First Day-Preschool Edition

Seems like yesterday

I'm not sure when it happened, when my baby boy started growing up, but here we are.  

Pre-school

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were at Mag's Pre-K graduation and then off to the hospital to HAVE Fionn.  Now it's his turn.  

Sometime around 3am last night I woke Greg up, I couldn't sleep.  Fionn was (as usual) planted firmly across our bed and he flung an arm over me and I just lost it.  I'm sure his little arm was soaked with my tears but I couldn't help it.  Poor Greg just patted my head and allowed me my middle of the night sob fest. 

I was questioning EVERYTHING.  I have been here with him, since day 1.  

With Maggie it was a big deal, but we were both prepared.  She had been in daycare for the first 2 and 1/2 years of her life so she CRAVED the school environment.  

Fionn though, has not had that interaction, has not been with anyone else (save family) and I was just scared. 

"Is he ready, what if I'm wrong?  What if he has an accident and doesn't make it to the poddy?  What if he cries, do I have the strength to make him stay?"  All questions that came pouring out in the middle of the night. 

As it turns out, the only time he cried this morning was as Maggie was leaving for school "I'm gonna MISS YOU Maaa-geeee" he cried.  Once we re-assured him that he'd be home before she would he was better, but it only made me more nervous.  I even got breakfast snuggles, which NEVER happens.  I usually only get snuggles when he's REALLY tired.

So off we went, only five minutes behind schedule.

and I'm blaming the fact that his mind was blown because the "trucks" weren't out back.  They've been re-doing the alley behind our house all summer and are almost done.  They didn't come today at all though, so it leaves us wondering if we'll be using our driveway at all anytime soon.  Okay,back to pre-school.

I convinced him to ride, so he wouldn't be tired, and he got out at the front of the school to run in himself.  We couldn't be late, not to the first day!  We only live a 10-15 minute walk from the school so it's easier just to walk down the hill than trying to find parking.  And they LOVE to go out and walk anyway, so it works!

Not a tear was shed, off he went...

Ready to start his adventure.  I was surprised, it was mostly the boys that cried, but not my boy.  

 

Someone else though, was not to sure about this...not sure one little bit...

She was keeping a close eye on him and not letting him out of her sight as we listened to the teacher go over everything with us to prepare us for the year.

 

Even when SHE got the first kiss good-bye, she was still not sure...

(can I just say that the cute in this picture just KILLS me)

BUT it was time to go...

So one quick trip to the restroom with brother, and off Cate and I went...

even if she wasn't so happy about it.

we'll be back tomorrow with part 2 of this story!  

( I pinky swear promise)

Out-numbered.

I've been thinking of this post for awhile.  I mean it's obvious by just how many blog posts I've put up this summer that this post has been a while in a making.  I've started writing THIS post many times, just never happy with the wording, so I always scrap it and think on it some more.

I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression with this blog post, I just want to be real. 

When I had ONE child, I felt like  

SUPER MOM.  

Maggie was such a good baby.  So quick to learn, polite, adorable and just an all around amazing kid.  Don't get me wrong, she still is an AMAZING kid, but good grief, hormones at 7?  ACK.  She is SO strong willed that we already have to have the "I AM THE MOM, THAT'S WHY" arguments.  Don't judge me, I'm being honest here. 

I felt like I had this mom thing down, even though I was pretty sure a long time ago I wasn't going to have ANY kids.  Then I had her, and said "okay, you're it.  My one shot at this mom thing"  

I KNEW I could handle one.  But then...

 HE came along. 

And I thought.  Whew, thank goodness I got a boy.  I can REALLY be done now.  And still, I felt like a pretty good mom.  I had time for both of them, they adored each other, life was good.  We still had one on one coverage most days with Maggie being in school, and we had plenty of alone Mommy and Fionn time, while still making sure Maggie got the time she needed.

This boy though, was a bit more stubborn.  Not as quick to smile, making me earning them and then when I get them they are like little slices of heaven.  He still won't smile if there is lighting involved with portraits, and generally cries the entire time.  He won't eat, refuses to poop on the toilet (sorry tmi) and won't get out of my bed.  He DELIGHTS in thinking he's eating MY food, drinking my "mommy water" (from a jug i keep in the fridge bc I LOVE my water C.O.L.D.)

But STILL, I thought I was a good mom.  And then I had this weird dream one day.  It involved a girl baby and the name Catherine.  And then I had a yearning.  

And I got what I longed for.  

What Maggie wanted.  A little sister.  This beautiful little thing.  So precious.  So beautiful.

  Right?  

I mean just look at her.  How can one little girl completely change the dynamic of our entire family.  Because OH.MY.GOSH. she RULES our house(with an iron fist no less).  Not me.  

HER

I've never felt like I couldn't handle being a mom, never just tried to make it through the day.  Until this summer.  This summer I feel like the three of them are trying to kill me.  I just pray then never all gang up and it's me against them.  Right now I feel like it's all one on one battles, but I have never felt more like a failure.  Don't get me wrong, I know it will all pan out and things will be fine, but WOW.

Having three kids is just bananas. I feel like poor Maggie is getting the shaft.  She now has more chores than I want to talk about, and is expected to pull her own weight around here.  She's capable of showering on her own, making her own lunch(some days), taking the dogs out, helping water the plants and feeding the animals, so that's what's expected of her.  I know that responsibility is good for kiddos, but I still feel guilty that I can't just do it all alone.

 

I know I'm not the only mom that feels like this, and in the world of perfect family lives on our perfect family blogs, who wants to hear that another mom ISN'T perfect.  

Did you hear that WORLD??

I 

AM

NOT 

PERFECT.

our family is not perfect.  We yell, we cry.  I give time outs AND believe that kids need to be spanked.  Yep, I said SPANKED.  I was spanked, whooped even and guess what?  I LIVED.  

My children rule my house, and right now there are toys strewn across my living room, my side porch is covered in my latest craft and more toys.  BECAUSE, OH MY GOSH, the toys.  I mean really, how many toys can three kids need?  Apparently every toy in Toys R Us.  

I long for the days when they're all potty trained and I never have to touch a poopy butt again.  I long for the days they're all in school and I can actually breath for ten minutes in silence and not wonder why it's so quiet.  Did I mention the pee yet?  I hate pee.  Between poddy training Fionn and the new puppy I must clean carpets EVERY day.  EVERY day someone has an accident.  Including Maggie.  And she's taught the boy the best phrase ever.

"it was just a little accident mommy" he says quietly to me. 

Even when there is NO WAY it was an accident.  But still, he says it's so sweet, that there is no way I can punish him.  

I mean seriously...how can I stay mad at that?

So to summarize.  

They are crazy, I am crazy.  Our house is full of all kinds of crazy.  Crazy crying, crazy laughing, and just all around crazy. 

We are far from perfect, and there are days when I seriously feel like the crazy is taking over and I am LOSING MY MIND

but then they hug and kiss me goodnight and look like little angels (as they kick me in the face in the middle of the night)  and I forget what a horrible, no good, very bad day it was.

And then we start all over.  

Would I change being out-numbered?

Not for one second.

(and I will come back to re-read this post when I feel the crazy taking over)

Sum, sum, summertime...wahoo!

 

Don't you love how they help me water the front lawn?  The pool isn't open all day (quite) yet so we've had to come up with creative ways for them to all keep cool.  Cate is NOT a fan of the Sprinkler, and our baby pool is too small for Mag to do more than dip her toes in, but give them a couple squirt guns, turn the pool sprinkler on and VOILA.  Everyone is happy!  This was actually on Memorial Day, but I'll post more about our day later.

There she goes...

When did it happen?  When did my baby get so big.  She's in such a hurry to rush off to school this morning for her last FULL day of 2nd grade...weren't we JUST starting 2nd grade.  We were talking about the things that will be different next year this morning as I packed her lunch and she ate breakfast, and I almost broke down on her then.  She moves up to the middle grades lunch, she can start playing school sports, and 3rd grade curriculum.  YIKES.

SLOW DOWN PRINCESS

please.

  I am begging you.  my heart can't take it.

The only way you grew this year is UP and now you're almost as tall as I am.

All she's been talking about all week is that her birthday is coming...two months from now, when she goes BACK to school.  I warned her that she may not want to wish it here so fast, otherwise her summer will be over and done before it even begins.  

And two months.  It is not nearly long enough for all the fun I want to have with them.  Seriously.  

And the worst part about 3rd grade...

Fionn starts PRE-SCHOOL.  

seriously, the tissues...who has some for me?

May--where did you go?

Today is the 27th, can you believe it?  In just TWO days we'll have been in our house for a month and I've yet to write one little blog post about it!  What a month it's been!  We're still not done unpacking and I have a confession to make... 

I've only hung ONE picture on the wall.  Yeah, i'm not kidding.  Can you believe it.  This is OUR house, and I have barely put any of US into it.  Anyone else like that?  I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for where I want everything to go.  Our other house had more wall space I guess, lots of high ceilings so I'm not sure where I want everything to go really.  We had a great big open staircase at the other house, and here it's a smaller closed space so not really room to hang pictures going up.  I need to put my creative hat on and figure out where everything should go and honestly just have not had time yet.

We've been so busy that you've yet to see Maggie's 1st Communion, Fionn's birthday or even more pictures of just our house.  Can you believe THIS month has been my busiest yet with Frames of Infinity too?  I know.  This month, of all the months.  As a matter of fact I have another session tonight so I need to move this post along!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Those words were written once again, weeks ago. 

UGH.  I can't believe how fast time flies.  

We now officially have been in our house for over a month and still we have boxes to unpack and pictures to hang.  We've already had a pipe break and a home repair that needed IMMEDIATE attention.  Thank goodness we caught it quick and only have minimal damage.  A few things in the bathroom need replaced, but at least now we can put a little of US in our home.

We've had another big event.  Maggie's dance recital.  She did AMAZING.  Seriously, blew us away.

So here's the run down.

House.

1st Communion

Trip Home:

Birthday:

Memorial Day:

New Swing set:

 New Puppy:

Field Trip:

Dance Recital:

WHEW...that covers most of it!  Those are just a few of the posts that I promise I'll expand on before the month is out!  Trust me, each one deserves it's own post, not just a "hey, this is where we've been" fly through.

Birthday Princess

That's right, it happened!  Our baby girl turned ONE!  It was rough.  REALLY, REALLY Rough.  There's nothing like kissing your little girl goodnight knowing it was the last night she was going to be an "infant".  She seems to know something happened, because all of a sudden she's in a hurry to walk where she has cared less to this point.  She's also suddenly super bossy.  Sorry princess, but it's true.  You want what you want, and you want it NOW.  

We'll be working on that...

We are packing up the house this week, and moving THIS weekend, but I wanted to still get a birthday post up for our beautiful girl!!

Here are some of her 1st Birthday Pictures!  

and we'll be back soon to show you our new house!

Stream of Consciousness

I'm so SO sorry at my lack of posts this Spring.  It seems every time I sit down to write something up, I get pulled away from the computer!  I never make it back and honestly if I mashed everything I've already written together you'd get this post anyway. 

So here goes....

First off, it's only TWO weeks until our princess's FIRST birthday!!  YIKES, where did the year go??  It seems impossible that it was a year ago that we posted her first pictures, showing her off to the world!  She's NOT a baby anymore.  Almost ready to walk, drinking from a sippy cup now, telling the world just what she thinks of it.  She found her voice, and it's LOUD and shrill.  But we love her anyway!  Especially when she's sleeping like this:

It doesn't seem that the princess is going to get a party ON her birthday though...we're going to be slightly busy that weekend...prepping to move into our NEW HOUSE!  Yep, NEW HOUSE!!!! 

This was on our second visit to our new house, we've now been there a number of times.  Our closing date (so far) is the 29th OF THIS MONTH!  It has a backyard, and OFF STREET parking.  Sorry for the caps, but in Pittsburgh, THAT is big news!!  

and this...one of my favorite features:

or this:

yeah, it has a ROUND wooden front door with this awesome window!

We are in love with this house! Yes, if we wanted to go a little further out i'm sure we could have gotten a bigger, newer house with a larger yard...but that's not us.  We love being just minutes from downtown and all the bustle of the city.  But, we're still considered suburbs and the street we're moving to has lots of other families on it!  

Best part about it, it's 3 blocks away(but down the hill and around the bend) so the kiddos can still go to their school and we can now get a pool pass for them to swim with their friends in the summer!  It's amazing the difference that 1/2 mile makes!

so that's what's new with us...and we'll write more soon!!