Tale as old as time

Twas a good weekend. Grandma Dianne, Grandpa Jerry, and Kristen came to visit in celebration of Lucy's birthday (which is actually tomorrow, April 28!). They got a priceline hotel deal and we got to take the swimming a couple different times. The kids loved it. Julian was so brave and excited. First thing he put on his swimming ring, adjusted his goggles, walked calmly to the edge of the pool, and SPLASH! jumped right in! He repeated this scenario about 200 times with no fear. At one point he asked if he could try swimming without his swimming ring. I told him, okay, I'll be right here in case it doesn't work out. So, he adjusted his goggles and just jumped off the steps and tried to start swimming. He sunk like a stone of course, but he was doing everything right, kicking his legs and swimming with his arms. I grabbed him in a split second of course so he didn't suck down too much water. He was a little scared, but not enough to deter his jumping in again, but not without his swimming ring for now. He's excited to learn to swim without the ring and I think he'll have it down with a few more times of going swimming this summer.

We also had the chance to go with Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Wayne to see the Hunter Central Stake production of Beauty and the Beast. Julian was absolutely on the edge of his seat for the entire 2 hours and 45 minutes. Lucy made it about 2 hours until I had to take her home due to her banshee wail, and Vincent made it about 10 minutes before Nicole had to take him home to put him down for a nap. The play was very good and I was actually quite impressed at the quality of a local production with just amateur actors. Julian is now looking forward to being in a play himself. His preschool program will be good practice. I will unfortunately be out of town for work and miss it. My heart is absolutely broken over this, as are Nicole and Julian. He's been preparing for this all year and he's so excited. I've explained to Julian that I really want to be there but won't be able to, so we'll video his program and then when I get home from my business trip we'll have a party with popcorn and watch it together. I'm trying to keep him positive and excited and happy about the whole thing and not get too down about the fact that I won't be there. He's a good kid and is rolling with it fine. I hope he does so the day of the program as well.

Lucy's birthday is tomorrow and we're still debating what her gift will be. Talk about crunch time!

Finally Spring

Brief update in the world of brief updates...it's been a long time and this blog, which started as a sincere plan to keep you all updated on our family life, has become yet another task that we rarely have time for.

Needless to say life with 3 childrens is BUSY. It's not so much that baby that complicates things, but the stages the other 2 are in. Vincent is a model miniature citizen. He rarely cries...well, actually, since Christmas he has turned a bit fiesty, but he is a baby so that is expected and he certainly cries way less than Julian did. Lucy was generally a good baby too, but Vincent is a true model of a happy baby a large percentage of the time. He is still not crawling and has just barely gotten his first two little teeth poking through the gums. He's anxious to be moving around and is trying to work out the coordination which is not aided by his exceeding size, proportionate to his age. He does not fit in hardly any of the clothes we used for Julian at the same age. But he is trying, so we are hopeful that before his 5th birthday he will master crawling, or at least a modified army crawl that will enable his moving about and getting into things. He is also super anxious to be eating whatever we're eating, is generally bored with baby food, and looks forward to receiving his drivers license. He's truly a man among babies and I love every minute I get to spend with him.

Lucy is our girly girl. We never dreamed one girl could love dolls, stuffed dogs and cats, etc. so much. She is a beautiful, sweet, loving girl, with a sassy stretch a mile wide! She gets that from her mom, I'm sure! She is smart and is learning her letters and numbers from Julian (a true master of letters and numbers). She loves reading books with us and is just generally a joy to be around. Just watch out if you ever have to tell her no, or if she happens to get the smallest cut or scrape! She keeps the bandaid companies in business for sure, prefering a bandaid to any other accessory item with her outfits.

Julian is our little man. He started baseball this year and is having a blast with that, as are we. He's on the Angels and is #3. It's pretty cute to see his WARNER #3 on his baseball shirt. He has cleats and baseball pants and is just adorable making dirt sculptures on the infield at his games. He's a seasoned pro on his two-wheeler with training wheels, but is resistent to losing the balance assistance provided by them. I think it's about time I start moving them up a little at at time without telling him. He loves his video games, writing letters and numbers, and is starting to understand the concept of reading. He is playing Alladin in his preschool program and we all look forward to his acting debut.

Nicole and I feel run ragged 99% of the time. What were we thinking having 3 kids so close together in age!!!!!???? With both of us working, it takes every ounce of our time away from work to keep the household running. We spend time with the kids until they go to bed and then real work of our day starts...getting the house cleaned up, preparing for the next day, walking the dog, etc. (oh yeah, we got a dog, who is a total pain in the butt, but 2/3 of the kids love 2/3 of the time...in all fairness he is a pretty good dog, but he is a dog and we've discovered what we suspected in the first place...that is, we are not dog people. His name is Benny, by the way, and he is a Chihuahua Beagle cross...and has inherited the worst traits from both breeds :)) Nicole is busy wrapping up the school year now and I'm busy not wrapping up anything at my job. I'm having to travel a lot in the coming months and this is hard on both the family and me. But right now I think I am just grateful to have a good job and the benefits that come along with employment, which include, but are not limited to, having health insurance, and making the house payment.

Life is good. Busy, but good, and happy for the most part. Parenthood is way harder than I ever expected it would be, but infinitely more rewarding also. TTFN.

Jason