Makes a Mom Proud...

Ben has been upset the last few school days because the teacher moved seats around (she has done this a TON!) and she put the class bad behavior case next to him. This little girl is a bad seed, I tell you. Her name is Kayla and she was in his kindergarten class last year. She waits until the teacher isn't looking and hits/pushes/makes faces at other kids and tries to get them in trouble. Ben was one of her favorite victims last year.

At any rate, this new seating arrangement has caused MUCH anxiety over here, especially Friday, during the math test, when she apparently talked to Ben the entire time, hit him when the teacher wasn't looking and cheated off of his test. Lovely.

I emailed the teacher about it yesterday morning and asked if it was possible, could she please separate them. I filled her in on last year's issues too.

This was the reply I got back:
-----
No trouble. As a teacher, I try to put well behaved students next to ones who need a little more practice following the rules. Ben is so good, I was hoping he would influence Kayla. I can move him today.
-----

He came home from school yesterday ECSTATIC that he had been moved. Hooray! Of course, now he's next to two kids he really likes, which I hope won't create its own set of distractions. LOL.

And yet another reason to be proud of my kiddo -- he made it into the top reading group! He's a "Rocker" (they named the group themselves. LOL!!!). Anyway, he's excited mostly because he's with the seven other kids in the class he likes the best and because yesterday, his group got to make up cool stories about dragons and he wrote one about a dragon that breathed fire on the school and burned it down. (!) LOL. *I'm* excited because the teacher sent home a letter saying they are starting spelling next week and that the Rocker group gets extra challenge words. Ben, on the other hand, found this aspect of the Rocker group to be extremely annoying. I guess we have different perspectives on this. ;)

Still waiting to find out what the math group status is. He got a 14/16 on his first test though complete with a scratch and sniff "Terrific!" sticker. Hee. :) We put it right on the fridge. My kids already fight for fridge space for their papers. It's too funny. Simon always has to make sure he has something from school up there too and always notices when I take something down and don't replace it with something else. I need a bigger fridge!

So yeah, Ben's "rocking" first grade and I couldn't be prouder! :D

And So it Begins...

...germ season, that is.

Simon's been sniffly for a few days. Allergies? Perhaps. Ben and Tom are suffering these days with their fall allergies and so I can't be sure whether he had a cold or what. Either way, it has culminated in an ear infection now, which just became evident about a half hour ago. I second guessed myself this morning on that and had decided to hold off on calling the doctor until tomorrow if he was still looking so pitiful... thankfully, when I came to my senses and called a little while ago, they had a 4:45 appointment open. Huzzah. So off we go for what, I'm sure, will be just be one of many pediatrician runs from now until March.

(sigh)

Couldn't Resist...

I hunted down the outfit Simon and Ben were wearing in their one-month pictures and stuffed Jonathan into it this morning for a side-by-side photo op. He and Simon fit into this outfit similarly, which is to say, not really so much. LOL. Poor baby couldn't unbend his knees. ;)





And here's an awesome side-by-side. Apparently, there is something very interesting to babies off camera to the left in my living room because I had this shot with ALL three. LOL!


P.S. In case you can't tell, I have temporarily given up trying to take pictures with my nice camera... at least of the baby. I can't take them from a close enough distance to be able to catch him if he falls over.. . plus, my little camera is much easier to operate with one hand. Prettier photos sans annoying flash will resume once he has more head control. LOL!!!

Six and a Half!

Benjamin is 6-1/2!
Six months from six and here's what he's up to... :) List from 5-1/2 copied, pasted, updated and edited where appropriate. :) Two days late... but such is life these days.

Likes: (in no particular order)
Running
Going to Panera for a cinnamon crunch bagel
Shrimp tempura
Playing outside with his friends
Simon (about 75% of the time)
His cousin, Anastasia (98.5% of the time)
Jonathan (100% of the time)
School
Old-school Nintendo games and his Didj
playing football with daddy
Books about animals (we are working our way through PGE's animal section right now)
Helping out around the house, especially with the baby
Cars (makes, models, etc... ) -- though this has slowly taken a backseat to his current old-school Nintendo game obsession
Trying new food (!)
Science and "being a scientist"

Dislikes:
all veggies
Injustice (or, what appears to be, in his eyes)
Bare feet
Having to go inside
thunderstorms (although this is kind of a love/hate thing)
the smoke alarm accidentally going off in our house (I hate that thing too)
getting his name off the board at school
the bus driver (our bus driver is quite the cranky pants)


Fears:
Bees
Spiders
Dogs
Things that taste bad
Thunderstorms
Any number of other things that may change on a daily basis... you just never know


New Skills:
Trying new food (!)

First Visit to Webers This Year...

I normally avoid the pumpkin farms until it cools off a little... (it feels like mid-August still... sigh) but we were really desperate for something to do with the boys this morning. Tom suggested Port Discovery, which was apparently FREE all day... but a) downtown with a one-month-old doesn't exactly sound like my idea of a good time and b) can you imagine what a ZOO Port Discovery would be on a day when they are letting everyone in for free? Makes me all crowd-/germ-phobic just thinking about it...

So anyway, we ended up at Webers Farm which is approximately three seconds from our house and was the nice, non-overly-ambitious outing we needed. The boys played in the barnyard... Ben did the hayslide a few times, we checked out the animals, they loved the little hay maze and the smaller tire/haymaze. Then we did the hayride and ended our visit with cider slushies, lunch and cider donuts. (yum)

Jonathan about fried in the Bjorn strapped to me, so we tried to stay in what little shade there was. He managed to stay asleep though and then enjoyed his bottled lunch at the same time we did. :o)


The big boys in the hay maze


Simon in the smaller hay maze


Mr. Serious on the hayride


What Jonathan did on the hayride


Cheesy grin


Ben proclaiming his victory over the hayride


Ben's annual height marker pic


Through the years...


Simon's annual height marker pic


Through the years...


Jonathan's first ever height marker pic


Cider slush... yum


Cider doughnut... yummier.


He's never met a doughnut he didn't like


Boys with the pumpkins. We didn't get any today because I refuse to buy pumpkins and mums when it's still so ridiculously hot out.


Ben proclaiming victory over the pumpkins... apparently this is his pose du jour

Jonathan is One Month Old!

And so begins another three years of monthday pics...

Dear Jonathan,

In some ways, it's hard to believe a whole month has already passed since you joined our family. It feels like you've been here forever.

In other ways, it's been a very long month as we have adjusted to having a baby around again and the lack of sleep that brings with it.

I am still getting to know you and I'm still not ready to guess at what your personality might be. Sometimes, you are fairly easy going, other times, pretty darn demanding. On the whole though, you seem to be a pretty laid back kiddo. Those words will come back to bite me. You watch.

Your days consist mainly of eating and sleeping lately, with a little awake/playtime thrown in here and there. You've mastered falling asleep on your own and I've figured out how to tell when you're tired and put you down in your crib, so we're getting along quite well during the day. The nighttime routine is slowly coming together too and I know that once I can live with putting you down on your belly for the night, you'll sleep like a pro.

You are so alert now and just last night, you gave me a big smile after your bath. I can't really tell how you feel about your big brothers yet... sometimes it seems like you like all the activity swirling around you. Other times, you seem irritated that they won't let you sleep. Sorry buddy... you are going to have to learn to sleep amidst the chaos because I don't think that is going to change anytime soon.

Your biggest brother has adored you from day one. He wants to hold you and feed you and talk to you ALL the time. Your other brother kind of ignores you right now, probably because you can't wear costumes or play light sabers and therefore are not much fun. I know that will change though when you are a little older and you two will probably be wonderful playmates. :)

You like to be held a lot... so we're working on getting you to enjoy some longer stints in your bouncy seat so we can have free hands. It's going okay... but you sure do get loud when you get bored and want to be picked up again!

Eating. No complaints here. You eat 3-4 ounce bottles these days. I wouldn't say you are a huge eater, but you eat without issues and that makes life easier for everyone.

These four weeks and three days have had their ups and downs, for sure, but we wouldn't change a thing. We're so glad you picked us to be your family... as slightly crazy and chaotic as it is. We love you, sweet boy!

Love,
Mommy

One month side-by-side


And, the stats--
Diapers - Size 1
Height - 21 or so, according to the pediatrician a week ago
Weight - 9lbs 7 oz, but that was over a week ago... he feels heavier now
Sleeping - Lots of sleeping during the day... no set schedule yet, though he does always seem to take a long nap around dinnertime. At night, he wakes up around midnight and 3a.m. to eat and usually falls right back to sleep. He'll get up in the morning between 5:30 and 6:30.
Eating - About 24-30 ounces, depending on the day.
Clothes - Mix of some larger newborn stuff and 0-3 month, mostly 0-3 at this point.

You're Never Fully Dressed...

I got the first big, huge, full-face, honest-to-goodness SMILE from Jonathan tonight when I was singing Snuggle Puppy to him after his bath. AH! My heart is all melty...

Stuffed Worm Makes Two Out of Three Infants Scream...

Wish I had pics that were taken closer in age... but anyway... according to the worm, Jonathan is between 21-22". ;)

Jonathan - 4 weeks, 2 days...


Simon - 2 weeks


Benjamin - 4 months

A Benjamin First...

Ben has his first ever TEST in school today. (dun dun DUN!) It's a math test. I reminded him on the way to the bus stop to make sure to read all the directions, check his work and make sure he didn't forget to do any of the problems. (these have all been homework issues lately. ;)

He replied that he would, but he was pretty sure he'd get them all right. Oh, the self-confidence of that kid!

Can't wait to see how he does!

Speaking of first grade math, check out the homework that came home the other night. Just the very mention of "algebra" made my stomach a little queasy. Ack. Algebra concepts? In first grade? Seriously? I'm going to need a tutor by the time he's in second grade to help with the math homework! What happened to 2+2 and "Around the World?" And what do they have against + and - signs?

Sleep!

Jonathan slept from 11-3:30 last night! Then he sucked down a bottle and went right back to bed until 5:45! Oh please, let this not be a fluke!!!

Two Real Milestones and an Accidental One...

Jonathan has been a busy little guy lately!

- He has started to smile here and there. Nothing huge... just hints of a little smile when we interact with him. Still waiting on the big ear-to-ear grins on a regular basis. ;)

- Last night, he slept for five hours straight! Granted, two of those hours were on top of me on the couch downstairs, but the last three were spent in his crib where I put him when I woke up and realized I needed to pump! Yep... he was on his belly. (I decided to ease us all into it with small overnight stretches) Talk about a huge success!

- And the accidental milestone. LOL. Totally doesn't count, but last night, Tom put him in his crib for his evening nap and after about ten minutes of quiet, we heard crying. I went in to find him on his back. I asked Tom if he had put him in there his belly and he said yes... the little booger had rolled over! We are sure he must have had his one arm wedged under him though when Tom put him down, so it was totally a cheater roll. But still, a surprise nonetheless! ;)

Less fussiness around here too, which has been nice... still likes to be held a ton and is not a fan of being put down for very long. But things are improving. :)

The Biggest Reason Ben's Teacher Rocks...

She keeps her website updated!!! I love this!
Check it out!

Ben Update...

I realized I haven't written much about Ben lately... probably because, sadly, he is currently the child who requires the least attention. (sigh)

He is, in a word, awesome.

Awesomely awesome, as a matter of fact.

He's a HUGE help with the baby, if you can believe that. All of you moms know just how handy it would be to have two extra hands just to do simple things like hold a bottle for a minute or fetch a diaper or replace a pacifier... Ben does ALL those things cheerfully. He jumps in to help whenever he can. It's an amazing help to be able to say, "Ben, will you hold Jonathan's bottle while I make your breakfast? Seriously, it's such a simple thing, but makes life so much easier.

He loves school and this teacher seems to inspire him to do his best. His handwriting is beautiful all of a sudden. He takes his time. The downside is that he gets frustrated when he can't get something exactly perfect. LOL. Yesterday, he told me he wants to make sue that when they divide the first graders up into separate math groups (they eventually mix the classes for math, based on math aptitude), he wants to make sure he's in Miss Lake's group. I know why and it's not because he loves Miss Lake so much (though he does)... it's because it's no secret that Miss Lake's math group is the TOP math group. He has also declared himself "the best thinker in the class." Yeah, clearly no self esteem issues over here. I have no doubts that he has the ability needed to be in the highest math group...the kid understands basic multiplication and division! Unfortunately, what he lacks is the ability to follow directions and pay attention. (not for lack of trying his best... it seems to just be his major weakness)

I told him he'll have to make sure he works hard on those two things if he wants to show Miss Lake he belongs in that top group. There has been some classwork that has come lately with notes from the teacher about how he didn't follow directions... so it's starting to become an issue. He nodded and said he knew and that he was going to work his hardest!!! So cute. They start testing the kids next week for the math groups, so we'll see where the cards fall on that one. ;)

Anyway, so yeah, Ben is doing great. He finally picked a Halloween costume, which is a huge deal around here... my kids and their costumes. He's going to be Luigi from Mario Brothers. (see post below) LOL. I'm excited to see my little Mario and Luigi together. ;)

I'll try to take some pictures soon... he's such a "big kid" these days. :( He even talks in a deeper voice lately... so serious too... and SO the oldest in every way.

Halloween Preview...

Simon has chosen a Halloween costume... ;)


I'll give you one guess what Ben is going to be...

New Pics of Jonathan... :o)

He was very chatty this afternoon!

Sleep Eludes Us...

The sleeping at our house the last two days has just been atrocious.

We had another night of Jonathan refusing to sleep in any way other than on his belly and I Have to say, I'm just about ready to throw all caution to the wind, send up a few prayers and just give him his way.

Poor Tom didn't even come up to bed at all last night until midnight, the end of his shift. He spent until then sleeping on the couch with Jonathan sprawled across his chest.

When I took over at midnight, I took him up to his room, (where I had set up the air mattress earlier in anticipation of this type of evening) fed him, changed him and the two of us passed out on the air mattress together around 1:15 and slept until 3. After that, got up to pump and he joined me shortly thereafter to eat again and he was awake when I pawned him off on Tom at 4:15. I don't know what happened after that because I passed out cold in bed until 6:30 when Tom came in to deposit the baby in the Pack and Play, get dressed and and say goodbye before he left for work.

I KNOW this will get better. I do know that.

What's particularly frustrating though is that there has been no even minuscule amount of improvement to help me see the eventual light at the end of the tunnel.

It's starting to kill my whole rah - rah pumping mentality because I know at least a small part of the problem is that the breast milk is digested so efficiently that I really can't hope for more than two or three-hour stretches for awhile. I almost feel like I'm shooting myself in the foot... not to mention, wasting precious sleep hours pumping.

Luckily, that's not something I can just quit overnight... there's a whole process and frankly, I'm in too much of a mode of complete intertia right now (not to mention I have so little desire to bring any more discomfort upon myself voluntarily) that I probably won't do anything to start that process. So hopefully, I'll get through this dark, oh so sleepless patch we're going through right now and emerge on the other side with a better outlook on continuing pumping... the biggest thing motivating me to continue right now is the idea of having to face the pediatrician and tell him I quit. Gah. Just the thought of the disappointed look on his face makes me want to go hook up to Bessie (the pump) right now. NOt to mention, I remember how much I regretting quitting last time around and I know I'll feel that way again... so just trying to press on.

So yeah... dunno what to do about the sleepless child. Tom and I need sleep or we are very cranky people. We are not the type who function well on four hours here and there.

So... belly sleeping... do I just make the crib as safe as possible and just do it? I have half a mind to call the pediatrician and ask his thoughts on it just in the hopes he would actually say something like, "Look, he's full-term, healthy and has no breathing issues... if that's what will get you all decent sleep than just do it." You think he'd say that? Yeah... me neither. :(

Btw, kind of on topic, Tom and I ran across this book at Barnes and Noble this weekend... HILARIOUS. Maybe it's just because we're so sleep deprived, but we both laughed our heads off.

Torn.

So last night... it kinda stunk. Jonathan has now decided that any sleeping position other than on his belly is completely unacceptable. Tom's best efforts to get him to sleep in the carseat failed and so he was up with him until he gave up and let him sleep ON him on his belly on the couch somewhere around 11p.m. I took over at midnight and it was more of the same. So after awhile, I gave up and put him in the crib on his belly... of course, even with the crib alarm (which beeps if he doesn't move/breathe for 20 seconds), I am still paranoid about it, so I slept on the floor in his room until he woke up to eat again around 2. I fed him... then he was awake! awake! awake! until 3:30'ish... that was good times. He eventually got sleepy and I put him down to sleep in the crib again figuring d he'd be up by 4:30 to eat again anyway, so I went to our bed and drifted in and out of sleep while hoping the crib alarm wouldn't go off.

He ended up sleeping in the crib until nearly 6.

(sigh)

Oh, not to mention, I put him down drowsy and on his belly in the crib for a late evening nap last night while my BIL and SIL were here and he slept 2-1/2 solid hours without making a peep.

I HAVE the secret to decent sleep... but do I use it? I'd never forgive myself if something happened, but truly, I don't know what else to do. The other two at least tolerated the carseat until they were old enough that I could let them sleep on their bellies without freaking out about it all night long...

Maybe It Was Just a Bad Day?

Today has been a much more normal baby day... yesterday, he hardly slept at all ALL day... today he's back to sleeping away the afternoon and, most importantly, NO SCREAMING his head off. I guess we'll see what the evening brings. I haven't had any dairy today, so maybe that has made the difference? Or maybe yesterday was just a bad, fussy day...

Time will tell.

Little Baby Fuss-a-Fuss...

That's Jonathan's current nickname. We are going through a MAJOR fussy phase. Thankfully, it's not hours upon hours of screaming or anything, but several times a day, when he's trying to fall asleep, he'll just do these little spurts of fussing before he finally passes out.

I mentioned it to the doctor, only because I was hoping there was something I could "fix"... you know, if it were gas/milk related... but no, babies just hit a major fussy period between 3-5 weeks. Sadly, I actually knew this thanks to this book "The Wonder Weeks", (a book which I highly recommend to any of my mommy friends with itty bitty babies) but was in denial about it and again, was REALLY REALLY hoping it was something I could do something about because it's been a rather trying few days around here. Gah.

Ah well... again, at least it isn't hours of piercing screaming... I am thankful for that because yeah, that's no fun at all. Been there done that with Ben and it SUCKED. Jonathan's trouble is just settling down to get into a deep sleep. We'll weather the storm and hopefully all will be well in a few weeks. (yawn) I hope.

ETA: Seeing as this issue has progressively gotten worse as today has gone on, I'm pretty much ready to declare it colic. I hope I'm wrong. Seriously. I have ZERO desire to endure nine more weeks of days like today. I've done this before and earned the tshirt... why again?! Why why why?!?!

Out of the Mouth of Simon...

Yesterday:

Simon: Mommy, I want to be African American for Halloween. Can we order an African American costume?

Me: You want to be what?

Simon: African American. Chazzy (his friend) was wearing an African American costume at the bus stop this afternoon and I want to be African American too!

(I was not at the bus stop yesterday, my mom was... so I had NO CLUE what he was talking about)

Me: Umm... what did his costume look like?

Simon: It was red and blue!

Me: (thinking for a moment) OH! Was Chazzy Captain America?

Simon: Yes. African America! I want to be African America!!!

LOL!!!


ETA: Fixed the category, Jen! ;) Thanks for reminding me of that one!

Three-Week Doctor's Appointment....

My not-so-little guy is... ready for this? NINE POUNDS, SEVEN OUNCES. He's gained an entire pound and two ounces since he was born. Gah. Way to grow, little dude! Oh, and up an inch from his birth length. He's 21 inches long now. No idea on percentiles because this doctor does not volunteer them... I'll have to look them up later, though I'm almost afraid to!
ETA: Well, my only options are to say he's "Zero" months, which puts him in the 94th percentile for weight... or if I say he's one month, which he's closer to, he's in the 9th percentile. So maybe he's not so huge after all?

The doctor says he's perfect and thriving and all is wonderful. :)

He also got a heel stick, which he most certainly did NOT enjoy, but otherwise, was pretty calm for the whole visit. :o)

We go back on the 7th for a six-week checkup and some shots. I forgot how often a newborn has you back and forth to the doctor's office! Sheesh! Plus, we have to go back as a family in a few weeks to get everyone flu shots. THAT will be a fun visit.

It Was a Good Day!

All smiles at pickup time!

First Day of 3s!

Today was Simon's first day of no mommy preschool! ;) He was okay until I sent him into the classroom and then he lost it. But Mrs. Bobo picked him up (her poor back... LOL!) and I was told he was fine shortly after I left. Can't wait to get back for pickup and see how the morning went!

With big brother before school


Our traditional first day of school shot

and for comparison, here's last year's...


With cousin Anastasia, who he promptly tried to pummel shortly after this photo was take because she tried to say hello or give him a hug something. So glad they are not in the same class this year... one less thing I have to worry about!!! Gah!

Three and a Quarter...

A month late... but honestly, given the state of life around here lately, not too shabby! ;)



Post coming soon...

At What Point is Enough Enough?!

So my dedicated freezer in the basement? One entire shelf is overflowing with bags of milk. This is wonderful and great and yay for lots of surplus breastmilk ... rah-rah supply and whatnot. But um, yeah, I'm failing to see how I'll EVER use it all. As it is, Jonathan is only getting the fresh stuff right now and I'm stashing away something like 30 ounces a day.

I'd hate to give him frozen when I could be giving him fresh, so I'm torn as to when to start using it. (obviously, when I quit the pumping thing and have no other option, we'll start going through it... but now?)

My inspiration/exclusively pumping hero, my sister-in-law, says she started rotating the frozen stash at three months and giving my niece half fresh/half frozen that point. But even still, I'm wondering how I will ever use it all, or continue to have room to store it all. Do any of the local hospitals take donations? Anyone know?

Two Weeks, Three Days...

Tour de Food...

For the last two weeks and three days, I have been making it my mission to eat all the foods I couldn't eat when I was pregnant... whether that be because they are among the foods that you aren't supposed to eat while pregnant or because they were foods that made me barf. (read: pretty much everything)

- I have had more sushi in the last two weeks than I had in three months combined before I got pregnant.
-Indian food (heartburn city when I was pregnant)
- Chinese (ugh... almost nothing worse than barfing rice)
- lunchmeat... omgsogood nomnomnom...
- coffee... TONS of coffee, starting the morning after I had Jonathan... it amuses me how I went from being totally disgusted by the thought of it the day before to waiting impatiently for the hospital food service people to deliver me my very first cup in eight months
- chocolate (barfing this is up there with barfing rice)
- big, tall glasses of milk (see above comment about chocolate and rice)


And today, I had ICE CREAM. (ice cream ingestion NEVER ends well when I am pregnant) It was HEAVENLY.

Even three years after I had both other boys, I never lost appreciation for being able to eat whatever I wanted without worrying it would come back to bite me in some way. And I'm sure I'll never lose that appreciation this time around either... oh food, how I have missed thee.

Waited a Week too Long for This Pic...

Hrm... the doll clothes don't quite fit this one...


Simon was only five days old when we tried this... though honestly, I have my doubts that Jonathan would have EVER really fit in the doll clothes. ;)


p.s. I promise J isn't nearly as chubby as the above photo makes him look, nor does he really have a double chin...LOL! This is a really horrible picture. He was just SO ticked off at me for subjecting him to an extra outfit change that I couldn't, in good conscience, attempt the pic more than twice and this was the best I got. BOY does he hate being naked!

The Secret to Staying Sane...

... is mise en place.

For those of you who don't watch way too much Food Network or Top Chef, mise en place is the process of putting everything in place... preparing/measuring/chopping/setting out everything you need ahead of time. I swear by it when I cook (which I haven't done in way too long... sigh) and quickly realized how applicable it is to having a newborn too. I probably had this realization at some point with the other two, but it'a amazing how much useful knowledge I actually managed to forget between each baby. LOL!

So yeah, it only took one day of trying to get Ben and Simon dressed and Ben to the bus stop while simultaneously tending to Jonathan to realize that mise en place was a must. So now I take it to the extreme and our mornings are smooth sailing and we make it to the bus stop with time to spare.

Starting after dinner each night, I:
- make and pack Ben's lunch
- make the chocolate milks for the boys for the next morning
- measure out all the bottles for the evening and overnight
- lay out clothes for all three boys
- lay out jammies for the older two
- make the ice water for their bedtimes
-unload/reload and run the dishwasher
- throw in a load of laundry
- move my pump and laptop to the couch downstairs and plug everything in so I'm all set for midnight
- get myself a giant glass of icewater and put it on the nightstand

It's my last giant push for the day and when I'm finished, I reward myself by going to bed at 8:30 lately. LOL. I kind of dislike going to bed before most of my family (Tom, the baby and Ben are usually still up), but that's life right now and the little bit of extra sleep makes me more sane when I have to get up at midnight, 3a.m. and 6:30. (yawn) (The weekends are a huge treat because I only have to do about half of those things the night before AND I can sleep an extra hour or so in the morning. I am living for the weekends lately!!!)

So yeah, the secret to the little bit of sanity I have left these days...

What are your secrets to surviving life with a newborn +another child(ren)?

Simon's Preschool Open House...

This morning we headed over to the preschool for "Take a Peek at Your Seat". Simon balked at first about walking into the classroom, which kind of threw me... because, seriously? He's been running into that classroom and interacting with that teacher since he was a year old. Eventually, he followed Ben in (who is off today, thank you so much, BCPS, for giving them ALL the Jewish holidays off... sigh) and found some toys he liked. He also found his name on his cubby all by himself, but didn't want anything to do with sitting in it. LOL. I *think* he'll be fine on Tuesday, but who knows... he can be a little unpredictable, that one.

I was disappointed to see that there were NO kids in his class from his class last year. Not only that, all but one family in the class are new to the school altogether... so no familiar faces ANYWHERE. Simon didn't care, but I was kind of sad about that. I really liked all the moms I was with last year in the 2's class. :( Love his teacher, of course, though, who was Ben's 4's teacher. So all was not lost and there was at least one friendly face to talk to. :)

I had the baby with me and, in doing so, I realized something I had forgotten about this stage of the newborn/baby phase. Is it just me or when you are out in public with a newborn by yourself, are all of your adult interactions a total blur because you are constantly tending to the baby? Time to eat, time to change, time to find the binky and stick it back in, walk the baby, bounce the baby, put the baby down, pick the baby up, plus wrangle the older two, who granted, are relatively easy at this point, but are still a factor. I swear I had about two dozen conversations at school this morning and I remember NO details of any of them. I feel especially bad because one of the moms in the class introduced herself to me and for the life of me I can't remember her name... so now I'll have to be listening for it at pickup and dropoff every day. LOL.

Anyway, so pictures coming soon... I'm excited for Tuesday! :D

Everyone's on the Bus Now!

My neighbor's little girl who is in kindergarten this year finslly got to ride the bus today! (kindergarten gradual entry takes ALL week... poor kids are SO itching to ride by Friday!)

Here are Ben and Elise right before the bus came. :o) (yes, she is very tall and Ben is very short... the height difference is amusing)


Dark Spiderman made an appearance at the bus stop this morning too!

Spiderman Came to Visit...

The costume catalogs have been arriving at a pace of at least one a day lately... the boys LOVE them. They look at them on and off constantly. This inspired them to ask for our costumes out of the attic... lo and behold, Spiderman swooped in for a visit this morning. ;)