mini meltdown....

“Marriage is not a noun; it’s a verb. It isn’t something you get. It’s something you do. It’s the way you love your partner every day.”

                       - Barbara De Angelis

Every Morning Real Simple Magazine sends my inbox a "daily quote". This was today's and it is exactly what I needed.

Last night I had a mini meltdown. I call it a mini because it could have been a giant meltdown if my husband hadn't stepped in and took the kiddos up stairs, bathed them, read them a billion books and put them to bed.

I then stayed downstairs, felt sorry for myself and finished picking up. After my pitty party I put myself to bed.

This morning I felt a little better but even after 9 hours of sleep I still felt off.

Once I read the above quote it made me think...Why was I such a brat last night? I usually don't freak out if dishes are still in the sink and the kids a spazzing out all over the house. hm mm.

I have a list of reasons but the two that jumped right out at me:

I haven't run in 3 days!!

I forgot to take my vitamins!

What was I thinking!! Did I learn nothing from the first 3 months of Molly's life! I cried and yelled those months and realized that I have to run everyday and I have to take my vitamins.

When Molly was born I got into an awful habit of eating, whining and not running. When I was pregnant with Colin and Emilie I ran through the pregnancies but with Molly I didn't because I had donated a kidney the same month I got pregnant and I was a little afraid to run.

At one of my OBGYN appointments my doctor looked at me and said "running is who you are. If you are not going to start back up running we have to figure something out."

I was so bitter at that point I asked for antidepressants and went on my way. A week of taking them I realized I felt great but that was about it. I was pretty much a shell. With a husband, 2 toddlers, and a baby that was not going to work for me and the family.(*I have nothing against them, I think they are fabulous especially when they work for others*) I threw them away, sucked it up and went for a run.

That day changed everything. My smile was back!! Don't get me wrong I still cried a lot. Hormones are a very powerful thing. As long as I was breastfeeding I was going to have to work really hard to keep them in check and let the tears flow.

Molly is now 13 months old, I am no longer breast feeding and I need to take better care of myself. I have so many excuses but that is all they are excuses.

Suck it up Dana!! Go for a run. You have a 50k to run in a year. Plus a truck load of shorter distance runs starting in May.

And this sweet face is always patiently waiting for me...

molly...

I know it takes time. But I really need her to get the hang of this eating thing...

going to the dump...

Colin learned a ton this weekend running errands with his dad.

First stop: The county transfer station. Colin loves the dump! On this trip to the dump he asked a ton of questions. Why does the recycling go there. Why does the yard waste go here? Why are we throwing trash in here when we could recycle it over there? That's a great question Colin! This is something we are going to try really hard to do better. We are already doing really good. We barely fill up our small trash can every week on trash day but we do fill up our two big recycle bins. This week I am going to try to buy less packaging and see if we can bring the recycling amount down too.  Thank goodness we compost!

Next stop: Donation station. Bye, bye clothes and toys. Colin really liked the idea that they where going someplace they would be loved.

Next stop: Food Bank. Even though we only had a few things to give it was great for Colin to see how appreciative they where.

Next stop: Car store to recycle used motor oil.  Doug changes the oil in our cars and with that he has to get rid of the waste.

Final stop: Home.  Colin was home about 10 minutes and he was already reliving the day. He loaded up his ride and they where heading to the dump. He said that his little family is very careful and they only had stuff that needed to be recycle.

 

I love seeing that he gets it!!

It was made even better today when we where at the store and he had his dollar in his little hand and he asked if he could put it in the clear jar at the checkout so he could help the kid on the jar.

Love you tons Colin!! You made me a mom and you make me proud everyday.

all in a row...

I love these lunch bags!! I found them in the gift shop at Seattle Children's Hospital last November when Emilie was there for two days with croup. They are tough little bags and they are a light cooler.

The kiddos love it when I line them up with their road snacks already for them. They know once they are buckled in their seats they can see what surprise awaits for them in their bag.

Colin...Emilie...don't forget your water!!

And the clean potty seat insert.

This is Emilie with her new Froggie bag on our way OUT of the hospital. She looks so tiny and she was so brave!! Childrens Hospital is an amazing place.

 I'm blown away everyday by how amazing these kids are.

I looked all over the bags and couldn't find one label on them that would tell me who made these. And how to clean them...Weird...

Molly time...

Molly is finally big enough to have the bath all to herself and she loves it!!

told ya...

we had super hero's in the house. Today it wasn't the normal Demand-or and Repeat-or.

Today it was (quoted by Colin) Summertime Captain America and Emilie said she was King Princess Monster.

Love the imagination kiddos!!

Morning with Hadley's

train wreck...

When everyone is sick in the house except for me everything is business as usual.  Once everyone is so so healthy and I am sick our house goes to S%#T.

One of the train wreck locations is our bed room. When I am sick I wonder around the house at night, pick up and then just dump it in our room and close the door.

I realized now that I'm also healthy that when my room is thrashed slowly the rest of the house follows. I will spare you the visuals but trust me it was bad. Mostly up stairs in the overflowing laundry room (at least it was with mostly clean clothes) a play room with only a floor made out of matchbox cars and little people dolls and kiddo rooms that needed a path way to get to their beds.

Our room BEFORE....  Nothing was added or changed to the picture just taken away(dirty clothes)

AFTER!!

It may not look like much but it's fantastic!! Doug can come home tonight from work and know that he is not going to trip over anything! Hurray!

I even got all of the laundry done and put away including the diaper load.

Bed rooms cleaned

Play room clean

Watch out world I'm back!

Tennis!

I love that I can go watch my amazing niece play tennis (who is awesome) and have a view of our beautiful city.

Love it!!

I also love that my sister is whiling to be my baby wrangler while I am Allies personal paparazzi.
GO ALLIE!!

Old school...

I found this old camera in the closet today and the kids thought is was very bizarre

It smells

It is really heavy

And it doesnt take pictures.

To them a camera should give instant gratification...

Loaded onto the computer within minutes

and devolved at Costco an hour later.

LEGO

Emilie...

Date day...

If you haven't noticed I am obsessed with the "shake it" app on my iPhone. I love that it makes the photos look vintage.
What I am even more obsessed with is getting a better camera then my little Fuji. Its a great camera but I want more. I am taking pictures of my kiddos constantly and I want better pictures!!

My amazing friend who is also an amazing photographer. Check her out here.  Is letting me borrow her "extra" camera to see if I like Nikon. Oh my goodness!! What have I been missing!! I had so much fun playing with it at the beach. Everyday I am finding reasons to take pictures.

Even though I loves these fun polaroid like vintage pictures.  I can't wait to get back to the camera (Nikon d70) that Jen is letting me use. I am official addicted to looking at life threw a viewfinder! Thanks Jen!!

morning at the cabin...

Every time we get to go to the cabin there are two things we always look for...

crabby crabs and treasures.

This time we had help from grandpa and his puppy Gus.

This was the first cabin trip that Molly was outside...awake...
She love it!!  She wouldn't touch that sand, rocks or water.
But loved hanging with her Dada

Every treasure that Emile found would carefully get taken over to the freshwater trickling out of the bulkhead and cleaned up for the journey home.

Week with Colin...

Such a sweet boy...

His kindness blows me away...Where did he come from?

If you read my blog you know of my love affair with my third born baby, Molly.

I never thought I would get a 3rd... 

I never thought I would love someone so much...

I never thought one little human could be so awesome...

She is going to put me threw hell in 12 years...

Love you Moll's!

One more thing...

...before we head out for our St.Paddy's day celebration.

The pictures I took in the post together was on my iPhone using the app shake it.  It was a ton of fun. You take a picture then it pretends to develop like a Polaroid picture. The more you shake your phone the faster it develops.
That app is why I think Emilie let me take pictures of her without a scowl or a "no thanks". 
Or maybe I was just lucky today. It was the 17Th...

Wouldn't be a day without...

...Pictures of Molly.

She missed our morning adventures so I thought I would give her, her very own collage...

Don't you just love her new g diapers!

She figured out how to un velcro her cloth and disposable diapers. Stinker!! Neither of the older kiddos ever took off their diapers. Molly...the moment she is free diaper is off.

g's are awesome for many reason but #1 reason they velcro backwards. Genius! Thanks g!!

Plus this one with the ruffle is fabulous!

Day together....minus Molly and daddy...

Today was a great day for a walk.

It would have been perfect if all of us could have been together.

Molly was at home snuggled up in her crib taking a nap, and dad volunteered to stay home with her.

...

Picasa will only upload 4 pictures at a time,(please help if anyone out there knows how
i can change that).
so here is...the rest of the story...

It was sad not having everyone with us on our walk and the day may not be going the best direction.
But...At the end of the day...
I love my family and the amazing life I get to live with them.

Luck...

“In the long run, you make your own luck
 good, bad, or indifferent.”

                - Loretta Lynn

Now it is time to go start the cornedbeef and cabbage!! Yummy!!

Is 730am too early to have a beer?  It is St. Patricks day.... and all three luck charms are awake and running

This is what is on my table...

I was walking past my table today and looked down and thought...Wow...That's a giant pile of self help.

Plus I was missing one because I had just dropped it off a friends front porch. (10 steps to a less defiant child, or something like that)

Having a husband, a 5,3, & 1 year old, a dog and bird sometimes I just feel like my plate is too full.

Don't get me wrong. I love that I have all of this on my plate. Sometimes I just don't know how to manage it all.

If reading a couple of books and closing the bathroom door while "I go the bathroom" so I can read my Real Simple and People magazine makes me a better mom and wife then I am going to do it!!  I love this family and I will do anything for them. 

I know they would do anything for me. 

Birds nest...yummy

I love Easter!! The candy is fantastic. And it SPRING!! How could you not.

Plus... Cadbury mini eggs!!

I'm always looking for a reason to make it "OK" to eat this wonderful stuff with the kiddos.

I know the moment the sugar hits their bloodstream I'm going to regret it.  But they are so happy eating it.

These where super easy to make & super yummy.
Marshmallows, butter and shredded wheat. And the best part...mini eggs

Hope you can go enjoy a birds nest

Did she really just say that?

Those are the words that come out of my mouth at least once a day in regards to Emilie.  She has always been a great talker. Because she a great talker it has been fun, (sometimes) hearing what her brain is processing.

Yesterday we where heading over to a friends house and she asked me "Is that the girl with teeth necklaces?"
hmm...Teeth necklaces...  Oh!  Braces!  I love it. At that age how would she know they where called braces unless she was told.

I added some tabs below my 3littleducks picture with favorite quotes, ideas and each kiddos name. That is where I am going to put bench marks and funny things and not so funny things that they have said. 

I started this blog for my family to keep updated on us and also to use it as a journal for the kiddos.  Hopefully as we go I will have it printed for them.  I am awful at keeping a journal but I am good a blogging. Go figure it is way more fun for family, friends and strangers to live life with me.

Thanks for coming along for the ride...and Emilie keep the greatest hit coming!

Paper Mache Day...

I can't believe we have never done this. It's easy and the kids loved it.  I tried the flour and water mixture first, but I think those two trial eggs are still drying.

Glue and water is a much better choice.

We ended up hanging them with a couple of the kiddos pictures. 
It's just what we needed to get excited for Easter.

I love preschool pictures. Colin looks like he is heading off to work.

He ate!

Colin ate 4 giant ravioli's tonight!!

Don't get me wrong, Colin is a great eater. It just feels like such an accomplishment when he eats what we ate and he asks for 2nd and 3rds!!

Once again, thank you Costco.