Time to baby proof

Well baby #3 is ALL over the place. He is a crawling fool and leaves his trail of spit up for us to find him. So glad we opted not to replace our carpets yet and instead invested in a carpet cleaner. G brings out that sucker once a month and within 2 hours our carpet looks like a bad 70s shag with orange, green and yellow spots.

When we left for Disney last month P was just starting to sit unassisted. He conquered that while we were gone as well as started to move ever so forward on his hands and knees. Since then he is a master of sitting, crawling and pulling himself up on his knees. He is into EVERYTHING. Nothing is safe. His favorite toy: the hideous vertical blinds in our kitchen. He loves pulling on them. He also got a wonderful report from our first home-bound PT appointment (our one and only). He is in the 90 percentile for gross motor skills and he is officially written off of home PT. We are so thankful. We have OT coming this week and I suspect it will go just as well and all early interventions will cease. What a true blessing.

We have been enjoying much of the last 7 months with P home. We are shocked at how fast time is going with #3. It is amazing. It feels like everyday a new skill is learned. The older two are working with P to get his verbal skills rolling. They repeat every noise he makes and he responds by making a new noise. It makes for loud car rides but I love it. I love that my two oldest want to help P become more verbal.

Speaking of the other two...Ry is growing like a weed. It seems overnight she shot up. She is now as tall as her good friend S. Also she is growing her hair out which has completely changed her appearance. She looks like a big girl. I love her to pieces and can't believe she will be entering kindergarten next year.

E is talking up a storm. He's favorite phrase; No Way or Go Away. He is such an even tempered little boy who generally is a gender neutral player. He loves twirling in his sister's dress up gowns and playing with his trains and matchbox cars. I love how happy he is and his favorite place to go is home. He is not much for running around town and needing to constantly go, go, go as my oldest. He loves being home, playing with his toys or his sister's playdates.

I can't believe the holidays are almost upon us. I have started the shopping but now need to go in overdrive this week to get it done due to G's crazy schedule. I am so looking forward to Christmas as a family of five and that we get to spend it all together at home.

The BEST Parts of Me

Changes

Lots of changes are starting in the Sharp Household. The biggest one has yet to make its arrival although the anticipation of finding out the gender is about killing me. I spent one evening taking an online test (with all the wives tales) to see if I could at least have an accurate guess. Came up with nothing (54% girl vs 46% a boy). I don't think those old wives could figure this one out unless they had an ultrasound.
I had my first internal earlier this week and I am sitting at 3 cm dilated. I know it doesn't mean much (I was 2 to 3 with E for weeks). My only wish is that my folks make it back in time from their trip. They should... they arrive back here on Monday.
Our first big change happened early this month with my husband sold his SUV on Craigs List in 2 hours. It was crazy and we never thought it would happen in a matter of hours. Guess we should have asked for more money. That said, we started the process to purchase a minivan. We waited the entire month till my color choice finally arrived. I was getting a little freaked but it happened. As of today I am a minivan driving mom. What an adjustment.
Kids are doing well. Ry is loving preschool and asks everyday if she gets to go (even weekends). If a 7 day a week program existed she would be signed up. E has had more exciting changes. We moved him into a big boy bed at the end of January in his sister's room. The first few weeks were a bit difficult with the nap but he has adjusted (as we all have adjusted to making it quiet so he doesn't think he is missing something). Ry has been a great big sister in the whole matter and due to her brother's arrival in her room she has been sleeping in her bed every night. That has been a huge blessing as I was getting a bit tired of sharing my bed as my belly was expanding. I am a woman who needs space and a snoring 4 year old who doesn't roll over to stop was infringing on my space. I know there will come a point when I look back on her need to sleep with her mama and will miss it. Just not while I am 9 months pregnant!!
The end of this month has been eventful. If you follow on FB you know exactly what I am talking about... hubby is doing a bit better (at least he isn't in the hospital) but he is still having some health issues that remain unanswered. We are just taking it one day at a time and hoping it is all infection related.
I am excited for March to come. My folks return, my baby boy turns 2 and we will have a new addition. All good things.

Cupids

Here are my two cupids who filled my cup of love today while their daddy was flying back to the states from a 2 day stay in Bermuda!

In Memory

My mother-in-law, Jean, passed away Tuesday. Today her family has gathered for a memorial service. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it due to little ones, colds and a very special birthday party for my oldest. My husband is in Florida celebrating his mother's wonderful life and my heart is with him and his family today.

A Day Late

Yesterday was our Fifth Anniversary!

July 2004

October 2005

August 2006

September 2007

Fall 2008

Spring 2009

I can't believe how much we have done in five short years. I love you and all the blessings you've given me. I am excited to see what the next five years will bring!

Addyson turns 1

A few weeks ago the Sharp clan traveled to Indiana to attend a first birthday for my 2nd cousin, Addyson. Her mom, Leigh-Ann and I are 1st cousins.

Friday night we were able to meet up with the Piasecki clan and walk the streets of Goshen, IN for their First Fridays. It was a nice way to get out some of the energy and enjoy some of the beautiful weather.

Saturday was the party and it was a nice easy going afternoon. Ry and E were well behaved although E does have a tendancy to scream at strangers and there were lots of them there but after a nap he had a nice disposition. It was a nice weekend and we hope to visit again soon.

Shhhhhh

Things are quiet and I don't have much to say... okay that's a total lie but honestly I am not sure what to write about since there are so many things swarming in my mind. I could chat up the spring cleaning (boring but necessary), my husband's absence (frequent and old news, hey he is a pilot), my procrastination (we've been there before) or I can talk about something that makes me uncomfortable (WINNER)!
Lately I haven't been a good mom... actually I am downright ugly horrible mom. Ryleigh and I have been have been having issues with one another. My sweet pea and I aren't seeing eye to eye on a number of things and her way of dealing with me is physical (hit, slap, kick...). And my response is to YELL LOUD. The last 2 nights I have yelled so loud I feel the next sound I will hear are Children's Services knocking at my door to remove my children from my home because no parent should ever yell at their children to the point it sounds as if a physical altercation is about to happen. I am not proud. I just wish I understood where is comes from, how I can let myself get so frustrated with someone so small and unable to truly defend herself.
I admit I have my 'normal' faults as a stay-at-home person... I don't play enough with my kids, I don't attempt to engage them enough in things to keep their minds growing, I don't always listen to them.... but we all falter there from time to time but the yelling...that's a completely different ball of wax.
There is a woman I know (SHAM) who I have watched yell at her children with no regret (or at least it appears that way) when she is discipline them. The kind of yelling you're embarrassed to witness. Now, I am in control in public, at times I may raise my voice, but never do I yell with the phenom I seem to have over the course of the last couple of days. I am worried that I am losing it...my composure, my confidence and the values that I've been trying to teach my children (that clearly I am not following). I don't want to be that other person who can lash out in public or private.
My hope about being public about my missteps in my 'behind closed doors' life is what I need to straighten up my act. Here's to keeping it cool and using my indoor voice.

Family

The week we got hit with the terrible flu bug the weather was fantastic and we missed it. Then it got cold again and I thought it maybe weeks before we saw some signs of spring.
Last weekend we made a BIG purchase. We have been preparing for this since last year and we couldn't be more excited. And to make it all the better, spring weather came with it!


Now I will fill you in on all the gory details of this swingset. It took my husband & a friend two days to put up the majority of this set. Then we had to wait for a beam that was missing from the box to get the monkey bars up. How a wooden beam didn't make the box is beyond me but Rainbow was great to deal with and they sent it out right away. Once we received it my lovely husband spent two days putting it together (and making several trips to Lowes and some specialty fastener store due to missing hardware). Now wouldn't it have been easier to account for all the pieces from the beginning?!?! That would be too methodical for my man!


Overall I am excited for the whole thing to be done and we can have a summer of fun in our backyard. As we calculated it, this will be our kids birthday present for the next 8 years at $100 a piece... so excited we won't need to buy birthday presents till Ry is 11 and Evan is 9! However I don't think that will work... damn that would have been sweet!

Evan's new friend

Addyson & Evan hamming it up for the camera!

Trick-or-Treat

In September Ryleigh & I discussed costume options and she wanted to be a butterfly. I began looking at costumes trying to figure out which direction to go and Ryleigh found her old costume from last year. She put it on and I asked if she wanted to be a bumble bee for Halloween. She told me yes, and so Ryleigh was a bumble bee a second year in a row. HOORAY for that! Although last night will be the last time she gets in that costume...it's starting to get a bit snug.

My folks came over to help with the trick-or-treat festivities again. We had a good time. My mom walked with Evan so I could take Ry around to all the houses. My dad stayed behind and passed out the candy to all the neighborhood kids (and those who drove into our neighborhood to trick-or-treat). Ryleigh was a lot of fun. She was able to walk all the way to the entrance of our neighborhood. She actually ran most of the time. She always greeted neighbors with a "Happy Halloween" then proceed to say "trick-or-treat". I also was very impressed with her thank you. All in all a good night. She didn't seem to notice that I took all of her candy but 5 pieces for her to have over the next 5 days!

Fall is in the air

This month is flying by and I have not posted much since I caught the facebook bug. Glenn is back to regular traveling and we are settling into our fall routine (MDO, Colds, Halloween, etc). This past weekend was family weekend. Friday we went to COSI to check out the new exhibit, Sesame Street presents the body. Ryleigh really enjoyed it. She played at Mr. Hooper's store, listening to Oscar the Grouch from inside his trash can & took a quiz with Bert & Ernie.

We also went to our local rec center that evening for a Halloween Party with the kids dressed up. It was fun and we kept it short & sweet due to the time.

Saturday we headed to Leeds Farm for some pumpkin fun. We got a late start though and Ryleigh's disposition was in rare form. We stopped at Wendy's She threw a tantrum at Wendy's that lasted through the time we were there, the remainder of the drive home and continued for another 4o minutes at home. It was comical.

Firehouse Fun!

Sunday was family day in the Sharp Household. Glenn was home and our local fire department had an open house. It was lots of fun and Ryleigh really enjoyed herself. She loves the fire dept (she also went last year for a tour with my moms group). Evan was good as gold and really loved his red balloon.

Here I am...Rock ya like a hurricane

I think I've watched The Weather Channel too much. I have this whole ad campaign in my head with the Scorpions tune in the background and Jim Cantore standing in the pelting rain of the outer bands of a catergory 5 hurricane holding onto a palm tree. Yes, this is how my vacation was spent. I was on the up and up of my HURRICANE AUTHORITY (thanks twc)!

Glenn, the kids and I (plus my folks) went to Hilton Head labor day weekend for what was to be a relaxing 7 day trip of beach, sun & fun! Our days in HH were nice although we cut the trip short due to Tropical Storm Hanna. We made lemonade out of lemons & headed to Crozet, VA (minus my folks...they went home) to visit my sister's family.

She's having a baby!

My cousin is having her first baby in June. I went to her baby shower a week & half ago. The shower was near Toledo so we had a 2 1/2 hour drive. My mom and I drove up with Evan and left Ryleigh with my dad. It was a nice trip although exhausting because I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.
Ryleigh had a blast with her grandpa. He took her to the park in the morning and took her for Graeter's Ice Cream after her nap! He then prepared her favorite meal for dinner...spaghetti and meatballs.
Evan slept the entire car ride up and we had only one hiccup on the way back. We had to stop in Perrysburg for about 1/2 hour to nurse. It wasn't so bad though. My mom and I played 30 second mysteries.

Recent Frenzy

Ryleigh and I spent the Thanksgiving Holiday in Crozet, VA (near Charlottesville) visiting my sister and her family. We drove down on Wednesday with my parents, about 7 hours. We left mega early and arrived by lunch. It was great to be able to see my sister's new home and spend time with her family. My brother also came in which was a nice surprise.

The girls had a good time together. Avery was really good with Ryleigh considering their age difference. I think they look possessed in the top photo.

Our Sunday

We spent our Sunday getting our annual family photos done by a great new photographer. Toni gave us a sneak peak of 2 shots. I am so excited to see the rest in a few weeks!

Miss her

Here is my beautiful niece, Avery. She and her family (my sister & brother-in-law) moved to Virginia a couple of months ago. My brother-in-law sent photos from Halloween. I was so excited because they haven't done digitals since she was a wee one and she's now 6. It was good to see her... even in a photo!

Family Day

I love this time of year. The nip in the air, the pumpkins, Halloween and my birthday all coincide with my favorite month of October. I was so glad Glenn was home this weekend so we could go to Leeds Farm. We found out about it from Meredith (thank goodness...it was 100% better than where we took Ryleigh last year).
We had a terrific time and Ryleigh had a blast. She went down the slides surrounded by hay. She rode the kiddie train, played in the corn, did a hay maze and went on her first hay ride. We also got some great pumpkins. It was a great family day!