So Far...

This is the first time I've officially written a post about being pregnant again (for real this time, no April Fools!), but I thought it was time to catch everyone up to speed on what's been going on. I'm 10 weeks today and I have been so much sicker with this pregnancy than with my previous 3. Some would claim that means I'm having a girl this time, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Not that I wouldn't love to have a girl, but, you know, I'm 0 for 3 in that department, so another boy would be just fine at this point. :o) Anyway, last week I went for an ultrasound at this little medical clinic near my house. I can get ultrasounds here for less than $10, so I thought it was worth going to hear the heartbeat and making sure everything seemed normal. Originally, I wasn't even planning to see a doctor for any prenatal stuff because I'll be in the States by the time I'm 15 weeks along. I didn't see a doctor until at least 7 months along with the others, so why go now? ;o) Anyway, the ultrasounds have always been a good check-up for me, especially since they're so cheap. So, Daddy and I go, and the technician and nurse are talking to each other in the local language (which we don't speak very well at all), but basically not really telling us anything because they don't speak any English. This is a normal experience for us, so we didn't think anything of it. We were glad to only see one little baby in there, and to hear his/her heartbeat. Being the 4th baby, we kind of know how to look at ultrasounds. :o) After it's over they take us back downstairs to the front desk where they whisper something to the girl at the desk who speaks "some" English. She proceeds to tell us, "There is a problem. Your womb is too tight and you may lose the baby. You should see your doctor as soon as possible." That was all she could say, basically, so that's the information we left with. Oh my. Needless to say, we were a little disconcerted at this news. So we went home and Daddy started to translate the ultrasound report (using Google translator) to see exactly what the problem was. Local medical professionals here tend to overreact or exaggerate about things at times, so we weren't totally freaked out, but we did want to find out what was going on. Once we had the translation, we found out that I have a blood clot on my placenta, which does happen to some women. It often works itself out by the 20th week. However, it does mean that I have had some internal bleeding for some reason. We've contacted my midwife as well as an American doctor here and they both told me that the best thing I can do at this point is just rest and take it easy as much as possible. I've had to quit exercising and I can't lift anything heavy. This unfortunately means that I can't pick up Micah who is currently pushing 30 lbs at 17 months old. That has been difficult, to say the least, but we're doing our best with it. Getting him to climb up on stools to get into his bed is the hardest thing. And when I just need him to do something, I basically have to talk him into it because I can't just pick him and take him where I want him to go. Okay, maybe that's the hardest thing. I've tried to spend a lot of time just sitting near him on the floor so I can hold him and be close to him, so I don't think he feels stranded or anything like that. In fact, he'll walk up to me and pat the floor and say "down" so I'll come down to him now. Very cute. I have been trying to rest as much as I can in this household. :o) I'm usually able to take a little nap/rest in the mornings after Micah goes down for his nap while Joshua and Luke play together. They can "usually" last for about 30 minutes without needing direct supervision. I rest on the couch so I can hear them in the kitchen. Then in the afternoons I get 30 minutes to an hour long nap when Luke and Micah are both down for their rest times and Joshua is playing his computer learning games. Sometimes I have to lay down for another 10-15 minutes in the evenings just from being worn out by the day. But, all of that to say, I think I'm getting my rest in, so I feel good about that. Now if I could just stop feeling queasy, then this would all be so much easier to handle. I'm pretty much eating ALL day long, but I'm still almost constantly queasy. Most of the time I can keep going with my day, but it does cause me to have to lay down from time to time, which is frustrating when I need to be doing something else. However, I'm just thankful for this little one growing inside me right now. If I have to put up with queasiness and resting all day long, then he/she is worth it. I might forget that from time to time, but ultimately the Lord brings my perspective back to the right place eventually. Please keep praying that the baby and I will be healthy and that this blood clot will clear up quickly. I'm due for another ultrasound in 3 weeks to monitor it. As time gets closer to our departure (at the end of January), it will be harder and harder to rest as we're packing up our whole house. I'm going to do my best!

The Twirling of the Hair

All 3 of my boys twirl their hair in some form or fashion. I've only recently discovered Micah doing it, confirming that he is indeed a Wideman boy. Joshua runs his fingers around the swirl on the top of his head. He used to play with the front of his hair as well, but he doesn't really do that anymore. Luke plays with the back of his hair and it's only in conjunction with sucking his thumb. He only plays with his hair when he's sucking his thumb and he cannot suck his thumb without playing with his hair. What's funny about him is that he can also play with someone else's hair while he is sucking his thumb. It doesn't really matter who it is, his parents, his brother, or a friend. If someone is sitting next to him reading him a book, they can't count on a small head massage from Luke. And finally, the other day when I was singing Micah his last song before his nap, I noticed that he, too, was playing with the back of his hair. It was really cute. I know that I say everything that he does is cute, but you would say the same thing if you could see him for yourself. :o) Anyway, all 3 of the boys only do the hair twirl when they're tired (well, that is, except for Luke who always does it when sucking his thumb). If they were girls, their hair would be in knots when they wake up in the mornings! Here is a picture of J&L that I caught one morning with both of them playing with their hair (I made Luke take his thumb out for the picture). They're so funny sometimes!

Addendum to My Last Post

So, I wrote lots of cute things about the Mikage (a nickname) the other day, but later that day I thought of several things that I should have included in that post about him. So, here they are...

Micah does this adorable little "food dance" when he thinks he's about to get something to eat that he really wants. He will dance at other times if hears music, but this is a special dance reserved only for the prospect of yummy foods. It's usually when he's in his high chair (since that's where he eats), and he just sort of rocks back and forth really fast while kicking his legs 90 to nothing. It's hard to describe, but really funny to watch. I might ask him if he wants a cookie, and instead of nodding or saying "yes" (which he normally does both of those things) he will do the dance in giddy anticipation of said cookie. Wish you could see it!

I mentioned that he's talking more and more these days. One of the cute things he does is repeat the last word of whatever song that I'm singing. I almost always sing a little song to him before I put him down for sleeping. Lately almost every time I finish the song, he will sing the last word after me. It's so precious. He's also asking (at least I think this is what he's doing) how to say things. He points to something and says "that" in a a questioning way. He says "that" a lot in reference to anything and everything that he doesn't yet know how to say. It's kind of like the word "smurf" for him.

And lastly, he is reaching for everything these days. Nothing on the kitchen cabinet or table is safe anymore. At least he hasn't started climbing up on the stools to grab things, though I'm sure that's only a matter of time. The other day I was at the kitchen sink and turned to discover him holding the bowl of honey without the lid on it. Thankfully there wasn't much honey left in it, so it didn't make a big mess. But he's come very close to turning things over and spilling things on the floor. I suppose it's only my fault when I leave things too close to the edge. I still remember when Joshua was this age and he brought me a big knife that he had pulled from the sink of dirty dishes. I was sick! But I was grateful that he hadn't hurt himself. Another time he brought me a glass mug with water in it that had been sitting on the table. He hadn't even spilled it! Hopefully Micah won't have these opportunities. :o) We just have to be more careful now that's he bigger!

17 Months Update

For all the fans, I thought I'd give a little update on what Micah is doing now. His cuteness factor has only increased since the last time I wrote about him. He can say most words now and repeats a lot of what he hears. We may be the only ones who really understand what he's saying, but he's communicating nonetheless. He will ask for his "wawer" when he's thirsty (that's water). The other day in the middle of breakfast he refused his yogurt and said "tootie" to me, meaning he wanted to eat a cookie right then. He didn't get the cookie, but it was cute when he tried. Recently he's started saying his version for the word cucumber because he knows I'll give some to him before it's actually time to eat, "tumber!" He also likes to ask for "apa" which is apple. He loves looking at "bopes" (books) and will ask for them. His two most favorite recent words are "Wook" and "Josh-a". If he can't see his brothers, he is looking for them. Sometimes he'll stand in the hall and yell their names trying to figure out where they are, "Woo-ook". I wish you could hear him!

Other than talking up a storm, he's just a very playful little fella. As long as he's well-fed, he's pretty happy. And I do mean well-fed. He can eat so much if it's something he likes. There are times he eats more than his brothers. Speaking of which he currently weighs 28 lbs. I wouldn't say he's chubby at all, just solid. He's beginning to outgrow some of his 18 month clothing already. In unfortunate news, I think he's ready to move to one nap a day. This is kind of really bad timing for me as we're getting ready to start packing up our house and I really need him to take 2 naps. :o( He's just all over the place when he's up. He will sit at the table doing activities like stacking and sorting for a little while. But he doesn't last long doing that if I'm not right there. He does want to be helpful, he'll take off to do things you ask him to do like throw something away, or wake up a brother, or put something in his room. We'll see what happens with the nap situation. Maybe I can just cut them short and still get two out of him for a little while. If we can just make it through the next two months...

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Currently if he sees a camera, he just puts this big grin on his face that's really adorable. And he loves wearing hats! I can't wait for many of you to meet him in person!

Another School Update

We've done a lot of fun things in our homeschool lately. I thought I should post some pictures of our fun times!


Recently we studied rocks, so this is the boys painting a rainbow rock garden.


We did 4 weeks of wild animals. Penguins was one week. So I drew (at least attempted to draw) 3 different penguins as their actual height. The Emperor penguin is actually 4 feet tall! I learn so much when I'm teaching them.

Micah wanted to measure himself against the life-size penguins also (since that's what big brothers did). He is about the same height as a chin-strap penguin.

One week was about elephants, so we made these ears and trunks. The boys really liked these! We also watched some great footage on Planet Earth of elephants. Yay for Planet Earth!

The boys put on the pilgrim hats (thanks Grandmother!) and we made a feather headdress for Daddy so he could pretend he was Squanto. They had a fun time acting out the story of the pilgrims.

This picture is not actually school related, but I included it so you could see Micah's cheese face. He's totally into getting his picture made these days. So cute. I'm hoping to post a cuteness update soon!

Pumpkin Pancakes

We decided last year to begin a new tradition of eating pumpkin pancakes for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. So we've been building it up for weeks now, how yummy they were going to be, how unique they are, etc. Thanksgiving morning, I'm slaving away in the kitchen making these yummy pancakes when Daddy walks in and tastes one. He looks at me and says, "Have you tasted these?" A horrified look crosses my face, what have I done?! Luke comes in and sneaks a taste of one and his face screws up into an ewww-yucky-kind of-face. Now I'm almost in tears. I taste one, hoping they're exaggerating, only to realize that somehow I've ruined our Thanksgiving morning special breakfast. :o( Daddy suggests that we try to eat them anyway, maybe the boys won't really notice. Of course, Luke had already noticed. We sit down at our lovely decorated table with cute little Thanksgiving plates. Joshua starts tearing into the pancakes. Finally, he says, "Usually I like pumpkin pancakes, but when I swallow, I don't like these very much." In the end, I had to confess to the boys that I had messed up breakfast and maybe we could try again the right way the next morning. We threw the rest of the pancakes away.

It was the vinegar. It calls for 2T of vinegar. When I was pouring it into the measuring spoon, I spilled a little. So I just figured that maybe I had spilled more than I realized. The thing is, the vinegar taste was SO strong in the pancakes that I couldn't figure out how I possibly could have spilled that much. The more we pondered (and tasted) the problem, the more we tried to figure it out. Later Daddy had to run outside to get some eggs for me at the little store in our apartment complex. He noticed the vinegar that he had bought for me the day before (which I had used that morning) and saw that it said 70% proof. When he got home, he checked out what we were using before he had bought this new stuff. It was 6% proof! No wonder my pancakes were awful! The vinegar I used was more than 10 times as strong as normal vinegar! Just another adventure of living overseas and not really being able to read food labels. Later that day we bought a new bottle of "normal" vinegar and I made the pancakes again the next morning. They were very yummy! And I was able to redeem myself in my children's eyes. :o)

Joshua-isms

It's hard to limit this to one post, but I've been collecting some of Joshua's cute sayings/conversations for a while now. For those of you who we will spend time with in the U.S. next year, this is just to whet your appetite for conversing with a 5 year old who talks like a 25 year old. :o)

* One day I showed him this page of 6-8 squares that I wanted him to cut out (still practicing his cutting skills). And he said to me, "Aaaaw, Mom, I only wanted to cut out 8 less than 10 pictures today." (That's two in normal language.)

* A different time Joshua came up and hugged me as he commented on my pretty blue sweater. "It feels just like llama wool, Mom!" He learned about llamas on one of his computer games and has ever since talked about llama wool quite a bit.

* "Mom, I think I'm just going to drink milk and eat vegetables forever so I can not ever get sick again. That will keep me healthy because those are healthy foods." ("Healthy foods" learned from Sesame Street)

* When trying to remember where his Exodus memory verse was found, he asked if "Excolonians" was the name of the book. :o) I had a hard time not laughing when he said that.

* After getting out our fall decorations, Joshua spied the orange plastic pumpkin candy dish. Remembering that we had candy corn in it last year, he asked if we could put some of the "triangle candies with 3 colors" in it again. We told him we didn't have any candy corn.
"Well, where can you get it?"
"You can get it in America."
"But that's on the other side of the world!"
Sorry, Joshua, no candy corn this year. :o)

* One day Joshua and Luke were picking up the 50 puzzles they had all over the kitchen floor so that we could get lunch ready. Well, Luke was picking them up, but Joshua was just kind of just sitting there. In trying to encourage Luke for doing the right thing (as well as try to get Joshua going at it too), I was praising Luke. So I said, "Luke, you're just going to town!" Since they didn't really know what that meant, I had to explain it to them. Then Joshua says, "Yeah, Luke, you are going to town. But I'm not going to town because I'm too tired." The two of them proceeded to have quite a lengthy conversation about who was going to town and who was not.

* Earlier this week I kept hearing something banging in the washing machine. I was afraid it might be broken until I realized that there were 2 toys in there being washed with the clothes. One was a toy phone that was turned on, so the lights and music were going off the whole time (though we couldn't really hear the music because my washer sounds like a rocket is taking off). Anyway, the washer is a front loader and you cannot stop it until the entire wash cycle is finished and it stops on it's own. Even if you turn it off, you can't get the door open. So we just had to let the toys get washed. When I took them out of the washer to inspect and see if they still worked, Joshua says to me, "Well, I guess we'll just have to sell them for junk now." I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff.

* When eating a new kind of lemon cookie the other day, I asked Joshua if it tasted like lemon or not. His thoughtful reply, "Hmmm, I think it tastes like banana, lemon, and lime all mixed together. It's quite delicious!" Thank you, Joshua, for your cookie commentary.

I'm sure there's more and I KNOW there will be more in the future. But these are just a few that have come up recently. That Joshua - he is something else!

The Home Stretch

Well, Daddy has been gone on his trip for 8 days now. Counting today we have 3 days left before we can see him again! He will arrive in the middle of the night Sunday night/Monday morning, and we can't wait! I must say that my boys have done remarkably well for only having one parent around, particularly the not-fun parent. :o) We had one day-from-the-pit where they got in trouble for everything and I had little to no patience for anything - not a good combination. But most days have been pretty good. I've really been impressed with how Joshua has stepped up on several occasions to help me. Daddy had a talk with him about how he was the biggest boy in the house when Daddy was gone and how he really needed to help Mommy. Joshua has mentioned it several times, so I know he's thought about it. He has had his moments off and on, but this week Joshua has really shown more maturity than I thought was there. It's been a delight. And I can even tell at times when Luke is following his lead. Luke has been more challenging this week, but he is 3 (which naturally explains it all). I've been so grateful that we've all been healthy (except for Micah's runny nose) and safe so far. There were several projects that I'd hope to get done while Daddy was away, but I've pretty much stuck to surviving and haven't really worked on much extra. Oh well, it'll all get done someday. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us this week. We are so thankful for you!

Cha-os

Having multiple children proves to be rather chaotic at times (okay, pretty much ALL the time with my kids, but sometimes more than others). See, each child has a mind of his own and each child has something to say that MUST be heard. Let's take this morning at breakfast, for example. We were just finishing asking the blessing on our food, everything is ready to eat, Daddy has just said "Amen". Then the noise and chaos ensue. Micah has gotten into the habit of yelling, "Aaaaaaaaaaa-men" after we pray. He holds the first syllable out so long that you think he's just yelling to make noise, but he always adds the "men" to the end of it. It's really funny, even if a bit loud. So, Micah is doing that, while Luke immediately starts asking for help with pouring the milk. This also is not unusual, but Luke asks in his own special 3-year-old way by stuttering a little and repeating words until he gets what he needs. And at the same time as all this, Joshua is telling Daddy all about how the South Americans grow potatoes in the mountains, and they also grow corn, which is good because he likes both corn and potatoes. I'm so not kidding, either. So, Daddy looks at me and I look at him and all we can do is laugh through the chaos. The nice thing is that it was only for about a minute until we could start getting food into all of them, then the table quieted down a little. :o)

Trying to get out the door with the entire family is also a rather chaotic time, but that deserves its own post. Hopefully some other time... Until then I'll leave you with a few pictures...

Sighing

There are two moments in the day when I sigh that deep sigh of relief mixed with exhaustion... The first moment comes around 3:30 in the afternoon when I'm just about to lay down to rest/nap. I've been going hard all morning, preparing 2 meals (simple though they are), cleaning up after those meals, teaching Kindergarten, protecting Micah from imminent danger (i.e. his older brothers), breaking up spats, training my boys in the way they should go, doing special Luke-school time, sometimes preparing things for supper, etc., etc. You get the picture. Then around 3:00, it's time for Micah's afternoon nap. After he goes down, it's time for Luke's "rest time". Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he just looks at books in his bed. I get Joshua settled playing his computer learning games so that I can finally get to that wonderful moment. I go to my room, close the door, set my alarm for about 20 minutes, snuggle under the covers, put on my headphones playing lovely piano music, and the sigh inevitably escapes my lips. It's only 20-30 minutes of peace and quiet (well, most of the time), but it is a beautiful part of my day. And it helps me get geared up for everything else that comes after it. Now, to be honest, even when I do get a good nap in, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm #1 mommy all evening. In fact, there are often days when I can't wait for Daddy to get home from work so he can take over things with the boys, particularly training responsibilities. You know, there are some days when patience seems to abound, and there are days when it's not so much. But I digress... The 2nd sighing moment happens around 8:45 or 9:00 when we've finished family devotions and the boys are all down in their beds. Daddy comes back into the room and we just look at each other like, "Wow, I'm exhausted, how about you?" Raising 3 little ones will always generate such a response, trust me. By this time of the day it's really hard to be motivated to get anything else done that day. Unfortunately it's about the only time we can get any tasks done, so we press on. That is, on the days when we can push ourselves to do anything. :o) There are the evenings when we just watch Cosby Show episodes (we own all 8 seasons), then go to bed. All in a day's work of being a mommy, I guess... I wouldn't trade it for anything else in all the world!

The Progression of a Name

When we chose the name for our 2nd born, it did not occur to us how hard it would be for him to say his own name correctly. Of course, this shouldn't be a problem after 3 years old, so it's really not that big of a deal. But since Luke is only just now 3, he's still learning how to say it right. :o) For a long time he introduced himself as "Woot". Then eventually he was able to pronounce the "k" sound so it turned into "Wook". Just in the last few days we've been really working with him to pronounce his "l" sound, which until now, has proven very difficult for him. Now, today, however, he's all about the "l" sound (when he's trying and thinking about it). So he can actually say "Luke" - Yay! Since this is such an accomplishment for him, and he's quite proud of himself, he goes around saying every word he can think of that starts with "l". "Luke loves lions and leopards." Last night when saying his verses after supper, he kept saying "The Lord is my leopard..." (as opposed to shepherd, that is). Anything to show off his new skill! I'm proud of my Luke!

Special Tummy Issues

WARNING: Um... when you have small children, talking about vomit is a normal thing. So if you don't really like to discuss things like that, you might not want to read this post. :o) I tried not to be too graphic...

My children seem to have their own style of stomach issues. Well, that is, in comparison to other little kids that I know. Maybe this is a normal thing with other kids (that I don't know) as well. Anyway, every once in a while one of the boys will wake up saying he's sick to his stomach. You know they're for real when they are all lethargic and can't get out of bed, since, you know, not much slows down a 3 and 5 year old. So, they lay around, eventually throw up, then they're fine for the rest of the day. There are variations on this. Sometimes they end up laying around for a few hours and throw up several times. But, almost always, by lunchtime they are fine and running around like nothing ever happened, even eating normally. Joshua did it Sunday before last. Woke up, laid around, fell back asleep, threw up once, then was fine for the rest of the day. Luke did it this past Friday morning, except he didn't really want to lay down, but couldn't help it. He threw up like 4 times because he kept saying he wanted to eat crackers. Then he was fine by 10:00 that morning and never showed a trace of sickness after that. Last night Micah wouldn't eat anything for supper, which is very strange for him. He wasn't acting sick; he just wouldn't eat. So I was waiting for it today. He was fine this morning and ate breakfast like normal. But at lunch he wouldn't eat again. He eventually threw up his water and little bit of food that he had eaten. After that he seemed perfectly fine. We'll see how he does at dinner tonight. This whole cycle is kind of normal for Joshua and Luke; it's not the first time they've done it. And they often seem to do it around the same time. I am thankful that they at least the whole thing doesn't drag on all day long. I wish I knew what caused it, though. Our close friends here (who have 3 kids the same ages as ours) recently dealt with almost 2 weeks of awful sickness that went through all the kids and the father. We thankfully didn't get that bug! The Lord is so gracious to us in taking care of our health, especially in a place where it's hard to get good medical care.

Our Daredevil

Yes, Luke has been at it again. On Saturday at the park, he was hanging from some monkey bar type things (not quite the same playground equipment here as in the States). He decided that he wanted to drop to the ground, so Daddy was right there ready to catch him. But he tells Daddy that he wants to fall by himself. Now, this is about a 6-7 foot fall, but Luke's pretty determined. So Daddy decides it can't hurt him that bad, right? Let him be brave! He falls. Boom. Crash. Skid. Screaming ensues. Thankfully there were no broken bones or teeth. Somehow he landed then hit the ground face first and slid a little bit in the dirt. It tore the little piece of skin on his gums just above his two front teeth so he had blood coming out of his mouth and nose. We are SO thankful that we didn't have to take him to the doctor here. There are American doctors who live here that we could have seen, at least. Where we lived before, that wasn't even an option. Anyway, he ended up with strawberries on his nose, upper lip, and chin. And, you know, the determining factor as to whether or not an owie is really serious is if there is blood. There was definitely blood. But we had him swish water in his mouth and spit it out, then tried to clean his face off a bit and he was off and playing again within 15 minutes. The funniest thing was when we got home and he saw his face in the mirror. He started counting his face owies and was like, "Mom, I have 1,2,3,4...5 owies!" Like he was proud of them. Just as long as he didn't break anything... Here's a commemorative picture of Luke sporting the face owies. This is actually the day after, so they look a little better than the first day. Crazy kid.

Little Boy Spirituality

I've been wanting to write a post about this for some time now as the boys come up with new things all the time. For starters, for some time now, one of Micah's favorite words has been "amen". He especially likes to say it when we are praying before we eat a meal. Of course, sometimes he's so hungry that he will start saying it while the person is still praying. It sounds kind of like, "aaaa-muh" - very cute. Sometimes when I sit down next to his chair he will say amen because he knows he doesn't get to eat until after we pray. He's a hungry boy pretty much all the time.

Now Luke seems to be more spiritually sensitive to things than the other two. Sometimes when we're praying, whether before a meal or during devotions or at house church, he will murmur, "Yes, Lord" or "hmmm-mmm, yes". It's so cute! The interesting thing is that he seems to do it at the proper time. He's not just making noise or mimicking others, he seems to be making his own comments on the prayer at hand. So sweet, really. Also, recently we were praying for the people of Indonesia because of an earthquake they experienced. Ever since the first night we mentioned it Luke has asked about the people of Indonesia and wanted to pray for them. His prayers are something like, "Lord, please, please, please make the earthquakes and mudslides in Indonesia stop and please help the people know Jesus there." Though Luke is my hyper one, he is also very tender-hearted.

Yesterday, I gave Joshua something and he asked me why I gave it to him. I explained that it was "grace" which is when you receive something you don't deserve. You know, you never know if your kids are listening to anything you say. But then last night I asked Joshua to put his toys away and go put his pajamas on. He politely asked if he could have a few more minutes and I told him 2 more minutes, but then he needed to put everything away. He ran over to me and said, "Thank you, Mommy. You gave me grace! I didn't deserve to play longer, but you let me! Thank you!" It was very sweet. Oh that I could always exhibit grace to them!

Finally, we have recently been stepping up the scripture memory in our home, so we've made some charts and have stars (you know, the colored foil stars we used in VBS growing up) and everything. The boys love the charts and they love getting stars next to their names. Anyway, both boys have started making up their own verses - it's so funny! Luke today said, "Mommy, my list says, 'Brothers should be kind to each other and work together to get the job done.'" (Yes, it's Bob the Builder that works together to get the job done.) Then he told me where it was found, Proverbs 20:3,4,8,9,24. Joshua then said his verse was, "Brothers and sisters should always help each other." Proverbs 52:20,8,9,34. At least their "verses" are good things for them to be doing! But the references are the funniest part. We'll keep working on learning actual proverbs along with other verses. :o) I love my boys!

Bolt

No, I'm not referring to the cute animated movie about the super-powered dog named "Bolt". My title is in reference to my youngest son anytime he sees me with a tissue in my hand coming after him. The poor little guy has had a faucet for a nose for quite some time now, and he's constantly in need of a nose wipe. He, however, doesn't really enjoy getting his nose wiped, so when he knows that's what's up, he's takes off and bolts the opposite direction. He also does this when he's taken hold of something he's not supposed to have and knows I want it back. He sees me coming, grins really big, and starts running away so I'll chase him, giggling all the way. If he wasn't so stinkin' cute when he's doing it... The picture below is him bolting.


In other Micah news, he's now 15 months old and is still the joy of the family. His brothers can't wait to see him every morning after they get up. Except for the persistent runny nose, he's as healthy as can be, weighing in around 23 lbs. He absolutely loves to pull his socks off and I can't keep them on him, even though it's getting colder and colder in our house. He thinks taking off his socks is really funny. He's also super chatty, saying more words every day. Joshua and Luke both love to try to get him to say things and find great personal accomplishment if Micah actually repeats after them. He was running around saying "Aargh!" like a pirate the other day, so the boys wanted him to wear the pirate hat and patch (see below). When the three of them are laughing together about something, there's not much greater joy for a mommy! Besides just trying to say and do more, Micah is beginning to express his opinion or desires when he can. If he wants something specific that he can't reach, he'll point to it and sign "more" or "please". If I ask him if wants the book, then he'll nod his head up and down in response. If I'm trying to give him another bite of food too soon, he'll be sure to shake his head "no" until he's ready. And there are certain books that he readily recognizes and wants read to him over and over again. "Chicka Chicka ABC" and "I Love You Through and Through" are two of his favorites right now. If you tell him to get one of them, he'll look through a pile of books until he's located the one you asked for. He actually likes to put on hats and wear them around for a little bit. Maybe he knows how cute he is... And for the finally bragging that I'm going to do about Micah, today he did his first push-up. Push-ups are a form of punishment for the 2 older boys, so since Micah sees them do them often, he decided that he should do some too! Aargh!

The Big Switch

Having 3 boys who were all born in the summer (i.e. same season of clothing), I have A LOT of boy clothes sorted into big bags under my bed. Being the anal, I mean organized, person that I am, all the clothes are sorted according to size and season and labeled accordingly. So that does make things somewhat easier to find when I need them. However, even with my organized system, it's still a pain to make the season switch for 3 boys. With the arrival of the recent cooler weather, I finally had to break down and get all the bags out and start figuring out who can fit into what this fall/winter. This also includes not only, trying on things, but also sorting through all the things that are currently in their dressers and packing them up properly. I had high hopes of getting it all done yesterday, but I only got Micah's clothes switched out. This whole process often involves a week or so of having these huge bags out in our room waiting for all the summer clothes (which may be in the dirty clothes hamper or drying on the line) to be packed away or, you know, just waiting for me to get all the winter clothes out and in their dressers. Even today, I had to dig clothes out of the bags for the big boys to wear instead of getting something from their dressers. Maybe I can get work on it this evening after Luke's rest time. Eventually, when I feel satisfied that everything is complete, Jeremy can help me get the bags back under the bed (which requires his muscles to lift the bed while I shove the bags under). It's always nice not to have stacks of boy clothing around our room waiting to be put in the right bag. :o)

Yesterday, when I was sorting through and trying to figure out who had and who needed coats, boots, mittens, etc., the boys had a hay-day trying on hats, gloves, and scarves and running around the house. They were all bundled up shouting, "Winter's almost here!" Luke was laying on the floor making a "snow angel". Even Micah wanted to put his hat on. It was really funny.

Even though the cooler weather is here, at least today was a lovely day. We had our normal house church time, then decided to go out to the park to play little bit. Even in the car, Joshua said, "It's such a lovely fall day!" He does have a way with words, that one. We had a fun time at the park; so glad we went! We usually go on Saturdays, but yesterday was really cloudy and cold and dreary. Today is blue sky and sunshine, though still a little nippy. Fall is my favorite time of year!

Announcement

Okay, so maybe that title is a little misleading. I don't personally have an announcement to make, I just wanted to tell another funny Joshua story. :o) We went to a fun cookout last night with some other Americans. Joshua and another kid were playing on scooters and having a grand old time. So Joshua proceeds to shout (very loudly, I might add) "Ladies and gentlemen..." Of course, everyone stops and turns around to see what the announcer has to say. But the announcer didn't really have an "important" announcement to make. He was just in his own little world. So he was like, "We will now start the scooter races!" And he takes off on his scooter, oblivious that the child on the other scooter doesn't have a clue that there is a scooter race. One of the adults there commented to me, "Your children totally crack me up!" I'm so glad that we can amuse others. Our children certainly amuse us!

School Stuff

I know I said I would put some pictures up of some of the fun things we've been doing in homeschool and just haven't gotten around to it yet. So, here goes! Several weeks ago we studied dinosaurs, which was a very fun unit. Here we made some fossils in play dough, then made a stegosaurus.

One night we made dinosaur cookies! Thanks to the cookie cutters that Grandmother sent us.

This was one of the coolest things we did; we made a stuffed dinosaur. The boys helped me stuff it with toilet paper, staple it shut, then paint it. Very fun. They were very proud of their hard work. We also went outside and measured how long the longest dinosaur was with string. It was 110 feet, so we were stretched out across our apartment complex courtyard!

The next week was "octopus" week, but we talked about all the ocean creatures as well. Here is an ocean mural that the boys made one day.

And here is just a bonus picture of Micah. :o) Go Patriots!

Dino Dance

We just finished "dinosaur" week and I'm hopefully going to post pictures about the fun things we did. But for now, I am compelled to try to my best to convey a very funny incident that took place on Saturday... According to our recent family tradition, we were at the park on this lovely Saturday morning. This park has quite a few big statues that the boys like to run around and play "hide-and-seek" on. So they were playing away when this cute little chunky local boy comes up and tried to start playing with them. The 3 boys ran around and around the statue laughing and playing for a while. Now keep in mind that this little boy didn't speak English and my boys don't really speak the local language so they were playing without really talking to each other. Normal for us. Well, then the little boy started putting his hands up and growling like he was an animal and was chasing my boys. He seemed to have quite the imagination as he played and wasn't being mean or anything; he was just playing. But Joshua and Luke both ran over to me and said they were scared of the the little boy because he was a "T-Rex". I told Joshua he shouldn't be scared but he should just pretend he was a triceratops (his current favorite dinosaur) and try to get the little boy with his "horns". I was confident that Joshua could do this playfully and not really try to hurt the boy or anything. Joshua thought for a minute then said to me, "No, I want to be an ankylosaurus." I thought it was a little strange that he would want to be that dinosaur, but whatever. Now, before I go on, you must know that an ankylosaurus was an armored dinosaur with a club-like tail that it would swing at predators as a means of protection. Already armed with this information, Joshua proceeds to walk up to the little boy, turn himself around so that his backside was facing the boy and started, shall we say, "shaking his tail" at the boy. I cannot imagine what the little boy's father was thinking as he watched Joshua. But as soon as Joshua started doing it, I knew what he was trying to do and I burst out laughing. Of course, then I called Joshua over and encouraged him to try the club-like tail some other way than shaking his bottom all up in the boy's grill. I still laugh now just thinking of what Joshua did. Shortly after that the boy and his father left. I wonder why...

Isn't imagination such a fun thing?

Permission

Okay, so the other day Daddy and I walked into the living room only to find Joshua and Luke in the act of jumping off the coffee table. Just as the correction was about to ensue, Luke took a dive and hit the floor with a loud crack. "Crack" is not a good sound when it involves small bodies hitting something. (Trust me, I know.) There was no blood, but Luke was screaming, so I was holding him on the floor trying to console him and get him to tell me where it hurt. His response was "everywhere!". Thankfully, he was not really hurt in any major way, though I'm sure he was sore for at least 5 minutes. Anyway, while I was holding Luke and trying to talk to him through his crying, Daddy was trying to stave off Micah (who thought we were playing on the floor) and Joshua (who wanted to "help"). Seizing the opportunity for what it was, Daddy proceeded to talk to Joshua about the disadvantages of jumping off the coffee table. To which Joshua asked (totally serious), "Daddy, but when you're not looking or not at home, can we jump off the table then?" At least he was honest. :o) It does make me wonder what else they think is okay to do when we're not looking...

Little Mr. Communication

It's been a while since I updated you about Micah's happenings, so I thought it was high time to do so for my 14-month-old. First of all, he's still wins cutest one year old award, hands down (unless you're referring to my other boys at this age, then it's a 3-way tie). He's walking/running anywhere and everywhere and even recently (when exposed to stairs for the first time) has begun climbing. He totally wants to be all up in whatever his big brothers are doing, but also likes to wander off by himself to see what he can find. As of this week, he is completely weaned (which went off without a hitch both for mommy and baby), and is in general hard to contain. He's still snuggly when he's tired, but otherwise prefers being down playing or running around rather than being held (unless there are strangers around). Best of all, he's starting to say more and more words! He says Hi/Hello to most people and sometimes even says, "Hi guys!" Please, eat, more, baby, cookie (his favorite word), night-night, Mom and Dad are also all part of his repertoire of speaking these days. He knows the signs for some of the words (especially "cookie"), but he usually just says the word. He's got 8 teeth now (that I've counted) and thinks he can eat anything. He actually does have quite the appetite, sometimes rivaling his brothers in the amount he can put away. He does still pucker up for kisses from time to time, and is generally a very happy little guy. I wish you could all see him now because he's just so much fun!

Lake

While our friends were here we visited a famous lake in our country. We had heard lots about this lake, but had no idea just how amazing it actually was. First of all, it is a HUGE lake (111 miles long and 37 miles wide) with beautiful beaches. We contacted a travel agent in town and they recommended a hotel/resort to stay in. Having lived overseas now for some time, we all had very low expectations, all of us having stayed in "resorts" that were more like Motel 6's. So, after our 4 hour van trip, we were all shocked and amazed when we walked into our very modern, very beautiful cottage. It was 2-stories with a full kitchen and dining room, washing machine, 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a fold-out couch downstairs. This resort had about 30-40 cottages as well as a hotel, restaurant, outdoor and indoor pools, outdoor and indoor gyms, tennis courts, and (best of all for a family with 3 small boys) an incredible playground on the beach. Needless to say, we continued to be shocked and amazed every time we discovered something new. Even the food was good (which we also did not expect)! There were 7 adults that went along with our kids and another's 5 month old baby. We stayed two nights, 3 days with all our meals included in the cost and eaten in the restaurant. It was a GREAT trip! It was a bit too chilly already to swim in the pool outside, and the lake water was really cold. We opted for the indoor pool, but even that was pretty cold and we felt the need to remove the boys from the water when Luke's lips started turning blue. The boys, of course, had a fabulous time just playing in the sand and on the playground. It was a great trip for our family and good time to spend with our friends. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

So... You're Leaving When?

As you may know, we had 3 lovely guests this past week staying in our home. They were all friends from where we used to live, and all very, very dear to us. The boys refer to each of them as "aunt" even though they are not related to us. We had a wonderful time with them all; I will tell you more about our lake trip in another post. But for now, I must share a story with you about my eldest son and his hospitality skills. One day he was sitting with Aunt Amy watching television as it was nearing lunchtime. I mentioned to him that as soon as the show he was watching was over, he needed to turn off the TV. Well, I was not present when the show ended, and Joshua was having a difficult time following the wishes of his mother and turning it off. So Aunt Amy tried to help him decide to obey, but he was not interested in help or obedience. You know, he just wanted to keep watching as long as he could. After repeated failed attempts to get Joshua to turn off the TV, Amy just turned it off for him, resulting in Joshua going over the couch and hiding his face in unhappiness. So, Amy went over to him to smooth things over as she began to wax eloquent about the value of obeying parents and how she wants what's best for him and will always ask him to obey his mom and dad, etc., etc. Then Joshua looks up at her and says, "So... you're leaving in a week, right?" Nice. I'm so glad that my children make our company feel at home here. Thanks, Ames, for loving my kids!

Update and Funny

I know it's been a while since I blogged. Sorry! Life just gets a little full at times. We've been continuing on in homeschool and the boys are doing great. They have been LOVING their local school, going 4 days a week typically. The 5th week day they stay at home with our helper and Jeremy and I try to go out for a little coffee date. Our schedule (see below) has been working out really well lately.

Of course, this coming week that's all going to change because we're going to have guests! Aunt Mags, Aunt Amy, and Aunt Lisa are coming to visit us! Woo-hoo! We're looking forward to a great week with them all. We also have some other dear friends visiting our city working on visas for where they live. It's really fun to be around friends from where we used to live. I have officially decided to not try to do homeschool this week because it might be a little difficult and rushed. I'd rather just wait a week and pick it back up after our friends are gone. The boys should still go to to local school, though.

Anyway, I wanted to post real quick before the the fun begins. :o) Also, I wanted to share a funny story about a conversation Joshua and I had the other day. We were having our "recess" during afternoon school (just the 2 of us), so we were playing with his Little Einstein characters. He started kind of freaking out because he was pretending there was a volcano near all of us. So I was like, "Oh no! What will we do?" Then he said, "Don't worry, Mommy, this volcano doesn't have any 'erupt stuff' in it, so we're safe." I thought "erupt stuff" was so cute that I couldn't stop giggling, which made him start giggling. At least we were safe from the volcano. :o) I love it when kids say things like that.

Boy's Schedule

So, here's the boys' daily schedule...

8:00 Boys get up
8:30 Breakfast
9:00 Morning school (homeschool)
10:00 Go to local school (5 minute car ride away)
12:00 Boys come home from local school
12:30 Watch local language cartoons
1:00 Lunch
1:30 Joshua does a QT, Mommy & Luke do "school" stuff, Micah roams
2:30 Luke has computer time, Joshua plays
3:00 Joshua has computer time, Luke and Micah take naps
4:00 Afternoon school for Joshua and Mommy
5:15 L&M get up
5:30 Big boys watch a video
6:30 Dinner
8:00 Operation bedtime (pajamas, teeth, family devotions)
8:30 Bedtime!

So, that's what the boys do pretty much every day. We squeeze other things in there from time to time, you know, like bathing. :o) No matter what, every day is a full one!

So Not the Drama

This week we've been studying about apples in our home school curriculum. We made some apple cider one day and yummy apple crisp another day. Today we read a book about Johnny Appleseed. I had told them the story before and I was surprised how much Joshua remembered about him. I guess they're paying more attention than they appear to be. Anyway, after we read the story today, I suggested that the boys act it out. Now, getting them to act out stories is surprisingly not easy. Joshua loves to play imaginatively with his Little Einstein characters, but his play is almost always based (even if loosely) on one of the books or movies he's seen. So, reading a new book one time, then acting it out is not a preferred activity, no matter how much coaxing from Mom. Luke usually just follows Joshua's lead and Joshua seems to not be able to do impromptu acting. It's like he needs to be really familiar with the story before he'll agree to act it out. Sometimes I can talk him into it if I feed the "lines" to him. Apparently today he was okay with it (and maybe the more we try, the more he will be comfortable doing it). So I had them each wear the "pot hat" and carry apples around while we talked through the story. They got into wearing the "pot hat" and wanted to run in to show Daddy. Here are some pictures...

Friends and Enemies

Okay, so maybe "enemies" is kind of a strong word for the relationship between my two oldest boys. Yesterday they were best friends. They came into the kitchen laughing and holding hands, playing so sweetly together. I commended them on their brotherly unity as they ran off dragging each other down the hall. Now, lest you think I have perfect angels (5 minutes in my home will convince you otherwise very quickly), the cute holding hands thing is a first for them. They have been playing well together more and more, but they are just as often at each others' throats. At least 50 times a day one of them comes crying to me because the other one hurt him. If there's no blood, then I send them back to play some more. If it keeps happening, I separate them. And almost every time they get separated for being mean to each other, they beg to be able to keep playing together. Go figure. I cherish the hand-holding, laughing moments, believe me. And I do hope that my boys grow up to be best friends after all.

Not to leave out the smallest brother... Micah is wanting to play with his big brothers more and more. Luke is usually good about playing with him, chasing him around and making him laugh. Unfortunately Luke tends to get carried away and too rough with Micah and Micah ends up crying. Luke is forever apologizing to Micah because he usually doesn't mean to hurt Micah, he just does. Often. But, no matter what, Micah just keeps going back for more. In the afternoons when the boys are having their movie time, Micah will walk up to Luke and toss a book or toy at him because he wants Luke to toss the toy back or chase him. It's really cute. You can just see the playful look on Micah's face. When neither brother pays him any attention, Micah will head to the kitchen for the home school cabinet that is beside our table. The bottom shelf is full of puzzles and things that the boys can play with at the table. Micah finds great joy in pulling out as many things as he can and making a huge mess on the floor. Though it's kind of a pain to have to pick it all up, I know that one day I will wish for these days. It won't be long before he's doing everything with the two big boys. I'm in no hurry!

School Update

We have several different kinds of "school" that we refer to our household. A few weeks ago I started using a kindergarten curriculum with the boys for our home school. This consists of "morning school" which involves both boys and "afternoon school" which is just Joshua. "Morning school" is more activity-based and lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. We say the Pledge of Allegiance every day after we begin with prayer, and the pledge has turned out to be their favorite part of school. :o) They totally get excited about standing up in front of the flag and putting their hands on their hearts to say all those big words. "Afternoon school" is more focused on kindergarten-y things for Joshua (who is now 5), concentrating a lot on fine motor skills, reading, and writing. We also do some math activities and Scripture memory together. This also only lasts about an hour; we do it when Micah and Luke are taking naps. Of course, I mustn't forget to mention "recess" for "afternoon school", since it's Joshua's favorite part. In the middle of our school work, we take a 10 minute break where I play whatever he wants to play. We set the timer and play until it goes off, then we get back to our school work. So far this has turned out to be very positive and motivating for Joshua.

Our newest version of school is called "local school" and it's actually a preschool/kindergarten here in our neighborhood. The boys just started going this week for the first time. It's just 2 hours a day, but they are totally immersed in the local language and playing with local kids who don't speak English. The school itself is a pretty impressive setup, housed in a big 3-story home. They used the Montessori methods of teaching, which I've seen on the internet, but haven't really researched much. Right now they're not really following a curriculum because it's the summer, and most of the kids won't really start coming back until September. They only have about 12 kids or so now so it's really more daycare-ish. But the boys are still being exposed to the language a lot. I hope they're not too overwhelming for the staff since they can't speak any of the language. It must be a little frustrating for them (the staff, I mean). The hope is that the boys will start to pick it up quickly so that communication will flow more freely. :o) We're also hoping that the boys will be more comfortable when they meet local kids on the playground and at the park. We'll see how things go. Right now they're pretty excited about going because there are LOTS of fun things to do there. I hope they stay that way! The first day we were trying to give them last minute pointers, like how to tell the teacher if they had to go potty and important things like that. But the boys just wanted to play and weren't really interested in listening to our advice. The teacher kept looking at us like we should just leave them because they were going to be fine. :o) It's a big step for Mom & Dad, too!

Kisses, Window Friends, and Songs

Micah is walking everywhere now. I just thought he was into everything before... As crazy as it is to keep up with him, he's still so totally cute. His newest cuteness feat is giving kisses. He puts his bottom lip up over his top lip and looks at you and says, "mmmmm" as he waits for your kiss. It doesn't get much better than that, really.


Lately Luke has been standing in front of the mirror talking to his "friends". I think he learned it from Winnie the Pooh. Anyway, it's really funny to watch him. He'll talk to the mirror, then answers himself, having an ongoing conversation. Sometimes he will act out a scene from a cartoon or movie where he is one of the characters and his image is another character. At least he doesn't have to worry about his reflection bonking him over the head or knocking him over (like a certain brother is known to do). :o)


Speaking of said brother... Joshua's newest craze is making up his own songs. Usually he's singing a story. So far he's made up songs for the stories of creation, Noah, and Jonah. He also makes up songs about just every day stuff. He's very spontaneous with it, and is always very proud of himself when he's done. It's really fun to hear him.

English Tutor For Hire

Our apartment is owned by a family that has 4 grown daughters. The oldest daughter is the one that we usually relate to as our "landlord". Her father manages all the maintenance issues around the house, which is really nice. They are a great family, and we feel really blessed to have them as our landlords. Recently we were having a problem with some kitchen pipes leaking, so the dad came over and brought all 4 of his daughters. They all wanted to come so they could see the boys. Usually, we only talk to and see the oldest daughter and the dad (only when there are maintenance problems). Anyway, the younger 3 sisters wanted to get in on some of the action in our family (which could sometimes be referred to as "insanity"). Before they left that night the two youngest sisters (probably in the 18-20 age range) asked if they could start coming once a week to play with the boys to practice their English. Their dad said they should come when I'm home alone with the boys so it could be the most helpful to me. I said, "Sure!" not really knowing exactly what to expect. Well, last week one of the sisters came over for about 2 hours that morning and just played with Joshua and Luke the whole time. She brought things for them to do at first, then they went outside and played for like an hour. It was GREAT! They came back inside just in time for morning school. The sister's English was much better than I realized and she handled the boys way better than I expected. When she left, she said she would see me next week, so I'm really hoping she comes back again!

Later when I was telling Jeremy about the experience it dawned on me that if someone wanted to practice their English with a child, then Joshua is the perfect one to do that with. He has an amazing vocabulary for a 5 year old. He loves the attention (what kid wouldn't?). And he enunciates extremely well, so he's really easy to understand for a non-native English speaker. After we thought about it for a while we decided to hire him out as an English tutor. We could really make some bucks off of our 5 year old! :o) Just kidding! Believe me, it's a mutually beneficial relationship when someone wants to play with my children for English practice. Like I said, I really hope she sees it as beneficial and comes back!

Creatures of Habit

My boys are definitely creatures of habit. Joshua recently re-discovered his long sleeve Thomas the Train pajamas, as well as his love for them. He's always begging to wear them to sleep in, but I don't ever want him to because it is so stinkin' hot. For real, it's in the 90's during the day. And yes, I know it's probably hotter than that where some of you are, but you have air conditioning in your home. We don't. :o) It is HOT in our house, but we do have fans that help a great deal. Anyway, instead of asking, Joshua has taken to just running to his room before it's even time to get ready for bed and putting his Thomas pajamas on early. It doesn't seem to bother him that it's the dead of summer and he's wearing winter pajamas. It's all about the cartoon character. Maybe I should look for some Thomas summer pajamas. :o) Anyway, if he wants to be hot all night, then so be it. Along with the summer/winter lack of distinction, both boys insist on using blankets when they sleep. Because, after all, that's what you do when you get in bed - you put your blanket on you. At night we put a fan in their room, so it doesn't get too hot in there. But Luke even insists on using a blanket during his afternoon nap (during the hottest part of the day). There isn't a fan in there during his nap because we're using it in another part of the house at that time. He doesn't seem to care about it anyway. But when he naps with the blanket on, he wakes up soaking wet with sweat. He STILL wants that blanket because that's what you do when you sleep. Creatures of habit, that's what they are.