Updates from the Clark's

Oh Man!  It's been over two months since my last post- just as I swore I would get better about this.  I think about writing a blog almost every day if that helps in any way. I'm a busy girl, what can I say?!

So... I went on the coolest trip ever in February.  It was a little trip we like to call "Mom's Spring Break 2014!"  I hadn't been on a girls trip since I have been married.  I missed all my friends bachelorette parties because I happen to get married first and was pregnant during all of their parties.  Those who know me know that there was no way I was going to a party while pregnant when the mere act of standing upright threw me into labor time and time again!  Needless to say, this was over due.  My parents have an awesome home in Florida that we are able to use whenever we feel like it.  I am constantly offering to take people there and nobody really ever takes me seriously.  Until this time.  I sent out one text to two of my favorite people (they're NICU nurses, of course I love them!) that said something like "Want to go to Florida?"  It took about 20 seconds for both to reply, "I'm in!!"  That, my friends, is how it is done.  It was a PERFECT 4 days.  We had the best time.  We had a lazy time. We had a rowdy time.  We ate, drank, laid in the sun, chatted, and I even got these two non-worker outers to do Crossfit in the driveway.  It was perfection.  We were rockstars during the day and in bed by 9:00 just like all cool Mom's should be.  We were carefree during the day and then participated in FaceTiming each others families at night.  It was awesome.  It will be repeated.  Yearly.  Heres is a little glimpse inside Mom's Spring Break 2014.  Thanks Krista and Meredith for such a fun trip!

Normal.

HEAVEN!

Bottoms Up

We love the Lanai Kai

Sweet Krista

"We'd like those drinks with a 151 floater, please."

Whoa.  This was quite the day.  

During CrossFit

Her mood the entire day after Crossfit.

Next up was a quick trip to Orlando for Matt's Annual Sales Meeting.  His company spoiled us rotten and entertained us nightly.  It was a great trip!

"Breaking Barriers" Party

Matty and I

Next up is a trip with our babes to our favorite place.  Can't wait to see their little tan booties running on the beach!

We came home and had a little excitement.  My beautiful, sweet, innocent, insane daughter decided she would bust her face wide open for the second time in 5 months.  This one didn't require glue like the first one.  This was the real deal.  Stitches.  Yuck.  She hasn't quite figured out that she is supposed to be the calm one.  She may be pretty and wear dresses every day but she is rowdier than any boy, any day!

Such a good sport!

I volunteer in Carter's classroom twice a week on my lunch break.  When field trips come around, I like to sign Matt up since I already spend my fair share of time doing the good deed.  It may have been a little mean when I signed him up for the MSU bug house.  You know, since he is terrified of spiders and many bugs.  Never the less, he went because he is that good of a guy!  He was so brave.  Carter's teacher was so proud of his braveness that she even sent me these pictures.  Not sure who had more fun on this trip...

COCKROACH

Trantula

Best Buddies

My little dreamboat

It's never a blog without a little Easton update.  The.  Kid.  Is.  Crazy.  

He's almost three and hitting the naughty stage with a vengence.  I have stories that could go on for days about how I bust him getting in trouble but I'll just give you one quick typical example.  Easton no longer wears a pull up to bed which means that fluids must be cut off relatively early in the night.  One night at 10:00 he woke up wanting water.  I said "no way."  A few minutes later I hear him downstairs.  I wait about 10 minutes and find him in his room with 3 different cups (which he had to scale the counters to get) chugging water out of his bathroom sink!  When I busted him, he just smiled and said "sowwy Mama."  Needless to say, I was up every 20 minutes for the rest of the night taking him pee! 

Easton had ear tubes before his first birthday.  He then had to have them removed in November because they got "stuck" and were causing his ears to bleed daily.  Yes, it was disgusting.  Since then, I have felt like Easton is always yelling at us.  I finally took him in for a hearing test and sure enough he failed!  He was sitting on my lap with his headphones on and kept looking at me asking, "What did she say, Mama?"  It was a safe bet right then and there that he wasn't passing that exam!  More tubes will be put in next month so he can hear us again and hopefully stop yelling!   This will be the 5th time he has been under anesthesia in less than three years.  This poor kid just smiles through it all. We love our Easy E, even if he is more work than any other human alive.


See, I have been busy!  Life is good.  Such a crazy adventure with these three little people in my world.  My whole world I wanted to be a busy Mom and now that I am, I spend every day reminding myself that this is exactly what I wanted.  They keep me on my toes and they fill my days with more than I could ever imagine.  I'm thoroughly exhausted and just as much fulfilled.  At the end of the day, I know I am living a life of purpose guiding these little ones through.  If they would let me sleep at night, their guidance may be a little clearer!  

That's the latest and greatest with the Clark's. 

Little Love Bugs.  Quite the Handful

Parenting… and the never ending break.

It's been a while.  Tis the season it was for falling behind…thats what I am blaming it on at least.  







I'd like to start this blog out by saying that I notice my children.  I study them and I memorize bits and pieces of what they look like at this very second and who they are today.  For example, Paige has the most perfect, porcelain doll nose I have ever seen.  

On some days her bed head in the morning looks better than any blow-dry you could ever pay for (some days not,) and the way she talks when she is really into a story by making up details you know aren't true but you can't correct her because she is too darn cute and her voice….ahhh, so  sweet.  I also will never forget how she can make my blood boil like no other human in the world.  That spunk… she may have a 1/2 dose more than she needs!  Then there is Carter.  I can picture his tiny little teeth that seem like are never going to get loose.  He is like my little golden boy- you cannot get more handsome than him.  The love notes he leaves me and the way he spells big words he has never used before… I can't even deal.  Its like heaven.

 He loves me in a way the others don't.   I'm not saying they don't love me- but Carter is so sensitive to me and he makes sure I know he's my boy.  But, oh how I wished over break that he would stop tackling his siblings.  And, why does he have to be the worst sport in America if we try to play a game with him?  And, it would be cool if he could eat dinner in under an hour!  Lastly, my Easy.  

Whom there happens to be nothing easy about.  He has the cutest little chip in his from tooth that defines his personality perfectly.  His eyes are like looking into my own and the redness that develops in his checks during the winter months… I can hardly refrain from eating him up.  When I look at him every day of my life, I am reminded of a miracle.  It NEVER leaves me.  I still can't believe he is here and quite frankly, I'm not sure how he is.  That being said, he really doesn't need to wake me up 5 times a night because I already tell him during the day I am grateful for him.  The weird obsession with thinking I am actually going to give him 50 cups of milk a day when I have never given him more than three, could stop any day.  Those tantrums that he likes to throw every time he doesn't get what he wants, well, they are just embarrassing and we are over it.  

I love my children more than anything in the universe.  I know I am here in this world to raise them and I will not let them down.  I will guide them, love them, care for them and try to release them into the world to do great things.  However, that Christmas break did not need to be SOOOO long.  I feared we would never return to normalcy and I nearly lost my marbles.

I love to read FB posts about how awesome everyones kids are.  Of course they are, so are mine!  That doesn't mean they aren't super annoying too! Or, my favorite is how people were excited to have a  few more days home with their kids.  Really?  That is 100% cool for you.  Hopefully, you are serious and not just stating it on FB so the world knows you are the most awesome Mom ever to live.  Here is why:  Personally, I'm pretty confindent in my Mommy-ness.  I think I have got this down.  I try to make them eat healthy, I have a ban on fruit snacks and very rarely give in to fast food.  My kids have very appropriate bed times that I stick too.  I annoy them every day of their life about teeth brushing and "screen time," I make them use their manners, they clear there plates from the table without being asked.  Oh, and I was so domestic that I made snow ice cream with them on the Snow Day. So there, I rock too.  But, guess what.  I also yell at them.  I don't yell because I am proud of it.  I yell because I have had all of their hearing checked and yet they claim they can't hear me half of the time, and the other half… they just ignore me.  It's ridiculously annoying.  You know what else I do, I look at my phone too much.  I'm working on that one.  I can keep myself from looking at FB when they are next to me but if a text goes off or the phone rings, you would think a fire alarm just sounded in my house.  Like, I said- I'm working on it.   Here is another.  Some days I actually count the hours until bedtime.  This is not because I don't love them and don't want to see them but rather because they are exhausting creatures.  Perhaps not having all three of these angels in under four years would have been better planning but not much I can do about that now.  Don't worry, friends.  Once they are asleep, I kiss them all before I go to bed and again in the middle of the night.  See, I'm a good Mom.  Even if I like it when my kids are finally quiet for five minutes of my life.

The pressure of being a Mom is outrageous these days.  I'm a huge fan of social media but I do think its part of the pressure.  While its very cool to have these venues for people to connect with others, it allows for the sharing of a lot of opinions.  Some not always wanted.  (Have you ever seen my husbands FB posts?  Holy Moly.)  For me, I love Facebook.  I like it because it is such an easy way to be connected. I love seeing pictures of my friends kids from college or hearing someone is getting married.  I love to know when a friends niece needs prayers or when someone passed away.  It keeps me in the loop.  I'm nosey and the loop is where I like to be.  I'm not really someone who is influenced very easily.  I'm hard headed and I have my own way of thinking.  That doesn't mean it is right, it just means that I think it is and good luck trying to convince me otherwise.  Parents, please don't compare yourself to all the Do-gooders you read about.  We only know what people put out there.  We don't know what happened after you posted your picture of being the craftiest Mom alive on a snowy day and we don't know what you fed your kids for dinner.  It. Doesn't. Matter.  Do they best YOU can do for your kids.  Some days you will suck.  It happens.  Move on and try to suck less the next day.  My goal is raise kids who feel secure and loved and have a little confidence.  In my home, you aren't getting any Martha Stewart-y business and I may  will yell at you if you act like a fool.  But, you can bet your ass I'd go to bat for any of my kids, any day of the week.   Yes, they also hear a few swear words but,  I love them more than they (or you) will ever know.   Let's just try to keep it real, shall we?  Amen.

Now that I am done preaching, here are some pictures of the Fam.  

They steal my space.

Annoying

Because, you love it.

Paige Ruby Clark

New Season!

I'm a warm weather girl.   I think its a safe bet that my current self diagnosis is that disease where you need sunlight to function.... I for sure have that.  I really do not function well in the cold.  I'm overly dramatic about my body temperature, I layer my clothing in inappropriate/ridiculous amounts and I am admittedly crabbier when I am cold.  I'm betting its fair to say that I'm much more fun in the summer.  I'm happier in a warm climate and I really feel it affects all aspects of my life.  Thankfully, I am headed to Florida soon.  Last year I made it to Florida three times in six months.  I'm making it a personal goal to beat that this year.  After all, A happy wife is a happy life:)

So... with this cold weather comes annoying cold illnesses.  For some reason, the Clark's have already been hit hard and its only November!  First off, Carter got really sick.  Like, missed 6 days of school kind of sick.  It started with just a cough and low grade fever and before I knew it he had strep throat and full blown pneumonia in his left lung.  We were totally taken aback.  Carter IS the healthiest kid I have.  How in the world he got pneumonia is beyond me.  Six school days and two full weekends later- he was back in business.  Thank the Lord!   Next, Paige got a horrible cold that left her poor nose looking like Rudolph and chapped beyond belief.  Poor girl already had two black eyes, one courtesy of the living room ottoman that also left a nice scar on her face and the other courtesy of a crazy two year old that lives in this house and thought it would be funny to chuck a ball directly at her face!  This poor beauty was looking a fright!  I was the next lucky one on Halloween.  Just in time for trick-or-treat, I spiked a fever of 102.5 and had to lay on the couch while my kids went door to door for candy.  Yes, I cried and felt like the worst Mom in America. Who can't pull it together to watch their kids trick-or-treat?  This girl!  I was a disaster and that awesome virus lasted about 5 days.  Easton and Matty are the soldiers thus far....

A little update on Easy E.  For those of you who follow Easton closely, you know that he has been off all inhalants and steroids (for the first time in his life) since the end of May.  He has totally been rockin' it.  No illness.  No wheezing.  Just acting like a normal human being... well besides his weird ear stuff that was more annoying than serious!  Anyways- A couple weeks ago he started having these coughing fits that were making it so he literally couldn't breathe.  His o2 was dropping to about 92-93 while it was happening and even to 88 if it happened during the night.  At first, I thought he was getting sick because it was right after Carter was sick but something was weird about it.  Easton wasn't sick.  No fever, not run down, no runny nose and completely normally active.  It was just these "fits" of coughing that were leaving him breathless and retracting.  The only thing that pulled him out of it was to sit him down and give him a couple puffs of his rescue inhaler.  After a couple days of this, the genius that I am, thought he was having Asthma Attacks- which is something he has never had.  Turns out, I was right.   See, we are used to Easton not breathing well as a whole, all of the time.  We have never experienced "attacks" with him.  In fact, we really thought he was better.  I'm not a doctor but I know my Easy so I don't tend to rush him to the doctor as quickly as others may think I should.  However, after three days of this, I knew I needed back up drugs that I didn't have access to.  I took him to his pediatrician who immediately prescribed oral steroids in addition to his rescue inhaler 4 times a day to pull him out of this.  She also ordered a chest xray to rule out pneumonia- and fortunately it was negative.  Here is the thing- when I caught a glimpse of his chest X-ray, my heart sank.  I've seen at least 50 chest xrays of this kid in his life and this wasn't pretty.  We were told that babies with PPHN were likely to be 'normal' by the time they were two or three years old.  Easy is two and a half and this chest x ray was not normal.  In fact, it was ugly.  Today we had our six month pulmonology appointment.  The end result wasn't exactly what we were looking for but I am bringing myself around to the fact that its OK.  We are back on all drugs.  A daily allergy/asthma pill, four puffs daily of a maintenance steroid inhaler, keeping rescue inhaler with us all the time and a ready oral steroid script at the pharmacy whenever needed.  At first thought, it felt like a landslide in the wrong direction.  Those drugs represent a daily reminder of what struggles Easton has fought in his two short years of life.  It makes me mad and sad all at once.  I don't want his body dependent on steroids or pills to function like his siblings do.  I want him to breathe on his own like a normal kid.  It breaks my heart that every time he runs or exerts any energy- he cant breathe.  Its sad to watch.  And it makes me angry. Easton is the PERFECT kid for his life.  He loves doctors, is not scared of hospitals and will take any meds you give him without a fight.  He is beyond compliant with anything medical- but he shouldn't have to be.  As his Mom, as proud of him as I am at all these appointments, I'm equally sad.  He shouldn't be that good.  He shouldn't be so used to doctors and hospitals and medications.  I have to catch myself in these thoughts and remember that his entire life is a miracle.  That I have absolutely no reason in the world to be angry because to be honest, I have no idea how I even have him.  I thank him every day of his life for fighting so hard to stay with us and I need to just be thankful for who he is, because he is perfect.  Inhalers and all.

Other than all that, the Clark's are busy!  The kids activities keep us moving all the time.  Football three times a week just ended but basketball picked up the following weekend.  The kids also have gymnastics once a week and Paige dances once a week.  It's just a constant wheel of chaos over here- and I like it that way.  It means that all is as it should be.  We are supposed to be crazy busy.  By having three kids in under four year, aren't you practically begging for that?  I think so.  

Here are a few pictures of our life as Clark, Party of Five!  Enjoy:)

Halloween Cookies

Carving Pumpkins

Typical Paige

Ultimate Humongosaur, LalaLoopsy, Lion

Sass

Sick, sick boy

Doctor Time

My Matty

Oetjens Bar

Kroger!

School Pics.  Cutest. Kids. Ever.

"School"

Pre-Op

Recovery :)

Love this Boy

"Where is the snow?"

Family Fun Night @ Brendel

BFF's

This was on my Instagram feed yesterday.  And, Its funny.