Today we leave for a baby shower in Lancaster. One of our best friends, Mike, is having a baby...well, his wife is. I'm SO excited! He's going to be a great dad! He's been ready to settle down and be happy since I've known him, and finally he's gotten what he wants. He so deserves it. Even though he's not really my brother, we act like brother and sister, and I totally feel like this baby is going to be my little nephew. I think today will be fun!

Tonight we'll spend the night in LA, and leave early in the morning to head to Myrtle Beach. My mom was ever so gracious to get us a hotel room up there so we can hang around this week while they stay at their timeshare. How sweet is that! She said she figured we need the break, and I totally concur. I'm going shopping w/her all day tomorrow, and then Julia's coming for a day (w/the kids, of course), and we're going to hang out and party down!

So, it's not really like you'll miss me. I think I only post about weekly now. Just in case, though, you were sitting there wondering, "I wonder what Christi's up to?", now you know. I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you soon!

I did take one thing with me from Carrabba's. Not only am I now completely in love with goat cheese, but I now want to cook good food. Naturally, I'm preoccupied with making foods much like the ones you find on the menu at Carrabba's. Everything I ate there I fell in love with, and most of the stuff I never got around to eating, too. Since I no longer have the opportunity to get food there at half off, I'll just have to learn how to cook it myself.

Anyway, I made dinner Friday night, in my feeble attempt at something similar to what you might find there. It was Friday the 13th, of course, so surely that had something to do with it, b/c honestly, does anyone expect me to cook a real meal? Nah. The meal consisted of the following:

chicken stuffed with goat cheese and covered in a lemon butter sauce w/garlic and mushrooms
fresh green beans (pole beans) sauteed in that same sauce (I am a lemon butter and garlic FREAK!)
shell pasta covered in alfredo sauce and Parmesan cheese

dessert was watermelon, simple yet delicious and sweet! (TJ said, "Mommy, watermelon is not dessert!)

I, personally, liked the meal. I wasn't all about the alfredo sauce, but it came from a jar, and all I did was season it some. The kids, of course, loved it the most! They were a little freaked out about the green beans b/c I usually give them ones from a can, and thus, didn't eat them. Trey opted to eat a Whopper, Jr. from BK, and didn't actually eat his until today. When asked what he thought, he said, "It was good." Such a food critic he is. At least no one died, so I'm happy. I'm still motivated to keep trying, and I'm thinking that one day I might even invite someone over to eat with us...once I've made sure I know what I'm doing, of course!

Oh, and Easter was pretty low-key this year. We went to Nana's to go to church and hang out. That's about the gist of it. Here are a couple of pics of the kids in their Easter outfits...I think Taryn looks so old! The pics are not great, but it was all I could do just to catch them and find the time to take them!

Today Cole had his 4 month check-up. For anyone in the know, you might realize that he's actually almost 6 months old now. However, I forgot to schedule a 4 month, so that was today instead. Like, even though I'm still totally not used to having him in the house and being a mom to three kids yet, it seems like he's been with us for SOOOO much longer than 5 months already.

Anyway, he weighed in at 16.13 lbs. (50%), and is 27 inches long (75%). He's grown quite a bit height-wise, but he's still my little one. I'm wondering if he won't end up shorter than TJ and Taryn. I think that would be so cute! She gave me some steroid cream for his eczema and sensitive skin, and a coupon for $20 off the actual prescription, which scares me to think I would need after insurance covers their cost! He's always got a rash on his belly and back, which gets better if I make sure he never goes w/o a shirt on (which I am not that good at!), and his knees are starting to turn permanently red where he tries to crawl. She said it's probably a reaction to the fibers in the carpet. All along I was thinking it was cat allergies or something, and trying desperately to get rid of any sign of cat in the house. Now I find out there's nothing I can do about the carpet! Other than that, everything's fine.

What was not fine was waiting over 45 minutes to get called back today, then having to wait an hour in the back before we could leave. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to get in and out of a doctor's appointment w/in an hour, or at least an hour and a half. I get SO MAD watching every person who came in after me get called back first, and seeing some of them leave before I'm even called back! I would understand if I were late or something, and they had to try to fit me back in, but I get there early (you know, in the hopes of getting in a little early!). I even came prepared today w/toys, snacks and drinks. All to no avail. When you put TJ and Taryn in a small, hot, brightly colored room, you can expect nothing less than for TJ to find the highest flat surface to jump off of onto the floor, and for Taryn to open the door over and over again and run into the hall and away as fast as her little legs will take her. I think it's pretty shitty that they would make me wait so long, and this is by far not the first time, and I had no qualms in letting my dr. know how I felt. The best answer she could find was to tell me to come in right after lunch next time, so I was the first one called, and they wouldn't be at all backed up yet. I decided to try it one more time for Cole's 9 month visit, and if I have to wait again like that, it will be my last visit there.

Well, I guess I better hit the hay now. Must get back up for work in a couple hours. I hope you have a great day, and I'll talk to you soon!

PS-Oh, and you should have seen TJ when it was time for Cole to get his shots. He was sooooo worried and freaking out! He was trying to cover Cole up so she couldn't put the needle in, and hugging him, and begging her not to do it. It was so sweet. Finally, he gave up and hid under the table b/c he said he just couldn't stand to watch. It really was adorable. Taryn hugged his foot, her best effort. They sure do love their little brother, and you should see the way his face lights up when he sees them!

I had a feeling when I posted that last post telling you I was working at Carrabba's that I should hold off. I wasn't sure why at the time, but I just thought I should. It's probably b/c deep down somewhere, somewhere I didn't even know about, I knew I was going to quit the next day. Why, you ask? Well, for the same reason as the last job. I gave them my availability at Carrabba's, and they said it would be no problem. Then, not one single day that week did they stick to it. I spent the entire week scrambling around trying to find people to watch the kids, even calling in good ol' Gayle to come for a couple days. I was going to try to stick it out until I told them that under no circumstances could I work on Saturday b/c I had prior engagements (an Easter Egg Hunt and Alison's birthday party, both of which were very important to me), and that I could only work at night on Sunday b/c of church. I was told that was fine. Then I came in Thursday night and was told that I would in fact have to come in at 2 on Saturday (there is an employee mtg. every Sat. at 2, which would NOT work out as that is Trey's mid day, and I'd have to find a babysitter for almost 10 hours), and that I had to be in at 2 on Sunday, too (which would have left me about an hour to get home from church and get the kids redressed and to be watched, and then to get myself ready). So yes, in the short-run, I quit my job to insure the sanctity of Easter with my children basically, which was very much more important to me than my job. As was Alison's birthday party, which I had been talking up all week for TJ and Taryn (and was honestly looking very forward to myself). In the long-run, I quit my job b/c I foresaw more problems of this nature with scheduling, and honestly, the money wasn't that good. I figured I'd probably be working just to pay for babysitting, and what's the point of that!

So now I'm back where I started. I went back to Pizza Hut b/c they have always worked with me and I make pretty decent money. Plus, right now they need drivers pretty badly, so that might mean I make a bit more due to the shortage! I also finally just decided to go ahead and take on a paper route. I have the one I've subbed for a lot, and it's really easy and quick. It takes me from 2-3 hours round trip each night, which I can totally handle. I'm not overly keen on the 7 days a week thing, but if I need time off, there are plenty of people who will gladly sub for me, so that's good.

What sucks is that this all makes me sick to my stomach to think about. I mean, deep down I know I did the right thing. My kids will only be little once, and I want to be the one raising them, not whomever I can pawn them off on while I am away at work. I don't feel bad about that. What upsets me is that I feel like a total failure. Here I had two good jobs, and quit them both before I even had a chance to prove that I could handle them. Sure, I'm not worried about whether people thought I just couldn't handle it and that's why I quit. I know I could, and I had already shown at both that I would have been good at them. To be honest, I can't really explain why I feel so bad about it. I just do. The last few days I've been depressed about it all. I actually like working at Pizza Hut, but at the same time, I feel like such a loser to have quit and go back. It's not like it doesn't happen all the time, and they've all been quite nice and welcoming to me. I didn't even get ragged on yesterday when I went in, which I totally expected and kinda looked forward to. Oh, I just don't know. I just know I feel like total crap about my whole job situation right now, like I've let people down. I kinda think Trey was looking forward to me working at Carrabba's. I really can't put my feelings into words, but if someone else could, I'd love to hear it!

This would be where I got my new job. I have been working there since last Saturday, and after tomorrow, I will be out of training and actually making tips. I did my first lead tonight, and I basically covered a table and a half all night (the other girl training and I rotated the third table b/t the two of us). I think I made about $40-50 for my trainer, so I'm sure he's a happy guy. I was pretty proud of myself, though, as I haven't served in a few years now. I can definitely see how having kids and just generally growing up and maturing will help me be a better server. I can actually have a normal conversation with the customers, as I've had a lot more adult experiences since the last time I served. Also, I'm all about the kids now, and totally comfortable, whereas before I kinda loathed people bringing their kids in and would be artificially nice to them.

Anyway, I'm absolutely POOPED! I went from learning all the cop stuff last week to learning every single menu item and what's in it this week. Fun. Tomorrow I take the liquor test, where I have to list every single liquor they have there. I can hardly wait...ummm, yeah. Wish me luck. I'm definitely liking this better than the whole 911 thing for sure, though!

I wish I had the energy to type more, but honestly, I don't know that I have much else to say. I'll talk to you later. Have a great day!

Yeah, yeah, you pervs. I'm not talking about that!

So I've been thinking lately, and I've got a whole theory that baby size makes a difference when it comes to gross motor skills development. I think that the bigger the baby, the faster they develop gross motor skills. Taryn was my biggest baby of the three. Not only was she the biggest at birth, but she's always been the heaviest, and has pretty much kept up w/TJ in height (I think she's slowing down now, but...). She started walking at 8 months, as compared to his 9 months, which was even pretty early. She also sat up sooner and started eating and feeding herself earlier. Mind you, TJ did all of this stuff pretty early on as well, but she was just a tad earlier on most of them. As far as talking goes, she's way behind TJ, but I'm not calling that a gross motor skill today, maybe later.

Then there's Cole. Now, my thought had always been that Taryn wanted to be like TJ, so she just went ahead and did everything as soon as possible so she could more like him sooner. However, that line of thinking is debunked by Cole. He is taking his sweet time with things. He's by far the smallest in every way. He was actually born in the middle as far as weight, but height-wise was inches shorter (which is like feet for a newborn!). He's remained at average size, as compared to TJ and Taryn, who've always been near the 100% or over. By his age, five months, TJ and Taryn both could hold their own bottles, sit up, and had popped out a tooth or two. Not Cole. He's trying desperately to crawl, but other than that, he doesn't seem at all interested in anything else. He drools about three gallons of slobber out a day, yet shows no signs of any teeth coming anytime soon. At times I'll find myself worrying that he'll be slow or disabled. However, most times I delight in knowing that he's sustaining the baby days just a wee bit longer for me (which I'm so happy about, knowing he's the last), and also making it that much longer before I have to chase him down or feed him baby food and solids. I'm really not upset by it at all. I just find it interesting that he's taking so much longer than the first two. I've thought that maybe he's not getting as much attention, which could be true, but I truly strive to give him as much attention as possible. Plus, he gets extra attention from TJ and Taryn that they didn't get themselves. So I dunno...

I don't just draw these theories from personal experience, either. I've known people w/smaller sized children, and their babies all seem to do things on a little more drawn out timeline. For instance, my friend's baby is just a month younger than TJ. She was a good bit smaller than him when they were little (they're the same size now and pretty much on the same level w/everything). When we would go to visit, TJ would be doing so much more than her. It was kinda funny, b/c I would always get a call sometime in the next few days after visiting that she had started doing whatever it was that TJ had been doing already! Then there's Julia's kids. Alison was smaller than Andrew, and she didn't start walking till she was 14 months old, as compared to him walking around 9 or 10 months (is that right, Julia?). There are other stories, but I think you get my point.

So anyway, that's just a thought I have. In the long run, it doesn't really matter, b/c this stuff will come when it's ready, and once they're a little older everyone's at the same place. Just, sometimes I wonder if size really does make a difference? I've always thought that a bigger baby would have a harder time holding himself up to walk sooner, but who knows. Just thought I'd rant for you for a bit.

Talk to you later! Have a great day!

I have no idea what I have and haven't told you about lately, even though I could just look back and read to find out! Really, though, who has time for all of that!?

So, I'm officially employed again, and hopefully this time for a while. I got a job serving at Carrabba's, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I shadowed today, and while it was boring not really being able to do anything, it was busy and I think I'll stay pretty well on the move when I get my own tables. I think this job is more up my alley. I realize that it's not exactly putting my degrees to use or anything, but I love people, being social, and moving around. Plus, I LOVE Italian food, and the food at Carrabba's is TONS better than Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. Naturally, I look like a retard in my uniform, but oh well...

We went to the circus this past weekend, and that was pretty fun. TJ and Taryn were really into it for the first ten minutes or so, until they couldn't sit still anymore. I got them a snow cone to share after a bit, and that was pretty much TJ's focus until it was gone, although Taryn seemed to be actually enjoying the show. Cole was fascinated w/the little light toy the little girl next to us had, and watched it with great interest pretty much the whole second half of the circus. There was a big ball that they rode dirt bikes in at the same time. They did fine w/just two, but when they added the third, there was little success. My mom commented that perhaps they hadn't practiced that trick quite yet! My favorite part was the elephants and how they danced and stood on their heads. Too cool. TJ loved the giant cannon that shot a girl across the tent. Taryn, well, she just says "Uh huh" to anything you ask her. Honestly, though, I think the favorite part for both of them was when I bought the cotton candy as we were leaving...sadly....

We went to see my dad this past Sunday. He's looking pretty good, I think. I haven't seen him in a while, and last I heard he had lost all his hair from chemotherapy (sp?). However, he had a short layer on his head, which actually looked really good, when we saw him. The kids were well behaved, and they even got their much belated Christmas presents, which they loved. TJ's only regret from the day: "I wanted five presents, not just two." We have so far to go w/that kid!

That's pretty much it for now. I hope you're having a great day, and I'll see you soon.