Intensity

Andrew does most things with great intensity. If he goes after a toy, he does it with everything he's got. Even in his talking, you can see and hear the intensity. He is adorable! Makes me wonder, though, what we may be in for when he's older.

Five Months Old Today

I don't have much time; Andrew is ready for a nap and is declaring his impatience quite vehemently. However, I wanted to take a moment to show what each of our kids looked like at five months old, as Andrew is five months old today.

To start us off, here is Joey, a sweet cuddler.
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Nick was a bundle of energy, even at five months old.
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Ethan was too adorable with those chubby cheeks.
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Andrew is (except for now, while he's screaming) such a happy baby, content and a precious snuggler.

Note To Daddy

Yesterday while I was gone with Ethan, Joey wrote a note to Daddy. This is what it said:

Dear Dad
I hope you feel better soon. You are a good dad when you do stuff for us. When you sick, you are still a good dayd for all of us. I hope you feel better quick soon.
Good job DaD.
"hug me soon" was written inside a heart.
from Joseph

I Had Such Hopes

I had such hopes of the day turning out well. After my smooth morning, I was anticipating smooth errands.
We dropped Nick off at Urgent Care for another round of IV meds and went straight to the salon for the boys' haircuts. They were very busy, but other than it being a bit hectic, things went smoothly. It was so sweet to watch Ethan on the way out to the truck, because he was turned around waving back at the salon saying, "Bye, sanks" the whole way. (He has such good manners sometimes.)
We headed back towards Urgent Care to wait, for however long, for Nick to be done. While we were just down the street, Nick called to say he was done. Yeah! We didn't have to wait at all.
Errands went off smoothly.
Since it was lunchtime, we headed home. I still had grocery shopping to do, but I was going to do that later in the afternoon, perhaps when the boys (yes, all of them) laid down for a nap. I was planning on taking Andrew and that would give Nick a chance to rest as well, since that is a crucial part of his recovery.
I was going to make Noodle Soup for lunch (Top Ramen) but Nick wanted macaroni and cheese....so I decided to make both. Joey and Ethan would have soup, Nick and Nick would have mac 'n' cheese.
While I had the water coming to a boil, Ethan reached up to point at the pretty, bright orange, glowing burner. He pointed too close. I was right there, and I still could not stop it from happening. Immediately, I wrenched him away and threw his finger under cold running water. It was just the quickest of touches, but that is all it takes. Poor Ethan couldn't even catch his breath, he was screaming uncontrollably. He didn't like the water, but I had to be the mean Mommy that made him keep it under. After that, he didn't want me anymore, he only wanted Daddy.
Since it looked like it could be a third degree burn, I was advised by my wise Mommy to take him to have it looked at, because it could get infected easily.
So, back to Urgent care I went. We were there for over three hours! Ethan was so well behaved, we were entertaining each other as best as we could. At one point, Ethan asked where Daddy was. I told him he was at home. He asked again. I told him, again. He asked a third time. So I said, "Daddy is hanging upside down!" Ethan said, "No way! That's apossible!" I laughed so hard.
But the longer we were there, and the closer he got to seeing the doctor, the more upset he became. Ethan is afraid of going to the doctor. When I told him in the car where we were headed, I asked him to be a big boy for me. But after getting hurt so bad, he can only be a big boy for so long, and they took too long for him to keep it up. I was so proud of him, though. He did his best, and even though the situation wasn't pleasant, I loved spending one on one time with him.
When we left home, it was cool but dry. I didn't bother grabbing coats. When we came out of Urgent Care, it was pouring down rain; buckets of rain. And we still had to do the grocery shopping. In the car was a flannel and one of Nick's pull over coats. I wore the pull over and I buttoned Ethan up in the flannel. I rolled the sleeves up about seven times, and I tied the bottom in a knot to keep it from dragging. We looked great! I realized on the way that I had forgotten the coupons for Costco, so I decided to skid Costco for today, and just hit Freddy's. Ethan was a very big helper; he held the list for me. And every time we passed something, he would say, "Mommy, my see..." He was very observant. What an absolutely precious child he is.
By the time we got home, it was almost 6pm and we had been gone a total of almost five hours! Neither of us had eaten lunch, and I hadn't eaten anything before that either.
Nick was supposed to be resting, but he was stuck watching the other three boys while I was gone. So as soon as I got home, he fell asleep on the couch and got some much needed rest. Hopefully he will be able to sleep better tonight than he did last night.
Well, the first child of the night is up and wanting to rock for a few minutes, so I better go. Motherhood is no 9-5 job; it's 24/7.

Relinquished

I moved away from Oregon in late August of 2006.
I lived in Alaska for just under three years.
I moved to Yakima, WA in July of 2009.
I lived in Yakima for just over one year.
I moved to Rochester, WA in November 2010.
Today, I finally relinquished my Oregon Driver's License for a Washington Driver's License.
Boo. At least I'm legal!
But, it was the least painful thing I have ever done! They didn't even need any of the important papers I brought with me (Soc card, mail with current address, birth certificate, marriage certificate). I didn't even have to fill out an application; they did it on the computer with a few informational questions. I am also now registered to vote for the first time in over four years!

The agenda for the rest of the day:
Drop Nick off at urgent care for another round of IV antibiotics
Take the boys to get their hair cut
Pick Nick up from urgent care
Do the grocery shopping
I wish the rest of the day could be as painless as the beginning.

Date Night

Nick and I had this night planned for a week now; a week of looking forward to some time to ourselves, to focus on "us" rather than the kids. Brent and Kacie very generously offered to watch the boys so we could go out. This is what we planned:
The boys were going to get their hair cut at 5:30pm. Afterward, we were going to pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza to bring home. While we were gone, the boys were going to have pizza with Brent and Kacie, play and show off for them, and then get to have a "sleep over" in the living room. I figured they could lay in bed and watch a movie (hopefully falling asleep in the middle) until we got home.
All day I had been finishing the cleaning; sweeping, unloading and loading the dishwasher, cleaning the downstairs bathroom, taking out the trash, and getting a well timed shower so that I could get hair and make-up done before it was time to leave to pick up Nick.
Everything was cleaned before I took my shower. I was out of the shower and had my hair dried by 3:15pm. Just as I was coming downstairs with my arms full of make-up and hair stuff (I didn't want to be locked in my room for another hour....I had kids screaming downstairs) I get a call from Nick to cancel our date out. He was sick and didn't think he could make it.
So instead of my carefully planned evening, THIS is what we got instead:
Three kids screaming at the top of their lungs while I tried to rearrange the day.
Trying to feed Andrew while getting shoes on Nick, Ethan, and I.
Getting the kids buckled in while waiting for Joey to get off the bus.
Picking Nick up early from work and rescheduling haircuts for a little earlier.
Getting to the salon a half hour before appt to be told by Nick that he had to go to Urgent Care right away...he was feeling awful. Went in to salon to reschedule again for tomorrow morning.
Spending over two hours at Urgent Care with four kids running around the waiting room, just to have Nick come out in a gown telling me to take the kids home, he'd still be awhile.
McDonald's for dinner at 8pm.
A call from Nick saying he had pneumonia, they were giving him a nebulizer treatment and IV fluids as he was dehydrated as well.
A call a little later saying that they had him on IV antibiotics and he would be there for another hour, but they gave him a cab voucher, so he should get home for almost free. He will need to go back for two more IV treatments, but will still be able to fly to Alaska on Sunday.
Three kids on the living room floor in sleeping bags watching a movie.
One baby upstairs in his bassinet, asleep.
One exhausted Mama.
Still waiting for my husband to come home.
And I have a week of "single-parenting" to look forward to next week!

Not exactly the night I was anticipating. We will try to reschedule for sometime after he gets back from Alaska. I'll try not to look forward to it too much. Who knows what may happen!

Have a great weekend and a very happy Valentine's Day!

Growth Breakdown

Okay, so Andrew had his 4 month check up a couple weeks ago and I haven't posted results yet. Andrew is a very healthy grower. He was measured at 25 1/2 inches (I wonder if that was a little short, because he seems bigger to me.) and weighed in at 18 pounds 10 ounces. He is in the 80th percentile for height and over the 97th percentile for weight. We have tried feeding him solid food but he hasn't figured out yet that it is food, so he hasn't eaten more than a few bites at a time. I'm giving it a bit of time before I try again.

At the same age, Joey was 25 3/4 inches tall and weighed 20 pounds 3 ounces, Nick was 26 inches and 15 pounds 4 ounces, and Ethan was 27 inches and 17 pounds. So if you think about it, all four boys have been in the same ballpark; within two inches of each other, and within five pounds. Not only do we make extremely adorable kids, we also make them fairly consistently sized! (Now THAT'S talent.)

As a side note, I must be very tired, because at the beginning of the post, when I was trying to type the word "results", I couldn't figure out why the kept saying that "reSLUTs" was spelled wrong! Bed time!

Kind Of Scary

Oh, I am so scared right now. I love watching my boys dance, and they love to dance. Any time there is music on; a commercial, end credits in a movie, etc., they are always dropping everything to dance.

But when I saw Nick dancing like THIS, I was frightened. That's not to say that I didn't find it hysterical. It reminds me of another dancer around the same age....she had long curly hair, and she danced to "The Bunny Song" from VeggieTales in just her underwear! (Not trying to embarrass you, Ravyn...I thought you were awfully cute then.) Wish I had a way to put THAT video on my blog.

One thing for sure...I can GUARANTEE than Nick didn't learn to dance like that from me!

Unlikely Assistance

Ethan LOVES his bear. He has named him "Bear" or "My Bear." Bear goes everywhere with Ethan. We have to convince him that Bear would be better left at home or in the car than at church, the store, or the restaurant.

Last night, I was making spaghetti for dinner. Nick was working late and I couldn't open the jar of spaghetti sauce. My hands were sore from trying to open it and I just had to take a break. Ethan asked me, "What's wrong, Mom?" I told him that I couldn't open the jar and if I couldn't open the jar, I couldn't cook dinner.

Ethan went to the pantry where he left Bear. He brought him over to me, handed him up to the counter by the paw and said, "Bear opens things."

So I put Bear's paw on the jar under my hand and twisted one more time. Lo and behold, the jar opened! Ethan was ecstatic! All night long, he reminded me, and anybody else who would listen, that Mommy didn't open the jar of sauce, Bear did.