Adjusting to a new schedule.

We have started the new kindergarten/preschool/daycare schedule and so far, no real bumps. We have yet to be late (whew) and the kids have had pretty good morning attitudes so far. I'm even doing okay with Benjamin not right by my side every minute of every day (insert sad face here, but he is so happy at the sitter's house that I know it's way better than my trying to work while he's in my arms).

Nathaniel loves school, which is a good thing considering with how hesitant he was to actually start it. He moped all the way to school on Wednesday and kept crying, "I don't want to go to kindergarten!" but, by the end of the day he was all, "I LOVE kindergarten!!" Every day after he has been a non stop chatter box of all of the cool things they do. :) I'm super glad that he loves school just as much as I did.

Aaron is doing pretty well. He had a huge melt down/anger fit at school on Tuesday, but then calmed down. We call him our little sour patch kid. First he's sour, then he's sweet. Seriously, he will throw a huge fit with kicking and screaming and hitting, then two minutes later come and give me the biggest kiss and hug and say, "I sorry Mama!" Yesterday was our first day with Nathaniel in school and the rest of us at home and I asked him what he wanted to do and he said, "Cuddle with you, Mama!" So he grabbed his blankets and then we sat on the couch and cuddled. Melted my heart. :)

Benjamin is officially a rolling kid. He did it without any fanfare at all. Sam went to go get him from the crib one morning and he happened to be on his belly sleeping. Now, he immediately rolls over onto his stomach when he is laid down. I think seeing my friend's son (who is nearly 10 months old and the same size as Benjamin the 4 month old) crawling around motivated him. He had this look on his face like, "Woah! What are you doing? I wonder if I can do that..." If he's like Aaron, he will be crawling within two months. Ugh.

We renewed our Disneyland passes last week before we ran the half marathon. So, we are back to going to Disneyland! There are quite a few new rides, so it's a new experience. :) It's great now that Benjamin is bigger and more alert. We all rode the carousel last night and it was super fun to see three little boys in a row on horses. It's the random moments that warm my heart like that. I LOVE being a mom. :)

I am heading to Iowa with Benjamin on Thursday. I'm super excited to show off the baby and to just see and visit people. There is something about sitting on the front porch of the farm house drinking tea and watching nothing that gives me great peace. I would say I'm hoping for a good thunderstorm, but we just had one here in California this morning (which just put people in a tizzy, I tell you!) so I don't feel the need to witness one.

That's about it here. We have loads of pictures, but they are all on our new phones and I don't know how to transfer them onto the computer yet. They are, however, on Facebook so that works out well.

Almost kindergarten, and other random facts.

I can't believe that we are almost the parents of a kindergartner. Not that I can really remember a time in our marriage when we didn't have kids (those four years seem like so long ago, and, to be fair, Sam was gone quite a bit of that, over 1/4th of it). It's very surreal.

On the one hand, I'm a little sad to enter this next stage of life. This "new season". I'm sad that I will no longer be able to take Nathaniel to Disneyland whenever we want to go. Instead, I will have to wait until Friday after school because every other day of the week will be too busy with school, practicing violin, lessons, sports (hopefully) and life and bed to be able to go to Disneyland. I am sad that he has some place he HAS to be now, rather than "Well, I'm home today from work, so he doesn't have to go to preschool".

But, on the other hand, I'm happy that he is starting school. He is more than ready academically. He's been reading words for the past year and a half and has balked at learning any more. I figure once a teacher is telling him to do it, he will be more than happy to. We went school shopping this weekend and bought lace up shoes for him telling him that part of being a kindergartner was tying his own shoes. He's been practicing since Saturday. He even made up a song. I don't know how it goes but I heard him singing, "Then you grab the loops and pull..." and when I asked him where he learned the song he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I made it up!"

He's a little nervous, but I'm excited about the smaller class sizes at Bethany and the fact that he's on the same campus that he was on for preschool AND half of his class is from his preschool class. Now, we just need to hope and pray that he uses his voice when he needs to. That he learns that it's okay to raise his hand and ask to go to the bathroom. I want him to know that if someone is bothering him he can tell the teacher and it will stop. I'll let you all know how the first day goes. It's in a week. :)

Aaron is doing much better. While Sam was gone he went through a biting and peeing/pooping his pants phase. If he wasn't doing one, he was doing the other. I hoped and prayed that it was just separation anxiety from Sam, and it was. Since Sam's been home he hasn't bitten at all and has jumped back on the potty train like a trooper. The only times he really has an accident is when we fail to take him, or when he's super focused on something else.

His talking is taking off as well. He has full sentences and has finally started referring to himself as Aaron. For awhile when we would ask him his name he would shout, "Two and a half!!" because that is how old he is. :) Now, he labels everyone and everything. If Aaron had a font it would be caps lock.

While we drive: MOM! SEE BIKE!! SEE BIKE, MOM!! or MOM!!! SEE DOGGIE!!! SEE BLACK DOGGIE MOM!!!

It's fun. He is singing songs now, very carefully, making sure to get each word in the song. "All 'board the choo choo train, all 'board choo choo train. All board choo choo train. All board, all board." (from Disney Jr.).

He also likes to play pretend with everyone and everything. He makes us play food, he sings us silly songs, he cracks himself up by pretending things are something else. For example, I'll ask him to bring me a book and he will run to his room and grab underwear or a blanket and come out saying, "Here's a book, mom!" then fall over giggling. :) He makes me laugh.

Benjamin is doing well. He caught this horrible cold that his older brothers got (fever, then cough, ugh). His cough is horrible and he's actually coughed out a few things (yum, tmi, sorry), but he's breathing fine so I'm not worried, just keeping one ear open at all times.

He sleeps like a dream! I swear, I was so worried about having a third child because everyone I know has said that the third one was the wild card who was totally difficult or crazy or just way different. Benjamin IS way different from his brothers. He sleeps through the night! Both Aaron and Nathaniel were up at LEAST twice a night until they were 9 and 10 months old. Benjamin sleeps from about 9-4:30, sometimes longer. I can take no credit for this, it is simply something he has done without any training or crying it out or anything from me. We didn't even have to sleep train him, he naturally falls asleep by himself looking at the mobile. Happy us! He coos whenever he is awake and giggles hysterically at his brothers. He has yet to roll all the way over, but will roll to his side to sleep and immediately sticks his thumb in his mouth. He gives giant open mouth kisses to anyone who is willing to receive them and, just like Aaron before him, absolutely refuses to drink anything from a bottle. I'm hoping that changes because he starts daycare on Thursday. He'll get hungry enough eventually. I hope.

Sam and I are doing well. We are running the Disneyland 1/2 marathon on Sunday and feel like we are ready. I started training in June and at first I wasn't sure if I could do it. But, my fitness level came back super fast and within a few weeks I could run a mile in under 10 minutes (not the greatest, but not too shabby for having just had a kid, I think). Last night we ran 10 miles in 2 hours, so we feel pretty confident that we will be able to finish the 1/2 in under 3 hours. I'm super excited to do this, but after the race I'm planning on cutting my runs down to just running three at a time then going and doing ab and arm work. My arms are starting to wave back. :)

Sorry for the long update here. Life is going great, but super crazy. Long updates are what to expect for awhile.

Will update after the first day of school (ominous music here).

Rambling late night thoughts.

Random thought #1: I just noticed that this is my 300th post. Dang!

I love being a mom. Even with Sam gone this past month, I've loved being a mom of three rambunctious little boys. Sure, by the time I finally get them all to bed, finish up whatever thing absolutely has to be done and flop down on the couch at night, I'm exhausted, but I LOVE life right now and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I would, however, trade random comments from strangers (and some non-strangers) that silly old me thought would stop after giving birth to the third little boy.

Here are examples of a few of the comments I hear the most of:

1. Are you going to try for a girl?

I usually smile and say something along of the lines of we weren't trying for a girl this time and please let my body recover from this last 10 pound child please before talking about another baby.

2. Oh...three boys. I bet you wish you had a little girl, huh?

Nope! I am blessed to have three incredibly cute and easy going (for the most part, don't ask how Aaron's biting habits have been lately...) boys. I am also blessed to be a Jr. High Pastor and get to have the best parts of girls and send them and their attitudes (because, you know that they have them) home to their parents.

3. Are you expecting!?

No, you moron, as you can see I am either pushing a newborn in a stroller or have him in my arms. I am not pregnant, and you have just successfully made my self confidence drop another few points. It's called post partum and it usually takes more than a month or two to get rid of the belly. Only one time have I felt gracious towards someone who asked me this question, and that was because it was someone I hadn't seen in nearly 2 years, I was wearing a maternity top (no judging, the baby was 6 weeks old and nothing else fit right) and Benjamin was sleeping in his car seat underneath the table out of her sight. I immediately said (as she gestured toward her stomach and started the "Oh, you're expecting!" comment), "I just had a baby!" to help her save face.

And my favorite comment which makes me cringe through my smile:

4. "Wow, looks like you have your hands full!"

This comment is usually said to me as I'm wearing Benjamin on my front, strapped to me like a bomb, and am pushing the double jogger through a crowded festival, or while I'm making sure Aaron and Nathaniel don't wander too far away while I'm changing a diaper. I normally smile and say, "yup!" as I keep on going, but sometimes I want to say, "yes, yes my hands are full. HELP ME!!" because I'm trying to maneuver through a crowd or buckle seat belts or get food for the older two. Here's a hint people, if you see a very tired looking mom with three small children, offer to help her, offer her a bottle of water, offer her a massage (especially if you are the owner of a spa at a community festival, just saying...).

But, aside from the "don't you wish you had a girl?" questions, I love my kids and I love chasing them around and playing with them.

But, I also love sleep and my insomniac ways have led me to be up WAY past my bedtime. Enjoy the late night ramblings of my fried mommy brain (I'm sure there are a ton of grammatical errors!)

Life lately: The kid version.

Since Benjamin entered into the world we've been going non stop. Hence the lack of updates. I was up and around the day after giving birth and was going almost full steam until an infection knocked me back down on my butt 2 weeks after. Thank God for antibiotics! After four days of literally laying on the couch alternating between shivering and sweating I was able to walk around upright.

Benjamin is an awesome baby, just like his big brothers were. He nurses like a champ and, just like Aaron before him, has a hard time knowing when to stop, which often results in large barfs splashing on the floor behind me when I burp him. He sleeps pretty well and gets better every week. Currently he sleeps from about 9-midnight and then until 3-5 (from midnight until that time). We're working on a schedule, but it's going to be hard until school starts in the fall, especially with two older brothers who need to get out and experience life.

Nathaniel has grown up a lot the past few months. He turned five on the 14th and has embraced being a big kid fully. Since he's the oldest he has always kind of been a baby, wanting me to dress him and do things for him. But, now that he's five...he showers by himself (as opposed to taking baths), he makes his own breakfast for the most part, and he doesn't want to cuddle with me around his friends. The other day when I tried to give him a kiss good bye he gave me a look like, "Please don't!" and offered me a five instead. *sigh* I'll take it. He starts kindergarten in the fall, which I still can't wrap my mind around. Kindergarten! I picked up his uniforms today, which will make life so much easier in the fall. No clothing battles!! It will simply be, "Pick which color of Academy shirt you want to wear!"

Aaron is having a bit of trouble adjusting to all of the changes lately. He was doing great, but since Sam left for Australia he is pushing his boundaries. He regressed a little bit with the potty training, but he's still in underwear. I figure I would rather wash out some pants then put him back in diapers. Unfortunately his adjustment problems has him acting out in preschool too. He's biting again (ugh) and hitting and not listening. He's also not listening at home. I've tried nearly everything: Positive reinforcement (you are doing so great listening, Aaron!), negative reinforcement (time outs and spanks), more positive reinforcements (chocolate milk if he doesn't bite at school). He's just having a hard time with it all and having me working and daddy gone is really hard on him. He's a lot clingier and cries when I leave. Tomorrow Nathaniel has VBS and I'm planning on doing some good one on one time with Aaron after Benjamin's dr. appointment. He is still a VERY sweet boy who loves fiercely. He is constantly hugging and kissing his baby brother and never shows animosity towards Benjamin at all. He loves laughing and playing with Nathaniel, but has a harder time because Nathaniel is a bit bossy and doesn't like it when Aaron does things on his own. In fact, I think part of the hitting and biting at school is Aaron getting frustrated with other kids who aren't following the rules and he just gets so mad. It's a theory anyways.

That's about it here. I will update again tomorrow with Benjamin's newest stats, but I'm sure he's doing well. He's outgrown his three month clothes already! Oh, and Aaron is at nearly 35 pounds and about 37 inches tall. It's CRAZY!

I will say this before I end this long post. Having three kids is amazing. A lot of people were telling me how hard it would be. It's no harder than having two kids and no hubby. The hardest part is when the baby is crying and one of the other ones needs something. I find that Benjamin cries more than the other two did (meaning, I have to leave him to cry while I finish up with one of the older kids). It hasn't seemed to affect him too much though, he is still all smiles when he sees one of us. Thank God that this kid cries when he has a dirty diaper though! I think I would forget to change him otherwise!

Life lately: The non-kid version.

I've decided to do two posts to catch up on my blog. The first one will be about life in general without the fun kid updates (like anyone cares, but I find my life interesting!). The second one will involve our wonderful kiddos.

Since Benjamin was born life has pretty much gone back to normal, non-pregnant life. I was back at work 3 weeks after coming home from the hospital, although it was super part time at first and until September I have Benjamin with me. It seems as if my mind is completely gone though. I'm missing deadlines and forgetting to email things. I go online to send an email and 20 minutes later find myself staring at the screen thinking, "What was I doing?" Ugh. I figure eventually I'll be getting more sleep and my mind will catch up. Until then, post-its are my friend.

I started training for a half marathon 5 weeks ago. It's going really well. I started off barely running a 12.5 minute mile and tonight when I went for my run I did a 9:40 mile. My previous 1/2 marathon was a 10:30 mile average. I don't know if I can do that by September, but it feels good to be running again, and it feels really good to be able to fun 4 miles in a row and be finished in about 43 minutes.

Sam has been in Australia for the past 2 weeks and will be gone for another 2.5 weeks. Because of the 17 hour time difference it's been super difficult to talk to him, but it's fun to tell the kids the things he's doing and seeing. I hope he gets a chance to do some site seeing and isn't stuck on the base the whole time.

Wow, not much is going on in the non-kid sector of our lives. :) I'm flying back to Iowa in September to visit family and introduce Benjamin to grandma and grandpa and his uncle Ian and Auntie Olivia. It's only 5 days, but it will be nice to have some quiet on the farm.

That's about it here. Church work is going great. Super great. I am reminded everyday how blessed I am to have this job. I adore my students, they make me laugh more than want to pull my hair out. They are passionate about what they are interested in and they are super sweet. It was super hard to let my 8th graders go, but luckily they only moved up and not out.

That's about it. Kind of a snore, but boring is much better than drama. :) Besides, the kid stories are more interesting in my opinion...

My heart just grew another 10 pounds.

As I type this I'm balancing my laptop on my boppy pillow and cuddling a super snuggly baby on my shoulder listening to happy little grunts and taking every other minute to smell his sweet baby smell and kiss his soft little bald head.

Benjamin David Grummons was born Thursday, May 12th at 5:07am. He weighed 10 pounds even and was 22 inches long. Here is his birth story. :)

A week ago I went to my regular doctor's appointment and had my first "check" to see how things were going with the journey to delivery. It was super promising. His head was engaged in my pelvis and I was even starting to dilate. I left the doctor's office happy thinking for sure that this was going to happen for real. :)

Wednesday the 11th I went again for another weekly check up and had another check to see how things were going. It was incredibly disappointing because his head was no longer engaged in my pelvis and my dilating had shrunk. It was as if things had gone backwards in time! When I asked my doctor what she thought happened she said, "Honestly, his head has probably grown too large for your pelvis and it popped out." But, she agreed that we would wait another week (even though my due date was this weekend) and we would see what happened. But she told me that her recommendation would be to have a planned c-section if I was still pregnant next week. Of course, I felt like crying, and was actually encouraged to do so. So, I cried, went back to the office, wrote my "I'm now going on maternity leave" email message to my pastor and the parents then went to coffee with a friend to decompress a bit.

While at coffee with my friend, she mentioned a "cocktail" that she could whip up that she swore brought her into labor with her first child. At that point I was ready for anything so she agreed to come over Wednesday evening to make me up her drink. Basically, it was a drink with Castor Oil and stuff to keep the Castor Oil taste tolerable. Bottom's up!

So, that night at about 8pm I tucked Aaron into bed and drank a doctored up Root Beer float. We giggled about the coming side effects (basically being married to the bathroom for a few hours) but at that point I was ready to try anything and I figured taking the drink at night would guarantee a good night's sleep before things kicked in.

Ha! At 8:40pm I was sitting on the couch with my computer when all of a sudden I felt the urge to sneeze. I sneezed and thought, "Oh crap, I think I peed my pants." Then I jumped up from the couch because there was a tidal wave of water. My water had broken from the force of my sneeze! I dashed to the bathroom telling Sam, "I think my water broke!" and he called our friend who was going to watch the kids to alert her that things were indeed starting.

I spent the next hour and a half counting contractions (which hit me hard right afterwards) and making sure we had everything we needed. By 10:30 I was ready to head to the hospital, and I am so glad we went when we did. My contractions went from 7-13 minutes apart to 2-3 minutes apart really fast. When I walked into labor and delivery I saw my o.b. (who happened to be on call that night) and said gleefully, "My water broke! I'm totally in labor!" to which she replied, "You are not in labor (probably because I had a huge stupid grin on my face), and even if your water broke, it doesn't mean you are past 1 cm!" So, like the mature person I am, I stuck my tongue out at her and called her a negative Nancy. :)

Sure enough, I got taken into the delivery room and into my glorious robe and I was at 3cm. For the next hour I paced through contractions, breathed through contractions, answered random questions (I thought they were random anyways), signed paperwork and got my blood drawn and i.v. started. I was also told that if I wanted an epidural (which was recommended just in case of emergency c-section) I should have it soon.

By 12:30 I was ready for my epidural because my contractions were every minute or so and they were super painful (duh, but they were pitocen free contractions!). It took the anesthesiologist 3 tries to get my epidural in!! Three separate pokes!! Me, sitting perfectly still through numerous contractions while the anesthesiologist is talking me through what she is doing. I just kept thinking, "Shut up!! I don't want to hear about it!!". Finally, at 1am I was set up and ready to go into blissful epidural land.

I encouraged Sam to go sleep in the chair because it might take awhile (I was now at 4 almost 5 cm) and got ready for the happy numbness associated only with the happy drugs blocking the pain. That happened, but then my legs got all "holy crap my legs fell asleep but now they are waking up with giant pins and needles" feeling. It was like restless legs syndrome, only much much worse because even though I had the urge to move my legs (stretch them, kick them, etc.) I couldn't move a muscle. In fact, I noticed that I couldn't feel anything below my armpits. Plus, I was feeling super woozy and beginning to panic. They put an oxygen mask on me, but that made me feel claustrophobic. So, for the next two hours I had a panic attack (go me!).

It was horrible. I just wanted to move my legs, and the logical side of me was telling myself to just calm down and breathe. But, the illogical side of me kept saying, "I just want to move my legs!!" The nurse had to monitor my heart rate (which was in the 130's) and Sam kept telling me to breathe deeply, to which my response was to hold my breath because I couldn't concentrate on breathing. Finally I calmed down enough to fall asleep at around 3-ish (I think, at one point I woke up to being checked, which is a little awkward...).

I woke up at 4am because the epidural was wearing off (yay!) and every time I had a contraction (about every minute or so) Benjamin would jam himself into my rib cage. Finally, at about 4:30 I called my nurse because I felt funny. So, she came in to check me and said, "Okay, let's push!" I was all, "Wait, what? I've only been at the hospital for 5 and a half hours! I haven't even seen the new nurse staff yet!" So, I tried waking Sam up. It took me three times of telling him that he needed to get up and help before it registered for him that it was time to push. :) I pushed twice and then was told to stop because they needed to call the doctor. Again, what?!?! In my previous deliveries pushing was a 1.5-3 hour process, why call the doctor now?

The delivery team broke down the bed, got the bassinet ready and had me push one more time as the doctor got ready for delivery. Then I was told to wait again. Really? Wait? *sigh* I kept breathing deep through each contraction because I just wanted to push.

Finally, everyone else was ready and I was given the green light to push. 15 minutes later Benjamin was on my chest being rubbed down and I was grinning like crazy. 10 minutes after that I was on the phone calling my mom and texting my friends.

He is perfect and healthy. His head is perfectly round, and he was a VERY successful VBAC. I was praising God for how quick and "easy" the whole labor and delivery was. Even as the placenta was delivered (and I was a little uneasy about how that was going to go) I was super happy.

Thanks for all of the support and well wishes. We got home this afternoon (I was in the hospital almost as long as I'm usually in labor!). If anyone wants to visit please call first to make sure we aren't sleeping or having other attitude issues from boys. :) Pics to be posted later (or see Sam's facebook page...).

Reflections for Mother's Day.

Since becoming a more "granola" mom (ha ha ha, what that has meant is using cloth diapers and purchasing local produce from Tanaka Farms. I still have no qualms about throwing my kids a package of fruit snacks-oh the yellow 5!- and having them sit and watch Toy Story 3 so I can have some sanity) I've become slightly addicted to cottonbabies.com, a website through which I have purchased my cloth diapers (and cloth diaper accessories).

They are hosting a contest for Mother's Day called, "I'm So Glad You Were Born", meaning if I write a good enough comment I could win 100.00 towards their website. Sam would thank me because even just last night I was on the website drooling over their products and saying, "You know, they are having a buy 5 get one free sale..." To which he replied, "We have enough cloth diapers! We'll see what happens when the baby is born!" Boo. So I had to settle for purchasing just the laundry detergent which we love (Rockin' Green Hard Rock). Oh, that and another wet bag, that way when one is being washed, we have another place to put dirty diapers. :)

Anyways...To have more of a chance of winning I'm supposed to link the contest on my blog. So, here's the link:

But the stinky thing is, I can only use 250 words. You all have read these posts, it's nearly impossible for me to use 250 words to describe anything. Heck, it's taken me how long just to get to this point! Plus, I have almost three children, how can I pick just one child to comment on? *sigh* I guess since Benjamin has yet to show his cute little pudgy face I can't talk about how I'm glad he was born. I could talk about how I wish he were born! (getoutgetoutgetout!!!)

So, here on this blog I will post about how I'm glad each of my children were born, and then post one of them on the cottonbabies site. Then, if I win, I can get my 6 diapers without complaints from Sam. :) And, since I'd be spending 100.00, I could also get a sweet pair of leggings for free!

Nathaniel: I'm so glad you were born because you added to the love of our family. You gave me something to look forward to and count down for while Sam was away in Iraq. You have taught me more about compassion and empathy than I could have possibly learned anywhere else. You have shown me that these traits are part of the fabric of your character, and not something that can be easily taught. While your tears and your timidity sometimes drive me batty (I promise, your teacher will not eat your face! Just tell her what you need!), I see your thoughtfulness shining through as you reach out to other kids who are quiet and shy like you. I see your compassion as you try to teach your brother how to do "big kid" stuff, and I see your love for the brother who has yet to be born as you whisper "secrets" into my belly, touch various places and ask in wonder, "Is that a leg?" and simply cuddle up to get as close as you can. I love you, my first born child.

Aaron: I am so glad you were born because you have shown me how deep my love can go and how I can easily love a child so different from another. I love your passion and zest for life. You have met everything with a head on determination and stubbornness that has already gotten you far in your short 27 months here on earth. It got you crawling at 5 months, walking at 11 months, and potty trained at 26 months. Your war cries when anyone tries to help you, while often driving me INSANE tells me that no matter what life throws at you, you will be okay. I love seeing how no one will ever walk all over you, no matter who that person is. I know this because you won't allow your brother to make you do things you won't do (and he has the bite marks to prove it!) and I see you shrug off the hugs of the little girls at daycare as you back away and say, "No, high five!" I also love that no matter how tough and big you are, you are never afraid to give your mommy, daddy and brother hugs and kisses and show us how fiercely you love by giving giant hugs that last forever.

I can't wait until Benjamin is born and I can revel in a new little creation and a new little personality. :)