First Photo Shoot

A huge thank you to my friend Crystal who came over and did an awesome photo shoot of Addison this week. I am absolutely in love with these pictures!! Now the hard part is picking one to go in her announcements. So check out my super cute baby and let me know which one you think for the announcement!

And yes I am horribly behind in my blogging. Natalie had a birthday which was awesome. I have the cutest pictures and video that need to be posted. Aubrey was in a talent show at school almost a month ago that still needs to go up on the blog. Aye yay yay!! And lest anyone think I'm just amazingly keeping it all together rest assured that my house is a mess, we ate Taco Bell for dinner and my kids bath tonight consisted of a 30 second spray down in the shower. ha ha ha!! In the words of my favorite moose "so it wasn't so simple. And it wasn't so easy and okay, okay it wasn't so perfectly perfect. But do you know what? It was pretty close" For those of you who haven't read Mooseltoe just know that all great wisdom can be found in children's books!

First Day Solo

So today was the big day of me managing three kids for the first time by myself. I admit I was close to tears as we waved goodbye to Daddy this morning. But Aubrey got to school on time and I even remembered that it was teacher appreciation week. I got Addison down for a morning nap and managed to play two games of Mousetrap with Natalie. I snuck in a tiny power nap while she watched Little Einsteins. I felt so proud when I gave myself enough time to get a bottle ready before we left to get Aubrey from school. I was feeling cool, calm and so in control. This was doable, I could do this. Picked up Aubrey from school, she had a great day--fantastic. I had even managed to get Aubrey to do most of her homework over the weekend so I knew we just had about 30 minutes of review to do after snack. And now the critical moment had arrived, the hour I had most feared all day; homework time. I had come up with a great activity for Natalie, Aubrey's work was all ready to go, the only variable was Addison. Things started well, she ate while the girls had their snack. Then things started to deteriorate quickly. She didn't like sitting in my lap while I helped the girls with their work and she went from sweet baby to uncontrollable rage in just a few short minutes. I felt my sanity dissolving. I kept trying the pacifier as Aubrey yelled her flashcard words over her sister's wails of protest. And then Aubrey gave me the look and said "you're getting frustrated aren't you?" Oh yes, I was. And then a moment of sheer inspiration came, swaddle her. So I papoosed that munchkin just as snug as I could and you know what, she fell asleep in about 2 minutes. And now here it is quarter after 7pm, I managed to feed my family a meal that didn't come from a box, I have Natalie in the tub, Aubrey at Taekwondo and a content baby. I have a reasonably clean house and I'm even getting a blog post up. Not bad for my first day solo. I make no guarantees about the rest of the week but today I did okay.

Welcome To Our Family Little Addy

Addison's Stats: 9 pounds, 21-1/2" long born at 12:02 pm on Wednesday 4/23/2008

I just can't express how thankful and happy I am to be a Dad! I enjoy my profession, I enjoy electronics and just about anything made by apple. I enjoy stupid movies that don't make any sense other than to give moronic individuals such as myself huge laughs. I enjoy the company of good friends. I enjoy skipping around Disneyland with my younger brother in the rain with freaking HUGE umbrellas, acting like a 7 yr old! I enjoy a rather large supply of what my wife calls "idiot shirts" (these are the tee shirts that can be found on the back wall of Target stores everywhere!) I enjoy music, politics, religion, Brian Regan, "Dirty Jobs", and "The King of Queens". But nothing compares to the joy that I feel when it comes to being a Dad to now my THREE precious girls. God has given me more than I deserve or could ever ask for. Aubers, Nutter Butter, Addy Kins... Thanks for making me a better man by granting me the highest honor of being you Dad! I love you three more than anything!

"Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." ~Joseph Addison

I've posted pictures of Addisons arrival on my webpage: web.mac.com/palmerjared. This is Emily's blog, and I don't wanna be muckin it up by trying to post a kazillion pictures on it. So enjoy the pics!

-Jared

I'm a Big Girl Now!

Both the girls hit major milestones this weekend. Aubrey learned to ride a two wheeler! This has been a long hard learning process. Aubrey mastered the heelies but was very reluctant to ride a bike. Thank goodness for the internet and the wisdom of other mommies and daddies who have faced the same challenge. I found an abundance of advice on how to get a reluctant rider off and going in just an afternoon. I'll be honest I was really skeptical, especially since I certainly am in no condition to run behind a bike right now. But sure enough I followed the plan step by step and within about an hour she was riding on her own! I was thrilled. There's a certain amount of pride in seeing your child accomplish something she has struggled with; both in myself for helping her achieve it and in her for continuing to try. I'm so proud of my big girl!!

And Natalie got her ears pierced! She's been asking for several weeks now and I've been keeping it low key trying to see how determined she was. Well once this kiddo sets her mind to something she's like a terrier, can't get her to let go of it. We talked to her about what would happen and that it would pinch a little but then be over. Natalie's a pretty tough girl and so I didn't expect too many tears from her. When I took Aubrey she had her ears done one at a time and hardly flinched. Well, you think you know your child... Everything was going great she was super excited, couldn't wait to get her earrings. And then "the pinch" came. She screamed! Thank goodness they did both ears at the same time, I don't think we would have gotten both ears done. And the look on her face was of such utter betrayal. I wanted to cry! Fortunately a quick trip to Richie's for a strawberry milkshake brought a smile back to her face. Now, she talks about the whole experience quite bravely and loves having her earrings.

Overdue...

The due date came, the due date went
And still there is no baby yet.
The doctor says that she will show
How long we'll wait, "I don't know".
I tried the sex, I tried the walk
I think these things are all just talk.
So I wait impatiently,
For this baby number three.
"Good things come to those who wait"
There's someone I'd like to castrate!
So here's to hoping today's the day
'Cause pregnant much longer I cannot stay.

Previews of Coming Attractions

well here it is 4:20am and I am wide awake.  I thought this wasn't suppose to happen until after baby arrived.  unfortunately I've got a nasty cold that keeps waking me up add to that monster heartburn a three year old who suddenly can't sleep in her own bed and let's not forget needing to pee every 20 minutes and here you have me.  on the bright side i am writing this post from my new iPhone  which totally rocks.  sorry verizon friends had to switch to at&t.  but this thing is so cool!  well I am going to go make aubrey's  lunch might as well be productive I guess...

A little bit of fun

As the days tick by and we continue to await the arrival of this baby girl I thought we should have some fun to help pass the time. Being a wee bit competitive myself I like a good, fun wager. hee hee hee! So it's time for the baby pool! Feel free to click here to enter your guess on the arrival of this little critter. To level the playing field my actual due date is April 16th. However when you make your guess bear in mind I went two weeks over with both the girls. The only prize in this game is the satisfaction of winning but it should still be fun. Who knows maybe there will be chocolate after all....