THE DAY WE WALKED 7 MILES

Today was magic.
It was beautiful.
And entirely just what my heart needed.

Don't get me wrong, we did have a beautiful magical day of family time and love but it still wasn't all puppies and ice cream cones. Harlyn still threw her typical massive turd sized tantrum because she hates being cooped up in the stroller, Khage was annoyingly torturous to her because after all she was within arms reach to him and his sister-pestering-hands, the hat that I was wearing tried on numerous occasions to leap from my head to which I can only imagine was due to my poor decision to skip a shower that morning... or maybe it was because of the wind, and Brad's back still hurt because frankly his back hurts most of the time... so it definitely had its glaring areas of gray but all that aside it was still incredibly perfect.

Let me describe this day in detail. For the incessantly bored at heart feel free to skip it.

We left around noon and went out for lunch. Brad even made it a point to bring along some ColorWonder for their strollering pleasure... excuse me while I fan myself, nothings hotter than an overly prepared Daddy.

Ahem.

Anyway, we ate Mexican food on the patio and because apparently people don't like the outdoors we were blessed with an entirely empty restaurant patio all to ourselves. The kids played, hardly ate a lick of their food but hey totally alright because ya know more for me, and we enjoyed the breeze and sunshine.

From there we agreed to walk. Just walk. Anywhere. Around town, under overpasses, through brush, under train tracks, past fields, to Grandma and Pompa's house, and all the way back home. We walked for miles, over seven, equally more then 5 hours... which yes that works out to like an abominable 42 minute miles but speed wasn't our primary goal. We just wanted to walk, explore, see new sites and soak in some family time.

Sometimes whenever we are together, just the 4.5 of us I get overwhelmed by how much I love these people. Most of the time I thank God, but other times I thank myself for having the clarity over eight years ago to recognize Brad as my better half and the link to this wonderful life we have made together. Soul mates are for saps, and I am surely no sap, but I am so glad that I met him precisely on that day, in that distinct parking lot at that specific grocery store and that he is this particular kind of man. The kind of man who says yes to my random request for family time disguised as an aimless stroll around town.

These blissful days of nothing but family love are few and far between. Life happens; laundry needs folding, dinners needs made, and butts need wiped. But when family day does happen, I think the love between Brad and I and these wonderful little crying and fighting people we have made is heightened to a place of blissfulness and purity.

...okay, maybe I'm a little sappy.

And a total sucker for a sleeping baby.

And although Roo isn't here taking up space in the stroller or sending sleepy drool down my left arm, this bundle of love deserves attention too.

Oh how this bump makes me smile.

And small shoutout to Farmer John, whom I hope wasn't too perturbed by me stomping all over his livelihood. My bad, FJ. My bad.

AND THEN THERE WERE 3...

This post could also have been titled...

Oh, I get it. Now its starting to make sense how babies are made.

But, lets stick with the original.

Baby Number 3 / Baby Roo is here, in the womb sucking me dry of nutrients and I don't care a bit. I'm happy to turn feeble for the sake of our last child. With Khage I worked until almost 40 weeks so I was always exhausted, with Harlyn I was always trying to prove I could handle everything without help, but with this one I just feel blissful. I am relishing in it all because there is something so very magical about knowing this is you last time being pregnant, nothing can get you down.

Unless I get cankles.

But for now, I will relish in all things pregnancy related... even those pesky belly button hernias were embraced. It was the first time I truly felt pregnant so I couldn't help but "enjoy" them. And look at my baby above all 12 weeks old and without knees.

And now I cannot believe it is already 14 weeks old.

 

 

Thus far this baby is the least active in-womb of all my children... which I like to think translates to an uber calm and quiet baby. That's called pregnant lady hopefulness. Us, pregnants, are known for catching a dirty case of the glass half-fulls and Mama's bankin' on this one being easy peasy lemon squeezy.

 

Although I don't much have an affection for lemons... Easy peasy triple cheesy.

 

YES... that one suits me just right.  



CATCH UP CONTINUES - CHRISTMAS 2014

Give me a few minutes to recall some details of Christmas...

Because that's what happens the minute you have children, your once sharp memory, the same one you once prided yourself on, turns to mush. A once lock tight memory bank has an open door and dangling latch.

But all is no lost. I do recall this being the best Christmas yet. We basked in the beauties of this holiday season... unlike last year.

 

 

This year we happily blew our money on gifts that the kids no longer play with, ate way too many sugary treats but didn't care because that's what sweat pants are for and I didn't get all that mad every single time one of the kids yanked an ornament off the tree and broke it. We were happy. Still are. If you need us we'll be riding this ride until there's no more stops. And if a happy cheery Christmas full of love isn't enough for you...

 

Were also famous.

 

LIKE TOTALLY 8 PAGES DEEP IN A MAGAZINE FAMOUS. That's 8 pages into the magazine and you will see our faces, not 8 pages dedicated solely to our faces.... just to clarify. Were just beginning our famous so don't get crazy. Soon enough we'll be washed up... but until then lets look at the famous versions of ourselves yet again. Want a hard copy? Find us in the magazine section at your local grocery or book retailer, that's Country Living March issue page 8.

 



 

 

I'm so glad my mom never taught me to cook properly, turkey cooked to perfection is not nearly as humorous as the bird all a'blaze. And for those of you with the sharp 20/20, Brad's gun IS missing. The editors at Country Living thought it may be too controversial with all the gun control issues floating about... sorry Brad, but if they asked to put a Spiderman mask on me, permission to Photoshop Harlyn into twins and wanted to switch out Khages shoes for a pair of cowboy boots with spurs I would have let them. You wanna put me in a magazine... modify it as you see fit.

 

If your not convinced how legit this situation is, need I remind you that we are side by side to a Tidy Cats ad. Tidy Cats is like one of the top cat liters in this country. If that's not confirmation, I just don't know what is.

KHAGE IS FOUR

Its been almost two months since Khage's fourth birthday.

Needless to say... he's still four. I had this incredibly brilliant plan: if I continued to treat him as a three year old, referred to him as a three year old and begged him relentlessly to remain a three year old it stands to reason that he would be... a three year old.

There's logic behind this one, stay with me.

People always say your as old as you feel, so if I forced him to feel 3 that's just what he would be... that's not me talking, that's science people.

But aside from my ruthless nagging, it seems he grew anyway. Practically in front of my eyes. He uses words like literally, has an opinion about how he intends to do everything from getting dressed to climbing into the car, and any chance he gets he likes to refer to himself as a man.

He is truly 4... 4 going on 14. And I just need to deal with it.

I suppose this one growing is particularly hard on our hearts because he's the aging pioneer. Every new milestone and growth spurt is completely out of our realm of expectation. We don't know what comes next... and then he shows us and we sob quietly behind his back because he was supposed to be our baby forever. With him, everything is new and unexpected and it just makes it all the harder for us to loosen our grip and let him grow. For him, we have to buck up, hold back our fear and watch from the sidelines as he maneuvers through this new year. Our boy, comfortably independent and forever difficult... but loved beyond measure.

Dont Judge

Your kitchen too would look like this if an intruder decided to invade your home.

No.
Stop.
Don't freak out.

We weren't robbed.... Your so dramatic. Why in the world would a burglar upturn the oven? I don't hide my none-existent gems and diamonds under the stove, although that would be genius. Genius, before I blasted out my newly discovered secret hiding location on the web.

It wasn't a vandalizer or a thief, instead it was a dirty, stinky little house mouse. Although he didn't have intentions of taking off with our goods, I still feel violated by his mere presence. Khage on the other hand wanted to keep him. We met in the middle: releasing him near the wash by our house.

Tell me this? Should I be worried about my cleanliness if a mouse chose this particular place to pillage? Originally, I thought of myself as a clean person. I sweep multiple times a day and frantically wipedown the counters just about everytime I come into the kitchen. Seems I'm gonna need to step up my game to ward off future intruders... after all he knows where we live.

And don't worry about the toddler completely unsupervised on the counter... pretend the floor below her is scattered with pillows. It wasn't. But pretend. If the fictitious pillow safety feature isn't enough for you, Daddys in the diving with a 50 50 chance of catching her range. Believe dat.

Halloween 2014

I'm going to ask you to ignore the date today. Pretend like were pals and do me this solid. It is a week before Christmas and less then three weeks before the new year... that computes to a hearty seven weeks too late for this post. All is fair in love and laziness.

I had such plans for this Halloween. Khage was gonna be a cowboy... a rumblin tumblin child of the West, complete with homemade vest and chaps....

Then he saw an Optimus Prime costume. So I did what any mother would do, I tried to bribe him. I attempted to lure him over with talk of guns and a holster, but that boy cant be bought. He wants what he wants, and boy wants to be Optimus.

Do you see the look in his eyes? That doesn't come with the costume my friends, that's all Khage getting deep into the character. Once the mask went on, he transformed (eh? eh?) into a whole new guy. So much in fact he sometimes referred to me by my first name.
Jamee, will you roll my sleeves please? 
Jamee, can you help me put on my mask?
Thank you, Jamee.
At least his character maintained a constant state of politeness.

Harlyn's costume was also incredibly store bought, but one which we already had on hand. I pulled it out of her closet and said to her wanna be a chicken and she just continued to blank stare at me for an uncomfortable amount of time... I happily took that as a yes. I have always wanted my kids to share a costume. Have the one costume that no matter what they all wore it at least once. Then later I could look back and play a little game of who wore it better.

Your right, that is weird.

Enter chicken costume round two. Remember round one?

Maybe next year I will get around to posting Halloween pictures while not conjunctionally shopping online for Christmas gifts. Let us add that to my endless list of resolutions that will never be fulfilled. Just squeeze it onto the list... maybe before Make Khage and Harlyn wear coordinating costumes but after Convince Brad to dress up as the Phantom of the Opera. Oh how that Phantom has wooed me.

Happy Halloween friends.

You agreed to fudge on today's date remember?

18 Months

Yesterday our littlest lover turned eighteen months. Our Harley Belle has grown up so quick in the past few months that I feel completely blindsided. 

 

A few facts about our sweet little girl:

She's really not that sweet anymore, if provoked, she will hit you

She loves string cheese and homemade black beans

She screams all the time, for everything and nothing

She is potty trained but still sleeps in a diaper

She mumbles words and mimics tones

Right when she wakes up the first thing she wants is water
She is incredibly sensitive, just about everything hurts her feelings

She loves playing with her baby dolls or play food

She will go and rub Khage's back whenever he's crying
If we threaten to spank her she will finally mind us

If she wakes up fully from 9 to midnight she will not fall asleep for hours after

She loves petting Baggera but highly dislikes Koda

She says bye with a country twang
She is just now growing out of 12 -18 month clothes

She is in that frumpalump awkward hair stage
She will randomly give just because kisses
Shoes and socks are her obsession
and
Although she is incredible saucy at times, she will always be our precious little darling.
To the moon and back with love for this girl.

 

 

 

 

EVERYONES DOING IT

Sometimes I just wish I could give one of my kid props and the other one not get an itch to do something else equally impressive. Sometimes it would be nice to say hey person, look at what amazing thing this one kid of mine is doing without the other one getting all territorial over my admiration. I have got kids over here trying to one up eachother in incredible feats and monumental milestones. Ugh, what a life I lead with incredibly skilled and quick learning progenies.

Now read that again with a sarcastic tone.

Once Harlyn caught site of Khage getting his own featured blog post about riding his bike without training wheels, she decided to raise the bar.

And with the bar she also decided to raise the roof. Raise the roof people, because my little girl, not even 18 months old is potty trained.

Woop woop.
Poop poop.

Don't act like you don't see that turd. Its not the size that matters here, I'm just happy that lil guy didn't funnel down her pant leg and make itself comfortable on the carpet somewhere.... aaaaaanyway.

She stopped wearing diapers during the day over 3 weeks ago. She does occasionally have accidents and she continues to wear diapers during naps... AND that's all your gonna get from me in terms of playing down this amazing accomplishment.


Brad and I laugh because she has no desire to talk, but darn it the girl wants to potty like the rest of.

ITS LIKE RIDING A BIKE

I hate those parents who are always like my kids the smartest kid in the world because 1. its pretty obnoxious and 2. its not true because mine is.

...

I know, hate me if you will but I totally feel like that sometimes. My kid really is the smartest kid ever. 

Khage has officially learned to ride a bike, a big boy one with no training wheels. And while it doesn't take a genius to ride a bike,  it does take coordination, dedication and that raw fearlessness. All traits of Einstein I am sure. Not a foreshadowing, just an observation.

I am a combination of shocked, proud and sad over Khage meeting this milestone head on. Brad ran holding onto him for all of 50 yards before Khage no longer needed him. He fell only once before he was riding that bike like he has been secretly sneaking off to lessons in the middle of the night. Sidenote: He hasn't, trust me. I alarm the house at night so as to catch him with his body half out a window mid escape...

Enough from me, watch my baby not be a baby anymore.



That was only Khage's second time on a bike and now he's going off curbs, down driveways and pedaling while standing up. Add impressed to the cocktail of emotions I have got going on right now.

HARLYN AND HER PAINTED TOES

That's what happens when you leave Harlyn at Nana's house.

Brad and I took the stand against nail polish on babies well before Harlyn was born, obviously we didn't memo everyone. Khage confessed to me that half way through the paint job he told Nana Mommy says nail polish IS NOT for little girls. Seems that little tidbit didn't halter her any.

And obviously because Nana is a grandparent she gets a free pass for just about everything, which is why I saw the pink painted toes, simply smiled and said nothing of my disapproval.

And thanks to this post that she's probably reading right now, I wont ever have to. hi mom.

Of course were not truly upset over Harlyn's toes being painted, after all its just nail polish and it chipped off in less then a week. That aut to teach you not to pass on the top coat. 

And if anyone feels like testing our free pass theory, be aware... pierced ears are not included in that decree. That action will not go unpunished. Insert smiley face emoticon followed up by emoticon dagger, so you know were being playful but we also mean business.