Fast Forward....

Happy Memorial Day!

We enjoyed a fantastic weekend up in the mountains with the Santos family.  It was great fun and exhausting!  Traveling with kids who are two and under requires a lot of stuff (pack-n-play, booster seat, etc, etc) a lot of patience..... and a very small amount of sleep.  The first night there.... I slept from about 10p-11:30p.... and then basically didn't get back to sleep until 5am..... only to wake up again before 7a.  Really.  What in the pants?!?  At about 3am, Marty really wanted to get in the car, drive down the mountain and put the non-sleeping child to sleep in his own bed.  I instead sent Marty down to sleep with the other kids and eventually got said child to go to sleep.

We were discussing this event on the drive back home today.... and how to make it go more smoothly.  In the end, the conclusion we reached was that our children aren't going to be little forever.... and in just a few short years a trip up to the mountains is going to look SOOOO different.

Which got me thinking what this trip will look like in just 5 years.  5 years is not that long.  I mean, it has been 15 years since I graduated high school and that seems like yesterday.  Crap.  I am old.  Anyways, 5 years from now.... the boys will be 5, 7 and 10!!!!  HOLY COW!!!!

I wish I had more pictures, but we have 3 little kids.  We don't have enough hands to also manage a camera most of the time.

In 5 years:

* I won't be trying to strategize how to convince my children to eat a meal.  I will instead be wondering how I am going to afford to feed all 3 of them when they are teenagers.

* Most likely, they won't be playing on Leapsters or LeapPads.... well, maybe the 5 year old will be.  I am sure they will still have some type of electronic device, but it will be much more involved than learning their alphabet.

* No one will be throwing cars off the porch only to try and convince an adult to go get them.

* I won't be taking pictures of my boys' feet.  Unless they are ridiculously dirty or something.... but not because they are cute and tiny.  I also won't be hiking with my favorite baby carrier or with a kiddo in a backpack.

* Dora the Explorer, Aladdin, and Shaun the Sheep will not be the hit movies of the weekend.

* No one will be knocking on the door to my room at 6am saying "mama, mama" and wanting to snuggle in bed with me.  I will probably enjoy my coffee in a much more quiet environment and *hopefully* no one will drop their chewable vitamin in it when I am not looking....  I won't be changing their diapers.... I might still be planning the hikes, but I probably won't be the person leading....  The idea of going to the swimming pool will seem more like a fun adventure than an exhausting excursion (the little boys and I didn't go.... swim diapers and changing clothes, etc, etc was just too much to tackle)....

All in all, the kids just won't need us as much.  We won't be dishing out all their food and wiping their bottoms.  In that quiet morning coffee that I am anticipating in 5 years.... I am going to miss this weekend..... the loud, crazy, screaming toddler throwing his car over the edge of the railing.... the tiny baby feet.... and having the 5 year old boy being the one who was "in charge" instead of the baby of the family.

It is going to go fast. I am going to do my best to enjoy these sleepless nights, baby babbles, and hikes with backpacks.  Love these little guys.

Gavin is TWO.....

I like blogging/writing.  I cannot believe that I have not posted anything in more than 3 MONTHS!  These little boys keep me busy.  :)

Since my last post, Gavin has turned 2 YEARS old!  I cannot believe that it has been more than 2 years since we were bringing him home from the hospital.  He is so much fun - and so busy.  All 2 year olds are busy - and Gavin is definitely no exception.  An early childhood teacher was commenting last week on how we should really work on teaching Gavin things like "slow" and "gentle".... hmmm.... funny.  He knows nothing other than "hard", "fast", and "make-people-laugh".  Turns out when a 2 year old does everything at warp speed with so much intensity, all you can do is laugh because it is so stinkin' adorable.

Some things about our most favorite 2 year old:

- He does flips of the couch. He has no fear of the landing.
- He runs on gravel/dirt trails downhill as fast as he can.  To the point then when he wipes out, he ends up with a mouth full of dirt, skinned up elbows or bumps on his head.... but after a quick check for broken bones and a kiss from Mommy, he just keeps going.
- He would prefer to throw EVERYTHING.  If I had a dollar for every time I said "No Throw...."
- Eating is definitely a secondary consideration to anything that would involve running or making people laugh.  Therefore, his favorite place to eat is in his carseat.  There is little opportunity for moving or making people laugh, so as soon as those buckles are fastened, he realizes he is starving.  :)  Love that little guy.
- His favorite words at the moment are: "stuck", "broke", "yuck" and "truck".  He will also throw "walk" and "rock" in there.   He is just starting to say "me" on a regular basis.
-  He loves to be cuddled and rocked to sleep.
-  He loves being a big brother to Owen and will try to calm him down when he is upset.  He calls Owen "yeah yeah".  He also loves to steal Owen's blankets.  Thankfully at the moment Owen is not very attached to them.
- Gavin enjoys animals and being outside.  He stands at the back door to watch the squirrels or he will lay on blankets in the backyard to watch for airplanes in the sky.

Leaving you with a few photos of our adventurous little boy.  :)

Throwing rocks.  One of his most favorite activities.

Say "cheese".  Oh, Mommy was trying to take a picture of Owen?  Never mind that.... I'm cute.

Lovin' bath time and snuggles with Daddy.

Daddy was getting ready to go on a fishing trip in April.  Don't want him to forget his net!

The Little Things

It is all the little things with the kids that really crack me up, bring a smile to my face, or frankly - drive me crazy some days.  So, here are some of the little things from the past little while.

ELIJAH:
We 'celebrated' his 5 1/2 year birthday this past week.  I use the term celebrated very loosely.  It is just an excuse to make/eat a cake.  This year he wanted to strawberry cake.... so I made a from scratch strawberry cake - complete with pureed strawberries.  Yummy.  :)

GAVIN:
He has taken on the role of our in-house clown.  He is always trying to make us laugh and just being silly.  The toddler phase is pretty entertaining.... some of my favorite examples recently.

* Do you know The Muppets song "Mahna Mahna"?  It is recently been redone by "The Fray"?  Well, Gavin has taken to singing the "Mahna Mahna" part.  SO CUTE.  But he will NOT let me get it on video.
* Seeing a small dog, pointing and saying "meow".  Obviously looks like a cat to him and just makes me laugh.
* Food combinations:  For example, dipping orange slices in ranch. Ick.  He LOVES maple syrup... to the point that when he is done with the pancakes he will use his fingers to get the rest of the syrup.  And if that doesn't work, he just starts to lick the plate.
* We went out to lunch over the weekend.  He ate almost nothing while sitting at the table, but as we were getting ready to leave, he started to pick chips off the floor to eat them (the same chips he had thrown there moments earlier).  Why?!?!?!  Toddlers are funny creatures.

Cheesy grin.  Love it!  He loves to get in Owen's bassinet.... we borrowed it from a friend who obviously has girls.
Shhhh.... don't tell Owen that he slept in a bassinet with a pink bumper. 

OWEN:
I had heard about babies like Owen, but I honestly thought that people were just exaggerating or wanted me feel like a failure while my babies were screaming for some unknown reason.  But Owen is the real deal.  HE PUTS HIMSELF TO SLEEP.  No, really, I am not making this up.  It is not all the time, but on a fairly regular basis, when he is tired he will close his eyes and go to sleep.  Really.  Amazing, huh?

Example:  This weekend - changed his diaper on the living room floor.... left him there for a moment, knowing he was getting tired.  Come back to find this....

Owen - fast asleep on the living room floor.  And excuse the funny outfit.....
He was in need of new pants while we were at church and the sleeper was the only thing in the diaper bag.

MARTY:
He's just a great guy.  Our anniversary is tomorrow.  Happy 8 years of marriage!  :)

Marty and me in 2003.... just a couple months before our wedding.  :)

I have super powers.

Don't worry if you didn't already know this; I didn't either until just recently.  You see, after Owen was born I spent about 36 hours in the hospital.... during that time we had some wonderful family and friends who helped out A LOT with the big brothers.  Marty also had the opportunity to spend more time at home than normal.  It was then that he discovered that I must have super powers.

While I was in the hospital Marty washed out his first poopy diaper (we use cloth diapers and while Marty regularly changes diapers, under no previous circumstances has he ever washed one out).    I didn't think that leaving a poopy diaper sit around the house until I got home was a good idea, so I encouraged him to take some gloves from the hospital room and wear those to wash out the diaper.  All went well.... until he accidentally flushed a cloth wipe down the toilet.  Whoops.  So, after I was home, he had the opportunity to unseat the toilet in order to remove the cloth wipe.  Thankfully, with some assistance from his dad, it was a success!

It wasn't that incident alone that earned me the honor of possessing super powers.  The moment Marty was aware of the mommy-super-powers was a couple of days after Owen and I came home and he hadn't yet gone back to work.  It was just a standard day in our home..... children screaming, possibly throwing things, using an innocent toy as a weapon, or a sippy cup to crush Cheerios on the tablecloth.... any one or more of those things was likely happening when on top of that came the questions.  You know the big "Why?" questions and the "How does that work?" questions that seem to fill every potentially silent moment in our house.  THAT is when Marty announced that I have super powers.  It made me smile and that comment has really stuck with me.

Then, this week, at about 2am I knocked over my glass of water on my nightstand while feeding Owen.  Marty got out of bed, got a towel and cleaned up the water.  When I told him "thanks" (in my barely awake state) he told me something like "thanks for taking care of our baby".  I think he helps give me super powers.  He also unloads the dishwasher almost every morning.  It might take him 5 minutes, but with the help of our small children, that task could take me all morning.  I have a great husband.

And while I thought it was the coffee that helped me make it through the day, I now stand corrected.  I kind of want to get myself and all my mommy friends capes.  We have Super Powers.  :)

Elijah in March 2010.  He also has super powers.  

And then there were FIVE!

First family photo:  Owen is 2 1/2 weeks old

Owen is almost one month old!  I cannot believe how the time is flying by.  He is a big guy, so there is already clothing that I am setting aside that is too small for him....

I've been asked a lot in the past 4 weeks how the transition has been with adding Owen to our family and I have to say it has been better than expected!  I am usually asked by other moms who then go on to tell which family-growth-transition was the most difficult for their family.  Some say from one child to two children.... others from two to three.....

This time around, it really helped that my mom was here for 2 weeks.  Amazing.  I was able to catch up on some things around the house, she cooked and cleaned and I got to focus on recovering from childbirth, getting to know Owen and playing with the big brothers.  It was an amazing time.

For us, the most difficult transition was from zero to one; also known as adding Elijah to our family.  Definitely, hands down; that transition rocked our world.  I wasn't one of those women who just knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.  I wasn't even confident that I was going to enjoy being a mom - I clearly remember talking to Marty while I was pregnant with Elijah and questioning how women could be so certain and so confident about mothering (and/or choosing to stay at home) before they had children - for me, I had no idea what to expect prior to actually being in the "mom shoes".

Being a mom is great - and I love it - and it completely and totally stretches me in new ways every day.  By kiddo #3 I am a much more laid back mom than I was with kiddo #1.... and yet I am still ever so thankful that we only had one colicky baby.

So, that's that.  Loving being a family of five.  It is busy and chaotic and great.

It's a BOY!

I think that anyone who might possibly read this blog already knows that we have another boy in our family, but I'll go ahead and post it anyway.  :)

Super abbreviated version of events for the evening, appropriate for all readers: after finishing up that last blog post on "Baby Stow #3's" due date, Marty and I sat around and watched "Parenthood" on Hulu.... just as we were heading to bed, I started having contractions.  We eventually called our wonderful friend Merrielle to watch our boys and then got to the hospital around 11:30pm.... around 12:15am the wonderful nurse, Deb, arrived (the hospital was full, so they needed to call someone in)..... at the point they talked about sending me home because labor wasn't progressed far enough..... at 1:20am the nurse said things were progressing and I was not going to get sent home..... the midwife arrived at 1:48a..... and baby Owen arrived at 1:58am!  It was a super duper speedy all natural delivery.



And here is beautiful baby Owen Anthony - born at 1:58am on 1/11/12.  He weighed 8 lb 3 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Owen's first picture - welcome to the world little buddy.

Gavin snuggling his little brother on his first day home. 

Owen and his big brothers.

6 days old.

2 weeks old

How DID the Matchbox car end up in my coffee?

Welcome to our new family blog!  It has taken a few months.... and it might be a while before I post again, but at least I have a new site started.  :)


How DID the Matchbox car end up in my coffee?  Easy answer: we have a very curious toddler who has a propensity for hiding objects - his favorite being the Matchbox cars.  They have gone through the washer, dryer and dishwasher (on numerous occasions).  Cars have been found in my coffee, my slippers, my blender, the trash can, and about anywhere else you can think of.   The Matchbox cars being found in random locations seem to sum up daily life in our house right now.... so it seemed a fitting title for the new blog.


Today is "D DAY".  Meaning that today is the due date for our new baby!  Baby does not seem all the interested in arriving at this point, but it is a big day!  Well, I definitely have the big belly to show for it too.

Quote of the day:  During lunch Elijah was asking about the baby arriving since today is the due date.  I asked him what he was most excited about regarding the new baby.  He responded with "Mommy, then there will be more room for me to sit on your lap again."  How sweet.  I responded with "You're right, I mean, look at the size of my belly."  Without missing a beat, he threw back "Yeah, and your bumkins!"  Bumkins in the word that our family uses for butt.  He made me laugh out loud.  Love the honesty and lack of filter of a 5 year old.  :)


"Mommy, Uh Oh":  Gavin is now 21 months old and is a very funny, extroverted, social little guy.  When we are out somewhere to play and he needs help with something, he will just approach any random stranger and "ask" for assistance (but he has a VERY limited vocabulary at this point).  He is also in a phase where he will call any adult woman "mama" and any adult male "dada".... which just makes interactions, well, interesting sometimes.  Today he was working on using his words and he came to get me while we were at home saying "Mommy, uh oh."  He took me by the hand and led me to the new baby room where he showed me the "uh oh."  All the blankets, burp cloths, crib bedding, some books, etc which are normally stored on a shelf were in a big pile in the middle of the floor.  Compliments of Gavin.  He said the same thing after he turned his not-yet-empty bowl of yogurt into a hat.  "Mommy, uh oh."  Correct, Gavin.  Uh oh.  I have a very hard time not laughing at him..... which is good, because he creates a lot of messes at this little phase in his life.

Just a random photo of the boys.  This is the type of stuff their Daddy teaches them.... and of course, Gavin does everything his brother does, she jumps next.  Boys.  :)

"I am 2 fries short of a Happy Meal."  I am writing that just to tell you that we saw a guy pan-handling today with this cardboard sign.  It was one of the more creative pan-handling signs I've seen.  It does fall short of a guy we saw in Seattle who asked us for some cash so that he could go get high.  Yes, he really said that - and then was trying to tell us "Hey, at least I'm being honest!"






That concludes my first blog post on the new blog!  Hopefully I will have an update soon with news about the arrival of our little one.  :)