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My Three Sons


2010
02.10

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Posted in children, family, isaac, jenn, joshua, the boys | 2 Comments »

I am sure over time there will be a million posts about my three boys. However, as I begin this journey of being a mother of three I can’t help  but share some of the things I’ve experienced so far.

 

First of all, when pregnant with a boy for the 3rd time, you are more likely to get condolences than congratulations. Men who would comment on my pregnancy, and then discover I was pregnant with another boy would inevitably say things like:

I’m one of three boys, my poor mother.

I’m one of four boys, my mom was a trooper.

I’m one of two boys, my mom is glad we are out of the house.

I’m one of several boys, my mom is trained in martial arts.

 

Okay so not really the last one but I imagine that karate would be a useful skill for me to acquire in the next few years. It would help with deflecting flying Buzz Lightyear toys and legos. If any of you are wondering what it is like to be a mother to so many boys, I can only say that I don’t really know yet. Eli is still at that androgynous baby stage (as evidenced by the MANY, “she is so cute” comments at Target and the mall). He isn’t really all boy yet, just a sweet, smiling little bug that eats poops and sleeps….hmmm, maybe he is all boy.

 

“Boydom” is in full swing with Joshua and Isaac though. They have taken to wrestling and fighting a good portion of the time they are together. Isaac is my pacifist, not really down with all of the physicality that Joshua exudes. Like a good dog would do, he takes several punches from the smaller pup before he growls. Joshie is ALL BOY. Often times after people have been around him for a period of time I get comments like:

Wow, he sure is full of energy!

That kid never stops!

Josh is a firecracker!

 

These things are all spanish for - holy sh%t, how do you do it?  The answer is, I have learned the fine art of “tuning him out.” Joshie talks nonstop and is always getting into something he shouldn’t. Often during the day I will hear the vaccum go on or the pump for the air mattress. He is obsessed with things that make noise. I know that if he is “vaccuming” he at least isn’t pestering Isaac. Unfortunately though, while Isaac may not be the first to throw a punch, he is incredibly loud. You take his booming voice plus Joshie’s daily vaccuming session and….The  level of noise in our house is maybe only rivaled by the cast of Jersey Shore but I am pretty sure there is just as much testosterone and fist bumping going on here.

 

As I settle in with my three sons I can offer the following observation - I am sure that my life over the next few years will in some ways resemble Lord of the Flies. You know, a bunch of boys on an island (our house) trying to kill their leader (me and Kevin). So glad I was forced to read that book and understand the boy mentality. Anyone know where I can get a conch shell?

 

isaac

mom-and-joshie

eli2

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Making Room


2009
09.15

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Posted in children, family, pregnancy, the boys | 2 Comments »

 When our first son was born, I was worried how the two rowdy beagles we had at the time would adjust. I actually spent real emotional energy thinking about this in the months before I delivered. I did research on introducing the baby to the dogs and I spent more minutes than I would like to admit thinking about how I could possibly have room in my heart for both the baby and the dogs. The dogs went on vacation with us, they slept with us, we had framed pictures of them around the house and on our computer screensavers. When other people told stories about what cute things their kids did, I threw in anecdotes about my beagles. Yes, I was that person. Needless to say, about 10 seconds in to holding Isaac for the first time, those dogs moved to a different corner of my heart. I still loved them but it wasn’t the same.

The night before our second son was born, I went in to his sweetly prepared nursery and cried my eyes out. I couldn’t imagine how I could love a baby as much as or more than I loved our firstborn. I couldn’t fathom how my heart would have room for this next child. I spent an incredible amount of my pregnancy with Joshua researching the addition of a sibling to the family dynamic. I read stories to Isaac in preparation for Joshua’s homecoming. I thought I was prepared, until the night before when it hit me that everything was about to change. I just broke down. Memories of my introduction to motherhood and how it felt to hold my first baby were flooding into my brain. How could a second child compare? How could I feel as attached to this baby as I did to the precious child sleeping in the next room over that taught me how to be a mother?

The very next evening, as Joshua came into this world and my heart did not split in half but instead grew exponentially, I understood.  When Isaac came to the hospital to meet his brother, he immediately began referring to him as “my Joshie.” Nothing could have been sweeter.

Here I am, 8 weeks or so from adding a third son to our family. You would think by now I would understand that worrying about how it is all going to work out is for not. Yet, that is just what I am doing. Once again, I cannot wrap my brain around having enough love for another child. I can’t picture him yet or feel his chubby hand in mine. I can’t see a clear picture of what it will be like to have three sons and love them all so intensely.  However, I know that it is going to happen. Sometime in the very near future, my heart will once again grow exponentially and make room for Elijah Harris. I am sure I will sit in that hospital room, staring into his eyes and wondering how our family would ever have been complete without him.

 

PS - read something today about having children that just blew me away, once again Amber nailed it. Go see for yourself.

 

 

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Nemo


2009
09.02

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Posted in family, isaac, joshua, the boys | 1 Comment »

Well the first day of school was exactly 3 weeks ago but I am finally getting around to posting about it. Isaac loves kindergarten so far, his BFF from pre-school is at the same school so he is a happy camper. Logan, is her name by the way, she is a spunky and adorable little 5 year old girl that can climb a tree as good as any boy I know. Isaac informed me recently that he was going to marry her. Upon inquiring why he felt she was “the one” he said: “Because she is funny, she can run really fast and she has cute headbands.” Perfect reasoning - don’t you think?

 

Anyway, here is the little man out front of his school on the first day:

isaac-kindergarten

 

 

 
Here he is posing at home before we left…couldn’t resist his like model-like pose:

isaac-first-day

 

 

Finally, as usual, Joshie needed in on the action:

joshie-isaac-first-day

Overall, the transition to “real school” has been great and once again, my fears and worries about transitions and schedules and such, were for not. I don’t know why I work myself into a frenzy over change because it usually ends up being less of a momentous thing than I imagined. Isaac loves being at school, Joshie loves having the run of the pre-school without a big brother to cramp his style. Life is good. Now let’s add another….

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Sounds of my day


2009
08.27

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Posted in children, family, isaac, joshua, the boys | 3 Comments »

On any given day, my life is filled with the following “noises”

  • Joshua, upon waking, singing “little rabbit in the woods” and taking much time to emphasize the part about the hunter shooting him dead, ending with a lovely staccato note on “abide”
  •  Isaac telling me that something isn’t safe
  • Isaac telling Joshua that something isn’t safe
  • Joshua telling Isaac that he is “weally, weally angwy wiff him”
  • Joshua asking if he can “cozy me”
  • Isaac telling me a joke, like this morning’s - “Hey Mom, what do you call two spiders who just got married?” …”Newly Webs! Ha ha ha, isn’t that so funny because it sounds like…..Hey Mom, what’s it sound like?”
  • The phone ringing with yet another collection agent for Maria-something or other- who used to have this phone number before me. Poor Maria must be in a heap of debt.
  • The theme song to Wow Wow Wubbzy…Wubbzy Wubbzy Wow Wow! Dear Jesus.
  • The sounds of two little boys laughing hysterically at something in their bunk beds while they are supposed to be sleeping. Whatever it is, it is so funny that Joshua is wheezing. Maybe the spider joke again?
  • The sound of silence as my little men have finally given in to sleep and are now sprawled like chubby starfish, arms above their heads, dreaming of their days.

The sounds of motherhood are unique in each house, yet all the same somehow.

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My boys


2009
08.06

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Posted in family, isaac, joshua, kevin, pregnancy, the boys | 1 Comment »

Only 14 or so weeks left until there are three of them…watch out world!

my-boys

These two have become so close lately. As Joshie gets older it is easier for Isaac to play with him. There are moments where they come to blows as boys are known to do. But the glorious moments of them chasing each other around the house laughing and screaming in pure joy make up for the physical scuffles. When they laugh together, my heart is so filled with joy it could burst into a million little mommy pieces.

joshie-baby

Every once in a while I get a picture of Joshua that accurately captures the gleam in his eye. Whatever this little boy is destined for in life, he’s going to do with gusto.

 

me

The last picture was taken a  month ago as Kevin and I were getting ready to leave for our anniversary dinner. It was a glorious evening, thanks to the babysitting prowess of one Auntie Kenna. Kevin surprised me a with a new coach purse and a beautiful dinner at Pacific’s Edge in Carmel Highlands. The meal was ridiculously expensive but completely worth it for our 10 year anniversary.

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14 week self portrait


2009
05.18

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Posted in family, isaac, joshua, pregnancy, the boys | 7 Comments »

As you can see, the kids wanted to be a part of this week’s photo session. What am I going to do when there are three of them?

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My boys


2009
05.12

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Posted in children, the boys | 1 Comment »

Tired, I climb into bed. Immediately I notice two things: crumbs and a sharp object. Upon further inspection, I discover the crumbs are of the “pop tart” nature and the sharp object? Yeah, it is a 2 foot long batman sword. Hmmmm, whose been sleeping in my bed?

 

 

Hard to tell which one is the culprit but my guess is, the one with the sly grin:

 

josh-and-isaac-bath

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Christmas cookies, babies in space and the nativity scene.


2008
12.22

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Posted in family, isaac, jenn, joshua, kevin, the boys | 3 Comments »

This weekend I made 100 sugar cookies. I am broken and tired but they are finished. Every year I make the same cookies and every year I swear I won’t do it again because they are so much work. However, sometime around the 20th of December I find myself knee deep in flour and sugar and home made icing.

The recipe I use is from Mrs. Fields cookie cook book, and it is very simple. I just quadruple the ingredients and then add some powdered sugar frosting. This year I used powdered sugar to roll the dough out, which was a GREAT new trick because the dough doesn’t get hard with added flour and the cookies are a little sweeter! Below is what they look like before frosting:

 

 

And here is the final product:

I bought Christmas themed Chinese food boxes and put about 6-8 cookies in each box and attached a bow. I then delivered my little goodies to my fellow employees. Yeah me!

 

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the boys Christmas pageant, whereby about 35 toddlers re-enact the nativity scene, complete with a fake baby Jesus. It was more hilarious than words can describe but the pictures will give you some idea of the fun had by all.

 

On the way to school the morning of the pageant, as Isaac was preparing for his role as one of the 3 Kings, he was more pensive than usual. I could tell he was really thinking about something so I asked him what was going on in his little noggin that had him so serious. He said he was thinking about babies. It took me a while but I realized that the whole nativity scene thing had him rather focused on baby Jesus, thus he was “thinking about babies.”

The following conversation ensued:

Me: What babies are you thinking about?
Isaac: I was thinking about where babies come from.
Me:Hmmm. (in my head, HOLY CRAP COME UP WITH SOMETHING CLEVER NOW!!!)
Isaac: Where do Mommies come from?
Me: Girls become mommies when they have babies.
Isaac: But how do they get the babies?
Me: They are in their bellies and then they come out.
Isaac: Oh I know what happens!
Me: (oh crap, here we go)
Isaac: The babies are in space and God catches them up and then throws them to earth and into the mommies bellies. Yeah! That’s it, that is how it happens.
Me: Wow Isaac, you are so smart because that is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS!

 

Clearly this kid is going to outwit me very soon…actually who am I kidding? I think he is smarter than me now. I’ve decided he should have been delivered with an instruction manual and education requirements. His brother however, just needed a helmet and some boxing gloves.

 

 

 

 

2 comments

Tree Time


2008
12.09

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Posted in Random thoughts, events, family, isaac, jenn, joshua, kevin, the boys | 2 Comments »

Well, as my last post indicated, we got our tree last night. It wasn’t without a bit of stress and the usual family calamity that I’ve grown so accustomed to. You see, when we moved last June, a good portion of our stuff went in to storage. Well the Christmas stuff, the stuff I spent years collecting and hundreds of dollars amassing, is at the very back of the storage unit. Basically it is unreachable.

 

So, I had to head to Target to pick up a few decorations and some lights so that we may have some semblance of Christmas this year. By the time I got to Target and saw all of the people, I was much more “Bah Humbug” than I was “Jingle Bells!” In fact, I really just wanted to cancel Christmas this year.

 

Luckily, by the time we got to the tree lot, my mood had changed and we managed to have some fun. Isaac was so excited to pick a tree and Joshua was just excited to be on an adventure so their collective merriment made up for my utter lack of holiday cheer. We managed to snap a few cute pictures of the event for your viewing.

 

In the end, the tree was decorated, the lights were hung and Mariah Carey’s Christmas album was ringing throughout the halls. Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

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So I don’t forget - Joshie


2008
11.03

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Posted in Random thoughts, childhood, joshua, lists, the boys | 1 Comment »

Kids grow up fast. Too fast. In the middle of a sleepless night with a crying baby, it is easy to think that the phase will never pass. However, in truth, it is just a moment in time that your children are young. I did a list like the one below with Isaac at the about the same age and I recently re-read it. I almost can’t remember Isaac at that age, which makes me feel very melancholy. These are precious times and I don’t want to forget any of it. Joshua has been growing and changing at an alarming speed lately. He has taken up talking on a full time basis and his wild personality is center stage in our house. He fits so perfectly into our lives, I just can’t remember what it was like without him.

 

 Dearest Joshua,

 

 

  • You love to put on and take off your shoes. You constantly grab a pair of shoes and run to my lap, sit down and say “shoes”.

 

  • Your affinity for your brother is hilarious. He is the first person you ask for the in morning and the last person you play with at night. When he is sleeping and you are not, we literally have to barricade the door so you don’t wake him up.

 

  • You are happiest when we are on an adventure. You will be in the midst of throwing a fit and all I have to do is say “Do you want to go bye-bye?” and you instantly stop crying and head for the door.

 

  • You have recently taken to growling. Not sure what it is all about but maybe Halloween is the culprit. You will growl at Isaac, then start laughing and chase him down the hall. Your ability to take down a 41 pound 4 year old is shocking. You are quite the scrapper.

 

  • You call food “num nums.” I am not sure where you got this but now everyone in the house says “I want num nums” when they are hungry.

 

  • When you are really tired, you try to put yourself to bed. You start in the kitchen, somehow lugging out the milk and trying to put it in your bottle. You then say, “night night Mommy!”

 

  • You love the water. When we head to the beach you instantly start yelling “Wa wa wa wa!” You will hurl yourself face first into any body of water – which worries me sick. I am hoping you will take up swimming soon, for your own safety.

 

  • You have an affinity for fruit that is unparalleled. You call strawberries, “strawbabies” and it makes me laugh every time. One time I seriously thought you had overdosed on bananas.  You didn’t poop for a week.

 

I love you so much Joshua, I can’t wait to see the man you will become but in the meantime, I love the little boy that you are.

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