It’s amazing how you can be so thankful for, and in love with your beautiful, healthy children while they are simultaneously pressing on your last nerve and trying to drive you insane. In the midst of the chaos I’ve been trying to stay focused on the stuff that matters, but man sometimes I could use a day (or three) to just clean my house in peace and quiet.
Let’s go oldest to youngest this time:
William is quite the thinker these days. Tons of questions. Before bed the other night I hear the not uncommon phrase: “Mom! Mom, I have a question!”. The first question he asked me: “Do two rectangles make a square?”. The second question he asked me: “Do bees blink?” Those two questions are a pretty good summary of every day lately with this kid. Suddenly he is all about drawing Angry Birds related pictures. Levels and levels. Jails. King Pig. Piggies and birds–hundreds of them. Towers and pigs wearing disguises. A week or two ago we were discussing something random when I told him: “Daddy is really smart. Do you know why Daddy is smart?” (In my head I’m already preparing to tell him Daddy is smart because he knows lots of things). William’s answer: “Daddy is smart because he knows how to draw guns.”. Ugh. Life with a 4-year-old boy. You should hear his knock-knock jokes. A couple weeks ago: W: “Knock Knock” M: “Who’s there?” W: “Lady with no pants” M: “Lady with no pants who?” W: “Potato”. (Jason and I both snorted out loud). He’s recently shown an interest in helping me cook, and although it slows the progress down and makes quite a mess, I’ve been trying to patiently let him help me. If you want cooking help or endless questions then William is your guy.
Christopher is 2 parts funny, 1 part clingy, and 1 part terrible twos. He’s constantly running around at my feet “Carry me!”. It is a wonder he hasn’t gotten completely leveled. Jason can’t do anything right for this kid, including but not limited to: 
getting him up in the morning, filling his chocolate milk, finding his shoes, lifting him up to sit at the table, buckling his car-seat, looking at him, and getting him dressed. Apparently I am much better at all of these things. Because of my talents, you’d think he’d cut me some slack, but then when I tell him it’s my turn to use the potty I’m met with an emphatic “NO!”. When you’re a mom you’re always on the clock. He currently has three favorite noises which are equally funny and maddening. The first is a pirate noise “Arrgh” (this goes with his current favorite pj’s which are pirate themed). The second is more of a roar/growl “Grrrrr!”, and the third is “pew, pew, pew”…which is the sound his finger-gun makes if he’s trying to stop you from making him do something. Christopher is pretty fun when you get him out one-on-one where his big brother can’t talk for him. He’s my shopping buddy these days. As I was lifting him into the car this weekend I commented “You’re getting so big!” to which he replied “Yes! Big AND Strong!!”. “Oh!” I said, “Big and strong huh?”. “Yes, look at my muscles!” If you want shopping company and entertainment or like carrying around 30lbs of wriggling toddler then Christopher is your guy.
Andrew is now 5 months old. He’s getting chunky which I absolutely love. He has a roundest sweetest cheeks, and his smiles are priceless. He’s a big fan of walks in the stroller, so we go out roaming around the neighborhood as often and his older brothers will let us. He goes to bed between 8 and 9 and then has a quick feed around 5am before sleeping again until around 6:30. This weekend I tried to give him some baby food for the first time and he was completely disinterested. I guess we’ll try again in a couple weeks. In the meantime Jason enjoyed the leftover pear puree. If you want to eat leftover baby food then Andrew is your guy.
So I never officially posted about it, but I made several small goals for myself post-pregnancy. One was to move more. Not necessarily ‘exercise’ in a formal sense, but I got a Fitbit and made it my goal to walk 10,000 steps per day. The second goal was to drink more water/stay hydrated. In this regard the Fitbit has also been helpful because it has a place where I can track the number of ounces I drink each day. The third goal was to cook more and pack 
lunches for work instead of eating out–which had turned into a horrible habit during my pregnancy with Andrew. I’m happy to report all three of these initial small goals have been met. According to my Fitbit my daily step average is right at 10,000 per day and I’m drinking an average of 71 ounces of liquid per day. The biggest improvement has been in our fast food spending which I track using Mint.com. Looking at the days since we got home with Andrew (157 days) we have spent $238 on fast food–compared to the previous 157 days where we spent $1000 on fast food. That’s right A THOUSAND DOLLARS. That’s so shocking and embarrassing to admit, but I’m happy to say we’ve drastically cut that amount. I’m going to admit there’s still room for improvement in each of these areas. In the coming months I have a new set of small goals to share with you. The first is to start actually exercising again. I signed up for a pilates class 2x a week at work and am planning to work out 3x/week starting mid September. The second goal is to start watching my portion control a little better. Although I’m packing lunches, most days I feel like I pack and consume enough to feed a small army, so I don’t know that my nutrition has really improved in that regard. I’d like to maintain the hydration goal throughout the winter and cut back slightly on my caffeine intake–right now I’m still drinking quite a bit of iced tea (a summer habit), diet coke, and coffee–it could be worse, but it could be better. Overall I’m just thankful to no longer be pregnant, and be getting comfortable in my own body once again. There hasn’t been any significant change showing up on the scale, but I’ve got time and historically I don’t have much luck losing weight while nursing. Here’s to the next 3 months!
It seems like summer accelerates the closer you get to back-to-school time. My mom came to visit for a few days after we were selected for tickets to Antiques Roadshow. We took a trip to the aquarium with the grandkids and Grandma Marion as a belated Christmas present. Cousin Ben watched 
Andrew so we could take the two older boys swimming. We all got together for a Roberts family reunion. Sometimes I feel like super-mom and sometimes I just feel plain exhausted. One night last week when Jason had to work I decided to load up all three boys and venture over to our local park. It is .5 miles from our house, but easily a 20 minute walk when you attempt to get there with the entire circus. We have a double stroller (which I love!), but it still leads to fights over who gets to ride and who has to walk. Often Christopher is more excited about walking than William, but he is the slower of the two. Andrew must be buckled in the front seat due to the 5-point harness to help him sit up which is sometimes less than acceptable if one of his brothers thinks they should ride there. On this particular night we’d already had one bloody lip (Christopher) and it was time for a change of scenery, so we marched down the block to the park where I spent 45 minutes pushing Andrew in a slow circle around the playground while William and Christopher burned off some steam. Fast-forward a bit and I’ve chased all of my cats back onto the stroller to start the slow shuffle home when William trips and completely lays out on the sidewalk within the first block. With two kids already on the stroller and the third one crying on the ground I decided come hell or high water they would all fit on the stroller somehow and we were going to bust a move home. So that’s exactly what happened. I felt a little crazy, a little sweaty, and a lot like super-mom–and we made it home.
I’m insanely excited about all things fall. One of our neighbors dropped off a box of peaches a few days ago, so canning will commence shortly. This year we need to do lots of applesauce which will require a trip or two to the farmer’s market for apples. Another neighbor has a pear tree so we may do some pear sauce as well. Our garden is pretty much a loss this year after early hail damage set everything back. We’re going to see if we can get the broccoli to produce heads as it gets cooler. The sweetcorn was an experiment, and was planted too thick and then probably got too hot to pollinate well. The tomatoes are starting to produce a little, but are really really late this year so I doubt we’ll have much of a crop. The one thing we have an abundance of is beets! We’ve given away some of the pickled beets we canned last year in anticipation of this season’s harvest. I need to get out my pressure-canner and see about doing some plain beets as well–turns out you can only eat so many pickled beets. On the bright side, there’s always next year and I’m already making plans. This fall/winter we will finally purchase a garden shed so we can reclaim our patio (Hallelujah!).
A little more August to finish up:
