{conversations with a six year old}

Riley: Aren't you glad I helped you find my stuff?

Daddy: You didn't help me

Riley: I told you where it was

Riley: Mommy! My voice camouflaged into the song......... {new song comes on} Mommy it camouflaged again.

Riley: Mommy how old do you have to be old?

Riley: I know why they call it IHOP because it's so good you jump up and down!

Riley: I feel different today.

Mommy: Like in a good way?

Riley: I feel older.......

On JOBS:

Riley: You and mommy are just one thing. I'm four things.

Daddy: What's mommy's job

Riley: Mommy works for groceries and toys. Daddy works for money. 

Mommy: What do you do?

Riley: Read, curious, play and.....just sit around.

Daddy: I'm the boss. What does Mommy do?

Riley: Mommy sits with Caleb and watches tv all day.. {my kid ladies and gentleman... thanks a lot Riley!} 

Riley: I like fancy hotels

Mommy: What makes them fancy?

Riley: Carpet and dresses.

Mommy: I wish people would just pick up their dogs poop. I mean they don't let their kids poop outside and leave it for us to walk all over. 

Riley: Yeah they would freeze their butts!

Mommy Mondays: stop growing!

                       

                                          

As I sit here still in my pjs with a sleeping babe and one off to school I pondered.......

So this is what life looks like as a mom of three? Two itty bittys and one angel baby. I still can't believe I've birthed three human beings. I don't feel old enough.. Ha I don't really feel young enough either. 

I'm in mommy limbo!

I am a week away from little man turning 4 months old. Where has the time gone? I'm still gathering my bearings here and I already have a 4 month old!! That's almost half a year and then what he turns  one!!?? 

When I sent my little lady off to kindergarten I was an emotional wreck. But now I have the blues! This is a real thing. The realization that time goes fast at a dramatic speed. And your once tiny little babies will be going to high school and getting married and driving cars before you even have the chance to blink. I have a hard time being in the moment with them. Because I'm trying sooo hard to cling to this age, this time in their little lives that will never happen again. I find myself staring {too long actually} trying to memorize every part of their little faces and little hands and little feet. 

Tell I'm not the only mom out there who does this? 

One thing they don't tell moms who bring home second baby. How instantly it makes your older child look like a giant. My sweet, precious little baby girl grew drastically overnight. I'm not even kidding her arms and legs were longer! Her hands were the size of human adult hands! She wasn't a baby anymore she's running around having grown up conversations with me. She's even reading to ME now!! I seriously want to cry! Time is seriously precious and is over  like that {snaps fingers}. No do overs, no pause and rewind buttons just one chance. 

I can't be bothered to waste time with silly things like cleaning, bathing or watching my shows. I have to spend every second just soaking up my time with them! Because I could never ever live without them! 

P.S I was kidding about the cleaning and bathing part. ;)

{Conversations with a six-year old}

Mommy: Riley I'm so upset I pumped 3oz of milk and then I didn't close the bag right and it spilled on the counter and I lost an ounce so now I only have 2oz of milk.

Riley: Does that mean you have to squeeze more?

Mommy: Haha Yes!

Riley: Siri I have a new baby brother!

Siri: I bet you say that to all your apple products.

Riley: What's apple problems?

Mommy: Make sure you sit on the floor with your cup....I mean juice box.

Riley: You said cup, it's a juice box....CRAZZZYY MAMA

{Clipping baby's nails}

Mommy: That's my worst nightmare {cutting their little fingers}

Riley: But it's not a nightmare this is real life.

Riley: Mommy in minutemen did they have TV's and electronics?

Mommy: No

Riley: Then what were they fighting for?

Mommy: What is that?

Riley: Stickers from the store.

{pulls out blank price tag stickers out of pocket}

Mommy: You took that many? What are you a trash collector?

Riley: Just curious.

CopyCat Tuesday {Pinterest Fashion}

ANNNNNNNDDDDDDD I'M BACK!!!!

I think it's been long enough since we had a fashion post right?

I've had some serious cabin fever lately, or mommy fever. Whatever you want to call it. When you are tired of wearing nursing tanks and leggings every single day. Where my hair is hardly ever done and my I don't even really remember my face with makeup on. How do you wear mascara again? Not to mention the massive amounts of layers and stuff I have whenever I go out is just downright claustrophobic! I don't know if you had heard. New England has broken some serious snow records this last month. It has kept me inside for quite some time now. So I was left with only one option. Move around some furniture and start taking some pictures inside. Unless you all wanted to see what kind of outfits I could make out of snow. Hmmmmmm interesting idea. I think I'll pass though!

Found this outfit on pinterest awhile back.  So, I thought I would get back into some fashion with using some pinspiration.


I also had a special guest who wanted to model with me.......maybe not. He is a natural though.

Riley's Frozen Tea party

So this year we did a frozen tea party for Riley's birthday. It ended up being a month late because of having a newborn and availability at the community center on base. It was originally planned as a low key tea party at home for a few friends. Riley just loves everybody so she wanted to invite all her friends. I had no choice we had to have an enormous "low key" tea party. 

As a party hostess I have a huge fear. One of my worst nightmares is hosting a party and guests show up before everything is set up. Then on top of that they ask to help. This huge fear of mine has not only happened once {Riley's 4th birthday party} but now twice. Maybe I should stop having parties outside of my house! Between the outrageous amount of snow we had been having. The house starting to leak. And having and extra member of the family that slows us down more. It happened again! I got to the community center 45 min before the party was supposed to start. And of course the guests showed up on time. I barely had the food table set up. Only had time for a snowflake garland and some table decor. I was mortified! To say the least. 

Despite all of my running around like a chicken without a head. Everyone had a great time. Riley even said it was her best party ever. 

Go figure!!

Moral of the story is. I'm not perfect but i sure can give some comic relief.

Anyone else have this fear?

Now on to the party details!

I wanted to stay true to the tea party theme. So we had mini foods. We made little tea sandwiches cut into snowflakes. Along with veggies, fruit, mini strawberry cheesecakes, brownie bites, and cookie dough dip with snacks to dip. 

We played pin the carrot on Olaf

Frozen bean bag toss, and Olaf sack race. Everything was a blur. It went by super fast. We had such a huge turnout I'm surprised I'm still standing. 

What a crazy day! 

Decorations: Dollar Tree and orientral trading company.

Party games: party city 

Conversations with a six year old

{Daddy going back inside from shoveling snow}

Riley:

Daddy come back! You don't leave a lady like that!

{Telling a friend how I had stepped into a gofer hole during our family pictures}

Riley: What's a goblin hole? 

{Cleaning the bathroom}

Riley: Mommy when I get older can I clean all the time?

Mommy: Yeah, in fact I guarantee it 

{Cleaning toilet }

Riley: I'm really good at this ! 

Riley to Daddy: You're taking your sweet time 

Riley: Mommy I went under water I plugged my nose and put my head under water

Mommy: Wow does that mean you are ready to swim in hawaii ? 

Riley: Uhh not really 

Daddy to Riley: Your mommy acts like she's never had a baby 

Riley: Really ?

Daddy: No 

Riley: Oh 

Mommy: Where should we go for our anniversary Riley ? 

Riley: I want to take you out for ice cream

Mommy: Oh really that's nice 

Are you going to pay? 

Riley: No I have to save for college!

I can give you a quarter.

Super Bowl .... Thoughts

So it's been a few days since Super Bowl happened. Being in New England though it's as if it's still going on. I'm not a football fan but I do watch the commercials. { I still say nothing has topped the Denny's "nannerpuss" commercial of 2009}

Anyway I saw a lot of emotional ones this year. And while yes I do love a good year jerker. I was completely thrown by nationwides commercial. As I'm sure many of you were. Absolutely depressing for sure. But for me and mine 

{mine, being hubby and all my bereaved friends} it struck a different chord. One of my friends sent me this letter from another bereaved parent. I thought I would share. Let's bring more awareness to the reality of this pain and grief. Losing a child or children is a real thing. From miscarriage to accidental death. 

Praying for all those parents and families who deal with this every day 

Dear Nationwide... Dear Nationwide, Normally, I would have no reason to write to you. You are not my insurance company and I am not shopping for any. I didn't even see your controversial ad last night because, not being any kind of football fan, I didn't watch the Super Bowl. Until this morning when I realized it was being talked about all over Facebook, especially in the circles for bereaved parents. Seriously? Something in the Super Bowl commercials to create so much chatter in those circles? So I watched it this morning, your ad with the cute little boy detailing all the things he'll never do because he died in an accident. And then your camera views illustrating how preventable accidents cause child deaths, and a plea that we "make safe happen." Okay, I get it. The point was to prevent accidents, to prevent child deaths. And I applaud you for that. But your delivery? Awful.AWFUL. I've read the comments online. Most people are falling into one of three camps. This was depressing and not appropriate for the Super Bowl, especially with kids watching. This is life, and the message is important, so stop being so sensitive, self-absorbed, or easily offended.  This is my life everyday, because my child did die. I'm in category 3. I have lost five of my seven children, all during pregnancy, including our daughter Naomi, who died in my second trimester six years ago. So no, it wasn't one of the "preventable accidents" you were focused on. But the first 20 seconds of your commercial wasn't about that. It was about all the things a child will never get to do because they died. And it hit home with every parent who has ever said good-bye too soon. Because I have to hand it to you - you got that part right. At my daughter's memorial service, all I could think about was how this was the only thing I would get to do for her. There would be no birthday parties, no graduation, no wedding.  What you apparently didn't foresee was how terribly painful that commercial would be for bereaved parents.  Because when your child has died, whether from an accident or not, whether in the womb or in infancy or childhood or even adulthood, you struggle to get to the place where you are not thinking every single moment about what your child would be doing today if he or she had not died.  And when you finally get to the point where you still think about it often, but not every waking moment, the last thing you need is a Super Bowl commercial to kick you in the gut and remind you of what you are missing. Not because we are a bunch of selfish people who don't want to face reality. No. It's because wehave faced one of the worst realities there is, the death of a child, and survived, but we are still healing, and an in-your-face reminder of what we lost (as if we will ever forget) just hurts.   And as much as I am in favor of talking about child loss and stillbirth and miscarriage, because those are topics that NEED to be talked about, this was not the way to do it. Could your ad keep even one child from dying by raising awareness? Oh, maybe. And that is what I was told by someone responding to my comment on a Facebook post.You missed the point, she said.  No, I got the point. Children die. Sometimes it can be - and of course should be - prevented. Got it, and I agree. I don't want any parent to go through what I and others have lived through. But there had to be another way to say it without sucker punching bereaved parents who know very well that losing a child means losing a big piece of your future. So good intentions, Nationwide. But lousy delivery. And while an explanation of why you did it is understandable from a PR perspective, you would get a lot more mileage at this point with a message of sympathy for those bereaved parents who may have been hurt, deeply, by your 30 seconds of fame. Sincerely, Kristi Bothur Mother of seven Two on Earth, five in Heaven P.S. to my readers - I am sure that not every bereaved parent responded the same way to this ad. I am not trying to speak for everyone.