Happy Halloween

Our Great Pumpkin









Our Pinkie the Pink Poodle (Ellie)
and Mother Lucy the Unicorn/Pony (Abby)









Ellie chose to be a Pink Poodle because of her special stuffed animal - "Pinkie". Abby chose to be a Unicorn because, to her, it resembled her special stuffed animal - "Mother Lucy" (aka Floppy Pony), which in reality is a Horse/Pony. If you ask Abby what she is/was for Halloween she will alternate between Unicorn and Horse.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere

Come back here... pumpkin









Let's carve these monster pumpkins
They named the one on the left the "Daddy Pumpkin" and the one on the right the "Mommy Pumpkin". :)









Abby helping... in the beginning... then









Ellie's idea of helping












Icky Gooey Pumpkin Goop... digging for pumpkin seeds












The finished product

ABORT ABORT ABORT

Have you ever had little voices in your head telling you ABORT ABORT ABORT???

Man alive, I knew I should have listened to those little voices this morning. But no, "it is surely to get better"... right?

Next time... listen to those voices! Come to find out, at the end of the day, Carie had those same voices this morning. Too bad we didn't share this with each other until it was too late... way too late.

In the end, we all survived.

Note to self; don't plan a busy weekend the same weekend of the time change. :)

The Coffee Party

The girls' have really gotten into imaginative play on a whole new level recently. It is SO fun to watch them take miscellaneous toys or objects and entertain themselves, together, for quite a long time... long enough for 3 year olds.

A few weeks ago the girls' decided to have a party. We had just finished dinner; or rather they were finished with dinner. They had asked to be excused and promptly went on their merry way.

Soon we see them busily taking bowls and dishes from the cupboard and disappearing. They'd come back to get another armload... then they'd disappear again. Working together they quickly came and left several times over. They remained focused and intent on accomplishing this task. Focus like we've never seen!

After a couple of trips, Carie and I began to wonder what they were up to. It looked harmless, so we enjoyed the rest of our dinner before really investigating. On one of the trips into the kitchen, we asked the girls' what they were doing. We were told, "We are having a coffee party!" Hmmmm... sounds intriguing. How do they know about coffee, we wondered.

We then went to check out this coffee party. We found the girls, and many of our baking dishes, on Abby's bed where they were sipping coffee out of measuring cups.

Field Trip

The girls' had their first ever school field trip today. Both of their classes along with the other two pre-school classes went to the Henry Doorly Zoo, and the parent's were invited to attend.

I had the privilege to go with Abby & Ellie. We had a great day! We arrived at the zoo at 10:00 and met up with their classmates and teachers. We were quickly on our way, making our way through the zoo.

We first visited the Aquarium, which is pretty amazing. It is one of our favorite stops every time we visit the zoo. Then we stopped to see the giraffes that were out enjoying the beautiful weather. We then checked out the cheetahs, which didn't seem too interested in impressing us. They seemed to be pacing, waiting for their lunch. As we made our way to our lunch spot, we stopped by the Garden of the Senses... a beautiful area. Then onto Monkey Island... oh we love Monkey Island! They got to feed the fish, which is always fun. Yes, there are fish at Monkey Island... fish, very large and well fed fish, surrounding the islands. Then onto the Sea Lions, who were showing of for us as well. Finally, it is lunch time. We found some nice picnic tables in the sun and had our sack lunches. Amazing how everyone found a spot at the table, cleaned their hands, and ate their lunch... simply amazing. As folks were finishing up their lunch the kids played and hunted for pine cones.

After lunch we trekked up the hill to pay a visit to the Elephants. We then went to the Hubbard Gorilla Valley, the zoo's newest exhibit and one of my favorites. Our final stop of the day was to the Cat Complex, which I hadn't seen in a long time. It was a great treat as all the lions and tigers were playful today.

After 4 1/2 hours... both long and short in the same time, it was time to go home. We saw so much yet left so much unseen. Everyone appeared to have a great time and everyone appeared to be tired from all the walking. The kids did great!

I'm so glad that I got to go though the fascinating part was that the girls' weren't really interested in hanging out with me. They really wanted to hang with their teachers and friends. It was fun to watch a gazillion (only seemed like that many when they were all shrieking at the same time :)) 3 year olds have a great day.

Oh, and if that weren't enough??? We went to the pumpkin patch, again, this afternoon for another 4 hours of fun. More on our various pumpkin patch experiences after we make our final visit this coming weekend. It was a beautiful beautiful, if not exhausting, day!

Just Keep Jumping, Just Keep Jumping, Just Keep Jumping Jumping Jumping

The boy

IS

a maniac

in this thing.

Enough said.

The Boy Loves Food

From left to right: Spencer enjoying his bowl while Momma feeds him cereal. Spencer in control of life, enjoying zwieback toast. Then Spencer all done and all messy.

Our plans from the get go was to wait until he was 6 months old to introduce solids. Thought we'd give his digestive system a good amount of time to develop. Thought we didn't need to add that routine into the day any sooner than necessary. Then there are the allergy and obesity concerns. We don't really know enough about the donor's history to rule out allergy concerns and obesity is a strong thread in my family. All this to say we were planning on waiting until he was 6 months of age. But we'd keep an eye on his developmental cues and factor those into the decision.

The boy had a different agenda. At nearly 5 months old it was clear to us that he was ready for solids so we began to give him rice cereal at dinner time. He totally loved it. It was fascinating watching him learn how to move the cereal in his mouth. He has such an internal clock that it was clear from the get go that we had started something. At 6pm, he is ready for his cereal and he lets you know. Don't even think about skipping a night! We continued this for a solid month, and he seemed satisfied. Until recently.

As you may have gathered over the past several posts, the boy is frustrated and conflicted. Saturday it escalated. Not only is he teething and on the verge of real mobility, he seemingly needs some control in his life. Ahhh, it is starting already. It appears to us that he is really needing something he can control, something that he can gnaw the crap out of... preferably paper but us moms' won't let him really dig into that, and preferably none of the toy's he's already gnawed the crap out of. So on Saturday Mommy, Ellie, and Spencer take a trip to the store and bought zwieback toast. AHA, we found a winner. The boy was in heaven. He sat and gnawed on the thing like a popsicle. When it got dangerously small, we swapped it out for a fresh one and he was good to go.

Then last night we added in his first vegetable, squash. He didn't love it, but he didn't spit it out either. We shall see what he thinks after a few more nights of it.

Hopefully with these additions he'll be more satisfied with his food and less interested in ours. You've got to be quick; he's got a strong and long reach.

Where IS The Sun?

This morning was a rough morning. Imagine that! It wouldn't have had anything to do with still being awake in party mode at 10 pm, now would it?

So Carie went to get the girls' up this morning and it was a slow slow go. So she began getting them dressed while they were trying to wake up. Abby was pretty much fully dressed when she looked at Mommy and said "but where is the sun?" She then pulled the covers over her head. As if to say... talk to the sheets Mommy, the sun isn't up so clearly it isn't time for me to get up.

Now, if it would only work the same at night.

Soon it will be daylight savings time and the sun will once again be up at wake up time. Thank goodness!

Don't Sit On My Brownies!

Okay, it is 10:00 on Monday night.

All 3 kiddos were in bed nearly 2 hours ago. Carie left to go shopping an hour and a half ago. I got to talk with our friends who just had their baby. For anyone who knows who I'm talking about, they are doing great. Carie just returned from said shopping trip and the girls' are still awake. I was just on my way up to remind them of their job... which is to stay in bed and go to sleep! Oh, and do not wake up your brother would be the 2nd half of their job. But, if they are doing the first half the second half should be a piece of cake, right?

So we go up to their room to find and what do we find? First we notice the walk-in closet door is open and the light is on. Then we notice that they had riffled through the laundry basket that had contained clean clothes that hadn't yet made it to their dresser. Then we notice books all over the floor. Then we notice little feet hanging out from under their beds. Oh yeah, they were having a grand ole time!

Abby informed us that she was making brownies. She even offered some to us. We gratefully declined the offer and said we'd be happy to enjoy them tomorrow. I sat down on her bed to get her settled in and she told me "Don't sit on my brownies!" Oops, didn't mean to squish the brownies. Sorry, I'm sure they will still taste great... tomorrow!

I love love love that they play so wonderfully together and that they are bonding and creating lifelong memories. BUT, it is bedtime!

They've been doing a lot of imaginary play lately. They’ve really gotten into their dolls, animals... the plush variety and their little figurines. The take care of them, they cook for them and feed them. Tonight they served berries and squash for dinner. They make up stories to tell to their animals. They'll take our books and read them... moving their fingers across the page as they make up their story. They've also been playing with their train table a lot lately. It is so wonderful to play with them and it is amazing to sit back and watch them play.

Oh No

Spencer's started this thing lately where he will grab his head... with force. He takes both hands and literally smacks the sides of his head. This all started at the end of last week.

Add to this extreme crankiness and one begins to wonder... ear infection? No way, couldn't be... right? We just finished our 2nd round of antibiotics for the same ear infection, surely it is gone. So, we concluded that the boy had just "found his head". We'll say "Oh No" and he'll grab his head. His first words, or would that be sentence, may be "Oh No".

Today at their 2 week follow-up, we confirmed that the boy did not have an ear infection. All this crankiness has got to be derived from the teeth that are torturing him. They are just hanging out under the surface of his gums... moving up and down, but not officially coming through for good. AND add to that his crawling. He is so close to really making significant forward movement.

He turns 6 months old on Wednesday. How can that be?

2nd Day of Sickies

We've successfully made it through our 2nd day of sick children.

Ellie woke with a virus early Friday morning. Twenty four hours later, she was all better but had successfully passed it on to her sister. Saturday morning, Ellie woke all chipper when the sun came up (and kindly woke up her sleeping brother, grrrr) but Abby wasn't feeling nearly quite as chipper. After a full day of vegging, watching Backyardagains... episode after episode (thanks dvr), and sleeping several hours of the day away, Abby felt much better come bed-time. Fortunately she felt better, but unfortunately she felt well enough and rested enough that sleeping wasn't on her top 10 list. At 12:3o a.m. she's still awake with no signs of tiredness. Hopefully this non-nutritious snack will satisfy any hunger needs and she can drift off to z's soon. Though, it's hard to be frustrated with this cute face after she's been so sad all day long.

Then there's Mr. Spencer. While his day didn't get started off on the right foot (thanks Ellie), that certainly didn't account for 100% of his extreme crankiness. Is he sick or getting sick? Who knows? He just finished his 2nd round of antibiotics for an ear infection that just wouldn't go away. Then his sister's are sick, so he's surrounded with the germs. He IS still teething, that darn tooth hasn't fully popped through yet. He IS seemingly pissed that he isn't crawling yet. While I'd rather him not be fully mobile, I'm really ready for him to achieve this accomplishment with the hopes that he is less frustrated. Then there's the food thing. Right about a month ago we started cereal and he found instant love with solid food and is desperate for some control. So, after much deliberation, we took the next step this afternoon and we found instant happy boy. The evening ended on a much better note! More on the boy and solids coming in another update... so stay tuned.

All I Want For...

Christmast is my 2 Front Teeth. Okay okay, so it is a bit early for Christmas and I do already have my 2 front teeth. What I am really thinking is that "All I Want For My Birthday is a Good Night's Sleep."

Remember... we have two 3 year olds and an almost 6 month old. Odds were decent that the 3 year olds could pull it off, not guaranteed but decent. The 6 month old, well it was a given he'd wake... but just how many times??? And I said "good" night's sleep... not expecting it to be all night from the time I fell asleep until the time I woke.

Okay, so Ellie fell asleep rather quickly last night... yay! Abby had a really hard time falling asleep and Spencer had a rough time settling and staying asleep. Not lookin' good. Finally though we do achieve 3 sleeping kids... yay!!

Spencer woke at some point, I'm so tired that I couldn't even begin to tell you what time he woke up. Though, in general, I could tell you it was earlier in the night rather than later. Carie got up with him, which was really nice. Now, when I said I'd like a good night's sleep I didn't really mean for her to not get a good nights sleep. What I was really going for was for the kiddo's to surprise us... because I know it can be done.

But, alas, it wasn't in the cards last night. Carie is awesome with nighttime duty, far better than I am. So I know that if I am tired, she has to be doubly tired… and sweetie if you are reading this, it is showing. Please take care of yourself too! She hears every little peep, it seems. So, she’s awesome in the middle of the night, but if he only gets up once or twice I need to nurse him otherwise I'm facing other issues... rock solid leaking boobs. But last night she took care of all of his needs for the first round... THANK YOU!

So, whatever time it was, she fed him, got him back to sleep, and returned to bed herself... all without me even really knowing. Then later he woke again and by this time "I" really needed to take care of his needs, or was it my needs, well both of our needs. He was pretty pleased about that. But also at the same time Abby is awake and really struggling with sleep. I'm sorry Abby it is genetic. So, I took Spencer and Carie went back to Abby. I do remember Carie saying, "leave room for me", and no she wasn't kidding. So she returns to find the boy sprawled out taking up her entire side of the bed. Thankfully he had just finished nursing and was ready to go back to his bed. I also remember Carie saying, "he sleeps just like you!”

Fast-forward a period of time (again, I still have no idea what time it is). Ellie is getting out of bed and on her way down stairs... only 6 stairs. I hear her and she's a bit upset at something. She's saying, "my water is making me sick". Basically she's holding her cup of water and would much rather have a cup of milk. A cup of milk is a huge comfort item to them. But, the "sick" part has me concerned. I check her out and find out that she hasn't been "sick", yet. So I convince her to climb into bed with me and we snuggle and fall back asleep… and we are able to skip the milk.

Fast forward a period of time, though this time I know it is now 6:30. For some folks that is late in the morning and they'd be up and going by then. For us, not so. For our household, 6:30 am is still freaking early... it is still nighty night time :). But I only wake to notice the time because I had just been puked on. My free arm swings over to wake Carie and I say "puking child, need help NOW". She comes to our rescue. Thankfully the puking episode was minor, compared to what we know it could be. We get cleaned up and Ellie decides she is ready to return to her bed. On the way it is clear that she is about to have another puking episode and they make it to the bathroom AND to the porcelain goddess. Wow, my baby is growing up. For anyone who has a child that notoriously pukes when they are ill, you know that this transition is huge. As odd as it may sound, it felt like a huge moment to see her standing there puking into the toilet. I felt SO bad for her and Mommy was right there to comfort and cuddle her... but when she had to let it go she made it back to the toilet. Way to go Ellie! But sigh, she's growing up.

After all this, she ends up going back to her bed to rest some more. We were hoping to catch a few more z's ourselves. It is now 7:30 and Mr. Spencer is awake and sounding chipper. The chipper part is nice, but 7:30 is way to early for him... imagine what the rest of the day may turn out to be. Imagine your child waking a full 1-2 hours earlier than normal. So an attempt was made to get him to go back to sleep, it was a no go. He came and joined us in bed, he was pleased as punch.

Mommy & Spencer then gave me my birthday presents. I absolutely wasn't expecting "gifts"... though Carie always takes care of me and makes my day extra special. I felt bad for opening them before the girls' woke up, but with the night they had we weren't about to wake them AND I had a meeting that I had to get to so I couldn't hang around waiting for them to wake up. It's kinda our tradition to open gifts first thing in the morning before we get going, and it is a tradition that I love. We do this with each other and we do it for the girls’.

The absolute best part of opening gifts this particular morning was the look on Spencer's face. He saw the packages and his eyes grew really big and excited and he let out a squeal. He went after that paper like he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. All he wanted was the paper; the boy is obsessed with paper and all things that he (thinks he) can put in his mouth. So, he got the paper and I got the boxes. Great compromise, I think.

As I'm getting ready for work, it is discovered that the load of clothes never made it to the dryer and by this time I can't wait for them to dry. Carie did find me some pants to wear, but it happened to be the pair with no button and a questionable zipper. Why I keep them, I don’t know. I guess for days like this. Oh well, gotta have something on to walk out the door! Then I'm trying to find something to throw together for lunch. Fortunately, or unfortunately in this case, we've done really well with keeping up on the leftovers that there were no leftovers to be found. Carie encouraged me to go out for a b-day lunch with some co-workers.

The girls' did wake up before I went to work and quickly crashed on our bed watching "farmer Jed". They wished me a happy birthday before I left for work, but I could tell that they weren't feeling so hot. I hope Abby is "just" tired and isn't going to get whatever Ellie has. I hope Ellie's virus is short lived. I hope Mr. Spencer doesn't get it at all. But I also suspect that I'm fooling myself thinking that that is a possibility. Ellie has already taken a 2hr nap today, very unlike her, and her temp is spiking. I can see that it may be a long night.

What a morning! On the upside, after returning from an awesome lunch with some co-worker friends, I return to a beautiful arrangement of flowers from Carie and the kids.

The Good Stuff

This morning I asked Ellie what she wanted for breakfast. After a second of deliberating, she told me.... broccoli and green beans. Great choices I say, but how about some cereal... Kix maybe? I felt bad for suggesting we have cereal instead. Generally they can have whatever they want so long as it isn't something that would fall in the sugary treat and/or snack category. After a very long night with Spencer all I could gear my body up for was pouring cereal. I didn't even pick the big bowl/little bowl battle... big bowl it was, filled to the brim with cereal I knew she was going to waste.

Then at dinner, for the 2nd night in a row, she managed to steal most of the veggies off my plate. Yeah, she had quite the grin on her face while doing it. I don't think you can call it stir-fry veggies when all you have left is broccoli and snow peas. Oh well, eat away my dear and enjoy!

Then tonight at bed-time, well rather past bedtime... probably the 3rd time out of bed... I put Abby back into bed... after she got to roam the house while I was trying to re-settle Spencer.

Abby says: "Where IS Mommy?"
I say: "Mommy is at the store buying us food"
Abby says: "What is she buying?"
I say: "She is buying some apples and more of Momma's cereal for you (amongst many other things). Is there something you want Mommy to get? (at which point I am HOPING that Mommy has the cell phone with her)"
Abby says: "YES (with no hesitation)... bananas, oranges, green beans, lemons, pineapple, oh and fruit cocktail"
I say: "I'll call Mommy to let her know... now PLEASE go to sleep!"

So I call Mommy but Mommy seems to have not taken the cell phone with her.

WHEW... Mommy just called, after noticing that she didn't take the phone with her AND I was trying to reach her (of which I feel really bad about). Unfortunately, she was leaving the store. Fortunately Mommy got bananas and we have oranges. Hopefully Abby remembers those were the most important on her list and the rest we can fake. We shall see come morning. What I want to know is what her plans are for the lemons.

I am totally impressed with our kids' interest and love for fruits and veggies. They could live on this stuff! I really hope it lasts!

Never Thought I'd Hear This...

At lunch today Carie said to Abby...

"Please remove your fork from your panties."

Though I do have to say that mealtimes are improving. They have been improving, but finally I think I'm able to look back and recognize that improvement. I guess if you just keep doing it over and over and over again (I'm talking about years :)), they'll eventually get it.

We also just picked up a new cool book (at the school book fair) called "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?" by Jane Yolen. Don't know WHY we didn't think of getting a book on this topic sooner, but we didn't. I'm told it is pretty good and kids this age love the "How Do Dinosaurs... " books. Looks like there are several titles. I've not yet had a chance to read it with the girls', but I bet I will soon.

Precious Sleeping Boy

Mommy said... after 3 kids' you'd think you would have learned.

Then she told me I was crazy.

For the record, the boy didn't wake up. The first picture was taken before he went to sleep... I thought he was asleep until I went to snap the pic and saw the eyes.

Moving Day

Grandpa and Yia Yia moved this past weekend.

Here are our kids being awesome helpers!

Baby Spencer Can't Eat Dog Poop

This is what the girls' concluded this morning.

They are totally worried about him eating dog poop. It was hilarious, especially given the serious looks on their faces. Carie and I could barely keep a straight face.

Carie and the girls' were sitting on the bed this morning watching and entertaining Spencer, who was playing on his tummy. Prior to this the girls' were walking around with their "coins", dropping them all over the place. They try to pick them up, but then drop them somewhere else. These would be the coins I picked up off the floor in the family room the previous night, at which point I commented that we need to keep the choking hazards picked up, as Spencer will be really mobile soon enough. So this morning the girls' and I had a little chat about keeping our coins and small toys off the floor. We talked about baby Spencer finding them, putting them in his mouth, then getting sick.

So... fast-forward back to them all hanging out on the bed. As they watched Spencer trying to get up on his knees they talked about him crawling. The girls' thought that meant he would do it today but Mommy told them that it wouldn't be today, but it would be soon. They talked again about how we have to keep things safe for him and we can't have little things on the floor because he'll put them in his mouth. We've talked about this before and we use a toilet paper tube to help the girls' determine if something is safe for him to play with.

Suddenly the conversation turned to him crawling outside in the grass. The girls' decided that baby Spencer can't crawl in the grass because he will eat the dog poop. They were rather adamant about him not crawling in the grass.

While there is likely dog poop in the yard at any given time, we do have it cleaned up weekly... every Saturday morning at roughly 10 a.m. :). So we reassured the girls' that we wouldn't let Spencer eat dog poop, that we would keep him safe just like we kept them safe.

Until last night I don't think they even realized there was dog poop in the yard. They were both oblivious and about to step in it as they were "helping" me with yard work. I had to point it out to them as I asked them not to step in it. I wonder what other dog poop discussions are on our horizon.

Nearing A Breakdown!

How does anyone get anything done? That is my question of the day, week, and month. I've been asking myself this a lot lately... and I'm coming up empty on answers.

I think of these possible answers... does it really need to be done, am I creating work that doesn't need to be created, am I lazy, am I unorganized or inefficient, am I procrastinating, am I overwhelmed, is it unrealistic, is this my new life, yadda yadda yadda.

It seems absolutely impossible to put energy towards more than one thing at a time. I used to be able to multitask with the best of them, but no more could I even think that to be true. As it is now, one task overtakes us and everything else goes to hell. We finally got the garage cleaned out so that both vehicles can fit for the winter. While "focusing" on that (and also not neglecting our children), the rest of the house went to the crapper... at nearly a week later we are still trying to catch up there. There are still many other outdoor tasks on the list "before winter hits"... i.e. snow, which can be at anytime in this great state. Then there are the indoor tasks that have been started, but not finished... because we needed to get to the outdoor tasks. Then there are all the other indoor tasks that I am growing impatient with. All the while we can't seem to keep up with the "daily stuff". I feel like I'm about to go to the loony bin!

I feel like we are constantly prioritizing... because there is just too much AND because we want to make sure the kids and family comes first. We don't want to lose sight of that importance.

The kicker is that I seem to barely put my time in at work, well... I don't actually. I'd be lying if I said that I've put a 40-hour week in recently. And Carie's a SAHM, not that that is an easy task to take on. But you would think that, given our "schedules", we could manage to keep up on things... "just keep up". It just isn't happening and I know that we, the both of us, are feeling overwhelmed. The kids could care less. Heck their #1 priority is destruction :).

The weekdays are essentially gone. We get the girls' off to school and me off to work. I'm sure Carie breaths a deep sigh of relief when she's finally got us all out the door. The girls' come home at lunchtime and have the afternoon to play. I come home at dinnertime, where we are all able to eat together. Immediately following dinner it's time to get the girls' headed towards bed with Spencer following right behind. If we're lucky, it's now 8:30 and we succumb ourselves to the family room so the kids can fall asleep without our distractions. We veg a bit ourselves then head upstairs to clean up from the evening and get ready for the next day.

The weekends, what's a weekend? Actually, I take that back. We have had a few weekends most recently where we have been able to create our own schedule. I was reminded (by my mother) just the other day that we haven't had family commitments for the past couple of weekends... she's going into withdrawal and must see her grandchildren soon. More often than not though we are on the go go go fulfilling someone else's needs/obligations. When we finally do get an "open" weekend we quickly fill it up ourselves with all the "to do's"... shopping for cold weather clothes, a stop to buy dog food, grocery shopping, errands, errands, errands... that we promised we weren't going to allow to consume our Saturday, but did.

I'm certain that part of this relates to having a newborn in the house along with a couple of wonderful helpers. Then some of it is attributed to the shorter days and "feeling" like we've got less time during the day. We'll figure out a new routine, we must!

Until then... tonight we've got to make Chili to take for dinner tomorrow night. Tomorrow Abby's got her FIRST birthday party for a pre-school friend. Then we are off to Lincoln to visit the folks (mine) then off to Carie's folks to help with their move. Don't know all that is going on with the move, except we are providing Chili for dinner. They hired movers, yeah! We'll get back to Omaha after bedtime no doubt. Sunday is currently reserved for a few tasks. Hopefully we'll make it to Church as well. We'll also have my cousin (who's the girls' age) with us for part of the weekend… still working out those details. My Grandma, who is watching them while my Aunt is in Germany looking after my Uncle, needs a break... she's got to. I know what it's like and I live with it daily. So we’ll take the youngest child while she runs the older girls’ to their events.

Ahhh... I feel better after a good long vent! Thanks!

The Boy Moves... Forwards

I've not officially seen this myself, but I'm told it is true. He moves forwards!

Last night they were hanging out on the floor having some tummy time. He'd do it and Carie would call for me to look. I'd look and look and look. I'd wait forever before returning to finish whatever I was doing. Immediately I'd hear "quick, you've got to see this" so I'd run back to see... nothing. He wouldn't show off for me, but Mommy swears that the boy is moving forwards.

I would have sat there forever, but Ellie had tackled me before I even got 1/2 way in the door. She wanted to tell me that she wanted to go to Old McDonald's for supper... and Mommy says that she thought of it all on her own. So we were trying to get ready to go to Old McDonalds to feed our children horrible food before horrible tantrums set in due to empty tummies. I'll have to admit, it was yummy!

Okay, so he can do it. The boy CAN move forwards. Thankfully not very fast and not very far... yet. Makes me think of the Rattle Trap Car book. Maybe, just maybe, it will take a while for him to reach his ultimate goal, just like it took the car a while to reach the lake?

For now I can still be in denial. He's not even 5 1/2 months old yet. Slow down and enjoy the scenery why don't ya?

Sitting? You ask about sitting? Good question! He loves to sit, just can't do it by himself. He's working on it though, but clearly that isn't as exciting as moving. See when you sit and get excited about something and arch your back in excitement... you really aren't sitting anymore. So, sitting is grand so long as it is in something supportive.

Bouncing? What about bouncing? Yes, the boy LOVES to bounce. So much so that I nearly get motion sick watching him. He loves the Johnny Jumper we got for $3 at a consignment sale. Who couldn’t pass up that deal? The boy loves it. He jumps, spins, laughs, and drools. He's a maniac in the thing. Though he is so heavy that even on the absolute shortest setting it sits to low to the ground. Doesn't seem to phase him. He's just learned that you jump with your feet then lift them up so you have more room to bounce. I'm certain we are creating some life long injury by letting him enjoy his jumper.

Carie just reminded me that part of his bouncing/jumping experience is that Ellie loves to jump with him. She will ask Carie to put him in his jumper so she can jump with him. It's taken several days for them to remember that they can't "help" him jump. Between their help and his weight, it is more than Johnny Jumper can handle.

Ellie's Newest Discovery

This morning Ellie took a shower with me. After the shower she told Mommy that when she grows bigger she'll have hair "here and here" as she points to her armpits. Mommy just laughed.

I'm thinking honey; you'll have hair in more places than you think. And yes, Momma needs to shave!

I'm hoping her listening ears are removed from her armpits by the time hair begins to grow. That could be a viable excuse for not listening.

Ellie & Her Brother

Ellie has really stepped it up lately in the big sister department. She's clearly always loved her baby brother but she's never really been overly interested in him. Sometimes she would want to hold him and try to sooth him when he was sad. She'd be interested in where he was and never has asked for him to go away. But mostly they have just co-existed through the first 5 months of his life. Abby has played more the mother role with him.

Just recently they have become very interactive with each other. She gets down next to him and talks his talk, which makes him laugh, and in turn she laughs hysterically.

We've also noticed that both girls' try to get right next to him so he can reach out and grab them. Then they think he is tickling them and they laugh hysterically.

It is so fun to watch all 3 of them laugh together.

The Wedding

While neither a family wedding, nor the wedding of a really really close friend, this particular wedding was life changing for my family. It was the wedding of a co-worker and friend that occurred a couple of weekends ago. While generally we don't mix business with our personal lives, this time was an exception and it was important that we attend.

The bride to be knew about me and my family, that it wasn't a traditional family. She knows everyone; she (and a few other co-workers) had been to our baby shower when Carie was pg, they have been to our home, and they helped paint the sky ceiling in the nursery a good 3 1/2 years ago. So, I had outed myself to a few folks long long ago but I didn't announce it to the world. We didn't think it was necessary and we aren't the types to make a big deal about it. We are who we are and we are okay with it, others will think what they want and we are okay with that too. A few other folks have been clued in along the way.

So while this isn't the first opportunity Carie and I have had to attend a work event together, this is the first time we've wanted to attend as a family. The bride was very excited that we had rsvp'd. A few other co-workers were excited at the chance to "finally" meet Carie. Amazingly so, we weren't nervous about it one bit. It was odd. I think we both thought we should be nervous about outing ourselves and at a wedding to boot, but no.

We all went to the service, which was lovely. The kids did great in Church, as usual. The girls' are always really good in Church and Spencer is still just a baby. A little standing and rocking took care of his needs... I can't believe I forgot his pacifier in the van. Just before the service started another co-worker/friend and her family sat in front of us. Their daughter is about 9 months older than the girls' and their son is exactly 1 year older than Spencer. The girls' were a little distracted by the presence of their new friend, but they all hit it off wonderfully. After the ceremony we made our way to the reception, with a couple of stops in between.

Arriving at the reception hall Abby & Ellie sought out their new friend Isabel. Luckily there was still space available at their table and the girls' were then joined at the hip the rest of the evening. A couple of other co-workers joined our table and we had a lovely evening. The girls' were on their absolute best behavior and might I add it was a full service sit-down meal. The co-workers we were sitting with couldn't stop complimenting on their behavior and I'm happy to say they did it all on their own. It wasn't one of those evenings where all our attention had to be focused on parenting.

I took Carie around to introduce her to everyone and in the process they all goggled over Spencer. Once the dancing got started we danced with the girls' for a few songs then it was time to go. Unfortunately Abby did not want to go. She declared, all the way out the door and all the way home, that the party wasn't over. She was right the party was just beginning. However, it was way past bedtime and time to go home.

So... I am now officially out at work. I'm certain that more people "knew" than I knew knew. Thankfully nothing has come of it, it seems like no big deal. I was hoping for that, but didn't know for certain. A few folks, one's that I am closer to, have asked if anything has been said or come of it because they hadn't heard anything. Also really cool. I continue to be who I am. Nothing seems to have changed now that I am "out".

What I really learned was that we ARE really comfortable being who we are. We thought we were, but it became clearer to us after not being nervous about outing ourselves at the wedding.

Attitude

Wow, what a morning!

Carie woke up the girls' to get them ready for school. Most mornings go okay, some a whole lot better than others. This morning I'm fairly certain that Carie would have rather let Abby sleep, but the responsible parent side of her forged ahead. It sounded as if the Red Headed Monster emerged nearly as soon as her eyes opened. Thankfully the other half of the pair was bordering on the other side of the fine line.

What is it they say... don't "threaten" what you aren't willing to follow through on?

Yeah, next time I must remember to NOT suggest going to school in your panties. That is the only idea she took a liking to this morning and I'm certain that it would violate the school dress code. I would have suggested jammies, but those were already off her body.

Thankfully she did really want to go to school... and she did go properly dressed. Upon leaving her with her friends and teachers I said my goodbyes. In return she sticks out her tongue... as if to say HA. I suppose that was almost as good as her covering her ears so she didn't have to listen to Mommy.

I warned her teachers that it was "A" morning and they thanked me for bringing her. LOL

The Boy Moves... Backwards

Last night, a couple hours after going to bed, I hear him wake up. I thought I'd give him a minute to see if he would work it out before going in. He only became more distraught so I went in to check on him. He had worked himself to the end of his crib and had a leg hanging out the end. I felt like such a heel for making him wait and escalate his anger. There was no way he was going to get himself out of that jam. Thankfully with some cuddling and nursing he settled right back in and we both seemed to feel better.

Not long after I got him settled back into bed we hear him wake up again. This behavior is totally unusual for him. So, Carie went to check on him. As they descended down the stairs he showed the biggest gummy grin he could muster up. Clearly he thought he had just had a nap and was ready to play, so we played.

Carie had him lying on the very large ottoman to stretch out. He was on his tummy playing and talking, we had both sides guarded so he wouldn't roll off. He lay there pushing himself up as high as he could. Much to our surprise he managed to get his entire belly lifted off the ottoman... remember he's 5m old and an estimated 21lbs :). He was working on his legs but wasn't able to get them under him. Before we know it he is scooting backwards. He worked his way to the edge of the ottoman... and right off the ottoman onto Carie's lap. She put him back on the ottoman and he did it all over again... several times.

The boy now moves side to side and backwards.

Thankfully that tuckered him out! He nursed again and went back to bed.

5 Minutes Gets Us Every Time

Well, it is nearly 10:30 pm on Saturday night and the girls' are still awake. Not because we were negligent in their bedtime routine tonight. We achieved lights out by 8pm, pretty normal around here. Rather, they are having their own little party.

See, the deal is that Abby took a 5-minute "nap" today. That's all it takes to royally screw up bed-time. To top it off, Ellie took a short nap as well. Though she can generally still pull off a decent bed-time with a nap, so long as it isn't daily. So they are both primed and up for the challenge.

IF you overlook the time AND don't think about how awfully cranky tomorrow is going to be, it is really rather cute. They got out of bed, only to get on the other's bed so they could be together. They didn't leave the room once. They converse with each other, they read books to each other, they share their "friends" with each other, and they sing, sing, and sing some more (they love to sing). All things I'd love for them to continue doing... just not for 2 1/2 hours. I am so not looking forward to the attitude and whine tomorrow!

Talking about them singing reminds me that we haven't yet gotten to the bottom of Abby not participating in circle/music time at school. We first found out about this at our recent Parent Teacher Conference. Though her teacher's note on Friday say's... "Although Abby is not yet participating at circle/music time, she seems to have a "better attitude" about it (doesn't have a scowl on her face). So that's progress!"

That's my girl! Sigh.