You Know its Bad When...

I started by just vacuuming the living room because Tommy did a little dance on the goldfish crackers Daniel had dumped out.

Then I go motivated and lazy all at once and decided just to vacuum the hardwood in the kitchen and dining room because it was starting to look scary dirty and sweeping with a broom seemed just exhausting and way to hard.

Then I realized the chopping block in the kitchen was covered in crumbs anyway and instead of stopping to wipe them off I decided to simply use the vacuum attachment....

I vacuumed my counter tops people.

Don't judge me... I was once normal like you... oh how far I have fallen.

A little while later I spotted Daniel playing with a toy from Bella's new doctor kit.

It was a little syringe... and he had it in his mouth.

Rather than get up I sat and tried to decide if it would or would not fit down his throat.

I determined it probably wouldn't do more than gag him because the end was big enough to keep him from choking or swallowing it and I could use that to pull it out.

I decided that a toy that could hurt but not seriously injure him was worth the risk... 

because he was being quiet...

sad but true.

The next day I took the kids up to my room to put away some laundry and generally clean up.

I took everything I could up with me but about mid clean up I needed a cold drink and a garbage bag.

I really really didn't want to carry Daniel back down the stairs with me... he can do it himself but he wouldn't go willingly with Bella and Tommy still playing on my bed and I didn't trust him up there without me for any length of time.

At the time I was considering what to do he was playing with Jack in his cage, crawling in and out.

I will admit I briefly considered shutting him in it for just a minute...

Then I pictured it somehow going badly... finger stuck in bars, head scratched on sharp metal.

and what the news anchors on channel eleven would sound like reporting it....

I think I make my best parenting decisions this way.

I say to myself... what would I think if I heard about this on the news...

 So you'll be happy to know I choose the more sensible course of action...

 I put him on some pillows in front of the TV...

and instructed Isabella to "gently" tackle him if he tried to get up.

Imagine her confusion since I spent the previous hours barking at her to stop touching him. 

There was minimal screaming, no injuries,
and I got my drink without having to drag an angry thirty pound toddler down the stairs on top of my huge belly.

So what have we learned?

You don't want to eat in my kitchen right now?

I'm lazy to the point of endangering the children's welfare?

A dogs cage is not a play pen?

A four year old can be a short term babysitter, 

if you give her the power to tackle the child in her care? 

Yes... but no.... I would say the real take away is a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Pregnant

I'm thirty-four weeks pregnant today.

That means six weeks till the big day... probably at most seven.

And really I will be considered "any minute now" pregnant in just three weeks.

...and I have pretty much done nothing to prepare.

Wait that's not true, we have bought one box of diapers.

So the child will not go totally naked.

Its not that I don't have the urge to nest... I really really do.

But also have a head cold for going on five weeks now.

My ob told me on Monday that I need to rest or I could have it until I deliver...

I nearly slapped him, that is possibly six more weeks! 

He swears antibiotics won't help, in fact I've already had one round so I kinda believe him... but still.

I feel like there must be something more he could do... like hire me a maid service and a nanny.

Or put me on bed rest or sedate me until I feel better.

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here.... but this really just plain stinks.

I would like to enjoy the last few weeks of being pregnant and only having three kids.

I'd like to sleep while I still can but I'm averaging only four or five hours a night.

 

If there is a silver lining its that I am seeing how much I am loved. 

My mom did some of my laundry yesterday.

My aunt made us dinner last night.

My sister in law made us dinner the night before.

thank you all so much again!

 

Plus when they aren't screaming or getting into general mischief the kids are much more entertaining

to watch than daytime tv... and cute too.

... but when they are screaming it sure makes it hard to sleep.

So pray please that I get better before baby number four decides to join us.

Maybe long enough before that I could get the house cleaned one last time, 

and get some gender neutral sleepers washed for the poor kid.

 

Happy New Year

Sitting on my big comfy couch, with my warm blanket picking at my laptop.

Tom by my side trying to find something interesting on netflix.

Kids tucked in bed and blissfully quiet.

Jack curled up at our feet.

This is how I will welcome the New Year.

If I'm doing what I love at the stroke of midnight, being cozy at home surrounded by everyone I love..

maybe it will set a precedent for how the rest of the year will go.

Tomorrow we will do what we love too.

Sleep in as much as possible... which won't be much I promise.

We'll then move our sleepy selves to the couch with blankets and pillows, 

and we will hand out bowls of dry cereal and put on cartoons until one of us finds the energy to cook.

We will make a big "breakfast lunch" of pancakes or french toast and of course bacon... 

always bacon.

After that the plan gets more fuzzy...

maybe Daniel takes a nap,

maybe I do too,

maybe we go shopping, or to one of the grandparents houses to visit,

maybe we won't leave at all because for a change we don't have to!

Probably we will end the day with a movie after dinner to help kill the time till bedtime with cuddling instead of wrestling.

I resolve this year to do more of this,

just being home with my family,

enjoying the ironic simplicity that accompanies this often chaotic life with small children. 

I hope what ever your doing that your New Year is as happy as mine.

Need to Nest

It was Beautiful...

It was exciting...

 and we have been busy and abundantly blessed for the last three days.

I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas for me or the kids.

And now its over.

And I gotta say I'm ready.

My husband has come to expect that every year on the 26th of December I will start figuring out how quickly I can get into un-decorating the house... once I find my window of time I hit it like a force of nature.

I love Christmas more than most,

I put on Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving,

but when its over for me... it's over.

I just want to get on with life as usual,

I want to do all the many things I've been saying I would do "after the holiday's",

I want some normal back.

We are not even 48 hours out from the big event and already I am itching to get this house back in order.

And if it weren't enough that I'm 8 months pregnant I have also been laid low by this never ending head cold,

   I thought I had kicked it a week ago but has come back for revenge.

 

I told Tom last night I feel like my "to do" list this year is twice as long because the baby is coming soon,

Meanwhile it feels like someone has cut off my right arm.

I can't take the tree down by myself this year,

forget carrying the boxes of decorations downstairs,

I an barely heft a laundry basket down there anymore....

So sadly my compulsive need to nest and clean is at the mercy of my husband.

The same man who tells me every year that his mom keeps her tree up till after New Years.

Six more days may just drive me to the edge.

The Gift of Christmas for Parents

I think I have figured it out.

Forget the commercialism and the hype that the big companies pump out the moment Halloween ends...

forget if you can the neighbor kids who will be getting the ipod, and the wii...

and the best of everything else too....

That is not what makes me want to make each Christmas "more" and "better" for my kids.

They each only got two toys this year at our house actually.

Two things they really wanted.... but still...

I mean more as in, bake more cookies, 

watch more Christmas movies,

wake them up when we forget to move the advent calendar... and that's no small thing people.

Its the fact that on Christmas day we get a special gift...

a rare perspective...

childhood is reduced to days instead of years.

Isabella is 4 now... so we have maybe 7... 8 more Christmases like this?

7 or 8 more days before these magical childhood Christmases start to fade into the calmer excitement of the teenage years. 

I am not sad that they will obviously and inevitably get older.

I look forward to having deep real conversations with them.

But on days like today when the road between then and now seems startlingly short... I want to soak it all up

do it all bigger...

hold them all just a little tighter.

Hold on tight and enjoy the days like these, they are too few and far between.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Chrismas.... and A Lot of Firsts

Today I had planned to bake, and wrap, and clean... and get ready!

 

But after a lousy nights sleep and lots of fake contractions I thought I would try to take it easy and wait till Tom got home to tackle the Christmas workload.... 

the children had other plans for me.

First Daniel skipped his morning nap, 

the one where I was planning to stick the other two in front of the TV 

and lay on the couch for an hour and a half....

this is not so unusual but he didn't nap yesterday at all, so I was sure I'd get my break then.

Ok, plan B... 

everyone will nap together after lunch but before our friend Devin (who is six months old) comes over for me to babysit. I figured I had enough time after lunch to lay them all down, get a shower, and rest on the couch for a half hour before I needed to be up to watch him.

Wrong again.

The children and the dog made a mess of some goldfish crackers all over the living room.

So I had to vacuum after lunch, 

meanwhile I sent Tommy to the potty to prepare for nap time.

Tommy then failed to close the door when he was finished...

and Daniel decided to go play in the potty water...

and did I mention that Tommy also forgot to flush said potty water?

I will spare you the rest.

Daniel is a handful but this was a first for me... and that's saying something when your on your third toddler.

I guess I should be grateful.

So in trying to strip and bathe him I end up with the icky water on me... hence I am now running late...

but I REALLY need that shower.

I lay them down as quick as I can... and run through the shower.

Still somehow there is time to lay down.

 

Set phone alarm.

Thank God for soft semi-new couch, and sleeping children.

Close eyes.

Relax....

Feel someone poking me.

Its my Darling oldest child informing me she needs to go potty... 

I tell her she just went.

She says she didn't have to go then.

I give up.

Help her potty and stick her back in bed for what will only amount to 10 minutes...

then I hear Tommy yelling for me... 

 

Before I know it I have them both in front of the tv with snacks

in a desperate attempt to at least keep Daniel asleep.... he needs it the most anyway.

Devin comes.... Daniel wakes... Devin sleeps... 

Devin's mom comes to get him and as we are chatting Daniel decides to take a glass ball off the tree and whip it into the dining room full force.

 

Another first.... the kid is breaking all sorts of standards around here.

Bear in mind this tree has been up for three weeks...why now? 

Who knows.

 

Soon I have cleaned up the mess and am trying to decide what to make for dinner.

I am out of easy Ideas and I feel guilty asking Tom to shell out money for take out so I begin cooking very near tears from exhaustion.

Soon Bella comes hobbling toward me crying... and I see in her wake a trail of blood.

Apparently I missed some glass.

And the mother of the year award goes to.....

 

I clean her up and stick her on the couch to be examined by Daddy when he gets home in about a half hour.

 

  vacuum again to spare us all more pain....

Dad gets home and is checking on Bella... trying to see if all the glass is out.

 

In the kitchen I see Daniel starting to try to climb his heavy wooden high chair out of the corner of my eye.

I am holding a knife so I turn to put it down as I go to stop him...

If you are a mother you know whats coming.

He goes backwards and the HEAVY, WOODEN high chair lands totally on top of him.

I am immediately next to him, and Tom is even faster than me.

I am also immediately crying.

This is my limit.

Tom thought he knocked out a tooth but it was just a little piece of cauliflower he had left in his mouth...

If you are a mother right now you are saying thank God he didn't choke.

Heck if you have half a brain you are saying that.

Once again the mother of the year gave the 18 month old cauliflower and let him loose.

To be fair I doubt it was big enough to choke on... but still.

Lots of blood and tears and a split lip seem to be the only thing he suffered.

(Its on the top right which makes him look a little like Elvis...)

I will be checking on him more than once tonight for sure.

Once again, this is another first.

This boy is either trying to kill me or himself... I'm not sure which.

Please God, I would like a nice, quiet girl for number four.

Amen.

Tomorrow I will (hopefully) bake some, I will (hopefully) nap some, 

and I will try to calm my frayed nerves with some soft Christmas music....

Tonight I will Thank God that he protected my children and my sanity...at least for today....

And that even when bad things happen I can take comfort that he understand a parents pains and fears.

At Christmas more than ever we should remember that God is a Father too.

Daniel's First Haircut

In the midst of this very busy weekend I have to stop for a second and write about a little milestone.

This one always makes me cry....

but its especially bad when its Christmas and I'm a pregnant hormonal mess anyway.

The kids have their Christmas pageant at church tonight, 

and Daniel finally decided to sprout some hair in the last few weeks.

I'm not kidding... the kid had no hair at all for the longest time.... here he is in August.

Lately however its been looking a little mullet-ish.... so my baby got his first haircut last night.

What is it about boys? 

They are a baby one minute and then they get hair cut and they look suddenly so much older.

I don't remember that happening with Bella. 

 

Anyway, I cried a whole lot more than whats considered normal....

I suppose I should get it out of my system now, because in about eight weeks our baby Daniel will suddenly be a big brother, and I'm sure that's gonna make him look a whole lot bigger too.

 

I keep thinking this quote is quite appropriate for my wild child's latest milestone.

It kills you to see them grow up. 

But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.

  ~Barbara Kingsolver