30

Oh my gosh..... I'm 30.

30.

30!!!!

Do you know how strange it even feels typing that number? I don't think I've fully wrapped my head around it yet. Yesterday I celebrated my freaking 30th birthday. Goodbye 20's..... it was fun.

I"m not going to lie.... I've had a heard time with this birthday. I've actually been kind of dreading it. I don't know why I had such a hard time with it, it just seems so final. Like, that's it. You are now really, truly an adult and there is no looking back. It's sound old to me. Like when I was 28 with  kids, I felt like a young mom..... I don't feel like 30 with kids has the same ring to it.

It's silly, I know. And S did an amazing job planning a beautiful and special weekend for me, which definitely helped. On Friday night he surprised me by planning a surprise happy hour with a bunch of my friends, and then taking the kids home so I could go have a drink with some of my girlfriends. Something I hardly ever do these days is go out without S and the kids, and while obviously they are my favorite people to be with it was so great to be able to catch up with my girls with no distractions around.

On Saturday S let me sleep in a bit, but then woke me up and loaded us all into the car without telling me where we were going. Once again he surprised me, this time by taking us all to the Renaissance Festival. Phoenix puts on a big Renaissance festival every year and I've always heard how fun it was, but we've never gone. It was a blast, and the boys got such a kick out of it. The weather was perfect and it was the perfect birthday surprise because it was something totally new for all of us!

After the festival we came home for naps and then S had a softball game to go to. When he got up home we stayed up late (for us!) watching Downton Abby (Great show!! Have you seen it? If not, you should.) As much as I loved going out with the girls the night before, nothing beats being at home in comfy pj's, curled on the couch with my boys!

Anyway on Sunday, my actual birthday, S let me sleep in again. (Let's be honest, for a mom of 3, sleeping in is pretty much the ultimate gift!) Then he made me a lovely breakfast of french toast, bacon, strawberries and whip cream, and mimosas. And he gave me my gift.

I was shocked!!! I've wanted an Ipad forever and I can't believe he got me one! My S is a keeper! After presents and breakfast we took the boys to the Lego movie. It was super cute and we went to a theater we haven't been to in awhile. The theater had been remodeled and had all reclining leather chair. It was so comfortable and so easy to nurse R when he got hungry! After the movie we spent the afternoon relaxing at home and then went to sushi for dinner. S took today of work so we could once again stay up late, which was so nice not to have to worry about going back to real life today! 

Overall, it was probably one of the best birthday I've ever had, even if it was one of the harder ones. But the more I've reflected on it, the more I've realized I did pretty much everything I could have hoped for in my 20's, and I"m the happiest I could possibly be going into my 30's. I'm leaving my 20's with two college degrees, a home that we own, no student debt, a husband who I adore more than anything, three beautiful, healthy sons and the ability to be a stay at home mom. I can't say there is anything else I could ask for at this point, and it's exciting to think what my 30's will bring.

A late Valentines Day update and a trip to Cali

Ugh, sorry again for the lack in updates lately. Seriously, my life feels so crazy lately, I feel like maybe I should just re0name the blog that..... "Sorry for the lack in updates".... catchy, no?

But, in all seriousness, hopefully things are going to settle down, at least for the next month or so. We've literally had major stuff going on every single month since R was born, and finally in March we have nothing on the calendar! I've got to say, I'm a little excited for some down time! Anyway, last week we went out of town yet again, this time back to California. It was more than just a vacation though, my in-laws actually gave us their old Coleman pop-up tent, so we went down there to tow it back. I'm actually pretty excited about it. S and I both love camping, but it's harder to go with three little ones when you're trying to sleep in tents and the back of cars. The tent has a queen bed, a full bed and a twin bed, in addition to a table to eat at, a stove and a sink. And it's in pretty great condition! I don't have a picture of the actually one we brought home, so you will just have to trust me that it's pretty sweet. And with all of our weekends open in March, we're hoping to test it out soon!

Anyway, it was a nice little trip, and it also happened to fall over Valentines Day, so we got to escape for a little date night with just us and R. (I know I could leave R, he will take a bottle of pumped milk just fine, but I"m still just not ready!) I also made it a point to do a fun activity with L the week before we left, so we baked cupcakes and got Valentines for all his friends in his preschool class. I'm worried L has been feeling a little left out lately, with all the attention on the little ones, so it was nice to have some "mommy and me" time with him.

And, is has to be said, I pretty much have the four most handsome Valentine's ever! And how lucky am I that I get to have four Valentines each year!?!

Well, that's pretty much it for this update. We didn't do much in California besides relax and enjoy the beautiful weather, and I've found myself being petty awful on the picture taking front. While I want to make sure I capture all of our memories, I find when I'm hiding behind the lens I tend to miss a lot of them. So I'll leave you with a few pics of my handsome boys!

3 months, a first haircut and some more

Wow, how much have I been slacking on the blog? It was so easy when I had the "weekly" update to do..... but now suddenly the days and weeks are flying by, and not only have I not taken any time to blog, I feel like I have barely picked up my camera!

So here's an update on life these days. First, baby R is THREE months today. I'm honestly baffled by this. I love watching him grow, but I really wish it would slow down a little. Tonight I packed up all his three month clothes, as they are all officially too small. He is now wearing 3-6 months, and in a few brands just 6 months. I bought a lot of 3 month clothing when I was pregnant, thinking it would be forever before he even got to wear them.... and now he's outgrown them!

R is really a sweet baby, and very easy. We are still exclusively breastfeeding, and I love every second of it. I have a hefty freezer supply going (probably over 200 ounces) just from pumping a few times a day between feedings. I'm still producing a ton of milk, which is nice because it gives me a sense of reassurance to have so much saved up just in case of an emergency! It also makes me feel like when he gets a little older we might be able to sneak away for a night and leave him with the grandparents and he will still have milk!

He's nursing about 5-7 times during the day, and then waking up once at night to eat. He wakes up around 2, eats, and then goes back in his bassinet in our room. Then he usually wakes up again around 4 and just wants to be cuddled so he comes into bed with me and we co-sleep until morning. I know it might be a bad habit, but I love sleeping next to him.

He's all kinds of smiles these days, and also starting to do a cute little laugh. He thinks mommy and his brothers are especially funny. He's still not a big fan of tummy time, although he does like to lay on his back on his play mat  and bat at this toys. He's rolled from back to tummy a few times, but it's not consistent yet.

Overall, he's just lovely!!!

In other new, L2 finally got his first haircut! I was not ready for this, and I thought his cute, fly-away, baby curls were the cutest thing ever.... but Daddy insisted. He's two, so I suppose it's time! He did not enjoy the experience at all..... I felt pretty bad for him actually! 

But now that the initial trauma seems to have passed, I have to admit, he looks pretty darn cute. And like such a big boy! He doesn't look like my little baby anymore!

And finally, a big part of the reason I have been MIA is because we took our big trip to Reno a few weeks ago. Because there are now four of us to buy plane tickets for, which is incredibly expensive, we opted to drive. I was dreading the drive (12 hours, 3 kids.... no thanks!) but it wasn't as bad as I expected. We drove to Vegas and spent the night and then made the longer haul to Reno the next day. R only woke up twice to eat and be changed, and for the most part the kids were pretty patient and kept themselves entertained.

I took literally like no pictures in Reno.... it was a bit of a whirlwind and packed with activity, but needless to say we all had a blast. I got to catch up not only with my family, but also with lots of old friends, and it was a great get away for S an the kids too.

I'm sure I have more pictures on our actually camera, but I'm too lazy to take the time to pull them off right now, and I feel like if I don't get this post written it will never happen! So here's two cute ones from my phone, one of R and Gramps and one of S, L and baby R all sleeping in together one morning! 

Well, know I feel like you are pretty caught up on whats been going on around these parts! We have a busy month coming up.... my parents are coming to visit, w have Valentines Day, we are going to Cali for a weekend and it's my (gulp) 30th birthday! 

two months

This post is coming a few days late, but as of the 3rd of January my sweet baby R is two months old.

Seriously, time?  You need to slow down a little.

But, as bittersweet as it is, I am loving watching this little guy grown into himself. He is just starting to give us sweet smiles. He does lots of "sleep smiling", but you have to work for his awake smiles. When he does give them he does this cute little half smile. He also gets super smiley at about 3 in the morning right after he has spit up on me..... apparently that is funny!

H has tentatively found his hand and he has been enjoying chewing and sucking on it. He also gave himself a hickey last week by sucking on his arm during tummy time. Speaking of tummy time, he's not a fan. He fusses and moves himself around until we flip him.

His head control is getting much better and he's not nearly as "newborn" floppy. He's also making more cooing sounds and they are so sweet!

He's goes down for bed around 9:45-10:00 and lately has been sleeping anywhere from between 1:00-2:00. It's nice that we're getting a little longer stretch. After his 2:00 AM nurse and a diaper change he goes down until between 4:00-5:00 and then he starts moving around and I bring him into bed with me. We do a little "side-nursing" and doze until it's time to get up. Lately this has been around 7:45, as the older boys are sleeping later!

He is a very sweet baby, and also pretty easy. If he gets upset he usually just wants to eat, get changed, or be held. There is not much that can't be fixed with him with a cuddle. He loves being wrapped in the moby when I do stuff around the house and when we are out doing errands. He also thinks his brothers are pretty funny, although after a few whacks to the face he is a little more hesitant of L2. L is a great big brother, he is always willing to give him a Binky or get me a burp clothe.

We are still exclusively breast feeding, although I also am pumping to help build up my supply and build an extra stash in the freezer. I make a lot of milk, so our freezer is practically full, but it makes me feel reassured that if I"m ever not here for some reason he can have a bottle and still be getting mommy's milk. S does usually do the 9:45 feeding with a bottle. It gives me a little break and it also gives Daddy and baby some bonding time.

So happy two month birthday to my sweet baby! We love you so much!!!

Three

Throughout this last pregnancy people would constantly tell me that three kids was easy. They told me the transition from one to two is much harder, but adding a third to the mix was really no big deal.

These people lied to me.

Big time.

Adding a third kid to the mix has been freakin' hard. Much, much harder than the transition from no kids to one kid, or from one kid to two kids. I mean, first of all, just think of the logistics of it all. You only have two hands.... but three kids. There are only two parents..... but three kids. The bottom line is with three you are just plain outnumbered.

Simple things like running errands now have to planned out. I need to have a plan of action, I need to know what kind of carts the places we are going have, if I need a stroller, if I need to wrap the baby. I have to out when the baby last ate. I have no problem nursing in public, anyplace and anywhere, but will I be somewhere where I can nurse and wrangle/entertain a two year old and a four year old. And I have to prioritze. I go in knowing full well that I may not be able to complete everything on my list, so I need to get the most important errands our of the way first.

It's exhausting.

And don't even get me started on trying to keep the house tidy. It's impossible. No really, it is. I swear, I will do five loads of laundry, fold and put everything away, and the NEXT day every hamper in our house will be overflowing. There are burp rags scattered everywhere, there are toys everywhere, and (because of the above mentioned two and four year old) there are cheerios everywhere. I dream of the day that I can walk across my kitchen without that tell-tale crunch of cereal under my feet. And as much as I try to keep up with the chores, it almost seems futile. Mope the kitchen floor? The kids will have lunch half an hour later and it's practically a given milk will get spilled. Pick up all the toys? The boys pretty much follow me around pulling out everything that I put away.

So, yes, this transition has been hard. I'm eight weeks in and I'm still trying to figure it out and get a routine down. The problem is I feel like I can focus on one activity. If I stay home and get the whole house clean, I won't get to the gym and the grocery shopping won't get done. If I go to the gym and get in a killer workout, the house is a disaster at the end up the day. You get the idea. I'm dying to lose the rest of this baby weight and tone up, but I also need to keep a clean house and get dinner on the table at night. Hopefully as we move into January and our of the hectic-ness of  the holidays things will start to fall into place.

But, even though I haven't been able to jump back into the gym as hard as I would like, and my house looks like a tornado hit it, and we've picked up pizza for dinner more times than I would like to admit..... I can't imagine my life without these three little boys. It's like we've always been meant to be a family of five.

So I guess the bottom line of this rambling post is this:

I'm a little overwhelmed.

I'm a little stressed.

I'm a lot tired.

But, more than anything? I am so incredibly, beyond belief happy!

The Reality of Christmas

Well, Christmas is over. The decorations are packed up, the tree is standing bare in our family room waiting to be taken out to the trash, and all the gifts have been put away. It always makes me a little sad when the high of the holidays are over, but I'm also feeling ready to get back to real life.

Here's the thing, I'm a total Christmas freak. Always have been, always will be. I love everything about the season. I love the decorations, I love Christmas crafts and baking, I love shopping and I love how perfect strangers give each other cheerful greetings of "Merry Christmas!" and "Happy Holidays!". And since having kids, my love for all things Christmas-y has only grown. Elf on a Shelf, visiting Santa.... bring it on.

But..... yes, there is a but..... my rose-colored glasses visions of Christmas Cheer don't always match up with reality. That doesn't in any way take away from how much I adore it, but here's a few example:

Scenario #1: Decorating the Christmas Tree

Rose Colored Glasses Version:

The new baby sleeps contently in his bouncer chair, waking occasionally to look cute an strech his little  arms before falling back into peacefull slumber. My Pandora Christmas station plays in the background while Daddy and I pull out ornaments and get hooks on them, all while reminiscing the meaning of each one. (Our first house! Baby's first Christmas! The year we got engaged!) The two older boys sit quietly, listening to the stories of each ornament and patiently awaiting direcions. Finally the four of us carefully hang each ornaments, Daddy and I helping the boys place theirs. Soon we have a beautifully decorated tree and we all sit and marvel at it for several moments, before heading into the family room for a Christmas movie before before bed.

The Reality

The new baby screeches bloody murder at the injustice of once again being put in this tortoruos bouncer chair. He will not stop screeching until someone (Mommy) pulls him out and holds him, while also trying to put hooks on ornaments. The middle child will have no interests in helping and instead keeping stealing the ball ornaments and hiding them among his toys. When that gets boring, he starts throwing them at the dogs. Daddy is chasing after said middle child, trying to rescue the ball ornaments, leaving mommy to (one-handedly) get the rest of the ornaments ready to hang. The oldest child wants to help, but has no patience. He keeps grabbing ornaments before the have hooks, and the ones he does hang are all on one branch. He freaks out every time Mommy or Daddy try to move one of the fifty ornaments that are all hung in one square inch of each other. This all takes much longer than expected so the parents have to break it to the kids that there is no time for a Christmas movie tonight and it's time for bed. Tantrums and tears ensue and while Daddy gets the two big boys upstairs and into bed, an exhausted mommy finishes the tree. (Still holding the baby with one hand)

Scenario #2: Visiting Santa

Rose Colored Glasses Version

We will arrive at Santa to find no line and a jovial, very authentic looking, Santa waiting to enchant our kids and take their Christmas requests. The older boys will clamor onto his lap, smiling shyly, but in awe of meeting the "big guy". They will whisper their wish lists to him and promise him they have been good, and then we will hand the authentic looking Santa a peacefully sleeping baby. While Santa cuddles the baby the two boys will smile angelically at the camera, capturing a picture so sweet it will need to be framed and displayed as soon as we get home. 

The Reality

After searching different malls we finally find the one that seems to have the least likelyhood of lines, and rush over on a weeknight in order to avoid the crowds. We wait in a short line before we reach Santa and his "elves" (the Santa's actually pretty good, the elves consist of a bunch of bored high school girls) L reluctanly sit on the bench next to Santa, leaving a good two foot birth between them. He is obviously torn between the idea that this is the guy we keep telling him will get him his Buzz Lightyear, and some major distrust for the man. While L continues to give him a mean side eye, he mutters his Christmas wish and refuses to say anything else. L2 is not torn at all. He is not going near the scary man in the red suite and any attempt to get him to sit near him results in a meltdown of epic proportions. All the commotin wakes the baby, who decides he must be starving and starts vocalizing his demands. Finally we manage to get a picture, but only by S and I holding onto the kids and also being in the picture.  Twenty seven dollars later I have two 5X7 photos where L2 and R are both crying, L is looking at Santa like he's an axe murderer and S and I both look slightly perturbed at being in a Santa photo at 29 years of age.

Scenario #3: Christmas Morning

Rose Colored Glasses version

S and I will get up before all the kids and head downstairs to get video cameras and coffee ready. We will be ready and waiting to record every magical moment as the kids creep down the stairs in matching  PJ's and discover that Santa has been there! We will all sit cozily in front of the Christmas tree, Christmas music playing softly in the background, and take turns opening our stockings. Then Daddy and L will hand out presents which will be opened in a calm and orderly fashion. The whole morning will be relaxing and wonderful.

The Reality

The kids drag an exhausted mommy and daddy out of bed. We scramble to find the video camera (is it even charged?!!?)  and mommy tries to snap pictures while situating the baby to nurse. Coffee does not get made until well into the morning. The kids tear into their stocking and immediately want to eat every piece of candy for breakfast. The news that we will not be having candy for breakfast is not well received. L and Daddy hand out presents, but L wants to open ALL of them and doesn't seem to totally grasp that they are not all for him. An hour later our living room looks like Toys R Us exploded. The whole morning is wondeful..... but not nesicarly relaxing.

So does the reality of Christmas with three young children always match up to the pinterest version that I have in my mind? Nope, not at all. But perfect isn't always better. I love the messy, imperfect, real memories that we are making will our little family of five. I think the pinterest version might actually be a little bit boring. 

With all that being said, our Christmas was amazing, especially being able to celebrate our first one with baby R, and all the little imperfections just made for even more memories. It's real life and I wouldn't change it for anything. And Christmas will still always be my favorite time of the year. And I will still probably always go into it with high expectaitons that might be knocked down a few notches by real life!

I hope everyone had as wonderful as a Christmas as we did, wether you had a picture perfect one or the messy kid version!

A Christmas trip

And we're back!

We got back late this afternoon from our annual "Christmas" trip out to California. We never actually stay for Christmas Day (I prefer to be home), but we always try to go out for the families Christmas Party.

I have to be honest, I wasn't totally into the idea of going this year. I mean, with a six week old baby and the party falling so close to Christmas Day, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and stressed, but it ended up being a nice little vacation and I'm glad we went.

The boys love going out to Papa and Grandma's house. With three dogs, a huge yard, and three horses on the property, they are in seventh heaven. S's brother and sister were also in town, so they got plenty of play time with their aunt and uncle. They also had S's aunt and her husband visiting, so it was a full house.

 (R looks HUGE in this picture! He's actually not a giant..... it's just the angle!)

 (Yes, I"m still in PJ's in this picture. Hey, we were on vacation!)

It was nice to have a couple days to relax, and also to have a lot of extra helping hands around. S and I even got to sneak out for a later dinner one night, and one afternoon during naps we got out to see the newest Hunger Games movie. R still came with us for everything since I'm nursing, but not having to order of the kids menu or break up any fights made for a nice little date!

(Uncle and his nephews!)

The highlight, and main reason, of the trip was the Christmas Party. Every year, the weekend before Christmas, S's family does a big Christmas party that rotates houses. This year it was actually at my in-laws house. It was nice because we didn't have to worry about packing up the kids and traveling anywhere, but a little stressful with all the preparations. We were originally suppose to have R's baptism this weekend, but things got a bit "muddled" with everything going on. I was pretty adamant that we fit it in somewhere, because we did both of the other boys baptisms the Christmas after they were born and I wanted to follow suite with R. Fortunately the pastor of my in-laws church (where we do all the baptisms) is a really close friend of my father-in-law, so we did some major multi-tasking and R was baptized at the party. A little unorthodox, but hey, that's how we roll.

My mother-in-law also surprised everyone by renting a mechanical bull for the party. Let's just say, I haven't ridden a bull since college, but apparently it's like riding a bike. It was really fun, and L actually loved it. I had expected him to be a lot more hesitant about it, but he wanted to ride it right away and after going with both Daddy and his uncle he even rode it alone a few times! (Very slowly, of course!)

 (The whole family)

And of course, we had to do the gift exchange. My boys got sooo spoiled! Really, I can't even believe how many toys we brought back with us, and they haven't even opened the bulk of their Christmas presents yet!

And now we are back, and it feels good to be home . I'm a little stressed, I'll admit. There are suitcases that need to be unpacked, presents that still need to be wrapped, and I still haven't done the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner.... but, oh well. It will get done and I'm going to soak in the last two days of the Christmas season with my wonderful little family!