Be Mine

Today being Valentine's Day, this post will have a lotta Love in it.

For starters, I love writing about my day--it gives me the chance to relive it again! (I guess this only works when it was a good day, which (despite a nagging cold I've been fighting) today was!

The day began with Rey making pancakes. For a V-day twist he made them in the shape of a heart. I was impressed. He's generally not a great cook by any stretch, but the man can make a mean pancake.

Next, it was time to suit up Lila in her Valentine's Day gear. I tell ya, having a girl is a lot different than having a boy when a wardrobe is involved. When it comes to dressing the boys, it's "what color polo shirt should they wear with their khaki shorts today?" Makes life easy. With a girl, you have the dress, the bloomers, the tights, (sometimes) cute shoes, the obligatory adorable headband... etc. It could go on and on. But dang, she looks cute. She IS cute. : ) I love her.

After Lila's morning nap, we headed to Waterside for lunch at CPK. Daddy loved on Cole...

Mommy loved on Mason....

And Lila loved on her Turtle.

The boys love a trip to Waterside because it means they get to run around and look at the fountains. Annoys the old people, but hey, we live here year round, thus giving me a sense of entitlement.

On Thursday night I made 48 cupcakes for Rey to take to work. I saved us a couple for after dinner tonight. They were THE BEST CUPCAKES E-V-E-R. (If I do say so myself.) We all loved them. I am only sorry that you cannot taste one. Please refrain from trying to take a bite out of your screen as you view these photos.

The have a filling of cream cheese icing and a mini Oreo cookie. Uh huh.

And here are some sweet little boys enjoying their sweets.

Guest Appearance

THIS is Olivia.

Isn't she c.u.t.e? She's my 9 month old niece (she is 4.5 weeks older than Lila, in case you were interested in the math).




She bears a striking resemblance to her six year old brother Carson (and by striking, I mean you could confuse the two's baby pictures save the fact that Livi wears pink a lot and has earrings). Aside: I wish my kids bore "striking" resemblances to one another. They have a few subtle characteristics between the three of them, but really, none of them look too similar. End of aside.

I love to take pictures of her.

She is just....

....so much...

FUN.

I find this disturbing

Unless you live under a rock, you've no doubt heard of the woman who has recently given birth to octuplets conceived through in vitro fertilization. The story gets more interesting when the world learned that not only was she a single woman, she has six other kids AND is unemployed. Commence debate.

The ultra conservative debate that "all children are a blessing" even though it's really cramping their style that she's unmarried and on public assistance. The ultra liberal think this woman is nutso for wanting so many kids.

I just think it's disgusting that she's exploiting them in this fashion. I had a NICU baby, one not nearly as sick as these eight are, and I could never fathom putting their pictures on a website touting that I accept "Visa Mastercard or American Express." Good golly, (and really, I try not to judge people, I really really do) but what has the world come to? Go ahead, have 14 kids! And then politely request the rest of the world to support them so you can remain unemployed and provide "herself" for her kids, instead of, oh I don't know, FOOD? But wait! She's already getting $490 a month in food stamps to help with that! (Which is fine, people need help from time to time, that's what it's there for, I am a Democrat after all! However, it's also a good clue that it wouldn't be a smooth move to have in vitro and implant six more embryos, I'm just sayin'.)

Call me bitter, but my husband works upwards of 60 hours a week to provide for our family and the choices we made to have each of our children. I surely don't have the gall to strike up an ostentatious web site. I think we all need to be accountable for our decisions and responsible for our own children. The economy is in the crapper and many people are struggling to support their own kids, without being asked to help this woman support hers.

And if you're really inclined to donate money to someone today, I'd suggest March of Dimes, a wonderful organization I hold close to my heart that works to prevent premature birth and birth defects.

I'm stepping off my soap box now.

Netflix: Bringing Families Together

It was someone's bright idea (either mine or my beloved's) to get the kids a movie on Netflix. This way, we could give movies a "test drive" before we drop the $20 on them (although Amber will be quick to hook you up with the tidbit that movies are $11 at Walmart during the week they are released--it's true, I can vouch). "Horton Hears A Who!" recently came out on DVD, so it went on the ol' queue. It made it way to the top and arrived in our mailbox. Rey's obsessed with the Netflix queue and insists on a quick turnaround time for movies so that he's getting his money's worth. And so it came to pass that last night would become Movie Night.


Lila went to bed early, and she did not complain. I think she's edging towards a 6:30 (!!!!!) bedtime because she's is a completely cranky, fussy utter nightmare of a mess starting at about 6pm.

The boys got an early bath in preparation for Movie Night, and I took on the task of popping popcorn. It was tough, let me tell ya.

Cole was so excited about the prospect of the popcorn that he had to make sure he Ruffie got to check it out.

The boys piled on the couch, along with their pillows, Bigger Blankies, Little Blankies (of which they each have two a piece), Ruffies, Cole's "Poster Ruffie" (Imposter Ruffie, looks like the real thing, but Cole's no fool), two Scoobie Doos (courtesy of Sebastian Patrick), oh, and Mason's Tex Rex Dinosaur which has somehow made it's way to be part of the bedtime posse. There was little room left for me and Rey.

The kid were excited about their popcorn. I thought about tossing some M&Ms in because that's a favorite trick of mine, but I didn't want to go spoiling these boys, after all.

The movie was good, we all four laughed, and I think Mason and Cole enjoyed the special treatment and time with mom and dad. Lila, bless her heart, usually commands the attention of one or both of us and the boys are required to be a little more self sufficient at times.

So Movie Night was a hit, and we'll be having a repeat performance in the future. Does anyone know when they next kid's movie is getting released?

Antics

One thing about having three kids is that, for better or worse, there is never a dull moment.

We call Cole the evil genius, and for good reason. If only we could find a way to harness his powers for good! Yesterday he decides to pull all the toys out of this storage basket.


And then he proceeds to get the bathroom stool and climb inside. I was looking all over for him and saw the basket do a little shake. This is what I found. It's so hard not to laugh at this boy.

It must have looked super fun, because Mason decided to join him.

They were laughing and having a superb time. That is until fun time was over and I made them clean up the massive mess they made.

Today we invented a new game. It's called "Run Away From the Camera So Mommy Can't Take Your Picture." Everyone should try it.

There was some shyness:

LOTS of giggling:

A minor injury:

And a quick rebound, back to the giggling:

Some Hide and Seek:

And lastly, posing with The Ruffies:

When all that was over, we played "Tickle Lila" since we were letting the good times roll.

Branding

Mason is able to spot a Target store bullseye a mile away. He sees it on bags, sees it on signs, sees it on the back of the generic Target spray in conditioner I bought him... Even though the kid can't read, he knows these items are from Target from the tell tale bullseye. And he makes sure you know he knows.

It was also Mason's first "cute toddler thing" that he would spot a Home Depot store from a mile away. When we were living in Key West, Home Depot was one of the very, very few chain stores. And we took a lot of trips there as a family--sad as it sounds it was a major outing for us. Also, the road trip from Key West to Naples had us passing quite a few Home Depot stores. Mason would spot the orange sign from a pretty measurable distance and announce it.

So tonight, Rey took the boys to Walmart on an errand. Apparently there's a recorded message when you exit, because Cole came home repeating, "Thank you for shopping at Walmart."

Maybe I can get him a job there.

Is this a Middle Child Thing?

One of the more exciting things about having three kids is observing their personalities, how their personalities interact with their siblings, and how they evolve and change as we add another to the brood. People always talk about "Middle Child Syndrome" and knowing that Cole is in the middle, I always wonder about him.

We were lucky that neither of the boys did the whole "regression" thing when a younger sibling came along. I'd heard horror stories of the older child refusing to use the bottle, acting "babyish" etc. when a newborn comes along and garners all the attention. Considering Mason was only 17 months old when Cole was born, I feel extremely fortunate for this. And Cole was (and is) so in love with Lila that I don't think it even occurred to him to be jealous of her.

Fast forward to yesterday. Lila's morning naptime is winding down. I hear her chattering over the monitor. Cole comes to me and announces, "She's awake!" as he too has heard the chatter, and then he ran off. I finished what I was doing in the kitchen and was making my way towards her room when it occurred to me that Cole might be in there with her. So I flipped on the video monitor and no joke, there was Cole's face staring at me from the screen. He had picked up the camera that's in her room and was examining it, Evil Genius that he is. Then I see a shot of the ceiling before he set it down.

I went into her room and below is what I saw:

He's never climbed into her crib before. Thank goodness, because could you imagine the hazard? At least now she's 8 months old and can use her evasive maneuvers when he comes near. So now he thinks her crib is GREAT. I thought it was cute so naturally I took pictures!

Today after naptime, it was the same deal. He marched in there and hopped on in. Now it's not so cute. For one, it's dangerous to the both of them. He could break a bone or something trying to Tarzan into her crib, and she could get crushed for crying out loud! Second, he's a stocky boy and I venture to guess he exceeds the weight limit.

So I scold him, pull him out, and tell him to stay out of her crib. I take Lila to feed her lunch, and after lunch it's suspiciously quiet in the house. I thought Cole was watching Noggin that I had put on to keep him quiet while Lila was sleeping, but he was nowhere to be found.

Lila's crib was the last place I looked, and this is what I found:

He took out Lila's blanket and bunny and discarded them on the floor. He took her two pacifiers and gingerly placed them exactly in the spot on her shelf that I keep them, which I thought was interesting. Then he put his own pillow, blankies, Ruff Ruff and Scooby Doo in there, climbed in, and took a siesta.

I mean what in the world?

So here I go again with the scolding and kicking out of crib and he's telling me, "It's like mine! It's like mine!" (This did used to be his crib and room before Lila came along, perhaps he does have some recollection?)

Sassy little boy! I love him to bits. He's such a sweet soul, so easy-going and happy go lucky. Even after he got banished from the crib, he just wanted to model for the camera. It's impossible to be mad at him!

Starbucks, Eat (or Drink?) your Heart Out!

So yesterday during naptime I had a hankering for some coffee. I am not a morning coffee drinker, but I am an indulger of the dessert type coffee. Of course these are fattening as all get out, but hey.

Also, Bob Harper (the dude trainer on The Biggest Loser) said coffee is good for you, something about antioxidants. I am all about antioxidants these days, so I am encouraged. Plus, I irrationally feel like Bob Harper is my close personal friend, and I hold his fitness and nutritional information to be gospel.

When my hankering came along yesterday afternoon, the kids were sleeping, therefore I couldn't do my normal thing and jet off to Starbucks. So I crafted my own beautiful creation. I must be honest, the whole process of crafting this coffee for myself was very therapeutic. It was indulgent and enjoyable.

I made a half a pot of coffee and started gathering my ingredients: Splenda, Fat Free Whipped Cream, Fat Free Creamer, and a last minute addition of Hershey's Dark Chocolate chips (again, antioxidants!). Above is my creation, pre chocolate chip addition.

Looks good, huh? Well it WAS. I'm fighting a cold so my throat was scratchy and this was heavenly. The best part--it was only about 100 calories. As opposed to a Grande Nonfat Mocha with Whipped Topping which is 300 calories.

Anybody want to come to my house for some java???