things i don't want to talk about

i don't want to talk about, ie, blog about (and yet, here i am?):

how tired i am.

how busy the past few weeks have been.

how much more busy the month of may is going to be.

how overwhelmed and on edge being this busy is making me.

or how i can't help but see life through these green-colored glasses i'm wearing. every. single. day.

ugh. nausea. central.

okay. i'm done complaining. i don't care to elaborate, because i'm desperately aware at how unnecessary my whining drivel is. and painfully aware at how little anyone cares to read it. but for those of you who were wondering where i went, well, since my 5 day workation (a whole lot more work than -cation), i've been pretty behind on life and my ever-increasing responsibilities and endeavors beyond motherhood and wifehood.

and since i'm not a big fan of having to actually participate in life in my current condition, well, i was simply trying to avoid what i'm doing this very minute, which is being a yuckface whinerhead.

which is almost as gross as how i feel EVERY day.

(okay, now i'm really done.)

onwards and upwards, right?!

workation

yeah.

this is the kind of day i had yesterday. not pretty.
ugh. is it just me, or do kids like to misbehave more when you're really having a productive day? i feel like they sense that you're on a roll, getting a lot done, and they like to sabotage it. no?

i spent the entire (literally. entire.) day monday lying on the couch watching the food network feeling like death. (thank you baby 3. don't think i won't remember this time.) is it just me or is the food network addicting? even for a girl like me who wanted to barf all day because every smell was obnoxiously nauseating, the food network was still an okay choice for television. not a lot of logic there. but it's true.

i was up early at 7 with piper, and i went full blast all day. 6 loads of laundry (note: save electricity: hang them on the line. great idea. until you bring the clothes inside and theres about a bazillion inchworms all over the place. g-ross). dinner prep. emails. lots of cleaning. birthday party planning. oh, and packing our life up real quick. dave and i are taking a sort of vacation...to work? hmmm. well, we're watching my bosses kids while they're away for 4 days sowe're moving in to their beautiful home to take on 2 more kids. (this is going to make or break dave's idea that 4 is a good idea. we'll see what he think after having an 8, 7, 4, and 1.5 year old for 4 days. lol.)

after a day of being ignored, followed by a day like today, i think e & p are ready for a little mom and dad saturation. some focused playtime and attention. i think i'm ready, too. i've got another new book (yay!), a clean-ish home, bathed children, and a sorta packed up life.

i say bring it on! i'm ready for a workation!

one more

okay- one more for the pink team:

charleston, and call her "charlie"

i always loved the nickname charlie for a girl (i love any boy name for a girl, really), and i really loved charlotte. dave, however, could not be convinced to get on board with that one, so i named ian and elya's daughter charlotte instead. she's a little beauty i can squeeze all the time, so it's as if the name was never lost. (love you, charlotte!)

so let's go, people. let me hear some names!

the short list

well, a baby name blog has been requested by a couple of you over the past weeks, and let's be honest: i like to give the people what they want :) and WHO doesn't like to talk about baby names?! (answer: no one)

this go 'round, baby naming is much harder. i guess because our first name picks, elias and piper, were such clear cut front runners. we had both their names picked out before i even knew i was having a boy. truth is, we didn't have many favorites to begin with, so we're now left with a much shorter list. and we've not added many names to it since we made it 5 years ago (yes. i'm picky. i'm opinionated. what of it?)

after two kids, finding another name that fits the group is kind of tricky. i feel like eli and piper's names are both a little unique and somehow similar in feel, so i'm not about to name baby 3 something that doesn't, well, fit. so that's one more thing to complicate what is becoming one very tough job. who ever though finding a name could prove so difficult?

i like sharing baby names. some people keep it a secret, which i think is cool (but i never could), and some people don't like sharing because they don't like people's reactions. but me? i don't give a hoot what someone else thinks. it's my kid, and i can name it whatever the heck i want. so i really don't care if everyone (or anyone) likes it. you should have heard my dad react to the name piper. maybe that's why he still calls her penelope (hilarious, and yet unfortunate, because i like the name penelope, too. and i love the nickname penny...)

i'm very particular about names, and i have way too many parameters. here's where i get a little crazy. are you worried? or curious?

1) the name we choose most likely cannot end in "-on", "-en", "-in" or "-an" because none of those sound very good with stratton. there may be exceptions to this rule. maybe.

2) nicknames are important. if there is no nickname, it's probably not going to work.

3) i'd prefer that it not end in "-as" or "-er" (like elias and piper). i'd like them to all sound different.

4) i don't like names that i hear all the time, but i don't do wacky, invented, or bizarre names. like "faranfalli" or "wardionne". (c'mon, are they for REAL?!)

5) middle names are just as important as first names. i already have a unisex middle name with great significance, but i cannot divulge just yet. you'll have to wait for it. dave and i agree that one of the names ought to have some significance or meaning, eg, no naming my kids after soap opera stars or anything ;)

that said, i'll share some of our short list. ready?!

GIRLS

elouise- and i'd call her "lou". LOVE.

lula- not sure if i love it, but it would be cute with a middle name like "jane" or something.

ophelia- elya suggested this one (in jest, i think), but i love "opie". it's on the list.

BOYS

malcolm or maxwell- we love "max", but what do you call malcolm for short?!

hatcher or thatcher- "thatch" and "hatch". like.

atticus- dave and i always loved this one. but "atti" sounds too similar to "madey" and "matty". not so much...

jude or judah- still like these ones. and jude i like even without a nickname (gasp).

asher- but can you call him "ash"? is it too feminine? undecided on this one. plus it's an "-er", so...

truth is, i adore elouise, but i do no yet adore any boy names. here's where you come in. i need name help, BIG TIME. i want them all and i want you to keep your ear to the ground between now and november for anything that i can use.

the fate of my third child...rests on you.

(no pressure)

when the writing on the floor is in brown crayon

i was sitting here at my desk this morning thinking, "hmm. i really don't have any good ideas for a blog today." this happens a lot, despite what you may think. i thought for a moment whilst sipping my tea (yes, whilst) and started working on a blog about the kids rooms and what i'm thinking for the future.

and while i sat here, looking for some good ideas, googling crib sets, guess, just guess, what piper was doing.

here. take a look :)

(yeah, really wishing i had painted my toenails now that i've featured them so prominently in this video)

some of you have asked me questions in the past like "michelle- how do you do it all?!" and "how do you find the time to write?!" (by the way, these kinds of statements do make me laugh. because i KNOW what i do all day. and realize i ought to divulge more of my realities to you if you actually think these things...)

you see folks, there's a very simple answer to these questions: i ignore my children.

i don't have superhuman powers.

and i don't always write when my children sleep (although i do admittedly try to write when piper naps, and as you saw, for good reason).

i write when i feel like it, sometimes even at the expense of my children (gasp).

i don't occupy my children all day, and i sure do get mad at them when they're not playing nicely while mommy's trying to write.

i even yell at them.

(i will tell you that yelling does make me hate myself when my beautiful children simply want my attention. do they have to literally climb on me, though? and cry and wipe their snot on my lap while i type?? apparently...yes.)

so this is a little gift from me to you. it's hard for every mom to find the time to do...well, anything.

and it's even harder not to laugh when the marker on the floor is in brown crayon :)

stern men and psycho men

dave picked up stern men by elizabeth gilbert for me at the library yesterday and i've nearly finished it already, thanks to good weather, dave having mondays off, and my kids playing outside while i sat there and read.

the two of us read last night from 7:15 (ie, the moment the kids were in bed) until i finally turned out the light at 11:03. it was admittedly tough for me to put this book down, though. here's why:

1) it's set off the coast of maine. think classic new england and rugged lobster trappers with great disregard for the letter "r"

2) the main character, ruth, is a snarky, opinionated, fiery little thing

3) it's just so well written

4) i've loved elizabeth gilbert since the moment kristen told me to go and immediately read eat, pray, love a couple years ago

5) and i'm a HUGE sucker for a love story, though any love themes are much more subtle than overt at this point in my reading

i also read swimsuit by james patterson last week. i have enjoyed a lot of patterson's books (thanks to amber sharing her beach reads with me on our many spring break vacations), though i will admit they can begin to feel similar somehow. swimsuit, however, was co-authored with maxine paetro, and i have to tell you, it was the most disturbing patterson book i've read to date. in a league of it's own, really. think criminal minds goes unedited and raw. but the storyline was so gripping, the characters so interesting, the psychosis so captivating, i still couldn't put it down.

so what about you?
what are you reading?

any recommendations for me??

the verdict

at long last.

the wait...is over.

this ultrasound concludes that there is one, i repeat, one teeny tiny baby in utero. or maybe it's a gummy bear, like dave proposed after we did our best to make heads and tails of the little guy :)

so as much as twins would be something else, i have to admit i'm a little relieved. even in my dreams breastfeeding two kids is pretty tricky. the doctor sort of looked at me funny when i said i thought my belly was big and to be on the look out for babies floating around everywhere. she said "well, it's your third, so..."

oh.
right.
maybe she gets that a lot?

so i guess this is what my belly does at 2 months the third time around. truth is, my belly has never had much of a place to hide.

and neither do all the tacos and bacon cheeseburgers i keep eating to will away my nausea :)

piper's sweet mullet

the other day, piper and i were watching a little ellen on tivo while i folded some laundry. we're both big fans of ellen. all the funny...all the silly...all the dancing. oh, and of course, her new shorter hair. she's great.

piper was playing with her baby listening to idol castoff alex lambert...

(loved him, by the way. he sounds just like ray lamontagne. mad about him getting voted off. not mad enough to vote myself, but...)

so anyway, piper was digging his soul ...

"dance, baby, dance!"

and as i was watching, i was thinking about alex's hair and this hair of my daughters...

and i realized, "wow, piper and alex have the very same hair-do..."

they both have sweet mullets.

now i know a lot of people feel like this about mullets:

but i never could rock that t-shirt because her mullet makes such adorable ponytails!

and itty bitty teeny tiny BRAIDS!

i officially dig piper's sweet mullet. and oddly, it makes me like sweet alex lambert's mullet, too.

but i do wish the all business on top would grow a little longer so i wouldn't HAVE to do her hair every day :)