Calvin's dead butterfly sign

Calvin drew this picture yesterday, and explained it.  I think it comes from all the discussion of road signs and what they tell us, as we talk about all the road signs and what they mean on the way to and from picking Violet up from school.  Yield signs, no passing signs, speed limit signs, stop lights, etc.

These are his words:

"It is a street sign warning of piles and piles of dead butterflies coming up.  If you run over them it will be all bloody and your tires will run out of air.  The butterflies died because they didn't eat enough 'cause there wasn't enough food in the woods."

10,000 Reasons - Matt Redman

This song is infiltrating our home!  I listened to it on www.godtube.com one day (4 weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon before and when Vanessa smashed her head,this song was actually playing when she hit her head, the lyrics "whatever may pass and whatever lies before you" and *SMACK* went her forehead) and all the kids loved it, and asked to hear it (and see it, the video shows the band singing it) over and over again.  I think Violet and Calvin have almost the whole song memorized.  Calvin randomly sings it throughout his day and when we travel in the car he asks to hear it.

Vanessa even catches on, and sings "Bess ya Yord, O my soul...mumble mumble his howy name"  and giggles.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WLPKDWNX

The lyrics:

"10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)"

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

[Chorus x2]
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name 

4 weeks after Vanessa's head smash

There is still a hard raised lump where the cut is healing.  She is used to me rubbing things on it frequently during the day.  I asked her where she cut her head and she points to the column, I think she remembers.  But I'm glad the trauma of it is all over!  It is healing pretty well.  Her pediatrician said new skin and new flesh is very pink (blood working to heal it) and will stay that way for quite a few months.

Eli - 4 months

Took Eli to his 4 month well baby check last week!  He's a healthy growing boy, a few ounces shy of 19 lbs (18 lbs 9 oz).  No wonder I can't hold him all that long anymore, my back and shoulders start aching.  He's 27 3/4 inches long and his head is 17 1/4" around.

He smiled his way through the appointment, googling and gurgling with the nurses and the doctor.  Vanessa was with me at the appointment and she played in the corner with the toys.  I had to take her to the bathroom across the hall (newly potty training and wanted to explore all bathrooms in the vicinity).  Eli even smiled up until the point the nurses had to poke his legs for his shots, then he cried for a little bit.  He calmed down pretty quick and fell asleep in his car seat on the way home.

I haven't started feeding him anything solid (or cereal yet)  He's getting VERY mouthy with anything he can shove in his mouth.  He chews on anything: blankets, burp rags, fingers, and toys.  He easily smiles and loves being interacted with. 

He sleeps whenever and wherever he can.  I usually put him up in the pack and play crib in the guest room to nap, but if he falls asleep anywhere else (like the couch or the floor), I'll leave him there.  At night he goes to sleep around 9pm, wakes up once around 5am to eat (usually he's flipped himself over laying on his back and can't roll himself back to his tummy yet so he lays there unhappy)...and after I feed him he goes back to sleep until about 8am.  This gives me enough time to help get Violet off to school in the mornings.

Calvin is the most interested in baby Eli of all the kids.  He loves holding him, playing with him, picking him up, rolling him around, etc.  Vanessa thinks he needs his paci in his mouth at ALL times.  Violet likes to hold him too but he is also very heavy for them so they tire of holding him quickly (unless they are both sitting).

We love our little happy boy so much. :)

This is a frequent scene in our living room...Calvin loving on his little brother.

 Calvin spinning Eli like an airplane.

 I snapped a pic of him rolling over.

Just two more pics...he found some paper on the floor and chewed on it...no wonder he was so busy and quiet for so long.

Kitchen remodel

Before:

After:

- new island cabinets, changed shape of island countertop.  

- 5 barstools (this is where the kids eat for 2 out of 3 meals in the day, we LOVE the eat-in kitchen!)

- new countertops

- new backsplash

- new black sink, new touch faucets

- not pictured, but added small sink to opposite countertop for coffee

- changed cabinet hardware to oil rubbed bronze color

- removed "appliance garage" in the corner

- raised up microwave to match level of cabinets

- new appliances all around, changed from white to black

- added 2nd oven

- extended length of countertop to patio window, this added about 18"

- added third cabinet on right side

There are some minor things to do at this point:
~ fix some dry wall marks
~ repaint red window, the red needs to go, not sure what is next.

A better pic of the real colors:

Backsplash tile progress, its about half done

One of Brook Klunder's tile guys is working on our kitchen.  He prepped the walls on Wednesday, and started cutting tile and putting it up on the wall today.  Its such a big job and so tedius that he will finish tomorrow, I think he will put grout on it too, I'm not sure.  It looks really nice, and its GREAT to see our walls get finished!  We've been looking at ripped up walls for many months!

Day 3 potty training Vanessa

This is beginning to feel normal...to have Vanessa using the potty.  At nighttime she soaks her diaper but I don't really care about nighttime yet.  I'm starting to "hawk" her less during the day, as she is doing better at running to the bathroom to go herself.  She has had no pee accidents today (woke up from her nap a little wet though), and after my constant reminding knowing it was probably time for her to go, made a beeline for the bathroom to go #2 as well!  She immediately got a "poopy prize" (Calvin did too, haha, he was excited with her) which was a dum-dum sucker.  I'm so excited she's making progress!  She still is goofy about stuff, leaving her underwear all over the house and wearing multiple pairs throughout the day, being fussy about how she sits on the toilet (and purposely scoots back "too far" and goes "oh! oh! oh!" like she's pretending to fall in and then falls into a pile of giggles while doing so.  Mama is sick of the "games" already but whatever she needs to go on the toilet..well...she's gonna get it. :)  Sometimes she must have those precious flip flops or white sandals on her feet while going...whatever.  If they're not in her line of sight she doesn't care.  She often sits on the toilet, doesn't do anything, but still insists on wiping and flushing. 

Tomorrow the backsplash glass tile goes in!

will post an updated picture when its finished on Thursday!  Should be a 2-day job.  Messy too.  Can't wait for this kitchen project to be all wrapped up!

Day 2 of potty training Vanessa

This is also day two of no-nap Vanessa.  Dave has been out of town which leaves me no choice but to take Vanessa with me when I pick up Violet, right during her nap time.  Yes, I realize this is the case for 99% of other moms whose husbands don't work at home so I can leave a napping child sleeping while I run an errand.  But I'm used to it and not having the option is hard for me.  :P

She has the #1 thing almost completely.  She will go when I ask her, and tell me she has to pee and go on her own.  There is still a whole realm of particular-ness when she goes, there is usually an issue she takes with which toilet seat she sits on, where the undies go when she is using the toilet, who wipes, gotta flush, and wash those hands.  I don't know if she stays dry when she naps, she hasn't ever napped while working on potty training.  She's still in a crib and can't get out when she wants to, maybe its time to switch to a bed.  But that means she will get up and run around in the morning before I want her to.  Boo. 

She had a #2 accident today, but seemed to actually notice...by going and saying "uh oh! uh oh!".  Maybe she'll catch it next time.

She had to go pee yesterday at Violet's school when I let the kids play on the playground, so I somehow got her in there while V and C were playing on the equipment (I used the double stroller to hold Eli and her) and she went pee after dripping in her undies.  Today, she walked around the playground holding her butt for a few moments...I was nursing Eli at the time and couldn't put him down immediately...but Violet yelled saying that Vanessa said she had to go poop while they were on the slide, so I...again...hauled Vanessa and Eli into the school again (while another mom I knew watched V and C for me) to take her, but I was too late and she had gone in her undies.  She was messy, I didn't have my stroller for Eli...so let's just say I cleaned up with what I could and got out of there asap with a very unhappy baby.  I'm thinking as I walk out of the building that this is crazy and wishing for it to be over.

I get overwhelmed when Dave is out of town.  He has been gone for 2 days.  Why I decided to tackle potty training the 2 yr old on my own with 4 kids (one being a baby) I don't know. Thankfully a friend came to pick up Violet and took her to school.  That was absolutely perfect, since my other 3 kids were still sleeping at 7:40 when she got picked up.  Thank you Lord for that provision!  

Day 1 of potty training Vanessa

Vanessa initiated this potty training adventure.  She had been asking to "go pee" a lot lately and wanting to sit on the toilet, so when she would ask, I would take her, and 3 out of 10 times she said this she would actually go pee.  This seemed like just another one of her fun activities. I wasn't too impressed with her accuracy so I wasn't all that excited about working with her on the toilet.  I honestly just felt too busy to deal with it and found it easier to diaper her so I didn't have to stop what I was doing and take her to the bathroom and help her with the whole potty-ing process.  Ok...so last Sunday morning at Bethany she was hanging on the bathroom door handle and saying "go pee! go pee!"  I knew she was wearing a diaper, so I found a place to put Eli and took her to a stall.  Her diaper was dry.  I put her on the toilet and she went.  Hmm...ok...so maybe she was ready.  I reluctantly agreed (with her, I guess), that it was time to get rid of the diapers.

So today she was in underwear all day.  It was the big game of the day, too.  She barely kept the underwear ON, constantly taking it off and leaving it around the house in random places.  Every time she took them off she wanted to go to the bathroom.  She would go, tinkle a few drops, and stop, wipe, and get all excited, flush the toilet, put her undies back on.  Then take them off, and do the whole process over again.  She DID manage to get to the toilet for #2 two times today, I was simply amazed by this fact.  She missed on another occasion.  Today was pretty successful in her going to the bathroom, but it seemed to escalate my busy-ness, as I had to put Eli down somewhere left screaming (having to stop nursing him) multiple times to help her with something bathroom related, and was not able to keep tabs on what Violet and Calvin were getting into a few times.  I did get an hour with her alone this morning, as Violet and Calvin were both at school and preschool, Eli took a nap, and she was awake.  I couldn't concentrate on anything else, only watching exactly what she was doing every moment of the day, and if I took my attention off her for anything longer than 5-10 minutes, she would have an accident and be walking slowly with her legs apart looking funny with her pants all wet.  At least she was uncomfortable like that.  I left her in undies on my very short errands to take Calvin to school and pick him up.  She didn't nap today either, as Dave is gone for 2 days and I had to pick up Violet from school at 3 pm.  I let the kids play on the school playground for an hour after school, and during this time she said she had to go pee so I went into the building with Vanessa and Eli and took her to the bathroom there.  During bath and bed time tonight, I think she wanted to go pee 15 times.  I know this will get better but the first few days are not easy!