laughing baby

manning has started laughing at us.  and we like it!  if i tickle him or say "ha-ha", he will laugh.  he will also laugh at the kids if they don't move too fast and he can see them.  he is generally a pretty happy kid since getting to the three month mark.  it is such a nice change from the almost constant crying/screaming. (really, it wasn't that bad.  he wasn't colicy.  i don't know how people do it with a baby who truly cries all of the time!) love.

soccer snack

early game at the soccer fields.  it was our turn to bring snack so i went old school and brought whole apples and cheese (we brought juice too) because i don't like all of the junk madelyn normally gets and a friend shared an article about bringing healthy snacks to soccer since the kids are there to get a little exercise.  not a single kid on the team wanted cheese! they said that they didn't like cheese. we brought the little babybell (sp?) cheese wheels in the red wax.  i thought they would be 'fun' and madelyn was pretty excited about it.  i don't think it helped that the mom that forgot last week decided that she should bring snack this week instead.  she brought coco puff cereal bars (pre-packaged) and fruit snacks.  two weeks ago the snack was juice, cookies, graham cracker sandwiches (i.e. cookies), fruit roll-ups and fruit snacks!  what happened to sliced oranges or bananas?!  we don't let madelyn eat all of the post-game 'snacks' because it is just too much sugar.  but maybe it is just us... 

anyway, the game was a little more interesting because it was the first time with a 'real' ref.  he commented that he usually does high school games so this was a little different.  he actually called a 'tripping' penalty/foul (i don't know all of the soccer lingo).  it was also funny because there were several times where is was boys vs. girls because of the way the substitutions happened (the other team had a lot of girls).  madelyn is the tallest one on the field in this short video.  she was running at half-speed most of the game, but still smiling.  love.

smithsonian free day

today was the smithsonian's annual free museum day.  last year we went to the canton art museum and this year we went to the akron fossil and science center.  we used to live very close to the science center but had never gone (i actually thought that the kids might be too young.)  since mason seems to be interested in dinosaurs and madelyn wants to be an archaeologist (and it was free-ish), we went to check it out.  part of the appeal to us is that the akron fossil and science center teaches intelligent design (aka creation).

while we waited for our 'tour' we were taken outside to 'create' airplanes that would fly over the trees from paper that wouldn't on its own (get it - we needed some 'design' for the paper to fly).  the kids enjoyed the activity.  matt and i weren't too sure about launching our airplanes towards people, but no one was injured. (i have a video but couldn't get it to view in this section, it is further down).


mason with his completed airplane (that is his vbs t-shirt)



getting instruction on how to launch our airplanes

i didn't take any pictures inside the science center, but we went on a tour/lecture that lasted about an hour.  the kids did as best they could with so much scientific information and little moving.  there were several fossils they could touch and they were fairly interested in what was being said - it was just a very long time.  i found it to be extremely interesting (matt did too - at least the parts he heard because he was on maddux duty since i was wearing manning).  the last part of the tour was optional and that what when they went through the seven days of creation and explained why it was scientifically justified to be 24-hour days.  i would like to go again when the kids are older and i can read more of the materials available during the tour.

outside there were lots of 'activities' like miniature golf (most of the course was rough), burlap sack slides, a zip line (which we didn't do) and all kinds of swings and playground equipment from my childhood that you don't really see any more (mainly because they are dangerous).  the kids loved it!

it was a very nice and educational family outing.  thank you, smithosian!  love.

madelyn with her "babies"

backpacks all around

mason used a backpack to bring his show and tell to school today, madelyn wears one everyday, and maddux didn't want to be left out.  they all wore their backpacks out to the car.  i had to explain to maddux that he had to take it off or his buckles wouldn't work safely - it took a while.  but he was so cute wearing it into the preschool when we dropped off mason (madelyn gets dropped off drive-through style).  maddux even hung it up next to mason's outside the classroom until i reminded him that he might want it at home while mason was in school.  i tried to get him to take a picture because he had been beaming with pride wearing it all morning, but for some reason he refused.  oh well.  he will need it for school himself next year!  love.

it matches

mason usually does a good job with picking out clothes that match (except when madelyn helps...). Today's outfit didn't really go. when i suggested that his shorts didn't really match his shirt, he went through each color in his shorts and found it in his shirt. i couldn't argue with that, now could i? never mind that they were both plaid! you can see his shirt in the first picture and his shorts in the second. i love this kid! love.

mason perfected his "secret" "i love you" sign for big pop and grandma.  i don't know what prompted him to even try it after school but he shouted out a proud, "i did it!"  he has been working and working for months on getting the right fingers up and the right fingers down.  he is so excited!

waiting in the rain for madelyn's bus with the umbrella he got for his birthday.

manning 3 month pictures

 

me!

this is maddux' constant declaration - "me!" if i ask someone else to close a door, for example, maddux will come running yelling, "me!, me!, meeee!" we have gotten to the point where if i tell him that I asked someone else to do it, he will say, "okay" and not shove them away from the task.

he is just my constant helper and would like to do everything for himself. he does ask for help on tasks once he tries and realizes that he can't do it on his own.

he makes us laugh because he has amazing hearing when it comes to requests - you ask and he comes running - "me!" love.

the talker

all of the kids like to talk. and i always thought that madelyn was our 'talker', but, really, it is mason. where madelyn and maddux ask a lot of questions, mason is mainly narrative monologue (not that he doesn't ask a lot of questions too). he can definitely talk longer than i can listen. he seriously talked to me for an hour straight while i made dinner this week. it has gotten to the point where i have had to ask him to stop talking because i don't know what he is talking about! (i explained that as soon as dinner was ready he could finish telling his story because i could listen better.) he jumps back and forth between real and imaginary ("my house with the blue door") that his stories can be difficult to follow even when giving him all of my attention. but throw in reading a recipe and cooking and I very quickly lose track of his narrative.

i can only hope that he always wants to share his thoughts with us. love.

 

don't move!

after dinner, madelyn wanted to hold manning and for some reason maddux and mason both tried to sit right next to her.  maddux wasn't happy about mason sitting so closely, but i ran to get a camera telling them not to move.  i figure at their ages any picture with all four is better than none.  love.

this is the best of them because maddux was crying

and then daddy got him laughing after mason got up.

more book love

maddux likes to have books read to him and on the rare occasion i do sit down, he is quick to hop in my lap with a book.  he will also take books to bed with him (and bring them into our bed in the middle of the night) and has even taken to bringing a pile to bed with him and laying on top of them (so he knows where they are).  but i am most pleased that he has decided that he can 'read' them on his own!  he brought a few favorites to the table while i was cleaning up the kitchen and the older kids were in school to 'read'.  he asks me the names of things he doesn't know but mainly he counts and 'reads' to himself.  love.

madelyn 'reading'

i use 'reading' loosely.  it is really a combination of reading, sight words and pure repitition (aka memorization).  she can 'read' almost all of these words outside of this context so maybe they are more like sight words right now.  if you ask her, she will say that she is not really reading.  either way, here is madelyn 'reading' some of her little books from school (i broke the videos up so that i could post them easier).  by the way, i love the reading program at her school!  the teacher doesn't want any of the kids to know their 'reading level'.  instead the focus is on building a life long love of reading.  love.

neighborhood party

some of our neighbors "won" a backyard barbecue at a charity auction.  (her husband did make fun of her for saying "won" at an auction.)  and they invited the whole neighborhood over!  it was quite an event with tents, catered meal and a live band.  it has been rainy (and cold) as the sun went down but by the time we headed over (around 6:30pm) it was clearing up.

here is manning gearing up for the party.  he fell asleep when i set him down to put my moby wrap on. i guess his fleece outfit was a little too snugly.

when i told madelyn where we were going (about 30 minutes before we left in case we did get rained out), she was so excited and wanted to make the two kids that live there thank you pictures for having us over.  the boy is in second grade and the girl is in kindergarten at madelyn's school.  they also ride her bus, but they have never formally met. madelyn and sophia were instant friends and spent the whole party together.  i am sure they will be seeing a lot more of each other in the future! 

we all had a great time and it was nice to get to know some of our neighbors better.  i know most of the ladies fairly well from book club, but we didn't know any of the husbands and were working on figuring out whose kids were whose. it rained a little more and it was pretty chilly but the food and band were great!  i was actually surprised at how early in the evening the dance floor filled up!  we have some very fun neighbors!  love.

saturday soccer

the past two weeks madelyn's games have been at 11:20am so we have packed up lunch and eaten field-side.  today was a little on the chilly side...  madelyn was not dressed appropriately at all, but that is what she chose.  at least she didn't complain and it didn't effect her game at all - she had a great assist (she had a steal, took it all the way down the field and 'passed' it to a teammate for the goal) and she scored a goal too!



shows the contrast of how her coach was dressed and how madelyn was dressed.

the very best part (at least for me) was that she smiled the entire time!  we love seeing her out there having fun and doing her best.  she wasn't the only one who was all smiles for the game...

for some reason the kids kept asking for their picture to be taken and then would look away when i pointed the camera in their direction (it became a giggly game).

i like this tough face on maddux - he was just eating his sandwich though.

madelyn loves being on the field!

i think we are going to have to bring blankets next week!  and madelyn might have to breakdown and wear long sleeves and leggings under her uniform.  so fun.  love.

first stroller ride



manning's first stroller ride was not actually planned.  we were a running a little late for picking madelyn up at the bus stop and manning woke up early from his nap.  i have already learned that he doesn't like the wind or the cold so i knew that carrying him wasn't going to work out and there wasn't time to get the sling.  i don't even have the shoulder straps on for the stroller so i was happy he didn't flop forward or slouch to the side.  all things considered, he did really well!  i don't think he was very impressed with the experience though...  love.

boy day at the zoo

i love the fall!  i love sunny days just begging you to spend time outside. mason doesn't go to school on wednesdays and we had a pretty empty day and glorious weather so, of course, we went to the zoo!

we walked madelyn down to the bus stop (something new i am going to try on wednesdays) and then came home to get ready for the zoo.  we were there when it opened and were able to meander through the front part instead of racing past so that we don't eat lunch way too late like we normally do. 

first we spent a long time watching the penguins swim.  mason was waiting for one standing on the edge to jump in.  it kept leaning forward and teasing us but we never did see it dive in.  i think the boys really enjoyed going slower and getting to watch animals as long as they wanted to (madelyn likes to go by fairly quickly).

we were sort of walking with another group of moms and kids (we were just moving at about the same pace) and mason made friends with one of the little girls.  it was sort of neat to see how outgoing mason is; much more than madelyn.  madelyn likes the attention of strangers (adults and children) but mason is more direct - "hi, my name is mason.  what is your name?" or "do you want to play with me?"  he did this several times throughout the day and it just surprised me because i never noticed this about him before (maybe because he is always content to just play with madelyn).

the 'bid deal' at the zoo right now are two baby snow leopards.  they are only on exhibit for a few hours a day and we have even had to wait in line to see them before.  the funniest part is that they are right next to an exhibit with goats (i think they are some special kind - like mountain goats or something) and kids are drawn to the goats when their parents are desperately trying to get them to care about the baby snow leopards.  today the boys were more interested in the snow leopards, but maybe it was because they were playing more than usual.

baby walking up close

the mommy snow leopard

one of the babies was trying to eat the leaves off a tree.

next stop was lunch but the boys wanted to pose on the lion carousel figure since i wouldn't let them ride the real thing (honestly, i couldn't take them all on by myself even if i wanted to because they are too young to ride by themselves).  of course they each had to have a turn sitting 'up front'.

the pirate ship is a huge favorite at the zoo.  there is a slide on the other side too.  mason made friends with some other boys and played 'jake and the neverland pirates' with them for a while.  we don't always get to play here because it gets very muddy with even just a little rain.

more brotherly hugs in the pose

we had a great time.  or at least i thought so until dinner time when matt asked mason what he did today and mason said, "nothing".  even with some leading questions by matt, mason still maintained that we hadn't gone any where and had not even gotten into the car!  we were at the zoo for four and a half hours!  granted, he did fall asleep on the ride home and that might have helped him to forget.  he did finally remember (maddux had remembered and was trying to answer for him) and told dad about it with excitement.  i loved enjoying the day with my boys!  love.

manning at 3 months

manning is three months old today!  it has gone by super fast (as i sure will the rest of his first year - and every year after).  and now that he is over the impatient screaming, he is a true delight.  so here is a little bit about manning.

he is by far the easiest sleeper (and that is saying something because they have all been great sleepers).  even now he goes down awake and we most likely won't hear another peep from him until he starts to wake up.  i give him is last nursing of the day starting around 7:15pm.  he usually 'nurses' until close to 8 and usually falls asleep at some point in there.  he sleeps until around 7am and when he does wake up he just sucks his thumb and waits for me.  i can just hear him moving around on the monitor but he never really cries - very different from the other three who always screamed to eat the second they were awake (or at least it seemed that way).  this easy wake up is also nice because it doesn't wake up madelyn.

for naps he takes one or two 30 minutes - 1 hour naps in the morning and then goes down between 1 and 2 for a long (3-4 hours) nap in the afternoon.  he does usually take one more short (30 minutes - 1 hour) nap from about 5:30 - 6:30 (which is great because i get to eat dinner with the family).  this last nap is the only one in the swing.  all of his other sleeping is done in the crib unless we aren't home and his has to sleep in the carrier.  noise does not bother him at all during naps.  maddux can burst into his room screaming and manning sleeps right through it!

he is getting very good at the thumb sucking and can now manage it in the carrier.  he will still take a pacifier but less and less does he need it.

i have no idea how many times a day he nurses but he does cluster feed (two to three feedings close together) in the morning after waking, in the afternoon before his nap and towards his last nap of the day.

"tummy time" is getting more difficult because he seems to like rolling over, but when he stays put he can lift his head well and has even started to push with his arms a little to try and see someone standing next to him.  i have also noticed that he is focusing on items within reach and moving his arms or head towards them (this leads to some of the rolling over). 

manning is also very chatty when he is awake (and full).  i love all of his little noises and we have even heard what sound like clear words!  matt and i both did a double take when he said "ma-ma" clear as a bell.  he hasn't really said it that clearly since but we both heard it (so i am not just hearing things from sleep deprivation - from maddux, not manning).  he also says, "hi" very clearly several times a day too.  i know that these aren't 'words' but i don't remember the others making such short, clear sounds so early.

he is giggling more too (i think you can hear a little in the video) and seems to be pretty ticklish on his belly, under his chin and on the backs of this thighs.  i can't wait for belly laughs!

i got out the 6 month clothes out of storage and some were already too small!  i am going to get the 9 month outfits washed this weekend.  needless to say, he is a pretty big three month old.  i think his build is going to be more like mason's than maddux'.

manning is a joyful completion to our family.  love.