Goodbye Summer!

Welp, summer is getting shorter these days and we are back to school. The kids are back into the swing of school, as you can see from the pictures. I always feel like we have just gotten into a good pattern when school creeps up around the corner. So instead of fighting at lunch and staying up too late, we are fighting at breakfast and staying up too late. I wish we had established a much better sleep routine earlier in the development of this family. Before marriage and children, I swore up and down that I would never let kids sleep in my bed and I would be firm on bedtimes. Enter Walker. Walker was a very light sleeper as a baby. As a toddler, I would have to lay with him until he fell asleep and then try to sneak away (he ALWAYS caught me, clearly being a klutz was NOT an advantage here). He then had a stage of night terrors. I am convinced the "terror" refers to the parent, because he never remembered these incidents, while Doug and I clearly remember being terrorized by his screaming and yelling. He has had a few other phases since then, but now he is pretty ok as long as someone is sleeping in close proximity to him. Since he is our oldest, how we handled each of his phases set a precedent for the other kids. Since he wandered in our room nightly for a long while, it became the norm for the others to try it. Now I have to eat my young and naive words as I admit there has been a child in my bed for the better part of 10 years. There may have been nights where the whole fam could be found somewhere in our room, via the floor, our bed, or wherever they could squeeze in. Then we gave into the constant pressure they put on us to have nightly "slumber" parties, which is sleeping in the living room. We have worked hard to reign that in and are on our way to a more typical bedtime routine. Typical, but not perfect by a long shot. My reason for this tangent is that I have a strong suspicion that perhaps they would get along better and have higher patience thresh-holds for each other if they had enough SLEEP!!! Oh, wait, maybe I would get along better and have a higher patience thresh-hold if I had enough SLEEP! Speaking of sleep, the picture of Max and Declan napping is one of my all time faves! Thank God for naps! My hopes for this school year is for all to have a year of growth, enthusiasm for learning and reading,and

good and consistent sleep. Meanwhile, throw in some bike-riding which Lauren LOVES to do and Brady is starting to master two-wheeling, and pizza nights and we may just have the best year ever! Speaking of pizza nights, we have had quite a few of those as we celebrated having a 4 year-old (Max) and a 7 year-old (Brady) this month! It's been fun, but I think I need a nap!

Summer Fun!

So, summer is in full swing, ready or not! It is the end of July, and my four older children have just started sleeping in to 7:30! That is quite the accomplishment as they are early risers! Declan, aka, Hubba Bubba, sleeps until about 6, so I'll take it and run! You know, this Halloween, I will mark my 10th anniversary as a mother (Walker will be 10) and I have to say, most days, I don't feel like I know any more about parenting or am any more confident as a mother than I was on 10-31-03. So either I am an EXTREMELY slow learner, or I have to resign myself to the fact that there just is no figuring this out completely. Same as having five kids. You would think I would carry some innate insight from having had four previous infants, but you would be wrong! I google or bing constantly about stuff I don't know about Declan's stages. And gosh darnit, I think that it is ok. Sometimes I think it is good for the kids to see me handle these challenges and problem solve on a case by case basis. It shows I am human and hopefully role models problem solving. Sometimes I think that my chosen methods of problem solving may just be what gives therapists in our area job security for the next few decades! I feel like I am on a roller coaster, but I also feel like I am just now learning to enjoy the ride! Pictures are of Declan at the pool in his stroller; Mr. Maxwell flaunting his cornhusker hat at the splash park at the pedestrian bridge; The yummiest four Flavor-Ice you ever did see at the Field Club Fourth of July Parade, courtesy of Aunt Denise, and lastly a smile from Declan!

Good Luck, Lauren . . .

See what I did with the title of this post, all you Disney Channel fans?? Get it? If not, that's ok too. So, one of the outcomes of having 5 kids is that everyone tries to guess our ratio of boys to girls. When I tell them we have 4 boys and 1 girl, they ALWAYS say: "Oh, poor thing!" I suppose there is some truth to the fact that it is a little sad that Lauren will never have the experience of having a sister among all these boys. She will also never have the experience of having a cat (I am not a cat person); she will miss out on dating until she is 25 because God gave her 4 brothers to see to that; she will never have the experience of riding a motorcycle while I am alive. In other words, there are many things that our family dynamic will preclude her from taking part in. The same goes for the boys. When people show such sympathy for my only daughter, I am quick to tell them not to worry about Lauren! She already tries to play the only girl thing for sympathy, but truth be told, she has plenty of advantages her 4 brothers do not! For instance, she has her own room (which she does not keep as clean as her mother would like!)whereas the boys all share a room (with the exception of Declan,for now). She has a bevy of girl cousins that give her hand-me-downs she does not have to share with anyone; There are many situations where being the only girl comes in handy for her. As for her parents, I believe God had very intentional reasons for giving us only one girl. She takes the cake when it comes to tantrums. I have her tantrum dance down and will present it at her wedding, along with the song she usually makes up to voice her discontent and clapping to add more noise to annoy all of us. As you can see from the pictures, most of which she took of herself WITHOUT permission, she has a profoundly silly side. But as with all aspects of her personality, she can go from girly to goofy instantly, happy to tantrum in no time, sick to playful in a wink, loving to obnoxious before you know what hit ya. I guess our lives would be uber boring without our super cra-cra Lauren (that's how the kids talk now-a-days! See, I'm down with what's in!) Luckily God sprinkled her with extra sweetness to balance out some of these other moods! She is a PROLIFIC note writer! Doug and I have stacks of notes she has left us everywhere you can imagine just telling us she loves us! That's something you don't get from 4 boys! If we all survive adolescence, she will be a great Mom and loving and fun wife! So, I guess instead of wishing her luck with 4 brothers, I should wish us luck with 1 Lauren!

Long time, no blog!

To say we have been busy, is an UNDERSTATEMENT! Since I last blogged, I made and brought into the world another human being! Welcome Declan Scott David Goebel! Stats: Born: 4-23-2013 (he shares John Cena's birthday, don't ask why I know that) Weight: 8 pounds 11 oz. (Boo-YA to the resident that said,"oh, there is no way there is 8 pounds in there", which I took as "Honey, you are fat!") Length: 21 inches (I think, I never remember that one!) To remind, Declan makes child #5, boy #4. His was an interesting pregnancy, having to do non-stress tests twice a week in the last four weeks, but a relatively smooth delivery. Needless to say, we are very grateful that God has entrusted us with him! We know we are very blessed to have the family we have. No matter how much I may complain on this blog or elsewhere, in my heart I know we are blessed to have conceived and delivered 5 healthy babies. There are so many that struggle and I try not to take for granted what we have been given. That being said, I am not perfect, and 5 is hard!!! To that end, I guess 4 was hard, and come to think of it 3 was hard, 2 was a difficult balance and 1 was an adjustment! It strikes me as I go through infancy again with Declan, that although I now have 5, I really don't feel any more enlightened than I did with number 1! That may be a testament of my intelligence. One would think that I should know exactly what I am doing by now, but that is not at all the case. To be truthful, Max (#4) was like a fantasy. For some reason, I feel like he was an easy baby all around and expected Declan to be the same. He is not difficult, but his feedings are not as smooth, he is a spitter, he seems to need more of me than I remember from Max. It may also be that soon after his arrival, summer break started and it has been me versus 5 ever since. With Max, soon after his August arrival, Walker went to school and Lauren and Brady entertained each other most of the day. Either way, I feel like I am as much fumbling my way through with Declan as with the others. When not breaking up wrestling matches and calming 8-year-old girl hormones (I cringe at that!) I am enjoying getting to know this little man! He is very serious and only gives smiles in his sleep or when he is fed and clean and mom is not yelling at someone, so he does not smile often, but when he does, it's heart-melting! It has also been an experience watching the older kids observe and act towards him. Walker is quick to hold him when he cries and is surprisingly very patient with Declan. Lauren is loving holding and nurturing him as well, but her attention span is a bit shorter with him. Brady appreciates the thought and sight of him, but leaves the nurturing to others. Max tries to be as affectionate as a 3-year-old can be which means that Declan's eyes get big and his lip quivers when Max is in his sights! Hopefully I will be better about posting now, but I can't guarantee anything!