Project life - week 11

A day late again, I know.  Tough week.

03/14 - Max got to enjoy his first swing! He was so relaxed and just smiled and cooed the entire time. (Not sure which pic to use ... thoughts?)

03/15 - My 3 big boys enjoying the beautiful spring weather at the park!

03/16 -  All 3 of my boys on three different swings - each matching their personality.  Miles likes to spin in circles, Max is just enjoying the motion and watching his big brothers.  Mason on the big swing and wanting to go as high as he can!  (PS Happy 6 month birthday sweet Max!)

03/17 - Across the street from our favorite park is a fire station.  We went to peek in the windows at the trucks and an ambulance returned.  They invited us in to see the trucks.

03/18 - To help Mommy get through Spring Break week, we got a new Go, Diego, Go toy.  The boys were mesmerized for hours!

03/19 -Max loves to hang out in his bed and watch his mobile.  He is getting so big already!

Spring Break

I hate that a week goes by before I realize I have updated the blog! 
We were busy busy busy last week with spring break and the beautiful spring weather! 
Hard life, I know, but someone has to do it!! :)
We visited at least one playgroup each day (2 some days!) and generally worked to keep the boys worn out entertained.

Today is all about my Bible reading.  I am almost up to date.  I got caught up early last week and then got really behind.  As in I didn't read for about 3 days.  I am telling you we were busy busy busy around here.  And not at home.
So, I am currently at Acts 21, which is in the middle of day 79's reading.  I am supposed to be on day 80 (remember that grace day I am using).  So, I have 1 1/2 day's reading to do still today.  Should be do-able. I am so excited to be this far.  I honestly never thought that I would make it!  I will finish on the 30th, which is next Tuesday!  I also love that I will finish before Easter! 

And, because I cannot end a post without a cute pic ... or 2 or more :)

How can you not SMILE at all that cuteness!!!???!!!

First time on a swing.  He LOVED it!

This one just makes me smile.  All 3 boys on the swings.  (See Mason way up high on the right??) 

Project life - week 10

03/07 - Mason, Miles, Jude and Dylan absorbed in a movie.  Good time for the grown-ups to talk.

03/08 - Max sure does love his Nana! :)

03/09 -Max sitting tall and proud in his b0ppy pillow.  Next step.... sitting on his own!

03/10 - Sending the boys outside to get a few quiet minutes for mommy = lots of laundry later!

03/11 -More rain. Will it EVER end???  We all put on our rain boots and went outside anyway.

 

03/12 - Mason's class had a field trip to the Dallas W0rld Aquarium.  Mason's favorite things were the jellyfish, sharks and the jaguar!

03/13 - Love the onesie with the tie (notice the frog on the bottom - so cute!), love the chunky thighs, love the sweet baby!

6 months

I will come back and post more later on this, but wanted to quickly say that Max is 6 months old today.
Sweet boy is feeling bad today and so is mommy (we both have a cold and I have no voice at all.  Makes a day with 3 boys very long and pretty frustrating for all of us!).

OK,Max is in bed and Mason and Miles are in PJs and watching a movie.
I had fun taking some pics this afternoon of Max.  Hope you enjoy.

Dear Peanut,
12 months ago today......

We found out with 90% certainty that our 2 boy house would become a 3 boy house.  Daddy, Mommy and both brothers were all there to find out the news together.

6 months ago today....

You gave me the greatest gift for the third time and made me a mommy again.  So much of that day was a blur, but I remember your first cry so crystal clear.  I tried so hard to be in-the-moment during the entire day.  I think I did that and am trying to savor every day and every moment of your life.

3 months ago today......

Daddy and I celebrated our anniversary and you had your first cookie-decorating party.  It was an emotional day in many ways.  We lost Mema the day before and I was so happy to have you as a happy distraction!

And today.......

You LOVE to be on your tummy.
You LOVE to watch your brothers.
You have the sweetest smile, the longest eyelashes and biggest brown eyes ever!
You have no teeth still, but are getting close!
You were 3-6month clothes.
You still won't take a bottle, but have started taking some juice out of a cup.
You love to eat - apples, peaches, prunes, sweet potatoes.  You hate peas and green beans!
You don't love your carseat, but you tolerate it if your brothers will talk to you.
We are working out a new schedule for you - you have to go to bed earlier to make up for your inconsistent naps.
You are starting to be ok with bathtime and you seem to like showers better than baths.... just like your brothers!
You are so loved!

And, just to freak me out, look what Max has started doing......

Look out!  Things are about to get WAY more interesting (read: chaotic) around here.  And yes, he pulls his knees up under himself all the time now and no, I didn't pose him that way.

Quiet morning

It is really quiet around here.  Mason is at school.  Miles is watching a movie.  Max is napping.
Quiet.

Love it!

It has been a long week. I am realizing that as Max gets older, life is getting more difficult.  He is awake more.  He is not content to just sit (in his highchair, swing, bouncy, etc) and watch the craziness that is our house.  He wants to interact, to be a part, to have a toy, to eat (oh, the eating schedule....!!! don't get me started!), to be stimulated.  He is close to sitting up and when that happens, it will help me out.  Right now, he has to lay to play.  He doesn't like to lay and play for very long.  The sling is quickly becoming my friend.

He is napping about 2x per day.  Unfortunately, no two days look alike in our house, so he has to be flexible with nap times, length, location.  Nights have been rough.

Separation anxiety.  Neither Mason or Miles really had this. Sure, they would cry occasionally when I drop them off at church or MDO.  But, after about 15 seconds they would move on and have fun.  Now I get paged almost every single time I drop Max off at church.  He is also up quite a bit at night again.

300 posts!

(Edited to add pics at the bottom.... you WON'T want to miss these!)
This is my 300th post to the blog!  I am impressed and shocked all at the same time!
Here is our day, in bullets....

• Max slept 12 hours last night.  For the 4th night in a row.  Hooray for the new schedule that got us to this point!!!!!
• Mason had school today.  And class pictures.  So glad I sent an extra clean white shirt.  Why do 3/4/5 year old boys have to wear white shirts to school??
• Ran an errand this morning.
• Got caught out in a rain/hail storm.  Hope my car is ok.
• Came home instead of going to the grocery store, got the 2 boys out of the car only to realize the rain had stopped.
• Put 2 boys back in the car.
• Drive to grocery store.
•  Baby in BabyBj0rn, Miles in car shopping cart (still can't steer that thing!)
• Get groceries without too much trouble.
• Getting said groceries in my car with 3 car seats is always a lot of trouble!
• Miles helped me bring the groceries in the house.  Without even being asked.  Such a sweet boy!
• While making many trips in and out of garage for groceries, (mom stop reading for a minute) slipped and fell.
• Left hip and back not feeling very good.
• Max is apparently teething.  I say apparently because he is drooling, snot is everywhere (including all over my shirt and his clothes), not napping today, crying all day and screaming like crazy when I put him down.
• Did I mention the fall/hip and back hurting?  Not good on the day the babe picks to scream like crazy when being put down.
• Picked up Mason from school.  
• Visit to s0nic on the way home for drinks.
• Big boys are outside playing.
• In the mud.
• (mud=more laundry)
• Max is finally sleeping (thank you ty1enol and oraje1!).
• Mommy is enjoying a few minutes of quiet.
• More laundry is totally worth a few minutes of quiet!

Enjoy the 300th post.  Just keeping it real about a real day in the life of a real mom of 3 little boys. Glamorous, right????

OK, so after posting, I went out to check on those quiet boys.  Should have remained blissfully ignorant and enjoyed my quiet a few more minutes.  Here is what I found.....

Please note that Mason's pants are wet/muddy up to the crotch.  And notice that I was smart enough to change him out of his white school shirt this time (I didn't Monday.  It will never be the same.)
Yes, that is mud in both of their hair.  Yes, they are also muddy all up their backs.  Yes, our community group meets at church tonight.  Yes, I sent them back out to play in the mud some more.  Why not at this point.  Yes, I really need to go get them showered and fed.  Yes, Max picked one minute ago to wake up and scream some more.
Love spring and the rain!

Project life - wk 9

Ok, so this is a day late.  Sorry!  Life with 3 is getting crazier by the day!
On to the pics or I will never finish it!  More words later :)
02/28 - Happy Birthday to Mommy (a day early).  Mason told Mommy's best friend Keely that Mommy needed a chocolate cake.  So, she made it happen for me!  Thanks Keely! (Note that Mommy told Mason to tell Daddy, but he knew who to go to to make it happen!)

03/01 -Max really liked Mommy's cake.  Daddy gave him a little of the chocolate shavings and Mommy gave him some yummy chocolate icing.  YUM!

03/02 - My car (Honda P1lot) has had the ABS, VSA, emergency brake and check engine lights intermittently coming on.  It took 4 trips to H0nda, 1 dead battery and 1 more replaced battery (in case?) to figure out the braking system computer was the problem.

03/03 - Mason had Preschool chapel at school.  They sang several patriotic songs (thus the red, white and blue clothes) and several memory verses.  Sweet boy was so cute up there and kept waving to us!

03/04 - Mommy and Miles.  A beautiful day outside and a picture taken by Miles with his cheesy "cheese" face.  Not sure how to get him to stop making the "cheese" face and just smile at me!

03/05 - A mess.  By Miles.  Daily.  Boy loves to take the books off the shelves.  Especially annoying when Mommy has to put them away in case we have a showing!

03/06 - Max's first ride in the big-daddy Ir0n-man B0b double stroller.  Looks like he and Miles had a great time and Mommy had a good workout!

B90Days update ... getting close to the NT

Well, it is day 67 of the Bible in 90 days reading challenge.
I am in the middle of day 65.  Not bad really... I allowed myself to miss a day a few weeks ago, so I am only about 1/2 of a day behind.  At this minute, I am at Joel 3. 

It has been an interesting journey so far.
In some ways, it has been easier than I expected. I have found time in my day to read that I would have wasted time before.  I have been more purposeful in my day so that I would have time to spend time in God's word.  E got me a Kindle for Christmas and the first download I made was the Bible because I was contemplating taking on this challenge then. My Kindle is easy to take with me and pick up and read in those few minutes in carpool, in line at the bank, etc.
In other ways, it has been harder.  There are some days that I just cannot find those few minutes here and there.  Or I have a few minutes, but in the rush to get out of the house, I left my Bible and my Kindle at home.  Some evenings we are out of the house until late and I don't get to finish the day's reading and have to catch up the next few days.  There have been a few days, but very few I am happy to say, that I have not picked up my Bible at all.
Some books are easier to read (Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Esther, and Ruth were great!) and some, well, some take a lot of perseverance (Numbers, Job, Isaiah, and Ezekiel). 

I know that this journey is not about me or my accomplishments.  But, it felt really, really good the other day when E saw me reading and saw how far into the Bible I was.  He made this comment "Wow baby, you have read really far."  It made me proud of myself and what I have been able to do, thanks all to the grace of God.

I want to encourage all of you reading to consider doing this challenge.  It is not easy, but it is an attainable goal due to its duration (3 months so you don't get bogged down in it going on too long) and purpose (hello, you are reading God's word.  I can't help but believe he will bless you for the efforts and time).  I have learned so much through this and have been diligently praying that God would break my heart for the things that break his.  I know that can be a dangerous prayer, but I am excited about where he may take me and my family in the next chapter of our lives.

By Wednesday (or Thursday at this point), I will start the New Testament.  I am really excited about that!

Hello weekend!

So glad that it is the weekend finally. Such a busy week!

Tuesday night, we went to an open house at a potential school for Mason next year.  We went in with low expectations (and really, I went in not wanting to like it), but were extremely impressed with the teachers.  Too impressed.  The great part is that it is an option that we had thought closed to us, but it seems like it could be a great option.  The right option?  Don't know.  In fact, I don't even know if there is *one* right option.  I really doubt that God is in Heaven saying "If you don't pick this one right school, then I am just not going to bless you or your boys and they are going to fail in life.  All because you chose the wrong school." 

I received a devotion in my e-mail yesterday that reminded me of this fact.  I won't share the whole thing (click here if you want to read more, it really is awesome), but the summary is this:

No matter whether you make the right decision or the wrong one, He will still be there walking with you, loving you, and helping you. Pray about your decision. Read His word. Seek out godly counsel. And then make the best decision you can. Sometimes the biggest decision is to simply make one. Place your trust in Him and rest in the fact that He will meet you on the other side of whatever decision you make.

Isn't that awesome?  Gives me peace about all this, for sure.  

Mason had swim yesterday afternoon.  Miles' class was canceled today (teacher is sick), so we are enjoying hanging out at home.

I put together my Project Life album Wednesday.  I LOVE it!  So easy and quick.  But so fun to have glimpses of our life at this stage with 3 little boys (yes, Nana, including the laundry!!!).  Here are a few pics I took of the album for those that were asking.....

This is the first page.  I might put a few favorite pics in at the end of the year.  But, will leave the top left ("These are the photos that tell a story") and the right one in the middle row ("photos and stories by").

Journaling cards in the middle - I copy these right off the blog.  Pics go up and down. Love the designs on the cards.

 

This is the week of Mason's birthday.  I just did a few journaling cards and cropped a few pics of him to fit in the journaling card spaces.

I plan to get a few plain page protectors to put some of their artwork in.  (The one on white paper is a volcano erupting.  Yes, I had to ask too.  The middle one is what Mason wants to be when he grows up - a police man, a fireman and an ambulance driver.  The circles are the start of an ambulance's wheels, not boobs. The red next to the big guy's head is the fire.)

And this is what the floor looked like while in progress.  I had the blog up to write out my daily journaling.  The cards come in neat boxes.  There are stickers but I have not used those yet.  Yes, my phone and favorite chocolate brown sharpie are close by. Planning to use the same pen all the way through.

It took me about 2 hours to do the first 5 weeks.  I expect it to get a bit quicker as I get more comfortable with it.

Project life - week 8

02/21 - I pulled out the saucer and Max LOVES it!

02/22 - My current favorite thing?  Chick-f1l-a sweet tea!

02/23 -- We had a playdate in the mat room at church. The boys had a great time!

02/24 - The unfortunate part about being a third child is that you spend a lot of time in your carseat.  Max is a great sport about it though!  Most of the time, at least!

02/25 - Mason has started swim lessons again.  He loves swimming and I would love to see him join a team in the next few years.

02/26 - Proof that Max is starting to get used to a bottle.  At least he is not screaming, even if he is not drinking ot!

02/27 - Miles loves to paint.  We played with play-doh and painted today! He is quite serious about his art!