STACY, STEP UP TO THE MIC

Starting off the first Open Mic post is a very close friend of the family and mother of three, Stacy.  Stacy is my brother’s friend’s sister. She was always a mystery to me when we were growing up because I heard about her more than I saw her.  I was always the little brother tagging along with my bro, and she was the older sister avoiding her gooney younger brother, so our paths didn’t cross much. But as we grew older, our families made sure our paths crossed to stay in touch despite the fact that we live in two separate States now.  With three kids, Stacy has an endless supply of hilarious stories. Even though we aren’tactually related, we consider her entire family part of ours.

STATUS UPDATE: over.whelmed.

i was pretty excited when matt asked me to be a guest writer for the blog. a blog is something i’ve always wanted to do – but never got around to. lol. in fact, when my oldest was young – i was blogging before blogging was cool, i was just doing it via email and calling them journal entries. they were soooo therapeutic! i was still doing it when baby #2 came along… and once baby #3 came, well…. forget about it. but i totally have a thing for words 🙂 – once text messaging and facebook entered the scene, i gave up capital letters and proper punctuation – and now manage to pull off the longest status updates, comments, and texts in history. THAT’s therapy 🙂

having 3 kids – i’m surrounded by possible blog entries. throw in a couple of cats, a puppy, a fish, family, friends, church, work, home… and wowsa. i could go nuts! and yet this week – i find myself speechless and overwhelmed with the possibilities… kind of the week i’ve had, i guess – overwhelming. dont really even know where to start… so i guess i’ll start with kid #1!

abby’s a beautiful 14 year old girl – our guinea pig. she came first – so we get to try everything out on her. so far so good… i think. lol. i’m still trying things out – so really it’s wayyyy too soon to tell, but i really like her. she’s my super smart night owl, and friend to many. she’s a soccer player, wednesday night church goer, music lover, and social butterfly. she’d like me to think she doesnt want me around, but the truth is – deep down i think she wouldnt have it any other way. she likes to be home – and i love having her and the ones she loves here, too. i love that even though she’s growing up and branching out – home is where it’s at… where she’s comfy. i think it’s because she knows i’ve got her back.

every so often i look at abby and say ‘remember when that one boy gave you crabs!??!’ no joke. a kid in 3rd grade sent abby home with his pet crabs for the weekend. a holiday weekend (ie: a long one) just for fun. it was really random. abby got off the bus that friday with a small cage and 2 crabs. i was like ‘WTH?!!?’ – by saturday, the cat had gotten to them… we werent exactly sure what had happened: all we knew was that the cage was on the floor (having been knocked down from the dresser), the lid was off – and the crabs were GONE. i thought the cat had gotten lucky and got fresh crab for dinner! so…. i went out and bought the boy new crabs. i didnt know what else to do!!! and then like 4 days later – mid week after having already given the boy new crabs – out walked the crabs. there they were – just walking down the hall. crabs. go figure!!

‘max in the middle’ is 11 – a good lookin’ boy sandwiched between two girls. the peacemaker. the giver. and usually my calm. i dont know what i’d do without him and his simplicity. or his sense of humor. he can be found playing baseball, playstation 3, or singing ‘pretty girl rock’ in the shower. im pretty sure even his sisters like him – he’s just that kind of kid. loyal, yet crazy enough to be constant entertainment. he’s a thinker (thinks far more than people realize), and sometimes he thinks too much. he’s too young to have to think that hard, so i’m hoping he figures out real soon that i’ve got his back, too, and that he can chill-ax a little. relax, max! 🙂

just when i think ‘OMG i can’t take it anymore’ (lol), one of the kids says something all clever, cute, and funny, and then suddenly having kids is fun again – and ohhhh so totally worth it!   once, when we were on the way to mcdonalds for dinner on the run, max says to me ‘i need to get more than one big mac…  cause if i only get one, it won’t have my name in it.’  (it took me a second, but he wanted BIG MAX, not a big mac).  LOVE when max sings in the shower – and he chooses his songs very wisely, usually a ‘chick song’ so he can embarrass himself on purpose.  love love love his versions of the high school musical ballads, ‘all the single ladies’, and ‘pretty girl rock.’  he’s always been kind of a ladies’man, too – there’s a little girl max goes to church and school with that’s had a crush on him for years – awhile back at church, she walked up to david (max’s dad) and says ‘are you max’s dad?’ david says all proud like ‘yes i am!!’ and she says to david ‘well… max is cuter!!!’  this is good stuff – stuff you can’t make up if youre tried 🙂

sara girl is 7 – and a mix of both abby and max. cute, feisty and fun – sweet, with a little ‘stinker’ mixed in. sara has a love for all things paper and pen. the centerpiece on the kitchen table is a mason jar full of markers. (actually – more like 2 mason jars full of markers, 1 mason jar full of pens and pencils, and for the times i let her splurge – every girl’s favorite – a mason jar full of fresh SHARPIES!! ♥). she has a passion for camping and the outdoors, and loves a good play date with a friend. she’s sometimes a little needy – but at the same time, far more self-reliant than the other two were. guess that comes with being last – ‘if mom forgets to get me chocolate milk – i’ll just get it myself!’ hopefully, though, she knows i’ve totally got her back, even if i do forget the sippy cup refill!

sara always cracks me up.  sara and i were driving down the interstate and she says to me serious as a heart attack ‘you are soooo gonna have to pull over so i can unbuckle, i’m about to get an infected redgie’.  (she calls wedgies ‘redgies’ – and had one so bad, she was gonna have to unbuckle to pick it!!)  the other day, max says to us ‘i watched moby dick last night, i didnt expect it to be so good’ – and sara says ‘awwwwww….  max said the Deeeee word!!!’  it turned into a heated discussion on what swearing is, and what swearing isnt.  reminded me of the time abby was little and she thought that the word “BUT” was a bad word (every time we’d say the word ‘but’ she’d act like we were criminals) -  i had to explain to her that there are good ‘buts’ and bad ‘butts’.  ‘i have to go to the store, but i dont want to’ is a good but…  ‘you are a butt head’ is a bad one.   at bedtime, it’s always been our tradition to give each child a few minutes of alone time with each parent (i’ll spend 5 minutes in one room, while david spends 5 minutes in another…  and then we switch off).  sara would say to me every.single.night ‘lay with me last to lay with me long’ – she was always hopeful that if i spent time with her last, i’d stay with her longer…  ♥

having all these backs… it can get a little overwhelming… typically, i feel as though ive worked an 8 hour day before i ever make it to work. i spend a couple hours a day in my car EASY – running the younger two to elementary school, the oldest to high school, myself to work 3 days a week, and then back to the schools to get them all picked up in the afternoons…

next year, i’ll have one in each school (elementary, middle, and high!!) – add in a play practice, a baseball game, a soccer game, another soccer game, an after school date to work on a project – and then just fun play dates… well, it can get a little kuh-razy! 🙂 i crave a 12 hour night’s sleep… but would settle for 7… (i recently told matt i went 13+ years without sleeping through the night – TRUE STORY!!!) and i thank god every single night that my kids have kind hearts, sweet smiles, know when to laugh (and we laugh a lot), and that they’re mines ♥