Our Five Ring Circus: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Week In Review: {Week 39: 365 Project}

SEPTEMBER 23rd

The kids and I had a lazy afternoon at home, while Grant visited his dad.  I managed to make some tutus while the kids played and Lily napped.  That afternoon, we went to our friends' house to watch the Steelers game.  After the game we rushed home to put the kids to bed.  Gotta love school nights!
 
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SEPTEMBER 24th


After the big kids went to school, I met Amber at the park for our morning walk.  It was freezing!  I picked Lexie up from school, and we did some shopping for Christmas and birthday presents. We spent the rest of the day at home.  The night ended badly, with Grant hitting a deer and destroying the front and side of his car. Always something.

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SEPTEMBER 25th

Went on a morning walk with Amber after the kids went to school.  We picked Lexie and Jack up from school and took them to McDonald's for lunch before heading to storytime at the library.  After storytime, we headed back.  That evening, we had our friends over to our house for dinner.

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SEPTEMBER 26th

Dylan missed school because he woke up sick.  He never complains about going to school, so when he does, I know there's something wrong.  I ended up driving Lexie to school, because there is NO way she would ride the bus by herself.  After picking her up from school, we took her to gymnastics. We had to drop Grant off to get his rental car.  He ended up with a Traverse, which we all love!  That's what we were considering getting next, so it's nice to be able to test drive it for a while.  It's going to be hard to give it back! By late afternoon, Dylan was feeling better.  I think he just had a bad headache.  We spent the rest of the day at home. 

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SEPTEMBER 27th

I met Amber for our morning walk, even though it was drizzling and foggy.  Afer picking Lexie up, we spent the afternoon at home.  That evening, I dropped the kids off at Amber's house, then went to a PTO contact parent meeting for a bit.  Once that was over, I returned to Amber's house for dinner. 

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SEPTEMBER 28th
The kids had a pre-scheduled 2-hour delay at school, which I loved!  They actually woke up on their own and got dressed, and the morning wasn't rushed at all. Everybody was in a good mood!  I ran a bunch of errands until it was time to get Lexie from school.  We spent the afternoon visiting my parents.  That evening, my mom, the girls, and I did some shopping before dinner.  There was a lot of excitement in my parent's quiet town, involving many police cars, news vans, and news helicopters!  We returned home late that evening, and the kids went to bed right away!

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SEPTEMBER 29th

It was a busy day (aren't they all?)!!!  Grant got a flat tire early that morning, so I had to wake the kids up, load them into the car, and pick him up.  That morning, I met my friends for a senior picture photoshoot.  It was our first attempt at one, and it went well!  After the shoot, we had lunch.  I headed home for a bit.  That evening, we went to my sister's house to celebrate my nephew Brady's 9th birthday!  I can't believe it has been 9 years since he was born! Time flies!  Dylan stayed at their house for a sleepover, and I brought my great-niece home with me for a sleepover with Lexie.  The girls stayed up really late!  I honestly think they outlasted me!

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Anatomy of a Temper Tantrum

As an infant, Lily was so calm, happy, and easy-going.  While she still is all those things, a touch of drama has entered our lives. 

I thought for sure that we were going to escape the drama, but just before she turned 1, she began to show a bit of a temper.  At first, she would forcefully throw herself backward, which always ended with her head slamming into whatever was behind her.  It didn't take long for her to fine tune her method.  

Step One:  Get mad.

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Step Two:  Look completely pitiful.

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Step Three:  Gently fall to the side until your head softly hits the ground.  You must do this s l o w l y and carefully.

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Step Four: Glance at mom to make sure that she got the point.

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Let's see that again.

Step One AND Two:   Get mad and look completely pitiful.

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 Step Three:  Gently fall to the side until your head softly hits the ground.  You must do this slowly  and carefully.

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Bonus Step:  Look as pitiful as possible.

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Step Four: Glance at mom to make sure that she got the point.

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All we can do is laugh when she does this. It really is funny to watch!  The "tantrum" lasts for a grand total of 30 seconds, then she just gets up and walks away!  

Life is hard for a 13 month old!!!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tuesday Tidbits

It's been a while since I've done a Tuesday Tidbits post!  Tuesday Tidbits is my way of remembering all the cute and funny things my kids say and do!

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{DYLAN}

-He asked me, "Does Lexie have white tights?  I need them to be Peter Pan!"

-He had to get an infected blister drained.  After the doctor finished, he said, "I can't wait to tell my dad what a brave boy I was!"

{LEXIE}

-While running a timed race, Lexie ran past a patch of blue flowers.  She stopped, backed up a few steps, squatted down to pick the flowers, sniffed them, then stood up and continued her race!

-She insisted that a slug fell off of her hamster, and had to take it outside to let it go. Later, she told me the hamster pooped it out. I had to explain to her that it wasn't a slug that she carried outside!

-She told us, "Excuse me, Miss Mommy? I love you.  Excuse me, Mr. Dylan. I love you."

-She calls an ambulance an ambylance.

-We improvised with the candles on Grant's cake, and used a #3 candle and 3 single candles next to it.  Lexie looked at it, and said, "Daddy?!?  Are you THREE today???"

-One of Lexie's favorite flip-flops broke, so she threw it away.  However, she insisted on keeping the other one, and wearing a mismatched pair of flip-flops.

-Lily pooped.  Lexie told her, "Ewww!  You stink like dead pepper!"

{LILY}

-We are trying to teach Lily animal sounds.  She woofs as soon as she sees or hears a dog.    She also woofs at every animal, except birds.  When she sees a bird in the sky, she looks up, and attempts to tweet at it.  It sounds more like a hiss than a tweet!

-She calls her siblings "Da" and "La." I think it's so cute!

-Lily has the cutest "cheese" face.  She scrunches up her nose, grins hugely to show her hippo teeth, and tilts back her head!

-Lily recently started to give kisses.  She leans in, says "Ahhhh" and touches her lips to your cheek.

-I asked Lily if she was pooping.  She looked at me, grabbed her diaper, and said, "Yeah."

Monday, September 24, 2012

Week In Review: (Week 38-365 Project)

SEPTEMBER 16th

I met up with my mom group for brunch at a local diner.  Brunch ended up turning into a 3 hour event!  Once home, I got hit with a nasty cold.  All of the sudden, I felt horrible.  It was my mom's birthday, but I didn't want to risk getting my parents sick, so I wished her a happy birthday over the phone.  The girls and I stayed home that night, while Grant and Dylan went to a friend's house for the Steelers game.

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SEPTEMBER 17th

The start of another school week.  Other than driving to pick Lexie up from school, we spent the day at home, getting stuff done!

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SEPTEMBER 18th
After picking Lexie up from school, we came home for lunch.  We went to story time at the library, where I got a chance to catch up with my best friend.  After storytime, we ran a bunch of errands in the pouring rain.  Got Dylan off the bus, then got caught up in the after school homework/dinner/bathtime rush!

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SEPTEMBER 19th


We had a typical morning at home after the big kids went to school. Lots of cleaning and lots of time spent with my baby girl!  I picked Lexie up from school and spent the afternoon with just her.  We went to my best friend's house for lunch and a playdate.  It was hard leaving, but we had to for gymnastics!  It was nice being able to watch Lexie without distraction (AKA Lily).  She is really good on the beam and bars!  We spent the rest of the evening at home.

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SEPTEMBER 20th


Nothing too exciting happened during the day.  That evening, I went a friend's house for dinner with my blogger/twitter moms group.  We were supposed to craft, but ended up talking for hours instead! I swear, we need an entire day set aside for our meetups!

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SEPTEMBER 21st

After picking Lexie up from school, we went to visit my parents. Two of my sisters stopped by while we were there, so I got to spend time with them as well, while my kids played with their cousins.

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SEPTEMBER 22nd

We had a lazy day.  I woke up with a huge migraine, so we stayed home.  That night, our friend's kids came over for a sleepover.  We all stayed up TOO late!

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These weeks are just flying by!!!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Lessons in Parenting

This post was originally written as a guest post for The Mommyhood Chronicles last month.  After another lesson learned today, I decided I'd share it on my blog, too!

Today's lesson?  If your child is silent and Vaseline is nearby there is going to be a mess. A huge mess.  As in, smeared on the floor, smeared on a baby wipes container, and painted on their clothes.  This can all happen in 90 seconds. Lesson learned.  Note to self:  Get rid of Vaseline.

I've been a mom for almost 8 years, so I've learned a few important lessons along the way.  I'd love to share some of them with you!

* Always expect the unexpected.  When you have kids, anything can happen.  Nothing surprises me anymore!

* Let them get messy.  It's going to happen anyway.

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* They will fall asleep in the strangest positions.

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* Your kids will have completely different personalities.  Never expect your second born to be just like your first!

* Always, ALWAYS, take a change of clothes for each kid!

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* Children can destroy a room in 30 seconds.  We call this a toynado.

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* Toys will end up in every room of your house.  Lots of them.

* If you have a boy, gross things will end up in the house.

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* They will give you a heart attack on a daily basis.

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* If you think they're going to roll off the couch/climb out of the crib soon, they're going to roll off the couch/climb out of the crib NOW.

* If they are very quiet for a long period of time, it's bad.  Really bad.

* Always leave the bathroom door shut.

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* If your kids are hurt, you will hurt more.

* You will get peed on, pooped on, and puked on.

* A diaper blowout will happen at some point.  Imagine the grossest thing you've ever had to deal with and multiply it by 100.

* If you have a girl, always check in the layers of their dresses for the bloomers/diaper covers.  If you don't, you just may send them off to their first day of school with bloomers  pinned inside their dress.  And this may happen many, many more times.  And you won't be the only one who does this, because some of your close friends will confirm that it happens to them, too!

* When they start school, a sport, or an activity, your life will become much busier.

* When you have multiple children and one (or TWO) is gone for the night, your life will seem SO easy.

*  Bumps and bruises happen almost everyday.  Especially once they start walking.  Shrug it off!

* They will make you so proud. Often.

* They will drive you crazy.  Often.

* They will make you laugh. Often.

* Your kid will get hurt in the strangest ways.  Case in point?  Head meets flat wall.

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* Head wounds/mouth wounds bleed.  A lot.

* The amount of toys and stuffed animals multiply overnight.  Really.

*If your kid has a lovie, it will become a vital part of your life.

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* You will do ridiculous things in order to get a cute picture.

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* Anything goes with the third baby.

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* They hardly ever get sick, but when they do, it will be at the worst possible time.

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* You will love them fiercely.  So much, that it feels like your heart will burst out of your chest.

* Let go of the to-do list once in a while, and just have fun! This was my most recent lesson learned. Would you rather clean your house or spend an afternoon with friends, visiting a museum and getting ice cream?  I want my kids to remember doing fun things with me, instead of remembering my frantic cleaning habits (yes, that's me.)

* They grow up too fast. Before you know it, your first baby will be headed to 2nd grade, your middle baby will be going to Kindergarten, and your newest baby's first year will go by in what feels like a few weeks.

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* Savor every moment while they're young..  Chores can wait. Someday, much sooner than you can imagine, your house will be empty and you're going to be wishing back all the noise, clutter, and chaos. Childhood is fleeting. Hold them tight, and be thankful for the amazing blessing that you have!