Living With Three: The Wedding

Still adjusting to living with three kids. I realized today I hadn't blogged since last week so I thought I'd take a minute while everyone is resting or napping. Blogging is always restful to me, just helps me unwind.

This is a story about a wedding. A wedding weekend.
In this story, one Dray will be missing. He is modeling his cool shades for you all, but then quickly disappearing. Because he doesn't like weddings. Or late nights. Or missing naps. Or not being able to eat what everyone else is eating. And his mommy still isn't used to juggling three. Instead, he had a nice quiet weekend at Grandmommy and Pop Pop's. He was much happier.

#1 was in a wedding this weekend a couple of hours from our house. We stayed at a hotel with a pool (don't worry, Little Monkey got to swim once too, before he exited the scene). My fish boy spent as much time in the pool as he could.

Mommy managed to get a couple of pictures while nursing and making sure he didn't drown.

Rosebud spent some time in her portable swing which was a lifesaver. I don't really like putting babies down on hotel bedspreads (are they really clean????) and I couldn't hold her all weekend.

#1 had to be somewhere at 9:30 am and the wedding didn't start until 1:30 pm. Snug and I decided to have a date and we went out to lunch. He is so well behaved at restaurants. He ordered his own food and made small talk with the wait staff.

Snug looked very handsome all dressed up for the wedding. I dressed the kids in the van at the church because I didn't want them to be a mess before we got there. Rosebud did spit up ALL over me, but I can deal with looking a mess, everyone just looks at the kids anyway :o)

Rosebud looked very cute for the wedding. She slept the entire ceremony. It wasn't a full Catholic mass, but it was an hour and a half.

Daddy looked very handsome all dressed up. He even got to use his police skills when one of the bridesmaids (who was 5 months pregnant) passed out and hit her head on the floor. He was crowd control.

He was also very proud to show his little girl off. His buddy who was getting married is a friend from college, and even though they have seen each other, none of his friends had met any of our kids.

The church was beautiful. Snug had lots to look at during the ceremony. He was also very good. A small snack, a pen, and a pencil entertained him the entire time. I took lots more to do, but he really just entertained himself. We sat way in the back.

There were seven children in the wedding. Yep, seven. Along with 14 attendants. WOW. They were all very cute, but the 18 month old didn't want to go down the isle, then she decided to chat with everyone in every pew on the way down. She never did make it to the front.

Another flower girl who was about Little Monkey's age made it to the front, but as soon as she stood up front, she decided her part was done and raced back down the isle. Her two sisters decided to run after her and they all almost ran over the poor bride who was on her way down. A relative snagged the three of them and made them sit in the pew opposite of us in the back.

Between the wedding and the reception was a three hour break. #1 was riding in a trolley with the wedding party taking pictures, so I took the kids back to the hotel. I let them hang out in their underwear/diapers and Snug got to watch TV.

Neither one was too happy to get back on dress clothes later for the reception.

But in the end, everyone got ready and we left.

This is the outside of the reception hall. It was beautiful. There was a photo booth inside to get family pictures taken in, and then one of the 8 shots was put into a scrap/memory book for the couple. We got to keep the rest.

I had to take the opportunity to get pictures of Snug outside of this place. He was happy to get outside and run for awhile. I saw Rosebud when she needed to eat, but daddy hadn't seen her all day and had many people who wanted to meet her.

The only way I got Snug back into his dress clothes was by promising that there would be cake. This boy will do anything for cake. I had to take a picture of him shoveling it in, because it was pretty funny. The other girls at our table thought it was so funny how excited he was about it too. They kept trying to ask him questions, and he would glance up at them, not even answer, and shovel in another bite. Normally he loves being asked questions and chatting. But that comes second to cake.

So it was a good weekend. A long weekend. A my-kids-are-still-recovering weekend. But we had fun!

5 Weeks

Rosebud is 5 weeks old today. She weighs 8 lbs 10 oz, which is almost 2 lbs over her birthweight (6 lbs 11 oz.). Speaking of birthweight, I did the DUMBEST thing. I made her birth announcements, and put the wrong weight on them. Genius.

We're Not Soccer People...

...but the boys didn't get that memo.

#1 and I neither one really played soccer or have had lots of interest in the sport except to cheer on friends who played. If the boys love it though, we will be ok with it :o)

Blog?

Blog? I can't blog!!!! I just wanted to let you know that I have tons of pictures to post, and no time to do it. As I type, Hannah wants to eat (again) and the boys are KILLING each other. I think I know why some people have cages in their children's bedrooms. I don't think that is a good choice, or legal...just saying I think I know why they do it.

I will do a REAL post maybe this week. #1 has a couple of days off. When he is on 12 hour shifts, I am just barely holding on during the day so blogging is out of the question. Except right now where I needed to sit down and type so I didn't do or say something I shouldn't to the boys. Because I don't have a cage in their bedroom. :o)

Thank You

This week is National Police Week. It has been a very rough week for #1 due to the failed levy in the city where he works. Three of his fellow officers will be laid off within the next month. He and two others are next in line, perhaps sometime this summer, and in November if the levy fails again he will for sure lose his job-he and up to five others. It is hard to get that news the week that our nation honors officers.

However, only God controls our future, and he has always provided for us. Hard as it was due to the current circumstances our family attended the city's Police Awards ceremony Wednesday night where #1 got three commendations for things he was involved in this past year along with a pin to wear on his dress blues for distinguished service (one officer a year gets this award).

Overall, this has been a hard year for officers and their families all across our nation. Many officers have been killed in the line of duty. I cannot imagine what their families are going through. I haven't blogged about it because the trials have not happened yet, but as many of you know, my husband was in a shooting in December. I am so thankful to his department for all of the love and support they showed us and I hope the families of other officers who have been in similar situations are receiving the same support.

Thank you to all of the officers who daily put their lives on the line. They put their lives on the line for people they have never met, will never know the names of, who don't support their operational levies, and who talk down about law enforcement.

Thank you to all of the officers who work crazy shifts, miss out on birthdays and parties, and who give up valuable sleeping time to help out a neighbor.

If you know an officer this week, please take the time to thank them. They really do deserve it.