Where does the time go?

With fall in full swing, I have finally accepted the fact that summer is over. Another school year started, another realization that my kids are getting bigger before my eyes. I can't even talk about the fact that our little baby girl is ALMOST 1 without experiencing this strange feeling of disbelief at how fast it went. Seriously, last fall at this exact time I was so excited to meet her I was about to burst. I remember it so clearly and cannot believe it was nearly one year ago.

So, now we officially have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader and a 4 year old in preschool gearing up for Kindergargten in a year (but let's not talk about that yet). My days have definitely changed having two kids in school all day. It is a little quieter and the dynamics have changed and I get way more done on an average day. It is nice. But you can bet when those boys start rolling in at the end of the day, the 3 of us--and of course, the dog--are ready for the action to begin again.

The best day!

Today was a great day for our family. I mean, there are always days in the life of a big family that stand out but this day will rank up there with the top five. FOR SURE. Today was the day our sweet 9 month old daughter/little sister got her much needed glasses. It was just last week that I sat in the office of our pediatric ophthalmologist and heard her say L was very farsighted and everything around her was a complete blur. It sure did explain a lot. This little lady has not even rolled over or made any effort to crawl. Being farsighted also means having very little depth perception. She stares calmly at everything for long periods and although it appears that she is just interested in remembering every detail of whatever it is she is looking at, it is simply that she is trying her hardest to make out what it is she is looking at.

The boys and I took her to pick up her glasses and when the optician put them on her for the first time, we couldn't stop giggling. She was so darn cute! I almost shed a tear watching her stare at each of her brothers for the first time so clearly. IT WAS AWESOME! We feel so blessed to have found out that she needed them and now life can begin for her. The ophthalmologist's words were, "Glasses are going to completely change her world." We are so excited to watch her see everything new and it is so fun to watch her brothers try to show her everything. I even brought the same book with little pictures that I showed to D when he got his glasses at 7 months old nearly 8 years ago. As a mom of a baby in glasses, I was so nervous as to how I was going to keep his glasses on him and the doctor told me to go home and spend a long time showing him lots of books with little pictures. I cried watching him look at them, every so often looking up at me in wonder, and I can honestly say he never once pulled them off. He needed those glasses. So, here we go. Another chapter in our life. One more pair of little glasses to keep track of and set on the table each night. But I am just fine with that.

Who knew a baby sister could be so much fun?

You can be sure my boys love having a sister. They love watching her, playing with her, feeding her, and they love to celebrate all the new things that she can do each week. I think they actually clapped when they realized that she was feeding herself Cheerios a couple of weeks ago. But I have to say it is pretty hilarious to see some of the things they do when left alone with her for a few minutes. Sometimes I ask them to entertain her while I go throw some laundry in but other times they just decide to entertain her on their own. Just last week, I caught them trying their glasses on her and I had to laugh with them because it was so darn cute. She just sat there and didn't make a peep, just looked around trying to figure out why things were so blurry.

I am so thankful to have such an easy baby who pretty much fell into the flow of our life without a fuss. She really is a mellow little lady. When we visited my family a couple weeks ago, I left little L with my niece for a few minutes and when I came back she was wearing clip-on earrings and looked like a gypsy baby. We all laughed and laughed at her and she just sat there and smiled.

As I was busy with a phone call this week, the boys gathered around her and laughed as she dumped her Cheerios on the floor. The next thing I know they are all hysterically laughing and the bowl is on her head. I am not sure who decided to do it but it was pretty funny. Who knew a baby sister could be so much fun?

1 turtle, 20 snails & 10 tadpoles...

Freddie the turtle lived with us for 2 weeks this month courtesy of a neighbor who found him while mowing their front lawn. I know how much animals make my oldest son happy so I volunteered to take Freddie when my neighbor told me he found two but they only wanted to keep one. "We will totally take it." I said. So for two weeks, Freddie, the baby turtle with the shell the size of a quarter, lived on our kitchen counter. I must say that it was quite interesting to watch the little guy. Turtles have much more of a personality than one might think. He watched us walk around the kitchen as we went about our day, tucked his legs in to sleep at night when it got dark and would even come up and sit on his little rock when we would hand feed him worms that we found in our yard. He knew that when the top of his terrarium was lifted, it was feeding time and he was always ready. He really was pretty cute. But he was also stinky and after 2 weeks of cleaning out his tank every other day, I was able to talk my son into setting him free in a forest preserve near our house where we like to walk our dog and check out nature. Ahhh, yes, that meant no more turtle racing on the kitchen table at the hands of little boys but it did mean he would probably have a long, happy life.

So off we went, the entire family plus our dog, to let Freddie go. I was so looking forward to not having one more thing to take care of. But as my sons were bending down to let him go, they spotted tadpoles swimming around in the little pond. And my husband said, "Hey guys, why don't you scoop up some water and a few tadpoles and we can take them home?" Famous last words. We now have 10 tadpoles, which are actually starting to grow legs, and about 20 baby snails living on our kitchen counter in Freddie's old tank. Thankfully, they seem to be doing just fine despite the fact that we don't change the water. We feed them fish food and check them out several times a day. They don't have names yet but my kids are working on it. Here we go again...

"A roly poly is lost in our house, mom."

You can bet this is not the first time a bug has ever entered my house by way of a little boy's hand but, from what I can remember, it might just be the first time it got lost. I can remember the days when I was not a bug person. Well, by force of having three little boys who have been digging for worms since birth, I am no longer as repulsed by bugs. Funny how life changes you. I was the girl in school who would squeal a girly squeal and run from anyone who showed me a bug on recess. But now I am the one showing the bugs to my kids when I happen upon them in the yard or garden. I even managed to snap this photo last summer of this amazing spider hanging out by our deck.

I have even given in to having reptiles in the house. A couple of years ago, my husband asked me what I thought of getting our oldest son a snake for his birthday. D has always been interested in animals and is a Jeff Corwin and Croc Hunter fan. I told him I was open to the idea. I am always up for things that involve learning. Well, a week later, while I was in the hospital for 3 days with appendicitis, a snake was purchased. So, that is when Ball-e, a ball python, joined our family. Yes, I have held it once or twice (as you can see) but I am still not a fan of this reptile and would much prefer to find a nice, responsible teenage boy somewhere who would like to adopt it. I am hoping to do this sometime soon as these snakes can live up to 25 years!

He thinks he is big, but he's still our little guy

My littlest son is about to turn 4. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. I can still remember assigning jobs to his two older brothers right before he was born. We didn't know our third child would be a boy but we had a blue blankie all ready and a nuk all picked out and ready to go. D, who was still 3 at the time, had the big job of bringing the blankie to the hospital when he came to meet his new sibling and A, who was only 2, got to bring the pacifier. These were their "gifts" for the baby and they felt very big having jobs. We even got them big brother gifts, which of course, they were even more excited about.

When he was only 6 days old, we took baby W to the beach near our house. He got a sunburn despite being in the stroller with the hood up and in the shade of a huge tree. I had no idea the sun could reflect off of grass and leaves as much as it did and he was quite tan after that. What a trooper. I remember I just kept expecting him to cry because his skin hurt but he never did. He was a very easy baby and I was quite thankful to finally have that after the first two were not so easy.

Well, now he is the typical little brother trying to keep up with his big brothers and attempting to do EVERYTHING they do. He does pretty well most days. It is funny because he gets so tired out trying to keep up and denies needing a nap but will fall asleep on the floor in his room or on his bed by 4 p.m. some days. He still lugs his blue blankie anywhere I will let him and takes a "nukie break" in his room when he is feeling tired or sad. He is constantly saying things like, "I will do it myself" or "I don't need help" but, in most cases, he really does need a little help when it comes to putting on socks, clothes or tying his shoes.

He is definitely growing up though and has started making his own decisions in some areas. For example, last week I was inside and he ran in the front door, said, "Mom, I need to pee like the wind, I am going out back," and ran out the back door to pee in a bush on the side of our deck. I would have preferred he used our bathroom but he was so confident in his decision and I was in shock so I just sat there and did not say anything. I just shrugged and off he went. He is still a little boy to me though and a year from now when he is getting ready for Kindergarten, I will probably be writing a blog post with this same title. For now, I will just enjoy our little boy.

No more training wheels!

We have had a lot of proud moments around here lately as our youngest son seems to be growing up. Just this week he decided to take off his training wheels. After an entire day of practicing how to balance without training wheels or pedals, my husband put the pedals back on and he was off down the street! Thankfully, I captured his excitement in these photos. I am not sure who was more proud, W or my husband...or his big brothers, who proudly looked on. I love it when the accomplishments of one is celebrated by the rest of my kids. This is what life in a family is all about and I love every one of these moments.

Summer is just around the corner

I am so looking forward to summer. With this crazy weather getting hot and then cold, I am ready for it to just be WARM already and stay that way. I am also ready for all the things that summer brings and for the things we get to take a break from. I have always been a summer girl. But even though I love summer, the reasons why have changed as my kids have gotten older. Summer to me now means taking a break from things like making sack lunches, overseeing math homework, packing snacks, making sure clothes match for school, rushing to the bus stop and crazy, rushed breakfasts. But the list of things that summer does mean to me has just gotten better over the last few years. For one, getting to lounge through breakfast is, in itself, a great perk of summer. I cannot wait to drink my coffee in the sun on the deck while my kids jump on the trampoline and just have fun. I would have to say some other highlights of summer in our family include exploring parks, catching frogs and toads--I was named "the frogmaster" last summer by my kids for my quick swoop of the net--water balloons, eating a popsicle or two, ice cream cones at 10 a.m. just because, nature walks, bike rides, strawberry picking, watching squirt gun fights between my husband and the kids, visiting the zoo, spending a day in Chicago (see photo from last summer), a week at family camp in July, swimming, slip-n-slide, and letting my kids wear their superhero costumes all day if they want. Summer is just around the corner and I cannot wait!