Our White Christmas

How fun to get to have a white Christmas this year. The kids loved it. They enjoyed tromping around in the snow, but the highlight was sledding. We went to a place with a rather steep hill. It was very cold and snowing, so I watched from a little bit of a distance with James warm in the car. John took Natalie and Andrew to the top of the hill and put them together on a sled. He got on a round disk and put himself behind them, holding onto their sled, so they could all go down together. I was watching with the camcorder. I was pretty nervous. The hill looked so steep and Natalie looked like she could fly off at any moment sitting out in front. I could hardly watch and told myself over and over, "John knows what he's doing. John knows what he's doing."

So, John pushes off and woosh...he is heavier than the kids so his disk whips around so they are all heading down the hill at top speed backwards. Natalie looked like she was about to bounce off the front (now the back) at any minute. But they made it down in one piece and I caught it all on tape. And the kids weren't scared to go down again. They didn't go to the top again, but they had a great time going down the lower half.

For a while, Natalie and Andrew were going down on the two-person sled. When they would get to the bottom, Andrew and John would walk back up, but Natalie would ride on the sled because she couldn't walk in her snowsuit and boots. She was sitting in the back and every time John was pulling her back up the hill it looked like she was going to topple over backwards any minute. And she did, once. But it didn't phase her. She LOVED sledding.

Here are a few clips from that day. Not of the first run--that is still on the camcorder. Listen for Natalie's laugh in the first clip and watch for Andrew's big grin. They were having so much fun!

Happy New Year!

It is really 2008! 2007 just flew by. It feels like it went by quickly, but I realize just how fast this past year has been when I look at my little Natalie. A year ago she was still a baby--not walking, saying just a few things and without any hair. Now she is turning two the end of this month, running and skipping everywhere, jumping any chance she gets, telling me "No I don't want to!", asking everyone in the family "How you doin, Mommy?" or "how you doin' Andew?" Picking up on EVERYTHING I say, even if it looks like she isn't listening in. She really is the queen of eavesdroppers. Last year she learned to walk, to talk, to sing, to jump, to tell a joke, to swim, to dance. She grew hair and passed the 20 pound mark (finally!). What a year for Natalie.

We had a GREAT Christmas and vacation week. John had mandatory time off--which means time he would never take off if he didn't have to. So we went to Utah for a whole week and he still had two days off when we got home. Heaven for me and the kids. We left for Utah Saturday the 22nd. Bad ride up. James wasn't too happy and I was tired. After 2 1/2 hours of driving we pulled off at a gas station because James had been crying for a little while. I took him into one of the dirtiest bathrooms I've been in to change his diaper. It was outside and cold. The floor was covered in wet dirt and grime patterns and paper towels were strewn about. No pull-out changing table. I had to put my coat on the dirty cement floor and luckily had an extra blanket/burp cloth because James had poop everywhere. So I put him on the burp cloth, took off all his dirty clothes and changed his diaper. It must have been 20 degrees outside so I wrapped my baby in his diaper in my coat and ran him back to the car. All his clothes were in a suitcase of course at the bottom of the overstuffed back, so we ended up finding a coat and some rattle socks. He wore those and a blanket for the rest of the trip. I tried to hide his attire when we stopped at Wendy's later on.

What a great week though. All my brothers and sisters were there. We played games, ate, went sledding, ate, played games . . . John got me a PS2 and Dance Dance Revolution for Christmas. I didn't think I was getting anything, so it was a very fun surprise. We borrowed guitar hero from a neighbor and played GH and DDR. My mom and dad even got in on the gaming ;-) Here we have the kids trying out GH. Andrew actually looks like he knows what he's doing. I don't think he got one note.
And these pictures sum up DDR nicely. JB had his pjs pulled up to his ears so they wouldn't get in the way.


I hardly saw Andrew the whole week--he was having such a great time with cousins. Natalie came down with pink eye and double ear infection--once I had her on an antibiotic she had a great time! And James basked in the attention of gma and gpa.

I don't know if my kids really got the Santa thing. Christmas night (after Santa had come) Andrew said, "Santa Claus is coming tonight!" I think he thought we were going to do Christmas morning all over again the next day.
Natalie's favorite thing of the trip was sledding. Andrew had a great time too, but it was Natalie that giggled the entire way down and said "again" every time she got to the bottom. She was so stiff in her snowsuit and boots. She couldn't walk on her own.

James got a Bumbo from gma and gpa. Or should I say I got a Bumbo. But James LOVED it. He loved being able to sit up and see what was going on. He even fell asleep in it once or twice.
We actually managed to get the little kids to participate in the nativity on Christmas Eve. Andrew was Joseph, Grace (Andrew's twin-cousin born on the same day, same year as Andrew) was Mary, Natalie was an angel/star, James was baby Jesus, my bro Jim was the donkey, John was a wise man and my sister Angela was a shepherd with Claire. They did a great job!
After all those sweet pictures, this one might be my favorite. Andrew and Natalie fighting over the star. It just seems to sum up how it really is ;-)

Happy James

I'm loving this little James. He talks and coos and goos and oh does he smile. What a fun age. He really is the sweetest baby. He is patient, he is responsive and ready for a smile as soon as I talk to him, he is nice and chunky--my first baby with rolls--I love it!

The only negatives--he spits up like no other. My shirt was covered the other day. Why change when it is just going to happen again? Just tonight I had to wipe up several puddles on the kitchen floor from him (sorry-gross). And the only other bad thing is that I feel like I don't have enough time to spend with him. He is so good that I feel like I put him down as soon as I am done feeding him so I can get something done. I have to tell myself to stop and spend some moments with him. Today my kids were playing at my sister-in-law's in the morning. I ran some errands and as I went to put James in the car he was being so cute and just snuggly, so I stopped for a moment, danced with him to the Christmas music playing in the background and gave him lots of kisses. I really need to stop more often for him. What a cutie.

Scorpion!!

I had just laid James down on a blanket in the family room, I was kneeling down starting to stuff cards into envelopes (yea--maybe they will make it to you before Christmas?!), and Natalie was kneeling next to me. As usual, I was feeling "rushed"--trying to fit as much into the minute because I didn't know when I would have another moment to work on cards. Natalie was trying to tell me something and I was so focused on what I was doing, I didn't notice for a minute what she was telling me. But she was pointing and saying "yucky" or "bug" or something. I figured it was a cricket--we have plenty of those. I finally glanced over at where she was pointing--right in front of her little finger on our green shag rug was a scorpion.

Ooo I really don't like scorpions. In fact, I'm terrified of them! Luckily this is only the 2nd one I have seen inside our house in 4 1/2 years. I picked up the baby, hustled Natalie out of the family room, grabbed a glass and ran back to put it over the scorpion. Then I told everybody to stay out of that room. I called Lena, who I knew had lots of experience with killing scorpions, and she said just squash it with a shoe or anything hard. OK. That sounded like something I could do.

But I couldn't. Every time I thought about doing it, my insides did a somersault. In fact, even writing about it is making me feel the same way. But I had to do something--I have 2 active little kids who wouldn't remember to stay away from that glass and I was envisioning what would happen when they knocked over the glass and the scorpion was free. So....I called my home teacher and neighbor. He lives just across the street and luckily, works from home often. He was there and came to my rescue with a rubber mallet.

He got the scorpion into the glass and took it outside where he finished it off. Phew! Lena gave me the great idea of showing the kids what the scorpion looks like so they can identify one later and know that if they see one, stay away and come get mom. I don't know what good it will do to get mom, but it's what Lena said she told her kids! Maybe next time they can get me and I can call Lena, who now has no problem smashing scorpions. But I really hope there is no next time. I should have titled this post, "I'm a chicken" or something. Even just writing about this is making me feel the creepy crawlies up my back and I keep thinking something is brushing up against my feet.....Ugh.

But props to Natalie for saving the day by noticing the scorpion. It was really hard to see in that shag. Way to go Nats (as Andrew has been calling her lately)!

Yes, I have my hands full

I had to run to WalMart again today (about the 3rd time this week--I always end up needing something else) and got to go with all three kiddies. We parked and entered in the greenhouse/plants area because there are usually less cars parked there and if you check out there, usually you can avoid the longer lines. We crossed the street--I was holding the heavy car seat in one arm and had Natalie's hand in the other, and she was holding Andrew's hand. I was so happy that they would even hold hands to cross the street. They are so independent--when other kids are happily holding their parents' hands, mine are usually saying, "No! I do it myself!"

When we walked into the store, there were the plant carts--double decker, green, flat carts. My kids immediately ran to one and insisted that we use that cart. Actually, I thought it was a pretty good idea--both kids sat with legs outstretched next to each other on the top and James in his car seat fit nicely on the bottom. I didn't have to get much, so there was enough room to stash several items here and there.

We rolled on into the store from the greenery area. I can't even count the number of stares, and yes, there were a few comments as well. First, we were the only GREEN cart in the store. Second, we were the only DOUBLE DECKER cart in the store. And third, I was the only person in there with three kids on one cart (maybe even the only person with three kids).

We were doing a great job pulling the attention to ourselves as it was, even though the kids were doing great and were happy, and then James started crying. He is such a great little baby and doesn't usually cry. He cries because he has a dirty diaper or is hungry--and sometimes because he is the third child and needs a little more attention than he sometimes gets. So this was an "I am hungry and have a dirty diaper" cry. So we hurried up and finished but I felt like I had a spotlight on us as we rushed through the store. People actually moved out of our way--they heard us coming ;-)

It reminded me of a day a week or two ago when I took my kids to play at an outdoor mall playground. I had Natalie in the stroller, Andrew was walking and I was carrying James in the Baby Bjorn. We had gone about 20 feet and already 3 people had commented "You have your hands full!" Everybody we walked by made a comment. I just laughed and thought, you are right--my hands are full!! And some days it feels like they are full of frustration, and messes, and dirty diapers, and kids arguing. And other days it feels like they are full of joy, and excitement at new milestones, and laughter, and love. But my hands are definitely full.

Even as I am writing this during my first free moment of the day, I can hear the little footsteps upstairs as Andrew runs back and forth between the game room and his room. I have miraculously convinced him that a quiet time every afternoon is a good idea. He won't nap, but I really was feeling like a quiet time was good--and he is on board! So he knows he needs to stay in his room, but also needs "one more track" so he keeps running back and forth. I hear the footsteps and then the footsteps and then the door close. So cute. I love the energy and excitement he has.

Just do it

I just had to break the silence! I can't believe it has almost been a month since my last post. I have all sorts of things to catch up on, but the first step was just writing something. As the days and weeks went by, I felt like I couldn't post anything until I had time to write about EVERYTHING that had happened since the last post. Never going to happen. My first post asks Can a perfectionist really blog? This was the first real test for me. So I'm swallowing the last month. If I get to some catch up, so be it. If I don't...I'm jumping in again right now. I have really missed recording things here.

One thing that I really want to write down is a conversation I overheard the other day. Natalie was outside and Andrew was inside looking out at her through the open window.

Natalie: "How you doin Adew?"
Andrew: "I doin great"
Natalie: "Oh, wow. Cool."


It was so fun to hear them interacting and it was a particularly sweet moment because so much of their other dialogue these days goes more like:

Natalie: "My doggie."
Andrew: "No, MY doggie."
Natalie: "No, My doggie."
Andrew: "My green train."
Natalie: "No, My green train."

You get the point.

Still loving the trampoline

Variations to Andrew's daily trampoline comment:

"It's a nice day to have a trampoline" and the other night when we were jumping as it was getting dark,

"Mom...mom...it's a nice night to have a trampoline."

Pretty in Pink

Oh am I glad to have a girl!! It was actually overcast this morning so I opened the side of Natalie's closet with the long-sleeved shirts and she immediately picked out her shirt for today. I've just been laughing every time I look at her today because it is too cute.

This one is for you, John

The kids and I picked John up for lunch yesterday. The kids were squirming in their seats, kicking their legs, grinning from ear to ear and squealing when they saw him come out of the building toward the car. It was so fun--for me and for the kids. It felt like I was somehow cheating by getting to see him during the day.

I had my camera and took a few pictures. John gave me a look and teasingly asked if I was taking some pictures for the blog. Well, so be it...this one is for you John ;-)

As long as I'm on the subject, I just have to say how amazing John is and especially how great he has been since James has appeared. He is so great with the kids. They just love him. Natalie cried after we dropped John back at work, "Daddie." He calls to check in with me and make sure we are making it through the day ;-) and he has even made an effort to get home earlier. Yea! That one is my favorite. He is always so even tempered and can make anything fun. I am so grateful for him!