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