Wine Please

Is This Thing On?

Posted By Colleen on November 24, 2010

Hi, my name is Colleen, and I’ve been MIA for longer than I care to think about. Between commuting to my full-time job, caring for our three children, three cats, two dogs, and one house, I was busy. Justin’s job sending him to all sorts of locations for days on end just made things insane.

So here I am. I’m trying to come back because I miss this. I miss the writing, the reading of other blogs, the friendships, the commiserating with others about kids and husbands and household chores. I’ve actually been lonely because once the kids are in bed, I’ve no one to talk to, but haven’t had time to try besides spitting out a few sentences on Facebook. I have even fallen off the Twitter-sphere.

I’m still busy as all get-out at work. We got a short reprieve from working late nights, but then things changed and we’re back to doing late nights (on top of daytime work). Juggling the hours with my other responsibilities (like these tiny humans in my house) can be frustrating at times, but it’s a good job in a great team that I enjoy, and I’m grateful to have it. The commute, however, has gotten out of control. Even with coming into the office on the tail-end of rush hour, I’m still in my car a total of three hours a day, which is making me crazy because it keeps me from everything I want to be with: my kids, my husband (when he’s in town), my house (I’m waiting for the county to condemn it), and my hobbies (blogging, reading, knitting, and couch-potato-ing).

So now that Nolan is six months old (and more willing to be ignored while he plays in his exersaucer), and Justin is in town for more than three nights, I figured I would take a stab at getting back in the habit of writing, particularly since I’ve got a plethora of junk just waiting to work its way out of my head and onto your computer screens. Consider yourselves warned.

Category: General | 2 Comments »
Tags: about me, working mom

Happy Five Months, Nolan!

Posted By Colleen on October 6, 2010

Where did the last three months go, because it seems that you should just be a little past two months old? Oh, that’s right…I went back to work. Amazing how fast time flies when you are too busy to sleep.

But I digress.

My little monkey pumpkin is now five months old and I can’t believe that it’s been that long. His little personality is really starting blossom. He has the most delightful smile an exhausted mother could ever want, and besides starting to sit, he has begun growling at me when he’s hungry, which I find hysterical. It just never gets old, though I’m sure it’s his way of telling me to sit down and feed him.

He flirts with women, ignores little girls, but loves other babies of either gender. He makes noises to get his daddy’s attention, is fascinated with all of the animals in the house, and has an extra special smile for his brothers, who are completely smitten with him as well.

Despite my struggles with the older boys when Justin leaves town, Nolan remains quite constant: happy, curious, and surprisingly patient for a baby. Either that, or he is too busy watching the circus going on around him to get overly worked up when his needs aren’t being met immediately.

They say parents don’t have favorites, but I’m not afraid to admit that Nolan is probably my favorite infant. Don’t get me wrong, I adore all my kids, but Gavin, while also easygoing, was our first and we fretted so much about every little thing. Cooper was our colicky Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde, who tested our limits. So maybe a lot of the infant bliss is our level of parenting experience, or maybe it’s just our ultrasweet baby.

Category: Kids | 1 Comment »
Tags: milestones, Nolan

The Rummels Storm the Beach

Posted By Colleen on September 5, 2010

Last week we packed up the kids and the dogs in the truck and headed south to what seems to now be our annual trip to Virginia Beach (two years in a row makes it “annual”, right?). I was a little worried about the weather, as they were calling for rain several times during our stay, but we only ended up getting rain the day we arrived.

And besides a few times where we thought we just might sell the older two because of their whining, the trip went well: the baby slept, Cooper maintained a good hold on his new potty training, and Gavin managed to not kick Cooper off the hide-a-bed they shared all week (Gavin is a wild sleeper). Even the dogs seemed to enjoy the stay! However, as much fun as we had with the kids, Justin and I have decided that someday we will come down without them. That may not be till they’re all out of the house, but we’ll just ignore that little detail.

I grabbed a few pictures with my phone, though please check out Justin’s Flickr page as he has a lot more and they turned out better since he used a real camera.

Category: Adventures | 1 Comment »
Tags: Kids, travel

Happy Three Months!

Posted By Colleen on August 10, 2010

As most parents say, hard to believe three months has already flown by, and I’m no exception. However, I think I have missed being home with Nolan this past month even more than I did when I went back to work after Gavin and Cooper were born, and I think it is because Nolan will most likely be our last child. Seems I’m trying to savor every little bit of baby goodness while it lasts. The fact that we are more experienced as parents and he is such a mellow baby, only makes this journey more bittersweet.