Cleaning and Diapering and Cleaning and Laundry

Lately it seems my life it pretty much picking things up. Wow, three kids can make quite a mess! Tommy's preferred toys are now practically all smaller than a marble, and Jimmy is at the wonderful stage when he flicks food off of his highchair tray with reckless abandon.

Lucy prefers to dip most of her food in milk, including meat and toast.

Despite the mess, I have to say that managing these kids is becoming more of a joy and less of an impossibility these days. In fact, last week when John was on an overnight up north, I took all three of them to Perkins for breakfast by myself.

Actually, just writing that last sentence makes me proud.

You see, just 6 months ago, John and I laughed at the idea of taking our kids out to eat anywhere...even together. It was just too impossible. They were too crazy! The food was everywhere, the noise was ridiculous. John often commented that he felt a heart attack coming on just stepping into a restaurant with our brood.

Don't get me wrong. Our kids are still not perfect. (See above!) But as they age and learn to use straws and sit still for at least a few moments, I'm relishing the change in our family. I love having a "baby" that's nearly a year and a half, carrying only a few diapers per day, and feeling we can enjoy hiking or swimming or wrestling around in the yard as a family.

Catch Up

I'm intending to start over. Really I am. One of the hard things about re-entry into the blogosphere is that I feel a need to catch you up on where our life has been since I left.

So, I'm just ridding myself of that pressure right now. I imagine that through my subsequent posts, you'll just pick up where we are. I guess you should know a few basic things:



1. We're finally home! After months of stalking down a foreclosing home in our immediate neighborhood, we finally sealed the deal and moved our family this past June. In the interim, we'd lived in a tinylittleapartment for about 6 months. Throughout this whole process, we lived within about one mile radius of our initial town house!



2. Our kids are wonderful!
Tommy is growing up. He's approaching school-age, at 4.5, and yesterday actually copied a word other than his name for the first time. It was "Emily."

Lucy is nearly 3 and still inching her way towards total potty-trainedness. She is a skilled social gal, and I have no doubt that she'll be making her own introductions in this world by next week.

Jimmy is 16 months old, and just the twinkle in my eye right now. This is the 1st time I've ever had a baby this age without being nearly ready to deliver another one, so I am really enamored with my baby. He's starting to talk (about 50 words, but who's counting?), and he's also starting to get into mischief!

It's Such a Great Day Today!

It really is a great day today. Things started out a little rocky when my iPhone hit the floor and broke. But thanks to the miracle of restore, my day has brightened and I've decided to open up my blog again.

What a great day for everyone!