Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?

The baby is in his room crying. He has been for nearly two hours now. I'm not usually the "let them cry themselves to sleep" kind of mom but today everything has been all wrong.

The movie I put in for the older two has ended and the DVD has a really annoying repeating menu that just keeps playing over and over and over and over and over. And they are fighting about something.

But I'm sitting in my room, on the floor, in the corner, crying. A good mom would go pick up the baby. A good mom would go turn off the DVD. A good mom would put an end to the crying. But I'm still just sitting in the corner, wondering when the good mom will show up and fix everything.

I need to go change the laundry over and put a new load in. I need to get dinner put in the crock pot or else there won't be time for the slow cooker to do it's magic by dinnertime. And I think the milk is still on the table from breakfast. But I can't find the will to move. So still I sit, on the floor, in the corner, crying.

Plus my head hurts. And my toe hurts. I hate that I broke my toe!!!

The kids and I were supposed to go horse back riding yesterday at my cousin's place. But I broke my dang toe and so I couldn't take them.

The neighborhood playgroup is going to the swimming pool today. But I'm short on cash, and I can't drive, and I can't get in the pool (thanks again to the stupid toe!!!) so we didn't go. I hate that we didn't go.

I hate that the combination of my hurt toe and soaring gas prices that we never go anywhere anymore. I'm stir crazy, the kids are stir crazy. And summer is slowly slipping through my fingers.....

A good mom would find a way to make lemonade out of so many lemons. A good mom would fill up the kiddie pool in the front yard. Or pull out scissors and paper and glue and do an art project. Or a science experiment. Or, at the very least, go play candy land!!!! But today I'm not a good mom, so still I sit on the floor, in the corner, crying.

I woke up to find I only had 1 diaper left for Zoey. Because I haven't been shopping, again thanks to the toe. I thought it would be a good opportunity to encourage her to use the potty. So we put on princess panties. And within 10 minutes she had peed through two pairs, meaning now I had more laundry to do AND carpet to clean. So I called my husband (who was already half way to work) and told him he had to turn around and go buy me some more diapers. My nerves couldn't handle that many puddles in one day.

How did I get here? When did I become this crumpled crying mess on the floor? I feel like I don't even recognize me anymore.

365 Days ago

Yup, the baby is 1 year old today. A year! 365 days! Well, actually 366, it was a leap year. It took him a whole extra day to make it to his first birthday.

I thought for sure since he had that extra day and all that he would be my first child to be walking by his first birthday. For MONTHS now he's been pulling himself up to everything and standing up for seconds at time when he's too busy playing to realize he's standing. And I keep saying "he'll be walking any time now...." But no, he's officially 1 now and officially not walking.

But he does go up and down the stairs by himself, climb up onto and slide down off of beds by himself, and has 3 teeth. Well, he has two on the bottom and two on the top. But the two on the top are both only about half grown in, so they are only half teeth. So 2 full teeth and 2 half teeth equal 3 teeth, right?

Which is less teeth than either of his siblings on their first birthday. And less hair, too.

Here's the side by side by side comparison



Yes, just one year ago today Harrison first arrived on the scene. The smallest of my 3 babies, coming in at just 7 lbs. 8 oz. He was also the first of my children to come early, by exactly 1 week. He still put me through nearly 24 hours of labor though.

I started having contractions first thing in the morning on the 27th. In fact I asked Mike not to go to work that day because I was sure we'd have a baby in the next few hours.

He went to work anyway. And worked a full 8 hour day. And still no baby. But the contractions were still steady (although not close enough together to rush to the hospital) so we made packed a bag for the older kids and dropped them off at Grandma's. Then we went to Shopko to buy a car seat. Because even though my due date was only a week away we still hadn't bought a car seat. The contractions were getting closer and more uncomfortable at this point so here I am, walking around Shopko, and every 7-9 minutes I brace the shopping cart for a minute or so, and then go on with my shopping. We even stood at the discount movie rack for nearly half an hour picking out funny movies to watch the rest of the night to keep our minds off our impending doom.

But soon Shopko was closing and they were kicking us out. And the contractions still weren't QUITE close enough. Plus I had made the mistake twice before of going to the hospital too early so we turned and went home, much to my dismay.

So we sat in bed and watched two episodes of Scrubs (well, Mike watched Scrubs, I spent most the time in the bathroom or pacing the room because I couldn't get comfortable) and then half way through Becker I told him I couldn't stand it anymore and we HAD to go to the hospital now. (He really wanted to at least watch the end of Becker, but I said no.)

So on our way to the hospital at 11:30 pm I was pretty sure we wouldn't have a baby that day, but likely soon. Little did I know that it was still 9 hours away!!!! 9 LONG nothing on TV (no VCR in our room!!!!) late at night, really tired, shaking, puking, frustrating hours later.

But those hours did pass, and by 9:00 we had our new baby boy.



My how time flies!



The good news is that despite my earlier fears there were indeed presents, thanks to a combination of my own stupidity and my sister's extreme willingness to be my personal concierge.



Of course, most of them where small boxes of cereal...but a present is a present, right?

He even got a cake!



And decorations!



So now he can't ever complain about being the neglected 3rd child.

Happy Birthday, my baby! No matter how old you get, you will always be my baby.

Almost better than Disneyland

My kids have had front row seats to the greatest show on earth! And I'm not talking about the circus. My kids have seen trailers and bobcats and cement trucks and pumper trucks up close and personal this week. To a 4 year old who LOVES big trucks and his little sister who LOVES anything her big brother loves it was the most exciting week of their lives!

Adam was excited for DAYS before renting the trailer. He kept asking if it was Saturday yet. And he would tell everybody he saw that on Saturday we were pulling a trailer with mom's car. And on Thursday he had the following conversation with Zoey. "Zoey, you need to go to bed. Then tomorrow will be Friday. And then when you go to bed on Friday and wake up it will be Saturday, and on Saturday mom will pull a trailer with her car.



When you're 4 being in the back of a U-haul trailer is almost as much fun as "It's a Small World" but without the annoying song and there are no lines to wait in!



Zoey even got to practice her parade princess wave. (much to her brother's embarrassment)



"Zoey, this is a serious work trailer, not a princess float!"

The day the bobcat arrived I was constantly being corrected by the 4 year old.



I lost count how many times he said to me "mom, it's not a bobcat, it's a skid steer." Pardon me, I stand corrected.

And well, the cement pump, going up and over our house to pour cement, well that was just something!





As far as this 4 year old is concerned this was WAY better than Disneyland, because he cries when he sees grown adults wearing cartoon character costumes and won't even ride the merry-go-round at the dentist's office.

Too bad, really. Disneyland would've been a lot cheaper.

The neglected 3rd child

The worst part about yesterday's mishap is that Monday is the baby's 1st birthday and I have yet to go out and find him a present. And I don't really think a big day of shopping is the best idea for my foot just yet.

Yes, I know he's only 1 and doesn't know the difference. But it's the mommy guilt kicking in. The mommy guilt that says "you have pictures of the first two with a stack of gifts for their birthday, so you must have the same for him, too. Lest he grows up thinking he is the neglected 3rd child."

Thank goodness for Aunt Natalie, once again. She is out doing some birthday shopping for me. But I feel terrible about missing out on doing it myself. He's my last baby and he only has his first birthday once....*sniff, sniff*

Things I love about my kids

Just a short list of the things my kids are doing right now that someday I'll want to remember.

Adam: I love that when I'm sad or having a bad day he offers me his teddy bear to make me feel better. I love that he is figuring stuff out so much each day. His little mind really is at work. I love how he "narrates" when he plays. Especially the trains. He's pushing trains around the tracks saying stuff like "and then Gordon chuffs up the hill. At the top of the hill he sees Thomas. 'Hello Thomas' says Gordon." I am not making that up...he really does that when he plays! I love how he calls Construction Trucks "instruction trucks"

Zoey: She is really into wearing mismatch pj's right now. She always brings me a shirt from one set and pants or shorts from a different set. (reminds me of when Adam used to wear mismatched socks.) I love that she wants to wear princess shoes but still picks the boy toys in her McDonald's Happy Meal. (she really does...she wants the transformers!)

Harrison: He has this cute little elbow crawl that he uses when he has something in his hand. It cracks me up. I love that when you say "yay!" he'll start clapping. I love his little baby giggle.

And I love most when the go to bed at night and I get just a few hours to myself!

Please tell me it isn't true!

Last night we took the kids to get free slurpees. Well, okay they weren't really free. I mean they were giving away free slurpess to commemorate 7-Eleven's birthday. But when we arrived a little after 7:00 pm there was a handwritten sign on the door that said "no more free slurpees."

But we were already there, AND we happened to be at a 7-11 with Pina -Colada Slurpees so we had to get some anyway.

So I hand Adam his very own Pina-Colada Slurpee, he takes one sip and hands it back and says "I don't like this."

What??? What did you say?!?!?!?!? Doesn't he understand that he is genetically pre-disposed to liking Pina-Colada Slurpees?

The only thing I can figure is that I drank WAY too many of them while I was pregnant with him, giving him an aversion to them. You know, like when pregnant women eat too much peanut butter and the child ends up being born with peanut allergies. (or something crazy like that)

Fortnualty Zoey will eat anything and she was happy to take it off his hands for him.

to further prove my point

My previous post was all about how I must not feed Zoey enough. I try, honest I do. But apparently she is a growing girl. (or she just likes the goldfish crackers I give the baby better than the carrots and apples on her own plate.)

This morning I watch her pick up a tiny crumb off her bedroom floor. (I had let them eat a snack in there while I took my shower) She came to me and said "mom, what's this."

I told her "it's yucky garbage. go throw it away."

She says "okay" turns around and as she is walking away from me I see her put it in her mouth and eat it.

I just can't win.

Don't I feed you enough?

Zoey is constantly eating the food off the baby's tray. But she tries to pretend that she's not. And then she tries to pretend that she's just being helpful when she tells me "the baby is out of goldfish. He needs more goldfish mom." Well yea, because you ate them all you little goldfish thief.

I caught her red-handed last night.





And as if that weren't enough, she also eats the food he drops on the floor.







I feed her. I put food on the table for her and everything. On a plate even. I swear!


UPDATE:

I ran upstairs to put some clothes away and things got quiet downstairs, so of course I went to see what was going on. Guess Zoey was hungry again.

"What? I'm not eating before dinner mom, honest!"

I got an idea

My 2 year old is so cute. I wish I had I a constant camera running to record all the cute things she says. Because I can write it down later but it doesn't quite capture the cute inflections and the downright sweetness of it all.

We were walking to playgroup today and there is a home that we pass that usually has dogs in the yard that come to the fence and bark. Today as we walked pass there were no dogs to be found. The following conversation ensued.

Zoey: "No puppies. Where are the puppies."
Me: "I don't know."
Zoey: "Hey! I have an idea."
Me: "Yea, what's your idea?"
Zoey: "Maybe they are playing hide and seek."
Me: "Maybe they are."
Zoey "Hey, I got another idea."
Me: "What's your idea?"
Zoey: "Maybe they are inside eating."
Me: "Maybe they are."

Out of the mouth of babes

I'm watching my nieces and nephew in a few minutes. They have been with my mother-in-law but she has a dentist appointment, so I'm taking them for a little while.

I told my 4 year old that his cousins were coming over while grandma went to the dentist and Adam said "Is it because Grandma didn't brush her teeth long enough?"