Window Shopping...

I took the boys to Petsmart today both because we needed a new pump for Ben's little aquarium and because we needed something to do and Petsmart is always a good way to kill 40 minutes or so.

We stopped at the reptiles and Ben was all, "I want a snake!"

And I was all, "Never happening."

(seriously, I hate snakes. There will never be a snake in my house if I have anything to say about it)

Then we started looking at the lizards. Lizards are kinda cool, I have to admit. We checked out the bearded dragons and some various other ones the names of which escape me right now.

Then we saw the chameleons.

Those things are so darn cute!


They are $50 and of course probably another $50 for supplies to get started. I told Ben he could save up his allowance or he could put one on his Christmas list. Seriously, they are just the coolest and most adorable things! Ben was also excited about the prospect of feeding it bugs. LOL. I wonder if they eat stink bugs? If so, we'll never have to buy food for it...

Hrm... anyway, I've decided to use it as a research project. While he is saving up his money, I told him he needs to learn everything he can about them... how to take care of them, what they eat, etc...

Could be fun! Or a colossal disaster.... I guess we'll see. ;)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.... will there be enough... time?

Working on Jonathan's birthday party planning a little here and there. It's so flippin' hard to work on this stuff with all the kids around. Going to need to put in some serious weekend time over the next couple weeks. Just finished making the invitations... wanted to order them and save myself an hour or so, but couldn't find anything that was even close to what I was looking for. Anyway, so that part is finished.

My friend Lynne is whipping me up what I'm sure will be the world's most awesome Chicka Boom Boom pinata for the older kids to take a whack at. (she asked me if I wanted the pull string kind or the whack-it kind and really? What's a pinata that you don't have to beat into oblivion, really?)

Aunt Krystyna is on the cake, which I'm sure will be equally awesome and will be a fazillion times better than the Safeway cake I was going to otherwise have. HA! (seriously, wait until you see this thing... you will be BLOWN away... I don't even know what it's going to look like yet and I can say that with confidence)

So I'm on decor and goodie bags. Need to make a Party City run sometime here in the near future... but can't decide if that's the kind of mission I want to do with all the kids in tow. UGH. All I know right now is that there will be palm trees and coconuts involved in some way, along with everything I can find that is alphabet themed.

LOL! Party planner, I am not. It will eventually come together though. I do know one thing. One way or another, there is going to be an inflatable water slide because a birthday party at the end of August = crazy hot.

First Shoes...

I took Jonathan to get some shoes today. (after he scorched his little feet on the playground yesterday... so sad!) It was quick and painless.

To say he hates them would be an understatement. If I put them on him, he immediately plops down and sets about pulling and tugging at them and banging his feet on the floor until he succeeds in removing them. Hrm. I guess this will be process. ;)

One Month to Go!

The great pumping "experiment" continues. I really and truly can't believe I have made it this far and even if I have to limp to the finish line, dragging the silly breastpump behind me, so help me, I will make to one year.

And I'm almost there! I do 3-4 pumps a day still, depending on Jonathan's napping and what we have going on. Getting pretty much 24 ounces right on the nose every day. Most days, this is enough to cover what he drinks, but every other day or so, I run out before it's time to pump again, so I thaw out a bag from the freezer.

So basically, my freezer is still RIDICULOUSLY full. I am going to be thawing out bags for a LONG time after his first birthday, I think. Months, maybe? Depends how the whole milk transition thing goes.

At any rate, almost there! Ready to be FREE and the countdown is on! :)

Helper Jonathan....

This makes me feel like I am being watched... all the time... and very closely. It's a little unnerving, frankly. LOL.

Jonathan is 11 Months Old!

Dear Jonathan,

The countdown to your big birthday is on! Today you are 11 months old. However, I'm pretty sure you are actually 11 months old going on four... or at least, you think you are. All you want to do is hang with the big boys and be right in the middle of whatever they are doing. (sigh) Your biggest brother thinks this is awesome and we sometimes have to reign him in because he likes to wrestle you to the ground. Your middle brother... notsomuch thinking your interruptions are so awesome.

Anyway, so 11 months old. This month, I really feel like I am starting to have a handle on what kind of little person you are. You are DEFINITELY outgoing and social. You LOVE being around people, even if you have to test the waters from my arms for a little while first before really warming up to them. You especially love other babies and kids.

What you DON'T like is when people wear costumes. Yikes. Hopefully you get over that before our next trip to Disneyworld. HA!

You are beginning to sleep a little better and I can see glimmers of the possibility of a full night of sleep on the horizon soon. Hopefully by that magical 14-month mark that both your older brothers needed to reach for this milestone too. That would surely be so nice. :)

You are our WALKER... almost runner, even, this month... now you walk everywhere. No more crawling. (sniffle) You can also stoop, squat, and turn around all without losing your balance. The cat does not appreciate ANY of this.

You LOVE the cat. Whenever you spot him in the house you exclaim some random gibberish and point to him. Then you head off in his direction. I have to wonder about the cat's intelligence though because he never moves more than five feet before he lays down again. You do not give up easily. So now we're just working on how to be gentle with the kitty cat. LOL.

You sometimes do the "all done" sign, which you have just recently figured out means that you can be released from the unbearable prison that is your highchair. Occasionally, this is also accompanied by an utterance that sounds like "ah dah", but it hasn't been often enough to convince me that's it's actually an intentional word(s).

You picked up a pencil and scribbled on paper yesterday, which I thought was pretty darn awesome for an 11-month-old. Proof you've just been watching the rest of us way more than we've realized. You also scribbled with chalk on Ben's chalk wall and have perfected all three steps necessary to feed the cat. (except for opening the can) LOL!

You are definitely headstrong and determined, traits which will probably serve you well as the youngest of three boys.

OH! You are getting a new tooth finally. Oddly, it's a fang. Apparently this is some kind of family trait because your cousin got teeth in this bizarro pattern too. I think we're beyond the point of it bothering you, but it probably explains some of the REALLY poor sleep a few weeks ago.

Getting ready to finally move you out of your infant seat. The other boys were long out of that thing by now, but it has just been so convenient to let you fall asleep in it and carry you in to continue the nap. That rarely works anymore, so time to retire the baby bucket. You'll be riding in your new big boy seat any day now... as soon as I get around to installing it. This will require you to take a nice nap one day soon here...

Thankfully, napping has gotten more regular and predictable. You usually take 2-3 naps a day. One about two hours after you wake up. Another one a few hours after that. Depending on how early you get up from #2, you may take a short third one in the late afternoon. Bedtime is always around 7 or so and you are in a nice routine that you seem to enjoy with your bottle and ducky blanket. :)

OH how you love Duckers, by the way. You carry that blanket around in your mouth now and we joke that you look like a Retriever puppy. LOL. Interestingly, you are not picky about WHICH blanket you have and will latch onto Simon's blue puppies just as readily as you do your own yellow ducks. Simon does not appreciate this either. HEH. (Eventually though, I'm sure the two of you will find some common ground, be buddies, and gang up on your bossy oldest brother) ;)

So that's you a month away from one-year-old. This year has flown, even though it seemed like it wouldn't, at times. You're a fun, funny little baby and we are so glad you completed our family! We love you, Jonathan!

Love,
Mommy

Naturally...

The big boys are currently both obsessed with and petrified of bugs of all kinds. They squeal and scream and run when so much as a housefly comes near them lately. I know this is partially brought on by our new, more bug-friendly surroundings as well as the run-in with the swarms of cicada killers that took over our yard and our friend's yard a couple weeks ago.... but ya'll... it's bad... very bad. So bad that they will not even get in the car on the side that is parked nearest our garden, for fear that something will fly near them.

(sigh)

But then, on the other hand, they also both love looking at books about bugs, Ben's collection of real bugs that are encased in plastic cubes, and any dead bugs that they find around the house or outside. (when I can even get them to go outside these days!)

So, we set out this weekend to find a "bug zoo".

A bunch of people recommended the Irvine Nature Center, which is about a half hour's drive from our house. Sounded cool and it was FREE FREE FREE! Can't beat that... so off we went today.

The Nature Center itself, is AWESOME. It's one small building with a ton of neat exhibits and hands on stuff. I have to admit when I read about it online, I thought there was a little more to it... but even as it was, it was cool and we spent a good 40 minutes in there. After that, there are hiking trails with various other exhibits to see... owls and birds and chipmunks and whatnot.

The boys had an absolute blast until we tried to get them out on one of the shorter hiking trails. They wouldn't go NEAR it. There was screaming and screeching and tears and so we packed it in right then and there. I'd say they screamed like little girls, but actually, I don't even know any little girls who can scream and screech as loud as they did, nor do I kno any little girls who would scream and screech and squeal when faced with a totally benign slightly wooded dirt walking trail. (In fact, I know a certain niece of mine who would LOVE LOVE LOVE this place.) Ben, however, was quite certain that a black widow spider was going to jump out from a tre, yell "Boo!" and gnaw on him after which a cobra was going to come along and finish him off. No lie... he could not be convinced that these were not creatures we would run into. He was also afraid there would be poison ivy. Man-eating poison ivy, apparently. Simon is basically afraid of whatever Ben is afraid of, so he just joined right in pitching a fit about giant snakes and lizards and cicadas we might encounter.

Anyway, if it hadn't been for that, I have to say, the place was so cool that we were a breath away from springing for the annual membership. (there is a cool natural playground thing for kids and some other perks that are only for members) We told the boys we'd go back when they were feeling braver and, frankly, when it's a LOT cooler outside. (I was silently quite happy they weren't feeling the hiking on the trail thing today!!)

To his credit, Ben DID touch a snake, a toad and a frog!

Harvard, Here He Comes!

Jonathan just went into the mudroom, opened the cat food drawer, selected a can of food and placed the can (upside down, like do when I'm trying to get the food out of it) into the cat's bowl.

Genius, I tell you! (HA!) Now... I wonder if he can be trained to bring me coffee in the morning?

What is Home?

We've been in our new house now for a little over two months. While it is home in the sense that it's familiar now and doesn't feel like we are waking up/living in a vacation house or a hotel... it still does not feel entirely like home to me. I find myself missing our old house more than I'd like to admit. I know, that's weird, given that we had outgrown it so much it was bordering on ridiculous... but truly, I was never really NOT content in that house... other than silly things like the frat boys next door on the weekends and the fact that I wanted to redo the kitchen.

I had the "bursting at the seams" situation mostly under control and was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel because the baby toys and clothes were on their way out the door. Plus, I took a certain amount of pride in the fact that we had two and, subsequently, three kids in that house and it really did not scream "We have a gaggle of children!" when you came in. I liked figuring out solutions for our overcrowding issues... purging ... organizing... shelving.... it was a challenge but it was satisfying.

We had redone nearly the entire house, top to bottom. By the time we sold it, it was almost entirely US and not the people from whom we purchased it nine years earlier.

This new house? It's lovely. It's spacious. It's in a great school district. It's ideal for our family in a hundred million ways, but it's still not OURS the way the other one was. Other than moving our furniture in and painting some rooms, it still has way too many reminders of the former owners and that bugs me. This especially bugs me because I have a lot of animosity toward the former owners these days for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they probably sold us this house knowing full well there was a bat colony in the roof. Jerks.

I know I just need time and we need to keep putting our own touches on the house. I have plans for some rooms and there are things I want to change almost exclusively so I can stop thinking about the people who used to live here. I'd also like to stop finding piles of their dog's hair in various corners and pieces of their daughter's broken earrings in the dryer.

(sigh)

I dunno.

I have too many neuroses. LOL.

Anyone Want to Join Me for a Book Bonfire?

I picked up my copy of "Girlfriend's Guide to the First Year" last night, mostly for lack of anything better to read while I pumped.

Now, let me preface this by making it oh so clear that I do NOT WANT ANY MORE BABIES (that are mine) in this house. I am ready to move on to having all big kids and doing fun things as a family again in the hours after 6:30p.m.

At any rate, my "populate the earth" instinct attempted to make a comeback while I was reading this book, which is scary, to say the least, because again, see above emphatically stating my not wanting any more babies in my house. I actually closed the book and pushed it off the chair onto the floor. it scared me so much.

I have to admit, it's kind of amazing how we are wired. I mean, I have given away every shred of maternity clothing I ever owned. I had a miserable third pregnancy (well, typical for me... but what would qualify as miserable for most-- what with the nine months of barfing and all), a ridiculously scary beginning to my labor with Jonathan ("We can't find the baby's heartbeat! Have you felt him move this morning?") and now, nearly a year later, I'm STILL not getting wonderful night time sleep with this child, and yet, when I read the chapter about labor and delivery and those first days in the hospital with your new baby yada yada gag gag... something deep down inside of me ACTUALLY thought, "Awww.... I would love to do that again."

I talked myself through it before closing the book and backing away... "No! You DON'T want to do that, stupid! You don't even know what day of the week it is right now and you didn't even have time to PEE today. You do NOT want to subject yourself to three more years of this nonsense!"

I really don't. I mean, I'd do pregnancy again... and labor and delivery, which I actually sort of enjoy in some strange, bizarro and admittedly, possibly slightly mentally ill way.... but the whole first two years of having a baby thing. Yeah. That's what kills it for me. But the instinct to keep going... it does not want to die out entirely.

Scary and amazing stuff. There is a part of me that would love a fourth child... but the realist in me knows that would be bad for us. My existing kids would suffer for it. My marriage would suffer for it. My mental health would probably suffer the most.

So anyway, I am thinking of burning this book lest it uses its evil powers on me again. Who wants to come over and roast marshmallows?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom....

We are in full-in first birthday party planning mode over here! (I am hoping by typing that it will make me get myself in gear, actually) The theme is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! (thanks Aunt Krystyna for finding said theme and adorable cake ideas to go with it!) Can't believe we are getting ready to celebrate a first birthday already! Also, dear blog readers, this is your cue to leave all your awesome themed ideas here in the comments section. ;) Thankyouverymuch!

Bubbles for Jonathan!

I took Jonathan to his first Gymboree class this afternoon! He was so cute... when we walked in, he clung to me like a tiny monkey. I could have let go and would have just hung there around my neck. He was taking it all in though and about ten minutes into it, he was grinning ear to ear at Miss Sue's singing. Then he took off and helped himself to balls out of the ball bucket and didn't look back.

He loved the bubbles! BOY did he love the bubbles. I picked up a set on the way out so we can do them at home too. :) Gotta love those awesome bubbles!

We didn't sign up today because I really can't take him regularly until school starts for the older two. It will be a fun thing to look forward to on Thursdays in the fall though! Can't wait to do Gymbo the third time around! (and this time, with no older brothers to worry about keeping entertained while we play!)

Miss Sue couldn't get over how much he looks like Ben. (which is getting more and more true the older Jonathan gets, honestly) She just kept saying how it was liked Ben had been cloned. LOL.

Tried to only INTERNALLY roll my eyes at all the moms there who are determined to spend the entire 45 minutes proving that their baby is some kind of [insert developmental milestone here] prodigy. GAHthat'ssoannoying. We're just there to play and play HARD, ensuring a fantastic nap afterward.

And a fantastic nap we got!!! J CRASHED... he even tranferred from the car to the crib, which NEVER happens.

So yay for Gymboree! Can't wait to go back in the fall! :)

Blessings....

I adore this song. Gets me every. single. time. Just wanted to share...

Third Time's the Charm....

I'm taking Jonathan for a free trial Gymboree class this afternoon. I'm pretty excited about it because it will be JUST him, which is kind of cool. And also because it's the same teacher the other two had. Simon was a Gymbo dropout though because it just got SO crowded after they switched the location on us. I'm hoping that has changed... or that at least the 10-17-month class isn't that packed. Guess we'll find out! We don't think I'll be able to actually sign him up until fall because I definitely can NOT be taking the two older ones with me. Alone, they'd be fine just playing their handheld video games in the waiting area... together, they'd be TROUBLE. Thankfully, today my mom is watching them, so I won't have to worry about it. Should be fun! Pics, hopefully coming!

Erin Barometer...

Coffee of the Day: Whatever my wonderful husband ground and brewed this morning. I care very little, as long as there is caffeine in it.

Listening to: The soundtrack to Ben's DS game.

Today's Mental Jukebox Selection: Owl City - Fireflies

Reading: I bought that book about the little boy who had the near death experience and described heaven to his parents. Haven't had the chance to open it yet though... bought it a month ago.

Thinking About: All the things that need to be done around the house.

Enjoying: Quiet, at the moent.

Wondering: If it's worth it to try to go to the pool when Jonathan wakes up from his nap?

Empty Room...

Tom gave me the green light to start planning/furnishing our empty "formal" living room. I kind of want it to be the "anti formal" living room. My friend Jess had a great idea for hers to turn it into a board game room.... I love this! Need some ideas though. I'll post some pics of the space later and then I need your thoughts!

Summer...

I seriously feel like summer is passing us by. It's so hard to do anything with a ten-month-old whose sole goal in life right now is to see how many ways he can hurt himself, that some days, we just don't do anything at all. It's depressing! We've been to the pool a total of twice. (sigh) My kids haven't really played outside in the evenings. We haven't been down the harbor to splash in the fountains. We STILL haven't ever made it to Dutch Wonderland. It's sad...especially when I consider that last year, we spent more days than not at the pool. And the year before THAT, we spent almost every evening outside until dark. My oldest children are only 7 and 4... that's way too young for them to have any "those were the good old days" stories. LOL.

And now, back to school stuff is starting to appear at all the stores we frequent, which normally would make me all aflutter what with my obsession with school and office supplies, but this year, it's just a sad reminder that summer is flying by and we have yet to do anything worthwhile.

I know this is what I signed on for when we decided to have another baby -- another couple years of being a slave to naps and diapers and bottles and fussy times. Another year or so of not being able to really have or remember any significant adult conversation because I'm too busy chasing the baby. But, for whatever reason, I'm finding this third round of it to be the absolute hardest to deal with.

What HAVE we done? Well, honestly, if you ask Ben and Simon, they'll probably tell you they've had a fantastic summer. They pretty much spend the days playing together. They play in their rooms and wrestle and run and imagine up all sorts of games. They dress up, they color and paint. Sometimes they go outside and play in the driveway... until some kind of bug "attacks" one of them and they both come screaming and running back inside. They've been to Target a bunch of times to spend their allowance on various treasures. They found a book about cicadas at the library that they's pored over together and are both very upset that it is due back on Friday. We drop in on grandmom and sometimes have a friend or two over. We go to lunch sometimes.

When I read over that last paragraph, I don't feel so badly about how their summer has gone. But still... I can't help but feel like they are missing out somehow without lots of pools and lightning bug catching. Then again, maybe I'm just projecting.

Out of Control...

Holy CRAP.

Excuse the phrasing, but truly... that's the only way I can describe what went down at my house yesterday afternoon.

As the mother of boys, I have come to accept a certain level of chaos and volume that I never thought I'd be able to tolerate. I don't bat an eye when they brandish light sabers and swords at each other or run in circles through the house whooping and yelling like natives. It's their nature, just as much as standing up while peeing is. (though I do make it known that in houses where this is NOT the norm a.k.a. non 100% boy houses... that they need to reign it in or go outside.)

At any rate, the boys and I were enjoying a kind of boring and unusually quiet afternoon yesterday just playing in Simon's room when the doorbell rang. I looked out the window and it was one of our neighbors who we just met. He's a year older than Ben and was going to the same camp last week. His three cousins, two boys and a girl, all about the same age sandwiched between Simon and Ben were with him. We had met them all the previous night and Ben was excited so I told him to get his shoes and and they could all go outside.

Upon opening the front door, the entire gaggle of children poured into the house. "Can we see Ben's room?" asked the neighbor. This was fine with me and I knew Ben wanted to show off his room, so they all took their shoes off and bounded upstairs. Behind them was the neighbor's aunt (mom of the three cousins). "Is this okay?" she asked? "Of course!" I replied, honestly grateful for the kids' arrival and an easy way to kill the last hour or so until Tom got home. "Come on in?"

What I did NOT expect was a) for her to hang around and b) the chaos that would ensue.

Don't get me wrong, it was fine that she stayed... it's just that I had never met her before so I had the whole awkward small talk thing going on WHILE trying to take care of Jonathan, who did not want to be held or contained, as usual. So she had to follow me all over the house while I chased him and rescued him from certain death. She was very nice, really... but it's just a strange way to interact with someone the very first time you meet them!

Then there were the older kids. They did what EVERY group of kids who have ever come into our new house do... they ran in circles, switching from floor to floor. This is what I get for having an open floor plan. Walls? They are like speed bumps. They slow kids down... keep this in mind if you are building or buying a home anytime soon. LOL. I need more walls.

As I said before, I'm used to the running. I'm used to the noise. What i'm not used to is my kids totally taking advantage of my stranded with the baby and the stranger situation. Simon apparently cornered the whole lot of them (all older than him, mind you) in Ben's room and beat them with plastic golf clubs because they kept trying to use them and he didn't want to share. Then all the older kids (including Ben) decided to gang up on Simon (can't blame them) and chase him all over the upstairs INCLUDING INTO MY ROOM. When I went upstairs at one point, they were all jumping on our bed and running circles in our bedroom. WTH? My kids KNOW that isn't EVER allowed in any way, shape or form!!!

They then proceeded to trash BOTH the boys' bedrooms. (again, mostly my kids' doing, I'm pretty sure)

Then they made their way down to the basement where they trashed the playroom, which I'm cool with because THAT'S the room they SHOULD have been trashing. And then a light saber battle ensued and the neighbor boy hit his cousin with a sword and made him cry.

Finally, mercifully, after about an hour and fifteen minutes of this, the aunt said they needed to get going. This was when Simon (who, in his defense was VERY tired because we had spent the early afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese) completely lost it and went psycho exorcist on me, kicking, screaming, screeching and throwing everything in sight. I had to shove him into his bedroom and hold the door shut while we said goodbye, all the while, Simon throwing himself up against the bedroom door like a caged animal.

Can't even imagine what the other mom thought, but I'd LIKE to think that since she has three kids of her own, two of whom are boys, that it didn't faze her. I'm sure I'll never know. Well, unless the neighbor boy is never allowed to come down and play again...

After they left, things went from bad to worse. I actually LOCKED Simon in his room for a moment while I hunted down Ben and told him how disappointed I was in his behavior and laid down the rules for the next time he has friends over.

Then I turned my attention back to Simon, who was still throwing himself up against the door and screaming things like "Stinky door!!! Stinky stinky door!!!!!" I couldn't calm him down because he was too far gone so I did the only thing I could think to do that would keep him from hurting himself or me and that was to put him in the shower and turn the cold water on him.

It was like a miracle. Completely ended the tantrum and seemed to bring the human back... I toweled him off and put him in jammies and we talked about the tantrum and why I had been upset while he snuggled with his puppies for awhile.

Jonathan? Well, through all this, he just kept trying to hurt himself, so that was an added element of fun.

By the time Tom arrived home, everyone was calm and somewhat sheepish. I tossed him Jonathan, announced that none of them had eaten dinner yet and I didn't know what there was to eat anyway, and then disappeared to take a hot bath.

Seriously. It was like an episode of SuperNanny. WHEN did my house become in need of SuperNanny?!?! I love summer and all, but I really kind of think in a month and a half when school starts, it will be just what everyone around here needs.

SHEESH.

Science Camp Dropout....

After a great day on Wednesday, I took Ben to camp yesterday and he FREAKED out and wouldn't stay. It was the same story I was getting from him with school this year -- "No one likes me. No one will let me be part of their group." He cried and cried. The counselors were exactly ZERO help, seeing this all going on and me trying to pry him off my leg and get him to sit down, and not coming over to offer any encouragement in the least. I was completely on my own.

I had the other two boys with me too, of course and, for some reason, Simon decided to just walk out. I looked over to where he had been standing, next to Jonathan's stroller and he was just GONE. I scanned the crowd thinking I'd see his hair any second but he was NOWHERE. I was getting ready to enlist the help of the camp director when another mom, who thankfully, I knew from preschool, came walking in with him. She said she'd found him in the parking lot screaming. Lovely. What came over him that he decided to walk out without me is just beyond me. But that's a moment I'd rather not relive.

At any rate, between all that and Ben who just refused to sit down and instead just followed me around with tears in his eyes insisting he wasn't staying, I just gave up... though not without consequences. I told him if he left with me, I was taking away his Nintendo DS and I wouldn't tell him for how long. He left anyway.

I don't know what to do with this kid. He was genuinely upset and feeling alone and left out there, that I know. But he seems to have this problem EVERYWHERE, so it's clearly not always the situation, but his issue. There was even another little boy there who he knew from preschool and basketball who was ALSO completely alone and with whom Ben had kind of been hanging with the other three days. I don't know why he wouldn't just stick with that little boy! But no... he left poor little Jack sitting alone at a table looking all forlorn. I actually felt sorrier for Jack than I did for Ben yesterday. LOL.

I kind of think, from now on, if we enroll Ben in these kinds of things, he HAS to be with someone he knows well in order to feel safe and confident. As a complete introvert, I actually do get that. I just wish he would learn to cope like I did as a kid... by taking up with whatever other kid is wandering around alone. LOL.

Tom's annoyed that he has quit yet another thing. I'm annoyed, but I get it. .I don't know what I could have done differently yesterday though, honestly... especially without support from the staff and with no one to supervise the other two while I dealt with the situation.

Argh. Parenting is HARD!

Off to the Races...

Just two weeks ago, he was still taking a handful of steps and falling... check him out now! Still holding off on his first shoes until the end of the summer though. Bare feet rule! :)

Sleep is for the Weak....

Jonathan woke up six times the night before last... I'll let that sink in for a moment.

Yes, my almost-one-year-old woke up pretty much once an hour. WTH?! Last night, he woke up something like four times, which is hardly an improvement.

It's not that I don't have the heart to let him cry it out at this point in some kind of controlled, loving way... It's more that I'm too tired to gut it out when it comes down to doing so!! It's a vicious cycle. Feeding him gets him back to sleep quickly... so we keep picking him up and feeding him and thus, he keeps waking up to be fed. Mommy and daddy are mere shells of the human beings they once were because they are so darn tired from all this nonsense. Supernanny, where are you?!

He was doing SO much better... it was down to once, maybe twice a night and he would only be up for a couple minutes MAX. I'm sure it's a combo of teeth, developmental yada blah blah and the fact that my kids are just plain BAD at sleeping as babies. Whatever it is, it's making life pretty challenging.

He's also clingy all day long and not going down for naps without screaming like a banshee for ten minutes beforehand, which is downright painful to listen to.

Will he EVER sleep through the night? EVER? Clearly I suck at this part of raising a baby because I've messed this up three times in a row... although yeah, Jonathan definitely wins the award for the worst of the three!

Where to Start?

Sometimes, I love our new house and all the extra space it has given us to spread out.

Other times, I get massive pangs of regret over having moved and just wish we were back and comfortable and safe in our tiny little townhouse. This past week brought lots of the latter.

Sitting on the deck last Saturday night, we noticed bats. We pointed them out to the kids and basically just thought they were pretty cool and a little creepy. Then, after about an hour, we realized there seemed to be an awful lot of them... and that they almost looked like they were flying out of our roofline.

That's because they WERE.

Okay. Creepy. And something to get taken care of quickly, but not ridiculously scary or anything because it's not like they were IN the house.

You see where this going.

Fast forward to Monday morning, when my husband told me as soon as I woke up that he had found a bat in our shower. Our shower in our bathroom that is attached to our bedroom for which there is no other way in than THROUGH our bedroom.
Ew ew ew. He managed to catch it in a cooler (which reminds me, Mom, your cooler needs to be thoroughly washed out) and throw it out back. If this ever happens to you, by the way, do NOT let the bat go... just keep it in the darn cooler until the health department can come get it, k?

Five minutes later, I opened our bedroom door and proceeded down the hall, turned to the right and immediately saw ANOTHER bat clinging to the stone on our fireplace. Commence freakout and frantic googling of "Bat removal +Baltimore County". I called the first number on the list and the guy arrived by 8:30, plopped the bat into a coffee can like it was no big thing and then inspected our bat problem. Turns out we had a whole colony of them living in our soffits out back. They were NOT in the attic, thank goodness. He put up a contraption that would let them fly out at night but NOT let them back in, told us it would take about three days for all of them to vacate and he'd be back to seal up the whole. Thank you very much and that will be $800, please.

Okay fine.

Next morning.... exit bedroom... bat on the fireplace again. We had presumed the ones in the house got in through the chimney cap. But batman had put mesh over the chimney cap to prevent that AND Tom had closed the flu. This means the bat either was trapped in the chimney and somehow squeezed through the closed flu (?) or.... more likely, was already in the house. (gag. hurl. shudder. vomit.)

During all this, Ben had been running a fever. A high fever... for like four days. I was cool with this until I happened to google Rabies. Then Ben revealed to me that not only had he been running a fever, but he'd also had a headache and stomach issues that he hadn't told me about because he was afraid I'd take him the doctor. I can't even type out all that happened next because frankly, it's too upsetting... but it involved the health department, lots of calls to our pediatrician, a trip to the emergency room and a lot of crying.

At any rate, after two very difficult days, Ben's fever broke and now everything seems fine, thank goodness. The health department guy, with whom I am now on first-name basis, doesn't feel we need to get the rabies vaccine series ... though I'm still a little conflicted on that topic.

The bats are gone... we think. Their entrance is sealed and we haven't seen one since last week. But we still open our bedroom door slowly every morning and everyone sleeps with their doors closed right now. Seriously freaky stuff.

Ben is clearly pretty traumatized by the whole thing. He's been drawing pictures of bats non-stop and I keep finding his bat book out on his bed at night. He also has been talking about bats CONSTANTLY, which is making me crazy because really, I'd just prefer to NOT talk about bats anymore thankyouverymuch.

Summer and Facebook....

The above two things are killing my blog lately! I am here! I promise! Just busy....

I am working on getting into my groove with three kids at the pool, which has been interesting. Luckily, as challenging as my youngest can be, he IS fairly easy going and flexible in general. If he's somewhere where interesting things are happening, like the pool, he'll just go and go and go until I put him in the car and then he crashes and continues to sleep when we get home. So the pool has actually worked out really well. Admittedly, it is WAY more work than last year when I just had to sit on my pregnant duff and watch the two older boys bounce around in the shallow end. But, NOT as bad or hard as I thought it would be.

Getting out of the house is a production though. Sunblocking three kids takes forever. Then the gathering of the stuff and finding everyone's shoes and of course, I do NOT have enough hands once we arrive either. I feel like a sherpa walking from the car to the pool. All in a day's work though... I just try to remind myself that there's really never any reason to rush or snap at people (though I fail at that second part more than I'd like to admit). It's summer, after all and it's not like we really have to be anywhere at any specific time. :) And honestly, how lucky am I that while my husband sits in an office in a suit and tie that I get to lounge around a pool in the sunshine with my girlfriends? It's about perspective. ;)

LIfe has been very strange, in a good way lately.

For those of you who do not follow Facebook, we settled on our townhouse on Thursday!! While we were at the beach, I friended our buyer on Facebook.

Anyway, we spent a few days getting to know each other and I ended up going over to her old house to deliver some boxes. I liked her so much and got such a good feeling from the situation that I gave her my key before settlement and the green light to move some boxes in if she wanted. I did NOT tell my realtor about this because I thought he'd freak out. LOL. The day of settlement my phone rang. It was our realtor who had just been by the townhouse to pick up his signs. "Do you know her kids are moving boxes in?" Yeah. Had to confess. Thankfully, he was okay with it... whew. And two hours later we had one of the most fun, light-hearted house settlements I think he and the buyer's realtor have ever attended. Our buyer was SUCH a good fit for that little house and I'm just delighted at how it all turned out. Made all the waiting and stressing out totally worth it. And to have gotten a new friend out of the deal is such a wonderful bonus!! Oh, and I ended up buying her dining room set, which is just going to go perfectly in the dining room here at the new house. SO excited!! One psuedo-empty room down, two to go. LOL.

In the midst of all that, a long-lost friend of mine who I grew up with appeared at our pool. Turns out she and her husband (who I also grew up with) just joined this summer. Her kids are the same ages as mine, pretty much and we picked up right where we left off... so I'm excited about that too. And her husband golfs, so he and Tom are going to get to meet each other on the golf course soon and I just know they'll hit it off!

The boys are great. They are enjoying summer to the fullest... especially not having to rush out of the house every morning. I'm trying to get them into a weekly routine of activities though... we started our Friday library routine yesterday and Ben picked out some books about bugs (back to that obsession again) and Simon picked out a couple Star Wars books.

Ben spends his days lately wandering around the house looking for dead bugs to pick up (with a gloved hand) so he can take them to his room and look at them under his magnifying glass. It's kind of gross but I can appreciate the curiosity. And there is a wide variety of bug bodies around our new house between the stink bugs, the moths and houseflies that find their way in and the spiders. He hasn't even had to tap into the outdoor population yet.

Simon just kind of follows Ben around lately and is into whatever Ben is into. Yesterday, they spend a lot of time playing with Pokemon cards together and had a few light saber battles. :) He's getting a handle on his temper and the drama really well lately and is mostly just a sweet and funny little guy.

Jonathan... (sigh) Walking all over the place now!!! Sleeping a little better too, which is good. Generally just happy and easy as long as you aren't trying to cage him in or hold him back from something. We like him and think we'll keep him.

So that's us right now. I need to update with pics... lots of extra time this weekend, I think. So I'll be back!