Cricket

C: What is this called?
Me: A cricket.
C: Oh a cricket. I am going to take him for a walk.
Me: Charlotte, when I was a little girl I played with that cricket.
C: Oh. {Slight pause} When I was a baby I played with better toys. Not scary crickets.
Me: Oh okay....

 

And off she walked with my beloved NOT scary cricket made by my Grandpa. My Grandpa who always told me I was special...special enough to ride the short bus:)



My Smoothie

We will just call this like it is...a 3rd child moment! You want to drink my smoothie? Sure why not? Sippy cups, what?!? It does have fruits and spinach in it. It must be good for her:)
No I haven't given her candy, cookies or cake yet. I do have standards. But I wouldn't put it past her brother or sister to share with her. There are benefits to being the third child. I should know. I am the third (of 3).

Reigning myself in.

At the library I saw some of the worst, laziest parenting. Three moms* were chatting while their boys ran WILD! The boys were obnoxious and destructive. Just imagine the exact opposite of proper library behavior and that was them. The moms would occasionally break from their conversation {which revolved completely around the boys ironically} to threaten the boys to stop or they would leave. This went on for an hour without so much as a real consequence! Initially I was annoyed by their lack of parenting. My annoyance turned to pride. Some days I think I am a bad parent but at least I am not THAT bad! Right?!? {Pride cometh before the fall...}

Fast forward a couple hours and I was talking with my sister on the phone. Over the course of our conversation it became clear to me there are areas with each of my children that I need to be more intentional with my parenting. Areas that I am quite lazy in my parenting. {What is that a plank in my eye?}

Isaiah: We have allowed him to miss many school days this year. Because "it is just kindergarten". Technically he missed his first and second day - YIKES - that is bad! He has missed for trips to visit family, sick days (legit), broken down van (somewhat legit) and an impromptu trip to the Dells. I have to remind myself...it isn't just kindergarten. It is in fact the beginning of how he is going to view education. And despite our track record of poor attendance I really do want him to value education and his teachers.

Charlotte: She is a very sloooooooow and light (read: very small portions) eater. She isn't necessarily picky. She just doesn't eat much. Because of this we tend to give her very small portions. Therefore it shouldn't be difficult for her to eat all of her food. On the semi-rare occasion that we have dessert in the house we use the "you-must-finish-your-dinner-to-get-dessert rule". Except we don't enforce it with Charlotte. Terrible parenting, I know! We have fallen into the mindset that she is never going to finish her dinner so why try? L-A-Z-Y. I am resolving to change this before she believes we won't follow through with any of our rules which is a recipe for disaster!

Hannah: This girl sleeps all night in her crib and has since she was 6 weeks old. Nap time? That is whole different story. The story being that she mostly naps on me:( Sometimes on her boppy on the floor. She used to nap solely in her bouncy seat in the bathroom with the fan running. Thankfully we weaned her of that...directly into napping on mom. BAD. I mean I LOVE IT, but I know it is not a good long term solution. And she is 7 months old for goodness sake! I have tried the crib, but her naps are shorter than Charlotte's and she tends to wake her sister. No bueno. My new solution is a pack n play in the master bedroom. I know this is for the best, but I am having a hard time letting go of our afternoon snuggle time.

Her first nap after I decided to make the change...oops! Failing already...

*Sorry library moms for judging you so quickly. You probably are fabulous moms and just needed a break and a chance to connect with other moms. I totally get that. I have been there. And I am sure I will be there again. So please don't be so quick to judge me when my children are running around like wild monkeys. Again sorry.

Favorite Child

Saturday night a couple friends and I stayed up far too late sewing and chatting. Especially considering it was daylights savings "spring ahead"! We had a blast...this is likely to become a monthly occurrence:) We laughed the night away. Oh and we made ties for our {handsome} little boys!

When I got home Joe informed me that Hannah woke up after I left and proceeded to scream/cry at him for nearly an hour before going back to sleep. Yikes!! Thankfully my husband was gracious enough to allow me to stay at girls' night blissfully unaware of the "situation" at home. He really is a great guy.

Early Sunday morning Charlotte had a little accident in bed. However she was so considerate that she got herself out of bed and changed into clean pajamas all without waking her sister {they share a room} or us! We woke later {how much later we will never know} to Charlotte silently standing at the foot of our bed staring at us. Slightly creepy [yes] but somehow sweet at the same time.

I then showed Isaiah his new ties. His response, "I am not going to wear them. The patterns are NOT cool mom." A little deflated I told him that I had worked hard on them JUST FOR HIM and he was hurting my feelings. He paused, gave it some thought. And his final declaration was, "It isn't going to change my mind. I won't wear them."

I don't often pick a favorite child and certainly no awards will be given out.......BUT I was definitely leaning towards a favorite on Sunday morning:) No names shall be used though.

*In Hannah's defense she went to the church nursery for the first time on Sunday and we didn't get paged to pick her up early!
*In Isaiah's defense he did spontaneously tell me how pretty I looked and melted a little corner of my heart.
**I was wearing that yellow shirt (see picture above) the day I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte. Which also happens to be the day Joe ran his first and only half marathon. I have sentimental attachments to it even if I only spent 50 cents on it. {And it is observations like these that result in eye rolls from my husband...thus the random inclusion of this tidbit HERE.}

EDIT: I stand corrected. That was my husband's second half marathon! Yikes I should pay better attention. I mean 13.1 miles is kind of a big deal, especially considering I couldn't run a mile (even if my life depended on it). I wish I were kidding. I am not. This is the reason I started blogging. The fact that I have a TERRIBLE memory (not my lack of running ability). I want to remember this time of
my lifeour life as a family because it really is flying by too fast.

I have a problem...

A stroller problem that is.

I keep buying strollers. And using them:) It seems with every child I have and with every change of season plus the ever changing developmental levels of my children I NEED a new stroller. It really has become a problem.

A walk down memory lane....

Stroller #1 (2007 - 2012)

Purchased NEW with gift cards from baby showers. It was part of the stroller-carseat combo. I never really loved it, but it worked. Sold it at a garage sale for $25. I kind of regret selling it though.

Stroller #2 (2007 - present)

I bought this for Joe for his first Father's Day when Isaiah was a mere 4 days old. I think I got it for $100 on sale. I am pretty amazing! It has been well used and loved. Sadly it no longer rolls straight without A LOT of effort. Not so ideal for running.

Stroller #3 (2008 - 2011)

A basic umbrella stroller - not pictured because I NEVER USED IT. Not even once. Oops. Bought it at garage sale for $2 and sold it at a garage sale for $2. Now I am thinking I wish I had it for keeping in the van for this summer...see I have a problem!

Stroller #4 (2011 - 2012)

Purchased at a garage sale for $30. My husband agreed because he thought I was buying it for my sister. Used quite a bit, but not loved because it was difficult to manuever. We put it on the curb with a FREE sign and it was gone within the hour.

Stroller #5 (2011 - present)

Best $35 spent on a stroller ever! I bought it at a garage sale of course:) We are still rockin' this sit n stand! I did have to buy a cup attachment for $8 though. What kind of stroller doesn't have a cup holder? Mom needs her caffiene...I mean water to stay hydrated:)

Stroller #6 (2011 - present)

McNasty was picked up on the side of the road on "dump day". He really was nasty but cleaned up nicely. With a little bit of love and labor this has turned into a great stroller for us. Now if I could convince my husband to push 2 kids while running...

Stroller #7 (2012 - present)

{After searching my archives I was unable to find a picture of the new jogging stroller. I will remedy this as soon as possible.}

This was my solution for wayward stroller #2. $30 at a garage sale.

Stroller #8 (2012 - present)

This one is a loaner. Because clearly I do not need to purchase another stroller! It has been the perfect stroller this winter allowing the kids and I to get out and about without me having to lug Hannah + carseat around. Thank you Erica!

Like I said, I have a problem!

Yes, I own this too, but I don't count it as a stroller. Technically it is a bike cart.