Sunday, January 19, 2014

Furniture shopping with 3 kids...and why it's a bad idea....

 Most sensible people probably know better than to do this...I am one of them.  The Rooster, however, would rather "deal with them than pay a sitter"....a few more outings like today and he just may change his tune!

We are in search of a sofa.  Our current sofa sectional is AWFUL.  The Chicks have jumped on it, broken the frame, and beat it to absolute crap.  It's uncomfortable, the dog ate the cushions, so there is literally towels and duct tape holding them together...it's been a good run...well, not really...it's been a run, and it's time we parted ways with our current seating arrangement.

I went shopping for an entire day with just Chickette, and then again alone, and thought I had some decent options narrowed down.  Showed The Rooster, and he wasn't "feeling" it, if you get my drift.  So today, we decided to go furniture shopping, with 3 kids, ages 2, 4, and 5.  The first stop we made was to LaZBoy.  They were ok, but the sales lady was a tad passive aggressive with the kids...and not really all that helpful at all.  Of course, when in a store full of recliners, the Chicks are going to figure out that they can pop them right up....so they eventually do this...and the not so kid friendly sales lady says "oh, can I show you how to put them back down"....all the while, I'm asking her does this particular sectional come w/out a recliner...for OBVIOUS reasons...see what I mean, they'll tear it up the first day, they'll open and close it all day long, and will probably lose a finger in the process.  Wanna see???  So, we move on from this store, to Crate and Barrel...we walk in, after finding out the hard way in the parking garage that the back up beepers on my back up system are no longer beeping.  I was pretty sure they weren't, because not so long ago at a friends house I backed right into a tree..but then I started second guessing myself b/c of all the kids and noise in the car...thought maybe it had beeped and I hadn't heard it...blah blah blah...wonder if they'll cover the damage caused from the stupid beepers not beeping!  Seems like they should!  Anyways...we go in, the kids find a sofa immediately to try out, and Busy Chick pushes Chickette (maybe on purpose maybe not) off the sofa and she hits her head on the coffee table...and screams at the top of her lungs, and then bears a purple knot on her head for the rest of the day.  AWESOME.  We're the Clampits, we'd love to shop in your store....

To make a long story short, we didn't buy a sofa, but have narrowed down more of what we're looking for.....and so the fun continues.

Until next time...

Mama Hen...

It's been a VERY busy 7 months....seriously....

The best laid plans oft go awry......like me blogging...or me having a plan for anything....so let me bring you up to speed a bit.....

A long long time ago, back when we were silly, and thought having kids would be easy, and didn't even have one child yet, the Rooster and I told people we wanted 3 or 4 kids...We had NO IDEA what it was like to be pregnant and sleep deprived over and over again....so...fast forward about 5 years...we had just recently (by recently I mean 6-8 months prior) had Chickette, and discussed whether or not to have a 4th child...we thought about trying for a little while, and didn't prevent for a long while, and several months went by, Chickette was nearing her 2nd birthday, and I think we both were seeing that light at the end of the tunnel of babydome...you know the one....the one where you might be a year away from no baby bed, no diapers, and even no naps!  Can you imagine what this is like!  And since we're really silly people, we began to even consider taking the 3 chicks to Disney.....but...as I said...things don't always go as planned...

A friend of mine said something, and it made me think about something else, and then that led me to remember that it had been a while since I had last had any proof, if you will, that I wasn't pregnant...so I decided to take a test....and this is, I kid you not, what I said to the Rooster when I got the result....showing him said evidence..."Houston, we have a problem"....after a little back and forth, some head shaking, some " I thought we were done with this", "how did this happen" and "are you pranking me?"  He finally decided to believe me that we were in fact expecting our 4th baby!  We found out the news of this little surprise about 2 days before Chickette's 2nd birthday...so...here we go again.  Since her 2nd birthday was in August, I am now 29 weeks pregnant with a 3rd BOY!  Can you believe that??  Thought maybe this was my big chance to even things up around here since we already have 2 boys, but evidently the big guy in the sky thought it would be funnier for me to hear things like PENIS PENIS PENIS every day from now until eternity and gifted us with another boy!  Don't get me wrong, I love my sons, and all the boy-ness that they entail, but sometimes pink, dresses, and bows are nice too....

So...to update on the Chicks and how and what they've been up to the past half year while I've been incubating the next chick...

Brainy Chick started Kindergarten in September.  He claims he doesn't like it, and that he's bored, but I think he hates to write, and would rather be doing math and science..and translates I don't like writing and learning to read, into boredom.  Aside from his constant complaints, his teacher says he's doing great, and is nice to the other kids, stands up for someone when needed, etc...which really is all a parent can ask for!  He LIVES to torture Busy Chick, throws elbows, punches, and tries to wrestle the poor kid every chance he gets.  Busy is a lover and not a fighter, so this ALWAYS ends in a screeching fit of crying and two syllable "moooo-oooms".  He says he's excited about the new chick coming, but when we first told him that we were expecting a new chick, his initial response was "why".....All I could think to say was " I don't know"...take that for being prepared!  My other favorite question lately has been "hey mama, how'd baby chick get in there anyways"....again..."i dunno..."  followed by " I think God did it".....didn't seem right to explain the birds and the bees to my 5 year old...no matter how brainy he may be! 

Busy Chick is still very busy!  He's doing great in preschool, and is excited to go to Kindergarten next year.  He's also excited to be getting a baby chick in the family...although I think if he could pick, he might choose another dog...that kid LOVES our dogs....like lets them lick all over his face and inside his mouth LOVES the dogs.  He's still a total twerp a lot of the time, but he is the sweetest kid as well.  Every night at bedtime, when Chickette goes to bed, he says " I want to give her a hug"...and they hug, and it melts my heart, and then I'm not so scared to be having just one more...until they fight...then I'm terrified again.  He's getting a little easier to deal with, most days...unless you piss him off.  Let's just call it like we see it!  He still thinks Brainy Chick hung the moon...which is pretty cute, and no matter how many times Chickette pinches or hits him, he will not hit her back...even when we give permission to strike back.  He is TOTALLY obsessed with Star Wars...I'm not talking about he just likes it...I'm talking he wakes up and goes to bed at night humming the theme song.  He asked Santa for  a Darth Maul costume for Christmas, and puts it on at least once a day.  That's the baddest of the bad guys in case you aren't familiar.  When your son gets obsessed with Star Wars you'll learn all their names too, because he will talk about them non stop....every day, all day..and even your 2 year old daughter will know who "woda and dart maw" are.

Chickette is almost 2.5.  She started a one day a week preschool class in the fall.  The first few drop offs she was a little teary, but never did actually cry.  Now, when I tell her the next day is a school day she says "YAY, I play babies"...she loves to play babies.  She got a baby doll high chair for Christmas and a Rub a Dub baby as well, that she bathes almost every day. Probably the cleanest baby doll in America.  She's gotten to the point where she wants to go everywhere with her brothers, and is so sad if she's not invited on a boy excursion.  She gets her feelings hurt...which is kind if a newer thing for us.  Not that the boys never did, but she gets very sad if she gets in trouble, it's just totally different!  She loves dressing up, loves wearing dresses, but hates hair bows, and having her hair pulled back.  Chickette has an unusually large amount of hair for a blonde headed 2 year old...if you ask me!  She loves babies, but is really mean to younger kids.  Not too sure how this is all going to play out once her new brother comes...hopefully she's sweet to him.  We can generally play well with friends above 2, but it's the 1-2 range that she seems to have an issue with.    Wish us luck with that little adventure.  I'm pretty sure that she thinks I'm birthing her a real live baby doll...so that should be fun!

We'll call the new chick to be the Baby Chick for now...until he has a personality.  He kicks a lot, and has caused all kinds of unexpected hell on my body that the other 3 combined never did...this is what happens when you have 4 babies in 6 years...your body gets to a certain point where it says "listen lady...enough is enough"....so in case you are wondering, this is our LAST baby.  Permanent measures are being taken...and that's all you need to know! 

I hope you're feeling entertained....stay tuned...it only gets better :)

Mama Hen