Haircuts and chocolate

This morning the girls were playing in their room with the door closed. This isn't unusual these days, but it doesn't mean they're just sitting on their beds reading books. (Although actually it did the other day when they were pretending to "nap.") Still, it was so nice to have a little peace and quiet that I tried not to wonder what was going on in there.

Anna Kimball eventually wandered into the living room and said something about how she didn't want a haircut. To which I said, "No, honey, that's ok. You don't need a haircut." Didn't think much of it until I went to check on Emery a few minutes later ...

She was in a corner, kneeled over with her head on the ground, silent. And then I saw the scissors. And the hair. And the deeply ashamed look on her face.

Funny thing is she sort of gave herself bangs and it doesn't look terrible. But I do believe she feels pretty terrible because every time I have mentioned it today the ashamed look comes back on her face and she quickly murmurs "Sorry."

Emery tends to be a model firstborn who plays by the rules and I kind of didn't think we'd go through this rite of passage. On the other hand, she has been begging me for a haircut the past few weeks. I guess she got tired of waiting. :) So we're getting a proper one tomorrow.

Tonight I told Matt that for much of the day I feel like crying and stuffing my face with chocolate. Just so he knows. And he does. It's that hard here in this house with three kids under 5, including one boy who shall remain nameless but is a terrible napper and frequently cannot tolerate it when I leave the room or when he is plopped on the kitchen floor over and over and over again. We are at that stage with him that we just have to keep handing him plastic to play with, any kind of plastic, anything that seems safe and interesting. And so the house is an utter disaster between all of his gizmos that don't really entertain him that much and all of the imagination explosions the girls concoct, which I love love love but dread dread dread supervising the clean up process for.

For the record, though, I did not cry today. And I kept the chocolate intake to one salted dark chocolate caramel and a small handful of chocolate chips. If that's not victory than what is?

Lately

"Water doesn't taste like anything. I'm tired of water," said Emery at dinner the other night.

What she isn't tired of is jumping. The girl is a crazy jumping bean these days. Every time I turn around she's jumping up and down as if I just announced we were going to live at the ice cream store. It took her a long long long time to learn how to jump, so I guess she is just making up for lost time.

Halloween came and went and naturally there were a fair amount of emotional displays from Anna Kimball regarding "more candies!" In fact, I even caught her licking away on a second lollipop after I told her she could only have one. Par for the course, I know, but seeing as how Emery is a first-born rule follower to the letter, I simply have no template for this kind of misdemeanor ... other than to throw that lollipop in the garbage and keep my eye on this one a little closer now. Oh and try not to start worrying about teenage rebellion yet.

I'm thankful the girls aren't really aware that many moms buy or make expensive and/or elaborate costumes for Halloween. That is just not my scene, at least right now. We were able to keep it simple with a borrowed Raggedy Ann suit for Anna Kimball and a few random items from the dress-up bin for Emery.

For Jamison, well, he got about four minutes in the spotlight. His average bedtime is 5:15 so he had already begun his night by the time the festivities started. I did manage to get him into our signature baby giraffe costume for a few minutes so that he could snag a little candy from our dear neighbor.

One big pumpkin ... one little boy!

At dinner tonight Emery prayed and the end of her prayer went something like this, "And I don't want to do anything. I just want to wash dishes and help Mommy in the kitchen when she is cooking. Amen."

Well, Emery, lots of times I don't want to do anything either. If you can manage to feed this family of five and keep the kitchen spic-and-span, have at it!

Sweet mornings

*I wrote this post a week ago. This morning was not quite so sweet. Jamison began his day at 4:55 and went down for his morning nap at 7:12. Fluke thing, right???

For some reason I feel compelled to document how our mornings go these days. Perhaps it's just to capture, in words, the sweetness of this season, a sweetness that is so easy to miss in the constant stream of meal making, nap-taking, nap-failing, diaper changing, potty-failing, car seat buckling, car seat unbuckling, tantruming, laughing, crying, whining, cheering, etc. etc. etc.

I've always been a morning person. I love a fresh start. Right now my mornings often begin earlier than I would prefer, but it's still my favorite time of the day with the children. These days, Jamison is first to rise and sadly, even as recently as the past few days, he has decided that 5:47 suits him just fine. The good news is that I can whisk him to my bed and nurse him back to a bit of a slumber giving my brain and body a chance to accept the reality that the day has begun. Before long, he fully awakes with the widest grin you've ever seen. All of his little toys are suddenly new again and he's perfectly content to lay around on the bed with me and fiddle with them while I attempt to have some semblance of "quiet time" with the Lord. 

Around 6:45 we hear Matt resurface from the basement, where he gets ready for the day. (His man cave is a whole other blog post :) ) He begins fixing his breakfast and I transition Jamison to the kitchen for his morning exercise in the Johnny Jumper. 

The coffee gets started, dishwasher unloading begins and chattering from the girls' bedroom usually can be heard. Praise. the. Lord. they are so obedient to their "OK to Wake!" clock and generally don't show their faces until 7:09 when the "clock turns" as they put it. 

Then at 7:10 on the dot they march out of their room, Emery always in the lead, and always bearing some kind of complaint about her finger, elbow, knee or some other very minor but very important ailment. Anna Kimball is all smiles, gleefully announcing that she has a "bouncy diaper." 

(Their animal lovies are under their shirts because they are babies of course)

So it's back to their bedroom we go and Jamison comes with us. There he will sit while Emery takes approximately 47 minutes to change into her panties. I have no idea why she is so leisurely about this. I am ever so glad he finds this entertaining. 

It's not long before Anna Kimball declares, "I hungry," and it's back to the kitchen to thaw whatever breakfast goodies are in the freezer, or fry up "an egg like Daddy's," or a smoothie to sneak in whatever nutrients I can get away with serving her ...

I could go on and on but you get the picture. It's all very ordinary, even mundane ... but there's something to savor in the routine, in the sweet morning spirits of these three children who really won't be so little and endearing in these small ways for very much longer. 

I could clean a bathroom

Or make these cookies. Both take about six minutes. So really I guess I could do both because I can definitely find 12 minutes in my schedule for these kinds of necessities.

These are not overly sweet so I think of them more as snacking cookies, which means I can eat them anytime I want and also feed them to the kids, guilt-free. Win-win!

Mash up two very ripe bananas and combine with 1.5 cups of quick oats, 1/3 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Into a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. (I suppose that's when I should be cleaning not one, but two bathrooms!)

Working on manners and bottles

This is how every single sentence Anna Kimball utters these days sounds:

"I wove your kitchen ... Mommy,"

"Daddy has a truck ... Mommy."

"Henny has a pool and I can go there ... Mommy."

"Emery has her sandals on ... Mommy!"

In case I forget who I am, to her and two others, she is faithfully there to remind me. Anna Kimball also is bordering on developing another habit that isn't quite as cute, one her sister developed at exactly the same age. The one where she interrupts me whenever I am talking to another adult and insists that I  "Stop talking Mommy!" so that she can get her very important question posed, statement uttered, or what-have-you.

So we are working on manners these days and I am seriously considering strapping my four-year-old in a high chair any minute now for I am beginning to lose track of how many times in meal she slips out of her seat, ambling on toward more interesting pursuits than finishing her half-eaten meal.

We/I also working on not getting too freaked out by Jamison's recent refusal of the bottle. Just a stage, right? He's so darn cute otherwise, but I tell you, I didn't even want to make eye contact with him yesterday after he refused two bottles in a day. I heard him laughing in his crib and all I could think was "the nerve! to laugh!" But then of course I went in there and saw him kicking his left leg like crazy and doing this new adorable thing where he sucks in his lower lip under his upper lip and somehow I forget the dreadfulness of his bottle boycott.

Yes, Anna Kimball is sitting in Emery's lap - Emery wants to mother everyone right now :).

Moments before he tried to fly out of the Bumbo. Definitely not a reliable holding spot but it'll do for about 10 seconds. 

This was taken on a walk to the neighborhood playground early the other morning. The girls were so excited and kept exclaiming "we're having so much FUN!" Guess we haven't been frequenting the playground recently ... I loved their enthusiasm over it all because really, playgrounds get old pretty fast ... but not on that magical morning. That also happened to be the day a wet bed woke them both up at 5am, Anna Kimball put herself down for nap at 11am and we sure needed a little magic to see us through a day that literally would not end.

Catching up

Seeing as how I haven't blogged in more than a month, playing catch up doesn't seem too realistic. Summer seems to be zooming away, but I think that's how it always feels right after the 4th. Then we hit the dog days of August and you realize how long it really has been since it's felt comfortable outside at 3pm.

We just spent a fantastic week in Michigan with Matt's family. When we returned, Jamison literally changed overnight into a four-month old who doesn't nap as frequently or as long, isn't content to just sit and stare at his sisters from his bouncy seat for his awake periods and generally is making me rethink how on earth I'm ever going to get anything done with three children at my heels day in and day out. My conclusion is this - for the next year or so, I probably won't get more than the bare essentials accomplished. I like this conclusion only because it's going to make me feel oh-so-good about myself when I do manage to find the time to organize a closet, make that trip to Goodwill, clean out the avalanche that is our freezer right now, etc.

Emery and Anna Kimball are now roommates and continue to adore their little brother. Often their affection is a bit too aggressive, but their intentions are good of course. Jamison continues to dazzle us with his grins and has taken to laughing in the past week or so. I'm not laughing about the fact that his sleeping through the night skills seem to be regressing, but I suppose that's par for the course.

Now for some pics:

There's that grin!

Grammie surprised and delighted Emery and Anna Kimball with matching bathing suits and super silly headbands for the 4th. I love that she insisted on them wearing the headbands one morning when Matt took them to the bakery in town ... and that despite his eye roll, he went along with the plan.

Jamison seems much happier on his tummy than his sisters - perhaps an indicator of stronger gross motor skills? We can only hope.

There's that grin again!

We went to the Detroit Zoo one day and were particularly mesmerized by the polar bears, though the primary reason for our visit was to show Emery a real live giraffe. As soon as she laid eyes on her spotted four-legged friend she announced that she was "all done." Kind of reminds me of how I made the same announcement after my first, and last, ballet recital. Like mother, like daughter.

Yes, I am frequently asked if the girls are twins. Love that they can share clothes!

Anna Kimball is definitely becoming a daddy's girl, which melts my heart a little. And is a little relieving. It's a lot of pressure being your children's be all end all. So glad Matt can join the party :)

The girls spent so much time playing in the sand that we didn't even make it onto the boats until the second to last day of our stay. That didn't stop Anna Kimball from jumping behind the wheel before you could say "Want to help Grandpa drive the boat?"

The best family photo we got all week - I actually do like how it's a little bit posed, a little bit candid. These are happy, tiring, trying, rich times. Here's to the rest of summer being gentle on us all and us on each other.

Lately

Just some snapshots of what we've been up to lately, starting with Emery's preschool end-of-year performance, during which she sang not a word, but did grin like the Cheshire Cat the entire time. In between songs she felt it very important that the girl standing next to her, and everyone else, know that "Anna Kimball's peeking at me!!"

We also had Jamison's two-month checkup and from the looks of Emery's face you would have thought she was attending his funeral. She dislikes going to the doctor that much. I recently had the idea to buy her and Anna Kimball a pretend doctor's kit so that she might get a little more comfortable with the unavoidable reality of doctor's visits ... so far she is quite content to be "Dr. Emery" but certainly not the patient.

We've been breaking out the sundresses, actually for quite a while since it's been warm here all May. Pardon Anna Kimball's exposure.

I'm slowly getting back into shape while also trying to avoid joining the gym again. I have a free trainer who actually lives with us and has invested more than a birthday checks in our garage gym, so I'm giving that a go. Fortunately the kids enjoy watching the spectacle of me attempting multiple pushups at a time, so here's hoping the novelty of it doesn't wear off too soon.

As for Jamison, well, he's doing a great job of rolling with our routine and actually is sleeping better out of the house than in the house these days. Such is the life of a third child I guess.

He loves to be sung to, is in the 75th and 90th percentiles for weight and height and has even had a number of solo visits to our dear angel neighbor who frequently invites the girls to play. Somehow I've been able to hide the fact that she came and went with their baby brother, but I'm not sure how!