Swiper......no swiping!

So. We had a little birthday eve cake and singing for Nate tonight. All was well. Some lovely salmon and salad and grilled bread and asparagus....then cake. Warning: this blog post will ensure that once again I am not a contender for Mother of the Year.

All is well, still. We sing. Luke is primed to blow out the candles.

Candles are blown out. All still appears to be going very smoothly here in my photo reconstruction. The candles are passed out to Luke and Jules to do their requisite frosting licking.....and I begin to cut the cake. I give the birthday boy a piece first, then cut Luke one, then Jules. I turn to clean the knife. This takes exactly 4 seconds. I turn back to find that everything has gone to hell. I actually let out a scream when I turn to see this ~ with Nate totally oblivious to the chocolate fest taking place in his lap.

I admit that my very first thought was OMG IS THAT POOP. It seemed so totally unfathomable to me that this happened in a matter of 4 seconds. And that Nate had no idea that his baby, and even his own hand, were covered in chocolate. I was all "IS THAT POOP?" and Nate was all "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENED WHAT IS ALL OVER JAKE HOW THE HECK DID HE GET CAKE? CAN HE HAVE CAKE? CHOCOLATE? HE IS A BABY! A PRESHIOUS BAYBEEEE!"

As I rushed him over to the sink to clean him up Nate went all CSI and found a pretty clear clue as to what had happened. Swiper was in the hiz-house. Sneaky fast, this baby is. Sneaky fast.

It's almost a relief to be out of the running for Mother of the Year in January. Things can only get better from here, right? Chocolate in, on, and covering my 8 month old. Awesome.

Mr. Freeze

Meet Mr. Freeze.

Crafted with love with the help of Mom Mom, Uncle Rich, and Aunt Becca.

Today is Birthday Eve for Nate.......we have "sparkly grown up juice (cider)" for the kids for dinner.........and much to celebrate.

Winter is grinding on. I have resolved to love it. I have no choice as to what the weather is like, but I have 100% control over my attitude. Julia officially starts ballet tomorrow. Luke starts tennis in two weeks. And Birthday Party hosting facilities are a freaking racket that I am convinced are Mafia run.

Be still my heart

Bad blogger

Stair Master. He pretty much has free run of the house at this point, God save us all.

It's just a banister, not a cage. However, cage would have been wonderful at moments in this past 10 days.

Luke hijacks the January-birthday-cake-candle-blowing-out-moment.

I do NOT have him in a headlock. It is just a hug. Headlock was tempting, however.

8 months old tomorrow!

I have been up since 5. Luke had come into my bed around 3 with "a bad dream". He jumped up beside me and went back to sleep. At 4:30 I woke up with a start, thinking he was crying. No. My boy was cracking up in his sleep. I asked him what he was dreaming about (I'm nosy, even in the middle of the night) and he dreamily and sleepily whispered "You, Mama. Because I love you so much".

Melt.

However, I could not go back to sleep. So here I sit, watching snow puke down outside, yet again. Dreading dragging three kids into the gym through the snow this morning....though I would dread staying in the house all morning much more! Nate has been out of town for 8 of the past 10 days.....BUT! He returns tonight. And we have a great weekend of celebrating ahead of us this weekend.....because my wonderful husband and baby Daddy has a birthday on Monday, and because he found out yesterday that he was accepted into Villanova's Executive MBA program!

I'm thrilled (and terrified). Nate, I am so proud of you.

It has been a long 10 days. We have had several snow days. Things have been busy. I'm still having issues with my damn tooth (now the temporary crown is falling off. Get to go back tomorrow). I got discouraged at times last week, and occasionally wallowed in self pity, but this week, with an end in sight, things have felt much more manageable. Thanks to play dates and the gym and girls nights for getting me though. I love you guys who show up at night to keep me company on the nights where I am not falling into bed at 8:15. I love you guys who have us over for the morning and feed us lunch. I love my parents for showing up last night with a fully prepared dinner, and help bathing the kids. It really, really does take a village.

More proper posts coming, soon. I just need to catch my breath first.

Barbie. Ugh.

Julia, at breakfast this morning: "Mom, I want a Barbie"

*confused look on my face*

"Jules, where did you hear about Barbies? I don't really like Barbies."

Julia: "Well, I DO like Barbies. I saw Barbie on Toy Story. And she has a beautiful pink house! With a POTTY! And a BED!".

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Do I have to do Barbies? Please, please say no.

Snow fun

We had a great time sledding today. The kids are getting to the point where the work is starting to equal the fun, which is nice.

I can't believe that is is mid January and we are just getting into a real rhythm again. I will say that while I love snow, and general coziness, my body is already longing for more light, longer days, and less clothing. The amount of laundry that 5 people generate in the wintertime is simply insane!

We are in the throes of birthday madness ~ Rich, Bec, Pete, Nate, Carolyn.....and then hot on their heels come Luke, Jules and Mom Mom. I'm trying to decide what to do for the kids birthdays this year ~ I admit to being a bit of a scrooge when it comes to parties. We do a big family party for each of the kids first birthdays.......but the bigs have not had a kid party as of yet. I don't really know why, other than to say that I don't like setting levels of expectations that could only grow exponentially year after year. This year I'm considering holding their first kid party at ACAC ~ just one party for both kids in early March. Luke is going to start tennis lessons in Feb (he has to be 4) and Jules dance classes (she has to be 3).........and I admit to being giddy about seeing my little girl in a leotard and tutu! So funny, as I pretty much am a boy, but there is something so irresistible about little girls in leotards.

I just filled out their pre-school registrations for next year - this year they both go two mornings a week for two and a half hours......next year I signed the bigs up for three mornings a week. I got a bit emotional when I realized that this is the last year that I will be signing Luke up........next year I will be registering my little man for KINDERGARTEN, which completely freaks me out.

We have lovely cases of the snots raging in our house, not sick, just completely snotty and relatively gross. It follows the usual pattern, I'm trying to get my fitness back on track, which means that we were at the gym all week...which means the snots! It is really hard to be a Mom of three little ones and stay fit at the same time. Jake has his second tooth now.....and I can tell you, Jake is a miserable teether. I don't know if there is anything to the idea that when kids get their teeth older it is easier for them, and maybe I just don't remember.......but Luke and Jules didn't have such a hard time busting in the chompers. Either Jake is a total wimp or it is just harder for 6/7 month old babies than it was for 9/10 month old babies. Maybe I have just blocked it out and it was horrific with the bigs.....but poor Jake is really suffering with the teeth. This morning he was just inconsolable ~ he actually is like a caricature of a teething person ~ soaked with drool, red chapped cheeks and chin.....and he has an entire red, chapped, raw HAND from gnawing on it so much. He didn't even want to nurse! At one point this morning he just cried, and cried, and then cried some more. I can tell you this ~ I am fall on my face grateful that I did not have a baby with colic. Just one morning of him being inconsolable and I quickly realized that I simply am not cut out to be the mother of a colicky baby. Wow. It is tough! And this was just one day! I cannot imagine what my parents went through with me screaming for the first 4 months of my life. I admire their courage in going on to have more children. Luckily his sleeping is not suffering ~ but man, the days are long with a 25 lb 7 month old who needs to be held or worn all day!

Nate is off on a guys night celebrating Rich's birthday, the kids are all in bed, I am on vicoden as a result of my very first (and hopefully last) root canal, and I am off to fold three billion pounds of laundry and snuggle up with my new boyfriend (my kindle). We have a great weekend of family and football ahead of us as we prepare for Nate to head to Puerto Rico for the week. I am fervently hoping that the snots resolve themselves this weekend so that we can be out and about next week......while a week without Nate is entirely manageable, a week housebound without him sounds like a form of torture.

One question for anyone who reads this who has potty trained older kids ~ Jules has been potty trained for a year now. Luke for a year and a half. Jules went diaper less at night within about 2 months of potty training.....Luke is still wearing a diaper, just at night. He never has accidents anymore during his almost 3 hour nap, but almost always wakes up with a wet diaper in the morning. Should I just continue to roll with it and put him in a diaper? Should I try to wake him when we go to bed to have him pee? Any suggestions? He is almost 4 and I would love to be diaper free at nights ~ but I admit to love not having to change the sheets in the wee hours of the morning because of an accident even more. Any ideas?

Surprise and Snow

At the Brandywine River Museum on a snowy day.

Uncle Rich gets a surprise for his 30th!

El caboose at work.

Cousins/friends/party

The Eagles lost. I had no expectations going into this season.....yet. Yet. Stupid Eagles, getting my hopes all up and what not. Jerk Eagles.

I am dwelling on the concept of how much more horrible it could be....I could be a Giants fan :).

Snow! we have lots of snow. I know that I ought to hate it, but I don't. I love it. More is coming this week, much to my delight.

We dealt with the snow's attempt to thwart our second attempt to hit up the BRM.......after an initial call-off we trudged there despite the snow....and we had a great time. Between the trains, and the art, and the company, it was about eleventy billion times better than being at home all morning.

Saturday night was Rich's *SURPRISE* 30th. It was a great night. Today ~ brunch to recap with my girls......Nova win....then a giant sausage and pepper fest with CP, Bec and Rich.....and I'm tired.

One of the Gang

Jake squealing with delight as the ball that Luke rolled to him deflects off him and the chase is on ~ they both crawl for the ball, cracking up.

The Victor celebrates his (very temporary) ownership of the ball.

The crawl for the ball over, they both go at Mama.

First of many meals from Carlino's

Gross baby face. Not my favorite pictures (they kind of skeeve me), but a snapshot of what I deal with 3 times a day.

So, I don't have any idea where "Baby Jake" went.

I mean, I haven't lost him, he is safely tucked in for the night, but Jake is officially one of the gang. It happened so fast my head is spinning.

I think that it happened as a result of the "run crawl". He has been mobile for some time now, but suddenly he is fast. He is pulling up on everything, crawling fast, climbing stairs, and eating much of what the kids eat. He is officially in on games with the bigs. This was our evening tonight ~ Jake and Luke played with the ball, Julia made me delightful Play Doh meals (my jaw hurts from all of the faux chewing of her creations I perform), and I cooked up some Carlino's raviolis. Luke and Jules love playing with him ~ and he just seems to "get it" all of a sudden! They play with trains together, Jake ruins their lego creations and they laugh, and they love playing some skewed version of "catch" together ~ they roll Jake the ball and then race him to it on all fours with all three belly laughing so hard someone inevitably collapses. Nate is out of town, but Jake sat at the table with us and fed himself an entire four raviolis with messy delight. I love it.

Our approach to feeding our babies is pretty easy ~ we pretty much just let them go for it. It has worked well for us, Jake has taken to table food like a fish to water. Today he fed himself an entire avocado, a banana, a slice of cantaloupe, four raviolis, and I threw in some pureed sweet potatoes and apple for good measure. I think that we have another good eater on our hands, to say the least.

Jake ~ buddy, you are just over 7 months old and (generally) a delight. Teething is hitting you rather hard at the moment, which has made for more night waking this week than I would like...and a few very early mornings.....and some craptastic naps......but other than the immediacy of that I have nothing to complain about (I'm complaining). You love to nurse, you love to give giant wet sloppy hair pulling kisses (he gets the kiss part ~ but not the "remove kiss" part ~ so it is like a giant slobbery make out session every time he goes in for a kiss. It is mostly wildly entertaining, and slightly disgusting and painful (the hair bit really, really hurts). Other than the teething thing, the only really annoying habit Jake has is his penchant for grabbing all of the most tender parts of my face every single time he nurses. It is like his outside hand gets bored and fervently needs something to do ~ so it grabs for the lovely parts that one generally does not want grabbed.....like my lips, and nostrils and gums. It hurts. Our nursing sessions are like this ~ grab, deflect. Grab, OUCH! Jake! Grasp arm. Jake laughs. Nurse, grab ,deflect. Repeat ad nauseum. It is like jello wrestling, minus the jello, at most every nursing session, and there are tons of nursing sessions due to the teething. Nursing in public is, well, ugly.

The kids are back to school, I am back to the gym, and we are slowly getting back into our groove. While I did the dishes Luke and Jules had a dance party ~ Luke is DJ with this music thing that Jeannie and Tim gave him last Christmas that is an insanely popular item ~ and he and Jules spin like whirling dervishes around the kitchen. Tonight to "if you're happy and you know it" Jake was laughing at them, Luke and Jules spinning to infinity, me staring in awe.....and Luke suddenly shouted "Mama! This house is ROCKIN!".

I don't quite know about rockin, but we are at least limping back to normalcy around here. Thank goodness! Holidays are wonderful, in a totally exhausting, messy sort of way.

Hope you all are limping your way back to the joy of normalcy, as well.

(Spell check tried to change my Playdoh to Playboy. Not quite, but nice try, spellchecker!)

And finally, to end a manic catching up spree.

Luke, on Mom Mom's bench.

This was installed in the place that she stood with us the past few years watching the 4th of July parade up on the boardwalk in Cape May. My parents had this bench put in in her honor, as she passed away March 1st, 2010. As it went up in November, this was our first time seeing it. It made me teary, but it brought me great joy to know that our kids will walk by this bench hundreds of times in the next few years, and think of Mom Mom Jule. Miss you, lady. I know that you are smiling down on us.

NY's Day!

Colin and Jocelyn, Nate and the bigs on the walk (through the snow) up to the ocean.

Colin and Nate take the plunge, while Luke looks on like the Amazon Troll.

Nate, explaining to a coat and hat clad Luke that the ocean is really, really cold in winter.

Julia, blowing her noise maker, rings in 2011 on the beach, with style.

Jeannie with Henry and Jake, who cozily with us in utero last NY's

The week in between

Jake practices the fine art of chillaxing anywhere and everywhere. In this case, he used a box as his pillow and happily fondled his new toys.

Julia gets her very first (non Mom or brother) administered haircut. She was a total champ and sat perfectly still, even giggling through her first blow out.

Jake witnesses his first big snow! He loved it, through the window. That was about as close as he got. Crawlers + snow = no fun.

The bigs all set to go have a snowball fight with Daddy :)

Christmas Day 2010

Jake woke up at 6 am. He nursed, then happily entertained Nate and I in our bed while we excitedly awaited the sound of little footsteps coming to our room.

Luke woke at about 7:30 and came running into our room. He said "Hi Mama! Hi Daddy..........CAN WE SEE IF SANTA PUT ANYTHING IN OUR STOCKINGS?" Hot on his heels came Julia, who screamed "Merry CHRISTMAS MAMA!" as she threw herself into my arms. My Christmas was complete with joy already. They walked down the stairs hand in hand and ran into the living room where they were just giddy at the vision of their bulging stockings, and awed beyond belief that Santa had actually left a cookie and a half uneaten. Luke shoved a cookie in his mouth (little bugger) and they carried their stockings into the other room, where they saw that there were small piles of presents for each kid. Apparently rather uninterested in the big boxes, they threw themselves with delight into their stockings. They unwrapped things like tissues and chapstick and toothbrushes and toothpaste with total delight.

Julia finally noticed the GIGANTIC thing covered with a sheet, and with delight unveiled her new dollhouse. She immediately wanted to know how Santa had gotten it down the chimney. Luke happily unwrapped his new Bat Cave, some soccer goals, and bendarooz. Julia got some people to populate her dollhouse, and some Bendarooz of her own. They helped Jake open his present. It was great. I loved seeing their excitement, loved the way that they got excited watching one another open their gifts, and the way that (again) the toothbrushes seemed to be the hit of Christmas! Opening gifts completed, we settled in to eat breakfast by the tree and presents, and waited for Mom Mom and Pop Pop and Aunt Becca and Uncle Rich to arrive. Their arrival launched round 2 of Christmaspolluzza. We all ate, and hung out for a few lovely hours.

After everyone left, we fed the kids an early lunch, then took a nap ourselves. Upon waking, we packed up for the afternoon and evening at Brendan and Kim's house, with 32 family members. The kids had a great time there with their Grandparents and their 6 cousins on the Mangan side. We are a wonderful Christmas dinner, and piled home, tired and fulfilled, to hit the sack.

It was a wonderful Christmas. The week between Christmas and NY's Nate was off, so we relaxed as a family, got our first big snowstorm (10 inches or so) of snow. We hit up a movie (Tangled, which the kids and Nate and I loved) and generally just chilled out as a family. By thursday, we were packing up again, this time to head to Cape May. Erin and Pete and their boys had to bow out last minute due to a stomach bug, but the rest of us (Jeannie, Tim, Henry, Colin and Jocelyn) headed down to Cape May to ring in the New Year. It is unbelievable to me that a year ago Jake and Henry were just large bumps in our belly ~ and this year they are crawling, standing big guys already! How time flies.

We ate a huge meal, rang in the New Year, and woke up and headed up to the beach to watch the men folk take their polar bear dip into the ocean. It was an unseasonably beautiful day in NJ, with weather in the high 50's. A lovely walk, a lot more eating, and then some heavy relaxing before coming home on Sunday to a house in total disarray, suitcases, and things everywhere. 24 hours later we have the house mostly together, most of the decorations put away, and a hungry feeling for a return to normalcy. I love having Nate off, but am always amazed at what a mess everything becomes when he isn't working or traveling ~ it appears that I do a much better job of taking care of the house when Nate is gone a little more :)

We had a bit of stress last week when we discovered on a night out that Jake refused to take a bottle. We decided to try to get him back to taking one, when it hit me that the milk smelled funny. Tonight it hit me that it might not be the bottle, but the milk. I tried tonight with milk from October, and he sucked the whole thing down. Sooooooo, I now have 180 oz of frozen breast milk thawing in the sink so that I can throw it all away :(. It appears that the guidelines on storing breast milk are pretty accurate after all. I have mixed feelings of sorrow and joy. Joy that Jake will take a bottle, but sorrow that all of that work is getting poured down the sink. Also, a sense of dread about reintroducing the pump to my life. I haven't pumped in about 3 months now as I had so much milk frozen. This does, however, bode well for our idea of a night away for our 5 year anniversary in February, and makes me less anxious about our vacation which we are planning for the Spring to celebrate belatedly. Pump, here I come.

All in all it was a really wonderful Christmas. Skipping the illness would have been nice, but luckily all of our sickness was gone by Christmas Day, so we were able to celebrate as planned.

January brings the birthday insanity to a head ~ between Becca, Rich, Pete, Nate and then Luke and Julia hot on their heels we have a lot more celebrating ahead of us! January, here we come.