chatty sassy

Every morning when I go into Eva’s room she greets me with a big, “HI!!!!” It’s great that she is so happy in the morning because usually I am not. But who can resist that kind of enthusiasm? I can’t.

This week she has started a new routine- she is still sleeping later than her brothers and they have already left for school by the time she gets up. I am ok with this because I can make breakfast, let the dogs out, feed the dogs, make lunches, check backpacks, etc. without her needing me too.

However, when she gets up these days she runs through her list. Every day this week has been the same.

“HI!!!!” Hi Eva!

“Where’s dada?” He’s at work.

“Where’s Audo?” He’s at school.

“Where’s Bakey?” He’s at school.

“Where’s Co?” He’s at school.

“awwwwww”. I know, but they will be back later.

“Where’s Bar Bar?” she’s here! she’s eating breakfast.

I think she only asks about Barley because Barley was missing for a bit when she had her surgery.

Her language is really taking off lately. But she also talks back. I’ve been getting “mo-om!!” with two syllables just like a teenager would say it when she doesn’t get what she wants.

My fave tho is when Austin did something she didn’t like the other day and she said “GEEZ AUDO!”

Having a big family is for sure not for everyone. I always knew I wanted a big family. Andy always said, “lets start with one and go from there.” Still makes me smile when I think about it. Sucker.

Both of my parents came from large families and while my mom told me that she didn’t like it growing up (she was the oldest girl, and they had very little money) I think she would be the first to admit that as an adult she loves having her sisters. Not exactly sure about how my dad felt about coming from a large family, I will have to ask him.

Andy and I always joke when we see those stickers that people have on their cars with the mom and dad, kids and pets. Ours would wrap around the car, mainly from the pets. 🙂 I feel like every day is such a learning experience as my kids grow. Sometimes it is so much fun, sometimes it’s a lot of work, well usually its a lot of work. I ask my kids on a regular basis how they feel about a big family. So far so good. There was a time a couple years ago (pre Eva) that Austin said he wished he was an only child. So one night when Blake had plans, and Cole had plans, we went out to dinner. Just me, him, and Andy. About ten minutes after sitting down he said, “hmmmm yeah this isn’t exactly what I thought it would be like. It’s too quiet, and really really boring.” He never mentioned it again.

But honestly it has gotten easier over the years. The oldest ones help now and then, we go out by ourselves, we take trips by ourselves. And that makes us better parents. We never did that with the first three- I’m sure breastfeeding had a lot to do with it. Oh the joys of a bottlefed baby!!

And that’s my large family tangent of the day. Not sure where that came from except that I hear, “you have 4 kids??” more than I hear anything else. I always want to say, “yeah, and I know people that have 5!!” Which reminds me that I usually like people with large families, they are usually pretty chillaxed. Most recently I met a guy at the conference Andy was at in San Diego, a CEO for a large company down in Dallas. He had all 5 kids with him there in San Diego. Ages 20-3 I think he said. The oldest was home from college and wanted to tag along, I LOVE that.

And speaking of families with 5 kids, it made my day to read that this mama is expecting #5. Nobody deserves that little gift more than she does.

Anyway….

I have been bad with the camera lately but here are some snaps from last week when Blake was sick with strep and Barley came home from surgery. We called our family room the sick ward.

Eva doesn’t care if you are sick, she will sit and eat apples with you

And get them all over her face

Poor Barley was a mess after her leg and eye surgery

We put down carpet padding so she wouldn’t slip on our hardwoods and blocked her off, giving her access to the screened porch if she wanted to lay out there. The box fan was her fave- she layed in front of that thing non-stop. By the end of the week that fan was full of all kinds of crap, Eva must have been sticking things in there when I wasn’t looking.

She now has her stitches out and the house is back to normal. That was a long week!!