Never leave the baby powder unattended....

It seems the throw it everywhere with jolly laughter has become a theme this week. 

 First it was the shredded cheese....gross and wasteful....but I thought that would be the end of it. 

Till today.

I was gone for a moment, researching swim lessons actually when I heard the mischievous giggling.  

Uh No.....I follow the sound to the pantry....there they were all three of them, covered in baby powder.  

Not just them, the floor, the shelves, and I was choking on it in the air. 

 I cleared them out and shut the door for fear of breathing problems, and couldn't help but smile.  

Rhett was loving it, and the big boys were dancing around.

I did punish, and I think/ hope they realize this is not a wise choice, but it was cute seeing them all covered baby powder. 

 Before Quint realized I was not thrilled he proclaimed "we are having a dust party!"  

There is still baby powder in the pantry.

At least it smells good, and does not get moldy:)

Time to dream

Someone who shares wisdom with me occasionally told me

"sometimes life can carry you away, and you focus on surviving, and you stop dreaming"

We are guilty, it is like they were describing us the past year or two.  Just push on, survive.  I don't even think we knew we were doing it, but finally we paused.  Finally, we stopped surviving.  I am not sure if we are totally dreaming yet, but we are getting there.  Its a process, but we are breathing, which is something I have not done in a long time.

For His mission?

Bk and I like to say,"we are on a mission, a mission from God" (BK loves blues brothers if you caught that reference) but maybe this is a better way to think about it.

"God does not have a mission for us, he has Us, for His mission"

Hummmmm....maybe its not all about us.....

Everything a Miracle?

But I saw this quote in a movie...not a great movie either....but I think it is a great quote. Like creating electricity and a ton of other amazing stuff wasn't enough, great quotes too. Gees.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein

How to spell russell

Russell wanted to spell his name in letter stickers today. I asked him what letters he needed, he responds
"2 s's and 2 L's". Super cute and right. Love him.

The cheese incident

I talk on the phone less these days b/c the boys(or at least one of the boys) needs me most the time. Today I was trying to get the scoop on AZ from BK during a we "had school, no nap, zany afternoon" when I turned around to see Q and Russell running around crazy with a bag of shredded cheese throwing it everywhere.

It was everywhere
I was forced to forgo the juicy details on a place we may move to wrangle them, punish them, and figure out the best way to clean up a pound of shredded cheese all over our house.

It took ALL my patience. Truthfully I could use a bigger supply so if by chance you pray for me....that would be a good one.

I did think to take a pic but half out of pride and half out of embarrassment I skipped it.

I admittedly struggle w determining childish/boy behavior and malicious intent/direct disobedience....I would love advice on this....

The boys are back in town

Flipping through radio stations to clean the boys room to... When we hit a station playing "the boys are back in town" russell immediately says "I like that one!". We go back and he and Q begin to dance:) hilarious and awesome. Have a video post later

Rhett walking or a drunk Irish man...

Rhett is grasping walking, and we are pumped:). The cutest thing is we feel all the other boys thinned out fast after walking, but Rhett's belly seems to be hanging in:). He is super cute, he kinda looks like a drunk Irish man; a bit wobbly, with a belly and a wide stance like he may break into a jig at any time!

Our little klepto

Mom and Bec took the big boys to the store. When we unpacked the groceries we found nutter butters...
Who chose these? We quickly eliminated the adults, then turned to the boys...
Russell quickly admitted it was him.. He was a so cute about it we found it tough to be mad:)
In retrospect we should have known, b/c of the incident earlier this week.
Q and R were in the driving cart at the store and we were checking out when Russell held up a snickers to me in the most innocent way:) I said no, but could see he was hiding something.... Then we found it....
A stash of candy bars maybe 15 hidden in his driving seat!
I didn't even see him reach for the candy:) note to self...keep an extra eye on that one {wink, wink}

The casualty

Today we woke up at 2:30 AM. Packed the rest of Uncle Bob's minivan (which he generously loan us so we could all get to the airport), and Dad drove our whole crew plus Aunt Rebecca to Buffalo Airport. Surprisingly crowded for 4:45 in the morning, we used the last of our active duty status (it ends in a few days) to get our bags home for free. A relatively smooth journey and a few short hours later, we were loading Lexi with our luggage and drive the rest of the way from our home airport.
Ahhh. Home.
It's was bedtime before we realize Russell's blanket was missing!
CRISIS! (I felt like the mom on Home Alone when she realized she forgot Kevin).
We determined it was left at the airport. We went in to break the news to Russell, I knew it would be bad but he cried like someone died.

Can we run?

Today is New Years Day so big boys went to big church (no Sunday school). Quint leans over about five mins into the sermon and says "can I go run around the room?"
I looked around the large auditorium full of quiet adults, and imagined Quint running full speed around....bad plan! Then i flashed back to a much younger me running around the church(when it was empty) while my parents were busy, and suddenly I totally understood where he was coming from. After a long pause,I shook my head no, but with a lot of sympathy. It was a fantastic question. Sometimes I wonder if adults would be better off if we ignored social rules occasionally. Just maybe not at church:)

Around our house....

Like I mentioned, Quint is throwing up......

Yet....he keeps asking for food.....

Q:   "how about a bagel, I will just eat it bit by bit"

Momma:  "how about a half a piece of bread"

Q:  "ok, thats good Mommy, I will just eat it bit by bit"

Russell is jumping on my bed and proceeds to jump into a very thin blanket on the floor, he lands with a thud....

Momma:  "Russell I love you but that is a meathead idea"

Russell:  "Yep"  he replies confidently....

(and continues to jump multiple times....ahhh....Russell)

Russell was bummed about missing swimming, but you could not get me to risk another car ride today.

I told him we would go as a family when Q was healthy.  

Russell is so low-key, just rolled with it and played at home today.

Rhett has learned to say "hi" and he says it all the time.

Multiple times today, Rhett holds his toy to his ear (insert: car, block, little person, etc)

and says "hi" multiple times and looks perplexed that no one responds.....

I try to respond, and when I do....

HUGE SMILE.

Sometimes two cars would be nice:)

I should just preface this with Quint threw up yesterday before school.

He has been down ever since.

Rhett was up last night for an hour with a fever

I did night shift so my jazzy hubby did first shift (I heart him)

When I got up, Q was downing a bagel with jelly, and I was panicked/relieved....he must be better...right?

Till he threw up.

BK needed a ride to the airport 2 hours round trip.

Not ideal but suck it up we have one car:)

Brought a bucket for Q and a movie (thank God) and crossed our fingers.

On the ride.....

BK and I were able to laugh about how crazy this time is, 

but even though we didn't say it, I think we realize we will miss it.

We also dreamed about getting another car.....

One car can be challenging , but it is really hard to justify two.

So we will stick with Lexi, and caravaning trips to the airport for interview season:)

BK looked so jazzy with his suit carrier bag.....it seems so grown-up.....so not us....

but we have to play the game.

I was so glad to pull in the garage without my car stained with throw up:)

Back home, we hunkered down, it was a sick day.

Rhett stands

for a long time.  

He has done it for a second or two, but now he can do it for a minute or longer.

It won't be long now, 

steps are coming, 

and we are worried he may never walk, just run.

He could probably do it, but he gets so excited to go to something and he just jams into a crawl, 

he is a super fast crawler.

But, today he stood, and actually looked like a person.

I caught a glimpse of what Rhett will look like as a walker.....

I don't think I realized how tall he looks:)

With a cheerful heart

I am always observing Moms, especially in challenging situations.  I want to learn, for both good and poor examples to try to be better.  Anyways, today I watched a Mom tell her 4 year old boy it was time to leave and he was having a lot of fun.  He began to pout about leaving.  He didn't rage or throw a fit, but he was definitely not excited and not rushing to put on his shoes.
She said, "lets go, time to put on your shoes"
He pouted.
She waited a bit, and then said "lets go with a cheerful heart or we won't be able to come back for a while".
He changed his attitude and left with a positive vibe.

I try to enforce obedience, but I never require a cheerful attitude.....
hummmm....
but it would be nice:)

I am investigating a cheerful spirit......
see what I find out, and if it changes my view on Motherhood.

Its a judgement call

Somedays its a judgement call.  Rhett has a hacking cough, and I was somewhere between keeping our committments or going to the doctor.  I decided on heading home to give him a good nap, and see how he goes.  Rhett is amazing, but sometimes I feel bad about how much he cruises around in his car seat or on my hip to get his brothers to school or activities.  Everyone tells me that is the life of #3 and it is why they tend to be easy-going about life, but I still want to cater to my baby.  I am re-evaluating my commitments, to see if we are doing too much, or if I need to have a different plan to make life a bit smoother.  I know these years are short, and I will miss them, and I don't want to feel I rushed around them.
It is always a judgement call, the sickness, the schedule, the commitements.  But, maybe it is impending winter, but I am leaning toward being home more, playing on the floor more, letting my #3 nap in his crib more.  Because soon these years will be gone.

As I write this Rhett lets out a barky cough from his crib while he naps, and as I hear that cough I feel peace about missing my meeting.  There will be another BSF class.  They will study this chapter again (in 7 years) and maybe then all my kids will be healthy and in school:)

Quint shows compassion

Rhett has a terrible cough.  BK was gone last night and I spent part of the night worrying I may have to load all three boys in the car for a trip to the ER for croup.  Thank God, it didn't get that bad.  Just to be safe I thought I should take him in today.  I couldn't get him in while the boys were at school, so after we picked up Q we had to head over to peds.  Quint and Russell were troopers, because they usually exhausted after school.  I wasn't sure how it would go, with the tired crew, but it was fairly smooth.

What surprised me was while Rhett was getting checked by the doctor, Quint knelt next to me where I was holding Rhett, and held his hand.  He comforted Rhett, and told him "don't worry Rhett, it won't hurt" "the doctor will fix you".  

Quint has started to show a caring, and deep compassion for people.  It is intermittent, I can not predict it, and he could be acting crazy just a few moments later...but I think it may be one of his natural gifts, which I never would have guessed.

  It is crazy how much they can amaze you if you just take the time to observe them growing.

The change

Its getting cold here now, and you can feel the change.  Everyone is a little sick, you can go out without a coat and you will not die, but you will regret it.  It is a unique time, winter is not here yet you feel fall has faded.  It is time to know exactly where the hat and gloves are.  Its time to think about boots and winterizing the car.  It was a cold rain as we drove home from swim lessons tonight, and I thought about driving slower.  Just the beginning of worrying about the safety of the road.  As we drove, the weather came on the radio, "possibility of a winter mix tonight" they said.  My chest sank, I had been hanging on to fall, but now it was official. 

The change is here.

Russell preschool time

Russell is incredibly sweet, and I just love walking in to picking up.  He is always sitting in his chair, peering at the door looking for me.  When I walk in he is so joyful, I hustle over to him, and he gives me a giant hug.  It is seriously awesome.  I think it is a stretch for him, to do preschool.  He may not be my baby, but I still desire to baby him. 

A Russell hug after preschool is pure joy.

Quint teaches me about swimming

Our one major activity besides school is swimming.  I am eager for the boys to swim, and to love it.  I know the lader may not occur, but learning to swim is a safety issue...and I can hope...right?

    Admittedly, I love the smell of chlorine so I don't mind going.  

I have been a bit discouraged, because it didn't seem like there was much progress this fall.  

But tonight, Quint swam!   

I mean it was doggy paddle, but he did not sink!   I was over the moon.  I tried not to make too big a deal because Russell is not there yet, but I did praise Quint for his hard work.  

I said "Quint I saw you were swimming today!"  

He responded "yes!"

I said "you did such a great job with your swimming arms"

He said very confidently, 

"mom, you know that is called the front crawl."

I smiled to myself and thought "you don't even know"

but I responded...."oh interesting....your front crawl was so great"

{Grin}