Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My new normal

I have three kids now.  THREE.  It will take awhile for me to get use to this.
For some reason this was really helpful when 
Joyce Rowley (My neighbor and I am a Laurel Advisor with her)
told me three was my new normal.
I guess it helped me realize this was my new life, 
things were not going to change or EVER go back to the way they were before.
My new normal.
Kali loves to carry Kolt around,
especially up and down the stairs.
I guess it makes her fill like a big girl.
Krew has now decided he is a strong boy and picks Kolt up when he is crying,
no I don't allow Krew to carry Kolt up and down stairs,
in fact I head toward Krew and Kolt in a dead sprint and soon as Krew picks him up.
I guess that is why I don't have pics of Krew walking and carrying Kolt,
maybe next time in my dead sprint I will grab my camera and snap a running shot,
we will see how that turns out.
 Hillary sent me these amazing swaddle blankets my aden&anais.
They can be used for so many different things.
I am never good at swaddling my babies for very long, 
but I have learned that when Kolt is really cranky 
if I just swaddle him and sway him he calms down and even falls to sleep after awhile.

blueberry pancakes

My kiddos are in love with these blueberry pancakes.
Especially little Krewzer, he asks for them almost everyday.
He likes to drown them in maple syrup.
Kali likes hers with whip cream on top.

just for fun

Grandma Tami sent Kali some money for her birthday and we went shopping.
Kali is now 5 so she shops for herself.
She knows what she likes.
She has her own style.
She got some new skinny jeans this cute green top and a new green wallet.
SHE LOVES GREEN!
She loves doing a peace sign in all her pictures now,
I asked her why and she said that is what all her friends do;)
I was playing with this photo and was using the clone tool, I accidentally made a second Kali and 
she loved it so much and wanted me to keep it that way,
I played a little more and ended up with lots of Kali's.
She loved it and said, "look at all my sisters."
I always wanted a twin or to be a triplet so I understand the appeal.

compare

It is always fun to compare the kids baby pictures.
Kali was born 4 days late she was 8lbs 1/2 oz and 21 1/4 inches
Krew was born one week early and was 7lbs 13 oz and 21 inches
Kolt was born one week early and was 7 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches  

Monday, February 21, 2011

thumb sucker

Kali turned 5 on the 18th and on the 19th was day 1 of the journey to no more thumb sucking.
She receives 1 dollar each day she does not suck her thumb.
If she does, she has to give me a dollar.
Today was day 3.
She has earned 2 dollars so far.
At night time we tape it so she can't suck it while she is asleep.
She has had several heart wrenching breakdowns, but I am determined to help her stop.
I seriously feel like I am helping a drug addict get off drugs, 
she acts like it physically hurts her not to suck her thumb.
She gets mad if she sees Krew sucking his thumb so I tried to put tape on Krew's finger
and lets just say, he is not ready to stop.


6 weeks

This was supposed to be posted on January 22nd
but a month later I am finally finishing it up and posting;)
These past six weeks have kind of just been one big blur.
A brief run through of the blur:
Kolt was the perfect little birthday present for my 31st.


In the hospital Monique, Leisl, BriAnne, Bishop and Lana were my visitors,
along with Shandiin who was right down the hall with her precious new baby girl.
When Kali and Krew came to visit with daddy, Kali was excited about holding baby Kolt
while Krew wanted nothing to do with him.
Grandma and Grandpa Wood drove to WA from UT and picked me up from the hospital.
Kali and Krew got to play at Grandma Yount's house, Lana's house and Hawkins house while Aaron was in Walla Walla finishing his finals for his Masters program.
Once Kolt was home, Krew finally showed interest in him and loved him and the first night wanted to
do everything Kolt was doing, sitting in a car seat, drinking a bottle, etc.
Luckily he was over that by the next morning;)
With Christmas right around the corner family came flooding home which is ALWAYS a good time.
With fresh snow on the ground Tucker took the kids outside to play and build a snowman
which became so big he had to call for reinforcements to get it put together,
the end result was a 9 ft masterpiece.


Excitement filled the air as Christmas Eve rolled around and we read and acted out Christ's birth,
I got to watch my kids faces light up on Christmas morning as they saw what Santa brought them,
and later tore threw neatly wrapped presents.
Aaron gave Kolt a wonderful blessing which was the last major family event before some of the family
boarded the jet planes and headed back to their current homes.

A couple more days passed when all of a sudden I found my self all ALONE with 3 children.
3 am tends to be Kolt's magical hour to wake up and be fussy,
I usually have him calmed, fed, changed and ready to fall asleep around 6 am
7 am Kali and Krew wake up and want me to make them breakfast after asking them to let me sleep a little longer about a dozen times I finally roll out of bed and help them with breakfast, turn on a movie and pass out on the couch.
Walking around like a zombie all day trying to be somewhat coherent for Kali and Krew.
Kali wanting to do the routine we normally do, school, projects, etc. and Krew wanting to get into and play with all the things he shouldn't made it a little rough.
I ended up putting Krew back in diapers until he was ready to be a big boy again.  He would dance around and I would ask if he needed to go to the bathroom, when he said no, I would pick him up and put him on the toilet, he would hold it and tell me there was not pee in there.  When I finally let him off the toilet he would pee on the floor.  So, I decided to deal with that later when I was not so sleep deprived and could think straight.
On the up side I loved watching Kolt smile and laugh in his sleep.  SO CUTE!
He really is sweet, he is just EXTREMELY gassy, which in return makes him fussy.

Then there are the days when Aaron is home, those are my vacation days, he watches the kids while I get sleep in the morning and he will feed Kolt while I play with Kali and Krew.  Those days are nice.

New Years happened somewhere in the blur:

New Years Eve
7:30 pm Aaron decideds he can wait and breaks into the martinellis
we all drink.
10:00 pm
Aaron holds Kolt while Kids and I go downstairs and watch bedtime stories on my laptop
Krew falls asleep
After movie Kali and I go upstairs to check on daddy and Kolt
20 min till midnight Aaron gets tired goes to bed
Kali, Kolt and I are up watching Carson Daleys NYC NYE countdown
And kali asks why we are not at some big party or at a concert
I explain we couln’t really go anywhere this year with Kolt but promised her we would make next years new years eve  BIG.
Count Down starts, I ask kali if she is still awake she said she was going to fall asleep, I told her she had to stay awake for a few more min.
Count down comes when they say 1 Everyone yelled Happy New Year, Kali said we didn’t yell Happy New Year, So we yell it.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Jan 1st 2011
6:00 pm
I explain to Kali we probably won’t be able to go to church tomorrow
Because everyone is sick
Kali freaks out she hates missing church
Kids are out of control
Aaron goes down stairs and puts them to bed
10:00 pm
kids wake  up
Aaron is tired and wants to go to sleep
I am tired but someone has to take care of the kids
Kolt falls asleep after eating, so I only have to worry about 2 kids
Kids want to make brownies, Kali has been asking me to make brownies for 2 days now
I decided now is as good as any
We make brownies
We start a movie in hopes the kids will fall asleep
I fall asleep kids stay awake
Brownie timer rings
We all have a bite
Movie ends
1 am
we go to bed
Kolt wakes up
Finally Kolt goes back to sleep at 3 am
I wake at 6 am
And think wow I wonder I can’t believe I am up in time to get ready for church
And the kids, including the dad is sick and hacking away
Next thing I know I wake up and it is 10:30 am
Kali wakes up and asks if she can go to church, I tell her church is almost over and she is sick we don’t want to get others sick
She is worried because she is supposed to say a prayer today in church
I tell her I can call someone and see if she can do it next week.


Now six weeks later, I can work out again and Kolt has been doing better at night time, not being so fussy, so I finally feel like myself again and might be coming back to the world again and getting back into a routine.

As you see everything has been a little crazy around here.
It is time to dust off my camera and start taking pictures.