The most fantastical weekend ever!

Yeah, I said there'd be outings and pictures, but I didn't count on Samantha, Conor, and I getting sick.  So instead of Easter Egg hunts and a trip to the zoo, there were snot bubbles, and more snot bubbles.  And while there was an outing, I don't have any documentation of our fun fun trip to Costco and Giant.
Now I'm sitting at work, half drunk and all groggy from the cold medicine I took last night.  But at least this is making me laugh this morning:  Zachary shows his dexterity.

Have a good week!

Catching up

Growing up in Iowa, I've had more than my fair share of ugly winter weather.  In fact, I've always said that Iowa winters are the worst nine months of the year.  But still, I haven't gotten used to it.  I hate the cold.  It saps my energy, my motivation wanes, and I just want to sleep and eat.

So right now, I'm going to blame the winter for my failure to properly blog for the last two weeks, and my failure to even pick up my camera during almost that entire period.  The pictures that you'll see below are the last ones I took before I started hibernating.

Earlier this week, I taught Zachary the meaning of the word, "dormant."  On the way to daycare, he's been pointing out all of the dormant trees.  This morning, however, we noticed that more and more are waking up ("Oh!  Look mommy!  That tree isn't dormant!!").  It's time for me to do the same.

I've had enough of feeling blah.  It's time to wake up. 

This weekend, we're going to go out and do something.  I'll have my camera to document it.  And then I'll come back on Monday, refreshed, with a to-do list in hand.

For now, here's your catch-up post:

• Samantha crawls.  When we last spoke, I was certain that all she would do was army crawl, but the day after I made that prediction, she proved me wrong.  My girl's doing it right.
• Samantha walked, sorta.  Over the weekend, we put Conor in a walker, and Samantha stood up behind it and started walking while pushing him.  
• Samantha has another tooth!  And she's drooling like crazy.  
• Conor, on the other hand...well, remember when I told you he was working on his first tooth?  Well, he's still working on it.  For the last month or so, we could see crooked little teeth right below the surface of his gums, but they still haven't popped out.  So officially, his tooth count is zero.
• Conor said his first word.  It was "Dada."  Being the sweet, sensitive little guy that he is, this was no doubt because Samantha's first word was "Mama" and he didn't want his dad to feel bad.
• The babies turned nine months on the 18th!  I neglected to document the occasion. 
• When we finally had a good snow (yes, I know it was just over 2 weeks ago), Zachary was able to build his first proper snowman.  And then another.

• When the weather turned nice for a moment just three days later, we got the entire family outside.  Zachary was able to get out his t-ball set, and has gotten really good! 

After hitting the ball, he'd run over to the babies and say, "Did you see that, Samantha?  Pop fly!!"  (I don't know why he thought only Samantha would be interested...)



•  I handed Zachary my camera phone, and he had the best time with it.  When looking through the resulting photos, it was interesting to see things from his perspective.

• Roar is still having challenges learning to drive.  But there is good news.  During the last trip, a curb check was the worst that happened, and that time, he appeared to notice all stop signs.  More good news?  Getting in the car next to him is more exhilarating than a roller coaster.  And it might even be good for weight loss - my heart races, and one of these times, I might actually throw up. 

Okay, I'm sure I'm missing things, but that's it for now.  Have a fantastic weekend!  And Spring, get here quickly!!

I swear I didn't set this up

The other day, I set Conor down on the rug, and took Samantha to the kitchen with me to get her a bottle.  When I looked over at Conor, this is what I saw.

I'm not kidding, those two light sabers had been on opposite sides of the room.

Samantha came over to see what all the hubbub was about, and then decided she needed to show off her mad Jedi skills as well.



Then an epic battle ensued...between me and the babies when I tried to take the light sabers away. They're always gagging themselves with those things.

(Just needed to post something while I finish up something at work.  Coming soon:  The Catch-up Post.  Okay, Tanika?  Happy now?)

I haven't given up!

I've got much catching up to do, but between work, taking care of kiddies, and indulging my new ebay obsession, there are simply not enough hours in the day. 

But there will be a new post tomorrow - I promise you this.

Crawling and standing and cruising and talking and stuttering and falling

In the last week or two that I've been lax about documenting our lives, stuff has been happening.  Let's catch up:

• Conor is crawling like a boss!  After a month where I thought he was wistfully watching his sister army crawl around him, apparently he was just taking notes.  He started properly crawling tentatively at his 8 month birthday (no army crawl for him!), but now he's confidently exploring everywhere.
• Samantha is still army crawling, and I'm fairly certain that's all she's going to do, because she's fast!  Faster than her brother even.  Time for the gates to go back up.
• In the last two weeks, both Conor and Samantha have been taking every opportunity to stand, so it was time to lower their cribs. 

For some reason, Zachary had started "helping" the babies sit down, even when they didn't want to.  I told him that we want them to practice standing because after they get good at standing, they'll start walking, and then they'll start running and be able to play soccer with him.  "Oooh!" Zachary exclaimed.  Seemed like an innocent enough conversation at the time, but when Cindy helped Conor down when he appeared stuck standing up last week at daycare, Zachary started crying, telling her that he needs to stand.  Oops.

• I've seen Samantha and Conor take a small step to the side, but the Husband claims he witnessed Conor cruising around his crib when he was particularly upset about his imposed nap.
• Samantha said her first word yesterday!  She grabbed hold of my pant leg, and said, "Mama."  Brilliant girl.  She's been saying it often ever since.  This morning, the Husband tried to have a conversation with her:
• Husband: Who do you like best?  Say, "Dada."
• Samantha: Mama.
• Husband: No!  Say, "I love Dada."
• Samantha: I love Mama. 

Clear. As. Day.

True story.

And now the not-so-pleasant stuff:

•  Zachary started stuttering.  Sometimes a lot.  Everyone, including the internets, says that this is fairly common, so I'm trying not to worry.  But guess what?  I worry anyway.
• Last thing for now - let me preface this story with a note for my mother:  No one got hurt.  I repeat, everyone is perfectly fine.  Okay, here goes:  Roar fell down the stairs while holding Samantha. That is some scary shit (pardon my language mom, but you know that's the most accurate description).  I include this story in case you needed another example of how Roar is an awesome teenager:  He instinctively held her up as he fell down an entire flight of stairs.

I'm a good mom

This is how I know I'm a good mom:

(1) Despite the fact that I can't stand cold weather and it was ridiculously cold yesterday, I took all three little ones out to get some fresh air.  I brought them in when it appeared that Conor was having difficulty breathing with the wind whipping around his face.

Okay, maybe that doesn't make me a good mom.  That probably just constitutes adequate parenting.  And now that I'm rereading this, it actually sounds slightly abusive to take them out in the cold.  So forget about this one.  Let's move on to why I KNOW for real that I'm a good mom:

(2) Zachary TOLD me I was a good mom yesterday.  I had gone to the grocery store with him, and he wanted to ride in one of the germ-infested truck-shaped carts.  There weren't any in front of the store, but we found one a mile away in one of the cart-return stalls.  It was all the way at the end of the stall, buried behind a hundred other carts.  One by one, I moved all of the other carts out of the way, until we got to that damned truck cart, then we walked the mile to the store in the freezing cold.  And snow.  Uphill. 

Then this conversation ensued:

Me: I'm a good mom.
Zachary: (silence)
Me: Say it!
Zachary: You're a good mom.

See?  Out of the mouths of babes...

Brotherly love

I realized last week that I didn't have recent pictures that I LOVE of Roar and Zachary, so we went out on Sunday for a quick photo shoot.  I had planned on editing the pictures and posting them sometime this week, but of course life got in the way, and I'm still not done.

But something happened yesterday that makes me think that I need to post these now.  Even though these are not finished, I have to show you how much my two older boys love each other.  Hell, you're not going to frame these, so what do you care if they're not perfectly edited?  You'll get the gist.

So here's what happened.  Yesterday, our trusty daycare provider sent me this update:

I was feeding Samantha, and Conor was standing up playing with the new baby toy.  Zachary was playing on the other side of it, pushing buttons for Conor.  Conor lost his balance and fell and started crying.  I was getting ready to put Samantha down so I could get to him when Zachary said; “Conor!  Oh no!  Are you okay?  I’m so sorry, buddy.”  Then he very gently supported Conor’s head and lifted him into a sitting position and leaned down so they were eye level and again said; “You okay little buddy?”  Conor stopped crying, Zachary gave him a toy, then went on with his own business.  It was SO sweet!  I called Zachary over and told him how nice he was to help Conor that way and how proud I was of him.  It warmed my heart.  (You tearing up yet??).

Yes, I was tearing up, but it wasn't just because Zachary was so sweet.  It was because - those words?  That was 100% Roar.  Zachary is sweet and loving because his older brother is sweet and loving to him.

 

You know, I really worried about how Roar would handle siblings after being an only child for 13 years of his life, but he's embraced it and truly is an amazing big brother.    

I think I could write 1000 "Lucky" posts and still not be able to express how lucky I am.  For now, I'll just say that I am touched and humbled by the fact that brotherly love is having a beautiful ripple effect in my family.  

(Yes, I know Roar is ridiculously handsome and should be a model/actor.  And no, of course I'm not biased.  Anyone know a good agent??)

This just makes Friday's favorite photo even more special to me.  Here, I had asked Roar to crouch down to get closer to Zachary, but Zachary wanted to be just like his big brother.  I can only hope that he will be.