Birthday Weekend

It was Mike's birthday yesterday...33 years old! As he put it, it was a big year for Jesus that ended with Him going out with a bang. He is hoping for a big year, but not one that ends the same way. The boys and I made him one of his favorite desserts...german chocolate cake. E wanted to add M&Ms so we had a little extra touch on the cake. All day long, the boys would say, "Happy Birthday, dad!" It was really cute. J especially found enjoyment in telling Mike happy birthday. Mike would say "Happy Birthday, Jonah!" Then J would say, "No daddy, your birthday. Happy Birthday, dad!" We had a friend over for dinner and he taped J arguing with him about the fact that it was daddy's birthday. It is very funny and cute. I am going to try to attach it to the post. J would say, "no daddy's birthday and then turn to Mike and say happy birthday, dad." But each time you could hear him getting more irritated. Later in the evening our friends' Mike and Kelly came over to hang out. We had a really nice time sitting outside, chatting and drinking a few glasses of wine. It was a good day!!

This morning we went to church and then were out most of the day. This evening Mike had a soccer game that we went to watch. This morning when I was getting in the car for church, E said that heaven had shiney roads. I asked him how he knew that, and he said at school they learned there were big shiney roads in heaven. I said you are right...golden roads. He said, "When we die, we aren't here anymore." I said, "No, we aren't. But if you believe in Jesus you will be in heaven." He said, "Yep, I believe in Jesus. What do you look like when you are in heaven?" I said, "I am not sure, maybe like Angels." He said, "I am excited to go to heaven to see Jesus and the angels. And to see our dog, Blaze." I said, "Me too. But I am not quite ready for you to go just yet!" His mind has definitely been working these past few weeks. I really need to pray about it and see what I should be doing with it. He remembers everything and really thinks things through it all. He has had lots of questions and a little bit more of a sense of right and wrong, not just knowing what is right and wrong but more of a heart around it...more repentant when he has done something wrong.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful boys! They really are a joy and bring me so much happiness. I need to remind myself to cherish this time and not get so caught up in my daily chores and feeling behind all the time. As the saying goes, "The laundry will always be there, but the kids will not!"

Past Few Days

It has been a few days since I have posted. My evenings have been consumed with other things and there really isn't time during the day to post. E finished his week of swimming today. Next session starts on July 6th and he will move up to Beginner 1. That is the class he started in this week...so hopefully he feels more ready for it. He did really well this week. Each day he got better...which is the point, right? By the end of the week, he was able to jump in and swim to the steps. When he tries to do his arms and legs together, he gets a little wiggly. So he doesn't move forward a whole lot when he is squirming all over the place. But he is loving it! When the teacher was working with someone else, he would jump off the steps and try to swim back. The other day, he and I played "Olympeics" (as he called it) outside while the younger two slept. It was fun...first we did soccer, then football, baseball, mountain climbing and finally lacrosse. We had a few breaks in between where we would sit in the swing set fort and chat. He really does like his alone time with me or his dad. I am realizing that his love language is quality time. He has a whole new attitude when he gets some alone time with us. I have been struggling this week with keeping him busy, though. He didn't do real well with playing with his, so if I wasn't doing something with him, he was more or less yelling or running around in the house. Something for me to figure out and work on with him.

Lately I have been letting J take a nap in a big boy bed, his brothers. Well, today I put him to bed for his nap. After about 10 minutes I could hear him doing something in his room. I opened the door to find that he had pulled about 15 wooden slats out of the window blinds and had them piled on the bed. He was a little shocked when I opened the door as he always is when he gets caught in the act...with his usually surprised "What?" I was a little irritated because it takes some time to put each individual wooden blind back because you have to weave it through two pieces of thread. I told him that he would have to sleep in his crib for this nap and he said, "But I didn't get out of bed!" Very true! He seems needy to me lately...wanting to be held a lot. I am starting to wonder if he is getting jealous of L because he is getting more mobile. I am not sure...I want to be sure to not ignore it, though. I don't want him to fall in the "middle" child trap.

Last night we had a really big lightning and thunder storm. Probably the worst one I have ever seen. It lasted for a few hours. I couldn't fall asleep for some reason, so I was up watching it until about 1:30. The lightning was continuous with the thunder right on top of the flashes. It was like watching the finale of a fireworks show! At 2:30, J walked in the room and said it hurt his ears...I wish you could hear him say the word because he says it so cute...So after that, both E and J were up for a little bit. We talked about the storm and I had to find a flashlight for them because during the storm their fish tank light stopped working, therefore, they lost their night light. It was definitely a crazy storm and one to remember. Mike was a little upset because his garden was damaged from the winds. Some of the plants that were about to produce their "goods" were blown over. I tried to repair a few this morning for him...we will see if it works!

Good Swim Day!

Today was a much better swimming day for E. He had a much better attitude about it today. We talked a lot yesterday about the swim lessons and what would happen during the lessons. E was definitely ready to get in the water today. I think he was just tired yesterday. He has three more lessons this week. And then he will go back again the week of the 6th for 5 more lessons.

After his lessons, we all went to the YMCA outside pool....so J could swim and meet up with some friends we haven't seen in a few weeks. The boys had a lot of fun! Once L realized that the water was like his bath he stopped crying and started to splash. He actually cried when I took him out of the water to feed him lunch.

When I was laying with E tonight in bed, he was telling me all the people and things he loved. He then told me that he loved God and Jesus the most then mommy, daddy, J & L. I thought that was awesome! He is getting so grown up!

That was it for the day...it was a water filled day. Goodnight! I need to go put sheets on my bed so we can go to sleep....

Just Another Monday

Well today was a MONDAY. What do I mean by that...for me Mondays are always an adjustment back to the week. I don't know why, but the boys are crazier on a Monday. I am not sure if it is me because I don't have Mike to help or if it is the boys missing their daddy while he is at work or the combination of them both. We started the day with going to the bank. I told the boys before we went into the bank that my expectation for them was to sit in the seats quietly and not run around and yell like they sometimes do. If they achieved this, then they could get the sacred bank lollipops! Well, when I was done, E asked if he could get a lollipop. I told him "yes" because he had behaved very well. I turned around to tell J the same, only to see that he had stripped down to his shorts! For some reason only known to J, he decided he needed to take his shirt, socks and shoes off and run around in a circle. So, he did not receive a lollipop. On the way home, I thought to myself, I really didn't specify to J that he couldn't take his clothes off. I just said not to yell and run around...I think I may need to be more specific next time!

E had his first swim lesson for the summer. That didn't go well. For some reason he decided that he wasn't going to swim. I think it ended up being my fault because I signed him up for a class that was too advanced for him. I thought he was ready for it. I also think all of the kids in the class was overwhelming for him. Tomorrow he is going to be in a class that should be better. Hopefully he will swim tomorrow. He has this week of swimming and then the week of the 6th. My hope is that he will be comfortable in the water when we go to Grammy and Papa's house on the 14th. So by the time I left swimming today, I had all three boys crying...I am sure they were glad to see us leave!

This afternoon E and I were playing on the swingset. He asked me if I wanted to play "friends" with him. I asked him what friends was...he said "You know mommy we have played before....girlfriend/boyfriend." I said, "What is that? What is a boyfriend?" He said, "Mommy, you know, a 'special' friend" with a smile on his face. I laughed. He said, "You be Casey and I will be Ty." Too cute!!!!

L pulled himself up again today on the fireplace hearth. I was afraid that he was going to hit his face but was also very excited because this time he went from his knees to his feet!!! He is on his way! I said, "Yeah!!!" and clapped. He got a huge smile on his face!

Father's Day!

We had a wonderful Father's Day! The day started with breakfast in bed for daddy...pancakes and bacon. Daddy opened his gifts and off to church we went. The boys were very excited for Sunday because we were going to the Reds baseball game after church. L was being watched by our friends for the afternoon. After church we headed downtown to the baseball field. J was excited to go to "his" baseball game. The boys were decked out in their Reds t-shirts and baseball caps. Our seats were in the outfield...left center...four rows up. They were very good seats except it was SOOOO hot!!! We found our seats and sat down...no less than two minutes later J declared he wanted to go home. I thought, "This should be fun!" Well, we made it to the seventh inning....impressing, huh! Once we got popcorn and nachos, the boys were set. The highlight for E was seeing the river with the boats and for J was seeing the Mr. Redlegs mannequin in the store! It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed going the game with the boys. Usually Mike and E go alone, so it was nice to be a part of it and see J enjoy his first MLB game!

Uneventful Day

Today was rather uneventful. Mike did a lot of work outside...mowed the lawn, worked in his garden and put shingles on the roof of our wood shed. So I guess I should say, I had an uneventful day. As always, E and J followed their daddy everywhere outside. I ran some errands and spent a good portion of the day trying to get Cincinnati Reds tickets for tomorrow afternoon. I started this whole journey yesterday when I thought it would be fun to do the baseball game for Father's Day. I found awesome tickets on Craigslist and thought I had bought some (well agreed to buy some). So I waited a good portion of the morning waiting to hear from the lady...as you can probably guess, she never called or emailed. So, it was rather tough to find tickets later in the day since most of them had already been sold. BUT, we have tickets! It should be fun...it will be J's first baseball game. We told him we were going and he said, "MY baseball game." E quickly reminded him that we were ALL going. I think that J thinks he is going to play...I hope he isn't dissappointed when he realizes that he gets to sit in seats and not actually be on the field.

On a good note, when I went to get L out of bed after his morning nap, he had pulled himself up to his knees by hanging onto the side. This is huge! At his last Help Me Grow assessment, I was told that if he wasn't pulling up by July 13th that he would have to go to physical therapy. Which wouldn't be a huge surprise since he is a preemie but nonetheless not something I wanted to have to do with our already busy schedule. He really has done very well. He is right on track with this fine motor and his emotional development. He is army crawling everywhere now...sweeping the floor as he moves! Before I know, he will be walking. Then I am in trouble.

My Very First Post!!!!

Well, here it is, my first posting on our blog. I am hoping to keep this up...I am usually not very good at this sort of thing. But I am hoping the challenge of trying to figure out how to blog will keep me wanting to post something everyday. I really want this to be a place that I can share my families daily life with our family and friends. With L's first birthday almost here, I am realizing that life is going by WAY too quickly for my liking. I keep thinking that this time last year, I was on bed rest in the hospital. It seems like yesterday that I was figuring out how to see L in the NICU and have someone to watch the older boys. It also makes me realize how incredibly blessed I am! I have three beautiful boys, a wonderful husband, a roof over my head, and good health for all of us. The Lord has taken care of us and has carried us through this crazy year.

The other thing that has prompted me to start this post was my sister. She and her family were in town for the ten days visiting us for the first time since they moved to California or 'Californla' has E says. They moved a year ago right before I went on bed rest. It was so nice seeing them and seeing the kids play together again. We had such a wonderful time together. Em and I really had a chance to connect and chat as well as enjoy our kids together. I miss having them 10 minutes from us. E keeps telling me how much he misses them. He says they need to move back to Cincinnati. I asked him where they would live. He said, " They can live in the field next to our house." We miss them sooo much! Love you guys! Anyway, she and I were talking about how we need to have a blog to keep each other updated...so here it goes Em....