Emergency Broadcast System works....

Everyone has heard on the radio or TV

Beep Beep

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system, in the case of an emergency......

Well we were out running errands before the "impending blizzard" and we heard on the radio

Beep Beep

But it was not a test!

They man came on and said

BLIZZARD WARNING!!

STAY HOME

DO NOT DRIVE

IF YOU DO DRIVE, AND IF YOU DO DRIVE AND GET STUCK, PREPARE TO STAY IN YOUR CAR ALL NIGHT

NO ONE WILL COME GET YOU

YOU MAY DIE

DEADLY WIND CHILLS

WHITE OUT CONDITIONS

STAY HOME!

I may have embellished a bit, but seriously it was intense. I think before living in the Midwest I had never heard anything but "this is a test". I heard it for the first time this summer about Tornadoes. We are living on the edge here:) Don't worry, it doesn't take much to keep us home in nasty weather. They boys and I are home awaiting the blizzard......

Babysitter

Today we realized we have reached a point where we need a babysitter, a regular one.

A girl to come to our house for a few hours a week.

We have gone a long time without one, but it is time.

The boys will be fine,

they may even look forward to it,

but we need time to be "just us".

Time to remember who we were before we were:

parents of three boys,

full time momma/homemaker,

med student,

Natl Guard family,

Iowan.

We love being married, but we need to defend our marriage.

This is one little way to protect "us"

Tonight we were blessed our good friends offered to watch the boys for a few hours,

It gave us much needed quality time,

but we need to fork out the cash and stop asking our friends who are too kind.

I am on the hunt for a bargain babysitter....

Orange Day

I guess I should preface this post with the history of the situation. We are realitively new to preschool. We began in September, and at the end of September it was "red day". I was so proud to be there on time, with Quint dressed in red (just a few days after Rhett was born). Until.....

We walked into the classroom and they all lined up in the front of the class. I did not know what was happening but then all the other mommies whipped out their caemeras and began taking pictures. Where were they hiding those, I hadn't even noticed them earlier! My stomach just sank as I watched them record this precious moment. I tried very hard to focus on Quint and take in the moment of my little man singing his first song in front of people. I was bummed, but I vowed to do better. I would not be caught camera-less or what ever was required of a preschool momma.

Fast forward one month to Orange day.

We had successfully done the buddy bear project, sharing day, and our day for snack between Red day and Orange day. But, none of that mattered now.

It was orange day, and again, I was standing there without my camera. Seriously! How did I let this happen again!

Rewind 15 minutes.

I had loaded the car. Quint was in his orange shirt, and I had my camera in my bag. We drove to preschool and as I hustled to get all three boys in the building I paused and looked at my bag. I thought to myself, I don't need my bag we will only be a few minutes...EXCEPT the camera was in the bag. By the time I rolled the stroller in the room and realized they were going to sing again, it was too late to run to the car. It was a feeling of dropping the ball in slow motion. I couldn't believe I had done it again. To top it off Rhett started to cry as they were singing, and I could tell some of the mommies were annoyed that my crying son would be on their video.

I was sad for a bit but realized that it was a little thing in a very big picture...that was until dinner.

Quint was telling us about his day and he said to Daddy

"we sang a song today, and all the mommies were taking pictures and mommy didn't have her camera"

At that moment my heart sank. But, what could I do? I had forgetton the camera again. I had let him down.

I apologized, I told him I would get a picture from another preschool mommy, and I would do my best to have my camera next time.

I know in my mind it is not a big thing in the big picture, but it was big to Quint, which means I let him down. And, that kills me. I know it will happen. I am human and fail everyday. But, its not ok with me, so tomorrow and everyday after that I will work to get better at this momma thing.

Hopefully someday when it is a big thing in the big picture, I won't fail him.

Its a baby penguin

Quint has been attending preschool for two weeks. His teacher has not told me much about how Quint is doing but he seems to love it. This morning we walked in and his teacher told me "Quint has been telling us all about the baby". I was happy to hear he was excited about the new baby, and that he was sharing in class.

Two hours later we arrived to pick up and Quint's art teacher made a special point to come over and tell me a story about him today. I guess she asked him if he was hoping it was a baby brother or baby sister?

Quint responded: " I hope it is a baby penguin"

His art teacher is the cutest lady, who you can tell just loves her morning spent with little ones who say hilarious things. She was giggling, and I was too. All I could say was...."that would be interesting!"

I am not sure where Quint came up with a baby penguin, but I love having a peak into how their minds work.

I guess Bill Cosby was right, kids do say the darnest things:)

Quint gives advice

I went in to wake Quint up from nap today and he wanted to wake up slow. These days I am always up to lay down for a bit, so we snuggled together. It didn't last long and soon he was poking at my belly. He is always interested in the belly but today he put his mouth right up to it and began talking.

Quint: "hello in there"

"you should come out today"

"there are pacis out here!"

"we want to play with you"

It was really cool to see him initiate conversation with his new little brother. It was also very interesting to see what he told him about. We are so excited to meet him!

Don't forget the "s"

Today we start speech group for Quint. He has been getting speech services since he was 2. We have graduated to going to a group at a local elementary school. I keep thinking we are making so much progress, "he doesn't need speech anymore...right?". This morning we went to speech, and in the back of my mind I was thinking he is doing so much better he will probably test out of it now. Well, they worked on the letter "s" and I realized without a lot of prompting, he always leaves off the "s" on the front of words. Speech class is not a huge deal but I don't think anyone wants their child to have an IEP. Even if the cause was chronic ear infections as a young child.

I remember the first time I was clued in to Quint's delayed speech. We were at our 2 year old check up. I was so proud of my little man. I thought he was doing great, until

Doctor "so does he have 50 words?"

Me (in my head) who has fifty words at age 2!

Me out loud "I think he has more like 3-5"

Doctor "He had tubes put in last spring, so he may benefit from speech services to catch him up" "he is probably just a little behind because he couldn't hear very well all last winter". "here is the # to have him assessed."

Me: "I thought he was just kinda quiet, not very verbal, like his daddy"

I guess I should have noticed, but I was proactive and we were assessed. Since then we have been working on it. I guess we are not ready to be done yet. I will continue to get Quint to speech until his teacher thinks he is ready to graduate:)

You can't turn down free help

Today we did the big grocery store trip. When we got home the boys wanted to help put the groceries away. I would prefer to do it myself. But, I could not turn down their helpfulness. It went fast, and jelly was dropped on my toe in the process. I know it was an accident. They were so great and helpful. It is possible that I may find freezer food in the pantry later today, or vice versa. But, despite my misplaced food and my hurt toe, it was totally worth it. They are growing into such helpful little men:)

Missing one...

Today was the first day of preschool. It was a big day around here to put it lightly. I was trying to take it all in because people tell me this time in life goes too fast. But, what really stuck out to me was after Russell and I left preschool. I strapped him in his car seat and got in the car to go. Russell yelled from the back

"Quint!" "Mommy, Quint!"

I was surprised for a moment but then I realized they go nearly everywhere together. Even when I do drop them off somewhere for a class, we always leave together. I told Russell we would be back to pick Quint up in a few hours and he he said:

"No!"

I reassured him, and he was awesome.

When we returned to pick Quint up we had to wait till class was over.

Russell kept trying to open the door. He was excited to regain his buddy.

They are bonded.

It was an awesome realization.

Bk or grill utensils?

Its Labor Day, and we have been fighting sickness in our house. We were stir crazy, and BK went out for a few hours to meet with a good friend. I know he needs some man time. But, I am not a great sharer, and even after an hour I was missing him. He rode his bike, so I knew he would return by the porch door. As I was trying to get some stuff done around the house every few minutes out of the corner of my eye something would catch my attention. I would immediately get my hopes up that he was back already. Turns out it was the grill utensils clanging together in the breeze. I know it is ridiculous, and every time it would catch my eye and I would look to see if he was home, I would have negative self talk. I know it is not a great trait, but I was being a bit silly.

IN my BRAIN

"Christy, don't be ridiculous, BK needs to bond with other people besides you"

"He basically just left, of course he isn't home yet"

"Stop being so pregnant and moody"

A little while longer he was home.

I admitted that I missed him and nearly cried.

Sometimes I am too needy even for me.

Some days, survival is enough

I woke up this morning feeling yucky. No energy, head cold symptoms, drippy nose. I just wanted to crawl back in bed. I think both the boys were not feeling themselves either. We aborted our plans to go to the park, and just hung around the house in the morning. I always feel terribly guilty staying inside when the weather is nice, but I didn't think we had it in us to enjoy it. Or maybe I just wimped out. I tried to make it a good indoor morning.

I was thinking....positive self talk....you can do it.

You can be a good momma till nap time!

I pushed on, played blocks, train, and made lunch. The boys napped long and I was so grateful to get my own nap. I knew I was on my own till after bedtime (BK working late) so I prepared. I was not feeling up to it, but we pushed on for a walk, and played by the marching band. We ate dinner, built a boat and playground out of blocks, bath, grams, video, and bed.

WOW. I SURVIVED.

I think despite my yucky feeling body, I mustered out an ok day as a momma.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be all better.

But, for tonight....victory!

Playing together?

The boys woke up with such a sweet demeanor. Many mornings they need to get out to an activity, but today they seemed so content playing on our home. It was very peaceful and quiet so I went to see what was happening. They were both hiding under the play structure, doing something which involved trucks. Quint was talking to Russell and Russell was giggling. It was a perfect momma moment. I hope they keep up this angelic behavior when the new baby comes along:)

The pager incident

My hubby left his work pager home on Friday. It wasn't urgent so I put it in our bedroom in a safe spot. Well, tonight he came home flustered...I can't find my pager. Well, we paged it, and it didn't go off. Hummm. I told him, I left it on the dresser in our room.

It was mysteriously gone.

Soon we were all turning the house upside down looking for it. We asked the boys a few times if they had moved it, or seen it. I am a chronic rearranger but I swore innocence in this case:) My hubby is very organized and I try hard to keep our house in a level that won't drive him to insanity, but with babies it is challenging. I have to admit since our move the one room still in boxes is our bedroom which did not help in this situation! Finally, BK pulled the couch cushion off the couch and there it was. It was sitting right in the middle, like it was hidden there by a sneaky little man. It clearly did not fall down in the crack. We turned to the boys...not mad, just curious to whom may have put it there.

Quint said it wasn't him,

then Russell piped up, "me!"

We were all relieved the pager was found, and, after Russell's innocent but proud confession, we were all smiling:)

Total Meltdown....why?

Sometimes I wonder how I get in some situations. We had a rough start today. We just couldn't get going. I like to blame my very pregnant body on my lack of energy to get out the door but I think we all were having a lazy day. I was determined to get out in the afternoon. We planned to head to the pool. We made it there, swam and had a great time. We sat down in the sun to have our snack and I realized I had not divided the snack into their separate containers yet. I quickly tried to move some of the crackers in Quint' s snack bowl to Russell's and he lost it. He was not in a good place to share. He is getting far too old to melt down over sharing crackers, but I could not address that now. He was screaming. We packed it up, and headed home. My 3 year old screaming the whole way, and my 2 year old, listening, and following directions perfectly.

It was a scene. I strapped him in the stroller and we walked home. He cried half the way and never even ate a cracker.

As I was pushing my stroller away, with two young boys, one screaming and my big pregnant belly, I could feel the judgement raining down on my from the other momma's at the pool. Or even worse, the college kids with no concept of what it is like to raise babies.

Usually, this would bother me. Tragically, I am a people pleaser.

But my moment was I realized...

in momma land, as with life, some days are just rough.

I realized everyone at the pool has rough days....

The only difference was mine was currently on display:)

Some days everyone wonders, how did I get here, and can I just go back to bed and start over?

But, we press on, we persevere. We do timeout, and move on to dinner.

This was very abnormal behavior for Quint and I am still not sure why he lost it.

But, sometimes I want to kick and scream because I don't want to share too.

Maybe he gets that from me:)

I want to braid hair?

I should probably preface this post. I am a proud momma of two boys and the doctor tells me we have a third little man on the way. I love having boys, and actually get a bit anxious at the idea of a girl. That being said, maybe my heart warming toward the idea of someday having a little lady in our family.

Today I walked by a mom who was in the process of braiding her daughter's hair. I caught myself by surprise when my first thought was how fun it looked to braid little girl's hair. I could not believe it, did I really just think that? I have never felt qualified to be a momma of girls.

But, today I was jealous of a woman braiding her little girl's hair, I wonder if God is telling me something:)

Time will tell......