Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tuesday sound out

Cathy, who I love for making me feel so special, asked me a few more questions for my Sunday Sound Out. Being the kinda girl who's not very big on following the 'rules' I thought I would go ahead and answer them now! Muah ha ha!!! So here it goes ;)

What do you find to be the most challenging having 5 young children at home?
I think I find my own expectations give me the most challenge day to day. I expect too much from myself but even worse I expect way too much from my kids. I find myself laying in bed a lot of nights wishing I had remembered my kids are KIDS! It is a daily challenge for me to let the little things go and let them be KIDS!


Do you get 'me time' ever?
Short answer, NO! With Carl working out of town I am alone most of the time. I have terrible guilt about leaving the kids with a babysitter while their dad is away at work. Now I totally understand this is my own issue so don't feel sorry for me. I just don't want my kids to feel like both their parents have abandoned them...note to self: talk to your therapist regarding this issue before you are sent to the loony bin.

Your fave large family dinner?
Sadly our fave family dinner isn't too exciting but relatively healthy. Probably 3-4 times a week we eat chicken Caesar salad. It's cheap, it's tasty, and it's one of those rare things we all like! I love watching my one year old chowing down on her salad it makes up for the other junk I let them eat ;)

How did you come up with all of your kids' names?
I gotta say I had very little to do with the naming of our children. I let Carl name all the kids but he did make sure I liked the name first.

Xavier Roe- Carl heard some lady in the mall calling her husband Xavier in an interesting accent and decided it was a perfect name. Roe is a family name on his side.

Klausine Nicole-We had decided on the name Georgia until we were out for lunch with my grandparents one day when I was about a week overdue. We asked them to list off some family names and when Klausine was brought up we jumped on it. Both of us loved it and I've got to say it is still my favorite name! Nicole is my middle name.

Lunden Rolf-One night while we were laying in bed, on a rare occasion where Carl had had a drink or two, he said, "We're naming the baby Lunden." I wasn't sure at first but he had already passed out so I decided to let him have it if he remembered in the morning. Sure enough the next morning he remembered and we added Rolf as a middle name. Rolf is my grandpa who we both love and admire so it was kind of a given.

Georgia Ruth- We couldn't agree on anything so we fell back on the name we had picked for Klausine. Ruth is my grandma, so again it was a given it would be her middle name.

Calleigh Jane- Again Carl came up with Calleigh I'm not exactly sure where from but I suspect he saw the name on CSI: miami. Ya know the hot blonde girl? Her real life name is Calleigh. Jane is my sister's middle name and I fought for that because I love my sis and I thought Calleigh Jane sounded so cute!

Did your hubby have the 'post vasectomy' test to confirm it worked?
No he didn't. We were both way too depressed and wanted to have some hope to hold on to. We're pretty sure it worked because I would usually be having another baby by now :(

Tell me more about your van...we are really considering getting one!
We drive a 2008 Ford econoline van. We bought it because we couldn't find a mini van that would fit 5 carseats. We also wanted the extra room for friends, dogs, groceries etc. I love the size of the van but am not very fond of its utilitarian style. Not that I need something fancy but I do like a little flashiness sometimes ;)
Its nice to drive but very easy to run into things. I will admit I have put a few more than my fair share of dents and scratches on it already. The gas is also a huge deal. We drive a lot! The van gets between 550 and 650 KM per tank and in Canada a tank will usually run you a little over $200. I get my gas in the USA and its about $135 a tank. If you get one from a dealership insist the put a DVD player in it :)

Sleeping arrangements for the kids?When we moved into our 5 bedroom house the kids all had their own rooms. When Calleigh was born she slept in our room for a while. I was getting so frustrated with the amount of toy mess in the house and the kids rooms that I had to make a change. We gave up our master bedroom and changed it into a toy room. Since the kids were always complaining about not wanting to sleep alone we put the 3 girls into one room and the boys in another leaving us with the whole downstairs to ourselves.

Do you follow a daily routine?
Not really, I'm too much of a scatterbrain.

Do you drink coffee?
Not on a daily basis but when I get to a Starbucks my drink is 7 shots of espresso poured over ice. Yummmm....

I would love to hear everybody else's answers if you're interested in sharing!

5 comments:

tiarastantrums said...

I dont' like using babysitters either!!

Amy W said...

We have used a babysitter three times since we have lived in NC.

I liked reading about the names!

Unknown said...

As a mom of 5 myself I am so glad to hear that you are not into a routine. I am sure my life would be easier if I did but i just can't get it together to do so.
You are such a great wife letting your hubb y choose the names..I hope he knows how lucky he is!!! :)

cathy said...

Thanks for answering my questions. I really enjoyed reading your answers.

I just have to tell you that my middle name is Nicole. I am Catherine Nicole.

And I really enjoyed reading about your kids' names. Very neat. We also had the name Courtney Jane picked out for our fourth at some point too!

We are seriously looking for a van! I will enquire about the DVD. When you cross the line to the US, do you need passports yet?!

Have a good one!

Cathy

Syntax and Salt said...

As the oldest of seven I can appreciate the chaos and challenges of a huge family. Sometimes it seems weird to only have two kids. But, not to be having more babies without the consent of the other party. =P