My burning question is, Why me? Why am I inundated with everyone else’s dirty truth? Is it because between three dogs, three cats, and three kids that I clean-up so much of it I’m an expert? Is it because I give so much attention to it each day that I’m bringing more of it into my life via the Law of Attraction? Why has my life all of a sudden become about that dirty four-lettered word? Please tell me that I’m not the only one that scoops the litter, cleans the backyard, changes a pull-up, a diaper, and wipes a pint-sized butt (not mine, at least not since I’ve had 3 kids in 4 years) all before 10 am.

I can’t seem to get away from it. My boys don’t make it any easier with their obsession with the stuff. Oftentimes when I clean the backyard, they are there pointing out the different piles. It’s a competition on who can find the most. They act as if they scored the winning point with each find. One day, my oldest did show a little sportsmanship when he said, “I hope Hayden finds some.” Ahhh, brotherly love. Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there, my almost 3-year-old has to draw dog p**p on all of his pictures that include a house. He wants you to draw the house and he likes to draw circular objects falling from the sky that represent, well you know. Yeah, it’s going to be fun explaining that in preschool.

Oh well, if you need someone to lay your p**p experiences on, I’m here. There’s nothing I haven’t heard or seen. (Read It Was A Poop-tastrope.) After all, when you have three babies, your modesty has been thrown out the window. More people have seen me naked than when I was a single girl in my twenties. Go ahead and write on my tombstone…

Beloved wife, mother, daughter, and friend…
She really gave a crap.

A few weeks ago, I attended a baby expo in my city. How much boy stuff do you think I encountered? Not a lot. No worries, my boys are happy with the latest superhero shirt. It’s now about me and the little one dressed in flowers. I’ve never been one for pink (too much makes me a little nauseous), but I do love girlie things. And I did find a couple of adorable items made by fellow moms that I wanted to share with you.

The first item I want to share with you is the Bella Hat from Simply Sweet. The hats come in an assortment of colors, many of which you can choose the type of flower that is attached. Lilah is wearing the mint green version. Although, it is still a little big on her, because my kids are born with freakishly small heads. More pictures of hat wearing babies can be seen on the website. They are sized to fit infants 0-12 months, but the designer told me her daughter wore hers as a toddler. Also, make sure that you check out Simply Sweet’s tutus. They are the best I’ve seen so far on the web.

The other two items that I love came from Still Spaces Baby Boutique. This shop sells a variety of unique items for baby, but my favorite is the reversible cotton/chenille bib and burp cloth. Every baby needs at least one fancy set for special occasions. Actually, they are so durable you can buy more than one and use it for everyday use. Also, notice the close-up picture of the cool stitching on the burp cloth

Well, those are just some of the unique items that I’ve come across and use for baby girl. If you’re looking for baby gifts, I’ve listed other ideas and products that I like on JustBreatheMom.com/shopbaby.

When I was pregnant with each of our kids, my husband referred to me as a “name bully”. Towards the end of my pregnancies, I knew what their names were supposed to be. I can’t explain how I knew, I just knew. Some would say that was insightful (me) and others would say that was stubborn (my husband), but in the end there is no denying that each of my children look like the name they were given. We did end up giving them the names I chose, even though my husband fought a good fight all the way to the operating room. I think seeing me cut open helped him throw in the towel.

I will say that I am a firm believer that the mother should make the final call on the name, for many reasons: mothers carry the baby for 10 months, go through the birth process (pleasant or not), have to recover, and are then the primary caregivers (at least in the beginning). Okay, maybe that makes me a slightly stubborn name bully, but my husband wanted to name my boys “Lou” and my girl “LuLu”. Seriously. No really, seriously. No offense to all the Lou’s and LuLu’s out there in the world, but those weren’t supposed to be the names of my kids. At least give me a name that I can work with. All right, whom am I kidding? I’m a complete name bully and I own up to it. It doesn’t make it right, but I will own up to it.

So, what is in a name?

• Meaning
• Purpose
• History and
• Sometimes a little of just because you like it

For instance, my daughter has my grandmother’s first name as her middle name and my second son’s middle name helps keep our Polish heritage alive. I came up with my oldest son’s name by watching ER. I loved how a certain character evolved on the show and I imagined that my son would also grow to be a compassionate man. Yes, I realize that it is only show, but I also just liked the name.

My point is… name your kids what you want to name them. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of the name, whether it be friends, family, or your stepdaughter’s impolite mother. (Oops, did I just write that?) On the other end, if you don’t like someone’s name choice, sometimes it’s just better to keep it to yourself. What is in a name is between the child and the people who named him or her.

Check out this comprehensive list of baby names, rankings, and meanings on JustBreatheMom.com.

I was and still am lucky enough to have several friends and family members help me out during the last part of my pregnancy and after the birth. I carried Lilah very low and was physically unable to do much towards the end, including chase around my two-year-old. My mom was great about driving me around and helping me with the house and my mini zoo of four cats and three dogs. A fellow preschool mom has gone above and beyond in helping me by driving my older son to and from preschool for over a month now. Not to mention staying in my home with my two sons, so my husband could be in the hospital with me. Another friend stayed the second night in the hospital with me and helped me care for my daughter. She graciously catered to us, because I could barely get out of bed. My mother-in-law put herself in the line of fire between my two dueling boys the week after I got out of the hospital. I couldn’t have taken care of them without her. I also do not want to forget my great babysitter who was on call whenever I needed her.

I have the greatest OB who doesn’t miss a beat. She has seen me safely through three deliveries and I couldn’t have asked for a better doctor. I had a pretty good round of nurses this time at the hospital. There were two in particular who made things so much easier for me. The first nurse that I was lucky enough to have for two days was the nicest and most attentive nurse that I’ve ever had. She was the first nurse that I ever told how good they were. The end of my four-day stay gave me another personable nurse that was on top of her game.

I cannot forget my husband for giving me best gift of all, three beautiful children.

I know that all of these people would just say that they were doing their job or it was no big deal to help. However, I think it is a huge deal and I wish that I could find the right words to express my gratitude. Thank you doesn’t seem strong enough. Then again, maybe thank you are the two strongest words in our language. We just don’t say them enough.

Last Sunday I happened to catch a glimpse of E!’s Live on the Red Carpet special for the Oscars. Of course, Ryan Seacrest was one of the hosts, because he hosts just about everything these days. The unsuspecting young, pregnant, Jessica Alba was the next unlucky victim of his series of ridiculous questions. He started off with the standard, “Who are you wearing” I can live with that question; it was the next one that left my mouth wide open. “Would you be breastfeeding? Or how would the process be” asks the dense Seacrest. Being young and a little thrown off, Alba does graciously answer the question rather than punch him or walk away.

I won’t go into all of the reasons why that was such a stupid question, because as mothers we all know how personal our bodies and babies are. A question like that coming from a young single guy without kids just makes it even more annoying. I would have liked to see him ask Cate Blanchett the same question. A woman in her late thirties working on her third child would have known exactly what to say to clueless Ryan Seacrest.

Catch a snippet of Ryan’s red carpet faux pas here.

You can also find more entertainment news on JustBreatheMom.com.

I don’t think so, I would have sworn on my life that my firstborn was a girl and I even cried at the ultrasound when I found out that he was a boy. Did I just publicly admit that? Anyway, I remember my doctor telling me that sometimes it turns out that what you get is what you’ve really wanted all along. Boy was she right. That curly haired little boy has been a complete joy making every day better with his little insights, creativity, and smile.

At my second born’s ultrasound, I was in complete denial. I kept trying to convince myself, the tech, as well as the baby inside me that there were three lines on the screen. You know the three lines they tell you to look for if it is a girl. There it was, a penis staring right at me. I held strong onto the idea of seeing three lines, but the tech told me as nicely as she could, “No, that’s a penis hon.” I didn’t cry this time, instead I accepted it was fate that if you’re connected to me in some cosmic way, you have two boys.

You see, boys are all around me. The running joke with me is that if you have some kind of relationship with me, you’ll have a boy. Four of my oldest and closest friends in the world have two boys each. Two of them had girls the third time around. Would I join the ranks of pigtails, tea parties, and pedicures? Hmmm… maybe my firstborn would have some insight into the results.

He doesn’t even understand that I’m having a baby, but for months, he has been telling me that he wants a baby girl. He even told me that he wanted to take his baby brother back to the baby shop and get a baby girl. Thankfully, he decided that “baby brother” was worthy enough to keep around and that he would just like to add a baby girl to the mix. Smart little kid, somehow he knows things the rest of us do not. Like he’s going to have a baby sister. I guess that means pigtails are in my future after all.