It's Raining, It's Pouring...

When it rains here, it POURS.

And a couple of weeks ago we got a TON of rain in within a day or so and ended up with a little "lake" in our backyard.

Of course K thought it was perfect for playing in...

... and double "of course", without her rain boots on her feet.

Oh well!



Happy Friday and happy long weekend!

Give extra hugs to those you love and enjoy them.  I sure am going to...

Size Matters.

I am talking about family size.  Just to clarify that right away...

;)

So yeah, apparently it does.  Matter.  The size of you family, that is.

I was chatting with some friends the other day about this and someone mentioned that three is not really an ideal number of kids because then there is always an "odd man out" when it comes to them playing, etc.

And it can be true, at least from what I have seen around here.  Sometimes the boys are playing together and refuse to include K.  And sometimes B and K will be bonding and exclude G.  It happens.  And I have to say it's pretty rare that the two younger ones leave B out.  They both like him a lot and well, the oldest kid is just cool, you know?  But sometimes he does go to a friend's house to play or go off to read on his own and the younger two are forced together.  But they secretly like it.  And then, G gets to be the "big" one!

I don't really see anything wrong with any of the above scenarios.  The boys do not have to include K every time.  Sometimes they just need their "guy time".  And she has learned to play on her own partly for this reason.  Also, it is good that sometimes B takes his leave of them and does his own thing, of course.

The only time we really do experience a bit of a problem is if  G is not included   He does NOT like to be left out.  He's NOT a loner AT ALL.  So yes, that can cause dissent.  Like the crying, screaming kind.

Honestly, sometimes I wish he would have been a twin so he would have had a "buddy" to pal around with all the time.  Is that a weird thought or what?  Plus, he would always have someone to snuggle with instead of coming to my bed practically every night... but of course that was not meant to be.

Anyway....  we are done having children and we do have THREE, whether it is the best set up or not I cannot say because it is the only experience and dynamic that I know for MY family.

Now, I did grow up as one of four myself, but never really had anyone to play with because A) they were all boys and B) they were MUCH older than me (sorry guys, it's true).   So I would say that birth order and ages of the children also have a little to do with how your kids "get along" and are raised.

My children are close enough in age to play together and have some similar interests.  That was not really the case for me.

And thankfully they can even play different things next to each other at times.

See?

Of course after this was taken, not 2 minutes later, G had an epic meltdown since B accidentally smashed some of his Legos.  Sometimes things don't go perfectly now matter how many kids you have...


What size family do you have or think is ideal?  How well do your kids play together?

P.S. I have a little letter I wrote to my "home" state up over at Tonya's place.  I'd love for you to visit me there! :-D

Feeling Better in my Bathing Suit & Weekend Fun!

I sat by the pool watching a family.  They had one little girl, probably about 18 months old and two older boys in their teens.  The mother doted on the adorable baby as she splashed about and she must have asked her to say "cheese" a thousand times in one minute as she put her iPhone in the little girls face over and over.

I sat there thinking, that would so be me if K was here right now. ;)

But she was not.

Tim and I spent a little time away from the kids this past weekend.  We were not even that far away and it was for a work function so it wasn't ALL fun and games but there was plenty of fun to be had.

I did get to enjoy the pool for several hours on Saturday and we had a chance to relax and kick back a bit. It was really nice.

And thanks to the DVDs I have been doing, I was even feeling somewhat better in my bathing suit!

Colleen Riddle and I have known each other since high school and now she has these wonderful workout DVDs called New Mommy Makeover.  There are three phases and I just finished Phase 1 last week.

The DVDs are geared towards mothers who have just had babies and even though I am 3.5 years postpartum (ha!) I still believe they are fabulous for any woman! They are designed to get you back into shape after having children and Colleen really makes it easy to start back at it and work your way up to getting stronger and healthier.  She even includes 2 "water breaks" during each of the three workouts for each phase.  Plus, the program also comes with an outline for nutrition and cardio exercise to go along with her workouts.

Although I have not lost much weight (I blame my unreformed eating habits as of late) I can see a difference in my arms and shoulders and my clothes feel a tad lose.  Colleen doesn't mess around and I was sweating pretty good at the end of each 30 minute workout.

If you are a new mom (or even not so new, like me!) I really encourage you to look into Colleen's amazing program.  And I will be updating again after I complete Phase 2, so stay tuned.

Oh and here are some pics form our little getaway this weekend.  I never got my "big" camera out so these were all taken with my phone. :)

p.s. yes, we were at a casino and yes I really do NOT like to gamble and no we did not lose our shirts because we just played quarter and dollar and penny slots and that's about it and yes, my hubby's co-worker is more his lucky charm than me. The end. ;)

p.p.s. Yes, Tim is in a boot like I was last Fall.  Just sprained his foot running.  He'll be back at it soon!

p.p.p.s Four of my favorite words added together... Lazy River + Pina Colada = AHHHHH!!

10 Kisses, 10 Hugs!

One night last month I was putting the boys to bed solo since Tim had left me to go to some fancy-shmancy golf tournament called The Masters. Yeah. Whatever.

;)

Anyway, G had kind of a rough night of not being able to calm down AT ALL and NOT listening to me and well, that just really stinks, and especially so when you are "single parenting".  So, I told him that we would read a couple of books and then he would go to bed right after.

In other words: I'd had enough.

He was calm, cool and collected while we read but then his inner Chucky came out again AND he did not, under any circumstances want to go to bed without his brother in the room.  And he was riled up like you would not believe. None of it was conducive to bedtime. At ALL.

He cried and wailed for a few minutes and then it was bedtime for the oldest anyway so we made our way back to their room for the official tucking-in business.

G said to me, "Mom, I just want you to snuggle me."

It had been a while.

And for some reason I have a major soft spot for this child. No matter what he does.

Gee, maybe that's why he acts that way. {lightbulb moment}



So I snuggled in next to him, finding a spot among the bazillion blankets, pillows and stuffies.  And I resigned myself to the fact that I was there until he drifted off.  And it did feel nice to be lying next to him, relaxing my body.

But he moved and shifted and looked up at me and it took several minutes before he could quiet himself and calm his little boy self.

As I lay there I thought of how we used to have this routine at bedtime where after prayers he would stand up and I would face him at the side edge of his bed and he would say, "10 hugs and 10 kisses!"  And I would wrap my arms around him and move my arms back and forth so that I "hugged" him 10 times and then put 10 tiny kisses on his little boy lips, "smack, smack, smack...."

But we do not do that anymore.  Somehow we got out of the habit and I missed when we stopped.

And even though there were nights when I would roll my eyes at the 10 kisses that easily turned into 15, now I was longing for them and even wishing our sweet little routine could return.

So I turned my head to meet his that was so close already and gently placed 10 (or maybe 15) kisses right onto his sweet smelling hair as his little snores began.  And I drifted off for a bit myself, committing all the hugs and kisses to my memory as best that I truly could...

The Gavinator is SIX!

When Gavin was born I remember watching the American Idol finale from my hospital bed.  It was the year that Jordan Sparks won.  She beat Blake.  And I knew she would, but I just liked him so much, I was rooting for him.  He was really cool and different.

I also remember the nurse I had from the UK.  I loved her accent.  So did Tim.  She was the nurse that got Gavin to nurse.  I still owe her a debt of gratitude.  Always will.  She was really kind and patient.  And well, extremely lovely to listen to...

skin to skin time

I decided not to go back to work after G was born so even though B was my first baby, G was the first one I got to spend every waking (and even non awake!!) moment with.

He was adorable from the get-go, born with his signature dimples and once he got the fuzzy hair there was no denying his uber cuteness.  People in public wanted to touch it (and did!) but who could blame them really?

I mean, right!?!  I called it his "hair halo"...

These days Gavin is a spit fire.  And only angelic while sleeping. ;)  We get in to it occasionally, he's just SO dang stubborn!  And persistent.

But he's also my snuggler and he really loves to share what he's up to at school or in gym class or with his Legos, etc.

On Mother's Day morning he gave a me a grocery list that he colored and attached was a notepad.  He couldn't quite spit it out and kept telling me that it was for me to write down the things I needed at the store and then I could tear off the sheet and take it with me so I wouldn't forget the things I needed.  It was so cute.  He was so proud.

And he always is when it comes to art.  He absolutely LOVES to paint, color, glue, cut, etc.

Our neighbor gave him a bird feeder and a pamphlet about all the birds in our area for his birthday and he just had to draw some from the pictures on Sunday night.  And he had to cut them out and of course he wanted to glue them to something.

He's also my cleanest eater, no lie.  The kid can eat an entire ice cream cone (which he methodically licks) without getting any on the outside of his mouth.

And the boy has got some kinda awesome dance movies.  He loves to stick out his booty and jump and leap and spin.  It's quite entertaining.  But then, he's always had some pretty awesome moves (trust me, you really want to go to that link!).

He's really grown a lot (emotionally and mentally) in Kindergarten this year and just recently he lost his two bottom teeth.  I missed it both times because he lost the first one at school and the second time Daddy pulled it while I was out running errands one evening!  Oh well, there are many more to fall out...

Happy Birthday to my G, my Gav, Gavarini, Gavie Gavster.  I love you so, SO much!

And now, some scenes from his Ninjago (lego) Ninja water slide party! (yes, I'm lumping it all into one post, so sue me!)

The party was great (thankfully the rain stopped that morning ) and yes I did take a few turns on the slide myself once most of our guests had left.  It was VERY fun.  I mean, I did birth the kid, I get to celebrate too.

p.s. cookie cake is THE BOMB!

p.p.s. AWESOME pinata is made by my friend Aracely - Check her out at Whack Pinateria!

well, ONE of the photos is from my phone...