To My Darling Husband

You need to come home. Look what's happening to your son...

Speechless

I don't know why I titled this speechless, since I'm obviously not, but I just wanted to let everyone know about a friend of mine that takes pictures and she is AMAZING!!! Her name is Tarah Craft and you can view her work at http://www.inthebeginningphoto.com/. She took Tia's 1 year shots and she took newborn shots of Landon and our family. I just looked at the proofs and, oh my goodness, they are amazing. I've been sitting here with tears in my eyes for 20 minutes watching the slideshow and wondering how on earth I'm going to narrow them down to stay in my budget. If you go into her site and click on Previews, enter the password "kstuart" and you can see the shots she took of us. She even managed to get a couple of great shots of Tia who was being a total pill that day and wanted nothing to do with having her picture made. Tarah, you are amazing! Thank you so much. You captured my children perfectly!

Walking through the Park and Reminiscing

My dear friend Tiffany sent me reeling into flashback mode with her post on New Kids on the Block. (Check out her blog at Quiet Gardens, Raging Seas!) Anyway, I had major flashbacks to my New Kid loving days. Alas, they were short lived, but filled with passion nonetheless. Now, my parents were nazi's...uhhh, I mean, vigilant, about what my brother and I listened to. While other children sang and danced to Madonna and Michael Jackson, I rocked out to Leslie Gore and Sandi Patty. Somehow, though, the New Kids managed to slip through. Perhaps it was because our neighbor, Kirtie, who was in high school and babysat us occasionally was a New Kid FREAK. Seriously, she was the ultimate uberfan! Or perhaps they gave in and bought me a tape for the same reasons that I caved and let Sloan watch High School Musical - it was a harmless piece of pop culture and not worth the battle.

Either way, I finally received the coveted cassette tape, which I promptly popped into my kickin' Walkman and jammed to the tunes of Right Stuff and Please Don't Go Girl. My childhood friend, Jenny, and I argued over who was cuter. She liked Joey, but I was partial to Jordan. He was my first celebrity crush. I'll never forget going to Kirtie's house the day after she went to their concert. She and her friend had tickets on the second row and she had so many cool, up close Polaroids. She also bought a concert video and I watched, jaw agape, as Jordan spun round and round on his shoulders.

Rad!

Kirtie gave me an oversize button, which I pinned on my tubular jean jacket and wore to school the next day. During recess, my friends and I stood in a semi-circle and compared buttons. I remember Alyssa Rohl had ten buttons, some small and some big. She had an awesome hat where she pinned two of her buttons. It was wicked. My other friend Kristen had a swatch watch imprinted with a picture of the boys. We talked about how sweet Joey was and how cool Donnie was with his happenin' half mullet. And we all agreed that Danny looked a little like a monkey. There we stood, our hair crimped, french braided and teased, our conversation peppered with "like," and "totally," and "oh, gag me." We were the stuff.

To illustrate this story, I thought I would include a picture from those days. Unfortunately, I don't have many old pictures here at my house, these were all I could find. But, you'll see I was totally fashion forward. The only fashion trend of that day that I passed up was the massive bangs. I wisely realized very young that I looked like a dork with my bangs like that. Not that I didn't give it a good effort. While the other girls walked around looking like their forehead froze mid-projectile-vomit, I opted for simpler bangs, but rocked out the side ponytail and was a genius with a crimping iron. Now, of course, these pictures I'm showing were only from fifth grade, when my parents still exercised a good deal of control over my fashion choices. Later on, when left on my own, my choices in haristyle were far less tame. While I couldn't get away with my bangs in full out bloom, I did try to curl and spray them in various ways. You know in the movie What About Mary when Cameron Diaz's bangs are standing straight up, as though somehow she ran into a wall? That's what I usually ended up looking like. If I find such a picture and have the guts to subject myself to that humiliation, I will post one. For now, enjoy the days of Units belts, Esprit over sized bags and crimped hair. Thanks, Tiffany, for the walk down memory lane. It's been a good ride!

Did You Know?

The average four-year-old asks 437 questions a day. That's according to a sign in the Magic House. Just thought you might like to know that. I think my kid is more in the 600 range, but whatever. There was also a sign that said the average 5 year old has watched more hours of television than he will spend in college classes. Depressing. Oh well, I'm off to put in a movie for the kids! :)

Day 2, Much better

A better day. Landon slept really well last night, Sloan was in school until 3:00 today and my AWESOME neighbor, Carol, kept Landon so I could go to the grocery store. Thanks again, Carol. All three kids went to bed early and I relaxed. I just watched Jon and Kate Plus 8. Do any of you watch that? It's on TLC on Monday nights. You should watch it - it's great. It makes my three kids look like a walk in the park. Tia climbed out of her crib twice today. I think we're going to have to transition to big girl bed soon, which I wasn't quite ready for but I don't want her to hurt herself. We'll see. Now I'm off to bed. I may actually be asleep before 10:00 tonight! Woohoo!

Daddy out of town, Day 1

5:00am - Lee gets up and gets ready to leave for Michigan for the week. Landon also gets up and decides that he doesn't want to go back to sleep so instead he grunts and groans for an hour and a half.
6:00am - I am near tears as I look at my six week old son who is in desperate need of a good poop. I curse my lack of milk production which requires my kid to try and digest formula.
6:30am - Sloan and Tia both wake up and I bite my tongue not to scream a curse word. They both went to bed at 10:00 the night before because we had a party, are you freakin' kidding me??!?!
7:00am - I reluctantly drag myself out of bed (Landon finally fell asleep...of course) and get up and make the kids breakfast, then stick a movie in and curl up by the fire. We can't go to church because Tia has another cold...awesome.
8:30am - Tia, who has only been watching the movie for about 15 minutes, drops a carton of eggs that I carelessly left on the counter on the floor. I again bite my tongue and clean up the mess.
9:00am - Landon is screaming. Seriously, he needs to poop. I give him apple juice. It doesn't help.
10:00am - I bundle the kids up and plop them in the car for a drive to Target to buy suppositories for my now inconsolable child. Landon screams most of the time we're in Target. But Sloan and Tia are extremely well behaved because I bribe them with a piece of gum when we leave the store. Score one for mommy.
10:53am - I insert suppository.
10:54am - I pray to God that this works so I never have to do it again.
10:55am - I curse my lack of milk once more.
10:56am - Landon finally poops. Hallelujah!
10:57am - He's still pooping.
10:58am - Still pooping...
10:59am - yep...
11:00am - put a fresh diaper on him and lay him down. He promptly begins screaming. I calmly close the door and turn a deaf ear. I check on the other two who are outside. They've got hammers and are massacreing (sp?) the tree in the back yard. I turn a blind eye and make lunch.
1:00pm - I finally have everyone down for naps. Wait...nope, Landon's awake again. No nap for mommy.
2:30pm - I reluctantly wake Sloan up because I know if I don't he'll never go back to sleep tonight. We sit down to work on his russian, something he's not happy about. Ten minutes into our lesson (we try and work on it 20 minutes a day) he says, "I don't want to do this anymore. I want to talk in real."
6:00pm - After a relatively mild afternoon of playing outside, we leave for the Magic House for a fundraiser for Sloan's school. My good friend Kara helps and praise God. I would have lost one of the children without the help. The Magic House was great fun, except Landon cried most of the time. It was hot and loud. But the other two had a ball.
9:58pm - Everyone is asleep and mommy should be too. But instead she is typing a silly post on her blog. Stupid, stupid mommy...

Our son the moose

We took Landon to the dr. yesterday and he weighed 11 pounds! That means he's gained 3 pounds in a month...he's not afraid. I'm really surprised because he is not a big eater. I guess he just holds on to everything he eats. He was 21.5 inches long. Which only put him in the 50% for height and the 90% for weight. So he's short and fat...Just to give some comparisons - Sloan weighed 12lbs 13 oz at the same age as Landon and was 23 3/4" long - he was ginormous. Tia, on the other hand was only 9 lbs 7 oz, but was 22". So Landon is kind of right in between him. Those facts are probably not interesting to anyone but me but thanks for reading anyway.

Dear Sleep

I miss you. A lot.

Kelli

I did it!

This morning I cleared a huge hurdle...I got all three kids up, fed and ready to go in time to take Sloan to school. I then went to the gym and walked with Landon in the Baby Bjorn for 30 minutes, then took Tia and Landon to the mall so she could play until it was time to pick Sloan up. I got them all home and fed them and got them all down for naps. Who said three kids were tough?! I did all of that and only lost my patience one time (if Sloan asked me again if he was putting his shoes on the right feet, I thought I would scream. Just put them on!!!) So, this is just me, publicly patting myself on the back. I survived! YEAH!

Cherishing Family

My wonderful sister-in-law, Becke', tagged me to write about why I cherish my family. So here it is:
Lee:
1. I adore my husband. I think he's hilarious. He truly makes me laugh all the time. He's funny when he's not trying to be. We always tell each other what geeks we are, and it's true. We're dweebs. But we make each other laugh despite that fact.

2. Lee's a great dad. He is so involved with the kids. He is always willing to give me some time off, to let me go out with friends or just get out if I need a break. He doesn't put any guilt on me for leaving him with the kids. I love that. He takes on a lot of responsibilities around that house, which I am so grateful for - especially now! He wrestles ith the kids and plays with them and they truly adore their daddy.

3. Lee loves the Lord. On eof the things that I've alwasy admired about him is his knowledge of the scriptures. He knows the Bible and can defend his faith. He desires to lead our family spiritually and prays with and for the kids and me faithfully. He really is the leader of this home and I'm grateful for that!

4. Lee is a great businessman. When we met and got engaged, he was a youth minister and that was how I saw him. After we got married and he entered the business world, I was astounded at what a good businessman he was, and I'm still amazed. He is wise and confident and makes good decisions. He's not afraid to take risks (even though that goes against his nature). He is the physical provider for our family as well. He's awesome!

Sloan:
1. I love Sloan's personality. He's so funny and fun. He's outgoing and from the time he was a baby has never met a stranger. He's always ready to make a new friend. He loves people and is so sweet.

2. Sloan loves to be a helper. He loves to clean the bathroom for me (which consists of nothing more than shoving everything off the counter into the drawer) and is so proud of himself when he does it. He knows he's helping me and that brings him great joy. I love that about him.

3. Sloan is just funny. He says funny things and does funny things. He is a mimic, like his mama, and can do funny voices and funny dances. It's so fun to watch him grow and develop with each passing day.

Katya:
1. I truly never expected to have a little girl and would have been perfectly content with all boys, but oh how I cherish this little girl! I adore her precious little face with her big eyes and chubby cheeks. I am madly in love with her.

2. Tia is developing into a little character like her brother. I love to watch her follow him around and mimic him (I kow it drives poor Sloan crazy though). She literally does everything that he does, almost exactly as he does it. It's hilarious.

3. Tia is very sweet natured. She does not like to see people upset or crying. She is a snuggler and hugger. I love watching her interact with Lee. She snuggles up on his lap and I can see him turn to mush. I love watching her become more motherly with her baby dolls. It's so sweet.

Landon:
I don't know much about Landon yet. But I kow I'm in love with him. I love the way he turns his face into my neck when I'm holding him so that his chubby little cheek is right up against mine. I love how he looks up at me with his big sweet eyes while I feed him. I love they way he is moving his little mouth around, trying to figure out how to stretch it into a smile. I'm excited to see what his personality will be like.

So that is my precious family. They are all unique and darling and I feel blessed beyond measure to have each one of them!

Captain Random

Here is a conversation Sloan and I had yesterday in the car as we drove past a cemetary:
Sloan: "Mommy, why does that garden have all those statues in it?"
Me: "Those are headstones. That's a cemetary."
Sloan: "What's a cemetary?"
Me(starting to sweat a little at the thought of explaining this): "Well, when people die, we bury them in a cemetary, then put a headstone with their name on it so we know where they were buried."
Sloan: "We bury them in the dirt?"
Me: "Yes."
Sloan: "But I thought people went to heaven when they die."
Me (really sweating now): "Well, if people know Jesus, they go to heaven. But their bodies stay here. You remember when Mr. John (our neighbor) died? He went to heaven but his body stayed here. (At this point I really began to hope that he didn't need further explanation. How do you explain the spirit to a 4 year old?)
Sloan: "I don't want to go to heavn."
Me: "Oh, yes you do. Heaven is a wonderful place with streets of gold and angels..."
Sloan: "I don't like angels!"
Me: "Angels are wonderful! They're nice and they love God and love to sing praises to Him."
Sloan: "Not the bad angels in the forest."
Me: "Ummm...but we're talking about angels in heaven."
Sloan: "No, I want to talk about bears."
Me: "Uh...okay."
Thus ended a potential teachable moment and began a ten minute dialogue as to whether bears cry and what a bear cry sounds like. As you can see we must always be on our toes when talking with him!

I feel like an idiot

So we made our first trip to the ER for the year 2008. Awesome. We're eating dinner tonight and Lee looks down at Landon and notices that he looks a little pale. A little? He looks like Casper with red hair! So, we both have a minor moment of panic. Lee picks him up and walks him around a little and the color returns to his face, but his hands are still pretty transluscent so we make the necessary all to the doctor. After describing the symptoms, the on call nurse recommends we go to the ER so we pack up our wheezing baby and head back out into the subzero night, this time driving through spitting snow. I hate winter...
Anyway - we get to the ER at Missouri Baptist, (which is a great place by the way, I highly recommend it) and they take his vitals. First, they tell us the kid weighs
10 lbs. 9 oz., which I'm not sure I believe since he hasn't eaten more than two ounces at a time for four days now but whatever. Then they check his lungs. Was he wheezing? NO! The kid had nary a cough or rattle. We're starting to feel foolish but we go with it. Then they put us in a room where they take his vitals yet again - he's still fine. He's even breathing through his nose, which he's done little of these past few days. We feel even more foolish. When the doctor came in I found myelf sending out telepathic signals. Cough, Landon. Show them how sick you really are. It seems to work for a moment as he lets out a nasty, chesty wet cough and I feel momentarily vindicated. See, he is sick. But then he stops coughing and again starts breathing through his nose. They must hate people like us! Anyway, it is a praise because he tested negative for RSV and everything else looked fine, other than minor congestion, a nasty cough and a goopy eye. So, $75.00 later they tell us what we already knew...he has a bad cold. As we drive home, I swear I hear him giggling in the backseat. That's right, my dear sweet boy. You made us look foolish. But, we will sleep better tonight knowing you're well so I guess it wasn't all that bad!

A letter of encouragement...to my body

Dear, ummm, me...
So I thought it was time to give you a little pep talk. I know I've been rough on you these last few years, what with the constant weight gain and loss and all that comes with pregnancy, but fear not. I won't do that to you anymore. In return for that favor, however, I have a few favors to ask of you.
Let's start with you, dear legs. Remember the days when you were fit and trim, when you could handle a brisk walk up a steep hill without screaming out in pain? Think back on those days and strive for that again, would ya? Now I must confess, I've never really cared for the upper half of you guys...you know, the thighs? But I'm willing to give you guys another chance if you'll just help me out here. You guys shape up and I'll quit complaining about you...fair?
Now, on to my stomach and my hips. Remember what it felt like to be flat, to slide into a pair of pants without having to be painfully sucked and tucked in? Let's get back to that. Tell you what, I'll do my part and try and eat foods that help you in that goal, if you'll do your part and shrink. I've already started! I'm mean, I ate that nasty bowl of flax cereal this morning didn't I? Okay, so I added a little sugar to it - I had to, though. I gotta keep the tongue happy! Anyway, I all want is for you guys to trim up. That's all I ask. And I'll just remind you that there is a wardrobe of pants hanging in the basement just waiting to be worn - and none of them have elastic waistbands! Oh yeah, and we will be wearing a bathing suit in a couple of months. You don't want to be humiliated do you?
On to my arms. Is there any way you guys could tone up and not look quite so, uh, masculine? That'd be great.
Moving on to the chest. Riiiight. Since you're probably the only part of my body that will immediately shrink back to pre-pregnancy size, there seems to be little I can really say. So, you know...whatever.
And you, dear chin. Could you tell your twin to take a hike? You know, the one who keeps popping up in photographs. That's not cool.
To my face - listen, the chubby cheeks are adorable...on the baby. On you? Not so much so shape it up okay? And if you, my dear eyes, could quit looking so droopy and red, that'd be great. I realize you're exhausted and are sorely lacking rest, but come one, buck up! Keep looking bright and shiny for me!
Finally, to the part of my brain that keeps sending out cravings for things like chocolate and cookies, please stop! Send out a craving for broccoli every once and awhile. Be satisfied and content with a salad and quit sabatoging (sp?) everyone else's hard work!
So, there it is. You guys can do it. If we all work together and boldly march forward, each carrying within us the motto "Remember the Glory Days!" I know we can return to our once comfortable shape. It's up to you all! I know you can do it!

Kelli
Oh yeah, and I need to throw this in. To my big toe, you know the one with only half a nail due to a most unfortunate incident invloving apple juice, a slippery floor and a table leg, could you please grow back and repair yourself before summer? No one wants to see you looking like that. Thanks.

Kid's Say the Darndest Things...1

Last night some friends brought us dinner. Sloan asked what they brought and our friend kindly replied, "I brought you Enchiladas!" Sloan just furrowed his brow and looked concerned. After she left Sloan turned to us and said, "Can I eat something different because I don't like to eat Chihuahuas." Hee, hee, hee

The Plague is Upon Us!

Good grief. We were back at the pediatrician yesterday, this time for Landon. That's 80 bucks in co-pays in just five days! Poor little guy has a terrible cold. Of course, yesterday when I took him, he was just congested but his lungs were fine. Today his nose seems a little better, but he has the most awful sounding cough. We are just praying that this clears up soon and doesn't worsen into the dreaded RSV. The only advice the dr. had for us at this point was to sit in a steamy bathroom with him, which I did for about 40 minutes at 3:00 this morning. I guess it helped a little but he still seems pretty miserable. As long as his breathing remains regulated and his color stays pink we should be okay. So far so good in those areas...
I'm learning a lot right now about God's perfect will and His Providence in our lives. I'm reading a great book called With God in Russia about a priest who was falsely imprisoned in the Soviet Union during World War II. He was an American priest who went over there to share God's love with the Russians, but was ultimately accused of espionage. He spent 15 years in a Siberian labor camp before he was finally released and sent back to the United States. His attitude and recollections toward that time are amazing and convicting. But one thing he says over and over is that he relied on the knowledge that God had a purpose and a plan and that he was in that place for a reason and that reason was to bring glory to God. Even when he spent an entire year in solitary confinement, he looked for every opportunity to glorify God and spent hours a day in prayer and meditation. In light of that, my momentary trials seem pale. I am trying to spend more time today thinking about how I can glorify God in this situation and less about how I can feel sorry for myself and how tired I am. It's 8:43 right now and so far I've had a pretty good attitude. We'll see how I do at 5:00. That's the true test! Anyway, that's me this morning...

Per Request

Here are a couple of pictures of Sloan's kickin' new do. It's a little hard to see, but the sprouts of hair sticking up on the side of his head are the result of his homemade haircut. His face says it all...

Today's Trauma

So I ended up back at the ped's office today with Tia because she screamed all afternoon with her hand clutched over her ear. Never mind that we were just there on Friday and I asked the covering doctor, who I do not like, (our doctor doesn't work on Fridays, and for some reason my kids always get sick on Friday) to go ahead and prescribe Tia antibiotics along with Sloan since I knew that she would develop an ear infection. That doctor wouldn't do it because she felt Tia just had a cold at that point. Grrrr...I wish they would listen to mother's intuition now and then! Anyway, I took Tia in and of course they wanted to check her ears to be sure. Well, Tia hates having her ears looked at. She freaks out if you come near her ears. She won't even let me take her temperature with an ear thermometer. And to make matters worse, she has terribly waxy ears, which means they always have to try and clean them out. Needless to say, this did not go well. That child is freakishly strong. I was literally laying on top of her, trying to pin her down as she screamed and thrashed. Finally, the dr. had to call in not one, but TWO nurses to help me hold her down. When she still couldn't get the wax out, they had to try washing her ears out. Meanwhile I'm almost in tears and all I want to do is scream, "Just give me the freakin' prescription!" Finally, they clear just enough wax out of one ear to be able to see that yes, she does indeed have an ear infection...and since that wasn't even the ear she had been holding all day, we assume it's a double ear infection. Gee, didn't I tell them that's what it was when I called them three hours earlier! I appreciate that doctors want to be careful not to over-medicate children, I really do, but for the love! Just listen to me now and again! It was traumatic for both me and my sweet girl. I told Lee I'm never doing that again. Anything that has to do with her ears is his job from now on because I was a wreck afterward. It sucks holding your kid down while she's screaming Mama. At one point, I leaned over to tell her everything was alright and she grabbed my face and started hitting at me and trying to scratch me. She was trying to hurt me! She was mad. Poor baby. But now we have the antibiotics and I'm praying this nips it in the bud because I don't want to go back there. Of course, now Landon is all congested and is having a hard time sleeping. Probably another long night for us. I know this is just a season of life, but right now it feels like it's never gonna end...

Sloan Saga, Part One

So, this morning, Sloan completed what I can only imagine is a rite of passage for all kids...He cut his own hair. He came in the room, all smiles, saying he needed a haricut and took care of it himself. At first, I thought he was joking, until I saw a large chunk of hair on his shoulder. Sloan's got longer hair so I didn't think it would be too obvious. Then I noticed a larger chunk of hair in the hood of his sweatshirt. Upon closer examination, I noticed that he now has a very short crew cut right on the side of his head. Luckily, it's not too noticable, uness you happen to be standing on that side! Sheesh. Oh well. I remember vividly cutting my own hair as a kid - I was probably close to Sloan's age. I still remember looking in the mirror and thinking that my mom would be so proud of me as I snipped my bangs off. I also remember how surprised I was when I told her and her face did not register pride, but rather horror and rage. What goes around comes around, huh?

Dad's perspective

Here's how I define humility:
---When a 2 year old girl with a runny nose sneezes right in your face and snot comes pouring out of her nose as she is about to give you a beautiful, sweet, tender kiss.
---When wrestling with your 4 year old son, he cuts one right on your head as you are giving him a ride on your shoulders.
---When changing the diaper of your 1 month old, he pees on your arm before you can get the other diaper on.

It's so good to be a Father.

:) Lee

Tia Tales, Part One

Warning...The story I am about to post is gross...really, really gross. So it was a fairly nice day today - chilly, but the sun was out, so I decided to take the kids on a walk. I got Tia all dressed and ready and sent her outside while I bundled Landon up and put him in the Baby Bjorn. When I came out, Tia was chewing on something and looking at me with that guilty look, which is never a good sign. Assuming she was eating a piece of dog food (something she is prone to doing), I asked her to spit it out in my hand. When she did, I almost threw up. It was not a piece of dog food, but was, in fact, Landon's umbilical cord, which must have fallen out of the garbage can. Ewwwww...I am gagging even typing this out. Sometimes I wonder how children survive childhood!

No such luck

Well, I had hoped our miraculous five hour stretch would become a pattern, but last night was not quite as good. He did well the first half of the night, I must say, but the second half...not so much. From 3:30-7:00 he grunted and fussed and groaned. I finally just put a pillow over my head and dozed in and out.
Now Sloan is complaining of an earache and Tia is coughing so hard she has a hard time catching her breath. Guess who's making a trip to the pediatrician today? I hate winter. I want to move to Florida. I bet kids never get sick there :).
Speaking of Florida, we just got tickets booked to go down there in March. I'm so excited I can hardly wait. It seems like forever! I love it down there. I really would move there if I could.
And finally, I wanted to add a couple of pictures that I took with our new camera yesterday. We got this awesome new camera for Christmas from Lee's parents and it's great, but it's muy complicated. You need a photography degree to know how to use all the cool features. But I am slowly learning through trial and error. I tried reading the book on it, but it was like trying to decipher hyrogliphics. So, this is what I came up with yesterday. Not great yet, but I'm getting there!

Grunting and Groaning

So I have been trying to figure out a good way to describe the horrible noises Landon makes when we lay him down. It is more than the typical grunts of a newborn. I think I finally came up with a good explanation, though it may be a little gross. You know when someone has the flu and they have nothing left to throw up so they just dry heave violently? The sound that comes from such heaving is quite gutteral and painful...that's the sounds Landon makes! It really sounds like he is heaving. I think he just has gas...or maybe he just cannot get comfortable. At any rate, he's making those sounds right now as I type. Poor baby.
In Tia news, I found her today on top of her dresser covered in Vicks Vaporub. She started out trying to put it on her feet like I do when she has a cold. Then somehow it ended up on her arms and legs. Luckily there wasn't any in her hair!

5 whole hours!

I thought I would jsut share the miracle that Landon went 5 hours between feedings last night! Amazing! I actually feel like I got some rest. What a day.

Bandwagon here I come!!!

So, I must admit I've never fully understood the concept of blogging. Is it a journal? Is it a brag site? What am I supposed to do here? But, I must admit, I've become intrigued after reading the blogs of several friends and so here I go...I'm jumping on the blog bandwagon. I like the idea of family and friends being able to access our crazy world and take a peek into our life. The kids are growing so fast and changing everyday. I'm afraid if I don't start documenting it, then I will forget and these days will be lost forever.

So I guess I'll just dive right in...Things are crazy here. Three kids is definately intense. Of course they are each precious and wonderful, but they will wear you out. Lee was out of town for five days - he just got home today. Why is it that he always has to go to national sales meetings just days after we have a baby? I did survive the time, but only thanks to my mom. Had she not been here, either I or one of the children may not have made it! Of course as soon as he left Sloan got sick, which meant we were pretty much house bound. With Sloan sick and not sleeping well, and Landon not sleeply hardly at all, it was crazy. My mom ended up pulling a couple of all nighters so that I could rest, bless her heart. All in all, though, I was pretty darn proud of myself for making it through this week. But I am beyond relieved that Lee is now home. Life is much easier when daddy is around.

Tia has decided to start trying to talk this week! Since she'll be 2 in a couple of weeks, it's about time! But I think in the last few days she has added four words to her very limited vocabulary! She also decided that today would be the day that she starts climbing out of her crib. All of the sudden I heard a knocking on her door this afternoon and there she stood, lovies in hand, grinning proudly - little stinker. I was not ready for this and am praying that it doesn't become a problem. She's my good sleeper so I don't want anything to affect that! We'll see what happens. I'm not ready to switch her to a big girl bed!

Landon is precious, but he is not a good sleeper. I think he's got stomach issues. He is so loud at night. He grunts and groans like he's going to explode. It's really astounding the sounds that he can make. I keep reminding myself that he is only three weeks old and I can't expect too much. So we're hanging in there. It's a season and it's short, though right now it seems so long.

And then there's Sloan who is four and a half and is full of it! He is so funny and fun...and sassy. As I was typing this very sentence, he came running out of his bedroom (he's supposed to be asleep) to tell me a story abouta dinosaur that came out of a volcano and stepped on all the cars. This is his favorite story to tell. I hear it daily..multiple times. He loves preschool and has been so bummed the last couple of days to not be able to go. He told me this morning that if I let him go to school he promised not to breath on anyone. He then pursed his lips together to show me how he wouldn't cough or sneeze. But he couldn't breathe through his nose and had to open his mouth to catch a breath. Hopefully tomorrow he can go!

So this is it. My first blog. It wasn't so bad...We'll see if I can keep up with it!