Yay Hudson

Hudson got his 3rd quarter report card yesterday... and yay, he is doing really well. I am most proud of him for the comment "Hudson is one of the happiest and truly kind kids that I have ever taught." This coming from a very seasoned teacher. That's my boy :)

Soccer MOM!

I had this flash of myself this morning and it was SCARY. Gregor is out of town this week... so it was just me. I dressed Hudson in his soccer uniform, piled all four kids into my Honda Odyssey minivan with snacks and drinks in a cooler for the whole team, got a curb-side pick-up vanilla latte, and drove 2 miles to the soccer field where I cheered on my 6 year old son while he ran around a soccer field aimlessly kicking the ball! I am officially a SOCCER MOM! How did that happen?? I have to admit, I had a blast out there watching Hudson and his three cutie pie sisters cheering him on (well, Nellie didn't say much, but she was having a good time). So yes, I'm a minivan driving, latte drinking, soccer mom and I'm proud. (no big soccer ball stickers on the back of my car though... I will draw the line at that!)

Nellie 3 months

Happy 3 months Nellie. I can't believe how much my little Nells Bells has grown! I had to switch over her clothes from 0-3 to 3-6 months. She is getting more active during the day and not sleeping as well at night, but she is such a little angel I don't even mind. She is really the sweetest kid I've ever seen! She just smiles and is pretty much content wherever I put her. She is one laid-back happy soul! Nellie got her giggles and there is no better feeling than when I can make her laugh. Hudson, Larkin and Brooke are pretty good at it too. She adores her bath time and her time after the other kids go to bed to just kick around the bed and have my full attention. We love you so so so much little nellie bellie.

Nannies

I've always been a very hands on mom. We get babysitters every now and then to go out to dinner, but for the most part I have a hard time asking for help and pretty much just do it all myself. It typically doesn't even enter my mind to seek help when things get chaotic. I am just the type of person to plow through it and hopefully make it to the other side safely with a little bit of my sanity remaining. I don't really know what it is about me that makes it difficult to ask for help, but with each kid I've actually gotten better and better at it because I physically can't do it all anymore. When my mom told me that she was going to bring help (in the form of a 24 year old girl) to stay with us and help after Nellie was born I actually wasn't that excited. In my mind it was just another person that I was going to have to take care of in terms of food, entertainment, laundry, cleaning etc. What the heck was I thinking!! After living with Dani (the super nanny... see a previous post on how much I adored her), I learned how fantastic help actually is! It was a big step for me to feel comfortable asking someone (that wasn't my husband or my own mom) to do something... help with the kids, change a diaper, grab a milk, make a bed, read a story, etc, etc. It sounds silly, but it took me four kids and a forced nanny situation for me to learn this lesson. Well, LESSON LEARNED! For our trip to Hilton Head, I jumped at the chance to have Kami our 15 year old babysitter come with us! She drove down with the kids and me and was incredible! She would take the oldest 3 kids in the gas station to pick out a snack (not a fun job!) while I nursed Nellie. She played with the kids, took them to the potty, got them dressed, held Nellie, went swimming in the freezing cold pool with the kids... whatever I needed her to do. She was incredible. I think 15 is actually the perfect age of a babysitter. They are young enough that they still enjoy playing with the kids and watching their movies. They aren't really into the teenage angst period yet... they don't have their own agenda in terms of going out etc. Granted, it would have been nice if she could drive, but all in all it was fantastic! I hope we didn't scare her off with the craziness of 4 kids and a 12 hour car drive. I would love to have her on all our road trips! (note... in the pictures, the cute blond girl is Kami)

Public Blog

My sister-in-law and I are starting a pubic blog (well, it's not exactly public yet... but our plan is to make it public very soon). Our goal is to present our mommy experiences and keep it real. I will probably be double posting a lot because I think I keep it real on this blog, but there are often things on here that I don't exactly want public (such as the kids singing their full names, addresses and phone numbers.... maybe not such a good thing on a pubic blog... ya think?!?).
Anyhow, Check us out here
or use this: http://kikiandcat.blogspot.com
Right now, it's pretty much all Cat... I've been there in spirit and I intend to get on there more so check back often!

Easter and Spring Break

We are finally back! Yay. It's been a whirlwind two weeks with Easter, visitors, and a trip to Hilton Head. It's all a blur at this point, but we had a great time! The easter bunny came for the kids and hid their baskets around the house. We had our college housemate Jake and his girlfriend Sarah visit for the weekend and share in our easter festivities which included a fun hike (walk) and picnic as well as a neighborhood egg hunt at our house (note to self... maybe no chocolate in the eggs next year... we ended up with a lot of chocolate goop everywhere... yuck). I almost forgot... Gregor got a new lawnmower to ring in spring... and we flew a kite with the kids (love one of the kite pictures... Hud is doing what he does best... picking his nose).

Monday morning the kids and I picked up Kami, our 15 year old babysitter, and headed to Hilton Head. I'm going to devote my next post to my new love of traveling with a babysitter, so stay tuned. We had a fantastic time in Hilton Head with 75 degree sunny days. We went to the pool and the beach, climbed to the top of the lighthouse (which I don't think I've done since I was 10 years old and it was free), played at the big playground by the harbor, and did lots of wedding planning. My sister Mollie is getting married in october so we had a wedding shower for her as well as bridesmaids fittings, cake and invitation selection, etc... good times.

We also got to visit my mom's new recovery management center for adolescent girls, Tulifinny, which was amazing! If you know any girls ages 14-17 that are struggling with issues, check this place out. It is on an amazing piece of property and my mom did a fantastic job decorating it. I love all the colors and the set up. My kids loved the pigs, llamas, donkey, cats, chickens, goat, and horses! It truly is an amazing place! Great job mom!

Gregor flew in on thursday night and got to play a bit with us. He took all the kids out on a paddle board and we even got Kami in a kayak. Yay. All in all, we had one of the best trips to Hilton Head EVER. The only way it would have been better is if my brother's family could have been there... we missed you guys!

Haircuts and Busted Lips

Once again, Brooke gets a boo-boo. This girl is just a disaster magnet! The day before yesterday she tripped and bruised her leg and ankle. Yesterday, she fell out of a wagon directly on her LIP! There was a LOT of blood, and her lip was HUGE. I sent Gregor this pictures and asked him to please come home. Poor Poor Cookie! It looks a little bit better today, but I think she's got a bit of driveway asphalt stuck in her front tooth.

In other more fun news, Larkin got a HAIRCUT! Yay Larkin. I think it's been almost an entire year. Larkin is now 7 inches of hair lighter. She loves it because now she looks just like her grandma Debi (mom, she wants to surprise you when we come to visit... so act surprised!). She only wants to wear it down these days, and frankly I just got tired of brushing all the knots out at night... maybe because my right arm still doesn't work properly and that motion was just plain painful.

The best news I've had in 3 weeks... Brooke is actually taking a NAP!

New Camera!

After all our camera drama in January (sending it off to get fixed... which took forever... we had to borrow a camera for Hudson and Brooke's birthday party, Nellie's birth and first 6 weeks), we finally got the camera back and it still took crappy pictures. I had to trash every single photo from Larkin's birthday party with her friends because not a single one was in focus. If anyone was there and has pictures, please send them to me! I was fed up, so I went to target with a gift card and bought the best camera I could get for $200. I found the perfect Sony Cybershot on clearance which ended up being $199.85. Perfect! Granted the old one was a Sony Cybershot, but for 3 years it was great... so I'll try it again (I really just wanted to be able to use the same battery and memory card).

This isn't the Nikon SLR that I REALLY want to satisfy the inner photographer in me (I like the manual controls and super zoom), but at least the colors will be better and the pictures will be in focus. These are pictures taken with our new camera. Are they better?

Check out those white patent leather shoes that Brooke (yes BROOKE) fell in love with the other day while Larkin was shopping for a replacement Binky Fairy gift. The binky fairy took all of Larkin's binkys and left her an adorable pair of soft and glittery jammies that she thought Larkin would LOVE. Apparently not. Larkin wanted me to call the Binky Fairy and ask her where she shops so we could return it for a....... you guessed it... DRESS! Anyhow, apparently the Binky Fairy shops at a local kid's store. While Larkin was in the dressing room trying out about a dozen dresses Brooke found these shoes luckily in the sale section. Thank you so much sales girl for walking Larkin around the store to pick out all her options while I did damage control following Brooke.

Coffee

I want one of THESE!

I've almost completely gotten myself off of soda (for those who know me this is a HUGE accomplishment). I will still occasionally have a diet coke at lunch, but my daily morning soda (or two) is gone! I'm really proud of myself.
BUT, as a mom of four with one of those being a not even three month old, I need Caffeine. I don't love the taste of coffee. I do love a skinny, vanilla latte with extra vanilla though. That love combined with the curb-side service from the local coffee shop less than a mile away has become a costly addiction and replacement for my soda. I knew it was bad when I called this morning and they said, "Hello skinny vanilla latte with extra vanilla, we will have that out to you in 2 minutes." ummm... embarrassing!
So, I'm thinking maybe I need to get a coffee maker for the house and learn to doctor up the coffee enough so that I like it (although I don't want too many extra calories... you know, I'm trying to lose that extra junk in my trunk before I have to put on a bathing suit). Maybe I can make the latte at home. I just don't really know where to start. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good coffee maker or how to make a coffee for someone that doesn't really like the taste of coffee? I should know this considering I worked in a coffee shop when I was 16, but way back then coffee just wasn't as fancy as it is now.

Sesame Street

I want to do an experiment to see if a child's favorite sesame street character says anything about their personality or future self. Here's the breakdown of my family:

Kiki: always loved Cookie Monster!

Gregor: I don't know if he ever watched sesame street (or any Disney movie for that matter) growing up. Sad I know!

Hudson: Big Bird (for the record... always my least favorite)

Larkin: Elmo (and later Abbie)

Brooke: Ernie (yes... Ernie. I think that's a little weird) with Grover running a close second

Nellie: too early to tell

Cousins Ronan and Isla: Elmo and Cookie respectively

What is it that attracts a kid to a particular character?