May 31

After dinner tonight, Caleb told me, "It feels like we didn't do very much today!"

But he and I agreed that even though it felt like we didn't do much, we actually did quite a bit.

We went to church. 

We went to Costco. (Daisy was out of sorts, so Chris wore her on his back in the Ergo, and then she was happy as a clam. I wore Eli in the ring sling, and Caleb and Lily shared the cart. At first, Lily was mad, mad, MAD that she didn't get to ride on Daddy's back in the Ergo, but she got over it when she realized that she got to ride next to her Bubby in the cart.)

We stopped by my Mom's house to play with Max and Jace (who were there because Billy is in the process of re-doing two of the bathrooms in Mom and Dad's house) and have lunch.

Eli got lots of snuggles with Grandma, and even fell asleep on her as she rocked him in her rocker. I think they both enjoyed it.

We took naps - everyone except Chris, that is. I enjoyed a nap with both of my boys in bed with me, which was lovely. This time, Caleb didn't even argue. He just joined us in bed and went to sleep. Love it!

The big two watched a movie while Chris mowed the lawn with Lily on his back and I made dinner with Eli on my back. Lawn mowing and baby wearing aren't really the safest thing, but Chris rocked it anyway.

I gave Lily a bath while Chris worked to install two of the four hanging rods in Caleb and Daisy's closet, and one shelf. We're almost finished with the closet project!

Post-bath snuggles. Lily was so cooperative about bath time! She was the only one getting a bath tonight because she and Chris will be getting up early tomorrow morning for the surgery to put tubes in her ears. They're scheduled to check in at 6 am, surgery at 7 am. Please join us in praying that the procedure is uneventful and highly effective!

May 30

It was a lazy Saturday around here, which was fine by me. I woke to the sound of Caleb and Daisy running and giggling in the front yard around 7 am; thankfully, Chris was out there with them. I still have no idea what they were doing.

Chris took the kids on a trip to the hardware store, and once the little three were down for naps, I took Caleb grocery shopping with me so that Chris could start working on his final paper for grad school. Hooray that grad school is almost done! After he finishes this paper, I just have to give him up for two weeks in August, and then he's finished.

Caleb asked to wear his cape shopping, and of course I let him. You can't tell, but it's a Cardinals cape that was part of the giveaway at last year's Superhero Night. He paired it with a Cardinals muscle shirt and Cardinals shorts. That's my boy. So many people stopped and complimented him on the cape, and he was really pleased. Right before we got into the van after our final stop, he climbed up on the cart corral and said, "Look at me, Mommy! I'm flying!"

Of course Eli was awake when we got home; when I'm home, there's a 75% chance he'll take an awesome afternoon nap. But every time I try to leave after putting Eli down for his nap, he wakes up 10 minutes later. It's like the kid has a sixth sense that tells him when I've left the house. Actually, now that I think of it, I think I've read somewhere that babies can actually smell their moms that well...

When Lily woke up from her nap, Eli and I went in to get her. She wanted snuggles, though, so I put Eli in her crib and pulled her out to cuddle.

Eli loves to be in Lily's crib. His feet are a blur because he was happily kicking and cooing.

Daisy, meanwhile, took a long afternoon nap. 

Chris snapped this picture with his cell phone when he snuck in to grab some closet shelves that needed to be cut to size. Isn't she sweet? And I love her new sheets. 

Now that I see this picture, I remember that Chris' sister Grace had some very similar sheets when we visited her last year. 

(That's 8-month-old Lily. Isn't she hilarious?)

I guess they're not identical, but still. Daisy and Grace must like the same things. Great minds...

So. Daisy was asleep, everyone else was awake, and Chris was across the street where our neighbor was cutting our closet shelves. It was time to start dinner, but Eli was fussing. Of course I grabbed my wrap to put him on my back but...

Lily freaked out. She desperately wanted to be on my back, and wouldn't take no for an answer. Poor baby. It's hard getting kicked out of your position as the baby of the family. Luckily, I watched a few videos about tandem wearing the other day, so I grabbed my size 6 cherry lace wrap, and got to work.

Et voila! Problem solved!

For the short term, at least. Eli was not super-comfortable in his part of the wrap, and I felt like I needed to keep one hand on his upper back most of the time. Also, it is not considered a best practice to use one wrap for two children; ideally, one would use a separate carrier for each child. Also, I didn't center my wrap well, which is why there is such a long tail between Eli and Lily's legs. On the other side, the tail was just a nubbin. Oops. But I was dealing with two screaming kids and it was my first time, so I call it good. Also, no one is screaming in the picture, and in fact, Lily is pretty darn pleased. 

But I was attempting to make dinner one-handed with 35 pounds of child strapped to me, so it was kind of challenging. Luckily, Chris came home maybe ten minutes after I wrapped the kiddos up. Lily did not want to get down, and I was about to wrap her to Chris' back when he suggested the swing. Wrapping and swinging are Lily's two favorite things, so she was happy to get down.

Once Lily was outside and happily swinging, I was able to do what I wanted to do in the first place: wrap Eli on my back. 

Ten minutes later, he was sound asleep. Babywearing FTW.

(In case you're wondering, Mom, FTW = For The Win. It means I'm winning because I can wear my baby. Wouldn't you agree?)

May 29

A few weeks ago, I mapped out a rough outline of what our summer weeks would be like. I decided then that Friday would be "Adventure Day".

Today was our first real Adventure Day, and I wanted to do something exciting and new. But when I spread out the cards with all of our options in front of Caleb, he chose an old favorite: playing in the sand at a local beach. We invited Stella and her mom, Jessica (who is 39.5 weeks pregnant!) to join us, and had a lovely time.

It was an overcast day, with storms forecast for the afternoon, but the kids still wore sunscreen and their sun hats. And of course Daisy wore a party dress to the beach. Doesn't everyone do that? This dress is her current favorite, and she wears it everywhere.

This was the first time Stella had been to this beach, but she knew just what to do in the sand.

Jessica, Eli, and I lounged on our blankets in the shade, but apparently it was still pretty bright in the shade?

Several times during our visit, dark clouds rolled in. We really thought we were going to be rained on, but it always passed.

Then we broke out the bubbles.

Jessica is much more patient than I am - she helped all of the little ones with their bubbles. I meanwhile, took pictures and bounced a tired Eli in his ring sling.

Hi, sweet Lily!

The girl rubbed sand into her hair, creating a complete mess. Even after a bath and vigorous shampooing, there is still sand in her hair.

Eli eventually fell asleep in the ring sling. And then, when we weren't even expecting it, the rain came. At first it was light, and we thought we could ride it out. We moved most of our stuff to the shelter of a tree and tried to feed the kids lunch, but soon the rain came down in earnest. Jessica and I hurried to gather everything up and scrambled to get all of the kids to our cars. She lives the opposite direction from us, but we both found that when we got to our homes it was sunshiny and beautiful. So it goes. The kids still had a great time at the beach!

Once we were home, I quickly threw the older three kids in the tub to wash off all of the lake water. Then lunch, then naps...Around 3:00, Eli woke up. Once again, I tricked Caleb into climbing into the big bed with us, and once again I was rewarded with the sweet, sweet silence of all four children napping at the same time. It was lovely, and it lasted about an hour and a half.

After dinner, we headed to the pool. Chris has taken the older three to the pool twice already this week, so they were old pros.

Caleb is a little fish, and enjoyed swimming on his own and playing with the kick board and inner tube.

Daisy was much more cautious: she stuck to the shallow section and the kiddie pool.

Lily mostly stayed out of the water,  unless Chris was holding her. But isn't she cute in that polka-dot suit?

Eli was content to lay on a blanket and kick his legs and wave his arms.

What, you want to see a video of Eli's delighted wiggling? If you insist...

I am confident that he was wiggling and kicking like this because he really, really wanted to get in the water with his siblings. But since he's so little, and it's so early in the season, and it's rained so much lately, I kept him out. Cold pool water just sounded no fun to me.

Caleb whole heartedly disagreed, and had a blast in the water.

Daisy had a great time, too.

Even Lily had fun at the pool, even if she was apprehensive about almost everything.

And she really enjoyed when Chris took her into the deeper water.

It was a fun Friday evening.

May 28

Eli is four months old today, and we filled the day with activity.

Eli's four-month checkup was scheduled for 10:00, so I decided to load the kids in the van an hour early so that we could play at a new park and burn off some energy before the appointment. (The last time I brought all four kids for one person's appointment was a disaster, and I didn't want to replicate it.) We visited our third new park of the summer, and had a lovely time playing.

Caleb rated the park an 11 out of 10, mostly because of one thing: a giant faux rock climber. The park was a pretty typical modern playground, except that the coolest slide could only be accessed by climbing up or climbing across the giant fake rock. It was probably at least ten feet high, with no guard rails or anything. Caleb was terrified, but he really wanted to do it. I was really impressed by his bravery, but halfway across he froze up and wanted to quit. I had to lay Eli on the ground and climb up the climber to reassure him and encourage him to keep going. He finally made it, and was so proud of himself!

He didn't attempt it again, though.

Then on to Eli's checkup. My little man clocked in at 13 pounds, 2 ounces!!!!!

(!!!!!)

That puts him in the 10th percentile, and means that he has gained nearly 3 pounds in the last not-quite 4 weeks. How about that? I'm seriously impressed. His head circumference was in the 40th percentile, but his height hasn't kept up with the rest of him. At 23.25 inches long, he is not quite on the charts right now. I suppose his next growth spurt will be in length!

Developmentally, we are still seeing some delays with Eli. His communication and interpersonal skills are right on track for a normal baby, but he is slightly delayed in fine motor and problem solving skills. His gross motor skills were technically slightly delayed, but he did several things today that he couldn't do when I filled out the form last week, so I'm pretty sure he's actually on track there. Our doctor told me that even though Eli was "only" five weeks early, it could take him up to a year or fifteen months to fully catch up.

Other than that, the kid is perfect. He was a gem for the doctor, and she and I celebrated the fact that Eli is finally nursing like a normal baby. At his last appointment, two months ago, we were still struggling with nursing due to his prematurity and the awful mastitis I fought for a month and a half. Back then, my doctor warned me that it was possible I may never regain a full milk supply in my affected breast. Eli was unhappy, took forever to nurse, and often still required bottles to supplement what he was getting at the breast. But now? The kid is happy, efficient, and I am making milk like a champ. Praise the Lord! I will never again take breastfeeding my baby for granted - it is a blessing.

While Eli was a gem for the doctor, the other three... not so much. My brilliant plan backfired, and they were crabby and whiny. When we left the office, Lily had her first-ever on the floor, kicking and screaming tantrum. Remember how a few weeks ago I wrote that she was my current favorite because she's at such a cute and funny age?

Not anymore.

We  got home around 11:20, and the kids got to watch the movie they picked out at the library yesterday. Since today was movie day, I even let them have popcorn for lunch. (And other food, too. Don't worry, Mom!)

I got the three little ones down for my nap, got dinner prepped, and  was ready for a hard-earned rest... except for Caleb. He needed to rest but refused to do it. Finally I convinced him to snuggle with me on the couch... and then Eli woke up.

Caleb was excited to go in to snuggle with Eli, though!

I suggested that we all rest on my bed, and Caleb was adamant that he was not taking a nap.

Thirty minutes later.... 

The kid was out cold, and slept until Chris got home from work.

With the big three napping, Eli and I snuck away to do his four-month pictures.

Of course I used his new wrap as our background!

This was one of the gross motor things that Eli couldn't do just a few days ago. Way to go, Eli!

Happy four-month birthday, little man!

At four months old, he:

coos, goos, gahs, giggles and laughs

wiggles but doesn't roll

is working on rolling from his back to his front

sleeps from about 8:30 pm to 9 am each day

sleeps in bed with me, so he nurses all night long

can stay awake during the day for about 90 minutes at a time

loves to be worn

loves to be outside

smiles, and even stops nursing just to smile up at me

has become a very content, good-natured baby (mostly)

How about some video of Eli being adorable?

He laughs every time I bring his foot up to pat his little face. (Yes, mom, babies bend like that. I promise I wasn't hurting him.)

Lily woke up just as we finished our photo shoot, so Eli and I went in to get her. Despite her long nap, she was still in quite the mood. She refused to let me get her out of her crib, but she didn't want me to leave... finally she grew happier when I asked if she wanted me to put Eli in her crib.

Look at their faces! Lily is so happy, and Eli looks terrified, like I threw him to the wolves.

"Please, Ma! Get me out of here!"

Lily may be a stinker, but she loves her baby so much!

Hi there, handsome!

(Ok, so that's not the cutest picture. But still. He's hilarious.)

May 27

It is my 17th day being dairy-free.

It was another day of highs and lows. 

My husband is at the baseball game, and I handled dinner, bathtime, and bedtime all by myself.

I need a drink.

I may have already had a margarita.

I realize that single moms and women whose husbands travel do this all the time, but let me tell you: running the house with four children all by myself is hard work. I started the day with high hopes and lots of patience, but by dinnertime, my stock of patience was all gone.

We started the morning right, though. Before Chris left for work, he made the kids his specialty pancakes: grain-free peanut butter banana chocolate chip. While we were eating breakfast, Daisy drew this:

She said, "Mommy! I wrote your name!" Later she added "Baby Daisy" to my arms, and feet with six toes each. But I was overwhelmed by the fact that my barely-four-year-old is already writing words all by herself. I can't even begin to express how exciting it is for me to watch my children learn to read and write.

After breakfast, we went to the chiropractor. This Friday will mark six weeks since I broke my leg, and it is supposed to be healed. But I've still been having significant pain, and my chiropractor confirmed today that my pelvis is rotated from limping, there is still swelling at the injury site, my pain seems to come from the fracture and not the surrounding muscles, and (per her "tuning fork") my bone is still broken.

Boo, I say.

But she did some ultrasound on my leg, which helped quite a bit. And I am feeling closer to normal today, so I'm going to say that I am on the road to recovery. It's just not a road that ends after six weeks, apparently.

After the chiropractor, we stopped at another new park (our second so far this summer), and then visited the library. Each kid got to check out three books, plus one book at Caleb's reading level. We also chose a movie for tomorrow - Movie Day!

When we returned home, it was nearly lunch time and definitely snack time. Lily was in rare form today, screaming at the drop of a hat. The whole way from the park to the library, she screamed and cried for a snack. Every time she cried, I said, "Lily, I have an apple. Would you like an apple?"

"NO! NO-EEE!"

repeat.

She's not even two, but she is already showing me where the "terrible twos" came from.

When Lily woke up from her (much too short) nap this afternoon, we snuggled on the porch swing. It was so sweet, but the moment I pulled out my camera to document the sweetness, she looked like this:

Can you tell she's shouting, "NOOOOO!"?

Poor Eli doesn't know what to think.

Right after this, Caleb told me that my arms look chubby. We had a talk about how it's fine to call babies chubby, but grown-ups feel sad when you call them chubby, so we shouldn't do that.

 But he's right; my arms do look chubby. I blame it all on my stupid fibula.

Then, while I made dinner, Lily did this:

Aren't her little toes adorable?

Dinnertime involved screaming, too. Daisy  didn't want to eat, Eli was hungry and tired, and Lily kept pushing her chair back from the table, then screaming because she couldn't reach her food. 

Bath time and bedtime were similar. It has been a rough day, and I am so glad it's over! 

May 26

It was a day of highs and lows for us today.

We started out with breakfast on the front porch, which was fabulous. It had just finished raining, and it was cool and lovely.

The kids sat on a blanket on the porch and ate these breakfast cookies with almond milk, while I sat on the porch swing with coffee and cookies of my own.

When Lily saw that I had my camera out and was taking a picture, she grinned and ran over to the little bench. 

The silly monkey wanted her picture taken there!

(Also, is it any wonder that half of her socks have no mates? The girl goes through at least three pairs a day, discarding them randomly around the house.)

Eli is getting wiggly - I think he's trying to figure out how to roll over.

Not cool and lovely? This child: 

I think maybe it is the cumulative effect of two days without naps, but the girl was crabby all morning, bursting into tears for no reason. It made for a long morning. 

Usually outside time helps, so we went to the back yard. I laid Eli on a towel in the shade while I pulled weeds from my garden, which has been neglected for the past five and a half weeks. The kids played, I weeded, and Eli wiggled and cooed, until he began crying a little bit. I scrambled to finish up, when I looked over and noticed...

He was sound asleep. Since he was content, I was happy to keep working, but then Daisy started crying about something.

Eventually I declared it an early-nap day, fed all the kids lunch at 11:00, and put them down for naps around noon.

Except for Caleb, that is.

One of my goals for this summer is a program I'm calling "Afternoons with Grandparents", in which Caleb's grandparents - or any willing adult, really - comes over and takes Caleb on an adventure while the little ones nap.

My mom had the day off today, so she and my nephew Ryan came over to take Caleb on his first adventure. I put our spare car seat in Mom's car, and then ran inside to grab some things for Caleb. Mom and I got to talking, and then I realized that I didn't know where Caleb was. Finally, I found him buckled into his car seat, waiting patiently. The kid was so excited for his afternoon with Grandma!

First, they went to my mom's work and planted flowers in the planters there. Then, Mom rewarded their boys for their hard work with a meal.

Look at that grin. Kid knows he's getting away with something - look at that grilled cheese and fruit punch! To be fair, Mom asked if I had any food restrictions for Caleb and I said no. I'm not surprised by the grilled cheese, but that fruit punch makes me itchy. Oh well. It was Grandma time.

Then they played the claw machine, and Caleb won a stuffed animal all by himself!

Before she brought him home, they made one more stop: a playground. 

You are looking at one happy boy.

Ryan even swung with him!

While they were gone, I had fun, too. My Mother's Day gift finally arrived in the mail - a new wrap.

(I know. Another new wrap?!?! But it's so lovely, and in a size I don't have, and it's so lovely!)

While the little ones slept, I laundered it. 

Beautiful, isn't it? It definitely needs some breaking in, though. Eli and I worked on that, trying out all kinds of carries with it. 

ruck with a candycane chest belt and ring finish

another variation of a ruck 

(his little toes kill me!)

front wrap cross carry with rings at shoulder

It is a beautiful wrap, and I'm so excited to have it in my arsenal!

Lily was also excited to have it in our arsenal; when she woke up from her nap, she immediately noticed the new wrap, knew it was a wrap, and wanted to be up. Of course I obliged, but eventually I reached a point where I really needed to put her down.

Meanest mommy ever.

The girl was distraught. 

But dinner was ready, so we all ate. It was early, because Caleb had his first kickboard team practice tonight. (I know, busy day!) My wonderful husbando took the three older children to the pool while I stayed home with Eli, who refused to sleep.

After the pool, they stopped by Chris' parents' house to wish his dad a happy birthday. Finally, they all returned home to me, tired and happy. 

Lily wanted to hug her brother before bed, and actually did a remarkably good job at not smooshing him!

And then Daisy saw that Lily was holding Eli, and she absolutely had to have a turn, too.

So. Highs, lows... we had it all today. Thank goodness it's over!