Showing posts with label I HAVE KIDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I HAVE KIDS. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tell Me Something I Don't Know

Okay, okay... this is a totally redundant post since I've already updated you all on the kids and their likes/loves.  But I am working on scrapping a book for each year of their lives.  And I'm trying to come up with these little photo milestones to stick in each book... here's what I've got:




Cute for scrapbooks?  I think so... thank you pinterest for the idea!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Monday Morning

Last night... I baked some ribbons.  Yes... I baked some ribbons in my oven.  This morning, I assembeled said ribbons into a mickey/minnie mouse bow for Disney World.  My plan was to get 2 bows out of the 6 dowel rods of ribbon I used, but I ended up with one (kind of weird shaped) bow.  Oh well... you get the idea.



My pretty ribbons awaited me this morning....


Oh... hello Stella!

Maeve dressed herself... very typical morning :)  I love it :)

Henry has no clothes on (again- very typical)

The dog, snoozing in the morning sun light.
 Hi there again miss Stella!
After I finished the bow, I ran up to Maeve and said "LOOK WHAT MAMA MADE!"  She looked up from the computer for a fraction of a second and said, "Oh." 


This was our Monday morning... :)

My prayer for this week:  Health and safety for our family... please God, no more sickness.  Please.

Monday, January 23, 2012

oh sigh.

It has been a super rough week.  Are you getting tired of reading about my moaning and groaning?  I'm getting tired of writing about it.

So, apparently the more children you have, the more sickness you experience?  For example, Maeve will catch a cold, and we'll deal with a grumpy, cruddy feeling Maeve for a few days.  Maeve will be on the mend and then Henry will catch the same cold.... we'll deal with a grumpy, cruddy feeling Henry for a few days.  Henry will be on the mend, and then.... comes Stella.

Oh Stella, Stella.  She catches everything the older 2 get, but apparently because she's just a tiny babe, the colds that knock Maeve and Henry out for a day or two, knock Stella out for a week. 

Here's the rundown of our week:

Saturday:  Stella starts coughing/acting fussy/irritable
Sunday:  Stella's cough starts getting a bit worse... it pops up on my radar that she should probably be seen.
Monday:  Cough is still not sounding good... 1st doctors appointment.  Dr. Cline says she has croup and an ear infection.  We get put on amox. and are sent home
Tuesday:  Cough is horrible.  Irritibility is off the charts.  She's not eating.  Her breathing is scaring me.  Doctor appointment #2:  Dr. B says she's got bronchiolitis (basically the croup moved into her lungs), she's lost 7 ounces from not eating.  Breathing treatments emmence. 
Wednesday:  Cough is still bad.  But what is really bothersome is the chick isn't eating.  I am pumping everything out and she's literally NOT. EATING.  Doctor appointment #3:  Dr. Cline says she hears some pops, crackles and wheezing in her chest.  Orders lab work to rule a few things out.  (this included trying to get an IV in Stellas poor little arm... which took about an hour and a half)
Thursday:  Cough is still bad.  Still not eating.  Doctor appointment #4:  She's lost an entire pound.  But her lungs sound better and her ear is good.  Doc is perplexed as to why she isn't eating.
Friday:  Stells runs a low grade fever and still not eating great.  Doctor appointment #5:  She maintains her weight (still down a pound) but then proceeds to vomit all over the waiting room.  Doc says she has 12 hours to eat and hold it down otherwise we're on our way to Wolfson's (a children's hospital in Jacksonville).

By the grace of God, she started doing remarkably better Saturday.  Sunday she was eating great- and today (Monday) she's back to "normal."  (although I feel like I should knock on a thousand blocks of wood).

Part two of my (oh) sigh.

Last night after dinner, Henry was carrying an arm load of books, trucks, etc. while walking out of my parents house and into the car.  On the brief 15 foot walk, he some how managed to fall, twist his ankle (or something) and get hurt.  Like really hurt.  We debated all last night whether or not to bring him into the ER.  He wouldn't walk- he was whimpering like a puppy, and crawling.  I myself, sat down on the floor and cried.  I cried and cried.  And said out loud "ARE YOU FOR REAL GOD????"  We ended up giving Henry some lortab (from his broken arm back in September) and putting him to bed.

Henry woke up this morning with a 104 degree fever.  Yes.  You read that right.  He woke up with a swollen ankle and a 104 degree fever.  Throughout the day, its gone up and down- (on the low end 101, high end 104).  And the poor kid is still limping.  We can't figure out what is the real cause of his discomfort at this point- his foot/ankle or the fever?!?!?!  But he is using his foot more, so we've ruled out a break... (THANK YOU JESUS).

I am sitting here.  Alone.  In our room.  My head is pounding... I've got kidney pain (guaranteed UTI) I can't sleep.  I'm praying I can make it to a doctor before it gets to my kidneys or a kidney stone forms... eyeyeyeye. 

Sooooo... biggggg sighhhhhh.

And to slap a big dollop of icing on this piece of cake- on Jan. 1st we decided to go with the lower insurance plan.  Because, after all, the birth of Stella (our major medical expense) was last year- out of the way.  And there would be no need for such heavy coverage.  Within the first month, we've reached our deductible.  Between breathing machines, xrays, lab work and doctors visits.  Insane.

My prayer for my family tonight (and every night..every DAY) is that God gives us some health.  At least enough health that we can treat it with drugstore items, such as tylenol.  I can deal with teething, bumps and bruises.  But it feels like we've been put through the ringer... and I soooooo need out.

Thanks for reading my vent.

Here's to good health... (and dear Henry...my dear, dear son- please- no more injuries).

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Our First Sensory Box

Ever since becoming a Pinterest fanatic, I've started reading and seeing these posts and pictures about sensory boxes.  I have to be honest- when I first looked at them I saw... MESS.  And beyond the MESS, I wasn't sure how much my kids would really like it.  I mean, we take them to the beach all the time- that's the hugest sensory box out there, right?! 

For the next 8 days, Ryan is working until 7 PM.  (UGH).  That means the kids and I are flying solo for everything except baths and bed time.  The kiddos absolutely love their time with Ryan, and I wasn't sure what we were going to do during those haunting hours (that's what I call them) between nap and dinner time. 

I jumped on pinterest, and have now compiled a board filled with activities for "when dadda works late."  On the menu for this week is,
  • a shaving cream table (spray barbasol all over our little tikes table outside and let them go at it)
  • 4 different sensory boxes
  • bath tub fishing
  • and a bunch of our normal run of the mill, arts and crafts stuff
As far as the sensory boxes go, I decided to start verrrrry basic.  I'm creative to a certain extent... but not like the uber pinners on pinterest (where do they come up with this stuff???)

The Dollar Tree was where I started out.  Here's my list of items:
  • rice, rice, and more rice (like 8 bags of it...)
  • beans (red, ham and black)
  • 2 HUGE containers of oats
  • 2 clear storage bins
  • 2 packs of fake bugs
  • 2 packs of fake coins (thank you mardi gras!)
  • 2 packs of beaded necklaces
  • 2 packs of mini farm animals
  • fake flowers
  • fake birds
  • construction paper
Yeah... I spent around 37 at the DOLLAR TREE... where everything is $1.00- I had about 20 bags coming out of that place.

Anyways, I assembled two of my sensory bins last night- our garden bin and our bug bin.  (which in hindsight. really could have- should have been combined into one bin)

Today we did the bug/bean bin.  I cannot tell you how pleasantly surprised I am with the success of this project.  The kids were enthralled with it.  Henry had absolutely no direction- he just spooned the beans from buckets to cups, and ran his trucks through them.  I had a few activities for Maeve to do with hers- the first order of business was finding all the bugs.  This dollar pack of bugs, hidden in a bunch of beans, delighted my child more than I can tell you.  Every time she found a bug, she'd get a huge "OHHH" on her face, just beaming!

Along with bugs, I also stuck in "leaves" (construction paper cut-outs) with numbers on them.  The goal being, to find all 10 leaves (one for each bug).  And because I could think of nothing else to stick in this bean/bug bin, I cut out yellow squares- yeah... what?!  haha :)  Still though, Maeve loved digging for them!

Here are a few pics of our afternoon.

(disclaimer- these pics are straight out of the camera- no cropping/editing/nada... they're not pretty!)













On tomorrow's agenda- the "garden bin" (black beans with fake flowers, worms and gardening tools)

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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"Good Days and Bad Days and Going Half Mad Days."

(PS- that's a line from a Jimmy Buffett song, "If the phone doesn't ring, its me.")




Anywho, that pretty much sums up my life at the moment!
 
It's been a long, long, long time since I've just posted about our normal day to day happenings.  I think its time for me to delve into some of the madness that's gone on in this family over the past few weeks.
 
Apparently by the time you deliver your 3rd baby, people think that you're a baby whisperer- like a knower of all things baby, and therefore do not need any help.  This is both true and not true.  Yes, I know how to breastfeed, change diapers, burp, swaddle, bathe and comfort a newborn... BUT I do not know how to breastfeed, change diapers, burp, swaddle, bathe and comfort a newborn while I have a 4 year old (almost 4) climbing on the counter trying to pour her own cereal and a 2 year old (almost 2) throwing a fit at my feet because I can't hold him while feeding the newborn.  Does this make sense?

Three kids, has been the definition of a juggling act.  It's a very delicate balance that I have yet to completely figure out.  I have faith that I will figure it out eventually, but at the moment, I feel like a chicken with its head cut off, running from "crisis to crisis" (by "crisis" I mean, Maeve can't get her Ariel costume down from the closet, or Henry can't manage to cram all his trains into their carrying case), all the while, trying to keep Stella on my boob.  If that's not a juggling act, I don't know what is! 

Now, the title of my post is good days, bad days, half mad days... let me explain:

Good day:
-kids are fed a healthy breakfast; eggs, milk, some cereal.
-kids are dressed
-we make it out of the house to run an errand or two.
-kids take naps
-I get a minute or two to pick up the house, make it look decent...
-dinner is cooked
-bedtimes go smoothly
-I get to lie in bed, completely undisturbed and watch some reality tv.

Bad day:
-kids eat goldfish, juice and some cereal for breakfast
-kids are in diapers/panties
-we make it outside (in the backyard)
-1 out of the 3 kids take a nap
-I get to wipe off the kitchen counters and maybe run the vacuum through the living room
-dinner is take out
-bedtimes are comparable with WW2
-I get to lie in bed watching cartoons with Maeve, while getting my hair brushed with a barbie brush.

Going Half Mad Day:
-breakfast?  Ehhh... "grab one of those cookies and find your water cup from yesterday."
-kids are in diapers/panties for most of the day...
-our activities for the day are playing Little People while watching "Finding Nemo" for the 100th time.
- naps?  what are those.
-the house is comparable to a house one might find in a disaster area of some kind- like Joplin, MO.
-dinner is a free for all- goldfish? SURE!  Chex mix?  Why not!  Fruit snacks?  Yeah!  That's a fruit, right?
-bedtimes are non-existent.
-I resort to lying on the couch because then I can reach each kid pretty quickly as the screams and cries sound off.  Maeve- "I NEED WATER SO BAD!"  Henry- "MAMAMAMAMAMAMA!"  Stella- "WAHHHHH!" (aka feed me now).

Yes, yes... this is how I would describe the past couple of weeks being a mom of 3.  Since I have gone through this whole adjusting period of adding on a child to the family before, I am confident things will get better!  One day, I will look back at our "going half mad days" and laugh- I'm sure of it :)  I'm trying to take things in stride; Ya know, not sweat the small stuff... such as Henry dropping his sandwich on the floor and then eating it... or Maeve forgetting to flush the potty after a poo poo (YUCK).

The school year has started down here, which doesn't mean much for us since Maeve isn't 4 yet.  But I have enrolled MaeMae in some activities.  She's (obviously) taking ballet- two classes a week, along with a tumbling class.  And I'm looking into some kind of a musical activity for her... either piano or violin.  I was also thinking about getting Henry into some kind of a music/play time class.  That poor kid needs something to get his insane amount of energy out!  We'll see what I can find...

Oh... and to end this post, I'm going to participate in the papermama's photo challenge -this week's theme?  "Favorite photo from August."

How could I pick anything BUT  this photo?



I didn't choose this photo because of the set up, or the composition or anything like that- I chose it because it's my STELLA BELLA BEAUTY.  Our newest member of the family, born in August, therefore my favorite memory/photo of August. 

The Paper Mama
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

sweet summer light ;)

Today kind of stunk.  I can't lie... it was definitely less than fabulous.

Maeve was up at 5 AM (no joke).  And before it was even 8 AM, I had already threatened to send her back to bed about 200 times.  We tried to go swimming- FAIL- really I should have known better with the way Maeve was acting.  My reasoning was that I'd tire the kids out, and then they would take fabulous naps.

Unfortunately there were no fabulous naps for anyone today.  Maeve kicked at her door for about 30 minutes, which kept Henry awake.  I threw the towel in, planted myself on the couch and let the kids run crazy for the rest of the afternoon.

When Ryan got home, I needed out of the house ASAP. 

I decided to go to this little used bookstore downtown.  I didn't take into account the traffic of St. Augustine around 5:00 is AWFUL... nor did I factor in parking.  After about 30 minutes of driving around I found a spot and took a nice walk to the bookstore.  Unfortunately they didn't have any of the books on my "want to read" list, but it was still nice to have some silence.

After dinner, we decided to sit on our back "porch"/deck thing, and give the kids popsicles.  It was the first time we had ever actually used the back deck since being down here. 

The kids were blissfully happy and playing together.  It's moments like these when I think "okay- I can do this!  I can raise 3 kids!  This is awesome!"

Literally, the second I said a word about coming inside for the night, all hell broke loose.  Henry threw himself in the dirt (or ant piles?), Maeve planted herself on floor, refusing to take a bath.  And its moments like these where I think, "Stick a fork in me.  I'm done.  There is no way I am going to be able to juggle 3 of these!"

I did manage to take some pretty pictures of my kids being sweet in the the sweet summery light... but don't let appearances fool you.  They morphed into something out of "The Twilight Zone" shortly after.

 



The Paper Mama


note- yes, that's dirt smeared all over his body... eyeyeyeye... ;) 







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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

"Music By The Sea"

Every Wednesday night, the city of St. Augustine hosts "Music By The Sea""- its basically a huge party at the pier.  Each week a different restaurant sponsors it, making the food choices really exciting ;)  We don't get into the music much, but the kids absolutely adore the splash pad that's located at the entrance to the pier.  Tonight was so beautiful, we played in the splash pad for a bit and then walked the kids down to the beach.  Needless to say they were wiped out the second they hit the car!  Here are some photos from our night :)








a little bit of a random photo... but I discovered Rita's on the beach tonight... OMG.  SO SO SO good.







 He gets so wacky on the beach ;)





 I don't know how this photo got smushed in the middle of all the splash park/beach photos... but this is a pic of Flagler Hospital... where I will be delivering baby girl in a few weeks! :)





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