Say it to my face(book)

It all started innocently enough, as these things usually do. My cousin had gone on a vacation to Disney and I wanted to see her pictures. Instead of publishing them on her blog she put them all on her facebook account and informed us we would have to go there to see them. And so it began.

I am now a full blown facebook addict. I check it at least once every. single. day. Without fail. I have found so many old friends and so many others have found me. I have caught up on what people from high school have been up to since graduation. I have found a way to reconnect to friends who have moved far away. I have talked more to people that I could see in person, but really isn't easier to sit on the couch in my pajamas and just type (ok, that may not be the healthiest thing I have ever said). It really is such a great site!

When the girls go down for nap and quiet time I jump on the computer, anxious to see if I have new friend requests or notes from the people I have already connected with. I have even convinced my best friend to join even though she didn't want to (but that is really payback for getting me to join Myspace).

So, if you want to look me up go right ahead. I will be your friend!

.....

I have run out of milk. And not the kind you can run to the grocery store to pick up.

I am taking it very badly. I have cried. I have been angry. I have blamed myself. I really wanted to keep nursing. With Natalie I ran out at around four months. With Vanessa I ran out around three months. Now I am out at almost eleven weeks.

Allison is taking it much better than I am. She was getting so frustrated with me. She would suck and when nothing would come out she would pull off and start flailing around and crying. She was having trouble sleeping because she was hungry. I started dreading nursing time. Which made me very sad. So the last couple of days I savored every time I did get to nurse. I tried to memorize every little thing about it. And now.... I am still sad but Allie is so much happier. She loves the bottle. She is taking better naps. She is happier.

I just needed to get that off my chest.

Birthday Bowl

Yesterday we went to Natalie's friend Alexis's 7th birthday at the bowling alley. Nat and Vanessa had such a good time bowling. It is always cute watching a kid bowl! Vanessa's ball got stuck half way down the alley twice. At one point it started rolling backwards! After we got home I was talking to Natalie about how much fun we had had. I suddenly remembered I hadn't checked her score before we left. "Oh Nat! I forgot to see what you bowled!" Her answer..."A bowling ball!" She's got me there.

This is Carisa (one of my best friends in the entire world) and her daughter, the birthday girl, Alexis keeping Allison entertained.

Common sense....or something like it.

Here's the thing. After you have one child it is very easy to get caught up in the business of wanting another one. The precious wittle bay-bee that once was is now a big shrieky, tantrumy, whiny mess and you are consumed with an insatiable craving for a new little adorable ball of pudge. You miss cuddling an infant against your chest. The goos and coos and gurgles that only a newborn can generate. Even the semi-odorless poops that a new baby produces at an alarming rate seem like little diapers from heaven compared to what comes out of a toddler on a daily basis. It is very easy to find yourself "accidentally" forgetting to take your pill for a couple of days in a row.

If you find yourself in this mental land of baby-want right now feel very lucky you are reading my blog. I am here to save you with this little nugget of wisdom. That diminutive little person that you long for will also grow into a child. One that screams at you. One that doesn't listen when you tell it for the ten millionth time to quit playing in the damn dog water. One that tells you with great certainty that you are the most horrible parent in the entire world and that they would be much better off going to live with (insert name of beloved aunt, cherished teacher, or random stranger that just looks nicer than you could ever be). Yep, they don't stay little forever.

It is also very possible if you have two that when the second child turns to the dark side it will be approximately at the same time that you are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel with the first one. When the elder child is leaving that stage they call the "terrible twos" (this happens sometime between the ages of four and never) all of a sudden you have to go through it all over again. And yes, I am speaking from experience. Vanessa is beginning to show some strong indications that she has indeed made a pact with the devil and has given up her sweetness and ability to mind for something far more important and enticing, such as a powdered donut.

I don't mean to scare any of you with a young second child or one on the way. I myself have three offspring. (I believe, however, that this is a strong indication of the high amount of crazy in my system.) The trials and tribulations that come with having more than one child is, of course, counteracted and overcome by the additional quantities of hugs, kisses, and "I love you's" that you gain. In the end, I don't regret having three babies. Sometimes I may wish it were legal to sell them on E-Bay, but I never regret them. They are the loves of my life, three separate pieces of my heart existing outside of my body. I realize they are not going to be these ages forever and I try very hard to appreciate each and every stage they go through. I just thought I should pass on these lessons of parenthood that I am learning everyday with you. Your welcome!

Who are you and what have you done with my hair?

You know that feeling you get the first time you wash your hair after a major haircut? That feeling of "Oh my gawd! Where the hell did my hair go?". No? It's just me? Well, whatever.

Today when I went to wash my hair I was in shock. Now, before you say anything, no, I did not wash my hair yesterday. It had been washed twice the day before and it was tired. Tired I tell you! Anyway, I went to run my fingers through it so the water could get to every strand and all of a sudden my fingers didn't feel anymore hair. It just stopped. It was almost as if I had had six or seven inches cut off a couple of days ago. At this point you might be thinking I sound a little nuts and I probably am. I am a mother of three girls ages five and under. That is enough to send even the sanest individual completely over the edge (and I was never the sanest individual).

But I digress.

For the last two days I have looked at my hair, played with my hair, brushed, straightened, curled, and pretty much obsessed over my hair. You would think that by today I would be used to this new, short do. I guess not. All of a sudden it became a very real fact. I no longer have hair past my shoulders. Now it barely comes to my chin.

Don't get me wrong. I still really like it. Even when I got out of the shower and my hair was wet it looked kind of cute. It used to look just...heavy when it was wet, but now it curls right away. I styled it in about two minutes. I used some curl enhancing cream and scrunched it up and that was that. I hope to get a new curling iron soon so I can replicate the Eva look that I left the salon with. And I already know I like the bobbed look when it is straight. So, overall I am happy with the situation. It just might take me a while to get used to the feel of washing it.

Let's try this again!

I'm not going to say our computer problems are solved because last time I said that I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I can say that the computer is working well enough that I can blog again. Thank god. I was really starting to miss it!

I mentioned in my last blog that I was getting my hair cut and I did. It is a lot shorter than I thought I was going to go but I really do like it. I didn't really have a plan when I went to the salon other then to tell Cindy I wanted it short and fun. When I walked in this magazine was right on top of the pile and I said, "That's what I want!!!"

The cut is very similar to Eva's. If only I could get her face and body as well......

The older girls also got their hair cut. Natalie has another short bob (I love her hair in a bob, I think it suits her face). Vanessa just got a trim around her face. They both look darling, of course! It is amazing how much older they look now, at least to me!

After the haircuts we went and had pictures taken at JC Penney's. They turned out SO cute. I can't wait to get them and show them off. We did the girls individual shots first before they could have a chance to get bored. They posed like beautiful little models. Even Allison got into the mood and gave great big smiles. Then it went downhill. Natalie was trying to cooperate for the most part, Vanessa was acting every bit her age, and Allison just got fed up with the whole affair. The group pic of the three of them is less than wonderful, but I got one anyway. At least it shows their true selves! The funny thing was my Mom kept trying to reason with Vanessa. "If you are good we will go do fun stuff after this!" I tried to tell her that that doesn't really work with a 21-month-old. It is all about instant gratification with that age. Telling her that we will reward her later means NOTHING! In the end we did get some really good pictures of them and even a couple with my Mom and I in them.

To end the day out we took Allison to her two month doctor's appointment. We still have been having problems with her congestion. She is now on another kind of antibiotic. Hopefully that works, but if it doesn't we are going to try soy formula to see if it has something to do with reflux. I hope it clears up and she is fine. I am so frustrated with the whole situation. All the girl wants to do is breath easily. Is that too much to ask?!? Other than that she is doing wonderfully. She weighs ten pounds even and is 21 inches long. That is about the 50th percentile in weight and 10th in height. That was always how Natalie measured too. My girls are destined to be shorties! The only other issue we're having is my milk supply right now, but I still can't talk about it without crying so I will have to elaborate on it some other time.

So. That is that. At least for now. Maybe, just maybe I will get to write another post before my computer decides to spaz out again. I updated my one a day blog also so check that out. It sure is nice to be back! Again!

Oh My..........Again!!

Another note from Mom/Nana.

Loni and Larry are still having trouble with their computer, and it seems that they are going to have to take it somewhere to get it fixed. Something is horribly, horribly wrong. So, Loni wanted me to tell you that until further notice, she will not be able to update her blog. She is still taking pictures everyday for her one a day picture blog, and will post them as soon as she can, and she will also continue this blog when her computer is working again. Please stay tuned, and check in once in awhile to see if the computer is back home where it belongs.

I'm baaaaack!!!!

I think we have the computer problems fixed...for now. Last night Larry reset the whole system to factory settings. Luckily I was able to get all my pictures off before they disappeared (when will I learn to save them to disc or print them out immediately?!?!). We had some sort of virus that kept making the computer freeze up or shut off entirely. It would take me an hour just to get the picture onto my other blog which is why I didn't do anything over on this one.

In the last week I kept coming up with things to blog about and then couldn't. Now I can and my mind in blank. Isn't that how it always is? Really, you haven't missed much. Allison is growing by leaps and bounds. She is such a chubby little cutie pie. Sometimes I just sit and look at her little face and her little hands and her little feet. It really is amazing to me how you can be just as enchanted with the third kid as you were the first.

Speaking of that topic, I have decided to put off the tubal ligation I had scheduled for today. I have tried to explain this to many people but I really can't. It is not that I want more kids...because I don't. It is not that I didn't want the ease of not having to worry about birth control...because I do. I just wasn't at the place where I could comfortably go in and have a lifelong procedure done. Larry was SO supportive. He told me that I shouldn't stress. That we could go another route for now and deal with this later. It kinda made me fall in love with him all over again. To have someone support you without questioning you is a great asset. He made me feel content in my decision. I am going in in a couple of weeks to get Mirena. I have heard great things about it from friends of mine who are using it. That gives us five years until we HAVE to make another decision on this matter.

The older girls are also doing great. Natalie is back in to the swing of things at school. She really likes going, which is a major relief to me. I was scared that after the holiday-cation we would have trouble getting her motivated again. Nope. She has been doing great. Vanessa didn't even have trouble going back to her children's day out program. She wasn't exactly thrilled for me to go, but she didn't cry and when I came back she was playing happily with her wonderful teacher and her friends.

I do have a quick story about my middle child. I picked her up Monday and the two teachers in the room were telling me how cute she was. She had been playing with a toy and a little boy named Mason was wanting to share but she wasn't too keen on playing with him. A lot of kids this age might get mad and yell or be mean or even hit. Not my kid. She took Mason by the hand, led him over to the other side of the room, got him interested in something else, and then snuck back to the toy she wanted. The girl is already learning how to control those boys! She is so sweet. Natalie might not agree with that one hundred percent!!!

As for me, I'm doing ok. I went shopping on Monday with Christmas money and replaced a whole bunch of my wardrobe. I was so sick of wearing the same things I have been wearing since high school. I needed a change! So I got new pants and jeans and shirts and even a few cute little dresses. I have an appointment next Tuesday to get my hair cut. I have been wearing make-up and jewelery again. In other words, I have started trying again. I got pregnant so quickly after I had Vanessa that I never really had a chance to rebound from it. Now I am! I am about at my pre-pregnancy weight and I would like to loose ten or fifteen more pounds. But I'm back to a size ten (can't believe I just admitted that to the Internet!) and I am pretty happy with myself for the first time in a long time. I really have a sense that this is going to be my year for major changes. Not only with my appearance, but with other things in my life as well. I am excited to see where it all goes and who I will be by this time next year. Wish me luck!

I will try to get my One a Day blog caught up as soon as I get Kodak reinstalled. I'm so glad to be back!

A note from Nana

Loni's computer is completely messed up. She will resume blogging as soon as she can. (signed her Mom)

The end of holiday-cation

I'm not so sure Natalie was ready to go back to school today. I asked her last night if she was excited to see her friends and teachers and she said that she would just rather stay on "holiday-cation". I knew exactly how she felt.
I was NOT ready for the alarm to go off this morning. It had been so long since we had to wake up to that annoying beeping. For a couple of weeks now I have been able to wake up to cute baby noises and little voices. There is no better way to wake up, is there? After hitting snooze one time too many we finally all got up. The girls had their waffles (Vanessa ate the whole thing AND has kept it down...progress!) and we got dressed and ready. Then I remembered that today everyone got to bring one Christmas present for circle time show and tell. Of course Natalie wanted to bring her giant Barbie styling head. I told her over and over again that the rule was it had to fit in her backpack and the styling head was just not going to fit. Her solution...get a bigger backpack! I finally convinced her to bring something else and she picked Vanessa's My Little Pony remote controlled car.
I didn't send Vanessa to her class today. With her tummy still being all messed up I thought it best that she stay home with me. For one, I didn't want to risk spreading the sickness around to the rest of her class. Also, I didn't want her teacher to have to deal with the kind of diapers this child is still producing. So Vanessa, Allison and I are camped on the couch watching a Winnie the Pooh movie. Well, it's actually just me watching it since Allie is more content staring at my sweatshirt and Vanessa is amusing herself by rolling up in a blanket.
Hopefully this nasty flu that has invaded our house has passed you all by. But if not, drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest!

One a Day

I have a new blog. Yep, that's right, one just wasn't enough!

I was inspired by a friend to take on a new challenge in 2009. I am pretty excited about the prospect of having an entire year documented in pictures. Let's hope I stick with this better then any past resolutions I've made!

Go here to check it out!