Doubts/No Doubt

Kids are really good thespians. They know what to say and what to do to get their parents to take pause and wonder if they really are (scared/hungry/tired/hurt/etc.). This talent gets really good at night, just after they are put to bed.

Last night it was Benny and (of course) Charlie. They were both "scared." They sat on the top step calling my name, making it sound more like a song than calling out in fear. I've been able to manipulate my hearing to know if there's cause for concern, but every once in a while I second guess myself. Last night there was no doubt. They weren't scared of anything, they just didn't want to go to bed.

I do feel bad for them. Because of the time change they wake up before they're ready, then are put to bed before they are ready. But please don't feel bad that their mom isn't listening to their needs. Last week Benny had a legitimate fear in his voice. He came down and we talked it out (the fears, concerns on his mind--things that are common with both children and adults), then he went to bed feeling better.

All I had to say last night was that if they didn't get into their beds we weren't going to put out the leprechaun trap that they've been working on. That got them jumping up and scrambling for their beds.

See? No doubt.

Now Appearing in the Lounge...

I get tired of repeating myself. It's probably my biggest pet peeve about parenting. It's extremely frustrating to not be heard, and when you're dealing with kids they're the biggest culprits of tuning a person out.

My kids need reminding about everything--where the dirty clothes go; that we need to put shoes on now; and, unfortunately, they need to be reminded to wash their hands. I've gotten to the point where I'm so frustrated with their not listening that I've begun singing in order to get the message across. I usually take a tune and put some random words together.

Today, Charlie got to enjoy "Don't Forget to Wash Your Hands" to the tune of "Take Me out to the Ball Game." I'm not a musically-inclined person so no, it didn't really follow the tune very well but Mere liked it and was bopping along with the beat in Charlie's face to make sure he got the message.

I think Meredith and I may have a calling ;)

Interstate 95, Oh How I Loathe Thee

Again, we planned to leave by 8am, but finally got on the road a little after 9am. We didn't think it was a huge deal because the trip to Brewster was only supposed to be seven hours. Why we'd ever think a computer could tell us how our trip was going to go is beyond me.

I'm curious as to if anyone who lives in the NJ/NY corridor ever drives 95. From what I've heard since, there's no way around it. But the thing that killed me was the tolls. How can people on a daily basis afford eight and nine dollar tolls that come seemingly every half mile? I naively thought that tolls would be something like eighty cents. What do they do with all that money?

Sorry. It wasn't all bad, I just think that when you're expecting one thing and then get something vastly different it can be hard to stomach. There were some good things that happened:

• We got to see Camden Yards, one of our favorite stadiums, not long after we left DC.
• We're pretty sure we saw the new Meadowlands field, home to the Giants and Jets.
• Got very familiar with the different boroughs of New York, as we sat there and stared at the buildings.
• The boys finally got into the Silly Bandz craze. At the end of the school year it was all the kids could talk about, even though my boys really had no idea what they were or why, necessarily, they were cool but they knew they wanted some. Before we left Cincinnati, I was at Kroger and picked up a package, thinking that it would be good to bring out at our breaking point. And it actually worked for a while. If they boys didn't fight/scream/throw tantrums (all things that I wanted to do during the three hours that we sat in traffic) I would give them one silly band after different time increments. Just as an fyi, the novelty wore off rather quickly.
  

For people who are familiar with this area, it is probably comical to read what I have to say about it. The few times that I've gone to the city to visit have been extremely enjoyable, so I'm not knocking the town by any means. But putting five people in a car, three of whom are ages six and under who find enjoyment in antagonizing each other, with no exits in sight, it makes for one tense trip.

But by 8 o'clock that night we had finally reached our destination and there waiting for us was some great local pizza, cold drinks, and one cute little baby!

Tears for a Future Date

Louie was just a couple of months old when it happened for the first time. It was a cool spring morning and the windows were open, which allowed me to hear the noise loud and clear. Apparently it is a tradition for the local high school's seniors to drive on every street in the neighborhood honking their excitement for the last day of classes.

Today is that day and when I was explaining that to Benny I started to tear up. Louie is almost finished with kindergarten, Ben will be starting kindergarten next year. That day for them is way off in the future. But, still, I was sad thinking that the time between now and then will fly by.

(What is wrong with me?!)

3 + 1 = More

I'm not sure how it is, but having Louie on spring break today while trying to get Benny to school and do the normal "while Benny's at school errands" was so much more difficult than when Louie is at school. Why is that? Should one more kid make all that much difference?

They were bonkers today, creating a confrontation with me over everything from breakfast to where their hand was on the grocery cart. Speaking of which, in the future: even if we are completely out of milk, eggs, fruit, out of anything that the kids will eat, I will not go to the grocery with all four of them ever again. I'm repeating myself, but that one extra kid made all the difference. We couldn't get in the door and they were fighting and hurting and causing a big ol' commotion. This isn't normally how we roll. They are normally helpful and relatively quiet through the store (we go extremely quickly, so it doesn't leave much time for mischief!), and today even though they each had a list of stuff they needed to look for, they were crazy. And that was just in the morning!

I don't know. I'm going to blame it on the major weather change. The warm weather has been replaced with rain and cold and mostly gray skies. That has to be it. Good news, though: the weekend is supposed to be really nice!

I'm Done with the Snow

The meteorologist said that the snow was going to start at midnight (it didn't), then 2:30am (I was up--no snow), but by the time folks were traveling to work there was a steady, heavy snowfall. It has been going non-stop ever since.

Some things were left in the van from our trip to Jungle Jim's yesterday and when I went out to get them I couldn't get over all the snow. Last week I shoveled a pathway to each side of the van and put salt down. You couldn't tell anything was shoveled at any point.

This first picture was taken a couple of days ago. All along the front of the house we have some mega icicles. With the warming up, a little bit of melting and refreezing (didn't know how icicles were made, did ya?), they have quadrupled in size! I feel like this second picture doesn't do them justice. Maybe if I work up the nerve I'll go outside and take another picture of them. Needless to say, I won't be upset when it warms up enough for them to disappear all together!

The boys are getting stir-crazy. They have no desire to go outside to play in the snow anymore and it seems like the only thing on their agenda is to get on each others nerves. And mind. Poor Meredith is getting her two front teeth in and they have been worse than the bottom two. Her gums are swollen and pink with pain. And to make matters worse, I hear that Cleveland is sunny today! Spring--your arrival will be much appreciated!

Summer Storms

I've been up since 2am. We had a storm last night like none I've ever seen before. Things weren't too bad--actually, pretty neat--until the power went out at two o'clock in the morning. The lightning was unreal. It was non-stop, big bolt, little bolts, strikes that seemed like they were hitting the house two doors down. But when the power goes out, so do the night lights and the fan that works great for its noise that lulls little boys to sleep.

All four kids were up through the night, screaming, which is understandable. The house got really hot, on top of the lack of light and cooling methods. The boys all came down to the living room, bringing with them their pillows and blankies. Once they were calmed down, it wasn't too bad, just sporadic calling out, which I'm not even sure if they fully knew what they were doing.

I love summer thunderstorms. I grew up in a house that had a big screened-in porch and I loved to sit there and watch them blow threw. But if we don't get another one like that until the kids are older, I'm ok with that.

Things I said I would never do...before the need arose

I had things I had to do today. In the rain. No, I didn't need to do them in the rain, but it happens to be one of the rainiest Junes on record and I cannot plan my life around the weather any longer. So me and cuatro ninos (not sure if that's correct at all and, by the way, when is someone going to give me a suggestion for a new blog name that includes my chica?).

We had four stops to make that zig-zagged us all over town and happened to occur through the lunch hour. I brought provisions, but I had some crank-tastic kids on my hand so I had to come up with a way to make this errands trip work with out losing my mind in the process. So I turned on a movie in the van. I always looked into vans that had their tvs on, going through the city and thought, "Man, are those kids spoiled! They can't get away from the tv for a twenty minute car ride?!" And so when we got a vehicle that came with a vcr player, I made the decision that it was only going to be used for long car rides (i.e. the two hours to Grandma and Grandpa's house).

And we've been pretty good about sticking with that vow. But today was a different story altogether, and it has taught me a very good lesson. One that has been beat into my head with each day that I am a mother: You can never understand what is going on in another person's family, so why judge?

We made it home safely, with all of our tasks accomplished. I'm starting to realize that we may not spend too much time in our backyard. For whatever reason it helps us all when we are able to break up our routine and go on an outing. We'll see how it goes...

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Some random occurances:

• We got a Veggietales movie from the library. The boys watched it while I was feeding Meredith. The movie was over and then the boys proceeded to beat up each other. There's something terribly wrong with that.
• Currently, the three boys are having a soccer game in the kitchen using a ping pong ball. It may not sound all that funny, but it is. Oh. And it's suddenly turned into a game of broomball, thanks to Charlie.
• During our excercises today the boys decided that the best way to get results is to wear a not-a-shirt like the instructors do on the dvd. They all are standing in front of the television attempting to do the moves with their shirttails tucked up under their chins. (They are talking about the women wearing just sports bras or whatever they're considered, if you didn't catch on.)
  
• Murphy's Law is always in play when it come to three brothers: Our very nice neighbors brought over an outfit for Meredith and three trucks for the boys. Two of the trucks were the same, one different. Guess which one the boys fought over for the rest of the night.
  
• I am italics happy today. My apologies.
  

And so it begins?

Last night Lou slept walk last night. I guess I should say, technically it was a 3am. This is something that runs in my family. My brother and sister did, and my dad before them, and I can only wonder how far back it goes. We have some pretty good stories about my brother sleep walking. One that sticks out is the time that he tried to hurl football helmets at me. Luckily they missed, but the good thing is that he wasn't mad at me while doing it.

(I just realized what I typed for my first sentence, but I'm going to keep it because it emphasizes the state of delirium I am in.)

I awoke to Louie screaming at the top of his lungs at the top of the steps, which Benny slept through and Charlie woke up to, joining in the screamfest. It's enough to put one in labor! I ran up the steps, and fortunately was able to put Louie to bed fairly easily, but Charlie was another story. That kid was wide awake and any time he did lie his head on my chest, make any gesture that seemed to me he was sleeping, I'd take him up the steps only to get up five of them before he starting screaming. It was a long night.

So, we may be in for some really good stories for now on with Louie's taking of the torch o' sleepwalking, and Charlie is certainly doing a great job in preparing me for the coming of Child4. What great kids!

Another reason to love duct tape

I'm sure I've posted something about Charlie's extreme dislike for footwear, including socks. Today I just about lost it. The boys are getting ready for their big weekend with Uncle Hoggie and Charlie doesn't realize that he's not invited. This does not stop him from going through the same process his older brothers are to get prepared.

He's put on his socks and shoes (amazingly!), then grunted to me that he wanted help putting on a jacket. He was getting annoyed with one of the shoes because it wouldn't stay on. What actually was happening was that these hand-me-down shoes may have seen their last days because the velcro is separating from the strap.

Before launching the shoe out the window I turned to a trusty tool: duct tape. I ripped off a good sized piece and wrapped it around his foot, securing the loose strap. I had always joked that I was going to use duct tape to keep his shoes on, but I had envisioned the tape going around his shoe as well as his ankle to ensure it wasn't coming off. It worked perfectly just going around the shoe, and he seems fine with it!

Of course, he hasn't realized yet that he isn't part of this special weekend. Sorry, kid.

Putting a knot at the end

I'm not sure if it's the cabin fever, having three boys, or being in my 12th trimester, but I'm getting to the end of my rope. I feel bad for the boys, I feel bad for Kevin, heck, I feel bad for pretty much anyone I come in contact with!

I keep thinking that once the weather warms up we'll be outside with more to do, they'll get worn out, take great naps and get good nights of sleep and all will be good. I don't know what else to hope for!

Not sure what's going on with Louie. All of them really, but I don't know why all of a sudden the five-year-old has finally decided to cash in his "terrible twos" check. The kid does not listen. I guess it's not fair because I can be more lenient with Benny and Charlie because I kind of expect the "wild man" and the "baby" to act like that, but Lou usually does a good job in listening and not throwing tantrums.

Maybe I just need to get a nap.

help

I've been told many things:

• Louie doesn't need to take naps anymore.
• Split up the nap times.
• Have Charlie sleep in his old crib until he gets used to it.
• It'll get better.

I appreciate all the advice I'm getting, but from where I'm sitting, it won't work right now. Louie hasn't technically taken a nap in two days and what happens when this little boy doesn't get a nap is that he has a whiny, angry meltdown at dinnertime. In addition, specifically yesterday, Benny was the culprit in making sure Charlie didn't get a wink of sleep during nap time.

It makes sense to split the naps up, but 3pm has been when they all are at their breaking point. Charlie has quit his morning nap and for whatever reason has been able to keep up with his brothers until 3pm.

I'm trying to use putting Charlie in his old crib as a last resort. He needs to get used to sleeping upstairs and by giving in to him I'm not helping the transition at all. We'll see. It may come down to more necessity than struggle of wills.

I do know it'll get better, but yesterday I was about to lose it. The older two would not listen to a thing I said and the baby was pleading with me for some sleep. What's funny is that in a year I won't even have a recollection that this happened. Thank goodness for a terrible memory!

Rocking Out on a Snow Day

And-a one and-a two and-a three. HIT IT!

This is what they said before I was able to press record. They really like to rock out. They all went downstairs to pick which instrument they wanted (with the construction going on in the basement they aren't allowed to hang out down there). Lou came up with the keyboard; Ben, the tambourine and some sort of xylophone; and Charlie had his guitar and shades. He's all about presentation.

Don't you wish you were here, in person, to get an all-day live performance??

When we were driving home from Columbus last weekend Lou says to Kevin, "Hey Dad. Why don't you put on some of that rock 'n roll music?" Where do they come up with this stuff? I feel like I'm a parent in the '50s. Especially since I think we were listening to talk radio. Yikes!

My apologies

I'm sorry I've been so sporadic with my posts lately. Not a whole lot of excuses, other than the week flew by. You'd think with this -2 degree weather we'd be stuck in the house and I'd have nothing else to do than update the blog. I don't even know what we've been up to.

Good news: today is the big day for the baby's ultrasound! The boys are coming with us, so I'm going to bet that not only are we going to have pictures of Baby #4, but we'll also have some pretty good comments out of the boys' mouths. I'll have to remember to bring a tape recorder.

Hope you all are surviving the cold. I know a lot of you are in a lot worse situation than down here. Be safe!

The Heat's Out

We woke up to a house that was 57 degrees and now it is 56, with the temperature outside being 30. Charlie and I just got back from the boys' Christmas program at school and we're not taking our coats off! I'm not sure what's going on, but boy, it's a bit arctic in our home.

My guess is that heating and air places are super busy this time of year and I wonder if we'll get someone to come out. My dream home has a fireplace in it and what better time to have one than now. Good thing is that our electric does work, so I may bring the space heaters out of the boys' rooms and into the living room.

Or, we could just go outside and start a bonfire in the firepit because I think the 56 that reads on the thermostat is very generous!

P.S. I'll post some pictures from the Christmas program later today.

Holidayitis

The boys are driving me NUTS!

After long consideration, the only thought I have is that they are so wound up over a certain holiday's impending arrival.

I want to blame it on lack of sleep, too many activities going on, the weather, but it is what it is.

Too much excitement = a bunch of crazies in the house. They scream, they wrestle, they refuse to understand what "Santa's watching!" means.

I'm not down on the Christmas season, I just want a manual on how to handle the five and under crowd for this time of year. Or a vacation.

Music Therapy

I've found that when the boys are fighting and being otherwise unbearable, if I start singing Christmas carols (usually at the top of my lungs) it not only gets the boys to stop fighting but also allows me to cool down a bit. Which is good because a lot of times I use this strategy when driving.

Today, however, it occurred as I was picking up throw pillows from the couch and the coasters that are strewn around the living room at least nine times on a daily basis. Ben woke up from his nap on the wrong side of the bed and didn't like the choices in snacks. He was screaming, Lou was upset about something else, and Charlie thought it all was pretty funny and started to re-toss the pillows.

I began singing the "Christmas is Coming" song (not sure if that's the title), stopping after one verse because I wasn't sure where to go after that.

Lou looks at me and says, "What does that all mean??"

I didn't have an answer for him. I was never one for asking questions. I just sang about fat geese, hay pennies and figgy pudding without pondering what it all means. Feel free to send answers my way to enlighten my child.

Strange Phenomenon

Was there a full moon last night? Is there a blizzard set to come through town today? Something has to be going on because both Charlie and Benny were up ALL NIGHT. There were a lot of tears, and I never got to the bottom of it, but there's a chance Char-Bear may be getting more teeth. But that doesn't explain Ben. And the icing on the cake is that Lou had a great night of sleep so he woke up me up bright and early.

Goodness. What am I getting myself into? There's a baby coming! One, that with my boys' track record, won't sleep through the night until s/he is 15 months old! Oh, but really, this doesn't happen all that often. So when it does, I tend to be a bit dramatic.

Please forgive me if I am a zombie this week.

An update

Just wanted to let you have a peek into our world right now. It's going on 8:30pm. In 19 1/2 hours we are going to be leaving for a 16-hour trip to Florida. The pile of things we are taking keeps getting larger and Larger and LARGER. It's unbelievable.

Well, we can't be unprepared. I mean, come on, we've got three boys under five. We have to have the means to take care of any situation. And believe me, we've got some pretty wacked-out scenarios cooked up in our head, with all the stuff we're bringing.

Just keep us in your prayers that we make it down to the Sunshine State all in one piece, and excited to be on vacation.

P.S. You know I'm just kidding. We'll be fine. I am thrilled to be going...but a few prayers never hurt anyone ;)

"Boys will be boys" for how long?

I am familiar with the old adage "boys will be boys" but I can't use that as an excuse for everything. With the boys being so close in age at 4, 3 and 1 they have a great time playing together, but there is a large range in size between the three of them. Their rough-housing is a part of being a boy (friends who have only girls in their lives are at a loss for words when they witness the daily interaction of mis tres hijos), I get that. I just don't know how I will survive these years of making sure they all survive, until they get to the age where they can fend for themselves!