And Rest

8:14pm.
All three kids are down.
A million things to do, but I just sat and rocked my baby boy.
As I sat there smelling Johnson's baby shampoo and feeling Nate snoring rhythmically in my arms, while listening to Scully start his 62nd season with the Dodgers, I couldn't help but think that there weren't many other places I would rather be than right here right now.
It's a nice feeling. =-)
Stuff will get done.
Eventually.

But I know that after I'm done blogging I'll need to pump, finish my paperwork, put in laundry, fold the laundry coming out, make lunches for tomorrow and put on the coffee for the morning.

Soooo....the moment is over - but it was sure nice while it lasted!

All of the sudden, Nate is everywhere. The boy can motor. He is waving Hi and Bye, can give "five", can clap, shakes his head "No" (amazingly enough - almost always in an appropriate context - like when I'm trying to give him his antibiotics) and says "Mama" (but only when he's hungry). He also weighs 20lbs and 1 oz. HOLY SCHNIKES.
This is what I saw when I went into the bathroom today. I love this little man (even if he has constant contrails of drool and snot). It's hard to believe he has only been around seven months!

Mobile. Agile. Hostile.

I know.
It has been a while.
Remember that whole work-life balance thing?
Yeah, well. It's a little out of kilter right now.
We're working on it.


Nate has a nasty ear infection. Augmentin is the second antibiotic he has been on in the past four days. Even after one dose, we're starting to see some of the "real Nate" coming out - smiling, talking, eating catfood. You know, the basic stuff. Remember how Sam went for the high end electronics when he first started to crawl (and yes, the VCR - even broken - is high end)? Well - Nathanael prefers the kitchen trash can (it's stainless, so he can see his reflection), Sam's trains (this goes over like a fart in church) and the cat food (he prefers Friskies prime fillets - salmon flavor). The fun is just beginning. He can pull to stand, too.

Sam continues to crack us up. Today when we dropped Caroline off at school, as we were leaving he said good-bye to Caroline's teacher. "Bye Miss Murphry - I'll see you next year when I go poopy on the potty!" Yup - we'll see how long that one takes. He'll do it when he's ready. I think I'm just ready for him to be ready before he's really ready. You know? =-)

Caroline and I have been working on our "homework" for the "Wizard of Oz" recently and really enjoying it. She has really taken to the book, even correcting me when I was trying to tell her that Glinda was the witch of the North (in the book it's the South) and looking at me incredulously when I asked who the Quadlings were. We did some research and learned about tornadoes the other day. We'll do some more vocabulary work tomorrow, I think. I don't think I'll show her the movie yet, though. Honestly - the flying monkeys still freak me out. The girl is a voracious reader. We have to ask her to stop reading as she is going down the stairs. Seriously.

But with the poor sleep we've been getting lately (thanks to the aforementioned ear infection), it's early to bed tonight.

Sunday Morning

We are having a lovely relaxing day.
As evidenced by this picture. Don't they looked relaxed and well rested?
I only wish WE were...

Happy St Patrick's Day

For our sixth annual installation of St Patty's Day pictures...let just say it was an eventful photo shoot. Never a dull moment here, I say.
PS - Caroline has strep throat. Our healthfulness lasted about a week. Oh, well.

At Last

Everyone is healthy and has been so for at least a week.
I think this is some sort of new record for us. Nate has been a bit snotty recently and is drinking only half breastmilk, so I don't want to jinx it - but frankly, it has been nice. I feel like we've finally recovered from the flu.

Lots has been going on here.
At the same time, nothing in particular has been going on.
You know the deal.

I'm trying to make an effort to keep up better with the blog. I've considered giving it up all together. It's something that I would like to do well - there's no point in doing it any other way. With the addition of a third urchin, I'm still in the process of finding my land legs, so to speak. The balance has been a bit better the past week (could some sunshine and good health be contributing? I think so). But it's still definitely a work in progress.
So please bear with me.

Yesterday was a tough day. I don't know if the moon was full or Mercury was in retrograde, but everyone was grumpy. Sam especially. From the minute (and I mean the minute) he got up at 5:30. Pretty soon, all of us were in less than stellar moods.
It culminated at church. The kids were okay during mass, but in the five minutes when we were getting Nate in the carseat and everyone's jackets on - all hell broke loose. So much so that the kids lost TV, radio, dessert and stories last night. Yup. It was that bad.
I'm thinking they must have felt pretty bad about it because when we got up this morning, they asked to go to church again. How could we say no?
Almost as if to make up for yesterday, their behavior was exemplary. So, after church we packed up and went to Old Sturbridge Village. It was a lovely day. We just ran about. We listened to "Annie" on the way home. Sam is hysterical when he sings "Tomorrow."
It was just a really nice day all around.

But first things first.
What are the first two things you notice about this picture?
1-Nathanael is asleep lying down. In a crib.
2-His head is turned the to the left! His torticollis is resolving! Hooray for small (Okay - not so small) miracles!

Nate is also officially mobile. Not crawling, exactly. Sort of a modified commando-style. But he's mobile. Oh - did I mention he's trying to pull to stand on everything?
I am afraid.
Very.
Very.
Afraid.

Here's something we saw on the way to OSV today.
Hysterical.
I was thinking of submitting it to one of my favorite websites.
I'm thinking I wouldn't want to be Al.

But here are (finally) some pictures from the Village.



And, last but not least, he's my Tiger Boy:

There is Reason to Hope.

Look what Pops sent me!
Winter, it seems, is not going to last forever.
Before long, we can spend the nights listening to our buddy Joe.
I'm really looking forward to it.
PS - look at Timmy's fingers! Is that not the coolest?

March

Already?
February just flew by.
Kind of a miserable month, actually. Bleh.

But some good things did happen:
-Nate is sleeping and eating better after his tongue tie surgery. And since he's sleeping laying down, his torticollis seems to be resolving.
-I got a clean bill from the breast surgeon. There is nothing like sitting in a room with ten other women, waiting for mammograms/ultrasounds and *knowing* that we would rather all be anywhere else. Nate and I are still toiling to clear up what they think is a horribly stubborn case of thrush. Not fun. At all. But, like I said, at least we go the all clear from the surgeon.
-We got news that Caroline was selected in the Abby Kelley Charter School lottery. HOORAY!!!
-Spring training started.
So I guess February really wasn't that bad, after all. =-) But I'm praying for a less eventful March.

After watching this video, there is no doubt in my mind why Jim and I are so tired every night.
Do you think you could keep up?