Outside Despite the Cold…

It’s been freezing here as of late—but beautiful blue skies. Going outside is SO tempting; like the day we bundled up and went to the park. We honestly lasted maybe 5 minutes. But in those five minutes, I had enough time to snap a few pictures of Josh’s first time in the swing. He didn’t know what to think at first, but was smiling a little by the end:

I love how tiny he looks in the swing! Here’s S & S racing down the slides:

They are so darn handsome (Seth on left, Sam on right)

I’ve mentioned before our duck pond right behind our house. Our 70 year old neighbors LOVE feeding them corn, so on a given day we have 30-40 ducks behind our house. Most of the ducks are your standard mallard, but we do have one family of wood ducks, which are gorgeous. As of late we also have a new visitor, whom Joyce tells me is a Mandarin wood duck. We finally got outside yesterday to take some pictures of him. We’re wondering if it was raised by someone, because it’s so tame that it will eat right at your feet. Joyce has named him “Woody.”

Here’s the wood ducks:

And here’s Woody:

I’m really excited about that last picture. I want to frame it and give it to Frank and Joyce! Here’s Seth and Sam indulging me in picture taking. I sure love them! 

Seth, “Really, mom?”

“Ok, I’ll smile for you mommy.” I love these pictures of Seth. They are such typical looks from him.

Sweet, sweet Sammy

Joshua: 5 months

-Continually rolls from his back to front and won’t roll back…even though he used to roll from front to back all the time.

-Loves playing in his exersaucer.

-Loves putting his cheek against your cheek when you hold him.

-Grabs everything, and then immediately starts sucking on it.

-Still being swaddled…after a failed attempt by me to wean him off of it. I’m the worse! (The twins were swaddled until 8 months, let’s hope I can beat that with Josh!)

-Loves being naked.

-Hates being put in the stroller! He now knows (or assumes) when I put a jacket on him, that we’re going for a walk, so he starts crying then. Then he arches his back when I put him in the stroller. He cries for the first minute or so and then pouts the rest of the walk. So silly! He better get used to it real quick, because we’re not going to forgo walks for his bad attitude!

-Pretty easy going, but is developing a bit of a will…he’s arching his back and throwing his head back when he doesn’t get his way.

-Still turns his head to the right and sticks it in the corner to go to sleep—so funny!

-Weighs about 15 pounds.

-Got his first cold last week. It was pretty minor, but gave us a foretaste of what a bear sickness will be with the cleft palate (because he has no “flapper” between his nose and throat). Within days he had an ear infection (which, I hope, we successfully cleared using olive oil drops instead of antibiotics).

-Is loved to pieces by his family! Seth and Sam dote on him so much, as do Ben and I!

This was our solution to him being too skinny for the exersaucer: a monkey on his back. I have to say it works pretty well!

Here’s one of the times he actually fell asleep without a swaddle. He did have his arm up on the bumper, but I missed my picture opportunity. This is pretty cute as well, for some reason he loves his nose buried into the edge:

This and That

We haven’t done anything too exciting lately, but sometimes I like to document the little things—because that’s what life is made of: special little moments, milestones, and memories.

-Seth and Sam learned to tie their shoes. I only showed them how to do it once, but throughout Christmas break Ben and the grandparents must have worked with them more. One morning they insisted to me that they could do it on their own, and I skeptically said, “Okay.” Sure enough, slowly, but surely they both tied their shoes. I couldn’t believe it, and truthfully teared up a bit—can my boys really be old enough to tie their own shoes? (I credit Legos and the dexterity gained from putting the small pieces together.)

-Speaking of old, I’m starting to buy their clothes in the boy section, not the baby/toddler one. Really? (more tears)

-AND, Sam and Seth have started to read a bit. Crazy! In these past few months I’ve really seen them shift into wanting to do more workbooks and writing, etc. Then they started wanting me to spell everything for them and can sound words out. So I got a couple sets of the beginner Bob Books at the library, and they are reading them. They are growing up too fast!

-Thankfully I’m not having an entire meltdown because of my little baby Josh. He currently is in that “awesome” stage where some unseen force drives him to roll onto his stomach within seconds of laying him down. He then proceeds to spit up, wipe his face in it, fuss, and pretend he doesn’t know how to roll back (although he learned that first months ago).

-I have made it 20 weeks pumping. Only 32 weeks to go…wonderful (cue sarcasm).

-We watched a couple high school basketball games this week (cousin Taylor, and Caleb and Levi). Sam now wants to learn to dribble behind his back.

-Thanks to watching and playing sports the boys can now add by 2’s, 3’s and 7’s. They also know too many Blazer and SeaHawks players’ names and numbers. I caught them discussing whether or not the SeaHawks could beat the Broncos at the breakfast table the other day. They used their wooden blocks to set up a football stadium, complete with 11 players on each team, goal posts and bleachers with fans. Sam made a basketball court out of legos and wanted my help with making the Blazer logo. Yikes.

-Last week I went 3 nights where I didn’t get out of bed from 11 pm to 7 am. Miracle! Then Sam caught a cold on Saturday night and was up from 2-5 am: back to reality. Parenting is hard…even harder when one is tired.

-Seth, Sam and I went to our first play together on Saturday: “Charlotte’s Web.” It was fantastic and such a fun outing for the three of us. We parked downtown, went to lunch at Chipotle’s, eyed all the tall building and then went to the theatre. It was very special for me to have a fun outing with them! I hope this is a tradition we can continue! (I took some fun pictures with my phone, but am too challenged with technology to get them onto my computer. Fail.)

Seth, Sam and I in our red jackets: ready for the play!

And where would a blog post be without a cute picture of Josh. Here he is in the hat I made Seth & Sam. And underneath a comparison photo of the twins.

I think Seth and Sam were much more serious than Josh!

And just for fun, here’s some more pictures of Josh. I did a naked photo shoot of him the other day. He seriously is TOO CUTE!

Adorable, right? But I saved the BEST for last. Oh how we love this boy!

He’s so happy!

Oh The Things They Say

We passed a police car arresting someone. Sam wanted to know all about why he hadn’t ridden in a police car yet. So I told the boys about policemen getting “bad guys” and that they are the people who get to ride in the police car. Sam’s response, “Oh, they chase them with their swords!” Me: “No…they use guns.” Seth’s input, “Huh, I thought they used their axes.” (Really! Axes! Who gave him that idea?)

Sam: “What kind of jet did you make?” Seth, “It’s a passenger jet.” “But, Seth, it’s too small. Where will the passengers sit?” Seth’s answer, “On the engines.” Sam: “But Seth, that will blow their face off.”

“How did that leaf get in my pajamas?” asks Seth (the kid who once found a missing Lego in his underwear).

The boys were having a conversation in the back seat of the car about visiting the beach and running out into the water. “But we don’t want to run out too far in the water or we’ll get lost in the ocean.” My heart started to feel sad, not knowing what I was going to say to the questions I was sure were imminent. However, Sam confidently perked up with this response, “No Seth, it will be ok. Daddy would save us.” I was so touched and thankful that their daddy is their hero (as he should be!)

“Mommy, when I grow up, I want to live in Portland so I can live by you.”

Here’s a picture of what I found the boys up to the other day. When asked what they were doing, they told me that they were marrying each other (what the stethoscope and guitar have to do with the wedding ceremony I can’t figure out). When I pointed out to them that they were both dressed like girls, they started arguing over who was going to be the girl. “Um, Seth, I already have my skirt on,” Sam says. “But Sam, my shoes are prettier,” was Seth’s reply.

As the boys were trying on jeans and I was cinching up the waist, I told them, “You’re tall and skinny—like your dad.” “Yah, and you’re short and wide…” Seth replied. That’ll do a lot for a mom’s self-esteem. Oh my! I hope they never tell their girlfriends that! Later in the evening I had them retell Ben what they had said. This time Seth used the word short and THICK. Really, Seth, really?

Sam, Josh, Seth

Joshua: 4 Months

-Weighs 13 lb 6 oz and 26 inches tall, putting him in the 10% for weight and 75% for height

-Very into hands and feet in his mouth

-Rolling both ways

-Loves people looking at him and just waits for someone to smile at

-Likes to be tossed into the air and “fly”

-Drinking about 5 ounces per feeding, 6 times a day. Sleeps at night from about 10:30-7:30.

-Pretty quiet kid overall, but makes cute noises and squeals.

-Starting laughing this month; laughs at funny noises, tummy kisses and feet tickles.

-Loves kisses and cuddles.

Picture taking helpers:

Big brothers are finally holding him some! In fact they were fighting over who got to hold him first:

Love

Christmas

I’ve got to be honest: Christmas wiped me out. I’m still recovering. My house is still recovering. My body and sleep schedule are still recovering. But our hearts are full of memories and good times spent with family. This year was not my best picture taking effort, but what can you do with a four month old?

Our first “Christmas” we celebrated on the 23rd with just the five of us. It was so special. This was the first year we’ve done present opening without an extended family, and I think it’s a tradition we’ll continue. It was intimate and very enjoyable. We went downtown for a special lunch and then came home and smoked ribs for our special dinner. It was great family bonding…

New slippers and shirts.

Josh was as sweet as ever. Here’s my “picture helper” in view too. Seth and Sam were a bit traumatized that we didn’t buy Josh anything for Christmas. We told them that he didn’t know any better.

Here’s the boys with me and the jean quilts I made them. The verdict is still out whether or not they’re going to use them. I’m not offended, my boys are quite the creatures of habit. I just enjoyed making them something in a year that has been so focused on another baby.

Next we celebrated with the Morris’. We opened gifts just us, then headed to Aunt Joann’s for Christmas Eve dinner (Luscombe side), and then to Aunt Tani’s for Christmas day dinner (Morris side). I’ll be honest: by the drive home on Christmas night, we were exhausted…Seth and Sam still managed to talk the whole way home.

Ben is so handsome in the picture.

This photo is HILARIOUS. It’s now labeled on facebook as “Grandma’s first selfie”

Our only family picture of the season. Who allows their kids to wear Car’s shirts on Christmas day? I figured it was a victory to get them to wear jeans instead of sweats. I’m definitely turning into a boys mom!

The day after Christmas my parents drove up. It was tough this year, as it was the first year my sister and I didn’t get to celebrate together (they moved to Medford this year). We really missed getting all the Ruda’s together, but were grateful we had just had Thanksgiving in Sunriver. We enjoyed a calm, quiet Christmas with my parents. Ben and I even snuck in a date night and had a wonderful dinner at the Portland City Grill overlooking the city and went to watch the Hobbit. Having Grandparents babysit is the best!

 

My mom made these travel notebooks for the boys. Aren’t they amazing? They are filled with art supplies and things to keep them busy on the road. She even burned them cds of their favorite Disney songs and various Winnie the Pooh stories! These are going to be make road trips so delightful! Seth and Sam’s most used item so far: the calculator. They have been typing in numbers all day asking what each one is; silly boys!

Wow, Seth, you continue to astound me with your picture taking skills. Perhaps you were just making the face of how tired I felt once all the festivities were finished. Christmas with kids is very magical, but also VERY tiring!

Joshua: You’re Growing Too Fast

Could it be that you used to be this big?

And now you’re already this big:

Slow down my sweet baby.

You’re growing too fast!