Ryan 2 years 8 months

I almost didn't notice that Ryan is 2 years 8 months old today. Funny how I never know the date anymore. I wonder if it is a function of not having a paying job(I don't need to know, so I don't) or if it is a result of my semi-functioning brain(the result of 3 kids and a husband). Hopefully I will get a chance ot actually write about what Ryan is up to these days tomorrow to fill out this post. We shall see. The carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow, so I don't have a whole lot of hope for spare time.

Easter Outfits

This is what my kids were supposed to look like on Easter, but we ran out of time. I really wanted pictures in these outfits, but this is the most cooperative one I got.

Here we are reading before nap. [Of course I had to tell Jay to take the picture, but I am determined to be in the family album at least a few times!]

For Christina

Here is Lily in the dress Christina gave her when she was born. So sweet!

I plan on getting awake pictures too, but she decided she was tired as soon as I put the dress on and I wanted to make sure to get pictures before something got on the dress. If you are a mother you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Update:

The Butt Ruffle

Ding, Ding, Ding...We Have a Winner!

I got Ryan to do something I wanted him to do! I've always known that kids need transition time, but I thought Ryan might be too young to grasp the idea that something will happen in a set amount of time. I thought he would just forget. But what can it hurt to try? I was running out of ideas anyway. I tried it yesterday and hit pay-dirt!
It went something like this:
Me- "Ryan, 5 minutes 'til lunch time." (expecting the same tantrum-like behavior I had seen every day for the past week)
Ryan, in a cheery, sing-songy voice- "Okay."
Me- silent, jaw dropping to the floor, secretly doing the happy dance inside
Ryan- "I would like peanut butter and jelly on my bread."
Me(ever trying to encourage manners)- "Please."
Ryan- "Please."
Me- "Okay!"

I made a mental note to give Ryan transition time before any activity and so far, so good!

Let's try this again

Ryan must have read Erin's blog over my shoulder and found out about Ben's latest achievements and decided he needed to get himself in gear. Last night he wanted to use the potty and then asked for underwear without any prompting at all. We've been down this underwear road before. It usually ends up with me swooshing the undies in the toilet. He does great when he wants to use the potty, but that durn stubborn streak of his has really gotten in the way. Given that his stubborn streak has been showing itself quite often lately I have not even thought about asking him if he wants to wear underwear in weeks. He has been great about using the potty today though. Underwear all morning; used the potty 3 times and no accidents. He is napping now and I'm not ready to let go of the nap time diaper. He asked to wear underwear during his nap but didn't put a up a fight to keep it. [I told him if he woke up dry for 3 days in a row he could wear underwear for nap.] So we have made progress. He has had good runs with no accidents before only to be thrown off by distractions, so we shall see what happens when Zach comes home. I'm more hopeful this time because he is doing this on his own. He doesn't want any rewards. When I say 'doesn't want rewards' I mean he has thrown himself on the floor crying saying, " I don't want a sticker!!!" and he even said no to M&Ms as a reward. He LOVES M&Ms. It's crazy I tell you. I think this is his way of owning the process, so the desire to control every situation stubbornness may actually be working for me in this case.

Too Smart

My son my be to smart for me. He is going through that I-have-discovered-I-don't-have-to-do-what-mommy-and-daddy-tell-me stage I've heard they go through around 3. It's worse than the terrible twos! Basically he wants to do the opposite of what people want him to do. The funny thing is he seems to be beyond his years in seeing past the tricks I've tried. Either I need to get better at reverse psychology or it just doesn't work with him. He seems to know exactly what I want. Someone suggested I try giving him choices. Been there done that! I say, "Do you want juice or milk with dinner?" and he says "I would like water." Then his mind is set that he will have water or else. We've been doing a lot of the 'or else' lately. It's been hard and there have been several days that he doesn't get dressed because it's just not worth the fight. You may call it giving in, but I call it choosing my battles. Even the lure of going outside doesn't work to get him dressed many days. I'll put the bait out there, but I'm not making it an ultimatum. I think either I'm getting payback for my own stubbornness or God is trying to teach me a lesson in patience.

Love that Smile

How happy does she look here?!

You've got to love that crooked smile!

Don't be fooled...

He only looks innocent!

The Plaid Egg and Other Easter Stuff

I know everyone has already made their Easter posts. I'm way behind in everything, so why would posting be any different?! I'll just hit the highlights.
Ben came over Saturday to hang out since he was home from school. He joined us while we dyed eggs. I thought he was kidding when he told me he wanted to dye an egg plaid, but he wasn't. It is the only plaid egg I've ever heard of or seen. Here is a picture of Ben with his plaid egg so you can say you've seen a plaid Easter egg too!
TJ came to spend Easter morning with us. It was great to have him here. The kids just love him.

Here is Uncle TJ entertaining Lily with one of her Easter gifts.

And here he is entertaining Ryan.

I don't think I got him showing Zach how to use his new pogo-ball because it didn't last long enough ;-) Of course you saw the picture of him with all three kids since I posted it on his birthday.

Nothing to Wear

I'm getting tired of my extremely limited wardrobe. I was all excited when I fit back into my non-pregnancy pants. Then reality sunk in and I realized it was a fluke. Only some of my pants fit and they were a tight squeeze. I really have not shrunk all that much since then. So now I have about 3 pairs of non-sweat pants that fit. They are not as tight now, but I can't even get the other pairs past my hips. Don't even get me started on the shirts. Let's just say if it isn't stretchy it's not fitting over the baby feeders. Thus I am in a conundrum. Do I buy bigger clothes? Can I afford to buy clothes that I might only wear for a month? Will I ever be my old size again? If not when will I know because this 'It's just baby weight' thing could go on for quite a while. I really don't want to keep a bunch of clothes I'll never fit into again and take up space I could use for my new 'I'm a mommy now' wardrobe. I'm still holding out hope to fit into my old clothes, but when should I realistically expect that I have reached the weight I will be for a while? In the mean time to I just do wash every day because this baby doesn't seem to think an outfit is complete without at least a little bit of spitup?

Alias

We watched our TiVoed Alias last night. All I have to say is WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!
Well, I have lots more to say, but OHMYGOSH it was a crazy episode. I can't wait to see how they wrap all this up and answer all the questions I have. That is what the teasers say they are going to do in the last 6 episodes. Whoa. I'm on the edge of my seat once again. I had almost forgotten how much I love this show! I can't wait for next week.

Happy Birthday TJ

Trust me you're still young :-) Enjoy your day and your 27th year. We love you!

This is one of my favorite pictures from Easter.

Lily says "gah"

So I know everyone who reads my blog is just dying to know about Lily's first smiles and mutterings- No? That's just me and my mom? Okay, but I'm writing about it anyway because this is my blog and I want to.
Lily has been making the cutest little "gah" and this throat-y "aaah." I love it! It is especially heartwarming when it's accompanied by a big smile. It's like she is saying, "I love you, mommy!"
Who can resist a baby smile? It just lights me up inside. I thought Lily was smiling at me the day before my mom left(she would have been 1 day shy of 4 weeks), but since everything I read said she was too young for real smiles I doubted myself. Now I'm 100% sure that she is smiling because she wants to. It's adorable. Unfortunately I have yet to get a good picture of the smile, but I'm sure I will have plenty of chances to get pictures of my smiley girl.
That's all. I just wanted to post a little blurb to remind myself of the way I felt when Lily first smiled. I didn't start blogging until Ryan was past many of his firsts. I wish I had so I would have the reminders of things I thought would be burned into my memory forever. It's amazing what you forget. I remember being in complete awe of this baby boy and how amazing I thought he was, but I don't remember when he had some of his firsts. Though I guess in the long run it doesn't matter how old he was when he first smiled or giggled. What matters is that his life is full of smiles and laughter.
Oops...I guess I wasn't done after all.

The Big 2 9

Happy birthday to me! It's been a good day so far. This morning started with Jay letting me sleep in...ahhh. Then he whisked me off to get a massage (one hour Swedish...ooooo) while he watched the kids in the area so I would be close enough to feed Lily when I was done. It turns out she didn't need me, but it was nice to have company on the ride and the peace of mind that she was close. Jay is taking the family to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner...mmmm. So the theme of today's birthday seems to be relaxation...I like that!

Imagination

This morning I heard Ryan calling "Bobby, Bobby!" as if he were looking for someone named Bobby. Since we don't know anyone named Bobby (except for my cousin who Ryan doesn't see enough to really know him) I wondered what was going on. I looked up at him. He is playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine (yes he has all of them except Cranky and Toby- and they were all gifts!) toys. He has found that the Bob the Builder people fit exactly right to take rides in the Troublesome Trucks. I notice that he is carrying the Duplo Wendy character tipping her back and forth as if she is the one calling. Oh my goodness! He is having Wendy call for Bob the Builder, but instead of saying "Bob the Builder" like he usually does he is using a pet name. I don't think he has seen Bob the Builder more than one time and I'm pretty sure Wendy never calls him Bobby on the show, so Ryan must have come up with it on his own. Kids are amazing!

What to do...

All the kids are asleep(or at least in bed singing- ahem, Ryan). So what do I do now? I could clean the living room or the bathroom(both in desperate need), or I could do the dishes, or fold the laundry...or BLOG :-) I guess I didn't make the wisest choice to get the computer out. Now I will have to use all my will power to give it up and go do one of the responsible things listed above...boo:-(

Don't Ask

Why do people insist on asking about things or people not mentioned in a post? Don't you think if someone has a blog and wants to write about something that person should be able to write about it without being questioned about what that person didn't write about? Well, I do.

What have I been doing?

I know you're wondering, "What has Jen been doing? Her blogging has been so sparse lately. Surely she can't be that busy with 3 kids!" Well, you're right(and wrong, 3 kids is a LOT of work) Amidst the piles of blank 'thank you' cards, the birth announcements and the school papers are bunches of real estate listings. Yes, that's right, I am trying to cram every life transition I can into a short 3 month span! New job, new baby... why not a new house to top it off?! Okay, I wouldn't have planned it like this ideally, but them's the breaks I guess. We have simply outgrown our house. We need another bedroom and a place for the kids to play that is all their own(or at least not my living room!) It would also be nice to have an office to keep the computer and all the crap papers and stuff that goes with it. So I've been trying to balance any spare time I have(HA!) between looking at listings and looking at houses; making lists of things that need to be done to put our house on the market and making phone calls to arrange for those things; straightening and cleaning the house; writing thank you notes; and getting some sleep in a desperate attempt to feel/look human again. I'm afraid blogging has taken a bit of a hit on the priority list. Fortunately for me I am able to get a bit of a bloggy fix every now and then because I am able to read my favorites while I'm feeding Lily(that is when I'm not searching for or reading house listings).

So why am I writing this now when I have 2 loads of laundry downstairs waiting for me to go get it and put another load in? Because Lily is sleeping the boys are playing nicely(as much as I can expect them to anyway) and I am too tired to get up(yes I am lying down right now), but I can't take a nap because of the aforementioned boys being wide awake.

Happy Month-day Lily

Happy 1st month beautiful girl!

Thanks to my Coffee Break girls for the lily blossom in the picture.