The Problem with Honest Diapers...

Otherwise known as why you should never buy an Honest-Diaper-virgin Honest diapers...

I gave Honest diapers a whirl probably about 2 or 3 Black Fridays ago. They were 50% bundles (diapers and wipes) and it was Black Friday so I was in a trying and buying mood. There were six insanely cute prints I got to chose, they were delivered right to my door - no lugging around boxes of diapers and wipes at Sam's. 

Sweet. 

Well then we tried the diapers and wipes. 

And they were awesome. The diaper quality is so significantly better than Huggies or Pampers or our goto Sam's brand. They hold more pee and they lock in odor. The wipes are good too but the quality of the diaper is noticeable - even to the point that Mr. Quality Diaper Inspector himself talked about how much better they were. 

Then we ran out. 

And it was okay. I mean they are insanely expensive - which is why you shouldn't buy them because you kind of get hooked. Hooked on the cute print but more hooked on the quality of the diaper. 

Fortunately I have a $$$ saving coupon queen friend who got me a stash for bebe #5 when Target had Honest diapers on sale plus some other diaper-special-with-gift-card. So they were more in the reasonable diaper price range. So we'll be spoiled by most excellent diapers for more than a few months... whoop whoop!

I did get a BOGO deal on a bundle a few months ago to get A some diapers for the night. We put him in Honest at night because more pee + less smell = better mornings....

So in conclusion, if you are a penny pincher when it comes to diapers (which we are) steer clear of the clearance boxes of Honest diapers at Target....

A's nighttime diaper stash...

Panda, Thunderstorms, Dinos and Astronauts... Can you ask for anything cuter?

7QTs - Snow Daze, School Daze

Oh crazy days...

--- 1 ---

The girls has a pretty stellar Christmas break thanks to Christmas, extended sleepovers at both Grammy's and Jibbe's (courtesy of M's nasty, nasty cold virus that appeared 6 days before Christmas and stuck around until the 24th), and going to the Nutcracker:

That picture is most definitely from Dec 27 thanks to some wacky NC warm spell. Grammy, Lee and the two big girls went to the Nutcracker this year. I got to go last year but A has been a cling-on baby so no ballet for me. The Nutcracker is becoming a staple around here which is funny because Lee and I used to go when we were dating and first married but we stopped when E was born. Anyhow, R was super reluctant about it at first and E will likely start discussing the ins and outs of this year's trip in several weeks. 

---2---

Another staple around here is becoming the New Year's Day Brunswick stew making. Brunswick stew - or just Stew - is a Southern staple that I had no idea about (much like the corn pudding at Thanksgiving) until Lee and I got hitched. 

Jibbe has a fantastic recipe for it and making it has been a joint venture (mostly her - I just stir and add input) for the past several years. This year Lee was forced to play his hand in the stew making because A is being a cling-on child and wants to be asleep or held or nursing (more on that later). Anyhow, this year was a success and if you know where to get 2 large wooden spoon/paddles let me know, I'm in the market. 

---3---

In other weekly news, it snowed/flurried for more than a few minutes this week... 

Grandpa Joe's theory that if it thunders during winter, it will snow within 10 days was proven correct-a-mundo as he might say.  

A wasn't terribly happy about it 

E was thrilled!

I got several - I TOLD you it was going to snow reports from R


They bundled up and ran in the flurries for about 20 minutes sans M because she would have lasted a minute or two in the cold

---4---

I think we have a book problem... 

St. Nicholas brought me 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' and I still haven't read it yet because there are 55 million other books that the girls want to read

Reading with 3 kids is tough - let alone 3 kids plus a baby. Someone is always not where they want to be on the couch and cannot see the book and blah blah, blah blah. On this night E was at AHG (American Heritage Girls), and A was asleep so R and M and I snuggled up on the bed to read. If I did not have to physically put M in bed and they didn't fight - I think I could read to them until I fell asleep. 

---5---

So, how was everyone's first week back at school? Because this pretty much sums up ours: 

It has been pretty exhausting with a side of kicking and screaming for us. It didn't help that we had Theophany liturgy at 6:30 one night which included a stop at the school uniform store. Total side note, I got E 3 skirts for the year and one of them was not holding up at all so I called the store and they said to bring it in (totally inconvenient because its an hour away) and it turns out they 'determined' (in all of 34 seconds) that it was a manufacture defect in the fabric sooooo they gave us a new skirt (cool). 

Anyway, getting back to the groove has been interesting to say the least. I think I'm going to shrivel up like a raisin when Lee has to leave for work early. Seriously, I need to find and starting praying for help from the Patron Saint of Mad Dashes Out of the House. 

Anyhow, I'll just blast I WILL SURVIVE every morning as my theme song and we shall power through as usual. 

---6---

Speaking of powering through things, little A who is going to be 3 months next week (unreal I tell you) and little A who is going to get baptized and receive initiation sacraments on Sunday (yay!) and little A who I have been warring with over the past 2.5 weeks over this:

The bottle. A kinda drove me insane on Christmas because I could not put him down. It was either him screaming or me holding him. So I got it in my mind that I stopped feeling sorry for him on December 26 and it was time to get on the Bottle Train. 

No small task, I know. 

And I know everyone says you (the nursing mother) cannot give your baby a bottle (the babies can smell you and all this stuff) but I have the past two times with R and M plus Lee isn't exactly the best when it comes to screaming, helpless babies. Case in point, when he opts to make dinner, clean up, and bathe the kids over the 45 minutes it took to get A to drink ONE SINGLE OUNCE from a bottle - I'd take giving the bottle over all that work any day of the week. 

Well A and I battled over the bottle with a noodle-eating-poodle (see Fox in Socks) for a while. One ounce a day. He screamed and cried real tears and I did get sad for him at times but the kid must use a bottle and he finally turned a corner this week. Tuesday I think, he didn't put up a fight at all. Yesterday he tried to but he remembered our truce and took the bottle eventually. 

Nursing him is way easier though. He takes FOREVER with the bottle and I cannot do anything else when I give him the bottle (he likes to be flat on his back on the bed). 

---7---

This might accurately describe how I'm feeling this week. 

Getting back to work and school is kicking my tail. Case in point, today (Friday) I'm at work getting this project that's a few weeks in the making and A has a blow out of a diaper. My heart kind of sinks because I realize the outfit he is wearing was actually the outfit I should have put as the spare in his bag which means... he doesn't have a change of clothes. I wrap him up in a blanket, pass him off to the baby whisperer, and trudge out to the van (all the way across the freakin parking lot because PLEASE let's not talk about the parking situation at the office : ) in the hopes of finding an outfit from another day or even a spare set of M's clothes. No luck. 

I return with my head held low because we have another 95 minutes at the office and A has one gross outfit that all I can do is wipe off the mess and roll with it. 

Enter Nani (she's a pro at just about everything) has a change of baby clothes in her car. Imagine that.  A may have given me a weird look as I slipped the very light red (pink, ehem) polka dot onesie on but beggars can't be choosers now. 

So that pretty much sums this week up. I have 101 posts I want to do but this is all I have for now. 

Semana in Mi Life - Lunes

As if you didn't think I was crazy enough... Here's a peak into the nitty-gritty, survival-of-the-Kibbe part one of seven (also known as one of my favorite 7 days of blogging : ) 

A was up somewhere between 1:30 and 3 last night and I made the TERRIBLE mistake of picking up my phone - usually I cannot go back to sleep as easily... when will I learn???

I was up a little earlier than normal. Currently I'm into Isaiah with the prayer card from Lee's ordination - I mean Deacon Joseph, but I still haven't gotten used to that : ) - and I'm back into coffee (since having the bebe) and still have some Hazelnut left from my birthday

We hit Trader Joes yesterday and if by we, I mean I because really I'm not quite ready for shopping with 4 kids quite yet. TJs Frosted Wheats have tons of 'doubles' (connected) pieces and those are highly sought after around this breakfast table. I stuck a few packs of gold coins for St. Nicholas because that will be here before we know it!

I didn't quite get all the laundry done yesterday which is a problem given my philosophy on laundry - Saturday or bust. That's not to say I won't finish up what is in the washer or dryer on Monday (because Sundays I definitely don't don laundry). There's a load in the dryer, a load waiting to be dried on the counter (which I forgot about) and a load in the washer that also needs to be dried 

Hi sweet baby boy!

TJs was out of our favorite pumpkin muffins - as in both locations : ( which is a huge problem because we LIVE on those things. So I decided to give the Gingerbread mix a whirl. PS - loading the muffins with a scooper is way less messy. Last year I tried loading them with a turkey baster and that went over about as well as my first round of pound cake baking. 

M is such a scavenger. The girls have started to get up around 6:30 so there's a bit more time for the general riffraff a breakfast which is nice to not have to feel like I'm forced to rush them. Also, the gingerbread muffins were terrible - I thought. The ginger or molasses or whatever was super strong. Good thing Grammy is sending us so pumpkin muffin mix. 

E's uniform and this ruler-yard stick thing she convinced Grammy to let her bring home and bring for show and tell. Crazy thing is - I loved messing with that thing growing up. 

I wasn't in the mood to listen to A scream from the swing while we hustled around the house so to the sock/carrier/Beco/lifesaver. He wasn't happy about getting down. Also note the laundry on the bed that was fluffed but NOT folded before we left for school - reason number 2042735 why laundry is done on one day of the week. 

One minute later... A and I meet the girls in the chapel for prayers before school. E has the Christmas cards down (from last year) - they each pick a card and they pray for that person/family. Send us a Christmas card - you're getting prayed for year round, whether you like it or not! Today R chose to mope around and whine and cry and not do as she was told so her dessert was nixed for the day before 7:30

Ahhh... my front seat. Let's see - there is the sock/carrier, words to O Come Emmanuel, E's old set of sight word flashcards, a burp cloth, a blanket, my word notebook and 2 kid bags and a partridge in a pear tree. 

On the 15 minutes ride to school everyone cried or screamed over something... 

E - Not singing O Come Emmanuel in Latin - I started in English - where does her Latin obsession come from???

R - Singing in general - she was being pouty since the chapel/not being able to find her shoes/ getting her hair brushed

M - She took off her shoes and couldn't reach them

A - Unhappy about his state of being in the carseat and not eating

Sometime their screaming and antics get to me but now I just try not to laugh especially when 3 of 4 or 4 of 4 are wailing. 

I'm feeding A in the parking lot at preschool

M wants help getting her shoes on

R explicitly stated 'she's not helping' - fantastic

Successful day at the office with A. 

I pick up R and M from school. Find out R's got E's old church shoes on - this kid cannot keep up with shoes. Get school pics - which are way better than last year's. And listen to Rand M argue over A's sunshade 

They think it is hilarious hiding in the bushes

On the way home...

M - Silly An-due

R - He's not silly

M - Silly Annn-Due

R - He's not silly or funny eee-der

{she's in the same mood as I left her but apparently she had a good day for her teachers}

This is what happens when a 2-yr-old loads the school stuff - that would be R's spare set of clothes. 

Afternoon work has begun as M finishes up lunch. I definitely miss having E around for lunch. R has taken to playing with her Legos while she's gone. 

A is not getting into a deep sleep so he's been up most of the afternoon flipping between eating and the bouncy seat - because typing with one hand gets really old. 

Now for my FAVORITE part of the afternoon - the kind of afternoon that makes the craziness of working while still having the kids under foot in the afternoon. Stuff like this reminds me WHY I do what I do and that the insanity of some days is worth it. 

Papa had to bring his 'digger' back home so he could play with it some more because it is the end of the pool season. The guy who drives the truck that carries the digger and Lee are unstrapping it and he shouts to A - 'Boy, one day this will be yours!' 

Then I couldn't resist the Father-Son photo-opt

Then Lee said 'too bad he cannot run the controls'

A's not so sure...

E gets home from school and immediately make plans to pick more sweet potatoes with Jibbe later in the week - stay tuned for that.

And I thought a lot of paper came home from preschool... NOPE. 

M destroys R's handiwork while R and E are outside playing while I make very little headway at the cleanup of my work stuff, laundry and school stuff. Lee cleaned up the lunch stuff (yeah, I saw you - and I appreciate it) and I think it drives him totally nuts that I don't just put stuff directly in the dishwasher BUT he's got bigger fish to fry. 

We head to shop for E's school's can drive. Also known as Advent Activity #1. Eastern Catholic / Orthodox Advent starts 40 days before Christmas. We do a Jesse Tree (which we actually haven't started because we are slackers : ( and a weekly act of charity. 

Taking 4 kids shopping is an test of patience - in fact just loading them up in the car seems miraculous at times. Didn't I just say I wasn't ready for that??? 

All loaded up.. Now ask me how we are going to get this into school tomorrow - maybe, just maybe I'll remember to throw the stroller in the van and make my life that much easier : ) 

I'll try not to cry over this pic

Then we head out to dinner. Yep. As if shopping with 4 kids wasn't crazy enough we even took them out to dinner - only because it was the school's HSA/PTA function at a super kid friendly restaurant. We faired pretty well. A just wanted to be held and since I've mastered the art of living life without a free hand I just obliged. I put him down once just so I could scrape the dressing off my salad bowl and sure enough the kid woke up! And I happen to not be in a listen-to-sad-bebe-mood...

Papa had Bible Study so I was flying solo for bedtime. Mix in super tired baby and a toddler who can take off their own diaper and it could have been really interesting : ) I got A settled while the girls got ready for bed. Parenting when you are outnumbered is all about prioritizing who needs what and what can I do the quickest to meet the most people's needs... either that or a super guilty conscious -so A and I had a nice snuggle while the girls played

E - So I can have your Olaf forever

M - ...

E - Can I have it forever and ever?

M - Yes!

E - R, now I have an Olaf like you!

{nixed that one before she even came in the door to tell me about it}

Sometimes the bebe must be sad because Mama needs to go potty

We read... E read. No one got shoved off the couch. It was a good night

Even better because I snuck in 15 minutes of ab work before I started this post