Bittersweet

Life is so full of bittersweet moments.  Endings of chapters are the beginning of other chapters, but all we can do is just enjoy the book.  The “moms” came for a visit this weekend and we had a blast! They drove here from Denver arriving Friday afternoon to be welcomed by 2 jumping and squealing toddlers, a baby with a birthday and 2 adults just wanting time with their mommy J We ate well, played hard, laughed lots and slept like rocks.  I ended the weekend with a little reflection time after the guests left, lights went out and the kids when to sleep.

Saturday we woke up early to get to the zoo as soon as it opened in hopes to beat the heat as the temperatures had been in the triple digits for a couple weeks.  We had a great time and even got to ride the boats for the first time which had been closed for the winter since we have been here.  As the temperatures climbed we decided to come back home for a quick lunch and then a dip in the new pool, and when I say dip I mean a splash fest with three children.  Just an inflatable pool but a large enough one to fit 5 people comfortably. 

The girls had a ball, the grandmas got in some good laughs and we all got some relief from the heat not to mention some quality fun time and good pictures.  Kiddos took naps while BJ and his mom took a field trip to the golf warehouse and my mom and I looked for the debit card and car key I had lost (I know shocking I would lose those…like I have done so many times before this...think i need to put it back in the same spot everytime and not let the kids in my purse)  After naps and fieldtrips we all had grilled chicken and asparagus for dinner and made the birthday boys cakes.  

Sunday was a bit mellower but fun all the same.  Got up and headed to “Jesus’ House” (that’s what Bianca calls Church) and then came home for a birthday celebration.  We had hot dogs and then opened presents.  Like always he was showered with lots of great gifts and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  The girls were very helpful in the present opening and Gage loved all his new goodies and clothes.  He is such a cute baby and looks so handsome in all his new outfits ;)  After presents we did cake and had to help Gage “make a mess” but once he got the hang of it he did just fine on his own stuffing his face with chocolate cake.  After cake it was a definite nap for all wee little ones!  While napping BJ and his mom held down the fort so my mom and took an adventure to the mall for a pretzel pick up and firework shopping spree.  When we got back we dined on Auntie Anne’s and enjoyed the down time.  When kids woke up we started dinner, sloppy joes, and then got ready for fireworks!  The neighbors must have spent a fortune, but we enjoyed the show while we participated in a pop its frenzy for the girls!  Four fireflies were caught or as Bianca calls them “Fire lighting bugs” and put in a jar for viewing until we released them later.  We then packed everyone in the cars and drove out to view some of the big ones.  When we got home we lit off our fountains then headed to bed as children were beginning to expire.

Monday was a day of mixed emotions.  Gage’s official birthday, yes a firecracker baby, our little Yankee Doodle Dandy, was full of smiles and posed for several pictures.  We made waffles with strawberries and bacon for the moms before they hit the road.  We so enjoyed having them here and were so sad to see them go.  The rest of the morning was a bit lazy.  We watched new movies that grandma had brought Lady and the Tramp and Cinderella, got dressed and took an early nap after lunch.  The girls and I took a dip in the pool to cool off and pass the time before dinner and fireworks.  BJ cooked up steak and corn on the grill for dinner and then we picked up before when went back outside to watch fireworks in the driveway.  I also caved in a moment of desperation to find my debit card and car key deciding to dig through our trash.  YUCK!!!!  No debit card was found but the car key and pair of my mom’s earrings were recovered so it was not in vain. 

After kids had been put to bed and all the lights had been turned off I sat on the couch in the dark with the glows of the TV and the pops of firecrackers outside in the background and shed a few tears as I thought about how fast life seems to be passing me by.  Gage turned one, and he is my last baby so it was a bittersweet day.  It is the last 1^st birthday I will get to throw for one my children.  Bianca starts school in the fall (August 9th); it’s a hard to think about handing one of my most precious possessions to some stranger.  I know she will be fine and will love it, but can’t help but feeling sad that fun chapters are come to a close.  I have so enjoyed all the time I have had to watch her grow into the little busy bee she is now, it just went by way too fast.  Soon Paisley and Gage will follow in her footsteps.  My life is so full because of them and I can’t imagine how boring and unfulfilling my life would be without them.  I am so blessed…SO BLESSED.

So as I close the 1^st year chapter and open the toddler chapter for Gage, close the toddler chapter and open the preschool chapter for Bianca, enjoy Paisley’s mood swings,  I relish the memories made and wait with anticipation for those to come.

Back to reality!

Well back to reality!  The vacation was wonderful, I know I shouldn’t have been surprised but I guess I forgot how quickly my house gets destroyed and how little time it takes my little ones to get into trouble J 

Yesterday I was making the kids lunch and I kept hearing giggles coming from the girl’s bedroom.  This did not alarm me since generally when they are up to no good things get eerily quiet.  When lunch was done I served plats and called the girls but no one came running.  So I walked back to see what was going on…

That’s when I walked in on Paisley with a makeup brush in one hand and dark blue eye shadow in another.  Then when I looked over at poor Gage I see he too has been “painted” on both his face and head.  His hair was spotted blue and he looked like he had been in a fight with all kinds of bruises all over his baby face.  He didn’t even cry!  The most frustrating thing was that my makeup had been put away, but Paisley stood on the toilet to get into cupboard where I store it. 

After a long day with the kids I had threw them in to the bath tub because we had fruit smoothies for dinner and we made a pretty good sticky mess.  Just as I was getting them into the tub our weather alert system went off saying tornado warnings.  UG!  So we hurried up in the baths so I could get everyone out and dressed.  We hung out in my room while I watched to news to keep up with the worsening conditions outside.  At one point they told the people of Wichita city to take shelter so me and all three kids jammed ourselves into my closet and waited while we listened to the rolling thunder, pounding hail and the screeching weather radio. 

Luckily nothing happened and truth be told the kids did much better than I had thought.  Maybe I over reacted since I’m new to town and don’t know about the tornados in this area…but better to be safe than sorry.  After we came out we called my parents to let them know we were ok and I let Bianca talk to my dad and she told him “Grandpa, if a tomato comes we hide in the closet with mommy, Plaisley and Gage!”  I was so proud that she knows what to do and humored that she calls tornados tomatoes J

Today we are back at it!  Catching up on errands this morning and chores this afternoon.  There is always laundry and dishes to do and if you have one lazy day it seems to take a week to get caught back up.  It probably doesn’t help that BJ is on a business trip and I’m flying solo for a bit.  Every time I turn around there is a new mess but I should know that’s what my days are filled with now, and truthfully I love my job as stay at home mom, so I can learn to love the messes.  I get paid in hugs, kisses, and little people laughter and that’s a better salary than monetary amount anyone could offer.  We will squeeze in a little fun time too...like ahir dresser...scary thought, but still fun!

Our Colorado Trip

Well we had a fabulous vacation back to CO!  Our trip out was great; we left at 4 am so we could get some road time in while kids were still sleeping.  We stopped in Colby (1/2 way)for breakfast, but had to make one more stop 30 minutes outside of Limon because Gage needed a break.  Next time we go out will be better because he will be in a forward facing car seat by then and can watch movies with the girls.  It was a very welcomed site to see the beautiful mountains, because you dont realized how much you will miss them until you dont get to see them everyday!  We got to have dinner with BJ’s dad and wife that night since they had plans later in the week.  We also made a quick visit to his mom’s on our way home since she lives back in Denver now. YEAH!!!!!!

On Saturday we just took it easy and went to the park.  It’s a park both BJ and I used to go to as kids.  Both of our moms came with us.  We let the kids “dip” their feet in the water.  Turns out the water is deeper than I had remembered and one second of not watching Bianca and she was in thigh deep.  Of course I hadn’t brought spare clothes with us so my mom ran back to get dry clothes.  We all had a good laugh when she brought back a pair of Gage’s 12 months shorts for Bianca, but as luck would have it they fit her quite nice, it’s a good thing she is skinny J  My mom brought kits and we attempted to fly them but the wind was just not strong enough.  We also road the train there and all of us had a great time!

On Sunday we went to our old church and got to see some old friends which was nice and the kids had a good time seeing their old Sunday school teacher.  After Church we took a short visit to his moms where BJ’s uncle and cousin’s family was too.  We then headed back to my grandmother’s house to have a family birthday party/get together with all the extended family.  Kids had a blast seeing and playing with all the cousins.  They did chalk, tag, sprinklers and other activities to keep them busy while the adults chatted and snacked before dinner.  Gage got some nice gifts and we got a surprise visit from my aunt and her family who had flown all night back from a trip to Hawaii that morning.  We all went to bed and slept like rocks!

Monday morning BJ left early to go help his mom set up for the BBQ she was hosting for us that afternoon.  My parents and little brother came up from Colorado Springs to visit and play with the kids.  The kids entertained us as they always do with the funny things they say and do.  My mom and grandma left to go pick up some Subway for us and while they were gone my dad snuck a rice crispy treat which my mom had already told they girls we could not have until after lunch.  I asked him if he had just eaten one, and with a full mouth said “no”.  Bianca promptly walked over to me and said “Actually, my grandpa DID have one!”  and she was serious too J We all got a good laugh out of that one.  After lunch I packed the kids up to go to the BBQ that BJs mom had.  The kids a great time playing with their other cousins and again the adults had a good time catching up

Tuesday we met my grandma Coberly, aunt and cousin for lunch at the best pizza place ever!  Frank the Pizza King is a must go to whenever we go back!  After lunch my grandma treated us all to a trip to the aquarium.  It was a blast!  We got to see them training the tigers in the water and see all kinds of cool sea creatures! Bianca loved the sharks.  We also got to feed the sting rays.  Bianca freaked out when they “tired to eat her”  so I got to finish feeding them.  It feels like a cat’s tongue licking you when they grab the fish out of your hand.  We then headed up to Monument to stay with my Aunt the rest of our trip 

 

Wednesday we drove up to Colorado Springs to hang out with my parents.  We kind of putzed around in the am before decided to go to lunch at one of my favorites, Chick-fil-a!  They don’t have one in Wichita yet so I had been craving it bad!  It was SO! Good!  After lunch we went to Garden of the Gods and walked around.  It was pretty hot and kids were getting a little crabby towards the end, I think they were dehydrated.  They got to take a nap in the car on our way over to my other Aunts (yes I have a lot of aunts and I love it!) to go swimming in their pool.  The cool water was a nice treat.  Paisley and Bianca had a great time jumping in and poor Paisley was having such a great time she didn’t want to get out even though she was shivering and her diaper had swollen to 4 times its normal size J.  To finish the day we all went back to Monument and had a family dinner and good conversations.

On Thursday BJ and his mom played golf in the morning while I went to visit my aunt and cousins who had just gotten back from Hawaii.  It was nice to just relax and not feel like we had to rush off.  We talked while Bianca picked up 2 bags of pine cones for my aunt out of the yard…but then she just dumped them back out on the porch…oh well.  When BJ finished golfing we went to lunch with his mom and then headed up to Tiny Town.  We all enjoyed ourselves looking at the tiny houses and peering into the windows.  We also got to ride the train before leaving and going to dinner at one of BJ’s favorite restaurants Brewery Bar III.

Friday morning we woke up and headed to the Denver Zoo.  We met up with BJ’s mom, BJ’s cousin and 3 three kids, aunt and her step son and then BJ’s grandparents and their three grandchildren and their mom.  We were a large group to say the least J   We walked around for a bit before stopping for lunch. There were some mean geese patrolling the picnic area and stole my aunts pizza.  We took the kids on the carousel since the train was broken.  All in all it was a great day and we were so sad to have to leave.  We went to dinner with BJ’s mom and my parents at Red Robin as a last supper before hitting the road the next morning.  We left at 3 am and only had to make one stop for breakfast in Colby before getting back home about 12:30.

Colorado Mountains :)

Kansas Mountains :(

We had an amazing time and enjoyed seeing everyone!  We can’t wait to come back out and do it again!

I can do it myself!

All three of my children are going through phases that seem to revolve around the attitude of “I can do it myself!”  There are pros and cons to all of these phases.  Bianca has always been the independent type.  She recently decided she no longer wants help getting dressed or doing simple hygiene like brushing her teeth and washing her hands.  If you try to assister she will respond with “no, no, no, no ,no, I can do, I can do it”  It’s nice that she has the ability to complete these skills on her own.  She is just growing up so quickly.

Then there is paisley who is two years younger than Bianca but wants to be just like her big sister and also brush her teeth on her own and get herself dressed.  Unfortunately she still lacks some of the dexterity and physical strength required for these tasks, which is the perfect equation for conflict.  The most common occurrence is bed time when she wants to undress herself.  She pulls her shirt behind her head with her arms still in the sleeves and when you offer to help she waves you off crying telling you “no hop” which means no help.  I watch her struggle and get frustrated for about 5 minutes before I just move in and remove her shirt at which point the tears will subside and we can get on with our bed time routine. 

Last is Gage.  He practically refuses to be spoon fed anymore.  He wants to do it himself.  It’s SO nice when your kids can feed themselves, yet at the same time the practice required to obtain that skill is SO messy…sometimes funny but work to clean it up when the meal is over.  He is also learning to walk.  He LOVES to stand up and have freedom to roam.  I joke that he is my little vacuum, because if he is on the floor even if I JUST vacuumed he will find something he is not supposed to have to put into his mouth.  He has started to cruise along furniture and that is hard for me because I know I need to let him learn and develop the muscle tone so he can walk but I can’t help but hover to make sure he doesn’t fall into something that could cause injury.

Frankly I know I need to be thankful that my children are healthy and grateful that they can do things for themselves…just wish it wasn’t happening so fast.  Part of me wishes they could grow out of certain phases, but the other part of me hates to see them grow up.  I know that soon enough they will be slamming doors in my face and asking me to drop them off at the corner so they don’t have to be seen with me so I will just relish every moment I have with my babies J

Deja vu

If you are a mom you can relate to the feeling of Sleep deprivation!  It’s bound to happen to anyone with kids…especially my kids at least.  Bianca is my early riser; she is up by 6 almost every morning.  Then there is Paisley my night owl; who if I let her would be happy to stay up till midnight playing with her Barbie and my little pony collection.  If that weren’t enough the cherry on top it Gage.  All in all he is a great sleeper but he still gets hungry about 2 am.  All the different sleep patterns leave me stretched a little thin some days.  It might not be so bad if I could get a nap in every now and again.  Unfortunately the girls are getting to the age where naps are no longer a daily occurrence and NEVER at the same time that Gage takes his nap.

My kids are busy…and by busy I mean ALWAYS into SOMETHING!  This is why cleaning the house is such a hard task.  Example:  I’m in the kitchen doing dishes (for some reason we always have dishes) Paisley is in the bathroom unrolling a new roll of toilet paper, Bianca just dumped out all the coloring books and colored pencils and Gage is throwing his snacks on the floor from his highchair.  When I’m done with dishes I find the toilet paper and have to pick it up and replace the roll.  While cleaning that mess Paisley has moved onto to her room where the contents of the Barbie box are now littered across the floor and she is in Bianca’s bunk bed with 1 Barbie!  Gage is tired of being in his highchair so I move him to the playpen until I can pick up the coloring books and pencils.  Bianca joins Paisley in her room but wants to play with Babies and not Barbies so another box is emptied while I put the coloring books and pencils back. 

I know what you are thinking, have them help pick up.  I do most days but when I say lets pick up somehow the message is discombobulated between my mouth and their ears.  I literally have to break it down for them in order for things to get done “pick up the red pencil.  Put the pencil in the pencil box.  Good job.  Pick up the blue pencil.  Put the pencil in the box.  Good job.” which in turn takes 4 times as long and if you have two children clean it can get chaotic with all the directions. Regardless, it’s like shoveling snow in a blizzard at my house most days!

I’m digressing.  Needless to say I’m exhausted and last week when the planets and stars aligned for all three of my children to take a nap after a trip to Wal-Mart at the same time I was thrilled.  So many things could be done without interruption and distraction for the short hour I had.  So instead of finishing laundry or putting the last couple bags of groceries away or working on a sewing project I chose to lay on the couch and close my eyes for a few moments; and that was my mistake.

If you read my blog you know that things happen when I sleep.  You can catch up on some good laughs if you read this one!  http://goincrazyinkansas.blogspot.com/2010/12/is-it-just-me.html  I should have known that it was too good to be true that all kids would nap a full hour.  After resting my eyes for 20 or 30 minutes I realize that Paisley has curled up next to me on the couch.  I decided rather than send her back to her bed I would relish the moment and enjoy her company.  As I wrap my arm around her Déjà vu took over.  She is sticky…why would she be sticky.  My mind jumps back to the time Bianca got into a jar of Desitin and slathered herself my bed and the carpet in it.  As the rush of adrenalin hits my blood stream I practically push her off the couch to quickly survey the predicament I have once again found myself in. 

My worst fears are coming true as I process what my eyes are taking in.  Paisley face is white from the nose down as if she had a white 5 o’clock shadow, her arms look as though she is wearing white opera gloves and her pants and feet are also covered in the white substance.  The couch (which is black leather) also has large smears of this white cream and my pants where she had been laying next to me had also fallen victim to this incident.  As the rest of my senses took in the horrific reality that history was repeating itself I recognized the smell of sunscreen.  I had gotten a brand new bottle of sunscreen at Wal-Mart and it was one of the items I had left to put away from our trip that morning. 

Next I needed to find the scene of the crime.  As I stood up from the couch I was praying that she had stayed in the kitchen where we have tile floor and clean up would be bearable…no such luck.  As I continued down the hall I looked in her room.  Sure enough just as Bianca had two years previously Paisley had emptied the contents of a bottle of sunscreen into her carpet in a 2 foot by 3 foot area.  Bianca was still sleeping so I went back to Paisley to strip her of her clothes and start cleaning her up.  After Bianca woke up I began the two and a half hour long scrub job.  Used 3 bottles of rubbing alcohol to break up the oily base, a bottle of hairspray to disperse the lotion, shampoo to help lift the cream out and toped it off with a bottle of shout and a bottle of carpet cleaner to remove the stain.  I am happy to report that unlike the desitin it did all come out. 

Paisley on the left in Sunscreen; Bianca on the right in Desitin

I did take pictures for a good laugh in the future and will not be napping anytime soon J

Blessed to be a Mom!

As mother's day approaches I enjoy reflecting on my journey into motherhood and where it has taken me thus far. I have always known I wanted to be a mother. I probably knew that because of the great examples I had in my life. My mother is such an amazing woman and it’s because of her that I have gotten to where I am today. She was and still is a great mother and I hope I can be half the mother she was. I know how blessed I am to have had such a wonderful role model to look to for advise and lean on in times of need.

I will be the first to admit how hard it is to be a mother but I also know how blessed I am to have three gifts from God and they do remind daily. I started my journey into being a mother as one sick puppy. Morning sickness all day everyday for almost the whole pregnancy! Then if that were not bad enough I had to labor and then push a baby through a small opening in my body. I look back and laugh now because I had no idea I had even gone into labor. My water broke but i thought I had just peed my pants, as that happens more often than anyone would like to admit. I do count my blessings as my labor with Bianca start to finish was only 7 hours and I only had to push three times before she slipped out but it was still a difficult task. All the pain and sleepless nights were so worth it as I grabbed that little slippery body as she came out and put her onto my chest and saw my baby for the first time. Those emotions are so indescribable, but the happiest I've ever been in my whole life, maybe part of that is because you know you are done :)



I remember taking our first picture after she was born. I had gotten up early that day like around 5 am and didn’t go into labor until 7 pm and gave birth at 2 am the following am so I was tired. I remember feeling like I was grinning ear to ear but after reviewing the pictures...not sure you could even call it a smile... Since that day sleep has never been the same. With a new born you are up every 2 hours to feed and change them and even when they do start to sleep longer you start to worry that they have slept that long and you are still not sleeping. I still wake up one to three times a night to go and check on all of my children. I do the classic head tilt to watch their chest or back rise and fall with rhythmic breathing. If I can’t tell I stick my finger next to their nose to feel the warm air.


As Bianca gets closer and closer to going to school my fears become increasingly more frequent in my mind. Up to this point I have been able to "control" the things that happen. I'm the one driving the car, I'm the one taking her to the zoo, and I’m the one who is teaching her right and wrong. Once she goes to school this will no longer be the case. All the “what if’s” begin to creep up in my mind, because just like my mother I'm a worry wart. I blame the TV for part of my issues there because I watch all the terrible stories of kidnappings and ER stories, but raising children is still a scary thing.

I have just begun my journey as I'm only 4 years into it but the truth is that I am having a blast and can’t wait to see what is around the corner. We experience new things everyday and to watch them learn and grow is so satisfying. I'm so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to partake in my children’s lives and that I will forever be a mother :)

say AH!

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted last.  Somehow I managed to stay busy :)  A lot has happened since January, but with three kids that should be no surprise.

 

Paisley had a wonderful Birthday at the end of January and I still can’t believe she is already 2.  She made out with lots of great gifts since we have such an amazing family.  She is talking more and more every day and our current favorite fraise is "chicken butt"....bet you can’t guess who taught her that....daddy!

We had a great valentine’s day and were so blessed to have BJ's mom come out and visit us at the end of February.  We love when she visits because we have so much fun and it reminds us on how blessed we are to have such an amazing family.  We took her to the zoo, one of our favorite places to go, and got "snurfed on" by elephants which we are told is good luck.  While Nana was here we celebrated all the Birthdays with a dinner at Olive Garden which was so good!  Sadly the visit came to an end but we can’t wait to see her again soon!

Bianca celebrated her Golden Birthday.  She turned 4 on March 4th.  We celebrated with a Minnie mouse cake, requested by the birthday girl herself.  Again we have an amazing family and Bianca was so blessed with wonderful gifts.

  Gage is growing like a weed and doing new things every day.  He teases us with crawling.  He got up on his knees and made forward movement once and i got all excited....and he hasn’t done it since...he prefers the army crawl, and boy is he good at it!  I can set him down and less than 30 seconds later he has made his way from the living room through the dining room and kitchen down the hall and into the girl's room :)  He is eating some foods on his own and had learned how to gurgle his spit, a lovely talent :)  He now has a single bottom tooth!  It’s still hard to see but I can feel the little sharp points if I dare to stick my finger in his mouth. 

Last month we splurged on a groupon to go to a private zoo here in Wichita that prides itself on its interactive exhibits.  I have to say it was a blast!  We got to feed giraffes lettuce, pet blue tongued lizards, let lorikeets drink nectar from our hands and play with a pin full of turtles.  They had an exhibit where you could walk around and pet kangaroos, which are incredibly soft!  They also had a camel that we got to pet, a gorgeous white tiger, cute little penguins, and lots of other cool exhibits.  The highlight for BJ and I was feeding the ring tailed monkeys!  You walk into a grassy area with large rocks to sit on and the lemurs just jump into your lap.  They weigh like 2 pounds and are so cute.  you have to pay 2 bucks to feed them and they give you a single crasin :)  what a rip off but it was so much fun and a great memory.  The highlight for the girls was Clifford the Big Red Dog was there for a visit :)  Can't wait to go back!

BJ's dad also came out to visit us during Easter weekend.  The boys went fishing almost every night yet didn’t catch anything we could  keep and eat.  We took BJ's dad to the zoo as well and had a blast.  We took the girls fishing and didn’t catch a thing but got some great pictures.  BJ and I were brave and decided to attempt a trip to the movie theater with all three kids while BJ's dad tried to rest.  We took the kids to see Rio.  It was a cute movie.  Paisley had the hardest time sitting still.  Gage also had a hard time as he wanted to talk through the whole movie.  Even though Bianca did well we may wait a few more years before we try that again.

Easter was fabulous!  The bunny was very generous this year.  Lots of goodies and toys.  the favorite was toy hamster that have since been broken due to abusive play :)  We went to church and then came home to do an Easter egg hunt.  The girls had a blast and screamed with excitement for each egg that was found.  BJ then made BBQ ribs and we dined like royalty.  Later we enjoyed golf in the front yard and tending to our newly planted garden.

Last but not least...Paisley's foreign object.  The Monday after Easter the girls are rough housing on the couch and i scolded them and told them to stop.  No later than 3 seconds after that I hear a metal sound hit Paisley's back teeth and then she began to chock.  I can’t tell you the horrifying feeling of your child choking.  Luckily she didn’t choke for long and she ended us swallowing whatever it was that was in her mouth.  Due to the metal sound of the object I had assumed it was a coin, most likely a penny.  I waited to see of it would pass but no such luck.  Took her into the doctor on Friday and after several x-rays we are not sure what it is.  On the films it looks like a kitchen knob, but all of ours are accounted for so I am at a complete loss.  The doctor wants us to wait another week to let it pass on its own before we discuss other options.  If it doesn’t pass by this Friday we will most likely have to put her under and send a scope down her throat and see if we can retrieve it that way. 

None the less we are all fine "relatively" and just enjoying all our many blessings