Let's Catch Up

After a nearly two-year hiatus from blogging, I'm back! So why was I gone in the first place? Well, one reason was that I am pretty sure that my old laptop was possessed by demons. Every time I turned it on it would scream at me. It got to the point where I could hardly use it all without having the strong urge to call in an exorcist. Another reason I stopped for awhile was because the craziness of life got in the way. The content little baby turning turned toddler became a handful and finding a few minutes every day to write became harder and harder.

But now I'm back with new determination. I missed blogging, even if hardly anyone every read my blog. But you're here, now, reading this, so let me catch you up.

My family has grown from just Thing One and Thing Two to add little Thing Three. Thing Three (I promise I will come up with better nicknames in the near future) was added to our family in February the day after his brother (Thing Two) turned three. So this is where our family now stands.

All 3 kiddos at Thing Three's One Month Pictures

So, let's catch up with Thing One. She started and completed kindergarten this past year. I'll confess it made me feel a little old having a school-age child. We had considered the homeschooling route but decided that our little social butterfly would thrive in a normal school environment and we were right! We were lucky and she got an amazing teacher with a wonderful teaching assistant. This past year she learned to read and write and, very much like her mother, loves to do both. Math is another story. This past year she also began losing her teeth! So far she has lost both her bottom teeth and is racking up gold dollars (which is the currency of her tooth fairy). Every day I swear she grows smarter and sassier. Her current obsession is everything cat related. She read over 48 books this summer as part of the library's reading program and I'm pretty sure at least 75% of them featured cats.

Now, on to Thing Two who is now that infamous middle child. He's turning out to be quite the adventure. He is currently undergoing evaluations to see if he has anxiety or some other similar disorder. It turns out he is especially sensitive to sounds despite having a normal hearing range. He is also struggling with his speech and will begin speech therapy in the fall. Despite being behind in those areas, he's a smart, active, typical three-year-old boy who loves dinosaurs, trains and cars. He's obsessed with Blue Clues and everything to do with video games, specifically Mario. I will be attempting to home school him this upcoming school year as I did with his sister. Let's hope that works out.

And now for the newest addition to our family! Thing Three arrived in February via a planned c-section just like his siblings. He was a big boy weighing 9 lbs 4 oz! He was overall very healthy but did have some blood sugar issues for the first couple of days due to his size. Thankfully, everything leveled out quickly! Now he's growing like a weed! He's just starting to sit up unassisted, scooting on the verge of crawling, and, judging by the amount of drool and his extreme level on crankiness, is working on cutting his first tooth! He recently started solid food and is a big fan. Unfortunately, it seems he has some problems digesting dairy so I'm currently going dairy free! And it sucks. I miss my pizza and cheese in general. There's a possibility that my going dairy free won't be enough and he may have to go on a special formula but that's yet to be seen!

So, that's where we are! Hopefully, I will be able to stay on top of this blogging thing this go-round and will be back shortly with more rants, crafts, recipes, and all sorts of fun stuff! Until then, enjoy this picture of my kids getting along for two seconds! 

Follow @mylifeasasahmom on IG for more updates and fun pictures! 

Day One of Christmas Fun!

This morning we woke to find it dreary and rainy outside. I think that if it's going to be precipitating outside this close to Christmas it should at least be snow, but no one asked me. Despite the weather, we still had a pretty great day!

When we woke up, we found that our Elf on the Shelf, Bell, had returned! He had taken a pink piece of sidewalk chalk and written a message on the wall. He also brought the kids each a new pair of Elf pajamas! Client One took the liberty of reminding her little brother of all the rules that went with the Elf. She was also extra careful to be good today and gave constant warnings to her brother whenever he started to act up. Client One also had several conversations with Bell and she drew him a picture.

After we adjusted to be watched by an elf all day, it was time to get dressed in our fun Christmasy tees and open the door on our penguin. Since Client One was the biggest and strongest, she got to open the door and Client Two got to pull out the paper. Today's little red slip told us to write letters to Santa. We raced into the kitchen (We literally raced. Client One won.) and immediately wrote our letters. Since Client Two has yet to learn to write, we drew a picture of what he wanted using a loose, artistic interpretation and I wrote down his list for him. Client One had a better handle on the list writing. I helped her with the spelling of the items on her list and she even added a picture for clarification. When the lists were completed, we showed them to Bell and asked him politely if he would take them to Santa for us tonight.

Throughout the day, we had lots of fun listening and dancing to Christmas music. When we got to the end of the days, both kids got warm baths before snuggling into their new Elf jammies. (Client One had to model her pajamas for Bell.) Then, they selected and unwrapped a new Christmas book. Tonight, they chose a book called "Home for Christmas" by Jan Brett. Jan Brett books have beautiful illustrations so they are always a favorite. Both kids crawled up in their daddy's lap while he read the story. Client Two got a bit antsy before the story was over and ended up in bed. Client One finished up the book a little bit later when she went to bed.

So that was our first day of Christmas fun! I can't wait to see what fun tomorrow brings! 

Ready or Not! Here Christmas Comes!

Today is the last day in November. This means that tomorrow is December 1st and Christmas is right around the corner. Usually, we don't bring out any decorations or listen to any Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but this year, I confess, we started a little early. We've been dancing to Christmas music for a couple weeks now and our decorations have been down out of the attic for at least as long. I did a quick photoshoot with my phone in the garage so I could order my Christmas cards online, so we had to get down the decorations. Of course, my Grinch-y husband wouldn't let me put any up until this past weekend. But now, despite us all having nasty colds all weekend, most of the inside decorations are up and we are ready for Christmas! But the real Christmas fun starts tomorrow. Because tomorrow, we start some of my favorite Christmas traditions.

The first tradition that we love is our advent/ countdown penguin. He's a big wooden penguin with doors numbered 1-25. Of course, the idea is to open one little door each day to find a treat and countdown to Christmas. I bought him years ago, before we even had kids and Hubby and I used to open him up and enjoy a piece of candy each day. But now that we have kids, I stick something else behind the doors. I cut up pieces of red and green construction paper into little strips and write Christmasy things to do on each. Every morning, we open up the tiny door and pull out the paper. Most of the activities are simple things like "Do a Christmas craft" or "dance to Christmas music." Others, like picking out a tree or visiting Santa, have to be planned ahead. Either way, it's a lot of fun and not only does it help us countdown to Christmas but it also keeps up in the Christmas spirit with fun traditions!

Another tradition that we start tomorrow is our book countdown. Each night, right up until Christmas, the kids will get to unwrap a new Christmas themed book each night. Their daddy usually reads them a bedtime story every night anyways, but the Christmas books just add to the fun! Most of the books we reuse from year to year but we do try to add new ones to the selection each year. This year, we've added some fun books that I know everyone is going to love and I can't wait!

And, of course, another tradition is Elf on the Shelf. I know the Elf gets a lot of hate, but we love him. Yes, he can be a bit creepy at times, but he's lots of fun. Now, our Elf, Bell, isn't a naughty or messy elf. I have two kids that make enough messes with a stuffed elf causing more for me to clean up. Instead, Bell finds fun, creative places to hang out and, when the kids have been good, he brings little treats and gifts from the North Pole. We received a special package in the mail today from Bell. It contained a little note from him as well as his book so we could be prepared for his return tomorrow. I honestly have a ton of fun coming up with ideas for our Elf and most of the things I do with him are fairly simple. You can check out what Bell did last year by checking out my post from last year.

So, the Christmas season is upon us and I couldn't be happier! I love Christmas and all the traditions it brings! I will try to update with a new post every day (most simple and to the point) so everyone can share in our fun traditions and Elf adventures. I will at least post a couple pictures to Instagram each day. (You can follow me on Instagram under @adlewis09 or @mylifeasasahmom or search for one of the following hashtags to find our adventures: #mylifeasasahmom #sahmomChristmasFun #adventuresofbell2015.)

Happy Christmasing!