Happy Birthday Parker

Our miracle baby. Its hard to believe that its been 3 yrs since God has blessed us with this spunky, STUBBORN, energetic, sometimes shy, smart, giggly little guy.

After huge heartache and almost losing him, God gave us this little joy in our lives and for that we are so very thankful! We love you little man! Happy 3rd Birthday to our St Patrick's Day baby!! 

(I wasn't allowed to take his pic but I tickled him to try and get a quick shot! - This was as good as it was going to get) More pics from his birthday night and party to come....

2 errands or 10?

Typically the 3 oldest kids sleep until between 8 and 8:30 every morning, not today! They all decided (except for Peyton) to get up at 7:20 clearly not ready to get up yet! Parker has been a mess all day! Nothing like starting out your morning with crying, whining kids that had they just slept until normal time would most likely be happy and at least able to function on their own. Everything has been a chore today... getting Parker to go to the bathroom takes 15 minutes instead of 2, getting everyone dressed and out the door to run 2 errands that I am dreading taking them on takes an hour and my house gets destroyed in the process, the boys are fighting NONSTOP.... While running the errands I'm playing referee, trying to keep them from destroying the store, from losing my mind, and still concentrate on the few things I ran out to get! Not only are they touching EVERYTHING in sight, they are just running out in front of people and nearly avoiding being run over by shopping carts. As I'm apologizing to the one woman, she says "No worries, I just didn't want to run anyone over", to which I say "that's ok, maybe if you did they would learn to stay with me!" She turns to me and says, "I understand, I have 5" which nearly brings me to tears, because she actually understands and ISN'T judging, much like all the rest of the comments I get from everyone!!

In the first store as we're picking out Parker's cake for his birthday party, the ladies who are "helping" me are chit chatting and telling me how neat it is that Parker likes zebras and is having a zebra party as my boys are putting their hands on every cake in the open cooler and I'm just waiting for one of them to come crashing to the floor. In my head I'm screaming at these ladies who are oblivious to the FOUR children I have and that I don't have time to stand around and chat, all while I'm spinning in circles making sure that they are all still with me and not getting into too much trouble! Can we just get on with it ladies?! Then as we get to the checkout lane, the pacifier that is keeping Piper sitting and quiet in her seat falls to the floor and the manager talking to the cashier steps on it!!! I could have cried. She offered to wash it off, but I kept my cool and stuffed it my pocket, grabbed my stuff and children and tried to calmly get them all to the car without losing it!

We get to the last store of 2 and we only have to run back and get formula and pick up Paxton's reflux medicine... wouldn't you know it, we get all the way to the back of the store and Parker tells me he has to go potty!! I could scream! It means corraling them all to the front of the store again (which is no small task and takes much more time than it should), and then going to get the medicine. After the bathroom, Piper starts spilling her snack ALL over the floor. She's eating these mini cheezits and they just start falling all over the floor; as I'm cleaning up that mess Parker decides to go through my bag and finds Swedish fish and pulls them out UPSIDE down!!! Now not only do I have to clean up the 50 tiny cheese crackers, I now have fish to clean up off a nasty dirty floor! An errand that is supposed to be taking 15 minutes is now working on 30... I go back to get the meds and they can't find them!! As they are searching, Piper is wiggling out of the seatbelt and trying to climb out of her stroller to face Paxton, the boys are running around and picking up stuff off the shelves. I finally pick up Parker, use my legs to hold Piper in the stroller, and yell at Peyton to stop messing with the pinpad for credit cards!! Finally they find the medicine and as I'm paying a man says to me, "Excuse me ma'am." and in my head I'm thinking, "great, what now?" and hands me Piper's binky (a clean one I had in the bag, not the stepped on one)! I was MORE than ready to get in the car and go home 45 minutes later! It felt like I had just run 10 errands instead of 2!

On a more positive note... I was able to snap this photo this morning. I love the smile behind the binky. :)

Really??

Why is it that time seems to go faster and faster with every passing day?! I cannot believe that Paxton is 7 months old already. It feels like just recently we were processing the news that our family was growing even bigger yet and here we are only 5 months away from our baby no longer being a "baby". Even though I thought we were done after having Piper, really KNOWING that Paxton is our last changes my outlook on watching him go through all the baby stages. Parker was still so much of a baby himself when Piper was born, being only 14.5 months old and I guess I got so wrapped up in trying to keep my head above water that I didn't sit and think "wow, this is really our last baby, no more of this stage or that stage", but its all too real this time and I'm not sure I'm liking it. :) Don't worry Mom and Dad, no more babies for us, just a little sad that the baby coos and smiles will all be over before I know it.

As I write this post listening to the boys play their nerf guns downstairs I came across this article in the Oprah magazine about a little boy who shot and killed himself with his father's gun accidently and the tears flooded my eyes to think of the despair this family must be going through and the lack of thought that was put into gun saftey in the house. I am always at a battle in my head on when its ok for boys to be boys and to play with these kinds of toys. They just don't get the seriousness of shooting a gun and that shooting a toy gun at someone in fun is vastly different from the potentially fatal outcome of shooting a real gun. Right now Jeff's guns are all locked in a gun safe and are kept a secret for the most part due to their lack of ability to understand the danger. We are believers in not allowing them to point the guns at each other or other people in a violent manner but this life altering choice for this family reminds me of how much more we still have to teach them.

Double fisted screams

Her latest "trick".... Gets lots of laughs around our house. Be glad that the photo doesn't do the volume level justice!!!

One of the many daily battles

I could tell them to sit down and back away from the tv in my sleep!! They are constantly fighting over a spot in front of the tv....wonder what will happen when there is a 4th and no room??

The big blues

This little guy's smile (not to mention the blue eyes and chubby cheeks) makes the bad week I have had seemingly disappear. Its just been one of those weeks that you wish you could start over... I hate to say that I wish it would just be over because I know how precious the time I get with my family is, but man I could really use a new start. Nonstop crying, fighting (6yr old vs the 3 yr old), throwing up (Pax's reflux turns into vomiting when he gets a cold!), sleepless nights, cleaning up potty training messes, ALL the loads of laundry that come with all the throw up and potty training.... Plus, Jeff has been so busy at work that I have been flying solo through much of the day and night. Thank goodness its FRIDAY! (Not that the weekend means much in "mommy-world"). Here's to a new week next week!!

 Pax wearing the Woody hat - looks more like a sombrero on him than a Cowboy hat!

Our girly girl

Despite poor lighting, this picture describes our little princess to a "T". She is a girl through and through!!! This morning she insisted on wearing her ballerina tu tu, her princess crown slippers, and her sunglasses all while carrying her purse over top of her PJs.

Wordless Wednesday - Brotherly Love

I know its supposed to be a "wordless" post, but I just have to say this makes my heart melt... they set this up all by themselves and are laughing it up and telling stories! (it quickly progressed to a snowball fight, but hey it was nice while it lasted!)

Paxton turns 5 months

The Pax-man is 5 months old today. He's been battling one sickness after another, but he is still full of smiles. Right now he has a terrible cough that just won't go away and worsens his reflux. Jeff and I have become good at catching vomit. :)

He loves to watch the other kids while he hangs out in his exersaucer.

Smiling at his Mommy. :)

Christmas 2010 Part 3

The boys got a Dragon Castle that they love!

Everyone is sick and it hit Piper the hardest...taking a rest on the pillow pet.

Opening her Olivia doll. (a cartoon pig on Nick Jr)

Boys at stocking time.

Opening the Dragon Castle.

Christmas 2010 Part 2

So Christmas Day started at 3:45 am for us!!!! Peyton came upstairs asking me if it was time to open presents yet!!! "No, Peyton its the middle of the night, go back to sleep!!" He then came up 4 more times before it was finally time to get up!

Pax man and Peyton were the only one's willing to take a picture before opening gifts.

Pax with his gifts from Santa.

I'm sad to say that Peyton's gift from Santa didn't arrive in time. :( So this was the subsitute Bullseye until Santa mails his out. He got a letter from Santa that said too many boys and girls had wanted Bullseye that he had to have extra made and to be fair to everyone he is mailing them all out at the same time. He accepted this rather well!

Parker with his Santa gift!

Piper and her big girl slippers.

Christmas 2010 Part 1

We decided to start a new tradition this year... making a Gingerbread House. This is it half finished. I got wrapped up in taking care of babies that I couldn't take one of them when it was all done.


Christmas Eve 2010 - It was a struggle to get them all looking and smiling, so it comes in stages...

Parker wanted to smile, but was being stubborn. :)

We had Christmas at my parent's house on Christmas Eve this year. This was the only photo I was able to manage getting. They all got pillow pets... the HIT of the night!!!

Wordless Wednesday - My Boys

Random...

There are starting to be many photos of just the boys because Piper refuses to sit with them for more than 5 seconds.

I even found Piper a Batman shirt!

The boys were playing around and Piper wanted to be a part of the picture so Peyton quick put the basket on her head. She looks so thrilled!

The boys coordinating again. :)

Finally one of all of them!

The picture says a thousand words

Paxton went for his 4 month checkup on Monday and was 18 lbs and 27 inches. (Peyton had him beat at 19.4 at 4 months). The dr increased his reflux meds and we are off to see an ENT specialist for his tongue tie at the end of December. Other than that, he is growing well (obviously) and moving on to the dreaded cereal and babyfood (my least favorite thing about the baby stage).

Ho Ho Ho

Poor Santa! Piper was fine with waving at him, but wanted NOTHING to do with sitting with him. Pax was ready for a nap and wasn't thrilled having to sit next to his screaming sister when all he wanted to do was sleep. :) The boys were anxious to tell Santa what they wanted... Peyton - Bullseye to go with his Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Parker - Slinkydog (from Toy Story as well). Santa was impressed with their simplicity and offered to bring them more toys. Thanks Santa, we needed that!

We are hoping to get through one more year with Peyton believing, but the kids on the bus aren't making it quite so easy. I have gotten really creative in trying to avert everything he's being told! And in case you were wondering, we are the only one's who have the real Santa at our mall. Everyone else has Santa's elves dressing up as Santa to help him out. :)

18 months

Piper will be 18 months next week! Boy, how time flies. She is a girly girl to the max; she loves her shoes, her purse, MY wallet. But, she can hang with the boys too. They keep her tough (sometimes a little too tough). She would rather spend her time getting into things than playing with toys. She's great at destroying. It drives the boys nuts when they are trying to build a train track or a tower!
Her talking has gone through the roof in the last month - she parrots just about anything you say, esp when you are telling her not to do something. Instead of getting down, she says "get down!" and just bats her eyelashes at me; a real piece of
work!

Mommy is slightly jealous of the trendy looks she can pull off!

Paxton is 4 months

"Pax man" as we often call him, is 4 months old today. He goes for his four month checkup on Monday and I'm a very anxious to see how much he's grown. He was 18lbs fully clothed about a week ago, so we shall see!

He is full of smiles and LOVES to talk to everyone. Oh yeah, and did I mention he's a big time Mama's boy! I'll take all the snuggles I can get because I know how fast it goes.

So cute

"I'm so cute and I can do whatever I want! That includes standing in my highchair to eat my lunch!" - Piper

And, a side note... what about this doesn't scream girl?? I don't know how many times I get asked if I have 4 boys!!!! She's in all pink, in a pink highchair/cart cover (and you can't see her shoes, but they are pink too!!!!!)

Astounded

In the past two outings I have had with the kids recently I have been astounded at how lax people are with their kids and just leaving them anywhere unattended.

We went to the library the other day and there was a baby sitting in a stroller with no one in sight for about 15 min. At the same time there is a boy about 2 yrs old swinging toys around, narrowly missing the other kids playing around him. All the mom's in the area are looking around with the "who's kids are these?" look. Finally this woman appears out of the rows of bookshelves and approaches the baby, never checking on the 2 yr old. I'm completely dumbfounded that this woman never approached the baby or even checked on the baby for such a long time. Anyone could have easily walked off with the baby and she would have had no clue!!! Later I see her looking for the 2 yr old and calling his name. She had no idea where he was! Come to find out later that these weren't even her kids, she was the BABYSITTER!!!!!!!! My heart sank when I found this out, knowing that the mom who has left these kids in her care is assuming they are being protected, loved, and taken care of , when clearly they are not. To top it all off, the woman was a teacher for many years and decided to start taking care of kids in her home to be home more with her own children. Really?? These are the people who are teaching our kids?!?!

Today as I was sitting in Target with the kids as they were eating their lunch, a woman is on her cell phone having a very personal conversation that the rest of the people in Target really didn't need to hear, as her children are pulling on her clothes trying to get her attention. While it was more the conversation that she was having that got my attention than her kids needing her and her not responding, it was what she did later that floored me! She had ordered a hot chocolate from Starbucks and I guess had gone out to her car and realized it wasn't what she ordered. So she pulled up to the front, left her kids in a RUNNING car by themselves while she came and stood in line waiting to get a new hot chocolate. In the 5-10 min she was inside I only saw her look outside twice to see if they were okay. I would have been a nervous wreck leaving them for that long in a running car in a busy parking lot!! I felt like I needed to keep looking out the window to make sure no one came along and just took them, or they didn't get out of their seats and drive the car away themselves (being that they were about 4 or 5). Have I ever wanted to just run in somewhere myself and leave the kids to do a 10 min errand that will now take an hour with 4 kids? Yes, but I've never done it!

I consider myself to be pretty relaxed when it comes to my kids. For example, I will leave the youngest in the house (gated in the baby proofed living room) while I go and take Peyton a few feet down the sidewalk to the bus stop, but to leave these kids unattended for such a long time just astounds me!!!! It also leaves me feeling VERY grateful that my husband works hard to provide for our family so that I am able to stay home with our children. And the few times they are with my mother in law or sister in law, I know they are loved and safe.

Me

3 days straight of 4 mile runs! Yep, I'm tooting my own horn! :) Very excited to be back up to this many miles.

I have to celebrate the "me time". Its what keeps me sane.

Why did I include this picture you ask?? Well because its staring me in the face ALL DAY LONG!!! Surprisingly this candy fanatic is doing awesome at not succumbing to the temptation (only 18 lbs to go and this baby weight is GONE!)

Tanya

Merrymead Farm

As if Trick or Treating wasn't enough, we decided to take the kids to Merrymead Farm ....

It was windy and cold, but we had fun. We took a hayride around the farm (the brown blob is Paxton sleeping in my new favorite baby carrier - Baby K'tan). :)

Haunted house

Hayride fun

We did a cornstalk tunnel. It was rather scary at times when Parker had run off and we were running around in circles trying to find him. (its like a corn maze for little kids, but its still tricky to find your way out - try finding a toddler who rarely walks and runs nonstop in a cornstalk tunnel with about 5 different ways to go!)

Tanya