We managed to skip Halloween this year

We just didn't do anything for it.  Didn't shop for costumes, didn't buy halloween candy, didn't turn the lights on and hand out candy...not for any particular reason other than just being too busy to deal with it. LOL 
It did help that the kids had church activities planned the same time trick or treating was scheduled.  Violet did get asked a few times here and there from random people what she was going to be for Halloween but she never had a good answer. 
As we drove to the chapel tonight, she saw some kids walking on the sidewalk all dressed up.  She said "Aww, I wish I could dress up." and that was it, no asking or discussion.  I bet if I brought up the topic from last year she would remember but so much of me just didn't even want to deal with it and the fights and meltdowns from sugar overload and crashing.  Calvin has no connection to Halloween and wouldn't really know what trick or treating is.  I'm glad Violet didn't bombard me with questions ~ she seemed to have forgotten about it too.  I bet this is the last year we get away with it.  Maybe next year we'll have the energy to do Halloween.
I miss the chocolate treats around the house...but I don't really need those either. :D

"I wiped it off!"

I do not know how this expression came about...but it is something I hear constantly from Violet and Calvin.  If one makes the other mad, the one offended thinks they have the power to reverse the effect by saying "I wiped it off!" For example, if Calvin hits Violet, she will say "Calvin, I wiped it off!" as if to tell him he doesn't get the satisfaction of hitting her.  And depending on the degree of offense, the word "wiped" will get louder and more intense.  What gets me laughing though, is when I hear "Wipe! Wipe! Wipe!" over and over...

The curlers...picture thread

I took her pic, so she took one of me and Vanessa:

Babies at four months

I love seeing these comparison pictures. 

Violet ~ 4 months:

Calvin ~ 4 months:

Vanessa ~ 4 months:

All jumped out...

I dug up all my old pics on the computer downstairs and found this one of Violet sleeping in the jumperoo - pic was taken May 10, 2006, ten days before she turned four months old.

And this is Vanessa at 4 months doing the same thing.



Vanessa my pajama houdini

Vanessa is by far the most talented at getting herself all twisted up in her clothes of all the kids. This morning I got her out of bed and found both of her legs in one pajama leg...maybe she was dreaming about being a mermaid!? It kept her from kicking so much so it actually made for easier nursing in bed with me.

And as I'm sitting her on the computer blogging, she she pulled her right arm out of her sleeve and now her right arm is next to her side down by her diaper. This girl cracks me up.

She's getting very mouthy, grabbing everything in sight and trying to shove it in her mouth. Her favorite lap activity is jumping. She loves her jumperoo, and I think that toy may be my absolute favorite that all three kids loved and enjoyed the most at Vanessa's age. She can jump for a long time with out getting tired. It does wear her out though, I found her sleeping in it the other day. ALL of my kids have fallen asleep in the jumperoo, I even have a pic of each of them sleeping in it - maybe I should go find them. Most of my pictures are on a different storage drive in the basement, we have the computers networked together so I should be able to access them but its not working at the moment.

Vanessa's ear check

3 weeks after discovering Vanessa's ear infection, I had a re-check at the pedi to see if it was gone or not. Its not gone, there is still infected fluid. So she's been put on a stronger antibiotic. She weighed 14 lbs 15 oz. Will go back in 3 more weeks.

Solomon is 5 months old...

...and he weighs 81 lbs. When I picked him up from the vet this morning (he was boarding while Dave was out of town for a night) they weighed him before we left. They have a big "step on" scale ~ much easier than us trying to weigh him at home. This is approximately HALF the size he will be at full size. We know Solomon's father is approx 165 lbs. Solomon has lost a few more teeth in the last couple weeks. We help him get them out if we notice a loose tooth by holding onto a towel and letting him bite it - and moving the towel side to side.

Took the boat out for a spin

The boat needed some engine work done, so we had Gavin Marine tune up the engine. We got it back last week and decided today would be a good day to take it out for a spin to see if it worked well. We plan to sell the boat and Dave wanted to confidently say to any prospective buyer that the engine was running smoothly. We invited the Hemmer family to join us in the boating adventure so tonight at 5:30 we met them at Island Park and put the boat in. The kids wore their life jackets and enjoyed every minute of the boat rides - they squealed with excitement as the boat roared to full speed and were impressed that they could reach their hands out and feel the spray of the water. They all exchanged seats about a hundred times sitting in different arrangements. After taking the boat out of the water, the kids all played at the park for a little while, and we ended the night by going out to eat together at Beck's on the northwest side of town near Fareway. It was a fun night. :)

Violet's "curly" hair

Violet got a little temporary "makeover" Thursday night. I got some curlers at the store thinking she would enjoy having her hair curly some time, and when we got home she saw the package and wondered what they were. I told her, and she wanted to do it right away. After putting Calvin to bed, we stayed up a little late and I put all her hair in curlers. She was getting really impatient with me getting them in just right and told me she was getting sweaty waiting for me to finish. Once they were all in she told me they felt funny. She got very concerned that they would fall out if she had to itch her head.

The next morning when she woke up, I took them out and her hair was in spirals! She was pretty concerned that the kids in her preschool class were going to make fun of her and laugh at her with her curls. I reassured her they were pretty and told her I was sure people would like her hair. I put half of her hair back in a clip so it was a pile of curls on the back of her head and it was out of her face.

After a day, her hair relaxed back to being almost straight with a few curls at the end. I'm sure that wasn't the last time I do that ~ she seemed to enjoy her "new hair" for a day and flounced it around a lot.

Latest stuff

Its been awhile since I posted. This past week was pretty busy - we hosted four people at our house for a couple days while Bethany Bible Chapel hosted a big Bible conference...then Dave's mom stayed with us this past weekend. It was a very busy week, but full of super fun times.

We went to Iowa's largest Arts and Craft's show on Saturday at the UNI-Dome. It was amazing to see hundreds of booths jam-packed in there. We walked around for a couple hours with two strollers---V&C in the double and Vanessa in the single. Vanessa slept the whole time, and V&C were in and out of the strollers the whole time, resting when they got tired. Martha found some really cute jewelery and some other things, Dave got some wooden trains/cars for the kids.

Violet is enjoying preschool on Mon, Wed and Fri mornings. She really likes her two teachers a lot. Last week on Monday Dave joined her on a field trip to Hansen's Dairy Farm. She is really into writing words right now. She is constantly asking me how to spell things and writing them down on pieces of paper. When Calvin woke up she asked me how to spell "Cranky" so she could write down that Calvin was cranky (and he was! haha!).

Calvin is growing up like crazy lately. He is talking full sentences (even though he's still hard to understand) and joins Violet in imaginary games almost all day. They pretend so many things, it is refreshing to see their imaginations at work and funny to hear what things they come up with. They are always playing "mommy and baby" taking turns taking care of each other. Calvin is potty trained now and I am learning how long he can go between potty breaks. He wakes up dry from his naps (not overnight) every day, and can go 3-4 hrs some times with out using the toilet. He is still being rewarded for #2 with gum, some times if he goes and he's already chewing a piece, he'll tell me he doesn't need any gum. I'm still a little nervous taking him places in undies but I've been doing it and bringing along extra clothes. So far I haven't had to use the extras.....but I make a point to take him to the bathroom almost everywhere we go (the store, church, someone else's house, etc) so he knows he can use a toilet anywhere if he needs to go. I'm also helping him understand he can tell others if he needs to go potty. When I pulled up to the church this morning for Bible Study, we turned the corner into the parking lot, and on his own, he said, "Mom, I'll tell Trisha or Selena if I have to use the potty, ok?" (it came out sounding more like "Mom, I wiww teww Wisha or Thewena if I hafta use da potty, ok?" It totally made me laugh. He thought he was going to Puggles for Awana which is on Sunday nights.

Vanessa is becoming higher maintenance the bigger she gets. She wants to grab everything in sight and shove it into her mouth. Her latest favorite thing is to grab hold of my hair...yeah...not so fun. Violet's hair gets grabbed multiple times a day when she plays with Vanessa too. Vanessa gets crabby if left alone too long...so I end up carrying her around in my baby carrier a lot. She takes three naps a day - at random times. She's a super sweet baby, smiles if you even look at her, and is generally very peaceful. She's sleeping a little better at night, waking up a couple times. The last time she wakes up at night I end up bringing her to bed with me and we "sleep in" together til 7 am.

Calvin has been our early waker lately...he must be sensitive to light as soon as the sun peeks through the cracks of his shade. Dave gets up with him early and takes him to the bathroom.

Solomon (can't forget about the 4th "baby" in the family) is losing his teeth right now. 4 or 5 of them have fallen out and bigger ones are growing in their places.

I now have a roller - Vanessa - 4 mo

Vanessa is now rolling around. :) She goes both directions, although her newest trick is to roll from her back to front, and I found her on her tummy very quickly after I laid her on her back under her toy this morning. That means watch out mama when changing diapers! She is getting very active, kicking with all her might when I hold her. She prefers to be in a standing position! She's making the cutest little noises - squealing, squawking, and cooing.

Vanessa - 4 month check at doctor

At 11:30 today I took Vanessa for her 4 month check up at the pediatrician. She got her second round of vaccinations...cried a bit but was over it as soon as I picked her up.
The pedi said she saw some infected fluid in her right ear, so this marks the first ear infection for any of my kids. That may explain why she hasn't wanted her pacifier for the last couple of days...sucking has been painful. She did not have a fever though, it was perfect. I hope this isn't the start of a whole lot of ear infections in her life time - doc said she may have poor drainage which may set her up for a lot of them. I hope not.
She weighs 14 lbs 5 oz (50-75%), 27" long (>100%), and her head is 17" around (90-95%).

Calvin's first outing in underwear

I know...I felt very brave doing this. Considering we've only been seriously potty training him for about a week. He's gone on short car rides to pick up Violet from preschool before wearing undies but I don't count a 10 minute trip out of the house to be worth much. Anyway...some friends of ours invited us over for dinner tonight and we were out of the house for three hours - and he used the bathroom four times with no accidents - I am soooo proud of him!

Solomon lost his first tooth

Our doggie is teething...this is a good thing! Once all his adult teeth come in he'll become less chewy. Dave found a white tooth in his water bowl this morning.
He also weighs 70 pounds. That is an enormous weight gain - he was only 35 lbs when we got him 2 months ago.

Lost interest in toys lately

I am enjoying Calvin being older now. He is a better playmate for Violet! They seem to have lost interest in the majority of their toys (with the exception of their train set) and love to imagine games. They pretend to be puppies, pretend to be baby/mommy, etc...and are using their minds to make up games to play together. When they are actively engaged in an imaginary role game, its great, they play SO well together! But if they're at odds and one or the other is making the other mad, its like world war three, with plenty of screaming. Violet is constantly bossing Calvin around which drives us all nuts. If they are both melting down it is usually a case of them being very hungry.

Feeding their trains

Violet and Calvin's favorite thing to do lately is play with their train set. I was sitting on the floor playing with them the other day, and I noticed Calvin picked up a train, lifted up his shirt, and lift it up to his chest....and told me he was feeding his train. Violet did the same thing...and soon they found it funny to "breastfeed" their trains. So silly, that one made me laugh. They copy everything I do!

Vanessa - 4 months

She'll be 4 months in a couple days, but I might as well update when I'm thinking about it and have a few minutes. I'll find out how much she weighs when I go to the pediatrician with her next week, but I know she's heavier, she makes my back ache if I hold her for awhile walking around the house, she never used to do that to me! I am guessing 13-14 pounds. She is very smiley, giggles every day (especially when I startle her or throw/catch her in the air), and is starting to get grabby and chewy. She loves to be held, and gets fussy if left alone for awhile. She often sits up in her high chair in the kitchen and plays with soft toys I give to her. She reaches out in front of her to grab things and is very interactive.
She also seems to have given up the pacifier. If I try give it to her she refuses it and isn't soothed by it anymore. That may change, I'm going to try keep giving it to her, its certainly a nice thing to have for awhile.

Good job Calvin!

I know there are ups and downs to potty training, but today is a major up. Calvin is showing major progress in using the potty by himself - at least TELLING me he has to go before he goes. I wondered how long it would take him to do it since the last 5 or 6 days have been ME trained to know how long he can hold it (and I've been taking him at least every 30-60 minutes). He has woken up dry from his naps the last couple days (not night time though), and this morning (even though he woke up with a dirty diaper), he went pee before breakfast, then three times at the chapel (right when we got there because he wanted to know where the toilets were) before and after Sunday School, woke up dry after his nap, went poo and pee in the toilet, and is staying dry. I hope he keeps this up. I first had him sit down while peeing so in case he has to go poop he can do that too. He gets rewarded by m&ms every time he goes so there is a big motivation for him, he LOVES getting his prizes! I even took out the changing table and all his cloth diapers out of his room so he knows he doesn't wear them anymore.

Violet and her words

Violet is really starting to put the puzzle pieces together in her mind with letters and words. She has known her phonics for a long time thanks to the Letter Factory video (she got hooked on that when she was 2!), and has recently started writing words. She took out a paper and pen yesterday and wrote out all the words she could think of. She wrote:

- mops
- hat
- top
- pop
- sit
- pen
- bat
and two attempts at longer words:
- pentl (she sounded out "pencil")
- cove (she tried writing "coffee")

She proudly showed us the paper each time she came up with a new word to write. Last week she watched the second Letter Factory video called "Talking Words Factory" and as she watched the video, she sat on the table writing down all the words the machine (Word Whammer!) was creating in it - there might have been 25 different words she wrote down. When we read books, she follows along with her fingers and points to the words as I read them and if I ask her to find a certain word she will figure out where the word is on the page (most of the time). I asked her to find "finger" in one of the recent books and she found it.

This morning she said "Mom, are you sad that you only have three letters in your name? You have three, see? M, O, M. I have six. V, I, O, L, E, T."

It is so fun seeing a kid start understanding all this. :)