Seventh Heaven

I suppose for my first post I should have introduced myself. Hind sight is 20/20. Well, this is me, and what I am all about.
My name is Ali Baker. I have seven kids. Five boys and two girls, in that order. Yes, I just had to keep trying for my girl. If I would have had my girls first, I would have thrown in the towel. God knew what he was doing. Oh, and yes, I do know what causes pregnancy, thank you very much. My husband likes to joke that our hallways are too narrow and we just keep bumping in to one another. Actually, all we have to do is look at each other and I end up pregnant. I have been forbidden from patting another woman's pregnant tummy as this seems to cause the same reaction-I end up pregnant. All seven children are the product of my husband and me although at times I wouldn't claim a single one of them.
It's obvious that we love kids. I even work with kids other than my own. I am a teacher. I have spent time at home here and there, sometimes a year, sometimes just a few months, before I get back out there and try to educate our youth. Working with kids and raising my own brood has taught me so much. Despite what most people think or even say out loud, no I am not crazy. I love kids. Especially babies. The problem with babies is that they grow up, you know? Like puppies. I have worked with every age group, even infants. I have worked with autistic children and teenagers with mental and behavioral disorders. Two of my own children have battled with ADD. I have seen a lot. It is this experience and backround that I feel I could answer some questions about parenting. No, I don't know it all. No, I have no medical background other than my CPR, First Aid, Communicable Disease, Child Abuse Recognition training. I have also taught Sunday school classes and am currently working with a close friend and my pastor on a young families group at church.
My husband and I are extremely blessed to have the family we have. For the most part we are all healthy and happy. Our oldest just turned sixteen-yikes!-and our youngest is almost 14 months. In the middle we have a 12 1/2 year old, 11, 8, 5, and 3 year olds. I can't really remember a time when I wasn't pregnant, breast feeding, carrying a diaper bag around, trying to potty train a kid (or a dog), or buying diapers. A friend and I once tried to calculate how many years of my life I have spent pregnant-it ends up being a little over 5 years. Actually, it doesn't seem like that much when I think of it that way.
Each one of my children have their own personalities, attitudes, and talents. Some of them share common attributes, especially in looks. Each pregnancy was different, each delivery as well. I actually think we saved the best for last. After six fairly easy pregnancies and deliveries, I ended up having surgery on my jaw (don't ask) at 20 weeks and a c-section to deliver our last bundle of joy. That was the only pregnancy in which I experienced high blood pressure, had to take that horrific glucose test three times, lost sixteen pounds and then gained it all double, and my water broke naturally at 3:30am in bed. I felt like I was living out an episode on A Baby Story on TLC. I am so glad to have experienced it all. I should also mention that I delivered my fifth baby naturally with pitocin to induce labor. Let me just say, "@#$%*!!!." I can honestly say kudos to those women who can do that and make it look so easy and beautiful. My husband told me he wished he would have taped the sound because I sounded like the ROUS's on the movie The Princess Bride. If you haven't seen it, check it out, simply to find out what an ROUS is. My hubby is quite the comedian.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. A very large nutshell. Maybe a nuthouse. Okay, maybe I am a little crazy.