May stories

Ok, so I'm going to change up the format of these blog posts...after spending way too much time trying to catch up from the last 5 months, I realized it's just not reasonable to keep up in that way...there's just too much other life happening around here! Plus, I ramble too much! So, from here out I plan to share some funny stories that happened in the past month, mostly from the boys inevitably. And I'll try to keep my updates on Kate brief too. And then just share my favorite pictures. So, we'll see if that helps me stay up to date a bit better and keep you readers maybe a little more entertained! :)

One evening, Daddy and the two boys were outside. Matthew was doing some final touches and clean up from finishing the landscaping around the pool. The boys of course were begging to get in the pool. It was way too cold for that, but Matthew compromised and let them play on the tanning ledge. Since it was completely unplanned, the boys just got in with their clothes and got soaking wet - completely fine. However, as they got out and started making their way in for the night, clothes of course were being peeled off as they got into the house. They got down to their underwear, took those off and somehow turned it into a game of throwing their underwear up in the sky. I mean, of course it did! But it gets better...this turned into both pairs of underwear getting thrown up into the gutters! Noah of course thought it was hilarious, and Drew did too, but knew there was potential to get into trouble too. So Drew came running in to tell Mommy about it and prefaced and ended the whole story with, "It's not my fault, it was Noah's idea!"

The boys were very sweet and generous on Mother's Day this year as always. Lots of handmade gifts from the boys, which is always so sweet! Matthew had purchased a book off my wish list - The 5 Love Languages of Children. Drew asked about the book and so I told him it was a book that was going to help me be a better Mommy. His response, "Oh good!" in a tone that said 'you really need to read that one now!' A few minutes later he brought the book to me again and asked me to start reading it so I would know Kid Language! Ok already!

Noah, Kate and Mommy went to the zoo this month with our neighbor and her son that is a month younger than Kate. She stays at home and teaches music lessons. I was asking her how much she charges out of curiosity and after she answered Noah piped in. It's always funny when they listen and you aren't expecting them to follow along, especially when they are trailing behind a good 10 feet. But he chimes in and says, "I charge zero dollars!" We both chuckled and asked if he wanted to take lessons...without hesitation, "NO!"

The boys have really had fun playing the game Plants vs Zombies on the phones this month (thank you Daddy). But it has now trickled over into imaginative play. One night, Drew found a random piece of cardboard, stated it was his newspaper, and started walking slowly and groaning, moving toward Noah saying "brains....brains". Nice! Noah found something to carry too and before we knew it, they were acting out the different types of zombies and plants and creating their own real life version of the game. Oh my! Sometimes at dinner they will reach out their arms and open and close their hands toward someone...this apparently means they've eaten our brains! How fantastic! :) Boys, boys, boys.

Mommy had to work 3 Saturdays this month, which means Daddy is home with all 3 kids! He laid Kate down for her morning nap and the boys were playing in the Lego room I think. A few minutes later Drew runs into the bathroom to say, "Daddy, I don't think you are going to like something..." (Such a scary statement from your children...the options are endless!) Noah had heard Kate fussing herself to sleep, so he tromped up the stairs and went into her room, climbed into the crib and was lying next to her - made her as happy as can be...Daddy, not so happy! Drew also said on one such Saturday, "When Mommy is gone, all the rules are broken!" Is it obvious to anyone else that Daddy is "the fun parent"!

One evening we were getting in the car to go to a friends house and we hear this:
Noah announcing, "Booger! Booger!"
Drew: "he's gonna eat it!
Mommy: "don't eat it!"
Drew: "he already did! That's cuz I used mind control to make him like them"
Noah: "I like it, it tastes good...I like it even better with snot"
Drew: "yah, boogers with snot is like whipped cream with ice cream!"...."it's like bread with butter, makes it so much better!"

Kate is still a happy little girl, we all just love her to pieces! The boys fight over who gets to play with her, and Mommy and Daddy love spending time with a child that doesn't yell or scream at us or threaten to run away...yet! She's a pretty happy camper, but she's a little princess diva too sometimes...this girl gets what she wants! She knows the difference between people she knows and likes and wants at the time, and if it's not you, she will not give up until she gets what/who she wants! That person is usually Mommy! :) But same goes at her school...she's gotten used to a few select people, and those are the only ones she is willing to accept for her care! Goodness!

Noah is still really good at making this girl smile and laugh. He really had her going one Sunday at church...he would duck to either side of me while holding her to play peek a boo, and man did she love it! It was only slightly distracting to others around us I'm sure! He does get a little too excited though, often pulling her toys away and out of her hands to then shove them back in her face or make a part of it shove back into her mouth...sheesh kid, back off a little! Drew gets it a little bit more, bringing toys to her, but not right in front of her, and isn't as rough. Though a few times the boys have fought over who gets to be closer to her or whatever, which turns into them fighting, which has knocked Kate over or really upset her...so, that's super fun!

She still loves to be outside, loves playing in the water in her baths, and is starting to like playing with the bubbles too. She even had fun splashing in the pool - there was one day the water was pretty warm in comparison, so Mommy and Kate sat at the edge of the tanning ledge and she splashed and splashed...oh, she's going to love it when it gets warm enough to really get in! She giggles more and more at things. One of her favorite things that makes her laugh is grabbing Mommy's hair or face...thanks Kate! She thinks it's just great! She likes to do that alot while she nurses and then when I'm burping her. But she's also super sweet sometimes while she nurses...I'll hold her hand, sometimes give her kisses on her hand or head and she gives me the sweetest giggle and smile...oh, it's so precious to hold this sweet baby! She has also learned to make Mommy laugh by squinting up her face and making a 'hehahehaheha' sound...so stinking cute! She's figured out how much I love it and will do it just for me lots! She still shakes her head back and forth at the boys because she knows that's their favorite...she's already figuring things out...so crazy! She likes playing with, and seems to take notice of balls more lately too...the boys love that!

She's been all over the board with sleeping and eating this month. We started out the month with her sleeping 10-11 hours, thinking we'd finally made it. And then she was back to waking up super early around 3am. Ugh! So now we are working our way back to 4:30/5am wakings, but even that is rough. There was one night she woke up super early and I gave her 15 minutes to try and go back to sleep. Well, she screamed so loud (that's right, not crying, straight up yelling/screaming) that you could hear it through the boys' monitor, woke Noah up, who threw a fit when I took him back to his bed (because he's starting to love sleeping in our bed when the storms wake him at night!), which woke up Drew...so 15 min of her crying woke up the whole house! This doesn't give me much leeway to 'help' her get out of the pattern...sigh! Oh well! I'll just have to focus on loving my moments with her! I'm also pretty sure she's officially down to 2 naps/day now. It's been awhile since the evening nap has been successful despite seeming really tired. You'd think she'd be tired enough to sleep longer at night...but that's apparently just crazy talk! We think she went through a growth spurt this month because she would just plow through her table food and was eating alot at school too. Then for the 2-3 days after wasn't really hungry at all...that seemed to throw off her sleeping too as you can imagine. She's moved up to 3 solid meals a day now, and enjoys being able to feed herself the Mum Mums or Cheerios. I have to balance that with spoon feeding her or it gets real messy real quick...when she wants to feed herself, she'll grab for the spoon, which means the food starts flying of course!

She had her first trip to the zoo this month, and I think she liked being outside, but ended up having to held lots by Mommy to stay content. She made 'ma-ma' sounds for a few days in a row and then switched to 'na-na'. It's so fun to hear her make actual letter sounds! Fun times! We of course love that hopefully it moves to meaningful words of Mama and Nana! :) She enjoys having books read to her (when we remember, ugh, 3rd kid problems!). She giggles at the changing pictures and loves to flip the page back and forth and back and forth...so it's actually really hard to read to her! :)

She is working on hands and knees a little more this month, but we need to be better about getting her on her tummy more...she just likes to sit so much more it seems. But toward the end of the month, she's also really wanting to pull up on Mommy and Daddy to stand!

 

We ended the month playing in the pool. The temperatures are starting to warm up and Matthew and the boys just can't help themselves. It was a beautiful weekend and day on Sunday and so Mommy and Kate joined in the fun. Kate really liked it...just lounging away in her floatie. When she got tired of that, she LOVED splashing the water, especially the bubblers - extra fun and splashing. Should be a fun summer!