Just catching up...

I sure haven't been around here much lately. These first weeks with Christian have been so precious (six weeks already?!) - he is a good baby, even if he does like to stay up until one in the morning! We're getting back into the swing of things, slowly but surely.
School has been very hit or miss lately, but Levi's reading so well that he hasn't been too bored. It is definitely time to start cutting out the tv. It's been my faithful babysitter, but even the *good* shows are not terribly worthwhile. And the commercials...oh my word. We usually stick with commercial free children's programming - PBS or Noggin, but Levi also loves the old cartoons (Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry) on Cartoon Network. It seems like every commercial is for a toy I'm not going to buy them (Bratz dolls, anyone?) or for a show I don't want them to watch. And with Halloween coming up, there are a lot of terrifying things popping up even on "children's channels." It's just time to turn it off. I'm considering letting them each pick one show a day to watch.

A lot of other stuff has been happening lately. My granny had a mild heart attack and wound up having surgery last week. She and I have always been very close and it's really difficult for me not to be able to stay with her at the hospital more often. One of the hardest parts of having lots of littles, for me anyway, is not being able to drop everything and help with things like this. Especially considering that serving others is a very important part of why I wanted to stay at home in the first place.

Thankfully, my parents were able to come for a visit and be here for the surgery. It was so wonderful to have them here! My mom is such a great grandma:) Having an extra pair of hands around for a week has spoiled me though. That and having someone to talk to when I'm up at one in the morning with one (or two or three) babies.

My friend Debbie had last week off and finally got to see the baby. Since Casey sleeps in the daytime, we don't usually get to have people over. But Debbie did the sweetest thing! She packed an entire lunch and we took all the kids out into the yard for a picnic. There was nothing for me to do but sit back and enjoy visiting. And, just to cement her status as a really great friend, she kept Levi and Brenna for 10 hours on Tuesday so I could be at the hospital while Granny had her surgery. Now that's a good friend.

I have lots of projects coming up that I hope I'll remember to blog about (not because they're terribly interesting, just because this is such a handy way for me to think through things and because y'all have such awesome ideas!). There's Halloween/Trunk or Treat. Brenna wants to be a rock star and I want Jack to be something where he wears a hula skirt (he loves to wear Brenna's hula skirt). Levi is undecided. I'm also working on bedspreads for the kids' beds and sewing a new baby pouch and nursing cover. I'm trying to get my wardrobe in order. As I lose weight I know I'll have to change it around, but I'd like to have clothes that fit right now in a nicely organized closet. Christian's dedication needs to be soon before he outgrows the family gown. I'm waiting to find out when my parents can come back. It's time to start planning for the holidays and time to get back on budget. Something about having a baby always makes me want to reorganize and get a fresh start:)