Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Look! I'm still here! For Realz.

Bam! And with that, I'm baaaaaaccckkkk!!!


So... yeah. I haven't done annnything on here in forevvvver. Life, it seems, has been busy.

I've been in a mad frenzy of realizing that I'm going to give birth to Baby Alexy #6 this month, and I had nothing ready. At all. Nadda. Zilch. Zero prep for any type of home birthing situation. I had to rectify that, for my own peace of mind.

The last two weeks have been me zooming around the house trying to get things cleaned (Hah! I still live with 5 kids under 10!), organized (Hah! Refer to the last parenthesized statement), and generally ready for the 'up in the airness' that occurs when you introduce a new being into the family. Last week was full force Freezer Cooking 101, our freezer is now stocked for Hubs once this kid arrives. This makes hearts happy.

Our bedroom has been magically transformed into our very own personal Birthing Suite. We have the space where the pool will go (the pool is not set up, again 5 kids and just add the dog for good measure...), the changing station is set up & stocked, The co-sleeper is set up, the rocker is out, I have all the required absorbency things, a hose and connector thingie for pool water filling-ness. And we are sleeping on the ever-so-wonderful plastic shower curtain under the sheets routine. So. Hot. and So. Crinkly.

So... yeah. Now I feel prepared for the Event. Now I can relax and let this thing play out and just ride it's natural course. Much better.

39weeks on Friday! We got this thing.

(selfie of me, telling the world I need to go wash my mirror... like now...)


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Theme Thursday - Boys

Theme Thursday - Boys


Link up for our themed Thursday, head over to Cari's for better written and hopefully more jolly posts.

Haven't done much around here this week. My mind has been other places, mourning our country. But quickly, my boys.

Happy, growing, full of adventure and life.

And this boy.
Not my boy. Someone else's boy, who's now a saint in Heaven watching down on us. Martin Richard was just another child, another family's 8 year old boy, and now he's been ripped away from them. I grieve for what their family is going through.

My prayers are constant for Boston. My prayers are constant for the victims of the Gosnell abortion murder rampage that was allowed to continue even after authorities knew something was going on there. My prayers are constant for West, Texas. My prayers are constant.

My prayers are constant for all our boys, everywhere. Born and unborn. Here or there. May our Lord watch over you and protect you for your future.

**Shannon**

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Great Decluttering 2013

Playroom Minimalist Challenge.


Dude. For real. The kid's playroom.

It's awful, it's a mess, it's impossible to keep clean. I can go in there and completely clean it out, throw away trash/broken bits of this and that... make it nice and neat. Within a week it's Disaster Zone Awful again.

Well, I read this niffty neat blogpost about another mom and her frustration about her children's impossible-to-keep-clean playroom. So, following her lead I bravely stepped into...

This.

Yes, you're allowed to scream, shriek in terror, run and hide. All these options are completely normal and expected... as that's what I would do upon entering DoomRoom, and then back away & close the door...

BUT! Newfound hope in getting rid of anything that wasn't played with on a regular basis. Cleaning out the bookshelves for books that weren't really needed/appreciated - and our local Children's Hospital just put out a request for donations for their library. So, I started.... 

Slowly.... Ever so slowly I filled those two blue bins with unused, unneeded toys.

Look! Floor!!! 

And finally, after a full day of cleaning, weeding, choosing... 


Look! Toy bins not overflowing masses of Doom!!! Books put away without having to stuff them into their shelves! Room for play!! Everything is neat & organized & more importantly easy to put away. No more clutter, no more random toys junking up the place.

It's lasted all weekend so far, with actual playtime. At the end of their play the children were able to put everything away where it needed to go, because they aren't overwhelmed with the crazy overflowing storage bins, or other random areas where I told them to keep things. 

Nothing has been missed or asked for from the bins in the garage. Nothing. Books have been gone through and no one has noticed what I pulled out. I call this a MAJOR SUCCESS.

By the end of this week, those two bins will be going to a local donation place, probably Goodwill because that's just an easy trip up the road, and they just take whatever. Books will go to Cook Children's Hospital. I will hold to the if they ask for it By Name, without looking into the bins in the garage I'll give it back. But no name, no toy. I'm done.

I do wish I could have gotten rid of more, but with 5 kids and one on the way we need a broad range of things. But really, the only things that stayed were building/imaginative toys. The kitchen, train table, play workbench, K'Nex, Lego's and of course some Monster High/Barbie/Ponies all made the cut, with actual useful baby/toddler toys.

This was well worth my Saturday. Well worth it.

**Shannon**

Oh! And thanks to Rebekah for the head's up on the photo editor website!! Tada! I can learn. :)

Friday, April 12, 2013

Seven Quick Takes - Crockolicious!!!

7QT - Crockolicious


So, Friday is Seven Quick Takes day it seems. Where you post 7 things (quickly-ish?) about whatever strikes your fancy. This is my first, and all thanks to Jessica over at her bloggy-blog-blog housewifespice.com because she totally gave me the idea.

Seven super quick (and totally easy to convert into Gluten Free if your needs be like that) crock pot meals that don't require precooking the meat. 'Cause momma don't have time for that.

1.
Make this. It is devine. Your family will thank you.

2.
Lets stay on our little Chinese theme here. Mmmmm Sesame Chicken, soooo good.

3.
Easy. Easy, easy, easy annnnd a family favorite, that includes black beans!
Lets just be honest, I make waaaay too many of her recipes. But every-single-one is awesome! Never a fail. Never.

4.
Again with BudgetBytes goodness! (Did I mention she prices out the meal for you? Sweeeetness!)
Sausage & Kale. Enough said.

Uh.... Seven things is a lot, yo.
Lets just move on to easy-peasy soups. I've been doing a lot of soups lately.

5.
Made this yesterday. Kids & Hubs devoured it.

6.
Made this for the Super Bowl, the men folk - they couldn't get enough.

7!!!! Tada!
In honor of Bambino #6, buffalo!!! Mmmmmmm Eat the Buffalo.
I will say with this recipe, make sure you use quality cheeses, makes a difference. 

And there you have it. Seven super quick(ish - mostly quick...) meals for your family!!! Yay! I did it!

Now, go on over to Camp Patton for more 7 Quick Takes!! 

**Shannon**

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Theme Thursday - Grow

Growth

Many things grow in the Alexy Household. I mean, as long as you aren't looking for plants, those I kill with the swiftness that makes my children shed a tear or two. Sorry kids, momma didn't come with a green thumb...

But I do grow humans. And, overall, I don't do too bad of a job. I think... jury is still out on that probably.

But look at these cute little feet! Growing into momma's shoes!


That's Jules & Em. They like clopping around in my shoes. It's loud. But somewhat bearable, due to their cuteness. And they haven't broken a heel yet....

Speaking of growth, here's another growing human.
 (I needs to learn how to make fancy-schmancy picture collages...)

To the left we have Bambino #6 just starting to make his/her presence known, and to the right we have Bambino 33 weeks along. :) If that's not the epitome of growth... well, I'm not sure what else there is. 

Growing a human inside of yourself is such a blessing. You're challenged and tasked with the ultimate job of protecting and growing and sustaining life that has no other defense besides it's mother's love. Some say that life doesn't start at conception, I can't understand that thought process. I just can't. What else is there but life inside of your womb? It's creation at it's finest, it's God's hand reaching down and using you to create new life! It's a human life, programmed and stamped with his or her own set of personality traits and just waiting to show you all the wonderful things God has in store for the rest of your life. 

Is it always going to be easy? Heck to the No. Is it always going to be wonderful? If you look close enough you can see the wonderful mixed in with the crazy. The good that always is mixed in with the bad. Even when things are crap-crazy, you can see God's hand in your life and sheltering your family. At least, that's been our experience. And believe me, we've had some crap-crazy moments. Yet, we're still here, we're still provided for, we have a home, food, laughter, family.

God grows us. And we find shelter in Him. 

Now it's your turn! This Link Up is hosted over at Cari's page. Have fun! Talk about what Grow means to you, and see what all us other crazy peeps have to say about it. ;)

**Shannon**

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Five Favorites Link Up

Five Favorites: Kids, Smells, Foods, & Thinks


Kids:

K getting a new cast after braking her wrist in two places from falling out of a neighbor's treehouse. 

 D just looking awesome on his bed, just after getting his very own bed reading lamp.

 Jules sneaking (yet again) into Em's bed at night and falling asleep like this. Em (yet again) turning on her wall lamp and leaving us to go in there at night to turn in off...

Billy cleaning the boys vanity area for me. Cause he's a super sweetie like that.

Smells:

Rainy days. On a cold, misty, rainy day I'm instantly teleported back to growing up in Holland (Military Brat ftw!). It's comforting, it's homey like... I really, really love the smell of rain. (New Baby Smell is a close second though.)

Foods:

Easy. 

Bam. This bambino inside requires Franks on a (at the very least) weekly basis. I've eaten more buffalo whatever in the last 6 months to last more then a lifetime. This may be my husband's favorite pregnancy of all time, due to this one craving. 

Thinks:

Saint Raymond Nonnatus
patron saint of expectant mothers & midwives.

Maybe it's because bambino #4 was a frank breech, and bambino #5 was posterior, and now this bambino #6 has been sideways, oblique, and I've battled low platelets and crazy stupid headaches... but yeah, upon finding Saint Raymond he's been on my mind a lot. He's the first Saint I've really communicated with in my 5 years of being catholic. He's pretty cool, and really? Nonnatus means 'not born' because his mother died in childbirth and he was born by cesarean. His whole story is amazing, and I think about him a lot.
Oh yes, bambino #6 was head down & vertical at my last prenatal, and I don't expect to find anything different with our appointment tomorrow. 34 weeks and counting!!

Uh... I forgot to add a 5th. (thanks Cari - and yes, I'm going to blame you.)

Random:

A clean laundry room! This has happened once in the year and a half we've lived at this house. It was over a month ago... it does not look like this now... I wish it still looked like this...

Tada! Five Favorites! If you want to see more, add your own or just whatever go over to Moxiewife.com and enjoy picks of her new bambino and then read everyone else's link ups!!! Fun!

**Shannon**

Monday, April 8, 2013

New Diabetic Bear!

And this...

Oh yes, I forgot to mention this facebook find. A new Diabetic Bear to give to newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic kiddos! Donal got his Rufus the Diabetic Bear when we were at the hospital for his week long diagnosis stay.
(Rufus in all his cuteness)
We love Rufus, we'll always have Rufus. But this new high-faluten' Gerry the Diabetic Bear comes with all sorts of bells & whistles.

Where Rufus 'just' had patches to show where we could give site rotation shots, Gerry has actual Blood Glucose readings to stay on-top of! He has carbs to eat and account for! Dude, he talks. What 18month old baby boy wouldn't want a diabetic talking bear to latch on to? It's pretty spiffy.


Can't you just see this (overly bright picture) kid needing his own talking diabetic bear? Thankfully we're not at the 'Newly Diagnosed Not Quite Two' stage anymore, but look at that cute face. A talking bear who was going through the same struggles as he was would'a been awesome.

**Shannon**

Where is Everyone?


So I'm cleaning, vacuuming doing my own little thing in my own world. Vaguely I know I have children in the house, because well.... Where else would they be?

Sure enough Billy comes running into the room, asking 'where is everybody?' I tell him that I believe everyone is in the playroom and off he goes & I don't think much of it.

But then I do start thinking of it. Not 'oh my gosh, where are the kids?' because, again, I'm pretty sure they're in the house. Billy's simple question of "Where is everybody". Everybody. His 4 other siblings equal enough for an 'everybody' title. Too many names to list, and really Everybody is where the fun will be, not just one other sibling.

I grew up with one sister. I didn't have an 'everybody' to play with. I didn't have a choice of other kids to help decide what was going to be the fun factor for the moment. It was me and my Barbies and hopefully my older sister would play with me. Not a big selection to choose from.

But God has blessed my children with their siblings. Everyone is about 2 years apart from at least one other kid. God has blessed me with my children. Even when it's crazy, and boy does it get crazy, we have our wonderful, big family unit to rely on.

(this pic is about 1.5 years old, it's hard finding full kid group shots!)

I never expected a large family. Never. Ever.
Once married I figured I'd have one child, to carry my husband's family name on with (so, not only was I reluctantly agreeing to myself to have one child, but I better get that boy first shot!), as a side note I should say hubs never-ever pressured or pushed to have children. This absolutely dumbfounded idea about having kids because I have to carry on family names was completely 100% me. I had the smarts in my earlish 20s....

Bill and I ended up pregnant 3 months after our wedding - he was doing backflips & cartwheels in the hallway as I was looking at my pregnancy stick in shock.

But something amazing happened after we had Donal. I found love, true unconditional love. I wanted to have billions & billions of kiddlets!! Okay, I said 5... And here we are just a blink away from welcoming number 6 into our home. My kids are ecstatic, we're blessed beyond belief with the amount of love in our family.

We fight, we struggle to get everything we 'need', we have one car, we don't wear the latest & greatest in designer goods... but you know what we do have? Support for each other, compassion for each other, and no matter which way you turn theres someone to cry on or rub your back. We have each other, we are full to bursting with love and laughter.

We have Everyone.

**Shannon**

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday: Funny


Gotta admit, I didn't have much to say for today. But then I realized people out there in the Blogosphere give you actual ideas for lame days. So tada! A link-up w/Cari over at http://www.clan-donaldson.com served me quite well.


This is my 7yr old daughter. She likes to play with the photo settings on my phone &/or iPad, and make pictures like these. All. The. Time. I'm constantly finding weird photos with strange filters or whatever it's called on my phone. I don't even know how to change the settings to do weird color/lens flair/trippy-dippy fish eye focus things... 
I love that she loves to explore this kind of stuff. I love this picture in particular because it just shows her, and her happy innocence. 

And her red cheeks make me laugh.

**Shannon**

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Five Favorites


***Edit***
Okay, I have done my googling research, or my link following research anyways... and have found the originator for the Five Favorites post. Moxie Wife does these, and they are fun! So go over to her site to see the whole mashup of people posting their Five Favorites. :)


Now I'm really trying to play cool. Dwija over at www.houseunseen.com & Cari over at www.clan-donaldson.com did this, so here goes mine. (Playing with the Big Boys, er... Girls now.)

5.

Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar.  For truth and love and all things Awesome. I love me some ACV. I drink it w/honey in an 8oz glass of water and find it quite tasty. All the while my acne is completely gone due to it.

4. 
Cloth Diapers. For reals, people. They are not as hard or as gross as many think they are. Totally saves the family tons and tons and tons of cashola.

3.

Midwifery Care. Beats going to an OBGYNs office any day. I don't discount the importance of OBGYNs, not at all. I know plenty of women need to see a specialist for their pregnancy, that's why we have these specialized doctors. Buuuuuut, the vast majority of women could use a midwife and experience a level of care she didn't know was possible. Love your midwives yo. Support them.

2.

Yes, that's me with my Crazy Eyes on. I love all things Epic Fantasy. Mostly if it's by the late Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson. Love. Reading. Epic. Love.

1.

Family Vacations. We don't do these nearly enough. Like, seriously. But every time we manage to pull one off, it's amazing. It's grand. It's perfect.
This super-fantabulous shot is from 2 years ago when we went to Dinosaur Park in Glenrose, TX. Only an hour away form where we live, but just LOOK!!! It just looks amazing, doesn't it? *sigh* Can we go back right now?

**Shannon**
Bam. Check it, Day 2 and I'm posting again. We'll call this a success.

But first! Make sure to check out my little page over there --> (that's to the right in case you all are confused) that lets you see who this little Blog'o'rama is about. Yes, the Mi Familia page. You may click it. You may read and see the wonders that is my family, or Mi Familia, as it were...

So, today.
Today was oldest child's Type 1 Diabetes Endocrinology check up. So we loaded up the kids in the car, took Dad to work (yes, we are a ONE CAR FAMILY!!! Bum-bum-bummmmmm), and then dropped off 3 of my 5 at a wonderful friends house who voluntarily offered to add my 3 to her 5. My friends rock with the uncaring about masses of children rampaging and rocking down their home walls.

That left Oldest (Donal) & Youngest (Jules) with me. That car trip was quiet yo. Quiet with a beautiful wonderful capital Q. And so off to our amazing Endo. We are fortunate enough to have a superb children's hospital in our area. It's actually the same one where we took D for his initial diagnoses all those years ago. We just passed his 8 year diaversery (as those in the T1 world are apt to call it). We don't make a big deal on his diagnoses day, I acknowledge it every year, and I know its there every year, and I *may* shed a quiet tear, or two, alone every year. But, we're not one of those families that lets their child go hog-wild and pretend he/she doesn't have diabetes and can eat whatever they want, obviously still having to take their insulin for it.

Basically our thought of care for D is - Moderation in Everything and Enjoy Everything. We do not limit his choices, we do educate all of our children about portion control and healthy choices. Yes, all the kids still get candy (Helllllloooo Easter candy is still around the house), cake, and other sweets. Do they get a lot of it? Nope. Are their portions as big as what a 'normal American' portion might be? Most likely not. I'm okay with that, and so are they. Normally... usually... Okay, come on - they are still kids. They still ask for seconds. Sadly, they hardly get seconds of sweet treats. Hah! Mean Mom FTW!!

Anyway. Back to today. We arrived at our hospital, and Glory be to God, even early.

The appointment went well. D got his initial height/weight/blood pressure stuff done.
Looking pretty excited isn't he? Next project, learning to sit up straight... *sigh*

Talked to all the educator people, got the Evil Eye for not getting his lab work done before the appointment. Yes, Bad Mom moment. But I got his logs done! And I knew his 7 day Blood Glucose average was 189!! That's not awful... it's not perfect... but it's not awful!

I managed to convince him to do some schoolwork while we waited to see our specialist.
 He looks super excited to have the camera in his face doesn't he....

Talked to the specialist, went over all things diabetes. Appointment went well. No changes as of yet we'll see what his A1C comes back as (yes, we did have to go do bloodwork after the appointment, much to D's dismay). 

We also got these two nifty neat books/comic about diabetes. Jules got one (it's nice getting gifts just for tagging along) and D got the comic.

 Hmmmm.... this is more of a Jules pic then of the Mickey Mouse diabetes book....

Donal finished this comic while at the office, and thought it was pretty cool. High praise from a 10(ish) year old.


There you have it. Not sure if it was interesting... or worthwhile reading... but that was our morning. Appointment at 9:30am left the speciality building right around 11:30. Not awful, all things considered. And I only had the two kids with me. Score! Easy, quiet appointment.

((Still looking for that witty closing statement to add here...))

**Shannon**

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Hello, Hi, Howdy-there, and all that other greeting type stuff.

So yes, I'm doing this. I'm sitting at my computer starting a blog. *Gasp!* *Shutter!*

I have no idea how this will go, I have no absolute plan as to what this whole mash-up will turn into. But basically - All the Cool Kids are Doing it. And see, here is where a witty professional-type Blogger would have Awesome Link of Awesomeness, but sadly. I failed my quick 2 minute search to procure one.

Sad.

But moving on! Here's my drift, my reasoning, where I am and stand and all that good stuff.

I'm a stay at home mom of 5, soon to be 6. My husband works his tail off to provide for us. We just started home schooling this year, as the public school system is slightly terrifying and private school was getting to be a taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad crazy expensive.

As I said, we have 5 children. Our oldest is 9.5 and our youngest (besides bamino #6 due in late May) is 2. We've birthed the spectrum of births, including Hospital Births, Birthing Center Births, and Home Births. We've had Normal Births, Cockeye-Headed Births, Breech Birth, and a Posterior Birth. We're aiming to get back into that Normal Birth category... but as we're still Home Birthing, and in water at that, I think we no longer qualify for the stereotypical American 'Normal Birth'.

I Cloth Diaper. It saves us crazy amounts of money. I'm sure I'll let you know all about that also.

We are a Gluten Free household. Three of the 7 of us have Celiac Disease - my husband, our oldest, & our oldest daughter. We are strongly suspecting that numbers 3 & 4 also have it, or maybe 'just' a wheat allergy. So yes, I talk a lot about Gluten Free cooking, shopping, living.

We also have two Type 1 Diabetics in our house, my husband and (again) our oldest. So, I talk a lot about Blood Sugar, and Carb Counts and all things living with a child (and husband) with Diabetes.

Not to be left out our other son has a mild case of Asthma. It rarely acts up, and when it does I stare at him wondering "Is it asthma? Or is it just a cough? Do I treat? What the what??" I do not know enough about asthma treatment as I do diabetes. But that's something else I can go over one day.

Ahhh yes. And we're Catholic. My husband and I converted 5 years ago, leaving our Baptist Church and finding our way home. But again, another post for another day - I'm sure.

So there we have it. A pretty well-rounded idea of what I think about daily. Of what I do daily. So Imma' gonna be cool and blog about it now. I suppose... we'll see...

<<insert witty catch phrase exit line here>>

**Shannon**