My Nemesis: Laundry

It never ends. Never. Just when I get all the boys' clothes washed, dried and put up, Natalie and Claire's basket is full. Then when I get that done, ours is full. I remember the days when I could do all the laundry on Sunday. Not any more. Now it is perpetual laundry. I feel like I will never catch up. I will always be able to find a basket of dirty clothes SOMEWHERE in this house. And most likely it will have 2 or 3 friends...

Stolen Vehicle

John parked his Suburban at work today, under a tree that would provide shade during the hottest part of the day. However, when he went out to get in his truck at 4:15, it was not there. Stolen. Right out of the parking lot. Nice. He said that he walked completely around the building twice to make sure he didn't accidentally park somewhere else and just not remember.

After calling the cops and filing the report, one of the claims adjusters was nice enough to drive him to Duncanville. From there, Jim (his brother) drove him home. He got home ~7:30 and the kids were full of 1001 questions for him. After we put them to bed, we sat on the couch and just shook our heads. We just could not believe that his Suburban was really gone. The part that made us the maddest? Claire's car seat base + 3 other car seats were in the Suburban. Also, 2 pairs of John's Maui Jim sunglasses.

Fast forward 72 hours:

A Dallas detective called and said the Suburban was found and was in the Dallas Impound lot. John went over to look at it and retrieve anything that was left in it. Here is what they took:

• all 4 tires (they replaced them with 'trash' tires, secured with only 3 lug nuts each)
• the entire 3rd row bench
• 2 car seat bases
• John's well-stocked diaper bag
• 2 CDs and 1 DVD + John's Maui Jim sunglasses
• both side-view mirrors
• all the electrical in the doors for the side view mirrors
• stripped the steering column
• punched a hole in the door to open it to steal it

What they did not steal? The DVD player, the CD player, Claire's car seat base, one of the car seat bases and John's rosary.

After waiting 5 days to find out, it was declared a total loss. This was not surprising. I guess it was surprising that it took that long for them to figure that out. We are extremely pleased with how wonderfully USAA handled the whole situation and how much they paid out for the car and the objects that were not recovered. We have a great insurance company!

The Color Tan

I know I will pay for it when I get older, but I like to be tan. I like to see myself in pictures with a tan. I am naturally quite white (hardly even peach), but in the summer I can get pretty tan. I love looking at our summer pictures because all the kids look so vibrant with a tan. Their eyes all look bluer and they just look beautiful. (More beautiful than usual!) I am supposed to wear suscreen at any and every outing into the sun, but I only remember 1/2 the time. My concern is on the kiddos and I am secondary.

Here are examples of with tan and without tan.

Teeth

Teeth are a funny thing. I guess teeth are funny thingS. A baby is so cute when they smile and have no teeth. Adorable. They are even more adorable when they smile and you just see those 2 bottom teeth.

Once they get all their teeth in, they suddenly look like a child and not a baby anymore. And for my children, all of them had perfect, beautiful straight baby teeth. As beautiful as they are/were, it is a strong indicator of some serious orthodontic work in the future. Yea.

Then, just when their baby teeth start to look ridiculously small compared to their face and expanding mouth, they start loosing them. In the same order as they came in! (It took me 2 kids to figure that out on my own!) The bottom teeth being absent? Not a big deal. Actually kind of cute if I must say. However, when the top teeth come out, I think it is not-so-cute. Especially if one top tooth comes out and the other is loose, crooked and barely hanging on by a fiber. When Cooper's front tooth did this, I told him I would pay him $$ to pull it. It just looked so...redneck Bubba. And after those teeth finally came out, the new ones seem to take forever to grow in. It has been over 3 months and his teeth are not even halfway in yet! Good grief!

After seeing how not-straight Cooper's bottom teeth have grown in, I am quite sure the orthodontist will be on our payroll for the next 10-12 years with one child or another. That's OK, I think braces are really cute!

Things That Bother Me

*Bad grammar
*Wet socks
*People driving too slow
*My kids' clothes not matching (doesn't happen when I get them dressed)
*Typos on notices/documents posted in public
*Girl names given to boys (Kristan, Hillary, Renee)
*The name 'Jesus' (pronounced hey-sus) given to boys
*Being embarrassed by my kids
*Someone getting too close to me (in my hula-hoop space)
*Bad breath
*My kids' hair not being done (John allows this, I do not)
*Having something nag me that I cannot do anything about
*People taking the Lord's name in vain
*Being butt-dialed by John
*Sticky hands (mine or any one else's)
*Being promised something and then not getting it
*Ring pops

Heavy Heart

I found out that a mom from Ditto (the school that the kids go to) killed herself on Thursday. She dropped her 3 boys off at Pantego Kids' Camp, went home and shot herself.

This totally leaves me with a heavy heart. I am thinking about it so much. The most sad part? Her children left behind. Most likely for the rest of their lives, they will blame themselves in some form or fashion for their mother's death. That there was some way that they contributed to it or that there was some way that they could have prevented it will plaque their hearts for the rest of their lives. I do not know her personal circumstances, but I do know that those boys will be scarred for life. I'm sure they will get some therapy/counseling, but that sure is a heavy burden to leave as your legacy. I do NOT want to judge, that is God's department, I just know that I feel this incredible sadness for those 3 sons. May God bless them in their days, weeks and years to come.

The Lucky Charms

Today was His Amazing Grace Race at Camp Thurman. It's funny that last year, when I did this race, Kristin and I were talking about my getting-pregnant difficulties. This year I am fully recovered from my c-section from having Claire. Crazy!

Last year, Kristin and I were a 2 girl team, whereas this year you had to have a 3 person team. We added Amanda (Martin) and called ourselves 'The Lucky Charms". We did so good! We were the first 3 person team through the course. Yeah us! What a fun time we had!

Summer Projects

It is my goal to do a project (if possible) every day this summer. Some will definitely be more impressive than others, but they all will (hopefully) help stimulate some creative thought with the kiddos. Here are some ideas of what we have done or will do:


Tie-Dying shirts


Paint Treasure Boxes



Paint Big Letters



Decorate the Big Letters



Father's Day Gift

Father's Day Card

Paint little bird houses

Write letters and notes to family members

Everyday is a Battle

I think I just think too much. I seem to obsess about a few things. The top two things? Being a good mom (supermom) and my body.

I want to be the best mom for my children so they grow up loving me, loving the Lord, being smart and athletic. Overall, having them growing up as pillars of society. Productive, kind and positive adults that love their God. My problem is that I think and re-think about things I have said, should have said and what I will say at some point. I want to be the absolute best mom to my children, everyday, but I feel like I keep missing the mark. I want to encourage them and lift them up, enrich their lives. Then I get upset with something minute that they do and feel like I completely blow it.

As far as my body, I do not want to admit that I am obsessing about my body, but since I had Claire I think I am. I definitely struggle with too much thinking about my body every day. Or most days. Obsessing about my weight: trying not to eat too much, making sure I have adequate time to exercise and avoiding looking at mirrors seem to occupy my thoughts way more than they should. I should be past this by this point in my life.

More About Claire

Today was Claire's 2 month check-up. She weighed 9lbs. and 7 oz. and was 23" in length. These stats put her squarely at the 10th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for length. Given the size of her sweet little feet and how she is consistently growing in length, Dr. Raine and I firmly believe that she is going to be our tall, lean athlete.

Claire is still nursing. Though I am not the #1 source of food for her, she still enjoys our nurse and cuddle time. I thoroughly enjoy it. I know this is my last child to breast feed and I want to do it as long as Claire wants to nurse. It is so interesting that no matter what is wrong in her world, she will stop crying to nurse. It seems to calm both of us down. I love it that I can make her happy in a way that no one else can. :>)

Friends

Once you are a parent, having friends is a little more challenging. First of all, you tend to be friends with other parents. Usually other parents of your kids' friends. This is the best case scenario. However, a very important component to this is how the other parents parent. It is very hard to be around other parents during a playdate when their parenting style does not match up with mine. Not to say that my parenting is the way to go, but I cannot be around a mom that does not discipline. A mom that lets her child run wild. A mom that lets her child speak rudely to her. A mom that will not correct her child when he/she says rude things to MY child. I do not think anyone can understand this fully until they have a child of their own and realize how important it is to be around families that have similar discipline and expectations for their children.

I have had to back off getting together with some friends because I realize it is not good for me to be around them and their kids. Also, it is not good for MY kiddos to be around children that are raised like that. It leads them to believe that that type of behavior is acceptable. NO! Not quite. It seems like a tough challenge for them for me to say, " You cannot act like your friend because you will get in trouble, even though he/she won't."

This may be why I only have 2-3 close friends. It is just too hard.

Camp Thurman X 3

I sent all three kiddos to Camp Thurman this year. To allow Luke to be able to go, I had to lie on the registration. A small one, but a lie all the same. I just could not bear another year where I would take Cooper and Natalie to Camp Thurman and Luke crying in the back because he was not old enough to go. No, I made an executive decision to accelerate Luke's birthday by 3 months so he could attend just like big brother Cooper and big sister Natalie. I think I made the right decision, because he is still talking about all his favorite parts of camp.

Cooper with 10k ( I affectionately referred to him as 6.2)

Natalie with Deedaleet

Luke with Napolean

Memorial Day B*B*Q

This was our 2nd annual Memorial Day Barbecue. Since John loves to smoke all sorts of meats on his smoker, he loves for others to enjoy it. What better way for LOTS of people to enjoy it than to have a party? Hence, our new tradition. Another benefit of having a multitude of people over? A clean house. I cleaned house for 3 days, getting ready for this. Now if I could stay as motivated as that throughout the week, every week, this house would ROCK!

Here are some pics from our fun-filled Memorial Day!

Ode to the Ceiling Fan

Oh ceiling fan, how I love thee,

You go round and round and round,

even when you stay still,

you make my heart pound.

Oh ceiling fan, I adore thee,

in every room I see,

you are always up there,

staring at me.

-Love,

Claire (2 months old)