Be happy.

Isn't it amazing how sincere and genuine a child's smile is?

All it takes is a silly little sound,

a swing and a push,

...& one tiny oreo.

holy bananas.

Sometimes life is really hard.

My 8-month old is NOT sleeping at night.  He is regressing.  The number of times he is waking up each night is increasing.  This is not how it's supposed to go.

Therefore, I am regressing.  The number of times I am waking up each night is increasing.  Not exactly my favorite time of day to be awake.

I recently realized I have been having some emotional moments in which the reasons for reach beyond the scope of exhaustion.  What I'm saying is, I think I need more than a good nights sleep to snap me out of this funk.  I need to step back, look around, and reevaluate my days.  I need a little more organization and structure and a little less diaper changing.

My father-in-law recently told me "Believe it or not, you'll look back on this time as the 'good ol' days'".  I know he's right.  There will come a time when Emma is 14 and the dress she is trying to wear is too short.  I'll look back on this picture when she was FOUR and dressed herself in not one, but two dresses, two leg warmers, two Hello Kitty socks, and two Minnie Mouse jellie shoes. 

The good ol' days.

Yesterday I had a list a mile long with what I wanted to get done.  Pick up the playroom, make the kids beds (why, I don't know), vacumm up the obscene amount of dog fur, make my own bed (more on this later), and mop the kitchen.  Nothing on this list is that outlandish.  Nothing on this list seems that difficult.  But let me tell you- I got ONE thing done.  The dog fur.

But you know what I DID do?  I threw dinner in the crockpot.  I played outside.  With the kids.  For a looong time.  It was a perfect fall day with the sun shining and green grass swaying.

Little guy loved it.

Yesterday was a step in the right direction.  I chose play time over cleaning time.  And while it stressed me out to come back in to a kitchen that wasn't mopped, my happiness trumped the stress.  I'm not saying I'm going to let my house sit dirty, but I am saying I'm going to make a bigger effort to choose sunny days over flourescent kitchen lights.

I have read a few posts lately that have make me realize I am not alone in this world of mothering little ones.  We are not alone.  We have each other.  And most of all, we have little munchkins that bring us more happiness than should be allowed.  (Even if it is sandwiched between poopy diapers and telling them to stop jumping on the bed for the 385th time).

Absorb today.  Take it in.  These really are the good ol' days.



Why didn't I think of that?

For the most part, I think Pinterest is pretty awesome.  I use it for recipes mostly because that's where my passion lies.  I have made at least half of the recipes I've pinned, and that's no lie.  Some have been absolute doozies, while others have made it into weekly rotations.  But every now and then, I come across a pin and think "Why the heck didn't I think of that?".

Such as - 

Fruit in ball jars!  Easy, ready, and transportable!

We recently had a day of painting and the kids LOVED it.

I'm pretty sure I'll never get Dean to smile like this in a picture ever again.

Geez, they sure do look alike here.

I'm pretty sure Calvin might just skip the whole baby food step and go straight to real food.

He just won't eat baby food, but he'll eat tiny pieces of anything you give him.

Oh, and puffs. 

 Let's just say he's still learning.

Okay, I got Dean to smile again.  But he didn't know I was there.

This is just pure, simple fun with a popcorn box.

This picture makes my heart happy.

Oh, and he's OBSESSED with those rainboots.

He wears them every.single.day - rain or shine.

This was on a beautiful Sunday morning.  The weather was cool.  Sun was shining.

And Long's Donuts was straight ahead.

Calvin should be crawling any minute now, and when he does, I'm doomed.

Right now he scoots/slides his belly along the floor.  I'm tempted to make him a duster-onesie so my sweeping gets done while he plays.

Just kidding.

I think.

Tri hard.

David and Uncle Andy (his twin) did the TriIndy this past weekend.  The weather cooperated, the sun stayed in the clouds for the morning, and they both PR'd.  I think one of David's favorite things is to let the kids wear his medals he gets from competing.  Although, if you were to ask me, the wives trying to keep track/feed/carry all of five kids while the daddies compete should get a medal too. 

Yes, I'm serious.

Uncle Andy & Daddy's jeeps parked next to each other.

Show your muscles!

I don't have a picture of my award.  Let's just say it's probably in the form of a massage gift certificate.  Ahem.

Yo, I'll solve it.

You know how every one always makes New Year's Resolutions?  And you know how most people don't last the whole year month?  You know how it's probably because they set too many or too difficult of goals to be completed all at once?  Well, I'm going to solve that.  At least, I'm going to try.

Introducing my brilliant Monthly Resolutions idea.

Every month, I will choose ONE single goal to accomplish.  I will start it at the beginning of the month in hopes that I will have made a habit of it 28 days later.  (Isn't that what the rule is?  28 days?)  As I enter a new month, I will set a new goal.  So I will then be implementing TWO goals.  And so on. And so forth.  Until this whole dang house is clean.

I get very easily overwhelmed with goals I set for myself.  It usually stems from too much caffiene paired with a very messy house.  Tell me I'm not alone here?  Right?  ...  Hello?

So, without further delay, here is my M|R for August:

WASH & DRY & FOLD & PUT AWAY ALL LAUNDRY - EVERY DAY.

I would choose laundry service over cleaning service is what I'm saying.  But they would have to come into my house and actually put away the clothes too.  A girl can dream right?

I always get ambitious and wash a bajillion loads of laundry, but I always find an excuse to not fold it.  And then it stresses me out.  A very fixable problem is present, and I'm going to mend it.

Blogging is an excuse not to fold clothes, right?

Also,

Since yesterday's post was void of any pictures, I thought I would share some today.

I also think I might be one of those people who uses waaay, too, many, commas.

Pretty girl.

Saving money with a diy haircut.

I taught her everything she knows.

One of my favorite pictures of all time.

She went on a run with Daddy.  She loved it, but he loved it more.

Dean not wasting any chocolate ice cream.

Our first movie night!  We watched Princess & the Frog, had homemade red beans and rice, popcorn, and gummy bears!  Emma loved it.  Dean talked the WHOLE ENTIRE TIME.

Dean's favorite part of the fair.  He was obsessed.

Calvin @ 5 months.

Fast asleep.

He's warmed up to baby food since.

Sitting on the front porch while it rained for 3 whole minutes.  Is she proud of him or what?

I kind of love this picture.  He's my baby baby.

Growing up.  Cal @ 6+ months.

They're, the, greatest.

a journal.

So, hey.

It's been a while.

I had practically given up on writing this blog.  I have been pretty busy, you know, with THREE kids.  But after much consideration, I have decided to write again.  I was looking at it all wrong.  I was equating writing this blog to "another thing to do", and that's not what I ever wanted this to be.  I was letting myself get stressed out about it...and that's just no fun.  But, I recently read through some of my old posts and realized how happy I was that I had written them.  So, here goes.  Try number five, I think.

Let's list the updates since I last wrote (which was November, by the way):

-I had a baby.
-Now I have three kids.
-So, there's this baby in the house now.
-Another kid happened.
-THREE.  KIDS.
-I went grocery shopping.

That should sum it up.

But really, it's been pretty great.  Calvin is a perfect mix of the older two muchkins.  His sleeping habits are not Emma's, but definitely not Dean's.  He is almost 7 months (!!) old and is not yet sleeping through the night.  But I'm more okay with it than I ever was with Dean.  I guess it's that whole "but he's the baby" logic that will get me in trouble in the future.  I'm pretty sure if I thought about him going off to kindergarten, I could cry right now.  Sniff.

This is Emma's last year home with me before she's off to kindergarten next year.  Now that - THAT - is crazy.  We have lots of plans.  Lots and lots of plans.  It's my goal to make it a year at home she won't ever forget.  Sniff.

Dean is a talking machine.  He loves to say "How 'bout dat?  How 'bout dis?" or "I too! I too!".  He's most talkative when he's tired.  The longer he stays up, the more he chats with you.  He doesn't go to bed until about 9, which goes against everything I ever believed in when it came to kids and bedtimes.  But we were battling bedtime with him for at least an hour every.single.night and it became too stressful for the both of us.  So 9:00 it is.  Sniff.

David and I celebrated our 6-year-wedding and our 10-years-of-being-together anniversaries.  Good guy, that husband of mine.

Sniff.