Supermom Chronicles

Last night was hilarious. We had some pretty decent thunder and lightening that began shortly before dinner. Everytime there was a thunderclap, Cole came running and hugged my leg while I was cooking. Thankfully, by the time supper was ready, the storm had mostly subsided. However, there was the occasional distant thunder that still prevented Cole from eating a normal meal. This is how he spent most of the time at the table...


Yes, I felt sorry for him a little, but he was so darn cute we all laughed together at him. Even he started chuckling eventually. It was so funny. He would get so close to taking a bite of food - the fork would be loaded and just an inch or so from his lips - then he would quickly set it back down on his plate and assume the position. Same thing whenever he tried to take a drink. Poor little dude.
Here's James in his new Christmas Bumbo seat. These things are pretty cool. Babies really like to be able to sit up, and this thing does a much better job than the traditional bouncy chairs. He likes being able to see what's going on around him much better. No, I didn't mean to get him a girly-purple chair...I thought I was buying a green chair until we got home and opened the box...

Last night we visited the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park. Man, I wish we would've brought a camera (not for the lights, but for the kids). First, we waited in line on the access road for 40 minutes to get to parking. That worked out ok since we've joined the ranks of soccer-mom-minivan-owners:). We bought a brand new Honda Odyssey one month ago. It is definitely the most luxurious vehicle we've ever owned (if you can get over the "minivan stigma", which I never had to begin with). It's so funny, everytime we pass a vehicle on the road, John proclaims, "You just got passed by a minivan!" Anyway, passing the time in the van last night waiting for parking was so easy thanks to our DVD/entertainment system. The kids enjoyed "Over the Hedge" while John & I almost enjoyed peace and quiet (James wasn't too happy).

Once we got to the Trail, we loaded Faith & Cole into a wagon and James into his stroller. Faith & Cole looked so cute! They both had their snow caps & mittens on and John sacrificed a layer of his jacket to use as a blanket for them in the wagon. About 3-4 scenes into the Trail, Cole decided that the best way to experience the Trail is to walk it. So we proceeded at his pace for a long way until we just couldn't take it anymore. He was so cute, though. At every scene he stood right up on the curb pointing and shouting, "Mommy, wook...wook at that!!" He really enjoyed it. About halfway through, we decided he was moving way too slow, so I proceeded to carry him the rest of the way. Sadly, I think my arm and back muscles are sore today! It was such a joy to watch him experience such awe and wonder. It was a blast. James fell asleep pretty early on (thank goodness). Faith decided the jacket her Daddy let her borrow was pretty cozy, and she proceeded to curl up in a ball in the wagon and fall asleep! I couldn't believe it! With all the noise and lights all around, our little girl fell asleep. It would have been a great picture. After loading everyone back in the van, they were all asleep by the time we made it out of the parking lot. Even John fell asleep on the way home. It was a great night.

Finally I can breathe a sigh of relief! The crazy part of the holiday season is over, and now I can enjoy the rest. Sorry for the previous post, but I just had to vent:) This will have to be a quick post because I have a hungry baby on my lap...

Here is our family at our annual Christmas dinner a couple of weeks ago. Yes, John finally shaved his moustache off a couple days ago. Yeah!


I thought this picture was hilarious. We went to our neighborhood community center last weekend to visit Santa. Faith refused to get anywhere near him unless I was right beside her. You can tell by the look on her face and the crossed arms how she feels about the situation. Literally 2 seconds after this picture was taken, he offered her a candy cane and they suddenly became best of friends! She started rambling out her entire Christmas wish list. I could barely pull her away for the next family. I guess they need to start with the candy next time...

OK, I'm going to turn off the Christmas spirit for the 5 or so minutes it takes to write this post so that I can tell you how I really feel...

I really try not to complain. I know I have it really good in life - healthy family, 3 beautiful kids, a good husband, a nice house, a great job, etc, etc. But my stress level right now is through the roof. You may see the headlines tomorrow, "Crazy Mom Looses It and Starts Babbling Like Baby". Yes, I'm happy to have 3 kids, but good grief! The holidays are crazy enough without kids. I swear it's almost as if all the kids have a secret meeting first thing every morning before I wake up and plan out the day in order to create the most chaos and irritation. I'm up to my shoulders in crap (literally, Faith smeared some on the wall today at about the level of my shoulders). I've changed more diapers today than I'd like to count. I slept last night from 11pm-1:15am, then from 2am-3am, then from 4:30a-6a, then I think I got another 15 minute snooze in right before 7am when Cole burst into my room screaming. I tried so hard to take a nap today, but as always right when I get Faith & Cole down, James wakes up and DEMANDS to be held, played with, etc. Which is great, except when I'm so tired I fall asleep sitting up. Then Cole insists on everything to be his way today (which is no different than any other day). He insists, but it doesn't mean he gets what he wants. Which means if I say "NO", I get to hear him scream for an indefinite period of time. John's dad calls and says John is going out to their place tomorrow to work on some project. Hello? What about the fireplace project that looks like *^*&* in our living room that I've been wanting him to finish all week. What about the fact that I still have to go Christmas shopping before Monday (Christmas with my mom & sis). And why do I have to do all the Christmas shopping, all the Christmas letter writing, cards, etc? Oh, and he wants to take Santa presents out to his parents' place tomorrow since that's where we're spending Christmas morning. So now I have to wrap presents tonight, too. I'm really really tired. Bah humbug!

This has been going on for awhile (ever since my kids came home to stay after spending 4 days/week at Nana & Icky's house while I was on bedrest)...

Cole is an emotional child. Faith has always been so even-tempered. She has been easy since the day she was born (ok, except for potty-training, which at 4 years of age she has regressed again to wetting her panties after James was born). Cole, however, is always on the extremes with his emotions. He is either extremely happy and cute as a button, or very emotional/sad/tantrum-prone. I think God has purposely made him extremely happy/cute at times or else we couldn't handle the other. Anyway, this fall whenever he wants to be picked up and held (which is often), he whines "antsonme". At first I thought he was saying "answer me". As my bilingual skills have grown with the mastery of "toddler" as a second language, it finally dawned on me what he was saying. He is actually saying "Ants on me." Nana & Icky live on 6 acres with an abundance of wildlife, probably the most abundant being fireants. Unfortunately, Cole would happen across these fierce creatures from time to time over the summer while he was staying there. Of course when he yelled "Ants on me!", Nana or Icky would immediately pick him up and deal with the situation. And hence the association between "antsonme" and being picked up. We've been trying to teach him to say "hold me" or "pick me up" for 2 months now to no avail...