By Retirement, you mean Babysitting, right?

Another weekend has come and gone in the Povah household. This month has been especially busy since our babysitter, Lindsay, had her baby the first of the month, so Adam and I have been taking time off work to stay at home with the kids. Mimi has offered to watch them tomorrow, so we can both go to work. I've only worked 5 days this month, so I've had a lot of time at home with the kids, which is fun, but exhausting as well. We've taken lots of trips to the park, zoo and pool and will venture to Toddler Time at the Waukee library on Friday. Maybe we can even talk Mimi and Papa into watching the kids so Adam and I can get a night out :) We don't know what we would do without my parents near by. We've talked about wanting to move to Kansas City, but now that we have kids, I just can't think about moving them away from their grandparents. It was such a blessing for me to grow up with a close relationship with my grandparents and we want our kids to be just as blessed (plus I think my parents would dis-own me if we tried to move the babies away).

Brewicks and Kids

On other exciting news, Papa Bill, has moved back to Des Moines! We all went over to his new house for dinner on Sunday and the kids had a blast exploring his new digs. He will be retiring in the next few years, so he was excited about being back in town to retire near his kids and grandkids. He's already dreaming of baseball games and dance recitals (ok, maybe not so much the recitals, but he will survive).

Papa Bill with Aiden

Adam's parents are scheduled for a visit in August. I'm sure they're anxious to see the kids. We only get to see them once or twice a year, but when they come up, it's always a nice visit. It's hard with them living in Mississippi to get up here very often, but they're busy doing good work down there.

Adam's family June 2010

The kids also get to spend time with their GG. She loves them to pieces :)

We also spend a lot of time with Uncle B and Leigh. Brendan lives a mile from our house, so the kids see him at least once a week. Whenever Aubs or Owen is pretend talking on the phone, it's always B they're talking to. I look forward to when he has kids and I get to experience the baby phases all over again! We also try to see Uncle Chris and Aunt Melissa and Taylor as often as we can. It's hard since Taylor is 10 and super busy with softball, dance and swimming and we're busy trying to chase 3 kids down, but we try to make it happen at least every few months. We have a tradition of spending Christmas Eve together and I look forward to it every year.

Uncle B and Leigh

Povah's at Aiden's baptism

The kids are also lucky to have lots of loving Great Aunts and Uncles. Family time around Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving is always a blast and my trio has made it even more entertaining. My cousin, Tracy, has 2 girls, Gwen and Kennedy, so it makes the holidays even more fun to have little kids running around. We're looking forward to a great 4th of July!

These are a few of my favorite things :)

There are certain things we go through in abundance these days. In a month we go through:

500 diapers
50 bananas
10 gallons of milk
12 cups of yogurt
800 baby wipes
10 pints of blueberries and strawberries
6 boxes of crakers
4 boxes of Cherrios
25 loads of laundry

I cringe at what these kids are going to cost when we hit the teenage years, but the small fortune that we pay in daycare costs now will probably off-set my grocery bill then. I managed to take all three kids to Costco by myself this week (that is a milestone in my book). Owen rode in the cart, stuffed in between diapers, cat litter and strawberries while Aubs and Aiden rode in the seats.  I somehow fit everything (and everyone) back into my tiny Ford Fusion and off we went, back home in the rain. Aubrey later informed daddy that she loved to go shopping, but only for clothes :) I don't know where she got that one...

Toddler Beds...

So, the twins are finally converted out of toddler beds...hooray!!! We've been struggling for the past 6 months with them climbing out of their cribs, but they weren't quite ready to be in a big kid bet quite yet. The last couple nights have been interesting, but entertaining to say the least. One night I overheard Aubs telling Owen to open the door, which he does, and they procceed to walk out to the living room, turn on the tv and watch a few minutes before they realize I'm watching them. The scream and laugh their way back to their room. After that, we quickly switched their doorknob around so we can lock them in..sounds cruel, right? Tonight, I hear Aubrey telling Owen, "I pooped in my pants. Need a new diaper." So I open the door and out walks Aubrey holding her pj bottoms in her hand (guess she wanted to save me a step) and informs me to change her...thanks child.  The joys of parenthood.

First Post!

So....I've been bugged my numerous friends and family that it's time to start my own blog, so here goes it. Owen and Aubrey are now two and crazy and Aiden is a happy, smiley 1 year old. I stay home part-time to spend more time with my kids and work part-time to stay sane :)

Owen has went from being a mild, lazy baby to a wild and funny toddler. He loves to play ball, jump in his bounce house and be outside...ALL DAY. We're struggling with his constant desire to wrestle and tackle Aubrey and Aiden, but soon Aiden will be big enough to fight back, so we patiently (and I use that word loosely) wait for this phase to be over. He is starting to expand his vocabulary and now says 3 word sentences. He's a busy boy that doesn't have the time to stop and eat (hence the 33% in weight) and would rather me playing than snacking.

Now Aubrey is a different story. This child could talk your ear off (I have no idea where she gets it) and loves to read. Her vocabulary is huge and is ahead of most kids her age (not just bragging, it's the truth). She repeats everything you say and easily talks in full sentences. She would rather cuddle or push her babies in a stroller than wrestle with her brothers. She LOVES to eat (hence her 77% in weight) and if you asked her what she wants for lunch, the answer is most likely "macaroni" or "nuggets"..great. She's a sweet girl who loves to cuddle and can be a mama's girl. I'll take it for as long as possible :)

On to Aiden....my baby. He's a tank, eats everything and is such a mama's boy. He was an early crawler (6 months) and has been walking for about 6 weeks now. He's still a little clumsy, but does pretty well for 13 months. He already says, "mama" "cookie" "cat" "thank you" "cracker" "dada" "elmo" "papa" and "milk" and can sign a few words as well. He's a fish in the pool and, like his brother, loves to be outside. He's super snuggly, but also demanding, and has already starting throwing fits when he doesn't get something he wants..like the laptop. This kids LOVES Elmo and wants to watch videos on the laptop all day, so we hide the computer from him :) This once firery red hair is now strawberry blonde and his already a lady killer.

More to come...