What I find challenging these days...

*trying to burp a squirmy 4 week old.

*trying to get my 2 year old to leave his socks on.

*trying to keep my 3 year olds entertained with something other than watching My Little Pony, Transformers or Bubble Guppies.

*trying to stop my 2 year old from constantly wanting to eat nothing but Goldfish, Veggie Straws and "newt nacks" or fruit snacks.

*coming to grips with the fact that I have a long way to go before I am ever going to get rid of this baby belly!

*trying to realize that Coach Taylor, Tami Taylor, Julie, Vince, Becky, Riggs and all the others are just characters in a tv show. They are not real and life will go on after FNL airs for the final time next week! =(

*trying to drink more water. Even though I am not pregnant, it would still be good for me to drink a little bit of water each day. My sodie pop consumption over the last few weeks has been a little over the top. "sodie pop"...that is for my Grandpa.

*realizing that I am not crazy because I love the snow and I would have been happy to get 10 more inches. Its the ice that makes me never want to leave the house and move to Florida.

*trying to remember to brush my kids teeth at night.

*being excited about going on a cruise in about 3 weeks. Now, now, now...I am not crazy or ungrateful. I just find it hard to leave my 4 small children behind, especially my newborn. They will be with Grandma and Grandpa so I am not worried about them being taken care of by any means. I will just miss them, but how do you pass up a free cruise? Oh, and I will have to work some magic in the wardrobe department. I certainly don't want to be asked "and when are you due?" the entire week.

*trying to get my 2 year old to understand that while I would love to pick him up and carry him around all day, that isn't going to happen. I am pretty sure that since I am not supposed to do any heavy lifting quite yet, shleping around that little 40 lb lug is probably out of the question.

*trying to understand why nail trimming time is such an ordeal in our house...they hate it.

*trying to be grateful for the sleep that I'm getting despite having a 4 week old in the house, but not being overly worried when she does sleep for such a long stretch every night.

*trying to explain to my 3 year olds that even though there is a lot of nice, new snow outside and the sun is out, it is still way too cold and windy to go outside and play in it.

*trying to get used to the new names Cash and Riley have given to each other. No longer are they only Geo and Millie, but now they also go by Gil and Molly. Poor Tripp gets left out of the the nickname fun I guess.

*believing that next month, Darin and I will have been married for 5 years. 5 years, 4 kids, new house...not bad. =)

*missing our old neighborhood. Maybe when the weather gets a little warmer and people get out more, we will meet some new friends!

*trying to remember what I did before my sister lived in KC. I don't know how I managed so many appointments without someone to help me with the kids, especially when Darin can't help me because he is at work. Ugh. Reminds me...we need to gas up her car or something!

*trying not to cry at that part in Valentine's Day when Julia Roberts character comes home to...well, if you've seen it, you know and if you haven't I don't want to ruin the surprise. Valentine's Day is on HBO constantly and I always have it on and I always cry at that part. Maybe my hormones are still a little messed up?!

*preventing my kids from thinking that it is okay to speak in one word sentences like Max. If I hear "hungry" or "thirsty" without the words "I am" in front of it again I might permanently ban Max & Ruby from this household. That would devastate one certain little 2 year old around here so probably not, but really...

That's it for now.

And I feel better already.