Last Firsts

With LP being our last baby, the "last firsts" are often so bittersweet. Well, here is one that I am not the least bit sad about LOL!!


She has been fully PTd since beginning of October but I'd just been using the training pants that we had. For Christmas we finally got around to getting her "big girl pants" and she thinks she is just the cat's meow :0). They are so small that they actually make me smile when folding laundry - imagine that!!! Anyway, here is her official "I'm potty trained" picture for her scrapbook.

Birthdays

December to January has the most birthdays for our family - 3 in 32 days (plus Christmas so it's a little nutty). Since I didn't blog on their actual days, I'll play catchup now.

December 18th brought birthday #4 for T3. We celebrated on his actual day with cake for family after dinner and he had a great time. Throughout everyday life, I find that I often lump the kids all together. But each year on their birthdays I remember that special day (and the months leading up to it) that brought them into our lives in a way that no one else can. I am so selfishly thankful that those memories are mine and mine alone.

T3 was our first surprise-to-us baby. I am so glad that nothing is a surprise to God and that in His infinite wisdom saw fit to bless us with this boy. The beginning of our pg was not one full of excitement and anticipation. It was a very hard time for The Captain and I because, like i said, this was not part of OUR plan. Work was stressful and like any good husband/father, the Captain was worried about providing every good thing for all of his children. Of course this pg also began all of the "are you crazy?, do you know how that happens?, are you trying for another girl?" etc. questions. T3 was due shortly before Christmas and I believe that was God's gift to me. It gave me so much more to ponder. I saw Mary in a little different light - that she was just a young woman waiting for her baby to be born.

Three days after my due date (and I was always late) I woke up being so frustrated and wanted to know when this baby was going to come. I broke down crying and the Captain, lovingly laughed at me, saying that I did this every time. Of course, that afternoon I went into real labor and the next afternoon our little boy was with us. While he was our fourth, he brought with him a lot of firsts. The first to be born with a vacuum extraction, the first with meconium, the first I was not able to hold right away, the first with Coombs that required him to stay 3 extra days, the first one to ever spend any time away from me in the hospital as he spent those three extra days under the lights in an incubator. But again, those three days were a gift. Days I spent alone resting and bonding with this little unexpected blessing.

January 11th brought another birthday with a totally different set of emotions. BP turned 9. How in the world did she get to be 9?!?!?! She was the long awaited first child. The child that came after our miscarriage and I wondered if we would ever have a baby. The excitement and anticipation that both The Captain and I shared was almost tangible. The kid ended up being 9 days late. We had to be induced and that was an incredibly long day. But finally, at 11:17PM we had our long awaited bundle. My life changed at that moment, entering the wonderfully chaotic world of motherhood. It's hard to believe that our baby is becoming a young lady.

And then there's me. Today I turn 36 and I am good with it. The age thing has never bothered me but I have to admit that thinking about the next big milestone being 40 is kind of strange. But that is still 4 years away. I am excited to see what this year brings particularly with my kids. That and I can't wait for a good dinner at mom's tonight LOL!!!

Another SOM!!!!

I am so happy and proud!!

T2 got Student Of the Month for his Kindergarten class in December. We have the recognition assembly on the 29th. I never thought I would be one of those crying moms but anything having to do with my kids has me a blubbering mess.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

So once again I missed and entire month and half in our lives. I often think about the clever, funny, witty, adorable, stress inducing (you get the idea)things that happen around here that I should document. But time gets away, the moment passes and I don't write it down. That's what New Year's is all about, right? - starting fresh and making changes? Maybe I'll be better about the blogging thing this year.

Anyway, we had a really great Christmas season. Busy with lots of family visiting but it wasn't overwhelming, ya know? We had some really great kid time and the kids really seemed to enjoy everything about the season, too. OH, our big surprise thing is that the Captain's parents have their 50th anniversary this April. They want to celebrate by taking all of the kids/spouses on a cruise!!!! So come October we will be off to Bermuda for a week. We are so excited and looking forward to this time with his folks and siblings.

It's hard to believe that we are half way through January already.

I know this isn't a terribly interesting entry but more of a "get off your backside and blog again" entry. More interesting things to come!!

Some T3 Funnies

Before November all but disappears on us and I have nothing blogged...again, here are a couple of cute things from the baby boy (who is almost 4 - YIKES!!!)

The Captain went into our bedroom this morning during the morning chaos of getting ready for school. I personally think he goes in there to hide LOL. Anyway, T3 wanted him (because daddy has promised to get him batteries for the past 3 days). So he's knocking on the door and daddy is not answering. So he knocks more persistanly and starts yelling "Dave, it's Kate". I just thought this was the funniest thing.

On the way home from dropping the kids off at school we passed a house on our street. T3 asks when can he go to that house and I told him we don't know those people so we weren't going to the house. He then replies, "No,that's OK, I'll just go there and I'll ask them their names". The logic is so simple to him.

One other question (because I have not really paid attention). When do kids stop telling you they have to go to the bathroom and just go and do it? LP was just in here crying and dancing "I go pee, I go pee!!" I am thinking to myself, well go to the bathroom LOL. DOn't get me wrong, I am so thankful she tells me and that she actually held it until we got to the bathroom, but I always laugh when they get so worked up and run around for 5 extra minutes telling you instead of going to the potty. My kids will do this in the middle of the night, too. Get up and wake me to tell me they have to go to the bathroom. Being the ever compassionate mom that I am, I just tell them, "OK, go ahead" and off they go! (I do get up to help #s 4 & 5).

just some stuff

wow - I totally missed the month of October. I find it hard to keep this up sometimes because things that I find totally funny or share-worthy, probably isn't of interest to most people. Or I just don't have the time to sit and blog at the moment and then the moment is gone.

Anyway, October.

THe Sox won the series!!!

T1 got Student of the Month for the first month of school and we went to the award assembly. His teach simply loves him :0). And I worried about him going to school LOL!

First anniversary of Gram's death. The day itself was weird. I am glad I am behind in my scrapping because I didn't get to the tribute page I had for her until back in September. THe kids' daily devotion reading for 10/27 was about a Gramma who was sick and then died. I had a very hard time getting through that one.

Halloween was a fun day. We'll be eating candy until 4th of July.

T2 can read!!! The kid amazes me and he is just loving Kindergarten. He is a lot like his big sister. T3 is a lot like T1. I see LP being very similar to BP & T2. Kind of interesting to watch it all play out.

Yard is almost done. The Captain bruised a nerve in a take down of a patient at work on 10/30. He has been out on comp for the past two weeks. It's actually been really nice to have all of this time with him. I am so totally in love with this man. How did I get so blessed?

I am getting my hair cut on Tuesday. Nothing drastic, just some long layers. My hair hasn't been this long in quite a while. I have been pretty consistant with my treadmilling. Now I am back to tracking food and giving my sheets to my mom each week. We'll see if that helps me. My goal is to drop 10 by New Year. If I succeed, I'll make a new goal at that time.

Oh, I bought the material I needed for the girls' Christmas dresses. It was $1/yard at W-M. I only needed 3 yards (it was 60" material). I am so psyched (oooh, having a high school flashback) that I spent about $10 total for two Christmas dresses!! They will be green satin-y material with black velvet ribbon trim.

That's all for now.

Could this be it????

I am not sure if I am happy or a little sad about this, but LP is on her way to being potty trained. The pooping in the potty thing still eludes us a bit, well, totally. But for the past week she has been dry all day (and most naps) and the past 4 nights have been dry, too!!! So I'd say we are 90-95% there. How cool it will be to not have diapers on my W-M list LOL!

She is really following in the footstps of her big sis, too. BP potty trained at 2y 2m old. LP is 2y 2m old today :0).

I've stocked up on my supply of M & M s to, ahem, encourage the little lady to complete all of her business on toilet. Wish us luck!!!