A Pew All Our Own

Drew's well check and 20 week update

2012-01-31T15:18:00.000-05:00

All was great with the chubby, smiley boy. He weighed less than he does on our scale. Usually the opposite is true, he weighs more once we get to the doctor. He weighed 18.1lbs (19lbs on our scale) and measured more than 25 inches. I guess I wasn't paying very close attention and they didn't write it down for me. Oops! Looks like he isn't quite as big as Isaac was after all.

He has a little artery on the bridge of his nose that they are going to ultrasound, but I am not exactly sure why. Something about pressure and bones closing. I'll update after I get that ultrasound done. I'm sure it will be fine though.

Drew tries to eat his dad's Pathology book while he was studying.

Drew is getting better at manipulating things with his hands. He can grab and get anything in his reach, including the doctor's stethoscope. :) He's been grabbing at my food and other things.

His appointment was on the 24th, but I am just now getting around to posting due to quite a few issues. The first was my husband's email account (the one linked to my blog) was hijacked, and I couldn't sign in for over a week. Then I had some major catching up to do, but I have been consumed with family and with getting back on track with school. So here we are on the 31st. A few weeks have gone by since an update on Drew. So he is now 20 weeks old! Wow, where did the time go?

He got a bit overly tired the week of the funeral from all the traveling around in the car and staying out later than normal. (He was a terrific baby during the whole week, being passed around and giving easy smiles to everyone.) So he recovered over the following weekend, sleeping extra. Then the night disruptions began. He had been sleeping through the night, and then he started waking a lot. We had some pretty rotten nights and just when he started sleeping through the night again, he got sick. Isaac first came down with a fever, runny nose, and a nasty cough. Three days later Drew started with the cough. He hasn't had much of a fever, thankfully. Oddly enough, he is sleeping okay at night so far, but his naps are very short because the cough wakes him up. He's actually been sleeping until 6 or 6:30am in the mornings which has been nice even if it doesn't last. Even sick he is fairly smiley, not as much as usual though.

He has no new amazing feats, but he is doing something new. He is biting me when he's finished nursing sometimes. All of my babies have done this a few times, but he is doing it a lot. I am trying to pay attention and catch him before it happens. He looks innocent enough, doesn't he?

Absent-minded Professor

2012-01-23T09:32:00.005-05:00

Genevieve is one of those absent-minded professor types in that she is super smart, but loses things constantly and gets words mixed up. The former quality comes from her dad who is ever in search of his lost glasses, wallet, or keys. (Love you, Honey!) The latter quality comes from my side of the family, passed down from many generations, and though I don't like to admit it I let the wrong word out from time to time and get teased by my genius of a husband. In fact, I made a rather embarrassing word mix up on our first date that I may tell you about some day.

Back to Genna. Genna was telling her Mimi, a fellow word mixer-upper, on the phone recently what books she was reading. Can you believe she is reading a book about the "Kivil War," also known as the Civil War? When I reminded her about the "ci" phonics rule, she changed her pronunciation to the "Silver War."

Recently we had Little Caesar's for dinner. I got some Crazy Bread, and Genna asked for another piece of "Scary Bread" when she had finished her pizza.

There are so many things she says that I don't remember by the end of the day. I wish I could record them all. She keeps us laughing. That's a good thing.

Father Daughter Dance

2012-01-21T21:31:00.007-05:00

American Heritage Girls has an annual fundraiser, a Father Daughter Dance, and this year I was in charge of helping the older girls to organize it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see its completion. When my aunt passed away, I handed over all the information in case I wasn't able to go. As it turns out I would have been able to, but the other ladies helping out sent me home to recuperate from the week. Brian took the girls though since they had been really looking forward to it.

This may be my favorite pose. They were practicing some of the dance moves I taught them. I love Genna's serious face. :)

Daddy wore a Snoopy tie!

What a lucky daddy!

Here are the two pictures they took at the dance. The first is of Genna getting crazy at the craft table.

Here are the girls getting down at the dance together.

They all had a lot of fun! I stayed home with the boys and my mom who was still in town from the funeral. We watched a movie after the boys were in bed.

A Wonderful Life

2012-01-20T22:28:00.010-05:00

Today was Cindy's funeral. I opted to have a babysitter for the service for the girls and Isaac. I have been to some really hard funerals in my life and I was wanting to spare them the extra pain. I also wanted time for myself to grieve without having the kids to worry about. Drew came with us, of course. As it turns out, there were quite a few kids there which I didn't expect.

It was a beautiful service. There was a perfect balance of missing her and remembering her that I would hope would be present at my own funeral. The most touching part were the tributes people read about Cindy. The way each of her friends and family described her had many common words like beauty, grace, patience, kindness and humor. I enjoyed the funny stories told even though my eyes filled with tears. The tributes made me wish I had had the courage to write one, stand up, and read it.

As I thought about this later, I realized that though I am a terrible public speaker (and I mean terrible, I often laugh hysterically out of pure nervousness) I do have one outlet that has been working for me for almost 5 years...my blog. This I can offer. This I can give.

Cindy married my mom's youngest brother, Frank. My sister and I were in their wedding when I was 7 years old, Hannah's age. I don't remember much about it from experience, but I have heard many stories about how my 5 year old sister put on quite the performance pulling up her tights up and shaking her finger "No" at my mom as my mom tried to get her to stop. For some brides this would have been a disaster to have at their wedding, but Aunt Cindy thought it was a riot, retold the story, and laughed about it for years to come.

When they had three beautiful girls, I babysat for them until the family moved to Virginia. Then I just saw them at Christmas and sometimes in the summer. Their three girls were in my wedding as junior bridesmaids. It wasn't until I moved out of Texas that I got to spend more time with my aunt and uncle. We have had the pleasure of stopping in for visits on our way back and forth between Texas and Germany. The kids always loved to visit them, and not only because Uncle Frank always put on movies and gave them way too many sweets, although I am sure that helped. Aunt Cindy always had creative and fun activities for them to do. Whether it was a home-made play-dough volcano, well thought out crafts, or a spur of the moment taped on mustache.

By far the most memories we have with Cindy are from the last year and a half when we have lived close to them. Cindy and I shared a love for children and arts and crafts. We had many great conversations over the years. She was always so fun to be around and had a great sense of humor. I have always been impressed at how my uncle and her raised their three girls. They've become great young women and I am proud to have them as role models for my girls. Even better than all that Cindy was to me was all that she was to my kids. They have never had a grandmother live close by and Cindy filled the role of surrogate grandmother very well since we moved here. She and my uncle took the kids for craft days and even a whole weekend before Drew was born so Brian and I could go on a vacation alone for our tenth anniversary. During the summer that we moved to the area, while I was still in TX with the kids, Cindy would come over all day while Brian was at work and set up my whole kitchen, the bathrooms, and helped unpack much of our boxes, and she would come grocery shop for me when we first moved in. Before she got sick, Cindy came out to visit sometimes during the week when I needed help with the kids like when I had to paint the living room or go to the dentist. She and my uncle came to the kids' birthday parties and had us over for dinner all the time.

I am especially thankful for this last Thanksgiving. That is really the last time she was her usual self. She bought new serving pieces, set up the tables so beautifully, and had wonderful crafts for the kids to do that day. That was when the kids made the Indian costumes out of pillowcases. She set up such a cute kid's table for them. And then there was the Advent boxes she spent so much time pulling together for the kids. These are great memories, but they are not without the pain of realizing she is gone and it was the last Thanksgiving with her.

The whole time she was sick, I wished that I could be more helpful to her. I love through service, and it killed me that because of being pregnant, having a newborn, and homeschooling I wasn't able to help her out more. However, I was so blessed by her friends and family at the visitation and memorial services. First, one of her really close friends that flew in for the services came up to me and told me how much she loved my kids and how well behaved they were. Cindy had been so glad we moved close. She told me that Cindy had said, "This is what grandchildren must be like." She told me that I gave her a gift, that my kids were a gift to her since she never got to see her own grandchildren. I can't tell you what that meant to me. I was still thinking about this when someone else came up to me and said something to the same effect. For the two days more people than I can count told me the same thing more or less, that she loved my kids and thought of them as grandchildren. And I can't help but think that my Aunt Cindy was blessing me and comforting me even after her death. What an amazing woman and a wonderful life.

Cindy's family
My aunt, three cousins, and uncle

Telling the kids

2012-01-18T18:44:00.001-05:00

Tuesday night Brian and I told the kids about Aunt Cindy. They were at a friend's house most of the day so that I (and Drew) could be with my uncle and cousins. Brian kept them up a little late so that when I got back we could tell them together.

Isaac didn't seem to quite get the permanence of it. Hannah and Genna's first question was, "But when we go to their house who will do crafts with us?" They loved to do crafts with their Aunt Cindy. The girls cried and we did our best to comfort them knowing that there is nothing we can really do to make it better for them. That is a hard part of parenthood, watching your kids grow up in this world, facing pains that kisses and hugs can't fix. What we can offer them is the hope and promise of eternal life that Jesus has given us. Without this, her death would be simply unbearable.

This is a hard thing for anyone to accept, the permanence of death. I can still hardly believe that I won't see her next time we go for a visit to my uncle's house. How do you learn to live without someone who had such a wonderful and welcome presence in your life?

My Aunt Cindy

2012-01-17T21:45:00.002-05:00

When we moved here in 2010, we were thrilled to finally live near some family, my aunt and uncle. We move around so much that this is a luxury that we really haven't had ever. It has been a huge blessing to us.

A year ago, Aunt Cindy had her appendix out and they found the cancer. So began her year long fight. This woman had some serious style and grace, and I always thought of her as the Jackie Kennedy of cancer patients. Until Thanksgiving I could see hardly any effects of the treatment or the disease. This is not to say she didn't have any, only that she didn't let it show and certainly never complained. She didn't like to talk much about it. I remember Isaac asking her once if she was "better yet." I am sure he was confused since she didn't look sick and yet we prayed for her healing as a family every night. She replied simply, "I'm trying."

On Christmas day, we were at their house and she was definitely a lot weaker. It was shortly after that when they decided to stop treatment. When we heard that news we dropped everything and went to visit her that very day. She was having a "good" day, my uncle had told me. So we jumped at the opportunity since just a few days before we were over for a visit and we were not able to see her since she was sleeping the whole time. This was nearly one week ago today. I didn't know that would be the last time we would ever see her. If I had known I would have made sure she knew how much she meant to me, to us. If I had known I would have told her that I hung up the plaster heart hand-prints she helped the kids make for my Christmas present. For some reason it slipped my mind that day, but I had intended to tell her how nice it looked on my bedroom wall with their photos. If I had known I would have prepared the kids more for a calmer visit. I would have brought coloring books or something to keep them busy in the confines of her bedroom. If I had known I would have written her that letter that was on my to-do list for tomorrow to tell her all the things that I could not say.

But I didn't know. I thought we had more time. We always think that, don't we? Thankfully though, for every I wish I had known, there is an I'm glad that. I'm glad that we went to see her that day, on a "good" day. I'm glad that she got to hold Drew that day and he brought her a little bit of joy. I'm glad that she didn't have a long drawn out time of suffering and that her pain was easily managed. I'm glad that she had the chance to say and do the things she wanted to before she left this earth. I'm glad that her three girls are grown and out of the nest. As a daughter, I know you always need your mom no matter how old you are. You are never old enough to lose your mom. But as a mom, I know raising your kids, teaching them, and getting them to that place of independence is so very important since no one can love and raise your kids the way you would.

Cindy passed away early this morning. She was only 47. She will be so greatly missed. She was a friend to me and a surrogate grandmother to my children. My heart and prayers are with my uncle and cousins during this incredibly difficult time. I only hope I can be of some help to them.

Aunt Cindy holding Drew on Thanksgiving day

Officially 4 months old!

2012-01-14T06:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Drew was officially 4 months old. I weighed him on our scale, and he was 19 lbs even, hanging with Isaac's growth scale. He's a sweetie pie!

Noise

2012-01-13T11:13:00.000-05:00

Boys are noisy. Try teaching kids with this in the background.

I suppose I should be thankful that the noises are happy ones, but (confession time) noise is the hardest part of motherhood for me. On second thought, perhaps it is tied with lack of sleep. Any compounded noise is hard on my nerves. With our growing family, surely this will get easier for me to handle. More likely it is a cross to carry, and, hopefully, it will refine me in the process.

Movie Star

2012-01-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

Getting a laugh on video has proven difficult since I have to either act like a complete fool or sing (and you don't want to hear that, trust me) to get him to laugh. Here's my best one.

The Johnny Jumperoo experience...

17 weeks and almost 4 months old!

2012-01-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

My sweet Drew! His new accomplishment this week is blowing raspberries. He is almost rolling to his tummy from his back,

but not quite.

His new toy experience is the Johnny Jumperoo, and it went pretty well.

I think he enjoyed it.

What do you think?

Sorry, I just couldn't

stop taking pictures of this cutie boy!

He had a good fussy couple of days at the beginning of last week which wasn't much fun for anyone, but I will not complain because I have fussy days sometimes too. Overall, he is a joy! Such a smiley boy that no one can get enough of him around here.

He goes to sleep without crying once I leave the room, but he goes through phases where he will scream while I am reading, praying, and singing to him. It is a little annoying because that is our quiet time together, or rather it is supposed to be. Sometimes he doesn't do this and settles in, grabbing onto my thumb and finger to hold as he relaxes with me. Those are the moments that I love. Sometimes he will cry at the beginning and then suddenly relax and be nearly asleep. It is possible this is when he gets overly tired, but the times when I know I have kept him up too long are the times when he doesn't cry. So I am not exactly sure if this is random or caused by the degree of tiredness. Either way, he normally cries while I zip him up in his Woombie for just a moment, but settles right away 98% of the time. The other 2% he cries a few minutes after I leave, usually less than 5 minutes though. He's a champ!

He has not pooped in the middle of the night all week which is wonderful! He is waking earlier (~5:30am) than he was when I was nursing him in the middle of the night (~7am.) Since Isaac got into such a terrible habit of waking at 5:00am or earlier. I am really trying not to make this the norm. Three times when I have left him to cry it out he has actually gone back to sleep, but just as many times he hasn't. If he doesn't I get him up at 6am. His naps have been longer this week. I guess he is catching up from the shorter ones for several weeks before that. He also is waking if he sleeps in his car seat whenever we move him in or out of the car which is a bummer because now we have to try to leave when he is awake, be back in time for the next nap, and keep him awake in the car. This is harder than it sounds because he is only awake for 1.5 hours in between naps. I can't do much with 4 kids in that amount of time. This means he is going to have to have a short nap while we are out for piano, AHG, etc. Lucky for him, we do school at home and really can't leave a ton anyway or we wouldn't get anything accomplished.

I have tried and tried to get this little guy to take a pacifier, but so far he is looking like a possible thumb sucker. He is my only kid that has ever even found his thumb more than a couple times. The others sucked on their whole fists, which he does do from time to time.

Asleep at the wheel

2012-01-08T07:42:00.001-05:00

I mean at the table! Check this out!

This is what happens when you really don't want to eat your split pea soup and you missed your afternoon nap.

I carried him up to bed after discovering him like this long after everyone else had left the table. As I am laying him in bed, he halfway woke up and said, "Mom, when I get big like you and dad..." There was a long pause, and I wasn't sure if he was awake or not. Then he repeated that part of the sentence again with another pause. Then he finished the thought, "maybe I will learn to eat better."

He is normally a good, but slow eater. I have found that all of our 3 year olds just don't eat as well and have many nights where they sit at the table for a long time before either suddenly finishing or deciding they are full. This particular night was "dessert night" which we only have twice a week, and Hannah was making these Magic Marshmallows from her cook book. Isaac really wanted some, but he was just too tired. Don't worry, we'll save his for another night. I'm not that mean!

"No interupting" clips

2012-01-07T12:54:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, Isaac went to get a "no interrupting" clip (I made these clips that hang on a folder with busy work and each has the favorite color ribbon attached for each child) to put on me while I was working with one of the girls to tell me in a polite way that he wanted/needed my attention. He waited patiently while I got to a stopping point. I asked him what he needed. He said with his big smiley cheeks, "I love you." That was it, and he ran to put the clip back in its place. He really loves his mommy, and he also really loves using the "no interrupting" clips. :) A little bit later, he kept bothering Genna while she was supposed to be doing her independent work. I told him to "stop interrupting her work" and he replied, "Oh, can I put a clip on Genna?" No. Those are just for mommy. :)

Another Impromtu Performance

2012-01-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

Genna gave us an impromptu song after lunch was over the other day. It was pretty funny and a wonderful change to her tearful day the day before this occurred.

Isaac! My kids can barely stand to be out of the spotlight, can you tell? Where did they come from?

2nd Annual German Christmas Party

2012-01-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

I guess I had too much fun at this party to take my own pictures. These are from our friends who host this party. A group of us who all lived in Germany and are now living in the same area again like to sit around and reminisce about Christmas in Deutchland. In fact, these friends are so in love with Germany that they built a German market stall like you see at the Christmas markets. Brian was majorly jealous of his buddy's wood crafting ability and free time. (His buddy already finished his residency and passed boards.)

16 weeks: sleep training in the middle of the night

2012-01-04T06:55:00.004-05:00

Drew is 16 weeks now, but he's not 4 months officially until late next week. He doesn't have his 4 month check up until even later in the month, but I think he is over 18 lbs at the moment. In case you can't tell, he loves to suck on those fingers and hands!

Thursday night was the first day of nighttime boot camp for little Drew. I was hopeful since he has never been one to cry for long stretches at other times of the day, maybe a handful of times in his life. However, he is still pooping in the middle of the night regularly. My plan was to send in daddy for the middle of the night diaper change and swaddle if he woke.

Night One:
He woke at 10:00pm sharp for dreamfeed. I nursed him like I normally would.
He woke at 1:45am (not normal, never wakes this early.) Dad changes his diaper (poop,) swaddles him, and puts him back down. He cried on and off for just over an hour. He was back asleep before 3am.
He woke at 4:30am. We did not go in at all. He cried for about 30 minutes straight, took a 7 minute break and was back asleep by 5:20am.
He woke at 6am and I got him up and nursed him to start the day.
During the day on Friday, he was very tired and had trouble staying awake his normal time.

Night Two:
He woke at 1:15am and cried just long enough for me to wake up and hear him. He stopped and went back to sleep.
He woke at 3:34am. Dad changes his diaper (no poop,) swaddles him, and puts him back down. He cried for only 5 minutes and then was quiet for 10 and cried a couple more and went back to sleep.
I woke him at 7am to nurse and start the day.
During the day he stayed on his regular schedule nursing at 10, 1, 4, 6:30, and 10. (One minor change that wasn't his fault was a bottle of breast milk at 4 (by dad) of which he only took 1.5 oz and I nursed him at 5 when I got home since the second bottle attempt didn't go so well.

Night Three:
He woke at 3:34am again. Dad changes his diaper (poop,) swaddles him, and puts him back down. He cried for only a couple minutes and then went back to sleep.
He woke at 6:30am to nurse and start the day.
Mass cut his first nap short, but had a good second nap, a mediocre third nap, and a regular evening nap.

Night Four:
He slept through the night until just minutes before 6am which is good enough for me. And if the wind storm at 4am hadn't woken me up (and kept me up) when something hit the window, I might be a well rested mommy right now.
He did the same napping as the day before where he took three short naps and one long one (2nd nap.) He was very uncharacteristically cranky all day.

I am sure the middle of the night waking (and pooping) is far from over, but at least we are making progress and have a strategy that is working. I especially like that the strategy involves someone else getting up in the middle of the night besides me. :) Not sure that Brian feels the same way though.

The Holy Family

2012-01-03T12:25:00.001-05:00

I asked Genna who was in the Holy Family. Genna replied, "Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and God. God was his real father and Joseph was his pretend father." I tried to explain that Joseph wasn't a "pretend" father because he raised Jesus and did all the regular daddy things that her dad does with her, like play games and stuff. Her reply was cute, "Yeah, God was too busy watching over the land."

The kids did a spontaneous Christmas play the other day. I heard them while I was in the kitchen and had to get some pictures and a mini video.

Sorry for all the interruptions in the following video, but that's just kind of how it is around here these days.

Brian caught this picture while I was out.

The Sweetest Moment

2012-01-02T08:35:00.001-05:00

Isaac and I have had a conversation in the past about how when he gets big he can be a dad, but he has to find a wife because I can't be his wife since I already have a husband. Before bed one night this week we were discussing him being more respectful of his brother when I am putting him to bed and not interrupt. I told him he is getting big now and has to be a good big brother to Drew. I, after being questioned, explained that he will always be older than Drew even when he is an adult. He then says questioningly, "I can be a dad and get another mom to marry?" I said you can find a wife to marry and be the mom of your kids. Yes." Suddenly his bottom lip curls out and he bursts into tears saying, "You can't be my wife?" I hugged him and calmed him down, and then tried to clarify that I will always be his mommy, I just can't be his wife. But I will be his mommy and love him forever and ever until the day I die. Well, that was the wrong thing to say, and I knew it even as the words slipped out of my mouth. There went the lip again. "You're going to die?" he asks in a teary voice. I quickly assured him I wouldn't die anytime soon (God willing.) I reassured him he would always be my son and I would always be his mom. What a wonderful moment for me to hold in my heart as he grows up and leaves me. Raising sons is so much different than raising daughters. I am so blessed to have two of each!

Playing and Organizing

2012-01-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

This week the kids played with their new toys while I made room for the said toys by reorganizing everyone's room. I, like Hannah, LOVE to organize. On Wednesday, Hannah went to a friend's house while Genna and I spent some time together during the boys' naps. We organized her part of the room and filled out her, "Big Sister" book she got for Christmas. She had been asking for us to do that together since she got it. Genna is so easy to please. The whole time we were cleaning, she kept saying, "This is so fun, Mom!" I am so flattered that she can be so happy just to be with me alone no matter what we are doing.

Hannah was Genna's servant and dressed her up, even did her hair.

Hannah is enjoying her reading and wiggling the tooth that came out later that evening (with Daddy's help.)

Genna is showing off her Easy Feet. They saw this infomercial while I was watching the news one morning and kept talking about how much they wanted it. Genna said she didn't want to do that one legged dance in the shower, a direct quote from the commercial. I found it on sale and was slightly intrigued with it myself.

Doesn't my baby look like a real boy? Stop that growing, Buddy!

We have had Daddy home most of the week from work so we were blessed with his fire place skills on the first really cold day in a while.

Of course, Drew and Daddy did some football watching in front of that fire.

The Legos have been a huge hit with the three big kids. They have been playing all together with them very nicely.

15 Weeks Old (written last Tuesday)

2011-12-31T10:35:00.003-05:00

Drew is getting stronger and stronger. He does little baby sit ups which are pretty funny looking. On his back, he can arch his back up and push with his legs, getting ready to roll from back to tummy, but it may still be a while. On his tummy, he can push his arms straight, one at a time and lift his legs way off the ground and he is starting to do the "airplane." His abs are far surpassing mine, that's for sure.

Christmas festivities really messed up his schedule and those nights that I didn't tell you about him sleeping through are long gone. He has been waking at 2:30/3am again. I am contemplating sending Brian in for the old diaper change and put back down while he is off work this week. I am trying to gear myself up for it because I think it needs to be done before her turns 4 months old and his schedule has to be changed and extended again. I am still undecided as of now.

Drew is definitely figuring out the fuss for attention thing. Having lots of people around him over the week made this worse because everyone goes running to a fussing/noisy baby and showers him with attention. He grunts and hollers until someone pays attention to him, at which time he immediately smiles as big as he can. At home, I don't ignore him completely, but neither do I go running at his every whim. Usually, it is just a boredom thing, and if I move him somewhere new he is happy again. When we homeschool, I sit near him to try and keep him quieter only because the noise is distracting to my little students and I don't like to have to "yell" over him to be heard.

His new toy experience of the week is busting out the excersaucer. He didn't love it the first couple of times and kind of just sat there, but then he started grabbing for things and he likes it more now. He is getting better at grabbing things and always tries to get them in his mouth if it will reach.

He is settling into somewhat of a pattern with his naps, not a great pattern, but at least its a pattern. Patterns help me not to get too frustrated even when it isn't the schedule I wanted for him. He is taking two longer naps in the morning and midday, followed by two 45 minute naps in the late afternoon and evening. I think once we move to the four month/four hour schedule this may end up evening out since he will be dropping the last nap and extending waketimes. With his four naps and dreamfeed, he is nursing 6 times a day. That makes 7 times in a 24 hour period when he wakes at night.

Did I mention this kid can drool?

Drew has developed a touch of Excema in the last week. It started only on his cheeks, elbows, and knees. Since then it has spread to his neck, feet, and a little spot by his mouth. I was using Cetaphil, but I found Hannah's old tub of Aquafor and am going to start using that instead. It is greasier, like Vaseline.

Christmas Part 4

2011-12-30T10:43:00.004-05:00

I didn't get as many pictures as I should have from Christmas evening at my aunt and uncle's house. After dinner we opened presents.

Genna wanted to show off one of her fancy hair bands she got, but it is hard to see in the picture. I should have snapped a picture of her trying to make skirts out of the left over tissue paper. What a princess!

Isaac got a cool car. His cheeks are flushed and I didn't know that, combined with his suddenly stuffy nose, was a sign of him getting sick since he frequently gets flushed cheeks and allergy-related stuffy noses too. The day after Christmas he came down with a fever and just felt rotten until that Tylenol kicked in.

Drew took two long morning/early afternoon naps and then had trouble napping in the late afternoon and evening in a different place. The result was him being jiggled to sleep by Godfather Brian during the gift opening.

The kids spent some super secret time with my aunt and cousins in the weeks before Christmas making Daddy and me some beautiful gifts. I was very proud of them all, especially Isaac, for keeping the secret. They each made me beautiful hand prints to hang on the wall. They each made Daddy really cute snowmen ornaments.

Christmas Part 3

2011-12-29T10:40:00.003-05:00

The picture we took of Hannah putting the baby Jesus in his crib and Isaac putting the nativity Jesus in his manger didn't come out, but you can see the newborn King in his crib behind Hannah in this picture.

They opened presents that they put together, wrapped, and put under the tree themselves. Hannah gave her sister money and a bunch of nicknacks that she thought Genna would like. Genna was super grateful as you can see here.

Hannah also gave me money, a card, some art work, and other random things from her room. She gave all her birthday money away to Genna and me. She gave Godfather Brian and her dad a box of things too. It was very sweet of her to get in the spirit of giving. I remember my sister and I doing the same thing when we were little too.

Genna gave Hannah a "Sister" snowman ornament that she picked out at the store and gave her 21 cents in a paper gift bag with tissue paper because "Hannah likes to make things out of bags and tissue paper." Cute, and it was all very appreciated!

Brian secretly bought gifts, not only for me, but for everyone. I now understand why he didn't tell me about all the kids' gifts he purchased. I think the next picture says it all.

Yes, a BB gun. For a three year old. "You'll shoot your eye out." Need I say more? It has been promised that it will be a highly supervised toy. The big kicker though is that Isaac didn't know what a BB gun was and asked his dad, "Do you shoot babies with it?" It took Hannah a few minutes to figure out that he misunderstood Daddy and thought he said "Baby gun." Whew! Hopefully, Drew will be spared now that we have clarified that it is a BB gun and stressed that you don't shoot anybody with it, including and especially babies.

Can you find the baby in the next picture? It's like Where's Waldo!

Hannah got a chess game with a story book that teaches the rules and strategies of the game, some more clothes for her American Girl Doll, some Barbies, and a big stack of books, mostly mysteries. Genna got a Rapunzel dress, a mini American Girl Doll, a Mother Mary Barbie, a bunch of books, and a much loved stuffed llama that she named Minnie. Isaac got a remote control car, more trains, playdough, and a Hot Wheels track. They all got Legos too. Drew received clothes, a stuffed duck, and some cute anchor hooks for his room.

Daddy was given a Soda Stream to make his bubbly water and a big tool box/organizer. I was the recipient of way more than I expected this year, new lamps for our bedroom, a new crockpot, and a hollow bench for our entryway to hold winter extras that clog up our coat closet.

We Skyped with my family while we opened their gifts.

I need to plan ahead better next year and not leave any cooking for the morning of Christmas next year because while all this was going on, I burned the cherries that were to go in my pie and had to start over. Plus, poor baby Drew got overly tired because I forgot all about his schedule in the chaos. Godfather Brian to the rescue!

We changed clothes, and we packed up the car and some lunches for the kids and headed to my aunt and uncle's house.

Christmas Part 2

2011-12-28T10:24:00.001-05:00

This picture may put fear in the hearts of many, but, trust me, I wouldn't have done it if I thought she couldn't handle it.

Hannah has been begging to hold Drew while standing up. I told her that she is not ready for unsupervised standing and holding and definitely not picking up or putting down, but if I am close by and she promises to be careful and tell me if he is getting too heavy she can try it out. He is really heavy now, over a third of her total weight. She has been practicing, and I let her hold him for one picture. Genna is so jeaslous of this new privilege.

Genna wanted to at least hold him, so we sat her down. Don't you just love his tuxedo onesie!

She loves that baby brother!

So does Isaac. He needed in on the action too.

These pictures were all taken once we returned home after mass and before opening gifts. There are a lot of pictures so I am dividing up the posts. There is still Part 3 and Part 4 to come.

Christmas Part 1

2011-12-27T09:42:00.007-05:00

The night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...I took pictures of the ridiculously over gifted tree. And this was before my procrastinator of a husband woke up early Christmas morning and wrapped and added all his presents.

I also set up this crib for baby Jesus similar to the one we saw in Rome that Hannah loved. She drew a picture of it and asked that we make one for our house. Last year, I didn't get around to it, so I was determined to make it happen this year. I set it up as a surprise for the kids. Here it is awaiting it's newborn King.

We got up and got ready for the Christmas mass. I kept them out of the room with the tree and the crib until after mass because we were in a hurry and I didn't want to rush putting Jesus in his crib. Here are my four superstar children all dressed up. The older three wore the same Christmas clothes as last year, but it turns out Isaac's pants were a bit short, and his shirt and vest were smallish too. I should have known since he is in mostly 4T now, but it wasn't too bad. You can't tell when he is just standing.

I love this picture! Drew slept through the mass and the pictures afterward.

Genna fielded all the "What did Santa bring you?" questions responding, "We don't do Santa. St. Nicholas came on St. Nicholas' feast day. We just do presents from each other today after mass." She had to say her spiel at least five times. :)

Godfather Brian was here with us and was asked last minute to help with the mass and be the deacon. He said that while he was in the Sacristy, he was introduced as "the children's godfather" and that everyone had a story to tell about our kids.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-22T11:07:00.004-05:00

I am getting ready for Christmas on the blog a little early because I am hoping to stay away from the computer for the next few days while I try to cook, get ready for the big day, and, most importantly, spend quality time with the family without school to get in the way. I often miss just having more time to just play with the kids since beginning homeschool.

My menus for the next few days, just for fun...

2nd Annual German Christmas Party (with friends)
German potato pancakes with applesauce
Cheese straws
Gluwein

Christmas Eve (with Hannah and Isaac's godfather and our immediate family)
Pumpkin pasta
Egg salad mini sandwiches
Zucchini Puffs
Cranberry Margaritas

Christmas Day (with my aunt, uncle, and cousins)
Brined and fried turkey (everyone's favorite, big hit at Thanksgiving)
Brown gravy
Mashed potatoes
Jellied cranberry sauce (kid's favorite cranberry sauce, just the canned kind)
Cherry pie (aunt's favorite pie)
7up salad (uncle's favorite and my mom's recipe)

We have entirely too many gifts under the tree, less than a dozen are from Brian and I. Most have arrived in the mail from family for the kids. Crazy! We are going to Mass first thing on Christmas morning and then will come back for the opening of presents. After that we head to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner and family fun. The kids have been working on a poem and a song to perform at my uncle's house. It will be so fun!

I'll be back after Christmas (if I can stay away!) with lots and lots more pictures and stories! Merry Christmas!

14 weeks

2011-12-22T06:41:00.002-05:00

Drew rolled over twice this week from his tummy to his back. He is pushing up a bit and lifting up his legs to make himself rock from side to side. Most of the time his arm is in the way (which seems to always be the stumbling block for rolling) or he would be rolling all the time. His chubby-cuteness is irresistible to me. I wouldn't do anything all day but look at his cuteness and kiss his chubs if I could get away with it.

He is going to sleep on his own well, crying usually less than one minute. He does cry or fuss a bit during our bedtime routine, usually at the beginning of it when I am reading him a book. I just carry on, and he usually calms down and starts sucking on his fist at some point. He occasionally will close his eyes towards the end of the routine, but he wakes a bit when I lay him down and zip him up in his Woombie swaddle. As for the evenings, he is improving. He predictably wakes up and cries for 5-10 minutes about 45 minutes after bedtime and then goes back to sleep. He sometimes wakes up before I go get him for his dreamfeed right at 10pm, but if he does this he always has a dirty diaper then. He is still having days when he does mostly 45 minute naps, but he has catch up days as well. I think this will balance out with time, so I am not too worried about it. He seems to be happy most of the time to wake up and wait a bit to nurse if it is too early for another feeding. I usually don't wait more than 30 minutes, if that, so that we can stay on the sleep, eat, wake cycle. I admit I am a tiny bit superstitious about a baby's night time sleep. In my experience, the minute I tell someone that my baby is sleeping through the night, he invariably stops. So, what I will not do is say that Drew has slept through the night four times this week. I will not do it, so don't ask!

He is fast approaching the four month mark when schedules start to change. Ideally, we will move closer to a 4 hour schedule during the day, but we shall see. I am kind of nervous about this age since Isaac was doing so well until he hit that four month mark. (For Isaac, a lot happened that month too, and I am hoping it was all the chaos of dad leaving for a long trip, an overseas flight, and RSV that played a large part in that disruption.) Four months seems to be a dicey age all around though from what I have read. Genna started needing a little more guidance in her sleep training at that age, but I do not recall Hannah having any trouble at that age. Every child is different, and I thank God for that!

Tube Fairy

2011-12-21T06:31:00.001-05:00

Isaac had a routine follow-up appointment at the ENT on Monday. The girls had a play date, and, therefore, it was just the boys and me for the afternoon. Isaac had a great time! He loved his doctor, also named Isaac, loved seeing the inside of his ear on a big TV, and loved asking a million questions about how everything works. He was super cute when the doc asked if he could look in his ear. Isaac replied, "Yes, but if it hurts sometimes I might cry, but only sometimes...yeah." The doctor took out a tube that had been hanging out in the middle of one of his ears. Isaac was so brave and excited to take it home to show his sisters the gross wax covered tube. The doctor even told him he could try putting it under his pillow and see if the "tube fairy" would take it and leave him money. That's a funny idea. Isaac forgot to put it under his pillow, but the tube fairy came anyway and left a dollar at his spot at the breakfast table in the cup where the tube had been.

New hair

2011-12-20T09:02:00.001-05:00

I got my hair highlighted for a change and a cute new cut too. I love it! Poor Drew had to wait along time on Mommy/food though since it took three hours to get it all done. He was a trooper for Daddy though. He looks tired in this picture. It was taken on Sunday after a morning of short naps.

Nativity Play

2011-12-19T10:47:00.004-05:00

Isaac was a shepherd boy with no lines. Hannah was an inn keeper and forgot her one line (To her credit they didn't get to practice more than an hour before the play, and I didn't know the lines were in an email attachment to practice before the day of the play. Oops!) Genna was one of the Magi, and she delivered her line really nicely.

Genna delivers her gift to the baby Jesus...

Isaac (the smallest shepherd) stands with the other shepherds so nicely. I was surprised that he could be still and quiet without being reminded.

The whole group

Our whole group (minus the wee one)

It was beautiful! We had snacks and desserts afterward.

St. Nick

2011-12-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

The Knights of Columbus had their annual Christmas party. I stayed home with Drew since it was going to be a late night and that is his more difficult time right now. Hannah did not want a picture with St. Nick, but Genna and Isaac did. They all had a fun night with Daddy, and I had a mostly peaceful evening at home with Drew Bug.

3 months

2011-12-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Technically, he was 3 months on Tuesday, but we have had a busy week with school, doctor appointments, and getting ready for Christmas.

Drew is 3 months old now. This milestone age seems to have brought on longer waketimes (increased from 1.25 to 1.5 hours at a time) and shorter naps which isn't supposed to happen. :) I am trying to figure out why suddenly (for the last week) more often than not his naps are 45 minutes in length when they used to be mostly 1.5-2 hours long. This started about 4 days after I dropped that 8th feeding so I tried nursing him 8 times again, but it did not appear to help nor be needed. So I am trying to figure it out, but maybe it is just a phase that will pass. Please, God let it be a phase that will pass sooner than later.

He is also more aware of and a bit more attached to me. It is nice when they are comforted by your mere voice or presence, but with that comes the awareness of when you are not there and when you are not paying attention to them. He watches me now if I leave the room and is not quite so happy just to be left on a blanket as he was before. He is much happier if I am sitting close by or talking to him. He's going to have to get over this because I have three other kids demanding my attention. He'll learn.

Another change is that my quiet child who I sometimes would forget about because he was so quiet has turned into a very noisy grunter over the last week or so. Wow, is it ever hard to teach the big kids over his grunting and "talking!" He is making all kinds of sounds now, but mostly grunts.

Brian got back this past weekend from his two week trip, and it actually took Drew a day or so to remember him and be comfortable with him again. I was surprised by this since he is still so young. I didn't think he would notice.

Still a big chunker and wearing 6 and 9 month clothing and moving into size 3 diapers due to several blowouts and more changes of clothes than I care to discuss.

His favorite toys of the week are blankets to chew on.

He is reminding me a little of Isaac these days. Check out this old post when Isaac was around the same age and compare it to this one of Drew.

Then compare this sleeping photo of Isaac to this one of Drew.

The biggest sister

2011-12-11T13:24:00.002-05:00

holding the chubbiest baby brother ever after his bath!

Hannah recently gave all her money away. She decided after Mass a few weeks ago that she wanted to put all her money in the box at the back of the church for the poor. Her daddy and I were extremely impressed with this act of sacrifice.

Today after Mass, she tells me she has a great idea to help the poor. She says, "We can go to the poor people's houses and do their hair really fancy. I bet they would love that!" I couldn't help but chuckle at that one. At least she is thinking about the poor and how we can help them.

Last night

2011-12-10T11:56:00.004-05:00

The girls were invited to go to their friend's dance recital and so we got them all gussied up with a fancy Princess Waterfall hairdo. This looked much easier on The Story of a Princess and Her Hair than it actually was. It took me 30 minutes per girl. Good thing I didn't need a nap, right? Ha! This will be for special occasions for sure, most likely ones in the evening since their is no way we could do this in the morning and get out of the house too. You need a Topsy Tail Tool which Genna asked for and received in her stocking on St. Nicholas' Day.

Isaac, Drew, and I got some much needed alone time at home. Isaac was pumped about our game and movie night. He told the girls that he was going to spend time with Mommy and Drew, but Drew was just going to "lay around." As if Drew does anything else yet. We played 3 games of Guess Who? where I walked him through every step since he just doesn't get that game. My favorite was when I asked if his girl had black hair and he replied, "No, she has white." Thanks, Isaac, for telling me who you had since there was only one white haired girl.

Then we watched Peter Pan and had popcorn. He was way into it! Can you tell?

Drew watched a little bit too. He's not nearly as into it though. :)

Wow, having two kids is so peaceful compared to the chaos of four!

More Advent

2011-12-09T08:59:00.002-05:00

I went with the same ole Advent wreath from last year, but tweaked it a little bit.

I added a "Jesus" banner that I made out of ribbon and glitter scrapbook paper, inspired by something I saw in a catalog.

Much is the same around here this Advent as last year, but we have one more stocking hung over the chimney.

Our tree has our Advent boxes and Jesus' crib under it. Jesus' crib is being made soft by the good deeds of my girls. Unfortunately, Isaac isn't contributing yet since he has had a hard couple of weeks with his daddy being gone. Hopefully, that will turn around soon! Genna was the first to get to put a cotton ball in the crib since she offered to forgo the first night's Advent chocolate since we have to rotate through with the two we have. Hannah has been trying to take advantage of Genna's desire to do more good deeds in order to make the crib ready for Jesus on Christmas morning. She told me the other day she was excited it was Advent, when I suggested rotating days with a special toy they all share, because she was sure Genna would let her have a turn first so Genna could put a cotton ball into the crib. Hmm. Someone's not quite getting it.

Our altar looks similar to last year, but not exactly the same. This year we are reading The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean like we did two years ago. Next year we will read Tabitha's Travels again and switch to verses for the Jesse tree.

I placed a few odds and ends around the house to make it wintery and nice, like snow globes in the tea hutch, and

this sweet reminder of our wonderful housekeeper in Germany on our travel display wall. She cross stitched this snowman for us.

And these mini stockings, purely for aesthetic purposes, with our names glittered on them.

Cranberries

2011-12-08T09:19:00.002-05:00

I got this idea from By Sun and Candlelight. When I realized Isaac's next book was Cranberry Thanksgiving for Five in a Row, first, I wished I had looked ahead and done that the week before Thanksgiving. Then I remembered seeing this cool activity where you string up popcorn and cranberries and hang them outside for the squirrels.

While doing this craft we talked like Yoda the whole time. Funny kids, I have. :) What's funny is Hannah can't talk like Yoda, but the younger two can. She has a mental block about reorganizing her sentences or something. Isaac is a natural, and we all know Genna has no problem getting things backwards. This was spurred on because of books Hannah has been reading, kid's Star Wars books we found at the library. I was reading one of them to Isaac the night before and all the kids piled up to listen.

We also made some yummy cranberry bread from the recipe at the back of the book, Cranberry Thanksgiving.

Oh, the cuteness!

2011-12-07T11:52:00.004-05:00

Isaac insisted I take some pictures of him holding Drew, but this is the only one I came away with, with two wiggly boys. Lately, Isaac is famous for saying, "He loves me the best."

However, I got lots of cute pictures after he was tired of holding him.

I love this look.

Can't stay serious for long!

Smiley pants!

I can't believe he is 12 weeks old! This week I forced him to drop a feed, and it actually didn't take that much convincing. I waited until the right night when I thought I could swing it. He is going to bed around 8pm with no crying and waking up after 45 minutes of sleep for a little crying and then going back to sleep which is better than we were doing before the dropped evening feeding. He is still waking up at 4 or 5am to nurse and then back to bed until 7am.

So his new nursing schedule (with a 30 minute margin of error most days) is 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6:30pm, 10pm, 4/5am. He had one day that he was waking after 45 minutes of sleep for every nap. I was pretty certain this was not another growth spurt and so I tried extending his nap in the swing for two of the naps and he went right back to sleep and had to be woken up for those. All babies seem to do this from time to time, but he was easy to get on schedule by using the swing to tide him over until it was time to nurse.

A new development during tummy time this week, he is using his legs to push him forward like an inch worm. He is not rolling, not even on accident yet, but this inching forward thing is new to me. He doesn't have enough control or strength in his arms to crawl or anything, but I have never seen a 12 week old inch forward. Funny how they are all different. He has some really incredible leg and abdominal strength which I think started in the womb. He was a CRAZY hard kicker.

He is grabbing toys if we put them on his tummy, but can't hold onto them yet. So he often ends up fussing because he has a toy on his face. He is becoming more aware of Mommy leaving the room, but mostly still handles it well. He is easily entertained by his siblings if he starts fussing.

St. Nicholas' Day in Photos

2011-12-06T20:12:00.001-05:00

No time to write details tonight, but we spent the day doing Christmas crafts, a St. Nicholas coloring page and story, and all the regular Advent stuff.

Space Ranger to the rescue!

2011-12-05T09:10:00.000-05:00

Do you like Isaac's new Buzz Lightyear jammies? He sure does! The first thing he said after getting these on was, "Where's my laser?" Sure enough it has a pretend laser on the sleeve, so he has been pushing it to laser people.

To infinity and beyond!

Isaac was growing out of his warm pajamas, and I took advantage of Cyber Monday deals. I really should have gotten size 6s instead. These don't leave much room to grow. With him I like to get things big since he grows so much faster than the girls do. He is going to catch up to them before we know it.

Nativity Scenes

2011-12-04T09:01:00.001-05:00

Only a few of our ornament nativities...

Hannah's inspired nativity drawing...

The inspiration for the drawing was these nativity gel clings that I got last year after Christmas on clearance.

And our oldie, but goodie nativity scene, a gift from Brian's mom our first year of marriage.

The kids can't wait until they can put baby Jesus in his place on Christmas morning!

Advent Calendars and Boxes

2011-12-03T09:47:00.002-05:00

We were given a chocolate Advent calendar by our neighbor since the girls raked her leaves. Brian had purchased one also, so we have two chocolate filled calendars. My aunt and uncle who live near us gave each of the big kids an Advent "box" with doors filled with different goodies. They are adorable and have instilled some real excitement about Advent, which is apparently the "best ever."

Oh tidings of comfort and chub!

2011-12-02T10:25:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite pictures of this chubby guy.

We got out the basket of Christmas books and much reading ensued.

Then Daddy called to read The Lord of the Rings to the girls on speaker phone. It's so much better for the kids when he can call at night when he has to be away for awhile.

Now that Advent has begun, we are spending our evenings in our formal living room. More Advent posts to come.

Child Summary: Hannah at 7 years

2011-12-01T12:27:00.000-05:00

Sleeping

She sleeps from 8pm until 7am (sometimes later when allowed.) She has had a couple of nights where she had trouble falling asleep, but it is rare.

Rest time

She has about 2 hours of rest time every afternoon. The first thirty minutes she is required to read a fun book of her choice or catch up on school reading. If we skip a rest time she seems to be fine without it. It is mostly to give her time alone since she is surrounded by her siblings all day otherwise.

Eating

Although I would not categorize her as a picky eater, she certainly has a way she likes things and a list of things she doesn't like. For example, Hannah does not like pears, anything spicy, yogurt, dips or of any kind (everything has to be plain and dry), foods touching, granola bars, any cereal, popcorn, hot dogs, and corny dogs. Most of these are not super healthy foods so I don't make her eat them unless she is served it at someone's house. She wants PB&J just about everyday for lunch, and this is an area I typically don't fight since it is easy. She is a good eater and usually the first to clear her plate at dinner. She will try new things and loves a variety of seafood (including octopus) despite the fact that I never make any seafood at home. She eats faster now and always eats everything she is given for meals, usually starting with the thing she dislikes the most to get it off her plate the soonest. Most of her dislikes are snacks anyway.

School

Hannah is doing well in school. She is reading above grade level. She has struggled with memorizing her math facts, but seems to be getting a little faster now. We are behind in History and Science, but I think we will just go through the summer for those subjects if we are not caught up by then. The reason we are behind is not her fault, but the baby set us back more than I anticipated, and Math, Grammar/Writing/Reading took precedence.

Books

She is reading chapter books that I find in the 2nd grade section at the library fairly easily, but the 3rd grade books overwhelm her with more words per page. She is reading Beverly Cleary at the moment.

Brian is reading the first book of Lord of the Rings to the girls right now. She has talked her daddy into letting her watch the movie after they finish the book. I don't know if that's a great idea, but Brian is on nightmare duty if it backfires so I'll leave it up to him. :)

Toys

Hannah still loves Barbies and American doll stuff, but she spends most of her time in imaginative play with her siblings or drawing, coloring, and crafting.

Dentist/Doctor

Hannah has had many doctor appointments of late for ear infections, suspected UTIs, seasonal allergies, and walking pneumonia. She is an excellent patient. She is seeing a pediatric urologist later this month.

She loves the dentist and always wants to go first. No problems there either.

Concerns/Trouble Areas

Hannah is a great kid, but she is super bossy and takes it upon herself to be on constant look out for rule breakers in the house. We are working on this. Also, a bit of initial shyness has caused her to slack on manners when meeting/talking to adults. I am trying to encourage her to speak up and give her phrases that would be polite and respectful to say to adults. Her attitude towards her dad and me continues to be a struggle under certain circumstances, but it is getting more rare which is promising.

A Sweet Moment

2011-11-30T14:58:00.002-05:00

Genna is working on hard on reading her 100 books aloud to get a date with Daddy before he gets back from his conference. She has 22 books to go, but she has been knocking out 2 or 3 a day this week. She might just make it. Isaac certainly benefits from this race.

I. love. it.

11 Weeks

2011-11-29T12:39:00.004-05:00

Drew is 11 weeks now and his newest nickname is Chief Chubby Legs. He is getting quite heavy. He is enjoying tummy time much more in the last week. I still do it for only 5-10 minutes at a time, but I decide when it ends now (usually when he lays his head down out of exhaustion) instead of him whining or crying for it to end. He likes tummy time best in front of his gym (shown here) and when Isaac and I let him read books with us on the floor.

Drew finally has a favorite song! "Winnie the Pooh" He smiles and even laughs when we sing the "Pooh" part in particular with a puff of air. However, just the beginning of the song "Deep in the hundred acre wood..." gets him smiling most of the time.

His schedule has not changed, somewhat unfortunately. He is still nursing 8 times a day which is a little too much. I think I may have figured out the problem, but I have come up with no easy solution yet. I think he doesn't need the 8pm nursing and it is causing him to not take a full feeding at his 10pm dreamfeed (which isn't much of a dreamfeed since he does wake up on his own for it) which then leads to waking up in the middle of the night. I really think if we dropped the 8pm feeding by force, he would follow with sleeping through the night after a short time. The bigger problem is that I am almost certain that he would cry nearly nonstop from 8pm until 10pm if I forced him to drop that 8pm nursing, at least at first. He still has a lot of trouble during that time. It was getting better before Thanksgiving, and we haven't had a good evening since that blip in his schedule. I am going to stick with things the way they are for one more week and give him the chance to do better in the evenings, but then I am going to start moving that 8pm nursing back until it can be close enough to the 10pm that I can combine the two into one. Seven nursings for a 12 week old is more than enough, especially a 12 week old as chunky as this one.

His 4 naps a day are still going great. He goes down and soothes himself to sleep with little (<5 minutes) or no crying about 98% for naps and after the 10pm and middle of the night feeds too.

I am also a little concerned that I am letting him fall back asleep when I nurse him sometimes. So my goal for this week is to pay more attention and keep him awake. This will also help him to get full feedings and hopefully drop a feed on his own .

Deceiving Picture

2011-11-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

This may look like Isaac is trying to strangle his baby brother, but he is actually hugging him. :) I have been trying to teach him to hug him around the tummy instead of the neck, but it is a slow process. He just can't help himself.

Happy 7th Birthday, Hannah!

2011-11-26T23:33:00.001-05:00

Hannah turned 7 today. She is my oldest child, my guinea pig. She looks nearly identical to all my childhood pictures, but she has her daddy's mouth. She has two missing front teeth, two adult teeth on the bottom already in, and two more loose teeth. Nancy Drew books are her new favorite. She is reading more fluidly aloud and tearing through chapter books on her own. She enjoys doing Math lessons, but doesn't like handwriting at all. She is a collector. She loves to draw and craft. She wants to learn to use the sewing machine this year. She loves to eat seafood. She's a daddy's girl. She is the one the other kids look up to and adore, following her around like puppies. She currently wants to own her own ice cream shop when she grows up. She would rather dress for comfort than style. She's a little on the bossy side. :) She is an excellent helper and loves organizing. She likes to keep busy and will offer to clean or help out if she gets bored. Her favorite color has been red her whole life. She's a problem solver. She's more of a thinker than a feeler. She has a strong conscience and a love for rules. We love her like crazy. Happy birthday, Hannah!

First thing this morning, Genna helped make her breakfast in bed. Genna helped me make pumpkin waffles. That was only part of Genna's gift to her sister. She also made her a butterfly out of a rock.

She opened a few presents in the morning.

Her birthday was a busy day. We cut down our Christmas tree for various scheduling reasons a bit early this year. The girls were not huge fans of the particular tree we picked, but they had no actual reasons for their preference. (Drew, not in the picture, was asleep.)

We also hung out with our guest, Hannah and Isaac's godfather.

Baby smiles abounded.

She opened a couple more presents that came in the mail.

Then we met some family at a restaurant of Hannah's choice. Following the dinner, we gathered at our house for cake and more gift opening. I made her the promised Pooh Bear cake. I used the idea here to draw a Pooh face on her cake.

The kids were wired after all the sugar. All in all, it was a good day to celebrate our Hannah!

Happy Thanksgiving to you...

2011-11-25T08:04:00.007-05:00

from our one little, two little, three little Indians!

The kids made their own costumes. Hannah's even had a pictorial story on hers, something about an Indian at war in the forest.

I think Isaac is excited someone trusted him with fabric markers. :)

I can not take credit for this craft. It was all thanks to my amazing Aunt Cindy. Speaking of, here she is holding Drew.

I also owe my cousin, Erica, thanks for helping out with the crafts and the kids as well!

We fried a turkey after putting it in brine it overnight. We had all the traditional stuff, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, a spiral ham, potato salad, rolls, gravy, and four pies to choose from.

Thankful Indians at the kids' table before dinner...

Don't forget our Aggie boys ready for the game!

Before dinner, my uncle had everyone read a scripture or poem around the fire pit. It was a perfectly beautiful crisp day. The girls did a great job reading the poems they were given, and Isaac said his poem he had memorized that didn't relate to Thanksgiving so that he could be included. Drew slept through the family bonding like a champ, all cozy and safely inside. (This immobile phase is awesome for napping anywhere without having to drag a pack-n-play everywhere we go.)

The company was excellent, the food was delicious, and the day was perfect. Thank you, God, for all our many blessings.

Dough bonding with my daughters

2011-11-24T08:37:00.001-05:00

My mom used to let me help make the pie crust before Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations, so I just have to pass on the tradition. The girls and I all made our own pie crusts. We only needed one, but there's not enough for two eager girls to do when only making one AND it never hurts to have pie crusts in the freezer for a quiche or some empanadas for dinner. We froze two of the dough balls for later use. It was agreed upon that Hannah's dough would be used for my Bourbon Pecan Pie. We did this on Wednesday afternoon while Drew watched us in his reclining highchair and Isaac napped which made it a peaceful enjoyable project for us.

Thanksgiving Crafts

2011-11-23T09:59:00.001-05:00

This week we are catching up on History and Science and doing crafts. Our first craft was this simple sticker turkey.

I told them to do whatever background they wanted. Hannah did a turkey in a sunset.

Genna's turkey is sitting on her nest full of eggs.

Isaac got a little backwards with his name and put his shoes on the wrong feet.

The other craft was done in their girl's club. It is a Thankful Wreath. We finished it up at home and they wrote what they were thankful for on each hand.

Here are the kids playing around. Hannah is a mummy. We have been studying Ancient Egypt way too long if you ask me.

Drew's 2 Month Appointment

2011-11-22T13:12:00.001-05:00

Today Drew is 10 weeks old, and yesterday he had his 2 month well check up. All is well with Drew! He is neck and neck with the 2 month old Isaac as far as his growth goes. This is great news for hand-me-down clothes since they were born in the same season.

weight= 15.2 lbs
height= 24.5 inches
head circumference= 16 inches

As far as his 10 week old update, there isn't too much new to speak of. He's loving his siblings even more this week, gracing them with his handsome smiles and a giggle for Genevieve. This warms my heart that his first giggle for one of his siblings was for her. She had the hardest time getting even smiles from Isaac as an infant. I have been praying for Drew and Genna to have a special bond like Hannah and Isaac do.

Drew did have a growth spurt last Thursday/Friday and was up more at night and very cranky due to the shortened naps. He is and always has been a cranky baby without his sleep. When he is well rested and on his schedule, he is an angel! The nurse asked me today if he is always like this, meaning happy and easy going. He was just hanging out while she took his vitals and weighed and measured him. He smiled at her and the doctor. The only time he got upset was when the mean "shot lady" gave him his vaccinations. He cried for a few minutes on and off and then fell asleep out of exhaustion from being kept awake past his hour and fifteen minutes of waketime. He slept for two full hours then to make up for lost time.

I am so thankful for Drew, his health, his temperament, and his apparent love for schedules. He is such a blessing to this family!

Birthday party for my big girl!

2011-11-21T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hannah's party this year was an American Girl craft party. Michaels, the craft store, hosted it (very cheaply, I might add) and so it was super easy for me. There were 8 girls there altogether and just a couple moms stayed to help. Due to limited space, siblings didn't come. This included Isaac and Drew. No boys allowed! :) We saved a cupcake for Isaac to help soften the blow of not getting invited to his sister's party. He was fine with it since he got to do "guy stuff" with Dad and Drew.

The craft was the main event. It was to make tiaras for your doll. I asked all the girls to bring their favorite doll to the party. The party planner led the craft, and the moms assisted when needed. It was definitely the calmest party we've ever had with all the little girls working on their tiaras.

Then it was snack time. The girls munched on cheese and crackers, Dorritos, and fruit. We also had apple cider and lemonade to drink.

I think I mentioned before that I talked Hannah out of a big cake for her party so that we could do cupcakes and decorate them as part of the party. I promised her a mini cake on her actual birthday next Saturday. I should have taken a picture of the cupcake display before I handed them out to be sprinkled and such. I forgot to photograph the food table completely.

We sung her Happy Birthday!

Then they ate the yummy cupcakes. One little girl was so proud of her cupcake piled high with every kind and color of sprinkles, but then decided she didn't actually like the taste of the sprinkles. I told her to just wipe them all off so she could still enjoy the cake.

Time for the gifts! Hannah opened our gift to her first. The shape of the box made her just certain she knew what it was.

And she was right, it was Josephina, her favorite American Girl doll! Genna can't wait until she turns 7 and gets her own American Girl doll. She already has her eye on Marie-Grace.

In the middle of the gift opening the whole group needed to use the potty, and so we had an eventful trip to the bathroom. Two stalls and eight girls meant lots of giggling while they waited their turn.

She opened the presents from her friends and was super thankful to everyone for each special gift. She stopped to hug the giver after each gift. I usually give a mini lecture on how to be grateful and so your appreciation, but I forgot to do that this year. I was pleasantly surprised by how naturally it came to her this year. My baby girl is growing up!

Of course, we had to get a picture of all the girls with their dolls and tiaras!

And the girls insisted on a silly photo too!

We sent the girls home with favor bags full of candy, pencils, trinkets, and homemade lollipops. It was wonderful, and Hannah thanked me a bunch as well. A huge blessing was that Drew made it through the whole party without Daddy having to bring him to me to nurse.

Genna's birthday party is the next on the radar, but it isn't for five more months. However, that doesn't stop us from brainstorming ideas. The one we both like at the moment is a rainbow themed party, but I told her she isn't allowed to turn 6. Absolutely not!

Busy Week

2011-11-18T21:10:00.000-05:00

Sadly, we did not get as many full school days in as I wanted to this week. Thursday we had dentist appointments for all three big kids. My favorite thing about our dentist here is that the office is super small and we are usually the only ones there. So I can make a palate for Drew in the waiting room and pop my head around the corner every now and then to check on the current patient. The receptionist called ahead to confirm the appointment and called our appointment the "Smith Family Event." I thought that was funny. They were all excellent patients as usual. We used this as an opportunity to do a Health lesson on teeth and dentists. The girls read teeth books all week and then at the appointment I had them do word searches and scrambles I found on a dental website. They all enjoyed themselves much more than I ever do at the dentist.

Hannah had a field trip with American Heritage Girls to the Fire Station his week. She has also been looking forward to her birthday party tomorrow. We took a day off today to get ready for the party. Although, I have to admit, I am really not doing much for this party. I almost feel guilty since I usually put much more effort into the kids parties. Hannah's 7th birthday party is at Michaels, the craft store, and I talked her into cupcakes instead of a cake this year. I am suddenly having trouble downloading my pictures so I will be back with details on the party when I get it fixed.

Genna did much better with school this week. Her complaining has stopped for now. She is a fast learner when you dole out clear consequences. She finished her kindergarten math book this week. She has read almost 70 books aloud to me or another adult. She is getting close to her 100 books and will get to go on a date with Daddy.

Isaac got another tick this week. The head is still lodged in his back. Yuck! It had to have come from our backyard since that is the only place he has been outside this week. In between showering me with cuddles and telling me I am beautiful, he has been a bit of a stinker lately. Really it's been since he turned three. He's had several meltdowns this week. I think he is having trouble calming himself and handling disappointment. I am trying some different ways to help him learn to calm down. I also need to start identifying the warning signals to get him under control before the total meltdown begins. That helped a lot with Genna when she was three and had a lot of trouble getting calmed down after she got worked up into a fit. On the bright side, Isaac is taking naps again!

Drew gets lots of attention on the blog, so you mostly know what is going on with him. Today, though, he had a REALLY hard day. His hardest day to date. It could be a growth spurt, but I am not sure yet. He barely slept for his naps for the first time ever, and this caused him to be overly tired and very fussy. I am just hoping it doesn't last too long because I miss my happy somewhat predictable baby.

My favorite season is autumn.

2011-11-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

The colors of fall are so warm and inviting. I love taking leaf pictures with the kids in their hoodies.

I was surprised Drew put up with this, but he just hung out for me.

The big kids were actually the ones who didn't want to take these pictures because they were in the middle of a Frisbee game. Mean Mommy made them stop while the baby was happy.

Here's a shot of our maple tree in the front yard in it's orange-red glory. I love this tree. It's the last one to lose it's leaves.

9 Weeks Old

2011-11-16T08:25:00.004-05:00

It is amazing to me that I could be so excited about the little firsts of my fourth child. I assumed that by the time we got to this point and had seen three other babies bat at toys for the first time that I wouldn't be as thrilled. I was so wrong. Drew batted at and grabbed a toy hanging from his play gym for the first time this week (and many times after,) and I was almost as excited as I was when Hannah scored her first goal. So let the record show that Drew's developmental milestones have a special place in my heart just like Hannah's, Genna's, and Isaac's do.

He almost laughed at his daddy and myself on many occasions this week. I say "almost" because it is more like a chuckle than a true belly laugh that I normally count for first laughs. I did get one real giggle on Monday night before bed though. He was laying on the twin bed and I put my hands on either side of him and bounced the bed, saying, "Bouncy bouncy, bouncy." This used to crack Hannah up when Daddy did this when she was a baby. I remember exactly what each of the children laughed at for the first time. Hannah laughed at me when I was talking to her and being silly before my mom's group started in College Station, TX. Genna laughed at Hannah and I imitating Little Einsteins patting to start the rocket on our screened in porch in NY. Isaac laughed at me sneezing while I dressed him for bed on his changing table in his room in Germany.

He is finally starting to go through some nights without pooping which means we are moving in the right direction for sleeping through the night sometime in the future. He is still nursing 8 times in a 24 hour period which seems a bit much to me, but he is doing well. I am not quite willing to cut one out yet. On our scale, he is 14.6 lbs, and around 25 inches. His 2 month check up and shots are not until next week.

His evenings are going better. His evening schedule:

5:30pm wakes from last nap and nurses
get ready for bed
7:00/7:30pm nurses again and keep awake just a little longer
7:30/7:45pm bedtime routine and in bed (in Woombie)
cries less than 10 minutes
10pm dreamfeed (i.e. nurse and straight back to bed in his Miracle Blanket)

I do not like that he stays awake so long after his last nap. He is exhausted and wants to go to sleep earlier than we put him in bed, but he will not fall asleep if I do not nurse him again before bed at this time of day. I am not nursing him to sleep, but just doing it before we start getting ready for bed. I don't want to put him to bed at 7pm because I think he will wake earlier in the evening for his dreamfeed, and I think his morning waketime will be too early as well. So even though this is not the ideal Babywise schedule, I am happy with the fact that he isn't crying a ton in the evenings anymore and he is still falling asleep on his own without nursing to sleep. I try to keep the last nursing as separate from his bedtime routine as possible and keep him awake a tad longer afterwards so he doesn't get dependent on this nursing.

He is tolerating his siblings getting in his face and being loud around him much much better now. They still adore him. I am completely wrapped around his finger. I couldn't even begin to tell you how much I love this tiny baby. This is a great stage because he is more aware, can be calmed many times by my mere presence or words, he is starting to discover things around him and he is still smallish and adorable and QUIET! I know a lot of people who look forward to the talking, but I have enough talking in my life right now and can definitely enjoy the quiet while it lasts. The things that are not so great about this stage is the babies are still wobbly headed, they are still unpredictable from time to time, they nurse a lot still, and the interruptions in sleep is building up to make one tired Mommy. He is getting heavy now. Gone are the days when I can carry him around one-handed like a football. He wears me out now.

All Girls Club

2011-11-15T09:31:00.001-05:00

Here are the girls' club shirts they made. I wrote the words since it is tricky to write on fabric, but they did the rest all on their own.

Isaac tried to join the club too with this wig I bought (on clearance!) for their dress up box.

He'll do anything for a laugh. However, once he saw himself in the mirror he didn't want to wear it anymore! :) The blackmail material I have on him is really piling up and he is only 3. Poor guy won't ever live this down when he is all grown up.

First Goal!!!!!!

2011-11-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

Hannah scored her first goal EVER in the last few minutes of the last game of the season! Drew was in the sling asleep on me, and I was standing behind our goal on the other side of the field helping coach Genna as goalie and the defense when it happened. I jumped in the air and cheered. I was so proud that tears came to my eyes. Several of her teammates gave her a group hug. It was the cutest thing ever.

My camera battery had died right before we left for the game so I didn't get any pictures of it. Here are the pregame pictures I took before heading to the game.

Genna got her first trophy ever and was super excited. She has been looking forward to this moment all season. Speaking of Genna, she is an excellent goalie. Not one ball got by her during this game. I think the reason goalie is her best position is because it doesn't involve running or her feet. :) Maybe basketball will be her thing.

First Hair Cut

2011-11-13T08:11:00.001-05:00

This the youngest any of my kids have had a hair cut, but he looks great. His hair was getting very patchy.

Before

During

After

Looks like he might just be turning blonde like all the rest of my kiddos. He's a cue ball for now. His head feels so soft! It is amazing. I didn't think I could adore this guy anymore than I already do. We owe Nanna a big thanks for cutting his hair and for cutting the rest of the kids' hair as well. Everyone needed a trim.

The thighs on this boy are squeezable! Nanna can't resist kissing him. I can't blame her a bit!

Don't know if you can tell on the girls, but they both lost a couple inches on their hair.

Nanna, Brian's mom, was here for four days, and I was bad and only got these pictures with her. I did the same thing when my mom was here. I get in "accomplish" mode while I have the extra help and forget to stop and smell the roses.

My Sailor

2011-11-12T13:10:00.001-05:00

Drew is a smiley guy! Isaac was a serious baby. Genna was a shy baby. Hannah was a smiley friendly baby. So this is something we haven't had in years. Drew smiles at everyone. Today he smiled at two complete strangers just because they talked to him.

He is on his way out of most of his 0-3 month clothes so I sneaked off with him to do this photo shoot while he still fit in this outfit that matches his room. (As you can see in the picture, he has another one waiting in the wings that will match his room too.)

If his face was tilted up a bit, this would be his Obama pose.

Then the three little monsters found us! You can't keep them away from Drew for long.

Isaac has switched over from introducing his baby brother as Speck to Drew Bug now which is equally confusing to people.

Reality

2011-11-11T07:17:00.001-05:00

I had a plan before Drew arrived about how I would get homeschooling accomplished while juggling a newborn. I promised an update as to how far off my ideal schedule was. Where to begin? :)

Here is the ideal schedule with reality inserted in italics where it differs from the ideal:

6am-I wake up and get dressed. I can not drag myself out of bed before the baby has to get up.
6:30am-Baby wakes up and nurses, dress and change diaper
7am-big kids all wake up, dress themselves, eat breakfast, unload dishwasher (I finish getting dressed or with the baby and do the girls' hair.) Since I have not been able to get up before the baby, we have not been going to daily Mass yet. So, I have been letting the big kids sleep until 7:30/8am. I get dressed and ready.
7:40am big kids get shoes on
7:50am driving out of garage (Baby falls asleep peacefully in the car seat.)
8-8:30am Mass (Baby sleeping) Big kids dressed and eat breakfast on their own. I do the girls' hair.
9am (home from Mass, baby still sleeping) Isaac heads to room time for one hour and girls start Math. At 8:30am, Hannah is practicing piano. Then I do the girls' Grammar and Math lesson.
9:30am Baby wakes and nurses while I watch the girls do Handwriting and Spelling practice
10am Isaac does his lessons while the girls read aloud to each other (Baby is awake and happy to watch and listen)
10:30am I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed
10:45am On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the girls will do History, and on Mondays and Wednesdays they will do Science (I may have Isaac watch an educational video here or let him join in or give him free time) I haven't had him watch a video yet. I think it would cause problems with Genna right now if she thought she was missing out on a TV show while doing work. He has been doing his activity boxes or writing with dry-erase marker on the easel.
11:45am I make lunch while one of the girls reads aloud to me (Free play together for the other two kids)
12:00pm eat lunch
12:30pm Baby miraculously wakes up at the right time, change diaper, and I nurse him while the kids finish up eating. I usually have to wake him up at this time.
12:45pm I read to, pray with, and sing to Isaac (possibly while finishing up nursing) so he can wind down for his nap. Sometimes this is a little bit later.
1pm Isaac is napping, the girls both go to rest time in separate rooms with timers set for 30 minutes for free reading then they can play quietly and independently (Hannah will sometimes do her German work on the computer) and I get alone time with my baby boy. Drew never makes it awake long enough for me to have alone time with him. This is his sleepiest time of day.
1:30pm I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed
1:45pm Baby is sleeping like an angel and I get some free time, probably to nap
3pm All three big kids get up from nap/out of rest time for Religion on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Art on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have put Art lessons on hold and try to do one formal Religion lesson a week so far.
3:30pm Baby wakes up right on schedule, diaper change, nursing (Kids get free play all together.) Drew wakes at 3pm very regularly for this nap.
4:30pm I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed and start to wonder if I am in the Twilight zone, just repeating the same thing over and over all day, everyday.
4:45pm Baby is sleeping and I am cooking dinner, big kids are still playing (May allow 30 minutes of their favorite TV show here some days.)
5/5:30pm eat dinner as a family
5:30pm Baby wakes up right on schedule, diaper change, nursing while I eat dinner
6pm big kids do their chores and check off chore charts, I clean the kitchen up
6:30pm I get the baby ready for bed with a bath and jammies (Big kids may bathe/shower at same time)
6:45pm I/husband do the bedtime routine with the baby while the kids head up stairs to get ready for bed. Brian has been doing the bedtime routine for Drew at 7:30pm, but this varies from day to day since he has a hard time at this time.
7pm Baby is sleeping and big kids get stories, prayers, and songs I nurse the baby again somewhere in here.
7:30pm All kids in bed and off to dream land (I may do a cluster feed here for the baby and put him straight back to bed) Kids have been in bed closer to 8pm lately.
10pm I nurse the baby (called a dreamfeed) while he still sleeps and put him back down.
10:30pm I fall into bed exhausted, praying that he sleeps through the night, only to start this whole crazy and idealistic life over again at 6am Drew is not sleeping through the night, but I do go to sleep praying that he will soon.

Whew! Writing that down makes me feel better about where we are. That doesn't seem like we are as far from our goals as I thought we were. This schedule was written before we were signed up for extracurricular activities. Hannah has piano and CCD on Mondays and AHG twice a month on Thursdays. Both girls have soccer (which is almost over) on the weekends and their Best Friends of Jesus club once a month too. The big improvement I want to make to our schedule is to make it to Mass once a week in November and, hopefully, move it to twice a week in December for Advent. I would also like to add back in the Art lessons once the weather gets colder. Right now I am encouraging them to get outside in the afternoon while they still can.

Singing Hannah's Praises

2011-11-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

I know I have mentioned how Hannah has always been my most challenging child. However, lately she has been wonderful! My easiest child right now even. (Drew is a close second only because he is waking me up at night and making me tired.) She is doing her work without complaining. She is helping me selflessly. She is being cuddly too which is new for her. She wasn't even a cuddly baby. I am proud of how her moral character is developing so nicely. She still has her moments with her siblings, but overall she is really doing so well. I would like to think it is the homeschooling combined with her growing up, but I could just be flattering myself.

8 Weeks Yesterday

2011-11-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Not much has changed this week. He is still getting up once at night between 1:30 and 3:30am.

He had a bad day Friday when we got off to a rocky start and were out a lot. He is a happy boy unless he is overly tired. Daylight Savings Time messed us up a bit, but not too much.

His evenings are still unpredictable and his hardest time of day, but I have seen improvements. And, as my mom always reminds me, he can't be perfect. She's right. I can't complain. Just look at this face.

He can't complain either. He is not short on love and compliments around here. Genna says, "He is the cutest in all of creation," on a regular basis.

Blessed.

Deep thoughts by Genevieve Marie

2011-11-08T10:42:00.001-05:00

"When I don't move my foot for a long time it kind of feels like a bunch of dots moving around inside my foot."

Notice he is holding her finger. She made up a song the other day that goes something like this. "When you hold my finger, I feel loooove." Super cute and sweet, as always.

Homeschool: Problem Solving

2011-11-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

The pictures above are from a pajama day we had last week. All those parties wore me out, and I did 8 loads of laundry last week. No wonder we needed a pajama day so badly! On to the problem solving...

Problem #1: Genna could not and would not hold her pencil correctly. The minute I turned my head she slid her fingers back into the wrong position again. She is slow and I just can't stand over her the whole time.

Our Solution: Pencil grippers, or whatever they are called! I forgot all about these inventions until one day it just hit me. My mom bought her some and once she got used to it the problem was solved.

Problem #2: The kids were getting off track when they had to wait on me to help them with something. Suddenly, I had kids bouncing off the walls just because Isaac needed me to help him with something.

Our Solution: A list of independent work to complete everyday for each of the girls. Hannah still has trouble switching gears when I need her to stop her independent work to do our group lessons once I get Isaac busy with something. She likes to finish all of her stuff before going onto the group lessons. She especially doesn't like to stop midway through a particular assignment.

Problem #3: Complaining, no explanation needed. Hannah struggled with this last year at the beginning of the year, and Genna is currently struggling with it.

Our Solution: A reward awaiting them at the end of the day that they lose if they complain. I give one reminder/warning about the reward when complaining starts and beyond that there is a zero tolerance policy. This is not a quick fix. It takes some longer than others to figure out what they are missing out on. Even the quickest child will still lose the reward multiple times before correcting their behavior, and all will backslide occasionally. Our reward is 30 minutes of TV. The children that earn it watch their TV in my bedroom while the child who does not stays with me downstairs.

Problem #4: Interrupting me when I am teaching or talking to someone else. Interrupting is becoming a real problem in our house right now.

Our Solution: Our solution, in general, is to have the children put their hand on my arm/leg and wait until I can stop and talk to them. This solution came from my cousin, Melinda, who has 4 of her own children. Genna is the only one that remembers to do it right now and so I need to crack down on enforcing it again. A solution specifically for the schooling that we haven't tried yet to this problem, but want to, is on this blog. I just have to find time to set the system up.

I am happy to say that baby Drew has been a champ and so far not added any new problems to our homeschool other than making me tired by getting up to nurse in the middle of the night. Time will fix that one, I hope. Even when he is awake, he hangs out on the floor happily most of the time while we work.

I am having to step up the teaching for Isaac because he is less likely these days to work on his activities on his own. So we are continuing on with his Five in a Row book and starting to move ahead in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. It still is only about 30 minutes of work for him on the days that we can fit it in, but it seems to keep him happy if he gets that one-on-one time with me.

Updated Family Tree Wall

2011-11-05T13:07:00.004-04:00

Here is the new and improved family tree wall to include Drew.

Here is the group picture. None of us noticed the bow issue until too late. Oh well, more blackmail material for when Isaac gets older.

7 weeks!

2011-11-02T09:31:00.002-04:00

This week Drew has been easier to keep awake after a day time feeding with the exception of the noon time where he doesn't make it long before falling asleep wherever he is. I put him in the Woombie if this happens which wakes him a little and then he goes back to sleep with a little fussing. His cry/fuss patterns while falling asleep have been the same this week. He has had some days where he cries or fusses in the middle of naps and night time, but it doesn't actually wake up. By the time I get to his room he is asleep again or perhaps he was crying in his sleep. So I have started to wait a couple minutes if it is a fussy cry and not a mad or urgent cry before going to get him up to make sure he is really awake. I have not figured out a place for the video monitor and haven't needed it really as of yet. He is pretty predictable right now and the only time he struggles to sleep is in the evening as he always has. As for night sleep, he has been waking earlier, between 1 and 2am a lot this week. This caused a few nights of reverting back to two feedings a night. I do not think that he really needs this second feeding because he doesn't nurse as well, but he usually has a full poopy diaper when I go get him so this may be the cause of the waking up. When he wakes only once during the night he is getting a full 8 feedings a day which should be plenty for this nearly 13 lb baby.

He was happy hanging out on the blanket downstairs in the family room and in the homeschool room in the basement several times this week which is a big improvement. He still prefers my room and his room, but we are working on it. He is starting to enjoy looking at toys/mobiles a little more as well.

Here he is while I am trying to keep him awake (and failing!) and fix lunch. at the same time.

He has not been a big fan of this swing, so we are working on getting him used to it. He did better in it this week. I had it in the basement thinking I would need it during school, but he sleeps so much during the day right now that I need it more in the dining room/living room which is right next to the kitchen. The evenings seem to be a better time to use it. I have to keep my eye on him so he doesn't fall asleep in here though because he usually has this 10-15 minutes wake up time that he will go back to sleep if he is in his bed (or car seat if we are out,) but usually not in the swing.

The last few days he has been waking up before 7am (the time I was waking him up.) I think this is in correlation with when my husband opens the garage door. It vibrates the floor of the upstairs a bit and always wakes me up. I may test this theory out. I have no problem with him waking up at 6 or 6:30am once he is sleeping through the night, but right now I was hoping he would sleep until 7am to get that extra sleep before we start back to our 8am daily Mass attendance.

Third (and FINAL) Party in the Series

2011-11-01T10:34:00.000-04:00

Our homeschool group put on the annual All Saint's party last night. We had Mass, a litany of the saints combined with a procession of the children in their saint costumes, pizza dinner, and saint stations hosted by the teens.

The stations were lit with tiki torches around a giant back yard. Each station had special saint prayers and candy for the children.

This year my children all went in separate groups. Brian escorted Isaac to keep him on track, but the girls went in their own groups without mom and dad. Isaac had shed most of his costume at this point.

Genna told me later that one of the teenagers told her she was very patient. Genna told her that she was practicing to be a nun. She is such a sweetie! Drew screamed the whole 20 minutes drive home and she sat next to him patiently singing the whole time. I told her that whatever God has for her life, she will be great at it because she has such a patient loving heart. Her reply was, "But Mom, I really want to be a nun!"

I didn't get any pictures of Hannah that weren't fuzzy last night. Oops! She had a great time too!

I am totally sick of parties and worn out beyond all recognition! Isaac actually woke up this morning and asked when the next party started today. What?! No more parties, dear. And I mean it. At least until Hannah's birthday party.

Second Party of the Series

2011-10-31T09:42:00.005-04:00

This was the church party/carnival for life to benefit the pro-life activities around here. They had a parade of saints (and other costumed kids). Here they are getting ready for it.

Face painting again. Genna got paint all over the white part of her costume. So guess who did laundry over night to get the stains out? We ended up washing it off in the bathroom because they had caked the paint on, and it never would dry.

The best part was when my sweet Genna won the cake walk. She chose a fall themed cake with cupcakes all around it. Why did she choose this one? Because it had plastic leaf rings in all the cupcakes, and she loves jewelry almost as much as cake. She was thrilled to pieces!

First Party of the Series

2011-10-30T14:49:00.000-04:00

The first party of our 3 day series, on Saturday, was Brian's work party. Here they are before we left for the party.

My little candy corn! I could just eat him up!

Face painting was a big hit. Brian and Genna carved a pumpkin, but Hannah and Isaac had no interest this year.

This little guy spent most of the party like this in the back room, but made his rounds before we had to leave.

Sneak Peek

2011-10-29T09:04:00.001-04:00

I just can't help it! I am giving away the surprise of the girls' costumes for this year's Saint parties. I had to have the girls try them on before I give back the sewing machine I borrowed. Yes, my sweet sewing machine that is older than I am has stopped working. Sniff. Sniff. Now I have two broken machines and no excuse not to take them to a repair shop except for having zero free time right now. Sigh. But I digress.

Introducing Hannah as St. Dorothy of Caesarea and Genevieve as St. Rose of Lima...
They have a party today and the next three days if we survive them all. Isaac's costume is partially purchased and you will see him dressed up soon soon.

Blackmail Material

2011-10-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

The girls really wanted me to see this sight. They were giggling away because when you ask Isaac what he is doing here with his dog wrapped up in a blanket, he replies, "I am nursing." And with a pink blanket, no less! That's a first for me. I have had my daughters mimic my nursing, but never a son.

Brotherly Love

2011-10-27T12:01:00.003-04:00

Genna has been sick this week with a fever and sore throat. It is KILLING her not to touch and kiss on Drew, especially when Isaac got to have this little photo session with him.

6 Weeks Old

2011-10-25T13:00:00.001-04:00

My little boy is now 6 weeks old, and I just can't believe it. The only big changes I have made in his schedule are that in the evening I am putting him back to bed around 6:30 or 7pm and he sleeps until 7:30 or 8pm. (I was just letting him sleep wherever for that time which meant sometimes he didn't sleep at all.) Then I am letting him have a bit of waketime and putting him to bed for his night time sleep to begin at 8:45pm or so. (This is not ideal and will have to be moved up, but he is wide awake then and doesn't have to be up long before getting tired again.) For many nights he was crying on and off until his 10pm dream feed. I was even moving the dream feed up a bit when I felt like he wasn't going to get to sleep before then. I wasn't too worried about this since he sleeps so much and so well all the other times during the day and night. However, I can't keep him awake or he cries the whole time anyway with me holding him because he is so tired. Last night we tried having Brian do the bedtime routine and put him down at that time and it worked really well. He only cried on and off for less than 20 minutes. I will keep trying this as long as it keeps working.

His ideal waketime is around 45-55 minutes for most of the times. By 40 minutes he starts fussing or blinking and we start the bedtime routine.

This week I did some experimenting and found that Drew has an insane preference for my room and his room when he is awake. He is happily put down anywhere in one of those two places, but no where else in the house. My thoughts are that he is a baby that gets overly stimulated and overwhelmed easily. Bad kind of baby to be when you are born fourth into a family, if you ask me. I am not completely catering to this preference because he is going to have to learn how to deal with the chaos eventually, but it is good to know when I need him to be happy and on his own to put him in one of his safe zones. Knowing this about him means that he can have some practice being on his own a bit (i.e. not being held) and some practice with the chaos of the house too.

His big leap this week came in part due to my aforementioned experimenting. He finally enjoyed his play gym, as you can see in the picture at the top of this post. He even smiled at it. It is currently in my room since I was having no luck with it anywhere else. He also is super happy in the vibrating seat in the bathroom while I take my shower. I have caught him studying his hands this week. He also is calmed, initially at least, by my mere presence which is a first for him. When he sees me coming toward him, he calms and quits crying immediately. All these things mean he is growing up.

About the newborn stage, I love their tininess, their sleepiness, their smells, their lightness (I can carry them around with one hand,) their inability to move around and get into trouble, and their ability to sleep on the go. The hard things about newborns are the lack of sleep, lack of entertain-ability, their floppiness, and having to get them on a schedule. Each stage has it's good and bad points. Here's to looking on the bright side and loving every minute of the good stuff while it lasts!

Cocoon Sleeping

2011-10-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

For naps, Drew Bug sleeps in this cocoon called a Woombie. I like it because it zips up and is less laborious than other swaddle blankets. Brian and I got so sick of wrapping Hannah up 8 times a day and have tried ti avoid doing full swaddles for naps with the subsequent children. However, Drew seems to really need some kind of swaddle, and the Woombie is perfect for him and us. I do his naptime routine (read to, pray with, and sing to him) and lay him down to zip him up in his cocoon while he is still awake. Sometimes he is drowsy, but others he is not. I do not make this a requirement. The only thing I try to be consistent in is not letting him be actually asleep. If he does fall asleep, zipping him up jars him awake a bit. When I go to get him up from a nap, it is truly like a butterfly coming out of his chrysalis. I love it. the down side to this Woombie is that he is already almost too big for this one and there is only one more size to go to. The max weight for the next size up is 19 lbs and my boys usually hit that before 4 months. I have always swaddled my kids well past that age. I am going to get the next size up and hope for the best.

For night sleep, he sleeps in his Miracle blanket. I have used this blanket with all of my children. It is amazing! It takes them quite a while to learn how to get out of this which is it's best selling point. It is laborious if you have to do it 8 times a day, but not if you are only doing it 3 times a day. I have become quite fast over the last 7 years in wrapping babies up in this blanket. I unwrap him to nurse and change his diaper even though it isn't a necessity. I do it so he takes a full feeding. Also, I like that even if he is asleep when I am ready to put him back in bed, swaddling him jars him awake a tiny bit so he has to practice going to sleep on his own in his crib. Speaking of, you may notice that he sleeps in his Moses basket with a sleep positioner. I elevate the head of the Moses basket too to help with gas and spitting up. I think it helps him sleep better because he can't move around and it is more like the tight quarters he was used to in the womb. (Notice I don't do this during the day for naps. That is because he is a really good napper and doesn't need it. Plus, I want the transition to his flat spacious bed to be easier later when he is too big for the Moses basket.) I have his crib split so that half is set up for the night and half for the day.

Compare and Contrast

2011-10-22T09:23:00.005-04:00

The first two pictures are Drew, obviously (the dimple in the chin gives it away,) but who are the next three? And do you think they look a little like Drew?

The next two pictures are Isaac. I picked these two, because I thought the first one looked a lot like Drew, minus the chin. The second one looks less like him because it shows more of Isaac's head. The two main differences between these boys are the chin and head size and shape. Drew has a more pronounced chin and the adorable dimple. Isaac has a smaller chin, and I remember noticing that when nursing him. Drew has a small head compared to all of my children. I think that is why I thought he looked small when I first saw him. Isaac's secret nickname just between Brian and I is Megamind because he has quite the noggin.

The last picture is my hospital picture when I was born. I don't have a picture of Brian when he was a newborn, but I know Drew got his chin dimple from Brian. The more pronounced chin seems to be from me. The nose and the eyes so far resemble me as well.

Any opinions? I can dig up some of the girls baby pictures too and see how they compare.

There's a first time for everything

2011-10-21T13:58:00.006-04:00

This week we had our first full week of homeschooling since Drew graced us with his presence outside of my womb. We got in all our subjects except for art lessons which is pretty good since we had been doing just the basics here and there before this week. Homeschooling a preschooler, kindergartener, and first grader with a 5 week old has been a challenge at times, but since Drew is still sleeping a lot it seemed doable most of the time. More on this later when I give you an idea of what our real schedule looks like as compared with my ideal schedule that I came up with before Drew was born.

Today, we also went on our first field trip since Drew's birth. We went to a farm for a lesson on bees and harvesting honey, a corn maze, a hayride, picking a pumpkin, and feeding some cattle and goats. It went pretty well, but it was very windy and chilly. I had Drew in the sling completely covered with several blankets, and he slept the entire time. I just had to nurse him before we left, and he was a happy guy. Several children asked where the new baby was. He was hiding out and staying warm. The hardest part was shepherding them all with a baby strapped to me, especially in the corn maze and especially Isaac who seems to have gone deaf since he turned three. Again, where's a good shepherd dog when you need 'em?

Isaac learning about bees and honey

On the hayride

Speaking of firsts, here is my first child to loose both of her top teeth. She lost the other top one yesterday at her AHG meeting. She pulled this one herself, after it getting knocked loose during a game of Red Rover.

They got to pick a "pie pumpkin" to take home.

When we got home, Isaac asked if he could eat his pumpkin for lunch. He was tearfully disappointed to find out they have to be cooked first.

My boys

2011-10-20T13:35:00.000-04:00

Isaac shows his brother off to people like crazy. He adores him! I just wish he could keep his hands off his face and neck. :)

Some Smiles from Drew

5 week mini update

2011-10-19T11:39:00.000-04:00

Drew is 5 weeks old now. I believe he is in the midst of a growth spurt, but I am not sure yet. I have never been good at recognizing those. Saturday and Sunday he woke on his own from his daytime naps a bit earlier than usual. He also woke twice at night on Saturday while he has been only waking to eat once. He is going down for naps easily still, some days with no crying at all, others with less than 10 minutes. However, since Saturday night, he has been crying when I put him down after the 10:00pm and some of middle of the night feedings. He usually cries for about 20 minutes during these times. I have had to go comfort him twice because his cries were hysterical which is not normal for him. They are usually more fussy cries. I don't know what started this, but he seems to be too awake when I put him down then.

During the day, when he nurses, it is hard to tell if he is awake or sleeping through the nursings still. He always takes a full feeding, but has his eyes closed the whole time. He has always been this way and nothing I have tried will get him to keep his eyes open even if he is good and awake before the nursing. After a feeding, he stays awake for between 15 and 45 minutes usually.

Mini schedule: other than the weekend when he was waking a bit early from naps
7am wake him up for the day and nurse
8:15am nap
9:30/45 wake him up and nurse
10:15am nap
12/12:15pm wake him up and nurse
1pm nap
3pm wake him up and nurse
3:45/4pm nap
5:30pm wake him up and nurse
(Insert chaos here with dinner and getting the other kids in bed. Here's where the schedule gets ditched and he naps again somewhere in here before a 8:30/9pm bedtime.)
10pm dreamfeed
1 more nightime nursing whenever he wakes up typically between 2:30 and 4:30am

As you can see, the days are going very smooth mostly and we are taking advantage of that and getting lots of school work done this week and the end of last week too. I am still being flexible during the late evening, 6-9pm. He has a hard time during these hours some days. Usually, I can get him in bed peacefully by 8:30 or 9pm, but not always. I am tired from the new night trouble he is having, but I seem to be getting used to this level of lack of sleep somewhat. This precious boy sure deserves every bit of it! How can I complain with eyes like these staring at me?

I weighed Drew this week on our scale and measured him for his baby book. According to my scale and attempt at measuring, he is 12 lbs even now and 23 inches long. This is the outfit that he came home from the hospital in. Just 5 weeks ago I had to roll up the pant's waist, and it was loose on him. Now he fills it all out just the way it is supposed to be.

Piano Lessons

2011-10-18T15:20:00.002-04:00

Hannah has only had about 4 lessons so far in intro to piano. She's already playing better than me which isn't saying much since I can't even read music. They are still learning the basics. She practices everyday (that I remember to tell her) for about 15 minutes. Her favorite song is I Hear the Echo. Here is a new song she is working on.

Friends

2011-10-16T13:53:00.002-04:00

We went to our friend's house last night and had dinner. We all watched Bugs Bunny before heading home. Apparently, you never get too old for a little "What's up, Doc?" I've never heard kids laugh so hard at the TV before. Look at this priceless picture.

It happened again!

2011-10-15T15:14:00.003-04:00

Genna came around the corner laughing and saying, "Mom, it happened again!" She had slipped in the mud. Don't know why this girl always slips in the mud, but it cracks me up. Last time it was all over her pretty dress, so this was a much easier clean up for me. I sprayed her down with a hose.

I have to admit, I am being a bit naughty here because she did not want me to take this picture. She agreed to let me reluctantly and said, "But Mom, don't put this on your blog!" So don't tell her! I'll honor that request one day when it is about stuff that actually matters, but this is just too cute for me not to share it. I love this free spirit who slips in the mud repeatedly and dances on the soccer field, kicking nothing but air half the time. She is perfect just the way she is!

Speaking of perfect, last weekend we were in the company of many nuns, priests and seminarians, and Genna just had to ask a nun a very important question. She did not believe her mom and dad, and she needed a nun's opinion on the subject. What was her question? "Are nuns perfect?" She wants to be a nun when she grows up and is very worried that she makes too many mistakes to be a nun one day, you see. Sister Yen told her that she doesn't have to be perfect, she just has to be on the way to being perfect. That is all we can be here on earth is on our way.

One Month Old

2011-10-14T18:28:00.005-04:00

He was actually one month yesterday, on the 13th, but I just realized it today. I took some pictures this afternoon. I don't know how much he weighs right now, but he is definitely chunking up.

Group shot, Drew would not look at the camera! Don't know what's wrong with him! Just kidding!

As a one month old, things are still pretty dynamic, and whatever I was to say about him today could definitely change by next week or even tomorrow. All the more reason to document something I suppose.

Nursing: He is nursing on just one side per feeding, but still having the occasional big spit up. The big spit ups happen now only after he has slept well at night, and I think this is due to an abundance of milk at that time.

Sleeping: He is doing great with sleeping for his age. I have been doing Babywise and putting him down for naps and such awake, but drowsy. He usually only fusses or cries for 5-10 minutes. The exception to this is between 6pm and 8 or 9pm when he will cry longer so I have decided to just rock him to sleep during that time if he seems really tired or just hang out with him otherwise. This is just his tough time of the day. I moved him to his room this week and he has been sleeping so much better. He even slept through the whole night (11pm dream feed-6:30am wake up time) last night for the first time. I am sure that won't be permanent yet, but it was a nice respite for me. I have no complaints on this front.

Bedtime routine and swaddling: I put his bed time routine in place two weeks ago. I read him poems, pray with him, and sing him a song or two. When he is drowsy, I put him in the Woombie for naps and the Miracle Blanket for nighttime. The only exception is if he falls asleep before I can get him to his room then I either leave him where he is or put him on his tummy in his crib.

Waketime: He is still hard to keep awake for very long. He makes it an hour and 15 minutes first thing in the morning, but usually it is 30-45 minutes and he is starting to get drowsy. His biggest flaw, if this bundle of cuteness can even have a flaw, is that when he is awake he is pretty fussy except for two waketimes a day when he seems to be happy to lay somewhere and not need attention. Usually holding him or sitting next to him will keep him happy, but occasionally that is not quite enough and he needs more than that to stay calm.

Diapers: He poops and pees all the time! He has fewer blowouts than my other kids so far, but I think it is because he poops little bits all day instead of saving it up.

Naptime Woes

2011-10-13T11:25:00.001-04:00

Isaac has been only napping about twice a week since Drew was born. Sigh. He's always been such a good napper that I was hoping he would be like Hannah and let me decide when he didn't need naps anymore. He is still laying in his bed with minimal stuffed animals to entertain him. I have been fighting for the naps to continue especially since he is a little cranky in the evenings without a nap, however, I think I am beginning to accept the loss. I am still going to have him lay down with nothing to distract him for a while, but then we will move on to rest time that involves staying in bed with books only if this isn't just a passing phase.

It is possible that what started this was when I made a new rule. Right after Drew was born, I awoke one night when I was already halfway down the hall to Isaac's room. He had burst out of his room hysterically screaming that he needed to go to the bathroom. I got him to the potty as fast as I could and saw the tears that had been running down his face. He had been crying for me for a while before he finally decided that he was going to explode and ran out of his room. I was so exhausted that I hadn't heard him, and he was trying to so hard to follow the rules and not get out of bed without an adult. My heart just broke for him and the next day I made a new rule where he could get out of bed for potty purposes only. This did, unfortunately, cause him to get out of bed for other things occasionally. He slips out for a book or something every once in a while. This leads me to the funny conversation we had the other day when I came to get him from his nap that he had not actually slept for. I sat on his bed, and he apologized immediately for not sleeping. I asked him if he had laid still and tried to sleep, and he said that he had tried to sleep, but his changing table (which is not actually a changing table anymore since he is long potty trained) had told him to play. So he had been up briefly to get a train and bring it to his bed and to put it back. I laughed at this because, well, it is pretty funny and if you saw him tell this story you would understand, and he said, "Mom, are you not mad? You're happy? You are laughing." So confused, but so cute!

Boston and "Bumpily things"

2011-10-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

This trip to Boston was Drew's first long car ride, obviously. As I mentioned before, it was 8 hours of driving. We had this bright idea to leave at 3am and get some driving under our belt while kids drifted off back to sleep. Drew, being only 3 + weeks old is nursing about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day, but at night has been able to go 5 hours some nights. Stopping every 2 1/2 to 3 hours would make our trip much, much longer. So I was hoping we could head out and not have to stop for at least 4 hours if the gas made it. That part worked, but part of our plan failed. The part where all the kids drift back off to sleep. Drew, who always sleeps in his car seat and anywhere really, woke up every 45 minutes or so and cried for 10 minutes. That doesn't seem so bad, you might say. True that he didn't scream for long periods, but it was just enough and often enought to keep the rest of the car from getting much sleep.

Fortunately, there were no break downs from the big kids from being overly tired and we got some naps in that afternoon. Drew was pretty fussy most of the weekend. The baby who usually sleeps anywhere and can be laid down at home to hang out would barely let me put him down at all. Luckily, there were more than a couple people wanting to hold him.

The trip back was during the day. We were prepared to stop every few hours and prepared for some screaming. Turns out this guy slept like a log the entire 8 hour trip, and I had to talk Brian into stopping for his regular nursings even though the kid was zonked and not making a peep. If they don't get the milk during the day, they'll make up for it at night, you know. So the trip home was smooth as silk, with two out of the other three kids napping, except for the dash board warning lights lighting up like a Christmas tree about three hours from home. With some prayers we made it home and got the van fixed yesterday. The amazing part was that it was caused by a recall and was free to fix. What an answer to prayer!

You may be wondering at this point, What in the world is a "Bumpily thing?" Well, Isaac coined this phrase when he moved to a big bed. He called whatever we used to stop him from rolling out of bed, be it pillows or a rail, a "Bumpily thing" and I thought it was funny and so called it that too. Here is my big boy taking care of his brother at the house we rented.
He climbed up with Drew and lined the bed with pillows, AKA "Bumpily things," so his brother wouldn't roll off. I didn't tell him that this little one isn't rolling yet. No need to dampen to boy's spirits. He thought he was saving his brother. I LOVE those guys! Brian says the boys have me a bit wrapped around their fingers. I say, Let them! It won't last forever. They will grow up and turn my hair gray soon enough.

Welcome into the Church, Drew!

2011-10-11T12:39:00.006-04:00

Reverend Reedy presiding as deacon for the first time ever, one day after his ordination at St. Paul's in Boston, MA. This was at the Mass right before he baptized Drew on Sunday, October 9, 2011.

He even got to give the homily which put my boys to sleep. Just kidding! It was an excellent homily, one of the best I've heard lately. But the boys fell asleep despite the excellent homily. Here are my sleeping little guys...

I woke up Drew to dress him for his baptism, and he was not the happiest baby.

The kids were all very distressed that I was putting him in a "dress." Tried to explain it is like a priest's vestments, but I don't know if it got through.

Drew is our youngest to be baptized by just a few days. This was also quite a trip for a newborn, 8 hours in the car each way, and so he was possibly our fussiest baby being baptized. That said, I think I am the only one who thought he was fussy. Maybe everyone was just being polite, but I had to work the whole time to keep him happy. I wish he was more of a pacifier baby because that always calmed the girls at times like these.

Drew's godparents, the Bakers, are out of the country and could not attend, so we had proxy godparents for the ceremony.

This is a special shell the Brian Reedy found on the beach and saved for when he could baptize. Drew was the first to have that privilege.

Welcome, my little love! Welcome to the Church!

Nursing

2011-10-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

Each of my children have been fairly different and had different challenges when it came to nursing. Hannah would nurse forever at first and I had to learn when to cut her off because she would never opt to end a nursing. When she was a month old, she got very fussy during nursing and it was a bit stressful. Once I got her on a schedule that ended. My guess is that my inexperienced self was nursing her too much, and once we established a schedule she did much much better with nursing altogether.

Genna was a super fast nurser and only needed to eat on one side. I thought she needed to feed on both sides and would try to get her to. Then she would puke all over me in the middle of nursing on the second side. Once I changed to just one side per feeding, she did great. I could not nurse her laying down though because she would spit up a lot. Her best position, in fact, was as upright as possible.

Isaac had a tiny problem with sucking his bottom lip in, but that was easily fixed. He did great until my milk came in. The morning my milk came in it took me all morning to get him to latch. Then all was well until he got a sore throat and put on a three day nursing strike which is concerning when he wouldn't take a bottle ever either. I was syringe feeding him whenever I could and pumping to keep up my supply.

Drew nursed beautifully the first time right after he was born and then we had some problems. It would take me an hour to get him to nurse for just a few minutes. He would open his mouth just fine, but would not suck. For a good 24 hours he didn't nurse much at all. This caused a bit more weight loss than they like to see. The lactation consultant was amazing (the best part of my whole hospital experience!) and discovered Drew has a high palate. The palate is where the sucking reflex is and so that is why he wouldn't suck. She worked with him and me for about 20 minutes or so and that really helped. For the first week, I had to get him sucking on my finger first and then express some milk . Then I would switch him to the breast to get him to suck, but now he is nursing very well, sucking and latching on his own. Within the last few days he has begun to spit up large quantities of milk, similar to Genna. So I am trying to reduce him to just one side for a few days and see what happens. You think on your fourth baby you've seen it all, but all babies are different and there is always something new.

Other news from the homefront...

2011-10-07T09:33:00.000-04:00

We are taking one more week off of homeschooling. This week we are getting ready for Drew's baptism and I am preparing to start school next week. Drew will be baptized by Hannah and Isaac's godfather who is becoming a deacon this weekend as part of his formation for the Jesuit priesthood. Drew will be his first baptism!

The kids picked their saints this week for the All Saint's Day party coming up at the end of the month. Hannah wants to be St. Dorothy of Caesarea because she read about her recently and loved her story. I will be able to use the base of last year's St. Genevieve and turn it into St. Dorothy quite easily. She will be carrying a basket of fake fruit and flowers. Genna wants to be St. Rose of Lima because she is a nun with a fancy rose crown. Need I say more? I can use last year's St. Claire costume and add a couple things for St. Rose. Finally, Isaac wants to be St. George because nothing could be better than being a knight who kills dragons, of course. I can use parts of his St. Michael costume from last year for his new one.

Favorite quotes from the week...

2011-10-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

Genna: I just love to talk and have conversation!

Hannah (about local late term abortionist): Hasn't he heard of the 10 commandments?

Isaac: Mom, I have to grow up so I can be a hunter and a fisherman! I'll bring you some meat and fish!

Genna (about Drew when everyone was bothering him and he was getting fussy): I think we should leave him to his own devices. (We've been listening to Little Women on CD in the car and she had me explain the term when she heard it in the story.)

Genna: I just wish I was a teenager so I could hold Drew while I was standing up.

Isaac: I really love my baby brother.

First Real Bath

2011-10-05T13:45:00.006-04:00

Drew's umbilical cord and circumcision are long healed and so it was time for his first real bath on Monday night. This involved a lot less screaming. In fact, most of the screaming took place after the bath when I was trying to get him wrapped up and dry. Once we got near the fire, he quieted down.

I put him in this bean bag, and he got very cozy for his evening nap.

He is not big on the pacifiers (we call them Bubbas; Hannah started that!) but he will use this Nuk kind while falling asleep during the day. The Nuk are the only type that will stay in his mouth for any length of time. The rest just pop right out immediately. At night he does not require it and it rarely stays in his mouth during a nap. He uses it just to calm himself and drift off.

He had kind of a rough evening that night so I held him a bit while he calmed down. Trinity, the cat, came and joined us for an episode of House, the only show Brian and I watch regularly together.

Drew's been smiling while drifting off into dreamland since his first week. This morning I got some smiles while he was very awake. By the time Hannah got the camera, he was done though. Here's the picture we took while trying for another smile. I guess it was a half smile.

Too much attention?

2011-10-03T08:51:00.005-04:00

One of my favorites: Notice the stuffed animals that Isaac is holding too. It's like ET. You almost don't see Drew.

Genna is working hard to earn her littlest brother's affection. She sits next to him in the car and loves her responsibility to keep him happy.

Cuddles from biggest sister...His shirt says, "Isaac loves me."

Mimi leaves today and we are very sad to see her go!

And my all time favorite picture so far...

Hope he's not getting too spoiled with all this loving!

An induction into the society of die hard soccer moms

2011-10-01T11:41:00.003-04:00

Hannah almost got a goal three different times. Poor thing! In the rain, she really needed a better mom. One who would have spent the money on cleats! I have been guilted into it by all the slips and falls she took on the slippery grass.

Genna did a much better job at goalie this time. She didn't let any get by her. She did get bored at one time though and started waving to Isaac and me.

I feel like a real soccer mom now! I have officially sat through a game in 50 degree weather with high winds and light rain with a newborn. That doesn't mean I wasn't secretly hoping that they would call the game off by half time. Don't tell!

What a difference a couple weeks makes!

2011-09-30T14:00:00.004-04:00

Can I just say I feel like a mostly normal person again! I think the two week milestone is huge. Drew is sleeping enough to keep me sane. My hormones seem to be evening out. No more unexplained and sudden onset of tears. I am not feeling like a milk cow, at least not as much as I was. I am gradually regaining my patience with the big kids, although all the noise irrationally stresses me out a bit when the baby is sleeping. It is irrational because right now Drew sleeps through it all anyway. Sleeping babies and noise just don't set well with me.

All is not totally normal, of course. The house is still a mess all the time. Homeschool isn't going full blast yet. I still am averaging only a total of 7 hours of sleep per 24 hour cycle and only 4 or 5 of those are in a row. Drew is not on a schedule yet, but we are edging closer everyday. And Isaac is boycotting naps a good 4 or 5 days a week. And the big kicker, I still have absolutely no free time if you don't count blogging while nursing or those 7 hours of sleep. :)

Drew seems to nap best with this straight jacket, I mean Woombie.

He sleeps at night in his Miracle blanket.

Here is my napless Isaac wearing his new rain coat, hat, and mittens hamming it up for the camera.

I love this guy, but he is full of tears in the evenings when he doesn't nap!

2 weeks old!

2011-09-28T11:02:00.001-04:00

Drew was 2 weeks old yesterday and had his doctor appointment.

Drew weighs 10 pounds and 3 ounces today, almost to his birth weight. Drew is 95th percentile for height and weight and 75th percentile for his head circumference. That explains why he looks big, but his head looks small to me.

He got his PKU test today and didn't cry with the heal stick. He did, however, cry for his weight check since he had to be naked. It was a long long day at the doctor, but it was just Drew and me so that was a blessing. We were there for nearly three hours. The recent hospital merger was truly a disaster in my opinion.

My laundry helper!

At two weeks he is still impossible to keep awake after majority of feedings. I guess a schedule isn't possible just yet, but we are working towards it with a consistent morning wake time of 7am and attempting to get him to stay awake after each day time feeding at least a little. Most nights, after his 10 or 10:30pm dream feed, he is waking to nurse at 2 or 3am and again at 5am. One night he woke at 3am only which was really nice for me, but I am sure that is not permanent. Now that we know he is gaining weight well, I am going to move to a 2 1/2 to 3 hour schedule during the daytime.

First Mass for Drew

2011-09-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

I am sure you have seen my updated blog header with our newest addition to our pew. Drew and I missed Mass last week because we were at the hospital doing the upper GI and all that mess. And although the kids have asked me nearly everyday when we are going to daily Mass again, I have just not quite been getting enough sleep to get up that early on purpose yet. So, this past Sunday was Drew's first Mass at 12 days old. He fell asleep on our way in and slept through the whole thing which left me in some discomfort since he normally would have nursed at that time. Drew caused quite the stir before and after Mass and got loads of attention and lots of Wow's over his size and altogether lack of newborn-ness.

With the car seat, we almost filled up our normal front pew, but not quite, for those of you wondering. The big question of the hour is

Are we done yet?

The answer is

Only God knows!

Snaggle Tooth

2011-09-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Hannah lost her top tooth on Saturday. The other top one looks really close to coming out too. It is all crooked now with nothing to hold it in there. This is tooth #3. This is a milestone I have been dreading because it messed up her smile, who wants big old adult teeth in a tiny little mouth anyway. And wouldn't you know that we have professional pictures scheduled for this week!

The bad news is she dropped the tooth down the sink drain while obsessively rinsing the blood out of her mouth. She hates all the blood. So before she went to bed, she asked me to write a note to the tooth fairy explaining. I told her she could write it. She then said she needs help spelling all the words. This is literally while I am trying to tuck everyone into bed. I said, "Well, just tell me what to write, and I will bring it in here in a minute." This is what she had me write:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Can you please still give me money? I dropped my tooth down the drain.

Love, Hannah

And what do you know? It worked! She is now the proud owner of another dollar bill.

First Sponge Bath

2011-09-25T11:38:00.000-04:00

We still have the umbilical cord and the circumcision site to keep dry so it was sponge bath for Drew. His rash is still there so I had to be extra gentle when bathing him, but he was starting to smell less like a sweet baby and more like spit up. Sponge bath, here we come!

Hannah took these first pictures for me. He loved getting his hair washed.

And, of course, he loved the kisses from Mommy.

However, don't be fooled by the above pictures, this is how most of the bath went...

Happy as a clam when it was all over though.

I just LOVE that chin! Anybody else have an insane urge to kiss these cheeks?

Accidental Smiles and Sleeping

2011-09-24T11:02:00.003-04:00

We have all been enamored with these smiles as he is drifting off to sleep.

The first week, we couldn't lay him down without being swaddled or he got quite fussy, but this week he has been totally different. He prefers to sleep on his side if he is not swaddled, but sometimes he's too tired to care. If we do manage to keep him awake for a while he tends to get too awake and then has trouble settling into sleep. That's when I resort to tummy sleeping for now. That usually only happens once or twice a day, and he is usually in the same room as we are then. All these pictures are of him napping in the middle of the living room floor.

At night he is still sleeping in the Moses basket next to my bed. He is swaddled with the Miracle Blanket on his back with a slight side tilt. I use sleep positioners for that.