Lucky

I love it when Jacob makes me smile without even trying.  This was for his homework assignment. 
The question reads,
"Have you ever felt lucky before?  Tell me a time that you felt lucky."

His response..

"every day becus Im the oldist"

Apparently he really treasures his title of "The Oldest" in our family.  He certainly fits into that role perfectly.   He is just the right combination of bossy, leader, good example, sweet to his brothers, a touch self-centered, always right, know-it-all & tease.  Not to mention he is a very forgiving guinea pig to us parents who are continually learning through him. 
The other kids will never have it as hard as he did. 
Poor Jacob. 
It's a relief that he treasures this role, and all the
(un)fortunate consequences it brings!

Jacob has become very talented at expressing himself through his words & drawings.  It is common for him to bring me a note like this when he is VERY upset.  I love that he channels his anguish into art.

It makes me smile!

They say you shouldn't cry over spilled milk, but sometimes it's all I can do not to cry over it.  Particularly on a hard day when my stress level is near it's peak.  This happens every day between the hours of 5 p.m. and bedtime.  Between dinner, baths & getting kids to bed, this is not the best time for a spill of any type of liquid to happen. 

On a more positive note, at least I didn't have to soak it up from the blue carpet that used to cover our kitchen floors.  Hooray!!!

The Fastest Year Ever!

Adam turned 1 on Tuesday, December 13th. I can't believe how quick that year flew by!  We've had such a fun year watching him grow and learn new things and just getting to know him.  He is such a sweet and happy boy, even though he is my worst sleeper.  I used to tell Trevor, "he is the happiest baby who never slept."  He is ALWAYS happy! 

 As I put him to bed the night before his birthday, I put these pajamas on him.  Only afterward, I realized these are the same pajamas that Jacob wore on his first birthday.

Jacob, November 8, 2005

Hunter, June 14, 2008

I couldn't put Jacob's 1st birthday picture here without including Hunter's. 

When Adam was born and for the first few months, we all thought he looked just like Jacob.  But now, funny enough, he looks more and more like Hunter.

Luckily, one year olds don't have high birthday expectations. 

The entire day was rainy and wet. 

We went to Jacob's Christmas program at his school during the day. 

Then we came home and Nauni stopped by to give Adam his present.

We saved his birthday present until Jacob could be there.  Adam didn't mind.  He didn't really know what to do with it.  Luckily he has two older brothers who know exactly what to do with a wrapped package and they were willing to help.

Jacob & Hunter have been enjoying Adam's new birthday toy.  I told them now I know what to tell Santa to bring them for Christmas..baby toys!  It gets them all riled up.  Hee hee.

After a long nap, I finally had to go wake him up so we could go eat dinner at Chili's.  We ended up running into my mom & sister there.  It was fun to see them, but they had already finished eating so they didn't stay long.

Even though it was so late by the time we got home, I insisted we do a birthday cupcake for Adam.  He was really excited about the flame.  Trevor tried to teach him how to blow it out, but he ended up doing it for him.  I'm sure he'll have it down by next year.

Adam's face says it all.  He was so disgusted with his cupcake.  He kept getting it on his fingers and then shaking his hand.  We had frosting flying everywhere, and at one point, it even landed in his hair. 

I tried to give him a taste, sure that he would enjoy it once he knew what it tasted like, but even after that taste, he wanted nothing to do with it.  I'm not sure what to say about that, except he must have inherited his father's indifference to sweets and baked goods. 

It definitely didn't come from me!

All About Adam:

He loves playing with his brothers.  He loves to climb on Jacob and pull his hair.  Jacob doesn't mind and actually enjoys it.  It is a problem though when he goes to pull other people's hair who do mind!

He LOVES shoes!  Every day he can be found with a shoe or two on his arms.  If we are lucky, those shoes will be found easily when it's time to wear them.

He loves to play in the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom.  The mess is getting out of control as he empties them out one by one.  I have locked all of the ones I can!

When it's time to put Jacob & Hunter to bed, he will make kissing noises as we leave the room since I do the same when I am saying good night to them.

He is still waking up every night.  He has only slept all the way through one or two.  At least he goes back to sleep after a bottle (most of the time).  

He can say "Hi" "Dada" (although I'm not sure if he really means Dada or if it's just baby babble) and "Shoe".

  

Happy 1st Birthday Adam!  We love you!!! 

Haircuts (Much Needed)

Hunter's hair was getting a little out of control.

It almost qualified as a shameful mullet. I'm pretty sure I could wrap a ponytail around that bad boy.

We have been really lazy about getting his hair cut. When it was combed it didn't look that bad, so we procrastinated as long as possible. 

Tah-Dah!! He is acceptable-looking again!

Adam has needed a big boy haircut for a while. His hair was starting to lay over the top of his ears. He has had one haircut in his life and that was just a small trim.

Check out this big boy! It's so funny how a simple haircut will make a baby look so much older! He did so great sitting still! We were nervous about what kind of results we would get, but he did so well that it turned out great!

Then there's Jacob. He is the BIGGEST baby when it comes to getting his hair cut. He has the most sensitive nose and any time a hair touches it, he goes crazy.

Thankfully, he is all smiles again when the deed is done.

I pretty much have the best-looking kids ever.

Another Lost Tooth

I have been talking about Adam a lot lately. It's time to include the other boys!

Jacob lost another tooth. They are dropping like flies. This is his 4th. He was wiggling it religiously, when he was finally rewarded. He said he hoped the Tooth Fairy would bring him $5. The most he has ever received is $2, which I think is very generous. I found a piece of paper with some questions about the Tooth Fairy that Jacob asked me after one of his teeth were lost.

"Have you met the Tooth Fairy before?"

"Have you seen her?"

"Are you lying?" (Thankfully I answered "no" to both of the above questions so I could feel truthful)

"Do you know her phone number?"

"How does she know when to come?"

"I think she builds a tooth castle with all those teeth."

I am just glad the teeth being lost are hidden on the bottom. I'm not ready to see his toothless grin yet. He seems to be getting very old, very quickly all of a sudden. Even his pants are getting shorter faster. He's already talking about how he's almost 8 (in 11 months). We used to punish him by making him sleep downstairs when he & Hunter wouldn't calm down and go to sleep at bedtime. Now he enjoys sleeping in "his room" downstairs and keeps asking when I'm going to move all my decorations out of there so it can be his room.

People tell me all the time that kids grow so fast. At first when they would tell me that, I would think, not really. I remember Jacob's first few years feeling like forever! Now all of a sudden, years are whizzing by like nothing. I think time goes faster the more kids you have.

Hunter told me recently that one of his teeth is loose. I felt dread set in. Stop growing please!!

Shoe Bandit

I'm not sure where the bulk of my day goes that I don't have time to do anything, but I am sure that it is not into my blog. I keep thinking that someday, I'll be on top of everything again, even though anytime in the near future is looking very bleak.

Here is one of the main reasons I can't seem to stay on top of things:

This here is our Shoe Bandit. He wears shoes on his hands and arms. No shoe is safe. If we are lucky, the pair will be found in the same vicinity. Sometimes, we aren't so lucky and shoes go missing for days. Not only does he snatch shoes that are randomly laying on the floor, he will actually seek out shoes in my closet to enjoy. This is one of the downsides to having so many pairs of shoes.

His new hobby is not just limited to shoes. It is basically, anything he can get a hold of. For example, I frequently find oven mitts in random places, like the bedrooms. I find it hilarious that he can get it on his own hand and that it appears he knows that is what they are for. Other things that have been relocated or gone missing: Tupperware containers, diaper cream, teething gel, hand sanitizer, granola bars and most recently, his one lone binky. I found that one inside Jacob's shoe tonight, thankfully. I really need to invest in a backup or two. I feel like each day, he starts at one end of the house gathering items, then he transports those items to the other end of the house where they are dropped and discarded. Then he picks up new items and transports them to the opposite end of the house. It is pretty frustrating to try and clean, only to notice that less than an hour later, we are right back in the same mess. Now I am beginning to understand where all my time goes.