I Lost

And I HATE losing!!!! Grrrr! So I had it in my mind that Drew would be jumping in the pool alone by the end of the week here. While he is doing remarkably well, he will NOT jump completely alone. He will jump into your arms (even if you are standing halfway across the pool), he will jump holding my hands, he will jump holding my pinky finger, he will jump with my pinky knowing that I am going to jerk it away in the middle of his jump, but as far as jumping completely alone - he will. not. do. it. I tried EVERYTHING I knew possible. Bribery, sweet talk, mean talk, demanding, coercing, getting help from the guys, making him sit in the chair until he decided to jump alone, threatening, bribing again (we were up to 4 prizes) and the list goes on and on and on. This went on for about 2 or 3 hours!!! In fact, it turned into more of a battle of the wills. And he won. I never thought I would meet anyone more stubborn and hardheaded than I am. I found him - and he is mine. All mine :) And I love him to pieces, hardheaded and all :)

Love to all!

Whoa!

We miss Daddy! Kevin had to go back to work last night and today was what you would call "interesting" to say the least. Now I can handle all three kids quite well when we are at home in our own surroundings, in our own little routine blah, blah. But doing it at the beach is a little bit different. I guess that is the true test of motherhood - Can you manage with all three on vacation? We managed, but lets just say that I am ready for my hubby to get back tomorrow night :) and I am very luck to have such wonderful family here to help. All of my aunts have been fabulous and TeeTee has of course been a huge life saver. Bubby and Edmund were also a big help today when we had a little "incident." See Ellie has a little bit of an upset stomach and let's just say that the boys are very far from being ready to change diapers :) We went to the pool today (which was FREEZING, by the way) and I continued to try and bribe Drew to jump in on his own - not successful :( I can tell he wants to do it so bad he can't stand it. I have been bribing him with this game that he wants and he is still very hesitant. So today, I threw in ice cream and no nap as part of the bribe - that is how bad I want him to do it. Why? I don't know, but I have it in my head that he WILL jump in this pool on his own before the end of the week and so far the little turkey is winning!!! You all know how competitive I am and I am DETERMINED to get him to jump in this pool on his own. I don't care what I have to use to bribe him! He is pretty determined NOT to do it though, so we will see who has the hardest head. We enjoyed some great seafood for dinner and then quality time with family. My how I love to sit around and just "chew the fat" (is that normal slang or just my Dad's family?). I laughed so hard tonight listening to my aunt describe her college son's "dining room table" that the he and his roomates were building. It was built using plyboard, was about the length of a ping pong table, was painted black and had a skull painted in the middle of it. All of the mothers are completely convinced that it was, in fact, the boy's dining room table (even though they already have a table). They also couldn't figure out why they kept finding ping pong balls all over their apartment. Hmmmm!?!?!?
Just a few pictures from the day:

Now this is some good sleeping.


Ellie and Drew just LOVE "E"


TeeTee with Emmy


Please come back soon Daddy! We miss you!!!

Love to all!

The Smile of a Child

After searching the internet for a poem to best describe how much I LOVE a child's smile, I just can not find one that says it quite the way I want it too :( Words can not describe how the smile on my children's little faces makes me feel. It makes me smile. It makes me cry. It makes me unbelievably grateful. It makes me want to just burst with happiness. It makes all of my worries go away. It makes me want to sweep them into my arms and hug them so tight that they can will wonder what I am thinking! My how I love to see them smile! I am sure you mothers out there can relate. This week at the beach has been full of little smiles :)

"Of all the joys my life brings, a child's smile makes my heart sing."

Grateful for the smiles that God gives me each day!

Love to all!

Swim Drew Swim

We are working on our swimming and making great progress this week! Drew has been "practicing" in "the three feet pool" and is doing such a good job. Now if we could only get him to jump off of the side without holding Mommy's hands! We also got him to swim in the canal today. Ellie, of course, was in the canal first thing yesterday and Drew chose to just watch. Today, after much begging, pleading, coercing, bribing, etc. he got in! But not for too long and he was quite adamant when he decided that he was "finished."

Ellie has been practicing in the big pool too!

So yesterday, Kevin did a cartwheel into the pool. When he came up Drew yelled "Dad?!?!?!??!" and Kevin said, "What Drew?" to which Drew explained "You are going to give me a heart attack!" Thought I was going to die laughing - where did he hear that one?

Emmy is changing on a daily basis right now - I promise! It is so fun to see all of her new little tricks. She is very used to all of the noise and chaos that comes with 15 or so people in one room carrying on like they are crazy people - no thanks to my house, it is always calm ;)

Yet another attempt at a family photo - where did everyone's clothes go?

These are just a few of the things that are going on this week! Can't wait to do a big post at the end of the week with lots of pictures to show you all the fun things we have done with my Dad's family!

Love to all!

Beach Babies!

We are finally on VACATION!!! I know that I have been out of work for a while, but let's just say that being home with my little ones for the first 6 weeks of Emmy's life was not exactly what I would consider a "vacation"...wonderful, quality, "wouldn't trade it for anything" time with my kids, but not really a "vacation." But now we are here...FINALLY! We arrived yesterday around dinner time and are STILL trying to unpack. I might add that we had not been in the condo even 10 minutes and Ellie managed to lock herself in our bedroom. Completely unconcerned and not the least bit scared Ellie just keeps playing. Kevin and I can hear her just talking to herself as if us pounding on the door is just common practice. Thankfully the people that rented last week had left coat hangers in the other closet :) I went to the grocery store last night at 10pm and have never been surrounded by such madness in my life! At 10pm! It was crazy. The deli meat line was 8 people deep, there wasn't one pack of sandwich meat on the shelves and the potato chip ailse (sp?) was so cramped that I couldn't even get down it! Note to self - bring groceries next time.

I can't imagine a more perfect way to start a Sunday than with church on the beach. It was a wonderful way to worship and in one of my most favorite places on earth. Granted Kevin and I did not get to give our undivided attention to the minister today. Drew kept needing to go back to the coffee and donut table, Ellie chose to yell out during the "moment of silence for personal reflection" and then both decided that sitting on our towel wasn't really that fun anymore. We did, however, get the message and enjoyed the beautiful service.


The rest of the day was spent playing, eating, playing, napping, playing...and then playing!

We are still trying to get that good family picture! Emmy is going to have to shape up! This is the best we could get tonight. Will try again tomorrow!

Love to all!

Two Months Old Today!

Emmy is two months old today! I can't believe how fast time is flying! She is getting so big and really turning into a sweet little baby girl.

So here is what she is doing now:

-Weight: 9lbs 7oz (20%)

-eating every 4 hours during the day, about 5oz at each feeding

-until this week (when Mommy tried to force a "rigid schedule"...which didn't work) sleeping from about 10 until 6ish, and getting in the bed with Mommy around 4

-smiling and reacting to what is going on around her

-cooing a little bit

-really enjoying tummy time now! in fact, if it is near nap time she likes it so much she will scrunch up and go to sleep

-getting much better with the pacifier, which makes Mommy very happy :)

-loves being bounced (really fast and hard I might add) in her bouncy seat

-starting to like the swing a little more

Emmy gets lots of hugs and kisses from her big brother and sister and enjoys watching them play and laugh together! She is changing so quickly and I just love trying to guess what she will be doing next week at this time! She is awake more and more during the day and loves laying on her back to play with me or Drew and Ellie!

Here is Drew loving on his baby sister...

And here is Ellie reading Emmy a story.

Love to all!

This too shall pass

Emmy is totally kicking my butt for bragging about how well my older two kids slept. God is truly trying my patience and last night he was REALLY trying me! I am not sure why I tried to mess with her little schedule because prior to this week she was doing...well, at least ok. Waking sometimes around 4ish but going back to sleep in my arms until around 6. Not too bad. Well I decided (don't ask me why) that she needed to learn to put herself back to sleep. After not one but TWO nights of crying for 90 minutes, I caved. Put her in the bed with me on the third night and she slept until 7. So yesterday I figured that I would try to feed her more and give her a "dreamfeed" around 11pm. Well she was a joy to be around yesterday but after about 4pm yesterday she was not awake much at all. So, of course last night around 2 she wakes up ready to look at us and wants to play. I guess this is what they mean when they talk about baby's getting their days and nights mixed up :( So from about 2 until about 4ish, we tried (not so successfully to put her back to sleep). Tried in my arms, in the bouncy, in her little basket and the list goes on and on. She would fall asleep in my arms but when I went to put her back in her basket, she would wake up. Finally around 4:30 she fell asleep in my arms and slept until 7. What's a mommy to do? A sleepy mommy with absolutely no sense at all right now!!! Have you ever had a total meltdown at 4am? Liked cried until you had a headache kind of meltdown? Ugghhh! That was me last night!

So I have to remind myself each and every day (or night for that matter) that THIS TOO SHALL PASS! I know that this "no sleep phase" won't last forever and it is so hard not to get mad. But she is so tiny and I do love her so very much and I know it will pass. Since we are not going to have any more children, I keep telling myself to slow down and enjoy each moment of Emmy as a baby. This is a little more challenging at 2am than at 2pm! But just as I think I can't take it anymore in the middle of the night, she falls asleep in my arms and there is just no better feeling than holding my sleeping girls tightly in my arms. So tonight at 3am when the rest of you are dead asleep, know that I will be telling myself "This too shall pass" and loving every minute with my baby girl - even at 3am :) I think it is one of the most important concepts to grasp as parents - the stresses that sleep create for us, or feeding, or potty training, or learning to share, or hitting/biting/kicking, or driving, or college and the list goes on, all of this "issues" that our children challenge (or stress us out) us with, they are all temporary. So just remember (especially when you are stressed) that this too shall pass!

Love to all!

The faces of an Angel

I'm smiling at you!!!!


Now I am frowning at you!!!


Emmy has been an absolute joy today! She has been giving me little smiles all day long, has been more alert and I am loving every minute of it :) No ground breaking news around here, just business as usual. I have to say, being at home with three little ones there is never a dull moment and there truly is lots of laughter in this house! Not a day goes by that my kids don't do something that just makes me cackle (is that a word?) For instance, today Drew and Ellie were picking at each other (they have a love/hate relationship - playing wonderfully or fighting like cats and dogs) and Ellie was hitting Drew. Of course Drew was screaming and Ellie with sly eyes kept hitting. I said "Ellie do you want me to pop your bottom?" She looked at me, head hung, eyes cutting straight through me and walked over to Drew and clunked him on the head. Now, do I really think that popping her bottom is going to do a bit of good? NO. However, I have a four year old watching my every move and making sure that I follow through with my promises (or threats in this instance). So I give her a little pop on her bottom. She drops her head and Drew says "Yeah!!! That's what I'm talking about!" I thought I was going to keel over and DIE of laughter! Too funny!

Yesterday, Sam and Nanny came to visit! From what I understand (I had to work) everyone had a good time and there were no major meltdowns! Here they are together. Not sure why no one has on clothes and Drew still has on pajamas because I think they came around lunch time, but I didn't ask any questions.


I have been trying to get a good picture of all three kids together. No luck yet but here are a few that turned out ok! Do you know how hard it is to get three children to behave, look at the camera and smile? All at the same time? IMPOSSIBLE!

Bad angle in this one...


Bad lighting in this one...


And bad spacing in this one!!!

Guess I'll keep trying!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Love to all!

Cry It Out :( and Tummy Time

Emmy is getting bigger and stronger each and every day - and so are her little lungs! Wow, can she wail when she wants too (like around 3:30am last night!). She has been a very good little sleeper for us so far, but sometimes will wake up around 3 or 4am. So I have been just scooping her up and letting her sleep with me until it is time for her to eat her morning bottle - like around 6ish. Well, we decided this weekend that when she wakes up in the middle of the night we need to let her cry it out and put herself back to sleep. Since our house is often like musical beds, we wanted to try and condition Emmy early to soothe herself back to sleep. She doesn't wake up in the middle of the night every single night, just once in a while. So I figured, how bad could it be, right? She cried for 90 minutes last night! Is that even POSSIBLE!?!?!?!? How in the world can a baby cry that long without falling asleep? Since Emmy is still in our room, I put her in the bathroom with the door shut and the fan on so her crying wouldn't keep us awake. No luck - her lungs work quite well! Kevin migrated to the bonus room and slept on the couch and I stayed in our room (pillow over my head) and listened to her cry (tear, tear)! Now I did not let her cry for 90 minutes straight, I would go in and soothe her every so often, but I never dreamed it would take this long! Just as I thought she was falling asleep and I would start to fall back to sleep, she would start up again! I wanted to pick her up so bad, but for those of you familiar with the "cry it out" method you know that picking up your baby is the one and only thing you are not supposed to do. Not even after 90 minutes of crying! I think that Ellie and Drew may have a new competitor for the hardest head in the family ;) Hopefully tonight will be better - I've got earplugs!

During the day, Miss Emmy is beginning to look and act more and more like a baby each day! The "brand new baby" stage is fading away and she has periods of time for an hour or so that she is awake and is not eating or crying - this is great progress! She is beginning to like tummy time a little better and getting stronger each day!

Working all day tomorrow - hope my ear plugs work ;)

Love to all!

Lakefest 2009

Between my 9-6 shift on Friday and my 9-6 shift on Sunday we enjoyed Lakefest 2009! Of course I raced home from work on Friday to make it downtown in time to hear the band and congregate in the Wachovia parking lot with people I had not seen in years! This is by far my favorite part of Lakefest and I really enjoy catching up with old friends. So I made it home, got the kids fed and dressed, packed the diaper bag, changed clothes and walked out the door just as the bottom fell out and drenched us all :( We ventured downtown in the rain, very confident that the storm would pass - an hour later and soaking wet, we end up at my Mom and Dad's house. Oh well, maybe Lakefest 2010 will be a little drier!

We did enjoy great company and good wine with friends and family - enjoyed ourselves so much that I forgot to take pictures on Friday night! Here are a few from Saturday night.

Saturday morning we went downtown and walked the streets to see the crafts. Drew got a "spitting lizard" and Ellie had ice cream (more ended up on her face and clothes than in her mouth)!

Drew jumped on the "jumpy thing"

And Ellie rode the slide with Mama!

They ended with a train ride!

Although the weather wasn't the greatest, a good time was had by all!

Love to all!