Mommy vs. Kids Day 3

Being a parent puts you in a lot tf crazy situations.  One of them is the fact that your day is centered around poop.  For example, today I went in to get Lawson and he was standing in his crib with have his diaper off.  His diaper was full of poop.  Thankfully, I got there in time for a crisis to be averted.  Once a crib has been painted in poop it is never the same.

He of course saw nothing wrong with the situation.  He got a little breathing room, clean sheets and blankies.  All around win for him.  As you can see he started out the day pretty happy. 

When you have 3 kids in diapers the goal is start reducing that number as soon as possible.  We talk about the potty with the twins.  They sit on the potty.  They put their dolls and stuffed animals on the potty.  The fundamentals are there we just need patience.  Everyone who went poo poo in the potty today raise your hand.

That's right.  Abby went poo poo in the potty!  This might be the most excited I have ever been about poop.  We all celebrated and danced around.  Abby got a piece of candy for her efforts.  Really , it was good timing.  She looked at me and said, "My diaper." with a frowny look on her face.  I ripped that diaper off faster than a Le Bare dancer with a pair of velcro pants and got her on the potty.  Chloe was really excited by Abby's success so she had to try her hand at this potty thing.  Unfortunately, success was not so easy for her.  She was very upset that she didn't get candy too.  Hopefully, she will learn the lesson that rewards are earned not given.
The kids have been getting a little stir crazy lately, but the extreme heat has kept us indoors.  So today I came up with the idea of finding a bounce place that has open jump.  It was just what the doctor ordered.



The girls were very excited about their bouncie adventure today, but the one thing that made the biggest impact was the car wash.  They just told me they had fun at the bouncie place, but I got details about the car wash.  They told me all the colors of the soap and all sorts of details.  Who knew a $4 car wash could be so entertaining? 

Only 1 more night night until Daddy comes home! I know he is enjoying the cool weather in San Diego, but we are ready for him to come back to us.  Just in time for me to take off to the center of the sun... uh... Arizona.



Mommy vs. Kids Day 2 (Miss Lauren is Back!)

One of the things I cherish as a Mom is being the first thing my kids see in the morning.  This isn't possible every day so I really love it when it happens.  When Lily was a baby Jeff and I would race into her room in the morning just to see her bright smile.  One time Jeff body checked me into the wall just to beat me out to those wonderful smiles.  When Chloe was an infant she used to wake up every morning at 4 am and I would go get her out of her crib and put her in bed with me.  She would sigh and put her head on my shoulder every time and go right back to sleep.  Abby has always been a ball of energy practically leaping out of her crib into your arms.  Except for the morning she painted her crib with poop.  She was a little busy that day.  Needless to say Jeff was very unhappy he was the first on the scene.  Getting up every few hours with Lawson was exhausting, but I also loved it,  It was a time when I had him all to myself and I knew he was my last baby so I had to appreciate every moment.  Since all of these are such precious memories for me, I thought I would share the morning wake up with everyone.

Here is Abby

Chloe



Lawon (Holding his favorite ball from Ai Fort Worth)

These happy faces are something I look forward to every morning even if it is at 5 am.  Unfortunately, Lily got out of bed before I could get her morning smile so here is a pic of her when I got home.  Usually the child is in some sort of strange outfit like pjs and pink cowboy boots or a princess outfit and crocs.  Today was no different.  I really like the blue cinderella socks with the ballet shoes.  It adds that much needed pizzazz to an otherwise dull outfit.

In case you haven't picked it up from Jeff's earlier posts, we do believe in teaching our kids discipline, right from wrong, telling the truth, etc.  The telling the truth part can be interesting.  This weekend I folded some laundry and I put it upstairs in a laundry basket while the kids were napping.  I meant to put it away when they got up, but I forgot.  I ended up regretting that decision since I walked upstairs yesteray to find the laundry basket was now in the media room and the laundry was all over the place.  I asked Lily why she hadn't done anything to stop this and she said, "I didn't know they were doing it.  I was in my room reading."  I almost went with it until I realized Lily can't read yet.  Nice try kiddo.  She quickly amended her answer to she was looking at books, which is her version of reading so I gave a pass.  Reluctantly.  Another similar story comes to mind.  I was changing Chloe's diaper and I stepped on a part of the floor that squeaks.  Abby looks at me and busts out laughing.  She says, "Excuse you Mommy!  You tooted!  Say Excuse Me!"  I explained it wasn't me, but the floor.  I even showed her over and over how the floor squeaks and makes that noise.  She just gave me a very skeptical look.  She didn't buy into the floor squeaks theory even with proof.

Not only do we try to teach our kids things, we also learn from them.  Their unique perspective on the world around them is pretty funny.  Today a dump truck was dumping rocks behind our house.  Probably clearing some area for construction.  This scared the twins so Lauren was explaining that it was the driver's job and he was not scary.  This somehow turned into Chloe's favorite subject:  Where is Ashie (Ashley Boyd).  She took this to mean anyone can drive a truck (true) therefore the truck driver must be Ashie.  I think the kid is going to need some major tutoring when it comes time for her to answer the reasoning questions on the SAT. 

Tonight at dinner I was using Chloe's necklace (she always has one) to make shapes.  The kids called out the shape and I made it.  This opened the door for lots of conversation.  I heard all about the Mickey Mouse they watched that morning.  Apparently, Pete was quackers.  I asked if they were quackers.  Chloe said, "No, I twin."  Abby said, "No, I a girl."  Which led them to tell me that Lawson is a boy and so is Daddy,  I asked them where Daddy is.  Chloe said, "He went Bye Bye".  I asked her where he went bye bye.  She said, "He went Bye Bye in his blue car." She would make a great witness on Law & Order.

Well, its time for me to try to get some sleep before I have to get up and do this all over again.  Apparently the twins were trying to get out of going to bed and tried to hide from me tonight.

At least they are coming up with creative ways to stay up rather than just running from me screaming.  I thought I would leave everyone with pictures of the kids going night night.  It really is a sweet thing to be a part of.  Good night to everyone from the Straits!







PS-Only 2 more night nights until Daddy comes home!  We miss you Daddy and can't wait to see you soon.





Mommy vs. Kids Day 1

Well, Jeff is off to San Diego today.  So he is going to enjoy 4 kid free days, 3 kid free nights and 70 degree weather.  He had to pack a jacket.  Life is not fair.  Especially when you consider the fact that my work trip next week is in Arizona.  The temp there hovers around the same temp as the sun.  Anyway, in Jeff's absence I will be taking over the blog.  You will find my version is a lot more detailed than Jeff's.  This is due to the fact that I am a girl, I've been with them all day and that I am chronicling our days for Jeff since I usually have his attention for about 5 seconds on the phone. 

Today I took a vacation day to be with the kids since Miss Lauren is enjoying a much needed vacation in Cabo.  I don't mean to minimize anyone's job or their commitment to their work, but I don't care how hard your job is Lauren's job is harder.  This is evidenced by the fact that this summer many family members have invited Lily to come stay with them for an entire week.  The twins have received no such invites.  Its not that they are bad kids or undisciplined or that our family members don't love them whole heartedly.  Its that there are 2 of them going through the Terrible 2s.  No easy task for anyone to take on, even us, and we made them. 

Our day had an inauspicious beginning.  It appears that our baby boy has discovered that diapers come off.  He is clearly a Strait based on how comfotable he is in his birthday suit.  For those of you that don't know, Strait men have an anversion to clothing and apparently it is hereditary:

I had to chase him around my room for a few minutes to get a diaper back on him.  This is very similar to the sprint he does to avoid going night night.  Apparently our boy is a nudist at heart.  The poor boy was having a rough morning.  First, he found out we have a no diaper, no bottle policy at home.  Second, he had to endure another of his sister's attempts to make him look pretty or cute depending on their mood.  I was wrapping up some emails for work and I heard Lawson start to cry.  It was more of an offended cry rather than a hurt cry.   I looked over and Abby was trying to put a clip in his hair.  Not just any clip, but a glittery clip with an Easter Bunny on it.  He will put up with having to play with pink toys, princess balls and even being decorated with marker, but not a glittery, Easter Bunny clip.  He has standards.

Thankfully, our wonderful neighbors invited Lily to come over to play with their son Jake.  This allowed me to hit Target to shop for groceries with only 3 kids instead of 4.  This also allowed Lily to have someone her own age to play with for once.  I often get asked how I grocery shop with 4 kids.  Yes, I grocery shop by myself with all 4 kids.  A lot of times Jeff or Miss Lauren will come with me, but circumstances will arise where I have to bite the bullet and go it alone.  Here is the cart configuration I use.  Lawson in the front, twins in the basket and Lily walking beside me.  I also keep a hand held basket in the bottom of the cart to hold most of the groceries since the twins tend to sample items if they are in the cart with them.  We will get home and discover bite marks in the turkey hot dogs, cheese or half the grapes missing due to the twins helping themselves during the shopping trip,  Here is a before and after shot of the grocery cart:.

Before:

Here we are with the groceries and the kids in the cart:

The trip to Target went relatively smoothly.  Abby only bitch slapped Chloe once.  That's about as good as it gets for us.  I also learned that the twins really are listening to every word we say.  During our trip to Target Chloe looked at me and said, "Seriously!?!  Seriously."  She also said, "You have got to be kidding me!?!"  Both times referred to her accomodations in the cart.  They both also told me that Lawson is being Widiculous (Ridiculous-for those of you that don't speak 2 yr old). 

While the twins nap we let Lily play or rest while she watches a movie.  Usually, Lawson will wake up before the twins so he gets to play with his big sister.  As you can see he really loves to get some attention from his big sister.  I did have to explain to Lily that she can't put her little brother on the couch and just walk away.

After naptime I decided to take the kids to the pool.  Its a great way for them to work off some of their energy before bedtime and they love it.

Our kids are scared of many things dogs, wasps, trains, etc.  However water is not one of them.  Lawson really loves to splash in the pool, the twins will jump in and out for hours and Lily will swim until she just can't keep going.  So at the end of the swim we have hungry and very tired kids.

 Tomorrow I go back to work so I won't have so many details about the kids' day.  I am sure Miss Lauren will have plenty of stories for me when I get home.  We have all missed Miss Lauren and we can't wait for her to be back.  She will be greeted by the kids like the rock star that she is.  I told her that she will never have another job where she will greeted so enthusiastically.

Only 3 night nights until Daddy comes home.  Daddy, we miss you very much!  We hope you are having a good trip, but we can't wait for you to come home.

We Not Babies

My self diagnosed OCD was getting the better of me this week, and that's not a good thing for anybody.  Every time I turn around there is a new mess somewhere in this house, and every time we sit down for a meal more food ends up on the floor than in the kid's gullet holes.  Needless to say the frustration factor was reaching critical mass, so it was probably not the best time to announce to Lily that she is old enough to start earning her keep around here and she would be taking on some chores.  This particular evening she was in charge of clearing her dishes as well as the rest of the dishes.  Her response?  "Daddy, I can't believe I have to clean up after my sisters."  To which I responded by listing a long series of tasks and duties such as cooking, cleaning, changing poops, picking up toys, dressing you, and many more that we have to accomplish daily.  I asked her, "what do you have to do?"  She said, "I have to play and watch TV!"  Well it must be nice.

Apparently she took our little talk to heart, and though there has not been a noticeable difference in what she does around the house, she does feel as though she carries a large burden of responsibility.  In Lily's words, "I'm tired of living here and I would like to live at Disney World.  I have to do too much around here."  Not only would the child like to not live her any further, she told us she needs a vacation.  She is going to stay with Mama in a couple weeks and while she was talking on the phone like a teenager, she told her Mo she is going to San Antonio for a week because my Mommy and Daddy think I need a vacation.  She also mentioned that Daddy drives her crazy.  This can't be my child, can it?

Coupled with my frustration of the never ending mess is my frustration of the never ending poops.  We are basically status quo on the Abby and Chloe potty training.  They are interested in sitting on the potty, but it's like they have the worst case of stage fright as soon as they mount the porcelain.  Both of them came to me today with dirty diapers and I had both of their attentions while I was changing the stank.  Instead of encouraging with patience today, I though I would try a new tactic.......belittle them.  Once again I'm not proud, but I'm desperate.  So I told them that they must be babies because only babies poo poo their diapers, and big girls poop in the potty.  I continued with my verbal abuse and ridicule calling them babies, and Abby may have got her feelings her hurt a little.  Chloe however responded in a way that only Chloe would respond.  She looked at me with a look of puzzlement as to what I was talking about and said, "Daddy, we not babies, WE TWINS!" 

Even though the Boy cannot talk yet, he understands just fine and has no issue defying us.  Two evenings ago he was crawling over to different things, pulling up, practicing his cruising techniques, and generally just being a good kid not bothering anybody.  Realizing that is was getting late as I stood he looked back to see what I was doing.  Taking a step toward him, I asked if he was ready for nite nite.  Those last 2 words I spoke lit a fire under his belly and he took off in the other direction leaving skid marks.  The Boy was not ready to hit the hay just yet.  He got about 10 feet away, stopped to look over his shoulder and see what I was doing.  As soon as I took a step toward him, BOOM, the after burners kicked in and he was off again.  Once I finally rangled him, he got a big laugh out of the whole scene and we have now made it part of our nightly ritual.

Kasey will be taking over the reins of the blog next week, as I will be suffering through a business trip to San Diego where the weather is rumored to be in the 70's.  I look forward to her series of blogs on Kids vs. Mommy.

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and the evasive Lawson Boy

That's A Big Bag of Chicken

My apologies once again for not being diligent and keeping up with the blog as much as I would like to.  An acceptable excuse would be that I was too busy this week, but I refuse to use that as an excuse and will simply say I was lazy this week.  Nobody really wants to hear how busy another persons life is despite the fact that we have turned our social network sites into one big competition to share just how hard life is for us.  Any time I see a "FB" status and somebody is complaining about their day I have to fight the urge to respond to them with an expletive.  We get it, you have kids, a job and other stuff going on........how is that different from the millions of other people that do it without needing a shoulder to cry on.  To tell the truth, it is the people who do not have the kids or the job that tend to "bitch" about their life more; I suppose they just have more time on their hands. 

Wow, how did I get off on that rant?

Looking back on this week and trying to come up with some stories to share, I realized it was a good week.  We were very busy this week, but in a good way.  I personally have a lot going on with work which is good and means the results are good.  Kasey is getting ready to start her Masters program and has to attend class one full Saturday every month, and that happens to start today.  This summer our church has reserved Hawaiian Falls water park every Wednesday evening from 5:30 to close, so Lily and I went out there this week and had a blast.  Upon arrival she was skeptical of some of the larger slides and kept telling me emphatically that she was not going on them.  It took some convincing, but she finally tried the first ride and I could not get her off of them the rest of the evening.  There was one ride in particular that I watched several kids walk up to, look over the edge and walk away shaking their head and saying "no way".  Lily walked up to that ride, sat down, waited for the Lifeguard to give clearance, and she just took off without hesitation.  Watching her on the way down, I got a good laugh as the realization of how steep it was hit her after she was free falling and her legs were flailing around everywhere.  When I got to the bottom she was ear to ear grin laughing and asking to do it again........obviously I was proud.

Abby and Chloe are starting to hit their stride.  It was noticeable this week that they are learning to play very well together.  Instead of simply fighting over toys, they are sharing and coming up with games to play together.  Lily has been a big help with that too, as she will come up with games for them all to play together.  Lawson just crawls around and tries to get in the middle of everything.  Typically before their bed time, we let them play and watch some Mickey Mouse.  They have learned that as soon as the Hot Dog song from Mickey is over we usually start their way to put them to bed.  This particular evening they were having a really good time and as soon as I heard the end of their show I stood to go upstairs, but Abby quickly ran to the banister and ordered me in her best demonic voice, "Daddy, dont' come up here."

Not only are they playing well together, but they are all really good big sisters.  Any time Lawson gets upset or starts to cry, they immediately come to his rescue and try to comfort him.  Every once in a while we have those moments you wish you could freeze frame and watch over and over.  Lawson had been crying and it stopped, so when I went in to see what had happened I found Chloe sitting next to him rubbing his back and singing Jesus Love Me to him.  It does not get any sweeter than that.  I've tried to permanently burn that image into my mind so when they are fighting like cats and dogs, I can reflect back on that and remember that they do love each other.

The saying has been around forever, but it is true that kids say the darnedest things.  In Lily's case, we are watching her learn new words and try to use them in proper context, and some of them are pretty big words for a 5 year old.  I think I already shared that she told me, "Daddy, you exasperate me".  Most of the time, she uses the words properly, she does not always pronounce them correctly.  The twins however are in the really funny stage.  We can now understand most everything they are saying, and since they are basically a stream of consciousness you get a pretty good insight as to what is going on in that little head of theirs.  Ultimately it comes down to simple curiosity.  They are so intrigued to learn how the world and everything in it works.  They like to point out random things and ask what it is.  They even like to point out random things that they already know and ask what it is by name; I guess just to show off  and prove they already know it.  "Daddy is that a motorcycle?"  Kasey and Ms. Lauren took the kids through the drive through at Chick fil A yesterday and when they handed the food over to them Abby commented excitedly, "oh, that's a big bag of chicken".

Sometimes all the kids will be in the same room, and I will sit back to watch and realize they are literally all talking at the same time carrying on 3 completely different conversations.  If you can consider Lawson's babble and yelling a conversation, then I suppose there are 4 conversations going on at the same time.  Though I tend to think Lawson is yelling, "would you 3 please shut up!?"

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy

Can't Wait Until They Are Teens

If you read the title of this post and don't pick up on the sarcasm, let me go ahead and iterate that was intended to be very sarcastic.  It escapes me where these kids of ours learn some of the things they do until I really sit down and think about and unfortunately many times Kasey and I have to do a self evaluation and be aware that sometimes they pick up these little habits from us.  Just the other day Lily "whatevered" me.  We were having a discussion about something she wanted to do and she did not care for my explanation as to why she could not do it, so she ended the conversation by walking away with one hand waving in the air saying, "whatever Daddy".  Trying to keep my composure and not drop kick her, while I was standing there it hit me that on occasion when I have had enough of an argument or feel that I have said my peace and do not care to hear another rebuttal, I too will end the discussion with "whatever".  So when the apple does not fall too far from the tree, maybe it's time to not only correct Lily's behavior but it means it is time to be more conscientious of the way I communicate as well. 

If you are new to the blog or just don't recall some of my earlier stories, there is a trend that keeps popping over and over as I write and reflect on the story.  More often than not, it is one of the kids who has taught me something about myself.  And of course I knew there was some room for improvement but this is starting to become a scary trend now.

Back to the topic at hand, it is not just our 5 year old who seems to have the conversational skills of a teen.  The twins have the luxury of not only learning from us, but they pick up many things from their sassy big sister as well.  It is only a matter of time before one of them is told to finish their milk and they respond, "whatever".  I don't recall if it was Abby or Chloe (unfortunately that happens quite a bit) or the exact circumstance, but I was efforting to give instructions on how to do something and the child tells me, "don't worry about it Daddy".  Really?  Really?  You are 2 1/2 years old and you just said those words to me, I can't wait until they are teenagers.

To our credit (notice I said our and not their), more often than not they are respectful and well mannered kids.  As I have mentioned before, manners and being respectful are some of the traits that we will instill into our kids.  Lily is constantly getting compliments on how well mannered she is and it makes us very proud to hear that from other parents.  It does take a lot of work and a lot of  repetition correcting your kids and building those habits, but the work is worth it.  Nothing erks me more than hearing a kid respond to me with "yeah".  Right up there with that one are kids who instead of asking for something, tell you "I want".  I could care less what you want, but if you ask nicely I'd be happy to get it for you.  Our rationale for teaching our kids this way is not to be overly strict, but it will carry over into other aspects of their life down the road.  We try to speak to the kids the same way we ask them to speak to us as well, though I will admit I don't use many please and thank yous when I'm yelling at them for drawing on the walls. 

In other news, Lawson is so close to taking his first steps.  His bag of tricks is expanding, he has learned to wave and when you say hi to him, he will attempt to say hi back.  It really comes out as just and H sound, but along with the wave it is apparent he gets it.  I even caught him yesterday waving to himself and saying hi.  Along with the fun little things he is doing, he has also learned how to fight for a toy.  If Abby and Chloe have something he wants or they take a toy from him, it does not make him happy.  If they are close enough in proximity he will go ahead and grab a hand full of hair or simply punch them.  Of course they like to get just close enough for him to hit them and then come tell us that Lawson hit them.  Sorry kid, you asked for it.  They know they have the upper hand on him right now because they have the gift of mobility.  What they do not realize is as soon as he gets to walking, that advantage goes out the window and though they may be a little bigger than him right now, he is definitely more aggressive and could probably take them down.  Soon enough they will figure out there are 2 of them and start working in conjunction to plot against him and their big sis...........but whatever.

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy

Happy 4th of July

Most likely you all have some exciting plans for the 4th of July consisting of good BBQ, friends, fun in the sun, and fireworks.  Let us all remember that today is not just a day to do all these fun things and escape an extra day of work, but it is a celebration of the Independence we enjoy as citizens of the greatest country in the world.  It is a celebration to the brave men and women who serve our country and died for our country so that we can enjoy our freedoms.  We sang America the Beautiful in church yesterday and celebrated each branch of the armed forces.  The lyrics to America the Beautiful says, "America, America, God mend our every flaw."  Obviously we live in a flawed country with many issues and we are not going to fix it over night, but we need to refocus our policies, laws, and morals to be based on God and make sure our kids carry forward those same principals.  So today, I will explain to my kids as best I can what our Independence is how it came to be, and the original intent.

I have already missed one opportunity to talk with Chloe about it.  As I was making my protein shake this morning, I saw her grunting so I quickly hurried her to the bathroom to see if you would poo in the potty.  I sat down with her to encourage her to push and no lie, I could literally see a poo nugget hanging down.  It never crossed my mind that I would have to explain to a 2 1/2 year old how to contract your tummy and push, and she wasn't really getting it.  So we sat there for a while and I tried to think of new ways to coax the poo from her.  At one point I held my hands up and told her to push on my hands as hard as she could, and she pushed and grunted as hard as she could, but it just would not happen.  I know you are not supposed to push the potty training until they are ready, but it is going to be so nice when are down to just one kid in diapers.

Lily got some good laughs at Daddy's expense this weekend.  On our way to dinner last night, there was a turtle trying to cross the road in our neighborhood.  He was not making very good progress and I was certain he was meant for road kill.  So we stopped and I got out, picked up the turtle and brought it back to the car for the kids to look at.  I quickly showed each of them the reptile being aware that the turtle would most likely pee all over the place any second.  I exited the vehicle and headed toward a grassy area just in time and the pee began to spray out all over my new shoes.  At 30 to 40 yards away, I could hear Lily laughing hysterically and saying something about turtle pee all over my new shoes. 

Lawson Boy is only a week or 2 away from his first steps.  He pulls up on anything and everything like a champ, can stand for a second before plopping down.  Coupled with the look on his face when the rest of the kids run away to play, I can see the determination he has to join in and ultimately tear things up. 

Kasey and I started our Insanity work out this morning, so hopefully we can stick with it the next 60 days and have fewer pounds to show for it.  We even took the before picture to see how far we come, but no I am not going to post them for fear of taking a beat down from my wife. 

Everyday with Abby and Chloe it become a little easier to understand what they are saying.  We watched a Dateline report on twins investigating Twin telepathy, and though I don't think such a phenomenon exists, there are some freaky things that happen with twins.  Research shows that if they are going to invent their own twin language it usually happens around 3 to 4 years.  I will be very curious to see if it happens or not.  One thing is already certain, they understand each other perfectly when they talk to each other and carry on some really funny conversations. 

Enjoy your holiday!

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson Boy