Happy 5-month birthday, Ryan Josiah!

Isn't Ryan's smile just delightful? When we look at him, he grins. While he can get fussy at times (not unlike any other baby), he loves one-on-one interaction and will cheese it up when we simply talk to him. When he gets unhappy, he doesn't like to cuddle but would rather be left to himself to suck his thumb. He loves his thumbs! Either one brings him joy. It's been fantastic for his self-soothing.

Ryan is now working on his second bottom tooth, and I feel so bad for him and the pain he's in. :( Poor guy!

Besides his thumbs, he loves his feet. He will pull off his socks within seconds and most days I'm putting them on multiple times an hour. He grabs his feet and will roll all over. There are times, though, that an arm will get stuck underneath him and he can't continue to roll. Then he will cry and fuss! This is happening more and more at night. He'll get a leg or an arm stuck out the side of his crib or he'll roll in such a way that he gets his arm pinned. So, my once sleeping-through-the-night Schnookalou has waking me up a couple times a night again these past couple weeks.

Ryan LOVES to play in exersaucers and be up and part of the happenings in the room. He enjoys when his big brothers play with him and interacts with them by cooing and smiling and trying to grab their faces, fingers or the toys they're giving him. The boys' interaction is so dear! Ryan also loves to watch his froggie mobile above his bed. Neither of the other boys had quite the interest that he has in it. He loves to listen to the music and watch it spin. It helps soothe him immediately when we put him in his crib. :)

My little Ry-guy has outgrown the 3-6 month clothing and is comfortably in 6-9 months now. He's getting to be so big! I love that he's growing and has an amazing personality (he gabs away all the time!), and I try to stay focused on that rather than thinking that this is the last time I'll ever see my own little newborn. The kids' looks change by the month! (That's why I try to stay diligent with this blog and the printing of it so we have all these memories to look back at and smile about.) I am so thankful that Ryan is part of our family! What a gift from heaven he is!

At the last feeding that we had, I would guess that Ryan did eat some of the rice cereal. Much of it came right back out with his tongue pushing on it, but every once in awhile an entire bite was swallowed. He is so interested in the food we're eating, and he opens his mouth when the spoon comes up to his face, so I think he's ready for food. It will just take some getting used to for him on how to eat solid food. I'm in no rush! I want him to take his time being little and enjoy each stage thoroughly. He's obviously a big guy already, so I don't think he's lacking for calories!

There are days that Ryan nurses well and other days that I'm wondering if he can survive on how little he has eaten. But, he is surviving, so I'm trying not to worry. Yesterday he only ate four times, but he ate relatively well (at least 10 minutes) at all four feedings. The other day he ate five or six times but went back to this four-minute business. I can't figure him out, and while I had done really well with getting Caleb on a routine schedule, I haven't done quite as good with Ryan due to our schedule changing daily between preschool and my working, etc.

The pediatrician told me that I could try to wean him off the Zantac, but to keep with it if I feel that he's in pain or not eating well. How can you tell with a baby? Between teeth and trying to eat solid food on occasion, I'm not sure what's the cause of his not eating on some days. I asked Shawn what his thoughts were, and we both agreed that rather than chance it and him be in severe pain, is there harm with keeping the Zantac going? We did the opposite with Joshua and later regretted it, seeing via surgery that he had severe burns to his esophagus. It was crushing to our spirits to know that our precious baby had been in pain for so long! Why risk that again if we don't need to? I ordered more Zantac and will discuss it again with the pediatrician next month.

Ryan is cooing and "talking" with his gabbing ways and reminds me of the Bean when he was his age in so many ways! I love to rock him when he's sleeping (otherwise, he's not much of a cuddle bug) and play and interact with him. Whenever I even catch his eyes, he smiles wide. It is so sweet to my soul to have such an amazing baby! He is so good when we go out and about, and he self-soothes so well that even at home he's genuinely amazing. All babies take a lot of work, but I have been so blessed with each one of my boys for their different characteristics.

Happy 5-month birthday, Ryan Josiah!

The Wonderful Thing About Tigger is that Tigger is a Wonderful Thing!

These days, I tend to think that Ryan looks more like Joshua than Caleb. But, when I saw my little Schnook in this Tigger outfit, it reminded me of my baby 'Bluke. Oh, how precious these memories are to me! I love my little baby boys!

Happy Halloween!

A Toy Story...

My older boys decided that they wanted to be Buzz & Woody again for Halloween. I told them they could be a chicken and a farmer, but they said that they wanted to be the same thing as last year. Since their costumes were a bit big last year, I thought "why not?" I was expecting them to be big again this year, but there was no need to fold up the sleeves or pants for Caleb this year! Both costumes fit well (now, admittedly, I had several layers on underneath to keep them warm).

When I was thinking a "farm" Halloween, I thought maybe Ryan could go as a pumpkin. Aunt Jen said she had a pumpkin costume that might be too big for Ry-guy, but we could try it on him. I put it on, and she was right. My little Schnook looked so cute, but the costume was far too big!

 

Since Caleb was born in July and Ryan in June, most of their clothing has been somewhat close, so I got out the Tigger costume we had worn on Caleb. It fit perfectly! And he looked so cute! But, I felt bad that Caleb had already worn it and that I had worn it on him when Joshua was Eeyore. Tigger was not part of Toy Story. I realized it didn't matter, but I thought I might keep checking our stash to see what else would be possible.

Ryan looked so cute as the Giraffe, but as a 12-month costume, it was a little too big for him at four months!

We didn't have any Rex (dinosaur), Ham (pig), or Mr. Potato Head costumes. And I wasn't really planning on spending extra money on a costume since we had some options. Then I remembered this 6-9 month bunting that our friends the Buckwalter's had given us. It was a teddy bear look, and I thought "Maybe he could go as a brown Lotso Huggins." Eventually, I realized he could simply be "BIG BABY!" Get it?

I think Ryan was tired of being a baby model until I finally decided just to go for warmth. No one was going to see him, after all. He would be bundled up in the stroller as the kids went trick-or-treating.

I snapped a few pictures of the kiddos, and then we put some candy in a bowl out front with our lights on and headed out into the neighborhood. Both Karen & Cathy said that they wish they could go back to this stage and have little guys trick-or-treating. It made me realize how fast it goes!

Another neighbor had a scary mummy next to her (I'm guessing her husband or son) and warned us and then told him not to scare our little guys. :) :) :)

We saw a neighbor who went to high school with Shawn, and he asked if these were our "Good" boys. Yes, indeed! Most people said how cute the older two looked in their costumes. I'm getting to know some of the neighbors, and I realized that many of them had grandparents there to hand out candy while they were around with their kiddos. The boys had fun!

Who would have ever thought that there would be snow on the ground as the kids were going door-to-door for treats? CRAZY!

This was our best Halloween yet. Joshua was SO excited to get dressed up and go door-to-door. Both boys did well saying "Trick or Treat" when they got to the door, and they both politely said "thank you." I watched in horror as other children would say "I don't like that candy" or "What else?" etc. I realized that the parents weren't listening or guiding their kiddos. I was thankful that my little guys were doing well. Joshua would say "Have a good night" and "Happy Halloween" as he walked away. There were a lot of kids out! We waited our turn at many houses. :)

Daddy insisted on coming along even though I didn't think he would. We weren't out long, and he wanted to see the boys. Since he's old enough to make his own decisions, I said sure to him coming. He pushed Ryan in the stroller and stayed on the straight sidewalks. I would take the boys up the driveway and stay near them as they rang the doorbells (some of which are so high they couldn't reach), etc. We were only gone about an hour and the kids' pumpkins were full of candy, chips and pretzels, and other treats.

We came home and "inspected" the candy (stealing a piece or two for ourselves) and putting into our bucket some of the "older" kid things that our boys can't have. Joshua then would help answer the door for trick-or-treaters who were still out and about, and he would fill buckets with candy. It was a fun night!

Caleb LOVES candy! Joshua could take it or leave it, but my middle son wants it morning, noon and night. In fact, over a week later, Caleb came into our room EARLY and said "You know what I'm hungry for, for breakfast?" What, I asked, thinking it would be waffles or cereal. "CANDY!!!" He smiled and took off running. So did I! No thanks! Not first thing in the morning, my dear boy. :)

Family Date Nights!

 

Shawn suggested one evening  in mid-October that we take the kids to McDonald's for family date night. I LOVE when he comes up with an idea for dinner and fun! We had a game piece to use for a free sandwich, and one of his credit cards was offering 40% cash back on purchases to McDonald's that week. So, it was a relatively inexpensive meal, and the boys enjoy the indoor playground. They had a blast! There were two other little boys their ages there, and they all played and played. Shawn even went to the basketball net with our two guys while I stayed with our little Ryan. It was a fun family night! 

I've been trying to plan our meals in advance so we don't come to dinner time and say "what's for dinner?" and everything still needs defrosted so we eat yet another sandwich. It's been going well for the most part, and the boys are trying more and more of my cooking, especially Joshua. I can tell he's at an age where he understands that we don't expect him to clear his plate, but we do want him to try new things to see if he likes them. He has found a new love for pork! He asks for it often, and he typically loves the veggies we put on his plate. Both he & Caleb could eat a loaf of bread and butter in one sitting if we'd allow it!

Last Friday (10/28), we hired our babysitter to watch the older two boys while we used our gift card to Ruby Tuesday's from Shawn's parents (thank you!). Ryan slept in his car seat our entire meal, and it felt almost as if we were out by ourselves. We love the salad bar there! We swung by Marshall's and bought a cheap quilt for our king size bed as well. It was a nice evening to be together, and the kiddos also had fun. We saw Miranda's parents as we were trick-or-treating (with her little sister) and told her how much we appreciate their daughter. :) :) :)

This past Friday night, I had dinner all planned out. But, Shawn said "save it for tomorrow night, I'm taking you out!" I love surprises! He had a coupon for a free meal at Red Robin, and that same credit card was offering the same 40% off the entire final bill. So, once again to feed a family of five, it wasn't as expensive as it normally would have been. We had a great time! The boys ate their meals nicely, behaved well, and we got to enjoy our dinner. The service was fast and the food was great. Our server even invited his other server friends to sing "happy birthday" to Shawn (making a mistake about it being his birthday, which we quickly corrected). We laughed and laughed! I love any time I don't have to cook, but I especially love when Shawn makes plans and tells me "get in the car." So fun! It had been a long week, teaching two of the nights and preparing for each, etc. So, this relaxing evening was just what I needed. I love my family - the boys are great, and their Daddy is top-notch!

Peter Peter?

A majority of our pumpkins did NOT make it until Halloween. Each morning we would go out and discover that something was EATING them!?!?! This is the first year that we've seen teeth marks and big chunks of pumpkin missing.

Whatever it was, it even took the top off our Jack-o-lantern, which we found laying next to it.

So, we decided to throw them all away the Sunday before Halloween. It was still fun to create them! Any ideas for who or what was our "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater?"

OctSNOWbrr 29, 2011

I had been watching the weather forecast for Saturday, October 29, for awhile since it was originally the date of the Calvary Harvest Fair. I couldn't believe it when the Wednesday before, I saw "SNOW" as the prediction?!?! Certainly, that must be a mistake, I thought. We hadn't even seen all the leaves turn colors. It had been in the 60s or warmer that week. We were still enjoying days of soccer and hadn't even enjoyed trick-or-treating yet. SNOW?!?! This early? NEVER! It was just a ploy to get people to buy their milk, eggs and bread, I assumed. Well, the weather man was right, and I was wrong.

The day before, I had gone hat and boot shopping with Mamaw for the boys. Since Caleb & Joshua are both wearing the same size, neither one had snow boots that fit them. And the hats were for fun since they are SO cute! And I bought milk and bread - we were honestly out of both (but we had our eggs already!). That morning we went for a drive as the rain turned to an icy slush and eventually into snow. I needed to know where I was going at the F&M campus that following Tuesday, so we went to check out the parking situation before the roads got too bad. Then, we let a little more snow fall as the boys took an early nap before I started getting them bundled up.

It is a lot of work to get ready to play in the snow! But, Joshua was SO excited! Caleb was, too, I'm sure. They worked with us as I put multiple layers on underneath snowpants, then thick socks, boots, warm coats, hats, and mittens. Then I found my snowsuit. They laughed at me being "all red" but it kept me warm!

Shawn stayed inside with the Schnook-a-lou (or my baby Ryan Josiah). No need for either one of them to walk on wet, icy surfaces or get cold! The boys and I had a blast, though. There is something magical about the first snow of the year. While I'm not a huge fan of cold winters or bad weather, I agree with "Frosty the Snowman" that the first snow of the season is simply special. I read on someone's facebook post that we can tell God is in control and making a statement. From earthquakes to hurricanes to snow in October, this has been quite the year so far!

Normally this time of year would call for a scarecrow rather than a snowman. So, we made a pumpkin snowman. The snow was heavy and wet. So heavy that it destroyed many trees in our development and all our flowers, etc. But, it was great packing snow!

The weather also makes me think of Christmas and want to stay inside and snuggle. Daddy asked me to bake him some chocolate chip cookies, and I agreed, of course! I also baked some of Mamaw's pretzels. While I did, I made a playlist of Christmas music. I haven't listened to it since that day, though. My rule is typically to wait until after Thanksgiving! The reason Christmas music is special is because we only listen to it one month out of the year (that, and we listen to the same songs 1/12 of EVERY year of our lives).

Daddy found us this "snow brick" to make a fort. We tried to make one, but it's way more fun to kick them down then build them up! They also liked making the patterns in the snow!

This day gave a whole new meaning to snowFALL! I said Caleb was walking in an autumn wonderland! He loves to see his footprints in the snow!

I was a little discouraged to see our neighbor's tree had fallen in our backyard - and not the sweet neighbors but the other set. Shawn said it's our problem - and like we need more yard work when he's down & out! He's been steadily trying to saw it apart and broken three blades so far. But, we have no where to go with it. To break it up small enough to put into containers for the dump is going to take hours if not days, and there's only so long he can stand to be up on his leg. Sigh! But, one of my students told me that their tree smashed through their house. I think we're lucky. The debris can stay if necessary until the spring when Shawn is feeling better if it has to. And he's cleared out and chopped up way more than I thought he would be able to at this point. We'll see what the surgeon says about his ankle this week, though!

I told the boys that they could slide down the slide. That's when Joshua realized "HEY! We normally slide down into a leaf pile! We haven't done that yet this year!" Sorry, kiddo! Many of the leaves hadn't fallen yet - it was just starting to be extremely beautiful outside.

They were having a blast in this weather! And praise God, our electricity blinked off several times but always came back on! We heard a crazy amount of noise the following night from across the street. What was it, I wondered? It sounded almost like a generator. We thought it strange until we talked to our neighbors on Halloween and realized that most of the neighborhood had been without electricity for over a day! Our side of the street had been saved, but across the street down through the end had been without power that entire time! I then felt extremely blessed!!! We didn't have to worry about anything, truly! Thank you, God, for protecting us!

Here's our "snow bird" himself. He kept acting like a chicken with his hat on. He loves it (thanks, Mamaw!). We said that he would take his Southwest plane to Florida in this type of weather and become a real snow bird. Then Mamaw & Papaw posted pictures of themselves in these types of hats on facebook. The kids got a real chuckle out of that as well.

We ended our outdoor adventure with a snowball battle. The kids LOVE to throw snowballs!

We tell them not to hit each other but rather throw them at the house. They were happy to oblige!

At first Caleb would ask me to make his snowballs for him while Joshua got the idea right away. Eventually, Caleb made a few of his own as well.

After awhile it was time to come inside and warm up. The next few days it was in the 50s and the snow melted completely off the grass by the following Tuesday. We didn't shovel our driveway or sidewalks, even though I asked Shawn if I should, because he said it would melt before any kids needed to walk on them. He was absolutely right. It was gone by the following afternoon on important places like these.

Sorry, kiddos, you'll have to wait for more snow to play in!

Joshua, Our Community Helper

The last Thursday of October was "Community Helpers" day at preschool. Throughout October, one of the themes for this unit was fire safety. Along with that, the class discussed jobs and items related to helping people. Since the preschool doesn't celebrate Halloween, they do activities throughout the year (I'm guessing) where the kids get to dress up. At this particular party, kids were asked to wear something related to being a community helper, which could have included "super heroes" or "princesses."

Joshua told us a long time ago that he wanted to be a police officer. But, recently he's said that he wants to be a fireman. I remembered my friend Julie's son Jude had a cool fire costume. Since I didn't want to have to buy yet another costume, I asked her if she thought it would be big enough for Joshua and if she would mind if we would borrow it. She said yes to both (thank you, friends!) and brought it along to That Bounce Place when we met there. Since she lives near Millersville, I returned it that following Thursday before class. It worked perfectly! He was SO happy to be a fireman!

Earlier that week, they made "medical kits." It was a construction paper suitcase, and they pasted "first aid" and the symbols associated with it. Then they taped a q-tip to the inside, along with construction paper pills, and other similar items. He was so excited to bring it home! The boys & daddy played "I'm sick, help me!" while one of them would get their first aid kit and come to the rescue. Then Joshua offered to help Aunt Erica, who was recently in a car accident. SO sweet! He's been concerned.

I can't remember if it was that night or the week before that was the parade at the elementary school near our house. Either way, it was on a Thursday when I had class. The kids went outside with Daddy to watch the real fire trucks and all the kids in costume parade through our development. Shawn ran into old friends from high school that have a kiddo at our school, as well as our neighbors from across the street. Now that I'm writing this, I think that this activity was a few weeks ago because the neighbor was asking about Shawn's crutches, and he hasn't used them in a little bit (please continue to pray for his ankle, though, as he's still in excruciating pain!).

Yesterday we almost needed a fire fighter. I made Mamaw from Florida's chili mac recipe. We had bought burger from Weis at a super price, and I've been thinking of recipes to use it in. Since we had some left over that I had browned to make cheeseburger roll-ups the night before, I thought chili mac sounded good. I baked the corn bread muffins and they came out perfectly! I cooked the chili and the noodles on the stove, and both seemed perfectly done. It smelled delicious and tasted perfect - I just needed to let the macaroni soak up the chili taste. I walked away for a few minutes - can't remember now what I was doing, but chances are it was either helping the kids or reading something that I thought would be quick.

Then I started smelling something burning. Badly. I remembered my chili mac still sitting on the stove!!! I forgot to stir it in the meantime, and I forgot to take it off the hot burner. It was BLACK on the bottom of my pan. We tried eating the top of it, but the entire thing tasted like charcoal. Daddy helped me dispose of it, but we needed to air out the house and put on some candles. I'm seriously glad I didn't burn down the house. We enjoyed our corn bread muffins, but I was SO disappointed I ruined an entire meal. I haven't done that in ages! Shawn told me that with cooking, you win some and you lose some. He wasn't terribly upset, but I was. Such is life, I guess! I've been cooking a ton lately, and most days it turns out well, so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. And, praise God, the house is still in tact and no longer smells like an incinerator. I'm glad we have our little "community helper" just in case!

Take a Picture, It Would Last Longer

Picture days at preschool were the last week in October. I thought all the boys looked handsome on both days (Joshua's were Tuesday and Caleb's were Wednesday), so I snapped a picture on Tuesday of them. Do you think I remembered on Wednesday to take another? The answer is no, unfortunately. But, I love my little guys! My job is to raise them up to be men of God - what an awesome responsibility! It scares me at times. In being completely honest, I feel like I fail every day. For example, the one day I did nothing but play with them. Then I felt guilty that my house needed cleaned. The next day, I worked hard at finishing all the laundry, scrubbing the bathrooms, and generally cleaning the house... but I felt guilty that I missed quality time with my boys. Many days they don't watch any TV, and I wonder if I'm robbing them of knowing characters and things that other kids are learning through the "good" programs. Then if there's a day that I let them watch an hour or so of it, I wonder if I'm turning them into couch potatoes or not being interactive enough. Is the guilt of a mom ever over? As much as I feel like I'll never be good enough or the perfect parent, I wake up and try again. It's not "three strikes and you're out!" You keep going and going, doing your best and letting God do the rest.

One of my (annoying) students came up to me the other night - as he does after class each and every week to talk to me - and said: "You know, I hate to be told 'no.' I never wanted my parents to say no to me, and I'm still like that today. So, I also don't want to say no to other people." In thinking of my students, I would say a majority of them have never been told no before, and they don't know how to handle it. For example, I was asked 'If I get an A on this test, can I skip the final?' No. What do you mean, no? And as the old saying goes "No means no." I had one student who didn't read her assignments, didn't hand in quality papers, didn't have anything relevant to say during class discussions and failed ever single quiz. She was upset that she failed the course and asked to write a short essay to change her grade to a C or better. I said no. I offered to let her re-do one of her original papers, and she refused. She did give me a little section of it back, which was enough to boost her grade to a D-. She was irate and disputed her grade. I'm glad that the authorities above me also said no. But, as students do course evaluations of their instructors, she gave me low marks and said that my grading standards are unfair. And whether I like it or not, her evaluation is factored in with all the rest to give me the final total on my scores.

The problem is not that my grading standards are unfair, it's that they are TOO fair. I'm getting the general sense that most students are simply given grades or when they complain they receive an "easy" way to make a 'C' so that students will in turn give these instructors a good grade on their evaluations. Many of my students admit to not reading most books for most classes that they are in. I was once in their situation, so I can relate to them.

As I was thinking about this subject, I thought about the fact that when Joshua gets his homework back, he gets a sticker on it. Maybe that's what I should do. Rather than correcting them for grammar, spelling, content and formatting, maybe I should just put a nice, sweet sticker on.

But, what is fair? Is fair simply never saying no? As I'm looking at these three little faces, I realize that if I LOVE them, then I have to say no. And I have to say no quite often these days. Sometimes I feel downright awful, thinking that I've said no for the hundredth time. But, as the Bible says, God disciplines His sons who He loves. If we are to be growing in the image of Christ, then we also need to discipline our sons. A pertinent example from our house is that Shawn & I often cringe at dinner time. How do we not make it a fight to get the boys to eat healthy? Am I serving healthy options? Do the boys simply wait us out for snacks? We struggle saying no when we also struggle with healthy eating. How we pray for God's wisdom! 

My prayer for my boys is that they do not turn out to be extraordinarily selfish, self-centered and self-indulgent teens-20s and beyond! I hope they are not annoying their teachers, STARVING for attention, and admitting that they simply won't ever take no for an answer. Sometimes the "no" that we receive from God is simply because the "yes" is around the corner (and is WAY better for us!). And other times the "no" is simply what we need at the time to be a better person. I know I struggle with discipline myself. :( How I hope for better for my boys!

I sometimes feel like I am too hard on them. Do I yell instead of take the time to simply instruct? Some days (probably too many) I realize that this has been a major weakness. But, I'm trying, and I hope that they know that when they look back or read this. I hope they know that we love them and are doing our very best to raise them in a godly manner.

On a "lighter" note, Joshua asked me this morning as we were coloring together if Joseph got his colorful coat back that his dad had given him after he forgave his brothers in Egypt. What a great question! I can tell that Joshua treasures the gifts he receives. Hmmm... I told him the Bible doesn't say for sure, but I'm going to guess that he outgrew it since many years passed between those times (and I was not going into the fact that his other brothers probably also ruined it with the blood they put on it as part of their story!). :) :) :)