Working 8-5 and raising 3 children

Change

2010-11-23T14:46:00.003-05:00

How do you deal with change? Do you embrace it, shy away from or just let it roll off your back without much notice. Things are constantly changing around us. Some changes have greater effects on our daily living while others go seemingly unnoticed. I feel I am in the midst of some major changes that will have great impact on my daily activities.

I am one of those that is a little more reluctant to change. I like to have a my daily routine with just a little bit of change to spice things up, but nothing that dramatically changes my daily activities. Things are changing in two arenas for me. Often when there are changes at home, I can depend on the stability that I get at work and vice verse. However, things are changing on both fronts ,which for a person like me, can cause a little bit of stress. These are both changes that I have known about for some time, but have still found them hard to prepare for.

On the home front, our lives are about to change drastically for the fourth time. We will welcome our fourth child in January. This is a welcomed change. We are beyond thrilled to be adding to our family again, but as one of those people who resists even a welcomed change, it is scary to think about what this change actually means. I hear many comments throughout the day about how my hands are full and how do I think we will manage a fourth. I think to myself that my heart is also made full thanks to our children and that we will manage. I tell those who ask that we will still have one hand for each child between the two of us. I do stop and think though. I have a huge load with working full time and looking after three children, soon to be a fourth. I have a lot of help from my husband, a caring caregiver for my smaller kids and skilled preschool and school teachers. It is still difficult. I struggle (honestly fail) to keep my laundry caught up and I don't sweep my floors as often as I should, but I have a house full of love. When questioned, I find myself scared of adding this fourth child and the laundry and work that will go along with him. I wonder if I will be able to gather enough resources to take on this extra step, but I know that in the end, the love that this child will bring our family will be far beyond what it may cost to have him with us. Although I fear this change, I am anticipating the good that will come from it.

While I am still waiting on the change in my life that will occur at home, I am already in the midst of change that has occurred at work. We have switched over to electronic medical records. While I realize that this is not really a life changing event, it has changed the way I do things everyday. I am already in the middle of this change. We have been using the new system for about a month now. With the birth of my child, I am pretty sure from previous experiences with my other children that the change will be instantly labeled as a change for the good. With every change there is a learning curve. With a child, there is that sweet face there to always reward you for the struggle that you undergo while adjusting to the change. With EMR that reward is not always so obvious as we continue to learn and grow with the system. There is no doubt in my mind that this change is for the betterment of everyone involved, both the patients and the doctors. I see glimpses of this everyday as I am learning more, but know that it will still be awhile into the future before we are able to see all of the benefits of this change. I sometimes find that I get a little frustrated when it seems as if things were easier before the new system and I often find myself reaching for a pen to write something in a chart when in reality, it all goes in the computer now.

I am often reluctant to change. I guess it is as I have said here a few times, due to fear; fear of the unknown that comes with change. I know that both of these changes in life are going to result in a positive outcome. I just hope that I can change a little and deal more effectively with the little unknowns, extra tasks, and road bumps that come along the path of change.

Fashion foward

2010-09-27T09:59:00.003-04:00

Do you have one of those kids? I'm talking about the one who is overly concerned about what they wear or just set in their ways about what they need to wear on a certain day or for certain occasions. Are they three? Are they male?

When I had my daughter I might have envisioned the day when she put her foot down or became increasingly opinionated about what clothes she wore. So far that really hasn't happened. As she has gotten older, she has become a little more interested, but not insistent upon what she wears. At five she likes to tell me when she wants to wear a dress vs. shorts or pants (almost everyday), and she likes to be able to pick out what she is wearing for the day, but doesn't get upset if I am the only laying out her clothes. She comes home from school with stains on her clothes and plenty of dirt and mulch from the playground. Some of her articles of clothing do not last very long. (I really must remember this when shopping for her. It is not good to pay too much money for something that may only survive her wearing it once or twice.)

On the other hand, when I had my baby boy I thought I would have full reign for at least a little while. I still had my girl to shop for and now I was going to be able to buy polo shirts and cute sweaters and button down shirts. It has gone as expected pretty much up until this point. As I have mentioned before, Charlie loves dinosaurs. His Nana recently got him a new pair of dinosoles shoes. They have a t-rex on them and he loves them. He loves the free t-shirt that came with them even better though. The child begs to wear this shirt everyday. We have tears in the mornings when he doesn't get to wear it and when compromise by letting him put it on when he gets home. Even if he forgets about his dinosaur shirt he likes to know ahead of time what he will be wearing so that he can give it his approval.

Today was the first day cool enough that he needed to wear jeans. He was slightly upset this morning because he felt his jeans were too big. I told him they fir just fine (one of the only pair he hasn't outgrown), but he insisted that were too big because they covered his socks. After I explained that pants were supposed to be long and cover your socks to keep you warm he was mostly OK until we put on the jacket....

How do you lose a shoe?

2010-09-15T08:27:00.002-04:00

Chad went to pick up Isabelle yesterday from school. As she walked into the cafeteria, he notices she only has on one shoe. Somewhere on the playground she lost her shoe. Her only comment was that I was going to be really mad at her and that someone must have taken it. How in the world do you lose a shoe?

Soccer

2010-09-13T08:14:00.002-04:00

Isabelle had her first soccer game them weekend. We chose to start with soccer because it is only on Saturdays for this age group. they have 30 minutes of practice followed by a 30 minute game. I think she really enjoyed herself. She has never played before so it was all new to her. She knew a couple of the kids on her team either from preschool or her kindergarten class. She spend a lot of time just running after people with the ball, but she came close to scoring once and she stopped a goal once. Overall we had a good time.

All of the kids are growing like crazy. Isabelle is liking kindergarten and Charlie is doing well in his beginnergarten class. Henry is starting to talk more and more. He doesn't like to say mom, momma, mommy, anything in reference to me. He just laughs when you ask him about me.

We have been super busy as always, but have been enjoying time with family and friends. Hopefully as we settle into more of a routine for the fall, I will be able to share more.

Busy Summer

2010-07-26T08:57:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that it is the end of July already. It is almost time to send my baby off the kindergarten and I haven't had a chance to even realize it yet. We have had a very busy summer so far.

June was vacation month. We loaded all three kids in the car and headed to the Outer Banks for a week. Wow, that is a long drive!!! It was beautiful there. The beach, the weather, and home we stayed in were perfect. The kids swam in the pool and we tried to relax. Charlie has had a great fear of water for a couple of years, but by the end of the week, he was in the pool with the rest of us.

July has been busy with short weekend trips. We have had a few birthday celebrations for family and we spent a weekend in Eastern KY where I grew up. The kids got to roast marshmallows and hot dogs over an open fire, play freeze tag and catch bugs. They had a great time.

We are preparing for August. I can't believe my baby girl is going to be starting kindergarten. I am so excited for her, but I am a little anxious. I asked many around me what to do to prepare for the day. Should I take an hour or so off work that morning to take her to school, or just send her on the bus. I have elected to take her to school, but I know that she has to be there by a certain time and I will just leave her there. Hopefully she will have a wonderful day and will be ready to go back the next day.

Charlie has started playschool at the center Isabelle has been attending for the past year. He is absolutely loving it. His teachers usually comment about how funny he is so I often wonder what it is that he is doing that is so amusing. He is an awfully cute kid though.

My big girl is 5!!

2010-05-11T08:34:00.002-04:00

Isabelle had a wonderful birthday weekend. We gathered with many of her friends on Saturday morning for her birthday party. There were 16 kids total and it appeared that they all had a great time. They got jump on inflatables, slide down slides and run through an obstacle course for the first forty-five minutes. Then they quickly at some cupcakes and ice cream before that moved over to a big play room full of toys for the last thirty minutes. All of the kids got a chance to have their faces painted. Isabelle wanted a butterfly. There were lightning bolts, pirates, spiderman, unicorns, and flowers. My two were almost exhausted by the time we left. We then went home to celebrate with family. We had good food and more cake!!

Now that she is 5 and summer is upon us, the reality that she is going to school in the fall in really sinking in. She saw our favorite doctor yesterday for her physical. It seems as if all is well. She is about 25% for both her weight and height. She did not like getting her finger pricked for the CBC, but she made it through with only a few tears.

We still have a few things to do to complete our ready for kindergarten check list. She must go to the dentist and to the eye doctor. The latter should be pretty easy since I can get that taken care of. Hopefully she won't be too fearful of the eye drops. The school entrance eye exam is very important for kids. We like to see them early to identify any problems that may interfere with learning. Also many of these problems that can be found during the school eye exam are best treated when found early. If there is an eye turning in or out (strabismus), or if one eye sees a lot better than the other (amblyopia), we have much better success when treating these conditions at a young age. The visual system is much more flexible in the younger years. I really look forward to confirming that Isabelle's vision is developing properly and would love to do the same for your child if they need things checked for school, or are having any difficulties.

We see Walking with Dinosaurs, The Arena Spectacular this weekend. We are all very excited. Also swim lessons start tonight for Isabelle. She will go two nights a week for four weeks. She will have to miss one for her graduation, but hopefully we will have her comfortable in the water in time for vacation.

Rock On!

2010-04-26T10:58:00.002-04:00

Chad and I visited Nashville last week. We were there for only one night, but we had a great time. We shopped all day on Wednesday (yes, I am very lucky to have a husband who will shop with me). Wednesday night we headed over to Bridgestone arena to see Bon Jovi. I was a little worried that we might not have a good time. My husband was so kind to buy the tickets for me for Christmas and I was so excited about it. Bon Jovi has always been one of my favorites. As the time drew closer though, I was having a hard time seeing us at a concert. We are the parents of three little kids, and spend most of our time at home with them or on trips to zoo, not at a concert. The opening act was OK. I was still questioning if I was going to want to stay there all evening. My bedtime was already drawing near since we were an hour behind in Nashville. But, when Bon Jovi took the stage I was drawn in. I was up on my feet singing and dancing and having a great time. The arena was filled and everyone was on their feet. He played a lot of his old stuff mixed in with the new stuff. I believe we were among the youngest people there so the old stuff was definitely a hit. I don't really plan on going to another concert anytime soon, but I must say that I had a great time at this one. Plus, I got to bring home some new clothes for me (and Chad) and the kiddos.

The picture post

2010-04-12T21:18:00.006-04:00

I finally have loaded pictures on the computer. They range from early December to present so I thought I would share.

These are really out of order, but for some reason I am having a hard time moving them around. Hope you enjoy.

The kids are all great. We are really enjoying the spring weather. They have loved the stage shows that we have attended. We still have the dinosaurs to go. Charlie says it will be the best thing ever. We are planning Isabelle's birthday party and she is getting very excited. I can't believe she is almost 5 years old already.

Beautiful Weekend

2010-03-08T10:25:00.002-05:00

What a beautiful weekend. We all enjoyed the lovely weather over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon we headed out to the backyard to play on the swing set and ride bikes. Henry didn't go with us as he was napping, but Isabelle and Charlie had a wonderful time. Isabelle loved swinging and sliding. She is really eager to play on the monkey bars, but isn't quite able to manage them by herself yet. Charlie liked swinging on the glider and enjoyed going down the slide only if I held his hand on the way down. They both liked getting out on their bikes for the first time. Isabelle took off and did really well. We had to have a little lesson about the brakes, but she caught on pretty fast. Charlie has absolutely no idea how to pedal. I pushed him around a lot and tried to get his feet going, but we have a lot of work to do before he will be riding solo. As we were all readying to go inside, Isabelle decided to jump on her bike (supposedly to put it away) and ended up falling over and scraping her knee. She declared that she could no longer walk and would need to be carried, but after a little Neosporin and a band aid, all was well.

I am so looking forward to more warm weather to get outdoors with the kids and to hopefully get Henry involved next time.

Note to Self

2010-03-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

When your child is working really hard on potty training and has stayed dry for two whole days and nights, make sure you take his pullup off before sitting him on the toilet in the morning!! Luckily we realized before it was too late.

WOW, It is March already!

2010-03-01T13:11:00.002-05:00

February has flown by. There wasn't much going on in the Woodruff household in the month of February. We enjoyed the snow, but are definitely ready for Spring. The kids got bikes from Santa Clause that they are really eager to be able to ride and they are ready to be able to spend some time outside in the yard and on the swing set. March looks to be filled with lots of activities.

Isabelle has been taking dance classes at school. The teacher comes once a week for about an hour. Isabelle loves it. She looks forward all week to being able to wear her leotard and tights to school for dance class. She is really excited though about being able to go to the "big girl dance school with all of the mirrors." They will be having an end of the year party next weekend at the dance studio. We have been asked to dress them in their leotard and tights, put their hair in a bun and (gasp) put on a little bit of makeup. What, my baby girl with blush and lip gloss? I am sure she will look beautiful. To end the dance season they will be doing a recital at the end of March. According to Isabelle it will be "The Nutcracker" so I am sure it will be very entertaining. This time I am going to be in charge of the video camera and will press record.

We have two productions that we will be seeing this month. Long before Christmas we purchased tickets to see Playhouse Disney Live. My kids love the Little Einsteins. We have about 35 episodes on our DVR and they know each one of them by heart. If there is ever classical music playing, one of them can usually tell you which episode of the Little Einsteins that piece was on and on occasion can tell you the composer. Hopefully they will enjoy it as much as I think they will. We have never taken them to a stage show before, but this is only the first of a few.

At the the end of the month we are going to see Disney Princesses on Ice. My mom wanted to take the kids to see this and I think I will enjoy this one as well.

We are working a lot of big things right now. Isabelle is working hard on sight words. She is doing pretty well. She is good at the memory part. The phonetics are difficult for her, but she is getting better. Charlie is still working on potty training. He is finally doing really well. We can go several days without wetting. The rest is still a work in progress. Henry is working on walking. He will finally stand up and walk with you instead of buckling his legs every time you try to stand him up. I think he will be moving around soon. We are planning on rewarding everyone and their hard work, especially Charlie's, with yet another show. If you have read here before, or if you know my Charlie at all, you know that he loves dinosaurs. We have gotten tickets to see Walking with Dinosaurs in May. He is really excited and we are hoping it is the motivation needed to complete potty training. We have watched many youtube videos of the performances and he think it is going to be great. I am a little worried that it might be a little overwhelming and scary, but so far when it comes to dinosaurs the kid knows no fear.

That pretty much wraps things up for us right now. Wish us luck on the upcoming outings that everyone will be on their best behavior.

My baby is 1!!

2010-01-19T13:30:00.002-05:00

The holidays have come and gone and my baby boy has turned 1. Sorry I haven't shared with you about all of the exiting things that have happened over the past three or four weeks. We had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year's Eve (Henry's birthday). We visited with family and enjoyed spending time with each other. The kids are almost overwhelmed with new toys. Charlie has a room full of dinosaurs and Isabelle is enjoying art supplies and princess dolls. She was most impressed with the nail polish and chap stick that Santa left in her stocking.

Henry's birthday party was a lot of fun. We didn't have as many guests as we had anticipated as Chad's grandfather is ill. Henry really enjoyed his birthday cake. He dug in with both hands and made a pretty big mess. He fed a few pieces to the dogs, but most every bite made it to his mouth. My husband was in charge of the food - Barbeque. It was really good, but there was so much of it. We probably could have fed most of our neighborhood.

We had a few days last week of Henry not feeling well, but he is all better now. Chad stayed home with him on Wednesday, and Thursday, and I was home on Friday. It is amazing how quickly they get used to someone holding them all of the time.

We are currently in the middle of birthday overload. Henry's birthday was Dec. 31st. Isabelle was invited to classmates' birthday parties on the 9th and 16th. Then we are having Charlie's birthday party this weekend. My birhtday is the following weekend. By the end of this month, she is likely to think that every weekend means a birthday party.

I hope to get some pictures up of the birthday party, Christmas and the photos we had taken before Christmas soon. This of course means me taking time to sit down at the computer at home to get them off of the camera and uploaded. Hopefully I can get it done soon.

Record

2009-12-21T15:50:00.002-05:00

Chad and I were both able to make it to the Christmas Program at Isabelle's preschool. I got there first and recorded her coming into the gym. When Chad got there I handed the camera to him and since we were in the back, he stood up and focused in on Isabelle. He had the camera on her the whole time she was singing. She did such a great job singing and doing all of the motions with the songs. We were very excited to show her the recording once we got home. Chad hooked the camera up to the TV and got things started. We watched as Isabelle came in and then it went blank. No more video. It appears as if he forgot to press the record button. He has now been banned from the video camera.

I'm not allowed to say that

2009-12-16T09:19:00.005-05:00

I should preface this little story by telling you that a while back Isabelle came home from school exclaiming "oh my lord" in front of I am hungry or I don't want to do that. Chad and I both had gotten on to her a few times telling her that we didn't think that it was very nice to say that. We offered oh my goodness as an alternative and she luckily dropped all variations of the phrase completely.
Isabelle starting practicing yesterday for her Christmas program at school. She sang her songs for me on the way home yesterday. She started with a song about there being no room at the inn and then moved on to a song about Jesus. She sang "There was a little baby," but then she stopped and said "Mom, I don't think I am allowed to say this." I told her is was OK and she continued "Oh, my Lord, there was a little baby, Oh my Lord." It was one of the cutest things. I couldn't help but laugh. I was also a little surprised that she had actually taken into account that we had told her not to use that phrase as she is at that stage where she doesn't always listen or do what we say.

Busy time of the year

2009-12-10T12:52:00.002-05:00

Wow, the holidays are upon us. We are very blessed to be within a reasonable driving distance from most of our family members. This means that we will be visiting them over the next few weeks. We will begin in Lawrenceburg at my husbands grandparents house. It is always a very good time. We are meeting at 10:00am this year so that we will have plenty of time to spend together. Next weekend we will head to Paintsville to visit with my dad's family. We haven't made it to their Christmas gathering since we have had children, so at least 4 years. I am excited about going, but it is also the longest drive. Sunday we will be in Lexington with my mom and then at our house for Christmas Eve and with Chad's parents in Georgetown on Christmas Day. Sounds like a lot of traveling in a short period of time, but we are thankful for the opportunity to be with family. To add to the events, Henry's birthday is New Year's Eve (can't believe my baby is going to be one) so we are planning a birthday/New Year's Eve party.

I had to pleasure of meeting a very nice photographer recently who will be taking pictures of the kiddos this weekend. I am very excited to get some new pics. I know they will be great because I have seen some of her work and these are my kids we are talking about. I do worry some about keeping Charlie in line (he likes to run around a lot!), but hopefully we will manage.

Henry is cutting his sixth and seventh tooth so he has been a little cranky, but overall he is so pleasant. He is pulling up on everything, but hasn't tried letting go. I am afraid we will be there soon though.

Charlie has been talking a lot about being a big boy. He decided on his own that he didn't need his keys except at bedtime anymore. We are working hard on potty training, but aren't really getting anywhere. He is afraid to get on the toilet. He cries and cries until we finally get him settled and he "says that wasn't so bad", but the next time the whole process repeats itself. He has been talking recently about wanting to go to school like a big boy (the preschool where Isabelle is currently). He has to be potty trained to start at 3. I have tried to use this as motivation, but again it is a work in progress.

Isabelle has been the star student this week at preschool. Monday she colored a poster board. We helped her put some pictures on it and then she decorated it with stickers. Tuesday she took in a collection of her hairbows. Wednesday was her favorite movie (Wizard of Oz), today was her
favorite book (Purplicious), and tomorrow is her favorite game (hungry hungry hippos). She has had a lot of fun doing this. She is also really into baking right now. She loves to make things with "lots of ingredients", but she doesn't want to eat them. We are trying brownies next. I don't think she has had brownies before so maybe we will find something she likes.

Hopefully I will have new pictures to share from the photoshoot and our upcoming visits with family soon.

Trips

2009-12-02T11:34:00.003-05:00

We have taken a few trips recently. On the 22nd we traveled to Frankfort to celebrate my husband's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. It was a great day. All of the family attended church together that morning. Chad's grandparents attend the church he grew up in. We got our kids all dressed up, the boys in suits and Isabelle is a "sparkly princess" dress. We wanted to to be dressed up for pictures. We weren't able to get a picture of all three together. During the church service Charlie started to get rather loud, so I decided that I needed to take him out of the sanctuary. As I was trying to exit, we went on a little trip. My foot got caught in the handle of the diaper bag and down we went. I was just a little embarrassed.

We visited with Chad's family again over Thanksgiving. Then Chad and I decided to go out shopping on Friday morning. We headed out for Toys_R_Us which opened at midnight. It was crazy. It took us almost 30 minutes just to get into the parking lot. When we got out of the car and close to the store we saw many people and some were yelling and shoving so we decided it wasn't for us. As we left we looked back at the line to go into the store which covered almost the whole perimeter of the Value_City Store next door. We did make it to a few other places at 5:00 am and were able to get the stuff we wanted. We returned to Toys_R_Us at about 8:00 and got all the stuff we wanted there as well. I think next year we will think twice before heading out on Black Friday.

I survived!!

2009-11-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

We made it through the birthday party mostly unscathed. Isabelle did great. She really enjoyed playing with her friends from school. They played duck duck goose, hot potato to open gifts, ate cupcakes and ice cream, and finally went swimming. I was very relieved and impressed that Isabelle did great in the pool without me. We put on her water wings and she had a great time. The only hitch was that the birthday girl got a Nintendo DS for her birthday. Isabelle decided that she wants one and has her Daddy convinced that she needs one for her birthday. I think that we should wait a while longer. The Leapster she has now keeps her entertained and has educational games. The DS has just entertainment games which are pretty pricey. What do you think? Nintendo DS for a five year old??

We are thinking about taking the kids to Dinosaur World in Cave City this weekend. As I have mentioned here previously Charlie is fascinated with dinosaurs. We visited a dinosaur museum in Pigeon Forge over the summer. It was sort of small and not so great in my eyes, but Charlie hasn't stopped talking about since June. He asks frequently when he can go back to see the dinosaurs. Hopefully things will work out for us to go this weekend.

We, well actually just Chad, finally got pictures loaded on the computer from our camera. Here

are our little munchkins on Halloween.

Pool Party

2009-11-02T09:30:00.001-05:00

I broke down this morning and RSVP'd for the pool party of one of Isabelle's classmates. She is super excited about going. I, on the other hand, am not!!! Isabelle really enjoys swimming, but she does not swim on her own yet. (Note to self: Add swimming lessons to the to do list for this summer) The invitation stated that parents were invited to swim if children needed assistance. So I guess that I will be getting in a bathing suit to help her out. The way I see it, there a few things that I have working against me here. One, I have never meet any of these people before and two I have not worked hard at getting myself to the point that I would feel really comfortable even putting a bathing suit on in front of family. I take full responsibilty for the fact that I am facing this horrible situation as I have not tried really hard to make myself presentable after having a baby 10 months ago, but having three children has not been overly kind to my body. Isn't the saying that it took nine months to put it on, it can take nine months to take it off? It has been ten, so I guess my time is up. I would much rather have my children than a stellar appearance in a bathing suit, but really I would much rather just not have to wear a bathing suit out in public. I realize that this all sounds awful and no I am not obsessed with appearance, but I just sort of like being able to cover up things that I would prefer others not to see. It has always been so comforting when coming back to work after having had a baby... and maybe even ten months later to be able to put on my lab coat and hide what actually lies beneath. Now I have to put on a bathing suit :( I did try to talk her out of going, offering that we might have more fun at home, but that was not part of her plan. Also I feel bad for not letting her go on her field trip a few weeks ago because she had been a little sick and I didn't want her out in the cold. So as it stands, we will be hitting the pool on Saturday!! Pictures to come soon, no not of the pool party, but of Halloween. We had a perfect Cinderalla, T-Rex, and monkey.

Indecisive 4 year old

2009-10-13T14:37:00.004-04:00

It is almost time to go trick or treating. We had planned on heading out to the Louisville Zoo for Zoo Boo last weekend with Chad's sister and her three kids, but turned out that 4 out of the 6 kids were sick:( Two of mine are still sick so it looks this weekend will be out as well. We are planning on attending a Halloween party if everyone is well the next weekend, so I am not sure we are going to make it to the Zoo this year. This does give me more time though to get Isabelle's costume. We have had both boys costumes since around the end of August, first of September when they first were out in the stores. It was not a hard choice for Charlie. He wanted to be a tyrannosaurs Rex. Are you surprised? When we got it home, he tried it on and was excited to be a T-Rex. I had to make him take it off and hide it in the closet so that he would forget about it. Henry is going to be a monkey. This was an easy choice as well because he doesn't care. He may look back at pictures some day and not be too happy about dressing up as a monkey, but I thought it was cute and he can't complain now. Isabelle has been the difficult one. I feel like she should have input as to what she wants to be, but within the next week I am going to have to put my foot down and make a final decision. First she wanted to be a witch. She was a witch last year though. Then she decided she wanted to a kitten and that lasted for about two days. Next she decided on Cinderella and had everyone been well, I would have bought that this past weekend. Now she has decided she wants to be sleeping beauty. If I am able to make it out shopping this weekend, I guess this will be our final decision. I will have pics after Halloween to let you see if that decision stuck. In the meantime, thought I would share some past Halloween photos. Looks like I only have 2005 and 2007 on my flash drive, but they are really cute.

Isabelle's first Halloween - the purple dragon

Halloween 2007 - Charlie's first Halloween - Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Sick Boy

2009-10-05T09:16:00.002-04:00

Wow, it has been a rough weekend. It started on Thursday. Chad got a call that Charlie had thrown up at the baby sitters and needed to be picked up. He had been coughing some for a couple of days so I sort of thought that maybe he had coughed enough to make himself sick. So Chad picked him up and stayed with him Thursday afternoon. He did OK and was playing. I had already scheduled to take the day off on Friday because our babysitter needed the day off so I stayed home on Friday. We had a good day. He played and ate a little. He got sick again that evening. On Saturday, he had a fever and was very lethargic. He slept on the couch most of the day. This continued into Sunday, still a fever and slept in his bed most of the day. Chad is home with him today. He didn't have a fever when he woke this morning so hopefully things are turning around. Now we are just hoping that the other two will not catch this!!

Do I have the mean girl?, potty training and crawling

2009-09-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

I mentioned previously that Isabelle is going to preschool. I seem to remember something along the lines of being worried that she might be negatively influenced by those around her. Turns out that maybe she is being the bad one (I have no idea where she would get this from). She started in a dance class at school last week. She was so excited about her tap shoes that she wore them all evening and couldn't wait to get dressed in her leotard the next morning. I was excited for her too. I thought it would be fun for her and was looking forward to hearing about the class. When I picked her up that afternoon, she said that she had a good time and showed me some stuff they did during class. I thought all was well. Later that evening though she was telling her Daddy about dance and who all went to dance with her. She told him that all of the girls in the class went except one (this is an elective class). She also told him about how she teased the little girl that didn't get to go. WHAT??? She said she thought it would be funny. My heart was broken - for the little girl that had to endure the teasing at the hand of my child and for my child, that she would think something like this would be funny. You don't want to be the parent of the child receiving the teasing, but I think more so you don't want to be the one of the one giving it. Needless to say we had a very long discussion about this. The next morning when she got up, she was still apologizing (she wanted to make up an apology song for the little girl) and promising that she was not going to do this again. I realize that this wont be the last time she does something like this, but hopefully this will at least stay with her for a little while. She is only 4! I've had other parents tell me that girls are the mean ones and boys get along better with their peers. I hope somehow I am able to instill some empathy in all of my children.

On a happier note we are trying to potty train. We are slowly getting there. Charlie is very strong willed so we have to do things more so on his terms. Hopefully he will be there by his birthday.

Henry is now mobile. He is not actually up on his hands and knees crawling, but he gets where he wants to go doing his army crawl. He can get himself into a sitting position very easily and loves for you to help him pull on something, but you have to also help hold him there. He has cut his two top teeth now to give a total of four teeth. Teething seems to be pretty hard on him. He has just been fussy. When you have a child that is happy and smiling all day and then he goes to crying, and fussing you have to feel bad for them. Hopefully he will have a bit of a break before the next teeth come in.

If you have made it through all of this rambling, thanks and let me know you are here. Leave me a comment. If you have any questions for me, ask or any topics you think may be interesting, suggest. Thanks

Literally

2009-09-03T10:53:00.003-04:00

When I get a chance I try to pick Isabelle up from preschool before I pick the boys up from the babysitters. This is a good thing for two reasons. I don't have to carry Charlie and Henry in and out of preschool when picking up Isabelle and it gives Isabelle a chance to see the babysitter and the other kids she used to see on a regular basis. Yesterday was one of those days that I was able to get her first. She was excited to see Sam, a little boy at the sitters who is less than a year younger than she. They were about to leave as we got there. Sam's mom was telling Isabelle about how he was going to be starting preschool and he had gotten to meet his teachers earlier that morning. I asked Isabelle to tell Sam how fun preschool is. She proceeded to look at him and say "Sam, how fun preschool is." We all laughed that she took this so literally.

We are going to open house for the preschool tonight. I will finally get to meet Isabelle's teacher. Chad sees her in the morning when he drops Isabelle off, but she is gone when I get there in the afternoon. I am also looking forward to hearing about all the exciting things she will be learning this year. We should also get some info on a dance class they offer during an afternoon at school. We are hoping that we will be able to get her started in that class. I think she would enjoy it.

Busy morning

2009-08-31T09:15:00.002-04:00

Last night I got the kids clothes ready for this morning. I didn't check the weather though. I picked out a pair of shorts and short sleeve or sleeveless shirt for each. This morning Chad mentioned that he thought they were going to be cold as it wasn't suppossed to get over 70 until around 4:00. So then the madness began. I knew I had recently bought Isabelle one pair of jeans on sale a while back so I immediately went to get those. They were pretty big on her. So then we went through her jeans from last year. They were all too small - way too short. We ended up putting her back in the new ones, but she was complaining the whole way to school they were too big. On the drive in to work i remembered that she had some capri-pants that would have worked perfectly. Will definitely have those ready for tomorrow.

Went through the same thing with Charlie. He is a really tough one when it comes to wearing pants. The boy is small, really small. He has been wearing 12 month shorts this summer and everything has been great. They fit him in the waist and we don't have to worry about length. With pants though, the 12 month pants are a little too short. He is wearing them today and they don't look too bad, but I think we need to get a bigger size for length. I worry though that they won't stay up around his waist. The elasticized waist bands are great, but for the most part they don't start doing those until the 2T sizes. I have found a few alternatives but they are rather expensive. Do you have any suggestions???

Speaking of size, Henry is really closing the gap on Charlie. He is wearing mostly 6-9 months still, but the 12 month clothes are probably a little better fit. I think he will definitely be in 12 months for the winter. Charlie may still be there too. Charlie's clothes from his first winter were 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes. We are just going to bypass that whole bin. I guess it will be nice if they are wearing the same size so that they can share. They are already wearing the same size diaper. Actually I have contemplated moving them up a size, not for Charlie, but for Henry as he wakes up wet lots of mornings. I just got some huggies overnights over the weekend so hopefully that will do the trick. With the larger diapers, you still pay the same amount of money, but get less diapers. Hopefully we will be able to make it a little while longer in the threes and my bigger hope is that we will have Charlie out of diapers before too long.

Henry's Picture

2009-08-26T09:05:00.003-04:00

I was able to copy it from Face*book, but it is a little small. Hope you enjoy his smile as much as I do.

Henry's moving around

2009-08-26T08:35:00.003-04:00

I do realize that I have yet to get up a picture of Henry. It just seems that I am never at the computer that has the pictures when I need to be. I have been trying to get some pictures of Henry in his newest poses. A couple of weeks ago he started pushing himself up on his hands and toes. He gets in the perfect position to do a push up. His body is straight, and he holds himself up off the ground on his hands and toes. He is the first of my children to do this so I found it rather interesting. I haven't been able to catch it on camera as he usually doesn't stay there for long. Last week he got himself up on his hands and knees and was rocking back and forth. He looked he was so surprised he was able to do this new trick. I almost caught it on camera, but just as I was taking the picture, Chad walked in and said something, so Henry laid back down to turn around to see his Daddy. I will get a picture soon though.

This is harder than I imagined

2009-08-24T11:47:00.004-04:00

So, I haven't posted anything new in two weeks. Time flies when you're having fun. It has been a busy few weeks. Two weeks ago Friday Chad, Isabelle and I attended a party to welcome Dr. Jaggers to the Eye Care Institute. We had a very nice time and she thought it was very special that she got to go out with Mom and Dad without Charlie and Henry. The following day we celebrated Chad's dad's birthday.

This past weekend we had our Annual Neighborhood Association meeting/cookout. In years past it has been held at the public pool which was not a conceivable options for attendance for us with three small kids. This year it was a block party with a big inflatable. The kids had a great time. Isabelle enjoyed bouncing in the inflatable and Charlie ran around chasing after the kids. Anytime one of the kids was running, he thought they were playing tag. He caught one little girl by surprise when he ran after her a grabbed her. I was quick to let him know that wasn't nice and he answered, but I was playing tag. Is the game over? He is such a sweet kid, but is sometimes a handful.

The five of went to the zoo yesterday. It was such a beautiful day. Everyone had a great time. We actually saw parts of the zoo that we had somehow managed to miss on our previous trips. Isabelle's favorite was the wild pig and Charlie liked the gorillas. He was really disappointed that he didn't get to see dinosaurs.

A few things from the weekend..lessons learned

2009-08-10T14:25:00.003-04:00

Friday afternoon I am working seeing patients and having a good day when I received a call from the preschool. "Isabelle has stuck a sticker up her nose that we can't get out. We think you need take her to the pediatrician." My internal response was, she did what??? and then, how am I going to be able to get her. I actually replied with, "OK, can I get back with you to let you know when either my husband or I can be there to get her." So I hung up the phone, spoke with one of the other doctors and decided that I would get her and bring her back to the office to try to remove the sticker. When I get there to pick her up, she is happy-go-lucky ready books in the office. Again my response is what??? I expect her to be at least a little upset by what has occurred, maybe say that she was sorry, but that wasn't the case. I think I talked until my face turned blue on the way to the office. I am not sure if I made any difference, but she did tell me she was sorry. Once we got to the office, we didn't find a sticker in her nose. I checked her vision since she was here and we went on our way. I am hoping that a lesson was learned, but I am not so sure that it was.

Yesterday the two big kids were having some yogurt at the table. They like trix yogurt which is usually bright blue and pink. I heard them talking about being invisible, but didn't make much of it. When I went in the kitchen to check on them though, they were both covered in yogurt. Charlie had painted half of his face and hair blue. I think he truly thought that it was making him invisible though because Isabelle said so. He had no idea that he had done anything wrong. Some harsh words later I think he caught on to the idea. Isabelle thought that she was not in trouble as she didn't have as much yogurt on her face, but some more harsh words later and she caught on as well. So hopefully they will have learned their lesson and not paint themselves with yogurt. I have learned my lesson and now know, next time grab the camera for the blog and then proceed with harsh words.

3rd child not forgotten

2009-08-10T14:22:00.003-04:00

They say that the more children you have, the less pictures you take. This is true. Henry is 7 month old and we just now had pictures taken. We did have pictures taken of Henry by himself. Somehow, they didn't make it in the previous post. I promise I did upload them, but as I was uploading the pictures there was an error so I came back and posted later. Henry's picture didn't make it. I will get his picture up as well, but I have to wait until I can do it at home because that is where the pictures are.

An ALMOST impossible task

2009-08-03T15:27:00.003-04:00

Have you ever tried to get a picture of three children? A four year old, a two year old and a 7 month old? Isabelle was great. She genuinely smiled and was very cooperative. Henry was pretty good too, although he decided to not take an afternoon nap before we went. The problem child was Charlie. The boy would not sit still. He was moving all around and laying down when he was supposed to be up, or getting up when he was supposed to be down. The photographer was very patient and we managed to get some good shots and of course spend too much money on pictures, but we won't be doing that again for a while.

My Mommy by Isabelle

2009-07-31T09:01:00.002-04:00

This was going around on Facebook so I though I would share it here.

1.What is something mom always says to you?
you always love me

2. What makes mom happy?
be a good girl

3. What makes mom sad?
pee in the floor

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
tickle

5. What was your mom like as a child?
going to college with daddy

6. How old is your mom?20

7. How tall is your mom?big

8. What is her favorite thing to do?cook dinner

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
buying stuff

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
this might be really hard, I can't tell

11. What is your mom really good at?
doing exercises

12. What is your mom not very good at?
getting score at soccer

13. What does your mom do for a job?
doctor

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
mac and cheese

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
being a good mommy

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a star

17. What do you and your mom do together?
play with each other

18. How are you and your mom the same?
our hands are the same

19. How are you and your mom different?
I'm small

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
we love each other

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
that he cooks

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?to work

She was very confused why I was asking her these questions and must have still been hungry with all of the cooking answers.

Dinosaurs

2009-07-24T14:54:00.008-04:00

My husband was very kind to pick out the oldest two children's clothes that they were going to wear today before he put them to bed last night. He told Charlie that he had a dinosaur shirt for him to wear tomorrow. Charlie loves dinosaurs so he was very excited. Chad got him dressed this morning and came out of his room saying that we had a problem. I looked at Charlie and saw his shirt and thought sure, he is wearing a pajama top. Turns out problem was that the dinosaur on his shirt was a stegasauras.

I thought we might have trouble getting him to change out of his pajama shirt. Little did I know, the kid wasn't going to be happy unless he had a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur shirt.

Unfortunately his Tyrannosaurus Rex shirt was dirty (no I don't get a chance to wash the kids clothes everyday). He started rummaging through a basket of clothes (yes, clean clothes often reside in baskets instead of drawers)looking for his shirt. We found a shirt that was satisfactory for him with three different dinosaurs. Funny thing was it was a pajama shirt as well.

Comfort Items

2009-07-23T13:22:00.005-04:00

Do your kids have a lovey or comfort item that they carry around with them? Isabelle never really had one, but she was very attached to her pacifier. She called it "this" and kept it a little too long probably. She was about 2.5 when we took it away. Charlie never would take a pacifier. I tried every brand out there and he refused. He sucked on his two middle fingers. He still does this. I am finding it is more difficult to have one stop sucking on something they have readily available all of the time. Charlie usually only sucks on his fingers though when he has his comfort item, plastic keys. He has slept with these keys for a long time. First it was this plastic bee teething toy, but for the past year or so it is the keys.

He has had to have these keys when sleeping or napping for quite some time. Now he wants them all of the time. I don't really see a major problem with it, but it does mean that he sucks on his fingers a little more throughout the day. We used to only have one pair but now that he has become so attached to them we bought back up. Thankfully they are only $1.99

Henry hasn't really attached to anything yet. He will take his pacifier or leave it. If he doesn't have it, he sucks on his fingers. He does like to nap with a blanket against him at the sitters. At home he wears a wearable blanket which he does fine with. Who knows what if anything he will attach to. I never thought I would have one attached to plastic keys.

What to expect

2009-07-21T08:04:00.002-04:00

When Isabelle was a baby, the only thing I had to look to for guidance were books, magazines and maybe some advice (some unwanted) from friends or family. When Charlie came along I sort of felt like I knew what to expect thinking that he would follow the same sort of timeline as far as development as she did. Of course he did not. Now that Henry is here as far as the baby stages I feel like I know what to expect, but have learned not to expect it to happen at some magical age such as when Isabelle did things or for him to do things in the same manner that Charlie did. I know that he will develop on his own schedule and he seems to be doing really well.

My problem now is again with the older kids. Do I expect too much of them? Occasionally Charlie with throw a major tantrum or not pay attention, or act purely silly and I find myself getting upset. Shouldn't he be able to sit and pay attention when asked too? How can he really become so upset over something so little? Then I remind myself that he is only two. I guess part of this is being the middle child. He is a little closer in age to Isabelle than Henry but only by a few months. The big difference now is that he is much closer developmentally to Isabelle. Often I think I expect the same of him as I do Isabelle. I don't really know what realistic expectations are for her either. This morning as we were trying to get everything ready to head out the door for work, Henry was crying. He needed some attention and possibly a pacifier. I asked Isabelle to talk to him and get his pacifier for him. She was distracted by the television and completely ignored me and Henry crying. She got in trouble for not listening and left crying as well. Is this in line with what I should expect from her, or am I asking too much?

Forgotten Birthday

2009-07-17T10:16:00.002-04:00

OK, so I am new to this whole preschool mommy thing. At the beginning of the month we are sent home a newsletter which has the menu, news about all of the classes and oh yeah, a list of teachers who will be celebrating their birthdays for the month. I do remember glancing at it and making a mental note (that obviously got lost in my jumbled mind) that Ms. Shellie's birthday was in July. I didn't really think much about it past that until today when Chad called and asked if I knew it was Ms. Shellie's birthday. "Um, no not really, well maybe I did read that in the newsletter a few weeks ago" I stammered. Chad reported that all of the other kids in Ms. Shellie's class were coming in this morning with a card or gift for her. Isabelle was empty handed. I am hoping to get a chance during lunch today to run out and get a card and maybe a little gift for Ms. Shellie. I am hoping Isabelle will be still be excited to be able to give her something this afternoon when I get there. Looks like the lesson learned today is to pay more attention to the newsletter when it is sent home and realize that mental notes aren't too reliable. Things such as this need to be added to the calendar and set with a reminder!!

Compliments

2009-07-13T12:35:00.002-04:00

While we were on vacation Charlie made my day. We were getting ready to go to the pool so I put on my coverup which was a strapless dress style. Charlie came up to me and told me that I looked liked Cinderella. It melted my heart.

Weekend Wrap-up and Happy Birthday Maggie

2009-07-13T10:41:00.004-04:00

We had a great weekend. Chads parents came in town on Thursday night. They offered to take care of our kids on Friday. Our baby sitter needed the day off and Chad and I both had so much time off earlier this year when Henry was born we needed to work. We gave Isabelle the option of going to preschool or staying with Nonna and Granddad, so of couse she spent the day at home. We are very thankful that they were able to keep the kids. Our kids really enjoy spending time with them. I don't think that taking care of the kids was the hard thing on Friday. They brought their two boxers and we have our two dogs, a boxer and boston terrier. I think the four dogs were more work than the three children.

Also while they were there our air conditioner was finally fixed. It has been a long road getting it fixed and I'm not 100% pleased with the way it was fixed, but at least it is working. They were going to replace the coil, but it dropped off the back of the truck and broke into a million peices so they repaired the coil instead. On my to do list now is to call to see about a new coil.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for Maggie. She is my niece and has just turned three. She and Isabelle have a great time playing together. However, it was very difficult for Isabelle at the party. Everything Maggie opened was something Isabelle was interested in and wanted to be able to play with. She was very excited about the gift she had gotten Maggie, but by the end of the party tears were shed so we headed home. How are you able to make these situations better? I brought along a doll from home to try to keep her distracted, but that didn't work too well.

Sunday was our first day at home for a long time. We sorted laundry, played, and rested. It was nice to have a day at home after four weekends on the go. We have little time when we get home from work for anything but dinner, baths, and bedtime so our weekend are time to catch up. With so much going on for the past month, we are really playing catch up.

Disinfectant Needed

2009-07-09T09:42:00.003-04:00

One...Two...Three snotty nosed, coughing, sneezing so nobody in our house can rest kids!!! All the kiddies in our house have been hit by a little cold. Isabelle has handled it pretty well. She only has a runny nose and slight cough so she just grabs a tissue and goes on her way. Charlie is the least affected by the cold so far, just a few sneezes here and there, but is probably still the most whiny about it. Poor Henry, he is definitely the worst hit, but still rather pleasant. He can't eat very well, he can't soothe himself with his pacifier or his fingers, and he absolutely hates the saline and bulb syringe that I pull out on a regular basis. In addition he got vaccinations yesterday. He still will smile for me though. This wouldn't really be so bad as they are all doing OK, but we are all sleeping in the same room due to the air conitioner being out. Every cough and sniffle is heard by everyone. Between the three of them, it makes it almost impossible for anyone to get any rest.

Its really tough on days like these to send them off to the babysitter. They aren't sick enough that they need to stay home or they need for me to stay with them, especially the older two. I feel like the baby could use some extra hold me time that he would probably get if he were at home rather than at the sitters. I probably just worry too much and hopefully he is getting just want he needs today at the sitters. Tomorrow he will be loved on by Nonna and Granddad and will get all kinds of attention. Hopefully he will feel a little better by then.

4th of July and my Baby Boy is 6 months old

2009-07-08T19:34:00.004-04:00

We had a great fourth of July weekend. We spent the day Friday having a cook out at my mom's house. She has put a pool in her backyard and got all sorts of things for the kids to play with in the pool. There were two problems though. One, it was really cool and the water was freezing and two, Charlie is scared of the water. Charlie didn't go anywhere near the pool, but had a great time playing in a little baby pool that my mom filled with sand. He was a mess. Isabelle enjoyed the sand as well, but was determined to go swimming. She and my mom got into the frigid water. She assured me the whole time that she was not cold as her lips were turning blue and her teeth were chattering. Chad got in for a second. I do not like cold water at all so I watched from the side. We spent the rest of the weekend with Chad's family. They set off some fireworks Saturday night. Charlie and I watched from indoors as he was a little scared of that too. He enjoyed them from inside though and kept asking if I heard the booms. Overall, it was a great weekend. It makes life a little more hectic being away from home on the weekend because that is usually our time to catch up on things neglected over the week, but it wasn't so bad sleeping in a room with an air conditioner. (air conditioner should be fixed on Friday)

this picture is about a month old, but it is one of my favorite, and I haven't had time to upload more recent pictures.

On to the baby boy - He went in for his six month well visit today. He is a big boy. He was 27" and 17lbs. 12 oz. This may not seem too big to many, but my 2 1/2 year old only weighs about 22lbs. Henry also cut his first tooth over the weekend. I relinquished my parental duties to my husband for this checkup. Of course I had a list of questions/concerns written out, but second hand information just doesn't compare to being there. He has been a little fussy this evening, but is still flashing his great smile and giggling. All seems well.

Returning from Vacation

2009-06-30T14:05:00.003-04:00

Wow, we just returned from a short trip to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with the husband's family. It was a really good time. We took the kids to the dinosaur museum which Charlie loved and then we visited the aquarium. I think both of the "big kids" enjoyed that. Henry was his usual happy self and was content to be along for the ride. He wasn't too excited though when it came time to travel home. The child screamed most of the way home. Anytime he was awake, he was crying. The other two slept most of the way so that was nice. We know now that a long trip with Henry isn't in our near future.

We spent most of our time in a nice cabin in Pigeon Forge. It was on top of a mountain! I would not want to travel the road to the cabin in the winter. There was a warning sign at the bottom of the mountain about icy conditions. It was nice and warm though being that it is June and we had no problems. We spent one day at the pool. Isabelle absolutely loved the water. Her favorite thing was jumping off the side into Chad's arms. It took her a few times, but she finally caught on to the idea that she needed to hold her breath to go under water. She did really well with some water wings on, but I think we really need to look into swimming lessons for her soon. It would be a waste of money for Charlie though as I don't think he would get near the water to participate. He screamed as soon as we got near the pool. I took him in while holding onto him, but he was still repeating how scared he was. He was very content sitting in a chair away from the pool drinking a capri-sun and playing with his dinosaurs. I sat on the side with him while Chad played with Isabelle in the water. I took him back in the water a few times to get wet because it was really hot, but he screamed each time. Hopefully he will outgrow that fear soon. Henry (the easiest baby) slept soundly in his pack-n-play in the cabin with his great-grandmother while we were playing at the pool.

We had a great time but are a little tired. The laundry is backed up, the air conditioner is not working upstairs and it is super busy at work. Maybe the holiday weekend will give us a chance to catch up.

Background Part 1 of 4 - The Oldest - Isabelle

2009-05-19T13:11:00.011-04:00

Isabelle is my eldest child. She just recently turned four. She is a great kid. Of course we are all biased toward our children, but I am pretty smitten with her. She is my only girl. When I first was pregnant, I was very much hoping for a girl. It was the the frilly dresses, the ballet classes, and the ponytails with hair bows that I was hoping for. I feel like I have gotten all that I was hoping for plus a little more. She likes to have her braided or in a ponytail with the pretty bows that her Aunt Stephie makes for her. She also occasionally likes to play with dolls. However, most of the time she likes to play on the computer or with her Leapster or likes to play with trains, cars, and dinosaurs (her brother's favorite toys). She loves to watch movies like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, but right now her favorite is Cars. So I guess she is well rounded. She has just now gotten to the point that she likes to wear dresses, so of course I went a little overboard and made sure that she had cute dresses to wear. I didn't really take into consideration that it would not be practical for her to wear a dress everyday, but maybe she will be able to wear all of them at least a few times throughout the summer. I just checked into a dance class for her as well so that might be a possibility too. When I sit down and lay it all out like this I am reminded how lucky I am to have my little girl. She is a lot like me though and not really a prissy girl or a little diva. If she gets dirty, its OK. If she wants to be comfortable she will let me know that she wants the comfy shorts, but with a matching shirt. If she falls down, she can usually just brush it off. She likes to have have her fingernails painted, but can't resist biting them (bad habit that needs to be broken) and taking off the nail polish. In my eyes she if perfect. Although I would really like to eliminate all of the whining. I can deal with that though.

Isabelle is about to start a new exciting time. She is going to be starting preschool soon. She has been in an in-home setting since she was about nine months. She has been with her siblings and three other children over the course of the past few years. I definitely think she is ready for the learning aspect of preschool. She seems to catch on to things very quickly and can do simple math such as 2+2. She does pretty well with phonics and can recognize all numbers and letters. So I don't really worry about that part. Its the social interaction that I worry about. I don't think she will have any issues here either, but it is change. It probably won't bother her, but I don't like change. I worry that she will miss being with her brothers and the other kids that she has been with daily for the past few years. I fear that she will miss seeing the lady who takes care of her now. And of course as all parents do I fear that she will have trouble making friends or making friends with the bad group (if that is possible at age four - in my mind it might be, those who bite, hit, aren't polite, or say bad things about other children). I know that all will be well and I think that even at this point she has a strong enough sense of herself to not let others influence her in a negative way, but I also know that she is just four. My goodness, what am I going to be like when she actually starts school? This is one of the things that while I am still finding somewhat difficult because I don't like change and find it hard to fathom that my little girl is growing up, I think would be more difficult if I wasn't working. I am used to idea of being separated from my child during the day. I have been since she was about 8 weeks old. If I were home, I would be worried about her missing me and leaving the security of my house. I dealt with all of these fears when she was just a baby. I would feel awful on those days that she might cry, but she was a baby and would be happy seconds later. She was learning that I would come back and really had no sense of time. She slept more than half of the time that I was away from her. Now she can tell me when she is happy or sad and I know that she has a good time away from me. If she were just know learning what it is like to be away from me and could tell me that she was upset about that, I would be very upset as well.

Its Monday

2009-05-18T10:04:00.008-04:00

What I would love to see on Monday morning:

Wouldn't it be nice to wake up on Monday morning and have your clothes for the week pressed and hanging in your closet with matching socks, accessories, and shoes. In addition, you have all three children's clothes separated and put in a hanging organizer with a little cubby for each day of the week. There you find their clothes socks, shoes, matching hair bows for the oldest, an extra outfit or two for the youngest and a special toy that they picked out to take to the babysitters for the day. They wake up with a smile on their face and are excited about the day ahead of them, eager to see their caretaker and their friends.

What actually happens:

On Sunday night I am trying to wash the one thing that the oldest has decided she wants to wear the next day, trying to find clothes for myself and having a hard time remembering what I wore just last week, and dealing with the oldest getting up multiple times with differing aches or trips to the bathroom. I get up on Monday morning on a good note. The baby is happy in the morning. Last night was his first night in his own room. I had put off moving him, but he is definitely too heavy for the bassinet beside our bed. All is peaceful as he nurses and I catch up on the news. Then the mayhem begins. Isabelle (the oldest) and Charlie (the lovely middle child) don't want to get out of bed. Luckily this morning Chad (the wonderful husband) has gotten up early to get them dressed. He is able to grab the clothes out of the dryer that I had washed (and he dried) the night before, find socks that match and get them both downstairs. We find two shoes for each child, he gets their drinks and I work on fixing Isabelle's hair which she cries that it hurts and asks very politely if I could be more gentle. I am trying, but I am also watching the clock. Still have to get the milk for diaper bag, get stuff for lunch and get myself dressed. We get out the door by 7:20 with only a few problems. Isabelle decides last minute that she needs her leapster and Charlie thinks that he needs a jacket to go outside. It is a cool morning but he has on long sleeves and he hasn't even been outside to know that it is cool. Luckily the leapster is already in the diaper bag and Charlie gets out the door and is not cold. Away for the day.

Now I am here at work with a break thinking about how to turn the ideal scenario into reality or at least meeting it in part. I know that I can prevent most of the problems. Organization is the key. Time is the enemy though. I love working - seeing people everyday, helping people see everyday and getting the interaction with adults and colleagues that I would miss at home. However, given that I am at work or commuting to and from work from around 7:15 to 5:30 or 6:00 every day, when I am at home I have a hard time devoting my time to getting things done. I get home, try to get some feedback from Isabelle and Charlie on the daily activities at the sitter's house, feed baby Henry and then try to at least get things going for dinner. Chad usually comes in about 6:00 and will either take Henry or will help finish dinner while I feed Henry. By the time dinner is over it almost 7:00 and we try to get some quality time with the kids before the big kids (Isabelle and Charlie) are in need of a bath and off to bed around 8:00. It is usually 8:30 or 9:00 before they are settled in and then I get Henry fed again and down to sleep by 9:30 or 10:00. This still leaves the dishes to be done (Chad usually takes care of that), clothes to be picked out for the next day etc before the whole routine starts again. My point here is that I feel like I never have the time to get organized or be prepared. Of course there is the weekend and that is the time that I am able to get some things accomplished, but this is my time to have fun with the children as well. Now I am aware that I shouldn't devote 100% of my time to just fun time with the kids while at home, but I find that it is very difficult to carry out all of the things needing to be done that I was unable to over the course of the week. Organization and time management I believe are the key, but I have yet to work those things out. First things first I need time to get things organized room by room. The kids closets need to be done and the laundry needs to be caught up. I have this belief that if I could ever get it all put away and in a specific place that I could manage to make a schedule and keep up with it to maintain the organization. Is that the case? Could I keep it all together while working and taking care of three children? Am I just deluding myself to think that I will ever dig myself out of this hole? I don't know. I just need time to try to get it started and I think that is the hardest step.