Conversations with the boys

Kids say the funniest things.  Sometimes it is frustrating when you can't get through to them or they just outright ignore you.  I always wondering what is going on inside of their heads and what their thought process actually looks like.

Here are a few conversations with the boys from the last few weeks.

Conversation #1

Joseph for a while was waking up very early in the morning, I am talking about like 4 am.  I am very sensitive to light when I am sleeping so any amount of light always wakes me up.  Anyway, I would wake up and the lights in our kitchen and living room would all be on, so the whole house would be illuminated.  When I would come out into the family room Joseph would be on the couch wide awake. I would have to walk him back to his room and get him to go back to sleep, which only lasted a few more hours.  So after I few nights of him waking up I had a conversation with him before he went to bed:

Me: Joseph, you know you really need to sleep all night in your bed, so you are rested in the morning.
 
Joseph:  But, I am awake and I don't want to sleep anymore in my bed.

Me:  Well, then you need to stay in your room until everyone else gets up because when you wake up in the middle of the night and turn on all the lights every where you are waking me up and you might wake up Samuel and Simone too.  They really need their sleep too.

Joseph:  If the light bothers you, then just shut your door and you won't have to worry about me getting up.

It was a smart solution and good point.  He ended up sleeping in his bed and not getting up until his normal 6 am wake up time, which is still too freaking early.

Conversation #2

You know sometimes when you are having a talk with your kids and you actually feel like you are getting through to them.  Well, I felt like a total rock star parent one night.  Joseph and I normally have talks about his school day at night when I am putting him to bed.

Me: Do you have any new friends at school?

J: No, not really.  But there is a new boy in class.  His first name starts with an O.

Me: Have you talked to O?  Is he nice?

J:  No, he cries all the time.

Me:  Maybe he cries because he is at a new school and he doesn't really know anyone.  He probably misses his mom and dad.

J: Yeah, probably.

Me:  Maybe you should talk to him and tell him that it will be alright.  You could tell him that his mom will pick him up after school and he will be okay, just like your mom picks you up from school.  Maybe he just needs a friend since he is new.  You think you could help him out a little bit?

Joseph looks at me like he is taking it all in.  The look he was giving me was like I just said the smartest thing ever and he was totally going to go up to this boy tomorrow and be so nice.

Joseph's response after sitting there for a minute taking in everything I said: Yeah, I'm not saying any of that to him.

Great.  Parent failure number who knows what.

Conversation #3

Last night the kids were playing and Joseph called someone a "stupid dumb dumb head".  I told him that we don't use that language and it is not nice to call people names.  I told him that I didn't want to hear him say that again.

Then Samuel stepped in:  Well at least he didn't say FUCK!
Me:  What the...heck, Samuel!  You never say that word.  Where in the world did you hear that?
(Usually that would be something that I would say, but I really have been watching my language a lot since kids.  This was definitely a regular vocabulary word for me pre-kids).
Samuel:  I heard it on a video.  I have kept it secret for a really long time.
Me:  That word is very inappropriate.  Go upstairs and take a little break.

He proceeded to go upstairs and told Dave what he said.  He felt absolutely terrible and was crying.  Dave talked to him about words that some adults may use which are still not right and kids should not say them either.  He apologized and felt terrible.  I was so shocked that for once I had no idea how to handle the situation.  I probably should have had a conversation with him right away but I was just dumbfounded.  I never would have thought he would have said that word.

Those are the conversations we have been having lately.  We are learning so much and apparently so are the kids.

Emotions are flowing

This has been a very emotional week.  All the kids started school.  Simone has gone to a "school" two days a week for about a year, but now she is going with the boys at the International Schoolhouse.  She is going five mornings a week, along with Joseph.  They both have been adjusting really well.  I am so proud of both of them.  I look forward to picking them up at 11:45, eating lunch together and playing until they take a nap.  It is nice quality time.

Then there is Samuel.  He just started Kindergarten.  He is going to the International Schoolhouse too.  He goes from 8:45 to 3:45.  It is a long day.  He is so happy, which makes me happy but I am so sad too.  I truly can't believe that 5 years have gone by and he is now in school full time.  I remember on my rough days at home I would think that I couldn't wait for him to go to Kindergarten and now I just miss my buddy.  Now that he isn't here, I miss those afternoons of him following me around.  "Can I help you cook? Can I help make dinner? Can we play go fish? Can we play war? Can we play checkers? Can we play video games?"  The list goes on, but as annoying as it was some days I miss him terribly.  The first day that I dropped him off, I held in tears because I didn't want him to see me cry.  Yesterday, I noticed the quietness in the afternoon.   Then today it totally hit me.  This was the first day that I had two and a half hours to myself (I had to pick up Simone early the first two days because they wanted to ease in the 2 year olds) and I just got sad.

I stopped working when I had Samuel and it has just been me and the kids.  Now one part of my parenting time has ended.  Now he spends more time at school and in activities then he does with me.  I know it will get easier, but I think it may be more of an adjustment for me then it is for him.

Now I have to figure out what my new schedule is going to be.  I need to figure out when I am going to fit in exercising, laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, writing, volunteering, etc.  It is amazing how quickly two and a half hours go.  Today I ran four errands all around town and finished in one hour.  It was amazing how quickly I got things done.  My goal for the next few weeks it to finally have time to go through the house and clean up all the clutter.  I need to organize toys and go through stacks of mail, catalogs and everything.

Right now I am just trying to go with the flow.  I have learned that I am not very good with change and this is going to take some time to get used to.

Crazy Week

Holy shit this week has been busy, crazy, tiring, hectic and the list goes on.  The boys started school this week and I feel like all I have been doing is driving.  School starts for them at 8:45, so we have to leave the house around 8:15.  School is released at 11:45.  However, on Tuesday and Wednesday Joseph was released at 10:30 because all the 2 year olds were let out early.  So I was driving back and forth non stop on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Yesterday and today I got a little bit of a break, but not much.  

I got home yesterday and was planning to bake a little bit.  I went outside to the fridge in our garage to get some more eggs and I found that our fridge was not on.  The lights were off and things in the freezer were starting to melt.  Our other big freezer chest was also not working.  I had to run extension cords and get the freezer chest back up and running.  Apparently our fridge is completely broken.  So I moved everything that I could from the outside fridge to the one inside and all the stuff in the freezer to the chest.  By the time I got all that done it was 11 and Simone woke up from her nap and I had to pick the boys up.  

It is always something.

The boys have been exhausted after school.  Joseph has boycotted naps all week, which is fine but by 4:30 they are all going nuts.  Needless to say it has been an early bedtime for the boys.  We start the bedtime routine at 6:30 and they are in bed attempting to sleep by 7.  Samuel usually passes out within 5 minutes of rubbing his back and Joseph stays up and plays for a good 30-45 minutes before he goes to bed.  I swear he requires no sleep to function.  

Simone was supposed to start her school on Wednesday.  She is going to go Monday and Wednesday, but I kept her home.  She got a little cold on Sunday night.  I think it is a combination of allergies and teeth.  On Monday another tooth cut through.  So she now has a total of 5 teeth.  Another tooth will be popping out soon. I am anticipating it making an appearance this weekend.  Anyway, she hasn't been herself, so I kept her home.  Hopefully Monday she will go.  

Simone turned 11 months on Tuesday.  She is getting quite the attitude.  She is still sweet and most of the time easy, but boy is she feisty.  She isn't taking shit from anyone lately.  As I mentioned she has had a cold, so her nose has been running.  If I try to wipe her nose off, she leans back as far as she can away from me, screams and yells, then whips her head forward and tries to pinch or smack me and if I'm not quick she will try to bite the hand that is holding the Kleenex.  Of course she gets in trouble for her behavior which causes her to scream even more, but at the same time it is pretty funny how pissed off she gets.  I am shocked and how passionate she is.  She is also not taking shit from her brothers.  She is starting to steal toys from them, she yells at them if they take her toys and she gets right in on the wrestling.  This is little girl is going to be tough.  It is pretty clear that she is going to be ruling this house pretty soon.  

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

When Joseph was little I caught Samuel giving him a Popsicle and now it was Joseph's turn to give it to Simone.  Look at the guilty look on her face.  She LOVED it.

First Michigan game of the year and we have a little Michigan cheerleader.  

Joseph is dressed up too.

Dave got these pants for Samuel last year.  Size 7.  Dave thought for sure it would fit him for a while because they were so big last year.  The fit him perfectly.  By the end of the season they are going to be too small.  Samuel is huge!

Samuel is yelling "Go Blue".  Clearly Dave was super excited about the game and getting the kids all dressed up.

Oma and Opa were town over the weekend.  Everyone was ready for the game.

First day of Pre-School.  He was so excited.

Samuel is ready for pre-K!

Joseph put on his smock.

Samuel is clearly happy again.  He couldn't sit still.

The crazy boys.

Outside school with their back packs on.

Joseph in class with his teacher Sr. Martha.

Samuel with his teachers, Sr. Paraquey and Sr. Isabel

Hanging out after school.  You can see how tired the boys are, but not Simone.

Simone at 11 months with crazy hair.

More 11 month pictures

Look at those teeth!

Here is how crazy the boys are.  A few weeks ago they got into markers while I went to the bathroom.  Samuel drew on some new eye brows and Joseph drew a uni-brow.  I still laugh when I look at the picture.

After their first day of school, I was putting Simone down for a nap and I heard noise in the kitchen.  After I put her down, I ran out to see what they were up to.  They had two spoons and a half gallon of ice cream and they were shoveling it in as fast as they could.  I asked them, "Whose idea was this?"  Samuel replied, "It was my idea.  We were trying to be sneaky."  Great, the sneaking around is already starting.  I can't wait for when they are teenagers.

Sensory Overload

Our house is loud.  Samuel doesn't have camp the entire month of August, so we are home together or running errands everyday.  The house is significantly louder with just him around.  On the days all three kids are home there is no silence.  Samuel and Joseph are always running around the house, chasing each other, laughing, screaming, fighting.  You name it.  Simone is getting her voice too.  Two days ago she started to say "Uh-Oh".  So now every time she is in her high chair she drops her food, forks, drink on the floor just so she can say "Uh-Oh."  She is also getting in on the screaming and yelling.  She and Joseph fight a lot over toys.  Joseph is not a sharing type of guy.  We are always making him share with Samuel and Simone, but he doesn't like it.  Now if he takes a toy from Simone she starts screaming and tries to grab it back.  The bad part about her new found voice and temperament is that she is also starting to pinch and trying to bite.  At first we laughed because we couldn't believe she was getting so feisty, but now we are stepping in because we don't want her to do that when she starts school in September.

Okay, so besides the kids being extremely loud the workers in the basement are making my head pound.  The framing got finished on Tuesday, then the electricians and plumbers were here yesterday and today.  It has been constant banging and drilling.  I am ready for the finished product.  It will be at least two of three more weeks before it is all done.

Not only are my days filled with noise, but the nights haven't been the greatest either.  Samuel has been having tons of nightmares.  He wakes up and comes into our room and wants to get in bed with us.  Normally his little heart is pounding like crazy and he is totally freaked out.  Dave and I decided after a few nights of us being lazy and not walking him back to his room right away that we will be creating a bigger problem by letting him come into bed with us.  So the last few weeks we have been walking him back to his room and then laying with him for a little while to calm him down and then coming back to our bed.  Samuel never puts up a fight (other then to tell us that he thinks our bed is really comfortable and would rather sleep in our bed), but he is usually fine as soon as he gets over being scared.

He has been asking for bunk beds in his room so that he could sleep on top and Joseph could sleep on the bottom.  He said he wouldn't come into our room anymore if Joseph was sleeping with him because then he wouldn't be as scared.  Last night he asked if Joseph could sleep with him.  So we set up the blow up mattress on the floor and Samuel slept in his bed and Joseph slept on the blow up mattress.  Well, Samuel stayed in his room all night.  He did try to wake Joseph up in the morning when he got up, but Joseph ended up sleeping until about 7am, which is better then normal too.  Dave said we might be seeing a bunk bed in our future.

You would have thought that I would have finally gotten a good night sleep, well you would be wrong.   Dave decided last night that he was going to snore his head off.  For about an hour in a half last night I was kicking and punching him to get him to stop snoring.  It was extremely annoying.

Here's hoping to a restful evening.  I need some serious sleep.

I'm off to listen to the symphony of sounds.

Summer so far in pictures

I am always amazed at the amount of pictures I take with my phone.  I downloaded them to my computer today and from May through July I took about 147 pictures.  I figured by posting all these pictures, it will remind me of some of the things we have done this summer.  No wonder I am so tired.  These pictures don't even include everything.  

Simone swinging at the park.  It was bright out, but it wasn't horribly hot yet.  

The boys playing on the play set at the park.

Joseph wanting to play outside like always.  He looked like a little soccer player here to me.

More outside play.  Loving the sidewalk chalk

Eating some yummy cupcakes from Jilly's.

Not a very good picture because Samuel was moving too much, but this was our first time bowling with the kids.  They loved it.

Eating at FroYo, one of their favorite places

This is difficult to see, but the boys were having a little cuddle time all together in Samuel's bed.

We were face timing my mom because she found a picture of my when I was about 6 months old.  Couldn't believe how much Simone looks like me.

We grew lots of veggies this year and we had some yummy green beans.

Went to the Botanical Garden and fed the fish and walked around.  

Eating brunch at the Botanical Gardens.  It is SOOOO good.  If anyone has a chance to go, it is well worth it.  

All three kids having fun together.  Right before this, Joseph stood on his chair and it folded up and he went flying on the floor.  I ran as fast as I could to grab him and almost wiped out myself because my shoe slipped on my napkin as I jumped up with grab him.  There is always drama.

Simone hanging out with her Uncle Jonathan.

Samuel got to sit in a huge fire truck when we were in Tulsa.  He is afraid of heights so this was a big deal for him to sit up there.

The boys were so tired in Tulsa, we couldn't keep them awake.  

Simone and Papa hanging out on Father's Day

Joseph got to go to a wedding with Savta and Papa.  He thought it was so cool even though he had no idea what he was attending.

Samuel had his very first dentist appointment.  He did awesome and his teeth looked great too.

When we were in Michigan, Joseph was obsessed with this basket of cars.  He clearly never wanted to part with them even in his sleep.  This is how he feel asleep almost the entire time when we were there.  Plus he slept on a cot the entire time too, which was really cool.

All the cousins hanging out in Michigan.  They had matching pajama's and loved being together.  They also loved watched TV at night and eating popcorn.

We started finishing our basement and this was the first step, demolition by the plumbers.  It was a mess and still is a mess.  Not to mention stressful.  The noise, the planning the organizing.  

On a day that was way too hot to go outside, we set up the bounce house.  Everyone needed to get worn out and it did the trick. 

Samuel had an amazing time at Burr-Oak camp.  This was one of their swim demonstrations.  He is actually trying to swim now.  It is really excited.  He wouldn't go off the diving board, because it was too high up.  Maybe next year.

My Dad made these cute little bowls and they are perfect size for Simone portions.  This summer she started eating solid food and she hasn't stopped.  She is an amazing eater and I love it.  There are only a few things she doesn't like: peas, kiwi, pancakes, waffles and not a huge fan of eggs.  

The kids hanging out at night.  

Simone started crawling this summer too!

Went to the zoo and had to get painted.  

Joseph too!

Had to ride the train.

Always like to go to the boat house after the zoo.  Fun for everyone.

Playing outside in the blow up pool and hanging out to dry off.  Clearly the kids love it!

Simone started her quest to becoming a doctor.  

And there you have it.  Summer so far.  We still have one more month to go.  Lots more to do.