Mid-preschool crisis

So, I'm pretty sure that Maria is having a midlife crisis...or mid-preschool crisis as it were. It seems like the last couple weeks, whenever we talk to her about something exciting that's going to happen, she's running down all the possible ways it could go wrong. This morning I said "why are you so worried all the time. just enjoy life, like the rest of us. you're going to give yourself an ulcer" To which she began asking "what's an ulcer? why i gonna have one? I don't want to have an ulcer..." (good one, Renee!)

Example A:
Me: If we get enough snow, we can go out and sled down the hill! :D
Sophia: YAAAAHHH!!!!
Maria: But Mommy, we don't have enough "slides". And there's not enough snow. I don't want to fall out of the slide. It's too cold so my hands will get cold. I can't find my gloves or my hood. Where you put my snow pants?

Example B:
Me: Do you guys want to go see Santa!?! :D
Sophia: YAAAAHHH! I wanna see santa and his beard! (said more like bird) lol
Maria: OK. But how we gonna get there? He can't talk because his beard is on his face. You tell him he have to wear pants* and his hat...and his coat. But he can't have a beard because then he can't talk.

Where, oh where, did my innocent child go. Over night, she's turned into a 45 yr old man who needs Cymbalta.**



*This is because my little prude did not take too kindly to the Rockets, during the Thanksgiving day parade, only wearing "santa's shirt, but not his pants and I don't want to see their knees". yah...I suppose that one could have been Example C.

**Don't worry, I would never put my child on drugs. :D

Best Christmas Tree EVER

Ok, IDK if that's actually true, but it's what my mom says EVERY.SINGLE.YEAR. so I feel a need to keep the tradition alive.

As I was thinking about what to share with you all today, I remembered that I hadn't shared the pics of our tree with my blogger friends who are not also my facebook friends.

We went to a different place this year to get our tree, and I think it was a winner. It might be our new "place". However, the girls did not feel that the woods surrounding this particular tree farm were adequate for their urination needs and they refused to go, even though they swore they could do it, pulled down their pants and squatted....for a full 2 minutes...in the cold....true story. Aaaanywho, needless to say, they each put about eleventy billion ornaments on the same branch which brought the bottom half of the tree to the ground, so momma had to help them out a little bit with their dispersment lol. And then Josh came lifted them up so they could put some on the very top, which they just loved. They did the same thing last year, so we were not all that surprised. And when they do it next year (plus 1), we wont be surprised then either. One of those memories, I just love about the holidays. However, teaching Jackson that crawling all the way under the tree and subsequently sit up and/or grabbing anything he can find, is not a good idea....not one of my favorite memories from this year. Though, when he's 15 and wont let me kiss him in public, I'll probably cherish it. Until then we have a tree that is strangely bare on all of the very bottom branches. Well, enough of all that. here ya go...

Josh and I joked that the light in this pic was God saying He approved of our choice. lol

They've been sitting there or in the chair beside the tree or in the loveseat beside my Christmas village, just watching. I love it. Simple pleasures, I guess.

And the finished product....basically. It's one of MY Christmas traditions to rearrange the ornaments all season long (It must be genetic because my mom does it too).

Oh and for those of you worrying (I know it was keeping you up at night) over the family pic in the last post...we "sort of" solved the problem. You'll see if you give me your address so I can send you one. :D

christmas pics, NOT for the scrapbook

I'm not ashamed to say, I'm having a shitty day. Ohmegah...now, I'm rhyming.

Josh and I were picking at each other this morning. Then we try for the SECOND day in a row to get a family pic in front of the tree, and for the SECOND day in a row, Sophia absolutely refuses to smile, which, of course, lead to tears, tears and more tears. Ugh. TURD! It's not exactly something that happens in the blink of an eye, ya know (getting all 5 of us bathed, dressed in dress clothes, hair done, makeup done, posed, tripod up, etc., etc....). So, doing it two days in a row is a HUUUUGE PITA. So Whatthehellevah! I give up for the day. I totally understand that it's not even 5:00p, but, I'm throwing in the towel of this day. Josh just said "well, we can try again tomorrow". I really admire his sticktoitiveness. He really is the yin to my yang. lol

So this is what we ended up with...

I'm actually thinking of just sending this one out since the rest of us look good.

music to my ears

So, I'm pretty sure that my parenting skills are mildly successful. The older they get (obviously) the more things that come up. HOWEVER if you start things when they are young (like respect for everyone and everything, manners, sharing etc) they will carry over to when they are older. I know I was not the best kid when I was growing up, but I would never have spoken to my mother the way I've heard some children speak to theirs. It made me so proud to see that Maria got the highest score on "respect for others" and "respect for property" on her evaluation at school every month so far.

So, back to the point of all of this. We have been working on "taking turns" because as every toddlers knows...everything is MINE! lol. So I've sort of just eliminated the issue. If they start fighting over something, I take it. And I tell them that when they learn to take turns they can have it back. And ohmyword, I think it's actually working. It's been about two weeks (of being CONSISTENT) and this morning when I was barely opening my eyes I heard this beautiful exchange between my girls....

Maria: Today is you're turn to get the pop-tarts, Pia.
Sophia: Thanks Mia.
Maria: Yesterday was my turn, so today is your turn.
Sophia: Today is your turn to have the princess cup.
Maria: YAH! Thanks Pia!! You have the princess cup tomorrow.
Sopha: OK Mia.

It's like music to a mothers ears :D

baby bunching

I love reading blogs that are informative and helpful. This is definitely one of those blogs.

http://www.babybunching.com/

When you are blessed with three children in less than 4 years, like we have been, you are in a totally different subset of parenthood called "baby bunchers". There are things that you have to be equipped to handle that someone who has three children in 6 or 7 years, would never think of having to deal with. You don't have an older child to hold the hand of one of the younger ones. You don't even have one child that is old enough not to hold your hand in public. And yet, amidst all your blessings, you were not blessed with that third arm everyones always talking about.

You can't just go out to the mall, on a boring day, with that cute little bundle tucked in the stroller, like you could when you had one (or even two). Actually, the phrase "boring day" hasn't even entered your mind in the last 4 years except to be on your Christmas wish list.

Even being at home and doing everyday activities (like eating dinner) can be extremely...well...eventful. Getting a break is rare (unless you have awesome parents, like mine, who are happy to spend some time with their Grandkids). Because finding someone capable of replacing you, is...well, not an easy task. Not everyone, can handle the crying, fighting, whining and all-around neediness that are included in the job of taking care of 3 children under the age of 5.

Having an "outside job" would be laughable. So you have to cut corners and make sacrifices where you can, and accept that things aren't going to be like they were when you were dating. And why would you want them to be? Even through all of that craziness and stress we wouldn't change our lives "back the way they were" for anything in this world. Because that would mean cutting out the best part.

Would things be easier if we had 3 or 4 years between our children? Of course. But there isn't anything in this world that is worth having, that is easy to get. (Didn't a great man say something like that once?). We didn't decide to have our kids less than 2 years apart (with about every pregnancy complication known to man, and a total of 4 months in the NICU) because we thought it would be a piece of cake. (Obviously) We did it because we knew it would be difficult, but we also knew we could make it through together and we'd be an even stronger couple (family) for it. And we knew it would be SOOO worth it to have these wonderful children in our lives forever.

Baby bunching, is not for the weak. It is not for the selfish or the impatient. It's not for everyone, but if it is for you, it's incredibly rewarding. And if you are blessed to be a baby buncher (by choice...or not), I highly recommend http://www.babybunching.com/ to help you out through the journey.

I wish...

A list of things Maria has said she wishes for this week.

I wish I could be a fireman like Gramma "Murty".

I wish I could have a real giraffe and ride him.

I wish I could be a pirate...argg!!! (with one eye closed and a fist raised in the air).

I wish I could have a camera and take "picca's" like you.

I wish I could have a preeeetty ring like yours.

I wish I could be a kitty cat.

I wish I could be a mommy and have a daddy like you. (by "daddy" she meant Josh. She was saying it b/c we were hugging in the kitchen and he said "I love you" to me).

I wish I could go ice skating like those boys (the ones in my Christmas village).

I wish Daddy didn't have to go to work. (followed by Josh saying "well mommy can go to work and I'll stay home. To which she said "NOOOO I wish Mommy AND Daddy didn't go to work and stay home with us!...So I think her basic wish here is for us to win the lottery lol)

Best Thanksgiving EVER

Not the greatest pic of Josh or I, but overall it's a winner since 2 out of 3 of the kids are looking AND smiling. lol Also, notice how good Josh is getting at his modified smile.

I really, can't explain what was so awesome about it, but it really was the best one ever. Ok, I can't say that. I have to say the BEST one ever was the one 7 yrs ago. Which was the day after my first date with Josh and I couldn't stop thinking about him all day and wondering if he was going to call

Ok, back to this year....I feel like every year I just can't make everyone happy, least of all, MYSELF. (shocker!) And then some years Josh's mom has to work so we don't even get to see her or their family, which sucks. And I always feel like my mom is just NEVER happy. No matter how much time we spend there or what time we plan to be there, it's just NEVER right. Which is extremely frustrating when you are dragging a family of 5 all over town (3 of whom are under the age of 5). I usually end up feeling like we just shouldn't do it at all.

However, we lucked out this year. My sister had to work until 3 so we weren't going to eat at my moms until later. Which meant we got to spend a full 3 hours with BOTH families. I got to watch the parade (which has always been my favorite part of the day!) And we got to eat at both houses without feeling like we'd just eaten enough for 10 in a 2 hour span of time. It was just a really nice day. We got home at a decent hour. Put the kids to bed and watched a Christmas movie together. Perfection.