A Night at the Park

On the way home from church on Sunday, C was adamant that we go to a park. So, we convinced him that we could go after supper.  We've been so busy lately that it sounded like a fun family activity that we could all enjoy.  While I was napping, the idea was hatched that we should have a picnic in the park.

So, I packed some ham sandwiches and other munchies and we headed to the park.

In typical kid fashion, there wasn't any interest in eating although they were scavenging anything they could find prior to leaving. They managed to eat a few bites before heading off to play.  C was the first to disappear, as he had been excited about this since church and he couldn't wait to play.

 M tolerated his first picnic very well.  He let us eat while he contentedly sat in the carseat, but that only lasted for as quickly as we could eat. It is much more fun to be in the action.

I hadn't taken many pics of the kiddos lately.  So, I had fun snapping pictures while they played.

We had fun exploring three of the different play areas at the park.  The kids ended the night climbing to the top of the sledding hill and running down.  They had so much fun.  It was a great evening had by all until M had too much excitement and it was time to go home...so we compensated leaving a bit early with ice cream and that made the 'big kids' happy.

C being his adorable self...and smiling instead of growling

E climbing the rope...and was super excited to make it to the top

M enjoying his first swinging experience...'enjoying' might be stretching the truth...'tolerating' might be a more accurate description of his thoughts on swinging.

The olders paused for a moment while running through the castle.

My three monkeys

X being his silly self...he looks excited about something.

M at 3 months

At 3 months, M is a happy, little guy.  He freely gives smiles to all.  He loves to laugh at crazy facial expressions.  We are enjoying our little man.

He has his challenging moments. He's happy for about an hour after he wakes up.  Then, we jiggle and change scenery for about a half hour and then it is time to sleep again. He does have a very predicable three hour schedule of eat, play, and sleep.

The good news is that sleeping has changed for the better this month.  He started sleeping in the bassinet for the entire night about half way through the month on most nights.  That was a huge improvement.  Sometimes, he'd only get up once or twice to eat, too.  That was great.

Napping started improving also.  He'd sleep in the bassinet for 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on the nap.  Most naps ranged about 45 minutes.  But, he was sleeping independently and that was a huge improvement.

He took his first two out of state trips this month.  We went to Cleveland, OH for a wedding over Memorial Day, and Aunt Stacey and I took him to Indiana mid-June.  He did great in OH. He went along with the flow very well.  I even got to observe the wedding and he slept great, as he slept with us each night.  

Indiana was a fun adventure too.  We learned two things.  Number one was that M REALLY loves his mommy and doesn't really like strangers...even if they are family.  Number two was that he hates to be hot. It was in the nineties that weekend and he wasn't impressed with that.  He slept the entire trip to IN.  That was a nice, peaceful drive and he did pretty well on the way home too.  Fortunately, the little man loves his car seat if it is moving.

He rolled over several times one evening in Indiana from his tummy to his back.  However, he still isn't really doing it purposefully.  Every so often it happens and still seems to surprise him.  Then, sometimes it looks like he's trying to make it happen and then he gets frustrated that he can't.  So, I assume he'll get it all figured out in the next month without problem.

Thankfully, he gave up his middle of the night screaming sessions this month.  I took beans out of my diet and that has seemed to greatly help his night sleeping. I'd give up about anything to avoid those unhappy awake times from 4-6 AM.

He's starting to like toys and he'll coo at the animals hanging from the bouncy seat or the bassinet. He's getting so much more interactive.  The older kids really enjoy getting a reaction out of him. They talk to him. They still all love to hold  him.  

He loves to chew on his hand.  Drooling is picking up even more.  I've even found a couple of drool bibs, but I need to find the stash of them because I'm changing his shirt some days because he's drooling so much.  Bubbles and drool are common place these days.  

C loves him to pieces. He's a bit too much in his face and rough. but he just wants to interact with him too.  He and X always want to hold him.  M tolerates it for while. E is a little more steady, I think, and M enjoys her holding him a bit more.  They love their love baby brother.

We are enjoying our time with M. He is a wonderful blessing and we are soaking in all the baby that we can. We know he'll be toddling around before we know it and our last baby will be no more.  I'm trying to treasure all these things in my heart so that I can remember them when my littles aren't so little anymore.

X is 5.5!

 On May 2, X was 'officially' five and a half.  He is the best five and half year old! He's generally good natured, pleasant and polite.  He is a fun guy.  He loves to play games.  He LOVES legos.

He's my tenderhearted soul.  He had the hardest time loosing Pumpkin.  He cries whenever good friends leave. He's beyond excited when good things happen.

He takes little correction because he's a people-pleaser.  He wants to make you happy. I say all the time that he is his father's son through and through.  He's a smoozer, Star*Wars obsessed and gamer...definitely just like his dad.

X loves his baby brother to pieces.  He loves talking to him, 'playing' with him and helping out with him.  He's gentle and caring. He has the cutest (borderline annoying) voice that he uses when he's talking to M.  It is sweet. If I'm occupied, X will always try to figure out why M is upset and try to fix it. He was a great big brother at age 2 with C and he's even more conscientious at age 5.5.  He's going to be a phenomenal daddy in 30 years!

 He and C get along wonderfully when they aren't fighting.  They are best buds.  Recently, X has been asking for more time to play independently, but he still loves to play Legos and Star*Wars with C.

E and X play together well also. X is truely a middle child that gets along with everyone and is a peacemaker.  I get upset that he gives in to C's demands so easily, but he doesn't like conflict and does what he can to avoid it.  He is the classic middle child in so many ways.

Jut is X's favorite person, I think.  He can't wait until it is Jut's day off and they can play games.  He loves playing X-Wing or Imperial Assault with his dad. He is constantly asking when they can play again. He craves that attention and time with his daddy.  Computer games are also a favorite of his. He helps his dad play the 'train game' on FB. He refers to himself as 'daddy's little conductor'. He's very cute...and knows it, which is always a bad combination.

X was in preschool this year.  I taught him how to read and I'm still surprised at how much he can read. He can add really, really well for his age.  He can even do some subtraction. His number sense floors me.  He even did some multiplication at the end of the school year..."3 groups of 4 is 12" and other things similar. He listens as E and I do our lessons and he retains quite a bit.  I love our homeschooling adventures in learning. He and E play 'math dice' and are quite competitive with each other.  He holds his own even though he's 2.5 years younger.

Today, he helped me plant the garden.  He was quite the slave driver getting it all done.  We still have a bit to go, but we got the majority of it done today.  He watered the seeds, planted the seeds and covered the seeds.  He was so much help.  It was fun working with him.

He's really developed an interest in farming since moving here.  He likes to keep tabs on G'pa and know what he's doing.  Today, they washed the tractor and planter after he was finished gardening with me.

He is a busy guy. He doesn't sit still.  I bought a balance ball this winter and he loves sitting on it because he can just wiggle, wiggle and wiggle some more on it. He is all boy in that regard.

C outgrew X in the last 6 months.  C is a half inch taller than X now. We knew it would happen quickly, but I do feel bad that he's going to start getting C's hand-me-downs. But, that may mean he just gets new clothes because it seems like C's clothes are headed to the ragbag when he's finished with them.

X is a joyful, little guy that is fun to be around.  I'm certain the rest of the year will be as fun as the first half.

Dance Recital

E did her third year of dance this year at APA. She took her second year of ballet. It is fun to see how much improvement occurs within a year. She did great and loved it.

They dance to Down Easter Alexa by Billy Joel.  It was an interesting choice but the girls did well.  The recital dance had E's class in purple/blue and the other ballet 1 class in green.  It was fun for the girls to combine for the recital but it did give them a challenge when they were trying to put it all together.

E is already to do it again.  As of now, her goal is to dance pointe.  The pointe class danced just before her and she loved it and thought it was really cool. So, we will see how she does next year and if that remains a passion.

It was Time to Say Goodbye

Our cat, Pumpkin, was unique. Anyone that met her did not really forget Ms. Personality. She was equally cranky to everyone that visited our house. She has been part of the our family from the beginning.  Jut got her before we were even engaged...and she's just moved down the totem pole from there.

She was a feisty little kitten that loved to race up your legs.  She ate my roses that we placed on top of the refrigerator one night in her youth. She'd wake me in the mornings by playing with the kitten in the mirror.  She was one crazy kitten.

She turned into a crazy cat. She was territorial of our house.  She didn't like anyone else in it. She'd stand guard and make her presence fully known by all. If one stayed around for a long time, she might jump on his or her lap, but that didn't mean that you were a friend and heaven forbid if you tried to touch her while she was perched there.  She was the queen just gracing  you with her presence.

She loved my pregnant bellies. She'd start sitting on my belly as soon as there was life in there...a couple times she made me nervous because there was no plans for baby and there she'd perch.  But, she wasn't so impressed with the babies on the outside.  When we brought M home from the hospital, she jumped up on our bed, looked at the baby, looked at us and you could hear her say, "Really?  Another one?Why on earth did you do that?!"

Since we moved into our house, she and E had become good friends.  E could even pick her up on most days.  Pumpkin would hang out in E's room on her bed or in her little chair.  E complained that she'd take up too much space in her bed at night. The boys aren't allowed in E's room and we figured that Pumpkin decided that it was the perfect refuge.

However, Pumpkin was nearing her 14th birthday and arthritis had set into her hind quarters. She'd lost a few teeth.  Age was catching up to her.  Additionally, she started some unpleasant behavior problems.  Her time with us was up.

M was just beginning to notice Pumpkin

C took the news with glee.  We sat down to break the news to the kids and C raced at her yelling, "Pumpkin, you are going to DIE!" He reminded her of that fact for her remaining three days.  He obviously didn't really get it. When Jut got home from the vet, he questioned something about how he was back from Heaven already.  Then, his dad made him mad the other day and he exclaimed, "I'm going to send you where Pumpkin is!"Things are hard to sort out in the three year old brain sometimes.

So, now we are without any indoor four-legged companions. Two cats haunt the outside of the house and one desperately wants to be an indoor kitty. But, our pet status isn't going to change anytime soon.

M at 2 months

Oh how quickly babies change! This show how much M has already changed from a newborn to now. He's in the bouncy seat for all three pics.  The first one doesn't show how little he looks very well since he's so bundled in blankets, but he's just a little peanut. He's outgrown that Thomas 3 month outfit and it is packed away and now he's sporting 3-6 month clothing and it doesn't look big on him. Notice he's grabbing the frog today...he's also started grabbing handfuls of my hair.  It is time for a haircut or constant ponytails.

 M's siblings are still loving him...sometimes too much.  C is a bit forceful and has no patience for his crying.  X loves him to pieces and is always trying to be a helper.  He consoles him when I'm busy...fetches things...always says, "How's my little M-man?" is a cute singy-songy voice. E generally ignores him except to give him a hug and kiss at bedtime, but she likes to have her chance to hold him when he's in a good mood too.





M is starting to coo and make more noise daily.  I love those little first happy baby noises.  He's really starting to smile frequently.  Those first little toothless grins are the best!  He's also started drooling and making bubbles in the past couple of days.  Looks like we'll have another drooly boy.




Sleeping is an ongoing issue.  He likes to sleep with us most of the night.  He only naps if he's being held or sleeping on his tummy.  I'll be glad when he can roll over and finally sleep at night on his stomach.  He sleeps so much better.  He's a very gassy baby and the gas doesn't seem to bother him when he's on his tummy. (He only sleeps on his tummy supervised since it is against all recommendations...just fyi).

He did roll over when he was doing tummy time last week.  He was so surprised.  It made me laugh to see the look on his face.  He hasn't done it again, but we haven't been doing much tummy time as we've been pretty busy during the day and he's been asleep for the night by 7ish.

M loves the exercise ball.  Bouncing to sleep is his favorite way to enter the land of nod.  My back is getting much stronger from being on it so frequently.  I may regret introducing it to him, but it puts him out like a light and sometimes that is all that matters.

Month two has been much less eventful than month one.  We've enjoyed getting into the swing of being a family of 6.  I even broke out the cloth diapers last week finally. I've been baking muffins and cookies again.  We are getting the hang of this...if only I could get a bit more sleep, life would be pretty good. However, M is finally nursing at night too...so my mandatory pumping sessions are finished.  Hallelujah!  And, he can nurse in about 10 minutes during the day.  Things keep getting easier!  I love my snuggly newborn...but I also love the changes that come that make life easier.  Keeping up a 'newborn' schedule is exhausting and it is nice when progress occurs.  M even when 5 hours between his night feeding last night.  As sad as it is to see the newborn phase ending, it is nice to be exiting the phase too.

*********************************************************************************
He had his 2 month check up today (May 21st)...He was 14 lbs 2 ozs and 23 inches. He's doing great!

M at 1 month

M started out life with a bang!  He wanted to make certain we didn't forget his newborn days. Thankfully, things calmed down for the rest of the month.  There were lots of snuggles and cuddles amidst the general craziness of life.

Five days post-DeVos, M had gained 7 ozs.  At our next weight check, a week later (3 wks old), he gained a full pound in that week. By his month check up, he weighed in at 12 lbs 4 ozs.  He was doing great!

Aunt Jenna visited us to meet our newest member to the family the night before our trip to GR. She went to GR too for the weekend to hang out with friends and brought us breakfast on Sunday.  Funny how things work out sometimes.

M was the typical newborn...he slept and slept and slept.  After the first week home from DeVos, he began waking up on his own to eat about every three hours.  I joked that he finally reached his due date of 40 weeks and so he was ready to begin life.  He started staying awake for longer stretches of time at this time too, but he still slept more than the 18 hours the pediatrician told us was typical of newborns.  Of course, he only slept soundly when he was being held.  He certainly liked his cuddles.

 The one disconcerting thing was that he always woke up unhappy.  He always screamed upon waking.  He did it from the get-go...and he continues it into month 2 also.  He is never happy to be awake.  He really likes his sleep.

M's siblings loved him.  They loved holding him.  Unfortunately, M didn't have much happy awake time and so they didn't get to hold him nearly as much as they wanted to. He was always either eating or sleeping and that didn't leave much time for sibling cuddles.  But, you can tell by X's face how much he loves being a big brother again!

Funny tidbit...when Jut called to check on the kids the morning after M was born, he told my mom M's name.  Mom told the kids, to which the boys were very unhappy with our name choice.  We already knew a M from church and so we couldn't choose that name.  C claimed he was going to call him 'Zeb'.  For the first 3 weeks of M's life, C only referred to him as 'baby'. Then, he told me, "Mom, I don't like that name (meaning M).  I am going to call him Zeb!" I just laughed and didn't argue with him...and about 3-4 days later, C finally started referring to him as M. Crazy three-year old!!

1 month old M