Journal: Early October

TODAY

Out my window: Warm, muggy. Rain on and off earlier and more possible later today. It's been a warm Fall, but it's supposed to cool off again tomorrow.

Around the house: Aaron is juuuuuuuust about to wrap up his painting. OH man has that been a job. He is so meticulous, and it saved us a lot of money, but wowza. So much time. So. Much. Time. We will all be glad when this project is behind us. I have most of my Fall chores (cabinets, windows, blinds [shudder], etc.) finished and did some Fall planting on the deck yesterday. I was so excited that Lowe's had their big mums 50% off, and I was even able to find one that was just starting to open!! We should be able to enjoy it for a good long while until we have a  hard freeze (which at this rate, will be a good long while from now). We are currently trying to figure out what our best case scenario is for bedrooms in the not so distant future. Currently the boys share an upstairs bedroom, Gemma has her own upstairs bedroom, and the baby naps in the pack-and-play in the basement spare room where the glider is, and sleeps at night in our room. But she is about to grow out of the bassinet in our room, and there is the dilemma of where to put her to bed when she goes down at night. I nurse her to sleep downstairs, but I have this terror of putting her down in the basement at night and having the monitor malfunction and not hearing her when she wakes up the first time. Probably irrational, but the idea just freaks me out. So I put her in our room, but we are in and out, and the shower is in there so it's not exactly quiet. She does a pretty good job sleeping through noise though and now that the days are shorter, bright evenings and mornings aren't an issue. We will probably put the boys in the basement next summer, but then I am not sure where she will nap/go to bed. We were going to turn the extra bedroom upstairs into a homework room, but it may need to be a homework/baby room because I'm not sure if she will be old enough to share a room/bed with Gemma yet. Just trying to make the most of our space. That was quite a tangent....

The kiddos: Got the girls' pictures taken last weekend, and am hoping to take the boys in the next couple weeks. Can you tell the pic stitch app is my latest obsession?

The baby: She seems a little off today. Teething maybe? She had a really restless night and feels a little warm today and is definitely not herself. :-(  She is rolling over so much now and loves when I tip the bouncy chair forward so she can "sit up" in it. She loves interacting with Aaron and me and the kids and will hold a toy and "play" with it for quite a long time. I am trying to decide whether she will be in 6m or 9m clothes this winter. This is stressing me out more than it should. Eye roll.

In the kitchen: This past week's big meals were beef enchiladas (old recipe my cousin made growing up, with a homemade red sauce) with an awesome garlic cilantro lime rice, and honey chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed California blend. I also made veggie tortellini (ahem, Millie) and tuna patties for the priests. Up this week: chicken tetrazzini (with my own personal modifications) and French Dips. Hubby is making breakfast for dinner tonight.

Learning: Everyone has settled into their school years nicely, and conferences last week were a good affirmation that all is going well. We spent over an hour at the library this morning. I make trips to get stuff from the hold shelf around once a week, and will request specific things for them when they ask, but I only take them to browse themselves about once a month (they get to go weekly at school) and our last several trips have been great. I love their inquisitive minds and the things they want to look for. Kolbe has gotten really into graphic novels, which is a genre I had absolutely no appreciation for. I still can't bear to read them but boy they've sure gotten him excited about reading. But really, what seven-year-old boy wouldn't swoon over a book with the word "underpants" in the title, lol.

Reading: One of the priests I work for loaned me God or Nothing. I am enjoying it.

Watching: MLB. October is always exciting, even if our team isn't playing. New season of Gold Rush is gearing up.

Bringing me joy: Slanty Autumn light. November is on the horizon (I love November more than any other month I think, it's just magical). Pretty mums. A sleeping baby snuggling in my arms. Holy Mass. Good books. My kids, they bring out the worst in me sometimes, but they are also some of the most awesome people I know. Fall beer. Tasty food. Family and good friends. Coffee. A really great work schedule this year, and awesome people to work for and with. Life is good..

Pictures to share: This picture of my siblings and me is a couple months old but it cracks me up. We were trying to get a serious pic (which we got), but this one encapsulates the dynamics of our relationship so very well.

Christmas 2013

We had a white Christmas this year...the kids had fun playing in the snow the Sunday before Christmas and it stuck around until the end of the week!

This year's salt-dough ornaments (minus their jewel decorations...)

Christmas morning

Family pic at Church

Ponies and new footie-jammies made for a happy morning for Gemma (and a photo bomb with his new guns in the back!)

Kolbe with his robot, Quiver the Stygimoloch (this is a very cool line of toys, by the way), and Clem with his ramp racer.

The kids were a lot of fun to shop for this year, and I think they are enjoying their gifts.  We have spent some nice time with family and friends and are thoroughly enjoying the holidays!

Baby is here!

Our sweet baby boy arrived this past Wednesday!  Clement Paul was born on July 11 at 1:58 AM, weighing 8lbs 6.5oz and 19 inches long.  I had an inkling I might be in labor that evening, but honestly still wasn't sure.  I even painted my toenails around 9pm!  We called my mom to come over with our sleeping children around 11pm, and I still wasn't even sure if they'd keep me if we went in.  I need to learn that when I'm in denial, that's a sure sign it's the real thing.  We got to the BirthCare Center at midnight, and he was born just two hours later.  It was intense but good, I am so blest.  We were able to go home that evening and are slowly but surely settling into life as a family of five.  Here are some pics of our sweet little guy...we love him sooooo much!!

Our family of FIVE!

Meeting brother and sis for the first time!

She is captivated by him!

Brand new baby boy

Dressed and ready to head home

First day at home

Sis and bro

BROTHERS!!!!

Cute cloth diapers . . . and a sleepy little smile!!

Two days old, awake and alert

The magnet

After enduring massive amounts of ridiculously annoying fighting ... daily ... over whose turn it was to blow out the candle after prayers, I have found a solution.  The magnet.  I have a "G" and a "K" magnet, and whichever magnet is on the side of the fridge denotes whose turn it is, and I switch them out each day/time we light the candle.  This has cut down on every last shred of fighting, believe it or not.  I guess it's hard to argue with a magnet.  At any rate, I am pleased that our prayer-time now ends a bit more peacefully than before. 

News beds, "new" room, fun times!

A few months before Kolbe was born, we moved Gemma to her "big girl" room with a queen bed and she has been there ever since.  It was a nice arrangement as Aaron or I could easily and comfortably "co-sleep" with her in her own bed if she needed us.  This fall we converted Kolbe's crib to a toddler bed and he has been sleeping there part of the night and with us in our bed the rest of the night since then.  We knew that with the impending arrival of our newest wee-one the sleeping situation would probably have to change a bit.  After realizing that Gemma and Kolbe sharing a bed was not in the cards (believe me. NOT an option.) we decided to get bunk beds and assemble them as two twins.  It was actually cheaper than buying two twin beds, mattresses, box springs etc., and this will give us the option for bunk beds in the future if that ever becomes necessary.  Our beds came last week and we got them assembled (in "Gemma's" room) and have been working on transitioning the kids to the same room and transitioning Kolbe out of our bed.  It has surprisingly been going pretty well.  Gemma -- our oh-great-resistant-to-change one (no idea where she gets it) -- has handled it fairly well all things considered.  She's a bit needier than usual at bedtime but she likes her new "owl bed" a lot and I know she'll be fine once she gets in the groove of the new routine.  And Kolbe has been a champ; he's so proud of his "ball-ball" bed, it's adorable.  He's still waking up some during the night, but instead of coming in bed with us I just go in and lay with him until he goes back to sleep which works, and he's actually slept through the night the past few nights!!!  The main issue is Kolbe usually gets restless around 6:45am (their typical wake-up time is around 8:00).  If I'm able to settle him back in and Gemma doesn't get "too" awake, it works.  If they're both up early, that makes for a, how shall we say, quite grumpy interesting morning.  Oh well.  We'll weather this change just like we'll weather all the other changes on the horizon for our family.  And a funny story to share...Gemma tells me (very emphatically) after their first night in the same room, "Mommy, Kolbe got OUT of his bed for one minute!!" (This coming from the girl who will not leave her bed until you physically go in her room and tell her it's time to get up.)  I asked her what she did and she replied, "I told him to get back in bed and then counted to three and he did."  Kolbe's so lucky to have such a bossy good big sister. (haha!)  Here are a few pics of the "new" room.

Gemma and Kolbe's beds

"ART" they made for their wall together

 BEDTIME!!

A few Kolbe "cutes"

An impromptu, early evening nap on the couch after not much of a nap earlier in the afternoon.

Kolbe with his baby.  He is so very sweet with "beebee" (until he decides he's done and throws her, quite emphatically, back in his bed), it makes me smile watching him.  Gemma was kind enough to loan him her doll-stroller.

Helping me load the wash machine.  And yes, if you're the observant type, our laundry-room walls are two different colors.  One of those projects that is just halfway done (due to the fact that the washer and dryer will need moved to complete it, and I'm not much help in that department).  Hopefully in the next month or so.... 

With Gemma and their "prizes".  Gemma went to the dentist, and came home with a prize for herself and one she had thoughtfully picked for her brother (upon her request).  Another "mama-smile" moment...a silver lining among many moments that are not so smiley.  ;-D

How does she do it?

Seriously, he won't do this for me at real bedtime, yet he will lay on the floor without moving a muscle for really quite amazing amounts of time under Gemma's command when they "play bedtime".  I wish she'd let me in on her secret!!  Maybe I should just have her start putting him to bed at night...

Tails

Here are the kids running around the living room like wild banshees with their "tails" (our playsilks).  I never cease to be amazed at the many creative ways they find to play with these simple pieces of material.

The Fathers

When we were at Mass a few Sundays ago, Gemma noticed how our celebrant (who happened to be the associate pastor Fr. M.) was wearing green, but then when our pastor Fr. O. came up to the altar to help distribute Communion, he was wearing white.  I told her a little bit about why and didn't think much more of it.  Later that week I was folding laundry and Gemma asked to try one of her daddy's shirts on.  She does this often.  Then she asked me to put one on Kolbe so I did.  She looked at him and then down at herself (apparently she had never really thought about how she looked) and exclaimed, "look mommy! we look like Fathers!"  Then she wanted me to get a green shirt for her so she could be Fr. M. and Kolbe could be Fr. O in his white shirt.  It was pretty cute.  I shared this story (and picture) with Fr. M. later that week and he got quite a kick out of it.  Here they are all dressed up.

"The Fathers"

Laundry day

Gemma and Kolbe have started "helping" with their laundry on laundry day.  I'm not sure how this got started, but usually when I do their wash Gemma will bring out the stepstool and Kolbe will sit on the floor and hand the laundry up to her to throw it in the washer.  It's very cute...and actually helpful, even if it does take them 20 minutes to load the washer!!

Bucket-heads

Didn't I just do a post like this a few weeks ago?

Silliness

It's always the oddest items that are the most entertaining.

Picnic

I let the children have a picnic in the basement for lunch the other day.  Gemma thought it was a pretty sweet deal, I crossed my fingers that she wouldn't then want to do it every day (so far so good).  It was fun!!  Here they are sitting at their little table.  Yes, Kolbe is wearing a green bead necklace.  Gemma has been very insistent lately that everyone wear necklaces that match their clothes.  Even Koble and daddy.  They are good sports.  ;-D

Further proof of the necklaces!!

Then Gemma had an "ondea" as she called it, that they eat at the trampoline instead of the table.  That worked, um, marginally well.  We all had fun though, and there really wasn't much of a mess so no complaints from any party.  I like days when lunch goes well. :-)