Just can't get anything done around here!

I've been trying for two days (key word is trying) to pack for our upcoming beach vacation, and I just can't seem to make any progress. I'm a list person, and, normally, I love making my packing list and getting everything all organized and packed. This year it's not going so well. Must be the addition of a 3rd child. I don't really know. At least one of the three (sometimes all three!) has been crying or needing something at all times of the day. My list is a partial list, and our bags are still not packed. So, rather than buckle down and try to do it, I've given up, been playing with the kids, and now I'm blogging about it. Guess we'll be last-minute packers this time! There are stores at the coast, too, for all those things I'm forgetting. How's that for a new strategy?

Fastest 5 months ever

Aubrey's babyhood is going by way too quickly, in my opinion. What's she doing these days? Smiling, playing with her toes, rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy (when she remembers that she can), chewing on fingers/toys/blankets..., crying when others try to hold her (bummer for you all!), sleeping 10-12 hours a night, and just being the cutest little baby ever.

Ask and you shall receive

In my previous post, I mentioned my struggle with the 4-6pm grumpy window, and soon after, Jenne posted some great ideas on how to make "The Bewitching Hours" a lot more pleasant. Thanks, Jenne! Now our afternoons will be pure joy... if remember to do all those things. :)

Sigh

This morning I had a "happy mom" moment. I was making muffins in the kitchen, and Aubrey was hanging out in the doorway, watching me and trying to get the links in her mouth. Kari and Joel were playing with Play-Doh at the table and listening to the kid music we had on, singing along to"Oh, how I love Jesus." I thought again about how blessed I am to be a mom who gets to stay home with her kids. I tend to like keeping us busy going places and doing things, but I also enjoy days like today when we don't have anywhere to go or anything we have to do, and I get to be "domestic" and just be home. Now, I have to say that a half hour earlier Joel was throwing bricks (cardboard ones) at Kari and making her cry, intentionally, and 10 minutes later, Aubrey was tired and screaming as I disciplined Kari for sneaking a piece of muffin after I told her she couldn't have one until later after we ate lunch. It's unusual to have long periods of tranquility around here, but I do have a lot of "happy mom" moments most days. I tend to forget about them, however, by the time my husband comes home from work, when I'm tired, the kids are hungry, and things just aren't so happy around here. (I'm working on ideas of how to improve that often unpleasant 4-6pm window.) So, Greg, whatever I tell you when you get home today, know that we had a good time this morning and then remind me that I love being a mom.

"Nothing" to blog about...

... so I may as well post some happy baby pictures. We were making Aubrey laugh the other night, and it was just too cute.

A little tease

Yesterday we had our 1/2 birthday kid celebration. I'm not sure I'll continue this tradition I started last year, but the kids enjoyed themselves and the new summer/outside toys.
My favorite part of the evening had nothing to do with the 1/2 birthday. It came when Greg was reading to the kids before bedtime. We've been reading A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh chapter books and have just started the next one, The House at Pooh Corner.
Greg was reading along:
Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought that he wouldn't so he said "Who is it?" instead.
"Me," said a voice.
"Oh!" said Pooh. "Well, come here."
And then Kari chimed in with:
So Whatever-it-was came here, and in the light of the candle he and Pooh look at each other.
She knew the exact words! And she did it over and over again, finishing his sentences and quoting the next part. By this time they were both laughing hysterically. Greg kept asking her how she knew it, but she wouldn't tell him. He knew I had just gotten this book from the library last week and was totally baffled. I finally told him that she's been listening to the books on CD during her rest time (she doesn't usually nap anymore, just plays in her room for an hour and a half). I got the CDs at the library, and I didn't realized she'd listened to them that much, but apparently, she's listened enough!

Greg laughed so hard he cried.

Cherries, yumm!

Saturday morning we went to Hood River to go cherry-picking. It was a beautiful day to drive through the gorge. The people at Alice's Orchard, where we went apple-picking last fall, told us to come back in the summer for their cherry crop, and I love cherries, so we did. The dwarf lapin cherry trees they had were perfect, as the kids could even reach the fruit. Task-oriented Kari loved picking and got serious about filling her bucket. Joel ate one for every two he picked.

Random side-note--not sure what was going on, but over 95% of the u-pickers we saw at the orchard yesterday were Asian. When we arrived, there were only 4 other cars there. Before we left, we all sat in the van for 15 minutes or so while I fed Aubrey, and watched as car after car (at least 30 vehicles) full of Asians drove in to pick cherries. Tourists, maybe?

Water, Water Everywhere...

Michelle and I took the kids to the Blue Lake Splash Park today, and we met up with some other friends, the Wilsons and Albers, too. A good time was had by all. Kari and Joel seemed to pick up right where they left off last time we were there a year ago. Kari jumped right in, and Joel surprised me by not screaming when he got water in his face. We're making progress! Greg's work is very close to Blue Lake, so he came by and said hi during his lunch. He also put Aubrey to sleep, which was nice. Immunizations yesterday had her feeling a little under the weather, but she's feeling better tonight.

You can see how much fun they had.

"Uncle Eric sorta looks like Daddy."

That was a Kari comment I overheard in a conversation she had with Joel last week. It made me laugh.

Being married to an identical twin can be interesting , and an experience this last week inspired me to blog about it. At the pediatrician's office on Wednesday the nurses and front office staff were laughing (at me and my baby, it seemed) and finally let me in on the joke. Apparently, one of the nurses didn't know that Greg had a twin and thought, to my horror, that we Moffats were all just "one big happy family." Aaahhh! We have been going to this doctor for the past two years! Eric and Leah take their kids to the same office and had taken baby Miles in earlier that day for his two week check-up, which is when the confusion came up and another staff member set her straight.

There have been many instances of confusion in the years we've been together. Obviously, Greg has had to deal with this his whole life, but it's fairly new (and still funny) to me. My ob/gyn thought my husband had two wives when pregnant Leah and Eric walked into his office. Back in our college days, a strange girl ran up and gave him a big hug, thinking he was Eric. Sometimes when we're out and about, high school kids from Reynolds, where Eric teaches, holler out, "Hey, Mr. Mo!" and sometimes Greg corrects them, and sometimes he just says "hey" back to avoid the confrontation. (Eric says he tells his students he has a twin, but some of them don't listen well because some of them haven't believed Greg when he tells them he's Eric's brother and not their science teacher.) Once, in the pool, I mistook Eric's backside for Greg's. That was pretty embarrassing, and I'll probably never live it down. In my defense, they look a lot alike from the back and were wearing similar swim trunks.

Our kids have never really been confused, and I haven't very often, but understandably (at least in most cases), a lot of other people sure have! Maybe you're one of them.

4 months

Aubrey Ann is already 4 months old. She's still a pretty happy baby, but this week she's has some sad times. She's been wanting to eat at all hours of the day (still doing well at night, though--growth spurt, maybe?), and is happiest when Mommy is holding her. We may have a mama's girl on our hands. She may also be starting the whole teething process--knawing on her fingers, a little cranky, drooling. Whatever's going on, she still, in between fusses, gives us these big beautiful smiles that make me so, so happy.
She's healthy and growing strong--13 lbs. 14 oz (right in the middle of the pack), 25 in. (a little taller than the rest) .

Gettin' some Daddy time in

Free Movie

Kari had her first movie theater experience on Tuesday. Aunt Michelle took the two older kids, Kari and Ashlynn, to see the Veggie Tale Pirates movie, part of the Regal Cinemas Free Family Film Festival. They liked it and had fun together. Thanks, Michelle!

Ballerina Swim

Kari had just shown Grandpa how to do her water "ballet" move, and Grandma suggested she teach everyone. Kari was happy to oblige. She very much wants to be a ballerina. If you know of a good studio/teacher nearby, let me know. We want to let her try it out.

This is where Joel prefers to hang out--on the steps--but Grandma has been working to getting him off the steps and into the water, and he's starting to go for it.

A rose by any other name...

Aren't these blooms beautiful? They really are pretty, but what I love most about them is their strong fragrance. This rose bush is actually part of one that was in my Great-Grandpa and Grandma Harrington's yard in upstate New York. My dad brought back a shoot from the bush years ago when he was there visiting her and planted it in his yard. He started a bush for me when we moved into our house. Great-Grandma is in heaven now, but every spring and summer when the roses bloom and give off their amazing fragrance, I think of her.

The bush got really big this year! I had Joel stand by it to give some perspective.

It has a ridiculous amount of blooms on it this year, too. I'll have a lot of pruning to do soon.