Bucks

Look who was hanging out in our neighborhood today. How weird is this! I didn't think multiple bucks ever hung out together.

The girls and I were driving around today, running errands. I moved from the left lane into the right, going around someone who was turning left. Arya yells "don't drive in the grass mom." Later, I was talking to them and they were asking me a million questions. I had no idea how to answer one, so I just said "it's hard to be this awesome" and so they started repeating that.

We do not have a typical baby gate at the bottom of our stairs since one just won't work unless we put it a few steps up. Instead, we have a big piece wood at the bottom instead. We call it our "ghetto gate". Eiley climbed over it today and scraped her leg on it. She came up to me and told me "mom, i scraped myself on the ghetto gate." Yeah, maybe we shouldn't call it that.

Speckled Popscicles

I made "green speckled" popsicles for the kids. They were super excited to eat them. I hyped up the green speckles before showing them the popsicles. The speckles are just spinach. I don't have a blender, and my hand blender doesn't work well to chop spinach. I make smoothies like this all the time, but never popsicles. Thankfully the popsicles were a hit. They loved them, so I'll be adding spinach into them next time too.

Three times Two

We had a lot of fun today with two play dates here. I also got most of the house cleaned and dealt with three year old behavior all day. I'm exhausted. Our day included events such as taking a real potato to throw around, falling off the bathroom counter top that was covered in soap and water, and Arya getting her blanket taken away for refusing to clean up. That's just a very small part of our day. By the end of the day, I told Eiley to just go in the other room and leave me alone for a few minutes. Not very nice. I need to work on my patients. As I write this, an over tired Zia is refusing to fall asleep, the twins are watching Peter Pan, and Cork is playing Frisbee. I needed a few minutes of sanity, so I escaped to the blog.

I don't think Zia is feeling 100% today. She slept in late and then took a nap a few hours later. I tried rocking her, but she is just an unhappy camper. She was happier earlier today while playing with shoes. She loves shoes all of the sudden and will bring them to us to put on her. I caught her today trying to put them on herself.

Three Keens

This was Arya and Eiley's toy. I got it out today for Zia and all three kids started to play with it. It was cute to watch them play together.

Yesterday, a neighbor gave us some shoes for Zia. One pair matches the other two pairs of Keens that Arya and Eiley wear. How cute is this!

A Pool Party

We had a really long day today, most of it spent at the neighbor's pool. I can't say it was a bad day. The twins were a bit squirrely before we went over there, but a few hours in the water wore them out enough. We did dinner with a bunch of the neighbors and then the twins went straight to sleep when we put them to bed at 8:30. You'd think that hours in the water would make them want to go to bed earlier. Our neighborhood really is amazing. I love that a bunch of families want to hang out and do an impromptu dinner together. One person ran out for pizza from a grocery store. The rest brought fruit, salads, desserts and other things they had sitting around the house.

Splash Pad

We went to a baby shower today at a park with a splash pad. All three of the kids had a great time. The water was freezing. I didn't think Zia would enjoy it because of the cold, but she proved me wrong. She was freezing by the time she was done, but she had a blast.

Zia started gagging herself this week. I thought she was choking on something the first two times she did it and pulled over the car to see what was going on. I'm pretty laid back, but she had me totally freaked out. I was afraid the twins had given her something in the car that she couldn't have. Nope. She was just sticking her fingers too far into her mouth.

One Year Pictures

We had Zia's one year pictures taken today. All three kids had shots taken while we were there. They cooperated a lot more than they usually do. I took a bunch of pictures before we left, to see how their outfits looked. This is not exactly what they wore. I changed Zia's pants and Eiley's shirt because there just seemed to be too many patterns. I love this picture though because it looks like Zia is walking. She had been leaning against a little seat behind her. She had just stood up and was getting ready to squat down.

A Few More Steps

If you saw your twins sword fighting with forks, would you?
A: Take the forks away and tell them to knock it off.
B: Take the forks away, replace them with spoons, and tell them they aren't allowed to cry if they get hurt.
C: Let them continue sword fighting with the forks.


If you're me, you pick option B. It's the easiest solution to prevent screaming and allows me to finish cooking dinner. I think this qualifies me as not a hovering parent.

Zia took three steps today. I put her down in the family room and she took three steps before squatting down to crawl.

This is how I cook most days. Fun times. She wants to be near me all the time right now. Teething is not treating her well. Arya was playing with my phone. She took about 60 pictures and this was one of them.

Not Their Beds

We put the girls back in their beds last night, but by morning they were back.

Goofing off before bed, since they never sleep anyway.

Three Year Old Conversations

I love the conversations between these two. They were playing on the ottoman and Eiley was hanging off of it.



E: Help, I'm falling.

A: Are you dying?

They snuck into my bed...not very quietly, so I knew they were there, but it's still cute.

Zia Walks, Sort of

Zia took her first step today. It was only one, but she did it. We were all at the library and I made the mistake of taking her out of the Ergo. She was not happy to be carried if she wasn't in the carrier. I put her on the floor standing up and she took one step so she was close enough to pull books off the shelf. While I'm glad she decided to take a step, I am a little upset with myself for letting her know she can get out of the Ergo at the library.

Eiley said today "my mommy is so lucky. I made she a present." Thanks kid. She had just left a giant p.oo in the toilet and was waiting for me to w.i.pe her.

Forever

She doesn't climb like the other two did at this age, but she's not far behind.

I was tucking Arya in tonight. She gave me a giant hug, wouldn't let go, and said "You have to stay here forever!"

A Birthday Party for Z

Today was Zia's first birthday party and she had a ball. She just loves when we have a house full of people. We kept things small and just had Mema, Bepa, Great Grandma Bernice, Nana, Papa, and Uncle Greggy here. She took one nap and still didn't want to go to bed when I put her down at 7:45, 45 minutes after her normal time. This was after she didn't go to bed until 9:00 last night.

We also kept the food pretty simple. Burgers, beans, baked corn, and a few veggie appetizers. She ate a bunch and thought she was done, until she spied her cupcake. She had a tiny cupcake on her birthday and did not forget what that was. The one on her birthday was a much healthier cupcake with whole wheat flour, coconut, and almond meal. Today's cake was all white flour, but it was colored with home made dyes from beats, egg yolk, blueberries, blackberries, and saffron. Zia dug into the frosting first today. She chowed on that for a good few minutes before discovering the cake. Eventually she just mashed the whole thing up. She didn't want the colored balls in the middle of her cake. She started by throwing that behind her head and then kept dropping handfuls onto her neck. When I picked her up, her bib weighted about a pound. I took her into the yard to take her clothes off and try to knock some of the cake off of her.

She got a cute outfit and hat from Nana and Papa, a baby doll, two outfits, and a Little People's train from Cork and me, a check from Great Grandma Bernice, and Legos from Mema and Bepa. Of course she loved it all, but her favorite was the baby doll. She gave it a great big hug and pat it on the back.

We Love You Dad

I took so many pictures today, trying to get one ideal shot. It didn't happen. I still got this one cute one and quite. I briefly thought about trying to get Zia's feet in on this and decided against it. Getting Arya and Eiley to sit still for this was hard enough. Getting Zia to sit still would have been impossible.

A Birthday for Z

It's amazing how fast a year can go. A year ago today we welcomed out nameless baby into the world. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was Zia. We had been playing around with other names, but just couldn't decide. I pictured my Zia with dark hair and baby blue eyes. I know a babies eyes change after birth, but Zia just fit that description and I knew our nameless baby's name. I kept looking at the clock today and remembering what was going on at that time last year. I woke up to feed Zia around 4:00 and thought about waking just after 4:00 last year when my water broke. I tried to not wake Cork, but he was up. Cork and I were talking in the kitchen at 7:20 and I told him that at that time last year I was walking around the neighborhood and my parents were already here. At 9:00, I was driving to the gym, remembering that my midwife had me at her office making sure my water had broken. What a joke. I can't imagine anyone, whose water broke like mine did both times, confusing it for anything else. At 10:00, I had 15 minutes left in today's workout and remembered that I was checking into the hospital and was about to do the ultimate workout. At noon, I was getting ready to push.

I would like to say that today at 2:05 I looked at the clock and remembered pulling Zia up to my chest and our first few seconds together. But I didn't. At 2:05 today, the three of us were making our way through a grocery store. Zia was happily napping on my front in an Ergo. It's okay I didn't look at the time. I know that this year Zia was in the exact same spot she was in at that time last year...with a little more fabric between us, but still the same place. I'm sad that this year went so fast. As others say, the days are long, but the years are short. This is my favorite picture from Zia's birth and it feels like it was just taken. I have now become one of those women who loves telling a child's birth story. Zia's birth was so peaceful and totally not what most people expect for a hospital birth.

Zia is such a delight to have around. She loves the cat and the little tyke's car more than any other toys. If I can't find her, I know to look for both of those and I'll probably find her. That is as long as the stairs are blocked and the bathroom door is closed. She has an obsession with the toilet and loves to climb the stairs. We try to make sure that the stairs are always blocked, but I have to admit that once she made it all the way up while I was loading the dishwasher. She now "sings" when we sing. Eiley loves to sing/howl like Ariel the Mermaid and Zia sings/howls along with her. She can sign more, milk, bye bye, and done. She can say kitty, meow, doggy, this, momma, and yes. She's a fast crawler and loves to chase after her sisters as they run around the house. She can stand up by herself, even though she doesn't seem to know it. She'll grab onto something or someone and then stand, but she's not using the person or thing to pull up on. She has even used a handful of my shirt to help herself stand. Her balance is still a bit off, so she keeps her feet placed wide apart. On Monday night, she was sitting on my legs and kept standing on her own while straddling me. I put her to my side and let go. She stood there for about 20 seconds before sitting down. She just recently figured out that she could walk while holding onto our hands, even though she's been walking behind things for a few months. She moves her right leg without bending her knee, so she's prone to going toward the side instead of straight. She is now happy to hang onto one hand while she walks. I have no idea if she'll just decide to walk in a few weeks or if she'll be content to crawl for awhile longer since she's so fast at it. She has 5 teeth, but I can see the 6th one starting to bulge. I wish she had her gap tooth grin just a while longer, but she is trying to nurse through that gap, so a little relief from that might be nice. She's still going strong nursing. Most night's she's down to one session in the middle of the night, sometimes more and she's slept through the night twice now. I think she'll be sleeping through the night regularly soon. She's all over the board with naps. Most days she takes one nap, but sometimes she's up earlier in the morning and really needs a short morning nap. A couple days ago she took an hour morning and a two hour afternoon nap. She never sleeps that long and so then she decided to go to bed 90 minutes late. She went to bed late tonight too. She doesn't want to miss out on anything happening.



 We could not have asked for a more ideal first year with our third child. Our first year with the twins was an amazing experience for so many different reasons. Zia has been a whole new experience and I'm so glad that we get to be her parents. I can already tell that she's going to have a zany personality and sense of humor. She thinks the goofiest things are funny and loves to put things on her head. I found her today emptying her cloth wipes and trying to put them all on her head.

Ash

Mmmmm. Charcoal grill ash.

Our Own Summer Reading Program

I can't take credit for this idea. A friend is doing it with her daughter and I loved it, so told her I was stealing it. We are doing the summer reading program at the library. The kids get coloring sheets and little things with every 10 books I read to them. It's a great program, except we only get one sheet at a time and we can easily go through 10 books in a day. So, I made this poster with 1,000 boxes on it. We add one star sticker for each book we read. I took a pic today before I let them add stickers for books from the last couple days. I decided to start keeping track before I got the poster done since I wasn't getting it done as fast as I wanted.

I will work with the twins on a reward for the first 500 and then for the second 500 books we read. Arya suggested going to the kid museum, but that's something we do anyway. We never go on a weekend though, so maybe going as a family with Cork would be prize enough. For now, they are just super excited about the stickers.

Arya is becoming a bit theatrical. She ran up to me today singing "zip me, tie me" while wearing a princess gown. She also ran past Zia and said "Wow, Zia is getting taller and taller."

A Summer Day

We've been missing our second set of van keys for awhile now. As you can see in the background, things can easily get lost in the mess of kid toys. Arya found the keys today and was so proud of herself.

I thought I'd write down what goes on around here during the day. My goal is to keep the kids busy this summer, but with me and not with classes and sports. We will have some much calmer days, but this is how today went.

5:45 I woke and did a 30 minute workout in the basement
6:20 I hopped in the shower and took the time to clean it to give myself a few extra moments of peace
6:35 Start to dress, fed Zia, did my hair, picked clothes out for all of the kids, and changed Zia's diaper
7:00 Got the kids dressed, made pancakes, and started beans for tonight's dinner
By 9:00 I had finished washing diapers, had another load of diapers in, cleaned up breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped the kitchen floor, done the kids hair, helped brush their teeth, packed a snack, fed and changed Zia again, and we were out the door for a sing a long at a library.
10:30 We got home and I fed Zia again. We picked "pennies", which most people will know as peonies. I started stripping Zia's night diapers (boiling 4x on the stove), switched laundry, got the older two started doing an art project, and picked up the family room.
By 1:00 we had eaten lunch, I fed Zia again and pumped while feeding her. Let me tell you that trying to use a manual pump, while feeding a baby, and reading books to 2 other kids, is no easy feat. I cleaned up the kitchen again from lunch while the kids destroyed the living room. I supervised them picking up. We started a list of things to do this summer to add to a poster board. Then we left for our library story time.
By 3:00 we were back home. All the kids had a snack and then I read books to them on the kitchen floor while I cooked dinner. Once I had enough done in the kitchen, we moved out of there to play.
By 5:15 the kids and I had eaten and Zia and I were out the door to go to a Mommy and Baby group.
By 7:10 I was home and spent the next 35 minutes trying to get all three kids to bed.
7:45 I sat on the couch with a book and a small bowl of ice cream for some Me time.
8:05 I am done with Me time. I finished picking up the house while Cork did work in the yard. After cleaning, I worked on a poster for the kids for this summer until 9:45. In that time, I was switching my 5th load of laundry to the drier and running upstairs to keep the twins in bed.
9:45 I headed upstairs to pack my gym back to get up at 5:00 so I can get a workout in tomorrow.
10:00 I am in bed
10:13 I am totally out and Zia is up to eat
10:27 Zia is back in bed and so am I. Despite being gone so long and all the cleaning, I still feel like my house is not neat enough when I go to bed, but I'm tired and just don't care enough to stay up any longer.

Church Children

Today was the first day since last fall that we had all three kids in church with no other family members there to help. Sunday school is done for the summer, so the older two have to try to patiently make it through services until school starts again in the fall. Today's service was a good with with lots of choir music. It's sort of like the choir's grand finale until the fall since they too get the summer off. The kids were good, but high energy through the entire service. Zia wouldn't sit still and figured out that if she dropped stuff, people around us would pick it up. The twins were wearing the princess dresses Nana made them. Eiley was complaining about being hot, then cold, then lifting the entire dress to sit and giving everyone behind us a show. Both of the older two were playing with activity bags the church provides, but that doesn't keep them still or quiet. The service ended and we were a little exhausted. Some older woman came up to us and complimented us on how we handled the kids and talked about how active they all are. Someone else commented on my hands being full. I had to laugh because they weren't complementing us on how well behaved the kids were, but how well we handled them. Pretty funny.

Trike Baby

We went to a cookout today with most of the parents and kids from Arya and Eiley's preschool class. The girls all had a great time. Zia may have had the best time of all. She just loves people and new places. There is a mom who just loves Zia. She holds her every chance she gets. While at the party, her husband was pushing Zia around on a trike. She was so happy.

Arya was saying goodbye to someone today. As they left, instead of saying "have a nice day" she yelled "have a nice poop."

Dough Girls

Arya, Eiley, and I made buns today to have with our veggie burgers at dinner. We started them at about 6:30. We were all up and they seemed ready to get their hands into a project instead of calmly and gradually starting their morning.

Mema and Bepa came for a visit today. The girls were very excited to see them. I was excited to have someone to help look after the kids so I could get a few things done. Even finishing up dinner is so much easier when I don't have three kids hanging on me.

Diaper Head

I was trying to cook dinner tonight and heard Zia crawling through the hallway super fast. I turned in time to see her booking it through the hall, past the kitchen and into the family room, all with a cloth diaper prefold insert on her head. She took it off before I could get a picture. I tried multiple times to take a picture when she put it back on, but my flash was too slow and I missed a good one every time.

She's such a nut. Every time we try to wash her hands in the sink, she tries to stick her foot in the water. Despite us trying to stop her, she gets her foot in there most of the time. Thankfully it's finally warmed up and she has shorts on most days.

Eiley told me today that she doesn't like pancakes with gluten in them. I think she has too many friends and family members with food allergies.

A Couple Hours

I took two photos of the kids today. One right after getting ready for the morning and the other a couple hours later. I meant to take one after dinner, but forgot before they were already ready for bed. You can see what a change a couple hours makes, imagine food smeared clothes, messier hair, and marker on their faces. People without kids must think I never clean these two. Zia is quickly trying to keep up with their uncleanliness.

We're still working on knock knock jokes around here. We were in the car today and the three of us were saying jokes back and forth. They finally go it right when I started and asked about Boo and then they said Boo Who. They then launched into their own versions.
A: Knock Knock
V: Who's there?
A: Knock Knock Poopy Joke!

And of course the two of them cracked up. I'm sure it didn't help that I laughed too, like it was the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Park Days

We met a bunch of people at a park today. On the way there, I explained to the twins that I was not going to spend the entire time pushing them in the swings. I take them to a park to wear them out, not me. I push them in the swings at home all the time. When we go to a park, I want them running around and using the other equipment. The first thing they did when we got there was ask me to push them in the swings. I did push them some, but Eiley pulled her typical anger management issues with me about not pushing her high enough, so I stopped. That child really loves to yell at me when I'm pushing her. I'm afraid for when she can swing herself. She's going to fly.

It was warmer outside than I thought it was going to be. We got pretty warm while at the park. The twins had dressed in many many layers today, so they could take a few off and were cool. I had them take a bunch of layers off before we even left the house. They wanted to be "comfy cozy and super warm."