Wake-Up Call

Every time I get Jansen up from a nap in his crib, I'm always wishing I would remember to record his adorable wake-up antics.  Today I had my phone right there, so before unlatching his swaddler, I grabbed it and set it to record my precious baby fighting the wake-up call.  Enjoy the cuteness!!

Egg-cellent Day

Koen and Tavin are on Spring Break and today our playdate plans got cancelled, so it was a good opportunity to decorate Easter eggs.  This year I let Penn Rye join in the fun.  He loved it and was very attentive to the instructions and the process.  So cute!  Here's a picture of the line-up.  Penn's doing his cross-eyed at the camera thing.  Errrr!

In this picture I was trying to get him to smile and not do it and the boys totally noticed and were distracted by him completely not cooperating.  So much for the good picture of all 3 boys!

Koen and Tavin were all business with their egg-decorating.  Look at the concentration.

Tavin took it so seriously.  He was super careful.  

I boiled 36 eggs.  4 cracked in the process, so I figured I deserved an egg-decorating treat...egg salad!  Yum!  (On the heel of the bread of course since I'm a mom that hates to waste and the boys don't like the heels).

For the second year in a row, I decided to not let the vinegar/water colorful mixtures go to waste either.  I put baking soda in 9x13 pans and for about a half hour after Penn & Janse were in bed, Koen and Tavin were mad scientists watching the bubbly chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.  Tavin even thanked me for the experience.

So, after all the fun for the boys, I got to have some fun myself.  Arranging the eggs.  And yes, I might have influenced the color palettes, but the boys definitely made all these eggs with using the colors I made as well as mixing different colors.  I just got really lucky that my slight influences ended up just the way I wanted it to turn out!  Not sure I'll ever be able to pull that off again!  Here are some gray/turquoise-ish eggs with bright orange eggs and then some yarn-wrapped eggs I made last year.

Then in the dining room, I have an assortment of shades of green and yellow eggs.  So pretty!!  My boys are Easter egg-making pros!!

Well, those were the egg highlights of our "egg-cellent" day!

Jansen's Smile!

It's been tough to catch Jansen's smile on camera.  He loves to respond to my smile with a smile and his sweet coos, but it's hard to snap a photo while keeping eye contact and smile contact with an infant you are holding in your hands.  So, tonight I had Jansen on the changing table and he just started beaming at me (and thankfully I had my phone handy).  I just had to share these photos.  He's such a sweet baby.  I love to see the personality that comes out when I see his face change in the curves and coos of his smile.

Saturday Photo Shoot

This morning Doug took Koen and Tavin to the building that our church is moving into.  Lots of work to be done and they were excited to help alongside their dad.  I've received a few pictures from Doug throughout the work day.  Quite the little helpers!

Well, this left Penn and I home with Jansen all morning.  A nice, quiet change of course.  Penn is quite a little pal when it's just he, Janse and I.  Our big activity was trying to take some pictures of Jansen with a sweet, personalized blanket we received for him.  He was a little too tired and not super simely, but we got enough pictures to post way too many here (as usual).  I tried to show off how he's growing.  Look at these thighs!

And the full cheeks!

Penn helped me try to get a smile out of him.  It's sweet seeing Jansen look up to Penn.

Pay attention here...it's the signs of a smile.  

And back to the sweet, straight face.

An attempt at some tummy time photos.

That's it.  Jansen's had it for the tummy time.  Can't keep his head up anymore.

Another good shot of those chunky thighs!!

Don't worry, just a few more...

This profile shot is for you, Gramma!  I know you love it!

And he's officially had it.  Ok, ok, Jansen.  The torture is over...

...almost.  Penn and I wanted to get in on the action with our model baby.  Jansen didn't care to continue participating.

Ok, that's it.  Amazingly I got this blog post done the day I took the photos.  That's because my big boys are all still hard at work at the church and my little boys are sound asleep in their cribs.  Ahhhhh...

Bye Bye, "Choo Choo"

Tavin's lovey since 4 months old officially kicked the bucket this week.  "Choo Choo" (a cozy blanket made by a friend for Tav when he was born) has been quite raggedy for at least a year now and got a legitimate large hole in recent months.  When that hole tore the majority of the length of the blanket, I decided it was time to say goodbye (especially since I was finding tiny pieces of "Choo Choo" fabric all over the third floor).  I took a picture of "Choo Choo" before tucking him lovingly away in the basement in Tavin's bin of memorabilia.  

Tav did really well about giving up "Choo Choo," although he's always been good about substituting with other blankets when his favorite was in the laundry.  Now the big challenge is to give up the thumb-sucking.  I'm at a complete loss on that one.  

We Made It

Well, I'm lacking in the photography department for the final days while Doug was in India.  But, we made it here on our own, so that's what's really important!  

On Monday we had my friend, Adrianne, and her 4 kids visit for some play and lunch.  I totally neglected to take pictures though unfortunately.  The kids played so well together and it was great to finally catch up with Adrianne and introduce her to Jansen.  Before they arrived though, the boys were super intrigued by the vacuum trucks that came to clean out the sewers in front of our house.  Ah, the magic of living in the city.  

On Tuesday, We enjoyed a super fun playdate at Ellie's house on Tuesday.  Ellie's mom, Corrie, and I have been friends for years, but rarely get time together, so it was so wonderful to spend the morning chatting and catching up while our little ones played well together.  We will definitely be doing this again!  Here's the happy crew at lunchtime.

On Wednesday, we were supposed to have a playdate with some other friends, but it fell through, so we stayed around the house and then did a few quick errands during one of Jansen's naptimes.  One stop was the grocery store and I let the boys get the race car cart.  Quite a sight.  Three boys in one cart.  Jansen peacefully slept despite the wild race car drivers at the wheels!

Doug got home on Wednesday night around 8:30pm.  All the boys, including Jansen, were asleep for the night, so he had a nice, calm reception (just dead tired wifey that was super happy to see her best friend home safe and sound).  Thursday morning he was on Daddy duty though and ready to greet the boys with a few, small gifts from and more importantly, lots of hugs and smiles.  A great reunion!  (Which I completely forgot to grab the camera for!  Perhaps had something to do with nursing Jansen at that same time).  Doug's been trying to kick the jetlag by jumping right back into Eastern Standard Time, so he's been so helpful with the boys (which I totally needed!).  I did manage to get this picture this morning (Friday) of he and Jansen having a happy snuggle.  See how Jansen is sort of smiling?  He missed Daddy too.

Welcome home, Douglas.  And yay that we are not on our own anymore.  I think I was close to breaking point!!  So glad we are back functioning as a team.  What a blessing to do life and parent with your best friend!

The Truth

I struggled with the title of this blog post.  I started with "A Slap in the Face," and then I thought maybe, "The Hard Truth" or "The Honest Truth."  But I felt the first was too harsh and limiting and the others were just limiting.  See, I'm wrapping my head around The Word, the powerful, poignant and personal Word of God.  And this isn't because I just had some amazing, quiet time to focus on the Scriptures and my God.  No, it's because I had a really, really hard night with my 4 boys while my husband is 1000's of miles away.  And then, after totally losing it with my oldest, almost crying because I just wanted to pick up my tranquil infant and thank him for his sweetness and was depressed over my two middles who seemed happy to just be silly and naughty at every turn, there was The Word.  There was the 2 year old on my lap, the 5 year old at my side and the Children's Bible laid out on my lap.  And even in that simplified translation of the age-old stories, my heart was comforted, convicted and compelled.  The Lord spoke to me as I read about the disciples Jesus selected.  The normal, broken men he asked to walk with Him, to work with Him, just as He calls me to follow Him in my brokenness.  The Lord spoke to me as I read about the birds and the flowers He so beautifully covers and provides for and how much more He provides for me, one of His chosen ones.  And my heart was humbled (humiliated more like it), but also was filled with hope.  This is The Truth.  His Word can speak into the tough times, the frustrations and the joyful times, the wonderment too.  His Word is powerful, alive and can speak to me and you in every scenario.  His Word can turn a tough evening into a little epiphany that feels as if He came to say something about grace and provision and love just to me, just in that moment, because you know what?  He did.

Miss Megan Magee Weekend!

This weekend we were so blessed to have our friend, Miss Megan Magee, here to keep us company and lend a very helpful hand.  Praise God for good friends!  We had a great weekend thanks to the patient help from Megan.  

As I posted, Megan arrived on Friday evening just in time to take the boys to the Spring Production at Koen's school.  Then they had their ice cream date.  They didn't get home until a little after 9pm!  I got them into bed as fast as possible and then Megan and I enjoyed a few minutes of catching up before heading to bed.  Saturday morning the boys were up between 7 and 8am as usual and we had breakfast at 8am.  Megan was up shortly afterwards and jumped right into the mix.  We hung out at the house and then she took Koen and Tavin to the library at 10am when it opened and then they went on to swimming lessons at 11am.  So, it was just Penn, Jansen and I at home.  I was able to enjoy the more peaceful crew and also get a few things done, including giving Jansen a much-needed sponge bath.  The big boys returned at lunch time and then afterwards, Megan took them to a playground for a little while.  Here are the scooter buddies.  It was so great to get them outside!

After they got home, they watched a DVD together and since Penn and Jansen were napping well and Megan was there to keep an ear out, I got to take a walk to the store for some groceries all by myself!  It was amazing to get some fresh air, sunshine and time to myself!  Later after naps, I got the 3 older boys out again up to play at our neighbor's and we all enjoyed more outside time while Megan stayed at home snuggling with Jansen.  She took some great photos of her little buddy.

I managed to make a fun, yummy meal for us all earlier in the afternoon that Megan threw in the oven for me while we were outside playing, so when we got home we enjoyed a really nice family dinner altogether.  It was totally worth the effort. =)  Then after dinner it was the mad dash through clean-up, bathtime and bedtime.  And it was so helpful to have Megan around to help me pull it all off!  We had the boys all washed and down on time.  Jansen usually stays up a little after his 7pm feeding to burp and chill out.  Megan hung out with him during this time.  She's a big fan of my littlest!

Thankfully, Jansen cooperated well too and was down calmly by 8pm.  Phew, what a day!  Finally,  we ladies got to enjoy some friend time chatting until our bedtime (when I needed to feed Jansen again at 10pm).  A really full, but really good day.  Megan and I make a good team!!  On Sunday, we continued to tag team it and had a nice morning with the boys at home before heading to the 11am service.  Here are the boys all playing trains together under Megan's watch while I fed Jansen before we left.

We made it to church on time again (so proud!).  So glad we got out to church.  Such a nice morning with friends, in worship and in the Word.  We got home and raced through lunch and then on to naptime.  Megan was a huge help through this busy hour and she stayed on to hang out a bit in the afternoon and she just left a little while ago.  Thank you so much, Miss Megan Magee.  We all love you so much and I was so thankful to have your confident, caring help this weekend.  It made a huge difference in sustaining me through this long time with Doug gone.  Come back soon!  (I'll be sure to let you know next time I need back up!  Ha!).