Who is this lady?

Me

I'm Nella.  Hi.  I'm 30 something years old and I live in Western New York.  I've lived here my entire life except for 2 years in Florida when my husband was completing a post doctoral fellowship.  I'm Catholic, to the best of my ability.  God's mercy is a glorious thing because I fail everyday.  I'm a wife and a mother.  I'm an introvert with a big mouth.  I love to read and waste time on the internet.  I also love, Love, LOVE fast food and anything else crunchy types deem "gross".  The grosser the better.  That's a little insight into the name of this blog.  More on that someday.

Our Family

Obviously we have to start with Daddy!  My husband Michael is the best husband and father in the history of the world, so, sorry to the rest of you.  He is a medicinal chemist who works to develop cancer and immunology drugs.  I know, I'm impressed too.  We met when I was a junior in high school and he was a freshman in college.  We've been together for 17 years, and married for 12.  We are OLD, but he is older, hehe.  He is the love of my life and I am blessed beyond measure to have him.  The kids and I adore him and he pretty much says "back-atcha" every single day, in every way imaginable.  He is an introvert who is always very quiet and serious so we're a couple simultaneously at odds and simpatico.

Next up is Owen, our 9 year old engineer.  He is an EXACT replica of his dad.  He can change our oil independently.  I cannot.  He is a hard worker and a strong silent type like Daddy.  Owen likes to swim, play baseball, build stuff, dig stuff, take stuff apart, ride bikes, basically do all the boy things and all the man things. If you can imagine a meeting of engineers designing a playground, and they are thinking about all the unsafe scenarios they can and then trying to prevent them, well, Owen has thwarted all of their best efforts.  The kid can climb.

Madeleine is 6.  I love the author Madeleine L'Engle, which is nice, but Madeleine wishes we would have taken a moment to imagine what it would be like for her when she was learning to write her name.  Madeleine is like her Mom in that she is a highly emotional drama queen who loves a nice rest with a book or tv.  I picture future family vacations where Michael is leading the rest of the family up the side of a cliff and Madeleine and I are shopping, lunching, and reading.  Le sigh.  Madeleine loves ballet, fairies, princesses, and making art.  She also loves making plays and performances and getting her sisters to join her.  She can go from happy to mess you up in .5 seconds.  She also gets this from her mom.

Anna is 5.  We call her Hootie and she is scary.  How could a pro-life, pro-child Mom say this out loud?  Because it is true.  She taught herself to tie her shoes with ZERO adult input.  After rejecting my first overtures at teaching her letters and sounds, she went on a few months later to do 10-15 pages of phonics in a sitting with ZERO adult help.  She is a human border collie and someday she'll be the first Supreme Court justice to hear oral arguments while running on a treadmill.  If you want to discuss a sensitive topic and you need to be absolutely sure she will not hear, understand, and repeat it at a really embarrassing time, discuss it in another state.  She is an instigator who is much more sensitive than her swagger indicates.  She has what can best be described as a zest for life.

Julia is 3.  She is pure joy.  She loves to do what her sisters are doing, but she will NOT be pushed around.  She gives the best hugs and always asks for hohm-coo-wuhk (homeschool work), which must be printed out NOT on the backs of other hohm-coo-wuhk.  In all tasks big and small she wants to "DO IT MAH SAY-ULF" especially if you're in a hurry.  But hey, that's 3.

Adam is 19 months and a total terrorist.  He lives on top of our kitchen island.  Don't judge, we shut off the plumbing to the prep sink so it's cool.  He adores being outside, being with his brother, and dropping bites of his dinner in other people's beverages.

Avery was born July 24, 2013 at 32 weeks gestation.  She weighs in at a whopping 4 lbs, 4oz. and has dark hair.  She is currently in the NICU working on the complex and exhausting task of existence, so really she's no difference than the rest of us, she just doesn't try to hide it.  We miss her, we love her, and we can't wait to bring her home.

Trouble is our 4 year old rescue mutt.  I mean we adopted her, we didn't pull her out of a rushing waterfall.  She is the best dog in the world until she gets out of the gate and runs through the neighborhood.  The she is that damn dog.  Sometimes I call her him but she's a her.  But seriously, everyone knows dogs are boys and cats are girls.

So that's us.  We love each other.