Three Kids

So somehow adding one more kid has caused me more chaos than two. Go figure.

We'll start with naps. Alan takes a fantastic nap every day (mostly). Daniel takes two maybe-one-hour naps. Not when Alan is napping. I get zero alone time. I know, complain complain. But I really need it! I just want to rest my eyes! However, I remember Alan going through this phase with me getting way less sleep at night and the thought that someday I will get a little time back sustains me until evening.

Now with nighttime. Alan has been doing great with no accidents at night, knock on wood. Sean still, as ever, sleeps all night long no problems. Daniel keeps doing these weird cycles where he'll sleep 4-5 hour stretches and gradually merge into 2-3 hour stretches and then I have to make him cry it out again. Parental angst! And then Alan wakes up at 5:30 every morning. Most mornings I walk him back to his bed and tell him to stay there and then he stays until 6:30, but every so often I'm tired of being up and down all night long to culminate my night with this as well that I just let Brian deal with it. Even though Alan won't stay in his room for him most of the time. Well we can't win them all.

I think I'm trying to say that my life is revolving around sleep these days and somehow that's exhausting. I know, it's crazy.

The third way is that I need another room. So that they can all be separated at the same time, no two in the same room together when they just can't handle it. Also I need a room to go to as well. City people - how do you live?! No backyard to banish them to, no basement even. Pete's sake, man.

And then the crying. I feel like if one isn't upset then another is. What is with that? Maybe it's just too quiet and they feel the need to fill up the empty space with the sounds of their emotions. Okay, I'm super exaggerating here. It just feels that way sometimes.

But most days they do so well together. Daniel is learning how to play with the big boys and the big boys are learning how to play with each other. We can go hours with them playing with each other happily and this is so nice. We're in a good spot. (I say as Alan dumps out a box of cereal on the floor.)

Ah summer

Well, here it is August and summer almost over. We've been doing fun things, mostly indoors - it's been as hot as last winter was cold and icy! Here is a look-see

Daniel thought he'd try out the Jimmy Neutron look:

I did Course 1 of the Wilton Method in cake decorating, this is my final project:

The boys really enjoyed a tour of the fire station. So much so that the only thing Sean talks about while reminiscing is that he wishes they'd turned on the siren for them to hear up close:

Alan got some scrub-off tattoos that he LOVED having on his arm. He showed everybody.

And Sean decided to try on shirts that really don't fit him any more. Really. That's a 2T shirt:

I'm not sure how he got that top button to button. He must have stretched up his neck or something.

We've managed to get in some swimming and camping and cousins and reading and being banished to the back yard for fighting and collecting rocks and introducing Sean to Harry Potter. Five may be too young, but it's just the first book and it's so delightful. I couldn't help myself.

My cake decorating class was so good. I'd say fun because I loved taking it with my friends, but the time it took and money it took to be prepared for the class was kind of stressful. I should have realized I'd need more than what the kit provided. Dang expensive kit. But I really liked my teacher and the skills I learned are invaluable to a person determined to create pretty cakes for children who don't really care that much (or do they? I still remember some of mine that my mom made...)

Another thing happening this summer is my avoiding grocery shopping. I find that I don't want to go with all three children. One, yes. Two, still yes. Three? No thanks. Did it, didn't like it. So it just doesn't happen until Saturday when we make it a family adventure. Hooray! This may change when Sean starts Kindergarten this fall (Holy Cow.) but we'll see how the chips fall.

We've also been making our house pretty, painting door knobs, painting walls and things, vacuuming once a week to kill the ants, etc. It's amazing how much fun cleaning is when it means that I'm finally getting back into a routine after the baby. It's also amazing how much I can get done in a day. I'll sit down at the end of the day and realize that I'd been both productive AND lazy that day and it totally was working for me. Then I reflect on four years ago at what I thought was productive then and feel all better-than and judgey-at my past self. Because not only do I accomplish more nowadays, but i have 3 times as many children (1 X 3 = 3) and that totally makes now-me WAY better than past-me. Eat it, 23-year old me.

That's all I have to say today.

Hey guys

So I'm pretty sure nobody looks here anymore? But I'll update anyway. It's been a long year and a half. Really long. Mostly I've been exhausted because Alan was waking up every two hours at night, then I wasn't sleeping out of habit, then I was pregnant, then I had a baby. And here we are now. I'm still in the RS Presidency, still over activities, still trying to keep up with Alan, still exhausted. But mostly happy. :) <-- p="" see="">