Jake said that it was pretty important to him that we celebrate his 4th birthday on the actual day (March 7th), so even though I was in the midst of another milk supply problem we made it work (I know, because that day and the day before there are many pictures on my camera of Lizzy's tongue, as I was suspecting that her tongue had reattached and I needed to get another picture sent to the doctor!). It was a very simple affair - easiest cake I'd ever made and my parents dropped by with a couple presents. He was happy though....but I'm not sure why he is in his underwear for the present opening! My only thought is that it had something to do with the fact that he was going through a problem of pooping in his underwear. :oP
I was so excited to get the exersaucer down from the attic, since my other kids LOVED it and spent hours in it. Not so with Lizzy as you can tell! She liked to be held - A LOT - and the exersaucer just would not do. I was disappointed, but the upside was that we passed it on after giving it a fair chance and didn't have to deal with tripping over it in the kitchen for half a year.
Signs of spring everywhere! This is one of favorite trees during the spring to walk by. :)
Our cat Calvin who formerly did not like kids much has warmed up to the kids so much, that it is no longer a surprise to find him cuddling with any of them. This could be influenced by the fact that for the first time in his 13 years I "kicked him out of the bedroom." I think he was desperate for more attention, since he no longer got to snuggle with me all night, and went to the kids. They loved it. Family members and friends have expressed their surprise at how much calmer he is and how he doesn't run and hide as much (since he knew he wasn't allowed in the bedroom, which was his normal place of hiding!). He's like a new cat and everyone loves it! As of this writing in December 2015, he has been allowed back into the bedroom about a month ago when Lizzy moved in with Abby, but he still maintains his new affection for the kids and only sometimes chooses to sleep in my room.
Sleeping kid pictures - who can resist? :)
My babies with our flowering pear tree in the background.
My brother's family passed on my niece's extensive Little Pet Shop toys to Abby, which I only allowed her to keep if she got rid of her Zhu Zhu Pets collection. Trying not to have so many toys around here!!
Babies that can sit up on their own are happier babies! :)
This picture shows how she started scrunching up her nose to smile sometimes. She still does this. I love it! She is so sweet!
Our first picnic of the spring (with cousin Solomon) and our cool new airplane teeter-totter that we got for free from a friend!
This just cracks me up:
I have had a love-hate relationship with the introduction of phone games to my kids. When I got my smart phone almost two years ago, I purposely avoided adding any apps to it so that the kids (or me!) would not become addicted (I didn't need the smart phone aspect of it, but it was cheaper than the plan we had! Check it out at RepublicWireless.com if you are interested! Only $10 a month with no contract!). Then about a year later, Kevin joined Republic Wireless and he soon added a game to his phone and started letting the kids play it. :oP
At first I was pretty upset, because it became almost the only thing they wanted to do and I wasn't ready to introduce them to the world of gaming. But I also began seeing the positives. Following Lizzy's birth, we watched Netflix much more than I would have preferred (for example Mighty Machines in the morning and a family movie every evening). It was a necessity since I was having so many problems with Lizzy, but things had improved by this point and yet I was having a very hard time "weaning" the kids from wanting to watch something first thing in the morning and thinking every night was movie night.
Enter the hand-held screen time devices (Kevin also ended up getting a cheap tablet for the kids - actually he thought it would be nice for me to use when I was nursing, but I preferred my phone's high-quality screen). Although I disliked my kids asking to use them all the time, they stopped asking to watch videos or Netflix! And, even better, I realized how much more screen time can be a motivator for the kids and how it can be individually given to or taken away from each child (that's a big problem with watching a movie - if someone lost the privilege, they'd have to stay in their room for an hour and half!!). Additionally, I've read that studies show that interactive screen time is actually better for a child than mindless TV viewing (but, of course, moderation in all things!). We now watch Netflix or video on average of 1-2 times a week (so much better than 2+ times a day!) and they don't ask for it almost at all. I have also figured out a pretty effective way to control the amount of hand-held screen time and I will do a later post to show how I use screen time to motivate them to do their chores. I have to say that, in the end, there are more positives than negatives (thus far!).
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