We'll be back!

I'll be back to share stories about my awesome kids soon! We've just unplugged from the technological age for a little while.

My biggest playground pet peeve.

It freaking bugs the hell out of me when little kids climb up the slide the wrong way. My kids slide down the thing and end up running into a kid who is climbing up. And my kid starts crying and the other parent says and does nothing about it. It's simple playground etiquette.

I know I am probably just overly sensitive about it. But it's hard to teach your kids the right way to play (wait for your turn, use the equipment the right way, etc.) when other kids are playing anyway they want to.

What do you do when you run into children doing the wrong thing in a public place? Do you correct the child in a nice way? Do you talk to the parent? Or do you simply just ignore it?

When a kid is climbing up the slide when my kids are trying to come down, I say something like "oh hunny, please don't climb up the slide right now, my children are coming down and I don't want you to get hurt" and they usually comply. I would never correct another person's child though.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I've created little monsters!

Massage monsters that is.

Ever since I took the girl in to get a professional massage a week or so ago, they have been asking me to massage them. And of course I can't get away with just one of them, they both want it done. It's cute as they just lay there, soaking in the good feeling.

I've tried to give Karl a massage, but he gets to squirmy. I used to give him infant massage, but he's grown out of the times he'd lay still for one. He does, however, let me soft tickle is belly and his back. He could be all active, but the moment I start tickling him, he lays completely still.

Do you do this for your children? If you don't, I highly recommend starting. Although once you start, you've got to be committed doing it every night! It's part of our bedtime routine now.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

So smart.

We had parent/teacher conferences this week. They grade the kids on a 1-4 scale. 1 = way behind. 2 = needs improvement. 3 = meets standard. 4 = exeeds standard.

Allison got all 3s with two or three 2s. The 2s were things they were just starting. Ella, like always, got all 4s with a sprinkling of 3s. All of her 3s were in behavior because she is a chatty Cathy and she always gets into trouble for speaking out of turn or getting up out of her seat without permission.

Ella's teacher asked us our permission to enroll her into an extra curriculum gifted program. They think her talking and moving around stems from being bored with the class work because she is so advanced. She is already in advanced math, literacy and science, but they want her to go one more step ahead into this gifted program. They want her to be challenged with her work.

I'm so very proud of her.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

How much work is three kids?

Anyone out there who has two children close in age knows adding the second one doesn't just double the work. It's more like quadruple. So how much more work is it by adding a third one? Times eight?

I just got done feeding all three kids and them cleaned up. Now its bathtime. Baths exhaust me. No wonder I don't give them baths every night like good mothers do. We're an every other night type family. Sometimes they even go three days. Of course if they are visibly dirty, a bath is given, but if they look and smell clean, a day or two may go by in between baths.

Another thing that is tough is changing sheets. It takes a long time and it requires one or two loads, two of we are washing blankets.

The girls don't have school this Friday so their spelling tests are tomorrow. I've administered 4-6 spelling tests today to .ake sure they know their words. And they still have homework to do. I can't imagine what its going to be like when all three kids are in junior high and high school. Getting homework done for a kindergartener and a first grader are hard enough tasks. How am I going to survive the teenage years?

Ah. I'll take it one day at a time for now. It's all I can do.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Tattletelling.

I'm having trouble with my kids in regards to tattletelling vs telling me when something is going on that I need to hear about.

I sound hypocritical when I try to explain it. They try to take things into their own hands instead of telling me so I can step in. Yet, I tell them not to tattletale. How in the world am I supposed to tech them the difference when I don't even know the answer myself?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A bunch of firsts for Karl.

The first "first" is Karl went peepee in the potty! It was bathtime and I took off his diaper and stood him on a little stool in front of the potty. Next thing I knew was he peed. Yay! I know it was just a fluke but awesome nonetheless.

The second first was I painted his toenails a dark blue/black. ~giggle~! He looks so cute with his toes painted. I thought tom would get pissed, but instead tom asked for me to paint ~his~ toenails! Both my boys are rocking painted toes.

The third first is we are having a campout in the living room. Everyone is sick in the house and running low grade fevers. Which means every kid wants to snuggle with mommy. So I put down five blankets on the ground to maee it ultra soft and then a sheet to cover up with. Each child has their own pillow and blankie and I figure we can all cuddle with one another tonight. I'll move them into their own beds as the night wears on. Or if they don't want to, I've got no qualms in having a little living room campout.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Picture albums.

I used to print out pictures to put in photo albums. Me and the family just sat down and poured through all the photo albums I have. I haven't printed out many from the past few years but I need to make it one of my many projects I have on my ToDo list.

I miss having babies. Everyone is so grown up now.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A few pictures of my kiddos

I have been reading blogs and seeing so many pictures of everyone's kids that I realized I haven't posted a picture of my kids for quite awhile. I'm on a borrowed laptop right now, so I don't have my camera's software installed, so I just took a few pictures in the backyard. Not the greatest of pictures, but at least you can see just how much my kids have grown.


Ella and Allison hamming it up for the camera.




Mister Karl chowing down on a donut

Can you believe how much Karl has grown? It's amazing to me. The girls too. They look so cute in their school uniforms. I'll have to take and post some more pictures, but for now, this is it. Thanks for looking!

What the hell?

I just popped over to my blog to see a post that I didn't write! I can't believe my blog got hacked. Lame!

I promise

I will spend 30-60 minutes on my computer catching up on my favorite blogs I've been missing because I fell in the habit of blogging on my phone. Commenting via a Blackberry sucks.

I'm going to declare ready backruptcy tonight and I'll get back into the swing of things. I miss you all so much and getting comments from you makes my heart swell up. Your girls are my friends and I miss knowing what's going on in your life.

So, here I am. Give me another chance of making it up to you. I love you all so much and I want to get to know you again. Xoxo.

Love, Nancy

Uck, uck, oose!

Karl loves playing duck, duck, goose with me and his sisters. He goes around the circle, touching each of our heads, until he screams out "oose!" and squeals in delight as he runs away from the goose. He doesn't run in the circle though, instead just running in any direction to get away from the goose. It's absolutely adorable.

The girls had their first professional massage today. And I was right, they loved it. They laid so still on the table, soaking up the good vibes from an awesome massage. When we were leaving, they even gave our massage therapist a hug. I guess they felt comfortable with him.

They were fully clothed for the massage, which I think was a good idea, especially for their first time. Our therapist said eventually, when they are more relaxed about the massage itself, he will have them take off their shirts and work with them under the sheets. He said they would keep their shorts/panties on, but he could get to their neck/shoulders/back better without a shirt on. Of course I'd be in the room the whole time, so i'll be comfortable with it. My massage therapist is ~very~ professional so I'm cool with it.

Argh! The kids are driving me nutso talking about Halloween and they keep hounding me for the answer to WHEN they get to go buy their costume. I'm seriously asked like 15 times a day. It's going to get worse before it gets better though. Hell, it's not even October yet!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Massage

It's time for my girls to find out the wonderfulness that is massage. I'm taking the girls tomorrow to my massage therapist for their first massage! I'll be in the room with them and we'll start with 20 min sessions, but I'm betting they are going to love it.

What do you girls think of getting massages for children?

I kept my baby with me today.

I have Karl in daycare only two days per week for seven hours per day. Today I just couldn't stand the thought of giving him up to school so I kept him. It's like playing reverse hooky.

We've spent the day playing together and it's been wonderful. Right now he is sleeping and looks so sweet. I sneak in and look at him all the time. There is something about a sleeping baby that just melts my heart. I cant tell you how many pictures I have of Karl (and the girls) sleeping.

Do you ever just go in and wake up a sleeping baby just because you can? I'm terrible at it. But they are just so cuddly when they first wake up. Especially when they don't want to be awake. I love my cuddle bug!

Cooler nights = new wardrobe.

We went out the other night and I had to put the children in warmer clothes. It made me realize the only person to have clothes that fit was Allison since she uses ella's hand me downs. Both Karl and Ella needs a fall/winter wardrobe.

The girls wearing school uniforms helps a bit, which is nice. I bought some pants and long sleeved shirts at the beginning of the school year when everything was on sale. But regular clothes is a different story.

I bought a bunch of clothes today for Karl at target. And picked up a few pair of jeans for the girls. I will wait for the next 20% off sale at target to get ella's new clothes.

I did go a little crazy with the shoes for the girls though. I bought some brown mary janes for each of them and got the cutest ugg knockoffs too. So flippin cute. I also got some clearance flip flops and some slippers too. Hello. My name is nancy and I'm a shoeaholic.

Along with being addicted to shoes, I'm also addicted to coats and jackets. On the way out of the store, I spied their new jacket collection. I got myself a beige overcoat and the cutest sage green fitted jacket by converse. I swear I have about two dozen jackets. I'm horrible! But that's all I bought for myself.

I wish these kids didn't grow so much! Or at least slow down so I didn't have to buy a complete new wardrobe with every change of the season.


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Roller skating

I enrolled the girls in a roller skating class. Today was their first lesson. Ella did great but Allison is having a bit of trouble.

Its so hard watching your own kid struggle. I wanted to run out there and scoop her up and tell her everything will be alright. But I left her on her own, letting her learn on her own.

Good job girls! Momma is very proud of you!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Modeling.

I went to my doctor appointment last week and there was a woman there who gushed all over Karl. She kept telling me Karl should go into modeling.

I guess Karl ~is~ a cutie patootie. And not just cute to his mother's eye. It was sweet to hear her go on and on. Normally I would be annoyed over a stranger going on and on over something in a doctor's waiting room. But what mother doesn't want to hear their kid is gorgeous? ~smile~

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I signed myself up.

I signed up to be an official co leader of the daisies this year. It goes daisies, brownies then girl scouts. Last year I co led, but the leader just grouped all the girls together. Which was fine, its just that the girls didn't get to work on their troop specific patches. We still got a lot of fun patches, just none of the ones you earn specificly for daisies, brownies, girl scouts.

So hopefully this year will be better. We can work for their badge specific things and follow a more structures group setting. I think we can still meet together and do arts and crafts as a group, but we need 30 mins as our smaller groups to work on their troop specifics. Ha. Who knew miss pink rock nancy would be a co leader in girl scouts?!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Karl is finally starting to talk.

karl is finally starting to way some words other than mama. In the past week, I've gotten baby, truck, papa, peek a boo, juice, shoes and a few others. Yay! Way to go Karl!

"Peek a boo!" has got to be my favorite. It comes out "pee a boo" and he says it as he uncovers his eyes. I love that he can have so much fun with something as simple as covering and uncovering his eyes. Ahhh, pure baby fun.

I can't wait for the talking to progress. Being able to tell me what's up will help so much. I'm so tired of the grunting and pointing. Its like a game of charades every time he wants something.

Ella and Allison are getting into the groove at school. Allie is doing amazing, I got the report that she follows directions and is eager to raise her hand to answer questions. She loves to learn. Ella, on the other hand, is having trouble following direction. She is falling into the same pattern she had last year, talking out of turn and getting out of her seat. I don't know what to do about it other than talking to her about it everyday after school. She has the punishment of no cartoons if she ends up on a red light during class. She's also had to clean her room by herself. I just don't know what to do about it. Ugh.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Low betas

Did any of you out there have a low beta which ended up into a viable pregnancy?

karl was my low beta. 15 @ 11dp3dt (or 14dpo). I have a friend going through beta hell and wanted to share success stories with her.

If you had a low beta, tell me your number and dpo please. Thanks!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Best buy rules.

I bought a DVD player for the girls two years ago and I purchased the warranty plan too. The girls are rough with it, as any two five and six year olds would be, so having a no questions asked warranty plan was a good idea.

In January, I took it in because the power cord was loose and wouldn't stay connected and best buy replaced the player. I even got forty bucks back because the price had changed. Awesome. Well, that DVD player didn't work to well and I already need a new one. I took it in today and they gave me another brand spankin new one again. And the warranty carries over again to the third one. Yay!

When buying electronics for kids, I highly rcommend purchasing the extra warranty. One of the best thirty bucks I've ever spent!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Food ideas?

Does anyone out there want to share their children's favorite things to eat for breakfast amd lunch? Karl is such a picky eater and I need suggestions of what else to try.

Right now he is eating oatmeal. And he seems to even like it. Amazing! He won't eat pancakes waffles or french toast. He won't eat eggs. He won't eat toast or English muffins or bagels. I just end up getting some fruit down in his tummy.

He eats like a bird. I don't understand how the kid evem gains weight with the amount of food he eats. It makes me feel like a bad mommy when I can't get him to eat a good meal.

So, any suggestions?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

My poor baby boy.

Karl was running into the kitchen and tripped on his own feet. He did a faceplant into the garage door. I watched it like it was in slow motion. I couldn't catch him, instead I watched him land on his face. I feel so very bad for him. He's got a huge goose egg on his forehead now. My poor baby boy!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

How much does your husband help with the kids?

It was a learning curve when Ella was born, but I must say parenting is definately 50/50 now. He used to wait for me to ask him to do this or that, which drive me nuts. I wanted him to just ~do~ whatever needed to be done without me having to ask him to do it. It took a good six months for him to understand this concept. Now he'll do anything. This includes changing diapers to giving all three kids a bath. It's nice. He is such an awesome father. I couldn't ask for anything more.

My favorite thing he does is he will take the kids with him when he has to run an errand. I know plenty of fathers who will take care of the kids when the mommy needs to go somewhere, but there are much less dads who will take the kids with them when he needs to go somewhere. Getting out alone to run errands without the kids is nice, but it is even better when I get a break from the kids alone in the house. There is something about a quiet house, sans children, that I love. Does your husband do this?

That reminds me of a pet peeve of mine. I hate it when a father refers to watching the kids as "babysitting". You're not babysitting dude. You are taking care of your own children! Babysitting happens when you are watching someone else's child(ren)!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Babysitters and daycare.

I know some women who have never left their children with a babysitter. What do you think about this?

In my humble opinion, I think its good for a child to learn to be without their parents every now and again. I also think it is good for mommy and daddy to spend some time alone sans baby.

Daycare is also something I think is wonderful for the child. I've never had separation anxiety with any of my children and I think having babysitters and daycare played a big role in this. My kids learned that sometimes mommy and daddy leave but we always come back.

Some people are so against daycare and I just don't get it. Being around other kids is so good for them. The socialization aspect is huge in itself. And it also builds up their immune systems.

I see some kindergarteners totally freak out each morning when they are dropped off. And these are the same parents who leave with tears in their eyes. I bet dollars to donuts these kids stayed home with mommy and daddy for their first five years of life. I feel proud when my daughters give me a kiss goodbye and them run into their classrooms to start their day.

I think staying with you child(ren) 24/7 is actually doing a disservice to them. Totally my opinion of course!


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Open house.

We just went to open house at the girls' school. Its still early in the year, but its just so awesome to hear how well your children are doing. Both Ella and Allison are in the high literacy and math groups. It looks as of I have two smart pants on my hands!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Red Robin. Yum.

Allison picked red robin for her birthday dinner. They sang happy birthday to her and she couldn't of been more thrilled.

Karl was a beast though. He simply did not want to be confined to a high chair. We ate as quickly as we could and got the hell out of there. He is usually such a good baby when we go out. But not this time. It sucked big monkey balls. We ended up having to hold him and walk around with him so he wouldn't bother the other diners. I hate it when other people just let their kids fuss in public, giving no respect to the other people around them. We are certainly not those people.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Happy birthday my dear Allison!

Wednesday is my sweet Allie's birthday. She is going to be a big 5 year old.

I just went shopping for all the birthday supplies and presents. Now all I need is the food, but I will get that all on Friday.

How in the world I have a five year old and a six year old is beyond me. Time just flies by so quickly. I miss my little babies but I'm also excited to see them grow.
For her birthday party this coming weekend, she wants a water party. So I got water guns and water baloons for all the kids. I will put out a twirly sprinkler and the slip n slide too. Here's hoping the Colorado weather cooperates with me and it'll be a nice, hot day.

Happy birthday my sweet girl.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Bad mother of the day award goes to me.

I was just sitting at home playing with Karl when my phone rang. It was from one of ella's school mate's mom.

"Are you coming to pick up your kiddos?" she asked.

"Why? Is it an early school day?"

"It's 3:30".

Yeah. School gets out at 3:15. I completely didn't hve track of the time and I failed to pick up my girls from school! Thank god I have a parent friend there to call me and watch them until I got there. I'm a horrible mom!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

the poop diaries.

Karl is a pooping machine, but yesterday took the cake.

I was giving Ella a bath and Karl wanted to get in so I let him. After the bath was done, I was draining the water and I saw it. Ack! Contamination! So off to the shower to clean up both kids again.

As I was drying Ella off, Karl was running around naked. He then came up to me showing me his hands. Yup. He pooped again on the floor and picked it up and smooshed it between his fingers. Into the shower again!

And then today when I picked him up from school, I noticed he was wearing different clothes. I was quickly told he had pooped during nap time and got his hands into it, spreading it all over his clothes and his cot. Gross!

Why in the world is he playing with it? I've heard stories of other kids playing with their poop but my girls never touched theirs. Is this a boy thing? Or am I just lucky I had two kids who skipped this disgusting behavior?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

three days.

In three short days, i'll have two kids in school. I can't believe it. Where did the time go?

I'm excited for Allison to start kindergarten. She loves to learn and I think being in school will come natural to her. She wants to be like her big sister so badly. Going to school is just that step she'll need to get there. Soon she'll be reading and writing just like Ella. I'm so excited for her.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

$180

I just got done buying the girls' school supplies. $180! I can't believe the amount of things on their list. Five reams of copy paper. Markers. Paint. Playdough. Paper towels. Hand sanitizer. Pencils. Erasers. Stickers. Towels for rest time. The list goes on and on.

I lucked out in finding everything I needed in one store though. That was nice. Actually, I didn't find a painting smock. Where in the heck will I find that one?
Now I have to lug it all to the school. But at least the hard part is done. Whew!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Tgif

Its Friday! Woot! Baby Karl is napping right now and the girls are watching cartoons. Scratch that, they are playing dress up. I want to take them out to do something but I got my spine injections this morning and I have to take it easy.

So its a day at home for us.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

less talking and more sleeping.

I just told my kids just that. I hear the strangest things come out of my mouth.

Do you do it too? Say something and jusg have to laugh at yourself?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

He is such a boy!

I know I've blogged about it before, but Karl is such a boy. The differences between him and his sister is night and day.

He is just so rough and tough. But I still get me some baby kisses and baby love. I hope he is a tad of a mama's boy as he grows up. Not too much, but a smidgen. :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I fought the law and the law won.

I've been thinking a lot about my ttc experiences since I wrote the post about it in my other blog.

I was mulling over what I said about liking my ivf/fet cycles. It sounds to me now I was saying I liked one bfp more than the others. I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I just meant I'm glad I experienced so much. Hell yeah I'm happy about getting a cycle #1 bfp! I'm just also happy I also fought (and won) some hard core bfps.

Without my IF, I would of never learned of this awesome community. First the ttc aspect, then the pregnancy and parenting blogs also. Parenting after infertility is way different then the "normal" parenting blogs. Not than any is better than another, its just that in happy to be a part of where I am now. We're bad ass parents!

Ask me seven years ago if I'd be explaining how I'm happy I wasn't fertile. I'd of probably be daydreaming of punching you in the face. I'm just so different now. It took a hard fight and some fabulous wins, but I'm thrilled I'm not fertile. Without my ttc battles, I wouldn't be the person I am now. And I like myself quite a bit! ~wink~

My infertility journey really showed what I was willing to go through to fill those empty seats at the dinner table. None of my babies were wanted more or less than the others. Just because I didn't "do" anything to get Allison, doesn't mean I wanted her less. But enduring surgeries, ivf, fet, injections, medications, monkey wands, hsgs, hsss, iuis and a shitload of other things including some substantial debt, just proves what I was willing to do to succeed.

I'd do everything again and again to get each of my children. knowing the feeling of succeeding, I know now every single thing I did was worth it. I would have done a lot more if I hadn't won yet. I'm glad I know that there was never a line of "too much" for me. I read about women not knowing when too much is enough. That's a question I'm glad I never had to come to. For ~me~, I think the question of too much would be age. Its an answer that is different with each woman and I had my cutoff age. But as far as surgeries, medications, procedures, etc, there was never too much. I'm glad I knew that.

Do you have knowledge of your own "when is enough too much?" answer?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Its just not right ~wink~. But there is cuteness involved.

Karl was dancing tonight to my itunes (dropkick murphies, flogging Molly, pitchfork) actually, every was dancing. Then I notice Karl. He is wearing his social distortion onesie and a huge purple tutu. Karl was swirling around and I got the picture. Ill upload it here in a moment.

Poor baby boy. And this starts them dressing him up and going to tea parties. Poor little Karl. He is outnumbered.

But really, I don't care in regards to the gender sterotypes. If he want a purple tutu on, then so be it. My baby boy can play dress up and barbies if he wants to. Go Karl!

Let me go upload the picture.

He still is a pretty cute little guy, no?

The moment of rain ruined our day.

It rained for something like ten minutes. But it was enough for our city to turn off the two water fountains we have for the kids to play in.

There we were, all soaked in sunscreen and our swimming suits. But the only water was from the sprinkling from the sky.

Damn it. The kids were so disappointed. I was too. Not from the fountains, but from the looks on my children's faces.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I've got a little guy.

We just got back from our 18 month appointment and mr Karl weighed in at a mere 22lbs. Not too small, but on the lower edge of normal.

The appointment went well. Even the three shots weren't too traumatic. Still. I hate when we have to inflict pain on him when he doesn't know its coming. We also talked about his lack of talking. The doctor is assuming right now its simply the fact of birth order or even his hard time with ear infections. So for now, we're just going to wait and see what happens. If no talking by 2, that's when we'll step in with some speech therapy.

Time is going by way too fast. Even though I'm not cut out to be a sahm, I'm cherishing the time I get to spend with my little man. And my girls. Its an amazing time in my life.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Birth order.

I was talking to my friend about karl not talking yet and she brought up birth order. Its all so true regarding how much birth order makes a difference in children.

Ella is the leader. Allie follows. Ella learned to walk, tallk and be potty trained all by the book for her age. Allie did some things faster by watching her not so much older sister doing it. Karl is a typical baby of the family. Everyone does/talks for him so he is not talking yet.

What birth order tidbits do you know about?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

OMG - having one kid is so easy!

The girls went to grandma and papa's this week so I've had only Karl since Sunday. I miss my girls dearly, but WHOA. Having just Karl is the easiest thing ever. No fighting girls. No drama. I'm keeping my house clean. It's amazing.

We're leaving in the morning (depending on one of my best friends having her baby) to go up to Salida to spend the weekend and get my girls and I'm so excited. But a little bummed that the week is over already. Does that make me a horrible mom for liking the time away from them?

I can't imagine when grandma takes the entire troop with them for the week. The take them about twice a year and ~maybe~ next time she'll take Karl too. A week without any kids? I can't even fathom it. I would actually get to sleep past 7am. No way.

What about you? Do you have anyone who takes your kids for more than a day or two?

graduation

Ella graduates from kindergarten in the morning. I'm so very proud of her! Onto first grade.

And in a short eight weeks, Allison starts kindergarten. Wow. Two kids in school. I'm flabbergasted!

Congratulations my dear Ella. We are so proud of you!

talent show

KToday is the big talent show at Ella's school. She is in two performances. One wiill be her singing with 4 backup singers and the other is one with a group of teachers. I'm just so proud of her. The whole family is going to see her - mommy and daddy and both sets of grandparents. Go Ella!

The other two kids are doing great. Allison is excited at the prospect of starting kindergarten. And Karl is such a boy! I can't believe how much of a boy he is. The difference between him and the girls is night and day. Its amazing. I should call him Karl the Destroyer as he destroys anything he gets his little hands on. I gave him a little snowglobe to look at and within seconds, he spiked it on the ground, smshing it into little pieces. My mistake!

So all is well on the western front. I hope its the same for all of you!

Let's dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Karl is freaking hilarious when he dances. He's totally into it right now and will dance at any music he hears. I love it.

He does this little half knee bend and dances around with side steps and with his arms flailing. I guess dance is just in his bones like they are with most kids - just dancing for the pure baby fun of it.

Total Recall

Allison is sick now with a fever and puking episodes. I ran out of Motrin so I sent daddy to the store to get more. He came home with the generic versions after the pharmacist told him all about the motrin and Tylenol recalls.

I looked it up online and found that 4 of the 5 bottles I have at home are part of the recall. I was able to request replacements for all of my bottles too. So that's cool of them.

I wonder if the puking was brought on by the medication I gave the kids for their high fevers. I gave both kids recalled products. Scary.

Here is to the medications being thrown away.

Puke.

Karl is sick. Yesterday, he puked 4 times. Twice on me. Once on the hubby. And once in my car. The one in the car seat was the worst. Not because of the aspect of cleaning it, but because I couldn't help the poor little boy. He just sat there, spewing out the contents of his belly, puking on himself. And he was obviously scared to death. Little babies just don't know what is going on when they puke and it scares them. The look of terror on his face while I was driving just broke my heart. I pulled over immediately, but by then he was done. It broke my heart not to be there for my boy, even though I was only 2 feet away from him.

Puking aside, he had a fever, runny nose, loss of appetite and bloody pus dripping out of his right ear. I got in with the doctor to get some antibiotics for his ear infection. Thank god he has tubes or that blood/pus would be killer pushing on his little eardrum. He's on the mend though, as no fever or puking today. And less snuggling time for mommy. Yesterday, all he wanted was me. Today, he was up and about - running around everywhere. But still being cranky, which is understandable.

Ella had a school play today in which she sang along with her class. One song was also done in sign language, which was really cool. In fact, this isn't the first time they do sign language along with singing. I'm so proud of her!

Allison has been a little terror lately. She is ~fine~ all day with me, but the moment Ella gets home, she acts like a little devil. I don't know why she's acting like she is. I guess it's due to having to share my attention. Whatever it is, it's really grinding on my nerves. I'm literally at a loss as of what to do. I'm dealing with it day by day, but I need to focus on a long term solution. I feel like I'm drowning in the daily drama when the big picture is what should be looked at.

Karl. The Destructor.

What a difference having a boy is after two girls.

He's constantly knocking this down, throwing things, climbing up on things. What happened to my sweet baby karl?

Like an idiot I gave him a snowglobe to look at. In a matter of a moment, he spiked it down on the hardwood floor to where it bursted into a bajillion glass and glitter pieces.

He's just non-stop. I wonder if this truly is boys vs girls.

happy birthday sweet pea!

Ella is 6 years old now. Quite crazy its been over a half a decade in our lives.

We had her party today although her birthday was Friday. We had 11 kids and even more adults at her party. It was at an inside amusement park and it seems like everyone had a great time. Expensive though, so that sucked.

Happy birthday sweet pea. Mommy and daddy (and brother and sister) love you so much!

Three sleeping beauties.

I miss my kids when they are sleeping. I sneak in their rooms and watch their peaceful faces while they sleep. I want to wake them up so badly just to cuddle with them. Of course I don't, but I really want to.

I can't steal moments with Karl though. He is just like his mommy, he is such a light sleeper. At just the smallest of noise, he sits right up in his bed. And of course he stays awake after being woke. Knowing I can't go in his room makes it all the worse for me. Instead, I stand by his door and open it a crack and I listen to his breathing. Sometimes he has the cutest little snore. I just love it.

Three sleeping beauties. I can't get over how lucky I really am. What did I do in a past life to have such a blessed present?

Lookee what I got!

Check out the outfit I received today in the mail from Suessgirl!



The shorts have skull and crossbones all over them and the shirts are all about skateboarding.

How sweet is she? She has 3 boys of her own and she went and thought of Karl when she saw this. I'm beyond words when I receive an act of kindness like this. So thank you Janelle! I ~love~ the outfit!

My Three Peas

I haven't posted any pictures lately. This is from a nice day outside in our backyard.

My sweatpea, Ella ...




My Allie beans ...




And baby Karl ...




It still blows my mind these are ~my~ kids. I'm one of the luckiest women in the world. Really.

She's "more than ready" for kindergarten.

I just took Allison in for her Kindergarten Assessment. How nerve wracking! They let you watch on a monitor and that's it. Which is better, I suppose, that Mom and Dad aren't right there to interfere, but it's hard just watching!

Anywho, no reason to worry. Allison was deemed "more than ready" to start. In a mere 4 months, she'll be in school! Wow. Two kids in school. I'm flabbergasted.

He's just too much.

Karl is too active. I swear! Going to the grocery store is now a feat in itself. I have to tie the baby down using ~two~ straps! (the one connected to the cart and the one that comes with my grocery cart carrier thingy).

All he wants to do is Run! Run! Run! One step outside with him in my arms has him squirming to get down. He sees outside as a huge playground and he wants to be part of it. And he'll get there. Oh yes, he'll get there.

Poop.

You know, they never tell you how long you REALLY will be dealing with wiping your children's butts when you get pregnant. If you have two under two (or multiples), you'll hear "you'll have TWO kids in diapers!!!" like it's a huge undertaking.

But they never say "you'll have to be wiping the butts of everyone under 5 years old!" regardless if they are potty trained or not.

Ugh. I'm really tired of wiping the butts of three children all at once. It's awesome.

In other unrelated news - Karl got tooth #7 in yesterday. The Captains Wife commented her baby girl, about the same age as Karl, has all ~16~ baby teeth in. Had I not had Ella, I'd be floored by the news, but even still, I am quite impressed. Ella had all her teeth, excluding her two year old molars, by her first birthday. The molars soon followed. With Allison, she was completely toothless on her first birthday. Her two year old molars are still not in. Ella has 4 more teeth than Allison still. karl seems to be taking the middle ground, getting teeth on an average schedule.

I got video of Karl running yesterday. But he's naked so I can't put that up for all to see. A baby butt is okay, butthe video contained it all. He's so super cute running.

Run, Karl! RUN!

My little boy, the baby who just started walking, is now a track star. He puts his arms out for balance and then takes off running. ~So~ cute.

And the other day, he got his 6th tooth in.


What are your baby's recent milestones?

Worst Mother Ever.

I forgot to pick up my daughter from kindergarten. I had an atrocious headache and went to last down (it was only 2pm). Next thing I know my husband is calling me asking me where the hell I am and didn't I realize it was 4pm? (I pick up Ella at 3:30).

Oh. My. God.

I slept through picking up my kids.

Good thing she has a teacher who stays to 6pm because she carpools with her husband and Ella was in her room playing with her daughters, both of whom are in girl scouts with her.

Still. I slept through it. I feel tiny and like a horrible mother.

Spring Break!

It's Ella's first spring break. I kept the other two kids out of daycare this week too, to spend family time together. Today is not that fun, as I had a head doctor appointment (all is well, she's keeping me on my current regiment of anti depression meds) and a drop off to the pharmacy for my meds and pain patches.

Tomorrow is a special day. The husband is taking the day off to take the family to the Denver Zoo. We've never been there so it'll be new to all of us. I have my big back dr appointment tomorrow morning, but after that, we'll be on our way to Denver.

Then the next day I think I'm going to drive the kids to Salida to visit the grandparents for a few days. I don't know what we'll have lined up, but I'm sure it'll include lots of swimming in the town's hot springs swimming pool. I don't think we'll take the kids skiing, but that's also an option. I'm so proud of how well the girls ski with just two days skiing under their belts.

What are your plans for this week?

Happy Birthday to You!

It was a birthday weekend this weekend. Both girls had a birthday party to go to. Which means ~I~ had two birthday parties to go to. My husband has done his fair share of taking the girls to parties, so this weekend was my turn.

First was Ella's friend's birthday. It was a skating party and Ella had a great time ...




Next was Allie's friend's birthday. It was held at a kid's gym which was actually pretty damned cool. As you can see, Allie also had a great time ...




Now I'm tired and have had enough of birthday parties for the time being. I can't wait until the girls are old enough that I can just drop them off for a party and pick them up afterwards. I've attended enough parties to last me for years to come!

Yesterday it was in the 60s. Today it's snowing.

We took advantage of the nice weather yesterday by going to the park.


Karl being the big boy that he is and climbing on top of everything. Notice the hurley shirt and red converse. Bad ass, eh?




He also ~digs~ swinging!




Ella is also my climber. She'll get on top of anything and everything!




Allie stays low. She likes this chain walk a lot.




And today it's in the 20s and snowing. You gotta love colorado!

I'm overwhelmed.

I just can't be a stay at home mom for much longer. Either that, or I'm going to have to change things up.

Staying at home is just the same thing everyday.

7am - wake up
730a - breakfast
8a - playtime
930a - 1130a - karl's nap
12 - lunch
1230p - 330p - playtime
3:30p - pick up Ella
3:40p-5:30 - karl's nap
6p - dinner
7p - playtime or bathtime
8pm - bedtime

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

I need something else. But I don't have any money. And it's cold out. What can I do INSIDE for free with the kids? We need something. Or I will slowly go insane.

Walking.

I've been told by many people "karl will just suddenly take off walking and surprise you." I've nodded politely to each person replying "yup, maybe!" while I kinda rolled my eyes.

But now I must admit "they" were right.

Last night, Karl just changed his mind about crawling and decided walking was his thing. This morning too. He's now walking about 80% of the time.

Just like that.

Hrm.

video update

A few videos to show the grandparents!

Allie skiing ...



Ella skiing ...



Karl pushing his little walker ...



Ella's video which gets whole family in it (and I'm acting totally silly!) ...

Karl is so smart!

My kids constantly surprise me with what they know. When Ella came home one day from daycare and wrote her name, I was flabbergasted. When Allison counted to twenty in Spanish, I was floored.

Today, Karl was the one who shocked me by showing me he knows his eyes, nose, mouth and ears.

He was in my lap while I was sitting on the couch and I asked him, "Where's Karl's nose?" He immediately pointed to his nose and gave me a big grin. Next up was his mouth where he stuck his fingers in his mouth. His eyes and ears followed. Then I asked him where mommy's nose was. A tiny little baby hand quickly pinched my nose.

I had no idea he knew this. We spent the weekend at Tom's parent's house and I heard his mom going over eyes/ears/nose/mouth with him. I guess that was enough because he's got them down pat.

Amazing. Who knew a little baby touching his nose would bring me such joy?

What are all your little ones doing now? What's their newest trick?

Take of the lens cap Stupid!

Yeah, that's me trying to capture Karl's first steps on camera. But the prolem is immediately remedied, getting said milestone! Yay!

Go Karl!

What's new bugaloo?

Parenting is going swimmingly. Nothing major going on at all, but I thought I'd pop in to give a little update, since all I've talked about in the past few weeks is food and poop.

Ella received the student of the month award at school. I attended the award ceremony at her school last week to witness the honor. She's such an amazing little girl and surprises me with every turn. She's reading and writing every moment she gets and never seems to get bored. She is also into math and recites counting in various forms, ie: by twos, fives, tens, etc.

She is also in pre girl scouts called the Daisies. I just went to the girl scout office today and purchased her vest and attached her little earned badges. One of the badges, roller skating, which she earned a few weeks ago, was so cool I bought one for myself. I bet it's not allowed for adults wearing a badge, but I'm totally going to sew it onto one of my own t-shirts.

Since I still unemployed, I have signed up to be a co-leader for her troop. I may end up regretting my decision, but I'll give it a go. It seems little girls actually like me. They can look past the piercings and tattoos and just see a friendly woman. I noticed this phenomena when we went roller skating. I was wearing a short sleeved shirt, so my ink was out, but little girls kept asking me for help. There I was, holding hands with my own daughter and other little girls who wanted help, all while their snotty mothers watched with rolling eyes from the sidelines. Ha. Whatever ladies.

Allison is causing me to pull my hair out. She's constantly fighting with Ella, always the aggressor. She just can't keep her hands to herself. I don't know what to do, I'm at the end of my rope with her. She's good all day when with me, yet when Ella gets home, she goes insane. I try to give her so much attention, yet she still acts out. Maybe it's still the transition of being the middle child, but man, it's been a year. I don't know how long I can handle it. But I've got no choice.

She is really learning a lot from Ella's studies in school. She copies her at every turn and is right there next to her, teaching herself how to read and do math. Although her behavior has a lot to be desired, her learning is amazing. I'm so proud of her.

Karl is doing great. Still not walking, but I know it will happen in it's own time. He's already 13 months! Both girls walked before their first birthday, but Karl is perfectly happy to get around by crawling. He stands by himself a lot, but if movement is necessary, down on his knees he goes. He shows absolutely no interest in walking. He does love his little walker, and if positioned, he'll take off walking with it. But other than that, nada. Oh well, in his own time.

He's started crying when I drop him off at daycare though. It breaks my heart. He's such a momma's boy! His teachers say he stops crying right away, but still - I hate it. Booo.

See? I told you nothing was going on!

Holy crap. Literally.

I don't understand how a little person can create so much poop. Karl is an expert, rarely do I get just a wet diaper. It's his norm, so I'm used to it, but man o man.

Feeding.

What do you feed a one year old? I have totally forgotten everything I've fed the girls and I'm at a loss at every meal.

Karl is eating mac n cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, eggs and all kinds of cut up fruit and veggies. I still am feeding him the rest of the baby food I have, but he's no longer diggin' it. I think he wants to ~eat~ and chew. What a big boy.

He's also 100% weaned off of formula and on whole milk. Yay!

What else can I feed him. I need ideas. What do you feed your baby?

A few pictures ...

Not much going on, we all just got over a stomach bug which had me cleaning up after a day of all three kids puking multiple times - at the same time. Fun fun fun. But all is well now and just wanted to pop in to say we're all still alive!

It's 3:36am here

and I am wide awake. All because of a diaper rash.

Oh yes, a diaper rash. Karl's little bum is super sensitive and we have already dealt way too much of his fair share of them. Hell, the first few weeks of his life was spent with a GI bug and ~every~ diaper change consisted of a bleeding rash and major crocodile tears. Poor baby didn't know any better than to think every diaper change was painful. He never had a painless change until weeks and weeks after his birth.

(pediatrician says newborns with GI issues "heal" much, much later than it normally would if baby was a tad bit older. I went through a dozen, if not more, newborn diapers a day. I also used an entire tub of the best diaper creme in the world - triple paste. The only diaper rash cream without the stinging stuff that's in butt paste, destitin, A+D, etc... basically everything working on the main ingredient of zinc oxide. Triple paste, at $30 for a small tub, was worth its weight in gold. Anywho, back to my story.)

I have been programmed to wake up with his cries this week due to another diaper rash caused, I think, by an incoming tooth. It's ~just~ about t0 pop through. Here's hoping it comes through sooner rather than later.

So here I am. Awake as the rest of the family sleeps. My back hurts too bad to just try to lay back down, so here I sit until a pain pill starts to work. Back pain sucks. It sucks even more at 3:46a. Bah. This sucks.

First Steps!

Karl took his first steps today.

The first I missed, but he walked to grandma. Then tonight, he took a step from the couch to me. Yay!

Way to ~go~ Karl!!!

Karl had his surgery yesterday.

Karl got tubes inserted in his ears yesterday. It all went well and after we got home, it was as if nothing had even happened. I can't say that for when we were at the hospital. Karl got what they call the "anesthesia screams". It was terrible. But let me back up a bit ...

We had to check in at 6:30am, which was extremely early, but very good for Karl. (and thanks to Laurel for coming over before the sun was up to watch the girls. She's an awesome friend!) Since he couldn't eat or drink after midnight, not letting a baby eat in the morning is too confusing for the baby. So we were able to just scoop him up out of bed and get him to the appointment without any fuss.

Our time before the surgery went well. Karl was as good as always, smiling up the nurses and other patients. We got him in his little hospital gown and he was so darned cute! I then put on my garb - booties, gown and hat - and I carried him into the surgery room. They put the gas mask on him while I was holding him and within seconds, his eyes rolled back in his head and he was out. The nurse then took him from me and had me leave the room. That was the hardest part - leaving my baby in that room. I knew he was safe, but still. Ugh.

About 15 minutes later, his surgeon came in the waiting room and told us everything went well. He had lots of fluid behind each ear, so he should feel better immediately. Then a nurse came and got us to take us back to recovery. As soon as we walked through the doors - I heard him.

He was screaming and crying. Louder than I have ever heard him. We walked in the room and a nurse had him in her arms, trying to soothe him. Thank goodness I knew about this reaction or I would have freaked out. He wasn't in pain, but he was confused as to why he felt the way he did. Waking up from anesthesia is even weird for me, so I can only imagine what it's like for him. He was squirming and just crying so hard. Inconsolable. He cried in my arms the entire time we were in recovery and into the car. As we started moving, he got better and then passed out. The rest of the day was normal and had I not known, I'd never guess he had surgery that morning.

I'm wondering if the fluid made him uneasy on his feet. I say so because he kept letting go of things while standing and stood on his own more than I've ever seen him do. And suddenly, his little push behind walker is his favorite toy - he pushes it all over the house, walking on his little legs behind it. He's never done that yet and now he's up and down the hallway with it. Hrm, something to think about.

You know the song "rock a bye baby"? Have you ever thought of the lyrics? It's horrible!

Molecules.

Ella just told me how the molecules act in solids, liquids and gases.

Kindergarten. Really.

"Ella!"

To keep the babies "busy" at daycare, the teachers will put them in a huge stroller (fits 6 babies!) and walk up and down the hallways with them. It gets the little babies out of their room to break it up a bit.

Yesterday, I was walking down the hallway with Ella towards Karl's room. When we turned the corner, we saw the stroller full of babies. Karl ~immediately~ made eye contact with Ella, put out his arms, clenched/unclenched his fingers and yelled "Ella! Ella! Ella!"

His official 3rd word is "Ella". ("momma" and "dada" were first and second).

How cute is that?

Counting.

Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty, Twenty-five, Thirty, Thirty-five, Forty, Forty-Five, Fifty, Fifty-five, Sixty, Sixty-five, Seventy, Seventy-five, Eighty, Eighty-five, Ninety, Ninety-five, One hundred, Two hundred, Three hundred, Four hundred, Five hundred, Six hundred, Seven hundred, Eight hundred, Nine hundred, One thousand, Two thousand, Three thousand, Four thousand, Five thousand, Six thousand, Seven thousand, Eight thousand, Nine thousand, Ten thousand.

Repeat 187 times.

This is what I hear from Ella all day. Every day.

Fun, eh?

What I don't like about today's cartoons.

The girls watch nick jr cartoons and well, they suck. And I just realized why. They all have 'messages' in them. Remember OUR cartoons? It was mindless! Cats chasing mice. Dogs chasing cats. (I loved Tom and Jerry). But today, the cartoons have to be ABOUT something. Blah.

What's with the movies lately?

~ There are like 3 movies out there right now about the murder of a daughter. Did all the movie studios get together and make some horrible plan? Sheesh.

~ Did I mention Karl is getting tubes put in his ears on the 25th? As it draws nearer, I'm getting more nervous. I hope they let me hold him while they put him under anesthesia like they let me do with Allison. I don't like the idea of him being awake and scared in that big surgery room without me there. It would make me feel a lot better if I knew I was able to be there for him.

~ I guess I'm not the only one who thinks Ella is a beauty. I went to Ella's school last week to pick her up from Daisy troop and I was roaming around the halls with Karl on my hip. Two teachers stopped me and said ...
Teacher1: "What a cute little baby!"
Me: "Thank you!"
Teacher1: "Oh, aren't you the mom of the little blonde kindergartner, um Emma?"
Me: "Ella?"
Teacher1: "Yes! She is the most beautiful little girl in school." Looking at the other teacher, "You know who I'm talking about right? The little rosy cheeked blonde kindergartner?"
Teacher2: "I know who you are talking about! I told my husband that if I could guarantee I would have a daughter who looked like her, I'd have another baby!"
Me: "Thank you!"

Seriously. How nice was that little conversation? Any mother loves when someone dotes on their child, but to be stopped in a hallway to hear such compliments? ~blush~

Today he's ~one~.

And what a year it's been ...


In the hospital to get turn him and my water suddenly breaks on its own ...




A screaming newborn ...




After emergency surgery recovery, mommy ~finally~ gets to meet baby ...




A month old ...




2 months old and smiles ...




6 months old and growing some teeth! ...




9 months old and loving the swing...




A full year old and loved for every minute of it...




Happy Birthday my little man. I love you.

Happy Birthday Mr Karl

We had karl's first birthday party today. Tomorrow, his real birthday (and I'll post the obvious pictures we all do on these days).

Oh my.

He stood today all by himself. He's my only child who wasn't walking by 1. What a slacker. ~wink~