Playing catch-up

Boy, oh boy have I been behind on blogging. Honestly, this raising 3 kids thing has been a little overwhelming for me (and us) recently, so blogging has had to take a backseat while we struggle to just keep our heads above water. We sure do love our kids, but having 3 kids ages 3 and under means we have a bunch of really dependent children at the moment. Anyway, my mom has requested that I update the blog, so as I sit here and watch William and Kate's wedding for the second time today, I will take some time to upload some pictures I've had for what seems like forever.

Here is our Spring Break recap. Basically Spring Break at this point in my career as a stay-at-home mom is a joke. All of our normal activities are cancelled, but our kids are too young to go on vacation anywhere cool, so it really is quite pointless. Fortunately, my Aunt Debbie and her 2 sons came to visit us one day, as they also were on Spring Break.

Colt LOVED playing with his cousins, age 7. They were wonderful with him and didn't discount him as a playmate since he is so much younger, as other older kids often do. I haven't seen a smile glued on Colt's face for 3 hours straight in such a long time! 

We'll definitely have to get this crew together again soon. Maybe Stephen will be a good influence on Colt so he'll quit picking his nose. 

On second thought, maybe not. 

 Over spring break, Ty took Levi to Minnesota to attend his cousin's wedding.

Since Colt was bummed he couldn't ride on the airplane, I took him directly from dropping Ty and Levi (and Uncle Cody!) at the airport to the Austin Rodeo!

We had a great time at the petting zoo, riding a little train, checking out the livestock, eating ice cream!, and playing in the children's area. 

Tatum was pretty chill as usual. 

The next day we headed over to the Austin Children's Museum. They have this golf ball exhibit where you play games with the balls and can learn about velocity, speed, distance, etc. Colt was way into playing with the bright golf balls and this outing was a hit! Excuse the pics-- they are from my phone. 

This was a fun day! By the time we left, both kids were exhausted....

 In other news, Colt had his first trip to the dentist. He did fabulously! He followed all the instructions and listened well. We haven't been very diligent at oral care in the past (maybe because of my British history?), so this was a good reminder of how important it is to take care of Colt's little teeth. He loves using his new toothbrush every night now. Well, ok, I won't lie, it's still not a daily habit, but we are getting there. 

 This year my allergies went haywire!! We blew the pollen off our back porch. 3 hours later look what had already accumulated. Yikes! 

 The kids are doing well. Colt is enjoying telling stories. They almost always start with, "When I was 16, I ...." He's really into the age 16 in his stories. He also likes to pretend there is a bear in our backyard and will often make Levi and Molly come inside to hide from the bear. I'm pretty sure Levi doesn't know that the bear is pretend. 

 Colt also wants us to tell him fire department stories multiple times a day. This has been going on for 3 months now, so my creativity in the fire department story telling department is a bit wanting. The boy loves him some fire trucks!

Levi was such a champ at giving up his pacifier that we figured he'd be just as laid back at giving up his crib. Once he started climbing out of his crib (the same week he "gave up" his paci), we converted his bed into a toddler bed, since he couldn't climb back in his crib to sleep. Well, he hated his Big Boy bed and decided to sleep on the floor for the past 5 weeks, every night and every nap. I finally screwed on the mini front rail, and that apparently did the trick as he now sleeps in his bed. 

He's also decided to enter the Terrible Twos :( I've had to carry him kicking and screaming from several public buildings in recent weeks. Once I realized that my baby boy isn't such a baby anymore, but more like a master manipulator, I put my foot down and his behavior has improved now that he knows I'm not playing his game. 

  Levi continues to be the fashion-forward one in our family. 

 Tatum is just a really sweet baby. Ty likes to say that she is the least held baby in the history of the world, which is an awful thing for a father to say about any baby, much less his own! However, she was always so content to lay on her play mat and swat at toys or watch her brothers or the dog, that we often let her just hang out. Well, that changed about a week ago, and now she screams bloody murder the second you put her down. She wants to be held non-stop and has become a very social butterfly. She has also gotten really great at sitting in the past week. It's such a shame she won't let us plop her down to sit by herself! We always have to be there to keep her company! Levi is still enamored with his sister, so he's really great at entertaining her for a minute so I can run to the bathroom or fix someone a snack. 

Ok, so I assume if you are still reading this that you are family. Sorry this post is so long! I'll try to do better. But then again, how many times have you heard this unfulfilled promise in the past?! Maybe if you come down here to babysit for us, I'd have more time to post cute things about your grandkids/nephews/niece/etc. :) Life is hectic now, but rich!