Smack Down Time!!!

so we got some new furniture which was much needed, at least the new kitchen table definetly was!!!! its a butterfly leaf table, which is super fly. the picture is the table small and it will extend to hold up to 8 chairs, in a square shape. so when all of our many visitors are here, they do not have to eat on the floor :-) and the big fluffy blue chair is for me and jack to be in max comfort while doing what we do! and for the other two children to swing and turn and be crazy!

So eli has started taking pictures!excuse the fact that cope has on no pants, we are potty training and it does make life easier!


And our little Jack Jack....so sweet! he is getting bigger and older day by day and it makes me sad because i want him to stay small and tiny forever! he loves to lay in his crib and watch his mobile, he coos at his little animals, i think he enjoys the semi quiet, cant really blame him, maybe i should laying his crib from time to time!


So I have had to read my last blog a few times, to remember this is all worth it in the end and to remind me of the good days! we generally have good days in this house, but not this week. it is jeff's first full week back at work and i have been here to man the troops....i am not defeated, i will say that loud and clear, i just have to use every full effort that i have and every bit of energy i have to get the response and actions from my children that i expect...and will settle for no less!
i guess being at home with the children all the time, i have decided...well jeff and i both decided that we dont really stand for much crap, pardon my lack of words.
my children are not perfect by any means and we all have our faults, but i know at the end of the day that jeff and i have tried our absolute hardest to do right by our kids and try to teach them the ways of the world in an appropriate manner so that may survive. we expect them to use their manners and have respect for themselves and for each other. to treat people with kindness and to know that sharing and caring makes the world go round, blah blah blah. it may seem like a lot at their age, but we do make it age appropriate, were not crazy mean...but we do set a standard for our children that we expect them to try and reach.
well let me tell you....all hell broke lose this week. i dont know what has happened (well really i do) but they have joined forces against me. they have realized as two they can cause more destruction and damage, be crazier and wilder and make my eyes pop out or my head explode. as two they are almost unstoppable. it went on for about 48 hours and i say no more!
we have the smack down on the children this weekend! we are taking back over our house, i will not be run over by little people who are almost 4 and 2....even though some people reading this have no idea what powerful ages these are....so beware!
other than almost shipping our children off to boarding school, everyone is great! Cope is potty training which is just great on top of all the other things! Jack is becoming more alert and awake, he is cooing at things and starting to smile! The boys do love him so much and hold him and kiss him! We are slowly starting to fall into a schedule.....so i guess when i name the good things instead of the bad, things are going to be alright!

Life with three kids.....

Its amazing to me the phone calls that i have received wanting to know, what its like to have three kids.....is it different? is it so hard? what do you do? how do manage three at once?
its really not that different....i am not saying its a walk in the park, but its just happens....you just take care of them and either its a smooth day and everyone is in sync or its chaotic and everyone is out of wack!
we had our first trip to walmart on friday, just me and the boys(it took us 2 1/2 hours). so many people said why would you do that to yourself? i thought it was fun, i thought of it as an adventure, it was almost like preparing for battle. i had a master plan, i had things to bribe the children, i had things to make it fun and i had good rewards for good behavior....it worked (that time at least).
this is my life right now and will be for some time.this is what i do. i take on the challenge of three kids everyday of my life from now on. i wouldnt change it for anything. i love it. its what i do. i stay at home with my kids, everyday of my life....all day long (for the most part).
jeff does allow me to escape from time to time alone :-) sometimes i look forward to doctor appointments! but thats me and i love it. i love having three and the challenge of balancing them out, keeping them all happy, keeping boosted spirits, keeping us all running like a machine everyday.knowing what makes each one of them feel special and loved, knowing what their favorite something is or what they dont like.
people have asked if we were worried about attention for one child over the other, the jealousy, loving them all the same or spending enough time with them each. i have wondered that myself, with each pregnancy....will we be able to work this?
i couldnt love each one of my children more....i have so much love for them its amazing that one can feel so much emotion. and the emotion i feel for each one of them is so different, but no more for one than the other. i love them all equally, but definetly for different reasons and i find it amazing that as one person i can discover that about another person....let alone three of them plus jeff!!!
life is good to us, and jeff and i couldnt be more thankful. everyone scared me alittle with the phone calls wanting to know if i was ok or if i was nervous for jeff to go back to work...what was i going to do with three kids.
well i tell you what, we do what we always do. we are loving what we do. i love being a stay at home mom, getting this time with my kids that will not be here forever. but it will forever be in my heart and my memories that i spent all the crazy chaotic days with them....and i love every minute of it!

one week old!

i can not even believe he will be one week old tomorrow!its unbelievable, the time is going so fast. he is doing really well adjusting to the chaos in our house. he sleeps right through it all actually. the kids just play like usual and run around him screaming and laughing, it doesnt even phase him! we have had several good nites in a row, i hope this means he is a good sleeper!we go for his check up tomorrow...its always fun to see how much they have grown!

Oh yea...christmas...

so christmas has come and gone....and it was wonderful! this is such a fun age to introduce santa and reindeers...all the fun stories and lots of questions! we waited and waited on christmas, it was hard because we thought that Jack would make his appearance.
.so as the days counted down...no jack. we were full of emotions, excited for christmas, anxious for waiting on jack and worried about all the planning. what if he comes christmas eve?what about santa?what about the toys?we dont want o miss out.what if there are people staying at the house?what if everybody is out of town?what about the kids?what ifthey wake up?the questions and worry were endless.....
but christmas eve day came and we were hit with something we didnt expect or plan...eli got a stomach bug.he was so sick to his stomach, it was sad. then we thought oh great now we are all going to get it. he was sad and pitiful.
then we were all sad because we were not going to see everybody and it was all going to get shifted to another day.....and it wasnt even because of jack! we survived, it passed. we were all healthy on christmas! we did santa gifts and the cookies were gone, he left a note. the boys loved opening presents, they were a little overwhelmed. we went to papas house and saw aunt jenny and uncle chad! we got to see cute cute baby william, wish it was for longer!
we made it through christmas and eli said "mommy where is baby jack, you said he would be here for christmas"?
then friday came...it was midnight and it hit like a ton of bricks. me and cope had the bug at one time....poor jeff. poor cope. poor me. poor jack. it was sad. but we survived!
then came sunday and eli said me throat hurts. you have got to be kidding me right? went to the doctor....thankfully she wrote a prescription all around for family....it was strep. it was contagious.
then poor jeff said, i dont feel so good. you have got to be kidding me. poor poor jeff.bhad the stomach bug but he survived. i am glad that jack was not here for christmas!
believe it or not we had a great christmas! eli got his first big wheel from santa...and a shaving kit. which is a big deal....because daddy is always shaving! he loves his big wheel. it makes his shins sore, must be hard work!
cope got a shopping buggy he can push around the house, which is the coolest! he got lots of new kitchen stuff to cook and make. the list goes on and on of stuff they got.....
we had a very blessed christmas and are all very thankful......especially now that jack is here and we are all healthy!

bringing in the new year!!!!

officially on december 31 2008 Jack Daeland Coyle was born at 4:24 pm at greenville memorial hospital! we were admitted to the hospital that morning, scheduled to induce and 8 hours later, he was here!!! this is my third child now and you would think it would get easier with every one you have....not true! this was the hardest pregnancy and the hardest labor that i have experienced by far! it was worth every bit of it because he is the sweetest baby! he is so content with the world. he fits into our family as if he has been here the whole time. he has no complaints.his big brother eli loves him so much! he just cant get enough of him, he is always holding him and talking to him, he likes to play with his little fingers! jack is so lucky to have two such wonderful brothers (cope is starting to come around to the idea of a baby)! i cant get enough of him either. i am trying to enjoy every single minute of him being a baby because i know when its gone....its gone. there are no more babies in store for us, we are done. i feel complete with my boys! i love them all so much and in so many different ways its almost hard to imagine possible! but they are what i want and all i need. there will be no trying for a girl like everyone suggests or going for that fourth. i am content with my three boys!
everything is settling down here at the house. jeff has a few more days off and then the true test of time, when i have all three kids.....by myself! i am sure we will do great though.i am not too worried about it, i think every body else is more worried than i am.
i do like that we are getting all sorts of food brought to us. it is really nice, not to have to cook and worry about all the things that go with making dinner...the shopping the planning...all that mess! it is really nice. so far so good. i just wanted to get some pictures up. he is 5 days old already and it blows my mind!!! already 5 days old!i want it to slow down, but i know it is only about to start speeding up....