Nowadays

A friend of mine does a post every now and again that talks about each of her children and what their current activities are. Since I don't have time to write in any baby books these days (and, let's be honest, I'm not totally sure where two of them are), I thought it might be nice to update on each of these guys for posterity's sake. It seems they are changing so quickly and doing so many amazing things, it's hard to keep up. I make little notes on our family calendar when they reach milestones, but I don't always get to share them. So, this is how it is nowadays.

Let's start with Thomas.

Thomas is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. If he's fussy, I know he's ill. Or teething. At just eight months, he has five teeth and is working on the sixth. He is cruising around on the furniture and I fear think he may actually start walking earlier than the ten month age at which his brothers started. (Holy awkward phrasing, Batman!) His laugh is contagious. He loves to clap. He is constantly on the move - so much so that it's hard for me to get a picture of him that isn't blurry. He loves eating and has recently started eating table food along with his baby food. He likes french fries. He just started sleeping through the night, which is so helpful since Patrick and I were both getting to the so-tired-we-can't-see-straight stage. He crinkles his nose and makes a funny sniffing in and out sound when he's excited about something. He loves to watch his brothers play and they are so kind a loving with him - always kissing and hugging him. It's hard to remember what life was like without him in our family.

Then there's Peej.

This kid is such a sweetheart. He loves dancing and singing. He's artistic and has the patience it takes to sit and color a picture, but can't always sit through reading a book. He makes his toys talk with silly voices. He loves to play with Jack and they get better at playing and pretending together every day. He thinks it's hilarious to say the word "poopy," often followed by the word "Mommy," which, I've come to realize, is something I'm just going to have to roll with since I say that word more times in a day than I'd like to myself. PJ is kind and sensitive. He hugs Jack and kisses Thomas 20 times a day, always saying, "Hi, sweet baby!" He is an encourager extraordinaire. He is constantly saying things like, "You're a really great helper/track builder/puzzle maker/painter, Jackie!" If he asks one of us for help doing something he can't, he cheers us on while we're doing it - reaching a cup, getting something that has rolled under the couch - "Go, Mommy! Go, Mommy!" he says, with a "You're a really good reacher, Mommy!" afterward for good measure. He talks like no other two-year-old I've ever heard. Not even Jack spoke as well as PJ does, and he was a great talker too. I recently received an email update about what my two-year-old ought to be doing right now and it said this:

By 30 months, your child can name a few body parts, some colors, and even a friend or two. Her memory and speaking ability work in tandem. Help out by expanding on what she says. If she says, "Dog sleep," you might say, "Yes, Spot is curled up and fast asleep in his doggie bed." She can't imitate your complex language patterns yet, but her brain is absorbing them. Every time you repeat her words or expand on them, you're giving her memory practice.

I had to laugh. PJ just told me while I was folding the laundry, "Mommy, the pants go in this pile, not over there on the couch! And the socks are on your lap, but actually, I want to put them here and sit on your lap." I know every parent probably thinks his kid is ahead of the curve, but getting those sorts of updates kind of confirms it for me in the verbal department. However, the one thing he consistently says wrong and I hope will not change anytime soon is, "I want to hold you" when he wants us to hold him. He loves saying prayers before meals. We have one simple one that we say in the morning before breakfast, and after we giggle a little watching him bless himself by tapping random upper body parts in no particular order, it warms our hearts to hear PJ say, with his hands folded and eyes closed, "Dear Jesus, we love you and we offer you this day, our body, our souls, our work, and our play. Amen." PJ is Mommy's boy, sometimes almost frustratingly so, as I can hardly take 15 minutes to get in the shower and get dressed in the morning without him crying at the bottom of the steps that he wants Mommy or go to the bathroom without him wanting to come in and sit on my lap. It's endearing and frustrating, but I know that this time will be over quickly and I'm trying to cherish it rather than wish we were beyond it.

Now on to Jack.

Jack is growing more and more independent every day. He is such a helpful big brother. He loves mazes and puzzles that have hidden pictures or that ask him to find the thing that's different. He loves to pretend to read simple story books that we've read together over and over, and he loves listening to new stories. He's been working on phonics and putting letter sounds together to make words. His favorite thing is to sound out a simple word like "hat" or "ball" and then figure out what happens when we change the first letter. It's amazing to watch him put concepts together. Last night, I asked him to take five more bites of his dinner and he replied by saying, "Mommy, two plus two makes four, and if I add one more, that's five!" Patrick and I just looked at each other in surprise and said "That's right!"

Jack is a rule-follower and enforcer. I think maybe it's an oldest child thing, because he's very black and white and likes telling other people the "right" way to do things. That sounds only slightly similar to the undesirable characteristics that another firstborn person I know is trying to change about herself (ahem) so I'm trying drive home the lesson that just because people do things differently from you, it doesn't mean they're doing things wrong. Jack has such a sweet nature. He is, and always has been, very polite. "Please" and "thank you" are second nature and he is the most appreciative child I've ever known if someone gives him something or does something for him. He is very outgoing and is having a great time at preschool. One day this week, the class dismissed a little earlier than usual because it was raining and when I got there, most of the other parents and children were already gone. I asked Jack if it made him upset when I wasn't there or if he was afraid I wasn't going to come. His reply? "Nope. I was havin' too much fun!" Love it!

Jack is in such limbo between being a big boy and being small that it's hard to watch the inner turmoil that this sometimes causes him. He wants to do big boy things, like skip naps or not wear pull-ups to bed, but he's just not ready for those things yet and he ends up overtired (or wet) and very frustrated at this in-between time. It's hard to watch but I know it's just a part of growing up. He likes to talk about things that are upsetting him and I love hearing how his mind works as he's trying to figure out how things work and why they are the way they are. I love that, as he's getting older, we can spend fun and meaningful times together and talk about the things that he's thinking about. He loves to ask questions about God and his sweet childhood acceptance of our faith is convicting and inspiring. Because we told him that God made the world, he often asks things like "Why did God make our house [a duplex] stuck to Mr. Landis's house?" Differentiating between man-made and natural things is not always easy.

**Edited to add a few recent quotes from Jack that I was trying to remember for this post but couldn't:

After dinner, Jack and PJ are supposed to take their plates into the kitchen and put them in the sink. One night, we used paper plates and Jack said, "Here, Mommy. I don't really want to take it tonight. You do it." I replied, "Jack, it's your job to take your plate and fork and cup into the kitchen after you eat. Just because this one is paper doesn't mean you don't have to do it." "Ohhh," he answered with an Eeyore-esque lilt to his voice, "I suppose you're right."

(You suppose??)

Another time, Jack had ketchup on his plate to dip his hot dog in and ranch dressing for his carrots. He decided to mix the two together and Patrick told him it was going to be yucky. He tried it and said, "Daddy, it's not yucky. It's 'dip-licious!'" I thought that was pretty clever for a three-year-old.

We could not be more thankful for or proud of our three precious boys.

Halloween preview

There was an early sale on costumes at Kmart and I had a Sears/Kmart gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I let the boys pick their costumes out themselves for the first time this year. We looked online at all our options and they decided these were the ones they wanted.

I'm so very glad






because our home feels much safer with two superheroes living in it!

Home grown

This year, we tried our hand at growing a few new fruits and vegetables in a sunny bed beside the house. There was a strawberry patch and a raspberry bush here when we moved in, which yielded us oodles of berries at the beginning of summer, but we also tried a few cherry tomatoes (we got three total and they are still green), a watermelon, and an eggplant.

The eggplant is still growing nicely, but yesterday, we were able to harvest our watermelon after weeks and weeks of waiting patiently for it to be ready.

The boys were so proud and excited to cut it open and eat it. It was delicious, but more importantly, the experience gave us the chance to teach them what we hope will be a lifelong skill:

seed spitting!

Making Whoopie

Maybe it's the rolling hills. Maybe it's the acres of farm land. Maybe it's the romantic clip-clop of horse and buggies passing outside, but if there's one thing people in Lancaster County, Pa. know about, it's making whoopie pies.

And with three little boys

under four years of age,

Patrick and I know a little about making whoopie pies ourselves.

But this is something that even we don't know how to make!

Mystery trip

It's hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that we first took the boys to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Remember this photo? PJ was only about 17 months old. Too young to remember.

One of the benefits of having kids who wake at the butt crack of dawn is that we can frequently do early morning outings in the cool of the day and be back home in time for lunch and naps. We're out at parks or the mall well before the crowds arrive. With three boys, another favorite spot is the nearby Strasburg Railroad, where we'll walk around and watch the engineers get ready for a day on the rails. The most thrilling part is watching the steam engines fill with coal and water and pull into the station to couple up to the passenger cars. The engineers are so kind and friendly. It's free entertainment and the boys love pointing out the knuckle, dome, whistle, and coal tenders.

(We know all the terms already going in.)

Can you name that movie?

Anyway, I knew Thomas was coming to Strasburg soon, and when I looked it up online last night, I realized he was there NOW. So this morning, I told the boys we were taking a Mystery Trip right after breakfast and we went to see him.

As we got close (but not too close) Jack recognized the route as being the one we take to go to the railroad. So by the time we got there, they knew where we were headed, and were excited enough about watching the engines, but they still did not know that Thomas was going to be there.

I love surprising them like that. They were both so excited.

Totally made it worth the fact that I didn't have time to take a shower.

We were able to snap a few pictures with Thomas as they were cleaning him up before he pulled into the station. Only the two Thomases were looking at me, despite my twenty seven "Look at Mommy!" requests.

Finally, a kind father saw my plight and said, "Hey, boys - look over here!"

(Kids, are you noticing all this plight? **gun shots** Roll 'em up!)

Can you name that movie?






Would have been nice if he were standing near me, but ah, well. At least I can see their faces.
I can't tell you how much I love these ones of them posing by the train. PJ's "cheese" always has me in hysterics.

I love how all three of my boys have, as babies, just sort of put their feet up on the stroller and lounge. It cracks me up.

After getting a few small Thomas-related items in the shop (because we do not have enough of those already), it was time to see Sir Topham Hatt in all his splendor. PJ was so excited while we were waiting in line. "I'm going to give him a hug!" he kept saying.

Then he saw him.

He wasn't quite as normal-looking as PJ had imagined and he was more than a little uneasy, but he did give him a hug. We had the option of buying pictures from the station photographer or giving the aid our camera and having her snap a few pictures. I figured I'd take my chances with package B. Here's what we got, completely unedited.

I love how that realistic-looking tarp in the background makes it look like we're really on the island of Sodor. I think she realized that maybe the grommets across the top are not really supposed to be in the picture, and then came these two:

Jack is all business. He's not about to mess up his chances at being an actual conductor with the Sodor Railway. If he can just nail this encounter with the big guy, then he's a shoo-in.

I kept telling them that PJ's name was "PJ" (which, I believe I was actually in the process of saying when this picture was being taken). Still, they continued to call, "DJ? TJ? Look, TJ!"


So close.

Oh well, I edited it a little bit at home and here's our memento from our morning Mystery Trip to see Thomas.

And a good time was had by all!

The Dinosaur Sleepover

The boys like to type on our computer, and I'll often open a Word document for them to make letters and see what they're writing. Jack sees Patrick and I typing rather quickly (ahem) and so he is frequently pretending that he is typing quickly too and will start talking while he's typing.

One day, he said he was writing a story, so I asked him if he would like me to type it for him. He said he would, so this is his story - The Dinosaur Sleepover.

Once upon a time there was a baby dinosaur, a pteranodon named Rex.

His mommy thought she would keep him forever and ever, but she was wrong. (!?)

One day a big brachiosaurus came to visit and was nice. His name was Rex too.

They played a game of hide and seek together.

Then they had a snack. The pteranodon had fish and the brachiosaurus was an herbivore so he ate a leaf pizza.

The brachiosaurus came to visit for a sleepover. The sun went down quick like on Dinosaur Train and the two dinosaurs went to bed. The pteranodon slept in a nest and his mother made a special leaf bed for the brachiosaurus. It was big.

They had a good sleep and they just had good dreams, not bad dreams.

The next morning, they ate breakfast. Then they finished playing their game of hide and seek.

The brachiosaurus’s mother said it was okay for him to sleep overnight again!

The sun went down quick again and the dinosaurs went to sleep.

I loved hearing his thoughts and listening to him come up with the story with very few promptings of, "and then what happened?"

He and PJ have just started to become so imaginative in their play together. It's a joy to listen to!

Big baby, amusement park antics, and one precious preschooler

Thomas is growing so quickly, I can hardly keep up. He is 7 months old now, was 22.3 pounds at his physical two weeks ago, and is wearing 18-24 month clothes. Makes that whole clothes bin-rotation process almost ridiculous.

He quickly went from sitting up to crawling and is now pulling himself up on things regularly. I'm so not ready for him to walk, but I fear it's coming sooner than I would like.

He loves to eat. Loves loves loves it. No struggling, no grabbing the spoon, just mouth constantly open awaiting the next bite. He is great at picking up little puffs and putting them in his mouth...which means he's also great at picking up crumbs, dirt, sand, and paper off the floor and putting it in his mouth too.

Vacuum, Mommy. Vacuum!

He also loves taking a bath and has recently made the transition from the baby bath above to the big boy bathtub with his brothers.



He is rarely not grinning from ear to ear, even while cutting teeth.

He loves swinging at the playground - something both of his older brothers were a little scared of at this age. We are just having so much fun with our Big Baby.

This year, in lieu of a family vacation, we decided to buy season passes to a local children's amusement park, Dutch Wonderland.

The park is about 15 minutes away and the passes have paid for themselves several times over.
The boys absolutely love it, and PJ asks at least once a week if we can go to "Da Wundawand."

We recently took a trip to New Hampshire to visit family and friends. Because Patrick's mom was in the hospital, it wasn't an ideal situation, but the visit was still so nice.

One day, while Patrick was busy, I took the three boys into Boston for a Duck Tour. While on the Charles River, the boys got to drive the Duck boat, which they absolutely loved.

Aaargh! Jack's a pirate!

And PJ was having a blast - really turning the wheel every which way. I think the tour guide was not prepared for him to actually steer that much!

This year, Jack also started preschool at our church. While I think I might like to homeschool them one day, at this point, it's just too difficult to have one-on-one time with Jack while also caring for PJ and Thomas in our small house.

He absolutely loves school.

(Actually, I think it might be just the excuse to wear the backpack that he loves.)

He had his first week this past week, attending Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and when he gets there, he doesn't even look back.

Some kids are painfully shy.

Our kids are painfully outgoing.

They're all up in your grill asking questions and introducing themselves.

It's adorable.

So here are a few pictures of the boys on the first day of school.

PJ, of course, had to have a backpack too, so I got him a mini one (both are Toy Story themed) that's just big enough to hold his juice and a snack...and his favorite toy: Buzz Lightyear.

And here's my Jackie, looking like such a big boy.

I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone.

That's how it is nowadays. We are so very busy, but so very blessed.

Has it really been that long?

May 4th was the last post?

Disgraceful.

I'll be updating soon with stories of summer fun and loads of new pictures, including one of our new little preschooler - Jack!

Thanks for checking in!

Three little boys + lots of fun + no sleep = not much time for blog posts

...but there are lots of tales to tell!

A day in the life

I recently watched an episode of Oprah in which Nate Berkus gave a stay-home mom the day off and did her job for her.

At the end of the segment, they posted a checklist of the tasks that Nate had completed that day. While he seemed to think it was a lot, it looked to me like the kind of day I might have if two of the boys were staying with my parents and I didn't really have anything going on. The woman had two school-aged children who were gone all day and a two-year-old.

Now, I'm not claiming to be the busiest mom out there, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I sometimes turn on the T.V. to get a little down time, but I made a list today of the things I did. Just took about one minute every 30 minutes or so and jotted down what happened in that time period.

Let's just say that I call the red parts "Why Nate Berkus ain't got nothin' on me" and the blue parts "Why I have the most wonderful job on the face of the earth."


6-6:30 - Jack, after waking us up by talking too loudly in his room to PJ at 5:45, came bursting into our bedroom at 6 to start the day. Patrick took them downstairs while I fed Thomas and came down by 6:30. (I got about four broken hours of sleep last night.)

6:30-7 - Change diapers/put underpants on boys, pay two bills, drink some coffee while Jack plays in the basement and PJ watches Caillou and holds Thomas a little.

7-7:30 - Teach PJ and Jack how to draw and color flowers. Make oatmeal for breakfast. While breakfast cooks, Pj says he has to do a tinkle (he does), then a poopy (he doesn't), then another tinkle attempt, then another poopy attempt. Underpants are off and on between each one of these and every time I say anything to PJ, Jack screams, "What?!" from the basement despite my repeated explanation that I am talking to PJ. Jack asks if breakfast is ready three times. Thomas screams in his swing during much of this since I can't hold him while cooking or helping PJ on the potty.

7:30-8 - Boys eat breakfast at the table, but only after deliberating (and arguing) about which train they want to bring to the table to "share" breakfast with them. I feed Thomas again and put on a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD for them to watch while they eat.

8-8:30 - Shower, dress, make bed, straighten boys' room, start a load of laundry, load dishwasher, put Thomas up for a nap.

8:30-9 - Help older boys get dressed, watch the end of DVD with them and do activities together learning about shapes and how the trains are alike and different.

9-9:30 - Clean up kids' breakfast, make and eat my breakfast, load dishwasher again (where did all these other dishes come from?), set boys up with Play-Doh and juice at the dining room table.

9:30-10 - Give boys haircuts while they play with Play-Doh, vacuum, and, while vacuuming, help PJ with two poopy false alarms by reading him books while he sits on the potty. Jack made a "hotdog" with green mustard and red ketchup out of Play-Doh and asked PJ and me if we wanted a bite. It looked a lot like a real one!

10-10:30 - Clean up Play-Doh, help PJ tinkle, wipe down the bathroom sink and toilet with Clorox wipes, get Thomas up from his nap, change his diaper, get him dressed and nurse him. Post a funny Mother's Day video on Facebook. Kiss boo-boos on both Jack and PJ. Tell PJ about Jesus on the cross of his rosary beads and what He did for us. PJ thanks Jesus and gives him a kiss.

10:30-11 - Change Thomas's poopy diaper, change and clean up after PJ's pooping in his underpants because he didn't make it to the potty, move laundry to dryer. While putting new underpants on PJ, Patrick sends me an email saying, "Jack is banging on my door HELP" because his office is in the basement, his door is locked, and he's on the phone for work. When I go down to play trains in the basement with the older boys and ask Jack to stop banging on Daddy's door, he says, "But I just wanted to tell Daddy that some little kids don't have any toys and we're lucky because we have all these!" I help Thomas work on learning to roll over and we all sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to him.

11-11:30 - Bring Thomas and PJ upstairs, get a snack for PJ, feed fish, water plants. Patrick leaves for a lunch meeting. Jack stops him before he leaves and says, "Daddy wait! I'll miss you!" Then when PJ, who is in time-out for hitting, cries because Patrick is leaving, Jack comforts him by saying, "Daddy is going to a meeting that is just for Daddies. Some other meetings are little kid meetings and another time, you can go to one of those."

11:30-12 - Make grilled cheese for lunch while holding a fussy Thomas and giving PJ two time-outs for disobeying. Boys eat at the table while watching Bob the Builder and I cuddle Thomas on the couch. Love these coos and giggles! Jack, who's just getting the knack of knock-knock jokes, tells me this one: Knock-knock. Who's there? Bob. Bob who? Uh...Bob cup. PJ bumps his head while running around the table and needs kisses. Help PJ use the potty.

12-12:30 - Bring boys upstairs, help them use the potty, put pull-ups on them and put them in bed for naps. Jack tells me, as he does each day, that he has to poop, so I read books to him while he sits on the potty for ten minutes, at which time, because I suspect he's playing games with me since he does this at each and every bedtime and I have no idea how to handle it, I put his pull-up back on and tell him to stay in his bed. I have a feeling he's going to poop in his pull-up during his nap.

12:30-1 - Clean up from lunch, watch Ahmadinejad on Charlie Rose (that man is crazy), run upstairs to put Thomas's binkie back in.

1-1:30 - Fold laundry, boil water for tea, watch Todd English

1:30-2 - Praise the Lord - the boys are still all napping! Tea with Barefoot Contessa! Run upstairs again to put Thomas's binkie back in. Back up once more to get him because enough is enough already. Nurse him a little while I finish my tea.

2-2:30 - Give Thomas some time on the floor mat, Jack gets up (clean pull-up!), we both play with Thomas.

2:30-3 - Jack and I thin and water his tomato and watermelon seedlings on the deck. We planted the seeds about six weeks ago and they all sprouted on the windowsill in their little red and blue pots. He's so excited they're growing. I teach him a little about roots, leaves, and stems and what they do.

3-3:30 - Thomas eats again, PJ wakes up. Jack offers to go and tell him that I'll be right up and I get to hear them talking together in the monitor (one of my favorite things). Get PJ, help him go to the potty, get snacks and juice for both boys , finish nursing Thomas.

3:30-4 - Give boys some window crayons and let them draw on the outside of the slider. Take funny pictures of them looking through Groucho Marx-type glasses/mustache drawn on the glass. Give them Windex and paper towels and let them clean it up, but it's not so great, so I go out and wash them myself because, heck, they needed to be cleaned anyway. (Let's call that my spring cleaning, shall we?) Boys build sandcastles in the sandbox. I change Thomas's poopy diaper.

4-4:30 - Put Thomas up for another nap, but he's gassy so I bring him back down and let him sleep while I pat his back and he's lying across my lap. Boys race their trains for a while and then fight about who won, so I put on Team Umizoomi for them to watch while Thomas snoozes and I'm feeling a bit icky in the tummy.

4:30-5 - Put Thomas up again and he stays asleep for a little while longer. Fix dinner, which tonight happens to be leftovers since we have a fridge full of them. Thomas starts crying again so I go up and put his binkie back in and stay with him for a few minutes until he falls back to sleep. Boys play in basement for a while and I straighten up the living room.

5-5:30 - Serve dinner for Patrick, Jack and PJ, but I'm not feeling great so I don't eat. Patrick sits with boys at dinner table while I go lie down for 10 minutes upstairs. Tired and sore right now. Clean up from dinner.

5:30-6 - PJ has another poopy false alarm. Patrick helps the boys go to the potty and I help get them ready so that he can take Jack and PJ to the carwash with the van and then to ride their bikes at the park. I put my achy feet up for a little while, have a diet coke, and work on this post.

6-6:30 - Lay out jammies and overnight diapers, fill humidifiers and straighten blankets to get boys' beds ready for sleeping.

6:30-7 - Put away all the sandbox and water table toys on the deck and close them up for the night. Put on Thomas's jammies, feed him, and put him to bed. He fusses, rebink him. He fusses, rebink him. He fusses, rebink him. (This is going to bite me in the backside in a few months.)

7-7:30 - Patrick gives the boys a bath, helps them brush their teeth, puts their jammies on.
7:30-8 - Patrick reads boys a story and puts them to bed.

Tomorrow, after having slept in comfortable beds, in a safe home, we will,
Lord willing, wake healthy and
able to do it all again.

And I wouldn't change a single thing!