All of Us

All of Us
At I's wedding in July 2019. Back row from left: My oldest D (27) and his wife B (27), My 6th K (16), My 3rd L (23), My 5th T (19), and my 7th A (14). Front row from left: My 9th Z (11), My 10th M (9), Me!, My new son-in-law L (23), My 4th I (22), my love D, My 2nd J (25), and my 8th M (11).

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Alphabet Meme

Borrowing from
Kathy
, here is my alphabet meme:



A is for August...my birth month and that of my daughter.
B is for Boys...I have 3.
C is for Children...I've been blessed with 7.
D is for Daryl...my best friend.
E is for Easygoing...an attribute of mine.
F is for Forty...my age.
G is for Girls...I have 4.
H is for Hope...it springs eternal.
I is for internet...I love it.
J is for Job...mother, wife, homemaker, teacher, chauffer, counselor, nurse, chef.
K is for my surname, same as my husband's, that I proudly took on our wedding day.
L is for La Leche League...I'm proud to be a Leader.
M is for Mimi...my toddlers' nickname for nursing.
N is for Never say never...my reply when people ask me if I'm "done" having babies.
O is for Overeducated....B.A. in Psychology, M.S.W. (Master's of Social Work), M.P.H. (Master's of Public Health)
P is for pink...my favorite color and Paula...me!
Q is for Quiet...something that I am not!
R is for religion...Catholic..
S is for Sprinter...my 10 passenger Dodge.
T is for Toddler...I've always got one, and I've learned to love them.
U is for University of Michigan...the noble institution where I met my hubby and got my education.
V is for Versatile...something I have to be.
W is for woman...so glad that I am one.
X is for excellent cook that I am (and modest too!) and excellent food that I make...pasta, caesar salad, blueberry pie, orange bread, blueberry waffles, lemonade.
Y is for your turn...tell us about you!
Z is for Zero...the number of times that I've wished I'm made different life choices.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005


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Another View


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I know I've posted pictures of the front of the house before, but here are some of the backside.

Ringing the Bell


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We have a cupola with a bell, and here is young D. ringing it.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Will this pool be ready to swim in by Memorial Day?


IMG_0407, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

That is the million dollar question. My pool boy (aka Daryl) assures me it will be. If it doesn't warm up significantly, I won't really care.

This is how it looked last weekend.

At the end of last summer, he drained more water than normal. When he opened it last weekend, the water level was very low, leading him to conclude that it was leaking. He spent some time calculating the evaporation rate in Michigan and comparing that with the number of inches of winter precipitation we had, and still concluded that it was leaking. After a conversation with a professional pool man, who told him what to do, he attempted to find the leak. When he couldn't find it, ever the optimist, he concluded that there really isn't one. Hmmm....

Next he proceeded to clean the leaves he left in there last fall and add some chemicals and some water. It is currently clear, but needs a lot of water and he says he is not ready to add it yet. Not sure what he is waiting for, since it will take more than a day to fill.

Fresh and Clean!


IMG_0405, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

K. emerges from the bath, raring to go (anywhere but to bed!)

She likes it!


IMG_0398, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Or she seems to. She readily opens her mouth, and then happily spits half of each spoonful out. What was on the menu? Organic baby rice cereal mixed with breastmilk.

First Meal


IMG_0395, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This is always a bittersweet moment for me. I love the months when my baby has had nothing that didn't come from me--purely and entirely grown by her mother. I love the milky smell, and even the tangy vinegary smell of the baby poops of an exclusively breastfed baby. Now that era is coming to an end, and this is the first of many steps toward independence.

Enough Already!


IMG_0409, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

But that's just the thing--we can't get enough of you! The months have flown by--too fast to believe it.

Here's Looking at You!


IMG_0408, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

6 Months!


IMG_0411, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Ceramic gifts


Ceramic gifts, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

The schools always have the kids make ceramic items as gifts, for Mother's Day and Christmas. This was the Mother's Day 2005 crop. I have quite a collection on the top of the piano!

Creative cards


Creative cards, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Clever cards


Clever cards, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

I received the nicest cards from my kids this year. They were sweet and sentimental, beautiful, clever and creative.

Happy Anniversary!

18 years today! Our most romantic anniversary yet, being celebrated in the way only parents can, by taking a child to the ER. Once again, I got a phone call while on my way home from picking up a child, informing me of a problem. "Tessa has a HUGE splinter!" Her older brother then kindly carried her upstairs to watch TV while they awaited my arrival. The splinter was about 1.5 inches long and several millimeters wide. It was totally visible, under the skin several layers, but not too deep. I made 3 attempts with my flat tweezers, but it would not budge, although I had a good grip on the end of it. I called Daryl, and he came home, bringing a pair of forceps from the lab. Still, it wouldn't budge. He considered slitting the skin with his pocket knife (he harbors fantasies of being the OTHER kind of doctor--LOL) but decided he should leave that to the professionals.

J. just came down and informed me that she can't sleep because she doesn't feel good--her stomach hurts. The fun just never ends!

Sincerely, I am very glad to be travelling this road with this man, but I do wish the road had been a little smoother today.

Mother's Day 2005

Woke early after not sleeping well--stiff and sore joints. Kids made me breakfast: sausages and a bagel. Daryl went to see his mom and the kids folded ALL the laundry that I washed last week during the lice outbreak. I showered, had time to file my fingernails AND trim my toenails! Woohoo!

We went to mass, and Daryl met us there. K. was behaving very badly so Daryl took him home and put him in bed for a nap. When we returned, he went and picked up sandwich makings from Zingerman's. We had a most delicious lunch. I took a post lunch siesta.

Then everyone hung out and relaxed--I painted my toenails and read some of this month's book club selection, "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. This book is about punctuation, and believe it or not, is quite amusing.

The kids presented me with a variety of homemade gifts and potted flowers. I cleverly asked that they immediately dig holes and plant the flowers. I also received a bouquet of roses from the kids: 4 red for 4 girls and 3 white for 3 boys. Daryl had also brought me a bouquet.

After our large, late lunch, we weren't too hungry for dinner, so we visited Screams Ice Cream in Hell, Michigan for ice cream cones.

The rest of the evening was spent doing the usual Sunday night activities: baths, procrastinated homework, kitchen cleanup. All in all it was a very nice day.

Off to a Rough Start

I woke on Monday feeling energetic, and finished paying those bills from last week, got kids dressed and fed and off to yoga we went. Lucille, a limber 83 year old woman, has a yoga studio in her home, which is located in a beautiful wooded area. The class is for pregnant women and moms and tots. We had a great class, and when we returned home, I made myself a nice salad for lunch. K. wasn't hungry but T. ate lunch. Then I changed K., who had a complete blowout requiring a clothes change. Loose stools I attributed to something he ate. A few minutes later he had another one. Hmmm...Put him down for a nap, began homeschooling T., and then he woke crying about 45 minutes later, covered in vomit head to toe. While bathing him, A. started to scream, but I couldn't get her because I was busy with his bath. Luckily, just as I got him out, J. walked in the door. She was able to hold A. for the next few minutes while I dressed K. , stripped his bed, and threw the bedding in the wash. He continued to have diarrhea the rest of the afternoon and evening, necessitating many clothes changes.

So the bills never got put in the mail, and the only laundry washed was the poopy, vomity stuff. Luckily we had leftover sandwich makings from yesterday for dinner.

I called Lucille to let her know that she and the other small children who were sharing our snacks were all exposed to this violent stomach bug.

My catching up from last week was totally derailed, and I am seriously praying that I don't sick, too.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Is it over yet?

The week, I mean.

Monday featured a field trip to Independence Lake, a recreation area, with I's 2nd grade class. The kids see and hear a presentation about amphibians which includes slides, recordings of frog and toad calls, and live frogs and toads to hold. From there you go out to the swamp, also known as a vernal pool, scoop up muck from the bottom using a large net, and dig through it for living things like snails, crawfish, bugs, and eggs. The weather was absolutely delightful, featuring both rain and snow. This activity is followed by a picnic, usually outdoors, but we ate indoors due to the inclement weather. On the way home it hailed large chunks of ice, astonishingly hard, leaving a one inch coating on the ground.

Tuesday J. went to the orthodontist, a place that is always a little nerve wracking to take the little ones to, since it is located in a beautifully restored historic mansion. The waiting area is luxurious and quiet. Thankfully, they are always on time, so the wait was very short. I was requested to come into the exam room, which is unusual. After 2 years of spacers, braces and retainers she is hardware free! She doesn't need to wear the retainer any more.

Wednesday morning was a La Leche League meeting which I was leading. As a Leader I should get there early to help set up and be prepared, but I skated in just as the meeting was supposed to begin. It was a good meeting. The official title was "The Advantages of Breastfeeding" but I decided to focus on the emotional aspects rather than just the health, convenience, and economic advantages that are usually discussed. I asked moms what their baby would say the biggest advantage is, and I asked them how breastfeeding had changed them as a person. A nice discussion ensued.

That evening we discovered nits in L's hair. We knew he'd been exposed to head lice, and had checked several days prior and found nothing, so were relatively unconcerned. We've never had lice before, and I'd always dreaded it. Luckily he was the only one with any, and he has short, sparse hair. I wasn't sure at first that they were nits, although they did cling to the hair shaft like glue as described, but we examined one under the kids' microscope, and compared it to photos we found on this website: www.headlice.org. I kept him home the next morning and combed them all out. He had around 20 or so. He stayed home the rest of the day and after finding his head clean the next morning I sent him to school. I spent the rest of the day vacuuming furniture and laundering bedding. The psychological scalp itching has been the worst part for me.

Thursday night I. had a 2rd grade concert, featuring singing. It was nice, but made the evening challenging. I started out behind due to Mt. Washagain in the laundry room, and was trying to pay the bills. I lost track of time while trying to get Quicken to do a year end file saving and creating a new one, which not only didn't work, but seemed to crash the program making my file unrecoverable. ARGHHH! False alarm, I was able to restore the checkbook file.

I took I. to her piano lesson, but was now 15 minutes late to pick up J., inconveniencing her soccer coach, who waited until I arrived, despite my phone call assuring him that I was almost there and he didn't need to wait, since she was outdoors at the highschool where there are crowds of people attending many other events, making it a safe place to wait. D's practice ended at the same time as J's so I was even later to get him, but his coach didn't feel compelled to wait. I raced home, getting a phone call just as I approached the house informing me that "Keegan had a blowout." He was soaked, and when I changed him I discovered his apparatus was pointed up (not how I'd left it so he must have been exploring). I raced out the door and took J. to piano and picked up I. Then I went back to get J. 20 minutes later, at 6pm. In between I threw together leftovers, cheese crisps, sandwiches, for the kids to eat. Then off to the concert at 6:45pm. When we returned, as I walked in the door I smelled the unmistakable odor of poop. I was quickly informed that K. had ANOTHER blowout, #2 this time. D. had swabbed him off with wet hand towels (has he never heard of a diaper wipe, or "butt wipe" as they are known in our house?) K. had refused to get in the bath because D. had unknowingly tried to lure him in with a large swimming turtle that K. is terrified of in the bath. He loves it when he is outside the bath and it is in. I cleaned up the heap of poopy clothes and towels, tracked down K. and put him in the bath. Daryl went upstairs with antibacterial wipes and wiped off the remote and several other items that K. had managed to smear.

Friday dawned with me feeling a little depressed and overwhelmed. The kitchen was a wreck, the bills still weren't paid, Mt. Washagain hadn't diminished in size, and we were completely out of fruit, milk and several other staples, like diapers in A's size. I attempted to whine to my depressed sister, but she was easily able to one-up me in a game of "who is having the worst day." I was able to wrap one of K's big diapers around A. and after successfully whining to a friend on the phone, off we went. We stopped at the Golden Arches for sustenance and then visited Meijer, a store that is similar to a Super W--a grocery store combined with a low cost array of "stuff" ranging from lawn chairs and bbqs to clothing to toys. I detest this store because of its poor service and unpleasant atmosphere, but it defines one stop shopping, not to mention low cost. This store has an unusual bagging arrangement. As the cashier fills bags she loads them onto a small bag carousel and keeps turning it. It is the customer's job to take the bags off the carousel and put them in the cart. However, if you have a large order, which I invariably do, since I avoid this store if it all possible, so when I go I need EVERYTHING, you are still unloading your cart when the carousel is full, since they don't put very many items in their flimsy plastic sacks. The cashier then proceeds to stand there and WATCH while you stop unloading your cart to remove the bags and put them in another cart, if you are so lucky to have one. A typical response is, *Heavy sigh* "I suppose you're going to need a second cart?" as they phone for someone to bring a cart over to their register. On Friday I had to snag my own extra cart from an employee passing by. The cashier stood there staring off into space, completely ignoring me and the 3 small children I had just finished dragging through the store for 90 minutes, as I loaded the bags into the cart and then resumed my unloading of the $300 of groceries onto the belt. At one point I attempted to ask her a question, but after 3 attempts all I got was "Are you talking to me?" She was apparently trying to wait on me while pretending that I was not actually there. I then informed her that I would need assistance pushing the 2nd cart out of the store. This was greeted by another sigh, and she grudgingly phoned for help.

(Only once while shopping at this store have I had a cashier bother to put a sack into my cart. When I commented on her behavior she told me that it is store policy that they still must help any customer that needs it, especially those with small children. I was astonished and told her of my past experiences. She said that many cashiers are unaware of the store policy on this issue.)

One of my purchases at Meijer on this day was a large bottle of premixed margaritas, and I was planning to have a little "happy" hour. On my way up the hill from the car to the house, it slipped from my hand, dousing my feet and the path with broken glass and mighty tasty smelling margaritas.

I took the kids to Dairy Queen (they ask me to take them EVERY DAY! As if.. LOL) On our way home after ruining our dinner, Daryl called. He was just departing the retirment party of his former advisor and colleague. The official party was over but people were heading to a local restaurant/pub with a beautiful patio and backyare, one of our former hangouts and a place I love but rarely go these days. He said he would meet us at the 7pm piano recital. I was counting on his help with dinner, or I would have once again served "whatever" had I known he wouldn't be there. I rushed through the barbequing of hamburgers, cleaning up of faces and out the door again. Daryl was late, and K. felt he needed to speak to me in his loudest voice, so after a few minutes, I had L. take him outside, where, thankfully, there was a playground. Daryl arrived just in time to change the recently filled diaper of K. :) He missed the girls' performances but after the recital during the refreshments they got back on stage and played for him.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

All of Us


All of Us, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Clean up good, don't we?

T. (5), I. (7), and L. (9) in front row.

J. (11), Grandma (D's mother), D. holding A. (5 months), Paula holding K. (22 months), D. (12).

First Communion


First Communion, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

I. received the sacrament of Holy Eucharist for the first time on April 30.

I Want To Be the Baby


I Want To Be the Baby, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Yes, he does have this issue!

Troublemaker Boy


Troublemaker Boy, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

As he is affectionately known to us.

A Girl's Best Friend


A Girl's Best Friend, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

A. is supported by Spot. She can sit up on her own for a short time, then over she goes!

Five!


Five!, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Birthday Girl


Birthday Girl, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Preparing to blow out the candles on her rainbow cake. Those are m&ms forming the stripes of the rainbow.

About Me

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SE Michigan, United States
Mother to 10 fabulous kids, ages 9 to 27 years! Mother-in-law to 2 more awesome young adults! Married for 32 years to my best friend.

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