Destruction

With three small kids, things are going to get destroyed. Tex and I know this. It is why we dont buy insanely expensive things except on rare occasion. Case in Point: my beloved iPhone. Kai decided it would be a fun game to throw it on the floor and see how many pieces he could smash it into. Lets just say we werent able to count them all. RIP iPhone. You are missed.

Losing the iPhone apparently wasnt enough damage for one week. Tex and I decided to take everyone to the beach before it got too hot. It was fun! Unless you are Squish who doesnt like to get dirty and when you thing about it all the beach is is sand and mud. Or if you are Kai who spent the whole time shivering and running from the water. Princess girl had fun though......at least she WAS having fun until I let her fall over into the water face first. Mom of the Year right here. But at least I got some pre accident pics!

Here she is happily playing on/eating the sand

And here she is as the "ginormous to a 19 pound baby wave" crashes over her

If I had another picture here it would be a picture of the ocean floor as my camera sank to the bottom while I frantically attempted to grab Princess Girl and pull her face out of the water.

Here are some pre accident pics of the kids at the beach

Adorable? Why yes, thank you, I agree!!! We also decided it would be "fun" to "make" Easter cookies this week. By "fun" I mean exciting for the two little boys involved and stressful to the mama supervising said activity. By "make" I mean pulling the pre-shaped easter egg cookies out of the Pillsbury wrapper and letting the boys place them on the cookies sheet and icing them when they were cool. Here is how the icing phase went.

Here is Squish carefully icing the cookie

And here is Kai seeing how much icing he can squeeze into his mouth before he has to swallow

Here is Squish staying as clean as possible

And here is Kai who did a wonderful job outlining his mouth. Have I told you how much I adore this boy?

Princess Girl eating her first ever cookie

And just because I love these pictures.....

Personality

I am amazed daily at how different our children really are. They all have the same DNA and were conceived within 35 months of eachother. I would assume that they would be somewhat alike. But you know what "they" say about assuming. Squish, our firstborn, seems to be the peacemaker. He was a quiet baby, and still is a fairly quiet kid. He is well behaved. He thrives on positive attention. He loves to learn. Squish soaks up new information like a sponge and retains it. He is caring towards his younger siblings. He is very non-physical towards them. He is why we thought that having two babies 16 months apart would be fairly uncomplicated. Then came Kai. Wow. Just Wow. Kai added life to our little family. He is the joker. He attracts dirt like he is covered in duct tape. He is loud. He came into the world screaming, and hasn't stopped since. He will try anything, and usually likes it. Kai also has a super sweet, huggable, sensitive side. His laugh is infections. We are still figuring Princess Girl out. She seems to be somewhere in the middle. She already adores her brothers, even after one brother has told her endless knock knock jokes and the other tried to stand on her. (Can you guess which brother did what?) PG is a lover. She is fairly content, but only for so long. She is a definate mama's girl, which mama needs since the boys are at the age where they are gravitating more towards Texy. She is tough, yet sensitive.

Squish has straight brown hair and brown eyes. (And eyelashes to DIE for) Kai has pale curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Princess Girl ties them both together with brown hair and blue eyes.

I thought people were pathetic when they asked if we had twins when the boys were younger. Now I think they are straight up crazy when they ask if we have triplets. Yes people, they are my 18 pound, 27 pound and 34 pound triplets. Wow, now that I think about it, only 16 pounds seperates my kids. That's like eating a huge Christmas dinner or my kids Halloween candy. Hmmm.......

One thing that all of my kids have in common is they love to sleep in our bed. And really, there is nothing like waking up in the morning to three little faces who absolutely adore you to get the day started off right. I would be four faces, but usually Tex looks kind of beat up from the boys kicking him all night. Poor Tex. The boys start off at night in their bed, but typically migrate to ours, where Princess Girl is already sleeping.

I will close this post with a few words of wisdom from our very own, Squish.

"Trains don't talk, Silly!" He has obviously forgotten the hundreds of hours spend with Thomas the Tank Engine!

By the way, Squish is going to have an MRI on 2/23. If ya'll could be thinking of him that morning and sending "Everything will be normal" vibes his way, we all would appreciate it!

New Pet

Those of you who know our family know that we love animals. However, the amount of homosapiens in the house seems to be rising, while the cute sometimes furry kind are dwindling in number. Today, we had an unexpected house guest. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the newest member of our household.........

Just kidding.

Drumroll please for Mr. Mantis!!!!!

Mr. Mantis hitched a ride on my shoulder into the house from the back yard today. (let's see how many prepositions I can jam into one sentence) Being a lover of all creatures great and small, I decided to turn the hitchiking bug into a science lesson. The kids were greatly entertained. I decided to conclude the lesson with a chance to let the boys hold him. Squish wanted no part of this. Understandable. Kai was more than willing. He did so good! He let Mr. Mantis crawl all the way from his hand onto his shoulder. Mr. Mantis then thought Kai's neck would be a nice resting place. Apparently his feet were tickle weapons that caused Kai to turn into a complete toddler psychopathic tazmanian devil. RIP Mr. Mantis. You never stood a chance.

What better way to celebrate the wonderful life of our new buggy friend(err, former friend) than to bake some Valentine cupcakes! Share the love, baby!!!

They turned out pretty good, huh? The boys love to bake and eat sugar, so cupcakes are always a hit. Oh yeah, Kai has apparantly been taking lessons from Elastagirl as he was able to reach up onto the counter and devour TWO cupcakes in the time it took me to change Princess Girl's Diaper.

We have a new teether in the house. Guess who it is. C'mon guess!

Ok, one more clue, but this is it......

Yep! She will soon join the ranks of the carnivores! She is turning her Brother's matchbox cars into teething rings. Her brother's are not too happy about this. Give them a sucker and all is well again!

Oh Pacifier, How I Love Thee

From the day I arrived into this world loudly screaming

You have been there for me, while awake and when dreaming.

Wether you are in my hand, my pocket, or my mouth,

Comfort you bring, in times of bountifulness and drought

One of you will do, but my joyfulness will multiply

When there are two, three or even four, of my beloved Paci's nearby.

Laytex-free MAM's are the brand I prefer.

When Mommy opens up the package, you are pearl in the oyster.

Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, even Pink

Your color does not much matter, you and me, we are in sync.

When I fell at the playground, you brought much needed comfort.

Although I love you unconditionally, my brother and sister I cannot convert.

I know that our time together will one day come to a close.

Until then, my friend, you will wash away all of my woes.

I love you Paci

Yours Forever,

Kai

Walk on Water

Kids are so innocent. Well, at least they appear that way to the occasional visitor we get at my house that stays no longer than two minutes. Or to the elderly lady in the supermarket whose first comment is always something along the lines of, "Wow, you have your hands full" Her second comment? They are all so well behaved. Great. Will you come babysit then?

Kids arent born with a mastery of language. As a matter of fact, they can take things we say quite literally. Last night I made tacos for dinner. I asked Squish if he wanted to eat a hard shell or a soft shell. He yelled back, using his mom you are an idiot tone, "We dont eat sea shells!" Duh. Not that it mattered. Like he was actually going to eat dinner. I am an idiot.

My favorite Squish-ism to date? This little gem. I was mopping the kitchen floor. Mopping at our house is a tri-weekly event due to the copious amounts of fur left behind from the Great Dane and Beagle. Squish yells out, "Mama, You can walk on water?" I am feeling rather proud at this moment. My kid thinks I am invincible. I can perform miracles. I freaking rock! As my head was swelling to gargantuan perportions, I realize he is questioning why I am allowed to walk on the wet floor and he is not. Bubble burst.

Princess Girl is still breastfed. This has led to two memorable moments to share with Squish's future girlfriends, wife, heck anyone who will listen to a rambling, senile old lady as he gets older. The first, and my personal favorite, was when Squish asked which boob had milk and which boob had juice. Yeah, you try to keep a straight face answering that one!!! The second, also a classic, was when I asked Squish if he wanted to feed Princess Girl. I had some milk in a bottle leftover from while I was at work. He looks quizzically at his chest, and replied, "But there is no milk coming out!" Yep, thats my Squish.

I cant wait to hear what comes out of Kai's mouth.


Please feel free to leave comments with words from the mouths of your babes.....

Daddy Daycare

I am one of the few fortunate women to be married to a terrific guy. He is charasmatic, helpful, and not too bad on the eyes. Most importantly to me, he is a terrific father. He loves our children deeply, and is extremely involved in their lives. Yep, we lucked out. Without furthur adieu.....This is Tex.

Wait, wait, wait. I think I got the wrong pic. That's Wentworth Miller from Prison Break. While he seems like a cool enough guy, he is not my husband. (Sadly enough) My husband is way cooler. His tattoos are real.

This is the real Tex

Tex and I dont have a typical 9-5, kids in daycare, everyone is home all weekend type of family. This leaves Tex taking care of all three kids on a regular basis. They love it. He loves it. Everybody wins.

I just have a few questions..........

First, does choclate ice cream and raisins really count as a nutritious lunch? I get the raisin part. Little dried up grapes cant be too harmful right? Even if Kai does eat the box they come in as well. And ice cream? Well, at least it is dairy, that's good. Unless of course the two year old that is eating it is Lactose Intolerant. I dont want to change those diapers.


Then there is the issue of the swingset. Courtesy of Gramps and Grams, our kids have a swing set that rocks. It may just be Squish's favorite place to be. I think that Tex was off the mark a little bit on this one though. Squish asked if he could go swing. Tex, having one of his ever increasing senior-in-training moments, got Squish confused with Princess Girl and placed Squish here....


See that look on Squish's face? That is not pure joy.

Now for a small vocabulary lesson. Bear with me, it wont take too long. Pack and Play: a spinoff of the crib, a portable piece of equipment use to contain a small child. Trampoline: a strong piece of canvas, attached to a metal frame, used for jumping. Correct me if I am wrong, but these definations do not sound similar. Why then, did this happen? Poor Princess Girl.




So, yeah, Tex does things a bit differently than Mommy does. But who cares? The kids are well taken care of and happy. Plus, as an added benefit, he cooks!




Well, at least he tries!

I have a problem

In the ever so profound words of Ming Ming Duckling, "This is Serious."

See, I have been guilty of poking fun of the idiotic things people to to their innocent children in an attempt to make them look cute. You know, things like putting their baby boys in dresses, putting their baby girl's barely there hair in pigtails, baby jewerly. Ya'll know what I am talking about. I swore that I would never be one of those parents who in an attempt to make their kids look adorable ends up with pictures that will later in life humiliate their kids and make them think Mommy belonged in the asylum a long time ago. Well, guess what. This is me. I am one of those parents. And, guess what? I dont care. Lets take a tour of some examples swimming around in my photobucket account shall we?

Here is Kai, from the waist up

Not bad right? Let us get a full view......

You see, in Mommy's eyes, adorable. To a teenage Kai, Humiliating.

And here is one of Princess Girl taken this very morning.

Prime example of the above referenced ponytail. Adorable? Yep. Practical in any way? Nope.

Lets not forget Squish.

Squish is rocking the baby hawk.

Nevermind, this is adorable. I have nothing bad to say.

Up next for your viewing pleasure....It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Not Me

Not me. I would not feed my Princess Girl cornbread. I stick to one ingredient, organic, finely pureed baby food. Baby food that I make myself and freeze into tiny perfect one ounce cubes and thaw them out as I need them. Not me. I would never get a store bought corn muffin and set it on her high chair tray whole and let her dig in. Nope, not this Mommy





Not me. I would never let Princess Girl eat without a bib. This is a sure way to stain her lovely, boutique bought clothes. I would never ever shop at Target for baby clothes. Not me.

Not me. I would never crawl around on the floor on my hands and knees chasing Princess Girl around for hours trying to catch the perfect picture of her trying to crawl. Nope. I would certainly not harass her, makng silly faces at her and holding up her baby rattle like a dog toy beckoning her closer. Not me.

Not me. I would never make Squishy and Kai wear matching PJ's with their baby sister. I would never have them lay on the ground over and over again so I could attempt to get a picture of all three kidlets in these matching PJ's. And certainly I would not be dumb enough to let Kai hold onto a Valentine's Day card so that when I finally get all three of them to stay in one place without rolling over or drooling on eachother or making silly faces into the camera the greeting card partially covers up his face. Definately not me.

I am not a lair. Not me.

Catch a Tiger by it's Tail

A Tribute to Tawnia and Tonka

You will be missed

Captain Pullup

We all want to be a super hero in some way. Super Mom, Super Dad, Super Employee. My kid, Kai, sees excellence in being Captain Pullup.

He is good at it, dont you think? This absolute cuteness is the result of the frigid Florida temps lately. You see, here in Florida there are only a few weeks where swimming is a no go. This week happens to be one of them. When Nemo swim diapers can't be used for swimming, an imaginative two year old must find other uses for them. Other than putting them on over his pants, productive uses include constructing a new carrying case for the favorite Thomas trains of the day, a new and exciting sand box toy, and cushiony padding for when he decided to jump off of the couch onto the tile. My kid is a creative genius.

Captain Pullup has recruited two other adorable munchkins to assist him in taking over the world (playground). Introducing the eldest member of the group, Squishy. Good name for a superhero, eh? Being the eldest, he is, of course, responsible for driving the getaway car.

Being ever so prepared with a second set of wheels, because in every cool movie the getaway car stalls, is Princess Girl. Being the loving sister that she is, she has taken it upon herself to learn how to drive at the tender age of 6 months. Pretty Darn Special.

I hope you enjoy the future posts in my blog. This is my life......Raising Trouble.