A Moms life

11 months old

Yes, 1 month from today, my little baby will be 1. One year old, I just can't believe it. Look at that face, poor little guy gets hundreds of kisses a day on it.

I think everyday about how I never saw myself with 3 kids. I was a two kid mommy. Now of course I can't even remember what our family was like without him. He knew he was supposed to come into our family and was just waiting for the right time. That's not to say that life with three kids is easy, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Ari was the missing piece in our family. I know it sounds so cliche, but he really does complete our family.
Ari is such a sweet and special little guy. He calms me and centers me and can always bring a smile to my face with his little antics. He pretty much cries every time I put him down or walk away from him. He is always looking for mommy. As soon as he sees me, his face lights up and his whole body starts waving and bouncing. He makes the cutest little sounds and noises and I just can't bear the thought of him growing up. Tonight, Zoe said that she wants frogger to stay a baby forever so that he will stay cute. Hmm.. I wonder where she got that from?!
We love you Ari Froggerman!

Hey photographer friends..tell me how the color is looking on your monitors and what does not look right, I am still having color issues!

I feel a blog post coming on...

Todd says that to me at least once a day. Since it has been two weeks since I have posted, I clearly have forgotten some of those funny and adorable things the kids have done. I've got excuses..lots of them.

Excuse number 1 would be summer vacation which for a mom of three kids under 6 is FAR from a vacation. We have lots of things planned to keep us busy, but no school for the kids means no time for me.

Number 2 is the fact that I am training to do a half marathon with team in training. It is quite amusing considering I can barely run 2 miles right now, but I'll get there..somehow. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

My last excuse is that I have been awaiting the arrival of my new baby. When you know that a new and better one is on the way it is hard to spend time with the old one. Lucky for me, my new baby arrived yesterday and it was a girl. Here she is:

Isn't she just beautiful? I have been eyeing this pink dell for quite a while and now it's mine.

I have taken way too many pictures these last few weeks and don't know where to start with doing something with them. I was going to wait to share them until I get the color figured out on the new computer, but decided to post some anyways so excuse the colors if they are off.

Here is Ari & Daddy. I want to burst into tears when I realize that he is going to be one next month..one! He is way more of a mamas boy that Eli ever was and I don't mind it one bit. Sure he cries everytime I am less than 2 feet from him, but he'll get over it and hopefully not a minute to soon.
 

Here is Zoe & Daddy having a little race. Racing with Zoe means she is either in front of you the entire time or she is screaming at you to "let me be in the lead". This girl knows how to turn on the charm and is well aware of what her place in the family is..she is definitely sugar and spice.

Eli looking so grown up with the skinned up knee that will probably be like that until he is at least 18. He amazes me sometimes at how smart and grown up he is. I still think of him as a baby and forget what he is capable of.

That's it for now. I'll try to come up with something more interesting soon.

1 year ago..

I owe Eli a post. If I scroll down, I don't see much about him and that is just one more thing that makes me feel like a bad mom!

It was one year ago this past weekend that Eli has his accident that resulted in him losing three of his teeth. That day and the following days sucked, they just did. To have to watch your child get badly hurt when they are just inches away from you is no fun. But..as I have said before, perspective is the key to motherhood and they were jut teeth, baby teeth at that.  Over the past year I have gotten used to his smile and most people just assume they just got loose and fell out. It's funny..I was visiting with an old friend and her mom a few weeks ago and telling them about El's accident. The mom mentioned that one of her sons knocked his front teeth out when he was three but could not remember how it happened. I can't imagine ever forgetting what happened on May 31st 2007, but who knows. Are all the other accidents the kids have going to take up space in my memory bank pushing that memory right out?

Now on to the good stuff. Eli is going to be done with kindergarten next week. Wow, that went by fast! Here he is ready for school with that cute smile of his.

Eli has LOVED kindergarten, it has been such a wonderful experience for him and he can't wait until first grade starts. Here he is after the most adorable little dance performance that his class did a few weeks ago.

I have to say, it is hard to get a rave review from Todd about my pictures, but he said this next one is one of his favorites.

The most exciting thing that happened in kindergarten is that Eli learned to read and it has become one of his favorite things to do. Late at night when we think he has gone to bed, we can sometimes find him in his room with the light in reading some of his Scooby Doo books. I really hope that he continues with his love of reading.

I am not going to lie and say that Eli and Zoe get along all the time, they don't. Sometimes they can really just pick on each other ALL day. But..they also love each other very much. Eli is very protective of Zoe. I love it when we go to the beach and he always has his eye on Zoe to make sure she is not getting to close to the water. Once he sees that, he holds her and to protect her...how sweet.