Life is Never Dull.

I take it back. Any time I ever complained about being bored, I deeply regret it now.  Just in this summer alone we have had a broken arm, a knocked out tooth, a hotel lock-out, a play-pen escapee and a tsunami alarm on the beach.  Tonight we add to the list - a destroyed crib! Baby-Bug is definitely more physically adventurous than either of his brothers were at this age.  Big-Bug was the only kiddo when he was going on two, so he was having to figure everything out on his own.  Middle-Bug was (and is) just the type of personality that would rather snuggle and give hugs than run around and climb things - although he has still had more than his share of bumps and bruises! Baby-Bug though, he has TWO big brothers to keep up with and he takes that job very seriously.  He started climbing the ladder on his brothers' bunk bed before his first birthday (which prompted us to un-stack the bunk beds pretty quickly!) He is fearless on a play structure, we have to stack our kitchen chairs when they are not in use to keep him from climbing up onto the table and I routinely find him standing on the back of the sofa (eek!)

Tonight my husband is at a baseball game, so I was looking forward to having the house to myself (a rare occurrence.)  I made homemade pizza for the kiddos, gave them a bath, brushed their teeth, read them each a story and tucked them into bed.  All three boys were being so good and we really had a pleasant night together.  After I had said goodnight, I fixed myself an iced coffee with almond milk, popped in a movie and got ready to settle in and fold some laundry.  I could hear a little giggling coming from the bedroom, but it was pretty quiet.  Then Big-Bug hollered out "Uh oh mom, I have some BAD NEWS!" I hurried down the hall to see what was wrong and found one of the crib bars of Baby-Bug's crib split in two!  According to his brothers he was kicking at his crib with his feet and yanking on the bars with his arms at the same time.  Apparently this is an effective method of escaping!  Obviously I was not about to leave him sleeping next to the crib bar-turned-spear tip so I set about converting his crib into a toddler bed (thankfully he broke a bar on the removable side of the crib!)  Naturally - this transition is not going well.  It has been almost two hours since I put the kids to bed and all three are still awake.  Baby-Bug won't stay in his bed, he is REALLY enjoying his new freedom.  I had to put a baby gate in the bedroom doorway so I can sleep tonight (Baby-Bug also knows how to unlock and open the front door!) and the gate is doing a pretty good job of containing the chaos.  There is however, a small pile of stuffed animals accumulating in the hallway outside their bedroom.  Poor Big-Bug is trying hard to sleep in a room with his mini-tornado baby brother, but I had to pull Middle-Bug out and put him to sleep in our bed because he was encouraging Baby-Bugs antics a little too enthusiastically.

The Carnage

I'm not sure where we are going to go from here now.  Obviously Baby-Bug can not remain un-contained in a bedroom with his big brothers.  So it's either a new crib (which we probably only use for 4-6 months tops) or it's a re-shuffling of bedrooms......we shall see.  We are a family of five in a three bedroom house, so someone has to share no matter what.  Lately I have been extremely tempted to just get a murphy bed for the living room and give up our bedroom to the kids.  We hardly use our room anyway, we only go in there to retrieve clothing or sleep, so it wouldn't make that big of an impact.  The only issue would be storage...oh, and getting my husband on board  haha

Reading with Baby-Bug

This afternoon Baby-Bug carried a board book out to me and wanted to read together.  This particular book doesn't have any words, it just has a collection of related, brightly-colored photos on each page.  When I "read" this book with one of the boys, I typically just point to each picture and say the name of the object.  Today when Baby-Bug handed the book to me, he pointed to one of the small pictures on the cover and said "shoes!" This is the first time he has ever said the word "shoes" and he definitely knew what he was saying.  I decided to mix things up this time as we read the book, and instead of pointing to the objects and saying their name, I would ask Baby-Bug to point to a particular object on each page.  We made it through the book and by the end I was amazed at his comprehension! He could point out shoes, pants, a shirt, a car, books, teddy bears, a stroller, cup, spoon and fork, an apple, banana, ball, a nose, a mouth, a hand, strawberries, a dog, a fish, a hat, rain boots, a tricycle, a crib (which he called "nigh-night") and a boat.  When he pointed to the boat he even sang "yo-ho yo-ho!" haha. Obviously a lot of these objects are things he interacts with on a daily basis, so it makes sense that he has been exposed to those words, but I was really surprised he knew all the names for those objects because they aren't words he speaks (yet.)  He was pretty pleased with himself!

The other boys enjoyed some reading today as well.  We had a stop at a book store earlier so I could pick up the next four books in a series I am currently reading and I let Big-Bug and Middle-Bug each pick a new book as well.  Instead of books though, the boys decided on comic books!  This is a first for us :)  Big-Bug picked a Star Wars Clone Wars comic (which was pretty neat, even included pages with mechanical specs on some of the fighter planes - Big-Bug was way into that!) and Middle-Bug picked an X-men comic book that also featured a guest appearance from Spiderman! I had to censor out a word a couple of times, but it was a pretty neat story and the kids ate it up!  I have a feeling there will be more comics in our future...

A little of this and a little of that

We have been pretty busy around here lately with knocked out teeth and broken bones, but we have been having some fun and enjoying our "summer" too!

Last week the Bugs and I were able to enjoy a day on the beach with some of our good friends.  The weather wasn't very nice, but it didn't rain (much) on us and it wasn't (too) windy. The kids were hilarious because they actually shed clothing the longer they stayed on the beach!  They started out in swim shorts, rash guard tops and fleece jackets and ended up just down to their swim gear (after first soaking their jackets in the ocean, naturally.)  The kids spent the better part of the day digging in the sand, rolling in the surf and battling with stick-swords outside of drift-wood forts and us moms spent the better part of our day chasing after runaway toddlers, stripping and re-dressing wet, cold kiddos and rescuing beach toys that were stolen by the waves. By the time we called it a day, the kids were thoroughly worn out and the Bugs and I were able to grab a quick dinner at Mo's Chowder House before driving back home.  I tried their shrimp special and it was really good!  popcorn shrimp, prawns and grilled shrimp skewers!  It was more than I could eat so each of the Bugs had their first shrimp-experience as well (they liked it!)

We also went strawberry picking a couple of times!  The Bugs were really into it the first trip out.  They listened attentively and then spent the entire trip crouched down, inspecting strawberries, finding fully ripe berries, carefully twisting them off the plant and adding them to the bucket.  I was actually pretty impressed! Baby-Bug started out doing okay as well, but quickly began stuffing the strawberries into his mouth instead (stem and all)  Since we wasn't be very discriminate about the ripeness of the berries he was eating (some green....some smushy - yuck!) He ended up riding on my back in the carrier instead.  Let me just say squatting down to pick berries with a 30 pound kid on your back is quite a work out!!  The second berry picking trip was not so smooth, which is ironic because the farm had a fantastic organizational system in place.  They assign you to a row of berries, then you walk all the way down the row until you come to a flag staked in the ground.  You start to pick at the flag and you bring it down the row with you as you progress.  This way each group that comes to the field has an easy time finding berries and doesn't have to scrounge through picked over bushes (very smart!) Unfortunately, the kids decided they would rather sword fight with the flags than pick berries, so I picked as fast as I could, filled our bucket and got the heck out of there!  We picked up a box of freshly made strawberry scones and I grabbed a coffee from the farm stand and we all sat in the back of the car munching on goodies while we waited for our friends who were actually interested in picking berries :)  I think we are going to try blueberry picking next, I am hoping this will be more successful because it will be new and because there is no squatting involved ;-)

We also took a family trip the the beach this month.  I had to work during the early part of the day, so we packed the car and headed west for an evening of hot dog roasting and beachy fun!  It was a relaxing time, Big-Bug realized for the first time that it is actually fun to splash in the water and we couldn't keep him out of the surf after that discovery.  Baby-Bug learned to open the cooler by himself and was in heaven helping himself to carrots and bottled water and Middle-Bug.....well, Middle-Bug broke his arm on a log.  But he was having a ton of fun right before it happened!

Deja Vu!

We have another injury in the house.  About a week ago, my husband and I took the boys to play at the beach and roast hot dogs over a bonfire.  It was a fun evening and toward the end of the visit Middle-Bug was really having fun running to the waters edge and then racing away from the waves as they crept towards his toes.  He was laughing his head off and screaming and we were all having a good time watching him.  Unfortunately he lost his footing on the retreat and fell into a driftwood log wrist-first. He cried pretty hard and we spent a while checking his wrist, asking him to wiggle his fingers, rotate his hand, etc.  In the end, it seemed like everything was fine.  He stopped crying, he had full range of motion, his hand wasn't puffy, his circulation was good, there wasn't even a bruise or a scrape.  By the time we were heading back home, Middle-Bug had totally forgotten his hand.

A few days ago Middle-Bug was playing with his brothers and he bumped his arm again and said "ouch! my owie arm!!"  This raised a little red flag for us because there was no way his arm should have still been hurting that many days later.  But, when we pressed on his arm and asked him him a few more questions Middle-Bug said it didn't hurt at all.  We decided it was possible that he just smacked the same arm and it was just a coincidence. 

Yesterday I took the boys to meet a friend of theirs at the McDonald's playground. Middle-Bug was up in the tubes sitting at the top of a slide when another child squeezed passed him and shoved his arm against the side of the tube.  He started to wail and was so upset he had to come sit with me for quite a while before he calmed down.  He was pointing to the SAME spot on his arm and telling me it hurt.  So when I loaded the kids back up into the car I called their pediatrician on my cell and they were able to get us right in (The boys have the most wonderful pediatrician!) They examined Middle-Bug's arm and couldn't feel any noticeable breaks, but he was tender in areas that made them nervous.

So...this morning I took Middle-Bug for a wrist x-ray where they determined he has a green-stick fracture in his right radius very close to the wrist.  After the radiologist, we headed back to the pediatrician's office where they set him up with a splint and called in a referral to an orthopedic specialist.  Now I am just waiting for a call from their office so we can set up an appointment for Middle-Bug to get a cast.  He was a really good patient today, he has some reservations about the x-ray, but he ended up doing very well and was cooperative and pleasant the whole time. He got to pick a treat on the drive home and opted for a cake pop and 'nilla steamer from starbucks :) I feel bad that we let him walk around so long with a fractured arm before we took him in! Ironically he was actually IN the dr's office with a broken arm while Baby-Bug had a check-up!

Oddly enough, this same thing happened to me when I was about 5.  I tripped on my blanket while I was running down the hall and fractured my arm, but it was such a small break it took my parents a while to realize it was actually broken! Deja-vu!

This will definitely make our beach trip this weekend a lot more interesting.....

A not-so-relaxing week

I officially give up the search for relaxation.  After this week, it has become quite clear that seeking out relaxing moments actually sets some cosmic force in motion that results in strange, bizarre and often exhausting circumstances.

It all started on Monday night when I took the family to a Fourth of July party at a friend's house.  There was a fantastic firework show put on by the local golf course, and these friends have a front row view from their porch.  The kids had an amazing time eating popsicles in the dark, throwing pop-its and running around the lawn with their buddies, waving a flag and watching the fireworks exploding overhead.  Meanwhile, we were enjoying a fun visit with some awesome friends and having a good laugh watching all the little boys tumble around together in the grass. Ah yes, it was a prefect recipe for a magical childhood memory :)  We were having such a wonderful time, we even stayed until 11pm!  This was quite a treat for the kids and I must say, they did pretty well with the late night!  So where did I go wrong?  I'll tell you.  Tuesday morning the boys were still asleep at 9:30 (which is highly unusual) so I just took advantage of the quiet, made some coffee and sat down to read the news and have a little "me time."  10:30 rolled around and the kids were STILL asleep.  "nice!" I thought to myself. "what a relaxing morning!" Unfortunately, this relaxing morning resulted in kids who were not tired at bedtime.

Tuesday night I was playing host to the book club I have been attending for almost three years.  I was really looking forward to our meeting because the other ladies are so much fun and the conversation is always lively.  Since it was such a hot day, I thought it might be nice to hold our discussion out on the patio with a small fire and refreshments.  Unfortunately, my fire pit did not want to cooperate with this and tried to smoke us all out instead, so the fire was nixed.  We did sit on the patio however and the breeze was really nice.  Since the kids were tucked into bed and I was going to be occupied all evening, my husband decided to go out bowling with some friends....while I am really glad he had a fun night out, this turned out to be a bad combination of events. Instead of sleeping, my boys decided to alternate between hollering out the window at us, running down the hall and peaking out at us and crying (baby-bug's contribution to the chaos) For their grand finale, the boys ended up outside in their pjs, barefoot, playing on the swing set in the dark.  Needless to say this was a bit distracting, and didn't make for a very relaxing girls' night!!

Wednesday night, after a long bedtime that was made memorable by a post-bath-time poop by a not-yet-diapered Baby-Bug (and the subsequent mess that occurred when his brother discovered the mess by stepping in it) I decided to try for a little down time again.  My husband went to bed early after a long day and the kids were all tucked in for the night.  Baby-Bug was already asleep and things were looking good.  The house was quiet, my to-do list was finished for the day, and I decided to take my book with me into the bath and enjoy the quiet.  Things were gong well, I was enjoying my book when suddenly I heard what sounded like a slight jiggling of the bathroom doorknob.  I listened for a moment to see if that was indeed the sound I heard, but everything was quiet.  Hmmm.  I went back to my book.  A minute later, I heard the sound again.  I decided it was time to dry off and investigate, so I grabbed a towel and was just stepping out of the tub when suddenly "WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!"  someone started kicking and pounding on the bathroom door!  What in the world!!!  I ripped the door open and discovered Middle-Bug had had a potty accident while he stood timidly in the hall waiting for the bathroom to be free.  *sigh*  So instead of reading in the bath, I cleaned up my son (and the hallway) and got him settled back into bed.

Thursday I was determined.  This was the night I was FINALLY going to relax and enjoy my evening chaos and potty-mess free!  After the kids were tucked into bed, I went out and picked up sushi and a movie for my husband and myself.  We settled in on the couch to watch a light-hearted comedy and started enjoying our yummy dinner from our favorite to-go restaurant.  Suddenly I heard noise coming out of the boys' bedroom.  Annoyed, I marched down the hall to settle them down.  When I opened the door, I found Baby-Bug asleep in his bed and his two big brothers running around the room, throwing stuffed animals.  "BOYS!!"  So I got the kids back into bed and made sure to emphasize how important it was for them to stay in bed and be quiet.  Then it was back to my movie and sushi.  A few minutes later though, I was down there again repeating my instructions and adding the warning that there would be a consequence involved if they boys wouldn't follow directions.  Again, back to the couch I go and FINALLY everything is quiet and it seems like that elusive thing called relaxation might finally be mine.  Fast forward a half an hour and I am kicking back on the sofa, laughing at the movie and enjoying my evening....suddenly *Crash*WHAM*WAIL!!  I am on my feet in a second and racing down the hall.  I throw open the boys' door and flip on the light and there is Big-Bug, sprawled out on the middle of the floor with blood dripping out of his mouth!  I scoop him up and carry him to the living room, dripping blood the whole way down the hall.  I peak inside his mouth to survey the damage and find a big gaping hole where one of his front teeth used to be!  "What happened to you!!!" I ask "I fell off my bed" he replied....somehow this explanation and his current condition just don't add up, so I walk back to the bedroom and ask Middle-Bug "what happened to him?".  "He was climbing on the crib and he fell off"  Yes, this explanation is a lot more believable.  Big-Bug admits that his brother is telling the truth while he sits on the couch, biting on a wet wash cloth to stop the bleeding.  Meanwhile, I debate the necessity of a late-night ER trip with my husband.  Thankfully, the missing tooth was one that was already loose and we had been warned by the dentist 6 months ago that the root of this tooth was dissolving quickly and would likely soon come out.  Upon closer inspection, we could see that Big-Bugs tooth had come completely out, and had not cracked off.  We could also see that the blood had actually come from his lip, which he bit into when he fell, and not his gums - so that was reassuring as well.  In the end we settled for leaving a message for the dentist and putting his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy.  Thankfully, the boys have a routine dental appointment on Tuesday already.

At this point, I decide that any relaxing activity just invites chaos into my life and just turned in for the night. As we are laying in bed reading, my husband says "didn't you make some dessert? How about we go back out to the living room, cuddle up on the couch with some dessert and read for a while."  "You know what,  lets do it!" I say.  So we hop up to walk down the hall and I look over at my husband and see an ENORMOUS bug  on his leg!! He takes a swat at it and it starts flying around the house while we alternate ducking, swiping and eeking! Yes....relaxation and me, it's just not meant to be!

The sometimes surprising kindness of strangers

This morning the boys and I went to the park with our playgroup for a little play time and some fun with sidewalk chalk.  The older boys had a great time running around playing "star wars"  (what else!) with their buddies and Baby-Bug enjoyed throwing the chalk in the garbage can one piece at a time ;-)

Towards the end of our play date a group of late-teens/early-twenties guys on skateboards stopped near the playground to use the water fountain.  Baby-Bug was instantly locked onto the skateboards and hopped off the see-saw to get a closer look.  As he approached the group, the guys started talking to him and he babbled excitedly and pointed to their skateboards.  One of the guys handed his skateboard to Baby-Bug and Baby-Bug happily bounced up and down while he held it.  I was standing near by getting a kick out of the whole exchange when all of a sudden the young man said to Baby-Bug "You like that? It's yours!" and the three of them turned and walked away! So, Baby-Bug proudly toted home a skateboard that is bigger than he is and I remain amazed at the sometimes surprising kindness of strangers.  I have found the greatest acts of kindness have often come from the most unexpected places.

*and now I will be off to buy a helmet ;-)

Much on my mind

Today was...well...it was. 

In order to fully understand today, I have to take you all on a journey back to yesterday.  Yesterday being the day I ran out of milk, cheerios and bananas.  This may sounds like a minor irritation to most of you, but in a house with three small boys this is a crucial emergency.  My children cannot start their day without a bowl of cereal and a banana.  I can make oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, crepes, cinnamon rolls - you name it and those kids will be crying for their cheerios.  They definitely did NOT get this trait from their mother because I can't stand anything bland and cardboard box-ish.  Further complicating this situation were the facts that 1- my husband was leaving town the next morning and was going to be gone on business for a couple of days and 2 - I had a job interview in the morning before my husband left town.  These factors left me with two options.  I either had to run out to the store late last night and stock up, or I had to listen to the kids whine over their pancakes while I got ready for my interview and then drag them all out to the store with me later in the afternoon.  I am sure you can all see which one of those options was more appealing! So around nine o'clock last night, my husband still wasn't home from work.  This indicated to me that he was going to be quite late and I figured I had better send him a message asking him to come home before ten so I could make it to the store.  I sent a short, friendly message to his phone and then set about menu planning, writing up my shopping list and optimistically getting my shoes on.  Ten o'clock rolls around and there is still no word from my husband. Okay - he will walk in any minute....I'm sure of it. Ten fifteen, still nothing!  At that point I decided to message him again to find out how close he was to home.  Ten thirty he finally responded telling me he had just now checked his messages and was still at work.  *sigh*  So he rolled in at 11pm....the same time the grocery store closed for the night.

The result? This morning I woke up to my alarm a full two-hours earlier than I needed to start getting ready for my interview.  I threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth (your welcome) and combed out my bed-head on my way out the door.  I arrived at the grocery store in the early morning when all the aisles were still cluttered with boxes as merchandisers stocked the shelves. This proved to be quite the navigational challenge. By the time I checked the last item off of my list, I had an overflowing cart and 90 minutes before I need to be leaving my house, dressed for my interview.  Naturally I ended up in line behind someone who had apparently never been through a check-out line in their life.  They fumbled through every step of the process and I stood patiently behind them with my "friendly" smile glued to my face in desperate self-preservation. When I finally made my way out of the store I decided I had earned a cappuccino for my troubles.  As I drove home sipping my coffee I imagined myself taking a quick shower, getting dressed and heading out early - coffee in hand - to find my zen place and center my focus in peaceful solitude before my interview began.  This picture depended entirely on my husband's willingness to unload the groceries from the car while I showered of course, and that was a bit of a problem.  When I opened the door to the house I found everyone (including my husband) still asleep in their beds!  Well - actually the kids were all awake in their beds...my husband was the only one sleeping.  When the boys heard me come in they immediately jumped up and hit the ground talking, there was an instant spike in the noise level in our house and hubby must have noticed because he came out of the bedroom pretty darn fast! He instantly started changing the baby - then setting out breakfast and before I knew it, I had unloaded all the groceries while I waited for him to finish up with the kids.  I checked the time and now had only 30 minutes before I need to be leaving for my interview.  I got myself ready as quickly as humanly possible and raced out the door (with my coffee!) hoping I wasn't going to fall off my shoes and make a fool of myself.  I arrived at the parking garage a few minutes ahead of schedule, fed the meter and then sat down in the car to finish my coffee and find my center....yeah...right!  It took all the time I had to just calm down from the frantic pace of the morning, leaving no time to run over potential interview questions and responses in my head.  Before I knew it I was standing in the administrative offices, shaking hands wondering "How did I get here?!"

Luckily, the interview seemed to go well and I am confident that I made a memorable impression (in a good way, I promise!) since the woman conducting the interview and I shared a common interest that we chatted about afterward.  I am really hopeful that this will turn into a job offer for me. The position would be part time, on-call scheduling, but it has the potential to turn into a permanent part-time career position.  And that would be fantastic!

So now I am just going to relax after an exhausting day and a trying dinner experience with a certain kiddo and....wait....what's that? I have to do it all over again tomorrow at another interview...with an out-of-town husband and a (generous and awesome) babysitter?!  *double sigh* I guess it will be a long night of cleaning and planning instead. (Did I mention Big-Bug also has his kindergarten orientation tomorrow afternoon? Yeah, it's one of those weeks!)