Baby Frustrations

We think Christian might be teething because he was super cranky today. Wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat very much, and cried A LOT. At one point Benjamin turned to me and said, "I just want to kick him in the head."

"I'm getting to that point too," I admitted. "The problem is, it wouldn't make him stop crying."

"Yeah, it would just make him cry more. I wish Christian were dead."

"Don't say horrible things like that." I scolded. "He can't talk. This is his only way of communicating. He can't help it. This is one reason why I'm not such a big fan of babies."

"Me neither," Benjamin commiserated, "But I am a big fan of chocolate!"

Ah, a child after my own heart.

The Water Obsession Resumes

Oh I love that Spring is coming! It felt so wonderful today. Low 50s but felt like mid Summer. It was wonderful. As we left gymnastics today, I couldn't bare to return home despite the craft I'd planned for today. We ended up taking an impromptu trip to the playground to celebrate the first warm, sunny day and the first trip to the park in months without coats and boots. Of course, without fail, my kids are drawn to the puddles and before long, this was the result:




So it begins again. I guess the water obsession hasn't abated. Luckily, as always, I had a change of clothes with me. I know these kids too well. (Although Bella had the foresight to take off most of her clothes before going down in it.) They just can't resist. And judging by how intently Christian was watching them, I'm guessing he'll be joining them soon.

With Spring comes the need for new clothes too. Thanks to the generosity of friends, I've not bought clothes for Bella yet. Nearly 3 years and she's been fully taken care of. However, we've now hit a point where she needed some new shoes and so I took her shopping. I've known for a long time how different Bella and I are, but shoe shopping with her hit it home. I was looking for a shoe she could wear to church with any dress and so I'd pick up something cute and sensible, like this:


Princess Bella would frown, shake her head, and pick up something like this:


or perhaps this:


Again and again we exchanged shoe suggestions. Bella's love of all things glitzy and bedazzled knows no bounds. Alas, in the end, the one with the money made the final decision. Luckily she's also very fickle and by the time we'd bought my pair, she'd forgotten about hers and actually ended up liking my choice so much she wore them to bed. I think, when she's a teenager, to save myself unnecessary stress, I'm just going to find a comfy spot with a book and have her come to me when she's found what she wants to buy.

Let's Play Ball

My kids have come up with some fun things to do these past couple days. Today Bella said, "Let's play ball!" I was shocked that she would suggest this since she's usually not a fan of ball games. But I wanted to encourage this in her and agreed. I quickly realized I misunderstood when she started prancing around the room in her dress-up outfit. Ball didn't mean base ball or soccer. She meant ball as they do in fairy tales - a grand ball, ie. a dance. I was somewhat disappointed, but this still seemed fun, so we pulled out the cd player, put on a primary songs cd and danced. She assigned me to be the queen, Benjamin the knight, and she was the princess. It was so much fun to be silly together. I danced with both the knight and the princess, with them taking turns coming over and asking, "May I cut in?" I insisted that royalty must be proper. :) Then when I got tired, I "became faint" and they had to call in the doctor to help me. After he did, they allowed me to rest as they performed various dances for me. Kids this age are so fun. No inhibitions. Just pure joy. It was a wonderful dance filled afternoon.



Some other things they've wanted to do was make soft pretzels. So we did that and they didn't turn out too bad. While they were baking, Bella decided to finger paint on the counter top with the egg wash. Not so happy about that but luckily she didn't eat it.


Another day Benjamin wanted to take his toys for a swim in the sink, so he got a big bowl and his animals and dolls and set them swimming, with a sponge boat to float on. They both had a blast with this and of course, got soaked head to toe. I think this was inspired by one of his favorite books, The Tub People by Pam Conrad. Very cute book.


I also wanted to see how much the kids understood about money. In Kindergarten Benjamin will be learning a lot about counting money and so I decided to play bank. I got out some pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, as well as 1, 5, 10, and 20 dollar bills. Then we took turns being customer, banker, or security guard. The customer came into the bank, filled out a withdrawal slip (just a blank piece of paper with one line on where they'd write the amount), then took it to the banker who gave them that amount of money. Then the customer would steal from the banker, get run down and killed by the security guard (Benjamin's favorite part) and the money would be returned. I was impressed with them. Benjamin needed help counting out the money, but he knew what each coin was worth and that you can, for example, give 5 pennies or 1 nickel, etc. Even Bella did a great job. When she was customer, she wrote three circles on the paper, brought it to Benjamin, the banker, and said, "I'd like to have 79 cents please." It was so cute.

So we've had fun trying to survive what is hopefully the last of cold winter days.

Progress?

I hate to blog about things too early because I tend to jinx myself, but we're making slow and steady progress around here and I have to share the joy. Bella has been the queen of stubborn regarding potty training. Besides the brief novelty of the new toilet, nothing has been able to get her interested. Sticker charts and bribery be damned. She couldn't care less. So we've started with small steps, just like we did with Benjamin. She can poop in her diaper, but she has to be in the bathroom. If nothing else, it gets her in the habit of going to the right location. She's been faithfully doing this for a few weeks now. However, if I don't come in there quickly after she's done, she starts causing trouble. I've cleaned up sunscreen, zit cream, and hydrocortisone cream from all surfaces in my bathroom at various times. Nothing like seeing your expensive zit cream smeared all over the shower curtain. So when she went in there yesterday, I quickly followed her in and asked (as I do every day), "Would you like to poop in the potty?" Usually I always get a "no" to this, but yesterday I got a "yes." And she did!! It was fabulous. A quick flush and done. So wonderful. Needless to say, today was back to old ways, but there was, for a brief moment, a glimmer of hope and I will cling to that. She may potty train after all! :)


Other note of progress - Christian slept through the night!!! And there was much rejoicing in the land. It was not without tears, mind you, but it happened! 7pm to 7am! He had started to seem uninterested in eating at night, but was still waking up. We decided it was time to put an end to the insanity. The first night he cried for 2 hours but finally went back to sleep. The second night it was 1 hour. The third night it was 30 minutes. Then success!! It is glorious. Finally I'm beginning to feel like a normal human being again. Of course, now I won't be able to blame any of my memory lapses or idiot-moments on sleep deprivation. ;)

Jack Sprat

Benjamin and Isabella are like Jack Sprat and his wife in most ways.

Benjamin only likes strawberry cream cheese; Isabella only white.
Benjamin likes egg whites; Isabella likes the yokes.
Benjamin likes marinara sauce; Isabella calls it "too spicy" and only likes Alfredo.
Benjamin likes his ice cream without the cone; Isabella will dump the ice cream in the trash and only eat the cone.
Benjamin loves fruity yogurt; Isabella always chooses vanilla.
Benjamin hates most kinds of meat; Isabella will often eat the meat first.
Benjamin never wears a coat and is almost never cold; Isabella almost always cries if she's out in the cold for more than a few minutes.
Benjamin loves to give hugs and is very physically affectionate; Isabella screams if Benjamin hugs her.
Benjamin loves to draw pictures for me and often writes me little love notes; Bella likes to color on the chairs, table, or herself.
Isabella is incredibly verbal and has been since a very young age. Although Benjamin is now, his only word was "Da" until he was nearly 2 and 1/2.

Yet, despite these and a myriad of other differences, these two are best friends. Today they were cat and dog or prince and princess or alien and astronaut all day long. We also did our usual Wednesday craft time today. We painted and made alien headbands.


Then they requested we play their latest favorite game "musical numbers." I made this up one night while I was trying to figure out how to teach Benjamin higher numbers. He recognized 1-10 just fine, but when you started to combine them, such as in 67 or 98, he was unable to name it. So I wrote down about 30 different random numbers between 1 and 99 on pieces of paper about 2 inches square. I wrote the number 1-10 in one color and all higher ones in another. The next day I spread them out all over the floor and had the kids dance around to music. When I stopped the music, they were to be on a number of their color. (Bella got the numbers 1-10 and Benjamin all the higher ones). If they were on a number when the music stopped, they got a point. If they were able to correctly name the number, they got another point and the number was removed from the game. We played this about a month ago for the firs time and they loved it so much that they now want to play it every week after craft time. It's amazing how it's helped too! Benjamin now knows all the numbers 1-100 and Bella went from knowing no numbers to knowing all of them 1-10. Because they've learned it so well, next week I'm going to change it a bit and start on reading. I decided to do letters for Bella and sight words for Benjamin. He knows a lot of them already, but this is a great way for him to practice more.


One last update: I took Christian to his 6 month check up on Monday and he's grown into the 75 percentile in height now. Yay for my little peanut! I guess he's not so little anymore! That was a funny doctor's visit because it had snowed about 6 inches the night before, so the roads were a mess. But I purposely left early and drove carefully and made it fine. I was in the parking lot, just walking in, when my phone rang. It was the doctor's secretary telling me that he was stuck in the snow and awaiting a tow truck and I shouldn't come in. I told her that I was already in the parking lot and could I see someone else in the practice? She said no, that they were all too busy. Do not tell me that I just drove 40 minutes in the snow with three kids to be sent home! So I walked into the office and again asked to see a doctor. I guess it's easier to say no to someone on the phone then to someone who's standing in your office. We saw a doctor and were out in 30 minutes. :) Don't mess with Mama Bear.

Night Owl Christian and Flying Bella

How can you not love this little guy? He is so stinkin' cute! I have to keep reminding myself of that when it's 1 and 3 and 5 in the morning and he's crying hysterically. It's at those times that I have to smell his head and hold his snuggly little body and remind myself that really I do love him, even if I'm so brain dead from sleep deprivation that I'm a hazard to myself and others. Case in point #1: Benjamin asked me yesterday what a national anthem is and when I told him it was a country's song, he asked me to sing ours. I couldn't remember it. I stood there staring at him and couldn't come up with "The Star Spangled Banner" or the lyrics or even the tune!! I finally had to go on Youtube and play it. Case in point #2: Took the kids shopping. Got them all in the car, drove to the store and what did I not bring? MONEY! Yes, I brought snacks, diapers, bottle for Christian, but not money. So much for our shopping trip. Case in point #3: I'm a member of a book club. Each month we choose a book to read. Sometimes we choose a few books in advance too. Apparently everyone else was clear on when we were reading each book. I, however, was not, and read next month's book. At least I'm prepared! Case in point #4: I decided to make lasagna for dinner, so I walked over to the freezer to thaw some beef. I have no memory of what happened next. Apparently I never thought of beef again because all I know is 3 hours later, I'm at the stove ready to start the lasagna and there's no thawed beef. I have no idea why I never made it to the freezer, but needless to say, we had vegetarian lasagna tonight. Case in point #5: I teach the nursery class at church (children 18 months to 2 years). There is one boy with a milk allergy. I remembered that when we started passing out snack (quesadillas) and made a point not to give him one. About 3 seconds later as I'm rounding the table and get to his place, I drop on one his plate. Next thing I know, one of the other teachers is saying, "That has milk in it!" and grabs the chewed up bite out of his mouth. I felt so incredibly terrible I wanted to walk out and never come back. Case in point #6: I was preparing a bottle for Christian. I'd already poured in 2 oz. of pumped milk, so I needed 4 oz. of formula. I thought, "I need 4 ounces" then I proceeded to pour in enough water and formula for 2 and shook the bottle and it wasn't until I saw that there was still some missing that I realized I'd only prepared 2 oz. How can I forget something I thought of only seconds before!? Need I go on with examples? Let's not forgot the stories I wrote about here. I'm a mess. But he sure is cute, isn't he? He makes the funniest pterodactyl-like sounds too. He cracks me up.

Bella seems to think he's cute too. Yesterday all day long she'd come up next to him and ask me to take their picture. Although, I'm not so sure it was really about Christian, because as soon as I got out the camera, she'd strike a model pose with head back, legs stretched out, arm posed just so. So hilarious. I was always laughing too hard to take a picture. She finally gave up and just smiled for the camera.


At Benjamin's request, I took the kids to the mall today to play on what a friend of mine once called "the giant germ." It's the kids' play area which is made up of colorful climbable structures in various shapes. Benjamin is actually above the height limit for the play area, but I told him he could play on it when there weren't too many little kids. He was really good about keeping that rule and so I offered to also let him go on the new bungee cord ride they have next to the play area. Of course, that means Bella gets to too. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures until Bella got on after Benjamin, but they were both so excited. This thing is a blast. If I didn't have to hold Christian, I would have gone on it. Benjamin was jumping so high on it I thought he'd hit the ceiling. Bella was more cautious, but they both laughed the whole time. I told Kelly that he's going to have to take Christian some time so I can go on it too.

Being a Mom is Being an Actress

I recently came to the conclusion that being a mom is all about being a good actress. I love my kids dearly, but boy do they know how to drive me crazy!!! Yet, what kind of a mom would I be if I let that show? So at some point every day, I play the role of "Happy Chipper Mom." I understand being a 2 and 4 year old is tough. But the emotional drama that goes on in our house over nearly every little thing pushes me to the limit sometimes. Whether it's that the oatmeal is too hot, the gloves are hard to put on, or the desired book is missing, the reaction is the same: mass hysteria. Whining, screaming, crying. Many times I thought someone had been cut or burned based on the reaction and come to find out, it was something like their sunglasses had fallen on the ground. My gut reaction at these times is to scream, "Are you kidding me?!? That's all it was!? Are you out of your mind!? I ran all the way over here thinking you were dying! Stop crying over nothing!" But that's when my acting skills come out and I become Empathetic Mom! "I'm so sorry you can't find your other glove/dropped your spoon/are having trouble putting on your shoes. Let me drop everything and come help you. We'll fix it together!" And the Oscar goes to Michelle! I think this whole thing helps me understand God so much better too. How often does he likely think, "You're upset about that!? That's nothing!" Yet he shows empathy, sends comfort, answers prayers, and leads us along. And I'm guessing he's not just acting. I have a lot to learn.

When I find myself slipping and the volume of my voice rising, then I take the kids and flee to a place where there are sources of distraction. On Saturday this was Ikea. Man, I love that place. I just want to buy entire showrooms there. My kids love it too. Wanna know what we don't love? The fact that once you're ready to pay for your items, you get to walk another 10-15 minutes through the rest of their store to the checkout, even if you know all the shortcuts. Marketing genius but a mom's nightmare. But that aside, we had a great time playing and especially trying on hats and headbands.



Last week my choice of distraction was the zoo. Should have checked the weather. It snowed about 3 inches while we were there. We had a blast, though. Sure, you can forget about the tigers and the giraffes in that weather, but man are the seals, penguins, otters, arctic foxes, and polar bears in rare form. It was a real adventure. And no one complained of cold or whined once! A true success.



By the way, Happy Valentine's Day! We made Valentine mobiles for the kids' room last week. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of the final product before Benjamin destroyed it while he was in time out yesterday. But here's a cute picture of Bella with part of hers.


Benjamin's class did a Valentine's program where they hid in boxes and then after we'd come into the room, they all jumped out and sang a song about mailing themselves to us. Very cute. Also, Kelly and I went to our ward's Valentine's dance on Saturday. That was a blast. I requested the Electric Slide and had so much fun dancing to it. Strangely, Kelly and I were the only ones who knew it! So we rocked the casbah all by ourselves. We're nerds and proud of it.


Oh, and Happy 1/2 Birthday to Christian! Little Man turns 6 months today. He's still waking up a lot at night, but he's learned how to roll and sit (with occassional falls), he's eating solid foods, and he's getting so big! He's a wonderful, happy baby and we love him.

The Great Escape

We finally made it out of the house for our first big outing post sickness. We've done little things - grocery shopping, library story time, etc. but aside from mine and Bella's lingering consumption-like cough, we were better and ready to get away. It felt so good! We went to the Ann Arbor Hands on Museum and had a wonderful time. I love it there. It is a great museum for kids, but above that I love that they rotate the displays and are always bringing in new things and that everything is clean and well maintained. (Take note Detroit Science Center!) It makes it a continually fun, new experience.


Today they had a display on ship wrecks in lakes around Michigan that fascinated me and Benjamin. We could have spent all day there. He just might be another history buff like me...or maybe it was just the boats. Not sure. But the whole place was great. Bella's favorite part was the ambulance. She really makes a great little paramedic....when she's not busy sucking her thumb.


Funny stuff: Benjamin kept spontaneously hugging Bella today and she clearly didn't like it. She screamed bloody murder every time. He continued when we were home and also during dinner. "Why do you keep hugging her when she clearly doesn't like it? Please stop!" I finally demanded, exasperated. "But she's just so cute!" he responded. Can't argue with that. A very cute thing she did today was on the way to the museum. It's a 2 block walk from the parking garage to the museum and so as we were walking down the street, I heard Bella mumbling something about "beautiful." I stopped and asked her what she was saying and she said, "The sky is just so beautiful! It's so blue and sunny!" I looked up and truly, it was a gorgeous sunny day. We took a moment to admire it together and notice the white fluffy clouds and the way the sun sparkled on the snow. It was a really sweet moment.

Help! We're Trapped in our House!

We've been sick since Wednesday. First me, then Benjamin, then Christian, now Kelly. Bella has luckily escaped the mess so far, but who knows, she may be next. For now she's trapped with the sick mess that we are. Coughing, vomiting, fever, headaches - we've all got our own sickness cocktails - everyone with a varying degree and variety of symptoms. Luckily the vomiting was me. Oh how I hate cleaning up kid vomit off couches and carpets. I luckily have enough experience to recognize when it's coming and make it to a safe location...well, the kitchen sink was the best I could do, but it beats the living room. So, we've been hanging out at home. Something I really hate doing. I know that sounds weird because hanging out at home should be loads of fun and all, but when you're sick and the kids are cranky, it's just not. No school, no church, no where to go, just sit at home and cough on each other. Ugh.

The one bright idea I had today was to pretend we were all germs and the basement was a giant which we were infecting. We each had names - I was "Snot", Benjamin was "Rash," Bella was "Scab," and Christian was "Pox." (Kelly was at church because his sickness didn't hit until half way through sacrament meeting. :) Now he's in bed too.) Although half way through Bella decided she didn't want to be Scab, she wanted to be Snot too, so we had the "But there can't be TWO Snots!" debate which was just so ridiculous that after all was said and done, I agreed to trade names with her. Anyway, we got our toy guns and started shooting the giant's cells (ie. walls, furniture, toys, etc.) declaring the vicious symptoms our host was developing. "Now he's coughing up brown phlem!" we'd scream. "Ooooh, he's got a killer headache!" "His nose is running so bad he's dripping on the floor and it's raw from blowing!" "Ah, he's got a fever...it's getting hot in here!" Our giant host finally succeeded in vomiting us out after debilitating us with the heat. Then we had a snack and went to bed. Another glorious day where all kids slept at the same time. Maybe there is something to be said for sickness.

So we've been doing lots of puzzles (Bella is doing 100 piece jigsaw puzzles! She's a puzzle rock star!), playing monster dog in the doll village, coloring pictures, and taking "time-outs" - the last one being Benjamin because he has the hardest time with staying home all day and tends to let it out on those smaller and weaker than he. Not cool. On that note, puzzles are like broken glass - when they get thrown around a room in anger, you're finding pieces for days to come.



In the end, we all had a big bowl of chicken soup for dinner and prayed for a speedy recovery. May our prayers be answered.

Side note: That's a headband on Bella's head and no, it's not falling down. That's the way she likes it. She won't wear it any other way. Don't even try to reason with her and tell her that her hair would stay out of her eyes better if she put it up. You'll get a headband flying at your face for advice like that. Best course of action is to consider it cute and move on. At least that's what works best for me.

The I Spy Table

When I picked Benjamin up from school today, his teacher told me, "He seems really tired today." He really did. He'd been fine when I dropped him off, but he looked like he was going to fall over on the way to the car or fall asleep on the way home. When we got home, Bella and Christian took a nap and I was able to pretty easily convince Benjamin to take one too! All three kids asleep at the same time! It can be done!! A true modern miracle. Benjamin hasn't napped for me in nearly a year and a half. So, needless to say, when it was time to go to gymnastics 45 minutes later, I decided to bag it. No way was I waking 3 kids. I got out my book, made myself comfortable on the couch and relaxed! For a whole 20 minutes until Christian woke up. Once everyone was up, there was a lot of "why didn't you wake me?" and "why can't we go to gymnastics?" questions, but it was well worth it. He obviously needed the rest and so did I.

Despite the change of schedule, we kept with our usual Wednesday craft day tradition. We always do painting and crafts on Wednesdays after gymnastics. Not sure why, but it just started that way and it works. So we did that. It was a lot of fun.



We colored on the window again because it still had our Christmas drawings up and needed a change. Bella has started drawing people a lot lately. It's fun to see them. They always have huge ears and a circle for their tummies. Benjamin doesn't draw ears on his people and she's always coming to me saying, "Benjamin not draw ears on his man. He's silly!" By they way, that's Bella's gymnastics leotard that she loves because it's got sparkles. I bought her a more modest one (the sparkle one is a hand-me-down) but even though the one I bought has rhinestones on it, she won't wear it because she likes the sparkles. Women! They can drive ya nuts.

I'm working on letter recognition with Bella lately, so today we did the letter U. We made paper Umbrellas that they got to decorate with stickers and we did a painting of "Underground" where she got to cut strips and bits of green paper which she glued onto brown construction paper, to make the grass and the dirt underneath it and then we all drew things we find in the ground: ants, worms, earwigs, spiders, etc. The kids loved it. Bella also drew a groundhog and grasshoppers...and a boat. "It's a dirt boat!" I didn't pursue it. I labeled each thing with the letter with which it starts and drew a big U in the center. By the end of it all, I took a step back and looked at my table. It reminded me of Benjamin's "I Spy" books. A huge mass of stuff strewn all over and under the table. Plus the bottle, bib, and seat Christian used while he so patiently and sweetly watched us. I had to take a picture. I think it's a testament in itself of the fun we'd had. :) In the picture, Benjamin is "sewing" a paper that he made to look like ones he'd seen at school. He punched holes around his drawing and then wanted to string yarn through the holes. I thought that was pretty cool.


Finally, unrelated to anything prior, I'd like to say something to the person who stole Benjamin's swimsuit out of the gym shower over the weekend: Seriously? Did you think I hung it there because I didn't want it anymore but was too lazy to take it to good will or throw it in the trash?? Did you stop to think of the child who is now without a suit and how he'd feel? I hope you enjoy watching your son swim in the suit which you stole. I hope your son doesn't notice the missing seam or the sun bleached sleeves and wonder why a new suit would look like that. And I hope your son never wears that suit around me because I'm prepared to make a scene.

He Rolls!

This little guy is rolling! He'll be 5 months on Friday. It's so fun to see him growing up and progressing. You could tell he was very proud of himself when he first figured it out. So happy and excited. We sure love this happy smiley guy! He's a total chick magnet too. Benjamin's question at Costco on Monday was, "Why is everyone always talking to Christian?" Because he's a total flirt. You'll love it when you're older.

Finally...Christmas!

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. Wow. Time goes so quickly lately! At least the productive hours. Last night I was up 3 times with Christian and 4 times with Benjamin over the course of 6 hours. I had that woozy drugged feeling for much of the morning as a result. Those hours dragged. No idea what was wrong with Benjamin. Each time he'd call me, his blankets would be in a hideous tangled mess and he'd be sitting up in bed asking for help to sort them out. 4 times in one night! What was going on?!? A 5th time he was up, but rather than call to me, he came into my room and talked to Kelly while I pretended to be asleep. He told him his toe hurt and asked if he could come into bed. I figured that might solve our blanket issues, but it certainly wouldn't help me sleep, so I was glad when Kelly denied the request. Alas, Christian still doesn't sleep through the night consistently. It's about 2-3 times/week. Not bad, but there's definite room for improvement.

Anyway...Christmas. Our first Christmas at our house without family visiting. It was a very fun experience. We acted out the nativty on Christmas eve. I have been wanting to do this for years! Being an only child, I never did this growing up. It's really hard to fill the roles with only one kid. But this year we had two kids and a baby Jesus, so we were set! I thought we'd only do it once, but the kids wanted a chance to play every role, so we did it over and over again. My favorite version was with Bella as Angel. There's nothing like little 2 year old Bella on the back of the couch, arms raised, belting, "Hello! A baby is born! Follow the star! Go find him!" To this day, she calls this "playing knock-knock." You know, where Mary and Joseph go "knock-knock" on the door and people say there's no room here? She asked me just yesterday if we could play knock-knock again. She also loved her stocking. Although she couldn't understand how they could be "stockings" but they don't go on your feet, so all Christmas eve, she walked around with everyone's stocking on her feet.


Then Christmas morning we opened presents. As a kid I never understood how people could say that it was more fun to give gifts than receive. I always assumed they were just saying that because it made them sound righteous. But now I think I get it. I loved giving my kids stuff that made them so happy. Although, not all their favorite gifts came from me. Our parents know how to give great gifts too. Benjamin's favorite gift was his magnifying glass from Mimi.


Bella's came from me, although anyone could have guessed what would make her happy - a frilly dress up skirt and matching plastic high heels. She has been wearing them every day since. My favorite gift was a three hour nap. I had intended to 'only lay down for a minute.' I awoke three hours later. Sleep deprivation is a killer. So grateful to Kelly for keeping the kids quiet and away during that time. It was wonderful. That and the chocolate. Kelly bought me 8 lbs of chocolate! That should last me at least until next week or so. :) Kelly's favorite gift was his new tent.


He wanted a tent that fit all of us and that he could stand up in. It's a monster. There will be no backpacking with this tent. The kids had blast with it, though. Everything they did for two days, they did in this tent. We finally had to pack it up before it got destroyed prior to ever making it outside.

Now life has returned to it's normal routine. Mondays are our grocery shopping day. As many know, my kids and I can spend hours at the grocery store. There's the helium balloons, the fish, the bikes, the lobsters, the toys, the books, etc. etc...oh yeah, and the food. I always make them wait until I've gotten all the food and then if they've been good, we go do what they want. So on Monday they were in the toy aisle and I couldn't help take a picture. They had both found bikes. Benjamin had his light saber inside his front-mounted Dora backpack and Bella had decked herself out, complete with Disney Princess Backpack. They were ready to browse the aisles.



Off she went in search of the perfect toys. So adorable.

4 Months Old

Christian turned four months old last week and he's doing great. He's starting to sleep better at night, which has been a big, big blessing. We've had 3 nights this week where he's slept through until 5am. Yay for sleep!
,
As for the stats: Height - 24 3/4 in (50%), Weight - 14 lbs 2 oz (25-50%)

He's a very happy baby. Very smiley, very quick to laugh. He loves his siblings and would often rather watch them play than anything else, even eat. He started eating rice cereal this week and has done better with it than my other two did. Benjamin batted at everything and refused to let me put it in his mouth. Bella made the funniest disgusted faces when she started eating solids. Christian, however, just seemed intrigued and a bit confused about what I was doing to him. Most everything went in and poured right back out, but he did manage to swallow a few times. Definitely a good sign.

We are hoping for a white Christmas. We made snow paint the other day (water mixed with food coloring in a squirt bottle) and had a great time coloring the back yard. Yesterday we went to the playground and had a blast sliding down the snowy slides and slipping off the icy merry-go-round. What we need is some more snow so we can rebuild our sad snowman that collapsed when the snow melted a bit and now lies on his back in our yard.



Bella's early Christmas present from a friend of mine: her first dress-up dress. She wears it EVERY day. Benjamin's swim goggles are an occasional accessory only, but I couldn't pass up the chance for a picture.


We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Oral Fixation and the Witching Hour

Two things have been coming to my attention more and more lately. Just thought i'd share. First: my kids are horribly orally fixated and I'm not sure if it's normal or what. Nearly any time they're alone, they pop something inedible in their mouths - legos, polly pocket accesories, styrofoam packing chips, etc. The phrase, "Spit that out!" is one of our most common phrases around here. The other day Benjamin had a lego in his mouth and I demanded he spit it. The moment it hit the floor, Bella ran by, picked it up in mid-sprint and popped it in her mouth as she ran for safety. Ewwwww! What is wrong with my children?? I have an infant, but it's my four year old that can't keep the legos out of his mouth. What is wrong with this picture? I only hope they outgrow it.


Second: the horrid witching hours from 5-7pm can sometimes we as hard as the whole rest of the day combined. Case in point - last night. I sent the older 2 downstairs to watch an episode of Kipper while I made dinner. As soon as I started to cook, Christian started to cry. So I tried to feed him, but he was squirmy and fussy and wouldn't eat. So I set him back down and went back to cooking. He cried and cried the entire time. It took me just over 15 minutes to cook dinner and he cried so hard the entire time that he puked all over himself - and continued crying! Just as I finished dinner and tried to clean him up, Bella came up to me crying because she'd finished watching tv and wanted to put on her pajama but her pajama was inside out and it was the worst thing ever and she was never going to be able to wear that pajama ever again!! So I asked her to bring me her pajama and as she does, I hear "Bam! Waaaaaa!" and in runs Benjamin, who'd decided that spinning circles in the living room would be fun - except that he was really too tired and he lost his balance and slammed his head on the corner of the piano bench. Oh the blood!!! It went all over the floor, him, me, Christian's bouncer seat, etc. It was literally squirting in an arc at times. I grabbed a dishtowel and applied pressure for a minute or two to slow it down, the whole time thinking, "Who could I call to watch Christian and Bella while I run him to the ER?" However, once the bleeding slowed, I could see that the wound wasn't big enough to require stitches. All this withtin minutes and all within the witching hours, as I've come to call them. Those hours between 5pm and bedtime (about 7:30) are the worst! I try never to be out during those hours. I got an invitation today to a playdate with a child from Benjamin's school who wanted to meet at the play place at the mall at 6pm next week! I thought she was kidding at first. Start a playdate at 6pm? Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a horrible idea? We have more meltdowns, tantrums, and crying at that time than any other time of day. And yet I see gymnastics classes offered at 5:30pm and storytimes at 7pm. I guess working parents have to be considered, but as for me and my house, we retire at 5pm and will not be seen later than that.

Okay, off to bed, just needed to get some things out.

Sleep vs. Blogging

This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging, but I had a really good reason: chronic, debilitating sleep deprivation. Every day Bella's dolls are Mommy and Bella. Mommy is always sleeping and alternatingly screaming at Bella that "you woke me up! I'm still tired! Go away and let me sleep!" Although I don't think I've ever come off that harsh in real life, I'm definitely struggling. Being woken up 2-3 times a night by an infant, a few times during the week by the other two, and then having them jump on my bed at the crack of dawn demanding, "What are you going to make for breakfast? Will you play with me?" makes me place a much higher priority on getting to bed than posting some pictures on my blog.

Funny story some of you have already heard that illustrates how sleep deprivation affects the mind: I had a moment to myself while the kids were downstairs and I thought, "I'm hungry, I should eat something." Sidenote: studies show that people who are sleep deprived have decreased levels of chemicals that signal satiety, so they tend to be hungrier often and over eat much more than people who get enough sleep. Combine that with nursing and I'm pretty much hungry all the time. Anyway, so I'm hungry and I get some leftovers out of the fridge and pop them in the microwave. Hit the 30 second button and step away. Then I think, "I'm hungry, I should eat something." Open up the fridge again to get something and hear the microwave beep. "What's in the microwave?" I wonder. "Who put something in there?" I open it up and then I remember - the leftovers! The leftovers I'd put in there 30 seconds earlier! I'd forgotten them. This is just one of many examples I could share of how dumb I've become, but sadly I've forgotten the rest. ;)

However, setting short term memory loss, irritability, mood swings, and shortened attention span aside, I'm doing great, so I thought I'd take a quick moment and post some recent pictures.

We got a bumbo-type seat for Christian that's become our new best friend. On the floor in his bouncer seat he would cry and cry, but place him in his seat on the table (I know - don't lecture me on the dangers of falling - I never place him near the edge and he's never in it unless we're sitting at the table - I promise!) and he's happy as can be. So he's our centerpiece at every meal and pretty much any time we're doing anything there - play-doh, coloring, working on the computer, etc. He is so happy as long as he's part of the action.



Also, it snowed on Sunday and we made our first snowman and had our first snowball fight. So fun. It was amazing packing snow. It got too heavy and icy by the end of the day but thank goodness for afternoon church because it left us all morning to play. I love snow and cold.