Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Sending up a Prayer.

This is my formal petition to the Creator of the Universe to intercede in a miraculous divine way for all moms who feel the way I do- CAN WE PLEASE HAVE AN 8th DAY IN THE WEEK!!

Life here has been moving so swiftly. Today I went to book a photo session for next week for the girls. Katy will be 4 months old, Brooklyn 18 and Isabella has truly entered the 3's. I looked back on the previous three months pictures of Katy and can't get over how much she's changed already! Brooklyn started "reading" this week. She turns pages while spewing forth animated gobbeldy gook. Katy started interacting with the world around her, she talks to the TV now and so far is the most vocal at this early of an age! Yikes. And if Isabella could have looked anymore like a teenager as we headed out the door to Pioneer Clubs I would have fainted. The days they are a whizzing.

I absolutely cannot keep up! Just as I get one room of the house clean another one seems to have adopted the clutter from that one and there's no getting ahead. My bathroom needs to be vaccuumed daily due to the amazingly large amount of hair my post partum body is shedding, (seriously how am I not bald?), and it irks me to no end.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving it. But I am craving a return to knowing I have all my 't's crossed and my 'i's dotted. Tomorrow I get the afternoon to go grocercy shopping to set up for my once a month cooking and I have no idea what I'm buying yet! The days feel so overwhelming, in a good way, and leave me reeling at the end of them.

When I found it easy to go from having one kid to two I naively assumed going from two to three would be the same. Man it's a whole new world with the three of them! With all this craziness there are days when I'm sure you'll all find me (in the near future) in the corner rocking back and forth sucking my thumb, but then I just pull out my camera and start snapping away and day dream about our family completed and as overwhelming as it is I know I wouldn't change a thing. Having our kids all close together is awesome, challenging but awesome, and I'm glad I get a few seconds to snap those pictures to remember all that I'm sure my mind can't absorb in the current chaos.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Good Things come in Threes

Aren't these three adorable?
I love scrapbooking and in an effort to make sure Kathryn does not get overlooked I take her to our closest Superstore once a month and get her picture taken. Usually it's just her and we get the one pose package. This month was also Isabella's third birthday and since there is not a two pose package we thought a sister shot would be the best way to complete our photoganza.
The day went just like any other day a mother plans to the tee- completely awry. These pictures don't show it but let me assure you there were boogs, tonnes and tonnes of boogs. Plus we arrived almost 20 minutes late much to the chagrin of the employees.
My uber fave photographer- whose name I do not even know- was there to take the pictures. I told her we were aiming for one of the eldest, one of the youngest and time/behaviour permitting one of the three of them.
Isabella walked in and asked for her close up.
Katy had just been fed and was happy to be prompted anywhere soft.
Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Five minutes and the majority of the pictures were done.
Then came The Sister Shot. I had tired to think of poses in which Brooklyn could not crawl/roll/slide/Hoodini away from before the click. This is her usual style. We got Isabella set up with Kathryn, Nick behind the photographers, all manner of whistles and wirly gigs out to keep their attention. I gingerly walked to place Brooklyn on the floor. Her toes hit the background.
Then she oozed out of my arms, literally slid right down the front of me, scooched as close as she could to her sisters, plastered this smile on her face and scrunched her shoulders thouroughly pleased with herself.
Ten minutes and three perfect shots later, we could not be more smitten.

Tripod

Kathryn is three months old already. Almost as shocking as Isabella turning three years old. I am currently reeling from the shock of how different parenting is each time around. With Isabella every 'phase' seemed to linger forever, (well at least the ones I wanted to pass quickly), with Brooklyn it felt like things went much faster and I had to take a minute to remember what life was like before she joined us. With Kathryn I am in simultaneous utter amazement that she's only been here three months and that she's been here three months.

I let her eat on demand and for the last month or so she's been sleeping from 7:30-7:30 along with her sisters. That is all now fantastically out of whack due to the flu and time change hitting our house. I feel like we've re-entered newborn land, but at the same time it feels like we were never there with her.

She is captivating. She seems to have been smiling since we brought her home from the hospital, but she is now smiling in response to things like being tickled by her sisters. She can roll from front to back, (I have yet to see it but she sleeps on her stomach and wakes up on her back some mornings), she tries to pull herself up to sitting when in the crook of your arm and has even made it up onto all fours a few times while playing. She coos as though trying to communicate in a manner neither of her sisters shared.

I had no idea that the speed with which she entered the world would only get faster. I hope it reaches it's peak soon so we can all slow down and enjoy being little together. But, until it does I have to try and keep up.

Let's raise a glass to three months, and re-arranging the living room to fit in the exersaucer, and play mat and baby toys and..........

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Happy Birthday Bella!

On Tuesday my baby turned three. I cannot believe I have been a parent for three years.
I think it goes without saying that every firstborn is a guinea pig of sorts. Us parents get to test our 'theories' on them and whatnot. I can't imagine anyone who shoulders being firstborn more gracefully than Isabella. She has such a great demeanor and is constantly making me laugh. She is smart, has a great memory and her skills baffle me. She has taught me so much about selflessness and time management. About quality versus quantity. About the joy found in a piece of paper and the eleven billionth time you color on it.
Some qualities I've come to love about Isabella recently are her servant attitude. She is always asking if she can be of help and I can stop any tantrum by asking her to do something for her sisters. I love her sense of humor. ("No, no, no I'm Jane" is a recurring argument around here that sends her into peals of laughter). I love her artisticness, whether doing crafts, 'writing' words, or mimicing America's Best Dance Crew routines.
I love how she's such a big person, (yes she clearly pronounces Jabbewakez), and such a little person, (all bears are teddy bears didn't you hear?), all at the same time. How she wants to do everything for me but isn't afraid to admit when she just can't. That she wants to take care of her sisters but knows that sometimes they just need their mommy. How she cuddles up with us and the next minute asks for her space.
She is such a superstar in my books. And what do you get the superstar for her birthday? Why the flu of course. We've all been homebound and puking this week so she didn't get an actual birthday celebration yet. Next Saturday her, Nick and hopefully a few other friends will be heading to see 'Horton Hears a Who' for her first big screen movie experience. I know it will open another world of magic to her and I can't wait to be a part of her experience!
She really is the best eldest daughter I could ever have had! Happy Birthday Bella!