Well, it's true.

I'm the mom to a 6 year old. It's true. I'm finding it rather hard to believe.

It's true that I allow my 15 month old to watch television. She doing it right now.












It's true that she'll be content for maybe 3 minutes. So I had better type quickly.

It's true that I ride the bus to and from my classes to save money on gas.

It's true that I actually enjoy riding said bus. I use the time to read or study or close my eyes or *gasp* knit. I love it! My favorite is to knit while listening to a book on my mp3 player. Fabulous!

It's true that I currently have A's in each of the classes I'm taking--microbiology, 2nd semester Anatomy & Physiology and an Art class.

It's true that I've amended my schooling plan to include a major in Art. This is only so that I can hopefully enroll in a photography class or two. I will then drop the Art major.

It's true that my 3 1/2 year old hasn't nursed for at least 3 weeks.

It's true that this makes me a bit sad.

It's also true that it makes me very grateful for having another baby still nursing.

It's true that my 15 month old will sign "all done", "milk" and please. She also nods and/or shakes her head vehemently to get her point across.

It's true that my hubby and I had our first uninterrupted night of sleep in more than a year this weekend.

This was only true because we convinced the grandparents to keep the girls overnight on Friday.

It was lovely. This is very, very true.

It's true that the youngest has lost interest in the video and has now gone in to wake up her big sisters who are napping. She has also found the camera cord and thrown it in the garbage. She is now stuck between the couch and the end table.

Time to go. This is most certainly true.

carving out a few minutes for myself

Between caring for three children, a husband, a home, working part-time for my parents and going to school full-time, I rarely have a minute to myself. I often taking kids into the shower with me in order to save time by washing us all. The baby is frequently found crawling around in the bathroom whenever I'm in there since she's always happiest around me. I hardly have any desire to be on the computer because I'm feeling guilted into doing homework rather than relaxing. This is my life for now, I guess. When I'm not feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, I'm actually enjoying the challenge. I'm enjoying using my brain, learning and broadening my horizons.

A few little things that I've been doing to stay sane. My hubby bought me an mp3 player for my birthday this summer. I keep that loaded up with audiobooks that I download for free from netlibrary.com. This is one of my favorite things to do--I listen to a book with one ear and listen to the kids with the other. I can frequently be found "plugged in" while doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms and now even driving/walking to and from class. One HUGE saving grace these past few days has been the fact that my husband has taken over doing more baby care in the evenings. Thank you Hubby!! In addition to taking her from me in the evenings, he's been working on getting her to sleep by herself in the pack-n-play rather than being constantly attached to me and sleeping in our bed. For those of you who have co-slept, you know how huge this is. Thanks again, Babe! I love you!

bad mommy award

Want to know a great way to feel like a terrible mommy? It's very simple, really. Just roll your ankle while walking down the stairs carrying your baby. Just that easy, you see the baby rolling on the floor with her head on the edge of the bottom step.

I hear from those who saw it happen, she really only rolled off of me onto the bottom stair, so I didn't really drop her. Not that it makes me feel much better. It all happened so fast I can't even remember if I tripped or what. I went from walking down the stairs to lying on my behind on the hard concrete watching my baby rolling on the ground. Made me feel like an awful mommy and it hurt my pride a bit, too. Not to mention my ankle.....

She's counting the days

My precious baby sister is getting ready to leave on a mission to Ethiopia. She'll be gone for two years. The planning has lasted for about 9 months and we're down to the final week.

Sophie is one of my very best friends. We've coached volleyball together, played volleyball together, talked for hours and so much more. I'm going to miss her desperately.

She's the 'baby whisperer' of the church/family. Where there's a baby, you'll most likely find Sophie there. Here she is snuggling baby E at about a week old.

Pretty much all babies/children love her and she loves them. When B was itty-bitty, she was quite a handful. Sophie spent a few nights over at our house, slepeing on the couch with B so that we could sleep a little bit. She'll take my girls to run errands with her or take them on a walk. She came over last week and watched all three girls for a couple hours while Scott and I went out. It was the first time we'd been on a date by ourselves since E was born.

She leaves on Sunday. Tomorrow we're going to take a day trip to visit some friends 2 1/2 hours away. I'm looking forward to spending the day with her, even if it will be driving for hours with 3 little girls in the back seat.

Yesterday, she was commissioned at our church. When B saw the tears in my eyes, she told me, "It's okay, mommy, we'll still be able to email and talk on the phone." Yes, we will, it's just not the same. I'm not looking forward to this trip to the airport.

I'm going to miss you, baby sister!

when?

Is there a certain time at which I can...
....tell baby E that she's supposed to be a baby still. she's not supposed to be scooting/crawling across the floor. she's not supposed to be clapping and waving. she certainly does look adorable while she does all of the above, though.

...tell my girls "no, you can't watch Tinkerbell.....again....and not break their hearts?" They've been (starting to) watch it at least 3 times a week while I try to work, or do school, or cook or clean. I think they've only watching the whole movie maybe two times, total. We know the beginning very well, though.

7:30am

It's 7:30 on a Wednesday morning. i'm up. all three kids are sleeping. hallelujah!

Last night was my sister's wedding. it was beautiful. the flower girls (B, K and 3 other little girls cousins) were adorable running up the aisle barefoot yelling "the bride is coming!" as soon as K hit the runner on the way up, it looked like she was going to stop and pick up the flower petals that had already been dropped, but then off she went. k was the youngest by more than a year, so was obviously the last to get done. she got back to me with two handfuls of flower petal in hand and was very concerned about it. i was able to coax her to throw them on the floor right there in front of Rebekah without holding up the works too much. it was a definite highlight of the wedding. very sweet.

there was a scorching 'first kiss' which was quite unexpected from the groom. yummy food made by my parents, with some help from hubby. absolutely fantasticly wonderful wedding cake--almond sour cream. YUUUM! almonds left on all the tables as favors since the groom is an a-mond farmer. (those native to the region in cali apparently drop the 'l' in almond.) the happy couple exited under a shower of bubbles. we were all surprised as he hit the gas to make a hasty exit. his family says that they'd never seen him do that. he's quite reserved and thoughtful in all he does apparently. guess he was ready to get on with it. ;) it was a beautiful wedding. they're headed for a week-long trip back to california to start their life together as a-mond farmers.

b lost her first tooth during the reception last night. we wrapped it carefully and put it under her bed for the tooth fairy. the tooth fairy showed up last night and left her with a sweet little note and some quarters, which i'm sure she'll be absolutely thrilled to discover.

we've been sleeping in our new house for almost 2 weeks now. 95% of our stuff is still packed up. we finished getting everything moved in last sunday. we were home getting a bit settled for a couple days then headed up to church camp on wednesday. decided to come home a bit early from that on saturday, celebrated father's day with both dads, one on sat and one on sunday. then had rehearsal/dinner on monday and wedding on tuesday. it's been a busy couple weeks. i'm looking forward to getting settled and start living a 'normal' life again.

i've got truckloads of pictures. i just have to find the cord to load them onto the computer.

One load down

There's a reason for the long, drawn-out absence here.

We're moving.

We took the first load over tonight. Many more to come.

Crazy how an empty house makes the girls turn wild. They were dancing and wrestling, rolling on the floor and 'exercising.' Then, pretty soon someone is crying because the ran into the wall, or fell down or some other earth-shattering horribleness. All in good fun, I guess.

Tomorrow we're hoping to get the bulk of the 'necessities' moved over: pots and pans, dishes and the rest of the things we can't live without while we unpack the garage full of boxes that will come over on Friday with the furniture.

I'm looking forward to getting settled.
To be done living with the move looming over us.
To be able to reassure my children that everything is OK.
To go bask in the sunshine by the community pool.

Oh, did I mention that we'll have access to the community pool? Absolute heaven! We're all excited about that.

Must go feed baby.

More later.

growing up and getting big

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a grown up B. She had gotten herself dressed and ready for the day, including doing her hair ALL BY HERSELF for the first time ever (and a darn good job she did, if you ask me!)

AND, she made breakfast for everyone. She got out lunch meat and sliced cheese, rolled them up together and up them in the tortilla warmer on the table. When did she get to be a teenager?? Holy cow!

Today she got bowls out of the dishwasher for all of us, got out our favorite cereals and put the cereal into bowls. Then she got out the milk and poured milk in. We were almost out of the girls' milk, so she had to use some of mine in their bowls. Never mind that the cereal was a bit soggy, what a sweetheart!

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K continues to do exceptionally well in the potty training department. We're mostly accident-free at this point. She's still in a diaper for nap (which is almost always dry when she gets up) and nighttime. WTG, big girl!

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E is now just over 10 weeks old. Smiling and 'talking' are two of her favorite new activities. yesterday as I was changing her diaper, I was blowing raspberries at her and she, in turn, was trying to blow them back. It was absolutely adorable. Last Wed was mother/baby circle and E weighed in at 12lb 2.5oz. She's chunkin' up! It's getting more important for us to make sure she gets good naps during the day. If we don't, the evenings end up being a frustrating combination of 3 minute naps, fussing and whining, and a whole lot of nursing (usually followed by a huge puke.) It's lovely, I tell ya. Needless to say, I like naps, too. ;) She'll nap quite well in the morning, usually, but not so great in the afternoon when the girls are asleep. figures. I've been known to put her in her carseat for naps, too, even when we're home since she seems to do so well sleeping in there.

my life

My life, right now...


~dealing with the difficult transition from nap to no nap with B, while enjoying her wonderful helping spirit and embracing her boundless energy.

~helping to encourage K in her ability to "listen and obey" (a frequent refrain at our house) without coming down too hard on her because I know we're all still dealing with the transition.

~enjoying without reservation my endless capacity to smell "milk breath" all day long. Oh, how I love to snuggle her close and appreciate that deliciousness.

~transitioning from a mom of two to a mom of three. This means pulling myself away from gazing at my ever-snuggly babe to spend some worthwhile time with my older girls. It also means giving myself some grace as I walk through a house that needs to be cleaned.

~remembering that my husband is lonely for me, too. He wants to snuggle and visit with me just as each of the girls do, but I need to remember to put him higher on the list even when he isn't specifically (verbally) asking for it.

He even takes care of the little things

God is so good.

Leaving my brother's house this afternoon, kids buckled into the hot car without air conditioning. We were all sweating. Put the key in the ignition. Wouldn't even turn. Steering wheel is locked up, too.

I call hubby. (Always my first course of action.) ;) No answer.

Try some more. Then unbuckle kids and have them play in the shade in the yard while I work on it more.

Call my sister-in-law inside the house (because she's not answering the door.) No answer.

Try some more.

Eventually my sister-in-law comes out and we chat about frustrating car issues. Then she tells me that her old Toyota used to lock up like this and all she had to do was turn the steering wheel just right and it would unlock the ignition. AHA!!

It worked! Load everyone up again and we're off.

"Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us," B says on the way home. Amen!

In shock

Known to my family as friends as my "baby page" are several message boards of ladies whose friendship I hold very near and dear to my heart. Some of them I've been with since we found out we were pregnant with B, 4 1/2 years now. My other one is for moms of babies born in Aug 2006. These are women that I go to for advice, support and most of all friendship. This morning, I got onto my Aug 06 baby page to have some unbelievable, sad, shocking news greet me. One of these mommies that I'd been posting with for 2 years now was killed by her husband. Here's the article. It's so sad and senseless. This mommy leaves behind three precious little girls.

Say an extra prayer for those little girls, would you?

Done. D-O-N-E

I am SO done Christmas shopping. Hooray! Got all the gifts. EVEN got the scrapbook that I make every year for my mother-in-law completed and ready to be wrapped.

HALLELUJAH!!