Beat Up

Out of the blue my mom called Thursday and asked if she could take Cole and Jonah for a couple of nights to Columbia. I, of course, said yes. After meeting her and dropping them off, I could not believe the amount of tension that was lifted off of my shoulders. I don't mean to sound like my children are a source of tension- they are not. But, the constant pulling, scheduling, refereeing, feeding, dressing/ undressing, changing, and balancing quality time with them all makes me feel like I've been beat up by the schoolyard bully. I absolutely would not take anything for my active boys; but I do get frustrated with how people take for granted how difficult it is to pack up a clan and have an outing. Truly, just going to the grocery store is a major chore with little results. With all of the boys in the buggy, there is little room left to put in groceries! Just short trips for us. Let's not even mention trying to go to the water park alone or beach- HA! I forgot we lived 30 minutes from the sea I love so! It can be a lonely place to have 3 loud, energetic, and fearless Jeffcoat boys. There are few who can handle time with them. I commend my awesome playgroup mommies! Without them, I would have gone loony long ago! They are all brave, non-judgmental, and gifts of Jesus!
This is me whining a little because I have time to. Rest assured, my boys will be back this morning and all of this will be a farce and there, once again, will be dirty underwear on the floor, drink cups in various places, and wrestling matches commencing. Oh, what a life!

I have been TAGGED by Dena for some foursy fun!

4 Favorite Jobs

1. Wife

2. Mom

3. TCBY Manager- YUM!

4. Teacher

4 Favorite Local Places

1. My bed

2. The Park

3. Starbucks

4. My House

4 Favorite Foods

1. Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake

2. Balsamic Blue salad from ABC

3. My mom's lasagna

4. Greek pizza from California Kitchen

4 Favorite International Place

1. Miami- Oh, yeah, that's international

2. Italy

3. Scotland

4. Ireland (Ok, the last 2 I haven't actually visited, but I would like to)

4 People I TAG!

1. CJ

2. Dude! Everyone else I know who blogs has been tagged! I gotta get these done sooner!

3.

4.

Learning the Art of Annunciation

Yes, we are a true southern family with the true southern twang in our speech. In shows itself most clearly through the boys learning to speak. We do teach them the correct way to annunciate as well as the correct numbers of syllables in words. Sometimes it takes, sometimes not. I'll update this section periodically with quips of how differently things sound versus what they are supposed to sound like as the boys talk more and more everyday (and more, and more, and more...)

• Sometimes when Cole says Jonah he leaves off the "Jo" sound and it comes out sounding like "Jinah" with a long I sound. Poor Jonah.
• Jonah likes to tell Cole to push when they are playing with a ball or toy. He leaves off the actual "sh" sound and ends up saying "Pus, Cole, you pus!"
  

Movie MAD-ness

So today was the first movie we went to see for the Summer Movie Festival- Curious George. I was very excited about this because I thought we were going to have to watch Ice Age 2 which we have seen. When we were granted access to the "Monkey Movie" instead- Wa-Hoo! The Wa-Hoo was short-lived.
First, let me just tell ya, being late to a FREE movie= not a good idea. Then we get behind the SLOWEST person buying popcorn. All the while, Cole and Jonah are climbing into Homer Simpson's lap from the huge display set up the Simpson's movie coming out (Rope?! What rope?). As I was corralling them back to line with me- which I could not leave from because it was obvious the people behind me would have let me have my space back- I looked down and saw a button had popped off of my shirt!!! Curvy girls can not afford buttons popping off- especially in the center! So into the theater we go; me holding my shirt closed as I'm grabbing for Jonah and making sure Cole is in tow. Total darkness! I thought they kept the lights up a little for the kiddies? Nope, total darkness. We find our seat- which by the way, we must commandeer an entire short row for my brood. We sit behind a family whose child is holding/ playing with an LED pin light. HELLO?!?!?! We're in a movie! Tell your crazy kid to turn off that dumb light! But no, she continues to allow him to swirl it around, to play with it like they were at home in the dark! AGHGAHGAGHA! By this time We are about 10 minutes into the movie- what a swell time!

THEN, I look over at Cole (who loves a movie and a bag of popcorn) and his cackle of happiness outshined that dumb LED light. Later in the movie, when George was smiling and laughing, Cole leans over to me and says, "Mommy, he's happy."
"Yes, Cole, he is."
"I'm happy too, Mommy."

NOTHING could have made a better morning.

A House Full of Talkers

Anyone who spends even the smallest amount of time with the Jeffcoats soon learns how much my boys like to make noise- all of them. Some of it is a boy-thing where they just like to hear themselves; but some of it is desiring to be heard. Having 3 3 and under presents great challenges in spending quality time with all of them throughout the day. And when they are constantly vying for your attention and wanting to be heard ALL AT THE SAME TIME- well, it's enough to make me want to go hide in the johnny closet with the light off! BUT (Isn't there always a big one of these?), how blessed I am when I do take the time to listen to each of them on their level. I have learned so much about them by just taking the time to slow down and watch them, interact with them, listen to them.. Those of you with only one child have yet to face this dilemma. It will come.
My Jonah is by far my sweetest challenge. He makes no bones about not wanting to do what he doesn't want to do. He has no qualms about pitching fits in public places or around strangers. Parenting books always tell you to let your child throw his tantrums and soon he will realize how no one is paying attention and stop- HA! My Jonah doesn't care if you're not watching, because his tantrums are not for you- they are for him. It's the way he releases his frustration and I let him. I do ignore him, much to the dismay of some passer-byers in the stores, but on the floor he flails. Tonight I got some time with Jonah alone. How sweet he was as he fed me the sacred popcorn and said, "It's almost gone, Mama. Eat it up." Something he has heard his dad and me say to him countless times. Piece by piece he puts the popcorn in my mouth and smiles- to able to serve me the way I have served him so often. Looking back on it all, I realize many times Jonah loses his temper because whoever he is with doesn't want to participate in his love language- service. It comes out through the playfulness of a child- shoving, taking a toy and running, kissing, feeding popcorn to a pooped out mom, etc. I got to see pure joy in his eyes when he was the center of Mom's attention and got to love the way he loves best. When I laid him in his bed, he wanted me to stay and look at his music thingy with him. He would have kept me all night; but alas, more Jeffcoat boys to care for...

Blog-a-licious

So I am on the blog train, but haven't gotten use to it quite yet. I know I need to practice more in giving updates. We have some REALLY funny stories and happenings around here! The problem is 2-fold: A) I can't get to my camera quick enough to take those candid shots. At our house, things change so quickly we go from giving hugs to a full-on attack to the groin around here in 2.2 seconds! I do well to pull someone off before blood shows through. B) Some of the funny things said are sometimes overshadowed by who needs what done at that moment. It is constant triaging on the Jeffcoat home front.
I commit to doing better on at least adding funny stories. Maybe some pictures too!