A Pig, A Princess & A Pirate.....Oh My!!!

What do a pirate, a princess and a pig all have in common??? Not much really, except for the fact that these were the costumes my children picked out for Halloween this year!!! Lauren is getting to that fun age where she wants to be something fun and different. Reese still makes me spend countless money on another stupid princess outfit, even tho we already have $387 dollars worth of princess outfits in the basement. And Paige, well, in keeping w/ tradition, didn't really have a choice but to be the most adorable pig this side of the Mississippi!

Every year I have high aspirations that my pumpkin is going to be one of those pumpkins people are amazed at. But, every year the disappointment seems to get bigger when I realize Reese probably could have done as good of a job if I let her carve the thing herself!

Lauren's costume turned out great. She was very much into this pirate thing, practicing her pirate growl for weeks in advance. I was tempted to let her attach a bottle of Captain to her belt buckle but decided that, even tho VERY entertaining, probably wouldn't be very responsible of me.

A very rehearsed, posed picture of my princess in purple. If any of you happen to run into Reese over the course of the next couple weeks, please inform her that wearing white sweat pants under a purple princess costume does NOT in fact make you look like a dork!!! (I'll let your imagination determine how THAT conversation went!) (Also, if any of you were to run into me over the course of the next couple weeks, please remind me that praying for patience on a daily basis when dealing w/ this child does not make me a bad mother.)

Ok, so flashback to 2004. Lauren was almost 1 year old and this was her first Halloween. What costume does a first time mom buy for her daughter? An adorable princess costume? Heck no! We buy PIGS in this family!!! And every child from that moment on was doomed w/ the most adorable pig costume this side of the Mississippi!

Lauren Marie, 11 months old:

Reese Olivia, 9 months old:

And last but definitely not least, Paige Abigail, 6 months old:

The girls and I walked around the neighborhood w/ the Hillebrand girls. While the girls went trick or treating, we went trick or drinking. Aside from the fact that the moms almost ruined the evening by a slight run in w/ the police, while carrying an open container of beer on a public street, everything went very smoothly!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Fall Is Here

With the forest in Mom and Dad's backyard, the leaves are my children's newest playground! Between the "trampoline" and "birds nest" made out of leaves, this free playground provided me about 2 hours worth of free time! I love it when that happens!!!

On a different note, we had a big accomplishment in the world of baby this past week. Paige is sitting up! And boy oh boy, is she proud of herself!

Paige....you couldn't have asked for a better big sister. Lauren spoils you rotten! Sometimes, I think she's worse than Grandma!

Finally, I wanted to post this video as proof of why I drink. All I wanted to do was get a simple video of Lauren and Paige playing on the floor. For about 5 minutes prior to this video Lauren had Paige laughing like crazy.

In my attempt to capture this moment in time, I instead, captured a crying baby, a 6 year old carrying a child she KNOWS she's not suppose to carry, and one ANNOYING 4 year old.

I know people say we will look back on these days and laugh, but seriously, it's hard to see that far into the future after watching something like this!

5 Months Old!

Paigers, Smiley, Boo Boo, Sweetpea, Kicky McKickerson, Baby Blue, Number Three!

I often wonder why we spend 9 months debating on a name for a child, when 5 months into their lives they end up with 100 different nicknames anyway!

I'm torn between Kicky McKickerson & Boo Boo, both names provided by her oldest sister. Kicky McKickerson is 100% fitting for her, as the kids legs never stop moving. Not quite sure where Boo Boo came from, but Lauren started it and it's kinda stuck!

Call her whatever you want, I simply call her adorable! Following in her sisters footsteps, between months 3 and 5, she has successfully gone from a full head of hair to 100% BALD (aside from a few whispies here and there)! I'm not sure why all my kids come out w/ a full head of hair and proceed to be bald 4 months later!

We had our first big milestone this month. Paige rolled over! She can go from her belly to her back, but not vice versa yet, which kinda makes her mad. Especially at 4 am when she finds herself on her back, unable to reach her binki. (Yes, my kids are belly sleepers....sorry!)

She also started at daycare 2 weeks ago cause I unfortunately had to go back to work. She's doing great and is already the FAVORITE (kidding!).

Happy 5 Month birthday Boo Boo!

Update on the other girls:

Lauren has transitioned to Dyersville amazingly well. She misses our neighbors, but found a couple girls in our neighborhood to play with. She is doing great in school.....now! We got a note home from her teacher on the 9th day of school cause she was talking while the teacher was talking, and that was the best thing that could have happened to her. She is the type of kid that does NOT want to make you mad. Knowing how disappointed we were that she got in trouble at school motivates her to be better. She has yet to get in trouble again and has received the top two behavior marks everyday since this happened.

Reese on the other hand I think has struggled a bit. Now whether that's because of the move or Paige or it's just her personality is hard to say. Actually, I think it's a bit of all three. She's going through this lying phase that has seriously put me over the edge. I've taken things away from her, timeouts, early bedtimes, no snacks. Nothing seems to be working. She's getting good reports at school and daycare but once she gets home she just turns into this monster. I'm hoping this phase passes quickly and once we get into our own house, with our own routines, she will go back to "normal"!

Ok, that's enough for now. I hope to get some more pics take of all three girls soon. I've gotten a little lazy w/ the camera lately.

Back to Reality

Well, after losing the weekly lottery for the last 4 1/2 months, reality hit hard Monday morning at 5:15 am when my alarm went off. That annoying thing hadn't been set to go off since April 22nd. Talk about a depressing moment!

I started back to work Monday, but this time around it's with a 30 minute commute. Surprisingly tho, the drive doesn't bother me. I get to listen to some of MY music, have some ALONE time and I get to RELAX a bit. Notice all the capital words revolve around one thing for once. ME! Instead of listening to some random Disney movie or the girls argue or Sports talk radio, I get to do what I want, in MY car for 30 minutes each morning and each evening! Who would have ever thought 30 minutes of peace and quiet could do so much for your sanity!

Me going back to work leads to a whole new routine for us and the girls in the morning. They now get to ride the bus and boy do they think they are cool! Aside from a few boys making fun of Reese because they said her name was a boys name, it has so far been pretty uneventful. (Don't worry about her tho. Trust me, she can hold her own!)

I feel terrible, but I completely missed their first steps on the bus. The only pics I was able to get was them walking from the bus to school. One rule, they must hold hands. And I was happy to see that they listened. (Well, at least the first day they did!)

Besides starting back to work, we also had a birthday in the house this week. Troy turned 33 years old! Isn't that special?!??! He had a cake made out of love & egg shells waiting for him when he got home. (I'll give you one guess who caused the egg shell incident?)

Random snap shot of Reese & her light skinned, blue eyed sister that looks nothing like any of her siblings!!! HA! (Still not sure where she came from! But she sure is cute!)

Now don't forget, throughout all this we are also building a house! Yes, we love self torture! The house is coming along good. They should finish bricking next Monday and also started drywalling today. I'm praying we are done in about a month!

On a bit of a depressing note, the offer we had on our house in Dubuque fell through today. They have been unable to get their house sold, so decided to just take it off the market. So now we have two houses! Lucky us! If anyone is interested in a house in Dubuque, let me know. I'll cut ya a deal! So say some prayers that something happens w/ the house between now and when we move into our new one. I do not want to be stuck w/ that house through the winter.

Finally, I found this video from about a month ago of Dad and Paige. Priceless:

The Oster-House!

It's not rocket science, there are certain known factors in life that can lead to stress. For example:

• Having a baby can be stressful.
• Moving can be stressful.
• Trying to sell a house can be stressful.
• Starting a new job can be stressful.
• Building a house can be stressful.
• Living w/ your parents can be stressful.

No wonder Troy and I have been a bit grumpy the past couple weeks.....this is our life! We are excited about all of the above bullet points, but if they weren't all right on top of each other, it might allow for a bit of breathing room these days. And to top it all off, I have to go back to work in T minus 9 days! Beyond depressing.....

But, all of our hard work is startign to pay off. The house is coming along great, should be in by mid-October (hopefully).

Two of the youngest contractors in Dubuque County....did I mention they work cheap too!

This is the dining area:

This will eventually be the kitchen area:


This is the girls replacement for Maggie.....Birdie the Frog:


And this is a recent picture of the cutest 4 month old in the Tri-State Area:

1st Day of School

The girls started back to school this past week and I'm not quite sure who was more excited, the girls or me!!! We have had a crazy summer between moving, building and Paige being born. So for me, having them start back to school has brought back a much needed normal routine to my life!

Dropping them off for the first day was very strange for me, as this is where I went to grade school. My parents also moved to Dyersville from Dubuque when I was in Kindergarten, so all of this seems very familiar!

Anyway, Lauren started 1st grade and Reese is in Pre-school. They were both very excited to start school. Lauren's teacher is Mrs. Gleason and Reese's is Mrs. Riniker.

We also had another big milestone this week...Paige turned 4 months old! This was a very bittersweet milestone for me. 4 months ago when she was born, going back to work was an entire summer of fun away. Well, summer is now over, Paige is 4 months old, and I have to go back to work in 2 weeks....sigh! I am so grateful to have had this extra time w/ her and the girls, but it is only going to make leaving her that much harder!

She had her 4 month check up last week and did great! She weighed 13 lbs, 15 oz (70%) and was 25 1/4 inches long (90%), following right along the same path as her big sisters.

She is still an amazing baby, sleeping like a champ. Although last week she came down w/ a nasty head cold. I finally took her in yesterday cause the poor thing just looked terrible. I felt so bad for her. Ends up she has her first ear infection.

She will smile at anyone that makes eye contact w/ her. Even last night sitting at the pharmacy waiting for her medicine, she had 4 sick people smiling from ear to ear! About the only time she screams bloody murder is when she's hungry. And it seems she goes from this smiley, happy baby to Ethiopian starvation in a matter of seconds, it's kinda funny!

She still loves her swing, although her toes are starting to hang off the end a bit. I'm seriously not sure what I'm going to do w/ myself when she outgrows that thing. That is the only place she will lay by herself. She does like her exer-saucer, but only for about 15 minutes at a time. And she HATES laying on the floor. Will scream the second you put her there. (She might be a little spoiled...good luck daycare!)

As you'll see, she's still a happy little baby, full of smiles....breaks my heart to see how fast she's growing!

As a side note, I wanted to document a pic of Lauren at this age. Everyone says they either don't know who Paige looks like, or that she looks like Troy. I have said from day one that she is a spitting image of Lauren w/ blue eyes and white skin. Here is a pic of Lauren at 4 months old. You might not agree, but I think she looks alot like Lo Lo!!