Graduation...

tassels are cool.

Well, today my oldest child graduated from pre-school.

How does the time pass s quickly? It makes my eyes well up with tears when I think about my little baby growing up. The baby that I took home from the hospital and wondered why in the world was I allowed to take home this baby who I had no idea how to take care of is now going to be off to big kid school in the fall.

look, they're not trying to inflict pain on each other...

He has turned from a baby to a toddler to a pre-schooler to a kid. He has his own little personality and his own little friends. This is the starting point of him becoming his own person and him being independent. As a mom I want to hold onto him as long as possible but know that I need to let him go at the same time.

my husband failed to use the zoom feature on the camera so here I am with Ty-Guy in the picture...

My baby is a big boy now but he will always be my little baby who I love to snuggle with and who makes me laugh with his silly ways. He always tells me that he'll live with me forever, and while I hope he moves his butt out by the age of twenty-two it is nice to hear that at his old age of five he is still a momma's boy.

Seven Months...

Today Jilly Billy is seven months old. She really has been the perfect little baby- well, except for the fact that she is not that into sleeping at nap time or at night time.

She has mastered the art of moving around the floor on her stomach and loves playing on her tummy. My other two kids hated playing on their tummies- I swear Jilly is the complete opposite of the other two in every way possible.

It really is exciting to see her learning new things every day but at the same time I get sad because soon enough she is going to turn into a little monster like the other two kids and drive me crazy.

I guess I'll just have to block those thoughts out of my head and enjoy her sweet baby days as much as possible.

Five...

Today my firstborn turned five. Five years ago a human being came out of my body and I had no idea how to take care of a baby but yet the hospital still sent the little guy home with my husband and I.

As a mom you love all of your children equally but there is just something special about your first one.

Isn't funny how your little baby goes from pacifiers to Legos in a blink of an eye?

I always tell Tyler that no matter how big he gets he will always be my baby.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, My baby you'll be"

Six Months Old and Ready for Sumo Wrestling...

Six months old, and though I feel like I say this every month, I cannot believe how fast she is growing up.

Jilly Billy is my little sumo wrestler. I think it's comical when strangers ask me how old she is assuming she is older because she's so big and then they look at me (I am five feet tall and weight about 100 lbs) and wonder how little plumper came from me. My husband is 5' 11" and is average weight so Jilly will most likely stretch out so I'll just enjoy her chubbiness while I can- who doesn't love pinching pudgy baby cheeks?

When I look at her and how fast she is growing I feel tears welling up in my eyes. She is our last baby so I will never have these moment back again. I am glad that I had my tubes tied because after three c-sections and two pregnancies with placenta previa I don't feel like it would be a safe or responsible decision for me to have more children. In my heart I know that three kids is the right number for our family but at the same time it makes me a little sad to know that my baby days are over.

The only thing I can do it try to enjoy my Jilly Billy and her older brother and sister because before I know it they will be teenagers and will hate me and think I am the most embarrassing person on the planet. Even though the baby years are winding down there are still so many wonderful experiences for me to enjoy with my children as they grow and one day I'll be a grandma and will get to be around babies all over again- but then I'll get to hand the little buggers back when they get annoying!

My Little Tonka Truck

I now call Jilly Billy my little Tonka Truck because she is such a chubster. Nothing is cuter than big fat baby legs.

Yesterday I decided to feed her some baby cereal to see if she would like it. I don't know why I had any doubts about her liking it, I mean she is a ginormous little girl. She was wolfing the cereal down as if she hadn't eaten for weeks.

In this picture she is reaching for the spoon and wondering why the heck I would dare take a picture when I should be stuffing her face with food.

I really love this age- Jilly is learning new things every day and is changing before my eyes. Isn't it amazing to think that just 5 1/2 months ago she was a newborn and now she is rolling over, grabbing at toys and smiling huge smiles.

Five Months...

Here is my fatty five month old.

Much to my dismay, little Jilly Billy can now roll over from her tummy to her back and vice versa. This means that soon she will be getting into everything and will be on her journey from a cute little baby to a monstrous toddler.

Yes, I am a ghetto mom who put my other daughter's hand me down Christmas pajamas on the baby for her first Easter. Having three kids will do that to you.

She Is a Tank...

This is Jilly Billy at about one month old.

This is Jilly Billy now (4 months old).

It is completely amazing how much changes in three months of baby time. My once scrawny little newborn is now a tank. It's good that she's a tank though because even at this young age she is going to need to be able to hold her own against her older brother and sister.

It's survival of the fittest in this household though I fear once the baby gets older the hostile natives will gang up on me instead of each other.

Birthday Anxiety

My son turns four on May 21st and to celebrate I have decided to have a real party for him. By real party I mean I am inviting his little friends from school along with our neighbors and their kids and our family.

I rented a bounce house but am having a bit of anxiety of what else to do. We are going to have our usual cook out, a pinata and cake (my son wants a Spiderman cake again- how boring) but the party is from 1 to 4 pm and what else do I do to keep the kids entertained? I have never been to a kids birthday party before, other than over over twenty years ago when I was a kid, so I don't know what it is that people do when they have kids parties at their houses.

I know I'm over thinking this- I mean four year old kids have fun just doing their own thing, but at the same time I don't want his party to suck. Plus, the kids' parents will be there so I want to make sure that they don't have an awful time. And to top it off, if it rains that day I will completely freak out because what the heck do you do for an indoor birthday party?

If anyone has ever had a kids birthday party please enlighten me to what I can do to make my son's first real party decent. Please.

And So It Starts...

Ever since I became pregnant with my now almost four year old son my husband could not wait to buy him a dirt bike. My husband loves dirt bikes and rode them as a child so of course any child of ours would be thrust into the world of dirt bike riding.

The day came way sooner than I thought because last night my son rode his dirt bike for the first time. How happy was my husband when he discovered dirt bike training wheels.

It really was so cute seeing my son ride around the house like a little motocross rider and my husband running (and huffing and puffing) next to him. Tyler did really good and just needs to get down using the brake really well.

Not to be left behind, my daughter hopped on her Barbie four wheeler and rode around the house too. Granted, it was way slower than a dirt bike but she didn't seem to mind. I can already tell that my little princess is going to want to ride dirt bikes too. I guess she'll be a tom boy like her mommy which is fine as long as she continues to let me dress her cute!

Totally Not Ready for This...

I want to preface this post with I am not the type of mom who thinks I am awesome when my children do something smart. Some days I am a great mom and other days I am just a lackluster mom- I figure it will all equal out by the time the kids are adults. When my kids reach a milestone it is all them- I may have helped a bit but they do all of the hard work.

So, my itty bitty baby girl Allison (she is 20 months old) has decided that she wants to be a big girl and go the the bathroom on the potty. She has been doing this off and on for a couple of months and I have been resistant to it. She may be ready but I don't feel ready to potty train her. I have horrible flashbacks to what a pain it was to potty train my son and though I know it will be easier with my daughter I don't feel like dealing with it right now.

Yesterday afternoon she peed on the potty three times and pooped once and her diaper stayed completely dry that whole time. She is too little for this!

Even though I don't feel like dealing with potty training her I am not going to hinder her efforts. Every time she tells me she has to go I take her to the potty and when she goes I tell her what a good girl she is and give her mini M&M's. Maybe I'll start to formally train her when my son is out of school so we will have more time to be home bound but she just may train herself before then.

My little baby girl is growing up way to fast!

First Day of Nursery School

Today was my son's first day of nursery school. He didn't even care that I was leaving him with strangers for three hours. He saw the Play Doh on the tables and forgot that he even had a mom.

I cried when I left but then I went to Rite Aid and got an awesome deal.

When my daughter and I got home from Rite Aid I put her down for her nap and I got to relax in front of the TV- oh wait, I was just wishing I did that. I got to clean up a bit. Then in a blink of an eye back to school to pick up my son.

My son said school was fun and that he went into the girl's bathroom by accident- is it bad that I laughed? I mean I was laughing with him not at him, right?

So, day one was a success (I measure this on the fact that he didn't pee his pants and didn't hit any kids).

My Baby Is Growing Up Too Darn Fast...

To many this may seem like a bike with training wheels. It is, but to me this is yet another reminder that my three year old son is growing up (and in my opinion- way too fast).

My husband went out with my son yesterday to buy a bike and came back with this. It has spiders on it which sold my son on it and my husband who knows a lot about bikes thought it was a very well made bike so they bought it for $200 including our wonderful .0625% Massachusetts sales tax (thanks Deval Patrick!).

When they brought it home and I saw my son on it my heart melted and my eyes started tearing. When I found out how much it cost I didn't really even care (isn't it funny how our emotions can over ride practical thinking?).

My son, who just a little over three years ago was a newborn who was incapable of surviving without me (though I had absolutely no idea what to do with a baby), is now riding a bike with training wheels.

I know a lot of people think that I am overreacting, but this is all just going by too fast for me.

I look back on days and think that I didn't spend enough time with my kids and you know what, I didn't.

There is so much stuff that goes along with being home with the kids- laundry, cleaning, cooking... just making sure the kids are fed, cleaned and clothed takes up a majority of my day.

This bike puts things into prospective for me. My kids are growing up too fast and I need to enjoy every moment with them that I can. They will only be little for so long and then they will be off to school with their own friends and their own lives.

So, while my son is learning to ride his new bike, I will be learning how to enjoy every moment I have with my kids while they are still just mine.

Carters- My Baby Is Going to Nursery School!

My Carter's order came today and I was very excited and a little sad.

My son is starting nursery school in the middle of September and I am going to miss him (he is only going for two half days so I know I am way overreacting). This is only the beginning of him growing up and becoming more independent and not being my little baby boy anymore- I'm going to stop getting sentimental because my eyes are starting to water.

Ok, so he needs pants that he can pull down and up on his own because I'm not going to be there to help him and I think the school will frown on him running around in his underwear (please tell me that I'm not the only mom who let's their child run around in his underwear all day).

I got the above pants for about $30.00. Out of all of them only two had elastic in the waists- I was under the impression that they all did. The khaki pants on the end are great and my son can easily get them on and off. The Osh Gosh jeans have elastic in the waist but my son said it was too hard to pull them up, I am going to have him try again just to make sure.

The other pants/jeans are most likely going to get returned though I may keep a pair of jeans since they were a pretty good deal. The reason I am looking for pants is because I really don't want my son to wear sweatpants to school- if he ends up having to then fine, but I am going to do my best to find other alternatives.

I also got my daughter some adorable pajamas. Little girls are so much fun to dress. The total for her items was about $14.50 and I am definetly not returning them.

Looks like I'll be forced to go to the outlets to make a return. Poor little me- I may even have to do some shopping at other stores.