First week of school

Ok, it's Thursday night and we are ready to wrap up the first week of school. Both of the kids really like their teachers. Logan has been doing really well this week. He has been doing his work quietly and trying to earn points for his table. In fact, he earned some points on his own today even though the rest of his table wasn't being quiet. I'm very proud of him for the way he has been listening to the teacher and making an effort. The first day of school, they wrote letters to their family about their day. Logan's was printed so neatly that when I saw it, I asked him if he wrote it himself. He said that he did and that he had tried his very best. It certainly was the best writing he had ever done. We've talked about how much happier it feels to be in a good mood and to listen and I hope it's really sinking in. I know four days isn't a whole year, but I'll take each good day I can get.

Rowen loves going to school. She has already found a couple of girls to be friends with. They hugged each other this morning when they saw each other by the gate. Girls are such ... girls. She loves her teacher and is having a great time. She has started really caring about coloring nicely and staying in the lines. It's fun to see her and to imagine where she'll be at the end of the year. On the second day of school, which was the first day she was actually going to go to class by herself, I was taking her picture (again). She asked me why I was taking pictures again on the second day. I told her it was because it was the first day she was going to go to school without mommy. She immediately turned to me and said, "Well, Mommy, we've already seen each other a lot today." It was 10:15 in the morning. She sure was ready for school. I can't wait to start volunteering in her class so that I can have the chance to see her during school.


Logan trying on his sweatshirt before school. (In the end he didn't want to wear it because he says it's too big. He doesn't like the sleeves being long.)



Ready to head on out to the car.


Standing in line waiting for the bell to ring. This is the third year in a row that Logan is in class with Alexis and Ariana.




Rowen in front of the school. It was much less crowded when it was time for the late bird orientation.



First day of school and Rowen is already trying to be in front. I hope she doesn't bossing kids around at school like she tries to do at home with Logan.



Rowen and Dutch waiting on the rug for orientation to start. All the kids seem really nice, it's going to be a good year.

Kid Pics

So, here are some new(er) pics of the kids. Wow, I didn't realize I haven't put any pics of the kids up since Maddoc was a month old.


These are the kids pictures from Easter. I don't know if there's a baby alive who has been kissed more than Maddoc. I usually have to limit Rowen's kisses, otherwise she is constantly smothering him.










Rowen is turning into more of a girl. She likes girly things now, although she does still like Star Wars and Scooby Doo.


And if anyone was wondering if Logan still has his "Logan days", here's your answer.



Here they are again. They're so sweet.


Here are some pics of Logan playing T-Ball. The second half of the season, they hit without the tee. Logan did pretty well.



Here he is trying to throw the ball to first base. His team didn't get a single out for the first three games. We told Logan that we would give him $5 for every out he got. He got two outs himself the very next game. And he sure didn't forget about what we had said. He immediately started jumping up and down and yelling, "Dad, you owe me $5!" All the parents laughed.


This is how Logan usually paid attention during the games. Hopping around dancing on the bases.



Maddoc loved being outside during the games. It was usually the only time he spent outside. Logan's first practice was when Maddoc was 12 days old.

Rowen's favorite thing to do during Logan's games was to run around and then pose for pictures. I guess that was her way of making sure she got her picture taken too.

Maddoc and Food

So, Maddoc and food are not getting along. It seemed so easy at first. He ate rice cereal for 10 days with no problems. All seemed well. So I tried to give him some peas, using the old guidelines to give babies green vegetables before sweeter foods so that they won't reject them later. It worked with both my other kids, so it made sense. Well, he ate them on Saturday evening and then again on Sunday during church (thanks to Melissa for feeding him while I taught my lesson). Then he had rice cereal also on Sunday at my mom's house. We were all there for my birthday dinner. He ate his food down no problem. We were all getting in the car to go home, at about 8pm, when he started throwing up. He has hardly ever spit up, and he was throwing up. A lot. We waited until he stopped, then we drove home, with me sitting next to him. He fell asleep in the car. 30 seconds after we got home, he started throwing up again. He threw up a few times until about 9pm. Finally at 10pm, he was hungry, so I nursed him and he went to sleep and slept all night. Monday he was fine. We didn't give him any food, and he didn't throw up. Tuesday afternoon I tried to give him sweet potatoes. He didn't really seem interested in eating. And then all night he threw up again. And unfortunately I had nursed him about an hour or so after eating, so he threw up a lot. So for the rest of the week, I just nursed him. He loves to drink water. He goes crazy for tiny pieces of ice. And he was fine. So I thought it should be safe to go back to rice cereal, since he had eaten that with no problem before. I tried feeding him yesterday evening, but again, he didn't seem like he cared about eating, so after about 5-6 bites, I gave up. An hour later, he was hungry and I nursed him. So of course, he threw up last night. From about 8:30 to 9:30, he threw up four times. And it's awful, because he starts dry heaving and has nothing left to throw up. Rowen is the same when she gets sick. She'll throw up every 15-20 minutes for hours, even though she has nothing to throw up.

Anyway, Maddoc has his six month check up this week, so I'm just waiting until then to talk to the doctor. I hope there's something we can do for his stomach and also for his excema. He has still gained weight, but not very much the last couple of months. He should be right on pace to hit about 20 pounds at age 1. He really is just a blend of the other two kids. He's not as small as Rowen, but he's not as big as Logan.

As a good thing, he did get a new tooth. It broke through on Friday. One of his bottom front teeth. He's still drooling like crazy, though. I hope he'll just get the other bottom tooth and then maybe his drooling will cut down.

One more week until the kids start school. I can't believe it. I'm disappointed the school got rid of the kindergarten orientation. I'm sure it's because of budget cuts, but I can't believe it cost that much to have the parents and kids meet the teachers and walk around the class room for an hour. Oh well. And only four more days until we find out what teachers they got. I hope Rowen gets the new kindergarten teacher and that Logan gets the combo class. I think that's what is going to happen, but we'll have to see.

So, this week, we're just getting ready for school. A couple of more things to buy and I think we're all ready. Then it will be interesting to see how it is to be at home with just a small baby. I'll have to figure out a way to make sure my days aren't filled with a whole lot of nothing. It would be nice if they were filled with more house cleaning, or some yard work.

Fondue night tonight

So, it's fondue night tonight for my birthday. If I choose to do fondue a couple time more, it might start turning into a habit, but it did sound good, and it's been a couple of years, at least. I guess it came down to cook, or throw out the pot. And of course there are a million things to do today, like go shopping at three different store for tonight's supplies (because we spent the day swimming instead of shopping yesterday) and clean the house, shower, get the kids bathed, bake a cake and slice fruit. But I've got a whole 6 hours to get ready, so plenty of time, right. Most likely, not, but I'm sure all our friends are used to it by now. If not, they probably would have stopped being our friends a long time ago.

I was trying to get the gluten-free cake in the oven early (which by the couple of licks I took from the bowl, will probably go mostly uneaten tonight. Note to self, just because a company makes a decent chocolate chip cookie mix, doesn't mean their chocolate cake mix is tolerable), so it could bake while we all take showers. Maddoc was getting hungry and upset. I'm going to have to start strapping him into his blue bouncy chair, because he finally got so angry he bounced himself onto his stomach on the kitchen floor. And he wasn't any happier once he got there either. So, with the cake in the oven and one kid showered, I decided to feed Maddoc and actually write another post. Not because there's anything exciting going on (although Logan is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mr. Moustachio tonight), but because I thought of doing it and it's actually getting done.

Rowen made it through 10 nights in a row of waking up dry and so she got to wear panties last night to bed. She is so excited and the timing is perfect with kindergarten starting in a couple of weeks. I can't believe my little girl is going off to school. She loves to write us notes. She spells most of the words correctly (she mainly sticks to notes about how much she loves her family). She always writes To Mom and Dad and From Rowen on them. Last night we were watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I know it's a little dark, but the kids know the story line from playing the lego video game and we've talked about what happened, so we've been watching the series with them. After Cedric died, Rowen got up off my lap and went over by the computer. A couple of minutes later, she came back with a note.


She just needed a couple of hugs and I reminded her how it's just a movie and it was all pretend. She watched the remainder of the movie with us. After it was over, she jumped off my lap and came back with another note.


She's a funny girl. There's no middle ground with her. And what's funny about the movie is that it's usually Logan who gets sad and cries, while Rowen just watches the movie and wiggles around. But last night it was Rowen.

Well, time to get another kid in the shower and start running errands. The cake is done baking. It looks ok for now, but we'll see how it tastes later. I'm sure myself and a few of the kids will be the only one doing the tasting. Actually, Jenn might taste it. Steve won't even come close to it. That's ok.

Maybe this is why it's so hard to get myself to post. I ramble on and on. I need to learn how to post in five minutes, and to just write something quick and easy. Another day.

Time flies

Ok, so I tried to make myself a new rule a week or two ago that I would blog on Thursdays and Sundays. So here I am on a Wednesday, finally starting a new post. And of course, Maddoc wakes up after I type the second sentence. This has been a slow and lazy summer. The time seems to go in slow motion sometimes, and yet it also zooms by so fast. Maddoc will be 6 months old tomorrow, Rowen starts kindergarten in less than 3 weeks and Logan will be baptized in less than a year. It's amazing.

We went on a couple of really fun trips. We went to Lake Tahoe and Davis in June and then we went camping at the beach in July. Lake Tahoe was great. We all went parasailing, which was a blast. Rowen, of course, loved it. My mom went with Logan and she said he wanted down at first, but she got him to calm down, and by the time he came back to the boat, he said he really liked it too. We also went jet skiing and hiking. The house we rented had a hot tub, so the kids wanted to go in the hot tub almost every night. It was fun being with family and playing games and watching the world cup soccer games together. The last second win against Algeria had us all yelling and screaming. It was a great feeling.

We figured since we were so close, we should stop by and see the Fullmers again. It's always so much fun to hang out with them. Their kids are adorable. And all the kids had a great time playing together. Within a couple of hours, we could hear them talking in the other room about how great it would be if we all lived together and they could play together every day. And now Rowen likes to wear her new bows in her hair and talks about her friends that gave her the pretty bows. We would love to live closer to the Fullmers, which is probably why we end up going to visit them almost every year.

Maddoc is my sweet little love bug. Rowen is constantly trying to kiss and hug him. He brightens up whenever he sees her. And Logan loves to help him and hold him when he's being fussy because I'm busy. I hope they all end up as close as they are now. I'm sure they'll be some rough years when they're all teenagers, but I hope they at least get past them and end up friends. I love my siblings now. I hope they have the same experience.

Maddoc loves his feet. His toes are so long, it's easy for him to hold onto his toes. Every time he's asleep in another room, when I hear him waking up, by the time I get into the room, he's holding his feet. But other than that, he's the laziest baby ever. He can roll over, he's done it over a dozen times, but he'll only do it a couple of times a week. Most of the time, when I lay him on his stomach, he looks around for a minute or two, and then just puts his head down and rests. He does like to sit up, but he always tips over after a few seconds. He's just mellow and as long as he's on my lap, he's happy. This week he's really into watching his fingers wiggle and he likes to hit and scratch my arms. I have to trim his fingernails once or twice a week. His favorite song right now is Kookabura. He starts smiling as soon as the kids or I start singing it.

Well, I guess it's time to feed the kids and start moving this morning. The car is in the shop, so it's easy to just sit around this morning, since we can't leave the house anyway. But hey, I finally got a blog post in, so that's one thing off my list.

Shopping with 3 kids at Costco

Costco is the only place that I usually don't feel too overwhelmed in taking multiple kids. Hey, being outnumbered 3 to 1 now, I choose my errands based on Logan's school schedule. But Costco has great parenting tools. Buying the hot dog and soda is the best way ever to spend $1.65 including tax. Ok, so when I have Logan and Rowen and Maddoc (the extra and gives away how I really feel about going with all three kids), it costs $3.30, but it's still worth it. The kids each eat their hot dog (and yes, my now 35 pound blondie can put away the entire hot dog most of the time), and I get to sneak sips of their soda. Rowen sits calmly in the front of the cart and Logan walks and is too distrustful of Mommy to let his precious Sprite/Pink Lemonade mix out of sight. Which means I don't have to quietly yell "Logan, get back here" every 1.8 minutes for an hour. Point Mommy.

So the kids and I all go to Costco yesterday. But it was after school, really hot, and we only needed a few items, so instead of the hot dog and soda trick, I used the "let's all split a frozen yogurt" number. It works similar to the hot dog/soda trick, but it allows both kids to walk, since neither of them wants to lose their spot in the bite rotation. Cause with Mommy holding the yogurt, if you aren't there when it's your bite, you forfeit that round to Mommy, no matter who's next in line. Anyway, we're almost to the cash registers, and we're walking down our last aisle, and Logan is behind me and says "Hey, you're fat". And I know this is entirely my fault by talking to Maddoc and telling him that it's his fault I can't fit into my clothes anymore. But I turn around and gasp and give him my "What did you say?" face that is not totally serious because I know he's actually just teasing me and doesn't mean anything by it. And he says "No, I just mean your bum." I don't know what made that seem like a better option in his mind, but it just made me laugh.

And speaking of my kids and how they make me laugh, Rowen ends almost everything she says with the word "right". But with her inability to correctly pronounce r's and with the inflection she uses, she sounds like she's trying to be Rosie Perez. So every time she says it now, I just picture her with huge silver hoop earrings that go all the way to her shoulders. "Mommy, we're going to the park, right?" and "Mommy, after Maddoc falls asleep, I can have a drink, right?" It's cute and annoying at the same time.

Even Maddoc is getting in on it. He stayed in his car seat facing me at Logan's T-ball game today for an hour. And I swear, 3 times I yelled at Logan to pay attention in the outfield, and every time I did, Maddoc started laughing. Which is usually the opposite, because whenever I'm holding him, if I yell, he starts crying. I think Maddoc is going to be a little snitch on his older brother and sister and he's going to enjoy it. He's going to play the pesky baby brother part very well. It's not like he has a lot of options. There's a bigger gap between him and Rowen than Rowen and Logan. It'll be the only method of retaliation or blackmail he'll have.

Wow, time flies when you're not holding a baby. It's definitely time for sleep. Good night.

Being sick is no fun

Well, I seem to have made it through the weekend. Having a sore throat, ear infection and a two day fever all at the same time is not fun. And not only do I feel like I aged 10 years, but my daughter has called me Grandma every time she has spoken to me today. And she doesn't even realize it and correct herself. She just keeps calling me Grandma. Instead of packing the kids off next time I get sick, I think I'll just stick it out. I think I'm getting too close to 40, I'm getting sensitive about my age. But I really do appreciate everything my mom did for me this weekend. I'm sure Steve appreciated it too.

My mom is excited about a new blog she's been doing. She started it a month ago. It's funny. She's a good writer. It's http://www.punnyponderings.com/. for anyone who feels like checking it out.

Anyway, this is the first time Maddoc has let me put him down all day. And he didn't even take his usual afternoon 3 hour nap. At least he doesn't still have his day and night confused. He's a great sleeper at night. He's a good kid, but I'm worn out. I should go to sleep. I just felt like writing a post that wasn't trying to catch up on last year or on anything at all. Just to write a pointless post on nothing. Believe me, it sounds much less productive than it is.

So serious... all grown up at 1 month old....



Maddoc loves hanging out with his big sis Rowen in the morning... that's when he smiles the most.



No shirt can cover up Maddoc's big belly.

Here's Maddoc at 8 days old.




Logan and Rowen love their new baby brother!!

They can't wait until he can play with them!

Baby Maddoc

Ok, so Maddoc is 10 weeks old, and he's finally making his first appearance on the family blog. Mom really needs to get in gear.

I went in to get induced on Friday morning, February 12th. I felt confident that everything would go quickly and smoothly. I was right, if you don't count the first 12 hours of labor. After that, everything went very quickly. My mom almost didn't get to see Maddoc being born because once things kicked in, they went very fast. It took 11 1/2 hours to dilate from a 1 1/2 to a four, and then only 1 1/2 hours to dilate from a 4 to a 7 and then 20 minutes from a 7 to a 10. The epidural wore off, but I handled it much better than I did when it wore off with Logan. No yelling or getting mad at anybody was involved. I had to work a little to get this one out, about 10 minutes of pushing. Not a lot, but more than the 1/2 a push that I had to do with Rowen. He was born at 10:59 pm on Friday, February 12th. He weighed 8lbs. 9oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. I think he may have been longer, because at his 2 week checkup he measured 22 3/4 inches, and I double checked him at home and he really was that long. It seems like a lot to have grown in 2 weeks.

He cried for the first 45 minutes after he was born, then nursed for nearly an hour, then pretty much did nothing but sleep for the next 36 hours. He didn't lose very much weight, only about 5 oz., so nobody was worried that he wasn't eating. He kept spitting up, his tummy was full of bubbly gunky stuff, so he just wasn't hungry until he got that all out.

We didn't have a first name picked out when he was born, so he was Baby Brown for a day. He definitely seems like a Maddoc to me. The middle name was always going to be Aaron (or Erin if it had been a girl), so by Saturday, he was Maddoc Aaron Brown.

He's a really good sleeper, as long as he's being held. It's good and bad, having a baby that's clingy. He's so snuggly, and I love feeling him close to me. But it is frustrating when there are other things to do and he wakes up 2 minutes after I put him down, when I know he's ready for a good long nap. But he really is good, he hardly is fussy or cries. And he's very alert and loves to watch people walking all around. He loves to smile and is learning to giggle. Rowen and Logan love him very much. I couldn't ask for them to be any better with him than they are. And they are both such good helpers. They'll do anything for me if it has to do with Maddoc. And they don't complain at all. Our family is complete and it feels wonderful. The human heart is amazing. It just keeps growing and growing. I love my family so much.