Yes, after a few months of being quiet I suddenly feel like the fog is lifting and I want to talk again.  So if you’ve noticed that I’m suddenly blogging again…you aren’t mistaken.  I’m just doing it a bit differently and still kind of ‘going with the flow’ of whatever is on my mind, or when I have time. In other words I’m back but things might still look a little different.

I can’t say that the process of what I’ve been dealing with lately hasn’t been without side effects. My normally happy and optimistic nature has been…well…not so happy or optimistic much of the time.  The idea of sharing what I was going through was very difficult for me.

Honestly not because of pride, but because it felt wrong somehow that my normally encouraging and uplifting blog would be tarnished by difficulties beyond my ability to completely explain or handle in every day life.  To be in a place in my life where I didn’t feel like I had anything encouraging to offer was foreign and frustrating for me.

I’m not going to tell you that I’m back to “normal”, in a way I’m not sure if I ever will be. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but everything we go through in life will shape us and transform us just a little (or a lot). But the constant haze I was in seems to have faded a bit, the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible and while I still have bad days, there are good ones now too.

Thank you all so much for standing by me through this…I have great friends, many of which simply email me when they read posts here and I appreciate you all.  I wish you all great blessings today!!!

Hugs…

Just a little Froggy Family update for all of you…

• The Heathens Twinkies are finally starting to get some hair….are their hair cutting days over? Refer to the next update.
• Apparently they did not learn their lesson from the aforementioned shaving of the heads due to cutting off their hair at the scalp with scissors. The threat that CJ will get to cut their hair if they do it again is becoming less threatening to them apparently as Bug has attempted to cut his hair yet again (even though he hardly has any still) .
• Lion is once again going through a stubborn stage, if  you happen to see his occasionally docile self…please send him home to replace the strong willed version I currently have here.
• CJ…well he’s still growing and he eats like there’s no tomorrow… and that’s all I have to say about that. 
• The Salesman is…well…still the Salesman! He’s always got a question, answer, solution or plea. You never know which will strike so you’d best be on your toes at all times. 
• Tater has not broken his glasses…which for anyone who knows him is a feat in and of itself.  He is going through a bit of middle child syndrome right now and little brothers are very frustrating when you are 10 (just so you know). 

So, such as it is, there you have this week’s update. Oh, I recently took all 6 of the boys to the dentist but that deserves it’s very own post because it was such a glorious event!  So, until next time…please enjoy the moment.

On Monday I shared about the Beautiful Baby Contest that’s being held on the “LIVE! With Regis and Kelly” show. As the mom of 6 boys there have definitely been times that it’s been difficult to get that elusive picture of them.

So I thought I’d share just a few of the things I’ve done over the years to help the process. I cannot say that any of these ideas are anything but simple nor can I say that they work 100% of the time, kids will be kids, but they will up your chances of getting a great photograph.

General tips for photographing children…

• Make sure you don’t try to photograph a child during their naptime.
• Make sure they aren’t hungry.
• Bring/prepare favorite toys, stuffies or other items that will make your child happy and/or keep their attention.

CLICK HERE to continue reading!!

As you can imagine, there’s a lot of interesting events, conversations and happenings in life with 6 boys. All of us have things we swear we’d never say to our children…and most of us have caught ourselves saying them anyway.  But recently I have discovered that there are quite a few things I have said in my term as a parent that I never in my wildest dreams could’ve imagined I would need to say.

So here’s just one of those things…..

“Don’t pee on your Brother!!!”

Have a great day

The “LIVE! with Regis and Kelly” team just informed me that today is the only day to vote in their Beautiful Baby Search.  Here’s the information they gave me.

Vote NOW please! Monday March 1st is the one and only day to vote! You will decide the Five finalists that will compete all week for the Grand Prize, $125,000 to be used towards a 4 year college education and the winner will appear on the cover of Parenting magazine. Four runners-up will each receive $25,000 to be used towards 1 year of college education!

It’s a very fun week on the show and I encourage you to hop on over to their site and place your vote .

As many of you know, we have had our fair share of sleep problems with the twins. They still end up in bed with us at some point in the night more often than not. I cringe to admit that because I honestly never thought that would be the case for me since my older children slept through the night so well.

The last few nights however, they have stayed in their bed through the night. But we are finding them to be particularly quirky. They don’t lay one way, they like to sprawl out all over the place. They share a full size bed which is plenty big for the two of them, but they do not want to go to sleep in it without a brother with them. Tater gets the privilege of joining them to sleep each night, but he does so happily and it works out for all concerned.

All of our children are very different of course, but several of them will have this or that similarity. Three of our children are particularly imaginative and have very interesting dreams. They are the most likely children to have nightmares as well, so much of the twins’ sleeping problems could likely be linked to if they are going through a fearful stage that’s being reflected in their dreams. Either way though, every morning the twins get up early and the first thing they want to do is tell us all about the dream they had the night before.

Sometimes these dreams are absolute doozies, sometimes they are fairly simple. But you can always expect a simple run down of a dream from Bug and a long drawn out step by step story from Monkey.

I love watching my kids sleep. They may drive me crazy sometimes, but watching them sleep is peaceful and quieting. Sometimes Monkey will cry a bit in his sleep before I go to bed and I’ll go in and stand near him to calm him. Then I’ll just watch a while.

So today it’s about finding the quiet peaceful sleepy moments that amaze me about my kids. And even though they cry in the night sometimes, or go wild during the day, each one is so uniquely amazing and wonderful.

Gone are the days where I carefully plan and schedule posts. Now I simply blog as I feel inspired by life. I have decided there is a time and a place for both.

I know I’m not alone as a mom who finds that the most joy can be brought about by the littlest things that happen each day. It can be a hug, a giggle, a story, a kind gesture or many other almost imperceptable things. But if you look close you’ll catch them.

This was clearly shown recently when CJ our oldest made a completely selfless sacrifice to try and benefit me. It was so kind, so completely loving that it brought me to tears.  I was amazed by this young man once again.  I’m so thankful for him in so many ways.

So today, I’m looking for the little things and praying that I can offer little things to everyone around me as well!

I talked a bit last week about being in a holding pattern and making a more conscious effort to find the good in each and every day.  Today the Twinkies are 4 years old and although there are many descriptive words I could use when talking about them and what they have brought into our lives, there are two that stand out most… amazing and funny.

We are forever amazed by the things that these two little boys are capable of.  This amazement isn’t anything new though, they have been shocking us with their minds and abilities since before they turned one, it is simply incredible. But as they get older, their thoughts are so much more amazing even.

Each and every day they say or do things that are worthy of a true ROFL (roll on the floor laughing).  From the incredible dreams that they have to the random thoughts that they share, they keep us on our toes.  Even though I’m describing them basically as a pair, they are very much individuals and proud of who they each are.

Yes, life is extremely chaotic sometimes and they tend to have more than their fair share of complaints in life a lot of the time. They are stubborn, strong willed, opinionated and even mouthy.  But through all of that they have also brought so much joy and laughter and they love hard.

They get offended if they don’t get a hug and blow kiss from Daddy before he leaves for work each morning.  They get upset if their big brothers are gone for too long and especially if CJ is spending too many nights with grandparents.

Through everything, we are thankful for these little bundles of energy that keep us on our toes and bring us amazed laughter every day.

Life is such an interesting complex mix of events isn’t it? We’re still dealing with far too many illnesses and injuries to count, but i’m trying to also find the fun little things mixed in. This has been a huge challenge for me as the natural course of things when you are in the midst of depression is to see the negative and feel overwhelmed.

That said though, I am definitely trying to make a purposeful attempt at finding at least one good or funny thing each day. To move out of a state of negativity for even a little while and remember all of the blessings and happiness we can have in life if we only put our minds to it. Attempting to get myself into a holding pattern of sorts that includes positivity each day.

Seeing these things in the past hasn’t usually been much of an effort, just a natural course of each day in life, but that was before depression overcame me. I still don’t love sharing about it much but it’s a huge part of what i’m dealing with in life right now so although I won’t focus on it, I’m also not going to pretend it doesn’t exist.

I would love to move past this, to suddenly feel normal again and go on with life like depression never entered the picture. But I’m still on this road of overcoming and it’s a process I cannot avoid or dismiss. Finding the little things in each day is a small step for me to see the brightness and beauty of life again.

Again, although that’s something that was everyday 6 months ago, it’s an effort now. Finding humor in the crazy things the kids do and say… yeah, trying to get that back too. If you are dealing with any form of depression or feeling overwhelmed, I’d like to encourage you to consider taking this approach as well.

Throughout the day remind yourself to look around and find something good, allow yourself to be amused by something that happens or spend a moment doing something fun to make a good thing happen in each day.

I hope and pray for continued blessings for all of my readers and would like to thank all of you who have offered me such wonderful support and encouragement as I move forward and leave depression behind.

The twins are quickly approaching age 4 and their latest love, especially Bug is to cut their hair. Bug did this twice within about a month and I did what I could with his hair buzz cutting it and trying to still keep it looking cute.

Then about 2 weeks ago Monkey decided to do it as well but instead of cutting a reverse mohawk as Bug has Monkey cut it straight across the front close to his head. Equally terrible looking lol, but Icould work with that a little more… until yesterday.

As most of you know, I have been cutting all my guys’ hair since shortly after my husband and I got married.  This has saved us a ton of money and headaches over the years and it’s a quick job to do at home.

I had cut my husband’s and 3of the other boys’ hair the day before and apparently I had left the clippers box on the counter. Yes you guessed it, in their infinite wisdom, the twins found that box (though the height of the counter is at forehead level) opened it up and proceeded to clip hair.

Now, the crazy part is that, as usual, they were only in there for a few moments before Salesman and I heard and registered the noise in the kitchen. As we investigated, sure enough we found that Monkey had taken the clippers to the front middle of his head and had a crazy looking front only reverse mohawk look going. Bugs had only a tiny section cut out of the front as well, but it was enough to require a full shaving.

As CJ begged to shave them it is the first time that I’ve ever been able to say yes lol. After all what more could he do to them, they already looked terrible. So excitedly CJ prepared the clippers and a twin and began shaving. The twins weren’t thrilled with the process, but they hated afterward when they saw themselves completely sheared down to the scalp.

They kept asking for us to put the hair back on (which we all fell on the floor laughing over of course) and informed me that CJ is never to cut their hair again. To which I replied that as long as they did not cut their hair again I would make sure CJ didn’t have the opportunity to cut their hair again.

This turned into an excellent way to try and keep them from cutting their hair again. Knowing that they would look as they do now and endure another haircut by big brother may very well be my ticket out of the crazy haircut stage.

We will see……