Shoes

Now that Ellie is walking everywhere, we got her some shoes she could wear outside. It still amazes me that in February all the "winter" shoes are basically gone and the majority of the selection are sandals. We managed to find a pair of pink shoes, but they had a buy one get one deal. Of course they didn't have anything else in her size so we headed to the boy section. They had the same pair of shoes we already picked out but in tan. I grabbed those as Ellie spotted a black pair with drums on them. She lunged forward, grabbed them and wouldn't let go. I like a girl that knows what she likes!

Less drama please

We took Zach to the doctors today for his four month check up. He is 14.8lbs (just under the 50th percentile) and 25.5inches (75th percentile). Overall he is fine, but we have 2 issues we need to work through.

The first is his tear duct. It still hasn't popped open and he has a build up of yellow junk inside. When we push on the side of his nose it oozes out. We have to put drops in his eye to help clear some of it out. He has until his 9month appointment to get it popped open. They say if it isn't open by then, it wont open on its own. She also said with the amount of blockage she is seeing, she will be surprised if it opens on its own. That means he would have to go to an eye doctor to have it popped open. Everything I'm finding about the procedure says he would have to be put under general anesthesia. That is the last thing I want so we're really going to to be working on that duct.

The second issue is his neck. While it has got a bit better, he definitely still favors one side. She wanted us to start physical therapy with him now, but after talking, she agreed to wait until his 6 month appointment to reevaluate him. The concern is if he is consistently looking at the world with his head tilted, it will actually cause his vision to adjust to the tilt. I asked her if the tilt would adjust back once his neck straightened out. She implied it wouldn't, but didn't give a yes or no. So we have to get him on the floor much more often that he is now and we have to take the neck stretches up a notch (more like 5 notches).

We also asked the doctor to check Ellies ears. She had a double ear infection last month. Then the flu went through the entire family then Ellie got sick again Saturday night. She woke up Sunday with a fever of 101.8. She is slowly getting better, but just isn't herself. Sure enough, she has another ear infection. We're headed back to the pharmacy for more antibiotics. Thank goodness everyone else is relatively healthy because these babies are wearing me out!

I wake up to this every day. Doesn't get much better than that!

Oh, and notice the leg kicked out from under the blanket---he is so my kid!

Happy 5th

Happy 5th anniversary to Cross Point church from the kids.

School friends

Liam has become one of Bens favorite friends. It works out well cause I really like hanging out with his mom, Becky. She home schools too and has taught me a lot about classical home schooling. She's been great about listening to my concerns, offering advice when Ben is driving me crazy and reminding me what is and isn't normal for a five year old.

Ben and I got in a home school rut not too long ago. Partly because I'm a bit paranoid about the whole thing. Our typical routine was reading, calendar review (what is today, how many weeks in a month, year, what date is x amount of days/weeks from today etc), math, which ranged from making pictographs to "buying" things with change to tangrams and writing/copy work. I tried to throw in something fun so we did a lap book each month. We did Curious George, The Giving Tree and holiday related books. Then I started to stress about the state standards and if I was doing enough "real" teaching.

We took a break from the lap books and each week we would go over a different standard the state thinks a kindergartener should know. It quickly became monotonous and frustrating. Ben wasn't having fun and was shutting down. I was annoyed he wasn't participating and it started the day off on the wrong foot.

After stepping back and remembering all the reasons I want to home school, I decided to revise the routine. Right now our routine is reading and what ever comes up next. Last week, we were reviewing continents and Ben asked what was in South America. I said Rio, like the movie Rio. He responded with, "Oh thats in Brazil. Argentina is by Brazil." When I asked him how he knew that he told me he learned it from his Cars (the movie) map. Lightening McQueen has races there. He is learning about South America from a movie! We spent some time looking at a map of South America and the different countries there. Then we listened to a few of Beethovens symphonies. Ben can now tell me some basic Beethoven facts.

My favorite change is a mini co-op Becky and I have started with ourselves. We are discussing science, art, learning french and last week we spent some time talking about nature. We checked out animals, talked about bugs, drew some pictures, read some books and had fun learning with friends. Sam even enjoyed discussing ants and checking out some owls. For a kid that rejects basically all things learning related, it was really cool to have him ask questions. We still make time for math and writing, but we no longer do the same subjects, the same way every day. I'm trying to relate the topics to things Ben likes. He is much more excited and willing to write about a video game than he is a Bible verse--although we still do those too.

While I do expect to have a (tiny) bit more structure for first grade, I have realized Ben often knows more than I think he does, he really is a smart kid when he puts forth the slightest amount of effort, learning can be fun and (school) rules are meant to be reevaluated, bent, adjusted, moved and often broken!

Last day

Swimming ended last night. They loved every second of it.

Ben jumping in:

Ellie did a good job of amusing herself:

Zach was a little bored:

Update

Last month I posted about 3 goals (not resolutions) for the new year. The first was striving to be a more peaceful parent. I'm happy to say that, for the most part, I've been doing better. With everyone getting sick, we developed a bit of cabin fever and had a few tense moments. However, we took some time off school. Swimming has helped the boys get out some extra energy and Jon has done a great job of reminding me Ben is 5 and its basically his job to not listen and drive me crazy! I still have work to do, but every day is a step closer to a happier family.

The second goal is reading my Bible every day. I admit I haven't kept up with reading it every day. In my defense my Bible study is now meeting weekly instead of bi-weekly. Since I'm leading it, I am spending more time reading the material. I'm spending a lot of time figuring out how to get the main points across, starting discussions and applying the outcomes to our daily lives. While I haven't done the best job of keeping up with my Bible reading, I am definitely spending more time in His word.

The third goal is the half marathon. Training has officially started. I am running 4 times a week with 2 amazing women (with 2 more potentially joining us). It absolutely sucks starting over, but I'm excited to know we're getting better and stronger each day and we are one step closer to the finish line and our Mongolian BBQ reward dinner. On top of the running, Jon and I are doing Insanity. Its a workout program heavy on the cardio. Its supposed to be a great plan to help increase your endurance. Just what I need to help in half marathon training! We are on day 4 and lets just say it lives up to its name!

Tonight is the last night of swimming in this session. Ben is considering soccer for the spring instead of swimming.

Zach is still working on his neck muscles and spends most of his day showing off his sweet side!

I think we can officially call Ellie a walker. She isn't 100% stable yet, but she is walking everywhere and loving it.

Old

We celebrated an important event last Friday. Jon had a birthday. He got to celebrate his big day by leaving work early to come home and take care of a sick wife and dealing with 4 kids on his own. We (he) did have a nice dinner of crab legs and some cup cakes made by Gram. He got a couple fun presents, including a home made card complete with a bad joke by Ben. I think the best present was a sick Sam at 4am. After 2 pj and bed changes, Jon was treated to a sleepless morning on the couch with Sam while holding his bucket. We followed that up with a sick Ellie just before lunch on Saturday and then the birthday boy himself got the bug very early Monday morning. At least we got to enjoy a fantastic Superbowl game (I'll try not to rub in the Giants winning too much mom) in the middle of all the craziness. Happy birthday baby.

We love you and are sorry for the unwanted gifts!

Wordless Wednesday: Hot chocolate mouth

Yum!!

Good start

I started the month pretty strong in terms of keeping up with the blog, but posts have been coming a bit slower recently. Heres what we've been up to:

The boys started another swim class. They go 2 nights a week and they LOVE it.

Ben is starting to go under water voluntarily, but he still isn't sure about floating on his back.

Sam has told Jon to move out of the way when he jumps in and not to catch him. He is floating on his back, using his arms and moving all over the pool like a pro.

Ben and I had a breakfast date a few days ago. He asked me out, suggested breakfast and even paid. Its so nice to spend one on one time with the kids. I think Sam and I will be going out on our first date this weekend and then Ellie gets her first daddy date.

Ben started playing the tummy ache card. It only comes up when its bed time or when toys need to be put away. He never gets out of things so I don't know why he keeps trying to use it. Of course on Sunday, while he was playing with friends, he said his tummy hurt. We should have thought something was up since he mentioned it during play time. Unfortunately, we ignored him and 15minutes later he threw up in the play room and freaked out his friends. He continued to throw up half the night. He spent the majority of yesterday resting and he seems to have made a full recovery today.

Sam caught a cold over the weekend. He conveniently reminds us that he, "has a nasty cough" any time he wants extra juice or a treat. Its hard to refuse his logic and dimples! However he passed his cold on to me and Ellie so its becoming a bit easier to say no!

Ellie is still working on her walking. She is a typical girl. She walks when she wants to and not when you would like her to practice.

Her food issues are still in full force. She has 3 more teeth coming in at once so she is able to eat bigger bites faster. If we give her too many bites of something she will put all of them in her mouth at once so she is keeping us on our toes. Since she developed her cold she has become extra sensitive and extra snotty. If you look at her the wrong way she will burst into tears and the snot comes pouring out. Its awesome!

A good friend of mine had a baby shower over the weekend. Zach was not impressed!

However he did enjoy finding himself in the mirror on his swing.

Zach has also developed a small cold. Its minor, but its just bad enough to exacerbate his breathing issues and since his tear duct still hasn't popped open, he has tears and yellow "junk" oozing out of his eye all day long. We are a picture of health over here!

Gram had a big birthday last week so we had the family over for dinner and Corries famous creme brulee.

Jon and I have started back on our exercise routines. Corrie and I are out running quite a bit these days and its only going to get worse, but the half marathon will be here before we know it.

We've also switched up the home school routine a bit, but I think I'll save that for another post.

That pretty much brings us up to date. We are getting ready for a birthday coming up on Friday and the super bowl on Sunday. We are definitely going to miss our football. Go Giants!

Getting closer

She's taking more steps every day. It will be so nice when she can take off. I'm sure I only say that because I have one more baby to cuddle with!

I think I can

Ellie is SLOWLY making progress in the walking department. She can balance like a pro and is up to four steps by herself. I'm kind of surprised she hasn't taken off already. She's been standing for almost 4 months and walking along furniture for the last 3 months. She is totally on her own schedule!

I missed her taking 4 steps. This was the best she would do for the camera!

Kids

It felt like forever since I had the camera out so I wanted to get some kid pictures:

Zach practicing his smiles

Action shot:

Sam solving the puzzle for the first time without his big brothers help

Success--minus the piece we lost under the furniture!

Cute Ben

Crazy Ben, excited he just figured out the word goose!

Ellie showing off her aunt Prasti head band and shoes

Resorting to bribing with toys to get her to smile

Good bye

My parents decided they've had enough of Ohio winters so they built a house in North Carolina. They claim its a good half way point between David and I, but I personally think they picked there because my youngest brother, Tony just got married. Since Jon and I wont be having any more kids they had to go where the next possible grandchild might be (Tony and Marie are a short drive away from the new house)! Tony has been down there since just after Zach was born. He came up this weekend to finish packing up the house and take my mom down with him. They came over to see the kids one last time before their trip back in the spring. Sadly, Ellie slept through the visit, but we are happy to pass on lots of hugs and kisses for them.
Have a safe trip and we'll see you soon.

Wordless Wednesday: Tinker toys

1 year check up

Ellie had her 1 year check up yesterday. She now weighs a whopping 17.5lbs and is 27.2". Both are in the 5th percentile. She has a double ear infection and has food issues, but other than that she is excellent. If you haven't seen her food issues, you are missing out. It starts first thing in the morning with banging and throwing herself on the floor and screaming and crying until she gets her bottle. It goes into lunch when she hits our legs, the floor and continues screaming and crying when we don't feed her our food even though she just ate a monster lunch. Dinner time is especially fun because if I am feeding her something while I am trying to eat, she will rock back and forth in her high chair and scream and cry between bites. Her doctor has suggested we try to ignore the behavior. If we don't make a big deal out of it then maybe she wont either. That hasn't worked. Now she has suggested giving her extra meals every day. We'll bump her up to 5 or 6 meals a day and hope for the best.

Zach got some attention while we were there. At his appointment last month, the doctor made a comment about how he was holding his head. I hadn't noticed anything odd so we moved on. Later that day I ran into a friend of mine who is a doctor and he asked if Zach had torticollis. I said no, it was just the way he's positioned at the moment. Of course since then his neck is all I can think about. I mentioned it yesterday and she agrees with torticollis. If you aren't familiar, its when the neck muscle is short or tight and the head leans to one side. Its one of those things that is mostly minor, but in rare cases its not. We have to do some neck stretches with him. If its not better when we go for his four month check up, we'll be referred to a physical therapist for more exercises/stretches. Then we'll see what happens.

Wordless Wednesday: Hats

Christmas hats made with love by aunt Corrie!

2012

We have a church tradition every new year. We are given index cards and on one side we write about highlights from the previous year. On the other side, we write about goals for the new year. While we were given this assignment to do at home this year, I was expecting it and have been putting a lot of thought into the last year. It was definitely filled with a lot of positives, but it had a few negatives.

Of course the kids were a major highlight, but they also contributed to a few lows:

-Ellie. We started 2011 with a new, beautiful baby girl, but we were stranded in a hospital 4 hours away from our family. We were sleep deprived and had a constant awareness of Ellies birth mom (she texted weekly the first few months of the year).

-Zach. Before we were settled into having 3 kids, we found out we were going to have a 4th. The pregnancy was rough. I spent too much time sick on the couch. My energy (and tolerance level) sunk. However, we now have a 3rd amazing little man that I wouldn't trade for anything!

-Ben. I started homeschooling Ben. Its something I never thought I could do, but Ben is actually learning things. While most days it goes pretty well, we are both stubborn so when he gets stuck on something and shuts down, I don't handle it as well as I'd like.

-Sam. Sam has been the most consistent. He is taking after his brother in the drive me crazy department, but his sweet smile and big hugs make up for the frustration.

-Jon. Jon got a raise and has done an amazing job of impressing his boss. That also means he worked a lot on his days off. He has also been the most patient and loving husband a stressed out, sick and pregnant wife could ask for. I'm incredibly lucky to have him, but it would be nice if the dirty dishes made it into the dishwasher more often than the counter on top of the dishwasher!

-Religion. I have done a terrible job of reading my Bible. Something that should be done daily hasn't even been thought about in months.

-Exercise. The pregnancy forced me to stop running. I temporarily started back up after my 6 week check up, but residual back issues stopped me again.

While every month had its own set of pleasant surprises or unexpected challenges, those are the major points. So what to do about it.... I'm not big on resolutions. I typically don't keep them. I'm setting mini goals for myself instead.

The first goal is to strive to be a more "peaceful parent." I don't like yelling (Ben informed me he doesn't like getting yelled at) and I don't like having Jon come home to a wife in desperate need of a break the minute he walks in the door. This is something I really need to work on so I'm just focusing on one day at a time. I'm very lucky that I get to stay home with my kids and I want to enjoy it. I need to remember they are just kids. They don't care about a clean house or volume levels. They just want to play and have fun. I could learn from them!

The next goal is to read my Bible every day. I can definitely see a difference in myself (and life in general) when I am focused on learning more about and listening to what God has to say. Such a simple task can make a huge difference in many areas. I'm excited to get back into the routine and setting a good example for the kids.

The final goal turned into another half marathon. I signed up to run Clevelands half marathon again. Corrie and at least 1 other friend will be joining me. A full marathon is still the long term goal, but since I'm officially starting over, I thought I should start smaller! I'm hoping this will help me shed a few pounds and get my energy level back up for the kids. Its been months since we ran around the park together or had a dance off in the living room. I'm looking forward to being able to keep up with all four of them.

So thats how I'm starting 2012. 3 very attainable goals which will lead to a happier mama which will lead to a happier family. This post has been floating around in my head for a few weeks, but it made it to the blog because I need the accountability. Its out for the world to see now. So please, if you see me getting frustrated with Ben, remind me of this post. Ask me what book of the Bible I'm reading. If I can't answer you, then remind me of this post. And when I want to take a nap or watch tv instead of running, please remind me of this post!

The sweater

One more Christmas tradition we kept this year-- the Christmas sweater:

Ben, December 2006

Sam, December 2008

Zach, December 2011

Sam and Zach are both just over 2 months old and 13lbs in these pictures. Ben is 4 months old and 14.5lbs in his picture. I think they definitely look like brothers!