Noah in March and April

It's been a busy couple of months for Noah.  They grow so fast when they are so little!  Biggest news - Noah is on the move and has two new teeth.

Noah is still fat, surprise surprise.  He seems to have really chunked up the last couple weeks, so I think he will get taller soon.  He went to the doctor a few weeks ago when  he had roseola (of course, we didn't know it was roseola, or I wouldn't have taken him in) and he was a good 22 lbs.  I am sure he weighs more now.  He is growing out of some of his 12 months clothes, depending on the outfit, but isn't really tall enough for 18 month clothes.  Kind of an awkward stage.  His hair is long and growing - kind of with a curl to it, especially when it is wet.  His hair keeps getting in his eyes, so he is really due for a hair cut again.

Noah has cut down on nursing the most of any of my kids.  He still gets distracted during the day and also never asks to nurse.  I usually forget about it until he gets pretty fussy.  He will sometimes go 4 or 5 hours without nursing.  He still wakes up to nurse once at night and I doubt that is going anywhere.  But he is a little demanding when it comes to nursing.  If I pump, he knows.  And when he wakes up at night, even if it has been a couple hours, he is MAD (he also has an anger problem compared to the other kids at this age ...).  He will nurse a bit and then get mad that there isn't as much in there as he thinks there should be.

But boy, can he eat.  Yeah, he only did spoon food for probably a month.  Now, he just eats anything and everything he can get his hands on.  He can eat a cheese stick almost as fast as Logan!  He eats cereal or eggs or fruit or whatever he gets for breakfast.  He eats cheese sticks and crackers and fruits (really loves grapes and strawberries) and sandwiches and hot dogs and pasta and whatever he can get for lunch.  He eats pretty much what we do for dinner - pizza, turkey burgers, fish, beans, pasta, etc.  He makes a royal mess, but loves to eat.  We have to plan on 6 for meals now!

Moving - for most of the last couple months, he has been kind of rolling and swiveling to get what he wanted, then he added in some scooting.  But the last week, he has really gotten the army crawl to work.  He can get around now and he does.  He will try to crawl after us and will crawl as soon as he spots his favorite toy (TRIO blocks - long ones - he would prefer to have one or two in his fist all day and night to chew on as desired.  He also loves Lego blocks (though those come in second place), especially little guns, helmets, and heads that he likes to hold in his chipmunk cheeks.  I swear - I will think they are all picked up and he will find one!  He has no interest in baby toys, but loves to chew on whatever his brothers play with.  He likes to crawl around in the playroom, but he still likes to be held a good chunk of the time.  He doesn't like to contentedly sit though - he wiggles around and tries for you to hold him or tries to plunge to the ground.  Anything but sit still.  Let me tell you - between the four of them and Katsu on the stand, sacrament meeting is non-stop movement and chaos in our row.

Noah has two teeth on the bottom.  He seems like he's been teething the last few days, but I don't know if he is ready to get more teeth yet.  He doesn't suck on his thumb as much, but he does when he goes to sleep.  It's like a reflex - give him his gray blanket, he sticks in his thumb, and he closes his eyes.  So cute.

He sleeps ... differently than the other boys.  He is becoming more resistant to sleep (more fun things to do) and also seems to need his naps a little less.  As long as he is sleepy and it's reasonably quiet, you can lay him in his bed and he'll go to sleep, though it will often take 15 minutes or more for him to fall asleep.  As long as he has his blankie, he is good to go.  He resists more going to bed at night now.  He'll fuss and not sleep and eventually I'll go back in, maybe nurse him again since he didn't nurse well before, and maybe repeat again before he will finally go to sleep.  He will not fall asleep in your arms unless under duress (i.e. church and he is finally so tired he can't resist), so I can't rock him to sleep, so I don't really have any tools up my sleeve, except his crib and his blankie.  He has been waking up really early the last week or two - like 5 am.  Some days I am successful at getting him back to sleep, sometimes not.  I am hoping it is just a very short phase.  He takes two naps almost every day.  Usually one is a good one - like 1.5-2 hours, and the second one is somewhat shorter.

Noah is not super cuddly.  He likes me to be around and will check in, but he wants to face out and see the world.

Fun Things

• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - Noah was cold, but got a cute picture with easter bunny
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom.
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.  Seth went on everything he was tall enough for.  He even went on a water ride (Pompeii) that I think was a little scary for him.  We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.  Of course, the whole thing was a little crazy for Noah, but he did great.  It's only a 3 hr drive and he slept most of the time.  And we just put his pack and play in our bedroom and he did just fine sleeping at night.
• Basically living on the sidelines of soccer games and baseball practices.

Seth in March and April 2015

This has been a very busy two months for everyone, but Seth especially.  Soccer started the first week in March and Seth has had a game every week and the last couple weeks, two a week.  Seth LOVES soccer.  It is his true love.  He is always trying to get anyone he can to play with him.  He is very serious about it and wants everyone to play exactly by the rules, which can sometimes turn the neighbor kids off from it.  Poor kid - he would just be happiest playing soccer games every day all day long.  He is doing well on his team.  His coach is not the best, but Seth is still loving it and making anywhere from 2-8 goals per game.  He is a little jumping bean, jumping up and down in excitement but always seems to be in the right place, anticipating everything, good about getting in and turning the ball around and making lots of goals.  He is a great goalie, too, and has made some really nice saves this year.  After a game is over, Seth doesn't want to leave the soccer field and wants to keep playing soccer.  When we finally realized he should have a soccer birthday party for his party this year, he can't stop thinking about his party either.  Seth's dream in life is to be a professional soccer player and he talks about it often.

Besides soccer, Seth just started playing baseball.  He has had a few practices and seems to be doing well.  Right now, he has two practices a week.  After three weeks of practices, the games will start so we will see how those go.  I find it a little stressful trying to manage four boys at all this games and practices.  But Seth would be happy to just play sports all day every day.

Otherwise, Seth is busy with school.  Kindergarten is still going well.  He reads well (well above grade level), but when it comes to testing he hasn't shown any improvement this year because you have to read and answer questions in writing, which is tough for a Kindergartener.  His teacher says that his writing has become a lot more focused and clearer, so he is making improvement!  He likes to read the leveled reader books - like levels 2 and 3.  The short "chapter" books that have about 4 chapters.  He is not quite ready for books like Magic Tree House, though he can read them.  They are still a little long for him.  He still really loves Ricky Ricotta books the best.  He has continued to do really well with math and has learned addition with carrying and subtraction with borrowing.  His teacher has also started to teach him money and measurement.  He and another boy get extra math lessons from the assistant teacher because they are so far ahead.

Seth went on his first field trip in April.  They went to the Nuese Riverway Nature Center (or something like that) in Kinston and got to see animals and nature stuff.  But what I mostly heard about was how they got to go get pizza at Pizza Inn afterwards and how they got to ride the school bus.  It sounds like he had a lot of fun.  He also had field day last Friday and I think he had a lot of fun.  I saw some pictures and it looked like fun, and boy, his clothes sure got dirty to prove it!  Too bad they couldn't come in play clothes instead of uniforms.  In March, they had Jump Rope for Heart, which was fun.  Seth's class also won for the kindergarten classes in the Box Top drive, so they got free snow cones from the Kona Ice truck at school.

Seth has been doing really well with piano.  He is very diligent at getting his practicing done each week, but he also just seems to enjoy it and will sit down and play at other times.  He finished the 1A books and is now on level 1B.  He really enjoys playing the duets with me.  He is very good at counting and getting the beats alright and is really starting to learn his notes well.

Seth is also good at remembering to do his chores.  He is in charge of gathering all the trash each Monday and remembers to do it without asking.  He always wants to do what is right and gets really stressed out when he thinks he can't get it done.

Overall, things have seemed to go well for Seth this month.  He is pretty mellow most of the time except when he freaks out about certain things (like having to clean the upstairs or not getting to play video games when he wants).

Fun Things in March and April

• Jump Rope for Heart (he got enough donations to get a couple ducks and a free jump rope)
• Starting soccer
• Friend's birthday party at Jump Fit.
• Ward Chili cookoff and talent show - Seth was so upset we didn't tell him about this beforehand so he could get a talent right.  Like fuming upset.  I guess we'll have to prepare better next year and he can play the piano.
• Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day - I also made a little treasure hunt with clues for the boys to find some candy leprachaun hats that I had made.  The boys loved it and had a lot of fun finding it hiding in Katsu's closet.
• Little Princess musical - I went with Seth and Andrew.  The boys were perplexed at the beginning by all the singing and kept asking me when it was going to be done.  The first act did start out pretty slow, but I think they enjoyed it.  They kept asking me when "half time" was - i.e., intermission.  They fell fast asleep on the drive home, all tangled on top of each other.  Pretty cute.
• Neighborhood easter egg hunt - boys rode their bikes over and grabbed tons of eggs.  A cold day, but a lot of fun.  Seth and Andrew were too cool to take a picture with the easter bunny, silly boys.
• Went to feed the homeless with Katsu.
• Katsu was out of town a couple times, so extra time with mom (and more TV time than usual).
• Watching the play of Treasure Island with Katsu.  We had tried listening to the book on tape on a trip earlier, so I think Seth sort of knew the story.  The story was pretty well done and Seth enjoyed it.
• A sort of abbreviated Easter celebration week - we talked about Palm Sunday, watched some of the church Easter videos, did a Jesus dinner on Thursday and had hot cross buns, but Katsu was out of town most of the week and then he was home for a day and then we were out of town, so it was kind of crazy.
• Easter egg hunts at school - they all came home with tons of candy and toys and eggs.  Craziness!
• SPRING BREAK!!!  On Friday morning, we drove to Williamsburg and then we went straight to Busch Gardens.  We bought season passes and were able to get free ones for Seth and Logan.  The first day, we went to the first Sesame Street place and did all the rides and ended up waiting in line for awhile.  Once, we got outside of that part of the park, we were able to see lots of other things.  There were rides for the kids everywhere and lots of fun ones.  Seth went on everything he was tall enough for.  He even went on a water ride (Pompeii) that I think was a little scary for him.  We even got to see animals and watch a couple shows - Irish Dancing and a wild animal encounter show.  After we were all thoroughly worn out, we checked into our hotel.  We were staying in a vacation rental and had two big bedrooms and a full kitchen and a patio.  The boys LOVED it.  We went to Trader Joes and got all of our favorite foods and ate like kings over the weekend.  The second day, we had breakfast and then went to Busch Gardens again.  This time, we had a better idea where to go and we didn't wait in as many lines.  We got to ride everything and it was really fun.  The boys all had a blast.  Once we were worn out and had done everything, we went back to the resort.  The boys all went to mini golf and the pool while Noah took a nap.  They LOVED it, especially the mini golf.  Then, they came home and all slept in one of the bedrooms and got to watch Nick and all the cable shows.  They were in paradise.  And even better - on Sunday morning, they woke up and the Easter bunny had come.  They ran all over searching for eggs.  We packed up, checked out, and drove to Great Wolf Lodge and bought a wand and the boys worked together and did MagiQuest, for like 5 hours!  By then, we beat the first dragon and were SO worn out!!!  So, we drove back to NC to enjoy the rest of the spring break.
• The rest of the spring break, we just relaxed.
• One day of spring break, I took the boys to an Andean and South American music concert.  Seth was so tired.  He seemed to enjoy it, but his eyes were drooping and he feel asleep.  But I think he really enjoyed going to a concert.
• Seth and I went to go see Curious George (along with Logan).  It was a musical, a lot like the TV show.  I think Seth really enjoyed it and the story line.  It was pretty cute and surprisingly well done.
• Pirate Fest - the boys got to see a BMX show while chowing on free chips and drinks.  Seth was walking in his cleats the whole time from soccer which was a little tiring, but it's always fun to see the whole town dressed up as pirates and we even saw a live mermaid this year!  The boys played games and earned candy along the river and then we cooled off with some ice cream.  It was a lot of fun, even after two tiring soccer games!
• Camping with Dad and Andrew and Logan for a ward campout.  The boys had a blast - smores, foil dinners, playing with friends, in the water, etc.  
• Field day at school

Seth in January and February 2015

Seth Seth Seth ... in some ways he is the easiest child because he is such a peacemaker and tries really hard to be helpful.  On the other hand, he tends to freak out and get stressed and anxious about the most things.

School is going really well.  Seth has been doing awesome in school and I think he enjoys it.  It's hard to tell.  Seth comes home and every day if you ask him how his days was he will spell B-A-D.  But in truth, I think he has good days and enjoys school and is just a bit contrary (he obviously gets that from me).  His teacher has been so wonderful about differentiating things for him.  She has been teaching him and another student carrying and borrowing in math.  Still, I wonder how challenging school is and if he is getting too bored.  I am planning on meeting with his teacher soon to see what she thinks he should be doing next year.  Because I highly doubt 1st grade math is going to be the least bit interesting or challenging for Seth, but I am not really sure what alternatives we have.

Seth loves to learn, though, especially math.  I bought some workbooks for the summer, but Seth has already dived into the math one and loves doing the work.  He still needs to work on memorizing some of his math facts, but he is awesome at doing his work.

Seth has very neat handwriting, but his spelling is completely hilarious.  His binder from kindergarten is getting so large because I love keeping all the things he is writing because they are so funny, once you can finally decode them.

Seth's reading has improved quite a bit this year.  He still doesn't read enormous amounts like Andrew, but I don't think he has quite gotten to that degree of fluency (though his fluency is up a lot).  I also think he just has more varied interests than Andrew as well.  I also have a hard time what he has actually read and what he just looks at the pictures.  Maybe he really has read all the books he has said, but sometimes I think he is just being agreeable because he wants to be able to read all the books Andrew has.  That said, Seth loves books that are more like graphic novels.  He was in love with the Ricky Ricotta series.  I have also enjoyed finding the kids easy reader chapter books, like the Mercy Wilson series and he has really loved those.  There are so many more books and at such a varied level than there were when I was young.

We have been enjoying some read alouds.  Seth really enjoyed Pippi Longstocking books and laughed out loud heartily to them all.  He also seems to be enjoying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Seth is very diligent about doing chores and piano practice and anything else.  He is very very motivated by screen time - especially being able to play Lego star wars on their webpage or able to play video games.  I used to be worried that he wouldn't be able to ever stop playing, but he has gotten much better.  He still spends most of the playing time jumping up and down the whole time.  It is really so cute.

Basketball went well, more or less.  Seth doesn't really get the drift of the game as well as he does soccer.  He got the ball only occasionally but basically just passed it off to someone as fast as he could.  He spent most of every game jumping up and down.  I am so glad that basketball is done.  He wants to play again next year, but I would rather not.  He got a medal, so he thought that was pretty cool.  Soccer is starting this weekend, and I think he is going to totally love it.  He is getting pretty excited.

Otherwise, he loves to play Legos and army, look at books, play the new piano, and run around with all the neighbor friends.  He has really been fun.

Well, I gotta go and get Logan from preschool or I would write more.

Logan in January and February 2015

So, Logan used to be a sweetheart ... and then he turned 3.  You can still see the sweetheart peeking through sometimes, but he has become a very big and loud handful.  Logan now throws fits regularly.  Sigh.  And he also is just ... obnoxious.  He will make this weird laughing noise and then kind of flail around on the floor like a worm.  Or spaghetti.  Or something.  If he wants something, he wants it right then and he will take it.  He also refuses to potty train, but will hide if he is poopy and it is like this epic 30 minute battle to find him and change it every time ... and he poops like 4 times a day.  He hides when he try to change his clothes and it is another epic 30 minute battle trying to do that.  He has a super sensitive gag reflex and it takes another 30 minutes to convince him to clean his nose and then you have to hold him down while he is screaming and crying and then he is mad at you and hiding from you for another 30 minutes.  He won't put on socks, puts his shoes on so loosely they continually fall off and takes both socks and shoes off anytime he can.  He is lucky to be wearing anything on his feet by the time I take him out of church along with Noah.  Between the two of them, we are lucky to last about 20 minutes in sacrament meeting.  He has started having nightmares each night and then will go into his brothers room and wake them up early in the morning.  We finally told him to come in our room instead - that is how desperate we are - because the whole house has been waking up at like 5:30 in the morning.  And everyone is tired and grouchy.  He asks for water about every 10 minutes but always spills his glass.  Seriously, probably two or three times a day he spills his entire cup of drink.  He asks for food about every 30 minutes.  He probably eats twice as much as me.  Lately, he eats too much and then complains of stomach aches, and then spits whatever is in his mouth that he no longer wants to eat out.  Lovely.  Suffice it to say, three is fun.  In fact, today in his sunbeams class, he said he was a ninja and painted his face with red paint.  At church.

He really isn't all bad, but he has seriously become a handful.  I kind of want to hide from him until he is potty trained and well behaved again.  At least he goes to preschool.  He is a funny kid.  He still talks in funny complete sentences.  He loves Noah and loves to spend a lot of time entertaining him (yay!).  He talks to him and tries to make sure that he is happy when he is going to preschool.  He says funny things.  Today it sounded like Noah said his name.  Logan said "But he didn't say my middle name".  I asked Logan if he even knew what his middle name was.  He said "I like cheese sticks."  It was pretty funny.

Logan does well at preschool.  He hardly went this month because of all the snow days, but he really likes it.  He was super excited about his Valentine's Day party, a little confused about how exactly the valentines worked, but excited.  He picked out Star Wars valentines for his friends, because he likes whatever characters his friends liked.  He ate all the candy he got in like one sitting.

Logan no longer bonks down the stairs.  I guess he is growing up.

He is doing fine in Sunbeams.  The first couple weeks were a little rocky - he wasn't sure and wanted me or Katsu to be there.  But now he is great.  His teacher buys him all kinds of little toys and treats.  He thinks it is wonderful.  When he isn't painting his face red or being a ninja.  Ha ha.

He loves his older brothers and they are playing better together but it is still a bit rocky sometimes.  They like to wrestle and fight and play light sabers and all kinds of active play.  Playing with toys is a little more rocky because Logan is apt to break whatever they are doing.  He is doing a lot more imaginative play and with toys now.  He likes to play army and super heroes and build forts and pirates.  He still really likes to play games and read books together.

I was trying to teach Logan his letters.  He is awesome at recognizing "O".  The other letters pretty much went over his head.  I'll have to try again when he is a little older.  He is good with shapes though.  I got him a little Kumon book to practice tracing.  (I am aiming for him to have better fine motor control and handwriting than Andrew - have to start young).  He actually does a pretty good job and is learning to have the right grip.  He just needs to press a little harder.  He thought it was pretty fun.  I think I will try cutting next.  He really likes Play-doh.  His counting is better - he understands how to count objects though still tends to forget the numbers 4 and 5.  He has been doing geography with us.  He loves to look at maps and is getting close at being able to find Asia and Japan and China.  He has the funniest answers to geography questions.  We were asking which country has the highest mountain and Logan said "American flag".  Silly boy.

He likes to help around the house - vacuuming, dusting, cooking, etc.  He likes to feed Joe, though tends to spill cat food everywhere.  He is good at setting the table.  He is probably the neatest of the children and is pretty good at remembering to put things away.  He is very eager to learn the piano.  I think he is too young but I don't want to squash his desire so I am not sure what to do about that.  He especially likes our new piano.

So, he's a handful, but we love him.  It kind of reminds me of the book about Leo the Late bloomer.  I suppose one day he will just be grow up and then we will miss the crazy handful little boy he is.

Andrew in January and February 2015

Andrew is mostly the same old mischievous little boy who is always running around, making forts, coming up with adventures, making super elaborate setups of legos, lincoln logs, Trio, blocks and then getting upset whenever it gets touched or falls apart.  Andrew can be quick to help if he's in the mood, but is quick to blame others if he is in trouble (always, always).  He is pretty emotional, easily upset, but generally upbeat.

School is going well and Andrew seems to like it and his teacher well enough.  He is doing well, as always.  He does not lack at all for self esteem.  He will always tell you that he is the best person in his class - this means some combination of doing the best in school work and having good behavior.  He is not always the most careful at his school work, but generally does well.  He worked hard on a timeline project about his life (okay, not super hard, but he did work on it when he would have rather been playing).  He learned about black history month and Martin Luther King, Jr.  He had Jump Rope for Heart fundraising for school and was very excited to earn little ducks to put on a lanyard - thankfully, I stopped him from using all his allowance on donations so he could earn even more ducks.  He is in a special literature group at school, where some kids from all the second grade classes meet together to talk about and read books in another teacher's classroom.  He is always asking me to tell the teacher or librarian to let him check out harder books from school.

He still reads tons and tons at home.  He loves Boxcar Children books, but also has enjoyed rereading Percy Jackson books and also reading the Magician's Elephant and Ten Kids No Pets.  He also enjoys doing workbooks.  I bought the kids some workbooks for summer and Andrew is already loving the multiplication book.  He, of course, has not yet started the cursive writing.  I am hoping it will help improve his handwriting.  We also have been supplementing at home.  We have been learning geography and also reading history each night from Story of the World.  We learned more about Japan and China's geography.  Andrew knows all his continents and oceans, but is also learning all his seas, and capitals and flags, too.  So much to learn, so little time.  We have also been doing read alouds at night.  We read all three Pippi Longstocking books, and the boys laughed their heads off.  We tried a Moomintroll book, but the boys are not so interested.  We will probably try another one later.  Instead, we just started Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Andrew has been relatively diligent at practicing the piano with lots of reminders and is improving.  He is almost done with book 1A.  He loves to memorize music and does very well when we play duets together.  He is not a fan of counting, but is good at quickly learning the notes.  We bought a piano yesterday and everyone is in love with it.

Andrew did basketball and just finished his season.  He is not a very aggressive athlete and really mostly loves talking to his friends on the bench and getting snacks and trophies.  But he does put in a good effort and tries to follow the coach's directions.  I think we are all glad that the basketball season is over.  Andrew got frustrated because he never got the ball during games and practices were a challenge because Noah doesn't like to go in the car at dark, so he could only go about half the time with Katsu.  He starts soccer this week, but after that he might be done with sports.  I think it is time to start something new - like drama!

This last month was very busy and crazy.  Katsu's mother passed away and so he was out of town for a week and a half.  And then it was quite cold and icy/snowy here, so Andrew had 5 days off of school and like 4 days of two hour delays.  Plus a holiday!  It felt like they were never in school.  That equals lots of energy and no where to burn it.  Luckily they got to spend a day or two playing in the snow, though playing with neighborhood friends often leads to lots of drama with Andrew.  He plays a lot and very well with a new girl in the neighborhood, Hannah, who is in his class.  Also, while Katsu was gone, we celebrated Valentine's Day.  Before he left, we all made chocolates together, which was fun.  While he was gone, Andrew had his school party - but was disappointed because they couldn't fit it all in.  He did enjoy getting and giving lots of valentines.  We tried to make it fun at home with special pink pancakes with red sprinkles and special individual heart shaped pizzas.  Other fun things the last couple months was giving a talk in church today and our trip to Williamsburg.

We also got journals to write back and forth between me and Andrew and Katsu and Andrew.  Andrew quickly co-opted his journal to write a long chapter story about Henry and Mary that he has been telling to his younger brothers.  It is quite an interesting adventure ... with lots of fighting!

Andrew is a fun boy.  We are looking forward to him turning 8 and getting baptized and starting Cub scouts (okay, Andrew is not looking forward to cub scouts, but I think he will enjoy it).

Noah in January and February 2015

Noah is growing up so fast and we are apparently too busy to write about it!  Noah is seven months old now and is full of personality.

He is cute and fat.  His head is still kind of flat, but it doesn't look too bad.  His hair was kind of falling off in the back, but it is starting to look better now.  He has had a haircut or two, but is probably in need of another one.  His hair is getting a little long in front.  His hair is getting browner now and even just today someone said he doesn't look as much like the other boys.  I think he looks more like me.  He is pretty fat and chubby - he weighed 20 lbs at his 6 month well check.  He was around 90% or something like that for weight, but only 50% for height and around 75% for head circumference.

He is still nursing, but he is kind of a distracted nurser.  He nips around during the day, and only really eats well if he is tired around nap time or at night time.  He has had a cold the last two weeks, so he has been waking up a lot at night and wanting to eat.

For the last few days, he has been coughing himself awake and then his eyes are glued shut in the morning.  Poor thing.  He was sleeping next to me, but I am trying to get him out of that habit since he is getting better and I really want him to be a crib sleeper, since none of the other boys ever lasted very long that way.  He was sick most of February with colds and croup so it is hard to say how well he sleeps.  He takes two naps a day usually.  One shorter in the morning and the afternoon as long as he can manage before his super loud brothers eventually wake him up.

We started solids around 6 months.  Spoon feeding went well until the last week or two, but now Noah wants to control the process.  Even if he has a spoon, he still tries to take the one we are using and he flings everything everywhere.  He loves to eat.  He really likes table food though.  He was in love with a cheese stick today, but he loves bagels, bread, pizza crust, crackers, bananas, apple slices, etc.  He likes to drink water out of a cup if Katsu helps feed him.  He is just starting to get the hang of the pincer grasp.  He can pick things up between his fingers, but is still working out how to put it in his mouth.  And of course, because he is the 4th, he has had ice cream, pudding, cookies, and all sorts of things.

He just learned to clap his hands this week and it is so cute.  He will clap along to "If You're Happy And You Know It".  He seems to really enjoy music and almost seems to kind of sing along sometimes.  He likes to babble, though he is not super talkative.  He has consistently said Mama or Mom to refer to me for at least a month so I think that is definitely his first word, but otherwise, he just babbles sometimes and loves to spit and blow raspberries.

He likes to sit.  He is an awesome sitter.  No interest in crawling or being on his stomach ever.  Sometimes, you can entice him with something for tops a minute, but otherwise, he instantly rolls over.  Lately, he will reach over to grab something and fall over onto his stomach, so maybe he will do it enough to want to crawl.  He does love to stand.  He does pretty well holding on to us.  I have tried to teach him to hang onto a table and stand, but he isn't into it.

Noah had a hard time going back to Mother's Day Out at the preschool after Christmas.  It was right when he started getting separation anxiety.  But after a couple rough days, he is back to being okay with it.  He doesn't love it, but he survives.  He seems to do fine with teenage babysitters we have had over and actually seems to like having them hold him.  So, I am hoping this holds up and we can go out every now and then (we just had babysitters when I had to work and Katsu was out of town at his mother's funeral).

Noah has his 3 comfort objects - his favorite gray blanket (a hand me down that funnily enough has someone else's name monogrammed on it), his thumb, and a teddy bear we call "Mr. Teddy" that Noah loves to cuddle with and hugs and kisses fiercely when he sees him again.  So sweet.

Noah loves his brothers.  He loves to watch them and play with them.  He especially loves to play with their toys.  He likes to play in the kitchen and sit on the counter and watch me cook.  He likes to dance with us.  Once he starts moving, life is really going to get interesting. ...

A few fun things
- Trip to Williamsburg and Norfolk.
- Watching lots of Andrew and Seth basketball games
- "playing" in snow - really mostly just looking at from inside.  Not much fun to take a non-mover out in it.
- watching lots of work on our home, fixing the flooring and other random warranty stuff
- Dad out of town for 10 days ...
- Valentine's Day
- Lots of brother time when everyone was out of school or delayed from school for 2 weeks ...

Our Weekend Trip: Norfolk, Jamestown, and Yorktown

We all needed to get out of town after the busy-ness of school and work and holidays, and the boys had three days off of school for Martin Luther King, Jr day.  We only decided a few days before, so we weren't quite sure what we were going to do, but we booked a hotel for a couple days in Williamsburg.

First Day - Norfolk

We left on Sunday morning.  We all woke up pretty early and so we thought we would leave a little early to try to skip the rain.  It didn't work.  As soon as the garage door shut, the rain started.  And it poured.  Because we live in the middle of nowhere, everywhere is basically a 2 lane highway.  So, the drive took a little longer than we expected.

We finally arrived in Norfolk, still in the pouring rain.  Thankfully, not much traffic since it was Sunday - but, boy, just driving around Norfolk with the Chesapeake Bay and all the crazy tunnel bridges and road construction.  What a mess!

The zoo seemed out, so we decided to go somewhere else.  Nautilus wasn't open yet, so we pretty randomly decided to go and see the MacArthur Memorial because it opened at 11.  After getting everyone out of the car (quite a feat to put 6 people in our little mini mini-van and get our bags, stroller, and pack and play) and distributing umbrellas, we ran over to the MacArthur Memorial.  Katsu didn't even know it was for General MacArthur, and of course, the boys had no idea who he was.  But there was a cool jeep and a motorcycle and the boys were excited to see the movie.  They all ran and sat at the front by themselves and loved watching the war scenes.  Next, they wanted to see the gift shop.  We had to pry them away - they had all kinds of little collectible army guys and they wanted them all!  The lady in the shop gave them a catalog and they poured over it the rest of the trip.

We went to the Memorial next.  Seth was only sort of interested and Logan was kind of running around everywhere, but Andrew seemed really interested in the history and wanted to read all of the exhibits.  Katsu was especially interested, as MacArthur had a very large role in the peace time rebuilding of Japan after World War II.  We were able to show the boys the surrender document that Japan signed and different historical artifacts from that time period.  Pretty cool for a random stop for the day.

We ate some sandwiches in the car and fed Noah and drove on over to Nautilus.  We probably should have just walked ... by the time we found a parking space we were about as close as we were before.  Norfolk has statues of mermaids all through town, and the boys were more than happy to search for them the whole time.  The boys were fascinated when they saw the battleship.  The boys were excited when they saw it ... except for Logan who was pretty nervous.  He seemed nervous about a lot on the trip - scared of monsters on the battleship or monsters in the hotel room, but in the end, he had lots of fun.

First, we started off touring the free part of the museum.  It was interesting, but the boys were getting bored, Noah spit up everywhere, and it was time to get tickets.  So, we bought tickets and went to walk all around the exhibits.  They were geared towards kids - they talked about the Chesapeake Bay and shipping and things like that.  The boys especially loved the one where you could play on a water table and arrange tiles to make the water go in different ways.  They spent a long time looking at that.  Noah got fussy, but he finally feel asleep.  The boys played in a play area and then we finally went and toured the battleship.  The USS Wisconsin was HUGE.  It is 16-17 stories tall and 3 football fields wide.  It was really cool, walking around and looking at all the guns.  They were amazingly big!  Then, you could go up and down ladders and look in many of the rooms.  The quarters were so small and such a maze.  I can't imagine living there.  Logan was pretty scared that monsters would get him and thought some of the mannequins were monsters.  Then, when Katsu explained what they were, Logan though some of the real people were mannequins!  The boys really loved it.

After this, we went and saw a 3D movie.  Besides Disney, I think this was the boys' first.  It was a surfing one.  Andrew and Seth really liked it - Logan would try to reach out and grab things, but got bored quickly, so me and him and Noah went outside to look at exhibits.

When we were done, it was time to go back to the car and drive to Williamsburg.  We had friends from Michigan that lived in Williamsburg, so we went to their house and had dinner.  It was fun.  The boys were excited to be able to run around and play with some new friends (they had a 2nd and 1st grader).  And it was nice to have a good meal that we didn't have to cook and catch up with friends.

Finally, we were able to check into our hotel.  Noah was pretty upset and ready to go to bed.  Katsu set up the pack and play and amazingly, after eating, Noah went right to sleep and slept just like he did at home!  Yay - success!

Second Day - Jamestown and Yorktown

We weren't quite sure what we were going to do.  There is just so much to see in this part of the country.  But, it was a fee-free day at National Parks, so we decided to check out Jamestown.  There is a national park and also a dress-up village - but we only went to the National Park.  I guess, until 1994, they didn't know exactly where the Jamestown Fort was.  For some reason, they thought it had all washed away in the sea.  But a graduate student thought it wasn't in the sea and did some digging in 1994 and found evidence of the fort.  So, this area is still an active archaelogical site where they are still finding new parts of the fort and town and learning more about the people who lived there.  We started out at the visitor's center and watched the movie.  Logan kept loudly asking if it was done.  The boys decided to do the Junior Ranger program and I am so glad we did.  They got their booklets and we looked around at the exhibits.  Both here and at Nautilus, the boys were very interested in looking at the replicas of ships and counting how many cannons they had.  Then, we went outside to see the fort areas.

The boys loved running around and looking for answers to their worksheets.  Seth got a little stressed out - he could read, but writing all the answers was a bit much for him, so we helped out.  We ran and found the John Smith and Pocohontas statues and the Memorial and looked in the Memorial Church to find plaques on other people who lived in Jamestown and facts about them.  Then, we looked at where they had dug up foundations and artifacts and bodies.  Then, we went to the archaeology museum and looked around.  The boys especially likes the skeletons and the weird little things they found - like piles of frog bones, or the ear wax picker.  After running around a bit more, we had answered all the questions, so the boys ran back to the Ranger and got their first Junior Ranger patch.

Since they enjoyed it so much and we are notoriously cheap, we decided why not head to Yorktown.  We took the Colonial Parkway and loved it.  The road was so calm and peaceful and reminded me of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It totally set the mood, too - you could hardly seen any buildings or road or traffic - just the trees and the water.  Logan and Noah fell asleep in the car.  So, Katsu and the two older boys went into the visitor center and found the Junior Ranger booklets and started watching the movie.  Noah woke up and woke up Logan, so we all came in and finished the movie and then looked at the exhibits.  The boys really liked walking on the ship and seeing what it looked like.  Then, we ran outside and the boys ran along the embankments and pretend to shoot each other and climbed on the cannons.  We walked down to Main Street and tried to answer all the questions from their booklets - some were hard!  We couldn't believe when we saw the cannon damage on the houses in Yorktown - the cannon balls were still embedded in the walls!  Crazy!  After answering to the best of our ability, we walked back and the boys got another patch and got sworn in as Junior Rangers.  Then, we drove around and saw all the major places the battle took place and drove by the field where Cornwallis and his men surrendered.  The boys loved running around all the embankments and it was pretty fun.

We ended the day with a trip to an Asian buffet - the only time we ate out on the trip - and back to the hotel to watch TV (Sponge Bob, oh joy!) and go to sleep.  Another tiring and fun day.

Third Day - Zoo and Great Dismal Swamp

We left a bit early and go to the zoo in Norfolk before it opened.  The boys were stoked because their was a mermaid painted like a tiger and they had plenty of time to get their picture taken with her.  The zoo was perfect - pretty small, so it only took an hour and a half to see it.  The animals were pretty active.  The sun bears were fighting over food and the tigers were growling up a storm.  Our boys were fighting over the map, as usual, but once we got over that, we had a pretty fun trip.  We drove to the next-door park afterwards and played and had lunch.  We tried a new way home with a different tunnel bridge and went right next to the Dismal Swamp.  I thought it might be fun to stop if we saw a visitor center, and we did indeed find a visitors center to the Great Dismal Swamp State Park right over the state line.  We stopped and got brochures and then went to the state park visitor center.  Unfortunately, the ranger wasn't there, so we couldn't do their Junior Ranger program, but we looked at the exhibits (fought over all the interactive ones), got some activity books, and then did a little hike on the boardwalk.  They built a large canal in the late 1700s around the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp since the area was mostly impassable and they needed a way to transport between Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound without going through the treacherous waters of the Outer Banks.  The canal is really pretty to look down.  The hike on the boardwalk takes you right into the swamp - it was pretty cool to see.  The light makes the stagnant water look all the colors of the rainbow.  The boys eagerly looked for signs of wildlife - footprints or scat.  They really always want to see bears and bobcats, but unfortunately (or fortunately) we only saw some birds.  It was a nice little stop before we finished our trip and got home just in time for dinner.

Noah in December 2014

Noah turned 5 months old during December.  He had a busy and full month.  He was pretty fussy most of the month, whether from visitors or teething or illness, it is hard to say.  He has gotten back to being not so fussy now.

Noah also went from being more of a little baby who mostly laid down or was held to taking a much greater interest in the world.  He sits pretty independently now, though it helps to be right close by because he will still eventually fall over, although not usually for 10 or 20 minutes.  When you carry him, he is always tilting downwards so that he can look around see if there is anything interesting to grab.  He likes to spend part of the day sitting down, part of the day holding on to your fingers so he can stand up, and part of the day being held.  He also has started sitting in his highchair while we are eating.  He likes being part of the family.  Sometimes we will feed him little bits of food, but mostly he is there for sociality.

Noah had a rough month in terms of sleep, but is still a pretty good sleeper.  He is awesome about going to sleep on his own during the day.  He gets fussy or yawns or starts sucking his thumb or stares lovingly at his crib (no, really) and then you know it's time for a nap.  You wrap him up in a swaddle blanket - one hand out to suck on, he pops his thumb in, and then he goes to sleep.  Occasionally he will be fussy for a bit, but he'll go to sleep within a few minutes.  Unless he is really not tired, but that will be clear very quickly.  Sometimes he will rouse a bit during sleep and then will put himself back to sleep.  But at night time, he still wakes usually once but sometimes twice to eat at night.  I tried getting him to put himself to sleep (not a chance) or not feeding him (also not a chance ... he will eventually go to sleep after a long struggle, but then he'll wake right back up like 15 minutes later).  So, he's not ready to sleep all the way through (i.e., 12 hours) yet.  He usually has a good 6-8 hour stretch though from around 7pm-2am.  And he is still pretty much a 3 nap boy, though sometimes it's just 2 and he goes down for sleep really early.  Sometimes he is up early, but he usually sleeps until 8 something in the morning.

Noah has been talking a lot more.  He still loves to blow raspberries and say things like ga and gi.  But now he will say "ba ba ba" and "ma ma ma".  He does seem to reserve "ma" for me a lot of the time; the kids are convinced it is his first word, but I am not so convinced.

Breastfeeding has been tough this month for me (I keep getting clogged ducts and such until I got flow blown mastitis on Sunday), but he seems to still enjoy it.  He takes a bottle on Friday mornings at the preschool and apparently is very demanding about it.  No matter how much I pump, it is never enough and they resort to giving him water on top of it.  Next time, I think I am going to pack formula.  He has tried various little bits of table food - maybe we will try real baby food on him soon.  Maybe.  None of the other boys were very interested and I'm not super interested either.  Table food is so much easier.  He still seems to have a bit of a hard time eating, but is interested in being spoon food.  He doesn't really seem interested in picking up cheerios or puffs or anything yet.

Tummy time is officially over.  He will roll over almost first thing and refuses to stay on his tummy.  And he will put up a big fuss until he is all the way rolled over as well.  He rolls over with his head / torso first, before finally bringing his leg around to complete the roll.  I think I have seen him roll the other way around, but his interest in that is 0.

Well, nap time is done.  Noah is a sweet fun boy and another fun month.

Logan in November 2014

Logan is just a sweetheart.  He is at that age where you just love listening to him talk because you never know what he will say.  He tends to say every single word and very clearly.  So, instead of "dunno" he will say "I did not know that".  So sweet.  He also is usually pretty honest.  If he was crying or scared or whatever, he owns up to it.

Logan is still enjoying preschool.  As soon as he wakes up, he wants to know if it is a preschool day.  He is pretty happy either way.  He likes going and he likes his days at home.  When I pick him up from preschool, he always asks if I brought him any food.  Even with a snack at preschool, this child is ALWAYS hungry.  Then, he tells me about the story they read, the craft they did, and what they ate for snack.  He is pretty convinced that the other kids don't play with him, but I'm not so sure.  There are no girls in his class, so it must be pretty busy in there!  He has been making lots of ornaments and cute things for Christmas and he is so proud to put them on the Christmas tree.

We are trying potty training again and it's going better.  He still has about 0 interest in pooping on the potty, but as long as we aren't out and about and really busy in something, he will pee in the potty pretty well.  He really loves the Pull-ups that we bought and loves to sort them into piles based on type.  He wants to do this pretty much every day.

Logan is really into sorting and playing games.  He likes to play matching games the most, but also Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, and Spot It.  He really loves to play Zingo and Go Fish as well.  He still loves to be read to.  He enjoys playing with toys - super heros, cars, and trains, but only if I am there watching.  Getting him to play independently since Noah was born is pretty hard.

He likes to help clean and feed Joe.

He got a big twin size bed from a friend down the street who was selling it.  He LOVES it.  He feels so grown up and was so proud of his new sheets and pillow.  He is easy to put to sleep now (Katsu puts him to bed) and he sleeps snugly in their all night long and never bother us.  AWESOME!

Logan had a really nasty stomach bug the week of Thanksgiving, but is thankfully all better.  I hope he does not catch the croup.

He is loving the Christmas countdown and the advent calendars, the goodies, and all things Christmas.  Every time I turn around, he has turned on the Christmas lights.

Fun Things This Month ...
- Charlotte's Web
- trip to the Aquarium and to the historical museum in Beaufort.
- Shichigosan - we got family pictures taken in the morning and the boys went to a baptism and in the evening, we all went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant which the boys loved.
- Stake Conference -Too bad it was raining or we would have spent more time in New Bern.  It still took 6 hours total for the whole day!
- Thanksgiving Day was a bust.  Logan ended up sick, so we stayed at home but still took over food to the party we were supposed to go to.  Boys enjoyed watching the parade and the food, more or less.
- Church Christmas party - they ate treats, watched part of the Polar Express, and took a little Polar Express ride (really a hay ride on a trailer) to go meet Santa Claus.  Boys seemed to enjoy it.
- ECU football game.  They had lots of fun, even though it was cold and super late (Game started at 7:30 on a weeknight!).  They stayed for about half of it.  ECU has been doing really well this year, so it was fun.
- enjoying lots of treats in December.
- loving Advent, Christmas Countdown, and our first year with Elf on the Shelf after much begging.  Logan is so excited to get to blow out the pink candle, since that is the 3rd one.
- Lots of work parties for Katsu.  Logan has been loving all the food.  That kid can eat!

Seth in November 2014

Seth is still a little nutty and hysterical.  He is doing well in Kindergarten; probably a little bored, but his teacher is working hard to keep him learning.  He does well reading.  He doesn't want to sit down and read with me ... I keep hoping he will want to try reading an easy chapter book together, but he's not much interested.  But when he does read things - offhandedly on signs or things or when he reads me a book, I can tell that his reading is improving very quickly.  He is getting much more fluent.  Over break, I want to be more consistent about reading to and with him.  Andrew apparently reads to him and tells him stories at night and before he went to see Charlotte's web, I read the book to him and Logan.

Seth's little brain is always working away.  He has croup the last few days and slept with me part of the night a couple days.  And you can hear him just whispering away math problems or spelling words.  I think he is like me and just can't shut it off.  He loves to play with numbers.  He does his doubles really high and can add any 2 or 3 digit number as long as there is no carrying.  He writes the cutest little stories for homework.  The first time he had to write a story, he freaked out and said he couldn't do it.  But now he pretty much wants no input from me and does his homework without help.  His two favorite topics are soccer (writing about scoring goals and winning) and the jungle.

Seth is quite an exaggerator and likes to "lie" about things.  I think he has a hard time telling the difference between what he wishes was true and what is actually true.  He told me that he was a character kid when Andrew actually got it.  (Of course, he was a character kid in November, because he has good behavior, too).  He also way exaggerates numbers - he will get 100 goals or get 150 dojo points during the day (the points he gets at school for good behavior).

Seth is enjoying basketball.  On basketball days, he wakes up and changes into athletic shorts and a sleeveless shirt, regardless of the weather.  He was having a tough time dribbling but has gotten a lot better.  He concentrates so hard on whatever the coach is saying and you can tell he is good at figuring out positions, but it is a little hard just because he is quite small.  I think he will really enjoy it, though.

Seth has been sick quite a bit lately.  He had the stomach flu after Thanksgiving and now he has croup - I am pretty sure it is his first time.  Yesterday, he stayed home from church and Katsu told him he could watch TV the whole time.  I offered to read to him or let him do something else - but no, he just wanted to watch TV.  He loves the new Odd Squad show and also loves Wild Kratts, still.

Seth is doing piano lessons again.  He is doing pretty well and gets counting - his hands are still pretty small.

Seth's favorite thing to do is play with friends and he is very motivated to get piano practice and homework done so he can go play.  He wants to play with whoever he can find in the neighborhood.  As long as he goes with Andrew, he is allowed to go through a lot of the neighborhood, as long as I know where he is going.

Fun Things
- Logan's birthday party
- Lightning Thief musical
- Charlotte's Web
- trip to the Aquarium and to the historical museum in Beaufort.
- Shichigosan - we got family pictures taken in the morning and the boys went to a baptism and in the evening, we all went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant which the boys loved.
- Stake Conference - the boys sang in the Primary choir for prelude and got a little treat afterwards.  Too bad it was raining or we would have spent more time in New Bern.  It still took 6 hours total for the whole day!
- Thanksgiving Day was a bust.  Logan ended up sick, so we stayed at home but still took over food to the party we were supposed to go to.  Boys enjoyed watching the parade and the food, more or less.
- Day after Thanksgiving - Andrew went to Raleigh with Seth and Katsu.  They went to Pullen Park and enjoyed the train and playing.  Then, they were shortly at the Natural History Museum before Seth starting puking.  Andrew still insisted they go to Trader Joes to get fried rice; amazing Katsu agreed and we have a freezer full of fried rice and dumplings.
- Church Christmas party - they ate treats, watched part of the Polar Express, and took a little Polar Express ride (really a hay ride on a trailer) to go meet Santa Claus.  Boys seemed to enjoy it.
- ECU football game.  They had lots of fun, even though it was cold and super late (Game started at 7:30 on a weeknight!).  They stayed for about half of it.  ECU has been doing really well this year, so it was fun.
- enjoying lots of treats in December.
- loving Advent, Christmas Countdown, and our first year with Elf on the Shelf after much begging.  Andrew gets to blow out the first candle for Advent which he thinks is pretty cool.  They love trying to explain each of the names of Jesus that we are doing for Christmas countdown.  They write letters to the Elf asking him to hide certain places.
- Andrew has been sick most of the week and missed several days of school.
- Lots of work parties for Katsu.  Andrew really enjoyed the one last night where he was busy playing some hide and seek tag game with the other kids.
- Barnes and Noble night - Seth repeated a sweet little Thanksgiving poem.