Just Keep Swimming, Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

This post has nothing to do with swimming...but some days I find myself saying this in my head!  Just keep going....eventually bed time will come!  I just looked at the clock and am trying to figure out where my morning went.  I feel like I have gotten nothing accomplished.  I have less than an hour to finish this blog...shower... and fee Griffin.  Ok, so enough blabbing already, right?

Lanie is still being Lanie.  That little stinker is so darn smart, but she REFUSES to speak.  She knows her body parts and takes directions very well.  I know she has her nuk in a lot, but we are usually pretty good about telling her to spit it out.  She has just been so crabby for the past 2 months so we shove, oh I mean gently place, it in her mouth more than we should.  Some of her molars have come all the way in and some not quite.  She is a HORRIBLE sleeper.  She doesn't sleep through the night and she is up more than she sleeps.  We should really just let her cry herself back to sleep, but she is in a room with two kids that have to go to school the next day and cannot stay home and nap.  I am sure we are doing this parenting thing all wrong, but at least we are trying, right?  

Lanie did her own hair here.  I was working and she found the hair band and flower bucket and decided to have me add more and more.  She has a good 5 bands on her head and such a colorful array of flowers as well! She was so proud of herself!

Kenadie and Gavin were in their Preschool Nativity play last Friday.  (Can you tell on how on top of things I am?)  Kenadie was the angel Gabrielle.  She wanted to be an angel because she had a speaking part!  She got to tell Mary that she was going to have  a baby.  I could barely hear her sweet little voice, but she did a great job!

 Gavin was a King..aka wiseman...cause he is so wise :)  He took his part very seriously and did a very good job as well!  I had asked Gavin to wear something "nice" that day.  Perhaps I should have at least looked at what he picked out to see it wasn't what mommy would consider "nice."  Oh well, it is what it is!

 He got to lay his gift down next to baby Jesus while the angels sang around him!  So cute!

 The kids sang some cute Christmas songs and did some poems.  I had Molly video tape the play for me.  I am glad she did...I think I was too busy taking pictures and keeping Lanie and Griffin quiet that I can hardly remember it now!

 Lanie, Lanie, Lanie.  Lanie's hair is always a mess.  It is just out of control.  So when most of her pictures are on here with crazy hair, you know why!  She doesn't go to school and since Dan usually gets her dressed in the morning and doesn't do hair...she doesn't always have it done!  Chubs does love to take care of her babies, though.  She has two baby dolls and two Elmo dolls that she/I take care of.  When I am nursing Griffin, she makes sure to bring all her dolls and Elmos to me so I can feed them too.  Nothing like having 4 extra dolls to take care of while nursing a new born.  And she is very serious about them too.  We even have to burp them and put them in the swing to go to sleep.  It is very hard work :)

 She also runs away from you know when you ask her to come to you.  Here are two pictures of her "hiding" from Daddy while he was trying to get a picture.

 Then there is my sweet G-dog Jr.  No more Newborn in this house :(  He is getting so big already.  His fussy time is at night between 7 and 10.  He eats pretty much non-stop for 3 hours.  No joke....finally I cut him off at 9:30 or so and hand him to Daddy!  Daddy swaddles him and gets him to fall asleep.  He is actually only getting up 1 time around 3:30ish to eat.  That is pretty darn good I must say!  Although sometimes he doesn't realize that he needs to go back to sleep and then I rock him until he does.  

 He is an amazing eater and even a more amazing burper.  This kid can burp!  I am hoping to capture this on tape some time.  And when I mean burp....I mean even louder than Daddy!  He is totally gifted !

 I think we took these pictures on the day he turned 1 month.  Or maybe it was a day after.  But anyways, Griffin is already 1 month old!  He is such a blessing to our family.  I LOVE that God decided we weren't done having kids!

I will be honest with you all.  When we only had 6 kids, I didn't think it was really that much work.  I mean, it was a lot of work, but it never seemed like I didn't have time to think or function.  I am happy to say that 7 has officially become a lot of work!  Between school and laundry and cooking and cleaning and nursing and driving and loading them all in the car and homework and working and grocery shopping....it is a lot of work!  When people ask "how do you do it all"  I don't really have an answer to that.  Somehow we make it work.  God provides what we need when we need it.  If we need to get some sleep He lets Griffin sleep a little bit longer!  If we need milk, he gives me the energy to run and get it.  Somehow we get it all done.  One day Dan and I are going to miss this phase in our lives.  I try to remember that as I try to keep it all together!  Ok...12 minutes to shower and load kids to pick up Kens from Preschool.  MUST ....Stop....blogging.....