Matthew: Two Years!

 Oof. I feel like this is the latest I've been with an update EVER. Basically a whole month (eek). Although to be honest, it feels longer than that. Like sooooo much longer. Remember in my December 21st post when I ended up taking Connor in for a last minute sick visit due to a three-day low-grade fever that randomly spiked on the third day? I genuinely do not think I am exaggerating when I say I don't think we've had seven consecutive days since then when all six of us have been healthy. Between stomach bugs (sooo many stomach bugs) and respiratory gunk and pink eye and everything in between, it's been a hot mess around these parts. And like I complained to our pediatrician at Matthew's well visit--as much as I want to blame the pandemic for all this junk, it's really hard to do so when none of us have tested positive. So I guess all this sickness fun is just what life is like with four kids during cold/flu season. Hopefully this year is worse than other years will be since cold/flu season was so diminished last year due to COVID precautions, but I guess only time will tell. But anyway, I digress... My baby is two!!

Height/Weight: These boys seriously continue to track at near identical heights. Garrett was the shortest at two (at 32.825 inches) and Matthew--who was just barely the shortest at eighteen months--jumped ahead to the "tallest" at two at 32.87 inches. So pretty minimal difference there. If the height predictors that say to double your child's height at two to determine their adult height are accurate, that means we will have four identically sized (and borderline short!) adult men. Weights have been a little more variable; Garrett (my peanut!) was a mere 24lbs at two, while William was the heaviest at 26.5lbs, and Matthew settled right in the middle at 25lbs, 12.5oz.

Small kiddo plus large cows equals super cute photo

Wearing: Clothes? Can that be an acceptable answer at this point? Since I'm not worried about keeping clothing sizes together so they can be boxed up and handed down to a younger sibling, clothes pretty much stay in Matthew's closet until it is no longer reasonable for him to be wearing them. I'm fairly certain he still has some 12 month short sleeve onesies in his closet, but since he hasn't really had reason to wear those in months, I haven't bothered taking them out. Most of his hand-me-down 18 month clothes are getting too small (probably because they've been washed a million times), but Grandmom got him some new 18 month clothes for his birthday and they fit perfectly, soooo.... yeah. He's wearing clothes. Sometimes it fits well, most of the time it doesn't. One of these days I'll get out the 24 month/2T clothes, at which point I'll probably complain that he's already outgrown half the stuff. Oh well. We did move him up to size five diapers sometime in the past few months, and I suppose the fact that I don't really remember anything remarkable about the transition must mean that it went smoothly.

It was a little too snug to snap, but he wore the same costume all his brothers wore for their second Halloween, so that was a clothing win in my book!

Eating: When William was a good eater, we were cautious to take credit for it because it could have just been luck. When Garrett was also a good eater, we thought maybe it could be a coincidence. By the time Connor was a good eater, we were pretty certain we had some good tricks figured out. When Matthew started eating, there were two outcomes: he followed his brother's footsteps and pretty well solidified that we had a successful strategy, or he was completely the opposite and threw a wrench in everything we knew about feeding infants and toddlers. Fortunately for us he has mostly been the former. Sure, he has his moods every once in while (like an annoying stretch where he basically refused to eat lunch), and sometimes he insists on Mommy or Daddy feeding him even though he is fully capable of feeding himself, but for the most part this kid rarely bats an eye at anything he is served. Although watch out for him if he gets hangry because oof, that is not an enjoyable experience. 

Pretty darn pleased with himself for getting his own apple at the apple orchard

Sleeping: Well, for all the success we've had in the eating department, the sleeping department continues to be my Achilles heel. At least for infants/toddlers. Matthew had been doing better, but when the sickness fun started in December he picked up a respiratory virus that caused frequent night wakings, and he had a hard time getting back to sleep on his own, so enter Mommy and Daddy. We realized pretty quickly that trying to rock him back to sleep in the recliner was a lose-lose: we couldn't get comfortable with him because he was getting too big, and as such he wouldn't settle back to sleep easily. So, in a desperate move one night, I laid down on the floor next to his crib and lo and behold, he laid down in his crib and settled pretty quickly. Unfortunately, this turned into a pretty significant crutch that he began needing at all times of the night, even once he was no longer sick. We broke that habit right around his birthday, and as such we gave him a few extra weeks with his pacis before pulling the plug on those. Once we eliminated those in early February he had another setback although he definitely seemed to recover faster than William or Garrett after they lost their pacifiers. But we're not out of the woods yet--he's already starting the bedtime stall tactics, and he's regularly asking for "one more" story, for Mommy or Daddy to "sit" in the recliner after we put him down, for one of us to rub his "back", or for an animal or water that got forgotten when we put him in his crib. Even once he does settle down, it's a rare night that he sleeps all the way through until morning. And I don't think he's even started cutting his two year molars, sooo... yay. More thing to cause sleep issues. 

So much love for his pacis that he needs two at once (and yes, you do see a child in the crib behind him. For reasons I don't understand Connor loves to climb in the crib)

New Stuff: He had his first trip to the dentist a month or so after his birthday, and although he wasn't super fond of it (he kept saying "all done"), he let the hygienist get through everything she wanted to do, which counts for something. There's no sign of his two year molars, and he had a little bit of plaque build up because he does not like letting Mommy or Daddy help with brushing his teeth, but nothing too concerning. 

Fortunately, he did let us help him clear the driveway--although I'll be honest, he was more adept with that shovel than I thought he would be!

His vocabulary is coming along--definitely more than William was talking at two, but not nearly as extensive as Garrett and Connor at two. He has started copying a few multi-word phrases ("carry me", "I first", "I too"), but not a ton. He does talk a lot, and for all we know he is stringing together much longer phrases, but his pronunciation is pretty poor (lots of dropping unaccented syllables and mashing words together) and we generally have a hard time understanding him. Most of the time when we identify a phrase he is using we realize he's been using it for weeks (or longer!) and we just hadn't figured out what he was trying to say. He also doesn't always need to use a ton of words--everyone knows that when he says "around" it means he wants to play "Ring Around the Rosy", and there's no reason for him to say more. And because he wouldn't be the fourth child without some unusual vocabulary, my favorite words that he's picked up from his brothers are "zombie" (complete with straight arm/leg monster walk) and "heck" (for "what the heck"). 

William may have been the one who started piano lessons this year, but Matthew makes sure he gets plenty of opportunities to "I too" on the piano (and unfortunately his ability to turn it on is stronger than his ability to remember to turn it off so we are forever double checking the power switch on it)

The most surprising element of his vocabulary is his word association abilities. At dinner the other night he was trying to say something, and as we were trying to guess what he was saying one of his brothers said "Jesus", to which he responded (very clearly) "Jesus Bible". And just a few days ago I was getting him dressed in a shirt with a soccer ball and he said "soccer William" (William played soccer last fall and we've started talking about how he'll be playing soccer again this spring). He also knows that "both" is the appropriate word to use when he wants/has two of something. 

He also knows where the screwdrivers are for "fixing" things, although sadly a screwdriver was not going to fix the piece of broken tubing

Some of his word associations/understandings carry over in to his play as well, which is a fun development to watch. He will be driving his cars around and randomly have them stop for a "red light" (which was actually a phrase that Connor figured out first because he saw it being used in context of how Matthew was playing) and when he is done playing he will (correctly!) park "in front" of or "behind" other cars. 

And of course my child knows his way around a chemistry set ;-)

Parts of Matthew may still be an enigma to us as he learns how to communicate/express them to us and we learn how to understand the information he is giving us, but one thing remains certain--the kid is a goofball and we are Here.For.It. Maybe our emotions are heightened because we know he is our baby so everything with him seems more significant (I still have his pacifiers tucked away in one of my drawers because I can't bring myself to throw them away yet!), but honestly, I'll be shocked if he doesn't end up as the class clown, because he seems to thrive being in environments where people are laughing--and loves being the cause of said laughter!

I mean seriously. The kid knows when he's being silly and he loves it

Those eyelashes though...

Boy: A noise with dirt on it (also--see that smirk? Such a handful this one)

So proud of himself--and we're so proud of all he's accomplished in the past two years and can't wait to see all the moments of pride in the years to come!

Photo Every Hour: January 21st

7:00 Well hello there handsome

8:00 Sprinted home from school drop off to get an email (with some old school pictures of Darrell and I!) sent off to church for a fun newsletter update

9:00 Trains (for Matthew) and tantrums (for Connor). Toddler life is fun

10:00 A little morning library fun

11:00 Best part of library trips? Plenty of new books to read on the way home

12:00 Lest you are confused, this is NOT a child who is getting ready for nap. This is a child who is using the CD player as a toy (a learned behavior from his brothers) to play a silly song CD and goof around with his animals INSTEAD of getting ready for a nap

1:00 Current state of my life: sugar cookies for Matthew's party waiting to be frosted and a pile dirty dishes (and a dirty cutting board) needing to be washed

2:00 This is how silly play time looks like when a particular almost two year old decides that he needs to take an exceptionally short nap

3:00 Garrett's primary concern after school? Making sure Matthew gives his stuffed sheep a hug (just don't tell Garrett his little brothers played with said sheep the majority of the time he was at school)

4:00 Update on the state of my life: a handful of sugar cookies that are now frosted for Matthew's birthday party tomorrow, but cookie frosting is taking a pause to begin dinner prep

5:00 In preparation of Matthew's party tomorrow, William agreed to clean this whole room by himself before dinner so that he didn't have to help with any of the other cleaning (spoiler alert: he didn't get it done)

6:00 Garrett was very excited to have a playdate with his friend tonight. Garrett was not excited to get in the car after said playdate and learn that he needed to go home and help clean for his brother's birthday party

7:00 Not pictured: the mess in this room before cleaning started and the six year old who was forced to go to bed at 6:45 because he REFUSED to help clean and threw far more tantrums than were acceptable (and I can't even joke that toddler life is fun because six--almost seven--is a far cry from toddler life)

8:00 Apparently when Mom is the one responsible for checking out so many books from the library, she is also the one responsible for putting them away after the kids have gone to bed

9:00 (and 10:00) Turns out ice cream cakes are a lot of work--and a lot of steps of adding layers, freezing, adding more layers, freezing again, etc etc)

11:00 A sure sign of a late night? We're up long enough for the dishwasher to finish its cycle so we can prop it open overnight at let the dishes air dry

Oof. Probably too late of a bedtime considering we have a birthday party at 9:30 tomorrow morning, but whatever. We'll manage. We always do. 

Photo Every Hour: December 21st

It may be the last day of school before winter break, but the to-do list is plenty long--part of which requires helping the PTO spoil the teachers before break--so it's a one-snooze kind of morning!

7:00 Breakfast for the masses

8:00 I've got one boy glued to my hip, and another who only wants to lay on the couch... I may need to call an audible on my busy day

9:00 What was supposed to be dropping two boys off at Grandma's house so I could help the PTO at the school turned into dropping one boy at Grandma's house and having Daddy come work from home for a few hours to sit with the boy running a fever. Life with kids is always fun

10:00 But you know what else is fun? Preparing Holiday V.I.P. Room Service bags for each of the staff members at the boys' school and going room-to-room to deliver them

11:00 Wrapped up the deliveries, and now delivering the extras to my car to take home for our next opportunity to spoil the teachers!

12:00 Unfortunately, a few hours of quiet time at home with Daddy wasn't enough to get this one feeling back to one hundred percent 

1:00 Nothing beats a little "Storybots" when you don't feel very good

2:00 You know it's been a day when it's almost time to pick up the boys from school and I still haven't gotten the dishwasher emptied (and you also know Matthew hasn't been home most of the day because the dishwasher door is still open--he is obsessed with making everything "closed")

3:00 Picked the oldest two up from school and promptly dropped them at Grandma's so I could take Connor to the doctor's office. Normally our pediatrician isn't very alarmist and will "wait and see", but when I mentioned Connor's fever started on Saturday night and then spiked up two degrees higher on Tuesday morning, he wanted to get him in sooner than later to make sure it wasn't a bacterial infection on top of what he presumes was a viral infection causing the initial fever

4:00 Bags to unpack from Grandma's house, goodies for the teachers to put away, and dinner to prep. Spending an hour at the doctor's office wasn't exactly built in to my day, but I'm glad we made it work nonetheless. And I'm glad we have a pretty quick and easy pasta casserole on the menu

5:00 Another plus of a quick-and-easy dinner? Mama has a chance to run out and grab the last few Christmas presents we need once Darrell gets home and everything is in the oven

6:00 It isn't often that everyone is done eating by six. This either means that everyone was super hungry or people are feeling a little under the weather and don't have their normal appetites (it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess which is the case tonight, although fortunately Connor's COVID test came back negative so at least it isn't that!)

7:00 Feeling under the weather also means early bedtimes. Garrett may not have been running a fever like Connor, but his coughing fits were enough to earn him early storytime and early lights out

8:00 Getting ready to tuck William in--who at the present moment seems to be the healthiest of the boys--as soon as he's done going potty and brushing his teeth 

9:00 After the day we had, it's time for a drink and an episode (or two!) of NCIS. With a little bit of registering the boys for summer camp on the side (because the deadline is tomorrow if we want the camp "elves" to deliver a little holiday gift to the campers #lastminuteforthewin)

10:00 I love the YMCA camp we send our boys to, but man, it should not take an hour to register three boys for camp (although to be fair, I was distracted by the show and obviously put a significant dent in my drink... so maybe the fault is on me)

You know it's been a long couple of weeks when turning in at 11:00 feels "early"--especially when you're only doing so because you know it's likely a snotty-nosed kid will be waking you up during the night and not because you are actually done with all the things that need to be done #itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear

 

Photo Every Hour: November 21st

It may be a Sunday, but that's no reason to sleep in at this house!

7:00 You know it's a busy Sunday when Daddy doesn't take the time to make pancakes for breakfast

8:00 Rolling in to church early because in addition to supporting the service with two music groups, my baking small group is also providing the treats for coffee hour after the service

9:00 Choir robe and hand chimes pretty well sums up what I was doing during the service

10:00 I forgot to take a picture, but let's just say the Rice Krispie Bars, Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie Bars, and Snickerdoodle Cookies my baking group made went over well after church

11:00 Headed to Mitchell after church for Thanksgiving with my mom's family and someone forgot to pack books to read during the car ride. Church library to the rescue!

12:00 It's not quite winter yet, which means it's still construction season in South Dakota!

1:00 Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like a family lunch at the Pizza Ranch! 

2:00 Peace out Pizza Ranch!

3:00 We usually have a strict "No Christmas Music Before Thanksgiving" rule, but when Mom needs to practice the choir's Christmas Cantata we break that rule a little bit

4:00 Two (plus!) hours in the car to and from Mitchell, paired with a handful of errands on the way back in to town, and the boys made a beeline for the TV as soon as we walked in the door. Because of course

5:00 Quick trip to the store to pick up some adult and kid beverages for dinner (and if you've never used a rear-facing car seat to travel beer home you're doing it wrong)

6:00 Dinner success. Thank goodness for crockpots and easy homecooked meals to help offset a Pizza Ranch lunch (nothing major against the Ranch, but carbs and grease does not a healthy lunch make)

7:00 Snack time! (And a ridiculous amount of dirty dishes because that's what happens when I use my personal containers to store and serve the 12 dozen goodies my baking group made for church.)

8:00 When you leave on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving for a week-long trip with four boys, you start packing multiple days ahead of time. Trust me on this one. And the beer is optional but strongly encouraged

9:00 It only seems appropriate that I would be getting our Thanksgiving library books ready to return while sitting under the lights of our Christmas tree (which--usually--also has a strict "Not Before Thanksgiving" rule, but due to inventory shortages at the tree farm we go to, we opted to go before our trip this year, and the boys insisted that we decorate it right away. And who can say no to that?)

10:00 Let's not talk about the amount of luggage my family needs for a week-long trip, mmkay?

I should just accept that this is my "normal" bedtime going forward. I'd love to get to bed closer to ten, but with the holidays coming up--and then three birthdays in the first four months of the new year--that probably isn't a realistic bedtime. Seven hours of sleep is still good, right?