Quick Takes.

Linking up with the cool kids today!

1. This week has been one giant ball of blah. Minus Wednesday, because HELLO.

I'm not really sure why I'm so blah this week. Maybe a combination of the stupid time change and the overwhelming feeling that winter is just never going to end. EVER. 

2. Remy has declared war on naps this week. Again, another casualty of the stupid time change. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, he is a monster. A sleep deprived, overdone monster who terrorizes people twice his size. 

3. Sometime between the hours of 8 and 10 AM today, my dear pest control company is coming out to seal up my house to protect it from the enormous community of bats that live in my neighborhood. On one hand I'm thrilled that my house will be less likely to experience unwanted guests this summer, but on the other hand I'm outright peeved that I have to pay someone an ungodly amount of money to ensure my husband doesn't have to chase winged mammals around at 3AM.

4. This popped up on my reader this morning and I wish I could print out a copy and give it to approximately everyone I know who isn't Catholic. The amount of anti-Catholic rhetoric and absolutely ridiculous misconceptions about the Church that I heard this spouted off this week was enough that I feel like a trip to the confessional to unload my disdain is imminent.

5. I just sound like sunshine and roses this morning, eh?

6. Something happy..something happy..oh! Owen and Olivia both had artwork selected to be displayed at the local middle school's art show. Super proud mom status.

7. Only about three more weeks until I can officially say goodbye to the first trimester and the first trimester hormones that have obviously turned me into a rage monster! Sorry, I guess? 

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7 Quick Takes.

Linking with the perpetually pregnant Jen this week!

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1. So I was supposed to go see my doctor and have my first ultrasound last week. But my dear, dear husband had to cancel on coming home to watch the little kids at the last minute. And I had to reschedule. I tried, really tried to not be unreasonable, (hello hormones!) but having to delay that appointment another week seemed like complete torture. 

2. But, not so surprisingly, the weeks sort of fly when you're taking care of four little people.

3. Baby #5 is growing right on target and is looking quite bobblehead-ish and adorable with a heartrate of 169bpm. I was 100% correct about my dates and am officially due October 5th. Which means two summers in a row of being pregnant in a house without central A/C. I apologize in advance for any posts made in July.

4. Owen and Olivia are really into trying to name the yet to be known child. On their list of possible names for their newest sibling/subject of torture: 

Boy: Bob, Steve, Doug

Girl: Olivia the second

They must think I'm going to give birth to a middle aged man. Obviously, their lists need some work. 

5. In sad news, I have yet to be badgered by any girl scouts to buy cookies this year. Not a single one. I'm so disappointed. And so hungry for thin mints.

6. Owen put the agony of last year's defeat behind him and competed in his karate school's annual tournament last weekend. Dude won first place in his division!

7. 10 weeks-ish bumpage for good measure.

It's the freakin' weekend!

Quick Takes.

Linking up with Jen as always!

1. Were ya shocked by my announcement? Who am I kidding? We all saw that plot twist from three miles away. Though I can't help but giggle at myself from 3 months ago, the girl who swore that, if we were to have any more children, they certainly wouldn't be as close in age as Remy and Rosie. God has a sense of humor, obviously, because Rosie and this new little bundle of sweetness will be about 14 months apart. 

2. That means that if Remy doesn't jump on the potty training bandwagon (please, God, PLEASE.) we're looking at three kids in diapers by this fall. 

3. How am I feeling? I've been going to bed before 10 every night for the past week and have already found myself avoiding foods that would otherwise make me sing with glee. So...I feel pregnant.

4. Also, did you know that with the fifth child, you basically start showing from the moment of conception? At the rate I'm going, I'll look ready to pop in approximately 3 months. I'm sure that has nothing to do with all the Cadbury eggs I've consumed this week, nothing at all.

5. In other, non-uterus related news, we switched cable providers earlier this week. With the new cable, came the ability to start watching Downton Abbey from the very beginning.

OMG.

I am obsessed. More than obsessed. I'm in love. And I'm angry with all of you for not insisting that I watch this masterpiece. I'm almost through with season one and depending on whether or not I can completely ignore all my household chores for the next couple days, I'll be caught up with the rest of you. 

6. Last night, I decided to go to the store after the kids were in bed to pick up the groceries we'll need for the week. I normally would go during daylight hours, with the kids, but it seemed prudent to go before we get all that snow and ice scheduled for tomorrow, instead of trudging the kids out in that nonsense. My phone died half way through walking the labyrinth that is Wal-Mart. And I returned home to an inconsolable, red-faced, screaming, half-dressed Rosie and one frazzled shell of a husband. The frazzled husband handed me the little terrorist and she immediately stopped crying. Further proving that I will probably never be able to leave the house alone again for at least five years. Couldn't help but laugh when, after charging my phone, I check my voicemail to find the husband left the shortest, yet most accurate description of what was going down at mi casa while I was away...

(baby screaming in the background)

"At least we're not all dead."

(more baby screaming.)

click.

7. My oldest somehow found this video a couple weeks ago and now we cannot stop singing this. And by we, I mean everyone in the house down to the two year old. It's the most annoying, terrible thing I've ever seen and it will get stuck in your brain. Just a heads up.

Quick Takes {Homesick edition}

Linking up with Jen again this week!

1. We're in the beginning stages of summer vacation planning. I've decided to all together skip out on my 10 year high school reunion back in Louisiana in favor of..

Maine! The Bar Harbor area to be exact. Since I'm the anti-Disney, I figure what could be less stressful than renting a house in the woods where there are no giant fictional characters?

2. Speaking of Louisiana,..

My plans for my coming week pf vacation, obviously.

3. Like clockwork, my yearly bout of homesickness hits precisely the moment the windchill gets below zero. 

4. We're taking all the kids to the local Catholic school's open house this Sunday. I'm 93% sure that we're going to be making the switch next school year, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully, this little tour thingimajig will get the kids a little more excited and involved in the process.

5. This is always worth mentioning, but even more so this week.

6. This week I'm thankful for: cheap beer, husbands that know how to use crockpots, end of winter clearance sales, space heaters, 3 pound bags of gummi bears, the ability to bribe decent behavior out of Remy at mass with peanut butter crackers.

7. Probably one of my favorite things I've read this week.

and an extra just for good measure..

8. I just wanted to state publicly that I despise my husband for introducing me to flow free thus ruining any chances of me doing housework this week.

Stupid iPhones and their stupidly awesome apps.

Quick Takes {v3}

I'm linking up with Jen this week!

1. Speaking of Jen, she's endured a pretty crappy couple of weeks. Prayers her way, yes?

2. Post holiday, mid winter blues has hit me full force this past week. I'm over the cold. I'm over the gray skies. I'm over the extra five pounds that have settled around my midsection from the endless amounts of candy I've consumed in the past couple weeks. Thankfully, mercifully..in just a little over a month we'll be traveling back to our stomping grounds to celebrate Mardi Gras with our families. Amen. Alleluia. Gimme 'dem crawfish.

3. I blew the dust off my 60D the other day and captured my sweet Rosie being sweet and oh so squishy.

4. Then my uterus burst into pieces from baby fever. No joke.

5. This article is a couple years old (more like 6 years old), but I like it and I find myself re-reading it whenever I'm having an OMGImustbeCRAZY moment.

6.

A friend send this postcard to my family for Christmas. It may be the most beautiful thing anyone has said about our family. Sometimes, when you're in the trenches of babies and diapers and school-aged children, it doesn't feel beautiful. It can feel monotonous and wrought with poop. So to have someone acknowledge the love you feel for these people, despite the poop, it's pretty dang great. I'll always treasure this little piece of cardboard.

7. Speaking of poop, Rosie just made diaper blowout #8 of this week. I should go deal with that.

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Have a fantastic weekend!

We'll be patching the gaping hole in the drywall left by one of those pressure mounted baby gates. Which will most likely lead to painting. Followed by a whole lot of expletives.

Quick Takes {v.1}

I'm linking up for the first time with Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday! 

1. If you've been reading my blog for longer than a week then you know that most everything I post is a quick take. I'd like to blame that on having four (lively!) children, but the truth is I have the attention span of a gnat and the vocabulary of a ten year old. Thanks public school system!

2. It's been over a month since I've stepped foot in a Goodwill store. That has to be some sort of record. My inner thrifter is sad. 

3. These pictures. 

Owen and Olivia. 2007.

Owen and Olivia. 2012.

I blinked and now they're full functioning people. Stop that.

4. In the never ending saga of living in a zoo, the pest inspector found another LIVE BAT in our house. That coupled with the family of chipmunks that likes to call the attic crawlspace home every so often have me teetering on the brink of complete animal hatred. Owen asked me for a pet turtle yesterday morning and I practically curled into the fetal position and cried. Though watching le husband clumsily traipse through the house with a tennis racket with intent to kill is pretty comical.

5. Remy is (finally) showing signs of realizing that he is more than capable of climbing out of his crib. Let's have a moment of silence for our soon-to-be defunct bedtime routine. And also my sanity.

6. Minor Revisions was a hit. Such a hit that the online Catholic community overloaded NetNy's website, pretty much crashing the servers for a few minutes there. So I made it into my own little drinking game. Drink every time the stream stops to buffer!  

7. I know this is so 2010, but have you seen this? I can hold it together just fine until the 4:00 mark and then I start crying like a stinkin infant. 

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Three cheers for the weekend!