Just Another Tuesday

No, Johnathon isn't home. This random picture was from his last trip to Illinois. I just thought I would show proof that I do in fact have a husband. ;)

I'm pretty sure I'm over this whole 'We're strong, we can handle being long distance' thing. Don't get me wrong, it's soooo much better than a few months ago when the girls and I were in California and only seeing him once or twice a week, but this sucks too.

I'm just a cry baby, huh?

I suppose I am just ready to be a family again and actually be able see, touch and be with the man that I married. Long distance is a challenge, but if two people can do it, it's us. We seriously should write a book on the subject because we are able to maintain such a great relationship while doing it...minus the little tiff last night over Facebook. tehehe!!

My mom is still in the hospital but doing fabulously!! She is getting her temporary chest catheter placed today at 1pm and then we will figure out when she can go home. Hopefully that will be soon.

Johnathon will be here exactly one week from today and I couldn't be happier. The girls ask me 'How much longer, Mommy?' every.single.night.

The girls? Oh, they are great. After a few rough nights, Madelynn slept 11 straight hours last night and only woke because Allison was yelling 'Mooooooooooommy, where arrrrrrrrrrrrre you?' at 7am this morning. Thanks Allie-gator!!

The twins only seem to want to color lately. Their other toys seem boring, I guess. My little Madster is like my shadow and just enjoys following me around and doing what I do. I pulled up a chair the other day and let her help me with the dishes, AKA: play in the bubbles and splash me!! She loved it.

I broke my favorite serving tray. :( It was this dark plum purple and I used it for everything. I'm currently on the hunt to replace it. It's depressing!

I've been making hair bows like a crazy person. I currently have almost 200 of every size and color you could imagine. I just haven't had the time to photograph them all and put them up on Facebook yet. Sorry! I did add a link to the Facebook page under the header. If you ever need a cute and cheap bow...you know where to go! :)

I think making the bows was the only way to keep my mind clear while everything was going on with my mom. It really helped to have something to focus on.

Homeschooling starts in a few weeks and I am starting to FREAK OUT! I've always had a fear that I would be inadequate at teaching my children. I'll be pulling out the curriculum soon and making copies of our worksheets, pre-reading some of the books, figuring out coordinating craft projects and preparing myself for this next chapter in our lives. I pray it all works out. I'm really looking forward to this.

I've asked my dad to build us a set of 3 little lockers and I am very excited about that. Each girl will have their own little cubby to place their backpacks, which will be full of current projects that they are working on and any color pages (or the like) that I give them for 'homework'. The girls see their cousins going to school and wearing backpacks, getting homework and riding the bus. They keep asking me when they will get to do all of that and I feel bad every time I say, 'Sweetie, you aren't going to public school. Remember, Mommy will be your teacher.' It's important to me to make sure that they don't grow up resenting me or wishing that they had gotten to experience certain things.

I can give them backpacks, no matter how unnecessary they are. I can give them homework, no matter how redundant that may seem. I even told them that one year they may be able to ride the bus to vacation bible school just for fun!! It seems to be working for the moment.

I bought a new book the other day, Married to the Military. It's a fantastic book for anyone who is dating or married to a man in the military. It's for all branches so it is very general and touches base on everything. A lot of it I knew, a lot of it I didn't know. It's educational, easy to read and sometimes it's just nice to see and hear someone acknowledge what you do for your husband/family.

Enough for now. xoxo

Notes

Life is just about all I can handle at the moment and even that is testing my limits. I tend to be more of a type-A person, wanting to conquer the world, but lately I feel as though it is conquering me.

Never will I regret having my children so close in age. I find it to be a huge blessing and seeing them all play together makes all of the chaos worth it. However, I have my moments when I want nothing more than to hire a babysitter and run! Run away and hide in the nearest coffee shop or book store for just an hour...or 6?!

We've never really gotten to the point where we needed to hire a babysitter and just thinking about it instantly makes me want to start a list. What tips, tricks and notes would I leave her? What are the little quirks that make my children tick?

- Don't expect to sleep in any later than 7:30...and that is sleeping in.

- Madelynn will wake up first, which will wake up Alyssa in return. Make sure you grab Alyssa first, she will want to be the one to open Madelynn's door and place the first kiss on her cheek.

- Madelynn is not interested in eating first thing in the morning, but Alyssa will expect it quick. A simple bowl of Kix will satisfy her...for now!

- Somehow I have raised a terribly spoiled 13 month old. She will want to be held and soothed for awhile...let her!

- There is only one thing that Alyssa wants to watch in the mornings, Dora the Explorer. Ask she which one she wants to watch or you will feel her wrath!

- Allison will yell for you when she wakes. All she wants to know is that you are down stairs waiting for her and that she is able to take her time waking up. She needs those extra moments in her room by herself.

- Not only will Allison want breakfast right away, but Alyssa will want seconds. That's okay.

- Madelynn will be ready to eat at this point. She can have a bowl of cereal, oatmeal (no sugar added, maybe a little honey), dry Kix, or some sliced fruit.

- Try to turn the TV off. The girls play so well when it is off and they need to be pushed or they will sit on the couch all day long. Madelynn may want to play with them, make sure they are nice to her.

- I keep a stash of panties in the utility room for Alyssa and Allison. They sometimes dribble and refuse to put theirs back on. You will also find a pair of shorts for each of them. Those are used when Meha, their friend, knocks at the door wanting to play.

- Make the girls put their toys away before they get out a new one. They will argue, but stand firm!! You'll thank me for it later. Oh, and NEVER pick up their messes. They are three and are perfectly capable of doing it themselves.

- Ask them what they want for lunch. If they agree, then they get what they want. If they continue to argue, they get what YOU want. Problem solved. No drinks until they eat at least half their food.

- As soon as you lay Madelynn down for her morning nap (10 ish), it's craft time for the older girls. On my shelf you will find paint, crayons/markers, glue, scissors, colored paper, glitter and anything else you could possible need.

- All three girls will want a snack when Madelynn wakes up. Cheese is a favorite!!

- Make sure you vacuum now so you won't wake the girls later while they are napping.

- Also, hold off as long as you can on the nap. They will sleep longer the closer it is to 2pm.

- Make one dinner and no exceptions. If they don't like what they get than they eat NOTHING else until breakfast. You should have no problem with this, but be prepared!

- Bedtime is our favorite time of the day. Baths, brushing our teeth, stories, singing...make Madelynn a part of this, she loves it.

This post was more for me than anyone else and it was nice to walk through my day and think of how well I know my girls. It makes me appreciate them so much more! Being a mom to 2 three year olds and a one year old is HARD WORK!!

I wouldn't change it for a thing!

I will...

...never be prepared for my daughter to bring me a 'frog' she just caught.
aka: a clump a dirt, but whose keeping track?!

...try to remember to check my kitchen sink for clothes before bragging about being 100% done with laundry.
{Allison had an 'accident' and put her dirty clothes in the sink...gotta love her for trying!}

...never again mistaken silence for the fact that the twins may actually be napping.
{They climbed over their gate and weren't even in their room!}

...do my best to NOT fold laundry in the living room and then leave it unattended for even a second.
{Thus giving ample opportunity for the twins to destroy every single article of clothing.}

...learn from my awkward moments and quickly put on my bra the second I wake up in the morning.
{Who knows how many people are going to ring your door bell on any given day.}

...never again take for granted having my husband home.

...do my best to never turn down a chance to snuggle with my babies.
{The day will come when they no longer want to be in the same house, let alone in my arms!}

...stop crying long enough to enjoy our last winter here in California.
{It's very emotional for me.}

. . . . . . . . .

11/07/10 I am thankful for new life.
My neighbor had her baby girl on Saturday. She is small, sweet, precious and perfect. I got to hold her for a bit yesterday and it gave me chills. There is just something so joyful about a newborn baby sitting softly in your arms. This is what life is all about.

11/08/10 I am thankful for lazy days.
I love that I have a husband who doesn't mind if raising three kids is just too much on some days. I love that within 5 seconds of walking through the door he can understand just how hard my day was. As he stands there looking at a destroyed living room and piles of half folded laundry, he simply instructs me to go upstairs and lay down.

11/09/10 I am thankful for inspiration.
There is nothing I love more than being a mother. Being a mother of three girls...well, that is just the icing on the cake! I adore all things frilly, pink and feminine!! After making the girls' Halloween costumes, I have decided to make them some more dresses. I have found some simple tutorials online and am really looking forward to it. I've also been looking around for some new hair bows for them as well. I just couldn't find anything like what I wanted for a price that I thought was fair...so I have been making my own. The girls like helping me and picking out which colors I should use. :)

11/10/10 I am thankful for long distance phone service.
I'm not sure how I would get through the day if I couldn't pick up the phone and call my mom 50 times a day...literally! Just knowing that her voice is 10 seconds away calms me.

God Bless

{ Thoughts }

Johnathon is no longer out to sea, but he might as well be! He is out of the house by 5am and walks back through the door around 8pm. It makes for very long days for the girls and I. Especially with this cold gloomy weather we are having, (which I secretly LOVE) it is hard to get out of the house and take our trips to the park. I've tried to fill our days and evenings with fun things like...painting bird houses, making paper plate spiders, baking, more baking and organizing toys and clothes.


The bird houses tuned out great and really showed the girls' different personalities. Alyssa completely covered hers in paint. Not one inch was left untouched. Allison took her time and made designs on hers, but left some of the side blank. It was a lot of fun.


This week alone we have made dinner rolls, french bread, homemade cupcakes & icing, banana nut bread, and doughnuts. We've been busy!! I also made my own colored sugar to put on top of the cupcakes and it turned out fabulous!! I just mixed a little sugar with some of my gel food coloring in a Ziploc bag and viola! It turned out great and the girls have enjoyed a spoonful of orange sugar in their cereal each morning. I think I will keep a nice stock of pink sugar (aka: fairy dust) on hand 24/7 from now on. *If you use liquid food coloring then you may need to let the sugar sit on wax paper after it is mixed so it can dry out.


In many ways, I feel like a single parent. It's too late when Johnathon gets home for him to deal with any maintenance around the house or help out with anything, so it's just me. I deal with everything from a loose toilet seat to heavy lifting to putting laundry away, which was his only chore! :) I did draw the line when it came to the dead rabbit on our back patio. It was headless and had some 'unmentionables' hanging out of it's neck hole. GROSS! I made him dispose of it around 9pm last night. He is so good to me. :)


Johnathon did a little fancy work and got a duty switch with a friend for Halloween. Now he will be able to join me in taking his 3 little beauties around. We are all so excited!! We also found out that he didn't win Sailor of the Year. :( Afterall, he can't win every time. ;) He is still just as motivated and working hard.


Like a light switch, Madelynn decided to take her sippy. I'm thrilled and will no longer offer her a bottle. As of right now she is still on a baby food/oatmeal mix for every meal. She has 5-6 'meals' a day and they are usually 2 jars worth of baby food. She gets milk 3 times a day, but I only allow water in her crib. It seems to be working! She is also in love with blueberry puffs and gets giddy when she sees me grab them. She is pro at crunching them with her front teeth and devouring them. She is not as good, however, at eating the small part of a candy wrapper that she puked up yesterday!! I'm assuming it was from a candy bar that one of the twins snuck out of the Halloween candy bowl while I wasn't looking. More than likely they dropped it in the play yard with Madelynn so I wouldn't see the evidence...ornery little girls!

A Whole Lot of Nothing!

Our days are winding down here in Illinois and we seem to be at our busiest...isn't that how it works? We are trying to squeeze in last minute visits to all of our friends and family before we say good-bye for months. I've been terribly behind with taking pictures of the girls {especially Madelynn} and am determined to make up for that!! I took the twinkies outside this morning during Madelynn's nap to snap a few...

Allison & Alyssa

Yesterday, {coincidentally on Labor Day} my sister-in-law, Becky, and her fiance, Josh, welcomed their beautiful baby boy into the world. My newest little nephew, Colton Ray Farler, made his grand entrance @ 1:57pm weighing a whopping 7lbs 14oz and measuring 20.5 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and, from what I see in pictures, is gorgeous! We are taking the 4 hour drive down to see him on Friday and I can't wait to get him in my arms!!


Madelynn is 11 months old today and I am choosing not to accept it. :)

She is talking more and more lately...Dada, Papa, Bobble, Bubba, and Up are her favorites, but she is saying so much more!! She stands for a few seconds at a time, but I feel as though she is waiting on her daddy to get here before she takes her first step! Theirs is a bond unlike any other. She is also eating about 8 jars of baby food a day along with her 3 bottles. She chows down on puffs and crackers to hold her over until her next meal...She's an animal!! We have tried a few table foods with her and it's only a matter of time before we have 3 spaghetti loving girls!!

I know it's goofy, but since the day we had our first meal as a family of 5, Johnny and I have laughed about having 3 little naked redheads chowing down on spaghetti. Making a HUGE mess and having to be rushed upstairs for baths.

Alyssa & Allison are enjoying their cousins being in school for the simply fact that we can now sit at the table on work on their 'school' as well. Of course that is still just coloring, talking, singing and using flash cards at this point...they love it nonetheless. They amaze me more and more everyday when I ask them to write a certain letter of the alphabet and they happily oblige.

The thought of homeschooling them is on my mind more than ever right now. As everyone is starting school {some homeschool, some public} I am starting to doubt my ability to educate them. I was never homeschooled, and neither was anyone in my family. This is unmarked territory for me and it's scary. My parents are supportive, but still don't understand our reasoning behind it. #1 on my agenda when I get back to San Diego is to join a homeschooling support group. Maybe I can make new friends and learn something new!


Johnathon gets here on Thursday and we are so excited to see him! He took his E-6 test for the first time last Thursday. He felt confident on his ability to answer the questions, but is unsure whether or not he will make it due to his rate being pretty locked up. {Meaning...they can only let as many people as they have room for advance. If there are no openings, no one advances! Regardless of how well they scored on the test.} We should find out sometime in November.

Alyssa

Things are changing in our lives.
Just like the seasons, things can only stay a certain way for so long.

All things come to an end and we must witness new beginnings!

Allison

The WINNER of the funny face award goes to...

Alyssa!