Dog food?

Our girls have always been amazing eaters. They'll eat pretty much anything, and it's great!

Well, Lilah has always had a taste for....ummmmm......dog food. Yes. Dog food. When she first started crawling around 8-9 months, she always made her way over to the dog bowls as they were eating. She'd try to shove dog food into her mouth before I could take it away from her. It became so frequent, I started feeding the dogs during the girls breakfast.

Here we are at almost 2.5 years old, and she is still interested in dog food. She isn't as obsessed over it as she once was, but if you let her help you feed the dogs, she may try to sneak a piece!

Today, the girls were sitting at the kitchen table with their lunch in front of them. Mairead was eating a PB & Fluff with strawberries and Lilah was eating chicken, cheese and strawberries. All of a sudden, I hear...

Mairead: "Mom. Lilah is eating something.....crunchy!" 
Me: "HUH?"
Mairead: "She has something crunchy in her mouth, what is it?"
Me: "Yeah! What is it" - Nothing on her plate was crunchy.

I walked over to Lilah and there she was with a mouth full of food in her mouth - yeah, you know where this is going. I say:

"Lilah what are you eating?"

She tries to respond, but her mouth is FULL of food. 

"Lilah, what are you eating?" 

With her mouth full of food, she replies:

"Dog Food." 

Yuck! She was eating it as if she was really enjoying it. Nasty.

Thankfully we feed our dogs human grade food from Flint River - so no worries on having anything yuck in there!
 

Chickens

 Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of watching Food Inc.  - I had heard about it here and there, but then saw everyone on facebook talking about it. I had to watch it. Since it is 90 minutes, I watched it in segments, and every time I walked away, I felt sick to my stomach. How can food in this country be so bad, how can these things actually be OK???

Since we've had children, I've become more and more involved in healthier living and eating. I have always tried to buy whole, organic foods, but I wasn't too adamant about it (well, certain things)...until now. After watching the movie, we have to do more. Cage free eggs and hormone/antibiotic free milk won't cut it anymore. Regular, non-organic beef won't cut it anymore either. I am happy to say we buy all natural chicken - there will be no more purdue in our house, sorry roaster chickens. I will try to buy local [organic] fruits & veggies from the produce section, use local farmer markets and organic milk & eggs. There is just too much information out there for me to be comfortable with feeding our family questionable food. I want to feel good about the food we are eating. I want to know the food we are eating is coming from healthy, well-treated animals - not animals who were at deaths doorstep before they were slaughtered.......or could barely walk because they were overloaded with crap food to make them big and meaty. Yuck. No thanks!

Mondays are generally my food shopping days. As we entered the produce section, I paid very close attention to where our food was coming from. The tomatoes I usually buy are from Mexico. I'll pass. I settled on tomatos from New England - a little more expensive, but that's okay. I'd prefer to give our money to local farms rather than foreign ones. Next up - lettuce. I sometimes buy organic if they are on sale, but usually they aren't. Today and from now on - organic lettuce. I bought organic milk & eggs, and all natural chicken, organic yogurts (as I usually do), etc. It's a start, and once the farmers markets start up around here, we'll be going there for our produce. I was happy to see our store had some Bison, so we will try those next time we want a burger.

A friend of mine has a sister who is a local farmer. She mentioned raising chickens. I thought, "what a fun idea!"- seriously! They are cool animals, and how fun would it be to have fresh eggs everyday from your own chickens??? I mentioned the idea to Kevin, and he laughed at me. Chickens are cheap, too! I mean, you can buy a chicken for the same cost of a dozen organic eggs at Hannaford! I tried to convince Kevin, but he wasn't having it! Yeah, I agree...getting a few chickens probably isn't the best idea for our family right now! We're a little busy raising three little girls and two dogs, not to mention, we are set to transfer a year from now. I think down the road it would be a really great learning experience for everyone, but right now.....well, I'll stick to local organic eggs and produce that come from someone else who have chickens :)

I really hope this country will move in the right direction! I think it is really sad that it costs more to eat healthy than it does to eat like crap. I mean, really? It's just wrong. I want our girls to grow up without hormones and medicated meat.....I want to know that the animals we eat are treated with respect, and not to mention are healthy themselves. Why would I want to eat an unhealthy animal? I'll say it again...It's. Just. Wrong.

Sleepover at Nana's!

When we moved from Virginia, we were glad to finally be close to family. It was tough living far away from both sets. I guess Virginia was probably the easiest place to live as we were halfway between both families! Now that we are in Maine, we live exactly 60 miles from my parents. I wish we were a tad closer, but I will take 60 miles over 500! One of the perks of having my parents close by is having them to take the girls for a night here and there. For the last two years, Mairead has been the one to have sleep overs at Nana & Papa's house, Lilah has been too little, until now! Since the last time Mairead spent the night, Lilah has been talking incessantly about sleeping over Nana's house! Well, the girls finally got their chance to have their first "duo sleepover" at my parents house. Lilah was psyched! She was carrying around her backpack all morning long asking when we'd be going to Nana's house! I wasn't at all worried at how Lilah would do without mommy & daddy with her - Lilah is much, much different than Mairead was at this age. She's definitely a good time Charlie and can forgo mommy & daddy at bedtime for a fun night without us! Here are the girls all ready to head to Nana & Papa's house for the night!

Once Kevin came home from dropping off the girls, it was just the three of us! Wow! Does it feel different just having one infant! It is amazingly quiet. I was excited to have some time with Kevin and Clara! We started off our Saturday with deciding we would start tearing apart our downstairs bathroom! Yeah, we don't have enough to do, so why not start renovating again???? We came home, and Clara took a nice nap. Once she woke up, we went out and about again, ending up at a local brewery. Clara was loving all the attention from both of us at once. She sat in the high chair for the first time, and ate lots of french onion soup from mommy!

Bedtime went amazingly fast, too! With just one bath and one child to put to bed, it was easy! Kevin and I watched a movie together without interruptions, and headed to bed! We got a great night sleep from Clara, and woke up feeling refreshed!

The girls of course were having lots of fun with Nana & Papa, and didn't skip a beat! Who can beat parks, ice cream and non-stop attention?!?!

Cookie making with mama!

Last night while I was putting Mairead to bed, she asked what we were doing tomorrow. I told her she didn't have school because it was 'school vacation' and then told her Cameron, our babysitter would be coming over. She then asked me if she could have some "mommy time"...I melted! Every Friday she is in school now, and Lilah & Clara have "mommy time", how could I say no? I told her I'd see how the morning went knowing I needed to do some closet organization in the girls rooms.

When Cameron arrived that morning, I went back and forth with what I was going to do. Chores or Mairead time....I really needed to get the girls clothes organized, but I really wanted that time with Mairead. So, I thought the next best thing was to do both! I used my time with the babysitter by getting my "chores" completed, and then once she left, I put the girls down, but surprised Mairead with some "mommy time" while the little ones were sleeping! She was so excited! I told her we were going to make cookies together, and her response was "just you and me? No Lilah?" She was ecstatic and I was so glad I was able to put a great, big smile on her face with something as simple as making cookies together.

We made snickerdoodle cookies with this recipe  from bakerella. We always make chocolate chip cookies, so I thought it would be fun to do something else! The cookies turned out okay, they didn't lie down as flat as usual - not sure what happened there, but they still tasted good! We had dinner plans with friends that night, so Mairead was excited to show off her cookies to her friends!

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.

Each year, I become more and more into Earth Day. I guess as I become older, the more I want to become involved in protecting our earth. There is a lot more I want to do, but for now, I do my best.

I think in the last year, cloth diapers have been the biggest jump in protecting our earth, and I have to admit, there hasn't been one day that I wished I never started. It's been a great learning experience, and the biggest thing I love is that it teaches our girls a great lesson about "keeping mother nature healthy".

Other things we do is try to use mostly all natural cleaning products, recycle as much as possible, I breastfeed our children and we heat our home in the winter months with a pellet stove.There is just so much more we can do!

Today, was a beautiful day outside, the perfect day to enjoy mother nature. We spent some time at the park, and came home to enjoy our beautiful back yard. We played on the swing set, and then we were all quiet. I asked the girls "what do you hear?" and Mairead says "I hear birds, mamma!" and I said "Yes, that's right! Birds. Isn't nature awesome?" and Mairead of course agreed. I told her how important it is that we keep "mother nature healthy". I then asked her what else we do to help keep mother nature healthy, and she says "use cloth dipes" - I really hope the girls learn sooner than we did about keeping the Earth healthy!

Three dogs..................................

No. We aren't getting another dog. Actually, we will never have three dogs...

During one of our weekend trips to Sunday River, Kevin's co-worker was  gracious enough to take Emmie, our almost 2 year old lab. Well, when he asked Kevin to take their 4 year old black lab, Kevin accepted. Of course, they needed help mid-week while Kevin was working. Sure, Steph can take the dog, she doesn't have anything else to do, right??? WRONG! Really, I didn't mind taking the dog, it was the least we could do to help, but......I just don't have time to be running after dogs all day!

This morning, the dog was much calmer than she was last night. This morning after we got back from the park, I let the three dogs outside with us while we played in the yard. The black lab kept running off into the woods, but would eventually come back. Our dogs usually just hang out with us in the yard, and I barely have to watch them. Obviously, this dog wanted to explore, but I didn't have the time to keep a constant eye on her. All of a sudden, I see the dog waaaaaaaaay out in the woods. I call her. I call her again.....and again. She just looks at me like "yeah. right!" Finally, I get her to come, and that's when I realize.....her collar is GONE. Her electronic collar was no longer around her neck. Seriously???? Come on! Thankfully, Kevin came home to help look for it. Yes, we spent hours and hours searching for a needle in a haystack. No collar. I even prayed to St. Anthony. Nothing. I feel horrible. These collars are not cheap. The crazy thing is, I KNOW IT IS OUT THERE. I get obsessed about stuff like this, and have a hard time letting go and letting things happen. But! It's out there. IT's there somewhere.

I had been having such an awesome day at the park with the girls. It was Earth day today, and we were enjoying the day with mother nature. When we came home, we were having fun together, and I was planning an outside picnic with the girls, but instead, I was trampling through the muddy woods looking for a collar. Ugh. I will never have three dogs.

Need a laugh? Read on...

Today, Lilah has had some runny poops, and after lunch before nap, Lilah was going poops. It didn't sound normal. It didn't smell normal. Lilah is pretty sensitive to eating a lot of fruits, so this isn't unusual for her. When I wiped her bum, it was more of a diarrhea consistency.....nice topic, huh?

Well, I put her down for a nap, and came back to get Mairead. In the meantime, Mairead was standing over the toilet just staring down......and she says in a sarcastic voice "Whaaat's thaaaaat?" I looked down, and I had forgotten to flush.

I say "Poop"

Mairead: "What kind of poop???"

Me: "Diarrhea"

Mairead: "Diarrrrrrhea poooop? Well, it loooks GROSS!" 

Me: Yeah, it doesn't look good.

Mairead: "Why did Lilah have diarrhea poop?" 

 Ahhhhhhhh! The joys of small children learning about all the fun things in life! At least a lot of the questions put a big ole smile on my face!

Happy 7 months, Clara!

It feels like it was just yesterday I was wrapping my sweet, little Clara in this cocoon. Just like her sisters, she loved to be wrapped up as tight as can be. My cousin, Kelly, knitted this for Clara, and that afternoon, I put Clara into it and she drifted into a deep sleep. She looked so beautiful, and I couldn't help but take a million photographs of her in it. The photo above has to be one of my all time favorite photographs ever. It just captures the sweet, peacefulness of a newborn. It gives me the itch. 

At 7 months now, Clara is moving further and further away from the sweet, peaceful newborn she was. Now, she is inching closer and closer towards a toddler, being able to play and enjoy her big sisters, whom she adores so very, very much. Clara is really turning into a happy, social little girl! She is using her voice a lot. She babbles "ba ba ba ba".  She loves to be tickled! She has a contagious belly laugh that makes you laugh, too. She is now sitting up, but I think she prefers to be inching around on the floor playing with all the toys. She doesn't have much interest in baby toys as much as she does playing with big girl toys! She is absolutely loving solid foods! She will eat anything, and if she catches you eating something, she won't be shy about letting you know she would like some, too! She is finally enjoying being in the stroller. She changes everyday. I wake up next to her every morning, and her smile just lights up the room. I love her.

She is now taking two very good naps, and putting herself to sleep. It just took her some time to figure things out, I knew she could do it! Her nighttime sleep is slowly getting better, too! She goes down easily at around 7:30pm and will wake between 10-11pm to eat before bed. She still wakes frequently, but each night, she improves - last night she slept 10pm-5am, amazing. I have no doubt in my mind she will be a good sleeper just like her big sisters! She still loves her mommy, and sometimes still carries the name "Clingy Clara" - I don't mind cuddling with her either! They are only little once...

I love watching our three girls interact together. Each day life gets better and better! We are so lucky to have three, amazing little girls who light up our life so much. It is amazing how fast life goes by, it seems like the first year of life is just a flash of light. I really would like to slow it down a bit...Clara only brings joy and happiness to our family. We are so lucky to have her, it feels as though she has been a part of us forever. We love you, Clara...xoxo

I'll update tomorrow with Clara's 7 month stats after we get back from the pediatricians office!

Mystery ride........

Kevin's office has season tickets to the Portland Sea Dogs. Every month, you can put your name in to "win" the tickets for a game so this month, Kevin put in for a bunch of games. He "won" tickets for tonight's game. We didn't tell the girls because we thought it would be a fun surprise.

Last year, we brought the girls and they had an absolute blast! Mairead would yell "Goooooooo Red Sox! Sea Dogs!" - she didn't have a clue really, but she surely had fun. Lilah was too little to really know what was going on. All Lilah cared about was the endless supply of yummy baseball food. To this day, Mairead still talked about the game - she is surely a Red Sox fan! :)

This morning when we were in the shower, I said: "Girls! Mommy & Daddy have a surprise for you tonight!" Of course, Mairead got all nosey asking all sorts of questions about where we were going. I think she's still trying to grasp the idea of what a surprise really is! After I mentioned it, Mairead asked over and over again where we were going. She had all sorts of ideas.....the park...out for donuts....cook cook (out to dinner).....smiling hill (a local farm) and she even mentioned the Sea Dogs! haha...

When Kevin got home, we got all ready to go. The girls were super excited to learn where we would be taking them. We told them we were taking them on a mystery ride to a special place! When we took the exit, they still weren't quite sure, but as soon as we turned right onto the street, Mairead saw the stadium and immediately said "We're going to the Sea Dogs!"

We found our seats, which are great! We ate junk food and we all loved it...though mommy & daddy are paying for it! Hamburgers.....steak & cheese.....lemonade......popcorn chicken......and the best of all......fried dough! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Even little Clara ate a little bit.

Unfortunately, it was chilly....55 degrees and very windy, which made it feel a lot colder. Little Clara wasn't diggin' the cold weather, and was pretty fussy around 7pm. It obviously was not going to get any warmer, so we packed up and went home. We sat through a few innings, ate some junk food and watched the girls have fun! The season is just beginning, so hoping for lots more Sea Dogs games with the girls this summer.

Clara's Baptism

Today, we baptised Clara at our local Church. I have to admit, we felt a little awkward today. You ask "Why"? Well, Kevin and I haven't been the best at introducing our children into God or the Church - I mean, I hate to admit it, but we hadn't even stepped foot in that Church since we baptised Lilah (though not the last time we've been to Church). It's probably one of our parenting flaws. I guess you could say the two of us have a little bit of a difficult time with the Catholic Church - not Christianity so much. The topic of Church comes to discussion every now and then, but we always leave the conversation saying that we don't have to go to Church to believe in God or to have Faith.

 Anyways....like I said before....we Baptised Clara today. :)She looked beautiful. Well, she always is beautiful, but today is special. The dress all three girls wore for their Baptism used to be my wedding gown. When Mairead was born, I wanted something special, and I thought about having my wedding gown made into a Baptismal gown. I mean, the chances of any of my kids wearing that dress for their wedding was slim. I didn't want it to stay in a box forever. I wanted it to be a special part of our family. I found this woman, Laura @ Davina Dawn Sewing and she was willing to do this for us. It is so special.

My brother, Joe and his wife, Carley are the God parents for all three of our girls. We are thankful to have them. I had them dress Clara in her dress right before we headed to the Church to meet everyone. The girls did amazing during Mass - actually all 9 children did amazing! I was so proud of all of them. They were all so well behaved, even the Priest mentioned it at the end. Clara was the only baby being baptised, so it was special. The Priest took Clara after he baptised her around the Church to welcome her. It was really nice. Clara did really well considering she was exhausted! After her big debut, she passed out in my arms for the remainder of Mass.

After Mass, we all headed back to our house for lunch. It was nice to see everyone and spend time with friends & family. It was a fairly last minute decision to Baptise Clara (we thought it would be better to get it done before summer), so we were lucky to have everyone be able to attend! Once everyone left, Clara woke up from her nap, and I redressed her in the gown so I could take some photos of her.

Fun on a Saturday night!

Tomorrow, we will be Baptising our little Clara. Since we live a little far from some of our family, they decided to come up the night before and spend the night in Portland! The girls were psyched! My cousin, Sean, has three kids very close in age to our girls. The two oldest along with Mairead & Lilah are quite the bunch! They have so much fun together. I really wish we lived a bit closer because I'd love to get the kiddos together much more often.

Once Sean and fam arrived to Portland, we met them at their hotel. We let all the kiddos (6 kids, 4 and under) swim for a while! They had a blast. We finished our swim session up in the hot tub, which was a huge hit! We headed back to their hotel room and we spent time with them and my aunt & uncle. The kids played.....and played.....laughed and laughed some more. To be young again...My brother, Joe, his wife, Carley and their little boy, Landon met us at the hotel later on, too!

We had 5:30pm reservations at Flatbread Pizza, so we called for a van from the hotel since it was raining. The girls thought they were so cool getting to ride in a van without carseats. They buckled themselves up in adult seatbelts and we headed a 1/2 mile up the road. We had an awesome dinner, and all the kids did amazing! You would think with 7 kids, 4 and under, it would be a little crazy, but in actuality, it wasn't! The kids just had fun with each other, and the adults had fun, too. Clara & Sean (the two babies, who are 6 weeks apart) chomped on food while little Landon slept in Carley's arms. We love happy babes!

Once dinner was finished, we headed back to the hotel. We called for the van again, but it was going to be a while. Mairead was so upset! She was really excited about going on the "school bus" again. We walked back to the hotel and hung out at the bar for a while. Mairead, Molly & Tess all sat at the bar. Of course, they thought they were so cool. They were all having so much fun together!

Here are a few photos I took with my phone last night! Are they cute, or what!?! 

Little swimmers!

...........no! not spermies :) ha ha ha

Mairead & Lilah!

The girls have been doing so fabulous with swimming I can't even begin to tell you! I am so proud of them! Mairead did her swim class last night without her belt, and swam across the pool without help! My little girl is swimming!!! Ever since Lilah started the big girl class with Mairead, she has improved by leaps and bounds! The instructor has been very impressed with Lilah, I mean, she's just two, and she is in a 4/5 year old swim class. She can actually be a better listener than her sister. It is quite humorous to watch the class because there are these big kids......and Lilah. Lilah also graduated to the "big girl" belt last night. She is reaching/pulling and kicking almost across the entire pool by herself as well. Soon, she'll catch up to her big sister and be swimming without her belt, too!

Can you tell I am one proud mamma of my little girls!?!

Who says you have to go slow?

If you have read my blog on babies & solid foods you will have an idea of how we have introduced solid foods to our girls. Clara is no exception.

When we arrived back from Florida in mid-March, we decided to start Clara on a little bit of solid foods. By starting, I mean, a taste here and there. Well, once we started, Clara fell in love! It didn't take long for her to catch on to what we were really doing at the dinner table! If I was eating yogurt in the morning, she'd scream at me until I gave her some. If she was in reach of food, she'd grab it, and I mean a vicious grab!

Over the last week, she wants to eat everything. She doesn't want baby food. She wants real food. She loves YoBaby yogurt, and I mean LOVES it. She sticks her tongue way out! It is so cute! None of our girls have ever really been interested in mush, they have always wanted food that tastes good and who can blame them???

The other night, we ordered pizza. She was a bit fussy, so I was holding her. I was holding her and trying to eat pizza. HA! What was I thinking??? She was screaming at me for some. Pizza??? Kid, you're not even 7 months old yet! She wouldn't stop. This kid is relentless I tell you at everything, food is no exception. So, I start breaking up some bread in tiny, tiny pieces. She couldn't get enough! She was chewing - well as much of a chew as she can do at 7 months with no teeth! She absolutely loved it! She hadn't had anything that textured and real yet, and she did great. The following day, I reheated some pizza for lunch. She caught wind of what I was doing, and started to scream. I gave her a big chunk of crust to drool on. There was no drooling! Only shoving it into her mouth. She was making me nervous, so I took it away once. MEAN MOMMY! This kid screamed......and screamed until I gave it back. I went to grab my phone so I could video it. When I took it away the second time, she freaked. It was like I hurt the kid. I gave it back, and she continued to scream, and scream some more. She shoved the thing back into her mouth, cried some more, and then settled down. It scares me this kid has a temper like this already!

I guess this method is called "child led" for a reason! Last night, she had some mashed potatoes and a bite or two of haddock, which she loved. Today, she had some pieces of cheese, and she absolutely loved it! I am all about introducing foods with good flavor at an early age. Why eat mush? :)

Who needs bloomers?

.....when you can coordinate cute dipes with pretty dresses and leg warmers...

When we decided to cloth diaper Lilah & Clara, I never thought of the fact that the bloomers that come with dresses wouldn't be needed anymore! We have diapers with fun, pretty prints on them. Why hide them with bloomers?

I had bought some leg warmers when we moved to Maine for the girls. I've put them on most recently with Clara when it was warm enough for dresses, but not warm enough for bare legs. Here is Clara sporting her pretty little outfit!

Her little belly is always showing when she wears a dress! She loves to play with her dress and her cute little feeties!

Life never gets boring!

Life with three, small girls never gets boring! Most often, life around here is hectic, but absolutely wonderful. I ask myself almost daily "would you change this?" and my answer "absolutely not" - even though each day isn't apples and spice, it is still awesome. My girls and my family are healthy and happy. I can't expect each day to be perfect. It's the days I do, that I get let down. These are the hardest days.

After Wednesdays fantabulous day at the beach, Thursday was a bit of a let down. While my great friend, Rebecca came over with her almost two year old daughter, it was still depressing. If you read my previous blog post, I wrote about how a perfect day like Wednesday can make it difficult to get through other, not-so-perfect days. You long for those warm days where everyone is happy and having fun. Yesterday was cold. Damp. Windy. Not quite Wednesday. The girls had fun playing together, but when Abby left, the girls were not themselves. They were wound up tight. Then nap time came. Clara passed out. Mairead went into her room without issues. Then there was Lilah, who was obviously tired. She refused to nap. Yelling and being wild in her room. I started to get frustrated. I needed some "me" time. I wanted to clean up. I wanted to exercise. Instead, I found myself fighting with my 2 year old to take a nap that she (and I) so desperately needed. Finally, after an hour wasted, she passed out. Ah, peace. Of course, by the time she fell asleep, it was almost time for Mairead to come out of her room, and then Clara woke up. Not quite the afternoon I had planned, but I am okay with that. Everyday can't be like yesterday!

When Kevin arrived home, I was more than ready to run. My body didn't quite feel like running, but I knew I would feel better afterwards. I needed some time for me. If you have been reading my Melting the Muffin Top blog, you'll know that yesterdays run was just what I needed! I completed my first 5K ever in my life. It felt good. It invigorated me. When I came home, Kevin and I did the shred together alongside the girls! Mairead loves it! and I love when she does it with me. I feel like I am teaching my example! A healthy lifestyle is a very, very important part of our life.

After our workout, I made my very much deserved vodka & grapefruit juice. Oh, did it taste good! A perfect ending to a not-so-perfect day. Kevin grilled some rib eye steaks, and we all had a great dinner together. Once dinner was finished, it was close to 7pm. We let the girls play a bit before bed. I was working on a fall 2009 photo book while the girls played.

Then, I hear...."Lilah, I am going to break your arm!"

I'm thinking....What!?! Just as I was about to tell Mairead we don't say things like that, Lilah was screaming. UH OH. At first, I thought Mairead just upset Lilah. Mairead isn't a physical child. She never has been. I ran over to Lilah to comfort her. She was upset saying "my arm...my arm". I thought back to last year in Mexico when I accidentally pulled her arm out of the socket. There was something wrong with Lilah's arm, she wasn't just being dramatic. She was hurting. Kevin and I were so upset with Mairead, and probably disciplined her a little too strongly, but it had to be done. By that point, I was close to 100% sure Lilah's arm was out of socket. I called the pedi and she said the urgent care clinic was closed, and we'd have to go to the ER. Great. Sounds like a whole load of fun at 8pm on a Thursday night. So, off we went. Our neighbors were gracious enough to sit with Mairead & Clara while Kevin and I were at the hospital.

Let me tell you. The ER at night is never fun. Ewwwwwww. I felt so dirty. People were hacking, snotting, puking and just looking rough. I did not want to be there. Thankfully we were taking in fairly quickly, and received great care. The doc was fantastic as well as the nurse. We did XRays just to be sure because Lilah was still acting like she was in a lot of pain after the doc tried to put her arm back in. We wanted to make sure there wasn't a fracture, especially since the doctor didn't hear/feel any pop. Thankfully, everything was negative. By the time we got back from radiology, Lilah was feeling much better and using her arm normally. So, off we went. Home sweet home.

I was so glad to climb into bed hoping tomorrow would be a much better day! Yep. Not everyday can be perfect, and you just do the best you can. I am thankful everyone is healthy, and a trip to the ER for an "arm out of the socket" is nothing in comparison to what it could have been. 

Life here is never boring, and that's okay... I still wouldn't change it, for even a second.

What?! Beach Day! But...it's April!

When you live in New England, there is no such thing as normal weather. If it were to snow on April 7th, it wouldn't be a surprise...you'd say "it's New England! What do you expect?"......Well, the same thing would hold true for the complete opposite. Today was in the 80s, in Maine, and we went to the beach! It was awesome. It was cruel in a weird sort of way. You know the weather isn't going to last, in fact, it will be in the 50s tomorrow, but now, we all will crave this summer-like weather.

This morning, I told the girls we'd be going to the beach. The look of excitement on their faces was priceless. They immediately put their sunsuits on, shoes and ran to the door. At 9:00. They were rip-roaring-ready-to-go at 9am. I hated to give them the bad news that we wouldn't be going for a while! Lilah kept saying "I ready for beach momma! I ready for beach!" So Cute!

Once we got to the beach, we met our friends there. The four of them didn't skip a beat! They were so excited! They played and played and played. Lilah and her friend, Jackie, had a blast together. The girls were throwing sand, and boy did they think they were hilarious! Mairead was antsy to go in the water. It was 40 degrees. She went in anyways. She claims it wasn't cold! Ha! Sure. Mairead even made "sand angels" - guess, we're not quite out of the snow frame of mind! Clara did great, too. She hung out with me, sat in her bumbo, played with toys, and watched the kiddos play. We all sat down together and ate PB&J sandwiches. It really felt like summer!

Today was a look into our summer to come. It is going to be awesome! Each year is more and more fun! I love it. Today was the best day! When we got home, the girls had a snack, and then.........Lilah crashed.......Clara crashed.....and I think Mairead may have, too......but she wouldn't admit it :)

I can't wait for the real summer to come, but in the meantime, we will continue to enjoy all of the beautiful days that are given to us this spring!

Easter Bunny!

 Easter was a lot of fun this year! It just keeps getting better and better! On Saturday, we decorated Easter eggs. The girls had a lot of fun doing it, and since it was so nice outside, we were able to be outside for most of it. Mairead was really into it this year! Lilah didn't know what quite to do, but she had fun trying. Once the girls went to bed, the Easter bunny came to deliver the baskets and hide the eggs.

On Easter morning, the girls dashed downstairs. They saw their baskets on the kitchen table, and wanted to climb right up to inspect what was in their baskets. They were so excited to see Disney princess dolls, sunglasses and some candy in there. Once they finished inspecting, they went off to find their hidden eggs. Mairead was so good! Last year she didn't really know what to do, but this year, she caught right on. Lilah even figured it out, too bad Mairead was so fast finding them. Poor Lilah!


As soon as they had breakfast, they were dying to dig into their basket. We let them each have their small Lindt Chocolate bunny. They thought it was so cool to have chocolate so early in the day! Lucky girls! Once the excitement diminished, we all got ready to head to my  parents house. The girls got dressed in their pretty dresses. Mairead & Lilah got new dresses from Baby Gap, and Clara wore the dress Mairead wore the day she came home from the hospital and for her 1st birthday, Lilah wore for her first Easter, and now Clara is wearing it. They all looked so pretty.

Once we got to my parents house. They tore apart their baskets and played around. We then went outside for a little egg hunt in their backyard. Mairead was so into it! Lilah was running around, too. The girls had a blast playing with their new things, blowing bubbles and enjoying the day outside with everyone. It was such a gorgeous day! We all had a blast together.

A tough question

Today, we were on our way home from spending the day with a good friend.

Mairead says: "Mommy? Can I ask you a question?"

Me: "Sure, go ahead!"

Mairead: "Why do some people die?"  

WHOA.........................Where did that come from??? 

Me: "Excuse me? Can you say that again, I didn't quite hear you..." even though I was pretty sure I  knew what she said, and sure enough, she asked the same question. I asked her where she heard the word die come from because I know Kevin and I haven't really broached the topic of death yet. Mairead told me our babysitter told her that her daddy had died when she was little (Cameron, if you're reading this, no worries!).

My mind was racing. What would be the right, most appropriate thing to tell a not-quite 4 year old girl about death? I had to think of something quick...she was waiting. I didn't want to give her an answer that would scare her. I never want her to be scared about death.

I told her that sometimes people get very, very sick and the body cannot work anymore (or something to that point) and once that happens, the person has to go to Heaven. I also wanted to clarify that sick wasn't just a cold, but more than that. Whatever it was I said satisfied her, and she didn't ask any more. I was taught way back when, to only answer the child's question, and if they ask more, then answer. I always thought that was a good rule of thumb. I always want to be honest with my children, and not give them an answer that isn't true.

I guess that is why my 4 year old knows exactly how babies are born. Knows more about a cervix than I did at the age of 20 and knows more about the human body than most adults. She asks. I answer....but never divulge too much information :) Just enough that is needed to answer the question!

Ah, this is just a remind that all these tough questions are sitting right on the tip of her tongue. It won't be long until she starts asking more difficult questions like these. Wow.