Okay, I have to quit kvetching about another baby. My husband is pretty much done and I have to just get on with things. I can't stay in this place of longing and sadness forever, I have four other babies who need me right now!

So in that vein...

I'm planning my garden this year and I'm just loving it! I'm going to try my hand at square foot gardening instead of the typical gardening set up. Hearing how it's less work, less weeding, less watering, I think it's at least worth a shot.

I'm also going to grow enough to put up some things for winter. Potatoes and onions mainly as those are the things we go through pretty quickly around here. I also want to make a lot of pasta sauces and salsa. We go through both of those fairly quickly as well. Plus more freezing. We don't have loads of freezer space, but my mom has generously allowed us to put some of our freezer stock in her two extra freezers if need be so that might be what we'll do. I'm thinking about canning more than I'd originally planned on. Freezing is easy, but it's not the cheapest way to go. The green beans, saurkraut and vegetable soup as well as the tomato sauces will be canned.

So this is my plan...here's hoping I get at least half of it completed lol. I've never really done much canning and such and so this will be a learning experience at least.

Things are well here. Scott has finally gone back to his normal hours. While this means less money, we're all loving having him home more. The kids benefit greatly from his being here, he's super involved. Just this morning he's done a treasure hunt with each kid PLUS put together a multiplication game that involved lots of running around, throwing balls, laughing and much math. He's much more creative about this stuff than I am lol.

We've decided to put off having Mace evaluated for ASD. While I think he has his issues, after my thought and mindfulness I feel he doesn't need a diagnosis at this point. Some of the behaviors can be quirky, but nothing that is interfering with his life at this moment in time. Mostly it's stuff I think he'll outgrow as time goes on, with our constant guidance of course. He really is an amazing kid, and I don't want to label him. In many cases, that can be a great thing, but he's just not having so much difficulty that I feel it's warranted at this time.

Lily is getting ready to walk! It's amazing she'll be 2 in just a few short months. She's doing amazingly well from what I've learned about Downs. I'm eternally grateful for that. She's a spitfire and has this great fiesty personality that's emerging more every day.

I can't believe in a few weeks I'll have a 12 year old. Crazy. Gage and Maddie are just great kids...I hear all the time from Gage's friends' mothers how great a kid he is and how they love having him over. That's always nice to hear. Maddie still wants to be my shadow most of the time, and that's okay. I know this time will pass before I know it, as each phase has inevitably done. They're both playing basketball this winter...actually, must go and run errands before a practice tonight.