Trip to Rockaway

Several months ago, my mom asked if we would be interested in taking their week at the beach. She had bazaars and Dad had meetings so they couldn't go this September. I jumped on it! So, ight near the end of the month, we packed up and headed to Rockaway Beach, Oregon for a week of family vacation time.
The thing I love about Rockaway, well 2 things really, is how peaceful it is. Quite a few towns on the coast are so touristy and busy. Rockaway really isn't. The other thing is how much beach there is. Not a rock for miles. At low tide it feels like you are in an entire county of smooth sandy beach.
The unit we stay in has a bed, kitchen, dining in one studio-type room, plus a bedroom with two queens. It was far from E proof--but nothing really is. So that kept us hopping. It also made sue we got out and about everyday! Lots of walks on the beach and trips to the swimming pool.
I never did get a picture of the kids in the pool. They were so cute. Baby M decided the pool was just grand. She splashed her little heart out. :)
Here's a few of the pictures from the adventure.

C helping E fly a kite

M on the same day. For some reason, when everyone else was in shorts, M was bundled. *shrug*


We took a morning trip to Oswald State Park. C took the older 2 over to see some tide pools. They naturally walked in the surf on the way back. Something happened (dunno what still) and G totally went down. Face first. Into a wave. That frosted look to his hair is all sand. His mouth is fine btw, he just needed, like, 5 crackers at once to feel revitalized. He was completely fine. We were just glad it was G and not M that ate it. Or the rest of the day would have been miserable. G is such an adventurer.

The evening walks were more apt to get chilly. Especially for wet little toes. Here's my little E and me, finishing up a walk.

G displying his kelp find. He was too chicken to touch it for awhile, but warmed to the idea eventually. Not long after that, we found a dead squid that had washed up. It hadn't been dead for long, but we don't have a clue as to cause of death. I didn't have my camera and C is a bit squeamish about that kind of thing. So we don't have pictures, but I wish we did. It was huge! And in perfect shape. M had a great time poking at it as we did a semi-science lesson. I would guess the body was a little over 2 feet and the tentacles a bit longer still.

Walking back from town. The boys are racing. You can see just how vast the beach is here. Baby M took all her walks in the wrap, of course. :)

Just lucky ol' me

My scientist at work.
It started snowing last night again and M asked what would happen to the Dead Sea if it froze. We explained that would be nigh on impossible given a) it's geographical location and b) it's salinity. "But what if it got to 0 degrees for 2 weeks?" he wanted to know. Dad suggested he run an experiment. He kept notes even (reluctantly-mom's can be just horrid), and recorded his process, hypothesis and observations.
He stirred in as much salt as his jar of water would hold, drew a line at the water level, capped it and put it in the freezer overnight. The result? Salt water doesn't even come close to freezing in the freezer overnight. Gets dang cold-but no ice.

Grandma and her boys. Can you tell she likes them? Adores, spoils, thinks the world of--yup, true grandma. She had one on her lap. Another felt a little left out. The third noticed that Grandma had become the place to be and well....

M with his new cousin. She was born in October and it took FOREVER, I mean, months, for me to finally meet her. Her momma handed her over first thing, lickety split. Such a smart woman. I am quite in love with my nieces! Of course, can you blame me? Just look at her! And she and M seemed to totally hit it off too. Awwww.

For the past few, well, 15 months, we've been struggling with E's sleep. I am trying to be good about implementing the strategies outlined in Elizabeth Pantley's book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution. It's a great book, I just need to be more disciplined. And maybe not be so careless as to leave trade secrets lying around. Maybe this is why some of them aren't working as well as I'd hoped. Someone got a heads up!

And finally, the joys of my life, my guys. Every gal should be as lucky as me! Aren't they a great looking bunch?

Oh, yeah, I have a blog

Who knew?

Life has been crazy here of course. Not too long after my last post, I took the 3 boys to the coast with my parents. Dad has great pictures at PapaCoyote. So I'll just direct you there, and you can look at his awesome pictures! Who, Me? Lazy?
On the 27th, we celebrated G's birthday. He's 4 years old, people! 4! He got a skateboard and went right out, got on it, and started trying to learn how to do tricks. Naturally. Sheesh. My mom made him a great blanket, Aunt J bought him pads to wear with the skateboard, and GramRe and PaR gave him a Cars playset. And, he got books and clothes. None of which are nearly as exciting a big ol' sugary cake.
Which he begged for for breakfast the next 2 days running. For some reason, the rest of the cake disappeared soon after.
The next day, Sunday, we blessed E at church. It was awesome to have mine and C's parents, and Aunt J there. And our ward family, of course. E wasn't too keen on having all these men put their hands on his head when they could just as well toss him in the air and play with him (I mean, Really!), but he did very well. Next step is a trip to the temple to have him sealed to us.

In other craziness, we have decided to sell this house and buy another before baby comes in May. Yeah, craziness. But I don't want to move with a newborn, or 4 children period, really. And I don't want to give birth in a remodel. We may have found a house. I always assumed we'd move up close to Portland, but in writing out my reasons for moving up vs staying here, the list looks a little pathetic. We have established lives here for 5 years now and there are a lot of really good reasons to stay. Not least of which is our awesome neighborhood. So we have been talking about the house up the street. Is it silly to move 3 houses away? But it's 2,300 sq feet, 4 bedrooms plus a den, and a gardening-ready backyard. As in-greenhouse, garden area and mature apple trees. And who knows what else is in there. The house has sat vacant for about 3 or 4 months now and it's hard to see through all the weeds.
When we went into the backyard (tresspassing, I know!), the kids had a blast. So M said he definitely wanted to buy it. A few days later when we were talking about the amount of work the house needs, he caught something about yard work to be done. "You mean you'd cut out the jungle?" When told we would, indeed, "cut out the jungle," he expressed that any house is as good as the next then. LOL
So, anyone out there an expert in buying a pre-foreclosure? Know of someone who is? Any tips and advice? I'd love to hear it!
But, now I need to get to work getting this house put into shape to sell. And interviewing a few handymen to do the work on things like the shower, ducts and whatnot.
Hey, at least I have my midwife and love her. I can give birth, I just need a home to do it in. That brings me to something else. I want to do some posts about natural birth. Any questions about it? Things you'd like me to cover? Questions about homebirth? Shoot. Even you, David.

Hooray! Hooray!

It's official!
Our lawyer called on Friday to let us know the judge had signed the adoption decree and he had it on his desk ready to mail to us. Hooray!!!
E is now officially ours. At last! It's been such a looooooong process. I'm thrilled that it is over. And now I can go yell at our adoption agency about their ability to complete and forward paperwork without worrying about them disrupting the process. Well, like, legally disrupting, rather than just being inept.
But, Hooray!
Can you tell I'm happy and relieved? It really sucks knowing that your child is not really yours. That he legally belongs to someone else and you have to tell them before you do anything major. As soon as Utah sends along his birth certificate, and we get a social security number, we could just whisk him right out of the country! Now that's freedom.
Umm, anyone want to foot the bill for a family of 5 to travel someplace fun--well, with access to all of M' special food anyway? Anyone? Yeah, me neither.
We celebrated by jumping up and down, grinning and swinging the baby around, telling him "you're ours!" He thought we'd lost it.

Busy kids

Every kid has to learn to wave with their own style. E has his. He cocks his head, pulls up his shoulder, grins from ear to ear and bends at the wrist. Down, and maybe up. When up , he splays all his pudgy fingers out in the cutest wave every displayed. See? Cute!
Kids copy mom. Mom is always wearing E, so G has to do it too. It took him awhile to decide to babywear. A couple of days ago, he brought his doll to me and said it was sad. He said, "he just needs me." Aww. Then he asked if he could wrap the baby. I happened to have a wrap I had made back when E was born, for G. It was a little small, but we managed to tie it in a good sling-tie, and that seemed to be just what his baby wanted. It was so cute to watch him pat his baby while going about his tasks.

He has 2 teeth so far, and goes off and on displaying signs of getting more. I have seen lots of people using the amber necklaces, but wasn't sure if it was worth it. So I asked another mom at our parkdays and she said she just loves it. So I bought one from Three Sisters Toys. It came really fast. I was worried that E would pull at it, but he doesn't seem to notice it's presence. And he looks good in it! Of course, this should increase the number of "cute girl" comments I get now. Ah well. He is a pretty baby.

M will be heading home on Thursday. It will go fast I'm sure. I haven't been very productive, but I haven't had the M entertainment factor either. Check out PapaCoyote's blog for updates on the adventures of M.
(If you're reading this to M, PapaCoyote, please stop now--Spoiler ahead!) I'm a little worried about him coming home with not nearly as much excitement as he's grown accustomed to in Idaho, but I have a plan. I read a comment, an aside in a comment really, about the Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School. Its a summer course for kids that looks like a lot of fun. Don't tell M! It's a surprise. But he should have his invitation letter from Dumbledore by the time he gets home on Thursday. That will give us two weeks. I guess if he really likes it, we could continue it. I think I have the really hard work done. I'll post pictures of my efforts in a week or so. Maybe sooner.

Oh, and I'm reading the book, The Revolution Will Not be Microwaved by Sandor Katz. It's good. I'm enjoying it. Yup, another book about food. This one has a bit of different slant. Good read all in all. I want to read his Wild Fermentation book too. Hopefully this year I can get pickles to turn out. I made saurkraut awhile ago and it turned out well. Need to make more of that too. Brother, are you interested in some fresh, real 'kraut?

Backlog

I have gotten so very far behind on the blog. Apologies. I shall try to update you on our happenings.

First, Father's Day. The Primary (children's organization at church) had this great idea of making ties for the dads. The kids glued and glittered themselves silly a few Sundays before Dad's day. They even decorated some old ties! Dutifully, they kept the secret. On Father's day, a few of their teachers handed out ziploc bags with ties inside to each dad. They even had lots of extras so some special men at church didn't get left out. The men were asked to change out the tie they put on that morning for the new improved one. Here is C wearing his creation. You can't see too well from the picture, but it has lots of sequins, rhinestones and pom poms. Buttons too I believe. Whaddya think?

Thanks to fuel prices, we are joining hoardes of fellow Americans in selling our pickup. It was nice to have (Thanks PaR!!), but it just doesn't make sense anymore to have 3 vehicles. Especially when one of them would cost over $100 to fill up. So. if you know of someone who needs a pickup in pretty good shape for a good price, let me know!


Baby news. My things go fast. First off, wherever we go, the first thing we hear is some derivative of "Look at that Hair!!" E has great 'fro and he wears it well. But what is under there? Cute eh?
So, the skills are blooming. Last post was about E trying to learn to stand. Here he is giving his adorable wave. He's got the wrist thing down! And really, would you even want to follow through on a goodbye to that face? Only the stoniest of hearts would I tell you.


Wednesday, I heard a noise upstairs and figured G was playing in the upstairs hall. I called out to see what he was into. He replied, but his voice came from the living room. Hmmm. I called to M. His voice also came from the living room. Double Hmmm. I run upstairs. There is E, all the way at the top, extremely proud of his accomplishment. I was cautious because I didn't want him to lunge toward me (more on that in a minute). but he calmly turned around and started climbing down the stairs. Wow. Seems all the time playing on the floor pillow has taught him how to get down off a ledge. Phew. I still put up the gate.

When M was learning to walk, he was very cautious. He spent months holding anyone's fingers while he walked around. He didn't actually let go and walk until 15 months. When he did, it was a pretty good walk and he rarely if ever fell down. He is still a very cautious child.
When G was learning to walk, he practiced standing and pulling up. He cruised. He cautiously let go and walked. He took little trips, falling gently. He is still amazingly good at risk assesment. Some people look at him and think he is a daredevil. Not so. He is very talented physically, and very good at deciding how much damage he is willing to sustain.
E is now in the learning to walk stage. I told my mom I think he has decided walking is for chumps and he'd rather fly. He has been practicing letting go and falling back down on the pillow. He pulls up and cruises. When he decides he doesn't want to cruise there, he turns away from his support, spreads his arms out and lunges. Really, just like a giant belly flop. He flies onto the floor and starts his funky crawl. I don't know how he doesn't hurt himself. I think he is going to be one of those kids who dives into things head first.

I will post more later. Currently I need to help a very obnoxious 9 year old. He didn't want to unload the dishwasher this morning. I am a cruel and unfair mom. I haven't been fair since the time I was born (direct quote from 9yo). So he pulled the drawer face off one of my cabinets. Yeah, no shopping trip for me today. We'll be staying home doing chores out the wazzoo to work off the drawer. Oh Joy! Maybe I should list him with the truck. Twofer.

Someone is practicing for something bigger

E has pretty much mastered the art of pulling himself up on things. He's been practicing cruising the furniture. And the walls. Next up, independent standing. He works on this by pushing himself off of things and falling back onto them. His favorite is the bean bag in the living room.




In other news, we are still waiting for spring. We tried going to park days yesterday and I nearly froze. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was COLD! Definitely not June. I hope it really does warm up this weekend like I've heard it's supposed to.

Some people have asked how the food thing is going. Ugh. M hates the restrictions of his diet. I'm hating the restrictions in his diet. He can eat fruit in moderation, meat and vegetables. That's it. Really. Poor kid. He has supplements he is supposed to take but he hates them. For some reason, he just can't get the logic that if he takes them, he will be able to eat more foods. He just complains and "forgets" to take them. I contemplate giving up. I just keep telling myself it will be worth it eventually. Wish I could see that "eventually". Right now it seems I'm spending a fortune on feeding him. Not to mention the daily arguments over what he can eat given what is in the house. And what G can eat. And the rest of the family. Finding a balance between trying to not make it too hard on M to watch everyone eat his favorites, and just plain getting picky G to eat is like walking a tightrope.
I think my temper, and everyone's, is a bit shorter for it all. M has another appt on Wed and I will ask Dr. J what we can do to expand M's diet. He seems to think we can try eggs and raw dairy. I have to admit to being a bit nervous about that. M has had anaphylaxis type reactions to those in the past. But I'm trying not to show that to M at all. I know he has his own anxiety about them (paranoia?) that we have to overcome. I know I'm going to have to hide these foods in order to judge whether he reacts to them. Otherwise he'll give himself a physical panic reaction that looks exactly the same.

We seem to be adjusted to being home. Good thing, grandma comes again next week. M is already planning a months worth of activities. you'd think the kid never saw his grandparents. But we'll have fun.

I did it myself!

I have a surprise for all of you, but first, a bit of E cuteness. He likes to crawl up under the chair, pull himself up and scream in a fun, playful, split your ears sorta way. It's delightful! See?Now, some may believe the rumor that circulates that I may not know how to do my own dishes. That is becuase I don't. Well, not really. I load the dishwasher a few times a day. But I don't handwash. I scrub out the pans when I need them. Same with knives. But I don't often take the time to fill up the sink, wash all the dishes, dry them, put them away and wipe the counters. I blame my kids. Really, I do. There just isn't time to stand in the kitchen.
But the kitchen was getting bad. The weather is nice. I sent the kids outside (I think, I don't remember if they went out or stayed in--this was like, a day and half ago for crying out loud!) and I cleaned the kitchen. Here ya go! It looks awful again already. After all, its a kitchen.


And because I'm a nice mom:This is a castle or something. Isn't it the coolest one you've ever seen?

Oh, and because I need to learn more cooking skills, Mhas been taken off all grains. Hopefully temporarily. But we are going to try eggs and see how that goes. He tested clear for them.

Everytime I turn around...

He's doing this:
E has learned to pull himself up and is full of pride for his new skill. What a whirlwind he's been. He learned to crawl while my mom was visiting in late March, he cut his first tooth almost a month ago now, and now he's upright. He was trying to figure out that whole furniture cruising thing last night. Egads.
Yesterday morning, when C came downstairs, I heard a very distinct "Da!" from E. He has babbled dada in the past, but this time he seemed to connect the sound with the object. My tiny guy is growing up. *sniff* And here Lanna thought she was going to meet my baby.

In other news...

They do know how to get along:
M and G share a loft bed with M on the top. Over M's bed is a large canopy. Sometimes, when he is feeling particularly generous, he allows G to enter his domain. They often cover the whole thing with blankets and set up flashlights. In this picture, they've hauled up a fair sampling of the kid bookshelves and settled in. Cute, no?

Sweetness personified

GramRe is here helping out and the boys are loving it. Here they are getting ready to watch some Wallace and Gromit. Fun stuff!Some pictures of my yard and garden.
Here is my serviceberry. I really hope it produces this year.
Here is the garden wildflower bed ready to go--thanks to GramRe and M!
Look what we found in the yard! A cute bebe!
One finished shirt. Remember my crazy sew-for-all-the-kids idea? G seems to like it. I have the skirt done and all the shirts at least cut out. I still need to start the boys pants. I don't think I'll get the jacket and button front shirts done. I'm okay with that.

Kid pics

My biggest little man. Wow, is he ever growing up! M is getting pretty good about helping out around the house--with a bit of coaxing. I think we've discussed this before?

I can see that mental shift starting to occur where he is moving from being a little child to a tween. It's a fun thing to watch--sometimes.

Everyone loves baby feet. Even the baby! Look at that flexibility!

My little photographer. He actually totally filled the memory card on the old camera. That's 3oo pictures folks. Some of them are even pretty good. I'll have to sort through them and post a couple if I get time.

My mom made matching outfits for the boys. They wouldn't wear the pants this day-except G, but the shirts are cute anyway. I'm going to try again for a complete outfit picture, Mom. And, M--see my laundry chair? I told ya!

Go Baby Go!

E has figured out the movement thing and boy, is he proud of himself! He had figured out how to scoot a few days before it really clicked for him. He was merrily scooting around, getting tired and resting every few minutes when he looked up. Suddenly he realized that he could go and GET that toy over there. He is definitely loving his new-found freedom! I just love to watch his hilarious crawl/scoot thing he has going. Makes me wonder if he will progress to traditional hands and knees crawling or if he'll do army crawl, or just skip to walking someday.

It's all about the baby apparently

Snuggling with Mommy after the bath in the sink. It was lots of fun, but getting more and more frustrating that Mom won't let me grab everything within sight! Oh, and that washing the hair bit? I don't know what all the fuss is about with M and G. I think it's great fun. But it tickles when Mom washes my toes. And I can't help but laugh.


Today, we tried solid food. Everyday, the rest of the family sits around this big brown thing with interesting stuff scattered about. They take cool shiny things and put colorful stuff in their mouths. And they never take it back out! They just put more in! And they refuse to let me play with any of it, except maybe a piece of lettuce once in awhile. But today! Whoo Hoo! Today I got my own shiny thing and some green mushy stuff to put in my mouth. Not at all what I expected. It went down my throat, just like food. I prefer to do it myself. And I think I prefer the shiny thing to the green mushy stuff. Maybe I'll just play with that for a few weeks more.

Look at Me!

M on the playground by our house. Everyone is so glad to have some sunshine at last. The kids like to ride bikes and scooters down to the end of the block and go play. I am thankful that the benches and garbage cans are installed and ready to go. Sitting on the concrete nursing a baby was no picnic. M really wants to host a parkday with our friends once a week here.

E sitting up! Of course, he doesn't stay up like this for long. Eventually he has to make contact with the toes. He still loves his toes most of all. See, all the other toys have a tendency to disappear down to the floor or just out of reach. Not toes. Toes are good little toys and stay right where you want them. What's more is you never have to wait for mom to figure out exactly what toy you want. And even if you do stray and play with another toy, the toes are always there, faithful and true. And they are so gosh darn cute--even mom can't resist playing with them and kissing them!

For your baby fix

E's first time in the stroller. I hadn't really intended for him to ride in one so early (I prefer to wait until they sit very well and do better at regulating temperature and are too heavy to carry), but I threw out my back and was glad to have a way to take him outside for a walk. It helped a lot! E really seemed to like seeing the world in this way too.

Grandma J gave E a gift certificate for Christmas. He got some snazzy new contour diapers (organic!) and a sweet doll with a rattle in it's head. It is organic, colorgrown cotton too. He also has a new T-shirt on back order. It is sage and natural stripe. We'll show it off when it gets here.

E is my only child who has been so determined to remove his diapers. Yes, yes I know, I should be doing EC, but can't figure out how to work that in yet. Maybe soon. Anyway, with a gift certificate we were given for a shower gift, I got some adorable flannel. I sewed up this diaper yesterday as a sample. It snaps instead of velcro--much more baby proof. He likes it! But he kept grabbing the front of it as I took a picture. The pic of the diaper I have is all funky because of the lighting. I'll take some pictures when I get more made. Just look at those chubby thighs!

pictures at last

Momma and the oldest. Also a reference picture of his face for later. This was before the peanut incident. I look a little odd because I'm trying not to drop the camera while G bounces around like the little electron he has been named after.
My three boys. The joy of my life, the cause of all the insanity and deafness. Ain't they cute? Ignore the state of their room. They're in the process of stalling the cleanup process. Showing mom how cute you are sometimes buys you a few minutes. So does guilt tripping her about how long it's been since she last took your picture.

Sleepy, stuffy baby. He's all better now--just stuffy for a few days. But you can see how all this menu planning and recipe re-writing has just worn him out. Me too.