Tonight we had a first , and of course it had to do with Trouble . Typically at night , my husband puts Trouble to bed . He goes to bed before the others , because he needs the sleep , and because we need the relief of him being contained in his crib . Tonight , I put him to bed . My husband was doing some yard work , so I took care of bedtime . When I put Trouble to bed , he was not happy . He knew his sister and brother were still up . But , he went down ok because he was tired from playing outside all day . Princess and Pirate were ready for bed , watching some shows in the family room , and I was feeding Donkey his bed time bottle . All of a sudden , I hear Trouble screaming at the top of his lungs . It wasn 't his normal complaining cry , where he just wants to get back up . I sent Princess up to see if he was OK and to turn on his music for him . She said his leg was stuck in the crib . I laid Donkey in the pack & play , and ran up to see what was wrong . I can 't even accurately explain the position Trouble was in . He was on his hands and one knee . His right knee was on the mattress , and his left knee was behind him , stuck in between the bars . And by stuck , I mean stuck . It wouldn 't budge for me . I pulled from the inside . I pushed from the outside . It wouldn 't move . In my mind I flashed back to Full House ( my favorite show as a kid ) where DJ was babysitting and the kid got his head stuck in the banister and they used margarine to try to get him out . Instead of breaking out the butter , I ran outside to my husband and he came to the rescue . My sister in law had stopped by , so she helped pry the bars apart a little while my husband pushed Trouble 's leg back through . Thankfully he wasn 't hurt , just shaken up from being stuck . Also thankfully , the crib wasn 't broken - it being the only place Trouble can be contained . Having Trouble as a child means lots of stories . Putting Trouble in a pool will make for many more stories . I mentioned before how we joined the community pool this summer . Up until this week , I was able to get away with just taking Princess and Pirate . Pirate is almost 4 , so he 's still young enough to play in the baby pool , but he wants to get in the big pool with his sister . His feet can 't reach the bottom , so he uses an inner tube ( floatie ) and gets around pretty well with it . As we all know , moms have tons of superpowers . However , we don 't have enough hands or sets of eyes to help several children at the same time and help them in different pools . This is why I usually only take the oldest two kids to the pool . The other night , I was feeling bold , so after dinner , I told my husband I was going to take Princess , Pirate , & Trouble all to the pool for 45 minutes after dinner . The pool closes at 7 , so it was a perfect time to go . This was Trouble 's first time at the pool . Princess is able to be in the big pool by herself , only in the 3 feet , and she usually makes a friend pretty quickly . Pirate started complaining right away that he wanted to get in the big pool , but I told him no because Trouble couldn 't get in it . This night , everything went smoothly . Trouble loved the little pool and everyone had a great time . The next day , I guess I was still high off of our good experience the night before . I decided I could be Supermom and take all four kids to the pool together . We had an early lunch , Donkey had his bottle , everyone was changed and we were packed up and at the pool by 12 : 20 . I knew we could only stay an hour and a half tops because Trouble would need a nap . With a kid like Trouble , naptime is is priceless ! We got to the pool and were very lucky to get a table with an umbrella at the baby pool . I set out all of our stuff ( which is a lot for five people ) , put Donkey 's stroller in the shade , and let Princess go to the big pool . Trouble went in the pool right away . Pirate is a little slower to get moving , but he Posted by Mommies have millions upon millions of jobs . We are nurses , waitresses , chefs , maids , launderers ( not sure if that 's a word or not , but it should be ) , chafeurs , grocery shoppers , errand runners , you name it , we do it . During the summer , we become lifeguards . I personally never took a lifeguard test at a pool or beach , but I have been tested by my kids , and luckily I have passed every test ( so far ) . Around Memorial Day , there was this insane heat wave going on here , where it reached a bazillion degrees every day for a week . I bought a new pool for the kids , one made of hard plastic that had a little slide molded into it . The slide is a little small for Princess , but she still has room to play in the pool part . [ side note - every time I try to type pool , I type poop first . . . you can see what I 'm usually writing about . ] In the past , we have had the inflatable pools . We 're so classy that my husband would inflate them with a leaf blower . Yes , I just admitted that . Anyway , this hard plastic pool looked good , so I bought it . Memorial Day was the first time we used the pool . Princess and Pirate played in it while Trouble and Donkey were napping . I was able to sit in my chair next to the pool , and stick my feet in it . I was relaxing watching them play with their toys and try out the slide . Enter Trouble . . . his nap was over , so my husband brought him out to try the pool . My sitting time was over . I ended up standing in the pool because of how Trouble kept trying to drink the water , stick his face under water , or go down the slide backward . I wish this lifeguard would have gotten overtime pay that day . There is a community pool down the street from us . We 've been a few times , but never considered joining it until this year . A few weeks ago I took Princess and Pirate with my sisters in law and nieces and nephews . There is a water slide in the deep well . Princess went down it when she took swimming lessons two years ago . It was not a good experience . But on this day , all her cousins were going down the slide and she wanted to go Posted by Pirate fell in the toilet this morning . He 's really good about taking himself to the bathroom , and usually doesn 't even tell me he 's going # 2 , until he 's done , and I get the " Mommy , I 'm done " call . Sometimes I question his pooping timing , like he has to go right when I start feeding the baby , or conveniently as soon as I say it 's time to clean up the playroom . Anyway , today he went , called me , and I wiped him , same as always . It 's still not completely clear to me how this happened though . He has a Thomas the Tank Engine potty seat that goes on top of the regular seat , one of those things so kids don 't fall in the toilet . He also puts the stool in front of the toilet I guess as a footrest and to help him get onto the toilet without a problem . When he 's done , he stands up on the stool and I take the Thomas seat off and put it behind the toilet , then I wipe him and he flushes , etc . Somehow today , I took the seat away before he had turned around for me to wipe him , and he lost his balance . It all happened so fast , and I was right next to him , but all of a sudden , he 's in the toilet , with his legs bent over the outside of the bowl , just looking at me with fear in his eyes . He didn 't say it , but I could tell he was thinking don 't flush me . I fished him out right away , and he was fine , but he did have a little scratch on his back from it hitting the back of the bowl . To add to my stellar parenting moments , I laughed and told Princess all about it as soon as the ordeal was over . Two posts in one day is a lot for me , but this just happened , so what better time to write about it . I 've said before how potty training was pretty easy with my first two kids . Trouble just turned 2 , and has been sitting on the potty for a minute here and there , but nothing serious . Tonight his diaper wasn 't very wet when I was getting him ready for bed , so I sat him on the potty . He sat and sat , laughed , sang a song , and played with the little splashguard that they have for little boys . I decided to brush his teeth while he sat , to take his mind off the task at hand , and maybe get him to go . He jumped up and climbed up on the stool in front of the sink for a drink after we finished his teeth . Right then , my husband handed me the phone to talk to my grandmother , who is on a trip out of state . I 'm a pretty good multitasker , so I can handle talking to her and putting a 2 year old in a diaper and jammies at the same time . We walked into his room while I was on the phone . I grabbed a diaper and took his hand to turn him around to the spot where I could lay him down to put his diaper on . He pulled his hand away and made this face , and before I could even process what was happening , he started peeing on his rug . I don 't know how he did it , but he peed in a perfect question mark on the floor . I wish I had taken a picture , but I couldn 't ask my grandmother to hold on so I could get the camera and take a picture of a pee spot on my son 's floor . That just didn 't seem right . Thankfully I was able to get off the phone without telling her what happened . I know from potty training experience not to get mad at the trainee or make them think they did something wrong . Trouble said , " Uh - oh Mommy . I pee . I sorry Mommy . " . How can I be upset with someone who says " I sorry " ? In context that would have been a good place for him to interject ' Damn it ' , but he seems to have left that phase . I have a feeling I am in for a looooong road of potty training with this one ! One day Donkey had a blowout poop , to the point that it got onto the swing he was sleeping in . How babies sleep in that , I have no idea . I had to wash the fabric part of the swing , and later in the day I went to put the swing back together . All parents know how a baby swing is a necessity . I was in my living room , which opens right into the dining room , no walls in between or anything . Trouble was being his normal bad self , running in circles and getting into everything . I had my back to the dining room while I was putting the cover on the swing . The second I realized it was quiet , I turned around , and I saw this . Being the Mother of the Year that I am , I grabbed the camera before removing him from the dining room table . Our table is pretty high , and you can see he is almost reaching the chandelier . When I was hanging the Easter eggs from the chandelier the week before , I felt a little nervous being up that high . But not Trouble . He was walking around the dining room table like it was nothing . Every night at dinner he would point to the eggs and ask for one . I guess at this point , he decided to take things into his own hands . . . literally . A couple months before Trouble turned 2 , he started speaking in sentences . I think it had to do with having a new baby in the house and two older siblings . He realized he needed to start talking more in order to be heard . I was so excited when he put more than three words together . Usually I was the only one to fully understand what he was saying , but that 's just one of the Mommy superpowers . One day he said , " Damn it . " , or at least that 's what I thought he said . I had him say it again , and clear as day , he said , " Damn it , Mommy . " . I think kids cursing is hilarious . This doesn 't mean I condone it with my kids , or teach them bad words on purpose . But I 've heard stories of different kids starting to say bad words , and it always makes me laugh . Which is exactly what I did when Trouble said that to me . Of course , this resulted in him saying it over and over , so I had to gather myself and tell him that he can 't say that . But it sounded a little counterproductive , when we had been trying to get him to say more and more words , then all of a sudden I 'm telling him not to say something . Saying ' Damn it ' continued randomly for a while . Princess would laugh . She knows not to say bad words . But , she would try to get him to keep saying it by asking him , " What did you say ? " . Pirate saw this as an opportunity to say it himself . But he would try to make himself look good . He would say , " Don 't say Damn it , Trouble . Stop saying ' Damn it ' . You can 't say Damn it " . Pirate was trying to appear to be the good big brother , correcting his little brother . But in fact , he was just using this as an excuse to say the words himself . The funniest part of the whole thing is that Trouble learned context pretty quickly . He didn 't just say damn it when he felt like it . He started saying it when he didn 't get his way . Or when he couldn 't get a toy our of the toybox . Or when it was time to come in from playing outside . Or when it was time for nap or bed . He loves Oreos , and would eat them all day long if we let him . One night he had his usual two for hPosted by A few weeks ago , I was excited to go on a field trip with Princess 's class . I usually can 't volunteer for things at school due to the Fab Four , but this time I had a babysitter for the boys so I could go . As our family luck would have it , two days before the field trip , Trouble started with a fever . Nothing too high , but enough to have him kind of out of it for the day . Tuesday he seemed better , and was running around like normal . Wednesday was the field trip , and he was fine . It 's never easy to leave the house , with or without kids . When there 's a babysitter here , I have almost as much prep to do as when we all go out together . My dad came to babysit , and I was on my way to meet the school bus . It was pouring down rain , and we were supposed to have lunch at a park on our way back from the theater . In the end , the field trip was nice , and everyone had a good time . Even better , Trouble and the rest of the gang stayed healthy while my dad was here . My sister came over for dinner that night . After dinner , my husband took Trouble out with him to run to the store . They stopped and brought milkshakes back for everyone . My husband said that Trouble almost fell asleep in the car on the way back . While we were all sitting at the table with our milkshakes , my sister kept trying to make Trouble laugh , but he was in this crazy daze . He looked like he was going to fall asleep at the table . Hubby took him upstairs to get him ready for bed . The next thing I know , Hubby calls me to the steps and says my sister should go home . Trouble just barfed all over the place while he was getting him ready for bed . My sister was 4 months pregnant at the time , and my husband didn 't want her to catch anything from the puke . She said she was already all up in Trouble 's face , so she was already exposed to whatever he had . She was trying to help me since Donkey was screaming in the pack & play , and Princess and Pirate had to get ready for bed . I had given her a bunch of baby stuff that day , so I just helped her load her car and told her to go . I Posted by I 'm going to go out on a limb and assume that anything involving the word projectile is not a good thing . When Donkey was around 7 weeks old , we had one of those mornings . He had been up to eat around 2 : 30 am , and was back up right before 7 . My husband gets Princess up for school a little after 7 , so I was already in the living room feeding Donkey when the rest of the crew came downstairs . Donkey was taking his bottle , and I was talking to the rest of the family . He finally finished the bottle and I put him on my shoulder to burp . He had a really small burp , so I sat him back on my lap and started talking to him . He coughed a little , and looked like he was going to burp again , so I turned him to pick him up and put him back on my shoulder . Before I even got him up off my legs , it happened . He massively projectile spit up . It was all over the place , including on me and on him . Donkey 's clothes were wet , and half of me was soaked . ( It was only half because of how he was turned . I guess that was lucky ? ) The cushions , arm , and back of the sofa were covered . The floor in front of the sofa was covered . Princess screamed . Pirate did the same because he copies Princess all the time . Trouble yelled " Uh - Oh " . I felt tears , but held them back . I was already a hot mess before 7 : 30 am and crying wouldn 't help anything . I just wanted to go back to bed and start over , but no such luck . The joys of newborns continue ! I have been really lucky with potty training . . . so far . Princess and Pirate were both trained pretty fast , by 2 1 / 2 . Then we got to the point of transferring Pirate from the little potty to the regular toilet , with one of those seats that goes on top so he doesn 't fall in . Now he takes himself to the bathroom to go # 2 , then does the famous " Mommy , I 'm done " . I 'm not sure when I 'm supposed to train him to wipe his own butt , but I don 't mind it for now . The other evening , my husband and I were in the living room talking , and Pirate went upstairs to do his business . He always likes to tell us where he 's going , as if we live in a huge house and he 'll be in another wing or something . " I 'll be in the bathroom going poop if you need me " , he reports . Then we hear this . " Come on , it 's ok . Come on out . " . My husband and I stop talking so we can listen more . " You can do it , come out . " . Pirate is giving his poop a pep talk to come out . In the end it all worked out . Then I heard my favorite words ever . . . " DADDY , I 'm done ! " I 've noticed reading some blogs that most people don 't use their kids ' real names . Since I have 3 boys , it 's hard to keep referring to them as " him " all the time . So , I 've decided to change their names for the purpose of blogging . My daughter is the only girl . She cried when I had my sonogram with our 4th baby this past October because she really didn 't want another brother . One way I consoled her was to tell her that she 'd be our princess . So , I 'll refer to her as Princess . Princess just finished first grade , and is usually very sweet . However , there are times where she makes these faces and rolls her eyes , and I dread her becoming a teenager . I have a feeling her name could change when she gets older . My oldest son is into all things pirates . He loves pirate cartoons , pirate ships , pirate action figures , and dresses up as a pirate by 7am most days . I will call him Pirate . He also equally loves Star Wars . He has just as many Star Wars action figures and a Darth Vader costume . He refers to himself as " Dark Bader " when he is dressed up . I was going to go with calling him Dark Bader , but Pirate requires less typing . I 'm always looking for an easy out . My middle son , who has been in the terrible two 's since he was 14 months old , causes me more gray hair than anyone my age should have . He is absolutely cute as could be , and I can see him charming his was out of trouble when he gets older . My first two were very laid back . This one , not so much . He 's a climber , he 's a tantrum thrower , he 's a hitter . They say everyone gets at least one kid like this . If he had been our first born , he would have been an only child . I was already pregnant with the fourth by the time this badness set in , or we 'd only have three kids . I will refer to him as Trouble . My sweet baby boy doesn 't stand a chance among all the madness of this house . We 're lucky he sleeps through the noise , because quiet is a rare thing around here . When I was pregnant with him , we asked Princess and Pirate what we should name the baby . Pirate was in a real Shrek phasPosted by Anyone who 's ever had a baby boy knows the importance of covering up during diaper changes and baths . You would think someone with their third baby boy would be a pro at diaper changing . For the most part , I am a pro at it . I can change those wet diapers in no time . However , there is a time that all parents have experienced . A time where you are so sleep deprived that you can 't see straight . Where you are up at 4am after barely sleeping two hours since the last feeding , and waking to every single noise your newborn makes while he sleeps . All you want to do is get the changing and feeding done so you can attempt a few more minutes of shut eye until the baby ( or one of the other kids ) wakes up again . Any mistakes made at this time don 't really count . A few months ago , when Donkey was just days old , I was in this above described phase . I felt as though I was walking around in a fog during the day , and the night was much worse . I am incredibly lucky to have my husband . He and I would take turns during the night feedings for my son . But even so , I still woke up every time the baby did . I never felt fully rested . And I 'm pretty grumpy in the middle of the night . I like my sleep . One night , it was my turn . I picked Donkey up out of the bassinett , and he was soaked through his clothes . The bassinett sheet was also wet . Wonderful hubby woke up and changed the sheet . I may or may not have been stomping around making a lot of noise to wake him . I took the baby downstairs to the changing table . ( We don 't use his room for changing during the night because we don 't want to wake the monster . I mean 2 year old . ) I got downstairs and took his clothes off , and realized we didn 't have any diapers there . Covered him up in a blanket , laid him in the pack & play , went upstairs , grabbed some diapers , back to baby . I 'm sure I was uttering some inappropriate words at the time as well , but my memory is a little unclear . I changed him , put new clothes on , and swaddled him in a clean blanket then made his bottle . I went to my usual spot in thPosted by I guess now that my baby is three months old , I should try working on my body to get back into shape . " Back " into shape is a pretty big stretch , considering I 'm not sure if or when I 've ever been in shape . In between kids , I used to do pretty well losing weight , but always thought in the back of my mind that I 'd end up pregnant again . Not this time . This time is for sure , we are done . That being said , I 'm at this very awkward in - between clothes stage . Maternity clothes have all been given away or sold . ( Gotta love e - bay ! ) But I 'm still too fat for the clothes I was wearing last summer . Being a SAHM , it 's not that big of a deal . I don 't leave the house much , so my Orioles t - shirt with the bleach stain on it and old lacrosse shorts are pretty much my uniform . However , there are times when I have to go out , and I 'd like to not look like a fat slob when this happens . Cut to this weekend , I had some " Me " time . And it was honest to goodness Me Time . I went out Alone , which rarely happens . I spent three hours out shopping . Some things we needed around the house , a couple cute outfits for the kids , and finally , some new clothes for myself . I dread shopping for myself . You couldn 't pay my husband enough to be around when I am trying to shop for myself . When things don 't fit right , which is often since I want to wear a smaller size than I am , I get in a horrible mood . It 's not pretty . Thinking back , he was doing us all a huge favor having me go shopping alone . Anyway , not only did I decide that I needed to accept how I look for now , and buy this body some clothes because the uniform is not appropriate for public display , but I also hit some huge sales ! And then , I did it , I went for it . I was feeling somewhat confident , and loving the sales , so I bought myself two bathing suits . I haven 't bought a new bathing suit in a long time , and I dreaded doing so , but it was time . I also bought a sundress that is pretty cute , and won 't have people mistaking me for an escaped zoo animal . That 's a lot of backstory for the point of this pPosted by I vaguely remember the days where I could sit in a nice hot bubble bath and relax . Those days are long gone . To be honest , I 'm not sure I 've ever taken a bath in this house , and we 've lived here for five years . I use the bathtub all the time , to bathe the kids , but not for myself . Showering is faster , and with four kids , faster is a must . I hate to admit it , but there are days I don 't even get to shower . I know it sounds gross , but it 's the truth . I have a feeling there are other moms out there who can relate . I try to get in the shower first thing in the morning when my husband is still home , or before bed at night , when the kids are asleep . But some nights , I 'm just too tired to put in the effort to try to clean myself . I go to bed feeling gross , but prefer the sleep over the time it takes to shower . Yesterday was one of those days where showering just didn 't happen for me . I 'm not proud of it , especially since it was a thousand degrees outside . So , first thing this morning , I decide to get in the shower , before my husband leaves for work and my daughter has to get to the bus stop . I immediately feel better about myself . I 'm getting clean , I have a few minutes to myself , I feel refreshed . As I 'm showering , I 'm thinking about the day ahead and what I can get done before the baby wakes up and how I 'm excited it 's pizza night for dinner . I 'm in my own little world , enjoying the peace and quiet . Who am I kidding ? Peace and quiet ? That didn 't last as long as it took me to type the sentence . First my son comes in the bathroom asking if he can wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt today . Now , the winter clothes are packed away , not in his drawers , so the answer was pretty obvious . But sarcasm doesn 't really work on a 4 year old , so I said yes . I said that he can wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt every day now because it 's summer . He leaves . The minute I said summer , I knew it meant trouble . Not even a minute later , my daughter comes in the bathroom . " Is it really summer ? Pirate said that you said it 's summer . I stilPosted by I 've thought a lot about how I should write down the funny day to day happenings in my home , particularly having to do with my kids . However , I don 't really have the time to do this , particularly because of the kids . I want to start this blog to record some funny and not - so - funny things that happen , mainly so I can remember them when the kids are older . Since becoming a mom , almost 8 years ago , my memory seems to have slowly started to deteriorate . Now that I have 4 children , I don 't remember much . Usually it 's just small things , like where I put my keys , or what day my daughter is buying lunch . Little things like that are resolved rather quickly . Being so busy with the kids sometimes doesn 't allow me to really take in everything that is happening with the kids . I forget the funny things they say and do by the end of the day . Perhaps blogging about them will help my memory . I might get a few laughs along the way too . " Mommy , I 'm done ! " is a quote from my almost 4 year old son , Pirate . I hear this on a pretty regular basis , just about once a day . As a matter of fact , I was sitting at the computer , contemplating this blogging thing , and I hear those words being yelled to me from the bathroom upstairs . At that moment , I knew it would be the name of my blog . I 'm of course referring to him being done on the toilet , and needing me to wipe him . There is nothing I love more than wiping a poopy butt . I 'm lucky enough to have to do this at least three times a day , once for each of my three boys . On a really good day , one of them will go more than once . That 's like a real bonus for me . Thankfully , my oldest is able to take care of her own business . The other great thing about my son calling me is that he has impeccable timing . He is able to " have to go poop really bad " whenever I am giving his baby brother a bottle . This is always a fun time because I have to stop feeding the baby , put him down somewhere that his other brother won 't get to him , run upstairs and wipe Pirate , listen to him say goodbPosted by I 'm a mother of 5 kids , 4 of which are 5 and under . My life seems to revolve around wiping butts and noses . There is never a dull moment in this house of chaos !