Monday, June 30, 2008

A (much drier) update

So, thankfully our house is fine. There is no insulation on the ceiling, so no major harm done. Just add "paint ceiling" onto our ever growing list of things to be done around the house. Oh, and according to Mike (you remember, my favorite Orkin guy? Check here) our carpenter ant friends will just love the now wet ceiling wood. Great. I love to make those things happy.

Anyway: here are some pictures of what we've been up to. I am too tired to tell you about it, but, hey, a picture says 1,000 words, and that's 1,000 more than I am up to writing. Enjoy.





(Our new Goddaughter Oceana)
(check it out, the baby dress matches Ash's dress. Cool, huh? (Marshall's $10.00)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Woulda. shoulda, coulda...

So, we own this:


It's an amazing device that stops a flood from your washing machine before it begins. A sensor on the floor stops the water. A great idea, really. My mother in law bought it for us (Thank you!) However.... we never installed it. We've owned it for like, ever, and never put it in. (I bet you can see where this is going.....)

Anyway....
Today Aisling wanted to take a nap with me, and who can refuse that! So, we went into her bed, and spent the better part of an hour talking about taking a nap, but not actually taking a nap. Wishful thinking, I guess. After a while I got up to put Siobhan into her cradle so she could sleep. (At least someone was resting). As I walked through the hallway I noticed it was SOAKED. Not damp, or wet, but SOAKED!!! I brought Siobhan into her cradle and came back to investigate. The washing machine, which I had loaded before the nap fake out, had never stopped filling. It was just continuing to fill with water over and over again. So, there was lots of standing water in the bathroom, and it was continuing to head down the hallway. It was also in Connor's room. We're talking serious amounts of water. Now, we don't actually own a mop. We have pergo floors everywhere, and they are not supposed to get wet (ha ha) so we clean with a wet swiffer. So, thinking fast I went to get every-towel-in-the-house. Yup, that barely touched the mess.

Since the bath towels were not enough, I decided to run outside to the deck box to get the beach towels. In the act of running downstairs, I heard the doorbell ring. I looked over to the mudroom to see our next door neighbor (Connor's seven year old friend) was standing in the mudroom. Now, that's not unusual, except that he was getting rained on... from the ceiling!!! Needless to say, I wasn't the most gracious host to our poor friend, and I yelled so loud he ran home calmly sent him on his way. I investigated and discovered that it was, indeed, pouring in the mudroom.




Now, sensing my level of stress, Aisling, of course, helps out by beginning to cry and yell. So, I calmly informed her that this was an emergency and I needed her help. Well, that brought out her inner girl scout! She put on my crocs "I need my water shoes mommy" and snapped into action. She was at my side for the rest of the afternoon. (She was, actually, a great helper!) On my next trip to get beach towels, she opted to come with me. My favorite line, ever, is "Mommy, why is it raining inside?". Seriously, I was laughing out loud!In the midst of placing all the towels on top of the water, I was also frantically calling Al like a madwoman and tearing into his co-worker and close friend calmly trying to get a hold of Al to figure out what our next steps should be. I did think to turn off the power in the mudroom due to the flood of water in the light fixture. I literally had to dump water out of it. In the pictures above you can see the water marks on the ceiling.

You may be shocked to see that I actually have pictures of this wonderful event. Well, really, why wouldn't we want to take pictures of such fun events?! No, seriously, would it scare your or surprise you to know that while this was happening I was thinking about what a great blog entry it would make? Or, what a fantastic scrapbook spread I could do about this? Seriously, that's how my mind works.... When there's a crisis, what do I do, snap pictures! I don't know if I should ever be a girl scout leader. We'll be learning how to make first aid kits: "Band aides? check. Gauze? check. Camera? check. Extra memory card? check." Yeah, best not sign me up for that. (Not like I'd have time for that anyway!)

Well, that was my eventful day. And, don't say it, I know what you're thinking; you TOTALLY wish you had my life, right?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Agenda:

Agenda for this afternoon:

1) Assist bleeding crying 4 year old
2) Assure screaming 1 month old you will be right there
3) Assist crying 11 year old who is refusing to climb up the stairs
4) Get stung by bee
5) Realize crying baby has cried herself to sleep
6) Find a moment to put ice on sting
7) Hear baby crying again
8) Quickly retrieve 'mother of the year' application from mail. Do not send.
9) Vent to anonymous readers on blog

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

It's a tough job...

Well, Aisling is turning out to be a great big sister! We'll excuse all the hugging attempts that border on smothering, and the "force the binky into the sleeping baby" game; 'cause, gosh, this is so cute:



By the way, she's been begging to do that since I was pregnant....

(Trouble loading video, check back later)



Thursday, June 5, 2008

Version 3.5

Okay, I'll admit it, I was cocky. I assumed, since we already had three kids, so to speak, adding one more would be a piece of cake. *snort* However, I neglected to remember, that when Wyatt moved in he was 8. He was not a nursing baby!!! He was able to be left alone.

This is very different. I forgot how much time it takes to nurse a baby. I will say that when Wyatt moved in we went to 2.5 kids, and now we're at 3.5. (Not that Wyatt's only half a child, but you know what I mean!)

I've heard the quote that going from two kids to three kids is like going from one on one defense to zone defense. That's an analogy to which I can relate! I'm never alone! I've managed to do so many things now while nursing. Need a good night story? no worries, I can nurse and read. Butt wiped? Sure, I'm only nursing. Wyatt needs to be fed? Sure, I can nurse and do that. Change a light bulb? Why not! I'm sure, at this point, I could fix NASA's clogged toilet while nursing. It's like a super power, really.

Here are some new pics: