Things I've Learned

I realized the other night that my blog is fast approaching its 3rd birthday. It's amazing how much can happen in three years. Also it is astounding how short three years seems looking back and how long three years seem to stretch out in front. So, I thought I might make a list of a few things I've learned these last three years. I might accidentally write a little cheesily. It is an accident, but you are free to skip this post if you are as adverse to sentiment as I.

What I have learned:

The naughty things they do and say really are funny after a bit of time has past. Some things take longer to become funny though.

I may only have three readers, but I've realized this blog is more for me than for anyone else. (Thank you to my three loyal readers - I love you.)

The things that still make me laugh are not the things I've written, but the things my kids say.

I've become one of "those" women. I talk about my kids all the time.

I've come to accept becoming one of "those" women. I spend 24 hours a day with my kids and dog. Yes I have other interests, but by sheer quantity my family dominates my life. On a good day I spend about 2 hours without them and 22 with them. I'm sorry I'm boring at dinner parties, that is if I were ever invited to a dinner party.

The older my kids get the naughtier they are. The younger my kids are the more patient I am. I'm sure there is a connection there somewhere.

Nobody may care what color my child's puke is, but the fourth time it lands on me in one day, I care a lot. So I post about it.

Which brings me to my next point: I can blog about whatever I want and my readers (love you three) are free to skip whatever they want. I'm the one who needs a record of what happened.

As the youngest of seven I always tease my mother because there are no pictures of me. I've only got three kids and it is already going downhill (sorry Grace).

What started out as a joint blog between Michael and I became my project along the way and I'm not sure I mind that much. Just don't tell Michael or he will never post again.

No matter how many times I read it, Libby saying, "My eyebrows were scared of the rattoons" makes me laugh.

At the end of the day, my family is always there for me - to clean up after.

Things they say and I need to remember

Need to remember them so I can laugh about it someday.

Ethan is sitting in timeout. Libby foolishly walked past him. Ethan hit her. Libby comes running in to tell us. Ethan's timer gets reset. Then a voice from the time out box is heard, matter of factly proclaiming, "I only hit her 'cause she wasn't fast enough."

***
Ethan and Libby are playing and running down the hall. Libby says to Ethan, "When I grow up I'm going to stay home and take care of the kids while my wife works."

***
Ethan had a toy that it was Libby's turn for. She tried to get it from him but he wasn't sharing. Libby looked at him and yelled, "Ethan you're being a bad citizen."

***
And finally. I was making a cake and had some butter out. Libby came in and said, "Mom, I know what would be a bad citizen."
"Oh, what is that?"
"If I licked the butter."
I agreed that would be bad.
Ten minutes later I walk into the kitchen to find her licking the butter. Deciding to use the same words she had I said, "Libby that is being a bad citizen."
She looks at me very calmly and coolly says, "I know."

Pumpkin Fun

I took all three children to Linder Farms for a hayride and pumpkin pick with Ethan's home school group. For all those people who said everything is harder with three kids, I apologize for not believing you. Please forgive me. We got there two minutes early, which must be some sort of minor miracle. I changed Gracie's diaper in the back of the car as she was sopping wet. Put Grace in her sling grabbed the kids by the hand and went off to find our group. We found our group holding a hand lettered sign that I hope was made by a child, otherwise I am a little concerned about our home school group. We needed to stand in a long long line to pay for our pumpkins in advance but Grace had decided that she was hungry RIGHT now. So I did what any good multi-tasking Mommy would do. I loosened the sling a little bit, leaned Grace over, wrapped my sweatshirt around us and fed her while standing in line with the Ethan and Libby. Grace finished eating, we paid for our pumpkins, and joined our group. The kids enjoyed themselves immensely. There was a hayride. There was a petting zoo with all sorts of miniature animals. A mini llama, a mini camel, and wee mini goats. Then we trooped off to the hay maze. I'm not sure how it is considered a maze, its more of a path as there is only one way to turn. Then we went to choose our pumpkin from the field. One thing I learned is that if I am taking the kids again,I'll go before Oct. 23rd. The carnage, oh the carnage. Pumpkin guts and rotted forgotten pumpkins lie where they fell. We finally found two pretty pumpkins, took a couple more snapshots and headed home.

Grace is super enthused to be held by Libby(also I swear that Grace's outfit looks a lot better when her sister doesn't have it all hiked up).
The wee mini goat. This was the only animal Libby was interested in feeding.

Have you ever seen a Llama that small? It's all grown up and everything. What are these people doing to those poor animals?What cheeseballs.
The kids making their usual faces while holding the fruits of their labors.

Grace with a cold

Everyone had the flu in this house. Once the flu went away it settled into a chest cold. So it may sound like I am making Grace cry but she is laughing hysterically. Something so sad shouldn't be so amusing.

So it Begins

We were in the car headed to a local pawnshop. Everyone was in a crabby mood so I attempted to lighten the atmosphere by teaching the kids a new song. No one seemed to have much enthusiasm to sing, "This is the song that never ends" but I persevered. We got out of the car and I was still singing it quietly. Ethan looked at me, rolled his eyes, and said, "Mom, we are in public."

Email notification

It has come to my attention that Michael has changed the settings on my blog. It now automatically sends the newest updates out in email form to a small group of people. If any of you do not want it emailed to you please let me know and I can change the settings. Conversely if there is anybody out there who is just dying to be notified every time I update the blog just let me know and we can put you on the email list. As a side note, those of you who receive the email are receiving a rough draft. I tend to post and then make Michael proof read it the next day. So please don't judge me by all the typos. I know they are there, I usually just post late at night and don't want to spend the time to proof it well.

Tarilyn Tonroe

I realized that there are almost no pictures on me on this thing. So here you go. I was all dressed up for a murder mystery bridal shower. I may not have been the most pleasant person but I didn't kill anybody.

Spoiled Dog

So the dog must be jealous. Sadie looked around at all the time and attention and resources lavished on the other small beings in the household and started to feel discontented with her share. The boy gets taught math and reading and other interesting lessons every single day. The baby girl gets carried EVERYWHERE and tended to when she makes loud annoying noises. And the middle sized girl child is so loud that no one can forget that she is there.

Sadie must have felt that she wasn't getting her fair piece of the pie. So to make up for it she ate the cake. Not just any cake, but a green tomato cake (it tastes a lot better than it sounds) full of raisins and pecans. She didn't stop to consider the ingredients and whether or not they would agree with her. Or to fully consider the fact that is has been found out the raisins are poisonous to dogs. Nope, she smelled it, realized everyone was in bed, then ate it all. The big humans didn't discover the crime until the morning. She seemed to be okay and well pleased with her lot.

Then she started throwing up (the mother cleans up after everyone else, she must have figured it was her turn). She found the only bit of floor in the house that wasn't laminate or vinyl and threw up all over it (the rug is still hanging outside and will be going to its new home at the dump tomorrow). I called the vet and was told to bring her in. What fun times for the dog. Not only was she getting so much attention but now she was getting a field trip as well. She stayed with the vet most of the day for a series of fun and informative (and expensive) tests. It was discovered the raisins hadn't destroyed her kidneys but her liver was in trouble for mysterious reasons. Also on a completely unrelated note she was suffering from a UTI. The vet wanted to keep her in the clinic overnight but as there would be no one there, I convinced them to send the dog home with us.

The vet sent Sadie home on the condition that we give her sub-cutaneous fluids. This consisted of pinching her skin up and sticking a big old needle in it and then letting the fluid fill her on up. This of course fell to me. Why this fell to me I don't know. The ability to birth and raise children shouldn't also equate to being able to stick big needles in living things. Sadie didn't seem to mind this nearly as much as I did. She was content finally getting some of the attention she so justly deserved. Oh and did I mention the resources as well? No I didn't. And would you like to know why not? Because I can not believe that I spent that much money on a DOG. Let's just say at this point the dog has almost cost me as much as I had to pay out of pocket for Grace's birth. Yes that is bitterness you sense.

So we had Sadie home and were told to monitor her. We needed to be certain she was eating and drinking. Sadie did not want to eat or drink. Sadie wanted to lay on the couch (her rightful throne) and look pathetic. I, on the other hand, did not want to pay more money to take her back to the vet. Michael was able to convince her to drink out his hand and even to drink a little bit of water out of a dish. Not her bowl mind you, but a cup. She would only drink out of a cup. Michael went back to work and left me with the princess dog. I could not get her to drink out of anything for any reason. Fearing another vet visit I had to figure out how to get fluids, any fluids, into her. So I put beef bouillon in her water. That she would drink. Then we couldn't get her to eat anything. So I did something I said I would never do. I sent Michael to the store to buy canned dog food. Dog food with words like gourmet, prime cut, and home style gravy in the title. So we mixed wet food with dry food and she inhaled it. It has been four days since she ate the cake and I think she is finally starting to feel better. Now I just need to convince her to sleep on the floor, drink toilet water, and eat dry dog food.