Christmas shopping

Ever since Nathan was 3 I have taken him to the dollar store and let him choose a present for each person in his family. He writes out a list of names and crosses them off one by one in the store. He gets so excited and explains to me why each gift is perfect for each person. We spend the afternoon together shopping and then we always get a hot chocolate after. It's become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. 

This year was Ryan's first time getting to do it. It took a few minutes for him to understand these were presents he was going to give away, not keep for himself and at first he was less than thrilled about the idea. But once he finally understood, he also got really excited to choose presents. 

Christmas can be a bit overwhelming with so much emphasis placed on presents. Between aunts and uncles and grandparents and Santa, my kids get way more than they need. It makes me proud to see them embrace the giving spirit and want to choose gifts to give to others. 

Today after school we put a Christmas movie on and wrapped each present. It took us a long time but they were so proud of themselves when they were done. They are very excited to hand them out to everyone and hopefully they can actually make it to Christmas morning without spilling the beans!

I started doing my own laundry when I was ten years old. My mom gave my brother and sisters and me all hampers for our tenth birthday. Along with a lesson on how to use the washer and dryer. 

At the time I thought she was crazy. But now that I have 3 kids and a husband and I do the majority of the laundry... I think she was a genius! 

Lots of kids need their teddy bear to fall asleep. But how many kids need a cardboard box with a pack of napkins inside?

Morgan's 4 month checkup

4 month checkup

14 pounds, 10.8 ounces

25 inches

Head Circ 16.87 inches

4 months

This little angel is 4 months old today. She is the happiest, sweetest, most easy going baby. Kind of makes up for her keeping me up every single night! She is so much fun. Smiles and laughs all day. Currently obsessed with her toes and her brothers. Love you Miss Morgan!

Morgan turned 3 months old today and celebrated by sitting in a swing for the first time! 

Moments

Life with 3 has kids has proven to be... interesting. The house is a mess. I'm not sleeping. And somebody's always crying!! I've started saying a little mantra to myself when it all gets too crazy. "It's just a moment". I say it to myself over and over and over. Until the moment passes. 

We've been having a lot of moments lately. Someone's having a temper tantrum? It's just a moment, it'll pass. Someone's crying? It's just a moment, it can't last forever. Whining? Moment. Hitting? Moment. Complaining? Moment. 

Today was more chaotic than usual because it was Walk to School day. Mornings are already crazy. There are breakfasts to make, lunches to pack, teeth to brush.  I try so hard to keep it together but when I've asked somebody to put their shoes on 3 times and nobody's moving, sometimes mama's got to yell!  We live too far to walk but the plan was to drive to school and meet up with friends at the car so we could "walk" to the school entrance together.  We had to leave earlier than usual and we were running late of course. 

We finally got out of the house and I rushed everyone into the car. We parked and then I rushed everybody out of the car. I was getting Morgan into her stroller when I noticed Nathan put something on my seat. I ignored it, there wasn't time now to see what it was. We were late and I was rushing the kids, as usual. 

We walked to school. Met up with everyone and took photos. Nathan walked into class on time, we had a successful dropoff. When we got back to the car, I got Morgan and Ryan into their seats and prepared for dropoff number two at Ryans school. I opened my door and saw the little piece of paper on my seat. I had totally forgotten about it. 

I opened it up and found a little love note from Nathan. My sweet Nathan who always puts a smile on my face. No matter how crazy life gets, he is constantly a source of happiness for me. And today he was a reminder to slow down and notice the little things. The good moments.  The moments that matter. 

What's cooking?

So most days I feel like I've got this 3 kid thing under control. Today's not one of those days. Complete shitshow. Morgan woke up from a post vaccination 3 hour power nap. Screaming like I've never heard a child scream before. Blood curdling. So I go to the cabinet to get her some Tylenol. None. I've got every other medicine in there except children's Tylenol. So I pack all 3 kids into the car and drive to Walgreens. Morgan screaming the whole way of course. Get to the store. All 3 kids out of car. Into store. Realize I don't have my wallet. All 3 back into car. Drive home. Morgan still screaming. Now Ryan is screaming too. Because Morgan wont stop screaming. Get home, get money, get back in car. Back to Walgreens. Get medicine. She's crying so hard it all just spews out of her mouth when i try to give it to her. Looks like blood everywhere because of course I forgot to get the dye free one. She finally cried herself to sleep. I tried getting her to swallow the meds asleep but it just drooled right back out of her mouth. More blood. So now I'm fearing for her to wake up again. In the meantime I had promised the boys we could bake an apple pie so that's happening! 

Today was a big day for Nathan. Will has been practicing with him all summer and I  think today he finally mastered it. He officially can ride a bike without training wheels! 

Most days Nathan seems so grown up. He's in full day school. He can read without any help. He goes to birthday parties and playdates without me. 

But every so often we'll get a really loud thunder and lightning storm and he'll sneak into our room at two in the morning and ask if he can snuggle with us.

Yes. My answer will always be yes. 

Nathans Six Year Checkup

40 pounds,15%

44 1/4 inches, 26%

Healthy!! 

Everyday

For the whole four years we lived up in MA, Will commuted down to NYC for work. He would leave Monday afternoon and we wouldn't see him again until Friday morning. He missed so much with the boys. I used to see my neighbors outside my window after dinner, riding bikes as a family, and I longed for that.

I always planned on raising my family up in MA. Near my family where I grew up. But things don't always work out the way you want them to. Life has a way of throwing you curve balls. 

I remember one day we were at a friend's house for dinner. Her husband got home from work and her son who was just a little younger than Nathan got so excited. He started jumping up and down and yelled "Nathan, my daddy's home! My daddy's home!"  I'll never forget that moment. When Nathan looked kind of confused and replied back "My daddy doesn't come home." It was that exact moment I knew we had to move back to the NY area. 

We could have continued the long distance family thing but why would we? Why would we choose to live apart if we didn't have to? I missed my husband. My kids missed their dad. And Will missed his family. 

It's been an adjustment moving down here. It doesn't quite feel like home and I'm not sure it ever will. But moments like this make it worth it. Will got home from work the other night and after dinner took the kids out into the backyard. As I washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, I could see them out the window. Just a random Tuesday night and my kids were able to hang out with their daddy. 

No more waiting until the weekend. No more cramming a week's worth of family time into three days. We are together every night. And although we might not be exactly where I thought we would be, I know we are right where we belong. 

Ryan's 3rd Birthday

It's hard to believe it but Ryan is three years old! Something about three just doesn't feel like a baby anymore.

In the past few weeks he has grown up a lot. We converted his crib into a bed. I was nervous about how he would react to the freedom but he's been doing great! It takes a few minutes longer to get him settled since he can now hop out and grab one more book off his bookshelf but other than that he stays in bed all night and waits for me to come get him in the morning. The naps were what I really worried about but those are good too, still giving me a solid 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day which has been great for this tired, giant, pregnant mama. His naps are my chance to lie down, rest and prepare for the afternoon when Nathan comes home and I'm chasing after two kids instead of one!

He is also potty trained!! We're not 100% but I'd say we're a strong 85-90% and I'll take that. He rarely has an accident and he even sleeps in underwear and stays dry. Given how difficult it was to get his big brother to give up the diapers I was  hoping Ryan would be a little bit easier and he was. Thank God! 

Finally we took away the nap time pacifier. That was one thing I was hanging onto desperately because he has never napped without one. But once he was in a big boy bed we told him big boys don't use pacifiers and that made sense to him. We had a few days where he asked for it and he whined when I said no but after a while he forgot about it all together. 

Next up for this big kid is moving into his brothers room and getting his own twin bed. He's got three more months to be the baby and then he'll be a big 

brother! He definitely seems excited about the new baby but I'm not sure how much he really understands what is about to happen. Recently he has been asking me to rock him like a baby at bedtime. We sing a little song and rock in the rocking chair and then he goes to bed fine so if that's what he needs to feel safe and secure right now I am happy to do that for him. Part of me is sad he will no longer be my baby so it's nice to have those few minutes to snuggle him like I did back when he was an infant. 

The past three years flew by so fast. Ryan is, and always has been, opinionated and feisty. He challenges me more than I can handle at times and definitely tests  my patience. But he is also sweet and kind. He shares his toys with other kids. He listens to his teachers at preschool. He tries to make people laugh. He keeps us on our toes and keeps life very interesting!!

I love you so much Ryan, happy 3rd birthday!! 

The 55 minute donut

These winter afternoons are cold. And dark. And long! We used to play at the playground everyday after school and by the time we got home it would be time to start getting dinner ready. But now with below freezing temperatures we are usually home by 3:20 and that leaves us a lot of time to kill before the dinner, bath, bed routine can start.  I love my kids. I promise. But being stuck inside with a 2 year old and a 5 year old every single afternoon when they're tired and hungry gets old fast. 

So today I decided to take the kids out for a treat after school. We drove 15 minutes to Dunkin Donuts. Why 15 minutes? Because that's our closest drive thru! When we first moved here I was slightly devastated to discover that DD drive thrus are few and far between around here. As a proper New Englander I was addicted to Dunkin Donuts and grabbing an afternoon coffee was part of my daily routine. But anyone with little kids knows how annoying it can be to get kids out of their car seats and through a parking lot then into the store then back through the parking lot then back into their car seats. Especially when one of those kids is a 2 1/2 year old who by nature hates his car seat and thinks it's a form of torture. 

So I have to really want a coffee these days to drive that far for one. We rarely go anymore which makes it a very exciting adventure for the kids. So today, that was our after school adventure. We drove the 15 min. Ordered a coffee and a couple donuts. Got to the window. The man handed me the donuts which my kids immediately bit into. And that's the exact moment I remembered my wallet was back at the house. 

So.... We drove 15 min home. I ran inside and grabbed my wallet. Drove 15 min back to the drive thru window. Paid the very patient and understanding Dunkin Donuts employee. Then drove 15 min back home again.

Our adventure started at 3:23 and ended at 4:18. In the end, the kids got their donuts so they were happy. By the time we got home I had just enough time to sit down on the couch and drink my coffee and then it was time to start getting dinner ready so I was happy. We are all snuggling on the couch now while we wait for dinner to be ready. And that's how we filled up our afternoon today. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow. 

(If anyone wants to have an afternoon playdate, call me!!)