Thor

My son Robbie is so much fun to watch. He is 1 year old and just seems to be learning so much all of a sudden. He took forever to say anything other than "dada" but now he says all kinds of things, including "I love you" "bye bye" and "hey".

My husband has recently nicknamed Robbie, Thor. For his first birthday, Robbie received a toy that he hits things with a little plastic blue hammer. That hammer is now Robbie's favorite toy. He hammers everything and everyone and he likes to hold it up in the air and yell at people. It is so cute and funny. And so now he is Thor.

Today he has been very busy with his hammer and also on his play phone. He keeps holding it up to his ear and saying "hey" and "yeah" and then babbling a whole bunch that I can't understand.

"That's My Woohoo"

I know that according to the doctors you are supposed to call all body parts by their correct names but there are a few that I just can't. From day one it has always been that little girls have a "ya-ya" and boys have a "woohoo".

Lately my two year old daughter, Riley, has become very interested in everyones' bodies. When I have changed my son in front of her she has been very worried about his privates. "What's that?" all the time! So I told her it's his woohoo. "Ohhh his woohoo." And then we inevitably had to have the discussion that it was not for touching. So we got that all established and now she seems to think she has a pretty good understanding of it. Smart two year old, huh?

Today Stuart was getting Riley dressed for the day. Suddenly he started laughing and sent her to tell me what she said. Well into the bathroom she walked and pointed at her bare chest, "That's my woohoo." I laughed so hard. And so we had yet another talk about her body. She is so much more curious about everything than her older sister ever was. Maybe she'll be a doctor!

Money Making Ventures

I used to work full time outside the home. I did that until I had my son. Then with three kids daycare would have cost my whole paycheck. I figured, why work? I can just stay home with my children. I also decided that I would try to find a way to make some income from home. And so began my journey to becoming a work at home mom(WAHM).

I signed up for Avon. I loved all the stuff and that was a problem. I was always buying things for myself and my children. That really cut into any profits I made. I also hated going out and bugging people to buy from me. Then when the items came in I hated harassing people to pay me and get their items. So I decided that maybe Avon just wasn't for me.

I tried doing an envelope stuffing job. Well after signing up, spending a fortune, and working like crazy, I found out that I was not making any money at all. All the envelopes that I had mailed were returned to me. I decided that I should just cut my losses and move on.

Then I signed up to sell products for a kind of health/nutrition company. I tried finding people to buy it but no one was interested. I tried to find people to sign up to sell, because I could make money that way too, but no one wanted to. I tried the email and phone call method they had and I wasn't getting people signed up. And everything just cost more money. Every time I turned around there was another charge for something or the only way I could get information was to pay for it. I decided it was costing more than we could afford at the time. I cut my losses, again, and moved on.

Then I tried to start a bow and craft making shop. I made bows, hats, and blankets. I had so many plans to make other things. And this probably would have taken off and done great. Plenty of other people make it work. I just found out very quick that my daughters were very interested in helping me. This would have been great but it involved a lot of cutting, hot glue, and needles. Also during this time I was pregnant with my twins and taking care of my infant son. Sad to say I quit this too. But at least I could sell off all my supplies!

I have also tried online surveys and mystery shopping. Both of these have actually panned out and I still do both. Especially the online surveys because I can do that while at home with my children. And major plus for both of these....they were free.

Now I am ready to move on to my next money making plan. I am going to take pictures. But I am going to start slow and just practice taking pictures of family with my digital camera for now. If it seems like something I want to do and I am good at it then I'll buy a better camera and put the word out. Wish me luck!

Sleep??? What is that?

My twins were preemie so for the first week at home they had to be waken up every three hours to eat. At their first appointment they had gained enough that we could go four hours. Well they did sleep really great at night. And I thought, wow I am so lucky, 2 newborns, and still managing at least 6 hours of sleep each night. And now, I am lucky to get 2 hours total. Abigail has tummy problems like no other lately. She is very gassy and cries. Brittany does not like to sleep alone and she has constantly got a stuffy nose. So all night they are very restless. Right now they are co-sleeping in my bed so that I can try to get some sleep. That is the only way I can manage getting the 2 hours that I am getting. But who needs sleep, right? My husband does. lol. He cannot stay awake with them. When he is helping I'll look over and whichever baby he has is laying awake in his lap while he is asleep sitting up. Haha. Poor guy. Guess God made mommies to be able to handle no sleep. And He made grandmas to help mommies find time to sleep. Thanks to my mom I got an extra hour and a half this morning. And I feel so energized now! All of my kids are taking a nap and I could be taking one, too. Instead I am wide awake. I guess I'll just have a little "me time".

Birthday Party and Pneumonia

Ashlynn came home from school today and let me know that she had invited all her friends to her birthday party. Her birthday is not until September! I tried to explain this to her. But no, she needs to get her invitations made and "Can I please have my party at Chuck -E- Cheese?". I once again tried to tell her that her birthday isn't until September. Well then she proceeds to tell me that she told all her friends that her birthday is March 16th. Well that is already past. But all her friends' birthdays are in March! And they already said they would come! Oh dear. I did not expect to already be dealing with this with a 4 year old. And Chuck -E- Cheese?? She wants to play games and use the ticket blaster. Wow, I wonder if this is how I was at 4. Probably so. lol

In other much more serious news today, Riley has pneumonia. Every time Ashlynn brings home a cold from school Riley gets it, too, and it always goes to her chest. She'll start wheezing and struggling to breath. So we have a breathing machine and an inhaler. Her allergist doesn't want to call it asthma, and her pediatrician says that it is asthma. I'm leaning toward my pediatrician's diagnosis on this one. So two weeks ago we went in for her wheezing and she got some steroids and the inhaler. It went away pretty fast and when we went for the follow-up last week her lungs looked great. Two days ago she started with a runny nose. Yesterday a little cough. Last night wheezing and fever. This morning her wheezing was horrible even after doing breathing treatments all night, and her temperature was 104.1. So I called got her an appointment. I figured it was just the same thing and would be a waste of time appointment since I already have all the medicines from her first spell of this. Nope, it's worse. She has pneumonia in her right lung. Thank God we took her in today. I cannot imagine how much worse this could have gotten if we had waited. So now my angel is on some very strong medicine as well as her breathing treatment and inhaler. She goes back to the doctor in 3 days. I pray she is better fast from this. She is usually my firecracker so it is hard to see her so sick.

Meet The Family

Hello all! My name is Melissa. I'm a 24 year old stay at home mom (SAHM) of 5 wonderful little children. My husband Stuart works full time to support all those little mouths. We have been married almost 5 years now, which seems crazy to me. I guess time flies when you're having babies. lol.

Now to meet my little ones!! Ashlynn is our oldest and she is 4 years old. Next came our second daughter, Riley, and she is 2. Then came our little man Robbie, who just recently turned one. And we were finished. We had our beautiful daughters and our little boy. Then, Suprise!, we were expecting twin girls. So we recently welcomed Abigail and Brittany to our family. They are 5 weeks old.

So there you go, now you know a little about the characters in our story. I suppose I could also set the scene for you a little.

The seven of us live in a 3 bedroom house. A little packed right now, I know. But since we have three in cribs we will have a nursery and then a bedroom for our 2 older girls. I say we will because it hasn't happened yet. Right now our children are either in the soon to be nursery or our room. The third bedroom has been a storage room until now. We have 2 bathrooms, which is no big deal right now but when they are teenagers I think there will be trouble. So in our future could there possibly be an addition to our house?? I sure think we need one! Our dining room has been converted into a playroom of sorts. Mostly it is just a disaster waiting to happen. It can be spotless one minute and the next there are toys, books, and puzzles everywhere. Our kitchen is supposed to be turning into a kitchen/laundry room soon, I hope!

I can't really give you much plot since I never know how my days will go. I know how I want them to go but I have learned that I just have to go with the flow. I never know how much sleep I will be getting each night. One or both twins may be really fussy all night. Someone may be sick. Riley's asthma may be acting up. I never know if I will be able to get any cleaning done. Some days I have so much spare time I could get bored. Other days my house stays a mess and by the time my husband gets home I feel like crying at everything that needs to be done. Some days I may get to take a nap. Not very often, but sometimes everyone goes to sleep at once, and I may be able to squeeze in an hour of no interruptions. Sometimes not knowing can be hard, sometimes it can be scary, but mostly it is fun, and it is always chaotic.