And baby makes 5: June 2012

Once again, we hit the pavement for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. With Ashley & Nick living in Chicago, we thought we'd give another new city a try. Chicago turned out to be a fabulous walk and weekend.

Brandon and Liz swapped their home in NYC with an amazingly generous couple (i'm talking they left us breakfast food, picked up my sister from the train, checked in and rooted us on, and were just amazing people). The house was beyond gorgeous, and easily slept our large crew. The craziest part was that it was a mere 4 blocks from the park which hosted the wellness village for all the walkers. This was my first time getting to see how most walkers spend the evening after walking day 1, it was pretty impressive really.

Everyone got into town by dinner Friday night. We walked down the street to a beer festival, which was fun, then returned home to enjoy some traditional Chicago style pizza. Umm, fat and lazy is how we all felt after that meal. Made for an early night for all.

We hit the trails around 7 am Saturday morning. Opening ceremonies are very inspiring, and as always, I cried. It feels powerful to be surrounded by thousands of people who are all supporting the same cause. There are fighters, survivors, those who lost someone, and those that just want to support the cause. It's AWESOME!!!! My message on the Chicago sign this year was....."Mom, Kit, Kiki- Our Hero!"

I am not all that familiar with the city, so it was fun to see downtown, the stadium, different neighborhoods, and landmarks. After hitting the half marathon marker, we all felt great and decided to trek on. Liz had to get back to relieve the babysitter at mile 18, then several more of us jumped on a bus at mile 20. Brandon, Justen, and Nick went hard core and walked the full marathon (plus the few blocks home) in 1 day.

DAY 1- 0 Blisters

After a dip in the hot tub.... we ordered chinese and had a rare family dinner (man I miss Sunday dinners at Grandma's house every week). Finished off the night by celebrating Matt/Justen's birthday and Jenn/Justen's engagement (yep, my little bro is finally getting hitched). Then off to bed to start day 2.

We hit the pavement at 8 on Sunday, and walked the last almost 14 miles by lunchtime. Day 2 was a bit more boring, with less to talk about, and a way uglier route for the first few hours. But we ended by walking along the water, and crossed the finish line as a team.

DAY 2- 0 Blisters

It was a gorgeous weekend, blue skies, and mid 70 degree weather. Mom was certainly there with us, walking all the way. As a team we raised nearly $20,000 this year. GO US!!!!! I am proud to be on The Whole KIT and Kaboodle Team....I am proud of my family.....and I am proud of Matt and I. Asking for money is tough, walking 34 miles is tough, and spending 3 whole days with your siblings can be tough (hehe). But in the end- we rocked Chicago and the Avon Walk!

Thank you to all that supported us!! Where will next year take us???

No matter how good my day goes, or how awesome my kids act, there is always that reminder that nothing is perfect. Whether it is the spilled orange juice on the carpet after a fun day at the zoo, or a fighting match over a sippy cup after a drama free day. Reality is, there is no perfect, and often the imperfect is what keeps my day interesting (and often exhausting).

The Good's and Bad's of my children right now:

ASHLYN is a smart girl, too smart sometimes. She has a strong desire to learn, and gather information. For a 3 1/2 year old, her vocabulary is incredible, and she carries on very adult like conversations. She will throw out phrases like.... "mommy this honeysuckle is lovely", or "this dinner is humongously spicy, and tingling my lips". I quickly see she is quite advanced in her communication and speech patterns after spending time with other children her age.

She is showing great interest in writing words, and I am starting to work on simple words for reading. She still loves to sing all the time, colors in the lines really well, writes her name extremely well, recognizes all of the alphabet by site. Visual, if not photographic, memory! She is a smart smart little girl.

With all this energy to learn, comes energy to burn. When given too much down town, she quickly turns to negative behavior to keep entertained. 3's have turned out to be WAY more challenging for me than 2's for sure. There is this sense of anger in her that I really can't pinpoint. In the last 2 months my sweet sweet Ashlyn often disappears at times. She will talk back, get angry when reprimanded, cries when doesn't get her way, tries to hit or push when I tell her to do something, and is downright mean to Austin (pushing, hitting, yelling). Am hoping this is the TRYING THREE's phase, and nothing else, but is has been a big challenge for me. I work hard to stick with positive positive positive reinforcement, but it's easy to lose my cool after a long day.

When i worked with preschoolers at the park district, the 3 and 4 year olds were always my favorite age. They are little adults, with little high pitch voices, and no grasp on sarcasm. I am striving to cherish our sweet conversations, her adorable voice when she sings, and her good moments of tender love.

Tub Learning

Smiling with a sucker, a BIG bribe reward these days

Singing the loudest and proudest at her school performance!

Super proud of her sailboat jello snack for preschool

Our left handed batter. She hits better than most of the boys

Mother's Day!

Ashlyn LOVES Miss Carla and Miss Paula

Excited for the pool to open, posing in her swimsuit

No naps often leads to impromptu naps on the couch

AUSTIN is a ball of energy! He is talking up a storm. Will repeat most anything you ask him too. It is the cutest when he says...... "bye bye daddy, yuv you daddy", in his sweet baby voice. The kid is obsessed with anything sports. He will point out a Ba-Be-Ball (basketball) from a million miles away. And if any sport comes on TV, he will yell it out. He loves to make a cheesy smile face, and scrunch up his nose.

He calls Ashlyn, Ah-Eee! If she jumps, he jumps....if she sings a song, he sings that song. The little guy wants to do anything and everything his sister is doing. Unfortunately, that brings a lot of frustration on her end, and she usually ends up just pushing him around. And Austin has the most hilarious walk. EVERYWHERE I go people are always commenting on his "strut". He walks with style, and it's adorable!

I get why people say little boys are more lovey than girls, Austin is such a momma's boy. He wants to snuggle, cuddle, hug, hold me, play with my hair, be close, ect. A very very attached little boy. I love it though, and will enjoy it as long as these moments last. I'm guessing at 15 he will NOT be sticking my ponytail in his ear, and wanting to sleep in my bed at 5:30 every morning.

He is a kid that can fall asleep anywhere, but unfortunately his crib is not one of them lately. He goes down easily at night, but wants nothing to do with it for naps. So I end up running errands during the afternoon, take walks, or put him down in my bed. And most every night, he wakes up between 5:00-6:30 and wants to come lay in bed next to me.

We are creeping up on the 2's and I am seeing more signs of that. While his temper tantrums are short lived, as Ashlyn's always were, he is definitely starting to express himself more. Unfortunately it often involves throwing something across the room, writing on walls, or hitting his sister....or me! Luckily, he responds to "No" (whereas Ashlyn laughed at me) and seems to be more sensitive with his feelings.

He is SO attached to my hair.... His security blanket