The New Normal

So it's just me again, the way it used to be, except it's totally different now that I've had Kanga here so long.  I miss her, for so many reasons.  The companionship, the humor, the shoulder, and oh my, the cleaning.  :)  Having her leave right at the time Merryweather started has been extra challenging because I'm getting used to having a newborn again with less help all at once.  It's not overwhelming in terms of the kids- six is not a problem for me.  But the toddler and infant schedules tag team each other and most days there is very little time for straightening up.  Things are not neat and tidy at 5:30, and I'm a lot more tired at the end of the day and hate to face my kitchen for dinner when it's messy. 

And there are less crafts.  I like doing crafts.  I miss doing them with the kids, especially at holiday time when I feel like I should be sending home reindeer and snow and fun treaty goodness.  But we're cooking a lot- they're helping me with meals a lot more since there's not a second person to keep them busy in the playroom.  It's a lot of fun to answer questions and tell them all about our food.  I'm sitting on the floor in the playroom a lot and just talking with them, and singing, and building blocks and reading books and what color is this and what letter is that and what sound does it make and and and....  we're definitely having fun.  I'm still figuring what things to switch around to make it work more smoothly, and I expect to be back in the craft groove soon.  Hopefully Merryweather's schedule will be a bit more consistent at that point too.  Right now she does whatever she likes- you get to do that when you're two months old.  Not knowing when she might be awake or hungry changes our schedule daily, but it's all good. 

 O'Malley is crazy in love with her.  He's about the same age now that Duchess was when big sister Aurora was here, so it's funny to have this relationship again- one of my kids and one of the Sleeping Beauty clan.   He was beyond proud when I let him feed her for a minute the other day.

Then she farted.  And not only did it shake the couch, the stench would make you flee the county.

 So he's yelling, "MAMA!!!  Come get Merryweather!  She tooted and it is SO STINKY!!"

I was right there, of course, but I was laughing too hard to rescue him immediately.

I was telling my hubby one day last week that I needed something exciting and somewhat physical to do with them since we're not venturing outdoors these days with a tiny one.  He reminded me that we own a parachute.  OH YEAH!  I completely forgot about it.  They had such a good time.  Alice especially loves it.  We sing songs and shake and push and pull.  

 Of course they kept wanting to sit on it and hide under it too, which is fun.  We also bounced balls on it, and worked lots on the gross motor skills with holding the handles and how much to move your arms to make it do different things.  Remy was funny- he kept wanting to wear the handles around his wrists like bracelets and then they would slide right off as soon as the others started to shake.  I couldn't get a picture because it was happening so fast.

 Merryweather approved.  She's just starting to give me regular smiles.  LOVE that I caught one.

Alice and Lady are starting to be excited about clips and bows.  Alice calls them "hair pretties", which is a term that we've all appropriated very quickly.  This morning she was quite pleased with her purple sparkly flower, and I dug one out of Lady's box for her to wear too.  Consequently, Mater hit the floor in a full body tantrum.  The man needed a hair pretty.  He wasn't buying the argument that most boys don't wear them, so I found him one too.  I figure it won't kill him.  A pink hair clippie is good for improving the soul of every boy, right?

And then all was right with his world, and the three of them chatted and patted each other's heads and praised their loveliness.  He wore it about ten minutes and then it disappeared.  I still haven't seen it.  I'm putting my money on the couch cushions. 

Picture Day

Earlier this week a photographer came to the house to take pictures of the kids. It was quite the interesting experience. He set up a huge backdrop in the living room and we took some group shots and then individual and sibling shots of most of the kids. The girls did much better than the boys- Sebastian refused to smile but they did manage to get a few cute "tough serious guy" poses. O'Malley pretty much got nothing good. He screamed a lot and then demanded that I take his sweater off, so he was running around with no shirt on and the best looking picture they got of his face has a nekkid chest attached. :) Oh well. Authenticity.

Personally I was hoping for more candid shots and interesting poses and making silly faces. I think they did a good job and we got some nice pictures- I just had something more informal in mind.

Here's a teaser:

The girls wanted to dress up- Snow White brought her new pink dress, and we raided the dressup box for Ariel and Duchess. There were plenty other princess dresses- I have no idea what made Duchess decide to wear the flight suit. I think that's the first time she's ever put it on.

We got lots of really cute shots of Ariel.

I love this one of Simba- the look on his face is so cute.


I think a group shot with seven children looking pleasant is a miraculous thing. I was pretty impressed. And this was the best we got of O'Malley all day.


Snow White- she's the one I wish most had gotten to jump around and be candid- her personality is so vivid that I feel like you don't get a good vision of her when you make her sit still. :) That's not to say it isn't a good picture- she pretty much doesn't take bad ones. It just doesn't capture her spirit the way I would have personally liked to see.


Sebastian. He smiled for about thirty seconds, so they got a couple good shots off.

He didn't want to take any pictures with his sister either.


Then he was done. Very done. I tend to like the serious ones better than the cheesy smiles though, and they got a series of these that I think are adorable. He looks kind of beat down and annoyed, but also like a tough guy who's just too cool for these dumb pictures.


O'Malley, after fleeing the scene and shedding his good clothes. He's watching Dora the Explorer and that's my old blue couch he's sitting on. The photographer used the zoom lens from across the room because the poor boy would scream every time the camera got close.


His sister, who posed much more nicely.


The one lone shot of both of them. At least he isn't crying, although I don't think you could say he looks happy.


Hail to the Princess Aurora!

Pigtails

Earlier this week I was in the mood to fix hair. I brushed Snow White's and put it up in pigtails while the other girls were resting. When they saw her, they immediately demanded that I do theirs as well. I'm not the best at it, but hey, at least I got a lot of practice in one day!

Ariel, Snow White, Duchess, and Tinkerbell- rocking the pigtails!