Turning Points

A big milestone for us this week. Alden started Preschool. There is a difference between Mother's Day Out and Preschool I have come to realize. Mainly, he goes to school every single day of the week and that Kindergarten sign our future elementary school puts in your front yard to welcome you is getting to be a closer and closer reality. Being three weeks post-partum does not help a weepy mother watch her little boy grow up. However, an unexpected plus to school starting is how much Alden loves to share with me about his day. We have a lot of heart to hearts and special time because he has something to say, and I want to hear about it. He was especially excited to find out that I had read the book Miss Nelson is Missing, too. One day, he tells me that he saw a movie about making crayons. I told him that when I was little my favorite show I ever watched was the episode of Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood where he visited the Crayola factory. His eyes lit up, "That's the one! It was Mr. Rodgers! I watched it because I love you Mommy!" Kind of corny, but it was a little moment. I am happy at how much he loves school and how he was begging to go back. It is a lot easier to send him off everyday when I know I am doing what is best for him and makes him the happiest.      

                                 

Now, Spencer is another situation entirely. I had a bloody come apart. I have no idea why, and I have a few friends and family members who had to glue me back together and do a lot of listening.  I had already had Spencer in school for the three day program since last Spring. I was happy with that until the week before school started when I found myself crying endlessly that he was growing up and I was prematurely sending him off to school for a whopping four more hours.  He does not like to leave Mommy and loves to say things like,"Wait for me!" and "Don't leave me!" through barrels of screams and tears when I drop him off at Mother's Day Out just to twist in the knife. He wanted me to pick him up and hold him and I couldn't, he wanted me to tuck him in bed and the baby was always crying, he wanted to sit in my lap after naps and it happened to be the time the baby needed to eat. In moments of weakness and guilt, I moved him to the two day a week program and relinquished the coveted spot.  Then, it happened. The grandparents, the Daddy, the Nanny all left me alone with three kids.  I realized on Meet Your Teacher day that the guilt was over-rated and that Spencer would spend that extra four hours with me watching me cook dinner, feed a baby, or slave over the now endless laundry for a family of five. What fun!  Also, there were only three kids in his class which seemed a little boring as well.  So, I suck it up knowing that the school would think I was insane and talk about me behind my back and asked for our spot back in three day. They did it. Then, I woke up at 3:00 am crying that I had made the wrong decision again.  At school, he screamed, said he wanted to play with Mommy, asked me not to leave him there, chased me down the hall and knocked me over clutching me so hard.  This did not help. I cried again through Harrison's check-up and made the doctor tell me it was okay.  Nuts! I mean, nuts! Guess what happened when Daddy took him the next day? He ran right in! Think my husband could go to work at 9:00 three days a week??
                                               
After all of my drama and a few glasses of wine later, I am officially out of my baby blues period and very thankful for my last minute switch.  Just dropping Alden off at school and trying to get coffee at Starbuck's yesterday took an hour.  Harrison required a stop to burp once and twice for a diaper change. Did I mention that the mileage on the car was 4 miles? I have managed a few crockpot meals, but I learned very quickly that I cannot cook dinner with a newborn and two toddlers. Someone will want to steal food, eat food, scream, or endanger another human being. I can't be specific over which one of them it will be at any given time.  All I know is that  in one 15 minute period I had two kids in time out, a dozen cracked eggs on my kitchen floor, and a screaming baby that only gets quiet when I walk around with him in the Ergo baby sling. So, Spencer and I just have special days on Mondays and Fridays and I try to do the boring stuff in between. He picks his activity which so far has been to go to the bookstore to play trains. Harrison is happy in his Ergo and Spencer is happy with his trains and Mommy gets to sit and drink Starbucks.  Although, I admit that I have had to buy a train every time I leave to get him out of the store peacefully. I know, I know, that is super bad parenting. Don't judge a tired Mamma. Peace is priceless at the moment.
                                
So, my last day with my boys all together at home and no one in school was really my only day without another adult being at the house at some point during the day in almost a month. It was good to have them all to myself, but exhausting. I attempted every Pinterest "What To Do With Your Toddlers" game I had ever pinned.  We painted handprint animals, we made a sticky collage of Halloween costumes on contact paper, we ran obstacle courses, we watched online stories, we pretended to be animals, we made silly faces, we put up colored squares and ran to them when I called out a color, we read books, we had a dance party, we cooked muffins, and we took a bubble bath. That was while wearing Harrison in the Ergo to keep him happy and downloading new apps for the two iPads in order to have sit-down time to feed him.  Wouldn't trade all that energy for the world! It keeps me laughing and counts as exercise.
                                           
Spencer's silly face.
                                           
This is another situation we have. Our neighbors. There is a little boy Alden's age that I refer to as our "boy in the stripped pajamas." You know the story of the child that was friends with a boy in the concentration camp but they were only friends through the fence? That is Alden and this boy.  They also have a big yard and playset which makes Alden want to cross over all the more. Here is the problem: we haven't seen his parents in three years.  They are there, a nanny is there, but we never see the actual adult in order to have this boy come over to play. He asks Alden all the time but in the kid way of asking without asking your parents which means Alden gets excited but then the playdate never comes to pass. Every time we get in the car or out of the car, they talk and swap gifts of sticks and rocks and brick and leaves through the fence. When these children break something, they ask Alden if his Daddy can come and fix it so their Daddy won't see it (they are desperate if they are looking to Joey as their "handy man").  Alden is convinced that it is my fault he isn't  going over there and doesn't understand that you can't just climb fences into people's yards without parental permission. We are working on locating the adults and resolving this issue. Unless they are Bo Radley, they will have to come outside sometime.
                                
                                                
Another milestone, we now have a one month old.  I started to get weepy about this at the hospital Starbucks but laughed at myself instead. Our hospital room was on the other side of the wall as the Starbucks. Every morning, we could hear the swoosh sound of the cappuccinos and lattes being made. We were standing waiting on Mommy's decaf when Harrison just lulled to sleep at that sound. He was home:) Without tears, however, I can report that we are 10 lbs. 13 oz. and have already outgrown the outfit that Alden wore home from the hospital (although the dryer might have had something to do with that). He is taller at 22 1/4 inches long, and the big news, we have reflux!
                               
Yes, although we have escaped the heart murmur and giant head of our older brothers, baby boy number three inherited the visits to the gastroenterologists.  Dr. Mom recognized the symptoms and had him diagnosed before we even went for our doctor confirmation. We are covered in spit up around here and have a very unhappy baby curling up, choking, and screaming. We have a lot of swinging of car seats being held upright on Mommy's shoulder and eventful car rides.  But, we are working on the right concoction of baby medication to make his little life a little less traumatic.  As Alden would say, "Bless his little heart."

My babies.  A totally spontaneous and rare moment of bonding where I was thankful the camera was already in my hand.  (FYI: Alden had been decorating Spencer with stickers hence the sticker on the side of his face).

Speaking of random moments, Spencer discovered a photo of himself in his old nursery.  He was awestruck. This made me smile.

 First family photos. Mommy and all of her boys!

Here are a few more pics of our new little guy and all my favorite boys taken by someone who knows how to use a camera better than Mom:

Life with all boys

Consequence of no diapers and potty training: Spencer discovered his "eleventh finger" today. He used it to manipulate the iPhone touch screen to talk to Siri. My iPhone. Sanitizer please. It just hit me that I live in a Frat house.

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.