today is Tuesday right?

I don't believe I mentioned this but yesterday I moved all the Christmas presents in our room to make some room for the crib mattress to go in the corner so that Peanut will have a bed of her own to sleep in. She has been waking up for 2 to 3 hours a night for the last 2 weeks and we are both exhausted. Well last night she started out in her little bed until about 1am. Then she woke up and instead of walking to our bed she started walking through the house crying. I got up and got her to bring her to our bed. I quick nursed her (I know I was backsliding) and then handed her over to J's side of the bed. She quickly went to sleep and slept the rest of the night!

This morning after taking the two older kids to school Red, Peanut and I went to our friends house to play. Her oldest turned 4 at the end of October so he is about 7 months older than Red but they usually play pretty well...except for today. They had this love/hate relationship they basically hated each other the whole time we were there until I said it was time to go. Then they clung to each other for dear life. BOYS. We were the first to leave because we needed to get to Peanut's doctor's appointment.

At her doctor's appointment Red was a holy terror...I thought about making the appointment for when he was in school but that would be in January and I wanted to get it done so I went today. Since she was a new patient I had so many papers to fill out and Red was climbing on the wheelchairs and playing with the drinking water and bringing Peanut down with him. So annoyed. I even told him at the beginning when we got there if he could be a good boy I would take him out to eat for lunch. Well that didn't happen. Ok back to her appointment. The doctor checked her motion in her hips and he said that looked good. She showed him how she walks and then he had her get an xray. That pretty much freaked her out. They had me take her diaper off and lay her on this cold metal bed and then hold her chest and legs down. The xray showed that everything looked good. The doctor wants to see her in 2 months just to make sure everything is the same or better. That is so good to know that there isn't anything majorly wrong with her hips.

As for me I have decided that I need to start working out. I am so active in the summer and I feel good during those months and then it gets cold and I shut down most phyiscal activity. I did a 20 minute work out today and will probably be really sore tomorrow but tomorrow I'm going to do 30 minutes. We'll see if this helps me. Just wanted to document when I started this journey.

Well going to go serve dinner that just got done and then it is family movie night with Babes in Toyland! Oh yeah couch snuggle time :)

Race for Education

Today was the day that the kids ran the track for an hour. In keeping with the 100 days of fitness that J and I are doing I walked with them and even ran a few times to help motivate them to make it to the finish line to get one more lap checked off. GG ran 10 times around the track and Monkey did 11 times. I probably did about 8 considering I cut through the field to catch up with my running kids! But I walked for a whole hour! Not bad for a pregnant mama who just got back from a women's retreat and barely got any sleep ;)

Speaking of the retreat it was a blast! Before we got there we went to an outlet mall and I got some really good deals on kids clothes. I bought GG and the baby girl matching skirts for 99 cents and got Red a shirt and pants for 1.99 each. I also got myself two maternity tops. The speaker at the retreat, Stephanie Fast, was truly amazing her testimony about what God has done in her life unbelievable but totally God. If you have heard her before you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't heard her I highly recommend hearing her testimony on DVD! I could tell you some of the things she talked about but I couldn't do it justice you have to hear it from her. I also got a little homesick, too. It didn't help that when I called to tell the kids goodnight Red says, "Come home mommy. I miss you." and Monkey was crying because he wanted me...heartbreaking.

Lastly, I am really excited, I won a contest. The one I told you about on Adventures in Babywearing and encouraged you to sign up for. Well I won! I bet you are thinking that you should of entered, huh?

100 Days of Fitness...

The town that Jeff works in is doing a 100 days of fitness for all the employees of the town and any of their family members. So Jeff and I signed up together. You mark off shoes indicating that you have done 30 minutes of working out or have walked/biked/ran a mile. As you can guess I am on the walking track! They give out prizes too...not that I think I am going to get one. But it is good motivation to get off my behind and exercise. It started April 10th and I have been able to mark off 7 shoes so I have walked 7 miles since that date only one less shoe then Jeff! It has been so beautiful outside that walking has been a lot of fun for both me and the kids. I hope to get 20 shoes marked off by the end of May and after the 100 days so over I hope to have done at least 40 so we'll see!

The Bikin' Family

I don't know if I mentioned that I got a bike for Mother's Day. Well some friends of our have twins that are Monkey's age but when they were little they had 2 co-pilots for their bikes, which they gave to us! J installed the base on each of our bikes and we kept one of the seats. We just have to switch it back and forth when we take Red on bike rides. Yesterday right after J left for work I packed a water bottle, diaper, wipes, and a bike lock and the kids and I left our house. We biked to a park (approx. 1 mile) played for awhile then got back on our bikes and went to the library. We were at the library about an hour then we rode home. We are trying to build up the kids stamina for Disney! Monkey was struggling the last few blocks. It is so much fun for me to ride with the kids and it is exercise!!!

This morning Red got into my shorts drawer and pulled out all the clothes, just as I was about to correct him he started kissing me. How can you be mad at that?!?! It was so precious. Got to love the baby kisses.

Camping

Well that was an experience I don't think I would like to repeat! The outside noises were so loud. It wasn't the nature sound that bugged me it was the cars and planes. Then the ground was so hard I kept smacking my elbow on it when nursing Red, I had forgotten in the middle of the night we were not in our bed...oops.

Today was a good one though, even with the lack of sleep ;) I took Red on some errands while J did yard work and the kids played. We went to buy some baby gifts. Our friends from church had their first baby...HadababyitsaBOY!!! Then I got my prescription and Red was sleeping by the time that was done so instead of taking him to the last place I dropped him off at home because it was on the way and picked up the other two. This evening we went to the Forest Preserve and J fished and the kids rode their bikes while I pushed Red in the stroller and got some extra exercise. You know being a mom of 3, there really is never any down time so you are exercising your legs and arms and everything else ALL day long. But I love those guys so much. Funny story from tonight...when we got in the car I was smelling poop. But it wasn't Red cause I had just checked his butt. J suggested that someone might have stepped in bird poop. When we got home I checked Red's feet and mine. J then checked Monkey's and realized that there was poop on his shoes, leg and hands. So gross. The shoes went in the garage and he got wiped down with a baby wipe and then sent to the tub immediately, poor Monkey he always find the gross stuff!

Hubby's birthday

The kids woke up super early because they were so excited to give daddy his present, which was hid under their bed so that they could bring it to him. They each made him a card and we taped them to the gift. He laughed as soon as they brought it into the room. It was tennis rackets for both of us, it is hard to disguise them, so he knew before he even opened them. We got up and he left for court. When he got home we went to the park and the kids played where we could watch and we played tennis. It was a wonderful workout. We are planning on going every morning we can! It was so much fun even though I'm terrible at playing! Then we came home and everyone got bathed, GG was covered head to toe in sand because it just stuck to her...I wanted to hose her off but we were at the park :) Then we went out for J's birthday lunch at Chipotle. It was yummy as normal. Oh yeah, before he left for court I told him some lame thing about him needing to fix the stroller so he would look in the truck of the van...where his real present was a guitar! I think we really surprised him with that one. He was really happy about getting it but he doesn't think he will ever get to learn how to play so he wants to take it back. That kind of made me sad because he talks about playing praise and worship songs in our living room with the kids and I really love the thought of that. He said that once he gets on days he would have more time to learn but I think come fall he would have time when the kids are in school. I don't know we still have it for now. So that has been our day so far... we all just woke up from naps which was so nice. We are going to be going into the pool shortly and then maybe to a park to see daddy?!?! We'll play that one by ear.

I was going to update last night before I went to bed but I was just too tired. J was off of work Monday through Wednesday. So here is what we did. Monday after Monkey got up from his nap we went to the Library. We haven't been there in a while and the kids really enjoyed the time there. We started out coloring pictures and the next thing I knew Monkey had written his whole name on the page. I was so amazed, because I really haven't worked with him. Just the other day his teacher sent home a page to learn how to write the e, I believe that is the only time I have sat down with him and did letter writing. His fine motor skills have really taken off since the beginning on the school year, I can totally tell when he colors pictures, he tries to stay in the lines now. I guess I should start writing more letters with him since he has the interest. My friend Julie has a little boy about Monkey's age and he is starting to write too. So when they are ready there really is no stopping them. Then we picked out some books and movies and headed home. J and I got the movie Super Size Me. There was one part I thought I was going to throw up but I didn't thank heavens. I guess you could say it motivated us to start working out. So we took "fat pictures" neither one of us are fat but we wanted a before picture to see how we change at the end of 6 weeks. I got 20 minutes of a work out before Red needed me and J got 30 minutes. Tuesday I met my friend Silva at the mall and we walked for a hour and a half. I was not as sore as I thought I would be but I could feel the work that I had done the night before! That afternoon we hung out playing with the kids all day. Then Red and I went to the LLL meeting, came home and worked out again. Yesterday Red and I went to Bible study, got the kids, came home had lunch and then Monkey and I went on a date. We went to Starbucks to get some hot chocolate and a cookie. I let Monkey pay, which he thought was cool. Then we sat down and I took his coat off and explained to him why we should take our coats off inside. As I went to sit down this lady says, "I just want to compliment you on your mothering skills. I like the way you are interacting with your child." I was a little shocked and said thanks. You never know when someone is watching what you do or say. When we got home GG wanted some one on one mommy time so we popped in the movie Ice Princess that we got from the library and snuggled on the couch. It was a cute movie and I got to hold my little girl while I watched it with her. I love my kids so much. Then last night J and I got into a discussion because he said he wanted to go snowboarding at least once on his days off...first we don't have the money for him to go every day off and secondly that is our family time. So basically it came down to I could do things on my own but I always want the kids to be with us. Which is true I like having my kids with me, how else are they going to learn how to act or behave if you keep them locked up with a babysitter???? Don't get me wrong I am all about going out with my hubby on dates which the kids *need* to stay home but other than that I like having them with me. Well tonight the kids have Cubbies and I was going to take Red shopping for J's Christmas presents but I really don't really want to be out in the cold. This morning we dropped the kids off at school and went to 3 different grocery stores and the to get Red's 6 month pictures taken. Yes he is 6 months old TODAY! I can't believe it. Tomorrow GG has her Thanksgiving program at school and so does Monkey at different times (yay) J and I are going to help with that, the kids have costumes it should be really cute, I can't wait. Then at night we have our couples small group Bible study (my dad and Roberta are babysitting, they just got back from CA and have gifts for the kids) and Sunday is Red's baby dedication. And they have next week off of school, a whole week of not getting up at 7am should be restful. Later

First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Roberta! (Grandma) We started a few new things today. The first one is a listening chart for GlamorGirl. She gets a sticker when she listens the first time we tell her to do something. The second new thing is exercising. After we ate breakfast we exercised. GG really enjoyed doing this and when we were done she said, “Do again!” I told her tomorrow. She followed everything I did. She liked the jumping jacks the best. Then I gave Monkey a bath and GG wanted to get in with him so I let her. She normally takes a shower with me so that she can't hurt Monkey. But today I sat him in his chair in the bathroom and then took my shower. When I got out GG had brought in almost every toy from her toyroom for her little brother to play with. It was cute but it took her forever to put them all back. Just imagine a bathroom full of toys! Tonight GG and I vacuumed the whole house I used the real one and she used her toy one. Then she helped me make dinner, she just mostly watched. After J got home from work we rearranged GG’s room to make room for the new dresser that some family friends gave us. Thank you! Now each kid has their own dresser and I can shut the drawers. Now I am going to call it a night.