Unexpected Doctor's Trip

I find it very difficult to decide when to take the kids to the doctor.  There are the obvious times, like when #1 fell off a slide and broke his collar bone.  But there are so many in between times.  On one hand, you can get them in the doctor, figure out what really is wrong, and maybe start them on medicine to get them better.  On the other hand, you take them to the doctor, you disrupt all the other kids' schedule, you expose everyone to new germs just by being in the office, and there is no remedy.  I have friends who always take them to the doctor and friends who rarely take them in.  I fall in the middle and am constantly stressing about whether I should take them or not.  It is such a hard call.

Yesterday, my MIL told me flat out that #1 had strep.  I trusted her - messed up everyone's schedule - took him in - and yes it is strep.  But I didn't take the others in - maybe they have it it?

Crafty Tuesday - Playdough

Most of the time I am too busy running around, cooking, cleaning, coordinating schedules - to stop and have an activity for the boys.  My goal is to have one crafty activity a week.  Maybe more - if they are a hit!

Today we started simple - playdough!  Now that #3 is 18 months the likelihood of him eating the playdough has gone done, so I decided to take it out.  We had made two batches - one green and one red a while ago.  There are a ton of reasons to make your own playdough...1) fun activity for the kids; 2) cheap; 3) non-toxic; 4) you always have some...

Playdough Recipe

2 cup flour
1 cup salt
2 cup water
1 tbsp. cream of tartar
2 tbsp. oil

Food coloring by drops

Mix over stop top until it has a mashed potato consistency.  Add food coloring and mix until combined.  Knead and enjoy.  Keep in a ziplock bag when not using.  

Monday Recipe and Weekly Meal Planning

Well, so much for posting everyday.  It is the first Monday of June - so I am going to give it another go and see if I can really commit to posting and maybe someone will read it!

I have gathered some really tasty, kid-friendly, and healthy recipes.  Every Monday I will post a new one along with my weekly meal planning.  Yes, I really plan all of our dinners for the week.  A year ago I found this great idea on pinterest.  So now I can plan my meals in style.  I have it hanging on the wall of my kitchen.  #1 is getting so good at reading that he can tell what we are having for dinner.

3 boys menu....  6/4/12

Monday - Crockpot Corn Chowder (recipe below) with fresh bread and butter

Tuesday - Spinach and onion fritata with french toast sticks

Wednesday -  Crockpot Corn Chowder (recipe below) with fresh bread and butter  [we love leftovers!]

Thursday - Pesto Tilapia, roasted brocolli, maple acorn squash

Friday - Steak, carrot kugel, grilled zucchini

Saturday - Out somewhere :-)

Crockpot Corn Chowder - from Stephanie O'Dea of crockpot 365

Here is my version - just slightly different from the link...

1 quart veggie broth

2-4 cups water (depending how much room you have left)

1 small onion chopped

1 red pepper chopped

4-5 peeled and chopped carrots

2 16-oz bags frozen corn (1 roasted and 1 plain)

2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped

Combine all ingredients in crockpot.  Cook on low 8-9 hours or high 5-6 hours.  Before serving I serve my 3 boys the soup with all the chunks of veggies.  They do not like the blended soup.  Once I have their portions for tonight and any future servings of this meal - I use an imersion blender until smooth.  It is great for leftovers!

Toddler Classes

Generally, I am a big fan of toddler classes (also baby classes - but I don't have one of those anymore).  The classes give structure to my busy day.  They also provide needed stimulation for #3.  Most importantly, for 45-60 minutes I am forced to focus on the child right in front of me.  I am not interrupted to my singing or playing to clear the dishwasher, fold a load of laundry or to let the plumber in.  With three little people in my house - the opportunity to focus on one child for almost an hour is an incredible blessing.  I cherish these times that I can just watch this little boy of mine play, laugh, interact with other kids and snuggle with me without any distractions.  Pure bliss!!!

Recipe Share ~ Pasta Fagioli

Here is one of my favorite go-to recipes.  It only uses ingredients that I always have on hand.  It also is very low fat.  Most importantly, everyone in my family happily eats it!  I like to serve it with a green salad, homemade bread sticks or crackers.  It reheats very well - which is great because I love leftovers!  The pasta in the soup sucks up all the liquid so when heating it the next day I add some water to each bowl of soup.

Pasta Fagioli (from Rachael Ray)

2 T extra-virgin olive oil                                

1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme                                           

2 dried bay leaves
1 medium onion, finely chopped                   

1 small carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped                           

4 large cloves garlic, chopped
Coarse salt and pepper                                  

2 cans cannellini beans
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes                   

2 cups water                        

1 quart veggie stock                                      

1 1/2 cups ditalini (pasta)
Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil, herbs, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season vegetables with salt and pepper.   Cook until they begin to soften.  Add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente. Remove bay leaf from soup. Let soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes.

Yield: 6 BIG servings

The Uncertainty of Sleep

When my husband and I had discussions about having kids we talked about money, schools, extra-curricular activities, parenting styles, discipline - but we never talked about sleep.  Or the lack of sleep.  All of our kids were horrible sleepers as infants.  We had to basically hold #1 around the clock on a rotating basis for anyone to get sleep.  Yes, part of that was our issues with being new parents.  Part of it was #1's sleep issues.  We are full believers of Ferber.  Yes, I said it FERBER!  Sometimes, this method is confronted with shame and ridicule.  "How could you let your baby cry?"  Listen, it wasn't easy to hear #1 cry his eyes out.  I actually took to the hallway of our apartment with a bottle of wine the first night we employed the Ferber method.  It was really hard to suffer through that first night.  #1 was up for most of the first night.  But the next night he slept un-swaddled in his own crib in his own room for 12 hours.  We had to Ferberize #2 and #3 - but they weren't as dramatic the first night.  Once we got through the Ferberizing point - and they were eventually weaned from breastfeeding you think the sleep troubles are over....  the thing I am learning is ~ they never are!!!

In our house - all the boys have their own rooms.  #1 and #2 are in beds and #3 is in a crib.  I expect by 8pm for everyone to be in bed and stay there until at the earliest 6:30 am the next day.  This might be totally unrealistic - but this is what I expect.  Some nights and mornings actually go like this.  But you can never predict what will happen.  Last night #2 got out of bed 6 or 7 times over the course of an hour.  At 9pm #1 came into the kitchen asking for water.  5am #2 was screaming - his nightlight was not working and he couldn't find his lovey.  6:00am #1 was too excited for his field trip to sleep.  6:15 - #1-#3 were all up for the day.  What will happen tonight and tomorrow is anyone guess.  All I know is that I need some more coffee!

Weight Watchers - day 1, again!

Being a Mom of three, or a Mom of one, or hey even a woman - there is a constant battle with weight.  I feel like I have been battling it since high school.  Up and down I go.  I go up - and then I recommit to whatever new plan (or old plan) I have.  I make all these promises and plans to myself and others - and somewhere along the line the plan fails.  I fall off the wagon.  I take a slide down - I eat fast food, forget about the gym until I have had enough and then I recommit again.  It is a vicious cycle that I am having trouble breaking and that has provided me little success.

Even before my pregnancies I had these issues and with the weight gain of pregnancy things got even harder.  With #1 we did IVF, which came with a lot of drugs and 10 lbs before I even got pregnant.  Then I let lose!  55 lbs later we had a beautiful baby boy!  18 months later, a friend convinced me to join the gym and I was able to lose 65 lbs.  All of the IVF weight and baby weight.  Pregnant with #2 I was too busy to chow down as I had before.  Only 35 lbs.  I was able to shed those fairly quickly and then start attacking the extra weight I had been trying to get rid of since my post-wedding gain.  I was pregnant with #3 and gained about 40.  Here we are - 18 months after #3 and it has been a roller coaster.

I won't go into all the little ups and downs on the scale.  The really frustrating thing is that the things that had worked after #1 and #2 are not enough now.  I am not 28 or 30 anymore.  I am 34 and my body is not cooperating as it used to.  I am worried that to get the weight loss I want I am going to have to go to the gym 5 times a week and have my eating near perfect.  With three young kids I cannot wrap my head around how this is possible.  I got on the scale this morning and the number glaring back at me set me in a tailspin today.  But giving up, doesn't feel like a real option to me.  What else can I do but try.

I am putting my goals out there with the hopes that it will help me stick to them.  I am going to try really logging all my food.  I just adjusted my weight watcher points to reflect the fact that I am no longer breastfeeding.  26 points is soooooo low!  I am going to drink my water.  I am going to try to exercise 5 times a week.  I am going to do this for the next 30 days and see how I am doing.  Let's do this!!!   

Traditions - Shabbat

I think traditions are so important in a family.  They do not need to be religious - just something that the kids can expect to happen, look forward to and that brings the family together.  We have a lot of religious and non-religious traditions that we try to follow.  Our most common religious tradition is shabbat.  Every friday night, either at our home or a relatives or friends house, we say a prayer to light two candles, my husband then blesses each child (in age order), we say a prayer over the wine and finally a prayer over challah.  We then eat dinner and try to reflect on the past week.  When my husband and I were first dating we would do our "highs and lows of the day."  We would each tell the other one great thing that happened (the high) and one not so great thing (the low).  As our lives got more and more hectic we reduced the frequency to  the "highs and lows of the week."  Very often the high is - "I jumped so high."  And the low is - "I fell down."  Or the high and the low were things that happened that day.  We then try to give some suggestions.  "Maybe your high could be your birthday party that was on Sunday."  What I like about it, is that we all get to express how are time that week has been.  We get to connect to one another - which is something so special - I hope we keep up with all of our shabbat practices.

Mom gym time

Mom time is so important!  In the beginning I had such a hard time taking this time for myself.  #1 was 18 months old and a friend of mine told me straight out that I had to join this gym with her because I needed sometime to myself.  I really didn't want to.  I never liked going to the gym.  It was really expensive and I would have to leave #1 in the nursery there - which is something I had never done before.  Up until this point he had only been left with immediate relatives.  My friend would not give up - she even threatened to call my mother!  I finally agreed.  It was heart wrenching leaving him for the first time.  For the first couple of weeks he would cry for the first 5 minutes - but he would then find a toy and go on his way.  I was free!!!!  Well, I couldn't leave the building and I had to be exercising.  But running on the treadmill while watching tv having no child on top of me and then taking a shower by myself - truly felt like heaven!  Today, I still drag them all to the gym.  I need it for my health and sanity.  I think the time is running out on how much longer I can take #1.  But I will take it while I can.

Playgroups

I am not exaggerating when I say playgroups were the reason I survived my first year of motherhood.  When I had my first baby at 28, I didn't feel young - I felt ready.  What I didn't realize was that none of my friends had babies - and this was a big problem!  I had no one I could go to for advice.  I had no one I could go to who understood what I was going through and could really sympathize.  The day my husband went to work after his paternity leave, I stayed inside all day with my perfect little baby boy and cried my eyes out.  I felt so alone and scared.  Thankfully, I found a new mom's group and launched into mom friend making mode.  Making friends is never easy - and it always takes work.  But the work was worth it.  Once I realized I could get out of the house and survive on my own, I went to every group I could find.  Eventually, our new mom's group continued out on our own for a couple of more years.

With every new baby, I have gone to classes and tried to make new mom friends.  I did this so I could have friends with a kid the same age as mine.  It is always so helpful to be around people and kids going through the same things at the same time.  Even though I have done much of this before - it is easy to forget what the should or should not be eating or activities they should be doing.  It is also great for kids who are not in a daycare setting to be around kids their own ages - to begin to share, play and interact.  Thank you to all the moms from 6 years ago when #1 was born and to the moms now who enrich my life, make me a better parent and keep me going.

No sick days for Mom

I think, one of the hardest things about being a mom is not having sick days.  If the stay-at-home mom is sick lunch still needs to be made, the kids still need to go to school, basically life as normal needs to happen for the kids.  It is the worst!  Today, I desperately needed a sick day.  I have a horrible head cold - the only thing I wanted was far from my reach - a day, no even just a couple of hours tucked in my bed, with netflix and a box of tissues.

When things have been really bad I have reached out for help from my mother-in-law who lives in town, or my mother who lives a 4 hour car ride away.  I have even asked friends to help drive the kids around.  I am always so hesitant to ask for help from other Moms.  The last thing I would ever want to do, would be to give my germs to my friends.  

So I made it through the day - NyQuil is calling.  My husband is on tonight if any of the little ones wake up.

Sheapshearing Festival

Having small kids who wake up early, take limited or no naps, and need constant activities means that festivals, fairs, carnivals and other outdoor events are your best bet to have some fun and tire the kids out.  This was our second time at the sheep shearing festival.  We had a really nice time and I want to remember to add it to our annual events calendar.  It was a great day where we got to see this very interesting sheep herding demonstration, sheep shearing, and the dogs catching frisbees.  It was great being outside, running into neighbors and tiring the boys out.

Traditions - Birthdays

When my husband and I were very recently pregnant with #1 - we took a day trip to Martha's vineyard.  We spent the day walking around and talking about how we envisioned our family life together.  We bought a journal and wrote down "rules" for our family and family traditions that we wanted to keep.  I think family traditions are extremely important.  They give our family a source of identity.  The kids like the predictability and excitement of these traditions.

Today, #1 is 6 years old!  We are keeping some old and some new traditions.  Our biggest birthday tradition is breakfast in bed.  This was hard today since #1 needs to leave the house by 7:40.  I helped this along by making pancakes last night, after the kids were asleep.  I just reheated this morning and #1 was so happy to have his breakfast in bed.  A new tradition we added was putting balloons on the floor of his room so there was a big surprise in the morning.  The final tradition we have for birthdays, is the birthday boy gets to pick what is for dinner.  Tonight's dinner ~ hot dogs!

Bag Packing - t-ball

I think a lot of being successful with little kids is having the right supplies.  Coming up with the essentials to carry around on a daily basis, have available in your car, or to have for specific outings comes with a lot of trial and error.  #1 had his first t-ball practice and I tried to be so prepared.  Practice is at 5:30 so I decided to bring a picnic blanket, dinner for all of us, mitts, balls and hats for everyone .  I was over prepared.  We did not use any of the stuff.  #2 and #3 had no interest in the mitts, balls or hats.  They each ate one orange and a handful of chips.  It is better to be over-prepared then have hungry kids screaming because you have nothing to eat - but I definitely need to reassess before next Wednesday.

Costumes - go with it...

My boys love dress up.  Hats, shirts, masks, jewlery - you name it - they want to put it on.  My motto for the costumes is "go with it."  I am happy to have them run around the park in a cape or go food shopping with a pirate hat.  But we all have to have our line.  I make sure to not allow the dress-up to stay at school.  I know #2's pre-school teachers were very grateful this morning when I took all of the pieces for the above outfit home so they didn't have to deal with them.  After school, the outfit went right back on. And I am cool with that.  My other rule is that pajamas do not leave the house.  You can put on your favorite pajamas if you must when you come home from school - but they are not for school.  We all need to have our lines somewhere.

"The Way of Boys"

I went to a great lecture last night by the author of "The Way of Boys."  Dr. Anthony Rao.  It was really interesting first to just sit and think about my boys social and emotional growth.  What a luxury to just sit and think a bit!  I took a lot away from the lecture - and I bought the book which I am looking forward to reading.  The first thing that I am focusing on - and that I have been thinking about - is what Dr. Rao said "risk taking is good."  I consciously try not to be the nervous mother not letting the boys hang from the monkey bars or jump off of high stairs (I am sure I still am a nervous mother).  They obviously shouldn't be running in the street with cars coming or playing with knives.  But there is a point where they need to climb a tree or jump off the slide.  I know they need to do this as boys.  I stay nearby if there is trouble - but I have to look away to let them be the boys they need to be.  I got so much more out of the lecture - but I want to get into the book and share more later.

Beginnings

The first question I have to answer myself is, "why am I starting another blog?"  Well, I have been keeping my family blog for almost 7 years now.  It is a great place where I put pictures, stories, activities and accomplishments of my family.  I love having it there as a resource for our grandparents, parents and friends to see what the boys are looking like and what we are up to.  It is also an amazing resource for us - to look back at what one boy was doing at a certain age.  I definitely want to keep my first blog going - but this will be something different.

I am the mother of three boys.  It is official - on Sunday I officially weaned my third son.  He is no longer a baby - and I have three boys - not two boys and a baby - but three boys!  On an almost daily basis - when my boys and I are out, people will stop and start talking to me.  The conversation starts out in different ways.  "Do you have three boys?" or "Are they all boys?" or even better "Are these all yours?"  But it usually ends the same way... "G-d bless you!  I don't know how you do it!"

Listen, it is not easy having young kids.  For some people a group of young boys is scarier than the alternative.  To me, I am living my happily ever after.  A couple of months ago, when #3 was not taking to cows milk, not sleeping well and #1 and #2 were giving me a hard time I was starting to loose it.  I looked back over the last 12 years of my life to figure out how I got here.  I went to law school, fell in love with my soul mate, he proposed and then was diagnosed with cancer.  I remember praying, pleading with G-d to let him get better ~ to give us a chance to get married and have a family.  Through a lot of pain, surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and miracles - I got my happily ever after.  So how do I have three boys 6 and under.... this is how I do it.