Visit with Grandma

It has been a happy weekend around these parts. Grandma visited from Tennessee and we have been go go go since last Thursday.
She arrived Wednesday evening after a 3-week-long countdown from some eager little boys. Poppy must've smelled the cookies because there was no hesitation when she went right to her. On the couch, she got right up in Grandma's face and said, "Mamawww!" She's been calling her that ever since! Hilarious.

Thursday morning we loaded up the car with floaties and buckets, picnic lunches, towels, an umbrella, and a roller cart. Everyone slipped in their suits and sunscreened up and we were on our way!
We spent the day at Tybee Island, swimming, sunning, and building sandcastles. When babies were tired, sandy, and brown enough we headed home for ice cream.

Friday showers brought us to the mall for playtime at the soft area and a ride on the carousel. Then we stopped by Target for school supplies and brand new backpacks for my big school boys.

Saturday we went to Forsyth Park downtown to play at the splash park.

And run around on the playground.

The farmer's market was still going on, so we checked it out and picked up some frozen fruit pops and peaches. We lucked out on our timing. As soon as we got back home it started pouring.

Mamaw kept the babies Saturday night so Jason and I could go on a date to celebrate our anniversary. We went downtown and ate at Moon River Brewery. We walked a few blocks over to Lulu's Chocolate Bar for some amazing dessert--Jason had a B-25 coffee (kind of like a loaded Irish coffee) and I had a chocolate-covered-cherry martini (fabulous!) and we split a Milkyway cheesecake. After we walked around a little, enjoying Savannah at night and burning off a fraction of that cheesecake, we headed to the movie theater to see "Grown Ups 2". When we got home, everyone was out. All the pizza and "Lady & the Tramp" must have had them beat. 

Sunday we planned to go back to the beach to tour the lighthouse, but got rained out. We took the boys to get their hair cut instead.

Last night while the boys were supposed to be sleeping, I found James wide eyed in his bed staring at the ceiling fan. He said, "Tomorrow's going to be a saaaad day."

Today's the sad day.

James has been moping and frowning since he woke up, knowing that it was good-bye day. 

Poppy's called for "Mamaw" a few times.

Riley's just aggravating his siblings with the occasional, sad, "I miss grandma."

These days are always hard, reminding us how far we are from family.

So I just try to remind them of all the fun things we did and that it won't be long till we'll visit again.

And when all else fails, 

there are cookies.

Where did you get that crayon?

Crayons are the bane of my existence.
You would think with my long-time history of art appreciation that I would love them. That I would adore seeing precious masterpieces that my children create. That I would adore the creative nurturing they provide as a first medium for tiny fingers.
Don't get me wrong--I love that my children share my love for all things colorful and crafty. I love seeing the [millions] of Optimus Prime pictures James draws and the accidental letters and lines Riley scribbles out. I love that Poppy can sit quietly for an eternity with the broken waxy pieces she sneaks away from the boys, proud of little marks that come out on the paper.
But I freaking hate crayons right now.

First of all, they reproduce.

Literally.

One minute there's a manageable box of six crayons, wrapped in paper so as not to make huge unsightly marks on whatever they fall or get stepped onto.

Then all of a sudden the kids realize they can rip that obstructive, protective layer off and delight in their "nakey" crayons.

As if life couldn't get any better than naked crayons, they discover the power of breaking them.

Yes, you now have a million crayons! 

Epiphany!!!

I can only imagine they feel like Jesus and the loaves.

Now EVERYBODY can have crayons!! We don't have to fight over who gets blue or who gets orange or who gets stuck with the unwanted pink crayons!

Only they still fight. 

Over whose crayon piece is bigger.

I'm constantly stooping to pick up broken pieces, carefully trying not to smudge it into the damn carpet (inevitable) because my iron-clad law about "crayons stay in the kitchen, on the table, out of reach until supervised" pretty much got crapped on. Just when I think I've picked up all the pieces of what used to be six crayons, I trip over another. Or find them in the couch cushions. Or bedsheets. I should probably change the blog to "wheredidyougetthatexpletivecrayon.com"

I also have a rule about "crayons only go on designated sheets of paper or coloring books"...

This is my fireplace.

It is blue.

It wasn't always blue.

I rest my case.

If I try to hide the crayons, in a bag of course to keep them all in one spot, my squirrel children start hoarding them. James sneaks a few into his lunchbox/shoebox/purse/backpack/whatever he's keeping his toys in for the week. Riley probably buries them into the carpet. 

When you google "how to get friggen crayon out of everything", e-how articles come up with some really great tips. Like: Place a paper grocery sack over the stain and on a low-setting melt all the crayon onto the bag. Then use dry cleaning solution, blot, WD-40, blot, soak your carpet with water, blot, dish detergent, blot, water, blot. Dance in a circle. Blot blot blot blot blot.

Listen e-how, I don't have time to blot the crap out of my carpet. And I don't know who has dry cleaning solution just lying around their house.

So here are my tips for getting crayon out of your house:

Don't buy them.

Don't let anyone else bring them in your house.

Pour lighter fluid on said stain, and set it on fire.

Drink some wine. The stain will look blurrier and less noticeable.

Get rainbow colored carpet installed.

Start coloring it yourself. It'll look less fun to the kids.

And finally, just screw it. You won't be tripping over crayons forever. At least it's only crayon wax you're scrubbing and not bodily fluids. 

Unless, like me, you're also cleaning those up too.

Summer bucket list

I imagined what it would be like. This last summer before Kindergarten. Before "real" school starts up and we're ball-and-chained to the calendar. Where my #1 will be gone all day long and the evenings will be a blur of homework, boy scouts, sports, clubs, dinner and bedtime routine rushes.
Now it is here and I'm not real sure how that happened. It's painfully, awfully, cliche-fully (is that a word? it should definitely be a word..) true when they say "the days are long, but the years are short".
So like most moms in this age of blogging and Pinterest, I've constructed a mental bucketlist to accomplish this summer before all our time isn't ours anymore. Unfortunately since school starts suuuuuper early for this county, our summer is halfway over already. I have to figure out some balance between forcing fun and making the most of it.
We've checked a few off our list already:

Picking berries with friends at the local farm.

The heat was a little too much by the end...

We followed up with Monsters University at the movie theater (Poppy's first!).

We've painted and muddied up in the backyard.

We've picnicked and built sandcastles at the beach, visited with family and friends, been to the pool, had ice cream playdates, played and had a nature scavenger hunt at the park.

We've visited the library and downtown Savannah. Planted our own veggies and fruits.

Read stories, sang silly songs, practiced our abc's and counting and writing.

We've built with legos and watched hours upon hours of Transformers.

We've roasted s'mores, flown the kite, and had watergun fights.

Still to do:

see a movie at the drive-in 

go to the farmer's market

find another whole sandollar

watch the fireworks

"camp out" in the backyard

go to the Jacksonville Zoo

take a day trip/weekend to Charleston, Hilton Head or Jeckyll Island

go to storytime at the library

catch lightening bugs

 go fishing

try alligator (our shrimp shack sells it 10.99/lb!

throw an ice cream sundae party

go bowling

visit the art museum

 put the boys in swim lessons

make giant bubbles

go to a fair

visit a lighthouse

put up a clothesline

have a waterballoon fight

put the boys in VBS

harvest from our mini-garden

watch the sunrise, maybe on the beach?

feed the ducks

go canoeing/kayaking

visit a civil war battlefield

go hiking

maybe horseback riding?

 do one-on-one parent/child dates (like my mother's day date with James a year ago)

paint a chalkboard wall and build a lego table for the playroom

and my own personal two:

finish 5 books

run 8 miles again. Maybe 10! 

Summertime happenings

Summer has arrived in Coastal Georgia! It feels almost like its been here since we moved back in February, but now we're getting to experience those super fun storms, mosquitoes, scorching heat, smothering humidity, and abundance of fast-growing weeds. It's not so bad though. I'd rather take all that than snow!

So much has happened these last few months! 

We bought a house! And moved again, after only 3 months. Our shortest dwell time in one house--which is saying a lot considering this is the 8th house we've lived in in the 6 (almost) years we've been married.

We got a niece! Sophia Marie Page was born June 11. I'm an aunt!!

James went to Kindergarten Orientation. My big boy is going to be a SCHOOL kid in 2 months! He was so excited to tour all the classrooms, cafeteria, playgrounds, computer centers, music and art rooms. He was just upset that school didn't start that day! He misses his old pre-k class from Columbus so much. He asked me the other day, "Do you think they're praying for me?". Sweetness.

Jason got promoted! He's worked (working!) so hard to get where he is. His online classes have started this month, so he's busting his butt on those, plus taking on a million different tasks at work. I'm so proud of him!

Popsicle has pigtails. Her hair is long enough now to pull back. She's a mess, all girl. She 'dresses up' in my closet, fights with her brothers, is saying more words, showing interest in using the potty (what??), knows how to use the boys' leap-pads. I'm just trying to keep up!

Right before we moved, my folks came down from Tennessee to explore Savannah with us. We ate at Paula's (meh), played outside, bought fresh shrimp, and they got to do the walk through of the new house and get a glimpse of it.
Granny and Kelly came right after to help us move in and unpack. We took a few fun breaks to go to the pool and beach.

The boys also spent a week in Tennessee at "grandma camp", that they just came home from yesterday. It was super quiet in this house without those wild ones running around and they are making up for lost time. It was a good reset for all of us, giving them a change of scenery and giving us a chance to get more unpacking/painting/settling done. Poppy was a little lost without her big brothers. She kept wandering into their room and climbing up onto their beds, snuggling into batman pillows.

For Grandaddy: your girl knows how to hold a gun. She had this watergun, making appropriate sound effects and holding it correctly.

We also found a WONDERFUL church. We found it by chance after our preacher back in Columbus mentioned a church in the Savannah area. We started going to Gateway the Sunday after Easter and never looked back. We officially joined a week and a half ago.

It's been a wild year! 

One year

It's been a busy time. Moving. Traveling. Unpacking. Visitors. More traveling. Planning yet another move--albeit only a short one--and we haven't had time to spit. Military life with three kids doesn't exactly include a lot of down time, but it's definitely been one of those way crazier than usual times.
In the middle of all this chaos, Poppy had a birthday! Yep, my sweet girl is in toddler territory now. A year old.
She's eating table food entirely now and finally chunking up a little. We haven't even set up our medical care here yet, so we'll still have to wait to see how much she weighs now, but the bathroom scale is reading about 18lbs. She loves peaches and yogurt, bananas, strawberries (she even picked some herself when we went to a local u-pick farm here). She's finally eating some meat, but she still prefers her carbs--pasta, potatoes, bread--she eats her weight in those!
She's wearing the same 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers. Drinking like a champ from her sippy cup. She's starting some whole milk, but prefers the mom-made stuff. We're heading into weaning territory some days and others she's still jumping down my shirt.
She's talking, a few words anyway. She says bubba (brother), bye, hey, uh oh, dada, mama, nena, James, baby. She gives kisses and hugs if you ask for them, waves goodbye, blows kisses. She can pet the puppy (gently..mostly). She can also wrestle with and attack her brother, while growling (poor Riley takes most of the heat).
She's hilarious. She makes car sounds and growls and grunts, keeping up with her brothers. Where they go running, she's following loudly behind. She loves dancing and breaks it down whenever she hears a happy song. Her brothers love her so much. When we went to the beach Riley jumped around blocking her like a basketball player "so she won't go too close to the water". At the Easter egg hunt we went to today, when she only found one egg, both boys gave her one of theirs to put in her Easter basket.
She loves being the center of attention. And if I'm holding Riley or James is in my lap she comes right over and starts whining.
She loves socks and underwear. Seriously. My weird little child digs through piles of laundry (clean or dirty) , pulls them out and put them on her head or wears the socks as a scarf/shawl around the back of her neck. It's equally gross and hilarious.
She's still a water baby. Loves the beach. Didn't even fuss at the freezing ocean water washing over her toes or when a wave knocked her down in it (came out of nowhere!).
She's a great sleeper, down to only one nap a day (I really miss that second nap), usually from 11-1. It kind of sucks because the boys nap at 2 in the afternoon so I'm trying to work some merging naptimes magic. Some days it works, some not so much. But with the huge backyard here I can send the boys out to play while she's down, get some things done, and they're worn out by the afternoon and I get one on one time with her.
She's been adjusting really well to the constant wrench thrown into our routine. Made to be an army brat, just like the other two.
It's amazing how fast time has sped this last year. How much she's grown. How much they've all grown.
Happy (belated) birthday Poppy Jane. We love you so much.

11 months

I'd intended for the first post of the year to be along the lines of new year goals or a recap of Christmas or 2012 in general. As usual, I'm running behind. But starting out 2013 with a Poppy post makes up for that in my book.
We're one month out from the big YEAR mark. Less than a month, even! How can that be possible?? Wasn't it last week that I was waddling around, Jason having to help me in and out of my grey boots, mod podging letters, and freezer stocking meals? Wasn't it just yesterday that I brought her home, tan-orange with jaundice, exhausted, wrapped in those tiny swaddling blankets? Wasn't it just this morning that she laid in our bed, the only place she'd sleep, propped up on the boppy pillow, snug in her tiny practically-doll-sized clothes??
Then how is it possible that I have a walking (running!), talking (jabbering), lasagna-eating, brother-wrestling, laughing, playing, 17 pound, almost 1year old toddler on my hands??
Bananas. Just bananas.
The past year is a rug pulled out beneath me.
Despite my best conscious efforts to savor each moment of babyhood, time has moved at record speed. I blinked.
I'm in awe at how fast my sweet baby has grown in such a short time. Somehow between children I forget how fast it moves. It's like childbirth amnesia.
Sweet girl is up to 17.1 lbs this month at her weight check. Doctor was happy enough to get off my back about it. He said he didn't know what happened between her 6 and 9 month check ups to halt her weight gain. I do. She freaking started walking at EIGHT months! Where's the chart to compare her to other super marathon babies?
Ultimately I'm relieved that I don't have to keep stuffing her full of melted butter and shortening slathered sandwiches to make weight. [disclaimer: I did not really feed her that to make her gain weight. She genuinely liked the flavor. Kidding. I fattened her up with a healthy diet of baby cereal and ice cream.]
She's still in size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes.
She is getting better about the sep anxiety, but still wants her mama when she doesn't feel good. She's a daddy's girl, especially when she wants something.
Sleeps great (knock on wood), naps most mornings and in the afternoon with the boys. She's the only one of my babies who does two naps a day, so it's going to be really hard to adjust to only one when the time comes.
She's decked out in valentine's garb--girlfriend has her own holiday! Since we're moving right before her birthday and in the middle of v-day itself, we're trying to celebrate as much as we can now. We'll celebrate something small for a "party" (brunch?) and let the kids put together valentine crafts, eat cupcakes.
I find myself looking through all the pictures I've taken over the last year; round belly, growing by the week. Tiny, wrinkled face, new to the brightness of the world, swaddled in muslin. Sleeping baby on daddy's chest, progressively running out of room. Crying faces. Beach baby. Multitudes of dresses and girly ensembles and hair accessories. First bites of food, brother-hugs, big grins. I'm nostalgic this last month. These lasts breaths of babyhood. I know what's ahead. Beautiful things. Growing, experiences, personality, exploring, learning. But also the loneliness of searching for that feeling. The feeling of a tiny baby growing inside me. Warm baby snuggled into my arms, face snuggled into my neck. Firsts. There will be more firsts, but these firsts of the first year are nearly over. I'm afraid I will forget things. I know I will. And when I read back over them it will take me back. To a place I miss. And I'll wonder what else I've forgotten, what I didn't write down, what's lost forever. Sometimes if I fold a blanket or drape a burp cloth over my shoulder, it takes me back. It'll have to do.
I want to bottle it up, this time. This tiny little peanut of a girl.

10 months

I remember thinking last Christmas: next year I'll have a 5 year old, 3 year old, and a ten month old. I assumed she'd be walking, more of a toddler than baby at this point (I was very right). It seemed such a crazy thought. Three kids. Wow.
Now a year has passed. Flown actually. We're not yet in a new house at a new duty station, we're visiting Texas, and three kids wasn't quite a 180 degree experience like I'd anticipated. It's definitely crazy. But manageable.
Poppy is running. She has aced the walking stage. She is chatty, scrunched up her nose when she's happy or likes something. She is sleeping a ton. She had her very first airplane ride this past week and while she flew like a champ just like her brothers and daddy always have, it messed up her sleeping schedule between the excitement and 3:30 am wake up. I hope she flies as well on the trip home this week.
Poppy is freaked out by toy monkeys (wonder where she gets that from...), scared of long nosed animals, barking dogs, and loud noises. She loves waving like miss america, quiet dogs, tree ornaments, her brothers, uncles, grandparents, anything she's not supposed to touch, napping, ice cream and ambrosia, playing peekaboo, clapping, windows, and storytime. She's wearing 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers, chunking up a little since her doctor fussed at me about her weight. She's petite but getting long. Her hair is getting longer, too. She's in the separation anxiety stage now where most of the time she just wants mama. I love being the center of her world. She's so independent like James was that I'll take whatever rare moments that come where she actually wants me. She's usually off exploring and busy keeping up with her brothers. She got her first baby doll for Christmas. It was our first real girl toy experience for her. Next Christmas I know our house will be littered with pink stuff. It's still kind of weird to make the transition into the girl world.
There have been lots of firsts this month. And this year! It blows my mind that 2012 is over already. It has been arguably our best year yet. Happy 10 months Poppy love, and here's to a new year!