I have very few good photos of me with any of my kids... so this one is a keeper!
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I have very few good photos of me with any of my kids... so this one is a keeper!
]]>Except for getting out of bed at 9:30am for a baptism taking place at 10:10am – and Jonathan complaining that out of the 30 minutes available for getting ready, I spent 29 of them on myself – it went well. (His Mom was here and the kids were all out in the living room with her.)
The boys stayed reasonably still… [Thankfully. Since the last time they made an official appearance in front of the congregation, they began singing with the other kids, then giving each other full body hugs – then the giggling started and they ended up rolling around on the floor. I was horrified.] … and Silas just turned away as the water trickled down his neck. No diva-esque howls.
One person commented that Silas looked just like Casper the Friendly Ghost. Another wanted to borrow the dress I was wearing for her Halloween costume.
At home we tried for some family photos to memorialize the day. I was trying to get the three boys together – and told Jonathan “Hold onto him!” meaning Silas, but this is how each person interpreted my command:
And all of us, with our happy-go-lucky children:
Our friends Samantha and Charlie also went to Azul – on a different night - and I went over to basically sit on their couch while their kids slept. How could I mess that up? Let me tell you.
Well, actually I didn’t sit on their couch. I did Tracy Anderson’s Mat Workout video (series one) for the third time, and – for the third time – came close to dying. So, after 45 minutes of arms-legs-abs torture, I am sweating.
So… I turn down the thermostat a bit for a few minutes just to cool off for a brief moment before creating a few Art Cards.
At home when I’m hot, I turn down the thermostat. I adjust the thermostat in our house maybe 3 or 4 times a day without thinking much about it. And for some reason apparently I didn’t think much about adjusting someone else’s thermostat either. Even though I Don’t Live There. And I’m only there for Three Hours. Brainless.
Of course… I didn’t remember to turn up the thermostat. I didn’t remember until a few hours later when, at 1:30am, Silas woke up crying. Instead of thinking, "Why is Silas crying?" my first thought (I kid you not) was "OH MY GOSH, JAE IS HUDDLED IN A CORNER OF HIS CRIB SHIVERING TO DEATH BECAUSE I FORGOT TO PUT THE THERMOSTAT BACK UP!!"
I'm not very lucid when I first wake up and I was seriously debating whether or not to call Samantha to tell her. [Like. She. Hadn't. Figured. It. Out. Already.]
I mean, Julia is five and was under some covers, but Baby Jae (he’s two now, but we still call him Baby Jae) was vulnerable and exposed and was in desperate need of a hot water bottle and fleece blanket. STAT!
I’m pacing with a screaming Silas, mainlining Tylenol into his veins since all his teeth have decided to come in within two weeks of each other. But all the while fretting about poor Baby Jae who by now is probably too weak to cry for help. Should I call? Should I call?
Silas ended up crying for half an hour and by the end of it I was awake enough to realize that I probably didn’t need to call Samantha, but still dazed enough to not be able to fall back asleep because JAE WAS GETTING FROSTBITE.
Lesson learned. Never touch another person’s thermostat.
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We saw the Caberet Mechanical Theatre, a travelling exhibit of handmade wooden toys such as the one below: "Trainee Banana Ripener."
Untitled from SeaBird on Vimeo.
The boys' favorite part was seeing (and spying on) the Wild and Ferocious Male Humans in their natural habitat. (I had to pull them away - quite embarrassing - "WE WANT TO SPY ON THE WORKING MEN!")
My favorite part is always the wall of baby mangroves, each in their own individual cups of water (below). I want to do something like this on a shaded outdoor wall of our new house, but am still trying to figure out how. From a distance - like in the photo - it looks really cool, but those cups are actually plastic and they're attached to the walls with binder clips hanging on nails. Bleh. I found test tubes with small holes pre-drilled, but they're $3 each, and when you need a hundred or so....
6:30am -- Dream interrupted by crying Silas. Go to crib to retrieve Silas, nurse him on the big bed in the boys’ room. We both fall asleep afterwards.
7:15am -- Silas wakes up, pushes himself off bed, plays on ground.
Over the next hour -- Each of the boys wake up, play with Silas, go to the bathroom, and eat their snack. Me = dozing and dreaming. (I had a crazy amount of dreams last night.)
8:30am -- I come to because the noise has diminished somewhat. All three boys have moved from the bedroom to the living room. Must get out of bed now.
11am -- Babysitter arrives. I barricade myself in my bedroom to pack up stuff and work on my computer.
11:15am -- Benjamin requests to enter. Request denied.
11:35am -- Benjamin requests to enter. Request denied.
11:55am -- Benjamin requests to enter. Request denied. He goes to eat his lunch.
12:25am -- Benjamin requests to enter. Request denied.
3:30pm -- While Silas is still napping, the older boys and I make terrariums using baby food jars. They boys introduce a tropical storm into the delicate ecosystems in their attempt to sprinkle a few drops of water. Must leave lids off for several days.
4pm – Finish the rest of our lessons: handwriting, memory verse, listen to/read about Mozart, build volcanoes out of play dough.
4:30pm – Try to catch the post office before it closes. Let the boys run up and down the ramp outside 53 times to burn off energy.
6:30pm -- Put all three boys in our shower.
6:35pm -- Respond to a Hazmat call from Benjamin. Silas has pooped in the shower for the third day in a row. It’s all over his hands. Why buy toys for this kid when he can make his own?
7pm -- Retrieve Silas and his pruned toes from shower – he loves to play in there forever and who am I to stop him?
7:15pm – Silas picks up the food on his tray one piece at a time and flings it to the floor in protest. Such a diva. Will eat only fruit. Through gritted teeth, I tell him for the 943rd time that the third child is not supposed to be the most difficult.
9:30pm – I collapse into bed, wiped out. Good thing, too. Because Silas was up from 11:30pm – 1:15am crying inconsolably (second tooth coming in, I suspect). Much holding and dancing and loud music and drinking of liquids. Finally “All The Single Ladies” gets his attention (and probably all of the neighbors). By the third repeat he is happily munching cherries, cooing, and goes down without a peep. Thank you, Beyonce.
]]>I somehow got a program called WireShark as well - which is a spyware program. It wouldn't let me do anything on my computer, just tell it over and over again that I was UNINTERESTED in interacting with it.
We've had a deluge of rain the past couple of days, making up for a relatively dry summer thus far. We walked to the library this morning and got trapped by the kind of rain that drenches you if you so much as step outside. Jonathan came to our rescue in the minivan, just as the rain cleared up. I heard the entire library audibly sigh as we exited.
One bright spot in all this rain - - the newly replaced roof on our new house (which still doesn't have the tile in place yet, just the new wood and tar paper) has not leaked. Whew.
Now I am off to get caught up on all my online activity from the past few days.
]]>One night Jonathan read it to them and beforehand I quickly de-briefed him on a few particulars: I call all houses of worship “churches” as we haven’t started discussing other religions yet and I refer to any second wives as “aunts.”
Of course he has to make a comment about a second wife.
“What exactly would you do with a second wife?” I asked, eyebrows raised in skeptical fashion. Good grief, he barely has any words for me most of the time, how would he have enough to make conversation with another one?
“The second one’s always the best,” he replied. “She’s tidying up the house while I’m having sex with the first.”
]]>So now here are a few photos of the older boys...
One of these days I'm sure I will back wistfully on the days of contant STICK and LIGHT SABER BATTLES.
Swinging on a gate:
And my favorite in quite a long time (check out the guayaberas!):
(During a recent visit with Bob & Heidi!)
]]>But when I found the idea for a Mike Mulligan cake, I thought Benjamin and Jonah would enjoy making it… a rectangular chocolate cake with a square cut out of the middle, then topped with dirt (chocolate pudding mixed with crushed Oreos). Then they added Teddy Grahams as the bystanders who crowd around watching Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann dig the cellar for the new town hall.
Silas got to eat a few bystanders...
Even though he remains toothless, he does pretty well with most foods – pizza crusts included. He took his first few steps today – and started clapping as well. And he is a waving maniac. If he even hears the words “hi” or “bye,” the arm starts a-fwapping. He can turn around and get down off the big bed in his room (mattress and box springs on the floor) – and he can almost climb on as well.
To us Silas seems like a prodigy, because Benjamin and Jonah did all these things so much later (by multiple months), but when I look up milestones, he’s pretty much average. Except for his size. He’s pretty small – about the size of Benjamin at this age.
Silas is also making good progress in his swimming – I glide him under the water for a good two seconds and I can feel him holding his breath. He comes up sputtering sometimes, but not panicked. He's also figured out how to take the cap off of markers and color on any nearby surface, including his tongue.
And... he finds magnets absolutely delightful:
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