It is 11:25 am and I am watching The Price is Right, which means life is really good right now. That’s how I judge my level of happiness: am I able to be home, eating a sandwich, between the hours of 11 and 12 so I can watch Drew Carey give away cars? Yes? Success!!

Tomorrow Linc will be 1 month old, and I’ll start doing monthday updates again. I have big plans to do a same-spot monthly photo like I did with Caroline’s tutu, but I am TERRIBLE at following through with stuff like that so we’ll see.

It turns out the hardest part of having three kids isn’t the third kid – it’s the first two. I thought I had done a really good job teaching Evan and Caroline to play on their own without needing me to intervene or referee much. But in reality I just didn’t realize how often I had to step in until I was stuck on the couch under a sleeping or nursing baby and couldn’t break up their squabbles. There has been a LOT more yelling than I like (and I’m not even strictly anti-yelling) just because I CAN’T walk into the other room and deal with them calmly. Caroline has started shouting “Moooooom Evan is TORTURING ME again!” and Evan shouts “DON’T COME UP HERE!” and then I have to stomp up the stairs while they both shout “NOOOOOO! We’ll be good! We promise!!!!” It’s fairly exhausting just to listen to them all day, plus the stomping is really rough on my knees.

Luckily, I only have everyone home for one more week before school starts. School itself is going to be a challenge – Evan’s bus comes REALLY early and I’m kind of nervous about how he’ll behave during a long ride to school – but the quiet I’m going to get while both big kids are gone is going to be life-changing. I can start blogging again. I can edit photos. I can finish knitting one of the 5 baby hats I’ve started but not finished. I can start taking pictures for other people so I can start saving up for the new lens I want.

And I can do ALL that stuff because Linc is a super easy baby. I have absolutely NO delusions this has anything to do with me or my parenting whatsoever. It’s luck. Just luck. Maybe there’s a little truth to the idea that because I’m not tense and nervous and stressed the baby isn’t tense and nervous and stressed, but that’s anecdotal at best. I know plenty of people whose second or third baby was WAY more high-needs than the first one. I just got an easy one this time, for which I am unbelievably thankful. With E gone almost all the time I would be seriously, SERIOUSLY losing my mind if I had an inconsolable, colicky baby.

The day my mom left me alone with all 3 kids I looked around and realized my house was clean and organized, and if I could just MAINTAIN that current level I could avoid a disaster. I’ve been doing really well – right now there’s only one load of laundry not put away and all the dishes are in the dishwasher – but I’ve given up on the kids’ room. Until they go to school and I can spend a good 3+ hours in there purging it’s hopeless. Luckily the rest of the house is still in good shape, so I can just shut their door and ignore it. I’m also ALMOST done with Linc’s nursery – I still haven’t ordered the crib and I need my husband to build me a shelf – and I’m really excited to share it.

Now I have a very important episode of House Hunters: Where Are They Now? to watch while I make a grocery list and a meal plan and enjoy this slightly annoying update while I can. I feel like the next one (after the 6 am wake ups and lunch packing and school drama) will be…much less smug.

I hate everything.

I’m still pregnant. I haven’t managed to shake the baby even the littlest bit loose since before my due date, so we’re waiting it out a bit longer. The good news is E’s departure date keeps getting pushed back so he’s not going to miss the birth – he still might have to do a mad dash to the hospital to get there but he shouldn’t be At Sea.

The other good news is my house has never been so clean and well organized, since my poor mother has been trying to keep busy instead of just sitting on the couch staring, waiting for me to pop.

Sunday:

Mommy I’m a walrus! A turkey walrus!

Obsessed with the new bathmat

The kids are enjoying the clean, newly made-over bathroom too

Monday:

I want to buy everything too, buddy

Princess Grumpypants

Well, that explains the grumpy pants

Tuesday:

Ikea is fun for everyone

Making herself at home (more Ikea)

Bedtime stories

Wednesday:

Bounce house center smiles

I’M MAKING POOR CHOICES smiles

Thursday:

Finishing up errands I NEVER thought I would get done before the baby came

OK MY TOES LOOK NICE I CAN GIVE BIRTH

Evening aquarium visit

Friday:

3.5 hours in L&D for tests, NO BABY

To the pond for some fish-catching (we caught no fish)

I enjoy sunsets and long walks on the curb trying to get the baby to FALL OUT

Saturday:

Infant seats are useful, even without an infant

Trapped in my seat by bins of baby clothes that are ALL ORGANIZED now

We actually did even more stuff not pictured. As much as I want to just crawl into bed and sulk until I have a baby, doing stuff is better for me and the kids and my very patient mother. Although I’m starting to lose any semblance of motivation and the bed-crawling thing is looking better and better.

Since I’m NOT having a baby I’ve been editing photos and might actually have some non-iPhone posts up. UNLESS I AM IN LABOR RIGHT NOW IS THAT A CONTRACTION? (No.)

It’s unofficially summer now, so all the time not spent at the doctor was spent outside.

Sunday:

Take your children to work day (because people feed them),

They took turns pushing each other on a big kid swing. I’M FREEEEEE.

Look at all that glorious empty floor space! If I took that picture right now it would not look that clean. At all.

Monday:

3 year old heaven

It is shocking our friends still agree to play marbles with my husband.

That is not her beer.

Tuesday:

A block fell on his nose because his tower was REALLY tall

Playing with my piggies

Everything about this photo cracks me up

Wednesday:

WINTER COATS BECAUSE SCREW YOU CONNECTICUT

Awwwww, what a cute little ferret that will NEVER EVER COME TO OUR HOUSE

BFFs

Thursday:

Mommy, take my picture!

(Fisheye) Lunch of the front steps

Gorgeous night for a maternity session

Friday:

Peek a boo?

He takes my appointments very seriously

Can’t wait! Family movie day!

Saturday:

We can’t go to the grocery store without visiting our lobster friends.

STRAWBERRIES

False alarm contractions sent me to L&D and then home again. The good news (?) was I wasn’t imagining it, they could see them on the monitors. The better news is they weren’t doing anything so the doctor isn’t worried. The bad news is this will probably keep happening (minus going in to L&D) until I go into real labor.

BOTH kids have field days at school this week, so it’s time to stock up on sunscreen and bug spray and cross my fingers for afternoon naps. I have four photo sessions to finish editing,  three trashed bedrooms to clean (because organizing and rearranging the second floor has gotten Out Of Hand), one zillion baby onesies to sort, and – in theory – a nursery to paint. That is probably not happening, but I can at least pick a color. Who wants to come over and stare at various shades of creamy off-white with me?

As of RIGHT NOW if someone knocked on the door I wouldn’t be ashamed to let them come in. All the general living areas of the house are in fairly decent shape with no visible disgusting messes. Except the basement. The basement is full of water.  Hopefully it stops raining before the whole house floats away and no one gets to see my nice clean kitchen.

Sunday:

Aquarium day

Mr. Ray says hi

Peas in a pod enamored with technology

Monday:

Despite the face, she was very excited about the flower

Scanned and Artkived 6 months of kids art so I could THROW IT AWAY

Hugging the bump

Tuesday:

I got an emissions inspection, he built a castle

Comparing our big bellies

Wednesday:

Happy to be in a second session of swimming

Pretending it’s spring

Drive-thru dinner makes me happy too

Thursday:

Hats

Getting their namaste on

Thank you Aunt Sara! Unicorn is their new favorite!

Friday:

ALMOST warm enough to be outside

Helping Brutus be brave

All of us doing things we love: Caroline is napping, Evan is building, I am watching HGTV

Saturday:

“Reading” me the info about her first dance recital!

Father-son bonding over blowing shit up

I spent 2 hours last night trying to pick a font for a new header. You probably didn’t even notice.

This is going to be a crazy week leading up to Evan’s birthday party on Saturday (FIVE! FIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!) but I’m excited. The weatherman is promising it will warm up, there are crocuses blooming in my yard, and my house looks like it’s been attacked by pirates. In a good way. They left a lot of hats.

I also have big plans to get my eyebrows done. I live a very exciting life.

I was also accepted to promotion for that new Disney Pirate Fairy movie that means I HAVE to go buy it the day it comes out and the kids HAVE to watch it. Considering they both scream their heads off every time the preview comes on it shouldn’t be a hardship. Like my friend Sara said, Disney basically buys ad space on the inside of parents’ eyelids, but in this case they’re also paying me to make my kids wicked happy. Blogging is still cool, even if I’m not super good at it anymore.

Considering this week was Christmas, it was decidedly uneventful. I mean, BESIDES Christmas. But we spent all of the 25th (and the 26th) in pajamas eating stocking candy and being as lazy as possible. Then I got the worst pregnancy headache of my life (aren’t you glad I announced so now I can complain about it all the time???) and barely moved for 2 more days, so there you have it. Uneventful.

Sunday:

At the casino for some shopping, donuts and examining a fake ice wolf

Sleeping beauty

I have eaten two of these in a week

Monday:

Watching the zamboni

Once she got the walker thing she did great

5 pm. THANK GOD the days are finally getting longer again.

Tuesday:

A Christmas cookie miracle!

Easiest baking ever

My favorite part of Christmas Eve

Wednesday:

Arming my children, one gift at a time

Presents bigger than the child herself

Blurrily playing their new Jake and the Neverland Pirates game

Thursday:

Christmas recovery: chugging water and watching HGTV

Wiggly tooth. He fell on his face. The dentist said he’s going to lose it and have a hole for a long time.

Nothing says “Happy Day After Christmas” like Taco Bell

Friday:

Two things in common: cuddles and technology

Using his new fan to dry Caroline’s nail polish

Saturday:

Apparently all the baby wants is fake Mexican food

Naps for those of us with migraines/exhaustion

I had a newborn session this week (an early Christmas present not due until January!) and another session scheduled for next week, and I’m surprised to find myself excited about it. I burned out a little after the fall and hardly picked up my camera during the holidays so I’m excited to get it out again. Plus I’ve got a pregnancy post to write and a What’s for Dinner post I never finished and like 10,000 words about the Walking Dead I’d like to write but will spare you because no one cares about a show that already happened even if I only just caught up on.

I should probably also get the kids out of the house before we all go nuts, but everyone is doing that so pretty much everywhere is full of parents with the same crazy look in their eyes counting the days until school vacation ends.  I’m hoping a Target run for some storage bins and and Icees for the kids will do the trick.