Where did work go?

April 13 will be the one year mark of me starting this blog, and April 9 will be one year since I gave notice at work. I went back to read some of my entries and it's funny how things kind of repeat themselves, and also how such a big decision has both changed, and not changed, my life one year later. Last year I wrote about being a little jealous of never "living" in our new building at work. Well, the Marketing team is still in the same old building, and I get to see the new building plenty, so that never played out. But two weeks ago, a group of 14 people went to amazing facilitator training, and I believe I would have been in that group if I were still working. I'm very jealous of them, as I'm jealous of those taking over my position at work (yes, it's taken a year to replace me!). A year ago I was stressed out trying to balance family, job, friends, everything. Now I'm much less stressed out, but still stress some over my current little amount of work, work I might do when all kids are in school, and just balance in general. Last year I talked about if we should buy a Wii, this year I wonder if Nolan plays too much Wii. Last year Nolan was almost four, and now he's almost five, and even though I'm not working, I still don't feel like I listen to him enough.



So what does it all mean? I don't know. I write more about the kids, and stress less about work. I have difficulty talking to some people about work, because I just don't work as much and can't relate as much, but have found great friends in other stay at home moms. I have aspirations but don't really know how to realize them. I feel a little like my life is in a holding pattern and "when the kids get older" seems to be my mantra, but it'll be awhile before they're all older, and they're already getting too old too fast already. I think about what I'll do when the kids do get older, and I can't figure out if I'll work, shuffle them around everywhere, travel more with Dave, all of the above? I need a Magic 8 Ball! But then, I don't think I'm alone in that. We all wonder how we can be happy, what we should be doing, how we can make others happy, what our big goal in life is. Are those questions we ever figure out completely? I guess, if I know anything more than I knew one year ago, it's that I'm glad to be home with the kids. Even through the jealousy at work, the strained conversations with those moms handling both home and work, and the feeling like some days I just may not make it through the end of the day if Nolan asks me just one more question, I still have joy. I may not always be happy, but I'm very much joyful.



I have new art on my wall that says "The years tell us much that the days never knew." Yup, absolutely.

Big boy bed

Max is in his new big boy bed! Actually, he was in it last week Saturday, but I was hesitant to talk about it because he was doing so well and I didn't want to jinx it. He kept trying to sleep in Nolan's bottom bunk, and we tried it once, only to wake up at 2:30 to BUMP! WAHHH! Completely fell out of bed. So, last weekend we put the rail on the bed and decided to let him try it. For naps and bed, all we had to say for a few days was "Do you want to sleep in your big boy bed?" and up he would go. It was really just too easy. The novelty has warn off a little bit now, but he still goes to bed fairly easy, and goes down (and stays down!) for naps. I won't complain about that. The past couple of days he's gotten up in the morning by himself, and this morning he came wandering in our bedroom all by himself. It's pretty cute, he's getting so big! Now, if we could just convince Nolan that if he gets up first, he doesn't have to wake Max up, we'd be good to go!

Here's what's become of Max's crib for the time being... play area and stuffed animal holder!

And here's the kids welcoming Max to his new bed...

It's official... he's a big kid! He's also repeating everything we say, which is really cute. Yesterday, I was leaving and said I love you, and he responded with "Ovooo", which sounded very close to I love you. I know he was just repeating what I said, but it still melted my heart!

Boy, Girl, Who Wants to Know??

Well, we had our ultrasound today! Kids (and us!) were so excited to finally know if it's a boy or a girl. For the first time, after three other kids, we threw caution to the wind and said why not find out? They took a look at the baby and everything looked good... four chambers of the heart, the brain, everything. But the baby that time had its legs crossed, so the tech started taking measurements and we'd go back. Here's a picture of the arms and a hand:


She looked at the spine and it was fused as it should be. It's actually fused in three places, which is normal, and when she looked at the picture, she said, "Those white areas are where the spine is fused. It looks good on all three." DAVE ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK. He thought she meant it looked good on all three babies. It was very, very funny. With the gallon of water I had to drink beforehand and wasn't yet able to let it all out, I almost peed my pants! Anyway, back to baby. So, everything looked good, good measurements, and then back to gender. She looked and got this picture...


Can you tell what it is?? Yeah, neither could she. That's actually a picture of the baby's head, but whatever. Long story short, by the second pass, the baby didn't just have its legs crossed, but had it's knees up to its chest and had its legs crossed. It clearly didn't want us to know anything. So, another few weeks, another few months, and maybe we'll know. Otherwise come August, we'll have a definite confirmation when it comes screaming into the world!

Pictures from beyond

Dave has a great camera. My camera is point and click. My camera actually gets taken out and takes pictures, Dave's picture sees a lot of the inside of the case. But then, every now and again, it makes its way out and takes pictures. And then the pictures live there for a long, long time. But finally, I got them off the camera, and here they are! In no specific order, just some fun pics from the past, oh, four months...

Merry Christmas!


Do they have to be for Santa? Can't I have one?

Limbo!

Spelunking mission.

Limbo!

Limbo!

Max and Kylie K!

L'il Chef!

Window markers!

That's it! Just some randomness for no reason at all. Hope you're all having a great week!

Holy Birthday, Batman!

This picture is for Dave, Mark, Judy, Monica, Laura, and Renee, who all have birthdays on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. But mostly, it's for Dave who, on his birthday, didn't give a second thought to dressing up like Robin simply because Nolan got a new Batman costume, and wanted Daddy to be Robin.

HAPPY 37th BIRTHDAY, DAVE!!

Ah, to be young again

Last night Abby had a skating party for school, and all families were invited. I took the kids last year by myself, since Dave was out of town, but didn't skate since Max was only 8 months old. Last night, we all went, and everyone, including Max wanted to skate. They had little Fisher Price skates, so we put them on him, Dave and I alternated between skating with Max and Nolan, and Abby was off, off and away on her own! I thought for sure between my off-balance belly and trying to either hold Nolan up or carrying Max, I was going to wipe out for sure. But, there were no casualties, and Dave and I both left laughing and thinking we should do that again... someday!

Here's Abby and her friend Saige. They were best friends last year, but are in different classes this year. It was nice to see her mom and catch up, and watch the two of them hang out together again. They seem so old when the hang out together... no parents needed! (These pics are from my phone, so sorry about the bad quality!)


Max was very proud of himself...

But he only made it about halfway around before he wanted to be held. Boy, did that make my back sore!!

On Thursday, since it was back to cold weather and yucky, we headed to the Children's Museum with Nolan's friend David, his mom Laura and younger brother Nathan. I didn't get many pics, but they changed out some of the exhibits. There was a really cool golf ball area with ramps and chutes at the beginning, but some of that changed now. I think I liked it better before, but the kids still had fun here. Here's Nolan climbing the climbing wall...

Okay, my pics are all backwards, so bear with me. On Monday night, my great friend Renee came to visit with her son Ben, who's five days older than Max. Renee brought them matching pjs with monkeys on them. How cute! We couldn't get them to pose well, but here are some pics of the monkey boys.

Random picture of Abby, Nolan and Max playing operation. Max is perched at his favorite place on the counter...

Makes you wonder what they're up to, doesn't it?

Did the leperchauns come to your house? They came to ours, and the peed in our toilet! They also turned some chairs upside down and left some gold (chocolate) coins and some green coins with shamrocks. Those silly leperchauns! Luckily, nothing was too hard to pick up. :) The funniest part was when the kids went downstairs and came up proclaiming that they turned everything crazy in the basement. Really? The leperchauns barely went into the basement... could it just be the kids turned it crazy?

Back to the monkey boys with Nolan. Are you squished, Ben? And check out Max's shoes on the second picture. I think they've been off his feet for all of 10 minutes (and that includes sleeping time) in the past few weeks.

Tuesday was such a nice day, that again we spent the day with Renee and Ben and David and family (it's SO nice having someone to do so much with!!) at the zoo. Here are the boys doing their best fishy faces.

With the ever-popular camels...

Their best lion impressions...

The little boys watching the lion sleep...

And when we got home. It was a long days for the little boys!

And that's that! Once again, you're all caught up in my life. This weekend we'll celebrate Dave's birthay a little bit with cake his mom and dad are bringing, and hopefully enjoy some outside time. Happy spring!!

Happy 100th post!

Well, I made it to the 100th post... A few times I really wasn't sure I would make it this far. Sometimes there's so much to say, and other times, not so much. I hope whoever is still following is enjoying some of it. I can't say it's much, but hey, that's our life!

A few weeks ago (or maybe over a month ago, who knows anymore!), my friend Stacy, over here on her blog, commented on how she feels torn between being with one of her twins and then the other, when they both seem to need her at the same time, and how sometime everyone, including her, feels like their getting the short end of the stick. On Saturday, I figured out that I think it's the same thing in our family--even though there are no twins--and it's only going to get moreso as the new baby comes along. I got the opportunity on Saturday to hang out with Abby. We went to lunch and then headed to church where we helped out for 3-1/2 hours leading various groups of first communion kids and their parents in a craft. Throughout the day, I realized how much more I listened to Abby. I asked her questions, and even heard the answer! I could help her get more soda at lunch, or watch her on the play area (yes, we were at McDonald's), or color with her in our downtime at church. Dave's great at home at playing with the kids so I don't always have all of them all the time, but still, when we're at home there's little chance of not being interrupted. It was really nice just being with her. I hope I still find time for that after August!

Dave thinks Max is funny

At the dinner table tonight, we were quizzing Max on his words. Max, who's that? Ab-ba! Who's that? NoNo! Who's that? DaDa! Who's that? MaMoo. Yes, I'm MaMoo. They laughted. Me? Not so much.

Me too, Nolan. Me too.

I picked Nolan up this afternoon from his friend David's house, and here's the conversation we had in the car on the way home:

Nolan: We have to go back!
Me: Why?
Nolan: I forgot my mask!
Me: What mask?
Nolan: My Batman mask!
Me: Oh, did David's mom make you a Batman mask?
Nolan: Yes! And she sewed David a Batman cape, too!
Me: Oh yeah? Sounds neat.
Nolan: Yeah, it is. I sure wish you were the sew kind of mom.
Me: Silence.

Yup, Nolan. I wish I were the sew kind of mom too, but I'm just not. I'm a bill-paying, keep the house organized, make sure you almost always have your backpack kind of mom, but not the sew, iron or bed making kind of mom. Maybe someday. But then again, maybe not.

Of course, that conversation followed the morning conversations. On the way to Max's daycare, he said "Remember when I used to sneak out of bed, when I was on the bottom bunk, to look at my shirts and pick out what I would wear?" Um, no. In fact, I don't remember that. But, it doesn't surprise me. Then, on the way out of daycare, after I told someone that I was pregnant, Nolan asked "How do you get pregnant." Um, well, mommy and daddy decide to have a baby (kind of). "Oh," he says. "And then what?" Um, then we have a baby? "Oh, and then God and Jesus make magic and you have a baby?" Yes, Nolan. It's a miracle. It truly is, and God and Jesus help us. "Because they have lots of magic? And once you want a baby, they help you?" I said yes. I thought, sometimes God and Jesus help us before we even know we want the help. And sometimes they don't help as much as we think we want them to. But yes, dear Nolan, just yes.

I wish I had started this blog when Abby was younger. I know she said crazy, and cute, and ridiculous things too, but I can't remember what they are. She still says funny things, but they're just not the same. I'm sure I'll capture Max's stuff, and the new baby. But Abby's are just lost.

Speaking of Max, we have words! SpongeBob, Abby (Abba), Nolan (NoNo--HA!), Mama, Dada, shoe, no and some others on demand. It's about time!!

And in baby news... I had a doctor's appointment last Thursday. I've lost 12 pounds since my first baby appointment, but the doctor wasn't overly concerned as long as I gain it by 24 weeks (I'm almost 18 weeks now... 12 pounds in six weeks, yikes!). My thyroid levels were still way off, which explain why I'm always freezing cold, with skin so dry it cracks and why I can't get off the couch. Oh wait, that's either thyroid or surviving winter in Wisconsin with three kids. Either way, but I hope it helps to adjust my thyroid meds. And (for those who care), for the first time in four months I didn't have blood in my urine. Yeah! Apparently I finally drank enough water with lemon to dilute and hopefully dissolve some of the kidney stones. But since there are several it's only a matter of time before they come back. Hopefully after baby!

And I'll end with some pics of the kiddos... Abby and Nolan found their Valentine's suckers from Gram, with lips on the other side. Nice, huh?


I tried to get a picture of Max's eye, but I don't know if it worked so well. Abby Was twirling Max and Nolan in a chair, and Max wanted to get up. So, Abby stopped the chair, Max got up, was super dizzy and fell into the end table. Oops! Big black eye. They asked me about it at daycare today. Hmmm, I wonder if Child and Family Services will come knocking?

See the mark below his right eye? Yeah, that whole thing was a bruise.


What a ham, even with a shiner!


Here it is a little better. Poor kid!

And this is our fun from Saturday. After the salt clay debacle, I was a little leary of doing another project, but Nolan brought home directions for making a volcano, so I told the kids we could try it. And, since it rained (and then turned to ice and snow) all weekend, I figured what the heck. I gave them each 6 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt and some other ingredients to start mixing together.

Then they started forming their volcanos.

Ok, and here I'm missing some pictures that Dave took with his camera. But, basically, we added water, baking soda, dish soap and vinegar and boom! It exploded. Nolan did one and it made him jump so high--pretty funny! But here's the end version. All in all, it was worth the ingredients and the time. And they had lots of fun.

And that's all there is from my side of the world. I hope all is well on all other sides of the world, too!

47. Seriously?

Last night I was going through Max's closet, taking out the too small 18 month shirts and putting in the 24 month/2T shirts that fit over his big belly. While I was at it, I pulled out all the 24 month pants to be ready to go, since I'm sure he'll outgrow the 18 month pants soon. As I went through the different bins, I kept getting a bigger and bigger pile of pants. At the end, I just had to count. You got it, FORTY-SEVEN pairs of 24 month pants. Really? I mean, my goodness. I haven't bought him a single pair. Although, I know I bought Nolan more than enough. And other gifts of pants from other people. And then the pants that came from nephews Jake, Chad and Cole. But 47? I'd kill for his wardrobe!!

Salt clay, anyone?

Ok, I was feeling bad last week because my routine lately has been to take the boys to the Y
in the morning for Nolan's preschool, or have Nolan's friend David and his mom and brother come over and play in the morning, and then in the afternoon "let" Nolan watch TV or play Wii while I rest (read: sleep... Dave, don't read this!). So the other day, after 30 minutes of watching TV, Nolan wanted to make a clay snake that he saw in a magazine. There was a recipe, we had the ingredients, I had time if not the energy, so I just couldn't say no. After all, it looked easy enough...

Look how happy that kid is, and that snake looks easy enough. So, we mixed in the cup of salt, the two cups of flour, and the water and oil and stirred it all up. And stirred and stirred, but it didn't get doughy, just kind of runny. I thought maybe it would help to dump it out on some aluminum foil and use our hands. Nolan dug right in, and immediately started crying "My finger! My finger!" What? So I started to play with it and quickly realized that every crack and fissure in my dry, dry hands was now covered with salt and BURNING!! No wonder Nolan was crying! So, I told him to go wash his hands whileI kneaded it some more and added more flour, which in turn made it... More sticky!

YUCK!

But isn't Nolan getting good at taking pictures?

Here's a peak at what the snake kind of turned out like.

Nice, huh? I don't have final pictures, but after this, we baked it for an hour, where it got somewhat hardened, then Nolan painted it blue. The next day, he played with it for about 47 seconds, it broke in half, he cried, we threw it away. And that's all we'll ever talk about salt clay again! That's what I get for trying to find some energy for CRAFTING! Oh well.

Since that didn't work, Nolan wanted to take pics of me with the light sabre (saber?). I wasn't supposed to smile. So this turned out attractive, don't you think?

How about this one?

No? I just can't wield a weapon like these boys can:

In case you don't recognize these ninjas, they're Nolan and Kyan across the street.

On a completely different topic, it truly pays to wait to have a baby until you're a little older. I got more maternity clothes than I could ever use from Stacy, and Joe at work gave me all of his baby stuff since they were done. It includes car seats with bases, a high chair, exersaucer, bumbo seat, bouncy chair, swing, everything! It was so nice, and it's really nice not to have to re-buy everything. Even Max liked the deal... here he is trying everything out. This baby doesn't stand a chance!

I had a great weekend this weekend, but it went entirely too fast. My mom and dad (Gram and Grumpy) were here Friday, and then my dad went to my sister's and my mom and I went to a Women of Christ conference on Saturday. The morning was a little rough with the speakers, but the presenters in the afternoon were entertaining, poignant and truly left us with great things to think and talk about. After that we celebrated mass with Archbishop Dolan, who will soon be heading to the diocese of NY, and is really a great speaker and leader in his own right. Even his sermon got three rounds of applause! Then mom and I headed to dinner and home, where we stayed up until 3 AM chatting. I was tired today, but luckily Dave let me catch a nap on the couch after lunch. But, I still think I'll hit the sack early tonight. Hmmm, maybe now. 8:30 sounds like a great time!

Have a great week!