"V Week"

So we are getting back on track with learning fun.  We have been doing lots with science and using our senses to explore, but I haven't had the time to take any pictures. We learned about ocean mammals and experimented with "blubber", as well as density of what floats in fresh vs. salt water.  Anyhow, Gabe was home on Saturday morning when we started out "V week" (yes, I have gone to entire weeks for letters since I just don't have time to do it all in one day;)), so I did break out the camera.  The boys made some valentine's cards with a cool mixture of paints.  The pink is actually glue and shaving cream, so all easily washable and great for using brushes or fingers.  Since everyone was already messy we broke out the shaving cream for more exploring.  Noah got some on his nose while smelling it.  We explored baking soda volcanos, vegetables and vacuuming;)  

Superbowl 2012

Last year we had planned a big superbowl pary, made tons of food, then around noon Gabe started with a  GI bug.  This year we opted to skip the big party and watch the game ourselves, largely because we actually wanted to watch the game and not entertain. There have been lots of GI bugs going around at work and we were both joking about a repeat of last year.... Needless to say, Gabe woke up on Saturday and said, "you are not going to believe this"..... he was then quarantined to the cellar for the next 24 hours.  Thankfully my mom was visiting, so the kids and I still had a very fun weekend;)  Gabe was back to feeling better in time for the big game so we had a "party" with the kids. Gabe, Noah & James put on a puppet show for Ben. We made smoothies (Annie, these are the frozen blackberries you picked for us last summer:)), followed by pizza and home made french fries. Gabe has been "joking" about buying deep fryer for years, but more so in the last few months, so my parents brought him their old one and he was very eager to use it. We also dug out the homemade mozzarella sticks we had made for the last superbowl, which is what James is eating in the frozen form here......

Teeth, Teeth and Playing in the Snow

We have been having a very fun and very full winter so far.  We survived January with Gabe's night schedule. I have far less time to play with the kids now that I am working, so we are making the most of my days off:)  My house has never been so dirty and for the first time I don't really care. The kids are at such fun ages right now!!  A few weeks ago we took Noah & James to the dentist.  Noah did very well and we discovered that he has TWO loose teeth! That was certainly a moment of realization for us for just how big he really is getting. This was James's first visit and he was not a big fan, so we will try again next summer.  Speaking of teeth, yesterday Benjamin had his first tooth come through! We are pretty excited given that he has been drooling and chewing on everything for a while now.  

We finally received some snow!  Everyone LOVES to play in the snow, we have been getting outside everyday and it has been fantastic.  The plow makes a "big hill" at the end of our driveway that the kids have had a ball sliding down.  Noah slides down in a sled and James slides down without a sled.  Once a week we have enrolled Noah in a gymnastics class which he is very much enjoying.  It has been amazing to see his progress just in the first few weeks.  He is pretty proud of himself and practices all of the time at home.  All three boys continue with their music class at a local Alzheimer's home and are singing those songs continuously. 

Benjamin at 4 Months

Benjamin turned 4 months on the 5th of this month, but to be honest, I feel like he is much older than 4 months and that he has been with us for much longer.  It may be because of his size.... I keep telling myself that his growth velocity will slow down, but it hasn't yet... I switched him to the 18 month clothes the week before he turned 4 months. At first it was just with the cloth diapers, but now it is with both diapers.... he can't even wear the 12-18 month clothes when wearing the cloth.  I am starting to get concerned about how big he will be 4-6 months from now... will I have to start seeing a chiropractor if I have to carry him until he is 15 months old like the other two?? We had his check up today- he weighs in at 20 lbs. 4 oz and is 27.5 inches long!  The good news is that he is holding a steady curve above the 97th%ile for both weight and length.

We just love him to pieces and he continues such a good baby!!!  I can't even believe it, we really have it easy this time around.  We can put him down, he sleeps ANYWHERE, he almost never cries unless his is hungry or over tired. What we love most about him though is how happy he is.  He almost always has a smile on his face.  He also loves to be tickled... he laughs so hard when you tickle his belly, when you play peek-a-boo with him, or whenever his big bros are laughing.  I have tried to catch it on video, but he stops when the camera comes out. Even though he is just a few months old, he is already fawning over his brothers... he watches them so intently and tries so hard to interact with them.  He isn't rolling over yet, but he can sit on his own for a few seconds. He is trying hard to roll and James likes to "help" by rolling him over and over on the mat, which Ben thinks is funny, but I don't:)  I can't wait to see what the next few months will hold!! 

Brothers/Best Friends

I fully realize that there may come a time when they don't want to have anything to do with each other, but I am relishing this time when they truly like to be around each other. A few days ago Noah said to me, "Mom, do you know who my best friend is? It is James, I love him".  So sweet!  Since James's move into a big bed, I think that they have become closer.... it may have something to do with James preferring to sleep with Noah;)  At first Noah would tell me that he had to keep telling James to stay in his own bed, but I finally realized and told him that it was ok for James to stay in his bed, but only if it was ok with him.  He responded "YAY"!  That night we found them in the above picture... both sleeping after what appears to be Noah reading a book to James. I have found them both in Noah's bed several times now. They are both so loving and caring towards each other and Benjamin that it sometimes makes me want to cry, to realize how blessed we are! 

They do fight... ALOT... and I have had my second significant "I am a mom of three boys" moment.  Wrestling... it has started.... I remember wrestling/fighting with my sister, but it was usually when we were mad about something.  Two nights ago while I was picking up after supper and doing some other things they "wrestled" for over 45 minutes.  I kept waiting for someone to get tired and start crying because they didn't want to participate any more, but it didn't happen.  They were totally exhausted at bed time.  There was no hitting or bitting or head butting or even hard falls.... just wrestling in every room of the house. One would come up behind the other and push them down... I have actually never heard them laugh to hard together.  I was picturing all three kids (and lets be honest Gabe too) at 8, 10 & 12 wrestling in the house and destroying the furniture... maybe I will build a nice little apartment separate from our main living area that will stay clean, with the toilet seat always down, and where I can display things that I would prefer not to be broken..... :) 

The last picture is how I found James last night when I went in to check on him:)

Dr. Seuss = Scientific Genius??

We have slowed down on our letters and started having a bit more of a science approach to our days.  Noah's latest fascination is with the solar system.  He can now name all of the planets and a blurb about each one... we have taken many books about the planets out from the library recently.  The thing that makes me laugh every time is when he talks about Pluto.... "that's not really a planet anymore" then he laughs really hard.... not sure why that is so funny, but it makes me laugh too.

Our latest "theme" is using our 5 senses to learn about things as well as "solid or liquid".  Our new favorite library book is "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss...... cool book!  It is a bit long for James, but Noah loves it so we read it often when James is napping or otherwise uninterested in reading.  Yesterday we made some Oobleck. Per usual, no one initially wanted to touch it, but with some coaxing they had a blast..... it made a huge mess, but was fairly easy to clean up;)  The neat thing about oobleck for those of you unfamiliar is that it is neither a solid nor a liquid (it is a non-Newtonian fluid for those fellow science nerds)... you appear to be able to pick it up, but then it just runs through you fingers.... you can stick you hand in it and it feels like water, but when you try to pull it back out it gets stuck. Anyhow, cool to explore with the kids. 

We took on making pizza after that and it turned out to be a really cool scientific experiment using the 5 senses with the different textures, tastes, smells, and colors.  The cheese was frozen, so that really threw them off a bit.  Trying to expand their descriptive words beyond "it smells like cheese" or "it looks like cheese" was probably the biggest learning accomplishment here;)  

James's Big Boy Bed

We have been floating the idea of a big boy bed to James for about the past 6 or 7 months.  He did it one night, but then he adamantly said "I sleep in crib". We had decided that after Christmas would be a good time to really try again, or we wouldn't get the chance to take it on until spring.  It was really hard for us to push him since we like having him confined to the crib as much as he likes sleeping in it, but we will need the crib again soon for Benjamin.  Sunday after nap time I again asked him (it was really a routine at this point) if he wanted to have a big boy bed and get rid of his crib and he said Yes!  I couldn't believe it at first, but he insisted, so we sprung into action.  I took him away to the store to buy some "special new sheets" while Gabe took down the crib and started the assembly of the bed. It took much longer than we would have liked to get it together, but it is done, James was thrilled and he has really taken charge of "being a big boy".  So far he has done well, except that he would prefer to sleep with Noah... everyone is a little grouchy and sleep deprived, but luckily Noah is a good sport to put up with it and they both are very excited to have two big boy beds in their room. Next... where will the crib fit... who knows, we still have a few months to figure that out... stay tuned;)