Jack loves to talk!

so this is a little clip of jack at his finest, of course, i didnt have enough light on...but you can hear him talking. he is such a happy baby. he loves attention and smiles, giggles and coos all the time. he is staying awaks for longer now between naps, not sleeping much more at night......think we got another eli on our hands, not one for sleep.
everybody else is doing their usual. cope is swimming, well pretending to swim. he is the laziest swimmer now. he just takes a free ride from the instructor and smiles. not much kicking or arm action going on. but he has fun.
we have our first case of pink eye in the house! YUCK!!! we are all keeping our distance from eil, we dont even want him breathing on us. its funny how the thought of pink eye will make your eyes water and itch. heres hoping we keep it contained and there are no major outbreaks inthe house!
jeff is doing great in school, we are happy to know he will have his BS in the fall and continue on to get his masters the following year in environmental management, he really enjoys it. we have also found out that he is going into remission with his RA (rhuematoid arthritis). for those who are unaware, jeff became very ill when we moved back to SC. he was having terrible night sweats, constant fevers and so swollen in all his joints, he couldnt straighten or fully bend any of his joints. he was in constant pain and very unhappy and uncomfortable. but as of today he is cutting back on his self injected medicine and we have high hopes when he returns for a check up, his bloodwork will have great results! YAY

video crazy!!

so my sister jennifer had mention making some videos for my blog and honestly i had never really thought to do it. so i go to make a few of the kids last night and they went wild!! we must have made about 30 videos between them all. so i have tried to pick the best ones out for your viewing enjoyment...they are short clips, but there are three different ones, but i do have three kids so its only fair they each get to shine! i asked them to do their best tricks, what they would want people to see them doing on the computer and this is what i got: (now i know you need really good lighting to get a good video and you cant hold the camera side ways :-))

well i got the wrong one of jack posted, but its is still cute! i dont have time to correct the issue, i will deal with it later :)

Saturday Fun!!!

its was saturday and we needed something to do, besides play cars and trucks and trains....and kitties and house and all those things we do ALL the time....lets ge tout of the house! so we took our first mini road trip with all three monsters :-D. we drove to columbia, we went to the zoo! of course it was fun, it always is-gotta love the zoo pass! jack wore his super cute hat, courtesy of aunt jenny and william-with the alligators in spirit of the zoo! we all had super fun and it was great to get out of the house! ( but two kids talking is a lot to listen to for an hour and a half, it used to be hard to listen to eli, now its eli and cope, somethimes in synch sometimes not, sometimes just talking right over each other, sometimes a conversation...at some points one was crying while one was singing...then they would would switch....but of course once jack started to cry....they were both happy and loud and couldnt stop laughing and waking him up....i can only imagine what it will be like with three kids talking)

BubbleTime!

Jack has had his official first big boy bath! and of course he loved it, he laughed he cooed and he smiled! he got washed several times...once by mommy, big brother, and middle brother (daddy passed on it until next time, figured he had enough!) so kelly, jeffs sister, gave us this wash cloth called a bath luve and it is soooo neat. its designed to drape over baby and keep him warm while you are washing him, its like a big wash cloth, so it holds warm water and keeps the cold air off...he seems to enjoy it and it does keep him warmer than nothing....so thanks kelly!

A Quick Summary

its wednesday, its rainy, its cold and we are keeping eli home from school today! nothing like a little hookie with your kids to brighten your day :-) i dont have alot of time to update this but i will do what i can with the time allotted to me! jack is sleeping, again. and the boys have wandered into the playroom on some adventure, i am sure it will end in about 15 minutes. i wanted to give a quick update for those who do keep up with our blog! its not as exciting as some peoples, but i am doing the best i can! short and sweet, thats about all i can handle for now! so here we go....


cookie decorating



i made these for eli's school party, just how he wanted them, green with 4 marshmellows


Child #1
so my first born has turned four! amazing, its been four years. how incredible it is to watch a person grow and develop into a self sufficient person. so independent, so opinionated, so big! we had his party here at the house, the weather was beautiful! all his friends came over to play and got to run wild in the back yard! the boys decorated the cake, which is obvious! my sister gave me the idea, we went to costco and bought a plain white sheet cake with no decor on it...filled with chocolate cake and strawberry mousse inside! i made butter cream icing and colored some for both the kids, made little baggies and let them go at it! they had so much fun! at the party i made sugar cookies for each kid, had a few cups of icing with sticks to spread, some sprinkles of all sorts and the kids decorated their cookies- took them home in a box i made for them with their names on it (also an idea from my sister) we all had a blast. then we went to get pizza afterwards with the families that could still hang :-)
the car you see was jeffs contribution. he made it out of cardboard and spray painted it, so the kids could pretend to drive it and take pictures (eli got a new camera) it was fun and went with the "cars" theme to his party! its fun to see them grow into holidays, eli is actually very aware of what is going on with holidays and birthdays now, he is not just going with it...he knows whats up!




The Middle Child
So Cope is Cope...always will be. so carefree, so free spirited! not much to worry about in his life! doesnt mind jack, always eli's shadow! Well these days he is in swim class, twice a week i take him to mr.brantley! he also taught eli how to be a little fish last summer. well cope is in the three year old class and he is handling it like a champ, i tell you i think he swims better than some of the three years olds-but i am also his mom :-) he is jumping in by himself and going under water and he even swims around with his noodle kicking his legs and pulling with his arms! i am very proud of him, he will be ready for summer before it gets here!







CHILD #3
Jack is officially 7 weeks old today!!! jack officially has his first cold and it is very sad! i dont like when little babies have stuffy noses!! but beyond that he is great! when we took him at 5 weeks for a well baby visit, he was 9lbs, 8.5 oz and grew two inches taller. which is great because he had dropped to 8lbs 8oz by week two.....so we were very happy to see some weight gain.
he has officially made eye contact and given me his first smile and now he cant stop smiling and laughing, he has started to coo and make sweet little baby noises at us when we talk to him! he loves attention, of course what baby doesnt! he spends some time on his tummy and it makes him happy, he is trying more and more to control that big bean of his. he is sleeping about 4 hours at night, eating then going back to sleep for three more hours....so not too many complaints, he fits right in with our happy boys! we just have to get him healthy now!

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!