1. How often do you take public transportation?
I hardly ever do. But my husband takes the bus to work every day. Sometimes I am jealous because I like people watching, but he tells me it gets old after a while. Every once in a blue moon, I will take the bus downtown or the light rail train to visit Mike at work for lunch or a date in the city. But it has been a while since I've done that. Hmmmm....

2. How many cousins do you have?
I have 10 cousins. Growing up, we saw our cousins quite often, and it was lovely. Like extra siblings, in a lot of ways. 

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
Nope! But I'm not opposed to the idea. I'd like to take a gun class someday. If there is a time when the stars are aligned (i.e. when I'm not pregnant, not nursing a little baby, and there is a Groupon for a class) I'll totally take that opportunity! I just think it would be a valuable thing to know how to do safely.

4. Do you ride roller coasters?
I used to love them, but it's been forever. Once again, I've been pregnant or nursing a lot for the last 6 years so riding one hasn't really been an option. I'm curious to see if I would get motion sickness now. I've noticed I am a lot more sensitive to it since having babies, so yeah, I don't know. Again though, used to be a huge fan!

5. What's your favorite flower?
It's a toss up between daisies and peonies. I love flowers so much in general. If you give me flowers you will make my whole week. They make me so happy!



6. Are you allergic to anything?
Yes, and I'm suffering at this very moment as a matter of fact. TREE POLLEN; it's horrible this year! Also, cats, horses, grass, and artificial food dye - especially Red 40. My allergies are actually pretty bad, I can have really bad reactions. I also suspect I'm allergic to peanuts and chocolate, as they might be migraine triggers for me. Boo.

You know where to go for more random question answering!

1. Notebooks that I had been coveting from Target for a long while, when my generous-to-a-fault friend Dani gave them to me for my birthday! How did she know? So cute, right?

2. More floral! Birthday flowers and a new place for our rug
You know all too well how disproportionately happy rearranging the furniture makes me.

cool flower that I love. Wish the bouquet had more of these little whimsical gems!

Mike and I think these lilies look like some kind of prehistoric flower....
You know? I'm actually not a huge fan of lilies. Their powerful smell kind of gives me a headache. Do you like lilies? Wait, this is a lily, right??

3. Bum Genius diapers drying in the warm sun

5. Finally, THIS GUY

1. When was the last time you got a new bathing suit?
I had to look; 2010! I looked it up because I remembered getting a new one from Target when we were going to go on a camping trip with friends. I was pregnant with Josie at the time but I never bought a new one because well, I've had two more babies since then; ha! It's just a basic purple Nothing very exciting at all. I am not big into swimwear because I don't get swimming all that much (even though I love to!) I've never spent very much time/money picking out a suit. The only thing I've bought in the last four years related to swim wear is a black swim cover which is actually pretty cute. The last time I was in a pool was in a hotel last November.
Remember: pregnant with #2! Oh Lou and her bottle...I almost forgot. The one and only child of ours who had a bottle with milk until she was like 3!



2. Who made the last incoming call on your phone?
Do missed calls count or only calls answered? I am TERRIBLE at answering my phone. Terrible. Almost all incoming calls will be missed the first time. I usually leave my phone on silent or vibrate (what if the loud ringer wakes a sleeping baby in my arms?) I won't ever answer if it is between the hours of 12 - 3 (naptime) and a lot of times my phone is not near me or I have no hands free to talk. Plus it's always so loud with the kids that why bother to answer a call you won't be hearing? I have a missed call from my mom, from Mike, and from my friend Cindy. The last call I actually answered was from two days ago from my brother, Dusty. He got lucky; he called at 3:30 pm, just after naps :)

3. If you receive communion, do you receive in the hands or on the tongue?
On the tongue. In the Eastern rite, we actually receive on a spoon! Because the body and blood are mixed together in the chalice and the priest drops it into your mouth. It's nice because everyone receives on the tongue (you don't have a choice!) and it feels so reverent. At least it does to me. Obviously reverence is about inner demeanor as well as outward actions. However, what we do with our bodies does matter!


If we are ever at a Roman mass both Mike and I will receive on the tongue as well. It tends to work out that way even without our choice because we always have a kid (or two) in our arms! Thanks! I feel very uncomfortable receiving in the hand.

4. Do you have a tattoo?
No. Although I remember once when I was in high school I saw a lady with a huge frog spread out on her back at Wild Waves and thought it looked kinda neat at the time (oh my high school mind...) I was too afraid to ever get a tattoo but I did get my nose pierced the summer going into college. I think it actually looked cute, but after going to orientation at WSU I noticed about 500 other girls had their noses pierced and felt kinda silly (it must have been a fad at that point) I took it out a couple weeks later.

5. How many dinner plates are in your house?
18 dinner plates that are plain white. We also have 8 sets of our formal china that we have acquired over the six years of being married (we didn't actually register for it for our wedding even though we picked it out when we were engaged)

And our formal china, Vera Wang:
6. Do you have an accent?
No accent.
Side note: I think my kids are obsessed with British accents. The only one they've heard is from this show called Peppa Pig. They LOVE this show. I find it so weird that they love it so much, so I've concluded it's just because the pig family speaks in a British accent. Anyone else's kids love this show...?


Well my back hurts from sitting in bed typing on my laptop and my husband is waiting for me downstairs to watch something (not sure what; we recorded Hitch because it was on earlier. Oh my goodness I love Will Smith and Kevin James) Also, it's my birthday tomorrow! So boo that it's Monday in less than two hours but yay it's my birthday (and I have one more year to be in my twenties ;)

(A few of my lovely friends took me out for an early birthday celebration and also for baby Emmett yesterday!)

More link - ups over at Catholic All Year!

Father's Day fun.

Mike really is a super dad, and it's not just because we have four children. He's been a super dad since the day I had my first positive pregnancy test!

But when he had time off after Emmett was born he did everything. He loves his kids and he loves me. His commitment level to his family is amazing. I tell people often that one of the biggest reasons we are able to have lots of kids close together is because Mike is such a devoted, tireless dad. He doesn't hold back and he rarely loses his temper with any of us. I mean, of course he gets frustrated sometimes just like anyone else - but I'll tell you, it takes a lot to get him frazzled. Usually it's only after being with the kids non-stop for several days before he even begins to show signs of being short with them. (Or with me for that matter) Our kids will never remember Mike as a yelling, angry dad. They will remember him as being calm and patient with them, because that's who he is.


I hope he had a good Father's Day. I wish there was more I could do for him. Being three weeks postpartum, it's kind of hard to do anything spectacular. But still, I hope he knows how much he's appreciated. That's what Father's Day is about, right?

Speaking of being calm and patient - that's really not happening for me today. It was a bit of a wild morning. No one seemed to want to cooperate much with me or with each other. I made the comment on facebook that one of the hardest things I've observed with four kids so far is that it seems like everyone is a lot louder these days. Everyone is trying to out-scream one another, I guess! Van rides aren't as relaxing as they once were. Emmett isn't too fond of his carseat at this point - which is surprising since all our other kiddo's loved rides in the car even at this young age. So he cries. Then Michael has taken to screaming just as loud as Josie, and that is quite an accomplishment. Josie is into story-telling just as much as ever, and has to raise her voice just to be heard. She is talking constantly. I'm not exaggerating.

I guess it will just be a matter of time for everyone to get to a place where they feel like they are being heard. (This includes Mike and I) I'm sure things will never be exactly quiet again, but hopefully the sound levels will go down at least a little.



There are definitely still moments of tranquility that I like to post on Instagram, if nothing else but to remind myself that life is still pretty good, despite all the crazy right now. All the kids love their baby brother and give him lots of attention. I think Emmett is lucky to have such adoring fans.

It's been rainy for the last - oh - week around here, which has caused a lot of restlessness. I've been trying to get them outside even in the wet weather, but it's always preferable to go out when it's sunny. We didn't exactly get sun this morning, but at least it was dry. I'm glad they got out for at least a little bit because they are actually napping now, which is good.

This is a very misleading picture! Emmett wasn't sleeping well for me all morning - he kept waking up and wanting to nurse. I kept meaning to put him in a sling but I was running around so much that I never got to it. Finally he was able to get into a deep sleep and is laying next to me in the bed while I blog and eat Oreo's :)


But hey, I'm getting pretty tired and the older kids will probably be waking up soon, so I best lay down now.

Because soon, it'll be back to crazy town. Population: four kids under six!

 ...and he finally got his first bath! (not including the little one a the hospital) Tiring, I tell ya!
so fresh so clean!

Unfortunately, he seems to have a bit of a cold so he's all congested and whatnot. So sad when they want to nurse a ton because they don't feel well but it's hard to nurse when you can't breath out of your nose! Such a conundrum. Hoping he feels better asap for both our sakes (he's not been sleeping well as you can imagine. I woke up at 6 am this morning and went downstairs with him. The only thing on t.v. was Mean Girls. Blech! Too bad I watched most of it because I was tired and zoned out)

It's been quite the crazy over here these last two weeks, as I'm sure you can imagine with four kids under six. Mike abandoned me had to return to making a living so we can eat, so I'm on day 3 of flying solo. The only reason I'm able to blog right now is because of the generosity of our extended family members. The girls are at their great-grandma's house and Michael just got picked up to go to the park with grandma and grandpa and Tessa. He was happy to go and I'm sure is enjoying all the attention :) I've missed writing in my blog and determined to continue documenting life so that Emmett doesn't feel left out one day when I print this blog and use it as a baby book for my kids!

This post will probably be all over the place, but I'm sure you understand.

Emmett is doing well! He gets cuter and cuter every day. I love him so. Thankfully Mike gave me some good solid bonding time with the baby. Next baby, I'm going to request even more, because I've realized how valuable it is just to stay in bed with the newest baby for as long as you can swing it. I was a little anxious to pay more attention to my other kids and do some other things around the house, but when I did I could feel the effects on my body for sure! I was still getting over the not-ideal birth experience as well, both physically and mentally.

Still, I did have some good time spent in my cozy bed, nursing and cuddling and cooing at our new little love. I really have to thank my devoted husband for all his hard work taking care of the kids and the house. I feel like he hasn't had a break in two solid weeks and now he's back at work. How could I possibly come close to properly thanking him this Father's Day?? He deserves something huge.

one of the RARE times Mike got in a little nap while he was on "vacation"

Emmett dropped down to 7lbs something ounces a few days after birth so I had to take him in an extra time to get him weighed. Kind of annoying since I knew he was perfectly fine, but it's okay. After Wednesday we discovered that he is gaining nicely and though he's not quite back up to his birth-weight (8lbs 8ounces), he's on his way. He is nursing a lot and thankfully I'm not too sore this time!

Something random that happened was that Josie potty trained herself! It basically started the evening before Emmett was born. She finally decided she was ready to do it! (She turned 3 in December and Mike and I were really frustrated with the whole business.) We are so so soooooo happy this hurdle is jumped and we are down to two in diapers. We are saving additional moola by switching to cloth diapers for Michael. We are using this brand and I LOVE them. Seriously so great. Emmett's little tushie is too little yet but when he gets a little bigger he'll be using them, too. (They do have newborn sizes but we decided not to invest in those right now since they are pretty pricey)

Yay Josie - we're SO proud of you!

Life these past two weeks has been really interesting. It's too early to come up with very many deep reflections; but I would say four kids is definitely a turning point for us. When we put all the carseats in the car and drove home from the hospital, I really felt like we were a "large family" now. I think a lot of people would have put us in that category when we had three young kids, but I didn't so much. Now I think to myself, "Goodness gracious, there are six people living under this roof! SIX PEOPLE."


We are truly blessed. blessed with health, blessed with close family members ready to help, resources, a good job, friends, etc. Not to say that anything is going to be easy from here on out! No oh no.Trust me, I've had a few mini-meltdowns. I've showered maybe every third day. I've at times wondered if we are a little ridiculous and how we thought we could ever have a normal life with all these little kids. I was told by my beloved doctor/OB that the key to success right now is to...wait for it....

Lower 
     My 
        Standards.

In other words, set the bar low. She explained that if I got all the kids fed in a day, I earned an A. Fed and dressed = A+ Extra credit if I got in a shower and got dressed.


I don't know if I can adopt that plan completely, but it's a good voice to have in my head. I definitely tend to drive myself hard to accomplish a lot more in a day, but she's right. I'm never going to survive if I don't accept my limitations and adjust my expectations according to this stage in life.