The weather is driving me nuts!

Ugh, rain.  Rain, rain go away and don’t come back another day!  Last night I spent 20 minutes sitting on the floor of Isabelle’s room holding all three children close as there was a thunderstorm.  I don’t believe the storm lasted 20 minutes but the kids sure weren’t letting go until they felt okay.  The trouble was the storm happened and then several low flying airplanes went over and the sound of them reminded the kids of the thunder.

It’s not like they haven’t been around for t storms before, but they were asleep for them didn’t wake up.  This time they were fully aware of what was going on.  Aidan was by far the most scared.  When the first boom of thunder happened he had this sheer look of panic on his face.  He’s never clung to me so hard before in his little life.

Thankfully it ended and we were able to carry on with our routine and all go to bed.  I am tired of the rain.  I’m tired of being stuck inside with 3 kids who want nothing more than to go outside and play.  *I* just picked up the dog poop so the lawn is kid friendly, however now the lawn is mushy from all the rain and the ground can’t absorb any more water.  The kids were on the lawn today and were just covered in mud so they all got to have a quick dunk in the pool before going in the house.

I don’t mind rain once and a while, but this is just getting ridiculous. 

In other news, I’m slowly working on getting my house de-cluttered.  I’ve put my foot down.  We need to be cleaner people.  I know that a lot of the stuff we have is 80% kid related and as the kids grow this stuff will become less and less, but let’s be realistic here folks, I still have a few good years of toys left in these kids.  The other 20% is just *I* and I.  However, I was not this messy before I met and lived with *I*.   I’ve just sort of given up and I am starting to hate that.  So it’s time for us to de-clutter.  It’s a slow process but it will be worth it in the end.

Of course our next home will hopefully have more space.  I’d like to have a 4 bedroom home with a finished useable basement in our next house.  We need a place for guests, I need a space for a desk/office and a place for kid related stuff.  We are currently trying to think of some different options for this house.  Put all three kids in Isabelle’s room as it’s the largest and they can be together for a while.  Put the girls together and have Aidan alone, putting a spare bed in Aidan’s room.  And when we have company he can bunk with the girls.  Putting a regular bed in Isabelle’s room and she can bunk with us or the twins…who knows.  I think we need to move things around to see what it’s like, however the doorways aren’t exactly going to be helpful when it comes to the cribs.  Neither of us are going to want to take apart cribs just to test things out.

I’m looking forward to *I’s* time off this weekend.  I think if the weather is nice we will try to take a walk over to the park and take the kids to the splash pad and see how they like that.  And I’d like to get some more work done around the house.  This is a long week for me since he’s been on nights and still has two more to go.  Ugh.  I’m always so tired come the end of these shifts and of course so is he.

I got to clean dog puke up off the dining room carpet yesterday.  That was the highlight of my day…. 😦

Isabelle said “Jersey, no no no bad.”

I was listening but also making dinner so I thought maybe Jersey had just licked her or something.  Then this:

Isabelle: Jersey no no no bad poooop!

Me: Isabelle did Jersey poop?

Isabelle: Uh huh!

Me: (*#&$*#(&$(@*&#$)! to myself.  I’m currently getting dinner out of the oven!!

I go in and check and while it was pooooop as Isabelle had indicated, it was barf.  So I put all three up in their seats to keep them out of it, get their dinner ready and served up.  And begin to clean.  I almost added my own.  There are two things in this world I can’t do: 1. Dog poop and 2. Puke, human or pet.  I will barf if I have to deal with either one and I came close a few times.  All through dinner Isabelle kept telling Jersey she was bad and I kept trying to explain to her she wasn’t bad, sometimes people and pets just get sick.  That doesn’t make them bad.  But she kept at it.  Ah well.  She’ll learn soon enough I guess.

Well I’m off to enjoy yet another evening alone.  And keeping my fingers crossed there will be no storms to scare the kids. 

Steps!!

Aidan is on his way to walking!  He’s taken a few steps on his own lately!!  He’s even standing for short periods of time on his own.  He even walks really well just holding on to one of my hands.  The little guy just amazes me.

I am also so very excited to announce that THEY CAN GO UP AND DOWN the STAIRS!!!  Hooooooray!  No more carrying kids up and down stairs if I don’t want to!!  How awesome is that!  It’s so fun to see this little herd of kids coming down the hallway to the top of the stairs, the twins stop, turn around and start their way down.  Isabelle has taken to crawling back down the stairs some days, but still prefers going like a big girl.  Some days we have trouble and forget that we are going down and we start going up or vice versa.  I think it’s a game for Maddy. 

This also means that they can now go down the stairs of the deck which means we have to really make sure the yard it poop free.  I think we might be putting in a dog run this summer for the pups.  The kids love the freedom of the backyard.  They crawl and walk where ever they want, come back up on to the deck to cool off in the pool or just get some shade.  I love to watch them play.

Well it’s almost that time of day.  I have to run up and go prepare to let the kids up.  Some days I wish they just slept though till the next day.  I love them, I do, I just need a longer break!

There once was…errr still is….a pile of laundry…

I just can’t bring myself to do it.  It’s one of those chores that I will put off and put off until there is about 3ft of laundry on the floor.  And then I get so sick of having to sort though that every morning just to find the kids some clothes.  And despite that I hate doing that, I still don’t put the laundry away!  Doing the laundry is the easy part, it’s the putting away I obviously struggle with.  And the worst times for this is when you come home from being away and there is always so much to do.

Ugh.  I know it’s there and here I am.  Of course writing to the blog is way more exciting than sorting though clothes.  The kids are starting to wake, but I’m not ready yet.  Not ready to put up with yelling and screaming and the throwing of toys just yet.  I’m going to get my full three hours of quiet.  The only reason I know they are upstairs is because I decided to bring pinky upstairs to write.  I got tired of sitting on the hard kitchen chair and I didn’t feel like sitting in the living room.  I tend to fall asleep quickly on the couch and I’ve almost dropped pinky a few times.  *I* would not be impressed at my request for another new laptop.

The sun finally came back and that’s a relief.  The kids are always happier when it’s sunny.  Means more time spent outside rather than cooped up.  They enjoy their sand/water table, but I’ve been debating lately on cleaning it up and trying to sell it and get just a sandbox table.  The combined table doesn’t have a big enough sand spot.  The kids tend to fight over the space and never mind that sand goes everywhere except in it’s little space.  They like the water table, but they have their pool.  So when they want to splash can cool off that’s where they go.  They seem to love the sand part more so hopefully I can find something since we’re already into summer and some of the summer toys are selling out fast.

I’m also looking at a little tykes climb and slide toy for Isabelle.  She played on one at our cousin’s house on the weekend and she loved it.  She climbed up and got on the slide and eventually was sliding down without daddy being near the bottom.  Part of me says to wait until next summer when all three kids can wait.  And perhaps save up some money for a bigger one anyways.

Today while outside, Isabelle wanted to go pick a flower (dandelion) that was in the yard.  I said sure but be sure to watch out for dog poop.  So the whole time she was on the grass she walked around saying at the top of her lungs I might add “Watch Out Poop!!”  I couldn’t help but giggle.  She made sure to tell me that she did not step in any poop when she returned to the deck.  Madeline tried walking on the grass again today, but I think with her new sandals and the length of the grass it’s just too hard for her to talk on.  She probably would have been better in bare feet.

Aidan is still not walking.  He will get up on all fours and “walk” across the deck sometimes.  He looks really funny doing it, but my guess is that his knees are getting pretty sore from all the grit of the sand on the deck.  Aidan can walk well holding on to things and he will stand without help for a few seconds before sitting down on his bum.

I’ve been able to teach the twins to go down the stairs.  They are still learning, but I think I’m very close to not having to carry them unless they want or needed to be carried!  I have waited a long time for this day!!  I’ve forgotten myself a few times and carried them down.  I always get to the bottom and realize that I should have had them do it.  Ah well.  I’m sure I’ll miss that part of our routine once it’s gone.

Well I’m going to finish this up and enjoy my last 20 minutes.  Get myself organized for dinner and then it’s time to get the little monsters up and outside for more fresh air.

Terrible 1’s and 2’s

This has been an interesting week for me.  It has tested me in my patience, my ability not to laugh at my children right in front of them, tested the ways I want to discipline my children, tested my abilities to tune out my children.  How do I feel I did?  Well it’s Friday, I haven’t given any of them away, they are all clothed, happy, fed and loved.  I think I passed.  I guess really when you think about it, each day is a test with these guys.  They are learning so much every day and learning to figure out just where their boundaries are and of course where mine are.

I love them so much but I could seriously bang my head against the wall some days.  Don’t worry, I know it gets better and I’m not really down in the dumps about it.  It’s just frustrating.  It’s hard being the ref to three little children who all want to go off in different directions or have the same toy right now this very second!

The clash seems to be with the girls lately.  Isabelle wants her own space and her own things and for her sister to keep her little fingers off them.  Madeline is in love with her big sister, and she wants nothing more than to be like her and to go where she goes and do exactly what she does 95% of the time.   However, there are times that Madeline will be playing with Aidan quite contently away from Isabelle and then next thing you know Isabelle is barging in between them stealing the toys they were so quietly playing with.  As much as Isabelle doesn’t want them playing with her, she doesn’t want them to be happily playing either.

There are the rare moments that all three can play together quite nicely and for some length of time.  I really look forward to more of these moments and as well as them increasing in length of time.  The weather has been so crappy lately that we have been stuck in doors.  And any time a door would open to the outside, all three kids would go racing towards it!  That’s how badly they all wanted out.

Thankfully today was nice and we were outside the whole morning.  Came in for lunch and then played inside until nap time.  We will go back out again after they wake up.  They seem to play well outside as they have a bit more space and a few other things like the pool and sand table to keep them all occupied with something.  Today Madeline was jealous that Isabelle was down off the deck and playing around the other side of the house.  So she walked over to the stairs, sat down, went down the stairs on her hands and knees and then proceeded to walk over to Isabelle.  She only fell down 3 times!  I was so proud of her, she even managed to step over the hose three times without falling.  I am most thankful for this because where the hose was there is also quite a bit of mud.

Aidan was not to be left behind so I brought him over to where the girls were.  He then took off onto the grass which was nice and wet as I had just been watering it earlier while they were on the deck.  He was headed straight for some dog poop so I grabbed him up and put him on the deck again.  The girls made their way back as well.  We played some more on the deck and then it was time for lunch.

It’s currently nap time here and I’m enjoying the quiet.  I myself will head up soon for a much needed nap.  I thought I’d write here first and then do a few other things before heading up.  This way by the time I get up there the kids are asleep enough they don’t hear me come upstairs.  I hope the weather stays nice so that we can all enjoy our weekends!

Getting tired of the mess

I’m not generally a messy person.  My mother is laughing at this right now.  However, yes my bedroom growing up always looked like a laundry bomb went off in it.  But once I moved out on my own and lived with friends or even complete strangers, I could manage to keep my mess to myself.  I had smaller rooms so it was also harder to be messy in a tiny space.

Then I moved in with *I*.  He is not a clean person.  Well it’s not like he’s unclean, he just doesn’t seem to be able to pick up after himself much.  And not that I want to start a fight in my marriage, but I was not like this until we lived together.

I don’t know what it is now, but we just can’t seem to be tidy.  We just can’t seem to find homes for things, or put things back where we got them from.  I hate hate hate that my love seat is a laundry hamper.  I hate hate hate that the toys are always all over the floor at night when the kids aren’t around.  I hate hate hate that I can never see my kitchen counters despite the fact I clean them off on a regular basis.

I know I’m a mom to three very busy little kids and that keeps me very busy and with not much time to do much else.  And I’ve personally decided that since I have this opportunity to stay home with my kids, I’d rather spend the time with them than cleaning everything up all the time.  It’s not that I don’t want a clean home, but you only get to have your babies once and if we are making the decision to not have more, I want to spend every second with my “babies”!

Sometimes I think part of my problem is that for the longest time we have been living in homes that we can’t really put our “mark” on so to speak.  While you are more than welcome to paint force housing, you have to paint it back to the boring white it was before you changed it.  Well I am not interested in proving the force with free paint.  What do they ever give me?  Nothing.  So here we are in our own home and the kids even helped to start tearing down the little bit of wallpaper, but we still haven’t painted.  We just don’t have the time or the energy.  So it’s hard to feel settled or like I’m at home or in a place I truly care about because I can’t get anything done.  I think I’m in a rut.  I think today’s weather has something to do with it too. 

I had wanted to get the kids out but it looked like it was about to rain any minute for the last 6 hours!! I hate that, because it makes you too afraid to go out.  At least now it is actually raining.  But that means we really can’t go out.

I’ve been slightly neglectful of my blog lately.  I do apologize.  It’s just been busy I suppose or I just haven’t had much inspiration to write.  A bit of exciting news is that Madeline is walking!  She will still crawl, but she has made greater attempts to walk today.  She walked from the stairs to the ottoman in the living room, which if you know where that is in our house, you know it’s a good distance for a new walker.  She’s very proud of being upright and you can see it as she gets very excited when going somewhere.

Aidan is doing his best to push and walk with the corn popper or the other walking toy we have.  I think it will still be a little while for him as he’s got my loose joints.  Even if it is still a while longer, that boy can crawl fast.

We bought the kids a kiddie pool for the back yard.  They enjoy sitting in there and splashing away on the hot days.  Today is not going to be one of those days.  Hopefully the weather picks up and we can get back outside again.

I’m going to get some reading done for my course.  I will try to post something more this week or at least for sure something next week.  I’ll keep you updated on the twins walking also.  I am doing my best to get some photos on the private photo site, however I do post more regularly to facebook.  I am debating as to whether or not I am going to keep the private site.  It costs money every year to renew, and facebook is free and I can just send a link to anyone that doesn’t have facebook if they want to see the photos.  I’ll let you know what I decide.

Maybe the cleaning fairy will come while I’m reading!  She will see I’m busy and just wave her wand!