Who's that girl?

If Eve didn't look sooo much like me, I'd swear she wasn't mine.  She would paint herself pink, if given the opportunity.  Ideally, all of her food would also be dyed pink.  She ooohs and ahhhs over all things princessy and girly.  Tonight, after I'd pieced only three rows of the quilt I'm making for her together (which has waaaaay too much pink in it for my taste, but I'm sure she'd be happy if it were all just 50 different shades of pink), she exclaimed "Oh my gosh, I never seed anything wike that before.  It's wike so bootiful."  She then declared that it was finished and ran off to her room with it.  After I explained that it needed 15 more rows, batting, backing, about 2 hours worth of machine quilting it, and binding for it to be finished, she reluctantly relinquished it.  I don't know how our DNA meshed to form this girly girl who is so polar opposite of us, but I know I love this girly girl to death.  God definitely has a strong sense of humor.   I mean, just look at this outfit she put on today.

Here's just a few things that have come out of her mouth over the last few days.

"Hey mom, I'll brush my teeth in jus a minute.  I need to color dis picture jus right.  I'm gonna need you to leave me alone till I'm finished.  Okay?  Okay."

I heard her saying "Hey...hey you" over and over, so I said "Hey."  She said, "Mom, I was talkin to me and I was fixin to answer myself.  Just leave me alone." (Are you seeing the independence theme?)

"Cade, weave me alone or I'm gonna spank your booty butt, and I'm not even kiddin."

"If Trek doesn't stop whinin, he's not eber going to get his paciwer back.  He's just gonna have to cry, and I don't care.  He's drivin me crazy." (Oh, I forgot to mention she can be mean as a snake.  Seriously.  Sometimes, she scares even me.)

I WILL get to a post all about Trek.  Eventually.

The boy that cried poop

Does everyone's kid magically have to poop as soon as their body hits their bed at night?  It's like there's a "poop" button on their back.  I'm convinced there's either a button OR they have receptors in their brain that can sense my relief that they are about to be asleep, and their receptor says "Oh no sista...you ain't winning this battle that easy."  The older two each shoot for a minimum of 2 trips to the bathroom after lights are out.  Goodness.

Speaking of poop.  This is the little one's "poopy" face.  Actually, this is the "I'm pooping in my diaper you put on less than 30 seconds ago" face.  They're cute for a reason.  Oh, and this is Trek's unofficial debut to the blog.  I'll give him his own post soon.  Promise.

Enough poop talk.  It's RAINING.  Finally.  I've waited all day for this.  My body has been ready to switch into thunderstorm nap mode at any moment.  It was almost like waiting for contractions to start all over again.

This post was short...and pretty pointless, but I figured maybe someone would find comfort in the fact that they aren't the only one making half a dozen potty trips with their kid every night.  I'm about to go and cut some quilt squares and enjoy the glorious sounds of this thunderstorm.

lessons learned by a mother of 3 chirrens 4 and under

Yeah, I'm not even gonna try to play catch up.  I may back track later and put up a birth post.  Maybe.

I'd pretty much decided to let the blog go entirely, but I had a change of heart this week.  As I was reading a super transparent and entertaining post written by a mom, I realized how much I missed writing my own.  Not that mine are particularly transparent or entertaining, but they are definitely therapeutic.  I need this outlet.  So I'm gonna keep on keepin' on with the ole blog...even if it's extremely sporadic.

Now, for the actual topic of this post.  These are a few lessons I've learned over the last couple of months as a mom of 3 kiddos ages 4 and under.  Deep stuff.

Number 1.  You can't condition your hair with shampoo.  Now, I already knew this, but somehow that didn't keep me from trying.  A while back, I scored lots of Pantene for $1 each at Kroger.  I thought I recalled every bottle being conditioner.  So, one morning after I'd already washed my hair in the shower...only to reach for an empty conditioner bottle, I made a mad dash to my stash closet and grabbed one of those bottles.  I noticed that the liquid was a little on the thin side, but I figured it was just a special concoction for "curly, thinning, blonde hair" or some mess like that.  You know how they act like each formula is so revolutionary and specific.  I believe this was in the first week after coming home from the hospital, and I was obscenely tired.  I used my "special" conditioner for over a week.  One morning, I finally looked at the bottle and realized why my hair had been a frizz ball for so long.  Granted, I hadn't really tried to do much with my hair, but I had definitely noticed it felt a little gross.  I just blamed it on the hormones...along with everything else : )

Number 2.  A third baby can still be a baby of lots of "firsts".  Baby Trek has definitely kept me on my toes.  He's the first birthed sans epidural.  He's my first 10 pounder.  He's my first evening crier.  I honestly believe he poops twice as much as the other two ever did.  I had no idea a two-month-old could "projectile poo".  Seriously...shot it a good three feet.  Gross.  I know.  I also think he smiles more.  He knows the crying business gets OLD, so he compensates by grinning all day.  Sometimes, the kid can't even nurse for grinning.  It's cute and aggravating all at once.  Mostly cute, though.

Number 3.  I have the ability to watch the same episode of Chopped 5 times without it getting old.  Did you know that some nights/mornings Chopped is on until 3 a.m.?  Well, it is.  Glorious hours and hours of re-runs...Ahhh.  I liked the show before Trek came along, but now that I spend a third of my day and night nursing, I'm really thankful for the frequent marathon runs.  Thanks to Chopped, I feel pretty confident that I could make a meal out of black licorice, sea urchin, bread in a can, and miso paste that would make you swoon.  I don't know very many people who can say that.

Number 4.  I CAN function on 4 hours of sleep.  Hey, I didn't say I could do it WELL, but I can get the job done.  Some days, that just has to be enough.

Number 5.  I have a less patience than I like and more love than I realized.  Some days, these chirrens do me in...by 8 a.m.  It can be ug-lay.  Patience has always been on my "to work on list".  It recently shot up to the top.  I have to pray continually for patience...and grace.  Not only to give the grace, but to rest in His.  Otherwise, the day stinks.  Also, I did what lots of parents do with the birth of a new child.  I doubted my ability to love them all equally.  For real, I was skeered.  I already knew I wouldn't love them all the same.  They're not the same little people.  But now I know why they are soooo different.  It  gives me lots of different reasons to love them differently.  I know kids often doubt whether or not they are loved as much as their siblings.  There have been plenty of times in my life when I doubted as much.  Now I see how many different ways kids need to be "loved".  Allowing independence, snuggling, singing, not screaming every time a Lego pierces my foot, putting pink food coloring in the biscuit dough, wearing a baby in a sling....all different "love" needs that make my kids who they are.  And I love it.

Number 6.  Tervis Tumblers are lifesavers.  I no longer drink out of a normal mug. I was recently without mine for over a week.  I was lost without it. Finishing a cup of coffee in a timely manner just ain't happening these days.  That Tervis keeps it drinkable for HOURS.  It's truly an amazing thing.  It may be my go-to baby shower gift from now on.

Well, that's it for now.  Trek is hungry and my other two are making a fort out of my mountain of clean clothes....on the dirty den floor.  Gross.