Should Chris Be Blogging?

P.S.  I was just asking Chris before he left for work about the baby birds (I know...enough with the birds right?) and how they'd stay dry in the rain storm this morning...here was our conversation:

Chris:  They'd get wet but their feathers would protect them
Me:  They don't have feathers...Do you think the mom would like span her wings out to cover them up?
Chris:  Yes. (this was his response no doubt just to shut me up)
Me:  Yeah right, her sorry butt couldn't even stay with them yesterday...
Chris:  Well I'm sure she was finding them food...
Me:  All day long??
Chris:  Well it's not like she's sitting at the casino playing pull tabs...
Me:  OMG, that is SO funny you mention that...I was just talking on the blog about her going to birdie bars trying to meet the next baby birdie's daddy!
Chris:  Great...that's all we need...more birds on welfare!

Ha ha ha ha...I was just talking to Chris the other day about how it was HIS idea to start a blog but now that I have one, I don't think he'd fit well with it...I was merely thinking in terms of how it's somewhat of a picture blog now and sometimes I write mushy stuff (I can't see him doing that)...BUT his humor on the blog could be appealing...I mean, his humor was what first attracted me to him...and honestly, he's just not that funny anymore unless he has an audience (he knows I think this...) so maybe he SHOULD blog from time to time...you know...like as a guest blogger on MY blog...or we could have dueling blogs??  See whose is the coolest?  Yeah right, I couldn't take not being the best if his turned out to be better...(which it wouldn't!) but still...let's have a raise of hands for those out there wanting to hear from Chris every now and then???

I Forgot to Title This!

I have decided that the key to getting Adler to sleep soundly is for me to stay awake the entire time he sleeps =) I went to bed at 8:20 last night and woke up at 3:01 a.m. for the start of my shift. Since I was so rested, having had 6.5 hours of sleep, I decided to order some pictures online and then edit photos so I could upload them here to the blog...I figured it would take me an hour or so but it's now 4 hours later and I'm just finishing up...and guess whose been a pretty decent sleeper this whole time??? The REASON I went to bed so early was because Adler was being crazy the night before last. Crazy = normal baby in this scenario because really, what was keeping him up was needing to eat multiple times, then spitting up, then pooping twice, etc...but, I'd get him to sleep and then no sooner than I would go to lay him down, it's like he would remember how cool it is to be awake so he'd perk right up. I personally think he's a bit of a traitor. I mean, I did carry the kid for a good 9 months...then I waited around for a good day (missing two whole meals mind you!) until he decided he'd make his entrance...then I pushed him out...and have since been lovingly caring for him...and yet, he's the perfect child on Chris' watch! I'm not bitter...I just want to have this all in print for him to read once he gets older =) I digress.

So yesterday, my mom and I were sitting outside sweating like pigs enjoying the nice weather while the kids played on the slip and slide when Ayris noticed a baby bird in the grass.  This thing was like days old.  It didn't have it's eyes opened and just a few little downy feathers on it's head.  It was burning up in the heat panting (I read online that if they are panting, they are overheated).  First I just want to ask why this kind of crap happens to me?  Why did that little bug get onto my windshield and have to let me witness his little suction footprints holding on for dear life as I was driving home?  (I stopped and let him get off the windshield)...why did that stupid butterfly smash itself onto my windshield while I was driving on the freeway...(What kind of butterfly flies around on the freeway anyway??)...why did Asher have to kill two baby frogs from suffocating them (or squeezing them too hard??) in his hand...and now why in the world did some mama bird have to put her nest in my tree??  The next hour or so was spent giving this baby bird water from a dropper and trying to convince him/her to eat some mushed up catfood (that's what the internet recommend) as he seemed to be starving...he kept opening up his little beak rooting around for food...it actually reminded me of Adler when he's super hungry, he opens his mouth real big and starts moving his  head all around waiting for that bottle to magically appear.  I finally went to the neighbor's house to ask if he had a ladder and he offered to put the bird back for me...when he got up there, he said there were a couple other baby birds in there...what a relief!  About an hour later, we were still sitting out in that craptastic weather when I heard the mama bird come back.  She spent all of 2 minutes and then flew off again.  Seriously??  What kind of mom is she?  I started envisioning little bird bars where the loser bird moms who don't want to take care of their bird babies go...shakin their tail feathers...trying to find the next birdies daddy so she can get knocked up again...all to leave the next batch of bird babies helpless and alone too.  Wouldn't we all like to build a nest from time to time and abandon our kids in it??  But I guess that luxury is only allowed to lazy mama birds.  I decided to give her some credit though and told myself that she probably spends her ENTIRE day searching for food for those babies instead of hanging out at the bird bar.  AND if she really is a good bird mama then I'm glad Ayris found that baby bird and we got it back in the nest before she came back...I can't imagine coming back to the nest to find that one of my babies was missing!  Anyway, enough about the birds...I wish they'd relocate now though because I'm finding that I'm continuing to worry about them now knowing they are sitting in my tree...like with the storms this morning...how do they stay safe and dry?  This nature stuff sucks...I'd like an invisible perimeter put around my house so that no creatures/bugs/animals, etc are allowed to enter...that way I don't have to deal with things dying around me!

On to the pictures...

These first three pictures were all taken by Ayris! I was laying on the floor with the boys when she got my camera...and hey, I've actually started letting her use my expensive camera because I'm actually getting a few shots of myself in some pictures that way...and she's turning into quite the photographer...
















Chris got this shot of Adler as he was getting a quick bath in the hotel sink...

Happy Father's Day Chris!

So yeah, I know this is two days late BUT...

Thank you Chris for giving me all of our beautiful children and for being the kind of dad that leaves our children begging for more...of your "Lucky" rides and your "Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun..." tickle fests...your nighttime songs (Follow Me), your mad Rachet and Clank skills, and the always open lap that you have for all three children whenever they want or need it. You best be working on a bigger lap though because it's getting a little crowded and we ain't done yet!

(And yes, I know Asher isn't technically on his lap but I've come down numerous times to find all three sittin' there...I just haven't captured it yet!)
Happy Father's Day to you and many more to come!

It Ain't No Thang...

I love, love, love this picture...and though you can't tell it just by looking at it...Adler was looking up at Asher sitting right next to him...so to me, it just looks like brotherly adoration...


Further proof that these little men are becoming fast friends...














I kind of love these next two...I like how Adler is in focus in the first one and Ayris is blurred out...and then Ayris is in focus and Adler is blurred...




Ackkkk! I couldn't tell which was my favorite...


But I think I finally settled on this one...




See Adler just staring at Asher again...


Oh...these pictures just melt me...its like the perfect family love...caught in the flash of a camera...like you have to have pictures of it or you actually question it's existence...because you know that it's complete chaos the other 99.9% of the time between siblings...at least it feels like that sometimes =)














And these pictures just cracked me up...I came into the bathroom one day and Asher had found one of Chris' games and was playing it...is it just innate that boys seek out material for the bathroom? And then Asher had put his underwear on backwards and kept walking around trying to pull them up...it had me laughing for a good 10 minutes straight as I watched him pull them up and then pick out his wedgies from doing so...


The problem with all of these photos is that I can't get each kid looking good in the same picture...




So really...life with three is not impossible. At least not like I thought it would be...perhaps it's that Adler is still pretty perfect...or just the fact that I shouldn't have been so worried to begin with...kinda makes me feel like I can handle anything though...4, 5, 6, 7 kids?? I'm totally kidding...Chris would die...literally I'm sure. But seriously I won't be worried about the 4th when it comes now =) Of course, I try to be realistic and remember that I may hate the numbers more once Adler is crawling...or walking...or getting into everything...or better yet...when he has the mouth on him that the oldest have now. The thing that made me realize things have changed (i.e. become easier or just less of a big deal...more relaxed) is when during week 2, Chris and I were upstairs watching a movie together...I'm pretty sure we didn't watch movies with Ayris until like month 2 or 3...we were so tired all of the time that was the last thing we wanted to do. Chris' reasoning was that we're just used to "the tired" now that it doesn't make any difference...not only that but we've gone out as a family of 5 more now in the last month than I think we ever did as a family of 3 or 4...SO...even though I still can't believe I'm almost 30 and a MOM *gasp*, I must be at least getting the hang of it...or caring less about the small things. Which reminds me...I took the boys with me to Verizon Wireless the other day while my mom was watching Ayris and while I was talking to the guy, Asher kept opening the door and shutting it, when this girl who looked all of 15 maybe walks in and kind of ushers Asher away from the door, then looks at me and says "I just don't want him to get his hand stuck in the door"...and when she left, I thought to myself...yeah, maybe if this was kid number one I'd be all concerned but right now I'm thinking that it's keeping him busy and if he squishes his hand then he will have learned a lesson right? That's just the difference between now and then I guess...but thank you to the adolescent for trying to help me raise my son (and no people, there was no danger in what he was doing...he was literally opening and shutting the door to hear the bell ring).

As for Adler...I weighed him on the scale with me the other day and he was registering around 10 pounds...although, as of a few days ago, he was switched over to 100% formula so I imagine he'll start packing on the pounds now. As for his perfection...his nighttime perfection is saved for Chris' schedule...he sleeps from around 9-3 a.m., which is when my shift begins...so I feed him and dependent upon whether or not he wants me to be slightly crabby the next day, he'll either go straight back to sleep or he'll keep me up for the next 2 hours with his noises that I can only describe as a mixture of a person who is grunting with constipation/a pig going to slaughter/and a baby lamb doing that little noise they do...I mean, the kid has pure talent to combine all of those noises at once right? Well, his other talent is that he's able to sleep fine through all of that crap while keeping me up with it =) His cute little butt has been put in the crib now twice just so I can get two hours of sleep before his next required feeding at 6 (so you do the math...he can sleep 6 hours during Chris' shift but during mine, he's up every 2-3???) I should mention that Chris has offered to switch with me numerous times but for some reason I can't seem to accept...I keep thinking the one time that I do, Adler will switch his schedule and I'll be up the whole time when I've just been up a previous 18 hours beforehand...I should also mention that Chris took him ALL NIGHT last night because I woke up with a migraine that made me want to vomit AND Chris will be taking him all night on Saturday when Ayris and I have a girls night at a hotel...so thanks Chris!

I think I have more to say but Adler keeps wanting my attention...I keep telling him that people need to hear about him and want to see pictures but he doesn't seem to care! Plus, he stinks like formula and needs a bath =)

P.S. I just stopped blogging and starting singing Celine Dion to him and got my third smile from him...yea! I got two of them the other night when I was talking to him and doing stupid stuff trying to get smiles...but I've been waiting for "awake" smiles instead of just all the smiles I get in his sleep.

Minnesota Girls

Someone posted this on facebook and I thought it was kind of cute...just make sure you scroll down to the bottom of my blog to turn off my music player before listening to it...

What The $*?!...

ARGH!  Seriously, if I could roar or growl or scare Asher into his right mind...I would right now.  He is seriously becoming THE problem child!  It's like he needs constant supervision...of which, I cannot provide him with these days.  Apparently, I need not put all of my faith and trust in his ability to make the right decisions...the child has straight up lost his mind these days.  I am hoping *fingers crossed* that this is not a *BOY* thing...and rather an age thing...or an acting out type of thing (even though he seems to be pretty smitten with Adler.)

In addition to his peeing in random places (which he's yet to do since he got spanked for peeing in Chris' trash can) today he decided to put an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet...causing the toilet to overflow...it overflowed into not only the bathroom itself but also out into the kitchen...into the safe room, into the litterbox room and underneath the refrigerator.  The d*mn thing just kept going.  I finally took the lid off and for whatever reason, when I held up that metal stick thing with the plastic ball thing attached, the water would stop but if I let it go...it would keep overflowing...so I channeled my inner MacGyver and taped the crap out of it so it would stay up without my standing there all day...when I finally got a chance to call Chris (because my STUPID VERIZON PHONE WON'T WORK IN THE BATHROOM), he informed me that there is a valve behind the toilet that shuts off the water...let me tell you...that bit of information would have come in real handy about 20 minutes before hand!  Needless to say...10 towels later...the floor is finally dry...but, if Chris wants to use his own bathroom, he has a toilet bowl that has yet to be plunged...so it's going to take some work on his part to get 'er up and going.

In addition to that mess...I was just sitting on the couch helping Ayris put together these little learning books (you had to attach velcro and whatnot to make the people/pieces stick) all the while putting Adler's pacifier in his mouth every 2.3 seconds (and thinking "You're going to suck it and you're going to like it"...for some reason, I feel like having that thought will somehow morph into his brain and he'll accept it and actually keep the suction going so I don't have to keep replacing it...no such luck as of yet...it doesn't help that his siblings are wrestle fighting (as they call it) and making all kinds of noise that keeps jerking him awake, therefore leading to a lost pacifier)...anyway, Ayris notices what Asher is doing and tells me to look up from the book building I'm doing...yeah...he's spreading A&D butt cream all over the walls...again...what the heck!!! 

Once he was done with his timeout, I asked him to come sit on my lap and explained to him how I was feeling because he kept saying "I don't want you to be mad mommy"...I told him that I didn't like that he was making messes that were taking me forever to clean up...AND that I didn't like that he was wasting money by basically throwing toilet paper down the drain and emptying out a tube of butt cream...so after about 10 minutes worth of conversation on my part...I ask him if there's anything he wants to say to me (the words "Sorry" are what were coming to my mind)...he nonchalantly says "Thank You!"

Thanks for what?  Thanks for the 2 minutes you spent yelling at me earlier in the day and for the 10 minute conversation we just had...that will, no doubt, go in one ear and out the other?...thanks for enjoying the past 2.5 GOOD years that you've had with me because I'm turning into a straight up trouble maker right before your very eyes?...thanks for allowing me my imperfections all the while loving me no matter what?...so yeah...not sure what the thanks was for but if I'm going to have a little hellion on my hands, at least he's a polite one.

RJ's Sendoff and a Few Pictures!

Check out these cute little glasses that Chris' friend from work sent home for Adler...the SAME exact day that I wrote on here about needing to get him some...this picture makes me laugh though...he looks like he had a hard night and this is the morning after...frazzled hair, crooked glasses, an outfit that isn't quite on the right way...




It looks like he's saying "No pictures please...I'm trying to have a meal"...


Like yeah...that's what I thought...I'm a rockstar who can hold my own bottle...


Sometimes you just need to wear a pink skirt with some frog boots...


...while splashing around in the water...


Spiderman sandals work too..


...and holding hands with your best buddy...




And sometimes life just looks a little better in muted colors...


Asher wasn't really into smiling in these pictures but look how much alike they look in that first picture...


I don't know why...but when I look at this picture, the song Beautiful Boy by John Lennon starts playing in my mind...beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...beautiful boy...


All I have to say is that we breed happy little people...and RJ...well, I think he might have the daddy thing down once his own little person decides to join the world (in the WAY future =)






Looks like Andrea has it down too...






You can't really tell by this picture but Adler is still working on those rock hard abs...you lay him down and he just holds his legs in the air without touching the floor...


Asher and his new favorite outfit...and Ayris just being goofy...dancing, what looks to be a little Irish jig...








Since when did I shrink like 2 feet? Has RJ always been this tall?


Those pictures were taken during our last "Goodbye Night"...RJ is currently in Oregon for Nationals and then he's heading to Houston. That sounds like craziness just writing that...I'm questioning when he grew up. Have I mentioned him as like a 3 year old sitting over the sink in his teenage mutant ninja turtle underwear and suspenders doing the dishes? I really need to find the picture...anyway, it kind of sucks seeing him all married and going off to pursue his future...because that means life is definitely trucking along. I can sit here in my own little world with three kids, not really aware of the fact that I have, in fact, grown up myself...but when I see that my "little brother" is now grown up, it's kind of hard not to notice the obvious...life is moving on...and at a faster pace than I would like...again, it's just my desire to have life follow more of a continuous circle versus the path that someday ends. I know I'm only 29...soon to be 30 but part of me feels like I have one foot in the grave...how in the world has 30 years passed me by? Like, wasn't I just in diapers? Or learning how to walk? Two blinks of an eye and my kids are going to be getting married and moving away (minus the moving away part because my children are all living close by...like probably in the same cul-de-sac right? At least that's how it plays out in my mind...my PLAN...the GRAND PLAN...where all my children live within walking distance and they all call me like twice a day...and come over for family dinners like once a week...I personally think that's a completely feasible plan...once I figure out how to be the mother to my children that makes them never want to be more than a few blocks away at a time =)

But back to RJ...who, by the way is a star...not only was he featured on the news: Gopher Decathlete Filling Many Different Shoes but he also had an article written about him in the paper:  RJ IS A ROCKSTAR ...I'm sending him positive thoughts right now in Nationals and lots of prayers and love as he journeys on to Houston...he doesn't need them because I know he'll do great and be great...Here's to RJ and Andrea as they start their new life together...what a bright and beautiful future for the both of you!