It's all about the gifts, right?

The other night as I was putting M to bed we were talking about how much fun we had that evening decorating our tree. Tree #2 that is because tree #1 which we had gotten the night before was infested with thousands of tiny little bugs. Of course we did not notice this until they were all over our floor where Brian and I had just been laying putting the tree stand on and where the girls had been crawling all over. This led to stripping off of the clothes and bleaching and vacuuming everything. Good times! Thankfully, the decorating of tree #2 was uneventful and nothing but enjoyable! I told M how fun it is that we get to do all these cool things to get ready for Jesus' birthday! Well apparently as parents we have forgotten to tell him that Christmas was Jesus' birthday or he did not remember because this was news to him which he was very excited about! Are we going to get Him a cake he asked? Great idea! And then he asked, "But Mom are we going to get Him gifts of golden?" We've been reading the Christmas story so M has heard about the three gifts the wise men bring. This simple question has stuck with me all week. What am I giving Jesus this Christmas season? Is it complacency, complaints and selfishness or humility, thankfulness and joy?

Yearly Check-ups

Last Friday all 3 kids had their yearly check ups at the doctor. With lots and lots of snacks we headed to the doctor knowing we would be there for a long time. And we were, almost 2 hours! But I am thankful to report everyone is doing well and all have excellent reports! M is now 40 pounds, this explains why I'm picking him up less and less. I was so happy when M was able to answer a proud YES! when the doctor asked him if he used the big potty! WOO HOO! I didn't tell the doctor it has only been a week! The doctor was impressed with how well he communicates, answering each question matter of factly and asking the doctor his own set of questions. K & T are doing good as well. T weighed in at a big 19 pounds and little K at a whopping 16 pounds. She is such a little peanut. T not only has a good 3 pounds on her older sister but also almost a whole inch. But don't worry K can definitely hold her own.

Other updates on the kids...
M is in to making up definitions for words. It's pretty funny the things he comes up with. And like we do with him when we teach him a new word, he has us repeat his words very slowly back to him. He is feeling a little tension with the girls wanting their own play time with Mommy and Daddy so any one on one time we can give him goes a long way! Brian has been taking him on "man dates" which he loves! I have been doing some fun art stuff with M, practicing tracing and other "school type" things. It's been enjoyable for both of us. For the most part M is a pretty good helper with the girls. He knows their bed time routine and can pretty much put them to bed himself, outside of lifting them up into their cribs. He loves to have them in his room to watch him dance to the music he plays oh so loudly. But the girls like it too and do their own dance as well.

The girls are starting to talk a little saying mama and dadda and "sssss" which is either M or sissy. Sometimes K says thank you. And they both can say all done. Their little voices are so precious. The girls are into everything! Taking clothes out of drawers, kitchen towels all over the floor etc. T has turned into our drama queen. Even when you say a simple no no she throws her head back and whails at the top of her lungs. Pretty funny. Both are very fast crawlers, especially K. T is getting so close to walking it's scary! We're excited for her to walk but at the same time there's no rush! T will pretty much eat anything and loves her milk. K could live on bread alone. She is our picky eater.

So that is where we are all at right now. Each day I'm learning about myself as a Christian, a wife and a mom. Even though they are all such little people that have only been in this world for such a short period of time they teach me and challenge me so much. Life is getting easier in some ways, like a good routine, and more independence out of each of them but mostly it's getting harder which I wasn't expecting. With everyone moving, and being very busy, and demanding their own things it's like being on a merry go round that never stops!

Yep. He's 3 alright.

Sometimes with the way M interacts with us or others and the things he does it's hard for us to believe he's only 3. Recently, I feel like I've been dealing with a teenager, asking for the radio station to be changed to a "cool" song in the car, us asking him to turn down his music in his room because he only like it when it's blaring, arguing what clothes he wants to wear...seriously.

But today everything was brought back to reality when we were at gymnastics. He was in his class doing the obstacle course when all of the sudden he leaves the group to come over to me. I'm thinking he has to go to the bathroom. Nope. He runs over with his hand stretched out to me and says "Here mom. This is the big booger I just picked!" And hands me a very big booger, then runs right back to his class. Uhhhh...yep you are definitely 3.

Mission:One year pictures...FAILED!

Well I attempted to have the girls pictures taken today for their first birthday. The photographer is great, we've had her before. She suggested going to the park. I love this idea because the girls love being outside, so I thought even with the rough days we've been having (non-stop crying) we would be ok. It was for 10:30. Perfect. I can give them baths in the morning so they look all fresh and clean and their hair isn't crazy. They can get a decent nap in and be good to go!
Well everyone got up like normal. Everyone got baths and then the crying began...again. Day #6. I put them to bed thinking they can just sleep it off and still we will be ok. That idea didn't work out so well either. Both girls cried their entire nap time. So they were already worked when I strapped them in the carseats. But we are still going to do this! We get to the park, can't find the photograher.....10 mintues later we find her. I get the the girls out of their stroller and they immediately starting crying. We trying giving them snacks, pulling them in a cute little pink wagon, showing them leaves, the water....nothing helps. They are screaming, arching their backs, flailing around. It was not pretty. I gave it a good try for 20 minutes, worked up a great sweat trying to keep them and myself calm and clearly saw it wasn't working. I called it quits. The photographer was very gracious and we rescheduled for next week. Oh well we gave it a great try. This is life and we're rolling with it. Stayed tuned for try #2.

Who is this kid?!?

Tonight at dinner was another classic comment from M that I just have to share. Brian and I were joking around talking about who was better, stonger etc. him as a Bruin (UCLA) or me as a Bobcat (Ohio University). Brian asked M what he was a Bruin or Bobcat and he responded "I'm king of all!" Seriously?

I don't think we need to work on self confidence.

lot's of little things

Fall weather is coming! Finally it's not sizzling hot out in the afternoon so we've been spending a lot of time out on our back patio. Here are some fun pics of the kids playing yesterday. The girls will be 1 in 3 weeks! They are crawling everywhere, pulling themselves up on everything and talking away in their jibber jabber talk with a few mama's and dada's in there. For awhile they were looking different compared to each other (at least to us). But in the past few days we've both caught ourselves doing double takes making sure we are looking at who we think we are looking at! M continues to be their entertainer. There are many times when they all are playing together. I love it.

Incase any of you were wondering I didn't win the give away on simplemom Oh well. I tried my hardest. And I'm still hopeful for getting the necklace for my birthday, since I shamelessly told the whole world what I want!

Still to come are pics from Fall Retreat at Mt. Lassen. We had a great time, the trip went well, and I'm still sore from playing fun, crazy field games all because the girls took a 2 1/2 hour nap while we were there! So thankful.

I'm in the process of making a major decision. On Thursday night it is the premiere for both The Office and Grey's Anatomy. What should I watch? I know trivial in the grand scheme of things. I'm thinking The Office and then I could alway watch Grey's online later. Any suggestions?

ok that's enough for now. back to folding laundry:)

Kids at Bedtime

Mase & Girls at Bedtime
Originally uploaded by brianbarela23

Just recently have we started giving all the kids a bath at the same time. The love it! And I like it too. The 5:30-7 time slot is a little crazy around here. People are getting tired, cranky, impatient and wanting the kids to be in bed (that's me and Bri). So the fact that bathing all 3 kids at once and then getting them ready for bed takes awhile is a good thing. Everyone is occupied and content. Usually part of the bedtime routine is M jumping on the bed as entertainment for the girls. Here is some footage of that.

p.s. i'm still learning about flickr, this is my first attempt at posting a video. Hope it works!

First gymnastics class

Getting ready to go...can you tell we're excited?

After class.


Thursday we had our first gymnastics class! Two words....LOOOVVVEEEDD IT! And I'm not talking about M, I'm talking about me! It was so fun to be back in the gym again. For those of you who don't know I did gymnastics from age 3-15 so the gym is a very comfortable place to me. Ok enough about me. Let's talk about M who the class was actually for. He loved it too. And I wasn't surprised he was really good at it too. The teacher was great and kept things moving which I like. She obviously knows the attention span of a 3 year old. We played with a parachute, did a fun obstacle course with some of the equipment and then jumped on the trampoline. The last 10 minutes were free time where M spent the majority of the time in a big pit of balls.

I loved spending time with just M and sharing something with him that I have so many great memories doing myself.

The Prince and the Princess

Here is a conversation I had with M while the music was on, I was cleaning up after lunch and he was playing with his pirates.

Mom, I want to marry you.

Well I'm already married.

To who?

To Daddy.

But I want to marry you. I'll be your prince and you'll be my princess.

That's really nice but I'm married to Daddy. And I'm your Mommy. You can't marry your Mommy.

Why?

That's just the way it works.

But I really want to!

I'm sorry buddy I'm already married to Daddy.

Awww c'mon Mom! Then can we just dance?!?

****So we preceded to dance in the living room. Some day when he doesn't think of me as his "Princess" I'll remind him of this conversation!

Happy Friday!

A tear jerker

While talking to "Grandma and Pa" tonight on the phone M asked if my dad could play him a song on the guitar over the phone. This was one of his favorite things during our stay in Ohio. Of course Pa said yes. So I put it on speaker phone and all 3 kids were captivated by the music coming from the phone. Me? I sat watching my kids listen to my dad play them a song 3000 miles away with tears in my eyes.

My kids have awesome grandparents!

Fun in the Sun

It was almost 100 degrees today so we were out in the pool early today. It was the first time all 3 kids were in at the same time. The girls LOVED IT! All 3 kiddos were in pool playing together for about an hour. It is such a joy for Bri and I to watch our kids to play together. Here are some pics from our fun morning!


p.s. 5 more days till we leave for OHIO! might start packing tomorrow :)




Miss T

Miss K

"The People"

Bri and I have coined a new phrase for our children. It is meant in the most loving way although it did come out of a moment of frustration. One day I was frustrated that the kids weren't sleeping and everyone was off their schedules (I'm a schedule person). Bri came home from work and I think the conversation went some thing like this:

B: How was your day? What did you guys do?
A: Well I didn't get much done because the people aren't sleeping!
B: What people?
A: Those people! As I pointed back to the bedrooms where there was crying and M yelling "MOMMY!".

And then we laughed. Oh, this is our life right now.

So you may often hear around our house.
Where are the people?
What are the people doing?
When do the people eat?
When are the people going to bed?
When are the people getting up?

We mean this in the nicest way. We love these people, we really do.

p.s. 3 days till we leave for OH. errands are done, packing has not begun.

A dude and two divas!

The kids have been extra fun and cute these past couple days. M continues to amaze us with his words, his memory and his ability to do just about any sport very well. He zips around the neighborhood on his scooter and his bike. He's into playing drums (on anything) and guitar to really any song. He is the girls entertainer these days, pushing them on the swing, playing basketball for them, making them laugh in any way possible.

K & T are both sitting up now on their own which makes them seem extra big to us. They are sleeping less (2 long naps) and eating more (3 meals now of real food). They love eating! Of course they do, they're Barelas! K does this scoot thing on her back to get around and T rolls in all directions to get where she wants. They like playing together and are into sharing/stealing each others toys. They love to laugh and smile and both are very ticklish. It's the best for us when all 3 kids are playing together.

Here are some pics from the last couple days.

a prayer

Dear God,
Thank you for helping me.
Thank you for protecting me.
And I want you to come here
Amen.

This is what we heard M praying Friday night.

The innocence of a child:)

just some pics

Mason waking up from his nap :) Theia and Kaia lookin' all pretty!