Baby #6 at Our House

A good friend of ours has been in the hospital the last few days, so we are able to bless our home with Baby #6 for a few days! To be honest, I was kind of hoping for a screaming, demanding, high-maintenance baby. I've had the 'baby itch' for the last couple of years; SCOTT, on the other hand, has taken plenty of anti-itch medication (also known as the common teenager). Maybe it's BECAUSE we have teenagers that I have this urgency to have something cute and cuddly that responds GRATEFULLY to every small offering. A little being who offers a smile whether you offered one or not. Someone who loves unconditionally, without wanting the car keys in return.

As I was saying, I was (kind of) hoping for a reminder of how demanding a baby can be, but ended up with what I can only determine is the world's happiest baby. Because his Mom had to go into the hospital urgently, Baby Boy came with very few directions. Luckily, I have at least 5 children I haven't managed to damage beyond repair, so I figured we could wing it. This little cutie has been SO accommodating, that he just rolls with the punches. Speaking of roll, he's also JUST starting to get up on all fours and rocking back in forth and managing to scoot himself forward with each try. He's perfectly content to lay on his tummy on a blanket and aim himself towards his favorite toy (or our dog/cat) and work on reaching his goal. Very inspiring.

Of course, the other kids are all having a field day with him as well. Aidan looks like a proud papa every time he holds him. He always brings him around to whoever is around and shows off how smiley he is and how much he loves to be in Aidan's arms. Kate (who is fairly certain she's allergic to infants) is even smitten with him. As long as he doesn't need a diaper change, that is. And Baby Boy seems to be quite smitten with Kate. She better get used to boys drooling over her. Ava FINALLY has someone to take care of, and she does her very best to tend to his every whimper. She has finally found an outlet and a listening ear for all of her singing. Enoch has discovered that babies don't like the scary version of Peek-A-Boo, and that his deep voice can really disarm a crying baby. Amelia, of course, is in Mommy heaven. Even the poopiest of diapers hasn't turned her off.

And Scott and I? Well, Scott is keeping a smiley distance. He thinks the baby is cute and SUPER easy going, but he's not about to get too close for fear of catching the dreaded 'baby wanting disease'. Myself? Heavenly Father has wisely given me a seriously painful kidney stone as a reminder that, even though the baby may be easy-going, that doesn't necessarily mean that the lives AROUND the baby will be as easy.

All in all- we are LOVING every precious moment we have with this little guy, while praying that his beautiful and loving Mommy will get better soon. I'm certain she's desperate to get back to the world's best baby.

Back on the Wagon

To say I "fell off the wagon" is quite an understatement. More like "fell off the face of the earth"! Well, I will make no promises again, apparently they scare me off; so, I'll just do the best that I can!


I'd try and go back and re-hash everything that has happened since the beginning of the year.....but that would take two months to record, and I promised myself that I didn't have to if I would at least blog SOMETHING!! So......


I just finished reading a book titled We Need to Talk About Kevin. I go through 2-4 books each week, but this book took me a week to finish by itself. It took so long because I would have to read a 'normal, happyish' book in between chapters. Sometimes I wouldn't even make it to the end of a chapter. If you haven't heard the premise (it's also being made into a move- of course- anything this disturbing and unpleasant is BOUND to be a blockbuster), it's about a teenager who goes on a school shooting rampage, and the book is a series of letters written from his Mother to his Father. She basically 'fesses up' to the fact that she NEVER loved her son, was ALWAYS scared of him, and it was bound to happen. She tries to take the blame, but in a desperate "this is what I'm supposed to do" type way. It is a pathetic book, to say the least, and yet I found myself coming back to it again and again. I imagine much in the same way that people can't help but look at a car wreck to see if they can see anything. It puts motherhood on the same level as some pathetic job you HAVE to do, just because someone tells you you should. At the end, there's a hint of emotional connection between the mother and the son, and by that point you're SO DESPERATE for any type of bonding between the two, your brain tells you that the piddly amount that is shown is magnified into a real 'breakthrough'. This book/movie is another very obvious attempt from Satan to convince the world that the very nature of motherhood is pathetic, and when our children exercise their free agency, there is still some blame to be put on those who raised them. I'll step off my soap box now.