Eight is Great

 

Somehow my oldest baby, Joseph Mark, turned EIGHT last weekend!

 

To celebrate, he wanted to have a few friends over to eat lots of junk food, play Wii, and watch a movie!  Well…at first he wanted to take his friends to a super-expensive play-land type place… but he was quickly convinced of this alternative plan.

(Littlest brother “helped” to decorate while the big boys were at school.  He was also a good boy and only snuck one cookie off the plate before party time.  Ha!)

Joseph is a voracious reader.  Yesterday he even took a book to the park and read on a bench while his brothers played!

He is still very smart, and LOVES LOVES LOVES school!

He also loves Legos, Minecraft, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and wrestling with his brothers.  (And waking up early- STILL!)

My oldest is a sweet boy, a rule follower, and a lover of justice.  Also, a lover of his Mama and Dada.  (although he calls us Mom and Dad around his friends)

So thankful to have him as my oldest!

PS

The day afterwards, he got this:

courtesy of wrestling with his brother! Ha!  A little Isaac head-to-the-eye! Ouch.  He looks quite cheerful, because he couldn’t wait to show his friends, and have everybody “Think that I was in a fight or something!”

The best I can!

 

I finally finished planting my spring bulbs yesterday.  In mid/late November.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have planted SEVENTY?  But no!  Go big or go home!

As I put those little bulbs into the cold soggy ground, I whispered to them in my head, “PLEASE grow, little bulbs.  I know its late, but please please grow!  You will make me SO happy when I’m giant in the spring and I can see you outside my window!”

This is also how I feel about my children this whole first trimester.  “Please be okay, little children!  Please don’t let your brains rot when I let you watch another movie (or twenty) while I lay on the couch and try not to vomit/sleep/cry.  Please remember that I can be a fun Mommy who actually takes you places and makes you things other than Eggo waffles.  Please please please!”

But don’t worry, I know that they WILL be okay.  (Well, my children will.  The bulbs are iffy!)  They are actually probably thrilled at the extra screen time and cereal and freedom they are getting.

I’M DOING THE BEST I CAN HERE!  And that’s really all I can do.

 

Almost 14 weeks with twins.  Hopeful for this 2nd trimester to perk me up SOON!

 

 

Telling the Boys

 

(I’m recording this for posterity…because we all know I’m going to remember NOTHING soon when my brain turns into I-have-5-kids-mush!)

After school that day, Brian and I sat the big boys down. (Samuel was napping, but also too young to care much about this whole thing.)

I told them, “Guys, we have something to tell you.”

and Joseph immediately interrupted to say, “Good news or bad news?” (my little worrier)

I assured him that it was GOOD news.  Then said, “We found out today that I have a baby in my tummy” (insert joyful gasps) “but then I found out that I have TWO babies in my tummy!”

They both shouted “What??” And laughed and shrieked a bunch and jumped around saying “TWINS!!!” at each other! Ha!

Then, Joseph said, “Well….I DID think you were looking a liiiiiittle pudgy!” while rubbing his belly.

And Isaac said, “Don’t worry, Mama, I will hold one a LOT because I LOVE babies!” (he really does)

And then Joseph asked if we could teach them Spanish (?) and said that he couldn’t wait to tell his teacher and then there was general merriment and laughter and running around!

Everyone I told on the phone went a little something like this:

Me:  “I just was calling to tell you that the ultrasound went well.  Everything looks great and BOTH babies are very healthy”

Them:  “Are you kidding me?” (or maybe a naughtier word in the case of a few people, who shall remain anonymous! haha!) or “Are you SERIOUS?”   Always followed by lots of shrieking and laughter and disbelief and “OH MY GOSH” ‘s.

 

Basically, everyone was shocked by this news, but now we are all so thankful and filled with joy at this unexpected blessing!

 

PS Isaac has told me about a hundred times since then that he is SO excited for his TWINS!  My cup runneth over!

We have a little announcement to make…well…TWO little announcements!!

 

COMING THIS MAY!

I wish I could describe to you the shock that I felt when these two little bambinos showed up on the ultrasound!

Earlier that day, as the boys were getting on the bus, I had just told one of my neighborhood friends, “I’m just praying for ONE healthy baby today!” and we laughed about how horribly hard having twins would be.

And then I made a similar joke to my doctor, who had just noticed that my uterus felt quite big. “Oh..haha! I just get big fast.  But PLEASE, do make sure there is only ONE in there!”

About 2 seconds later, I saw a baby on the screen, wiggling with a heartbeat.  And about 2.5 seconds later, the other baby came into focus.

“Wait.  TWO???”  I shrieked!  (I’m good at reading ultrasounds) 

“Say hi to Mommy twinsies!” the doctor said! 

And then I laugh-cried for the rest of the appointment.  I mean, people, I had JUST BARELY psyched myself up enough to have a fourth baby.  I was close to calling it at three…but someone still felt missing. 

Well, apparently it was TWO someones!

Poor Brian just yelped, “TWO?” when I showed him the picture and then sat on the couch with his hands raised and his mouth open for quite some time.

Then we thanked the Lord for our bonus baby.  Who is truly truly a blessing!

And then we got ready to tell our boys the news! (who didn’t even know I was pregnant at this point!)

We are doing fine! I am still alive!

 

I would say I don’t know what happened, and why I dropped off the face of the earth…but I do know what happened.  Summer happened.  Summer is my hardest season (I’m convinced I have reverse seasonal depression!) and this year with three busy, strong willed boys…welll, it was like being locked in a cage with three rhinos?  Or something?

So, thankfully, the blog just skipped over all of that, and now here we are!  In fall!  As if that summer never happened!

Here is a quick update on us:

Joseph:  Loving 2nd grade (He has a class pet that he is particuarly thrilled about, a guinea pig named Wemberly.  He gives me daily updates on all of her sounds and antics.  Which was adorable at first!) and he is still reading every chance he can get.  This 7-almost-8 years old is a bit bittersweet for me.  Its sweet because I can talk with him and share so many things and laughs together, but I’m also getting just short short glimpses of the next stage to come (pre tween), and I am constantly reminded how fleeting this childhood thing really is. 

(This is how he avoids the “no books at the dinner table” rule)

Isaac:  He is absolutely LOVING all day kindergarten this year (but not as much as I’m loving it, if you know what I’m saying!)  and bounds out of bed excited for each new school day.  Homeboy needed some more stimulation/structure/resources than I could give him!  He has the same teacher that Joseph had last year (she moved from first grade to kinder) and we are actually getting nothing but glowing reports! (Besides that one time he pretended to cut his ear off with scissors)

Just this month he lost both of his bottom teeth, and he is particularly thrilled that he is ahead of where his brother was on the tooth-losing curve.

The toothfairy is going broke around here!  And has forgotten 2/6 (or 1/3 total) times!  Eeesh.  Buuuut, it turned out that once we turned on the lights, there was the dollar!  It had just fallen under the bed real quick! 

 

Samuel:  Is three now!  Not three months, apparently, but three whole years old!  Other than about 2-3 bursts of temper a day (which he quickly repents of and apologizes for), he remains a very calm, mellow, quiet little guy.  He still loves Mommy more than air.  More than my air too (It’s a bit suffocating at times).  But, overall, I am loving having all this time one-on-one with him this year!

Brian:  Doing great!  Working hard!  And stopping to hear me complain/ask for hugs all day long!  (Patient, longsuffering man!)

and last but not least

Me:  I am busy, but good.  So so busy and so so good.  I’m trying to make the busy-ness more intentional this year.  Not just kid stuff and errands, but actually DOING SOMETHING with my time!   I’m helping with a local MOPS group, I’ve joined a moms-in-prayer group through our school, and spending lots of time with friends and family.  I even spoke at a ladies retreat recently!  It is challenging, and fulfilling and so wonderful. 

And I’m so glad its fall!

(Isaac set the table for dinner, complete with a flower he picked from the backyard)

Wednesday Night

 

Tonight was a “lock your children outside while you blast Dreamgirls’ soundtrack and clean up the kitchen while regrouping your patience” kind of night.

It was the kind of night where Joseph wanted to go to a new neighbor friend’s house, and I said okay (reluctantly, because I don’t know this kid well yet), but to be home by 3:45, and it rolled around to 4 and still no Joseph and I was thinking that he was for sure kidnapped or missing and I was angry-because-I-was-scared.  And then I found him (at the friends house still obviously) and he thought it was 4 he needed to be home and I was still mad, and we hugged and he said, “Can we drop it, because it was really only 15 minutes.”  Ha!

 

The kind of night where fighting and crying ensued every 30 minutes (seconds) like clockwork and you find yourself yelling, “Don’t you guys remember our memory verse?!  ‘A SOFT ANSWER TURNS AWAY WRATH!!’”  And you realize the irony of you yelling this at your kids, but you are too tired for irony!  Too tired!  And your children don’t understand irony anyway.

 

(Isaac in time-out…with company)

 

 

It was the night of what-do-you-know, I am RIGHT THIS MINUTE painting the baseboard in the bathroom mint green, because I am sooo sick of seeing the peeling/cracking/stained old one, so SURPRISE BRIAN!!  Yet another thing in our home that is now mint! (Pictures of more mint things I’ve painted to come)  

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

And I’m hoping that the satisfaction of this job well done will make up for the fact that the rest of my house is fairly disastrous. 

Tonight was an early bedtime for the boys, a mint ice cream cone for me (I’m in a mint stage), and some thoughts of “Rats, I could have done better…” and then an early bedtime for me too.

And a quick prayer thanking the Lord for a fresh start tomorrow.

(and some help with the soft answers)

LOVE!

 

I know that Brian loves me, because he spent the better part of last weekend building and installing a second garden box.  Just for me!

For me and my greenish-brownish-blackish thumb!  But, to my credit, I do have something positively thriving in that box right now…wild and potentially poisonous mushrooms!  Lovely!

But that’s for another post. 

THIS post is about his love for me, and how he didn’t even mind forgoing his plans, donning his best work shoes (kidding), and making my planter box.  Thanks Brian!

I show him that I love him by not letting this little guy go “help Dada with the shovel!!”

And by bringing him hot meals and coffee day after day.  Except when I don’t feel like it, and then I show him I love him by keeping his children alive.

Also, clean socks (sometimes).

 

We love each other!

In other news, Samuel loves touching/picking up/ petting bugs!

So if you could all say a little prayer that he never ever does this to a bee this summer, that would be great.

 

Preschool Graduation

 

Well folks, he did it!  Isaac graduated from preschool! (they all did, but shh! don’t tell him!)

For those of you who didn’t know, I enrolled Isaac in a little in-home daycare in the spring.  With full-day kinder looming ahead of us, I thought it might be good for him to become a little acclimated to the school setting.

 

You might think that this is code for “it might be good for him to stop talking to Mommy for one little minute”, but its not!  It’s ACTUALLY code for “it might be good for him to stop wrestling with everyone he sees all the time, because its not socially acceptable in the public school system.”

In any case, he LOVED IT and absolutely LIT UP every time I took him there.  He only had to sit in the “thinking chair” once, and it was on his very first day when he “didn’t know that he couldn’t karate chop people at school”  (See?! SEE??!)

(Above: This was his proud face when he saw Brian sitting in the crowd)

We didn’t feel too sad about him leaving his teacher behind because- good news!  She is doing some summer camps!  And you can bet that his adorable little behind is going. (This time its for the  quit-talking-to-mommy-thing.)  (I mean socialization)

Lets take a minute to observe a few things about the picture above.  First of all, I’m sorry for blacking-out the other kids faces, it just felt weird to put them on the internet.  And I know I could have done a cute little heart or smiley face stamp on their faces instead but I DON’T KNOW HOW!

Anywhoo, what I want you to observe is

1) How very very much taller Isaac is than all of his classmates.  He truly is a giant!  Some of the kids are still four, but 5 of them are his same age (or older!)

2) There were all boys in his class, except one little girl who joined a month or two before the class ended.  His teacher is clearly a SAINT!

3)  He is the only kid not looking at the teacher.

I am so happy that Isaac got to have this experience.  He is such a kind friend, and so enthusiastic.  Truly an adorable child (even if he does stand in the toilet and flush to see if it spins him around) (NOT. JOKING.) and that little sparkle in his eyes melts my heart.

Waaaah!  I’m going to miss him in the faaaall!!

 

In any case, here are some videos for your viewing pleasure…

I was going to say that these may be tedious if you are not a relative, but no!  He is so adorable and cheerful and heart-achingly earnest.  I declare them worth watching for everyone!  Or maybe I’m just biased?  But for posterity at least- behold!  Isaac’s graduation!: