I Know Everything and I'll Eat Leaves

Yesterday Mr.M.and I were watching Sid the Science Kid.  Here is the conversation we had:

M: Mom, I know everything."
Me: You do? Wow!  I don't know everything.
M: Sure you do.
Me. No.  I wish I did, but I still have a lot to learn.
M:  That's ok.  I'll teach you.

Miss L. and I were watching Toddlers and Tiaras (I've been staying home to really work on Baby D's sleep schedule so we've watched more TV than normal).

Me: Miss L, do you want to go up on a stage and get all dressed up and smile and wave at people?
Miss L:  Yup!  And I'll eat leaves!

Buddies

I leave the baby on the floor for a quick chore or something and this is always what I find when I come back:

 This time he seems pretty happy about it.  That is not always the case.

 They can be a little overwhelming.  Yesterday I spent at least fifty percent of the day with all three of them on my lap. I practically had to beg Caleb to peel them off of me.

 But I'm glad they love me and even more glad they love each other.

I am still working hard to get this little guy on a schedule.  I've been trying since day 1 and hope to have success before he moves out in 18 years.  Malachi however has officially learned to sleep through anything.  His future wife is going to hate me.

Christmas Day

My pics of the events leave something to be desired...but here they are anyway.

 She seemed a little overwhelmed (or maybe underwhelmed - she really wanted that pink bunny Santa didn't have).

 Our traditional nummy breakfast of onion bagels, eggs, bacon and cheese.  Sooooooooo good.

 Our fancy candlelight dinner.  I actually cooked our turkey in the crockpot (after some research).  It was delicious.  I just threw in spices that sounded good.  I'm excited I'm getting experienced enough with cooking to know what might taste good.

 You can give it that brown look by broiling it for a minute or two but I didn't bother.

After dinner we looked at Christmas lights.  Christmas is beautiful.

I LOVE Christmas Eve

What a great day!

It started out with Caleb letting me sleep in and I sooooo needed it.

Then we made and delivered Christmas presents for the people in one of the local nursing homes. 

Here we are about to head in:

I know the munchkins look miserable, it was a little chilly out, and we are true West Texans these days I guess because they were wussy about it.

Most of the folks are ecstatic to see little kids around.  It's so fun to watch them fawn over my babies.  They especially love little girls and Lib's tights had them almost giddy. 

Later in the day we started a new tradition by making (and eating) a cake for Jesus' birthday.  I think I'll do cupcakes next year, but it was fun.  I heard about it on the radio and thought it was a really fun way to bring the thought back to the true meaning of Christmas.

We also decorated Santa's cookies.  And he told me he loved them!

The dogs even got in on the fun. They were running around like crazy.  I guess they could sense the excitement. 

 Toby was so hyper it was hard to get a good pic.

 We read the Bible story of Jesus' birth and acted it out with a little nativity set we have.

Then we opened a Christmas ornament per child and new jammies.

Of course, we had to throw out the reindeer food too.

Damon apparently was very fascinated by all the events.

Santa came and I had to snap a couple of pics of the handiwork he left behind.

I think when I told Santa was Mr. M wanted (he was too shy to tell him himself) I might have told him the wrong thing.  I hope Mr. M. isn't too upset. Miss L was insistent she get a pink bunny, but they are not making pink bunnies in the North Pole right now, so she may also be a little upset.

Good night and Merry Christmas everyone.

The Feetsies

I LOVE it when my babies discover their feet and it seems someone has.

 And yes, he still has stickers on his head.  We had to soak em' to get them off his fine hair.

I Think Someone Got to Him

 (I may be the only one who likes this pic, but I love her little sneaker sneaking in.)

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

Graham Cracker Shack

I really did not want to make gingerbread houses.  I avoided it all season.  Then Mr. M. decided he wanted one....so I tried.

The graham crackers were all broken in pieces before we even started.  But the kids were hilarious and we had a lot of fun for the first ten minutes or so.  I couldn't stop giggling at Lib.  She was in a great mood and her outfit was awesome.  At least she was dressed...unlike brother.

 In the middle of it all Miss L said, "Mom, can I lick you?"
"No, Liberty."
She did it anyway.  Lovely.  Malachi said it was because I was covered in frosting.

 When we I finished our ugly little shack Mr. M said, "Oh mom, it's perfect!"

 Then I tried to shift it to a safer spot:

Then he said, "I told you we shoulda ate it."

Darndest Things

My kids are full of funnies lately.  I wanted to write some down really quick while I'm thinking about it. 

Malachi had a gift when we left church yesterday.  I assume it was from his Sunbeam teachers.  He said, "Mom, this gift is for you."
 "OK, bud."
"I'm going to open it for you though."
"Okkkkaaaayyyy....."
He opens it.  It's a flashlight.
"I gave you a flashlight mom, but I'm going to keep it."

Libby calls the elevator and alligator.  It took me a few times before I figured out what she was talking about.  We love to ride alligators around here.

December Happenings

We went to the Christmas parade downtown and came home with almost as much candy as we got at Halloween.  The baby hated the sirens and cried a lot (it was the longest parade ever and had more sirens and horns than anyone could possibly need to hear).  People took mercy on our shy children and everyone was handing them candy they didn't need - nice people with good intentions. 

 My least favorite part of the parade was some of the church floats.  Seeing humans hung on crosses always freaks me out. I get what they're trying to do, but it doesn't really work for me. 

The kids have spent a ton of time making messes while I've been baking Christmas treats.  I checked on them many times this day and every time the room looked clean.  Turned out they had shoved everything into Lib's closet, I didn't see the mess until it was all dragged back out.

Notice even her drawers are open and they were empty.  She's figured out how to get into everything and emptying things out several times a day is her very favorite thing to do.  If only cleaning up ranked up there as well.

 Malachi loves to color.  He begs me to take photographs constantly and then checks to see if I put them on the blog.  So here one is.  I can't remember what it was.

We saw Santa at the library.  I love this pic of Damon.  The tongue cracks me up.

 
 Miss L wouldn't go near the guy.  I had to drag her over to get the candy cane from him.  I wonder if she'll ever like people.  She also didn't co-operate for photographs but here is the proof she was there.

 The kids follow me all over the house with these little chairs.  Seriously, those chairs get more use than anything in this house: when I'm getting ready in the bathroom, when I'm cooking, when I'm changing Damon's bum, when I'm cleaning......

 And I couldn't have a post without the little guy.  His favorite thing to do is eat his hands and smile.   Damon loves to pull anything and everything up to his face.  I am constantly pulling things off his face.  I have to remind Mr. M and Miss L not to put ANYTHING anywhere near him.  I also have to remember to not lay him down anywhere that he can grab something that might suffocate him.  It's kind of scary sometimes.  I don't remember having to be quite so diligent about it with the other two.

Malachi also had a school party but I forgot the camera.  The other kids sang songs to us.  Malachi stood about two steps behind them and pouted the entire time.  I asked the teacher how he does in class.  She said he does, "real well" (so Texan) except he doesn't like to sing and she has to prod him to play with the other kids at recess.  He is soooo much like his dad.

Randomness

Today was another Go Go Go Day.  I actually forgot to eat real food until dinnertime and I never got a shower.  I did, however, make it to spin class which makes the no shower thing absolutely disgusting (you burn like 700 calories in one hour in that class).  Other than sitting down to feed Damon and sitting to drive the car, this is pretty much the first time I have sat.

There was this moment earlier where my mind wandered outside of myself and I felt like that mom you see in the movies.  I had one kid running around and screaming happily, one little sick girl sobbing non-stop, and a baby on my hip crying while I hurried to cook dinner.  I wasn't unhappy with the scene, it just felt surreal.

Just a few short years ago I was finishing up college and enjoying newly-wed life.  How quickly things go.  My life is pretty much how I expected (and wanted) it to be, and in a lot of ways better.  I had no idea we'd own a house and have such stability.  I know we are blessed. And despite the stress (there were some seriously stressful moments today), I love it (most of the time).

Here's a couple of the things I did and/or enjoyed today:

(I had to replace yesterday's pic - I knew I could do better.)

  This little guy has taken to talking.  If he's awake he's yacking, crying, or smiling.  There is no in between.  He loves to smile and based on our trip in the car to pass out Christmas treats, he loves to cry as well. As soon as I got him out of the car and into my arms he was all smiles and yells again.

 Pics can not do this kid justice.  He is just sooooo darn cute.

My friend makes these lovely cookie/suckers.  Usually I just order them from her but she just had a baby three weeks ago so I decided to give it a go this year.  The first batch was great, the second batch about killed me, but they turned out pretty cute I think.

When we went to pass them out they took several tumbles around in the box and may not look so pretty once delivered.

So I'm beyond exhausted and am off to bed.  Tomorrow is Christmas shopping....boy oh boy.

3 Months Old Today

Not the best pic but at least we caught the moment....

My little guy is three months old today.  Holy cow!  It is flying by.  This little guy is a lover.  He loves me to hold him and talk to him all day.  He smiles and smiles and smiles. It's so darn cute.  I can't get over his smiles - they melt my heart every time.
I forgot to write that he was 12.8 lbs. at his 2 mo. appointment.  He's probably at least 14 lbs. now.  He is growing sooo fast.  We pulled out the jumperoo today and he loved it.  He doesn't jump a lot in it yet but he likes being upright and just talks and talks.
I love this sweet, baby boy.  And his siblings love him as well.  They smother him constantly.  He definately is not lacking in the attention area.

Sleep-Training Damon

I'm on a high right now.  Things have been so good this week.  I almost hate to write about it, I'm afraid to jinx it.  Last month was a little difficult for me.  Little D was not sleeping well, he was getting worse and not better.  I was so exhausted and frustrated.  The older munchkins were really trying my patience, and I was just struggling. So far, December has been great. 

I'm a little nervous to write about how I sleep-trained Damon on here because I know some of you won't agree with my methods.  But I had to do what I had to do and I need to write it on here because this is my record of my family and I may want to look back at this with #4 and see where I was at.

For several nights in a row Little D was waking up every hour.  During the day he was also not sleeping much.  Finally one day I just couldn't take it anymore.  I laid him down in my closet (his bassinet is in there but he usually sleeps in his crib in M's room) and just let him cry.  I sobbed and sobbed.  I did laundry and cleaned and cried to my mom and cried some more.  He was so little and listening to him cry was torture. I was so frustrated.  I was not frustrated at him as much as I was frustrated with my inability to teach the kid to sleep.  It was like reliving my time with Malachi as a baby and it scared me.

A friend stopped by at that moment and gave me some great advice about how to pray.  I did it.  But Lib kept interrupting and I couldn't find a quiet place to think and I just got more and more frustrated.  When Caleb came home I had him give me a priesthood blessing that I would know how to best help my baby learn to sleep.  Then he gave the baby one.  I sat there and pondered and figured out a plan that fit me and my life.

That night Damon slept five hours in a row, woke up and ate, and went back to sleep until morning.  Same with the next night.  Holy miracle.  Over the next couple of weeks the boy had to cry a lot.  He did.  He rarely cried himself to sleep, but he cried.

At this point, I'd say 80-90 percent of the time he sleeps 5-7 hours in a row and wakes up to eat and goes back to sleep in his own crib.  It's heaven.  I like my babies to wake up once a night, it's the only time I have with just the baby an no other kids climbing all over me.

There are still rough nights here and there, but I no longer have to make him cry very much.  He is a much happier baby now and I am a much better mommy to all three of them.  God blessed me and my little family.

My advice to my future self is: Get a blessing much sooner, before you about loose your mind and re-read Baby Wise before the baby gets here.  There are a few things you had forgotten and you agree with the book this time more than the first time.  More kids will do that to you I guess.

Christmas Ideas!

My grandma is an amazing artist.  Check out some of her work here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/350405640925

Autumn Days

We had a great day today.  The last two days I have been a little under the weather.  So I skipped the gym and spent the days just doting on my kiddos and not going anywhere.  

Damon looked so cute in his robot jammies I had to get a photo.  We love robots around here.

 When I got him dressed he just looked like he needed his photo taken.

After this he fell asleep and slept for 5.5 hours!  I couldn't believe it. And Miss L and I were having so much fun and getting so much done I couldn't get myself to wake him up.

 Lib wasn't ready for the day, but I still love her expression.

 While I was feeding Damon it got really quiet.  I dread those moments: the moments where I realize she's missing and it's quiet.  I found her in her closet with toothpaste all over.  Where she found the toothpaste I will never know, I thought they were all out of her reach.  She was quite upset with me for finding her.

 I couldn't find the tube of toothpaste and she wasn't telling where it was (I still don't know where it's hidden).  She and her friend Molly pulled it out later and decorated her room in it. 

After I washed her up she and I cuddled on the couch (M was in preschool).  Then we made cookies, lots and lots of cookies, for a bake sale at Malachi's preschool. Then friends came over to play.

 Later in the day we went outside to play.  It was 68 degrees...perfection! We played with sidewalk chalk and gathered leaves. The setting sun gave such a beautiful light, I couldn't resist taking a ton of pics.

 Malachi went over to his bike and said he wanted to practice.  I thought he meant riding his bike but he apparently mean he wanted to practice wearing the helmet and running around like a mad-man.

 Lib, on the other hand, was happy to roll around.

It was a beautiful day.  We all needed it.