sleep deprivation

I remember when Lou would work his 80+ hours at Shands (in FL) and would be so exhausted and sleep deprived that he would fall asleep almost anywhere... even with a screaming baby 2ft away. And I wondered... how could anyone be that tired? Well... now I know. Thank you baby Abigail for allowing me a glimpse into the life of a resident....

Top 5 ways I know I am sleep deprived:
5. My speech is slurred worse than a drunken sailor - without a lick of alcohol
4. I spend my 3am awake time coming up with these ridiculous lists
3. My calorie intake consists of caffeine, sugar, and dark chocolate (secret to losing weight, my friends) to keep me going
2. I continually ask myself... "what was I going to do?" while holding a jug of milk, a reward sticker, and a pacifier
1. I hire a sitter to watch the kids while I attempt to sleep. (Seriously, I find the deepest, darkest corner in the basement - among the spiderwebs, flop down on a frumpy futon and hope (and pray) that I can catch at least an hour's nap...)

underwear

The trio are trying to sleep through the night in underwear. One has gone four days without an accident. (Am I jinxing myself or is this to good to be true?) The other two didn't make it through one night..... Can you guess which one is doing it? Place your vote!

baby unicorn

setting: clague park, inside the wooden gazebo near the duck pond
loud sound - heard in the distance
gabby: what was that? maybe it is a hurt animal?
mateo: an elephant?
mary: it could be a baby unicorn.

yep Mary... it sure could be

it's the small things

It's the small things like hearing Gabby and Mary fight over who was supposed to flush the toilet...that make me smile. Five minutes of arguing over whether or not Mary should flush the toilet after use...BEFORE Gabby has to use it. Seriously.

(and no, Mary never did flush the toilet....she walked away from Gabby and made Gabby do it.)

i've met my match

Just the other day I posted on facebook about a recent late night experience with Abby. The girl does NOT want to sleep through the night - no matter what I try. I honestly don't think I can even remember when I had 4hrs straight sleep, without interruption.

On this particular night, she had been fussy on and off from about 12:30am...and by 2 am, I had been up and down, in and out of bed, several times. I attempted to let her "cry it out" (as the doctor's call it...in an attempt for her to learn how to fall back asleep by herself) but by 2:30, she finally got to me. She was screaming and writhing in pain and all I could do was rush in and pick her up.

What mother wouldn't? Why else would a baby girl cry so hard and for so long? I will tell you - a SMART baby girl. As soon as I picked her up, she began to clap. My mind went through several phases...
second 1 - Thank God sweet baby girl isn't really hurt....she has stopped crying
second 2 - sweet baby girl isn't hurt? she is clapping her hands that I picked her up?
second 3 - why is this child starting to babble as though we are enjoying a mid day walk?
second 4 - she tricked me? what? she is practicing her hello/goodbye wave now?
second 5 - no, I am not going to talk to you and interact with you at 3am in the morning!
second 6 - is she really hitting me because I won't engage her in play at this hour?
second 7 - why am I still holding baby girl who is obviously ready to play and not sleep?

Game on, Abby... game on. Two of us can play at this game!

dressy blue skirt with the sequins

I am not sure if you have noticed (and perhaps I haven't uploaded enough pictures) but Mary has a blue sequin skirt that she absolutely ADORES. Every single day, she puts this dressy, royal blue sequin skirt with the red trim over her pants/shorts - and wears it the whole day. I have to force her to take it off if we are going to school, or to the pool, or to a place where she could lose it. Otherwise, the smelly, over-worn skirt won't leave her body.

And instead of forcing the issue or trying to figure out "why" she insists on having this constant in her life at this time... I am going with it... and admiring at how "pretty" she looks when she wears it...

And God help me figure out a way to clean it!

my sister, my friend

As many of you know, I used to work for a gift/sentiment company down in FL, called Natural Life. One of their most popular sayings was "my sister, my friend." I love watching the girls play with Abby...and to see the joy in Abby's face when she notices her sisters are around.

Gabby and Mary enjoy helping out with Abby - and it gives them "practice" for their babies. Just today, when Abby was crying very hard (and loud), Gabby looked at my sympathetically, and said "Mom, my baby does that too."

brown bear, brown bear

There is a popular children's book entitled "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"... and at every page, the reader asks the brown bear what he see's... and on the following pages, he sees different colored animals... and children...and a teacher. When the trio were younger, this book was a constant read.

I was surprised that it had resurfaced and even more surprised to see the trio enjoying it again while THEY read it, or rather, sung it. How sweet!

in the blink of an eye

in the blink of an eye

we went from two to three

in the blink of an eye

they changed me

in the blink of an eye

i heard their first cry

in the blink of an eye

i've seen time fly

in the blink of an eye

they rolled, crawled, and walked

in the blink of an eye

babble turned to talk

in the blink of an eye

preschool is here...

as i shed a tear

everyday life

People often comment on how "busy" my life must be with the trio... here is a "taste" of the chatter, noise, and joy that they bring...

at the breakfast table.....


and then...we have the informer

splish splash

Just as Abby was getting to big for the baby tub, I realized that our small kitchen sink would be perfect - and she just LOVED it!!!!

what were you thinking?

Last Friday, the trio were invited over to Uncle Rob and Aunt Hilary's house for the FIRST EVER camping SLEEPOVER!!!!

Uncle Rob had offered to sleep in a family tent with all 5 kiddo's... yep, all 5... his two and my three. So we have to ask... what were you thinking, Uncle Rob?

He was thinking of a pizza party, and movies, and cotton candy, and smores... and songs and stories... and little sleep....and lots and lots of smiling faces. And people wonder why he is so loved by the kids?

My hope is that he is still thinking about the smiling faces (and not the chaos and whining that resulted in the little sleep) and that perhaps, sometime (not in the near future) there will be a 2nd camp out event!

daddy standing guard as the fire fizzled out

uncle rob surrounded by blankets, stuffed animals, books, and jumping kiddos!

Lorain County Fair

Our good friend, Miss Katie, was spending time at the Lorain County Fair so we decided to make the trip with cousin's Joe, Thomas, and Savannah and have some fun with the animals.

Mateo is really couragous now and wants to pet, feed, and ride the animals. He petted several in cages, both him and Mary rode ponies, and then to top off the afternoon, Mateo fed several big (and small) horses some carrots! What a fun day!!

toe feeding a friendly pony

trio posing in the photo board

of course the roller coaster brought some smiles

mary with miss katie

toe riding the pony - hee haw, he shouts!

petting the easter bunny

finally, a picture with gabby... little fraidy cat!

zoo

Last week we were able to visit our zoo friends with our Aunt Liz... (well, technically, the trio's "great" Aunt Liz.... (she'll love that one!))

We had a great time... got to see lots of aminals (and no, that is not a typo-o)... Gabby is in the habit of saying aminals instead of animals and we are workign on that...

The life like dino's were NOT a hit, but the painted "pretend" ones were fun to take pictures with....

We also had the pleasure of singing and making music with an Aussie lady in the Australian Outback part of the zoo. Aunt Liz was a great sport and played the washboard while the trio shook their "stuff" with the shakers. Then, the trio were able to seranade the group that had gathered with some kids songs. Mateo LOVED the microphone and was consantly talking to the crowd....he's our next American Idol!