My Family Loves It

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! For a blog blast today I am remembering way back to when I first became a mom, its only 5 1/2 years ago really but it seems like forever now! Things were much simpler with just one baby and now as I try to prepare myself for the 4th baby its fun to think back to those times. 2 members of the Parent Blogggers Network started their own venture with Rookie Moms. They are celebrating the release of their book A Rookie Mom’s handbook and are interested in what outings moms take their babies on that first year.

I was completely looking forward to “staying home” with my son but I didn’t want to actually be home all the time. At first I didn’t know any other moms that stayed home and Ethan couldn’t do anything yet so outings were much more about me. I would go out with my grandmother all of the time. We’d just go on errands and out to lunch (a lot) and it was really nice. Right from the start we took Ethan to eat out, his first place was Friendly’s after his 2 week doctor visit. I quickly realized that I had no problem breastfeeding him in public and he ate along with us there no problem. Since then all 3 of my kids have been eating out at various types of places and are pretty well behaved (geez am I jinxing myself here since we are going out for Mother’s Day tonight?). Its great because I can go out to lunch now with my mom and friends and John and I go out to dinner with all the kids and it usually is very enjoyable.

Okay back to that first year, somewhere when Ethan was about 6 months old I started thinking I needed to make some mom friends. I joined La Leche League because I figured I’d meet some like-minded woman. Turns out I wasn’t interested in the meetings (I love breastfeeding my kids but I would rather talk about other stuff) so luckily I met a great group of moms there and we started doing things on our own. Now 5 years later we are all still getting together for playgroups at the park or someone’s house and “girls night out” dinners. Look what fun moms we were letting the babies play in a stream! Hey, we still do that now!

A great family activity we did starting when Ethan was 10 days old was going to our local AHL hockey games. We had season tickets from before Ethan was born until last year (this year with 3 kids it was too expensive and we had too many other things to do like the boys own hockey games!). I am sure some people must have thought we were crazy to take an infant but he was great at the games (even as he got to be a toddler) and we got to still do something we loved. I think it helped him become a sound sleeper as well, here he is at 1 month old sleeping through a noisy game!

When summer came along we of course went to some baseball games, I think this is Ethan’s first one! As a family we also took him to Niagra Falls, Grandma Penguin’s lake and camping in Maine all his first year.

So basically my advice is to keep doing as much stuff as you can thats the same as before you had kids and make some connections with other moms so you can do things with them that are more kid oriented and still fun for you. When you’re desperate for something to do head out to the park, there are always other moms there and if you hit it off with someone be brave enough to exchange numbers and meet there again.

These birds are not at all the cute fuzzballs that arrived to us less than 3 weeks ago but to me they’re still cute and the crazy combo of fluff and newly sprouting feathers is comical. They are very active now and are enjoying their monster sized dog kennel. John was kind enough to climb into it and ziptie a lining of cardboard to it so the chicks don’t get their heads stuck (and so the dogs don’t bite those heads off). I think the chickens are bonding with me and Lola in particular likes me the best. I have been trying to give them new foods but they are just like real toddlers and are picky. I look forward to giving them all of the kids 1/2 eaten foods soon. John has made huge progress with the coop and it should be finished just as the chicks are ready for it. He will of course write up a how to post with plenty of pictures of it! For now here are pictures of each bird, when they are all grown up I’ll have to do a comparison of each because I think they will look totally different.

*Oh and I bought some eggs from the farmer’s market today and it has me excited thinking about when we’ll get to gather our own. I really hope the Ameraucanas have pretty eggs and of course I can’t remember now if the Wyandotte’s lay white or brown.

Lola

Hen

Fuzzworth

Loretta

Princess Leia (front left) Chickie Poo (front right)

Reuben has his share of quirks and can be a real butt head but he is a gorgeous sweet dog! Even when he is impatiently waiting for someone to kick his volleyball.

I just saw someone do a “100 things about me” post for their 100th blog post and thought what a fun thing that is (even though this will be my 218th post). Plus why not write some about ME instead of mainly the kids? When I got to about 20 in this list I decided to make it 50 things, 100 takes too long!

1. I am 32
2. John and I will be married 9 years next month!
3. I have 3 kids and will have the 4th and last one in October!
4. before I was a mom I was an elementary school art teacher for 3 years (my only adult job)
5. my house is messy all the time lately
6. I just got 6 baby chickens 2 weeks ago
7. I don’t like being pregnant much, it should take less than 9 months!
8. I’m not as good of a mom when I’m pregnant and thats a big reason we are stopping at 4
9. I make PERFECT, super easy babies
10. sometime before 2 yrs old I turn them into monsters (this stage seems to last until 2 1/2)
11. I am looking forward to never being pregnant again and getting into shape (at least somewhat)
12. I like to go to garage sales to find treasures for the kids
13. I compost and look forward to starting our garden later in the month
14. I make great cookies!
15. I don’t cook real dinner meals lately
16. I think I’m a good mom because I let Ben wear his super hero pajamas to preschool this week
17. I have a terrible memory sometimes
18. John and I are really happy together
19. we never have fights
20. I was the one to ask him out but first I got him to rent a house with me and 4 other people in college
21. I am pro-choice but not an activist
22. I’m also an atheist but it doesn’t come up much since it doesn’t define me
23. I take a lot of pictures of my kids, digital cameras are the best invention ever!
24. I love cats but am too allergic to ever have any
25. we have two dogs which makes me have to take a zyrtex daily
26. I dislike hermit crabs (unless they are out in nature)
27. I go nuts when flies get in the house and have to corral them and trap them in the windows until they die (its mean but thats what they get when they dare enter my house)
28. other bugs don’t bother me, just really flies. Oh and the Japanese beetles that eat our chestnut tree
29. when they get in the house I carefully trap spiders in a cup and set them free outside
30. I was a vegetarian for a lot of years but now eat beef and bacon on occasion. I love to eat fish though!
31. sushi is wonderful
32. going camping in Maine and eating lobsters would be my ideal vacation
33. I breastfed Ethan for 14 months, Ben for 17-18 months and Jamie for 20 months (I think thats right for Jamie, you’d think I’d remember since she is just 22 months old!)
34. I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding for more than 6 years now! I have gotten pregnant 4 times while breastfeeding
35. I will get to find out the sex of my 4th baby on June 2nd and I have always found out with each baby
36. I am not fond of knick knacks and I don’t see why people collect things like Precious Moments or Beanie Babies
37. I love getting hand me down clothes for my kids
38. my favorite shoes are Birkenstock sandals and Crocs (this winter was my first with Mammoth Crocs and I LOVE them)
39. when the kids are older I’d love to get the family kayaks
40. when I was in high school I went sea kayaking
41. I loved Snoopy as a kid but now I find the Peanuts specials depressing
42. one of my favorite toys were my collection of smurf figures and I still have them
43. I used to have pet iguanas but I gave them away, I think they should be banned as pets
44. my favorite movie is Some Kind Of Wonderful but I also love Fools Rush In because it reminds me of a Valentines Day with John in college
45. oh I also love the A&E’s Pride and Prejudice and The Whole Nine Yards AND The Saint
46. I love to eat cookie dough with the kids
47. I hate folding and putting away laundry
48. I used to be a germ freak (to a degree anyway) but now that I’ve got all these kids I’m almost cured
49. I loved to go to the roller rink as a kid
50. I’m glad I reached 50 and can go take my afternoon pregnancy nap!

Thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network we were given a copy of the book Were You Raised By Wolves?: Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood by Christie Mellor. Now, I have to say it was a strange book to get from PBN since it is geared towards people who are new to adulthood and just recently living away from their parents but its an interesting and fun read anyway with some helpful tips anyone could use. I’m already familiar with many uses for baking soda but if our dogs somehow get flees I now know that an equal mixture of baking soda and salt sprinkled on your carpet will kill them. I also found a bunch of simple recipes in it that I’ll definitely be trying. As an established adult its also a good reminder of what you want to teach your own kids as they grow up so they won’t need this book themselves someday (well maybe this doesn’t apply to things like throwing a cocktail party and fighting a hangover but I’ll be sure they know how to boil an egg, clean, have friends over for dinner and how to be a polite guest).

While this much of this book didn’t apply to me (a married 32 year old pregnant with my 4th baby) it was enjoyable and hopefully I’ll love those recipes I want to try! I will be saving it to pass on to my younger brothers (much younger!) once they are old enough to leave home. If you know anybody graduating from college right now this would be a thoughtful little gift!

Our favorite backyard snake made an appearance yesterday.

I tried to get a full body shot of him so you can see his girth and his stubby tail. Unfortunately, Spikey was not very cooperative and took off for the safety of the woodpile.

We just got some more Netflix coupons codes in the mail.  These coupons are good for 1 month while the normal Netflix free trial period is only 2 weeks.  My recommendation is the Planet Earth DVDs.  The video is absolutely gorgeous and the wildlife is amazing.

To redeem a coupon simply go to:

www.netflix.com/tellafriend

Then enter one of the following codes.  I don’t know if these can only be used once.  If a code doesn’t work try another and please post a comment letting me know when a code no longer works and I will remove it.

• M9194467445
• M3197467405
• M4190487475
• M9192487435
• M77939153145
• M70930153175
• M79934153105
• M78932153135

Offer ends June 15th, 2008.

Ethan lost his first tooth last night and none of us knew it was even loose! I’m not ready for him to grow up so I secretly wasn’t too happy (especially since it happened right after I got home from a kindergarten meeting, thats too much in one night for me!). He is very happy though, he has a few friends who have lost teeth already and he was ready. The tooth fell out when the boys were out playing in the garage with John. Ethan was using a snorkel that knocked the tooth out without any wiggling or warning. I heard there was a frantic search for the tooth and luckily they found it had landed safely on a bike seat. Ethan put it in the tooth fairy pillow that I used when I was a kid (which I had my own frantic search to find) and he woke up to find the fairy left him some money and a new Star Wars chunky Han Solo and Ewok set.

*John just left a comment and I had to add it up here in the post: The quote of the night was “I was riding my bike and when I took my snorkel out my tooth was gone!”

Ethan and Ben are on such a Star Wars kick. Here is Ethan’s latest creation, his stuffed animals dressed as all the Star Wars characters.

Darth Vader is my favorite. He’s wearing the lacrosse pads with the red tea cup helmet and red spoon lightsaber. The other critters wearing cups are all Stormtroopers. Luke is the cat with the green lightsaber. Chewie is the monkey with the rubber band across his chest. The fox is Obi Wan and the cat is Princess Leiah.

This week’s Blog Blast is about how we’d like to be recognized on Mother’s Day and its sponsored by Johnson’s Baby Cause and of course the Parent Bloggers Network. Most moms expect some type of gift on Mother’s Day, even if its just a simple scribbled card from the kids (of course a favorite!). I like to think I’m not into material things but lets face it, we all are to a degree. I am not a designer clothes or jewelery wearing mom and I don’t need much thats just for me.

I do like my materialistic comforts though. In a perfect world I’d love a new living room for Mother’s Day or at least a really clean house. On my realistic wish list I’d love a new vacuum or 2 so that I don’t have to carry them up and down stairs and a semi-clean house. I’d also like a new hairstyle from an expensive salon since I have only gone to Cost Cutters since being a mom. So thats not so much to ask for right? I think I’m pretty simple.

Honestly though, I know I am getting the one thing that matters. I’ll get to spend the day with my husband and kids and then we’ll all go OUT to dinner with my mom and brothers. No cooking or dishes should be a Mother’s Day rule!

*Johnson’s Baby Cause is Johnsons’ new charitable giving site powered by Global Giving. As part of their responsibility to the global community, Johnson’s has hand-selected dozens of charities around the world that mirror their deep commitment to caring for the health and well-being of mothers and children - not just on Mother’s Day, but every day of the year.