Marietta, the girl baby.

I don't know if it's because she's a girl or because she's my third and the other two are so easy now- but I've enjoyed this whole baby thing so much more this time around.   It may sound crazy coming from me- the hater of babies- but I have been able to enjoy Metta and the baby phases a whole lot more than I ever did with the boys.  Don't get me wrong- I still don't love the baby stage and I don't think I'll ever be baby hungry.  And this little ragamuffin hasn't been all peaches and cream. I thought I'd die those first few months when Kent was working 80-90 hour weeks and Metta was a terrible-horrible-no good-very bad-newborn.  I've tried erasing those two months from my memory.  so so bad.

But- seriously- the transition from 2 to 3 happened so seamlessly.  Maybe it's the minivan that cushioned the blow ::)

Honestly- I am surprised at how much fun it is to have a girl.  I may be one of the few who kind of wanted all boys- and was a little disappointed to have the girl.  But my mind is changed.  I love this girl. If nothing else- she's WAY more fun to dress.

Look at her.  She's adorable.

and I swear she said 'mum' yesterday.  Every time I pick her up I say 'mum. mum. mum' just to try and introduce her to the sounds.  Zeb said 'hopper' first and Ike was saying 'dada' at seven months so I'm determined to snag metta's first word.  If it happens again it's the real deal and I'll claim it.

every day miss metta becomes more and more social.  She is in a constant open mouth smile.  When she's happy- you can't get her to close it.  Sounds  a lot like her mom.

Don't you just want to squish her cheeks!?

ike-a-licious

 Ike has changed A LOT over the past few weeks since Zeb started school.   I had no reason to be nervous about him adjusting to Zeb's absence.

When I picked him up from nursery on Sunday- the leaders told me the last few weeks he's been a new little boy.  He's turned into the 'leader' of the class and is correcting his teachers by rewriting his name the way HE wants.  I have been trying to get him to write his letters for MONTHS. Apparently he has been paying attention but just didn't want to cooperate for me.

He loves his time at the gym as the 'big kid'.  He loves that he has his own 'school'.  He loves car time with just us.  And he loves lunchtime with me.

Yesterday I got after him for stepping on Metta - and he got this terribly sad little face.  He told me I had  hurt his feelings.  I grabbed him and hugged him and asked; "did the hug help?". He shook his head no.  I kissed him and asked; "did the kiss help?".  He shook his head no again.  And then he got this sheepish little grin and squeeked; "I think a kit-kat will help".   And thus the little fat rolls on his belly.

I sure love him.

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don't you hate when they do this?!

 I'm amazed at how long Miss Metta can keep this pose.  Pretty good core strength.   It's that terribly annoying 'arch the back as soon as they see the carseat' phase! I think it's a developmental milestone.

but so stinking cute.

 And she's been our best sitter upper.  She started awhile ago but somehow has managed to almost entirely avoid the 'falling over flat on her nose and right onto her noggin while on the wood floors' part of learning to sit up.

world's coolest park.

 Kent and I love to explore new places and try new things.  Yesterday he had a post call day and we decided to check out 'Centerville'.  It's a cutesy/ritzy little suburb of Dayton that we hadn't really been to before. We had a groupon to a local sub shop there- and we thought we'd find a great park for the kiddos. Both turned out GREAT.

This park was huge.  It was a 'handicapp' accessible park so they had some cool swings and unique equipment and a great bouncy turf pad instead of wood bark to walk on!

Right now when I'm out with the kiddos I have a goal to shoot only in manual mode on my camera.  That means I choose aperature/shutter speed/ISO, etc.  It's so easy to get lazy and shoot in auto- but I'm trying my best.  It was IMPOSSIBLE at the park!!  the sun kept moving behind clouds and then back out- there were crazy shaded spots- and some in direct sunlight- plus the sun was a crazy orange color because of the sunset. And my dang kids never stopped running!!  pardon my blurry or extra bright or strange photos :)

This slide was made entirely of long blue rollers.  It was nutso. and pretty uncomfortable.  the boys loved it.

 Kent was obbsessed with 'sway fun'.    He was trying to get the boys really excited about it.

and I loved the twisty-whirly thing. Kent thinks I look like Ike here.  He must have gotten his crazy faces from me.

 this morning Ike was awake when Kent went to work and Ike told him: "Dad, I don't want you to go to work today- maybe mom can go to work and you can stay home everyday".   Kent is the world's best dad- and I am often jealous that he gets to go to work everyday- but overall I've got a pretty good and easy life.  For now I'll let Kent work those ridiculous and stressful hours :)

 Metta is such a turkey when I pull out the camera.  She knows I want her to look at me and smile and she likes to make it impossbile.

 What do I do about the little tufts of hair that shoot over her ears? should I trim them?!  I guarantee she isn't going to be sprouting a big head full of beautiful long hair anytime soon- so I'm not sure what I should do.  It's looking a little ratty.

teeth, spinach, and the air force half.

When this girl opens wide- people gasp.  They can't believe the little six month munchkin has these eight monster teeth.

I think Zeb was chowing down on steak at this point- but Metta is kind of a lame eater.  She has finally figured out how to swallow instead of spit it all back out at least!

and if I can get her to laugh- I can shove extra big spoonfuls in.

I'm doing all homemade baby food this time around!  Today's selection was a sweet potato, butternut squash, and spinach combo.  Any fabulous baby food recipes/combo suggestions?  we are trying to avoid most fruits for awhile so that we can get a lover of veggies.  Zeb and Ike are picky eaters- and my goal is to get Metta to be a great eater.  I'm crossing my fingers.

and I just love this picture. she's so stinking dramatic.  she actual clenches her fists and pounds them when she gets angry.

This weekend was my big AIR FORCE race!  I just did the half- but it's my favorite distance ever.  Still a good challenge- but also still FUN!  It's always great when I love the run :)

The weather was AMAZING.  Possibly the best race weather ever.  started at 47 degrees- finished at 65ish.  It was a beautiful morning.   

they had a pre race B2 flyover.  These aircraft are pretty creepy looking flying overhead! and they had Giant American  flag parachuters jump out over us!  It was a really cool and very patriotic start.  I loved it.

I ran with friends and loved every minute!  I am such a social runner! it's all about getting in a good run and a good conversation :)

The course runs mainly on the actual Air Force Base and is really pretty.  At mile six we had a little scare, though.  Several guys in uniform came running through all of us screaming that we had to turn around and go back.  We thought for sure there was a security breach or some sort of threat.  I thought our race was over. Turns out the entire half marathon race has been lead off course somehow!  there were six THOUSAND half marathon runners!  how that is even possible I don't know.  Apparently we added a half mile or so to our race.  Some people added even more!  some of the slower runners behind us didn't add any.   There were A LOT of mad runners and people cussing.  I giggled.  So- I'm not sure of my official distance or time- but I had a good race and loved it.

grass and the New Carlisle taco truck.

I took Metta outside to experience grass yesterday. she didn't even notice.   I was hoping for some really funny faces. I thought for sure she'd be clawing at it or cringing.  Nothing.  

She just scooted after every leaf in view.

and then ate them.  we are in that diaper phase. Where every time you change a poopy one- you find all sorts of treasures. Hair, leaves, paper bits.

Also yesterday we had a water leak. I got out of the shower to find our 'under the sink pipe' spewing water at me.  I threw towels all over the floor- and ran to the basement in search of the water main.  Not the best thing to figure out in a water emergency.  Word to the wise- figure out where your water main is BEFORE you need it :)  Luckily I found it pretty quickly.  And then our water was shut off all day until it could be fixed last night.  No water meant I couldn't possibly prepare dinner- so we had to go out. So we FINALLY drove out to New Carlisle to eat at the legendary taco truck.

Holy frijoles. Purely delicious Mexican food from a lady who handmade the tortillas and spoke no English

I'm just sad it's 15 minutes away.  it was truly heavenly. we promise to take visitors!!

When we pulled up, Zeb became rather irritated and begged: "can we please go somewhere with food from America and NOT from Mexico?".  His suggestion was McDonalds.   Surprisingly this little munchkin gobbled up the pork on his taco!!  He wouldn't touch the tortilla and informed us: "I do NOT eat plants" in reference to the cilantro and lettuce, though.  I was just ecstatic the picky rugrat ate the pork!!

The weather right now is heavenly.  It was so nice to just enjoy an evening outside without it feeling like a dishwasher!!

popcorn festival.

this weekend we went to beavercreek's popcorn festival!  For some reason all of the festivals around here have names like 'popcorn festival' and 'pretzel festival' and then they don't really have all that much popcorn or pretzels.  We did get a bag of fresh kettlecorn, though. and it was tasty.

and Kent HAD to try the fried funnel dog. gag.  hot dog fried in funnel cake batter.

 the real reason we went was because I'd read about the big 'kid zone'. An area where they have all sorts of games and rides that only cost a quarter a piece.  That's my kind of festival.  Zeb and Ike LOVED the obstacle course inflatable.

Ike wore his Superman shirt all day. even to soccer practice. and to bed.

 fair food is so outrageously expensive and heart attack inducing that I can't bring myself to feed everybody.  So we ate at wendy's instead.  Equally as unhealthy- but at least cheap!  

Kent took Metta on her own festival rides in the backyard. She HATED it.

she was begging me (with her eyes) to save her.

we also had our first soccer practice this weekend.  The field was MUDDY. and zeb took a dive that left him very unhappy and pretty darn dirty.

and so the injuries begin...

I was taking some pictures of Metta just before it happened.  The first of many injuries by a brother.  Once when she was just a few weeks old- Zeb stepped on her head. But he had crocs on- and it wasn't a direct hit.  This injury was definitely a direct hit.  and a hard direct hit.

When it all happened- I was playing with Metta and trying to make her smile or do her crazy faces- Here's a good one :)  She LOVES to spit- and this is the warm up before the splutter.

 She sits up now- and after sitting for awhile she starts to get tired.  She had just plopped over and was lying on her back. I had stopped taking pictures and was just talking to her- when Ike walked over and started talking to her with me. I never looked up at him so I had no idea he had a weapon.

I'm not sure how it happened- or what happened- but he dropped this bat - fat end first- DIRECTLY on her head.

It landed right on her forehead from top of her nose to the tip of her head.  It was the LOUDEST clang imaginable.  I rarely get riled up or really upset as a parent but as soon as the bat hit her head- I FREAKED.  Only because I was mortified.  I thought for sure she had a crushed or cracked skull. That she'd have brain damage.  I'm a worst case scenarioist.  She started SCREAMING right away.  And I ordered Zeb and his friends (he had two over!) upstairs and Ike to the couch pronto.  I didn't actually scream- but I had that terribly scary mom voice that I think my kids have only heard once or twice- and they could tell I was DEAD SERIOUS and pretty scared, too.  Ike started crying immediately.  I tried calling Kent at least five times- and was trying to console metta and check her out.  I went to google and checked out 'signs of severe head trauma on babies' to see if she had any problems.  All I could think was that I'd be investigated for throwing my baby against a wall! Kent has seen too many kids with these types of injuries and 'stories'.

Long story short- she was totally fine.  Kent called about 10 minutes later (he'd been with a patient but saw that I called a gazillion times) and had me check some things. She'd calmed down pretty fast, ate, was talking to me, and smiling.

All of the other kiddos on the other hand were traumatized! I went upstairs to find 2 of the 3 boys crying.  I told them I wasn't mad at any of them and that they had done nothing wrong- I was just really worried about Metta.   Zeb kept crying and through his tears sobbed: "well, I'm worried about Ike!  you hurt his feelings, mom!".  I guess that's a pretty good best friend.

Zeb was mostly worried because Ike got put on time out for an HOUR.  It may sound pretty harsh- but I had warned ALL four boys that I didn't want them playing with the bat. I had hidden it under the couch (one of the boys brought it over) and told them all SEVERAL times that if it came out and ANYone got hurt by it- there would be a ONE HOUR timeout punishment.  Ike sat there for an hour and barely budged. At thirty minutes he asked if time was up- and then sat there another 30.  He knew I was serious and pretty stinking upset.

He really is a good little boy and obviously did not mean to drop the bat on metta's head! Today was his first day of preschool! we are doing another friend co-op. He LOVED it.  Every minute of it.  And several times today has told me that he will not drop a bat on anyone's head.

It was so weird to go to the gym with only one kiddo today!! 

It should be nice to have some one-on-one metta time. Too bad she's a jabberwocky already.  I was kind of hoping for a little bit of car silence.

This is one of my favorite of her outfits. The stripes. the polka dots. and the teal headband.  dressing a girl is a lot more fun than dressing boys!