Halloween prep

With every Halloween that passes it becomes a holiday I like more and more.  I think the boys like decorating for Halloween more than any other holiday!  I love seeing how excited they get.  This year we took it up a notch and added a skeleton and spider webs out front.  
We have the nicest neighbors who left gummies for the boys in the weeks leading up to Halloween.  Every time the boys found a bag they got so excited.  Grandma Gertch also sent another Trader Joes Halloween house which was a huge hit. I feel like I’m going to move home one day and Trader Joes will have rightly taken over the world.  The boys each picked a side and I loved seeing how different the sides were.  We had a Halloween party in the building with magicians and trick or treating in Halloween.  

 

 

10/52 weeks

Week 10-  You’ve really started grabbing at everything.  Grabbing at toys, my necklace, hair anything in reach!  You really love grabbing your dresses and shirts and holding onto them.  You slept through almost the whole night last night, 11 hours!  It hasn’t happened again but even on a bad night you only wake once, which makes for happy mommy.  You are even more smily and love to coo.

 

 


Three kids

Having three kids means that some dinners end early with miral pooping through three layers of clothes and  Malcolm dumping an entire salt shaker on his pasta when I go to change her.  While i am for sure no expert and still just working on getting a handle on having three kids I have been working on figured out the best way to love all three of my kids and not losing anyone these past three months. 

Three kids is making sure Malcolm doesn’t get lost in the middle.

Three kids is making sure everyone gets plenty of cuddles and kisses every day.  (It’s also tired eyes for mommy.)

Three kids is making sure we celebrate little accomplishments, like learning to use chopsticks.

Three kids is learning to have eyes in the back of my head so i can keep track of everyone.

Three kids is three baby books, three memory boxes and a whole lot of blog posts.

Three kids is finding time to build legos, oh so many legos.

Three kids means enjoying those rare quiet moments where no one needs their mommy.

Three kids is returning the underwater cameras Malcolm ‘found at school’.

Three kids is letting my older ones act like babies every once in a while. 

Three kids is sharing all your stuff, oh so much sharing. 

Three kids is leaving the baby at home, as hard as that is, and spending quality time with my older two.

Three kids is relishing the moments I have before my three little ones grow up and are embarrassed to kiss me goodbye at the bus.

 Three kids means letting Malcolm do him and build Miral ‘nests’ all over the apartment.

Three kids is soakig up little baby feet whenever you can. 

18 Days

Randy recently had to go to the US for 18 days for training.  I was pretty nervous about having all three kids with Miral so young.  But we survived!  Here is how we kept busy. 
Day one- pre-dawn departure by daddy. 
Day two-Parent reading at Adam’s school.

Day three- sibling colors and a beautiful sunset for bedtime nursing.

Day four- Birthday party at Active Fun.

Day five- sleeping baby and wine for mommy. 

Day six- more sibling cuddles before school. 

Day seven- much needed haircut and color for mommy.

Day eight-daily walks with mommy. 

Day nine- a trip to the doctor and ENT to make sure Malcolm didn’t have a ball up his nose (apparently allergies can make a three year old feel like there is a ball up there nose….)

Day ten- Red Build charity at school, fixing school chairs for nearby schools and relaxing in Miral’s bed. 

Day eleven- mastering the art of chopsticks.

Day twelve- sibling cuddles.

Day thirteen- double sibling cuddles

Day fourteen- two month birthday for this cutie!

Day fifteen- much needed night out for mommy with her friends.

Day sixteen- snooze by the pool.

Day seventeen-taking measurements and a kidzania birthday party. 

Day eighteen-sibling cuddles waiting for daddy to come back!

Welcome back daddy!!

9/52

9/52 weeks and 2 months! 
This week you have become sooooo smiley!! As soon as someone talks to you you start to coo and smile right away.  It melts my heart every single time.  It makes me so excited for when you start interacting more and even start talking to us.  
This is week two of your daddy’s 17 day work trip and you must have sensed that I needed a break.  You’ve been going to bed easier and staying asleep. The past two nights you’ve only woken up once and I feel like a new person.  Today you took a looooong nap while the boys were at the playground and I even got to organize a closet….one of my favorite activities. 
I’ve getting more comfortable taking all three of you out.  I’m lucky enough here to have help, so I’ve mostly gone out with two at a time, either when Miral is napping or Adam is at a friends house.  But I took all three for a walk and a donut and we all survived.  
Happy two months my beautiful daughter. 

 

 

8/52

Week 8- You are so much more alert this week, doing longer stretches where you’re awake during the day and a longer stretch of six hours at night (thank goodness 🙂  You have a new found love of grabbing my necklace and hair and have quite a strong grip!  Adam was just like that and I lost a lot of necklaces. 
Your brothers are still completely smitten with you.  They love when you’re awake and I have to convince them not to wake you up.  Malcolm still insists on calling you Ava ‘Dural’ and its the cutest thing.  I went to Malcolm’s school to talk them about babies and showed them lots of pictures and videos.  Malcolm was so proud talking about ‘our baby’.  They love to come into our room in the morning and give you kisses and say good morning. 
You’ve started clutching my finger with your little hand while you’re nursing and it makes my heart swell every time.  You’re lifting your head up and love to look around at everything.  Tummy time is a little crowded cause your brothers like to help out but you don’t mind. I had to put away a few bits of clothes this week and it just about broke my heart.  You’re smiling so much when we talk or sing to you.  

 

 

 

 

Yellow Belt

Adam has been going to Tae Kwon Do for the past few months and he loves it!  A few weekends ago Adam had the opportunity to earn his yellow belt.  The day before the yellow belt test Adam had to come home from school because of a fever.  The next morning Adam woke up still sick.  We talked to him about the yellow belt test and let him decide.  He decided that even though he was sick he still wanted to try for his yellow belt.  And he did it!  A few hours later we took him to the doctor and found out he had strep throat.  Pretty impressive Adam and a show of how much he likes Tae Kwon Do!  Even illness couldn’t hold him back.

7/52

Week 7- You have a bedtime! I forgot how early babies go to bed…. we’re currently ready and start at 6 and end up going down around 7.  You’re smiling so much and love when your family talks to you or sings to you.  You’re growing and officially no longer fit into newborn clothes (tear).  You’re starting to hold your head up and love to look around.  You’re starting to notice things more and more.  You’ll stop eating when you hear your brother’s voices….which is quite often!  You still squish up your little butt when you’re sleeping on my chest and keep those little fists scrunched up tight but you’re starting to stretch out little by little and seem so very big these days.  Your daddy is away for a 17 day business trip but so far we are doing ok, but we sure do miss him and his big smile.  While the boys are in school we’ve been taking walks mostly to Starbucks, but this week we walked all the way to the flower market, about 30 minutes away, and you were great. 

 

   

Adam snapped this pic of me and Miral. 

 

 

 

37 Reasons

For Randy’s 37th birthday I’m going to list 37 things that I love about him.  I know this is a recurrent theme but it’s an old favorite of mine.  When Randy and I got married I made him a book with 100 things I love about him.  Then for our first anniversary Randy gave me a book (first anniversary is paper) about the things he loves about me. Since then I have loved making lists with reasons why I love Randy.  It gives me a moment to focus on Randy (not always easy with three kids) and to think about all the things I love about him. 
1. Randy always knows exactly the right thing to say. 
2. Randy loves to cook and doesn’t shy away from hard recipes, last week he made us homemade tortellini in brodo. 
3. He can get a fussy baby to calm down every time.  
4. He can hold a baby and eat one handed really well. 
5. He makes me go to bed at a reasonable time, instead of when he’s out of town and I stay up way too late watching Good Wife. 
6. People always want to hang out with him.  Which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s great because we always have fun friends to hang out with but also means that there are lots of times that Randy gets invited out and he is just too polite to say no. 
7. He researches which TV series we should watch so we’re never stuck watching crap TV. 
8. He knows when I will really like a book and is always right. 
9. He loves a vacation and gets excited planning it months in advance. 
10. He eats dinner, bathes and puts the kids to bed every single night with me for the past 5 and a half years. 
11. He loves Sunday dinner and cooks an elaborate meal even when he’s tired. 
12. He loves spending time with his friends and goes on a guys trip every year.  I know I don’t always act like I love this one when I’m left home but I think its a great thing, I just need to squeeze in more girl trips (Daphne- I’m looking at you!)
13. He has great taste in friends. 
14. His children always comes first. 
15. He supports my addiction to photos, photo albums, keepsake albums, photo books….
16. He can always make all of us laugh, even when we’re in the worst mood (no naming names here).
17. He always alternates a non fiction book with a fiction book. 
18. We have a wine rating app that he refuses to use until after the bottle is done so that he’s not swayed by the ratings.  He always wants to make up his own mind. 
19. He is fiercely loyal to his friends and family. 
20. He is such a softie when it comes to his kids, he never wants to say no (except when Adam is throwing a fit at the supermarket, then he’s able to stand firm and tell him no he cannot have two treats)
21. He hates packing but loves to travel.
22. He unpacks his suitcase the minute he gets to a hotel room.
23. We found an Arabic tutor for Adam and Randy has also started taking lessons so he can improve his Arabic. 
24. Malcolm turned to me the other day when the song Slide was on and said- Are you ready for the beat drop?  It might have been the funniest thing he’s ever said.  But he was able to accurately tell me when the beat dropped….when and where Randy taught him that I’ll never know. 
25. Randy turned to me and Kate the other day and asked if we knew that you’re supposed to use a face cream with an SPF daily….um yes Randy we knew.  He will definitely be the one have less wrinkled skin when we get older or um now. 
26. He’s can whip up a yummy meal with whatever is in the fridge. 
27. Even when he’s tired and Malcolm has woken us all up at 5 am he finds the energy to go to the gym. 
28. When Malcolm comes into our room 5 times in the middle of the night, he will walk him back each and every time and sit with him until he is not scared of the dark anymore. 
29. He loves when Miral is dressed in pretty girly clothes. 
30. Every night I am still happiest when we are together hanging out.
31. How deeply empathetic he is.
32. How capable he is with the kids. I was so tired last Sunday and I laid down with Miral for a nap.  When I woke up Randy had taken both kids for coffee, to the arcade and to see the new Ninjago movie, and then he came home and cooked dinner!
33. He turns all the lights off, locks the door and gets me a glass of water every single night.
34. He has great taste in clothes. 
35. Before we jump into things he will always take the time to research them, whether its a new car, a vacation, a new restaurant. 
36. When he’s away he misses us as much as we miss him. 
37. After all these years- and it has been 25 years of hanging out starting at age 12 in Miller Field-  there is still no one else I would rather hang out with, share a meal with, have a nice bottle of wine with, talk my problems through with than Randy and that makes me a very, very lucky person 
For Randy’s birthday the boys helped me make a ‘Celebration cake‘  

We had a yummy dinner of beef bourguignon, homemade french fries and string bean and goat cheese salad. 

Despite Malcolm’s face he was super happy, just wary of fruit on his cake.

That weekend we were able to have a day out with friends at our favorite wine shop for a wine tasting and a yummy Spanish tapas dinner.  It was my first night out since having Miral and it was so nice to have a night out celebrating!

Happy 37th Randy! We love you tons!

6/52

Week six: First birthday celebration for daddy’s 37th birthday.  Poor Miral had her first cold.  She’s almost all better thankfully.  First bonnet wearing 🙂  First rainbow out our window.  First bottle given by daddy (success).  First time left at home with our nanny while mommy and daddy went out for dinner for Randy’s birthday.  Miral did great, Mommy texted home about 10 times to make sure everything was ok.

Your brothers are completely smitten with you.  When you cry, Malcolm says maybe she wants milk?  Both boys are obsessed with the diaper genie and fight over who gets to put the poopy diapers in and love to watch the garbage can eat the diaper.  I’ve convinced them the diaper genie only likes poopy diapers or else all my clean diapers would have been eaten by now.  Both boys love to help give you baths and choose what you’ll wear.  Malcolms favorite is your yellow dress (of course, his favorite color is yellow!) and Adam likes your white onesie with pink stars.

Adam loves to watch you on the changing table to make sure you don’t roll off.  When you start to cry he shushes and sings to you to try to get you to stop and is so happy when he succeeds.  Malcolm also loves to put his little finger to his lips to shushes you when you’re crying and sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Both boys love to kiss you and hold you, although Adam mentioned the other day that you are getting heavy!  You seem so much bigger already!  You are sleeping longer at night and do a good job putting yourself to sleep so far.