I’m halfway there! Actually, if the boys are any indication, I hit my half-way mark a few days ago, since they were both born right at 39 weeks, but any way you slice it, tomorrow begins the second half of my pregnancy. For the most part, it’s a pretty uneventful milestone. Not as exciting as […]
We took the 1000+ mile trip home from Florida in three days, which allowed us to make a few stops along the way. We visited the Daytona race track for my race car-crazy kids (and their Daddy and Papa), then headed to Savannah, where our hotel had a cool view of container ships and barges […]
Well, it wasn’t a flawless week, but it was a wonderful and definitely a memorable vacation. We drove 1050 miles from our home in Ohio to Walt Disney World in Florida, with our almost-5, 3 and a half, and 1 and a half-year-old kids. Oh yeah, and a four-months-pregnant mommy, who got along surprisingly well […]
T-minus 6 days and counting. This is how my 17th week began, at least in my mind. Count down to what? Our departure for Florida. In a car. With three children. Under five years old. And my in-laws. For twelve days. A lot to wrap my four-months-pregnant brain around. This time next week, we’ll be […]
It’s starting to happen again: that feeling that my body is not my own. Instead of just feeling tired and yucky, like I did in the first trimester. I’m becoming increasingly aware that the reason for all these changes is anew person growing in there. Some of the changes, like starting to feel the baby […]
Last week, I said I was kind of looking forward to my three-hour blood sugar test. I take it back. Apparently, in order to complete the test, you’re supposed to keep that delightful orange beverage in your body the whole three hours. Maybe it was having that much straight sugar after nine weeks of avoiding it, […]
I started out this week with a relatively uneventful 12-week checkup. Everything’s looking good, and after a little hide-and-seek with the baby, I got to hear the heartbeat again, which was great. I haven’t gained any weight back, but I haven’t lost any more either, so I’m in pretty good shape there. I’m sure I’ll […]
I have a few quick stories to share about my twelfth week of pregnancy. Teeny Tiny I got to hold the smallest baby I’ve ever held this week. He weighed just over four pounds when he was born. He’s the one who came with us to the museum (still in utero!) a few weeks back. […]
At ten weeks’, one day pregnant, I finally got around to having my eight-week checkup. I originally had the appointment scheduled for the day after a puke fiasco at the grocery store, and since I didn’t know whether that was a sign of oncoming stomach flu for Max and possibly others, I decided to reschedule. […]
This weekend we went on our first camping adventure of the season. After beautiful weather in the 70s all week, it was rainy and in the 40s for most of the weekend. But no worries for us. We were camping in Ohio’s beautiful Amish Country, which boasts wonderful restaurants and an amazing campground with an […]
It’s starting to get more obvious that Baby #4 is on his or her way. My tummy is definitely growing, although it’s still in that questionable “pregnant or too many cookies?” phase. We’ve been sharing the news with more and more people, and it’s been interesting to see and hear people’s reactions. Many have been […]
Tonight, my house is clean. Not just straightened up, but clean. As in: no dishes in the sink, no dirty laundry, no scuzzy mirrors, no globs of toothpaste on the bathroom counters, no toys strewn across the living room. Clean. And not just clean only in the to-be-viewed-by-company areas either: The closets and drawers in […]
I’m about halfway through the first trimester, and this time around, I’m counting the days until I have hope of feeling normal again. I had fatigue and some queasiness with the other three pregnancies, but this time around I’m feeling pretty miserable almost all the time. Not that I get to lay around too much […]
Memory is a funny thing. I know I was tired and queasy with the other kids, but somehow I must have blocked it out. Because if I had remembered feeling like this, I’m not sure I would have signed up for Round Four. OK, that might be a little harsh. Deep down, I know that […]
Here we go again! A while back I mentioned that we were going back and forth about whether to have another baby, and I said I’d keep you posted. Consider yourself posted: Baby #4 is on its way. It took a while to make the decision, but not too long to make the decision a […]
Before my babies were born, I thought I had a lot of things figured out. I’d read the books, browsed the Web sites, watched other people make mistakes with their kids, and I thought, “I know how to do this.” Becoming a parent is a humbling experience though. I quickly found out that, with a […]
I can’t believe it’s already March. Not too long ago, 2010 seemed like some far-off crazy future year, and now we’re well into it. This year my husband and I will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, and my oldest daughter will turn five and go to kindergarten. Wow, that makes me feel old. Where has […]
It’s the one appointment of the year when a girl really needs her best socks, and of course I couldn’t find any clean ones without holes in the toes. You’d think I would have planned ahead for this, even laid out my socks the night before, perhaps even considering which ones would best accessorize the […]
In an effort not to bore people with every minute detail of Jack’s life, I feel like I haven’t written much about him lately. Certainly not as much as I did during my weekly pregnancy updates, or even in the first few months of his life. The truth is, he’s infinitely more interesting and fun […]
If I’d felt this way one year earlier, I would have chalked it up to a case of baby blues, or even mild postpartum depression. But my baby was a year old. Is there something called “toddler blues?” Just after Jack’s first birthday, I went through about two weeks of emotional upheaval. Things seemed really […]
This fall has been full of adventures for our family: apple picking, pumpkin patch, and even an indoor water park. But it seems like we’ve been squeezing in our fun family outings in the midst of our big theme for this fall: being sick. You’d think by the third kid, I’d have things figured out: […]
This past New Year’s Eve, as we celebrated with our friends, we realized that 2009 was the year we’d all turn 30. I’ve known these four girls most of my life, and now our kids (10 between the five of us) play together all the time. The moms get together a few times a year […]
It occurred to me as I updated my Facebook status today, someday my kids may object to the amount of their personal life I’ve put out into cyberspace. I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be one of those people, you know, the ones who put too many details about their kids on Facebook. […]
Well, it’s about that time again. Changing of the seasons? Back to school? Nope. My youngest baby is closing in on his first birthday, and, around here, that means I’m also getting the big question: “So, are you going to try for another baby?” Not that I’m on some kind of quest to be the […]
Today I dropped Gracie off for her first day of preschool. How can four years seem more like four months? I can’t believe how grown-up she looked standing in line with the other kids, all wearing backpacks that were almost as big as they were. Amazingly, no tears from either Gracie or Mommy as she […]
When people ask how our summer is going, I usually answer, “Busy, mostly fun-busy, but busy!” It has been a great summer, especially watching Jack blossom from a baby into a little boy. He’s gone from a bottle-drinking baby to a sippy-cup-using, babbling, crawling, standing, cruising bundle of energy who will do anything for a […]
When I recently gave up nursing Jack, I brought my impressive four-year, eight-month span of being continuously pregnant and/or nursing to an end. After almost five years, I have my body completely to myself again. And this is what I’m left with?! As I put away the nursing tanks and bras, I realized it was […]
After giving birth to a ten-pound, five-ounce baby, I really thought my body could do anything. So to be forced to stop nursing because of a stupid infection on my toe really bummed me out. Not that I’m a crazy breastfeeding fanatic or anything. I’ve met a few people in my mommying journey who think that formula is […]
With all the recent attention devoted to families with tons of kids (Octomom, Jon & Kate, etc.) I’m usually amazed that my brood of three draws people’s attention. Verbal comments (Are they all yours? How old are they? Oh my!) and nonverbal reactions frequently pepper our mother-child outings. Granted, they are close in age: three kids within three-and-a-half years, […]
Each year in our household, summer begins with a parental role reversal. Daddy finishes his school year as a teacher, and Mommy heads off to work for three weeks. We’ve had numerous discussions with friends and acquaintances, and it seems the general consensus among the guys is that they’re a little intimidated by the idea of being the primary […]
One question frequently on my mind these days is: “Where did my little baby go?” I ask this both figuratively and literally. Figuratively because I cannot believe how much six-and-a-half-month-old Jack has grown and developed in the past few weeks, and literally because he now rolls away every time we put him on the floor. […]
The day before Mother’s Day, Gracie and I went to a Mother-Daughter banquet with my mother-in-law. It’s hard to believe she’s old enough to do something like that, but lately she’s become quite the companion as we girls occasionally do our girl things together and leave the boys at home. The banquet included a concert […]
Six months ago at this very moment, I was in the midst of hard labor, extremely thankful that my epidural was kicking in. Jack will be six months old in about an hour, and I can’t believe he’s a half-year old. On one hand, it seems like just yesterday that he was born; and on […]
I enjoy being a stay-at-home mom. It’s the most challenging and rewarding job I’ve ever had, but every once in a while, I miss one of the great perks of working: the sick day. In my former life as a teacher, I didn’t call in sick often, but it was nice to know the option […]
I have always been a bit of a goody-two-shoes when it comes to studying. All through my school years, even through college and when getting my my master’s degree, I was very conscientious about preparing for tests. So it wasn’t a surprise that I read everything I could get my hands on from the moment […]
I know I seem to say this every month, but Jack just keeps becoming more fun to have around. At just over five months old, he is delighting in the world around him, especially since his world is expanding. He has spent a lot more time outside in the past month, going for walks and watching his […]
If someone had told me in November that I would run a 5K when Jack was five months’, five days’ old, I would have laughed my considerable post-baby buns off. This is me. The girl who has never had an athletic accomplishment in her life. The girl who sits in the recliner and eats ice cream while […]
I like to think of myself as a pretty good mom. I listen to the Cars movie soundtrack five times a day, I do all the voices when I read the kids their stories, and I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie. But there’s no question that Daddy’s the real rock star in this house. I always joked […]
I admit it. I’ve developed a bit of an attitude problem when it comes to other people complaining about having a busy morning, or how challenging it is to get out the door to go somewhere. It’s not like I’ve cornered the market on hectic mornings, but sometimes I feel like unless they have three kids under the age […]
My smiley guy is four months old now, and, as I suspected, he weighed over 20 pounds at his four-month checkup, 20 pounds, 6 ounces, to be exact, and 27 1/2 inches long. No wonder all the little old ladies say “Oh my!” when I tell them his age. He’s basically the size of an average one-year-old! […]
You know it’s bad when you look longingly at a rack of maternity clothes while pushing your four-month-old baby in a stroller. Jack and I went shopping together after one of his appointments last week. I was hoping to find something nice to wear for family pictures and Easter. The problem is, I’m still in that weird in-between stage: […]
Jack is becoming a flirt and a tease. At 3 1/2 months old, he showers just about everyone with his big gummy grin, but it comes most easily for pretty girls. He’s like his big brother that way, and is turning into a real charmer. Jack especially likes going to church, where so many new […]
Two kids in diapers might sound like a nightmare to most mothers, but it’s the only way I know how to do life with a toddler and a newborn. Gracie was only 19 months old when Max was born, and the summer she turned 2, we lived in the camper while our house was being […]
Now that Max has turned two, I can say that I have a 3 ½-year-old, a two-year-old, and a three-month-old. Somehow that sounds less insane than 3, 1 ½, and newborn. I’m finding that I have kindred spirits in sweet little old ladies at the grocery store. They don’t think I’m nuts with three little […]
Happy Birthday to Max! My wonderful, hilarious little buddy Max is now two years old, although when you ask him, he says “No, I be four!” (He knows he’s really two, but he says the wrong age just to be funny. I wish there were words to describe the tone of voice he uses, but […]
Jack is now two and a half months old. To be honest, so much of the past couple months has been a blur. I spent a little time working on Jack’s scrapbook, and the pictures from the hospital seem like such a long time ago. He’s such a part of the family, I can hardly […]
How do you tell the difference between cabin fever, exhaustion, and post-partum depression? No really, I’m asking, because from where I stand, they look an awful lot alike! Overall, life with three little kids is going well, but every once in a while, stuff bubbles over and I have a bit of a meltdown. We’ve […]
At around 5 weeks, Jack slept through the night three times in a row. I was cautiously optimistic that we were starting a trend. Not exactly! We’ve had a few more times in the past month that he’s slept 6 hours, but usually we’re up once in the middle of the night, somewhere around 3-4 a.m. Not that […]
On Jack’s five-week birthday, I had my six-week checkup. The girl who scheduled it couldn’t count, and I was too sleep-deprived at the time I made the appointment to notice. I realized the scheduling mistake a few days before the appointment and called, but they said it was fine to keep it since I wasn’t […]
After the holidays were over, I felt the need to purge the house of the cookies, candy, and other once-a-year holiday deliciousness. I didn’t gain any weight back over the holidays, but I definitely stopped losing baby weight as I indulged in my favorite treats. It’s nice to get things back to normal in the food department. I’m also […]