Mama Spud

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Tater Tot -4, Small Fry -2.5, Baby Sprout -1

My sweet last baby is turning one on Friday. Spud and I just look at each other and say, "Well, we survived. Barely."

My darling Baby Sprout, I love you so much. My first boy, my longest pregnancy, my biggest baby, my first c-section... Your life started out with a bang and ever since you've kept me on a wild loop. You and I traveled 3 times this year on 12 different planes for two funerals and a wedding. You missed your Great-Uncle but you would have loved him and he would have loved you. Thankfully, your Great-Aunt got to see you after you were born and hold you before she passed as well.

You also spent an evening in the emergency room for first degree burns, something that I still feel so guilty about. You got over hand-foot-and mouth disease at 5 months and now you're in the throws of a bad stomach virus. You learned to walk at 9 months old and I don't think you've stopped moving since!!

Baby Sprout, you're definitely my most active child but I think it's just because you want to run along with your big sisters. You love them so, especially Tater Tot, but please stop pulling their hair. They don't like that!

I love you little Sproutie. Maybe this year will be a little calmer! Please go easy on your parents - they're not as young as they used to be. Try sleeping through the night once in a while. That might make us nicer.

Happy First Birthday Baby Sprout!
3/8/12 7:30am

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Baby Sprout - 8 months

He's killing me, I swear.

8 months and hasn't slept more than 3 hours at a time. Right now I'm cowering in fear, afraid to drift off to sleep, barely moving or breathing because :: HE KNOWS!:: Every single time I just start to fall asleep, he either wakes up or shifts in his bed, which wakes me up a little and I wait in anticipation for when he's going to full on scream his head off in the middle of the night.

But other than that... Life is peachy ;-)

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Tater Tot- 3yrs, 8.5 months; Small Fry-25 months; Baby Sprout- 7 months

"Every day is the same, yet vastly different." Kate Gosselin

Every day I beg for five more minutes of sleep.
Every day I decide nothing can help this growing mane and I have no time for a flat iron so scrunching with hairspray it is again.
Every day I pick up sippy cups.
Every day I load the dishwasher. Sometimes twice.
Every day I stare at a mountain of laundry and think, "Why start it when I won't have time to finish it?"
Every day I try in vain to teach Small Fry a new word or baby signs or colors or shapes and get no response.
Every day I struggle up the stairs with too many things and kids hanging off of me and not enough hands.
Every day someone falls down.
Every day I rescue a cat from over-affection.
Every day I pray for Spud to get home just a few minutes early.
Every day I wonder how I'm going to make it through the next.

Baby Sprout - 7 months

Apparently it's a family trait to fall asleep in the high chair.

Tater Tot- 3.5 years

Past four autumn seasons at Reid's Orchard. My how time flies!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Small Fry- 25 months

The past three autumns at Reid's Orchard.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Small Fry - 23 months

I'm big - let me do it!

A Potato Story

Spud and Mama Spud met when she was a freshman in high school, and he was a sophomore. They met during a Thespian Troupe spring production of "School House Rock! Live!" Mama was in the chorus and Spud worked behind the scenes. Although neither of them could remember the exact moment they met, they soon became fast friends and stayed that way for the rest of high school.

During Mama's sophomore year, they even went on a date to Italian Oven. As Spud remembers, they had a Pizza Rustica for dinner, drove to visit some friends, and he scared her by taking a turn a little too fast.

After the date, though, they remained friends and hung out often at parties, during plays, and with other theatre friends. They even dated each others close friends.

During Mama's senior year of high school, Spud went an hour away to college. They chatted via Instant Messanger and spent weekends and summers working on plays. Then, the summer before Mama went to college, they both found themselves unattached. After a brief courtship with a "rebound guy," she realized that the person she really should have been with was Spud.

Mama came to visit Spud at college and during their first visit, they had their first kiss. During the second visit, they discussed seeing each other on a regular basis, what it would do to their friendship, and how they really felt about each other. They decided to "give it a shot" on September 29th, 2001, the date written on a bottle of Parrot Bay Rum to remind them.

Two summers later, they moved into an apartment together and got engaged on September 29th, 2003 - their 2nd anniversary. They were married two years later on a North Carolina beach on August 6th, 2005 with the sand in their toes and surrounded by close friends and family.

The Spudly's moved from the apartment to a small apartment in a residence hall so Spud could start his Graduate Assistant-ship in Residence Life. They stayed two years in an apartment the size of three dorm rooms and finally moved to Ohio for a Director position that included a house with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and a back yard.

They also acquired an ill fated black lab puppy with anger management issues named Riley, and a orange and white striped cat, named Lily.

Just after the school year ended, Mama Spud found out she was 4.5 weeks pregnant with Tater Tot. She actually thought she had a bladder infection! Within 4 weeks, Spud put out resumes, found a higher paying job, packed the house, fostered out the dog, loaded the truck and moved the growing family to Kentucky, where they reside now.

They also confiscated a kitten from the residence halls and when she was abandoned by the owners, they adopted her and named her Luci - short for Lucifer because she was (and is!) a hellion!

Tater Tot was born on January 21st, 2009 at 12:56pm after 17 hours of labor. She weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. Story of Tot's Birth Spud and Mama will celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary in August and will have been together for 9 years at the end of September.

On Tater Tot's first birthday (and Mama's 27th!) we found out that we're expecting another baby! Baby girl "Small Fry"came into the world three weeks early Story of Fry's Birth while Big Sister Tot was only 19.5 months old! Small Fry weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. She was born on September 2nd at 2:58am after 12 hours (and 3 days) of labor.

And when Small Fry was just a month shy of her first birthday, we found out we were expecting again! Baby Boy Sprout was born March 8, 2012 at 7:30am, was 8 lbs, 7 oz and 22 inches long. The harrowing story of his birth by crash c-section can be found in the Story of Baby Sprout's Birth