Ahem

Okay. I am officially sick and tired of message boards.

So here goes my second attempt at blogging.

Here is the deal. I have a lot of kids. 5 of my own and 2 step kids.

I never expected my life to be like this. I figured I'd have maybe 2 or 3 kids, tops. So I was married, had a couple of kids, got divorced and got remarried. New husband had 2 teens. We decided to have one together. Blah, blah, blah, long story short, it was twins. When they were around 11 months old, I had a flu I couldn't shake & stomach cramps, went in to see the dr, who sent me to the ER to rule out appendicitis.... Surprise! I was 3 months pregnant with #5.

My kids are 13 (boy), 11 (boy) , the twins are 2 1/2 (identical girls) and the baby is 13 months old (boy). So I have 2 middle schoolers and 3 toddlers. I have a 24 year old stepson and a 21 year old stepdaughter. We also have a cat, Mr. Pecksniff. I have an entourage now.

So, here is some more about us: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but moved to Detroit 6 years ago because I met my husband on Napster and he lived here and it seemed like a good idea to move here, but I really miss home. A lot. My husband is 15 years older than me and originally from England. I used to be an elementary school teacher. Now I am a SAHM, but I am back in school, doing my pre-nursing classes. I can't see myself going back to teaching, as hard a decision as that was to make. I'm hoping Nursing is a good career for me. In my "spare time, " I knit, sew, and do polymer clay sculpting. I also enjoy cooking, reading, and music. But mostly, my days are filled with taking care of my kids... so I guess that's mostly what I want to write about.

It's challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. I love them all fiercely, but some days I feel like it is more work than one person can sanely handle. Two of my sons have special needs - the oldest and the youngest are mild/moderately hearing impaired. I am having a very different experience dealing with the issues the second time around.