Wise Protector & Christmas

Raymond means "wise protector".

So Christmas Day RR and I served at the 9:15am Mass. "Thankfully" the boys were up at 6am on Christmas morning and TT had no interest in unwrapping presents; he would rather play with each gift before opening another one, so we were all able to get dressed and fed and out the door on time for Mass.

Husband and the little ones were seated in the second row of the church. He seemed to have a rough start to Mass, getting ERP to settle and all that. But once ERP was settled the little ones seemed to be behaving well for Husband.

And then, there we are; during the Eucharist, all of the Eucharistic ministers, myself and the alter servers lined up to receive the Host and TT falls in the pew. He took some sort of tumble, and his cries soared out over a quiet church. Husband worked as fast as he could to comfort and quiet TT. But in RR's book it wasn't fast enough. Several times he had to pull himself back in line; as he was about to dash into the church and rush to his brother's aide.

It was a good Christmas. Full of love and memories and really good food. But RR wanting to rush to take care of his brother is what I will always remember from that day.

And now some photos... to share some of our other memories with you.

Potato Soup

Tonight for dinner we tried something new. Potato soup (and salad, but we have salad all the time).

Now mind you RR hates potatoes. He tolerates them in beef stew and clam chowder. And aside from the occasional french fry, he doesn't eat them. He loathes mashed potatoes; with a passion.

TT on the other hand will eat potatoes any chance he gets, He can make a whole meal out of mashed potatoes and corn and green beans... but then he ends up not eating the green beans.

SO.... as you can imagine color me surprised when RR ate the soup. He didn't finish it, but he ate it. And TT refused to even try it. Really no big surprise, but still I was... as he is super picky and is fearful of new food.

ERP thought it was possibly the best food ever. THE. BEST. FOOD. EVER. Seriously. He was eating it with two spoons at once and drinking it. He had three or four servings.

So not a win all around, but worth making again.

A Christmas Miracle

Today, the second to the last Saturday before Christmas; I found myself alone at the biggest mall in the area with all three boys. Originally TT was suppose to stay with Husband at an Aunt's house while he worked on a computer. But after many tears about wanting to keep riding in the car he came to the mall with me. I will admit I was a little concerned, tears that early in the day are never a good sign. Plus I didn't have a stroller, but Husband suggested I spend the $4 and get one of the mall "racers" to push TT around in. So, with three boys; one strapped to me, one in the racer and one walking we set out at the mall.

And it was by far the calmest shopping trip ever. 

1) I got most excellent parking, without having to look

2) None of the boys cried

3) None of the boys asked me to buy them anything

4) I stayed within my spending budget

5) The line at Starbucks, while a little long; moved fast

6) No one at the mall was rude, or cut in front of me, or stepped on my heels

7) I got everything I set out to get (and then a little more)

8) We left before my "timer" went off (I had to get home in time to get ready for Mass)

9) None of the boys teased each other, or played "punching" or the like

10) None of the boys cried - did I mention that? 

Truly our shopping trip was a Christmas Miracle. OK, really it was the boys' behavior that was a miracle. They were so well behaved I took them to lunch. Where I proceeded to order two too many hot dogs for some reason. And again during lunch my boys didn't argue or cry. TT even ate his baked beans before the fries. 

A Year!

ERP is a year old. Actually one year and five days. But, who's counting?

We had his one year well child check today. And guess what? He is still a peanut. Getting more and more peanutty as he gets older. He is a whooping 18 lbs. and is 28.5 inches long - note this was said dripping in sarcasm. For ever inch TT is a giant, ERP is just the opposite. His weight is holding steady at the 3 to 5% but his height has gone from about 20% down to 5%. He's petite as his doctor put it. He is easily 4 inches shorter and 4 pounds lighter than his brothers were at this age.

What he's got that they didn't have - sixth teeth!!  And more coming in. He has four top ones just about in, the two bottom ones (he's had those for months) and some random ones further back making their way on through.

He is "this close" to walking. He's taking a couple steps between Husband and I. He cruises along furniture, but still loves to crawl. And he is FAST.

He is still nursing on demand - read all night long - and eating three meals a day and two snacks as well. He is fully eating table food and has what we are having (as long as the sodium isn't insane). The only food he doesn't like - eggs - scrambled or fried. But he will eat them boiled.

He says "mama" and "dada" and RR swears he says his name. He makes lots of other sounds as well, but I don't think they mean anything at this time.

He is still napping two times a day. Some days he still naps three times.

He is stacking blocks and putting things in and out of containers. He waves bye-bye and loves to clap and read books. In his jumper he rocks it back and forth, and gets some serious air time.

We celebrated his birthday on December 6th with a circus themed party. His brothers even had clown wigs to wear. Husband and brother-in-law did an awesome job with the streamers and I made a five layer rainbow cake.

And I didn't cry. OK, maybe once...

Oh yes... and the crazy hair. He has some serious crazy hair.

Things I don't want to forget from this last months
~ How the hair on the back of his head is so course - and he sleeps on his belly so that's not it
~ How the rest of his hair is super wispy and fine
~ The way he HATES and I mean HATES the shower
~ The way he arches his back and becomes stiff as a board while crying and turning red when he doesn't want to do something - like go to bed or get a diaper change
~ His smile and his giggle
~ The "stork bite" on the back of his neck - I am guessing it's a faint birthmark by now.
~ The way he will happily lay on me in the darkness for hours on end
~ How afraid of meeting St. Nick he was
~ The way he looks in he morning with his hair all a mess
~ How he loves his pacifiers and will crawl around with one in his mouth and one in each hand
~ The way he plays with TT and they are doing more actual playing these days
~ The way RR simply adores him and dotes on him
~ The face he made when he saw his light up book for his birthday
~ His baby smell
~ The softness of his skin and hair

Because I can.....

11 Months

OK, ok, oh-kaaayyyy.... I am really late on this one.

I've been wrestling about this post since days before ERP turned 11 months, way back on November 5th. I guess I am in a little denial that my baby is going to be a year, very very soon. At this point he'll be 1 year old in a week and a day. EEEKKK!!!

11 months has been a good one for ERP. Lots of growth. But also lots of sickness. First he had a little cold, then he had hand-foot-and-mouth-disease. Actually all three boys had HFMD. How RR made it nearly 11 years without getting it is beyond me. RR and ERP had it the worst, and ERP actually has some scars on his little fingers from it. Poor baby.

Halloween was a good one. Like his brother's before him ERP was a little lion. The costume was HUGE on him. But cute, none the less. We went trick-or-treating at my Godparents' house. It was a really nice night and we finished shortly before the rain started.

ERP is now regularly clapping and waving bye-bye.

He is still a peanut. My pocket-baby. At a sick child visit a couple weeks ago he wasn't even 18 pounds.

But he does love to eat. Oh does he love food. He still nurses around the clock, but he loves his food. He is eating 3 meals a day, plus 2 or 3 snacks. He crawling all over the place and loves chasing his brothers and the dog. He loves playing with the Little People. And he still loves his jumper and rocks it back and forth getting it off the floor.

He is still a mama's boy and curls himself small into my chest.

Speaking of which things I don't want to forget form the last month:
~ how he curls himself into me
~ his super extra fluffy soft hair
~ how happy he is, nearly all the time; unless he's going through a developmental leap
~ how he likes to have his butt rubbed while he's falling asleep
~ the way his eyes light up when he sees me when I get home from work
~ the way he loves mashed potatoes
~ how blue his eyes are on days when the sky is super blue
~ the way he giggles and crawls away from me when he's playing
~ the little games he plays with his pacifer
~ how he cries when he's on the changing table unless he's holding something -like his lotion bottle
~ the way he wants to take the strangest things to bed with him - like his nose sucker or a medicine syringe

Love you baby!!!

Pictures to come later.... Happy Thanksgiving!!

Repeat After Me

This evening for prayers TT wanted me to repeat after him. Usually he repeats after me.  We've been working on the Hail Mary.  TT's version is a little more stream on conciseness.

He says...

Harry Mary
For the love of pumpkins
Player two
and the footballs
All of the footballs
And in Jesus Christ
We don't say that
For ever and ever footballs
Amen

TT-isms

Here are a couple of TT-isms from today. I swear this kid is all about the "one liners" some days.

~ Both of these happened during church this morning.

After hearing the priest say "Jesus Christ".
TT says as loud as possible in a very quiet church.
"Jesus Christ??? We don't say Jesus Christ"

Deacon says "Brother and Sisters"
TT says "Where are my sisters?"

~ Yesterday TT started being obsessed with having salad for dinner. This was a step for him. He loves veggies, and salad dressings, but he normally doesn't like lettuce. Last night he has a salad with dinner, and to no one's surprise he doesn't eat the lettuce. Tonight he asks for salad with dinner again. And again I oblige. Tonight instead he starts pulling out all of the lettuce and asks me:
"Who put these leaves in my salad?"

Nursing Milestone

With RR I had set myself up for failure (i.e. not meeting a breastfeeding goal I set myself), with one boobie trap after another. So when TT came along I was educated and determined to meet the goals I set for myself. I made small goals, and then bigger and bigger goals. I celebrated them. Two weeks, one month, three months, six months, a year, eighteen months, two years.... I am still celebrating nursing milestones with TT.

I celebrate tandem nursing milestones. I've been tandem nursing for nearly a year. 

But some how I forgot to celebrate the nursing milestones of ERP and ERP alone.

The plans are well under way for ERP's first birthday. And that means, we are well on our way to hitting the one year milestone for nursing. One year. 

ERP's nursing experience has been nothing like my nursing experiences with his brothers. He has been full of unique and different challenges. Most lately we've been dealing with biting. We are working through this most recent (8 weeks worth) series of events. And it will not stop us... we will learn and push through. We will celebrate our one year nurse-anniversary in December. 

Little Moments

Life is full of little moments. Moments of tears and of joy. But more often, life is just full of regular moments. Shared secret smiles with your partner. Raspberry kisses on your belly from your child as you awake. Long nights nursing the baby; wondering if he will ever sleep through the night again. And then moments of wishing you never thought that, because before you know if those moments, days, weeks, months really; are passed. And that baby is no longer the tiny child sleeping with his cheek resting on your breast.

Life is moments struggling, watching your child, makes mistakes. Knowing you need to let them make those mistakes to learn for themselves.

Life is moments of homework and hand holding. Knowing someday they will be gone, off doing homework in their college dorm and holding someone else's hand.

Life is dinner as a family. Saying grace and thanking the Lord for what we have.

Daily moments are the fabric of our lives; and they weave an ever changing cloth. Often times a moment happens and I think I need to capture it, hold it forever in my blog or a scrap book. And while preserving those memories is key I often find it takes me away from creating other moments. Then I need to remind myself that it is important to have moments, time to myself. To think, to understand, to relax and get to a better place that will allow for a greater appreciation of tonight, tomorrow's, next month's moments.

Littlest Scout

I think I've mentioned it a time or two, I am RR's Cub Scout leader. A thankless job it is. Counting the days till he crosses over into Boy Scouts. I had sworn I wouldn't turn into that person, but I did.  Thankfully I have made some very awesome friends in the process.  Friends make it worth it. Seeing your child enjoying himself makes it worth it.

Seeing more than one child enjoying it - that's the added bonus.

There are 7 years between RR and TT. And as such TT thinks everything about RR is the best. His toys, his games, his friends, the Cub Scouts.

When the boys come over to the house for a meeting TT runs around and yells "my scouts, my scouts, my scouts are here."

TT liked to actively "participate" in the meeting. He sits at the table and colors on paper when the boys are doing a table activity. If we are building something, Husband helps him out on the side.

Just this past week the scouts were over and we had a rather calm and seated meeting, reviewing details for their Arrow of Light Award.

So the big boys are standing up one by one and showing the Boy Scout sign and reciting the Boy Scout oath. Once they were done I went to move on to the next exercise and TT reminds me I missed him. So he stands up, like the big boys, fixes his fingers just to and says "and all of the pumpkins are outside and it was the very best snowman forever and ever."

Such a cutie!!  He sure will "his scouts" in February when they cross over and I am no longer their leader.

Friday Five - The Sick Edition

This week was dominated by sick little boys. Three of them to be exact. Three boys, all with hand-foot-mouth-disease. In case you are not up with your infectious childhood illness this disease is marked by a fever to start with, then puss filled sores around the mouth (and in the mouth and throat), on the hands and feet - hence the name.

So this week I am thankful for:

1) Acetaminophen and ibuprofen - for those fevers over 103F.
2) Snugly PJs and blankets - for when the chills hit
3) The magic mixture the nurse on call told me about - Maalox and Benadryl - for treating those mouth and throat sores
4) Naps, naps and more naps - because they were up all night
5) Three little boys on the mend - Amen!

The Twilight Years

You cannot, in human experience, rush into the light.
You have to go through the twilight into the broadening day
before the noon comes and the full sun is upon the landscape.
Woodrow Wilson

The other day I read the most touching blog post; The Golden Age of Breastfeeding. At first when I read the title I thought I was going to read about the era in which we lived, and about how breastfeeding rights and rates were increasing and the like. Instead it was a moving piece about what it was like to nurse a 28 month old. I will admit, I cried when I read this. It was true, oh so very true. 

And it reminded me, it starkly reminded me; that TT and I were past the golden age, past the golden months, the golden years.

TT and I are in the Twilight Years, nearly 44 months of nursing; and the end is coming and we both know it is.

We've been through a lot - 

the early days where everything was uncertain and new

The days when he was young and it seemed like the
rules and habits where changing every day

The days in the middle where everything was right with
the world and our nursing relationship

The lean days of dry nursing while I was pregnant with his little brother

The early days after his little brother was born
and he was fat and happy with milk

The days we nursed in public

The days we nursed in private

The day he learned about sharing his time nursing with his brother

The days and times he still nurses alone

During our time we've seen a lot of nursing relationships start and end. And we've held our own, pressing forward one day, one nursing session at a time. 

But I know the end is near. 

Some days I think TT knows as well, but he doesn't understand. He wants to nurse, but as he gets older he is loosing is ability to get my milk to letdown. Sometimes he gets sad when this happens, and I do my best to reassure him. I hate to see him not being able to get, to have, something he holds so dear. But I know it is time; and I hold his hand and rub his back and lead him into the next stage. 

I do now know if today, or tomorrow, or the next week or month holds our last nursing session. But it is coming, when we do not know... coming... slowly, truly, quietly, coming to an end... and a new beginning is coming.

The past is the beginning of the beginning 

and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. 

HG Wells

10 Months

Well here we are - ERP is 10 months old!  ACK!!!

He is getting so big so fast. I say that every month don't I.

But this month, he is clearly closer to being a toddler than being a newborn. ERP is crawling all over the place.  Let me re-phrase that - ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. He is little, he is quick, he can squeeze into the small, small places. Clearly he is presenting parenting challenges we have never in our wildest dreams imagined.  #3 clearly is the "wild card". He is pulling up on everything in sight, and cursing along his toys.

He is eating everything insight. Still just two meals a day, but he loves FOOD. Oh does he love food. With TT we had some "fears" with using BLW (baby lead weaning) and a couple of gagging instances, but ERP just seems to be one with food.

As with all previous months, he is still a peanut. Still wearing mostly 6 months clothes. Some 9 month and some 12 months... and some 3 month clothes.

ERP is rocking it out with two bottom teeth.

And sleep - while sleep is a crap shoot - pardon my "French". Let's not get into that.

Things I don't want to forget from this month:
~ how his little butt still fits into one of my hands, I remember holding his butt when he was in my womb
~ how soft and fine and wispy his hair his, how when I breath him in it gets caught in my mouth
~ the first night I went to get him from his crib and he was standing waiting for me
~ when he won Judge's Choice Award in the Baby Contest
~ his first cookie - as a prize for winning - and the chocolate mess that ensued
~ carrying him around at the Big E while he was eating a giant pickle
~ watching him "bounce" in his bouncer like he was riding a horse
~ seeing him crawl across the grass for the first time
~ taking him apple picking
~ how excited he gets at dinner time and how he tries to help put the tray on his highchair
~ watching him double fist eat bananas
~ seeing how he has RR wrapped around his little finger
~ the way his face looks so sweet, as his cheek is resting on my breast after he's finished nursing, his eyelids lightly fluttering as he starts drifting off to sleep
~ the night he slept 11.5 hours!  YES!
~ the first night his new babysitter was putting him to sleep, seeing his sitter trying to hard and succeeding - if only we hadn't come home
~ knowing that he will only be this little once and taking every chance I can get to soak up all of his sweet sweet babyness