Hey Mom....Look what I can do..hehe

Yes, crawling for 10 days and then he starts pulling himself up!!! I couldn't resist the picture op when he was about to go take his bath. As long as he has something to hang on to, he can pull himself up and stay up for a while. He's still a little wobbly, but he knows what he is doing! Man, he surprises me every day! Not even 7 1/2 months and he is pulling himself up to standing position! He'll be walking before I am ready for him to be. He is trying so hard to keep up with his older siblings and do what they already do.....but I'm not ready for that! He's still my baby!

Am I REALLY that kind of Mom?

Before I was a mom, I SWORE I'd never let my kids sleep in my bed with me. I had heard horror stories of children still sleeping in their parents beds until they were practically teenagers. I SWORE I'd never throw over the top parties for my children. Who would go all out like that just for a party? It's just supposed to be cake and ice cream followed by the opening of gifts, right? I SWORE I'd never drive a minivan or a Suburban. Those were for rich soccer moms, or moms of too many kids to fit in a cool sports car, or moms who needed more room than a smaller SUV offered. I Said I'd never put my kids in a "Mother's Day Out" program. After all, isn't staying at home with your children supposed to mean your children STAY AT HOME with you? I SWORE I'd never be a PTO mom. Those were the moms who didn't have anything else to do and that will NEVER be me!

Amazing how life changes when you have children, huh?

I put Kaylee in our bed after our second day at home with her because I would get more sleep with her next to me than with her in her bassinet. I slept the first night with my hand on her chest to make sure she was breathing. Actually, I didn't sleep. I spent the night with my hand on her, but I couldn't close my eyes for fear that something would happen. So, she ended up in my bed. She stayed in our bed until she was almost 2. Then comes Brayden....he slept with us, when he slept. He had his days and nights mixed up at first so it was more of us sleeping and him laying there wide awake sucking on his pacifier, just staring at us waiting for us to open our eyes and look at him. But, if we put him in his crib, he would just cry, so we got more sleep with him in our bed. Kaylee would still occasionally crawl in our bed too because "she couldn't go to sleep in her own bed". Good thing we had an over sized King bed. Grayson slept with me for the first 6 months. he still spends more time in our bed than in his own, but he GOES to sleep in his bed. When he cries and whimpers, nothing calms him until he is right next to me, curled up, with his face in my chest. He HAS to smell me to fall back to sleep. I LOVE it! I love my babies sleeping next to me...just not my toddlers. I don't sleep with a toddler kicking me, tossing, turning, throwing up or pee-ing in my bed....you get the point. But my babies......I enjoy the cuddling time.

Now, to the over the top parties....Yep! That's me! I threw a bug party complete with a bug hunt. The kids made bug houses, searched for bugs, made "Don't Bug me" door hangers, we had bug theme food like ants on a log, bug punch, ants placed on the tablecloth, a bug cake...
We had a train party, complete with a ride along train that looked like Thomas. Each kid got a train conductor hat, train whistles, we had train shaped sandwiches, and a train cake.
We had a Cowboy party, complete with ponies to ride, and each child was given a cowboy hat and a red bandana to wear on their horse ride. We had a horseshoe cake, BBQ and the entire back yard was decorated in an old western town theme.

We had a Hannah Montana party. We had Hannah Montana playing on the radio the whole time. Kaylee was dressed in her best Hannah Montana costume. We had a Hannah Montana cake, party bags full of Hannah Montana goodies, I could go on and on. You get the point. I love throwing fun theme parties. I take a theme and run with it. I get creative, and make every detail go into matching the theme.

Mothers Day Out....Kaylee started going to when she was 3. She needed to be social with other people besides me. She needed to start learning new things and we don't work well together in a learning situation. Brayden and I needed some alone time, since Kaylee and I had some alone time before he was born. So, I enrolled her that year. She LOVED it! When Brayden turned 2, we were planning on baby #3, so I wanted to get him used to the idea of going to school. So, I enrolled him. He now LOVES going. I get some alone time with Grayson, and then I also get a few days of alone time with BOTH boys while Kaylee is at school the other 2 days. I get errands run quickly, I go to the gym, and I get to nap on some days when I have rough nights...(See above paragraph about the kids sleeping with me). So, Yep, I am THAT kind of mom too, apparently! Oh, and STAY at HOME mom.....ha!...I'm NEVER at home. I'm so busy running here and there that I never am home! I live in my car on Tuesday through Thursdays!

So, I sold my Yukon and bought this last week.....

Yep...it's a 2009 Chevy SUBURBAN!!! (but, it is the decked out version with all the bells and whistles, so that justifies it, right?)

I guess I AM that kind of mom, after all!!! And you know what??? I LOVE being THAT mom! Next task.....I'm gonna join the PTO!!!

Funny "Fraze" Friday ~Brayden Edition~

Brayden hurt his finger and when I asked him if he wanted me to kiss it better, he replied...
"No, it got all better by it's OHM (own)"

Brayden was eating stir fry and he picked out a piece of broccoli. Normally, we have cheese smothering our broccoli, but this time it looked different to him. He asked
"Mom, what is this tree?" When I replied that it was broccoli, he said "But why does it look like a tree? Is it made from trees? Can I eat the tree? MMM, this tree is good!"

Brayden was at school and is having a hard time sitting still during circle time. He IS 3, after all! We are trying and trying to work with him and get him to understand that he needs to participate and not disrupt class. Anyways, one day he was doing very well, and towards the end of circle time he got bored and started to get up. His teacher, Miss Kelly asked him why he doesn't sit still and he replied "Cuuzz........I don't"...gotta give the boy an "A" for honesty, right?

I asked Brayden to clean up the play room. He responded with..
"I'm little, I can't know how to"

When I put Brayden in his carseat, sometimes his pants will ride up and give him a wedgie. He says (more like whines) "Mommy, you gave me a butt-crack!"

Grayson is Crawling

Look Mommy, I Dressed Myself !!!

As if you couldn't guess.....


For most people, this would not be a hard task. Heck, for most 5 yr olds, this is not a hard task. But, my completely helpless 5, almost 6 yr old still cannot (actually more like refuses to) dress herself. She always has something to complain about. It makes me look like a boy, it's too tight, it doesn't match (HA!), it's itchy,etc.... So, we have decided to let her dress herself in whatever her little heart desires.....if it's not a school day or a church day. (So basically on Saturdays....) This is what we get.....oh lord, help us all! Project Runway....here she comes!!!!

I zoomed in on the shoes and pants so you could see exactly what her sense of style consists of.....yep...... Camo Shoes!!!..... Mixed with floral pants!!! Quite the combo, huh???

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Years from Houston...well, close to it anyways. I am eager to see what 2009 can bring for us. I am excited to start the new year off with a new President, Barack Obama. I can't wait to see what kind of "changes" we are in for. Hopefully this economic slump we are in will start to improve a little bit.

I'm ready to start off the year with 3 healthy children and a healthy husband! Hopefully we will finally get over all this sickness we are fighting right now.

I'm ready to tackle my New Years Resolutions. I've never made New Years Resolutions before. Mostly because deep down, I knew I'd never be able to keep them. I don't ever make the same old lose weight, stop smoking, start eating right resolutions....those are already my lifestyle changes I've made before. But, I figured I would post them here so you all can help hold me accountable for them. So, here goes:

I decided I would make 3 resolutions this year to benefit my entire family. My resolution for Chris' benefit I would rather not post on here, but basically I decided that we need more "alone" time....like twice a week.....at minimum. Since we are trying to get the romance back, and concentrate on each other more, I figure it would be a good place to start.

The second one is for my children. My resolution is to take them to church as much as possible, find a new church home, and get them involved in a good children's church program. Since leaving our last church because of location and gas prices at the time being so sky high, we never really concentrated on finding something closer. We visited a few places but never made a solid decision where to go. This year, we are going to church, for the kids sake!

The third one is for me and only me! I am going to stop protecting everyone else's feelings and start protecting my own feelings. For my entire life, I've always worried about other peoples feelings, how they would react to things, not hurting people's feelings, not saying mean things....etc. Now, this does not mean that I am going to turn into super bitch.... nor does it mean that I have been completely innocent in this area in the past. I've made my fair share of rude remarks. It just means that I'm simply not going to put others feelings in front of my own. I have to learn how to say NO every once in a while, and learn that I can't please everyone. I have to please myself. I've been hurt recently by a few people and I've always let it slide or bury it under the rug. Well, not anymore. I can't keep ignoring my own feelings just to satisfy others. I have to start protecting myself and this means that I will be making changes and changing my priorities around this year.

So, there you have it... those are my 3 New Years Resolutions....stated out loud.....for everyone to read.....and hold me accountable for. I believe I can do it....and Chris hopes that I can keep them up....especially the one for him...... (wink, wink)