Work in Progress!

"When you can do anything as though you work at nothing,

you have the best days of your life."

Zen Buddhist teaching

I wake up every morning and hold my 3 sons.

I read stories to them until they tell me they're ready for food, and yep,

I fix them their breakfast.

I get them dressed.

I take them to the park, zoo, playdate, or other activity I think will teach them about life.

I read more stories when we get home, and then yep,

I fix them their lunch.

I push them on their bikes and do art projects with them to keep them well rounded.

I play music. I play instruments. I play pretend kitchen.

I change all the diapers.

I fix them their dinner.

I give them their bath.

And then Daddy comes home.

He sits in the middle of the floor.

He doesn't try to teach them, read to them, quizz them, or make them well rounded.

He just sits there.

They climb on him.

They play and play and play.

They squeal, scream, giggle, and laugh at the top of their lungs.

He doesn't try to make them smarter, better, or more prepared for life.

But in that ONE or TWO hours that he's around, they've learned more than they did all day.

He connects with them.

And then WE put them to bed.

I have a little over 2 months left until we add on another child. At this point with every new addition, I usually go into panic mode: "How will I get everything done?", "There's not enough room on my lap, in my arms for everyone!", "Will they all get enough attention?"

But this time, I am completely at ease! I finally get it! I realize that, sure it's important to guide our children and it's my job to teach them things, but why make the day exhausting and wearisome for myself? They will learn to walk, feed themselves, talk, read, and all those other basics. And they will learn when they are ready to learn!

It's more important that I'm there. Connecting with them. I've recently incorporated more tickle fights and impromptu dance contests and less color quizzes and letter tracings into the day.

AND IT FEELS GREAT!

PRAYING FOR STELLAN!!!!

Tough morning...Jesse's drinking red Kool-aid straight from a bottle because we have no milk, Frankie's refusing to wear pants to the playdate we're late to, and oops! Bo just spilled toilet cleaner all over the carpet. I desperately NEED to get to the grocery store, but for now the packed lunch will have to consist of: one leftover dinner roll, one container of applesauce to split between the 3 of them, 2 vegetarian sausage patties...scratch that, too much freezer burn, and a bag of leftover starburst jelly beans.

I'll clean up the toast that's stuck to the wall (thanks to using honey as a "natural sweetener") later, because I really don't want to be late to the new playgroup. Okay, wipe the "kid shmagma" off the shirt and away we go to the park!

The one thing we got right today was PRAYING FOR STELLAN!!!! We all wore orange for that little sweetie! If you don't know what I'm talking about go to http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ and pray away!

Take a guess.

Today I'm just grateful...

Grateful that my husband still wants to be with me even through 4 hormone-packed rough pregnancies.
Grateful that my 3 sons are healthy and happy and we're not sitting in a NICU, PICU or any ICU anywhere.
Grateful God gave me the tools to be a zen mama.
Grateful that I can still teach Body Pump at 26 weeks pregnant.
Grateful for my extraordinary mother and father in law who treat me like I've always been their own.
Grateful for ice cream that beckons to me on a daily basis.
Grateful for the bad days that teach me so many lessons.
Grateful for the good days that make the bad ones so bearable.
Grateful for my girlfriends who have become my family.
Grateful for Lysol wipes in the big containers at Costco (on sale right now through May 13th) that actually kill the flu virus.
I love my husband more than anything in the world and I am mostly grateful for him!

I'm just Grateful.

Run. Fall.

We all need showers from time to time, and other Mom's know those can be REALLY tough to come by! I had reached my 3 day no shower limit (that's right, I said that), and it was time to just pacify the children and get clean!

They were all screaming at the bathroom door at first, but when I said...ahem...shouted, "Guys just play a game or something!", all of a sudden there was silence. And then giggling.

When I got out of the shower they were all laying in a heap with Jesse on the bottom playing a game they called, "Run, Fall".

"Mommy", said Bo. "In this game we run in a circle until the ground starts spinning and then we fall!" This is the best game ever!

Ta-Da! Successful Easter Egg Hunt for 2009! Bo found a total of $13.00 hidden in his eggs, Frankie sat down and ate EVERY SINGLE piece of his candy, followed by a puke in the jacuzzi, and, well Jesse's just happy to be around!

What a stud! Our Easter morning started with a beach walk/fishing expedition. We didn't even get a nibble, but what I'm supposed to say is that my "Waterman" husband subscribes to the "Catch and Release" method of fishing and released all the fish faster than we could see them. I'm okay with this little white lie, because if anyone asks he knows to tell them his wife weighs 130lbs!

What a difference a day makes...What a difference an attitude makes!

So I've been down on myself, down on motherhood, down on Ventura, and basically down on LIFE. I started following a blog; http://www.mycharmingkids.net/, and realized how selfish and foolish I've been. You see, the woman who writes the mck blog also has 4 very young children, but 1 who is on the brink of death at 5 months old. Everyday she updates her blog while sitting in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit somewhere in Minnesota. It just made me realize how good I really do have it. I have 3 healthy children and a husband who loves me unconditionally. What more could I ask for.

To tell you the truth though, I'm neither ashamed nor regretful for having life crises or hardships with motherhood/wifehood (is that a word??). I think moms should band together and cut the BS and just admit that we ALL feel isolated like I have been feeling and we all feel unworthy of the challenge, or maybe just unwanting of the challenge.

The secret, in my opinion is just to surrender to it. Which is what brought me to "Terrific Tuesday!"

It was suprisingly cold outside and me and my boys did NOT want to go outside. I could have turned this into "movie day", but I decided to try and be creative. We filled up both sinks entirely with bubbles and they played in there for an hour and a half!

Then they just all got naked and ate and wrestled...I'll leave that one alone because I think maybe it's a guy thing. Anyway, it was a great day! I'm so grateful for little moments in life God gives us that have the ability to ENTIRELY change our minds and moods! I love my boys! I love being a mom!

Growing, Growing...and still Growing!

Okay, maybe not the most flattering picture; I believe the look on my face is because I was giving direction to Patrick on taking my picture like he'd never done it before (a flaw I have, but am working on...the whole giving him unnecessary instruction), but anyway I will be 26 weeks pregnant on Wednesday and am so glad I'm keeping better track of this.

I'm usually VERY disciplined with my diet and my workouts, so pregnancy brings an amount of anxiety for me, feeling out of control with my eating, and too tired and unmotivated to workout as hard, so it's good to take these pictures and keep it all in perspective.

I was on my way to the beach in this pic and in my head all the fishermen around were there to throw me back in the ocean with all the other harpooned whales, but I actually think I'm doing okay!

I'm feeling extremely more fatigued this pregnancy and everyone tells me it's because I have 3 other very small children, but it's not that. I'm just more tired. Every pregnancy has been different, and so far this one has brought me exhaustion, but nice peaceful pregnancy feelings instead of the testosterone crazies I've had the 3 previous pregnancies (and the cupcake thing).

In short, things are lookin up!

This I believe!

As a mom, there are a few things I believe and will NEVER and I mean NEVER falter from. They are simply listed below:

1. I NEVER let my children watch television unless it is an instructional video such as Potty Power, or Letter Factory. They really get a kick out of the History Channel on occasion!

2. I ONLY feed my children organic food and absolutely NO hydrogenated fat oils. They don't even know what sugar tastes like!

3. I read to my children EVERY night and they NEVER miss an opportunity to brush their teeth.

4. I would NEVER think of EVER drinking a glass of wine (like the La Crema Pinot Grigio 2007) or zoning out with a magazine when I'm alone with my children...at noon.

5. There is NO WAY, NO MATTER WHAT, I would EVER make my children take their SECOND bath of the day and call it "jacuzzi time" or anything of that sort just so I could read the new PEOPLE magazine or return a phone call.

6. I love getting all three children in and out of their car seats SO much that I would NEVER EVER think of leaving them in the car while I do anything, especially run in to mail a letter at the post office or something!

7. I can't even IMAGINE for one second, EVER hiding from my children in like, say the downstairs hall closet while they run screaming through the house fighting with each other and looking for me.

8. Last but not least, I would never in a million years put the new Disney movie, Bolt the Super Dog on TV upstairs and go downstairs to blog...that would be SO out of character!

HAHA! I would like to dedicate this post to a dear friend who we'll call "OKA" for the sake of not outing her in public. We are both hardworking moms who devote our life to our children, but are constantly laughing at ourselves about the things we let slide now that we have multiple children!

Our little motto is, "Make a memory every day." It DOESN'T, however, say "Make the ENTIRE day a memory!" How exhausting would that be?!?! We moms have just GOTTA RELAX a little!!!!!!!