July 10th is a great BIRTH DAY

Just Me changed her password sometime over the past six months...

so I was unable to hack into her blog! Why would she do that?

She's in labor right now. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. It looks like c-section might be next on the agenda for her little man.

I love you JM and can't wait to meet that baby boy!! xxoo

***Update***

baby was born this morning! C-section. I'll write more when I have more details. for now I'm just throwing myself a pity party that I don't get to be there...

Sick...very, very sick.

I have three little petri dishes that go to school every day, (ballet, gymnastics, t-ball, and whatever else they can expose themselves to), and then harbor and grow a cocktail of germs and illnesses just waiting to be compounded by one another and then shared with us.

Strep has been confirmed. Enfluenza has been confirmed. Insomnia is at it's best.

N8 has come home early from work twice now (he doesn't take sick days so you know it's bad!) Tiny has missed school all week, Sweetie will have to miss her long awaited Dr. Suess and Pajama Day at school tomorrow, and I will continue to wear my pajama-of-the-week outfit, stained with antibiotics, Motrin, and cough syrup. Oh- and snot, don't forget the snot.

Strep Happens.
Medication Happens.

Enfluenza Happens.

For Everything else, there's the FINGER.

Umm...I think the Weather is a bit CONFUSED!

It snowed on Wednesday then again today!! And to quote Just Me, I'm not sure but I think hell is finally freezing over!! (not that I think Georgia is a hellish place, but they don't call it HOTLANTA for nothing!)

So of course we spent a lot of time outside in our grossly inadequate gloves, hats, jackets, and tennis shoes so we could build a snowman and take pictures (LOTS of pictures)! The kids were so excited--it was almost magical to them, you could see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. And I never would have believed it was all real unless we had the pictures and videos to prove it! It's been an amazing week!

Just Because!

Christmas is now less than 2 weeks away...and my mind is constantly racing with everything I still need to do! So I decided to just take a break and post some pics of the reason why my life truly is sooo perfect.

DAD- this IS my gratitude list! ; )

On Becoming a Mother

"...my point is that I haven’t been the mother I always wanted to be. I’ve been overwhelmed by my emotions through these early years. I’ve often felt like I was treading water, biding my time until the waters weren’t as rough so I could finally swim towards shore where I could touch bottom and catch my breath. This week, I’ve begun to notice a change in the current. The water hasn’t been as choppy–or perhaps, I’ve finally built up the endurance to handle it."

-Sleeping Mommy

I can soo relate to this quote! (sleeping mommy, I love you!) Since returning home from our summer vacation, I have been working incredibly hard at becoming the mom I "want to be"-- TRYING to have family dinners together, TRYING not to lose my patience every 5 minutes, TRYING to embrace my children's silly behaviors and LAUGH more often...
I'm sure my children getting older has provided new freedoms, but at the same time, I also feel like I'm better at what I do because I've had years of practice. I truly feel I can handle my CREW with a certain degree of confidence, and you know what? I'm really proud of my little family.

Remind me of this post on days I feel I'm losing it, OK?

On the other hand, who can blame me if I drop the ball completely?? I mean, c'mon, I had a CRASH COURSE in becoming a mother!! 3 kids in under 3 years--wth were we thinking?! Other (sane) moms out there give themselves time to adjust to motherhood-- space them out a bit to ease into their new job but NO, NOT US!--those of us who didn't think that far into the future ended up with a litter
(insert: paid advertisement for birth control!- you're welcome)

p.s. did anyone notice NOT US can be rearranged: NUTSO?!
hmmph. I'm sure there's a reason for that.

OVERLOAD!

This past week has been a frantic one as I tried to get everything ready for our trip out west. Packing. Laundry. Cleaning. Shopping.

Want to know what I've accomplished thus far? Laundry (some), Cleaning (some), Shopping (some), Packing (NONE), Haircuts and Makeovers (CHECK), Photoshop to leave my fellow bloggers with some fantastic pics? (CHECK).

So here you go. My friend cut my hair a couple nights ago (after getting makeovers, VERY fun night) but I didn't get any decent pics. So (of course) I spent my midnight hour taking self photographs in the mirror then photoshopping the crap out of them so they look decent.

Also about an hour before getting the haircut, we tweezed my eyebrows! (ouch) I'm not like Erika who has a set of tweezers in her SUV and is OBSESSED with tweezing her brows! However, after our little makeover it was suggested and voted upon by all in attendance that there is a reason one should become obsessed with thin eyebrows!!

*I'm reminded of A League of Their Own when the girls are at charm school and the Mademoiselle looks at one of the players and says, "eyebrows! thin and separate!" or "there should be two, not one!"

And thus the tweezing began...what do you think?

There was hair EVERYWHERE! Ick.

WHY do I get myself into these things??

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Speaking of haircuts...take a look at what Tiny did to herself--

I know, it could have been worse...but the little imp said "it was too long", and I only found out because there was CHUNKS of hair all over the house! T I N E E E E Y ! ! !

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I hate being gone for nearly a month. It's hard on the kids, it's hard on me. Worst of All, daddy has to stay home due to unforeseen work complications. I HATE it when I have to separate N8 from the munchkins, it breaks my heart...

which explains why last night when I came to bed my heart simply melted:


Sigh...another trip home without my husband.

At least he'll have Damn Dog to keep him company!

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Hope you have a SILLY JULY and

miss us TONS!!!

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Aaah--I almost forgot--

Reva Reva BoBeva, BananaFana fo Feva...

we are HOTT and
DAMN I'm gonna miss you!!

And to my girlfriends in Utah--

I CAN'T WAIT to come and play!!

see ya on the flip side.

A Boy's Gotta Learn Some Time...

Is it wrong to blog about my son discovering "shrinkage"?! Well, I think Erika said it best when she said, all is fair in parenting and blogging.


AND...WELL, IN THAT CASE...

We just got back from the pool when I told miles he needed to go potty. He pulled down his swimming trunks and laughed!

"hey mommy!! mommy!! look!! look!! my penis got fat!!!"

(and impressed that he learned something new, I giggled and said, yes, Bud-duh, that's what happens when you go swimming and the water is cold--)

He laughed some more and said, "hey mommy!! my penis has water in it!! And that makes it fat!! hahhahaaa!!!"

(um, not exactly son...but we'll save THAT talk for another day! Like-- the day you get married!!)

A Tiny Haiku

Tiny's bed did bounce.
She fell off, she bumped her head.
She cried, mama came.

Then she looked up at me (between sobs) and said,
"you have dirt on your eyelashes?!"
no.
"yes you do. (sniff, sniff) it's eyelash dirt!"
no. it's mascara.
"scare-ah? (little sobs) you have scare-ah on...your...eyes?"
yes.
"i don't like that. (sniff and sob) it makes me cry (whah!)."

No, I Did Not Slap Her!

Anyone remember the Funkwatch '07? (click here)

Apparently there was no flesh eating virus or killer mosquito ants that secretly attacked without notice...nope! The girl cherub brought it with her! Sweetie hadn't been feeling well this week (I could tell because she was *overly sensitive and tired* haha--those who know me will know why I laughed at that) by Wednesday night she had a fever, crying that her tummy and throat hurt, by Friday afternoon she was lethargic and vomiting. By Saturday morning she was peachy keen and happy as ever...but by Saturday night, she looked like this:

*she no longer has any symptoms of being sick, just

this 'slap yo mama' red marking all over her face and chest. my dad (aka willy, D.O.) said it is Fifth Disease, an immune reaction that occurs after an infection has passed.

Unfortunately the rash may last for a couple of weeks, leaving plenty of time for social services to come knocking on my door...

Kids Bored This Summer?

HA--send them to vacation bible school!! My kids now sing rodeo songs about Jesus and do line dances to the theme

"Avalanche Ranch: A wild ride through God's word!"
whoo whooo. it is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

*hey, at least they aren't home with me!

*they had such an amazing time!

Sweet yet Sassy-this is for you:

SADDLE UP YOUR HORSES!! (sing it with me!!)

And the HITS just keep on-a-comin!

Now Tiny girl is sick, as is the boy. I took them both into the clinic to discover (are you ready for this?!) the beginning stages of pneumonia!! WHOOT. The little generators kept their beds warm all night long, coughing and talking in their sleep...

They'll get better just in time to give it back to Sweetie; then she'll give it to Daddy; then back to me and round and round we'll go. Whoo hoo.

Here's a pic from last night though...Tiny is an absolute angel when she sleeps!




**********UPDATE saturday night*************

too late! Sweetie has been screaming in pain for a good part of the day (and sleeping the rest). I took her to urgent care and discovered her acute ear infection has returned, as well as the extremely high fever and the anxiety she so graciously expresses---

*I just might be spending more time online than ever before.

Either that or you can find me passed out on the floor amongst 1+ sick kid(s), used kleenexes, dried vomit, ear drops with a sticky lid, children's Motrin and Tylenol that has spilled while trying to draw up 10mL of syrup at 3 o'clock in the morning, damp washcloths now starting to smell like mildew, sweaty blankets, the trusty rectal thermometer, cough syrup, and inhalers that cause my children to literally climb the walls---

m-i-c-(c-ya real soon!)-k-e-y-(why? because we love you!)---m-o-u-s-e!
mickey mouse. DONALD DUCK! mickey mouse. DONALD DUCK!
...delirium is good fun, you should try it sometime.

I guess I've been away from blogging too long...

I was lying in bed last night (with my daughter who had a fever of 104) laughing at the thought of my life playing out like a good blog post. I looked around at my arsenal of Kleenex, an ear thermometer, an oral thermometer (and even one rectal if you must know), Tylenol, Motrin, cough syrup, numbing drops for little ears, Gatorade, and three barf buckets...

I could not stop giggling. (the word delirium comes to mind but whatever) My life was playing out like a good blog post, then I began thinking about thinking about my life playing out like a good blog post while thinking about it...and my mind just went round and round--kept myself entertained all night long as I nursed my little girl back to health.

good times.

Gotta post while the gettin' is good!

I've been told latey how my blog is all about griping, complaining, venting, bitching, and overall just plain depressing...and people in blogworld must think I'm never happy. This is not true. I feel pretty happy. Really, I do. I like to vent. You know, it's like when you get together with your girlfriends, talk and laugh about the things that bother you, then you can go home and not take those frustrations out on your family?? --Plus I like to have people on my side...you know, my blogworld people. We're all friends here, right?

Anyway--in an effort to prove my happiness, here's some happy news with some happy pictures:

ANOTHER TOOTH! Can you believe it?!

WE ARE SHARKS FANS!! Bite me!

OH- and we are adorable! (Bite me once again)

The park is FUN! No--The Park is TORTURE!

WE ARE ADORABLE and we know it!!

btw Erika, your birthday is over--stop spending money!