I was tagged.

My friend Jamey over at Zehlahlum Family tagged me in a post for stuff about me.
Since I normally post stuff about the kids, about adoption, about my life keeping up with 7 kiddos... I will relent and play along!




1. What is your biggest pet peeve?

I have WAY too many pet peeves. I run a peeve petting zoo.
Some of them are:

• Someone using the word "quote" instead of "quotation". "Quote" is a verb, "quotation" is a noun. Read this quotation... and I quote... get it?
• Another word peeve - there is no "D" in refrigerator OR congratulations.
• The sound of overall clasps in the dryer
• Never being able to find jeans in the right waist/thigh/length ratio that cost under $100
• (like Jamey... didn't realize we had this in common) the sound of bathroom vent fans
• when my kids won't eat the crust of their sandwiches
• Text-speak (No, IDK WTH UR talking about. Knock it off.)
• waking up when it's still dark outside
• that sound it makes when you scrape your fork or knife on your plate
• Coffee stations that don't have real half &half as an option
• Planning dinner only to find out someone put an empty container back in the pantry and now your recipe won't work without a trip to the grocery store.
• Dog fur
• my dishwasher and how it leaves these baked on mystery crumbs inside most of the glasses
• People who "no matter how hard" they try... still can't gain weight! (Wah.)
• How my husband can skip the second double cheeseburger and drop 10 lbs and I eat like a rabbit for a month and gain 2lbs. Yeah. That one really gets me.
• Restaurants that STILL don't understand what gluten is and how to prepare food without it.
• People who ...                 And we are moving on...................

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Wow. Well, this is a loaded question for me because my heart right now is to have a large home on a large piece of land where I can be Mary from Owlhaven and adopt more children and have space for them all. I would like to have the Duggar's kitchen set up and family closet. As for where... I like Tennessee (except whenever it's over 95 degrees and 80% humidity), but wish we were closer to the mountains and my sister in Colorado. 
3. Have you ever been searched by the cops?

Ha. I don't think so... other than in Germany in customs where I was frisked like I may be smuggling undeclared chocolate out of the country.
4. What is the one thing on your mind right now?

It's naptime... I gotta do those dishes, vacuum up the fur, pick up in the toy room, and WHEN is my neighbor going to be done pressure washing his stupid deck! Sheesh that thing is LOUD!

5. Favorite song right now?

"Our God" by Chris Tomlin because every time it comes on the littles start singing along! It's ADORABLE and it reminds me that our God IS greater than all the other junk in my day.

6. What talent do you wish you had?

I'm not trying to copy Jamey's answers... but I wish I could sing. Oh, and play an instrument. I can't even effectively play the kazoo. 

7. Favorite drink?

Coffee, green tea, iced tea and if I am really going to mess up my blood sugar... I LOVE Root Beer Floats.

8. In one word, how would you describe yourself?

Sleepy? I don't know... I have never been good at describing myself in any number of words... how about you just "see above" pet peeve list... that should pretty much sum it up! ;)




I'm supposed to tag other people... I think 8 of them... but since I can't remember blog names without looking at my links list...
I am going to tag my sister, Melissa from www.benjaminandmelissa.blogspot.com
and if you made it this far and you are reading this... comment on your 8 things after this post or leave me a note and let me know you put it on your blog! 
There... instant tagging! :)

25 things I have learned

Things I have learned from my children:

1. Popcorn and ice cream constitute a balanced dinner.
2. Milk and Barney. Barney and Milk. Never Barney and Water.
3. Every blank wall is a potential canvas.
4. Fish are friends, not food.
5. I make an excellent tissue.
6. There is a sound barrier somewhere between the kitchen and the balcony leading to the upper level.
7. Tension baby gates are not baby proof if the baby weighs 35 lbs and knows how to climb.
8. The same child that is not hungry at 6:30am, is miraculously starving by 7am when he arrives at school and needs a cinnamon roll purchased on his lunch ‘account”.
9. School lunch accounts work like credit cards with no limit and no rewards program.
10. A baby that wakes up for the day at 5:20 will grate your nerves until nap time.
11. What fun is a clean play room?
12. I am the only one obsessively concerned with being able to walk without stepping on sharp lego corners.
13. If you lose a lego, simply take off your shoes and walk around in the dark and you are guaranteed to find it.
14. A single loaf of bread will make exactly one sandwich for each of 7 children, spare the “icky” end pieces no one will eat.
15. One small bottle of nail polish will ruin a twin sheet set, a white knit blanket, two outfits and require 20 minutes of cleaning green polish off of the skin of 3 small children.
16. There is no good hiding place for nail polish.
17. If you wait a few days, you can find where your child (who wanted to “help”) threw the diaper away.
18. The day you are in a hurry is most certainly the day you will be missing the left shoe from EVERY pair you have for your children, the day the diaper will leak and the day there will be car-seat assignment issues.
19. If you have children who are the age to go out and play with friends, and you also have more than 4 children, your house suddenly becomes the local hang out for 12 or more children at once.
20. One pack of frozen kool-aid Popsicles does not contain enough blue or red for 12 children to all get the color they want.
21. Even when you think children are busy watching Sesame Street, they may actually be dumping hand soap and sanitizer into the toilet.
22. The dog eventually refuses to eat Cheerios off of the floor.
23. You should investigate ALL silences.
24. It is vitally important to not run out of coffee.
25. The days are long, but the years are short... and no matter what irritating thing happens today... something more irritating may happen tomorrow. It’s all going to be okay, and this too shall pass... but if you don’t watch out, it will all “pass” while you aren’t looking.

We have had custody 10 weeks today!

Okay - letting that sink in.

That seems like a LONG time!!

So, how are things after TEN weeks??

Pretty typical I think!
Here is our typical day at TEN weeks:

6-6:30am - wake up call. Normally it's just the girls that wake up this early, but some days baby boy #7 gets up that early too. Those days are not so much fun. He is not a morning person and should really sleep till at least 7am. We go downstairs, I start the coffee (if I didn't plan ahead and set the coffee maker the night before) and turn on Barney, get cups of milk and cover them with blankets on the couch. School days I have 1 and 2 getting ready to leave by 6:38, so this hour goes by pretty fast. Weekends... not so much. They don't respect the weekend-sleep-in routine we previously held so dear to our hearts. Some days even on Saturday I am awake and on the couch grumbling through stupid Barney by 5:45am. Yuck.

7am - School days we wake up 3 and 4 to start getting ready. Normally by 7:25-7:30 3,4 and the littles are all eating breakfast. I go through our checklist (do you have shoes on? Did you pack your backpack? Do you have your binder? Do you have your snack? What special do you have today? If it's gym.. do you have tennis shoes on?) while reminding the girls to sit on their bottoms and eat. I say this 800 times during each meal. If I forget to say "sit on your bottom!" someone will inevitably fall off the bench onto the floor which will result in an extra 45 minutes of breakfast time since we will stretch it out to include the crying, the consoling and the pouting period afterwards.

7:50 - 3 and 4 out the door. Littles usually watch the bus come and leave and begin their daily emptying of the toy room into the entry way floor.

***** (from here on down, using School Day schedule because on weekends... all bets are off)

8am - I sneak upstairs to get dressed. I have maybe 10 minutes before they all fall apart without my presence.

8:15 - clean up the kitchen. This may take as long as an hour depending on how many children are holding onto my legs while I walk the 3 steps from the dishwasher to the cabinets. Yes, helpful mommas out there... I have tried letting them "help" unload the dishwasher and such... but that ends in disaster as our kitchen is the size of a small shoebox and 4 people all carrying dishes or standing around the dishwasher is just NOT GOOD.

Approx. 9am - begin thinking about asking them to clean up the toys from in the entry way.
If we are going out today to run errands or something, we usually try to leave around this time.

9-11am: Errands, play outside or play inside depending on the day.

11am - begin making lunch in a stealthy way. If I get caught making food, baby boy 7 WILL freak out and cry, climb up my legs and panic until I put him on the counter with me and feed him something.

11:30-12 - typically lunch time. 800 reminders to sit on your bottom, eat your food and telling them how "yummmmmmmm!!!!" their food is so that they believe me.

12 - nap time.
12:05 - 5 in the bed.
12:06 - 6 in the bed
12:08 - 7 in the bed
12:08:30 - back in the girls room. "LAY down! Go to sleep! Do you want to go outside after nap? Then SLEEP!"
12:09 - stick head in boys room - "its okay... go to sleep... Mommy loves you!"
12:10 - back in the girls' room. Stand in doorway and give the "Mom" look.
12:15 - sit in hallway between both rooms and fold laundry while repeating "SHHH! Tegna!" (sleep)
12:30 - typically everyone is asleep.
12:31 - huge exhale and go downstairs.
I may use this break to do house stuff, make phone calls,or talk to Jamey because she can relate. I try to remember to eat lunch at this time so that I don't remember after the littles wake up because then they think its time for them to eat a whole meal too, not just a snack... something that requires a plate, fork and drink. Not cool at 3pm.

2:30-3pm - Typically the time everyone wakes up. I literally RUN to get whoever wakes up first in the girls room so that perhaps the other will sleep for another 30 minutes or so. If they are not awake by 3, they will be awakened.

2:50-3pm - 1 and 2 get home on the bus. Lots of happy screaming from the littles.

4pm - 3 and 4 get home.

4:10-5pm: snacks then go over who has homework and who doesn't, argue the merits of homework, argue against the usage of crayon or pen on homework and begin to think about stealthily preparing dinner. Sometimes one of the older kids will take the littler kids out to play so I can help another couple of them with homework. I am convinced homework is spawned of Satan. (just deleted 5 page rant on homework) Just sayin'.

5-6 : Cook dinner while playing referee, therapist, maid, potty assistant, police officer, and sometimes taxi driver - picking up kids from after school activities.

6pm - dinner time. 800 reminders to sit on your  bottom, 300 reminders to eat, 290 reminders to chew with your mouth closed, and 287 reminders to use your fork.

7pm - clean up dinner stuff, then get the littles off to bed. Brush teeth, lotion, pajamas, potty visit and tucking everyone in. We say prayers, get covered up, go over my (hopeful) request that they sleep till the outside lights come on (sun comes up), and say goodnight. About 50% of the time they go right to sleep. The other 50%... see above nap time schedule.

7:30-8pm - finish cleaning up kitchen, pick up toys, pick up random clothing from all over the downstairs, let dog out again, remind 3 and 4 to do their nightly reading, make sure backpacks have everything in them for tomorrow, and then get a few minutes to relax with the first 4.

8:45 - First 4 go up to bed. Yes, even the 14 and 12 year olds. 9pm bedtime. Yep. I'm that mean. They wake up at 6. It's all gonna be okay. I promise. I used to be religious about tucking them all in, hugs, kisses, prayers etc... but since the babies have been home it's tough to go in their rooms since they all share (except One - he has his own room). Sometimes the littles aren't quite all the way asleep then we have to start the whole bedtime thing over again and THAT is AWFUL.

9-10pm.... AHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Time with hubby when he is home, watch something on TV, read, play online, etc... something that I don't have time to do during the day!

10pm - I TRY to get to bed by 10 since I really need my sleep. Most nights I am successful. Sometimes not.

So... there you have it!
Our day in a schedule/nutshell!

Name Game

I've been bouncing around for months now with what to do about naming my kiddos on the blog.
I want to protect their privacy now and in the future...
and the only way I know how to do that is to give them some kind of nickname to be used here.

I thought about using the nicknames we use at home, but those are mostly just forms of their real names.

I thought about giving them cutesy names just for the blog... something related to their personalities... but I think that may get confusing for my family who reads this.

SO.

My friend Jamey (Hi Jamey!! I have another haiku for you!) suggested that I go with their birth order.

Simple, effective, easy to remember AND I think my family can decipher easily who I am referring to!

SO.

Introducing....

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN - Baby boy

Hair Do Experimentation

Of the things we prepare and plan for in trans-racial adoption, the hardest (in my opinion) is "how will I know how to take care of their hair?!?"

Me personally... I don't talk hair much with anyone. I don't go get mine done at the "fancy" salon, I don't pay to get my nails or toes done and I don't like massages. I know, I'm weird.

So, add this non-girly mentality to the overarching inferiority complex of feeling judged by black women out in public for being inherently unable to properly do a black child's hair... and you have a recipe for a serious anxiety complex.

Oh, and I wasn't getting started with a bald newborn.
I was dropped head-first into hair drama with two girls AND a boy (more on that another time).

Deep in the trenches of hair potions, lotions, magical gels and concoctions... I have come up with some go-to styles for my girls.

I am fascinated by those with the ability to hold one section of hair while simultaneously adding tiny bits of oiled up hair from beneath the first sections. I see girls in the grocery store and out elsewhere with fancy parts and awesome braids with snazzy beads and clippy things and I ooooh and ahhhh over the sheer talent on display like some gawk over the Fashion Week runway shows in New York. I am totally in awe.

So... do not take the following photos as anything other than my setting a "baseline" for my own hair attempts.
I'm not showing off my awesomeness.
It's not there yet. I know. I am told often by my girls who "sizzle" while I try to learn flat-twists and cornrowing on their tender heads.

Go easy on me.

Ha ha ha... gotcha! No... this was her hair when we first met.

This was done by the nannies at the care center. I am sure they were telling her..

"oh, baby girl... this may be the last time you have awesome cornrows!"

Crazy comb out day! Yikes, Einstein...

This is Six, with her banded headband type do.

Front of our cheater corn row type style. 

I twist the hair between bands and use the 

elastics instead of braiding. Cheater, cheater. I know.

Here's the back of the same 'do.

And another view, same 'do.

Not sure what we were going for... but the day 1 'do was kinda weird.

She wasn't upset about the hair... though it could be inferred from this photo.

First try at a flat twist. Chunky, bumpy and just not right despite awesome video instructions over at Happy Girl Hair

I like her little afro, but it makes her look so much older!!

Is there a way to keep from needing to comb out the 'fro 15 times a day?

She HATES to have her hair combed out and I am SUPER gentle.

First try at Bantu Knots. I like these, but they are HARD to take out!!

Little puffs.

Sorry for the cruddy photo quality 

- these are taken with my phone.

itty bitty "puffs".

Back view of the little braids on Five.

Isn't it adorable that they want their babies on their backs - Ethiopian style!?

So cute!

Side view of the little hanging braids.

Side view of Five's headband thingy

Today's flat twists and bantu knot combo.

And the back... bantu knots.

Okay! I think that's about all the creativity I have attempted to this point!!

I think my favorites are the wedding veil or fake corn row types because they keep the hair tangle-free and stay nice the longest. I ADORE Five's hair just out and long, but she can't stand me re-fluffing it all the time! Any tips on that very WELCOME!