The day to day

Lately Noah wants to abbreviate all his words. He asks for a "cook" when he wants a cookie. But the best is when my kids tell me they want "crack" for breakfast.

Cracklin Oat Bran.

Makes me laugh every time.

Today is Pajama Day for Noah's class at school. He could not have been more excited about not having to get dressed

Yes, he's got pj's on under all those snow clothes...

And here's Alex (also in her pj's because we're never ready when we take Noah to school in the morning) with "Smitten"

Alex is working on a sticker chart to earn prizes for sleeping in her bed every night - as opposed to crawling into our bed in the middle of every night.

I had just had it - and Paul had had it with me and Alex fighting in the middle of the night.

The motivation is working really well - and she picked out "Smitten" all by herself (because I would have never picked that out).

Noah decided he needed to be able to earn some prizes too, so he's reading an extra chapter a day. Last night he reminded me he doesn't have any prizes in the box yet. I told him I would take him to the store to pick out his prizes himself, but they needed to be $5 or less. His response was, "This is a cheap system mom."

Maybe, but it's working.

Noah likes to say funny things like that. Big words, adult words. Yesterday I made a comment about Alex and he said, "Indeed, she does."

Two nights ago, apparently Noah woke up in the middle of the night and thought it was morning. So he went downstairs and turned on the tv and was totally excited to see that there was one of those ghost/haunted house shows on. You know, like the ones on Discovery channel and stuff? Eventually he got a little freaked out and also realized it was not morning and came running to my room. I tucked him back into bed, unaware of what had been going on. But he was certainly excited about the show the next morning and told me all about it over breakfast. I was disturbed.

Today we are going to register Alex for kindergarten.

When it was Noah I was excited, but also nervous and a little sad. With Alex I'm kinda wishing all-day Kindergarten were an option. Not sure if that's because it's Alex or because she's my second?

Not that I don't enjoy having her around - and this girl is good at entertaining herself (the opposite of Noah and Avery).

This is what she's currently doing:

playing with, talking to and pretending with her "babies."

A few minutes earlier they were having a tea party.

But this girl is serious drama and attitude and someone (other than me) needs to whip her into shape. Maybe her Kindergarten teacher.

I often wish I had someone with a video camera following Alex around all day. Almost everything she says/does is funny - because of the way she says/does it.

I love this picture of Avery. And her mullet.

Avery just had her 15-month checkup. And I'm a little worried because she's not really talking. I mean she babbles nonsense to us all day long, but she's not really using any words. My other 2 were pretty good talkers. The doctor was slightly concerned as well. And it turns out Avery has fluid in her ears. So, soon she'll be seeing Audiology and ENT to see if that's the problem with her speech.

We know them all well by now. I've had plenty of trips to see them with Alex over the last 5 months. And tomorrow Alex is getting tubes in her ears.

She was kinda freaked out about having surgery - until she got presents in the mail from her grandma. Now she can't wait for tomorrow.

Oh yeah, she's also excited to be able to hear again. So are we!

Wish us luck. I'm a little nervous. And I feel bad for her.

Paul does not - because he's a doctor - and I'm sure I've explained that phenomenon to you all before (i.e. lack of sympathy because they've always seen something worse).

He keeps reminding me it's "no big deal" and that "she'll be fine" and "don't let her play you."

Whatever. He's a total softy when it comes to Alex.

Lastly, my phone broke. My indestructible phone that has survived being dunked in the toilet, dropped in the tub, smashed on the floor innumerable times, dropped, thrown against the wall, and sucked on by probably all of my kids as babies. Yes, I've had it for years. It's one of those "old fashioned" phones that just makes phone calls.

And what finally killed it was nothing other than the Minnesota cold. I left it in my car for a couple of hours in the -30 degree weather and it hasn't worked since.

No I did not get a smart phone. We're holding out. I got the newer version of my old fashioned phone. We'll catch up with the rest of you when we're done with training in a couple of years.

And that -30 weather was terrible. Terrible I tell you. The last few days have been in the teens and even the twenties here and there. At first it felt nice!

Now I'm just cold again.

The End.

Think Arrested Development

"And that's why you never..."

do your ab routine at home

(photos by Noah Gunn)

Another post about my kids without any pictures

I guess I'm getting old and boring. I am turning 30 this year.

My kids went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last night (probably my least favorite place on earth). Now they keep talking about Chuck E. and all I can think about is Chucky. You know the one.

Our pet fish Oshi is still alive and kicking. It's something of a miracle. The other day I asked Noah if he'd fed Oshi. He got that sheepish look on his face that means no, and proceeded to feed the fish. I asked Noah, "Noah are you feeding Oshi every day?" His matter-of-fact response was, "Mom, I don't keep track of it. Like how I don't keep track of the last time I had a bath."

Good thing boys have moms to keep track of the important stuff in life. I also have to tell him everyday to change his underwear (or he wont do it). And I thought he was changing his socks everyday...until I realized that smell last night was coming from Noah's feet. (I hope Noah doesn't read this, he will be so mad at me.)

Alex seems to have no short-term memory. If you ask her what she did today she will always respond with, "Um...I don't know." Or she'll look at me and whisper, "Mom. What did I do today?" Funny. And worrisome. In fact, that's Alex in a nutshell: funny and worrisome.

Avery has a mullet. But I don't want to cut it because I just want her hair to grow out - or grow into it. Or something. She's still pretty needy but it's getting harder to ignore her - now that she follows me around, arms reaching out to me saying, "Mama!" in the sweetest, saddest little way.

Also, 4-7pm is the worst time of day. I feel bad for Paul that he comes home from a long stressful day at the hospital to the madness that is our home/family at that time. Avery is whining because she wont take a nap most days and is way too tired. Noah doesn't want to do his homework. Alex is mad because she can't watch tv. Noah and Alex are bugging each other. Everyone wants a snack even though I'm trying to get dinner started.

And I know family dinners are important, but sometimes it's hard to see. Usually it consists of Noah and Alex arguing, Noah complaining and refusing to eat whatever we're having that night, Avery screaming and crying intermittently while going back and forth between my lap and Paul's, and Paul and I trying hard not to yell at everyone. Oh and there is usually at least one spilt cup of milk.

Remember this week on Modern Family when Phil said about their kids, "Sometimes I hate them"? That's probably what I'm thinking at dinner time these days.

Good thing they almost always do something to redeem themselves before bedtime.

I love my family. I'm glad I have one. But, lets face it, on any given day they put me through the entire gamut of emotions.

This is real life with a family of 5. At least it's our real life.

I'm just keeping it real.

Is it really only 12:30pm??

This morning I got up at 6am in an attempt to beat my kids out of bed and get as much of the house cleaning done as possible, without them.

All I succeeded in doing was waking the whole house up early.

And cleaning my bathroom floor twice when Alex peed all over it right after it got cleaned.

Meanwhile Avery followed me around, throwing things (toy cars, her sippy cup) into the mop bucket.

Just don't tell my husband that I fed her marshmallows to keep her in the high chair long enough for me to mop the kitchen floor.

Points for the kids: a bajillion

Points for mom: none - any points I earned for cleaning are now null and void from all the screaming and bribing I did to get the cleaning done

The kids are winning, oh yes they are winning.

And beating me down.

Kid Stuff

When I was out with the girls last night I got this text from Paul around 10pm:

"Noah just puked in our bed"

3 reasons that is probably the worst text message I've ever received?

- it was about one of my kids. and it was a girls night out - when you are supposed to forget you have kids

- it involved puke.

- it happened in my bed.

Here's another story about Noah:

Paul took him to get his haircut the other night. Only he didn't ask him how he wanted it cut. And apparently it's much shorter than Noah likes it, so he wasn't too happy. Paul felt bad about not asking - but I'm still wondering when my BOY got old enough to have an opinion about his hair??!

Here's an Alex story (or two):

when we were reading from Noah's National Geographic tonight she asked me a question about "Antfartica." A mix of Africa and Antarctica?

Also, the other night she called me a "skinny mama." Then she thought about that for a minute and said, "Actually, you're a medium mama." So that was awesome.

And Avery:

It's official - her first word is "Da-da." It's ok. I'm pretty secure about our relationship. When Paul tried to tease me that he was her favorite I couldn't help but laugh.

Since then she has said "Mama" a few times. She also says "uh-oh" but she can only do the "uh" part. And she tries to say "all done" which sounds like nothing like those 2 words at all, just a bunch of gibberish. But I know what she means - she does it with body language.

Then there's Facebook, my other baby (at the moment).

I love it/hate it.

I love that I'm actually communicating with people that I've lost touch with or have had very little contact with over the years. People I like, and care about, and miss.

I hate that I when I sit down at the computer I don't know when I'll get back up again.

Most of all...I hate that I'm afraid to say anything. Does anyone else feel that way? I'm pretty open on my blog (which is not private) but Facebook feels very different. It is different.

My blog will always be my real love : )

January 3, 2011

Places I can now be found:

The gym. My beloved Mayo gym! Avery is finally old enough to go to the kid care! Actually they decided to start having "baby hour" which is great and all...it's just too bad they didn't start doing that a year ago. We were 6 weeks away from the age requirement when they went and changed it on us. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be there 6 weeks earlier than I had planned...just a little bitter about all the gym time I missed out on for the past year. I might not be able to walk tomorrow.

Facebook. Because it was about time.

It was kind of a big day for me today : )