Just when you think you've heard it all...

I am so glad to be raising such feminine, girly girls.  I mean seriously, little girls are so sweet and quiet and mild-mannered, right...just like mine, right???  I guess with an older brother to tag along with all the time, they were bound to be tomboys from the get-go.  Reese was upstairs in Carter's room this morning building robots with him out of Zoob blocks.  She brought one down and very enthusiastically told us, "Even if someone rips his head off, he'll still be alive!"  Yup, that's a good feature to build in for sure....

Later on, the kids wanted to jump in their pool.  Reese had to try on a "new" bathing suit I found at the thrift store for her so she went upstairs to change.  She came back down wearing the new suit and rather sheepishly said to me, "Mama, this new suit shows my nipples."  I nearly dropped the dish I was washing.  She had put the suit on backwards so that there was a narrow strip of fabric going up her chest and sure enough, it provided very limited coverage...

We took the kids rollerblading at the park tonight with Nani and Pop Pop.  Derrick was also skating with the kids and was taking turns pushing them really fast.  Reese was not too happy when she had to switch off and hold my hand instead and told me, "I don't want to go with you, you're too slow."

After they tired of skating the kids wanted to do the playground.  I helped Reese go across the monkey bars two times and then told her I needed to stop.  Another little girl was watching and asked if I could help her across the monkey bars.  I told her I needed to take a break.  Two minutes later she was back and asked if I had had enough of a rest.  I told her "No".  Two minutes later, she was back again and I finally just told her I wasn't supposed to be lifting anything because there was a baby in my tummy.  "There's a baby in your tummy?  Well why do you have a baby in your tummy?"  Not sure how I explain that to a 4-year-old I don't even know??

Kids Behaving Badly

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Wow, I'm glad my kids never behave like that!!"  Or before you had kids, "My kids will never act like that!"  And then you have kids, and you suddenly realize, WOW are they bad.  And particularly, when you have a good day and give yourself a little pat on the back, thinking, "They were SO good today" it will surely be followed up by one of the worst days ever.  Yep, that was our day today.  How dare I get "parenting cockiness"...how dare I think for a minute, "I've got this parenting thing down...my kids are so well-behaved." Yea, not quite!

Today was that day that everyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...about an hour earlier than I was hoping too!  From constant whining and bickering and fighting and hitting and biting, to the longest and most over-dramatic temper tantrum I've seen yet...it was just loads of fun.  Sienna was asking me for candy at 9:30 and I told her "No" and took everyone outside instead.  I sat her down on the deck and she proceeded to lie on her back, rolling back and forth, SCREAMING bloody murder for at least 20 straight minutes.  It was rather shocking really.  By the time she stopped she had hair stuck in between her fingers from pulling so much of it out and was all sweaty and red in the face.  I'm pretty sure she forgot what she was even crying about after the first 20 seconds.  You do feel, at times, as though they are trying to break your spirit...like if they just try hard enough and misbehave enough, they'll eventually wear you down and get their way.

 Well, the good thing is, they are all in bed and tomorrow is a new day!  I have had my dose of parenting humility and am hoping for a better day tomorrow!!

My life...the forever zoo

We have been to the Zoo so many times in the last month, we should be Platinum members by now...haha! But fortunately, each time we go, we always manage to see something new and exciting, so the kids don't mind.  We saw the snow leopard jumping and leaping in his cage instead of his normal sleeping, we saw a baby elephant swimming and an adult getting a bath, we saw the polar bear swimming, then penguins being fed fish, and a baby sea lion chasing a pine cone the kids were throwing back and forth outside the glass of his tank.  

We have all appreciated having hot, running water this week after we lost our hot water heater last week. The kids have appreciated the swimming pool and slip-n-slide to keep cool on some really warm days. Sienna seems to pick up new words and phrases every day now.  At the zoo, when we were leaving the elephant exhibit, she waved and said, "Bye, guys!"  She is putting two, three or even four words together pretty regularly now.  She is also "great" at picking things in the garden...from peas to cucumbers to green tomatoes...she is a gardener's worst nightmare...the beetles and caterpillars seem minor compared to a baby on a mission to pick whatever she can get her hands on.  She stubbornly wants to do EVERYTHING herself, from getting dressed and putting on shoes, to brushing her teeth, to buckling her seat belts on her high chair, car seat and stroller.  She really likes to flush the toilet...again...and again...and again.  She wants to ride her little bike, because she sees Carter and Reese on theirs.  She goes into the garage every day asking for her "bike" and her "helmet"...too bad she can't even reach the pedals yet!  She's a real piece of work.  

We were at a birthday party the other evening and I wore a long dress.  When we got home everyone changed for bed and I was still wearing it and Carter asked me, "Why are you still wearing that long, long t-shirt?"  

Ten Years

Ten years has taught me so much.  I think back to our wedding day ten years ago, I probably would have cringed had I known what was in store for us back then.  My ideas and concepts of what marriage and parenthood would be like we're such a dim comparison to reality.  And I don't want to risk sounding all cliche, but it's been so much better than I could have imagined, now looking back.  

Sure, there have been many many ups and downs along the way...when you say those vows, for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health, you aren't even consciously thinking about the real meaning behind them.  Better or worse being arguments you get into with your spouse, things you don't and may not ever fully agree on, changes in jobs, stress, life.  Richer or poorer being the bills that rack up...the things in a house that break...car troubles...life.  In sickness and in health being...nights up holding a feverish child...cleaning vomit off a child ten times in one day, three kids with pneumonia, getting older, losing grandparents, a dying pet, life...

An anniversary marks the passage of time that you have stayed together and weathered these storms as a team.  For me it is ten years of self-discovery...ten years of realizing I was not the person I thought I once was, and that, hopefully I am a little bit better of a person, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mother, now after going through all the experiences we have.

So today when we celebrate ten years of being married, I am thankful for not only all of the blessings and good times, but the difficult ones as well, because those are what have truly shaped our marriage and our family.  We've had a good run and we aren't finished yet.  I can't wait to see what the next ten years have in store!

The Bucket List (of a little kid)...

If kids had bucket lists, what do you think might be on them?  I can only imagine...

1. Visit a playground every day, preferably a new one

2. Speak in screams whenever possible, especially when in the car

3. Eat candy at every meal, and in-between when possible also.

4. Change outfits at least three or four times a day

5. Put sprinkles, honey or chocolate syrup on everything.

6. If at first you don't receive, and and ask again...

7. Deposit toys in every room of the house within an hour of waking up every day.

8. Complain about the non-negotiables, "Why do I have to brush my teeth?"  " Why do I have to get a bath?"  "Why do I have to go to bed?"

9.  Dump out all your water and then complain about how thirsty you are (Reese today...)

10. Play in the dirt whenever possible.

11. Demand to eat all your meals at non-mealtimes

12. Scream so loudly that neighbor kids come to the property line to see if there is a chainsaw massacre going on in your yard.

13.  Push lots of buttons...doesn't matter what they do...just push them...call someone on the phone, turn the cool on the car vents to heat so your parents think the A/C doesn't work, reprogram your bedroom clocks and set alarms to go off at odd times of the day and night, set off the panic alarm on the car, turn on the fireplace on a 90 degree day....you get the idea.

14. Draw on any surface available...never confess to your "creative artwork".  (Maybe someday I will find out who drew the giant smiley face on our family room wall???

15.  Sleep in on days we have plans to leave early, get up early in the days we could all sleep in.

16.  Ask, "Is this all you made for dinner?" Even if there are 20 things on the table to pick from.

17. Ask whoever is driving what the speed limit is and how fast they are driving.  Do this every two minutes.  

18. Leave things behind whenever you go anywhere...cups, shoes, stuffed animals...

19. Ask to call someone on the phone and as soon as your parent hands you the phone to talk, refuse to speak.

20.  Whenever a parent is on the phone trying to talk, scream as loudly as possible, get into fights, try to break things, demand a diaper change, cry that you are so thirsty/hungry you are going to die...

A Million Little Pieces....the story of my life

I think I have been feeling a little bit of Third Trimester angst lately.  I know, I've made it this far, I should be excited to be in the home-stretch, but this is the hardest part of the pregnancy to get through and the kids certainly haven't always been helping with my general state of mind.  At my monthly checkup on Tuesday, my midwife was answering some of my questions.  When I asked her if there was anything I could do to prevent varicose veins from getting worse, her suggestions were to wear compression hose (Um, hello...SUMMER, NO WAY!)  or to sit with my feet elevated as much as possible.  Sitting...what's that?  I almost can't remember.  And of course, she had to throw in that they might just go away after the pregnancy is over.  Ah, dangling that false hope out there...so cruel!  So my spider veins will just continue to grow...I believe I would now describe them more as tarantula veins.  

Today I was having a "moment"...could have been the heat getting to my head, the stress of getting the house in order for Reese's birthday party tomorrow, or the fatigue that has been creeping in as I seem to get less and less sleep every night.  Two nights ago the smoke alarm went off at 3 AM for no apparent reason...this is rather unsettling to be woken up from a dead sleep to the piercing beeping of a smoke alarm and then wonder if your house is burning down around you.  Still no idea what caused that.

Yesterday was a particularly stressful day as we were hit with a double whammy of our computer hard drive completely crashing, AND the hot water heater having issues.  Our fourth child may not have a name now after my list of baby names was wiped out along with a year and a half of pictures.  The one hour I did manage to find a couple weeks ago to look at names was all in vain.  I guess we'll just have to go with Carter's suggestion and call him Carter Jr.  So after a very long and frustrating day, I finally made it upstairs to get ready for bed a little before midnight only to discover I'd be taking an ice cold shower...slightly less than relaxing!

This morning it seemed as if the kids all had an agenda to make my efforts of cleaning up the house as difficult as possible.  First I went down to the basement to wage war on the growing population of  creepy spiders.   Of course the kids all wanted a snack so I gave them each their own little bag of crackers, and they ran over to the play area to play and eat.  When I checked on them a few minutes later, both of the girls were "feeding them to the beanie babies"...i.e. dumping them all over the floor!  I took them all upstairs to get dressed, and it was like all Hell broke loose.  Sienna was dumping out Legos in Carter's room, blocks in Reese's room and books in her own room.  I was picking up Legos, Polly Pockets, Calico Critters, hair ties, beads, rainbow loom bands, bath toys, Play mobile parts.  Have you ever heard of the book "A Million Little Pieces"?  Well, I've never read it but I'd like to steal the title when I get the time someday to write my autobiography. (ha!)  I feel like it totally encapsulates my purpose in life...to pick up the million pieces of junk the kids have mixed up and strewn around my entire house!  After I managed to de-clutter their rooms and come downstairs again, Sienna took an entire bin of marbles and dumped it off the kitchen table...there were marbles EVERYWHERE.  Ah, I can see it now, "A Million Little Pieces: How my Kids drove me to Insanity with Tiny Toys"  by Shelley Berad.  Might be a bestseller.

A matter of the heart....

I spent an hour sitting in a laboratory waiting room this morning at 6:45 am to take a glucose tolerance test.  I know...sounds amazing, right??  But it was a chance to do a little reading which I always enjoy.  I have been reading the book "Killing Jesus" probably since January and it is very interesting, albeit a pretty intense, and grotesque at times story.  I am nearing the time of Jesus' death in the book and was reading about the Pharisees trying to trap Him in the things He was teaching and get Him arrested.  They were trying to condemn He and the disciples for not engaging in the ceremonial washing of hands before eating.  His response to them was this, "Understand this: Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him.  Rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean."  Afterwards the disciples are questioning Him about why He is essentially egging on the Pharisees and they ask Him to further explain to them what He was talking about.  "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth enters into the stomach and then out of the body.  But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean."  

Interesting thoughts to ponder as I was waiting to eat this morning.  I was there to take a test to be certain that the diet I am eating is healthy and not causing any problems in my pregnancy.  From there I went over to the grocery store to grab a few items we needed.  The man in the checkout line behind me had an interesting array of food in his cart.  A gallon of milk, a box of Sweet N Low packets, a jug of flavored coffee creamer, a huge bag of Skittles and a jumbo container of the gourmet bulk malt balls.  Hmmmm....speaking of the food we put into our bodies...this just seemed slightly ironic to me.  Obviously these are not ideal foods to be eating if you are trying to live a healthy lifestyle!  

It gave me a little chuckle, and it also made me remember the words I had just read.  I do think it is important to take care of the bodies we are given so that we can be in good health, but what really matters...what is truly the most important is taking care of your heart.   We place so much emphasis on our physical appearance, trying to be in the best shape, having a sculpted physique, many going as far as plastic surgery to appear younger and leaner and firmer...but what are things looking like on the inside?  If people around us could actually see the things that are in our hearts, what truths would they uncover about us?  You've heard the phrase "wearing your heart on your sleeve" but imagine if that was the way we really had to live our lives, in a way that others could see the "real me"....no hiding behind any facades.  In the end, I want the things coming from my heart to be what people see and remember about me, more than what they see on the outside.

A Birthday Adventure

We celebrated our little Reese's 5th Birthday today with an adventure to a new playground.  The kids agreed, hands down, it was the coolest playground we've ever visited.  They had such a blast playing there.  There also just happened to be a fair coming this weekend and they had already started setting up.  There was an "Art in the Park" display where they knitted and crocheted various sleeves to go around the trees in one section of the park.  It sounds odd, but I had to say it was quite amazing. They even decorated a bridge.  The kids loved seeing all the bright colors and the ways different people decorated their trees.

 It was a good diversion for Reese, getting out this morning, since she wanted to open all of her birthday gifts the second she woke up.  I let her open just one this morning and told her the rest would be after dinner.  Then we let her open a few more when Derrick got home from work and her comment as soon as she opened those was, "Is that it???"  So finally we just let her open them all, before we sang and had cake.  Oh well, I guess the birthday girl deserves to choose, huh?

Reese's turtle cake

Marking Milestones and Memory Blocks...

 Sometimes it seems as though time is literally crawling and that each day passes at a snail's pace...and then you suddenly hit these moments where you realize how quickly the time has flown by.  I feel like we are reaching so many milestones this year and in the next few months...it's really hard to believe.  We just passed the 10-year mark of moving into our house.  Our 10 year wedding anniversary is next week, Reese is turning 5 TOMORROW!!!, I just started my third trimester of this pregnancy officially this past weekend!!!  All of a sudden I want things to slow down, want to take more time to soak in all the amazing moments with my husband and children.  Well, maybe I don't really mind being done with this pregnancy though...the aches and pains, and waking up at night, and bulging belly are certainly more than old at this point!  Hahaha

We told Reese at bedtime tonight that when she wakes up in the morning, she will be 5.  It was hard to say that and not get a little teary-eyed.

Reese's birthday

At my monthly checkup this morning the receptionist asked me if I needed a reminder card for my next appointment.  I told her, "Yes, I can use all the help I can get remembering things these days."  She laughed and said, "Oh it's only going to get worse!"  I guess she thought this was my first baby.  I laughed then too and said, "Well I already have three kids at home, I know how bad it's going to get!!"  We both laughed at that.  Having all these kids has been no picnic, that's for sure.  There have been so many sleepless nights, thousands of diapers changed, countless tears shed, so many times I thought to myself, this is absolutely insane, what was I thinking???  Yesterday alone, Sienna had a complete temper tantrum (throwing herself down on the floor and screaming at full volume) in first the Library, then the Post Office, then the Thrift Store.  It was embarrassing... exhausting... frustrating... and made me wonder again how I was going to get through it all, how I would do it with another baby on the way.

But in the end, I am thankful for the ways I have grown through all the challenges and for all the good times we have shared as a family.  I look back at those first few years longingly sometimes, back before there were kids to keep track of.  It's a little hard not to wish for those times again...to have so much "free time" on our hands, to be able to spend so much time alone together.  Ah, but who am I kidding, I'd be bored to tears going back to that now after all these years of "fun"!!!  :)

Fun-Filled Fourth

 We had a fun time visiting with all of the Berad family over the weekend.  The kids were in absolute heaven, getting to spend 2 full days with their cousins and even sleeping over night at Grammie and Pap Pap's house for the first time.  Reese and Summer celebrated their birthdays together, Austin taught Carter the basics of lacrosse, and Sienna just did her usual thing...getting into trouble and chasing her cousins' dog around until he couldn't keep his eyes open he was so tired.

 We managed to get some nice group photos since our last one was before Reese or Sienna was born. Unfortunately, we'll be making it obsolete again in a few months when another new baby enters the family!

 The kids really had fun swimming for many hours over the weekend in spite of the unseasonably cool weather we had for July. They didn't seem to care a bit.

Sienna was mimicking just about every word she could manage over the weekend...her vocabulary is exploding overnight it seems.  She was saying everyone's names, even the dogs!  She even started to say "Amen" when we pray at dinner now.  Tonight she kept saying it in the middle of the prayer...it was hard not to laugh.

 Our turkey visitor was back this morning and Derrick happened to grab the camera in time to snap this hilarious photo of the cat, sitting in the windowsill, looking quite bewildered by the huge bird.

Scaredy cat!