Life in March

Here are a few snapshots of things that went down this month:

We've had quite a few days with decent weather especially for this time of year here, and the girls have loved going on bike rides.  (Hopefully their enthusiasm will rub off on their older brother here soon!)

 Aaron loves when I wear him outside in the bjorn, which is happening almost daily now as I follow the girls on their bikes- though often with a blanket over his head.  That little red mark on his cheek is eczema and has been there for over a month.

which I guess goes hand in hand with his asthma.  It's hopefully not a lifelong thing, but since getting really sick he has reactive airways now, so in addition to the albuterol he's been doing as needed, the doctor wanted him to do an inhaled corticosteroid twice a day til he's at least 8 months to help open up his airways more.  So we spend a lot of time doing this, but he is a good sport about it all.

We took advantage of National Pancake Day at IHOP again.

We only have a few months left til Josh is done with residency.  Neither of us are the counting down the days type but it is fun to think of things in terms of little milestones he's reaching.  Last week he worked what should be his last Sunday ever!!  I celebrated with the Lorna Doones he brought me home from the hospital:)

We've been doing a lot of Insanity lately, the girls are my exercise buddies and they keep me entertained while I'm doing it.  We did it on Sadie's birthday and she picked one of the harder DVD's and I told her "oh, this is kind of a hard one" when she showed me and she said, "Mom, I'm 3 now."

Aaron seemed to enjoy his first swing experience.

 We found some gold at the end of the rainbow:)

 We found the Easter bunny at the Y,

and went to an Easter egg hunt.

 Here is cute Aaron tagging along.  He discovered his tongue and it is hanging out most of the time.

 See?

We colored some eggs, it was just warm enough to do them outside which made things a lot more relaxed.

 The Easter bunny came,

 and is there anything sweeter than a little girl in an Easter dress?  I guess two little girls!

 The missionaries have been teaching Shane the lessons since he is old enough to be baptized this year and it is good practice for them too.

 I have loved watching him soak it all in and seeing things through the eyes of a child again.  They gave him a Book of Mormon and he immediately set to work reading it.

 

Having four kids is a lot of fun and I feel very blessed- but it definitely has its challenges too.  With a baby especially I feel sometimes like there is a ticking time bomb in the back of my head- hurry and do this or get ready to go somewhere before he is tired or hungry etc. and I don't always get around to all the things I would like to do.  A lot of days I have sort of a loose checklist in my head- did they get a fruit and vegetable sometime today?  did they work on something that was challenging for them?  did they get a minute with me to do something they enjoy?  did we get outside for a minute?  did we read scriptures and say prayers?  do they smell enough to need a bath or shower??  A lot of days, with some discipline and planning on my part, we are able to get a lot of good things done and manage to have some fun in there too.  And some days someone or something need a little more attention and the others suffer a little.  But looking at the whole sum of our days, I think they feel loved, and safe, and happy, and are learning and growing, and I am learning and growing right along with them I think.

Sadie is 3!!

I can't believe Sadie is 3!  Except actually I can, because most of the time she acts like she's 10 ha ha.  When you're three and it's your birthday, you are so so excited about balloons,

 and party blowers, and your mom doesn't even fight you about your mismatched clothes.

 Your mom takes you for a birthday donut to try to distract you from going to the Y like you love because your brother is sick,

 and lets you push the kiddie cart at Kroger, and pick out your own ice cream for your cake.  Your mom will suggest a few flavors, but you will pick one out all on your own- chocolate chip, and be absolutely sure of it.

 You will go to Chick-fil-A, and come home and have the chocolate cake you requested,

 and be delighted by each.

and every.

 present.

 you open.

 (Which was relieving, because she had wanted a baby doll and I tried to steer her to something else since she already has so many.  When I suggested a big box of sidewalk chalk, she said, "that would be for our whole family."  When I suggested a Gup (from Octonauts), she said, "we already have lots of gups."  When I suggested a Dora toy, she said, "I don't like Dora very much," (liar!!!) and when I suggested a puzzle she said, "How bout two puzzles?"  and she had a deal ha ha.) So when we were looking at bikes at the store and asked if she would like one, she kept saying, no, I want 2 puzzles.  Ha ha.  Anyway, Grandma Dettinger chipped in on a little bike for her and so we found some online and showed them to her, and asked her, "Sadie do you want this pink one or this purple one?"  And she pointed to one down the page and said, "no, I want a green one."  So she is now the proud owner of this "bare bones" skeleton bike ha ha.  She LOVES her bike and wants to ride it all the time.

 In fact the other day it was raining all day and she kept begging me to go ride her bike and I told her it was raining.  She said, "but mom, I have a rain jacket!"  Can't argue with that!  So as soon as Josh was home to stay with the baby we went out in the rain and she had a blast, minus a little concern about squishing worms!

A few things about Sadie at 3:

-My big helper, especially in the kitchen, she loves to make dinner with me. There have been days where around 4 or 5 she will ask me, "Come on mom, why are you not making dinner?"  

-She tells me often what I should be doing ha ha.  

-She cannot remember most of her letters to save her life still but she is so smart in a lot of other ways.  She pays attention to everything I do and stores that knowledge away.  She knows where everything in our house goes and will call me out if something is not in the right place.  I get a full report after nursery of who was crying, and which "baby" (the new 18 month olds) was eating crayons or folding their arms.  She likes to figure out how things work and will usually stick to it til she does.

-She still loves the Y and calls the workers her "teachers".  

-Loves her daddy and has a special bond with him.

-Loves her baby brother and cannot resist him.  She likes to ride the line- she knows she's not supposed to kiss him on the lips but she will kind of hover over his lips til he moves and brushes her and then say, "mom, him kissed me!"  

-still has trouble pronouncing a lot of things right and getting the grammar right but it is improving I think.  

-is often very dramatic, one of her little phrases she says all the time right now is "oh gosh" as if she is a flustered old lady, only it is even cuter cause it comes out more like, "oh dosh."

-wears a patch for two hours a day and does really well with it, she often goes and gets it and puts it on by herself without me even telling her to.

-can be very shy around people but has a way of making people fall in love with her.

-one of my favorite things she asks me a lot is, "Mommy, do you love me really bad?"  Yes, Sadie, I love you so bad!!!  Please stay 3!

Fun Saturday

I love when there are fun things going on on Saturdays, and when the weather cooperates to do them!  This Saturday we went to Lowe's to build another monster truck- the kids don't really play with them a whole ton and we have so many that I end up sneakily getting rid of some, but they have so much fun building them that we keep going.  It is fun to see Shane and Marissa get more and more independent in their building.

Josh went with us there, then headed home to study for his boards while I took the kids on our next adventure- the Get Green Fest.  Every year they dye the river green before St. Patrick's Day and have some fun St. Patrick's family friendly activities, and I have wanted to go but it has usually been too cold to really make it worth it.  But Saturday was very mild so we went and had a great time.

We made our way up to the bridge to check it out closer- it is vegetable dye squirting from fire hoses.  It  didn't really turn the whole river green at any one time, but the kids still thought it was pretty cool.

That was at 11 and then there was a leprechaun coin toss at 1 so I wondered if we would be able to hang til then, but I brought lunch and we had a little picnic and they were pretty entertained with sticks and dirt for a long time.

I wore Aaron in the bjorn and he enjoyed the fresh air and slept for a bit.

Then a guy dressed up as a leprechaun joined a firefighter on the ladder,

and dropped gold coins and candy for the kids.

Here's Shane stuffing his pockets,

and the girls checking out their loot.  Too bad the Lucky Charms eating contest wasn't til 3, I'm sure we could have made quite a showing!

Afterwards we came home and enjoyed the weather outside with bikes and such.  I'm not sure how much longer I have as the kids get older of them all enjoying these kinds of things, but I am enjoying it while it lasts- sometimes being a stay at home mom can be monotonous and fun things like this give me something to look forward to!

Life Lately

As you can imagine, I don't get a whole ton of down time these days, but life is still happening and I want to try to keep it documented because I know will look back and smile, in fact I already am:)  So here goes:

Our friend Ellie turned 6 and invited us to go ice skating with her for her birthday.  I wasn't so sure how it would go because Josh was working, and my kids aren't exactly the most coordinated kids on the planet (and let's face it- me helping them is kind of like the blind leading the blind!), but I was very pleasantly surprised.  

 Ryan, Ellie's dad and one of Josh's coworkers, stayed on the side with his baby and Aaron, who thankfully slept most of the time in his carseat, and Becky and I went at it on the ice with these four.  There was a lot of wall clinging at first, but by the end the older three were able to do it some on their own, with falls of course.  We had a blast and I am excited to try it out again sometime.

 Sadie had the time of her life but pretty much needed someone holding onto both of her hands.  Becky gave me a little breather and took her for a bit.

I know everyone thinks girls' clothes are the cutest but I actually really really love dressing boys.  And Aaron will sit and take a picture for me.

 The others... not so much.

Josh had his last inpatient service block last month (woohoo!!)  He was a solo senior again, which means the only days he got off were days he had found someone to cover for him-which means he worked for them a different month.  So we didn't see much of him.  On the third Saturday he worked in a row, it was a good thing we had the YMCA to go to.

 When he got home that last night, we celebrated with a game of one of our favorites, Uno.

 Sadie actually follows along pretty well.  When I was her partner she realized after the game that we still had cards and put her head down on the table and said, "Why did we lose mom??"

The girls still love being my little helpers, especially in the kitchen.  And we spend a lot of time in there- man alive these kids of mine sure can eat.  I feel like keeping them fed is a full time job these days.

These girls are pretty fun:)  They fight a lot, but when they are getting along they are so cute together.  Lately Marissa has been trying to impart a few pearls of wisdom to Sadie before she turns 3, like "Sadie, did you know you don't have to cry?  You just have to tell mom!" as if it were a huge epiphany she had (still waiting

for her to apply some of those gems though she has gotten so much better lately)

We gave the sister missionaries a ride somewhere and on the way home Sadie fell asleep and Marissa had the whole time to herself to talk, and she did:)  Somehow she got on the topic of bad guys and jail and what kind of things they had there.  She asked me a dozen variations on "what do villains deserve mom?  They definitely don't deserve books right mom?"  Well, actually...

It was Marissa's turn to bring snack to school- we found a way to have a little fun with it even though there 

are so many rules these days.

Aaron can cheer her up like nothing else.  If she is upset, I will say, "do you need a hug from Aaron?" and she can never resist.  I am looking forward to not having to worry so much about spreading germs, though I think Daddy may be bringing home more than they are.

Shane can still not be bothered to put his clothes on right a lot of the time.  I said, "seriously Shane?? Did you not see the zipper??" And he said, "mooooom, I can't see my bum!"  

Getting to hold or talk to Aaron before he leaves is a huge motivator for him to get ready quickly in the mornings.

Poor Aaron can't catch a break and caught something else.  Luckily we have a nebulizer now and that has helped some.

We haven't had a whole lot of snow, and I am not complaining.  The kids have gotten to go out a few times in it.  It'll be cold for a few days,

and then warm up for a few days.  It is an unwritten law that if it is in the 60s on a Saturday in Indiana, you go to the park.  I think half of Fort Wayne was there.  Sadie was super excited it was warm enough to wear her new rain coat instead of her big poofy jacket.

I put the little kids in the jogger and Shane and Marissa tried out running with me.  I wore my GPS watch which was super motivating to Shane because I could tell him exactly how far we had gone.  Afterwards he said, "we ran over a mile!" and I said "well, ran/walked," and he said, "so you're saying, we rocked!"  

 

Life is definitely full these days- today if there were a picture of me at Costco it would have showed me trying to carry a baby while pushing the cart because he woke up screaming in his car seat- then hurriedly getting our things (did I mention my kids eat a lot?? I need a lot of groceries these days) and leaving the cart stranded for a minute and pulling the girls out and running to the front of the store because Sadie needed to go potty, and Aaron was still screaming and by now hungry so I thought what the heck and nursed him on one side on the floor of the family bathroom while the girls did their thing.  Yep, there are those moments where I am that mom and I just think to myself, "don't make eye contact, just don't make eye contact!"  

but there are even more good moments when I smile to myself and think how lucky I am to be their mom and just stop a minute to try to soak it all in because I know how fast it goes.  Our life is messy, but it is beautiful, and so good.