Say What?

-Calvin: "We're flipping off cars! I flipped off a Porshe and a Mercedes and a Dodge!"

-Milo: "I'm flashing nerds".

We laughed pretty hard upon overhearing those two. I shall explain:
Calvin was pretending to do flips off cars. Not quite the same as obscene gestures from a 4yo.
Milo was finding stray Nerds at the bottom of his Halloween basket using a flashlight.

Also, a favorite recent moment:
Calvin: "Dad, how do you say 'bobcat' in Spanish?"
Louie: "Gato...Roberto."
Heh heh. Good one, hon.

Calvin is sleeping on his top bunk for the first time tonight. This is what he told Louie:
"Yeah, I'll sleep up here for the rest of my life! Until I turn 18. But when I'm 18 I'll still live here with you, but when I'm 19 I'll move out on my birthday, but I won't have any kids, so you won't be a grandpa, but when I'm 22 maybe I'll have kids."

That kid is one enormous run-on sentence.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Halloween.

Doorbell(s) and Sleigh bells

and schnitzel with noodles.

Brown paper package(s) tied up with string.

Games with cousins

Dad in the kitchen

Making a few of our favorite things (287, give or take)Some sisterly love, and very full tummies.

Swarming and eating the fried spudnut yummies

Bad poetry aside, we had tons of fun for this year's pagan celebration...and I think that "tons of fun" went straight to my hips.

Oh, and there might have been some trick-or-treating in there somewhere - but it hardly matters.

Fall Program

Ah, preschool programs. They are almost unbearable, and at the same time, pricelessly wonderful. How is that?

This is Calvin's face as he's exclaiming his excitement at seeing me, Milo, AND Grandma, Grandma, and cousin Grace. I hadn't told him they were coming because he tends to get anxious, and when he gets anxious he calls the whole thing off. So in an effort to get him to participate, I kept the day super low-key and didn't even mention the program. It worked. I rule.

He was SO excited to see us, he did this between every song. He's also the only kid sans costume (typical). And, dude, check out that girl's dress. Jealous?

Nothing funny happens in this video but it's the part of Cal's program I recorded, so you're stuck with it. I'm kicking myself for not getting video of him making his witch face.

Do I Resemble an Encyclopedia?

Our days often have this flavor:

"Mom, which is faster, the Bengal tiger or the leopard?"
-Hmm. I don't know.
"Mom, which jumps higher, the melanistic jaguar or the rusty spotted cat?"
-Uh...don't know. What IS a melanistic jaguar?
"It's the dark kind."
-Ah, yes.

"Mom, am I taller than a lynx?"
-Well...(how tall is a lynx, anyway?), I'm pretty sure you are.
"So, is a jaguar stronger than a rhino?"
-Um...I don't think so.
"Which is faster, an ibex or a dhole?"
-A dhole? Is that some kind of dog (thanks zoo books)?
"Yeah, it's kind of like the African wild dog, but it lives in Malaysia. Is it faster than an ibex?"
-Sigh. I just don't know.

Might I add that Calvin does NOT settle for the "maybe/probably/I don't know" answers? Oh no. If you don't know the answer, prepare yourself for more intense questioning.

Calvin has been introduced to his new friend Wikipedia. He can mostly use it himself now, and thank goodness!

Trying for cute photos, despite our camera's non-abilities (and because we can't afford a professional)

I loved it when Milo wanted to take Conference notes with Daddy. Ah, conference weekend. One of my favorite things.

Our attempt at a little photo shoot with the 10-second timer feature on our camera. I've come to discover that doing the timer thing doesn't work so well, as no one can be there to fix the focus. But still we have proof that we exist...and that our boys are cute.

Cheesy, no?

Aw, look at the beautifully in-focus tree trunk. (Methinks our camera is a people-hater.)

Don't go under the (neighbor's) apple tree with anyone else but me...

Line 'Em Up

Calvin holds up the preschool pick-up line for about 15-20 seconds each day. He simply MUST inspect all the cars in the line behind us, and tell me which classmate is getting into which kind of car (Braden has a Jeep! Elise has a Dodge van!). At first I said: “Hurry up! All those people are anxious to move ahead and they’re waiting for us”!
Soon, though, I realized I should take a little time to listen and be excited with him. I mean, it's not like they're waiting a long time while I do something rude like chat with other moms. It's 20 small seconds of our day. My little boy does his famous cataloguing, knowing his mom is on his side.

Three Glorious Months Of Warm, Happy Light

Happy three months to my happy little Light. We so enjoy you, Sweet Baby. Your slobber-fests; your easy-to-get smiles and squealy belly-laughs; your ability to sleep through the night; the way you light up your brothers' faces; the 500 calories a day leniency you give me; your absolute contentment when you're being held; your amazing skill in using your strong body (our athlete, I think); and the way you get "This Little Light of Mine" stuck in our heads.

These have been some of the happiest 3 months of my life and today I thank you for that, Elias.

Yellow Bear, You Never Fail Us

All my kids have LOVED the yellow bear on our swing. Calvin didn't dig the swing itself, but by about 7 weeks old, he would concentrate so hard on that bear and spin its tummy. His intense face made us refer to the bear as: "Arch Enemy Yellow Bear" and say things like "Ah, Yellow Bear, you've defeated me again!"
With Milo, I can't remember a specific story, but I know he loved that old bear, too.
Now Elias has his own take on it: If Yellow Bear isn't facing him, he gets anxious and starts yelling at it. When we turn the bear around to face him, he smiles big and coos happily. Over and over again. It cracks us up.

This is Eli's face when Yellow Bear is facing the wrong way. Anxiety abounds.

This is his face when Yellow Bear is facing him again. Hello, Old Friend!

He also loves the Exersaucer.

I'd forgotten what fun 2-month-olds can be. Somehow I'd thought he wouldn't get fun until 3 or 4 months. Well, I was wrong. We're having a great old time with this kid!

We used to call it "Peach Days - the Festival of Disappointments"

The Brig has this yearly festival called Peach Days. Last year was our first Peach Days, and we left with our heads lowered, sadly believing there were no fresh peaches to be found at this so-called peach festival. (We had only found cobbler with canned peaches. CANNED!)

To me, peach baked goods are the only reason to have a peach festival.

This year we finally found one tiny, lonely, delectable stand that served all things PEACH and even used the local peaches. It almost redeemed Peach Days, and there was much rejoicing.
Thank you "Just Peaches", for making homemade peach things like: cobbler, pies, cheesecake, bread-pudding, jam, and salsa. You managed to diminish some of the bitter Brig inside us.

Calvin and Milo enjoyed a little chicken teriyaki for dinner

Eli enjoying his first pulled pork sandwich (he WISHES!)

Parade

Rides.
Calvin loved the carousel,

and the truck ride, where he insisted his was a Nissan truck.

But he really, truly hated the giant slide (to Louie: I told you so).

Our next mission? Finding peaches at the fruit stands that are actually good. Like: "now that's a peach" good. We haven't had much luck in the peach stand department as of yet. But we'll go now with renewed hope. Happy Peach Days to all, and to all a good cobbler.

Off-Label Uses

I'm no Pfizer, but I do promote a little off-label use:

Wine-rack = rolling pin/zucchini rack

Bouncy chair = pooping chair. I tell you, my friends, this has had a 90% success rate of relieving bowel issues for all 3 of my babies.

Butterfly nets = Some kind of mask/sword-fighting apparatus?

Any off-label uses at your house?

Addendums

(Comment from a previous post, by Alli)
"K, Jess, I know it wasn't 'childhood', but remember when we went camping at Crystal Spring? Us girls all arrived, so full of ourselves, and my dad told us there was Karaoke going on down by the pools. We sang our way there, and proceeded to completely take over the microphone - sure that everyone there was stunned by our talents. We sang everything we could think of until finally, someone in the group was kind enough to inform us that the group of people, and microphone, weren't there for Karaoke - it was a family reunion!!! How's that for over-confident, humiliating showmanship! :-)"

Wow, that's embarrassing! And we were like 20 years old! Thanks, Alli. I'd completely forgotten about that lovely night. When Louie read it aloud to me, he and I both had a good laugh (he made fun of me for the rest of the night). It's a great story. I thought it deserved its own post.

For those of you gagging over my last braggy post, it may bring you comfort to know that neither of my boys can ride a bike. They can kind of ride a tricycle, but a bicycle with training wheels? Not so much. Seriously, I often wonder what's wrong with them as they half pedal and half drag their way across the driveway.
Meanwhile, my sister's kids can ride 2-wheelers by age 4. Sigh. I'm raising little nerds.

Baby Scholars

There's the 4 1/2-year-old who reads, writes, does math, knows all 50 states, and a ridiculous amount of other things - giving me an education along the way.

The 2 3/4-year-old who can write his name and make up hilarious one-liners.

And, of course, the 2-month-old who can read...well, OK, he's exceptional at gaining weight. He just weighed in at 15lb 6oz.

Just a little Mommy-bragging in honor of this back-to-school season.

Milo the Magnificent

What can I say? Milo's a fun kid.

This is what Milo can do with one chocolate chip granola bar. What are there, like 5 mini chocolate chips in those? We have no idea how this happens every time. You'd think we'd learn.

Milo 2yrs 9mos; Eli 8wks

Today was Milo's first big-boy (not by mom) haircut. I'm regretting it already. I said: "Leave the mop-top, just even it up and make it a bit shorter". They didn't.

Don't worry, Mi Asher - you're still super cute.

To Sing or To Dance, That's the Question

In grade school my favorite teacher was my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Hansen. I adored her. I was also a child greatly influenced by my grandma. I watched many an old film with my grandma, thus my adoration for Doris Day and Julie Andrews. So, back to my 5th grade teacher. At some point I felt the strong need to perform something magically wonderful for her, you know, to bring her some joy and do a little showing off. If you can believe it, I convinced a girlfriend to do it with me. So, together, my friend and I practiced at home most of the songs from "The Sound of Music". We learned all the words and even some harmonies. We arranged a day with my teacher, and stayed after school to, you guessed it, perform all our songs for her: singing, dancing, the works. When we got to any boy/girl songs ("Sixteen Going on Seventeen") I was the girl and my friend got to be the boy. I did that to many a friend in my day.

Another time, at age 12, a different girlfriend and I learned all the songs to Dirty Dancing - if you can imagine - and bought matching swimsuits that were way too sexy for 12-yr-olds. Then we gave our parents written invitations for a dinner and performance night. We fed them salad and biscuits and other stuff I can't remember, while we forced them to watch us lip-sync to Dirty Dancing songs in skimpy bathing suits. How they sat through that without breaking into hysterics and falling out of their seats, I'll never know.

I also taught my sisters choreography to things, dressed them up, and had them perform for our parents.

I don't know what prompted these memories exactly. I guess I've been watching my kids and enjoying their unrestrained imaginations, and wondering what happened to mine. Also, I've been wondering: How do I give my children confidence in using their talents, and reaching for their potentials as they grow up and face the rigors of life?
The above stories are possibly two of my most embarrassing moments, but somehow I'm not so embarrassed by them anymore (though they do give me a good laugh picturing the poor suffering adults involved). I was a quirky, odd kid and I'm a decently quirky adult, but what happened to my longing for the spotlight and craving social adoration? Gone are the uninhibited days of my childhood. I want them back!

Lately, I've been thinking about the outgoing people in my life, and wanting to be more like them. It's so much more fun not to worry about what people think, and to just enjoy life. Even if it means making your loved ones watch homemade choreography for "You Don't Own Me" while eating Bisquick biscuits for dinner.

What silly things did you do as a kid?

Showers of Parmesan, Chubby Smiles, and a Kangaroo

A Parmesan explosion. While I wasn't thrilled that Louie's first response was to run for the camera, he did, after much laughing, sweep it up for me.

Delectable Eli at 7 weeks. He's become very social and smiley and keeps every one of us captivated by his charm.

Milo hops around like this most days and exclaims: "No, I'm NOT Milo. I'm a mommy kangaroo!" And doesn't his beloved little fox look just like a joey?

Mommy brain

I keep wanting to post something, and I keep not thinking of anything to write. This is silly because my life is happy and full of funny kids things, poop stories, funny quotes, adorable chubby cheeks to kiss, etc.
We're doing well - great, in fact. I'll update more when my brain kicks into gear.

This just in: Milo is into being "dangerous". I just now overheard him saying: "You know what's absolutely dangerous?" And then he explained some silly thing about jumping over a toy. Don't you love words like "absolutely" coming from toddlers? He makes me laugh.

A Good Biblical Wife (and hey, this is my 200th post!)

Today was the blessing of Son Number Three - being, of course, our little Eli. Louie did a really nice job and we can hardly believe Elias is 6 weeks old.
For the first time, we got it right: fancy white outfit, luncheon afterward, family surrounding us, adequate amount of photos taken, etc.
It was a lovely day that included unseasonably cool temperatures - hooray.


A few other things I took from the day:

- That we're going to be eating bagels for every meal for the next 2 weeks.

- That my little boys still require a "clean underwear doesn't grow on trees" lecture.

- That it makes me laugh when Milo, while being dragged away, screams: "NOOO!! I need to do something dangerous RIGHT THIS MINUTE!"

Adorations

Eli just had his very first out-the-legs-up-the-back poop. I know! Say it with me now, AWWWWW. So adorable.

For reals, though - how adorable is this baby watermelon in our back yard?

And these baby lemons?

Because They're Little. And They Grow...

...and they're silly.

Eli, 3 1/2 weeks
Cheek shot!

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

It's amazing the difference between the 3 weeks before you give birth, and the 3 weeks after. One of them goes by MUCH more quickly. It's been a lovely 3 weeks.

Louie's favorite thing about newborns is having them fall asleep on his chest.
Milo, surrendering to sleep, but NOT to his bed. I love that he read himself some stories first.

As for a Calvin update: he's been on a happy jag ever since that lovely incident from the previous post. Ah, the bipolarness of childhood.

My Favorite Things?

Calvin, after a grouchy spell, but seemingly on the mend, asked me: "Know what my favorite thing is?"
I happily replied: "What?"
Calvin: "Being RUDE!" (scowling)
Followed by: "I don't just hate some things, I hate EVERYTHING."

Normally I would have sighed a great sigh, but I just started laughing. Here I'd been totally suckered by his question, thinking he was referring to the "My Favorite Things" song we've been singing a lot lately. I was expecting him to say: Daddy or popsicles or my new brother, or something lovely like that. WRONG!

How Things Are Going

I once gave Louie a little touch-lamp for his birthday. At the time it seemed a little...I don't know...non-wifelike to give such a boring gift. But since then we've decided it's one of our favorite things. I have to say, though, 2AM feedings have become somewhat like playing the game "Operation". I touch the lamp once to turn it to the dimmest setting. When I need anything else from the night stand - water, burp cloth, etc - I have to slowly inch my hand around the lamp to get them. If I miss and brush past the lamp: OH HORRIBLE LIGHT!
Funny what you think of in the middle of the night.

The boys (especially Calvin) are in love with Elias. They kiss him, hug him, hold him, and then they go about their business. They'll be off in their play-world and forget we have a new person around, only to re-discover him and be thrilled all over again. So far, so good.

Introducing...

Elias Gardner Charles

June 28th
9lbs 14oz (yep, ouch)
21 inches

I went into labor on Sunday morning. The contractions were 10-15 minutes apart for several hours, so we went in to see if they were doing anything. It turned out they weren't doing much. Just as we decided to go home and wait for them to regulate, they suddenly went 8 minutes apart, regulated, and ouila! I was really in labor. Labor went just fine, though I didn't feel up to going natural this time. I really wanted to, but I was so emotionally wiped out, I just didn't feel brave enough. I did make it to 6cm before I caved. Then I pushed out a giant baby in 3 contractions - I did my part!

Aw, we love him, all huge and chubby and delicious. No newborn sizes for this one! Seriously, how do I have these big babies? I gained less weight this pregnancy than with either of the other two - but still had my biggest baby yet. What gives?

So far we think he looks more like Louie, but there's some of me in there, too. He definitely has Louie's mouth area. We can't see around the chubby cheeks to see other features yet.
The big brothers are in love, and every time he snorts or makes a funny noise, they crack up.
I'm sore and hobbling around, but doing well. I didn't lose as much blood this time, so I'm enjoying not feeling dizzy and queasy. Just super tired and sore.

There you have it.

40 winks

Ha ha ha, 40 winks. I WISH!

But check it out, I'm 40 WEEKS pregnant today! I'm dilated to a 3...which I've never been before without being in labor. I realize I can hang out at a 3 for a long time, but the baby is finally in a good position and things are ready to go. Now, the waiting game (if it goes past the weekend, I'll be induced Monday or Tuesday).
Louie took our cell phone to work today only to discover he has no reception out there. So now neither of us can use it. Brilliant.
I feel like a ticking time-bomb.

Pregnancy Rants and Updates - you've been warned

Ah, 39 weeks and counting. So all that "my body is definitely getting ready" stuff promptly went away when this little stinker decided to roll over and be face up, or "posterior" as the professionals say. I swear, this kid had better be NICE when he comes out, because his punk, non-compliant attitude inside the womb is not a good sign. He also flipped back and forth between breech and not breech for several weeks. I guess I should just be thankful he's landed on NOT breech.
I had to love it when my midwife said: "I think if he'd just turn around and engage, you'd go right into labor, you're feeling ready to go", and then suggested crawling around on hands and knees to get him to roll. Um, KNEES? Ouch. But I'm trying...and failing.

I'm at that stage where I'm both super sick of being pregnant AND super freaked about going to the hospital. I always cry on the way to the hospital, as in: "No, I don't want to go, I hate hospitals so much, don't make me go ". Isn't that so lame? I hate the IV, I hate the monitors, I hate the lighting, I hate all things related to using the bathroom, I hate recovery...It's hard to think of the things I like about having a baby right now. But I'm sure there are some, and I'm sure I'll let you know what they are when they happen. When I have the baby, I'll probably be like: "Here he is world, isn't he the cutest thing ever?! Oh, life is great. Gush, gush, gush." But for now, the worrier that I am has taken over. I wish I was one of those "let life happen as it happens" people. I'm trying. This is one of my lifelong goals, in fact.

My discipline style has turned very Willy Wonka lately (old school Wonka). When the boys act up, I'm like: "Wait. Stop. Come back." No energy for chasing, yelling, getting too upset. It's resulted in a lot less contention when they're misbehaving. Maybe I should always use that approach. Thanks Gene Wilder!
-"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

-"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."