You've Had a Birthday!

Madilyn decorated the cake.

Grant turned 1 in March. The changes children make in their first year are absolutely astounding. He's gone from being a little lump of crying goo to a walking, talking, person with an opinion and an attitude all in one year.

 I have decided that it is good to be the youngest. (I already thought that since I am the youngest in my family.) But being the youngest of 4 kids is really awesome. He not only has mom and dad taking care of him but two sisters and a brother. They pander to him. Lucky. I have to remind them that he is capable of doing things himself.

 Grant is a daddy's boy. In fact he really prefers men in general - dad, grandpa, uncles, other old guys at church.... He adores Madilyn too. When she comes home from school he runs (walks slightly more awkwardly) to the door where she picks him up and he lays his head on her shoulder. He tries to keep up with Garrett but I'm glad he can't because Garrett isn't exactly gentle. Grant started walking at around 10 months and gratefully he's picked up a handful of words that have started to let us in on what he's thinking. And he got his first tooth right before his birthday. Woohoo!

He is a snugly, teasing, smiley little boy that has brought much joy and laughter to our family.

We Saved an Airplane

Saturday was gorgeous so we spent some quality time with the kids outside at the school playground. Good times. I learned a few things -

• Garrett can jump his bike off the curb
• Grant likes to crawl through pea gravel
• All Amanda (my sister-in-law) and I need to rescue an airplane is a 10ft stick and her amazing catching skills.

I'm ready for spring!

And then they do that...

I'm going to keep it simple.

Bad day + Crying baby + Laundry + Dishes + Cooking = Monster Mom (very grumpy, sometimes snaps and gnashes teeth)

Despite grumpy mom, or maybe because of, Madilyn took care of the baby without being asked, folded laundry, and even asked me what she could do for me. Emma started following her example.

I had to leave before dinner was done and Jeremy had to be outside working for a while. While we were out they did the dishes, swept the floor, organized the shoes, folded and put away laundry, Madilyn got all the kids ice cream and got Garrett changed into pajamas.

Yes, when I found out what they'd done I got tears in my eyes. Thanks kids. Mom needed it tonight.

Lazy Sunday Morning

How do you spend a lazy Sunday morning? What?! You don't spend it on a pile of pillows and blankets in front of your parents bedroom door? Give it a try.

Really?

Yes that is my baby in a hospital gown in the hospital. A week and a half ago he came down with a cold. The first day he got it he started having labored breathing enough that I called my mom to get her educated doctor/mom opinion and to find out what I needed to watch for through the night because as we all know it always, ALWAYS, gets worse at night.

And it did. By 2 am he was having a hard time breathing. He would have given Darth Vader a run for his money. Well we consulted more parents and by 3 am we headed to the ER. He didn't respond to the first breathing treatment, which led to x-rays, which showed that he only had 1-2 mm of space to breath. By 4 he was admitted to the hospital.

He responded to treatment throughout the day but that night it got worse again and we found ourselves back were we started at 5 am the next morning. But from there he got better was able to come home that afternoon.

So all is now well in our neck of the woods.

Is it February?

Shoot. I'm so far behind. Let me get caught up here. Christmas came and went. Presents were opened. Children were happy. OK. Done there.

January...I'm not sure where it went? Madilyn's science fair project was due, at least the experiment part and I have to tell you I really wonder what kids do that don't have parents who'll help them. Because it was a lot of work and I'm all about making sure they do their own projects. Glad that's done.

Jeremy had a birthday. I decided to take some pictures for his office. He has lots of pictures of the girls but only one of Garrett and none of Grant. Here's the collages I put together and then framed. (I'm not a photographer, and I only have a point and shoot, so you know, they turned out OK, considering. Wow I used a lot of commas in that sentence.)

 These didn't make the cut but they were still cute.

Lastly in January I participated in a vocal...I guess you could call it a competition, sort of. Anyway, I was in the category for people who've taken lessons forever but were not music majors in college. I had to prepare one art song in English, one in a foreign language, and then one more that was either another art song or an opera aria. I did a piece from a Mozart opera first and then the judges choose from the other two songs. Good news. I won my category/division/whatever its called. I'm glad I did it. I won some money that was kind of nice...however not enough to cover the cost of my accompanist :) Still a good experience.

That was January in a nutshell. I really am going to get back on track for my blog.

Halloween, what?

My cute little Tigger. Poor kid kept getting too hot.

 It occurred to me that I never did a Halloween post. What? No Halloween!Woops.

 In all honesty, Halloween was not that awesome at our house. Madilyn had the flu which circulated through two more family members before it was done. Luckily we attended a Halloween before everyone was sick.

Ladybug bubble fairy. She left her bubble wand in the car.

My disgruntled pirate. She hates pictures even though when we sit down to look at them she asks why there aren't any of her.

Christopher Robin toting around his stuffed Tigger.

Grant didn't dress up because, well, he was six months old and didn't care.