Bald but still good lookin'

Well, I'm starting this post with absolutely nothing in mind to blog about. Doesn't that make you excited to read on?! Let's see. It's been about 2 weeks since my last post, so what exactly have I done in the past 2 weeks? Not much! And yet I feel SOOO busy! Three kids is kicking my trash, to put it bluntly. And yet, I'm still alive and seem to still have motivation at the beginning of each day to do a little better than the day before - so I guess they haven't kicked me to the ground just yet. :) Thankfully, little Jake seems to be finally settling into a good nap schedule. Up until about a week ago, we've just been doing the feed and nap on demand thing and I HATE that! I'm all about a schedule or I go a little nuts. Ben thinks I'm pretty silly because I'm once again putting the baby in the closet for naps. The poor thing even has his own room now, but I still just can't say no to closet napping. I tried having him nap in his own room, but it's right next to the loft/play area and I was getting pretty cranky about having to keep telling the girls to play quietly so they don't wake up the baby. Now I can just stick him in our quiet and dark (and definitely large enough) closet and the girls can be as silly and loud as they want and I don't have to worry about them waking Jacob up. See, it's little tricks like these that keep a mother sane. ;)

In other news - we shaved Jacob's hair off!! What you say?!! Well, his lovely thick dark baby hair has been recently falling out like crazy... and just recently we decided that he looked like he had a comeover. We couldn't have that, so Ben suggested that we just buzz it off. He's not completely bald - Ben left a little (VERY little) bit of hair when shaving it, but he pretty much looks bald to me... especially when I compare his current look to pics of him a month and more ago when he was my little hairy man. Oh well - it will grow back when it's ready right? After we shaved his little head, Emma noted that "he looks different". Yes he does Emma, but we still love him, even if he's bald. (FYI- Jacob turned 4 months old yesterday! He's getting big! He has his check up at the doctor tomorrow, so I'm anxious to see how big he really is.)



Switching to another topic... Ben is very much enjoying residency (as much as 70+ hour weeks can be loved anyway). I think he just really likes that he can be a doctor now and have patients that rely on him and we can see that those 4 years of medical school are already paying off. This long road of medical training is definitely an investment in our family's future and I'm extra glad that Ben seems to really LOVE the career he's been pursuing for so long. He was on call last night, so the kids and I went to visit him at the hospital and eat dinner with him in the hospital cafeteria. Mayo has a pretty decent reputation for good hospital food and I quickly learned that Ben is definitely eating better than me as of late. We just may go eat down there more often... maybe even on his days off - ha! :)

And now to toot my own horn - I've been making my own bread lately! I haven't bought bread in 2 weeks now and we all are very happy eating homemade bread instead of store bought. I didn't think I'd like the switch, but thought I'd give it a try and we've all been very pleased. I hope to keep this up for a while, but even if I abandon it for a time at least I can say I know how to make bread and have found a recipe that works for me. I've decided that it's really time to buy a wheat grinder so I can make my own wheat flour as well. Then I could truly be a domestic diva! :) Emma and Becca enjoy pushing their chairs up to the counter and helping out adding ingredients and being my crazy little baking assistants. Subsequently, I feel like I'm putting on a cooking show every time.

I'm always amazed that when I think I have nothing to write about, I end up having plenty.

A birthday and a blessing

We've had a really wonderful weekend. My 27th birthday was yesterday and my sweet hubby arranged with his parents (who win the amazing in-laws award!) to take all three of my crazy kids overnight. This is extra awesome if you understand that Jacob is only 3 1/2 months old and definitely still waking up 2-3 times a night to eat. So, I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep since before he was born and for a much appreciated birthday present I got a luxurious evening and night without kids. They even drove all the way out to our house (which is almost an hour away) to pick them up from me. Ben and I definitely didn't waste our night alone and we went on a great date to Macaroni Grill and to FINALLY see Star Trek. What an awesome movie! And then I got to sleep a full 8 hours in a row without having to get up several times to feed a baby. I sigh with joy just thinking about it! Ben's parents brought the kids back to us this morning as today was Jacob's blessing day! I'm so thankful to have a husband who can worthily bless our sweet babies - it was a wonderful blessing and a pleasant Sunday. The family all came to our house after the blessing for lunch. We had yummy grilled pizzas (mostly prepared by my chef of a husband and prepped with a little help from the kids), spinach salad, strawberries, and lemonade. I love summertime food! And for dessert... the largest bowl of birthday trifle I've ever seen (made by my mother-in-law). Mmmmmm. And with enough leftovers for days (really, it should last weeks, but I don't have that much self-control).

Now for your viewing pleasure.. some sweet pictures of the kids. I LOVE these 3 little goofs. :)

Jacob looks a little frightened... seeing as he has these crazy girls for his older sisters, I don't blame him

Red, white, and blue, and Harry Potter too

What a great fourth we had! We wore red, white, and blue all weekend, and had plenty of great company to keep us all entertained. I was THRILLED that Ben had the 3rd off of work, especially since the poor guy was going to have be on call on the fourth (thus spending the night through to the 5th). Ben's parents and sister's fam came to spend the night at our place on Friday - so we had 2 full days to hang out. And Ben's cousin Erik and his cute family came on Saturday to play as well (good luck to Diana whose having her second little girl on Wednesday!). So, we went swimming at two different community pools, bbq'd, watched a bunch of Harry Potter (in preparation for the Harry Potter 6 movie coming out next Wednesday (we're all nerds), played games, and just enjoyed hanging out and eating tasty holiday treats. And before everyone headed home, the kids threw around a bunch of poppers in the driveway. Now we're back to the regular routine which includes swim lessons, grocery shopping, cleaning, and taking our poor van into the shop to get fixed. You know I'm settling into the single mommy mode when I have the fortitude to take my own car in to get repaired with all 3 kids in tow. :)