They Really Do Mirror You

"They" say that kids watch your every move, taking it all in, and will later mimic what you have done. Many parents can attest to this fact, especially when they are in an inopportune place and your child will blurt out a foul word that they only could have heard from you. Or in the instant where they share a personal or sensitive matter with everyone in a 10 foot radius.

Unfortunately, I don't have an embarrassingly funny story to share regarding this, though it would be an even better read. I do, however, have some observations to share as kind of a mental reminder to me.

With any good story, I'll start in the beginning, or this morning in this case. I had gotten Abby off to school, Emma and Jacob were sitting down eating breakfast and Catey was blissfully sitting in her bouncer. I decided that right about then would be a great opportunity to get out my Wii Fit and do some exercising. As I'm working out, the kids are finishing eating, then Emma slowly creeps out of the kitchen and ends up right next to me. I thought she was being a pest or just coming to bother me, so I kept trying to shoo her away. Then I realize, she was "exercising" with me. Trying as hard as she could to mirror the movements she saw her mommy doing. She even got out a block and was holding it in her hand like a Wii remote. I was touched and happy to see that a good habit is hopefully rubbing off on my children!

A little bit later, Jacob was toddling around and goes up to Catey in her seat. At first I thought he was trying hurt her or possibly sit on her head again! Then I quit telling him to get away from her for a minute, just to watch what he's going to do. He carefully bends over, so he doesn't lose his balance, and grabs her pacifier. I thought he was going to steal it for himself, like usual, but again, I refrained from yelling at him for a minute, just to see what he was going to do. He starts trying to put it in Catey's mouth! I eventually had to stop him, because she didn't want it and he was starting to make her mad. I still thought it was so cute he was trying to take care of his baby sister! There maybe hope for this boy after all!!!

What I think is the funniest of all. Abby got her mid year report home from preschool, with the teacher's assessment of how she's doing and what she does in class. It was a great report that totally sounds like everything Abby would do. One comment on it stood out to me the most, "She loves to play 'mom.'" If any of you know my Abby, you know that's exactly what she is at home, little mom. Honestly, I think she'll be one of those that can't wait to start a family, since she's ALWAYS playing "house" and "mom." I just hope she's showing my good sides while she's playing at school and not any of the times when I have to punish them. Not that I'm a horrible tyrant or anything, but we all get a tad embarrassed when we have to discipline in public or when the way you discipline gets repeated to people.

That's just a few examples of things my kids have done that show me they are watching me and they are imitating me. I could really go on, and I did even think of something embarrassing I'll spare you. I know for me, sometimes when reading articles or see someone talking on shows, saying "Your kids watch you and will do what you do", I usually kind of let that roll off my shoulders like "Yeah, sure." When I actually stop and think about it, nothing could be truer!

Appreciation!

Today, my husband, kids and I, went to visit my husband's cousin, wife and family. Their family consists of a 2 year old daughter and 6 month old triplets!!! They are all the cutest things. But being there for the short period of time we were, we got to witness a bit of their daily schedule.

First off, I have to say, I'm very impressed with the fact that they have them on such a good schedule. I'm sure that makes things much easier! Actually, come to think of it, to get through the day, they need them on some kind of schedule. Anyway, watching what they have to go through with 3 infants, very similar to what I go through with 1, got me thinking. Of all the times I've been tired, frustrated, upset, or otherwise having a hard time, seeing what they go through makes me very thankful that I only have 1 baby. I'm not saying I couldn't do it, because faced with that situation, it's not a matter of how, but a matter just doing what you have to do. Kind of like my situation, people ask how, but really it's just doing what you have to do. But, to see how efficient they are on top of having to deal with the babies when their fussy and a crabby toddler, it makes me feel like I have it easy. At least I have space between my kids, and I have 2 that pretty well understand what I say. I think next time I get stressed out, I'm going to try to remember, that I only have 1 infant. One time all the work, one time the getting up, one time the fussing, and just be thankful it is one, that I'm not getting pulled 3 ways. Because in all honesty, knowing you have to divide your time between 3 little babies, would be hard to deal with!

BUGS!!!

I do hate making something like this public, but it was really to funny not to share.

We live in a very old farm house. Like close to 100 years old. As you can imagine, we get all sorts of critters and creepy crawlies in here that we have to constantly combat. Fun stuff, let me tell you.

So today, I was in the living room feeding our youngest, the 2 older girls were playing in their room, and the son was in his bed napping. All of a sudden, I hear Emma, my 2 year old, scream at the top of her lungs. I can hear her start to bawl and scream all at once. I thought she had been seriously injured. I was telling her to come out to the living room, so she could tell me what's wrong. Nothing, in fact, the more I'd ask her to come out, the more she'd scream and cry even harder. I was getting really worried, thinking something was really seriously wrong with her. I laid Catey down on the couch (since her brother was safely put away in his bed!), to which she started to cry, getting interrupted while she was eating.

In the girl's room, I find Emma not in some compromised situation, not bleeding, not bruised, not contorted anyway. No, she was standing in the far corner, her back pressed as close to the wall as humanly possible, still bawling and screaming. Her eyes were fixated on a spot right next to her bed, a look of horror on her face. I was so confused, so I asked her to come to me. She started to move, looked at the spot, shrieked and backed right up against the wall again, bawling even harder. I knew I had to investigate. I made my way through the mess of toys, and climbed on top of her bed, looking in the area that she had kept her eyes on. I didn't see anything but toys and more toys, then I saw something move. That startled me for a second, until my eye focused in on a little bug. ICK! As it moved, Emma freaked out even more.

I had to stop myself from completely doubling over in laughter, as I realized my poor little girl was still crying in fear. I told her to stay where she was and calm down, mommy was going to get the bug. I'm sorry to the PETA people, but this next part would be considered graphic to them. I had Abby run out to the living room to get me a Kleenex, while I was trying to calm Emma down. Abby was very quick and I made haste to catch and squish the bug, making sure Emma saw it all so she wouldn't think I was tricking her. Then I let her watch me take the wadded up Kleenex to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet. Catey was happy when I came back to finish feeding her, after all drama was squashed!

Boy Are A Completely Different Species

I can handle girls, no problem. Girls are something I've taken care of for over 4 years now. They are sweet and lovey, but can be whiny and demanding. They are more lippy than anything, and that I can deal with.

Then there came my boy. I was so overjoyed when I found out I was pregnant with a son, I knew my husband would finally have his boy. Things were great with our boy for the first year. He would get into things and occasionally not listen, but I accredited that with him being a little boy. All of a sudden, I realized he knew what "No" meant, but would do what he wanted anyway. It would annoy me to no end, but it was harmless. Things like pulling all the books out or reaching for things on the coffee table, or at worst, getting into my laptop. He refuses to listen when I'd say "No" unless he knew I meant business. Usually I was easy going enough that unless he was hurting himself or someone or destroying something, I was fine with what he was doing.

One day he really hurt one of my girls. I was used to him pulling around his big sisters, occasionally making them squeal from pulling their hair. But then came the day he figured out how to climb up on the couch. That's been our latest thing of telling him no about. Mainly because he'll hurt himself, but also because he gets into anything we try to put up out of his reach. I had not thought anything about him climbing on the couch when I laid his baby sister down on it for a minute to go make her a bottle. (BTW, I do not lay any of my babies on the couch once they are mobile and rolling, but for this little period where their stationary, I like to keep them up off the floor from their bigger siblings!) Next thing I hear is her crying and then a scream, coming from my little baby girl. I rush into the living room to find that her big brother had climbed up on top of her on the couch and was sitting on her head. I have never wanted to beat my child so much in that minute, but didn't. I flung him to the floor so rescue his little sister. I felt so horrible, I was about in tears from knowing she was in pain. Luckily, he didn't do anything serious to her, I checked her over and over many times, and have yet to see a bruise or worse. Thank God!

Now I know, I have to watch that boy more like a hawk than I did before. I think the worst part is knowing that he knows what "No" means, but he does what he wants regardless. I have to figure out a new approach to getting through to my son, because all the old stand by's just aren't working. Boys are most definitely different than girls, even at a very young age!!!

Long Awaited Update

I know this is beyond late. Over 2 weeks to be precise! The problem has been being able to sit down and find the time to write something. Never mind we're still in the stage of trying to get some kind of schedule, some kind of normalness, some kind of sense to the chaos here. I'm so ready for that to happen, but until then, everything has been winged.

First, I'm sure the suspense has been held to know what our 4th little one is. That is, if you don't know me outside this blog, then you don't know. On December 30th, at 11:54 a.m., Catelyn Louise was born. We had a little girl! 8 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long, the biggest baby I've had yet. She's absolutely beautiful, with a head full of hair and looking almost identical to her big sister Emma! We're so happy to add her to our family.

I guess I also haven't updated too much because I haven't found a way to completely cope with four kids. Its not that I don't know how to handle them, because I went all last week on my own with the kids. My problem is I don't feel like I have anything under control yet. I can handle the bigger three no problem, it's getting used to newborn mode again that's whooping me. I can't stand that I have to sit most the day and cater to her needs, not that I don't totally enjoy it, but you can tell my house is paying a heavy toll for that. The getting up in the middle of the night has been really tough, especially since she was having problems with the formula she was on. She's gotten better here the last few nights after switching her to soy. I barely have time to get the dishes I need done, let alone any major cleaning that needs to be done. For that, I am thankful for my mother in law coming over this week and coming over again next week to do some of the things I don't have time for! It's such a major help! Getting dinner on the table is another story. Anything I can throw in the crock pot or get simmering on the stove during a quick down time has been the norm. Week before last and part of last week was majorly helped out by the efforts of our local mom's group and my mother in law bringing us dinners. That is also appreciated more than they all know! For sure, this last 2 weeks has been full of blessing and thankfulness on my part! I have a feeling the help, gifts, and things of that nature is coming to a close, which is fine by me. I don't want to take more than I deserve. But I wish I had a way to show everyone how much I appreciate them!

As for the upcoming weeks, I'm really hoping to get more of a schedule. I'm hoping within the next 2 months Catelyn starts sleeping through the night! But mainly, I'm hoping to get things in some sort of normalness, order, sanity around here. And hopefully I'll be able to update this blog a lot more often and share some fun, cute, maybe even trying stories with everyone.

Last Day As A Family Of 5!!!

Well, it has arrived, the very last day that we are a family of 5, 3 kids 4 and under. Tomorrow bright and early, my husband and I will be heading to the hospital for my planned c-section and somewhere after 9:00 a.m. our 4th and final little bundle will arrive! It's all bittersweet. I'm so ready to be done being pregnant and miserable, but at the same time, I keep telling myself this is the last time I get to experience any of this. Not to mention, this is the last time I can count our 4th child inside of me, and it be the easiest to care for!

As it stand, today is chocked full of cleaning the house, and then tonight we are going to do Christmas with my parents. My mom and sister will be staying the rest of the week to help with the kids while I recover. The following week, my husband is taking off work and then after that I'll be on my own! I have to do some pre-op testing and what not today, all that good stuff to get ready for the big day tomorrow. I'm not sure it's totally all hit me, but it will for sure tomorrow!

We did have our last outing as a family of 5 yesterday. A trip to Sam's to stock up on a few things, because when you have this many kids, grocery shopping is best done at Sam's! Then we went out to lunch at our favorite place as a family, O'Charley's. You have to love that the kids eat free there, well 2 free kids meals with the purchase of an adult meal. And really, they are a very family friendly restaurant! We've had nothing but great things to say about this place since we first started going there. I was hoping to get to spend a little bit of time with the kids today, cuddling each, since I'll be in the hospital for 2 nights, and I'm sure I won't see them tomorrow morning before we are off, but I also have a growing list in my head of everything I want to get done. I think Jacob can sense something is going on, because he woke up crabby and clingy today. It got so bad, I put him back in his bed for a few mins to get over it and try to get a fresh start on the day, which he did. I felt so bad being "mean" to my baby boy on my last day with him, but really I could not stand to be around him otherwise. I also feel bad I'm going to have to crack the whip on the girls and get them to pick up some of the little junk all around the house today. Granted I don't expect it to be spotless since Christmas just hit, but I do want all the stuff they've dragged out of their room put back and the room itself has to be cleaned so we can put the extra bed in there!

And yet, here I sit as I think of all the things I need to get done. Really, I do have a reason, I'm hurting and not feeling good. This is just a little break, I did get some stuff done already. But I guess I should crack the whip on myself and just get this stuff done! Besides, hubby will be home in about an hour, and I don't want it to look like I didn't do anything today!

It's All So Worth It!

Sometimes throughout the year, especially on very stressful days, you wonder if it's even worth all the stress, tears, sweat, headaches, etc. Raising kids is not exactly a cake job, like some may think. There are times when you are at your limit or even get pushed over your limit that you think selling your children on the black market sounds like a pretty good idea. At times like this, you wonder how Santa could even begin to see the good in your kids. Most of the time right after they upset you, they redeem themselves and melt your heart all over again.

Then there are days like yesterday, Christmas Day, when you can see the world through the eyes of a child. Everything is so much simpler than what our adult minds can even begin to comprehend. As Santa gets out and puts together his gifts, the anticipation builds. Now that I'm a parent, I wonder if it's more exciting being on the giving end then when I was little getting the gifts. My husband and I were both awake before the kids, waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to notice what Santa had done. Finally, the sweet pay off. We hear the foot steps running down the hall as our oldest bursts in our room "MOM, DAD, Santa Came, Santa Came!!!" Before she could run back out and start getting into the presents, we remind her to go wake up her sister, who then comes groggily into our room totally confused, until she makes her way into the living room. There is something about Christmas Day that just make children glow. As I heard, I think on a commercial, "Christmas is the time where parents become more like children, and children become more like angels." I couldn't have said it better myself. Even if the day is mostly filled with chaos of flying paper and a mess of toys, it is also filled with the joy and laughter of children. This holiday is truly for the kids! I don't care how "commercialized" people say Christmas has gotten, when you see your little ones faces light up and stay glowing all day, you forget about everything. Even if little petty bickering breaks out over "she took my toy" it seems hard to phase you when everything seems so close to perfect. Not to mention you tell them, "You have a living room full of toys, there's no need to fight over one," and then they realize "Oh Yeah, I wanted to play with this other thing anyway."

Even as I sit here in the day after Christmas hang over, the kids are still just as excited and happy as they were yesterday. They've only begun to explore the spoils from yesterday. You can't help but laugh when you get told that they are too busy playing and don't want breakfast. I think also, days like this go a lot easier when the living room is already a mess of toys that you don't care if they just play in all day. No stress, no worry, just relaxation knowing the house is already a mess and it's supposed to be this way!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to experience the "glow" for themselves!!!

The Power of Santa!

When we're young, Santa is like a God in our eyes. He is all knowing, all seeing, and yet, through our faults, he still finds a way to forgive our sins (or picking on our siblings) to bring us joy on Christmas day. Sadly, as we grow, we learn Santa is merely the "spirit" of Christmas and that all along, our parents were the ones giving us the gifts and forgiving us for all the wrong we've done. Something they do everyday of their lives.

In the meantime, when the kids are young, and Santa still holds so much power, he can be used as a very handy tool. How many times have you told your kids to behave, because Santa is watching you?! I know my kids now know "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" by heart because I sing it to them as a gentle reminder to "Be good for goodness sake!" As I'm typing this now, my girls are diligently, er, ok, coming in and out of their room asking for different jobs that get their room clean. Reason being, "Santa won't bring you new toys if he sees you don't take care of the ones you have." Yes, I do feel a little guilty using Santa as an excuse to get them to clean their room, but it's a lot better than continuously yelling at them to get their room picked up, only for no results. I know that regardless, "Santa" will get up in the middle of the night and him and his "elf" are going to load up the tree with all kinds of goodies and gifts, regardless how clean the room gets. All and all, they have been very good kids this year. They listen for the most part, are polite, try their best to clean their plates, and when they can help it, don't pick on each other too much.

Now I just wish the boy was old enough to understand that Santa is watching him so he needs to be nice!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that "Santa" spoils you and your little ones!

If You Ever Wonder How I Do It...

When I tell people that I'm expect our 4th child, in 4 years, the typical response I get is "You are crazy!" I don't think they mean I need to be committed or anything like, though give me a few months and I might! I think most people have a hard time imagining having 4 little ones in your house, ages 4 and under, and grasping how you raise them without total and complete chaos. I didn't say there wasn't any chaos, but not total and complete. I decided to start the blog as kind of a window into my world, the funny quirks, daily struggles, and the plain nuttiness of being a stay at home mom of 4 kids!

I suppose I should start with an introduction of myself and my family so you can get to know who your reading about better. As other characters pop up, you'll get the scoop on them!

First, there is me, Jill. I am 26 years old, but if you ask me, I'll never admit it and firmly answer that I'm 25 + 1 or celebrating the 1st anniversary of my 25th birthday! I am the momma bear of the house, and the one that keeps everything in order, er as much order as I can. I'm pretty sarcastic and you'll probably find that throughout these blogs. I also try to throw humor in as much as possible, unless it's a really bad day. Currently, I am 38 weeks pregnant, with exactly 1 week to go until my c-section and the delivery of #4. Kind of in crazy, last minute, get everything together mode, on top of Christmas, and all the daily things. I'm so ready to be done being pregnant, because of bodily pain, miserableness, all of the above typical pregnant lady complaints. Honestly, I can handle the kids, its the pregnancy thing that kills me the most! I'm really not to worried about the addition of another child, because after you have 3, you tend think, "Eh, What's one more." We'll soon find out!

Next is my rock, the love of my life, the man I couldn't live without, my husband Nate or Nathan. I switch on what I call him depend on the mood (Nathan Allen when he's in trouble!). He is also 26 and the great man that decided about 4 1/2 years ago to marry me, at the time we were pregnant with our first. We've been together 6 years and have been very connected from the start. It helps when we're both yelling at the kids in unison when we don't even know for sure what the other was going to yell. He is a very hard working man! To help finance our 4 little ones, he works 2 jobs, day job being at an electrical equipment manufacturer and all the rest of the time on his family dairy farm. He dreams of the day he can quit the first job and just do the farm, but alas the price of insurance is a big motivator to keep the first one! He's also always wanted lots of kids, 10 being his original number but had to settle for 4 when I said I wasn't having more than that. He now agrees that 4 is plenty! He's got big aspirations of little dairy farm hands for our kids. I'm not totally on board for that, I think they need to enjoy their childhood and then worry about work. He's as thrilled as any daddy could be expecting the arrival of his 4th and final seed. A little sad this is his last, but at the same time relieved. Also a little jumpy of every ache and pain of his wife, wanting to rush her to the hospital at a moments notice! My knight in shining (cow manure covered) armor!

Then is our oldest, Abigale or as she is most often called, Abby. She just turned 4 December 9th. She is very much the big sister and takes on the roll of little mommy a bit too much. At the same time, I don't know what I'd do without her help! She is such a sweet heart and will go hug her siblings before she'd even think about hitting or picking on them. She started preschool back in August and as her teacher put it, "At 3 years old, shes just as smart if not smarter than the 4 and 5 year olds." She's always asked questions about everything, wanted everything explained to her, and soaks up everything around her. She is the true meaning of a child that is a sponge and I can see her going very far with how smart she is! She really is a joy in my world!

After Abby, came our 2nd daughter, Emma or Emma Jan. She turned 2 back on September 22nd. That puts her and Abby at about 21 months apart, our biggest gap. Emma is a very opinionated, very independent, and very free thinking little girl. In other words, she doesn't like listening to her parents if she doesn't have to. Her teen years worry me a bit, because of how she is at 2. And yes, we are starting to crash into the terrible 2's which end up in lots of fits and power struggles. She does have her sweet side too, and loves to come up and snuggle with you, on her terms. Unfortunately she picks on her big sister more than the other way around. She is a good girl for the most part and can't wait for the new baby to come. I think this time around I'll have a little mommy, since she was too small last time. Also, our big challenge that will be soon to hit is potty training.

And when we were least expecting it, we got our little boy, Jacob or Jake. Him and Emma are 14 months apart. That was a little bit of bad birth control planning on mom and dad. At least we have our son! We were so overjoyed to finally get a boy, until he grew and grew and grew. You learn a lot about the difference between boys and girls early on. Jake turned 1 on December 11th, 2 days after his big sister's birthday, and already I'm thinking if anything, he'll be the one to send me to the nut house! He was walking by his first birthday, he is very much the explorer and gets into EVERYTHING. He doesn't like being told "No," doesn't really pay attention to any discipline unless it's from daddy, and is a brute that muscles over his big sisters already. I know the girls were never like this, so this boy thing is a new experience for me! But, at least he is a sweet boy when he wants to be. He'll come up and give you hugs and kisses out of no where. He truly is a momma's boy too, when he's tired or upset. Otherwise he'd rather have male bonding, especially with his daddy. It will be interesting to see what this next year will bring with our boy, since the first year has been an experience already!

Just when we thought we were done, and literally my husband had went in and had a vasectomy, our biggest surprise came in May 2008, when a pregnancy test came up "Pregnant." We were pretty astounded at the news, but figured some greater power thought we needed 4 when we tried to stop at 3. Ultrasound scans confirmed my due date at January 6th, but with all of my pregnancies, we knew this one would be coming early for one reason or another. Having 2 previous c-sections (Emma and Jacob), I didn't get a choice for any other exit, which is fine by me. Nate and I agreed we'd like to have it this year for tax purposes, and sooner relief for me. My c-section date is set up at December 30th, 2008, 9:00 a.m. cst the baby should be here! I'm ready to have this baby now between all the aches, pains and everything that goes with pregnancy, but the doctors want to wait as long as they can, unless I go into labor on my own. That's doubtful, since I haven't done that yet! I was hoping to go into labor by yesterday, but at this point, I want it to wait it out until after Christmas. Our 3 little ones at home are really looking forward to Christmas this year, and I want to be there for it! If you haven't noticed, I keep refering to this baby as "it." It wouldn't show us what it was at my ultrasound. I've since had another, but decided to just let it be a surprise since we have boy and girl things! Our biggest struggle has been the boy name. Girl name all along has been Catelyn Louise, but the boy name finally being Joshua Clarence. Nate has had a hard time committing to one. I'm actually having strong feelings that this one is going to be a boy, but at the same time, this baby has left me the most confused of my 4. However I have correctly predicted the sex of all of them so far, we'll see if I'm 4 for 4. And if you noticed by the dates, Jacob and this baby will be a little over 12 months apart.

Now by no means am I a parenting expert. And I may do things that some of you disagree with. But I just figured this could be a place where people can see what life is like with 4 young kids. I do things the best way I know how and with all parenting, it's a lot of trial and error. I'm just hoping to provide a good reading experience for everyone, while at the same time, saving and sharing memories, venting frustrations, and of course, showing off my kids! Thank you!