My Boys Paparazzimommy: some ramblins

So I totally suck at keeping up the blog. I am doing better than before, but I still need to actually concentrate on it. Does it help that I think about doing it?? If only it was as easy as facebook. (now there is a place I can update no problem!!!) But then again, FB isn't as interesting as a blog-not in the long term at least. It's like books vs magazines, FB is the magazine, blogs are like the books. See, I have so much to say, I really need to get on here. I need to get it out. lol

Here we are at the end of February...so much is going on. Elliot is almost 6 months old, Sam is turning 6 next month and he was recently diagnosed with ADHD. That took a lot for me to admit and go thru. Not because I am against medications, I'm not. I believe in them and think they are necessary sometimes. I don't believe in the hype about so many being diagnosed now a days, compared to way back when. I think these are just new things that are being discovered. (remember mental problems used to be something that would require people to be locked up for life!) Now when I tell people that he is on the medications, I feel guilt. Like I am one of those moms that is just looking for a way to quiet my kid or something. Seriously, I have 4 kids, 4 BOYS!! It's never quiet. But it has been a Godsend! He is not only calmed down quite a bit, but he's so much sweeter now. He's happy. He's not in trouble as often. It's my sweet boy that I knew was in there, but he was so frustrated by what he felt that he just lashed out and then usually ended up in a crying fit.

Yesterday we took the kids to the local park to play some putt putt (it's FREE!!!) and to walk around looking for a branch for a photo display. (photos to come soon, it's not ready yet) We had a blast. It's been so cold here and then it gets warm and then it gets cold again, so we have all been sick. And I really hate taking little babies out in the cold. I avoid it at all costs. I know I am weird, it's ok. My lil sister tells me all the time! It was so nice out there though. 70 degrees, a little bit of a wind, so a light jacket was required. It was oh so nice. Then we saw her. A Miniature Pinscher. A Baylie-my black baby girl. oh the heart ache.

We lost her in June 2008 after she discovered a few brownies wrapped in a napkin. It was my fault. I live with that every day. They were in my purse, I didn't put my purse on the dresser or a table, but on my bed. So when I saw this dog at the park, I got down on the ground and she crawled into my lap. And I cried. I never liked Min Pin's before. I actually didn't want her when Kevin called and told me about her. But she needed a home and there was no way I could turn my back on a dog that needed a home. And when he brought her home she didn't like me. (her human mommy before me didn't like her and was mean to her, so she didn't trust women) She became my little baby. Every where I was, there she was. If I was sewing, she was at my feet. If Iwas blow drying my hair, she was at my feet, waiting to be blow dried. She was wonderful with Sam and Gabe. She always had to lay by them if they were on the floor. She never nipped at them, but if they were doing something wrong, she would put her mouth on their hands, but never bit. I was lucky with a min pin like that. They actually are not supposed to be good with kids. No one told Baylie, so she was great with them. But boy, was she bad!!! She was always into something. Which is why I should have known better with the brownies. But I had forgotten them. She suffered a heart attack and there was nothing that could be done to save her. Now I am super vigilant even with chocolate cereal!

So lets change that subject...sorry about that.

I have been on a decorating and crafting tangent here lately. I didn't grow up in a decorated home and I am not one of the tidiest people in the world. I can live in clutter, though it bothers me, it's just sometimes easier to ignore. (let me add, I hate dirty, it's just the piles of crap that just creep up on you) So I have been trying to fix it, while fighting kids and hubby that don't want to change what we have. Our biggest problem is toys. That is our biggest fight also. So I do what I can and have to back off. But we are actually moving all 3 of the youngest into one bedroom and then making the biggest room a toy room, with the tv. Great for me, because I hate having the tv in their bedroom. So their bedroom will just be for sleeping and reading books. The play room will be an ongoing process though, because I want some Ikea cubbies and such for one wall, and since our income does actually have a limit, I have to buy when I can. (which isn't right now)

For now I am working on the downstairs. I am so excited about our entry way. I rescued some benches from my neighbors-they were actually throwing them away!!! aaaccckkk!! Now that I am not hugely pregnant anymore and it's warming up I will be able to finish them. I am ordering some wall shelves from JCPenney that finally went down in their price (y'all know I am super uber cheap!) I made a memo board that will coordinate with all. I can not remember where I saw this idea, but it's been in the back of my mind since I saw it. And Michael's had their big frame sale, with an additional 25% off frames, so I grabbed it! All you do is wrap your material around the "guts" in the frame and viola! You write on it with dry erase markers. Mine was drying out, so I have to get new ones.