Saturday, August 29, 2009

Happy Birthday to My Baby Boy

I can't believe you're two already. I still remember the day that I found out you were you and that I was going to be a momma to three. How lucky am I? I would not change a single thing. I love watching you grow teaching you and learning from you. Watching your personality develop, you are a very stubborn, very loving, rough and tumble kind of little boy, who is very quick to figure things out when I hope you don't, and yet you take your time on other things. Often you don't seem to know your own strength. You're pain tolerance is something else, which is good since you have no fear and love to climb, jump, run, etc. You are already starting to use the potty (yeah!), working on brushing your teeth, and mimicking everything your daddy and I do (kissing your own booboos has to be my favorite). You take a few minutes to become yourself after waking (you get that from your dad). You are definitely in a mommy stage as you tend to scream momma when I leave your sight and no one can make you feel better as quickly as I can (yes I am reveling in it while it lasts). I love your cuddles and your sweet kisses. You are one of the greatest loves of my life. Happy Birthday Buddy!

Friday, August 28, 2009

2 twos and 1 one

Today was my last day of having two two year olds and one one year old. Tomorrow I will have three two year olds. My babies are growing too fast. This is birthday week. Bam's second b-day is tomorrow. Sweet's third b-day is Tuesday. Sugar's third b-day is Friday.
Three years ago, I was praying for two women that I will never meet, but have given me the best gifts I could ever receive. I am so thankful that I get to be mom to Sweet and Sugar. They are truly amazing little people. I hope that their birth moms found peace with their decision and know that Sweet and Sugar are so dearly loved and spoiled.
Two years ago today I was so scared and upset. I was scheduled to be induced for Bam's birth due to complications, aka he decided that he didn't need to grow. I knew that he was fine and was sad that they were making me have him instead of letting him decide when he was ready. To this day he's still stubborn and refuses to do anything before he's good and ready to.
Life has sure changed a lot in the last couple of years. This isn't where I thought that I would be at this point, but I'm sure glad that this is where I've ended up. I could not imagine my life without any of them.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dinosaurs!

Yesterday we went back to the zoo again. My grandparents get us a membership for Christmas every year. It's a great present. The kids love the zoo and it's a cheap day out for us. We never get to see everything I'd like to, before the kids could walk we could do the entire zoo in 3 hours. Now we take 3 hours to see a third of it, but the kids get to wonder around some and they have a blast. The really important thing, was to see the dinosaurs again, it was the whole reason we went back to this zoo for like the fifth time this year instead of going to another zoo in the area (which we will be going to soon since they have their jelly fish exhibit again). Our zoo has had a dinosaur exhibit several times. This is the first year that we've seen it and the kids love it. They would go daily if I would take them. The dinosaurs are animated and make noises. Bam was a little nervous about them this time. He would go up to them and then when they started roaring, he would take a few steps back. Last time it was busy so we kept them in the stroller, this time they got to roam which was nice. There's one dinosaur for pictures. I tried to get Sugar to put his head in the mouth for a picture, but he didn't like the idea of that. They also got to play on the play ground but Bam just wanted to check out the statues.















































Thursday, August 20, 2009

STRESS

Life has been a bit stressful lately. We've completed a few projects this summer, yeah! Trying to do big projects with 3 little ones around can get a bit hairy at times. Projects tend to take a little longer, especially when one of us works third shift. Hopefully things will start to calm down a little, really I doubt it though. We have managed to finally get all of our new trim up, tear down a chimney, fill hole from chimney, replace roof where chimney was, dig out play set area, fill with gravel, build play set, these are in addition to the normal things that everyone does like put in a garden, mulch, etc.

Sweet and Sugar may need new nicknames for this coming year. They turn three at the beginning of next month and it's been trying, incredibly trying, lately. Prior to children, we wanted children more than anything in the world. If not we wouldn't have made it through the adoption process. At that time, hearing someone complain about something dealing with their children drove me up a wall. I had a million evil thoughts come through my head every time like I'll trade you, I'll take them off of your hands, I wish I had that problem, etc. I didn't think I would do that, but enter the threes.

Sugar likes to get into trouble just to test the limits which are not budging which results in massive fits over and over again. He breaks a rule, gets in trouble, throws fit, is sent to time out, continues to throw fit, finally gets calm and gets out of chair, then when I ask why he did x, he mumbles because I wanted to do x. He will acknowledge that he knows that he's not allowed to do x and that x is not nice and could hurt himself or someone else, but he doesn't seem to care. He continues to get in trouble for stupid things over and over again. Yes, I know that he's three (almost) but it is rather frustrating all the same. This picture is just to remind me that he really does get along with his siblings sometimes.

Sweet has developed massive attidute. She doesn't break the rules too often, but gives attitude about everything. She doesn't want to do anything that's asked of her, she stomps and sulks around the house like a teenager. Yeah, let me tell you how excited I am about the idea of three teenagers in the house. I a will have gray hair by then, or b will have no hair by then. Tonight she didn't like the choices that I gave for their bedtime snack so she threw herself onto the floor, so I said that's fine you don't need a snack to which she got up and said I need a snack! Too bad you made your choice. When it was time to brush her teeth (this is something that they've always run to the bathroom to do), it was I don't want to, too bad. So after she was ready, she was awarded the privilege of waiting in her bed for everyone else to get ready for bed instead of being able to play.

I know they are three and asserting themselves but really it's like talking to a wall sometimes. I miss work at times just because it was a break from being just mommy. I got to use my brain for other things and acomplished things. Yes, being mommy is rewarding, but it can be very stressing at times. Then again there have been three shootings within blocks of my old work this week, unfortunately one resulted in the death of a teenager (I hated the sad situations that surrounded my job). So maybe being stressed and getting attitude and fits all day isn't so bad. Thank God my kids are cute is something that I remind myself and them over and over again.

Bam has been pretty good lately. Don't get me wrong, he's no angel, he's just as stubborn as he's always been, but he hasn't developed anymore attitude or affininty for pushing the limits. He does however love the gravel around the play set. He lies in it and tries to burry himself as if it's sand. He digs and halls it all over the place. He also has suddenly decided that reading is the best thing in the world. He has enjoyed books for some time now, but suddenly wants to be read to every minute of the day. He wakes up asking for a book and read and continues non stop all day. I'm glad that he loves books, but at the same time I think I've read every children's book we own plus the ones from the liabrary at least a dozen times, and his favorites probably 50 times this week. At this point I could
probably recite all of them by heart. He also has a thing for babies real or fake. He loves Sweet's dolls and will carry them all over, pretending to change their diapers, feed them, and put them to bed. He is very posessive of them, heaven forbid you to touch one of them unless he says it's ok.







This is what you can do if you're in the country and really bored. The kids love it.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Birthday Present is Finally Complete!

It's been a little busy and crazy around here. We had a skunk spray our house one night while the windows were open and fans were going. Lovely, I know. We finally got the smell out. It was strong enough to make you feel sick. I hate skunks!

As for good news, Bam has suddenly decided that he would like to use the potty before naps and bedtime. He comes in and pulls the little potty out strips and almost always does his business. I am shocked and very pleased, but not ready to start potty training again. I'll let him lead for now, maybe this fall or winter I'll work with him. For now, I'm happy with him using it when he chooses. He's still young so I'm not pushing it. I can't believe that he'll be two this month or that my other kiddos will be 3 next month. Time really does fly after kids and they do grow way too fast.

My sister in law had her baby over the weekend. It was her third and was her second biggest at 11#2oz, born one day prior to his due date. Yes that's correct, not a typo. My other nephew was a whopping 11#5oz born on his due date. Thank god I did not get that big bay gene. I think I might have fallen over if Bam had been that big, although I would have loved for him to grow a little more since they made me go through all kinds of extra tests and then induced me because the little bugger wasn't growing.

We found a play set for the kids for their combined birthday present. It was marked way down so we went for it. We finally got it all together this morning. This has been a huge project. Digging out the area, filling it with gravel and then the construction. I now know why they charge so much to assemble them, the huge slide that has 96 bolts in it, and the directions are less than perfect. You think you might want to mention that the last section needs to be rotated in the opposite direction of every other one? Plus there was the issue of missing screws, you think QC might notice that it's 150 screws short and that one of the boards is shattered? Nah looks good. We'll have to have some of the kids friends over to play now that we have something for multiple kids to play on.


It's been dreadfully hot here lately. The kids have enjoyed their time in the water. I gave them some cups to play in the water with and they think that it's the coolest thing ever.


Tonight it rained, which was lovely since I was trying to get the grass cut when it decided to let loose. So we ended up spending a night playing inside. They wanted to color and then practice writing their names so we worked on that for awhile. They still get bored with the idea of having to take turns. So I ended up getting some funny faces while they waited. My response is suck it up you will never be an only child so get used to it.