..and I gotta add that I started to chuckle when I scrolled down and saw the smiling Daniel picture. Have you seen the kid movie The Incredibles? If so, and you can find a graphic of Jack Jack where he's sprouted horns and turned into a demon, forward it to me, will you? I'll cut and pasted that for Daniel's picture of the month lol!

It's been awhile since I last blogged, I see. Daniel has done a reversal of the typical fussy baby progression, in that he went from being fairly mellow during his first months to a screaming mimi as time has progressed. With the other kids having colic, they started to mellow out around 4 mos. I hoped to take some evening exercise and sewing classes once the kids started back to school, but we may as well have a newborn with a roaring case of colic in the house, because the late afternoon/evening hours are tough around here. So I've been in survival mode, and not getting much of anything done, including blogging.

BUT I wanted to write down a version of red beans and rice I've been making before I forgot it yet again. It's easy to make - a requirement here as of late.

Easy Red Beans & Rice

1 lb smoked turkey sausage
1 C onion
1/2 - 1 C celery
1/2 - 1 C green pepper
1/2 tsp emeril's original essence spice (I make it myself - the recipe is at foodnetwork.com; you can also buy it at the store)
3/4 tsp salt
1 C chicken broth
2 C cooked rice
1 can kidney beans, rinsed

Saute onion, celery & green pepper. Add sausage and heat through. Add chicken broth & seasonings and cook a bit more on lower heat. Stir in cooked rice & beans and heat through.

and finally, some pics of Mr. 8 Monther!

and more pics!

Here are some pics I said I'd post, oh, about a month ago.

So my FIL David sent me an email asking for an update. Sorry about the lapse. I've been in busy mode with more than a dollup of self-pity added in. The kids are home from full-day school for the summer. The boys are to start half-day summer school tomorrow. They go to school for 3 wks, then off 2, back for 3, and off 2 more before full-day school resumes. So the kids have been home and bored senseless. I share the senseless part, but I haven't been too bored. For example, a quick summary of a day, let's do Friday.. Jacob decides that if he can't play in the water in the backyard, then the water park will just have to come inside. SO he floods the kitchen (by swiveling the faucet over the coutertops instead of the sink). While I'm cleaning that up, he floods the bathroom (by holding his hands immediately under the faucet and spraying water everywhere). While he's flooding the house away, Joshua, Rachael, and Abby are terrorizing the Home Depot man who's installing a screen door to the backyard. And can I just say that screen doors do little to nothing in terms of keeping out the bugs when you have kids purposely hold the door wide open to get a reaction out of you!! I've lost count of the number of times Abby has stood there with a demon grin on her face. Oh, and let's not even mention the caulk incident. I told Deren that, in looking back, I should have had warning bells going off in my head when the girls were intently watching the install man caulk around the new door. Let's just say that cault does not come out of clothes easily and that small amounts are apparently okay to ingest. But the new door is sturdy. Joshua tested it by giving the glass several jumps after the guy took it out of the box.

So after the caulk incident, I spent the better part of 2 hrs coaxing and nagging at the kids to eat. After giving the caulk girls a bath, I sent them to bed. Jacob then started back up with the water park theme - this time in his pants. The boy peed on himself for about a half hour straight. Every time he got dry pants on, there he went again.

So by then I was about 1 hr late nursing Daniel. I decided to check on the girls. They had gone through every (and I mean EVERY) drawer in the their room and dumped the clothes in one big pile on Rachael's bed. I told them to start cleaning - they laughed at me. By now the county psych ward was starting to sound pretty darn good.

And we're down to one car now - that's BIG, BIG on the pity party list. The van reeks of gas. It's had the problem off/on for 2 yrs, and it's getting worse. I went to drive it for a quick errand yesterday, and made it a couple blocks before my stomach was turning. We don't want the kids in it. So the alternative is, well, house arrest. No summer camps, no library ventures - we're stuck. So I'm thinking zoloft about right now.. I know I need to do SOMETHING because I've had a horrible attitude and Deren's in misery. Anyway, pray for wheels for us, if you're inclined.

BTW, on a non-whining note, here are some of the latest happenings:
1) Deren's parents visited over the Memorial Day weekend. In keeping with our holiday tradition, the kids were all sick. And their flight down here was cancelled and they ended up driving all the way. And the weather was cool and stormy. And I thought I was going to stop with this whiney business!!! I'll post some pics.

2) Mr Daniel is saying "ma ma." He IS a mommy's boy! He's such a cute sweetie pie! He's doing better with his baby food, but having problems with his, ahh, movements, shall we say. He's not sitting up yet. He's following after Jacob and Abby, and is showing low muscle tone (hypotonia).

Daniel and Abby are sick with a cold right now. And why is it called a "cold" when their temper is hot, their foreheads are hot, and it's 100+ heat index outside?! I'm thinking the boys will get sick in the next couple days, just in time for summer school (sigh)

..I'll post pics later. Daniel's wailing for the momma.

Didn't take Joshua to the dr for the IV chelation last week. Daniel came down with a fever last Sunday, and Rachael followed. Abby has a bad cough at night, and some nasty diapers (let's leave it at that), and Joshua must be coming down with something, too, because his eating has been particularly bad. New routine: come to the table, vomit until he empties all his stomach, eat a couple bites of meat/protein, empty stomach again (about 50% of the time - sometimes he keeps it down). Mallory, who helped me with the kids last summer and here and there throughout the school year, was here yesterday. Joshua had just thrown up everything he drank since he got home from school. Mallory said "Are you done? Take a bite of meat now!" She's definitely a keeper. Many would have gone running from that scene. Joshua is apparently doing better with his eating (though not all that great) at school, so I am going to meet him for lunch this Monday and feed him there. Hopefully they'll be able to give me some new ideas/pointers.

So, with all the sickies, I cancelled Joshua's appt. And I don't know whether to take him in now, or wait until he's eating better. The told the dr about his eating, and he thought that the antifungals plus the chelation would get Joshua on a better track. And I forgot to call in and ask for a different antifungal. Oh well, start my "to do" list.

Rachael is excited about Mother's Day. My first child who sort of gets Mother's Day! As soon as she got off the bus yesterday she yelled "Happy Mother's Day!" Then she opened her backpack and gave me the present she made at school. It was a potholder with her handprint on it. And it says "This is the hand you used to hold when I was only 4 years old." Awwwww.. (sniff, sniff). She also brought home two red suckers (the kind that you make at home with the molds) - one was a butterfly and one a flower. I was standing there trying to figure out whether they were edible or not (they sure were pretty - maybe they were for decor?) when the girls ripped them open and started eating them. I asked them to let mommy take a bite. "No No No!!" Come on now, these are my suckers, right?! So I called Rachael's teacher and verified they were edible. Rachael's teacher said she got the sucker molds and candy at WalMart. They were sooo cute! I think I'm going to look into them, and see if I can try it out with chocolate (a major food group around this house).

I'm off to eat breakfast and get on with the day. Daniel's been up since 5 a.m with his congestion. So maybe I'll get a head start on the day and go walking. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Looks like the girls are working through the whole gender issue. Rachael still calls me "Ms. Mommy." And she calls Deren "Ms. Daddy." Abby, meanwhile, calls Deren "Mommy" all the time. "Daddy" was her favorite word for months on end. Now both me and Deren are "Mommy." Deren has been scolding me for not correcting them more - I'm always too busy laughing and calling for him - "Abby's calling for her Mommy!"

For those of you who may be familiar with Dora the Explorer, Abby has taken to saying "Swiper No Swiping!.. Oh Man!" Even Jacob is saying "Oh Man!" And if you're wanting more week-in-the-life-of-Abby moments, Deren came out of our room chuckling this morning. He asked Abby what she was doing. She said "Nothing!" hah! that'll be the day! This evening Deren came to me again chuckling. He said that Abby took the tiny baby that goes in the dollhouse, put it on the changing pad in the bathroom, got some wipes from the counter, and 'changed' the baby's diaper!

Joshua is on yet another hunger strike. This time he's forsaken his main source of calories, chips, along with the protein. So all he wants to eat is candy and popsicles. Oooooooooookay. I took him to his autism doc on Monday. The dr has seen Joshua since Joshua was just under 2 yrs old. The dr observed Joshua, who was acting rather psychotic from being up since 2:30a.m. He kept saying "we really need to DO something." He prescribed Joshua nizoral for his on-going yeast/gut issues. Unfortunately, Joshua will not take the crushed nizoral for anything. The dr also recommended IV chelation. Joshua has a IV challenge appt this coming Tuesday. The plan is to give him a challenge dose of DMPS and EDTA, then collect his urine for 6 hrs. If a lot of metals show up in the urine, then it may signify that Joshua has a lot of 'trapped' metals in his body that are not being eliminated like they should. Ugh! I hate to make these decisions, knowing full well that Joshua won't have a darn clue what is going on, and that IV chelation holds more of a risk. On the other hand, he's starving himself, he's not sleeping, he's withdrawing more and more. It's not looking good for the Joshua.

The following week Abby goes in to see her neurologist, who will decide if she needs to stay on the phenobarbital.

The boys & Rachael have 2 1/2 weeks of school left. Where has time gone?! Mentally, I feel like I'm still at the beginning of the year. And here I am staring down a summer with the crew! And Mr. Daniel is still VERY attached (emotionally & physically) to the milkmaid. We've tried him on applesauce - he shudders and spits it all out. I tried sweet potatoes yesterday - a bit better than the applesauce, but still not thrilled at all. So, if given his way, he would stay "hooked up" most the day, which is going to be a bit tricky, what with the other 4 running around on their own devices. So kinda worried about that. On the other hand, I'm happy with how things are. With the other kids I so often thought, "I wish they were old enough to do this or that." With Daniel, I'm really enjoying this time and loving on him.

For those of you wanting a Joshua picture - here it is. You may think "How cute! He's loving on a teddy bear." Remember now, he's autistic! He's been obsessed with stuffed animals lately because he likes to pluck off their "fur", throw it in the air, and watch it fall. At any given time our house looks like it's been invaded by dust bunnies (that's what the balls of faux fur resemble). You'd never find dust bunnies laying around my house (insert hysterical laughter).

*News Flash* Daniel rolled over from his back to his tummy this morning, and he has 2 bottom teeth!!! Keeping with tradition, I was clueless about the teeth up until the moment I was bitten. He was really fussy on Thursday, and was crying at the top of his lungs. I called Deren at work and he came home from work early when he heard Daniel screaming in the background. I was even going to take him to an urgent care clinic, but decided against it at the last minute. That would have been priceless - well, not actually - I would have spent $75 to have someone tell me he's teething. And I have how many kids???!! So for anyone out there inclined to think "Wow, she must be on top of her game with 5 kids" - think again, people! I'm as clueless as it gets!!!

Are you familiar with the skunk mating season?? We are now. Turns out, the little buggers go around repeatedly spraying to attract a mate. To make it even more personal, we had one doing it's mating ritual, I guess, right outside our house from about 1:30 - 4 am on Thursday. The smell was so strong it woke us up from sleep. My stomach was turning. Deren searched the backyard with a flashlight twice, looked under the cars, and searched the attic (yes, the smell was that strong). He figured if he did any more trolling around the house for the skunk a neighbor would either shoot him (this is Texas, you know) or call the police. So we all still smell a little skunky around here.. The smell woke Joshua up, too. So just about 4am when the smell started to abate, Joshua was in full manic giggle-screech-till the-whole-house-is-up mode. He went to sleep about 1/2 hour before the alarm was due to go off. I was talking to my neighbor later in the morning (she's the one who informed me of skunk mating season). She asked me if I kept him home to let him sleep. My response "Are you kidding?!" I was in quite a "skunky" mood myself, and took more than a little bit of glee waking him up for school. Needless to say, he slept 12+ hrs the following night.

Rachael has been in a skunky mood, too. She comes home from school with all her crafts and worksheets. Abby wants to look at the stuff. One day Rachael literally came in the door and kicked Abby before she made it a couple steps. And needless to say, many an art project has landed in the trash because of it. I almost felt a little twinge of guilt when I threw her horsey in the trash today, but she really sent Abby flying when Abby got ahold of it (sigh). Yesterday it was almost like a scene from the twilight zone. She came in the door "Hi Abby. Want this?" (gave Abby her art project). She helped me pick up, gave Abby hugs, helped Abby with lunch and gave her other toys. She was calling me "Ms. Mommy", giving me hugs and saying "You're so sweet, Mommy!" You see, we got a copy of a kids' bedding magazine the afternoon before, and it had a horse quilt and pillows in it. Oh yeah, she was buttering me up! She's since lost the catalog and was back to throwing punches and kicks today..

Looking back, I have to admit it was cool being "buttered up." In the soon-to-be 7 yrs of being a mommy, I've never had a child say anything in the ballpark of "You're so sweet, Mommy!" And I'm feeling more twinges of guilt about the horsey in the trash right now, but seeing as I have raw chicken and hamburger on top of it, I'll just have to live with my guilt.

Abby is getting around much better. She still has a limp, but she is trying her best to run full speed ahead. A neighbor a couple houses down has a beautiful yard, and has wildflowers in the spring. I asked the wife's permission to take some pictures with the girls. Another neighbor met me there today and helped try to keep the girls from picking every flower in sight - it was looking iffy for awhile - I thought I was going to be in real trouble. And, of course, the girls wouldn't smile for the camera, so I took a bunch of candid shots. When Deren got home Rachael told him "Say cheese for the camera, daddy!"

Joshua has had a big splinter in his hand all week. Deren and I looked it over this evening. It doesn't look infected, so we agreed to put it off until tomorrow. Oh man, is it ever going to be a nightmare getting that thing out. He won't let us near it. It takes the two of us to just get a glance at it. That boy, for all his smallness from lack of eating, has superhuman strength when he's riled up.

Jacob's birthday is next Wednesday. He's going to be 7 yrs old!! Happy Birthday to Jacob, Happpy Birthday to you.. Have no clue what to get him. He has lots of dvd's. They're exciting until he watches them a couple times, and then he's back at the computer hacking his way onto motion picture sights and watching trailers for horror movies. We have one of those internest security/blocking programs. We apparently need a different one, or something, because he gets around it all the time. He's gotten to where he won't walk to the bathroom at night without someone with him.

And on the 28th Mr. Daniel (aka cutie pie, momma's baby sweet boy, flirtie bird) will be 6 mos. Time is flying!

Deren and I are doing Weight Watchers. Actually, I am, so Deren's eating what I'm cooking. The thing is - he still snacks on candy throughout the day, eats larger portions, doesn't exercise, and he's losing the weight easier. What a man thing to do!!!!

We've been sick with a cold bug for the past couple weeks. Gee, how many times have I said that phrase in the past couple months?! Anyway, the kids aren't up all night coughing anymore, so that's definitely an improvement. They just have junk coming from their noses the whole day long.

I'm trying to figure out if Abby has OCD about spilling things - I mean, REALLY spilling things. If she's not spilling and making messes she's asleep. I thought I was being overly crabby today. Then Deren got home. After about 10 mins he was saying "Did she take a nap?! What's gotten into her today?!" So it wasn't just me..

Daniel will be 6 mos old on the 28th. 6 mos old!!!!!! My little baby isn't such a little baby! He's not rolling over - just occassionally gets stuck on his side. He doesn't like to sit upright too much. Oh well, he is not in a family of overachievers in the gross motor department.

The boys are going on a field trip to the Wiggly Play (center?) on Wednesday. I'm hoping they'll be healthy. Jacob was going to go on a field trip to the Dallas Aquarium with the first grade class last Wed but he was way too sick.

Here are some pics. When I was out running errands yesterday Deren played in the backyard with the kids. Jacob and Rachael were making nests for the dinosaurs and their eggs (rocks Deren found), and were feeding the dinosaurs leaves. Deren said it was soooooooooo fun to watch Jacob playing.

Update from the ranch - well, not quite "the ranch" because we live in the burbs, and our lot is really small, but you get the idea..

Abby got her cast off last Friday. I wasn't thinking she would be off and running, but it's been disheartening to see how much trouble she's having. She rarely uses her leg, and if she does she holds on to something and limps. She mainly scoots, crawls, or cries and screams for help (she's been doing a lot of that lately). It hurts to see how much she's struggling. I called and spoke with our OT from ECI yesterday. She said what Abby is going through is totally normal, to give her another month or so to get up and moving.

Jacob's ARD is this coming Monday. He's been doing well at school, and they are not going to recommend summer school. He's going to be soooooooo confused when Joshua gets on the bus. Rachael will be able to 'get it' after a week or two, Jacob.. I don't know..

Daniel is now a five monther! I took him to our favorite chiropractor/naturopath this past Tuesday. He recommended probiotics for his gut/reflux, and did some adjustments to help his ears drain. We've decided against the tubes for now. We're going to see how the alternative treatments work for awhile. The chiropractor was noting all the gas and reflux problems Daniel has, and said that the by-product of Daniel's immune system doing overtime in his gut is mucous, which could be aggravating the ear problem. Something to think about, isn't it.

Daniel is getting curious, and he is getting fast. The other day he grabbed off Rachael's glasses before she knew what hit her. Speaking of Rachael.. she finally got in to see the eye doctor. She's wearing a patch 2 hrs/day, and got her lenses changed AGAIN (we've spent several hundred dollars in lenses now - going from pre-surgery eyes to post-surgery back to more crossing/may need surgery again eyes). She's in bifocals again. Hopefully the new lenses and patching will head off surgery, along with praying - I haven't been good about praying lately. I've generally been feeling like a total failure at being a wife and a mom. But isn't that just what happens when you start getting lax with the Word and praying?? I need to kick by bottom into gear..

We got all the receipts mailed off to the IRS, and we're waiting to hear back. We haven't even thought of doing this year's taxes. Deren was comparing tax products online last night. He was looking into the audit assistance components, seeing how Uncle Sam has been coming after us every year about our medical bills.

Is that enough whining for you? My mom's probably clicked out of the blog by now - she hates it when I whine! Can you just tell we've had about 2 wks of cloudy/rainy weather?! I'm getting so moody!

..just took these pics

Oprah Smoothie Recipe

A month or so ago I actually got to watch some grown up tv. Oprah was on and doing a show with Bob Greene on eating fit. She was making a smoothie that I've since become addicted to.

Strawberries
Banana
Chocolate Soy Milk

Blend above. I add a small amount of stevia and 1 Tbsp of flax oil (my favorite brand is Barleans). I've used plain soy milk a lot, too. But the chocolate is the best.