Getting His Coiffure in Order

A quick aside -- when will this kid grow eyebrows? He was given more than his fair share of head hair, but after nearly 7 weeks is still eyebrowless!

Directly after a bath and thorough combing of the hair. You can tell that the hair is already trying to rebel against any respectable style.

"My hair!". Peter's hair settles into its true wild and crazy nature.

A Great Day

We had a wonderful visit with Kim, my mom, and baby Michael today -- I am so thankful that they trekked to Ramona to visit us. I'm sure Kim and/or Mom and Dad will post some of the awesome cousin shots that we got! These 4 cousins are going to keep us on our toes, I think. :)

Kim looks absolutely fabulous, and baby Michael is one of the most adorable little grubs I've ever seen. :) Even his cry and his "I'm going to be mad any second now" looks are cute! Kim, even though I know she's exhausted in these crazy early newborn weeks, is truly radiant. She is already such a good mommy to Michael, and she glows with the love, selflessness, and tenderness of her new role.

While Kim and I visited with the baby boys, Mom swooped right in and made the big boys' lunch, washed dishes, and played with Jack and Thomas so Kim and I could chat. I am constantly amazed at how generous she is with herself, her time, her energy, and today was no exception -- what a blessing she is!

A few hours after they left, I checked my e-mail to discover that our appraisal came in at $10,000 *above* what we needed in order to swing a refinance right now. Wahoo!! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers -- I really didn't expect it to come in this high due to the declining housing market, but by the grace of God it did, and now we'll be in a much more stable housing situation for the forseeable future.

Like I said, it was a great day!

Lucky girl

I was all set to post a long-winded "poor me" post last night about how long of a week I had, how crazy and exhausting all 3 boys were, how tired I am after a week-long house cleaning frenzy to prepare for the appraisal (which, by the way, we won't know the results of until early next week). So I typed out this huge post and I just couldn't bring myself to push the post button. It just sounded so whiny, and I have really, really come to detest whining after hearing it from my 4-year-old drama king so often.

What do I really have to whine about, anyway? I have 3 healthy, happy children, an awesome husband with a good, stable job. Even all this tension about whether our house has lost too much value to have a workable refinance is pretty small potatoes in the entire scheme of things. It makes me think of what my next door neighbor Tom says when I'm in my front yard with the boys and he's puttering in his front yard ... "You are a lucky girl, Kathy". He's said it just that way several times. Lucky? I've puzzled over his choice of words. I don't really think of myself as being lucky. When I think of my state in life, I gravitate towards words like tired, harried, crazy, busy. On a deeper level, I know everything I have is a gift from God, and I am grateful for it, but on a day-to-day level I rarely think of myself as blessed or lucky.

But I think my neighbor is on to something. Granted, I will be the first to tell you that babies, children, and preschoolers are NOT all sunshine and kisses, and we have had and will continue to have plenty of difficult times, but certainly nothing worth writing a long, whiny post about :). If it ever seems like I tend to post mostly happy things here, you might be right --- but only because posting happy things makes me happy and seems to give more substance to the happiness I feel (and many times posting something happy when I'm feeling crummy helps snap me out of my bad mood, which is good for everyone over here!). And, on the flip side, posting whiny or negative posts tends to give those feelings more substance and power, which is good for no one over here. So, just know that there are a bazillion crazy, disgusting, difficult, frustrating, maddening things that happen in our household on a day-to-day basis, but I will do my best to just share the especially amusing or interesting tidbits so as to preserve my own sanity and help remind myself that I really am a lucky girl.

Appraisal Appt

An appraiser is coming to the house this Thursday morning at 11AM. If you could pray that the appraisal goes well and that our house appraises at a decent value that will allow us to refinance our house now, we would really appreciate it.

Also, please pray that I can keep the house relatively tidy and be patient with my two little boy-tornadoes who seem to have a superpower for destroying cleanliness wherever they go :).

Thank you!!

What I do all day

I came across this description of what a mom does all day long, and I thought I'd share. Over the years that I've been staying home with the kids, I've had a few people ask me what I do all day, and it takes me a few moments to collect my thoughts and give a coherent answer, because in my mind I'm thinking ... "what DON'T I do?".

When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term
expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

-Excerpt from "Tell Me About It" in The Washington Post, 5/23/07

They may not be fashionistas, but they are safety-conscious

Jack and Thomas, by Jack's suggestion and Thomas's all-too-willing cooperation, decided to transform their Easter baskets into motorcycle helmets. Complete with motorcycle noises and air motorcycle revving.

Of course I complimented them on their safety-mindedness (it was hard to do with a reasonably straight face!), and then I literally ran to get the camera to snap these photos:

A smile worth a thousand fussy nights...

Brotherly love...

(Note the smile on Peter's face)

A little help?

What Peter looks like at 11PM...

The reason why Thomas was born by c-section...

Welcome to the Flip Side, Michael!

David and I got to meet baby Michael today -- it was so wonderful to hold him and see Kim and Michael settling in together as a family of 3. Beautiful!

He is absolutely gorgeous and perfect, and it was amazing to feel my heart fill with love for this little guy. I've felt my heart fill with love for my own babies, naturally, but I think it surprised me a little at how much and how strongly I already love Michael as my nephew and as cousin and friend to my sons.

Kim and Michael look great -- I am in awe of the teamwork and perseverance and grace they had while laboring to bring Michael into the outside world. If I've learned anything in 4+ years of parenting, it's that these things -- teamwork, perseverance, and grace -- are probably the key ingredients to good parenting and to keeping your sanity. They are on the ball -- little Michael is blessed to have them as parents!

Parenthood here of our crazy brood is going well. David and I are adjusting to the demands of our littlest man, who is still colicky most nights. We've accepted that every night for a few hours is going to be a little rough, and we just get through it. We're both tired, and we probably will be for several more months, but we've accepted that also and mentally that makes it easier to deal with. It's just going to be hard for a while, and there's no real use spending energy complaining about it or wishing it were otherwise, so we just push through and try to survive each day .... and coffee is my new best friend :).

I do often feel like I'm being pulled in a bunch of different directions, and some evenings I feel like there just isn't any more of me to give, but I think these times, especially, are the best for my soul. Like it or not, I know God is working through my children to make me holy :). Something else that has been good for my soul is to see the love between Jack, Thomas, and Peter. I've thought about whether or not having more kids means that the parents' time and attention has to be divided over more kids, and I've wondered briefly if/how much of a downside to large families this might be. What I didn't realize, until recently, is how much more love there is in a family when there are more people in that family. Peter already adores his brothers (I think sometimes they get his biggest and best smiles!), and I realized that when he starts crawling and walking and talking, he doesn't just have David and I to cheer him on, he has 2 older brothers to share in the delight and excitement of watching him grow up. Peter may not have as much of David's and my undivided attention as Jack and Thomas did, but he does have his brothers' love, and the development of that relationship gives me great joy!

Up 1.5 lbs and 2 inches

OK, first of all, Kim is a saintly woman. Peter had a well-baby check today, and I called Kim to see if she wanted to do something fun today after his appointment. We had planned to meet up in the late morning after Peter's appointment and Kim's OB appointment, and have a picnic lunch together, but it turned out that Kim's appointment was actually for lunchtime, so Kim offered to meet me at Peter's doctor's office and play with Jack and Thomas while I took Peter in. I thought it would be a quick in-and-out with Peter since usually we don't have much of a wait, and he was just being weighed and measured (no shots), so we'd get the appointment out of the way quickly and then get right on to having fun (my original intention :) ).

Well, the dr's office was a total madhouse. They were backed up like crazy from walk-in patients (even though we had a fairly early appointment), so we had been waiting for over an hour before the dr even saw us. Kim took Jack and Thomas on walks up and down the stairs, outside, hunting for "bad tanks", etc., and they had a great time with her while Peter and I waited. Then we all went to the lake and the boys played on the playground and then we fed (or hurled, in Jack's case) bread at the ducks. It was great to see Kim (she looks great, and no I'm not just saying that) spend time with her (Jack cried when her car pulled away in the parking lot), and she was such a huge help wrangling the boys in the dr's office.

I'm so stinkin' excited about being an aunt to baby Michael! I can't wait to meet him. It's strange to think how imminent his arrival is -- any hour or day now. It's also strange to think about how much so many different lives and families will change by his journey from inside Kim's tummy to the outside world. C'mon baby Michael, we've been waiting for you for almost 10 months now -- don't keep us waiting much longer!

Peter continues to grow well -- he's 10lb 1oz and about 2 inches taller than he was 4 weeks ago! I can tell he's getting chubbier cheeks and chins (there are 2 now), and arms and legs, but it's reassuring to see the numbers actually reflect how well he's doing. He's also smiling more (especially after having his hair shampooed and combed), and cooing a little. His hair is crazy (Jack says "His hair looks like a lady!" and both he and Thomas say it's "Wooshy Bushy" :)), but I'm loathe to cut it just yet. I secretly enjoy it when strangers comment about his mop of hair -- without his hair, he's kind of like any other newborn, but with it he's like a rock star. "Look at that baby's hair, Mommy!" "Was he born with all that hair?" "Do you gel it?". It's kind of fun :).

All in all, we're doing well. David and I are being run a little ragged, but we're a good team. It won't be long before Peter is 2 and 3 months old, and not so brand new, and things will be easier, and I will miss his "newness" and tiny-ness. That is another little reason that I'm excited about baby Michael coming -- I'm sure he will look and feel so tiny compared to Peter!

Well done, good and faithful Macchiato

She served us very well these past 6 1/2 years, and now she has found a new home! What a huge relief to have the whole advertising, showing, negotiating process behind us. Truthfully, it went pretty smoothly ... we listed her on craiglist (which I was doubtful would work, but David said his co-workers kept suggesting it, plus it was free). And a few days later we had a serious looker who turned into our buyer. Hooray! Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, this was a big item on our to-do list before refinancing our house, and now it's done!!

Dagwood Bumstead...

is what you get when David does Peter's hair!

Stay tuned for Christopher Walken, which is what you get when I do his hair :).

Lord of the Dance...

should be David's new nickname. He has perfected a bopping-bouncing-swaying move that seems to calm Peter down, even when he's at his maddest. I can't quite get it right (even after David's careful instruction), so Peter usually ends up mad at me during his nightly fussing, unless I'm feeding him. Kim was kind enough to lend us baby Michael's swing to see if that would help, but Peter (so far) hasn't been too enthralled. He seems to prefer more of an up-and-down bouncing motion rather than back and forth, or even side to side. I do think David enjoys being the one with "the touch" for calming Peter down. :). It's also good exercise, and Peter is an excellent personal trainer, because as soon as you slow down or stop bouncing (and Peter does like it pretty fast), he starts squawking and we're spurred on. Most nights we probably do a couple of hours of this dance, so at least we're getting our workout in!

I suppose you could call Peter colicky -- since from what I understand, his fussing every night for the same time period is classic colic. This week I'm going to try and find something called "Gripe Water" which apparently has natural stuff like chamomile, ginger, etc. that's supposed to make babies' tummies feel better. I've heard great things about it, so maybe that will help. I really can't complain, though, because his colic is very predictable, and it's only 4 hours or so (thank goodness it's not all day!), and he usually conks out by midnight. I think the hardest part for me is having to work so hard at soothing Peter *right* after Jack and Thomas get in bed. Many nights I don't get a break from the big boys' antics and the baby boy's antics. And the physical tiredness from walking and bouncing him, plus getting to bed a little later than I'd like makes me pretty darn tired the next day. And being tired makes it harder for me to be patient and cheerful for Jack and Thomas. I know all of this is good for me, and it's very good practice at being loving and patient with my family when I'm feeling tired and like there's not enough of me to go around. I'm being asked to die to myself a little more, and that's not easy, but it is good. And I am very happy.

We had a serious buyer come out and look at my little white car today!! He made us a great offer, pending a good smog check tomorrow. So if you can spare a prayer that this sale goes through smoothly, we'd appreciate it.

Happy 4th of July!

We did it!

We survived a trip to 2 grocery stores this morning! It was actually kind of nice to get out of the house, and also to feel like I'm capable of handling all 3 kids on an outing by myself :). First, we went to the grocery store that has awesome produce prices, and I put Peter in a baby carrier that I bought recently -- so far I think it's going to be one of my favorite carriers. Thomas went into the shopping cart seat and Jack walked. Peter slept the whole time, and both Jack and Thomas were very well behaved. Then we went to Stater Brothers for non-produce stuff, and Peter went back into the carrier and slept soundly while Jack and Thomas sat in a two-seater cart. The boys were so good that I bought them some Hot Wheels fruit snacks that they enjoyed in the car after we were done. After we put the groceries away, the boys played in the pool and used big paintbrushes to "paint" with water on the concrete. I thought they would get bored with this pretty fast, but they actually loved it! Jack was writing letters and Thomas loved filling a cup with water for his brush (and dumping it out, and refilling it, over and over).

This Friday morning we're planning to go to a 4th of July parade near our neighborhood park. People enter their golf carts in the parade (and they deocrate them up) and then they throw candy at the crowd. And there are horses in the parade, some fire trucks, and maybe even some tractors if we're lucky.

My 3 brave boys

Yesterday was Peter's circumcision, and I took the boys with me because I assumed we would be in the waiting room while Peter was in the treatment room. Not so much ... we all ended up in the treatment room, and Jack and Thomas got to watch the entire procedure. I explained what they were going to do, and Jack and Thomas seemed fine with it, so I decided to let them stay and see how it went. Of course, had they become nervous or scared, I would have walked them outside, but they were totally fine and Jack was actually very interested in what all the surgical tools did, what the doctor was doing at each step of the way, etc. The dr was very impressed -- he said that most dads refuse to watch the procedure because they get a little light-headed! I suppose part of it is that I consider it a minor procedure, and didn't make a big deal about it, so the boys followed suit. Peter actually slept through most of the circumcision, so it really was no big deal.

And... he weighs 9lb 7oz now! So he's gained almost a pound in a little under 3 weeks -- pretty good! He seems to be eating and sleeping well, but it's always reassuring to see his weight going up as proof that he's thriving. He's gotten into a pattern of sleeping about 6 hours a night, although I think the only reason he sleeps for this long is because he cries and fusses from about 7-11PM nonstop and wears himself out! The only thing that seems to calm him down during his evening fussing is constant motion. We've tried a pacifier, slings, and baby carriers, but none of these seem to help when he's really mad at night. So, we may invest in a baby swing to see if that helps. Even if we can put him in there for 15 minutes while our arms get a break, that would be awesome. The evening fussing routine is definitely tiring (especially after a long day keeping up with Jack and Thomas), but I really can't complain too much. If nothing else, my legs will get nice and toned from all the pacing around the house, and my arms will be super buff from rocking a 9lb weight for hours on end :).

Other than that, I'm doing pretty well. I've been keeping up on the household chores pretty well, and I decided to take care of all my week's baking today so I can have one "hot kitchen" day and then not have to worry about turning on the oven during the rest of the week. It's supposed to be in the 90s this week, so hopefully my strategy will help keep the house a little bit cooler. Today I made rice pudding, french bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and granola. And tomorrow is grocery shopping day, and I think I am going to brave the store tomorrow with the 3 boys. David is going to run to Costco for some bulk items since it's close to his work, and I'm going to take care of the local stuff tomorrow. Wish me luck!!