My Happy Place...

As the stress of selling and buying house, deciding between putting more money into an older vehicle or throwing in the towel and buying a new one and the chaos of life with three kids takes its toll, I find myself escaping into my happy place. My happy place(s) of late is rocking a sweet baby boy to sleep. Just as he is falling asleep and relaxing in my arms, he reaches up to feel my face (his eyes still closed) as if to say "just checking that it is still you mama". It was also watching the excitement of Elizabeth come home from school and announce that she is the "Special Helper" this week. She loves having this role but to her the most exciting part is that when you are the "Special Helper" your mom can come read to the class. She has been waiting for this day for a long time. I often hear about the other moms who come read to the class and she constantly asks when I will have my turn. When she found out that I was available to come and fulfill her dream she jumped up and down. I know she had her doubts about my availability because she told Jeff that he would probably have to come read because "Mommy has to work". Ugh, the sting of salt being poured into the wound otherwise known as the working Mom's guilt. The place I find the most amusement is listening to Emily sing along to the Rolling Stones. She loves one particular song, I have no idea what it is called, but she recognizes it every time it comes on the radio. I am too busy laughing at her singing along (not the correct words mind you) to notice which song is playing. Jeff is very proud of his influence on her musical taste and holds onto this as hope that she will come around to prefer this genre of music, even though she typically requests Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus as her top picks from the Ipod.
I know that we are blessed beyond what we deserve. Things will work out how they are supposed to with all the "stuff" and I will continue to escape to my happy places in this adventure known as parenthood.

Stuff

I should warn any reader that this post will be full of random information, along with typos and misspellings.
The last month has flown by and it is hard to believe that Easter is in two weeks. We had a couple of weeks of great temps but have had a small setback in wearing our flip flops this weekend. I have full faith in Houston weather and know that in a few short days we will have our toes exposed again!
Charlie had his four month check-up on the 10th and weighed in at a whopping 16 1/2 pounds. He has also grown four inches in four months and is wearing 6-9 month clothes. He is a big, healthy boy who is always smiling and making us laugh. He has discovered his thumb and all four of us are constantly discouraging him from "eating" his hand. We are a paci kind of family. We started him on rice cereal and some veggies, which he spits out. I've seen babies do this on t.v. but have never experienced it first hand. I have had to wipe myself down after feeding him green beans and sweet potatoes. I am bound and determined to have one nonpicky eater so I'll keep feeding him the yucky stuff until he likes it. NOT going to feel guilty about either.
Poor Emily has had strep three times since January. The doc thinks the lastest case is due to the fact the last antibiotic wasn't effective. Jeff and I are ready to discuss a tonsilectomy for the poor girl. The rule of thumb is 5 cases of strep in one year, we are more than half way there. She is so much sweeter when she feels better. It does make us feel bad for the battles we go through with her not knowing that the poor child feels terrible. She is the type of kid that doesn't complain of feeling bad but can be running a 101 fever. We usually don't know she is sick until she sleeps past 8:30, doesn't eat breakfast or vomits. *Note to self: if she is calling me "grossest mommy ever" maybe she has strep again.
Elizabeth will be registering for Kindergarten on the 25th, well I will be registering her. GULP. How did my baby get this old?? I've always told myself I will not be one of those moms who crys, takes a million pics, lingers outside the classroom, etc. but as this milestone approaches I find myself morphing into that mom. Afterall, sometimes those moms make my job awkward and uncomfortable when I am peeling their child off of them and ushering the poor kid into the classroom. Typically, the child isn't the one with the problem. (Don't worry, if you are reading this and you have experienced that with me, I'm not talking about you.)
The girls first t-ball game is this Saturday, should be entertaining. Emily knocks the ball out of the infield on most at-bats at practice but could really careless about playing. She is the rough and tough girly girl. Elizabeth loves the game and loves the uniform but often hits the tee on her at-bats. She is the sensitive tomboy. They are too funny.
Our Spring Break was uneventful and full of home improvement projects (what else is new). We met with the realtor (yea Laura Sanders) and are hoping to have the house on the market by April 1st. Stay tuned...

Lots of Love

The girls LOVE their little brother. Elizabeth's favorite way to show him how much she cares is to "pet" his head and talk to him in a very strange voice. Emily likes to get right in his face and love him up close. Sometimes they love him so much it makes him cry. One thing is for certain, he is easy to love. He likes to smile at us, coo and babble at us. There is nothing better than rescuing him from his bed and having him look up and give you a squinty smile. I have a feeling that he will keep all of us wrapped around his finger for a very long time...

I'm an alien-I think

Elizabeth has been making Valentines for everyone in our family and her friends at school. She won't tell me that they are for me, she tells me they are for "aliens". I guess she believes that she is misleading me and will have this big surprise for me on Valentines Day. I am playing along and find it quite endearing when she loudly whispers to Jeff that "alien mom gets two Valentine hearts". Evidently, he is in on the secret and is not an alien. During her outpouring of love she is making them for every friend in her class. God bless that child and her sweet spirit. I hope and pray (as I am choosing to believe every anxious mom does) that her friends will accept these homemade Valentines with excitement as she has labored over them all night. She traced, cut out and wrote every child's name on the hearts and picked out specific colors that her classmates would like. We are taping a lollipop on them for the party because this mom knows a little extra somethin' won't hurt.

Getting Ready

We are experiencing the joys of getting our house ready to sell. I love our little house and will be sad to move but reality is we are out of room.
This is a house of firsts: first time home buyers, first time car owners (two paid off!), first time parents (as well as second and third times), first time "hunkering" down for a hurricane on our own (not one but two), along with many other small firsts that come with growing up, being married and paying bills. The experts say to clean out, add fresh coats of paint and try to hide all of the living that has goes on in the house. Yes, I will do that but what I would like to show is that this house has seen our family grow, which potential home buyers won't see because I am told to put away family photos. They won't see the fun because Jeff is painting over the crayon on the walls, the skid marks from the ride-on firetruck, push toys and walkers and patching the holes from various objects being catapulted from toddlers hands.
I am holding out as long as possible on cleaning out the girls room and bath toys. The obvious reason being that they might kill each other if they don't have something to play with but also because part of me thinks potential home buyers might find comfort in knowing that the bedroom holds one million toys and that 5 bath time Barbies, a mesh bag full of foam letters, two things of bubble bath, Cowabunga Coconut shampoo and one extravagant Barbie mermaid slide, all fit quite nicely in the bathtub corner shelf.

The Ups and Downs of my 32nd year

I turned 33 on Tuesday, which was also Groundhog Day. The girls make it impossible to be disgruntled about getting older and frankly, I found it quite enjoyable and relished their celebration of my birth! I was bummed that the furry rodent saw his shadow because I am ready for some warmer temps.
It has been a busy year for us in the Jacobs household this past year, with many ups and some downs. They are listed in chronological order

Ups:
-our first trip to Disneyworld
-finding out we were having a third child (while very surprising at first)
-having the opportunity to work 1.5 miles away from home
-watching Elizabeth play t-ball
-finding out we were going to be the parents of a BOY!
-watching the girls learn to swim (for real) and Elizabeth jumping off the diving board
-seeing the pure joy on Emily's face during her dance class

-Elizabeth playing soccer was priceless
-giving birth to our sweet Charlie and knowing that he has completed our family
-celebrating nine years of marriage
-finding out we will have our first niece in June

Downs:
-leaving dear friends and students at a school that I love
-comforting Elizabeth over the death of her beloved frog Hoppy and holding back tears myself even though I strongly disliked having an amphibian in the house
-saying goodbye to our sweet dogs Roscoe and then Cooter (much harder than I could have ever imagined)

I can only imagine that this year will be full of exciting things along with disappointments and growing pains. While I hope the time goes slowly because I am realizing that what they say is true "time flies"; I also can't wait to see what year 33 holds in its grasp.

Miles of Smiles

We have had many reasons to smile the last few weeks and have received them from EVERY member of the family. We started with Emily's 4th birthday party at The Little Gym. 18 energy-filled kiddos who had previously been trapped inside due to bad weather, had a grand time running, jumping and playing in the gym.
The girls had their Christmas concert at Little Lambs and we were very entertained by the dancing and kid watching. Listening to three and four year olds sing about Jesus' birthday brings a smile to everyone's face and when you couple that with a great rendetion of "Pharoh, Pharoh" (dance moves included) one can't help but laugh.
Jeff was all smiles when his three week vacation started the morning of the 11th!
Our family attended the Christmas Eve service at Second Baptist Woodway, it was beautiful. The candlelight at the end of the service was breathtaking. All three kids were perfect during the service. The girls sat and stood at the appropriate times and Charlie slept through the whole service.
Charlie gave us his first smile on Christmas Eve which was the best present two parents could ask for. It has now become our mission to make him smile at every opportunity.
Christmas morning brought many smiles from the girls. Elizabeth was ecstatic that Santa brought her a Batman Cave and Emily loves her Mermaid Barbie doll and slide for the bathtub. The slide is for the doll, not Emily.
We are now anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Birmingham Bosche clan, due to arrive this afternoon. The girls can't wait to play with cousin Alex and spend the night at Nana's. The sleeping bags are already waiting by the front door.