Happy Mother's Day!

Are you lookin' at me? (Gavin)

Happy Mother's Day! This mother's day was spent with me at work (sunday-thursday work week and all), but we DID have a fun filled family weekend. People were getting over illness (mom and dad included) with only snots to contend with, so we did a family grocery run that ended with Brady trying to crawl out of the cart and falling on the tile floor. Seemingly no concussion, but MAN did it shake him up! We hope the silver lining is he won't try to climb out of things like his crib, amusement park rides, etc in the future. :) On Saturday we went to our new pool with a friend (Thanks Jill!) and the boys and they just LOVED it! Lots of people, outside, cool water. it was THE BEST. Gavin loved kicking, getting splashed and for me to jump in from the side while i held him. crazy kid. We also went to a picnic along the corniche with some friends. LEss relaxing for us as the boys were continuously heading for the parking lot, garbage can, other people to beg for food. One woman pulls out a KitKat bar and just hands it to Brady. I could NOT beleive it - who gives other people's kids candy??? (well, other than child molesters) Curt says as he is coming to move Brady away "He doesn't know what that is" and she looks at him like HE is the crazy one . . . (sigh)

Our new "tent" (Gavin, Aidan, Brady)

This tent is getting it's money's worth - the boys have tried to drive their baby strollers in it, their trike, etc. They like to read books in it, play with the balloons we filled it with, squish it on one another, play in it like it's a fort with a blanket over the top, etc. loads of fun!

Gavin, Aidan, Brady heading to a picnic on the Corniche and singing "Lemon drops and Gum drops"

We haven't had a good pic of the three of them in awhile, and this one doesn't look like it will be either :( They all wanted baseball hats on to go to the picnic - not sure why as they ripped them off as soon as we got out of the car . . . They were certainly the life of the party though!

Brady is pooped without a morning nap today

Down to one nap a day is good for the most part. We still have some EXTREME whining around 10 -1030 am that can stop ANY day now, but we really are enjoying doing some longer morning activities. The bad part is dad and I are so exhausted we sleep almost as much as the boys do during THEIR afternoon nap! THis shot is just after the fall out of the grocery cart incident, so we weren't sure if his crying for 20 minutes wore him out or if he had a concussion. or both. either way he took a 25 minute nap (because he just NEEDED it) that morning and then still slept a couple of hours in the afternoon. Hallelujah!

Yes, that is a cheerio in Aidan's ear. Yes, he put it there. And ate it when i pulled it out.

Aidan is just FUNNY. He was SOOOO proud of himself for having found a nook to put something in. and then to have it stay there. and then to be able to eat it after i got it out. He hasn't put anything in any other body part, but i'm sure this is just the beginning.

Brady and Daddy ROCK OUT!

Brady's hair spikes THE BEST by far of the three boys. His hair is so light it is like filaments that stand up straight all the time in a big poofy mound on top of his head. he has the best bed head - makes you just want to snuggle in with him!

Aidan does a little light reading (he set the pillow up for his head)

Gavin and mom read a favorite book - "Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck"

I think Gavin is on the verge of beginning to talk like Aidan and Brady are. In the last couple of weeks he has been pointing at EVERYTHING for us to name, much like Brady was doing in January/February. Books now take much longer as when we get to the end, he goes back through for you to name things over and over again. And he is our puzzle boy. He loves to sit at the table in the mornings before breakfast and point at the pieces or show them to us and have us name them over and over again. He has also been having a lot more full out tantrums that Touchpoints (child development book) says is an indication they are getting ready to go through some new milestone of development (T. Barry Brazleton says that reverting to "disorganization" in behavior is how toddlers/babies are then able to "re-organize" at the higher level of development. Says this has been shown in chimps. If he's right, Gavin will be writing poetry before the end of the month . . .) :)

A hand-me-down potty makes a nice reading space (Aidan)

For my reflection this Mother's Day I am realizing a few things. 1) in some ways i think having all three at once is the ONLY way I could have had a family. I think of how TOUGH those first few months are and thank God we only had to do it once. I really don't know if I could have handled having another kid knowing what hell you are walking directly into and having no way of knowing if it will be better/worse/the same hell you had the first time. even if I still get the googly baby eyes when i see newborns. :) 2) I am more patient with these boys than i am with ANYTHING and ANYONE in my life. I feel like I owe it to them since they were born onto a "team" they didn't get to decide they wanted to be on for themselves. For the most part, I see their (sometimes insanely annoying) behavior as the way they are learning about the world and their path through it. the least i can do is shepard them along at the pace they need. 3) I have a completely amazing husband who is such a good dad. He may not always have the patience for their shenanigans (like when they decided they didn't want any dinner last night, so decided to throw food and then cry while we cleaned them and then closed them off from the kitchen so we could eat in "relative" peace. I think curt was thinking about moving to New Zeland) but he loves them with his whole being and shows it by doing all the little fun/boring stuff you do as a parent to provide for your kid (and not just in the way you go to work to provide for your family - i mean diapers, games, tickle fights, sucking snotty noses, etc) 4) I am much more able to enjoy any time we have away from the boys than I did before. I was so exhausted at times, that it felt like more work for curt and I to get away than anything else, even if I always came back from our time happy and refreshed. Now, our routine is such that i don't feel like I'm always on my last leg before we are going to have a night out. THAT is a very good thing. :)