You know you don't live in the city...

...when you go for a drive, not more than ten minutes from your house, and you come across someone raising six bison and another someone raising a herd (literally) of caribou/reindeer. We have known about the bison for a long time and take the kids for a drive to see them from time to time. Yesterday we extended our drive a bit further and stumbled upon 30 or more reindeer. They were right up against the fence, eating, and we couldn't decide what they were. Smaller than an elk and thicker, shorter than a standard deer, but big furry antlers (my dad informed me they were furry because they were immature and that it was called their "velvet" antlers) and white butts. It was Greg who first suggested they might be reindeer and I essentially called him crazy. Reindeer only live on the Alaska tundra and Siberian plains. right?

The next step was consulting my dad, a person who grew up in the wilderness and knows about such things. After describing them he said they sounded like caribou. We looked caribou up on Wikipedia and it said caribou is the term for wild, North American reindeer. And the picture looked just like our local animals. Oh, and in case you are wondering, they are not native to Liberty Lake, they are native to areas much further north. I hope to talk to the owners someday and find out how on earth they came to have them. In the meantime we are enjoying our own private zoo, just down the road.

You're invited to my pity party

Between illness and Greg being out of town, sleep for mama has been in short supply.  I have reached crisis levels of sleep deprivation and judging from my meltdown last night I knew I had to make getting some rest a priority.  Today, it seemed as though the heavens were shining down upon me.  After a busy morning, ALL THREE KIDS were ready to sleep around 1:30.  I got everyone down, it was 1:45.  I literally ran, grabbed the softest blanket ever (thanks mom) and curled up on the couch.  Laundry and clean bathrooms be damned, I was going to sleep.  The next hour transpire as such:

*Nathan crying for his binky.  Me, out from underneath lovely blanket, upstairs, retrieve binky.  Back to nappy time.

*Dane, crying for no reason.  Me, up, feverishly searching for his binky and proceeding to pat him for five minutes until he went back to sleep.  Back to lovely blanket.  Almost asleep when...

*Aubrey, up to pee and "just check on you."

*Nathan, hack hack hack, crying for water.  Back up I go.

*Aubrey, wanting to sleep somewhere else because Nathan's coughing it waking her up.  I put her in our room where Dane is sleeping.

*Jingle jangle, jingle jangle.  Aubrey has found my cool metal belt which she is rattling.  

*Dane: WWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!  More patting to get him back to sleep.

*Aubrey:  "Mommy, will you sleep with me?"  I try, leaving lovely blanket behind and exchanging it for my precious daughter pulling my hair and waving puppy in my face to see if it would make me open my eyes.  It did.

*I try to rest on couch one more time, when, seriously, I hear Dane crying.  AGAIN.

This continued until about 10 minutes ago when I got Dane up (who promptly fell back asleep in my arms) and decided to just do the laundry and clean the bathrooms.  Except now it's time for Aubrey to get up and I hear Nathan calling my name.  Honestly, it was like the meanest cosmic joke ever.  Greg is so bringing dinner home tonight.

Single Mothers and other Saints

God never intended people to parent alone, of this I'm sure. Greg is out of town for most of this week for work and I'm here. ALONE. To be honest, I think the anticipation of his departure was worse than the reality. I have been stewing over this since I found out the middle of last week. And guess what? Today was fine. We played, did errands, did chores, and all the other things that we do in a day. But here it is, 10:30 p.m., and I'm taking a break from paying bills and folding clothes to do a little blogging. For any single mother out there, it is true that their work must never be done. My days are always busy but in the evening when Greg is home things get done. One of us can manage the kids while the other one whips the house into shape, cleans dinner dishes, puts away four loads of laundry, and takes out the trash. Without my dear partner all that stuff had to happen after the kids were in bed. So here I am, 10:30, without a bedtime in sight.

Having said that, Greg is mostly missed because we miss his company. I love it when he comes home and we talk about our days and take care of our family together and fall asleep snuggled in each others arms. The kids miss their giant jungle gym, the best reader of "Where the Wild Things Are" and the best bedtime prayer guy around. So, even though he's handy to have around the house, we'll be glad to have our main guy home just because he's so nice to have around.

p.s. Who would have though Kansas would win it all? Not me, I had NC beating UCLA in the finals. Just this week I was telling Greg how annoying I find it that these guys can't seem to shoot free throws. Then the coach of Memphis said during an interview that he didn't really worry about free throws and trusted his guys to make them when it counted. And then Memphis lost because they can't hit free throws. HA! I tell you what, if my kids play basketball they WILL learn to make free throws. They are FREE for heaven's sake.

Death to Old Man Winter

Honestly, is there anything else to say when this is the third time in a week it has snowed, it is the END of March, and you wake up to 4 inches of snow this morning with it still coming down in huge juicy flakes??? And when you drove home from Costco yesterday you looked like a crack addict mom because your kids were only dressed in sweatshirts (it is the END of March after all) and by the time you are on your way home you are driving in a blizzard??

Two month pictures

Precious, huh.

Dane's 2 month update

Dane had his two month appointment yesterday. I have a great picture of him, head held high, looking around, but alas, blogger is having problems uploading my picture so I'll have to add it later. His stats were 13 pounds 11 oz. (exactly what Ms. Anna Bauersfeld was) and 24.5 inches long. He seems so big but upon comparison he is 1.5 inches shorter and a whole pound lighter than Nathan was at this age. I don't remember Nathan being super chunky but I'm sure that's because he was so long. Dane was 85th percentile for length and 75th for weight. If you read Jenny's blog you will see that Anna was the same weight but in the 95th percentile. That's because they expect baby boys to be bigger from the beginning. We learned this after comparing percentiles between Nathan and Aubrey.

ANYWAYS, he was a complete show off, beaming and cooing the whole appointment long. When the doc put him on his stomach he acted like a six month old, steady head held high, looking everywhere. He obviously wasn't excited about his shots but he's doing okay with them. He has been snuggly and sleepy which I actually kind of like. Aubrey was sweet too. All the kids were at the appointment with me and I had warned them that Dane was getting shots and probably wouldn't be happy about it. Aubrey said, "Mama, just don't forget his silky blankie and his binky. Also, I will hug him and nuzzle him." Our little boys already have two moms. :-)

Expect pictures soon!

The generosity of siblings

I think the title speaks for itself.

The babies

A friend of mine is starting a photography business and wants to focus on new babies. She offered to come to the house and take pictures of Dane and include some with Aubrey and Nathan. I think she did a very nice job. I'm planning on using the one of Dane smiling on the quilt for his baby announcement. (Yes, you can still send those out even when the baby is already two months old.) Enjoy!

Mother's Ring

I got my ring!  I sent out a quick email about it so if this is old news, ignore it.  

I am so pleased with how it turned out.  From left to right the stones are a peridot (Aubrey), blue topaz (me, and no ugly pee yellow topaz), alexandrenite (Nathan), garnet (Dane), and emerald (Greg).  

I was at the mall today and looked at some Mother's rings at a major jeweler.  HIDEOUS!  It was more costly to go the design route but my ring is actually something I'm proud to wear.

What you should expect from a three year old

Conversation between Aubrey and her mommy:

Mom:  "Aubrey, you need to run upstairs and go potty please, it's nap time."

Aubrey (calm as a cucumber):  "Say, 'Please Aubrey.' "

Mom (slightly exasperated tone):  "Aubrey, I did say please.  Now, PLEASE go potty before your nap."

Aubrey (still as calm):  "Don't use that tone of voice with me!"