October!

It flew by like crazy! After my week at home while the hubby traveled, my mom came for the weekend. We had a blast…sewing and taking care of children. Wait, that should read “taking care of children and sewing”. Oops.

Here’s Troy…asking for thread again. I guess this is what happens when a little boys’ mother sews.

 

We went to the downtown Opelika semi-annual On the Tracks event. Suffice it to say that we were the only ones with a 6 week old in a baby bjorn with two toddlers. Nice.

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Loachapoka Syrup Sop. For a town of less than 200, the annual event is a huge moneymaker. It’s estimated that 20,000 showed up for this years’ event. In addition to syrup and biscuits are vendors and historical items (from buildings to tractors).

Once the daddy got home, we headed to the College of Arts & Sciences festival. It’s so much fun living in a college town!

Is this not the most awkward photo with Aubie? Seriously, what is Troy doing? Justin isn’t sure and wouldn’t sit still without Brian making him.

The girls LOVED Troy! He asked to have a spider painted on his hand and was so proud.

Hangin with the kids day 4

I’m tired…as in sleepy, worn out, pooped. Oh, and I have to deal with a lot of poop everyday. Whew!

I try to have a goal a day. Today’s goal was to wash the nasty spit-up ridden fuzzy bear mat along with the dried spit up spotted blankets. It’s almost 11 p.m. and I JSUT finished. Some things take forever.

But, overall we had a great day. Got to a slow start with breakfast and such because I was exhausted this morning. My little friend who is with me most of the time woke up every 2 hours to eat last night. Man, I wish I could do that and not gain weight.

But when Troy came in my room at 4 a.m. telling me he couldn’t find his hat, I immediately sent him back to bed. Of course he came right back and I still had to get up and help him find his “hat”. See the picture below of him wearing a zip up hoodie with a cap? That would be his birthday present from his cousins Colt and Addie. He’s been wearing these clothes non stop since he got them! They have John Deere on them. Is it cold outside? Not when we go out there….but he still wants to wear it. Even in bed, he wears the hoodie and hat and wakes up pouring in sweat. I think it’s cute….and a little strange. But we’re all strange in our own little ways which is what makes us individual.

Anyway, we made it on a walk where…..again, I’ve the baby in the baby bjorn and am pushing the other two. Troy wore appropriate shoes and was able to run in his shoes today. As soon as we got back, he wanted to ride in the gator. I obliged.

See the little onesie Blaine is wearing? That would be my niece’s Christmas gift from my dad last year. It says “dirt makes me cuter”. Um….my niece is a girl. No offense to my dad (I doubt he even knows I have a blog) but this is not for a girl. Glad he got it for her…otherwise we’d never have it. It’s perfect for Blaine!

So after lunch for the boys, I was feeding Blaine (surprise) and decided to sit down in the living room. I just wanted some peace and quiet. Troy and Justin were on the back porch. Next thing I know, Justin is cackling laughing. When I get up to see what they are doing, I see Troy wrestling with Justin and blowing zerberts on his belly. Even now I’m not sure if he was being sweet or crossing over into the not-so-nice zone. Either way, they were both laughing.

Oh, and the BEST thing happened today. Brian came home! Early at that – this afternoon. I thought it would be late tonight so it was a very welcomed surprise. Not only just to see him and let him see the boys but I needed to take the sewing machine to get serviced. It’s a small store and I couldn’t take all of my kids in there!

Anyway, I got it done. Tomorrow Brian’s heading out for the Auburn/Vanderbilt game. To say I wish he wouldn’t go is to speak the truth. But, if it were me, I wouldn’t back out. What makes it better is that my mom is coming. Hallelujah! Maybe I’ll make her work her tail off and tell her she can’t have a nap (I might have done that in the past). I am taking her to a wine event in Opelika which is my attempt to butter her up before making her work!

Night!

Hangin with the kids day 3

Blaine, blaine, blaine. He’s 6 weeks old…which means he’s hit a growth spurt. Growth spurts mean he’s a hungry baby! Since I help him out in that area of his life, it means I spend a nice chunk of time feeding him. Last night it was every 2 hours. Whew! Then Troy…who didn’t fall asleep until close to 11 p.m. (trust me, I was fussing at him for a while), woke up at 5:45 this morning.

That’s early after having had to wake up every 2 hours.

So I got up and got busy. Baked some milled flax seed muffins and monogrammed two shirts. HA! Even if that would have been all I did, I’d consider it a successful day.

Troy loves thread….any of my sewing thread. He’s here trying to bargain for more than 2 pieces of thread. All he does is roll them around in his hand, fiddle with the loose string and sometimes pretend like they’re batteries. Admittedly, he’s very good at putting them back (most of the time). His favorites are new ones that still have the clear plastic cover on them. He’ll take it off and put it back on…and usually get pretty mad about it not being perfect for him.

As soon as I dropped Troy off at preschool, I loaded J and B in the stroller and went running. Today was better than 2 days ago since I actually ran the 2 miles. Walked a little more than that. But, I need to get back in shape. And, it seems to be the only time I’m not carrying a child. Pushing is easier!

A sweet friend came over with her two daughters to play. It was SOOO nice! Troy and Justin had distractions which helped me a ton. Thanks Meredith!

Oh, and yesterday Troy received a belated birthday present (sometimes these are the BEST) from my sister and her family. It’s a John Deere zipped hoodie with a John Deere hat. Ummm, he loves this for some reason. Yep, he loves John Deere but he won’t take these things off! He wore them during his nap (can you say hot?!) and when he went to bed. It’s actually helped me because I’ve told him if he gets out of his bed then I’ll take it away. He doesn’t want to have it taken away.

Dinner was sautéed sweet potatoes with turkey sausage and a strawberry/banana/Greek yogurt/kale smoothie. Delicious!

Aren’t these the cutest things ever?! They are calling cards I ordered through a company in Dothan. Couldn’t be more pleased with them. They’re so adorable!!!

Hangin with the kids day 2

Today was pretty good. Troy is in preschool 3 days a week which leaves Tuesdays and Thursdays open for me. I’ve been trying to get out and get some exercise daily. I’ve refused to be interested or consider a triple jogging stroller. Admittedly it would be nice right now but probably not practical in the long run. My solution is to keep Blaine in the baby bjorn and allow the other boys to ride in the double Bob. About half way to 3/4 of the way into our walk, Troy decides he wants to ride. This is not the first rodeo.

Mind you, I cannot run with Blaine in the baby bjorn. But a 2 mile walk with him the bjorn and the other two in the stroller is good enough for me. Today, Troy was adamant that his orange crocks fit (they are size 7/8) although his current shoe size is a 9 1/2. After 2 minutes of jogging , he decided he needed to go barefoot. All I did was warn him not to step on the acorn shells.

One person, about the age of a grandparent, said that his feet had to hurt.

Blaine and Justin have been sweet angels. Troy is pretty cool and very entertaining!

Pictures:

Blaine is wearing one of my most favorite little knit outfits for the first (and last) time. He practiced holding his head up and smiling at his favorite person (me)!

Troy running barefoot with me pushing the double jogger and walking with Blaine in the baby bjorn.

My goal today: put up the Halloween light string and put away the boys winter clothes. Done! Well, minus a few long sleeve shirts that need to be hung. Oh, and I put up the sewing stuff (sort of). I did finish a couple of monograms, too.

This was bedtime. Blaine in the bouncy seat. Half of the time he was screaming. Troy bouncing around while I try to read Thomas and keep Justin in my lap all the while trying to put Justin’s shoes on and keeping the pacifier in Blaine’s mouth. They were starting to stress me out! Btw, this pic is upside down. Do I care? Nope.

It is now 11 p.m., I’m in the bed and about to crash. Troy fell asleep about 15 minutes ago. Should make for an interesting tomorrow especially since he’s going to preschool.

Hangin with the kids day 1

My days of maternity leave are flying by. I’m flying solo this week so survival is the key factor here. Blaine is not on a schedule…nor am I trying to get him on one….it’s too early for me. However, I have to admit it makes for an interesting day while trying to cater to his sporadic milk needs.

This was taken yesterday. Before Brian leaves to go out of town for work, he gets into cleaning mode. It’s pretty awesome, yes. However, he gets stressed out if he can’t get everything on his list complete. So I decided to try and burn some calories. I thought Troy would run some. What was I thinking?! He wanted to ride. So I strapped Blaine in the baby bjorn and let the other two ride. Of course about a half a mile into it, Troy decided he wanted to run. Whatever.

So today is survival day.

Troy decided he doesn’t like the personalized plate he had for lunch. Hmmm, thanks a lot.

Blaine doesn’t like to be put down. This is a recurring issue. Sometimes the kid has to cry because…well, I can’t hold him all the time. Side note: sometimes he’s content without being held but most of the time he is not…unless he’s sleeping.

My reward for holding him: smiles, coos and laughing….then, finally…sleep!

I’ll try and update tomorrow with what we did. These photos were taken with my iPhone.

Oh, there’s a baby in the house?

It only took about 5 weeks but Justin has become interested in his baby brother. While it’s real sweet, Blaine isn’t quite ready to catch the balls and trucks being thrown at him or ward off the finger in the eye game. For now, it’s a sweet acknowledgment and worth the extra work to keep the baby safe.

I think he loves him :-)

Oh, and THERE is that eye!

Babies and Toddlers, trips, probiotics and shakes.

My life lately consists of feeding an infant, changing diapers and making sure the oldest remembers to go to the potty. Well, then there’s the feeding the other ones part, too.

That is, until one of them gets sick.

I don’t handle it well. As in, I’m a huge wimp. I worry and fret about what to do, how long *this* fever will last, will it turn into anything else, blah blah blah. Since Justin turned a year old, he’s been sick 4, 5, 6 times? I don’t even know. Turns out it started right after his first birthday….and right after he stopped getting breast milk. Yep, there must be a correlation there, right? All he’s had have been viruses but they last an abnormally long amount of time. So we found out he has had a low t-cell count….aka he has a hard time getting well once he’s sick. A fever that should last 2-3 days for one kid will linger with Justin for about a week. When he came down with something the week of my due date, I really didn’t want to have the baby come that week because I knew we’d be dealing with a fever for a while. That one lasted 9 days.

When Blaine was 3 weeks old, he got another fever. After the pediatrician said “I don’t want you to freak out but you need to keep Justin away from the baby. If the baby gets a fever, we’re talking about hospital admission, spinal taps and other tests”. Uh….if that doesn’t freak a new mom out, I don’t know what will. So I escaped to my mom’s house. That fever only lasted 4 days.

Then the light clicked in my head. There HAS to be something I can do, right? Justin hasn’t been eating veggies like he should. So I decided that my new goal is to get some veggies in him daily and add probiotics. What else can I do? Pray. The kid loves to drink. He gets orange juice in the morning and milk or water during the day. Nothing else. But I remembered a friend’s blog (Auburn Wellbeing) and how she says I can make shakes with fruit and veggies. For three weeks now, I’ve been dedicated to getting my kids (and family) to eat better and cleaner. I hope it sticks. I pray that it sticks! Not only will it help my children, it will help me and the hubby. So far, so good.

But I have to admit the Halloween candy has definitely made things difficult for me. At least it’s only temporary.

Blaine at One Month

This little dude is already a month old? What? I’ve heard every mother say that time flies. Well, it’s going at warp speed this time around. Blaine is a true joy, so sweet and is pretty easy going so far. He doesn’t like to be left alone and seems to enjoy being around noise most of the time. Check that off the list since he has two older brothers.

HE SMILED AT ME! Intentionally, I think, yesterday and again this morning. Warms my heart. He seems to have a big, opened mouth smile and I love it to pieces. Just like him :)

Took him for his one month appointment today. Only three days past his actual “one month birthday”. I’d say that’s a success for this mom. With Brian out of town, getting three little children ready and out the door by 8 was no small feat. I conquered it well, though. Didn’t blow dry my hair but when do I do that anyway? I digress…

Wearing size 1 diapers but as soon as we run out of those, he’ll be in size 2 diapers. He’s filling the 1’s up too fast. Size 3-6 month clothes. He has a long stride but the legs in size 6 month outfits are too long. Sleep varies at night. Sometimes it’s 5-7 hours, sometimes it’s ever 3 hours. Both are nice either way.

Stats:

     Weight: 13 pounds, 8 ounces

     Height: 23.7 inches

     Head: 15.6 inches

     *Off the charts. Seriously? Never thought I’d have a baby off the baby charts. Admittedly, it’s a nice feeling. With the last child barely at 10-15% for the first few months, it is an exciting thing to not have to be concerned with weight gain.

Happy Fall Y’all!

This might be my most favorite time of the year. I LOVE pumpkins….pumpkin shirts, pumpkin sweaters and everything that comes with pumpkins. Oh how lovely the fall is in the south. It’s our small window of cooler weather and it’s oh so lovely!

I’ve been spending a bunch of time taking care of these little guys:

Oh, and thanks to KK for the outfits. I did repay her…..by cleaning and organizing her sewing room/closet/stuff. I expressed to her the importance of folding the fabric scraps in order to make room for more. I’ll have to see (in about a year) if it helped. Artsy people can be so messy…