Recovering

We are home today from our week of Christmas Crazy, trying to put our house back together and getting Jonas used to not being held 24/7.  #babyproblems

Daphne turned 6, we had many parties, we did our post-Christmas shopping (Hobby Lobby was the best), I made lunch today on my new skillet thing that covers two burners so I can cook lots of food quickly, and I found Christian being super cute, still in his jammies at noon:

Sums up what we'd all like to be doing, I think.

Happy Recovery to you all!

Jonas: 6 Months

Fun fact for the day: Jonas was born on Friday the 13th, the day of a full moon, and he turned 6 months on 12-13-14.  Such a cool life he's living, mathematically speaking. 

intro to cars by prof. big brother

The most exciting thing that happened this month was that two nights ago he slept for 9 hours straight!  This was a PR for him.  Lest I get too excited thinking this is a new thing, last night he slept for the opposite of 9 hours.  The opposite of sleeping for 9 hours is waking every 3.  Sadly for him, now I know he really doesn't need to eat so I don't have to feed him.  Ha!  I win.

He got to try some Big Boy food this month because when he sits on our laps while we're eating our meals, he likes to open his mouth really wide and face-plant his mouth on our faces in an effort to steal our food.  It's funny, slimy, and gross.  We really like following the baby-led weaning approach for introducing food, so we've been giving him some big pieces of meat, fruit, and vegetables to gnaw on.  He loves all of them, even dill pickles. 

happy feet waving while gnawing on ham

(I like that my floors look deceptively clean in that picture.)

Other points of interest:
*It's his favorite to stand up and jump.  If we had some sort of excersaucer or jumping contraption, he would probably adore it.
*He smiles at me with a huge, happy, open mouth.  Adorbs.
*He loves his older siblings.  They are hilarious people.
*No stranger danger yet!  But he still likes me best.
*I ask him every day if he wants to be my baby boy forever.  So far I think he's amenable to the plan. 

I tried to recreate some of his newborn photos for the 6 month marker.  It did not go well.  Maybe another day?  Or maybe it's fine to have these be our pictures, because rarely do things go perfectly.

And honestly, the mess makes me laugh.

i mean, how can you not laugh at this picture?

It's Christmas, Let's All Fight

Christmastime is sparking some fiery conversations at our house.  Maybe someone can come over here and try to rationalize with my children?  Because they don't seem to want to listen to my words. 

Daphne had flung her body across the stairs and was wailing, "No one understands me!  My birthday is the one-seven, but no one understands me!"

I told her I DO understand her: understand that she's wrong.  (OK, I didn't say that.)   She knows her birthday is Christmas Eve but apparently that's December 17?   I haven't been able to convince her otherwise. 

Arguing over Christmas song lyrics is another fun and popular game. 

There's the stanza from 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas:'

Ho ho the mistletoe, hung where you can see
Somebody waits for you, kiss her once for me

Do we say "blizzard once for me?"  Daph is convinced that we do.

Christian was listening to 'I'll be Home for Christmas.'  The song says,

Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams

and he thinks love light gleams is Lightening McQueen. 

Because if you happen to be away at war at Christmastime, I can see how thinking about Christmas Eve and Lightening McQueen would be VERY comforting.

at least they know what Christmas is all about

 

The Tree

It's our tradition to get our tree the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Not for any significant reason except that David works weekends and is home on Mondays, and we want to get the tree early enough to enjoy it for the whole month of December.  The tree farm we've been going to for years is now a mere 4-ish miles away.  How convenient is that?  If it was snowy here and we had a horse with a sleigh, we could ride to the tree farm.  Except no snow and no horse, so that 'perfect tree hunting' stereotype will probably never happen.  Even though it would be so nice if it did. 

I'm pretending this is us getting our tree

Sometimes I feel like tree-getting day is so chaotic.  Fall stuff is mostly put away while the Christmas boxes are an exploded mess around the living room.  We clear a path for the tree and ornament boxes and hope we remembered to have some sparkling cider or something on hand.

This year, though, thanks to a majorly chaotic weekend of getting ready for a Sunday event, the house was sparkling on Monday, and there was even time to bake cookies and make this homemade sparkling apple juice in time to bring the tree in!  Plus, this year I FINALLY got myself a Christmas apron.  I felt like Martha Stewart herself, except a nicer version with no felony record.  And with brunette hair. 

the perfect tree...tall and skinny, just like we needed.

look at that sweet little reindeer!  another little boy wore that outfit HERE

three kids and a train

This year I'm feeling like Norman Rockwell himself came in and painted me a life.  An awful good one, at that.

But for good measure, here's another fake picture of fake us:

we're really happy in our fake life

Who Doesn't Love a Gluten Free Thanksgiving?

Just a few things to say about Thanksgiving 2014:

1) We've discovered that this house goes with holidays like macaroni goes with cheese.  Peanut butter with jelly.  OSU football with sad fans.  (Ha.  Kidding.  You don't have to be a winner to be happy.) 

Holidays and this house are fantastic.

2) We got some good pictures of our first Thanksgiving hosted here, the first of what will hopefully be many Thanksgivings to come.  I love hosting Thanksgiving if for no other reason than I get to make turkey stock after the meal is over.  And because Daph loves donning an apron and getting messy in the kitchen with me. 

"Is this the turkey's buns?"

They set the table with no regard for proper place setting etiquette

well, hi there, handsome

at the last minute David miraculously got the day off!  yay!

post dinner football

We loved this house in the fall, but now that the pumpkins are put away and Christmas has taken over...well, I just want to hole up here for the month of December and never leave. 

Jonas: 5 Months

Jonas got his first cold this month.  His little runny nose and cough have been so sad.  It looks like he doesn't like to sleep when he has a cold, and that is also so sad. 

Tiredness won out the other day when I was driving home and pulled up to a stop sign.  It was confusing though, because there was no intersection or cross road or anything??  The need to stop didn't make sense. 

Until I realized I had stopped at this:

The only thing to do is to slowly keep on driving like you meant to stop in the middle of the road.  No harm, no foul. You're going to have to stop soon, anyway. 

I've been weighing Jonas constantly to make sure he's gaining enough weight.  We only have an adult scale, so I weigh myself, then weigh both of us and subtract the difference to get his weight.  But then the scale broke.  Having the scale break on you is way more depressing than discovering you stopped at a not stop sign. 

P.S. I wear as many clothes as possible when doing this weigh thing so that I don't have to know my real weight.  Scarves, a bathrobe, boots; lots of stuff.  I suppose it's no wonder the scale broke?

I dropped dairy and gluten this month, just to be on the safe side and hope that what happened with baby Christian (poor weight gain and bad eczema starting around 5-6 months) won't happen with baby Jonas.  Jonas has a little red on his cheeks that showed up last week when the temperatures dropped so low, but it's hard to know if it's cold weather related or something else?  I'm just a wee bit paranoid. 

Honestly, I can't remember much about this past month beyond hoping Jonas will stay healthy.  It can consume your mind if you let it.

So I'll just think about his darling feet instead.

And about that face. 

I just want to pinch those cheeks!!!

I love him.

Shoes, Storms and More

Apparently this is No-Blog November or something?  Last I noticed it was October and suddenly it's mid-November.  Weird how that happens. 

This morning was my first time taking all 3 kids to Shriners by myself for one of Daph's new shoe appointments.  It was such an accomplishment that it should probably be noted in someone's baby book.  Or at least here on this blog.  Usually we book these appointments for David's day off, but of course this was a random Monday that he had to work. 

Shriners is only 10 miles away and yet it takes about an hour to get there in morning traffic.  The kids were kept happy by listening to the Wicked soundtrack because they love listening to Broadway musicals on CD.  Isn't it nice that we're raising such cultured children?

Except that despite my weeks of encouragement on getting white shoes made this time, Daphne chose a horse pattern.  So...sad face.  And she loves wearing her Awana vest as a prized article of clothing.  We scream home school family, fashion wise. 

Our stairs and driveway are still covered in ice from the Arctic Storm last week.  I thought for sure we would have snow, but instead it iced all day long and now the ice won't go away.  We basically need harnesses to get safely from the house to the cars.

At this moment all the kids are napping (well, they're each in a bed at least) and I need to be working on my list for Thanksgiving.  And a list for something else that I can't remember right now...which is why lists are so necessary.

this boy is never far from my side

daph and her newest sewing hobby, awana vest and all

wonder woman, a ladybug, and a pirate, which sounds like the beginnings of a good joke

October Days

According to my calendar, October is almost over?  How exactly did that happen?

We celebrated David's birthday this month, got a couple of good pumpkin patch trips in, hosted many a play-dates and suppers, enjoyed the amazing weather by getting a lot of yard work done and taking long walks through our neighborhood, and David and I (and Jonas) even got a date day to go antiquing in Camas, WA.  Basically, we made the most of one of our favorite months.  

It's good to be putting memories into our new house, making it feel more like home.  

did you know Camas is so pretty?

poor David, carrying my antique store finds down the street

cafe lights on the front porch was a good addition

teaching baby J the art of cloud watching

pumpkin carving

nature walk treasures

Just a Few More Pumpkin Photos

I know; you've read one pumpkin patch post, you've read them all.  BUT these pictures make me laugh, and that means they must be recorded here. For posterity, of course. 

David always wants me to take pictures of him jumping off things to make it look like he's flying.

We do this every time we're at a pumpkin patch with a straw pyramid, or really, anywhere outdoors where there's something tall. It seems I've taken 100s of these pictures over the years.  It will be neat to see him still doing this when he's 90.

But check out Christian this year!  How nice to see a time honored tradition carry on to the next generation.

little cutie pie

This particular visit was at the beginning of the month when the weather was still summer-like.  I wore a scarf because it was October and that's what you're supposed to wear in October, but in reality we were all SO hot.  Bathing suits would have been more weather-appropriate.  (But super weird.)

presh

gramma came, too!

Aaannnndd...that's a wrap on pumpkin patch season 2014.  We'll see you in a year. 

When the Children Don't Sleep, Nobody Sleeps

Posting is long over-due here, but I have to pop in and say I wish you could hear the squeals that go along with these gigantic smiles.

Sleep has been rough over here lately, but at least one of us can maintain joy about the whole situation.  Of course, the joyful one is the one who is given ample opportunities for slumber.  He just doesn't always take them. 

Between night terrors (Daphne), midnight bathroom issues (Daphne and Christian) and wanting to eat every three hours (Jonas), nighttime has been a wild ride. 

It's like Disneyland, only free.

shaking off the cobwebs with a walk

fall collections

Jonas: 4 Months

A few of Jonas's current favorites:
-laughing at Daphne
-chewing on his hands
-staring at his feet
-looking at Mom with sad eyes so she will hold him
-eating in the nighttime
-yelling at people
-drooling
-spitting up
-wearing bibs/changing clothes a lot because of drooling/spitting
-letting his hair turn blonde
-grabbing stuff

Today he filled his diaper and spit up at the exact same time, while sitting on my lap so that I got the leakage of everything on my pants.  That is raw, 4 month-old talent right there.