Cousins

When I grew up we never had any cousins that I knew of. When we would go over to Nannie and Poppie's, we were the only kids there. I am so grateful that it will be so different for our kids. They have cousins on both sides and they are always so excited to go and play with them at family parties. Today Boston came over to play with Harlee while Jenna and I worked out. They have so much fun together and reminded me of this blessing I am so grateful for.

Why kids don't play with scissors

Last night when I was teaching dance Joey called me. This is something that never happens so I knew that something was wrong. When I answered he told me that Nash had cut a piece of his lip with scissors and he could not get it to stop bleeding. He said that he had found scissors in the office. Luke had accidentally left the scissors out and felt so bad, thinking it was his fault. We assured him it was not! So I asked Jenna to come and cover the last hour of my class and came home. It was really bad. He had a chunk of skin just barely hanging on. I called my friend Erika to come and give me her opinion. I was thinking about taking him to the ER but did not know if they could do anything for him. So Erika came and since she works in the NICU did not know what I should do. She suggested I call our friend Laci who is a family nurse practitioner. She came and checked the wound for us. She said that they would not be able to do anything since it was not a vertical cut. She suggested that the skin be removed because it would hurt worse if it came off later. So Erika held Nash's head and I held his hands as Lacie cut it off. It bled for about 30 minutes after the removal. We have been putting neosporin on it and it is already looking better. So grateful for nice neighbors who will come and help at the drop of a hat. Such a blessing. We are so glad that Nash is feeling better and just another incident to prove there is never a dull moment at the Childs!
*I think he loved that the mouth injury allowed him to have a chocolate ice cream bar for breakfast!

Guess who has an opinion??

Since Saturday Gray has refused a bottle. You cannot even get it close to his mouth before he purses his lips and moves his head out of the way. He is just not having it. He eats other food just fine but no bottle. So I took him to the doctor yesterday convinced he had ear infections or a sore throat. The doctor said his throat was a little red but his ears were fine. I was stumped and a bit frustrated to not have an answer. At night he would just cry for hours because he was hungry but would not take a bottle. Not fun times for any of us. So last night Joey figured it out. Instead of putting bananas in his bottle to thicken it, he put chocolate. He downed the bottle. He was not sick, just sick of bananas. We have since let go of the chocolate, not necessary when you are 8 months, and returned to straight formula. He loves it! He hesitates a little until he figures he does not smell the bananas and then drinks away. Such a blessing to have my happy little opinionated babe back!
*Love this picture. He just enjoyed some sweet potatoes and corn!

Are they going to hate me???

Maybe it is the twin in me but I LOVE to dress Nash and Gray alike. Joey thinks I am crazy but I think it is so cute to see them looking so much similar. I am going on the record, promising that this will not go on for much longer. And it is not like I am doing this on a daily basis. There is nothing wrong with the twinner look once or twice a week. So I will enjoy these cute "twin" boys until they have their own opinion about it.

New Do

I am officially letting go. Luke has wanted for a long time to wear his hair down daily as he puts it. I love it when he spikes his hair up. But truth is, he has the cutest face and so it does not matter how his hair is done. So yesterday after basketball pictures, I asked him if he wanted a buzz. He was super excited. I must admit, he looks super cute AND my mornings just got a little easier!

Luke's Great Report

Yesterday we had Luke's second parent teacher conference. He, like his siblings, had been sick all day. But we gave him some Motrin so he could make it to the conference. Mrs. Grimes had nothing but great things to say about our Luke. She said he is very smart and very caring. She said that if she is concerned about another student, she can put them at Luke's table and she knows he will take care of them. She said Luke is a great leader. She has taught Luke how to check for the next day's lunch and has him teach the other students how to do it. He is so far above in reading. He is at a 2nd grade level. They score according to number. For first grade at this point in the year, they should be at an 8 or 9. Luke is at an 18!! What a smart boy. She said that she feels so lucky that Luke is in her class. She said she would be so sad if one of the other teachers got to have him. Of course I teared up a bit when she was speaking so highly of him and of course Luke teased me about it as we left. After the great conference we let Luke go and choose a book from the book fair as a reward. He chose another Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We are so proud of Luke. What a great example he is to the other students in his class and what great example he is to us. We love you Lukie!!

Too much too soon

Either I am getting old or Gray is growing up way too fast. I think it is probably a little of both. I just do not remember any of the others moving as much as he does. He will find any little thing on the floor and it immediately goes in his mouth. The picture shows an Oreo that Nash dropped on the floor. Gray loved it not only in his mouth but all over his clothes. He is starting to climb too; stairs, fireplace, in the shower. He is not even 8 months old! Just feels like all this is a bit sooner than I expected or love! Gone are the days of getting things done. Now my days are spent chasing the little boy who loves to be on the move.

Siblings

I know that at first it seemed crazy to have all these kiddos so close together but I am really loving the blessings. They all play so well together and love to spend time together. Don't get me wrong, there are moments of fighting and biting by Nash but most of the time they love each other. It is so fun to watch them play. Here is how it normally goes: Luke comes up with an idea of what they are going to do. Harlee is so excited and will pretty much do whatever Luke says. Then Nash joins in and just follows them around mimicking their every move. I love to see the close relationships that they are forming. It makes me so excited to think of how they will look out for each other as they get older. What blessings come with the craziness of having 4 kids under 6!

Clockwork

It is fair to say that I do not have the best memory. I think that sometimes that is a blessing. I do not remember how hard the baby phase can be which allows me to keep having babies! Gray is a pretty good sleeper. He usually is asleep by 7:30 or 8pm. He gets up once in the night still which I would not be miss if he could sleep through the night. But he is very consistent with getting up in the morning. He is up every morning between 5:30 and 6am. Not so fun for a tired mom! Good thing he always pops up in his crib with the biggest smile and is so excited to see you. That makes the early mornings a little easier. I have to be honest and say that I do look forward to the days where I can sleep in past 7am!
PS- Such a cute pic. He is making a silly face. I was trying to get a pic while he was wrapped up in his favorite show the Wiggles! He turned for one quick second and smiled before returning to his show.

Luke the Pirate

I love it when teachers obviously do not have kids of their own. Yesterday was such an example of that. Luke came home with a black piece of paper telling me that he needed to make a pirate hat for school tomorrow. I had a RS meeting last night so Joey was going to help. Joey was struggling to get Gray to sleep so Luke tried to make it by himself. That did not go so well and we were so thankful that we had some black card stock. About an hour later I had the hat done and thought it looked pretty good. Luke was super concerned what everyone was going to think and was certain everyone would think he looked stupid. Oh course I reacted like anyone who just spent too much time on something stupid and told him not too worry about it. Too bad he got his mom's issue of worrying what everyone else thinks. So this morning we added corners and staples at Luke's request and a little elastic so it would stay on his head. He promised he liked it and that he would come home and tell me if everyone thought it was dumb! Here's hoping everyone is worried about themselves and don't worry about Luke's hat!

Our Pet Fin

Luke was begging Santa for a dog this year but with four little ones it is just not the time. So Santa brought Luke a fish on Christmas morning. By the afternoon poor "Fin" as Luke had named him had died. We promised to go get more fish right as the stomach flu hit. So on Wed. Dec 29 we went to Walmart and purchased five little $.29 goldfish. They all died pretty quickly but one of them is still thriving! He is "Fin the 2nd" and from the beginning it was obvious he was the strong one. Luke is doing such a great job taking care of him and making sure he gets fed. So he has been with us for 3 weeks now. That has to be some kind of goldfish record! He is becoming a part of the family. Harlee even told me this morning that Fin thinks she is his owner! The kids love him and it is fun to have a little pet in our family.