Room Re-Organization

 

Most of our spare time this summer has been spent re-organizing all of the rooms and shifting kids around. It started in early June while The Boy stayed a week in Louisiana enjoying one-on-one time with all of his grandparents. We cleared out Pickle's room, painted it (twice to get the right color blue) and moved in all of his furniture, toys, clothes, and BOOKS! The room looks awesome and he has been really happy with it. I have enjoyed the project as it has motivated me to really clean out many items that I had been hanging onto for sentimental reasons and the result has been cleaner closets and more space.

Before

 

After

Before

After

We plan to build him a desk under the top bunk (while we're at it we need to get a mattress for that top bunk). The next step in the process was to paint his old room for the girls. It turned out great and both girls have moved in and are officially sharing a room! We still need to hang some pictures in there to bring it all together so once that is completed I will post pictures of their room.

Just Hanging Out

The summer has not been just about sitting around and hanging out . . . many blog posts will be forthcoming to show you what we've been up to the last couple of months. Today we are wrapping up a weekend of "resort living" here in Phoenix. We packed up and drove 10 minutes south to stay at The Legacy where we didn't have to use our air conditioning and could swim and possibly play tennis. As luck would have it the weather did not cooperate and our swimming was cut short by a thunder storm that left the courts unwelcoming as well. Oh well, I certainly enjoyed the rare rainstorm!

Father's Day

It's Father's Day and the Father of the house is not here . . . pretty standard Sunday schedule. JP spends 1/2 the day on his bike while the kids and I lounge about watching PBS and Food Network, reading the paper, or just playing. Why should Father's Day be any different? Of all the Sundays in the year he should certainly be allowed to do what he wants on this one. The kids wanted to make him jalapeno biscuits and serve him breakfast in bed but this was the last thing he wanted. He is usually the first one up and would rather be drinking coffee and watching cycling in the den than waiting in bed for breakfast. (He made an omelet.)

He also did not receive any gifts . . . at least nothing purchased. The kids did give him a picture frame that they made with Cee-Cee a few months ago and I printed a "Father's Day Mad Lib" that they each completed and were pretty funny. Giving him gifts is pretty useless as he doesn't want anything and we don't need more stuff. Instead of gifts we are going to go out to his favorite restaurant so he can have pizza and wings. I am also making lemon squares. Consumable gifts and ones that can be shared are the best kinds of presents and ones I know he will like . . . no guessing needed.

Happy Father's Day! We love you.

New Kid Turns 2!

Two already? How can it be? Still a petite little girl you eat all the time but very little at meals. You love to "nack" all day long; particularly whatever someone else is eating. Sleep is still your favorite thing; getting 11-12 hours each night and napping 3-4 hours every afternoon. I think this is what has kept you so healthy and so happy for your first 2 years. You had your first trip to the doctor - outside of routine checkups - this past December and it turned out to be nothing. Dr. A remarked how impressed he was that you hadn't been in to see him.

In the last several months your vocabulary has blossomed and you typically communicate in complete sentences. Your favorite word is "too" as in "I do that too." You want to do everything your brother and sister do and you want to tell us about it. Following directions is another positive attribute that I really hope continues into your third year and you love to be helpful. You do so many nice things for others without being asked. For example your sister was throwing a tantrum about wanting water and you just ran off to her room, retrieved her water bottle, and brought it to her. Such a sweet girl . . . .

Sweet yet willing to fight back when you want something and it is usually with your teeth. This seems to be tapering off and we all hope to see that phase come to an end. You are determined and anxious to grow up quickly. I know this new year will be a momentous one for you as you master potty training, probably transition to a big-girl bed, and start school with your big sister. These are things that are still ahead of us but knowing how quickly you have grown and matured, I predict I will be documenting these milestones one year from now.

Don't grow up too quickly precious one. Happy Birthday and Much Love, Mom

Trainee

Thirty-seven years and 3 kids have made me – how shall I put it – MUSHY; or perhaps a more polite way to phrase it would be weak. Society would label me skinny and I do agree that due to exceptional genes and a moderate amount of running and hiking I’ve been able to stay pretty slim even after gaining obscene amounts of weight during each of my three pregnancies. I’d even go as far to say as I don’t look so bad . . . with clothes on.

Alas I live in the desert and wearing jeans and sweaters is not really feasible year round and soon I am going to be forced to put on a swimsuit so I have taken the inevitable leap of hiring a trainer. As I mentioned above I do enjoy hiking and running and have been known to occasionally ride my bike. I also “play” at the weights when I go to the gym and I am pretty dedicated to my weekly kickboxing class but I am not very hardcore particularly when it comes to strength training. Boy was I in for a very rude awakening!

I scheduled my first session with the trainer for this past Saturday which was unfortunate considering I had to travel last week to Atlanta for work. This meant I did not exercise in any form for 4 days, got WAY less sleep than I normally would, and ate and drank like I was back in college. (Okay, maybe that is stretching it because I certainly did not eat filet mignon in college and drank a bit more and it wasn’t nice red wine). 

So on Saturday I attended my weekly kickboxing class, ate a protein bar, and rolled into the gym with my friend (and partner on this adventure) Kris ready to kick some butt. Three minutes in and I was ready to throw up like the weaklings on Biggest Loser. I found out quickly just how weak my muscles have gotten particularly my abs (did I mention 3 large pregnancies). I did my best to power through by chugging water at every available moment and willing myself to try as hard as possible and reminding myself that I was paying for this torture.

It will be a bumpy ride but if my current soreness is any indication it will be well worth it. No pain, no gain – right? I’ll keep you posted.

Normal

JP: "Can you just be normal for one minute?"

Pickle: "I don't even know what normal means!"

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to my First Born who turned 8 on March 30^th! If only I was as organized as I was when you were born 8 years ago, I would have completed this blog post on or before your actual birthday. A lot has changed in 8 years . . . we didn’t even have a blog 8 years ago. I may have been organized when you came along but I was not calm or confident in my parenting skills. I clearly remember my amazement when we drove away from the hospital (after nearly squeezing you to death with the car seat straps) thinking that they just let us take you. We didn’t have to pass a test or get certified in parenting or anything. You were ours to do with as we wished. And what did we do? We stared at you – a lot. You loved sleeping in your car seat and we could just set you down in the bucket and watch your sweet little peaceful face.

You were not an easy baby. Was this you or us? Looking back, it may have been us as we were so worried about messing you up that we might have been overbearing causing your unhappiness. Our biggest challenge was getting you to sleep. For the first two nights we had to hold you to sleep and then we figured out that you would sleep in your car seat and with Dr. Alexander’s permission we went that route for many more nights then I want to admit. First kids bring so many concerns and fears particularly regarding feeding and sleeping. There is so much societal pressure to give only breast milk and for 6 weeks we did only that but I know that what I had to offer was not sufficient. I know now that your unhappiness and unwillingness to sleep was because you were hungry. It was a little too obvious that once we started you on formula, you started sleeping much better. 

Dad was very concerned that your brain would not grow because you were not sleeping. We kept thinking we were going to “ruin” you by letting you cry. Well, we are 8 years in and I would say you are not ruined and your brain is bigger than the average kid. I guess breast milk is not the golden path to brain growth and those few nights we let you “cry it out” didn’t do any permanent damage. You are such a smart kid storing so many facts in that brain that I am constantly amazed at what comes out of your mouth. You know more at 8 then I know at 37 . . . so much like your Dad. It is very hard to put into words how proud I am of you. I know we are entering some tricky years as you are no longer a little boy. It is going to get harder to shelter you from the scary things in the world but I believe you are smart enough to handle them. You are such a sensitive and caring kid that I want to continue to hold you in close and keep the “real” world at bay, but I know it is time to push you out of the nest every so often for more learning opportunities.

I hope you continue to be my sweet little boy. Much love my son.