Wow... I can't believe it's been over a month since my last blog. Don't get me wrong, I had every intention of jumping on here. After all, there's always something in my every day life that would make a great subject to focus on. I've been busy. I know that much. Between my somewhat successful effort to add exercise and good eating habits back into my life and my husbands horrendous work schedule there have been longing moments to blog. To be honest with you whenever I sat down to write, however, I started yawning uncontrollably or the baby decided she wanted to eat for the 50th time. Yes, my friends, I'm tired and the baby is a piglet! You know, I think I'm going to take this opportunity to recap February for you. I can't think of a better way to catch up and start fresh with this new month upon us. Here we go...
Riley, the eldest. Sweet child. He yelled and head-butted me a whole hell of a lot these past 4 weeks. I don't know why. Fighting for attenion I suppose? Nevertheless, he certainly won the battle of gaining my attention, that is for sure. Was it positive? Nope. Did I feel bad about it? At the time, nope. I'm realizing that I need to give him even more one-on-one time than what I previously thought was enough. Well, I should probably rephrase that. Attention to a child never fits in the category of "enough". I think we can all be honest in saying that we strive to hit the "enough" category rather quickly on certain days so that we can have a minute to ourselves. Why my dear son decided that squeaking at the top of his lungs like a frickin' mentally retarded cat who just sucked down 4 balloons full of helium repeatedly for 5 minutes straight would make me turn around and say "Yes, honey?" is beyond me. Oh, and when I ignored him hoping that he'd get my point that the un-godly noise coming from his tiny body was purely unacceptable, yep, he head-butted me. Hard. In the hip bone. Ouch. It wasn't just head-butting either. It was pinching the hangy-fatty part on my arm and the tapping me on the side of the face as hard as he could that really got my "attention". Poor kid. He's having a bit of a 4 year old rough patch right now I guess. Still love him. Wanna kill him. Still love him though.
Olivia, my terrorist. This is her new name. The terrorist. When she's not destroying everything around her, she's striking absolute TERROR in both myself and grown men alike. You never knew what she'd have up her sleeve this past month. Granted, she's always been a bit of a sweet little spaz... but this, this was just pure insanity. If it wasn't the remote, it was my cell phone. If it wasn't the phone, it was the toilet plunger. If it wasn't the plunger, it was the space heater and the misc. paper clips from who know's where in her mouth. I don't care if it was moldy, snot-ridden anthrax. She touched it. She shoved it in places you never thought it could possibly fit into. She squashed it, snapped it, twisted and mangled it. By the time she was done with it, whatever it was, you didn't even recognize it anymore. Oh, and she almost drown in the tub. Yep, I knew it was coming. If we're really being honest here, you all knew it was coming too. Don't tell me you've read all of the other blogs and didn't think she'd attempt a drowing in the tub or two. Perhaps it was my fault. In the 3.4 seconds it took me to literally sprint to get my screaming Natalie from her baby swing, Livy had managed to somehow fall backward in the tub and couldn't get up. Thank GOD I had the sense to only put a few inches of water in there to begin with. As soon as I heard the splash I knew she was in trouble. I probably yanked her up with as much speed as it took her to go crashing down, but it still scared me. It scared the SHIT out of me, excuse my French. Did she come up gasping for air, screaming and crying from sheer terror? Of course not! Silly you for asking. Her name is terror and she is it's creator. She simply laughed and stuck her face directly into the water and proceeded to try and drink it. I'm pretty sure she peed in it prior to, but this girl could parachute into the Iraqi desert and it wouldn't phase her. I came up with a new phrase to describe my little monkey: "Taming the beast". As you can see, February was a really fun month.
Natalie, our Natty Noo. Cute. Absolutely positively cute. You might think I'm playing favoritism with her compared to my descriptions of the other two little rascals above. I'm really not, I swear. She's just immobile right now and can't speak, so she's a piece of cake most of the time. I don't worry about her back talking me or eating a battery out of the Glo-Worm. Nope, Natty is content to stare at colorful toys hanging from the swing. She's smiling now, at everyone. Oh, and she coos and sings, both of which completely melt your heart. She's growing like a weed, which my boobs can attest to - they never get a rest. Aside from one fussy evening when she got five, yes five!, vaccinations she's been a complete doll. I secretly smell her head all of the time and get high from it. Love that baby.
Ryan, poor dear Ryan. Pretty much works 7 days a week, 12 hour days, comes home, eats dinner, says hi to the kids and passes out by 9. He's working like a maniac which makes things here at home that much more difficult. Not his fault, I know. I just don't see an end in sight yet and so my Mommy brain has to be restrained or I might go postal. He kept me sane. Just a tad bit worried I might lose my mind one of these Saturdays... hanging on to it for dear life right now.
Me, oh the changes! I've been eating healthy foods and focusing on balancing my nutrition for over a month now. Way proud of myself. I feel better and I'm not so groggy. I can actually stay awake during the kids nap times! Woohoo! I've also joined a gym and am taking Jazzercise classes. For those of you in the dark, it's like dance aerobics in a night club with great club music... only it's usually during the day with older ladies... and no alcohol. Okay, bad description. Anyway, it kicks my butt and that's all that's important at this point. I've also been taking a body pump class which incorporates weights with lunges, sit-ups, etc. I think I died and was resuscitated back to life after I took it the first time, but it's getting easier now. I want to get back into my skinny jeans so bad I can taste it. Which, by the way, is about the only thing I'm tasting these days.
Daily Life of Three, as a whole: We are surviving, no doubt. It helps that we scramble up the week with visits to my Mom's house and my in-laws. I appreciate these kiddos way more when I've got an extra hand to keep them calm or grab a chocolate milk from the fridge. It's given me a few extra moments to realize that Riley is the greatest big brother there ever was. He knows how to get his tiny sister to "talk" to him when he makes crazy baby noises at her. She's so in love with him it's not even funny. I've also never laughed so hard in my life at toddler antics, courtesy of Olivia. Who else can give you an evil laugh, run over to her baby sister, repeatedly lick her newborn head and then finally give you a grossed out look while she spits toddler drool all over the floor. Sure, Livy, it's disgusting. The baby's head is slicked down from everyone loving on her. You thought licking her head was a good idea because.... why? Oh yeah, you're 20 months old... and you're Olivia Grace. Nuff' said. Yes, we are still living the good life. Toting ourselves around in two vehicles as always, carefully planning out strategics on who has who and where that "who" will go in the grocery store cart so that we ALL can be comfortable. No more sicknesses, so far. Praise Jesus. I'm starting to see the light of Spring and all of the wonderful warm weather and playground visits that come along with it. We've almost survived the winter and I couldn't be happier. It's been a journey, that's for sure. Now, on to March and all of the quirky things it will bring our way. Don't worry, soon enough I'll tell you ALL about it. You love it, you know you do. =)
