A Day In The Life

8:00 The kids are awake. Mom is not. Mom stayed up way too late last night reading a Ted Dekker book. The dog is howling to go out. Might as well start the coffee.

8:30 Mom is making breakfast for everyone (toaster waffles...it's pretty gourmet) including Dad, who is still upstairs asleep. Score one for Dad.

8:45 Mom has managed to eat her waffle while it's still hot, and is cramming in the last bite when the baby wakes up ready to eat. Score one for Mom.

9:15 Mom is trying to ignore the kids and check her email. The kids are climbing on her chair, hanging on her shoulders. Cooper is "doing" Mom's hair. Mom: "Don't you want to go watch more tv?"

10:00 Kids are going nutso, so Mom pulls pillows off the couch and creates a fort. Then heads downstairs to start a load of laundry.

10:05 Mom comes back upstairs to find the fort collapsed, and the kids launching themselves off the "walls" of the fort. Mom moves the couch cushions into the middle of the fort to be the "water". This occupies said nutsos for quite a while. Score one for Mom.


Payton watches...


While the big kids jump





10:45 Mom: "Coop, why is your head wet? Are you that sweaty?" Cooper: "No, it's from the sink." Most of us call the "sink" a bidet. And Zeke is eating the scraps from breakfast out of the garbage can.

10:50 Water running in the bathroom. Mom: "Okay, turn off the water. Cooper, what are you doing with Payton's washcloth? Can you please put it back?" Cooper: "But, Mom, I'm drying my peets!" (feet).

10:52 Water running in bathroom again. Mom walks in with arms full of baby and sighs. Water is shooting out of the bidet, both kids are soaked from the waist down (and Zeke is wearing Cooper's shoes) and the bathroom is covered in water. Everything is drenched. (Seriously?? I was gone for TWO MINUTES) Score one for Kids

11:00 Time to feed the baby. In the midst of all the noise and cleanup, she has passed out.

11:45 Mom has all these ideas for new stuff to make for lunch. The kids are antsy and hungry. Mom makes PB&J's all around...again.

12:30 All the kids are in bed, and Mom is picking up the house. Dishes have been done, phone calls have make, email and facebook have been checked. More importantly, there has been laughter and kisses. It's been a good morning.

12:45 Mom looks longingly at her book and the couch, then heads upstairs to shower (it's been a couple days, enough said)

1:15 Mom steps out of the shower to a little voice singing "Moooooommmmmyyyyyy...Mooooooommmmmmyyyyyy". The little voice needs to go potty. Of course she does, it's nap time.

1:25 Mom comes downstairs to make some more phone calls and work on her to do list (which somehow hasn't even been touched yet today). After making one phone call, and forgetting who the other one was supposed to be to, Mom decides to ignore the singing still coming from upstairs, ignore the to do list, and give in to the book and the couch. Score one for Mom.

1:50 Mom gives in to the calls from upstairs and lets Cooper come downstairs, chattering all the way. Cooper: "And when the little boy (Zeke) and the little baby (Payton) wake up we can go, okay, Mom? And we can go to the grocery, and we can run our errands, okay, Mom? Wish I had a horse. Wish I had a horse of my own."

2:50 Payton is fed and changed and is having the time of her life wiggling around and smiling at random objects in the room. She sporadically lets out little squeals. It's not hard to have the time of your life when you are only two months old.

3:10 All the kids are fed, changed, and clothed. Mom is racing around the house, trying to get everyone out the door to reattempt the errands that were attempted unsuccessfully yesterday. The bank closes in half an hour.

3:30 Mom is careening through roundabouts to get to the bank. Zeke is in the backseat saying "Whoa!!!" Mom slows down.

3:35 Stopped at the flightline. The rotater that flies out once a week is getting ready to take off. The road is so close to the flightline that apparently it is unsafe to drive on while the plane takes off. Mom is watching the plane taxi around, grumbling about the odds, and how mad she is going to be if the bank closes, which she can see across the flightline, by the way. The ground is shaking and Zeke is in the back seat yelling "WOW!!! GOOK!!!" Mom has to admit, it's pretty cool to watch a big airliner take off from this close.

3:40 Getting into the bank before it closes has been successful. The errand that needs to be accomplished was not. Mom is getting frustrated that she has come to the bank two days in a row to pay the same bill, and they still can't figure out how much she even owes.

5:00 Post office has been visited, Dad has joined the crew, and everyone is offloading back home in time to feed the baby before she starts screaming. Score one for Mom.

5:30 Leftovers are microwaved. Mom had purchased and thawed the ingredients to make dinner, but once again, good intentions are shoved aside to keep up with the pace of life.

7:00 Bathtime has somehow turned into a giant family game of hide and seek. The kids cannot stop giggling. Mom and Dad are also laughing at the sight of each other crammed into closets or under the crib. This is the highlight of Mom's day.

8:00 All three kids are in bed and quiet. Mom makes one final attempt at getting something checked off her to do list, and finally gives up and settles herself on the couch with Dad to watch a movie. Score one for Mom. Score one for Dad. We made it.

The days are long, but the years are short

Yesterday we had one of those days. All the parents out there know what I'm talking about, the day where your spouse comes home and asks how your day was, and all you can do is try not to cry when you say "crappy". By lunch time I had given three spanking, multiple time outs, cleaned up poop that was finger painted on the step stool, calmed a little boy who tumbled down the stairs, and nursed a screaming baby who did not want to wait until her next meal time to eat. All of course while trying to get something done, like laundry, or clean floors, or something that will make it look like I've done something with my day. By dinner time I had given up doing anything productive, cleaned up two potty accidents, been thrown up on by the baby, cleaned up myself and the baby, and bonked the baby's head on the way into the tub. And I think to myself, wow, this was a really long day. Sigh.

But then there are these moments, like this morning when Zeke threw himself into my lap to give me a fierce hug before spinning off in his whirlwind of activity. Or when he brought me his blanket and binky to sit and snuggle for a few minutes. And sitting here at the computer a few minutes ago with the baby curled up asleep on my chest, and I held her close, thinking about how this is the last time I will ever have a baby this little to just sit and hold, who will curl up and sleep on me (I then had to set her down to go see what the screaming upstairs was all about. But I resolved to sit and hold her tonight after the kids go to bed and enjoy a few more minutes of uninterrupted snuggles). Anyways, it reminded me that the years fly by, and to enjoy all these precious little moments with my three little babes. And that sometimes the "bad" moments can be funny if I let them. And now I must go be the entertainment, as both kids are up to mischief, and the baby is in her chair crying ;)

Fourth of July

We went to the base here in Aviano for the fourth, and I was really impressed with the extravaganza they put on. There was a car show, a battle of the bands, carnival games (ie ring toss, etc) some booths with crafts for sale, lots of food booths, and lots of stuff for the kids. They had two bouncy castles, two blow up water slides, bungee trampolines (which Jess had to talk the lady into letting Cooper try), a mechanical bull, "face painting" (temp. tattoos), and even a misting station where you could stand under the misters and cool off. We met up with our friends Ben and Deborah and their kiddos, and we had a blast. The kids went nuts on the bouncy castles, especially Zeke, and Cooper was sooooo excited for the bungee jump thing that it made the hour and a half wait worth it (thank you Ben and Deb for standing in line!) We ended up staying until after eight, when we put the kids into jammies and loaded up the car and went for a drive. There was a huge thunder and lightning storm all night, so we drove as high up the mountain as we dared, let the kids sleep, watched the storm, and waited for the fireworks to start. Zeke fell asleep, but Cooper ended up staying awake until the fireworks started at ten (apparently all that jumping still wasn't enough to tire her out???) and she got to watch the "sparkly lights" in the sky. It was really hot and humid, and sprinkled on and off all day (until the downpour started right after we left ;) ) but it was so much fun.

Fourth of July Cont.

Girls vs. Boys

The older Zeke gets, we realize more and more what a drast difference there is between boys and girls. For example, here is a typical conversation with Cooper:


"Mommy, this is the dragon, and the dragon is mean, and if I get close to the dragon, he will bite my hand, and that would be an owie, and then I would have to go to the doctor's office, and I like the doctor's office, the girl doctor that checks my ears is nice, her is so nice, I like her, where are we going, Mommy? (yes, this is an actual conversation, and I was getting Payton dressed, which Cooper knows means that we are going somewhere) Are you not going to leave without me? What am I wearing? Am I dressed? I dreamed about Poppa. (What??? Where did that come from?)"

Notice that there are no breaks in there for anyone else to insert anything, even after a question is asked. Sometimes I marvel at Cooper's ability to talk nonstop without having to even think about what else she might have to say. But then I realize that it is just payback for all the years my parents (and now my husband) have listened to my never ending chatter. My conversations with Zeke also tend to be remarkably one sided:


"Zeke, that's a bad idea, buddy. No Zeke, don't jump off of that. Zeke, NO!!" Sigh. "Zeke, don't do that again, buddy." Usually followed by something along the lines of "Jew, Momma" or "Bi-bi, Momma". Meaning of course, now that he has managed to conquer jumping off the table, or his sister's bed, or whatever else without any broken bones, he is now ready for his juice or his binky.


Now, I realize that part of this difference is because of their ages. Cooper has a much more sophisticated vocabulary, if you can call a three year old sophisticated. But seriously, there are some major inherent differences between the two.

We're back in action

It has been over a year since I was last on Blogger, but we are back up and running! Mostly because I have way more cute pictures than I can ever fit into our monthly email update, and I forget most of the funny stories by then, also. So here are just a couple recent pics of each of the kids to get y'all started. And check back in soon, as I will be adding more as I get some free time (hopefully soon :) ).