I spoke to soon...

I should not have done my previous post on the swine. Mike got diagnosed with it today. Good times at our house let me tell you! Please, pray that sweet Mary does not get it. He feels really yucky. I feel so bad for him and there is not much I can do in fear of catching it. He got on Tamiflu and hopefully will feel better soon. I guess his busy season just got slowed down in a major way! Thank goodness for Blockbuster as I checked out 3 new movies for the girls!

The Swine....

I was with some mom friends recently and we were talking about actually being a little nervous about the swine flu this year. I'm normally not a germaphobe and my kids are rarely sick. I wash their hands, but do not own hand sanitizer and Mary started in the nursery at 4 weeks. I've always taken them to childcare at the gym, preschool, play group, church, etc...with little to no worry. Well, this week I got a pretty high fever, chills, sore throat, etc.. and I googled swine flu symptoms cause I feared the worst. I do not have it and felt better by the next day. However, the spread in our area is pretty scary. I know when it gets to be "flu" season a lot of schools will have to close and a few small children have died in TX. My family never mentions it being talked about much in GA and I don't hear my out of state friends really mentioning it. Most of the children who haved died have been hispanic and TX is about 50% hispanic so I don't know if that has anything to do with it? Anyways, I'm wondering if all my dear friends from NC, CO, FL, etc...are worried about the swine or do you hear it talked about much in your state?

A mess filled morning....

I don't want to forget all my kids messy habits and one day I know I will wish I could clean up their mess when they are away at college and I miss them so much....
They say being a mom is a full-time job, but I think cleaning up all that occurs in our house on a daily basis is a full-time job not to mention all the other things we do during the day:)
Our morning started off okay and then it tends to get a little crazy when we all start getting ready for the day. Their are lots of clothes to put away, jammies, diapers, sippy cups, etc....
Anna can now reach the water dispenser on our fridge. She LOVES to find a plastic cup and fill it up with water. I catch her and she spills the water all over the couch. Ellie then shows me her plastic cup full of ice water and she takes a drink and it spills all over her shirt.
Mary wakes up and I feed her. We both get dressed into clean clothes and she spits up (more like vomits) all over her and all over my clean shirt. It happens all the time so now I just rub it into the carpet, clothing etc....!
I am in the bathroom to come out and both girls have gotten into the fridge to get a drink which is not allowed. They are sitting in a chair with two cans of diet coke opened and now spilling down their shirts and onto the chair. I take them away and put them in separate rooms in time out. I start a timer and they actually stay in their rooms for 10 minutes until the timer went off which was very impressive! We are almost out the door and Anna has an accident on the couch of pee so I clean that one up before we leave...
I call my friend Katrina cause we needed to get out of the house asap and our new meeting spot for lunch is Burger King. I know it is so yummy and exciting, but when you have 5 kids under 4 Chcik fil A is no longer fun. BK never has anyone in the play area and it is easy!
We get to BK and are everyone is doing good until Katrina's daughter Carsen spills almost a whole bottle of chocolate milk all over the floor. We wipe that one off and then discuss for awhile how hard being a SAHM really is right now. I am so thankful for sweet friends who are going through this stage with me. All the kids are asleep now for a nap and I think I need one as well!

Prayers from Anna....

Well, preschool started today and I am not working which is a very good thing since Mary wants nothing to do with the bottle. It is a different feeling on this side of the MDO program. I can now see why the mom's so looked forward to Tuesday's and Thursday's. Ellie is going 2 days a week and Anna is going 1 day a week. Last year, we got into the habit of praying in the car before school mostly cause I needed to calm down from the madness of getting everyone ready and myself to school by 9 A.M. and a calm heart to teach 2 yr. olds all day! The girls quickly remembered on the way to school that we needed to pray. We prayed for Mrs. Elaine and Mrs. Gigi along with every other staff member at our preschool. We then proceeded to pray for all our playgroup friends who are starting school today and their classmates. Anna then said "Mommy, We pray for Tinkerbelle and Cinderella"! We went ahead and prayed for them. She was very sincere and it brought joy to my heart! I had a wonderful morning of doing lots of errands with Mary and then came home to relax/clean a little bit. I think I will really like Tuesday's this year!

She's growing up....

My sweet little Mary is 3 months old today. I love this picture cause don't we all wish we could just hold them like this forever. Life is pretty simple with a little baby. I cannot imagine life without her in our family. In some ways I've kind of forgotten what it was like to just have two girls. She's such a blessing to us and such a reminder to me of how I want to treasure these early days. Here's what Mary is like at 3 months old.

* Most people immediately say she looks just like a Shelton girl. I'm thinking we will be hearing this a lot in the upcoming years.

* Weight 10 lb. 110z. (25%) Height 23 1/2 inches (50%) She may tower over her big sisters someday!

* Mary has a great smile that is really big and she smiles instantly when someone looks at her.

* She does not like the bottle and loves her mommy's milk.

* Mary does well in the church nursery and has been going since she was about 4 weeks old. They all love her and always comment on how petite she is... another comment we hear often!

* Ellie still adores Mary. It is really sweet when she is upset the girls will sing to her or try to comfort her. Ellie and Mary sleep in the same room and it is working really well. It actually helps Ellie to go to sleep knowing that Mary is right next to her.

* Mary loves her crib. She's a tummy sleeper and is pretty much done with the paci. I don't know if she will like her fingers or thumb more. I don't have to do anything to get her to go to sleep.

* Mary DOES NOT like the car seat which can make for some interesting car rides when all three girls are upset. She really does not even want to sit in when we are out somewhere. I have to use the baby bjorn or just hold her when we are out. However, how often am I out with all three girls unless we are with Mike or friends.

* Mary loves a routine and is pretty much a typical "Baby Wise" baby and has followed the routine part really well.

* Mary spits up a lot and Mike loves it when it is on a nice clean shirt:) I've gotten used to it and have gotten pretty good at just rubbing it in to whatever surface it lands on.

* Mary is sleeping 12-14 hours. Everyone should have a third baby to experience this joy! Ha!

* Mary loves to lay on the floor to look around or in her bouncy chair. She does not like the swing very much.

* Mary is quite the little baby doll for Ellie and Anna. They love to put dress up stuff on her like sunglasses, crowns, shoes, and necklaces. She also has been through a lot in her first 3 months and I've learned that she is pretty tough. Anna accidentally stepped on her head. She's always getting her arms pulled or her feet. They love to blow bubbles on her tummy. She does love it and I'm just enjoying the days where I don't have three girls fighting over the same toy!

We love our sweet little girl so much and are so blessed with three uniquely different little girls. I really cannot picture our house when they are older, but that it will be full of all kind of different personalities! What a gift our children are from God.

Conversations....

We have quite the interesting conversations some day. Today, we were riding in the van which my friend Caren has nicknamed her van the FUV (Family Utility Vehicle). I think I could agree that it has many great things for our family! Here's the conversation:
Ellie: "Oh my gosh, that is the most ammmmaaaazzzing car" as a convertible drives by.
Ellie: That's what my daddy would say!

It is so true and reminded me that they really do pick up on everything we say which can be very scary sometimes.

I cut Anna's hair today cause she's yet to enjoy a trip to a kids salon. She pretty much would not allow it! I have to put her in the high chair with a lollipop and Barney on T.V. for it to really work. She sat pretty still and even let me dry it. It looks so much better and even though it is not totally even it will work.
She was very proud of her hair cut and the first thing she asked me was "I go show my hair to Mrs. Horn" . She is Anna's ballet teacher and her first class was yesterday. She's totally obsessed with ballet and has been since last spring when she would have to sit and watch during Ellie's class. She wears the outfit constantly and sleeps with her ballet shoes. I was a little nervous about signing her up cause almost everywhere I drop her off at lately she cries and gets scared. She told me " I be brave and happy at ballet class"
She was soooo happy yesterday. Mike took her cause I had something and he said she obeyed perfectly and came out with the biggest grin. She has continued to talk about it all day and apparently next week we will show Mrs. Horn her hair!
Anna also is very into a routine lately when it comes to bedtime. We now tell Jonah and David every nap/night time. She can repeat the story completely and it is so cute.
I love my girls so much and for the record sweet Mary slept almost 14 hours last night!