From 30,000 Feet

Here is a fly-by to catch up a little.  I want to blog, I do...but I also want to sleep and unpack and meet new friends and hang out with old friends and not have pee all over my house (read on...).  I'll find a routine SOON!

*We are moved!  We are basically settled in to our Edmond rent house.  Upon arriving, both Dan and I had a moment of "What have we done!?!".  Not because of the move, but because of the house.  Empty, slightly dirty, not lived in for months houses are pause worthy.  We decided it would just be extra motivation to work hard and be ready to buy a house soon.  Now that we are unpacked, clean, and semi-settled in, we are completely content.  It is larger than our ABQ rent house and in PERFECT location to the new office and the parts of town that we will need to frequent.  Also a super plus, all hard surface flooring!!  Rental carpet plus toddlers is gross.

*We are potty training the girls.  Well, the plan was to do both, but Lauren is just not ready.  She took the move harder, has been more fragile, and just didn't embrace the potty.  Day one was Tuesday...one of the longest days of my life.  Day two, Kate had one accident and Lauren about broke her face smiling when I asked her if she wanted to put a diaper back on.  Day three, today, I would say (in a whisper, while knocking on wood, and spelling out the big words) that Kate is p-o-t-t-y  t-r-a-i-n-e-d (except at night, I just don't have it in me to change sheets in the middle of the night and she has never woken up dry).  And Lauren is happy.  She cheers for Kate, doesn't seem in the LEAST jealous of us making a big deal about her going potty or her big girl panties, and smiles every time we put a diaper back on her.  One less baby in diapers....huge victory!!

*Two tiny potty training stories.
1) I wish you could see how fearless they are with one another.  While one is on the potty, the other is all up in her business.  Trying to look and see what's going on, pushing her to the side to see if anything is in the potty yet, getting hands way too close to places....YIKES!!
2) Never leave a naked child on a potty.  OOPS!  Today, Kate was sitting on her potty chair in the living room (Why the living room instead of the bathroom, you ask?  Well, because she has to sit there A LOT AND FOR A LONG TIME, and there are two other babies to take care of.  I'm not nursing Jack while sitting on the floor next to the toilet.  Yip, this week I have weighed decisions like this: is it grosser to have a baby sitting on the potty (usually not going) in the kitchen, or is it grosser to nurse a baby while sitting WAY close to a real potty.  Never in my life....).  Anywho...Kate was thinking about trying to maybe pee when the phone rang.  And I left the room to answer it.  And when I came back two little girls and the insert into the potty chair were missing.  And there were little drips of liquid across the floor.  And there was giggling coming from the bathroom.  Heart Stopped.  Don't worry, they were just dumping it in and flushing it.  And Lauren was just there cheering her on.  And.....I'm grateful that it's laminate flooring.

*We learned two things about Jack on the move here.  1) He hates his car seat and is not afraid to say it.  2)  He is not a fan of bottle feeding.  We left our kids with Dodie and Pop in Laverne on Saturday to come to the city and unpack and settle a little before they brought them to us on Sunday.  We were away from them about 24 hours.  Jack ate 4 times.  When his preferred milk dispenser is nearby, he still eats about every 2-3 hours.  Poor baby.  Poor Dodie and Pop!

*Jack has had some super firsts this week.

He is sitting up in his bumbo!

He gets to swing!  Due to the interference of his older sisters this was not possible in the ABQ house.  There is room in HIS room now, and we can shut the door and swing in peace! 

*We are just where we are supposed to be.  There is a LOT of scary in this transition.  But there is a lot of provision, and peace, and expectation of the good that is to come!

Our new office!  Open Oct 1 (hopefully!!!!)

Love from OK,
Momma

The Big Girl Who Cried Wolf

When Dan and I were first dating, we would sit in my living room and dream.  We would talk about our chiropractic lives and where we might be in 5, 10, 20 years.  Dan would throw out hair brained ideas like moving to Costa Rica and practicing there....no family, no attachments.  I would match his boldness and throw out ideas like opening our own practice as 'you know, business partners, or maybe more, if you want'. My hair brained ideas came with lots of kids and living close to my family.  Well, folks, I can be both very persuasive and equally persistent.

The Prince family will be moving to Edmond, OK one week from today!  We will be opening our own practice, Prince Chiropractic Wellness Center, on October 1!  

The crying wolf part comes in in that I have talked about moving back 'home' for as long as I've lived away.  I'm a Momma's girl.  And a Daddy's girl.  And a hands-on aunt.  And, (maybe sadly given that I've been away from Oklahoma for over ten years) most of my best friends are in Oklahoma.  People would ask when we were going to move closer to home and I would say "Soon!"...and I've been saying "Soon!" for at least 4 years!

It has taken longer than we hoped.  Some things haven't gone as smoothly as we would have liked...bad time to sell our house, surprise timing with baby Jack, etc.  Overall, though, we have seen the hand of God move through this process.  We've seen his protection from bad decisions being made too hastily, in how some things worked out with perfect timing, in how much we needed little Jack - even though we didn't know we were ready.

There has been lots of planning and praying and fighting and redo-ing and apologizing going on in this house. We are ready.  We are excited for our Oklahoma life to begin!

(I have the CUTEST video of Kate saying "Go Pokes!" that I cannot get posted.  So sad...know that she rearranges the consonants everytime...."Bo Cokes!", "Ko Bokes!", "Po Gokes!".  Totally adorable.)

And now, so I'll never forget the three months when a 12x12 room served three purposes:

Command Central for Planning the Move

Jack's Nursery

Our Bedroom

Love,

The Okie Momma!!!!

Ugh...Part 2 (Every Mother's Middle Name)

Guilt.

My friend said that someone told her that when you push out a baby, they fill the void with 8 pounds of guilt. That seems just about right.

Maybe the guilt comes from having to go back to work and not wanting to.
Maybe from having to go back to work and REALLY wanting to.

Maybe the guilt comes from a change in the 'normal' - new baby, sick baby, needy baby requiring something that changes the day to day routine of the older kiddos.

Maybe it comes from seeing behaviors in them that you recognize and don't love about yourself.

Maybe it comes by way of other moms who seem to have it more together, with better stuff, and better behaved children.

The list above is probably endless.  Maybe you have adult children and I can't even imagine that list yet.

My latest is centered around the girls.  Jack is a good baby, but he's just a baby, and when he needs me, he needs me right now.  I used to be at the B's beck and call.  We played together most of the time.  Sure, they did some things alone, but I was involved...whether in the same room, or initiating the play and then stepping out to get something done...somehow involved.  Since Jack, that has changed.  Yes, they are older.  Yes, they SHOULD be getting more independent and imaginative enough to play without a cruise director...BUT, here's a typical scenario:

We are all in the living room, girls and momma in the floor playing.
Jack cries.
Momma goes to Jack and settles in to nurse him.
K grabs L's hand and heads down to the hall to their room.
Then they close the door and proceed to be OK and even *horror* giggle and laugh without me!!!

Would I rather they sit at my feet and cry until I'm done with Jack?  NO.
Would I rather not be breastfeeding baby Jack? NO.
Do the abovementioned, logical arguments make it sting less?  NO.

Other sources of guilt:
I rarely sit and rock Jack.  If he's happy or asleep, I put him down and go to the girls.
I rarely get out of the house to do fun things with the girls.  I could.  They are social little B's and would love it.  I just don't.

I'm loving it.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  I know your brand of guilt is different than mine...but I think it's one of those sweet, common, inevitable bonds of motherhood.

Love,
Momma

Accountabilibuddy.

Dan and I have accountabilibuddies for everything...our walk with the Lord, working out, being good parents, chiropractic, etc.  I have decided that my blog is sucking (for lack of a better word) because I have no accountabilibuddy!  SO...all of you, or Mom if you happen to be the only person who reads this, will now be my buddies.

Blogs needed to catch up with all I need to tell you:
1. Ugh...Part 2 (aka: Every Mother's Middle Name)
2. The Little Big Boy Girl Who Cried Wolf
3. Truce
4. Book Report
5. Red River
6. Working Girl

Yip, those are all blogs that are mostly complete in my brain and haven't made it to my fingers to make it to the world wide interweb.  You know why???  Well, that's easy.  I know of five websites to visit.  Period.  I sit down at night with the thought of doing a blog and it goes something like this:

www.theprincehouse.blogspot.com: to read all my friends recent blogs
www.thepioneerwoman.com: to sign up for any giveaways
www.wellsfargo.com: to see if I need to rearrange moooolah as to not overdraft any of our accounts
www.facebook.com: to catch up on current events (heeheehee)
www.pinterest.com: and then I never move passed that website.  I sit and pin things that I'll probably never do/own/make/wear.

And then I'm so tired that I tell myself I'll blog tomorrow.  So, friends....you are my buddy now.  6 blogs in the next two weeks or else....I don't know, ban me from pinterest!?!?!?

Sometimes having a sister is sweet.

Sometimes, not so much.

I cut Kate's bangs.  I have curly hair, I knew better.  Big mistake, big...huge.

This is their morning ritual...breakfast inside then reading, chatting, and drinks on the patio.

I got nothin'.  They're weird.

Kate is the master mimic-er of late.

Eat. Her. With. A. Spoon.

I don't have time to blog, but I certainly make time to accessorize them ridiculously.  Lu was so not impressed.  Bug thought it was aahhhsssshhhhum (awesome)!

I do love me some Jack-E-Poo.  He is more fun everyday...yet still the least photographed of my children.

Love,

Momma