Moments With My Girls

Lately I have found the daily task of parenting three girls and taking care of the house so repetitive and challenging. It seems like all three of my girls constantly want my attention at the same time, my house is a disaster, my kids wont stop making messes, the laundry is never done, and my to do list just keeps getting longer and longer. Luckily my kids are good at reminding my to stop, slow down, and to realize what the most important things are in this life. Today I just wanted to write down some of these experiences so that I remember them.

Yesterday the girls were all driving me a little bit crazy so I took them outside to play. They were having fun playing in the leaves so I tried to set them down with the baby in the bumbo chair for a quick picture. They all set down and were very cooperative (although I never did get a picture where all three of them were looking at me.) When I was almost done, Brynlee and Annalyn started to throw leaves at each other. I scolded them and told them not to get leaves on the baby. All of a sudden Annalyn jumped up, grabbed a huge handful of leaves and threw them at me. At first I told her to stop but she just laughed in the mischievous way that she does. 

Before I knew what was happening, Brynlee started grabbing some leaves and throwing them at me too. Both of my girls were trying to cover me in leaves and they were laughing with glee the whole time. I had no choice but to fight back. Before we knew it, we were all in the midst of a major leaf fight and we were all laughing and having a great time. Kyla even managed to grab a handful of leaves but I had to take them away from her because she tried to eat them. It was so fun to be able to stop and laugh with my girls. 

A few days ago I was sitting on the couch when Brynlee came up to me with her bucket of ponies and she begged me to play with her. I told her I would as soon as I was done with the laundry. Then Kyla started crying, Annalyn got into the apples and started to make a big mess and Brynlee was right at my foot waiting for me to play with her. I just wanted to be left alone so I could finish the laundry but I realized I needed to stop and pay attention to me kids. I calmed the baby down and rocked her to sleep and I called Annalyn over to come and play ponies with us. At first I tried to fold laundry while I was playing with them but every time I set the pony down, the girls would get mad at me, hand me the pony and tell me to keep playing with them. This reminded me of how I used to constantly try to get my mom to play barbies with me when I was around Brynlee's age. There is one day in particular that I have always treasured where my mom let me get out all of my barbies and she played with me for long time. I am glad my girls want to play with me. I spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing ponies with my girls. 

The other night Brynlee fell off the chair and hit her eye on the edge of the dining room table. Of course her first reaction was to cry and tell me that I should have caught her. I got her some ice and then she really wanted me to hold her. I was trying to get this kids in bed and Joel was gone so I told Brynlee I would hold her in a minute. I brushed Anna's teeth and then I sat down to rock Brynlee. She just melted right into my lap. Her eye did look pretty bad. I only held her for a few minutes when Kyla started screaming so I picked her up and rocked her too. I told Brynlee I had to get up to tuck Anna in bed and she clung to me and begged me to hold her. I called Annalyn over to us and she crawled up in my lap and I rocked her too. Annalyn fell asleep right away and Kyla fell asleep pretty quickly too. I wasn't quite sure how I would get up but I was kind of enjoying holding my babies and talking to Brynlee. I didn't think Brynlee would actually fall asleep in my lap but before long she was out too. I love rocking my girls and holding them. They smelled so good and I love that they trust me to hold them and comfort them when they are hurt and to take care of and protect them.

Despite how crazy life can sometimes be, I sure do love these three girls and I enjoy playing with them. I still get overwhelmed with the responsibility of raising three girls, but I am trying to remember to take the time to slow down and just enjoy being with them. The messes will still be there for me to clean tomorrow, today I am playing with my girls. They wont be this little forever.

Anna is 2 and 1/2

Little Anna is officially 2 and 1/2 years old and she sure is growing and has for sure hit the "terrible two" stage. She just knows what she wants and is pretty determined to get it. She weights 31.4 lb. (79%) and she is 35.75 in. (59%). She loves playing with Brynlee, holding her baby sister, singing songs, playing with toys, and playing dress-up. Her favorite outfit is a swimming suit or a pajama shirt with a fancy skirt. She loves shoes and wearing Brynlee's clothes and my make-up. She has a serious sweet tooth and could eat sweets all day. She loves to watch movies and play on the ipad. She tries to do everything Brynlee does and she likes to tease her. most of the time they get along great since Anna is usually pretty easy going and just goes along with whatever Brynlee tells her to do. Anna does like to take the toys Brynlee is playing with and then she runs away with them. When Anna plays with kids that are the same age as her or younger than her she is really bossy and she does not like to share, which surprises me. She used to do great in nursery at church but lately she doesn't want to share so she has had a hard time.

Anna has done great with potty training and can go all by herself. She gets herself dressed every morning and she can climb to get almost anything she wants. She is usually pretty happy and easy going and she laughs easily. She can still throw a good little temper tantrum. Annalyn loves the color pink (which makes Brynlee really mad) and she can name and identify most of her colors. She can count to 13 but most of the time she skips 5 or 4. She doesn't like to help clean up anymore and she is figuring out how to get Brynlee to clean up her messes. She just told me her favorite movie is Tinkebell but she will watch any movie that Brynlee wants to watch.

Annalyn talks in full sentences and she talks a lot. She tends to annunciate each and every syllable in her words sometimes which can make it hard to understand her. I love her little voice. My favorite is when she uses her deep, scary voice and tells me she wants to watch a "cary doomie" (scary movie). She calls Kyla "baby Ty-uh." She talks about wearing her "twimming tuit (swimming suit)."

Anna only takes an occasional nap when she is really tired. She just doesn't want to sleep during the day when Brynlee is awake and playing. She is usually the first one awake in the mornings too. Usually she comes into my bed around 6 in the morning telling me " I want See-E-Oh (cereal) mom. I want see-E-oh." I think cereal is probably her favorite food.

Annalyn sure has been super mischievous lately. It must be the age because she is doing a lot of the same naughty things Brynlee used to do at this age. Luckily Brynlee outgrew it but she hasn't made any effort to stop Anna from destroying things. Now that Annalyn is potty trained, she is obsessed with washing her hands in the bathroom sink and playing with the soap and the toilet paper. One day while I was feeding the baby she covered both of her legs and the entire bathroom floor in soap. The floor was so slippery that neither of us could walk in there without falling. I had to stick her in the bath so I could get all of the soap off. She got into a bottle of lotion the other day and covered all of her block and her whole body in lotion. We went to the church one morning and I was doing zumba while Anna and Brynlee were playing on the stage. One of the other ladies informed me that Anna had some hand sanitizer. It turns out that she found it in the nursery and used it to clean the toys and she washed herself off with it. I caught her and Brynlee with the little baby bathtub in Annalyn's room another day. They were both wearing swimsuits and trying to sneak water in there so they could go swimming. I am glad I put a stop to that quickly.

 Annalyn also likes to play with the food. Yesterday she got out several sticks of butter and she was carrying them in a bag around the house. She told me she was going to eat them. She took almost an entire loaf of bread and tore the bread into pieces. On another day she covered herself in peanut butter. She covered Kyla's bumbo chair in applesauce another day. She loves to crumble up crackers and eat apples. She doesn't like the peel on her apple so she spits it out on the carpet. Annalyn got ahold of the chocolate milk powder one day and she was eating it like it was candy while she sat on top of the kitchen table. We were eating lunch and I left to feed the baby and I had no idea they had the chocolate milk powder. Anna had a runny nose that day so she was covered in it. It was all over her face, clothes and my kitchen table. In the middle of this fiasco Anna informed me that she needed to go potty. I hurried as fast as I could but she ended up peeing all over the table in the midst of the chocolate powder. It was not a fun mess to clean up but it did make for a good, although kind of gross picture. I have been thinking about blocking off all access to the kitchen for both of my girls. I just don't know that I could really come up with a way to keep them out.

Here are a few stories about Annalyn from this summer that I never wrote down. One day I had just changed Anna's diaper and we were getting in the car to go somewhere. As I was buckling her into her car seat I could tell her diaper was wet so I asked her. "You didn't just pee in this new diaper I put on you now did you?"
Annalyn shook her head and told me "no, I didn't pee in my diaper."
"Well somebody did," I told her.
Anna was quick to respond "Yeah, Daddy did!"

Right before and after Kyla was born, Annalyn was obsessed with being a baby. She still has a little squeaky baby voice that sounds like a little mouse that she uses when she wants to be a baby or when she just needs more attention. It comes out a lot around new people. Brynlee took full advantage of Annalyn's desire to be a baby and had her crawling around the floor, sucking on pacifiers, and drinking milk out of Kyla's baby bottles. Annalyn loved it. Brynlee would cover Anna up in blankets and she would just snuggle right in. Yesterday Brynlee even put a diaper on her and got her dressed in her pajamas. Anna took the baby roll very seriously. She even came up to me one day with drool all down her chin exclaiming, "I am spitting up mom! Look I am spitting up!"

Anna is usually pretty girly. She still loves stuffed animals and sleeps with several of them every night. She loves purses and dressing up but she also likes to pretend to be zombies and be scary. She likes to help dad with his project and one day I discovered that Annalyn had slept with her little purse in her bed and the purse was full of screws that she stole while Joel was doing one of his projects.

Annalyn loves giving the baby kisses and she seems to think that she needs to kiss Kyla right on the lips. A lot of times they both have their mouths wide open too. The other day Annalyn gave Kyla a kiss right after Kyla had just spit up and Anna walked away from that kiss frantically wiping her mouth. Joel and I just had to laugh. The next time she kissed her she held Kyla's mouth shut before she gave her a kiss. We are trying to teach her to just kiss her on the cheek but Annalyn doesn't like that idea.

The other day my family was over and the girls were playing with their kitchen stuff. Annalyn wanted real water to play with but I told her no. She tried to sneak it out of the bathroom and my sister Alesha told her she had better put the water back before she got in trouble. You should have seen the glare Alesha got. Anna was so mad. Alesha told her she had to listen to her mom and Anna gave her another glare and shouted, "I ate (hate) Esha (alesha)!" Then Annalyn tried to get the water again and my mom told her to get out of the water. Annalyn called out again, "I ate grandma! I ate grandma and I ate Esha!" She threw a major temper tantrum when I made her get out of the bathroom but her anger was still geared towards my mom and Alesha. I was kind of funny but I wish she wouldn't tell people she hates them. She can be so sweet and cuddly but she can all be a little stinker.

Just this week one of our kitchen drawers that holds all of our spatulas broke. Joel set it on the kitchen table and then it sat there all week since Joel didn't have time to fix it. Annalyn used the opportunity to crunch up some crackers, mix them up with water, and play with it in that drawer. She also found a tube of glue and covered several of my spatulas with glue. Where does she come up with these ideas?

Annalyn was helping me to make scrambled eggs one day. She loves to try and carry the eggs around the house and play with them. Annalyn got the eggs out of the fridge before I was even in the kitchen and she dropped an egg on the ground. She just looked at me, picked up another egg and assured me, "don't worry mom. I not break this one. Otay?" Then she dropped that one and it cracked on the floor too. I told her to leave the eggs along but she just picked up a third egg and promised me she wouldn't drop it. It wasn't much longer until there was another broken egg on my floor.

This girl sure does make me laugh. We love her so much. 

Kyla - 3 Months

Little Kyla is three months old and boy are we all enjoying this stage. I forgot how fun babies are at this age. Kyla sure has grown a lot in just the last three months. Take a look at just how big she has gotten. This is her as a newborn, at one month, at two months, and at three months.

Kyla is smiling all the time and her colicky periods are getting shorter. She is cooing and making lots of fun new sounds as well as working hard to move her hands and grab things. She has already learned how to grab my hair. Kyla loves to sit up and when I lay her down or put her in the swing; she stretches and uses her little abs to try and sit. She really likes the bumbo chair. She also likes to stand on my lap and look at the things that are going on around her. She especially likes to watch her big sisters.

Kyla knows who her mom is and is already showing signs of stranger anxiety. Isn't she too little for that? I expect her to let anyone hold her but the last few times I have given her to someone else she looks at them, her little lip starts to quiver, and she screams until I come and rescue her. As soon as I hold her she stops crying right away. She has even done this a few times when people just look at her. She goes to her dad and she tolerates all of the love from her sisters but she is already a little momma's girl.

Kyla sleeps through the night most of the time but her naps during the day are still very sporadic and inconsistent. She sleeps in her own bed in our room great at night but she won't sleep in there for long stretches during the day. I can get her to take a half hour nap in there if I am lucky. She sleeps the best when I hold her during the day. She still nurses every three hours during the day and is awake more often and likes to interact with us.

Kyla will wink at me all the time. She still spits up a lot and she cries frequently during the day but she doesn't cry near as much as she used to. Kyla has had a bad cold these last few days but that hasn't stopped her from smiling. I just feel bad for her since she sounds so congested. We all seriously adore this little girl. Brynlee likes to pretend Kyla is her baby all the time and she tries to change her, dress her up, and take care of her. Annalyn is constantly giving Kyla kisses and doting on her. She is one well loved little baby. Happy three months Kyla girl.

August 2014

The first week of August was full of lots of fun and excitement with the celebration of Janeen's wedding. It took us about a week to recover and we spent the week playing at home doing crafts, playing outside, and relaxing at home. My girls have been really into dress-up lately. Annalyn has been on a swimming suit kick where the only thing she wants to wear is a swimming suit. During the third week of August I stayed home a lot while we potty trained Annalyn. Although we made a few trips to the park, the ward party, and grandma's house that week. Then I ended up getting really sick with some kind of a stomach flu. I had a high fever and felt miserable for a good three days. It made me really grateful for good health. Luckily no one else got sick. Here are some of the pictures from the last month.

This is Elsa. Brynlee was eaten by a witch but will return in a few days. In the meantime Elsa is staying with us.

Brynlee dressed Annalyn up in the fancy little outfit one day but when Annalyn came out she didn't have a shirt on. Brynlee pranced Anna out and announced to Joel and me, "This is Ariel from Pagoon."

"Where is her shirt?" Joel asked.

"Dad," Brynlee responded, "Mermaids don't wear shirts, they only wear bras." Brynlee then marched Annalyn back to her room and then Annalyn strutted back into the room with this little piece of fabric that Brynlee tied around to make up her bra. 

Not only does Annalyn love wearing swim suits, she likes to carry around some extra ones just in case she feels like changing. One day she fell asleep on the carpet with her extra swim suits in her hand. On another day we went to visit grandma and Annalyn was wearing a swim suit while Brynlee was wearing a winter hat and scarf. It wasn't that cold but it wasn't hot either. When we walked outside Annalyn exclaimed that she was cold and Brynlee was quick to tell Anna, "Yeah, Anna, that is why you should've wore a snow hat, like me."

Annalyn only likes to eat "See E Oh" in the mornings for breakfast and will often times eat two or three bowls along with all of Brynlee leftovers. Her favorite thing is to get a straw and blow bubbles in it. She also likes to wear my lipstick. 

My girls love having picnics outside and inside when it is a rainy day. Brynlee is good at packing the lunches. They have also been playing with Kyla a lot lately. Brynlee likes to pretend that she is Kyla's mom. My mom brought over some clothes that she found at a garage sale one day and Brynlee matched them up into outfits and planned what she wanted to wear for the next week. 

 

My mom really wanted pictures of all of the grandkids and we attempted to take a group shot one morning but the kids were not very cooperative. 

We played outside a few time this month. Annalyn decided she isn't afraid of water balloons anymore so she had fun playing with them. Joel had to help come up with the entertainment for our ward party so he brought the train there and it has been at our house for the last few days. Annalyn would rather ride on the four wheeler with Joel since she thinks it is too bumpy in the back but they still love that thing. We played on the waterslide a few more times but we are ready to take it down now. It is starting to get cold. 

I finally decided to brave taking all of the girls out by myself so we went to Walmart and we managed it pretty well with only one major meltdown from Annalyn and a few minor ones from Brynlee. Kyla slept the whole time so I figured with my sister Alesha's help we could manage a trip to the mall since I really needed some new shoes. That trip was terrible. Annalyn fell asleep on the way over so she was grouchy and the baby cried the whole time she was in the stroller. Alesha carried Annalyn, I carried the baby and pushed Brynlee in the double stroller. We got lunch in the food court but Brynlee was really mad when Anna got the toy she wanted. Then Annalyn got yogurt on her skirt and decided she needed to go potty so she started stripping in the middle of the food court. When I wouldn't let her change she threw herself on the ground, cried, and rolled away from me and then promptly stood up and started to take off her skirt and panties. Brynlee had to go potty to so I left the baby with Alesha and took the girls to the bathroom. I quickly helped Annalyn in the stall and Brynlee went in by herself. Anna was almost done when I could hear Brynlee calling me. "Mom, help me mom! I need to poop some more but my poop won't come out." How am I supposed to help her with that? After washing Annalyn's hands I went in to help Brynlee, she didn't even shut her stall door. Annalyn tried to crawl under the door and bumped her head and got a good cut and started crying. I was glad to get out of there and Alesha was happy to see me since Kyla cried the whole time we were gone. I had to put Kyla in the moby wrap so she would stop crying. That made trying on shoes kind of tricky and I never did find any sandals. I did buy some shoes since it was such a huge ordeal I didn't want to leave empty handed. Eventually we took the kids to the indoor park to play and then we left.  

Life sure has been exciting lately. I love these girls.