First picnic of the season

It finally felt like Spring here.  Don't worry it turned cold and rainy the next day... but for that one day it was awesome!  It was sunny, and almost 70!  So, of course, that meant we had to make the most of it and we went outside and played played played!

We went to the big humongous playground and we were going to have a picnic there.  It had dried out enough so that there weren't huge puddles at the bottom of all the slides, which was good.  The kids loved running around and just being outdoors.  However, they did start to melt down a little at the end and they started looking for puddles to jump into, so we headed home on that note.

Love Dudes' face in this picture

They thought that it would be fun to 'eat' in the chariot... even though it was stationary

Lucy eating on the run

Mouth full of hummus and veggies...

Dude rolling down the hill...

He thought he was hilarious wearing her hoodie

We ended up having the picnic outside on our patio.  We put the small table and chairs out there so the kids could eat and run around at the same time.  I made chicken salad pitas, hummus and veggies and some sort of dessert.  They thought it was great.  :)  We were all just so happy to be able to be outside and enjoy nature.  Looking forward to more of these types of trips in the near (I hope!) future.

JVG

Grocery shopping

Having all the kids on an outing is interesting now with the infant carseat, but grocery shopping?  We have to get one of the carts with the extension or else we have to have one cart of kids and another for groceries!  Our cart looks so full already before we even get started!  I have to admit that I haven't quite mastered the longer cart with the kids in it (its really heavy!) and have run into quite a few things at the store.  I have luckily not knocked anything fully over (yet).  :)  Love my big family.

JVG

Library outing

This was my first outing since we had been home... yes, I know that it was probably a week and a half ago and I'm behind on blogging, but cut me a little slack ;)

All the librarians were so eager to meet Miss Norah!  They all said that she looked exactly like Lucy, which isn't a lie.  Luckily for me she stayed asleep the entire time (except when she wanted to eat) so I could just sit with Dude as he played with trains and then wanted to play dominos and Sorry.  All things I could do while holding Norah!  Lucy was a running around like a crazy person (which is typical) so Gaetan chased her around while we played.

It was so good to get out of the house and to be with the family.  I know that Dude likes it when we can all go out together.  Makes me feel more like a human being too.  The trip did wipe me out though, but it was worth it.  Having fun with the kids is always worth it!

JVG

3 on 1

Since this was finals week for WMU there has been more demand for tutoring and we aren't really ones to turn down the opportunity for making a little extra money.  However, that also means that I am actually being a Mother!  Now, I am when he's home but you know what I mean. Most people don't have the luxury I have of having their spouse home all of time to help out with the small children so I am getting a taste of what it should probably be like!

Luckily for me most people don't want to be tutored for 8 hours a day (like a normal work day) so I got eased into it.  An hour here... a few hours there... but I think I survived pretty well!  It was easy breezy when Norah would eat and go back to sleep, but it got a little interesting when I had to feed her and the kids chose not to listen, or pick on each other, or had to go to the bathroom and then she stayed up.  It was also a little hard because I'm still trying to limit the amount of times I go up and down the stairs (even though I can do them) so having them stay in one area the entire time caused my creative juices to start flowing!  haha.

Lucky for me if it got to out of hand and I felt like I was losing control of the kids I could just put on Dinosaur Train and that helped out.  :)  I like that I am starting to be able to resume my duties (haha I said doo tee) as Momma again.  I love that I can start playing with the kids more and that I can pick up after them the way I like it.  I have to admit that when Norah is sleeping (which she does quite a bit still during the day) life is easy.  I'm used to the two kids so its not any different.  And its crazy to think that having two kids is normal and easy!  haha.

Let the Momma duties begin!  haha

Am loving that this transition is going so smoothly.  And I know that it would be worlds different if Gaetan had to work every day for hours a day so I am counting my blessings and acknowledging all the help I am getting.  But I am hoping to be able to get back up to Super Momma status soon enough.

JVG

Year two: Complete

This morning Gaetan had his stat mech final.  His prof was kind enough to let him miss class once Norah was born and still come in and take the final... he even allowed him to not do the homework without any detriment to this grade.  :)  Just goes to show what being a good student, working hard and showing you know your crap the entire time will pay off!

I honestly can't believe that he's just completed his second year of grad school.  And that he has one more semester of classes and then it's on to the dissertation!  Time is flying by (well, at least it feels like it for me, but I'm not the one suffering through these classes...) and I am getting more and more excited that the end is near.  I can imagine that he is ready to be done with school forever!  This is just getting us one step closer to the rest of our lives!

So, good work hard working Papa!  You are making grad school look like a breeze and giving me a skewed idea that it IS this easy haha.

JVG

A First

I have to admit that I am not actually upset about this first.  Seeing how this is my third child and this is the first time that it has happened seems like a miracle!  Here is how this story unfolds...

I took Norah to capo today just to meet everybody and on the way home she had wet through her outfit... Oh, and everybody loved her let me tell you!  I didn't have to hold her the entire time until she got hungry and I had to feed her!  haha.  Anyway back to the story.  So upon returning home we gave her a bath, because newborns don't really like to play in the bath like the older two do so her baths are literally about a minute long.  As I was toweling her off is when it happened.  POOP and PEE everywhere!  At first I just thought that it was water from the bath but then I looked down and realized that our sweet Norasaurus had pooped all over me... and the floor... and somehow she had arterial sprayed the wall behind us!  That takes talent folks... So, that meant that BACK in the tub for her!  She was even so thorough that she got it on my shoes which have a few holes in them which meant my socks actually got it too.  New wardrobe for Momma while Papa bathed her a second time within 5 minutes.

Look at this face... you would hardly think she could do such a thing! haha

Now, this may seem really gross but since she is still nursing her poop is water soluble and doesn't stink like one thinks of poo stinking... however, I still needed to change my clothes.  I was pretty impressed at the volume and area that she had covered.  And I'm fairly certain she is going to love hearing about this story when she's older, hence the reason why I'm documenting it now for all of eternity!  haha.  Love you sweet girly... don't do it again :)

JVG

Taiwanese Noodles

I totally dig this new recipe!  It's really easy to make and it's quick!  I used Lo Mein noodles and I couldn't fine Chinese 5 Spice, and I don't think that it made much of a difference not having it.  I also used ground beef (in the recipe it gives an option of different meats) and was quite satisfied with it!  I have been using my wok a lot lately and I don't mind!

http://www.steamykitchen.com/22974-taiwanese-noodles-meat-sauce-recipe.html

JVG

Today

Today was a weird day.  Poor Norah had a belly ache all last night so my sleep was minimal... I would say it was more awake than sleep.  I feel bad for her... poor girly wants to be sweet and I can tell that she is so tired but her belly aches :( and there really isn't anything I can do for her other than stay up with her and try to soothe her and get any gas bubbles out.

Poor girly!

Lately the kids have been coming downstairs and into our room when they wake up which is actually really nice!  There isn't any upset noises that we hear through the monitor... Dude usually is on the couch reading a book and Lucy is the one that comes in and says Mama!  Papa!  I had finally gotten back into bed when this happened so Gaetan offered to take the kids out so that I could try to rest while Norah did.  Well, she rested for approximately 10 minutes after they left and was unhappy again.  So, we didn't really rest.  Gaetan had taken the kids to Barnes and Noble but Dude had a melt down so they came home and I was just getting Norah ready to go back down (hopefully) so he thought he would take them out for lunch so maybe I could (again) try and get some rest.  Well, it happened again that Norah was asleep for a good 10 minutes (usually enough time for me to get comfortable and warm in bed) before her belly started to hurt again.

After they had lunch I told him that we were up so they came home.  I could tell that Norah really wanted to sleep but needed some help, so we decided to go on a little outing and hope that the car ride put her to sleep.  Gaetan signed up for a co-ed soccer league so we needed to get him some shin guards and cleats so that's where we headed!  I also needed to eat something so we stopped and got food and the two old kids stayed with me while Gaetan took Norah to the store.  He scored big time.  Shin guards $.47!  What a steal!  And the cleats were $50 but marked down to $20.  Nice work husband nice work.

However, I think the funniest part of the day was while we were driving to the store there was this buffoon with a sign saying that we should impeach Obama and this fool had a big picture of Obama that he had drawn a Hitler mustache one.  First, are we in middle school?  Drawing things on somebody's face?  And second, the irony of drawing a Hitler mustache on a black man... really?  Anyhoo, I was slightly irritated so I politely asked my dear husband if he thought it appropriate that I give him the finger.  Of course my supportive husband said, "of course" and to get this guys attention he honked the horn so he could look!  The guy thought we were honking in favor of his stupidity and did the fist pump victory thing and said "yeah" but then did a double take and realized that I was flicking him off... it was a priceless look on his face.  And I think the most amusing thing was that I was trying to be discrete so that the kids didn't see their Momma giving not so nice gestures... Yes, just because I'm a Mom doesn't mean I still don't like to flick idiots off... I just have to make sure they don't see me do it!  haha.

Well, that little part of the outing amused me immensely for the rest of the day.  We bought the kids mini skateboards (which is adorable) and they love them!  I can't wait for it to be nice outside for them to try it out.

Dude and his skateboard

Lucy riding in the kitchen

She LOVES the rain

In fact, I couldn't get her to come inside....

Gaetan has his final tomorrow and then nothing until the fall again!  As I am getting better I know things are getting easier for him... poor man needs a break!  So, even though I didn't get a lot of sleep today turned out to be all right.  :)

JVG

It's Raining Men! (Not really)

I have to say that Michigan has had record rain fall this past week.  There has been massive flooding in Grand Rapids and various other parts of MI!  I know that my Aunt and Uncle's place is almost under water and I can't even tell you how many posts on FB I've seen about people's basements flooding!  Due to all the rain means there are massive puddles to be jumped in!  :)  There has to be an upside to all of it right?  The kids have definitely been having fun in it!

One of the rare moments it stopped raining and the sun came out!

Dude after he completed the monkey bars!

Lu was interested in what her chewed up almonds looked like...

Look. At. His. Face!

Guess they were done playing in the mud... time to go home!  haha

Another walk, in which it actually did rain!

JVG