You've Got Male: April 2008

Getting Ready

Luke's ready to step into the big shoes of being a big brother!

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Quotables:

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Luke: "Mommy, can I eat this money?" (holding a nickel)

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Patrick: "Pick a card, any card" whenever he finds a stack of cards. We think he's preparing for a life as a magician.

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Speaking of tricksters, Joe's sense of humor is developing quite nicely. We've been singing "Love Train" around our house lately. Joe loves to change the words from "People all around the world, join hands, start a love train, love train" to things like "join feet, start a love car, love car" or "join elbows, start a love wagon" He's also been trying to trick us by hiding, especially when Scott first gets home from work and around naptime. The other day, he took a blanket into the hallway and hid under it so it just looked like a pile of fabric. Scott almost tripped over him and they both had a very jolly laugh.

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A special hello to my Aunt Mary Alice - a loyal blog reader. She's been in the hospital recently and we're happy to hear that she's doing much better.

Still pregnant

Yes, the baby has not arrived yet. Last Monday marked my longest pregnancy ever. It looks as if we will actually make it to the scheduled c-section, which is Friday morning, May 2.

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It was a beautiful weekend in Wisconsin. Spring seems to finally be here. I even saw dafodils! We spent as much time as possible outside this weekend. We even pulled out Grandpa D's homemade picnic table for some al fresco dining. The boys all wanted to sit on the same side.
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We went to the "blue park" twice with the boys, and even tried out the tire swing. A perfect fit for all of them. When we pulled into the park for the second visit, the boys were actually laughing with delight. It was precious to hear.

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Patrick was loving the swing. I know he will get used to it as the season goes on, but for now, Luke hates swinging (except for the tire swing above.) What kind of kid doesn't like swinging?

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Instead, both of the boys loved watching the "waterfall" - a creek that flows into an underground storm sewer right by the park.

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Since we are facing a few weeks of down time once the baby gets here, we're trying to get out as much as possible as a family. Daddy treated us all to breakfast this morning at the Cracker Barrel. Joe mowed his pancakes. The table advertisements served as a handy visual block for the twins. Since they can't have pancakes because of their allergy, it's always best to keep it out of their sight.

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Instead, Mr. Manners here shoves hashbrowns and scrambled eggs in his mouth with two hands. Lovely.

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Luke is a much neater eater. At least he tries to use his fork!

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Thank you to everyone who has prayed for me to have a healthy pregnancy. So far, so good, and it looks like I may not be getting HELLP syndrome this time at all. What a blessing. I may actually get to see and hold this baby the day he's born! Now that we are almost 38 weeks and full-term, you may begin praying that I go into labor soon so we can meet our newest family member. :)

KidsFest

Joseph and Luke are enthralled checking out their favorite characters: Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog, Dorothy the Dinosaur and Captian Feathersword, all in town to perform for us at "KidsFest" - a big gathering with kid-related sponsor booths, stages and shows, a petting zoo, random roaming characters (Pink Panther to the Berenstain Bears), and all kinds of other fun kid stuff.
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When we first read that KidsFest would include a performance by the Wiggles' sidekicks, we just HAD to go. Scott told the boys about it several days before the event. They talked about it all of the time. Even though the acutal performance was right during naptime, we braved the crowds.

Patrick found a handy spot to hold on to Daddy. Lucky Daddy didn't have to see the annoying kids show we have heard thousands of times at our house.

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After the show was over, we checked out the other booths including an electric racetrack with hand-held controllers. The twins were not as interested in the controller, but the cars were extremely fast, so it held their attention. Plus, there were wrecks every so often, which was really cool. (Wow, I'm totally a boy mom)

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We also caught a magic show. The magic here is that all of the boys were sitting queitly behind the red line and behaving quite well.

By the end of our two hours in the crowded and hot (at least for me, maybe it was the baby) expo center, Joe let us know in no uncertain terms that it was time to go home.

Mom's Salon

The boys needed haircuts before their new brother arrived on the scene. It's always a little dangerous for me to do it, but hopefully I'm improving in my technique and skill. The missed streaks and wild hairs would beg to differ, but it's better than the disaster that would be our visit to a barber. I can only imagine the crying during their cuts and the struggle to keep the kids off the hairy floor while waiting for their brothers cuts.
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Luke gets serious about his 'do.

Luke, Patrick and Joe sport the end result.

Belly shot

For those of you that have been asking, here you go. I have 4 weeks to go as of tomorrow. The c-section is scheduled for the morning of May 2, if we make it that long. This little boy is very active, especially today, and he frequently gets the hiccups. I don't remember the other boys getting them in utero, and it feels kind of funny.

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We were remiss in not wishing Grandpa D and Uncle Brian a happy birthday here on the blog April 1 and April 2, respectively. We're sorry. The boys called them both and actually sang the happy birthday song. I didn't know the twins could do it. We were so proud.