A challenge in parenting

So I've been told that as a parent, you need to be prepared to tell your children the same things over and over to the extent that it seems like a thousand times only to find out that your children need to hear it a thousand and one times, right? Well, Nathaniel, my sweetheart is a constant negotiator..."Mom, can I have a cookie?" "Sure, you may have one cookie." "Can I have two?" That's a simple example of his daily routine, regardless of what we're talking about - books, minutes to wait, etc. Well, some days this can really wear you down. Sometimes you just want an easy, "OK, Mom, sounds great!" Yesterday, he was in his negotiating mood most of the day. Shortly before dinner, I ended up saying, "Nathaniel, when do you think you can be happy with what Mom says versus always wanting something different? Can we just go with what Mom says? When can we do that?"
His response, with a serious face & tone, "Tomorrow."
Is that a bit like Wimpy from Popeye...I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today?
Anyway, he's a wonderful boy who may end up in sales someday for all I know?! I love him!

Full of Love

It seems we've all been very loving lately & telling each other we love one another. My most recent enjoyment is between Leyton & I. We have a book called I Love You So, and in the book, the parent says to the child, "I love you." The child replies, "How much?"
"So much."
"How much is so?"
"Way way more than you know."
Well Leyton & I have usually said, "I love you so much." Lately, though, he's been telling me, "Mommy, I love you." I respond that I love him also, and he says, "Mommy, I love you way way more than you know." It's the sweetest thing to hear and I tell him the same and thank you along with a big hug. I don't think I could have that happen too many times!

More New Pics of Leah

She did a great job with these today. I think she resembles Jacob & maybe a little of Leyton. It's neat that in some I see myself and in others, I definitely see Patrick.

Princes into Kings

Occasionally we all joke around and say that Dad is the King of the household, Mom the Queen, the boys are princes & Leah is a princess. Yesterday during the discussion, the big boys asked if they could someday be kings and be the head of the household. I said sure and that at that time, they would probably have their own houses to run and wouldn't be living with us anymore. Nathaniel said he wanted to be king of our current home and Leyton, with a bit of fear in his face said that he wants to always live with us. "Can I Mommy, can I live with you when I'm big and want to be king?" I said sure. Obviously we expect they'll move out someday, but maybe when I'm a mom not feeling ready to let go, I can remind them of this day when they were sure they'd never want to go?!

Jacob's 2nd Birthday Pictures

I realize they're a bit out of sequence, but that's ok. These are from his birthday in December. He had a good day I think.

Big Boys' Birthday Celebration

So I've already talked about the birthday, but here are just a couple pictures...hard to tell much, huh? Well, I just put the cakes for now & JACOB enjoying one of the sundaes the big boys got at Red Robin when the staff came out to sing. He enjoyed it THOROUGHLY. And if you drop your spoon & are waiting for a clean one, no problem, just start drinking. Fun was had by all. Leyton's firetruck cake had a bit of adjustment on the "L" at the bottom by the guy enjoying the sundae!

Little Leah is 3 months old

Here are a few recent pictures of Miss Leah. I can't believe she's already 3 months old! I have been thinking this week that she's changed a lot in the past few days. She's cooing so much and smiling all the time (well, other than when she gets a little more love from her big brothers than she can handle?!). She has slept well most of this week...going down around 9 & waking around 2:30-3am, then again around 5-6am. That's pretty good in my house for that age. However, as I have told my mom & mother-in-law this in the past couple days, she decided she'd go back to waking more last night...we'll see about tonight. I am thinking she's resembling Jacob at this age. We have some pics of him at 3 months and there is a lot of similarity. She is such a joy. It's a lot of fun seeing her personality come out more. I also think she'll roll from back to belly any day. She'll kick up & get on her side & almost get it. I'm not sure if she'll like it, though; she's not a huge fan of tummy time. She also just kicks a lot in general. You lay her on the floor & a few minutes later she's all turned around & moved from where you put her. What a cutie pie.

First Day Back

Well, I (& everyone) survived the first day of work...no crying even! Amazing. And Christine, the young lady we have coming over to watch the clan even said it was a great day. Thank you, God! Hopefully each day will be the same!

The boys waved to me this morning as I left (running late as usual) & told me they loved me & they'd miss me. They asked if I'd be helping sick people get their medicine at Jayhawk hospital. I told them I would and I guess that was enough for them. When I got home they all told me they loved me and that they missed me. We're looking forward to the weekend!

Back to Work

Well, tomorrow (Friday) is the big day. I'll be back to work. At this point I'm looking at about one day a week. I'm not thrilled, yet I'm reminding myself...it's one day, one 8 hour day, 9 with driving. Hopefully it will go smoothly & quickly. I'm the Nutrition pharmacist tomorrow. It'll be interesting though as I've not done this shift since August and since then we've also changed the entire computer system used for all pharmacy & lab related data. Hope I can find my way around! We'll also have rounds, so I'm not sure I'll have a lot of input, but I guess you have to start somewhere, right? Usually, this shift monitors anywhere from 1 to 4 patients on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) & we evaluate & write orders for the TPN. It's interesting & will be a good way to get back into the groove I suppose. Wish me luck!

SLEEP please?

Whew, we've made it through quite a stretch. You know sometimes how you look at Jan./Feb. and think, wow, there's nothing to do? I can't wait for that! I have realized that since Leah was born in Oct., we headed into Thanksgiving, baptism, Ben's wedding, Jacob's birthday, Christmas, our anniversary (we had a nice one! 1/3 was our tenth! Dinner at home that night, but dinner out to McCormick & Schmick's was last Friday night with Grandma Sally & Grandma Dan babysitting & having lots of fun), then Leyton & Nathaniel's birthday. Top it off with not much sleep and there I am. Hopefully more rest soon...speaking of which, good night!

Happy Birthday, Leyton & Nathaniel (1/7)

What a day! We had a great one on Monday. I'm starting to realize how tired these birthdays can make me! We weren't planning a party or anything, but late last week, the boys thought it would be fun to have some neighborhood friends over on their birthday for pancake breakfast. The weekend was spent cleaning house & running errands getting things taken care of for the day. Yesterday morning, we had 11 neighborhood boys & 2 baby girls at the house for the event along with the moms. The kids ate & played & the moms were able to eat pancakes, too, & have some good conversation and a cup of coffee. It was a lot of fun and all the kids seemed to enjoy it, too.

We went to dinner at Red Robin and then we came home for presents & cake. Oh, that reminds me, Sunday afternoon/evening/night was also spent working on cakes for the birthday boys. Nathaniel had a tractor, Leyton a fire truck. They turned out cute. Then last night, I did cupcakes for Leyton for school (Nathaniel will take them next week), and then I had to finish up his "Star of the Week" poster for school as well. Last night was a late one too...I'm tired!

But, it is hard to believe the boys are four already. I guess birthdays are a good time to reflect on that and how they've changed in the past year. They are just so much fun and really growing in their thoughts and actions. It amazes me sometimes the relationships they draw from a situation without discussing each step of the process. They also seem to pick up on things very quickly - especially songs. Nathaniel just loves to help with projects involving tools and is definitely a rascal; a creative one, too. Leyton seems like he's older sometimes just because of the maturity he shows with helping out and keeping peace in the house. He is very sweet when he talks to Leah in such a sweet and soft voice. He can always make her smile and that makes me smile. Time sure does fly, though. It's just so strange to think how it doesn't seem long ago that they were our little preemie babies. Life is good and we are blessed.

Jacob's Quotable Quotes

Jacob's vocabulary continues to expand. Interestingly, the past week has involved a couple things that he hadn't been doing/saying before.

• Counting more & more; not that he knows what the numbers mean, but he'll count at least to 8, sometimes 10
• "GUP" = "Get up". He says this one with much gusto. It's especially nice when he wakes up at 5am and wants a drink..."GUP Dad! milk, please." It's usually said when he's really wanting you to move. Sometimes it better received than others.
• "I four." Leyton & Nathaniel's birthday was yesterday, they turned 4. Well, Jacob just wants to be big. Yesterday I was feeling kind of bad for him. I think he felt left out. Granted, he had a birthday last month & Leah is here, yet it seemed he felt he was the only one without presents, without cake, etc. Nathaniel actually gave him the sundae he got at Red Robin - Jacob was in heaven. Anyway, a good part of the day, he kept saying, "I four." It was cute. I'm sure this will be easier on him when Leah is bigger and/or when he understands things a bit better. In the mean time, he'll continue to dream big I suppose.

Happy New Year!

Well, 2008 is off to a good start. We had a calm New Year's Eve & stayed home for snacks. It was nice. For New Year's Day, I did a bit of shopping and the kids played some at the mall. We don't typically do a lot for New Year's Eve because our anniversary is Jan. 3. A couple more days...this year is our 10th! Hard to believe. One thought we have had is about the difference between the first 5 years versus the second 5 years of our marriage. After 5 years, I was about half-way through pharmacy school, we had no children yet, and I'm not sure what we did with our time. 5 more years pass...four wonderful children, school is finished, same house, more stuff and still very happy. No complaints from me.

Jacob the human remote control

Well, this is Jacob's new title. He could be called other things I'm sure, but his activity lately with his big brothers have led me to call him the human remote control. Leyton has been listening to a new CD he got for Christmas. He really likes it. It's a Ralph's World CD and is lots of fun. Anyway, oh, another thing is that our actual remote for the DVD/CD player has been missing at least since 12/15. OK, so when you play the CD, you can't skip to another song or restart the one you're on. For example, if you're on song 7 out of 12 and it stops, you can just hit play and it restarts from the beginning. So, with Jacob...he has been taking great joy in playing with the CD player, pressing stop, turning it off, etc. He'll also adjust the volume on the stereo and no matter what, he just laughs. In addition, if you try to turn the TV on, he just turns it off. He'll keep doing it, too. So yes, I know it's probably good he doesn't want to watch TV, but it can get a bit annoying after a while. Although he has a pretty cute smile that's hard not to laugh about. He's quite the character that little Jacob. I'm pretty sure he's on his way to being a tough guy. His activity with the TV & CD/DVD player, he has been actually making the big boys VERY upset especially if it's later in the day. He laughs, they cry. Then about five minutes later, the roles have reversed for some reason and the big boys are getting revenge. A day in the life...it's great!