My Kiddos...

I can either beat myself up for not keeping up with my blog, or I can start from here and write about my amazing kids. Cole is my 4 year old, brilliant boy.  He has always been incredibly thoughtful, smart, and witty.  He increases all of these attributes and then some, as he gets older.  I love watching him play!  He has become very creative with his scenarios that he acts out with cars, trucks, legos and dolls.  Right now, stealing the spotlight, is an Iron Man Pez dispenser and a Spiderman action figure. In a constant battle, he takes turns letting each one win.  I've been putting off buying him upgraded Superhero guys for battle because it is almost his birthday.  Cole, of course, knows all of his colors, can count to almost 20 (we are working on this one) and can write his entire alphabet :)  He is excited to go to school but since his birthday is 14 days past the cutoff, he won't start kindergarten until next fall.  I have debated putting him in preschool, for the social aspect and learning to listen to teachers but I really don't want to pay for it and I feel like I can teach him what he needs to know for now.  I know that Cole will excel at anything he attempts.  He amazes me with his attention to detail.  He is super smart and very artistic, which is an amazing combination.  He is very into making glitter pictures, painting suncatchers, molding playdough and recently I introduced him to painting with brushes and fingerpaints.  He can sit forever making his projects and he is always so proud of the things he creates.  I am so proud of the little man he is becoming.  He is very helpful with his little sister and I appreciate him so much!  He has begun carrying her to me if he thinks she needs me or if he just wants to show how strong he is ;)  He is really wonderful with both of his younger siblings and it is so great to have him as my little helper.  Luke follows him around like a little puppy and copies his every move.  I do wish that Lucas would take his lead in how he treats his little sister, though.  Luke is a little (sometimes a lot) too rough with Violet.  He just doesn't know his own strength sometimes.

Well I wrote the above paragraph several months ago, so let me start with the most recent happenings...
My Cole turned 5 and we celebrated his birthday in DISNEYLAND!  Right after we got home from Disneyland he lost his first tooth!!  Very early from what I remember as a kid but the dentist said it was totally normal.  The new tooth is now coming in and the 2nd bottom tooth is getting looser by the day.  He is pretty thrilled about losing his teeth and getting gold coins from the Tooth Fairy!  He wasn't scared about turning 5, like he was turning 4 :)  He went to be the night before his 4th birthday terrified that he would wake up and be "huge like Daddy".  This time around he was wondering why he wasn't taller on his birthday, lol!  He cracks me up!  Cole is taking a Hip Hop dance class and a tap class at the dance studio where Lou works and he loves it.  Lucas and I take a Mommy and Me class while he is in his Hip hop class and then we leave and Cole stays for tap and then Sam takes him to the library and brings him home afterward.  He loves the library and is sure to bring home a superhero book, as well as others, every time.  He is very into Batman and the Avengers right now.  He was Batman for Halloween and pretty much everyday for about 4 months leading up to Halloween.

Lukey Dukey is an absolute terror these days :)  Typical two year old stuff (although, Cole never did half of what this kid does).  He destroys pretty much everything he gets his hands on.  He rips books apart, throws toys and busts them against the wall, throws toys and lots of sand in the pool, scares me to daeth on a regular basis by climbing up on unstable things and jumping off, etc.  I feel very fortunate that we have not gone to the hospital, haha (knock on wood)!  He is very rough with his sister but most of the time he is hugging her to death!  I definitely see a light at the end of this 2 year old tunnel, though.  He listens more and is spending less time in timeout.  He refuses to potty train but on occasion, I can get him to go on the toilet.  He was telling me for a long time that he is going to be a baby forever but now he says he wants to be like Cole, so good things are right around the corner, I'm sure :)  He can recite his entire alphabet and can count to 10.  He still loves to sing and dance!  He has an adorable little lisp, that I almost wish would never go away, hee hee.  His most recent statements are, "I have a problem", "I have an idea", "actually, I can do it myself" and "probably, I can have that".  He laughs hysterically at himself all of the time and has an infectious smile.  He is and will always be my sunshine boy!!

My Violet is just a joy! For several months, she was getting around by rolling across the room and I wondered if she would ever crawl at all. But about 2 months ago, she just decided that rolling was not getting the job done anymore and now she is crawling like a champ and getting into everything!  She slept in my bed for the first 8 1/2 months of her life and when I finally decided to put her in her own crib, it was I who had trouble sleeping, ha.  She goes to sleep around 6 pm and wakes up between 6:30-7.  She also takes two good naps during the day.  She has never been a fan of baby food, so to keep her full, I give her real food.  She loves green beans, peas and squash and she loves most fruits.  She is just now teething at almost 10 months and she is getting her top teeth first!  We also just found out that she is anemic...not sure how that happened but we had to start her on iron supplements.  I'm hoping they don't mess up her digestion but so far, so good.  She is the BEST baby and is always so happy and content to just sit and watch her brothers go crazy.  She can walk while supported by her wagon and she has been letting go of the couch and standing by herself for a few seconds at a time.  My kids are the best mix of everything and I am having so much fun being their mom.

Lucas

I wanted to take a minute and write about my sunshine, Lucas. He is going to be two this month (on the 19th) and he is a crack up! He has an amazing sense of humor and tells little jokes all of the time :) He likes to give us, what we like to call, "side of your eye" looks, where he turns his head almost completely away from you but keeps looking at you with his eyes. He also always has a sly little grin on his face. He is incredibly sweet and is very quick to apologize if he hurts someone or someone is crying (even if he wasn't the one who caused the tears). He gives a kiss and hug to pretty much anyone but he loves his family and LOVES to kiss and hug his brother and especially his new baby sister! He is also my most musical kiddo so far. Cole enjoys the guitar and making up songs but that has only been recently. Luke sings along to the radio and has done so since he was about 16 months old. Certain songs would come on the radio and he would be singing the chorus or the hook before the song even got there. He also LOVES the Happy Birthday song and the ABC song :) He often walks around the house singing lalala into his toy microphone. He is also an excellent dancer! Give that kid a beat and he is off and dancing like a crazy man. I need to take more videos of his talents because he is quite the showman :) He copies pretty much every move that Cole makes, he looks up to him so much and I love watching them play together! They enjoy playing super heroes, doctor, playing with cars and trucks, pretending to be cowboys, riding stick horses and endlessly shooting each other :) I love what a helpful boy he is becoming and he is especially helpful when it comes to picking up toys, doing laundry, putting away various items and cleaning the floors. The kid LOVES to vacuum!! So much so that we bought him a vacuum, broom and mop for Christmas, haha!  I love his snuggles and I love how full of love he is!  He is definitely the middle child and I can totally empathize because, I too, am the middle child ;)  I'm hoping that when his "terrible twos" hit, they don't last too long because I was a TERROR as a toddler!!  I guess only time will tell :)

Violet Alise Stanley

So, according to this blog, the last year and a half never happened, lol. Let me assure you, it has been happening and then some!! In 2011, Lucas turned 1, Cole turned 4 and in between, I found out that I was pregnant with a little miracle baby :) After years of being told that I would not be able to conceive on my own...I got pregnant with my baby girl, Violet. In May I was feeling incredibly tired, crampy and a bit irritable. I told my sister that I was either having major PMS or I was pregnant (followed by a hearty laugh). The next morning I threw up and it really got me thinking that something was up. I went to the store and bought 3 pregnancy tests. It was a brand that I had never used before, so when two lines showed up in the window, I actually had to read the instructions to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Sure enough, two lines meant I was pregnant! Now, I have peed on more than 100 pregnancy tests over the years and I have NEVER seen the blessed two lines appear...NEVER! So, needless to say, I was in shock...so I peed on the other two sticks to verify and sure enough...there was no denying I was pregnant. I went through quite a spectrum of emotions. I was kicking myself for thinking that birth control was not necessary, even though I was told oh so many times that bcp were not needed because I "couldn't" get pregnant. I was wondering how expensive it was all going to be to have a baby without maternity insurance (again, since I couldn't get pregnant, I didn't see a point in paying an extra $300 a month for something that I was not planning on happening for another few years at least). I was freaking out because I just had Luke the year before, so I already had a baby! I was thrilled that I was able to get pregnant on my own! I was sad that I had just lost 70 pounds and was on my way to losing my goal of 100 and all of that had to end because I had to start feeding this little peanut inside of me. I battled with several emotions, good and bad, before acceptance and pure joy settled in around the end of my first trimester. We found out at week 15 that we were having a GIRL!! This only added to my joy because I knew that we would be complete with a little girl. And Travis was beside himself! I had a pretty smooth pregnancy with the exception of KILLER headaches from about week 8 to week 30. Headaches so bad that my doctor had to prescribe me 3 different medications before finding one that actually had an effect on them. They laid me out when I had them and I felt so bad for the boys because they were pretty much trapped with me all day, watching me suffer :( After week 30 things in my head settled down and I really started worrying about how much we were going to pay for the labor and delivery of my little babe. Oh, and the struggle to pick her name was an ongoing saga between Travis and I. Every name he liked, I thought was ridiculous (most were incredibly pretentious sounding) and he just didn't like mine because he likes to be difficult :) At one point, I told him that I didn't want to think about names for her anymore because it was making me frustrated, so for about 2 weeks, we didn't. Then one day, Cole was watching Alice in Wonderland (which was kind of ironic because Cole really wanted me to name the baby Alice). It was at the part when Alice meets the shy violets in the garden that sings and I asked Cole, "Can we name the baby Violet?" Normally his response to anything other than Alice was a defiant NO but without hesitation, he said, "Okay, I like Violet!". I called Travis and told him that Cole and I were naming the baby Violet and he said..."Violet?...okay, that's cute". So, it was decided. It was then confirmed the next night, when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the old one) came on tv and I heard the name Violet Beauregarde (who's character I love). And then totally solidified when we found out that Travis' Great Grandma's name was Violet!! It was truly meant to be:) I had quite the birth experience with her, which I'll go into in another post. Violet Alise Stanley came into the world on January 16th, 2012 at 7:35pm. She weigh 7lbs. 11oz. and was 19 in. long. She is my tiniest baby so far and she has the most perfect tiny little head I have ever seen :) She is such a wonderful baby and she sleeps through the loudest tantrums that my kids can throw! She has allowed me to sleep incredibly well throughout the night, only waking up once at 2am (we go to bed around 10pm and wake up at 6am). It is almost unreal how amazing she is. She has Travis completely wrapped around her sweet tiny finger. He is ridiculously looney over his baby girl and I love it:) I can't imagine what it must be like to be loved so very much by THREE boys from the minute you are born. She is one lucky girl :) Speaking of my lovely, lovely, she needs to eat, so I'll have to do some updates on my wonderful boys another time. I am happy to report though, that increasing my brood from two to three has not been much of an adjustment. She fits right in like we were holding a spot for her all along :) I love my kids!

SIX months

Lucas turned 6 months old on the 19th!! He is such a big boy! He is a truly happy, happy baby. He talks all of the time...no actual words yet, although we are working on mama;) He sits up really well and is enjoying all of his fruits and veggies. He is currently working on pulling himself up to standing on the tv stand and his walker. He's almost got it down. No teeth yet, which my boobs don't mind at all :) He is still not officially crawling but he gets wherever he wants to go by pushing up and lunging forward. It's pretty funny but effective. He loves chewing on cords, which is super fun!! He got croup really bad a few weeks ago and I had to take him to the doctor. It was scary bad because he was having such a hard time breathing. But, as always, he smiled through the whole thing. Even the doctors and x-ray technician commented on how happy and good he was, especially when he sounded so terrible. He was put on a breathing treatment and got better in about a week. He really is an amazing baby. He only cries when he is hungry and even then, he mostly growls more than cries:) He is also one tough cookie! Cole mauls him several times a day, everyday! Mostly, Luke laughs the whole time he is being "attacked" but on occasion, Cole lays on him a little too hard and he squirms. Cole is really enjoying Lucas growing up. He loves that he can jump off the couch or do something silly and Luke will laugh at him. He shares his Nerf swords, shields and other toys with Luke and is so excited that he can hold the sword up, so they can have a sword fight;) Cole climbs into Luke's crib every morning and after every nap to cuddle with and attack his brother. My boy's are the best. Travis thinks we're done having kids...but how can we stop when we make such great ones!!

A Quick Jot

I just need to document the things I love about my kids right now:)

Lucas Jordan:
Almost sleeping through the night! Only woke up once for 10 minutes last night!! He was waking up two and three times a night only four days ago! I decided to go cold turkey because I knew he didn't need to eat. The first night was ROUGH! He woke up 4 times...the first for 45 minutes and the other three for 25-30 minutes each time. The next morning, my little dude would not smile at me at all! I was heart broken:( I could not get a single smile out of him all day. Granted, he was probably exhausted from the sleepless night but it was tough to not get a smile from my sunshine. The next night was better, only twice for about 20 minutes. Thursday night was the same. And last night...ONLY ONCE for 10 minutes! He is such an awesome baby!!!!

He is the cuddliest of the cuddle bugs!! When I hold him, he just melts into my neck and I LOVE IT. You can tell that he is really just soaking up the lovin'.

He has an amazing laugh. Those baby laughs are the best. He laughs at the dogs now, which cracks me up. I wonder what he must be thinking, looking at them. Hairy brother and sister :)

He loves his feet. They are his favorite play toys! He even gets one into his mouth on occasion:)

He looks forward to his naps. Don't know how long this will happen but I appreciate his ease with nap time. I think he enjoys escaping the loving clutches of his older brother ;)

He sits really well and only falls over when he reaches for something of interest:) He is on the verge of crawling!! Once he puts two and two together he will be off and I am not ready for that!!! I need to be better about picking up all of the stuff that Cole throws all over the house all day long ;)

Cole Michael:

Where to start with this kid?!

He has started saying, "Oh sorry, my bad". He got this from Travis.

He now knows what "bad words" are and he sometimes walks up to me and whispers, "don't say dammit. don't say retard. don't say shut up. don't say shit." And I agree :)

He called me an idiot the other day and without a word, he was put in time out. After 2 minutes, I went to him and asked him why he was put in time out. He said, "I called you an idiot and that is a bad word. I'm sorry Mommy. Love you. You not an idiot". Thanks Cole, thanks :)

He is really into wearing his Halloween costume from last year. It is a spotted dog costume and it still fits him because it was a little baggy on him when he wore it last year. He saw it up on the top shelf of my closet and insisted that he wear it. I obliged. He now pours himself a bowl of "dog food" every morning and eats it off of the floor on his hands and knees...wearing his dog suit.

I think that every now and then he really realizes or maybe just thinks about how much he loves me :) Just a few days ago he was in the other room and came running in to me and climbed up on my lap. He kissed me on the lips and then hugged me and then kissed me and then hugged me and then hugged me super, super tight. I asked him what was up and he said, "I'm loving you , Mommy". Melt. My. Heart. He did the same thing tonight:) Kissed me over and over again and then hugged me forever. "Love you, Mommy". And then he hopped off my lap and ran around like a lunatic. I love his moments of loving clarity:)

He has discovered that he can crawl into and out of Luke's crib. He does not do this in his own crib, which I find fascinating. In the morning and after each nap, he crawls into Luke's crib and loves him. They lay there looking at Luke's mobile and Cole kisses and hugs him over and over.

I think I'm doing a pretty good job being their mom. I know that I love being their mom and I am so thankful that I am their mom.

5 months and counting

Technically, Luke will be 5 months old on the 19 but he is 20 weeks now, so I'll just count that as 5 months:) He has been sitting up on his own for a little while now. He still leans a little forward but he is getting better at sitting straighter every day. He will sleep great for a few nights in a row and then wake up every 3 hours for a full night. I don't particularly enjoy the wakeful nights but I am so grateful for the better slept ones, that I don't seem to mind spending a little more time cuddling him on the nights that aren't so great. He has a great little laugh and of course, the biggest and bestest smile ever! I've been thinking that I will have him be the sun for Halloween. Cole is probably going to be an astronaut, so it will fit the theme if my little ball of sunshine is the sun:) Luke is really just a happy baby. He has been bouncing a lot in his jumperoo. Although, he only seems to bounce with his right foot. The left foot just kind of hangs there, lol. I'm not sure what to make of that but I'm assuming his left foot will catch up eventually:) He also drools like a champ! Cole hardly drooled at all but this kid is like a faucet! You'd think he was teething but as far as I can tell, there isn't anything going on in there. He also mouths EVERYTHING! I was never really scared that Cole would choke on anything because he never really put foreign objects in his mouth but again, this kid is a whole other story. Everything he gets his hands on goes straight into his little mouth. Maybe he's just hungry all of the time;)

Cole is putting together very long and structured sentences. He's always impressing me with the way he uses words to express himself and uses them correctly. He went over to my dad's house a few weeks ago with Travis and he started to tell my dad about this movie he saw and he told him that the bear was "freaking out because the squirrels were throwing pine cones at him". I'm sure I've said freaking out to him a few times but I think it's awesome that he just came up with that on his own:) Just yesterday, I was trying to get him to take an early nap because we had to go over to Travis' grandpa's house for a barbeque. He kept telling me that he wasn't tired, so I told him that if he took his nap, when he woke up I would give him a tattoo (temporary). He stopped in his tracks and said, "No, Mom. Give me tattoo first." He's quite the little negotiator! I said to him, "Okay, I'll give you the tatto first and then you will go right to bed, okay?". He said okay but I thought that I would still have to fight him to get him into his room. Wrong! I put on his tattoo (an alien from Ben 10 Alien Force) and he got right up and said nigh night and walked into his room. Best. Kid. Ever!! We also went shopping at Target yesterday morning and we picked out some new underwear for him. Did I mention he is potty trained?! He chose a pack that had Lightening McQueen, Buzz Lightyear, Wall-eand Mr. Incredible. Then while we were in the baby aisle, he saw a pack of Sesame Street underwear and he yells out, "Mom, I want that underwear! Look, Mom. It's cool!" I said, "Oh, it's cool huh? What about the other underwear?" "No, Mom...these are awesome". So, we got the Sesame Street undies:) I love him!!!! So yeah, potty training. He still has to wear a diaper to bed but he wears underwear all day long now, even when we go out. He had a gigantic poop a few weeks ago and I kind of put my foot down. I told him he wasn't wearing diapers anymore because his poop was too big and it needed to go in the potty every time. He has been using his potty since he was around 14 months old but he would only use it as long as he was totally naked. If I ever put a diaper on him or underwear, he would just go in what he was wearing. So, I told him he was going to go potty in the big boy toilet form now on and I started putting underwear on him no matter what. He had a couple of pee accidents but in just a couple of days, he was running to the toilet to go. I put some coco puffs in the toilet, so that he would have something to aim at and he got really good at aiming in the water. It is just the cutest thing to see him standing at the toilet with his underwear around his ankles going pee. He is SO tall!! Maybe, only a mother would find this adorable, lol. He is awesome in every way! So smart, so funny, so cute...he is the whole package!! I love my kids!!

My boys.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the love that I feel for my sons. Tonight, Cole was a raving lunatic. He went to bed late last night because of a birthday party and had a horrible nap today because Luke woke him up, so by 5:30pm he was no longer his sweet self. Every question I asked was responded with a desperate cry and whine that I couldn't understand and finally, I had my fill and took him to his bed. He screamed for about 20 minutes. I took a shower while he screamed, so that I wouldn't have to hear him. I got out of the shower just before he stopped. I went to the kitchen and made dinner (salmon and peas). I was holding Luke while I made dinner. Holding him in my left arm facing out. He was cranky too because he didn't take very good naps today. I was pacing the kitchen while the salmon cooked on the stove and Luke was quietly bouncing in my arm. Next thing I know I hear a grunt and a huge splat. I look at the floor and see that Luke has sprayed lovely mustard colored cottage cheese everywhere. I know, TMI, but these are the daily happenings of a mom. Anyway, I call to Travis to come help me and he begrudgingly meanders into the kitchen. I say to him, "Either you take the baby or clean up the poop". He takes Luke from me and I wipe off his legs and feet. I do a once over on myself and amazingly enough, I have nothing on me! It's the little things:) I cleaned up the floor and Travis took Luke back to his room and then I heard the screaming. I can only assume that Luke woke up Cole while Travis was changing him. I plated up the food and left it on the counter and went to see what was happening. I walked into Cole's room and he was in hysterics in his crib, Luke was lying on the floor and Travis was looking at me with steam coming out of his ears. Travis proceeded to tell me that Cole started screaming, he walked in and put Luke down so that he could pick Cole up and Cole freaked out on him and didn't want Travis to touch him. Travis was pissed. I walked over to Cole and picked him up. He wrapped his arms around my neck and stopped screaming immediately. Travis took Luke into the living room and I brought him his dinner. He patted Luke for a bit and he fell asleep on his shoulder. I grabbed my own plate and sat down in the recliner next to Travis and Cole fell asleep on me almost instantly. We both ate our food propped on the arms of our chairs with our free hand. Travis looked miserable but I couldn't help but smile. They woke up about 20 minutes later, which I totally predicted to Travis. Cole was still a bit out of sorts, so I took him into the kitchen and let him pick out whatever he wanted to eat for dinner. He chose pretzels, a peach and cottage cheese. He sat in his chair eating and slowly became himself again. Again, I smiled. I love that I can keep my cool (for the most part) when my kids are freaking out. And I love that I am sometimes the only one that can calm them. I love my boys more than I ever thought possible. They fill me with the most awesome sense of completeness. They are amazing to watch and listen to and even smell;) As tired as I can get and as crazy as I feel sometimes, I just love them and I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing, I was meant to be a mom. To finish the evening, I had Travis sit with Cole while he finished his dinner and I gave Luke his bath and put him to bed. Luke is awesome in the tub now. He LOVES the water and smiles and splashes and kicks and squeals. I can't help but keep him in the tub longer than is necessary because he's just so dang happy. I love his tiny feet and his tiny pajamas:) He goes to bed so well now, I can't even believe it. Sometimes he fusses for a few minutes but it never takes too long for him to settle in for the night. He is like a little cuddly ball of sunshine:) I returned to Cole and let him know that he would be going to bed in 5 minutes. He asked for his nightly cup of crushed ice and asked if we could watch the doedunner on mommy's bed:) Cole has recently fallen in love with Warner Bros. cartoons, ie. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig etc. and most importantly the Road Runner:) I bought him a 4 dvd disc set of the cartoons forever ago and I love that he has finally discovered them. They are my favorite cartoons. They are definitely violent and some of the humor is not kid appropriate but I think all of that goes over his head, as I think it did when I was a kid:) Every time Wylie Coyote falls off a cliff or gets blown up, he just says, silly coyote:) And he LOVES that the doedunner says beep beep and is "REALLY FAST"!! We watched cartoons for about 15 minutes and then I told him it was time for bed. He grabbed his cup, walked out to Travis and for the first time said goodnight daddy, love you and gave him a kiss without me having to instruct him:) We walked back to his room, I gave him a big kiss and hug, turned on his moon and turned out the lights. "Love you Mommy" was the last thing I heard as I shut the door. I love being his mom. As simple as tonight was, I just wanted to write it all down, so I remember my babies when they were babies. When they slept on our shoulders, took super fun baths, ate cottage cheese and pretzels for dinner and told us they loved us without hesitation. I'm going to bed now with a bursting heart and a smile:)