Random

Sam's latest obsession is bull riding. He sets up rodeos, or "radios" as he calls them, complete with the barn, fences, bull and cowboys. It is a game to see who will win each ride, the cowboy or the bull. Jody records bull riding and they watch it together at night. He says he's going to be a bull rider when he grows up. To which I reply, "Oh, son. Please no." He is still sleeping on the top bunk every night and loves it up there. He also gave up his "soft cups" (Nuby sippie cups) and now drinks from hard sippie cups. This is monumental. I made the mistake of transitioning him from the bottle to Nubys and it's all he would ever drink out of. He was a soft cup diva, refusing other cups and always requesting, "Milk in a soft cup, please." This is a big deal around here, trust me. The other day when Jack was acting particularly crazy, Sam asked me, "Mama, can't we just send him somewhere? Like animal kingdom or something?" Sam's favorite of the seven dwarfs is Doc and he doesn't understand why Dopey doesn't have a beard. "Does he not need to keep his chin warm too, Mama?" Yesterday on Mema's porch Sam was drinking a Dr. Thunder, a knock off Dr. Pepper. When it was time to leave he said, "Wait, Mama. I haven't finished my salt and pepper."  He and Jody found a small turtle near the chicken coop the other day and he now lives in a little dish by the kitchen sink.  He named him "Turtle Lee," a nod to his love for his cousins.

Jack is becoming even more and more a Daddy's boy these days.  He asks me every morning, "Where's my Daddy?"  When he's hurt he cries for his Daddy not me.  Yesterday I noticed a splinter in his finger and tried (with him kicking and screaming) to get it out.  He quickly, and loudly, told me, "No, Mama!  My Daddy gets out my splinters!"  Jack absolutely loves Snow White and constantly asks to watch "the witch movie."  Grumpy is his favorite dwarf, probably because he says "shut up," Jack's favorite new saying.  He says "shut up" a lot and has received spankings, time outs and stern looks, with no avail.  He even told an old lady at church to "shut up" when she told him how handsome he was.  When you tell him, "We don't say shut up," he says "Me and mean Grumpy say shut up."  Thanks for that Walt Disney.  Jack is obsessed with the sliding doors on the van and I fully expect them to be broken by June.  He shuts the door on Sam every single day.  Sam screams, I fuss, Jack laughs.  He loves fruit loops and likes using them as his hay bales to feed his toy cows.  He hooks the fruit loops on his tractor fork and feeds his herd.  The other day he asked me for a bowl of fruit loops while I was nursing Will.  I told him he would have to wait just a minute until I finished feeding Will.  He then said, "Mama, just give me some fruit loops out of your boobie, okay."  Oh son, if I could make fruit loops out of my boobie we'd be in business buddy.
Will is now smiling and starting to coo.  I can always tell when a big grin is coming because his eyes light up. He grins so widely, showing a mouth full of gums.  There really is nothing like seeing your baby smile.  I live for those smiles.  They light up my day.  He is still enjoying his rice cereal at night, although it doesn't make him sleep any longer.  His eyes are still blue but I just can't believe they will stay that color.  He has a pretty rough case of baby acne right now but my doctor reassures me it will be gone soon.  He tried not to laugh when I asked him if this meant he would have acne when he's older.  He reassured me it wouldn't.  He's used to my nutty questions and concerns.  At his one month checkup I questioned the way Will's stomach looked.  I thought it looked funny at times, with a small bulge around his belly button.  I was sure it was a hernia.  Dr. Mann told me, "Oh don't worry about it.  As soon as he can do some crunches that will go away."  He thinks I'm crazy, I'm sure.  Will still hates his car seat unless he's asleep and will scream until he either falls asleep or we arrive home.  He gives me the cutest stink eye when I go to get him out of his seat, eyebrows arched and glaring at me as if to say, "It's about time, lady." His hair appears to be thinning and it makes me so sad to think he'll probably lose his hair.  Sam and Jack lost theirs too and it made me sad to see their baby hair disappearing too.  He is focusing on objects and staring at things for the longest time, taking everything in and learning so much. It's just about time to pull out some of the baby toys which I can hardly believe.  He is growing so fast.  
Me...I am continuing to adjust to life with three young boys.  It is a whirlwind of exhaustion and immense joy and I am so abundantly blessed.  Oh, and I really want an iPad.  I have no idea what they are good for, but I really think I need one.  

That Face

One sweet little face. With big brown eyes and arched eyebrows. And a silly grin. And the ability to make funny faces one second and flash you a serious look the next. He keeps us smiling. And laughing. And loving him so much. Just with that sweet, precious, little face.

Night Out

I don't get out much.  That is if you don't count Chick-fil-a.  With three kids in tow, one of which is usually attached to my boob, it's more work than it's worth most of the time.  So a chance to go out to dinner with others who can help me with my three sweeties is a welcomed event.  We went out to dinner tonight with Jody's parents.  The boys were angels and things were going remarkably well.  After dinner, Jody's Mom wanted to go to Roses to look for flower pots.  Roses is like a really big dollar store.   Several steps down from Wal-Mart and light years away from my beloved Target, but I'm up for anything these days.  Even Roses.  Jody asked me as we walked down the aisles of random items, "What exactly are we doing here?"  Sam and Jack were thrilled to find the toys and walked out with a rifle and butterfly net.  Will was getting hungry and fussy so we wrapped things up and prepared to leave.

And then...Jody tells me he doesn't have the keys.  "What do you mean, you don't have the keys?"  So we searched and realized he had locked the keys inside.  It's 8:30 now, Will is gnawing my neck, the people arriving are looking shadier and shadier, Sam is shooting people in the parking lot with his rifle and Jack is running around trying to catch butterflies in the sad plant area on the sidewalk.  We call Aunt Boo who runs to our house and finds the extra set of keys and we wait for her to arrive.  Will can wait no longer to eat, so I have no choice but to sit down on the curb, in the fire lane, and nurse my baby.  I told Jody I had never felt like such a redneck.  There we sat, me nursing, Jody teaching Sam the proper way to shoot a rifle and Jack running between me and Poppa putting the butterfly net on our head and saying "I got you!"  There was an old lady sitting in an old hoop ride glaring at me as I nursed.  She was really enjoying the show. As I sat there completely humiliated I see a truck pull into the parking lot, high beams on.  The truck proceeds to pull to the front of the store right where we were sitting.  The parking lot was nearly empty and there were plenty of front row spaces.  But this guy felt the need to park in the fire lane and pulled up twenty feet from where I sat nursing with his bright lights shining nicely on yours truly. "Are you kidding me?" I said.  Thankfully, G-Ma ran over and stood in front of me to block the high beams from blinding my baby.  And then I looked over to see Poppa holding a cardboard sign that he made from Sam's rifle box.  And on it he had written,"Will work for food. Grand kids! Have one, get one free!!!"  And I just had to laugh.  At the whole experience.  At what my life has become.  Three boys. Exciting trips to dinner and Roses.  Sitting on the curb nursing my newborn.  And I wouldn't change a thing.

Pics courtesy of Jody's cell phone...

Planting the Back Forty

JP invited all the grand kids over this afternoon to help plant his garden.  He built a garden box with forty individual squares for planting.  All the kids were excited as they chose their seeds and planted them.  Sam planted carrots, Jack planted cucumbers, Landry planted onions, Cannon planted snap peas and Cade planted zucchini.  Will slept like an angel on the porch completely unaware of the action going on around him.  I hope Nana and JP will share their vegetables with us this year since Jody is boycotting planting a garden this year and focusing on his cattle.  Maybe next year we can have a garden again, or at least a garden box.  Because what is farm life without a garden...

Big Boy

I tried something new the other day.  After an afternoon of nonstop nursing and bottles of formula, I didn't know what to do with my still very hungry boy.  We were at Mama and Daddy's for dinner and Mama suggested I offer Will rice cereal.  I worried he was way too young, but Mama reassured me that when Allyson and I were babies you offered cereal at six weeks.  Sam and Jack didn't start cereal until they were three months old.  But after my afternoon nursing marathon, I was ready to try.  So I ran to the store and picked some up.  I returned and fixed Will a bowl, fully expecting him to gag and refuse it.  Um, nope.  He ate it up.  He swallowed it perfectly, never gagged and would have his mouth open waiting for the next spoonful before I could get it ready.  He loved it.  This boy just loves to eat, and it shows.  I took him to the doctor earlier in the day because he was very congested.  He had gained a pound since his one month check up, six days ago.  He's a thirteen pounder now.  So he enjoys his nightly cereal snack now and I can only imagine what this boy will do when he can eat baby food.  

Last night I laid Will on his stomach on my bed and went into my bathroom for just a few seconds.  When I walked back in, he was on his back.  Surely he didn't just roll over, I thought.  I flipped him back to his stomach and watched.  Sure enough, he began kicking his legs furiously until he rolled himself  onto his back.  I called my Mom and asked her if that was normal.  She said she didn't think so, but he probably wouldn't be able to do it on the hard floor.  Today he has rolled over twice on the hard floor.  I checked Sam and Jack's baby calendar and they didn't begin rolling over until 4-5 months old.  What am I in for with this little boy?  At this rate, he'll be walking to the table and eating a steak at six months...

New Swings

Nana and JP got a new swing set for their house with five swings. And the kids are loving it...

Sorry

I have been working on manners with Sam...please, thank you, excuse me, I'm sorry.  He is extremely polite and usually very well mannered.  His biggest setback is his shyness.  He gets so anxious when he has to address strangers or adults that "please" and "thank you" can be pretty tough for him to muster up the courage to say. He has mastered one thing though..."I'm sorry."  In the past few weeks, anytime he and Jack fight, Sam will quickly say, "Sorry, Jack.  Sorry."  It never fails.  They fight.  He apologizes.   He even apologizes prior to a fight by saying, "Sorry, Jack, but I have to take this cow from you.  Sorry."  I've told him that's not quite how apologizing works and that he can't tell someone he's sorry and then do something he knows is wrong.  We're working on that.

He melts my heart when he apologizes to me.  He always comes to me after doing something wrong and tells me he's sorry.  Always.  And he tells me why he's sorry, which is so sweet.  Sometimes his apology doesn't come until hours after he's done something wrong.  But it always happens.  Sometimes he even apologizes for things I don't know about.  The other night he jumped out of his bed, ran into my room and said, "Mama, one day after we went to Target, I took the toilet tissue out of the bag and I was playing and I put the bag on my head real quick.  And I know I'm not suppose to do that 'cause it makes you not be able to breathe and you could die, so I'm sorry Mama.  I'm sorry."  He wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a huge hug and a quick kiss before running back to bed.   Oh how I love his sweet little manners.  And his sweet, sweet heart.  

Ringworm

We've been enjoying the warm weather around here and the boys are anxiously awaiting the start of summer and swimming pool season. I, on the other hand, am wondering how on earth I will manage the two big boys and a newborn at the pool this summer. I have a couple for more months to figure that out. Until then, Jody has found a sufficient swimming spot and has encouraged me to cancel our pool membership and just take the boys swimming in the creek. "Look," he said. "You could pack a picnic and come down here on the gator. You just hold Will and let them play." Okay, honey. Sounds easy enough. Except for the fact that Jack refuses to leave on his bathing suit or pull up. And there is a very hot electric fence on the other side of the creek bank. And all the cows follow us from the pasture down to the creek and stand around the gator (where I'll be sitting with Will, you know) mooing loudly because they think I'm throwing out feed. And, of course, I'm not worried about snakes. Especially since older generations named that creek Moccasin Branch. And there is the idea of them getting ringworm. Especially Jack, the naked one. So I'll leave supervising swimming in the creek to my husband. And I'll break out the water hose and sprinkler in the front yard. No ring worms, or snakes for that matter, allowed.

2.5

My funny, sweet Jack...what I love about the two and a half year old you...

You always ask me, "Mama, why you do dat?"

You talk with you eyebrows and eyes, making the silliest and most serious faces. You may have an acting career in your future.

You love to tell me, "Mama, Sam be ug-e (ugly) to me."

An afternoon tractor ride with your Daddy is your favorite thing in the world.

You always call your little brother "Baby Will", never just Will.

I love that you call the color red "apple" because you associate the color orange with the fruit.

Your temper, which gets the best of me at times, can also be quite fun to watch.

You raise your arms up when you want to be held and say, "Hold you, Mama. Hold you."

Those eyes...they just keep getting bigger and browner.

You hate when Daddy counts to three, warning you to stop something or come to him, and you yell out, "Not count to three, Daddy. Don't count!"

You say "owngy" for something really big or tall, like "big, owngy bull" which is the exact same word Sam used at this age.

You still grasp my hair when you need comfort.

You say "my" instead of "I"... "My do it, Mama."

Your Daddy is your best buddy.

You always thank me for fixing you breakfast.

Snow White is your current favorite movie and you love "mean Grumpy" and "Dupey" (Dopey).

Your little feet stay beaten up from always running around barefoot.

You still prefer to be naked...even outside when it's a little too cold.

You are mischievous and sneaky but also very tender hearted and sweet.

Jack, I just love you to pieces. I see a lot of myself in you...I am a middle child too, sweet boy. I understand the role you were sent here to play in our family. You are the one who will always keep us laughing, the one who will keep me young. Thank you for that. I love you my sweet, silly boy.

Well Checks

Sam and Will each recently had their well checks...four year and one month. I spent the entire day at the doctor's office and shuttling children between the office and Nana's house. I told Dr. Mann that it was really a break for me to have only one child at any given time. Pretty sad, huh, to find peace at the pediatrician's office.

Will is growing so fast and is now 22 inches long and weighs 12 pounds. He is wearing 6 month clothes already! He is still a big eater and I am starting to notice some stomach issues with him at the end of the day. I hate the word colic and prefer just to say his stomach hurts to make myself feel better. Even when he is in pain, he only fusses a minimal amount and struggles the most with being able to sleep comfortably in the late afternoon and early evening. He is such a sweet, loving, inquisitive little boy and we sure enjoy every day with him.

Sam did great at his well check. He weighs 46 pounds and is 43.25 inches tall and is at the top of the growth chart in each category. Sam is wearing size 6 clothes and size 13 shoes now and seems to grow out off his clothes and shoes overnight. Dr. Mann predicts he'll be 6'4 and says he will likely fall between 6'2 and 6'6. Sam was extremely shy taking his vision test and did poorly to begin with. I was nearly in tears worrying about him having to wear glasses at such an early age. Dr. Mann talked to him about trying the test again and not being scared and he did great the second time around. His vision is 20/40 which is fine. I opted to wait on his kindergarten shots until next year. I don't want to even think about kindergarten until I have to. I'm just still trying to believe my baby is four.

Discipline

Just when you think you can be really, really mean to your girl cousin and throw her off the back of the four wheeler because no one is around, your Daddy appears from around the corner and you find out he's been watching you. And you get a stern talking to. And that little girl cousin of yours listens too, but she's surely giggling inside.

Happy Easter!

One Month

My sweet Will, you at one month...

You are a sweet, snuggly, warm, precious little being.  You appear to have a very laid back, relaxed personality. You only cry when you wake up from a nap starving or when you get woken up from a nap to be put in your car seat.   You are very observant and you will lock eyes with someone and just stare at them for the longest time.  I love to watch you as you turn your head from side to side, learning new things about this exciting world you've been born into.  You still love your bath and will just lay there, completely relaxed, even when your brothers are trying to "help" bathe you.  You are a big eater and refuse to take a pacifier, just like your big brothers did.  You are getting rolls on your arms and legs and I love it...all the more to kiss and cuddle.  

When you sleep, you often suck in your bottom lip until it completely disappears.  You are a big yawner and will stretch and stretch when you wake up.  You make the sweetest faces when you sleep and even laugh in your sleep.  You are a loud baby and sound like a little raccoon, squeaking and making funny noises.  You make the sweetest cooing sound after you sneeze, just like both your brothers did.  I always love hearing that precious sound. You grunt all the time, when you sleep, as you wake up, when you eat, when someone changes how they are holding you...you sound just like a little pig and it is adorable.  I never want to forget those sweet sounds you make today.
You are incredible strong and can fully support your head and look from side to side.  When you lay on your belly, you can completely hold your head up and even try pushing your legs to move.  When you get mad (which is usually only when Mama is taking too long to feed you), you flail one arm wildly until you get what you need. You already try to roll from side to side and can completely turn yourself sideways in your swing.  Your eyes are still blue and I'm beginning to wonder if I may have a blue eyed boy this time.  I feel certain your eyes will be dark like your brothers, but today they show no signs of changing.  Y  You have the softest skin and the sweetest feet and hands.  Will, I have loved every second of our first month together.  You have brought me so much joy and contentment in out short time together.  You are beautiful and precious and I just adore every bit of you. You are my sweet, sweet baby and I love you so very much.  

Loved

Can a baby be too loved?

Around here, we certainly don't think so.