Oh hi

It's 12:26 am and I for some reason though "oh yeah, remember when I had that one thing?" and then I clicked on the thing and here I am. I really and truly dislike myself immensely for never keeping up with this. I just had a blast reading about how much of a blast Declan was when he was 1 because OMG HE IS A HOLY TERROR AT 3 and wouldn't it have been fun to read my slow transition into having the craziest (but cutest) kid on the planet?

But no joke, my last baby is THREE. Three. 3. A freshly turned 3, just a month ago, so I can say "he just turned 3" for a little while longer when people eye his diaper peaking over the top of his pants because oh yeah, he has no interest in the potty. "No unnerwears, I want a diaper". Ok then. I have learned to pick my battles and if you want that diaper for a bit longer, you go right ahead - I say as I look at my empty wallet,

He's super cute and stuff. Sassy. Broke his leg TWICE last year in a span of 6 weeks because that's how he rolls. Those blue eyes stayed ya'll.

Emma is going into 3rd grade this year, into a million activities. Basically a 16yr old trapped in an 8yr olds body. She's got the funniest gappiest smile because all her teeth have decided to come out at the same time. Probably going to break a million boys hearts because she's made a pact to not have a boyfriend until 11th grade (which I secretly say uh huhhhhh sure, because if she's anything like her mama......)

Oh yeah, we also went to Florida this year and did the whole "4 parks in 4 days thing" which was awesome and tiring and I don't want to do it again until they kids are all old enough for me to say "meet us at the entrance in 10 hours". 

And then there's the Con-man. My sweet, sweet boy who has the most gentle soul in the entire world. He starts kindergarten in 10 days, which is just really awesome and I'm so chill and ehh about it and HAHAHA I am having legit anxiety about it. Like keeping me awake about it level of worrying. PreK was not a happy time for my otherwise very happy boy so if any of ya'll who stumble on this wanna send him some good thoughts, that'd be just lovely

ok so anyway. I'm not even promising anything because we all know how that goes, but I will love myself forever if I actually remember to write about first days of schools..which please oh please let me remember.  Also, I know most of the people who read this 2yrs ago have long since moved on to bigger and better, OH HI to that one person who read like 20 posts 4 days ago! (mom, is that you?) 

Declan is 1!

I know, I know. I am a stranger on my own blog. I promise I do check in occasionally and I have about a million other blogs to catch up on but still. DECLAN IS 1. Technically on the 2nd, but I'm still very much in the "He just turned 1" phase. I'll say this til probably December, fyi.

He's just the best. Period. He's got this HUGE personality and the only thing he really says is Mama. Not complaining. He just started walking the day after his birthday, which was pretty freaking awesome considering I had a bet with his daddy that he WOULDN'T walk til after he turned 12mo. Way to help a sister out! There's just something so, so cute about a little newbie walker. How they hold their hands up. How they take little bitty steps with this huge LOOK AT ME grin. I just eat it up. I want him to be a newbie walker foreverrrrr.

He still wakes up at night, which what up with that? Doc says to ignore him, but Dec has a set of powerful lungs and it's much easier to just sleepwalk my way into the kitchen and make him a bottle. He's still has one like 4 times a day, which is not really a big thing for me. He's really starting to do well in the eating department, so once I feel confident that he's getting all his nutrients from real food, I'll start taking the bottle away. or at least replacing the formula with milk.

I have the brain of a woman with 3 kids under the age of 6, so I totally forgot about his well child check up last week. Oops. The earliest they could get him in was not until August 31st and he'll be approaching the ripe old age of 14mo by then.

5 teeth! 3 on top, 2 on bottom. He doesn't act like they bother him, but we'll see how that changes when those big mean molars start their journey to the top.

1-2 naps a day. He prefers one, I prefer 2. It's a nice battle we have going on.

Still backwards facing. I don't think he's much over 20lbs and everywhere you look someone is yelling at you to keep their rear facing til 2, so I'm just going with the masses and keeping him backwards for the time being. My goal is 18mo, I think. WHICH WILL BE AROUND CHRISTMAS TIME OH BOY.

He still likes to be carried more than he likes down and he'll still lay his head down on your shoulder if he's feeling lovable. Declan is just a great kid and I'm so happy he was picked to be mine.

I promise with cherries on top that I'll get a proper "summer yay" post going so that I won't forget everything that happened this year. Hopefully. Maybe.

2013 can suck it

2013 has NOT been a good year in terms of sickness. It's not even mid April and Declan has had the flu, an ear infection, and ANOTHER ear infection as of today. Technically, there's a good chance it's the same ear infection that never cleared up, but it has been two doctors visits and two different antibiotics so I'm calling it two. Emma, of all people, also has an ear infection. Connor has a cough. My house is trashed and there's a good chance Lowes will be showing up with a crap load of appliances we bought.*


Someone shoot me.

The saving grace is that I'm making Emma my beard and taking her to see Jurassic Park 3D because WHO DOESN'T WANT TO SEE JURASSIC PARK 3D?! I'm just trying to think about that as I listen to Declan AWAKE on the baby monitor at 11m at night. Good thing my husband is an awesome daddy and is totally going into work late tomorrow so that he can take Em to school - meaning I won't have to wake up a baby who is determined to stay awake all night.

* We have decided to remodel our house (kitchen, living room, and utility room as of right now). New washer/dryer, fridge, dish washer, stove, and pantry are supposed to be arriving next Friday. Came home from the doctors office to find a message on the answering machine, where a nice person informed me they'd be bringing it tomorrow. Hubby's going to try to get a hold of them tomorrow because there's no way I am going to have to house ready for that. I've been given permission to just grab the kids and hide in the bedroom if they show up, so there's always that. ;)

I really am bad at this, aren't I?

After all my big talk about updating this, it's been another couple months between posts. I'd apologize, but I'm afraid whatever readers I had have long since found some other sappy blog about their kids to read. ;)

I don't have time for a really long update, but I do hope to do that within the next week. Em has spring break next week (yes, her kindergarten year is almost over! Someone hold me) which means my mom also has that week off. I plan on properly taking advantage of that and shipping some kids over there for a couple of days - grandma approves - so maybe I'll get wild and crazy and write something out.

Declan is 8.5 months old. How this happened, I have no idea. He's the smiliest, happiest baby in the entire world. He's my little buddy and I can count on one hand the times we have been apart. If I had to pick a baby to be my last one, he would be it. Everything you love about a baby - how some will lay their head on your shoulder, how some raise their little arms to be picked up, how some will tilt their head and smile at you when you do something silly - he does them ALL. He's perfect and I love him so, so much. Month 7 was good to him as he sat up, said mama, AND crawled within that month. He can book it on all 4's now, but those first days of trying to crawl will always be some of the funniest moments of my life. He could just NOT wrap his head around how to move his legs and arms and some of the things he would do were hilarious.

Quick 8mo facts:

- 20lbs
-9-12mo clothes
-says mama
- sits and crawls
-eating regular solid food, but refuses to pick it up and put it in his mouth
- 2 naps a day
-still wakes usually 2 times a night to eat
-The most important one - A COMPLETE MAMA'S BOY.

Em and C will get their little updates here when I come back for my "what the hell have I been doing" post but check out this Valentine Day picture we had taken last month. Um, brochure anyone?? ;)

I'm aliveeeeee

I am going to be so mad at myself with Declan is a toddler and I want to go back and look at the first year of his life and I realize that I did horribly at this blogging thing. See, the thing about me is that I can totally focused on a certain thing and I will do it constantly for MONTHS. Like, watch a certain tv show or get invested in a book series, blog about my life, fan girl in a certain fandom, etc. And then I will crash and will move onto something totally different. It's annoying and I hate that I can move from one interest to another so easily.

I'm going to try harder to get back on board with this blogging business. Maybe I can write myself notes to remind myself to update at least once a week? Anyone out there want to remind me? I promise my life is sort of interesting. ;)

On the baby news front, Declan is such a sweetie pie. 5 months old now, which is so insane that i don't want to talk about it again. He rolls both ways (although he doesn't like to roll from belly to back for some reason) grabs his toes all the time, blows spit bubbles like it is his business, and is vocal ALL THE TIME. He's also discovered the world of jumping, so it's an adventure trying to hold him. He has hit or miss days when it comes to eating, but for the most part he is eating 6oz every 3.5hrs or so. He was sleeping through the night, but now he's back to eating at least once (or twice, like last night). No idea what he weighs, but at his 4mo check is was 15lbs even. So, a chunky little thing. :)

As you can see, those blue eyes have decided to stick around. :)

Em is doing SO well in school. She has made a million friends and I'm pretty sure we have a birthday party to go to every weekend since October. Her birthday was last week, so I have to get a 6th birthday post up within the next few days. 

Connor...he's just an all around boy! Lord have mercy, he is a delightful little handful. He's now potty trained and we've got the binky usage down to just beditme, which is a such an accomplishment since this thing was glued to his face for the first 3 years of his life.

Finally, the best Santa picture in the history of ever. Catalog pic, I swear.

I'm the lamest blogger ever

Yes, we are still all alive. No, I have no idea why I haven't taken the time to sit down and let you all know what's going on in my crazy, busy life.

The footnotes:

- Em is loving school. First parent teacher conference and they basically said she can just go ahead and graduate high school because she is so smart (or something like that. She is ahead, though.)

- Connor is pure boy. Just innocent meanness. He also now has boy hands. Mom's of boys will know what boy hands are. Instead of just normal preschooler hands, they are starting to look like the hands of a little boy. Rough and dirty with square, blunt fingernails. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

-Declan continues to be the perfect baby that ever was. So cute and happy and squishy. He's always smiling, he laughs if you just look at him, he's rolling both ways, he's sleeping through the night. He's just a joy. And he turned 4 months old 2 days ago. UM, WHAT THE WHAT?

I promise to get his 4mo post up in the next few days. Pinky promise. I also promise to catch up on all of my blogs. I'm a couple of weeks behind, so here's hoping you guys have all been just as lazy as me!

Until then, Happy late Halloween!

3 months old!

Declan turned 3 months old on October 2nd. He's now in that fun baby stage and I am just eating him up. Just a happy easy baby for the most part.

sleeping pattern - We are starting to get into more of a pattern in this area. I have to leave at 7:25 to take emma to school, so it's hit or miss if he wakes up or not while we are gone. He wakes up when I put him in his car seat but I'd say 7-8 times out of 10 he's asleep by the time we get back home. He'll usually nap in his car seat while I get Connor situated with breakfast and some cartoons (or hogging my computer like he's been doing lately. Note to Santa, the kids need their own!). He's wake by at least 9 and stays up until 11:30 or noon. Back to sleep and then he wakes up when it's time to get emma. I wish I could have it where he is ready for nap when we go get her since he sleeps so nicely in the car but I haven't gotten it there yet. One more cat nap around 5 and then he's in bed for the night anywhere between 8-10. I then usually don't hear from him again until close to 5am. He has his off nights but for the most part, he just wakes up once (and truthfully, I'm not even sure I can count a 5am feeding as a night feeding). I love that I am getting true naps out of him, instead of cat naps *cough Emma cough*.

Feedings - Usually 4oz every 3hrs or so. I keep thinking he's going to start wanting more than that, but he seems really content right now with that amount. I've noticed that when he sees me chewing, he starts mimicking me with his mouth. He's not quite ready for solids, of course, but it's one of many signs! I did a Baby Led Weaning (BLW) approach with C and I loved it. No feeding with a spoon, just cutting up food that I eat and letting him eat that from the get-go. I wasn't super passionate about it and he did have pureed food on occasion but I'll definitely be going that route again.

New discoveries/accomplishments - Dude has decided that rolling just isn't all it's cracked up to be. He hasn't done it in probably 6 weeks. He rolls onto his side no problem on his back but he's then content to just lay there. Tummy time is usually spent with his face planted on the floor, using his vocal cords to let me know that THIS IS NOT OK. So yeah, no dice on the rolling. Connor took for-ev-er (cue the dude from The Sandlot) to roll. Like almost 6mo! So I'm not worried on that front. He's super smiley, has started giggling, makes the worlds best eye contact (looooook into my eyes) and has started reaching for things. He's not well-tuned in that department. He sort of just flings his hand toward whatever he wants and bats around at it.  If he's on his back his head, shoulders, and legs are all completely up as he tries to sit up on his own. I wish I had his core strength. Overall, I think his development is right on track. 

It's all in the details - officially in 3-6mo. Size 2 diapers. Size 1 in shoes.

I can't wait to see how he changes as the holidays get closer and closer. He's such a camera ham that I'm probably not going to get one of those awesome "OMG! I'm so scared!" pictures with Santa Claus (because let's face it, those are freaking adorable). He'll just be all calm and chill with Em. It will be Connor giving St Nick the ole' stink eye. Trust me.