Must... Find... Motivation

Tonight is one of those, "If I make it off the couch for necessities it will be a miracle" nights. Necessities being of course cereal and the friend I have spent most of my 9 months getting to know. Pretty much everything needs to be done at this point... dishes, folding laundry (tom has wonderfully washed 99% of it) and a variety of other things.

Will they go away if I stare at them? *stares harder* .... maybe the pizza crust moved a little.

But I miss most the interaction and play time with my girls. I last 5 minutes on the floor playing before I lose all feeling in my legs and they (my legs) begin to scream in agony.

In case you missed it...

Yesterday Abby explained to me that her hands were brothers and that one of them was trying to break the other's evil spell.

She is a hoot to be around right now with story after story. I want to do a better job of writing up the entertaining portions of the last few days but for now cannot really do them justice. Perhaps after I lay down...

Play Dough Cookies...

Tom and I found this the other night while we were cleaning up and got a good laugh out of it. Apparently Barbie had a little bit too much fun driving around the kitchen. Life can be pretty rough on a Barbie that lives in a house with three little girls.

Home for the weekend and loving it! I have so much more energy early in the morning then I do in the afternoon so I finally feel like I can get a little bit done around here. So far all of the dishes are done, pots are washed and the counter tops cleared. How long it will last in our tiny kitchen I'm not sure but it's a start!

All three princesses are wearing dresses and dancing around the house to either the fridge magnet toy or Angelina Ballerina television show. At the moment Abby is making dolphin Play Dough cookies with Kara's help. Kiley got banished because she isn't very good at sharing this morning and has already been in time out for bouncing on the beds.

Tom took the three girls into the ENT (Ear Nose & Throat) doctor yesterday to have Kiley's ears checked. She is such a wonderful doctor that she checked all three because of course after Kiley was done, Kara said "Me too!" And then Abby wanted to be checked too. Kiley's right ear had fluid and was retracted (infected) so she earned herself an antibiotic. Kara's has fluid so they want to see both girls back in 3 weeks.

Hopefully that means an end to some of the 3am screaming! Might be part of our problem with bedtime...

We are home all weekend, at some point I need to visit my grandma to see if she can help me with my dress for next weekend. Tom and I will be heading up North to a wedding while Tom's parents come to hang out with the girls for the weekend. I'm the Maid of Honor in the wedding so it would have been difficult to be in the wedding with the girls. I'm sure they will have a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

I think Tom is nesting a little himself again ;) He is finding more projects again around the house to do. We are thinking of having all three of the girls room together again so that when baby boy comes we have a 'nursery' or place where he can be without being harassed constantly. It might be interesting to try the bunk beds...

Abby's Snow Angel from our walk this afternoon :o) 

32 weeks and starting to feel it!

This week is a bit of a killer at work so the posts will be short and quick... I'm falling asleep at 9pm, I just have absolutely no energy.

We watched the end of Tangled tonight with the girls and after Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel kiss... Kiley kept giving me kiss after kiss after kiss. She would kiss my cheek and my head and my ears... she tried for the lips but that's where I drew the line!

All three of the girls are getting very good about picking up their toys at night. I bought a few plastic totes and I have them pick up before bed. It really cuts down on the amount of bending that I need to do. They love getting high fives after they are finished.

Tom had a job interview this afternoon so I got to spend two hours with the girls. It would have been nice if this would have been yesterday before the nasty weather kicked in. Sadly we spent most of the two hours in the car watching movies. It was still really nice to see the girls, they weren't very happy when I had to go back to work.

Hoping I can get off a little early tomorrow night so that I can see them a little more without being exhausted. Friday will be a long day so I could use the break!

Weekend ... and Gone

End of the weekend... sad!

So far bedtime battles have been progressing nicely. Kiley and Kara have really settled into the routine (Kara better then Kiley) It took three bathroom trips for Kiley and 0 trips for Kara. We are almost to the point where we can lay them down and ... *gasp* leave the room. (wow wouldn't that be nice)

We had a lovely weekend of Christmas and just being together. Our Christmas's have finally reached the end and now we look forward to Baby boy and birthdays (Abby: "My birthday is coming in a few weeks!")

The wedding ring finally had to go, my fingers were dangerously swollen and I wasn't sure if it would COME off. I miss it though and cannot wait until it makes it back to my finger.


I will be back later to post a few photos from the weekend... first I have to track down my camera lol :o) First I think I need to get a few things done before bed.

Chocolates NEED to be higher

Bedtime Part Two:

I came out of Kiley and Kara's room last night, feeling a little proud of myself, wrote that nice little blog article... suddenly I see Abby walking down the hallway with my beautiful, tasty, luxurious Lindoor Truffle, milk chocolate bag. (I'm pregnant lol)

I asked her if she ate all of my candies. "No." (We're working on the lying) Me: "Abby don't lie. Did you eat my candies?". Abby: "Yes." Me: "That makes me very sad Abby, those were my special candies."

And suddenly it dawns upon her. Abby: "Mommy, next time you need to just put your chocolates up higher."

Yes she just blamed HER eating MY chocolates on ME! Thus begins a long conversation about taking responsibility for her actions... most of which I'm sure really isn't getting through, or some of it. She is three but a very smart three year old. In the end I tell her she needs to appologize, I forgive her, send her off to bed.

Exit back to bedroom. I hear a little sad crying.

A few minutes later she comes back out. "Mommy I thought of a  way to buy you more candy."
Me: "What's that Abby."
Abby: "You can give me money and I will go buy them for you!"

hahahaha--- I think the conversation born out of her eating my chocolates was far more entertaining then eating those last few pieces of chocolate would have been. Two take aways from this: 1) Mommy needs to put her chocolate higher or start hiding it.... 2) I know she did genuinely feel bad about eating the chocolate despite her trying to 'blame' me... and i'm not so sure she was trying to blame me, more rationalize the situation as she saw it lol.

Ok I had better get to work...

Sleeping through the night.... literally...

What is that I hear?... little girls sleeping peacefully in their big girl beds? So whether the book has magical powers... just nudged me a hair in the right direction (aka I was ALMOST doing everything right)... or I just managed to get a really good night... time will tell. So far I've really only read one chapter... lol. The most striking comment to me was regarding schedules (something always very daunting to me with three small children) ... if scheduling your day is too daunting... start off with the morning and bedtime.... something I think I could do.

So my current goal if you hadn't figured it out yet... is to get the girls and bedtime to co-exist. We were on a fast downward spiral... 30 minutes of bedtime turned to 1 hour... even 2 hours. And we are not talking about, peaceful sitting next to their beds, singing or patting their backs. This was something much more akin to a professional knock down, drag down, hair pulling match of wills.

NOT. FUN.

So what did I do.

Bedtime Routine. Uh yeah we kinda had one of these. I did find one minor but potentially fatal flaws. We were going directly from Start to Finish. What? ---- we weren't explaining steps.

1. We gave a 5 minute warning till bedtime (accompanied by many groans)
2. We walked them through the routine: (Pajamas, brush teeth, bedtime story, kiss and tuck in, music on)
3. If they get out of bed, take off pajamas or bounce on the bed there are consequences... no yelling, no getting upset. It is an automatic removal from the room and friend (aka twin). Where do they go? Dark bathroom.... it doesn't take long for them to realize this is NOT a fun thing.
4. Hugs and kisses... sitting on a beanbag outside their door... and zzzz ... happy sleep routine

(Ok... Kara still ended up partially naked... I still count this as a success) 

Disclaimer: This worked for Kiley and Kara... they did run around more outside because it was nice out today but I like to think that if we continue it might just work. I would at least like to have it calmed down a little before baby #4 comes. It will be a nightmare if he comes and we are still spending 2 hours putting our eldest three to bed.

Abby is a whole other bedtime tale. One that might not get solved until I can be home again. Naps might need to vanish for her. Otherwise I believe bedtime will continue to be a struggle. Time will tell...

Abby's 1st Day of Preschool

Abby's first day of preschool! Wow... where did the time fly off to? It was quite the morning getting her up and dressed and ready to go. A wonderful nurse friend of mine covered clinic for me so that I could run her to preschool on her first day. And I am so glad she did!

Abby wasn't quite sure WHY I wanted or needed a first day of school photo... I'm not sure she understood what exactly school was and why we were going in the first day. But this is the photo I got.

We got there early hoping that I could visit with her teacher or the director of the preschool a bit before class and I had to go back to work. No luck. We did a lot of wandering around and such but the teachers have devotions before school starts so I wasn't really able to visit with them. Abby jumped right in though and I couldn't help but laugh a little that I was the one ready to cry leaving her there...

I told her goodbye and she said "Ok Mommy, see you later."   There are 8 other students in her class and it looks like she had a good time. There was a little discussion about how she needed to pick up even though she didn't want to... (imagine that) but otherwise things went well.

She even brought home extra coloring sheets because she knew her sisters would want to color too. (I thought that was pretty sweet) Preschool is every Tuesday and Thursday morning. It will mean a busier schedule for Tom until I'm on maternity leave but it will be good for everyone to get out of the house too. So on to another busy chapter in our lives!

New Year... New things

Well... we had a wonderful time at Tom's parent's for Christmas. The girls weren't feeling 100% which didn't help. They were quite cranky when opening presents! Hoping that this bug doesn't hit everyone that was there this weekend. The girls are happy to be home and in their own beds tonight I think... I know I will be! It is wonderful to be away but oh so nice to be home.

The tree came down and Abby was at first a little sad... but now she is excited for her birthday (which of course is very soon... like in May...) We still actually have one Christmas celebration left, and still no snow on the horizon. In fact Thursday is supposed to be 68! How odd....

Abby has her first day of preschool tomorrow, I had a wonderful friend agree to watch calls for me for an hour so that I can take her on her first day... I would have been so sad to miss that. So for now I had better get things ready for tomorrow and crawl into bed myself. Pics from this weekend tomorrow ;)

Happy New Year everyone!

Mid-Week Musings...

For all intents and purposes, I did intend to post last night... I just happened to fall asleep on the floor of Kiley and Kara's room while I waited for them to fall asleep. I think I was in there for 1hr 45 minutes before I lost count. Tom finally came in to wake me up so that I could go down to bed. Needless to say I didn't accomplish much.

Does that mean baby was growing more last night? I'm not sure... but I sure was tired!

Tom has Kiley and Kara tonight while I have Abby. Of course she needs to do a little more playing before bed. 2 more minutes! Tom took the girls outside a bit this afternoon to the park. The weather here has been just gorgeous! I guess we shouldn't complain but it would be nice to have a little variety once in awhile. I wonder if winter will ever come?

We are discussing the possibility of taking down the Christmas decorations tonight, the spread of love and ornaments everywhere is just getting to be too much for us. I think the tree at least will go along with the lights on our window... if not tonight. Tomorrow.

My room is being taken over by laundry... eeks! But on the plus side Abby hasn't wet the bed in...5 nights? I really don't understand how we can go for almost 2 weeks wetting the bed. every. night. Sometimes twice a night. (not to mention multiple daytime accidents) ... and then suddenly we are back to an accident once in awhile. I don't mind the non-accident phase though!

(Kiley)

In a few days we head down for another family Christmas... can't wait! The girls are so excited already to play with their cousins. It sounds like it will be unseasonably warm too. :o)

I think this means it's time for Abby to go to bed....

Christmas Eve

The night before Christmas... and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... not even a... wait... yep, Abby is still awake. She has had a harder day today with several significant meltdowns. I hope that she isn't coming down with something. It sure made the Christmas Eve service interesting... Tom sang in a quartet during the service and it was wonderful... I loved the bell choir too.

And one strange thing I discovered today, Kara is incredibly good at the matching game on our phones. In a last ditch effort to preserve our family-ness at the service we pulled out our phones to let Kiley and Kara play. Kiley doesn't really get it yet and just taps the phone. Kara however actually plays! She went through round after round after round of matching. She was quite upset when my phone died and she lost her game. She didn't want Tom's phone because it wasn't her game.

I managed to get the house back in a little order again, well a few rooms. It's a work in progress. I think it will take awhile. But it's a start. We also opened a few presents and made Christmas cookies for "Santa".

All I want for Christmas ... is for my husband to have a job he loves... and for me to cut back the time I'm working.

I miss being M.O.M.        it just isn't the same when you work full time. Sleep well everyone!