Mama of three

So long no post and I'm sorry for that! But....life at our house has changed some! I wouldn't say a whole super lot (although my husband may disagree!) but it has definitely changed! We are finding our new normal.

The boys are loving baby girl - and I'm not being dramatic when I say almost annoyingly so!!! We've had to have a lot of talks about your "personal" space which is usually MY personal space since I'm holding baby girl all the time. They can't stop kissing her, holding her hand and little man even likes to squeeze her cheeks together - we had a talk about that one too! It went something like this "you can do that to mommy but not to baby girl, okay?" I love that they love her. There is nothing I want more in this world than my kids to grow up being close to one another. I will measure a big part of my success of parenting on this one goal. Right now we seem to be headed in the right direction.

Baby girl is growing so fast I can't seem to keep up! She slept through the night last night for the first time! At 5 weeks she's weeks ahead of her brothers who I thought slept really early! Every mom knows how this makes you feel - like a new person. You can actually feel yourself coming out of the fogginess and haze. Six weeks is magical and we'll celebrate that on Friday.

There are some things I've learned as a mom of three! For one, I never seem to have the right stroller! With the first child I had the entire system with the base, car seat and stroller. But then I felt I needed a small "umbrella" type stroller so I have that but I also needed the jog stroller, right? For all that jogging I do!!! Well, when the second one came along - I knew I needed a double stroller so I got one of those and the wheel kept coming off....(a whole other story for a different day) and someone gave us a double JOGGING stroller - again for all the jogging I do....Now with # 3, none of these strollers seemed to work for me. And I was seriously scared to mention to my husband that we needed yet another stroller! (Considering we still have all the others!) BUT....the dilemma was this - the first stroller "system" that we had was still great but the carseat (evenflo) that went with it had expired. I'm sure it would've been fine to use but my friend gave me her newer car seat and base (graco) which would no longer fit my existing stroller "system". So I bought a snap and go stroller for the new car seat. It's exhausting even just explaining that!

Secondly, the kids have got to start doing more for themselves. I haven't really figured this one out yet but am trying! They seem to all need you at the same time. And I realize now how some boys (NOT ALL!!!! NOTICE I SAID SOME!) will grow up wanting their wives to do everything because that's what their moms did!!! Well, I'm determined not to be one of those moms! But with that being said, numero uno can totally dress himself but if I'll do it - he will totally let me! Let's start raising some independant men, right? Velcro shoes really help out in this scenario! I highly recommend them for anyone with more than one kid!

Lastly, you lose your train of thought every five minutes. Your sole purpose on this earth at every moment is to take care of your three (or more) children. Are they dressed, have they been fed, are they buckled for crying out loud? It's not a good morning when your two year old is crying as you pull out of the driveway saying "mommy, i'm not buckled!!" oops! So what I've learned with this is to surround yourself with people that understand - and other moms definitely do! They will keep you sane. Well, I take that back - they'll do their best!

Oh....and here are some pics of baby girl (taken by Carrie Tabb) Could you not just eat her up?

Valentine Goodies!

Valentines Day is upon us and while I'm not a huge Valentines person (I actually think it's the most ridiculous holiday of all!) I still LOVE dressing up my kids, creating little valentines for their friends and letting them know how much mommy loves them!

I have the perfect valentines to add a little "love" to the originals - you know the ones that you buy at the drug store with your child's favorite character on them? This year - do something different, something creative! Send your loved one to school with something personalized from them! This is something that are not only great for valentine parties but also precious for grandparents, babysitters & those special neighbors!

Also, for those of you that are room moms (God bless 'ya!), here is a great party favor for those valentines parties! They are goodie bags that you can personalize any way you want at the top and fill with all the sweets it can hold! I have done these for preschool classes, graduation parties and birthdays and they are always a big hit!

And lastly but certainly not least! Sweet Pea Designs is offering a Twice as Nice Sale! Order 25 or more notes or folded notes and get an equal amount in addition for FREE! Or order a bag tag or bookmark and get a second identical bag tag or bookmark for FREE! This is a great gift for your valentines!!! Sale ends February 15 so check out my website before then!

http://noteworthystyle.myspstore.com/content/002_twiceasnicesale.asp

So here's to a happy and successful Valentines Day! Don't miss the opportunity to show your "love" this year!

New

"It's a girl.....

a little beauty, an angel,

and I'm madly in love with her." - Henry Miller

Being that we had the two boys first, we have SO enjoyed welcoming this precious little girl into our family! She has easily settled into her place as our "caboose" and with her arrival we now feel that our family is complete!

We have enjoyed every minute of getting to know her and the boys have been doing ALOT of sitting and staring at her until we found out that little man had RSV. It wouldn't be a big deal for him except like having a cold but it became a big deal since he had a newborn sister at home. So we tried our BEST to keep the boys away from her. It was nearly impossible to keep the four year old away from her as he is obsessed with his baby sister! Plus, I wanted to express to the boys that they can love on their sister anytime and so having to keep them away was ver hard for me. Needless to say, she also caught the RSV virus and it just isn't right to hear a two week old with so much congestion! The doctors have assured me that she is breathing well and getting plenty of oxygen and will be fine. In the meantime, her daddy and I have been a nervous wreck! We are ready for her to get well!!!

We are starting to get on our routine so will promise to blog more often! Happy New Year everyone from our family of 5!