My 12 Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas (of a mom to three)
by, Yours Truly

On the first day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the second day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the third day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the fourth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the fifth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the sixth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the seventh day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the eighth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, eight screams and cries, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the ninth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, nine "I'm telling Mommy"s, eight screams and cries, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the tenth day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, ten temper tantrums, nine "I'm telling Mommy"s, eight screams and cries, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my kiddos gave to me, eleven "I don't want to"s, ten temper tantrums, nine "I'm telling Mommy"s, eight screams and cries, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my kiddos gave me to, twelve nervous breakdowns, eleven "I don't want to"s, ten temper tantrums, nine "I'm telling Mommy"s, eight screams and cries, seven signs of sickness, six slimy sneezes, five stinky hugs, four sloppy kisses, three runny noses, two dirty socks and a waterfall in the bathroom sink!!!!

Jaxsonism of the Day

Me: "Hey, Jaxson, listen!  You know this song.  Who sings it?"
Jaxson: "Justin Bieber?"
Me:  "No, it's a girl."
Jaxson: "Oh.  Michael Jackson?"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  As we approach Thanksgiving I realize I have so many things to be thankful for.  My sweet Eli was coughing in the middle of the night last night, and he came into my room and woke me up.  I was so frustrated, because Jaxson had been in my room twice already, and then Eli came in.  Was I going to get any sleep?!?!  Why don't they ever go to their daddy's side of the bed?  Why is it always me that gets woken up?  As I pulled myself up out of my dreamy sleep to give Eli a sip of my water, he snuggled up next to me.  With his eyes closed and with a sleepy voice he kissed my cheek and said, "I love you, Mommy.  You're my best friend."  How could I be grumpy and complaining to myself over lack of sleep when I have three of the sweetest babies in the world?  My Eli reminded me that those these sleepless nights are rare, they will soon be over completely, my babies will be grown, and I'll no longer be their best friend.  I need to cherish these little moments with them and everyone else in my life.  I have a wonderful family, and this Thanksgiving I'm celebrating having each of you in my life!

I Triple Dog Dare You

We had a really great time on Halloween.  The kids absolutely love dressing up (so does mommy), and they were so excited to actually go trick-or-treating this year.  I don't have memories of trick-or-treating as a kid, because we were usually at our church festival.  After the mass chaos of a church carnival last year, we decided to skip that route this year and let the kids do some good old fashioned trick-or-treating.  It was so much fun!  We pulled Shiloh in the wagon, and the boys went door to door.  Jaxson was the official doorbell ringer, and Eli just stood there and looked cute.  The boys did great, and nothing could scare them!  Well, except for the biggest, most scariest dog of all time that looked a little bit like this...

Now that Halloween is over, we're looking forward to an exciting Thanksgiving with the family in Fort Worth, followed by Christmas!  What?!?!  It will be here before we know it!  Only 52 more shopping days!  In the spirit of the cold weather we have this week, the conversation arose about the scene from The Christmas Story where the boy is triple dog dared to stick his tongue on the flag pole.  Jaxson was so curious about this, so I showed him the movie clip via YouTube.  OMG.  (Note, I'm not a big fan of the phrase OMG, but there really are no other words in this case.)  That boy had a major meltdown.  He thought it was so scary, and he never wants to stick HIS tongue on frozen metal!  We tried to show him how an ice cube can sometimes stick to your tongue or lip, and he cried even harder thinking we would mame ourselves forever with a little old ice cube.  That kid is so funny.  Might be a tad bit of a wuss, but he sure is funny!

No More FaceBook

I really enjoy blogging, but thanks to all the time I spent on FaceBook, I don't do it very often.  It's always been easier to update my FB status with something I want to share than to come here and blog.  But no more!  I realized that I spent way too much on FB.  I mean, do I honestly care what someone I haven't seen in ten years is doing every step of their day?  Do I really think they care what I'm doing?  Nope.  Yet I spent too much time reading statuses and updating mine.  And most of what I read makes me mad or annoyed, yet I continued to read.  I had to get rid of it.  FaceBook is the devil!  I can spend all that time doing more important things with my family.  I'm redefining my life these days.  I'm working on getting healthy and fit, and I want to spend more time doing things that matter like playing games and wrestling with my kids and reading my bible.  So anyway, I won't be posting on FB anymore when I've updated the blog.  So, if you want to know when I've added a new post, please subscribe to my blog and you'll be notified.

BURRRRRRRRRRRR!  Baby it's cold outside!  This weather has me excited for the approaching holiday season.  We watched our first Christmas movie last night.  Of course we watched Coraline first to celebrate the Halloween season, which can give you a creepy feeling.  So we evened it out by watching Veggie Tales Little Drummer Boy.  Eli and I thoroughly enjoyed The Little Drummer Boy, but Jaxson said it was for babies.  Guess my boy is growing up.

Anywho...I'm going to curl up with my baby girl and enjoy our quiet moments together while the boys are at school.

Pardon Me, Captain

Since Jaxson is turning five this weekend, I've been sitting here thinking back on some of my favorite memories of him since he was born.  I thought I'd share some of those with you.  You can thank me later.

• The first night we had Jaxson home from the hospital was one to remember.  As brand new parents, we were clueless.  He was perfect in the hospital, and of course when we get home he screamed all night.  After going through all the things I could think of, I wondered if he was sick and decided to check his temperature.  On our bed.  Without anything between him and our covers.  Needless to say, the thermometer caused an explosion of pee and meconium all over our bed.  No fever!  And for the record, no three day old should have that much pee and poo come out at once.  I'm just saying.
• Jaxson was four months old when he started coughing and making a very strange noise upon inhaling.  His face was bright red, and he just wasn't breathing well.  I patted his back and tried to burp him, but nothing.  It was getting worse, so I called the pediatrician, who advised me to call 911!  With the 911 operator on the phone I tried everything to fix Jaxson.  I was beating his back while holding him at a 45 degree angle with the floor in case he had something lodged in his throat.  Nothing was helping, and he just kept making the strangest sound while trying to breathe.  It was terrible.  I tried to nurse him to get him to calm down, but he couldn't swallow the milk.  Finally, the fire department showed up.  The captain himself ran into my house and picked up Jaxson who promptly burped in his face.  Then he stopped screaming, his breathing returned to normal, and he smiled at the captain.  So there I sit on the couch crying.  Was I crying because I was relieved Jaxson was okay, or was I crying over the embarrassment of not being able to burp my own baby?  Or was it because my boob was still hanging out from when I tried to nurse him?  Who knows, but man did I cry.  I can only imagine the words in that fire truck on their way back to the station.  
• When Jaxson started learning to talk we had some good times with him.  Like most children, Jaxson made the wrong sounds for some letters.  For instance, instead of frog, he would say a certain four letter word.  One day the two of us were grocery shopping at a particularly busy time of day.  Jaxson spotted a frog, and begins yelling, "F#$%, F#$%, F#$%" over and over.  And over.  I realize what he's trying to say, so every time he yells, "F#$%" his crazy mother yells, "FROG" as loud as she can.  I don't want people thinking I say the f-bomb in front of my baby!  Imagine walking down an aisle at the grocery store hearing nothing but, "F#$%, FROG, F#$%, FROG, F#$%, FROG!"  Sheesh.  Come to think of it, maybe I did say a four letter word after the incident with the fire captain.
• Want to hear about Jaxson's first two major boo-boos?  Yep, my fault.  Once we were playing, and I threw him a little too hard.  Face first into the cabinet in his bedroom.  Oops.  The second time I put him on the top of a slide and said, "Don't slide down until Mommy is at the bottom to catch you."  Yeah, he didn't listen.  He flew off the end of the slide and bit into his lip.  Mother of the Year Award.
• When I was potty training Jaxson he refused to poop in the potty.  It was the last bit of control he had, and he refused to give in.  He would just poop in his underwear.  Finally, two weeks before his third birthday I told him that he could NOT turn 3 until he pooped in the potty.  No Polar Express party, no hot chocolate, and definitely not turning three.  He looked at me long and hard, said, "okay" and pooped in the potty on the spot.  Little turd.  Pun intended.

Really, I could go on and on with hilarious stories about my life with Jaxson.  He surely keeps me on my toes!  I love him more than he'll ever know.  It seems like I just had him yesterday.  Time flies.  How can he be 5 already?!?!?!  FROG!!!!

Poopy Stink

What a couple of weeks!  Most of you know that I got very sick and had to get my gallbladder taken out last week.  I happen to be one of the wussiest people on the planet, so this was quite traumatic for me.  However, we survived, and I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better today!  Can you believe I'm actually going to spare you the details of my sickness and surgery?  Let's just say, I've never felt that bad.  Ever.  And I'm so glad they ripped out that stinkin' gallbladder.  The end.

There's just one problem.  The doctor actually told me not to lift anything over ten pounds for a month.  Is he kidding?  In my sickness (I was literally laying in the exam room moaning) I took a moment to laugh at him for suggesting such a thing.  Obviously he doesn't know that I have a chub of love baby at home.  We said, "That's impossible!  We have an eight month old at home.  An eight month old that weighs over twenty pounds!"  He said to wait at least a week or two and then to move VERY slowly and carefully while picking her up.

Okay.  It's just a week or two.  How hard can it be?  Well, let me tell you.  It's really freaking hard.  Not because I don't have help, because our parents have been extremely helpful the last couple of weeks.  In fact, if it weren't for them things would have been much harder on my husband.  It's just so hard to not be the one to put her to bed at night or to pick her up first thing in the morning or greet her from her naps with a big hug.  She's my chub of love!  I want to pick her up and spin her around and squeeze her.  Sigh.  I guess I'll just have to be good and wait five more days.

In the words of my three year old, "Poopy stink."  That's all I have to say about that.