Little changes

Big things are happening in the Thomas house. Jude started crawling a couple weeks ago but just really started taking off these past few days. I'll set her down in one room only to find her in another room minutes later. This has been fun and easy at times but also challenging since the littles have so many tiny toys and things she can choke on. Beau loves to peal the paper off crayons so Jude has gaged on those a few times. The other day we couldn't find Jude because she was sitting behind BJ's recliner, a spot I never thought she would find. She's very proud of herself. Her favorite place to go, and my least favorite, is over to the the art easel. She pushes it around or tries to eat the chalk, tear the paper...everything has to be put away now! Now that she is on the ground and able to explore everything around her, she has discovered Titan, our lab. She has always been interested in him and drools heavily whenever she seems him but NOW she can actually crawl to him. I guess it's time to put the baby gates back up...

Now onto Beau...I think she has got this whole potty training thing down, finally! She has been wearing panties (or "panny" as she says) for the past couple days and just this morning she made a very large deposit in the potty...a first for her. I'm hopeful this is the end of Beau wearing adult diapers, not really but she's pretty close :) I'm really looking forward to just buying diapers for one child. Now if I could just get her to listen and obey! Just a few minutes ago Beau decided to take away a toy Bella was playing with. It's a doll trunk that they keep baby clothes in and it can be quite heavy when they stuff it full of junk. Beau was just standing there holding it and Bella and I were both telling her to give it back. I probably told her to drop it and put it down 3 times when she finally decided to obey. Out of defiance and stubbornness, she looked at Bella and dropped the trunk as hard as she could, not realizing it was going to land on her toes...oh Beau. "My shrow, my shrow!". Bella just grinned as she picked the trunk up and walked away.

Little Lies, Lots of blood

Usual Sunday, church and lunch. Then we came home hoping the girls would nap but it was already 2:20, late for the littles to go down, so unfortunately none of them fell asleep so we decided to go on a walk to waste time wear them out. I placed Jude in Bella and Beaus room to play while I went to change my shoes. BJ was sitting at the computer in the other room. As I started to put my socks on I heard Jude scream. Not the tired or hungry scream but the hurt really bad scream. I ran to get her but BJ already had her in his arms and was rushing her over the sink, blood all over her face. She was covered in blood and it was running down his arm. It was coming from her mouth but we couldn't tell from where exactly. I so badly wanted to start crying but was trying to keep it together. None of our girls had ever bleed this much. Beau was standing right there saying," Why you cry Shude? Need band-aid?". Bella said Jude had fallen on a stool they have in their room. I felt so bad for little June Bug. It took awhile to stop the bleeding and then the crying. She pretty upset for the rest of the afternoon. Well, we finally got it together and went on our walk. By the time we go to back it was time for me to start dinner. I decided to make salisbury steaks with gravy tonight...something I've never made before but I knew BJ liked it. I also made mashed potatoes, one of Beaus favorite foods. So we sat down to eat and I guess BJ had put just a small piece of meat on Beaus plate and he told her to eat that first. My girls are not huge meat lovers so this is always a struggle. Beau chewed on that one little piece of meat for almost an hour. We kept telling her to swallow it , swallow it, swallow it! She kept saying, "Me am." For some reason if the littles don't care for the food they are told to eat then they will keep it in their mouth for as long as they can. It drives us up the wall!!! Beau didn't seemed bothered that we kept telling her to swallow it or she wasn't going to get a cookie or I would take a bean out of her jar...that sounds so lame now that I'm writing it. We had all finished by this point and Bella was eating her cookie and now Beau was starting to cry and whine because she still had that stupid meat in her mouth and wanted to spit it out but we wouldn't let her. She hadn't touched anything else on her plate  so I told her I was taking a bean out of her jar. She was devastated..."My beam, no my beam!" Still didn't swallow it. You may be reading this and think oh, poor Beau...please don't feel sorry for her. When she needs to she WILL swallow the food, she just didn't want to. So I told her to go potty and i started to get the bath water ready. She went potty, I guess because she came out with no diaper on. She ran up to me and Bella with her mouth wide open so proud to say she had swallowed her food. Finally...so I tell her good job Beau and tell them to get in the bath. As I turn around I see what looks like wet cat food in the bathroom sink. BEAU!!! She had spit her food out in the sink and lied! I couldn't believe it, well, that's not true. I could! The night did not end well for Beau but hopefully she learned her lesson or will at least spit in the toilet and flush it next time!

Birthday boy

Today is B.J.'s 28th birthday. 28! Still so young but so close to 30. The littles have just about all my computer paper scattered all over the floor and crayons and markers rolling around everywhere. Bella is rushing to make him his (6th) birthday card before he gets up. Beau is taking her time peeling all the paper off the new crayons... a pet peeve of mine. We have the birthday banner hung and are so excited to celebrate Daddy today.

As I'm typing this I can hear those dang mice downstairs just living it up!! Over the weekend we came to a very difficult decision, not really, and decided to give in a get a cat. Adopt actually. On Valentines day we brought a 8 month old little girl kitten. She was a stray I believe and just needed a home. She's very quiet and shy right now. We gave Bella the responsibility of choosing a name for her...I knew by doing this she would probably end up with a name like "Sally" or "Trisella". Bella went with Valentine Rose, of course. Every cat needs a middle name right? We will probably just call her Valentine. Right now the cat just stays in our room and hides out under the bed. Yesterday was the first time she ventured out into the living room when all the littles had gone to bed. She is very nervous and cautious. She discovered the fish tank and just sat on on our kitchen table with her two front paws on the glass. This may become a problem. Bella has already made this cat her own and has made her cards, a crown and a little sleeping bed in my closet. Bella has been the only one able to get the cat out from under my bed. She crawls under there, dust and all, and whispers sweet little words to her until she finally feels comfortable enough to come out. Bella loves animals, not sure where she gets this from. I'm hoping that after a few days in hiding and checking things out, Valentine will come out and catch those mice! Our chocolate lab, Titan, did not even know there was cat in the house until last night. Titan is an incredible dog but we call him a dumb jock sometimes. He only cares for his ball and is pretty layed back about everything else. Valentine has a bell on her collar, which has been fun at night, and she was slowly creeping around the kitchen while Titan was just laying on the living room floor. The sound of the bell didn't even phase him. We kept waiting for him to see her or smell her but he just layed there! Finally he saw her ans charged. BJ was right there and stopped him but it was a little nerve racking! I felt bad for buddy, he was so confused. Valentine didn't come out again after that.

Right now Beau is standing on a stool trying to sneak a cupcake while I type. For some reason she thinks I can't see her OR she just doesn't care. That's all Beau needs is a cupcake for breakfast. I better go before she gets it.

If you give a mouse a Froot Loop...

It has already been an eventful morning for us. Beau did her usual 5:30 knocking on our door. Today I gave in. By 6 Jude was starting to wake up but ended up falling back asleep. Beau and I came out into the living room and I started to pour myself a cup of coffee and her soymilk. I heard this wierd sound and for a second thought it was the dryer making noises, even though it wasn't on. It took me a minute until I realized what it was...mice squealing.

A couple weeks ago I started to notice little dropping in my mud room always in the same spot. Then I noticed them on the dryer and once on my kitchen window seal. BJ said they were probably from a gecko but I wasn't convinced. I forgot about it until one morning I noticed droppings underneath a bag of trash that was left out to throw away. When I picked the bag up I noticed tiny pieces of paper that had been torn apart. I knew it! Mice don't visit us often but we have had a few run ins with them. The first time we realized we had a mouse in the house was when we were woken by a frightened 2 year old Bella saying a mouse woke her up. It was hiding in the box spring of her bed. Gross, I know! We took care of that and threw out the bed.  That following Christmas we were visited again. BJ had brought in the box that our tree was in and layed in in the middle of the kitchen floor. We had been keeping the box in his shed/storage outside. As he opened the box, mice ran out of it in every direction! They had built nests all over the tree. I had never seen anything like it! We caught most of them right then but a few still lingered. The next time was when I had my sister Danyel visiting us. She is terrified of mice so this discovery couldn't of happened at a worse time. We were all sitting on the couch talking and a brave little mouse ran from under the oven to under the fridge. We thought we had taken care of that problem when we saw a mouse on a trap we had layed but that wasn't the case. Apparently the mice had found a nice cozy spot in my desk drawer to nest and have babies. I discovered this as I opened the drawer to find a dead baby in a little shoe box that was once used for scrap baby and yarn. I was mortified! This past time was quite a while ago and we have been mouse free for months...until now.
BJ had layed two traps downstairs in our mudroom a couple days ago. Nothing was happening so I started to feel like maybe it really was just a gecko. There is nothing like that sound of a mouse caught on a trap. It gives me chills to even think about it! As soon as BJ got up I told him we had caught a mouse. He went to check and said, "Whoa!" 2 mice on one trap!! Disgusting! The thought of them just living it up in my house...too much. Beau was right by his side when he pulled the trap out. One mouse was dead and the other still going strong. (These are sticky traps by the way). Beau said, "Me yike mouse and pet yum." NO you will not like mice and pet them!

So that is what has happened so far. I am really hoping that was the last of the mice but you never really know.

I couldn't make these things up...

It's 5:45 am and I hear Jude start to fuss. I get up and quickly nurse her, hoping she will go back to sleep. As I start to crawl into bed I see out of the corner of my eye light shining through the cracks of our door. I can tell it's the tv in the living room...Beau. I open our door to find Beau just standing on the other side looking up at me. I start to walk her back to her bed and notice the tv has been on pause for 33 minutes. Then I see it. (This is going to get gross so sorry!) Her nightgown is soaking wet and she has poop down both her legs. I am barely awake at this point and start to walk back into Judes room to get wipes, hoping she doesn't see or hear me. I hear Beau say,"You step my poo poo." I look down and sure enough, I have stepped in it! Apparently she has left a trail of it,  some on the wood floors, some on the carpet and some in BJ's chair...she is not supposed to sit in Daddys chair for this very reason. By this time it's 6am and I can't believe this is how our morning is starting as I begin to bathe her. Let me explain something about Beau. She does not poop like a normal 2 year old does. She has always had "infant poop". That's what Danyel and I like to call it. So it's not like cleaning up a small diaper. It's like cleaning up 5 "infant poop" explosions! It's too much and happens way too often. So I finish bathing her and she is just singing and playing, just really enjoying this one on one time with me, as I roll my eyes. I start to dress her, do her hair, and I see MORE poop on the opposite side of the kitchen! Come on! I clean it all up and then remember BJ's chair....It looks like she sat there for awhile before I found her. I don't even know how to clean it but I do my best before he gets up. Now it's 6:20 and I hear Jude talking because Beau has snuck in her room. Then I see Bella come out of her room, also barely awake, saying "Beau woke me up." So now we're all up, they've already had breakfast, been in two fights, and one spanking. And our day begins...

The little things...

Earlier today Jude was sitting on the floor playing with Little People so quietly. I had started getting things out to start dinner. Bella was watching a movie and Beau was changing her babys diaper on the floor next to me. For just a moment I thought, "wow...it's quiet and all the littles are busy...this is really nice. I might be able to knock dinner out before anyone even notices what I'm doing!" Just as the thought entered my mind, it was interrupted by Bella yelling, "MOM! Jude is playing with her spit up!" As I walked over to her I hear Beau say under her breath, "need wipe my baby." Sure enough Jude has spit up all over the floor and is rubbing her little fingers in it and sticking them in her mouth. When I had finished cleaning her up I see Beau walk past me very slowly hiding a wipie box behind her back, as if I can't see it! I said, "What do you have Beau?" She simply replys, "Nuffing".
During dinner the girls were supposed to try the spinach I had served them. I know they don't like it but if they ate it we told them they could have a brownie and put a bean in their jars, I'll explain that later. Bella actually ate all her spinach and it looked like Beau had eaten hers. I was shocked. Turns out, Beau had been putting her spinach on the floor and spitting it back out and mixing in with other food on her plate. She probably ate one spinach leaf!
Danyel, my very wise, older sister, came up with an idea to put some sort of coin or bean or whatever in a jar everytime the girls did something good or w/out being told to do something. We're cheap so I decided to do pinto beans and we call them the Behavior Beans. Bella and Beau each have a jar and we drop a bean in there when they obey, clean, make their beds, chores...you get the point. We can also take beans out if they misbehave or disobey. They think it's the best thing in the world. Who knew something so small and simple would make them so happy. When Beau pees on the potty she says,"Now beam and shotlate?" She loves those "beams"!

Well, this is the end of day one of my blog. All the littles are in bed, although not alseep because Beau keeps coming out with all kinds of excuses, but at least they're in bed! Now it's time for me and BJ!

Wake up!

4:30am and I heard a faint tap on our door. Beau and all her babies. This has become a ritual for her and I don't know why. We're not the type of parents that welcome children to come sleep with us. We're not opposed to it but our bed is OUR bed and their bed is THEIR bed. Beau doesn't agree with this at all. Her body (or maybe her wet pull-up) wakes her up every night between 4 and 5 and she wants in! B.J. answered the door this morning and wasn't having it.Two things can happen. Either she will go back to bed and not fight it OR she will scream and yell, wake up Bella (since they share a room) and stay awake. Thankfully today she went back to sleep, I think...She was sitting on the couch at 6:30 watching tv with Bella. Sometimes when this happens it can ruin the entire day. If she fights and screams and doesn't ever go back to sleep then we can have a really bad day. Today has been good though. We had lunch at the camp and now I'm going to nap the littles. Hopefully all will sleep at the same time.

My Littles

As I sit down to write this, I'm realizing that it may take me hours to write a small paragraph since I keep getting interrupted every couple minutes but I'm going to try! I'm not sure how to start this whole thing so I guess I will begin by describing each of my girls. Bella is my oldest and turning 6 this summer. She has such a sweet, kind, giving spirit and an incredible love for her family and Jesus. She invited Jesus into her heart in October and is proud to tell you! Bella is in Kinder and is homeschooled. She's doing really well and seems to enjoy being home with me and her sisters. I guess she doesn't know any different so it may just be that. Occasionally she will ask why she doesn't go to a "real school" but after I explain the reasons she moves on. Bellas passion in life (at least now) is making cards for people and picking flowers. If you know her than she has probably made you a card at some point, or 10! By the time I wake up in the morning, which is not long after she does, she has usually made at least 3 cards. Bellas love languages are acts of kindness, receiving gifts and physical touch. She shows people she loves them by making them a card. She adores flowers, nature, deer, and all the little things around us that I have stopped noticing. She makes me stop and look at stars or how fast the clouds are moving or a butterfly flying by. She doesn't miss any outdoor detail.

She has an incredible memory and can memorize Bible verses minutes before Awana's. She always amazes me. She has a very sensitive side to her and an innocense I wish would last forever. She gives, all the time. She's a giver and sometimes I feel like I don't deserve her. It's amazing that a child that small has such unconditional love for me all the time,  even when I feel like I have been the worst mom that day or moment. She always forgives. I learn so much from her.

Beau is 2 and won't be 3 till the fall but I feel like she has been 3 for a long time. Beau is full of life, energy and curiosity. She is a problem solver, like her Dad, and if it doesn't fit she will MAKE it fit. She is the one that's always by my side.. If she's not then I know she's doing something she shouldn't. Beau is tall and big for her age, I think anyway, and can talk pretty well. It amazes me how well she can explain things. She has a deep little raspy voice sometimes which I love. She doesn't have time to sit still and watch movies or cartoons, never has. She is way too busy. She loves to paint and make a mess but by the time I have set up all the paint stuff, she has moved on. She is currently potty training, has been for months it seems. Beau usually does things on her own time so I'm assuming thats how potty training will be. She would rather be outside than any where else. Her best buddy is our lab, Titan. She has always called him "Buddy". Where ever she goes, he goes. She sneaks him her food and whispers secrets in his ears. Sometimes when she's in trouble, which is often, she will go lay her head on his and cry, I guess looking for some sympathy. Beau is tough and always has been. Most falls, scrapes, cuts, etc. don't  even phase her. She falls off of things all day long and just stands up saying, "Beau Beau fine. Me fine." She has been referring to herself as "Beau Beau" for quite some time. I still can't believe she hasn't broken a bone by now. She's very smart and a fast learner. She wants to do everything her sister does even if that means taking it right out of her hands! Don't mess with Beau Beau.

Jude, my last baby, just turned 8 months. She had a rough start in the beginning as she arrived 4 weeks early but you wouldn't even be able to tell. Jude is such a sweet, precious little thing and both girls just adore her. She is the only one with big blue eyes, maybe from my dad....and has been such a good baby. For the most part she sleeps pretty well, eats wells and loves to sit and play with her sisters. I can sit her down somewhere and she will play by herself for at least 20 minutes! She is starting to pull herself up and walk holding onto things. Just the other day I walked into her room and she was just standing there! That's always weird at first. She started crawling last week and is always on the move and in a different spot than where I originally put her. I know people always say this but she is getting big so fast. She is our 3rd daughter and our last so if she wanted to take forever to do things, that would be fine with us!