Linus

I will never forget when the nurse brought Jake to me in the hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. "You have a congested little boy," she noted. I didn't know at that time how true this early phrophesy would become. Jake was never able to use a binky because he was too congested to keep something in his mouth. His mouth had to be his main breathing source. Not having something to comfort him, I tried in vain going through everything I could think of. Finally, at an end aisle in a Wal-Mart, I spotted a super cuddly fleece blanket with a Thomas the Train on it. I half expected Will to use it because of the idolized train. However, just as I had hoped, Jake immediately attatched to it. It was fairly large for such a small baby boy and while my parents were visiting me after Jakes first surgery, I told my parents of my concren when I would find Jake in his crib wrapped around in this big blankey. My mom took the scissors, cut the blanket in haf, and lovingly sewed the cut ends to make a finished edge. From this day on, "Linus" (we named it after the Charlie Brown character who carries his blanket with him everywhere) has truly become part of our family.
Linus has been with Jake as he has undergone surgeries to help and ease his congestion and sleep apnea. Linus had comforted our precious little boy when even the touch of a mother could not soothe a sad little boy. Linus has been on every single airplane that Jake has ever been on. Linus has seen much of the world through the eyes of his most trusted friend. Linus has been left places and has been lost but seems to always found his way back into the arms of our loving Jakey. They are true friends and I will ever be grateful for the touch of that worn out blankey that seems to always make everything all better in the world of our now brave little three-year-old.

My Baby Girl is 5 Months Old!

We are loving the Beautiful Fall leaves here in Ohio.
Five months ago our baby girl was born. That means that we have lived in Ohio for almost five months now. Crazy! We love you, Naomi!

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On another note:
I have been trying to not let the boys go out in public dressed as Spiderman lately. Sunday was a rather long day without James and I told the boys that if they went up and got dressed (in real clothes) that we could go to the park. They ran upstairs and came down in these adorable outfits. I saw sly smiles on their faces as they came in the room. The spiderman costumes seeping out the bottom of their shorts was a dead giveaway that they were trying to decieve me. Here is a picture of them after they were caught.

My wife...

Apologies for those looking for the style and wit of my lovely and talented wife, but I am taking some liberties here. I wanted to relate a couple of recent events that show my wifes virtues. First, you'll notice some pictures below...don't look yet! First read and understand the importance of what you're about to see. The dress (I've heard 'jumper' thrown around, but I can't say for sure what genus it is) did not come into our possession with out some effort. Apparently they are normally like $482, but were on sale for $1.99 for 18 seconds only on October 3rd. I think people came down from Canada, there were 3 reported deaths (2 tramplings, and one elderly woman died from shock about how cute the dress was in person). So naturally, my wife knew of said sale, but for some undoubtedly noble reason that eludes me at the present, could not be there for the start of the sale, but went later and found one tucked away that happened to be the right side. A miracle. Now she could have bought one on line, but our recent budget has mandated a limit on the credit card purchases (it seems that all of our financial troubles are NOT over just b/c we're getting a paycheck). So she paid cash (I believe that Lynette helped out there). Then the tights, it seems that the value of the dress decreases 173% with out the correct tights. The ones that went with it were 14.99. Clearly out of our budget, plus she only had $6 in cash. And they were out of them. So she tries the next store, long shot, but it was a day of miracles, so why not? The day held true and she found the ones below for $5.99. The total was $6.42, she had $6.22 and a credit card. My wonderful wife went letter-of-the-law on me and went out to the car and scrounged 2 dimes and took them in before violating our no-credit card rule. I challenge you to show me a women with more resolve than that. Honey, I'd cross the plains with you anytime.
One more comment--on Jakey often wearing his spidey suit to the playground to pick up Will. It seems that she overheard a snide comment from one of the other moms about him "always" wearing it. Let me just say that my wife is a kids mom. Like there are players coaches, that players love to play for, Jessie is one who lets our boys be boys. When I was a kid, if I had a spidey suit, I would have never taken it off. In fact, it's a good thing they don't make them in my size now (because I don't think any of us would want to see it). Jessie is more concerned with what her kids think and making them happy than what the rest of the world thinks. She's certainly not a justgiveinandletthemdowhatever type as anyone who knows her can attest to (despite her recent self-effacing posts). She is aiming for eternal happiness of these crazy boys and well dressed girl. And we are eternally lucky to have her.

Alright Guys...We Need to Talk

It is amzing how much work goes into getting these precious heads to hit the sack each and every night. I feel like I have tried everything. So tonight, I got desperate.
The lights were out. Spiderman night lights were the only light source shining in our faces. I sat in the Story chair; the boys in their beds. Poor Naomi was talking herself to sleep in her crib. Poor little neglecterino. I started my plea. "Listen guys. We have got to talk."
Jakey rebuttles, "Mom, can I sit in your lap?"
"No, Jacob. We are having a serious discussion about bedtime."
"Alright, we need to work on bedtime. Let's start with brushing our teeth. When I ask you to go brush your teeth, I need you to go and do it. If you don't, that person will not be able to choose a story that night. You must ONLY brush your teeth. If I find any of you playing in the vaseline, putting lotion all over yourselves or making swimming pools for your sharks in the sinks...it's automatic tabasco sauce."
Jakey laughs. "I made a ginormous swimming pool for sharkey. It was super cool. Mommy, I like lotion. I need some on my hands."
"Jacob, no swimming pools, no lotion, Got it?
"Sharkey loved my swimming pool. It was ginormous."
"Jacob, seriously, you will get tabasco sauce if I see another swimming pool...espcially if it has tootpaste, lotion or shampoo in it, O.K.?"
"Mom, did you know that Grandpa Geoff caught a snake named Gartie?"
"Jacob, we are talking about bedtime, not grandpa Geoff."
"Gartie is so funny."
"Alright, next. Prayer time. I will do eeney, meeny, miney, mo and whoever I land on will say the prayer that night."
Jake breaks out in screams, and tears.
"Will you land on me, mommy?"
"Sometimes, you and sometimes Will. But there will be NO crying. Everyone will get a turn."
"If you don't land on me, I will cry." Then he starts demonstrating his tearful cry. "Like this, mommy, I will cry."
"Jacob, there will be no crying...and if you do..than you won't get to say the prayer the next night."
"Mommy, I won't cry if you land on me."
At this point I gave up. My mom always tells me that you can't reason with a three-year-old. I was desperate. I guess another desperate measure for me. Oh, well. I came downstairs, got some peanut butter crackers and two glasses of water. I returned to their room, gave them a snack and sent them to bed. After all, that's what Old Mother Hubbard told me to do....and it works all the time.

Desperate Measures

I know all of you have done it. Maybe not as drastic as mine, but nonetheless, we have all done things that if we would have been asked before having children, we would have sworn we would never do anything even comparable. I call these moments of choas and confusion...my desperate measures. Here are just a few.

1. Literally jump over the side of my child's crib rail to sleep with him. Anything to get him to stay in his crib.

2. Drive across the parking lot with a baby in my lap. 200 feet is just not worth the shrieking screams, shrills and stress to strap them back down into their carseat.

3. Not even punish William when he poured a 10 pound bag of rice all over my carpet and up and down the hallway. By the time I found him, I was so tired from scraping the vaseline off of Jake's body and pulling it out of his hair...I didn't have the energy to punish. I turned on a movie and cleaned the mess in peace.

4. Tie my son's door shut with a rope so that he couldn't escape. I was afraid if I saw him one more time, I might do something that I would regret.

5. When at play group, I noticed my son hit another child. I quickly looked over at the parent of the helpless victim. She didn't see it. Neither did I.

6. I couldn't handle my boys beating each other up one more time. I was so tired of constant crying, yelling and applying bandiads, I threw my kids in the car and took them to Chuckee Cheese. Punishment enough.

7. Make my baby sleep in a urine soaked onsie. I was way too tired to change her...and I knew that it would dry soon enough.

8. I decided that I needed to live my life in a way so that I am not allowed to do, say, eat or watch anything that my children are not. Oftentimes I am caught drinking a coke. Jake, naturally asks for some. Keeping my rule, I always give it to him. Lately I have realized that it has gone to far. He asks me, "Is this diet or regular...I hate diet." I might have to change my rule...cause I'm not changing my coke addiction.

9. Let my son out of the house in his Spiderman costume...everyday. You cannot believe the number of comments that I have recieved. Note to self: if I see that there is any inkling that I might give in to a power struggle with my toddler...don't even start the battle. It is better to give him the power freely right from the start, than to have him rip it out from under me...

10. My biggest desparate measure...even if the day could not get any worse, my sanity any less in tact, the house any more messy or my headache more painful, there is still a part of me that when I tuck them into bed each night and whisper "I love you," I truly mean it every time. I would have never thought five years ago that my patience and love could be tested so much...the greatest test I've ever had.

RACE DAY

The morning started out a little bit crazy. We were to be at the parking lot by 8:15 to meet our friends and head down to the race. William (my alarm clock) slept in till 8:00! I guess I should really start using a real alarm clock. We scurried around, got dressed in our Race Day clothes and left the house...breakfast-less. I was faint (my blood sugar was low...it always is (an excuse to eat more frequently))by the time I got all three kids piled in the car, so I ran inside, grabbed a granola bar and drove off. Upon registering, the kids were given their Race Day T-shirts. They were sweet. A classic white with the race name on the front. Completely original. And Free. We all started out doing some stretches and warming up. A 1K isn't as easy as one might think.











It was finally time to line up. And then a mother's worst fear. "Mom, I'm hungry." I guess I forgot to grab snacks for the kids. I must not have been thinking about their blood sugar getting low. I unpacked the bottom of Naomi's car seat and fished through my purse. Perfect! A smushed granola bar and a bag of 100 calorie cheez-its. They were satisfied. After what seemed like hours...it was finally our turn. The kids lined up anxiously on the starting line. It was as if a years worth of training had built up for this one moment. The anticipation was almost unberable. The man's voice blarred over the loud speaker. "On your mark..get set...the kids flung forward as he yelled, GO." We were off. The start of the race was bumpy and Naomi almost flew out of her car seat, but that wasn't going to deter us from taking this thing head on. We had come to win. Moments into the race, Jake seemed to get tired. Soon after, William came running back to me in tears. It was too hard. I told them it wasn't an option to quit. We had come to race and we were going to finish. Afterall, if mom had to hold them...they wouldn't get a medal. William's mouth dropped as he gasped, "Oh." He was off. We were all panting when a nice lady started cheering us on. "You're already half way!" "What?" I said. A 1K can seem extremely long with three kids and no husband to help. After the medal comment, William never stopped running. He had a goal. Jake, on the other hand, was a different story. I picked him up and ran after William. We finally crossed the finish line. We had done it! Our Firsr 1K. As we crossed the finish, all three kids were handed a medal. We immediatley hit the Goody Bag line and found some super cool prizes and a bagel for breakfast. I will never forget looking over at William with his hands on his kness, and his head down panting. "That was hard, mom." I know dude...but you won a medal." He looked around him and in distress noticed, "Mom, it looks like everyone got medals."

We were exhausted. Perhaps, everyone did get a medal. Perhaps, we would have done better had our blood sugar not been so low. Perhaps, maybe if daddy would have been there to run super fast with the boys, Naomi and I wouldn't have slowed everybody up. Perhaps, a lot of things. But most important, our first race was a success. We did it! All four of us! Daddy will be so proud.

My Little "Aunt Jemima"

I think that Naomi looks just like Aunt Jemima. One of my friends let me borrow all of her daughters old bows...and I love them! So, anyone who knows me, knows that I love the color RED. Hence, I think these pictures are adorable. Long before I even knew I was having a girl, I bought these red patent leather shoes. As my mom would say, "they just jumped into my bag." Some people may give me a hard time and say, "red patent leather is not really in season right now." My response, "when isn't red patent leather in season?"