Little Sluggers

This spring has been our first adventure into the world of sports.  Of course, with four boys, it was inevitable that this time would come. Jonas is playing Tee-Ball and Carson is playing Rookie (coach pitch). What's more entertaining than watching 5 & 6 year olds play baseball?  Try watching 3 & 4 year olds!  It is so dang cute to watch them play!  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at both Carson and Jonas' games last Saturday.

Boys' Bathroom Redo (Phase 1)

I know I mentioned a few posts ago that our next home improvement project was going to be board and batten in the dining room.  I lied.  Well, I didn't mean to lie, but one thing led to another and I ended up redoing the boys' bathroom. It all started when the night light burned out in Carson and Jonas' room. Carson woke up terrified of the dark, and did what any resourceful little boy would do: went into the bathroom, grabbed the Scentsy plug-in warmer (which was turned on and full of hot wax) and took it to his room and plugged it in.  I had no idea what he'd done until the next morning when Jonas came running out of the bathroom yelling, "Mom!  Carson got blood all over the bathroom!"  I ran in to see red wax all over (and was very thankful that it wasn't really blood!). The wax came off of everything easily, except for the paint.  It just kept peeling it up no matter what I did, even running a blow dryer on it to re-melt it didn't work.

I didn't have any brown paint left over to touch it up.   When I first painted the bathroom, I had used the left over paint from an accent wall that I had done in my kitchen. It was one of those, "Hey I have some extra paint so I'm gonna stay up late one night and paint the bathroom" kind of things. I know that a little bit of peeling paint probably wouldn't bug some of you, but I couldn't let it rest. And to be honest, the brown paint made the bathroom look waaaaay too dark. So, because I am a "ready, shoot, aim" kind of person (as my husband so kindly tells me) I went down stairs, grabbed some aqua paint samples (that I had left over from the nursery), and painted streaks all over the bathroom.

Then I went to Home Depot (with all four kids in tow) and broke one of my own painting rules: I grabbed a paint sample card and went with it. I didn't like any of the shades of aqua I had tried and just wanted to get the painting done (because, you know, it had already been three days and I have the patience of a two year old when it comes to projects like this).  Well, this time around, it was a success and I picked a color that I love, love, love (Almost Aqua by Glidden)! These pictures do NOT do it justice.  It is gorgeous. You need to see it in person.

As you can tell, new paint meant a new shower curtain and a new shelf for the towels.  And new towels. Jeff laughs at my sign above the toilet...he says it has a double meaning for little boys who don't aim the greatest when using the potty...I think it encourages creativity :). If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have seen that I pinned a picture of a shelf like this a few weeks ago. Since Jeff was home for a week, he made me one, mostly out of wood we already had. We were able to paint it with left over trim paint our builder had left in our basement. It ended up being a pretty cheap alternative to the nasty towel bar that was there before.

A few years ago, I read in a parenting magazine about assigning each child a certain color of bath towel.  That way you would always know who had left a towel out and who was in charge of putting it away.  I'd been wanting to do this ever since, and was telling my mom about it.  She surprised me and sent some new towels the other day.  I was so excited! Thanks Mom! Now I just need to invest in a second set so we can rotate them while the dirty ones are in the laundry.

So the bathroom is almost done.  Phase 2 will include framing out the mirror and making a t-shirt rug  (both Pinterest ideas)...and crown molding to cover my nasty paint lines at the ceiling. Phase 3 will include taking out the vinyl flooring, installing tile, and getting new baseboards. Maybe if we get really ambitious we'll get a new light fixture. I have no idea when this will get done, because at our house we like to start projects and only finish them about 90% :). I have no idea why this is.  It may be that I am a bit too over zealous in home imporvement projects...I still have some things to finish up in the nursery, and Jeff needs to finish the closet shelving in the big boys' room. One thing at a time...

Joyful Moments

I'll be the first to admit that some days are crazy around here.  I'm talking three kids three and under kind of crazy.  The two year old and three year old are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies.  The baby is, well, a typical Birch baby and teething at three months.  And the six year old is the poor forgotten oldest child (we do love you tons, Carson!).  There are some times when I feel frazzled and like I'm living in survival mode.  Like when the baby is screaming because its time to nurse, but the three year old is also yelling at me to come help him wipe his bottom because he's done using the potty, while at the same time the two year old is bolting out the back door to go play in the sand box.  And all of this is happening while I'm trying to carry on a conversation with my mother on the phone. Seriously, it happens every time I call her.

I get it.  Its the refiner's fire of motherhood.  And while some days are utter chaos, I made a choice to stay home.  Sometimes I think stay at home moms are looked down upon because we don't contribute actual money to the family.  If you've ever been a stay at home mom, you know that you have a 24/7 job, with no vacation time and no sick days.

I'll always remember a conversation I had with my cooperating teacher shortly before I finished my Student Teaching.  At the time I was pregnant with Jonas, and she asked me if I was going to get a teaching job.  I told her that I'd made the decision to stay home with my children while they were young.  I'll never forget the look in her eye as she told me with all sincerity, "I truly hope you are able to do that.  You will have the rest of your life to work, but you will never get those precious years with your children back." It meant all the more, coming from a woman who, due to financial struggles, had to leave her children to supplement the family income.

So while I may not earn an actual paycheck, the payoffs I get are the joyful moments I enjoy with my little men. Moments I would miss out on if I chose to go back to work. Moments such as:

...getting Carson ready for school in the morning and sharing a quick prayer together before he heads out to the school bus...

 ... the few hours in the morning when I do Preschool with Jonas and Mason.  The joy they get from learning letters, singing songs, and doing the activities I have planned makes all the late nights of printing things off and organizing materials worth it...

...watching Jonas and Mason play with each other for hours in the sand box or racing each other down the hill on the wiggle cars...

...snuggling with Porter as I watch him slowly fall asleep for his nap...

 ... that sweet time between 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock, when the baby is sleeping and I snuggle with Jonas and Mason in the recliner and we read stories and sing songs until Mason falls asleep...

...hearing Porter's giggles when he wakes up from his nap and is so excited about the world...

...the precious time when Carson gets home from school and we all give him hugs and tell him how much we missed him...

..the joy of watching Carson and Jonas at baseball practice as they try to master new skills.

I love my boys.  And I love that I am privileged enough to be at home with them.

Indirect Inguinal Hernia Repair

On Friday, Jeff had his hernia repair surgery. In our almost 8 years of marriage, this is the first time that he has had to have any sort of procedure done. After him helping me through four c-sections, its now been my turn to be the "nurse". He had a little bit of trouble waking up from the anesthesia, and said he woke up to the nurses trying to shake him awake.  When they allowed me to come back and see him, he looked confused and grumpy. Jeff naturally has a low resting heart rate (they said it was at 51 before they took him into surgery) and as he was coming out of the anesthesia it kept dropping down into the 30's and setting off the alarms.  I was a little worried about it, but the nurse assured me that for him it wasn't a bad thing because his heart rate is always low. In fact, he is often asked if he is a runner. Needless to say, he was quite out of it and when it was time to get dressed and go home, he got up and tried to dress like normal without me helping him.  When I was helping him get dressed the next day, he said he didn't even remember getting dressed to go home and that he had tried to do it all by himself.

Its been nice to have him home.  In fact he will be off work all week.  The last time we had so much time together was when he was laid off right before we moved to Utah. It kind of feels the same as being unemployed, because we will be pinching our pennies and going a week without a paycheck.  Jeff is only allowed to accrue one week of vacation time and he had used most of it up when Porter was born and the rest was used in going to doctor appointments the past few months. Its times like these when I'm thankful we have a little bit of money stashed away.  And food storage. And health insurance.  What a blessing! I know that somehow things will all work out. They always do and I know its because we pay our tithing. There have been several times over the past few years where we've been put in situations where we had to rely wholly upon the Lord to bless us for paying our tithing.  Things just fall into place. They always do.  And I'm trusting that they will again this time.

3 Month Comparison

 I was looking through old photos tonight and couldn't help but compare how all my boys looked like at three months.  I wish I had a picture of all of them in the same outfit, but the green and blue striped jumper was something that I bought for Jonas and has been passed down since then.  When Porter was first born, I thought he looked like Jonas.  I definitely think he looks a lot like Carson now. Sometimes when I look at Porter, the only difference I can see between him and Carson are their eye color (Porter is our only brown eyed chld).  Jeff and I have talked about how our first few children's looks were compared to us.  Everyone said Carson looked like me and that Jonas looked like Jeff.  Now people (and us) compare Mason and Porter to how their brothers look.

Easter Pictures

Do you know how hard it is to pose four boys for their annual Easter photo?

Especially when you are already running late for church (seriously, how does that happen when you have 1 o'clock church?).

But it sure is worth the effort because these guys are just too darn cute.

Wiggle Car Crash

When Porter went down for his nap this morning, I grabbed the baby monitor and the two little boys and headed outside. Jonas and Mason needed to burn off some energy and I was ready to tackle the weeds in my planting bed.  The first thing the boys went for were the wiggle car and a trike to ride down the sidewalk on.  I snapped some helmets on them and let them at it.  I had just gotten all of my gardening tools rounded up and was digging into the dirt, when I saw Jonas fly past Mason. His trike clipped the wheel of Mason's wiggle car and sent Mason rolling off onto the sidewalk.  My first thought was, "Thank Heavens I put a helmet on that boy!" He immediately started screaming and as he got up, I could see blood all over his face.  I ran over to him and took him into the bathroom.  After soaking a towel in blood (and getting some on my white shirt), I was finally able to see what had happened.

I wasn't sure what to do, and ended up calling the Pediatrician's office. They told me that unless his tongue was hanging on by a thread there was nothing to do except feed him Popsicles and give him Tylenol. Try telling a hungry two year old that he can't eat food for awhile. It doesn't work.  Poor boy kept trying to eat and then would scream out in pain.  Here's to hoping that tomorrow is less eventful and that he will start feeling better!

A Major Surprise

Its no small secret that Carson is obsessed with the Army.  Whenever he has a writing assignment in school, it usually looks about like this:

So you can imagine his absolute excitement, when a real Army Major showed up on our doorstep today!   

My Aunt Val arranged to have her brother in law come over to see the boys. It was a dream come true for Carson! I think he was a little (ok, maybe A LOT) in awe and was very quiet, so I had to prompt him to ask questions.  They talked about tanks, finding "bad guys", and things Carson needed to do to get ready to join the Army. And, of course, Carson had to show him all of his toy soldiers!

 
The boys were even lucky enough to get these bags full of goodies.

Carson had a smile on his face the rest of the day and kept saying over and over again: "This is the best day of my life! A real Army guy came to see me! And he was a Major!"

Jonas wore his backpack the rest of the day and kept saying, "I'm like the big Army guy!"

What a special day for my little guys! We are so thankful for such a neat experience for our boys. A big thank you to my wonderful Aunt for arranging everything!