So What? Wednesday

Today I am saying SO WHAT if...

 

-'So What Wednesday' isn't even a thing anymore? It's basically all my brain can formulate right now.

-I consider myself lucky if I get to wash my hair every 3 days at this point?

-I cringe every time the boys drop a toy on our new hardwoods? FORTHELOVE LET'S NOT SCRATCH THEM.

-I want to finally get back down to my wedding weight (ha!) but have Z E R O motivation to work out?

-every time Cheney has a bad night I get all sorts of nervous that she will turn into the baby form of Griff? Remember that time I had a kid who sucked at sleep for over 2 years? oh right, it's still happening.

-my 2 year old is still very much attached to his paci & I very much am not concerned?

-this season of The Voice is making me have a major girl crush on Gwen Stefani? I LOVE HER. How does she not age?!

-my car looks like we live inside of it? It's like the place that snack trappers go to die.

-I chopped FIVE inches off of my hair simply because Cheney was always ripping it out of my head and/or spitting up all in it?



one big catch up

Like I said last week, we are BUSY. It's a fun busy though! Let's catch up, shall we?

Grayson had an awesome fall baseball season! I will admit that I was not too thrilled about Ben signing him up when we would have a brand new baby, but I ended up loving it! The group of kids was so nice & G had so much fun. That's what it is all about! It really is fun watching him do something that he loves & is good at. I'm so thankful he enjoys it because it has really helped him with confidence & coming out of his shell a little bit! We are already looking forward to the spring season!

 

When we built our house, we only had 2 dogs & zero kids. For some reason we thought we wouldn't want hardwoods throughout the downstairs. Well, after adding a dog AND 3 small humans, I am convinced that was a horrible idea. Two weeks ago we had all the carpet ripped up (which was so nasty and after seeing all the dirt that gets trapped underneath, I will never have carpet in the main living areas ever again) and extended our hardwoods to the front computer room & main living area. It looks SO much better and has kind of made me fall back in love with our house. It is so much easier to clean & the boys are having a blast sliding all over the place in their socks. Win win for all!

 

This sweet thing is growing up so fast. Cheney is such a smiley and easy going baby. I feel like she has been with us all along...she fits in just perfectly! I loved watching the boys bond after Griffin was born and it has been just as much fun watching them with their baby sister. They both adore her and love on her constantly. My favorite thing that Grayson always says when he talks to her is, "I know you love me! You're my best friend!" It makes me laugh. He's such a great big brother!

We've been enjoying lots of fall activities over the last 2 weeks! We've picked out pumpkins, painted pumpkins, & visited one of the local farms with our MOPS group.  This was Griffin's first time to Gentry's Farm because he was sick last year. We had such a great time! I love our MOPS group so much our kids have made so many good friends. We always have fun outings! We did the hayride, played in the corn, went through the barn maze, got lost in the barn maze-ha!, & saw lots of animals. This is definitely our favorite time of the year!

 

We have been getting lots of use out of our zoo membership lately! We have been twice over the last week and a half. The boys love the zoo & were excited yesterday to take my mom (their Nana) to our zoo for the first time. We spent all morning and early afternoon checking out all the animals and Cheney just snoozed away in my K'tan. We had so much fun!

 

Whew, well that's life as of lately. Maybe one day I will get the hang of this whole balancing 3 kids & sometimes blogging thing:)

a juggling act

My poor blog has been so neglected since Cheney's arrival. I feel like my brain is exploding with things to write about and I simply need about 10 extra hours in my day. Ah, such is life.

 

Going from 2 kids to 3 kids has been a lot easier for us than going from 1 to 2. That doesn't mean that our lives aren't really chaotic right now. It just means that I expected the chaos this time around & know that I have to just go with the flow or I may just go crazy.  That being said, I feel like this season of life we are in is like a big juggling act. We have so much going on & 3 kids who still very much depend on us. My feet hit the ground running at around 6:30 and I don't sit down until about 9:30 at night. It. Is. Exhausting. And as much as I want to document this sweet season of our lives, I just don't have the energy most nights. (or any night, really. I'm typing this on the rare occasion that ALL THREE KIDS ARE NAPPING! Hallelujah!)

 

It's hard to juggle everything in life. I mean, I can't even juggle physical objects so juggling all the needs of my people and our house are even harder. I am really trying to be more intentional with my time lately. It took me a little while after Cheney was born to realize that I was frazzled and grumpy. I was starting to feel defeated. I was meeting the needs of everyone around me but I was forgetting that I have needs too.

 

 I get in this bad habit of trying to be superwoman all on my own. We started a new bible study this year at my church on Wednesday mornings & one of the first things I heard brought me back to where I needed to be.  One of the reading assignments talked about how God wants to rescue us. It doesn't have to be from some huge situation; it can be from anything. I was not being the best mom & wife I could be because I had not been putting Him first. I was trying to handle everything on my own & I just can't. I had not made any time to read my bible and have my quiet time. I made so many excuses as to why I didn't have time to sit & just spend time with the Lord. I was doing this particular bible study one afternoon on our back patio and I swear it was like I got a smack right upside the head. I can't do everything on my own & I'm not supposed to be able to. The Lord wants me to ask for help. It won't feel like such an impossible juggling act when I do that. Why is something so simple like that so hard to remember sometimes?

 

I hope I will be able to find some more time soon to update the ol' blog. I sure do miss it! Until then, I will just leave you with some of pictures of my growing up WAY TOO FAST kids.

 

 



Cheney: 2 months old

Cheney girl, you are 2 months old today!

The Stats:

Weight: 9lbs15oz (10th percentile)

Height: 22 inches (50th percentile)

Clothes: 0-3 month & 3 month clothes

Diaper: size 1

Eating:

You are still exclusively nursing & it's going great! You are eating every 3 hours during the day now. I am pumping a good bit to try and build up my supply and you are getting a bottle every night before bed.  You drink between 4-5 ounces! You are a hungry, growing girl! We are always on the go & you end up eating lots of meals in the car or in random places. Thankfully you are flexible!

Sleeping:

So far, knock on wood, you are the best sleeping May baby! Well, at least at night. We are following the Moms on Call schedule as best we can with our busy schedule and it has helped a lot. You usually wake up between 6:30-7:00 and eat. You take a good early morning nap about an hour after you wake up. This is the only nap that usually lasts at least an hour and is entirely in your Rock 'n Play.  The rest of the day we continue to follow the eat, play, sleep schedule but you aren't as good at staying in your room.  You always take a bath around 8:30, eat, & are in bed by 9:15. You've been sleeping until about 3:30 for the past several weeks! You've had a couple random nights where you have woken up twice, but you seem to be able to correct it by yourself. You even surprised us all last week by sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG! I am hoping you start doing that on your own pretty soon and we won't have to do sleep training. That would be nice! The thing that helped us SO much was putting your Rock 'n Play in your room, getting you a sound machine, & buying the miracle blanket. We didn't swaddle you for the first 4 weeks but you loved it as soon as we got the miracle blanket! You sleep so much better swaddled.

Happenings this month:

-You like the Soothie pacifier. You are dependent on it like Griffin was but you do like it when you are upset!

-You smile all the time! You have the sweetest little grin & we have even seen some dimples. You love when people talk to you & just grin when they do!

-You still don't like the car. I blame the infant carseat. If you aren't sleeping, you are crying.

-You love the play mat! You especially love looking at yourself in the mirror. That makes you smile. You also love to coo at yourself on the mat. It's pretty cute!

-You are starting to grab things on the mat.

-You are such a strong girl! You've been holding your head up really well for a long time but I just starting putting you in the bumbo and the monkey seat. You don't like the bumbo, but you seem to enjoy sitting in the monkey seat!

-You're a snuggler and still love being worn in the K'tan and Ergo.

-You love "swimming" in the tub. I take you out of the seat every night and hold you in the warm water. You kick and splash & grin so big. You love it!

Cheney, I still can't believe that I am lucky enough to be the mama of 2 boys and 1 sweet baby girl. You completed us in the best way. You fit in so perfectly! You have a great disposition and are so laid back. You let your brothers love on you all the time & they sure do appreciate that. They adore you! You are just the sweetest little thing and we love you so much. Happy 2 months, little girl!

 



celebrating G!

Well, Grayson's birthday came and went & we officially have a very proud 4 year old! This is the first time Grayson has really cared about his birthday. He proudly tells everyone that he is big now because he is 4!

Grayson's birthday week didn't quite go as planned. He played in his baseball game on Monday night & then several hours later both boys woke up with fevers and a stomach bug. It hit Grayson hard & he was sick until the early morning of his birthday. That totally messed up our plans to go to the zoo but we did have a fun, low-key day at home!

Grayson woke up feeling better so we celebrated with Ben that morning by eating donuts & opening a couple of presents. After a rough week of preschool germs, I was so happy to see G smiling on his birthday!

Later that night we celebrated with just our family. We had a pizza picnic on the floor, watched a movie, opened presents, & let Grayson blow the candles out on his chocolate brownies!

 The one thing Grayson told me he wanted this year was a superhero party. So superheroes it was! I love his birthday shirt!

This was Grayson's big present. He has been wanting his own golf clubs so he can play with his daddy. He was so excited & is already a natural. Surprise, surprise!

It was a fun day celebrating our big boy. I still can't believe he is 4!

 

Grayson's birthday party was this past Friday at Monkey Joe's.  We had his party there last year & he is obsessed! We tried to get him to pick a different place but he was set on Monkey Joe's. This boy loves to bounce!

These kids had so much fun bouncing the night away! I am so thankful that our boys have such sweet friends. We love this group of kids!