Joining THAT club

You know. The kids who cut each others hair club.

Ahhh. This mamma was more than glad she was already sipping on some good wine when this occurred.

Kevin and I were chatting in our kitchen about life possibilities. Rather deep conversation. Until...

Lilah's new "do"

Mairead comes running into the kitchen yelling Clara was cutting Lilah's hair. We go running into the school room. And what do you know...

They were playing hairdresser. Clara cut Lilah's hair (giving her a form of a mullet) . Lilah cut Clara's hair - quite miserably, actually. 

Then, the truth came out. Kevin said Lilah came to him saying her "hair was too long" 

And what did the daddy of the year reply with?

"Well, go get a haircut!"

And that's what she did...... 

Butcher job...

My attempt to fix - thankfully she has waves to hide all the "layers"

No fixin' this one...all I could do was cut her hair shorter.... 

The 4th

You always hear about people who tell you that when you have more than 3 or 4 kids that you become a bit more relaxed than other moms.

And you don't really believe it because You'll never really be "that" mom.

Until this happens.

We were out to lunch with the family and a good friend of ours. We get into a large booth and as we get settled, I lay Callum down on the bench for a second. I turn around, and he's gone.


I look over to my right and the couple sitting across from me says "Your baby is on the floor."

"HUH!" I look down at my feet and there is the cutest little boy starting right at me with a smile.

OOPS! I bend down and pick him up and say "He's okay! He IS number four"


Yeah. I couldn't imagine myself to have been that cool, calm and collected with Mairead or even Lilah, but with Callum, I just wasn't surprised to have seen my kid on the floor after falling off the bench.

He didn't even cry. He was just hoping that someone would notice him down there. And sure enough, that someone wasn't me. Or his daddy. Or one of his sisters. But the random couple sitting across from our table.

Yep. Just as I thought. Another mother of the year award!

Speeding by reason of Insanity?

Today was one of those days.

I'm tired. I need a break.

Mairead has been great today. Lilah not so much. Her behavior has been less than spectacular these days and I am just not sure what is going on. We are trying to be consistent but sometimes it seems as though she could care less about consequences and when when we do take something away, she appears very apathetic. Trying to find something that will really impact her to behave appropriately has been tough.

Today, I gave her a warning. Her response "No" -  in a very sarcastic manner.

Me: "Two strikes"

Lilah: "Uhhh, No."

Me: "Three stikes, Lilah, and you've lost movie night"

Lilah: "Oh nooo (sarcastically), I will watch a movie"

She just doesn't care. We were late for gymnastics and I still had to change Callum, wipe Clara's butt and make sure we had everything to get out of the house.

We get in the car. Clara wouldn't get in her car seat. Ugh.

We're off to gymnastics and we will be late. I hate being late. I hate feeling so unorganized and rushed.

We're driving along, the kids screaming and fighting about  which song they want to listen to - of course it's different than what the other one wants. I try to ignore it without screaming and I look in my rearview mirror and what do I see???

Police lights and sirens. Right. On. My. Tail.

Perfect. Just frickin' perfect.

He was pulling me over. Jack Ass. I thought. 


Of course, the kids lit up. Mommy, why is he pulling you over. Mommy, is he going to yell at you. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY. MOMMY

61 in a 45 zone. Sure. Whatever you say officer. You see, this mommy was trying to drown out the sounds of her screaming, fighting children in the back - hey, this was one of the times I wish I had privacy glass! Hell, I could have been going 100mph and I probably wouldn't have known it. Give me a damn ticket jack ass and let me get my kids to gymnastics so they'll be good and tired for the rest of the day.

He tried being nice. Asking me why I had Florida plates. Told him my husband was an active duty Coast Guard officer and we just moved from Maine. Dude, stop being nice and let me get on with my day. He walks back to his car and the kids start blasting me with questions.

Me: This is what happens when you don't follow the rules. 


Mairead: Are you going to get a ticket? Can I see the ticket? .............repeat times 100.


Lilah: Why did he pull you over? Were you going to fast? What is he doing now?........repeat times 100


Clara: Goin' too fast maaaaaam? Police man pull you over? ............repeat.....repeat.


All these questions all at the same frickin' time. As if being pulled over wasn't bad enough - getting grilled by your kids was just as bad.

The guy gives me a ticket. And then more questions. Then the biggest question, that I couldn't answer:

Mairead: Mommy, why did you get a ticket and daddy didn't when he got pulled over? 


Me: I don't know. Maybe Maine police men are nicer than Virginia ones.

Court date is in December.. Thinking about bringing all four of my kids with me. It's at 130pm, prime nap time. You think I could plead "speeding by reason of insanity" and they'll just let me have a warning???

Rockin' NoVA

Yep! Just like I had imagined, the Ferrie girls would rock the NoVA community.

If you don't know me, you may not know how "lax" I am about letting my n aked children run amuck. Now, don't worry, you won't be seeing our children n aked in a store (well not on purpose anyways), but just like the night in Portland when Clara had an accident and this mindless mamma forgot clothes for her, she trekked down the streets of downtown Portland in a shirt and squeaking shoes, bare ass and all. Tonight wasn't any different! Except, we aren't in Kansas anymore...

Tonight, Mairead had her very first soccer practice here in Virginia. I wanted to watch, so we dragged the entire family along - ugh, nothing like a 630-730pm soccer practice. I knew things would end on an interesting note because Callum was ready for bed, Clara was tired, and she was on the edge of throwing temper tantrums - actually she did throw one or two. About 10 minutes before the end of practice, Clara told me she had to pee. Mind you, we were a few hundred yards away from our car, and I thought she wouldn't make it even if I tried to make the trek back, so I said......we'll wait a minute, okay???. She then walked about 10 steps away from me, and peed. The pee got on her shoes. And a little on her dress. And if you know Clara, she doesn't like wet clothes, especially wet with pee, so..........you know what that means, right???

Yep! You guessed it! Off with the clothes and onto the soccer field to join in on soccer practice!

A few people gave me glaring dirty looks like they couldn't believe I would ever let my child run n aked in public, but thankfully there were a few lighthearted people who actually thought it was cute!

(Oh, and you can see Lilah all decked out in her ballerina dress up dress on the soccer field, too)

We're ALIVE!

Whoa! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I have blogged last - you know, the hot night in Maine where we all went swimming naked in our backyard?

Since then, life got super crazy. Instead of writing a diatribe of a blog about the last two weeks, I will just post a hell of a lot of photos, and go from there....but the gist of the story is.....we had a shot-gun Baptism for Callum, had a moving party on the same day, the movers came that Monday, packed up our home in two days, we took off to spend our remaining New England days at my parents, the movers left for Virginia, we flew to Virginia, moved into a house we have never ever stepped foot in, unpacked and now trying to adjust to life in the fast lane............oh, and should I mentioned we saved a baby bird, too.

We went lobstering out in Casco Bay...remember, when it was 104 degrees? Yeah. It was hot. Even out on the water was hotter than hell, but still better than on land! The kids had a blast together. We caught a few lobsters, and the kids helped bait the traps, band the lobsters, and all sorts of other cool stuff. It is one of our favorite Maine things to do with the kids. We will certainly miss it...

The kids learn about lobsters

Waiting to bring in the lobster trap

Me and my great friend, Dawn

Our friends son threw Clara's dress overboard! Oops! She didn't care though, as she was already naked :)

On Saturday, my brother and his family came up for the day before the Baptism. We went to Scarborough beach together. The kids had a lot of fun together. It was sad to think that our beach days were very numbered in Maine...

Lilah and Landon

On Saturday evening, we had a shot gun Baptism. It was a last minute thing and we wanted to get it done in Maine as it proved to be quite difficult to Baptise Mairead when we lived in Virginia previously...so, we did it! And managed to tie it in with a going away party for us! The Baptism went well, but it was soooooo hot during Mass that the Priest cut the service short! Poor Callum was too hot to wear the Baptism gown (which used to be my wedding gown) so the Priest said he could be naked! So, little Callum stayed naked through the Mass until it was time for the actual Baptism - we then got him dressed so fast! It was quite funny to see a naked baby in Church!

My brother and Carley with Callum

Our "attempt" at a family photo before the Baptism...mind you, it was in the high 90s and we were all sweaty and hot! 

After the Baptism, we held a little going away party with our good friends at our house. It was so great to see everyone, but sad to have to say goodbye to all of our amazing family and friends. We had an awesome turn out and thank everyone for coming. The kids had a blast playing with each other. We had our infamous waterslide up and that was a huge hit with the kiddos!

Me and Kim, she was one of our very first friends here in Maine.

Me and my love

My mom and Mairead

On Friday morning, my mom flew with me and the kids down to Virginia. Kevin and my dad drove our two cars down and met us down there. It just seemed surreal to think we were getting on a one way flight to Virginia and not going back "home"...The kids did awesome on the flight. Mairead and Lilah did soooo awesome! They were so excited. Clara was a little antsy, but overall, did really well, and I should mention Callum slept the entire flight. When people saw we were on their flight, the look on their faces told the story, but, our kids surprised everyone and did fantastic!

On Saturday morning we met the moving truck bright and early at our new home. It was hard to believe we would be living in a house we had never stepped foot in...you know, the crazy rental market here in Virginia kind of forced us to do so, and thanks to good friends here in Virginia, they were able to scope it out for us. The kids were so excited to watch the men unload the huge truck right in front of our house.

See all of our crap??? 

My parents were so helpful with unpacking and with helping the kids. It was great to have them here, but sad to say goodbye...it will sure be an adjustment living away from family again.

And if life wasn't exciting enough...Kevin went out into the garage the other morning and heard "chirp, chirp, chirp"- yeah, a baby bird...I called a local vet to referred me to an emergency vet who takes in wildlife animals. The man recommended us try to find the nest, and luckily, we did. Kevin placed the sweet bird back into its nest in hopes it's mother would come back or he would be strong enough to fly on his own. After a while, Kevin went back to check in on the bird, and he was gone...I'm just hoping we don't find a dead bird in our yard anytime soon! The girls think he's safe, and I hope that's true!

Heat induced delirium

I have think we have really gone insane. And I blame it completely on this heat.

In case you haven't heard, Maine is suffering through a heat wave (along with the rest of the country).

We have no AC. Really, here in Maine, there is no need, and living in Maine on the water, there haven't been many times where we wished we had AC. We usually have a great sea breeze and our home is usually very comfortable.

Except for today.

The highs hit at least 88 degrees.

Inside of our house.


It hasn't been fun. We've been dripping with sweat all day. I feel bad for Callum because he's like a heat box, and putting him near me makes me sweat even more. It's tough. I've taken two showers, soon to be three, and a few dips in the kiddie pool!

Tonight, we went lobstering out in Casco Bay with some friends. When we arrived to Portland, it was a balmy 102 degrees. HOT. Thankfully, there was a nice breeze out on the water which made our trip tolerable and a lot of fun! The beer made it more tolerable, too. After dinner, we headed out to dinner with friends and suffered through some more beers!

As we were driving home, we were dreading walking into our house.

We walk in. Look at the thermometer and once again.....86 degrees. It was hot.

I told the girls to take their clothes off and head outside to take a dip in the waterslide pool. They stripped so fast and before we knew it, we had three n aked girls swimming in the pool. They thought it was the coolest to be swimming in the dark.

I went outside to dip my feet and before I knew it, the delirium set in.

I look up and there is my husband coming outside. N aked. 


Don't worry, our backyard is secluded by trees. So no one was scared.

Then before I knew it....

I was n aked.


And then finally, Callum was n aked. 


Yep, you read that right, all six of us were sitting in a kiddie pool n aked. 


And it felt ohhhhh so good! And I blame it all on the heat!

GUM

I hate gum. I will chew a piece of gum every now and then, but overall, I hate gum. I hate that it sticks to everything. And it makes me cringe that my lovely husband introduced our oldest girls to gum. Thank you, honey.

To  me:
kids + gum = disaster.

Tonight, Kevin and I took the kids out for ice cream. He is finished with work until we move to Washington DC (which is in less than two weeks - cringe!). So, until we move to DC next week, we are enjoying our last days here in Maine by doing the things we love to do!


On our way home, Mairead starts crying and yelling at Lilah. After ignoring it for a few minutes, praying they will work it out themselves, it was clear that was not happening. Kevin finally asked what was going on...

"Lilah threw gum at me and it landed in my hair" says Mairead.

"HUH???" (how the *@$! did she get gym?) "LILAH where did you get gum???" thinking she had saved it from a time she's had gum...

"I picked it up off the ground" says Lilah

"At the ice cream place???" I ask

"YES" (lilah)

"Did you chew it???" I ask, praying she would say no.

Lilah........"YES"



Can I also mention that I had the honor of pulling the already chewed gum by some stranger out of my daughters hair???? GROSS.

Keep Calm & Carry On...

I should have known that after Lilah puked in the pool (hopefully from downing too much water) during swim school this morning that it probably would have been wise to just go home afterwards, but no, I had errands to run, so off to Target with my four in tow.

We pull in to the parking lot and Mairead sees the big cart with the extra seats. I put Lilah in, and Clara next. Then, Mairead melts down screaming that she wanted in, too. I had no warning of this full blown fit, so I couldn't do damage control. Here I am, in the middle of the Target parking lot, with an almost 11 week old strapped to my chest, a 5 year old flailing trying to push her 21 month old sister OUT of the seat so she can get in, and a 3.5 year old trying to remain in the cart, too. I pull Mairead out, which makes her even more feisty. We enter Target with a kicking, screaming, crying 5 year old. Yeah. Fun.

I attempt to speak to her, but it doesn't help. I see people staring at me - as if I was doing something to my kid. Did they feel bad for me? Wonder why I have so many children? I quickly remember the sign I have in our kitchen:

I took a deep breath, and took Mairead by the hand. She continued to cry. People continued to stare, snicker. I just looked at them, calmly, smiled and carried on. I stop by the athletic wear department, and Mairead is still carrying on, then an angel, oops, I mean a Target employee comes by and says:

"You know, you should be nice to your mommy. If you can't behave in the store, I'll have to ask you to leave the store, is that what you want?"  (In a very nice, life-saving tone, actually)

Mairead looked at the man and shook her head intently, No. She immediately stopped crying and tried to compose herself.

Then, Lilah and Clara decided that if Mairead wasn't behaving, they didn't have to either. Lilah was in the cart and out of the cart....in......out.......in......out......I kept repeating myself. "Get IN THE CART" and Clara would stand on the little seat, sit down, stand, sit down. I'd buckle her in, she'd get out of the buckle. I swear, I wanted to just crawl inside a hole and not come out.

Then, Clara pushes Lilah out of the cart. Sweet! Another crying kid. I buckle Clara in even tighter...she starts to scream with frustration because she can't escape. But wait! Give her a minute and our little Houdini is now unbuckled. All I needed to do was to pinch Callum to make him cry and I would have successfully had all four children cry (not simultaneously, thank GOD) in Target.

Finally, we survived check-out, without any major meltdowns, and made our way to the car. I told the girls how disappointed I was in their behavior and for punishment they had to:

*make their toy room spotless - which is always like pulling teeth.
*clean our kitchen floors with a rag - unfortunately, they thought this was the COOLEST idea ever, and asked if they could do this instead of time out in the future.
*they didn't get to choose what they wanted for lunch - because if they act like babies, then, they aren't old enough to tell me what they want for lunch.
*lilah was made to nap and Mairead had to rest in her bed without toys and no lights for a while.

Not sure what else I could do - not much I can take away on a rainy day that won't let me keep my sanity, too!

Controlled Chaos

I've spent two weeks home alone with my crazy crew of four kids, just turned five and under.

It's been a bit crazy, but not quite as bad as I thought it would be. I am starting to think those people who said four isn't any worse than three are right? Though I could be jumping the gun a bit...

Clara sportin' her new pig tails

I've learned I can multi-task even better than before....like wiping a butt while breastfeeding Callum. Or breastfeeding while pan frying chicken.

Callum cries and I automatically think.....who's sitting on the little guy. Or who's trying to pick him up? Or who put a blanket over his face?

I won't admit if I've let Mairead "babysit" Callum while I go rock Clara for naps. He didn't want to be put down, and I don't let my babies cry, soo.....what other option did I have?

People look at me and laugh, then ask, "Are they all yours" - uh huh.....


I also won't tell you if I was that mom who forgot her 20 month old at her daughters preschool. Thankfully that insane mother with four small children realized she was missing her child before she drove away from the preschool. Obviously that child doesn't have any issues with separation anxiety.

When our big girls (Mairead & Lilah) went to my parents for the night on Saturday, I then realized just how quiet houses are only two children. It was like we didn't have children and when we took Clara & Callum out and about, people didn't look at us like we belong in a mental institution.

Hmmmm....should I torment the kid? Nah...I'll be nice!

Today, two of Mairead's friends from preschool came over. Six children, all five and under. No problem. What's a few more kids, I said to the parents as they dropped the girls off. No, really....my house is crazy without the friends, so why not add a little more craziness. Would you think I were sick if I said I had fun? Oh, and let's add some more craziness on a day that is rainy and the children cannot go outside!

Over the weekend, I bought my first bike since before high school probably. We also bought a Schwinn bike trailer for Clara and Callum. Now, Kevin just needs a bike and we'll be able to ride around our neighborhood with our crazy crew. Today, I strapped Callum & Clara into the trailer, got Mairead and Lilah on their bikes, and of course, was followed by our two dogs. Yeah, it was pretty ridiculous, almost like a parade. I feel like I have my own friggin' day care now, it's fabulous! Now, all we need is a freakin' bus to fit all the crap we are beginning to accumulate. Holy shit kids have a lot of crap.

Tonight, Kevin was giving the girls a bath - he gives them a bath all together on most nights. Tonight, I watched the girls and I thought, Yeah...there's room for one more, I think Kevin can bathe four children in that tub. Okay, maybe that wouldn't be wise choice, but it would make things easier?

So yeah. Our life is crazy. But life was crazy before we had four kids. It's just a tad crazier now!