Stinky.

Marty and I went to a Rockies game last night with his family.  Without our children.  It was awesome and I don't really even care that much at all about baseball.  Marty loves it though, so it is fun to watch him enjoy the game so much.

The evening was beautiful, the first 6 innings of the game went by quickly, I had an adult beverage, good conversation and a funnel cake.  All without children.  It was great.

Marty and me.  Rockies game self portrait.

The only downside is that we got home really late.  After 11p, which is unheard of for us to be awake at that time in this phase of life.  I did not get up for my morning run and instead threw on clean clothes, the same hat and started out the busy day.

Part of that busy day included a chiropractor visit.  I have become a huge fan of the chiropractor recently.... but that is completely separate story.

While I was in his office and he was cracking away at my spine I was thinking.... "Wow, something in here is really stinky."

And I went on with the appointment.... la de da da.....

Went on with the day and all is well.

And a few hours later I realized that the stink in the chiropractor's office was my feet.  AWESOME.

Sorry Mr. Chiropractor.  I'll be sure to shower before coming in next week.

First day of school!!! First day of school!!!!

I woke Elijah up this morning happily singing the little tune of "first day of school, first day of school" from "Finding Nemo".  His response was similar to Marlin's in the movie.... it goes something like "I don't want to go to school...."

We were all ready to go!  Being the ridiculously-on-top-of-it-mom that I am, we finished up school supply shopping less than an hour before the back to school ice cream social last week.  (Although we are still missing the red pencils with erasers - whoops.  Office Depot was sold out - lame).

And just last night we cleaned out his backpack.... which was only half heartedly taken care of on the last day of kindergarten.  It has spent the summer happily relaxing in Elijah's garage locker.  I did make sure there was no food or drink in it before summer storage so it was fun to get to find the end of the year surprises from kindergarten still in his bag.  

We are so on top of things around here.

Mommy, however, was super duper excited about the first day of school!  YAY!  I love the lazy days of summer (which went by really fast), but I also love the routine that school days give us.

Photo taking didn't go so well... this is the best shot of all three of them. 

Only shot with Elijah looking towards the camera.  1st day of 1st grade!

 

Gavin's 1st day of preschool!  Wearing his most favorite spiderman shirt.
And spiderman undies too, but thankfully we can't see them in this shot.

Owen had no idea what was going on, but he wanted to line up and say "cheese" also.  :)

We dropped Elijah off at school and then had nearly about 45 minutes until Gavin needed to be dropped off at preschool.  He had been so excited to go to school, but after we dropped Elijah off his tune changed drastically.  He started saying "me no want to go to school, Mommy" and "me want to stay here with you and Owen.... me will be nice & kind Mommy".  Uhmmm... I may have told Elijah that it is good for him to get a break and go to school because he is not always nice and kind to his brothers.... whoops.  Apparently Gavin picked up on that.  

On the way to take Gavin to school he had all sorts of important questions like "where are the tissues and who will wipe my nose?" and "who is going to help me go potty?".  We found the place to hang his backpack, the tissues in the classroom, and I left as he hesitantly joined the line to wash his hands.  And I just knew he was going to love it.

When I picked him up from class, his teacher (Mrs. Carter) told me something along the lines of "Oh, I am going to love your little boy.  He is so sweet."  And she is so right.  He LOVED his first day of school.

He talked my ear off about singing "The wheels on the bus" and his new friends.  His words were "Mommy, me like my new friends.  Them Nathan & Alex.  Them really cool."  EXTROVERT.  He was giddy for the next hour.  So excited.

Now for the introvert of the family.  After I picked up Elijah, he gave me a few brief details of his day.  Brief.  It was then time to come home for lunch.  As Gavin rambled on about his day Elijah's head was about to explode.  He begged for silence or to just go eat outside by himself because he could not handle all this talking after just being around people all morning.

We compromised and listened to Dr. Seuss on audiobook throughout lunch.  Success.

As Gavin rattled off the names of the other children in his 3 year old preschool class, Elijah noted that he has absolutely no idea of the names of the children he played with at recess.  Just that they were not new kids, he has played with them before, and names are obviously not an important part of first grade.  Such a HUGE difference between an extrovert and an introvert.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out as they grow.... and it was fascinating to see on the first day of school.

They were both exhausted by bedtime.  Yay!  Here's for another big day tomorrow.  

Welcome back routine of school.  Oh how I have missed you.  :)

Just. Can't. Remember.

My BFF, Heather, just gave birth to her second baby last week.  A little girl and she is darling.  I mean, really, look at her. 

Heather's baby girl.... one day old.

Heather also has a 24 month old son, so she asked me how things went for me when I was nursing a new baby and keeping a toddler out of trouble.   (Gavin & Owen are 21-ish months apart.)

Huh.  I have absolutely no idea.  As in, if someone put a gun to my head telling me that I needed to answer the question correctly to save my life, not sure I would be able to do it.  Huh.  No idea.  Part of me says, that must mean it wasn't too bad?!?  And the other part of me says "it must have been horrible and God has allowed me to block out that phase of life."

I think this is God's way of the earth being filled - we simply don't remember how difficult some parts of life are.  At least that is my current theory.

Rolling with that theory, I'm really feeling like I should document a bit of this current phase of life.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

I know this phase of life goes by quickly (and oh so slowly all at the same time).  Mothers and grandmothers regularly tell me how much they loved the phase of life when then their children were little.  I agree with them.... there are so many things about little ones that I love: snuggles, cute sayings, innocent games, belly laughs that can't be replicated by someone over 35 pounds or so, story times, stroller rides, learning animal names & noises, new words, etc, etc.

And then there is the reality of daily life.  This post is not about venting, it is primarily meant for me to be able to look back and read when I (God willing) have 3 daughter-in-laws and a few grandchildren. When I am looking at their lives and thinking "I don't know why they think things are so hard!  I didn't even have the fancy pants robots that they have now to take care of everything for them.  My kids slept through the night at 2 weeks old, they NEVER acted like this, my house was clean AND I managed to grow my own garden, exercise, take my kids on play dates and educational experiences as well as volunteering in my church and the kid's school."

You see.... that is what I am going to think I remember.  But that is NOT reality.  Here is what the day ACTUALLY looks like.  (And let's start by clarifying that our boys are AWFUL at sleeping, my house is a disaster, etc, etc).

4:30am: O is awake and screaming for reasons unknown to anyone in our home.  E is upset and doesn't want to share a room with him anymore because it is annoying.  Marty and I are just at our wits end not knowing why he won't sleep.  Marty finally just gives up, taking Owen for an early morning walk.  Sweet - at least I get a bit more sleep.

5:45am:  G is awake and wants everyone to know.  He would also like assistance putting on his underpants and clothing.  He communicates this by coming to my side of the bed yelling "Mommy STOP SLEEPING.  Me want new underpants, please."  Glad he adds in that please part.

Owen.  On the table.  Again.

 From then until about 8am comes the early morning chaos.  Owen insists on pulling everything out of the cupboards and off of the counters while I attempt to make breakfast and prepare everyone for the day.  When I turn my back to do things like get myself a refill of coffee (stepping over the kids plates that have now been neatly arranged on the floor), Owen climbs on top of the table trying to steal food from his brothers.  Or opens the door to try and run out into the street, or pulls the laptop off the desk, or tears up/chews on the bills needing to be paid (true stories).  

In the midst of this chaos, Elijah attempts to patiently inform me that he is still hungry and wants more to eat.... while Gavin creates inedible masterpieces with his breakfast.... like mashed peanut butter banana and water all carefully constructed with his hands.... which leads to what we will call "intense disappointment" because his breakfast is inedible and his hands are sticky.

At this point in the day, I usually think.... on my goodness.... it is only 8am and I am pretty sure it feels like 5pm.  Is it time for Marty to get home from work yet?  We need to get out of this house!

There are, of course, plenty of good & sweet moments throughout the day.  This is just a glimpse into the reality of the things that I most likely won't remember.

I actually feel like I will remember some of the specifics:

Owen.  "Helping" me to un-fold the laundry I just folded. 

* kids throwing all the shoes down the stairs
* emptying books of shelves
* jumping off couches
* arguing and putting brothers in headlocks
* eating unidentified objects off the floor
* minor injuries

The part I think is impossible to catch or remember even with documenting it is just how all of those things can be happening AT ONCE.  How can E's favorite toy possibly be broken at the same time that the toddler peed all over the bathroom floor, the one year old is attempting to dive off the kitchen table AND the timer is beeping that I should pull dinner out of the oven?!?!?  And how can it be like that at multiple times throughout any given day?  Just typing the scenario made me tired.

Owen.  He falls asleep at lunch at lot these days.  Shocking, huh?

Gavin doesn't usually nap, but occasionally he will just crash.  Like this day last week in the stroller.

Hopefully I will remember these days.

I would like to be able to remember some of the chaos just so that I can be a blessing to other mom's when they are parenting young children.  To provide them with encouragement, coffee, a nap and possibly some funny stories.

And oh, how I wish I could bottle up a bit of those belly laughs from little boys.  Makes my heart hurt and tears well in my eyes knowing that these chaotic days will be gone before we know it.

Look at how grown up this kiddo is already!  It has gone by so fast!

Seriously.  Look at this sweet happy boy.  How could I ever forget this?

And this is the point where I add a sweet, innocent picture of Owen reminding me of just how sweet and precious he is.  But I can't find any pictures where he isn't either sleeping or getting into trouble.  With that realization I think there may be a theme to the chaos in our world.....