Picture Perfect

It's that time of year, time for baking cookies, building snowmen, wrapping gifts, and getting pictures taken. Ah yes, the ever anticipated event of getting your kids all dressed up and then taking them to get their photos taken. All the while threatening them with their lives if they get wrinkled or rumpled or mess up their hair.

When Eva was a baby I loved getting her picture taken. I would get her all dolled up and we would traipse off to the mall. The most difficult part was deciding what to order as one picture was cuter than the last. Then Quinn was born, and Eva was 2. Ok, things got a little trickier, but not too bad. Eva was still very accommodating and Quinn was too little to do much.

Life has certainly progressed. I'm sorry to say, but pictures are no longer easy, and certainly not fun. Of course these days the stress starts days, often weeks before the blessed event. I have to decide on outfits. Formal? Dressy? Casual? Somewhere in between? Should they match? Color coordinated? Should there be a theme? This is where John loses interest and tells me I'm crazy. This does not usually help.

This year I actually had a fairly easy time finding the right outfits - coordinating, but no theme. We even made it to Sears without any serious mishaps. Eva was an angel, and Dexter slept through almost the whole thing. Then there's Quinn. Now, in his defense, he's only 19 months. That's a hard age to simultaneously stand still, look at one thing, and smile.

The photographer was EXTREMELY patient with us. It took us well over an hour (we were scheduled for 15 minutes). The result? We have the most beautiful picture of all three looking straight at the camera and smiling (well, Dex isn't smiling, but he looks quite content). You can't even tell that Quinn was smiling for exactly the one quarter of a second and then promptly flung himself over backwards and started to scream. Doesn't matter though, I have a fantastic picture this year for Christmas cards :)

And Baby Makes ... 5

Well, it's been awhile. I know one of my last posts was how I was starting to feel pregnant - I am most definitely not feeling pregnant anymore! If anyone missed my blog, just count yourselves lucky that you missed the end of my pregnancy. I'll just say I wasn't in such a pleasant mood and spare you all the moody, hormonal, painful details.

On a much brighter note, we now have another beautiful baby boy. Dexter Elliot was born on November 2. I really thought that having another baby would be really really difficult. So far, everything has been great. Yes, we're back to midnite feedings and explosive diapers and searching under the couch/bed or inside Quinn's shoes (a very popular hiding spot :) for binkys. But, it still hasn't been so much of a change. I guess I'm just really used to having my living room filled with swings, bouncy seats, toys, books, blankets, burp cloths and all other sorts of kid and baby paraphernalia.

Both Eva and Quinn have been really great. Eva pretends everything is her baby. One afternoon while I was cleaning up in our bedroom, I looked inside the bassinet and saw a large butternut squash wrapped up in a blanket:

Me: Eva, what's this?
Eva: It's my baby.
Me: What's your baby's name?
Eva: Mooooom....it's my babynut.
Me: Ahh, of course. It's your babynut. Well, do you think your babynut would rather sleep in the kitchen with the other vegetables, I mean babies.
Eva: No. He has to sleep in his bed. (Pause) Mom, you're too loud, you'll wake my babynut.

Babynut went everywhere with Eva for about a week. Then John cooked her. I guess that's the reality of having a baby vegetable.

Well, this post is kinda short, but it's lunch time at my house. I truly believe lunch time to be the worst time of day. Who thought of having a meal so close after snack time (so no one's hungry) and so near to nap time (so everyone's whiny). I promise to start updating this much more regularly, so check back. Also, if you prefer the picture book style of checking in on our lives check our website : secularpickle.spoon.cx

Flowers for Mother's Day

I have had a really wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Yesterday we went to my Grandma's house for a picnic/family get-together. My aunt from Virginia was there, as well as my aunt and uncle from Minnesota with their new baby. Plus all the folk from Dubuque and surrounding area. We had perfect weather for the day. The kids got to run around in the yard and we grilled hamburgers and brauts. Yum.

This morning John went out and bought donuts (that's my kinda surprise). Then we spent most of the afternoon working outside. John dug and tilled a vegetable garden and I planted some hanging baskets with geraniums, petunias, and something that looks like Gerbera Daisies, but aren't. We also repotted John's ficus tree. It was still in the same pot as when he got it as a highschool graduation gift. Needless to say, it needed a new home!

It really has been a lovely weekend. I love to get out and do yardwork (so much better than housework). I hope all you mom's out there also had a great weekend!

On a sidenote - anyone reading this who has any great suggestions for baby names, feel free to send those along. John and I are coming up kinda blank this time around :)

Feeling pregnant

Well, I'm finally starting to really feel pregnant....most of the time. It's so funny because when I first found out I was pregnant with Eva it was all I could think about. Every thing I did, ate, wore, just everything seemed related to my pregnancy.

Baby 2: When I was pregnant with Quinn, it felt very much the same. John and I had been planning to get pregnant and I was really excited to be pregnant again. I started thinking about all the new baby stuff I would get and started shopping for maternity clothes right away. I just got really involved in all the fun pregnancy stuff.

Baby 3: First of all, I was SHOCKED when I discovered I was pregnant again. I think that has a lot to do with it. For those of you who don't know, I got the positive test result when John was in Germany. I had taken 5 tests in 6 days and finally the blue line appears (oh, so faint) and I was like, "Oh, you've got to be F%#$ing kidding me" Oops, probably shouldn't have said that out loud.

So, I had to deal with a shock and of course, the dreaded fatigue. I get so tired when I'm pregnant I can barely function. Having Eva and Quinn compound this problem significantly. Not only do I have to get out of bed, I also have to be alert and watchful and playful and fun.... Are you kidding me?

But now, both the shock and the tiredness have passed (most of it, anyway). And once again, I'm excited about being pregnant. It took me a little longer this time, but I think I'm in the swing of things now. I'm about 3 1/2 months and just starting to show a little bit. This is the best part!! I get to wear all my super cute, trendy maternity clothes and I'm not yet as big as a house. For those of you who missed my previous pregnancies - yes, I got HUGE. Oh well, that's part of the deal.

This week I made 3 new tops and a dress. I'm super excited. I love to sew and I love maternity clothes - what could be better ?!? Plus now I have all these fantastic new shoes to go with my stuff. Yay me!

Enough about maternity clothes. I am really looking forward to this weekend. I love Mother's Day (but I really think it ought to last all weekend long). John and I have some fun things planned and I'm looking forward to some gorgeous weather. Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there! I hope we all get some pampering this weekend.

Shoes

I love shoes. I know this is not anything particularly unique for a woman of my age. In fact, I probably don't really have very many pairs of shoes compared to most. But, I do love shoes.

It occurred to me this weekend that for the past several years, I have bought nothing but flip-flops for the summer. Flip-flops are comfy and easy to wear, also cheap and disposable. But, when I wanted to wear some real summer sandals I noticed I didn't have any. Not one single pair. Hmm....This must be remedied.

I took the kids to my mom's yesterday and went to get my haircut (adorable haircut :) Then I went to Younkers. I only sometimes like Younkers, they don't generally have a huge selection of shoes, but I was close and thought I'd give it a try. Jackpot! Everything was cute, but nothing was on sale. I tried about at least 20 pairs. I bought six. Now, 1 pair is a more fall/winter type shoe - but it was on the clearance rack. Everything else was a summer sandal or flat. Woo hoo. I have shoes.

Then, when I got back to my mom's I saw a flyer from Kohl's - they're having a shoe extravaganza today. Hmm.... more shoes? I'm going this afternoon to look at their selection. I have firmly told myself that if I find some shoes on sale I will buy them - but then I have to take back a few pair from yesterday. So, we'll see how that goes. Returning shoes is not really my thing.

Let's Play Pretend

My favorite anecdotes about Eva are the things I hear her pretending to do: Here's a great example

Eva: I'm Cinderella and you're Bob (to Clementine)

Clementine: (Skeptical Look)

Eva: Let's go, Bob

Clementine: (Stands up, looks ready to go)

Cinderella grabs Bob by the collar and starts leading her through the house

Me: Eva, what are you doing?

Eva: I'm not Eva (belligerently), I'm Cinderella, and this is Bob (points to dog). And, we're going on an adventure.

They happily scamper off and I can't follow because I'm feeding Mr. Quinn lunch. On any given day, Eva spends play time reading to stuffed animals, putting them to bed, and reminding the rest of the house to be quiet because her babies are sleeping.

I guarantee that funniest parts of my day are watching Eva play pretend. The things she says are unbelievably funny to me. Especially since we got Clementine. To Eva, Clementine is a very large stuffed animal that can walk. Cool! She pushes, pulls, drags, and sometimes tries to ride Clementine all over the house, trying to get her involved in all her imaginings. Unbelievably, at only 6 months Clem is already calm enough to take whatever Eva can dish out. I think they are truly the best of friends.

Holidays, Holidays

Well, I'm back to a typical daily routine. The last week or so have been very busy for us. Of course, last Monday was my birthday. Quinn's 1st birthday was Friday, my mother-in-law's birthday was Saturday and John and I's anniversary was Monday. Whew!

Ellen flew in on Wednesday. We all had a really great visit. We took the kids to the zoo (check out some pics at secularpickle.spoon.cx) on Saturday. The weather was perfect, if a little warm. I got a bit sunburned and felt wonderful for not looking so pasty :) Eva cracked us all up by saying hello to all the animals personally. "Hello, Mr. Mountain Goat". Even Quinn seemed pretty interested in the animals he could see from his stroller. I think he liked the bear the best, he kept watching the bear pace back and forth in his cage.

On Sunday, we had a small birthday party for Quinn (again, go look at some pictures:). He ended up with quite a pile of loot. He seems quite happy with his new toys. Also, everyone commented about how quickly he inhaled his birthday cupcake. It was there...and then it was gone. He beat Eva by several minutes, which made us all laugh.

The other exciting thing we did this week was Ellen and I made a quilt. Well, started a quilt. We got the whole top pieced together. She is going to take it home and hand quilt it for and grandbaby of a friend. I have to say, it turned out just adorable. Also, I had so much fun quilting with someone. I generally sew by myself, as I don't have any friends or family who are interested in quilting. I would say overall, we did a pretty great job. We she's all done with the quilting I'll get a picture and put it up on the website.

Well, this is more a catch up kinda of post, I suppose. Now that John has told his mom I'm pregnant, I think everyone knows. So, I'm 11 weeks and counting. I have no idea why, but I strongly suspect I'm having another boy. Does anyone else have an opinion? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Congratulations.......It's Quadruplets

I was on the phone yesterday with my sister-in-law, Randa. She called to ask me a couple questions about buying some baby gifts for some relatives on her husband's side of the family. Apparently they are having quadruplets! Even more amazing than quadruplets (which is pretty freaking amazing), is that they were not using any fertility treatments. They just luckily ended up pregnant with 2 sets of twins.

I must admit, I feel very humbled, not to mention a bit embarrassed about my last post. How on earth can I possibly complain about lack of sleep? These parents probably will not get a solid night of sleep for many, many years to come.

In any event, I wish them the best of luck and happiness with their new family:)

In more personal news, yesterday was my birthday. We had a pretty calm day. The weather was gorgeous, so the kids and I played outside quite a bit. John brought me home BLT pizza (my favorite) for dinner and he bought me a DDR pad and game. We tried it out last night after the kids were in bed. It was so fun. I've only tried it once before, so I wasn't very good. But, I do think (or fervently hope) that I'll get better with a little practice. John is very, very good. I know he hasn't played for a couple years, and he still was dancing circles around me. Go John!

Sleep anyone?

As the parent of a new baby, you don't expect to get much sleep. You're ready for the midnight, 3 am, and 6 am feedings. You know there will be nights of walking floors and humming into tiny ears. As a parent, I handled all of this. I knew what was expected of me and I rose to the occasion.

Once we made it through the sleepless nights with Quinn, we thought we were home free. What people don't tell you is.....it's very likely you'll get less sleep with a young child than with a baby in the house. Eva has become a monster of the night. I have never slept so badly in my life. And I can't help but think that every parent of a colicky baby is thinking "Ha, now it's your turn."

See, Eva was a perfect baby. She rarely cried, slept extremely well, and was just a pleasure to be around. Many, many people told me she was the best baby they had ever seen. Then I became pregnant with Mr. Quinn. Everyone told me that this time I'd get a "real baby". And still, my luck held out. He cried a bit more, slept a bit less, but was still fairly easy to cuddle and soothe to sleep.

For the last nine months, Eva has gotten out of her bed every single night for a little trip down the hall. She wanders into our room begging to sleep with us, for a glass of water, because she's lost her duck/giraffe/zebra (insert favorite stuffed animal here). When we exhausted every single thing we could think of to get her to stay in her bed, we turned to the experts. Yep, the internet. I've read posts and forums and every parenting website out there all guarenteeing success. Nope. Nope. Nope.

I have lost all hope of getting her to stay in bed. We have tried rewards (nothing works like bribery:) , punishments, incentives. We have tried the stick-to-your-guns approach and the cajoling, pleading, begging approach. We are completely out of ideas.

I always thought once your kids starting sleeping through the night you were home free. To date, this has been my biggest misconception about parenting. It's EVERY NIGHT. For NINE MONTHS. And the best part is, she only wants Mommy. Daddy simply will not do in this case. It must be Mommy or we have a tantraum of such epic proportions that suddenly we have two awake screaming children on our hands.


I certainly think this qualifies as my rant for the day. I'm sure there are those out there who can sympathize with me. And I'm sure there are those who are secretly laughing at me, thinking "of course kids don't sleep, you schmuck" All I can count on are the words of John's mom, she said, "Megan, I'm sure she won't go off to college still sleeping in your bed." True. But how many nights are between here and there?

My New Blog

Hello all! I've decided to join the millions of people who feel the need to publish private and intimate details of their life on the internet. Ye who look for juicy gossip be warned..... this blog will probably be mostly comprised of family anecdotes. It seems like a good way to keep family and friends in the loop with what John, I and the little ones are up to.

Of course, as the title suggests, it may also serve as my personal vent. Expect rants about family, weather, pregnancy, kids, or anything else that may irk me on any given day.

In a matter of acknowledgement, I need to send out a special thanks to John who helped me create this weblog (I'm easily confused by technology). He suggested many titles, none of which we chose, including - Meg's Steak House and Mustache Waxery. Ah, yes, the humor of my husband. Since all who may be reading this know John, I really feel no need to explain.

That seems to be a suitable introduction. There will be more later.....just as soon as I figure out what one is really supposed to write about in a blog with an intended audience of family and friends. (I.E. can't complain too much about hubby - his family will probably read this too :)