in the beginning

I'll start by stating the obvious. I am not perfect. In fact, Perfect and I aren't even in the same zip code. I do my best every day, but today's best might be last week's worst (and vice versa).

I am a loving mommy to 3 little monkeys who are usually jumping on the bed, falling off and bumping their heads. Ok, maybe the baby isn't quite jumping yet. But he squirms and he almost fell out of the swing. So that counts, right? Or does it just make me a bad mom?

They all drive me crazy in their own ways. Stink Bug was playing with a totally awesome sensory activity I dreamed up for him. Water Beads. Have you heard of them? Water beads rock...but I'm getting off topic here. He had the water beads out, but was making a huge mess. And instead of cleaning up the mess like I asked him to, he dumped the whole container out and ground them into the carpet. I blew my stack. I was seeing red. I was trying to feed the baby, do my schoolwork, clean the living room and get dinner going and he decides he's going to make a gigantic mess that has to be dealt with NOW before June Bug or the dog try to eat the stuff. I snapped at him to 'GET TO YOUR ROOM UNTIL DADDY GETS HOME!!!' I was ready to fall apart.

Twenty minutes later the mess was gone, I was consoling June Bug and assuring her that the vacuum cleaner wasn't a demon summoned to eat her soul, while feeding and burping the baby. Stink Bug walked up to me with a photo in hand and asked "Do you love me mommy? I brought you a picture" And do you know what that photo was of? It was taken when I was in about my 16th hour of labor, waiting for my stubborn little Stinker to make his way into this world. Dang that kid is good. I saw it and got all weepy and emotional (blasted hormones are still out of whack). I remembered that Stink Bug was literally the answer to a prayer. Actually months of prayers. And just like that I wasn't seeing red anymore. Pink maybe, but not red. He was still in trouble, but at that point it was more of a formality than anything else.

June Bug is a headstrong toddler who has recently discovered necklaces, hairbows, and nail polish. Thanks Mom. June Bug is in a dumping phase. And she has discovered the phrase Uh-oh. Uh-oh used to mean that she dropped something accidentally. Now she dumps a full glass of water, says "Uh-oh" and asks for more water for round 2.

Baby is an eating machine. You know how people say that a person has a hollow leg when they eat and eat and eat? Well, I think I got a hollow baby. I don't know where he puts it all, I just know I spend about 28 hours a day breastfeeding this insatiable milk fiend.

And that's my family. I'm looking forward to sharing our lives and our day to day craziness, and the stuff I can't put on facebook because I'm pretending to be perfect ;)