A Day Off....

I am back at work this week, teaching an almost new batch of GED students.  I was looking forward to today very much as a breather to catch up before the long holiday weekend...

Catching up didn't happen, but here is a taste of what I did do.....

6:40 - William stumbles in and goes to the bathroom. With the light on and door open.I wonder, why oh why doesn't he use the bathroom right next to HIS room?

6:42- William attempts to have a conversation with me about something and is unsuccessful because I am tired.

7:00 - my alarm goes off

7:02 - I go to the bathroom all by myself in my bathroom to the relaxing sounds over the monitor of William and Amelia fighting over something.  From the sounds of it, this will be a fight to the death.

7:04- I go to investigate the fight and learn that the cars were fighting with each other, not the children.  You know, for pretend, Mom.

7:05- Grumpy over waking up to fighting.  Pretend cars fighting.  Make breakfast for kids.

7:30 - Clean up after breakfast

7:35 - Chase kids into clothes, brush teeth

7:40 Pack up library books for trip to library. Chase books from behind beds,under couches, etc

7:45 - Get myself ready for the day...except clothes.  Because the baby is sleeping in my closet.

7:50 - Quick pick up of the house - we have a Parent Teacher coming to meet with us at the house.

8:00- Lunchbox into backpack, realize club forms are due today, look for checkbook

8:01 Looking for checkbook

8:03 Call John re: checkbook

8:05 Looking for checkbook

8:06 Write note to teacher, chase kids into shoes

8:12 Out to bus stop

8:15 Put William on bus

8:16 Gemma wakes up

8:18 Change diaper, help Amelia on potty

8:20-8:45 Feed Gemma

8:45 Attempt to dress Gemma and pick up toys at the same time.  It doesn't work.

9- 10 Meet with early Childhood Education Teacher regarding Gemma

10- Chase Amelia into shoes.  Gemma poops, change poopy diaper

10-11:15 Storytime at Library

11:15 - go home to pick up food for a friend who just had her first baby.

11:35-12:30 - drop off meal, delight over new baby (Feed Gemma while catching up with friend, I do love to multitask)

12:45 Fix Amelia and me lunch, pack William's lunch for tomorrow at the same time

1- Sit down to eat my lunch

1:12 Baby crying

1:12-1:15 Jiggle baby on my leg while I try and finish eating.

1:15 - Feed baby, convince Amelia to finish her lunch

1:40- Gemma asleep while playing on floor - will she stay asleep if I put her in her crib?  Answer: yes.

1:50- Amelia watches Sesame Street (Netflixes instant) while I pound out a 35 minute workout on our elliptical trainer AND squeeze in the world's fastest shower. Sesame street is about 50 minutes long...that should tell you what kind of shower it was.

3pm- John is home.  His first question: Did you call about that _____________?  Nope.  I didn't.

3-Baby awake, feed baby

3:30-4- dinner prep

4:20 William arrives home

4:20-5- empty lunch box and fill it up again, look over school papers/notes/projects/etc

5-5:15 dinner prep

5:15-5:40 eating

6pm-7pm Amelia starts a ballet class! Feed Gemma

7:15-7:40 Kids bath, teeth brushed, ready for bed.

7:40 revisit the highlights of ballet

8 Read books.

8:20 Big kids to bed

8:25 Collapse on couch

8:45 Feed Gemma

9:20 Gemma to bed

9:20- John and I try and catch up....

9:25 Gemma is not asleep

9:35 Gemma asleep

9:35 -10 Attempt to pack family up for traveling and have conversation with husband.  Mission not accomplished....tomorrow is a new day!


So after finally squeezing in a ten minute conversation with my husband, he went to bed.  This left me to blog about our crazy day AND finally have a moment of peace to prepare lessons for work the next morning!  I finally fell into bed around 1:30...with tasks still unchecked off my list.  Someday I will be caught up again....or at least less behind, right?

William's First Lost Baby Tooth

This morning William decided he could not eat breakfast because his loose tooth hurt. So Mom attempted to remove it, but was unsuccessful. When William got home from school we decided it was time for that loose tooth to come out. He was a little hesitant to let Dad near it, preferring Mom to look at and touch it. Dad did get one time to touch it and was able to push it back (William was too smart to fall for the trick where he pushed it back himself that always worked on his Dad). The next time that Dad was able to get in there to look, he yanked out the tooth. William had quite a funny surprised look on his face.

Canoe time

This weekend was the big race our family usually helps out with as a fundraiser for a clean water non profit organization. This year, we had huge voyager class canoes for people to paddle in.

The kids were SO excited about getting a chance to be in the big boat. I was pretty nervous, but strapped up the life vests and away we went.

The highlights:

William was thrilled about how "easy" it was to paddle the canoe and about drove me absolutely crazy repeating over and over how it wasn't hard at all to paddle. And really it wasn't that hard to paddle - especially when you DIDN'T EVEN PUT YOUR PADDLE IN THE WATER! Or when you wave it around and whack your poor mother in the head and wiggle around so it feels like the whole boat is going to tip. Special thanks to the teenaged boy who sat next to William and put up with his constant stream of chatter and wayward paddle without dumping into the river.

Asian carp- we were paddling along and William was asking his 94737372829th question when 6 fish leapt out of the water about two feet away from my head. Canoes, you may know, are low on the water. They were WAY to close and I was not happy. But, how can I complain? It was my idea to take the kids out on the water....

A big thanks to the kids and my great husband. Our family carted just about everything in the garage down to the riverside at 10am and then stayed all day until we packed it up again at just before 7pm. In the rain. The kids were awesome and loved it- John was super supportive, even though I know this is far from his cup of tea!

11 weeks old

Here is our exhausted 11 week old baby. She has her first cold which makes her very pitiful and sad. And tired.

She was a very good girl and spent all day with our family outside at a festival. She was such a trooper- as were the other kids.

We have much to be thankful for..,

My Big Girl

I've been spending some quality time with my big girl this week!  I miss my big guy, but it has been fun to have some girl time with Amelia.  In the first week, we have colored and cut, baked cookies, gone to library story time, gone out for lunch and gone shopping.  It sure has been fun finding out what she likes when her brother isn't around!

One Happy Boy!

This isn't great quality video, but the giggling boy makes up for it.  John was running after William while taking this video.

How?

Yesterday, William decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels. He practiced for about an hour and tonight we had this:

Husbands are helpers

Sometime this summer I ventured to Costco with all three kids. These kids of trips are all about business. Get in, get out, get home ASAP. With a newborn, 3 and 5 year old, I am always moments away from disaster. You know that disaster with 3 screaming kids and spilled milk all over aisle 6.

On the way out, Gemma was starting to fuss and I was hurrying to get everything unloaded so we could finally get home. A super sweet Costco employee, a teenaged boy of about 17, stopped and helped me load the rest of my groceries before taking my cart and putting it away for me*.

I thanked him profusely and he waved away my thanks with his hand.

With the groceries loaded, I turned to the task of buckling up my children. William chose that moment to loudly ask: "Mama? Is that man your husband?"

The look on that teenagers face was priceless and he burst out laughing while he walked away shaking his head.

While he was still within earshot, I replied loudly, "no, he isn't my husband! He is just someone who was nice enough to help your Mama when she needed it most."

After all three kids were buckled and the doors were shut, William piped up once again "it is probably a good thing you didn't kiss him to say thank you. Because he isn't your husband."

Yep. Good thing.

* I always park as close as I can to the cart corral. I know I'm not supposed to, but I don't care. Life being a little easier right now is worth a few dings in the car.**

** John probably disagrees with this. John does not shop solo with three kids either. I win.

Sent from my iPhone

States

William and Amelia are interested in the states of the US. Lately, they have used state-shaped puzzle pieces as action figures with personalities and the ability to talk. We overheard this today:

"It is awfully hard to walk with this upper peninsula on my head!" (Michigan)

"My peninsula is beautiful" (Florida)

On a side note: In a tragic accident Oklahoma broke its panhandle.

End of School week 1

Well, we survived.  We survived the first week of school.

I haven't written much this week because I don't know how to feel.  My baby is going to kindergarten out there at a school.  It has been easy because William is SO ready for this.  He is SO excited and SO proud, and we are too.

But, it has been hard.  Some of this is colored by my own negative experience on a school bus and my own anxiety about getting this critical first year of my child's education "exactly right".  I am a control freak.  A control freak that cares deeply about education; so much so that I made it my career path.  This week has been exhausting for me with worry about getting it just right for my special boy.  Doing enough, but not too much.  Giving help, but not too much help.  Walking the line and leaving so much to the unknown is very uncomfortable for me.

Knowing how much to say is also weighing heavily.  William deserves to have this be a little more private.  His teacher, school and school district also deserve for everything to not be public.  Weighing and judging this new line in our lives is taking some adjustment.

I have a feeling both William and I will be learning a great deal this year.

On the lighter side, I have made some resolutions for this school year (my progress thus far in parenthesis)

1. Do not wear my pajamas to the afternoon bus stop pick up in the afternoon (so far so good)
2. Do not complain/vent/argue/discuss issues regarding school while William is awake or in earshot.  He deserves to not have his experiences colored by my judgement of the situation. (working on this one)
3. Do not wear my pajamas to the morning bus stop at least until October 1 (so far so good)
4. Chocolate milk in a lunch box on Fridays.  Everyone deserves a treat after a long week! (done!)
5. Set aside at least 5 minutes for William alone when he gets off the bus to hear about his day. (we got it in this week)

10 weeks old

Gemma is 10 weeks old! She is getting so big! And fun!

William's First Day of School

William just before starting his first day of Kindergarten.

A blur

These are two pictures of our last day of summer! William starts kindergarten tomorrow (today!) and I won't talk about how very overwhelmed I am by this whole transition to school age kid thing. No, today was about finally scoring the right pair of school shoes (thank you Facebook friends!), meeting friends at chuck e cheese for lunch and games and ending the day with a trip to DQ for a little treat. Goodbye summer, take your hot weather with you.

Hello 2012-2014 school year!

Night time conversations

Sometimes (okay, all the time) our lives are so chaotic,I don't get huge stretches alone with our littlest one to just enjoy. I always have one eye to the child in the bathroom, a fight beginning to erupt, the dryer buzzing, phone ringing and on and on until the day is almost done. Good thing this precious one doesn't mind waiting. She isn't up for it some nights. She tired and done and ready for bed. But many nights she is ready for some chatting with her mama and daddy. Enjoy!

Bug

Amelia at dinner: my taste bugs LOVE this corn!
Mama: what?
Amelia: my taste bugs say "this corn is delicious!"

Sent from my iPhone

I am a show off

This is from last month when we were in North Dakota. Here i am holding 2 babies because I am a show off! Gemma is the baby trying to escape and baby Z is trying to figure out what is going on. Don't worry baby Z. It is just your crazy auntie!

Summer goodness

We're squeezing the last bit of goodness out of summer. Temperatures outside are finally bearable and we made the most of it! Gemma is finally at the point where we can do a little running around town without a major meltdown. Her schedule/feeding patterns and needs are starting to be more identifiable.

Saturday, I settled for a picnic and hike when I really wanted camping. The weather was absolutely perfect. Our big kids managed a 1.75 mile trail walking the whole way!

Turns out I got a camping night Saturday when I woke up with everyone in bed with us and the window open. We'll call it camping light.

This morning, the weather was again too gorgeous to stay inside after such a long, hot summer. So, we packed it up and went out to Cahokia Mounds Stste park. We took in the museum and did some more walking before hitting the road. Just a quick hop away on the map is "World's Largest Ketchup Bottle". We took what should have been a quick detour....and never found it. After 40 minutes, we gave up and headed home.

All in all we had a gorgeous weekend of family time together - a nice way to wrap up the summer. This next week is a big one for our family. William will start kindergarten. This will push our family into the school age years as opposed to the preschool years. It is a big step - one that have a big impact on all of us. As big of a step as it is, I am certain this mama is much more worked up than the boy is about the whole thing! Wish us luck!

9 weeks old!

To celebrate the gorgeous weather we have been having, we took Gemma out for her first hike! She was awesome and cooed at her daddy the whole time...and then spit up gallons all over him.

What a wonderful day! Picnic in the park, a long hike, time at the playground, burgers& asparagus on the grill. Perfect!

Giggle!

2 months old!

Gemma is 2 months old today! Our sweet girl had her 3 month well visit with her doctor today where she received 2 shots and an oral vaccine (see the bandaids? So sad!). The doctor was happy with her progress in all areas and sent us on our way.

A quick number rundown:

13lbs 1 oz (I'm sure it would have been more if she hadn't created a giant poopy diaper in the waiting room.). That means she has gained roughly 5 pounds in about 8 weeks. Not bad for our prize winning piglet! Her weight puts her in the 95% of other kids her age for weight. Her height is also in the 95% at 23.75 inches (which is a gain of 3 inches since birth!).

No more appointments until her 4 month visit!

Amelia Takes the Leap!

We just wrapped up four weeks of almost continous swim lessons.  The kids have both made great progress this summer in their skills.  It was also great to have a reason to get out of the house for a few minutes every day for the kids to have some physical activity in such hot weather conditions.  During the last week, another student in Amelia's swim class asked if she could go off the diving board and Amelia begged (not kidding!!) to tag along.  I was sure she wouldn't do it.....I'm still not sure she would have done it on her own without any help.  She sure was proud of herself though!  A few thoughts on this:

1.  You can't see it in this video, but there weren't any other kids in the pool at this time as it was inbetween swimming lessons.  Yet, there were at least 3 lifeguards on duty in addition to the swim instructor in the pool and the swim instructor on the diving board behind Amelia (Fun fact: 3 out of the 5 lifeguards/instructors are former students of mine).  Despite all of the supervision AND having given my permission, I was still extremely nervous to see my little girl standing on the end of the diving board at the deep end of the swimming pool a good 20-30 feet away from me.

2.  The swim instructor came back with both girls by the hand after they both jumped off the diving board.  She handed both girls off to their mothers (we were sitting right next to each other), and said "I never thought I would see the day when two four year old girls were brave enough to jump off the diving board.  This is an awesome day!"  Her jaw hit the pavement when I informed her Amelia is only 3.  She was assuming Amelia was the same age because she is a full head taller than the 4 year old in the class.

3.  William was positively green with envy.  He couldn't believe his younger sister got to do something before he did.  Before we left the pool, William insisted we find his swim instructor and demand to be allowed to jump off the diving board the following day.  He had to promise to listen for the entire swim lesson the next day (this has been a problem for us this year, unfortunately).

Conversation

In the car this morning on the way to swimming lessons


William: Do you know any old people mom?
Mama: Whhhaaa?  (I was up waaaay to late last night trying to get stuff done.  Like surfing Facebook)

William: Do you know any really old people?  Who do we know who is old?
Mama: Ummmm.....I don't know?
William: I only know four really old people.
Mama: (uh oh....who is he going to proclaim as old?) Really?
William: Great Grandpa Tom......Great Grandma Gerry.....Grandpa Budd and Grandma Nona.  Those are all the old people I know.

Whew!  I know you all are as relieved as I am to not be included on this list! Sorry Grandpas and Grandmas (the greats)!


**He then went on to wonder if his body could be a fossil when he dies and about how long that would take...and then if any person's body had ever become a fossil in the history of ever....and where that fossil would be located and if anyone had one in a museum.  He then wanted to know why all immunizations aren't the kind that go up your nose (he had a nasal flu shot last winter), what kinds of sicknesses were prevented by the immunizations and how many more shots he will need before he dies (when I was non commital about this one, he pressed on.  He would like a precise number, please), if kids in the future will have shots or a "better" kind of medicine, if people who live in space will need the same shots, and why people walk in the street when there is a sidewalk for them to use.

*** We live roughly 3-7 miles from the swimming pool.  When I say it takes us less than 10 minutes to get there, I am not exaggerating.

****This boy is exhausting with the questions.  I admit to being overly anxious about him going to kindergarten.  I will also admit I am totally looking forward to handing over responsibility for his never ending questions to someone else for a few hours a day....

Fun for the whole family!

Part of the fun with a new baby is pulling out the baby gear and remembering how cute and precious our little babies were.

It is hard to take the time to remember when you feel like your new baby is not safe using it....because the older siblings are so excited to play with it. Those big, giant, heavy, gigantic kids that are not careful enough around he new baby!

Here is the baby gym all three kids enjoyed playing with. I could hardly get the big kids out of it to safely take this picture!

The Hair

I thought both William and Amelia had similar hair histories.

Not so.  (are you on the edge of your seat?  this could be big)

It appears William's baby hair all fell out early - around 2 -3 months (see here and here and here) and was showing blonde hair before he turned one.

Amelia, on the other hand lost her dark newborn hair as well.  Hers hung on a little longer until she was roughly six months old. (see here and here and here)

What will Gemma do?  I'm excited to wait and see (no, really!).  It isn't really front page news, but still fun to watch!

Cousins!

Gemma got to meet my sister's baby, her cousin while we were at the anniversary weekend. The girls are just 3 weeks apart in age! So cute!

8 weeks!

Our sweet girl is 8 week old!

We were out of town last weekend helping my grandparents celebrate their 60th weddin anniversary a little early. Gemma got to meet tons of family members and checked 3 states off her list (Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota) as well. Since coming home, I've just been fighting to keep ahead of the game. We have some big milestones coming up:
Next Friday William will go to KINDERGARTEN for his "practice" day and then school starts officially the following Wednesday. I am so confident William is ready, so ready. However, this mama is not quite ready. This is another huge change for our family.

I will be going back to work 2 days a week in another 4 weeks, Amelia starts a new preschool program in 5 weeks. Between now and then we have more traveling to do and a list a mile long. I hope to keep things up around here, but it is going to be a challenge!

Here is a quick lowdown on our little monkey:

Size 1 dipes, size 2 at night. Cloth diapers finally fit! We have been able to use our old supply when we're home for the last week or so.

Size 0-3 clothes are still fitting, but many outfits are now retired. The 3-6 month stuff is starting to fit- particularly one piece outfits.

We are rewarded with smiles all day long from our sunshine, Gemma. She is starting to giggle, which I could just eat up because it is so delicious. Video I suspect will come soon.

We've seen some rolling from her belly to her back, but it is still pretty inconsistent.

Gemma's personality is just so sunny. She loves her siblings, even when they are less than gentle. She is delighted by having anyone talk to her and coos, smiles and "talks" back. She is a delight to have in our family!