This and that

OK, so I am more daring these days. After dragging the three youngest boys to Quinn's gymnastics, I took the twins to get haircuts and then we all went out to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. They were begging to go. This, I believe, is because they were 'starving' after refusing to eat any stew at Nonni's house last night. I used it as a motivator with the behavior for haircuts as Connor likes to be difficult if he thinks he can get away with it. Quinn, on the other hand, seems to actually really enjoy getting his haircut.

Connor did try to be difficult and I simply said that if I had to come help the barber again, we would not be going out to lunch and that was the end of it. He did pout a few times and make faces which I wish I had caught on camera, but he did what was asked.

A customer walked into the barber shop and said "wow, these boys are so well behaved - they are not squirming or making a fuss at all... how nice" and the barber says "Well they have been coming here for a very long time in their short lives." Which is totally true. I was trying to roughly calculate in my head how many haircuts they have had their (all of their haircuts have been there) but got tired of the effort.

Here is the hair cut pics. I really wanted a true before and after but I forgot to grab the before shots (their hair was really getting long!) so you get a during and after:

Connor (above), Quinn (below)

Lunch went OK. Teagan fussed a bit and there was the whole issue of needing to take Teagan to get his spit up clothes changed but the boys wanting to stay at the table and me worrying that someone would call child protective services for leaving them there for a moment... and then of course they decided they needed to use the bathroom when I returned to the table after I had already asked them about 3 minutes prior! No other major mishaps though.

It was challenging to drive home after lunch... I was SO TIRED. All my passengers had the luxury of getting to sleep! When we got to our house, I just parked the car and napped a bit myself since everyone was asleep.

Teagan did well on all the adventures. He has spit up / vomited a decent amount after every feeding so far today... sigh. Part of it is the car seat use - that always seems to bring it up, but some was at home also.

Today is day 8, I think, of the no dairy diet for me. I am totally craving cheese! I have no idea if it is even helping. Everything I read says I need to wait 2-3 weeks to see. Plus there are other possible food sensitivities -- like apparently, babes with a problem with dairy may also have trouble with beef. Eggs are a very common allergen also as is soy and wheat. There is a total elimination diet (TED) that you can follow so that you cut out all the major allergens at once and then add things back one at a time. I just couldn't bear the idea of having such limited food choices. Wish I knew for sure if it would work. If someone said "Hey, he definitely has an allergy, you need to do the TED thing and find out what it is" then I would do it -- but trying it just to see when I am not even sure it will help is hard.

Oh... I almost forgot to mention -- Teagan totally belly laughed today! I tried to grab the camera and do the video thing but the batteries were dying and he also had to stop doing it to stare at the camera... it was really cute though. :)

That's all for now... I don't think he will nicely coo at the mobile in the crib behind me for much longer.

Snow Day!

Andrew up on the play set and Connor climbing up the ladder... Connor and Andrew
Quinn

Actually, we are the only school district that went with a 2 hour delay instead of the day off. Worked out fine, everything was basically melted by noon!

This was all yesterday -- I just didn't download pictures in time to post it then.

Today's pictures...

Finally Joe got a smiling picture for us. Andrew worked hard at it too and got some cute ones like the one here with Teagan's dimples.

Also shown here is Andrew's completed MTT - a LEGO Star Wars set with over 1000 pieces. He got the set in November and just now got it done (though admittedly his Nintendo DS and school and chess club and other such things have kept him busy and away from LEGOs at times).

Our weekend... general rambling

So last night I went out to 80's night at the Crystal Ballroom with a group of friends from work. This is only the second time I have gone -- last time I was about 20-something weeks pregnant :)

We had a really good time. Stayed until they closed the place down at 2am. I had moments of feeling like I shouldn't be out dancing when I have a husband and 4 kids back at home... but then I decided the exercise and social time with friends was well worth it. I don't really feel 'old' per se, just no longer really young. My aching knees today also reminded me that I am not so young anymore. But given it has been at least 9 months since I have done much of any physical activity other than just walking, I think I fared pretty well.

Today Andrew competed in his second ever chess tournament. He won 2 out of his 5 games which is what happened last time as well. I think he needed to win at least 3 games to qualify for the state tournament. He was frustrated by it a bit. I think it is really good for him to deal with losing though. As an oldest child, he tends to think pretty highly of himself because he can beat his brothers at games and knows more school/general knowledge stuff than they do. He needs to learn to be a bit more humble.

Joe seems to really enjoy attending the tournaments and chatting with other parents and getting to know the other kids in chess club. I feel a bit left out of all of it. I am the mom with the new baby who stays at home during these events. But I am also terrible about making small talk and meeting new people and all that, so even if I did attend, I would not be very involved. Joe really shines at that sort of thing.

I was thinking today about what a really great dad he is. He is so invested in the kids and honestly pays attention to all their ramblings about video games and Lego creations and all that. I hate to admit it, but I tend to start tuning some of that out after the first 10 minutes or so. I blame it on having all boys and just not being able to really "get" them. But I am pretty sure their are moms out there who make more of an effort than I do with their boys. I think the ages we have right now combined with the fact that I am very distracted by and tuned into my new baby make it hard for me. I simply have no interest in computer game levels or watching Scooby Doo for the zillionth time!

I love them all to death of course, but I do get sad and frustrated when I realize that I am just not very interested in the things that really excite and interest them these days. We were at the bookstore the other day with my brother and SIL and my brother was pouring over graphic novels / comic books with them and they were all so excited about the characters and my thought was that I just have no interest in comic book heroes! SIGH...

I still have LOTS of moments where I am still wishing for a daughter. I can't sleep some nights because I am day dreaming about it and can't get it out of my head.

Anyway... I think that is has personal as I want to get at the moment.

Pictures!

So here is the little man again (still can't catch that smile on camera!)

And another try at the smile with the camera and a mirror... sort of worked.

Next is my new infant carrier. A Mei Tei that my mom made using a pattern from http://haveaballbaby.com/. It takes a moment to get it tied on, but is MUCH better on my back than other carriers I have tried. I still like my sling for quick trips -- but for any long walks, this new one is the way to go.

The Land of Sick Boys...

So most of the crew is sick now. Joe has a nasty cold that has lasted a few days so far, Quinn is very stuffy and snotty also. Andrew has a sore throat but given that is his only symptom, we sent him to school today anyhow (he wanted to go). Connor threw up two times this morning. I missed all the excitement on that one because I was upstairs with Teagan. Poor Joe often seems to be the parent that gets thrown up on these days.

I am not really excited about a day at home with the sick kiddos, but oh well. Teagan seems to have a mild stuffy nose which could be illness but also could just be from being a baby with a small nose and dealing with all the dry, cold air.

Nothing else new to report.

Good baby

We visited Nonni (my mom) at lunch time and said hello to old work friends (as I used to work for the health department doing the same thing my mom does). Then we went to my staff meeting at work. He never squawks about anything much and spent a good deal of time at the meeting cooing and babbling to no one in particular. I am so fortunate to have a boss who is OK with me bringing him along and lucky to have an easy going baby as well.

I also weighed him today officially (like I undressed him and used the baby scale at work) and he only weighs 13 # 10 oz. That is up only 7 ounces from his 2 month visit which was 3 weeks ago. Given that the minimum gain per day is about 1/2 an ounce -- he should weigh a bit more. But I am not sure for how long that 1/2 to 2 ounces per day weight gain guideline applies.

It is hard to gain weight when you vomit a lot of your feedings and then you also use up a lot of energy kicking your legs around all day long. Today is MUCH better in terms of vomiting though and I have been avoiding dairy (except for a bit of cheese here and there) since the Dairy Queen cone.

This picture id supposed to be of him smiling, but of course as soon as I got the camera out he just stared at me. Oh well. I took it last week I think.