Friday, August 28, 2015

Things I've noticed...

Having one kid is hard, like really hard.  While Goose is in preschool now, she only goes four days a week so on Fridays I still have her peering little eyes staring at me while I work.  The honest truth is that every time she leaves my office and it's quiet for a while I catch her doing something that she knows she isn't suppose to (ie. drawing with bathroom soap on the counters)...but part of me was/is just thankful for the small moments of peace.

Which brings me to...we go through a lot of bathroom soap.  Holy smokes, the girls must think the secret to life is in the bottom of those empty bottles.

I have to run the dishwasher after every meal.  We are a family of five and while it's still hard for me to wrap my head around that and for the most part I don't feel like a "big" family, perhaps it's because Jackson is still so small but we definitely get "the look" when we are out and about.  The other day at the grocery store an older women passed me on the way to the check out and smiled and said "Good luck."  I almost asked, luck for what...that my debit card goes through or that I didn't forget anything because I didn't make a list?  But I knew she saw the three children and just judged the living $hit out of me. **Shrugged Shoulders** - whatever!  I think the part that throws people off the most is the nose ring I wear, they automatically assume that I am too "punk" to be religious (which they may be right about) but then that confuses them as to why I would subject myself to the impoverished life style of three children.  One that must be complete chaos and unfulfilled to say the least.

Along with the dishwasher, I must do one load of laundry per day period.  Most days I even have to pull off two.  The amount of laundry in this household is intense.

Begging for work stinks.  I am out applying for jobs, some that I am overqualified for and some that I woefully under-qualified for.  All of which are so hard to convey on paper or email why you are so magnificent that they NEED to pick up the phone and give you a call.  Oh yeah and offer you the job and pay you a ton of money...blah.

Along with not sleeping for the last seven years, I have also not been sick for the last seven years.  Now keep in mind I have the same illnesses that everyone else in our home gets (like the current "Yay, we're back in school now head cold") but I am not allowed to be sick.  My plate is always so full that the thought of being one step behind makes me chuckle...and on that note I also can't take cold medicine since if I were cloudy things wouldn't get done either.  I just double down on vitamin C and hot sauce, in hopes that one or the other will chase the demons outta me.

Hair cuts!

It should come as no surprise that I am busy...because of this and my inability to put my hair anywhere on the priority list, I only get my hair done once a year.  So now when I go to get mine done I bring the girls with me to get theirs done too.  Turns out when you wait a year for something, it make it a REALLY big deal.  Here are my big girls that picked out their very own hair cuts last night.




Monday, August 24, 2015

Little Goose!

Little Goose is officially a preschooler!  Wow does time fly...and even though I promised myself I wouldn't cry I still did, luckily I didn't let her see.



Isn't that monster backpack just about the cutest thing in the world!


Mrs. Pettigrew...who appears as though she is the perfect preschool teacher - just right out of a book with her voice and expressions name and all.

And her Dad...watching her draw robots for her first day.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Screen time...

We have pretty steadfast rules on screen time in our home, usually right around one movie or one hour of programming a day.  Sometimes that is cut short because the girls play on the iPad in the mornings.  Both Joe and I would always rather have the kiddos outside exploring or in the basement riding their bikes or really about anything rather than just sucking up the TV.  What becomes VERY hard is to stick to that screen time rule when you have one infant (who still sleeps quite a bit), one big girl who is in school for seven hours a day and one four year old who is all by her lonesome. :-(  With me working and unable to "entertain" her, poor little Goose is just lost.  The first day after we dropped off Austin and came home she just went in the playroom and sat down and cried.  Which of course made me cry.  So while I am here and not in Pittsburgh my house is still sad.  I am beyond grateful that I am here for her to hang out as much as possible in between my calls and work.  But with everything going on and Austin being gone for so long, I am catching Goose grabbing the iPad and walking off to her playroom quite a bit...probably twice as much as she does when her sister is here.  I am trying to limit it still but when she gives me that look like, what would you like me to do instead it's pretty hard to come up with something.  I suppose the bright side to this is that I am overjoyed to have a bigger family and not an only child who wouldn't have a partner in crime any days.  Is it summer time yet? Blah!


Just look at that sad little Goose, trimming her nails in my office waiting patiently for her sister.



I had to setup the pack and play AKA "the cage" in my office.  Little guy is just too mobile if I leave him on the ground for any amount of time. At least when he is awake he provides Tyler with some entertainment.



Monday, August 17, 2015

Back to school

Austin started first grade this morning.  Sigh...she was very excited but the feeling is not mutual for Joe and I and especially Goose.  Who looked incredibly sad when we left the school this morning, knowing that she wouldn't have her partner in crime around for the next 8 hours.  It was heart breaking to watch.  At least she gets to start preschool next week so that will help in the afternoons.


And look who is big enough to sit in the front of the cart rather than in his car seat.  He was pretty proud of himself.

What does a control freak do when she thinks she may be gone for the first day of school?!?!? Creates a school tub with all the school clothes, a package of special school type items for treats, and first day of school zip locks with everything from panties to shoes all packed up and cards that I wrote to each girl while I sobbed at the thought of not being there.  Thankfully I was here for Austin's first day, hopefully the same will be true for Tyler's.





We had to go to school on Friday to meet the teachers and get the class assignments.  While waiting on the teachers to be ready we visited the playground...Jackson loved the swings!!!



Friday, August 7, 2015

And my productivity plummets...

And my productivity plummets...all thanks to this little mobile guy.



Oh yeah and can you spot the Cheerios on the floor...that's because my silly dogs refuse to eat them and Jackson gets every fourth one in his mouth.  Where's our old boy Ty when you need him, he would have helped me clean up.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Purple lips...

As some people may or may not know, when you eat something with a lot of vinegar in it...your lips will turn a purple~ish tint.  Tadd and I just call them our purple lips, which basically is our way of saying we just ate some really good salad dressing.  So while my kids may all be DiFabios on paper, they definitely all have their Wells' purple lips.  Here's Jackson today after sharing my Italian submarine sandwich...his first purple lips. :-)  And that smile just melts my heart and makes me so thankful to not be in Pittsburgh right now.


Monday, August 3, 2015

The waiting game.

And so it begins.  Since the unions did not sign the contract or strike on Sunday morning we start the waiting game.  Luckily I just put in my notice and chose to accept a layoff package rather than move to the east coast so I only have to wait around until March to see if they will strike at all.  Hopefully not, hopefully they know that Verizon was not going to back down this time, in fact they had all 15,000 of us ready to fly out and take over.  Unfortunately we all have to "leave our bags packed" in the event of a strike and fly to our new jobs within a day or so.

The news made for a stressful night, while I was ecstatic to not be leaving my family Sunday morning...it makes you feel sick to your stomach to know that you are merely a puppet in someone else's life.  When they say jump I have to ask how high.  Sigh.