Try Something New Tuesday

The alliteration attempt in the post title today is a little bit of a stretch, but hey, I tried!  So as the title suggests, we tried a few new things today.  First of all, the boys had their first morning waking up in their new shared room together.  It went pretty well.  We thought Koen was going to be the trouble in the morning, but turns out, Tav was still full of it when he woke up buzzed at 10 to 6!  He never wakes up that early, so clearly he was keyed up from the night before.  Thankfully the boys listened to Daddy's stern warnings and they stayed pretty calm until 7am when they are allowed to play together until about 8am.  So, phew, we made it through night #1.  It can only get better, right?

Second, today Koen got to go to full day Kindergarten!  A few weeks ago when Hurricane Sandy's remnants came through his field trip and school day was cancelled. That day was supposed to be a full day and he was so crushed that he didn't get to do the outing or stay all day.  Thankfully he has a very caring teacher and she set up today as a "do over" and the half day kids were invited to stay the whole day.  Koen and his carpool buddy have been talking about it for days!  I can't wait for Koen to get home and to hear what he thought about lunch, recess, rest time and more play with his buddies at school.  I'm sure it'll all be very positive and he'll want to do it every day here on out.

Since Koen was out through the lunch hour, that gave Tavin, Penn and I the freedom to not be at the house at his usual arrival time of 12:20pm.  So, right after I fed Penn at 11:15am, we headed out on a walk, picked up a little fun lunch and brought it to the playground for a picnic.  We all loved it.  The playground was deserted, we hadn't been there in weeks and weeks and it was great to be out in the Fall air enjoying each other.  Here's Penn gnawing on his stroller straps as we ate our yummy lunch.  It's tough to get a picture of the teether without something shoved in his mouth.

Amidst bites of lunch, Tavin played in the leaves with his new-found stick.  He was pretending to rake at this point.

Check out that golf swing!  Perhaps a natural golfer?

So the third new thing we tried today was that Penn got to go in the baby swing for the first time!  I don't know what it is with baby swings, but some of my favorite pictures of my kids are in the swing at a park.  Here's Penn during his first experience.  He really liked it!  And I love the way you can see Tavin pointing the background.  He was so excited that his little bro was in the swing!

A little unsure at times...

Joined by Tavin now who also wanted to go in the baby swing (perhaps a little jealous?).

And here are a few more adorable pictures of teddy bear Penn figuring out the swing.  And loving it!

Ok, now he's just about done.

 Pouty and not impressed, time to head home.  But oh, too cute!

Big Milestones Monday

What a day!  Well, the cold is still going strong, so I finally got a doctor's appointment.  And yep, as usual, inconclusive except that yes, I have a really disgusting cold.  I came home with a prescription that they said I could use while nursing if the cold doesn't get better.  I guess the lingering symptoms and the nastiness suggest that it could be a bacteria and not just a virus.  Whatever it is, it is ugly and I can't wait to be rid of it.  I'm still holding out that it will go away on it's own and the prescription won't be necessary!

Ok, so next on the docket.  Penn Rye.  My adorable, sweet babe has produced his first tooth! Yes, that's right, at 4 and 1/2 months, this little guy has a tooth coming through the gum.  Koen and Tavin both got teeth early getting most of their first 8 front baby teeth between 6 and 7 months.  But 4 and 1/2 months is a new family record!  Here's my attempt to get the tooth in a picture, I think I actually did succeed in the second one.

Although he looks pretty happy in the pictures above, he was quite cranky today.  That's what led me to the tooth discovery in the first place.  Here's a shot of a sweet snuggle after I fed him this evening.  I have to cherish these precious moments!

Well, besides growing teeth.  We Melders are also on another new adventure...the big boys are now sharing a room!  Well, maybe we will bail on the effort if there are too many more evenings like this one.  It hasn't exactly been a smooth start.  Let me catch you up on our thinking.  Obviously we now have another little guy, so it was always understood that it would make sense to put Koen and Tavin together.  Thankfully we have the room to take time with that process though and it was more about the when and not the if.  With company coming in a few weeks (Kassi and baby Lincoln), we figured it would be wise to get the big boys in one room to free up room for guests this holiday season.  And we knew it would be best to start this process a little while before our first guest's arrival.  With Doug having some time off later this week and Koen the same, we figured this week would be a good one to go for it and if we are all a little more sleep deprived we could handle it.  Little did I remember that Doug is actually out tonight and tomorrow night, but oh well, we went ahead with the plan anyways.  Thankfully for tonight Doug was going to be around for the evening and didn't have to go out until 8pm, so he was able to help with lay down and stern instructions.  He also was around in the afternoon to help with setup.  Here he is with Tavin and Koen moving furniture.

Here's a peek at the new look of the room.  There are some final touches I have yet to do (so of course later in the week I'll be sure to post a finished product picture).

In honor of the first night in their rooms together (and my solo trip to Target this afternoon), the boys got matching cozy pajamas.  

Well, the boys were super silly leading up to bathtime, but the bath and Douglas' crafty ways subdued them and we had a lovely lay down time as usual.  I read to Tavin and tucked him in and Doug read to Koen and tucked him in about 15 minutes after Tavin.  It all seemed pretty peaceful for about 3 minutes.  Tavin was chatty, which is quite normal for him.  He often talks to himself for 15 minutes or more before falling asleep.  Koen was not used to this habit and made a few visits to me downstairs to let me know about it (does he not know I can hear every peep on the monitor after 5 years?).  Koen did really, really well trying to ignore Tavin for the first 30 minutes and then the poor guy just gave in.  After that it was a lot of up and down the three stories for me.  First a reprimand, then I started taking away Tavin's loveys.  I don't think he completely got the whole thing.  He was sad when I would go in and talk to him, but then as soon as I left the room he was chatting again.  Here's an example of the sillyness I was hearing on the monitor...

After a few chats with Tavin I had confiscated Barkers and Kangaroo.

Then Koen started instigating and getting quite into the act, so I took away Teddy from him.

Perhaps I was naive to think that these consequences would make a difference, because unfortunately I didn't make any headway.  Next I gave Koen a 10 minute time-out in another room which he definitely was not happy with, but still it made no impact.  Ugh!  At last at 9pm I pleaded with them firmly and authoritatively and also let them know the consequence that would happen next.  I think at that point they were too tired to try any harder.  So, it's now 9:30pm and all is quiet and I'm hoping and praying it stays that way.  I've already warned Doug that he is on morning duty and I'm praying that Koen sleeps long and hard in the morning.  Here's hoping!  All in all, I had prepared myself that this wasn't going to be smooth and I was right, but I'm not yet discouraged about the new life for the boys.  I'm sure it'll sink in eventually, the newness will wear off and we'll all just be too tired for the shenanigans.  Koen, Tavin and Penn, I love you guys.  Please sleep well!

A Different Sunday

Today I just couldn't do it all.  Although I've been super proud of Penn on his new routine and very proud of us all as a family as Doug's been super busy this week, I just had to give myself a break today and not "do it all."  Now, this is hard for me to admit.  I love seizing the day, conquering the difficult and cramming it all in.  But after weeks of battling this stupid cold (seriously, it's not gone yet and today has taken a new turn) and about ten other good reasons, I decided that I wouldn't worry about getting us all out the door to church today.  Doug had the car for work, so we were going to have to walk to the East End again.  It was a gorgeous day for the walk, but with the service time now being smack dab in the middle of Penn's nap, I just wasn't sure how it would work and my motivation for being brave and trying something new was just plain low.  So, we had home church today.  Now, please let me state (especially since well, you know, I'm a pastor's wife) that meeting with the believers is extremely important to me and we will continue getting out on a weekly basis, this was just a  random scenario where there were too many factors and I decided it would be OK to have home church today.  Koen was so excited about this idea that he woke up early and was dressed in his button down and ready to go when I got him up at 8am.  So cute!  He also picked out a button down for Tav to wear.  Last night he had told me that I needed to dress nicely and look pretty (then he looked at me and said, "well, you look pretty now, but you know, Mommy.").  We had a nice start to the day with breakfast and playtime and I finally gave Penn a bath (he had been wearing the same fuzzy sleeper for a day and a half).  After laying Penn down a little after 9am and then blow drying my hair (see, trying to look presentable for my 5 year old), we started our home church service.  Koen played guitar and I led worship.  We sang some familiar favorites of the boys.  Tavin kept looking at us like, "what exactly are we doing?"  Then the boys watched a 30 minute Chuck Swindoll Paws & Tales DVD story on our theme of "Giving Thanks."  Then we did our memory verse during a brief snack time.  And finally, craft time.  Here are the boys working on their turkeys.  Koen cut out all the feathers by himself yesterday in preparation.  

After "church" the boys played in the backyard for about 40 minutes.  I was really impressed at how well they played together today.  Here they are having truck races.

It was my plan to take them to the playground after feeding Penn around 11:15am, but my friend Megan offered to hang out with the big boys if I needed it too.  I decided it would be fun if she could take them a little earlier and keep them in the gorgeous Fall air rather than bringing them back in the house to bounce off the walls.   It worked out perfectly and Megan picked them up to walk to the playground right as I was about to feed Penn.  Penn and I met up with them about 40 minutes later.  Here are a few pictures Megan sent me from their playground fun.

We stayed at the playground until about 12:30pm or so and then headed home for lunch.  After lunch was a brief playtime and then Penn went down for his nap, then Tav for his.  That left Koen and I to work on our name/place card craft for Thanksgiving.  Here's the outcome.  I had never done the classic wax paper leaf thing before.  I liked the way it turned out, but I was hoping for a little bolder of an outcome.  It was a fun activity with Koen though and he's very proud of our creations.

Well, it's 4pm and Penn Rye is waking up.  Gotta run.  Hopefully the rest of the afternoon/evening goes well too!

Much Needed Daddy Time

We are in a series of many days where Doug is out night after night with an occasional one home, but it's been a lot out.  We are doing well with it, but these boys love their Daddy time, so it was great that they had some time together this morning.  And Doug made every moment worth it!  While I was at Parent/Teacher conferences and Penn was napping, Doug and the big boys built a fort in Koen's room and then they played for about an hour in the fort.  They loved it!

After the fun in the fort, they had a little craft time too (Doug used that time to pack a picnic for later).  Here's Koen making some flashcards.

Penn had a good nap, but was awake and snuggling with Doug when I got home.  Oh cute father and son...

Once I got home, Doug took Koen and Tavin to Highland Park for some Fall fun.  These pictures and videos are so awesome!  Clearly they had a great time!

First video is just leaf jumping fun...

And then these two hilarious videos are some fun hide & seek...

As you can see, the boys had a blast spending some special quality time with Daddy.  Thanks for being so intentional today, baby.  We all love you so much!

Koen's First Kindergarten Parent/Teacher Conference

I have been looking forward to this day since Koen's first day of school.  I actually told Koen's teacher that and she said she has never heard that before.  What?  I've been dying to know what my big boy has been up to at school.  You only get so much info from a five-year-old.  I've been waiting to hear from his teacher about his demeanor, his progress, his friends, you know, everything!  Thankfully it was a very positive report, which I was expecting based off some smaller conversations his teacher and I have had over the past few months here and there.  But it was fun to see his work on math, handwriting, spelling, etc.  It was good to hear what he struggles with, where he excels and ways that I can help him at home.  It helps me develop ideas for our afternoon time together to brainstorm activities that coincide with areas where he could see improvement.  But all in all, Koen is doing great.  I'm particularly pleased that he really isn't a problem for the teacher and she finds him a joy in her class.  And it's also good to know that he seems very happy to be there (which is definitely the vibe I get at home too).  Good job, Koen, I'm so thankful that you love your school, your new friends, your teacher and learning.  Can't wait to see how you continue to grow!!

Here's some artwork that was up in the hallways outside his classroom...

I received Koen's school picture today, unfortunately it is the worst picture you can imagine. For Koen's sake, I'm not even posting a preview picture on the blog.  It's that pathetic. =)  I think it's adorable due to the pathetic-ness, but I don't want him to be sad I put it out here someday, so I'm keeping it in his box of special things and someday he and his wife can have a really good laugh about it.  Thankfully his class picture turned out a little better, so I framed it and he has it in his room.  He's so proud of it!  Well, that's all from Kindergarten for now!

Tavin Sings!

I love little developments like this.  Tav has sort of sung songs for the past year.  You catch a little melody here and there or a run of words you recognize from a song.  But now we are really making it into 2 year old performances.  Love it!  Here is "I'm a Little Teapot."

He's been loving singing the "ABC's" lately too. 

Hope you enjoy his sweet voice as much as I do (and yes, I do realize these aren't complete songs yet, but he thinks they are, which is just cute!).

Centerpiece Creativity with Koen

So, after attempting to not get a Pinterest account, I have now fallen prey to it.  I just couldn't resist.  A blog I follow had a link to a Pinterest pin and I just had to check out the subject matter and well, the rest is history.  I've been sucked in.  I do hope it will help the creative juices flow especially as I try to fill the special one-on-one time with Koen in the afternoons with activities for he and I to do together at least once or twice a week (as opposed to him entertaining himself while I have to cook, clean, launder, care for Penn, etc.). Well, we are hosting Thanksgiving dinner next week and I have no decorations for Fall up at all.  I decided we would try and make a centerpiece.  We ended up making one for the kitchen island.  The idea was spurred from Pinterest, but I'm too cheap to actually purchase supplies (not to mention finding the time to go to a craft store is a bit tough), so I made my own version.  Here's what I saw on Pinterest.

Well, my version is really not this at all.  I love this idea and might still do something like it someday, but here's what Koen and I decided to do.  It's a "Thankful Tree Centerpiece."

Koen did all the writing in his "Kindergarten best" penmanship.  The cards say, "Rejoice Always," "God is Good," "So Blessed," "Give Thanks" and "Thankful Hearts."  He loved his job of glueing the cards and helping me put the string on, but he was super proud of himself getting to do the writing.  Here he is...

A few things I have to say I'm proud of myself for in this craft...awesome time with Koen, we were great teammates on this one.  I spent no money on this.  We had everything, including the branches from the Dogwood bushes I cut back earlier in the week.  Now we have something to remind us of the real meaning of the holiday next week.  Koen and I both can't wait to show to Doug when he gets home!