Sugar and Spice

Having two boys that captured my heart, and truly became "Mama's boys" has been fulfilling, but now I have a little girl. I love her differently than the boys - not more, not less, just different. I adore her girlie sweetness as I look into her beautiful eyes with the curled up, feminine eyelashes. I didn't think I was going to be the "frilly dress" type with my daughter, but on Christmas morning that all changed. I pulled out the tights, the gorgeous Christmas dress with satin bow, and the little red ruffled shoes - and my heart FILLED with pride of such a pretty little girl as I gently clothed her in such sweetness. And then, it hit me, really hit me...I have a DAUGHTER. Wow, a daughter!

What a silly face, about to smile! Gotta love the mohawk...

5 years and counting...

Happy 5th Anniversary! Thank you for being such a wonderful, devoted husband and father! Words cannot describe how I feel about you...

Here a Moo, There a Moo

Everywhere a Moo Moo...we all know this classic song, right? Well, apparently there really "can't be just a Moo Moo everywhere. There have to be stores, humans, a movie theater, and houses, too" (according to Joseph, the thinker). Who knew?

Merry Christmas!

The last two days have been spent celebrating Christmas with family, eating lots of goodies, opening and giving lot of gifts, and feeling incredibly blessed. I just wish that everyone in the world could be so blessed. God bless you all!

Kids Say the Darnest Things...

We went to my parents annual Christmas Open House (BTW - the house looked beautiful and the food was amazing, Mom), and while I was trying to discipline my oldest I told him, "You better not run in the house because there are undercover cops here that will give you a bad ticket." Well, he took me seriously, and LITERALLY. A few moments later, I found Joseph in my parent's bedroom walking toward the bed with a guilty look on his face. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I want to look under the covers (referring to the "undercover cops" that I spoke of earlier)." It took everything in me not to laugh out loud in his face. The innocence and naivety of children, eh?

BLOG TAG

Thanks to my friend Jenny, I've been blog tagged..here are the rules.

1. choose the 4th picture folder on my computer.

2. choose the 4th picture.

3. explain the picture.

4. tag at least 4 people to do the same.

So here is my picture. It is Joseph at 2 1/2 years old, playing with a new car ramp. He received it for Christmas, and was so into it. Interestingly enough, this is Matthew's exact age now & there is a HUGE resemblance. Looks as though I have given birth to a clone - JK

Now I am tagging: (only have 2 because I don't know any other bloggers)

Laura

Rachel

There are no words to describe...

how my heart feels from what I just witnessed tonight. My 4 year old son ADORES his baby sister (and I think the feeling is mutual). As I was telling him a bedtime story, he asked if the baby could lay with him. I obliged, and watched as he cuddled her, gave her the binky, told her how much he loves her, and kissed her repeatedly. Then he looked up at me and said, "Mom, this is SO cute. Do you have your camera? You can go get it. I'll babysit her while you go downstairs. You just have to take a picture." Elizabeth, the sweet baby she is, calmly drifted off to sleep, cuddling next to her biggest brother. My heart SWELLED. There truly are no words to describe the feelings in that moment.

How do parents of multiple children keep track of them?

THEY DON'T. Or at least, I felt like I hadn't the other day while shopping at Carter's. As I was looking for warm, "feet" 'pajamas for my oldest, I was beginning to feel a little "out of control" of my two boys. At one point, I thought I had lost Matthew. Absolute PANIC came over me, as I shouted to Joseph to look for his little brother. Joseph (the wonderful boy he is) started looking everywhere for Matthew. OMG, what if he ran out of the store? After about 2 minutes of searching, Joseph looked up at me and started laughing. Matthew was ON MY HIP the whole time! Now that is a sign that I had too many children in a short span of time, eh? (Or I may be losing my mind?) HAHA

Which one is your favorite?

My WONDERFUL husband

They LOVE their daddy

I just have to brag that I have a fantastic husband! Today, he took all THREE children to the mall (not an easy task). After that, he proceeded to stay home with the youngest two while I did a little Christmas shopping. While doing this, he cooked some YUMMY beef stew. What an amazing man, eh? Props to you, Ron!

Not to mention, he makes GORGEOUS children ;)

So in love

Smiling at Mommy

There is something so magical about those new baby smiles! Elizabeth has captured my heart completely. She lights up with a HUGE smile and coo when she sees me, and it just melts me every time. I have to say that with each child, I become more relaxed and able to thoroughly enjoy each moment. Having 3 may be more work, but it is also 3 times more love, more fun, and more joy. What can be better?

Grandma's 1st grandDAUGHTER after 5 grandsons

Bedtime stories

A new bedtime ritual has begun. Joseph at the ripe age of 4 1/2 has decided that he is afraid of EVERYTHING when we leave him in a room by himself to go to sleep. Therefore, I decided to tell him a made-up story to keep his mind off of his fears, and into his story-telling imagination (and boy does he have an imagination!). After my story, he wanted to tell ME a story. I don't know about all of you, but making a story up in your head while stating it outloud is NOT easy, so I'm proud of him. Listen to that little voice :) BTW, you can't see him - just hear him.

Visit with Santa

What a Christmas-spirited day...full of anticipation, excitement, happiness and WILD WILD energy! The kids and I went to visit Santa Clause at the Irvine Spectrum. The boys looked so handsome, and Elizabeth looked so cute. They all cooperated for pictures as well!

Seems like the perfect day, right? Well, the day wouldn't be complete without the normal "trying"behavior...We went to Target after seeing Santa. I was feeling so confident (maybe a little over confident) in my parenting skills as I had both boys holding onto the sides of the stroller, walking and listening so nicely. As I was thinking, "Wow, I have the best behaved children!" we reached the check-out aisle...Need I say more to you fellow mothers?

My 2 year old is touching all the candy that they so strategically place on their eye level, my 4 year old is trying to get the 2 year old to stop by pulling and pushing him to the ground, my 3 month old is beginning to cry for food, the lady behind me wants to strike up a conversation about how darling my kids are (and to tell me about her grandchildren), and the check-out clerk is asking me for money...the sweat begins to form at the top of my lip, and I am looking for the FASTEST way out of the store. PHEW - we survived (or should I say they survived)! Ready for naptime (at least I was).

Even after all that, it was a FANTASTIC day...ending with cookie making, decorating and eating...Merry Christmas everyone!

Isn't nesting supposed to happen BEFORE the baby is born?

I think I may have biten off more than I can chew. I am cleaning out and organizing ALL the toys in this house - YIKES! I asked the boys to "help" me decide what to keep, give away, and throw away. Ummm...for anyone with small children, this means that they will keep 95% of the toys presented to them...In other words, the project did not go smoothly. After lots of tantruming, lots of piles of toys everywhere, lots of mommy yelling, lots of TRASH to take out, I have almost finished cleaning downstairs - now to tackle the upstairs...

Welcome!

I am officially joining the bloggers of the world! I hope to capture the chaotic, fantastic or not moments of motherhood of THREE children. The journey I have begun as a mother has been the most emotional, most profound time in my life. I pray that I can look back on this time in my life, and smile longingly to relive this time with my children after they are grown and gone from my home (sad to think of them ever going). Please join me on this journey...