August Happings

 Like most Americans, I don’t like to wait. If there is a problem, I want it to be fixed yesterday. Recently, I’ve become a believer in two remedies that seem to offer quick fixes: the amber teething necklace and baby helmets.

Helmet Baby!

 Let’s start with the amber teething necklace. When Evie was a baby, I didn’t see too many babies wearing this interesting stoned adornment. Within the last year, many of my friends have religiously put this natural anti-inflammatory on their teething babies to ease the pain and thus, fussiness. Many of my friends swear it makes a huge difference. 

 So when my friend gave me three of them for my boys, I was eager to give them a try. What harm could it do?! 

They wore them for about a month. And then one day I took them off.

                   Thus began one of the most challenging weeks for us with the boys. 

 There was a very visible change in their personalities, especially in James. They were crabby, inconsolable, chewing on hands and fingers…we didn’t even think about the fact that we had the necklace off until one day I saw the necklace lying on the table and I decided to put it back on.

 Within two days, I had my happy boys back. I will never take that necklace off again. I will warn their wives when they get married to never take it off too! 

And then there’s Caleb and his helmet. He is actually much more comfortable in it than I ever thought. He’s been wearing it for 2 weeks now, and I have so say, it works! His flat head is already round! Every night I take it off for a brief few moments to cool his sweaty head, but I am amazed at the change!

We've had a fun filled summer as best as we can in this season in life. During the past 5 weeks, we’ve had family staying with us.  My Grandma flew out from Chicago mid July and stayed for two weeks and then my mom came out for almost three weeks! 

It really warms my heart to see my mom and Evie share such a special relationship already at 2.5 years old.  My grandma and I have always had a special bond, and I think that Evie and my mom will have the same, no matter the distance.  

Despite the distance, I know they will always be close. Many days she took Evie to the pool. They were there hours, happily floating around and splashing. At the beginning of the month Evie would hardly set her foot in the pool. Now three weeks later after Grandma’s gentle coaching and encouragement, she is putting her head under the water and floating around in the deep end.

We did things that we wouldn’t normally do on an average day. 

                   We went to Oaks Park,

A bit unsure

Levi enjoyed the ride too

Time with Chipper

Happy baby on the train

Marching onward 

and the zoo,

Fun with goats

We took walks and picked blackberries and ate frozen yogurt in the morning.

Berry pickin

Berry eatin

She sat on the deck and sang songs to them for hours and hours in order to keep them calm. She pushed them around and around the block in the afternoon so I could catch up on my sleep. She has always sacrificed for me, and she still does. Whenever my mom leaves, I feel like she leaves us in a better place, emotionally and physically.

I think grandparents have a different perspective on all of this child raising because they are on the other side of it all and see that most of the things us parents stress about are just not worth it. Good thing we have grandparents to shed some light on this situation.

Slurpees at 7-11

 Our good bye today was sad…

                            but 

                             not too sad

                                       because....

 in 2 weeks, John has a business conference in Chicago... and guess who is all going?!! 

Yes, ME! and... Evie, Caleb, Levi, James...

                           And Amanda! (This is not what she signed up for I'm sure...) ;)

Are we crazy? Yes, probably. But there is no better time than the present to introduce my precious three sons to my family who may never get to see them otherwise. And Evie hasn't been there in almost a year and she is excited to go too. 
 Even though we have a slightly less -than- normal child situation right now, I think it's important to live as "normally" as possible. 

So we are flying 2000 miles with three babies and a two year old. Normal. 

                                   Plus, it will be a good blog post! ...so stay tuned....

"Flying is not that hard, right guys?!"

Nap time for all

Eating time

Our little girl eats everything. We started Evie on solid foods at 5 months old and from the first bite, she loved eating and never looked back on her milk days. 

I assumed my experience with the boys would be the same. Although I thought the boys were ready for solid foods at 5 months, the doctor told us that we had to wait until 6 months because they were born 4 weeks prematurely. So, we waited. However, during the past month, I’ve felt guilty eating in front of any of the boys because they looked at my solid food with such longing. 

Finally, a few days ago, I was eating a juicy peach, and Caleb gazed at it, smacking his lips with desire. Close enough. It was time. 

I told John that our boys needed solid food. One week early is not going to hurt anything. So this week, we mixed the boys their first bowl of baby cereal. Now for those of you who have had babies, you know that baby cereal is rather unappetizing.  It looks like wet sand, and I imagine it tastes like that too.  

I was so excited on Tuesday morning when we lined the boys up in their car seats, put their bibs on them and mixed up their breakfast. 

One…two…three…right in a row we fed them their food. 

I sat with eager anticipation of the smiles that were sure to follow such culinary joy; however, instead I was met with the opposite! Instead of smacking their lips for more, James made a face that was a mix between being utterly disgusted and offended. 

"Unfair"

Caleb was a little unsure; he wasn’t excited about it and spit most of it out.

"Don't make me"

 And then there was Levi. Levi’s reaction really surprised me the most. Levi is my hefty boy, my future quarterback. I assumed he was ready for steak and potatoes at 3 months old and that he would be thrilled by the idea of solid foods. However, after his first taste, his face filled with horror, then disgust and then rage! He screamed, kicked his legs in rebellion and twisted his whole body in an attempt to escape this torture known as solid foods.

"I can't believe you'd do this to me!"

 I couldn’t believe it. So, after only a few bites each, we had disgust and rage as a result. The second feeding had to go better right?! 

The next day we again lined up the boys for eating. This time, the minute we strapped on the bibs, they knew what was coming. Levi started crying and twisting his body to escape. James looked utterly devastated that we would put him through this again. And Caleb just cried sorrowfully, voicing his opinion that he’d much prefer babies’ milk. 

Yesterday, Evie declared she wanted salad, with dressing, for dinner. And steamed edamame. 

She devours her pulled pork sandwiches. She’s open to sushi. She’s never had an issue with eating broccoli by the bowl full. My friends would often comment how lucky I was that I had such a good eater. I didn’t know any different because she was my first, and she always liked to eat. Now I understand. Perhaps things will change with the boys; it’s only been a few days in this world of “solid foods.” 

I am constantly reminded that even though I have four kids who all came from the same DNA-3 from the same womb at the same time- they are indeed all very different kids. And, I have to remember to treat them like that as they grow. It would be easy to sign them up for the same sports, the same activities; but, I have to leave room for them to become an individual with their own interests and pursuits. 

Not as healthy, but definitely enjoyable

However, when it comes to meal time, I already know that there are far too many people to accommodate for everyone’s likes and dislikes. So far in the Patton family, everyone is pretty open to eating anything. 

The boys will have to grow into the Patton way. 

Sushi and Indian curry will be a part of their lives. 

For now, it’s cereal time. Open up boys!

The eating table made especially for the boys by John's father!