Songs & Conversations

Friday night we ended up surprising the boys & taking them to see who else but - Jim Cosgrove. He was singing in Lee's Summit & their aunt, uncle & cousins invited us to join them at the show. Patrick's parents went as well. We went decked out in our typical attire, with guitars, and this time we even brought our guitar stands as they are new and the boys needed to show them to Jim. Jim talked to them before the show and did notice the stands and commented about them. He also introduced them during the show as his "mini-me's". It was neat for the boys. After the show, Mrs. Cosgrove also commented about the guitar stands. We had a great time. The whole drive there, Leyton & Nathaniel were pretending to be Jim & their blanky's were Jim's kids (Leyton's was Jim's younger daughter, Nathaniel's was Jim's older daughter). Every minute or second they would be saying something about, "Jim has to go to work tonight," or "Jim likes to sing Red Wagon," etc. Then, somehow between conversations, they each dozed off for a few minutes of the drive. When we arrived, we woke them & figured they would be back to being themselves & forget they had been pretending. Not a chance...Leyton woke up and said, "Dad, Jim's awake!" Too funny.

The other conversations of note are with Jacob. He is really talking and has things in good context. You can actually have a decent conversation with him. "What you doin'?" ... "Nothing, what are you doing?" "Playing." ... "Are you having fun?" "yeah." "Do you want to change your diaper?" "Yeah, powder, pwease." He's really funny. Also at night when you lay by him, if you try to get up, he'll usually tell you, "Lay down." Today in the car, the boys wanted to hear "Back where I come from" (Kenny Chesney) over and over (they even ask if I push the repeat button on the CD player to make sure it stays on). In the short delay between the end and when it restarts, he was saying, "come from, Mom, come from." It really made me think for a second to let that sink in. Of course he knew what he wanted, I just didn't realize he was listening to the lyrics! Ha.

That's about it for today. We're all worn out & ready for a good night's sleep.

Nathaniel's new lenses

Yesterday we were able to pick up Nathaniel's new lenses for his glasses. This is the 3rd prescription he's had for his glasses since January. However, this one seems to be very good for him. It was the cutest thing and made us feel so good that we have glasses for him! When the doctor put the glasses on him with the new lenses, he had the biggest grin ever on his face. I asked him if he liked the new lenses and he of course said he did. Then we went outside and he took off running. He seemed so happy. I don't know enough about vision prescriptions to know how different they are from the last one, but he definitely said he could see better. Then a few hours later, he said, "Mom, I really like my new lenses." I just thought that was so cute and what a simple thing to be grateful about! Makes me think even more how much it helps to have good healthcare & vision services to use - now that is money well spent in our household for the day!

Best Haircut Ever!

Today I was able to go get a haircut after Patrick got home from work. After that, he was planning to take Leyton & Nathaniel to a train display. Jacob & I planned to stay home and go for a walk after dinner. That all went well. The best part about the haircut was that after I was gone from the house for about 5 minutes & had just arrived for my cut, I received a phone call from home. They were updating me on their dinner plans. Patrick asked the boys what they'd like for dinner (I told them leftovers were available). Nathaniel said, "Mom is good at making dinners, but she's not here!" I thought that was cute. That was why they called; to tell me what he said. Then, when I got home, Jacob & Leyton were at the door when I got out of the car. Jacob called out his usual "Mommy's" & Leyton said, "Mom, your haircut looks nice." Patrick's reply, "I didn't say anything to them about it." That was pretty nice for a routine old haircut! We'll call it a good day.

We actually did have a great day. We also went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch just as a fun thing to do before the baby arrives. Patrick has mentioned a couple of times this evening that it's a full moon. I don't anticipate anything will happen tonight.

Singing & Talking

Leyton & Nathaniel have been very big fans of Jim Cosgrove for quite a while. They love singing his songs and playing the guitar and pretending to be him on a regular basis. However recently, they have branched out a bit and it has been fun. They have one book that is full of songs and the past few days we have been singing songs from the book. They have really enjoyed it and I'm amazed how quickly they have learned the lyrics! Tonight we sang Kum Ba Yah over & over and also the Down in My Heart song. It was really cute seeing them sing these songs. I guess we'll be able to learn some good Christmas carols before December!

Jacob was also very enjoyable this evening. I've been playing with him lately to say the words, "I love you" where we alternate on who says which word. Sometimes he's more playful with it than others & I know Grandma loves to play this with all the boys. Tonight when he was laying in bed, he kept saying the whole phrase over and over, "I - FWUV - You!" It was cute. He was so happy and I don't think anyone could say they hear that phrase too often!

Who has all the answers?

We ran a few errands today and the discussion in the car, as it often does, revolves around questions & lots of "Why's". I guess after a while I run out of answers for the questions. I told Leyton & Nathaniel that they have a lot of good questions. Leyton said, "Mom, I ask a lot of good questions. I say a lot of words, too." I would agree with both. Toward the end of the conversation, when I had no more answers about why the workers were working on the road today or why we couldn't get our own "Scoop" (like in Bob the Builder) and other questions, I told Nathaniel that Mom & Dad didn't always know all the answers for all the questions. He of course asked, "Why?" I said, "Well, only God & Jesus know ALL the answers for all the questions. Mom & Dad answer as many as we can, but we don't always know every answer." His reply was, "Mom, so all the Jesus's & all the God's know the answers?" I said that yes, but there was only one God & one Jesus, but that was correct only they knew all the answers. He said, "Well, and Father Tom." (Father Tom is one of our parish priests). Patrick & I enjoyed that. We'll have to tell Father Tom tomorrow of his high esteem in our household.

Time will tell

I don't have a clue when our new addition will arrive. I've been having contractions for a while, but nothing real. Monday night I became a bit concerned with the discomfort, but I was also exhausted so I went to bed. Everything seemed calm for the night. Today I went to the doctor again for my weekly visit and everything appears to be going well. I had more contractions today, too, but am trying to also remember that when I carried Leyton & Nathaniel, I measured "full-term" (as would be for one baby) for more than a month before they were born. So with that in mind, maybe I would go overdue this time?! Who knows; I don't want to be overdue, but just hope for a healthy baby. This may be the first time I have a baby in my hospital room with me (vs. the NICU) and one that will hopefully go home when I am discharged. Both of these things would be new to me!

So, I can't leave out my Jacob (often called "Jakey"). He is a sweetheart who definitely doesn't want to be pushed around by his brothers! He knows what he wants and will tell you quickly. Some most common phrases are, "I do it!", "What you doin'?", "Candy." He is not afraid of pushing people (aka his brothers) who are in his way, which I guess is a good thing since for now, he's somewhat of an odd-man out. This may change soon, though, as we are expecting our fourth baby at any time. I'm currently in my last month of pregnancy, which is new territory for me - this is my first time past 35 weeks! We don't know the gender of this baby, but it won't be long. We look forward to meeting our new little one. And back to Jacob. This picture is from this summer when he was trying to be funny wearing glasses (old sunglasses - no lenses). He was very pleased with himself. He is a summer blonde with great blue eyes. He really is a content little guy although this week he's been a bit under the weather with a fever, cough, irritated throat, etc. I think he'll come out of it soon. One of his most recent feats was his creativity in his new room. We moved him to a different bedroom in preparation for the new baby. We painted his room & I hung "wallies" or small wallpaper shapes that were trains, planes, tractors, and trucks. There were 25 shapes in all. Patrick wanted them to be reachable for him to look at. I hung the airplanes higher and then the other 20 shapes were basically spread like a chair-rail. Well, naptime has become more challenging as he's no longer in a crib, either. So on two occasions during his hopeful "naptime", he managed to remove 19 of the 20 shapes wallpapered/glued to the wall (the 20th one was behind the chest of drawers so he didnt' see it). So, there went that effort of having a cute new room for him! Oh well, he is still very pleased and has done wonderful with the room adjustment. It is very hard to believe he's going to be a big brother soon!