Welcome Tressia!

I had the privilege of going to Utah to help my sister's family while she had her third baby girl the beginning of this month.

It all began with our 8-hour drive. The kids were kept in line with sucker-bribery. You know you've all done the same thing! I snapped this picture while driving, so sorry for the poor aim. Ethan did well with pretzel sticks and his blankie corners to suck on. Collin helped out in the middle, and things really did go miraculously well.

Except for almost getting struck by lightning (seriously, it was nuts), flooded roads and lots of construction, the trip was pretty smooth. The big boys did get into a few kicking and punching fights, but nothing out of the ordinary... unfortunately.

I arrived about 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, and Kim left for the hospital before midnight that night. Though I'll admit Wednesday morning was a rough introduction to life with five kids (7, 5, 3-year-old "twins," and 9 months), we all survived and it only got easier after the rough start. My brother-in-law popped in and out a few times, but I was basically on my own until Kim was discharged Saturday morning. Good thing Kim left the fridge stocked!

Tressia was born at 9am on Wednesday morning. She is beautiful and perfect. I got to go and visit her on Thursday afternoon when Rich came home for "quiet time."

While I was there, I took all the kiddos on just a few outings. Here were all are piled into my van. Comical huh?

I can't believe people really have this many of their own kids. (My mom is one of them!)

On Friday morning we went to Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful, and much nicer than it was eight years ago when I used to bike the trail from Orem. There's a fish pond for feeding next to the nice trail. The water was cool and nice to soak our feet in. The kids enjoyed a little rock climbing too. Doesn't it look like we had fun? 

In all honesty, it was pretty much a total disaster. Collin ran away screaming and crying twice because dogs were walking along the paths, on leashes of course. And Brennan screamed part way up the Falls for about ten minutes because he wanted me to carry him up higher. I got lots of awful looks from other parents. It wasn't very fun, but the pictures tell a different story. Brennan is actually shrieking in this one. 

On Saturday morning we went to the local splash pad. It was AMAZING! They have a playground right next to a nice concrete "stream" and lots of fountains. I was super impressed.

See, looks like a lot of fun, right?  Unfortunately, there was a dog asleep with its owner under a tree (homeless?), on a leash of course, and Collin stayed at the top of the play structure more than half the time we were there. After an hour, I finally had to climb to the top, grab him, sit at the top of the slide, literally force him on my lap, and down we came. Yep, lots of onlookers thought I was abusing him as he screamed and screamed. After forcing him down, he ate his lunch and joined the fun. Sigh.

Other than those outings, we spent a lot of time at the house - jumping on the trampoline, riding different wheels, swinging, drawing and playing play dough. The kids really got into playing pet store and pizza delivery which was cute to watch.

In case you think Eefie didn't come along (as his absence is evident in all the previous photos), here he is enjoying his favorite activity: getting bounced on the trampoline.

Of course, this picture doesn't tell the real story either. Ethan decided to wake up about every two hours every night. Collin, Ethan and I were all sharing a room, so Brennan could sleep with all the lights on in his room (says he's afraid of the dark). One night Ethan was screaming at 10pm (when I managed to ignore him), 12midnight (when I changed his poopy diaper), 1am (when I changed his poopy diaper AGAIN and nursed him), and 4am (when I nursed him again). And in case you are wondering, he hasn't had a poopy nighttime diaper in probably seven months, and never wakes more than once during the night. It was AWFUL. I've never been so tired. This particular night was not the exception either. It just kept happening night after night. 

Another fun thing we did while being in town were have all my parents' grandchildren Skype with my parents in the Philippines. Here they all are (minus brand-new Tressia) singing Primary songs on the webcam.

Yep, there's seven now! Morello progeny.

I also managed to run to Provo on my last day to hang with my old friend from Madison. My kids and hers are all about the same age (within a few months).

Cute huh? Think this picture tells the whole story? Nope. Collin had just finished freaking out. I don't even remember what we did, but I had to put him into time out for something, and he yelled and screamed and called me names for several minutes. Oh yeah.

So, this post is dedicated to my friend Jennifer, who has requested to know what "really is going on." And this blog post is definitely about "keepin' it real." Did we have a good trip? Definitely.

Were the kids angels? No way. Did they behave about as I'd expect? Yep. 

I'm a real mom now. I guess three (or maybe five, lol) really is the hump to for-real motherhood.