Keepin' Busy

We've been managing to squeeze in some fun during our "free" days this past month. It's crazy how much less time we have on our hands now that we have three mornings of preschool for Caleb (one of which is also a preschool day for Leah). On top of that, we have MOPS to keep us busy several other mornings a month. And if that wasn't enough, I'm also watching my neighbors' youngest kid a couple times a week. I've even contemplated trying to get back into subbing, but I'm just not sure how that'll fit into the schedule.

This seemingly busy schedule has made me realize just how precious these early years are. These are the years when we don't have to answer to a 5-days-a-week-all-day school schedule. And we don't have to shuffle kids from one extracurricular activity to the next all week long. For the most part, we have time on our hands to still just do what we want! I also find that the more time we spend just sitting at home, the more likely I am to lose my mind to playing referee ALL.DAY.LONG! Caleb and Leah have definitely hit that phase where they do things just to push each others' buttons. So, the solution is to stay busy and get the heck out of the house when we can!

This past month we've gone to two very fun places:

FAIR OAKS FARMS

(it's a huge dairy farm in Indiana)

THE ZOO

(Daddy even got to join us for this trip)

It's funny how after only a couple of years doing this stay-at-home mom thing, I've realized just how quickly the years go by. I thought staying at home would make things slow down a bit and would give me the chance to soak up these early years a bit more. While I think I've done some major soaking, I also think I tend to take for granted the blessing of being home. There are days when I get so focused on what "needs" to get done that I fail to simply put the vacuum down, hold off on the laundry one more day, and just say "let's go have fun". Now, I'm less than a year away from sending our first baby off to kindergarten and I already wish I could rewind and get some of those earlier days back!

8 Months

There is no way that we are already two thirds of the way through the first year with this little man! He is SUCH a wonderful baby and a true joy in our lives.

EATING: Joel takes 4 bottles a day...each are about 6 ounces. He does great with solids and even seems to be more interested in table food than baby food. He can feed himself puffs, cheerios, peas, and other small foods, so we are going to try to head in that direction soon. Most of the time he swats at the spoon of baby food and makes a huge mess, so we might spare everyone the headache and just start giving him small foods the he can feed himself. Whatever it is, he has to be able to gum it, because he still doesn't have teeth!

SLEEPING: His sleeping schedule is fantastic! He goes down around 7:30 or 8 at night and sleeps until 7:30 or 8 in the morning. He takes his first nap around 9:30 and his second nap around 1:30. His naps vary from a little over an hour to 2+ hours in length. He did have a little trouble sticking to that this past month because he had a terrible cold that lasted for two weeks. His sleeping was a bit off, but that was to be expected!

MILESTONES: Despite being sick with a nasty cold, Joel managed to learn a ton of new skills over the past couple of weeks. He is moving much faster and can crawl the correct way, but still prefers the army crawl. He can go from his belly to sitting up all by himself. He has also learned to pull himself up to a stand. All of those skills were mastered within one week. Joel is just like Caleb was and becomes incredibly preoccupied with learning new skills. When he's supposed to be sleeping, he spends time "practicing" his new skills. He's also becoming much better with language. He shakes his head when someone says, "no, no, no" and claps if you say "yaaaay". He occasionally signs for "more" and has a bunch of new consonant sounds that he babbles. One of the newest sounds is da, which of course sounds like DaDa, but I'm not sure I'm willing to call it his first word just yet. There doesn't seem to be much meaning behind the babbling!

Five for Five

It's been awhile since our last post. In fact, it seems as though changing from a family of four to five has made our lives significantly more busy than it was before. Ever since our last member joined the family, the blogging activity has come to almost a complete stop. It's not that he's a tough baby....in fact, he's our easiest one yet.

So much has happened over the last eight months, and I know that one day I'll regret not recording more of it! Anyhow, now that we're beyond the sleep deprived nights, random fussy moments, looooooong summer of siblings spending too much time fighting together, and so on, hopefully we can catch up on blogging. So, I'm starting with an update on the five of us. Five random facts about each of our five lives. No pictures, just info. Here goes:

Tyler...
1....has become one in spirit with Elmer Fudd. He has taken a HUGE liking for hunting the rabbits that destroy our landscaping, poop all over the yard, and taunt him to no end. Don't worry, he has a permit and it's just a pellet gun!
2...has gone running 3 times in the last month, two of which were the past two days. Dare I say, we are forming a good habit?!?
3...spent an entire afternoon in charge of all three kids (I was at a baby shower), while they had awful colds, which meant they fussed, whined, napped poorly, and didn't give him a minute to accomplish anything he wanted to do. There might have been a small, teeny-tiny, part of me that was VERY okay with that!
4...has, after many years of claiming to have better teeth than I, finally tied me with two cavities. He went to the dentist awhile ago and found out he has a cavity (the 2nd one since we've been married). One of my two was from when I was about 7, so I think I might be able to claim the new title for best teeth!
5...is changing jobs, yet again! But this time we're hoping it's for a good, long while. He's moving into pharmaceutical sales and the job seems like a great fit for him and our family. LivingSocial was wonderful to him during this past crazy year, but unfortunately the earning potential just wasn't there for a single-income, family of five!

Sara:
1...is watching the neighbor's youngest kid a few hours each week and loves having an extra kid around to break up the usual arguing. Josie also manages to make me smile or laugh about every 10 minutes because she is the master of adorable, only-a-three-year-old-would-say-that, comments!
2...has become like an 80 year old woman and has to check blood sugar levels throughout the day. It's just a small step in trying to find out what's going on with my whacked out, too many babies in the past 5 years, body. After a little blood work, charting my blood sugar levels, and cutting back on sugar, the doctor should hopefully have some answers next week. The doc was thinking along the lines of hypoglycemia, but let's hope that's not the case :(
3...now LOVES to sleep in the freezing cold. Bring on the open windows and fans....even when it's 40 degrees. Chalk it up again to the whacked out, too many babies in the past 5 years, gets hot flashes at age 30 body!
4...will be playing the role of single mom for 3 weeks (2 in Oct., 1 in Nov.) while Tyler attends trainings for his new job. Mental preparation begins now!
5...desperately needs to do something new with my hair, but can't figure out what. For now, being able to throw it back in a ponytail makes my life a thousand times simpler. And simple is what this lady needs (see fact #4).
Caleb:
1...has started his last year of preschool (sigh). Of course, he loves it.
2...still can't pump on a swing. I've just about given up trying to teach him.
3...is learning to read! He has flown through learning quite a few sight words, is strengthening his knowledge of letter sounds, and does a great job of reading low level books.
4...has turned into an amazing artist. I taught 2nd graders who couldn't color nearly as well as this kid does! You could put him at the table with crayons and paper and he'd been fine for hours.
5...is still the early riser of the family. The rest of us could easily sleep until 8, but this little boy just loves to rise with the sun. We're lucky to keep him in his room until 7!
Leah:
1...has some of the longest, thickest, hair of any two year old I've known. She ended up needing a haircut because it was getting too long. Thankfully, she still is very cooperative with combing, styling, and so on.
2...sleeps on the top bunk and does great. She did hit her head on the ceiling fan the first night, but as her daddy lovingly said "it'll only take one time for her to learn"!
3...talks so much that you'd never know she was in speech therapy a year ago.
4...could still live off of fruits, vegetables, and snacks. The child rarely eats a full meal, but could graze all day if you'd let her.
5...is still our clingy child. She has done well with preschool drop-off, but has had a few moments at church when she hesitates/cries to go to the nursery. She has also had several meltdowns recently when I'm leaving and Tyler's been left in charge.
Joel:
1...is our cuddliest kid yet. If you hand him his beloved blue blankie, he'll grab it, pop his thumb in his mouth, and instantly snuggle his little face into your shoulder/neck. He must know that he's the last baby, because he's soaking up the snuggles!
2...still has NO teeth!
3...just got over what seemed like the longest cold ever! He seems to be taking after his brother's terrible immune system :(
4...loves to clap and I might just be imagining it, but I think he says "yaaaay" when he's doing it.
5...is starting to really dislike the exersaucer or jumpy. This boy just wants the freedom to move!