Things My 3-Year Old Says...

"She giggles when I step on her..."

Sheer panic set in when I heard that phrase!  I never actually did see what it was that Piper called stepping on her, but everyone was happy ad smiling.

Poor Finley-Piper thinks of her as a baby doll that she can play with and Finney just loves every minute of it!  Finney is bound to be one tough cookie when she gets older.

A Taste of the Future?

So I look at this weekend as a taste of what could be.  Jeff left Friday morning to celebrate a childhood friend's bachelor party.  I'm "single-momin' it" for the weekend.  Luckily for me, I've got awesome kids.  Sully and Finley actually took a two and a half hour nap this afternoon-might have been longer if I hadn't had to wake them to get Piper to a birthday party.  After days like today, I can't stand the fact that I'm not with them more!

It's funny-there are pros and cons to everything.  Daycare can't seem to get them to sleep at the same time-hell, days I wonder if they aren't struggling to keep them eating on the same schedule!  Somehow (despite their early arousal this morning) they were on an awesome schedule today...I wonder if we might be better off in this instant keeping them home.  Then on the other hand, I don't think Piper could live without seeing her best bud Veda every day!

And Piper...I swear she is just smarter than the average bear!  She is GREAT at manipulating Jeff and I when we're all here together, but when it's just me she's a little angel.  I suppose I probably shouldn't admit that until Jeff actually comes home-I've probably just jinxed myself for tomorrow morning!

Things have been a little chaotic lately, to say the least!  It's funny how things work out sometimes.  More than a year ago I threw my name in the hat for a stay-at-home job.  Three weeks ago, I finally got the call.  Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be enough to sustain me to stay at home with the kiddos.  Oh well...I have hope that the work will pick up!  The downside...three kids + two jobs = one very tired momma!

Fun Fact of the Day: Diaper Rashes Suck

Diaper rashes truly suck!  Jeff and I are both fair-skinned people so, of course, we produce fair-skinned people.  Our fair skin makes us that much more susceptible to skin issues-Jeff even had a little skin cancer removed two years ago.  One of those "issues" is diaper rashes. So far Sully has been pretty lucky but Finley certainly takes after Piper.  A little pink diaper rash goes to red, angry and blistered in a matter of hours.  With Piper, I literally tried every rash cream I could find (including every prescription I could manage to get the doctor to write).  The only thing that has truly worked is my home made cream...cherry Maalox and Aquaphor!

Try it...it works!

Why Do Boys Pee Standing Up?

So the other day I took Piper to her ENT for a follow up on the tubes in her ears.  We had an incredibly long wait that included more than one trip to the public bathroom on the second floor of the facility.  During one of these trips, Piper turned and stood facing the toilet, put her hands down near her fully clothed crotch, swayed her hips back and forth and smiled, "mommy, this is how boys pee".

I'm not sure if I should laugh at the perspective of her three-year old observations or cry at the fact that my three-year old knows that boys pee standing up.  Do all three-year old little girls know that?  I'm all for an open door policy, but I'm not sure that includes the bathroom door.  Of course, to make it easier for the kids at daycare to get into the bathroom and to remember to go, the bathroom door is always propped open (there's a separate bathroom attached to every classroom).

Her observation was followed by the question of "why"...why do boys pee standing up?  I was somewhat floored by her observation and question that the only reason I could think of was "because they do".  She sees me change Sully's diaper, so I know she knows that boys and girls are different.  I just wasn't ready for her question...I can only imagine what she'll come up with next!

Our First Trip

We survived our first trip out of town!  We always made a point with Piper  to start traveling immediately.  In fact, we took our first eight hour trip when she was just eight weeks old.  Boy was that easy compared to last weekend.

We made our way from Lexington to Cleveland last Friday.  Per our request, none of the kids were allowed their normal naps in hopes that they would sleep the majority of the trip.  When I got off work I frantically came home and finished packing (which, I think I packed enough clothes for the little ones to have stayed a month), loaded the car and picked up the kids.  Unfortunately, this process took so long that Finley passed out at daycare.  When I got there, I couldn't actually wake her up but managed to convince her to eat a bottle in her sleep.  Sully on the other hand was awake, but so tired he couldn't eat.  Then there was Piper who was so excited that she asked nearly every five minutes for the first hour if we were there yet...classic!  What once was a five hour trip took us a little over six hours.  Everyone slept a good portion of the way and it was really just the last hour that Finley was a little on the fussy side.

The weekend was awesome.  We had a great time visiting family, old friends and the zoo.  Piper had so much fun playing with her cousins, she passed out face first in the middle of the living room floor Saturday night (and no, no alcohol was involved on her part!)  The party went on around her until close to 3 am.

The trip home is where the fun came to a screeching halt!  Piper cried for nearly the first forty-five minutes that she didn't want to go home (and when I say cried, I actually mean screamed).  When she finally stopped and fell asleep, Finley started; shortly there after, Sully chimed in.  About an hour and a half into the trip we made our first stop to feed the little ones.  They ate...a little.  Then we got back on the road which started the sequence all over.  Piper cried.  Finley cried.  Sully cried.  It was just a matter of time before the dog started howling and mommy felt the need to cry.  Lets just say that my stomach isn't quite as "iron" as it was before I ever got pregnant.  I get carsick, thus the desire to  cry!

Three more stops, a few more tears, a little tylenol and some very loud music and we were finally home!  We survived and we know now we can do it-we just may wait a while before we voluntarily do it again though.

Countdown to Mobilization...

I'm all for progress, but mobilization?  Not so much.  It looks like it could be any day now that Sully and Finley will be crawling.  I'm just not ready...

With Piper, we couldn't wait for her to start crawling.  I guess with my first, I was a little on the competitive side...always wanted her to reach those firsts before when the milestone charts suggested she should.  Piper didn't actually make her first move until she was nine months old.  I set her down at drop-off at our daycare and she just up and crawled over to the toy she wanted.  From then on, she was mobile.  Sully and Finley were born more than six weeks early.  Their birth age makes then just over eight months old but their gestational age puts then at six and a half months.  With this in mind, I was sure I had at least two more months before I had to worry about re-baby-proofing the house.  With "re-baby-proofing", I just mean baby-proofing, as in to start.  As far as baby-proofing for Piper, we put gates up at the top and bottom of the stairs and put plugs in all of the outlets.  I'm positive that I'm going to have to do a little more this time around.

For starters, we've got to come up with a plan for all these little toys (doll shoes and crowns, pizza toppings, itty-bitty little plastic forks and knives).  And then, there is securing things to the walls-someone is bound to be a climber!  Don't forget the bathrooms.  I once tried to put a thing on the bathroom door so our lever-style door handle couldn't be opened by Piper...didn't work.  Come to think of it, it may still be on the door knob (nonfunctional of course...).  It's definitely a top priority at this point; especially with the possibility of grandma and grandpa coming to care for our kids while we attend a wedding our of town.

I just keep asking myself, how could this have happened (so quickly)?  I love it that our little people are progressing so well.  It was such a concern that they would be developmentally delayed due to their gestational age-and I'm not saying that they aren't or won't be.  Honestly, Finley is still struggling to sit-up on her own.  How can she possibly be ready to crawl when she can barely sit-up.  I actually told Ms Lyndsay, head teacher in their room at daycare, that I think she CAN crawl...I just can't see it!  One minute she's next to the couch and the next she's pulling stuff out of the lowest rack of the toy bin.

Jeff has himself convinced that this time next year will be easier.  It may be easier, in that we won't have to be so regimented with our scheduling and feeding.  I just don't think he's fully taken mobilization in to account. Once Sully and Finley are mobile, life as we currently know it will be over!  We are totally outnumbered at this point (unless of course we can train Jude to act as a parent).  It won't take long for Piper to learn to use Sully and Finley as distractions...send them in different directions for Jeff and I to chase so she can get into trouble!  It's only a matter of weeks...the excitement is building...it's the final countdown!

Fun Fact of the Day...

Socks aren't just for feet anymore...they're good for holding fruit snack too!  Between the dog and our kids, there are random snacks hidden in the strangest places in our home.

Is the Grass Really Greener on the Other Side?

So I'm still working on the design for this particular blog...so if you notice it looks a little different this time it's because I'm still playing with the formatting.

This last week was a tough one to say the least. Some weeks I'm confident in my decision to work full time and keep all three kids in daycare. Other weeks I know I'm doing something wrong...

I work 36 hours a week for a small construction company as the contract administrator. When you take into account what I pay for childcare, after taxes and health insurance I bring home a whopping $8.00 a month...yes, I did say MONTH (it's not a typo)! After weeks like this I just have to ask myself why?

The week started on the wrong foot when I woke up Monday with very little voice. By Tuesday, not only did I feel like crap, but my three-year old couldn't hear me yelling at her to put her shoes on. Jeff finally made me go to the doctor since I've been fighting what I insisted was allergies for more than two weeks. Result? Bronchitis and a sinus infection for which I needed over $80 worth of prescriptions. Part of the money pulled from my paycheck each week for health insurance goes to an HSA account...unfortunately, it takes one to two weeks for it to actually be available for me to use. (We're still paying off medical bills for when the twins were in the NICU, so money doesn't stay in the account long since we get "reminder" notices weekly-at a minimum). Needless to say, paying for the prescriptions was a pain (to put it politely).  Luckily some prescription cough medicine induced sleep has me feeling a little better now.

I find it's always when I feel the worst that the kids are the most difficult. They must be able to smell weakness.  Sully and Finley are both teething. In fact, Finley's first tooth finally broke the surface this week (YAY FINNEY!). The only problem with this is that, like their older sister, they both get ear infections fairly frequently. It's been hard to tell if they're pulling on their ears because they hurt or because they just have ears. Throw in the normal fussiness of teething and we're constantly on the fence considering a trip to the doctor. This particular week we added in a day of pasty poop and a blistery red bottom (aka "monkey butt") so I gave in and hauled them both in to the pediatrician's office. Result? Nothing! Finley might have had a little GI issue causing the pasty poops. The doc suggested that I keep them both home the following day because Finley was pooping and Sully might poop. Now why would I keep my kid home-what are the actual symptoms?  Is she throwing up? Nope.  Does she have diarrhea? Nope. Is she refusing to eat? Nope-eating like a little horse.  Is she acting sick? Nope. Does she have a fever? Nope. And why in the world would I keep Sully home because he "might" get what his sister has.  If I were to use that logic I might as well never leave the house again!

Work is definitely work. Some days I love my job while others I...don't. I miss my kids when I'm at work and when I take time off I worry about all the stuff piling up on my desk. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing both jobs half-ass. I'm typically an all or nothing kind of girl. I'm not sure it's fair to anyone.

Once again I find myself torn between continuing as a full time working mom and staying home. There are so many pros and cons to each choice. They say the grass is always greener on the other side-in my case, I wonder if it really is...

$2.00 Drama

It's amazing the little things that can set off a three year old.  Seriously, if you've never had a three year old, you wouldn't know...I don't think I ever did.  I have come to the conclusion that the age of three is WAY worse than two!  My sister too has three kids.  When they were younger I remember watching her oldest son throw some pretty wild tantrums.  When he was little I was still in college, so I was pretty clueless.  I remember thinking "why doesn't she just give him what he wants" (yes, like I said, clueless).

Mother's Day is just a few days away and (like all holidays-big or small) daycare is having a party, "Muffins with Mom".  As usual, Piper needed $2.00 to contribute for art supplies for a gift and the cost of the breakfast food.  I think they must be learning a little bit about money at daycare-because Piper's little ears perked up when I asked Jeff yesterday if he had any singles that I could take with me to give her teacher.  She just had to know where her two dollars were so we carefully placed them on the kitchen counter before bedtime.

This morning we got up and went through our usual routine.  Piper remembered the money before we got in the van.  Now, I don't think I've ever seen a child more excited about two dollars than she was this morning.  She showed it to everyone one our way into the building this morning, Miss Renee, some random dad, Miss Monica, Miss Theresa, and (finally) Miss Vicky, her teacher.  Miss Vicky took the money and crossed her name off the list.  I spent my usual couple of minutes sitting with Piper and we said our good-byes and I went on to work...

Flash forward nine hours to 5:00 pm...aka, The Pick-Up.  She gave me the best greeting as she ran across the room shrieking "Moooooooommmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy. Of course, when she reached my arms I said "Piiiippppppeeeeerrrrrrrr!!!!!" and picked her up and lifted her over my head.  It's a pretty regular greeting that I look forward to-especially after a very long Monday.  The long awaited greeting was immediately followed by "where's my two dollars".  Apparently, she had absolutely no recollection of giving the money to Miss Vicky.  Here's the rest of the conversation:

Piper: "can I have my two dollars?"

Me: "no, remember you gave it to Miss Vicky"

Piper: "is it in your pocket"

Me: "no, it's not in my pocket"

Piper: "is it in the van"

Me: "no, Miss Vicky  has it"

Piper: "is it in my cubby"

Me: "no honey, we gave it to Miss Vicky this morning for the Mother's Day party"

Piper, now screaming incoherently, stomping and flailing around keeps yelling something about the two dollars.  Now, I totally could have fished the five dollar bill out of my pocket and given it to her to get her out to the car...but, I didn't.  Instead, desperately trying to keep my cool, I explained to her once again that Miss Vicky had the money for the party and that it was time to go pick up Sully and Finley.  She nearly refused to leave, until of course, I told her she could stay there and daddy could come back to get her and walked out of her classroom.  It wasn't exactly pretty, but she made her way to the van...she can't pass up a trip to the baby room.

I don't always succeed with staying strong and not giving in, but today I did.  It was one small win against my three year old in a sea of losses, but I'll take what I can get!