Quote of the week...

Meagan: "Ethan is like a dog in SO many ways"

And honorable mention goes to NiNi:
"Mom, why don't we ever get to ride in the big cart at Target (cart that has a place for bigger kids to sit/stand)? Huh mom? Why not? 'Cause you're not a fun mom???"

Not to be outdone by this zinger:
I was talking with the girls about how we all have weaknesses and what our greatest weaknesses are. NiNi said, "Mom, what's YOUR greatest weakness...Being mean to us?"

21 months

Emerging...

This morning as I was giving the kids breakfast, they asked if I had an early morning meeting to go to. I had on a nice-ish shirt and earrings. I did not have a meeting but had slept in my clothes the night before...just seemed like way too much work to put on pajamas! That said, I still believe we're beginning to emerge from our month long battle with the viral crud. I am on the tail end of a sinus infection and Meagan is still firmly planted on the couch with a low grade fever, but I think it's on it's way out. The same night that the ice storm hit a few weeks ago, we were driving NiNi to the immediate care center with a 103.5 degree fever and it just went downhill from there. We all started dropping like flies. Chris had to be in Miami the next day, so there I was, iced/snowed-in with sick kids. That's when it hit me...the stark reality of having three kids. It's funny that I keep waiting to feel like I'm on top of life again...to find my groove. Now I'm beginning to think I don't have one! I'm not trying to be down on myself and don't generally have a low self-esteem, but it's true that we all have strengths and weaknesses. I marvel at women who have 4,5,6 kids AND home school the entire brood AND workout AND eat from their own flourishing organic garden. I know that no one is perfect, but you can't deny that some women just have that certain something which makes them appear to breeze through motherhood with grace, style and a bubbly personality. And it's not a single quality, like organization or patience. It's some kind of rare super-maternal gene...a gene that I unfortunately did not inherit or manufacture. I know, I know, it's the low endorphins and February-in-Indiana-gray-skies talking. And regardless of whether I am "good" at it or not, I have these wonderful creatures that call me mom. So for now, let the laundry pile grow (and junk mail pile, toy pile, and stuff that needs to go in the attic pile) and it's frozen pizza for dinner tonight! I guess they all seem relatively well adjusted...


Here are some pictures from the warm spell we had last week



Attack of the psycho-sister



A quick update on the little man...He is growing! We have another weigh-in in a couple of weeks, but I'm guessing he's past the 20 lb mark now. And just in time so that we can turn his carseat forward-facing for our Spring Break drive to Florida. He's gonna LOVE looking a something besides the back of the seat! He runs the house these days, ordering us around by pulling our arms and motioning "come here." Still not talking but communicating FOR SURE. He hits us on the chest, or uses his little hands to turn our faces toward what he wants. He knows almost 20 signs (cracker, juice, milk, more, done, help, banana, please, thank you, sorry, hot, etc) and will even put 2 signs together.... "more eat" is a favorite combination:) He recently started pointing to his eye and saying "eye" and will make the "h" sound when signing "hot." He stays in the church nursery for the entire service now and will appropriately cry when I leave him and is happy when I come back...this is a good thing compared to when we first brought him home. Sleeping and napping much better now that his dairy allergy and reflux are under control (except when I forget to give him his medicine...oops) He loves his occupational therapist. When she comes over, he sits down and pats the floor beside him for her to sit down too. He is drinking from a straw a little bit now. He also loves his time with grandma...this week she is starting to watch him 2 days a week as I bump up my hours at work. Overall he is such a happy guy!

Four no more...sniff, sniff

NiNi had been counting down the days until her birthday. The day prior to this momentous occasion, she walked up to me and said, "Mom! This is the last day I will be four!" I think I almost cried. It seems like yesterday that she was Ethan's size and all her cousins would carry her around in a laundry basket chanting "Queen NiNi, Queen NiNi" I think this must have been the beginning of her "princess complex" as we like to call it. We joke that her birthparents must have been of royal blood and she was supposed to have been a Chinese Empress or something. She's so misunderstood! Seriously, I am very proud of her, especially for making room for a little brother. I guess we forget that our other children have no say in whether they want to share their parents with another sibling or not. It can be a very frustrating time...and it has been. No longer the baby but not a big girl either. But she is really growing and giving a little more each day. Playing with him, trying to be maternal. Of course I still hear conversations like this:

Ethan was sucking on one of NiNi's bracelets. She started screaming, "You are the most disgusting spitty brother in the world! Now you can just keep that yourself for dress-up-ing"

We had a few friends over on Saturday for a party, although she was in the beginning stages of the flu, so didn't act like she was having a tremendous amount of fun.




They're supposed to be unicorns. Everyone thought they were pigs, though. Hey, I tried!



Neither Meagan or NiNi really acknowledge that Ethan isn't just one of the girls. So far he has been victimized into dressed up in girl clothes, putting on lip gloss and had his hair in tiny pony-tails. Not to mention the daily trying on of girl shoes, and feeding bottles to the Baby Alive. I have assured Chris this is called "pretend play" and is something we can check off his developmental checklist. He's not buying it, though. He says we need to "man-up" Ethan. I suggested we get him into pee-wee soccer as soon as possible, although I don't think there are any teams quite "pee-wee" enough at this point. He did start a mommy-and-me gymnastics class and I am proud to report that he is the only toddler in the class that can do a somersault.

In other news, we seem to be making some headway on Ethan's GI issues. I have cut all dairy out of his diet for the past 2 weeks and we have had no throwing up whatsoever and much better sleeping. Although no one has confirmed it, we are going to assume he is allergic to dairy and just go with it. Neither of my girls really like meat and I could take it or leave it. No meat, no diary, we might as well go full vegan. Not sure what we'd do about Chris, the one meat-and-potato-loving member of our family.


Our little Babushka


Enjoying his soy yogurt


The extra wide baby gate...a wonderous invention. Thank you grandma Smith!


Spikey hair


Watching High School Musical...the only form of television Ethan is interested in