Rubyisms

It’s due time for a new batch of Rubyisms. She is almost 4 and a half, loves to learn, and loves to talk. Sometimes if there is a moment of silence, she’ll just say, “Mom, let’s talk about something. Hmmmm. What should we talk about?” Then I’ll ask her what she wants to talk about and she will say something like, “Let’s talk about our favorite planets” or, “Lets talk about what babies like to eat.”

• “Remember last year when we went to the Apple Portrait? I just love going to the apple portrait.”
• “Mommy! I’m not acting like a baby. I don’t even have a baby hat!”
• “When I go to Heaven I’m so excited for all the golden streets and magic beanstalks!”
• The other day during Ruby’s quiet and alone time she came out of her room and told me, “Mom, I saw an adult named John!” I was alarmed… she went on to tell me, “He told me his name.” I asked her where John was and she said he was working outside but “he could hear me out the window!” Yep, she was talking out her bedroom window to a lawn guy working at the neighbors house. Obviously alone time is not her favorite thing.
• “That one is Neptune. It’s the cold one. Brrrr. It’s cold because it’s filled with water. It’s no place for a picnic!”
• I’ve been talking to her about honesty, I said, “Don’t lie Ruby. We always want to be honest with one another. We always tell the truth, no lying.” to which she responded, “But mommy! When I’m lying down I’m just tired!”
• “I’m just going to go in this meadow to find a collection.”
• “Keep your eye out for Giant Eagle because that means we’re close to our house!” (that’s the name of our grocery store)
• I asked what she did at school today, “Well I learned about caterpillars and had a nice snack.”
• This weekend Ruby asked Ryan, “Daddy, what planet is Disneyland on?”
• We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night and Ruby asked my friend Liz what state she lives in. When Liz replied, “Ohio” Ruby was so excited, “I LIVE IN OHIO TOO! WE LIVE IN THE SAME STATE!!”
• “Mom, did you know that only daddy and papa can argue with snakes? Because snakes can be dangerous so only daddy and papa can argue with them.”

Rubyisms

• She called from the upstairs bathroom, “Mommy! This is the first time I peed in a cup at our house!” Horrified I ran upstairs and found that indeed, she had peed in a cup she found on the bathroom countertop. Apparently she remembered me trying to get a urine sample from her at the pediatricians office.
• While looking very closely into my eyes, “Mommy! I can see myself in your eyes! Your eyes are like a mirror!”
• “Do you know what kind of good we eat at Halloween? Macaroni and marshmallows and also watermelon! They’re good for you too!”

• “When it’s dark outside it’s ominous.”
• Ryan: “I’m gonna watch the Tour.” Ruby: “Well that’s unsettling.”
• “Hold on, hold on. Let’s see what’s going on here.”
• “Aaaarrrgggg! There’s corn everywhere!”
• “Mommy, we have eyes to see so we can see treasures.”
• After accidentally head-butting me in the face, “It’s ok mommy. God makes our bodies heal.”
• “Mommy, if I see a clue then I can totally pick it up!”
• On a long drive back to Michigan Ryan and I switched seats so I could drive for a while, Ruby told Ryan, “Daddy, thank you for sharing the steering wheel! That’s so nice when you share with Mommy.”
• I took her to the splash park and instead of playing in the fountains she spent an hour putting mud puddle water into sandwich baggies.

• “These apple slices are exquisite!”
• “Is tomorrow not a far day?” She has no concept of how long any length of time is. I’m hoping to figure out a way to help her understand this soon… which could be a long tome or a short time from now.
• “What’s the big holdup? It’s taking so so so so so looooong! It’s taking FOREVER!!”
• “Digestive juices help our bodies stay healthy. That’s why we have digestive juices. Every kind of kid and every kind of baby and every kind of mom and dad have digestive juices. Isn’t that great news mommy?!?”
• When I pulled off her band-aid I told her it wouldn’t hurt too bad. After it was over she said, “It felt good like a blanket!”
• She asks everyone, “What are you trying to prove??”
• On the drive home from church, “We learned about praying. We find a quiet place to pray… like how I always go in my closet to pray.” I had no idea she was praying in there. ha!
• “…and butterflies use their tongue as a straw!”
• During an intense moment after Ryan and I couldn’t get her to let us get the splinter out of her foot, Ryan told her if it gets infected her foot could fall off. She looked at him with sternly and replied, “But daddy, my foot has bones in it! God made our bodies not to fall apart!!!!”

I am so excited for Ruby to FINALLY start school again. She went 2 mornings a week last year, and starting Sept 9th she will be going to preschool 3 mornings a week. YAY! She went to the dentist and the eye doctor to get all ready for school. Both appointments were the highlight of the week. She loves going to the doctor. ha!

Charlie Boy

Charlie is growing so much! He was 10.5 lbs at his 1 month checkup and continues feeling heavier and looking chubbier every day. He has one chub roll on his thighs – it’s awesome. He’s been cooing back and started smiling last week, which is my favorite thing ever. I love all of his expressions… he’s a Ryan face.

Both Ruby and Clara are utterly enamored by him. Poor little buddy isn’t safe from their hugs and kisses anywhere other than in his crib (where they still try to reach him through the crib slats.)

Doesn’t this mustachifier from his Great Aunt Becky make him look like such a distinguished gentleman?

People ask me if I’m enjoying having a boy… and all I can say is “YES” …and that he looks super cute in his boy clothes. Speaking of clothes, I had to get the 3-6 month jammies into his drawers because at 6 weeks old he was already too long for the 0-3 month size! Love this kid. He’s such a good eatin’ good sleepin’ sweet little buddy.

Claraisms

Clara is a little Who from Whoville. She turned 2 months ago and I still haven’t figured out which direction to comb her curly locks.

Clara loves to sing. She sings about all sorts of things and makes up songs to help Charlie stop crying. I think her favorite song is called “It’s OK baby Charlie” (the title includes all the words to the entire song.) She’s sugar and spice and finds great enjoyment pushing her big sister’s buttons then turning around and giving hugs and kisses the next minute.

Here are some recent Claraisms.

• I told her, “I love you Clara.” She snuggled her head on my shoulder and responded, “I love me too mommy.”
• Above all else, she is a big girl. I tell her she looks tired and she says, “I not tired, I a big girl.” If I tell her she’s funny she says, “I not funny, I a big girl!”
• She loves pretending she’s asleep, then opens her eyes and says, “I’M AWAKE!!” when she thinks someone is looking at her.
• She loves animals, especially fake ones who don’t get in her personal space or try to lick her face.
• She calls her swimming suit her “Slippy Sloop”
• Doc McStuffins is her favorite show and she loves giving people checkups and even says, “check your blood pressure? …looks good!”
• Charlie is overly loved by Clara. “I give him one more hug.” “There’s Charlie’s nose”… or mouth or eye (as she sticks her finger in it…) we are working on being gentle.
• Some of her most used phrases are, “I did it!” “Look at me mom!” “I feel better!” “mine!”
• She likes to watch her shadow when she runs – which is an issue when it’s behind her.
• Clara is super ticklish and loves having her back scratched. If I’m tickling her, she asks me to scratch her back. If I’m scratching her back, she says, “I want me tickled.”
• When Ryan comes home from work she runs to the door and says, “Hey Hun, how was your day?”

In closing, she is ready to potty train and I am not. I was looking back at some posts I wrote when Clara was a newborn and Ruby decided to potty train herself before I was ready. My Uncle Matt is probably looking forward to more potty training blogs in the near future.

A Level 10 Situation

You wouldn’t believe the level 10 poo explosion situation I just lived through.

Around here, we have a ranking system based on number of baby wipes required per diaper change. A level 1 = 1 baby wipe required. Level 2 = 2 baby wipes… you get the idea. A level 10 is beyond cleaning with baby wipes and requires a bathtub to properly remedy the situation.

Amazingly, all three of my children have coordinated their pooping schedules so that I am “needed” by all of them at the same time. Charlie is only 3 weeks old, but he is just as guilty as the other 2.

After lunch today I turned on “Doc McStuffins” to occupy the girls for 30 minutes so I could change and feed Charlie before putting the girls down for naps. Ruby and Clara LOVE the show and sing along with all the Doc McStuffins songs. They were happily singing when I left the room.

As I was putting Charlie’s clean diaper on, he decided to dirty it before I could snap his onesie back on. Right at that moment, I heard Clara’s little feet running toward me and she says, “I let my poop come out!” (her words) so I said, “Yay! Good job!” and as she turned to run back into the living room I noticed that her entire shirt up to the nape of her neck was covered in poo. “CLARA!! STOP! DO NOT GO IN THE LIVINGROOM!”

Then I realize she just came from the livingroom…

I decided to leave Charlie in his bed since his poo was contained within his diaper and grabbed Clara before she made it back onto the couch, which is when I noticed that she must have been sitting on the couch when the level 10 situation happened. My eyes followed the trail of poo across the entire cushion and down over the edge where Clara slid off the couch to come tell me her good news.

I told Clara to stand perfectly still with her hands in the air in the kitchen, grabbed an entire pack of Clorox wipes, a roll of paper towel, some 409 and a grocery bag to quickly deal with the poo in the living room and then carried Clara up to the bathtub while the sound of Charlie’s cries got more and more furious. He knew he had been abandoned.

Clara was happy to be in the tub and I was happy to have survived the level 10 situation. Just as I was thinking about how happy I was, Ryan called to tell me that the oil change we took our van in for had turned into 4 new tires as well… $$$! and then Ruby came running upstairs with poo all over the side of her shirt and told me “Clara’s poop is so sticky mom!”

I must have missed a spot in the living room.

I stripped off Ruby’s clothes, threw her in the tub too and within 6 minutes had both girls clean, re-clothed and ready for naps. FINALLY I could tend to poor Charlie’s dirty diaper (a level 2, FYI).

I kid you not, as I was googling “how to clean poop off a couch“, I heard Ruby’s voice from the bathroom, “Mommy, I pooped! I need help wiping!”

Seriously folks. This is my life. Shenanigans.

Charlie is 2 Weeks Old

Charlie turned 2 weeks old on Tuesday and he is officially out of the newborn diapers and into size 1. He is already growing out of his newborn size clothing… I can’t handle it.

I was looking back at the posts I wrote when Clara was a newborn. Charlie looks JUST LIKE HER! Then I looked at the pictures I posted when Ruby was a newborn and HE LOOKS LIKE HER TOO! Shenanigans! This pic shows Ruby, Clara and Charlie as newborns… can you tell they’re siblings? Genes are amazing!

Ryan’s mom came on Monday to help us this week. It’s been amazing to have her here and Ruby and Clara are pretty much in hog heaven surrounded by their Nana and Grammy for the past 2 weeks.

Wednesday Ryan took Ruby into work with him for a few hours. She LOVED going to the big city, meeting everyone in the entire gastroenterology division at the children’s hospital, and eating lunch in the hospital cafeteria. 

Wednesday night we left the kids with their Nana and went out for sushi. Hooray for sushi! Hooray for date nights! Hooray for Nana being in town!

Papa Beeson’s Photography Hobby

My dad likes to take pictures. He drove back and forth from Columbus to Granger too many times to count in the last few weeks. I’m so thankful for these moments he captured while he was here. First of all, here are a few more pictures from the hospital when Charlie was born.

Charlie with Nana and Papa Cox:

Charlie with Grammy and Papa Beeson:

One morning my dad took these ridiculously awesome pics of all three kids. Who needs Olan Mills when Mark Beeson is your dad! ha!

And here’s Charlie Boy, looking like a little old man. I love this first photo because it looks like Charlie is pounding his fist on the table at a business meeting or something. ha!

This is one of my all time favorite pics of my beautiful mom. I love how happy she is.

We also went to the splash park one afternoon and he got these shots as well! Nice work daddy! Thanks for lugging your camera around everywhere you go!

Charlie’s First Week

We are doing pretty good having 3 kids… but my mom was here last week and Ryan’s mom has been here this week, so I might have a skewed perspective of reality.  :o) I’ll let you know how things are going next week when I’m alone and outnumbered! Needless to say, Charlie is such a sweetie and the girls absolutely LOVE him! They kiss, hug and sing to him many times a day.

Charlie has been watching the Tour De France with Ryan on a daily basis. The Tour will forever remind me of all three of my children as infants.

Charlie celebrated his 1-week old birthday at the pool with his Grammy and sisters.

Ryan’s co-fellow Patrice came over to meet Charlie. She has been such an amazingly wonderful friend to our family while we’ve been in Columbus. I’m so thankful that she’s Ryan’s co-fellow.

Dr. Clara has given Charlie many “check-ups” and always says “Baby Charlie feels better now. He feels better. So much better.”

Pool Time with Grammy and Papa

It’s been a week and a half since Charlie was born and we are loving every minute with our little guy, but before I get ahead of myself, let’s rewind so you can see a few more pics my dad took at the pool a few days before Charlie was born. Here I am, obviously trying to induce labor.

Ruby and Clara LOVED swimming with their Grammy and Papa. Clara was pretending she was asleep on the tube, then would wake up and say, “I’m awake now!” then she would let her head fall back and make snoring noises. She’s a funny one.

I love my friends Mary and Lani from our lifegroup at church. They are great moms and both have 3 kids, so I have been watching and learning from them since we found out I was pregnant with our 3rd.

…still pregnant

Since this blog is all about shenanigans, I figured I might as well tell you a little story about the time (last Wednesday night) when I went into (what I was certain was for real) labor, called Patrice, our emergency contact to come to our house in the middle of the night to watch our girls, paged Ryan (who was on call in the office upstairs at our house), called my parents (who began a 5-hour drive to Columbus at 4am), and went to the hospital to have this baby.

Well, long story short, upon arrival at the hospital, they got me all checked in, got the monitors on me and began tracking my contractions and the baby’s heart rate. After about an hour, they came in the room and told me to walk for about an hour to see if it would help me progress. So Ryan and I walked up and down every hall on every floor of the hospital multiple times. Ryan was starving, but the cafeteria didn’t open until 7am, so I snapped this pic of him contemplating the steak sandwich from the vending machine. After some deliberation, he decided against the inevitable gastronomic distress.

After walking myself to exhaustion, I hadn’t progressed and my contractions had slowed quite a bit. The worst part (for me) is the fact that I’ve birthed 2 other children, so I KNOW what it feels like to be in labor, and if I wasn’t TRULY in labor, I certainly wouldn’t have woken everyone up in the middle of the night!

Thursday morning they sent me home from the hospital still pregnant. Ryan showered and went to work, which confused his co-workers who had received an email that we had our baby… as you know, we did not. (I was still having regular contractions pretty much all day) my parents, the girls and I walked all around the neighborhood, then later that day walked to the park, where I walked circles around the park while my mom and dad played with Ruby and Clara. I just knew I’d be back at the hospital in no time having this baby for real! 

Friday morning I woke up still pregnant, so we decided to head to the pool at our apartment complex where I could float around weightless in the deep end while my parents played with Ruby and Clara.

Saturday morning I woke up still pregnant, so my dad drove back to Granger to be there for the all-church service at the St. Joe County Fair while Ryan, Mom and I took the girls to the zoo.

Sunday morning I woke up still pregnant, so Ryan and I left the girls with my mom and ran a bunch of errands, had lunch together (where I enjoyed an amazing strawberry shake), went to Cabela’s, then went to a dinner party with all of Ryan’s GI Fellow friends downtown. 

This morning I woke up still pregnant, Ryan went to work (today is the 1st day of his FINAL YEAR of Fellowship!), my dad is planning to drive back this way sometime today or tomorrow and pretty much I’m just seriously looking forward to getting induced Wednesday morning at 5am.

Its been amazing having my parents here to help me chase Ruby and Clara around. I know that eventually I’ll have our little boy in my arms and I know God has a great plan. I’ve never prayed for more patience in my life!

Talk about shenanigans. I can’t believe I’ve made it this long with my 3rd baby who seems to be the size of Paul Bunyon. That’s the news. My next blog post will include pictures of a baby boy! Yahoo!

Until then, I’ll be here …still pregnant.