walk slowly...

It is interesting how often we I hear these two words, walk slowly, being spoken by our little man, must be at least once or twice a day! Remember his alter ego is "Safety Patrol Man" and he makes sure we know it! LOL! He routinely will ask if he should walk slowly. I think this may stem from a few "slip & fall's" on the wet tile floor after swimming so now ANYTIME there is water involved or a situation that he deems "unsafe" he will say "Walk slowly Mommy?". Now this is at EVERY bath, out by the pool, while we are on our patio, when someone spills anything on the floor you better believe he is going to ask me those two words! It's usually always directed at me. Weird huh?! I think it's a mom thing, he knows he can trust me to keep him safe! Also I kind of think it's cute, Daddy on the other hand doesn't quite "get it". He thinks it is sort of goofy & wishes he would stop. Like why does he need to ask us or better yet say that? I really do see it as sort of endearing! So as far as I'm concerned he can continue being our "Safety Patrol Man" and when he deems necessary to tell us to...

walk slowly...

"not me"...

Oh how I wish this latest phase would just end! It seems that no matter what we ask the tribe these days they all seem to want to say it was "not me". Oh do I cringe each time they say it! Ahhh... When we are at Grandma's house she allows a different child to go outside to get her newspaper. She rotates this "treat" daily. Each morning when she say's "Ok, who got the paper for me yesterday?" they each will reply, "not me". Oh it just all goes down hill from there! LOL! Their next "treat" is when we rotate who sits in the "front" seat of the 'burb or better yet who gets to ride in Daddy's truck. They LOVE riding in Daddy's truck! Since we now have those Sunshine Kids Radian XT SL car seats in the 'burb we can fit THREE seats in one row, WOO HOO!, so that leaves one seat all by itself in the second row. It is crazy how EVERYONE wants that seat! Daddy usually takes the tribe to school so he always knows who last sat in that seat. It's when I pick them up do I make the mistake of asking "Which one of you sat up front last?". They all say "NOT ME!". I told you it was a MISTAKE! LOL! I'd just love to know who really is...

"not me"...

quad talk...

"Hold you...", This has been a favorite saying of the tribe for quite some time. I remember how my now six year old niece would say the same exact thing when she was little. At first it was SO cute to hear them express how they wanted you to hold them. Awhhh! It is not "Hold ME" it is "Hold YOU", TOO cute! They say this day in & day out. Having four toddlers makes it even tougher. They usually all want Mommy to "Hold you...". VERY hard to hold four kids at one time! SO you can see how it gets old pretty quick! Then there's the words that don't make any sense! That's when I am at a total loss! Miss Linz is the best at this. She will go on jibber jabbering FOREVER! She tells stories in her own lingo expecting me to understand. I just say "Really?" and she will usually say "Yes". Ha Ha little does she know her momma just pulled one over on her! When they are trying to tell me something they will just repeat it over & over until I "get" what they said. It's like a record that skips OVER & OVER & OVER! You want to grab that needle & stop it from skipping! hahah! I love our children more than life itself but just do not appreciate them when they repeat stuff ALL the time. Like last week when Dustyn got his haircut. Mr B, our best speaker, went around saying, "Dustyn... haircut... Dustyn... haircut...". We were like we know that he got a haircut Mr B! But he kept saying it! (= Oh was I gonna pull what hair I have left OUT! I think Dustyn was going to also! LOL! {BTW, D needed that haircut BAD!} Another part of hearing their "cute" statements of love & affection is how my hubby never "gets" what they say! He will repeat back something other than what they just said until I yell from the other room what they have been trying to tell him! CRAZY! Is this because I am around them all the time that I know their lingo? hmm... Trust me there are quite a few occasions that I actually make them repeat themselves SEVERAL times just so I can "get" what they are saying! I must admit there are still times that I do not "get" it & I just let them rattle on. I nod my head in acceptance in the hope I did not just agree to give them candy or something else they should not have! I figure at least I tried! LOL! I think my hubby just chooses not to "understand"...

quad talk...

trenches...

I am DEEP into the trenches of the "terrible twos" and I do not know how to get out of them. The last week has been a rough one! I have cried practically every day. God love my hubby for taking those tear filled calls. What I have been experiencing my girlfriend Desiree says best, "Tantrum Rodeos". LOL! Some days thats exactly how I feel, like I fought a bull & the bull won! I'm SO EXHAUSTED! I feel like I cannot listen to another hysterical cry or anymore stomping feet! This one took this one's toy or that one has this one's cup. They sure know what buttons to push! They make my nights LONG and my days even LONGER! Each day I wake up telling myself that this day will be better than the last & I am ALWAYS wrong! I have all of these ideas on how to make our home MUCH more liveable. Like first off since we cannot have a basement( SO want a basement!) to corral them into then I want a "kid" room. A place for them to have completely. A place they can do whatever in. We do not have a home big enough for us all so we need to do something QUICK! It is terrible how they wreck the place. They think they have free reign over everything & just when I clean up one mess there goes another one. Other than putting EVERY item from inside our home out in our garage out of their reach, I do not know what I should do! The only time they listen is if I tell them I have a bug. Yes our kids LOVE bugs. I cannot tell you how many times I have lied about catching a bug for them to come to me. CRAZY huh!? They bang things on the windows, they try to unlock doors, pull things off the counters, grab things off the side of the fridge or better yet wave the broom towards the walls trying to knock down the pictures. They are WILD! I take them outside & they try to push out the screens or make holes in them. Then when they have something they should not have they will run faster as I chase them through the house like it is one BIG joke. I know I'll laugh about it when they are older but right now all I want to do is cry. I get SO upset & I feel that they are putting me to an early grave. My wish to become a mommy was not granted for me to get this upset. There are few people that I can call that can relate to my struggles. We had it SO easy when they were babies. They ate when they were suppose to, slept through the night since 4 months, rarely cried & most of all loved being in their stroller! Now the hell begins! Most people including my hubby say they are just kids. Yes I realize this BUT no woman should ever have to go through what I go through. My quad PLUS momma friend Joellen will call me from time to time because she has been there, done that. She senses my frustration and trys to make me see that this too will pass. I really do think that I have aged quite a bit these past few months. Some days I have no energy to red up anything. I hope when they grow up they will appreciate the sacrifices I have made. I hope they will remember the happy times instead of these CRAZY times! Does it ever get better? PLEASE help me get through this! If there is anyone out there that knows how I feel or experienced the same PLEASE give me pointers on what to do! With a LOT of prayer I hope to get out of these...

trenches...

priceless...

Lateley we have had some "priceless" moments in our household. Our little Brendan has become quite the talker of the family. He will try to say practically anything. For the most part we can understand him the best. His new phrase or word has been "Whatzup dude". He must seem to like the feel of it roll off his tongue because he says it ALL the time! It all started when my mom's neighbor Jim would come to visit all the munchkins and ask Brendan "What's up Dude!?". He just LOVES when Jim says it & has copied him ever since. I think he particularly LOVES the dude part. I catch him saying it when he is alone. He will get a HUGE smile on his face & then start to giggle after saying it. He must know that we get a kick out of hearing him say it. In the beginning he would say it whenever we asked him to. You know like it was a special trick and we wanted every other person to hear him do it. Yes, we turned in those kind of parents, the ones that have their kids perform right then & there for friends & family. Well he no longer does it on "command". It's like he has to be in the "mood" or something. LOL! I must say that it just cracks me up when he says it. Makes me realize that he is not going to be my baby boy much longer. That he is growing up SO quickly & I need to capture these moments. Oh how I love snuggling with my little man! We will sit down together & carry on "conversations" all the time. He will try to say almost any word I throw at him. Some words come out perfect, others like cantelope are not so good but just as funny! He loves to copy anything we say. UH OH! We better watch out what we say around him! LOL! The "dude" part, well that is just PRICELESS! He is TOO TOO cute! I just love these moments, especially the ones that I just HAVE to write about! they are...

priceless...