Thankful...still

Let's get real. I'm horrible at posting everyday. In the spirit of the Thabksgiving holiday, here is a list of all sorts of good things I am thankful for:

-My children (obviously, they rock)

-Paul

-My sister and Mom 

-My dad and brother too

-My BFF, Bonny Liane Cunz

-my nieces and nephews (I love being an auntie)

-solid group of girl friends 

-Great public school in our area

-Tanner's teachers ( they are some of the nicest ladies I have ever met)

-The Voice (I LOVE this show)

-my cousins (even the crazy ones)

-Cherry Chapstick 

-Good dreams

-my kindle (I love to read)

-my college education

-freedom and liberty

-our heated "party garage"

-accepting individuals

-good books

-quiet time

-favorite recipes

-a quality hairdresser (never underestimate the power of good hair)

-Target (I'm in love with this store)

-my smart phone (I would feel totally isolated in the northwoods without it)

- my grandmas (two of the coolest 70-something's I know)

- warm sunny days at the lake

-cozy bon fires

-being able to have pajama days where I don't dress the kids or myself for the day and we just play ( so basically 3/4 of our days at home :)

-Christmas carols (my favorite part of the season)

-laughter.  I'm entirely convinced that this will cause us to live longer 

-LAST but not least- I am thankful for free-thinking. Paul is especially good at not following the herd and asking "Why?"  a lot. I am getting better at questioning my reasons/motivation for my decisions and actions then trying my best to approach life with free-thinking and curiosity. Thank goodness for higher thought processes right? The human brain never ceases to amaze me. 

Is that enough things? I could go on but I think I covered my bases. 

Happy Thanksgiving folks! I hope you are spending the day doing something you love with the people you love.

Peace.

#7

Today I am thankful for PBS kids. 

Teething baby, no sleep, toddler up for the day at 5:00am, bad mommy uses TV.

You gotta do what you gotta do to get through the day right? Today, Cat and the  Hat helped me through our morning. I am thankful to have it in times of need. It has saved my sanity more than once.

So, Thankyou PBS for providing commercial free,  educational (?) programming. 

For the record, my kids are currently playing trains for anyone who is wondering. Our day is going much better now.

Thankful

I'm sure your Facebook pages are littered with well-intentioned "friends" giving thanks for something each day in November. As a general rule of life I try to be thankful the other 11 months too but a string of cloudy dark days in the Northland really has my mood in the dump. I figured, "What the heck, let me jump on this band wagon." Maybe, writing about the good things in my life can be my own ray of sunshine in all this chilly gloom. 

Since it's already the 6th today. I will start with a monster post of 6 things. Here goes nothing.

I am thankful for:

#1- My health. Although I am on a personal weightloss mission to become healthier, I am still very thankful for the body and mind I DO have. Too many friends and family are burdened with serious/chronic illness or disease. (This includes my love, Paul, who has been living with type 1 diabetes since before we met) It is a tricky, scary feeling to have your body betray you and I am very thankful that ,at least for today, I do not have to worry about that.

#2- Our home. I am thankful for a warm, safe, comfortable, secure place to lay my head, raise our children and live our lives. I would have never imagined ending up on 40 acres in Northern Minnesota but it has proven to be a wonderful place for us to be.

#3- Coffee. Yes, those beautiful, rich, brown, caffeinated beans. I am entirely convinced that my routine of two cups each morning make me a better person. 

#4- Minnesota. It's a seriously glorious state. I'm in love with the friendly easiness of our people, the change of seasons (even if that does mean a string of cloudy days), the endless opportunities for exploring the outdoors, and the beautiful scenic views you find across the state. Last but not least, (with the exception of a BFF that is living in Florida) this wonderful state holds all the people and places I hold near and dear to my heart and that's a whole lot of reasons to love MN.

#5- My dishwasher. This trusty, little , off-brand appliance gets it's workout daily. I have dreams of it finally taking a crapper so I can go out and buy one with all the bells and whistles. For now, I am just happy not to hand wash the mounds of dirty dishes my little family generates in one day. 

#6- Being a stay-at-home mom. For us, it was always a conscious and calculated decision to have me stay home and raise our children. Many moms are quick to give all the credit to their working counterpart for their ability to stay home with their children but for us it is truly a joint effort and lifestyle decision. It takes planning, budgeting and, most days, patience of steel but the alternative of handing off my little babes daily to another capable caregiver is unthinkable to me. I love that I get to see them jump, laugh, cry, and play together. I love that I am the one teaching them about the world around them and how to write. I love that I get all of them and they get all of me. This does not mean that our days are all roses and rainbows because they aren't. It just means I am thankful for being here with them everyday for the good, bad and the ugly.

First Day- November 2013

It took all day but I got my dishes done!!!

Happy November to all of you!! Thanks for taking a peek at our day :)

Our Zoo

Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!!!

Fast Forward

Ok Moms, we've all been there. The well-intentioned older lady at the checkout telling us to "cherish every moment."

Well, I am calling bullsh*#

With 3 little ones, there are certainly times I'd like to fast forward. Tonight was one if them. No joke, it's 3:45am and I'm nursing Hattie while blogging, strategically planning how I can squeak just one uninterrupted hour of sleep for my fever-ridden, sinus-congested body. 

Let me give you a rundown of events that have transpired since 7:30pm.

**note: All 3 kids are sick, as am I. Our normal sick day sleeping arrangements go as follows: Paul, Hattie and Me in our room, Emmy in the kids' room and Tanner in the back/spare room.

7:30pm- Emmy and Tanner down for bed. Hattie is crying because I had to put her down mid-feeding to do this.

8:00pm- get Hattie to sleep 

8:30pm: Tanner wakes up sweating and crying 

8:40pm: get Tanner back to sleep 

8:45pm: Hattie coughs and wakes herself up crying

8:47pm: Emmy Lu wakes up screaming

Guess I won't be watching Law and Order SVU tonight.

9:00pm: get Hattie swaddled and back to bed (meanwhile Emmy is crying for me on the living room)

9:01-9:30pm: Rub Emmy's back and get her to sleep.

10:00pm: Paul gets home!!!! FINALLY BACK UP HAS ARRIVED. We talk for no more than 10 minutes 

10:15pm: I decided to go lay down.

10:30pm: Emmy wakes up in a fevered fit. I go to help her but her screaming wakes up Hattie so Paul comes to comfort sick little Emmy while I tend to baby.

10:30pm-1am intermittent bouts of screaming, coughing, crying by Emmy which unintentionally wakes a resting Hattie. Paul and I divide and conquer. He takes Emmy duty in her room. I have baby in ours. 

1am- Emmy pukes in her room, forcing Paul to set up camp in the living room with her as the puke stuff gets thrown in the laundry tub to be dealt with AFTER SUNRISE.

Can this get any better? 

2:00 am: Tanner comes in my room to tell me he is "coughy" and has to pee. I help him back to bed and lay next to him. 

2:30 am: Sneak back to bed, checking on the couch campers (Emmy and Paul) first. Paul is up. Emmy just peed on one side of the sectional couch leaving Paul without a bed. 

2:30-2:40am: Clean couch. (Without waking a FINALLY SLEEPING Emmy Lu) Tell Paul to go sleep back with Tanner.

Just living the dream...

3:30am:Hattie wakes up to nurse. Feed her and put her back to bed.

4:00am: Hear Emmy screech in the living room. Go to her and hope like hell there is no puke involved. There is not. WHEW! Try to console a very sick, very overtired 2 year old before caving in and putting on Curious George.

Thank goodness for cartoons at times like these.

4:19am:Finish blogging while I finally get Emmy to drink the juice with fever reducing medicine in it.

4:22 am: make Emmy's bed and put her in it so she has atleast a small chance of sleeping in.

5:30: My coughing disturbs Hattie's slumber but the 1 hour of sleep was divine!!

5:35 am: Get Hattie back to sleep.

5:45am: Paul's alarm goes off for work. I get up to wish him off to work before sneaking into bed and hoping to squeak out another uninterrupted hour.

7:22 am-Up for the day. The dog needs to be let out. Thankfully, all three children are sleeping still. I think I 'll lay on the couch (the non pee side) for a little bit while I brew some strong coffee.

After a night like mine, I'm sorry well-intentioned older lady. I am not going to "cherish" these moments. I am sick, sleep-deprived, haven't showered in who knows how long, and am the main care provider for three little people who happened to be just as sick and miserable as me (or possible more so).

I'm absolutely aware that there are people out there with real problems, big problems. I am also aware that this is the life I chose. I chose this life, so it's time to suck it up, put on my big girl undies and deal with it. 

That being said, the reality is that it really sucks sometimes. I guarantee no parent looks back and "cherishes" these moments with their children. I am entirely convinced that much like childbirth, the cute, satisfying moments with our children causes amnesia so that those sweet old ladies actually MEAN when they say "cherish every moment, it goes so quickly." They don't remember this junk or if they do look back at it through rose colored lenses.

Because I guarantee if they had just walked the past 12 hours in my shoes, they'd be lookng for a fast forward button too.

7 months old

Last week Harriet hit the 7 month mark. She is scooting around the house on her belly. She seems even happier and more content now ( if that is even possible). I swear she is the happiest baby I have ever met and never has a shortage of smiles. She rarely cries (even when Tanner and Emmy get a little too rough with her). I know, I don't mean to brag but I really don't remember my other 2 having such cheerful, easy-going dispositions. If I could guarantee more babies like Hattie, I'd probably have 10 children. Thankfully, Emmy Lu shows her 10 ways of crazy often enough to remind me why we are stopping at 3. Hattie's only downfall right now is still waking up to nurse at night but since she is my last baby I feel I am much more patient with this issue than I was with the other two. I guess I'm just soaking in all the "baby moments" I can. Here is a picture of our little lady. 

Daily Dose

My baby....

She's growing quicker than I care to think about it. Soon she'll be telling me stories, jumping, running and playing with her older siblings.

But...today she's simply my sweet, smiley baby who needs to be carried everywhere, nurses when she's hungry, and nuzzles up for a mid afternoon nap in my arms. I'm eating up every minute.

Daily Dose

He's 3.5. I by no means think its necessary for a kid to start reading and writing at an obscenely young age. That being said, Tanner has always showed an interest in letters, writing and reading. Today, this is the activity he chose to do with me while his sisters napped. He had a choice of SpongeBob memory, a math game and this. He chose this. What a little man. Of course the upper case letters aren't sufficient for him so he has to draw in their lower case companion and try and spell the 3 or 4 letter word that is on the back of the cards. 

This kid.

I am amazed daily by his intelligence and ability. Just another reason for me to stay well-read and educated. I don't want him leaving me in the intellectual dust.

Daily dose

Today Emmy Lu sprung off our coffee table, getting some decent air. She lands on both feet in a crouch, Spider-Man style. She then let's out a giggle and runs away.

Oh yeah, and she was nude. 

Awesome.

I had to contain my shock, laughter and how obviously impressed I was with her agility in order to tell her that performing such acts were dangerous. I gave her the obligatory "I'm your mommy and I don't want you to get hurt."

But let's get real, the girl could probably make a living as the worlds youngest stunt woman. 

This girl sure gives me a run for my money. Oh Emmy Lu, I hope you keep firing on all cylinders. You will move mountains one day....or at least jump over them.

(This obviously isn't her nude stunt work but it was a different adventure we had today. Mud. It calls her in every time)

First Day- October 2013

I was too lazy to bust out my SLR today so today's photos are brought to you courtesy of my iPhone. I did an OK job (minus an undocumented trip ALONE to the feed store and our attorney's office. I was just so happy to escape the kids!!!)

**note: Yes, Emmy Lu is wearing 3 different outfits...that she picked out herself. The first got covered in paint and the second met an unsupervised bucket of water. The third luckily DID make it till bath time.**

That picture of Emmy Lu cracks me up!!!

Kids are in bed!!! Time for my favorite show :)

And my boyfriend Blake....

Happy first day all!!!!