Nothing much to report

Feels like it has been a lot of days since I posted, so I thought I would sign in and say something. Teagan is going to be 7 months old tomorrow. He is still determined to stand and is crawling very fast now. He is fun to watch and is getting better at not falling or bonking his head quite so much.

The twins are done with daycare and I am about to start working weekends all the time -- which I have been practically doing anyhow, but now it is more official. So that makes me the stay at home parent during the week... I feel like I need to get more organized and creative in order to make that work well -- especially when I have all FOUR boys home every day all summer. We will indeed be signing up for summer camps, but not for everyone every week -- there will be a lot of down time. Generally I am a big fan of not over scheduling the kids and letting them just play, but at the same time there is only so much "I'm bored..." whining that I can take.

We are still house hunting. We have found a few options that would work OK -- but nothing where we feel like "yes this is it, we should make an offer." The up side to looking at houses in this market is that nothing is moving very quickly, so we don't really have to worry about something we like getting sold before we make a move. It is hard to pick out a house which we hope is our 'forever' house (meaning we would like to stay put for the next 15-20 years or so) because it is really hard not to be picky about it. I keep thinking maybe we just need to find something for the next 5 years or so and then possibly trade up again at that time. The problem is, the boys are at an age NOW where we want land and space to roam and they need a play room and all that -- whereas 5 years from now we are likely to need less room as they will be busier with school activities and sports and such that doesn't require as much play space at home. So I feel like we need the big house and big yard now... sigh.

Anyway... that is about it for now. I work the next 2 nights and then we are having a little BBQ at my parents' on Memorial day.

Growing up TOO FAST!

So Teagan went from crawling, to getting to sit up on his own all in one day! He was very proud of himself and now has moved on to pulling up to stand and trying to cruise. I have tried explaining to him that he is my baby, my last child, my joy and delight (because he is not my first and not a twin and life has been grand with him! -- boy, I did NOT mean for that to rhyme...) Anyway, these first 6 months with him have just gone by in a whirlwind and I am sad to see babyhood going so fast.

I am also concerned that a 6 month old who thinks he can walk could be big trouble down the line. I mean he is clearly a bright boy (of course ;)) but even bright 6 month olds have still only been on the planet for 6 MONTHS! What do they know about gravity and sharp, hard table edges and tippy chairs and boxes that aren't meant for standing against. He just has no caution and no sense of what is safe to climb up on. He is also rather top heavy still -- I mean I think about 25% of his weight is in his head, can you imagine trying to walk if that were the case for you?!

He is so determined also. It is like he has this internal voice urging him on: "YOU MUST STAND, TRY TO WALK, CATCH UP WITH THOSE BIG BROTHERS!" It is kinds cute to see him excitedly crawl at warp speed over to the open door (main door open, storm door closed) and pull up to stand against the storm door and watch all the big kids go running back and forth out in the front yard. He so wants to be in on all of that.

So we are loving this stage but mourning the fact that it is passing quickly. The older kids, esp Andrew, are at a particularly challenging age, so I am happy to have the entertainment factor from Teagan to make me smile on tough days with Andrew. I am learning lots about myself from these kids... parenting truly must be the toughest most wonderful job out there.

Here are some pics of the crew and the wonder baby too :)