A Boy Mom

I have to say, for awhile I felt a little left out. Like I was missing out on some sort of "club." The "Boy Mom Club." I'd see all these posts about how wild and crazy life was with little boys. The climbing, rough-housing, dirt, and pee and yet how those mom's just felt connected to the little boys in some way.

But now I get it.

I'm part of "the club" and have been for 16 months.

I totally get it.

This kid is different. So completely and wonderfully different than his sisters. He is calm, but wild. Silly and sweet. Ready to run and play outside and snuggle with his blankie on my lap. I never really understood the bond that Ethan has with his little girls. How they have him so completely wrapped around his finger. But now I get it.

He is in to EVERYTHING! He digs in the trash, splashes in the toilet, and throws completely good diapers away, and the lids to my pots, and my badge for school. We gotta check our trash, often.

He love cars and trucks and balls. He's learning to climb. We don't have to lock the stair gate anymore, he can go up and down the stairs with ease. It's only a matter of time before he has figured out how to open the damn baby proofing locks we have on everything.

He grunts at everything. I've learned to tell the difference between his "dog-grunt" and his "graham cracker-grunt" and his "I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE grunt." He is going to keep us all outside all summer. He just wants to dig in the dirt, walk in the grass, and play with his puppy!

His sister's love him too. They love to find ways to make him giggle and chase them around the house. I'm sure they won't think that's as fun when he's a little bigger and can really catch them!

I'm so excited to be part of the "Boy Mom Club" and to be completely wrapped around this little guy!

A Post For Katerina

Daddy's little girl
His eyes and smile show in you
Love your spunky way

You are without a doubt a little daddy's girl. Although it didn't start out that way. You were born with dark black hair and a desire to be held by mommy. But as your hair changed to blond and your eyes stayed that crystal blue, your love for daddy came rushing out. We will be in trouble if you ever truly figure out how much you have him wrapped around your little finger.

Goofy Grin
Angry Eyes
Ornery Smile
Silly Laugh
Crazy Girl

Seriously. We always know how you're feeling because you show it on your face. Everything you do comes with emotion. Learning to control your emotions and allow your personality to shine has made for some very interesting pictures of you, little one.

Sweet little Kit Kat

Lover of all living things
A servant you are

Little Kit Kat, you love everyone. When your sister was sick, you took care of her. You made sure she was comfortable and happy. You like to keep the peace. You love your puppy and all your stuffed animals. If I were to be bold enough to predict what you may be someday, I see you in a position to serve others and make others happy. While your sister is very logical with her thinking, you go with your heart, always showing your emotions. This is a good trait. Don't lose it.

Active, moving, and always on the go
Racing, climbing, begging to swing
Signing and dancing to and fro
Sitting still is not your thing

Oh little mover. If you're sitting still, then we know to check your temperature. You have always been a mover. Out of everyone, you kicked me the most while I was pregnant with you, and you've kept that going ever since. We'll have to make sure there's always options for you to run off that energy. You never back away from a "race challenge" from your sister...and many times you beat her already.

Four.
Four years you've blessed our lives.

Big Jackie and Little Jackie

We chose the name Jacqueline for a couple reasons. I have love big names that have nicknames. I just do. Plus...I have never met a Jackie who I didn't like.

Our little Jackie has had trips to Ethan's work ever since she was teeny tiny. Ethan works for NetApp a computer engineering company in Wichita. They have had various family events that we have attended and she was able to go with him to the latest "take your kid to work day." She loves it.

And she also loves Jackie.  Ethan's manager, whom our "little Jackie" has met multiple times in her trips to NetApp. Even though "big Jackie" is no longer his direct manager, they still bump into each other in the hallways. The conversation almost always ends up talking about kids. The most recent chance meeting involved talking about "little Jackie" enjoying school and even still asking her daddy if he still gets to see "big Jackie."

The next thing we knew, "big Jackie" had written a sweet little note to our little Kindergartner about working hard in school and becoming a smart woman so she can make a difference.

Now...I'm not an over-sentimental person. I don't typically get teary-eyed at the different milestones my kids go through (yet). But this made me want to cry.

Here is a woman, working in a managerial type of position, who probably had a plateful of work to attend to, and she took time out of her day to encourage and mentor my little 5 (almost 6 year old). To me...this was powerful.

I have no idea if our little Jackie will want to be a computer engineer like her daddy or a teacher like her mommy, or a lawyer at a powerful firm, or a refrigerator repair-woman, but I know that I want her working for someone like "big Jackie" at a place like NetApp that values family and encourages young girls to become strong women and make a positive difference.

My heart melts and it makes me smile every time I think about it.

Thank you, "big Jackie" for more than you know. 

New Year Brings a Change

Happy New Year!

Before you get all "it's not January" on me, remember, I am a teacher. August is my New Year. More resolutions/goals are made (and actually kept) during this new year than the January one.  So I like to celebrate it in style.

By going to bed by 8:00.

This year, I have someone to share the new year with. Jackie started Kindergarten! She went shopping for her supplies and picked out the biggest backpack that she could find. She was literally counting down the days to the first day of school.

Part of me was a little worried about her transition into full-day Kindergarten. She never went to preschool. This would be a big change.

Other than not enjoying the early wake-up call, she has thoroughly enjoyed everything about school. After the second day of school I asked her what her favorite thing was and she replied "EVERYTHING is my favorite...we do AMAZING things there."

However, there is one person not liking this "Jackie-going-to-school" thing.

Katerina.

This little girl has had Jackie has her playmate for the last three years. More than ever, this summer they spent all their time together. Playing, eating, sleeping, bathing, and arguing. And now, all of a sudden that's gone. It's just Kit Kat and baby Billy left at home, and Bill's just not the same.

This weekend, the girls have been inseparable. At the Block Party Jackie made sure her little sister was well taken care of and they both had their faces painted with princess crowns. I didn't even want to break up the playtime to send them to bed on Friday night.

Katerina has two school years before she'll join her big sister as a little Kinder-Cardinal, and I'm sure she'll be ready to go! Until then she'll have to get used to bossing her little brother around the house!

Running.

A quote I have actually said:

"I sure hope none of my kids sign me up for any of those 5k-with-mom things...I don't run."

Wait for it...

This summer I have been running.

When I really sit down and think about it, one thing seems to come to mind.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

You see, I don't like to run. My exercise of choice is to swim. I LOVE to swim laps. I get going in the cool water and feel like a million bucks when I'm done. My mind gets a chance to just think and escape while I'm pulling myself through the water, I am physically tired (the good kind) when I'm done, and nothing hurts.

But... Swimming takes time. By the time I gather my stuff, get to the Y and into the water, swim, get out, shower, change and head home...it's an hour and a half of my day (and that's a short workout...). PLUS...the YMCA has swim teams that use the lap pool certain times of the day, which limits when I can and can't get into the pool.

I just don't have that kind of time, at this time in my life.

The only days I can consistently get to the pool are days that Ethan is home and I don't have to worry about what to do with the kids. That means weekends.

Back to running... After baby #3, I struggled to lose the last 10 lbs. and this summer, I knew I needed to add in some exercise to my life. I HAD to fit back into my clothes by August.

In the past, I have had success with consistently walking, but for some reason, that wasn't just enough...I wanted to get my heart-rate up and feel out of breath.

So, I started slow. Very slow. On the treadmill one day, I just decided to run for 30 seconds, walk for a minute. I would alternate that pattern for my 20 minute walk that I normally do.  And surprise as I was...I didn't die.

AND...doing this allowed me to watch the clock and not go crazy.  You see, I'm a clock watcher. I look at the clock 100 times a day. I even used to get in trouble during volleyball practices..."Why are you looking at the clock, practice is over when it's over..." Seriously. I just wanted to know what time it was.

Eventually I was able to work my way up to running for a full minute, and then two, and finally one day, I ran for 10 minutes straight when I was outside running around our neighborhood.

To many of you, who run seriously, this may not seem like much, but for someone who hasn't done that in well-over 10 years...I was pumped!

I still have no desire to do those 5k-with-mom-things, but I am definitely closer that I ever thought I would be.

Summer Plans

I had big plans for this summer.

Plans that included organizing various rooms of our house, tossing out toys (we have WAY too many), and working on organizing things for my classroom.  I brought home three boxes from school.

I haven't even opened them.

I haven't organized one room.

We still have WAY too many toys.

I will admit, I may have been a little ambitious with all the things I wanted to accomplish. Considering we just added baby #3 last November.  I had reason to think I would have a chance to get things done.  You see...for the first 6 months of his life, little Billy was the DREAM baby.  He slept 8-10 hours straight, would go to anyone and not fuss, and love to lay on the floor and watch TV with his sisters.  He was a low-maintenance baby, and I figured I could get some work done.

HA! Little Bill had different plans. Plans that started with his first set of teeth...to be quickly followed by FIVE MORE. Long story short, those pesky bits of enamel cost me my dream baby. He now is waking up 4 times a night, cranky, and not happy when he's away from mama (AKA...KidZone at the YMCA).

This means that I have 3 precious hours of the day to get anything accomplished at home when baby naps. This means, many times I am cleaning up the kitchen or folding a load of laundry. It hasn't left much time to get the "BIG" things done that I wanted to this summer.

And now here we are, in less than two weeks I'll be starting back to work again and I have to sprint to finish at least part of my list.

With a baby who is still getting up 3-5 times a night.

I will need some prayers.  And coffee.

Special Weekend with Daddy!

I just recently returned from our 9th annual Mystery Weekend girls' trip, that my awesome mother plans for us each summer. I have written about my AMAZING mother's AWESOME idea before...here. Basically, she's a rock star and plans a secret trip for us girls each summer. We get to slip away to a mystery destination and relax.

This year was another fantastic trip, combined with my sister's bachelorette party, and officially adding our sister-in-law to the Mystery Weekend festivities. We spent the weekend at my brother's lake house on the Ozarks, shopped until we dropped, got too much sun, and had a margarita or two (or three...). It was perfect.

However, this post is not about my weekend. This post is about the weekend that the rest of my family had. Because, let's face it. Mystery Weekend wouldn't be the weekend that it is without Super-Dad taking on the role of "single parent" for four days and nights.

And Super-Dad he is.

Ethan has rocked out each Mystery Weekend as single-Dad for the last 5 years, but this year was different. There are now three kids, ages 5, 3, and 7 months. While some may run in fear, call up grandma and grandpa, or grumble and moan about having to do everything solo, my husband planned something special to do with the kids each day.  Special time with Daddy he calls it. This is their time.  Here's just a few things that happened.

A trip to the zoo. All three. The girls walked the entire way, and were SOOOOO tired when they got home. But they had a snack with the tigers, watched fish jump out of the water, and found all of the lizards and snakes.

Special Ice Cream with Daddy...this is a Mystery Weekend tradition. Sonic shakes after 8:00 PM. Last year the girls thought it was so fun to share a shake and stay up late. This year, thanks to little brother needing to go to bed, they got the shakes to go. This is the first thing they told me about when I got home. They even got TWO cherries on their shake (thanks to some quick moves by dad and giving up his cherry when they weren't looking.)  Next year they may have to have their own shakes!

A new movie and another special treat...the girls enjoyed their first Root Beer Floats and watched Toy Story 2 on Saturday! Let me just clarify...so you can see the true awesomeness here....Ethan took all three kids to three different stores (Academy Sports for goggles which were needed for swim lessons, Best Buy for the sale of the movie, and Dillon's for the ingredients for the Root Beer Floats). Just the thought of that exhausts me.

The reason my weekend away was perfect wasn't just because of the peaceful lake and more than one alcoholic drink a night...it was because of how things went at home. I just love that Ethan has plans for making this weekend special for him and the kids. They look forward to the weekend that "mommy goes on vacation" and get to spend some quality fun-time with just daddy!