Since we've been gone. . .

There was an article floating around the internets lately about "So, you would like to have three children" that really, really hit home.  Several key points that I would like to reiterate.  And I would like my husband to read.  

There is never a time when someone doesn't need something.  Frequently for me, this is everyone at the same time wants milk, a snack, help in the bathroom, an answer to "where is my (fill in the random toy here)" that you haven't seen question, and frequently all this is happening while I have to do something crazy like answer a work email or pee.  

School logistics.  This year, I have two kids that are in preschool four days a week, for approximately 2 1/2 hours.  When you add in the 15 minutes in the car in each direction (twice), the walking in to get them and loading up the car at the end, this is a lot of time in my day doing transportation.  Next year, I will have two kids in half day kindergarten, and one in preschool three days a week.  If I keep them on the neighborhood bus schedule, our neighborhood apparently does PM kindergarten.  Mia is signed up for AM preschool.  If I put the twins in AM kindergarten, I am responsible for my own transportation.  I don't even want to think about the logistics of this.  

Noise and mess.  There is always someone talking.  It used to only be Maggie, but now it is Ben too.  If you don't answer him, or acknowledge the comment immediately he will repeat it until you do.  Sometimes when he is trying to get Andy's attention I count.  "Daddy?"  "Daddy"  "Daddy?"  He has gotten to 15 without being deterred.  I have desperate, Pinterest fueled aspirations to be more organized, but no one else in my family seems to get it.  We get better, we get worse, but oh my God, the mess.    

I don't want to talk about my laundry and dishes problem, but OH MY GOD the laundry and the dishes.  Thankfully I have help.  I wish I could say it was my children or my husband, but our super organized and helpful, we don't pay her enough babysitter is coming back tomorrow and I am thrilled.  I do dishes and laundry all the time, and if I don't, I pay for it the next day because the kitchen looks like a bomb exploded and I am out of underwear.    

I don't have the time or energy for pursuits like blogging, reading or good photography, but I have a whole lot of photos I am behind on.  Yes, I am going to dump them all here, and yes, you will be grateful.  

So, since we've been gone. . .

Thanksgiving happened.  We had my best friend Beth and her family come up to stay with us, and it was a lot of fun.  

First things first, how in the world did this happen?  We have 6 kids between us!  

  There was dancing.  

 The girls decided they would like a baby sister.  They will make due with a baby cousin coming in February.

 We had Thanksgiving dinner with at my Grandma's house, with all the traditional fixings.  Mia got her entire dinner catered by Mama and Nama, and I was so happy to see her eating normal food.

 Mia made a new friend in a cousin from Georgia.

 And the girls posed for adorable photos.

We even managed a date night!  

We attempted to take some photos for Christmas cards. . .didn't work out, but we got some pretty cute pictures out of it!  

After Thanksgiving, we decorated a lot of Christmas trees.  

 Oh yeah, and Andy broke his finger the day before Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah, and this started happening on a more regular basis.  Sorta.  

We've had some warm days.  

And some cold ones.  

We went out on a super cold day and found the perfect Christmas tree.  

 We decorated for Christmas.

The kids continued working on their portfolio shots for the World's Cutest Kid contest they are certain to be in someday.  

I figured out that even though I can never catch things with my mouth, photographing the kids trying was pretty hilarious.  

 We worked.

 Ben started writing, and the first word he asked me to help him with??  Love.  Mommy melted.

 Mia defied her allergies by snuggling cats and eating inappropriate things like peanuts and m&m's.

 We saw Santa a couple of times.

 Ben and Maggie had an adorable Christmas show at preschool, where there were angels, toy soldiers, the entire Nativity scene and inexplicably a Christmas Rodeo dance they did with partners.  

We've done a lot of dancing.  

In fact, I finally achieved my dream of owning my own disco ball.  I mean, what else can I do?  My house came with a dance floor, mirrors, strobe lights, a spotlight and a rotating base for the disco ball.  I just had to get the ball, and we are all set.    

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen, washing potatoes, frosting cookies, making pies, eating frosting.  

Ben spent too much time with the girls.  

We pretty much had the best Christmas ever.  

The girls frequently play doctor, and have even developed a Doc McStuffin's kind of clinic in the living room.  

Sadly though, we lost one of our real patients.  Izzie was brought home on a whim 5 years ago, and was never much a fan of ours until October when she was diagnosed with a giant tumor.  She got friendlier, cuddlier, let the kids play with her, but went rapidly downhill a week or so ago.  Maggie considered her "her" cat, and it was so hard to have to put her to sleep, without being able to explain exactly what that meant.  Right before we left for the appointment with the vet, Maggie wanted to take her picture.  She posed Kee with Izzie, and this is the last picture I took.  

I didn't mean to leave this on a bad note, but that was the last photo I wanted to post.  It has been a crazy November, December, beginning of January, and I hope that next time, I won't be summing up so many months at once.  

I hope everyone who reads this is doing well, had a great holiday, and are poised for a fabulous 2014!  

Snippets

This will be my second post in November.  Crazy.  I just once again was thinking about how this is the place I store my memories and my stories, and there are so many little ones I just have to tell.  In no particular order for as long as I can sit her to write them out:   

Maggie is an absolute bear in the morning.  You cannot get her up for anything other than shaking her and dropping her feet on the floor until her legs straighten.  I have contemplated on multiple occasions throwing her in a cold shower, but that just seems cruel.  To me, because of course I'm the one that would have to deal with her wrath. 

Ben bounces out of bed, gets dressed and talks my ear off.  I remember he used to be quiet. I think.  Every day, same questions.  Is it going to be hot or cold.  Are we going anywhere?  Is anyone coming to see us?  I'm afraid I am not always very receptive to the chattiness until the coffee is done.  Sorry buddy. 

One benefit though is he kind of appointed himself Maggie's alarm clock.  He will take his kitties, make them make the annoying kitty voices in her ear and climb on her.  Yesterday, without any prompting from me, he brought the very loud and obnoxious Handy Manny toolbox in, played it over and over while she kicked, and screeched, and we both laughed at her.  He's a genius though, it worked. 

Mia is failing at being two.  The girl knows all the words to Never Grow Up, Rock me Mama, Roar, and 1000 years, but doesn't know her ABCs. She can use words correctly like mentioned, eventually and string together complex sentences, but she can't count to 3. She can identify a hippopotamus, but told me the other day that a pig says Moo. Clearly we are failing at two and skipping ahead to 4. We made some deliberate choices in books at the library today and I am trying to change up my bedtime songs.

She is however potty training.  We bought her some My Little Pony underpants the other day, and now she is finally excited.  I wasn't missing that in my life, but at least there is only one of her, and I'm not trying to nurse a newborn, so it has to be easier than last time! 

The other night I had to run to Walmart and promised to take Ben along.  He went upstairs, got socks for Mia, put them on her feet and insisted she come with us.  I couldn't say no to this big brother generosity!  I really think he had a better time having her along, even though I wouldn't let him "get" her anything other than the underpants! 

Maggie is getting very bossy and stubborn.  I have no idea where she gets it from.  She complains constantly that I am doing things wrong, or I promised something I am not delivering, or she is absolutely, no doubt about it, right about something that I know she is wrong about.  Fun times. 

There is a paint sale this weekend at Sherwin Williams and I am itching to start tearing down some more wallpaper.  I really want our family room done before the holidays!  I have decided that probably the carpet should wait awhile.  In addition to not having the money, we have a toddler in underpants, and cats. 

One of our cats has a large tumor.  She probably isn't going to make it much longer, and while that is sad, we have never been very attached to her (or her to us) until, oh the past couple of weeks when the kids have been crazy about her.  Sigh.  I hate thinking about how they will deal with it. 

Someone is crying upstairs, Maggie and Ben are in Mia's room where she was not napping (didn't rock her right, I guess) and now I think I better check. 

Pictures next time, I promise!

Girls in Pretty Dresses

Me at 17 months

Maggie at 2years, 11 months with accessorizing

Mia at 2 years, 2 months

Sometimes, just a little bit, they look like their Mama!

Because they are mine

At the beginning of October, both of the girls were sick.  Maggie had been all day sitting around feeling sad and sick, but since she is always a bit on the dramatic side, it didn't occur to me until later that night that she really wasn't that good at faking, and had kept it up all day.

Mia was coughing.  She had been sick for a couple of weeks, got better for about a week, and then her nose started running like a faucet, and I knew we were back to sick.  On Saturday, she really didn't seem bad, but she was still a little off.  That night at dinner, I was worried.  After dinner we watched a movie, and eventually we realized (well, I realized, Andy thought I was nuts) that both girls were breathing too fast, too hard, and needed to be seen by a doctor.  Since it was Saturday night at 10:00, we ended up in the ER.

I had originally just been planning to take Maggie, but Mia had puked up her meds and I realized that you could see every breath when she was breathing.  At her last appointment with the allergist, Mia was diagnosed with two new food allergies (beef and garlic) and we were warned that she was very high risk for asthma.  She did outgrow her soy allergy, so that's a plus, but gaining beef and garlic makes it feel like less of a win.

Maggie had pneumonia.  Walking pneumonia, but was sick enough to need two breathing treatments, a chest x-ray, and was almost admitted for her low oxygen levels.  Good call Mama.

Mia got a breathing treatment, perked up, and was sent home with information about the common cold.  Thanks ER.  Sunday night we were back.  Same problems with albuterol not helping her to breathe.  Monday we went to the pediatrician and got our own nebulizer.  Monday night, she was admitted to the hospital.  Diagnosis of childhood asthma.  She is on a twice daily inhaled steroid and we have a much better plan, hopefully, to keep her out of the emergency room the next time she gets sick.

My two year old has asthma.  For the first couple of days, Andy was convinced that because I have asthma too, I was the only one who could tell when she was breathing funny.  Now that we have had some education, and I reminded him that he knows what normal breathing sounds like, I think he can be counted on to keep an eye on her too.

Sleeping with her in the hospital that night, I was thinking about how they may all have their Daddy's big brown eyes, but these kids are mine.

I know they are mine because they have breathing problems.  And allergies.  And skin that burns in the summer when you don't use sunscreen.  (These two in particular)

I know they are mine because they love music and dancing and dressing up and being silly.

I know they are mine because their teacher has told me that they are kind, and helpful.  The very first day of school, she told me that they were a calming influence, and that they tried to help other kids having a tough morning.  I wouldn't have been prouder if she had told me they had learned the alphabet backwards.

I know they are mine because they are night owls.  I remember thinking that after you had kids, you automatically had to get up at the crack of dawn with them and crashed at night when they all went to bed at 8.  Ours are regularly popping back out of bed, don't seem tired when we try to get them to bed at 9, and sleep like teenagers in the morning if we let them.

I know they are mine because they like to color and draw and do crafts.  Well, the girls do at least.  Maggie is teaching Mia all she knows, and I think she is showing some natural talent already, lol.

I know they are mine because they snuggle, and cuddle, with me, with their grandparents, with each other.  I love seeing them all piled up on the couch hands touching, feet touching, just being with each other.

I know they are mine because they are already best friends, and I will do my best to make sure it stays that way.

I know they are mine because they are smart.  They are sharp and they are funny, and they are perceptive.

I know they are mine because they listen, most of the time.  They don't have to like it, they don't have to agree, but they know that Mommy means what she says, and they love me.

I know they are mine because they use big words, and have big thoughts, and have imagination.  This one in particular is supposed to be just a little like her Mommy was at her age.

I know they are mine because they love books.  Ben and Maggie are trying to read, are reading along with me, and asking about words and sounds, and letters.  I think with a little more time, they would figure it out.  Smart.  Interested.  Wanting to learn new things, and about new places.

I know they are mine because they love animals.  They are kind, they help us feed them, and Ben is slowly winning over the dog to be "his".  I keep waiting to find her sleeping at the foot of his bed.  

I know they are mine because they take care of each other.  Maggie does anything for Mia that she needs, Ben grabs the boo boo buddy when Maggie needs it, and Mia misses them when they are gone.  Yesterday morning she had been snuggling with me in bed but I had to get up to shower.  She walked over to Maggie and plopped down in her lap instead.

I know they are mine because they want to share things with me.  Good things, happy things, sad things, boo boo things, things that happened at school, things they find.  At night, if I am rocking Mia, they come and find me.  If Andy is rocking, they come downstairs and find me.

I know they are mine because they aren't afraid to be silly.  To dress up, and wear wings, and take your monkey everywhere you go.

They are mine, not because of how they look, but how they are.  I grew them right here in my belly, and they are the very best and worst of me, reflections of who I am and who I want to be.  I get compliments all the time on their looks, their manners, their friendliness.  I am their Mom, and I couldn't be prouder of who they are becoming, day by day.  I want them to grow up kind.  Helpful.  To make smart choices, and to be good friends to people.  I want them to have friends that are also kind, smart and caring.  I want them to help be a positive change in the world.  I want them to always love each other, and to call their Mommy every day just to check in.  To help their Daddy do the Christmas shopping for Mommy.  To hold doors for old people, to be a friend to someone who really needs one.  To dance and be silly, just because they can.

Every once in awhile, someone who doesn't know my husband will comment about how one or all of them look just like me.  I will take it.

This beautiful girl may not have my eyes, but she has my narrow feet, my verbal skills and sounds exactly like me when she is pretending to be a mommy.  Margaret Jane, my thinker, my artist, my leader.

 
And this little boy, with the loving and caring heart, we have no idea where his blond hair and inability to sleep if his room is messy came from, but Benjamin Andrew has my love of books, my knack for worrying and unfortunately, possibly my chin and underbite.  Sorry buddy.  My helper, my snuggler, my worrier.

And last but not least, this baby girl who is getting too big too fast.  Of all the kids, I hear the most that she is my mini me.  She looks like Ben as a baby, has his adventurous spirit, but speaks with Maggie's words.  Trouble, capital T trouble.  There is not a shy bone in her body, and that is something she did not get from me.  But her playfulness, her love of music, and bossiness. . .well, those all probably come from me.  Amelia Elizabeth, our tiny little dictator, who has fierce protectors in her older siblings.

I 

I know that this has been said again and again in my blog, but truly, these little people, my children are the best thing that has ever been mine, and I have no idea how I got so lucky to have them.  I can't believe how big they are getting, but I'm reminded often of how small they still are.  

Someday I will post more photos, hopefully more stories.  We have a busy life right now, and I can barely keep up.  I hope everyone who reads this feels like they know my kids just a little bit better.  I know I'm biased, but they are pretty darn awesome kids, and I think, just a little, it's because they are mine.