Do You Have a Bug Bite Scratcher?

Four short years ago on a mild Midwest, July evening I was still a single lady trying on wedding dresses and posing for fake wedding pictures. I even included flowers to make the picture more realistic. Don't you think I'm completely crazy for adding the jewelry and tiara? I really just wanted to see what I'd look like on my wedding day!

Busted! Did you actually believe that I was that kind of lady? Well, now you know. I guess I just wasn't a typical little girl who had my wedding colors coordinated by 1st grade or, at the very least, I'm not the grown woman who tries on her dream dress and poses for fake wedding pictures!

Nope! But here's what I did do at 6pm four years ago. I happily, excitedly, joyously took Matt's hands and became his wife, and he my husband.

The past four years of our lives have been a bit different than most couples' first years of marriage. I guess this is another area where I'm not typical-- but at least now I've got someone to join me on this not-so-typical path in life.

While many couples travel, get involved with their work, meet friends for a weekly happy hour and spend many quality couple hours together, we chose to do it a bit different.

We have traveled once to Colorado for a few days 3 years ago.

We both work, but we also have other priorities (4 to be exact) that come before work!

Ummm.... a weekly happy hour....

ours is spent making memories as a family whether we're baking, playing a game, reading books--that's our happy hour!

And while we know the importance of quality couple time, we rarely have a chance to speak of anything that doesn't involve raising kids, taking care of money, or what the next day's schedule involves. We just have to schedule in that re-connecting time and make it a point to talk about hopes and dreams and each other, and not that other stuff!

Back when we had more couple time, we took this picture right after we discussed wanting Peach to have a brother or sister close in age.

Little did we know we would do this in the next 3 years

Whatever this path is, I'm so blessed to be walking it with him. As many cheesy people say, he really does...

balance me out

make me grounded

calm my fears

love me just the way I am (and I know he tries everyday to show he cares).

Seriously, he is scratching a mesquito bite on my ankle in this picture. I asked him if he would, he did it, and we have had this picture framed and displayed ever since!

But it captures us-- goofy. candid. devoted. obliging.

I honestly love my life. I'm happier (though sometimes more frustrated) than I've ever been. I never, in a million years, thought I'd get married, have four children, and remain in my hometown. I had big dreams of moving to the mountains, drowning in my work as a teacher, and being too involved with my children at school to ever consider having my own. I don't know why I bothered with those plans. I'm so glad that the master plan took over where mine failed to play out.

Babe, I'm so glad we've been where we've been, lived our lives together, and loved each other and our children. We are busy with our little people trying to make them happy and loving people, but I'm never too busy to be your partner. After all, when they are grown and giving us adorable grandbabies, it will just be you and me in this house (or our traveling RV we park at each of our daughters' houses 3 months out of the year) and I know we'll be sitting on our porch (or under our RV canopy) wondering how in the heck we made it through those early years. But I know we'll have survived on love! Thank you for being you and loving me, all while giving me a heart of my own.

Happy Anniversary!

My Firstborn

Oh, this girl-- this sweet, sweet, girl of mine!

If somebody needed a poster-child for a firstborn this would be that girl!

She's a pleaser...

a lover

a bit of a blooming perfectionist,

she's many things that I consider to be true, inner beauty.

Her heart's as big as the sky- always willing to help out a sister

I'm never surprised to hear her tell a sister, "No, don't hit! We're Copelands and Copelands don't hit!" No I'm not surprised that she copies every word I say-- but I am flattered.

The poor girl can't tell a lie-- oh, she has an imagination and can play pretend with the rest of them, but she cannot purposely deceive me. She's on the straight and narrow (please, stay there)!

She's more grown up than any almost 4 year old should be--kind of comes with the territory of being the oldest of such a young brood!

It makes her one independent, self-taught, lover of learning little girl,

but it also makes her 3 going on 23.

Sometimes during the day, I just snuggle her and remind my sweet thing that she IS a little girl and that it's okay to just be little.

She's a natural born helper of the underdog.

She also loves to help me with...

cleaning

cooking

loving on a baby

distracting her sisters

even grabbing me the baby's binky when my hands are tied.

She has mostly given up naps, but I know she still needs about 1 hr of extra sleep on most days- and most days she takes that hour of sleep.

And I think her favorite activity is talking. Oh my, how the girl loves to talk. The topics are endless and sometimes I know that she talks just to fill the silence. Often when the other kiddos are sleeping and all household noises have ceased, Peach will turn to me and say, "Mama, it's too quiet in here." To which I say, "Oh honey, treasure it while you can."

So many lessons this girl has taught me. She was the first one to introduce me to so many mommy things; things she taught me can't be learned from reading a parenting book, magazine or website. I mean, how do you learn the going-to-the-ends-of-the-earth kind of love it takes to care for a child from someone else's words. You just don't. But I instantly had that love for her the moment I knew of her.

Here's to you, my fun-loving, water-playing, independent, fast-learning, sister-loving, honest, kind, helper girl-- my firstborn!

Another Month Older!

My sweet *Memphis Queen, you are so big and strong at two months old.

During the month of June, you...

-moved into size one diapers-- although some people are trying not to waste those newborn diapers that you can still (not quite) fit in. You've also worn g diapers and did quite well in them.

-quit liking tummy time. You are totally content to hang out on your belly, but you really don't care to try and lift your head. You think it's relaxed tummy time.

-still have days where you sleep all day except to eat. And then when it's about 7pm you are WIDE awake and ready to play.

-love to "talk" to us. You "say" so much for such a tiny little girl and you love to make eye-contact and comment on your day's events.

-have an adorable smile that makes my day. You love to smile and it doesn't take much for us to get you to smile!

-mimic very well. We all like to stick out our tongue at you and you will always do it right back.

-still sleep pretty well. Recently, you've shown signs of wanting/needing to go to bed around 7:30 (on the days you don't spend totally asleep). I wake you for a feeding when I go to bed around 10-11. You wake us for a feeding around 3ish and then again around our wake up time.

- have decided you don't like bottles. Since I choose to pump in the middle of the night you have always eaten from the bottle between midnight and 6 or 7am. But now you've decided that you'd just rather breastfeed-- I hope I can learn to not be too groggy for such a feat. I hope you are patient with me on trying to learn this:)

- weigh about 10-10.5 lbs. At 6 weeks you weighed in at 8# 10 oz and you were 21 1/2 inches long. You grew 2 inches and gained 2 # between your 2 and 6 wk check up!

-are a cuddly lady who has awesome hair, a great smile, and a new passion for bath time.

-are still loved on A LOT by your 3 big sisters.

* The nickname Memphis Queen comes from the fact that I have called her Elvis baby because of her totally rockin' hair. If she were a boy, I might just call her Elvis-- but she's a girl so she is my Memphis Queen. This is not her official blog nickname--I'm still just testing it. We also call her Layney-Loo-Who because her middle name is Layne. We'll just wait and see what ends up sticking.

Where have we been this month?

We have been staying rather busy with many summer activities like...making a mud river in our backyard with our cousin, then playing in said mud and loving every minute of it,

painting with chocolate pudding on big white butcher paper,

some of us chose to eat the pudding when we thought mama wasn't looking.

Somebody decided to stay clean...

...and get all dressed up for a party.

We also spent time with Auntie while she was in town for a visit.
We played in water, well some of us just decided to dabble in it by dipping our hair in a bowl of water!

Then she thought it may be safe to venture near the tub containg her fav bath toys!

Peach felt very safe near the water with her first swimming class. And while she looks rather innocent...

...she's also the one behind the hose and squirting everyone when we play in the water.

We've also had some good family times.

We went on a Father's Day hike out at the Governor's Mansion. The little gal and I were there but we were behind the camera!
And speaking of the little gal, without asking my permission, she up and decided to turn two months old.

And to think that I always said our busy time stats in July--I guess I'll just have to change the month.

Adrenaline Rush, Smadrenaline Rush

I used to love riding on the back of a motorcycle.

Before I had children, I rode on the back of a friend's bike many a weekends and evenings. We'd find winding roads, country roads, highways, streets, and old beaten paths to travel. This was a bit of an adrenaline rush (no, not for an adrenaline junkie, but I'm not one of those) for me. Not being closed in and confined by the walls of a car was all I needed to feel free and alive. I don't think many of the people I know now would ever imagine me on the back of that bike, but I soooo loved the rush of energy running through my veins.

Before the kiddos came, I also picked up running as a hobby. Naturally, adrenaline is released during a run and I felt great at the end of my workout-- not to mention that I couldn't wait to do it again, (Yep, I need to pick that hobby back up-- I know people who know me now would never believe that)! Again, though, I loved the rush.

FAST FORWARD 5 YEARS...

and the adrenaline has ceased production in my body!

And in case you're wondering, "Gee, how could that ever happen? I didn't think that was possible!" Here's the facts.

I have 4 kids all under 4.

I have been pregnant 36 months+ of the past 52 months, and breastfeeding most of the remainder of those months. I spend much of my time with diapers and dishes, giving baths and hugs and pigtails, cleaning up toys and dirty faces, vacuuming and dusting, and lots of grocery shopping.

My days, though exciting to me because I love spending them with my kids, can be considered boring, dull, and mundane to people not in my shoes. I mean, let's face it, I'm not driving cattle on a ranch, or parachuting into war, or trying to make a deadline before I get canned or demoted. Nope, there's not much adrenaline being pumped through my motorcycle-riding, wannabe-runner veins.

That's why, when my hubby and I were watching a show the other night that left us wondering how we get our adrenaline rushes, I was left speechless and clueless.

Adrenaline rush, smadrenaline rush! I thought. My life is pretty ordinary!

When the next morning came, I was awakened by a sweet, tiny baby needing to be fed. I had overslept on accident and was in dire need to get myself cleaned up before my husband left, BUT that little gal needed food. So I fed her, giving myself about 5 minutes to get downstairs looking somewhat presentable so I could be seen in public later on that morning.

I arrive downstairs with 20 minutes to get 2 of the 4 fed, clothed and out the door with sunscreen on so they can go to soccer camp! I start finding sneakers for Brownie and Peach when I hear the Feed Me Now cry that only a young infant can produce. I skip the scrambling for shoes and hope that she's done in time for me to start again. Luckily, my oldest is quite resourceful and finds both pairs of shoes while my hands are tied--now if only I could be so resourceful and learn to help them tie their shoes while breastfeeding!

Baby's done eating and the older girls are out the door--ahhh now I can rest with having just the baby and..., ummm...,
the other baby-- she is still a baby at 19 mos, right?!

I go to the kitchen to clean up breakfast (which is a huge ordeal when you have 3 young cereal eaters, I.E. cheerios everywhere), load the dishes, and wash any bottles or pacifiers used in the night, when low and behold both my land line and cell start ringing.

Hey, Carrie, can I call you back- my other phone's (which doesn't have caller id) ringing.

No, I don't care for any life-insurance, thanks (as in, thanks for wasting my time)!

Ooops, Bug just spilled her milk.

Note to self: Call Carrie back later today.

I abandon what's left of my kitchen duties in order to prepare for our next outing in 30 minutes--SWIMMING LESSONS!

After grabbing the diaper bag and checking everything twice, you-know-who needs fed again!

While the baby is eating, Bug decides it'd be fun to leave her path of destruction for the hour(yes, this girl is called tiny tornado because she leaves a little path of destruction just about everywhere she goes) by throwing every shoe in sight throughout the main level of our house. While this may look like just another mess to be picked up later to the untrained eye, I know better because I know I'm going to have to hunt for the one pair of sandals that fit Bug.

Baby's done. The hunt begins after I put M in a safe spot out of Bug's reach. I enlist Bug's help and she complies after only 2 tries. We find her shoes and put away the others, but not with a moment to spare-- now the older two are back home and it's a rush to see how fast I can get Peach changed out of her soccer clothes and into her swimsuit.

With only three minutes to spare, we take 2 potty breaks, change one diaper, find a beach towel and flip flops, load four children into four car seats and make our quick trip to swim lessons.

In the two minutes it takes to drive there, I feel like I can finally breath for the first time that day. Then, something huge fell out of the sky and hit me like a ton of bricks--okay I'm speaking metaphorically here, folks!

This is my adrenaline rush.

I don't need a pair of boots and a horse, or a parachute and plane, or a computer and boss to feel a rush each day. I've got kids to drive, keep from jumping out of a plane (or car, or off the stairs), and... well, let's face it, they are my boss! They are my adrenaline rush!

My daily life may seem anything but extraordinary and full of high-voltage energy to the average person, but from where I sit stand it's a crazy, mad adrenaline rush!

BUT...

Then there's nap time!!

Riddles

While somewhere in the midst of my elementary school career, I came across a clever little friend who introduced me to this riddle.

“Pete and Repeat went out on a boat. Pete fell off. Who was left??!!
Repeat! “
“Pete and Repeat went out on a boat. Pete fell off. Who was left??!!
Repeat!”
“Pete and Repeat went out on a boat…”

You get the picture.

This riddle could be never-ending, but hopefully the person on the “Repeat” end of the joke would eventually catch on and the two friends would share a chummy laugh and cease their riddling ways.

But I want to know what would happen if the friend telling the joke somehow tricked the other person into continuing the back and forth this joke offers. What if the “Repeat” person never caught on? Or, what if they caught on but the riddler wouldn’t let them out of the joke?
Yes, there is a good reason I’m asking you this question?

This riddle explains so much of my day—heck, it is my day. This riddle is where I live. I feel like I’m stuck inside this ridiculous conundrum- trapped somewhere between Pete falling off and the next “repeat.”

And who’s the clever little riddler, you ask?

None other than my own flesh and blood. Those four little people who can match half their DNA to mine. Those four little girls who look so darling and innocent while they secretly hatch out a plan—well, actually I don’t think they have any intent here. But they also have no clue what they are doing to my brain all day as they keep me inside their riddle asking me the same questions over and over and over.

I know this is all par for the course when you are raising four little girls aged newborn to 3 ½ years. I know that this is just a phase. I know that one day when they are fighting about clothes and privacy I will miss the constant repetition of their favorite questions.

Questions like, “Mom, where are we going tomorrow?” “Who’s coming over to see us?” “What are we doing in the morning?” These questions are all part of Peach’s nighttime routine—fitting in right between her hug and kiss goodnight!

Then there’s Brownie who comes up to me while I’m cooking her mac ‘n cheese and says, “Mom, I want pasta!” And I tell her, “I know honey, I’m cooking your pasta right now.” But I know that in about one to two minutes she’ll trot right back over to me as I stand there stirring her pasta and demand again, “Mom, I waaaaant pastaaa!” Uh-huh, I know little Miss Repeat.

Right now, it’s all I can do to not shout from the hilltops, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” when they start in with their 20 million questions that repeat themselves. That would be rude and I know I’d end up causing them some kind of complex that would land them in the therapist’s office 20 years down the road.

Instead, I try to look at their little quirks as just that—little quirks!

They’re all unique—just as each and every one of us is. And we all have our quirks. My kids just happen to like repeating themselves over and over again. For now, I’ll just learn to deal.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering—no, I never intend on teaching them that silly riddle about Pete and Repeat! And if you personally know us, you better not teach them either!!

It's Summer Time Again!

I know some girlies who love ice cream-

and really, who can blame them?

This creamy, melt in your mouth treat can evoke such emotions!

Bug takes it seriously!

Peach is lovin' every minute of her treat!

And my Brownie questions it!

I know some girlies who have loved ice cream for some time now! The three of them participated in our library's summer reading program last year--I swear they didn't do it for the rewards!

And here's Peach two years ago-- lovin' on her ice cream.

Yep, it's definitely time for fun in the sun during the day and ice cream in the evening!

The New Gal in Town

There's a sweet little gal I know who turns one month old today at 9:06pm. So really, she's not quite one month old, but we'll just go with it. I'm just trying to keep her a young little baby forever, but I know that's not how it works or should work! I know, I know, she must grow.

M just minutes old

At one month old you are...

-sleeping very well-- you go to sleep around 9ish. We wake you for a 10:30 feeding. You lets us sleep until somewhere between 3 and 3:30 am. Then you usually want to eat somewhere between 6 and 7 am. You've been like this most of your short life.

M 1 wk old

-eating ever 1 to 2 hours during the day and about every 3-4 hours at night! Days are crazy but at least you are letting us sleep!

-loved on A LOT by some older sisters. They are always kissing you and you tolerate it very well!

-holding up you head for about a minute when we put you down for belly time. Then you try to creep along the floor, all while trying to hold your head up.

M 2 wks old

- probably weighing in around 8lbs, but I'm not sure. I just know you are filling out your clothes more!

- also filling out your swing much more than you used to. When we first put you in there, you kind of curled into a ball because you were so tiny. Now you are hanging out in there like a big girl!

M 3 wks old

- liking the snuggles, cuddles and just being held! Daddy often falls asleep with you on his chest or in his arms.

- still smacking your lips around those fingers and hands. You are often satisfied with a binky- which is very unlike any of your sisters.

- giving us a few previews of what your smiles will be like. There have been two instances (one with me and one with dad) where we were "tickling" your belly and we both swear you were trying to smile/giggle but couldn't quite get it!

M, you are one sweet blessing to our ever-expanding family and we all love you so, so much. Like I always say, no month of my pregnancy went this fast and it's just crazy how fast this first month of your life flew by. I will always cherish you for just being you! I can't wait to see you change and grow this next month (you know, since you HAVE to grow and change--pout, pout).

M 4 wks old

Three Weeks and a Thanks

Well, my little missy M will be three weeks old tomorrow!

What's that? How is it possible that she's already that old?

I don't know how to explain that one. On top of the usual fast-pace existence that overwhelms us when we welcome a new baby to our family, the past few weeks have been anything but calm and relaxing-- so maybe I do see how the time has flown. BUT IT'S STILL NOT FAIR!!!

When we brought M home, we enjoyed three days of hectic craziness. We had wonderful help from my mom with meals and child care-- truly a blessing!

After being home for three days, we revisited the hospital because of my "condition-" which we still don't know what exactly that was for sure. I just hope it's gone. And thankfully, Matt was still on paternity leave during my stay at the hospital.

We came home to some sweeties who were missing mommy A LOT by this point-- after hearing some of their thoughts and questions, I'm sure they thought I was moving into the hospital.

Oh, did I mention we came home to Brownie trying to potty-train herself. After all of our hard work tyring to get her trained before the baby came, here she is deciding to take on that task now. She is doing rather well!

At about that same time, our dishwasher decides to kick it. It was so messed up at one point we had to shut off our water. We just got our new washer installed last night! YEAY, no more doing dishes the way I did in college!

Thank God for all of the lovely ladies in my MOPS group who were so kind as to bring us meals every other day during all of this confusion. I'm so thankful that I didn't even have to think about dinner, let alone make it.

We also had Grammy stay with us for a couple of days last week after some minor surgery. While I know the girls were totally excited with Grammy "having a sleepover" at our house, I know she was probably short-changed on some rest she was supposed to be getting while she was here trying to recover. I just hope she caught up on that rest after she went home this last weekend.

Needless to say, we've had our share of craziness, but as you all know (and can see in the picture directly below), we are coping just fine--certainly because we have wonderful support from family and friends!

Thank you everyone who has offered us any kind of support during the past month. We definitely couldn't have survived as well as we did without you and your kindness!

Here's a pretty recent picture of all four darlings hanging out in baby M's crib.

A clean baby who needs to eat. But instead of feeding her, I'm making her pose for pictures and...

she expresses her feelings quite well as you can see by her hand gesture!

And believe it or not the picture above and below these words is of two different babies. If I didn't know better, I would not be able to tell you who is in what picture!

Brownie is in the last picture and M is in the one above it. How's that for confusing cuteness?!

A Week At Home

I have been wanting to post about our first week and now I may just get my chance. Two are napping and two are playing in the yard with Dada. Sleep sounds tempting, but it would only last about 30 minutes before I'd have to wake up to pump again-- so blogging wins.

We have been home a week now, more or less. We had a minor interruption to our routine Monday afternoon when we took M to her doctor's appointment. While we were there I described some symptoms I'd been experiencing over the weekend (shortness of breath and chest constriction while lying down, a slow heart rate, headaches, a choking sensation when I reclined, and pain under my ribs)and the doctor decided to check my blood pressure. Sure enough it was elevated, and just enough so to send me to the hospital to get a chest x-ray and blood work. The original plan was to wait at the hospital until doc called us with any results and then we'd either head home or head upstairs to be admitted. Honestly, I thought I'd be home by late evening, but that would turn out not to be the case.

I won't even begin to describe the awful mess that is the ER, but I'll just say that we spent 9 hours there waiting and having a few tests done. I had a chest x-ray, ad EKG, a series of blood work, and a V Q lung test (ventilation and quantification), and the remainder of those hours were spent waiting in a tiny room with a curtain, one t.v., a sweet newborn and her very tired and cranky parents.

Those tests revealed nothing to be in my lungs, fluid or an embolism-- Thank God!

While we were doing all of our waiting, my stats were constantly monitored and my heart rate ranged from the upper 30's to the mid 40's. My blood pressure hovered around 150/80, which I've learned is not as high as I thought it was. Having a normal bp of 107/70 is the reason I thought the former numbers sounded so high. Once they ruled out my lungs as the source for my problems, they moved on to a number of other body parts. Heart, gallbladder, and brain. They were thinking of cardiomyopathy, due to my one week post-delivery status. So they admitted me to the hospital at about 3 am so that I could undergo an echo in the morning.

I had the echo, and everything looked fine. I had a bit of elevated pressure going into my right atrium and right valve, a bit of fluid around my heart, and it was slightly enlarged--but no cardiomyopathy. They attributed the other things to being one week post-partum.

They scanned my gallbladder, kidneys, and liver-- all normal.

Last but not least, and MRI for my brain-- which also came back normal.

A complete relief-- heck yes!

A complete frustration that they can't exactly figure out what's wrong with me-- heck yes!

Since there was nothing serious that they could find, I was finally released into the wild to go home around 10 Tuesday night.

I'll be checking in with my gp on Tuesday and the cardiologist in a month to make sure the fluid, pressure and enlarged heart have all gone down or away. Hopefully, my symptoms will disappear before then and I'll just feel silly going in to see the cardiologist feeling fantastic.

The ironic thing about all of this:

I planned an elective induction last week for a number of reasons, just to be shown that I'm not really in control. My one child who was delivered at 40 weeks was 9 pounds-- I wanted a slightly smaller baby to make an easier delivery. HA. She was born at 39 weeks and 2 days weighing an even 7 pounds, but her delivery was very different and more difficult than the others. Never had the C-word been said in my delivery room until this time. Never did I stall at dilation once my water broke until this time.

And let's not talk about experiencing an easier recovery-- okay, let's do.

This has been the most difficult recovery due to everything I listed above. Usually, once I've been home a couple of days, I'm all but back into my normal routine. I tried getting back into the swing of things immediately this time and it came back to bite me-- well, it took a little bite, but still, I've never had a bite taken at me before!

But let me tell you about what has been super, awesome, beautiful, precious, and perfect!

And here is a recap of all the other wonderful moments from the week!

The hospital now hands out little birthday cakes when you take your new baby home. Yes, it's a great start to my new plan of eating healthy!Coming home to a quiet house with all three older sisters asleep! Having three older girls who take care of each other and love on each other so sweetly. Here is big sis Peach reading to sissies. And most importantly, adding a beautiful little miracle who sleeps and eats like a champ!