For Nick

My #2 child has been swinging back and forth between the funniest, cutest little angel to a screaming, tantrum-throwing, waking up in the middle of the night, little devil. It's either his age (2, of course) or his adjustment to new baby. Either way, it's quite an adventure. He totally cracks me up and totally makes me crazy, depending on the day. So, here are a few good ones of the little devil (or angel.

He fell asleep like this. Awesome!

He insists on wearing his hoodie and beanie to bed most nights now.

Don't you just want to eat them up after they take a bath! They are so clean, sweet-smelling, and their faces are booger-free!

It ain't easy being a middle child. (I know.) Nick is so hilarious, and smart, and determined! I'm sure he just needs attention. Someday, I'll have more time to devote to him. . . .right?

MY TURN!!!

I may never be able to blog again. My 2-year-old is completely obsessed with playing computer games. Yes, he's only 2 and he loves the computer--what is the world coming to! So he wants to be on it all the time. Whenever I try to be on it he throws a huge fit or he climbs on my lap while I'm typing and gets in my face. Naturally, since the little guy discovered the computer, my 4 year old suddenly has a desperate desire to play on it which causes constant fights over, "It's my turn", "No, it's my turn." The only way to stop the insanity or to limit their computer time is to just turn the damn thing off completely! So, here I am, up way later than I want to be (10:15pm--pitiful I know), just so that I can have some "me" time. This is more like a journal entry blog--just the musings of Tiffany.

I need to publicly apologize to anyone (mostly my older sister) whom I have ever judged for having what I deemed a messy home. I'm suddenly so humbled because I suddenly realize how it gets that way. There are some people who genuinely don't care and don't even try to clean. . .but, I would bet that most women want a clean home and it just gets so stinkin' hard to keep it clean once you have more than 1 child. Housekeeping feels like a hamster wheel--running, running, exerting so much energy, never getting anywhere. My house is even quite small, and the more stuff we cram in here the messier it seems. It is so cluttered it just never seems clean to me. I also hate leaving dirty dishes in the sink at night because then you wake up to a stinky kitchen, and then it seems to make the whole house smell bad, and then it takes a lot of concerted effort to make the house smell decent again. And. . .I swear there have been very few nights lately when I didn't leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight. (Probably only the nights that we went out to dinner.)

Sometimes I just feel like I am working all day long cleaning, doing laundry, meal preparation, feeding the baby and when my husband walks through the door at 6pm it probably looks like nothing has been accomplished. (Luckily, I am blessed with a man who doesn't comment about it, even if he does think that.)

The moral of the story is twofold--first, humility, the older I get the more children and life experiences I have, the less judgmental I am. Secondly, is, a plea for mercy-if you ever come over to my house and it smells bad, or you see me in public in sweats without makeup, or my children come to church with dried boogers on their faces and teeth not brushed-please don't judge me harshly. I really am working my butt off to keep everything together. And truth be told, sometimes I don't try at all because I'm just too tired to care!

CAVEAT:
**My husband doesn't let me complain, he believes that it only attracts more negativity to you. So, if you want things to be wonderful, you have to speak as though they are wonderful. So since I just complained a lot, I have to balance it with some positives:
*Ruby is smiling so much and cooing more and more. She's adorable.
*We are so blessed that we can afford a nice (yet modest) Christmas for our kids.
*Michael still has a job in this troubled economy, and I can stay at home.
*I only have about 10lbs left of baby weight to lose. (Although, I'd really like to lose 20 lbs to be back to my 25-year-old, pre-children weight!)
*I have a nice home (even though I want a bigger one because I am selfish and shallow), but it is warm and filled with love and laughter.

Does that count as some good positivity! Will that keep the universe balanced in my favor. Because I gotta tell you, sometimes I just want to vent and complain and feel sorry for myself but I don't want to be consumed by it.

SHOUT OUT:
Something else I've been thinking about. . .and I have to hurry and fit it all in now because I may never get another turn on the computer again. . .is how many cool women I've been getting to know lately. Although, the sad truth is, that most of my friendships lately consist of reading their blogs and sometimes posting a comment.

I especially want to shout out to the women of the Orchard Ward. I've been in this ward for 2 years and I'm just really now starting to feel really attached and a part of this ward. There are so many of the women whom I think are so cool and I'd love to get to know them better. I'd love to be "friends" with them. But, I mean, how as a grown up mother of 3 do I make new friends?

Back in my youth, I usually bonded to my friends in one of 3 ways--
1)We would have some really long, late into the night, deep, philosophical discussion about love, life, womanhood, and the pursuit of happiness, that sort of thing.
2)If I thought you had friendship potential I would invite you to go dancing with me--your ability to keep up with me, and avoid the advances of overly anxious guys who were looking for something to grind up against would be your test.
3)We would go out to eat. Naturally.

I'm not really sure how to be friends with new women. I rarely spend time with the friends I've had for years, I rarely spend time with one of my sisters, and yet I hate feeling isolated and homebound. (My anti-social husband doesn't help the situation.)

So, to all the great women, particularly those of you in my ward, consider a blog comment or a post on your Facebook wall as a gesture of friendship. I read your blogs and follow your lives. . .so I guess that's the way I can have some sense of friendship now that I've got 3 kids and no dancing skills!

There's Something About Ruby

There have been a lot of cute pictures taken of my kids in their little lifetimes. (My first child has about 5 times more pictures of him than any of my subsequent kids.) But, I got Ruby's portraits done this past week. . .and it changed me forever! My boys are cute, but this little girl melted my heart in a way I have never experienced. There's just something about my little red gem in her little red dress! I love having a daughter.

Yes, of course, she needed a red dress--her name is Ruby! This will be her blessing dress. (I've never been one for the standard white blessing outfits.) And speaking of the name Ruby. I have a complaint! When I looked at the SS name index to pick a name, "Ruby" was ranked like 157th in 2007. I thought I was picking a name that was classic, timeless, and NOT TRENDY! But, since she has been born I have heard of 3 people who have named their newborn girls "Ruby" within the last 2 months. I'm going to be very disappointed if it suddenly becomes very popular and trendy. It is completely beyond my control. My sister said that has happened to her 3 times with the names she picked for her girls. One of her daughter's is named Giselle. . .she was born over 3 years ago and it seemed like a completely obscure, even weird, name back then. Then the movie "Enchanted" comes out, and suddenly we're hearing of babies being named "Giselle" a lot these days.

I guess it's not too late to change Ruby's name. She's only 2 months old, and we haven't even blessed her yet. I could pick Gertrude or Bertha--I'm pretty sure those names won't get trendy. Just kidding! I'm too in love with the name Ruby, it was meant for my girl! Even if there will be 5 Ruby's in her kindergarten class. . . .there will ever only be one her!

BFF's

When you were a little kid did you and your best friend talk about what you hoped it would be like when you grew up? The two of you planned to marry twin brothers, live next door to each other, have kids the same ages who would also be best friends. Well, me and my best friend, Sheree (my friend for going on 20 years) have inadvertently coordinated our lives so well that it is comical!

We both just had our first daughters, Ruby and Jordyn. The two babies were born 5 days apart. We have matching outfits for them, so we had to dress them up and take a picture of them together. Sheree's baby, Jordyn, is probably at least 2 lbs. bigger than Ruby--but, Ruby is 5 days older!

Sheree and I also each have 2 sons ages, 2 and 4. Our first babies were also born 5 days apart. Both times this has happened Sheree was due 2 weeks before me. . .but, both times I beat her by 5 days! Here is a picture of Gavin and Ashton (our first babies) at about 5 months old.
Our second children, Nick and Ty, were born 6 months apart. So, even with those two our pregnancies overlapped a little bit. But, we have never, ever, ever planned our pregnancies together. We've never even consulted about it. We've never even said, "I'm thinking about getting pregnant." None of that! We've had babies 5 days apart TWICE. . .and it has been perfectly accidental.

We even lived across the street from each other for almost 3 years while I was living in my parents' house during their mission. That was completely unplanned, too. Now, I have moved--but only about 6 blocks away.

Unfortunately, I still don't see her nearly as much as I would like to. Despite our perfect coordination, there are things you really can't plan or control. Like, our husbands. They are not twin brothers, in fact, they're not even friends. When we were first married we tried to get them to hang out and be friends, but you just can't force those things.

Now that our boys are getting older, we're realizing that you can't necessarily force your kids to be best friends either. Ashton and Gavin are dispositioned very differently, so they don't always get along. Ashton always wants to tackle and wrestle. . .and Gavin is just not down with that!

But, I feel so blessed to still be such good friends with Sheree after so many years. She and I have always been very different, and yet somehow managed to be YIN and YANG and benefit each other with our individual strengths. At this point in our life, she and I have so much in common it is easy to be friends. Especially these last 7 weeks, we have commiserated with all of our postpartum struggles--sleep deprivation, sore breasts, juggling 3 children, etc. I don't even have to make excuses or try to be positive. . .I can say nothing, and just cry, and she completely understands!

The only bad thing about our friendship, is that we don't get to hang out together enough--especially without our children! I told her someday, when we're done having babies, and our kids are older, she and I will go on a cruise--just the two of us.

And wouldn't it be amazing if Ruby and Jordyn really could be BFF's from birth?