A 5 year old's Christmas List

Hunter has told us he wants anything for Christmas. I asked him if there was something he really wanted. He told me a ddsi (Nintendo dsi), his own phone or a $100 bill taped to one of his presents. Hopefully he'll be happy with the things Santa actually does bring him cause I'm pretty sure it's not going to be any of those!

Exhaustion

Our kids have been sick and it's led to lots of nighttime wakings to administer medicine. Trevor & I are exhausted! Hunter was most recently sick with a fever & cold. He was starting to feel better so I hoped a restful night was ahead of me. I turned in at 11:30 p.m. At 12:15 a.m. I woke to find Hunter rubbing my arm. "I can't breathe through my nose." I got up, gave him some saline drops and hopped back in to bed. At 2 a.m. Trevor & I jolted up in bed when my alarm clock went off. What the heck??? I was so out of it and confused as to what was going on. I reached over & pushed any button I could to make it stop. At 2:10 a.m. the alarm clock blared again. Apparently I had pushed the snooze button. I fiddled with it in the dark for a minute to try & turn it all the way off so it didn't go off again in 10 minutes. i finally got up to retrieve my cell phone so I could have enough light to insure it was ALL the way off. After that, i was able to drift off back to sleep, but Trevor was wide awake and wasn't able to go back to sleep until a few hours later. At 3:38 a.m. I woke up needing to go to the bathroom. At 6:45 a.m. when my regular alarm went off, it was VERY difficult to drag myself out of bed. Even now, 3 hours later, the sleepiness has still not worn off like it normally does by now. I have longed for a dark, sound-proof room that locks from the inside to sleep in at night more than once during the course of my motherhood. What would it be like to close myself off in such a room and sleep uninterrupted for hours?? This morning, I confronted Hunter about my alarm clock incident since he was the most likely culprit. He denied it at first, then added, "well I did move the buttons on top." I informed him about it waking us up at 2 a.m. and how dad wasn't able to fall back asleep afterward. He said in a sad & bitter voice, "I'm the WORST son ever!!" Oh geez!! The alarm time has now been changed to 10:00 a.m. just in case he is tempted to play with it again. I'm not even sure why it was ever set to 2 a.m. but have a sneaking suspicion the kids are to blame, one kid in particular!

That Guy

Trevor & I were looking at his yearbook from junior year when Hunter walked in, pointed to a picture and said, "I like that guy." We thought he was pointing to Trevor's friend who was just a row above him and asked if he was pointing at the friend (who looks pretty much the same). He told us no and pointed again to Trevor's picture. We asked if he knew who it was. He said no. He was surprised when we told him it was his dad. Trevor looks so different now, we couldn't believe he picked him out of all the other students on the page. There was just something about "that guy" that Hunter liked!

Nature's Toilet

Since the weather has been so wonderful lately, we have found ourselves out doors more often. The nice thing about boys is when they need to go to the bathroom at places such as the park, all they need is a tree & they're covered. Adam has noticed his brothers doing this and has decided this is what trees are for. Each time we walk by a tree, he says, "Mommy, poo poos." I have indulged him a few times just to see what he does. The first time I opened his diaper at the park and he just stood there. The next time was in our front yard. I got him all ready and after he stood there for a minute I told him to go. He immediately starts making this sound with his mouth, "ssssssss." He might be ready for potty training.

Growing Up

Adam is learning new words almost every day. We have a new conversation we do multiple times a day.
Adam: Mommy?
Me: What Bubba?
Adam: Ah you?
Me: Right here.
Adam: Oh tay.
It warms my heart to hear his little voice. I was watching a family movie last night where Hunter was a newborn & Jacob was a chubby little 3 year old. It made me sad to think how fast it goes. I can't even imagine Adam as an older kid. I just want him to stay my sweet little baby always!!

All three asleep at the same time on our way home from Pinetop. It's a small miracle! One hour left..keeping my fingers crossed.

Glasses

Guess which one of them really needs glasses. Or which one of them I would allow to wear those frames!!

Really Tired

On our way home from family dinner, Hunter tells me he's 35 tired. Whoa we need to get that kid to bed stat!

School (Day 4)

Jacob is sprawled out on the kitchen floor after school.
"I am fatigued!" he proclaims.
"Did you just say 'fatigued'?" I ask him?
"Yes," he tells me. "It means really tired."
It laugh and assure him I know what 'fatigued' means. I am just surprised he does! Apparently school is doing its job!

School (Day 2)

Hunter woke me up at 6:03 a.m. this morning telling me it was time for school. I jumped out of bed then looked at the clock and realized he was up a bit early. I climbed back into bed, explaining my alarm would go off when it was time to get up for school. At 6:39 a.m. He came back in to wake me up for school. This time I checked the clock before moving. I explained that my alarm would go off in 5 minutes and that is when I would get out of bed. I also asked him to not ever wake me up for school unless the first number was a 7. Hunter came out and asked Trevor to tell him when 5 minutes was so he could make sure I was up. Needless to say, he is still excited about school.

Adam's New Toy

Adam uses my laundry baskets more than I do!

School (Day 1)

Jacob and Hunter were so excited to go to school today.  Hunter woke me up at 6:41 a.m. and said, "Remember, it's school today?"  He did go to bed at 6:37 p.m. last night so him waking up that early wasn't all about excitement.  Jacob started 2nd grade this year and Hunter went into Kindergarten.  I dropped them off this morning with Adam in tow.  They had a few minutes to play on the playground before the bell sent everyone running for their classrooms.  I hugged Hunter goodbye and got a little teary.  It is hard to let them go!  Especially since it is all day!  Thankfully, he ran right in and didn't seem at all nervous.  I saw Jacob to his class afterward and then Adam and I returned home for our peaceful day. 

I started with laundry, when I saw this:

My clean clothes dumped out of their basket on the laundry room floor.  The bad part about this is, there were dirty clothes on the floor too.  I had the unpleasant task of figuring out which belonged where. 

I found out what he needed the basket for:

He likes to keep his favorite things together.

Adam did well without his brothers.  I was worried he would be lonely.  Boy was I wrong! 

He made his way downstairs, turned on the light, and brought all of these trucks upstairs to play with, all on his own!  He played for hours.  It was a nice 1st day of school for us!

When I picked up the boys after school, Hunter came out of his room with a big smile on his face.  The teacher said they were all staring at her like deer in the headlights because they were so tired.  Hunter said he wasn't tired though.  Apparently a 6:37 p.m. bedtime works well for him.  We went to Jacob's room to wait for him.  When he came out, he complained that he wanted to go pick up Hunter.  Such a difference!  Both said they had a great 1st day of school. 

Now if only the excitement would last!

So True!!

This sums up what happens pretty much every time I get on the phone.

Adam has figured out a way to double his pleasure.

Squirrels

Since we have decided against pets at this stage of our lives, we have had a family of squirrels volunteer for the position. They moved in a few months ago and we have regular sightings. They have recently started venturing onto our porch area and we see them daily. Today I was watching it run up onto the porch. The minute it got to the shade it plopped down to rest. It laid there like he owned the place! Luckily we don't have a garden to be concerned about them destroying. We'll let them be our excuse as to why!

Dad's Hammer

Hunter just yelled to me from downstairs, "Mom I need Dad's hammer!" Apparently they were having some kind of "building test". I wonder if he actually expected me to just hand it over? That kid is always testing his limits!

Every now and then, Jacob takes a break from telling me I'm a mean mom and I'm ruining his life, to do something sweet like make me this card.  It's moments like these that remind me how lucky I am to be a mom!

Victory

Today felt victorious. I got the house fairly clean all at the same time (as opposed to one room looking nice and the rest trashed), I actually prepared and cooked dinner, the dinner mess actually got cleaned up on the same day it was made, the boys actually went to sleep downstairs together tonight (usually they play too much and Hunter gets sent upstairs), Adam went to sleep tonight for the first time without his bottle, I am finally at a weight I haven't for about six years. It was a very good day.

Quiet Game

We were driving home from family dinner. Trevor was talking to me and Hunter kept saying "Dad.....Dad.....Dad..". Trevor told him to wait for a minute because he was talking to me. When Trevor finished he said "OK Hunter. What did you want to ask me?". "Can we play the quiet game?".

Hunter: Dad

Generation Gap

Jacob: Mom can you turn a movie on for me?
Me: why can't you turn it on?
Jacob: I don't know how to.
Me: you don't know how to turn a movie on?
Jacob: I don't know how to do these kind. It's not a DVD. It's one of these square ones (VHS).

Things I Won't Miss When My Kids Grow Up

I love my kids and I know that someday I will look back and miss when they were rug rats. However, there are things I definitely won't miss when they grow up.
*Having to sweep the floor every single time they eat ANYTHING!
*Finding random objects on the floor all over the house.
*Having my shoes strewn all over the house. (Adam has a huge shoe fetish right now)
*Cleaning urine off of the toilet daily, including around the bottom of the toilet and on the floor. (I realize this may not correct itself when they get older)
*Wiping toothpaste off the bathroom counter daily.
*Re wrapping the toilet paper around the roll.
*Wiping up water from the water cooler.  Apparently it is a fun time to stand there and empty it.
*Washing sheets constantly from nighttime bed wetting accidents.
*Finding my camera in a toddler's yogurt covered hands.  I had to clean yogurt off my camera.  Then the next time I went to use it, the lens wouldn't open because it had been sealed shut by yogurt.  GRRR.
*(Trevor wanted to add this one) Finding jam on the inside of his slipper. 
*Cleaning up spilled milk during dinner.
*Having someone climb all over me (and spill or wipe their food all over me) during meals.
*Always having someone waiting outside the bathroom door for me to finish. 
Those are just a few things that come to mind. I'm sure there are a few more that I will remember tomorrow when I have to do them!!

Ma

Adam has grown quite fond of a little stuffed cat he calls 'Ma'. Every time I lay him in his bed he says 'Ma!' in his tiny but urgent voice. The hunt for Ma begins. It is usually in the last place I look and I even had to enlist Trevor's help last night. Of course he found it right away. Heaven help us on the night that we can't find Ma at bedtime.

Hunter's 5th Birthday

5 years ago at 12:41 a.m. on June 14th, Hunter came into this world!  It's hard to believe our 9 pound, 2 ounce bundle of joy is already 5 years old!

Hunter is now 3 feet 7.25 inches and weighs 46.5 pounds.  He just graduated from his harness car seat to a booster with a big seat belt.  He is still our BIG drama king.  We are still working on his inability to control his emotions.  He is still very sweet and thoughtful.  He always wants to make presents for people.  He loves to bring me flowers.  He loves to play with Jacob.  They are best friends and I'm so grateful they still enjoy playing together!

 

Hunter asks for these cheese balls every time we go to Walmart.  This kid LOVES snack food!

We had a family celebration before his party guests arrived and Trevor left for work.

Adam was very interested in helping Hunter open his presents, now that he knows what to do with them. 

Jacob was having a hard morning.  He got in trouble for blurting out what Hunter's present was before Hunter opened it.  It is very hard for him when it's someone else's turn to have the spotlight.

I love that Hunter's birthday is on Flag Day.  I tell him it's his birthday flag and it will be there every birthday for him!

We celebrated Hunter's birthday party at the movies.  We saw Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.  The kids were SO good!  They sat in their chairs and ate the plethora of candy and popcorn that was provided to them.  I didn't hear a peep out of a single kid, all 13 of them!  It was possibly the easiest party I have ever thrown for my kids. 

Here is the crazy group!  We all came back to our house for cake & ice cream afterward.  I was surprised the kids could even think about cake & ice cream after all that candy!  I'm sure we sent home a few tummy aches!

Another Lost Tooth, Another Forgetful Tooth Fairy

Jacob lost his other front tooth yesterday. It was already loose when he accidentally go kicked in the mouth while horsing around with cousins in the pool. When I saw him he had blood running down his face. It still wasn't loose enough to come out, but he worked on it and within a few hours he had removed it. He woke me up at 6:15 this morning to tell me the Tooth Fairy didn't come. Whoops! Either she is super forgetful or was just really busy last night!

Mom Abuse

It was a hard day for me as a mom. Actually the first half was wonderful. The kids played great together. Then the drama began. I made lunch for the boys..grilled cheese sandwiches. Hunter looked at it and declared he would not eat it. I told him I wasn't letting him eat anything else until he ate that sandwich. You have to understand something about Hunter...he is very picky and very stubborn when it comes to food. It is getting very old. After I told him he wouldn't eat anything else until the sandwich was gone, I realized that after he lets it sit out all day, it will be hard and gross and way more challenging to get him to eat. I decided to ground him to the table (seems like I'm always imposing some kind of grounding) until he ate his sandwich. He sat for about 30 minutes before the screaming and tears ensued. He asked me if he would be able to sleep in his bed when it was bedtime. I told him nonchalantly that if his sandwich was still there, he would have to lay on the chair to sleep. He screamed and cried. After the tears faded, he asked if he would get to go to his birthday party next Thursday. I told him he would miss it if his sandwich hadn't been eaten. More screaming and tears. Then he started saying really mean things about me like, "I don't like moms! They're mean! I don't want a mom! I only want a dad!!" I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry! I finally got sick of his screaming and told him he would be getting a spanking next time he screamed. After 4 spankings he was finally quiet. All of a sudden I saw him on the stairs (we were cleaning the basement). I told him he needed to be on his chair. He told me he was done with his sandwich. "You ate it all?" I asked him. He told me yes. I was skeptical, but went up to investigate. I was trying so hard not to smile when I came upstairs. Had I actually won after an hour of this nonsense? I inspected his plate (and the trash just in case) and found it was true. He ate it! "Did you like it?" I asked him. "Yes," he told me. "Next time I want it cut in little pieces like they did at Sam's Club." It always amazes me how Hunter can be screaming like a maniac one minute and then totally calm the next. Jacob also got mad at me tonight. He was talking back to me so I slapped him. "You are SO mean!" he told me. "I would rather be at SCHOOL!!" Sometimes it's really hard to be a mom!

More Pinetop Adventures

We ventured up to Pinetop over the holiday weekend.  I was a little disappointed to find out that we were missing probably the last cool days here at home before the scorching, 4-5 month long heatwave.  Thankfully, we had wonderful weather up north.  It was a treat to wear pants and jackets all weekend long!  Fortunately, I threw some in at the last minute.  I wasn't expecting it to be so chilly!

The kids were ALL sick during the weekend with coughs, colds and fevers.  Adam needed his nose wiped about every 2 minutes.  We didn't know if we would make it the entire weekend.  Trevor had to make a nighttime run to Walmart for some various medications so we could control their fevers, coughs and stuffy noses during the night so we could all get some sleep.  Adam was VERY restless during the night.  We had one good night where he actually slept the whole night thanks to some medicine and probably exhaustion.  It was very much needed for all of us.  The other 2 nights were not so great.  Trevor and I had some company tossing and turning in bed with us.  It was a fun trip and the boys LOVED being up there with their cousins, but we were very grateful to get home to our regular beds!! 

Library Books

My kids love to go to the library and pick out books. Hunter has been asking me to go lately, so when a friend invited us yesterday, we jumped at the opportunity. Every time we go, I struggle with getting Hunter to check out any fictional story books. He is just not interested, no matter how many I try to entice him with. He always gravitates toward the non-fiction books. Here is the a list of the books he chose:

The Fish Classes
Deserts
The Good, The Bad, The Slimy: The Secret Life of Microbes
Gone Forever: Stegosaurus
Classifying Fish
Woodpeckers, Toucans, and Their Kins
Komodo Dragons
From the Arctic to Antarctica
Curious George Colors Eggs (He only got this one because I pushed him to)

A few of the books he brought me that I didn't allow him to bring home with us us were, a book about Small Pox and a book about Evolution. It is SO hard to read stories to him! I can barely keep my eyes open. Much like when I was required to read these sort of books for school. My opinion how interesting they are has not changed over the years. He has also recently asked me to read the dictionary to him and Jacob's school yearbook. I'm not sure why he has such an interest in boring books but I hope that either his taste changes or he learns how to read to himself...soon!!!

Peas

Adam has figured out a new manipulation tactic. It's his new word.."Peas!" For example, when I am reading stories to him and announce that I am done he says, "Peas!" And it gets him another story..every time. Right now I am laying with him while he watches a movie at his request. He brought me a movie and when I said no, he said the magical word, "peas." So here we are. One day I will learn to say no to his "peas" and it won't be nearly as cute when he starts saying it correctly. But until then, he has me wrapped around his little finger.

Desperate Times...

Is it completely unheard of to ground your child from cereal? Maybe. That's just the sort of unheard of punishment you'll find here at our house when I am at my wit's end with one of my children. Specifically when Hunter is having a meltdown because I won't allow him to have cereal for lunch when he just had a bowl not even 2 hours ago for breakfast, that is the first threat that happened to spill out of my mouth. "If you mention cereal one more time..." What was his response? "CCEERRREEAAALLL!!!!!"
Did I regret it as soon as it was said? Of course. They eat cereal and only cereal every morning for breakfast. I knew that Hunter wouldn't suddenly become logical and avoid further mention of the subject. Self-control has never been one of Hunter's strengths (note he is still having meltdowns at age 5 in 3 weeks.) So the punishment had been dealt. This meant I had to figure out something else to feed my picky eater for the duration of the sentence..2 days. This morning when he asked for cereal, I reminded him of his restriction. He immediately crumpled into a heap of sobbing mess on the floor. I sent him to his bed. Trevor instinctively knew there would be trouble this morning when Hunter emerged from his room before 6 a.m. After some screaming, yelling and crying about cereal he finally calmed down. I went in to give him his breakfast options. He started to crack when I mentioned the first few but when I got to Pop-tart, he happily selected that and hopped off his bed. Was it the best breakfast choice? Definitely not. But what's a harried mom to do? She does whatever she can to survive all the challenges the kids throw at her multiple times daily. At least that's how this mom handles things! Someday my kids will do the same irrational things to their kids. And then I will giggle in a sinister way and know that justice has been served! Just kidding!

Yellow Belt

Jacob earned his yellow belt in karate today. We are so proud of his hard work and dedication. He LOVES karate. He begged to start attending lessons. His favorite cousin started the whole infatuation since he takes karate. I found a wonderful deal on classes for a month on a daily deal site so we decided to let him try it out, all the while, secretly hoping he would grow tired of it quickly as he had with t-ball. We weren't too excited to pay full price for future lessons. Well he wasn't interested in giving it up, so we decided to suck it up and let him continue. It has been really good for him and it is so exciting to watch him learn and improve. It is also enjoyable to watch him do something he absolutely loves.

Aunt Sabrina

Every time my sister, Sabrina, babysits my kids, Adam has a meltdown when its time to go home. When I pick him up to carry him out of her house, I feel like a kidnapper ripping a child away from his mother. He LOVES Sabrina. He even cries when she leaves our house to go home. He reaches out his arms for her while I am holding him when we say goodbye to her at the door. It's like he's saying, "Take me with you!" I assume it's because she lets him do whatever he wants. He doesn't enjoy being told no, which happens frequently when he is in my care. Trevor asked me, "Do you think Adam thinks Sabrina is his mom?" I'm not worried he thinks Sabrina is his mom, only that he wishes she was!

Handful

This little guy has been a huge handful lately. I am constantly finding him on top of tables & counters getting into things I thought were safely out of reach. I am also constantly cleaning up
after him from food he spits out onto the floor or his new favorite hobby, dipping wipes into the toilet and squeezing the water all over the floor. I feel like I'm running around in circles all day chasing this little Tasmanian devil. Yesterday he called 911. What are the chances that a 17 month old would dial 911 and push talk to make the call go through? Better than I assumed. While he was playing with it, it started ringing. I told him to bring it to me and he complied. The caller ID showed Mesa Government. I was surprised and answered. It was a 911 operator asking me if I had an emergency. I told her no and that my son had been playing with the phone. After she verified some info she let me go but not before informing me the police might still show up to make sure all was well. After about 10 minutes I assumed they weren't coming. Then Hunter came running out if his room yelling "A police officer is here!" (He was very excited.) I opened the door and greeted a Mesa police officer. I let him know that we were all safe and assured him I wouldn't let my baby play with the phone anymore. So if you live nearby and had an actual emergency on Friday afternoon, I apologize for monopolizing the system. I have noticed my kids get more and more difficult with each one. They also get louder. I didn't think any child could ever be as loud as Hunter. Boy was I wrong. I'm really wondering if I'll ever feel brave enough to allow #4 to make it here!

Monday

It's been a hard day for all of us so far. It started with me waking up 20 minutes late. Hunter came running in to tell me it was past 7. I flew out of bed and ran to get Jacob up. Apparently he had already been up for about a half hour thanks to his alarm clock. Unfortunately he had done nothing to get ready for school. I found him hanging out in his room still in his pajamas. I quickly helped him get dressed and upstairs to eat breakfast. We rushed out the door about 10 minutes later and surprisingly made it to school on time. (The crossing guard informed me there are only 9 days of school left. Hooray!) When I got home Adam was on a mess rampage. Within an hour, I cleaned up a bag of candy he spilled all over the floor, the slobber that dribbled out of his mouth while eating said candy, cereal & milk that spilled out of his bowl when he reached up and tipped it while it was on the counter, some dry cereal he spilled when he knocked the box over and some peanut butter on the counter that he got into sometime after I made Jacob's lunch. That was my morning in a nutshell. After things calmed down, I made some cookies. Hunter went to grab one straight out of the oven. I intercepted and warned him they were hot so don't touch. 2 minutes later he was screaming. I didn't realize a separate warning for the hot pan was required. He had some nice blisters as a result. I gave him an ice pack for his sore fingers. Later he came into the kitchen with a disgusted look on his face. He handed me the ice pack and mumbled something about it tasting yucky. Apparently he was trying to cool off his teeth for some reason and bit a hole in the ice pack. This is not the first time he has done this. I assumed that my almost 5 year old knew better by now. He ended up crying himself to sleep on the couch The rest of the day was calm until Jacob yelled from downstairs after taking his shower that water was coming out of the cupboards. The sub pump was overflowing. We had trouble with it a few weeks ago and it was acting up again. Trevor got it taken care of pretty easily, but we were all glad to see this crappy day end. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow!