Our newest arrival

Yesterday we had a new addition to our growing family. Christopher James was born at 10:44am and looks great! Jay and I went last night after I got off work to see him. He is sooo adorable. His little face is all crooked from being smooshed up against Amy's ribs for so long...he was a feet first baby...so she had to have a C-section.
Dan and Amy found out back at week 20 that he has club feet and would need some casts, braces, and therapy for his first year at least. I've seen pictures of it, but never in person. After holding him for a bit, Dan wanted to show us his toesies. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen. His little crooked feet with all 10 toes pointed towards eachother and sort of overlapped. It almost got me choked up....I told Dan 'I want to cry, but not in a bad way'. I just meant that it was almost a cry that you have for a child that you first meet that you love so much already....not sorrow for his little imperfect feet, but almost a protective sort of "it's okay baby..you're perfect to all of us" He's just precious.

More proof....

..of my theory on what Timmy thinks of he and Trae. I always say that he wants to make sure everyone (especially Trae) knows that he is bigger, stronger, older. Well, this was in his backpack this morning. It's kinda funny when you see how Trae is portrayed in this family portrait....he's even smaller than Tanner.

The visit

We went to see Sr. Teresa last night. We had such a nice visit, she was so good...like the Teresa we've always known. You'd never know from the way she looked/acted last night that she was so sick. If she was hurting, she hid it well. If she was tired, we never knew it. In fact, when I finally said 'we really should get going' she was surprised when she looked at her watch and it was about 9:45. I expected we'd stay til 8:30 or so, but time flew and she was in good spirits. She had bought 2 bouncy balls earlier that day so the boys could play. We had brought Subway and then ate out in the backyard of the house she lives in. The boys played the whole time and we had good conversation. We went inside after a while when the mosquitos started to get bad and sat in a common sitting room. There was a table and chairs where she had brought paper and markers for the kids and there was a little wooded toy frog and a little toy birdhouse that she gave to Tony and Tanner. When we first got there she told me happy early birthday and gave me a candle holder and a little booklet to read.
She gets such a kick outta the kids...especially Tony. She just kept saying how cute he was and how much she liked him. He gave her a big hug when we got there and when we left, I know she liked that.
While we were sitting in the yard, we asked her what the house behind there was. She said it's the guesthouse and that I should come and stay sometime. She had asked me this back in January or so when we had emailed back and forth a bit and I had mentioned how tiring my schedule was and how exhausting it is to work this much. Then she got sick and then we got in these crazy months where we haven't had a free weekend forever. Now, once the 4th is over, we have no more set plans for the remainder of the summer. She told me to just schedule it....that if I just say I'll do it and don't set it up, it will never happen. Very true. I think I'm going to do that. I'm going to take a Saturday off and go for 2 nights. She told me what we could do together and how I could really just relax. I think it would be a very peaceful weekend and I would love to spend some real one on one time with Sr. Teresa.
Today, I have GOT to get more packing done. The kids are done with school after today, so I'll have them all home tomorrow. The more I can get done today before heading to job 2 tonight the less stressed I'll be tomorrow. Now, if I could just wake up, I could get something started.

Trae just called......he forgot that he was supposed to bring a bag lunch today cuz they're doing an outside picnic. Um...okay....I'll just swing by and bring that to you. I already have 7 kids here.....this should be interesting. **insert rolling eyes here**

Camping trip

Well, we are home from our first camping trip with the new pop-up. It wasn't quite what we expected. It rained the entire time and was freezing. We had to use the heater in the camper by day 2 after nearly freezing to death on the first night. I think the high on Sat. was 52'. Nice.
We made the most of it. The boys were really disappointed because they were hoping to go swimming and do some fishing. The only thing that made the it not so bad is the fact that we are going to the cabin in 6 days. YAY!
If it weren't raining..I'd be more bummed that the weekend went so fast. Next time we go will be the 4th of July and that will give us more time to enjoy it and enjoy our time together. We had some family game time and fun with Chuck and Amy, but it will be nice to have it sunny and not so rushed next time.

This makes me sad

As I looked at this picture again tonight....I suddenly noticed something that I hadn't the other day. Timmy seemed more long and lean to me, I chalked it up to the way the pic had to stretch to fit my desktop. Then I looked closer......
....he is standing on his tip toes.

So, that made me look closer at this one.....


...and this one....

...same thing. Poor guy. He's so self conscious of his height.

Grrrrr!!

How is it possible to love children so much and yet get so mad at them that you throw things at them? I lost my temper in the van tonight. They were so loud and obnoxious in the back seat...wouldn't quiet down...wouldn't stop argueing....wouldn't give us a moment's peace....so, WHACK! I whipped a DVD case back at them...it hit the ceiling hard and came down in the middle of the oldest 3. THAT got them quiet. Quiet enough to hear me lose my mind! Two guesses on whether or not they made a SOUND for the next 15 minutes.
It's so comforting to know that resorting to violent outbursts will get their attention. They don't teach THAT in any of the parenting books.
God, help me.

More bad news

I've been talking to Shannon's mom every day as she's been the one dropping off Hannah. She has kept me posted on Caleb and every day the news gets worse. First, the tumor, then the surgery to remove it. They went in there and found out that half was too deep and could not be removed. Not good. Yesterday was the worst part though when she told me that the biopsy showed that it is cancer. :(
I"m just so upset about it. He just turned 24. Shannon's obviously distraught. I don't know from here what will happen to him. I'm assuming some sort of chemo or radiation to shrink it, but I can't imagine it's ever a good prognosis when you have an inoperable brain cancer. **sigh** Life's never so bad when you compare it to something like this, huh. Thank you, Lord, for my family's health.

On a lighter note....This morning when I went in to wake Tony up (much to his displeasure) he looked at me and with total sincerity asked, "How come I never hear the rooster?"