Tonight

So, I was sitting on the deck (which I love by the way.  Have I mentioned lately how amazing our deck is?  We ALL love it.  My husband did a fantastic job on it.  It is awesome.) reading for a few minutes after we put the boys to bed.  I never do this—I never go outside to read.  I rarely read at all, because of the threat of falling asleep anytime there is an iota of silence.  But, Hatch was working in the yard and there was still a little daylight, so I went out to read.  I heard a thump-like sound, but I thought it was Hatch or Murphy.  And, then I heard these cute little voices.  And, I turned to my left, and this is what I saw . . . at approximately 8:42pm.  RASCALS.

How dare we attempt to “play outside” without them!?  It seems that I need to do a better job of being sure their bedroom door latches.  hmmm.

And, have I mentioned that their latest and greatest activity is to take off their shoes as soon as they get into the car?  If you know me even the slightest bit, you know I am always late.  The automatic shoe-removal plan is not helping my cause one bit!

Sissy Loula Lou is loving these rice teethers these days.  It’s a good distraction and one of the ways I try to convince her that she doesn’t need to eat lunch yet.  One day I will feed her lunch.  That day is not today.  Tomorrow is not looking good either.  Sister has taken to having a little fiesta in her bed every night for about an hour between 2am and 4am.  The party starts with the shake-shake of her rattle, moves into some high-pitched squeals and uncontrollable giggles, and ends in about 15 minutes of hysteria.  Little Love has trouble unwinding after her crib party, so we are working on that.  She doesn’t eat, but she does need some help getting settled back in bed.  And, this week, our littlest chick has found it quite fun to cluck her tongue.  It is so adorable!  Today, at naps, I could not get her to stop laughing!  I’m not really sure what happened or what was so funny, but she was giggling non-stop!  She is so sweet and is such a little love!  And, considering her patterns of late, I will be receiving an invite to her crib party in a mere 2 hours, so I must go.  Nighty night!

Three more days until a LONG weekend . . . LOVE IT!

(ps:  that is a tiny patch of eczema on her face—we have seen the doctor about it lots and we are treating it.  after testing her, they are certain that it is not a milk protein or food allergy.  just wanted to mention that, as people have asked!  she is fine and her skin looks lovely today!  this pic was from last week!)

They’re Back!

Courtesy of our Church Preschool Yard Sale (which our friends hosted—brave, brave souls they are!), our fun swings out front are BACK and filled with two of my favorite babies!  Not that these swings will only be used for babies . . . because there are two big ole 2 year olds who have already had their turn in them as well.  Oh, I love it!  Fun times ahead!

Life as we know it: RASCALS

This morning did not go as planned.  As I got into the shower, I heard the boys start talking and making noise, so I knew they were awake.  Usually, they play in their room or read together in one of their beds before I come in to get them.  Today, I heard them try to open their door (which is a usual occurrence) and then I heard more rattling . . . and, then, they pulled back the shower curtain and said “Hi, Mommy!”  Well . . . HELLO to you too!  They just hung around the bathroom until I got out, and they decided to “sleep in Mommy’s bed like a {naked} jaybird” (note:  there are never naked jaybirds sleeping in Mommy’s bed.  They just thought this was funny since they only had on their diapers} while I attempted to get dressed and ready for the day as fast as humanly possible. 

Despite my telling him not to do it, Hudson has a new habit of trying to drink all of the water out of Hatch’s cup (beside his bed) as fast as possible.  Today, I grabbed the cup just as William was screaming “NOOO, HUDSON!”  Hudson just said “Dat’s enough.  Me all done.”  Thank you, Hudson, I am glad we are in agreement.

Right before I took this picture, I told William to smile.  After taking the picture he said “I can’t smile!  My mouth not workin’!  My mouth broken!”  I assured him his mouth was not broken and that he did in fact smile for the picture!

We are in what I like to call Potty Training Purgatory.  The boys definitely have an interest in the potty, they have some success using it, but they don’t use it all the time . . . and sometimes their timing is off . . . WAY off.  So, we are not officially potty training, but we are not exclusively using diapers either.  We had decided, together, that the boys would use the potty before putting on their clothes (which, to me, seemed like a normal, human thing to do.)  I was finishing getting ready when I heard the faucet running which was my first cue that they were trying to use the potty without me.  I rushed into the bathroom to find that Hudson was filling the insert of the “tiny potty” with water and somehow dumping/sloshing it all over the bathroom floor.  William was squealing “Oh no!  Da floor wet!  Hudson getting da floor wet!”  I thought I might lose my mind.  This was far too much activity for me when, on any other given day, my children would have been securely shut in their bedrooms!  I cleaned up the floor and Hudson helped me.  Hudson used the potty, and we went to get his clothes for the day.  Meanwhile, William unraveled the entire roll of toilet paper and put it in the toilet and tried to flush it.  I walked in the bathroom, and he held up the cardboard roll and proudly said “Look!  I flushed it!  I flushed it down da potty!”  Lovely.  While I was taking care of William’s mishap, I realized that Sister had somehow woken up from her nap . . . and, then, I heard the music from her mobile . . . which to me, was not a good sign.  When I went into her room, I was horrified to find this:

Despite my audible shock and dismay, William could not resist joining in the fun . . . 

Poor sister.  Poor, poor sister.  She is loved so much.  I just hope the love doesn’t leave her trampled . . .  

It seems that Aunt Mary’s mobile was luring them into her crib . . . 

. . . after all, it does play music and spin.  (Fear not, Sugie, they now know that they are NEVER to do that again.)

After our very interesting start to the morning (all of this had happened before breakfast, mind you) we still somehow managed to make it out of the house in one piece and with all of our family members alive and well.  That is no small feat around here.  We went to the park with some friends and played with the dinosaurs, and it was lovely.  And, to the credit of the rascals, they did a pretty good job of listening to me when it was time to leave.  I am learning that while my goal is for them to listen to me and obey me the first time I say it, for now, if they listen and obey me within a minute or two of my asking, that feels like real success!  Baby steps, baby steps . . .   

I will leave you with this:  William “feeding” Hudson his water.  They think it is hysterical.  This picture was taken last night, but they were still talking about it this morning.  It is so funny to me to see what they laugh at these days!  Oh, these rascals!  They are wild, but I love them so!

Life as we know it {in cell phone pics}

We went to play with some friends today, and we were able to feed the cows in their neighborhood!  You just never know what fun you will find around here!  Hudson was very into it—the cow licked his hand!  William wanted to see the cows, but not touch them.  I came very very close to having a cow lick my head . . . a near miss!  We had a GREAT time, and we know what we’ll do with our extra lettuce from here on out!

Last week, as we were leaving the house, the boys spotted both a Recycling truck and a bucket truck and tree-shredder (?) truck.  They begged me to walk down to see them, so we took a little field trip and planted ourselves in front of our neighbors’ yard.  We were so close that we could see the saw dust falling as we watched “the man” cut down the tree.  Oh, the excitement!

Hudsey was thrilled!

Little Miss and her chubby cheecks had a blast, too!  I have a hunch she will be quite educated about trucks!

Since William has had so many doctor’s visits (and, therefore, alone time with Mommy), we decided that Hudsey needed a special day with his mama.  So, I did what any mother would do:  I scheduled a lunch date with my boy for some cheese dip and quesadillas.  We had a blast, and our special guest, Daddy, was even able to come.  Hudson BEAMED with delight the entire lunch—it was priceless and so much fun!  (He had a yoyyipop after lunch, too.  Oh, how special!)

This child comes by his love of cheese dip honestly!

 

Miss Jennifer came for a visit, and we had a great time catching up!  Little Miss thought she was quite fun!

 

And, on Saturday, we went for a special day (in the rain) to the “Bounce Bounce” because the boys love it and Daddy had yet to see the excitement!  (and we had a coupon that was about to expire!)  It is really hard to take pictures because everyone is moving so fast . . . and I had a baby strapped to me, but here are a few shots of the fun!

Sliding down!

Someone prefers to go backwards.  I wonder who that could be?

 

Saturday afternoon we went to help Aunt Katie and Uncle Bretty with their new house.  I painted and Daddy did other stuff.  When I came home from helping I found three sad little faces . . .  (L to R:  William, Hudsey, and Char-dee) . . . they wanted to use their tools and help, too!

Isn’t this boy beautiful?  Oh, I love him so!

And, we’ve gone up on the dosage for W’s medication again.  I think this is the last dosage increase that we may do for a while.  To be honest, I am a little disappointed that the hemangioma does not look smaller yet.  But, I have not lost hope . . . time will tell.  Please continue to pray with us for Jesus to fully heal William’s eye, for William to tolerate the medication well, and for me to have peace—and not worry about my baby or have regrets (should we have tried this sooner?  what if?)!  Thank you for your partnership in prayer for our Sugar Lump.  And, we went to pick out his prescription sunglasses today (he has extremely sensitive eyes and complains daily about the brightness outdoors, so the ped. opthamologist told us that the best option is some great prescription shades for the little man).  I’ll be sure to post some pictures.  He talked and talked and talked to the lady at the glasses shop—he loves making new friends.  He is so sweet!  Wait ‘til you see him in his new shades!  And, Hudsey has some cool shades, too.  Fear not:  things come in two around here!

Little Miss is Six Months Old!

Well, here we are again:  Tuesday.  I am excited to say that today went much better than the last two Tuesdays, despite the fact that today held a morning activity of the boys and me picking up all 347 q-tips and cotton balls one-by-one from the bathroom floor; an afternoon of what I like to call the “potty relay,” where mid-lunch one boy says he must try to go to the potty, so we zoom upstairs for the entire song and dance and return to lunch to then take the next one up {this happened twice with each of my boys today}; a clean up activity of supervising Hudson drying the bedroom floor with a towel after he intentionally poured Hatch’s water onto the bedroom floor {I was cleaning up the bathroom after the potty brigade when this incident occurred;} and, a memorable moment of Hudson handing me a broken door-knob protector {you know, the thing that keeps kids from being able to use the doorknob because it spins and spins} which he had busted off of the front door of our house.  You see, last Friday, I told the boys that I was running upstairs to get their sister, and when I came back down, they were standing in the front yard.  A cat had wandered by as they were looking out the window, and it seems that they just couldn’t help themselves from darting out the door to “chase” their feline friend.  It was news to me that they could even open the front door, so the door knob protector was our back up plan . . . and, well, we’re back to the drawing board on that one!

Despite the fact that my sweet littlest love turns 7 months old tomorrow {I cannot even talk about it}, I am here to post her 6 month pictures!  {You can check out her brothers at 6 mos, too.} We’re way off on her doctor’s visits, so we just had her check up last week.  Even though she hardly ate for her 5th month due to all of her ear infections, she still gained weight well.  I am so thankful for that!

Sister weighed in at 18lbs, 9.5 ounces {75-90%} and is 26.5 inches long {75%}.  This past month has been so much fun and has brought some new adventure to our lives and routine--The johnny jump up and really loving the exersaucer are new activities for her! 

Little Miss began eating baby food and is now really enjoying eating a big ole breakfast as well as dinner.  {I am resistant to change, so lunch will have to come at a later date.  I feel certain she will protest and insist on it sooner rather than later!}  She loves pears and sweet potatoes and carrots.  She does not seem to love peas or oatmeal, but she will eat them if she is hungry enough! She has learned to sit up well and loves watching the world around her. 

{William kept saying:  Look!  Anna look like a dinosaur wit da green (?) and orange on her face!  She a dinosaur!}

{These are hot off the press!  Taken tonight!}

Just in the last week or so, she has started to rock back and forth on our laps like she is going to bounce her chubby little self away!  She does this often when her active brothers are in go-mode.  I have feeling that it won’t take her long to catch them!  We’ve taken to calling her “thumpy” because she lifts her legs and bangs them down in unison in her bed and on the floor . . . and she swings them around to scoot 90-180 degrees.  We never know where she’ll end up when we put her down at night!

AnnaBug has definitely found her voice, and it is quite loud.  She often wakes in the night or early in the morning to squeal and squawk and shake her rattle around, and then she nods on off . . . and, she loves to participate when the noise levels are escalating around here.  If her Daddy comes home and has not spoken to her, she usually yells until he looks her way, and then she immediately becomes shy.  You see, her Daddy and her brothers are some of her very favorite people to talk to and laugh at each day.  {Last week the boys were jumping off the loveseat, which they know they are not allowed to do.  I went to stop them, and she was laughing so hysterically at them, she was literally shaking, and, all I could do was laugh!  I am in for it, I’m afraid!}

(why not throw a tiny bottle of shampoo into anna’s shelves while naked?)

Sister is so sweet and quite flexible with her daytime routine.  In the span of her life, she has had ONE night where she went 12 hours without eating . . . she was still up with the squealing and playing multiple times in the night, but now we know:  she can do it.  She can go the distance!

Someone asked me recently how the boys are doing with Little Miss, and I said, that they adore her (which is true), and that for almost 7 straight months, on a daily basis, I have said these words:  DO NOT touch your sister’s eyes.

            

While Sissy-Loula-Lou is drooling up a storm and chomping on her fingers, we haven’t actually seen a tooth yet . . . but, we think one is coming in on the bottom . . . eventually . . . 

Sister has many admirers, but these are some of her most handsome:       

Who doesn’t love having some chub to hold onto?

Love!

   

Pat, pat, Sissy! 

I adore these.  Oh, my loves!

Oh, how I love this baby girl of mine!  Night Night!