Tuesday Twelve.

1. Tuesday keeps sneaking right past me lately...I managed to catch it today...later than usual.

 2. Nolan is 12 weeks today. He is sleeping beside me, swaddled up, with his little feet propped up on my hip as he lays across the bed. His head is turned to the left as it usually is and I think I should move him but also that I shouldn't. So I won't.

 3. In just 12 short days my Zman will be 8 and he's very proud of that. I am proud of that and of him.

4 . The weather this week has been very un-January...very spring. It's nice.

 5. We are heading back to TN in a few weeks...it will be Nolan's first long car ride and also our first trip back in many months.

 6. Robert really needs a new car and we are dragging our feet not wanting another car payment--we may try the one car thing for a while longer.

 7. I am kinda missing be able to help out at the boys school like I was doing.

 8. Jakeb got his own room a few weeks ago...he is really enjoying it but also branching off from his brothers and I am not crazy about that.

 9. Gavin is really learning to read and it's awesome. He certainly could have much sooner but being the 3rd kiddo in school the time he gets having us work with him is a bit shortened. Plus I learned with Jakeb to not push it and Gavin is like Jakeb in that regard. So we take it slow...my perfectionist boys need to move at their own pace.

 10. My brother and his wife are just a few weeks away from welcoming their little GIRL into their...our lives. We are all very excited.

 11. My sweet baby is becomming quite the "mama's" boy already...he will tolerate other people for a bit and then he's done.

 12. This number is always the hardest...

A week?

It seems I can't manage to stay consistent in my posting here....pretty much story of my life.  Other than being consistent at being not consistent.  So we are wrapping up the end of January and like every other month I am wondering how that is.   January so far has been warm and rainy and very un-January, so that doesn't help.  
Nothing new and exciting on the home front has happened in the past week.  Nolan has recovered from his cold that really was just a cold that we got a little scared about--and then was told was RSV.  He did get pretty wheezy and I am hoping we don't deal with that with the next round.
I am still working on backing up and organizing photos--and then wondering what in the world to do with them all.  I still think a picture room is a grand idea and I am not kidding.  How neato schmeato would it be to have picture wallpaper of your life?  I mean it would be a new memory discovery everyday....pretty genius if you ask me.
It's a dreary day again here and we are just hanging out not planning a thing.  Nolan is crashed out in his swing and despite my best efforts to get him to nap in his crib for more than 30 min it's still not happening and often I give him and put him in the swing.  Where he sometimes snoozes for an hour and sometimes 20 min.  The napping thing is still a "struggle" but I am thinking it's just that he's not there yet for a routine.  Or really he is on a routine of sorts but not one that consists of long naps.   We will get there.
Pretty much it...weekend is rolling around and we have 2 birthday parties and more just chillin'.  I am hoping for some sunshine but we'll see!

Hold it.

Everyone is back at school as of yesterday.  Nolan is still wheezing and congested but I think (I hope!) we are over the worst of it.  Baby colds suck, especially when you know it can be bad and scary (thank you RSV)...the other night Robert and I were chilin' on the couch and Nolan coughed, gagged, and threw up lots o' mucous.  In the midst of it I heard him gasp for air and breathe in all the gunk he was trying to throw up...it occurred to me that if baby boy was really choking I would not know what to do.  That scared me and made for a few moments of panic...enter YouTube.  I looked up several videos on infant CPR and infant choking and feel much better should the event occur.  How on the 4th babe I am just now getting to that is beyond me.  Other than I just worry more now.  Go figure.

We got our letter to Colombi@, requesting that our application to adopt be put on hold for a year, typed up and ready to head on out.  In hindsight we should have had this ready to go before Nolan was even born.  Because as it stands things won't come off of hold until likely February of 2013.  But we didn't...I wish we didn't have to put it on hold but we do and it is what it is.  We financially couldn't finish up things right now anyway so it's for the best but still is stinky.  I found the basket of clothes I had bought for the Colombi@n Cutie this past weekend and it just makes me remember how excited and anxious we were---and I am still but knowing that we have to focus on other things right now forces me to push all of that aside.  Not to mention I think I would go nuts if I was completely consumed with all things adoption--while we can do nothing.  So that's getting done as well as the update to our home study and renewal of our USCIS approval.  And then we wait and enjoy this little guy and have more time to ready ourselves both financially and emotionally.

Sick, Sicker, Sickest

We are dealing with our first round of illness rolling thru the house this winter.  It has struck all 4 boys--yes including the baby.  Gavin brought it in and it seems Nolan is taking it out.  Gavin was diagnosed with Pneumonia this past Friday (a first!) and Nolan with RSV yesterday (also a first!).  Jakeb has an ear infection and Zachary is still holding steady with just a funky cough and some snot.  So far we are getting mild versions so I can handle it...but a 2 month old with a cough and wheezing is just not fun and RSV!. Though when is it ever fun--but 2 months makes it another ball game.  He is completely taking it like a champ though--for real babe is still smiley and chatty.  He's the happiest RSV baby.  He is also kiddo #4 to "sport the mask".   He rocked out his first breathing treatment today and impressed the doctor with both his neck muscles and his ability to happily have smoke blown in his face.  Good times.   So it's a bummer for that but I am feeling much better now knowing that if I get worried I can give him this and it should help...and also yesterday Dr. gave us an Rx of amox but it seemed a bit like a "just in case" so I pretty much decided no thanks on that--becuase uh hello two month old on antibiotics uh no.  And today Dr. said let's just skip that, thank you very much.  So we will deal with albuterol--aka inhaled steroids but will skip the amoxicillin.  And accept that it is what it is and somehow for some reason unbeknownst to me these little boys all 4 of them need a little breathing boost when they are bitty.   'Spose it could be worse.
And I think it might mean I drink too much coffee when it's splattered all over my keyboard...that or I am messy...or both.

The Biggest Brother.

One of the neat things about having a baby in the house again is seeing the nurturing coming from the big brothers.  Jakeb, the biggest of the big ones, is especially sweet.  One day last week or so we were sitting in Nolan's room after he woke up from a (brief) nap and Jakeb asked to hold him.  As he started to take him he remembered he needed to wash his hands and ran off.  He came back and picked him up out of his crib...standing to hold him is something we are letting him do here and there under strict instructions to NOT do unless with us.   So he carefully picked him up and walked over to his rocking chair and sat holding him.   And I sat on the floor watching the 2 of them...my almost 10 year old and my 2 month old. My oldest and youngest....watching him with Nolan is just cool.  He is careful and sweet and amazed by him.  We call him Daddy Jake or Daddy 2.0...he is just good.  Nolan was looking at Jakeb and smiling and Jakeb giggled "He's smiling at me...look at him smile"  He (Jakeb) talks to him in the baby voice we all get and he gets it.  The baby-ness.  Nolan fusses and he has a barrage of people around him to pick him up or pop a paci in his mouth.  Jakeb often responds faster than I do and he responds as if it was second nature...he just does it.
I can't wait to see how their bond grows, how Nolan at 2 looks up to his almost 12 year old brother...or at 4 and 14.  Wow.  My first thought about having a baby and a 9 year old was that it was like starting over and it is but oh my how neat it is.  Watching this big boy with this little baby is just...sweet.

This past Friday I ran Zachary to a neighbors house just down the road...as in in our neighborhood about 8 houses down.  It was cold and I am not ok with him walking down there alone just yet (our 'hood is very hilly and people make me nervous driving).   Nolan was asleep and it was going to take me 2 min so I told Jakeb he was on baby duty--ie pop the paci in his mouth-- but most likely he wouldn't need to do a thing before I got back.  Of course Nolan woke up while I was gone--my 2 min ended up being more like 7.  I came in to find Nolan laying in his crib happily chatting away to his big bro.  Jakeb who was calling a friend when Nolan started crying told his friend he had to go to deal with his baby brother.  {relayed back to me by Jakeb of course} He then proceeded to tell me that he in fact picked Nolan up and got to the top of the stairs to bring him down (EEK!) and realized that was probably not a very good idea so he laid him back down in his bed.  Smart, careful boy.   While I certainly don't think a 9 year old is ok to babysit for any length of time it's amazing how careful and thoughtful he is.  Watching him with the baby is fabulous and I am so glad we are getting the chance to do so.

4 on the 14th.

So I am barely scraping in under the wire on this...first day on it.  But it is what it is and I did it so yeah.  For the record I spent all day working on organizing their 365's from um...2008/2009 but I am almost done!
Here is our first installment of the 4 on the 14th....in crummy lighting and with sick kids--one with pneumonia, one with a sore throat, and one with a cough.   And yes they are holding the healthy baby...with strict instructions to NOT cough for the 30 seconds I need to take a picture.  All 4 freshly bathed and pajama'ed and ready for bed!

Lighter.

Occasionally I have days like yesterday where everything is everything and oh em gee I can't handle it all.    Truth be told I feel a bit overwhelmed everyday but in a completely manageable way where it's just life and no big deal at all...and then it sorta gets the best of me and I have a grr day.  Today the sun is shining and that helps oh so much...because it's winter and the blahs of winter are just that blah.  After I vented I was able to then get up and toss my nap fighting baby in the Moby, run the vacuum and mop and then busted out the bucket 'o clean and de-handprinted a few things.  I even moved the trash can when I mopped the bathroom this time.  How's that for productive?  And all the while Nolan slept in the Moby quite happily.  I did mention to the big boys that there was something wrong with the picture when I was vacuuming away with a baby strapped to my chest and they were sitting on their duffs playing their video games on the couch.  But we will work on that another day.
Gavin is home from school for the 4th day today.  So we finally took him to the dr. and kid has pneumonia.  And of course he does because unlike what we normally do we didn't take him to the dr because he has been borderline ok and not and we also haven't stayed on top of his meds because this time he's not really had the labored breathing he usually has.  So oops and really not because he has walking pneumonia which is apparently sneaky so I don't feel bad really.
I have been really working on actually editing and playing around with our personal photos again...I don't need to do that with all of them but there are a few that I just want to stick out so it's nice to play around with them again.  Plus I am rolling around some ideas for "picture projects" to do again this year.  I still haven't finished up the 365's of the big boys I did years ago but have no doubt I will...leaving things unfinished isn't really my style.  I AM going to do something with all 4 boysies starting tomorrow...another blogger I follow takes a picture of her 4 on the 4th and so as not to completely be a copycat I thought I would do 4 on the 14th...not that it really matters.  That and the 4th totally zipped right past me and I forgot so figured I would improvise.
Have a good weekend folks!

Too much.

There is laundry piled up all over the house.  Clean laundry needing to be folded, clean laundry needing to be put away, and dirty sheets thrown over the balcony to be washed.  There are mud stains on the floors and windows.  Hand prints on the walls and furniture, milks splatter stains on the chair legs (what a pain to get those off!).   Dog hair, cat hair, dust, dirt and just gunk everywhere else.  Papers and clothes and toys and just stuff.  Outside is dreary and muddy and messy and wet and don't even get me started there.
It's a lot and sometimes somedays much like this day it's overwhelming.  It gets a little too much feeling.  And it's everyday.  All these things everyday.  It's never done because as soon as it is it isn't.  And I didn't even mention the kids needs and Robert and me because I am typing this and reading Jakeb his spelling words at the same time and that says it all.  Gavin is playing the iPad again with Zachary and Nolan is fighting sleep in the swing.  I haven't showered today but mostly because it's winter and my skin is dry and I am still trying to train my hair to be not oily.  And we went to return some shirts that I got that are too big (yay!) and one I just don't like so now I have to go back to the store to get it right...again.  I used to like to do that but now it's just a pain.
Today is too much and I am irritable and grumpy.  I am trying to get laundry folded but all I see is dirty floors and a handprinted refrigerator and dirty dishes and all the while trying to talk to a smiley yet fussy baby and also the 5 year old who is bored and coughing and sneezing and "seriously STOP whiping your snot on your shirt."
So instead of doing all the things I need to do I am sitting here venting before I LOSE my mind or cry because I think I might do one or the other.  On a good note dinner is ready for the day and we get to have bread with it.  Of course it's also the third night we are having pasta so we might blow up like a balloon and need to get that large afterall.

Wordless Wednesday-Phone picture version.

Before Christmas we took the boys to the Phineas and Ferb LIVE show in Atlanta...these are from downtown walking to the arena. 

 My stepdad...David with Nolan on Christmas Eve...

I promised the boys we would hit up the local play places....this one is KangaZoom...it was ok not worth the $30--they got to run some energy out though...

 Zachary got an Air Swimmer for Christmas...very cool.

 Just a sweet sleeping face.

 An awesome big brother.

 And an awesome Uncle.

Month 2.

Two whole months have passed since we welcomed sweet baby Nolan into the world and I still look at him in awe that he is here.   In 2 months he has changed our lives more than I imagined and only for the better.  At 2 months he is smiling every chance he gets...at our voices, our smiling faces, and even his toys.  He is "talking" and his favorite sounds are "aaaaAAAaaa" and the occasional "gu" he is learning that he can control how loud he makes his voice and this week seems to enjoy making it louder.  At 2 months I am impressed with his chatty-ness. "You, I'm talking to you!"   At his 2 month check-up he weighed in at 12lbs 7.2oz and 22 1/2 inches long.  He seems to be the happiest baby of the bunch and is easy peasy.  He sleeps like a dream at night waking once or twice to eat and never making a peep.  I hear him stirring and feed him and he drifts back off to sleep quickly and easily in fact I don't think he really even wakes.  We do have off nights here and there where he seems to stir a lot and I wake up feeling as if I played the in and out game with his paci all night.  But most nights are nearly perfect.  Napping during the day is another story and he seems to prefer to cat nap 30-45 min here and there or even just 15.  In fact it seems he may be taking after his big bro Zman and fighting sleep as much as he can.  Unless we are out running errands then he often snoozes the day away in his car seat quite happily.  At 2 months he loves his play mat, his swing, and bouncy seat.  He loves to sit in his bouncy chair and watch me piddle around in the kitchen....I stop and chit chat with him and he smiles and smiles and chit chats right back.  I am surprised I haven't burned more dinners with my little happy distraction.  A sure way to get him snoozing is to pop him in one of the carriers I have for him--right now we are switching between the Moby and the Baby Hawk mei tai.  He is content in either and often goes right to sleep and will snooze the day away.  We noticed a few weeks ago that he is preferring to keep his head turned to the left and it seems to be causing some "molding" on his head so we are now trying to encourage him to turn his head the other direction as much as possible.  As well as working on more "tummy time".  I am not worried about it and know we will be diligent in getting it all rounded back out!  Much as the rest of his body has!

His big brothers can't get enough of him and are eager to help any way they can...we all pretty much think he rocks.   Happy 2 months Nolan! 

Here are his 2 month shots! (I am not impressed with the quality of these...A) he was fussy and not in the mood for a picture party and B)the lighting on January 8th was poo--thanks to wintery blah and rain and C) I used my flash and have all sorts of shadows...anyway he's still cute!)

Missing.

A few days ago I was watching pictures scroll thru on the digital picture frame we have in our living room...pictures that have been on the frame for a great while now and really need to be updated--which is totally not my point--as I watched the pictures of Jakeb as a preschooler and Zachary as a toddler and Gavin as a tiny baby I realized for the first time that I miss that. I miss the busyness of 3 little ones and the fun of dragging them around to various actitivies. I didn't appreciate it all at the time--I suppose we never do. But now as they are older and {sassier} and much more independent--I do miss it. I have Nolan (who is sleeping right next to me on the bed) but this is the first time in many years that I have a baby and no toddler to keep up with as well and as crazy as it sounds to say I miss that. I have said it before but I don't miss the big boys as babies as much as I miss them as toddlers and little tiny tikes. I miss their curiousity and little voices. I think I relisheed in their babyhood so very much and squeezed every lost drop of that time that I could. And while I do miss that stage I don't miss it quite as much. They really aren't that much older and on one hand they are easier and more fun but on the other it's harder. Jakeb and Zachary are big kids really--I know Zachary is only 7 (almost 8!) but he has always been "older" so while he's young he still is more of a big kid than a little. Which means that they need me less (yay!--boo!) and also they are rowdier and sassier and just more. Though also they are helpful and independent and did I say HELPFUL?! Because that is fabulous. I can talk with them and have big kid conversations and we can just hang out. So they are great at this age too but I miss their little squeaky voices and their innocence. Definitely the innocence and the wonder..I miss that. Gavin is going on 6 but is still my little buddy and that makes me happy. They all make me happy--and soon enough I will miss 9 and 7 and 5.

Wordless-ish Wednesday.

Kid is serious about rolling out some dough....notice the foot on the counter...

These cookies did not last more than 3 days...they were delish.  

1 month...er 2.

So one of my plans was to write a little blip about Nolan each month and as we are quickly rounding the corner into his 2nd month it dawned on me that I never said much about the first month.  So here we go.  I am not going to say all the things he is doing now because that will go with the 2 month post next week :)  Let's pretend I said all this 3 weeks ago mmmk?? At 1 month he is starting to coo and ahh and guuu  at us and is smiling more and more everyday.  He is waking 2 times a night with the longest stretch being about 4 hours.  We are still quite enamored with him and imagine will be forever.  I am surprised with the patience I have with him and even the patience and calm I feel with his big brothers as well.  I feel calm and at ease in caring for him even if it's at 2:30 in the morning.  I don't know if I felt this much "peace" with his big brothers it seems that maybe I didn't and felt a bit more edgy.  The calm is nice.  He is a wonderful baby...he rarely cries.  Seems to have an affinity for the left and keeps his head turned that direction most times.  His eyes seem to be getting a bit of brown in them.  We can't tell if they will go all the way brown or be a combo of brown/green like his big brothers.  They are still very dark and I doubt they will be blue.  His hair is amazing and I am jealous.  When it's freshly washed it dries into this nice soft little poof of sweetness on his head.  He is still liking the swaddle and definitely seems to sleep better all snuggled up.  He is almost always moving kicking his feet and moving his hands and arms.  Much like he was before he was born. At 1 month I am still in awe that he's here and he's ours and so ever thankful that he is.

Goodbye Eleven.

Well what to say about the past year. Obviously the biggest event was both the complete surprise pregnancy and the subsequent birth of the sweet little boy who is snoozing in my lap as I type this. We settled more into our lives here in Georgia and feel like this is home. I haven't posted yet about the past year because I am not quite sure what to say or where to begin. We took a wonderful family trip to the beach back to the beach I went to as a tiny tot even to the same condo complex. We hit up a day at Disney and survived the heat at 18 weeks pregnant. Gavin started his school years entering Kindergarden and is slowly getting adjusted to school. All 3 boys are doing wonderful at school. We continued on with our adoption process and received our much anticipated approval. We finally went camping...in the rain...and survived. It was a heck of a year 2011 with some amazingly good and some amazingly bad. I am ready for 2012 and can't believe we are already 3 days into it. Jakeb will enter into double digits this year and Zachary will hit tween-hood. The big boys have gone back to school today and I can't believe we are already halfway thru the school year. Nolan is 8 weeks old today and fast leaving newborn behind. Entering into 2012 is much welcomed and I am looking forward to what our new year will hold. Happy New Year friends!