Buddies. Past, present and future

I have been blessed with little buddies.  I know it's a blessing.  4 buddies.  When they're tiny sometimes it's hard to see it as a blessing because you're just SO exhausted. ALL. THE. TIME.  But it is.  Lucy was my first buddy.  My introduction.  And we were thick as thieves us two.  Cookie makings, piano playing, painting, puzzle playing, gardening thieves.  When Max was born I remember sobbing one morning in exhaustion because Lucy was sick and being taken care of by grandma and I was so upset that I was too busy with a baby to be there for her.  Grandma's a pretty fantastic nurse... Because she IS a nurse, so it was purely hormonal exhaustion.  But still.  That day Tyler promised me time with my girl, so every night after bath time he would take a screaming Max into the living room so I could blow dry Lucy's hair and just BE with her.  

Eventually Max became my buddy.  When Lucy was at school we would play soccer, build snowmen, do puzzles, play guess who.  And I remember feeling the same loss when Logan was born.  So nap time became precious game time...when it wasn't sleep time.  

Logan grew and Max and Lucy got better at playing together or apart from me, and even seemed to prefer it...so I started grooming a new buddy.  This buddy system lasted the longest with the older two at school and another little one not in the cards for a while, it was just me a Logan.  Bike rides, trips to the beach and he park, splash park, shopping, gymnastics, books, games, and LOTS of cars.  And eye spy.  

Now we have a Seth.  And he's still in the exhausting baby phase.  And I mourn the loss of my buddy time with Logan.  So today we took it.  In the form of a trip to the car wash and A&W.  

When we got home he put some shorts on and told me he's getting those long hairs just like dad.  He cracks me up. 

And earlier today he asked me: 'is it great being a teenager?'

I told him yes (he might as well look forward to it now) and asked him why.  He said he can't wait to be a teenager so he can live on his own.  I said you usually don't live on your own until you're an adult.  And then I asked him why he wanted to live on his own. He told me he didn't, and that he wanted to live with me forever, but being a teenager will still be great.  

Another time he told me he was going to have 15 kids and that he would need 2 vans to fit them all.  And he would drive one and his wife would drive the other...or they could get a bus.  Then he got really serious and wide-eyed and said, 'mom, will you teach me how to drive before I have kids?!'  I reassured him that I would.  

I love him.  

And now I get to groom a whole new buddy.  I wonder what he and I will do? I wonder how he'll feel about mani/pedi's? 

Homemade California rolls

Tyler's been asking to make homemade sushi.  California rolls actually because I really don't want to attempt any sort of raw fish in my own kitchen...so last night we gave it a whirl.  

Look how excited Max is about dinner...haha.

The verdict?  Sticky rice is really sticky.  It was just ok.  I'm not a huge fan to begin with though, so I'm probably not the best critic.  Tyler said it was just ok too.  Lucy loved them and ate 3 for dinner and took one in her lunch today.  

Max cried through half a roll and was relieved that I also made chicken strips.  

Logan tried one and thought it was just ok, but was a good sport.  

Enjoying the break

It's March in Alberta.  Notorious for bad weather...but we've had sunshine and chinooks all week and we're loving it.  

My brain loves the fresh air.  

Good Day

Today was a good day.  The Sabbath usually is, but today particularly so.  

It started out with the boy sleeping really well.  It was daylight savings so I wasn't sure how that was going to go.  And Tyler had his first bishopric meeting this morning, so he was up early and it meant the kids and I were on our own for getting ready.  My first time with all 4 kids.  The boy slept.  We all got ready efficiently, and we got to church at 9:59am without fighting and with some primary songs on the drive.  

Good start. 

I actually didn't get much church today as I was in the hallway with Seth through most of it trying to help him sleep, but my kids were good and sat with gma and papa during sacrament.  It's so nice to have that support and not have to worry about it.  

Tyler had to stay after church for a few interviews and to do tithing but got home at a reasonable time.  The kids played.  Seth and I napped (mostly him).  We had 2 leftover pizzas from a bday party Logan went to yesterday so I didn't have to cook.  Except for a bowl of oatmeal for myself... 

We watched Hairspray together when dad got home. The boys cuddled on the couch with dad.  

Good middle. 

Went for a walk this evening around the dirt piles of our community and tried to spy Grandma's house.  The kids had a great time exploring.  Seth had a nap in his sling and we all got some fresh air.  The weather has been absolutely amazing this week.  

We finished the evening with snacks and all 4 boys in the tub.  

Good end. 

Seriously good day.  I like this family.  

Kid's Say...

Friday March 6th, 2015

Dad: boys, one day I will teach you how to punch good. 

Logan: 'I already know how to punch good...right Max?' 

Oy vey. 

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Wednesday March 4th, 2015

Logan: 'Nephi was a prophet, first one that we know, in a place called Egypt, he helped things to go!' 

Close.

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February 18, 2015

Watching Swiss Family Robinson. Fritz and Ernst discover Bertie is a girl and start helping her
Logan: 'why are they helping her?'
Me: 'they're being gentlemen...'
Logan: 'because she's a clumsy clumsy girl ...like Lucy.'

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February 15, 2015

My kids were discussing occupations on the way home...
Logan: I'm going to be a construction worker!
Max: I do NOT want to be a doctor. They have to stick their hands in gross stuff. 
Lucy: that's a surgeon. Nobody wants to be a surgeon. Now a nurse, that's different . 
Max: 'no! Nurses have to test pee and stuff!' 
Lucy: 'the doctor way of saying it is urine, Max.' 

It kept going from there...

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February 10, 2015

Made gluten-free bread today . 

Logan with a mouth-full: 'this is the grossest bread I've ever had.' 

It's so true.

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February 5, 2015

Logan watching tv: 'this is actually really good! It's not even Spanish or anything.'

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January 27, 2015

After telling Logan we are having French fries for dinner:
'Thats the best thing ever!'
Me: 'I'm the best thing ever.'
Logan: 'I don't know if you know this but you're actually 3rd...' 
Me: 'What?! Who's ahead of me?'
Logan: 'well, Jesus. And Heavenly Father!'
Me: 'I'm ok being 3rd on that list.'

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December 15, 2014

Logan: 'dad, I have a hypopasis. Do you know what that is?'
Tyler: 'yes. It's kind of like an idea, right?' (Trying to simplify it for a 4-year-old).
Logan: 'yeah, it's an idea you can test.'

He's a scientist! Tyler's so proud.

Sleep Schedules

I'm in the middle of switching Seth's schedule to allow for more sleep.  On his part and on ours.  He can usually go about 8 1/2 - 9 hours between feeds at night and previously I was feeding him around 10:30pm, and then again at about 8am.  But he wouldn't go to sleep until midnight, and Tyler and I have to be up with the other kids to get them off to school around 6:45am.  So one of us would usually get up with the kids and get them ready as silently as possible so that Seth and the other parent could keep sleeping until 8:00.  It was a system, and it worked, but I knew it could be better.  And to get him to his 10:30pm feed he would have 2 regular naps during the day and 2 catnaps in the evening.  The other kids are in bed by 7:30 or 8:00pm so sitting around for 4 1/2 hours every evening when you're exhausted just so you can get a baby to sleep for a consistent amount of time is painful some nights.  It was time for a change.  The new plan was for everyone to be up at 7:00am so that getting ready for school didn't have to be a silent lonely affair.  And Seth was to go to bed for the night by 8:30pm, with a dream feed at 10:30 (in his sleep) so he's back in his bed by 11:00, and Tyler and I are also in bed by 11:00, able to sleep until 7:00.  8 beautiful hours.  Beautiful.  The biggest fear is ruining what you already have.  It wasn't perfect, but he was consistently sleeping at night.  

The first night he woke up at 4am, and I got him back to sleep, and then again at 6:45am and tried to get him back to sleep, without success until 7am when we got up.  The days were consistent and good.  Night 2 he was up at 2:00, 4:00, 5:30, 6:15, 6:40, and then was dead asleep at 7:00.  It was exhausting.  Darkest before the dawn, right?  I spent much if yesterday in zombie-mode.  I took two naps throughout the day to survive and crossed my fingers for a better night.  Max also prayed in our family prayers that Seth would sleep through the night.  Fingers crossed!! 

Last night he fussed a 2:30am but stopped on his own, and then was silent until 7:10am!  Hallelujah!  It's possible.  I'm not naive to believe it'll always be that good.  We're developing a new habit. It may take a few more awful nights, but we are on track to more sleep.  And eventually when he's better established on solid foods we can eliminate the dream feed at 10:30 and he will be in bed for the night from 8:00 on.  Which means I could go to bed whenever I'm tired!!  Oh please! 

I'm documenting this because I never have with my other kids because sleep issues and PPD were just too hard to talk about, so when I look back I have no idea how I managed it. No advice for the future, because each time I was convinced is never need that knowledge again.  Now, I don't believe I'll need this knowledge again, because the baby factory is closed, but I'm documenting it anyway.  Because I can do hard things!!  

Marshmallow Motivation

About a month ago, we had a FHE lesson on Laman and Lemuel from our new Ites book.  Seriously, that could be a whole blog post in itself.  But I'll just sing it's praises here.  It's a book from Deseret that we got for Christmas from Sarah and Tyson.  I had seen it on the Deseret website previously and made a note that I wanted to get it, and miraculously we got it for Christmas and I LOVE it!  It has 52 characters or groups of characters from the Book of Mormon with descriptions about who they were, what they did, lessons to be learned from their example (good or bad) and an activity.  There's 52 so you can plan an FHE lesson for each week with it.  It's illustrated awesomely and each one is short enough to keep the kids attention and they're excited to do it.  LOVE it.  

Anyway, the lesson on Laman and Lemuel talked about murmuring (no surprise there) and we also talked about how it seems easy or habitual to murmur in a family especially.  That Nephi's brothers were the ones that gave him the hardest time.  Not hard to relate to.  The activity associated with the lesson talked about keeping a jar in the house that you can fill with pennies or candy, keeping track of positivity and kindness.  We decided to use marshmallows and we have 3 jars.  One is labelled wave pool, one is labelled movies, and one is labelled bowling. 

 Well, after a long haul, we finally filled the bowling jar last night.  (that was partially due to combining the contents of the bowling and wave pool jars - Lucy was aiming for wave pool and the boys were aiming for bowling but she graciously donated so we could reach one of our goals), and there were a few last minute 'chores' after school to top it off.  

So last night we finally went bowling.  It was a great evening out.  We pretty much had the alley to ourselves, which worked great for a sleeping Seth, and it was awesome to see the results of hard work.  The kids have worked really hard.  Logan has tried extra hard to get reverent for family prayers quickly (something that was a trial previously), Max is ALWAYS quick to help, so it was good to reward him for his naturally helpful behaviour, and Lucy struggled a bit to earn any marshmallows, but definitely contributed once she got into the spirit of it.  She was a bit unmotivated because we weren't rewarding her reverence the same way we did Logan and we had to explain that because she's nearly 10 and he's only 5 that our expectations are different, and that she needed to do something MORE than what she was already doing in order to earn a marshmallow.  

We're looking forward to continuing our marshmallow reward system and earning our way to the wave pool and the movies.  

Measured success!