There is a Mommy

There is very little evidence that I actually exist...I am always behind the camera taking the pictures. There are few pictures of me and the kids. I have taken this matter into my own hands and decided to use the self-timer to document I am here and present in their lives! This is our attempt with the self-timer...They would only cooperate for one picture, so this is what we got.

One more cuddle...

Tonight was actually a very quiet night. Isaac fell asleep on the couch around 6:45 and Eli went to bed around 7:00. Evan and I played a game of wii bowling and then he headed to bed. He was in bed for about 20 minutes and he came out. He said "Mom, we never get to cuddle anymore." You can imagine what we did for the next 30 minutes! He is so sweet...and just on the verge of not wanting to cuddle anymore or give me hugs and kisses in front of his daycare friends. I just want to push pause right now and make him stop growing up! 

I have to record this, because there are days that I am so frustrated with the boys that I just want to fast forward things to where the kids aren't so needy and I could have a minute to myself! This is really where I want them to be....

Life is good. They can really stop growing up now!

Thumbs

Isaac has been sucking his thumb a lot lately. Tonight I asked him to stop and he really didn't want to. I told him that we would have to get the icky tasting stuff out to put on his thumb. He was not bothered by that idea...he just said, "That's alright, I'll just suck through it!"

That stuff is NASTY...the main ingredient is Cayenne pepper....and he just sucks through it!

Best Friends

Here are a couple of pictures of Evan and his best friend, Dawson. One of the pictures is from New Years Eve and the other from the Pinewood Derby today.

Pinewood Derby

Evan had his Pinewood Derby today. He and Ben worked hard on his car. Of course, they can't all win and for a 6 year old, that is hard to understand. He is pretty sad he didn't come home with a trophy today! Maybe next year!

Exciting night...

BEFORE


AFTER


Evan is the last one in his class to loose a tooth. He has been waiting for this moment for a LONG time! Finally tonight, with some help from Mom, it came out. You can imagine the excitement tonight!

Really an owie this time....

Eli just came into the kitchen with his diaper bag emptied out and on his head. He couldn't see anything and he was running into everything. All I could hear was a muffled "owie"

Maybe he does know what it really means :)

Evan

Evan has been very into the new president and all the publicity that goes with it. Tonight the news was on and he came running into the kitchen to tell me that Obama is going to bring all the troops home from Iraq in 5 months! Both Evan and Isaac were jumping up and down excited that in 5 months they can see Uncle Jason! It is so funny what they relate to and what the pick up from the t.v. and conversations they overhear.

Evan brought home a Character Counts award today from school. He was recognized by his teacher for being "caring" at their monthly Character Counts Assembly. His certificate says "for thinking of others first and willing to give up his toys for a friend in need." In the fall, he brought some toys for a little boy who lost his in a house fire.

Owie

It started out so cute. Eli starting saying owie last week when he got his 15 month shots. It has gotten completely out of hand. EVERYTHING is owie. We have figured out that whenever Eli doesn't want to do something, he says "owie".

For example:

Strapping him in his carseat...."owie"
Putting his coat on...."owie"
Stopping him from playing in the toilet..."owie"
Getting him off the table...."owie"
Falling down after trying to walk...."owie"

And this is just the last hour! I think I have heard "owie" about 20 times. It is so cute. I wish I could spell it like he says it.... he says it like "oh-ee"

Too cute!

The night....

Finally the kids are in bed, the house is picked up, and there is silence....

The t.v. isn't on....

The kids aren't fighting, or rough-housing....

The baby isn't climbing on the table or doing some other dangerous stunt....

Supper is served and cleaned up....

The only sound is the dishwasher going and the washing machine....The sound of accomplishment!

Things have been rough lately. 

Ben is in full swing with wrestling. He is gone every night either with practice or a meet. If it is practice, he usually gets home about 7:30. I try to keep Eli up so he can see Ben, but really, he would prefer to go to bed around 6:30 or 7:00...he is usually tired and fussy by the time Ben gets home.  If it is a meet night, Ben doesn't get home until the kids are sound asleep (usually after 10). Tonight he has night class, tomorrow a wrestling meet, Thursday a wrestling meet and Saturday an all day tournament. This is a lot for me to handle. I get so frustrated when I can't handle things....It is so hard to have a good attitude, and have patience when I am doing this all alone. It is hard to get the bills organized, do all the grocery shopping with three kids in tow, get meals made, served and cleaned up, keep up with the laundry, keep the house picked up, run the kids here and there, keep track of school work and schedules for the kids. Ben helps as much as he can, but the reality of it is that he is not home right now. I hate blaming Ben for all the stress... I know that life with kids is stressful anyway. Ben has a ton on his plate and tons of responsibilities too...and we are doing the best we can. We do get Sundays with him, but he has to spend the afternoons at school preparing for the week. The kids miss him and I miss him. I know this is very temporary...in a month we will be at state wrestling, which means the end of this schedule. I just feel like I am failing miserably...at everything. I am going to work on being more patient and having more fun with the kids. I hate that I snap at them and don't have more patience for them. I seriously don't know how mothers do this. I hate that it seems like everyone else has it all together and I just can't figure this out yet! 

Ok, enough of my pity party. I am going to wake up tomorrow with a better attitude! Just needed to feel sorry for myself tonight!

Puppy Towel

Even with all the trouble this little one gets into...there are no words to describe the cuteness.

Squeaky Clean

Dare Devil

Seriously....this kid is going to get hurt. He can climb anything that doesn't move...keep in mind, he still can't walk. We have decided that when he is awake, we have to find things for him to do that involve strapping him down like eating and coloring. He is wearing us out! This is our third snow day in a row and we are going crazy trying to keep him out of trouble. For a while it was only the table he could climb on but now he has figured out that he can also climb on the bar stools and get on the counters!

Snow day 2007

I was looking through old pictures today. We had a snow day on January 15, 2007 too. Here are the boys. I can't believe how little they look!

What a difference a year makes....

Eli loves Caillou

Everytime Eli hears the Caillou he starts laughing and dancing. This is Isaac's favorite show, so we see this a lot!

Eli walks

Big Brothers

It is hard to get a good picture of Eli lately. He "cheeses" it everytime he sees the camera!

I love Eli's face here. He is looking at Big Brother Isaac.


Wouldn't it be great if everyone could have big brothers like Eli has?

Uh Oh...

This is Eli's uh oh face.

Almost walking...

Eli has just started standing up in the middle of the room and taking steps. Usually as soon as he realizes what he is doing, he sits down. He is very close to walking! Everyone gets so excited when he does it! I love the look on his face in the last picture. He has such a look of pride!

Back on the mat...

Tonight was Evan's first night back at wrestling since breaking his arm. He was pretty nervous last night and said he didn't want to go. We didn't push it too much, but knew he probably would miss it if he didn't try again. When I was tucking them in last night he asked if he could tell me something. He said he didn't want to tell Daddy that he forgot how to wrestle. Poor kid. We got up and talked to Daddy...of course, bedtime then turned into wrestling practice! He felt much better after that and decided he would try it again.

Of course, Ben had an away wrestling meet tonight, so I had the privledge of lugging three kids up to wrestling practice. I am glad I was there because 20 minutes into practice, Evan got a bloody nose! Great! He gets them a lot in the winter. It didn't last long, but was pretty hectic with a wild baby in tow.

As soon as we walked into the wrestling room, Eli was bound and determined to get to where the big boy wrestlers were! He had a very hard time sitting still. He did take 7 steps across the mat! He thought for sure he would get to the boys! He still won't walk very often, just steps here or there. Seven steps is the most I have seen him take. He was really motivated!

Evan did well. He is still pretty hesitant and scared he is going to get hurt again. He still is a good listener and he tries so hard! He isn't too aggressive now. Most of the kids he wrestles are 20 pounds lighter than him! They still throw him around...he has to learn how to use his weight and his strength...he is too nice and too much of a softy. It will come! He has fun and that is what really matters.

Articulated

Tonight when we were leaving wrestling practice, Isaac informed me that he was articulated. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about...he said, "like an articulated dump truck, I bend"

It is amazing what comes out of his mouth sometimes. The kid knows his "struction" trucks!

I would give army guys ice cream

 

Evan brought this home today. I told him that was nice and he replied "Uncle Jason really likes ice cream!"

Robots

Eli is deathly afraid of two robots that the boys have. Evan and I have been getting Eli off of the table ALL day! We are both frustrated with him. Just a second ago, Evan had an idea....I was making supper and not paying attention to what was going on....when I looked at what they were doing, this is what I saw. Evan went downstairs and got the robots and put them on the table to scare Eli. So far, it is working. The second picture shows him hiding behind the dishwasher. Isaac is acting out the Robot. In Eli's defense, they are scary. Their eyes light up red and they talk in a robot voice. It probably isn't a great reflection of my parently skills today, but it was really funny!

 
 

Isaac and Daddy