Is there enough blue here for you?  THIS is the first day of school picture.

I know you wish you were me.

Dan’s race was first.

In the usual fashion, we had no solid plan, so I ended up standing around the 4-mile finish line with five kids, searching for a sweaty Dan.  Although we were plenty early, it did us no good.  We were still searching for Dan (who had Luke’s bib) five minutes before the 1K was to start.  When we found him, he had no bib.  “It’s in the car, where I told you I’d leave it for you,” Dan told me.  Arrrggggghhhhh!  I do not remember that being the plan, although it makes sense, as we did agree to park in the same lot.  Which was no where near the starting line.

Dan took off for the car to get the bib, while the panic set in.  Luke was refusing to run if Dan or I wouldn’t run with him.  He wasn’t that concerned about the bib, but I couldn’t run with him, as I had everyone else with me and Dan was off to get the bib.  Starting time was drawing near.  The kids were all lined up.  The emcee announced that the race would commence in 15 seconds… and here came Dan, bib in hand.  No time to pin it, and no time to trade off parenting, so Dan ran (again) with Luke.

I’m so proud!

Yes, we just did this last year with Jack.  But, girls are soooooooo different!  I mean, they have to have the dress.  And the vail.  And get manis and pedis and updos with their friends.

Along with Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, an uncle and several cousins, Maria’s wonderful Godmother, Julie, was able to come help us celebrate.

I remember that Jack had been excited, but not nervous in the least.  Maria, however, was nervous.

“What if I mess up?” she asked me.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”  I asked back.

“Well… I could trip.  I could fall.  I could drop the Host.”

Okaaaaaayyyyyy….

Of course, none of those things happened.  She was beautiful and it all went perfectly.

I called my friend Julie and wished her a happy birthday (happy birthday, again, Julie!) and then Dan and I turned in for the night.

My water broke around midnight and Jack Bentley was born at 5:55 a.m.

We liked him so much, we had four more in quick succession.

But, he’ll always be my first.

I was nervous about the crowd, the weather, making it across the finish line, making it across the finish line alive, the crowd, humiliating myself, the crowd…

But, it was great!  It took more than 30 minutes for our group to even reach the starting line after the race began, but once I was running, I didn’t stop.  And, I even did pretty well, finishing in 50:58.

Hot Moms (I'm in the middle, dark pink hat).

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My first 8K came the day before my 5th baby turned 1.  Almost impossible to believe, isn’t it?

Birthday crown

To celebrate, today he crawled down all the stairs by himself; and later he took one, teeny-tiny step.

Then…

He made a wish:

He ate cake:

And (after I beat his sister and brothers off with a club), he unwrapped his own presents:

Exhausted after all the excitement, he fell asleep immediately tonight… just like he did a year ago:

I was SO EXCITED!!!  Not only do I love it (and, well, anything Apple), but my husband came up with it ALL ON HIS OWN!  I was shocked, surprised, thrilled.

I got this, because I have this:

And, because I have him, I have these:

Thank goodness, I didn’t get this:

(Which is what the running store employee suggested Dan get me since I’ve signed up for an 8K).

Being aware of this phenomenon, I do try to keep things even. With very little luck, of course. None of my kids ever had a baby book. But, I did get calendars for ALL of them. With stickers to mark their milestones. Not that I kept up with them… But, I tried, right? Sort of?

Today, though, I think I reached an all-new low for us parents-of-many. When Jack lost his first tooth, it was a big hoorah. Lots of wiggling of the loose tooth in the weeks leading up to the Big Event. Then we made a production of getting it out. The Tooth Fairy came. On time. With something extra special.

I don’t really remember all the details for Maria, other than her tooth-losing came right on the heels of her brother. I don’t recall any complaints, so I must not have messed up too badly with her.

Poor Lukie, though. The Third Child.

The dentist discovered two loose teeth during Saturday’s check-up and Luke’s been wiggling faithfully ever since.

Today, while on the phone to my sister, he came to me, pointed to the tooth, and whispered that he wanted me to pull it out. Still on the phone, while he patiently stood still, I tied some dental floss to it and gave it a yank. Nothing. Continuing the conversation with my sister (who had no idea this was even going on) I retied the floss and yanked again. Harder. I got a funny look from Luke and then the tooth went flying across the kitchen.

While I kept chatting, Luke went to soak up the blood and I crawled around the kitchen looking for the tooth. He soon joined me. Not finding it, we both started to panic a little and I finally explained to my sis that I needed to go.  I got out the broom and the flashlight and after lots of discussion about how to get the Tooth Fairy to come without a tooth, we found it.

Thank goodness.

Which reminds me… I need to send Dan up to play Fairy.