Blog Slacker

I'm having a hard time believing it has been a month since I've blogged. I feel like my days are moving faster than ever. I'm really working on enjoying this stage of life with my 3 little ones, but I will not lie---the past few weeks I have been WORN OUT!!  My Riley is sleeping all night (around 8:30ish until 6 or 7) but I don't think I've had a full night of sleep for weeks. My 2 and 3 year olds who are typically great sleepers have had issues sleeping through the night for various random reasons. One morning at 2am I hear noises and find Jack coming down the stairs wanting to watch the Wiggles and crying his eyes out when I tell him it is bedtime. I mean who doesn't get the urge to watch the Wiggles at 2am???  Another night I am startled from my sleep with the "presence" that I sense next to me---don't you love it when you open your eyes to your child staring you in the face in the dark??  It freaks me out!! Then of course my reaction scares her and she is crying, "My alarm is going off!"  Apparently my 3 year old is capable of dressing herself head to toe but does not have the ability to hit the "snooze" button. : )  And my favorite part of all of this is that the next morning I'll say to Tra, "Did you hear Hayley come in last night?"  You can guess what his answer typically is. . . "WHAT?? She did?? I didn't hear a thing!"  Although in his defense, I think there have been a couple of occasions when he got up with one of them and I was clueless. : )   I've come to the realization that I will most likely have fewer full nights of sleep than nights with interruptions for most likely the rest of my life. : )  And I'm becoming okay with that. I'm learning to roll with it. 

Here are a few things that have gone on lately that I want to remember:

The other night Hayley was picking out a Bible story to read and she chose "Jeremiah" in her little toddler Bible (by the way--does anyone have a Bible for kids that you love?? Let me know b/c I'm not nuts about the one we're using right now.) I started reading and she goes, "Jeremiah?? Like, Jeremiah was a bullfrog. . . and continued singing the WHOLE SONG!!  I was cracking up saying, "How do you know this song??? Where did you learn this song???!"  Hysterical! Apparently the learned it in music class at school. 

This girl is really making me laugh lately---another incident was one afternoon I was unloading groceries and she was looking through all the "loot" and found a new box of band-aids and very dramatically exclaims, "OH MY GOODNESS!!! MOM!! You got new Dora Band-Aids!! I just LOVE them! OH, thank you SO MUCH!! You are the BEST HELPER!!"   

At the pediatric dentist we go to (we LOVE her--Dr. Sandra Armstrong if anyone needs a referral), I went back to meet w/ the dentist after the kids were finished up pushing Riley in the stroller and she says to me, "Hayley tells us your expecting again?"  WHAT??  I said, "Well she knows something I don't know!" 

She told them I had a baby in my tummy and it was going to get REALLY BIG and that it was a little boy. Hmmmm. When I asked her about it she said she was talking about Riley being

 in my tummy. So it was just a misunderstanding. It just makes me laugh thinking about the conversations that most likely took place b/t the dentist and the hygienists, "That lady is out of her MIND having another kid right now!" And to set the record straight, we are NOT expecting. : )

Jack has really started to blossom with is vocabulary. One of my favorite things he says is, "Nooo, not yet."  He always shakes is head back and forth rapidly when he gives us that response. It's typically after we ask any question--"Do you want a snack?" "Are you ready to go to bed?" "Do you want some juice?"   

When we were getting ready for Adalyn's b-day party a couple of weeks ago I was telling him we were going to see Adalyn, and started naming other family members when he jumped in with, "PoppaMimiCow?" Which stands for "Poppy, Mimi and Scout."  It's like in his mind they are all ONE. And you don't have one without the other. : )  

We are doing swimming lessons with Hayley and Jack and Jack LOVES going to "sim." Tra gets in the pool with him and he can now go under for a good 5 seconds. It's amazing to see how much progress he has made in just a few short weeks! Hayley is doing great too, but she is fighting her nerves much more than Jack.

I can't leave out Riley!! This week she started rolling over from her back to her tummy! It's so hard to believe it's already time for that! She loves being upright and facing out. She is so smiley and LOVES her brother and sister. Hayley makes her laugh harder than any of the rest of us. It's so sweet!!

Last thing---I'm impressed if you're still reading and not a close friend or family member---I've started going to a Ladies Bible Study and the book we are going through is AWESOME---It's called Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp. I think every Christian parent should be required to read it when they have a baby. I know there is not one formula that works for raising and parenting children, but it is sure hard to go wrong, in my opinion, with Biblical principles and teachings. I have really enjoyed this book and encourage any other parents out there who are interested in gaining wisdom and insight into parenting to get your hands on a copy of this book!

I'll try to be a better blogger. Have a great weekend!