I got a new mouse pad.

I know you're wondering why you should care about my exciting new purchase, so I'll tell you.
It's not just a mouse pad. It's a note pad mouse pad! It's a pad of recycled paper, with the plasticky stuff connecting the pages on two sides instead of one (so it holds together well, as a mouse pad should.) And down one side, it has some lines and at the top it says, "to do." I have a cleaning list there.
But the rest of it is a big square, with a cute little birdy down in the corner. And do you know what I decided to use that big square for?
Blog post ideas. I think of things to write about but then forget about them. So now I'm jotting ideas down when they come to me, and hopefully, this will allow me to remember to eventually get around to writing about those things.
Because many of my stories are indeed too long to fit on a facebook status message.

While I'm here, I'll just go ahead and briefly update:
We're doing pretty well. We just passed the 7 week mark, and I feel like we're doing okay. We're staying very busy. The kids do a rock climbing team Mondays and Thursdays, Aaric has scouts on Tuesdays, Mikayla has scouts on Fridays, and we have church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Plus PWOC (women's bible study) on Tuesday mornings, and LLL meetings once or twice a month. School is going well, we're enjoying learning about early American history.

Aaric's been struggling the past few months. We know he has ADD, but the two meds we've tried so far don't work at all at low dosages, and have intense side effects at higher dosages. I'm leaning towards giving up on meds and looking back to the more natural approaches, but actually going at them pretty hard core instead of just vaguely attempting them. He is doing well in climbing and Scouts and honestly he's doing well in school, too. But I know he struggles so much to stay on task, and on meds he still struggles with that but also has to struggle with temper flare ups and lack of self-control, and over-reactions. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks, until we go back to the doctor. He'll be med-free for at least that amount of time, and I've got some ideas that I think will be good.

Mikayla has been very helpful since Michael left. She helps out with the little boys as much as she can. She understands that sometimes girls just need a long soak in a hot tub, and she helps distract Gabriel some days so that I can do that. She got new pet guinea pigs and the whole family is enjoying them. She's finally started to enjoy reading a little bit, and has really liked getting into the Girl Scout action. She does definitely have ADD too, but I still don't think it's enough to justify meds. So, as I'm researching how to help Aaric, I'll be applying it to her, too. She's more the "eyes glaze over and she zones out" type, unlike Aaric's "my brain keeps changing the channels" issue.

Xander is, well, he's Xander. He's my Xanderooni. Intense is a good word for him. That can be good or bad, it just all depends on his plans for the day. He's starting to show interest in doing actual preschool activities, so we've started pulling out school stuff more often for him. He will only sit and listen for a brief period, but we're working on it. I'm fairly certain that he also has ADD, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. It's so hard to tell if a four year old is just acting like a four year old, or if there's more to it. But he's also really the most cuddly and loving of all the kids, too. Gabriel is, too, but not as much as Xander was at that age.

Gabriel is finally starting to talk in short sentences and 2 syllable words and he just makes me smile all day. Except when he climbs into the guinea pig cage. But most of the time, he's sweet and lovable and cute.

And I feel like I'm doing a decent job juggling it all. I do have a sitter who comes in twice a week to either babysit or help me out around the house. I love having her, because just knowing she's coming means that I have to get the house looking decent. And if I have it decent twice a week, it can only get so bad in between. So it forces me to clean, and that's good. It also will allow me to grocery shop alone, if I ever have a list ready on the days she comes over! I thought my ADD would kick into high gear once Michael left, but I really think I'm doing really well. I have my moments, but I'm not forgetting to eat and sleep, so that's good. The house stays decent, the kids do school, I make meals every day, we make it to all our events (even on time usually!). I've even been (mostly) staying current on the two Bible studies that I'm doing.
I'm doing Sacred Parenting at PWOC. Great book. I'll review it when I"m done. And Crazy Love on Wednesday nights at church. Also really good.

So, that's our nutshell. It's a lot, but hey, there are 5 of us living here, we require a large shell.