Almost 5

It’s seems like just yesterday we had our first son. In fact FIVE years goes by like the blink of an eye. My buddy Jackson is turning 5 on July 31st! Wow. He’s still as busy as he was as a ‘little guy’ – now he is active in sports and makes them all “x-games.” He loves his brothers and friends and prays for a sister (Lord help me!). He sleeps in a bunk bed, rides a bike big enough for a 10 year old, loves constructing train tracks and lincoln logs, eats great, sleeps great, and loves his mommy Auntie Erika. He will probably be a photographer when he grows up (he he he) and is constantly practicing with the PNS. He can concentrate for an hour or more on coloring and crafts and loves to give gifts. He is a lover. And my little buddy.

{A few in the back yard on July 4th}

Family Portrait

We have our family photo taken every year the first week in December – it’s a tradition. I use the picture for our end of the year letter and Christmas card. I just now got around to having them taken…well, a few weeks ago. Basically 4 months late. OOPS. I didn’t have my camera yet so I was going to call Picture People for an appointment in the mall…Mike said NO WAY, call Katie. I convinced my pregnant sister in law to take our family portrait by assuring her she wouldn’t have to process a thing…so we dumped all the RAW files on my computer and finally – almost a month later – I processed a few. More later.

Seriously impossible to get all 5 of us looking good…props to you Katie for getting a few!

Our backyard. On a log in the weeds. I thought it was a lovely place for a portrait.

Owen, Gavin, and Jackson – in my living room. Thanks to the lovely picture windows it’s all natural light! Crazy mommy and silly Jack – hilarious!

I can’t help but laugh at this one too. Owen and Jackson’s expressions are priceless.5 crazy Baker's.

WW: Baby Buns

  

1-2-3

ONE child went to school and came home with a virus

TWO more children got the virus

THREE children all got ear infections from said virus. ALL THREE on antibiotics at the same time.

ONE ear infection for Jackson since 6 months ago – yeah! this is a big improvement. Unfortunately he still vomits every single stinkin’ time he has an ear infection. This time was no exception. Blackberries – all over my white shag rug. Spring cleaning got a jump start and the steam cleaner is back in action. Good part – I’m starting to get over my phobia of vomit. Amazing. Still not a fan of cleaning it up… but I don’t get anxiety or lose sleep over it anymore. Another good part – Amoxicillin works very very quickly on Jackson and he’s a new perky man in just 36 hours.

TWO ear infections for Owen in the last 2 months. This is not usual for him. He got a cold in late January and woke up from a very short nap and said, “MOM. I’m sick. I’m bery bery sick.” I ask what’s wrong and he replies, “my ear. it hurts.” Luckily, for me!, he does NOT vomit or even wake up in the middle of the night when he has an ear infection. But a month later he went to preschool for a week while the babysitter was out of town and got RSV or some other cold/cough virus that reinfected his ears. So TWO rounds of antibiotics for him.

THREE rounds of antibiotics for baby Gavin in the last 2 months. Owen’s first cold passed to Gavi and a week after I got Owen on Amox, Gavin followed. His fever went away but he stayed sick the entire month of February. I took him back when his snot started turning green and low and behold we get a different med to try again. Fever goes away but just days after he finishes the drug Owen gives him the preschool RSV/whatever virus and his ear reinfects. This time both ears, bulging, and filled with pus. 102 fever and wheezing. POOR BABY. And mommy. He was sleeping 9 straight hours at night until the first cold/ear infection and now neither of us gets more than 2 hours at a time. FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS. I’m exhausted and I’m afraid he’ll go deaf from the fluid never draining. I got an appointment with the ENT yesterday…but it’s not for 4 weeks! Wow. I started him on homeopathic ear ache medicine in hopes he can stay well while we wait for our consult. The cough was really horrible too…his face would get red as he coughed over and over and over, and it sounded as if he couldn’t get ANY air…and the end cough was a gag from the mucous. Very very yucky. Of course, he tried to be happy through it all…and practiced his clapping while saying “yeah!” My poor sweet Gavi.

My two sickies, nebulizing on the couch together. Please pray for Gavin’s ears!

Homeowners

I went to this cute little house in Southern California yesterday

and found these gorgeous berries, a happy family,and white walls. Oh no. Not white! Don’t worry, I painted them. Yes, yes, I love to paint! I didn’t get to stay as long as I would’ve if I didn’t have 3 boys driving their daddy crazy at home… but I did get my hands on some pink and taupe paint. Smile.

Congratulations to the new homeowners! (my sister in law Katie and husband Al)

Trampoline Fun

cool moves


cool names

cool games
(excuse my voice)

cool entertainment

and the always lovable "GNARLY"

A trampoline is a great family investment. Not only is it fun, it is great exercise.
Trampolines are worth their weight in gold.

My 3 Stooges

I watch this over and over and over. And laugh so hard I cry. The ending especially - it just kills me. I LOVE MY BOYS!!!!

Go Gavi GO!

Crawling is one of those exciting milestones you cheer on...and then when they really get going, and into everything, you wonder why. Why was I so excited? Ha ha, but for now, we're cheering on our little 7 month old crawler. Go Gavi GO!

Sick and Tired

Sick - the kids - a mild cold came through and all 3 kids eventually had it. It landed me in Kaiser 2 Sundays in a row for ear infections (Owen and Gavin).
-me- with a UTI. or so I thought. After I took antibiotics for 7 days the culture came back negative. Mystery knife like pain in bladder and aching back?! "It's NOT a tuma!"
Tired - me - last weekend before Gavin's ear infection was diagnosed I was up all night 2 nights in a row. Then on Tuesday of this week he woke up EVERY 30 MIN. Oh Lord. I had to call in sick to work on Wednesday b/c I was dangerously tired. So not safe to put sharp things in people's mouths that way. I was falling asleep at red lights trying to get the kids to school/sitter/Kaiser. Fortunately we all came out alive. I thought for sure the meds weren't working but the pediatrician said his ears looked the same and didn't recommend changing anything..."stick it out". ARGH.
- mike - works his tail to the bone. drives 8 hours to Yosemite for a job that has lasted 2 months longer than expected. work work work. he never relaxes even when he's not working. work is always on the brain.
-gavi gavi- poor baby was sleeping so well - 7 to 9 hours in a stretch - and then got a cold, ear infection, and 4 top teeth coming all at once. he's exhausted.
Sick and Tired. of ear infections. of the clutter. of not being able to spend time with my family the way I want to. of yelling. of always feeling "behind." of not having enough money no matter how hard we work or save. of mountains of laundry. of being a single mom most of the time and all the time for the last 3 weeks in a row. of not being able to attend church b/c someone is always sick. of the cat peeing on a towel if you leave it on the bathroom floor. of saying something nicely a million times and being ignored until I yell. of not being able to work out. of time flying by so fast that I still haven't had my yearly December family picture taken. of not being reimbursed by Aetna for my $600 Mirena. of watching myself complain via this post! aaaaahhhhhhhh

XOXO

Male Bonding

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4 Binkies

Saturday night I put baby G to bed with 4, yes 4, binkies. He slept 9 hours! Yahoo! He went down at 6:30pm and woke at 3:30am – nursed and back to sleep until 7am. Thank the Lord for binkies!

A moment in time

I want to remember moments like this. Everyday moments. A night after arriving home from work - a few minutes before we all sit down to dinner. 6:20pm on a Monday. Typical.

Mike doing business on the phone. Owen (almost 3) fixing himself a snack...cutting a banana. Jackson watching Nick Jr. Gavin babbling in the highchair while eating. And me...soaking it all in. I love my boys.

On the move

My baby is 7 months old. Craziness. At his 6 month well visit he tipped the scales at 18 1/2 lbs and all his measurements were 50-75th percentile. He's a mover. It's not an official crawl yet - but he gets across a room. I call it the inch worm. Up on all fours, splat, up, belly, up, belly. He sort of propels himself forward and repeats. Hasn't gotten the knee thing down yet.

#1 Favorite activity: FOOD. This kid loves to eat. His babysitter says she’s never seen anything like it in her 30 years of experience. The way he studies you as your eating is somewhat, well, eerie.

His food is all well and good, but it’s just not as interesting as your food. And he lets you know about it…loudly. He’s like a begging dog, panting for food. More more more, now! Note to self: take video of baby begging. And you must feed him his food quickly…or more yelling. It’s pretty funny actually.

#2 Favorite activity: taking a bath. And that loofah. Man oh man, does he love that loofah. And his brothers of course. If he hears the big boys in the tub he does his best to let you know he wants in too! Then the fun begins – 3 boys 4 and under in a bath. Get’s a little wild!

#3 Favorite activity: Sitting. He learned to sit unsupported over a weekend. Literally. We used to have to put the nursing pillow behind him all the time and constantly pick him up from falling over. Until last weekend. Boom. Sitter.

#4 Favorite: little tow truck. Loves that string.




#5 Favorite activity: being outside. Gavin is very easy going. He goes with the flow (aka:opposite of Owen!) even when you mess with his routine. We put him in the swing and he wasn't afraid to go high...which made Jackson's day.

Happy baby!

Obsessions

BURT’S BEES. Lippy, chap stick, foot care, hand care, hair care, Baby Bee, bath products, etc. You name it, I want it to be Burt’s.

FLICKR. I can spend hours looking at gorgeous photos on flickr. My current obsession is finding fun groups.

SALAD. Everyday. Huge bowl. I could eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Really? Seriously. I crave it. CRAVE. I’m like a drug addict in withdrawal if I don’t have my salad. It might be because I’m blood type A. There is a theory on that, check it out. Let’s get a closer look. MMMMMMMMM

Canon Digital SLR 7D camera. I had my heart set on the 50D until Mike said he thought the video function would be nice too. So now I must save even more for my baby. I mean my camera. Hopefully it will be landing in my hands next month. Let’s hope and pray. We are going to Hawaii in May, so it must be here before then. After all, can I really go to Hawaii with a point and shoot for a second time?!

My Buddies. Kissing and squeezing them all day long. That is, when I’m not yelling at them ;)

note: notice the difference between the salad pic and the boys? yes. huge. Took the salad pics with a DSLR and the boys with a point n shoot. SEE?!!!

Last Night of Chanukkah

All nights this year we had this electric window display up. The tradition is to light your candles and set it in the window for all to see. Obviously that is a fire hazard for a family with 3 small children, so we don’t do that. This year I found this very childproof window menorah and although it has all 8 candles lit every time you plug it in, we enjoyed it all the same.

It hung on the slider to the office, which we use as our “front door.” Notice the very organized and labeled scrapbook stuff. Too bad it can’t make scrapbooks all by itself… because this tired momma hasn’t finished a page in an entire year! So sad. Maybe I should stop blogging and start scrappin’? Nah. Both =)

Traditional Chanukkah food: Latkes! Yummy “potato pancakes.” We make them from scratch because there is not much that comes out of a box that tastes good. Fresh food, mmmmmmm.

Upon my daddy’s request, I made them extra thick. Like hamburger thick. OH MY.

Every year I think to myself, “why do we wait for December to make these????” They are incredible. It’s like a super duper gourmet hash brown. But 1,000x better.

Recipe HERE and other FAQ about Chanukkah.

We made Lamb as our last night feast. WOW. Incredible. Those are little fresh mint leaves on top.

My dad Edward Greene (aka: Greenstein) – the Jew who grew up not celebrating Judaism. I teach him everything he knows about the Bible = )

He says a yiddish prayer every year at Chanukkah that he remembers from childhood. And his favorite part “Lachiem!” (basically cheers in yiddish – but he thinks it means ‘here’s health in your bones’)

We were pretty toasty in the house due to the oven and fryin’ goin’ on, so we opened the slider. It got a litle windy, which produced some wax drippings. Beautiful! Even with my point and shoot.

We love Chanukkah and are sad when it ends…until next year, LACHIEM!

Chanukkah: Night 6& 7