Quiet Book for Goob

I have felt so bad about how bored Goob has been basically laying in bed for four days now. The hospital is no place for a kid to be on the floor scooting around, so he bascially can be in his crib, on the bed with me or sitting in my lap... FUN! 

Because of this, when I went home last night I decided to whip up a little activity book for him, while the other kids were napping.  Sadly, most of my fabric is in storage, so I had to construct things out of what I had, so It's a bit hodge podge, but he still seems to enjoy it, now that I've given it to him.

Don't you just love the fabric? I found it at the quilt store down town when I was getting stuff to make a neigbour some burp clothes for their new baby. Didn't know what I was going to use it for, but it called to me!

 

 

So as you can see there is some cute stuff, and some truly scary stuff (like that bird.. what was I thinking)

I honestly dont' remember sewing half of this, so in the morning I was shocked by how bad some of the sewing is. But at 7 months, I don't think he will care. He just likes cuddling it!

Refashion reveal

Before:

After:

For my first ever refashion I have to say I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Even more so considering I made it without a dress form (I got mine right after finishing). I learned many lessons, most of them the hard way, but feel much more prepared for the next one as a result. Pay no attention to the wrinkles, I just didn't bother ironing it before putting it on the form, and it was laying on my sewing table for days.

I still plan on changing the collar one more time, because I'm not all that happy with how this one turned out; bad cut and bad sewing.

Now to loose the rest of my baby fat so I can fit into it without dying.

Poor Sick Goob!

Our poor baby has been sick on and off for a few weeks now. At first everyone was getting sick so the answer was that a nasty bug was simply floating around town and it would just have to pass.... He got mostly better and I thought that it was all but behind us until a few days ago he seemed to nose dive again. On the 22nd I ended up taking him and Boy into see their doctor. He said they have RSV and he gave them both a round of steroids and some nebulizer meds to help... Boy quickly rebounded but by yesterday morning we were back in the doctors office. From there they admitted Goob to the hospital where we spent a very long day and last night. As of this morning the doctor says we will be spending at least one more night there, but maybe more. While on oxygen he's fine and is happy and playing, but the second he knocks his oxygen out of his nose his O2 levels start to drop. His doctor says that they are going to keep him until his levels come back up without the Oxygen. Poor boy! All things considered we're all doing well. One of our trusty dusty babysitters came and spent the night with the other kids last night so both Hubby and I could be in the hospital with him. Right now Hubby is there with him (since he can work remotely and would stand a better chance of getting stuff done there) and around dinner time I will swap him out for the night. Hopefully, tonight will be our last night there and he'll be well enough to come home sometime tomorrow.

I feel Pretty...

The boys, at their karate school, have enrolled in this years fitness challenge. Basically, we signed up as a family and compete with other teams by doing sit ups and push ups, and exercising daily. When I first started I thought I'd die, and could barely do twenty of each. I've now worked my way to doing roughly 100 of each a day, and am managing to regularly exercise as well.

I've never cared about being skinny or anything, but I never wanted to have the 'mom flab' for life. I think I might actually have it dealt with by the end of the year!

I love to see the Temple....

When we go to the zoo, I always like to take the kids to walk around the ground of the Portland Temple. We went up a few weeks ago to check out the new Predators of the Serengeti exhibit at the zoo, and managed to enjoy the lovely flowers and peaceful feeling of the temple on our way.

I am so thankful for Temples and having them in the life of my family. I feel truly blessed to have so many so close to us (we have three with in reasonable driving distance, if ever we needed to go to a different one). I have read of people who have had to save their entire lives to be able to attend once, because they live so far away from a temple. I hope that I never become so complacent that I forget how privileged I am. I love taking my children up there, because, even when walking around the grounds and into the atrium there is such a peaceful and tender spirit to be felt. My children are able to feel it, and I know they already are growing a love for the Lord's House.

We tried to grab a few photos while we were there, sadly, the lighting wasn't great that day; too sunny.

Wanna know more about Mormon Temples? Take a gander here

Polar Plunge Follow up...

I promised I would post a picture of what I wore for the Polar Plunge. I want to thank those who sponsored me in this great cause again, and as I said, I'd wear something crazy if people paid me to do it. I knew a few other people who were involved, and it was fun to see some of the crazy costumes. I wish we'd managed to get pictures of some of the other peoples costumes.

I'm not really sure what I was supposed to be... really it was just a mash up of as much stuff as I could pull out of the kids dress up. I had a great costume planned, only to find that morning that I'd either packed it or taken it to good will.

Next year, I want to sign us up as a family and we can go in our Mario Brothers costumes.

Hence forth and forever....

It's funny, when we pick out our children's names we put so much effort into them, because it's what they become identified as, what, in part defines them. I really think that is true for most anything we call one another by. When I picked out Twinkle Toes name for the blog, we didn't know yet that he was a little boy, and it always fluttered around in my head as what I should call the baby growing in me. Those tiny little toes could be felt fluttering against my stomach from very early on, and it seemed to be a perfectly matched name.



But then he was born... then it no longer seemed to fit. I've wanted it to; I've even had long internal debates about how it's as real a name for him in some regards as his given name (since to those who know about him only through the virtual world, he has no other name), and it's not normal to just up and change ones name. But in the end it doesn't fit him, and it doesn't really identify with him as a person now. My other children's blog names do; they are names I use for them in the real world as much as I do in the ethers of the Internet.



And so with much (probably way more than is normal and healthy for such a thing) deliberation I am rechristening Twinkle Toes, and bestowing upon him for hence forth and forever the name, "Goob." Aliases to include, "King Goob," "Goober King," "King of the Goobers," and "Mr. Goob." Anyone who knows my baby boy in real life knows quite easily how natural and well fitting this name is. It's what I call him often in real life, and his goobery smile and chubby cheeks just seem to exude Gooberness.



And after all, it's my blog, so I can do it if I want to! I present to you, his royal highness, Mr. Goob, King of all Goobers !

Just look at that face... He's wearing this darling dino sweat shirt my mom found for him, for Christmas, that has dino scales all down the hood. I laugh every time he wears it and starts making growling noises.

I love how he still sleeps with his hands curled up.

At the end of a long day.... sometimes it's just too much work to move your toys.

At four months he tried his first food. At six months he really started eating for the first time. Today he tried to eat anything he can get in his mouth, even if that means sneaking food off mom's plate and then chocking on it, until she fishes it out again.

He also has learned to sit up. As was Boy at this age, he is a bit of a late sitter and is still not the most stable, even at 7 months. But he loves to sit and play with toys or his big brothers.

Boy, oh Boy....

Not much to post by way of Boy... didn't want people to think I'd forgotten him.

We've started potty training, and he was doing really well, but honestly with the move I dropped the ball and now we're back to square one. He really isn't interested in sitting and I'm having to try and find a new way to do it, other than how I trained the older kids. I just don't have the luxury of sitting around my house, putting him on the potty every hour for a month or however long it will take, like I did when the older two were training. Now I have a billion places to drive all day every day and I'm just not sure how to make it work.

Ideas?

Boy will have copious updates tomorrow, as he celebrates his 2nd birthday. I can hardly believe it's been two years already.

A Sheepie of many skills

What is new with the Sheepie, you might ask? Lately he's gained many new skills. He is enjoying his last semester of Preschool, and was over the moon when we enrolled him for Kindergarten next fall. He was very cute in his concern over what school he'd be attended, however. Our kids attend/will attend a school that has no location boundaries; it's entirely by application. So we have to initially enroll the kids into what would be our 'home school,' or the school that our house is within the boundaries for. After that we apply for a transfer into Franklin. Since Sheepie didn't really understand that he was quite concerned that we were not registering him at Franklin, but rather at the school down the street from us. He has a friend from preschool who he's quite close to --who will also attend Franklin in the fall, and was very upset at the idea that he and Avonleigh wouldn't be together anymore. I assured him that wouldn't be the case, and after several days of having to explain and re-explain it all to him, he is now satisfied that he and Avonleigh will still be together and will be at Franklin in the fall.



Sheepie has always been very interested in helping in the kitchen. He really does seem to have a flair for cooking; he knows how to get to his Mama's heart! The other night I was going to make home made mac and cheese for supper and asked if he'd like to help. Before long he's taken over the entire project and has created his own, new dish called Macaroni Lasagna. He did all the prep and cooking himself, with the exception of using the knife to slice the tomato and taking the casserole in and out of the oven. It was really quite good and we polished the entire thing off in two sittings.

Another one of Sheepie's recently acquired skills I'm not so proud of. Yesterday, Hubby and I took a nap because we've both been sleeping poorly because of sick kids. We put the two Littles to bed, and basically just went to bed very early, telling the Biggies they could stay up until they wanted to and we'd check on them later. When I went out to check on them, I found this:

Apparently, Sheepie taught himself how to cut hair with scissors. It was even worse than the picture looks. He did the sides and the back as well. I wanted to cry because we had just paid to have his hair cut. Normally, I think it's silly to pay for kids to have their hair cut, but he really likes to keep it kind of longer and shaggy, and I think he looks cute that way. He is too wiggly for me to maintain it with scissors though, so I took him to my hair dresser, so that he could get it trimmed but keep it long..... So much for that!

The worst part was that he was so proud of himself and thought he looked, 'beautiful'. So when I asked him what he was thinking he started crying. We cuddled and he decided he was proud of it and wanted to keep it that way. I let him, since he didn't know any better, but told him if he ever did it again he'd get in trouble. Today for church, I spiked his hair, and was able to mostly hide it, all while allowing him to think everyone was seeing his 'beautiful' hair cutting skills.

This evening he got his head shaved.... he now looks like he just got kicked out of the military. Thankfully, he doesn't like having no hair, and realised very quickly that if he were to cut his hair again, he'd have to have it shaved again.

Busy with school

Frog Prince is LOVING being in Kindergarten. He has really started to flourish, and his teacher is the most patient, understanding, and caring woman around. She is the chief reason for his success.

Very shortly after moving in his school hosted a school wide sock hop. Having not been to one since I was in my own elementary days, I had forgotten how much fun it is to dress up and listen to the music of the 1950's. He and I went together as a special, "Mommy/son" date. It took a little bit of creativity to come up with some decent costumes so last minute though, and with all of my sewing stuff packed still.

Not having a poodle skit, I found one of my fuller skirts and then put another skirt under it to get the fluffy look, and then decided to rock the argyle look rather than the bobby socker look. I have had these glasses tucked away in a drawer for years and knew they'd come in handy one day. As for dressing little boys, it's a bit trickier I realised. It's not like most kids have a black leather greasers jacket laying around. Instead, we went with the a different approach and he is dressed as Jughead, from the Archie comics. I took and turned a white t-shirt that had a print on it inside out, and then cut out an initial that matched his school (Franklin) and then made him a jughead crown, tight rolled his pants, and then put him in his penny loafers. All and all I think we pulled it off!

Now that he's in a small class, he gets to make home made things for mass class distribution. So when Valentine's Day rolled around. This is what we came up with.

They are 'love' bugs... and the dog was for the lady who brings her reading dog in each week.

And then for his teacher we made a little card stock Chinese take-out box with a fortune cookie in it. the card said, "I'm so fortunate to have you as my teacher."

For the last month is class has been studying the continent of Africa. As part of their studies they had to prepare and oral report on an African animal that they'd then share with their third grad buddy. The report had to include a drawn picture of the animal to go along with it. True to form, a drawn picture just wasn't good enough for FP. Instead we made a slightly larger than life Papier-mâché model his animal. He did his report on the Goliath Frog...what else?

Next week Little League starts up again for the season, and this year he'll move up to coach pitch base ball. He's very excited (although I have to admit I had a good chuckle at the idea of my six year old having to wear a cup...Are we to that already?) So between school, karate (he's a yellow belt now) and baseball he's happy as a clam!

In which I wonder about one of my children.....

While we were in transition between our house and our apartment we spent a few days staying with my in laws. The boys found their dress up box...





Let's see, sparkly high heels at two, wanting to be the little mermaid for Halloween, and now dressing like a Disney princess....does anyone else see a future Broadway bound boy?

>

This picture also cracks me up....

Shortly before moving we went to OMSI (like we love to do) and came home with this giant frog, who is now named Spencer. This pictures in the apartment, where FP crammed Spencer into Sheepies jammies so they could match. I gave him a hard time for the rest of the night by pretending to get the two of them mixed up.

As I promised in my last, long forgotten update, I mentioned there'd be volcanoes. Shortly after moving in, were were struck with a rather long and rainy patch of days. For several of them, for what reasons I cant recall, there was no school. Now, I know what you're thinking and believe me, I thought the same thing.

What in heaven's name is a woman going to do with four kids in a 900 sq. ft apartment on no school days when it's pouring rain outside?

My answer is.... learn about volcanoes and make them. The Biggies and I learned about some of our local volcanoes, and what they are. We then made volcanoes with stuff we had around the house; oatmeal and an old card board box and some modelling paints. When they were finished I taught them the age old science experiment of the baking soda and vinegar. I even taught them why the react and the basics of acids and bases in science. When school resumed they each took theirs for sharing and set them off.

The other little clue I gave to our adventures of late was that we got a new motorcycle. Now I know this will show exactly how ready we were to be done with selling our house and how impulsive we can be sometimes.

The day we were supposed to close on our house, it didn't happen. We were mad and frustrated because it was totally supposed to happen weeks earlier and as a result we'd ended up rushing to get out of our house and many other things needlessly. Hubby was up in Salem getting a new tire but on our motorcycle and we were planning on meeting him up there to do something (what I can't remember now). On my way up he called me and asked if I'd seen the newest model of our line of bike. He had apparently seen it and wanted it. When I got up there, I have to say I was in love. It was beautiful and was a completely different bike than the one we had. It is what we had originally wanted when we bought our first bike, but they were impossible to get a hold of. Being so upset and mad about the house, we traded in our old bike on the spot. I think I can safely speak for the both of us when I say I don't regret it for a moment.

FP rides to school in the mornings with Hubby, and Sheepie gets to take rides too, so we let Boy put all the kids gear on and sit on the bike with Daddy. He was in heaven and wants to ride it. Sad to say he's got some years to go, but he makes his Mommy proud.

Good bye little green house...

Hello new adventures for the Mighty Cs.

In February, we finally closed on selling our house, and have since settled into an apartment. We have found a few places we are wanting to live, and thinking we might put an offer on one in the coming week. Much prayer ahead!

Is it the attack of the Zombie baby?!

... No, it's just me finding my way back to the blogoshpere after many many moons!

Many new updates and posts to come.