Memories in the Making: Guess who's back?! (it's just me and my blog)

The Crabb family- 4th of July 2016

Agh. How does it happen? My poor blog got lost in the busy.. and it is so hard to start back up again. Not because I don't have anything to say- but because I have several months worth of memories, thoughts, and photos... it feels almost impossible to catch up.

we had hand foot and mouth virus this summer... Fun!

I turned 33 last week, enrolled Jack for 1st grade, and NonaJane for preschool. I've avoided thinking about the kids going back to school so much that I didn't even know when school started (and I actually missed the real enrollment date). I know I complain that I'm overwhelmed and exhausted- but that doesn't mean I want my kids to be gone all day. I will miss them, and it makes my heart ache to know "real life" is coming. I thought I was a "routines" person... but I'm NOT. I hate getting out of bed every morning and having a schedule and trying not to be LATE. It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to bed... this body does NOT like to wake up before 7. Never has, never will.

With a new purse and shoes... proof that we don't deprive her

But enough complaining- how about some humor from the kids? So Matthew is 18 months old now- and he still loves to nurse. I did NOT see that one coming. The other two weaned themselves long before this age- and I didn't exactly intend to nurse this long. For example, last week on vacation we went to Fantastic Caverns where you ride in a buggy thru the caves. Part way during the tour Matthew starts screaming and trying to tear my shirt up to nurse. He clearly DID not see what the problem was and was getting madder and madder by the second. As I would try to hold my shirt down around the large crowd of people sitting shoulder to shoulder with us, he began to fume.. steam could surely be seen billowing form his ears and his screams had a really nice echoing and megaphoning effect in the natural amphitheater that is a CAVE. and yes, he won that battle. But at home, he often times will find my bra's from my closet or the laundry and will carry them around the house. He tries to sling them around his body or chews on the fabric. So the other day we were at Target and NonaJane got so excited when she saw a wall full of "boobie things!" (and NonaJane is in a lovely phase where she wants us to buy her EVERYTHING). NonaJane began to beg me to buy her her own boobie thing. I tried to explain to her that they don't make boobie things in a size for 4 year olds. NonaJane rarely believes anything I tell her though. So for the remainder of our Target trip and the entire ride home I heard about how devastated she was that Mom wouldn't buy her her own boobie thing. But I feel pretty confident I made the right parenting decision on that round. I spared her preschool classroom from a little girl coming in with a bra on over her clothes everyday. So... ya- parenting win!

Adam and I made it to a Royal's game together!

NonaJane... keeping it real.

This summer came with its own list of excitement and accomplishments- NonaJane has really started picking up how to swim! We've been practicing without her puddle jumper (floats) and she shocked me! She can jump in, pop right up, and swim over to the side. Yesterday she was even swimming short distances under water! On our vacation, she was jumping off the back of the pontoon platform into the lake (with a life jacket of course!) but that is a good 5-6 foot drop! She begged to jump off the cliff with Adam and Jack.. but we weren't ready for that. The kids DID find a rope swing though and we all took turns- which was something I had never done before! Matthew's accomplishment this summer was losing ONE of every pair of shoes he had. Seriously. How does he do that? Sometimes we would get lucky and he would lose the opposite shoe from sets so he could at least have a shoe for each foot. He didn't care if they didn't match- and at this point neither did I! But last week at Target I bought him 2 new pairs for the Fall (dear Lord help me keep track of these shoes) and NonaJane was devastated that I did not buy her any shoes (despite her overflowing basket of adorable shoes). This summer Jack and I started reading the Harry Potter series together and he is loving it! We checked the first movie out from the library after we finished the book and he watched it about 6 times. He does a great job of keeping up with all the characters and picking up on the plots! It is really fun to have that time with him each night. OH and the biggest accomplishment of all this summer was taking Matthew to an allergist! We started him on some allergy medicine which has cleared up the eczema on his face, the EXCESSIVE drooling, the dry patches on his belly, the eye rubbing, the coughing, and the runny nose!!! But best of all it has improved his sleep to only waking once a night most of the time!!!! Poor kid- apparently he had been pretty miserable with allergies all this time. This fall and winter we have to watch for asthma- which we are pretty sure he was dealing with last year.

Jack swimming at our old neighborhood pool where
we spent so many days when he was only a baby!

Overall I would say we had a wonderful summer. Adam would have liked to go camping more- and hopefully with each year we will. This year I'm still on the uphill battle of being crazy, overwhelmed, exhausted and moody. I hope to not stay this way! Everyone says three kids is a lot- um.. yes they are right. But I know deep down our family is just as it was meant to be. These kids are our everything, and we have so many exciting times ahead. I'm so thankful they are all here- we've made it thru the infant stages and I can see little Matthew becoming more independent and aware everyday. Before long our toilet paper will all be neat and tidy again. I won't have a bra bandit, and maybe we will even sleep all the way thru the night. Yes, the laundry will continue to grow, and the busy will continue to consume, but I'm thankful and excited for it all.