Life Happens No Matter What

Life these days.  It's void of many pictures.  Mainly because I've been lazy.  I've been through a personal battle here lately.  A funk that I'm slowly pulling myself out of.  No pictures also because I have three wonderful children who run at the sight of any camera or phone.  Can I get a amen?  

But life continues, right?  With or without pictures.  Gasp!  I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.  Kid1 and Kid2 had an abundance of pictures of our everyday up until Kid1 was 5 and Kid2 was 3.  Now our days consist of lots of Mickey Mouse.  Indoor and outdoor tricycle riding.  Yogurt.  Bananas.  And mashed potatoes.  And wondering how in the world I forgot what it's like to have a 2 year old in my presence.  It's been a while.  Nothing on this earth could prepare anyone to be the parent of a toddler.  It's the best and the worst all rolled into one.  The messes.  The tantrums.  The food throwing.  Teeth clinching.  Poop smearing. 

But I can't imagine this life without Kid3 around.  And now "mama.  mama.  mama.  mama." - I'm being beckoned in true 2-year-old fashion.

I knew it would be bad.

I'm the type of person that makes a decision, then wants it done right then and there.  My husband LOVES it.  So, I decided this afternoon that Jaxton needed a haircut.  It's something I've known for a while, but dreaded because I knew he'd hate it.  This is the kid who, when we drop him off in the nursery at church, hides himself in the playhouse that's in the room and slams the door on any other poor little toddler that comes along his way.  Or shouts "no!" to the teacher when she offers him a snack.  That's what we're dealing with here.

So to have him sit in a chair while some stranger messes with his hair?  Wasn't gonna happen.  But it was time.  The style he had was definitely a party in the front and business in the back.  All of my children have slow growing hair and it always grows on top before anything else.  I was out of ways to make it look good, so we had to go. 

Several friends gave really good suggestions on places to take him and we ended up going with a place in Bryan that had a kids car that he could sit in while they cut his hair.  Although so very cute and any normal kid would love it, the love from him lasted all of 2.3 seconds until he realized he wasn't there to play.  When she buttoned the cape on him, it was over.  I had to hold him and hold his head still while he screamed.  Thankfully, he didn't have much to cut and in 5 minutes we were done.  A quick little spiked mohawk, eight bones, and we were out the door - with an unhappy, but very cute and stylish, little boy. 

He stared down the stylist, so I'm pretty sure he'll remember quickly who she is next time we go.

Oh, hey Friday!

This week FLEW by, but I also feel like it was the longest week in the history of all the weeks.  Amen?  This week started Mr. Hill's football games that he coaches, which changed our fairly new schedule and routine.  Not that we had it down just yet.

By the way, as I was going through my pictures, I noticed that the toddler has the iPad A LOT.  Like, a lot.  Poor third child.

We were very excited to go to daddy's first football game!  Funny thing is we never even watched the game.  I pretty much had to bribe them with candy to get them to take a picture with all three bodies in it.  Even if it was the back of their heads, it's a cute one.

It was like free-play for these three.  Running.  Hide-and-seek.  One team wheel barrow races.  Heads up, never pick Kid2 to be your partner in wheel barrow races.  You won't make it past the start line.  Poor girl.

Hopscotch.  More wheel barrow races.  The toddler drank my entire drink.  We chatted with friends from daddy's school we haven't seen in a while.  And we got to hug daddy's neck after the game was over.  And, since the boy is the only child who lets me take their picture, you get blessed with an overflow of these ...

I also love the he wears hats already.  Daddy's team is the Texans, so we picked this one and he wore it the whole time.  Too. Stinkin. Cute.

This also happened today ... 

My bad.  Thankfully, I made it to the gas station and filled 'er up.  We also had playtime with our sweet friends.  Also known as - Jaxton ate all of Ruby's rice cakes.

We ended the day cleaning throw up all over the living room and dining room.  I'm not sure what the deal is, but Kid3 isn't holding anything down!  Probably all the rice cakes!  Or sweet tea.  Anyhoo - I've bathed him and oiled him and put him to bed.  This was NOT how I thought our week would end, but I'm so thankful that Mr. Hill is home tonight to clean up all the vomit help me!

Like father, like son

While at the pool, a group of guys (and 1 girl) showed up to play some basketball.  My mind went directly to "dude, it's so stinking hot out here.  why in the world would you want to be out playing basketball?'  It was like 4pm.  H.O.T.T.

My little guy, though, got out of the pool and stood at the fence just to watch.  Something his daddy would do - minus the life jacket.  {I know you all just got a mental picture of Mr. Hill with a puddle jumper floaty on though}

It's what I imagined

And more!  Having a boy is what I'm talking about this time. 

When I was pregnant and found out it was a boy, I was nervous, anxious, excited, thrilled, overjoyed, and scared all rolled into one big ball of emotions.  What was I going to do with a boy?  But I only had girls, so I really wanted a boy.   But I really wanted another girl because I knew girls.  But I wanted to have a boy to play in dirt and wear jeans with no shirts, and get messy without fussing.

And, boy, I got exactly that.

Exhibit A :  

Exhibit B :

Best of both worlds.  My boy would rather be naked, but the cutest thing ever was him walking around in just his jeans and playing with his tractors.  Another day, he was all about his Mickey Mouse helmet and refused to take it off.  Clearly, we had been playing outside which is why he's sweaty and has a dirty face. 

Another thing to know about my boy : PBJs (or GJs as he calls them) are his FAVORITE food ever. And it's almost the only thing he will eat, so he eats them everyday.  He also eats dirt, toots and laughs, and pees on the floor when he's waiting to get in the bathtub. 

ALL. BOY.

The Boy

Everyday is a new adventure with this boy.  When I get him out of bed each morning, it's pretty much a gamble at how the day will play out.  If he'll even be in a good mood.  Welcome to the world of a toddler boy, right?  Most days I feel like I was thrown to a pack of wolves.  You know, because I had two girls first.  It's an entirely different ball game, raising this boy.

Right now, his favorite things to do are to climb on the dining table.  If we just happen to be there eating our dinner, he tries to feed us.  Or throw our food.  This is just after he has thrown all of his on the floor.  And the iPad.  Or "hipa" as he calls it.  He thinks it his, as is everything else in the house. 

One weird thing though - this boy loves to have his picture taken.  GASP!  Who the heck is he?  The girls hate it when I pull out the camera.  He says "CHEEEEEEE" and stands there staring at the flash. But I get lots of pictures, which is the main reason he's featured more on here than the other two. 

He may be a mess.  He may seem a bit bipolar at times (aren't most toddlers?).  He may be causing new gray hairs to sprout on my scalp each day.  But this is one adventure that I'm so glad I'm on.

Beach Day

Galveston Beach 2014

Also Jaxton's first beach trip.  He wasn't a fan of the water.

IG Photo Collage 6.6.14

I feel like Instagram has hijacked my blog, so this is an attempt to integrate them.

These pictures have been our week so far!  I feel like they describe our summer to a T.  Lots of chalkboard drawing, Target shopping, bike riding, backyard picnics, climbing on the table, and pretending to be super heroes.  There is definitely never a dull moment around here, but I'm enjoying every minute.  Almost - unless Jaxton is screaming at someone.  The toddler has spoken.

Day 142

This guy loves to play on his sister's bed.  With her play makeup.  And I'm all like "whatever keeps the toddler busy."

Day 141

This guy is 20 months old today.  Way. Too. Fast.

Day 139

Day 136

Day 133

Day 131

Waiting for daddy to come home ...

Day 129

Day 122

Day 119

Day 118

He was hesitant.  But now it's his most favorite thing in the world.  After his blanket, that is.  And after his mama.  He's a water boy!!

Day 117

Today was our first official taste of summer.  Everyone got new swimsuits and we let them play on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it.  I believe that's their favorite way to play on hot days.  Jaxton was a little unsure at first and I had to remind everyone that this is really his first time to play in water.  It was hilarious to see his reactions, but he warmed up rather quickly and was all in it.

Day 94

This boy.  It's almost like we're reliving his colicky days all over again.  Every single day between 4 and 6 he is crazy cranky.  Making dinner has become almost impossible.  Until today.  Put him in the sink, turn the water on, give him a bowl and he's a happy man.  It was stressful because I was cooking dinner at the same time, so I was back and forth making sure the chicken didn't burn, but making sure he didn't turn the hot water on or fall out.  It wasn't worth it.  While it did give me some time to get dinner cooked, I was so stressed that he would get hurt that the chicken was dry anyway. 

Time for plan b ...