Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

I’m not much of a cold weather person (Matt is laughing right now). In fact, I’ve mentioned a time or thirty that I would prefer to live south of the Tennessee/Kentucky border for the entirety of my life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do sometimes dream of living in beautiful New England or maybe Minnesota…but only during the Summer.

Why do I dislike cold? Well, it could be because I’m pretty much cold all the time.

But I’ve recently decided that my number one, all-time reason for disliking cold weather is coats! “Coats?” you say. Yes, coats. Let me explain.

I have four children and two arms. I have a baby (almost 4 months) and a toddler (almost 23 months) which means I almost always have one diaper bag with me and often two. I’m often found wearing someone and/or pushing someone while trying to hold two or three hands. And my children are children; meaning they don’t like to deal with their own belongings. Coats are just one more thing to keep up with. Like four children to keep up with isn’t enough in and of itself.

And not only do I have to keep up with coats, I have to add ten minutes to our “get out the door” time in order to get everyone into their coats. Then there is the terrible hassle of buckling them in car seats in coats. Or taking coats off when we get to the car and putting them on again when we reach our destination.

When it’s cold enough that we need hats and mittens? That not only adds to the hassle but multiplies it exponentially!

So if I tell you we can’t go somewhere this winter, it just might be because it would require us to wear coats.

Last week I posted 5 goals for the weekend. When I read the list to Matt he basically told me I was crazy. He was right.

Let’s take a look at where I stand…

1. Do the great clothing exchange – it has been a full week and there are still clothes all over the place. I am just about finished with the girls’ clothes, but I haven’t even started on J’s stuff. I wish I had taken pictures; this ordeal is a blog post in and of itself!

2. Make pumpkin applique shirts for the girls – yeah, not done. I’ll try again this weekend.

3. Catch up on laundry – well, it was caught up last weekend, but now there are about 6 loads of clean laundry on the couch that need to be folded and put away.

4. Clean the bathrooms – Matt finally gave up on me and cleaned them one night this week. I love that man!

5. Cook some muffins for breakfasts next week – didn’t get done over the weekend, but E and I baked 2 dozen on Monday morning. That counts as school, right?

Just trying to keep it real here.

And while we’re at it, this post is posting real time and I haven’t had a shower yet. We used the hour or so that M actually slept to get some school done. Now she won’t let me put her down. I’m going to miss this one day, right?

My children call fishing poles “fishing wands” and root beer “root beard”.

I wish I could record all of J’s speech right now to have when he is older. His enunciation, age-related speech “impediments”, tone of voice are just so cute (and often hilarious). I know that all too soon he will talk like a big boy and I love the way he speaks right now.

S is coming into her own in the speech department. She comes up to us and jabber, jabber, jabbers. Sometimes she points emphatically, sometimes she smiles. We know she’s telling us something, but have no clue what she’s saying. She does have a lot of words, though, including “ha-bow” (hairbow), “to-bus” (toothbrush), and the sweetest little “peese” (please) ever.

The other night after dinner we were discussing (at E’s prompting) what to do in the event of fire. J said that if your clothes are on fire you “stop, rock, and roll”.

J says “choke” when he means “joke”.

Any time a question is asked (such as, who wants dinner?) S raises both hands and says “Meeeee!”

J uses the word “usually” in place of “used to”. As in, “I usually tooked a paci when I was a baby.”

E is getting old enough that she doesn’t have many mispronounced or incorrectly used words. She often brings a smile to our faces with her phrasing or use of certain words, but most of her funny “baby speech” is long gone. It’s kind of sad. However, she currently uses the word “okay” like she’s a grown up. She will tell J or S something and then say, “okaaaaay?” in a high pitched voice.

Oh how I love “kid speak”. I’m really going to miss it in a few years when our kiddos are older, but right now I will smile, laugh, and soak it up (and record as much of it as I can).

We woke up this morning with big plans to visit the zoo with my best friend Stacey and her daughter S. We haven’t been to the zoo since May because it has been too hot.

The weather is beautiful this week. The doors and windows have been open yesterday and today. Mid-70s for highs. A perfect day for the zoo.

Everyone was up, dressed, fed, and ready to go at our appointed departure time. I got everyone buckled in their seats. We set off.

The car needed gas. Not a big deal, but a delay that would put us a few minutes behind when Stacey and I had agreed to meet. I got the car filled up and we were on our way again.

I got about 2 miles down the road and realized that I forgot to put on deodorant after I got out of the shower. U-turn back to the house. Again, not a big deal, just a delay. I ran in, put on deodorant, and we set off once more.

Just before we got to the interstate on-ramp, I heard explosive vomiting in the back seat. S had thrown up all over the car. I tried not to gag as I, once again, turned the car around and headed back home. I had two very disappointed kiddos on my hands, but what could I do?

We got home. I unloaded everyone from the car. I stripped two car seats (yep, the explosion got all over M’s seat and car seat as well). I cleaned the upholstery on two captain’s chairs. I dug into every nook and crevice in S’s seat trying to get it clean.

Once that was done, I gave S a bath to get the yick off of her. And started in on the laundry. I started the day with about 3 loads to do (plus a load of diapers). The explosion added 2 more loads (including the car seat covers). I still have a laundry room floor full of dirty laundry.

Now she acts like she’s fine.

Yep, some days are like this.

I want to write, but I only have a very few minutes before the littles emerge from rest time. So, I’ll give you a few outtakes from our day.

~ I am 23 weeks pregnant today. We have a lot to accomplish in the next 17ish weeks.

~ I wore a pair of non-maternity pants to my meeting this morning. I’m wondering how I kept them on my body pre-pregnancy.

~ S got her first busted knee this morning. J was trying to be helpful and hold her hand. He pulled a little too much.

~ We left home this morning in the rain. J had rain boots and no rain jacket. E had a rain jacket but wasn’t wearing her boots. I was wearing sandals. How’s that for prepared?

~ I’m trying a new recipe for dinner tonight. The listed prep time was 20 minutes. It took me almost an hour. And 3 pots/skillets. It’s a slow cooker recipe.

~ J’s birthday is this week. He’s requested a blueberry cake with chocolate icing. And Buzz and Woody on top.

~ E is singing a song to J about “never, ever play with matches.” At least we have fire safety covered.

~ In the car this morning, E was pretending to be a cat named Rainbow. She told me I could call her “rain” or “bow” or “rainbow” or just “cat”.

Hope you are all having a great Monday!

A couple weeks ago my wonderful mother-in-law (known around here as Nonnie) commented saying she would like to read about what God’s been teaching me in this season of three littles. Oh the pages I could fill.

But let’s start with this one, one I’ve been meaning to post for a couple of years now…

Just over two years ago (when J was about 9 months old), I was able to enjoy a ladies’ weekend with some wonderful ladies from church. We visited a beautiful lake house owned by the family of one of the ladies and spent the weekend hanging out, relaxing, eating, and enjoying some time with just the ladies.

I had J with me that weekend (the only guy allowed!) because he was still nursing full-time, so taking him with me was the only way I could go. At one point I was wearing him in the BabyHawk and he was all snuggled up against me with his head on my chest. I love wearing my babies like that because I love to be able to bend my head and kiss the top of their sweet little head.

One of the ladies commented on how that reminded her of the way God holds us sweetly, gently, like a parent holding their child. I thought of how precious that really is. God holds us close, draws us to his chest where we hear his heartbeat, leans over and kisses us on the top of the head.

One thing God has been revealing to me over the last 4+ years that I’ve been known as “mommy” is that part of his character that is loving parent, comforter, the one who draws us near and holds us close, loving us in spite of ourselves.

So, after writing about not being sure if I want to write, here I am again. However, I’m making a list because this is a bunch of random stuff.

1. I’m tired of the kids “blog names”. I have several reasons: Little isn’t so much my “little bit of girl” anymore and I’m realizing it more and more as we approach Kindergarten in the Fall. Boo – the boy received his name in utero before we knew whether he was a boy or a girl. We’ve never called him Boo; however, Boo (or Boo-Boo) is Baby Girl’s real-life nickname. Sometimes it gets confusing (to me) who I’m writing about. And then there’s Baby Girl…since we don’t know the gender of baby number 4 yet, Baby Girl may or may not be the “baby girl” anymore.

So, what am I going to do about it? Instead of changing their nicknames I’m going to go with single letter designations. Henceforth, Little will be known as “E”, Boo will be known as “J”, and Baby Girl will be known as “S”. And, for now, baby number four will be known as number four.

2. S is walking now! She decided about 3 weeks ago to let go and take a few steps. She’s been building up her “endurance” since then and is on her feet most of the time now. She looks so cute as her tiny little body toddles around.

3. S goes to the doctor again this morning to discuss her weight gain “issues”. At 13 months she weighed 16 lbs. 14 oz. and the doc was really wanting her to be at 17 pounds by then. We’ll see what we find out this morning.

4. I’ve turned that 16 week corner in this pregnancy and am feeling much better. Today is doc appointment day, and I am really looking forward to hearing baby’s heartbeat. I’m hoping we’ll have the big ultrasound 4 weeks from today and find out whether this tiny one is a boy or girl.

5. E and J are doing great. They are constantly making us laugh, making us smile, and making us question our ability to parent. Just as it should be with little ones, I suppose.

I think that’s all for now.

In an effort to get back to writing, I’d love to know if there is anything that you guys would like me to write about. Any questions for me, any ideas, anything you’d like to read about?

Tuesday morning I put on my shirt only to find that it was stained. Just like Saturday I put on my jacket and found a snot mark on the sleeve.

Such is life as mom.

I wore my stained shirt anyway. Because, really, there isn’t much I own that isn’t marked in some way by these three little people who call me “Mommy”. And, quite frankly, it would have had something on it by the end of the day anyway.

Such is life as mom.

While we were at Target I needed to pick up a couple of long sleeve tees to add to my “wardrobe”. At the time I only owned two or three long sleeve shirts, mainly because I wore maternity clothes the entirety of last winter. I don’t tend to buy clothes for myself very often. It’s just more fun to buy for the kids.

Such is life as mom.

After picking up my new shirts, we wandered the aisles of Target and picked up the other things we needed. Baby Girl tried (repeatedly) to climb over the back of the cart seat and Boo made “towers” with the items in the cart with him. Shopping is always an adventure.

Such is life as mom.

We made it to the check out line, and as I put the shirts on the counter I noticed that one had a wet spot on it. It seems, Boo’s sippy cup had dripped on it while it was in the cart. (fortunately, it was just water) Apparently I can’t even purchase a shirt before the kids make their mark on it.

Such is life as mom.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

I think I’m going to start using Friday (at least this week) to post 5 random out takes from our week. So, what’s been going on this week?

1. Monday started with a trip to the doctor for Little. She had been running fever off and on (but mainly on) since Thursday night. She ended up having ear infections in both ears.

2. To continue with the sickies, Baby Girl has had a runny nose and congested cough (when she’s laying down) since Tuesday. And now I’ve caught her cold and it looks like Boo probably has as well.

3. Moving on to happier thoughts…we put up our Christmas trees this week. The first one went up Sunday evening; it’s a smallish tree in the kitchen with snowman ornaments on it. The second tree went up last night; it’s our big tree in the living room. I love having the tree lights on!

4. We’ve been in the house A LOT more than usual this week. It’s been both good and bad.

5. We are really enjoying the Jesse Tree the last few days. Little asked several times yesterday about our Bible story, and she took the “stump of Jesse” ornament for show-and-share at school. I hope this becomes a meaningful tradition for the kids.

Happy weekend!

The Advent season is upon us again. I’ve been planning in my head for quite a while, but nothing has gone onto paper. Matt and I had a very general idea of what we wanted to do, but we needed to nail some things down. I am nothing if not a procrastinator, so yesterday during nap time I searched my mind and the web to come up with our “plan” for the next 25 days.

This year we will be doing a Jesse Tree for our daily devotionals. Each day we will do a reading and hang a corresponding ornament on a tree (I haven’t decided whether to use one of our regular trees or to devote a small one just to these ornaments). The readings will take us from Genesis through the birth of Jesus. I’m really looking forward to these devotionals and showing the kids how the whole Bible talks about and points to Jesus.

We will also be doing an Advent wreath again this year (we even have the correct candles this time!). The plan is to light the candles and do the weekly devotionals as part of our small group (from church) meeting each Sunday evening. In true procrastinator fashion, we missed the first Sunday of Advent, so we’ll do the first two candles this coming Sunday.

I’ve also planned Christmas related activities for each of the first 24 days of the month. Of course, on the 25th we’ll celebrate Christmas. I’m making (today, again, the procrastinator thing) a paper chain from Christmas scrapbook paper and each “link” will have the day’s corresponding activity written on it. We’ll use the chain as our “calendar”.

Day 1 – make ornaments for Jesse Tree
Day 2 – decorate our Christmas tree
Day 3 – write letters/draw pictures for our sponsored children
Day 4 – make Christmas cards to mail to the grandparents
Day 5 – Advent candles
Day 6 – make footprint reindeer
Day 7 – wrap gifts for the kids’ friends
Day 8 – make/package gifts for teachers, friends, etc
Day 9 – Christmas coloring page
Day 10 – family movie night w/a Christmas movie
Day 11 – Alpine Village (event at a local church)
Day 12 – Advent candles
Day 13 – decorate paper Christmas trees
Day 14 – make paper plate wreaths
Day 15 – read story of candy canes and make candy cane ornaments
Day 16 – Christmas coloring page
Day 17 – drive to look at Christmas lights (and maybe a special treat)
Day 18 – make nativity scenes
Day 19 – Advent candles
Day 20 – Holiday Science Lab & Enchanted Forest
Day 21 – make birthday cards for Jesus
Day 22 – Christmas “party” with friends
Day 23 – decorate “gingerbread” houses
Day 24 – Christmas Eve service, open one gift
Day 25 – CHRISTMAS DAY!

You might have noticed that there are quite a few “crafts” in this list. If you know me well, you know that I’m not much into the arts & crafts with the kiddos thing. But I’m sucking it up and hoping to make some good memories with my little people this month.

I’m really looking forward to our devotionals and activities these next few weeks. This is a very special time of year, and I really want to pass that along to my children.