First giggles

We heard Thomas's first giggles today.

He'll be 12 weeks old on Wednesday, and the older boys' constant doting/tweaking/getting-all-up-in-his-grill finally paid off with a giggle!

Here, see what I mean? PJ is not only lying on the little activity mat with him, but is perpetually trying to honk his nose, tweak his ear, or tickle his cheeks.

And PJ is the worst tickler ever. He kind of just puts his fingertips on you and starts scratching, all the while smiling and going "tickatickatickaticka."

He's so cute I almost don't want to tell him that his tickles are actually painful. The whole time, I just want to push him away and scream, "OUCH! GET OFF!"

So the rule is that he's not allowed to tickle Thomas.

Thomas is still our little beefalo. He's wearing 6 month clothes right now. At his two month appointment, he weighed 15 pounds. I bet he's over 16 now.

He's eating so much, I can't keep up. I might have to add a bottle or two in the mix because it's nearly impossible to take all the time to sit and nurse him when there are two toddlers running amok in the house. I can't really do much to rein them in when I'm sitting on the couch barking, "Stop that!" and "Come here!" and "Don't make me come over there!"

They're no dummies; they know as well as I do that I can't really get up.

But gosh, they're cute.

And so's this guy.

I took that last Wednesday, the day Thomas was 11 weeks old.

I took this one of Jack, wearing the same jammies, on the morning he turned 6 months old:

It's hard to remember what life was like before Thomas was here. He fits into our family just perfectly.

Of course, I shouldn't have expected anything different.

Here's the video of the giggles. (Just pretend my voice isn't as insanely annoying as it really is, please. Thank you.)

Happy birthday, PJ!

We celebrated PJ's second birthday on Sunday.

It feels like just yesterday, he was this tiny little guy:

and now he's so much bigger, though no less happy.

We got him a bounce house, which is really for him and for Jack (but don't tell him I said that).

Truth be told, it's really for me, because as any mom of toddler boys will tell you, letting them get their energy out is critical.

We had it set up in the basement for them him that morning, and I took this little video of them coming down to see it for the first time.

I think setting up little surprises like this for your kids is one of the best parts of being a parent. I don't know who's more excited on birthdays and Christmas - me or them.

Anyway, here are a few shots of them in their new bouncy castle that morning:







And then later, it was time for the party. Are you ready, PJ?

He just needs to juice up first.

We had just about the most beautiful day on record, so we brought the bouncy house outside and had a bunch of kids jumping their little hearts out.

I'm sure that there was some good sleeping that took place that night.



I never got a picture of all the cupcakes together, or of the blowing out of the candles...probably because I was the one holding the birthday boy, but let's just say that PJ's a fan of anything with rainbow sprinkles.


As are most kids.

And then, after all the hoopla died down and everyone went home, our wonderful next door neighbor came over and said he had a little surprise for the boys and asked if it was a good time. It was, and so he came right back and proceeded to make balloon animals for them.

To say they were captivated is the understatement of the year.

Bunnies, dinosaurs, bumble bees - he made all sorts of animals and the boys loved every second of it!

What wonderful neighbors we have!

So tell us, Peej - how do you feel about being two?

Yeah - you love it!

Making room

If there's one thing that having our third boy in three years has shown us, it's that we needed a little more room in our home.

Well, that and the fact that sleep is overrated.

So the room, and the sleep.

And that children really test your patience.

The room, the sleep, and the patience.

And that we really go through a lot of milk.

So it's the room, the sleep, the patience, and the milk.

Not to mention the fact that your boobs look like crepe paper once you stop nursing, and stretch marks are...

Wait, where was I?

Oh right.

The room.

Sorry about that.

So, we had this unfinished basement that doubled as Patrick's office. The man donned a hat and gloves to go to work in the winter time. It was far from ideal working conditions. If he didn't work from home, I'm sure he could have sued.

But he did work from home, and we wouldn't have paid, so we needed to do something about it.

And the room.

Two toddler boys need a lot of space in which to burn off energy. A couple of blizzards this past winter proved that point beyond a shadow of a doubt.

So come with me as I show you how we transformed our space.

We can see how things changed as we look down the stairs.

Here's where we started:

Show us the studs, Jack.

Drywall

Primer

Paint

Carpet

Railing which, along with that little door covering the circuit box, will eventually be painted white.

This space will become Patrick's office:

Tadah!

This main space, which used to be his office space, will become the play area:

Doesn't that look fun?
The paint color is hard to nail down and depends on the lighting, but I love it. It's called "Lion's mane" and is mainly a camel color, but sometimes more yellowish and sometimes more orange.

A few more wonderful touches. Watch as this space

becomes

this gorgeous built-in bookshelf!

And these shelves

disappear behind a closet!

This view

goes from here

to here!

And this

becomes this!

We have doubled our living space in a matter of three and a half weeks, and feel like it's Christmas!

In addition to having the extra space, my favorite part of the whole endeavor is that Jack told every workman as he went down to work that if they needed him, they could just call him and he'd grab his (toy) toolbox and come down to help. Dead serious. Every time. I love this kid!

The boys are loving that they have enough room to walk all the way around their train table, let alone rock themselves silly on that cool bouncy horse that's been holed up in the garage until we had the room to put him anywhere. (Thanks, Hoovers!)

If anyone local needs a contractor, please let me know! We're happy to recommend ours!

Happy Easter!

Hey, boys! You all look so handsome in your Easter duds, how about if we get a quick picture before church?

Okay, so I accidentally had the flash on there, but Thomas, dude, it's not that bad!

Maybe we can do this one at a time, then. PJ, look at Mommy. Can you smile?

Hm...not quite. Okay, how about this? Say, "Happy Easter!"
Yeah, you held onto that "r" a little long. But that's okay. You still look cute.

Now Thomas, your turn.

Just sit there.

Nice, now how about a smile? Ah-goo? Thooooomas? Where's Moooooommmmyyyyy?

Eh, good enough.

Jack, you're up. Can you look at Mommy and smile?

Well, sort of. Okay, that'll work.

Whoa - you're down from the couch now, but can you give me a quick, disheveled smile?

Perfect.

Now hop back up there and let's try to get one more of the three of you before Thomas starts crying again.

Bingo.

Have I mentioned how much I love these boys?

Happy Easter, everyone!