Whew!

After a headache that has lasted through the week. A nagging muscle ache in my neck from one of three things: Isabella, Declan, or Quinn. Finally sitting down for the day at 11pm all the while knowing that in 3-4 hours, I'll be up again. I popped my SD card in the computer and about fell out of the papasan from laughing so hard.  I called Ryan over and told him "as much as that night annoyed the crap out of me, this is hilarious." He agreed and said that someday we would appreciate it even more. And then gave me a synopsis of how he tried to take this photo/bad lighting/late for work, etc. It doesn't matter though. Because after a long week, with really rough nights, this made us laugh.

So flattering, I know. And it's amazing that even when I've had to move down the side of the bed, just to get some space, two kids have still followed me down. To the side of the bed. Don't even ask how Ryan fit in there. But he did.

Mom was gone this week. She has spent the week with Genivieve and her newest grandchild.  Could this be why my week has felt 'frazzled' to say the least?  I thought about it long and hard today.  I think it could be.  Mom keeps me grounded, which keeps me sane.  Staying home with three little ones all day is hard. It's hard when they are all so young and still so needy.  It's hard when two of the three still want to be carried and held--a lot. I can also admit that it's really hard when you don't have anyone else to share the 'hardness' with.  I don't have any stay at home mom friends to swap stories with, hang out with so our children can play and we can vent, etc. So my mom is that for me. If it's nothing more than just calling at any second of the day to vent, talk to an adult, ask a question, whatever. She's there and I'm here and I need that.  She knows when to say "just bring the kids over here to play for awhile."  It means distraction for them. It means adult interaction for me. It means that we all do something different for a little bit.  I don't know if this is what the week was about. But we had some really, really hard nights.  When we think things are really settling down where sleep is concerned, Declan becomes 'scared' of everything, Quinn gets a cold and is up multiple times a night, Declan realizes that he in fact can get out of his bed and leave his room in the middle of the night, and he also can wake up a couple of sisters in the mean time.  So we're all a little tired and maybe a little edgy. But that's life. It changes in the blink of an eye.  Not to say that we haven't discussed putting Declan's crib back up, much to his dismay, but I am hopeful for tonight. Just hopefull.

The week's re-cap, in pictures. Just because that's all I feel up to tonight. And they make me laugh.

Someone's a little possessive of his new toy.  He was in the bathroom, obviously with his underwear around his ankles, when he saw little sis going towards his 'bop bag.'  He was off of that toilet before I could say "wait!"

Ryan and his 'bird like' mentality.  Since Isabella started eating, he just naturally wanted to feed his kids straight out of his mouth. I know he'll appreciate me sharing that.  But he does it. A lot.  And he probably thought he was being sneaky, sharing fruit bar bites with Quinn. But Kate saw this little exchange and snapped these shots from inside. And, for the record, our kids now like sharing food with each other. Straight out of their mouths.

We have our first egg.  I came downstairs the other night from putting Quinn to bed and Ryan scared the heck out of me as I rounded the steps and there he was staring at me with this silly little grin, hands behind his back, saying "guess what I have???"

He was pretty proud.  He's pretty proud that the gardens that he planted from seed back in March, are producing vegetables. And know he's pretty proud that his hens are capable of producing eggs. Because otherwise, I'd be pretty upset. 

The kids are very excited and race to the nesting boxes in the morning just to see who will be the lucky one to find the next egg. We're still waiting...

We had leftover cabbage in the fridge. And carrots and tofu. Oh, and eggroll wrappers.  And Genivieve makes really good eggrolls. So we got her recipe and made the eggrolls. The kids were pretty excited to be part of this assembly line, as you can see.  I was pretty excited because they seemed like they really wanted to eat them after they jumped up and down in front of the pan, waiting for them to cook.  Declan stared at his and then got down to play. Isabella took three bites and then proceeded to dip her finger in the sweet chile sauce and lick it off. And I pretty much ate them all by myself.

 (Oh, and those are Declan's hands shoving the phone in Isabella's face. He was talking to mom and really wanted her to taste the egg roll they made.  The kid definitly still thinks you can see, taste, smell, and touch...through the phone).

We finger-painted. And no matter how many times I explain it, finger painting always turns into hand painting in this house. Which turns into a big fat mess. But makes really cool hand print pictures. And you can't beat that.

                                                                She's such a food sharer.

 Awhile back, I put Quinn at the table with a snack. Then I gave her some things to play with, one being a large rice spoon. When I looked over, she was placing her snack on the rather large spoon, and trying to fit it in her rather small mouth. Since then, she's been pretty interested in using utensils. Don't try to remove them from her hands though. Big mistake. But she's definitly a fan of using a fork and spoon when it's time to eat.  Once again, big-fat-mess.

At least someone in this family has brown eyes like their mama. 

And it's off to bed for me. Right after I pray, plead, and beg for seven solid hours of sleep....