My children were in rare form tonight at swim lessons. Kaitlyn was trying out the life of a supermodel and Teague was practicing for Mr. Universe.
Grafton – North
Big brothers are the best. I looked up from cooking dinner to find Teague and Kaitlyn snuggled under a blanket and Teague reading to Kaitlyn. So sweet.
The boys are definitely rubbing off on Kaitlyn – or maybe just the choice of books in the house. She loves to find the boys’ comic books and graphic novels. Today’s choice – Dogman.
Alex has been one happy boy since discovering Jadon (a boy in his class at school) lives right behind us. They have been great for each other – Jadon is teaching Alex all about sports (and Alex seems to be enjoying it) and Alex has introduced Jadon to books (his Mom is shocked he will read at our house) and video games. Alex was bummed the first time he asked Jadon if he liked video games and got a “no.” Tonight the boys introduced him to Mario Kart and he immediately fell in love.
Finally, Ben and I can go home today! Granny and Pop had bought donuts for the kids yesterday and bought me some donut holes (my favorite) which were delivered last night. When I opened them this morning, I saw that sneaky Pop had included a $20 for Ben and me.
I was told Ben and I both needed to be checked/released by our doctors and then we would be good to go. That happened and then I was told Ben needed to try his hearing test one more time. When they took him back for the hearing test, I called Wade and he brought all the kids to pick us up. The nurse returned Ben to the room and told us there was one more test, but it had to be approved by a doctor (who had left the hospital hours ago) and then performed. I told Wade to go on home. It was lunch time and Kaitlyn needed a nap. The chances of us going anytime soon were slim.
A few hours later, we were really released. Our neighbor walked over to stay with the kids and a napping Kaitlyn. Wade arrived and we pretty much rushed out the door. I asked the nurse to take a quick picture of us, but that didn’t go exactly as I had hoped…
Now we are home! I am so glad to be here and the big kids are all loving on the baby.
Due to the crazy day, I didn’t get a picture of Ben in his “going home” clothes. So I took one a few days later.
We had a wonderful day celebrating family. Due to baby’s upcoming arrival, Wade’s parents and sister came to spend the holiday with us in Grafton. The cooking was easy (and something I enjoy) – especially when there are three extra adults to entertain the kids. We had a big meal at lunchtime and then most everyone took an afternoon nap. We had pie late afternoon and then spent most of the evening playing games. Emily introduced Alex to some new ones and I loved that he was old enough to understand games we like to play.
I heard Alex screaming in pain and went to check it out. He told me what happened and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing – even as the blood dripped on my floor. Alex stepped on a particularly pointy Lego with the bottom of his foot. It’s such a normal parent injury that annoys all parents. I rarely hear of a child having the same issue and immediately pointed out that it might not have happened if the Legos all over his floor had been cleaned up. (I was able to get myself under control and offer sympathy and wound care.)
I came out of my room from getting ready to find Teague helping Kaitlyn get dressed. Love these two!
Teague is my slow child. He would happily sit at the table and eat breakfast for over an hour. He should have plenty of time in the mornings to get ready for school (about 1.5 hours), but he’s never quite ready when it’s time to walk out the door. Today I was checking to make sure he was in the shower and I found that he had taken the time to make Monkey comfortable before showering himself. Adorable, but so annoying at the same time!
In tonight’s game, Teague was evidently a zombie and ran around yelling “Brains” over and over. Here he is after being hit with “gas,” which evidently means a 30 second nap on the floor.
My little helper was so excited to help me clean today. (We won’t discuss quite how long it has been since every room was clean at the same time.)
Kaitlyn has been pouring over a catalog we got from Magic Cabin. I’d never heard of it before but she has a few items she has latched onto for her Christmas list and looks at daily.
According to the dentist, all of my children still need a little help brushing. I will admit that Kaitlyn is the easiest to help. She will lay down in my lap and let me brush till I think I’m done. (The boys have their own ideas on how we should brush and for how long.)
The kids had their last dental cleaning right before we left Chicago. I have always loved their dentists so I looked at numerous reviews to find an awesome place here. Success! We found a great place not too far away that would take all three kids at the same time! They had video games in their waiting room. All three children were in the same room with their own hygienist and I was able to talk to the ladies as they finished. The dentist came in and worked right down the line. As we finished discussing one child, the hygienist would keep the child entertained for me while I talked. It was a dream for a Mom!
Kaitlyn has been begging to paint in the shower. I finally agreed and she was done after 30 seconds. I was trying to iron so I begged her to paint a little longer. I came back to find her painting herself.
There has been a lot of hide-n-seek at our house lately and the boys have been great about including Kaitlyn. She happily takes her turn counting too.
I decided to tackle my first painting project since moving into the new house. I spent the weekend painting the boys’ room – walls, trim, and ceiling. As I was painting, it occurred to me I was painting the day I went into preterm labor with Alex (and in the same paint clothes). I found a picture of that day back in 2009 (34 weeks). Here’s a comparison with me today in 2017 (at 36 weeks).
The nursery floor has come a long way. Here are some pictures from beginning(ish) to end.
Kaitlyn has been begging to take these items back in the shower, but I didn’t want to deal with drying her hair. Instead we ran a few inches of water in the tub and she played while I did laundry. Win-win.
We’ve been working hard to create better diets and curb some unapproved snacking (especially on sweets) in our house. Wade offered to buy Halloween candy by weight for points (or quarters for Kaitlyn). Kaitlyn earned $1.75 (which left her with four pieces of candy). She was beyond excited to have more money for her piggy bank. The boys both sold some candy but held on to the majority of theirs.
About three years ago, I figured out something most people probably already know. If I prepare some meat (in our case pulled chicken and ground beef) and keep it in the freezer in pre-portionioned sizes, dinner can always be ready in a pinch. For me this took so much time out of preparing certain meals and gave me a few that I can always make at a moment’s notice (Chili, tacos, nachos, several casseroles, etc). I freeze each bag with about 2 cups of meat, which works perfectly for most everything I prepare.
Last year I stumbled onto a blog that truly revolutionized my meat prep. It turns out you don’t have to shred chicken by hand. I have always boiled chicken on the bone, let it cool, and then shredded it with my fingers. Imagine my surprise when I learned you can use your mixer to shred multiple chicken breasts at a time. Now I buy a lot of meat at one time (normally at Sam’s Club) and take an afternoon to get it all ready for freezing. Then we are good to go for several months.
Today I discovered how Alex must really feel about taking out the recycling. I have no idea how long this has been on the trashcan since Alex normally empties it for me.
(Next up is learning to spell.)
Wade is working hard on costumes. Alex wanted to be a robot for the third year so this year it’s a round trashcan and bucket.
This is the first year we haven’t had some kind of pumpkin carving party, but between a new house, new town, and a baby coming it just never got planned. Instead we had the best time as a family carving pumpkins today. Kaitlyn and Alex had both wanted a huge pumpkin so they picked one out together yesterday and had to work as a team to clean it out and design the face. Teague had picked a reasonable size pumpkin and wanted to do it all himself – cleaning, designing, and carving.
She’s so content to entertain herself while I do necessary things like make us lunch.
Wade is once again making Halloween costumes for the boys. (He is the BEST dad.) Alex wants to be a robot for the third time and Teague wants to be another vehicle. Wade is determined to try to make the costumes lighter and easier to walk sidewalks. We’ll see, but the boys will love them regardless! They always do!
Not to be outdone by her brothers, Kaitlyn is now working on her Christmas list too.
One of Kaitlyn’s favorite places has always been the grocery store. It shouldn’t surprise me that she plays with this toy all the time. (Leapfrog Count and Scan)
I was walking out the door today after the boys and spied a treat left from Pop. This sign hangs beside our backdoor. I’m guessing he cleverly put the 20s behind the sheet, but the boys slamming the door caused the money to slide down. Tricky Pop.
Wade and I have been working with Alex for a while on a few behavior issues. We finally decided the best way to tackle it would be a behavior reward system. We created one that lays out his day and our expectations and then leaves room for earning extra rewards as we need things or observe good behavior. Wade brought this game home from Target so it became known as the ball system. Both boys have a color and need to earn about 15 balls in a day to earn a point. The balls can be earned from things like taking a shower, emptying the dishwasher, doing homework, etc – but only if they are done with a good attitude. (They have to be done regardless of the attitude. The ball is only if done without complaint.) I’ve been offering extra balls for good behavior during errands, taking Madison out on a cold morning, going to get me something from another room, etc. So far both boys seem to really respond well. The checklist we provides helps Teague remember everything we want done and helps Alex plan his day (so that his agenda doesn’t get continually messed up with things he has to do). The boys accrue points and can redeem them for all kinds of things – an outing for ice cream, video games after bedtime, a new bike, a trip to the Statue of Liberty. (The necessary number of points depends on the activity.)
If you know me at all, you know I love pajamas. We pulled out the first matching pajamas of the season. (This is the last year Alex will fit in this brand so I’ll have to start looking somewhere else soon.)
Getting closer…
We have a long list of projects for this house – both inside and out. (This is pretty normal for us with a new house.) We’ve been focused on the inside but Granny and Pop offered to help outside. We have cut down trees, trimmed bushes, and pulled weeds. The house is looking better and better!
Granny and Pop were in town last weekend and then took a short trip further North. They came back to Boston today and Kaitlyn was so excited to get a little more attention!
When you don’t go to school all day, you get fun things like bubble baths in the middle of the afternoon.
We are thankful every year on this day that Teague came into our lives.
Past Korea Day Pictures.
Kaitlyn has been fighting me on the antibiotics she has to take (due to the head wound). Today I got the bright idea to put her in charge. Now she happily takes her medicine.
Everybody wanted to hang out with Pop in the swing today.
Candles are just the coolest.
Kaitlyn is such a girl. Today she wanted to pick flowers and twirl in the front yard – after pitching a fit over the jeans and not getting a dress.
I love that my kids love to bake. It is almost impossible to turn down a request for making cookies. Kaitlyn and I made cookies today instead of having lunch at our normal time. It was well worth it.
The next step is pulling up the plywood and hoping the reclaimed flooring matches!
I happend to glance over at Kaitlyn’s coloring today and noticed something I had not seen before. She was trying (and almost succeeding) to stay in the lines.
Kaitlyn still loves to get into the craft cabinet, just like Alex.
Not the neatest eater when it comes to yogurt, but she is far better than Teague.
Alex has always responded well to reward-based programs. It turns out that meshes perfectly with selling popcorn for Scouts. He even wanted to practice this morning before he got serious about hitting the neighborhood.
Every town we have lived in has quirks, awesome benefits, and annoyances. We were warned by the previous homeowners that trash will only be picked up if it is in the special green bags you buy locally. I thought this was a little strange till I understood the concept behind it. Grafton’s recycling program wasn’t working as well as hoped. Someone came up with the idea of charging per bag of trash instead of a monthly/quarterly trash pick-up fee. It’s genius! When you charge $4.50 for 5 trash bags people are much more conscientious about what they throw away versus what they recycle. The downside here is moving into a new house we have a lot of large, weirdly shaped items that don’t fit in trash bags. We are working our way around those items and buying green trash bags for the rest.