SAHM

Last night I slept with three children. Nate was in the closet as usual, Ashley came down at 4am and stuck her feet in my ribs, and I had the baby moniter in Emma's room so she could call me if she needed pain medicine (she had a ganglion cyst removed from her knee yesterday.) Then I woke up at 7am to Camille slamming my door and getting loudly angry because she didn't get to snuggle with us before I said it was breakfast time.

The two middle girls continued to have issues and fighting over who sat by mom at breakfast, who got conditioner first, who got out of the tub first, whether they rinsed hair with a cup or lying down, who got lotion first (are you getting a common theme here), what they wore, what they could eat for snacks, whether they rode in carseats or not (seriously--like I ever let them ride without), in the car over what they had written on ziplock bags several days ago, and on and on and on. No wonder it's 9:30 and I want to go back to bed.

My brother said to me when he got up, "no wonder all those stay at home moms do drugs." I laughed and said, "Yeah, maybe I should try that. Pick me up something on your way home."

P.S. Ashley just told me with her best pouty voice, "Mommy! You always do that! Hop on the computer quick so I can't have a turn! And, I want some Gatorade!" What a glamorous life I have.

Life at Grandma's house

If cousin David is in the bath, everybody wants to get in the bath.


They sneak into Grandma's bed when we aren't looking:


Camille and Ashley are not good people to share a bed with, unless you like little toes and elbows in your ribs. Grandma is kind enough to share her room with them. They are supposed to sleep on little foam pads on the floor, one on either side of the bed. It takes a good hour of giggles, whining, crying, tantrums, and at least a dozen trips back into Grandma's room to get them to sleep. OR, Grandma lies down with them for 15 min. and they're gone!






Ahh, spring in Denver. Yet another violent weather mood swing, 77 degrees the previous day and we were at the park with friends, then... Unfortunately for me my car was parked outside this time and I had to dig it out of several inches of snow to go somewhere. My van is in Dallas, so Deb very generously lets me drive her Denali, and let me tell you that thing is HUGE! You can fit a lot of snow on the hood of a Denali, and it takes a serious wingspan to get it all off!


Nate is almost 7 months old, and getting better and better at sitting up. He babbles mama now, and dada, and loves to blow bubbles. He also enjoys sitting in his chair and smacking his hands on the counter. He hasn't been sleeping as much as I'd like though, we are going to work on that as soon as I am not sharing a room with him.


I sleep in Jenni's room downstairs, she was kind enough to move out for me. It is nice because it has an attached bathroom, and the closet is big enough to be Nate's room. Emma was roommates with Jenni in the sewing room, but last night she was fed up with our loud movie watching and after stomping out of bed to tell us she got no respect she moved to a bedroom downstairs.

Deb got a new puppy, which the kids absolutely adore, and they are a little terrified too, which I find hilarious. We had fun thinking up and voting on names. The girls liked "Snort" from "Are You My Mother." It was Camille's number 1 vote. We also voted on Scout, Fergie, Maggie, Juno, Sparkles (Camille's number 2), Sophie, and others. I think Scout is winning, but it's not official yet. Bash is obsessed with the dog and carries it around like a little dolly. She has to hug it at least fifty times before bed. Deb is almost as obsessed as Ashley, and has several doggie outfits already.

I guess I'll post my funny videos later, they are taking forever to load and I'm wasting precious sleep time.

in limbo

I have lived out of a suitcase since--well, I don't remember really. I think it's been 3 weeks, and I'm not done yet. My mom has been so nice, but the stress of trying not to overwhelm her is getting to me. Living with us is like living with a tornado, and as usual I'm having trouble keeping up. Not to mention that single parenting is not my favorite. Justin started in Dallas on April 14th, and he has been putting in such long hours and traveling so much that I probably wouldn't have seen him much anyway, but still.

I'm saying my goodbyes slowly to favorite places and friends. Last week we went to Westlands Park, where we took Michelle and our cousins. Then Saturday we went to the Southridge Rec Center, or the "lazy river." It occured to me that since I no longer own a house in Highlands Ranch, from now on (or whenever my card stops working) I will have to pay per kid to swim there. The girls had a blast. And everytime I drive west I look out and sigh. I really will miss those mountains.

I've been reading Love and Logic parenting books to try and grasp at threads of control and keep my sanity. I've made little improvements and just today came across a trick I think will work nicely with a little attitude issue a certain child of mine is having. Anyone who knows the kids could make a very educated guess. She has been nicknamed by our family friends as "the hand grenade" because one minute you are playing with her and the next she blows up.

I'm looking forward to organizing my kitchen, and having our family whole again.

Cute Birthday Girl!

We had a great birthday party for Camilly this last Sunday night. Grandma really pulled through, she did all the work because I was in Winter Park with friends until Sunday afternoon. Thanks Mom! She made a darling butterfly cake, as requested by Camille, put together a hot dog (and hamburger) dinner also by request, did most of the gift shopping and all of the wrapping, and she decorated. Camille was just beside herself with excitement!

She got a "just like me" American Girl Doll, and it really does look just like her. We made her start with the smallest gift and work her way up to the biggest, and you should have seen her nervous excited wiggling when she finally got to the doll. The box shape and size are familiar, so I think she knew what was coming!


Grandma also made cupcakes and let the girls decorate them. I don't know how she does it, cooking with the kids is not my favorite--little fingers in everything, little feet under you every time you turn around. I'm all about speed, hurry up and make the food so we can eat! Grandma lets the girls help her in the kitchen all the time, and they love it! They also love to eat their creations, or at least the good parts of them.

And this picture I just like. A little rest from the rough play they had with the balloons that were strung from the chandlier.

Happy 6th Birthday Camille!

You are an eager student, a sensitive girl, a little moody, but just precious when you get it into your head that you want to help out at home. You keep your room neat as a pin, and your little treasures organized. You have a fun laugh and love to play rough with Dad, and you are growing up way too fast for my taste!

SOLD!!!

Phew! We sold our house. The offer came Friday, and is being finalized today. We did pretty well, it is only a little less than we hoped and I think there might be enough to redo my new kitchen counters and tile the backsplash--but we'll get to that later. The close date for this house will be April 28th, that is only three weeks! I can't believe this is all coming together, and our time here is running out fast. A few more things I'm going to miss:

*People who love my kids calling me and asking to watch them.

*"Scrap" Weekend with my girlfriends. We managed to get one more in this last weekend, and I'm really going to miss Winter Park and my friends! I hope I'll still get to go to the next one.

*Purple Mountains Majesty--What on earth will I look at? The view of the mountains gives me such a sense of home and peace, I'll really miss them!

UNDER CONTRACT!!!

We bought a house, or at least we have it under contract and are closing May 15th. It is beautiful, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Our home here has had tons of showings, but no offers yet, so we are hoping that works out as smoothly as the house hunting did. Check it out! That red dining room where they painted right over the pretty faux paneling is my first project.

Emma's Notes

Emma is such a grown up responsible girl, sometimes I forget she is still fairly small and I'm too hard on her. She is very bright, and a great writer. She leaves notes for everyone, everywhere. Recently she put a post it on my mom's door documenting how many cows she saw in my mom's open space. It was broken down into a mother cow and baby cow count. She wrote me a hate note once because I wouldn't let her use my special "Primary" markers. This one was to her teacher while we were house hunting in Dallas. It's about getting her money in for a cow's eye dissection their class is doing.