Marry me?

Jack has been saying for about a year that he wants to marry his Mimi. But today he came out to the kitchen, pouting, and reached for me to pick him up. When I did, he mumbled, "Mommy, I wish you could marry."
"What? You want to marry ME?"
"Yeah. But what about Mimi?"
"Well, she's already married to Grandpa. But what about Daddy? Who will he marry?"
"I think he can marry Olivia."

I think we have some 'splainin to do!

Wow- the kids in bed by eight in the summer?!

We wore them out today. They played outside literally from dawn to dusk while Ryan worked on the front bushes. They ate outside, they drank gallons of milk, water, and juice. They didn't take naps, and they came inside for dinner with little pink cheeks and noses. It was great! And the best part...they were all asleep by 8! I think that's some kind of record since May! Yay!

Yesterday Olivia was adorably playing "tea party" with me in her room. She insisted I hold both cups while I poured our pretend tea, and after the first time I made a psssshhht sound as I poured, she made the sound too. Then she decided her brothers, who were next door in their room jumping on the beds and making a fort out of mattresses and blankets, should definitely have a relaxing cup of tea. I loved watching her toddle over to their room and yell happily as she held out two teeny tiny floral cups for the boys to partake of the tea. They both used their best manners to say "Thank you, baby," and pretended to sip before giving the cups back to their beaming little sister. Those are the moments that make me truly feel it's a wonderful life!

Get outta my bed, Jackson!

I am up late tonight uploading pictures to be printed, and as I lay in bed on the computer listening to Livi fuss as she falls back to sleep, I heard talking. I quickly changed the video monitor from Livi's channel to the boys' and had to do a double-take when I saw TWO little bodies in ONE tiny toddler bed! I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall and as I came into the room I heard Sammy saying "This is MY bed, Jackson. Get outta my bed!" Jackson started to cry and I lifted him back to his own bed. He cried brokenheartedly for about 15 seconds, then promptly passed back out! Poor Sam. He's still laying in bed with his eyes open probably wondering what the heck just happened!

My birthday

I turned 29 (YIKES!) on Saturday, and I had a truly perfect day. The weather was beautiful, and my sweet husband and kids made me feel very special. The night before I had margaritas and games with the girls at a friend's house, and my hubby let me sleep until 9:30 the next morning! When I got up, I lounged for a bit and then Ryan took the kids for a long walk while I went out to do some shopping. I found some great stuff for the house (since I'm always to scared to go into homegoods stores with the kids...all that breakable stuff just waiting for them to trash it!) and had sushi for lunch. I played with Jack for a while during naptime, and spent some tickle torture time with all three kids in the afternoon before deciding to head upstairs to read some magazines, watch HGTV and doze for a while. Ryan and the kids made me some delicious chocolate cupcakes, and I hopped in the shower for a great dinner out at Bonefish with my honey. Our neighbor came over and sat in the house (we had already put the kids to bed) while we went, and dinner was delish! A glass of wine, fantastic warm bread with a basil/olive pesto, shrimp and scallops martini appetizer (SUPERYUMMY!), a caesar salad, and an asian shrimp and scallops entree later, I was pleasantly full and ready to snuggle up at home and watch the Olympics for a while. Truly relaxing, energizing, and perfect. To top it all off, Ryan had gifts sent all week- mostly accessories for my new digital camera, which I loved, and today I received an adorable personalized $25 giftcard for Starbucks. It has a cartoon picture on it that looks like me with a tiara (too true!), a coffee in one hand, and my camera in the other. So thoughtful and a great surprise! Thanks to all for my great birthday! I love you guys!

Sense of humor

It's been so much fun lately to watch all three of the kids developing their senses of humor. Olivia's latest trick (among many) is to hold her nose while she walks around and says in a sing-song voice, "Peeeeeeee-uuuuuuuuu" both cracking up her adoring brothers, and herself along the way.
Sammy has begun to grow self conscious, and although doing something deliberately funny, like making a funny face or a silly sound, will immediately turn to a frowing "Stop waffing (laughing) at me, Mommy!"
Jackson grows sillier each day, but last night as we read stories at one point, he belted out in a strange and funny voice "AW, MAN....WHAAAAAT?!?! That's RIDICULOUS!" and Ryan and I cracked up!

I wuv you too, Mommy

Sammyisms. I love them. He is such a snugglebear (when he's not beating the crap out of you) and lately when I hold him, or hug him, or just plain ol' snuggle him, he places his head in the crook of my neck so we are as close as we can be. I will usually say "Sammy, I love you so." And he will say "I wuv you too Mommy," and then make a contented little grunt as he snuggles even closer. Can't he just stay a pudgy little toddler/preschooler forever?

SOOO embarrassing, even to a three year old

We had our next door neighbors over for dinner on Saturday night, and they decided to go home and put their toddlers to bed (with their teenaged son, who was home) and then come back to play games. We attempted to quickly put the boys to bed while they were gone, but it has been a rocky road since Jackson gave up his beloved facifier.
When they got back to our house, the games commenced, and it seemed (from the rumble on the ceiling above us) that the boys were still awake. At one point Jackson started calling for us (which he rarely does), but we ignored him both because we had company and because we thought it was a stall tactic.
Ryan finally went into the room to find a crying Jackson, declaring "Daddy, I made poopoo in my pants because I called for you but you didn't come and so now I made poopoo.." and on and on as Ryan took him down the hall. Upon coming downstairs, Ryan chuckled that after he had removed the soiled underwear, and had Jackson bent over touching his toes to be wiped, Jackson had said "Dad, this is embarrassing." Of course, on Jacksonspeak it was probably more like "dis is embawwasing." Heehee.

Picture this...

We leave the house this morning to head to the library, needing something to occupy us on these days that are too hot to head to the pool or the backyard. The quick run-in and pick up of books goes fairly smoothly, although Livi begins to grow impatient as we wait in line to check out our books, and Sammy has made a poopy diaper. I panic a little because I'm not sure I put wipes back in the car after Ryan cleaned it out this week.
We encounter a friend and her two little ones in the parking lot and stop for a moment to say hi. I find wipes in the bottom of the stroller (thankfully!) and change Sammy's poopy diaper on the floor of the van while Livi's irritation begins to grow to a full-on tantrum. It's hot, and I'm starting to feel flustered while I clean up the mess, strap the boys in, and try my best to comfort a now-wailing Olivia.
I have promised the boys that we can eat lunch at Chick-fil-a, and that yes, we will go in instead of hitting the drive-thru so that they can play in the coveted (read: germy) play area. The whole way there, Livi's cries are escalating, and I'm wondering what in the world is wrong. I rub her legs as I lean way back in my seat, chanting a soothing shoosh, but nothing seems to be helping. I figure she's just hungry and maybe a bit tired, but will feel better when I pick her up to go into the restaurant.
By the time we arrive she is so hysterical she has begun writhing in her seat, trying to escape from the clutches of her five point harness, and her face is beet red with frustration and emotion. We head into the Chick and I grab a rolling highchair to plop her in while I order, pay, and hopefully navigate successfully to a table near the play area. She is having none of it, and is trying to climb from the high chair while reaching for me and continuing to scream hysterically. People are starting to stare. The boys are doing fairly well, but Sam seems to be deliberately antagonizing her by pulling on her legs and dancing all around us. I manage to order, pay, and get the drinks so I can park the boys at the table and run back up for the food. Oliva continues to scream. I desperately try removing her shoes, checking her all over for any spot of injure, but give up and just hold her in my lap. Finally, after we begin to eat (and after she has pushed food away- NEVER HAPPENS), she calms down on my lap and begins to regain composure. We eat and I'm starting to relax a little. The boys head into the play area and Olivia and I munch on fries and sing songs, waiting for them to come running back time and again to cram a nugget in their mouths before heading back off.
It's time to go and I tell Sam to go get his shoes. He brings Jack's. I send him back to get HIS shoes and also to tell Jack it is time to go. He comes back to report that Jack is stuck and needs help. I have to take Livi with me into the play area to see what's going on and as I call up to him, a teary voice responds that he's "at the vewy top" and is too scared to come down. Some older kids try to lead him to the slide, but he won't follow. I start trying to put Sam's shoes on, who is demanding to do it "hisself" and he proceeds to put them on the wrong feet. Meanwhile, Jackson's cries are becoming more frantic, and a father comes in to ask if I want him to go after Jack. He starts up the plastic trail, and Jack appears at the bottom of the slide in the arms of a 7 year old boy. I thank them both profusely before putting shoes on Jack, and getting the heck outta dodge. Screw the heat, I think we'll be heading to the pool next week. Or maybe at least the gym nursery.

Movie time

Today was the kids' first movie theater experience. Our local Regal cinemas has free kids movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the summer, and $1 popcorn and drinks. I have been promising myself to take the kids for two years, and we made our first trip today!
The selection was Peter Pan, and I was expecting the Disney cartoon version. Not so much. It was a live version, and not the one with Robin Williams either. It was good, but let's just say a little more intense than I was expecting for the little guys. Those freakin mermaids could give ME nightmares! Oh well.
They LOVED IT! Of course I took pictures (that I haven't downloaded yet) and Jackson managed to sit quietly in his own seat for the whole thing, completely riveted by the show. Sam sat on my lap and basically watched the movie. Olivia was more of a challenge.
Thank heavens my neighbor was there with her 14 year old, 5 year old and 2 year old boys. Her oldest fed Livi popcorn, shared his drink with her, and held her on his lap. When she got restless, and began wandering around peeking around the seats to giggle in people's faces (which cracked me up, incidentally), he strolled her around the lobby and kept her happy for the whole movie. When we walked out of the theater at the end, she was fast asleep in his arms out in the lobby. SOOOO cute!
Of course my neighbor also took Jackson to the bathroom for me during the movie while I watched the two year olds, and he needed to go again after the movie, but I was NOT down with waiting in the eternal line, so I told him we'd stop somewhere else. On our way out to the parking lot, I hit the door open button a ways away and an 8 year old boy started to get in, realized it wasn't his silver minivan, and sheepishly walked back to his mother. It was one of about a trillion silver mini vans in the minivan soccer mom brigade. As I strapped the kids in, Jackson started again with the "Mommy, I REALLY need to go potty."
I grabbed the Chick fil a cup left in the car from Club Mom at the mall yesterday, and shut the door. He started peeing, and peeing, and peeing until the cup was full and I had to scramble for another cup to put in overflow! Gross, I know, but these are the days of my life...someday I'll reread these and probably not remember this kind of stuff without having recorded it.
So, after two years of dreading the movies with all three, it was actually really enjoyable. Guess that means my kids are getting older. Pass the tissues, please! Sob.

Straight from the garden

Having a garden has been a great outlet for me this summer. I have LOVED spending the evenings out watering, weeding, and picking my fresh, organic produce. I spent the summer checking out every possible book on growing a garden, and I really wasn't sure what to expect from my first attempt. I actually picked over 40 tomatoes this week and made 5 large containers of homemade marinara, complete with fresh basil, parsley and peppers from my garden, and jarred two large containers of salsa. We've had fresh minestrone soup this week already and the kids and I have been snacking on the salsa like crazy!

I have fond childhood memories of eating from my mother's garden, and every time we visited my grandparents, my pappy smelled like tomato plants. I revel in the earthy, woodsy smell of the dirt and plants, and it has taken alot of the "girly" out of me, actually enjoying getting dirty!

The kids have also loved planting the garden with me and watching it grow. They eat the fresh herbs all the time, especially the basil, mint and dill, and all three pick cherry tomatoes to snack on when they're out playing in the backyard. The other night, Livi was out there just helping herself, and Sammy was happy to get in on the act.

Kids say the darndest things

The other day on our way to brunch, Sammy said "Mommy, Daddy, I have haircuts in my mouth."
We both smiled and said "What?"
"I have haircuts in my mouth. I still have haircuts in my mouth."
We were about to dismiss him for talking nonsense when we realized he had the hiccups!

Tonight in the car the boys were having their own little conversation when Sammy started yelling, "Daddy, Daddy...Jackson's two-er than me." Apparently being three makes you "twoer" than someone who is only two and a half.

When I was watering the garden, the boys came running over with their watering cans to help. I had the hose sprayer set to "shower" and I just held it over their buckets, which was taking a while to fill. Sam looked at me and said, "No, mommy. You have to put it on 'jet'!" Can he read or something? Sheesh.

Tonight when storytime came, it was late for bed so Ryan chose two books for the kids instead of letting them choose their own. He said "Guys, it's late tonight so we're going to read "Kiss Goodnight" and "Goodnight Moon." Jackson grabbed another book and said, "This one says goodnight, too."
We looked and sure enough, it did. Spooky.

Buh-bye, Facifier

Ryan decided that the night we came back from the beach (Saturday), Jackson would start going to bed without his pacifier. He has ALWAYS used one, and to my knowledge has never fallen asleep without one...even in the car. Since he was about 16 months, we have limited him to bedtime and car trips, and he had chewed this one to the point that it didn't really work anymore anyway. We were worried about him choking on it if it came apart, and truthfully I was going to give him one more new one and make him give it up when he turned four in November- (theoretically anyway!). HOWEVER, my husband had different ideas.
He mentioned it to Jack as we pulled away from the beach, and a panicked Jackson began asking/pleading over and over for Daddy not to take it away. After admonishing my hubby for putting us all through this (saying it in the car- REALLY? at the beginning of a long car trip- REALLY??? have you taken a recent blow to the head or something?!), and reassuring Jack that we would talk about it later, he finally calmed down.
That night when he went to bed he cried and cried. He pulled out all the stops, even saying "But I'm still three!" and "But I'm still just a little boy!" and basically ripped my heart out of my chest in the process.
I tried to tell myself that it is for the best. His teeth are looking a little bucky, and seeing as Ryan had buck teeth as a kid, he's already got genetics working against him. I finally told him if he could go to bed this week without his paci, we would go to Chuck E Cheese. Aah, bribery...my sweet, sweet friend. It got me through the potty training...why not this?
I was futhermore sure that he would promptly stop napping. He's already been teetering on the nap thing, and I've been struggling for a couple months now to get everyone to nap at the same time. So far this week, he has slept both for naps and at night, but it has required someone to be in his room with him. So any tiny-fractional-minute-little break that I was getting before is now spent sitting in a dark room listening to him whimper as he falls asleep. It's excruciating.
And still a part of me wants him to use his paci because it makes him my baby. It means it's still okay to snuggle him all the time. To carry him up the stairs when he says he's too tired. To baby him when he skins his knee, instead of saying "Be a tough guy- you're okay!" To long for him to stay a little baby boy forever.
Sunday morning when he got up, he came into our bed for some snuggles. When Ryan and the kids went down for breakfast, his lovey, Lambie, was laying in the floor by our bed in a heap. And the last piece of my heart shattered. Honestly, I had visions of him using lambie to sleep until he was, like, 15. I had visions of clutching the lambie he had used for SO MANY YEARS in my wrinkled hand as I watched home videos and rocked back and forth on the couch the night he left for college and/or got married. I felt like lambie was a part of the family, and I swear he looked sad as he lay there in the floor. I cried like a baby myself and snuggled that lambie like it was my job. I think if I had ever been a thumb sucker I might have regressed that far.
The analogy was too much for me. I saw lambie on the floor, forgotten and left behind much like I see Jack heading into boyhood, teenagehood, and manhood. Soon he will be leaving his babyhood (and me) behind, and crumpled in a heap on the floor. And I know I'll never be ready for that.

What now?

Add this to the list of things I never thought I'd say, even to myself.
I just picked something up off the bathroom floor and said OUTLOUD, TO MYSELF:
"What is that? Poop? A Bean? Chocolate? EW." And then I sniffed it before I could even stop myself. (I'm going with cookie, but it's really still a toss up.)
What has become of me?

Blonde Jokes

We spent the past week at the beach, and it was heavenly. The kids (all nine of them!) were well-behaved, and the trip was relaxing and fun! I'll have pics and such to post hopefully tomorrow, but one of my favorite anecdotes was this:
Two of my nieces were showering, and my sister was in the adjoining bedroom putting on makeup so the girls could not see her as she heard their exchange.
Leah (nearly nine years old, sweet and timid): Becca, your hair looks really dark in the water.
Becca(10 years old, going on 21): Yeah, its not REALLY brown, but it's mostly brown. But that's okay because they say blondes are dumb anyway.
Leah: I would agree with that.
Becca: But...you're blonde.
Leah: Oh yeah.

Game point...SCORE! Heehee. Love it.