Blahhhhh.....humbug!

So we went in for a check up at the ENT doctor today and what did we find out? Haley still has fluid in her ears! Surprise, surprise, I told the doctor that I don't think she has ever not had fluid in her ears since she was born. So they gave her another hearing test today which of course she failed in her "BAD" ear. The doctor asked me what I wanted to do? Put new tubes in.... or wait it out. How long do we wait it out you ask? Only 6 years, she should be all set by the time she's 11 the doctor says. To this I reply, "well I don't think I would like it if everything sounded like I had ear muffs on for the next 6 years, how about you? So I guess we will be doing the tubes. We wanted to get her in this year for insurance purposes so. Merry Christmas Haley!

I am much more nervous for Haley to get tubes than Avery. Haley really hates anything or anyone messing with her ears! Plus she didn't do very well with the anesthesia the first time, luckily back then she didn't know very many swear words so it wasn't too embarrassing. This time however I am quite sure she has heard a few more bad words and knows how to use them. Haley you see doesn't do well when she comes out of surgery. Last time I could hear her scream all the way down the hall, and using every bad word she knew with as much force as she could muster. Luckily last time the worst she could come up with was "You're Stupid," or "I hate you" I am quite certain that this round will be much much worse. Oh well maybe if I warn the nurses first then they will not get TOO offended!

On the upside we took Avery with us to the Dr. office because she has been pulling on her ears. They checked her out and said everything is fine. I asked why she would pull on her ears and they said they weren't sure. To this Avery answered by pulling on her ears and saying OWWWWWWWW over and over again. This is about the time the nurse and doctor decided they knew the reason for the strange behavior. She wants Attention! Yeah right.... one of my daughters doing something deliberately to get all the attention in the room on her. Never... don't they know them at all? Oh wait... I guess they do. Oh well, problem solved : )

Kids in a Nutshell

I know that you aren't supposed to "label" your kids but what about when they do it to themselves. My three little ones can be each summed up quite nicely in a nutshell.

First we have my Fashion Diva she picked this outfit out for school today and was so proud of herself. I she had it all laid out on the floor (tights and all) so that she would know exactly what it looked like once she got it on. Then she had to decide if it was a "cute enough outfit" she said "I don't want anyone to laugh at me, because I wook wame," that's ..look lame ..to all of you who don't speak Haley. I assured her that she look like a princess which brought the appropriate smiles and giggles.

Next we have me hero.... Superhero that is. All things superhero are his "thing" Notice the spider man posters, PJ's and bedding, that is just to name a few. He loves to save the day and get the bad guys. Unfortunately for my girls usually they are the bad guys and my superhero is usually tormenting them relentlessly! He knows he can run faster than anyone, and of course is so strong "almost as strong as Daddy!" He definitely has the energy of a superhero.... that's what makes him my Dylan.

Last but... never least is my little munch-mouth. This kid is always happy, as long as there is food around. If there isn't food around she'll go find some on her own. I was off assuring the fashion diva that the outfit of the day looked okay... when she decided she wasn't really done with breakfast and would like some more. She did what she always does and helped herself to the pantry. This is where I found her, in the middle of the floor snacking away. Happily of course.... there was food involved.

So there you have it! My kids in a nutshell. All totally different but that's why we love them!

Twas a few weeks before Christmas

Twas a few weeks before Christmas and who do we see?

Unexpectedly at Costco, the "Big Man!" Yippeee

So one by one the kids climb up onto his lap

All the while the kids screaming behind me I wanted to slap

So Haley decides what she wants, A Christmas barbie that is

The only problem with this? "Santa" brought something else for the kids!

Mom has been hoping with every question of" What would you like?"

A different something might be what is wanted by the tyke.

But alas, no luck, what she wants must be all the hype.

Next is Dylan's turn and I am curious now as to what it could be.

We have asked many times, he just smiles and says "We'll see"

So he climbs up and talks to the Big man alone....

When he comes back to me I ask for him to make his wishes known.

A motorcycle he says that is just my size!!!

O Crap... now what? I wonder as I look into his eyes.

He is positive you see now that he has talked to Santa himself

That a motorcycle will be brought to our house by Santa or an elf.

Hmmmm... Now is the questions of millions of parents around

Be reasonable and sensible, or let Christmas wishes abound?

I am not sure which it will be... the mom or the kid in me... which will it be?

Check back in a few weeks and we'll see what was left under the tree.

Why can't they stay little forever?

I am not sure if this ever happens to anyone else in the world or if maybe I am really the only mom who has not learned her child's specific "language." Usually my 4 year old is quite easy to understand, most of the time I have a harder time with my 5 year olds "kid isms" but today Dylan tried and tried to tell me something and I never did figure out what it was otherwise I would happily tell you, someone else I'm sure could tell me what he meant. But it did get me thinking of the funny things that kids say. I thought I would share some with all of you, if for no other reason than making sure I have a record of these funny sayings so in 10 years I don't forget how cute their little voices once were.

1. Dylan switches W for L and in the process always says "Mommy, I want to Lake up Now"

2. Haley on the other had switches T's for S's and in the process says stuff like "Ewww, do you mell that Tinky Tunk?"

3. Dylan calls his ears his EARG's. Why I am not sure.

4. He hates it when someone copies him and always says "don't coffee me"

5. He calls the the ornament on the tree that looks like Rudolph, randolph the raindeerg.

6. He calls chocolate milk "bunny milk" because of the nesquick bunny of the package.

7. Avery is new to the whole talking scene but is quickly coming up with a lingo all her own. She finishes everything with an A sound. She calls Haley- Haya, Dylan is DyA. She has even started calling herself A_ E.

I could probably go on forever, (Haley has a million I just can't think of at the moment.)

I am always blogging about the little things that drive me crazy about having 3 kids under the age of 5. So today I thought I would share some of the things that make me smile and wish they stay little forever.

Ready Set Go!!

Sometimes the creativity of children amaze me. I am not a creative person, really I'm not, I am very literal I always have been I didn't play with dolls, I hated barbies, I liked things I could see that made sense. Lego's for instance... when you stick this one to that one you get this. I am the worst mother possible when it comes to playing with my little girls. The polly pockets and barbies kill me every time! I don't know what the princess should say to the prince, or visa versa. My husband ( who is very creative) is 100 times better than me. Anyway.... this being said, sometimes the things my kids come up with when they're playing blows my mind. For instance last night. It was pretty quiet for a while (never a good thing) Then I heard squeals of laughter. This is always better than screams of terror but sometimes for moms it is a toss up it usually means they are up to no good. Fortunately for me it was nothing bad just hilarious. I am not sure when my kids have seen or heard of gunny sack races, but they had made their own version of this in our hallway. This is how it went. Avery wanted to be in on the fun but couldn't figure out how to hop in a pillow case. She setteled for running down the hall with the other two kids! Like I said, the imagination of the yound is pretty intersting sometimes!

Oh Christmas Tree.....

WARNING - This is a REALLY long explanation of a REALLY long day!

I love putting up the Christmas tree, I am usually bugging Michael starting about the day after Thanksgiving. The whole "real" Christmas tree thing forces me to involve his help. I am not really the type that likes to wait for things and so usually I just do it myself. So I guess it is for the best that I do actually NEED his help for this one. Otherwise he might very well get home and see the tree up and miss out on the whole thing.

This year however for what ever reason... it did not go well. Usually my kids LOVE putting up the tree it is totally a highlight. This year- not so much. We made Haley come home from playing at a friends house and she cried the WHOLE way to the tree lot. Which in turn made Dylan cry. He was mad we didn't have any spider man band-aids at the house (( I know, what kind of mother am I... out of the exact kind of band aids he wants exactly when he wants them. How could I )) Finally I promise him we will stop and pick some up while we are out. This quiets him down but not the girls. Yes, I said girls, Haley is crying so loudly now that Avery has started crying too just because Haley is. (Why didn't I turn the truck around now) So we get to the tree lot, put the kids in gloves and hats and coats ( I am totally proud of myself for not only locating said items but remembering them too) I made no difference what-so-ever, both the older two cried the whole time about how cold they were etc, etc. We get the tree and throw it in the back of the truck. (So this year I was very excited about not needing to tie the tree to the top of the car! ) I now remember that we don't have enough lights to do the tree. I used a couple of strands on another project so we stop at Target so I can get some. The kids are all still crying because they are so cold... so much to Michael's dismay he slows down and I leap from the car like someone escaping from prison and run into the store. I did not want one person in the car to be able to speak the fateful words " I want to come" so I literally lept from the car while in motion and made a run for it. I finally find the lights after a not so pleasant encounter with a Target Team Member! (some team) and search in vain for clear lights. Not frosted, or tinted, etc etc. I grab two boxes and make my mad dash outta there. I get back in the car to face the mad people that I had happily just ditched. Ugggg is it over yet. NO!!!! Now it's after six and if you know my family making any of them wait for dinner is never a good idea. Now we have tears over how hungry they are instead of cold. We head to Smith's to grab a chicken and some STUPID.... spider man band aids! I forgot at the last store and now they are on to me. Well before we get to the store they have all made sure that I knew they wanted to come. (Dang it)


Michael offers to keep Avery with him while he gets gas and I head off with the other two. After many threats and new box of spider man band aids we are out! Yippee. Only to get to the car and find a screaming Avery.... she was not so happy that she was left alone. Yikes, what was I thinking. Anyway, we get home feed the kids. Drag in the dripping wet Christmas tree full of little green beetles I have never seen before. I start putting up the lights (since Michael is HORRIBLE at this and has since been banned from helping) I think that was his whole plan all along. He secretly knew that a couple of years putting the lights on really badly would somehow exempt him from putting up lights ever again. He is so sneaky... either that or REALLY smart. I put up the light and take great care to weave them in and out of all the branches. In doing so I run out of lights.... I am one strand short. I am wondering if I should un do them and stretch them out more when I notice the top strand of lights is out too. I have seriously never had a strand go out before and I am not sure what I should do now. I try to fix the strand and in the process loose a couple of bulbs and ruin some others. When I finally convince my husband to help me fix the lights he is happily reminding me he's banned from. We have no more lights to switch them with. After fresh tantrums from the kids (now mommy too) Michael offers to go back to the store and get some more lights. ( He is so good to me!) Finally after 11 o'clock I have now got all the lights on the tree. So tomorrow after church we can do the ornaments. WOW!!!! We get real trees because Michael loves them so much. After this year maybe he will change his mind. On the bright side, putting on the ornaments went very well today. It was very fun to see my baby help put the ornaments on the tree. I am sure one day we will laugh at this.

These cute pictures almost make the whole thing worth it! ALMOST

My Little Monsters

I recently had the chance to visit a friends of mine house just for a second. Yes, she did know I was coming but when I got there I was floored! Her house was spotless. As I walked back into my own house after a very quick visit I was very dismayed to remember what my house looked like when I left. I swear that I clean all day! When I say that I mean literally all day. I know that all mothers do this and I am no different than the rest of them. But then after visiting my friends house I began to wonder why is it that some peoples houses can actually get to the point where you could call them clean. Mine.... not-so-much, I never can say "my house is clean" mostly this is all credited to my youngest who is the girl version of the Tasmanian devil. Right now as I sit here she just found a bowl of popcorn that someone left in the family room and dumped it all over the floor. Earlier my oldest who is usually more helpful, dropped an entire orange juice container on the floor and watched as it spilled out. My son has been asking me most of the morning, "how many days are we going to be cleaning mommy!" I feel so torn I would love to spend x number of hours cleaning my house to get it to that unobtainable "CLEAN" state but then I feel guilty for ignoring my children long enough to do this. I was in the process of cleaning all morning when my little Avery pulled back the covers and patted the spot next to her on the bed where she was sitting. I was so surprised by this that I actually put down the laundry and went and sat on the bed next to her. She was so pleased with herself that she had accomplished what she was hoping for. A second or two of mom's undivided attention that she couldn't stop smiling. So props to all the mothers who somehow manage to get that "Clean" house. And props to those of us who don't ...I guess sometimes a little undivided attention can make up for a sticky orange juice covered floor.