A long time coming......

Its been a long time coming....what am I talking about you ask, well of course another blog entry! Adding our fifth child to this family has not helped me keep up on the entries; not that I do not have plenty to share with everyone! I could probably write a whole entry for each child in fact I think that is what I will do. I will start with the youngest......

Little G

As you know from the last entry we welcomed little "G" into our family in March. Since then it has been a whirlwind. In all honesty the first 2 months of his life were not picture perfect......not to say we did not love him, but it was not that picture perfect hug, cuddle and bond with the baby kind of time. It was more like a screaming red faced baby that stopped sleeping both day and night, a comatose mother who did not know one end of the baby from the other and the other kids at the sidelines getting away with just about everything because baby is all you can concentrate on. I think I was ready to set him on the front steps and put a sign on him and say "free" (to good home of course). BUT then we started sleeping a bit more during the day and then the night sleep came slowly and mom and baby came out of the end of a long tunnel, only to realize it would take about another half a year to get everyone else on the same page, house unearthed, etc. Mr. G is now (mostly) a content happy baby, I have yet to get him on a regular schedule, but I guess that's his way a making sure I am paying attention to him. He started rolling at 3 months and crawling around 5-6 months( an early mover) He is now mastering stairs with a few bumps and bruises and his newest fun trick is to climb on one of our floor pillows, climb on our living room table and take a head dive off the table! He is 7 1/2 months old. He loves crackers and baby food, although he totally will reject trying to drink anything out of a bottle or a glass (am I ever going to be able to ween him?!?) I know as parents we all want to keep the baby stage because we miss it so much when they are older, but in all honestly I can say I am looking forward to this baby turning one and gaining a little of my independence back, as selfish as that sounds I just need a little time to myself......I know when I am older I will be looking back and wanting more of "this" time back, but seriously a nice warm bath without kids entering the bathroom is all I am really asking for right now!

As I read back over this entry it sounds a little like I am complaining, but in all honesty I love this guy and would not give him back for anything. I love how he and my two year old will kind of play together, how "F" can make "G" just give a great big hearty bally laugh. I love how "G" will cling to my legs until I pick him up and then hang on for dear life when I finally pick him up. I love how he will find the smallest of crumb (although I swear I am on my hands and knees every day cleaning the darn floor) and try to eat it. I love how he stands in his crib holding onto the side and screaming for mom but the minute I come in he will sit down fold in half and hide! He loves to suck on the blanket my Aunt Amy made him and has totally rejected the pacifier over chewing his thumb( I always promised myself I would never have a thumb sucker, I guess I did not take into account a thumb chewer!)

Through all the trials I love the laughter that "G" has brought to our lives. As I am writing this now "F" and "G" are playing together in the other room just giggling with each other and THAT makes everything worth it......

Baby "G" has arrived!

Gallagher Thomas was born on March 3, 2010 at 5:39pm. He weighed 7lbs. 11oz. 20 inches long. We have been home for a week he seems to be taking after his brother "F." He sleeps about 4 hours at a time at night and he hardly cries. I am praying that this trend continues. Every one is very excited to have him home, they currently fight to hold him. I am sure this will wear off as the newness wears off. Anyway, here are some pictures.

The family at the hospital

All the kids!

"D" loving his little brothers!


Mr. Gallagher!

At Long Last

Okay....so this is why I never kept a journal, I am not very consistent about writing. I like to write, I just do not keep it up. I have also kind of been in a hibernation, hiding or whatever you want to call it. So in a nut shell here is what we have been up to....

~We celebrated Thanksgiving down in the Cities with "B's" brother.

~We had our 3 Christmas'. Of course this year it was extended and quite because of a wonderful blizzard that blew in and stranded us for a few days at home. It really was very peaceful and nice.

~We brought in the New Year as a family...the kids had to wake me up 5 minutes to midnight!

~"E" celebrated her 8th birthday. We had a party for her at our house with some friends. That same week a friend of hers had a party at a pool so we had to discuss how to be thankful for what you have/or are given and not compare yourself with others around you. In the end everyone had fun and "E" exclaimed it was her best party ever!

~"B" and I celebrated 12 years of marriage, we were able to get away for a whole night so it was very relaxing.

~We are on the count down to baby "G" six more weeks, although if he decided to come in 4 I would be good with that.

And there we are in a nut shell. Hopefully I will write again soon, we'll see what life brings us! Here are some updated pictures

Christmas Eve at home.

"E's" Birthday Party with friends.

"F's" first hair cut (he did really well, did not cry at all)

"D" and "F" enjoying our first blizzard

Perfection

When we hold our new precious little child in our arms they are perfection to us. As they get older we want them to continue to be perfection, and when they are not we are surprised. But why are we surprised; are we as adults really perfect. Heck no, I could catalog all my mistakes and probably make a pretty good sized book out of it. So why do we expect our kids to be perfect and why are we so surprised or shocked or whatever word you would like to use, when we find out they are not. Well I do not have that answer but I did get a pretty good lesson in how kids are human (just as we are) and make mistakes (just like we do) this last week.
I received a call from the middle school principal this last week informing me that my "perfect" eldest child hit another kid in school and was now serving a three day in-school suspension. I tell you, when I was on the phone with the principal, I really was not computing/taking in what he was saying. I think I could have literally been knocked over by a stone so shocked was I. How could my "perfect" son get in school suspension?
I made it off the phone with the principal and I tell you my world fell apart. I still do not know why this hit me so hard, but it did. I cried so hard for the rest of the afternoon you would have thought someone in my family had died. Long story short, "C" had been being bullied for about 4 years about his height and he finally snapped with all the stress from moving up to Middle School. It does not make it okay what he did, hitting another child, but I now understood the "why."
So here I sit as a parent of a child who has been suspended from school, but also a parent of a child who has had to put up with a lot of bullying for along time. How can I feel so disappointed in the way my child acted, yet have compassion of why he acted this way, and how do you discipline something like this, is it enough that he had to have three days of suspension or do we need to do more at home? How do you protect your child from being bullied, when nothing is done to verbal bullies, but the minute your child stands up for himself (although not in a good choice way) he gets punished. Why did parenting not come with a manual I ask you?
Perfection is a high pedestal to put your kids on, especially when it is a pedestal you as an adult fell off a long time ago.
This I know in all truth, the only perfection that can be found is through Jesus Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. Without the trinity, we would be lost souls for eternity and we would never find perfection.
As a mother I know I will still expect my kids to make the right choices and I will be disappointed when they don't. During these times I just need to remember to pray and that the only perfection is through the greatest love there is...God's

Praying for Stellan

We have been praying for this little boy for well over a year now. We have seen such miracles come and we are asking for another one God. Bring Stellan out of SVT, get him off the ventilator and let him go home so he can celebrate his first birthday at home with his family (which is today). Please join me and pray for this little boy.
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