It Takes a Village

There are no pictures on this post. . . who has an extra hand to take photos?. . . not me, even though I love them, and the Asian inside of me is itching to snap a few shots!
So 3 kids under 4 is busy.
When I was pregnant I heard the transition from 2 to 3 was like drowning, and then someone throws you a baby. I can totally see what they were saying.
We used to play a man to man defense, but now that we are outnumbered, that's not an option. 
This week, I was completely swamped.  Chris had to go to Kansas for work, so it was just me.  Just me and three little munchkins. 
There is no chance that I would have survived without both grandparent's help, my sister, my brother, my sister-in-law, my neighbors, my neighbor's mom, and several close friends.  When I had two kids, things were chaos at times, but I managed.  Now with three, I just run out of hands.  I have had to let people hold the baby, or scoop Milo's rice, or hold Taya's hand.  Bottom line, I have a lot of little kids!  I am loving it. . . it's tough. . . but I truly am loving it.  After this week,  I seriously believe that it takes a village.  I am so grateful for all of the help that we have in raising our family!

Fireman Milo Turns 4!

Let's be honest.  Milo really really loves tractor stuff. . . But we have done tractor themed parties for the last two years, and I wanted to try out something different.  He has finally showed some slight interest in fire trucks and firemen, so I decided to run with it (plus pinterest had tons of fire man party ideas).

My mom made this darling fire station for the kids.  They threw water balloons through the windows to put out the flames.  The extra incentive was grandpa's head.

 Milo LOVED the game.  Chris and I spent the whole night before filling up water balloons.  I think we filled nearly 200 (not exaggerating). The kids blew through them!  My fingers were raw from tying, but Milo's face made it so worth it.  He was delighted.

 Then came Fireman Frank.  I really wanted my neighbor (who is a real fire man), to dress up and come to the party, but he had a family thing and couldn't make it.  Then someone offered up their fireman suit. .  then came the hard part, I had to fill it.  I wanted the fire man to be someone that Milo didn't know so that he would think that it was real.  Luckily our friend Jordan stepped up and did it for us.  It was awesome!  Milo ran and gave him a big hug, and all night long kept going up to him and saying things like, "Frank, did you know I put out fires too"?

 

 Frank also gave Milo a fire chief outfit (that I may or may not have found at a yard sale for $2).

 Then we did the piñata.  Milo liked it, but he liked it even more, when Fireman Frank took his turn and busted it to pieces. 

 Kristen helped me make the cake.  I helped with like one part, and did a terrible job, so she took over.  We love her and her boys so much!  Milo was thrilled to have them at the party.

 He has been really excited about his cake.  When I told him it was finally his birthday he said, "oh boy, I want to eat my cake right now".  But I must say, as soon as he finished the last bite he was super excited about his presents.  He got mainly tractors, which he was thrilled about.  This whole week has been awesome because all he wants to do is play independently with his new stuff.

It seems insane that my baby is 4!  I remember when he was born, and he was so tiny that everything seemed so difficult for him to do.  I would just sit there in the NICU and pray that he would grow strong. People were constantly telling me, "One day you'll look at him and never even know that he had such a rough start".  Day after day of struggling to feed him, I would think, "he's never going to get bigger".  And now look at him, he's so full of life. He's my tough tractor man, and he'll be the first one to tell you about how big and strong he is. I am so incredibly proud of him. 

 

Milo loves

-Tractors, especially John Deere

-Playing with his cousins

-Eating at Hibachi Hut

-Dressing up and pretending to be a worker man

-Rough housing with dad

-Getting snow cones

-Watching TV, especially if there is popcorn involved

-Hanging out with Dathan (our next door neighbor)

-Parade taffy (even if it's 4 months old)

-Making his sister laugh

-Running around without his shirt on

-Swimming of any kind

-Playing at the park with Logan and Austin

-Making s'mores

-Tractor man pants (levi's) and button up shirts-because that's what farmer's wear!

-Bacon, eggs, and scones

 

Big Accomplishments

-Feeding himself.  Yes it only took four years, but he is finally mostly independent at eating.  I can't stress enough how difficult of an eater he has always been.  But finally he is consistently eating, and eating good things.  He has decided that steak is delicious.  First time he got the courage to try it, he ate about $18 worth. 

-Socializing.  Milo never loved other children when he was little.  They stressed him out.  He could never understand their intentions, and really was happiest with adults.  When he would go to playgroup, he would come home and tell me about how fun it was to play with Lisa, or Rachel, or Sarah, those are the moms of the children I wanted him to be friends with.  It was cute, but also worried me.  Then one day it clicked.  He has always been so advanced verbally, and I think that it frustrated him that other children did not communicate in the same way that he did, but now that his peers are pretty good talkers, he loves friends, and play dates, and going to the park.   I love to watch him make new friends, and talk sweetly to new kids on the playground.

-Motor skills.  Milo skipped crawling. . . but that was not because he was so freakishly coordinated that he just jumped into walking.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like he has been awkward or anything, but he was slightly lagging.  Not any more.  He can throw a bullet.  He's left handed and it's tricky to time. . . lets just say I've taken several balls to the face.

-Being the big brother.  This can be a tough job.  Especially when your little sister just has to hold your favorite tractor, or when mom's attention has to be on a screaming baby.  Milo has been so sweet and understanding.  He and Taya are learning every day how to be better about playing with each other.   Milo has been amazing with Crew. I catch him all of the time snuggling up to him on the floor and laying tractors near him so he can play.  Sometimes I worry about how much pressure is on the oldest child to be a good example, but Milo is doing such a good job.  I can't say enough good things about him to do justice to how happy he has made our lives.  He'll always be my tiny baby, but I'm so happy to see him growing so sweet and strong.

  

Dear Summer, please last forever!

We are trying to hang on to the last warm days of summer. It's fun to look at pictures from last summer because you can see how much the kids have grown in one year.  This year Milo has made huge advances in the pool.  He has always been our little fish, but this year he took it to the next level.   

Let's remember that he is 3. . . He can jump off the side into deep water, surface, and swim to the stairs. 

And yes my 3 year old can do a front flip into the pool.  He taught himself.  One day I was at the pool with my mom and she said, "I didn't know he can do a flip?"  I looked over confused.  And sure enough, scared me to death, full on front flip.

This kid is absolutely fearless in the water!  Chris loves it.  Milo makes him so proud every time that we go swimming.  We really get our moneys worth out of the pool.  We usually wait for dad to come home from work, head over, swim, snack, and then it's bed time.  .  .  It's awesome.

Then there is little miss Taya.  She can also jump off the side of the pool. . . and we learned the hard way (when she fell in) that she can also surface.  She loves to go under over and over again. 

This is her being "Ariel".  She'll go ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah in the Little Mermaid way.  She loves to play princesses in the pool.  My favorite is when she learned to call Chris, "You mean witch".  We are also very proud of Tay when she swims, but she's a lot more casual with her swimming.  She and I love to watch the people at the pool, and she is pretty low maintenance-true to character, she just does her thing.  I have to say, Taya's biggest accomplishment is that she learned that it is not okay to poop at the pool.  Kind of a funny thing-several horror stories, but she's figured it out:)

And this is what Crew has accomplished this year at the pool:) 

On his 2 month birthday, we dipped his toes in the pool.  He is kind of a fussy baby, so I expected him to dislike it, but he actually seemed very content. It will be so fun next year to watch him experience swimming for the first time.

I just love summer an unreal amount.  There are so many fun things to do outside when it's not miserably cold!

 

We are going to soak up every ray we can until winter, and then start the countdown to spring again:)

 

Crew's Blessing

Well it's official, our baby has been blessed, held up in front of everybody--and now we'll be expected at church again:)  

Bye Bye Blanket

Blanket has been through a lot with us.

Holidays

Even the one's he had to miss out on because he was sick.

And the ones he was scared to death of.

Helped us through moving into a new house.

Blanket was even there for the transition to big brother.

Of course to the circus,

And along to pick pumpkins

Blanket has been there through it all.

The funny thing is, I started this blog thinking, "Oh how sad, Milo is done with his blanket now, and I don't even have a single picture." . . This isn't even half of what I found.  Blanket is always lurking somewhere in the background.   That kid really did LOVE his blanket.  I still remember when he was little and called it kiki.  I always knew that it was kind of a gross attachment.  Lets face it, blanket got drug through the dirt, thrown up on, spilled on, sat on, dipped in the bathtub, and rarely washed.  He started loving this thing around 6 months.  And it seriously went EVERYWHERE.   When he started to play and make-believe, he would talk and talk to blanket.  It really was his very best friend.  He would squeeze it and say, "I love you so much blanket."  There were countless nights that Milo would throw up, and we would stay up and watch "Toy Story", while waiting for the "fast" cycle on the washing machine to beep.  I learned the hard way that skipping the last two minutes on this cycle only results in the door locking and having to start the machine over. 
When Milo was about 2 1/2,  the inevitable happened.  Blanket got left at the mall.  By this time I had patched, sewed, and glued this little rag a million times.  I was barely bigger than a hanker chief, but Milo loved it all the same.  Milo begged and begged to go back to the mall and get it, but I figured that anyone that picked it up would have immediately thrown it away. . . it seriously looked like a dirty dish rag, besides I thought it was time for him to give it up anyway.  That was until missing nap time and crying into the night because he couldn't fall asleep without it.  He always sucks his thumb and snuggles it while falling asleep.  So I layed down by him and told him to just suck his thumb.  He looked at me, then looked at his thumb and said, "why would I do that?"  So the invention of "blankets buddy" came around.  This was a dark brown piece of material that was similar to his original blanket.  I cut up 16 squares of it, so we would never lose it again.  Every time we go to the mall he still asks if we can get his old blanket, but blankets buddy has lasted us a whole year. Then this last weekend we went camping.  I packed like seven bags for the three kids.  I packed toys, food, snow clothes, swim suits, you name it-but I somehow forgot blanket.  When I realized my mistake, I honestly thought that one of us would have to drive home.  But I told Milo what had happened, and he said, "It's okay I'm almost four, I don't need it."  And he didn't, from that moment on he hasn't asked for it. It's weird that my heart kind of broke.  He is almost four, and he's not a baby anymore.  He's my big man.  I look at all of the places that we took blanket, and how Milo has changed over four years.  At the park he used to be terrified of the sand, so he would lay blanket down and sit on it, so that he could at least be closer to the kids.  Now he's a maniac and runs and slides and plays cave monsters like no ones business.  At the Dr's office he used to cling to that baby, and twist it, and cover his eyes with it, but now he just politely tells Jetta that if he is good, that she owes him a sucker.   I'm sad as I sit here writing this.  Blanket helped us grow up, and now I just have a cute, big, almost four year old.  I guess he wasn't the only one with an attachment.