New Year's Eve

We are a boring old married couple with 3 young kids, and the Officer often has to work New Year's Eve, so we don't usually have exciting NYE plans.  This year though, we had exciting plans. My dear friend and college roomie, Lauren and her husband had a big group of our college friends (10 adults and 7 kids under the age of 4) over for NYE. They made us a delicious dinner, complete with all kinds of options for lots of different food allergies.... these friends are so kind. The kids all played and laughed, and then they toasted a New Year of their short lives with sparkling cider.

We put all the kiddos to bed with minimal (or frequent) crying, waking up babies, and trips to the potty, but eventually they were all asleep for a few hours at a time.  Then the men smoked cigars in the freezing cold and the women stayed warm inside talking and drinking. We told stories, remembered college, anticipated unborn babies, told really good Catholic jokes (some were missing the punch lines) laughed, and laughed. At 11:58 we decided we should watch the ball drop, so we turned on the tv just in time to miss the ball drop, but we toasted, hugged, and kissed. Then we talked some more, played 7 Wonders, laughed some more, and eventually at some late hour that I usually reserve for late-night feedings, we all reluctantly wandered to bed, only to be woken up 4 hours later by energetic toddlers. It was a night I want to remember. Thank you Lauren for hosting such a fun night- I vote that we make this an annual tradition!

Good days

All Moms have the days when nothing seems to go right, and you are staring at the clock wondering how soon is an acceptable time to put your children to bed? Like when a toddler throws down an epic tantrum because somebody is wearing the socks that she wanted to wear today (or you know, she doesn't have peanut butter and jelly). Or the day my 3-year-old "helper" drops a gallon of paint in my kitchen, and I almost cry as semi-gloss white paint comes pouring out all over my hardwood floors (that one actually didn't end too badly). Those days can be hard. I probably won't forget those hard days, even if I wanted to, but I definitely want to remember the good days. Especially on the challenging days when patience is hard to find.... I want to remember the joyful moments, the days when I don't think I could possibly love these little humans more than I already do.

One of the nice peaceful moments

Yesterday was one of the good days. Yesterday the Officer worked a 23 hour day. 23 hours straight at work. You might want to feel sorry for the Officer who had to stay awake that long, but really we all know that Mommy alone with 3 kids for 23 hours is the one you should feel sorry for- well at least since she's the one writing the blog.

I had mentally prepared myself for the marathon day and was expecting it to be awful. I had to take all 3 of them to the grocery store and the craft store. Miraculously, the whole day went really smoothly. All 4 of us napped =) which is my definition of a good day. Then I was putting the girls to bed, and usually at the end of a long day alone I practically throw them in their beds and run for the couch. Have you heard Jim Gaffigan say that bedtime is like hostage negotiations in reverse??... you will give the kids anything they want just to stay in their rooms- yes that is my life at night. Not last night.

Belle was telling me how she is getting all grown-up. I gave her my usual, "Oh no you are not allowed to grow up. I want you to stay my little girl forever!" Then my little girl who can be so stubborn and bossy laid this on me...
Belle: "I want to grow-up and get old so that I can go be with Jesus some day."
Me:
Belle: "Mommy, will you help me go be with Jesus when I get old?"

Oh, I hope so my dear girl. I hope so. Then they all peacefully went to sleep with none of my usual hostage negotiations, threats, or bribes. Yes, it was a good day.

Fall Fun

I'm linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary, and I'm finally writing down what we've been up to this fall. I've been in denial that summer is actually over. Fall means winter is coming and winter is just the worst, but we've been having so much fun the last few weeks.

1. Belle has been asking the Officer to teach her how to play tennis for months, but we never had the time. So the last few weeks we've all gone out a few times to play, and she has loved it!

2. We've also hit up our favorite playground a few times and walked to the neighborhood slide on beautiful fall evenings.

3. Frozen on Ice. What an amazing night. Aunt Mantha wanted to take her Goddaughter (Belle) to it, and Bug and I tagged along for a super fun girls night out. The girls squealed and laughed and smiled the entire time. It was so magical to watch their joy!

4. Every fall our church has an awesome Oktoberfest that raises money for some of the local Catholic schools. We always have a great time at Oktoberfest. I hear that the beer is excellent (ew I hate beer). I can vouch for the delicious food, and there is a kidzone that my kids love. The KidZone had a moon bounce and a huge blow-up slide, different bean bag toss games, and face painting. We all had a great afternoon at Oktoberfest, and my sweet little baby just napped in her stroller the whole time.

Belle wanted her face paint to be "scary", and that's what it was. Bug's was worse though, because it didn't come off well, and the next morning she had blue circles around her eyes at Mass.

5. The following weekend our little town had a fall festival, which was packed and FREE. You park at the local High School and a trolley takes you down to "The Village Green" where they have tons and tons of tents full of different vendors, food trucks, and a kidzone that I wish I was small enough to play in! They had face painting, bull riding, a dunk booth, moon bounce, a blow-up maze, dancing, and more.... Did I mention that all of that was FREE?!?! We packed lunches, and the only money we spent the whole day was buying the girls ice cream at the end.

6. Also, this fall we have decided to tackle a few more home renovations. The Officer spent a week renovating our powder room, and this week he did the demo on our master bathroom. The master bath reno is going to be a long project I'm sure....

Here is the finished powder room. Hard to get a good picture of such a small bathroom, but I love it! 

7. So this season is off to a great start for us, and now we get to start doing all the fun Halloween activities! Next year when I get all depressed that summer is ending, someone remind me that fall is pretty incredible too. And here is a picture of the littlest Mik (and all of her chins) hanging out with one of her buddies. She is always so chill for all of our family adventures.

Baptism

I never posted about Third little girl's Baptism that occurred a month ago. Life is so busy, but I definitely don't want to forget her special day. Her Baptism was absolutely beautiful, and we got to share it with so many wonderful friends and family. We had a joint Baptism with one of our friends from Church, whose adorable baby boy is just 2 weeks younger than our lady.

We asked our dear friends Lauren and Patrick to be the Godparents of our Third little girl. The Officer and I were in CCM with them in College, and Lauren and I were roommates for a few wonderful years. I still remember very fondly the first double date that we went on with this amazing couple. Their marriage is beautiful, and they are incredible parents to two young boys, so we knew they would be perfect Godparents. I know they will be praying fiercely for our little lady as she grows, and be great Catholic role models- plus it means they are forced to remain friends with us for the rest of their lives- and now I can give Lauren a guilt trip any time she doesn't answer her phone ;)

We did the Baptism in the Old Rite, which was beautiful and means the Godparents hold the baby the entire time. I don't think they minded....

After the Baptism we had a fun reception full of so many family and friends. Our little girls are very loved, and I hope they always know that.

My Mom of course was there for yet another Baptism- she has been to so many Sacraments over the years for her 29 grandchildren. She and my Dad are awesome Grandparents. My sister D came just one week after moving back home from across country, and we are so happy to have her and her family nearby now!

It was such a joyful day to welcome another little girl into the Catholic Church, and I hope she grows to appreciate this incredible faith.

I hope we can help get these 3 little souls to Heaven some day. Thank goodness we also have so many friends and family praying for them!

Back to School

This is the first year since I was in Kindergarten that I haven't gone back to school as a student or a teacher. I definitely have some mixed emotions about it, but overall it's been a very enjoyable "back to school" season in the Mik house. I have loved seeing all of the first day of school pictures people are posting of their kids, and almost everyone captions the pictures with "where has the time gone?" I am aware of how fast these years will fly by, so today I relished the fact that I didn't have to send any children off to a first day of school yet. Instead we stayed home and made a cardboard house and baked cookies.... of course there were many moments of whining that made me think maybe sending them to school in a few years won't be all that bad ;)

No, the baby didn't get any of the cookies. Those cheeks are just because she has been neglecting exercise

I loved teaching, and I miss parts of it, but sleeping in a little later is nice and spending more time with the girls is priceless. Of course I couldn't resist all the adorable teaching preschool ideas on pinterest, so this happened in our house yesterday....

Just a little alphabet parking lot for their cars

Good thing my skills as a teacher can be put to good use as a SAHM.... too bad I don't have such expertise in other necessary areas for my SAHM career (you know like cooking, budgeting, grocery shopping, organizing, cleaning, and the other million things Moms do every day).  Happy new school year!

The Real Babymoon

I've been living my real Babymoon for the last 13 days. It's been my honeymoon time with my sweet new baby. Our 3rd little bundle of joy (another girl!) was finally born on July 12 at 6:18 pm, and I'll write a post with her birth story soon, but for now I've just been enjoying my little baby moon. I don't have a blog nickname yet for our sweet daughter, because I just need to get to know her better.... if I had to give her a nickname so far it would be "sleepy head", "poopy pants", "angel baby", or her Daddy likes to call her "Third" (shout out to Orson Scott Card and anyone who has read Ender's Game).

The Officer with his precious Third daughter

The last 13 days truly have been a honeymoon. For the past 13 days I have been expected to sit around and nurse and burp a (pretty easy) newborn. Seriously, that's about it. The Officer has taken care of Belle and Bug all day every day (the much more difficult job right now), and all of our kind wonderful friends from Church, College, and the Officer's work friends have been bringing us dinners almost every day. Our families are wonderful, and someone is always willing to hold the new baby girl so Mommy can get a little nap or shower. Yes, all Moms know the negative sides to the postpartum time, but so far this one hasn't been too bad, and I am oh so very grateful. My physical recovery has been really easy this time around (way way way easier than the first). Also, I guess it took me a third child to realize how very quickly this newborn phase passes, so instead of stressing and worrying about things as much as I did as a first-time Mom, now I'm snuggling and holding my little lady before she does the unthinkable and becomes a toddler!

There are few things in life better than a newborn asleep on your shoulder

The first 2 weeks of her life have really been bliss. Our sweet third daughter has been a very easy baby so far. She sleeps a 7 or 8 hour stretch each night (I know I'm spoiled), and is pretty happy most of the day. To make up for a long night of sleeping, she eats almost all day. So I spend most of my day attached to little lady, which right now I'm not complaining about.

Three children under the age of 4 is definitely going to be a busy life. A life full of joy, but a very very busy life. The Officer has been off this whole time, and the thought of him going back to work next week makes me want to cry. What will I do without SuperDad?! He has been taking care of the big girls and allowing me to spend almost all of my time just taking care of my newborn.  I have been thoroughly enjoying all of this bonding time with my youngest, but having her attached to me at all times will not be ideal when I also have to meet the needs of 2 demanding toddlers. So my little honeymoon with my newborn officially comes to a harsh end next week, and then it will be back to reality. It will definitely be tough next week, but good thing my reality consists of 3 adorable little faces.

Mom to three little kids is a piece of cake right??? I just need to read books all day