Seis Puerqueños

To my face my dad calls me a pioneer, but behind my back he calls me a hippie.  I felt like there was probably a clear distinction and I would help you clarify with this quick quiz.

Where do you have babies?
A. At home for fun
B. At the hospital for safety
C. In your wagon because it is freezing outside

What kind of vehicle do you own?
A. A VW bus
B. A Honda Odyessy
C. A wagon

Which is your favorite?
A. Being lazy
B. Exercising for fun
C. Walking and working hard

Favorite Food?
A. Soda & Fries.  And Cookies.
B. Mysterious Green Smoothie & Tofu.  And Kale.
C. Anything you can find.  You’re not picky.

How often do you bathe?
A. I think about showering occasionally
B. Daily.  No exceptions.
C. When we ford rivers.

What do you do in your free time?
A. Sleep.
B. Clean your house
C. Sing around a campfire

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Mostly As: Hippie for sure.  You are weird and maybe a little stinky, but that is ok because so am I.  Everyone knows hippies don’t really eat nasty foods like tofu.
Mostly Bs: You are insane and I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.  Seriously.  Exercise and Kale?  Two strikes you’re out.
Mostly Cs: Pioneer.  You are crazy tough and I respect you.  But I am lazy and could never be like you.

(If you got a good mix of As and Bs I think we can still probably be friends because maybe you just like routine but you have a dr. pepper addiction.)

I have this beautiful baby who hates sleeping.  I would be surprised by it, except her siblings also hated sleeping (they still kind of do) so at least I can recall that eventually she might think of sleeping in longer segments.  The lack of sleep stops me from doing most anything besides lying on the floor and crying about how tired I am and feeding three people besides myself.  Unfortunately for Aaron dinners have been a little lackluster in the past few months.  And by last few months I mean 8.5 months ago since I had Allison.

My wonderful cousin gave us his swing set/play house he was retiring.  This became a huge project for Aaron, necessitating many power tools, much lumber, and multiple trips to Lowe’s.  Several months later it is (mostly) completed and everyone rejoices.  Except now instead of hearing how someone shoved someone else on the stairs/slide (the slide/platform have been finished for several weeks) I get to hear about someone not letting the other have a turn on the swing.  Even though there is an identical swing right next to it.  3 and 4 year olds…  But we are all grateful to Aaron for his hard work on the awesome playset.

I currently have a quilting obsession.  It seems my obsessions revolve.  I go in and out of being friends with my sewing machine and perhaps that is part of it.  Maybe when it gets cooler outside I can return to lip balm and hard lotion bar making & selling obsession.  The heat makes that kind of impossible.  My blanket making obsession is so bad that I have opened (another) etsy shop to sell them.  So I can buy more fabric.  To make more quilts.  That makes sense.

I am doing something so stupid and unlike me.  Except that I did it one other time.  I joined a friend’s 8-week diet/exercise challenge.  It is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible.  Did I mention that it is only day 4?  I need to stop being vain and get back to eating cookies.  Because let’s not lie, I am not doing this challenge to be healthy.  I am doing it to be less pudgy in my middle.  Stupid vanity.  Cookies and not exercising are soooooooo much better.

My birthday is in less than a week and I have planned no awesome party.  This is very strange and I can only contribute it to my lack of brain power due to lack of sugar.

I have a really great post in my brain about people who reserve the sidewalk but it will have to wait for another day.  But now that I wrote that here I will have to do it.

-I am obsessed with the mail.  I always have been a fan of checking the mail.  And getting mail.  And I love sending mail.  But now for some reason I love all mail.  I love junk mail.  I have to look at the ads.  I have to go through that envelope stuffed full of “coupons”.  Just today I realized I could buy a magazine I love for $11 for two years.  It was most joyful.  I am kind of ridiculous.

-I need to learn how to finish projects.  I will often start something with grand intentions, get 2/3 done and then put it away when I hit some sort of giant snag.  This applies to quilts, crafts, books, cleaning, organizing, putting pictures on walls, and laundry.  Ok the laundry is never actually 2/3 done (I celebrate when it is clean, forget about folded and put away) and books usually get forgotten about because when I have the time (night time) I am far too tired to read.

-I am pretty sure I was nicer before I had kids.  I think I used to be able to wait patiently in lines and not want to neck chop as many people for their misbehavior.  I’m not blaming my kids specifically for this change, but since one bedtime takes all the patience I used to need in two weeks of pre-children time I am a lot more jerky.  Ok also I used to sleep more.

-My dad calls me a pioneer to my face but a hippie behind my back.  This amuses me to no end.  I fully acknowledge my tendency to do weird things like buy unscented shampoo so I can add essential oils to make it smell how I want and have babies at home, but feel like my ability to eat an entire pack of girl scout cookies and seven cokes really balances me out.

-I am apparently also obsessed with water bottles.  Yesterday I brought home one of those plastic cups with a lid and straw from the grocery store, which made Aaron wonder how many water bottles a person needs.  The answer is lots.  And their kids might need lots too.  There is nothing wrong with hydration, people!

-I wish I blogged more.  I think of such funny things to tell all four of you at night while lying in my bed.  But in the daytime I can’t remember them.  Maybe I should get one of those voice recorder things so I can dictate a blog post for the next day.

*When compared to having two kids 13.5 months apart.

First child: Everything is a life threatening disaster.  The baby is crying and I don’t know why!  Read all the books!  Call The Super Nanny!  The baby touched grass!  Is there any in his mouth?  Call 911!  How on earth are you supposed to bathe a slippery tiny baby?  We are failing!!!

Having a second child when first child is hardly a year old: AHHHHHHHH!  All the babies are crying!  Now I’m crying!  I got one to sleep… NO!  The awake one woke the sleeping one up!  I will never sleep again!  Ok, now they are both asleep at the same time…  Do I shower/eat/clean/sleep or exercise?  And don’t even get me started on trying to go anywhere.

Third child, intelligently spaced 3 years after the second: Sure, eat grass, you will be just fine!  If those other two survived so will you…  I hear you crying, I will be there after I wipe up the cup of milk your sibling spilled/wipe someone’s bum/break up a fight/stir the soup/finish this cookie!

But seriously.  Some people say that having three kids made them go nuts.  I think that having two babies so close together was significantly harder.  Now that I have two older kids (3 & 4, ha!) that can walk, dress themselves (if they want), speak in complete sentences about their dislike of my cooking, and occasionally entertain themselves for 5 minutes straight it seems that having a baby isn’t as difficult as I remember.  Don’t get me wrong.  Babies are still insanely hard, and three kids is not like having only one, and if you see us at the store you will probably judge me to be completely insane (correct judgement), but really, REALLY it is so much easier than the transition from one baby to two babies.  Three kids is much smarter than two babies.  (No offense twins.)

So anyway, if you were thinking about having three kids, I recommend it.  Especially if you like fighting with three small humans at naptime, bedtime, mealtime, getting dressed time, shopping time, clean up time…  Wait, this was supposed to be pro-3 kids…