Photo Every Hour: March 21st

6:14 Good morning to me. Darrell decided that today would be a good day for him to take his turn with the crud that's been going around our house--and naturally he got it on a day he could actually afford to take off and stay in bed all day, whereas my day with the crud fell on a day that there were a million things going on and he had commitments out of the house most of the day and absolutely couldn't be home to help out so I still had to spend a good portion of the day out of bed and actually parenting (thank goodness for parents who could step in and help for at least a little bit of the time). Not that I'm bitter about that or anything...

7:00 I think today might call for an extra cup (or two!) of coffee

8:00 Being part of the "cool crowd" and commuting through downtown after dropping William off at school so I can take the younger two boys to...

9:00 A totally awesome indoor play space where we basically had the place to ourselves for over an hour

10:00 Snack time at the Bloom play area. I tried to capture a few of the "themed" play areas (kitchen/restaurant, pet hospital, parking garage) and there are even a few more that wouldn't fit in the frame (a grocery store and farm)

11:00 Putting videos on the iPad is pretty much the only way I can get Connor to sit still long enough for me to clip his nails

12:00 In case you can't tell, that's Connor in his crib at nap time. Most certainly playing around and NOT napping

1:00 Please. Like I'd be doing anything but checking my bracket during the first day of March Madness

2:00 In this moment, he is peacefully sleeping. In the next few moments, I will wake him up so I can pick up William from school on time which results in him turning into a whiny, crying, tantrum throwing nightmare. Super fun

 3:00 (Not pictured) Picking up my mom and driving across town to grab a few items from Costco (I'd call them necessities, but let's be honest--it's Costco. I feel like half the time I leave that store with more impulse buys than intentional purchases)

 

4:00 In and out in just under an hour--not too bad for a trip to Costco with three boys who have to stop at EVERY sample table

5:00 Fortunately (Unfortunately?), dinner tonight is a Pancake Supper fundraiser at a local school. So at least I didn't have to cook while running the house single handedly... But I did have to wrangle the three boys by myself at the pancake supper (and through multiple trips through the line to get more helpings of pancakes). So that was an adventure

6:00 When the sun is shining and the snow and ice are gone, every moment outside calls for a race of some fashion or another (in this case, a race to the van after dinner)

7:00 Neighbors! Seriously, it's like a fog has been lifted after a long, cold, snowy winter and we can finally play outside and enjoy each other's company again

8:00 The quiet and dark hallway after bedtime

9:00 Nothing wraps up a fun day of single parenting quite like doing the dishes...

 10:00 I totally spaced on taking a picture, and I'd like to think that I was doing something to enjoy the end of a long day... But chances are I was probably still finishing up with some productivity around the house, like cleaning or menu planning or all the other fun #momlife stuff 

 

Finally. Bedtime. Time to squeeze myself as close to the edge of the bed as possible so I don't catch Darrell's germs and chance getting a second round of the crud

Connor: Eighteen Months!

Height/Weight: Well. Turns out we are well on track to having three small kiddos (despite their larger than normal birth weights). Connor has massively plateaued on his growth and is basically right back to being the same size (if not smaller) than his brothers. He only put on three ounces since fifteen months, and is just over thirty inches tall, which is shorter than both his brothers were, but a little heavier than Garrett was. Our pediatrician was so unconcerned about it that he didn't actually even address it, but the growth--or lack thereof--bothered me enough that I made sure to ask about it. His response was that since the height and weight are proportional, plus the fact that he was breastfed (which can cause significant plateauing when the breastfeeding stops), that he sees no reason to be concerned. As long as he stays on the growth curve that he is establishing without dipping significantly then we are fine. So, we're fine. We have small kids, but we're fine.

He may be little, but I'm pretty sure he's too big for that Bumbo chair 

Wearing: Despite the lack of growth, I did end up changing his closet over to mostly eighteen month clothes. Some of the stuff is still too big, and I did keep a few of the twelve month pieces in there because some of them definitely still fit, but if for no other reason I made the change because I was getting sick of the twelve month options. Granted, I'm already starting to feel that way about the eighteen month clothes, but thankfully it's (finally!) starting to feel like spring so I can focus more on the short sleeve options instead of the long sleeve options. And we're definitely still rocking the size four diapers (despite the massive amounts of size five diapers that I've started buying when they are on sale because I keep assuming he's going to grow out of the size four ones sooner than later).


This kid loves to be outside. Even if the piles of snow are over his head

Eating: Here's the thing. When I write these posts, I pull up the ones from his brothers at the same age for comparison. It's fun to reminisce--but also beneficial. Because Connor is starting to do what Garrett did at eighteen months--refuse food just for the sake of exercising his opinion--which is just a good reminder to me to be patient and know that "this too shall pass". Honestly, he probably eats more than enough food. And rationally, I know that pretty much all the options we give him are basically healthy, at least compared to what else I could serve. But because he's smaller than average, I find myself tempted to give in to his pickiness even when I know I shouldn't. We also moved him from the high chair to a booster seat, which has exacerbated some of the issues, because now he thinks the plates and bowls he gets are toys. So mealtime has been fun lately--but whatever. At the end of the day, we have a kid that (usually) eats plain yogurt and Cheerios for breakfast, leftovers of whatever is in the fridge for lunch, and typically a pretty well balanced dinner, paired with at least two snacks that always include some fruit and/or cheese, so I'm not going to complain.

Loving on the therapy dog at the library

Sleeping: For once, I actually can't think of any major complaints in this department. He basically sleeps through the night every night (with a 745ish bedtime), and even though he gets up (most) mornings before I'm ready for him to (aka before 630), he is usually content to sit in his crib and babble and play until I'm ready to get him. Same is true for his naps; he's usually down by noon or shortly thereafter, and even though I wish he'd consistently take a two hour nap (or more!), he usually doesn't, but he is content to sit in his crib for at least a little while before I go get him. Sometimes he still falls asleep in the car on the way home from our morning outings, but it doesn't seem to impact his nap too much, which I'm grateful for.

My silly silly boy

New Stuff: This child. He soooo wants to do EVERYTHING on his own. He has started folding his hands for prayers--but only when it suits him. If he is not ready for bed or nap, he will not fold his hands for his bedtime prayer, and he SCREAMS if you try to do it for him. He loves absolutely all bathroom activities (any word remotely related to a bath or brushing teeth and he makes a beeline for the bathroom), but don't you dare try to help him brush his teeth. He will brush--aka chew on his toothbrush--on his own, thankyouverymuch (although to his credit, he does actually spit. It's fairly impressive). He still loves to help us cook, but you are not allowed to help him use the utensils. You might think I'm exaggerating, but seriously--he will scream at you if you try to put your hand on the utensil while he is using it. He sautéed some mean mushrooms pretty much all on his own the other night for dinner, which is kind of totally awesome, but I just wish we didn't have to hold him the whole time in order for him to do so (or be totally worried that he is going to massively burn himself).

The teeth brushing brigade

Did you notice I happened to mention the word "scream" multiple times in the last paragraph? No? Well, screaming is a fairly regular occurrence in this house. As I've been saying pretty much since he was born, this kid does things on his own timeline--which includes communicating with us. "Ball" was basically the first word that he used intentionally and with specific (and correct) directionality. Which is fitting, because he is obsessed with all things "ball". He will "down, set, hike" with (or without!) a football, he shoots baskets downstairs for way longer than his cognitive age should allow, and all long stick-like things are either golf clubs or baseball bats. We've also been checking out some Sports Illustrated for Kids books from the library (William has recently become obsessed with non-fiction books), and I think Connor has "read" them more than either of his brothers. Aside from "ball", though, he has only figured out how to say "no" and "uh oh"--and when he can't communicate his wants with those (and his handful of sign language words), he resorts to screaming (or just answering "no" to anything and everything you ask him). He does have moments where he decides to just babble endlessly and incomprehensibly (instead of scream), which has made him a fun combination of his brothers--William basically didn't talk at all until he was two and Garrett was working on multiple word phrases by right around eighteen months. It's funny how genetics (and birth order) work.

Someone loves his Lambie--but someone does NOT want to take his nap

A "Mom Brag" item is that he has really good familiarity with books and even has a few stories memorized. He does a really good job orienting the book correctly when he picks up a story to read, and for the most part he only turns one page at a time. And for the memorizing--a few of the books we read somewhat regularly mention playing the game "peekaboo", and he will cover his eyes (aka play "peekaboo") when I turn to the page that says "peekaboo", not when I read the word. Which this book-loving Momma loves quite a bit.

Reading--no surprise--a book with balls (also: Go Georgia Tech!)

The only other thing of note that I don't think I've mentioned before is that this kid does NOT like haircuts. The first time he kind of seemed like he was on the fence about the whole thing, and the next two (or three?) times he's basically screamed through the whole thing. So that's fun. He could desperately afford to get another one, but it's a bit of an ordeal so I'm definitely stalling on the whole thing.


As you can tell, the excessive amounts of dry air and winter static in this house don't do his "long" hair any favors

As much as I love so many things about the stage of life we're in right now with Connor--and as much as I'm not wishing for my baby boy to grow up too quickly--part of me is super excited for the fun things that are coming next, especially watching his personality continue to develop once he (finally!) decides he ready to start verbally communicating with us! 



Photo Every Hour: February 21st

7:00 Breakfast time!

8:00 The boys have been obsessed with the "Guess Who" game Garrett got for his birthday. Granted, Connor just likes the fun noise the pieces make when you knock them over, but whatever--entertainment is entertainment

9:00 And as you can clearly see, there's no reason to spend money to entertain your kids when they'll make up their own games of stacking empty snack cups

10:00 Confession: I like going to the library to let the boys play as much as I love finding new books to check out

11:00 Until next time dear library!

12:00 Someone clearly seems ready for nap time... Not

1:00 Enjoying my lunch--but enjoying even more learning that a favorite local ice cream shop is opening a new location that will be walking distance from our house!

2:00 Time for someone to wake up from his nap so we can get ready to go pick William up

3:00 Finally loaded up and ready to leave the school. The after school pick up line at school is ridiculous--some parents only care about getting to their kid as quickly as possible and as such have no regard for following the posted process for traffic flow, which means that those of us who actually follow the rules usually get massively delayed #rantover 

4:00 Took the boys sledding for the first time today and they LOVED it (wipeouts and everything!)

5:00 The aftermath of sledding--a trunk full of wet, sloppy clothes

6:00 And the aftermath of dinner. That was a full pound of ground beef with sixteen ounces of black beans. Heaven help us when these boys are teenagers

7:00 Someone loves "helping" with dishes

8:00 And now I get to go back and re-wash most of the dishes Garrett helped with. But at least I have "Friends" to help get me through

9:00 Working on recreating a Word Sort that William had difficulty with at school... And yes, still watching "Friends"

10:00 Trying to get through my book for our church book club before we meet next week

Good night!

Garrett: Four Years!

Very excited about his "sour gummy worm" cake

 

Quite possibly my favorite picture of Garrett to date--and one that I'm sure will continue to be a favorite years from now

Height/Weight: Assuming current trends continue, it seems likely that Garrett--my biggest baby--will be my smallest child. He weighed in at exactly 33 pounds, nearly three pounds fewer than my sister's son Jonathan who is almost a year and a half younger (and 2.5 pounds lighter than William was at four). And at 39 inches he is just shorter than William was at this age. While it is still a little early to tell exactly what trend Connor will follow, Connor was over a pound heavier than Garrett was at fifteen months--and slightly taller as well. And in a few short weeks we'll see how Connor compares at eighteen months (spoiler--he's almost certainly going to be bigger than Garrett was at eighteen months).

 

Wearing: Despite being on the low end of the percentages for height and weight, I have (very slowly) started pulling some 4T clothes out for him (and we just moved up to a size 3T/4T pull up for bedtime and naps). The majority of his wardrobe is 3T though, and I imagine it will stay that way until I reorganize his closet for summer clothes (which seems like an eternity away with this crazy winter we've been having). And even then I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of his shorts this summer are still 3T because my boys always seem to outgrow their tops before their bottoms.

Caught lotion-handed

 

Someone got a little creative about how to open the bag by himself while Mommy was putting little brother to bed. He wasn't supposed to be eating them, but it was hard to punish such creative problem solving

Eating: I seriously feel like this section is completely unnecessary for Garrett. The kid loves to eat, and honestly, he loves to eat healthy food. Sure, he's a kid and loves a good treat every once in a while, but we never have to battle with him to eat his fruits and vegetables. He still doesn't seem to be terribly fond of most meats, but for the most part he'll eat just about anything without much complaint. If I had to think of a few things to note just for the sake of documenting them, it would be that he has a few weird eating habits (and not just "eating raw onion" and "drinking pickle juice" weird). He picks around cheese (especially string cheese) when it is served as a snack, but if we're having pasta or something you had better believe that he insists on having a (generous) helping of cheese on top. Additionally, when he has his yogurt for breakfast, rather than alternating between whatever boxes of cereal we have open, he generally prefers to have all of them at once. So there are some mornings that he'll have Reese's Puffs, Lucky Charms, and Yellow Cheerios all in the same bowl of yogurt. I've gotten to the point where I'm no longer grossed out to serve it, but don't you dare ask me to try it. Oh, and when we have leftover Brussels sprouts (which we cook in a balsamic/honey sauce), he will drink the sauce out of the leftover container (gag). I pretty much let him do whatever he wants with mixing/eating his food (so long as it isn't something potentially harmful like raw meat) and I do my best not to show any visible signs of disgust.

 

Sleep: Honestly, I don't really know why I put this category on here. It's always a frustrating thing to talk about, especially after a generally easy discussion about eating habits. Oh well. Sleep has been an interesting beast with Garrett this past year. He and William have hit a groove with sharing a room, especially once we installed reading lights for both boys and implemented a period of quiet reading time before lights out to help them settle down. However, there are nights--and probably more than we actually know about--where Garrett doesn't actually go to sleep until well after lights out. The only reason we know some nights that he is still up is that he'll come out of his room an hour or so after lights out to go potty or look for a rogue stuffed animal or something. And with William being in school he doesn't get to sleep in in the morning, so we've had plenty of whiny, tired days. Which--logically--should make naps more of a given, but that hasn't been true. More often than not he won't actually fall asleep at nap time (as of the past four months or so), but he goes back to his room willing and (usually) stays there for almost ninety minutes, so I'm a little reluctant to force the sleeping thing. And on the days he does fall asleep, it's almost a guarantee that I have to wake him up to go get William from school, and he can be quite a bear when he is woken up, which makes me even more unwilling to force him to nap. Aside from his sleeping habits creating some pretty comical "fall asleep in the middle of whatever I'm doing" pictures, they aren't really outside the realm of "normal" (although they definitely do put him on the low end of the recommended number of hours of sleep), and our pediatrician isn't terribly concerned, so I'm not going to be either. Besides, with Daylight Savings Time lurking right around the corner, it really wouldn't be worth getting concerned about his current sleeping habits anyway because they will inevitably change in a few short weeks.

No nap means not making it through snack time awake

Just a typical night in bed for Garrett and his menagerie

New Stuff: As I was reading through Garrett's three-year post, I found myself say "yep, he still does that" or "yes, that's still true" about almost every one of the "new" things I blogged about in that post. Honestly, I can only think of a small handful of things that are truly "new"; everything else is pretty much just continued growth and development on the things he was already doing last year.

Tubing for the first time this summer! He's still a little wary of the ocean, but he's definitely warming up to swimming at my parent's lake cabin

The first thing that comes to mind is his nurturing and caring and general sweetness with babies (and animals, but especially dogs). My sister had another boy in July, and Garrett always has to hold Harrison when we are together. And he'll be more than content to sit and hold him even if the other kids are running around and playing. Somewhat unfortunately, though, Harrison is a pretty sizable kid, and Garrett is not. So they make kind of an awkward pair. It's a good thing my sister-in-law is due in May; I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Harrison outgrew Garrett's lap by then. Garrett still tries to dote on Connor sometimes too, but their relationship has taken a little bit of an odd turn since William started school. Garrett and William play pretty darn rough with each other (we're talking full-on tackle football), and Garrett has had a hard time adjusting his play to a level that is appropriate for Connor, and as a result they don't always play very well together (and I'd even be a little inclined to say that Connor is slightly wary of Garrett and tries to avoid him at times). It's taken quite a bit of coaching, and Garrett is starting to get it figured out, but becoming the "big" man at the house while William is at school was definitely a rough new thing for Garrett.

Loving on my cousin's puppy Lucas

Lake life sure is tough sometimes

He still does a lot of story-telling reading, but we've noticed in the past few weeks that he's starting to pick up a few words here and there. Mo Willems "Elephant and Piggie" books have been great for his word recognition because they are super easy for him to "read" from memory, and we've seen him identify some of those words in other stories as well. And I think he could probably read more words than he currently does if he gave it more of an effort, but he enjoys making up the stories (with the token words or phrases that he remembers from when we've read it) and doesn't seem motivated to slow down and try to figure out what the actual words on the page are. Definitely not an issue at this age, and certainly a necessary stepping stone toward independent reading, but I would like to see him outgrow this habit in the next year or so. Especially since he has pretty well mastered all his letter sounds (and even some of the blended sounds).

Reading with his eyes shut! Or something like that...

For whatever "lack" of effort there may be in his reading, though, he makes up for in his ability to write. He has very precise fine motor skills, and really enjoys coloring the small spaces on his coloring pages (and very rarely goes outside the lines). He can write the whole alphabet, and while his spacing and letter sizes are still inconsistent, his letter formations are excellent, even when he is trying to write in small spaces. As an "activity" he will occasionally take books and copy the titles onto different pieces of paper, and a month or so ago he figured out (on his own) how to spell the name of his puppy "Spot" (which he was very proud of--and rightfully so).

Foreshadowing a future profession, perhaps?

The biggest official "new" thing I can think of is that he started Sunday School in the fall. We weren't too concerned about his adjusting to that change, and after slight reservations the first few weeks (most of which were probably just him imitating his brother's nervousness), he's been loving it. He frequently wants to know how many more days until Sunday, and in his excitement of counting down those days he's managed to do a pretty good job of learning the days of the week. He hasn't been quite as animated as we would have thought during their performances, but I'm sure that will come sooner than later (and any amount of actions and singing at this stage of the game is more than William was doing!).

 

Can we really count it as his first Twins game when he slept through half of it?

I alluded to my final point in the previous paragraph--the last "new" thing I can think of for Garrett is his habit of mimicking things. Verbally, this has caused some issues because he has a tendency to say and repeat things that he doesn't really understand, so we've been having to work through that. His mimicry really shines in athletics, though. He copies pitchers pitching from the stretch, he copies batters tapping the plate before they swing, he copies football players lining up on the line of scrimmage before the ball is hiked--and he does all this without us being intentional about pointing out those motions to him. He also starting copying a jump shot in basketball after going to one basketball game this fall, and I'm no expert, but he does a pretty decent job with it. He definitely seems to have a fair amount of natural sport ability--which is good, because with his size he'll need all the help he can get if he wants to be competitive!

Not quite how the pros carry their bags, but "A" for effort!

I know parents aren't supposed to pick favorites, but Garrett is definitely my new favorite four-year old! He makes our lives so full--full of personality, full of excitement, full of frustration, full of laughter, full of attitude, full of disobedience, full of spunk, full of sass, full of crazy--and I can't wait to see what he will fill our lives up with next. Cheers to another great year!