Jus Chillin

I look like rudolph right now. I have been trying to re-learn how to curl my hair with a curling iron right? I mean I knew how the old way, but hair styles change so much and I have to learn the new "it" ways to do and curl your hair... so I was trying and of course I got to my growing out bangs that get pinned back anyway. I thought to myself "hm, I should just straighten them with this curling iron instead of plugging in my straightener!" a little straighten action was easily done, till I did just ONE LAST TIME and sizzle. I totally burnt the tip of my nose.Bad. Blister has now turned into big red scab. sick.

Happy note, I got a new camera for Christmas, which I returned, and then went and bought myself another one a few weeks ago. I love it. So we have just been having fun playing around with the fun features. Brian has absolutely no interest in these "fish eye" etc features as he sees NO REASON to ever use them. But love my new clicker!
Man do I love my kids. They are my everything. They make me laugh and scream all day long. I want to hug them and then pull my hair out all in one minute, sometimes a second.
Today they were playing outside in the 86 degree weather, yuck, and Natalie ran in in a panic. "MOM!! MOM!! There are bugs!" I try to explain to her that when you are outside there are bugs, that just happens. She is still terrified and shocked every time she goes out and finds one though. She will SCREAM until I come to save her. The other day there was a TINY little nat or fly type of thing on the trampoline, and she wouldn't budge. She was flipping out! So anyway, today she runs in to tell me about this bug, and with terror in her voice she explains that it is a "pire ant" which in Natalie means Fire Ant. We do get these around occasionally but no biggie with pest control. So Natalie continued to explain the situation to me: "Mom, there is a pire ant and it was really big and it looked at my toe!" She looked at me waiting for me to be horrified at this information. So I went out to check it out and of course there was nothing, but she refused to step on the grass at all. When I went back in and shut the door, she stood there screaming out of fear until I let her in. What a wuss! haha She cracks me up! Man, I probably scared her with my spider experiences (I scream when I see one, and I have done it around the kids).

And boots this week has been really into his pirate pants. Like the ones from his Halloween costume. He wants to wear there all the time, everywhere we go. I can occasionally deal with a little princess dress up, but this? haha It is ridiculous, but so cute I have to let him do it.

But today the not so cute kid thing happened. There is always something with these 2. I dont like them to be in the bathroom because they LOVE the soap, and the toothpaste, and the toilet paper, and the water, and the toilet, and the hair gel, and anything else they can get their hands on. Their "thing" of the week is doing little baths in the sink for her barbies or pony's, or in this pool.

Super fun right? Totally! So Brian taught Natalie how to plug up the sink so she could put a little water in and play. BIG MISTAKE when today they weren't even in the bathroom, but had plugged it and left the water running. Can you say OVERFLOW! I was out on a run so I couldn't get the picture of this wonderful event, but both kids were in serious time outs when I got home. I am beginning to think I shouldn't leave the house EVER!

side note, the locks on the bedroom door are working out great. Kinda cramping his nighttime peepee runs, but I will deal with that if I dont have to deal with the other option!

Natalie in Courtney's room is having its ups and downs. She is so excited to have baby in there that she feels like she has to put her babies in the crib to comfort Courtney and touch her head/hands/body when they are trying to go to sleep. This is a problem since we are "let your child cry" type of parents. Parents who have done this... does it get better and go away? PLEASE SAY YES!

More Crazies

I don't know what my deal is, I always say that I will do a better job of blogging more since this is what I use as my journaling these days. But here I go again, almost a week has gone by and I am stuck with a ton of pictures and stories and I will probably forget most of it! I say I don't know what my deal is, but really lets get serious. It is because I am crazy and have 3 kids who are all 4 and under at home all day every day. At least they are ADORABLE!

This last week and today have been crazy. I want to pull my hair out sometimes, like last night. So Lets just start off by talking about our crazy crazy weather. It was in the 80s last week. Just take a look back a few posts and you will see the 12 degree weather and snow. This week was sweaty and outside everyday! And Penguin days at the zoo (cheap admission) so we took advantage!

That isn't the crazy part. The crazy part comes as no surprise to me, BOOTS.

Saturday I went out on a run, a 6 mile run to be exact. This is the longest I have run in 5 years. YEAH for me! So I was gone for a little while, and as I was leaving the house I distinctly remember telling Brian that if he wants a nap, do go do it on the couch so he can hear the kids when they get up from their naps.

I leave... I come back... I find this...

CLOSER LOOK: Spilt Gatorade all over the carpet, a can of whipping cream, and an entire snack pack "pack" of Pringles. That is like 6 mini containers of pringles. Then there were juice boxes and twizzler packages as well. What is this kid thinking? And more importantly what was Brian thinking sleeping in our bed with his ear plugs in?

Speaking of sleep, this is something Stephen hasn't been getting a lot of lately. He has been waking up in the night on and off now for months and some nights are horrible, some are not so bad. He usually will fall out of bed a few times in the week, but nothing that even wakes him up - obviously!

So Last night was my final straw with this kid. He got up at 930, 12, 1230, 1, 130, 2, 230, 3 and then again at 330. (The times are an estimate but close enough) He wanders into our room each time and either just stands beside my bed and sucks his blanket, or he whines about something that doesn't make sense. So each time we bring him back to his bed and tell him to go back to bed. We have had to start more strict discipline though because it is so out of control, and we sometimes give cold showers. Don't worry they are fast, and I am telling you - nothing else works. So he actually had gotten 2 already by the last time he got up to come in our room. Brian put him back again, and 30 min later we hear giggling. Last time this happened Boots was up on Natalie's bunk naked jumping on her bed at 4 am. So Brian goes to check it out and Boots had gotten 2 yogurts out of the fridge, opened them for him and Natalie and they were both in the toy room with their pillows and blankets eating them with their fingers. Natalie was still kinda out of it and tired, but boots was alert as ever. He had been up since midnight pretty much too, since he never really went back to sleep.

AHHHHH! What is he thinking? So today we invested in a bedroom door lock, a fridge lock, and moved Natalie right on our of that room. She and Courtney are sharing now. No more bacon runs, yogurt runs, or bedroom runs for that Mr. Boots. I am tired just thinking about last night!

Courtney is by far the most popular one in our house on a daily basis though. She is happy and sweet and loves getting kisses from Nat and Boots. She actually has no choice and I am sure she really doesn't love it all the time, but she gets it! When moving A bed back into Court's room today for Natalie, we had to move the change table up to the attic for more space, and I have to say, something about that move made me very very sad. I am pretty sure we will be having another baby sometime in the future, at least we would love to, but I am still so sad to be putting it away! That has been happening with so many things for me. I know I could never be a hoarder, but sometimes I find myself having a hard time letting go of things. #1 thing I am guilty of, my old sewing machine sits old and broken in the attic but I refuse to throw it away, it was my Moms first and it is kinda sentimental to me! It cant be fixed and is useless but still! haha I have issues!

Lovey Love

I am not scared to admit that I love Valentines Day. I mean, I do have a man that shows me he loves me and tells me he loves me every day, but it is always fun to have a holiday just for that! We made and decorated sugar cookies(thanks libby for your too delishious recipe), and then made a mess with glitter for some valentines.
Then in the mindset of being healthier, I received an EDIBLE bouquet of pineapple, grapes, and strawberries from my hubby this year. I LOVE chocolate covered strawberries, so those were my fav. Apparently those were the kids too since they ate THEM ALL! We then went out to CARRABBAS for dinner, for our favorite Italian dishes. Oh I am watering at the mouth just thinking about how good my dinner was.
We got home to a cookie bouquet sent from Nana and Grandad thanks you guys - we Love it!

Brian and I spent the night thinking back on the good old days. "When I was a kid" type of days. I dont know what started the convo but we went off about cassette tapes, 8 tracks, and then started thinking about computers and how far we have come in the 2000's. When I was in elementary school they JUST got a computer lab (in like 4 th grade) and I remember going in to the old school computers and learning to type and use the keyboard. Then in high school Internet came out, which was a crazy thing to learn. We talked about our cell phones and when we got our first ones, mine was in high school. I had an emergency only phone in my glove box that really didn't ever get used. In college, 2nd semester I finally "gave in" to the trend and got one. Brian didn't get his first until we got married. Even then we didn't have texting because Brian thought it was something that would die off. haha OHHH how even those times have changed. Basically we just realized what amazing things have happened in the last 10-15 years.

On Sunday the girls looked so pretty for church, and boots had already changed (since he does it the second he gets in the door with a big "ahhhh" sigh of relief- literally) so I tried to get a quick shot of them. Courtney always always has this look on her face, tongue out, double chin, and just a blank stare. I will catch a smile and a cute picture of all 3 kids one day.

Now I just need to touch on boots for a second. He always drives me crazy, but this week he has shown an extra interest in the toilet. When he was younger he would do this, and I thought he was over that stage of his life. WRONG. Yesterday he took himself #2, then emptied most of the toilet paper roll into the toilet, with a lot of overhang onto the floor (like something you would see in a book), and then he added a few toys on top of it all and all mixed in. I pretty much rotate putting the bathrooms in quarantine with this kid. When I find this I have to close it all down long enough for me to disinfect since I despise toilet water, and toilet anything.

So today I was standing there talking to my mom on the phone when I hear the sucking sound coming from behind me. He was standing over the toilet, holding one of Natalie's slippers. It was dripping wet into the toilet and he was sucking on it drinking the water. SON! If you are that thirsty, seriously I will get you a drink! EWWWW! I don't know what to do with him. It is always something.

The weather is back up to beautiful 70 degrees today, and it is funny how fast I can go from "It is so cold here!" to "Ug I am totally sweaty today!" I need to just not complain and be positive about whatever the weather is. At least it isn't 20 and at least it isn't 100!

Underground

When asked her favorite color this week, Natalie didn't reply with her usual PINK! She instead told me that her favorite color is glitter. It figures since she has 3 pairs of glitter shoes, glitter tutus and glitter everything else you can dream of. So we decided to make her Ballet class Valentines glittery. She had a little party and came home with some loot! It was like Halloween! I am not one to talk, as I couldn't just buy some little cardboard ones, I am lame. But they turned out pretty cute, and the mini cupcakes I made were divine!

Today was a big fun day for us. We love sports around here, and we especially love the Mavs. They are the NBA team here in Dallas, for those who are totally out of it! We have season tickets to the D league team, and so we get some really cool opportunities. One of those was today when we got backstage passes to the Mavs. They, of course, were out of town but we got to go downtown and check out their grounds.

We took the train down, which the kids loved, and then went in and underground, literally. We got to check out their practice gym, their locker room, their workout room, their training stuff and even the showers and toilets. There are a TON of pictures, but I know there are some who actually would want to see this stuff like we did!

We all went in for a big cheer "MAVS!" And Natalie had to get in on it. She would put her arm in, and then shout when we all did, but then get really shy and scared right after. It was pretty funny.

Their locker room was posh. Someone there said that it is nicer than the cowboys NEW locker room. We got to try on their jackets and sit in their chairs, but we were not allowed to touch their personal things as they are superstitious about certain things!
I liked this, it was Jason Terry's stuff in his locker. I just like how I act like they are so big and famous and untouchable and then you go and look and see the books they are reading, and games they are playing and remember they are just people.
They had a sweet set up. Cooshy chairs, poker table, pool table, ping pong, and pretty much anything you could think of!

Even their toilets were sweet. Stained glass!! We did get REALLY personal with them! Their showers are really tall, like 7 something, to make sure all of the players can stand under them.

Natalie is becoming quite the artist. Here is her rendition of the court.

Donny Nelson is the president of the Mavs. We got to hang out with him in his office. This was really cool. That big board in the back has all the players on all the teams, with their contract info beside them. This is where the magic happens, trades, firing etc. We got the inside scoop!

Then another train ride home and we were all pooped out. It was so much fun, I just wish we could have met the players too.

I also ran a 5 miler today. I came home and literally dropped to the floor. I have run a lot more than that before but for some reason today it killed me. I was, and still am, so tired and sore. UG!

Dont forget about this sweet thing. 5 months old today! She is growing way too fast. Love that girl.

Snowed in

As I mentioned before, last week we were pretty much stuck at home snowed/iced in. It isn't that Texans are weak, it is just that they dont have the means to clear off the roads to be able to get out and be safe. This means that everything closes and everyone stays home. We after the 2 inches of ice everywhere, it snowed and we went out and played all day long.

I learned a few things....

I learned that Boots LOVES the snow. His hands looked like this over his gloves every time we went out. He would just fondle the snow till it clumped up on his hands, then he would eat it off. He loved it.

I learned that Natalie doesn't LOVE the snow like boots does but she loves doing snow angels. Although this time she actually brought her pony's outside and played for a long time.

I learned that our neighbour, whoever they are, is rude and obnoxious. They had this truck parked out at the end of our driveway, right behind where we reverse, all week. We pulled an Austin Powers everytime we had to backout. ALL WEEK PEOPLE.

I learned that we just dont have the correct snow supplies around for everyone to be bundled up.

I learned that Texans are creative. They dont sell sleds at Walmart, so if you want to go sledding you better look around your house and through your pool toys and see what you can find. Things that work are cookie sheets, tupperware lids, cardboard boxes, air mattresses, and many pool toys.

For real, sledding was so fun. We dropped off Courtney at Papa's house, and headed over to a hill to sled. We grabbed the above mentioned things and were out there for about 2 hours. I was shocked how much fun our kids were having. Boots was going down this HUGE hill by himself and would walk up without complaints too. Natalie just wanted to scoot on her bum down the hill, but she still had fun.

It is all melted now, after a few days in the 40's. I was ready to have my roads and sidewalks back. I need to run outside! My training is going great, but I do better outside than inside. Just because I think treadmill running is so much easier and I need to train outside.

So this also has been weighing on my mind a lot lately, and always, parenting. I am always trying to be a better mom and trying to be kinder to my kids. It is hard when I am feeling anxious or upset. So I have mentioned in the past that I was stopping nursing and switching to a bottle. (FYI, JUST A reminder, this is my blog so I can freely talk about this!) So I was just pumping and keeping the "supply" up and bottle feeding it, but I realized that not only did that take up the same amount of time, but it also keeps the same emotions and feelings. I was not feeling any less anxious so something had to change. I am now in the process of completely putting her on formula, so right now she is getting a mixture of 70 B milk, 30 formula. She is doing good on it. There was a small amount of guilt going along with this decision because Courtney was such a great nurser. She was better than my other 2 and just loved it. BUT I also rememered how I am a great mom usually and I just was not living up to par.

Well I dont feel bad anymore, I know that in order for me to be the 100% mom and wife that I know how to be, I have to do this. She nursed for 5 months which is longer than either of my others, and I am proud of that. SHe is healthy and happy and I know she will be fine. Better yet, I will be fine and I will stop sweating the small things and getting so upset about every little thing that happens in my house.

BYE BYE emotional crazy mommy, HELLO sane happy fun mommy.