holiday / birthday / strep

There are two types of people in the world.

 

Those who enjoy newborns and those who do not.

 

It seems like dads are allowed to say newborns aren't fun. 

 

And then when moms say it they suddenly seem insensitive, cold and mean.

 

I don't enjoy newborns.  I don't get baby hungry.  I get through the baby phase the best I can so I can enjoy the rest.  Babies are small, fragile, unpredictable, and a little scary.

 

Maybe five people read this blog so hopefully news doesn't travel too fast. 

 

I prefer sleeping all night, kids who can eat food in the car while I'm driving, conversations, reading books together, playing at the park, swimming at the pool.

 

 People say they love snuggling babies all day and to that I say: WHEN?  HOW?  AND DON'T YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE?

 

No offense to Thomas or any of my other kids.  I love you all...I just don't prefer you as babies.

 

XOXO

 

July so far:

 

 

4th of July breakfast with cousin Evan and Tod in his sweet garment top.  He hates when I post pictures of him in his garments and to that I say: Put on a shirt.

Cousin Evan came to visit and spent a week at scout camp.  He was a good sport -- our house isn't super peaceful right now.

 

Larry on my favorite holiday

 

 

Ruby -- scared out of her mind -- on my favorite holiday.

 

Thomas and me (snuggling!) on my favorite holiday.  See, I'm not that bad.

 

Lennon's seventh birthday party the next day.  After a weekend of the 4th of July and a birthday party at the pool Tod and I needed a vacation.  Or even a power nap.

 

He was so happy and look how handsome.  Seven years have flown.

 

Back at the house...once in awhile things get quiet so I investigate.  I found her like this in her room today and had a good laugh.

 

Then looked out my bedroom window to see these guys setting up a superhero store.

 

Some of the options:

 

 

Mermaids like grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

 

My sweet, sweet Ruby.

 

My sassy Ruby who may break her dad's heart someday.

 

And then Baby Thomas Q...six weeks old now.  And look -- snuggling with his super loving mom.

 

And then there was last weekend.  Poor Larry had a fever all day so I told Tod I'd take him to the doctor.  Instead he talked me into taking him to Outback for dinner with everyone first.  Picture above is Larry with a fever of 102 and his crappy mom enjoying her meat.

 

I took him in the next morning and he had strep.  It's the worst when Larry is sick because he doesn't complain...he just looks miserable.

 

 

Strep has cleared...so far no one else has it...fingers are crossed.

thomas quentin wever

 

Introducing Thomas Quentin Wever.

Born June 1, 2014 at 1:52 pm

Weighing 8 lbs and a length of 18 3/4 inches.

 

 

It only took 27 hours of labor, two painful IVs, and three awesome epidurals to get him here.

The look on my face is one of total relief.

 

Luckily when we left the hospital we had Grandma KK waiting for us at home.  She helped keep things together when it felt like everything was falling apart. 

 

What is it about newborns that make us fall apart?

 

 

When Grandma left, Dad was in charge.

 

 This was the night I took pictures during a prayer because Larry and Ruby kept taking turns crawling between his legs. 

 

Then I told Lennon to never, ever take pictures during a prayer.

 

Baby Tom has had a few special visitors and a lot of fans.

 

He looks a lot like Lennon as a newborn and has blonde tips -- very boy bandish.  Tod says he looks like Sting.  He's starting to open his eyes and look around.  Which he does so quickly it almost seems like he's paranoid someone's following him.

 

I am tired.  I have probably 10 people who have been calling that I need to call back (sorry).  I spend my time nursing and trying to get rest when I can.  This baby sleeps like a champ all day long then is wide eyed all night long.  After one sleepless night I started crying as the sun came up.  Huge tears of pure self pity.  I told Tod, "I have not slept all night.  I've tried everything." To which he replied half-awake, "Maybe you should try positive thinking," then rolled over back to sleep.

 

The kids love him.  Really, really love him.  I was worried about Ruby being jealous but so far she just talks about how cute Baby Tom is and asks to hold him and grabs diapers and wipes for me and asks if I'm ok when I cringe while nursing him.  She is my girl.

And the boys are good, same stuff as usual.  The other night I threw all three into the shower at once.  Left for a minute to grab towels and returned to have Lennon tell me he had a confession. 

Me: What.
Him: I was just standing here and then I sort of pooped a little.
Me: Where.
Him: Well, it's up there (pointing to the top of the glass wall of the shower).
Me: How did it get up there.
Him: I don't know...
Me: YOU DON'T KNOW?
Him: No.
Me: Well I'm the only one who can reach it so it looks like I'll be cleaning it up.
Him: Maybe we can think of another way to get it down.
Larry: I know!  Let's go grab a broom!

So I left to get some paper towels and when I returned, the poo was gone.  Lennon was washing Ruby's hair.

Me: What happened to the poo?
Lennon: Oh I used this (my loofah) to get it down then used my hand to get it to the drain.

Welcome Baby Thomas Q.  I wish you the best of luck.

are we there yet

Summer starts out exciting.  No more school!  No more schedules!  No more picking up/dropping off!  Let's party!

Hot mess wearing spiderman sunglasses

 In the beginning, everything is fun.  Pool is fun, library is fun, packing up for trips is fun, even going to the gym with kids is fun. 

 

For them.

Larry now wears Axe. 

 Weeks pass, trips come and go and in the end...days become years.  I feel like June flew by, July disappeared, and it's now been August for 10 years.  I turned 42 mid-August.

Or is it Ax?

 It's too hot to go to the park.  It's too hot for my boys to ride their bikes in the evenings.  It's so hot my power bill was over $400 last month. 

 

Don't tell Tod.

Lennon's new sign -- "Stay out of my room. Thak you.  If u do"....then a threat, I believe

 August in Vegas is comparable to maybe March in Minnesota or Utah.  Our winter has been long and it's almost over...but actually, September is just as hot.  And where it's cold, it'll probably snow in April. 

 

Did anyone follow that.

Lennon Hulk Wever

The new school year means early to bed, early to rise.  It means separating the older two so they can be friends and not frenemies.  It means only taking one or two kids to Costco instead of ALL THREE EVERY WEEK.  It means looking forward to them coming home and hearing all about their day. 

 

Because I really, really do love them.  But I've had three kids home for 18 months and it's time to shake things up.  And send some away.

At first she used it...

I even feel like I'm running out of chores.  This morning I was making stuff up for them to do. 

 

"Lennon, spray all these baseboards and wipe them down...then doorknobs..."

 

"Larry, go find some towels to fold and then scrub the couch with a rag..."

 

???

Then she convinced them to use it...

 

...on her.

Larry -- sporting peacemaker necklace made with Dad.  A few minutes after I took this he got mad about something, took off the necklace and stomped on it.

 Last week I requested a family night lesson on fighting.  So Tod told the kids about peacemakers and he taught the boys to say, "Whoa, whoa man, I'm a peacemaker..." whenever a confrontation began.

 

This actually caused more fights because Lennon started doing it just to bug Larry and Larry would start screaming for him to stop so Lennon would do it again to avoid a fight. 

 I also made the mistake of purchasing a piano during this 10 year long August.  I'm already annoyed and want someone to come take it away. 

 

The new rule: You can't play it unless you know how to play an entire song.  Any song.  Let me know.

 

 Tod always tells me that I have a good life and can't complain.  I agree; I have a good life.  A great life.  But I will never, ever apologize for complaining about the last two weeks of August before school starts.  School clothes are purchased, school supplies are already in backpacks.  We just need August 26th to get here. 

I think I'll make a chain.