Brooks - 4 Months

I'm way behind on the blog and I'm blaming it on the weather. It's been sooooo beautiful and I just want to be outside as much as possible. We've been really working hard on the gardens and I finally got the veggies all planted last week. The peas have been in for about a month since they can stand the cold and frost, but everything else had to wait till our Cleveland spring warmed up. Yes, just in time for summer.

In the midst of many moments, I constantly say to myself, "Self, this would be great for a post!". But I never get around to actually writing the post. I think I might join Kristy and Michelle with the ten on Tuesday posts or possibly Wordless Wednesday since I wouldn't actually have to write anything. :-) This way I could at least get a lot of info out there without writing a million separate posts.

Anyhow, enough with the excuses. Brooks is officially 4 months old!! He's doing great. We had a rough patch with back to back colds, finally ending in an ear infection and a bout of antibiotics. But, we're back on track. I've had to work hard at bringing in more milk since his weight gain was not as large as the doctor would have liked. We're hoping it's b/c of the illness. All that time with a runny nose and cough kind of made eating not so appealing. Nonetheless, he's got to gain weight. So, I've been supplementing a bit and pumping like crazy. I also have been taking fenugreek which seems to be helping. The down side is I smell like maple syrup.

The big milestone this month was......to my mother's dismay, I finally cut his hair. I think he looks so handsome!

He is a sweetie all the way. He smiles a lot and laughs at the kids. Brooks is really ticklish and just like the other kids adores Daddy. By the end of the day, they are so bored with me and Daddy's arrival is something to celebrate. I'm noticing it even now with Brooks. He just lights up when Dad comes home.

Brooks cooes a lot and is reaching and grasping things. He can put things into his mouth if he holds on long enough and he's starting to really like his feet. His favorite toy is the little play gym mat. I think I might have mentioned that already. Brooks also stands really well, obviously while we're holding him. I'm thinking of bringing out the exersaucer sometime this week.

Happy 4 months Brooks!!!!

Here are a few before shots of the haircut.



And the first official cut...I did save the hair for his baby book.

The back was getting really long. The tricky part is it's about ten different lengths b/c it's wearing off in places from the crib. I tried to blend it in the best I could.

Here's an after shot.

And another after shot from a different day.

Here he is talking to Pop-pop

Getting some tummy time in his room. This was the day he officially turned 4 months, May 24th.

Check out the drool.

Since I was in his room when taking the tummy shots, I also took a pic of his letters. My brother and sister -in-law gave them to us for a baby gift!! They look so great with the cherry crib.

Happy 4 months Brooks!!!!

Kindergarten

We've been fretting the decision of where to send Carter for Kindergarten. Fretting might be an understatement. I told Jeremy this past weekend that this has been one of the hardest decision of my life. Usually, we can agree on things, talk it over, make a decision and then move forward, never looking back. This time, we both kept going back and forth. After much prayer, listening, talking about pros and cons, we worked our way through deciding.

If you had asked me a year ago if we'd even be having the discussion, I would have said "no way!". We love Chagrin and have heard so many positive things about the school, but as the time got closer, we started to rethink things, or at least became open to possibly giving him a catholic education. I talked to many many people at both schools, many families that go to St. Joan's church, but send their kids to Chagrin and some that send their kids to St. Joan's. All gave us so much to think about. I also got advice from friends and family, which was really key to making the decision. To be honest, sometimes less is more, but in this case I really felt we needed to get as much information as possible before deciding.

We had already attended two open houses at St. Joan's and one at Chagrin over the past few months. As of last week, we had decided to send him to half day Kind. at Chagrin and he went through Kind. screening on Friday. While we were there, I kind of had this empty feeling, like maybe this wasn't the right decision for him. I also called the principal at St. Joan's last week and asked if I could come in by myself that morning and sit in on the Kindergarten class. I stayed for an hour or so and after the kids went to gym was able to ask the teacher some other questions. He was pretty impressive and I think a male teacher might be be good for Carter.

We still were on the fence this past weekend. Monday rolled around and it was decision time, as I told the principal I would let her know before their Kind. screening at St. Joan's, which was today. I had one more conversation with a friend that I really admire at church, who has been in our spot before. Jer and I then talked about it that afternoon one final time and decided we'd like to send him to St. Joan's.

So, off to Kindergarten screening again today. All went well and he got to meet his teacher and was really excited. I'm nervous but feel good about the decision and hope that he'll be in a positive learning environment while strengthening his faith. No looking back. Decision made...finally! One piece of advice we rec'd again and again was no matter where we send him, it's up to us as his parents to teach him his faith. This sort of takes the pressure off where to send him. If for some reason, it doesn't work out, I know Chagrin would be great too. But for now, we have Christmas concerts, uniforms and prayer throughout the day to look forward to, in addition to learning to read and write! :-)

Go!!

Carter's class is beginning to read! Crazy that he's only in pre-school, but he's in with the old fives. These are the kids that maybe could have gone to Kindergarten this year (summer/fall bdays) or just miss the deadline, so the teacher introduces some Kindergarten stuff.

His teacher sent home a list of sight words and asked us to start practicing and continue throughout the summer. So, we looked over the list and Carter knew the word "go"!!!! I was so excited for him. There's something really amazing about your kid learning to read. I probably should settle down...it's just one word, just two letters nonetheless. Still exciting though. I wonder what his first book will be.

Brooks - 3 Months!

On April 24th, Brooks turned 3 months old. He had a cold at the time and still has a bit of a cough, but is recovering. He's been doing great otherwise. He rolled over a few times from his tummy to his back, but needed me to help put his arm up first. The big news...he sucks his fingers just like Leah. We can't believe it. I really tried hard this time to push the pacifier, just so we could eventually take it away. At first, he took it, but as soon as he could figure out how to get his hand to his mouth, he started sucking his fingers, the middle two. It's really adorable, but I'm sure we'll still be battling it when he's 4! Must be some genetic thing, 3 out of 4 kids. :- )

His eyes are still blue and his hair gets crazier every day. I'm thinking about cutting it, at least trimming around the ears. The mowhawk doesn't bother me so much. Brooks smiles and cooes a lot now. He also started to laugh a bit. He loves when the other kids talk to him. Leah is the one that is most interested in playing with him and often lays with him under the play gym. Or, she'll bring him 50 toys and surround his entire body with things "for Brooks to play with", even though he just lays there and bats at things. Leah talks and sings to him anytime she can. Carter told me the other day that Brooks will probably like trucks too, just like he and Elliot. And, since Elliot is starting to talk more, he likes to point out his body parts. I'm constantly blocking Brooks' face so he doesn't lose an eye.

I love this picture. I just want to tickle his little armpit!

Easter Break

We spent the week before Easter in South Carolina with my side of the family. My parents have been building a house near my brother Mike, so it was our first visit since it's been done. We had a great time visiting with everyone. The kids loved playing together and getting to see their "big" cousins, as they call Mike's kids. Mikey is now 15 and driving, which seems crazy! He should have his official license in November. It was sort of a hectic time since there were still some final details that had to be done to the house. We stayed busy. One day, we went on a 3 mile hike with all the kids. It was hot! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera that day. There were some beautiful views from up in the mountains.

My uncle also lives down there and his neighbor has a carpentry workshop in his barn. It kind of reminds me of Norm Abram. Amazing work! Anyhow, he built my brother a table for his large family. It is so beautiful and such a special addition to their home. They'll be able to enjoy meals together for years to come! They spent one morning sanding and staining it.

Here's my Uncle Mark, taking the kids for a ride.
Uncle Matt with Maren.
You can see the bottom of the table in the background.
Here's Carter, pretending to drive the four wheeler with Keira.
Carter, teeing off
We spent the day at Hollywild, a local petting zoo. The kids saw a black panther, bears, lions, farm animals, a rino and more. It was such a great park, low key but with lots to see and do.
Mike, with Jake and Tommy
We took the Safari ride, where the kids could feed the animals off the side of the bus or right their hand, depending on the animal.
Their tongues were so gross!!

Carter, taking the rope swing, at my brother's house.
Here are Leah and Hannah on the other swing. They spent hours doing this together. It was so cute! They were total buddies, only a week apart in age.
Jeremy and Brooks - nap time after golf.
Brooks and I.
One night, we went out on the golf course and played around a bit with the kids.
Here's Elliot, filthy as usual, after a full day of playing in the dirt!

Dad, teaching Leah


Keira, Leah and Madeleine playing dress up with some blankets.
Here's the whole family, just before we loaded up to head back to Ohio. Everyone else stayed for Easter, but Jer had to work on Monday and the kids had school so we ventured back and spent Easter Sunday with Jeremy's family.

Here are all the grandkids in the stairwell.

As soon we left, Jer says to me, "What can we do to Mike and Kel's house on our way out of town?" in his true prankster form. Mike was having some drainage put in around his driveway so there were a bunch of pipes stacked along one side. So, we swung through and rearranged things a bit. Jeremy then hung a bunch of toys in their trees. In the meantime, the kids were sitting in the car wondering what in the world we were doing. I'm sure we'll be getting a call someday when they're in high school after they've tee-pee'd someone's yard!

When Mike later tried to call us, instead of answering, I just sent him a text with a picture of Jeremy standing in the driveway. All in good fun. It was a great trip and we're hoping to get back down there soon!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Egg Decorating

Thursday night, before we left town, Jeremy's whole family came over to decorate eggs. I had hard-boiled an 18 pack earlier that day and everyone else brought eggs over too. G-ma made homemade wagon wheel mac-n-cheese which the kids devoured. Then, we set up the eggs and let them go to town!

About halfway through, one of the eggs got cracked open and it wasn't hardboiled!! I then looked around and realized that someone pulled out the wrong 18 pack from the fridge. That's what I get for not marking them!! So, we spun each egg to try and figure out which ones were hardboiled. We only found 8 of 18 and just put all the eggs in the fridge. So, it makes cooking for the next week or so sort of interesting.