Do You Know What's Stupid?

STUPID is not being able to fit three booster seats, side by side, in the back seat of a van.

STUPID is having your 4 year old break your rear view mirror off the window while your trying to shove one carseat and two boosters in the back seat of a van, because three boosters won't fit.

STUPID is having straps so short on your carseat carrier that your skinny 8 month old won't fit while wearing a sweatshirt, even though he hasn't outgrown the weight or height requirements so you have to wrestle him in twice, as the five kids you've just shoved into the five "safety seats" that barely fit into your 7 passenger van, are all screaming.

STUPID is standing in front of the bathroom mirror pulling out all your gray hairs cause your too lazy to go to the store to buy hair dye.

STUPID is fighting with your computer, printer, and/or web browser to print coupons only to get to the store and have the products be sold out.

STUPID is having a big black box covering half of your TV screen every time you turn on your digital converter box.

STUPID is not having DVR.

STUPID is having a four year old remind you that STUPID is a bad word.

Inadequacy

I've read quite a few blogs in the last week or two that have led me to believe that the Inadequacy Fairy is alive and well in the world of motherhood. And though I may not talk about it often, the I.F. is a frequent visitor of mine. She not only paid me a visit today, but I feel like she stamped me straight on the forehead with a bright red "Inadequate Mother" sign.

It was Sophie and Carson's Well Checks today. Carson passed with flying colors. The doctor was not only pleased, but amused as she watched him interact with his siblings. She saw him respond to his name, and loved it when he kept visually checking in with me every time he interacted with her. She pointed out that that was his way of feeling out the situation. As long as I seemed okay with it, so was he. It was nice to hear her pass him off as 'great' since I feel like he's living in a constant state of neglect. A few weeks ago I realized that he "talks" to the TV when Barney's on way more than he talks to me. I've been trying to make a conscious effort to actually play with him more and some days its easier than others. He's 8 months old now and weighs 17.5 lbs, 28 inches long. He has been crawling for awhile. Last week he started pulling himself up to furniture and has even tried to let go a time or two. He's a fantastic baby, always happy, and very easy.

Then we talked about Sophie. I love this little girl like nothing else. She is loving, bossy, funny, messy...'Sugar and Spice'. But as most of you know, she's a big girl and though she's been a big girl for awhile, her weight gain is not slowing down. She wasn't a big baby, she only weighed 7 lbs, 8 0z. It wasn't until she was aroung a year old that she started getting chubby. During all of her check-ups with her regular doctor and her kidney specialists, I always brought up her weight and they always told me she was just fine. Her last appointment was in November and at 19 months she was 38 lbs. That put her in the 90th% for her weight, but she was also in the 90% for her heighth. Once again, they assured me that she was okay. I've been worrying for the past couple months that it was going to catch up to her. And today it did. At 23 months she weighs 42 lbs., just 3 lbs lighter than Spencer. And though I love to squeeze her and laugh at her utter cuteness, the fact of the matter is that she's stayed in the 93% for her height but she is now off the charts for her weight. She's now classified as 'obese'.

And as a mom, that stings. A lot.

We talked about her eating habits. We talked about practicing stricter portion control. But the doctor was also very open to my opinion, which for now, is that I feel like I can take responsibility for a few of the extra pounds, but I don't feel like her weight is a true reflection of her eating habits. We're not a house with chips, and fruit snacks, and juice a plenty. Don't get me wrong, we've been known to eat brownies for breakfast but I also try to serve vegetables with every dinner. She's like most toddlers, she eats messy and spurratic (is that a real word?). It's hard to sometimes gage how much she's really eating when half of it is on her hands, her shirt, or the floor. Some times she won't touch her food, other times, we have to take her plate away from her, or hide the cookies, or watch her throw herself on the floor when we tell her she can't have 2 whole banana's. Yogurt is her most requested food, but she thinks that the word 'snack' means something sugary. So am I kidding myself? I'm in denial here? Where does the fault lie?

We took her to the lab to have some blood work done. It's not a fun thing to have to hand the technician a form that lists 'obesity' as the reason for the blood work. It will take a couple days for the results to come back. I feel like it really comes down to something either being wrong with her, or me. Neither one feels good.

I felt like some progress was made tonight at dinner as I carefully planned out our meal. I got her to eat second's of her carrots before I gave her a little more meat, she only ate half of a roll. We don't usually have 'dessert' but we unfortunately had a german chocolate cake in the house, which is pretty unusual. We agreed that she could have just a little piece for dessert since Spencer could stand to put some weight on and he was dying for a piece. Again, everything went smoothly. They had their pieces, no one cried for more, read some books, and then were sent off to bed. Or so I thought. Apparently, while Jason was getting Spencer's bed ready, and I was typing this, she quietly helped herself to a few fistfuls of the last piece of stupid cake.

We ended the night trying to explain to an almost 2 year old that cake will make her tummy hurt and I'm again left wondering, am I really just fooling myself? Is there really a bright red stamp across my forehead that reads "Inadequate Mother" because in the department of 'health and well-being of children' I'm getting a big, fat F?

Leprechaun Report

For the second year in a row, we've been skunked by our little, tiny, tricky friend.



We found concrete evidence that he had been here and escaped.





And though we did not trap him, he left us a little pot of gold.



It's been reported that Colton was also visited and out-witted by a leprechaun this morning. However, he seems to have been visited from a little man from a much wealthier lineage.
You see, even leprechauns come from varying social and economic situations.
Upon waking up in their two story house, they found that their little visitor had moved the tunnel and left a trail, not of his escape, but to a larger pot of gold and treasures behind their curtains. There were green necklaces, golden coins, mint gum, and a variety of other delicacies.

Spencer was "green" with envy.

Some day he'll understand that the same leprechauns that visit trailers are not the same that visit real houses.

And though our pot of gold was little and only filled with chocolate, our Leprechaun seemed to have some spunk and street smarts. And while Spencer was left wondering why he didn't receive any green candy necklaces, Colton was wondering why his Leprechaun wasn't cool enough to bust through his trap, leaving a hole.



And the moms and dads are left wondering, "What will we have to do next year?"

Ready to Set

They painted, glued, laughed and played all afternoon.

Their new thing to say is, "I could just cry about it," anytime they were excited about something. Like "these cookies are sooo good I could cry about it," (direct quote from Colton). Weird, huh?

They planned and plotted about catching one of these little guys tomorrow in their traps.



And were very excited when their traps and tunnels were dry and ready to go...





They're not the only ones hoping to find a pot of gold in a camouflaged Schwann's box tomorrow morning but, unlike me, they'll be perfectly happy with gold covered candies.

I love surprises...

Okay, I only love surprises when I don't know anything about them. I can't handle it otherwise.
I beg and plead to the point of annoyance to get even the smallest of hints out of someone.

And I don't keep surprises very well either. I don't think there's been a holiday yet that I haven't 'hinted' to the point of straight out telling Jason what I got him.

So I really only love surprise surprises. And now, I have to point out what an extremely weird word surprises is once you've typed it 6 times.

But the point, is that I love surprises like this:



Where's the surprise?
It's the fact that I didn't take this picture. Or this one:



Or this one, etc:









I wasn't even home during the freakish hail storm we had last week (I think it was last week).
And even if I had been home, these pictures wouldn't have been taken. Because I was only a fun mom two-kids-ago. I'll do the math for you- when I only had 1 kid. Back in the days of my one-kidness, I did all sorts of fun things. Because I wanted too. I had the energy too. And I felt like I had the time too. Had I been home, I would have been too tired to get them ready to go out. Or too tired to find the umbrella. Or too busy.

I'm so insanely thankful for my fantastic cousins/babysitters who do have the energy, desire, and time to do fun things with my kids. And for grabbing the camera while they do it.

Photographs and good time playing in the hail/snow/rain courtesy of Kimmie

When I talked to her this morning

She said she's ready for visitors.
I can't wait to go see the little butterball and her mama today.
I only got to hold Addie long enough to get a picture yesterday, so I'm ready today.
Rachael's babies are the cuddliest things ever.
And there's nothing like a trip to the hospital to remind me why I stopped at 3.

Waiting To See

We've all been waiting to see what was inside this belly...



And these two kids couldn't be more excited...



So here she is...







































Do they come cuter than this? Her cheeks are so chubby that she gets 'binky lines' on them already!

We're still waiting on an okay for visitors. I talked to Kent around 1 p.m. and he said Rach was still not feeling very well. I'll check in with her tonight and then pass it on!

*side note: Addison's middle name is Kari because Aubrey insists that that's the baby's name. This morning when I got back from the hospital she started yelling, "Baby Kari! Baby Kari!"

Sorry, No Pics Yet...

She's here!

Addison Kari
8:26 a.m.
9lbs. 3oz.
21 inches

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I just got back from the hospital and am at Rachael's house picking up my kids, and realized that I don't have the cord that connects my camera to the computer! As soon as I get back home, I'll get them on here!

Rachael is doing good. She's feeling a little out of it from the pain meds so I'll let you know when she's ready for visitors.

She's a beautiful, chubby, dark haired, little girl. Can't wait to get these pictures on here!

Today I'm Looking Forward To

~Sharing all the progress we've made on our list.



~Updating on the crazy times with these kids.






~Announcing the arrival of Rachael's little girl (she'll be here before most of you read this!).

Where I live

I decided yesterday that I live in the Land of Unfinished Projects.

I believe you can fully consider yourself a resident of said place when you realize that there is not a room, let me repeat, not ONE SINGLE ROOM that doesn't have obvious unfinishedness.

So tomorrow, we're going to try to change that.

But Jason doesn't know yet. And he won't know until he reads this post. And then I'm going to have to start buttering him up. I'll have to promise good meals and that I won't be caught on the computer, or trying to leave the house because "my mom/sister need me to go shopping with them." It will be hard, but it will be worth it.

So, here's just a few things that will hopefully be keeping us busy tomorrow...

Fill frames with pictures and the kids' hand prints
Paint the doors to the hutch so the top half can be considered finished
Finish spray painting kids table/chairs
Hang metal knife holder thingy
Hang shelves in kids' room
Fix Spencer's bedside lamp
Clean marker off chair (thanks Aubrey)
Clean carpets
Sew sheets together for Spencer's bed
Finish mobile for Carson's crib

Hmmmm...now that the list is on the computer, I'll have to get on to check things off, right?

Wish us luck, it will be a long day here tomorrow...

P.S. to Should I be Concerned?

I totally forgot my favorite part of the story. Only a few of you know that Jason's eyelashes happen to grow straight down from the edge of his eye. Confused? Think this guy:



Rachael and I always tease him about his Snuffleupagus eyelashes. I even talked him into curling them one time. So, the next morning he tells me:

"The funny thing is that after I pulled all my lashes out, my world got considerably brighter...Guess that's what happens when you're not wearing shades."

I'm still not done laughing.

Should I be concerned?

So I had an experience that went something like this on Friday:

Napoleon Dynamite: Why do you got your hood on like that?
Pedro: Well, when I came home from school my head started to get really hot. So I drank some cold water, but it didn't do nothing. So I laid in the bathtub for a while, but then I realized that it was my hair that was making my head hot. So I went into my kitchen and I shaved it all off. I don't want anyone to see.
Napoleon Dynamite: I know what you mean.

Only my experience went like this:

Jason: Do you notice anything different about me?

Amy: Ummm, your mouth?

Jason: Really? What about it?

Amy: I dunno, it just looks a little swollen or something.

Jason: (laughing) So tonight, at work, I had an eyelash that was bothering me. So I started picking at it, and was doing something else, not really thinking about it, and just kept picking. And then I realized there were no more eyelashes to pick. So, I had to even it out.

Amy: Oh. My. Gosh. You have NO eyelashes.

*He's refusing to be photographed but if anyone's willing to pay to see it, I'm sure we could arrange something.