It wasn't food poisoning...

So, once again we have sickness in our house.  I'm not sure that Scott was fully recovered yet, but so far he's doing great helping the puking kids at night!  Poor guy is so exhausted, so I'm letting him sleep in as long as he needs to!  I think he's earned it!  All I did was keep Leah with me (she wasn't sleeping either), so she didn't get in the way!  Last night I felt a few contractions, but they were pretty mild, so I knew that wasn't going anywhere!  I ate pineapple and tried to watch a "funny" movie.  Sorry Mom, Knight and Day wasn't funny for me!  I only laughed once!  Then we had a crazy thunderstorm at 3 this morning and I saw lightning spark something outside as it shook our house.  I checked and nothing was on fire, but crazy!  Now we have ice and sleet all over outside, so it's really good that I'm not in labor.  I was really hoping that the storm would help things along!  This kiddo just really doesn't want to come out!  Maybe she doesn't want to be around all the sick kids or knows her mamaw couldn't make it today, I don't know!  I was really hoping to have the New Year's Baby, no chance of that now.  And I'm okay with that.  At least I'm not wholeheartedly in labor with my kids sick, that would be miserable for all of us!  Poor kids keep asking if there's anything I can do for them, and there's not.  I actually prefer the Strep Throat, because I was able to give them medicine then!  I'm praying that it's just a 24 hour bug, so they can go back to their normally rambunctious selves and I won't worry that they're going to be sick all year!  Yuck! 
We did have fun yesterday though!  We went to the park at their school and let the kids play for awhile in the nice 64 degree weather!  Poor Leah went down the big slide face down and bonked her face on the ground and bit her lip on the top and bottom!  She cried for a minute or two and then wanted to go back on the slide!  So, I had Kira wait at the bottom for her!  What a great big sister!  Emma had no problem posing for pictures and I even had a picture taken of me, in the hopes it would be my last pregnant picture.  HA!!!  Without further ado, here are the pictures!

 Leah coming down the right way

 Kira catching her

 Emma cheesing

 Ben

 Check out that belly!

  The ice and sleet all over my car!  Hopefully we can figure something out before 9 tonight, when my Redbox movies are due!

Still an incubator

Well, all I'm doing right now is hanging out with my kiddos, so they get plenty of mommy time before I can't do much (when this baby is FINALLY born)!  Leah's getting lots and lots of snuggles, tickles and kisses (she's started giving the kisses back)!  It's always hardest for the "baby" of the family!  Emma is excited for the baby and she might vaguely remember how this works.  Kira already informed me that she doesn't want Cecilia crying in HER room.  Ben is really looking forward to the baby (though he's probably hoping that they were wrong and I'm having a boy).  My kids crack me up when they're not driving me CRAZY!  I was reading one of the books my mom got me for Christmas and it talks about some things I should be doing as a mom and wife that I really want to implement.  It talks about the "Fix-it" syndrome, which I totally have!  If someone doesn't do something fast enough or "right" then I "fix" it.  Which is making it so that my children don't put away their own laundry, don't bring it downstairs, hardly ever clean at all, and expect me to do and be everything.  And that's not working out so well, and really won't be working come after the baby is born.  So, yeah, I'm taking it one step at a time.  We'll see how it goes!
In the meantime Scott is sick.  I'm really hoping it's food poisoning and not the vomiting sickness going around!  That would be the last thing that we need with the baby coming!  She may not come this week, but I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday at 6am, so she will be coming!  I really don't like throwing up, and I don't want to be doing that with a newborn baby at all either!  Heavenly Father has blessed us so far, so I can hope!  As long as we're healthy, I'm sure that I can handle stretching and stretching without popping!  Bodies sure are amazing! 

Christmas

Okay, now on to the Christmas post.  I was tired last night, so I didn't do it actually on Christmas, but that's okay!  It was really nice to take things slow!  We slept in until 8 in the morning and then ate some pancakes for breakfast.  I had picked up some blueberry syrup from the Aldi that I really wanted to use!  Then I had my kiddos watch http://lds.org/pages/look-to-the-light?lang=eng .  It's completely awesome!  I wanted to make sure they remembered why we were even celebrating Christmas to begin with!  Then I finally brought their presents down from my closet and let them unwrap their two presents each.  We went from Leah up and they were pretty patient, considering!  They all really liked their presents, which is good!  I got to work on Christmas "Lupper."  We ate at 2 and again at 5 when my family got here!  Hurray for family!  It was hilarious when they came in!  They brought in a TON of presents and WOW!  Then we had a huge pile of presents and once again the kids were patient and waited until after we ate.  Leah managed to find a box that happened to be hers and she really wanted to open it before everyone was done eating.  So, we let her.  She had managed to find it all on her own!  And almost everyone was done eating anyway!  Then it became a crazy free-for-all and my living room was covered in wrapping paper and toys!  Craziness!  The adults opened their presents next.  I was very excited to see that they brought the presents from me there too, so I got to see them open their presents!  Hurray!  That's my favorite part, seeing people's faces when I give them a/some present(s)!  When things had cooled down considerably (after the knives were put away from opening boxes), I opened my presents.  I got a ton of Trixie Belden books!  I'm very excited!  Someday I'll have all 39 (I'm pretty sure that's how many were printed)!  I have most of #s 1-16.  Then a family from two wards ago had sent us some frozen food for when the baby comes, plus a blanket and diapers!  How sweet!  The Gammons are a Fantastic family!  They sent it down with my family!  So, I feel very blessed to have such awesome family and friends!  In order to try and thank the Starrs for inviting us over to dinner twice, I had my family come with us to carol them (it doesn't hurt that there are single male Starrs and my sisters are all single)!  So, I got to get in some carolling too!  We came back to have dessert and my Mint Cheesecake was enjoyed!  Scott, Chris, my dad and I played Seafarers of Catan!  Awesome!  Chris went on his mission and we haven't played it until yesterday (it's not a good idea for Scott and I to play each other)!  Good times!  The kids went to bed late again, but it was worth it to spend time with family!  I LOVE my family!  Now, I've amnaged to make it through most of Sunday and I'm super curious as to whether I'll go into labor tonight!  I'll probably take a nap everyday this week until I do have a baby, so I have that extra sleep if I'm in labor overnight!  Here's hoping that will be my next post!  And not the all my kids are sick, since that seems to be cruising through the town right now!

                 Ben got a TON of books!  He's so excited!  This one he took to church with him!

       Kira is pretty happy with her stack of presents!  Though she's already asking for slippers!

 Scott is absolutely thrilled with his present!  It's already attached to the sink in our bathroom, which makes it difficult for all of us to wash our hands in the bathroom...

                                                   My mom and her present!

                                                 Chris already has a spot for this!

                                                       Leah LOVES her babies! 

 The doll she got from me which was thrown aside for the babies she got from her mamaw.  Oh well!

                                Emma got moon dough.  Which will never happen again!

                                      Sitting nicely and waiting their turn in the morning!

                                   Part of the huge moon dough mess.  It NEVER ends!

Christmas Eve

Because Christmas isn't over yet, I'm going to write about Christmas Eve!  We took a big break most of the day, which was very nice!  We went to the Starrs' house for supper and lots of fun!  Great food, friends, and fun kiddos!  It's always great for my kids to play with other kids!  Leah loves Violet and Olivia!  Emma does too!  Kira enjoys playing with Aurora and Faith.  Ben just likes to run around!  So, good times!  The kids did a live Nativity, that I am now putting on youtube.  It was hilarious!  Kira was the only one of my kids to participate, and she was an angel.  Ben kept saying that he didn't want to be King Herod, because he was bad.  "Who would want to kill a cute little baby?"  Good question!  Mary and baby Jesus both hung out in the manger.  One of the angels (Violet) tried to repeat what the angels were supposed to say and it was adorable!  We had a white elephant gift exchange.  They went by ages, starting at the youngest.  No swaps of gifts, which made it so much funner!  Leah got a newspaper and she was thrilled!  She walked around showing it to everyone!  Emma got pencils and she was pretty happy too!  Kira got some silly putty and boy's toys (she gave them away).  Ben got a Celtic Christmas cd (I'm looking forward to listening to it), I got a pecan roll (that I'm giving to my dad who LOVES pecans, since I didn't make a pecan pie).  And Scott got a Dad dvd.  Then we sang songs after hearing some musical numbers.  Ben was hanging out too close to the music, and took the music away.  Which is absolutely not good!  I'm not sure what Ammon did, but I don't blame him at all!  Ben was crying and he kept asking me, "Why can't he just be creative?"  Because it's music and you're supposed to follow it.  Kira "conducted" some of the songs along with Aurora and Leah danced!  She kept dancing where I couldn't see her.  Bummer!  Either way it was lots of fun, even though the kids were up way after their bedtime!  Thanks again Starrs'!

Ben's baptism!

So, I have spent the last week taking Finals (Glad that's over) and cleaning the house!  We did a good job, because the house looked fantastic!  I was incredibly nervous about Ben getting baptized!  He really wanted to, but knowing that he's afraid of water and with him being autistic, I was worried!  I wanted this to be a good experience for him and I wanted him to actually go through with it (since we had people driving in).  My whole family came into town (Kim, Chris and Sam drove from Idaho and got home a few hours before they needed to head down here, what troopers).  Scott's mom and sister Jenn (with her family) were able to come too!  It was pretty crowded at aour house for dinner beforehand.  It was great!  The kids opened their Christmas presents from Grammy, so she was able to see them open them (that's my favorite part of giving presents, seeing their faces)!  They LOVE their presents!  Scott and I liked our presents too, of course! 
We went to leave for the Church and about halfway there, Scott realized he forgot his bag.  So, we went back and got the bag to go to church.  We got there pretty close to on time and then they got changed into their baptism clothes.  Ben was very wiggly in his white jumpsuit!  My dad gave a great baptism talk and we went to see the baptism.  Scott says that it wasn't too hard to get Ben into that deep water.  He straight armed him into the water (as he put it).  Ben let go of his nose and opened his eyes under the water.  He says he got water up his nose and in his throat and that he doesn't have very good eyesight under the water!  What a great kiddo!  The biggest problem is that we completely forgot towels!  So, they used dishtowels from the church's kitchen.  My dad went to the store and bought a towel, which was great!  Ben dried his hair off with it and then wrapped up in it, since he was cold.  So, now he has a baptism towel!  He got confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and now has the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost when he needs help!  We took lots of family pictures which is very exciting!  I love family pictures, even if I am rather large with child right now!  Then we went back to our house to give Jenn's family their presents.  They liked them!  Hurray!  I worked pretty hard on them!  After that we went to Braum's and my parents bought us all ice cream.  It's a celebration!  I'm so incredibly proud of my son!  I didn't tell him that he needed to be baptized, he chose on his own.  That's always the way it should be!  I know that our church is the true church of God and that He is very pleased with Ben for making the decision to join His church! 
Now that I have made it through finals and Ben's baptism, this baby can come any time.  Scott wants her to come now.  She is obviously not interested in coming yet.  I haven't had any contractions at all!  But, I'm doing just fine, so no problem!  Now, on to the pictures!

                                                  Grammy reading to the girls!

                                                                 I love this face!

                                We had a hard time getting him to be still for the pictures!

       Afterwards, in front of the baptism doors!  All of the Foreman Clan (including us Westhoffs)

                                                My family (check out that baby belly)

                                                          Westhoffs and Laudies

                                                           Ben and Kaitlynn now

                                            Ben and Kaitlynn when they were babies

Energy and Excitement

I was excited to have energy this morning!  I went to school and took my Music final.  Then I had lots of time (a whole hour and a half) until my next Final, so I called Scott and got an assignment from him.  I helped him and then went to my last Final!  Woohoo!  We were out of there in 45 minutes, so I was walking to my car and completely feeling every step in my belly!  I got groceries and went home to find Scott and the kids very excited to see me!  I love how whenever I unlock the door, Leah comes running, "Mama!"  It's so sweet!  Then Emma will tell me how much she missed me too.  I made lunch, ate and soon after went to my Doctor's appointment.  I gained 4 pounds in a week!  I had her estimate how big Cecilia is and she said about 7 pounds and that if I go "full-term" she will probably be 8-9 pounds.  I'm measuring 38 weeks, so here's hoping I don't go over!  I always feel so bad for any woman who goes over her due date!  I also went ahead and had a Strep Test, since everyone else (but Leah) had it last week!  I'm negative.  Phew!  I went home and cleared out my backpacks.  How exciting!  Then I picked Kira and Ben up from school.  I made cookies for Relief Society tonight.  Then I heard screaming!  Emma had decided to listen to Kira (not always a good idea).  Kira wanted to recycle glass, so she told Emma to step on our old family picture to break the glass, so she could recycle it.  Emma picked it up and cut her thumbs.  She was bleeding and screaming.  Scott called me in to help, and I managed to convince her to wash it off and hold it closed until the bleeding slowed.  I used three bandaids on the one thumb (because it was wet and hard to stick to).  About ten minutes later she was still whining and took them off, so I put a new one on and it stuck a lot better!  At twenty minutes when she was still whining I was done!  All I could think was, I'm going to have 3 babies.  What was I thinking?  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  It's a good thing babies sleep a lot at the beginning!  Maybe I'll be surprised and the girls will act their ages when Cecilia comes.  I LOVE surprises!  Scott sold back his books and got $19.  So, Scott and I spent close to $1000 on books and got less than $100 back.  Wow!  That completely stinks!  Oh well, it's not too much of a surprise.  Obviously publishers are working with the student loan people to build up debt.  It's a conspiracy.  Or it's just the publishers inking us dry.  I'm hopefully not going to have to pay as much next semester!

Update

Well, it's definitely getting closer (labor and having this baby that is).  Which is always great news!  The only problem is the lack of sleep.  I think tonight if I can't sleep I will be studying for finals tomorrow!  Hurray for finals almost being over!  I'll be done at Tuesday at noon!  And then a break until the second week of January!  I even have no school when my kids have school, so I have more time tog et things done and my house really clean.  So, I'm ready for the baptism on Saturday and this cute little girl joining our family (whenever she comes).  It'll be fun to make yummy cookies and food for family, since I love to cook!  I just don't have much time right now with school and all.  It'll be nice to get some food frozen, so I'm ready! 
I've noticed that I'm not very patient with my poor kiddos at church.  It's been a long time since I was 2, 3 and 8, so I can't possibly figure out what is going on in those kids' heads.  I mean, really, who picks on an autistic kid in front of his mom?  I was MAD!!!  I informed him that he was not to pick on my kid, because it was a really bad idea.  Number one because I'm his mom and I'm standing right there, and number two, Ben goes crazy and there's not much I could (would) do to stop him, if someone is purposefully picking on him.  I just think those kids are not good examples for my new Cub Scout.  Then in Nursery, oh, nursery.  I love those kiddos, I just have a hard time comforting them when they're sad (I don't have much of a lap and usually Leah or Emma are right there).  Poor kiddos, it's hard being "left."  I really need to make that book and figure out a way to print it out for all of the younger kiddos for a Christmas present.  That way they can have their own copy for home.  Maybe it would help?  I just feel so bad that there isn't anything I can do!

 What I found when I left class early to help Scott, because Ben had a Dentist appointment.  Nice!

 This would be a sunset showing our Church steeple (which I saw on the way into my Professor's house for a party)!

 Kira was very excited to make pretzels!  I bought a miz.  I think she learned that it takes a while!  She formed her letters herself!

                                           Emma was very excited about her name pretzels!

                                     Ben thought it was pretty cool too.  "Hey!  That's my name!"

                               Leah got regular pretzels, but was perfectly willing to say, "Cheese!"

                                Leah sleeping on me.  She left her crackers.  Wasn't that sweet?

This contains a warning

WARNING:  This next paragraph will not be optimistic, so if you would like to read only uplifting material, this ain't it!

Are you still here?  I am!  So, I was whining to Scott earlier how I feel "done."  I'm done with this semester (well, almost), done with being huge pregnant, done with cleaning constantly, done with this school (it is completely not my favorite), done with the horrible money situation and done with the sickness going around my family.  So, I went on strike from cleaning (well, mostly, I only did a couple loads of laundry and I didn't put them away).  I pretended to take a nap, that totally didn't work.  But, I did get to go to the Math Party at our Professor's house.  He had yummy food that I didn't have to make!  Then I come home to an even messier house.  Hurray.  I have no new books to read (which is a travesty in my mind).  And there wasn't a single good show on, so I had no real inducement to do the cleaning I needed to do.  But, I put my mind to it and took the clothes out of the dryer.  Not that I can put the next load in, since our dryer works in that it dries the clothes, but it doesn't stop.  And it's super annoying to get into bed and hear the dryer and know you have to get up and go all the way downstairs to turn it off.  So, I leave the clothes in the washer overnight.  Then I decide to do dishes.  As I'm dumping some liquid down the drain, I hear it echo below the sink.  That's no bueno.  I opened up the doors to see water and nasty stuff on top of the dishes under the sink.  So, I get down lower (which isn't easy with my big ol' belly) and look.  Somehow the main pipe that's supposed to be connected to the sink drain is not connected.  I probably broke it somehow when reputting dishes under there.  With my herculaen strength.  I know, you might think I'm being sarcastic, but I have stories that prove it.  Anyway, so of course I can't fix it, so I ask Scott to look at it.  Poor guy!  Then the Elders call wanting a ride.  Sure...  Scott needs a break from our sink mess!  All I can think is that my house is a wreck and we're probably going to have to call our landlord tomorrow.  Which will already be a busy day, since Scott and I have school, Kira has a Dentist appointment, and I'm supposed to poof tortillas and meat before Scott's 11 o'clock class!  I tried to duct tape the pieces together and it still leaks.  So, either Scott figures out where it's leaking from, or I'm putting a bucket under there to catch all the water from the dishwasher, because the dishes need to be washed!
The good news is that I only have to do one thing at a time!  Hurray!  And as long as I don't think about all that's going wrong, I can think about all that is going right!  I am not in labor!  I still have high hopes to make it past my finals and possibly Ben's baptism.  I still haven't popped, no matter how big everyone tells me that I am!  We may not have money, but we already got Christmas presents and paid rent, so that's not a worry.  We'll have a break from school very soon and will better be able to decide if we're staying or going, and where we're going in May.  I can still clean, even if I may not be in the mood for it.  I am capable!  It may not be a fast clean, but a couple of hours ought to do it.  Since the baby has moved down a little more, I can breathe a little better and have a little more energy.  I waddle like a duck when I walk, but I have more energy!  I can still get myself dressed!  Always a plus!  It's not easy, but it's possible.  But, oh, how envious I am of those that can afford slip-on shoes that cover your toes!  They look so soft and comfortable!  In the meantime, I'm not sick!  Hurray!  Ben, Kira and Emma are doing better (though we do have to get Ben into a surgeon, since his tooth was broken, in the next week)!  Leah has a gunky eye, so more than likely, we'll be making an appointment for her soon.  Then I'll know how much each of my kids weighs!  Ben is 52 pounds, Kira is 63 and Emma is 40.  Not bad!  Obviously I'm feeding them well!  The even biggest and best news is that Ben ate some chicken yesterdfay!  I opened a can of chicken and he ate four big pieces out of it and said he liked it, because it tastes like tuna!  Woohoo!  If I can get enough protein in that kiddo, maybe he'll start to grow!
Wow!  This is long!  I'm sure things will get better.  No doubts there!  I paid our tithing and I have lots of faith.  Even if money remains a problem, we'll be blessed in other ways!  A healthy baby comes to mind!  No worries!

And to add another thing...

 Scott and the girls

 Scott helps her score!

                                       She had a hard time deciding between her dad and Papaw!

                      Me at 36 weeks and below is Leah without her thumb in her mouth (a minor miracle)!

I went to get the kids from school yesterday and noticed Ben has a chipmunk cheek!  So, he was going to have to stay home from school today and I need to get him into a doctor.  Then this morning Kira wakes up with a sore throat!  Since Scott is off of his antibiotics from his Strep, I'm assuming that's what my kiddos have.  So, in about an hour I get the opportunity to take 3 of my 4 kids in to have them checked for Strep.  If any of them are positive, I'll go ahead and ask for a Script for me too!  The last thing I need is to have Strep for finals!  It sounds nasty!  I have my first Final tomorrow morning, first thing.  Am I ready?  Nope!  Here's hoping that I remember to study after I put the kids to bed tonight!  Well, after Scott puts them to bed, since I have Cub Scouts.  So. Much. To. Do!  It'll all be over in less than a week!  Well, the school semester at least!  Then I move on to the better cleansing of my house, so I'm ready for a new baby to join us and people coming for Ben's baptism!  That's fun and exciting though!

Sunday morning

I got to thinking this morning when I couldn't sleep any more and it wasn't time to wake up yet.  Why can't I say no?  Why am I always putting the wrong things first and not paying attention to the more important things?  Like, why did I spend so much money on a Silent Auction that netted the Park about $145.  Really?  I spent at least $250 and that doesn't include all the time and money I spent making things for it!  So, I'm thinking it would have been cheaper to just contribute $1000 at the beginning and skip all this tremendously hard work and stress while huge pregnant!  The good news is that I pretty much paid for two of my daughters' Christmas presents from their mamaw and papaw!  They were raffle items and my dad managed to win both of the girls' ones!  For $5.  Not bad for $50 in toys!  I'm so grateful for my family!  They are so sweet to drive the hour and a half here to help out!  Dad, Chris, Scott and I hung out at the school (I still think its cool that I got keys to the school).  Mom and Mandy hung out with the kids!  Very nice, so they absolutely earned the toys!  Of course, the kids were super excited to spend time with some of their favorite people!  And mamaw brought candy canes for the Christmas tree!  Bonus!  So, my kids were eating candy canes right after they woke up!  Funny kiddos. 
In the meantime, I figured out that my Finals are all on two days for my regular classes.  Now I just need to coordinate with Scott to make sure that our tests coordinate!  That would be bad!  I'm still praying for this baby to hold on until after the 18th.  I can hope, since so far my kids have been very accommodating when it comes to schedule!  We'll see whether I get a Christmas baby, a New Year's baby or something different.  I love surprises!

How do I do it?

People keep asking me, "How do you do everything?"  Um, one step at a time?  I only have one kid at a time, at the least about 17 months apart, so I have time to recover and effectively forget how miserable the labor was before the next time.  I can only do one load of clothes and one load of dishes at a time.  I can only clean one room at a time.  Usually I ahve to reclean that room three times in one day if I want it to stay clean.  I'm only going to school at one school at a time and I'm only taking 12 credits!  I'm not working, because I can't find a job that will work around the horrificness that is Emporia State University.  You're supposed to take clases in a certain order and they are only at certain times, usually there is a MWF and a TTH option.  That's it!  So, no job for me.  Except for the 24/7 job that being a mother is!  The middle-of-the-night wakeups from nightmares, the waking up from a dead sleep to brush their teeth, change diapers and soon feed the baby.  Ah, the thrill of being a mother!  When you have to be up late at night anyway, so you have an excuse to be up late reading a good book or watching reruns of shows that you've never seen before!  Good times!  
I love my kids!  They are so funny and so right on with what they say.  Or don't say for that matter.  Leah loves it when I bounce her on my leg like it's a horse.  She just giggles and giggles.  No matter how sore my leg may be, I keep doing it, loving her laugh and big smile!  She just said "hi" to every page she looked at ina  book and then proceeded to kiss the page which I told her was yucky.  So, she licked the page.  Super yuck!  She started scratching her tongue, so she must have agreed with my assessment!  She also keeps pointing to my big ol' belly.  So, I explain to her that there is a baby in there, to which she responds by hitting my belly a few times and moves on.  She is not going to be a happy camper about a new baby.  She loves baby dolls, but I doubt that the love will move onto a baby sister very quickly.  We'll see! 
Emma has started telling stories and knock-knock jokes.  They make no sense, but she thinks they're hilarious!  You can't help but laugh when a kiddo laughs, whether it's appropriate or not!  Emma tells it like it is and will gladly tell others stories (true or not).  Especially if it gets her out of trouble!  Poor Ben and Leah get blamed a lot!  Even when Ben is at school!
Kira is getting very into parent time.  She started playing checkers with Scott yesterday and she was so excited!  She was telling kids at schoola s she left, "I'm going home to play checkers with my dad!"  She played a lot of times (without winning) and only stopped when we turned something on that she wanted to watch.  (Yes, I do allow tv.  Most of the time it is either PBS, I-Carly, ocassionally Disney, Extreme Home Makeover, Mythbusters, and Cake Boss.  Yep, that's pretty much our shows we watch).  Either way I was excited that she didn't throw a fit or anything!  And she wants to play again today!
Ben, oh that boy.  I wish he could sleep all the way through the night!  He wakes up sometime between 1 and 4 and stays up.  Usually making very loud noises!  He gets scared easy.  As he tells me, "I feel very vunerable in my room."  Poor kiddo!  I keep trying to tell him that if his room was clean it wouldn't be a big problem!  He could easily see there are no monsters and there would be nothing to be afraid of, right?  It doesn't hurt to try.
So, yeah, that's how I make it.  One step, one day at a time.  Usually ignoring the facts such as having no money, expecting a baby, thinking about a possible far away move, and such.  Just going with the flow that is our home, whether clean or not (not so much right now),a nd enjoying the characters that my children are.  Because without them, I wouldn't be the person that I am.  I wouldn't be working so hard to prepare a Silent Auction tomorrow night in order to get money for our bare Park.  I wouldn't be trying to figure out how to get my house looking nice for those coming in for Ben's baptism in a few weeks.  It's a great life!