6, 5, 3, K

Yes, today is the day. School has officially started. We had a great morning. S, E, and M did not fall asleep until almost 11pm last night - even thought they went to bed at 8:30pm. J got up at 5:50am this morning - she was pretty darn excited.


Hard to believe that when S is a senior in high school, W will be starting Kindergarten!


J was REALLY excited because she has a new to the school teacher. She (the teacher) seems so nice and friendly.


E has the same teacher that S had last year for 5th grade. There are only two 5th grade classes though, so she will have both of the teachers throughout the day.


How in the world do we have a kid old enough to be in the 6th grade? We are so thankful that our school offers 6th grade. We are one of the few schools in Austin that still has a 6th grade - so S didn't have to go off to middle school (junior high). He was excited because most all of his close friends stayed for 6th grade and since there is only one 6th grade class, they will all be together.


And M...well, he has Mrs. Vickers. Just the very best Kindergarten teacher on the planet. She is the reason that J wants to be a teacher. We are SO happy that we got her again. He was very excited this morning and ready to get started. He walked right into the classroom and waved good-bye.

You might also notice that S and M are wearing matching shirts. That was their idea. JC took them to pick out a first day of school outfit and this is what they came back with. :)

I'll be watching the clock until 2:45pm - and will let you know how it all turned out!

P.S. Thanks Momo for the first day of school clothes!

The Quiet

Well, the house is quiet this morning. Four of our babies walked out the door and went to school. I'd like to blame the sadness on the post partum baby stuff, but deep down inside I know it'd be there even if I didn't have an 11 day old baby.

It's kind of funny when I think about it. The ONLY thing in life that I've ever known without question, for as long as I can remember, is that I wanted to have kids. Never had plans for a career, traveling, houses, or cars...just babies. Just my very own family.

I know that them walking out of the door today for this big adventure will help to prepare them for the bigger adventures that lay ahead. I know that we are doing the right thing for our family by sending them to a school that we all love.

I am so thankful for my Jeff. For giving me the only thing I've ever REALLY wanted. For staying home today to make sure I make it through the quiet. For loving and wanting this family as much as me.

The Best Kind of Day

The best kind of day:
Sunday
2:30pm
Everyone still in pajamas
Dad drinking coffee in his chair
E & M playing quietly on the floor
J reading a magazine
W sleeping in bouncy seat
S watching Olympic basketball game w/dad
Me looking around and being thankful for the peace and comfort in our home.

The First Days of Wyatt

Here is a little run down of our first few days with baby Wyatt. All of these pictures were taken during our hospital stay. We've taken tons more since we've been home, I just need to get them off of the camera.


Jeff always takes such good care of us. He was so excited for this baby to make his debut. He is such a great dad to our children and shows his love for our whole family every single day.


I am so lucky to have had my mom with me for the delivery of all of our kids. For the first four kids, we had my mom and my granny with us. For Wyatt, my mom was in the delivery room with our girls. It was a big deal for them to witness the birth of their baby brother and they just wouldn't have it any other way. I am so proud of how well they handled themselves. Both of the girls have talked about it and haven't had a negative word to say about any of the stuff they saw. I am so so proud of them.


Here is the baby having his first hearing test. I'm glad to report that we passed. And look how cute he looks in his first little earphones.


Thank God for our Uncle Chris. Each time we have had a baby we have been very fortunate to have at least one of Jeff's brothers here with us. This time our special Uncle Chris was here with the older kids making sure they had as normal of a life as possible. Without question they will remember the day that their new baby was born - but almost more than that they will remember that Uncle Chris came to stay with them. (Thank you Chris and Margot for helping us - you just can't know how much you it means to us.)


Sam and baby Wyatt. I am honestly so thankful that all of the kids love this baby so much.


Sweet Ella holding one day old Wyatt. (Notice that Uncle Chris is trying to get Wyatt started on bad habits at a very young age!)


Just like Ella, Jena is IN LOVE with this baby. He will never have a need go unmet if it is up to his two big sisters.


I've never known Miles to have an interest in any baby. Surprisingly, he really likes Wyatt and is adjusting to his role as a big brother pretty well.


Our first family photo. To quote Uncle Chris "there sure are a lot of people in that picture."


Wyatt is ready to go home! And isn't he cute in his goin' home outfit from Momo. Too bad that he pooped in it before we could even get outta the room.


Goin' home outfit number 2 and still pretty darn cute.


Everyone was really excited for him to be home. I don't think that any of the kids have been able to keep their hands off of him. The first thing they do when they wake up is check on him. They want to hold him all day long and they are READY for him to eat, walk and talk.

All is Right in Our World

Our new son, Wyatt Raymond, was born on August 14, 2008 at 5:30pm. We are so thankful. We feel so blessed. He is perfect. Everyone in our family is thrilled and thankful.

All is right in our world.

Why Me Lord

One of the greatest gifts my momma gave me was a house full of music. Not just any music. Country music playing through the transistor radio. When I feel homesick, nostalgic, or when I'm mopping the kitchen floor (like now), I play them all. Just take five minutes to listen. There is a message in everyone of these songs for everyone.






Don't look at the silly video, just listen to the words.

Stop Look and Listen

When the older kids were very young, my mom bought them a Richard Scarry video that had a song called Stop, Look and Listen. From the best I can remember, it was a song about street safety.

Over the last couple of days, I have had the chorus of the song swirling around in my head - but not in regards to street safety. This song has been going round and round in my head because of the high tech world that we live in. The words are something like this...

Stop, look and listen
You don't know what you're missing
Be smart and start to
Stop, look and listen
(I am sure I've completely just butchered the lyrics.)

Now before I go any further with this post, I need to come clean. I am VERY bad at returning phone calls, hence the answering machine message stating 'leave a message and maybe we'll call you back'. I am horrible at responding to emails. I like to read them (most of the time) and then take my time responding. I use to be really good at the hand written letter, but that too has gone out the door in the last few years. All of these bad traits are just part of who I am these days. Then add on top of it the fact that I am very pregnant and I've somehow managed to cut off communication even more. And for the remainder of the disclaimer, you should know that I have this blog, a MySpace page, a Facebook page and a Yahoo email account. Most all of these things were started because I wanted to know what people were talking about and stay educated.

But lately, I have been very frustrated. And the frustration is growing every single day. I am tired of our 'wired' world. I want to yell out the window for people to hang up the phone. I want to tell the person that is texting at the table to put the phone down. I want to yell at the people at the park to close the laptop and play. Or don't play, but watch. I am tired of laptops, cell phones and every other form of high tech communication.

Sure, I like to check my email on JC's Blackberry. It is neat and fun. And when I had a cell phone, I really enjoyed sending text messages to my friends or funny pictures of our kids at the dentist to my husband. But now being someone on the outside of the high tech loop, I can see that it is controlling everyone. Here are a few examples...

1. Teenager in the movie theatre texting during the whole movie.
2. 2 adults 4 kids sitting at a table next to us in IHOP. All four kids texting and dad talking on the phone. AT THE TABLE.
3. Astros vs. Cubs most of the people sitting in front of us were on the phone or texting the whole time.
4. Many different kids ages 10-12 over to play with our kids walking around with phones and texting with other kids while they should be out playing.
5. Friends using laptops at the park while their kids are off playing. (Now don't get me wrong, I don't always play with my kids at the park - but I have spent MANY hours engaging in adult conversation with the other moms while the kids were off playing.)
6. Adults on IPhone, Blackberry, laptop while at their child's sporting event or school performance.
And the list goes on and on and on.

And I wonder why we don't engage with each other anymore?

What could possibly be so important that you NEED to take the call and you are willing to be rude to the people at your own table, or the server or the others in the same restaurant by talking on your phone? Are you waiting for a heart transplant and got the call???? Is it Ed McMahon calling to say that you won the sweepstakes??

And don't even get me started on the computer and the social networking pages. I have been having a VERY difficult time understanding how my real life friends can spend hours and hours and hours a day posting and chatting and communicating with people in cyberspace. I understand wanting to stay connected. I understand what a useful tool these sites can be in the quest to reconnect with old friends. I cannot understand the time and the energy spent on wall writing, flower growing, friend requesting and the general things that come with the social sites. I get that these things can be fun, but they can also take over your life.

Is it so hard for us to pick up the phone and actually make a human connection with the people that we truly want to talk to? I understand that it is nice to say hello and touch base with someone you went to kindergarten with - and at the same time, where do we draw the line with these cyber relationships? I find myself surrounded by people that have built cyber-relationships with people that they actually know in real life and with people that they have never met but enjoy 'talking' to through the computer.

I am not sure how to balance these relationships out in my own life. With the people that I know and love I sometimes feel a bit frustrated and irritated by the amount of time they spend on the computer and 'talking' to people that they would never normally have a relationship with if it wasn't for the computer sitting in front of them. Hello??? When was the last time you actually picked up the phone and called someone that you really know and love and care for?????

And with the people that I just like to lurk around their blog pages and check out the pictures on their social sites, I sometimes have a hard time knowing that they aren't people in my real life - they are not walking and breathing right in front of my face - do they really NEED this much attention on a daily basis? I feel like most of the time, I am able to know when to quit and to turn the computer off. Stopping the cell service was the first big step to trying to completely engage my own family. Ignoring the computer and seriously limiting all computer time in our home has been another huge accomplishment.

I guess there is nothing that I can do about this wired world that we live in. JC and I can make sure that we are acknowledging the humans in our lives before the screens. I can make sure that the kids know how important it is to stop, look and listen to the PEOPLE and the WORLD around them - and not the plastic glowing boxes.

As far as my cyber loving friends...well, I can stop trying to understand why this is so consuming for some and go back to my normal curiosities. I am sure whatever the next techno-fad is, I'll figure out how to manage it. I just know that I need to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground and both eyes firmly on the living breathing walking people and NOT the glowing box.

I am making an effort to Stop, Look and Listen.

Ugh. That's my rant for tonite. Hope I didn't piss anyone off.
love ~kc

These are MY People

I am thinking that there is a chance that this post could seem insensitive, but know that it is truly not my intention. You see, it seems that I have an insane amount of email messages and and even greater number of phone calls that I need to respond to. So I am gonna make a blanket response to everyone (or at least to you blog readers).

No...the baby hasn't come yet. Just know that when it does come, JC will be speedy to update the blog and send out the message to the family and friends. I am not able to remember if I gave daily updates regarding the status of my lower half for the other pregnancies - but I do know that I am not interested in doing it this time. Just not so much my style for people to know that business.

We are all doing well. I have been a little under the weather this week, so the kids and I have been staying close to home. I don't have a clue if the baby will be here in 1 day or 10 - but that is just kinda how it seems to go with me.

I have also been trying my hardest to spend some real quality time with our people that are actually out of the womb before the new one joins the clan. They are all really really excited and I am trying my hardest to make sure they all know how lucky this new kid is to have them for brothers and sisters.

This is a very bittersweet time for me. I am really looking forward to holding our new baby and I am also very sad because summer is almost over - and everyone knows that summer is my very favorite time of year. It just kills me that the fab four will head to school in less than a month. Not because we don't love their school or because we don't think they are getting an exceptional education - but for selfish reasons. I really like them and I REALLY love spending everyday (all day) with them. And on top of it, #4 starts kindergarten this year. Ugh...where has the time gone? (Now don't get me wrong, we've got two grounded from the computer for a week, one that won't stop hitting people and all of the other normal things that happen with kids in the summer. So I'm not at all implying that they are perfect or that I've got this parenting thing down.)

So anyhow, that is the update. I've got tons to blog about, but the truth is, the computer has not been a top priority for me lately. Just know that we appreciate you phone calls and kind emails and when the baby arrives, we will make sure that you all know.

love ~kc

P.S. The pic. above is us at Minute Maid Park on July 18. Gotta love those Astros!