Brutal

I confess, today was a little nutso. Well, the afternoon really. It was dentist day. Seven kids had dentist appointments. Five need to go back for fillings or other work (some a LOT of work). It went well in the sense that everyone had their teeth cleaned. It didn't go well in the sense that a couple individuals decided to see how much they could get away with while Mom was busy with making future appointments or helping out a sibling.

I've been fighting headaches and migraines for six days now. I've figured out what's causing them which is good, but preventing the cause is not exactly easy, so let's just say my patience is -- well let's just say I'm not exactly feeling gracious.

More hitting and crying and pinching occurred this afternoon (no not me), so I got to enforce some more time ins. By the time the Engineer arrived home, I was mere minutes from walking out and going away somewhere quiet until the entire crew was in bed for the night. I refrained. The Engineer is now sitting in the girls' room waiting and waiting for them to fall asleep. Squirt is hopefully asleep already. Bub is sprawled on the love seat near me distracting himself with music (as usual). ((I discovered today that iPod's are a very beneficial tool to keep out the crying and keep me from clenching my jaw in frustration (and therefore preventing another headache). I may have to invest in one very soon)). Peach and Beans are baking together. No fighting or arguing there, thankfully!

They do say for every step forward, there are two steps back. I am going to be brutally honest here. The constant noise from our three youngest, is really getting to me! There is whining, crying, yelling, and screaming. A lot of it occurs as part of their regular conversation. If you know our family at all, you know we don't do loud. Occasional loud music -- especially when housecleaning like crazy, (but I don't clean that often :o(, so it's exactly that -- occasional). We are working hard at getting them to unlearn this manner of getting attention, but it is hard work, and taking far longer than we'd like. I am exhausted. I go to bed and am asleep almost before I hit the pillow. I'm too tired to be an early riser lately and truthfully I dread leaving my room to hear the chorus of obnoxiously loud, "good morning, Mommy!" from three little voices. I have to confess, I don't mind the hugs though. I've resorted to showering before the Engineer leaves for work if I intend to have a shower at all, drinking too much coffee at all times of the day, and hiding in our master bedroom if I think I can get away with it at all.

Wherever we go if there are people who know us, they ask us how it is going. We always say it is going well because really it is! For all the training we had and reading we did, the girls are nothing like what the written words predicted. They are not withdrawn, they have fantastic eye contact -- except for when getting in trouble, (but show me a kid who doesn't have issues with eye contact when in trouble for something), they are appropriately affectionate (unfortunately they can be this way with virtual strangers too), they are smart as whips, and you can't pull the wool over their eyes about anything. Yes, they understand almost everything we say -- even if they can't always communicate back in English.

It's not all bad, really it's not! HOPEFULLY tomorrow I will post all the other things we've been up to. Right now I'd like to go for a walk along the beach with my son and dog.

Blessings!