7 Quick Takes - some of my most random thoughts/experiences for today

1) Nothing gets the blood flowing like your seven-year-old hollering, "Mom, there is a spider in my room!  IT IS A BROWN RECLUSE!!"  Although I suppose it "could" have been a brown recluse, he was telling me he could tell because of the green dot on the back. . . ummm, last I checked BR spiders had that fiddle thing.  Anyhow, this one was so small, it was either a baby (eek!!) or one of those regular little spiders (you know the ones).  I'm banking on it being the second choice and am praying there is not a nest of BR spiders tucked into my children's room this evening.  I am so tired of spiders right now.

2) I am 3.5 months postpartum and if you were to draw me on a comic strip, I would look like I was glowing because of all the hair I am shedding.  I am CONSTANTLY losing hair and it is EVERYWHERE - on my clothes, on the floor, in the food, on the toys, wrapped in the baby's hand.  I am almost ready to shave my head. . . but then I remember a woman with six kids who homeschools and drives a van like mine does NOT need another reason for people to stare in her general direction.

3) Miriam's latest phrase is "HELP MEEUM!!"  She gets so flustered sometimes (most of the time) when she cannot do something, so she runs around frantically to either me or one of the older children crying for help.  It is quite annoying to me to have my "inner zen" attacked (I just want to scream "CALM DOWN" every time I hear her - which as we all know would be a little counter productive.) by her frantic tone.  Yet, often the fix is so quick and she immediately calms.  Even just addressing her problem, even if I do not give her what she wants, is enough for her to stop her intense wail of a cry for help.

4) I vacuumed the rug today and Rebekah asked who was coming over.  I'm fairly certain my kids believe that if we did not have house guests we would never clean.  But perhaps a little bit of me believes that, too. . . 

5) I keep my calendar in an excel file (I make it up myself and have been using/adapting the same file for the past five years or so) and I think it might have become corrupted (oh no!!) as it will no longer print or register that any page exists for printing.  It is the weirdest problem I have EVER had with a computer file.  In any case, I saved it as a different version (at the hubby's suggestion) and was able to print the October page so crisis averted. . . for now.

6) Zipporah  is taking after her big sister Rebekah in her sleeping habits.  She sleeps like crazy (10-12 hours a night, often going to bed as early as 6:30pm if I let her).  She naps great, too.  Yes, I am aware that by sharing this with everyone it will cease to be true, but honestly I'm amazed by her right now!!  She is such a great addition to the family.  Everyone loves her.  (And yes, I probably would/will still love her when she starts teething and decides sleep is for the weak and crying is much better.)

7) And to combine two of my previous topics for this final point. . . my shedding hairs seem to always fall on the backs of my arms. . . which is also (oddly enough) were I have been finding spiders, either crawling on me (eek!) or bites.  So now, every few minutes (it seems - probably more like three or four times a day in reality) I am frantically looking at the backs of my arms to double-check that it is in fact my hair tickling me and not a spider!!