Sharing secret smiles in our dreams

Before I begin, let me be clear, managing four babies now is not easier than it was managing one.  But, I will say each baby gets better and better even while having the other  slightly older babies at home (yes, they really still are babies).

With Sienna and Jonah of course I remember how much I loved the yummy smell of a new baby, touching their soft skin and just watching every part of their tiny little body as they napped on and on all day in my arms, but to be honest, beyond that having newborns was and is kinda exhausting and frankly mostly scary.

They're so fragile. These tiny dependable precious lives miraculously surviving on our (mostly) instinct based care for them.  I can't count the bizillion times I used to wake up in the middle of the night with our first two babies, bolt out of bed and stick my finger across their nostrils to feel for air to make sure they were breathing.

Or how about the hundreds of times I laid in bed between feedings wide awake frantically praying that the baby didn't die in the middle of the night, while he or she was overly safely sleeping in their object free cribs with the breathable bumper and SID reducing mobiles.   Just me?   Eh, well, I'm (was) crazy like that.

But by the time Sebastian rolled around there was some of that, but mostly my fear came from his ability to escape certain death from sibling love.

But now, with Samuel something has changed.

Self preservation?  Circumstantial exceptions for survival?  Practicality?  Reality?  Grace from God?

Probably a combination of all, but whatever the reason I've become ok with just relying on those instincts.  I was given a gift of this precious life.  It's on loan to us, but we're not alone taking care of him and when I suddenly feel at peace with a previously deep rooted fear, I have to think it's an act from above.

To start with, this time I decided I wasn't going to worry about starting patterns to make sleep training easier when we hit 12 weeks.  I told myself my focus was going to be and just had to be "one day at a time."   That meant I didn't put him down whenever he feel asleep on me.   In fact, now I'm not worried about him getting too used to sleeping with me at all.

The secret is that I'm the one who sleeps better with him too.  

So on day 3 of his fragile little life I broke one of my biggest rules, over came one of my biggest fears...

I co-slept all night long with my newborn.

I woke up and still do no less than 10 times in between feedings to to do a nostril check.  Maybe a few dozen times to pull on his arm to see if he'd respond with a lifely resistance.   And while I'm confessing my obsessiveness I should throw in there that I also surrounded him with a barrier of pillows from us to make sure we didn't roll over on him in the middle of the night.

When he woke up to nurse he didn't start wailing or crying.  He simple squeaked a little, I rolled over and nursed until we both dozed off peacefully embracing skin to skin.

A few nights later I took away the pillows and slept with him snuggled in the middle of our bed all night long and I'll tell you even with waking up every 2-3 hours to nurse and a few times in between to make sure he's still breathing it was the best sleep I've had in 9 months.   The snorts and squeaks that kept me awake from having my other babies in the same room as me didn't happen.  Turns out when they sleep near you they don't do that.  Who knew?  All you co-sleepers out there?  Of course you did.

I won't do this forever.  I will sleep train eventually.  But for now, I'm going to enjoy all the secrets he shares with me while we dream side by side.

And because even I'll draw the line with not taking pictures in the middle of the night, here's a few secrets he told me during our naps today.

It started with a little pillow talk giggle in my ear.

That faded into a soft, loving smile that I'll keep with me all day long. 

"Sleeping like a baby"

There's nothing else like it! 

7 quick takes vol 8

--1--

I survived my first week alone as a mother taking care of 4 children under the age of 5!!  We didn't even lock ourselves in a dark cave or even our own home for the entire week either.  In fact, I made it to school on time for pick up and drop off every single day.... I'm not bragging...  Ok, I'm a little bit bragging, but mostly excitedly, shockedly celebrating overcoming a legitimate fear I've had since being on a stick 9 months ago.

--2--

This is the gem that has been getting me through any sort of tiredness or sour mood that has threatened to surface multiple times this week.  Trust me, it's good enough to use multiple times for a quick laugh. 

--3--

In case the dozen of strangers who had lots of unsolicited opinions to share about me bringing my brand newborn baby out in public are reading this blog (riiiight, cause that's likely),  I will say it again with a firm stomp and reiteration:

Yes, we left the house.  

Yes, I took my absolutely fresh out of the womb baby in public.  

No, I didn't come straight from the hospital, but uh, gee, thanks for thinking I look like it. 

Yes, I even went to play areas and play groups with my few days old newborn AND his toddler siblings who probably would've done him more harm cooped inside all week than any lingering germs on a plastic slide that never got closer than 15 feet from his little mouth.   

There!  I said it and I'm not ashamed!   I'm nursing.  He's fine.  And his brothers were plenty warn out for naps.  It was a small risk that I'm glad I took.

--4--

Whenever we were at home the best weapon I had to get in the hour long nursing sessions was a trusty backyard exile.   Honestly, it's hardly mean.  The weather here has been perfect and we have tons of stuff to do back there...

Buuuuut, Sebastian still pretty much just enjoys sitting here on this picnic bench and eating dog food out of Max A Moose's disgustingly dirty bowl.   Why do kids like this stuff? 

--5--

If I don't do the backyard exile I walk into situations like this where Jonah is playing trash truck driver with a pair of tweezers he got out of my make up bag and my earring box.   When should I mention to my husband that I still can't find part of the pair of earrings he gave me for our first Christmas together??   Jonah insists he took it to Trashy Town, but I have yet to discover exactly where that is located.... 

--6--

Before Sam was born my dad emailed asking if I wanted him to come into town for a few days right after the baby arrived to meet him, but still be able to be helpful by taking the older kids off my hands and maybe let me catch up on sleep and take it easy.   But I think I read his email wrong, because he did come to visit this past weekend, but this is mostly what happened while he was here....

--7--

I have a confession to make.  I wasn't really that tired today.  Shhhh, please don't tell anyone.  I have an image to uphold here, and if the Mister were to get one whiff of me possibly being close to back in the saddle again all this new level of helping from the bed rest would quickly cease to exist.... 

But it felt SO good to feel almost normal again!  I had energy.  I felt motivated. I didn't ache.  I don't really hurt anywhere that's not ignorable once I'm distracted. I'm not exactly sure how this happened but I think this is all because the older kids all three slept in an hour and a half longer than they normally do, which was just enough time to let me actually feel rested from falling back to sleep after my 4:45 feeding.  

It's a half miracle and I'll take it!  In exchange though, I cooked an actual dinner for tonight, cleaned my floors and bathrooms, did 4 loads of laundry (still not folded though) and cut Jonah's hair.   

The bad news?   Now I'm beat... C'est la vie! 

I'm joining Jen, head on over too! 

Why having a pet does not prepare you for having kids

If I hear one more time from newly weds that they need to get a dog or a cat before thinking about having kids I'm gonna scream walk away completely annoyed and probably not say anything at all, because I hate confrontation.

When we were newly weds and newly parents in the same calendar year we used to joke that we felt getting a dog was too big of a commitment, so we thought we'd try a baby first.

Turns out, I think having a baby first probably saved us from accidentally approaching our parenting like we would've trained our dog.     

Four years later, once we proved we were capable of keeping 3 kids fed, watered and alive, we finally decided we were responsible enough to try a dog.  

We found a dog, "rescued" him and made him part of our family.  And I've gotta say we lucked out. Our playful pooch is so good with kids and came pretty darn well trained especially for a rescue dog.  He's a gentle giant who thinks all 70 lbs of him were meant to be a lap dog.  He thinks and acts like he's one of the kids and the kids act like he's a moving jungle gym meets dress up mannequin meets a poke toy.

This is Max A. Moose 

We're pretty keen on the four legged friend.  

But did you noticed I didn't say we love him?  As in the people who buy strollers and wardrobes for their animals love their animals.   

Those people... well, those people must be very bored, have too much money or just slightly crazy.   When your dog is dressed nicer than you are there are some priority issues going on. 

So for everyone except maybe the people who treat their pets better than their children, I will use a few simple scenarios to explain how having a pet and raising a child are comparing apples to oranges.

Let us consider:

1)  An expensive or cherished possession of yours gets broken, chewed or destroyed. (Yes, kids chew things too). 
       I would love to see what happens if you try shaming your toddler into a corner by harshly   whispering "You bad boy... What did you do?   No!  This is not a toy, darn it!  Get outside!"

2)  You want to go on a date night or vacation. 
       Please make sure your neighbors are sitting on their patios when you leave your children in your backyard with a bowl of water, a collection of squeaky toys and pay someone $20 a day to come take them for a walk and drop food in the bowl in the morning and night all while you head out for dinner and a movie or that expensive ski resort you can still afford after only paying $20 a day to take care of your responsibilities at home.

3)  Your furry child gets sick or needs to have an outpatient surgery. 
      Let me know how it works out for you dropping your child off at the hospital "boarding facility" so you can still make it to work on time and then schedule a pick up for the next day.  All the while saving your vacation and sick time off for when YOU actually need it.

4)  Guests come to your house who are not comfortable or used to being around kids. 
     Would grandma approve of you locking your children in the laundry room until the company leaves?

5) Pooping. 
     I wonder what would happen if you tried to let poop pile up in your babies' diaper for the same length of time you'd let dog crap pile in your yard??  

6)  Eating. 
     While I'm sure my kids would love to eat cheese or yogurt for absolutely every single meal, now they're not old enough for clinical trials on this hypothesis, but I'm pretty sure there would be some significant  complications if we fed them the same exact food twice a day every day for their entire lives.  They do enjoy eating off the floor though...

7)  Playing with others. 
     When your kids get in a fight with a playmate, do you plan on simply yanking away on their back leashes to put an end to it?   I'm sure your dog/cat responds swimmingly to an reverse psychology lecture on sharing and taking turns with their favorite chew toys.

8)  Making noise constantly. 
     As tempting as it is, I've never heard of it being legal to remove the voice box on a child who doesn't stop yapping all day and all night.... but if it is, lemmno, because I might look into it.

9)  You come home in a bad mood, snap at every breathing thing that comes your way and just want to take a nap. 
     I PROMISE your kids will never look at you with the same sympathetic and unconditionally loving eyes that your dog will if you are being a jerk to them.  And I'm definitely sure they don't just lay down and nap with you even if they're hungry, feeling playful or you had previously said you'd take them to the park when you got home.

10)  Staring at you naked. 
      Ok, you got me.  Pets are actually pretty accurate training of what your small children will do when you are naked.  Especially after giving birth.

So get that dog.  Or cat.  Try it out and get ready to be completely shocked into reality when you actually bring a real human being into this world.   At least you will get to see how fun it is for a beloved pet to adjust to you bringing home a new baby...

Straight talk with Sienna

Since my last post everyone has been wondering what Sienna's reaction to her new brother has been like and I think this picture pretty much sums it up.  

She was so excited when we called Monday evening saying he was finally here that my mom says she didn't sleep a wink all night long.   When Daddy picked her up the next morning she insisted on going straight to the hospital to see her baby that I so kindly grew for her inside my womb.

I just love this little thing and all her mini-me-like excitement and curiosity over life in general.  

Buuuuut lately her excitement over the creation of this new life has gone a teensy bit beyond joy for her new baby and is bordering on the realm of a bit too invasive for even my own daughter.   

Excuse the blurry photos that will help illustrate some of our overly honest conversations from this week:

• Aw, Sebastian is smiling at his sweet new brother... now I'd like to draw your attention to Sienna on the right who is not eyeing her sweet new brother, but rather my "HUGE milkoos" seconds before she sneaks in a little grabsy honk on the the left sister.   

"Mommy, how did your milkoos get so big?  They feel weird, what did you put in them?"  

• While barging into my bathroom, she stops stares at me and says

 "Can I put diapers in my panties too?" 

• Minutes after arriving home from the hospital she looks at Samuel, then looks at me and finally says:  

"Mommy, it looks like there is still a baby in your tummy.  

Did they check to make sure there aren't more babies in there?  It looks like there is still one." 

• Totally insensitive to the fact that I just squeezed the largest baby in the history of either sides of our family out of me, Sienna is sure to inform her friend's mommy with me standing awkwardly next to her that it takes me a really long time to go poo poo now.  

• 4 days after giving birth she waits by the door to hear me turn off my shower, she races in, stops, stares and says

"Oh no, it's still big.  Mommy, why is your tummy STILL big today [day 4]?   

Is there a bubble in there?"

• Dropping her off at school today she excitedly dashes back over and kisses my "bubble" as she loudly exclaims: 

"Bye-bye little tiny bubble that is getting only a little bit smaller!" 

• Picking her up at school today I stay to chat with a classmate's mom who is due in June.  Sienna observes that my bubble is almost the same size as her friend's mommy.  Lovely.  Just lovely. 

• Getting in the car, I try explaining to her that my "bubble" is very special to me, because it means I just got to have a baby in my tummy, which there are lots and lots of women who can never experience this and would give anything to... I'm so blessed.... so thankful... on and on.  I try telling her how girly and beautiful it makes me feel to have a baby in my tummy.  Totally ignoring my lecture, she puts on my sun glasses and says:

"Ok Mommy, but this makes me feel girly and pretty!"

Ok, fine,  Uncle! Uncle!  

She wins.  I'm trying, but let's be honest,  this part of motherhood isn't the same kind of "beautiful" and even she sees through my fancy lines.  

7 quick takes vol 7

---1---

I should probably warn you... these quick takes can only possibly be about one thing...

 

I am a woman in love.

 

 

--2--

 

I've always had a thing for blondes. I just never thought I'd someday be the mommy of two blonde baby boys!   Will I ever be able to stop oooing over those golden strands of theirs?!

 

 

--3--

 

There must be a special bond between blondies, because I've never seen Jonah this excited about another human being let alone a new born baby.   Watching him hold his new baby brother and literally glee uncontrolably with delight melts my heart each time.  He sings to him.  He talks to him.  He plans adventures for them to do together.  Where is this coming from???   Please, please dear God, never ever let it stop!!

 

 

--4--

 

I've had so many wonderful moments this week that I'm filing away for as long as I can. One of the best was the first night in the hospital after we stayed up far later than we should've with the post-delivery adrenaline and excitement, we were quickly slapped into reality as we were woken up each hour through the night.  Around 4:00am the waking was finally not from a nurse reminding us to feed or checking my vitals, but from our own sweet boy wanting to be held.  I was so, so tired that I let his call linger for a tiny bit longer that I normally do.  Just as my guilt was motivating me to get out of the bed I hear Daddy jump up and exclaim:

 

"Alright, that's it!"

 

Expecting him to tell me to get the baby, he surprises me with his soft whispering to Sam:

 

 "You leave me no choice, but to snuggle and love you forever."

 

 

Maybe his daddy is the reason I have this things for blondes... I'm a lucky lady!

 

 

 

--5--

 

We brought Sam home on Bash's 2nd birthday.  We were a little worried that a new brother might not have been exactly what he wanted for his birthday....

But I'm pretty sure it turned out to be the best present he's ever gotten!  Whether he'll realize that now or in 20 years is to be determined... but I'm willing to be bet he'll thank us one day.

--6--

Even though Sam didn't take away from his birthday, Bash still hasn't exactly shown a budding relationship with his baby brother.  He does, however, really, really like when I put Sam to bed.  He reminds to "put bebe nigh nigh" all day long. 

--7-- 

 

    "For this child I prayed ; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:   Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there."

 

1 Samuel 1:27-28

 

We are a family of 6, Thanks be to God.

 

 

I'm joining Jen at Conversion Diary who has a new baby boy of her own. 

He's here!!!

Welcome to the outside little Sam!  

When I'm ready to take a break from this snuggling I'll be back with more!  

7 quick takes Friday vol 6

--1--

All about confession...   most Catholics are used to "defending" things like confession to the secular world.  Personally, as a former protestant I'll just tell you that this was the easiest selling point for me ever about becoming Catholic!  Free therapy and life coaching by a holy man who is being guided by the holy spirit... gee, let me think... oh yeah, um, YES PLEASE!   So I try to go fairly often, which usually means I have the whole crew in tow to go say "sorry to Jesus" and that usually means a thousand questions about what Mommy is sorry for...

Apparently, this past Saturday no questions were needed, because Sienna already knew what I needed to be really sorry about and loudly said to me in the oooh so quiet confession line:

"Mommy, do not forget to say sorry to Jesus for lying to me about packing me a fruit roll up in my lunch box, because you did not really do it!" 

Thank goodness for the help examining my conscious, because I don't recall promising any lunch contents that week, so this certainly wouldn't fallen under for all the sins I've forgotten to confess category.

--2--

Speaking of endearing things Sienna has said to me lately... today we were alone in the car, so I tried to strike up a special conversation to let her know how much I love her:


"Sienna, do you know how thankful Mommy and Daddy are that God gave us a little girl just like you first!?   You are such a precious gift.   Did you choose us to be your Mommy and Daddy before you came to us from heaven?? "  (Cheesy, yes, but I've very hormonal, and it's what I said, so just go with it.) 

"No silly!  God choose you to be my mommy.  I would've picked Miss Ami.  I like her hair."


Ok, seriously, why is everybody hating on my hair lately?????

--3-- 

Aiiight, we're at the 38 week mark.   I've been oddly patient about how well this bed rest thing has worked.... but 38 weeks is where I approach mission birth a baby a tad bit more aggressively.   This is the most pregnant week I've ever been.... so between that and all the hair hating and constant "Is he here yet" badgering from my family, I think we can all agree that it's time for this guy to head on out.

I have to say the performance pressure from Daddy has been the worst.  As if his birth diagram wasn't enough all I've been hearing for the last 3 weeks is how THIS week is the best week to miss work or he feels the most rested on THIS day or whatever it is about him that would be convenient for me to go into labor.

The kids are also taking cues from Dad and keep suggesting we go on walks to try to get the baby to come and then they like to take pictures of me walking.   Maybe this is all really just quite humorous to them and they're trying to document it.

I don't understand any of this, but at least I feel supported in my goal to birth a baby sometime in the next week.

--4-- 

So between my speed walk for labor 5Ks and the amazingly perfect weather we've had this week, we've been hitting up the park almost daily.   Which was perfect timing for me to bust out Sienna's first pair of roller skates!!

They are the most hand-me-down hand-me-downed roller skates ever.  

Dog chewed insoles, rusted bindings and major scuffs and markings.  To her they are the best gift she's ever gotten in the whole wide world and she cannot stop thanking us enough for her special treat that means so much to her how can she ever mush over it enough??  

--5--

Speaking of special treats, we've been trying to take each kid on a one-one "date" with mommy before the new baby.  Jonah especially loves "taking Mommy" on a date.  Even though he already had his special date I couldn't resist a quick second date after his doctor's appointment last week when in the waiting room he so casually leaned over, gave me a smooch on the cheek as he threw his arms around my neck and said:

"After this Mom, I am going to take YOU on a special date to McDonald's for a chocolate ice cream!"  

Really?  Do you blame me?  He's a smooth talker and I'm not one to turn down and ice cream date offer in my current state. 

--6--

Soooo this take is really just a teensy confession of mine before I tell you about my other date night in #7....  

For those of you who haven't been reading long enough, don't know me or didn't guess.... I will admit that I was totally, completely, 100% the most obnoxious girl in almost every single college discussion class I ever took.  

Somewhere in the middle of my first semester freshmen year I started sitting on my hand to prevent myself from raising it to comment every 10 seconds . Per the advice of my dear college advisor who I know actually did like me, I even went so far as to limit myself to sharing one thought per topic.   He threw out the suggestion to write down my thoughts and questions, let 2 people speak before I do and if no one else said my thought that means it is probably worth sharing.   

I didn't share because I thought my opinions were somehow unique.  It's just how I actively listen!   I comment!  I relate!  I ask questions!  I do not just sit and listen.  I can't help it.  If I'm just sitting and listening without some sort of participation and you can be darn sure I'm not really listening and very likely not the least bit interested in what ever is being blabbed about.   

--7--

SO with THAT in mind..... I'll tell you about how my real boy friend has also been taking me on a few "last night without towing a newborn for a long time" dates.  Last Saturday night for a date we went to a talk with Patrick Coffin from Catholic Answers on Immaculate Heart Radio!   

Catholic nerd warning here... yes, I listen to IH radio pretty regularly and happen to be a big fan of Mr. Coffin... and yes, we were both really excited about this opportunity and totally considered it a fun date!   And yes, most people I told about going responded with "Who???"   

The first part of his talk was on Beginning Apologetics and the second entire hour was an open Q & A.   You can see where this is going, can't you??   

Totally raised my hand.  

Totally stumbled over my overly wordy question about how to respond to some of my more difficult NFP clients' arguments against the Church's teaching on birth control. 

Totally turned beet red and half way humiliated my poor date by my silly groupie type reaction when he thanked me for the 'excellent' question in the lobby as he was signing books. 

Ahhhhh, embarrassing!!  He is so charitable and patient that I'm SURE he said that to every single person that asked questions... but of course, I couldn't just say, "oh no, thank you for your answer" or something... but I'm socially awkward and that's the woman my husband married, so instead of making me walk home he just teased me when we got in the car :) 

I'd go on a second date with this guy too.

You guessed it.... I'm joining Jen at Conversion Diary!  You should too! 

Observations about pregnant women

There is one occasion in our culture in which all social faux pas are completely acceptable and forgiven. 

This occasion is pregnancy.

The time when a woman is most hormonal, most insecure and most sensitive to her surroundings, the rest of the world of close friends and strangers alike somehow decide it's ok to comment and question without pause. 

I've started a list from just this week that I'd like to share of such delicately spoken gems:

"That baby is going to fall right out of you!"

(Excuse me?? What exactly are you trying to imply?)

"I can't believe you haven't had that baby yet!"

(Ah, so nice of you to help distract myself from that very constant thought, but now realizing you'd like to add to the pressure to pop this kid out I feel from the 100 other people who ask me that daily I think I'll talk to my dog.)

 

"I can see it in your face that you're almost due. Your face is getting more swollen and your features sort of blend together."

(No words.  Why would you even say that?)

 

"Oh you have the pregnancy glow on your face!  I thought it was age spots when it happened to me, but at least yours look a little like freckles."  

(I hadn't noticed my pregnancy mask until this comment, but I sure do now!)

 

"You are carrying so low!  I bet you'll get stretch marks."

(Really?  That correlation wasn't in my What to Expect When You're Expecting book, but thanks for giving me something to worry about).

 

"You have your hands full!  Are you sure you're ready for this?"

(Um... no, not really sure, will you take it back for me?)

 

"This is your FORTH!!  Are you on CRACK?!"

(Yes and no, but are you? Because I'm pretty sure since the late 90's only people who use crack ask if other people are "on crack.")

 

"Yes, I can definitely tell you're still growing!  You look much bigger than last time we saw each other."

(Is this necessary?  Of course I am getting bigger. I try not to worry about that, but glad you'll point it out every weekend we go between dropping off our kids at preschool.)

 

"You know you still have to lose all the weight you gain!"

(Yes, I am very acutely aware, but I'm also hungry... so let me eat in peace and deal with the consequences.) 

 

"Wow, you are HUGE! I would ask them to make sure it's not twins!"

(Thanks... my uh, ob keeps saying I'm measuring small, but if you say so.)

 

"Was this baby planned?"

(Um yes, when you have sex, you should plan that a baby might be conceived.)

 

"Big brother is going to be so jealous!"

(Well, probably now that you suggested that to him.  Thanks.  Siblings are the best gift you can give your child, why do people assume or suggest they won't want them?? My kids LOVE when I'm pregnant!)

 

 

"It'll be so nice when you're not pregnant again for a while, I bet your hair will look pretty again."

(From my own mother.)

 

And we'll stop with that favorite of mine!  

Please leave your similar comments below so I can delete them :)   

Just kidding! 

I really do want to hear any good ones you've gotten that I can't think of because they haven't happened yet this week...

Mommy's belly is wiggling!!

It's wiggling Daddy!!! 

Yes, it sure is, but I've got some enticing news for the little burrito, there is much more room to wiggle out here.... 

I apologize for the awkward belly veins you have to witness... I blame my earlier steroid dabbling.  

Should I also be angry about the whole roids experimenting now that I'm "full term" and still very pregnant or just be glad that bed rest really, really works?? 

A picture says a thousand words

Sweet first born Sienna wants to read and write so badly it's really shameful that I'm not doing more as a mother to help her....  I was a teacher.   I should be thrilled to sit down and help her work on her fluency and writing, but instead I took the easy way out and bought her a special book that she could do picture journaling in and then we'd sit down and make stories to go with it. 

Thankfully, she LOVES this. 

Quiet journaling and drawing continues for the better half of a spring break morning.

I'm so wrapped up in not having her talking to me non-stop that I honestly don't really realize she's been attentively illustrating our entire morning.... 

It wasn't until nap time when she asked me to help her write out her stories that I discovered a typical morning in our life through my 5 year old's eyes:

"First, we woke up and did laundry.  We had a lot of towels to fold from swimming the other day when it was a little hot, but not very hot."

"While Mommy was putting away the laundry, Jonah said he had to go potty.  But he didn't really go potty.  Jonah left the sink on [left the water running after plugging the sink] and made a big mess on the rug and all over by the toilet.  Then he ran out and took the fench [fence] off our little tree."

"This is Jonah.  Jonah was laughing that he did naughty stuff.   And then he was crying when Mommy called him to come back inside."

Funny, how concise and sketch-like her drawings are... she can draw pretty detailed people, but she told me she had to hurry so she didn't miss what he was doing....

"This is Mommy standing at the back door saying
'Jonah, come in here!'"

 

Looks like Mommy packed her angry eyes for this picture!

"Then Mommy closed her eyes because she was so mad before she told Jonah to come sit on the couch immediately.  This is a picture of Mommy talking to Jonah on the little couch.  Sienna was on the big couch drawing really super duper fast and Bash was watching because he did naughty stuff too like spilling my milk, but Mommy didn't see that yet because she was so mad at Jonah."

I did see the spilled milk.  Which is actually how I discovered the running water in the bathroom... So really, as mad as I was that Sienna left her milk at arms reach for Sebastian, I was also a little tiny bit thankful, because I might have missed hearing the flooding bathroom for even longer.  I don't want to imagine how much of a mess that would've been!!    It was because of the milk disaster that I was walking to the laundry room next door to the aforementioned bathroom to get rags to clean the milk. 

See, there are things even the most perseptive 5 year olds just can't quite appreicate regarding my ability to multitask and detect trouble... nah, it didn't really make me feel better to say that either.

 

"Mommy was so angry she made both of the boys go take nappies right away even though it wasn't really nap time yet."
 

 

True story, although not illustratable from her perspective, because I agressively said "Sienna, stay right there while I put the boys to bed. I mean it today!"
 

 

"After the boys went to sleep Mommy was happy again.  She cleaned up the bathroom and then laid on the couch with her phone."

At first I thought she was illustrating attenae coming from my eyes, but this is my "beautiful make up."   The scribbles on my abdomen was not indigestion, but rather the baby kicking from being happy again. 

"I like it when Mommy is happy, not when she is angry at the boys.  This is a Mommy and Sienna going to the swimming pool after the baby comes out of her tummy without the boys, because they make her angry from doing naughty stuff.  The baby can come with us, because I can help her hold my baby brother in the water and maybe after we go swimming she will let me put her beautiful make up on too."

 

I'm really not angry that often. 

 

Really, I'm mostly a really happy person! 

 

Stressed, maybe a little here and there during the day, which is to be expected when raising two mischievious boys, but more than just my phone and lying on the couch makes me smile.

 

Like this little Miss Thing. 

How can she not make me smile??

7 quick takes Friday vol 5

--1--

After our book worm bandit escapades when I saw this video I couldn't help but say

"Jonah??  Is that you?!"

 

Because these two clearly follow the same toddler sneakiness training. 

 

And I'm pretty sure I instantly loved this kid almost as much as I do Jonah!

 

--2--

Ironcially, but not surprisingly I made it through my first week off my 8 week stint of bed rest still pregnant....  My doctor and her nurse were "so surprised to see me!" at my check up this week.  Well, maybe they would've been less surprised if they had heeded my spoiler alert that my body just gets ready for labor reaaaaaallly early and then takes a long time to wrap things up as well.  But then again, I've only had 2 more other labors of experience than the average female to go off of, so yeah, it's understandable that they would ignore me.  

Surprised or not, we're all very glad that I've made it full term and I have a tiny secret to admit... I feel really, really good!  This is the best I've ever felt physically at this point in any of my pregnancies... rest isn't a bad thing... who knew??? 

 

--3--

Along these bright sides of things, I've been so incredibly thankful for this week off bed rest to enjoy the last few days being a family of five.  We've had so much fun together and been busier than I can remember in the last several months!  Jonah especially has really enjoyed having his almost fully abled bodied momma back.  I've had more snuggles, kisses and hugs this week than looks in my general direction from him over the past 2 months. 

--3--

Actually, with the exeption of today (which will be saved for an overly lengthly blog post of it's own) Jonah had been in rarely agreeable form for the past almost 2 weeks!  Sienna has been on spring break all this past week, which I feared might trigger some attention battles, but they've actually been enjoying each other quite a bit!   Their 2nd favorite activity to destroying the house is taking pictures of their silly faces together on my phone....

--4---

Speaking of phone. I have some deep prayers of thanksgiving to do for what happened to me yesterday morning...  I took the kids to the park early in the morning, came home and after at least an hour realized I didn't have my cell phone.... 

We all prayed, begged St Anthony for his intercession and searched high and low for that darn thing.  I gave Jonah a pat down and scoured his usual hiding spots for stollen goods, until I finally stopped to listen to his pleads that I left it at the park. 

I left my brand new iPhone at the public park on a bench in plain sight for over an hour. 

Turns out there were some higher powers at play when we picked Jonah's middle name to be Anthony.  His namesake from the Catholic patron saint of lost things is so appropriately fitting, he always finds stuff when I lose it!   So my little hero ran down to the park as fast as his legs could carry him and guess what...

MY PHONE WAS STILL THERE!!

Thank you LORD!  I am still in disbelief over the whole thing.  Sorry folks, if you were hoping to stalk my park waiting for this to happen again so you could score yourself a phone, I promise it will not!  Lesson learned.

--5--

 

There is no good transition from that... but it did remind me of the weekend before Easter when I counted my good fortune a little too early when I thought they were going to let me off bed rest at 35 weeks.  It turned out they wanted me to wait just oooone more week to 36 because this baby was surely gonna slide right on out as soon as I stood up.... But I didn't expect that at the time so I cheated and accidentally started doing whatever I wanted after 34 weeks if we're really being honest, but 35 weeks is when I decided I wanted to be fully off and not just semi-off rest. 

Since I'm still very knocked up I have no regrets.  Anyway, two Saturdays ago we headed to Tempe to see some Dragon boat races and to have a little family dinner picnic.  See the boats:

The boats actually aren't the point of this "take" but the picture above demonstrates what we were doing....

The point is about crazy Sebatian who kept pulling off his darn pants all day long!  We even tried putting on some tight pants with snaps for the public outing, but he seemed to find a way to do this repeatedly in the middle of the races. 

Ooooh the self-dressing and undressing age.  I'm so excited to see you again!

--6--

 

  When he's not going for public streaking, Bash still has quite the way with charming a crowd lately.  I felt so bad for the poor people behind us at mass on Palm Sunday.  They didn't have a prayer for paying attention to the service.  He kept playing peak a boo like this over Daddy's shoulder.  I really wanted to take a picture of it, but I'm pretty sure even I have enough social skills to know flash photography during mass for this purpose is probably just as bad as sticking gum under the pews...   

I tried to spice things up for Easter Sunday in consideration of the only Easter and Christmas folks who might appreicate a distraction just in case he decided to flirt a little....

He was NOT feeling the faux hawk or his Easter clip on.... 

Sorry, Dude, I don't see any toddler daughters in my very near future, so while you desparately need a haircut imma gonna have me some fun. 

--7--

After a week of slowly trying to control the ridiculous sugarly overload that is any modern day holiday, this morning I tried tricking the kids with "smoothies" for breakfast. I thought I was pretty stealthy with my mostly vegetable incredients slipping into the blender, but Jonah took approximately one hefty sip before saying:

 

"Dis is not ice ceeem!  Dis is yucky yuck in my tummy!  I want eggs!"

 

 

Only Bash was fooled!  He drank 4 kid cups.  FOUR entire kid cups of it!  I'm pretty sure he gets out of eating his veggies for the rest of the weekend after that. 

 

Sienna drank hers, but she quickly told me: 

"You didn't put enough yogurt and fruit in this Mom, it tastes like a dinner icee."

 

 

I'm joining Jen at Conversion Diary

I see you when you're sleeping....

I know when you're awake!

This line was clearly not just for Santa.

As parents we just have this sleep-dar that goes off when our kids try to fake snooze until we're not watching.  Which is how I caught these two repeat offenders in the act last night!


Last night at 9:50 pm approximately 2 minutes after I turned off our bedroom light another light creeped under our door from down the hall....

Waiting extremely patiently for their attack (since 7:45 pm) the two book worm bandit brothers plotted their crime.    

Knowing they'd have to wait for the rest of us suckers to fall asleep, the two brothers allegedly planned their safety checks.

Check 1:  Wait for Mommy to turn off her light.  (Daddy usually just falls asleep with the light on, so that's a faulty test and even they know that....)

Check 2:   Turn on Sienna's light, if she stays asleep, she won't tell mom and dad when we turn ours on! 

All clear!  

Normally, ok, not normally, but for the first 10 times this happened I just thought it was adorably sweet that Jonah would sneak books into his brother's crib so the two of my future nerds could indulge in just a few more pages of their books.  

I love to fall asleep reading!  I'm no heartless nerd, nothing makes me prouder than knowing how much my babies love books.  I encourage this!   However....

Bed time policing against late night reading has a serious purpose in the staying up late crime scene.

It stops the young hoodlums in their gateway crimes before they start bed hopping later in life.

Or even worse, withdrawal sleeping in the car an hour before nap time...

(Please accept deep sleep drool stain on the right buckle as evidence against him.)

You see, we just cannot allow the late night book reading no matter how near and dear it is to my own law breaking heart! 

At least with Sienna there is always one glaring way to determine if she really slept or not...

This kid has a vicious hair fairy!