Time Flies

Wow.  It has been so long since my last update.  As has become my habit as of late, I have very good intentions of sitting down to blog.  But once all three kiddos are finally down for the night, laundry, dishes in the sink, or a million other household duties to see to call my name.  If I miraculously have no chores (or, more likely, choose to ignore the fact that I have them to do), then a bath might entice me.  More often than not, however, it is the lure of my bed that I can't ignore. 

So that explains my absence.  Sleep is truly the holy grail of parenthood.  Now that Drew has settled into a schedule that includes roughly ten to twelve hours of precious sleep each night (knock. firmly. on. wood.), I am making the most of it and blogging has fallen woefully to the wayside.

But we are still here, chugging along.  We all had a ROUGH respiratory virus in March that resulted in pneumonia for M and Will.  Fortunately, Drew was the least affected, and I didn't get it until about two weeks after everyone had recovered.  Will still has a lingering cough from it, but other than that, we all recovered.

Drew is SIX MONTHS (?!?!?!) old already.  This is truly insane.  I cannot believe how fast he is growing.  He is doing fantastic with eating his solids (no surprise).  He can turn from back to front and front to back, and is thiiiiiis close to sitting up independently.  In fact, he can sit alone, but you can't leave him or he slumps over.  He can skooch himself around a bit, but is nowhere near to crawling.  He has the. best. baby laugh ever.  His voice is deep and kind of scratchy and it just makes the cutest, deep bellied laugh.  He is far more active than either of his older siblings, and actually will put himself to sleep by kicking his legs on the mattress as hard as he can.  We are all head over heals in love with our "Thumper" and I cannot imagine our family without him in it.

Emma is two.  She remains pretty much the easiest child to ever grace this planet.  She has her moments, of course, but she just kind of goes with the flow.  She is so much fun and has a really big personality.  She is funny, smart. sweet, and I just enjoy spending time with her.  The only thing that is hard with her is that because she is SO easy, I sometimes think she gets a bit lost in the shuffle.  It is true that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and she just doesn't squeak.  I try to keep this in mind during the daily hustle and bustle, and right now, I think it is fine, just something that we need to be aware of in the future.

Will is growing up so fast that I can hardly recognize him.  He is obsessed with anything castle.  He loves to draw them or build them.  His creations are beyond amazing.  I know I am his mom and hardly biased, but he seems to be advanced when it comes to drawing.  He has learned a lot in school this year and I am always surprised by things he seems to know out of nowhere.  We have decided to delay his start in kindergarten for another year, so he'll do a second year of pre-K this coming fall.  We went back and forth on this a bit, but he won't turn five until August 20. The cutoff is August 31, so it is our decision.  Academically, he is ready, but socially. . . I just think an extra year won't hurt and his teacher agrees.  He will be REALLY ready in 2014 and I think it will be good have him super prepared.

I am enjoying my job.  I am really very fortunate to be able to do something I love and still have a lot of time for my children.  I am well-paid and extremely spoiled with benefits and perks.  I'll be traveling to Denmark this August which will be my first time to Europe. 

I have all but given up pumping, only nursing Drew in the morning and then the evening when I get home.  I am a little sad that my nursing careeer is dwindling, but pumping was extremely stressful for me.  Trying to find the time for it was one challenge.  I work out of my car all day, so finding a private place to pump was another.  I would strive to find both and then. . . pump only a measly ounce or two.  Meanwhile, Drew was chugging down six and eight ounce bottles two or three times while I was gone.  I felt constantly behind and this stressed me out which dwindled my supple which. . . catch 22.  I am trying to be okay with it and let it go, but it still bothers me a bit just even typing about it here, so I clearly have some processing to do still.

I am having my first post-partum period as a result in this drastic nursing drop.  Ew.  I haven't missed it and the first one is always a little rough.  My periods are usually pretty uneventful with minimal cramping, but I had some killer cramps this time and felt pretty emotional yesterday (right before it started).  Ah, the joys of being a woman! ;)

Well, I think that is the major stuff for now.  I hope all of you are doing well.  I am still checking up on you, though I mostly do it from my phone, which means I can't comment.  But if you ever need me, my e-mail is available through my profile and I am just a few clicks away.  Thanks for reading and checking up on me and my precious little ones. 

Until next time. . .