photo shoot of a chunky baby

One day i was inspired to take some pics of one of my favorite stages...the sit and be cute stage.
Here is Watts at about 8 months

the bus stop

tonight while driving home from small group price was throwing a major tantrum. While we were trying to figure out what this typical 2 1/2 yr old was upset about and trying to distract him, the idea of going to the zoo came up.
He immediately stopped crying and announced that "yes" he wanted to go to the zoo.
Unfortunately he wanted to go right now. He kept saying "go to the zoo". We try to tell him that we couldn't go to the zoo right now and again the tears...
So Bruce said that if Price wanted he could take the bus to go to the zoo. To which Price responds, "okay". oops.
Then we decided to talk him through the realities of this decision.:
I said, "oh wait, do you have your money? you'll need money for the bus".
Price: "no i no have mine money"
Bruce: "i'll give you a dollar for the bus"
Me: "where are you going to sleep? outside in the rain? b/c the zoo is closed"
Price: in a sad voice "no sleep in the rain. i sleep on bus".
oops.
Bruce: "ok. when we get home i'll get you a dollar and walk you out to the bus stop in front of our house."
Price: "okay"
what?
So we get home and Price is totally fine with this plan. Bruce hands him the dollar and walks him outside in the rain down to the bus stop in front of our house. Bruce walks back to the house, says goodbye and pretends to shut the door, standing outside to keep an eye on him.
As soon as he shuts the door he hears Price yell "bus! come! where are you ?"

I was inside with Quade who was getting upset saying "i'll miss price. i want him to sleep in my room with me. not on a bus" So we decided to go outside and rescue him. Despite Quade's pleading Price was determined to go to the zoo. I told him we were going inside to get some dinner...he didn't care.
Then Bruce said "would you like a snack?" to which price responded "sure" and inside he went.
Boy are we in trouble!

Poop on the ground...looking like a fool with your poop on the ground

(title stems from the american idol audition song "pants on the ground" check it out on youtube)

On a lighter note from my previous two posts, i thought i would share one of my recent adventures living with young boys.

I was standing in the kitchen after lunch. Price was upstairs. Quade was running around the house downstairs (around our little circle of hallways). I was holding watts and getting water ready for nap times when i hear a "splat" sound. followed by a little voice saying: "Need a new diaper"

I went in the downstairs hallway (where quade had just run through) to find the following.

yes, that is a diaper and yes those 3 little piles are poop that shot out from the diaper when it was dropped from the upstairs.

I was dumbfounded to say the least. Holding watts i just started pacing the hall, not knowing what to address first. I told quade how lucky he was to have just missed having poop on his head (of course he thought that was a hilarious idea) I decided that i needed to find price and clean him up before he sat anywhere...you can only imagine the damage a poopy bottom left uncovered can cause!

needless to say, it was all cleaned up and everyone survived the diaper bombing.

However, i will forever be more careful when walking that fateful hall. I will keep my eyes upward and vigilant, for fear of being the recipient of an unwanted surprise.

The STOP button (an update)

When i last wrote on this blog it was the first day of December and I'd realized that life was moving too quickly. I discussed the treadmill concept. Well the holidays and the automatic commitments that come with that time of year did not help me get off the treadmill. There was a week in December that i had a Christmas party or event every night...which culminated in me crying with a stranger at a christmas party. um yeah.

The following day I was late to set-up for Quade's class christmas party (that i had signed up for at the beginning of the year). I spoke with his teacher about how hard it was to get all 3 little kids in the car to get quade to school every day. I asked if in the Spring if she thought it would work for him to come only 3 days a week. She thought that was a bad idea...and of course i started crying. Then she suggested i join a carpool (yeah one more thing i need to coordinate)...then she offered to pick quade up, which is very kind. However, the bigger issue wasn't just getting him to school 5 days a week it was not having him home...he is going to be in school the rest of his life, no need to rush it!

So that conversation happened on a thursday, that Saturday we left for Houston and i had the best part of my December. This was unexpected because we were in one house with 19 of us, 9 of which were kiddos aged 5 and under. (i need to write some posts just on our christmas...).

It was such a relaxing week. I got to play with my boys, have conversations with adults, play games and hold watts a lot!

Then we came home and i had some decisions to make. I was considering pulling Quade and Price out of school and having a a home school semester. I got really excited about the idea, but a little fearful of not having any break during the week. So looked into getting a nanny to come to our house one day a week to watch all three boys. but those options didn't pan out...

I had a week to decide if i was going to take quade to school this spring, then i realized i needed to decide about next fall (because his current school's contract for the fall was due january 5th...seriously!). So i started doing research on schools in the area. I decided that proximity was most important, i also wanted a place they could all attend, a place quade could go as a 5 year old (since most 5 yr olds are in kindergarten), and only a few days a week.

Well Sunday night i emailed a school and the next monday morning i called that school to follow up...after i introduced myself saying I'm a mother of three young boys the assistant said "oh, is this Heather? I was just responding to your email"...amazing!! This was their first day back at school after the break and she was able to respond to my email.

She told me that they would be able to take all 3 boys in the fall. She then said "I don't know if you are interested in this Spring but we have a spot for both your older boys on tues/thurs". God answers prayers!!

Here is a list of amazing ways God provided in the next 24 hours:

-I was able to tour the school that tuesday (the day i had to decide whether to return to quade's school and whether to return in the fall).

-The school was minutes from our house (instead of the 15 solid minutes it took to get to quade's previous school).

-school was AMAZING! (i didn't care if it was mediocre).

-The facilities were fabulous

-The teachers were engaged with the kids and at least appeared like they wanted to be there.

-they have chapel once a week (his other school was not part of a church)

-Quade would be in Spanish once a week.

-There were only 6 other kids in the class Quade would be in and 2 teachers! (his other class had 12 kids to one teacher)

-If we were students in the spring we wouldn't have to wait in line in February to enroll for the fall.
-The director took her time and showed me every detail of the school and was so patient with the boys (who were with me...wanted quade to see it and see if he liked it before i made the big move).

So I DID IT! I HIT THE STOP BUTTON!! I called Quade's old school and told them we wouldn't be coming back. The two boys started that thursday!

Of course satan tried to get involved and tell me the lie that perhaps quade's new class was so small because the teachers were bad.

nothing could be farther from the truth! they were wonderful. loving and caring and sweet!!

GOD IS GOOD!! He knows exactly what we need, when we need it!

Bruce's mom was so helpful in talking through this decision. She told me that when something is wrong with us physically we experience physical pain. When we experience emotional pain (stress, tears with a stranger) it is another way that God tries to tell us something is wrong.

May God give you the awareness of where there is stress in your life, the strength to hit the stop button and the faith to know He will fill in all the details!

sleep, the treadmill and wild things

Here is what's going on in my brain lately (mixed in with some pics of our nutty life)

SLEEP

November was a difficult month for our family. Watts got a bad cold and stopped sleeping well at night. At first i was able to manage getting up 2-3 times a night, but after 3 weeks of severe sleep deprivation it started to show. In addition Bruce was working a lot. He worked until midnight, or even 3:30 am some nights.

During this time I was a wreck...i couldn't hold a conversation with people. I was constantly frustrated with the boys. I don't think i smiled much during that time. I was feeling overwhelmed and hectic. I wanted to drop all commitments and just stay home for the next few years. Bruce and close friends told me that maybe i just needed to get more sleep. Which i think was mostly true...i still felt like i was going, going, going and for no reason (more on this in a second).

The week after Thanksgiving I decided to do a little crying it out with watts. I got 7 hours straight of sleep one night and i woke up feeling like an entirely new woman. I texted friends to apologize for anything i might have done or said in the last few weeks. My brain was suddenly inspired. Sadly it didn't totally "stick" and he is still waking up at least once at night, but i am now very aware of the importance of sleep. =)

bathtime kisses

The TREADMILL
After being in Indiana with my parents and seeing old friends i was struck by how nice it was to not be busy all the time. The pace of life was so much more relaxed than our days here in Dallas. I talked with one friend who made choices for her family so they could spend more time together. I was inpired by her example.

This past Sunday our pastor (neil tomba, northwest bible church) spoke about "The Treadmill". The point of his sermon was that we make a job out of everything. We complicate the holidays, doing more and more. The reasons we do this, he suggested, was our competitiveness and envy. For me i think it is also my desire to make everyone happy. I say "yes" to too many activities. He also said that by staying on the treadmill we rob ourselves of rest and relationship.

Hearing this sermon helped me solidify my thoughts and recognize what changes i needed to make (realistic ones, not drastic, sleep-deprived decisions). I decided that before i say 'yes' to something or before i spend my time doing something i need to ask myself "Is this necessary?" "Does this help or hurt my family relationships?". We are an outgoing, extroverted bunch, so staying home all day, every day would make us all crazy. BUT i do think i need to choose to stay home more and do less.

by staying home things like this happen...a little people parade

WILD THINGS

During Thanksgiving I became frustrated with our boys and our parenting of them. I felt that every couple minutes one of my family members was telling me about something one of my boys had done. The boys seemed like out-of-control crazy men and it was exhausting!

Bruce and I had recently sat down and decided that we were going to focus on 3 main rules for our family: 1) respect authority (obey) 2) respect others (be kind to others) 3) take care of the things God gave us.
It helped me focus my attention on these three things. However, I feel like every day i am repeating these 3 rules a billion times. I discipline all day long and, again, it's exhausting.

I feel like when we are with others at a social gathering or at a friend's house to play that my boys completely forget how to behave, despite being told a thousand times...

Then i found a book on my bookshelf "Wild Things: the art of nurturing boys". Whew did i feel better after this. Boys are just WILD! They make crazy choices that make you scratch your head and say "what were you thinking?". This book has a chapter for each stage of development for boys. The stage my boys (2-4 yrs old) are in is the explorer stage. If you have boys check out this book and feel encouraged that you are not alone!!
my rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

my diaper head

All in all i've recognized that sleep makes everything better. That i do myself and my family a favor by stepping off the "treadmill" of life. And lastly that it's good to provide rules/boundaries of behavior but ultimately boys need to be boys and i need to set realistic expectations to allow them to be the wild things God created them to be!

Price's turn

There was a lot of "discussion" about who was going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and who would be Woody. Obviously the more "fun" costume is Buzz. Of course, poor price's opinion had to come 2nd to his big brothers (last year price was the robin to quade's batman).
BUT once halloween was over Price found the costumes and decided it was his turn to be Buzz.
So here is Price's turn as Buzz (note the attitude)

(quade was not thrilled when price asked him to put on the woody costume).

Laugh out loud

one of my favorite milestones...