quick update

For those who care what we've been doing for the past couple of months...

We did an Easter egg hunt at my friend's house. A bunch of us moms organized to have our kids do a hunt together instead of doing a city hunt. The city hunt is rumored to be overcrowded, crazy, and not worth the effort. It's especially difficult if you have kids a variety of ages, because they get divided out to different fields (it's at a sports complex) based on their age. So, we plan ones with candy that is better and 10 eggs per kid instead of 2. However, the day before Easter was FREEZING and there was snow on the ground. So, we opted to be inside.

Thomas also got his first haircut. He's the youngest of any of my kids at his first haircut.

Notice the fly aways over his ears. He had kind of a monk look going on. The hair was a lot longer and thicker on the sides than on the top

The after picture. All my boys have a dazed and confused look after their first experience with clippers.

 We also decorated Easter eggs. My kids love to do it. I loved it when I was a kid. It's kind of a weird tradition, but who cares?! It's so much fun!

 My kids got Easter baskets. I don't believe in making Easter another huge gift giving holiday. So, they get a couple of little things and then candy.

Richard played soccer again. He loves it. He made a lot of progress this year because of his great coaches. We've signed him up for a camp at the local university this summer. Hopefully it's a good experience.

Marie wanted to paint her nails and was outside trying to do it herself. She has kid friendly polish that washes off, and so I have no problem with her doing it. I guess Richard found her and decided she needed help. I came across them and thought it was so CUTE! If that doesn't say brotherly love, than what does?

End of the School Year

The kids had programs for the end of their years. They both had cute programs and such. Here are pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Doubled

Guess who finally doubled his birth weight! Thomas weighed in at 13 lb 4 oz today. I weigh him on a weekly basis to make sure he's gaining steadily. He was born at 6 lb 10 oz. It only took him 7 1/2 months to double his weight, but at least he's making progress.

Sometimes, we need a little perspective...

A sister of mine has a niece through marriage that passed away last week. The girl was almost 10. She was born with a congenital heart defect and so has struggled with health problems all her life. Her health has waxed and waned. At one point, she was on a heart transplant list. Her family was expecting her to pass for a significant period of time, and so at least they didn't have to deal with a sudden tragedy. 

The situation has reminded me to be grateful for my circumstances. My "trials" are so minuscule compared to the loss of a child or watching one of my children struggle every day for life. I can't imagine how difficult that would be.

However, this situation also brought to my attention my gratitude for the knowledge that death is not the end of life. I'm so grateful to know that we can be sealed as families. I'm so glad to know that if something tragic happened to one of MY children (or my dear Scott,) that I wouldn't lose that child forever. 

Anyway, just some things I've been thinking about....

Learning Letters

I've been teaching Marie and Peter letters and the sounds they make. They have been making progress.  It's been really interesting to see their strengths side by side. Peter can write letters better than Marie can. It's like she can't quite see how to make the lines do what she needs them to do. However, Marie does better at remembering which letters are which and what sounds they make. They both seem to do equally well at other preschool things like same vs. different, bigger vs. smaller, counting, colors, shapes, etc. I like giving my kids a head start in school and they seem to really enjoy learning.

This is a photo of their first attempts. Most legible letters are those that I made so they could see an example. Their letters are very light and so harder to see. 

These are the letters from the day I took the pictures. I can see tons of progress!

Eating dinner

We have a rule at our house that if you don't finish your food for dinner, you have to finish it at the next meal. And perhaps the next meal. And perhaps the next meal. I won't force them to eat something I KNOW they don't like (Richard doesn't like cornbread), but they have to eat it if I know they should like it. I don't like my kids saying they're too full to finish but then stuff themselves with sugary cereal the next morning because they're hungry. In contrast, who am I to tell them they really aren't full? They can get down if they're done eating. (Feel free to think I'm unfeeling and mean, but I have no intention of changing how we do things. Don't send your hate mail.)

So, in an effort to broaden their horizons and make them learn to like foods, they have to finish their dinner. Marie decided to take about 5 meals to finish one particular meal. Then, she still had to eat the dinner from the meal she missed. Once she FINALLY finished those two meals, she wanted naan, cereal, yogurt, more cereal, 2 servings of 1/2 cup milk, and candy. She was at the table today from 8:00 until 2:30. 

Here she is with coarse 5.

(BTW, Marie is the only child who takes this many meals to eat her food. Richard and Audrey rarely have this happen anymore. Peter only takes one or MAYBE two more meals to finish)

Six Months Old!

Well, Thomas will be six months old tomorrow, but I was in the mood to post today. He can roll over from his tummy and will go to his side when he's on his back. He can lift up on his hands in kind of the cobra (think yoga) position when he's on his tummy. He can sit in the tripod position (ie leans forward far enough that he needs his hands to hold himself up). He's a very happy little guy.

We moved him to a crib about a month ago. He struggled just a bit the first couple of nights. Or, perhaps his mom was lazy and didn't stay awake very well in the middle of the night to make sure he ate well and so therefore make sure he was ready to go back in the crib. So, he only spent about half the time in his crib. However, now he'll take naps in his crib and last night he only woke up once between 8:00 and 6:00! He'll reach up to play with the stuff in the corner of his crib. He shares a room with the other boys.

He's now much better about eating solid food. I can count on him eating about 1/4 cup of cereal mixed with fruit a day. He'll also eat a 1-2 tablespoons of something else. I have recently tried peas and carrots. Peas were not well liked on their own. However, he'll eat them mixed with carrots. His weight gain is still about the same rate it was before, but he's happy. He's also developmentally on target. So, what do you do? I guess someone has to be at the low end of the curve. His last weight a couple of days ago was 11 lb 8 oz. I weigh him weekly to make sure he's still gaining.

I used to think he looked exactly like Richard. However, as he's gotten older (and as tends to happen), he now looks like his own person.

Here are pictures of all my kids at about 6 months. I tried to get a similar angle to aid in comparing.

Richard

Audrey

Peter

Marie