Yes, I am thankful

for my sleeping baby
and

my little pigtailed girl!

New Hobby

I am trying to master a new hobby. I thought maybe it would be fun to learn how to decorate cakes. Since Mason will be having Baptism soon I thought this cake pan would be great to start with. However I think I need some more practise. I need to make sure that I am not the one eating all the cakes I will be making while I practise! I think next time I will use pastel colors.

Christmas Letter

Dear Santa,

This is going to be my first Christmas with my family. I am the newest member. From what I can tell so far my Mommy does alot of work. She makes sure my sisters and I are very well taken care of. She wanted a new pair of jeans the other day but put them back and got something for Jade instead. I can't tell you what it is though because its for Jade to get at Christmas time. So maybe this year you could bring my Mommy what she wants, a new house. Well, it don't have to be brand new but maybe just the one that she really wants. I will enclose a few pictures for you to look at. Oh and I showed my grandpa the house. There is a slight water problem in the basement. Maybe you could have your elves put up rain gutters. My dad is sometimes a bit slow at getting stuff like that done. I think that would solve the water problem. Also one more thing if you can please bring Mommy that pair of jeans too. I don't know the size. You can just guess. Hers don't fit well. She said its my fault but that its ok because she loves me.

Thank You Santa.

Love, Mason D. Wynn

Ps. If your elves have time maybe they can take the carpet out of the living room and put some hardwood floors in the kitchen and living room. My mom would think that is super awesome!

Busy weekend

On Saturday the kids and I got up and headed to Grandma Robin's house. The three big kids stayed with Grandma for a girl's day. Aunt Molly and Faith joined them and they went to McDonalds for a treat. I took Mason with me and attended a great little get together with some high school friends I graduated with 10 years ago. It was alot of fun to talk about what we have all been doing the last year. We were always called the 6 peas in a pod so pea pods where the theme! My friend who put the party together did a wonderful job! There is already talk about getting together next September. I do have to say my pea pod friends could never ever be replaced! We've got some great memories!
Oh just an FYI our class did have a 10 year reunion but sadly only part of the class was invited. Ya think after 10 year they would have grown up by now but I guess not. Oh well its much more fun to have our own reunion!

Sunday we met my family for dinner. We celebrated my brother Matt's 21st birthday. I can't believe he is that old already. I remember when my dad bought a farm and Matt was just a year old. We used to push him in a stroller around the barn. We even got the pleasure to visit with Ted who came home from Wyoming! Oh and the best part about Sunday was both my brother's finally held Mason!

Well I will keep this short for today!

My baby Mason is 4 weeks old today!

In a perfect world...

So maybe some of you are wondering what I did on Tuesday when I had the day off. Maybe others just don't care. Well, I am going to tell you either way! I went to the newspaper place in town and paid more money to extend my ad in the paper for daycare. These ads in our local paper kind of seem like a no win situation. Sometimes you put an ad in and get tons of calls other times you get nothing. This is week 3 of my ad. Of course it costs money to make money. I do not have any new kids starting because of my ad in the paper. The child who was supposed to start tomorrow isn't starting now.

So after that the 2 little ones and I took a drive. We drove for an hour and looked at a house! Now I have driven by this house before and saw it was for sale. Something about it had caught my eye. Maybe that it looks well kept up from the outside. Maybe location. Maybe a little bit of both. I feel this need to move. How? When? Why? Where? You might be wondering these things. Well so am I. I have no idea if this is even slightly possible. I have no idea if it can work. Yes, we should have thought about this 1.5 years ago. We have 2 houses where we are at now. One we would gladly give away (renter and drama included)!

Anyways, I hadn't told anyone I was going to but I met the realtor there and looked at the house. Strangely as I was waiting for him to show up the neighbor lady with 2 small children of her own came over to visit with me. Here her Husband drives here to work every day. So I guess people do drive for work. Ok so I was kind of hoping that the house would be in terrible shape. I was hoping it would be dirty. I was hoping it would be a terrible lay out. I was really hoping the worse. Well, it was a great layout, clean, very well kept, and great use of space kind of house. So did I like it. Yes, too much. I didn't want to like it. It would have made it easier to be happy where I am at. If you have seen my sister's house it is some what similar. Very comparable. It is a bit smaller than our current home but has potential for a 4th bedroom. The 4th bedroom is complete except would need a window. The one draw back to the home is the garage is only a one car and we currently have a 2.5 car garage that we love. Its possible in time though a garage could be added in the back of the house you would enter through an alley. The home was built in 1985. The owners have passed away and the children now own the home but live hours away and very much want to get it sold.

In a perfect world the realtor would have been more professional and wouldn't have started smoking while he was showing me the yard (remind you that I did have the 2 little ones with me). In a perfect world we could list our current home and it would sell for what we were told it was worth (looked a 2 months ago by realtor). In a perfect world it would sell in 1 week. In a perfect world our crazy renter would bring us $70,000 cash for our little house. Is it a perfect world? No its not.

I could go on with this perfect world stuff- I will save that for another post.

I took pictures of the house. However after we looked at the house we went and met my sister for lunch and then went to her house for awhile. I left my camera there. Yes, its driving me crazy not having it. I just keeping hoping I don't miss a great camera moment with the kids.

So I finally told my hubby I looked at the house. I just told him lastnight. I tried to act like I forgot to mention it. Of course he knew I didn't just forget. Now this realtor is not professional at all. He told me if I wanted to show hubby the house I could call him and get the code to get in! Hmm, maybe they will let me move in a few days to try the place out too. So now hubby wants to look at it. So I don't know. He said lastnight he could drive to work each day until he found something closer. But here's the thing. He has had the same job for 11 years. Does a person know anything else after 11 years of doing the same thing every day.

So I don't know if this will come of anything. I do know that we can not have 3 houses. Maybe its just anther one of my dumb ideas and I will be onto something else tomorrow. Maybe not. Maybe someone wants an investment and would buy it for me! Well until my current house sells.

If you read all of my last post it says this is my blog and I can blog what I want... my kind of free therapy. Well if this was real therapy and I was really sitting in a little office would the therapist tell me I was crazy? Would she give advice? Or just take notes and tell me when my hour is up?

Yeah, that's what I thought. My hour is up! Until next time.

Its different when you have kids

Years ago I moved three hours away from home to become a nanny. I lived with the family and cared for their 2 children. I started that year the day after labor day. So September. Things were going well. It took some time to adjust living with another family. Around Thanksgiving time the mom came home and told me she was being let go from her job. The company was down sizing. Hmm, now what did that mean for me?

Thankfully mom was given a very gracious severance package. I continued to work for them. The mother decided to look for other work and catch up on some things that needed to be done. I was greatful. I hadn't been in the area long and I really hadn't met anyone yet. Ok I knew the family and about 2 or 3 other people at that point.

When May came around mom still wasn't working. The reason she wasn't working is the jobs she was offered did not sound pleasing to her. Why? Well, she wanted my job! She wanted to stay home with her kids. So I was given a 2 week notice. Yes, I still didn't really know anyone. I was 3 hours from home. I wanted to be able to make it on my own. I was close to a huge city filled with lots of people that I didn't know. So I went in search for a new nanny job. None of them sounded pleasing. There was one family that wanted to hire me but they wanted to me to attend ski trips with them. Well, I am not a winter person nor am I a person who knows how to ski. I ended up looking at Daycare Centers. I had a job offer right away but had a feeling it was temporary due to a teacher being on Maternity leave. However the lady trying to hire me seemed like she wasn't being totally honest with me. So I turned it down.

Finally I got offered an assistant teaching job working with 3 year olds. Perfect. I got a job!

I have thought about this experience the last few days. How easy it was to be able to take the time to find the job I wanted. The job that felt right. It was ok to turn down 2 of them because they didn't feel right. Why was it ok? Why did I have time to search? Well, I didn't have children to worry about.

A women's life changes greatly when they have children. I not only have to worry about myself but my children. All 4 of them are counting on me. So its not so easy now to just go in search of a job and not worry about where its at. I would gladly take another nanny job if it allowed me to also bring my 2 little ones with me. However I do not live in an area that has nanny jobs available like some areas do.

I think the thing that bothers me most about my current job/work situation is I used to make good money when I had a full group of kids to care for. I made more than my husband. I had money if I needed it. Now I am rather broke and I will be honest I am getting alittle nervous. I know it could always be worse. Everyone tells me its going to get better. Well great but I would love a time line here.

But on a happy note I am greatful for my health and my children. And sometimes my hubby!

I have learned from this time also. I have learned that the food in the frig is much cheaper than going out to eat. Left-overs are not so bad. I have learned that when going into Wal-Mart with alittle cash will save me from buying things I don't need and it will help me stick to what I have to purchase.

And by no means am I asking anyone to feel sorry for me. I am just blogging on my blog. Using my blog as my personal little therapy session! Hoping that it never actually talks back to me because then I think I will really be in the need for some real top dollar professional therapy!

Maddison went today for her 18 month check-up. She is a healthy little girl! They said she is alittle small for her age. She got 3 shots today. We opt out of the flu shot for today. I am just not sure how I feel about it. Will contemplate the pros and cons for another week and take all 3 girls at the same time if we decide to give it to them. She is doing her best to walk. Now her new thing is trying to climb things and reach things that she isn't supposed to.

I took all four of the kids to Wal-Mart on Saturday and it went much better than I expected. Maddison didn't want to sit in the cart. She kept standing up so I put her in the front and Mason in the back. That didn't work either. She tried climbing out. So finally I just got her out and she helped me push the cart! We all survived the trip and made it home in one piece.

Tonight the kids and I attended a girl scout meeting. Both Abby and Jade are signed up! Jade is very excited. Thankfully when we got home she on her own said that being in dance might not work this year because she thinks girl scouts and 2nd grade will keep her busy enough. Thankfully she felt that way. I will admit that I was a terrible parent when it came to dance this year. We had decided because of what dance costs and my lack of work right now we would have to wait until at least January before she could join dance. We however hadn't taken the time to talk to Jade about it yet. Both girls are excited about girl scouts. Even Abby is excited. She is usually our little homebody. Abby will be a Daisy! Jade will be a Brownie! Oh and yes, I offered to help. Like I have nothing better to do with my time. I told them not a troop leader but I would help the leader if need be. We should hear in the next few weeks how many girls are in their group and when they will meet. They have roughly 2 meetings a month. So beware- MY CHILDREN WILL BE SELLING COOKIES THIS YEAR! I did happen to see a mother who had a girl in Abby's preschool class. She was hoping I would be troop leader if the girls end up in the same group.

So each month I will have 2 meetings to attend on Monday nights. I have church with Jade 2 times each month on Wednesdays. Now we will also have 4 times a month we attend girl scouts. Hopefully the girls will meet different times and days so I can go with both of them.

Oh and the reason I took all the kids with me tonight is Hubby went to church to attend the 2nd and last Baptism meeting for Mason. They make you attend the class up to 3 times. I took it before and it was the same thing this time. Thankfully Hubby said he would go tonight so I could attend the girl scout meeting.

Ok onto something else. I have tomorrow off. Why? Because I have one daycare child to watch and she has one day off every other week. Just so happens to be tomorrow. This really isn't exciting to me. Yes, I am glad I get to spend the day relaxing with my little ones but I should have a house full of kids here. I did get lucky and had a drop in last Monday in the afternoon and he came again on Friday. Sounds like at some point she will be needing more daycare. Hopefully soon. If all goes well I might have a child starting on Friday however I haven't heard back from the mom about paperwork. So I will call her tomorrow and hope for the best. Thankfully Hubby is working Saturdays! I have an interview on Wednesday and that is for one child. I am trying to be patient but its not working all too well. Its making me a rather crabby person and I don't like that.

Our foster care license is coming to an end. I have been sent papers to re-new it but have put it off. The county must still be upset with me that I asked for the 3 girls they placed with me to be placed in another home. It was just really bad timing as I wasn't feeling well and my children were sick. It was alot to be responsible with. Well, however we haven't had any calls or placements since then. They must have sign up that reads "Never call the Wynn's". Its not so much that I need something to do and help pass the time. Its the fact we went through all the work for what? Now on the other side of this I do have 2 girls that I have watch for a few hours here and there. Its a placement through respite care. Its been nice they actually usually come during my daycare hours! If I do not re-new my license I can not take these girls again. We are leaning more so to not re-new it but I feel bad for that these girls wouldn't be able to come again. Its so funny, they call my back yard a park!

Well, Hubby keeps peaking to see what I am doing. Like I am doing something bad. So I should be going. Sorry this got so long. Guess I just needed to visit with someone and who better than the computer when its almost 10pm!

Mason at one week old!

2 months

Yesterday my sister's little girl Faith turned 2 months old! She has asked me to share with you that she has updated her caring bridge site! Make sure you check out the pictures.

I remember the morning Faith was born. My phone rang at 5:45am. Nobody calls me that early to just visit. So I knew something happen somewhere to someone. When I picked up the phone the caller ID said my mom's cell phone number. I knew even more that something wasn't right. However I had no idea it was mom calling to tell me my sister had her baby early. Never imagined that. Of course I answer and say "Hello, what's wrong". Now keep in mind I was pregnant at the time. I was very emotional to being with and my mother responds by saying "Don't cry". Hello, since when can you tell a pregnant women not to cry and expect her to listen? So anyways, mom then told me that the baby was born early but was doing ok and that she could hear the baby crying. She said she would call me back once she knew more. So of course I was a basket case. I was not only worried about my sister but also her baby. I am very thankful that 2 months later Little Faith is doing really well! She is growing and eating and just as cute as can be. My sister seems to be doing great as well!

I will say though it's the weirdest feeling though when your phone rings like that at such an early hour. Its almost like it has a different ring to warn you that something didn't go as planned.

Again I am just so thankful everything turned out ok. I guess the best thing to say is GOD IS GOOD! He works in such mysterious ways.

the little guy

Mason wasn't real happy when I tried taking his picture today.

He was getting hungry and didn't want to have to look cute!

Look what Maddison can do!

Sunday

On Sunday we went to my sister's house! I got the pleasure of staying at her place and watching Faith. Mason and Maddison stayed to help me. I will admit I was a bit nervous at first but the babies did a great job and slept most of the time. They were also nice to me and got hungry at different times. My sister had to help Mom at the Cafe so she could go to the church and work at their cake walk. Hubby took the big girls to the church also so they could play games and eat chicken for lunch. Jade won 2 cakes at the cake walk! She also won at the silent auction! However she didn't have the $5 she needed to pay for the item she bid on so Grandma helped her out. She bid on a small Easter basket with 2 things of play-doh and 2 mini dolls. She said it was really worth alot because there was play-doh in there. Abby got bored and her legs got too tired from walking so hubby brought her back to the house and then took Maddison up to the church to play some games.

Its so funny to think about Faith being 6 weeks older than Mason. They are the same size! Hopefully they will always get along as well as they did on Sunday and be good buddies!

Sibling Love!

Do they look alike??

When I first got to see my baby Mason I thought he looked just like Maddison did when she was born. However everyone else of course thought he looked like Danny. Hmm, I did all the work and went through all the pain but my kids have to look their dad. How is that fair?

Well here is a picture of both Maddison and Mason while still in the hospital. I do think they look alot alike. Mason's picuture isn't the best since this was taken not long after he was born and his face is still alittle red.

Little tidbits

We're making more progress! Maddison will stand up in the middle of the room without holding onto anything. Now today she took about 3 steps at a time (a few different times). She didn't think anyone was watching her. She is so funny though. She will go around saying "walk" but yet she just won't get up and do it! She will also stand up and laugh and then sit down. Sometimes she'll even clap her hands knowing she is doing what we want!

Mason is 2 weeks old! Where does the time go? Its hard to believe I am already back to work on Monday. It shouldn't be too bad as I just have one daycare girl. It will be nice to be low on kids so I can spend more one-on-one time with my 2 little ones.



On a good note though, if all goes well I should have a little boy starting in my care on Friday, Sept. 25! He will be turning 3 on Monday. His provider had to close since she is expecting twins! She will have 4 children under the age of 4. I thought I had my hands full! I have another interview on Monday! I had one last week and they are still trying to decide what they want to do. Its their first child and the mother said if they pick a daycare they pick mine but are having a hard time thinking about leaving their daughter.

Tomorrow I get the honors of babysitting my cute little niece, Faith. I am sure after spending a few hours with Mason and Faith I will be ready for a nap.

Mason went in yesterday to get weighed. He is up to 8 pounds 8 oz. So he gained a pound since his visit last week. The doctor was very pleased with the weight gain.

The girls started school yesterday and had a great time. Abby did much better than I was expecting. She was excited to go back again today! I took pictures of them yesterday and wanted to share them but its not letting me. I will try again later.

Maddison and Mason had a great day at home with mommy yesterday. It felt really strange at first to be home with just the 2 little ones.

Nothing exciting planned for today. Hopefully I can get a nap in! I managed to get 20 minutes yesterday. Mason slept well lastnight but I am still tired. I have been waking up before him. He ate at 9pm lastnight and then fell asleep and didn't wake up until 2:15am! Then he ate part of a bottle and slept until 7am! Of course he is sleeping now too.

Does it fit?

Maddison is almost 18 months old and she is into everything!

A few firsts!

We've had a busy weekend. On Saturday Hubby had to work. Sadly it wasn't overtime pay for him since he did not physically work 40 hours during the week (He used 2 vacation days). The extra hours were nice though. Looks like he will work again next Saturday.

I took the 4 kids to my grandparents on Saturday for their auction. My grandparents had alot of stuff. Not sure where they had all of it hiding. Mason met his great grandparents and some other family members for the first time! He also had his first long van ride. It takes almost an hour and half to get there. He did well.

Today Mason had his first visit to Grandma Robin's Cafe! It was an interesting visit. She kept getting a weird phone call from someone who was deaf. So there was an operator relaying the messages. They wanted to order chicken but lived 140 miles away. They wanted her to ship it to them. It was a bit suspicious. She said no she couldn't ship it but they called a total of 3 times! Jade got to have her first ride on grandpa's 4-wheeler!

Maddison was able to point out her nose, mouth, tongue, fingers, toes, belly, and hair today. We've been practicing but she hasn't ever gotten them all right until today.

A busy week

Wow, were did the week go? I can not believe its already Friday. My baby is a week old today. We've had a very busy week.

Monday afternoon we had some company. Then we had a trip to the ER with Mason late at night. He just kept pooping. Yes, I know babies do that but it was non-stop. His little bottom was so red. He wasn't eating for me and you could hear his tummy just a rumbling. He woke up at 10pm and cried until 3am. It was then that I decided it was better to take him in and make sure he was ok. I will say the doctor was very nice. The nurse however made me cry. She really made me feel like I was stupid and had no idea what I was doing. Well, when it comes to my children I would rather waste my time driving to the ER and find out nothing is wrong than to sit at home and find out later I should have taken them in.

The doctor said 2 things. 1) he tried to tell me my baby is colic. 2) he said he has an immature bowel system. He also said not to change formula because it takes too long for babies to get used to a certain kind. I really wish I would of had the balls to tell the nurse if it wasn't for people like me freaking out at 3am and making maybe an unnecessary trip to the ER she wouldn't have a job!

So then Tuesday came and we visited the new pediatrician here in town we choose to be Mason's doctor. He was very nice and gave me some good information. He did not seem to agree with what the ER doctor had told me. He checked Mason over and said he seems to be doing well. We do go back next week again to have him weighed. Today Mason is eating very well. The pooping has slowed down and no I do not think he is colic. I think he just happen to have a really tough night. He has started to eat and the pooping is starting to slow down!

Wednesday we has more company! Wednesday night I gave Jade a hair cut. It actually turned out really well. Abby's makes me a bit more nervous as her hair is thicker. I am not sure I will tackle hers.

Thursday morning Grandma Robin and Aunt Molly came to watch the kids while Hubby and I took Abby to kindergarten! She got a chance to meet her teacher, some of her classmates and look around the classroom. Then we went to Burger King for lunch with grandma and Aunt Molly. Jade went back in the evening and got a chance to meet her teacher. I also had a daycare interview in the afternoon! It seemed to go well and I should hear from them this weekend or early next week if they want the spot.

Today is also another busy day. My baby is one week old!! We took hubby lunch today at work and also got to see Grandpa Tucker! Mason is not only named after his daddy he is also named after his Grandpa Tucker who's real name is Danny! For some reason though he always gets called Tucker. And yes, its just Danny. Alot of times hubby will get asked if his real name is Daniel. So anyways, we enjoyed lunch outside on a broken picnic table! This afternoon Mason is going to get his pictures taken! He's been sleeping all day so I hope that means he is awake for them.

Tomorrow I am going to my grandparents house. They are having an auction. I am sure there will be enough people there who will want to help with my children since I am taking all 4 of them by myself. At least I am hoping! Hubby found out he has to work tomorrow. This sucks because we had plans but its awesome considering just weeks ago they didn't even get 40 hours of work each week. Now an extra day! Its very much needed.

Hopefully next time it won't take me so long to post. I tried the other day to get on the computer and Maddison thought it would be fun to turn the computer off! I didn't have the energy to turn it back on.

Oh and sometime during the week my headaches went away!