Adjusting

Yes, the weight on our three week board is correct: 10 lbs. 9 oz. He is definitely getting enough to eat, however, if I would remember to take the burp cloth with me when I fed him, I would be a lot less covered in spit up which seems to be everywhere.

Check out the right shoulder. I left him swinging for a few minutes to put the big boys to bed and came back to no eyeballs and yellow shoulders. Trouble already.

We did  pull out the baby swing this week which he seems to enjoy as long as the nature sounds are playing in the background. Unfortunately, all sleeping, napping, and playing apparatus must remain upstairs in Mommy and Daddy's room.  There seems to be a four year old that will absolutely not leave his baby brother alone. He tells him "your my pride and joy bless your little heart." Apparently, Alden now speaks like a grandmother. Yes, there is such a thing as too much love or perhaps just aggressive love.  In between multiple discussions over where his milk comes from and why he doesn't eat food, we continually have to remind him that he is a person and not a toy.  His response, "Why?"  So, we have to keep the baby either in our arms or out of sight and out of mind in order to save him when Alden is awake or at home.  We give Alden a little fix by letting him hold him about five minutes everyday. We started telling him to pet him with two fingers like the animals at the zoo.  That sort of works.

It sort of blew me away that we are holding up our head already.  He was very active at the doctor's office. We had to return for cold check #2.  Harrison is not a car seat fan, so he used his doctor table time wisely.
                                                
I am a big fan of the paci. Love them. I realize that my two and half year old still carries three or four around the house at a time, but we leave them here and we will cross that bridge when baby brother is around a little longer. For now, we are trying to create another addict.  I bought four different kinds of pacis, and it seems the winner is the MAM. We don't actually gag in great dramatic fashion with this one, so I call it a success.

This is my new nap time.  The quiet house and a this on my shoulder. I keep saying I am going to put him in the bed and get something productive completed, but I just can't do it. He naps so well and so hard on his belly laying on my shoulder that he just gets to stay there while I watch endless Say Yes to the Dress episodes on TLC. I did learn very quickly to prepare for Alden and Spencer's waking before I sit down to feed Harrison and let him fall into this deep slumber. A snack and drink must be made within reach of little hands and an activity prepared. "I am feeding the baby" was not a good enough excuse for delay.  Keeping the peace.

Bath time has become even more eventful when you have too many kids to fit into your bathtub.  All five of us are piled into the small boy bathroom with two in a big tub and one in a baby tub in the floor. There seems to be a lot more water on the floor and post-bath mopping to do as of late. Everyone likes to help get the baby ready for bed and pull up their little stool to see him on the changing table. We haven't quite gotten everyone to bed exactly on time, but we have had a lot of adventures.  This week, Alden and Spencer put on Joey's undershirts and played angels for almost an hour while the baby angel practiced kicking. It has been worth the later bedtimes.

The new toy for the whole family is the sectional sofa.  Alden says, "Mommy, we can talk to each other now." Pretty awesome that we can all fit together and TV/iPad/sleep.  We all have pretty much claimed our spots, except for Joey. I think we forgot to give him a spot...Hum, we might need to work on that.

Time to get out of the house for a little while.  We had a family day at the Botanical Gardens.  Got Mom and the boys out of the house for the first time in many, many days. Alden wanted to see the fish in every pond.

I went off to find a place to feed the baby when I get a text that reads: "Alden fell in pond."  Yep. The ten or fifteen times we had said not to lean over fell on deaf ears.  I cannot tell you how nasty that coy pond is or how unfazed Alden was at the whole situation. He said, "Mr. Nick (swim teacher) would be proud of me. I didn't drown." OMG! This is the THIRD time we have fallen into a pond. Once, in our backyard coy pond, once into the shark tank at the science museum, and once now at the Botanical Gardens.  Really?  I hope we remember multiplication facts better than we remember how not to fall into a pond!.

Alden's second outing was to an army birthday party. Joey took him and they stayed four and a half hours! I had no idea they would be gone the whole entire day.  Alden had a swell time and Daddy even let him skip a nap. You have no idea how spoiled Alden is when Daddy is at home.
                                                
Spencer was stuck home with Mommy. Don't worry, he was still looking cool (even if our glasses are upside down). We even did the unthinkable: we went through a drive thru and got a hamburger for lunch.  It was the best Mommy could do with two kids alone and a really, really sore belly.

We had already done every puzzle twice, we had built the Empire State Building out of Legos three times and a few fire stations, played iPad until their eyes were bulging out of their heads, ridden to Atlanta, New York, and South America on the dining room chair train, and built and painted a cardboard house for Wolfie Dog Dog. What next? Trying to prepare them for later life, I grabbed two rolls of toilet paper and let them roll their room.  Alden rolled....

Spencer laid on the floor and got rolled.

 And laid some more...

 Popped up for a moment...

And then asked for more.

When we finished our rolling, we had to play hospital. They were very wounded.  I don't really know why Alden has a sand scooper. This is usually his Statue of Liberty flame, so perhaps he is a wounded Statue of Liberty?  You never know.
                                              
In other Spencer news, he has decided not to eat anything but sugar. He eats yogurt and pancakes, Thomas the Train fruit snacks, and any cookie or brownie. He will not eat fruit, veggies, meat, and sometimes even cheese anymore. This is because we have wonderful friends who have brought us wonderful meals with wonderful desserts and therefore, dessert is always available. The bad part is that we are actually letting him do this! What in the heck is wrong with us!  We must immediately start regaining control of our house.

Now, I would be lying if I didn't say there was a whole heck of a lot of crazy going on around here. In fact, we have had our first day from hell.  I got really cocky about my skills when I got up and got everyone dressed and took Spencer and the baby to the G.I. doctor without incident or tantrum.  So, I decide we are all up for a trip to Target. Me, the boys, and the nanny.  I let the boys peruse the toy section and Alden and nanny go one direction and Spencer, Harry, and Mommy the other.  I can't find Alden and nanny. I panic. Mass hormonal irrational panic when I call Joey to tell him I think the nanny kidnapped Alden.  Not only was it not logical since she had been at our house with us for almost two weeks, but he reminded me that she also rode there with me and didn't have a car.  They, of course, show up. Alden had told her that I was at the check-out to buy his toy. (Kind of like when he told her they got to sleep with the lights on or that he was allowed to watch Ghostbusters) Walking to the baby section, I see Spencer run off.  She says she will follow so I stay put. They are gone forever and I can't find Spencer and nanny. I tell Alden not to move because I at least want to know where two of my three kids are.  I do not go directly to the kidnapping theory this time, but still manage to panic.  She comes back to tell me that he took off and ran too fast for her and that the Target personnel caught him running out the front door to the parking lot. What?! Put on some better shoes and run lady! I am heavier than usual with tape holding my belly together but I can tell you I could have caught my child before he hit the automatic door to the parking lot!  Upon returning home, we had several screaming fits from tired children, the forgot to get the snack for Alden before nursing mistake, and a two hour nap battle. We went outside to talk to our neighbor after dinner, and Alden bolted across the street barefoot and alone TWICE to try to get Wolfie to show his friends.  Why were my children trying to get themselves hit by cars!? Between no sleep, the new West Nile outbreak, hit and runs, kidnappings, and my neighbor alerting me to burglars in our area I think the logical solution is to set the alarm and never leave the house again. I ended the day with my first glass of wine in ten months and cried my way through Danny and the Dinosaur at 9:00 pm still battling bed time tantrums and screaming baby.  Lessons learned: (1) Outings are not so simple anymore  (2) Never trust anyone else in public with my children but myself and my husband (3) My children need attached GPS devices and/or leashes (4) I have watched way too much Law and Order and CSI  (5) There are some mighty good Guardian Angels assigned to our house.