Preschool

Today was Xavier's first day of Preschool. It's a milestone moment in our family as our first born started his first year of formal education. It's too bad all schooling doesn't include snack time and getting a sticker on your hand for good behavior.

X is going to preschool 2 mornings a week at a local church. I'm excited because I think he will really benefit from the socialization and give him something to do that's just for him. It will also give our week some structure, and provide me with a little break from having all 3 kids to manage.

Last week was orientation. It didn't go very smoothly. X didn't want to leave my side and was not willing to participate in anything they asked him to do (which was really just coloring a picture in the next room).

I knew ahead of time that me dropping him off at preschool this morning was going to be met with a challenge and most likely tears. He didn't disappoint. Despite all of our talk about what he was going to be doing and how much fun preschool was going to be I ended up having to leave him crying at the door of the classroom. I knew that me staying would only escalate the drama and he'd be fine shortly after I left.

Thankfully I was right. When I picked him up, Xavier was all smiles and appeared to have had fun. His teacher said he did well. I tried to ask him what he did at preschool, but X still isn't very good at giving the play by play of events. He was able to tell me almost all of his bible memory verse though. I thought that was pretty good for the first day!

I have high hopes for the 2nd day of school later this week. It would be great to see him just walk right into class. But I won't hold my breath!

Big Brother, Little Brother

Here's some pure cuteness to follow my last {depressing} post.
Life is still good amidst the challenges!

(Oh, and if you're wondering where Wesley is -- he was taking a nap)

(Xavier asked me to take a picture of his feet)

(Elliott had his eyes closed because he was pooping - ha!)

Having 3 {small} Kids is Hard

It was inevitable. The new baby bliss would wear off and I would come face to face with what my life is right now. It's hard. Bummer!

Right now I'm sitting at the kitchen table with Elliott sleeping on me in the sling. (I'm ALWAYS with at least one child these days). Xavier and Wes are in their rooms for nap. I'm wondering if X is going to sleep. He didn't yesterday. I'm fearing his nap days might be coming to a close. I'm contemplating a nap myself if X does fall asleep, but I'm sure E will be up by then.

It's hard to have 3 small children. I expected this, but that doesn't make getting through the day any easier. I have permanent dark circles under my eyes now. Lovely! That's actually the least of my physical worries. My body is still a wreck from having this baby, I have soooo much weight to still loose (and thus, nothing to wear right now), and I only get to sleep in 1-3 hour increments at night.

My biggest challenge is meeting everyone's needs. I've lost count of how many times I've sat down to feed Elliott and then Wes wants out of the highchair. I try to make lunch for the boys and E is going nuts on the floor because he wants to be held. Xavier wants to go outside, but it's too hot and sunny for little E. The list goes on.

Elliott is quite the spitter. He doesn't appear to have an intolerant to anything I'm eating. I think it's just that flap that holds stuff down is not developed enough yet. So consequently I'm doing an insane amount of laundry. E goes through 4-5 outfits a day, plus blankets and spit rags and such. Then Walter and I are going through 2-3 outfits a day because he pukes on us! Add in the clothes from the other boys (who are messy) and I'm a slave to the washer.

The boys are giving me a run for my money with discipline lately too. They seem to have lost interest in their toys and just want to destroy stuff all the time. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm letting them watch too much tv lately (because I'm exhausted and lost my will to care) and I know that's not helping. Having one of the hottest summers on record and thus having to be inside a lot hasn't helped either. I'm yelling too much, and they are not even listening to it anymore.

We try to get out of the house when we can, but going somewhere with 3 small children isn't exactly easy peasy. It takes FOREVER just to leave the house. And by then we have a small window before one or more of  the kids needs to eat, sleep, or just gets cranky. Grocery shopping is a joke because I have no room in the cart for food! We have access to 3 great pools, but there is no way I can manage them all at a pool. I'm sad that we've missed out on a lot of fun swimming. I think playgrounds will be good once it cools down a bit (assuming I can safely keep track of them all). Sometimes I put the kids in the car and we just drive up and down the highway pointing out gas trucks, cement trucks, and motorcycles. Being at home a lot isn't helping me lose the baby weight either -- what else is a girl to do but eat ?? And despite there being 4 of us here all day, it gets very lonely to be the only adult around.

I'm not trying to wish my life away, but I can't help but dream about the days that Elliott sleeps through the night, Wesley is potty trained, and when the kids can all buckle themselves in the car without my help.  I look forward to maybe resuming some of my former hobbies, feeling semi rested, wearing clothes not stained from spit up or sticky little people hands, and having a phone conversation that isn't interrupted with screams in the background.

Someday..........
PS -- If you are wondering, X didn't fall asleep, so neither did I. {big sigh}

Lay By Me

Elliott was sleeping in my bed the other morning. So of course Xavier wanted to pretend to sleep next to Elliott. But he was too excited to close his eyes for his pretend sleep. And, he wanted me to take his picture.

X loves his baby brother soooo much!

Who's Who ??

Time for another round of who's that baby!  Can you guess who's in the bouncy seat??

(Wesley, Xavier, Elliott )

Looks like Elliott might be the porker of the bunch - ha!!

Xavier the Photographer

Xavier found my camera the other morning. He figured out how to turn it on and was taking pictures before I realized what he was doing.

So here's a sampling of what he got. This is the edited version of course. I don't think you care to see 12 pictures of my living room rug or 16 pictures of his finger in front of the lens :) These pictures took forever to load because apparently he changed the settings on the camera as well and the files are HUGE!

Elliott crying (poor thing!)

Me standing at the changing table. 

X's finger (I hope it's not the middle one!)

X's cute little legs and feet.

Wessa playing.

The floor.

Power cord to camera charger ( I think this one's a little artsy, don't you??)

As much as I love seeing what X took pictures of, I didn't appreciate him running down the battery with the lens stuck open. The camera is safely back in a higher cabinet for now.

If He Could Talk.....

...he would definitely say what's on his shirt!
 (Andrea C. -- do you recognize this onesie??)

Meet and Greet and Magic

I forgot to post a couple more pics of Elliott meeting the family.

My only remaining grandparent meeting her 4th great grandchild.

Gettin a little love from Great Uncle Drew and Cuzzie Taylor.

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The other weekend we decided we needed a family outing. We are clearly crazy :) It's just been so hot and we've been inside doing the baby thing, and we were dying for a change of scenery. We took the kiddos to the Magic House....on a Saturday....when it's hot out....and everyone and their brother would be there escaping the heat. But we had a gift card and the boys had cute Magic House tshirts, so we went anyway. Elliott was a rockstar and enjoyed his first visit there by hangin with mommy in the sling. He slept the entire time (he was favorite child of the day!) Xavier and Wesley had a blast for about an hour and a half. Then....oh then.....the meltdown began. I attribute it to a total sensory overload. The place was busy, and there is just soooo much for the boys to see and do. Wes melted down first, big time, and then X followed when we told him he couldn't play on the elevator and we were going to have to leave. We were THOSE PARENTS dragging their screaming children to the car. Good times I tell ya! When we got to the car I decided to feed Elliott before we got back on the road. Walter and I took that time as an opportunity to try and spot other crying children leaving in hopes that it would make us feel better. Ya know, like we're not the only ones who's kids go irate in public. We saw a few :)  Despite the meltdowns I'm glad we went.

Feeding Elliott

Anyone notice that I did a "Wordless Wednesday" post on a Thursday??? Yep, that would be my sleep deprivation coming out -- I've lost track of the days :)

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Seeing that newborns have very small stomachs and need to eat often, a large portion of my day right now is spent feeding Elliott. I'm thankful that Elliott is nursing really well. But he wants to eat about every 1-2 hours during the day. It is sometimes challenging to have to stop and sit to feed him that often when X and Wes are still running around like crazy needing things from me. I'm not proud of my "couch parenting" lately (aka - me sitting nursing Elliott and yelling at the boys to stop whatever they are trying to break at that current moment) and it is completely not effective, but I'm outnumbered right now!

Xavier and Wes have both taken an interest and an age appropriate curiosity to seeing me nurse Elliott. Xavier is able to verbalize more and he's been cracking me up with some of the things he says and does. He knows that Elliott is too little for food and can only drink "mommy milk". (I've tried to stress this in hopes that the boys won't attempt to put a random pretzel or cheezit into E's mouth!) So he likes to play the game where he says "Mom, can Elliott eat ________ " and I say "No, Elliott is too little for ________" We go round and round on this. Sometimes if Elliott's crying he says "Mommy, open your tummy and feed Elliott".

The past few days he's decided he needs to feed Elliott as well. He will ask to hold Elliott and then lift up his shirt and make a clicking sound. Then he says "hold on Elly, I'll feed you on the other side too" and repeats the process. I've tried very hard not to laugh and just indulge him on this because in his 3 year old mind this is serious business and he's really helping out. I couldn't help but snap a photo of him "feeding" Elliott the other day.

Wesley, while not able to articulate as well, knows whats going on as well. He was unloading the dishwasher with me the other day and found some breast pump parts. He put one up to his chest and started making a "shh shh shh" sound while holding it there. I about died laughing!

I realize not everyone may agree with my open approach to the whole thing, but I want my kids to see breastfeeding as a perfectly acceptable and appropriate way to feed a baby. And you can't do that by hiding it from them.

You think maybe I can get X to take over the night time feedings so I can get some more sleep ?? HA!!

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for a Haircut

Four Days Apart

My best childhood friend, Sara, had her first baby 4 days after Elliott was born. Sara and I have been friends since I was 4 years old. She lived across the street. Who would have thought that 25+ years later we would have little boys born just 4 days apart. We were actually due about a month apart. But Elliott arrived almost 2 weeks late and baby Anthony arrived a week and a half early.


We got the boys together for a little play date. Aren't they cute! My child looks like an amazon compared to Anthony. But keep in mind that technically they are 3.5 gestation weeks apart!