Help around the house

No, I haven't gotten a maid or nanny.  Just talking about these adorable boys of mine.  I like to include them in my housework sometimes.  It's good to teach them, and they seem to enjoy it.  They'd do everything if I let them...and fight about who gets to do it!  But that's probably because it's a novelty and not a chore.  They love sorting silverware and putting things away out of the dishwasher.  They'll help bring some bags in after grocery shopping.  They love washing the car.  They like to match socks for me.  They'll put their toys away...most of the time.  They'd probably love to vacuum if they were able.  When I'm vacuuming, they like to grab the attachments and pretend to clean too.  And they like to help with the laundry.  Of course, what little boy doesn't love to push buttons?  When I asked them to put the clothes from the washer to the dryer, I heard lots of giggles, and found them doing this:

Looks fun, huh?  I guess I just have to not worry about the clean clothes being dropped on the floor.  :)

Just Like The Old Days

This is David.  It's a rare occasion that I contribute, but I'm sitting and experiencing the joy again of a toy section at a department store.  I figured it would be fun to share.

When I was young, it was common that I would accompany my mom when she went shopping.  I'm 5 years younger than my nearest sibling, so there were many days where it was just me and mom.  Shopping with her was kind of a drag.  You get pulled away from whatever Lego project you were working on or make-believe adventure to a store with ladies clothes and bras.  Not fun at all.  Sometimes I would find a hanger or one of those plastic clips that holds sleeves together.  I would collect those clips and I called them "keys".  If I was lucky, I would find the dressing room with all the mirrors.  Nothing like making funny faces or ninja moves and getting to see them in all angles.

Then.... then I found there was a toy section.  A whole section void of the drab ladies beige pants and shoes?  Chock full of toys I didn't have?  Amazing!

Fast forward almost 30 years and today, right this moment, I get to share the joy again!  My oldest two are deep into the toy section and it's as if they've dipped their tongues in the finest hallucinogen.  They haven't made one complaint or whimper.  Just overwhemed with amazement.

Should I view this as evidence they need more toys?  Nah.  Just evidence that once in a while, we should come to the store and let them gorge themselves on the toy section. 

I love these boys.  I'm thankful to God for little men and thankful to Lisa for helping raise them to be strong and rambunctious. 

Matt Facts - a little up update

Poor Matthew hasn't gotten much love here on the blog, but he's getting lots of love everyday with us at home!  We all love this little guy and can't imagine life without him.

Here are some Matthew updates:

Now that he's out of the newborn stage, his little personality is starting to come out.  It's fun to see what makes him laugh and what interests him.  I can't wait to see who he becomes.

He started getting up on all 4s and rocking around 6 months.  Now he's slowing "worming" his way across the floor.

He started sitting pretty sturdy at 6 1/2 months.

He's getting the hang of eating - bananas and butternut squash so far.

He's a great sleeper.  He's been sleeping through the night for awhile.  But he gets up around 5:45.  He takes 3 naps a day.  He's a great napper too, but they're still unpredictable.  I never know when the long ones and short ones are going to be.

He does great at the church nursery.

He loves the pool.  We just put him in his floaty thing, and he's so content and relaxed.

He loves his brothers.  He adores Caleb.  Caleb is so sweet and gentle, he watches him if I need to leave the room, he gets him toys, he coos to make him smile.  Nathan loves him too in his own way.  He smothers gives him big hugs, pulls his legs, pokes his face, drops things on his head...you get the idea.  He's been calling him "my baby" lately.  They both love Matthew so much.

Being outside gets him through fussy times.  He likes stroller walks and being in the swing in the backyard.  But since it's hard to get the big boys to stop their play just because I want to go outside with Matthew, I rely on the baby carrier and wear him around the house a lot.  I'm going to be cashing in on some massages soon!

6 months has flown by!  I can't believe that Nathan wasn't even a year old when we moved into this house.  And now Matthew isn't far off from that!

Ok, I better hit publish now, since I've already lost this and had to try to retype it 3 times.  And here are some pics!

My so-called life

Here are a couple of weird things that happen every day around here.  Maybe they're common to everyone, but I have a hunch probably not.

For one, I feel like I wipe someone's butt like 8 times a day.  Call me crazy, but that seems like a lot for 3 kids!  Seriously, Caleb and Nathan both poop about 3 times a day.  I mean, I'm happy they're so regular and all and have healthy digestion (I've read you're supposed to go at least once a day), but give a mom a break!  I'm usually hesitant to go places at certain times of the day because I know nature will call.  One time Caleb had 3 adult-sized poops before noon!  How all of that fit into his tiny body, I'll never know.  People, you'd be jealous of these too.  They are so clean and perfect, they require virtually no wipes, but I have to wipe him anyway, of course.  Sorry for all the details, but those are just the facts.  And in his 4 1/2 years of life, I don't think he's ever not pooped.  In fact, if David and I talk about it, it's usually over the fact we think he only pooped once that day and wonder if he's going to wake us in the middle of the night to wipe him.  Ha!  I think I need to get on that getting-him-to-wipe-himself thing stat!

Another weird thing I think is probably uncommon is I usually have to wake all of the kids up from their naps.  And it's hard!  I don't think Nathan has ever woke on his own, but a handful of times.  And this is after they have napped for 2+ hours!  I wake them because I don't want them sleeping past 4, or much longer than 2 hours because I want them to sleep well at night.  I'm not complaining much about this one.  I know what a blessing it is to have kids that love to nap.  I usually get at least an hour to myself when all of them are down...or in Caleb's case, reading in his room.  But those couple times a week when Caleb does nap, I have to wake each kid up.  Sometimes it takes like 30 minutes to get them to wake up!  Ugh!  I dread getting them up for school during the teenage years!  And they are usually somewhat grumpy and groggy from being woken, so I have 3 boys that want to sit on top of me and cuddle.  And many times I'm trying to nurse Matthew!  I need another set of hands!  :)

Not sure if those are normal for everyone, but it's definitely part of my so-called life.  :)

Hello again!

Hi long lost blog!  How is it already summer?  Where did the last 2 1/2 months go?  David bought me a new tablet, so my camera and computer were forgotten for awhile.  I think I can blog from my tablet, but I store all my pics on my computer, so the blog would be kind of boring without picture updates!

Here's a quick little phone dump, and a little update on the boys.

Me and Matthew coming down the stairs after a nap.  We make this trip many times during the day, and we always stop and look in the mirror.

Aunt Susie visited us and brought some cool garage sale finds - a cool truck and a bunch of mini dinosaurs.  This was the creation they came up with:

Matthew likes to join in with his big brothers.  He's rolling over quite easily now.  But sometimes he gets stuck on his stomach, and forgets how to roll back.  So he'll get frustrated.  Luckily, with two older brothers, there is usually something entertaining going on.

Nathan wanted me to tuck him in and make him "snug-a-wee."  And he wanted his animals to peek out.  What a cutie!

Matthew was laughing at his brothers on the playground.  Just a matter of time before he's joining them!  Poor little guy has been neglected on the blog.  Gotta try to do better about updates on him.  :)

We had a lot of baby toys stored in the garage, thinking we were done with them.  But our little surprise Matthew gave us reason to keep them and bring them back out.  Of course the big boys loved playing with them.  It was like Christmas over here.

We participated in the annual Father's Day fishing tournament.  No catches again!  We must have bad Father's Day luck.  Nathan was reeling in a really big one, but it got away right before pulling it up.  Maybe we'll get lucky when Matthew participates with us next year.

Here is the video:

The boys love taking Boomer on a walk.  How cute are they holding hands?

We had Matthew's parent commitment services at church.  It's always a special time to pray for our boys and dedicate to raise them in the Lord.  Here is the picture we used:

Matthew means "gift from God."  And the verse we chose for him is "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  Romans 12:10-12

Here are the growing families of our wonderful friends!  We've been through lots of babies together!  It's fun to do these meaningful ceremonies together.

And we took some cute pics of the boys this weekend.  It's getting a little easier now that Matthew is more stable.