Oh what a night...

Late October in 2008... little Liam didn't sleep so great... what a baby, what a night."

Okay, sorry for the Four Seasons stretch.

Liam's sleep patterns have been getting worse, and worse. We just switched his stomach medication yesterday hoping that would help, but so far, no change. I don't know if it could be teething or what... but I really hope we figure it out soon. My eyes are even grossly bloodshot now... not a pretty look. Ah well, comes with the infant territory I suppose.

Liam is also TOTALLY in love with his Daddy. Me? Meh. But Daddy? All smiles and giggles. He hears Nick's voice and comes alive. It's quite endearing to watch.

So Riley is Student of the Week this week!! It's not merit based, it just rotates through all the kids in the class - but still, very exciting. Riley said he got to be the boys' line leader on their way to computer yesterday. He also got to pick the girls' line leader, and got to pick who walked the bus notes up to the Main Office with him. He brought in some photos and a few items for show and tell. I also got a notice home saying that I was welcome to pick a day this week and go in to read to the class. Well, thankfully Megan was able to watch Elliot this morning - so I got to take Liam in and read to the class. I did 3 books, and it was a blast! The kids were really attentive for the most part, occasionally interrupting with enthusiastic comments about random things from the story. And I brought in some rainbow chip cookies as a treat as well, which Riley tells me were well received.

Elliot is in the midst of a defiant streak that means business. We never went through this with Riley so it's tough to know what to do. We are going through a lot of trial and error to find what works. We'll just keep chipping away in the meantime. But in positive Elliot news, he has been playing some tee-ball in the backyard and boy can he nail the ball! He sends shots flying past me. He really does seem like he's the more athletic between him and Riley. On the other hand, Riley can sink baskets with incredible accuracy, so maybe they just excel at different sports.

We got our first taste of some flurries today, and it has me longing for two winters ago when we got no snow at all under January of the new year. Hopefully it'll be March before I know it, and we'll be counting down the days till Spring.

That's it for now - have a great day!

And for our dear family...

For our dearest friends...

We have lift off!!

Well, for the last day or so, the dreaded "tummy time" for Liam has finally paid off! He now pushes himself right up off the ground and holds up his head. He's also been occasionally rolling over from his tummy to back in both directions. Making up for lost time, I guess! Here's a few of him from this morning, one pushed up, one right after he toppled to the side, and one of him bargain shopping. :)

Out of the mouths of babes...

Ok. True confession time, I guess.

So this morning we are here cleaning the house. Riley just came up to me and said "Mommy, you are making the house look SO beautiful. Who is coming today?"

Nice. While it may not look like the Merry Maids just went through my house on a daily basis, I would consider my home to be pretty presentable. Especially considering that I have 3 kids. 3 BOYS. But apparently I have given the impression to my kids that the house only needs to be truly spotless when we are hosting guests. So, I just got up on my soapbox (no cleaning pun intended) and gave them a lesson about how we should keep the house clean and tidy for even just US to enjoy. Proud to say, Elliot is now scrubber in hand, and Riley is tidying.

On a somewhat side note about cleaning, I got a Dyson around a month ago. We had gone through around 6 vacuums in 6 years. Let me just say (especially if you can get it on sale), it is WELL worth it!! My carpets look and feel cleaner and it is so easy to handle. Love it!

The week in review...

So let's think. What has happened in the last week since I posted.

Well, our road is always the source of new and interesting stuff. You just NEVER know who or what you're going to see going down our road. We've seen people driving lawn tractors as leisure vehicles, we recently saw a big Honda CR-V with a little senior moped (complete with actual senior citizen) driving right next to it - looked like it was attached and riding sidecar. And then it went back in the other direction hours later. We also have an older gent who has been walking up and down the road playing some kind of deep brass horn. Smaller than a tuba, looks a cross between a trombone and a tuba, but held like a tuba, and deep sound close to a tuba range. Tried to find it, closest thing I can find is a Wagner horn. But anyway, this chap walks down the street nearly daily now alongside a lady who carries a metronome right next to his ear. Strange sight indeed, but, something about the jaunty little nature of this instrument and the sweet tunes that come out bring a smile to my face each afternoon.

Riley has school picture day today. And of course, at around 2pm yesterday, he walked head-on into a drawer that I had just opened, leaving a skinny near 4" bruise running down his forehead and into his eyebrow. Let's hear it for retakes... something tells me we won't want to hang an 8x10 of our black-eyed pea on the wall.

Liam is still not sleeping through the night, up twice a night like clockwork. You'd think by now I'd be used to it. You'd be wrong.

And Elliot still just never stops talking. It is literally exhausting listening to him. That Bigelow tea called "Constant Comment" should have his picture on the front. Oy vay. Take a breath kid. But really, it's very sweet - and just like you can listen to a Brit read a phone book for their accent, listening to Elliot speak is a delight due to his precious little lisp and odd pronunciations.

Yesterday I finally got fed up with being housebound and decided to take the kids to the pet store since we needed aquarium filters. But, we made a trip of it, and checked out all the animals - parakeets, all kinds of fish, snakes, iguanas, frogs, newts, a tarantula, ferrets, mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and even a couple of pet dogs were there - we met a beautiful greyhound named Golda who was as sweet as can be.

I know, I know - I still haven't put up pictures in a while. I'll get to it, I promise!! Have a great weekend, I'll try to check in at some point.

Yawn.......

You wanna know how I know I'm tired? Because I just loaded up the bookmark of my blog to check and see if there were any new posts. Hmmm. Yeah, apparently my brain didn't make the connection that I would actually have to have written something for there to be new posts.

But, at least my brain has now engaged somewhat, so let me update you on the last week! Sorry for the posting hiatus. Last weekend was apple picking and family dinner, which was lots of fun. I still have to resize photos but I'll put some up. Then starting on last Thursday, a cycle of colds started in the family. First Riley - who thankfully only had it for 3 days or so, but Elliot's going on around a week and Liam picked it up somewhere along the way as well. And of course my father, who can run but can't seem to hide from whatever the kids are brewing.

It's definitely fall around here, lots of changing colors, lots of leaves falling. And I'm REALLY in the mood to cook, which normally happens around this time of year. The other day I randomly decided to make corn chowder at 9:30 am. And here I am at not quite 11 am getting ready to make a double batch of quiche. (Same quiche as I posted the link for last year - here it is if you're interested...) Unfortunately along with the urge to cook comes the urge to eat. Which always seems to followed by the urge to diet.

Riley is doing great in school, loves coming home and telling us all about his day. We're so thankful that he wakes up every day, excited and ready to go!

Elliot has suddenly lost his toddler look and has much more of a kid-like appearance. He grew some and his face thinned out and matured some. It's so bizarre that even though I see my kids every day, sometimes changes are so dramatic they seem to have happened overnight.

And Liam is just a bundle of smiles, squawks and playfulness. He full on plays with toys, uses both hands really well to control things, and loves bouncing in his bouncer. He is also totally in love with Daddy, and just squawks and squawks for Daddy's attention and smiles when he gets home.

Photos to come soon - I promise!

In the meantime, have a great weekend. :o)

2 out of 3 ain't bad...

One of these days I'll get a photo of all three kids up... in the meantime, you'll have to just stick with 66.6(repeating) percent of the boys per photo!!

Here's a few from yesterday. Can you tell how into his brothers Liam is? He just gazes at both of them.

Mid-week update...

Hmmm, what to update, what to update...

Things are going well here. It has gotten really cool in the evenings/mornings and I can't stand it. Gosh do I hate wearing a jacket. Thankfully we're still in the 60s most days, but I know that won't last.

We're on schedule to have our annual Apple Picking / Family Dinner day this Saturday, so hopefully the weather will hold out. I'm still trying to plan the menu for the weekend, but it'll probably be the normal chicken dinner with yummy (if rich and fattening) side dishes. Is it just me or when fall hits do you just feel like sitting down to like 3 bowls of different kinds of potatoes? Maybe some garlic smashed, some sweet potatoes, and some au gratin... heck, throw in some scalloped too. Ah, carbs, how I love thee.

Riley just got back a bunch of his homework that he had turned in. He does a REALLY good job coloring! Stays incredibly within the lines, especially for a 5 year old. I'll have to take some pictures. And it would appear his teacher is quite strict about letter formation, she has included lots of notes about how to improve those... what a drill sergeant! Well, I guess that's what they're paying her for.

That's it for now, time to serve the kiddos lunch.

Love is in the air...