Mommin' It Up!

July 18, 2011July 17, 2011

Smelling the Roses

It’s summer. And school starts in 37 days. Not that I’m counting or anything. *Ahem*. Since I’m not a fun mom, I really do a little better with parenting when my big kids are in school. When I have time to breathe without the 24-hour-a-day “MOMmomMOMmomMOMmomMOMmomMOOOOMMMMMM”! chorus that, punctuated with interspersed baby fusses and screams, gives me adult ADD and makes me want to pierce my eardrums so I can get a hearing aid that I can just turn off whenever I feel like it.

But wait, this is not where this post is supposed to be heading! Because despite my frustration at all the togetherness this summer (which, really, is my problem, a problem I am having adjusting to being a mom of three, and not their problem at all), I love the crap out of my kids. And I think they are the flipping BEE’S KNEES! I am so proud of them and am so thankful to be their mommy. So, to remind myself of what the heck I am supposed to be focused on, I thought I’d tell you a couple of my favorite things about each of my kiddos.

Joshua. My firstborn.

He is exuberant, optimistic, enthusiastic. He is loving. He loves his friends so much. He often writes sweet notes and letters to his friends, and is very generous with them. He’s trustworthy. He wants to do what’s right. He’s a snuggler, still at seven. How long will I get to enjoy snuggles from my big boy? I cherish every one.

Sophia Diane. My girl.

She is funny. Comic relief for this mama, she makes me laugh about a million times a day! She is sweet as can be, and everything she does (good or bad) she does 110%. She is nurturing. I love the way she cares for Jonah and any other smaller child. She is fierce. Determined and stubborn in a good way. I hope I can help her learn to always use that for good.

Jonah. My baby.

He is happy. Wherever we go he blesses others with his beautiful smile and happy spirit. He is a joy to be around. He is silly, blowing raspberries and squealing loudly at all the right times. He is loving, caressing my arm or face as he nurses. He is my surprise baby and his sweet personality surprises me every day as it develops more and more.

I love these babies. They make me crazy, but in between the crazy they bring me joy upon joy upon joy.

And in 10 years, when the older two are writing blog posts about me, I hope they’ll say I bring them joy more than I drive them crazy as well. But we’ll see…

June 21, 2011

On Account of the EYE…

Many moons ago, an unknown bug bit Joshua on the eye whilst we were playing at the park. The resulting swelling was horrifying and caused me to immediately dial the pediatrician and take Joshua directly there from the park. I even posted about it way back then. (Go ahead, click it, you know you want to see the horrifying picture!)

I had a little swollen-eye deja vu yesterday, only this time the victim was Sophie, and the perpetrator wasn’t a bug, but an infection. Shortly after noon, girlfriend’s eye started oozing goo like c-c-c-crazy – first yellow, then mostly white, but constant! So, like any good mommy would do, I first asked Facebook what to do, and then Twitter. Fortunately my cousin Mackenzie, M.D. gave me some sage advice on my FB status (and she really is a doctor, I’m not just being cute! Well, I mean I’m always being cute, but you know…)

When I received sage advice, Sophie was asleep. Sign #1 that she is actually sick: the child took a NAP, and she stopped taking naps in November. Sign #2: the nap was 4 HOURS long. Sign #3: When she woke up, my adorable daughter, who normally looks like this:

sophieTP — although not usually wrapped in toilet paper

Looked like THIS:

I texted the above picture to Cousin Mackenzie, M.D. (I’m glad at least ONE of my cousins is useful, SHEESH) and said “Urgent Care?” (because by now it was 6:30 pm) and Mack texted back and said “Yuppers! Have fun there!” (sadistic, cold, unfeeling DOCTOR!) Since I called “nursing baby”, Bobby got to pack up Eyezilla and take her to Urgent Care. Fortunately she was very cheerful about the whole thing! The doc said ” $50 copay, infection, antibiotic drops ASAP” and sent them on their merry way.

Of course now Sophie has to miss speech therapy and another appointment today! Which I am really bummed about. But it could be worse, and I’m glad the remedy was so simple. (Although, really, can the children please get sick during NORMAL Doctor’s hours next time!? $50 kinda stings!)

Let’s just pray none of the rest of us get this eye thing. I have a feeling I am going to be screeching “Don’t touch the baby!!” just a few times today. Blargh.

June 3, 2011

Sophie Lou Retton

A couple of months ago I started thinking of ideas to keep Sophie busy this summer since she L-O-V-E-S school so much and I am not nearly as interesting as her teachers and classmates, and 4 half-days a week is a lot of time to kill! So, after seeing some tweets from Tricia that she had taken her daughter to gymnastics, I thought Sophie would probably enjoy that, too! So this week I signed her up. Wednesday was her first class.

I showed her pictures online of the gym where her lessons would be. We went to Target and bought a leotard. She was SO excited! And terribly cute.

I was a little worried about how she’d act but she was the perfect little follower. She just did what everyone else was doing, and asked for help when she needed it.

She jumped and tumbled, fell down and got back up, and had an amazing time. I watched through the viewing window enraptured as she acted like she’d been there a million times instead of just once. (In attitude, that is. In apparatus, well, it will take a few lessons.)

It was the most fun I’ve had in 45 minutes in a long time . I can’t wait to go back and watch her next week! She can’t wait, either. She cried and cried when it was over…and on and off the whole way home. She kept saying, “I wanna go back! Go back! Go back!” She fell in love at first tumble!

I’ll keep you posted on her progress. 🙂

How are you keeping your kids busy this summer?