Sleep Schmeep

This kid needs no sleep.  At least, he THINKS he doesn't.  To him, there is just too much to do during the day (and night) to waste time on sleeping.  

So, on the rare occasion he DOES sleep, I decide to bust out my camera and take pictures of this momentous occasion.  

Plus, he looks really cute and angelic sleeping, and I love him so much.

Ironically, when I see him sleeping so sweetly like this, I want to kiss on his cheeks and wake him up, which is ridiculous, because at this point I probably told him to go lay down forty six times.  

 He does EVERYTHING he can to avoid falling asleep.  He reads thirty books. (and leaves them all in his bed)

He gets out all his cars, dumps them in his bed, and leaves them there.

He gets out all the little Batman guys, and the giant batman castle, and piles them all up on the bed, too.

(Are you starting to see a pattern?)

Really, with all that stuff in his bed, it's no wonder he can't fall asleep.  

Some days, I just KNOW he needs a nap. 

You know those days...when there is a lot of whining and crying and pestering people.

On those days, I tell him I'm going to lay with him for a second.  

He doesn't like this, because he knows I'll make him lay still, and if he lays still, he'll fall asleep and THAT is the worst thing he can think of.

The other day, I laid with him and he told me, "Mommy, I don't want you to lay with me."

I said, "You don't want your mommy in here?" (sad face)

He said, "Well, you can stay today.  But I don't want you in here EVERYDAY."

Poor thing, he was so torn.  

He loves me and didn't want me to feel bad, but he really wants to just fart around during nap and not have me in there telling him to shush and lay still.

 It's funny how someone who needs sleep so badly decides to fight it so much.

If only he knew how awesome it is to be four and be TOLD to go lay down everyday.

I wish someone carved out three hours a day for ME to go rest, and then MADE me relax.

Nighttime isn't much better...

He does okay when we're doing a behavior sticker chart.  

One of his "jobs" is always "Go right to bed"

That means he can't complain, or get out of bed and come find us.

When we're NOT doing a sticker chart, things are a lot harder.

He comes wandering out about ten minutes after we've put him down, and stands in the doorway to the living room looking pitiful.

We've tried ignoring him, but he'll literally stand there for forty five minutes. 

Once we acknowledge him, he tries to snuggle on the couch with us....which is hard to say NO to, because we love his snuggles so much, and also because it's sort of fun to just have one kiddo to love on.

With his Daddy, he pulls this one: "Daddy? I just want to watch football with you." which Daddy can't resist because he loves football about as much as he loves the kid, and the idea that he can combine the two send him into a coma of happiness.  (another story entirely)

Once we tell him he HAS TO GO BACK TO BED, he busts out this little trick that ALWAYS works on Mommy.

His little lip quivers and his eyes fill with tears, and he says in this little voice cracking with emotion, 

"Mommy?  When I'm in there alone, I'm very lonely."

and what do I do?

I tell him to go get in our bed, and he skips off happy as can be.

Sigh.

But he's not going to want to love on me forever like this, so I am enjoying these years where he lives under my eyelid.

And enjoy the four hours a week he DOES sleep.

Baby feet

I love her little feet...and all her other tiny toddler parts.  Before too long, she's going to look long and lean, and won't look like much of a baby anymore.  

She's at such a hilarious age....she loves her baby doll and tells it, "I love you, baby!" and then makes a grumpy face at it and talks sternly like it's in trouble.  

I love that most days, she still loves me best in all the world, although Daddy DOES win some days.  This morning I asked her "Who's baby are you?" and she kept saying "Daddy's!!"  

I asked her "Not Mommy's?" and she answered, "Yeah, Mommy's too."

I love her little curls as they grow in....especially when she's been playing outside and they're sweaty.  Before too long, she'll have a full head of hair, and we'll miss her wispy little baby hair.  

For now, I'm squeezing all the love out of these last months of babyhood....

I'm a soccer mom.

Our first practice was Thursday.   Cale was really, really excited...Sis was less so.  Surprisingly, no crying happened at all!  They had a really good time!  Their coaches are Daddy and Uncle Daniel, and I'm sure that makes it easier for both of them.  Cale was upset at first, because we were told to come to practice with team name suggestions.  He was POSITIVE everyone was going to vote for his name "The Piranhas", but was seriously bummed when he found out the league had already named us "The Lions".  We tried to tell him that lions are the king of the jungle, are really awesome, but he wasn't having it.  More than once that night he said out of nowhere, "Mom?  I didn't want to be the Lions."  Oh well.  If we were The Dirtballs, Livi could be their mascot.  That kid really knows how to earn her bath.  She was filthy by the time we left the field.

Today was the first game....I was a little worried about Sissy.  She cried through breakfast, and the tears really started to fall when we put on her uniform. She kept saying she didn't want to do it, and being the awesome mom I am, I told her she could have a ring pop from the gas station after the game if she played.  She dried up real quick, and actually had fun!

She has a ton of natural ability, but isn't aggressive at all.  She just happily ran up and down the field, making contact a few times.  She did run by me on the sideline and give me about forty high fives.  

Bub, on the other hand, is in LOVE with soccer.  He was so excited for the game, and wasn't nervous at all.  He has never played anything even remotely labeled as "organized", but he caught on right away.  He was making a mean face before the game, and told me it was his "mean soccer face".  

He scored a goal in his first game!!  He was so proud, and it almost makes me want to cry (what doesn't?) looking at this picture.  He made a goal, and then ran across the field smiling, and looking for me on the sideline to see if I noticed.  

I love that he's elbowing the kid out of the way in this picture!!  He isn't scared at all to run into people or get knocked down.

We had enough kids to play two little games of three on three.  Of course, I stayed put by the field where the twins were, but I heard that the other half of our team did great, too!  We won our first game, in no small part to Luke, the MVP of our team.  It was so fun, and I'm just hoping we keep enjoying the season and avoid crying....we might have a lot of trips to the gas station in our future, but I'll do what it takes!  

First Day of Dayschool: a.k.a."Mommy gets a break"

The first day of school snuck up on us right in the middle of a raging stomach bug.  Lucky for us, Mimi swooped in and saved the day!  Showed up early (with Cale's snack for the whole class) and took them to school.  I had all sorts of plans for a cute back to school photo shoot, and "back to school" dinner of lasagna and hot fudge sundaes.   Funny enough, in the middle of a stomach bug, even speaking the word "lasagna" was enough to send us running to a toilet, so plans changed.  Babies were taken care of by Mimi, and Mommy and Daddy laid around all day competing for the title of "Sickest, most pititful Person in the House."  (In case you were wondering, I won.)

 Thoroughly unimpressed with the picture taking process.  Actually, come to think of it, they are probably humiliated that they were having to be seen out of doors with their mom, who was in the same jammies she'd worn for 24 hours. 

 We always like to make sure we have a new tat on the first day. :)

 I love the baby in the background in her jammies, holding her blanket.  I wonder how many older siblings in the world have pictures like this....ones where a random tiny person is standing in the background?    

 Enjoying his sundae, and looking at the Halloween version of the "Oriental Trading" catalogue.  This thing was good for at least three days of entertainment. 

They love their teacher, love their class...we are so grateful to have them back at their same little dayschool from last year.  Transitioning back to school was a snap (even with a barfy mom) because they were going back to something familiar.  

On the first night of school, mom managed to bust out the waffle bowls and all the stuff to make hot fudge sundaes.  Everyone wanted ice cream, with lots of sprinkles.  No one wanted hot fudge, because it looked "gross".  Everyone managed to take one bite of their sundae and then say they were done.  Mommy had a hot fudge sundae for dinner.  

Hello, age two.

The baby is growing up, people.  It's sad to say, but the days of her and I staring at each other while an imaginary soundtrack of "Close To You" plays in tandem with birds chirping are coming to a close.  Fantasyland couldn't last forever.  I love this kiddo more than my life, but she has stretched her tiny toes into "Two Year Old-Ville" and Mommy ain't too happy about it.  I know my delusions of her and I living a totally conflict free life were just that: delusions.  A little piece of me (maybe a medium sized piece of me) really hoped that this one baby was going to be my little kindred spirit that loved and adored me so much that she couldn't stand to defy me or make me unhappy.....and I have had to let that piece go.  Case in point:  

-she hollers "NO!" at me in completely random locations and for totally nonsensical reasons.  (i.e. "Baby, I love you."  Her:  "NO!") 

-she has mastered the art of tattling, but not the skill of doing it in any way that might actually get someone else in trouble.  She just wants to holler at people.  In the car the other day, she hollered, "Bubby push me!  He knock me down!" while he looked out his window.  This isn't the first time this has happened, but it might have been the most blatant in it's disregard for factual accuracy.

-she has a .35 second wait time on anything she requests.  "Mommy, I need moke."  Me:  "Okay....let me find your cup-(Insert scream).  Fast isn't fast enough for this one.  Clearly I am going to have to make like Dion Warwick and look into the future to see when she might be needing milk and plan accordingly.  

Good thing for her that she's so cute....sigh.  

Hello, age two. 

Fall Pictures of My babies....

I wanted some new pics of my babies.  I decided I wanted them to have a "fall" feel, so although it has been over 100 degrees most days around here, I stuffed them into long sleeved shirts and sweaters and herded them into Mimi's greenbelt for some photo fun.  Luckily, it was really shady out there, and cooler at six thirty so it wasn't hot at all.  We did get scraped up a bit, but they were such troopers!!

When we got home, I found a tick crawling on my jeans!!  Luckily none of my little people had any on them....I guess that's the hazard of taking pictures in a wooded area....
I love these pictures!  All three of them look so big....Hayden and Cale's eyes have totally turned new colors, and can't really be called blue at all anymore.  Hayden's are bluish-gray, and Cale's are a really cool green/gray color.  Livi is our only real blue eyed baby, now....and she doesn't even look much like a baby anymore!