Three Kids, One Van

Last Friday, it was warm. We had tornadoes. A few days later, we had this:

Snow family courtesy of Camryn. Love the flower eyes!

And the day after that, 63 degrees, with sun and wind.

Welcome to Kentucky, folks. If you don’t like the weather here, stick around for 5 minutes because it will be different then.

After school on Thursday, we went to the park. Joe and Camryn had gotten a couple of kites at the store that morning because it was so windy, and we attempted to fly them. They stayed up briefly, but the wind wasn’t consistent enough to keep them up. Maybe next time. We did have fun playing on the playground though.

Wind!

Photo courtesy of Summer..

And for your viewing pleasure, a small glimpse into my life as seen on the way home in the Arby’s drive-thru:

Yes, she is mooing.

Getting Controversial

I generally stay away from controversy on here, because I really don’t like confrontation. But, I think I might have to break my rule today.

Joe, the kids, and I went out to eat on Saturday evening. While we were waiting for our food, I casually checked Facebook on my cell phone and saw a post from some group about how there is controversy surrounding Beyonce breastfeeding in a restaurant. I think the title was “Beyonce Caught Breastfeeding in Public”. Caught. Like she was doing something wrong. The irony of the situation? This is what I was doing when I read it:

I quickly handed Joe my phone and said, “Please take a picture, I’ll be blogging about this.”

Later that night, I got on the computer and read a few articles about it - and made the mistake of reading the comments at the end of one of them…

That is a pretty good representation of the opinions I’ve seen. When I read the comments similar to that of the second one, it made me so sad and angry… and I even started to question my own actions. Had I done anything to make anyone uncomfortable? Was I oblivious to people around me giving me mean looks for feeding my baby? How many people feel this way? Should I even CARE what these people think? If I waited to leave the house in between feedings, I would never leave, and if I hid in a bathroom every time Jace was hungry when we were out of the house, I might as well pay rent for a stall.

I can somewhat understand why people have conflicting opinions about this. Joe is a plumber, and goes in countless houses every day. He has told me that on more than one occasion, he was discussing something with a customer, and she started breastfeeding mid-sentence. My first reaction is that of a wife. “You mean some woman showed you her boob?!” But then the mother in me, and common sense, quickly took over. “Well I’m sure her baby was hungry. I doubt enticing you with her leaky breast was her goal. Breastfeeding! Yea!”

Personally, I always cover up when I’m not at home. I feel more comfortable doing so. I think it’s a natural reaction to feel shocked with you see a breast in a place you wouldn’t normally. But that is where I feel like common sense has to prevail. Breastfeeding is the most natural act in the world. Breasts have been sexualized in our culture, but their true purpose is to feed babies, and I can assure you that showing off our chest is NOT on our mind when we are unhooking our nursing bra. If it’s not okay for women to breastfeed their children in public, how is it okay for the lady at the table across from you in the restaurant to wear a super low-cut shirt with her cleavage hanging out all over the place?

I know I haven’t said anything that hasn’t been said before, but I needed to vent. Breastfeeding Jace has been a wonderful experience that I want every mother to have if she chooses to. If there wasn’t such a stigma attached, and more women in the public eye breastfed openly, maybe more women would. So, GO BEYONCE!

I’ll leave you with what I posted on Facebook after reading this article…

“Wth? I've nurse Jace at the park, walking around Target, Kroger, the furniture store, the mall, just about every other store in Louisville, sitting on the floor of Summer's kindergarten classroom, at our table at restaurants, at my friends' work, at countless relatives houses, at McDonalds while the kids played, I could go on... when a baby is hungry, they're hungry. I don't understand the comments on this article and I don't understand people's bizarre attitudes about the most natural thing on the planet…”

In Love

I’m so lucky to have four amazing Valentines this year.

Five, if I include Harley.

Tuesday morning, Joe and I gave the girls their Valentine’s Day gifts. We try to keep it simple, although since this is the one holiday we get credit for the gifts it’s tempting to go all out. They got new shirts to wear that day, necklaces, fuzzy socks, a little candy, and “The Lady and the Tramp”.

I took all three of the kids with me and went to help Summer’s class with their Valentine’s Day Friendship Celebration. I was in charge of helping them make creatures with paper hearts. Fun! Jace was really good, and Camryn got to go around all the centers with Summer. She loved it and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Camryn, Jace, and I came home after that and spent some time with Joe before he had to leave for work. It was weird having him leave and be gone all day on Valentine’s Day, but we’re getting used to his schedule and it helps knowing that it will only last a year.

Summer and Camryn have this quote stenciled on their bedrooom wall. I love it.

My sweet girls.

I wanted a picture of all three, but you know how that goes. I fed him after this attempt, and then he was happy. But of course the girls were over picture taking by then, so this is it.

Little Casanova.

I am so in love with my littlest Valentine.

I hope you all had a great day full of love and chocolate!

Our New Normal

We’re slowly starting to find our new normal as a family of five.

Things are going so well. I really couldn’t have hoped for a smoother transition into life with a newborn. We’re blessed to have such a good, sweet, adorable baby. The adorable part is pretty important – the late night feedings aren’t as bad when they’re super cute.

I mentioned Joe’s crazy work schedule before… When we decided that he should accept this new position, we did it a bit reluctantly, hoping that it was the right decision for our family. It requires so many more hours of hard work from him than the position and schedule he’s had for years. But it was such a great opportunity for him and for our family. We agreed that we would take it one day at a time and so far, so good. With Joe being gone the second half of the day and into the night most days, and then needing to sleep in the mornings after a late night, it’s required a lot more of me as a mom. I’ve had to do the grueling after school homework, dinner, baths, and bedtime alone most days for the last few months. Some days are worse than others, but for the most part, it’s been easier than I anticipated and Jace has fit right into the routine, not really making it more difficult, just making it a little different.

Summer and Camryn have adjusted so well to having a baby brother around. We wondered what would happen when we threw this little living, breathing being into their world but they have been amazing. They haven’t acted jealous of all the attention he gets at all, and they love to spend time with him, hold him, and help us when we need something. Sometimes, they want to be a little too involved… I’ve had to have several talks with them on why they can’t pick him up and carry him around the house.

A (somewhat hectic) Day in the Life

I drive. A lot. Before the girls started school, I would some times go one or two days without leaving the house. Now, my days are generally something like this…

6:15am – hit snooze 5 times wake up, throw on some clothes that aren’t dirty get dressed, wash my face, brush my teeth, wake up the girls and give them their clothes, send them off to brush their teeth and go to the bathroom

6:50 – make breakfast (or if we’re running late put Cheerios or fruit in bags for the car ride), brush and fix hair, make sure Summer has her back-pack and lunch

7:05 - pull out of the drive-way… proceed to drive 16 miles to Summer’s school in rush-hour traffic

7:40ish- arrive at school. kindergarten parents walk their kids in so I try to find a good parking place. it’s on-street parking downtown, so this is tricky.I had to over-come my fear of parallel parking quickly. we usually have to walk about half a block to the front doors

7:50 – get to Summer’s locker, help her put her backpack away and make sure she has her folder; kiss her good-bye and walk back to the car

8:00 – drive 16 miles back to the area we live in; we usually have about 30 minutes to kill before Camryn’s preschool starts so we either stop and get something to eat, or stop by my moms for a quick cup of coffee/juice

8:50 – take Camryn to preschool. this does NOT involve leaving the car, thank goodness. in fact I usually let Camryn sit on my lap in the drop-off line and then send her out my door (the pic above is her “driving”)

9:00 – get back home. feed the dog and fish. do a load of laundry. make beds. unload dishwasher. do other around-the-house stuff. or not. some times after I feed the animals I sit on the couch under a blanket and don’t move much (don’t tell anyone). check Facebook and e-mail. blog. start on any design work I have to do. realize it’s already time to leave again to pick camryn up.

11:55 – pick Camryn up from preschool. if it’s nice out, sometimes I let her play on the school playground for a bit. then if I need to go to the store, we do that. if not, we head home.

12:15pm – get home, make us lunch. encourage her to play instead of watch TV. sometimes I win, sometimes she does.

12:45 – finish any cleaning I didn’t finish – or start on - in the morning. play with Camryn. work on blog stuff and design work. waste time on Facebook.

2:00 – drive 16 miles to pick Summer up from school

2:30 – get to the school. try to find a decent parking spot again. it’s usually more crowded in the afternoons, so we almost always end up walking a bit to get to the doors.

2:40 – the bell rings and we get Summer, I check to make sure she has all her stuff… she usually has left her jacket in her locker so we get that, then head back to the car

2:55 – drive 16 miles back home

3:20 – get home, look at Summer’s folder to see if she has homework, give her a little while to unwind, figure out what’s for dinner if I don’t already have that planned

4:30ish – have Summer start on homework if she has any, straighten up the house a bit since the girls have usually gotten out a lot of stuff since we’ve gotten home

5:00 – start dinner, the goal is to have it ready at 5:30 but sometimes this doesn’t happen. hopefully joe is home by this time to eat but it depends on the day

6:00 – clean up kitchen, let the girls play for awhile (outside if it’s nice or inside if it’s not)

7:00 – girls clean up if they’ve gotten toys out, then bath time

7:30 – girls get pajamas on, brush teeth, Summer makes sure her back pack is by the door, they choose a book for one of us to read

7:50 – get them in bed, read a story

8:00 – lay their clothes for the following day out at the ends of their beds, then we tell them goodnight

8:15 – make Summer’s lunch for the next day, make sure dishwasher is loaded, straighten up, take a bath or shower if I have enough energy

9:00 – figure out what I’m wearing the next day, get pajamas on, park myself on the couch or my bed, and either watch TV, work, browse Facebook, or read (Patricia Cornwell at the moment!)

11:00 – hopefully fall asleep around this time if Joe isn’t keeping me up playing games on the iPod

6:15am – start all over

TGIF.

I live for weekends these days, as I’m sure every parent with school-age kids or full-time jobs do. I had a 5 year break from caring much whether it was a Tuesday or Saturday but I am totally back in the game now. And I’m trying to imagine a newborn in the mix of all of that. Joe is starting a new position at work that is going to require him to change shifts for a year; he will be working from about 1pm to 9pm on week days and be on call one weekend of the month. It’s going to be different. Monetarily, it will be well worth it, so we will make it work!

Mama Worries

I am so much more worried about baby number three.

His health, mainly. He looked great on the ultrasound, his heartbeat has been strong, I’m measuring correctly…. but the what-ifs continue to go through my mind often.

I know most every mom has these fears as her unborn baby grows inside of her, and of course I worried when I was pregnant with the girls, but with them it was more of a passing thought, because I just knew they would be fine. With this one, in the back of my mind I do know that most likely he will be born perfectly healthy and stay that way…. but the worries are more prominent.

It could be because I’m older and wiser this time around, and I’ve been exposed to devastating situations through blogs, and through our own loss of my nephew from SIDS, since having Summer and Camryn. I kind of wish I could live in denial that bad things don’t happen to babies.

Another part of me questions how we could get so lucky as to have two beautiful, healthy kids already and then be blessed with a third. I know of so many good people who desperately want and deserve babies of their own, or who suffer unimaginable circumstances with their child. Why them? Why us? Surely, there is a catch here.

Jace has been kicking me intensely as I’ve typed this, almost as a reminder to me that I have to have faith that he is perfect and healthy until he is physically here in our arms. What a sweet boy, already looking out for his mama.

I’m going to take his cue and do my best to push these worries away. They don’t do any good, and they will disappear as soon as that baby boy is screaming his head off in the delivery room I’m sure!

But Mommy, they are just so convenient.

I'm sitting in the living room, answering e-mails. Summer walks in from her room, and hands me a diaper.

Summer: Here you go.

Me: A diaper? Thanks.

Summer: You're welcome!

She runs back to her room, and comes back a few seconds later with the box of wipes. She hands them to me.

Me: Wipes, too?

Summer: Yes. You can use them if you want to.

Me: Uhh, do I need to change your Pull-Up?

Summer: Yea.. I pooped a lot.

Me: Why didn't you tell me so you could go on your potty?

Summer: I just don't want to.

Ahhhhhhh! I don't want to force her when she isn't ready, but I'm starting to think that if it is up to her, she's still be in diapers in her thirties.

Gotta end this now, Camryn is carrying a kitten around in a cake pan.