Making supper.

We are quickly approaching the one year mark of my time as a mother of three.  Some things have gotten a little easier...or maybe I have just gotten used to the juggling act.  There are other things, however, that haven't gotten a stitch easier.  Like making dinner.  As evidenced by the following.

Last night, Jason was working late, so I planned accordingly.  The rules on those nights are to make something fast and easy that the kids will eat without a fight.  Generally that involves Subway, the occasional Happy Meal or a quick fix at home.  We all decided that grilled cheese and tomato soup would taste good, so that's what I got to work on.  Now, I should add that I can't even start dinner until I get in the door from the office, unload pumped milk and wash bottles, and then feed the baby who has decided that she doesn't much care for the milk I'm pumping and prefers to drink right from the cow I mean, source.  I continue to pump to maintain supply and also make sure I am prepared for those days when she decides that she DOES in fact want to drink a bottle mid-afternoon.  There's no question who is in control here, right.  It certainly isn't me.

Anyway, grilled cheese was in process when I turned around to see this.

 Mara was proceeding to empty pretty much everything out of the cupboards.  I had already replaced a bunch on two occasions before she started unloading again.  That glass mug she is holding is now resting beside its counterpart in the matching set high on the counter since she seemed to be intent on drinking a cup of coffee (or perhaps tea) out of a heavy, oversized Longaberger Christmas mug.  Mercy.

After I got that cleaned up....again....I went into the living room to tell the kids that supper was almost ready and found this.

Evidently Lauren had broken her head and her arm and Joshua had her admitted to the hospital.  Don't miss the details of the care he is providing.  She has an ice pack (dish rag) on her head, a cast on her arm, and an IV attached (handcuffs).  Thank goodness he nursed her back into good health to eat her supper.  I particularly like that the latex gloves in Joshua's hospital are Spider Man print.  I believe they may even shoot webs.  If that wouldn't make you feel better if you were sick, I don't know what would.

And this, my friends, is why I can't get anything done at the house.

A grateful Mama's heart.

I was listening to one of many news reports that I have seen, like so many others, since last Friday's terrible tragedy in Newtown, CT.  It was talking about all of the different ways people process difficult events.  It's pretty easy for me to say that I am far better at writing than talking, and am quite likely to cry.  As evidenced by the fact that I have come to work with mascara stained cheeks every day since Friday after listening to the heart wrenching stories that Moms and Dads are telling about their children, who they innocently dropped off at school in the morning, never expecting that it would be the last time they saw their precious child.  I had a good, ugly cry when I first read the names and birthdates of the children who were taken from their families.  They're all Joshua's age.  And I have a hard time separating those six year olds from the sweet, innocent faces that I see every day at Joshua's school.  And our church.  And in my office.  And at the grocery store.  I like to think that I don't live with my head buried in the sand, and that I have a full realization of the evil that exists in this world.  But there's a whole different element of angst and anxiety when we see how quickly lives can end in a place that we all work so hard to keep as a safe haven for our children, and that the evil and hatred in the world could play out in such a way that Newtown could have been any town in the country.  I believe in my heart that Jesus himself welcomed all of those little ones into his arms on Friday morning.  And I hope that will be a comfort to the families left behind who are missing their sons and daughters...and those children who are missing their mothers.  I also know, though, that there will be a lot of families aching to have those children in their arms on Christmas morning, opening presents and giggling with delight at the treasures Santa left for them.  I just cannot begin to imagine the ache in those parents' hearts, and it literally brings me to tears to try.  Lord, please be near to them.

So far this year, my promise to myself not to get stressed over Christmas and not to overschedule us with activities and things that just make us all nuts has worked better than I might have guessed.  We have not had the normal holiday run-yourself-ragged effect that I remember all too well from years past.  We have still done some special things, but I don't feel as though our sense of peace and joy has been overshadowed by the stress that can so easily creep in.  We have a quite busy weekend leading up to the holiday, but I think we have managed the best we could so far.  At this point, presents are wrapped and ready to be smuggled into the basement for safe hiding until Monday night.  We have several types of cookies baked and in the freezer to be pulled out.  Joshua has a request for some gingerbread men for his school party on Friday morning that I hope we have time to get to this week.  I have a mincemeat pie to bake for Christmas morning breakfast (Grandma Mary would be so pleased to know that I have carried this one on!) and some cooking to do for the family party at Stacie's house on Saturday.  But really, if I did nothing else, Christmas would go on.  And I guess that's a pretty good place to be at this point in the game.

This past weekend, we had a Christmas turkey dinner with Jason's parents.  This was officially the first turkey dinner that Jason and I have cooked together in our home, and for a first attempt, I was pretty pleased with the results.  It was certianly a team effort, even involving Jeff and Judy as we rounded the final turn on Sunday afternoon to getting things on the table and ready to go at the last minute.  I think we all appreciated the opportunity to sit down to a nice meal together, and I know the kids loved having some time with Grandma and Grandpa.  I had to laugh at how the kids ate.  Turkey dinners with all of the fixings must be high on Joshua's list of favorite foods because he devoured his plate of food.  Lauren did well also and Mara finished two full trays of food, too.  When it was all said and done, I was quite pleased that Joshua gave Jason and I this award...

I can only hope that he will always think my cooking is wonderful.  The older I get, the more I find that I love to cook, and we certainly enjoyed doing a big meal this past weekend.  Our leftover turkey and gravy is now safely tucked into the freezer to be turned into turkey and waffles on Christmas Day when it will just be our family together at home.  Don't worry--- I put some filling balls back as well.

We are so looking forward to Joshua's Christmas party this week on Friday morning, and then our trip to Lewistown on Saturday morning for the big Richard Family Party at Stacie and Noah's house on Saturday afternoon & evening.  I absolutely cannot wait to see all the kids playing together this year-- especially with the new 2012 additions to the crew in Mara, Reed and baby Hayden.  It should be a really special day.  Sunday we will celebrate with my immediate family at Mom and Dad's house, and that has become a really special day for all of us as well.  I am really looking forward to a quiet (relatively speaking) day at their house and a great meal together with all of them.  Then Monday it is back home for us for a quiet night at home and a special Christmas Day together as a family and then with Jason's parents.  We are so blessed.

Lots to come...

 And look who is on her feet ALL THE TIME now...getting into quite literally EVERYTHING!  She's cute, but she's exhausting!



The good, the bad and the ugly.

Let me first apologize for the lack of photos in this post.  I know they are more interesting than my words.  But suffice it to say, the bad and the ugly in this post should lead you to believe the pictures may not have been worth seeing anyway.

We'll start with the 'good' of the past few days.  It was definitely good that I was able to be home with the kids on Friday.  I also found it good that the bit of freezing rain we had here early that morning was enough to delay school and therefore cancel morning kindergarten for Joshua.  That meant no bundling of the girls to go out to pick Joshua up at 11:00.  We spent the morning baking cookies, watching Christmas shows on TV and giggling together at home.  After a 2+ hour nap for Mara in her crib (go ahead and pause as you listen to the angels singing about that).....................I treated the kids to some play time at The Well, a new indoor playland that is attached to a coffee shop at Joshua's school.  They ran and played while Mara and I hung out in the toddler area.  They were sufficiently hungry and tired by the time I got them home for supper, which made for a pretty painless meal/bedtime routine.  I was feeling like I had this Mom thing licked.

Even on Saturday morning, we were firing on all cylinders crossing things off of the to do list.  The girls and I made a Target run to pick up a few last minute things that we needed, while Jason and Josh hit the mall for a little shopping of their own.  Saturday evening, Jason and I even managed a night out, albeit for an event with his business team and clients, but we were out of the house on a Saturday night without the kids.  It didn't hurt that it was for the Martina McBride Christmas Concert at the Community Arts Center.  Since Jason and Donna sponsored the show, we even got a chance to meet Martina and have our picture taken with her.  Amazing.  Everything was going great.  Until...

And here's where the bad and ugly start.

Oh how quickly things change in the land of motherhood.  We walked in the door on Saturday night to find Joshua crying on the couch saying that his mouth hurt and he couldn't get to sleep.  The girls were asleep, although Mara was hot.  Like fevered hot.  It was as if we were being punished for having fun.  Jason got Joshua settled while I worked with Mara- because she was wide awake and fussing at the sound of our voices.  Bless her heart, Lauren was fast asleep and remained that way.  She was my favorite that evening.  (Just kidding.  Sort of.) 

The bad is that Mara's fever remained an issue all night and all day Sunday.  She was obviously not feeling well, as evidenced by the fact that I literally could not put her down.  I didn't even manage a shower because she was screaming if I wasn't holding her.  We obviously didn't make it to church.  Joshua was a continued mess on Sunday, as he developed ulcer like sores all through his mouth.  We had been down that road once before, and I wasn't looking forward to where this was headed.  Mara seemed to be the one in the worst shape, though, so we just kept cuddling her and trying to help her feel better.  Lots of nursing, lots of snuggling and a very long night in the rocking chair were the prescription for the littlest of us.  The brightest spot on Sunday was a yummy shepherd's pie supper that Jason cooked for us.  It was so good!

And here comes the ugly.

Joshua's sores really turned into a mess on Sunday night/Monday.  All day Monday all he did was cry, and nothing I was giving him was coming anywhere near touching the pain he was having.  He hadn't eaten since Sunday at lunch time, and even that wasn't an impressive meal.  Getting him to drink was just about impossible, and getting medicine into him was even worse.  We went to the doctor to have him looked at and they don't know exaclty what is causing the problem, but said that some kids develop sores in their mouth when their bodies are stressed, like with a virus, etc.  He said Joshua's were really nasty and said he would give us some medication to try to help.  So we spent the rest of the night trying to make him as comfortable as possible and trying to keep him from crying.  We failed miserably and he sobbed, even in his sleep, until about midnight.  Finally, at that point, I moved him to his own bed and he managed to get a good night's rest.

See, I told you that you wouldn't want pictures of all of that.

Today he appears to be on the mend at least a little bit.  He had a pancake for breakfast with some encouragement.  Actually, I kept chanting to him, "You are brave, you are strong, you are tough!" while doing a silly dance to get him to focus on how silly I looked instead of how much it hurt him to eat.  Hey, whatever it takes, right?  Reports from the homefront this morning are that he is crying off and on, and staying pretty quiet since it hurts for him to talk.  Poor buddy.  I really hope he is feeling better soon.  It breaks my heart to see him hurting like this.  And I may have discovered the culprit for Mara's fever.  While playing last night before bed, I discovered two new top teeth, and one more almost through on the bottom.  She only had one the last I had checked, so the little lady has been pretty busy!  No wonder she felt crummy.

Today I am back in the office, trying to catch up from the Friday and Monday I spent at home as well as to sneak in a few Christmas tasks on the list as I am able.  This is going to be a jam packed two week stretch between now and Christmas, but I am determined to focus on JOY and PEACE instead of stress this holiday season.  I love Christmas so much and will just not let the to do list overshadow the happiness and celebration that the holiday deserves.  Somehow, everything will get done.  It always does.

Just call me and read that all back to me in the middle of next week when I'm having my annual meltdown, OK?

It's never too late to be thankful.

It's a Thanksgiving post in pictures.  Never mind that it's nearly two weeks late.

 We celebrated K5 style on Wednesday morning.  We made indian hats, did the chicken dance, made vests out of grocery bags and had some yummy snacks.  This was my first time making something called a "Brookie" (which I was drawn to because of our sweet Brookie) and the kids LOVED them- mix a brownie and a chocolate chip cookie in a mini muffin tin and voila.  Easy and the hit of the K5 snack table.  As if I get my self worth from the opinions of 5-6 year olds.  But it never feels bad to be told you make the yummiest treats.

 Wednesday afternoon we headed to Lewistown for our longest stay in a while.  I believe that by supper time, the chaos had reached a level that had Nana and Pap wishing we had waited until Thursday morning to show up.

Although my pictures are out of order, one of the highlights of the trip was for the kids to meet their newest cousin, Hayden, who was just one week old.  I was having a really hard time missing her too, since I had seen her only for a quick minute on her birthday.  So believe me when I say we were all anxious for some Hayden time during our visit.  Joshua and Lauren both seemed to enjoy holding her, and neither one of them could believe or remember when Mara had been that small.  Frankly, looking at Mara next to itty bitty Hayden did a number on my mind too, as our "baby" all of a sudden looked huge!  Mara seemed to enjoy her as long as it was someone other than me who was holding her.  No shock there.

Mara spent her time at Nana and Pap's getting into mischief.  She seemed to be in exploration mode, and was ripping things apart right and left.  I think she was enjoying being in a different place and seeing what all she could get into.  She literally rummaged through my diaper bag at least 10 times.  I stopped putting things back in any semblance of an order and just piled it all in, knowing she was going to come back around within moments of my cleaning it all up.

Our Thanksgiving meal was delicious, as always.  Joshua even got to help Pap make the filling balls!  I was amazed at the kids' appetites this year.  Joshua ate an entire plate of Thanksgiving, and especially loved the turkey, filling balls, Gram's jello salad and pumpkin pie.  Lauren picked, but ate more than I have ever seen her eat before.  And I couldn't keep enough food on the tray for Mara.  She had turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes from my plate with gravy, about half of a filling ball, corn, bites of pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll.  It was unreal.  I guess it's safe to say that she's doing alright on table food at the moment.



Black Friday evening, we had what I term the best meal of the year with the Thanksgiving leftovers and Mom's homemade waffles.  The kids agreed with my opinion.  Lauren ate 5....yes, 5...waffles at dinner.  In terms of Lauren, that could be equal to the amount of food she consumes in an entire week, let alone in one meal.  The extra special surprise was that the kids got to see Danaca, who stopped by for a visit while she was in town.  Joshua and Lauren absolutely love her and have asked no less than a dozen times since when Danaca is going to come and visit again.  So Danaca, I guess we better get a date on the calendar!

Lauren really seemed to latch on to my mom this trip, and was seeming to soak up every bit of individual attention she could get.  She and Nana played lots of games, read lots of books and did lots of puzzles together.  Heaven forbid if my mom needed to go and do something else-- she was getting scolded by a three year old for walking away from her!  It was sweet to see.



And here was my out of order picture when Lauren first met Hayden.  She was very gentle with her, just like she had always been with Mara.  I really hope that all of these sweet cousins continue to love each other like we do all of our cousins.  What a special gift Aunt Libby and Uncle Zig gave to them in this precious baby girl.

Above it all, Thanksgiving this year was a great opportunity to reflect on our blessings.  And among all those I had to count (and there were so so many), I count these three among the most precious.  Jason and I are so blessed.  Getting to spend time with my parents and Libby and Zig and the girls was such a treat, and I am so grateful for that time together.

Catching up....again.

I am beginning to think that all of my blog posts should come with a disclaimer that this information is likely not new, and may have been scrounged up from my camera.  Trust me when I tell you that all of the events of our life are captured on the camera memory card, but there appears to be a direct relationship between the amount of cool things we get to do and the length of time it takes me to get it blogged.

I can recall many moons ago, when I was young and childless, that going to Candy Lane in Hershey was a big part of my Christmas tradition.  I even recall a Christmas when we were celebrating in Harrisburg at my Aunt Pattie's house that all of the Richard cousins made the trip to Hersheypark.  I believe that was allowed mostly to get all of us out of the house so that the grownups could have a few drinks and not have to deal with our whining.  And if my memory serves me correctly, I think this was the trip that Danaca yacked after riding the ride at Chocolate World.  In the years since Joshua was born, I must have told Jason at least 5 times (for his five previous Christmases) that I'd really like to take the kids to Hershey to enjoy the lights and rides one of these years.  We knew that we would only be punishing ourselves if we attempted the down and back in one day, so we decided to make a little weekend trip out of it and booked a room at the Hershey Lodge, where, strangely enough, Jason and I have spent more weekends than any of us care to count attending Key Club conventions.  It was a little odd being there without 1000 of our closest Key Club friends.

To make it even more fun, the Mowrys were able to be there too, so the kids were all geared up for some Christmas fun at the park.

The plan was to head to Red Robin for some (peanut allergy safe) supper where we can order off of a special peanut safe menu for Joshua.  However, everyone else in the free world also had the same idea at the same time because the wait was an hour long.  And given the fact that we were all on borrowed time to get into the park, we opted to figure out our dinner on the fly.  So off to the Park we went.

I have to say, the park was just as festive and beautiful as I remember it.  And honestly, I really love Christmas lights, so the fact that there were a million of them there was right up my alley.  I will say that I probably had more time to enjoy them before the kids, but I wouldn't trade our evening there with the kids for even those slow paced ones of yesteryear.  (Did I really just type the word 'yesteryear'?)  We set off into the park to attempt to do as much as possible- and we must have looked comical between the two families.  Six kids, two strollers, one way too big diaper bag (that was me), enough layers and winter coats to clothe a small third world country.  But we were there...enjoying it all together.

The kids loved riding rides.  I got the biggest kick out of their reaction to the Kissing Tower.  You can tell that Joshua has been programmed for bigger rides because he kept saying he was scared.  And the whole way up, he kept telling Jason he was afraid that it was going to fall down really fast.  Lauren oohed and aahed at the lights that you could see from the way top of the ride.  And once Mara got the idea of the "kissing" tower, she was smacking her lips at anyone who would even look her way.  That went on for the better part of the next half hour.

I should make a note here about our picnic supper.  And yes, you read that right.  I had done some peanut allergy research about the park before we got there, and found out that the place really isn't all that peanut allergy friendly.  It wasn't that big of a deal when we were thinking about it because, frankly, we were planning to fill our bellies at Red Robin before going to the park.  I had safe snacks packed in my (really heavy) diaper bag that would hold us over, and we brought a Thermos for Joshua and some safe hot chocolate mix so that we could get some hot water somewhere in the park to mix it for him.  So, when the dinner plan fell through, things got interesting.  We knew there was a Subway somewhere in the park. In my mind, that was an inside restaurant.  As in, with heat.  As it turned out, this was the only open-air Subway I have ever been to, with metal picnic tables.  Just imagine sitting your fanny down on that baby when it is 20-some degrees outside.  The kids made the best of it, as did the adults, but something tells me we may be talking about our December picnic supper for years to come.

After everyone was sufficiently cold and tired, we made our way back to the parking lot.  I always forget how much I dread the walk out of the park there.  It seems like they move the cars about a mile further away than they were when you walked in.  After a quick ride back to the Lodge, we got kids into pajamas and tucked into bed.  All except for Mara, who had a nice power nap in the park and on the ride back to the hotel.  She was raring to go, and stayed awake for several more hours before she decided for snooze for a bit.

Sunday morning, we had a treat for the kids, as we had registered for a Breakfast with Santa that morning.  Joshua and Lauren were really excited to see Santa.  Joshua had quite a list prepared for him, and discussed the details of everything on it with the Man in Red just like we knew he would.  Lauren was a bit of a surprise.  Our very backward little girl has turned into a chatterbox.  We actually had to tell her to wrap it up since the mob of children in line behind us was getting a bit impatient for their turn.  We put Mara down on the floor just to make sure we had her in a picture, but didn't dare consider putting her on Santa's lap. 

After breakfast, we decided to go over to Chocolate World since the kids didn't get a chance to go through that on Saturday evening.  They really seemed to enjoy the ride (especially those silly singing cows).  We didn't do much else there--- it's a peanut nightmare--- but they did get one more chance to see Santa again.  Amazingly, there were no questions about how Santa got from the hotel to Chocolate World so quickly or about why they looked so different.  I don't think there will be many more years that we'll get away with that, but we managed to skate through this time.  Mara was missing from that picture as she had a death grip on my shoulder and wasn't about to go anywhere near that sleigh.

All in all, I'd say we had a very nice time at the park.  Like everyone, I absolutely love this time of the year, especially with the kids.  You can't help but be happy when you see their little minds processing the all of the special magical things that they are thinking about.  We spent the afternoon unpacking and working on jobs around the house.  One little lady had an important milestone to conquer---- I was doing some dishes after cooking dinner and looked up from the sink to see Mara walking across the living room.  I quickly grabbed my phone to capture a video and caught her second voyage.  She looked so proud of herself, and we certainly were of her as well.  Now, I am only hoping that having reached this goal will allow her precious little mind to get some sleep......that's Mama's only Christmas wish!

A busy, non-busy weekend.

This was one of those rare weekends for us where there was nothing major in the calendar and we had no good excuse to be anywhere but home.  And we all needed it.  Mostly I needed it in order to get a handle on the house--- I have been feeling overwhelmed lately by projects that needed to be done that I just never seem to get to.  So we made it a priority this weekend to get some things crossed off the ever growing list.

The first order of business on Saturday morning was to occupy the kids so that I could embark on Operation Reorganize the Pantry.  It's a small space in the house (much smaller than I would prefer)...but goodness gracious does it ever take on a life of its own if not controlled.  So, Mara worked on a pancake and some bananas in her high chair while Josh and Lauren....well, take a look for yourselves to see what they got into...

The big kids played for quite some time in the costume box, making all sorts of interesting combinations.  I forget what they were being when I took this picture, but Lauren said that was the face she had to make.  It was part of the costume.  And who was I to argue.

And after two hours in our itty bitty pantry, here is what I can offer as my biggest accomplishment of the weekend.

 This makes for riveting blog reading, doesn't it?

We spent the rest of Saturday working on my list, putting away, cleaning up, folding and reorganizing all sorts of things, closets and drawers around the house.  We packed our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child for Sunday morning and had a nice talk about why we do that each year.  Joshua was full of questions about it, and even wrote a very sweet poem to go into his box.  We did one for a boy Joshua's age, and one for a girl Lauren's age.  I thought it was important for them to think about the fact that a little boy or girl just like them might only get this one present for Christmas, and they both had a lot of questions to ask about it.  After all of that, we had a nice dinner, and it was good to spend some time together before Daddy had to get ready to go on his business trip.  He'll be gone almost all of this week, and I can tell you, we are all already missing him.  We're managing and the kids have been really good, but things surely do work smoother around our house when we're all together.  So we're counting down the days until Thursday.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church.  Joshua and Lauren were so excited to get their shoeboxes onto the pile with the others that had been filled.  They loved being a part of the dedication ceremony for them.  I'm not entirely sure if they "get it" completely, but I am noticing a little more connection with the process each year that we participate.  Mara's part of the whole process was to squirm and scrooch as much as she possibly could.  I ended up putting her in the nursery for the few minutes I needed to be with the big kids.  For as unhappy as she was sitting in my lap in the sanctuary, you'd have thought she would have been thrilled with the opportunity to get down and play in the nursery.  But upon my exit, the wailing began, only to be stopped by my reappearance 15 minutes later.  And that pretty much sums up Mara lately.  Sweet as can be while in my arms.  A screaming banshee otherwise.  It's beyond frustrating.  But look at this face....

I find it hard to be mad for long.

In other Mara news, we had a few interesting developments this weekend.

A.  She got her first, adorable little tooth.

B.  She learned to climb up the stairs.

C.  She is starting to stand independently for a few seconds.  And yesterday, I watched her attempt to take one tiny baby step on her own.  She immediately fell to the ground, but I saw it.  It won't be long now until we are officially off to the races.

I sent the first two news items to Libby via text on Saturday when they happened.  And her response cracked me up.  It was:

"A.  Yay!  A tooth!  Finally!! and B. Lord, have mercy!"

My sentinments exactly.

We are on serious countdown to Baby Hayden this week, with great anticipation.  I hope this little girl knows how much she is loved.  I cannot wait to be an Aunt again, and to watch Brooke become the fantastic big sister I know she will be.  Our family has so much to be grateful for this year.  For now, we are praying for a safe and uneventful delivery for Libby and a sweet, healthy baby girl to get to love on Wednesday.

Reset

This morning didn't start out so well. 

And by that I mean, when my alarm went off at 5:15, I couldn't get Mara to lay down and go back to sleep.  All manner of bouncing, singing, shushing, pacifier offering, nursing, etc. made no difference.  She was fast asleep in my arms, but the slightest movement of any of myself caused her to wake up.  I pushed it as long as I could, hopeful that she could get a little more rest, but had to get moving at the last possible minute in order to keep the ship running on time this morning. 

Before I was able to get into the shower (Mara with me in the bathroom, of course), this one was also awake.  It was his day off of school for teacher conferences, and somehow it never fails that on the days we do not have to be up and out on a schedule, the kids are awake and raring to go.  When we need to be somewhere at a certain time, I need a bulldozer to get them out of bed.  I managed to get my shower and get dressed quickly through Mara's protesting and Joshua's 17 requests to go downstairs to get his breakfast.

Before long, this one appeared...whimpering and whining like she does when she obviously hasn't slept long enough.  She wouldn't hear of going back to bed, so I braced myself for the next 25 minutes that it usually takes for her to wake up the whole way and get her attitude adjusted, during which she grumps around, barks at her brother and breaks every rule that she knows darned well to be enforceable in our house.  While I was in the middle of doing my makeup (and please note that I was holding Mara.....yep, it was as difficult as you're imagining), Lauren declared that she had peed on the bathroom floor.  This child hasn't had a potty accident in close to a year...honestly.  What in the world was going on here other than the universe just lining up to give me a good swift kick in the rear this morning?  I put Mara down, grabbed the Clorox and a roll of paper towels and got to work cleaning up.  I may or may not have been grumbling under my breath about how I DID NOT have time for this this morning.  Mara was down at this point and managed to find the one spot that I missed cleaning.  Her pajamas were now soaked and needed immediate changing.

I was running dangerously out of time.  And I was definitely out of patience.

I changed Mara and finished up the bathroom floor.  While I was doing that, this is what Mara did to the kitchen.  The girl loves placemats.  And really anything that she can get into at this point.

By the grace of God, I managed to get Mara fed so that Jason and I could get out the door, only a few minutes late.

On the way to the school, I was feeling horribly guilty for my short fuse this morning.  There are just some days that I wake up with less patience than others, and apparently this wasn't my star Mama performance.  If the truth be told, I just wanted to be left alone for one minute-- to get done what I needed to get done and get moving with the day.  But there were three little ones who really weren't doing anything wrong, but were making me absolutely on the edge.  I wasn't proud of myself, and I was praying for a turn around to the day.  I certainly didn't want to feel this way all day long.

And then...it was like the reset button had been pressed.

Mrs. Case shared with us how much she adores Joshua.  She said that he is bright and creative, and that she loves his sense of humor.  We were relieved to find out that he is using his sense of humor in appropriate ways and she said he has no problems transitioning from activities that are fun (like playtime or more physically active tasks) to sitting quietly and following directions.  She is impressed with his reading skills and shared his school work...the lowest grade I saw was a 95.  She showed us his journal writing and some of his kid writing, as well as gave us some ideas on how to keep working with him at home on the special sounds in words that are a little harder to grasp than the hard sounds that letters make.  But she said he is doing wonderfully and she had no areas of concern for him at all.  We were beaming when we left there, beyond proud of him for the way he is behaving and learning in school.

Just what I had ordered, Lord.....a reset button for my patience, and a reminder that...despite the fact that the kids work together to push me right over the edge of the cliff some days, we have been blessed with some terrific kids.  Tomorrow will be a better day...it always is.

A top 10 in honor of Mara.

Is it me, or is the 5th of each month coming around faster and faster as each month passes?  I find myself with only two stickers in Mara's package of month stickers that Emily brought for her when we were still in the hospital.  I remember looking at the thick stack of stickers thinking that so much time would elapse between holding this sweet (very tiny) baby in my arms, and starting to look at her as a toddler.  Knowing that she is the last Dugan makes all of these monthly milestones even sweeter for me, and I am so thankful for the perspective that I have gained with Joshua and Lauren not to wish these sleepless nights, tired arms, and waning patience away.  Time is already going by so fast, and I know that wishing the tough stuff away also wishes the amazing, precious, priceless memories away with it.  That's not to say that I'm not exhausted, because I surely am.  But I try to keep it all in perspective, and find the good in the extra snuggle time I'm getting with Mara each night between the hours of.......oh......midnight and 5 am......those seem to be her difficult hours.  Every.  Single.  Night.  Perspective, though.  Lord, keep giving me perspective.  With a side of caffeine.

Our sweet girl turned 10 months old yesterday.  So I thought in honor of her big milestone, I would offer 10 little known facts about Mara that I will one day look back on and cherish the reminder.

10.  She adores (ADORES) her big brother and sister.  And I believe the feeling is mutual.  Joshua loves that she lights up when he enters the room.  And Lauren tells me at least twice a day that she loves our baby "so much" and thinks she is the cutest baby ever.  I just adore watching Mara's face as she is watching Joshua and Lauren playing together.  Often she breaks out into full belly giggles that are too precious to even explain.

9.  She is currently weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 lb.  The way she's eating lately, I wouldn't expect that weight gain will be an issue for her from this point forward.  I'm so happy to see her healthy and thriving after worrying about her growth in the beginning.

8.  Speaking of eating, Mara is really enjoying the exploration of table food.  You should have seen her face light up when I gave her a lick of the icing I was eating in my mom's whoopie pies over the weekend.  If she could have formed the words, I believe she would have been saying, "Now hold on just one second.  You mean to tell me I have been eating baby oatmeal and pureed vegetables while you guys have been eating THIS?"  She has recently enjoyed things like pizza crust, my mom's pot pie (yum!), macaroni and cheese, pancakes (her recent favorite) and pieces of cut up vegetables that we are eating.  I am hoping that my days of purchasing Gerber purees are quickly coming to a close.

7.  Call me a rebel, but I have broken a serious parenting rule with Mara in her crib.  Laying her down flat on her back has been an issue for her for some reason.  She hates it, and immediately wakes up when her head hits the crib.  So one night, I transferred her from my arms to the crib while still in the Boppy pillow I had used to nurse her.  And voila, she didn't awaken.  She now sleeps on that pillow nightly for the one two hour stretch of sleep that she gets in her crib (if I'm lucky).

6.  She loves the theme song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, as well as Hot Dog....just like her brother did.  I cannot count how many times we used to watch the video of those songs on our computer when Joshua was little.  Mara seems a bit obsessed as well.  She loves to "dance" along, and when she's sitting on the floor and hears it come on, she bounces up and down on her bottom the whole time the song plays.  It is precious.

5.  She has tons and tons of baby toys and plays with literally none of them.  Her toys of choice are anything that belongs to Josh and Lauren or anything that belongs in one of my cupboards or drawers that cannot be configured with a baby lock.  It's great fun.  I'm thinking that if we bought her a new set of pots and pans for Christmas she would be thrilled.

4.  Mara loves to hear me sing.  Her most favorite song right now is "Way Up High in the Cherry Tree".  I can usually calm her down when she is feeling scroochy after her tub by singing this song.  She smiles really big and starts to wave her arms as soon as I start singing it, and usually is perfectly calm and starting into my eyes by the time I finish it.

3.  On the topic of music, Mara can be instantly calmed by the Selah CD's that are in my car.  She particularly likes Volume I of their Greatest Hits CD.  By the time the piano accompaniment comes in on Be Still My Soul, she is normally perfectly calm and starting to drift off to sleep.  Travel with her has gotten increasingly easier as she has gotten older, but figuring out that Selah is what she likes to listen to has made it even better.  And trust me, I don't mind singing along to Selah anytime.

2.  Unlike her brother and sister, Mara has not determined a strong affection for a lovey like Josh and Lauren did very early on.  It's possible it still might develop (and I honestly hope that it does).  Right now, I believe I am Mara's security object, which explains our middle of the night rendezvous lately.  I swore after my experience of Lauren being so overly attached to me between 1 year and 18 months old that I would never let that happen again.  So I have either royally screwed something up, or this is just the natural order of things.  I am honestly not fighting it as much this time, just figuring that "it is what it is" and trying to enjoy it.  I keep figuring that when she's about 14 and can't stand the sight of me, I will have these months to recall in my memory.

1.  I am completely, totally, 100% in love with this little girl.  Her personality is developing into a great mixture of Joshua and Lauren--- some persistence like Joshua, with some spunk like Lauren.  A whole lot of sweetness with a little bit of self-assuredness to balance it out.  I consider it an absolute blessing to get a front row seat in watching her grow.  What a gift she is.

Happy 10 months, Mara!

 Sacked out at Nana and Pap's this weekend.  I couldn't stop staring at her.

And, enjoying a piece of pizza crust.  She worked at that thing for the better part of 20 minutes.  Poor girl needs some teeth!

Trick or Treat

We were so grateful that Hurricane Sandy moved on to allow the kids some Trick or Treat fun on Halloween.  Joshua declares that Halloween is his favorite holiday....until he remembers about Christmas....but really, he does enjoy the spooky stuff.  His bedroom has even been decorated as a haunted house since about mid-September- complete with spiders, gooey eyeballs and (Lord help me) a rat.  The only good news is that I have encouraged Joshua to learn how to put away his own laundry because I try to limit my time alone in his room with that stupid rat.

Lauren loves Halloween too...mostly becuase of the candy.  She has been telling me that she wanted to dress up like a beautiful butterfly for months.

And Mara has no idea what Halloween is, but I believe in my heart of hearts that she knew she was adorable in her elephant costume.

We bundled up in many many layers on Wednesday night and headed out around the neighborhood for some treats.  I was disappointed in our neighborhood's showing--- there weren't many lights on at all.  In years past we have gone to the church's Trunk or Treat event, but this year they didn't have it.  I was perfectly content to be back inside within an hour of setting out on our adventure, and honestly the kids didn't seem to mind that it was a pretty low key evening.  After we returned, I swapped just about everything out of their buckets for peanut safe candy choices, while they were outside handing out candy to the kids who came by our house.  The only down side is that not only do we have two trick or treat pails full of candy, but I also have the remnants of the big bags I had to buy to get a good assortment for the kids.  So if you know anyone who needs some candy, kindly let me know.  I have enough sugar at our house to put us into a serious carbohydrate coma.

Here are some pictures!

6...

So, we have made a new rule in our house.  I told Joshua on the night before his birthday that I didn't think I was going to let him get any older than 6.  From now on, he'll go backwards again.  A long conversation ensued about why I didn't want him to grow up.  And during that conversation with an ever-so-wise just about 6 year old, I realized that being the Mom of a big boy has its advantages.

A lot of things have changed in the past six years since Joshua and I first met.  He made me a Mommy, and I can honestly say that there has never been a "promotion" in my life that has meant more to me than that one.  I think about how different things were BC (before children) and I almost have to laugh at how much I had no clue about before October 25, 2006.  I thought I was so prepared...had read all the books, thought I knew just how this was all going to go, figured I would tackle motherhood as I do other challenges in my life.  And then somehow, as soon as he was in my arms...this precious pile of blue blankets that I had dreamed about...I realized how incredibly unprepared I really was for taking responsibility of this miracle.  I knew all I needed to know from a strict informational standpoint, but it's the heart stuff that knocked me totally off my feet.  Like how I ached physically when he was unhappy, how I would defy all logic and throw myself into the middle of a busy highway to save him an ounce of pain, how nothing else would matter in my life besides our family and our solidarity as a unit.  And those changes all started with Joshua.  I find it amazing, also, how much evolution has taken place with the births of Lauren and Mara, but it all started with my sweet boy.

We thought it only fitting to celebrate our big six year old with a party for him.  He chose Scooby Doo as his theme, which was a whole lot less scary for me as the party planner than some of his other choices.  He was thrilled to come home from school to find his cake just about ready.  Our peanut friendly baker, Nicole Swanger from Lewistown, had helped once again with a fondant Scooby that was safe to touch the cake that I baked and iced for Joshua.  Something tells me she might not take my calls from now on after constructing the Doc McStuffins figures and now Scooby.  But she does amazing work.  The rest of the house was decked with Scooby balloons, Scooby snacks and masks for the kids that looked like Scooby heads.  We had hot dogs (get it....hot DOGS) at Joshua's request and other snacks he helped to pick.  The best part was that he had his friends with him, and we had so many people there that mean the world to us to help us celebrate our sixth anniversary of becoming a family.  The kids had a ball, as usual, as there was much running and giggling and sugar consumed. 

 Earl's "cha-cha-cha's" always crack everyone up.  Joshua had so hoped he would sing them for him at his party.

Present time is always a highlight.  Lauren was a little concerned about not getting to open any presents until we gently reminded her of her Doc party just a few weeks ago where she was the only one getting any gifts.  I still don't think she was happy about it, but she was a pretty good sport.  They didn't start fighting over Joshua's new things until Saturday morning.

And this little troublemaker was content mostly to get into everything she wasn't supposed to--- like paper, things on the floor, Kinley's sippy cup and anything else that wasn't meant for her.  Story of our lives these days I guess.  I truly enjoyed seeing her and Kinley together.  There is something so special about those two girls--- I just hope they'll always enjoy each other the way Emily and I enjoy seeing them together.  I always wonder if our Moms felt that way about us when we were little.

I'll end with a few of my favorite things about Joshua...

• I love his creativity.  This child can turn a piece of paper and a pencil into a hundred different things.  He can also take a box of costume pieces and turn them into costuming for any character you can think of.  It's almost amazing to watch.
• I love his artistic abilities.  Some of his drawings are really good- and appear to be the work of someone much older than he is.
• I love his sweet heart.  Although Joshua is a strong willed child for sure, he also has a very soft heart for others.  He gets concerned about them and doesn't want anyone to feel left out or sad, and will do whatever he can do to help.  He'll often tell me about he plays with people at school, and he will do something that isn't his first choice just so the others can do what they want to do.
• I love how protective he is of his sisters.  He loves playing with Lauren, mostly when he can boss her around, but she plays willingly most of the time.  I love the tenderness I see in him when he is with Mara--- this sweet smile and the giggle when he sees her smile back at him.
• I love to see his mind at work.  I still stand by my prediction that he will be an engineer or something that requires him to really use his brain to organize things.  He is always thinking in terms of charts and rules and ways to keep things orderly.  He maintains that his goal is to one day be the President of the United States.  And there is no doubt he could be if he keeps his focus the way it is now.  I just cannot wait to see what God has in store for his life.

We love you more every single day, Josh!  Happy Birthday, buddy!