Happy New Year's Eve!

It is the time to say good-bye to 2014! It was a good year here in the Faith, Hope & Poop house.

One of us learned to walk, climb, dance, practice orneriness, and to start talking.

One of us is potty-trained now and got to start preschool.

One of us is convinced that we must be part princess, practices diva skills, and loves to cuddle at any given chance.

One of us has matured even more this year and is about 75% convinced that having all of these siblings is okay.

One of us is much less forgetful than at this point last year, which comes in handy when coordinating this household's activities/appointments.

One of us is often left stressing over all of the blessings this household provides.

I will leave it up to you to decide which of us is which :)

I must say I am quite dismayed by the lack of postings this year...it just keeps decreasing with each passing year despite it always being close to my thoughts.  Not really sure how this happens.  I don't have a zero year yet though so keep those fingers crossed for 2015! ;)

Random Miscellaneousness...

I enjoy referring to my littlest man as "Baby D".  Maybe if he is ever a gangster rapper someday he will use it as his trademark name.  Odds are probably not in his favor for this career path though.

I grew up with a houseful of girls so I feel like I understand girliness and girl drama, but Big Sis brings a whole new level to anything I have experienced.  She is an outright Diva...maybe someday she will have a career that allows her to use her divaness for good!

Little Sis has a wonderful horse whinny sounding whine that she likes to pull out when she is extremely tired. Lucky for all of us, she now attends afternoon pre-k and misses her afternoon nap every.single.school day so we get to here it every.single.evening off and on from the time we arrive home until she finally gets put to bed.  Lucky for her, I am also mature enough to handle it by making the sound back at her.  She does not appreciate my sound for some reason...

As for my biggest little man, he has discovered Pokemon and dragons.  The dragons I can handle...Pokemon episodes on the other hand are just one giant commercial-not too much of a fan about that.

We survived the August dumping of birthdays/parties/cakes/school starting and it seems that we have all finally settled into the routine of life again.  We got there before November...making better progress each year :)

Until next time...

Proud Motherhood Moments...

"Cherish Every Moment" or "They grow up so quickly so enjoy them while they're young" are two expressions that are often thrown out at parents of small children.  As much truth as both of these statements do hold, here are the moments that I am currently cherishing with my small children...

#1  Open bathroom door=An 11 month old bee lining it for the opportunity to wash his hands in the toilet if his attempt is successful!

#2  An almost 3 year old who can proudly declare "3" after pointing to each of mommy's "bellies" :)

#3  A 4 1/2 year old constantly trying to be 15 years old and 1 year old at the same time...

And last, but not least...

#4 An almost 7 year old who has taught his baby brother to "fierce growl" and promotes growling contests amongst his siblings at any given moment.

Cherishing, cherishing, cherishing ;)

(All kidding aside, I do thank God every single day for the opportunity to be a mama to these children-no matter how crazy they make me sometimes!)

Milestones, Baby!

Poor Don!

His milestones are just not being recorded...

At 10 1/2 months, he:

*has 4 teeth-two on bottom and two on top (they started coming in around 8 months)

*is crawling up a storm.  He has about 3-4 different crawling techniques (army crawl, one knee/one foot, actual crawl) and he moves effortlessly between each as he is moving from one place to another.  If he really needs to get somewhere quickly, he goes into full out army crawling motion!

*is cruising all over the place and standing on his own momentarily

*can crawl up the steps, but has no idea how to come down safely

*has several words in his vocabulary..."Mom", "Dada", "Yay" (when he claps), "Hey"

*smiles constantly and loves to laugh

*giggles easily when he gets tired

*stopped nursing around 9 months.  He was exclusively breastfed until around 3 months.  My supply continued to gradually dwindle after I went back to work.  Around 8 months, I dropped him to only 1 or 2 nursing times a day and at 9 months gave it up for good.  I did miss it, but it was also amazing how much time I had dedicated at work to pumping...it was nice being able to actually talk to people again/have time to plan properly :)

*is eating solid food and loving it

*can do a pretty awesome imitation of a growl...those who know us personally are challenged to guess whom he learned that skill from ;)

*loves exploring everything!

*has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives and if I knew all babies would be this "easy" I'd probably have 10 of them! ;)

Potato or Patahto

My children will now be known as the following...

#1  "Fierce Growler"

#2  "Panicked Screamer"

#3  "Horse Whinnier"

#4  "Constant Smiler"

They have each earned their new name through their own merit...Congrats!

(I may try to make those sound muffling earmuffs a new fashion statement ;)

What in the h___?

If I somehow end up in hell when I die, I think the devil will have baskets and baskets lined up ready for me. Baskets? you ask.  Yes, and they will be full of socks to match and fold....I HATE matching and folding socks.

Why?

Answer:

Each of the above socks is one from pairs that belong to my son, Luke.  Please take note of the variety of lengths, anything from ankle to regular.  This, in and of itself, is okay and not a big deal.  Now look carefully, at the three pairs with writing on the toes, then pay careful attention that four pairs also have gray heels/toes, and then pay extra attention to the fact that some of them have ribbed tops and some do not.

Any one of these details by itself is wonderful, but when you put them into a variety of combinations/styles...it becomes quite maddening!!!!

Who is to blame for this?
1) Me & Scott as we do buy him new socks for back-to-school season
AND
2) Santa Claus who also brings new socks at Christmas...maybe he is actually the devil in disguise...

And these are just Luke's socks!  Same.exact.problem.for.every.single.member.of.this.household....

7 subtly different socks x 6 people in this household = Me feeling my mind slowly starting to break when dealing with this task

Life is too short.  I may just start throwing random loner socks into each of our drawers.  If you see us out and about with mismatched socks on our feet, please note that at least our feet are warm and we are trying to prevent insanity not display it! :)

And just keep it to yourself! ;)

Not All Songs Are Created Equal

I love a good song...a song that touches me deep, a song that instantly brings back good times, a song that reminds me of loved ones still here and gone...you get the point.

I heard the following song earlier this morning and thought, "I LOVE this song!"  It is nothing but down right silly and it makes me want to sing along and smile every.single.time.

How can you not with a name like "Honkytonk Badonkadonk"
Enjoy!



Please refrain from actually slapping your grandmas! ;)

What A Classic!

Sooo...I found this quiz/list awhile back titled something like "Are You Well Read?"  I don't remember my score, but it wasn't very high-upper teens/low twenties.  I decided that maybe I would try to read some of the books off of the list.  There were several on the list that seem to be ones that (well at least the TV people say...) you hear about kids reading in school, however, I don't recall very many of them having been ones that I was required to read in school.

I am dubbing this as "The Year of the Classics" :)  Of course, some of the books on the list are fairly recent books, but I started with a couple of classics.

First up was The Great Gatsby.  Now to my credit, I did actually try to read this one back in junior high/high school, but gave up on it after a week or so.  I enjoyed it much more as an adult! :)

Next up was To Kill a Mockingbird.  I enjoyed this one very much, but if you have been reading here any length of time at all then you may remember that it touches on one of the themes I like to read about...race relations.

Currently, I am working my way through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and I am amused that one kid could have so many different adventures on one little ole raft! :)
I also really enjoy trying to decipher some of the dialect!  I know...nerd ;)

Something Different to Look At....

that's what this post is all about!

I have been hearing from readers....

"I keep checking the 'Faith Hope and Poop' and it always just says '8 weeks'.  You know he's almost 6 months now so it's been awhile...'"

or

"When are you going to update your blog?"

Ok,Ok...so it's just mom & dad but still it does feel nice to know someone has been checking up on us here AND that my writing has been missed :-)

To be completely honest-I have missed it tremendously too but have chosen sleep or washing dishes on many occasions over writing here.

My hope is to make it back here at least one a week from this point on, but don't be surprised if it is several months again either!

Just remember...THIS BLOG IS NOT DEAD AND GONE YET!!! :)