refused to stop screaming her fool head off.

I did my best to distract her, which worked for minutes at a time. I tried holding her. I even thought letting her walk for a spell would calm her down, but she was in a mood that wouldn't quit. The only way to keep her quiet was to half hug her while she sat in the front of the cart. This made navigating through the store a tad difficult, but hey, you do what you have to do.

It's funny how I mother differently the more children I have. If it had been my oldest having a rough toddler moment, I would have been mortified and left the store. By the time I had my second child, an endless mood would have been dealt with by waiting it out in a deserted part of the store until I could calmly finish my shopping.

By the time you have a third and fourth child, you don't have time to put off most shopping trips. You don't even have enough time to wait out tantrums in the parking lot or bathrooms. Suddenly, and maybe it isn't so much having four kids, just school aged children as well as toddlers, you are always on a time crunch when it comes to errands.

At least I don't have so many kids that I deal with fits by completely ignoring them. I still have a soft heart and hate having my child miserable, but I did the best I could. Things were going okay until I found the extension cords. I had to let her go to fill the cart. I knew my only option was to grab them fast!

That is when the rude comment hit. It wasn't even made in my earshot. It was made to my MomBFF. As she was making her way to my area of the store, a woman who must have been annoyed by my daughter, noticed our sons being good in her cart and said, "Aren't you glad that isn't YOUR kid?"

This is why I love her, she answered, "That IS my kid." The lady looked confused so she clarified, "yes, I have triplets, she is one of them." MomBFF told me she didn't quite apologize, but muttered something about not realizing we were together and hurrying off.

Serves her right. It is one thing to make gossipy comment about other people's kids to your BFF while you shop. I see women do it to us all the time. Mouths gaping at the fact we have seven of them around us. I will admit it too. More than once I have whispered to my friend to look at what the kid in the next cart is doing. It's called people watching and it's fun. But when you try and do it with strangers, now it feels more like an insult. Yes? And really, like in this woman's case, it can be a crap shoot.

Thanks JM for sticking up for me and my daughter!

- Sara

From Babies to College

I have come up with a solution to my baby addiction. Reborn dolls. Have you seen these things? You need to go to ebay and search reborn ooak (one of a kind). Artists take dolls and repaint them, add hair, add eyelashes, open up the nose to look more real, give them manicures, give them pedicures, add magnets behind the mouth to add a pacifier for when they get "fussy," and even weight them down with sand or pellets to get them up to 4 - 6 pounds. Unbelievable!

They freak Ryan out, but I would LOVE to have one sitting on the couch and throw a party. I know I could fool at least a few of my friends. Maybe when my baby hits school I will start a collection. Instead of making the real thing I can display a few of their doll counterparts. Of course if I start bringing them to bed or trying to nurse them, Ryan may commit me. :)

The more I think about having more kids, the more confused I get about whether or not I want more. I love kids. I love being with them 24 hours a day. With the exception of more laundry and more food on my kitchen floor, I love everything about them. I even love watching them grown up.

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer working on a spreadsheet for my brother's business as my oldest daughter played with my hair. She was giving my ponytails and complaining that short hair wasn't as fun to design. At the same time I was having a conversation through IM with Ryan who was sitting ten feet away in the family room.

Discussing how funny she was about my hair turned into a conversation about college vs. hair school. That conversation led to a discussion about our second source of income, our rental houses. I was trying to figure out how many houses we need to pay for college and retirement, and how long it would take to pay them off using the profits they generate. Then it hit me:

College is only ten and a half years away.

Wow, not a long time when you are trying to build equity. Then I have one more in college the year after she goes. Once we get the first two out, we have two more going back to back. I guess retirement will have to wait until we are 50.

As much as I would love to have another baby to hold 24 hours a day, I am looking forward to the next stage of life. The one where the whole family gets to be on the mountain skiing instead of me at the condo playing with toddlers. The one where I get to run the oldest to gymnastics, then next one to wrestling, the next one to dance class, and the baby to swim lessons. As it stands we have already left the breastfeeding stage. I have forgotten how much it zaps your energy. My hyper nature is coming back and I love it.

Enough rambling, I need to get back to those blankets. I am behind on my schedule, tsk, tsk.

- Sara

Sandal Days Gone

It was a fun day at the craft store. I had my youngest while BFF #1 had the "triplets" and my niece. I simply had to pull out the camera for this sweet moment. I sometimes forget to capture and treasure life's regular moments!

Of course now, three months later, I am going to miss nice days like those! Soon we will have to navigate through ice covered parking lots and pot holes full of slush. Snowsuits, boots, gloves, hats, socks, and sniffles. I am mentally preparing!

-Sara

PS Now seriously, that doesn't look like a handful. It is a choo choo train full of fun! Right?