so excited!!!!

we are heading up to nj on wednesday the 3rd. sara, jill and beth (i would love to see your mom at some point too), let me know what day is good for you all to get together. i can't tell you how much i am looking forward to seeing you all and meeting your babies!!! jen, i wish that you were around a i could meet precious little lila. hopefully next time. i hope that everyone has a GREAT thanksgiving. i'm planning on pigging out and i can't wait :) let me know when and where we should all meet!!!

because our lives aren't crazy enough.....

we decided to add a puppy to the mix. i told you i can't be trusted to leave the house. a trip to the grocery store for some antibiotics for emma turned into a puppy purchasing fiasco. did i mention that we are heading out of town tomorrow for pretty much the next two weeks?! traveling with a new puppy, an infant, a toddler and a preschooler...priceless. ryan and emma both fell in love with the little guy and there was no way out of this after that. he's a tiny little chiahuaha (sp?) and shi tzu mix and is the perfect size for emma to dress up and play with :) she's said several times that this is the happiest day of her life. i think this one goes down in history as one of mommies most stressful ones. so far he remains nameless. any suggestions?

longest post ever, but worth the read

I am officially the world's worst mother. Last night, I had one of my worst fears come true....it's so humiliating, but so unreal that I just have to share:) The last few nights I have been going out alone after the kids go to bed to run errands, do some christmas shopping, etc.. Ryan has been great about putting the kids to bed and giving me some time to get these things accomplished. It's amazing how much more I can get done when I am out without the kids. (This is me laying the groundwork to defend the stupidity that is to come.) So, yesterday we had a new sofa delivered. We have been in the process of redecorating our living room and finally broke down and bought a new sofa. The new sofa arrives, Ryan leaves to go watch the Eagles game, and I sit for three hours staring at the new sofa, feeling like I am gonna throw up because I am in shock and I hate it. (My mom had a good point that I have cried after every haircut my entire life and I live in a constant state of buyer's remorse and that the sofa will grow on me. Ryan has even commented in the past that he's surprised that I haven't traded him in for a newer model...I am known for second guessing all of my decisions, this new couch being the latest, I guess.) That aside, Ryan finally gets home and I tell him that I can't stand the new couch and we need to immediately go to Homegoods and World Market to buy some throw pillows and blankets to try to make it look better. His reply is that rather than the entire family going, why doesn't he stay home with the kids and I just go. I think to myself, that's perfect. I will just leave Claire in her crib sleeping and get home in time to feed her after her nap. Then, at the last minute I decide to take Claire with me because I'm afraid I will get sidetracked while I'm shopping and it will be easier to have her with me than to worry about rushing home to feed her. So, we head off to World Market and the whole way there I am still thinking about the new sofa and still wanting to barf. I get to the store and go inside and examine every pillow and blanket they have in the store trying to decide what my new color theme is gonna be and how I am ever going to like my living room again. After about 2o minutes (maybe longer?!), Ryan calls to check in and I start to ask him if Claire has woken up yet when it hits me that SHE ISN'T IN HER CRIB SLEEPING, SHE'S OUT IN THE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should have seen me throw everything to the ground and sprint to the parking lot like a mad woman. Ryan was on the phone the whole time and could not believe what was happening. Thankfully, Claire was sitting in her carseat as happy as can be and the police where not there to arrest me. (I'm joking, but I'm serious at the same time.) Ever since I have had kids, the thought of this exact thing happening has always freaked me out...I can't believe that it actually did. I wanted to die. I thank God for protecting her and for the fact that I realized it when I did and that this happened on a cool fall day and not in the middle of the summer. Worst mother in the world. Oh my gosh, I will never let myself live this one down.......

But wait, it continues. I went to Target this morning to get some groceries and had a few extra minutes before I needed to be at Pilates, so I thought I would run into Homegoods. I did a quick five minute run through the store and found nothing to make my couch look less hideous in my house, so I proceeded to leave. Claire was in her carseat in the front of the cart and Madeline was hanging out in the back of the cart. Well, the cart proceeded to get stuck on the metal threshhold of the doorway and FLIP OVER with my children inside. No joke. They both came crashing to the ground before I could steady it. Madeline was ok, but very scared. Claire, on the otherhand, has her first black eye. That's right. My five month old baby has a black eye. You could see her eye start to swell right away, but her face was so red from her crying so much that it was hard at first to evaluate if anything else was hurt. I was terrified. I had three employees and two random men helping me and Ryan came right away (I got a hold of him just before my cell phone died). I think I shook for an hour. To see this all happen right before my eyes was the scariest thing. The girls could have gotten seriously hurt...the black eye is nothing compared to how bad it could have been. Ugh.

I'm not leaving my house the rest of the week.

They are actually in their room PLAYING with their toys...what a rare moment!

Claire chillin at the park...I can't believe she's 5 months old already :(

marathons and ice cream?

What does it say about me that while on a seven mile run, the ONLY thing I can think about is what flavor ice cream I want from Coldstone? Either I am the world's unhealthiest health nut or I have a major work out addiction in order to make up for my major food addiction....hmmm.

who's er daddy?

Tuesday night we had an awesome family night out with the Henley's!! We took the girls to dinner and then to the movies to see Madagascar 2 (otherwise known as "MOVE IT" in our house). The eight of us were the only ones in the theater until a group of octogenarians decided they felt like watching an animated movie for the evening (which we all thought was kind of random). All was fine until Madeline, who has no concept of an "inside voice" kept yelling "Who's er daddy?" about every character that came on the screen. The 80 year olds were getting so mad at her, one of them actually yelled "shut up" at one point...no joke. After the movie, one of them turned and gave us a 10 second stare down before she left the theater. Needless to say, we were totally amused:) Other than the bitter impatience of the old folks, we had such a fun night. I'm so glad that Norma, Jeremy and Layla decided to join us. It's such a blessing to have friends that feel like family :)

beautiful day

The weather here was so beautiful today. I packed a picnic lunch and picked Emma up from school then we met some friends at the park for the afternoon. I love days like today :)

Thought I'd share a few of my favorite funny quotes of the day:

After chasing the train at Lakes Park on foot as far as they could, Emma comes running back, completely out of breath and says, "Wow, I just did bootcamp!" Like mother, like daughter :)

Madeline's prayer at bedtime tonight: "Dear God, thank you for help us, for playground for swing" (repeated four times) Amen.

Emma was praying for our new "adopted" Brazilian sister, Brenda. During her prayer she kept stuttering and getting stuck on the word "sister". Emma's like, I pray for our "sis, sis, sis" from the top bunk and Madeline was on the bottom bunk yelling "ter, ter, ter" trying to help Emma along. It's bad when your 2 year old sister is trying to finish your thoughts for you. I guess we can't delay the speech therapy much longer :)

No quotes from Claire today..just a bunch of smiles and some goos and gaas. She loved lying on her blanket in the park all day and rolling around in the grass. The attention from all of Emma's friends wasn't bad, either!

halloween pics

Just a few Halloween pics. Emma was Little Red Riding Hood (her costume was two sizes too small, but she insisted on it anyway), Madeline was a "wobspur" aka lobster, and Claire was unofficially a butterfly. The night was so hectic, we never even put her costume on her. Poor third child. Next year I'll make it up to her with an amazing costume!! This year was the first time we didn't stay home for Halloween. We went to Tracey and Jason's house to trick or treat and then had dinner there afterwards. Lots of Halloween fun!

Wow, I can't believe that it's been almost a month since my last post...I'm such a slacker. Life has been very busy here. The weekend before last we had a family reunion in Jupiter. Ryan was in Palm Springs on a business trip, so my mom came to help with the kids for a few days and then we headed across the state to the big reunion. We had a blast!! It was so much fun to see cousins that I haven't seen in years and the kids had fun meeting so many new family members. It was hectic for Kristin and I, cause we are pretty much the only ones with little kids and babies right now, so our style was kinda cramped for the weekend :) We managed to have a great time even though our hands were FULL! And next year at this time when my sister and I get together, we'll have 6 girls between us. We are quite a spectacle whenever we go out with the whole crew.

Right after I got home from that trip, Ryan surprised me with a last minute trip to Medford for a few days. It was so great to be back. Whenever we are up there I instantly feel like I am home again. I had a great couple of days soaking in the cold weather and the peace and quiet (the big girls stayed home). I spent one whole morning lying on the couch in my bathrobe drinking cofee and reading a book...it was heaven!! It was great to spend time with Becky. I love how we can not see each other for a year and then instantly start where we left off. We got some great shopping in. I think we spent hours in Francesca's...my new favorite store :) I never realized how much better the food is up North...no wonder I was so fat when I lived there, I couldn't stop eating the whole time!!! It was dangerous. I think by the time I left, my clothes barely fit on me. We can't wait to take the girls up for a visit in December...two days just wasn't enough. I'm so thankful that Ryan's parents have a place up there now and hope that means we can get back there more often. Once a year just isn't enough.

Now we're home again and it's taken me two full days of laundry and housework to get this place in some kind of order. The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind of going from one suitcase to the next and I am looking forward to a normal, quiet week at home. Going to the grocery store, making dinner and cleaning actually are sounding good to me right now. I guess with three little kids around, stability is what keeps me sane.