After Christmas Randomness

Outside my window...
Supposedly a thunderstorm. Thinking that this storm and all this lightening, thunder and 70 mph winds sure are ferocious.  More appropriate forecast would be: "Steady rain." NC seriously needs to work on its ability to storm. However....rain of any sort is always and forever reason to celebrate! Taking down the Christmas tree, cleaning house, organizing, hot soup, and cold rainy day showing of the Fox and the Hound followed by some game playing. Doesn't get much better than that! And there is an amazing peace and crazy joy that goes with the last few things remaining in the basement being on raised pallets as it floods again. Basement woes...dealt with.

I am thinking....
that out of the first 10 kids we never had one that did not begin sleeping through the night between the ages of 3-5 months....a few even earlier. I have now decided that roly poly, tubby, super content and amazingly happy 9 1/2 month old Gates is nowhere near being adorable at 11:30pm, 2:14am, 5:18am...and then again at 8:32am. This every 3 hour milk habit he has going is nowhere near being even remotely wonderful or cute at those hours. I have now come to the conclusion that he needs a continuous feed milk drip all through the night so that I can once again remember what sleep feels like. Poor Baby C is in for a rude awakening tonight as he comes to realize the milk train made its last middle of the night stop last night.


I am thankful.....
for the new treadmill. However...training your kid for a 5K is a bit odd when one is left cheering them on and encouraging from the sidelines without working one muscle or exerting any effort whatsoever.  I think I like running outside together much better...but a treadmill will definitely suffice on the rainy days, I suppose. Owning one sounded entirely wonderful in theory, as that is all she begged for as a Christmas gift.....but fitting it in 1500 sq ft with 13 people and it being the size of a Dodge truck and all....proving a bit interesting. Thankful that our cats now live happily outside with dogs....cause I just really hate cats. And that patient husband took the time to pull up every last carpet staple that still existed. Now on to tackle rooms 2 and 3 and do some ripping out of carpet there....and more staple pulling. I'm just really ready to paint something.


I am wearing....
clothes.


I am hearing....
not the smoke alarms that beeped incessantly for days. Despite batteries being in, batteries being out, breakers on, breakers off, alarms reset or totally unset, they finally saw fit to quit their every 30 second 24 hour chirping after fire husband was home long enough to figure out the problem and fix it. Thankfully he has  more patience than I possess and his tactic was a little kinder and gentler than hammering the crap out of them....since that approach didn't go so well for kids and I.


I am pondering.....
what's worse...the total embarrassment of having to fess up and tell date night husband only 45 minutes into the night out that something is really not right, puking may be imminent, the entire world is in slow motion and hearing is muted....or him now mandating I drown myself in an entire gallon of water every. single. day. Just for the record...water is entirely capable of producing heartburn.



I am wondering....
what people do with pregnant pictures of strange people they've never met. Lately there has been a surge of interest in the pregnant and post baby pics on here dating all the way back to baby #6 when I began picture documenting each baby journey. St Petersburg Russia seems to have an intense interest in them along with several other locations that appear to be copying them and using them for other purposes. Makes me wonder if they're just trying to figure out if I've truly physically carried every one of our kids or if some pervert is doing other more questionable things. Oh the joy of the public world wide web and the people who stalk it. Based on the number of pictures that have been clicked on and copied from this blog I'm quite certain there is a family with 11 children that look stunningly similar to our's and a pregnant mom who resembles me in a shocking manner living somewhere on a blog in a foreign country. I've decided to spare us all this pregnancy and refrain from posting any more pregnant pics......or, at least refrain from subjecting everyone to the misery of a pregnant chick in jeans and a sports bra until I figure out how to begin watermarking pics. I probably should grow the patience to begin watermarking all of the pictures uploaded on here. Fun.


I  am reading......
not the People magazine I bought about the CT shooting and each of its victims. I purchased it in an effort to know each of the names and faces so that we can pray by name for each family that suffered such tremendous loss. But it just makes me depressed every single time I look at the cover of it. I have instead now gathered the names from a news article and we are praying that way.


I am hoping.....
that the 22 qt roaster oven we got for Christmas proves itself entirely more adept at cooking than I am. Cause I fully intend to throw all that crap in there and just walk away.


I am going......
to unearth the measuring tape, make a trip to Home Depot and  mount shelves in the laundry closet, the hall closet, the baby crib closet and the kids' closet turned sleeping bag/blanket storage. I'm then going to organize every square inch of this house and make it as fully optimal, practical and functional for us as it gets. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes husband to appear once he hears the power drill fire up...probably not even a full minute.


I am smelling.....
pumpkin air freshener....and a ton of it.

Me: Why does it smell so good in here?

Aubrey: Cause it stunk.

Me: Well, then it should still stink.

Aubrey: Well....it doesn't now.

Me: I know. That's the problem. Why does it not still stink?

Aubrey: Cause Baby A wreaked so I sprayed stuff everywhere.

Me: You sprayed way too much.

Aubrey: Not really. He stunk soooo bad.

Me: And if you're the one that sprayed it then why does A smell like it too?

Aubrey: Cause I sprayed him too.


Soooo........you just can't ever quite argue with Aubrey logic.


I am noticing.....
that being reduced to using a baby washcloth in the shower while pregnant is like trying to wash the titanic with a cotton ball. It would also be helpful when placing heater within bathroom for an enjoyable showering experience to actually turn it all the way to heat instead of merely making it to the fan setting. Little breezy. Little chilly.



I am remembering......
the fact I will probably never change another carport lightbulb again....and if I do it certainly won't take any 60 minutes to accomplish...as hammering out the glass to the fixture is just a much faster approach that doesn't quite fry the brain, and is, in fact, quite therapeutic. Fixtures that require a PhD to remove are just plain stupid and manufacturally deficit.



Life in pics.....
Apparently there's not gonna be any until I can figure out how to begin watermarking and claiming ownership of my own pictures. And a post without pictures is just so entirely boring. Nobody ever survives all the words.