Friday, July 29, 2011

At This Minute

Adelyn is napping

Chris is upstairs working for another hour

The boys are swimming at the hotel with their MawMaw and Pop who are visiting from Virginia

Suitcases are packed for a fun weekend ahead at my parents

Anticipating a fun karaoke party tomorrow night at my parents place

Bummed I have a bit of a cold, so my rendition of Bette Midler's Wind Beneath My Wings may not be done the justice it so deserves. :) Perhaps I could pull out a little Stevie Knicks instead!


Thursday, July 28, 2011

You've Got Your Hands Full

When I am out in public with my children it is astounding how many times I hear that comment.

10

Yesterday, in one store alone, I had five different people say that exact same thing! I often times will respond with, "Yes they are! Full of such good things!"

13

11


The other day though the check out lady wouldn't let it go at that. She said to me, "Yeah, just keep on telling yourself that!"

14


Is being a mother really a curse? Is that how it is perceived in the eyes of some people? Do they look at me in pity at the chore I have of raising up these three young children?

edit 4



I have been so incredibly thankful for the individuals who have spoken such wonderful truths to me instead. With comments like:

edit 3



"You are so blessed!"
"Triple treasure!"
"You are one busy Mama with one full heart!"

The other day the four of us were out having lunch together and this elderly woman sat down at a table near ours. She kept glancing our way and smiling. Pretty soon she made her way over to talk with us. She commented to me how much she loved seeing so many children in our family, how wonderful that time was in her life when she raised hers up, and she told me just to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy every minute because it goes so quickly!

15



I feel pretty fortunate myself. :)



My Recent Addiction

I have been addicted to this sandwich lately.

Whole wheat bread, sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, and pesto. Yum!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Thanks Doc!

Ethan and Grayson went to the doctor yesterday. We wanted to get a baseline done here at the new clinic and get the boys in the system.

Here are Mr. G's stats:

Height: 39 1/2 inches
Weight: 37 lbs. 6 oz
Head: 52 inches

And Mr. Eatie Sweets:

Height: 38 inches
Weight: 38 lbs. 4 oz.
Head: 53 inches

They are healthy as little weeds, just growing up.

They definitely showed off their "little boy" to the Dr. too. Jumping off the examining table, hiding underneath in their "secet spot", spinning her stool round and round and round (after she stood up thankfully!)

The best story of the day though was when the doctor checked Ethan's pulse in his groin and then checked everything else out down below. He was squirming and giggling all over the place when she was doing the exam. When she was done I was snapping up his shorts and he said, "That was SO much fun!" Oh my goodness, we had a good laugh over that one!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Come on Out Peter! I Know You're There Somewhere!

I often find myself looking around with this big grin plastered across my face, assured that surely at any moment Peter Funt is going to jump out, come running up to me with his microphone, and announce that I am, in fact, on Candid Camera.

There are moments when my life just does not seem like reality, and the things that are happening can't surely be happening, and the things that my children are doing they surely aren't actually doing, and the fact that I'm their mother and responsible for raising these three and being an example for them to follow must truly be some type of practical joke!

But it is true that Peter and I have never yet met face to face. I have yet to sit down with my family on the couch and tune in to that episode where we laugh and laugh about the joke that was played on me.

Instead I laugh at the moments in this life that leave me shaking my head, completely amused, overwhelmed, blessed, and sweaty.

Take for instance, a quick little trip to the store this morning. I had all the kids loaded up in one of those mega carts. Boys strapped in the back, Adelyn in the carrier up front, and off we went. The shopping itself went fine, but then the boys wanted to help me through the self check out line. "Eh, what could it hurt?" I thought to myself. And so I let them out. All of the sudden there were four little arms everywhere, into everything. Everything I tell ya. Scanning everything they could get their hands on. Ethan even tried to scan his shoe. I then found Grayson taking things out of bags that I had already scanned and scanning them again. At the same time Ethan was standing up on top of his seat trying to grab some gum and candy bars and scan those. It was chaos. Complete and total pandemonium. Peter, come on out anytime now.

[pan-duh-moh-nee-uhm]
–noun


1. wild uproar or unrestrained disorder; tumult or chaos.

2. a place or scene of riotous uproar or utter chaos. (a.k.a. My Life)

The plan quickly changed. The boys were strapped back in with the promise of food being opened in the car as soon as we got ourselves there. I had to reassess everything and figure out what was and was not yet purchased. As the little man at the door said goodbye to us as we left, I was grimacing, certain that we were going to set off the detectors with some merchandise that had snuck by in our cart. But I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as we quietly passed through those doors and out to the car.

The second example comes from this afternoon during nap time. I use that term very loosely as it relates to this story. The boys fought their naps to save their lives today. They just did not want to lay down and go to sleep. After dealing with them for over an hour they were finally laying still, eyes closing, under the blankets, and I was assured that they were certainly drifting off for a couple hour rest. Adelyn was also sound asleep, and I figured it would be a good time to head out and quickly mow the lawn so Chris wouldn't have to deal with it this evening. I got the lawn mowed, and upon returning the house I saw that the receiver to Adelyn's monitowas no longer working. I thought it was a bit strange, but didn't think much of it. Sometimes the base in her room just needs to be reset. I then thought I had perhaps heard a muffled voice. I went to the bottom of the stairs and listened. Sure enough, I heard some giggles. As I approached the top of the stairs I could hear Ethan's voice saying "Adie! Adie!" It then occured to me that the voice from my son was coming out of my daughter's bedroom. I opened her door and saw Adelyn sitting there in her crib with this stunned look on her face, obviously woken. Her blinds had been opened up, her monitor had been unplugged, clothes strewn across the floor from her dresser, Grayson was underneath her crib and Ethan was standing on the rails popping her pacifier in and out of her mouth. It was totally a Peter moment.

I did quick damage control, ushered the boys out of the room, and calmed Adie down to see if she wanted to go back to sleep. (She did). The boys at this point were wired. Completely revved up and in no mood to take a nap. I instead had them sit on the couch where I told them that I needed to talk to them. I asked them, "Did you get out of your beds during nap time and go in to Adelyn's room?" They both said, "Yeths." Grayson then added, "I climbed o-o-o-over (*he has the cutest little stutter right now!) gate" (We have a gate up in their door for nap time, it obviously does a lot of good.) Ethan then said, "That was so much fun! Do it again morrow!" How do you keep a straight face and reprimand them when your precious little two year boys have this look of absolute glee on their face recounting their exciting adventure in their sister's bedroom. Ei yi yi. I kept my stern voice, but had to turn my entire face away from them for a few moments while I regained my composure.

:)

Friday, July 15, 2011

No Go Pee Pee!

Potty Training Update:

The boys are still in diapers.

:)

We are making progress, slowly, slowly, slowly...

Grayson seemed so ready for the potty, and I think he still is, but he is also showing a lot of fear when it comes to using it.

When the urge comes for him to use it he starts to cry says, "No go pee pee!" and begs me to, "Put diaper on! Put diaper on!" Yesterday he even ran and got a diaper and laid down on the floor for me to do it. Sweet boy.

I have tried talking him through this irrational fear, reading him stories and singing him songs while he sits there, and even putting on a little Boz or Caillou to try and distract him.

I do not want to make this potty training thing a battle. I don't want him to be terrorized of the toilet, or come to loathe this entire experience - and so I take a step back and reevaluate.

I do feel like Ethan is making a lot of progress. He has already used it on quite a few occasions and doesn't seem to exhibit any of that same fear as his brother. I am leaning towards focusing my efforts with him, in hopes that Grayson will observe and realize that there really is nothing to be afraid of!

I'm just not stressing about it. I know it will happen when they are completely ready. I am hoping it is before they are 10, but we'll just take it one day at a time and see!


Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Peeling Back Life

Yesterday I pulled Ethan aside, held him in my arms, and pleaded with him to please just stop growing up!

IMG_9818
Adelyn's little body is yearning for adventure. Wiggling in my arms, she makes her desire known to get down and explore the world around her - climbing stairs, playing with her brothers' toes as they eat their breakfast, standing in her crib and giggling at her Mama when she enters the room to scoop her up. It is hard for this Mother of hers to believe that she is nearly 11 months old.
IMG_9810
Grayson and Ethan have replaced referring to themselves in third person ("Ethan do it." "Hold you Mommy.") with appropriate phrasing like "I did it!" and "Look at ME!"
IMG_9786
These past days have been full of all kinds of firsts for these children of ours, and in turn firsts for Chris and I as we witness them doing something new literally every day. Swimming in a lake, first boat ride, going to Uncle Eldon's yearly cabin trip, meeting some aunts and uncles for the first time...
IMG_9784
It is an amazing ride, this parenting gig!
IMG_9694

IMG_9665


7-11-11 108
Taking part in their first yearly dock picture of all the cousins (which we've been doing for over twenty years!)

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Aghhh!!!

I become so frustrated when I see days upon days pass before a blog entry is written. In those moments where I do have time to sit down and write I feel overwhelmed with the number of topics I want to cover on here, and instead I just walk away and don't write anything at all! Oh well. Such is this point in my life I suppose!

The thing I've noticed is that life doesn't seem to stop even if I haven't written about it on here yet! There have been so many things going on these past many days and I've just been running (literally!) to keep up.

Chris and I celebrated 10 years together last Thursday. A decade already married to that man. I am truly a blessed woman to call that man my husband. He is a good man. He is a good husband. A good provider. A wonderful listener. An amazing father. I can't imagine my life with anybody else by my side. He is my other half, truly my companion.

The kids are doing awesome with being kids. They have really mastered that! They are changing every day. The boys are putting together so many sentences. They will follow me around the house and say "What are you doing Mommy?" over and over and over again.

Adelyn is in to everything. How was it that she wasn't even crawling a few weeks ago, and now that girl is pulling up on everything, pulling everything over, and getting in to so many things that she shouldn't be getting in to! She loves her new found freedom. She just wants to be down on the floor and moving!

Our biggest news is that Chris and I found our next home! We went house touring this past Saturday and it was the very first home we walked through. We both just knew it was the home for us! We were ready to put an offer in that very moment, but we decided to look at a few other homes on our tour just to make sure. Every home we saw after that just cemented in our mind that the first home we saw was really the right fit for us. We put an offer in that afternoon, and by that evening we found out that our offer had been accepted! We are set to close on August 26th. (3 days before my little girl turns 1! "Like my sister-in-law said -" What a gift! What is she going to expect for her second birthday??" Ha! Good point!)

And now...a few pics...



1

The front of our home

4

The back

5

Living room

2

View of the back yard

IMG_9609

My nephew Micah and brother Michael

IMG_9611

What's the 4th of July without a game of chicken?

IMG_9581

Grayson got up the guts to try the slide. Ethan followed. They didn't want to stop!

IMG_9567

My brother David and his girlfriend Sarah

IMG_9549

Micah and Adelyn in their own private pool

IMG_9478

My sister Hayley and myself

IMG_9463

Sarah and I

IMG_9458

Passing some time before the drive in movie starts!

IMG_9359

And to end...Adelyn demonstrating her skills. Oh those little thighs. And those feet. Oh my goodness! :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails