Ridin' Solo...plus 3

Yeah, so I've finally figured out that I don't have to stop going to Target just because I have three small children. I just have to stop expecting to be "quick" in any capacity. Putting shoes on two small people takes 10 minutes on it's own, let alone getting everyone dressed, faces washed, teeth brushed, snacks, sippy cups, etc. Even at Target, getting Cam and Tyler into the double stroller takes a long time with all the snaps and straps. Fortunately, they all patiently wait for me to get them strapped in. I think all the talking to myself about how crazy this is keeps them mesmerized.

Once inside the store, things are much smoother except that I should seriously consider getting a "makes wide turns" sign for that ridiculously huge stroller. Also, Target clearly does not want people with strollers (or even carts, for that matter) going up and down the "aisles" of clothing. There is no room. Period. Don't try it. Plus, Cam is rockin' the front seat and I have NO idea what she's doing up there, but she's quiet and still, which is rare. It turns out she has an armload of newborn sweat pants that she is now carelessly tossing aside, much like she's throwing candy in a parade. As long as I didn't toil too long (which is nearly impossible), the kids did pretty well. So there. I celebrated my outing with an iced coffee, which was really more of a necessity given the 1.5 hours of sleep I got last night. I think I can probably manage this whole "mom" thing if I just tweak my expectations.

In other news, Zay has some sort of virus that has caused little, painful blisters all over his tongue. It must be unbelievably painful, and I feel terrible for him because he is having trouble eating. It's trying for ALL of us as we try to comfort him through endless and very dramatic crying, moaning, sobbing, etc. He calls the blisters "boosters" and asks if they're going to be there forever. Oh, geez. I hope he acts this way because he is small and doesn't know any better, but if this is a glimpse into the "inability to tolerate a head cold because I'm a man" thing, I'm in for it. To his credit, Zay DID have a pretty big weekend, which probably lead to his exhaustion: his first-ever Tot Trot as part of the Grant Park Summer Shade 5k, open house at his new dance class and the Summer Shade festival complete with hot dogs and ice cream. Soccer starts in a few weeks, too. And so begins our lives as parents running from practice to practice. Just wait until Cam starts swimming and gymnastics!



The house is living really well. The floor plan is awesome and easy. I can see pretty much everything from my control station (the kitchen, where I wish I were whipping up amazing gourmet dishes, but really I'm just unloading and loading the dishwasher ALL day), and we're finally hitting our stride, I think. All I want in life is routine, which is super difficult with so many small children; however, I think if we can just get over the hump of developing it, we'll run like a well-oiled machine. At least, that is what I'm telling myself. :)

Bacon in Paradise

So, we've been in the house for a little over a month now, and I've been so busy getting moved in that I haven't posted in way too long. Just had to get these two things out there before I forget, though.

1. I was getting the kids ready for school this morning, and this is what happened:

Erin: "What do you want to wear to school today, Zay?"

Zay: "I want to wear my silly shirt."

Erin: "Your silly shirt? I don't know what that is. You'll have to show me."

I open closet door and Zay immediately points to a tropical paradise shirt that Grandma brought back from St. Thomas a few years ago. It's been too big until now, but it's been hanging in the closet, and apparently Zay has had his eye on it. So, despite my "you want to wear THAT?!" I start getting him dressed in his silly shirt and some khaki shorts. As he's getting dressed, I see him looking into the closet again.

Zay: "Mama? Are those shorts the shorts that match my silly shirt?" Oh, snap.

Erin: "Um, yes. Those shorts do go with that shirt."

Zay: "Mama! I want to wear bof of them!"

Erin: "Are you sure?"

Zay: "Yes."

Erin: "Are you SURE?!"

Zay: "Yes."

And there you have it. The boy picks out his very first outfit. You can only imagine the looks we got walking into school. When I picked him up, his teacher said that at one point, she looked over and all of his buttons were undone. Oh, Zay Zay. :)



2. Cam woke up from her nap on Monday and began speaking in full sentences, which is really cute. However, yesterday, she demanded bacon (baco) for lunch and screamed and cried "BACO! BACO! BACO!" for about a half hour. Last night, we were reading a book about two bears and she frantically turned back to the page where the bears are eating at a table together. "Baco! Baco!" Yes, Cam. They are eating bacon. Finally, when I was about to put her to bed, I asked "Does Cam love mama?" and the response I got was "Cam love baco." Alrighty, then. This morning, I made her bacon for breakfast and the poor girl's gums are hurting so badly from incoming molars that she couldn't even eat the baco. My poor little carnivore.

Feeling Blessed

Three years ago today, God blessed us with an incredible gift and we named him Isaiah James. I'm simultaneously thinking "where did THREE years go?" and "wow, it's only been three years...feels more like ten!" I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today as I think back on the moments just before Zay was born. I was really excited to meet the little person that was about to change my life, and I had no idea what was in store for me - that I could love someone so incredibly much (and that the same person would be able to make me laugh, cry, scream and want to pull my hair out all within one hour's time in his toddler years!).

Isaiah is sweet and gentle (unless it involves Camilla). He is a smart little boy with a pretty extensive vocabulary. He loves cars and can name most of the car makes we see about town. His current "favorite" care is a Toyota Prius. He loves music and listening to the radio. He really loves anything by Lady Gaga, but also enjoys some Matt Nathanson, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper and Bob Marley. He HAS to dance if hears anything remotely close to a beat. He has always been a terrible sleeper. He is passionate. He loves having guests over to visit. He pronounces "sp" as "f" so today is his "fecial day" and he'll eat his ice cream with a "foon." He'll do just about anything to go to the park or the pool. He is inquisitive. He never stops talking (unless he's eating). He has to have something to snuggle with when he drinks milk: "mama, who I can snuggle wif?"

I could go on and on and on. I love this little boy and am so grateful for such a blessing. Happy Birthday, Zay Zay!

A Hobby

I think I may have finally found a hobby! I've never really had one before (I would still like to learn to play the guitar), and I've always felt kind of lame because I don't have an official hobby. My new hobby is finding signs that have punctuation and grammar errors. While it will probably get me into a car accident as I crane my neck to look for errors, it seems to be something that I'm fairly good at, and I really enjoy doing it so I think that qualifies it as a hobby. I do realize that there are lots of blogs already devoted to this "hobby" so I'm not pretending that it's something new, but it's just really fun. I'm trying to be better about snapping pics of the great signs I see so I can create my own coffee table book, but I've missed some valuable pieces. Some of my favorites include "No Contrack" at a cell phone store on Moreland and "6 Pack of Sweat Water" (rather than Sweet Water) at a package store on Moreland. Coincidence that these were both on Moreland? I think not. Anyway, I found my most recent favorite while perusing a Rooms to Go outlet store. The sign was taped to a large box wrapped in synthetic leather. I have no idea what this piece of furniture is, but apparently I'm not not first to wonder. Can you ever have enough punctuation?



Quick house update - If you're planning to renovate and/or build a house, I have some advice for you: do not, at any point, think that you're actually "on schedule." You're not. Ever. You will not move in when you expect to - or even within a few weeks of that. It's a huge bummer and it's an emotional roller coaster. Just pretend you don't have a new house to move into and you'll be pleasantly surprised when you do get to move in. :) Needless to say, we've run into a few more delays (I mean, really. Who NEEDS a gas line?!), and now we're aiming for next weekend. Here's hoping Zay can turn three in our new digs. The house does look fantastic, though, and we're just really excited.

Peace.

The Scoop

Alrighty...I have been inspired by a friend (who has a very cute blog about her family happenings) to get going with the blog again.

After MONTHS of setbacks, it looks like we're moving into the new digs next weekend. Hopefully. For now, there's not much curb appeal, and we do have plans for a porch and some front yard beautification, but that's all on hold until we stop bleeding money. The floors have been stained and appliances are scheduled for delivery this weekend. Looking back, I wish I would have blogged regularly about our renovation journey because it's been such an emotional roller coaster that I'm certain we'll forget just how crazy it got at times. I do plan, however, to take a photo of our current room in my mom's house to remind us of just how nuts it all is. There are four of us (Josh, Me, Zay and Tyler) in one room - that's a king sized bed, a toddler bed and a pack & play along with a dresser and two night tables. The pack & play blocks the closet doors so we try not to have to go in the closet very often, which explains why you've seen us in the same outfits for the last several weeks! At 5:10 am, Josh reaches over me to turn off his alarm. He slinks off the one corner of the bed where there isn't a child's bed touching it and silently maneuvers through the dark to get ready for work. Cam gets her own room because she's an awesome sleeper and I'm just not messing with that.

During these last few weeks, the pressure has certainly been mounting. There have been lots of last minute decisions to make, budget crises and just plain nonsense with our general contractor. I find myself having all kinds of anxiety about how much we've totally wrecked my mom's house and how we're going to handle moving into a new house (changing the kids' environments, moving all the stuff, etc.). It seems that my tension has definitely rubbed off on the kids who act as if the walls are literally closing in on them. Poor kiddos just need a yard to run in! What I've been terrible about is counting my blessings. We are incredibly blessed to even have this opportunity. Not only are we able to pretty much custom build a house, but we've had a warm, welcoming house to stay in while we're doing it. I'm going to make a concerted effort to be much more grateful during these last few weeks in our temporary residence. ;)

As for the kids, it's always a three-ring circus. Zay is currently obsessed with identifying car emblems, and he actually knows quite a few of them. Walking through a parking lot is pretty entertaining as he points out Cadillac, Audi, Mercedes, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. He knows Ferrari pretty well, but we don't see many of those! He is equally obsessed with Lady Gaga and sings Paparazzi ALL day. He has some other favorite top 40 hits as well: Carryout (Timbaland), Hey Soul Sister (Train) and Your Love is my Drug (Kesha). Pretty entertaining.

Cam is super fiesty. In fact, she just deleted half of this post. Sheesh. She loves to play ball and with Zay's cars, but she also loves her accessories. She prefers to be wearing a hat, sunglasses, book bag, pretty shoes, etc. She's very cute and is learning more and more words every day; although, her own toddler language is pretty funny. Zay calls her Turkey Shadow (no idea), and we've decided that it fits her well. :)

Tyler is getting bigger and fatter everyday. He smiles a lot and is a pretty decent sleeper, although I wouldn't hate it if he slept through the night! From what I can tell, he's going to be my more calm child. We'll see!

That's it for now. We'll see if I can actually keep up this time. :)

Another try

Here I go again...we'll see if I can actually keep up with the blog. There's just so much going on that the only way to keep multiple people updated on the multiple goings on seems to be the blog! QUICK recap:

We sold our house in Ormewood Park (in August) and are living with my mom in East Lake while the house we bought in Oakhurst is being renovated. Feeling a lot of frustration because we closed on the house in late November and it's still sitting there in the same state. There was (and probably still it) a lot of permit stuff, but now it just seems to be that our contractor is a slacker. We'll see. Tomorrow is supposed to be the FINAL date for demo to start. Should it actually happen, I think I will have some wine to celebrate. ;)

FitWit is fine. The end of year banquet kept us busy, and it was a lot of fun.

Isaiah is embracing the age of 2 1/2 with all of his huge self. It is a seriously challenging age as he becomes smarter and more manipulative, but it's also super fun. He says the craziest things and has a memory like a steel trap. He's getting much better at sharing with his little sister and is very sweet to the baby growing in mama's belly.

Camilla is just getting over two weeks of being super sick, and she's back to her old self: laughing and silly. She's a really happy little girl and is taking the world by storm, it seems. She's walking and babbling and making it known to her brother that she's not a pushover. It's very fun.

Baby #3 is growing rapidly, and we're really excited to meet him/her in mid-March! We're starting to get serious about picking names, but this one is harder than the first two. Hmmmm.

That's the very quick recap to get me back on track.

:) Erin

Quick Update

Don't have time to write too much as Zay will be home from "school" in a few minutes. Things are still busy, but not too much has changed. The house is still on the market and the price has been reduced! I know that special buyer is out there just waiting for the right moment. The moment is NOW!

Zay is talking up a storm and trying every new word he hears. His current faves are: tunnel, panda, Fletcher (Rae's dog) and something that he thinks sounds like vacuum cleaner. His school pics are back and they're hilarious. I have no idea how these people got him to make these faces, but they're great (the people and the faces).

Cam is getting bigger every day. She's got some serious chipmunk cheeks going on. She laughs and smiles all the time, but today she has a cold. :( She has sneezed about 1,000 times already today. Poor thing.

Josh and I are TRYING to recover from bronchitis, but it's a slow road. We sound terrible, but I think we're both feeling better today so we'll see.

That's about it for now. No big, earth-shattering news to report. Life is good.