A Sneak Peak

Spiderman and Optimus Prime

Gabe and Will have been talking about what they want to be for Halloween for months! So, Will and I (and Sam) went shopping for costumes today. On the way to the store, Will decided that all the boys in the family (dad included) were going to be T-Rex and I was going to be a Triceratops. Fortunately for Mark and I, there were no dinosaur costumes to be found.



It was probably a mistake taking Will with me. As soon as he saw all the different costumes, he couldn't make up his mind! We went into the store with him wanting to be the black Spiderman, but during our time there he wanted to be a pirate, Iron Man, Darth Vader, Bumblebee (transformer), and Spiderman. Once he saw that the regular Spiderman had muscles, he was no longer interested in the black one! Anyway, he finally decided on Spiderman and we got Optimus Prime for Gabe.



Will could hardly wait for Gabe to get home from school so they could try on their costumes. As soon as they tried them on, I knew it was going to be tough to get them out! As Will was putting his Spiderman costume on he said, "I'm Spiderman! I save people! Come on Opimus Pwime, let's go get the Descepticons!" It's pretty funny to watch a transformer and Spiderman interact...they actually make a pretty good team.

Optimus Prime trying to teach Spiderman the ways of the Transformers.

Spiderman showing off his web slinging skills and muscles.

Relax

I have to preface this entry by saying that at the time of the first half of the story I was in no way stressed or upset. Our morning had gone pretty smoothly and I thought I was in a pretty good mood! Anyway...

On Wednesday morning, after dropping Gabe off at school, I was running errands with Will and Sam. As we were driving around, Will and I had a conversation that went something like this...

Will: "Mommy, you just need to relax! Take deep breaths, like this...(he proceeded to demonstrate his version of deep breaths)."

Me: "Honey, I am relaxed."

Will: "I'm not Honey, I'm Will. Mommy, you need to relax! Take deep breaths! Please!"

Me: "Okay, but I am relaxed." (I take deep breaths, just like he demonstrated.)

Will: "No, you need more deep breaths!"

Me: (After taking lots of deep breaths...) "Am I relaxed now?"

Will: "Not yet, you have to take 14 deep breaths. Like this..."

This conversation continued along these same lines for several minutes before Will finally decided I was relaxed enough. I believe Will might have been preping me for what he did today...

This afternoon I sent Gabe and Will to use the bathroom so we could be ready to run an errand. Gabe came back fairly quickly telling me that Will had put something in the toilet and now it was gone. So, I followed Gabe back to the bathroom (Will is no where to be found - he has started hiding when he knows he's about to get into trouble.). In the toilet is a roll of toilet paper (still rolled up), but I can't find the plastic holder (is there a name for that thing?). Gabe tells me that the "stick" was in the toilet but Will flushed it and now it's gone.

I holler for Will to join us in the bathroom. No response, so I start counting. I get to the number 2 and hear him yelling, "Here I come!" (he knows that if he doesn't show up by the time I get to 3, he's in even bigger trouble). He emerged from under his bed declaring, "I'm sorry, mom. I'm really bery sorry, mom." (Sounds like a confession to me!)

Luckily, Mark was on his way home for lunch. So, I sent Will to time out (he has become very familiar with being in time out lately) where he had to wait for Mark to evaluate the situation and then talk to him. After a stern talking to by both myself and Mark, I think Will understands why he got into so much trouble.

When Mark got home from work for the day, he started the process of trying to rescue the "stick". In the end, he had to pull the toilet out in hopes of finding the "stick". At one point, the toilet was in the back yard...we had the "white trash" thing going on (why didn't I think to grab the camera?). Thankfully, a trip to the backyard is just what the toilet needed. Mark was able to force the "stick" out with some irrigation tubing we had.

I don't think Mark particularly enjoyed his afternoon project. However, I'm very thankfully he's such a handy guy (though Gabe was disappointed that we didn't get to have a plumber come)! Hopefully that is the last time Mark has to go searching for a "stick" or any other object...

In order to tie the two stories together, I must thank Will for teaching me his relaxation techniques. By using what he taught me the day before I was able to remain calm and relaxed in an otherwise stressful situation! Thank you Will for teaching me such a valuable lesson...just don't make me have to take deep breaths too often!

One Month

It's hard to believe sweet little Sam is a month old! We're starting to get more into the swing of having three children. Luckily, Gabe and Will have been very helpful and very sweet to their baby brother. That helps A LOT!

In the previous post, I mentioned that Sam had rolled over but I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or not. Well, it's not. He has been rolling from tummy to back pretty consistenly since the last post. He even tries to roll from back to tummy. I think (hope) it'll be awhile before he's successful with that endeavor!

We'll be taking him back to the pediatrician on Wednesday to check how his clavical is healing and to check his weight. I weighed him today on our scale and he is just shy of 11 1/2 pounds. He is getting into more of a schedule (as much as a 3rd child can, with all the comings and goings!). Gabe and Will love to talk and sing to him. I love it! Well, except when we're in the car and Sam is crying, Gabe is singing one song and Will is singing a completely different song that is when I think I might need to be institutionalized! But, other than that we're a happy little family!

Multi-tasking

Will apparently decided to make the most of his time in Time Out and squeeze in a nap. So, this is what it looks like when a soon to be 3 year old falls asleep in Time Out. Honestly, I didn't leave him there for more than a couple of minutes! Poor kid must have been pretty tired!

County Fair

Today, we decided to take the boys to the fair. As soon as Mark got home from work, we loaded the boys up and were off. We made a quick stop at my parent's house to drop Sam off and were on our way. It was fun to spend some much deserved time with the "big boys".

Will thought we were going to see bears (fair, bear - it's all the same, right?). He talked about the bears he was going to see, drew pictures of the bears, counted the bears he drew, was obviously very excited to see bears. Well, this was the only bear he saw. Luckily, all the other animals and rides helped him to forget about the lack of bears at the fair.

The boys took turns picking rides. Will was extremely excited about this motorcycle ride and he knew exactly which motorcycle he wanted to ride. When it was over, I asked him if he had fun on the ride. He quickly declared, "Oh yeah! It was my favorite!"

Gabe chose this bumpy jeep ride. If you look closely, you can see Will in the jeep behind Gabe's head. While Will decided the motorcycles were his favorite, Gabe's favorite was the giant ferris wheel. He was wide eyed the whole time and loved that he could see "the whole world".

Another highlight was getting their arms painted. Will chose a snake and Gabe chose the spider. They were both anxious to go scare Nana and Grandpa with their new "pets". And we had to be very careful when washing them up before bed, so that they could show everyone at preschool the next day.

Bootyfull Baby

Will is always telling me how "bootyfull" our baby is, so I thought it was an appropriate title for this post.


Here is Sam the morning after he was born...
And here are some pictures that I had taken today...

Sam is 3 weeks old today and as Gabe says, "is growing and growing every day." Last week we took him to the pediatrician and she was very happy with how he is doing. He had grown a little over an inch and was 21 3/4 long, and has now passed his birth weight. One discovery we did make was that he has a broken left clavicle. I'm not surprised based on his birth size and how quick he came. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks to make sure that is healing properly.

Fluke? Last Tuesday night, I laid him on his tummy so I could switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer. When I walked back in the room, he was on his back! He had rolled over! I tried to get him to do it again, but was unsuccessful (and he hasn't done it since). Gabe and Will were both early rollers (started rolling at 6 weeks), but two weeks seemed really early. So, I'll chalk that roll up to being a fluke!