Flying to the Open House

It's been a busy week.  I started Flying with help from the Flylady.  What's Flying?  It is finally loving yourself.  And it starts with a shiny kitchen sink.  Thanks to Flylady's excellent advice.  I now have one.

Not only that, there is a plan starting to develop to bring order to the chaos that five young children and two procrastination prone parents can bring to a home.

   This is a really beneficial since we are having an open house at our new place in less than two weeks.  I purposely scheduled the open house with the sole purpose of making myself unpack and put everything away in a timely manner.  It was truly shocking to realize how many things were never gone through in the four years that we lived in our last place.  We are really loving our new home.  There is room for all of us to spread out.  Both Alpha and Bravo were able to do their homework this afternoon while Charlie played with sea bones, Delta watched Little Einsteins and Echo followed me around whining because she didn't get a nap.  Amazingly no one really bothered each other or was distracted by each other with the exception of me and Echo.  I tolerated the whining though because I felt a little guilt about her not getting her nap.  I had the best intentions for her to nap and I even laid her down for one.  But she cried and cried and cried.  Normally she only cries for 5 minutes, then she might not fall asleep right away but she'll switch to talking and singing.  She was really crabby this morning and she needed this nap.  I NEEDED this nap so I let her cry thinking surely she'll fall asleep soon, I also didn't want to undo the sleep training we had done as Echo is my best sleeper.  After an hour of crying I couldn't stand it and went into her and found her with her leg stuck through the crib slats.  Then I had a good dose of mommy guilt.  I think she forgave me.  I hope she did.  I let daddy do bedtime.  Tomorrow she'll wear a sleepsack at nap time and everyone will be much happier.

First Family photo at the new digs.  Charlie, James, Alpha, Bravo, Echo, me and Delta

Oh and if you'd like to come to the open house it is Sunday October 10 from 2-5.  Send me and email an I will give you our address.

Introductions

I am Heidi, a wife, a mother and a part time library assistant.  I am married to James.  He is a wonderful supportive and loving husband and devoted father, who like me is human.  He's not perfect but I wouldn't have him any other way.  I am mother to five lovely children who can delight me beyond belief, bring me to tears and make me want to pull my hair out all within 60 seconds.  For Internet safety I've decided to rename my kids.  Since my father is a pilot and my husband a Coastie it seems appropriate to rename them using the International Civil Aviation Organization Alphabet.  My oldest, a nine year old son whom I'll call Alpha, is becoming an amazing young man.  He is soft and sensitive but also can tell stories of epic battles with a grin on his face.  He has amazing patience with his younger siblings and delights in the sight of a newborn baby.  He also LOVES Star Wars and Legos.  He enjoys reading and dabbling in science and computers.  He can be rather noisy, but it is simply a symptom of his enthusiasm.  However that enthusiasm is not so contagious at his waking time of 6:30 even on weekends.  My second child is a seven year old daughter whom for blog purposes shall be Bravo.  Right now I believe she aspires to be a mommy and an art teacher.  She tries to practice her mommy skills on the youngest two members of our family.  They aren't so thrilled about the idea but it doesn't deter Bravo.  She absolutely adores art in any media and has already far surpassed my limited artistic skills.  I just wish sometimes her art stayed on the paper, clay or whatever media she is using rather than all over her.  Bravo also loves to read and I often discover her finishing her book well past bedtime by the glow of her nightlight.  My third child is four and a half.  The half is quite important.  He is Charlie.  He is the biggest (for his age) of all my children.  The rest were all 6 pounders but he came out right at 9 pounds.  As he was the only one born in the South, I blame it on the sweet tea, but the sweet tea sure sweetened his personality.  Anyone who knows him knows that Charlie just loves life.  He delights in everything.  We joke that we could give him five packages of underwear for Christmas and he would squeal with delight as he opened each one and proclaim each his favorite.  When he is happy or excited he is so overtaken by it he trembles and I just love that.  His physical demonstration of joy is almost Charlie Chaplin-esque so the Charlie nickname is all the more fitting.  His abundant joy is also complemented by great concern and compassion and deep curiosity about the hows and whys of everything.  He loves to build things and if his plans become reality he will be quite the inventor as he grows up and a very accomplished cook too.  My fourth child just turned 3 and shall be called Delta.  A delta is an ever changing environment and Delta's short life has been rife with changes.  She has suffered from a myriad stomach and bowel troubles and poor weight gain since 6 months old.  Through her I have known my deepest sorrows and my biggest joys.  She has celiac disease, GERD and Sensory Processing Disorder.  These along with possible other issues caused Failure to Thrive, which simply means she didn't grow.  This led to so many other troubles and ultimately a feeding tube.  Only recently with the feeding tube in place has her growth been normal.  It is painful to watch your child suffer but it makes the everyday joys of simple moments like a bedtime story or a walk to the park all the more beautiful.  I will delve more into life with Delta later.  My fifth and youngest child is 18 months and shall be called Echo which is very fitting at her age.  She is a lively little sprite with a little streak of mischief.  You never know if that little grinning face coming at you is going to give you a kiss or a headbutt, but either one delights her.  She's recently started singing and we all love her renditions of "Rock A Bye Baby" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" often heard late into the night from her crib.  Her newest accomplishment is realizing she can turn on the bathtub in mom and dad's bathroom.
As for me when I'm not busy with my kids, I love to read, I'm learning to knit, I enjoy cooking but not cleaning up afterwards and I love the outdoors:  hiking, camping, kayaking and more.  Our family is different in many ways and has ventured onto many new paths lately mostly ones we would have never chosen.  Nearly two years ago we started eating gluten free.  Six month ago we started learning to use a feeding tube and three months ago we started an adventure in committing to become debt free.  I hope to chronicle our journey on these paths and many new ones in our future.