Happy Birthday Tyler

Fourteen years ago, my precious Tyler made me a mom for the very first time. I remember not knowing what to feel. I was so young and scared. I had decided to give him life against the advice of some credible others in my life. I found myself pregnant with Tyler during my freshman year in college. His father nor I had a job and really no way to provide the essentials in life for him, but I knew he would be special. The first night I brought Tyler home, I watched him all night. I could hardly sleep because it hit me that I was responsible for shaping and caring for the little baby that slept in the bassinet next to me. He would wake up at night and wanna look into your eyes for hours. Wow, he carried that one for the first 6 months of his life....can someone say sleep deprived! The big, little baby that I gave birth to 14 years ago has developed into the most handsome, respectful, helpful young man I know. He is so mature for his age. He is a little camera shy so I'm gonna have a time digging up a picture of him. Tyler is one of our star athletes. He excels in track, being nationally ranked, and football. But what I can honestly say I am most proud of is his character. He is that young man that everyone loves and wants to be around but he is always rooting for the underdog. It isn't uncommon for us to find Tyler defending someone else. I can still remember a very tall 2 year old Tyler running through my mom's house kicking and hitting things just because. Awww, now I'm getting teary eyed as I realize that I have gone through the majority of years that he will be in my home. In a few short years, I will have to release him to the world to fly and impact the lives of others. I watch as the little girls grin at him and I think, thats my baby, knowing that sooner than later, I will no longer be the most special lady in his life. Ok, I'm gonna have to stop here, cause I'm getting teary eyed, but Happy Birthday T-Will!

The World of a Working Mom

So everyone has been asking why I just haven't been posting as often as I used to....well, I have entered; or re-entered the world of being a working mom..but for real this time! For months now I have been working tirelessly to build my business. Of course you didn't think I had picked up a regular JOB, or 9-5...I'm too stubborn with too many kids to be punching the clock. I am a free spirit that requires freedom to sleep during nap time and chat with my girlfriends on rainy days, but I still love MAC makeup and shoes, Jimmy Choo designs for me( shhh, don't tell anyone, its a secret to even him right now), and here lately the travel bug has bitten me. I have this overwhelming desire to drag, fly, pull all 6 of my kiddos across the world and experience new cultures and lands. I want them to really know something outside of North Carolina. There is so much of this beautiful world to see and I want to teach them to give to others, always. So needless to say, all of those things require additional financial resources....so I have started my own business, and I have a product for each and every mommy that surfs upon my awesome blog. So take a moment....Please, pretty please, and visit my new website. Put your info in...I promise not to bite or harass you and then look around. I'm sure you'll find something you love. And if you have questions...call me or email me. And just in case you're wondering do the products really really work, take a look at my before and after photos. A picture is worth a thousand words. Happy Shopping from the comforts of your computer and pj's! www.shopartis.com

Party Like a Rockstar

Wow! I am exhausted from one of the most rewarding and entertaining weekends the Artis 6 has had in a while. This weekend we set out 6 hours away from home to visit my hubby's grandmother. I feel so ashamed to say this, but its been years since we visited her and the visit was well overdue! So the drive went much better than I even prayed for. We drove during the night, praying that the kids would sleep and not fight. No fights with six kids is impossible so only a few spats here and there was remarkable. We arrived at the hotel around midnight. We settled into 2 rooms. The boys were across the hall, my oldest is a teen so he usually crashes with the 5 and 3 year old. The girls stayed in the room with my hubby and I. After about an hour I was feeling like I was trapped in a never ending sleepover. Giggles and whispers surrounded my head as I searched and yearned for sleep...and just when I thought sleep would be captured (around 3am) I hear a faint knock at our door followed by laughter. I vaguely remember my hubby answering the door and leaving the room for a few moments...and off to sleep I went. I woke the next morning and walked across the hall to wake the boys. I opened the door and thought I had been dropped into the aftermath of a toddler frat party! The floor was covered with fragrant coffee grains, water, sugar, tissue, clothing, and toys and sprawled across the floor were Ike and Drew. My oldest informed me that he tried to stay awake but he must have dosed off and it appeared that the toddlers decided to party like rockstars! They later told us that they tasted the coffee and danced to the TV and threw tissue up in the sky like stars. Boy was I thankful that we were in a hotel and not at home. I could laugh about it because we were in a hotel. And yes we did make them clean it up....

Just a little thought

"Nothing encourages creativity like the chance to fall flat on one's face."
- James D. Finley

I am learning that it is in those times when I risk it all that I birth forth some of my greatest works and ideas. Fire and pressure shapes you. Either it will break you, or it will shape you into that stronger, smarter, more creative person that you yearn to be.

Weight Loss Journey

Anyone who has read my blog more than once knows that I am OBSESSED with losing weight. With each child I packed on an extra 10-15lbs. I have finally found something that works. I will be journaling my weight loss journey on another blog with a dear friend of mine. Details of that blog will be coming very soon. In the mean time, let me bring everyone up to speed. Well, I had a friend drop quite a bit of weight with little effort or stress. Of course, I wanted to know what she was doing. She was kind enough to share with me her secrets. No diets, no pills, no surgery, and no gimmicks, just a garment that I wear for 4 to 6 hours a day. No sweating, no stress, strain, or worry. Its actually very comfortable because it provides so much back support. Anyway, I've been working the system now for a little over a week and I have lost 5lbs. I think this is awesome. But even more astonishing is the dramatic difference I saw in my body immediately after putting the garment on. I am including before and after photos. I know someone is looking at the before photo in the top corner wondering, is that really her belly pulling on her shirt, spilling over her pants, ewwww. Yes, its what I like to refer to as my post baby love. Its the physical expression of the amount of love I committed to when I carried my 6 little rugrats in their early developing stages of life, you know, pregnancy. What's 10lbs of extra padding, ok I know its more like 70lbs, but anyway what's a little fat compared to the joy they bring into my life, its just a little issue with extra tissue, or what my friends and I refer to as being extra juicy. Except now I'm thinking since the baby producing days are over, maybe I should let the extra padding and juiciness go. Take a look and let me know what you think..... click on the photo to really see

Potty Training at its Best!

Ok, I will be the first to say that I suck majorly when it comes to potty training. You would think that by now, with potty training enrollee #6, I should have it down to a science, but unfortunately, I just don't. Its one of those things that you are excited to finish but cringe going through. I love the results, a fully functioning pottyer, but the journey getting there is just as bad as child birth. All of my girls were pretty easy to train. They pretty much just started going to the potty. My oldest son decided one day that he would be a big boy, and he just went. My middle son took me through much drama to get him where he is today. Drew, the lone non-practicing pottyer, is the one that I will have stories years from now that will be fresh on my brain. He is 3 and 1/2 and until a couple of days maybe even hours ago, he had no interest in pottying. He cared nothing about being a big boy or wearing pull-ups, or diapers. There was no forcing or shaming him into pottying until NOW. I am so proud to present an original idea of the mommy of many. I present to you, THE POTTY BOOK! Quite simply I purchased a cheap little journal, small enough to carry everywhere I go. I am keeping it in my purse. On the pages of this potty book you will find a potty entry. A potty entry consist of the name of the now practicing pottyer, date, and time of each potty experience. For every favorable potty experience, Drew gets a shiny star sticker. Every favorable potty entry is accompanied by a huge proud grin from Drew. And just today when we were in the store he mentioned to the clerk that he goes to the potty. She said "Do you? That's great!" he replied with "Yep, look at my potty book." He turned to me and I proudly whipped the potty book from my purse and showed the clerk all of his favorable potty entries. Why didn't someone tell me that spending $2 and a little creativity would bring forth a proud fully practicing pottyer? Now I wonder if getting through dating will be this simple.....

TV teaches proper dining etiquette!

Obviously the person who said children don't mimic what they see, did not have kids!