Walsh Farms!

Today, the kiddos and I headed over to Walsh Farms for some fall fun! It's not even October yet, but I am really getting the fall itch and wanted to do something outdoors for a change! I LOVE FALL!

Andy slept the entire time we were there...made it much easier to manage three kids! :)

We checked out some farm animals...

Played in the dried corn "sandbox"...

When we got home, I took off Nattie's shoes (see below!)....she walked around the farm for several hours like this! :)

Went on a hayride...it was SO bumpy...poor Andy looked like he was getting whiplash! Nattie and Ben had fun, but I had a hard time taking clear pictures it was so rough! The farm dog came for the ride with us!

What a fun afternoon!

Wild woman...

I need help! What do I do with this crazy girl of mine? You know that poem about a girl with a curl and how when she's good, she's very good and when she's bad, she's horrid. I think that's Nattie. I have one big fear in life...that something bad would happen to one of my three kids...or even worse than that, that something bad would happen to one of my three kids and I COULD have prevented it. Well, today, I feel like I came a little too close to realizing this fear...and I bet you can guess who was involved in this drama...yes...Nattie!

Andy's crib is in our room (since we don't have a fourth bedroom)...I fed him and laid him down for a nap this morning and I snuggled Nattie in our bed (and locked our bedroom door). I put on an Elmo movie for her, since I was planning to take a quick shower before Ben got out of pre-K (this routine has taken place many times over the last four weeks...by the way). I jumped in the shower and figured everything would be fine, as always (aside from the fact that Nattie usually gets down off the bed and empties a few of my dresser drawers for fun). :) Uh...not today! I got out of the shower and opened the bathroom door to make sure everything was ok. I didn't see or hear Nattie....weird. I looked around for a second and THEN I SAW HER...she was sitting quietly next to Andy IN THE CRIB. She had somehow managed to climb up into the crib and had even pulled in several extra blankets along with her. I panicked and ran across the room hoping Andy was not buried under blankets and praying that he was still breathing!! I have NO IDEA if she stepped/jumped/landed on him or what, but he was sound asleep, looked perfectly fine, and didn't even seem to notice that she was there. She was gently rubbing his head and smiling at me like it was a good idea or something. She loves him so much, but, as you can imagine, she is still learning what it means to be gentle. I am so lucky she didn't put blankets over his head or break one of his bones or try to pick him up out of the crib (the list of possibilities could go on and on!). Thank the Lord that nothing terrible happened because I would NEVER forgive myself...ever!

Anyway, after everything seemed to be ok, I had to do what every mother would do...snap a photo (ok...maybe not EVERY mother, but the camera just happened to be in my bedroom!). I then promptly removed Natalie and raised the crib rail! What am I going to do with her? (P.S. Please don't report me to child protective services...I promise Andy doesn't sleep in a crib filled with children and blankets...at least not intentionally and I won't be taking anymore showers...ever.)

On a much lighter note...I thought this picture was REALLY cute. A rare moment when Ben actaully smiles normal and is willing to sit still long enough to hold Andy. :)

Trying to put on Ben's football jersey tonight. Crazy woman...

Ben took these pictures of me and Andy this afternoon. Andy is getting so BIG already. He will be a month this week...whoa! He is such a good boy and has given us his first smiles the last few days. I am definitely in love with my littlest man.

Another 26.2...

My hubby did it again...he finished his fifth marathon yesterday! This was his third year to do the Akron Road Runner Marathon. He set the bar kind of low for himself this time around, since he didn't feel like he took his training as seriously as he had in the past, but his finish time sure didn't show it. He finished in under four hours! There were 12,000 people running in the race, so it took him three minutes just to get to the starting line once the marathon actually began. I don't know if all marathons do this, but Mike had it set up so that my cell phone would get text messages at different points in the race, so I would know how he was doing. It's really neat and very convenient for me...I simply showed up (with all three kids and Nana in tow) about 25-30 minutes before he was set to cross the finish line...perfect timing. :) Poor guy gets very nauseous and sick after almost every marathon he runs. Luckily, after a few hours, he is back to normal. He's tried everything under the sun to figure out why this happens, but it just seems to be what his body does. Way to go, Mick...you rock! Benny is excited to have yet another race medal to claim as his own. :)

Papa ran on a marathon relay team and caught up with Mike at the end of the race to help him finish strong (moral support!). :)

Oh...and here's just a few pictures that were on my camera from the last few days.

These are a few from after church today...this little girl took a short nap and then decided to get out of bed and terrorize her room. She pretty much emptied every drawer out onto the floor...lovely. Plus, upon entering her room, I was hit in the face with the wonderful scent of poopy diaper...awesome! She's something else...luckily, she's cute. :)

Speaking of my little lady, today Mike burped and Nattie looked at him and said "pig." :) I guess she's heard me call Daddy a "pig" one too many times when he decides to burp or toot (can you tell I have kids?). Oops! :)

Insanity is hereditary.

You get it from your children. :) I read that quote somewhere once and it gave me a little chuckle. There have definitely been moments of insanity this week, as I try to do this whole "mother of three" thing by myself...my mom is gone, Mike is at work...it's just me and the kiddos. I have actually been looking forward to the challenge...just because I wanted to see if I could do it (like I had a choice). Overall, we've had a really good week so far and I've actually felt like I was maybe even doing a decent job!

In an effort to shed the 15-20 extra pounds I'm carrying around, I decided it would be a good idea to push Nattie and Andy in the double stroller a mile and half to and from Ben's preschool each day this week to pick him up. I'm SO out of shape and that stroller is heavy! They were great on the walk and Ben loved pushing all the crosswalk buttons on the walk home...so, I guess it was a good idea. :) (AND yes, I know I should take Nattie's pacifier away...but I just haven't felt like it yet!)

Getting a good picture of the three of them together might be impossible, but I'm on a mission to make it happen...stay tuned. :) (The bottom right picture just makes me laugh...Ben just wants to get off the couch, Andy is miserable, and Nattie is wondering why the heck she has to smile when everyone else is clearly not up for it!)

Can you find the real babies?

Natalie has been a bit of a challenge these last few weeks. She is very loving to her baby brother for the most part, so I'm grateful for that. She only gets jealous (at least overtly) when I'm nursing him or when I can't physically hold her or do something with her. The biggest thing I've noticed is the way she's been treating her big brother...which I think is kind of interesting since he has always been around. She has been letting her frustration out on him as, I guess, some kind of attention seeking thing?! She has been downright mean to him, actually. She will, out of the blue, walk up to him and whack him upside the head with a book or toy...for no reason at all. If he's playing with a toy on his own, she'll come up and kick it or mess up what he's doing (getting a BIG reaction out of him! I try to tell him that the less he reacts the less she'll do it...but that is NOT easy for an expressive five-year-old to do!). She's just been a little stinker and, of course, it's the worst when I'm nursing or she's tired. I've been struggling with how to discipline her when I'm in the middle of feeding Andy. I feel like she needs immediate discipline, but I can't justify interrupting him to do it and then by the time I'm done I feel like she won't understand why I'm just now putting her on timeout or reprimanding her. I know it's very frustrating to Benny and he handles it pretty well...most of the time...but I need to figure out how to handle it! Any and all advice is welcome. :) She is definitely my feisty child...not used to this!!

Here is the crazy woman... I just love her...despite the wild behavior lately! She is definitely getting her own, unique personality.

Happy Birthday, Pappy! (and some other stuff)

Mike and I got to go out on a date (kind of) on Friday night. My mom was still in town and stayed home with Ben and Nattie, while we went out on the town with Andy. :) It was heavenly and quiet. We ate Mexican, got Starbucks, and walked around the mall for a couple of hours. As you can tell from the photo below, we like to get really dressed up when we go out.

Here's Grammy (also known as "Gangy" according to Nat), Ben and Nattie doing a little art at the kitchen counter. It was so great to have my mom here for the last two weeks. She bought us groceries, cooked dinner every night, did the laundry, cleaned the house, entertained my kids, let me sleep in while she got breakfast ready, ironed about 25 shirts that had been sitting on top of my dryer for, literally, months, made curtains for Nattie's room, and the list goes on! She was like Superwoman or something! Mom, thank you so much for everything you did. You made my recovery and the transition to three kiddos much easier! We love you and really appreciate you!

My little buddy...three weeks old today!

Yesterday, we celebrated Pappy's 8oth birthday! Paps has Parkinsons and has his good moments and bad moments throughout each day, but yesterday he seemed to be doing wonderfully and really enjoying all the fun. He had sisters in from West Virgina, friends from church, and of course, his Ohio family at his party. I hope he felt loved.

Here 's the happy couple...Paps and Angy. Angy is a wonderful example of a loving wife...in sickness and in health. She takes such good care of him and loves him unconditionally.

Pappy with his grandkids and great-grandkids!

Ben and Papa having a cake eating contest! About three bites into his piece of chocolate cake, Benny started to make a funny face and rub his belly...he said "Ooohhhh, I think I've had enough sweets today!" and that was it...the contest was over. :) It was fun while it lasted, but lets face it...Ben will NEVER win an eating competition. :)

Just a few other random party pictures...

Here's to many more happy birthdays, Pappy!

A tooth, the park, and a "new" room...

Yep, it's another one of those mish mosh posts.

Benny lost his first tooth this week! Last time we went to the dentist she said that he was just a few months away from losing his bottom two and she was right. I thought five seemed a little young to be losing teeth...but I guess it's normal. I guess he'll be the only Kindergartner next year with big guy teeth!? He lost it during his flag football game and he yelled from the field "Hey mom, did you see what just happened? I lost my tooth!" and then he had to have Coach Daddy find it somewhere in the grass! The tooth fairy was pretty generous this time...but she'll defiinitely be cutting back for all future teeth (in order to avoid going broke!). :)

Here is the cute guy holding his tooth and showing off the "hole" in his mouth.

Sweet, sleepy, snuggle bug...

We headed to the park today and had some fun. Nattie shut her eyes while Grammy was pushing her on the swing and honestly would have fallen asleep (it was nap time) if we hadn't moved on to something else.

My little tree huggers. :)

I mentioned awhile back that we had moved Natalie into a big girl bed in preparation for Andy's arrival...since he is using her (and Ben's) old crib. I really didn't feel like repainting her room, so I tried to find bedding that matched the current wall colors and then just added a few other cheap touches to make it work. I found her bedspread on clearance at PB Kids (it was the last one and didn't even have a single matching sham left...so it was a great price!). Grammy made a sham and some curtains for under $20 with material I picked out to match (pink with white polka dots) and I purchased a few inexpensive "accessories" from Target...the owl picture , pillow, and wall stickers. Everything else in her room stayed pretty much the same, but I thought it turned out cute for my "big" girl.

Here she is snoozing in her bed right after she fell asleep tonight (at 6:45 pm!).

Take another picture...

with the click, click, click, click, camera. What? You haven't heard that one? It's a song on my iPod...not even sure who sings it...but it's catchy and gets stuck in my head. Anyway, it's a good title for this post that is chock FULL of pictures....more than normal, if that's possible.

I realized we didn't have ONE picture of all five of us together yet...so we tried. Not the greatest attempt, but it'll have to do. :)

Daddy and Andy watching the Ohio State game...Go Bucks!

A morning picture...I know I look kind of scary and extremely tired...but at least my kids are cute, right?

Cute brothers...

Grammy and her Moser grandkids...I'm sure the Schweiss grandkids are missing her by now...but we've got her for another week. Don't worry, Emma, Grammy is coming back and she got you a cool present today. :)

My sweet little girl (at least she looks sweet in this picture...I'd say fiesty is a better description of our middle munchkin!).

A Nattie photo shoot...love that little face.

Finally, we got out of the house yesterday...yipppeee for me! We headed to Szalay's and ate some roasted corn. It actually felt a little like Fall...so nice to get out!

I need to get out...

...of my house! I've spent lots of time at home the last two weeks, obviously, and I'm going a little stir crazy. I'm feeling almost totally recovered from the delivery of my little guy, so hopefully we can get outside this weekend and feel a little more normal again! I tried to take some pictures a few days ago of all three kiddos together. The picture below was the best in the mix. Nattie's bow looks weird...and they both have forced smiles, but I still thought it was kinda cute. Thanks for the big brother and big sister shirts, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Adam! :)

Some of the other lovely shots...Ben's not weird or anything. :)

I woke up one morning this week to find every square inch of counter space in my kitchen covered in completed puzzles. Benny and Grammy had a busy morning...but it looked like fun! (Grammy is probably thrilled that I'm posting a no shower, still in robe, no makeup, picture of her for the world to see!)

Uncle Brad stopped by one evening and got to hang out for a bit. :)

Daddy and his littlest buddy. I love the picture of them looking at each other.

Family time...

We've had lots of family together time this past week.

Nana and her three grandkids

Grammy and Pops arrived to meet their fifth grandbaby. Pops left yesterday morning and Grammy gets to stay for a couple of weeks. It's nice to have an extra set of hands to help out and Ben and Nattie are loving all the extra attention. :)

Just a few shots of my oldest baby. I have no idea what Grammy and Ben are doing in the bottom right picture, but it made me laugh.

My littlest baby...such a sweet boy. I guess I'll forgive him for having his days and nights mixed up right now. I am currently walking around like a zombie, thanks to him...but he's cute, so it makes up for it. He had his one week check-up today and he was 8 lbs 9 oz. He'd gained a whole pound since he left the hospital last week! :)

Love...

My middle baby...she's had a fever the last two days and has been up during the night as much as her little brother. I am only one person, so Daddy has been tapped to help quite a bit more in the night. He is currently walking around like a zombie now too thanks to this little munchkin. :)

Finally, a funny Benny comment.... he was eating his grilled cheese a few nights ago and I heard him tell his water... "Stand back, water. It's Benny versus this massive grilled cheese. Who will win?" I think he's watched one too many Man vs Food episodes with Daddy. :)