Nadia is 2!

We celebrated Nadia's second birthday last week with a lovely potluck in the backyard. I can't believe she is 2 already! And what a 2 year old she is, smart, talkative, witty, playful and defiant. You tell that girl "no" and you will absolutely get a tantrum out of her. Ahhhh 2 year olds! At least I've been here before so I know how it goes and can just shrug it off most of the time. Luckily there is a lot more to this 2 year old. Like her amazing ability to hear airplanes and trains far off in the distance long before any of our older ears can hear them. Nadia is incredibly affectionate and if she could she would hug every kid, baby, animal or adult for as long as humanly possible. She loves her brother and tries to pick him up constantly, a bit of a worry if I have to leave the room for a second - but so far so good. She is an animal lover and is great friends with the many ants in our yard. Somehow she can pick them up without squishing them, play with them, talk to them and then let them go unharmed. Nadia is incredibly patient and willing to take the time to figure things out til she gets it right. She is fully in charge of what she wears and I am not really allowed to pick out her clothes. For the most part she comes out of her room looking alright, but occasionally I feel a little embarrassed leaving the house with her in her newest outfit of choice. But I love that she is expressing herself so wonderfully.

So Happy Birthday Nadia my love, you are amazing - keep up the good work!

3 Months!!!

It's true, it's true, tomorrow Oliver will be 3 months old!! These past 3 months have been such a blur of activity that I can hardly remember any of it. Thankfully I have had my beautiful son attached to me the whole time and I feel like we are a pretty good team. I couldn't have asked for a better 3rd baby, a baby who has been so calm and confident through all the craziness of our new business. Oliver seems to know what I need right now, and mainly that is sleep. The boy sleeps better than me most nights and certainly waaaay better than his sisters ever did. Last night he slept for 7 straight hours and the norm is usually 6 straight hours. For a breastfed baby I believe that is pretty good, and considering my history of bad sleeping children I couldn't be happier!

As for Oliver himself, he is such a little sweetheart. He smiles at almost anyone or anything. He is starting to laugh too and I just love his early baby laugh. It looks like he will keep the blue eyes to match mine and Lily's and they are just the prettiest little eyes!

As for measurements he is 12lbs and 23" long. I looked up the girls measurements at 3 months and Lily was 10lbs 21" and Nadia was 11lbs 22" long. Interesting progression! He seems very long to me, his arms and his legs especially. He is getting chubby, but most of his gain is in length not girth.

I am totally in love with my little boy. Lily and Nadia are still quite enamored with him. In fact Nadia is so insistent on holding him all the time that she freaks out if she can't hold him. Lily just randomly gives him kisses and hugs and both of them like to feed him pretend food and read him books. My heart swells...

Potty Trained!

YAY AND HURRAY AND YIPPEE!!

Nadia started potty training HERSELF about 2 months ago. Out of no where she decided she would start going pee on the potty. She'd whip off her own diaper and run to the potty. We encouraged her and found that when we let her hang out in the house with no diaper on she would almost always make it to the potty. As soon as we'd put on her diaper she would make it about 50% of the time. Just in the last couple weeks she started to go to the potty regardless of whether she was wearing a diaper or not, but she was still going poop every time in her diaper or if she didn't have one on she would make us put one on her so she could go poop in it.

But the last 3 days she has been accident free, leaving the house in underwear AND she is now successfully making it to the potty to make her poops EVERY TIME!!

I am so very proud of her and so very relieved to have less laundry and 2 children out of diapers!!

Thank you Nadia...

You've Certainly Got Your Hands Full!

That is one of the most repeated comments when people see me with my 3 children. I just smile and say "yes" cause what else am I to say? It's true I do have my hands full, but the comment is also a whole pile of questions in one - are you okay? Are you happy? Are you crazy? And while I always just say "yes" because it's really what people want to hear, sometimes I would like to go into more detail about just how crazy it really is, but of course I've got my hands full so there isn't really a lot of time for details like that.

I think it really hit me about 2 weeks ago when the boy turned 6 weeks. Along with his baby acne came feelings I expected to feel a lot sooner but really hadn't yet. I suddenly came down from my high and finally had the thought "hey this is hard work!" I tried to ignore it and go back to that happy place, that place where I felt confident and excited and energetic. I do feel these things still, but there are many more negative thoughts as well.

I am finding myself more frustrated and quick to yell these days. Never at the sweet little Oliver baby because it occurred to me that he does less crying and whining than the girls do. Some days all I want to do is hang out with my boy in the calm and gentle manner of babies and yet I am constantly denied this precious time to go tend to some disaster in toddler land. I do suspect that the babymoon for the girls has worn off too, although they continue to wow me with their love for their brother. There are many cute moments in the day and there are plenty of happy fun times too. However the tantrums, outbursts and lack of listening has increased to a level I am not too sure I can handle.

I often look forward to going to work, something I am ashamed to admit. I know it is easier to go to work than to stay at home even if I am working with Oliver. Easier because I am not just cleaning up one mess after another. Easier because people at work talk to me in a language I can understand and they always say please and never yell and scream at me. Easier because I don't hear things like "Ahhhhhhh I can't get bite my own elbow ahhhhhhh" which is just one of the things a very tired Lily was screaming about this afternoon. I laughed of course, but she was seriously pissed off about not being able to accomplish this feat and it took a long time to calm her down and help her understand that it simply isn't possible to do that.

So yes, I do have my hands full these days, full of love but also full of googly gobbly little monkeys who try my patience and test their boundaries every chance they get.

Work

I am no longer a stay at home mom. Well I guess I am a part time stay at home mom. I have been working in our juice bar 3 days a week since we opened 3 weeks ago. Oliver is our youngest employee as he comes to work with me in the office. I haven't worked in 3 1/2 years and my goodness it's exhausting. Then again, after working 3 days in a row and then being at home with the kids, it's debatable which job is more exhausting. Just different I guess. The great thing is that my husband is at home with the girls on the days that I am at work and when he goes to work I stay home. It's a fabulous arrangement and exactly the reason for buying the juice bar.

Even though their daddy is at home when I leave for work, it's still hard to walk out the door. Yet at the same time, I enjoy using my mushy brain at work and the camaraderie of staff and customers - people who talk without whining and don't need me to wipe their bums - it's a nice change of pace for me. Still, I find myself wanting to be at home when I am at work. Maybe I can finally understand how Devinder must have felt going to work all day and coming home to hear wonderful stories of all the great adventures we'd had that day. It's so great to know that your children and partner were having a great time while you were at work, but heartbreaking that you weren't there to share in it all.

Buying this business was a great decision and I love walking through the doors and knowing that it's mine. It's so nice to not have a boss anymore. I am working yet I am mothering my son at the same time. I am pretty sure no one else would have hired me with a newborn attached to the breast. Some days, or rather some hours in each day are a little bit frustrating and not entirely fair to poor Oliver. Trying to get work done with a screaming baby is not always the easiest thing to do. Typing one handed while breastfeeding and talking on the phone is not preferred over typing and talking on the phone while your baby sleeps peacefully in the cuddly wrap. I find that I loose my train of thought constantly and I'm sure it is taking me 10 times as long to get work done than it would if I did not have a baby tied to me.

We knew when this business was offered to us that the closing date would fall right around Oliver's due date, yet still we proceeded, convinced that although the first year would be difficult for me, for our family, in the end owning the juice bar would be the best thing ever. I am still convinced.