Merry Making

It snowed here last week. We got about four inches of the beautiful, fluffy stuff. There's nothing like snow to make the holidays feel festive. We've been listening to Christmas music and watching the classic versions of "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer".
Because of this, Franklin now knows the title songs and sings them around the clock. He switches up the words a bit. I got him on tape singing while playing in the snow. He kept this version of Rudolph clean. Usually he throws in a "stinky bum" or "diaper head" lyric.
Beatrice absolutely loved the snow! She would've played outside for hours and hours had I let her and had she not kept falling down. With the combination of deep snow and bulky clothes, it was hard for her to maneuver.

All About Solomon

Solomon is about four and a half months old now and hasn't really had any blogs dedicated just to him in a while.
We took him to his four month check up and he's starting to fall off the charts just as my other kids did. He was around the 50th percentile for height and weight at his two month visit, but now he's around 15th percentile. He only weighs 14 lbs, but he sure is chubby enough to fool one into thinking he weighs more.
His little personality is a strong one. He can cry and scream with the best of them and do it for quite some time. Lately I've let him cry it out a lot. I know he's fine because he's been fed, and changed, and burped, and loved. But that's not good enough, so he throws a fit. He wants to be rocked to sleep like he used to be when he was a new born. With two other munchkins, I don't really get the luxury of rocking Solomon like I used to. It breaks my heart to hear his manly cry!
He's also strong physically. He has always been able to keep his legs straight and bear some weight on them when held upright. Lately he has been getting up on all fours readying himself to crawl.
I put him in his bouncer the other day and he took right to it. He bounced and bounced away. The other two thought it looked so much fun that they each wanted a turn.
Solomon is a special little part of our family. We all love him so much. Beatrice and Franklin are incredible big siblings to him. They help him cheer up when he is crying. They bring me wet wipes when he spits up and they want to be with Solomon around the clock. I hope that never changes.

Twick or Tweet!

This Halloween has been so much fun! We went to our church's Halloween activity Friday night and got quite a bit of candy and got to run around with dozens of kids in their costumes. Then we got to get dressed up all over again to go Trick-or-Treating Saturday night.
A few days ago I was in my bed wondering just what to dress Beatrice as for Halloween. It wasn't keeping me up, but it was on my mind. Just as I drifted off to sleep I had a vision, not a religious one or anything like that, just a mental image of how cute Beatrice would look as Wonder Woman. With it only being three days before Halloween I thought there was no way I'd have time to order one or go in search of one. Plus I didn't think I could find one to fit the budget.

I decided I would check the local Kmart, "Just to see what they had." I found princesses, and fairies, and cuddly animals, AND hidden underneath all the wings and feathers, I found WONDER WOMAN!! I was sooooo ecstatic. It wasn't Beatrice's size, but it was the smallest they had and I knew I could make it work. And it was a decent price. Yay!

I must say that Beatrice made an adorable Wonder Woman. Franklin made and awesome skeleton. His costume came with a mask, but it's so hard to breathe and see through those silly things, so I painted his face. Franklin asked me not to paint his face for the party or trick-or-treating because it made his face crack. Poor kid, I guess he was so uncomfortable at his preschool Halloween party from the face makeup. So I let him wear his mask.

Solomon donned the Elvis costume that Franklin and Beatrice both wore when they were babies. He looked so cute! We didn't get any pictures though. I'll have to dress him up and take one just for memory's sake.
Here's Franklin back in October 2006 and Beatrice in 2009.Franklin was propped up against the couch. He couldn't really stand. And Beatrice is with another Elvis (Mike Outzts) that showed up to party.

We got plenty of candy this year, and surprisingly, the kids don't really seem to be interested in it. They loved going around and asking for it, but they aren't begging to eat it and I'm not pushing them to either. I'm sure that will all change in the years ahead.
I remember taking a pillowcase trick-or-treating and running around like a mad man trying to get to as many houses before the assigned time to be home. When we got home, we'd spread our candy out on the floor so my parents could inspect it to make sure it all looked safe and to get a piece or two for themselves.
This year, we went trick-or-treating with our best friends, Micheal and Barbara Fox. We went to a handful of houses with Beatrice, Solomon, Franklin, daddy, and the Foxes. Then the two little ones and the grownups headed back home. Franklin and I wanted to stay out a little bit longer. I'm so glad we did. I got to live vicariously through my four year old. We ran from house to house as quickly as we could. It was later in the evening and I think we were some of the last ones out trick-or-treating so a lot of houses gave us handfuls of candy when we showed up. Franklin filled his entire bucket by going to about 25 houses. It was incredible. I really loved spending some one-on-one time with my son, just running around being a kid again. I feel so blessed and fortunate to live in a country with such silly traditions and in a place that is safe enough to participate in such traditions. It's great to be a kid!

A Little Update

It's been a few weeks since our last post. I've been a bit busy with three children, plus I've taken on an extra kid during the week. His name is Jaidyn Torres. He's three months younger than Franklin and, for the most part, they get a long great. But it isn't easy to blog or do much when you've got kids to feed, clean up after, play peacekeeper for, and so on and so forth.

Not too long ago I put Beatrice in the tubby because she was a mess. The little girl is a great eater, but she needs to work on her table manners a bit. She's always eating with her hands and dripping food all down her front. She spills her drinks constantly and many times it seems as if there is more food in her hair than in her tummy.

This particular morning was extremely messy. I think Beatrice was trying to style her hair with maple syrup. I put her in the tubby and sat down at the computer, which is literally six feet away. I could see and hear her. She was having a great time and I was getting a minute of down time.

When I went to go wash her hair, I found her sitting in the bathtub with her favorite blanket. She has loved this blanket forever and ever. I guess so much so that she had to bring it into the tubby. How did I not notice her dragging it into the tub with her? It makes me wonder what else goes on while I'm at the computer. Something crazy could be happening while I type this...better go check...All is well.

Franklin had his Halloween party yesterday. He used the same skeleton costume from last year. When I bought it, it was way too big for him, but it was the smallest size the store had and Franklin wanted it so badly. It didn't cost much, so I bought it and definitely have gotten my money's worth. A year later, he still thinks it's "sooo awesome!" Yay! If we play our cards right, he can wear it again next year. Is that wrong to make a kid wear the same costume three years in a row? Will he later resent me for doing so? He wasn't too happy about the makeup job until he got to preschool and all the other boys said it was so cool. Thank you four-year-old boys for making my son feel scary and awesome!

Franklin loves preschool. He seems to be learning quite a bit and looks forward to going every other day. I hope he always has that enthusiasm for school. I'm sure most kids would if they got to color and have snack time every day. Who doesn't love a good snack?

We got to go on a field trip to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago. Pictured are the three stooges. Franklin, Jaidyn Torres, and JD McDonald. The three usually play pretty well together, but sometimes Jaidyn has to wiggle his way into Franklin and JD's circle. They've been best friends for two years now and it's been a little hard for them to let the new kid in, but all in all, boys will be boys and they don't have any problems with another boy joining in as long as his toys are awesome and he doesn't like girl colors.

The other day this cat showed up at our back porch. I thought it was Solomon crying, but every time I checked on Solomon, he was fast asleep. Finally I opened the back door to see what the sound was and in runs Mystery Cat. We call her that because she is a mystery. She was skin and bones and soooo hungry when she invited herself in.
I fed her and let her settle in a bit then did some investigating. She's been declawed and more than likely been fixed. She didn't appear sick at all, just really, really hungry. We don't know who she belongs to. For now we call her Mystery Cat and hope someone comes forth and adopts her.

Beatrice is two!!

Busy Beatrice turned two this past week. We had a great few days celebrating her birthday. She got some bedding for her big girl bed and a zhu-zhu pet that she calls Zhuzie. We let her eat as many oreos and cheetos as she wanted on her birthday and did a dozen other things to spoil her.
The day after, she woke up from her nap, and the first thing she said was, "I want cheetos mommy."
Our little princess is funny, smart, busy and makes our life such a joy.

I'm so sad that the video got cut off before I could get a kiss from her. She's so loving and can be so the opposite of loving too. She is a girl through and through. She throws her temper tantrums where she's spewing venomous words through tears and snot and know one knows what she wants and she doesn't know what she wants but she still continues to cry and scream and kick and hit. I think it's adorable! My mom says it's adorable when they're little, but not so much when they're teenagers...I have a feeling Beatrice is always going to be adorable.

Firty One Goals!

This is Franklin's third season playing soccer. He's now one of the "older" kids on the team and it shows. The first season his team was pretty even when it came to ball skills. Basically, none of the kids had any, but they were really good at chasing bugs and wrestling.
His second season all the kids were, once again, pretty evenly skilled. Some could dribble the ball, but would quickly lose it when another teammate or an opposing teammate would snatch it away. It was fun except for one teammate, the coach's kid. He was a bit older and waaaay more advanced. Every time he got the ball, he'd score. If he didn't have the ball, he'd get it and score. Yes, that's fun for him and for his parents and all those in the family, but for the others, it's no fun at all.
We lived through six games with the "coach's kid." Franklin only scored one goal because after five games of being bored out of my mind watching one kid dominate, I asked the coach if she could tell her kid to pass the ball every once in a while. Well it worked and Franklin got his one goal under his belt.
This season is so different. I'm not sure if it's because Franklin went to soccer camp this past summer or if it's because he's now one of the older kids on the team. I'm afraid though that our son has turned into the "coach's kid."
I've talked to him about passing and letting others have a turn, but somehow he keeps getting that ball and scoring. My husband kept telling me to lay off the kid and let him score as many as he wants, but I don't think that's fair to the other kids and those who came to watch them play. Plus, my husband and I have very different feelings about sports. I love a close game where the competition is even with a lot of back and forth. My husband likes to see big, blow outs. He loves it when a team wins by five touchdowns or 30 baskets or whatever the sport it. I don't think it's a sport when the score is so lopsided.
Anyhow, Oh how I love to see Franklin score a goal. He gets so excited and skips back to center field while pumping both arms up and down high above his head. Whenever he's asked how many goals he scored, he says, "Firty one!" Last year in preschool they learned to count to 31 and that has been his favorite number ever since.
I got a quick video of him scoring one of his "firty one" goals and would've like to have gotten more but my silly memory card was full.

Smiling Solomon

Our little baby is almost three months old now! He's growing and growing. At his two month check up he was 12lbs 4 oz which put him at 58% on the growth charts. We'll take it because once my kids start moving, they usually drop around the 20th percentile or less.
The other night Frank and I went on a date. An actual date! We left the kids with babysitters and spent five hours with each other. It was such a nice, needed night out.
While we were gone, our best friends took care of Solomon. They captured this cute little video footage of Solomon smiling and laughing. It was on an iphone...technology these days is AMAZING!

Solomon's two months old

It's been weeks since I posted pictures of Solomon. He has grown so much just like all newborns do. He goes in for his two month visit on Monday, so I should have all his growth statistics then.
Currently he smiles and even giggles. I swear he was giggling this morning when I was trying to nurse him. He'd pretend like he was going to eat, then he'd pull his head away from me and smile and coo. It was the cutest, sweetest thing.
I've taken tons of pictures, but none of them seem to capture just how cute he is. And I can't, for the life of me, get any really good pictures of him smiling. He does it so often now that one would think I could get a decent picture of it.

Daddy's little girl

Frank has been working a lot lately and hasn't been able to see the kids as much as he like. When he came home the other night, all the kids were asleep. However Beatrice woke up when Frank went in to check on her. He lovingly scooped her up and took her downstairs to spend quality time together in front of the tv. When I woke up the next morning, this is what I found.

Arts and Crafts

As mentioned in my previous post, Franklin and I made a paper mache pig. At first it was going to be a piggy bank, but then I realized it was awfully large. Then we decided we would turn it into a pinata. That didn't work either because before I could fill it with goodies, Franklin and his best friend decided to annihilate it. They beat the poor piggie up. It first started with them tearing a small hole in it to put the candy and then it snowballed from there. They tore the legs off and crushed the poor thing until it was laying on the floor in pieces. All that effort for nothing! At least the boys had fun destroying it, which I guess is what boys are made to do, and at least I got some pictures of Franklin with it beforehand.

We also made a dinosaur out of craft sticks. We had the sticks for other projects, but I'm just not all that crafty. So a dinosaur was about as genius as I could get with the sticks. Franklin thought it was sooo "awesome!" That's his favorite word right now. Things aren't cool or cute, they are AWESOME!!

Busy Beatrice

Beatrice is one of the busiest little girls I know. Wherever I am, there she is also. If I'm on the computer, she has to be sitting on my chair with me. But before she sits down, she needs a drink, and her purse, and her fingernail polish, and her toothbrush with her toothpaste. Then maybe she is ready to sit still, but only for a moment before she is off to somewhere else, only to return for another small moment.
She insists on helping me with everything, except for feeding her. She insists on doing that all by herself.
Today I took on an enormous task of cleaning a large gas grill my girlfriend gave me. It was in dire need of some tlc. It had been sitting outside without a cover for who knows how long. It was covered in dirt, spider webs, and wasp nests. A total of six nests to be exact. It was a bit frightening at first. I wasn't sure if I was going to get stung by a wasp or bit by a spider. Fortunately neither happened.
I scrubbed and hosed and scrubbed some more. I tried to get most of it done while Beatrice was sleeping because I knew once she woke, she'd want to be in the middle of it all. Sure enough, she literally got her hands wet and got to work!
When I dressed her earlier today, I thought to myself, "Why in the world am I putting brand new white pants on her? She's just going to get them dirty." Not only did she get them dirty, she got them so wet they hardly stayed on.




I hope she'll always want to be around me when she gets older. Just today my heart broke because Franklin told me I wasn't his best friend. I was just his mom and "moms are boring." Whhaaaa?? I'm not boring! If I was boring would I start such an awesome project as a paper mache pig? More pictures to come...hopefully...

Sleeping Bea

Beatrice is very consistent with her naps. She will go to sleep around the same time every day if she is in her crib or her carseat.
The other day we went grocery shopping at the supermarket exactly one mile from our house. I didn't think we'd be gone too long. However, the trip took a bit longer than expected since I really haven't gone grocery shopping since Solomon was born. I had to restock my pantry and fridge. The kids were behaving so well, so I took advantage of it and kept shopping and shopping.
I did have to buy some snacks to pacify the kids until we could get home and eat lunch. Well, as you can tell from the pictures, Beatrice didn't quite make it home. She fell asleep in her carseat, snack in hand, half way home. I didn't know she was that tired. Like I said before, the supermarket is only a mile from our house. If only I could get the other two to fall asleep as quickly as her.

Queen Bea

Miss Beatrice is the light of my life. Well, all three of my babies are, but Beatrice makes sure her light is front and center these days. In a very good way.
Beatrice is so cute both in looks and personality. I think she is waaaaay too smart for her age. She has great comedic timing. I wish I was better at writing down all the things she does and says lately.
We attempted our first go of potty training this past week. I just took off all her clothes and let her be "free" for a couple of days. She loved running around naked. The first day she peed freely and pooped a couple of times too. She was no where near the toilet. The second day she started holding it in. I'd catch her clinching her chubby butt cheeks and ask her if she needed to go peepee. She'd say no then walk away with her knees locked and butt cheeks clinched only to relieve herself no where near the toilet. The next day she'd actually sit on the kiddy toilet, but just to watch a couple of minutes of tv, then she'd get up and relieve herself no where near the toilet.
Nothing seemed to interest her enough to get her to go to the bathroom on the toilet. We let her pick out her own big girl underwear and gave her little treats, but she's just not quite ready.
Here she is sitting on the couch in her big girl panties. You can't quite see them. Big girl panties or not, my little princess is such a big girl to her big brother. She is constantly trying to get him to take his pacifier, even if he's nursing or fast asleep. When he wakes and starts to cry, Beatrice is the first to let me know. Her eyes light up and she says, "Solmon cying, Solmon cying." I've got to get her saying that and a dozen other things on video before she loses her cute little accent and lisp. Which, with the way she's growing, could be tomorrow.

Soccer Camp

We decided to enroll Franklin in a week long soccer camp this summer. We were hoping it would be fun for him and teach him a few extra skills. Fortunately he loved it and learned a bit too. It was so fun taking him each day and just watching him for an hour and a half. He adored Coach Ash. His name is really Ashley, but little boys tend to laugh at the name as it is a "girl's name" in the U.S.
Coach Ash did a great job at getting Franklin to have fun and be a bit more aggressive. As I've written before, my son is a lover, not a fighter. So when it comes to playing soccer, sometimes, ok, most times he's not the first one to the ball. In fact, he's usually on the outskirts just hoping and waiting for the ball to come to him. Now he's a little more confident and we're hoping, come fall, he'll be right in the thick of the soccer "bunch."

Solomon is growing

My little baby is thriving. He is now five and a half weeks old and I've hardly had a few free moments to document it all. Here are a few pictures of him at three weeks...
Here he is at four weeks old...Look at his first smiles! In these pictures Solomon is wearing one of my favorite outfits of Franklins. It hurts when I think Franklin was once that little.
He really is changing. Every day I find his legs getting a little thicker and his eyes a little wider.
Here are some pictures of Franklin at the same age...
There are definite similarities,and glaring differences, i.e. Solomon's birthmark on his forehead, and totally different personalities. But both are amazing little angels.
He's such a sweet baby just as my other two have been. His favorite place to sleep is in his mom's arms and that is my favorite place for him to sleep. Many days go by where the laundry is neglected and the other kids watch a little bit too much tv just because my arms are literally full. Solomon LOVES to eat and seems to do it around the clock. He really needs to be put on a schedule, but for now, it's whatever baby wants, baby gets.

I'm not sure if I'm a good mom, or a bad mom for what I did today. I took the training wheels off my son's bike through much opposition. There was whining and then tears, but I just said, "Look, you have all these friends and cousins who ride their bike without training wheels. You can do it. I know you can."
Comparing my son to the other kids is bad parenting. Encouraging my son to do something I know he can do is good parenting.
I got Franklin to ride his bike around while reassuring him I was holding on and then, of course, I let go. So, again, lying to my son is bad parenting.
As expected, he was able to pedal without my assistance. I ran next to him offering him words of encouragement. "Pedal, Pedal, Pedal!!!" Good parenting!
After a short trip to the mail box and back, he said he was done. He hadn't quite caught the thrill of riding free of training wheels. He wanted them back on. I emphatically told him no and took him upstairs to watch other kids learning how to ride their bikes without training wheels.
For some reason, Franklin had it in his head that he'd learn when he was five or six. So I found some Youtube videos of little, itty, bitty kids learning to ride their bikes. One video even had subtitles that stated the kid in the video was four. I showed Franklin the #4 on the video and he started believing me that other kids were learning at his age (even though his friends and cousins are four).
After a dozen Youtube videos, I convinced him to put on his helmet once again and try biking without his training wheels.
He wanted to be on Youtube like the other kids. I told him I'd put his bike-riding video on the computer. That really got him excited.
So here are the two videos of our little guy riding his bike without training wheels. I was running along side him which is why they are both so shaky.

Solomon Part II

Solomon is a week old and has captured my heart forever. He is so sweet. He eats well and sleeps well. He's starting to open his eyes a bit more, but I'm always so transfixed by his gaze that I forget to grab the camera. It's amazing how just a week ago he was in my belly and now he's here!


Franklin and Beatrice are great siblings, but I can tell they miss having mom's complete attention. Beatrice thinks she should be Solomon's mom or at least dictate how and what I should be doing as his mom. She keeps saying, "I carry," every time he goes in his car seat. She really thinks she can carry his car seat by herself. Whenever he opens his eyes, she thinks it's funny to say, "Pokey his eye" and then attempt to poke him in his eyes. She's constantly trying to shove a pacifier into his mouth whether he's awake or not or attached to me or not. She hasn't yet tried to smother him like Franklin tried to do to Beatrice when she was younger. I give it another week or two.
Franklin, on the other hand, is just the opposite. He's so gentle and sweet. He keeps Beatrice out of the bedroom when Solomon is sleeping. He grabs whatever I need, i.e. diapers, wipes, lotion, shampoo, pacifier, blanket...etc. Whatever I need, he's there to get it for me.
I often feel guilty for having such a beautiful family. Three adorable and healthy babies and a loving husband too. I have great neighbors and friends who have brought gifts and meals. They've offered to take my older kids from me for a while so I can get a break and have some alone time with Solomon. Life is beautiful!

Solomon Conrad

Little Solomon Conrad arrived Friday around noon. He was 7lbs, 6oz and 20 inches long. He is bigger and longer than the other two and just as perfect.
I would like to say all went well with the delivery. It was almost perfect except I received way too much medicine in my epidural. I was numb all the way to my fingers. It took almost 8 hours for the meds to wear off. I have never done well with meds of any kind. It doesn't take much for the needed effect. So I assume the anethesiologist thought I was bigger than I am...it's hard to tell how small or big a person is when they've packed on 40 extra pounds.
Once I was hooked up to the epidural, the iv fluids, and the pitocin drip, it took all of three hours for me to get completely dilated and ready for birth. I pushed a total of 8 times. Solomon came right out and cried almost immediately. It was love at first sight.It was so fun to see my kids' reactions when they met Solomon for the first time. Beatrice went crazy. She wanted to see the baby so badly and wouldn't leave him alone. She kept poking his eyes and cheeks and checking out his fingers and toes and ears. She wanted to carry him the way she does her dollies at home. It's been four days and the novelty has not worn off. She still keeps trying to carry him and wants to know where he is every minute of the day.
Franklin was so sweet and tender. He held Solomon and gave him a few sweet kisses on the head and a soft squeeze. He's going to be such a great role model.
It's been an adjustment having more kids than arms. How grateful I am for the wonderful family, neighbors, and friends I have to help out. It's been so nice sitting at home and just loving little Solomon. Nothing better!