March? Really?

I seriously can't believe its even March. Let alone that its almost over. Didn't I just post?? In December? It can't have been 3 and half months already. I'm not that bad.

And so much has happened in that too short amount of time. Nolan turned 2, Clara turned 6, I turned *cough-cough-cough27cough-cough*, Oliver started sitting, got his first teeth, finally rolls over, eats normal food, Josh um...got a haircut? Anway, the point is, I'm a big slacker for not documenting the milestones in my family more diligently.

This is another attempt to ease my guilt and acknowledge, in a more permanent form than my memory, the things that I want remembered.

This is Oliver back in December when he was still a limp noodle. This outfit still fits him because he's still puny. He's just more physically capable.

This is Nolan when he still had beautiful blonde locks. Now they're kind of dingy brown. He looks a little high here, but I assure you he's not.

This cake was not for Clara. She has this thing where she insists on getting her picture taken with every cake that I remember to take a picture of. Kind of cute, but mostly just stressful. I don't want her to ruin the cake. She could cough on it, accidentally bump it, trip and smash her face into it...that kind of thing.

And whatever big sissy does, Nolan has to do too. That's even worse. He wouldn't accidentally bump it. He'd intentionally dig out a big chunk and shove it down his throat.

This is Nolan's quick birthday cake. He insisted on Diego after seeing the other Diego cake. I wanted to try out the topsy turvy style, so we compromised. I did the topsy turvy cake and he got a Diego candle thrown on top. :) Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Nolan on his birthday. Josh just took video. I haven't figured out how to add those yet.

The aftermath.

Christmas Eve was a couple days later and Nolan was Joseph. Unfortunately, he had just received a toy gun as a gift. Wouldn't put the thing down. So instead of a Joseph vibe, he kind of sent out the pasty white terrorist vibe.

That candy filled cane looks menacing too.

Clara was an angel. Without a gun.

The whole holy group awaiting certain destruction from Joseph the Terrible.

Seriously. Look at that face. Does he look like he's joking?

We came home and put the kids to bed. This was the pile of crap under the tree that would soon be an even bigger pile of garbage and toys the next morning.

This is the kids opening their presents. There aren't a lot of pictures, because Josh likes the camcorder thing, but ain't they cute?

Moving on from Christmas...a couple of months ago, this was the morning tradition for Nolan and Ollie, after we sent Clara off to school. Nolan would squish himself into Oliver's blanket and they'd watch morning cartoons together.

Next comes Clara's sixth birthday. She had a cupcake themed party, they played musical chairs, smashed a pinata, and decorated cupcakes. Fun was had by all, reflected in the giant mess afterwards.

This was the top of her cupcake tower. Fancy.

Pin the cherry on the cupcake. I painted it. That's right.

An example of the delicate treatment my children get when in the hands of a loving uncle.

President's Day! I love it.

This is the first picture I have of Oliver sitting by himself. He still flops over occassionally, but he's so strong!

Nolan being innovative with the jumpy thing.

See? Look how dingy brownish blonde his hair is now. Oh, and the nose picking thing. That's new too.

How handsome.

This is their new ritual. Oliver won't lay down now that he knows how to sit up, so they just sit together on the love sac and watch morning cartoons.

And that is all, my friends. All I had the time or patience for anyway. Until next time...

Mom Brain

I've got it bad. Real bad. Its a curious thing, mom brain. The anti nausea portion of the brain seems to deplete the common sense sector. I have been puked on peed on, pooped on and slobbered on, all without blinking. I wipe the offending fluid off and continue on with life. Second nature.

BUT I can't think anymore. Its a big problem considering I have three kids. As of yet, I haven't forgotten any of them. Not when it mattered anyway. I did once leave the baby in the car, but my sweet husband was there to gently remind me "ARE YOU CRAZY? THE BABY COULD DIE OUT THERE! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" Case in point. I wasn't thinking. I just can't, its too hard.

Example 1: I walk in to the house with the baby, the diaper bag and a bowl of egg salad. I hang the diaper bag up, take the baby upstairs and put the highly perishable egg salad away. Everything looks good. Until the next day when I go to the cupboard to grab my kids a healthy fruit leather snack. A cupboard in which lies my highly perishable egg salad. All nice and perished.

Example 2: Cash. Josh went to the bank and took out some money for me to go shopping on Black Friday so I wouldn't spend too much. I tend not to keep track (mostly because I know if I do, it just won't be as much fun). So I have that stash of cash. I also babysit my niece, she paid me in cash also. I remember putting the babysitting money on the kitchen counter downstairs. So its not the best place to put money, but I knew where I put it, which is one step ahead of the norm. The BF money I recall placing on the microwave. Vividly. I get ready to go shopping and I think I know where all this cash is. I go to the microwave, nothing. I go downstairs to the kitchen counter, nothing. I ransack the house, dig through hampers, shuffle through junk drawers and non junk drawers, look under, in and over the couch, double check everything, stick my hand in my pocket and pull out the babysitting money. Celebrate quietly, grab my purse to ensure its safety, put my hand in and pull out the BF money. Celebrate much more quietly as to not tip off my husband of my insanity and unify the money in one big safe wad.

Such is my life. Always.

Which brings me to my latest excuse for the large expanse of time between blog posts. I forgot I had a blog. Can't post in a blog you don't have now can you? Okay, I jest, I'm not that crazy yet. Just a little slower than usual.

Pictures!

Pics by Tina, Oliver at three months. Adorable.

Oliver passed out on the boppy. Those things DO look comfy.Cozy baby.Nolan and his little bro. Look at that color difference!All my sweeties.Happy boy!The boys.Ollie at the computer, his favorite spot.Nolan's black eye. It got so much worse, sad I didn't get a picture. I searched high and low for a picture of Clara without messy hair. This was the closest I came. I really do do her hair every morning. Super cute. She just destroys it in a matter of minutes. She's cute anyway.

I have a new kid!

His name is Oliver James. He was born on August 5th (during the day sometime). He was three weeks early, 6lbs even, 19 3/4 inches long. Such a pretty little baby! Although he's one month now and not quite as little as before. He's getting so chubby. I love it when they're chubby.

We've been adjusting to the new change pretty well. He sleeps on my lap all day while I do my data entry. Besides the fact that he's a little human heater and I sweat like a pig the whole time, it works pretty well. I just keep telling myself the cooler weather is coming. The weatherman says otherwise, but I dare to dream. It can't be that far off.

Clara has started kindergarten. I was sad at first, but I really like only having two kids at home for a couple hours a day. It reminds me of the good old days. We all get up and ready to walk her to school in the morning. Its the only excercise I've been getting lately, and its really nice in the morning. Best part of the day.

Other than that, things have kind of been business as usual. Oh, besides the introduction of cake balls into my life. They're fabulous. My most recent experiment was mint brownie cake balls. Um, delicious. I want to try making a caramel apple kind and key lime pie, and maybe even a cheesecake. I'm making myself hungry. AND the best part is that they're gluten free and still delightful. Josh can actually eat them. And when he's happy, I'm happy. Sometimes. Anyway, they're good, trust me.

Tina Miera took these beautiful pictures of Oliver when he was 9 days old.

Oliver's first bath at home. He was so chill!Clara's first day of school. She was so excited! So was Nolan. I had to drag him out of the classroom when we dropped her off. He was pretty miffed.Soccer cake in buttercream. Do you have any idea how hard it is to frost a circle smooth? Pretty hard.And this is Nolan showing off his knowledge of sounds

Found it!

I know, its been a while again, but my camera is in working order now, so I'm a photo snapping fool at the moment. I'm sure my new found appreciation for my camera will spark my blogging urges for at least a week or so. Its been a crazy ride getting here though.

We went to the zoo the week of the 4th for the free military day thing. Josh loves the zoo. You might categorize it as a bit obsessive even. Its really not for the kids that he goes. Part of his obsession is taking pictures of EVERYTHING there. That's a problem when you're camera's not functioning. We were missing our battery charger. We looked everywhere a million times each and nothin. Finally the day we went to the zoo, we really tore the house apart and found the charger. Don't remember where we found it, but it was recovered. Only to realize the battery wasn't in the camera.

Looked everywhere for that too. Now, I have two kids. They like to relocate things. Clara puts everything in her purses, Nolan puts things in the toybox (except toys) and the garbage. I've found my phone in the garbage can and the recycling bin. Luckily it rings, unlike a battery. So we couldn't find it and we ended up going without a camera. We decided to go again the next day with Papa, Jessica and Laura. We looked everywhere again and we couldn't find it. It was a good zoo day, but there's no proof. It will be forgotten in a year or two and there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'm writing about it now, but its not photographic proof. I could be lying.

Anyway, I assume its been trashed and its sitting in a pile of things kids throw away that they shouldn't at the dump. I break down and decide to just buy a new one. We go to the store, locate the battery for our camera, turn around and walk right back out without the battery. It was 50something bucks. I don't think so. I'm finding that battery or buying a crappy new camera. So we go home and look again. At this point I've found all the lids to my lipgloss that have mysteriously disappeared, my gymbucks (hadn't expired yet!), every insurance card I've misplaced, my wedding ring, Nolan's missing pajamas, and an old apple. Helpful, but not what I was looking for.

So since the store was ridiculous, I go to ebay. We got a phone battery on there a while back for $1. I find our battery for ten, including shipping. Halleluia. I can handle ten. I buy it, we get it in the mail and I'm free to take any old picture I want. A couple days later, what should show up but our battery. In the drawer Josh swore he put it in, but couldn't find it in. It was there. The whole time. So now we have two batteries, should one elude us again.

And now for pictures.

I would have awesome zoo pictures, had my dreams been realized. Since they weren't these are pretty random.

Instead, this is Clara with awesome braids in her hair. I did them yesterday, she played, went to bed, took a bath and they look the same. I love them very much and will make her keep them in until her hair starts looking crusty.

Here's Nolan getting his camera time. Just being cheesy and bald as always.

Here's a little addition to that, he's being cheesy bald and princessy here.Again, when I take a picture of one, I must take a similarly themed picture of the other.And I can finally take pictures of my cakes. I don't even know how many I've missed out on. Luckily I can't remember or the regret might keep me up at night.

I would post a picture of myself at 36ish weeks along, but quite frankly, its not a pretty picture, this is my third child and I really don't want to remember being massively bloated and swollen in 100 degree weather. And there are none. I'm going to keep it that way. The proof will be in the child, who's name we haven't agreed upon yet.

Oh, and anyone who has tried to look up my website and has been depressed for the two months its been down, I'm here to ease your pain. I put up a little blog with my cake pics on it until I get my new website up and running. Its justeatitcakes.blogspot.com. You're welcome!

Wassup!?

Yeh, we're still alive.

I'd apologize, but then I'd just sound redundant, so I'll skip that part.

Many goins' on have been goin on in our household and I've been too busy/lazy/crazy to post about them. But here, I'll try to sum up the last few months in a somewhat normal sized nutshell.

Where did I end off? Like March or something. So there've been a lot of new people in my kid's lives. Well, really only brand new in Nolan's life, but like new in Clara's. My sister and brother both returned from their missions. Laura, the sis, came back from California, Sacramento, ASL speaking, and Daniel from Madrid, Spain, Finnish speaking. Ha, just kidding, Spanish speaking. They've both jumped right back into real life rather quickly and the kids hit it off with them both like they'd never been gone. Only Clara likes Laura now. See, she used to hate her. Now Nolan hates her. At least she has the affection of one of em.

And the birth of my cousin's son adds to the new people. His name is Ethan and he lives in my basement (with his mom, she didn't just leave him down there to fend for himself). Nolan finally touched him willingly for the first time yesterday. We've tried to get him to pat him softly many times before. Want him to be well practiced for his new brother, and why not work through the bumps with a kid that's not mine? He would just ball up his fist and pull his hand away so we'd end up forcing him to rub his head with the back of his unusually large 17 month old hands. But yesterday he was rubbing his head (with is palm) and then possessively grabbing him away from Clara. That's when we had to take a little break to talk about being soft.

We're in for it with this one, I tell you. He's so incredibly sweet and conniving that he gets away with just about everything. He has the prettiest eyes and he opens them up so wide and sincerely and hugs so tight and pats my cheeks that I forget why I was mad at all. Its not a good thing. Especially with this new one coming. He's going to be J-E-A-L-O-U-S. Guess he'll just have to get used to it.

And Clara, we've finally enrolled her in kindergarten and its killing me. I'm so scared for her. She's so innocent and genuinely good that I think it'll all be ruined or she'll get bullied for it. I hope for neither and that all the kindergarten kids believe that Santa is real, no matter what their parents tell them, and that cops are there just to find you when you're lost, and Jesus is watching you from Heaven. Oh, and that Dora is the most awesome television show ever. AAAAAAAHHHH!!!

Anyway, like I said, I've been a little busy, hence the blog neglect. I finally got a job from home that I THOUGHT would make my life a little less hectic, but nay. I'm probly busier than ever. And I still need to find time to excercise and do extracurricular activties for the cultivating of my children's social skills (and mine). No such luck yet. Although I do start off everyday with the putting off of an early morning shower reflecting my intention to work out. That's how I show my committment. Unfortunately, the only thing it results in is not getting decent until about 1 oclock. Anyone who comes to the door before then gets an eyeful of my bathrobe, bed head and smudged mascarra. Nah, I'm not a frumpy mom. Not a chance.

Yup, that's my exciting life in a nutshell. Hopefully pics will come soon, when I find the time and energy to find the time and energy to find my camera's battery charger.