Mom Mom Mom Mommy Mommy Mommy Mama Mama Mama Mum Mum Mum.

My Mom used to tell us all the time that she was going to change her name.  Not her real name, but the "Mom" title that my sisters and I apparently used too much.  I remember thinking that she was being dramatic.

But now?  I totally get it.  Sorry Mom.

Now that the Brothers' vocabularies are blossoming, I feel like Lois in that episode of Family Guy where Stewie just repeats her name a million times in a row.  You know the one.  In case you aren't the Family Guy type, allow me to enlighten you.  

Yep.  This is my life.  Times 3.

Kiernan has been the worst lately.  For whatever reason he chooses at a particular minute, he repeats my name a million times, wraps his arms around my legs and ducks his head between them so that I cannot move.  It's like some weird sports maneuver or he's trying to climb back up where he came from.  Not happenin' son.

While he sometimes makes me want to scratch out my eyeballs, I have to admit that he can be pretty entertaining.  Like the conversation we had today:

Kiernan: MOOOOMMMMYYY!
Me: Yes Kiernan? Are you all done with your melon?
Kiernan: Yes. All done. Come.
Me: Alright let me get a washcloth.
Kiernan: Mom. COOOOOOOMMMMMME.
Me: I'm right here. You don't need to yell.
Kiernan: Good boy.
Me: ::sigh::

Oh this boy.  He also tried to put me in a timeout today because I wouldn't let him have a cookie.  True story.  

Boy: (n) a noise with dirt on it {Wordless Wednesday 6.19.13}.

 

If anyone needs me, I'm the one curled up and crying in the corner.

Brennan - August 2011 - 22 months old

Kiernan - April 2013 - 19 months old

Brennan - September 2011 - 23 months old

Beckett - May 2013 - 20 months old

I'll see you in the morning.

When I was pregnant with Brennan, Brian's Grandma gifted us a book.  It's a little board book called I'll See You in the Morning.  Sweet and simple, it's a comforting little way to say goodnight to a child.

I started reading it to Brennan before bedtime at a very young age, and it kind of just morphed into a song.  It's nothing fancy, and my family can attest to the fact that I don't carry a tune very well, but every night I sing it to my boys before bed.  It's "Mommy's song" and they love it.  Brennan has grown out of it a bit, but the Brothers love it, especially Beckett.

At bedtime, we read a few books and then I turn off the lights and it's time to snuggle and rock.  Sometimes Kiernan gets down and goes to snuggle up in his bed and wait for me to rub his back, but Mr Beckett never leaves.  He turns to face me and puts his head on my shoulder and I begin to sing.  And as I sing each verse, he echoes me.  Sometimes he jumps the gun and says the last word of the line before I get to it.  Other times he says the wrong word and when I sing the right one he just looks up at me with his scrunched up hammy smile and giggles before burying his face in my shoulder.

Three is going to kill me.

No, not having 3 kids.  Although, I did read this article the other day which made me feel a smidge better about life.  Raising 3 kids = Hard as shit.  Solidarity, sisters.

What's really killing me is raising a 3 year old.  Dear God, I love him with all my heart and soul.  I really really really do.  And when he throws his arms around me and tells me that he loves me and covers my face with kisses, I melt into a giant puddle.

But holy rage, can he ever spit some fire.  The temper tantrums these days are EPIC.  They're louder, longer, and more dramatic than ever before.  Most days, I find it best to be very matter of fact with him and just ignore the meltdowns when the occur.  But there are some days when I feel like he's punching me in the face with his snippy little 'tude all day long and it makes Mommy wanna reach for the sangria.

I remember telling people when he was 2 that he was "very much 2" with his opinions and frustrations and tantrums.  Were they frustrating?  Of course.  Especially because I had 2 infants to take care of on top of the crazy toddler.  But I think the difference was that I gave him the benefit of the doubt.  I mean, it had to be frustrating to not be able to understand why you can't have certain things or can't do certain things yourself.  And really, the tantrums weren't all that often.  Maybe once or twice a day.

The problem with 3 is that now he can understand those things.  He knows that he isn't allowed to do certain things because he could get hurt.  He'll yell "YOU pick up my cup!!" when I ask him to pick up his cup that he tossed on the ground because he didn't feel like getting up.  He'll look me straight in the eye and lie to me when I ask him if he wrote on the couch with chalk, even though we both know that I know he did it.  And the tantrums are more frequent and the whining is constant.  Constant.  He woke up at 5:30 this morning and every.single.thing he said to me for the entire day was a whine.

I think that part of the problem is that I hold him to a high standard.  And as an oldest child who felt like my parents held me to a higher standard for my entire life, I always swore that I wouldn't do it to my kids.  I try really hard to remind myself frequently that he is only 3.  I try to keep my expectations of him age appropriate.  I also try not to eat a half of a bag of chips when I'm stressed out, but that doesn't always happen.

We'll get through it.  At night, we always snuggle up for stories and kisses and I say a prayer of thanks that God provides these little moments.  They're a reminder that he's my sweet boy and we're just going through some growing pains.  I've heard that 4 is blissful compared to 3, so we're powering through to October.

Jesus help me when the Brothers turn 3.  Someone send wine.

April 2013.

Ahhhhh.  April.  It feels good to be catching up a little.  

Brian turned 30 on the 4th.  His birthday present to himself was knee surgery.  Poor guy.  My parents just so happened to have already planned to come to Florida for his birthday, so we were lucky to have them around during the process.  The surgery went beautifully.  The surgeon was able to remove the extra piece of bone in his kneecap and fix the tear in his tendon.  We were in and out of the hospital in no time, of course the process may or may not have been sped up because of Brian's sarcasm with the nurses.  

That evening we celebrated Brian's birthday with a delicious German chocolate cake that Brennan & Grammy made for him.  They also decorated the house while we were at the hospital.  (And did a million loads of laundry as you can see in the pictures.  Aren't Moms the best?!)

March 2013.

We were in Michigan for the majority of March.  The few days we were actually in Florida, we spent them outside, enjoying the gorgeous "spring" weather.

One day while visiting Brian at work, we headed outside to play some basketball in the parking lot.  Fun and dramatic - as usual!

The park is becoming easier and easier to manage with all 3 boys.  Brennan does his own thing, so the biggest job there is making sure that no one steals him.  Beckett is pretty low key and not much of a daredevil, so he usually sticks to climbing the stairs and going down the little slide.  Kiernan is the tricky one (duh) because he likes to climb and jump off of things and such.