Sochi 2014 to ???? 2030

I'm doing my best to raise fans of the Olympics.  I think I'm right on track.  Tonight Samuel told me that he really needed me to get him skis.  Or a snowboard.  Or a bobsled.  Because how on earth is he going to win a gold medal and get me on a (Proctor and Gamble) P & G commercial to say "Thank you, Mom?"  I guess I'd better go find a bobsled.

Maybe if I go to "one more store" I'll find it.  That's Caitlin's favorite phrase.  She asks for just one more store, complete with finger motions, every time we leave, well, anywhere.  When we turn onto our road she cried out, "no home, one more store!"

McKenna and Anna are cheerleading with Upward.  They are loving this new activity.  I still can't believe I'm currently acting as a cheer mom.  I even spent a Saturday evening last month pulling apart the ribbons on pom poms.  Twice.

This winter is 6" of snow away from being the snowiest ever in Indianapolis.  I'm 6" from over it.  Compounding the problem was the gift of a trip with Chris and the older kids to Southern California last month.  Who spends a tantalizing five days in San Diego and Los Angeles in the middle of multiple polar vortexes and significant snowfalls.  This family.  And it was awesome.  We did all the things you might think.  We did Legoland.  We did the Safari Park associated with the San Diego Zoo.  We did Disneyland (on Samuel's 8th birthday!).  We also did a bit of the unexpected.  We surfed.  In January.  These Indiana kids surfed.  Really stood.  Really did it.  It was crazy fun to watch them do something that they thought they would never do.  They loved it.  The whole trip was crazy wonderful.  But it really makes the rest of this winter seem extra long.

I blinked. And a year went by.

Well, shoot.  So many moments have come and gone with out record.  I know I'll never remember them all.  I won't remember very many in the long run, probably.  But sometimes things happen and I think, "I NEED to put to put that down somewhere!"  

Tonight was one of those moments.  I was having Anna (really, Anna AND Pops) help me build a prototype for a building class project.  (Pup tent!) I couldn't find Samuel's hammer and so I interrupted his lego building for to ask where it was.  

"It's stuck in the tree."

What?  Why is it stuck in the tree?

"Because I tried to get the stomp rocket out (without even looking up) but now they're both stuck. It's easy to get out."

Why is it still stuck?

"Because it's too hard for me to get out."

Seriously.  This kid is too funny to be related to me. And somehow he is!

Track, development, and Christmas leftovers

Track season has begun.  Love. It.  Our big kids are participating in the Body In Training Track Club this spring.  Practices are underway and spirits are still soaring.  Anna is training for high and long jumps as well as the 800 meters.  McKenna is training for the long jump, javelin, and 100 meters (what?  sprints?  good thing she has technical coaches other than mama...).  Samuel is training for the long jump, javelin, 100 and 400 meters.  He's a hoot.  In fact, he hoots after each practice jump or throw.  And he's been leading the other sub-bantams in their workouts.  It's a fun time for Caitlin and I to watch...as long as we can stay out of the wind!

A developmental update:
*On 3/19 Caitlin cut her first two teeth--the bottom middle teeth.  Incredibly cute.
*This week she has started scooting.  She does this by doing what looks like a push up and flopping down about 3 inches backwards to where she started.  She gets herself around the room but often ends up stuck against furniture that she didn't see coming!
*Caitlin absolutely loves veggies.  Green beans are by far her favorite.  She likes her fruits, too, but definitely not as much as the veggies.
*She loves the shower.  She will sit on the floor of the shower until the water runs cold if we let her.
*Another favorite past-time?  Being balanced (with help) on the head of Pops or Daddy.  She just howls with laughter.
*Naps!  We've got it!  She's taken 5 naps in 7 days in her crib!  I thought the day might never arrive, but we've gotten ourselves into a nice afternoon routine!

And because I keep forgetting...
At Christmas Samuel was talking about *something* (perhaps I could write the details if I'd logged this story earlier...).  Bennett asked him if he knew *that* from experience.  Samuel replied with heart, "No!  It really happened to me!"

Toast on Jam

I worked last night so Chris was home with the kiddos. All four healthy kiddos. At least, that's how I left them.

I got a text at 0307 that read, "Nothing like getting woke up at 3 am to 'dad sam just threw up in his bed'. The girls were great, by the time I got down stairs he was all set up on the chair with blankets, a pan, and a glass of water. Oh yeah, he wants to talk to you."

So I called home at at 0315 I talked to Chris. And Samuel. And Anna. And McKenna.

Thankfully it was a quick bug. He was fine today, but he amused me (as he always does) with his words. I slept through his lunch which he described to me as "toast on jam". If he prepared it, I'm pretty sure that's more accurate than jam on toast.

Will it work for me?

We had a visitor last night. Actually Samuel had a visitor. The Money Fairy came to see him while he slept. Anna concocted and implemented a plan last night to please her brother. She told Samuel that if he left pennies under his pillow that The Money Fairy would come during the night and exchange the pennies for coins of higher value. He was game. He left two pennies under his pillow and went to sleep promptly.

About an hour after we had put the kids to bed, we could hear Anna walking through the house. She snuck into the family room to tell us that **wink, wink** The Money Fairy had come and gone. She exchanged Samuel's pennies for dimes **wink, wink**.

This morning, much to Samuel's delight, he awoke to find a penny and a dime under his pillow. He was thrilled! Anna was confused, though. Where was the other dime? Why was there still a penny? She finally realized that perhaps she isn't quite as adept at identifying coins in the dark as she thought she was and that she must have exchanged one penny for another.

It was a cute interaction. Chris and I considered exchanging the dimes for quarters under Samuel's pillow after Anna had gone to sleep. We didn't, but we might in the future if this Money Fairy continues to make appearances.

(Anna also told us that the Money Fairy is the Tooth Fairy's boss. She lives in New York. A backstory. This girl's been thinking! She had answers ready for all of Samuel's unasked questions...)

(Spoiler alert!) Magnolia is safely home.

Today I did not spend an hour chasing a chicken through the bramble behind the barn. Nope, I spent two hours trying to catch poor Magnolia and return her to the hen house.

I have learned that the kids are helpful in pointing out that I cannot reach the chicken. They are not so helpful in actually catching the chicken. Well, the girls anyway. Samuel was the one who finally scooped up little Maggie.

The result is that I will never again make fun of the players on Survivor who are trying to catch chickens in their camps. And I'm glad that CBS has no reason to have a camera crew at our house.

Just another day in paradise

This week the big kids painted like Michelangelo. Minus the fresco style and Sistine Chapel. Plus the paper taped to the underside of a card table in the yard with water-based paints.

Caitlin got more fresh air than she's had in a given week of her life. It turns out that exersaucers are great for basketball watching babies. She loves the driveway games that Samuel plays. (For the sake of remembering, Samuel is always "Cody Zeller" and plays for IU. He frequently hits from beyond his 3-point line, a line about 8 feet from the basket. IU lost Friday night to Kentucky. What a season... Sweet 16 this year... I digress.)

Samuel told Pops this morning before church that his favorite color was plaid. This is not a high traffic blog, but if it were, I would take a poll. What is your favorite outfit dysfunction here? Is it the underturned collar? The cat-stepped buttons? The unbuttoned top button while wearing a clip on tie? The mis-matched plaids? The plaids combined with the patterened tie? Is it the star wars light up shoes?

Or wait?! Is it the gaping head wound that happened toward the end of church? Who said Sunday school was safe?! Apparently, we play a mean game of hide and seek at Castleview. Mean enough to give a nice "Y" shaped wound to the posterior scalp, complete with confusion, desire to sleep, and pale to gray pallor. Thankfully, an uneventful trip the the Riley ER confirmed that Samuel will make a complete recovery. His Happy Meal with a transformers toy was probably the tipping point. Samuel is, as I type, Yoshi on aMario v. Sonic Olympic game on the wii. He's a wickedly good javelin thrower on the wii. (And apparently at home, too. Samuel made his own javelin a couple days ago. It was old-school. Wooden with a red tip, thanks to a crayola marker. On his first attempt he threw his home made javelin half the length of his ice rink. Without getting a splinter. How many kids can say that?)

We've flown the coop

The last 8 days have provided quite the memories for our kiddos. We started out with 6 chicks. We now have 12. The original 6 are leghorns and have been named Bailey and Chelsea (Anna's), Donna (renamed Pip because she's the smallest) and Brooke (McKenna's), and Obi Wan Kenobi and Quaigon Gin (Samuel's). (Carrie, feel free to let me know what the correct spellings are. I'm feeling too lazy to look it up.)

The work of converting the old barn that sheltered Sahib into a chicken coop commenced today. McKenna went to Lowe's with Pops to get materials. All of the kids "helped" in the prep of the area construction of the floor. Samuel got the working child gold medal today, though. He worked with Pops for a solid 4 hours, even skipping dinner to continue working. The floor is done and the east wall is almost framed.

Anna's new favorite thing, next to the chickens, is her pair of bib overalls. She wears them every day and regularly has a chick in the front pocket. For example...

The leghorn in the front is a week older than the two varieties in the back. I'm not sure what the kids picked out. I did hear that Samuel requested that the Tractor Supply worker pick out the fattest one for him and Anna wanted the smallest one. Naturally, the chicks were afraid of the worker and there were about 18 in the bin. I'm sure he did his best.

February

This has been another busy month. Not so busy that I couldn't have taken a few moments to document (and therefore remember) things, though.

Daily wrestling matches continue. Chris still wins.

This week Caitlin has been VERY busy. She's mastered sitting tripod-style for long enough for me to scoot away and take her picture. She doesn't do it much longer than that, and she doesn't look up and keep her balance at all.

Caitlin has also developed some crazy rolls on her legs. Yesterday I noticed that at her hip her leg is as wide as her femur is long. She kind of looks like cube blocks--cute ones--her head, her body and her legs. She also has a fantastic crease around her wrists and ankles. She's been well fed. :)

Speaking of well-fed, we started giving her rice cereal this week. She's had it for the last 3 nights and is a total champ. Tonight she did it as if she'd been doing it for months. This a her first rice-face picture.

She's a squealer, she is. A squealer and a scooter. She's started in the last couple of days scooting on the back of her head, using her heels as leverage. So much for getting rid of the bald spot. Looks like it will get bigger before it goes away.

Samuel has learned to dunk. Generally, Pops helps.

Chris took the big girls to their first Daddy Daughter Dance. The girls had a great time. (Anna has since learned the Macarena. She's just too cute.

In other news, Samuel has this reading thing down. I took the kids to the library to read aloud to some dogs. Apparently that's all it took for Samuel to turn the sound-it-out-corner and be on his way to legitimate sight reading. He started his first long-ish book on Saturday and finished it today (Monday). He was so proud of himself. I was so proud of him...

Party time

Last weekend was party weekend around here. We got to celebrate McKenna in tea party style. She had the fanciest cupcakes I've made, real china, girlfriends, Russian Tea, and other sweet treats. Celebrating my kids' birthdays is one of my most favorite things as a mother. I look forward to each one...

tidbits

Sandwiched int he middle of his prayer tonight I heard Samuel say, "...Thank you God that you made Mommy say yes when I asked to play the wii."

Caitlin gained 3 pounds last month. Lovin' her thigh rolls.

McKenna is practically counting the hours until her birthday.

Anna and I got to go shopping together--thanks Gran Gran!--for a couple of hours today. She replaced the last of the fall festival fish with 6 new fish. The one that kicked the bucket today (Sparkles turned Dollie) has been replaced. They all have names, but your age has to be in the single digits to keep up with the names.

8 weeks

So, our sweet Caitlin has arrived at the 8 week mark. She has ditched her pirate eye look. She has finally started to smile. We've seen her smile frequency increase daily at this point. She is sleeping well at night (11:30 to 8:00) when we use the "banana split". That's the name that McKenna gave to the Fisher Price Rock 'N Sleep that we borrowed from Rebekah. It's a beautiful thing, I say.
The kids attended the Fall Festival at church. It's a fun tradition that the kids are already looking forward to for next year. Anna was a gymnast, Sam was Batman, McKenna a fairy, and Caitlin was either "Baby Anna" or "Baby McKenna" (depending on who she looked most like). I was pleased to make Samuel's cape. It's just too bad that I procrastinated and waited until about 3:00 on 10/31 to start it. His mask was the easy part--snipped from the back of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch box.

One Month

Today commemorates what might be the quickest month of my life. Caitlin is up to 9lb 4oz per our visit to her pediatrician today. I think she's gained all of her weight in the last 8 days. I didn't see much of a difference until then. Since then I see her changing daily.

Today also marked the end of Samuel and McKenna's soccer season through the YMCA. They were fun to watch. Their personalities were evident on the field which was one of my favorite aspects of spectating their games. McKenna did a lot of twirling. And skipping. Samuel spent much of his time on the ground. He was always the dirtiest kid leaving the field.

6!

Well. How many posts have I composed in my head in the last 4 weeks? Just one, actually. But I've done it every day.

Miss Caitlin Raye made her grand entrance on September 6th. I don't remember the weather. I don't remember the cost of gas. I don't remember anything except the hours of labor and her arrival. It was physically painful and emotionally wonderful. A great day for all of us.

Since coming home she has found herself at home with us. She's been to cross country meets, soccer games, gymnastics practices, Bible studies, co-op classes, music classes, job interviews, overnight trips to see family, church services, and ice cream socials. We didn't miss a beat, but are enjoying her at home snuggly moments as well.

Caitlin isn't a loud baby, but she's a noisy baby. She has more grunts, squeaks, squaks, and gaks than any other baby I've ever known. She's loud when she's waking up, falling asleep, eating, and breathing.

The other kids have adapted well to Caitlin as well. Anna took about 30 minutes to go from standoffish to melted heart. She has designated herself the diaper changer. And she has changed many a diaper. She loves to get Caitlin up in the morning, unswaddle her, change her, and bring her to me. But before bringing her to me, the girls all have a bonding moment. Anna and McKenna do a "morning dance" with Caitlin. I have yet to see this. Part of me says maybe I don't want to. But down deep I think I want to see it. I love to watch Anna and McKenna interact with her. They love her so much.

And Samuel. Samuel is so gentle with her. He has said many times, "I could hold her for hours and hours". And collectively he has. He gives the sweetest kisses and sings the most caring lullabies. He so wants to have her sleeping in his room. He does, however, want the next pregnancy to result in a brother. (oh dear)

**Side funny: As I nursed Caitlin when she was about a week old Samuel walked into the room and stopped in his tracks. He looked puzzled and said to me, "I thought the thing that she sucked on was on the other side." He had no idea that I could use both sides!

**Side frustration: I struggle with getting the pictures where I want them. I suppose I should just be glad I got them posted.

McKenna, this time around

McKenna woke up this morning and was lamenting about how much she wanted donuts for breakfast. I wasn't in the mood to go get any at a moments notice so I offered to make cinnamon rolls. You know, since no one delivers donuts. She agreed that cinnamon rolls would suffice. We went downstairs and I. kid. you. not. there were donuts on the table. Apparently, on a whim while picking up some milk this morning my dad decided to pick up three iced and sprinkled donuts. And delivered them back to the dining room table. (This reminded me of the time that McKenna sadly looked into the yard on a Sunday morning and said, "I wish we had a play house..." At that moment dad was in the garage assembling the one that had been purchased the day before. It was constructed and in the yard before we got home from church.) This girl has some odd timing for her requests.

Yesterday McKenna was circling the toys that she would like from a specialty toy catalogue that came in the mail. Samuel looked over her shoulder and asked if she would like to have the laptop. "Laptop? That's not a laptop. That's a 'learning tool for the next generation.'" Seriously.

On the night that the girls got "twinkle toes"

Laura was here tonight.

Anna was showering.

Laura looked a bit confused.

"Is that Anna?"

I replied. Yes.

I realized. Not everyone is used to the white noise that our family has grown accustomed to when Anna showers.

Anna sings.

She sings loud. She sings opera. (Or at least opera-like) She sings in what sounds like Latin.

And we don't even notice.

But Laura laughed. She laughed because we didn't even notice that there was a second grader singing Latin opera from the bathroom.

Doesn't that happen everywhere?

It only took 33 years

At the expense of my dear children, and over the course of two days, I may have just won my first game of monopoly. Ever. Until today I thought I had mastered losing with efficiency. I loved playing with the kids, though. They were so excited about it. They were SO into the game. At one point near the end of the game Anna looked at me and said, "You can have all of my properties (all of which were mortgaged) and give my $2000. Take it or leave it, Sister." I have no idea where she gets her competitive nature (smirk).

Perspectives

Samuel has had such sweet prayers lately. They have one consistent element. "Dear God, please help Caitlin to get unstuck and for mommy to not have public pain." Love. It.

Anna is coming around to the idea of having a baby in the house. She will deny excitement if asked directly about her enthusiasm. If you just talk to her about the Caitlin in general she is very excited.

McKenna is just nervous about me being in the hospital. She's not looking forward to me being gone at night. How quickly she's grown accustomed to me being home at night. Not going to lie, I have, too. Going back to work whenever I do will be easier at night than during the day, but I sure do enjoy my nights at home!

Season still pending, and more

With the potential end of the NFL lockout later tonight, it is fitting to report that there were some football conversations at home today as well. I put McKenna's hair into a ponytail this morning, using the first ponytail holders I grabbed. They were green and white and McKenna looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Mom, those are JETS colors! (audible gasp)" She later asked me for Colts tickets for her birthday this fall.

Samuel spent part of the evening outside driving his race car. He was completely outfitted with his racing vest, gloves, and cap. At one point he jumped out of the car, stomped up the sidewalk, and went into the house. When he came back out moments later I asked him what was the matter (after reminding him that there was a heat index of 115 and to kindly shut the door to the house, of course). He responded by pointing with an accusing finger to his pedal car and said emphatically, "My car stalled!"

Anna is still lobbying for a dog. I have decided that I might pay for her first tattoo before I pay for her first dog. Tattoos are less maintenance. I wonder if my position might be too hard and fast on the whole dog thing. I have no desire to add a dog to the family, but I absolutely love to watch Anna play with other people's dogs. You know, the ones that the other people take care of.

We were able to capture Caitlin's heartbeat on a recorder today at the OB. Build-a-bear, here we come. Again.

At our last appointment, we had another ultrasound and the tech asked if we would like her to turn on the 4D imaging. Um, yeah... We were able to see some amazing images of our little girl. I think she looks a lot like Samuel. It's so odd to think that already, instead of merely wondering if she who she will look like. The tech said that it looked like she already had some visible hair. THAT leaves me wondering. We've had such baldies that I can't imagine having a newborn with any substantial amount of hair!

(Still nameless)

It's old news around here by now, but the scales will officially be tipped to the girl side with the arrival of our (still nameless) baby in September. We took the kids with us for the ultrasound earlier this month. Anna went in with her "I-still-don't-want-another-baby-in-the-family" chip on her shoulder. It was fun to watch the monitor and be able to recognize things before the technician pointed them out. I was much more excited, after working at Riley for a year, to see a complete spine and other body parts than I was to know if the baby was a boy or girl. I think that's ultimately why I didn't even want to know the gender. I just wanted to see the heart, spine, palate... The technician asked the girls if they could read. They responded that they could, and McKenna popped out of her chair to come over and see that the tech had typed "GIRL" on one of the images. McKenna yelled out, "It's a girl!"

I remember the kids' reactions more than Chris' or mine. Anna sat with her arms crossed and announced, "I wanted it to be a boy." (Naturally.) McKenna was all smiles, bouncing around the room. Samuel sat by my side, trying so hard to be stoic. His little chin and lip just quivered until he meekly said, "I wanted it to be a brother."

The updated status is that Anna seems to be much more excited. The hasn't in the last week made any comments, to me anyway, about not wanting another baby in the family. She's been excited about the purchases we've made for the (still nameless) baby. She's spoken in much more positive tones about her. Anna still thinks that Montana should be the name of choice. McKenna is talking to the baby every day, rubbing my belly, telling the (still nameless) baby how much she is loved. McKenna has been suggesting names that are reasonable, just not ones that we want to use. Samuel has come to terms with being the only boy. He's about as verbal about baby-excitement as I would expect a 5 year old boy to be. He thinks that it's pretty neat that he and I will be the only two in the house who have three sisters.

***

Anna recently asked to learn to play monopoly. We spent an afternoon this week (in May) sitting in front of a fire, playing monopoly. All five of us. So fun. Until Chris and I realized that we grew up with completely different sets of house rules. Still fun.

Some more Samuel moments that I don't want to go forgotten.

1. There is nothing better than watching Samuel hoe the garden, see an airplane fly low overhead, and go chasing it across the yard. Unless it's followed by watching that same little boy eat an ice cream cone on the swing. (sigh) Love these moments.

2. At dinner the other night Samuel looked at Nana and said, "I know what you mean by (insert hand gesture quotations) 'your girls'." And he listed Nana's daughters. But seeing the hand motions was so cute.

3. The kids were listening to "Stayin' Alive" in the van today. Sam was singing along then yelled, "Take it away, Girls!" And the girls started singing right where he left off. I was thankful to be stopped at a light because I was in tears I as laughing so hard!