I need a bigger plate!

I think I am a glutten for punishment. Seriously. I must like to feel overwhelmed, because I am constantly putting myself in that position. For example, I have three kids, 5,3, and 1. That alone is stupid busy. Two of those kids have dance and preschool classes, plus at least one or two playdates a week. To be fair, those playdates are as much for me as them, b/c they are off my back playing, and I love all their friend's moms. Or is it they like my friends' kids? Either way. Then I decided to make good on the promise to get them a dog, because we have been promising one for two years, and Maia held up her end of the bargin to pee in the potty and become much more self sufficient, and Celia is firm on her feet so I ran out of excuses. My lovely in-laws dropped the dime on the dog, and I am now stuck with another mouth to feed and butt to wipe. She is integrating into the family quite nicely, but it is still a lot more work! Then the hubs and I are in the process of closing on yet another property to flip, so there is all the work off in the wing. In order to prepare for that, I have been scouting the internet and clearance racks at the home stores to get what I need as cheaply as possible. Someone stole the kitchen cabinets out of the place, along with the copper wire and parts of the heating/air unit, so I need to replace all of that. Being the smart girl I am, I realized my kitchen cabinets that I dislike greatly but are generally benign to most people would fit perfectly in that house, so off to Ikea we went on Monday to purchase cabinets. I just finished assembling the last one yesterday. BUT, before we can install them, we have to lay the new laminate wood floors we just bought. So basically, my house is trashed, as you can see from the pictures, my house will continue to be trashed for the next few weeks, and oh yeah, next week we start daily swimming lessons for a month! It's spring baby, and the projects, they are a flying! But, thankfully two out of the three girls love to "help", and that third girl still takes two naps a day, so I should be able to get some stuff accomplished during the day. Last note, James passed his broker's liscense today! So now that his classes are over, that aspect should be better. Of course, we've replaced his one class two evenings a week with about 7 projects to work on simultaneously. But it'll be beautiful when we are done, and we'll make some money in the end, and the girls will hopefully be able to keep afloat when the lessons are done long enough for me to dive in after them. That is the end goal. Still, with all the projects surrounding me, I think I need a bigger plate!

Story time from Maia

I will try and post a video of her telling her stories, because they are sooo funny! She is turning into quite the narrator. Here are two of her lovely little quips:

Yesterday, in the Lowes bathroom: "Mommy, do you know that when I go to sleep my weewee (code word for her privates) turn purple, and my butt turns orange?"

Today, before nap, I told her a story and here is her story she told me: "There once was a girl named Rapunzel, who had long hair. It was yellow. And there was a witch and a tower. And a prince who had a magic crown that turned other people into dinosaurs. He turned her into a princess. She was wearing a pink dress and had little boobs."

That's my girl!

Happy Birthday Celia!

Good Lord! The baby is turning one! Is this even possible? It's much more touching since this is my last baby, unless DH's vascetomy fails or I have a tryst with the mailman. Anyway, Celia turning one is a really wonderful thing to celebrate. She was a TOTAL suprise, and I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to parent three kids at this age range. She has been the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful little girl that anyone could ask for (except for the not sleeping thing). She has really shown me that suprises can be a total blessing and to accept life's little gifts as something that will grow into a beautiful thing. So thank you Celia, for deciding to come into our lives. I hope that we can help you become the fabulous person you are already turning out to be!

Poor Baby, or First Trip to ER

It was bound to happen. I mean, three kids 5 and under really push the likelyhood of a trip to the ER quite high on the probability list. Well, Miss Celia got to be the one to break me in. She had been sick with a cold for about a week, and was puking a lot because she was choking on her snot. Poor kid. She was also cutting a tooth, which I am happy to say broke through today, but that was also contributing to the puking. Anywho, monday morning came and there was no wet diaper. And monday morning continued with no wet diapers. So I called the doctor who said she was probally dehydrated and to take her to the ER and have them rehydrate her. So I did. Almost two hours of waiting and we finally got back to the room, and thankfully we got my neighbor as the PA and she took great care of us. C had to have a chest x-ray, blood tests, urine tests, and then and IV. The IV was HORRIBLE. She is such a strong kid, that they put her on a restraint board, which she broke both legs free from. First try was a bust, second was a blown out vein, then we took a break so she could calm down. Then the chest xray, back to the room for another iv attempt. It took 4 nurses and myself to hold her down and get her one in. Two people worked on each arm at the same time and FINALLY we got one in. It was absolutely horrible to see her like that, and I was crying as well. She pretty much passed out after the IV went in since it was nap time anyway and she was so tired from the fighting. She slept for three hours, and then when she woke up she started fighting her iv. She bit the line, she bit the board taped to her wrist and hand, she beat herself in the head with it. Thankfully we only had to deal with this for around 45 minutes before it came out. Two days later and she is much better. She is running around, chasing the dog, and generally harassing everyone and creating destruction. It really makes one appricate the parents of the poor sick kids who have to do that day in and day out for months. So I will take a little dehydration due to a cold any day rather than have to do that for something much more serious! Thank goodness everyone is okay, and mommy can know that her baby is happy and healthy.

A mixed bag....

It's currently Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, the air is warmer than it's been for quite a while, and there are so many things to be happy about. This weekend was, and still is I suppose, since it's not over yet, quite the mixed bag. The good: Saturday was Celia's first birthday party. Most of my family was able to make it, and it was a great time. Every time there is an event like this I walk away in awe that my children, and myself, have such an amazing family. To know that there is such a tremendous amount of love and support is really just amazing. The slightly stinky part was that Celia is getting over a cold/ear infection/tooth breaking and Maia was in the full force of feeling like crap. C would not eat the cupcake, but I'm putting a pic up from the day before, when she had one and enjoyed it immensely. Maia was able to pull it together to ride with us to go pick up Celia's birthday present from Grandma and Granpa, a DOG!!!!! She is the most adorable puppy ever. Her name is Wuzzy, and she is a 3rd generation Labradoodle. She is calm, almost TOO calm, which is such a blessing since our house is anything but that. And yes, I said "she", which means poor James is now even more outnumbered. At least one of our fish is a boy.

We woke up this morning planning on just hanging out with the new pup, but the day changed it's mind for us. My mother in law called, and I thought she was just checking on the girls. That was not the case. Unfortunately, the girls grandpa has had a possible heart attack. We got to the hospital as quickly as we could, and stayed for a few hours, but Maia peed over the edge of the toilet and all over her clothes, and while I had enough forsight to bring a clean dress, I did not bring her underwear, and they were all worn out and needing a nap. So right now we are back at home, and James will be leaving again soon. Details are sketchy, but Jerry had been feeling dizzy all day Saturday, and by 5am he woke up MIL, Darlene, and told her he was scared. I believe there was chest tightening, dizzyness, and nausea. He's been sick with what the girls now have, but 4 rounds of antibiotics had done nothing, so his body is really weak right now. Jerry is an amazing grandpa, and the girls think the world of him, and he is so important in all of our lives. We are all hoping for a great outcome and a speedy recovery. Once details are known, I'll be sure to share them.

UPDATE: The cardiologist is saying that all the tests have come back negative so far! This means it is not a heart attack. Hopefully this is all stemming from whatever he had, and they can get him on some super strong IV antibiotics. Great news!

Proof!

It has been challenging, but I finally have video proof that Celia can, indeed, walk. She has been walking for a month now, but every time I took out the camara, she would sit down. Then, last week Celia was walking and I got the camara going, she proceeded to take a few steps, then slam head-first into the coffee table, busting her lip, so that footage was not really postable. This time I got it though! It is a good indication of what most of my days are like too , with the other girls playing and what they do to her. As you can see, Maia was doing some things that Celia didn't like in the video! Revenge is sweet though, and Celia tried to flush Maia's favorite sparkle shoe down the toliet on Tuesday. Right after Maia went to the bathroom, yet before the toliet had been flushed. Yeah. She really has a facination with toliets for some reason, so we knew it was a matter of time before that happened. Maia managed to grab her shoe from the pee-filled water before it clogged the toliet. I was in the other room, and Maia brought the shoe, still filled with some water, to me. Good times! They really do keep me on my toes, and the days are never boring. You find yourself saying things that you would never EVER say in any other circumstance. Which brings me to what I am going to attempt on the blog here. My friend and I were talking about the crazy one-liners we say, and I said someone should post about it, or write a book of one liners. So, there will be posts now and again that is just the one liner. You'll have to guess who did what, or what the heck they were doing. Please share with me you're own crazy one-liners. So, here is the one for today:

We do not lick the walls.