blog hopping milspouse style

It's time for another blog hop! This one is quite perfectly perfect, its a blog hop for milspouse bloggers!

I told you it was perfectly perfect didn't I?Wife on the Rollercoaster over at Riding the Roller Coaster is kind enough to sponsor all of us milspouses so if you haven't already.... head on over and sign up. But I'm pretty sure everyone has heard about it, I'm usually the last on board these days.

So I'll hit the high points...

I go by The Mrs. around here, I'm married {8 yrs this Dec} to a Marine aviator who goes by Flyboy.

{Favorite blog fodder of him had been that he steam cleans the bathroom. The entire bathroom. It's now been replaced that he's on a mission, ala caddyshack, complete with running around the yard with a shotgun to get a groundhog that has taken up residence here.}

Sadly, no pics of him on here.... this one of his wrist is about as much as he lets me post, opsec is a bitch sometimes. And with as handsome as he is in a flight suit its just not fair to the rest of you. Really, safety first sucks.

Oh and occasionally my potty mouth breaks thru.

As for me, I am a 29 year old stay at home mom. {and occasionally the dad too. and the plumber. and the bug killer. and the cook. and the maid, althought that one is really occasional.}

We have three adorably, adorable boys, they go by dash 1, 2, and 3. All are blond hair, blue eyed, bundles of energy. {and occasionally trouble.}

Dash 1, 5yrs

Dash 2, 3yrs

Dash 3, 8mths

I blog about motherhood, its ups and downs. Military {wife} life and its ups and downs, all in all, life in general. Be that strange show-n-tell stories, bizarro things my kiddos say, recipes {I have to post the guacamole I made last night, super simple and yet another slap-your-momma delicious food}, handy tips, and just rambles.

But is a ramble ever really just a ramble?

Anyways, I hope to see you back around. I have several giveaways coming up, one perfect for military folks {it may or may not be a lovely quilted service star made by big mama, I'm just sayin...} so keep checking in.

Oh and check me out on twitter @mrs_flyboy where thanks to my crackberry and ubertwitter, I keep twitterville abreast of what's a-happening with The Mrs and the dashes as it happens. Take my word for it, I electrify twitter.

Enjoy the blog hop! Hop on and have fun!

In case you were wondering....

Rhyming show n tell is tomorrow and I *think* we have come to an agreement of what to take in.... telescope and soap.

I'm pretty sure they rhyme, but quite frankly after three weeks of debate and racking our brains to come up with something I could give two shits if it doesn't. Mother of the year right?

Really, this seemed more like homework for the parents then a fun learning activity for preschoolers. And I'm afraid of what the next show n tell is going to be.... items with "m" as the third letter or something.

Oh and I'm making fresh guacamole to put on my shredded chicken tacos for dinner.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Ideas needed for care packages

I was hoping you all could give me some good ideas, or rather, give some ideas to pass on. My sister-in-law {to be} had asked me for some ideas on sending a birthday box to a friend of hers stationed in A-stan.

She figured I'd have some ideas because God knows how many boxes I've sent to flyboy. And I have sent a crap ton of boxes, however I was sending them to Marine of a husband and little did she know that flyboy isn't really into the fun of a care package.

He's more the practical type then the fluffy fun type. Sure I sent over some cute stuff but honestly most of it was practical stuff, he was over at the very start of the war and for a while boxes included toilet paper for the hole he had to dig for his poo.

To say he was living bare bones would be an understatement.

Anyways, her best friend is celebrating her 24th birthday over there and she wants some ideas for a fun birthday box. I told her I would consult yous guys {dash 2 has started saying that now and everytime he does my heart momentarily stops beating} because yous guys are a wealth of knowledge.

With opsec and whatnot I'll just give you a brief sketch, shes a nurse and is at a base with access to some stuff so she's not really needing the toliet paper and baby wipes, hence why I'm out of ideas.

Well that and she's a girl and flyboy is a far cry from a girl.

Shoot some days he's a far cry from human.

{I mean that in the nicest way my darling. You do steam clean the bathroom. That's kinda odd. But I love you bunches ♥♥kisses♥♥}

And anyone ever tried out the cake in a jar thing?

Flyboy instructed me not to send cake for his birthday the times he's been over there. See what I mean? No fluff or fun. {sigh}

So.... bring on the ideas please!

Thanks yous guys! See its just weird to say and now my three year old is tossing it around. We need orders. Pronto.

Dear so and so

Dear flyboy,

Please. Please I beg of you from the bottom of my heart. Stop chasing after the groundhog with a shotgun.

I know you're a rifle expert, I am not doubting your gun abilities but really, my money is on the groundhog. He's low to the ground, he's got a quick escape hole, and I'm pretty sure he's just doing this to tease you.

Please, please give it up. Your turning into that crazy character from caddyshack and I love you too much to watch that happen.

your loving wife



Dear Elementary school,

Thank you so much for the reminder call about Kindergarten registration, I really do appreciate the work that must have gone into calling all the parents.

But let me just say..... Me? Forget to sign my kiddo up for full day school?

You must be out of your mind.

Thanks again!
a very giddy mom




Dear preschool,

You always have my kid standing at the end of the line near a teacher when ever you do a class "presentation of sorts". Really, this has happened the last three times.

And don't try to sell me that its random. I've been in class rooms. NOTHING IS RANDOM.

Here's what I'm wondering.... why don't you put the girl who was lifting her dress over her head, ripping up her name card into a million pieces, and then rolling on the ground next to you?

Just wondering.
a parent who is wondering what the hell I'm paying for




Dear obnoxious tee ball mom,

No, no I do not think that the kids need new jerseys.

Yes I realize that not all the jerseys match and they have seen better days. I get it you want them to match and have a shirt to keep.

Here's my thought: WHO CARES!

They've already had their team picture in said jerseys, we've already had the parade, the seasons already started, I've already paid 150 bucks for registration, I've already bought 30 dollar cleats, I DONT WANT TO SPEND ANOTHER 10 DOLLARS!

I know it's only 10 or 15 dollars. I get that but I must draw a line somewhere. And telling me that parents who don't agree and don't want to spend the money "should be ashamed about not caring for their kids". Really? You need to open your damn eyes.

Not buying a tee ball tee shirt does not equal not carrying about your kid. That's reserved for people who allow their kids to act like hooligans in public and wonder off because they assume another parent is watching them.... oh wait that would be you....

yours truly,
the teeball parent who keeps giving you the stink eye


oh and dear boys,

Stop your fighting and acting like idiots in public. I should warn you, should this continue and you can't keep your mouths quiet and your hands to yourselves, you might push me over the edge to a point where duct tape might be involved.

I'm just sayin.

love you bunches.... mommy

ps. and dash-3 GIVE IT UP AND SLEEP AT NIGHT FOR LONGER THEN 2 HOURS!

Photo Update

I've been a bad blogger lately. So I figured I'd do a little photo update of what we've been up to.

Enjoying seeing GREEN again!
{Oh and this is reason 867 why we don't live in housing, this backyard is waaaaaaay better then the postage stamp we would have in housing.}

Playing on hay, because everyone does that in the spring right?

Lots of time enjoying the outside {except today, sadly, today is yucky and wet}.

Lots of "flowers" have been picked for me. They may just be weeds but my boys think they are roses and love to present them to me with a big smile and a kiss.

Personally... I'll take that over roses any day.

We've hung out with the cows some, fed them some bread, chit chated, moowed a little. You know.... the usual.

Check out the shirt...if you cant read it clear enough it says "My mom's blog is better then your mom's blog." ABW sent one for each of the boys, dash3 says "Blog star" and dash1's says "Every detail of my life is being blogged".

He wore it to the park and I heard one mom whisper to another... "Whats a blog?"

Lots of time at a new park, which means lots of time on the swings.

And dash 3 loves him some swings.

Dash-1 is now a Pirate! As much as we bleed blue, we will now bleed black and gold. Until football starts that is. Then its back to big blue.

So far, every at bat has ended up with a hit.

And there has been a lot of base protection.

And that's about that. Springtime around the flyboy house. Hope everyone is enjoying theirs as much as we are enjoying ours.

Show n tell round two

We have an issue around the flyboy house. It's that time again.... time for another themed show'n'tell at preschool.

Last time it was themed there was some spirited debate about what to take in, flyboy and I laughed hysterically at our wittiness the entire time and dash-1 just stared at us like we were ruining his life.

Apparently show n tell should be treated with proper respect. Welll excussse us.

Anyways, this month's theme is rhyming.

Oh and I should tell you that no one in this house makes quick, snap desicions. Hold it let me ammend that, flyboy in a work capacity is a great decision maker, being in life and death situations will do that to you. In every other way we are a house of wafflers. So we have been mulling over this for close to a month.

You would think two rhyming things easy peasy! I mean look, I just rhymed, I can do it. But it's not.

One of the first purposed was BAT and HAT, very fitting since dash-1 just started teeball and is so proud of his team hat and his new bat. However, while I might not make decisions easily, I am not an idiot, and I'm not sending my 5 year old into prek with a baseball bat.

Think about it. Even well intentioned that wouldn't end well.

It was also suggested we could try to catch a real BAT and make him wear a HAT but I have to think his teachers would appreciate that even less.

Last night we had a brain storming session and it ended much the same as the last one. Here's what was put forth...

a SPOON and a LOON {my being the loon}

a SPORK and a DORK {the dork being flyboy}

a MOTHER and a BROTHER

an ARK and a PARK

oh wait did I mention these have to fit in a little brown lunch bag? Yeah well, cause they do. That just adds to the funn.

a CAR and a BAR {mildly inappropriate yes, I'll give you that but it just flew over their head. They laughed about putting the car in a paper bag and flyboy and I laughed about pony kegs. Good times. }

a ROCKET and a SPROCKET

GOO and POO {no shortage of that around here}

I had also suggested a week or two ago that dash-1 could bring in his favorite stuffed animal, a duck named Quack Quack {we are original around here no?} and for a second it seemed like we had a winner. Until.

Until he went thru trying to find a word that rhymed with duck.

I stopped him before he got to F in case you were wondering. And no way you could fit THAT in a paper bag.

So the search is on and we have a week to figure it out. He's getting tired of talking about this rhyming thing with us. He apparently does not find it as funny as flyboy and I. All he wants to do is bring in his transformer but alas.... what rhymes with transformer?

Oh and we are totally open to suggestions... really go ahead bring it on. If we don't have it we'll go out and buy it at this point.

And by the way, whatever happened to just good old fashion show n freakin tell?

Big boom

Something happened, almost overnight really, life exploded.

And before everyone worries I don't mean in a bad way. Hardly.

I mean exploded in that constant errands to run, laundry to do, appointments to go to, calls to return, practice tonight, game tomorrow, school in the morning, oh wait where did I put the permission slip, is everyone wearing their shoes, no not those shoes, your shoes kinda way.

And lets not forget the playdate in the afternoon.

Whew. That makes me tired just reading it.

Seriously, I am tuckered out. It seems as of late, life is moving at the speed of light and I'm limping like the slow gazelle at the watering hole to keep up.

Getting two hours of sleep at a time doesn't help at all.

In time I know I'll get normal people sleep, even if its months from now. But the rest of it is here to stay. My boys are no longer little itty bitty wee ones. No longer do I drag them too and fro, not they are dragging ME.

Though I am still driving.

And no naps. Not even for this tired momma. That doesn't seem fair. They get more active and need less sleep.

Who thought that one up?

My new love in life

H.O.L.Y P.O.O.P

If I go days without a post, which since becoming a mom of three happens fairly regularly, it was because I was sleep deprived, constantly dealing with someone of the short stature variety, wiping someones butt, doing laundry, you know... mom stuff.

Well no more.

Now if it's quiet around here this is the reason:


I'm in the kitchen, hiding in a corner eating one of these bad boys.

Just to clarify, I'm not hiding cause I'm ashamed, I'm hiding because I don't want to share.

I picked up a couple of these at the commissary - sidenote- I know are you as shocked as I am? A new product at the commissary! Aren't they normally a year or two behind the curve? - and let me tell you..... these puppies are slap-your-momma-good.

Though if a dash brother slaps me it ain't gonna end well. {I'mjustsayingthankyouverymuch}

Seriously though, these things are wicked awesome.

Wicked awesome enough I'm blogging about it. And no one sent me any for free. {Yooo hooo Dole, if you'd like to send me some I'm cool with that!}

Each pack is two little cups with its own whole wheat granola so I can tell myself its kinda healthy. I mean it is fruit and granola.

And don't be a hater and leave a comment about the sugar or whatnot and how its not really healthy, please, I haven't slept for longer then 2 1/2 hrs at a time in close to a week - I. need. this.

On the package they recommend heating it up, DO IT. It makes it all warm and gooey like an apple pie, and what the package doesn't tell you.... add some vanilla ice cream, just a tiny scoop and then its REALLLLLY good.

Slap-your-momma-AND-your-daddy good.

Not that I encourage the slapping of parents around here. Just the eating of these things.

as always

I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!

{And no flyboy, if you're reading this I'm not actually "late", feel free to resume a normal breathing pattern}

I'm late for this....

See I told you it was important. So important that we are partying in the living room and dash-1 is dancing on top of the coffee table and dash-2 is wearing a pull up on his head.

But you don't need to hear all the details of our wild party, they would just bore you. Or scare you.

Anyways....WELCOME!

I go by the mrs. around here, stay at home mom extraordinaire. Or something like that.

I'm fast approaching my 30's and at least for now, could care less. I have three great kids, all boys, 5, 3, and 7 mths.

Yup. All boys. {Sigh}

Lots of wrestling, jumping off of things, bumps and bruises. They are affectionately known as the dash brothers {they go by dash-1, 2, 3, around here as in planes in formation}

Our house is in constant, varying stages of chaos, but the blog fodder is endless. I mean really, post about elmo underpants being flushed down the toliet or words created by dash-1 just right themselves.

I've been married to my devilishly handsome husband for seven years.

He just happens to be a Marine who flies and around here he goes by flyboy, {you can't say I'm not witty}.

Not only is he quite a husband but he's a fantastic father and a heck of a shot with a nerf gun.

Oh and he too provides blog fodder. {I respect his desire not to have his picture on the blog, safety reasons and all, but the funny stories, oh those are fair game.}

I've been blogging for about 2 1/2 years. I think, I'm not gonna lie, I'm at the point where days and nights are just blurring together.

I laugh at the funny things our kids do and say, post mindless mindless things that pop into my mind. {That happens a lot with me.}

I also like to post tips that I've stumbled upon {I have an ongoing love affair with baking soda, use it with your shampoo you'll have wicked soft hair}. Some of my favorite post are my Honest Mommy post, where I try to be has honest as possible about the ups and downs motherhood.

All in all, just more of me me, trying to figure it out as I go along.

Hope you'll come back!


Oh and you can now find me on twitter as mrs_flyboy

Party on!

long night

It was that kind of night.

Husband away, up at all hours, lots of tears and crying, big ol crocodile tears and hiccuping sobs if you must know and, all told, four hours of sleep.

Two before the crying and two after.

Get the baby down finally at 4 something and then dash 2 wakes up.

Good times folks good times.

I'm hoping, scratch that I'm praying, that today {and most especially tonight} is a better day.

But then again, I get to look at this all day how could it not be?

There is obviously a reason God made my children so cute, had he not they would have been sold to gypsies long long ago.

My take on marriage

Before I get into my take on marriage, I wanted to say thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers concerning dash3 and his "smallness". He's doing well and I'll do more on it in the next day or two, I just want to talk to flyboy first. He's away right now and while I doubt he's penciling in time to read my blog you never know. That could be awkward.

Anyways, to marriage.....I was getting the mail and flipping thru Glamour and saw a thing about the things no one told you about marriage, now I haven't actually read the article, someone dumped water all over the kitchen floor and someone else was putting straws up his nose.

Another calm moment in the flyboy house.

But it got me thinking about when we were first married and I realized that marriage is a hell of a lot harder then it looks.

Now just so everyone understands, I love my husband. A lot. A whole whole lot. The inscription on his {first ring that fell into the recycling machine at BJ*s and is no longer with us} read "my life, my love, my friend" and let me tell you, I mean that with every fiber of my being.

But still, I found myself waking up the day after our wedding and looking at him while he was still sleeping thinking "holy shit I'm with him for the rest of my life?!"

{Would you know, when I told this to flyboy a couple months ago he was insulted?! Really I was just being honest with him about the enormity of marriage not the fact that he was snoring or anything.}

So here are a few things, not so much that no one told me about marriage but more what I wanted to tell you about marriage {and find out what you wanted to tell me and everyone else}....

1. This is an obvious one... marriage takes work...some work from him, some from you. But heres the thing, sometimes you need to put more work in. Sometimes you're the one giving 60, 70, shoot 85% and on the flip side, sometimes you'll be the one taking more.

If you keep score you'll go crazy and probably become a nasty, bitter human being who when you get out of the car at the end of the driveway to get the mail the car doors will be locked and they will speed off with out you. Don't keep score. Just know that marriage is not always equal but it will even out in the end. If that makes any sense.

2. Much like the keeping scores, don't play games. Scrabble and monopoly are cool {except don't make fun of your wife for using poop and fart as a word in scrabble} but setting your husband {or wife} up for failure just isn't gonna work out real well.

Like saying over and over, "oh I don't want anything for valentines day, no really, I don't need anything, please don't get me anything" and then come v-day, you get nothing. Except for mad.

Not fair. You said nothing and were hoping for some great romantic gesture. Well that doesn't always happen. Some guys don't work that way and its not any great indication of how much or little he loves you, its just the way they are.

So now I say what I want, I don't need much, I just want a card. Shoot I don't even need a card, just write me a little love note on a post it.

Reasonable expectations folks. It helps. A lot.

3. It's perfectly normal to roll over sometimes at night and look at your spouse sleeping and think, I could just put this pillow over their head......

It's not, however, ok to act on that. That is not cool.

Or is this just me? {Again I love my husband, but we annoy each other and that's normal.}

Seriously, sometimes marriage seems impossible. Sometimes the lows seems so low, sometimes and this is just between you and me..... you can just hate your partner. shhhh don't let that one out.

I think the real key here is that those times should be few and far between, but like anything in life, marriage is not always lollipops and unicorns {although it is like a slumber party sometimes, see more below}. ITS OK. It's ok to feel like this. I'm pretty certain that even the best marriages have bumps and warts.

4. When you are going thru a bumps and warts phase, careful who you share this with. By all means, have someone who you can confide in but don't share all the ugliness {you can share some but in moderation folks} with your mother.

Why you ask? 'Cause moms, especially when it comes to their baby's {and no matter how old you get you are your mommas baby} have a loooooooooong memory. Like elephant memory long.

Those are the animals with long memories right?

5. Marriage has made me independent. I was young when I was married, a few months after turning 22 so now that I'm close to 30 growing up can probably be credited with some of this.
And surely, being married a military man has had a lot to do with it, but I also think that so much of that comes from knowing that someone has my back.

I know I can stand on my own to feet and I have the strength to do it because when I don't, I know I can depend on him to carry me.

This isn't always literal in a military marriage, there are times, a lot of times, when he's away and I'm wading thru muck on my own and its easy to feel alone, but I know I'm not. I know that where ever he is, no matter how busy he is, he's there for me. Even if its just some weird soul connection kinda thing.

{I know flyboy probably just rolled his eyes if he's reading this somewhere. And that dear is why even with our soul connection I want to put a pillow over your head. love you kisses}

6. There are times that marriage seems like one big slumber party.

{I mean if you had bills, screaming kids, and in laws at your slumber parties.}

Really though, there are times when we are just hanging out in bed or relaxing together that I look at him and ask him if he wants to braid hair or paint our toe nails. {This usually gets a "look" response} Sometimes I'm amazed at how much fun being married can be.

Boy if the first is this much fun what's the second one going to be like.....

And of course, there is always the smattering of little things, I figured since he was a rifle expert, he wouldn't pee on the floor, I mean you can shoot an itty bitty bullet on a target way far away, surely you could hit a big ol bowl. And I'm sure he figured I could learn to close cabinet door, especially since he reminds me constantly how much it annoys him. Ya know those kinda things.

Hmmm, now that I look back over my list nothing here seems earth shattering new. Sorry about that folks. Whataya know, I'm not on the cutting edge of some new development in marriage.

Anything you want to share about marriage? The good, the bad, the ugly, the snarky?

Chubby kids... its not ok

I saw something at S*m's Club today that was disturbing. Disturbing enough that its resulting in SECOND post of the day. Two post one day?! It must have been something.

And it wasn't the rather large lady who had clearly forgotten to put on her bra but was wearing a shirt that said "Do you believe in love at first sight?". Although that was disturbing. Trust me. Even dash1 couldn't look away.

This was something else, something that always upsets me and sadly something I see more and more of lately..... overweight kids. And not just a little chubby, both flyboy and I had our chubby periods, that's normal {hormones are a bitch aren't they?}.

No I'm talking about obese kids. This boy was probably only a little older then dash-1
but probably had a solid 30 pounds on him. And that my friends is close to double dash1's weight. It was sad really, he was so pudgy that you couldn't see his neck, and when his family drove past me in the parking lot he barely fit in his car seat {which by the way was the same model as dash-1 which is why I'm pretty sure he is right around his age}.

Now before I end up with a uniform purse amount of hate mail about how some kids have metabolism issues or what not, let me put out the disclaimer, yes, some kids have a medical reason for their weight. Sometimes it simply is.

Shoot, I got me one on the other end of the spectrum {althought we have an apt tomorrow for a weight in so hopefully we'll have some answers and hopefully he's gaining weight}.

However, the whole medical, big boned thing, IN MY OPINION, is not the case for the vast majority of obese kids.

And while we're at it, don't blame hormones in milk or meat either, blame the sodas, ring dings, and crap they are shoveling in their gullets. Yes, there might be things present in the meat that wasn't around when our parents were kids but lets be honest, here is what makes you fat, let me break it down for you, Eating too much crap AND not moving enough.

There ya go, and kids these days are doing both. And parents these days are FAILING THEM.

Yeah that's right, I'm gonna blame the parents. You know why? Because kids do not know how to drive the car to the commissary and buy twinkies. You know who does? Parents. o if I have an obese youngin who isn't out of my sight then the blame but rest at my feet. That being said, I feel for parents of kids in school who are trying their darndest but have to compete with the crap that's sold in the cafeteria.

But obese toddlers, no excuse. None. Zip.

Look, I'm no Mother Teresa of vegetables, I'll be honest here my kids hate vegetables. They like their oreos, fruit juice reigns supreme over milk, and they have a sweet tooth. However, I, as the mom, balance that.

I mean really, one kid thinks he's an astronaut and the other wants to be lightening mcqueen, I really can't leave health decisions up to them without some serious guidance now can I?

Dash-1 had a problem with milk a while back, everytime he drank it he threw it up. EVERY TIME. He's actually afraid of milk now and well, I'm tired of cleaning it up. So it's not really a beverage of choice in our house, dash-2 likes drinkable yogurt and in moderation I'm cool with it. They do drink a lot of juice BUT, I water it down.... a lot. And I've started giving them Fruitables which actually have a serving of vegetables in one box drink. I love it! And so do they.

They love fruit snacks so I've switched over to organic ones, with the sugars coming from fruit purees or juice, no added sugars or food coloring. Still not perfect but in moderation...

They like oreos but those are an occasional treat from the commissary when the price is right. And honestly, just between you and me? If I buy them, well, the kids get a couple and flyboy sucks down the rest. For other snacking they eat whole wheat pretzels, crackers, or 100 calorie snack packs.

And fruit. We go thru so much fruit that I buy it in bulk at the warehouse stores. I like the farm stands but up here that's only a summer thing {and by that I mean 2 months it seems}

So there, I'm not perfect but neither one of my kids is even a slight bit chunky. I don't want to seem judgmental of others but sometimes I just want to go up and slap the parents.

You know how I noticed this kid? He was filling up his soda as I was filling up my soda.

Again, a five year old was filling up his soda.

Yeah that's right, I drink soda, its my weakness, but you know what, my kids dont. I'm amazed everytime I see parents giving kids, little kids soda. I saw one woman pour it into her kids bottle! If you are drinking soda out of a bottle two things, 1. you're too old for a bottle or 2. you're too young for soda. Either way its just wrong. {again IN MY OPINION}

It's amazing how it's becoming such an epidemic. Perhaps it's just because I have kids so I notice it more now then I did a few years ago but it seems that it's something that I see more and more frequently. Almost on a daily basis now.

And don't blame the fast food companies targeting kids. I mean don't get me wrong what the heck is a happy meal but a marketing tool, but again, my five year old isn't steering the car to McD's.

{And yes, I'm guilty, my kids eat fast food, but they get nuggets and apples. And no soda. Sure as hell no soda.}

I know its not easy. I get that, I bribe with food sometimes. I like to make treats for my kids. Shoot, I am guilty of eating crap, but don't parents see what they are doing to their kids? Why not just strap a bomb to their gut?

Are we in agreement? What do you think about the childhood obesity problem? Are parents to blame? It's ok if you have a differing opinion, as long as your not rude speak your peace.

{I don't mean to end this suddenly, I hear dash-1's asthma acting up and dash-3 is stirring. I know when my peace is coming to an end.}

Answers to some questions....

I think my computer had dust on it when I opened it up today. Which leads into what Julie asked about going from 2 to 3 kids and what was the hardest part.

Honestly, going from 1 to 2 was harder, especially since flyboy is away so much that I was already used to being out numbered, so really what was one more? Shoot toss a couple more kiddos on the pile!

The hardest part now days is kinda two fold, 1. how stinkin long it takes to get out of the damn house! and 2. that everyone needs something at the same time. i.e. as I am trying to herd everyone out the door to get dash1 to school or make a drs apt inevitably both boys will need my help with their shoes and it must be RIGHT THEN, or dash2 needs help peeing and dash3 has had an explosive poop. Fun stuff.

I do feel like I'm running a little behind the curve somedays, I mean its been days since I've been on here, but you know what? At the end of the day, what does it matter if I'm behind a bit? As long as I'm ending the day with the same number of kids I've started it with then its all good.

Jaimie asked about sleeping thru the night and in the interest of full disclosure, I'm an idiot at this. I nursed the first two and I'm nursing this one so they still wake up to eat at night. With our boys we've done the Cry It Out method with them once they hit 12 mths and it worked with them. Sorry for the lack of info.

Ashley asked about moving them into big boy beds. We moved both boys somewhere around 15 mths. We figured it we just bit the bullet it would be easier then waiting till they were older and more stubborn about moving. That and if we trained them earlier on to stay in the bed it would help. And all in all it worked for us.

We transitioned their crib to a big boy bed with a side rail and let them get used to that and then after a few months we bought toddler beds and set them up in those.

Dash-1 was a parents dream. We told him not to get out of bed and not once did he. In fact he would call for me every morning to let me know he was awake and I would have to come in and tell him to get up.

Dash-2 is a bit more stubborn and recently has taken to goofing off at bedtime. Until. Flyboy came up with a fantastic idea. He had on wicked cool lightening mcqueen sheets and pillow cases, well if you can't stay in bed, you get sterile hospital white everything and he gets to earn them back by staying in bed. If when he gets them back he goofs off again the white goes back on. I gotta admit, I was leary but its working.

{the same goes for his jammies, lightening mcqueen rules this house can you tell?}

Jenn B wanted to know a very important question... how can you be as fabulous as me?

The simple answer.... sing the wonder pet theme song while wiping butts, walk around the mall with your nursing bra unhooked and have your kids call your arms jiggly.

That's how you attain the status that I have. It's not easy and takes some real work but its do able.

Wiley wanted to know what you do when kids ignore you. They ignore you? WHAT?! You know what works great when they get older? Embarassment. Really, my mother swears by it. In fact she will still resort to it and nothing gets us to hop to quicker. Whether it was raising her voice REALLY loud in a store or threatening to show up someplace it worked.

I'm sure some moms out there are thinking "my kids never ignore me!" please those moms are lying. All kids ignore at some time or another, its normal, not excusable but normal. And it seems to come in phases. Don't worry you will make it thru. My goal in parenting it to just make it thru every phase that comes my way.

Dash-2 is now three and is in the thick of I-cant-hear-my-mom syndrome. The only cure seems to be me holding his hand or putting him in a cart at a store, repeating myself at home, and following thru with whatever punishment I put out there.

And I'll be honest {cause I'm an honest mommy} its hard to do that sometimes. Sometimes you just kinda fly off the handle and pull a punishment out of your ass and realize that it would be easier to just give in, I'm guilty of that sometimes but in the long run it doesnt get you anywhere. So parenting 101 never lay down a punishment you cant live with.

She also asked about how you teach that sarcasm isn't appropriate when you yourself like to use it.

For that I answer.... when is sarcasm not appropriate?

Sarcasm is free flowing in this house.... an example.... when I hear I want I ask the kids if they would like a list of everything I want and if they would like that said list in order of desire or alphabetical order.

Sarcasm, like everything else, has to be taught in a way that they understand what is acceptable and what is over the line. I like me my sarcasm but sass me and its a long walk home buddy. Time and place, time and place {those are mantras around here}

There are a couple more to answer but alas my mothering job is calling me.

Next time is weaning and being the only girl.... if there is anything else you'd like to know just ask. I'm an open book.