Three Kids and a Dog

Monday, October 28, 2013

Life with Three Kids and a Dog

Life with three kids and a dog is pretty busy but add commuting back and forth to our new (not yet ready) home in the suburbs from the city for kids' school and activities and life gets a little crazier. I wonder why all my laundry and other items are getting all backed up!

I like order and staying on top of things but it's hard when you spend most of the day in your car and that includes feeding and changing Hailey. Still, I feel like we are doing a good job handling all the back and forth and am counting the days until we move in (Nov. 12 now).

Hailey continues to take it all in stride and is a pretty easy baby thus far. Austen and Peyton are the ones that prove to be challenging. Ever since the start of the school year, they have started to get on each other's nerves. One minute they'll be playing great together and the next they'll be fighting. It's a vacation to just have Hailey while those two are at school!

We are all doing well and the house is slowly coming along. We took Adler out to the burbs with us on Sunday and she got out of the car already seeming like she knew this was going to be her forever home. She ran right to the back door and wanted to get in. It's strange how they say dogs just know things. She had a great time running in the backyard too - we're supposed to get the backyard sodded today so she'll like that even better than the dirt!



I'm sure she can't wait until we move in so she doesn't have to get walked twice a day! Lately, she has been refusing to go for longer weeks, but hey, she is almost 9! Here are a few pics of our brood from the last week or so.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Peyton and Google

So this week was all about Peyton. We had her parent teacher conferences and they said she was doing really well and they could see her being a leader when she grows up because she already is in the classroom. I think that is code for bossy!  Nevertheless, I am sure the transition was easier for her to her new school because she was already familiar with the Montessori environment. I'm just glad she adjusted so well.

In other funny Peyton news, she has developed quite the personality and is a little practical joker. You ask her a question and she'll purposely answer wrong to see if you laugh. She also taunts her brother taking stuff she knows he will get upset over like his leftover coins from his Chuck E Cheese birthday party he went to or stepping on his Lego plane that he spent hours working on. 

She has also taken to stamping her feet and demanding things. I sure as heck don't know how she developed this part of her personality:) She also is a little sponge. Tom often talks to his phone instead of manually searching for items so he usually holds it to his mouth and says Google then Sophia or Cinderella or whatever video Peyton wants. The other day, Tom tells me that she says to him, "Daddy, say Google and then Sophia." It was just cute to hear a little kid say Google since she has no idea what that means! 

So I'm sure you're wondering if she is interested in Hailey.  A little bit but really neither Austen or Peyton are all over her which is good. Peyton likes to put her germ-laden little fingers all over Hailey's pacifier, which drives me nuts but overall both kids continue to do their own thing stopping every so often to check out their little sister. Peyton did get some one-on-one time with Hailey this afternoon though since Austen was at a birthday party. She was a great big helper and only too glad to do it. I can't wait to see their sisterly bond grow. 


Monday, October 14, 2013

Introducing the Final Addition to Our Family



The final addition to our family, Hailey Kate, entered into this world on Friday, Oct. 11 at 10:18 a.m. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 19 inches long. The smallest of our three kids at birth, Hailey actually arrived the earliest so to be fair she had a few days on Peyton and more than a few days on Austen. Still she was only about 4 ounces behind Austen and 6 behind Peyton.

She was my third c-section (second one scheduled) and for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed having a planned c-section especially with other children. It makes planning fairly easy. The delivery went very well and quick in my opinion. Despite about a 90-minute delay on a miscommunication on time between my practice and the hospital, it still went smoothly. I received my epidural about 9:40 a.m. and was back in my room by 11 a.m. I think they pulled her out within the first 15 minutes after my epidural took effect. I couldn't believe how quick it went was my first thought and I couldn't wait to get into recovery to see her. 

We spent three wonderful days in the hospital with visitors and getting to know her. So far she seems
like a pretty mellow baby. She rarely cries - more fusses when she's tired or hungry and just seems like a happy baby. 

Her big brother, Austen, and big sister, Peyton, came to meet her when she was three days old. They were both rather reserved in greeting her but were excited it was a girl (especially Austen who wanted the bigger room).  They are interested but only for a short while then go back to whatever it was they were doing. 



We brought Hailey home from the hospital today and the one thing they both were really interested in doing was helping me change her diaper. Very funny considering neither of them was all that interested in feeding her. Austen didn't even want to hold her at first. Peyton did then he said he would. 

Adler also greeted Hailey with more than a few kisses on her hands and one big one on her face. Hailey didn't seem to mind. I'm sure Adler is thinking - not another one! 



So my blog has effectively changed names again to Three Kids and a Dog.  Hard to believe when I started writing this just over 7 years ago that I would be writing about my family of five plus Adler. 
But here we are feeling lucky and blessed all at the same time.









Sunday, October 06, 2013

Family Dinner

Growing up we always ate dinner together as a family. Well, at least we always tried. Sometimes my dad wasn't home from work yet or we had practice for some sport, but I always remember eating together, especially on Saturdays and Sundays. In fact, I remember finding it incredibly annoying in middle school and high school that I couldn't go out with my friends for the night until after we had had dinner together.

Now being a mom myself, I appreciate the importance of eating dinner together. Tom and I have always said that once Austen started elementary school/we moved to the suburbs that we'd start having family dinners. Since Austen was a baby, I always fed him (and then Peyton) first and Tom and I always ate later. Why did we do it this way? One, Tom wasn't getting home most nights until 6:30 p.m., which was too late to feed the kids, and two, we could definitely enjoy our dinner when we had more time to do so rather than attending to two little ones.

Well, we still haven't moved to the suburbs yet, but Austen has started elementary school and now that we're all home by 5 p.m. or so, we have time to eat together at our big table instead of just setting the kids up to eat at the island and me standing behind it serving them like a waitress. We talk about our day and our favorite parts. Sometimes it feels like I have two teenagers though as they don't reveal too much about their day. Other times, they sing cute songs they learned in school or listen attentively as Tom and I talk about our day too.

We've also been challenged with now finding recipes that our kids will also eat. They usually ate kid-friendly food and occasionally some of the leftovers from our meals the night before. In fact, Austen complained loudly last week when we were having chicken enchiladas, "Why do we have to eat adult food now?!"

But, they are learning to try new things and they don't get dessert unless they do a decent job of eating their dinner. Peyton, maybe because she's younger, actually hasn't turned up her nose at quite as many meals as Austen, and, he's usually the better eater! However, I'm impressed with how they've both just adapted.  And, I'm enjoying this new time with my family of four (soon to be family of five on Friday!).