Seth: Moh-om, Jane just said 'Shut Up".
Jane: "No, I didn't?!"
Seth: "Well, you almost!”
Don’t almost say things around here. Seth’s onto you.
(And speaking of Seth: we’ve never had a crazier kid. Seriously. He’s either making us laugh our heads off or scream our heads off. When I was on vacation without the 4 bigger kids, Ryan called me at least twice a day to report funny Seth-isms. Exhausting, infuriating, mouthy, smart and funny, there’s never a dull moment with him around.)
When I realized the Faith was going to need LOTS of extra nursing help (#5), I knew something had to give. Then I realized that I was planning two vacations that month: Utah (#10) and California (#8). I knew my blog had to go, for a while at least.
We had 4 people who guessed right: Anisa, Lenore, Rebecca, and Rachel.
We had Jane do the honors:
And the winner is:
I believe I have your address, Nor, so I am sending you, via Amazon, my latest favorite book:
It was just a really good story. I thought and thought about the characters and loved them all. I totally lost myself in the book and hope it’s as much of a Time Suck for you as it was for me.
Thanks for playing.
We now return you to your regular scheduled blog programming.
I’m done with my whining, my-life-is-so-crazy, Time Suck series.
Since we’ll probably have more than one right answer, we’ll randomly pick a winner.
Oh, can you stand the excitement?
(Anyone else bored of this? Yeah me, too. Last one, I promise.)
How about a trip to Utah? Do you think that, in addition to the trip to California, might have been the reason I retired for a month?
What if I told you that on this trip to Utah I came down with a HORRIBLE flu and so I only left the house to go to the Museum of Ancient Life:
and hang out with some bloggers at CPK?
What if I told you that when this kid (seen here in happier/healthier times) came down with the flu, right as I was getting better, I threw in the towel, loaded everyone up and headed for home, 3 days early?
Does that absolve me from blogging for a month? What do you think?
(Wait!! I’m here, I’m here! The contest isn’t over. I had go on a girls weekend trip with Faith—details to come—but I’m back and there are two more time suck for you to peruse.)
Maybe I was too busy purchasing these darling matching Easter dresses from Shabby Apple?
Maybe I was too busy calling everyone I knew to tell them that,
“Yes! I had found matching dresses in different colors for each of my daughters?” 
and “Yes. I even purchased a matching one for myself.” (is that too cheesy? yea/nay?)
Maybe I also included those squirrely boys in the Matching For Easter Triumph?
Maybe I need to not care so much about clothes, so I could actually spend time on my blog?
Do you think we were gone because we were swimming in California with Uncle Nate and Grandpa?
Hanging out in San Francisco with Uncle Matt and Aunt Bekah?
Barking at the sea lions in Pier 39?
Getting reacquainted with all the cousins (Matt’s kids Caroline and Talmage in the middle)?
Completely SOAKING up the California sun at a multitude of parks?
Attending blog (and old friend) get togethers (Here’s Paige pretending to nurse. Because it’s so much fun and everything)?
Neglecting to take pictures with Grandparents Nut, and Grandma Genie (all of whom fed and hosted us to a completely enjoyable and relaxing vacation)?
I wasn’t by my blog much, that’s for sure…
Were we too busy celebrating this man:
and the publishing of this master’s thesis?
Was I unable to blog because I was too teared up over the dedication? 
Were we slightly dazed over the fact that this thesis (writing done in June 2007) was actually complete after 5 rounds of editing and 4 million signatures sent back and forth? Were we too proud to do anything as mundane as blog?
Could there be a more impressive Time-Suck?
Was I too busy organizing and putting on the Pinewood derby so that this kid (and the other Cub Scouts in Pack 408):
could have the craziest, screaming-est, awesome MC-est, 2nd place winning-est time ever?
Was Ryan trying REALLY hard to solve Who Actually Makes The Pinewood Derby Car dilemma in healthiest way possible? Did they start working on this car 6 weeks early and so were unable to contribute in any way to blogging?
Can you tell it was the Romney family’s first Pinewood Derby experience?
Was it a surprisingly enjoyable night and was Jessica spending the remainder of the month resting on her laurels, letting the blog audience wonder at her absence?
The fifth in our series of Why Were the Romneys Gone for a Month? (contest rules here)
(And feel free to notice and comment on the cute sitting up that has taken place this week. She may be skinny but she’s strong!)
Was I too busy trying to FEED THIS BABY enough calories? Did I go to the doctor, have him tell me she was falling down the growth chart, and have him suggest I add a feeding and wait and see what happens at 6 months? Did I know exactly what will happen at 6 months (because it’s happened with all my kids): she’ll be in the 5th percentile or less? Have I been:
Since the answer is yes to all of those questions…what do you think? Is this THE time suck that shut down the blog?
(Is this the one? Keep reading for a chance to win Jessica’s Favorite Time Suck. Details here.)
Was I not blogging because this person was sick for 6 days?
And this person for 6 days?
And this person for 8 days (seen here with the remnants of another bike accident)?
And this person for 6 days?
And this person for 9 days (seen here on Crazy Hair Day—notice the coat in the background) ?
And this person for 8 days (seen here yesterday…currently sick) ?
And this person for 4 days?
And when I say sick I mean no-energy-to-move-chills-and-fever-coughing-blood-killer-headache sick.
On vacation.
At all different times and with some of us catching it twice.
Nothing could be more Time-Sucking. Trust me.
(Again…I will be supplying you with many different Time-Sucks. All of them happened. But there were THREE that made it impossible to do extra stuff, like blogging. The contest is: which 3 were the real reasons I stopped blogging? You’ll probably have to read all of them before you can guess. Now onto the post.)
Was I unable to blog, because I was too busy asking everyone under the sun about this:
Was I sooo hoping everyone would say, “Thumb sucking? There’s nothing wrong with it. Let her do it forever because you have 5 children and who knew thumb sucking was so soothing and cute?”
Time suck? (You know that pun’s intended).
(Remember…you’re trying to guess which 3 of the Time Sucks caused my blog absence. See here for details.)
Was I unable to blog because I was providing the over-the-top St Patrick’s Day celebrations, complete with Lucky’s visit
and the Irish feast?
Was I too busy trying to self-photograph the wearing o’ the green, while dealing with a screaming baby and the fat rolls said baby caused?
Self-inflicted Time Suck…but Time Suck nonetheless.
To celebrate, I’m running a little series called:
Which Time-Suck Kept Jessica From the Blog for A Month?
While all of the following posts did happen, there were 3 specific reasons that I didn’t post for the last few weeks. See if you can guess which ones were the true culprit, and I’ll send a randomly chosen winner, my favorite Time Suck. (Not Faith. Sorry. Can’t have her.)
Was I unable to blog because I was spending the last month trying to convince Jane to take her coat off?
Was I trying to devise ways to get her to not wear it to bed, to watch TV, to meals? Was I making sure it was at least taken off for bath time?
That was a Time-Suck for sure!
