Hey look! It's Trevor!

Ok, so I am going out of order but what the heck!  Chaos is awesome!  It's been awhile since my last post and I do sincerely apologize.  6 kids, a husband, work, 6 kids... Did I mention 6 kids?!  

I want to talk a little bit about the 2 oldest son, Trevor.  

Here he is:

Isn't he a handsome fella!  Trevor is suffering from a mad, mean case of senioritus.  He graduates in May and cannot wait to be on his own to prove to the adults in his life that he has all of the answers.  Trevor and Ms Brittney are cut from the same mold as fas as their Sheldon-esque attitudes.  

Trevor has to do the things all older siblings have to do like: take his brothers and sisters to school, pick them up from school, run errands for an overworked second mom, take himself to work, and make sure the other children do not harm one another while second mom and dad are away.  

He is going to grow up and do awesome things in this world.  He claims that he is going to be a cop and that would be AWESOME if he worked in our area because I like to drive fast.  Hehe.  I think that he would be very good working in the prison system and see in him as Warden some day.  

Overall, Trevor is a really good kid and doesn't do all of the other things that teenage boys do.  He is home more than out in the streets and stays out of trouble.  If he is asked to do something he will do it, just not always as fast as you may want it done.

Ok, so I will miss him a lot when he goes off to college.  There, I said it.  Sheesh.  

$200 worth of brisket... WE WILL EAT IT ALL!

During the wedding we had 13 people in our house and believe it or not everything went smoothly!  My Mom, Dad, Grangie, and Sister got to stay an extra day and I was so super happy!  However, we were all so dang tired we lounged around the house all day...

which is good.

But...

In this town the streets roll up at 6:00 pm on Sunday!

 

Ok, let me back up.  In order to prepare for the wedding I didn't shop for groceries for the house.  I mean we had to have enough room for 100 people worth of food.  That much food added to the normal 8 person house food was strategically impossible for my little kitchen.

 

So as we were lounging on a lazy Sunday afternoon and supper rolled around a feeling of panic settled over the room.  What were 12 people going to eat from a kitchen full of empty??

 

My brother, sister, and I grew up a little on the poor side.  Now don't get your violins out for this girl because I know how to do a lot to stretch a buck and work hard for what I have. 

 

My sister and I...

 

 

 

... set out to feed this group.

It really was awesome how we did it, with stealth like marksmanship.  We knew that we had a lot of left over brisket so we started there.  We thought, "Burritos!" but we had no flour tortillas or beans.  We thought, "Sandwiches!"  but the bread had been used up at lunch.  As I dug into the pantry I found spanish Rice a Roni and Enchilada Sauce.  I bought the minute rice on impulse one day and the enchilada sauce was pre-Amy.  (That's what I refer to the un-awesome as)

 

So this is what we had...

 

 

What isn't pictured is some corn tortillas and shredded cheese I had in the fridge.  What we did was prepare the rice per the instructions on the box, added the enchilada sauce and brisket, heat through.  I did chop up the brisket a little bit so that we had smaller pieces.  Sis used her master enchilada skills and started adding everything into a casserole dish.  We sprinkled it with cheese, threw it in the 350 degree oven and melted the cheese. 

 

This is what we pulled out of the oven...

 



It was actually pretty dadgum good!  The only bad thing was that there wasn't ANYTHING left for lunch the next day!!   

 

Well we done went and did it....

I am taking a side step from blogging about the munkies to blogging about the wedding...

which is still about the munkies...

man I need to get a life outside the family...

 

 

When I finally said yes to Scott we originally wanted to elope to New Orleans and get married on a street corner with only my bff and her husband to witness.  We broke the news to the kids and this is what we got....

 

"Oh, ok.  That's cool I guess" that looked a lot like this....

 

and this...

 



 

only in human form.

 

Naturally the guilt began to eat away at us and then I got the mom speech, "We want to be there too Amy!  You don't want us there?" 

So....

 

We thought, "OK let's ALL got to NOLA!" 

 

Then our bank account said, "ARE YOU FREAKIN NUTS?!"  Thankfully our bank account is sane because September is HURRICANE SEASON!! 

 

We opted for a simple wedding, surrounded by the people we love.  We held it in our backyard and only spent $996 on the WHOLE THING!!  I am pretty dern proud of myself for that!  Here are some pictures for you to gaze upon...

 

 

 

It was everything we had hoped for and everyone had a wonderful time.  So here's to another 40 years!

 

 

 

 



The Oldest Female Munky

This darling is Brittney. 

She is the youngest of the Baxley 5 and oldest female munky of the Baxley/Ford Bunch.  Now because of where Brittney falls in the birth order of the Baxley 5 she has learned to hold her ground.  I mean come on, the youngest sister in a procession of 4 older brothers...



This girl HAD to have moxy! 

 

She is an 8th grader, a cheerleader, plays volleyball, runs track, and is an honor roll student.  Brittney plays her card close and doesn't always talk about what is bothering her.  Well at least with me she doesn't.  Being a stepmom is sometimes difficult when it comes to girls.  Believe me, I had a stepsister and she was a real witch.  My mom tried and tried but it was of no use.

So I try to tread lightly when it comes to emotional things with her.  I have always made it very clear to the kids that I have no intention of replacing their mom.  That I only want to be family.  It's a fine line when dealing with girls.  After all we are made of 99.5% emotion and .5% logic. 

(Admit it, you know it's true) 

Brittney has never had someone to take the time to do her hair or paint her fingernails.  Not that there is anything wrong with moms who aren't into that, I mean everyone is different but from what I have experienced with her she has wanted it for a long time.  Before I came into the picture she had a little time like that with her grandma and I know that is some of her most precious memories.  I have helped her with her makeup and that was so much fun! (FOR ME!!)  I have always LOVED makeup!!! 

 

 

Brittney loves zebra print, I mean she would have everything in her room zebra print if we would let her.  She isn't afraid to let anyone know when she feels like someone isn't being treated fairly and CRAVES structure.  She is very analytical in her thinking and doesn't always grasp abstract ideas (think Sheldon, Big Bang Theory).  I operate in abstract so I get a lot of "This woman is nuts" looks from her but she is right there beside me on whatever crazy journey I go on.  

 

 

WIERD FACT:

Sometimes Brittney talks so that fast we all swear she is speaking a completely different language. 

 

All in all I think that this beautiful girl and I have a very good relationship.  I am well aware that there will be growing pains along the way but I think that she and I are off to a good start.  I look forward to being a part of her growing into a beautiful young lady and am so proud to call her daughter. 

 

 

The Youngest Male Munkey

This is my little man, my protector, my son.  

Austin is the oldest of the Ford Duo and next to youngest in the Baxley-Ford Bunch. He has the heart of a lion and is the defender of all.  

From the beginning this guy was a gift from God.  You see I tried 8 long years to get pregnant.  96 months of negative pregnancy tests.  When I found out I was finally pregnant I was so very, VERY happy.  I bought all of the pregnancy books and "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" became my go to manual for all things pregnancy.  I was very careful with what I ate, did, and was around.  At 37.5 weeks I went in for a routine checkup and my dr seemed alarmed.  He sent me to the nearest big city for a 3d ultrasound.  It seemed that this little dude had stopped growing at 32 weeks and my body was trying to abort.  This is known as Inter Uterine Growth Retardation.  I had an emergency c-section and Austin was born weighing 3.14lbs.  He was whisked away to NICU while I was stapled, glue, and put back together.  

After the meds wore off I began to demand to see my baby, threatening to walk myself down there if no one came and got me.  Realizing that I was super serious a nurse finally appeared and wheeled me to NICU.  I scrubbed away a layer of skin, donned a gown, and finally got to see my son.  He was so small lying there with an IV in his little head.  He wasn't much bigger than a beanie baby and looked a lot like a spider monkey.  

A couple of days after he was born Austin's blood sugar started jumping to 500 and then bottoming out.  Thankfully the NICU dr knew he was over his head and called in a Endrocronologist (spelled completely wrong)  from Texas Tech.  Dr Varma diagnosed Austin with Neonatal Transient Diabetes and immediately put him on a regime of insulin shots and blood sugar monitoring.  Austin also had 2 holes in his heart so not only did we have a Dr Varma, we had a Dr Flippin, his pediatric cardiologist.  

Austin was in the hospital for one month and the saddest day of my life was riding the elevator down without my baby on the day I was discharged.  Thankfully my mom brought her camper and we camped out in the parking lot.  Living our lives 4 hrs at a time, until we got to go back in to NICU to feed Austin.  I had to learn how to give the insulin shots and check Austin's blood sugar before we could go home.  Finally, on December 2 we got to go home.  Almost one month exactly.

Austin had open heart surgery when he was 23 months old and the holes were repaired.  However he still has to see the cardiologist once a year.  After being home a month Austin no longer had to have insulin shots and was released a month after that.  He is the only known case of Neonatal Transient Diabetes that did not turn into Juvenile Diabetes and is now a case study for Texas Tech University.

Now Austin is nearly 12 years old and does everything every other tweenager does these days.  

\

He has such a tender heart and believes that everyone should have a fair chance in life.  He is wise beyond his years and cannot stand to be lied to.  He likes to know what is going on and wants to be prepared for things in life.  Austin is the type of kid you can sit and have a real, meaningful conversation with and that is rare to find in an 11 year old.  This kid is a LEGO MANIAC!  He can spend HOURS and HOURS sitting in his room playing with his legos.  I can see him being an engineer when he grows up but my Grangie says he is going to be a preacher.  Hey, either way he is helping people.    

As with Tyeler I have raised him to not be ashamed of what he thinks and to use his voice.  Recently he felt like he had to have a difficult conversation with his dad and was concerned that he would hurt his dad's feelings.  I explained to him that when we made the decision to raise them to be honest and open that we knew that sometimes it would hurt our feelings.  I also told him that sometimes honesty hurts but when it is done out of love and not hate, it is so much easier to handle than lies.  He was able to tell his dad what he needed to and felt better because he was prepared.

Well that is Austin in a nutshell.  I am blessed to have this little man in my life and I thank God everyday for allowing me to be his mom.

The Littlest Munkey

 I have sat for a couple of days trying to decide how I wanted to construct this blog and I have decided to dedicate one blog per munky starting with the littlest.  

So I give you...

Ms. Tyeler

She is the littlest munky with the loudest voice.

Ms. Tyeler is quite the little bundle of aggravating, lovable goo.  Her personality was evident when she was cooking up in my belly.  It was no longer my belly, it was hers and she did as she wished with it.  Every time her little foot would touch the side of my belly she would push against it with everything she had.  This would result in me walking around with an odd shaped belly and one heck of a back ache.  To this day she still does this when her foot brushes against something.

    

Tyeler is a very independent, outspoken, outgoing, argumentative, little girl and that's exactly how I raised her.  She is eager to help and often helps everyone else in our house with anything that they need help with, though sometimes she ends up trying to control everything... This often results in her having a little "alone time" in her room.

From the beginning, I wanted my daughter to be able to stand on her own, give her all at every given task, and to not accept nothing less than the best of a situation.

Now I am thinking, 

"LAWDY WHAT HAVE I DONE?"  

As a parent you worry about your kids, making sure they are being treated fairly, have friends, are well adjusted, have what they need.  This little munky has no problem handling herself in any of those aspects.

Tyeler is the type of kid who makes friends wherever she goes and doesn't meet a stranger.  THIS worries me some. (there are some crazy ass people out there!)

  

We recently moved and live in a little town and everywhere we go kids say, "Hi Tyeler!" or "Can you sit with me Tyeler?"  The awesome thing about Tyeler is when I say she makes friends with everyone, I mean EVERYONE.  She does not leave people out when various events are going on and does not discriminate in her choice of friends.  My prayer is that she never loses this innate ability to make others feel comfortable and important.

Though Tyeler can be difficult at times I love her with everything that I am.  I thank God everyday for her and am so very grateful to be a part of her carefree life that is full of wonder and joy.  I have so much to teach her but hope that someday she realizes how much she has really taught me.

All you need is... you get the idea

It was a cold and rainy night... Who am I kidding, it never rains in SW Kansas.  I suppose since this is an introductory post I should find my manners and introduce myself.  

So...

Hi, my name is Amy and I am the female parental unit for 6 kids.  Yes, SIX kids.  I will allow you some time to collect your thoughts...

...

...

...

Ok, now let me tell you how this all came about.  

I was sitting at work one day thinking about how I thought I just might be ready to date again.  The MAIN rule I had was that my 2 chillins would not meet anyone I dated until I was sure that I wanted to make them a permanent fixture in my life.  The longer I sat, the more exhausting the idea of going out and dating became.  I didn't take any further that day.

Then came Teresa

I was over at her house having a glass of wine and mentioned that I might be ready to date again.  Then I went on to tell her that it was simply to exhausting to date, I didn't have time, What if a fat day fell on a date day, blah, blah blah.  Long story short, I left her house with an online profile on pof.com.  (pof = plenty of fish) <---- desperate right?!

Let me tell you that THERE ARE SOME FRICKIN WEIRDOS OUT THERE!  This went on for months and I had reached my quota for dating bullshit, ready to call it quits when I got a message that read, "Is it ok if I text you?  It would be a lot easier to talk".  At this point I thought, "What the hell and agreed."  I texted and eventually talked to this brave soul for about a month before I actually met him.

Yada, yada yada.  We are getting married in 13 days.