M.I.A.

Wow, a whole week and a half since I last posted. That's got to be some kind of record. We were in Destin, FL last week for Kent and Melissa's wedding, and then it's been a bit chaotic since. We got home around 9:30 Sunday night and had to get up bright and early for work the next day. Then Harvey decided to be sick on Monday, only to be truly "normal" today. Not only do I have about 1,000 photos to go through and edit (no joke), but I still need to edit some from before the Florida trip and I've taken on one of the biggest projects to date----I'm finally making a photo book of Harvey's first year. Whoa, what an ordeal. Sorting through literally thousands of photos and deciding which ones to use, uploading them to Picaboo, then sorting through some more, deciding which ones to really use and what order. Then resizing, editing the pages, picking backgrounds, adding titles. I've worked on that for 2 days straight and I'm just now on the fifth month. Ideally I would like to finish that before moving onto all of my other projects. It's going to be a busy busy weekend!

Some funny things I want to share:

*I think Harvey thinks "mama" means food. He never calls me mama. He calls John daddy and talks about daddy all.the.time. But when he's real hungry, he'll say "Mama, mama, mama!" as he goes to his chair. Nice. Mama=food. Smart kid.

*We got some pumpkins last night. One big one to carve, a smaller one for Harvey to paint/decorate, and three little ones to decorate the house. Harvey is quite enamored with our pumpkins. He calls them "balls", "bumpin", and "baby". Baby came from when he almost snapped off the stem from our big pumpkin and slammed it into the wall. I told him he had to be gentle like with baby Sam, and he started rubbing the pumpkin gently and saying "Dentle (gentle) baby, dentle". Then he slammed it into the wall one more time, picked up his little "bumpin" and threw it while screaming "Ball!". Such a good listener.

*I now have all three kiddos by myself. Mama went back to work and we've all been adjusting. Today I took all three out for the first time. We went to the play area in the mall. Harvey and MH ride in the double stroller and I carry Sam in the Baby Bjorn. We look like quite the clan walking through the mall.

People used to stare/smile/ask how old my "twins" were before. I would go through the whole story sometimes, sometimes I just acted like they were twins. So much easier. But now with three kids under 18 months, we're pretty much a traveling circus. So many people asking questions, telling me how I have my hands full, asking about ages and how I had 3 babies so close together. I'm sure some people think I'm a glutton for punishment as I chase Harvey, who has run out of the play area (for the 52nd time, mind you), and carry a screaming crying toddler back to the play area, all while wearing bright eyed Sam. That's fine, a little screaming/crying/flailing doesn't scare me. Yet.

The one bonus to having all these kids in the mall: I can walk past all of the kiosks and no one bothers me. They take one look at me with my clan and realize I don't have time to try their lotion, have my hair straightened, my eyebrows threaded, have a massage, check out their shams and prepare to be "wowed", check out the latest cell phone plans. I think they're all afraid of the chaos that would ensue should I ever say yes. Sure, I would love a massage! Just watch these three kids for me. Oh, and be careful, this baby is a real spitter!

They all know what I really need. A third arm and a Valium.

This does not apply in the food court. Everyone still asks if I want to "Try sum cheekin?". Fair enough. Maybe I look like I could use a snack while pushing 52+ pounds of baby while wearing a 12 pounder on my chest.