10 Stars

Lily earned her 10th star on Friday night, so that meant that part of Saturday was devoted to doing something special that Lily picked! We were so excited that she earned her 10 stars! We are really trying to praise her when she does something well. Lily decided that she wanted to go to the bakery (again). I tried to tell her that she can pick anything she wanted, even something that we've never done before. We want to make it a BIG deal- something really special. But she's only 3, so I don't think she quite understands what all of her options are. So, alas, we went to the bakery again. But, it's an awesome bakery, so we weren't complaining one bit!

To start off our bakery trip, I told Lily to pick out a "special outfit". This is what she picked out! She looked SO cute!!

Next, I told her to go pick a "special book" to bring in the car. She was quite excited about this. She picked "God Thinks You're Wonderful" By Max Lucado. I can't believe she didn't pick a princess book!

Jonah and Lily excited to head out to the bakery!

I told Lily that she could pick anything she wanted (even if it was a cupcake), but she wanted the donut covered in sprinkles- her favorite :)

Sprinkle Mouth!

We had a great trip to the bakery. Thank you Lily for earning your 10 stars! We can't wait to celebrate together as a family when you get 10 more stars! (She already has 5!!)

kids say the darndest things...

"Mommy, why do you have a big belly?"

Because I have an 7 month old?

Because it's nearly impossible to exercise with three kids in tow?

Because I had 3 babies in three years?

Because my body has not been my own since December 2005?

I said none of these things.

Jake said, "Lily, it's not nice to say that to someone"

Sad day for Mommy.

Mazda5 update

(same interior, just black seats and no nav.)

Well, here is an update on the issues we had with the first van we bought:

Jake talked back and forth with the dealer all day last Thursday. He went there after work and they had a brand new van, exactly like the first one (minus the damage on the roof), waiting for us! They had it shipped from another dealer, just for us, since they didn't have the one we wanted on their lot. So, Jake had to sign new paperwork all over again, but an hour or so later, drove home in our brand new, non-damaged Mazda5!

We took our first family ride in it this past weekend and it was great! The kids love it and we love it too (even Jake!) - it's a great addition to our family :)

How to beat a case of the Mondays

Run around, swim, and water flowers...

butt. naked.

First she asked to play outside.

Okay, no problem. Have fun!

Then she comes in with wet clothes and asks if she can play in the pool with her clothes on. Okay, but don't come crying to me when you are upset that your clothes are wet.

Then I go out to check on her only to see a pile of wet clothes on the ground and a very naked girl splashing and swimming in the pool.

Okay, but you need sunscreen so you don't burn that white bum. I think this is the first time it's seen sunlight.

Later she proceeds to walk around, still very naked, with only a bucket in hand, watering all of the flowers.

I couldn't help but smile.

My very spirited girl was living up to her temperament.

But it was just what we needed to cure our case of the Mondays :)

The Alarm

The past 4 nights, I have cut out Kate's 10pm feeding. A week ago, I would nurse her before we went to bed, and then she would wake up again anytime between 2 and 5am for another night feeding. I decided to try having her sleep through her 10pm feeding and see what happened. I was expecting her to wake up around 12 or 1am to nurse, but to my very pleasant surprise, the first night of no 10pm feeding she slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am! I was not expecting that at all, so of course, despite the great sleep Kate was getting, I spent much of the night listening for her, checking on her, and wondering when she was going to wake up. It was great that she slept so long, but at the same time, she skipped 2 feedings. Now, any nursing mother will tell you, that suddenly missing 2 feedings is, well, really painful!! By morning, I was about ready to wake her up just so she would nurse and relieve some of the pain!

Anyway, thrilled that Kate slept so well the first night, I was a bit skeptical about the 2ND night, thinking night #1 was a fluke of some sort. But, low and behold, Kate slept until 5:45 the 2ND night, and 6:30 again the 3rd night! Yay Kate! My body was adjusting to this new nursing schedule and sleeping schedule (finally all 3 kids were sleeping mostly through the night!!). Until last night....

We keep a clock/noise maker in the kids' room to help them sleep and not wake each other up- plus we have a little apartment, so we don't want to wake them up either! Anyway, last night I was sleeping great, until Kate wakes up at 1:45am. Words can not describe my disappointment. Going into night 4, I was thinking it would be like the previous 3 nights. I go into the kids' room to find the alarm blaring! I am taking a wild guess that the culprit was a little 2 year old of mine.... I fumbled around in the dark, trying to turn it off as quickly as possible. I finally get it off and back to the usual "wind" sound the kids are used to and rush over to calm Kate down, praying she will go back down after putting her plug back in. Nope. 30 minutes later, after getting in and out of bed multiple times, many whispered words of anger and frustration, I am sitting on the couch nursing her. Ugh. Defeated. I was so mad that if it weren't for that stupid alarm, Kate would have slept peacefully until 6am.

I am afraid now, that after one night of a midnight feeding, she is going to want it again tonight. I am praying that last night was just an off night and that tonight will go just as smoothly as the first 3 nights. I am hoping really hoping that's all it was...

Date Night

Last night, Jake and I had a date night. Not your typical date night, since it ended in us driving home in a new car! That's right, we bought a brand new, 2010 Mazda5. I think all of my van nagging finally wore down the hubby and we compromised by getting this sweet little thing:

It is not as huge as the Honda Odyssey (which I still LOVE and hope to get in 5-7 years when we outgrow this one), but it has the 3 rows of seats that I desperately wanted, plus an extra seat in the back so we can take a passenger, if needed. Plus, it's stick, which we love to drive and will help with gas mileage. We were quite pleased after signing all of the papers. We were getting really excited to drive home in our new car, as anyone would be. Finally, we were outside, standing next to our new car. Jake signs the last paper, we hand Emilio the key to our old Subaru (you will be missed!), and we are getting ready to drive away, when I spot this on the roof of our brand new car.....

Yes, it's damage! The pictures don't show it very well, but there is a large dent in roof and along the strip when the roof racks will go, plus the strip has been ripped and torn away in one spot. It looks as though either something hit it or it got damaged while being transported. Boy, are we disappointed. A new car should be perfect and we should not need to schedule an appointment to get body work done and drive a rental car home when we haven't even left the lot yet!!

Jake is going back today to get everything sorted out. We'll see what happens. He is not very happy about it. After the repairs are done, if it doesn't come out perfectly, then I don't know what we will do. I feel that things like this always happen to me. We can't even have something work out just right. There is always some sort of snag...

Friend or Enemy?

How about both? They're SIBLINGS!
Growing up as an only child, with no close cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or really any family at all, having 3 kids of my own has been an interesting experience to say the least. I really don't have a clue as to how siblings interact with each other. Sure, I can guess that it's normal for them to fight at times and be friends at times, but actually experiencing these sibling ups and downs is another story!

One minute, they are reading books together and sitting next to each other being adorable, and the next minute, they are screaming at each other, Jonah pulling large clumps of hair out of Lily's head, and Lily slugging Jonah and shrieking at the top of her lungs. Then after restoring order to the house, the cycle continues, over and over and over again. All day long.




It's really an exhausting experience, but quite rewarding. I am thrilled that they will have each other growing up, something I didn't get to experience, and regret (not that I had a choice in the matter). As much as they fight and bug each other, they love each other and watching them play together and talk to each other is so fun :) I am excited to see how Kate plays into the situation once she gets big enough to participate. I think she is already catching on that her big brother and sister are crazy! She often looks at them like she's thinking, "what I am in for?!".