Santa Came!!

When I was a child, Christmas was the like the grand finale of the Disney World firework show.  We ended each year with SANTA and what could be better than that!?  I actually remember feeling sorry for my parents as I got older because Santa didn't bring the adults as much and I remember thinking how terrible that must be.  But now that I'm an adult, I must say - Christmas is even better than it was as a child.  Will is finally understanding Christmas and his excitement was worth every single second of searching, buying, wrapping, decorating, and planning.  Brooks of course was excited on Christmas morning too - but Will was through the roof!

Santa left each boy a letter explaining how good they had been this year and what things he would like to see improvement on next year.  Will exclaimed "Mom!  Santa said I had been a good boy!  I was worried that I wasn't!  AND" he said "TODAY IS JESUS' BIRTHDAY!!!"  It was so cute!  Santa also said in his letter that Brooks' gifts were in green paper and Will's were in red.  I know lots of Santas do not wrap.  But ours does for 2 reasons - first - this is the only way that I have figured out how to keep one child from claiming another child's gifts.  If they are concentrating on unwrapping their own gifts, they don't pay too much attention to what their brother is getting.  Secondly, this method of unwrapping slows them down long enough for me to almost see their reaction to each toy.  Eventually - when the children are a good bit older - I would like for them to take turns opening gifts just like I grew up doing, but I realize we have a while before I can expect that to happen.

Onto the gifts - boy did Santa deliver this year!

For Will, Santa brought a new 16" Schwinn bike, an Imaginext castle & dragon, Lego City legos + additional legos, a new Nerf gun, a new toy truck & horse trailer, a case for his Mobigo & a Jake & the Neverland Pirates game, a new board game, hexagon blocks, Madagascar 3 Blu Ray, Under Armour, a new playdoh crane, a matchbox sized helicopter (he loves helicopters), 2 new books, a Lego man flashlight key chain, and lots of other little items to fill his stocking.

For Brooks, Santa brought a red Plasmacar, a huge new Schleich wooden barn set, a mircrophone on a stand (the only thing he asked for), Lego Duplo Farm set + additional legos, a new Nerf gun, a new truck and horse trailer, a new board game, new Automoblox, a take apart crane, Mickey Mouse on the Farm DVD, Under Armour, a new playdoh crane, a matchbox sized space shuttle, 2 new books, a Lego man flashlight key chain, new toy animals for his farm, and plenty of other things to fill his stocking.

And Santa certainly did not forget Miss Tessa!  He brought her a huge new picture frame from this Etsy store that she's been dying for (ha!), a Fisher Price play table, a Cabbage Patch doll, a Jelly Cat stuffed bunny, 4 new books, lots of new frocks from Matilda Jane, a sippy cup with her name on it, and tons of teethers and clutching toys.

We had such a great morning.  The kids were so very happy with everything that they received.  Around 10:30, we packed up and headed to my mom's for our annual Christmas morning brunch.  My brother grilled steak & eggs, my dad made fried pork tenderloin, and my mom made french toast, biscuits and bacon.  And of course, our Christmas morning mimosas!  We ate and then enjoyed watching the kids tear through more gifts.  My boys love my niece and nephew and are "best fwends" so they had a big morning there too. 

After a few hours at my parent's house, we made the trip to Brandon's family farm for more gift exchanging and Christmas dinner with his family.  The kids had more fun and Nonna & Papa gifted them with iPod touches, toy trumpets, and a new ball pit (both of which we "accidentally" left at their house).  My mother-in-law made turkey & dressing, ham, and all the other traditional holiday favorites.  By this time, Will was completely beside himself to get back home and play with his toys.  If he asked once, he asked 1,000 times when we were going home.  Once we finally got home, I let them stay way up past their bedtime playing with all of their new toys and gadgets.

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year, but I definitely see a few changes in store for next year.  No more leaving the house on Christmas day.  Our kids have finally reached the age where they want to stay home and play with their new things and that is exactly what I plan on letting them do next year.  The rest can be rearranged.

Three days later, Will's favorite gifts have proven to be the Imaginext batcave (a gift from my mom), the Imaginext dragon castle, Brooks' barn, legos, the tiny toy helicopter and playdough.  It's really been too cold/windy/rainy to go out and ride his new bike but we're hoping to get to do that this weekend.  Brooks' favorites are Will's batcave, the barn, playdough and his microphone.  He has also enjoyed scooting around the house on his plasmacar, but we'll get it outside (or at least in the garage) this weekend.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I gathered from Facebook that many of you were under the weather this Christmas, but I hope that the Christmas spirit found you anyway.  In light of the tragedies that have happened in the last few weeks, I know I was very grateful to have my little family of 5 together this holiday.  Now onto the next holiday - Happy New Year friends!

A Few (Christmas Buying) Suggestions

When you have 3 kids, you become "seasoned" in lots of areas - how to feed a baby without slowing down, the best way to calm a coughing child, and how to give a gift to a child among many others.  When I have time, I like to browse other mommy blogs and I'm always amazed at the gift suggestions or wish lists that they post for children.  I'm always thinking Ha!  That will never be used. or That will break in five minutes.  or ohhh their momma is going to HATE you for that! 

So just in case a small child is on your Christmas list this year, I have a few (Rutledge) kid-tested, mommy-approved suggestions.  These are all items that we personally love, play with, and abuse on a daily basis.  Some are inexpensive and others are more costly.  One thing that my mommy friends and I can agree on is that we would rather have NO gift at all than a gift that will break quickly or not get played with.  

Let me start by saying that if the child is less than a year old, no matter how much you want to believe that the child will love and adore whatever gift it is that you're buying, you're wrong.  The child will not care one bit about opening gifts.  If the toy feels good on their gums or lights up, you might have a winner, otherwise you will be better off buying things that the child needs like gift cards for clothes or shoes, diapers, bigger car seats, things for their room, etc.  I know that's no fun, but I'm just trying to be honest.  

On to the things I can attest for:

Fisher Price Little People Farm

This was given to Will on his first birthday and BOTH boys still play with it on a daily basis.  It still looks brand new.  We have misplaced most of the animals that came with this set, but they put any and all of their plastic farm animals in this barn.  Seriously - best toy ever. 

Anything by Imaginext

I guess this is the "big kid" version of the Little People sets.  We already have several of these sets, but Will has asked for both the Batcave AND the Castle this Christmas.  These are virtually indestructible and come with lots of available accessories to keep the kiddos engaged.

Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair

There are lots of varieties of this type of chair out there, but this is the only one I can speak for.  The boys use these on a DAILY basis in their playroom.  Obviously to sit and watch movies in, but other uses currently include fort building, and tumble mats (think turn upside down and jump off of).  They've survived the test of Rutledge time.  And that says a LOT.  This is a great gift for those under 12 months old because they won't be disappointed that it's not a toy, and they WILL use it.  I would imagine a 4 year old would be upset to find this under the tree, although it's still completely a great gift - just not a toy.  Our boys were given these by their dad and me on their first birthdays.

Automoblox

These are great.  Our boys love them.  They don't make noise or need batteries (2 parent points) and they keep the kids engaged for a LONG time switching the tires and other various parts around.  They're made of wood, so they're sturdy too.  I would suggest waiting until at least 2 1/2 for this toy (smaller parts and all).  But totally awesome.  They also make the girl varieties in pink and purple.

Other things that have made great gifts in our house include books, movies, train table, Mobigo game system, Melissa & Doug floor puzzles, flashlights of any fashion, and rain boots (ALWAYS a hit here for some reason).

These are just our tried and tested suggestions.  I would gift any of these to either a boy or a girl but at this point it's fair to say that I have more experience with the boys.  I would also suggest asking the parent for ideas.  Each child is different and the parent would know what they want/need.  

I hope this helps!

What a Turkey of a Day!

I'm just gonna go ahead and put this out there - we have the WORST luck with holidays.  There I said it.  It's true.  In fact, it's hard for me to even put much stock in whether or not we will even get to show up at our family get-togethers.  I have even stopped buying the standard "holiday" attire for my kids.  Why, you ask?  Because it seems inevitable that everyone in our family will be absolutely hunky dory right up until the night before/day of the big holiday, and then BAM! someone gets sick and we end up staying home. 

In the five holiday seasons since we have become parents, we have missed THREE major holidays due to illness.  Will's first Christmas - stomach bug for me on Christmas morning.  Brooks' first Christmas - strep for both boys on Christmas Eve and for me on Christmas day.  Tessa's first Thanksgiving - pink eye for Brooks and the nastiest sinus crud we've dealt with in a loooonnnnngggg time for the entire Rutledge clan.  Don't get me wrong, I am grateful that these are all things that we will deal with and then get over but it really stinks to be at home while everyone else in the world is out enjoying their holiday and posting the cutest pictures in the world on Facebook.  Oh welllllll - enough pouting from me...

We have been super consumed lately with trying to get everyone well.  The night before Thanksgiving, as I rushed to leave work on time and get home to take the kiddos to see Santa and his live reindeer, my mother-in-law calls at 5:15 to inform me that she's "pretty sure" Brooks has pink eye.  So instead of going to see Santa, Brooks and I had a date at the local "Little Clinic" as it was the only place open so late the day before a major holiday.  It wasn't too hard to diagnose though - his eyes were pretty nasty. 

 

And because the little fella was contagious for at least the next 24 hours, we got to spend Thanksgiving at home as a family of 5.  I had not bought the groceries to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal, so we had biscuits, eggs and bacon for breakfast and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Both mine and Brandon's family did bring us leftovers though.  We were very happy to see those aluminum-covered plates :)

We tried to make the best of it anyway and attempted to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  The boys were sooooo bored and were not at all interested.  After lunch, we dragged the Christmas tree down from the attic and began fluffing out the tree. 

Regardless of pink eye, we have so much to be thankful for this year.  We have a wonderfully sweet little addition to our family.  Miss Tessa has made our family complete in so many ways.  She is absolutely the calm amongst the storm in our house and just what we (especially I) needed.  The boys are happy (except when expected to share toys) and growing.  My husband is healthy and cancer-free.  We have a sweet little home that we love, cars that are paid for and dependable, a pantry full of food (even if I'm not the world's best cook), clothes that are clean, and lots of things that I know are luxuries and not necessities.  I absolutely love our life, our home, our little family.  I am crazy in love with my husband, who has been my sweetheart for more than 11 years and I find more and more endearing every day.  He is a great father, and an even better husband to me.  What more could a girl want??  Thankful - that's me :)

Sweet Summertime

We've been way too busy for me to slow down long enough to blog.  I'm really sorry about that because I really do enjoy keeping this blog, but I'm not sorry for the fun memories we've been making in our last summer as a family of four :)  

Nearly every evening after work, we take the boys to the pool.  It has been sooooo hot and steamy here in GA the past few weeks and the boys have been stuck inside mostly until the evenings when the temps finally dip back down into double digits.  After a few hours of pool time in the evening, they drift off to sweet sleep pretty easily.  They are both doing really well in the pool.  Brooks is a jumping machine and we really have to be on our toes with him near the pool.  He has jumped into the 10 ft deep end without his floaties, causing his mommy to have a heart attack and his daddy to ruin his change of clothes for the day :/  Will has made the most improvement this year - he is pretty comfortable in the pool now and will swim both with his floaties and without (this depends on how many adults are in the pool and how well I can really supervise him).  He can hold his breath for a reallllly long time and loves to practice swimming under water.  He still doesn't really like to jump in, but I'm okay with that - one less kid to chase in and out of the water.  

We've really been diligent about getting them in the water as often as possible because I am afraid once miss Tessa makes her appearance, Mommy won't be able to enjoy the pool as much as she would like :)    Speaking of Tessa - things are moving right along with the now weekly doctor appointments.  This past week's appointment found me 2 cm dilated at 36 weeks.  I've had enough babies to know that doesn't always mean anything, but the doctors are also pretty concerned about her size.  Because Brooks was such a whopper, they've been watching her through regular growth ultrasounds.  At 34 weeks, they estimated Tessa already weighed around 6 lbs and 14 oz.  We have another ultrasound coming up at the end of this week to check her growth again.  I also know these are not always accurate, but it's hard to argue with getting to see her all the time :)  My doctors have really stressed not letting me go over due (like with Brooks) because of her size, and since I'm already making "progress", we've discussed an induction around the 39 week mark if she hasn't made her appearance by then.  I'm okay with that.  I know some people really hate inductions, but I've had two wonderful inductions and considering how fast I labor (1.5 hours with Will and about 50 mins with Brooks), and how far I am from the hospital (30 miles) - I'm okay with the induction theory.  

We also had a very laid-back 4th of July.  We visited my parents in the afternoon for some pool time and then took the boys to see the local fireworks.  With the holiday falling right smack in the middle of the week, there wasn't much more to it than that.  Here are a few pics of our holiday -

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

We had a wonderful long weekend full of swimming, grilling and playgrounds.  Do weekends get any better??  On Saturday, I spent the day sewing the bedskirt to Tessa's mommy-made crib bedding and my three men went to Brandon's parent's house to assemble their new playset.  I'm not sure Brandon knew what he signed up for when he agreed to spend his Memorial Day weekend putting a wooden playset together.  Do NOT let anyone fool you - those things are a major PIA.  Brandon suffered the consequences of waiting about two hours too late to apply sunscreen (scuse the ugly toe in the pic) -

After about 6 hours spent with pink silk fabric and a sewing machine, I met up with the boys for some swimming and hot dogs on the grill.  Yuuuummmm.  Will is going to start swim lessons next week and given his EXTREME fear of the pool, his swim instructor ask me to have him in the pool as much as possible before lessons start.  So my goal this weekend was to get that little guy in the pool as many times as possible in our three day weekend.  He does much better this year considering he can touch the bottom of the shallow end and can hold his head above water, but his fear is still very much in place.  He will jump off the side to me and even voluntarily stick his own head under the water, but he does NOT want me to let go of his hand unless he's firmly planted on the steps.  Still, this is a great improvement over last year's screaming fits every time he caught a glimpse of the pool.  (And for the record - no, the child has never had a traumatic water experience, but he's still just as nervous as a cat around any body of water larger than his tub.)

I have the opposite problem with Brooks.  This child is fearless and jumps in without waiting to see if there is an adult anywhere close.  Unlike his older brother, Brooks will float along by himself without any assistance (except from his floaties), he'll paddle to where he wants to go, and enjoys every minute of pool time.  My main concern with Brooks is keeping him from drinking half the pool while he's jumping, splashing, and acting like a crazy person.  So me caring for both boys in the pool by myself usually means Will is attached to one hand or arm while I'm chasing Brooks from the deep end or pulling him up from the bottom of the pool after one of his dare devil jumps. 

(Will was upset because his bandaid got wet.  Go figure.)

Sunday was spent with more of the same, minus the sewing.  Daddy worked on the playset and the boys and I swam.  At least Brandon completed the playset and the boys finally got to play in their "clubhouse."  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits rounded out our day.

On Memorial Day, I took the boys down to my parent's house for more swimming while Brandon worked on clearing out what will be Tessa's new room.  This room once was Brooks' and when we combined the boys into one room, we just threw her furniture into her room with Brooks' old furniture and closed the door.  We've just now gotten around to taking Brooks' furniture out (a crib we borrowed from my brother that we will now be returning since they are expecting too, and a Pottery Barn changing table that I scored off Craigslist and will be letting my brother use since we'll use Tessa's dresser as her changing table.)  Now that the room has a little more leg room, it's time to prime and paint Tessa's walls and hopefully start putting her room together soon.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute ;)  We celebrated the end of our long weekend with steaks on the grill and called it a night.  If there's anything better than the way a little swimming and Vitamin D makes you feel, it's how it usually knocks our kids out pretty quickly once the sun starts to go down.

Random Thoughts

Easter Recap

I hope everyone had a great Easter.  We had a great time spent with family and friends.  Here are my thoughts on Easter 2012:

*Since when did Easter become Christmas 2.0?!!  I mean seriously - I'm guilty of giving my kids an Easter basket stuffed with lots of Spring/Easter themed goodies, but I've seen the pics some of you have posted on Facebook of your kids' Easter baskets and I'm amazed that 90% of the pics showed an abundance of toys, games, books and electronics (and even a freakin' tricycle) spilling out of the baskets and onto the floor.  I mean if you have to stack your kid's Easter presents around his basket, there is a good chance you missed the idea behind the Easter basket.

*Second thought - next year, NO MORE CANDY!  My kids brought home more candy from their two egg hunts than they did after hitting 200 houses in our neighborhood at Halloween.  I gave one bag full away and took another bag full to work today.  And we still have a HUGE bucket full.  Yuck.  No more.

*Third thought - even though your spoiled rotten kids received tricycles and Nintendo games as gifts for Easter (still can't get over that), they looked cute as pie in their Sunday best.  Here are mine:  

I think they used some new reflective fabric in these outfits - wow.

Brooks' first time on a horse

Will's first time on a horse (which he loved but you can't tell based on his expression)

I love this picture - he's on a mission!

Will looks so grown up here (and yes - count on at least one child to ruin their outfit before the egg hunt.  Happens every.single.year)

Bean 3 Has a Name

At least I'm 99% certain that she does.  Now that we've finally agreed on a name, I'm a little nervous to announce it out of fear that Brandon will change his mind and go back to saying he's not sure about it.  Maybe I'll make that my next post?  My next post will be my 100th - maybe Bean's name is special enough for that kind of celebration ;)

My Blog

I ran into an old high school classmate tonight (we can call ourselves old now that our 10 year reunion is upon us!) and she was very sweet.  She told me how much she loves my blog and how it really lifts her spirits, makes her laugh and makes her feel good.  I can't tell you how awesome that makes me feel.  I read a LOT of blogs - some of them are too materialistic, a lot of them feel too much like Sunday School and MOST of them are fake.  They paint this wonderful picture of life - their children are wonderful, their husband is perfect, and they most certainly have the cleanest house and cook 3 fresh from-scratch meals every single day.  Not me.  I just can't.  I try my very hardest to be real on here.  My kids are far from perfect, we eat out (or in but quick) a lot, I pay someone to clean my house, and I'm not so perky that you want to scratch my eyeballs out all the time.  I love Jesus and I'm so thankful that he's taken care of my family the way he has, but you won't see too many Bible lessons on here.  I just need a place to get my thoughts out.  To clear my head.  To get out my frustrations, anxieties and excitements, and this blog does that for me.

There are people who read my blog just to make fun of it.  There are those people who have said (to my face) "Oh let me guess - will you put this on your little blog?" or say "I just don't get it.  Who are you talking to?"  OR my personal favorite - "I just don't have time to read or write blogs because I spend time with my family instead of sitting on the computer."  That's great.  I hope that you spend that quality time with your kids showing them exactly how to be a stick in the mud with the attitude of a bull frog.  

I've never missed one single exciting, happy, sad or important moment with my children because of this blog.  In fact, my biggest momma's boy is asleep beside me right now because he fell asleep watching Diego in our bed.  I really wish people would use this blog as a way to relate to other parents, other wives, working moms, or women who have husbands battling some awful disease.  I hope that you're reading this blog because you love it and it makes you feel good.  If you're reading this blog because you want to make fun of it - well then, you're wasting more time than I've ever wasted writing it.  

Easter is Here!

I feel like I was just recapping our Christmas morning, yet here I sit writing about our Easter plans.  How come time couldn't go by this quickly when I was in high school counting down the days until Spring Break?!  It seems all you need to do to speed up time is have a few kids.  All of a sudden, you will be trying to find the emergency brake so that you can have a few minutes to scoot off to Target and buy enough picked-over Easter trinkets to fill a couple of baskets.

I try to avoid a TON of candy in the Easter baskets.  Both grandparents also make baskets for the boys and that always equals sugar overload in the days and even weeks following the big holiday.  When this happens, FOR THEIR OWN PROTECTION, I remove all the good extra sugary candies like the Reese Eggs and stash them in my office a very safe place :)

I hope the boys like their baskets this year - they have EXACTLY the same items in their baskets, except their sandals are different colors and their beach towels have different Disney characters on them.  Inevitably, the wrong kid will get the wrong color or character and they will fight over the same one.  I couldn't help it though, sometimes I just get sooooo sick of having two of everything.  It's like living in a weird Groundhog Day time warp zone every day of your life. 

They are both getting these awesome bubble gum egg pooping chickens. (These are always voted the year's worst candy due to the "pooping egg" thing.  Whoever votes on those surveys obviously doesn't have 2 & 3 year old boys!)  

Ohhhh and their both getting this fun bath soap (am I the only one who remembers this stuff!?) -

They are getting Play Doh Easter eggs-

Brooks is getting these Sanuk flip flops-

And Will is getting these (I tried to find two of the same style, but had no such luck)-

Brooks will be getting Disney's Cars beach towel -

And Will the Toy Story - 

The rest of their baskets are filled with bunny-shaped rice krispie treats, pastel colored M&M Minis, pastel colored sour gummy bears and a chocolate bunny of course.  

I had actually bought them sunglasses and a couple of books but ended up giving them to them earlier for no particular reason other than I love to surprise them from time to time :)

My original plan for today was to dye eggs with the boys.  Unfortunately, I am writing to you now from the bed because I seem to have pulled and/or strained a few muscles in my lower abdomen/hip area and I have now been sentenced to spend the next few days "off my feet" as per my OB.  I'm not really sure what happened - the only thing I can imagine is that my 2.5 mile (which I have always done 3Xs/week) walk was just too much Thursday night because all of a sudden, while I was at work on Friday, I started having terrible sharp/achey pains in my lower abdomen.  I couldn't walk without wiping the tears out of my eyes.  I feel fine when I'm sitting or lying down, but the pain comes as soon as I try to walk :(  So here I am.  In the bed.  I would try to sit in a chair and dye eggs anyway, but the idea of sending my husband the grocery store for Kool-Aid packets, olive oil, eggs and white vinegar is pretty humorous.  I did manage to get the boys' baskets filled while sitting in the bed.  Now if I could just figure out how to finish tagging the stuff I plan to consign Monday night.....