A Modeling Career is Born?

My friend Tiffany makes and sells cloth diapers. She recently needed some "models" sporting the smaller size diapers that her one year old can't wear. So she came over and snapped some pictures of Ashlynn wearing her newborn sized diapers - which Ashlynn then promptly initiated. :-)

Click here for Ashlynn's modeling debut.

Click here if you are interested in purchasing the Longenbottoms cloth diapers.

Odds 'n' Ends

Ashlynn is doing very well, except for a slight tummy problem. Actually, sometimes it is more than a slight problem, and it has changed our easy going, never cries baby into one who fusses so much more, and has trouble staying asleep at times, due to her poor tummy hurting. I'm giving her Mylecon with every feeding, but she still has problems. It also means I'm not getting as much sleep as I was (or Kelly either).

I LOVE having older kids! My two oldest especially have been so great - taking care of breakfast so I can sleep in a little, and pitching in around the house. I should have adopted a 12 year old when Kora was born!

The oldest 5 girls spent most of the weekend at Kelly's brother's house. My in-laws were down at their house to watch my niece's dance recital, and they wanted the girls to come up since Kelly and I weren't going to be able to. So we had about 24 hours of having only one child. It was really weird. And very quiet.

My in-laws brought the girls back after church yesterday afternoon. Then the men went to Sonic to get us hungry females some lunch - none of us had any desire to go out to eat on Mother's Day - and guess what happened? Remember this? Well, my FIL's card wasn't given away, but they did have to take it inside after it had been swiped on the outside and been approved. So my husband has declared he's done with this Sonic and won't go to it anymore. He also has a call into the manager as we have had no end of problems with this particular Sonic. And we've never had problems with other ones.

And a funny: last week we had flipped channels and came across the original Superman movie. Kora came in and watched a few minutes of it and declared:

"This movie looks so... back-then-ish."

Photo Session

Last Thursday my mom and I took the kids to JC Penny's to get Ashlynn's and Brynna's pictures taken (the April birthday girls). I think they turned out very well. This one is probably my favorite.

Here it is in color.

She did a good job on Brynna as well.

Too bad I couldn't afford to get every single one.

It was really hard to narrow it down.

God Gave You to Me

Even though I have now given birth to six babies, Kelly and I are always amazed at how much we forget between babies. When I was pulling out the clothes and diapers before Ashlynn was born, we gaped at how little they were. I had forgotten how much stuff a diaper bag needed to carry. We both forgot how noisy sleeping babies are - all the little grunts, sighs, etc. I forget how many diapers a newborn uses every day.

But I am reminded when Kelly and I sit and marvel at this new little person who has come into our family that we often take life, and children, and family for granted. I know I do. I get caught up in the day to day care and training and teaching of all these girls and forget how I felt when I first held them.

Today Lauryn asked me, "Why did God give us parents?" Of course I gave her the standard answer that God wanted babies to have a mommy and a daddy to take care of them until they got all grown up. Which is fine for a 3 year old, but I wonder how much of it is for the child's benefit and how much of it is for the parents'?

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Ooh sorry. Bad 80's, junior high flash back.

But my mom has left, so in many ways, it is back to reality for me. Of course it is a new reality which involves interrupted nights and lots of time sitting and nursing. But my time of being completely spoiled is over. Not only did my mom's presence allow me to sleep as late as possible in the mornings, she would have breakfast made for the kids and me each morning, and not only made dinner each night, but made many of my favorite desserts.

But she left yesterday after spending nearly 2 weeks here. I can't express how thankful I am for a mom who has the freedom to do that, and a dad who doesn't mind her leaving him for two weeks like that. Thank you both, and I love you!

So today I had to go grocery shopping, as it's back into the kitchen for me, although the girls will be helping out quite a bit. And I have to say that so far, Ashlynn is my easiest going baby. She's very content, a good nurser, and a great sleeper. She's also the most adorable baby ever. Hands down, no competition. Just ask her older sisters. :-)

I Was Wrong

At my trip to the Social Security Office today, I found out it was tied to Ashlynn's birth. (See this post for the full story if you missed it.) The card had been issued so quickly after her birth that I thought there was NO WAY it could have been meant for her - after all, since when does the government move that fast and efficiently? Well, evidently now that you can electronically file for the birth certificate and such, it moves much faster.

So according to the SSA, Ashlynn is not really Ashlynn, but has my name. The question is, what does the birth certificate say? The midwife is going to call Vital Statistics and find out, and we'll go from there. It is correctable, but we have to find out how much to correct. If she has to file a correction on the birth certificate, then we'll have to wait for that to go through before requesting a copy of it. Then we can take it to the SSA and hopefully get everything all straightened out.

Hopefully.

Just What I Need

As if having Sonic give away my check card wasn't enough, now I have something new to deal with.

In yesterday's mail, I received an envelope from the beloved (cough, cough) Social Security Administration. Inside it was a new SS card. And not for Ashlynn, like we assumed. It was for me. Had my full name on it, my address.

But not my Social Security number.

That's right.

I got a new card with a completely different SS number on it. Not good. I call the 800 number, and the lady I spoke with sounded completely surprised (like I'm gonna believe this has never happened before) and told me I would have to take it in to my local SS office and get it straightened out there. And because of the date it was issued, we know it wasn't a mistake tied to Ashlynn's birth and filing for her number.

Wonderful. So on my mom's last day here (tomorrow), I'm gonna have to spend the morning at the SS office trying to figure this mess out. I'm just hoping this doesn't mess us up in other areas, like our credit score. Or put me on the terrorist watch list.

Don't laugh - evidently we homeschooling moms of many are a dangerous lot. (Yes, there's a story here, but it's not my story, so I can't tell it.)