Tie

Today is Cleaning Day.

Cleaning with three kids in the house is exhausting. However, even though I'm way busy today, I keep pausing to look at these pictures.

My little boy wore his first white shirt and tie to church yesterday. I don't know who was more excited, me or Matt.

Stop growing up. Stop immediately.

Now please excuse me while I go put my 5th load of laundry in.

PS: I think Sloane is teething again. Only four teeth left to go! Pray for us.

Frustrations.

Hi. My name is Maddox, or Pudee, or Pudman, or even Pudster.

I love to play outside, but I especially love to play with my ball.

I get frustrated when it rolls away.

But then it rolls back and I get really excited!

But then it rolls away again and I get frustrated!

I want to play with it so bad!

One day I will be able to chase this ball all over the neighborhood.

I'm sure that's what I'll dream about tonight.

*****

I don't know what it is about summer that makes be yearn for messy kids. Kids covered in dirt with black feet from running around barefoot. Kids with, despite my best efforts to slather them with sunscreen, sun-kissed cheeks. Little kids running around with sticky Popsicle messes down the fronts of their shirts. Kids that beg to eat every single meal outside and have no desire to set foot in our playroom. Kids that are so tuckered out at the end of the day that they can barely keep their little eyes opened come bedtime. Kids that cannot possible skip bath time at the end of the day because they've went on so many outdoor adventures that you can barely remember what color their skin is supposed to be. I want to shake my head as I put on their jammies because of their ability to develop tanlines without a single sunburn. I want swimsuits hung in my laundry room every night to dry out for another day of swimming. I want Sloanie little cheeks to be stained from fresh strawberries and Holynd to beg for more and more and more fresh grape tomatoes (just like last year).  

I want summer.

I want those messy kids.

I can't wait. 

What's Your Name?

Me: "Sloane, what's your name?"

Sloane: "Noanie!"

Sloane has started to talk A LOT. It makes me happy.

The other day, I went shopping for a birthday gift for Holynd's friend. I found a gift I knew her friend would love, but I knew Holynd would love it too, so I got two.

When I got back to my mom's house, I showed Holynd her new toy and told her about how I got one for her friend.

Sloane, who usually doesn't care about such things, got up and started looking around.

"Where's Noanie's??" she kept saying.

It only took me a minute before I realized that she was looking for her own unexpected gift. Feeling bad, I went out to the car and got out the extra toy.

When I gave it to Sloane she said, "There's Noanies! Yay!"

I went and got another gift the next morning.

Worth it?

Yes.

Daddy Daughter Date

Holynd filled up her sticker chart again, which means she got to go on another date with her dad. She really looks forward to hanging out with her daddy.

This time she really really really wanted to go swimming. Luckily, EB had brought her a new swimsuit, so today during Matt's lunch break, they went swimming.

Holynd had a blast, but the swimming did make her extremely tired the rest of the afternoon. I was very ready for bedtime to come around tonight.

She's done really well doing her chores. I've even added a few more that aren't even on the chart. She's been helping me clean up the toys after bathtime, cleaning the playroom and helping me wipe down bathrooms.

As for potty training, it's been going really well. We've had a few tiny accidents, mostly just her waiting too long to go. I don't really have to ask her if she needs to go during the day, unless we have friends over. I'm trying hard not to get too comfortable because you'll never know when a regression might hit. ;) But, I feel like we've finally reached a point where I don't have to worry about potty training every minute of every day. It's a good feeling.

I survived.

I'm still not sure what it was.

I had been calling it a flu, but I'm not sure if "flu" is a harsh enough term.

I've never been sick with anything that actually made survival questionable, but this did.

I think I'll call it a plague. Yes, a plague.

This plague started Sunday night and continued all the way until Friday.

Monday I was incoherent. Matt stayed home from work most of the day. I remember crying several times, but I don't remember much else. My fever went up to 104 degrees. I never coughed, had a runny nose, sneezed, or anything "flu" like. I did feel like I had been hit by a truck. Everything ached. Everything. My ears just kept ringing. It made sleep impossible.

Tuesday and Wednesday the aches were still there, but manageable. My fever was coming down with Tylenol, but every time the fever broke, I found myself covered in sweat. I spent most of the day in bed or in a cold shower.

Thursday I willed myself to at least do some laundry. It was the first time that every single towel in the house was dirty. For me, this was next to complete and total failure.

Friday I finally felt somewhat normal. The headache was still there to remind me of the horrible week I had been through, but that was all. I made lasagna for dinner and screwed up. Luckily, Nicole was there to talk me down and, in the end, it turned out ok.

Saturday I left the house for the first time since Easter.

Oh Easter. You were amazing, until I got sick, then you were a bummer. My kids were still the cutest though. :)

For now, I am still trying to play catch-up from last week. I cleaned my house from top-to-bottom today and tonight I will help Matt fold 6 baskets of laundry. I did 9 loads of laundry today. 9! It's amazing how much laundry 3 little people make in a week. (My husband folds laundry. I know. He's pretty much awesome.)

I hope everyone out there is healthy and plague-free.