So, on late Sunday afternoon we headed back, hoping that the kids would rest, the baby would sleep and we would make it home in time to order take out and watch some DVR-ed shows.  Most people who travel The Pass stop “at the top” to take in the beauty, stretch, and use the state provided bathrooms.  As we passed that last rest area before “the top” I realized that I was cutting it a little bit close in terms of that state provided bathroom.  But, hey, I have a teacher bladder and I am sure I can make it.

Then we hit traffic.

Bad traffic.

Backed up for miles, bad traffic.

I am sure we’ll be along shortly.  We all thought.

So, to pass the time time (no pun intended) and to take my mind of the every-growing need to pee, I pulled out my camera.

Here is Jade’s vote for our Christmas picture 2010.  What is clear to me, is that we need a bigger car.

Entertaining the baby.

After a while I noticed that there were children playing on the freeway.  I then started to fear for my bladder.

Facebook updates informed us that we were looking at 10 miles of backups and a possible 2 hour delay.

I looked to my right — only to see a sheer rock face.  No hope for a behind-the-tree emergency potty break

I looked to my left — only to see tons of oncoming traffic. This is the one are of The Pass that does not have a center median.  No relief there.

I spotted possible salvation parked behind us.

This is one of those times I don’t think I am going to be able to talk Dave into helping out.  There is no way he is going to walk up to that camper, knock ont he door, and ask if his wife can use their bathroom.  Besides, it might have a serial killer inside, or really mean outdoorsmen.

Luckily, 90 minutes after we stopped, the lane next to us starting moving.  The camper pulled in next to us, and then pulled ahead, and as I saw my last hope drive off  I shouted, “FOLLOW THAT POTTY!”  And we did. 

I made it just in time.

Even teacher-bladders have their limit.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

But, perhaps, the hardest thing about being in a family with 5 kids spread over a 13 year age span is that we really don’t fit in anywhere. 

Here is what I mean.  We have friends with school-age kids slash teens and we have friends with preschoolers… but we are the only ones we know that have both.  And this amounts to an incredible feeling of not fitting in… of isolation.  One might think it would be the oppposite, but it really isn’t.

We face teenage issues about making good choices, fights with friends, and hormones  right alongside potty training, learning the ABCs, and well-baby check ups.

We are never in the “Same Place” for long.

Add to that and I am not really a throw-the-baby-in-a-sling-and-climb-a-mountain type of gal.  I am a stay at home read-a-book-while -snuggling-on-the-couch-eating-take-out type of gal and it gets pretty lonely.   

I try to look at it this way: My adventure IS my family, IS my parenting, IS how to get the laundry done, IS how to stay within our budget and so forth.   And I am actually happy with that arrangement.  But there are times when I wish we could throw ourselves into just one place and live our life in that place for a while…but we can’t.  So, we watch… a lot.  And work hard.  And sleep when we can.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

5:30am – Dave leaves to get to his 7:30am job interview in city located 25 minutes south. 

7:00am – Emme wakes up a bit early, so I choose to forgoe my early shower (afterall, grandma is in town so I will have time later!).

7:20am – Stumble downstairs.  Jade is all ready for school and Ty and Emme and Grandma are all waking up slowly in the living room.  I grab a cup of coffee and settle in for what should be a nice, well-planned day. I say a little prayer for Dave that his interview goes well.

7:59am – Jade leaves for school.

But then…

8:00 am – Ty informs me that he played a joke on daddy and has hidden daddy’s keys.  What? Where?

8:01am – Ty reveals Dave’s work keys to the school and classroom, plus his ID badge.  I have an “a ha” moment about the remark last night when Dave said, “I can’t find my keys.”

8:03am – Text Dave, “Ty hid yr keys. We have them here if U need them.”

8:05am – Dave calls to inform me that they moved his interview back to 9:15am and that he is on his way home to get his keys.  I do mental math (not my strong point, by the way) and realize by the time he gets home, he will have only about 10 minutes before he will need to get back into his car and head back to his interview.

8:07am- Izzy asks me, “Will you flat iron my hair for 6th grade graduation today?”  Yes, go get flat iron and plug it in in Jade’s bathroom where there is more counter space.

8:08am – Load Izzy and Lily’s fancy dresses into garbage bags because it has started pouring down rain.

8:10am – Izzy and I head down to bathroom to work on her hair.  Ty trails behind us to watch.

8:11am – Ty touches the hot part of the flat iron.  Screams, “I touched it on accident!!!!!”  I pick him up and run to the other bathroom because Jade’s sink backs up really easily.  Run finger under cold water for several minutes.  Carry sobbing 5 year old to kitchen and put on bandaid.  Hold him.  Carry him back to Jade’s  bathroom

8:15am – Dave arrives home.  Ty runs from bathroom to get a hug from Daddy.  I begin flat ironing hair.

8:19am – Flat ironed hair looks pretty darn good. 

8:20am – Walk down the hallway and question Dave’s outfit choice for interviewing.  I run upstairs to the closet to see if I can do better.  I can’t. 

8:22am – Return downstairs to Ty and Emme screaming  in Dave’s arms.  Loudly.  I don’t ask.

8:23am – I sit on big chair and go into an alternate universe where they have unicorns.

8:26am – Microwave my coffee and take my first sip.

8:29am – Dave starts to leave, but kids are still screaming.  I got it, I say.  Just go. Oh, and good luck on your interview.

8:30am – Ty tackles me on the big chair.  Cries some more.  I use deep breathing techniques to get him to relax.  Emme decides to walk around the living room with a dishtowel over her head and discovers that this can cause her to run into things. 

8:35am – Izzy and Lily (remember them?) gather stuff to get ready for school.

8:45am – Neighbor girl shows up to pick up Izzy and Lily and they head out the door.

And to wrap it all up…

8:45am to 1:15pm – a short hiatus where  I debrief Dave’s interview, finally get my shower, throw in a load of laundry, eat breakfast, fix lunch, put Emme down for a nap, put on nice clothes for aforementioned 6th grade graduation, pack a snack and camera for the afore aforementioned graduation, help grandma pack a picnic for upcoming swim meet, watch Ty’s “battle show” on TV.

2:00 to 5:30pm – All 8 of us (including Grandma Bloo) attend a 90 minute 6th grade graduation where Emme tries to steal the show multiple times by shouting “YA YA” at the top of her lungs and performing 1 year old dance moves to all the music from the slideshow.  Then Grandma, Dave, and I put hands in a circle and yell “BREAK” and run in three different directions.  Me to dentist with Jade and Ty, Grandma to swim meet with Izzy and Lily, Dave to home with Emme. We exchange seven texts and four phone calls between us — none while driving — and I finally arrive home before the rain starts up again only to read an email that reveals that Lily is on the wrong soccer team for the Fall. Seriously?

5:31 to 7:38pm – Eat some form of food, have talk with Dave about why he doesn’t take me on fancy dates any more, discover there is no toilet paper in our bathroom, and realize the underwire in my bra is trying to empale me.

7:39pm – -Open beer.

7:40pm – Make a mental note to not forget anything on tomorrow’s agenda.

7:41pm- Drink beer

The End.  Well, not really.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Other than the whining, which clearly means “Give me the damn camera!” she will only speak four words. The rest of the time she babbles CONSTANTLY and LOUDLY in what can only be described as the perfect hybrid of Chinese and Yiddish… Or Jawa (for those Star Wars fans out there).  Her favorite American words are  “Uh Oh” which she uses liberally.  “Uh Oh” is followed by “Cookie” which sounds more German than American… as if she is clearing her throat, “KKCKCKKKCK…” Then comes “Night Night” and finally “YA YA” which she uses in reference to any and all family members.  I have to admit, creating one name for every member of this family is pretty darn effecient, and I gotta admire that.  Brilliant.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

The only time he ever deviated from his rescue plan was when we found the largest, crunchiest, gnarliest looking spider crawling along our kitchen floor.  I mean, this thing was TROPICAL it was so nasty.  At the time we had this wonderful cat, Bree, who likened herself a huntress (and proved it on more than one occaision).   As I stood atop the kitchen table, Dave — as usual — ever so gently put our largest drinking glass over the top of the spider, but then he said, “Here Kitty Kitty.”  As Bree approached the caged spider, Dave lifted the glass and Bree had herself a nice tasty spider morsel for dinner that night.  I can still hear the crunching.  When I asked him why this type of death for his friend the spider was okay (as opposed to being squished by a shoe or waded up paper towel) he came back to his old standard.  “Well, the spider died in the wild, eaten by its natural predator.”  I guess he failed to consider that large jelly jar styled drinking glasses to not randomly descend on spiders in the wild.

Last Friday, however, the world was made right — tilted back into balance, if you will.

The temperature had reached 65 degrees here in the Seattle area and so we decided to dine al fresco for dinner.  As we were wrapping up our meal Jade – age 14 – noticed the smallest little spider on the table, crawling right along the edge.  She pushed back her chair and started to do that high pitch talking that only dogs can hear, “OOOH, a spider… ooh….ooh…”  Well, I said, why don’t you smash it?  “Nooooo….!!!” she screeches.  Okay, I say, you have two choices.  You can smash it or you can pull “a Dave” and rescue it and release it into the wild. “EEEEWWWW,” she says.  “EWWWW!!!”  She then curled herself into a ball and started to shiver.

“Oh” says Ty  — age FIVE — ” I know the choice!!!!  DESTROY IT!”  He then leans over with his napkin, smashes it into bits and smiles at me.

Problem solved.

I can now rest easy at night.

But we all had to vow not to tell Dave.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

This time, I put some restrictions on their photos.  I told them they could each take only ten pictures.  I wanted to focus their eye — so instead of just random, scatter-shots, the kids would really think about what they wanted to document and preserve.

I think you will be pleased with the results. Here are some samples:

First up, Lily (10).

White Shell

"Destroyed" Crab in Pirate Fort (actually, its plastic)

Next is Izzy (12):

Shoes, Sand, and Seaweed

Self Portrait

Next up, Jade — our resident teenager (14):

Sunset over the Saratoga Passage

Sister at Sunset (sounds like a Magic Treehouse book!)

I’m actually really impressed with Jade’s photos.  Due to a fluke, she ended up shooting her photos on “Aperture Priority.”  Which means, the photographer sets the aperture or F-stop (or controls the BLUR in the background) and the camera will select the shutter speed.  It’s not terribly advanced, but it is a step up from shooing on automatic.  Here’s another one:

Garden Outside Bunkhouse (where the TV fell on her).

And last, Ty (4).  Okay, so he was in a hurry that morning.

Jade's Leg and Back Patio Tile

What was the most fascinating for me was that each child took a completely unique set of pictures!  So, I ended up with 40 pictures of our little vacation spot and I got to do THIS while they “Slaved Away”:

Picture by Grandma Bloo.  Don’t you just LOVE my flirtatious pose?

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

But, I will say, that a good vacation is still something that I look forward to.  Even though with a baby it still means diapers and sleep issues, I find that dealing with those things without “life” is a welcome change. This spring break we went to a place that caters to hermits and recluses like me.  Whidbey Island and our new found vacation home is only about 90 minutes door-to-door from our home.  The part of the island we visited was near Langley and it is a sleepy little village town. Here is city hall:

Langley City Hall

It makes me want to move there!

We found a grocery store that mostly sold milk in glass bottles… from a DAIRY! Luckily we were able to find some in plastic jugs, so we were good.

We always hit up the local bookstore.  There is nothing quite like a small island bookstore:

Here is where Dave and I talked about major life decisions (notice beach in background):

And here is the pirate fort on the beach:

This is the kind of place where the kids walk outside and play for hours.  This is the kind of place where you actually have to watch where you step because of how many shells are littered on the beach. We say gray whales, herons, and bald eagles.  We cannot wait to go back!

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Oh yeah. If you have kids you all know that trips to the ER are a part of the deal.  But when you have five kids, lets just say they are a regular part of my monthly  planning.  Pick up birthday gifts, buy milk, spend evening at hospital, wash the car…..

We’ve had trips for a broken leg, a major bump to the head, a lip laceration, a mysterious stomach illness, pneumonia, and much much more.  Each comes with its own story.  Here’s the most recent.

So, on our recent family trip, we decided to add HEAD LACERATION to the list.

The story is quite simple, actually.  Jade and Lily were trying to close the sticky bottom drawer on the dresser in their room — upon which rested a large TV set. Said sticky drawer continued to stick.  Jade and Lily, however, continued to force it, thus creating a rocking motion that sent the TV plummeting off the dresser.  And, Jade (in true Jade -form) pushes her little sister out of the way and then catches the TV and thus prevents any deduction to our damage deposit.  BUT, before she catches the TV it ricochets off her head. Yup, her HEAD.

So, Dave got to drive her along dark country roads in the middle of the night, following a map, to the local island hospital.  They almost gave her stitches, but came away with her wound glued back together.  Seen here after a day of healing:

Jade and her Head Lac

It looked worse the night before. 

So, the day after her “ordeal,” Jade says to me, “Yeah, the doctor told me that I cannot shower or take a bath until the laceration heals.”  And then she sorta slumps down and shakes her head back and forth.  

Dave, however, sits straight up and says, “That is NOT what the doctor said.”  He looks at me, shakes HIS head.  Looks back at Jade and says, “The doctors said to be careful not to get the wound wet while bathing or showering.”  Jade looks right back at him as if he is speaking Spanish or Farsi or Japanese.  Shrugs.  Then walks off.  Dave looks at me and asks, “WHY DOES SHE SAY THINGS LIKE THAT?”  I say, “8th grade girl.”  I Shrug. And then walk off.

Over a week later and life has returned to normal.  We are back into our life here in the burbs, I am buried under laundry, kids are going in different directions.  One Tuesday night I head over to the junior high and pick Jade up from track practice.  It was a cold, blustery day and Jade is shivering when she hops in the mini-van.  I look at her and say, “OH, I am so glad that you are about to jump in the shower to warm up!”

Wait for it.

“Oh,” she replies, “I can’t shower.”

“Why,” I ask in complete innocence.

She then lifts her hair to reveal her head wound.

So she really did think Dave was speaking Spanish or Farsi or Japanese.

“Do you remember the conversation with Uncle Dave about this?”

Blank Look.

“Do you mean you have not showered since  vacation?????!!!??!”

Blank Look.

“GET THEE TO A SHOWER!”

We arrive home and I say to Dave, ” Why does she do things like that?”

“8th grade girl,” he replies.

(I bet he had been carrying that one around  just waiting to use it.)

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

I remember the day she was born.  I had to rent a car and drive to my hometown in order to be there for her birth.  I was lucky that I worked for someone at the time who valued important family events over whatever it was that I would have gotten accomplished that day.

We waited and waited and waited outside the room. I literally had my ear pressed to the door of the room when I heard her very first  little baby cry.  I held her only moments later and I thought, “Oh My God (not OMG, but a real prayer) this is unconditional love.  This is it!”  I was completely stunned at the feeling.  I would never love anyone the way I love her because she actually TAUGHT me to love. Just by being born.

Now she lives with me and is my oldest.  Everyday I hope that I am “enough” for her — that although I cannot replace mom and dad, that she knows I love her so deeply, so profoundly that even when I want to pull my hair out over “8th grade girl-ness” I would never want anyone but her as my oldest. I cannot believe that 14 years has gone by and that she is so close to entering high school.  As I sat on our big chair with her tonight after the family birthday party,we thumbed through her brand new cookbook and tried to find a good recipe for to try.  It felt a bit like hanging out with a friend. She has always been a kindred spirit. We are both alpha females, both emotional, both resistant to change and both sarcastic to a fault.

A year ago for her 13th birthday a group of women gathered around her and proclaimed her value, her worth, her preciousness before us and before God.   

I am so glad I don’t have to do it alone and that there is an amazing collection of women to embrace her and remind her of her worth.  

I mean, other than the fact — as is so very obvious in the photo — that we’re a bunch of hooligans-turned-party animals. 

So, Happy Birthday Jade.  You are dearly loved.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

It wasn’t an easy thing to decide to bring another child into an already bustling family of 6.   But, to be honest, my heart would not rest… I could not stop yearning for another baby.  We found out that I was pregnant on the 4th of July 2008.  And to be honest, we were not 100% prepared for the news.  To say she was “unplanned” would be acting like  a teenager  – in other words, we knew what we were doing.  But, the news still had a bit of a “wow” factor to it.

She came into this world and immediately changed it. When I look at my two babies, I can say I love them the same amount.  That my depth of love for Ty and for Emme both runs deep, fathomless, to the heavens and back again.  But whereas my love for Ty could be described as moonlight — all mystical and magical and mysterious — my love for Emme is a sunrise — bright and celebratory and joyful.

Emme at 1 Week Old by Jessica Nichols

She has taught me many many things. 

Lately she has taught me that no matter how often I sweep and mop (even with my uber shark steam mop) she will find that infinitesimal speck from 20 feet away, crawl her chubby little bum right off to get to it, and consume it before any of the 6 of us can stop her.

Mostly, she has taught me that no matter what I “expect” she is going to suprise me.  She put me into labor only 6 hours before my planned (yes, the “no labor” planned) C-section.  I can put her down in the crib WIDE AWAKE and walk away from her and she will roll over and go to sleep for 14 hours.  This still has a shock factor for us.  

Although my husband was overwhelmed and worried about bringing another child into our life, he took one look at her and fell madly in love.  She is drawn to him to the exclusion of others.  She will smile so big sometimes that I think her face is going to break.  I have never smiled like that.  And, I am sure that I have never felt the joy that she feels, the exuberance for life that she exudes from all her little chubby, yummy parts.  She literaly and figuratively spreads her arms wide and grabs hold of the world around her and then devours it… me… with her smile, with her sense of hope, with her pure sweetness.  

I did not expect any of that.  I did not expect that I would love her so much.  I did not expect that there would once again be a person in my life that I cannot live without. 

I did not expect that Ty would want to suck on her toes and calls her “his baby“.  Or that Jade would stare into her eyes, turn to me, and exclaim, “We are so lucky to have her!” Or that Izzy would invent games to teach her how to put that darn Cheerio into her mouth.  Or that Lily would crawl around on the floor, following her around the house just to keep her safe.

So, today is Emme’s birthday. 

We named her Emme because the meaning of her name is “complete” or “whole.”  And that is what she made this family…complete….whole.

Emme Rose

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

©2010 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.