Thankfully, Kayleigh’s parents leave her carseat with me in case I need to do any errands.  It is nice to know/be able to go somewhere if I need to.  However, I’m not even kidding when I say that it takes me a good hour to get out of the house with three kids these days.  I had a great coupon for several dollars off one of Jason’s vitamins that he takes that was going to expire soon.  We didn’t have a lot planned for the day so I decided to go ahead and load everyone up and head to Walmart to take advantage of the great savings.  Plus, I needed to get a couple food items so that was a double bonus.  Here is how it all went down:

11am- Johnny woke up from his nap- changed his diaper and nursed him

11:15am- got Belle lunch and heard Kayleigh starting to wake up from her nap

11:30am- had made Kayleigh’s bottle- fed and diapered her

11:45am- we are all downstairs putting on coats/hats and covering up the babies in their car seats

11:55am- everyone is buckled in the back of the car and I have the double stroller in the trunk

11:57am- pulling out of the driveway

We arrived at Walmart and the it was quite windy.  I haven’t quite figured out how to load/unload all of the kids into the stroller in the most efficient way yet.   So that took some doing, but I finally had both babies snug and in the stroller and Belle was walking/running as we headed into Walmart.  Overall- it was a good time in the store.  I was able to get the items I needed, Belle listened and obeyed and was a big girl and walked the entire time and Kayleigh fell asleep.  I had a few “glances” my way and a few “my my my… you  must have your hands full!”- I have not stopped to tell anyone that only two are mine, but I”m sure that will happen shortly.  Anyway, Belle wanted to go to the self-checkout so she could help me.  We got everything paid for and once again headed out to brave the cold.  All in all we were in Walmart about 45 min.  We get home and once again it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get everyone inside.  Belle needed to use the potty and go to bed, Johnny wanted to eat and needed his diaper changed and Kayleigh… well, she has never done this before, but she is still sleeping.  It has been a good 3 hr and 20 min since she last ate… she usually eats every 2 hrs on the dot.  (We will see how long this lasts!)  Anyway, our little outing took a good 2.5 hours.  Just for a coupon.  And you want to know what I found out when I got home?????

I FORGOT TO USE THE COUPON! AAAHHHH!

Such is my life these days!

I am all about reducing, reusing and recycling.  I’m not a fanataic, but I do want to be concious of what God gave me and make good decisions.  HOWEVER, I am a firm believer that your husband’s old underwear are NOT to be recycled into rags.  If you are a dear friend of mine and this is the state at your house- I will still be your friend.  But please, do not hand me this so called “rag” and ask me to clean something!

(We had Belle’s 3 year old check up today.  She was playing in the corner of the room while the nurse was asking me all sorts of questions about her eating, sleeping, playing and talking habits.  I had no idea she (Belle) was even paying attention… however, I quickly learned that she was!)

Nurse: “How much milk does she drink every day?”

Leah: “About 1.5-2 cups”

Nurse: “And does she eat yogurt and cheese?”

Leah: “Yes.”

(with no more than a 2 second pause…..)

BELLE: “Mom, tell her I like mayonnaise.”

Which is absolutely hilarious to me because it sounds like that is all I feed my child.  In all actuallity, she just got her first taste of the “Smart Balance” version a few weeks ago.  Geesh.

*I’ve started watching a 2 month old little girl part time.  This is probably not a perminate thing- but rather something short term to help with some medical bills.  Her name is Kayleigh and we are on day 2 of watching her!*

Belle: “Is that my new baby sister?”

Mom: “No, we are just watching her.  She is our new friend.  But you can pray that God might some day give you a baby sister.”

Belle: “Lets pray right now!”

Monday afternoon was a day that I never care to experience again.

It was about 4:15 in the afternoon.  I put Johnny down for a nap in his crib, but he was still crying it out for a while.  Belle was quietly reading books, practicing blanket time in the living room on the floor.  I told Belle I would “be back in 1 minute”- that I was going to get the mail.

I walked out the front door and closed it behind me.  Walked to the mailbox and started back up the driveway. Then it hit me, I didn’t remember unlocking the front door before I closed it.  I got slightly worried and then realized that I had to have unlocked it.  I got to the door and tried the handle.  You guessed it, it was locked.  Come again?  My heart rate skyrocketed as I realized that the car was in the garage (and it was closed) and the wood board was in the basement sliding glass door to keep people out! :)  OH MY GOSH.  Terrified was not the only one word that came to mind.  I ran over to our neighbors (who had just got back from a walk- the hubby is a teacher and had just got home).  I quickly asked A.J. if they had a ladder and he asked me what was wrong.  Promptly, I burst into tears.  He told me not to worry- that he would shimmy our back upper deck (I think a good 10-15 feet off the ground) and go in the top sliding glass door.  We all quickly went around the house (remember Belle is sitting quietly on her blanket reading books in the living room).  A.J. stood on a deck chair and climbed up the pole and after a few terrifying moments of wondering if he was going to make it- he got up and over the top of the decking to go in the door.  WHEW!

*INSERT BLOOD CURDLING SCREAMING HERE!*

As my child finds a man walking in the living room who has never been in our house before and we’ve never “walked into the house” from the deck.  I quickly run around the house and go in the now unlocked front door.  A.J. is apologizing like crazy to Belle, Belle is screaming for me to hold her and Johnny is still crying in his bed.  Talk about an adrenalin rush.  All in all- I think it was only about 3 min that I was locked out of the house- but it seemed like hours.  AND it took a good 2 hours for my heart rate and breathing to return to normal.  I felt like I had just ran a marathon or something, I was completely exhausted.  Anyway, needless to say, I’m headed to Ace Hardware this week to get a spare key made to hide outside somewhere.  AND a garage key pad is now on my Christmas list!

As much as it was a terrible afternoon, God was so good in this situation.  As much as it scared me- I realized how gracious he was.  1) Our neighbor A.J. was home and had done this before at his house.  2) He was fit and strong enough to climb a pole to get up on the deck. 3) Jason only works about 7 min from home- so he could have made it home had I called him 4) Belle was obedient and stayed on her blanket while I was out of the house 5) Johnny was safe in his crib (as he is rollig both ways now!) 6) the entire situation only lasted about 3 min…. Thank you Lord!

**I went to get the mail yesterday (Tuesday afternoon) and Belle said,’Mom, is the door locked?’* 

I have said that numerous times in my life.  However, I’ve decided that I really didn’t mean it.  In my opinion, only a woman who has been pregnant, just had a baby and is planning to have more children in the future can stand in her room looking at 4 tubs of clothing and still say “I have nothing to wear!”  I’m not even kidding.  I just finished changing over all the summer/winter clothes at our house.  The kids room was quite an event.  It didn’t seem that much with Belle, but somehow with two kids it was quite the process.  When we were kids, my dad would set up saw horses in the basement with plywood and my mom would take about a week to go through everything, handing down what was needed and trying to find/sort through her “big” box for John and I.  I always thought it was “fun”- however, when you are the mom end of it, it can be distracting and frustrating trying to find and sort everyting with a two year old “helping” and getting excited about new clothes!  Thankfully Belle and Johnny’s room no longer looks like this:

Anyhow.  I waited about two weeks to tackle mine and Jason’s clothing.  Mostly because I was intimated by all the tubs.  You can see why.

I finally finished the project and came up with the following for clothes for myself.  I have 1 tub of summer stuff that is too small.  I have 1 tub of winter stuff that is too small.  I have 1/2  of a tub that is pieced together from this summer and 2 tubs of maternity clothes.  Not to mention all the different sizes of t-shirts, sweatshirts and shoes that I have aquired since getting prego with Belle.  And still, some days I feel like I have nothing to wear!  I think it has to do with the fact that girls clothes are supposed to fit a little more snug than guys.  If you gain/drop 5 lbs- the shirt will look completely different.  Guys, however, can go 15lbs either way and still wear the same clothes….arg!

While I’m on the topic of clothes- I must say that God has been so very gracious to me these past few months.  Since Johnny has been born, our clothes budget went down.  Not very good timing… but what can you do? :)  Anyway, God has provided so many clothes at rock bottom prices… and cute clothes! (ok, in my opinion anyway!)  I found dark colored, flare jeans for $9.99 and I found about 6 shirts all for under $7 or $5 or $3!!  Amazing!  Thank you God!

I am, however, thankful for the clothes that I do have.  AND I am so thankful for my hubby who continues to wear the same clothes over and over again with no complaint so his wife can use the majority of the clothes budget to fit her continually changing size.  I love you Jason Ross!

One of my pet peeves is long toenails.  Long finernails on girls is ok– guys… no way.  I have no idea why this bugs me- it just does.  Thankfully, I married a man who agrees with this assessment!  Once we had Belle, I was very diligent about trimming her nails on a regular basis.  I would never say it out loud- but I was pretty proud of the fact that I was “so on top of things”.  (Yes, I’m assuming most of you with more than one child are laughing or snickering at this point!   Now, you might think that arrogant (ok, it probably was!) or weird, but when something is important to you… you find the time to make it happen.  Then came Johnny.  I have no idea why 2 kids has sent me over the edge of accomplishing this goal of trimmed nails… but it has.  Then I got to thinking- there are 60 nails that I am in charge of each week…whew!  I remember as a kid, my mom used to line us all up on the living room floor and we would each have our turn of getting our nails cut.  A little weird to think about- but seriously.  If I trim Belle’s nails and don’t get Johnny’s done right then, somehow I put a checkmark on my little ‘to-do’ list in my head that it is done.  A few days later, Johnny scratches my face and much to my horror… my little BOY has LONG fingernails and toenails!  Eak!  Anyway, I am hoping that as we find ourselves more in a routine as Johnny gets older, that we will be able to get everybody trimmed and groomed at the same time and call it good for the week.

Then again… maybe not.

Haha!  As I was writing this, I just remember last week with “showering/bathing” our little ones.  Belle had a shower mid- week and I somehow thought we were done.   Sunday came and suddenly I realized that I had forgotten to give Johnny that week!  Oops. Good thing babies smell cute for a long time! :)  I guess it isn’t just the fingernails and toenails I’m having a problem keeping up with…. it is the 2 kids!

Belle: “Mom, what’s that?”

Mom: “It is an exersaucer for Johnny… he is getting to big for his bouncy seat.”

(A few min later…)

Belle: “Mom, Johnny wants to go in his ‘extra-sausage’”

Belle looking at her remaining food on her plate that she knows she needs to eat:

“Dad, I need to focus.”

When we were kids, we were not allowed* to have someone else ask permission for something we wanted to do.  I had no idea why.  And I had no idea how my parents had a clue that it wasn’t our two year old sister Sarah’s idea to watch Homeward Bound! :)  It always seemed so much better to get one of our little sisters to go upstairs and ask to watch a movie or tv or even better ask a friend when they were over to go ask permission to do something.  Because my parent’s would NEVER say no to one of our friends!  Well, actually, we found out that they did say no to our friends and then they would call us up from the basement and ask if (blank) was our idea. Geesh!  They were pretty smart!

It is funny to me the little things I’m seeing in Belle that I did as a child.  Like now, when she has friends over and she wants to do something/touch something/play with something that she knows is off limits.   She will come to me and say “He/She wants to…..” and I will look at her and wonder how I could have been so clueless as a child! :)  And then this morning, I was watching the kids at our women’s prayer time, I happened upon an older child stating that the younger child wanted to play with “blank”.  I just smiled and said “probably not right now”.  I guess since it took me a good 20+ years to figure out the system, I’m pretty sure this is not the last time I’m going to face this as a parent!

* I said said we were not allowed… however, that does not mean that we didn’t try any and all options and creative varitions that we could think of to make it fly!  Much to our chagrin, they never worked!