Big Five

It's party central around here. Here are a bunch of pics of Luke's 5th birthday bash. He had a party with 10 little boys over (crazy I know) and then grandmas, grandpas, and cousins for pizza and playing. It was a great day. I really can't believe Luke is five and starting kindergarten this fall. It really does not seem that long ago that he was the one I was snuggling and rocking in my green nursery chair. Crazy! He's a great kid and although he gives me a run for my money he is sweet, loving, and so fun.

Luke wanted a superhero party. I had no clue how to do that kind of a cake, but I managed some cupcakes. They were very basic but turned out cute.


The boys decorated their goodie bags and masks while everyone was rolling in. They all went heavy on the glitter glue.


Despite some moans and groans I got a few pics of the whole gang.


Jer's cousin Kelli came and helped out which was awesome. Between Jer, Kelli, my mom, and I we managed my kids plus the party. It took all of us! This was the web game.


Taking a drink break after the obstacle course. Luckily it was a beautiful, hot day!


Seth got in on the action...especially the treat action. These two were way messier than any of the other kids there.


This is a good action shot of Luke. Luke spends tons of time each day burning a path around, over, and down through these rocks a million miles an hour. It is a fun playland for him and his neighbor friends. It is going to be a sad day when we undertake the landscaping of this huge area and he can't "play in the dirt" as much.


Snowcones with Jace and Carter. Everyone seemed to have fun at the party and no one bled or got lost, so I call it success. Luke got some really fun presents including a kid's digital camera from my parents. He loves it and had over a hundred pictures taken in like 30 minutes. Today we went back through to delete some and according to him they were almost all keepers...even the ones of the clothes in his closet, his shoes, and every other object he saw. I actually love birthdays (other peoples). It's fun to make someone feel really special for a day.
Happy Birthday Luker!

Ramblings

Warning: Ridiculously long post--for my own therapeutic benefit.

This post is a mish mash of what has been on my mind lately. I feel like I only operated on about half a brain for most of last week. Ian had a cold and ran a little fever and slept horribly. No offense Seth, but I was having some bad flashbacks to your baby sleep habits. It seemed like the more tired I got, the more overwhelmed I felt with this job of mine...motherhood. I had some serious moments of self doubt where my kid's arguments and misbehavior seemed like a direct reflection on how bad a mom I am. I'm glad to say that with Ian returning to being a decent sleeper (for a baby) I am again gaining some perspective. Being a mom is hard. Anybody who says it's not either isn't really doing it or has some magic I don't know about. I think it's so hard because I truly want the best for these amazing little people I have been blessed with, and I don't want to mess this job up. I am realizing though that I make mistakes (all the time), but it really doesn't do any good to stew about it. I just have to move on and try to do better. Luckily while they can be incredibly frustrating at times, they are also the light of my life and a lot of what I did before they existed seems pretty unimportant by comparison. Phew...I'm getting deep here. Cid gave me a book for Mother's Day that I have read a minute here and a minute there and really liked.



I'll admit it...I skipped most of the poetry...but some of the essays really hit home with me. Some of the messages are serious tearjerkers, but most of them were pretty uplifting, and I could relate. Being a mom is the most amazing, challenging, frustrating, fun...the list could go on...thing I've ever done. So are my kids now behaving perfectly and my house running like clockwork...of course not...but they are mine and the craziness seems doable again. I'm thankful for answers to prayers and inspiration found in all kinds of places these last few days to give me a new take on being a mom. With that said, Luke is having a birthday party tomorrow with a bazillion boys and Sunday is Ian's blessing, so my return to craziness may not take too long.

Here are some guys I love. (Luke is not featured here, but he'll have his own birthday post soon.)

Yesterday, I left the boys at my mom's house to escape with Ian and do something I do not love...shopping! I had a bunch of errands to do for the party, and I was attempting to find something new to wear on Sunday. The party stuff was easy, the skirt not so much. While I was nursing Ian in the dressing room at Kohl's I had some time to reflect on the changes in my life over the past five years. Before Luke the thought of taking an infant shopping would have seemed like a monumental task..now it is second nature even considering the fact that Ian had a massive blowout and I had to do a full diaper and clothes change plus wipey bath. Shopping was another story. I could not find anything that was cute or fit and definitely not both. I seriously considered the rack of old lady shorts and skirts with elastic waistbands but left the store with just a t-shirt. I did later after looking harder than I ever have and going to yet another store find a skirt...hallelujah. I left the store having crashed Ian (in the double stroller) into pretty much every clothes rack I encountered. I then got a chuckle out of the bumper sticker next to me that said, "You should see me topless." (I had to laugh because I did see the owner of that car and the mental image was humorous at best.) I said this post was rambly, right?

Mr. Ian. He smiles a lot, but I do not take as many pictures as I should. I guess that's third child syndrome. Some smiley pics to come.

My hubby Jer. We are busier than ever but working together better than ever as well. He is such a good dad and I could not manage without him! We took the kids up the canyon the other day and as he and the "big boys" laughed and threw rocks in the river I felt so lucky to have them in my life. (There has to be something genetic about males and throwing rocks in water.)

So I'm glad to have this crazy life, and I'll remind myself of that next time I'm frazzled!

FYI: In the above pic Jer is tilling our muddy garden. Among other things, we have massive landscaping projects going on this summer. There's always something major that needs done! Good thing I have such a talented, hard working hubby.

Big Baby No Longer

As crazy as it seems, two years has gone by and Seth had his birthday last Thursday! He has officially entered the terrible two's. He is still such a sweet, cuddly boy, and it was so fun to celebrate his birthday with family. It's crazy how much happens in two short years.


This is Seth the day we brought him home. He was such a cute, fuzzy little baby. He had tons of hair...even on his face and back. (I'm sure he'll appreciate me talking about that when he gets older.)


This was last year on Seth's first birthday. He was just learning to walk and his hair was quite reddish then...check out that sweet mullet.

Here is my big boy at age two. He is such a handsome little guy and so fun. He has lots of energy, is into everything, and makes everyone around him happy. He runs, jumps, climbs, and loves to give bear hugs with those chubbly little arms. He has us all wrapped around his little finger. (Even though I said "little" three times above, Seth is actually growing like a weed and in the 90th percentile for both height and weight!)

Here are some more party pics:

Seth had a construction themed party complete with a "dirt" cake served in a dump truck. He thought it was pretty tasty.

We needed the hose by the time he was done.

Baby Ian chilling with Grandma Cid.

Presents! He was spoiled with summer play stuff, dump trucks, dinosaurs...you name it. Fun!

We got him this "Daygo" bike. He likes it but hasn't quite learned how to pedal it yet.

Happy Birthday Seth!

Sundays Fun Days

Well, yesterday was Sunday and it was quite a workout. I'm sure most of you can relate. I hope I'm not the only one that doesn't find church very relaxing! Actually yesterday the kids were great at church, so I can write about this with humor instead of tears. A lot of Sundays the value of going to church with young kids seems to be just making the effort. After Luke took the sacrament yesterday he dumped his leftover water into about 6 full cups as he put it back in the tray. I dumped out the cup that seemed to get the worst of his backwash and figured whoever got the others would have to tough it out. About 2 minutes later he announced in quite a loud voice that he "needed to go poop." That got a chuckle out of about three rows worth of people around us. When the speakers started I left to feed Ian. I have to say that was actually quite relaxing to sit in the mother's room. It was quiet, and I could hear the speakers over the intercom. I've realized that I need to invest in some nursing friendly church clothes. I don't think it's kosher to lift your dress all the way up to nurse--even if you're in the mother's room! (I did not do that by the way. Our nursing room is usually a full house, so I wore the one and only skirt/shirt combo I could find!) Anyway, Jer supplied snacks and maintained the peace until he got the kids off to Primary, Ian slept while I taught Sunday school, and we managed to get everyone rounded up and in the car at the end, so all in all I call it a success. Until next week!

Here are a few random pics of the kids:

This picture cracked me up. In Luke's defense, despite the evil smile on his face, he was not the source of Seth's bawling. Seth has been treated with three different antibiotics the past month for strep, double ear infections, and walking pneumonia. He seems to finally be getting better but has a bad case of the hives, so I say bawl away Seth! You've had a rough month.


He loves me, right?




See...he does.

Goings On

I hope everyone is having a good Mother's Day. I guess I'll have to post about that next time. I uploaded some pics the other day but haven't had time to write anything until now. Life seemed quite crazy this week with lots going on. Jer and Luke went to the Father/Sons overnighter on Friday and had fun. Seth actually went along too for dinner and then came home because he's sick. I had the poor guy at the Instacare on Saturday again, and he has bad double ear infections. He is now on another antibiotic so hopefully that will do the trick. We also headed down to Lagoon Saturday to meet TJ and his family. We missed K'Lee dancing because of the doctor, but the kids had a fun afternoon riding the kiddie rides. I haven't been there since I was a teenager, so I guess I can check that off my to-do list of summer activities.

Now on to my pics:

Seth likes to do everything his big brother does, so when Luke headed outside with his "hunting" backpack on the other day Seth had to have on too. When Luke kind of ditched him to play with the neighbor kids Seth tried to tag a long for a few minutes and then gave up. I felt a little bad for him, but it didn't take him long to make his own fun. Pretty soon he was geared up and headed out on his own little adventure.

Since the baby has been born there has been kind of a subtle shift in how Luke and Seth interact. Sure they are brothers and Luke still does his share of tormenting, but he has also taken a lot more responsibility to help Seth. One of his new things is "reading" him books. Luke can actually read quite a few words plus he has lots of books memorized, so it is pretty entertaining for Seth. He also helps out with helping Seth get dressed, opening things for him, disciplining him (that's always interesting), you name it.

Ian is growing so fast already. He either really works out during tummy time or just turns his head to the side and relaxes.

Luke has played indoor soccer for the last month and loved it. He scored two goals and did a great job. He really has decent skills but could be a lot more aggressive. It has been fun to watch him trying so hard and enjoying it so much. He was sad to see it end, but he can play in a little outdoor program in the fall.

Neither Jer or I saw his first goal. It was only a few days after Ian was born and Jer had taken the boys to the game. Seth insisted on going potty and when Jer got back with him everyone told him Luke had scored. Luke didn't seem too fazed by it and was very excited when we all witnessed his other goal. He had lots of great assists too.

Mr. Ian will be doing full on smiles soon. He already locks eye contact with you and makes happy/part smiley faces. So cute! Seth now copies Luke and says, "hi cute" when he sees Ian. I also looked back as we were driving to Lagoon yesterday and Seth was holding Ian's hand while they rode in their carseats.

Luke and his neighbor buddy Max. The nice weather has been great. All of that dare I say "junk" in the basket and Luke's backpack is his "hunting" stuff which he hauls around a lot right now. It includes tools, markers, socks, a rope...anything you might need I guess. It did at one point include a gun until that was confiscated by me for improper use against Seth!

Baby Days

This is probably a boring post, but we haven't been too many places lately to write about. Most of our time has been spent hanging out around the house adjusting to our newest little family member. Of course there have been the trips to preschool, soccer games, etc. and lots of time spent playing outside. Jer has been such a huge help, and the boys love hanging out with him. He's been doing most of the errands including the late night runs to the store when we're out of everything. I do feel like we're settling into kind of a routine though, and I'm quite a bit more on top of things than I was a week ago. All in all I can't complain. We all love having a new baby around, I have an amazing little family, and I'm feeling good...so things are great.


Ian is awake a lot more now. He can focus on your face and makes little expressions with his face...it won't be long until he smiles for real.


Seth is keeping me hopping as usual. He is such a fun, affectionate little guy. He seems to be adjusting to Ian quite well. He can get into all sorts of trouble while I'm feeding Ian. I'm amazed at the things he comes up with. He got out the central vac hose and attachment (which is huge and awkward) and had it all plugged in to do some vacuuming when I got out of the shower the other day. When I turned my back at dinner for a second he dumped about a cup of lemon pepper on his bread with jelly..and then ate it with a fork. You get the idea...it's always exciting!


The first bath was not a big hit..at all, but now he likes it. There's nothing quite like a baby that's fresh out of the bath/lotion...so sweet.

Ian is still sleeping pretty well. He wakes up about every 3 hours to eat at night, but he is going back to bed easily most feedings. The verdict seems to be that he looks like Jer. I agree, but I'm not sure what it is about him. I can see Luke in him sometimes too. We sure like having him around.

Update

Here are a few more pics of the family. Jer and my mom have been such great help these last few weeks, and I've been home alone with all three boys several days now and survived! Ian has run errands and picked up carpool and doesn't even know it. For the most part my boys have been great. Seth has warmed up to Ian a lot. He doesn't want a ton to do with him, but he doesn't seem bothered either. Luke loves to hold him and check on him and has been a good little helper for me. Yesterday Jer made a trip to the Instacare with Luke and Seth, and they both have strep so I'm trying to keep them away from the baby as much as possible until tomorrow. We had a bit of a rough night last night. Apparently newborns aren't very susceptible to strep, so I'm really hopeful that Ian won't get sick. I can't believe that Ian will be two weeks old tomorrow. It really does go fast. So far he is eating great...no spitting up...yea!!! He is also going back to sleep pretty well after feedings, so I'm hoping he will stay that way. Breastfeeding has been the source of lots of questions and humor around here. The other day Luke pulled up his shirt and told Seth to get a drink of milk from him. Seth has also climbed up on my lap while I'm nursing and said "eat" while coming at me with an open mouth full of teeth! I'm hoping the novelty wears off soon!