Learning how to read

It is amazing how well Matt is learning how to read. He reads things everywhere we go. It's so fun to hear him read books to his brothers. I recently got a new cookbook (no big surprise there). Matt read the title and apparently I got a book called, "Mastering the Girl." I wonder what that book would be about. Hmmmmm.....

8 months old!

Timmy is now 8 months old. It seems just like a week ago that I was writing about his 7 month highlights. Let's see, what has he done that's new this month?

Well, he slept in his bed. He is now sleeping in his Pack & Play and I will keep him in it until after our vacation. He is rolling all over the place and can push his entire torso up on his arms. It's only a matter of time before he gets his knees up under him. Then I'll really have to clean the floor on a regular basis. He can do the "beached whale" really well. You know the move- it's where he's on his stomach and his legs and arms are off the ground kicking wildly. I actually tried to do it. It's a full body work out.

We're still working on introducing new foods. When there is a food he doesn't like he closes his lips very tight. He's very stubborn. He actually refused applesauce the first 4 times I offered it to him. He gobbled up the entire jar when I first gave him peaches. We'll try peas next week. I'm sure that will go over well.

Timmy got to have his first play date this past month. His friend (who is 3 months younger) flew in to stay with us. The first time he saw her he tried to grab her hand. Then she went in for the kiss. She watched him a lot as he showed off his rolling skills. We also went over to a friend's house who has twin boys. They are a couple months older than Timmy. They entertained him and made his laugh alot.

I realized that I don't have too many pictures from the last month. I wanted to get one of him sleeping in his bed. Oh well. He are a couple of our big boy.

Giving up the car seat

Last Friday night Timmy gave up sleeping in his car seat and slept (the whole night) IN HIS BED!!!!!!


He did this because his friend, Caroline, was flying in the next day and she needed to use his infant car seat. Isn't he thoughtful? He gave up the car seat for her and just in time. He rolls onto his stomach and sleeps quite well. Of course the first few nights I checked on him about every hour because I found him with his face planted into the mattress and that freaked me out. I guess after a couple days he figured out that it's not comfortable to sleep on his face and now he turns his head just fine. It's been nearly a whole week now and I am so happy....


Until 2 days ago when I found out that his crib is being recalled. If you have a crib made by Delta check out this site.


The web site said that I will be sent a kit to install safety measures on the crib, but until then I should stop using it immediately. So now we are going to have to try to get him to sleep in the Pack & Play. I'm so frustrated. I was so excited to have him sleeping in his crib and now we might have to start all over again. Granted it's important to keep him safe.


At least he'll be prepared for spring break when he'll have to sleep in the Pack & Play anyway. I should look on the bright side...at least I'll have a child who will sleep in that thing. The other two didn't.

Why?!!!

This is as in, "Why do kids do what they do?" and also as in why, when you ask a child, "Why did you do that?", the answer is ALWAYS "I don't know". Let me illustrate.

Tonight is Wed (Doug' has a meeting at church and then basketball night) and with that I get to get the boys ready, and to bed on my own. This isn't usually a big deal. I deal with much worse. But today I am very tired and my head hurts. I didn't get to sleep last night until 2:30 and then I've had the stress of organizing and preparing a meal for 65 women at church this week. Today I made (with some help) 4 pans of lasagna (add that to the 4 pans of lasagna I already made and froze last week), and I also forgot to eat all day with the exception of breakfast. Also my nursing schedule has been off schedule today so all day my chest felt like it was going to explode. Anyway, I got the boys in bed just fine with the warning of "if I come upstairs and you're goofing around I WILL separate you!". Then I settled down to feed Timmy and watch some TV.

Minutes later Thomas announces he has to go stinky. OK, he can deal with that just fine. Besides I'm still feeding Timmy. I hear the toilet flush and all is well. Until, my mommy ears detect giggling. Thinking that they are in their room goofing around I wait until Timmy is done, and proceed to catch them in the act.


Oh, I caught them in the act alright. You know the phrase, "caught with your hand in the cookie jar"? Well, they weren't in the cookie jar, they were in another porcelain container. Yep, that's right. I caught Matt swirling the toilet paper in the toilet. There's water on the floor and both their hands are wet and the Pj's are wet to the elbows. Why me?! Before you completely gross out, I have to tell you that the stinky had been flushed away, so it was just toilet paper. But still, it's pretty gross.


After we changed PJ tops and washed and sanitized our hands I separated them as promised. When I asked "Why did you put your hand in the toilet?" both boys said, "I don't know". (Must be brain damage). And to top it off when I came back downstairs Timmy was crying because he had stinky pants as well. ( I need to mention the he is the king of rolling around while getting his pants changed now). Doug's only been gone a little over an hour.


So, is there another way to ask kids these questions so you can get reasonable answers? Just don't say the word "Why." Should I have said, "what possessed you to do that?", or maybe "how did you feel when you did that?". However, both of these questions can also be answered with "I don't know" Anyone have good ideas of the correct way to ask a child a question without saying the word "why"?


I think I have some Samoa cookies hiding somewhere. Then when Doug gets home and asks "Why did you eat all the Samoas?" I'll answer "I don't know."

Happily Ever After

Today is our ninth wedding anniversary. This song (Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys) got Doug and I really thinking about marriage while we were dating. I remember that this song came on the radio and I was listening to the words, and I said to him, "Wouldn't it be nice to say good night and stay together?"


Anyway, it's a cute song and I like this Disney interpretation. Doug is my Prince Charming who rescues me when I'm down. He is my Beast who is willing to try to change things to make me happy. He is like Prince Eric because he too got to live happily ever after with the redhead. Tarzan discovered that Jane was the same as him because of her heart, and it is Doug's heart that gives away his secrets. I knew the first time he was going to kiss me because I heard his heart pounding. And again his heart ruined the element of surprise when Doug was proposing. And like Aladdin, Doug has shown me a whole new world of kindness and laughter and love. I remember that, once while we were dating, someone asked Doug what quality he loved in me and he said, "She holds herself like a queen." I guess someone needs to be the princess around here in a house of 4 boys. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What part of "I just need it thinned out. No layers" do you not understand?

Well, apparently the guy cutting my hair didn't understand anything.

So yesterday I went to get my hair cut. It had been at least 8 months and was getting pretty thick and heavy so it really needed to be thinned out. I found a coupon for this salon that supposedly specializes in curly hair. So I thought I'd give it a try.

I went in and got to have my hair washed. I love that part. Then I sit in my chair and I proceed to instruct the guy on what my hair needed. "Trim it to here (hands at shoulders), I need it really thinned out. It's so thick I get headaches. No layers though. The shorter my hair gets, the curlier it gets." Of course he should understand that-right? He's a curly hair specialist. Well, this other guy (I think he is the man in charge) walks by and speaks to my haircutter in a language I don't recognize and my haircutter says something to him. Then the boss man asks me something and I answer and then he translates to my haircutter. To my horror, I realized that the man with the scissors may not understand English very well, let alone anything I said. Well, he starts in on the trim and so far so good. Then he gets out the thinning shears. Ok. I keep feeling my hair to make sure that it gets nice and thinned out. Ok so far. Then the boss guy comes by and asks me if I want my hair angled by my face. "No", I say. "It will curl up too much". The guy cutting my hair asks me. "you want bangs?" ""No", I say.

Anyway, when all was done the guy put gel and stuff in my hair and of course it looks cute (it always does at the Salon. You can never recreate what they do when you get home). But then, as he gets out the blow dryer and diffuser I notice the tell-tale curl off to the side of my head. A sure sign that some of my hair around my face was cut too short. Aaaagh. Not again! I hate it when the hair around my face is too short. Anyway. I get out and get home to analize what was done to my hair. Yes, it is nicely thinned out. As I reach around to the back of my hair I realize that I can feel the different areas where the hair is shorter than other areas. Nooooo! That's a layer! I said no layers!

Needless to say, I now actually have to do my hair in the morning and find a way to pin down psycho curl off the side of my head. I don't even know if the hair around my face is still long enough to put in a pony tail. I seriously need to find someone that understands curly hair and that will listen to me. It is my hair and I know it better than any professional. If anyone out there knows of a good place without spending too much money, please let me know.

Oh, and make sure they speaka my language.

If this is offensive to anyone out there, I am sorry. I am a little miffed at having to deal with another bad hair cut again!

7 months old!

Today Timothy is 7 months old. He's growing more and more. He had to graduate to size 3 diapers because he kept leaking out of the size 2. He can now roll over from both sides. He is better at rolling from his back to stomach however. When he gets on his stomach he just fusses until you help him (even though he can solve the problem himself). He can sit up better but still needs to be focused on something so he doesn't tip. He still sleeps in his car seat. Today I was explaining to him the a car seat stays in the car and a bed is for sleeping. Do you know what he did? He stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries! Once he masters the rolling over, then perhaps he will do better in the bed. Another milestone this month is that he actually put a pacifier in his mouth and left it there. Infact, this morning he fell asleep with a pacifier instead of using me as a human pacifier. That's progress! There are some days I don't enjoy being a human pacifier. Especially since lately he's been chomping down on me. No teeth yet (thank goodness). But who knew that there is a nerve going all the way from your chest to your big toe! I can feel the tingling in my toe when he bites down. Don't worry, I will definately put an end to this before the teeth come. The other two only bit down a couple times before I encouraged them not too. I told Timmy that if he keeps it up there's a can of formula upstairs that has his name on it. He just smiled at me. Timmy is developing a weird sense of humor. When the boys jump up and down in one place he cracks up laughing. He also loves it when the boys blow their party favor toys. He laughs when the boys jump on their beds and Timmy keeps hitting my arm until I help him join in. He's a lot of fun. I'm sure that in the next month or so he'll start crawling. I'll keep you posted.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I think that today was the first time ever I was given a heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentines Day. It must be love! I think in the past I always went out and bought them for myself the day after when they were on sale. Doug and I were going to go out but then I got a cold this weekend and it wouldn't be too much fun for me to go out. We'll go out next weekend. Instead the NBA All Stars Slam Dunk contest is on TV. How romantic!

Speaking of romantic, I found these lovely valentines for the Star Wars fan in your life. Here are a few of my favorites:

6 years old!

Today Matt turned 6 years old. He's very proud to be a 6 year old. He wanted me to come to his school and eat lunch with him today. I also brought chocolate chip cookies for his class. I was the most popular one at the lunch table! (I don't think that ever happened when I was in school!). Anyway, he was very happy to see me there. He is a social butterfly at school and says "HI" to everyone as we leave in the afternoon. There have even been a few girls that hug him goodbye. He's enjoying school and is learning so much. Of course if you ask him what he learned in school that day he'll say, "I don't know." He is reading and writing more and more every day. Doug and I can no longer spell words around him (to keep something a secret) because Matt will figure out what it is that we're spelling. I'm very proud of him and how much he is progressing.

Matt had a Star Wars the Clone Wars birthday party. Doug and I made Star Wars bingo cards and that was a popular activity. We had the boys throw balls into little holes (they had to use the force), they balanced balloons in the air on lightsabers (a Jedi is always patient and has complete control), they helped "rescue" Princess Leia (she was trapped in a balloon), and finally we had a pinata. Wow, I had no idea how much aggression could be taken out on a pinata. There were some impressive swings. Doug held it up high on a broom handle and I hoped that all the little boys wouldn't miss judge and wack Doug in the stomach.After the pinata we had cake and ice cream. Matt wanted a clone trooper cake, specifically Captain Rex the Clone. I found a couple ideas online and then I decided to try it for myself. It was the first time using fondant. I have to say it turned out pretty well considering I was pressed for time and didn't roll it out thin enough. The boys could recognize it for what it was and that it what's important. After presents the boys took turns playing Lightsaber Duels on the Wii. One of Matt's friends exclaimed, "This is the best birthday party ever!" So I guess it was a success.

Now that birthday parties are over, I will start doing my taxes.

4 years old!

Today Thomas turned 4. My boys are growing up so fast. Thomas requested a Wall-e birthday theme, so yesterday he had a couple friends come over to play and eat cake and ice cream. Thomas had a lot of fun. He got a couple Nerf guns and the boys played with them for 5 hours straight. They were very popular. We got him a Semi truck that can hold 40 Hot Wheels cars and that is very popular as well. It's funny how Thomas plays with his cars like someone else would play with their dolls or little people. He has conversations with his cars, and they have their own personalities. There's a lot of playing house with cars around here. He decided that when he turned 4 that he would give up the pacifier for good. We'll see how that goes. He's having a lot of fun playing with his friends at his preschool group and loves it when Matt comes home from school so they can play together. Well, here's a couple pictures of the birthday cake and Thomas' big day.