Alexander in the bath

Alexander hasn't taken very many baths in his life, but that's okay because three-month-old babies don't tend to get very messy (aside from covering themselves with sour milk a dozen times a day, if they're anything like the majority of my babies). He's taken way more showers. In fact, I think his first "bath" was a shower. 

But we've moved to a 9:00 schedule for church, which means that I've been showering Saturday evenings rather than on Sunday mornings (because there's simply too much to do on Sunday morning), which means that by the time I get around to showering Alexander has already clocked out for the night.

Can I take a minute to marvel again at how weirdly wonderful it is to have a baby do things like that?

This means, however, that Alexander has to bathe earlier in the evening when the tub is occupied by his older siblings. And they can be a little overwhelming because Zoë is exactly as intense as she looks in this picture:

Playground pictures

The kids were busy putting together a puppet show most of the day yesterday, though they did take a break for President Monson's funeral (we watched the broadcast from home) and lunch. Much too late in the afternoon, when the sun was dropping low in the sky, we finally made it outside and to the park so the kids (Benjamin, specifically) could run off some energy. It was a beautiful day (but it would have been warmer had we gotten out earlier in the afternoon).

I took our "big" camera so that I could practice taking pictures because having a nice camera does us no good if it's just sitting at home the majority of the time. But, oh, it's complicated. I have no idea what (more than) half the buttons do.

My most willing victim subject was Alexander, but that's only because he was stuck in the baby swing most of the time. 

Benjamin writings

Benjamin filled his writing journal at school (again) so he brought it home to share with us and it was most enjoyable. It's fun to see these little snippets of how his mind works. Here are some of our favourite excerpts:

I had cherch musik on last nihgt
Lats hwo I go to sleepbe and it gos on
evwe nghit.

I had church music on last night
That's how I go to sleep and it goes on
every night.

Mealtime issues

There was no school today, which I suppose makes up for the fact that there was school on January 2nd. I even remembered to not send my kids to school (even though this day was not marked as a day off of school on the official calendar magnet they sent home at the beginning of the school year), which I'll mark down as a win in my book (even though all we had to do was remember to sleep in and not get ready in the morning).

Yesterday after I picked Benjamin up from kindergarten we decided we'd head over to he playground for a little while because it was such a beautiful day.

While we were playing my phone rang. The number was local, so I answered it but heard nothing, aside from what sounded like heavy breathing. I get a lot of junk calls (who doesn't? (I want to know your secret)) and was about to ignore this call as a just that, but on account of the heavy breathing (and previous experience will cell phone stalkers) I decided to do a little research on the phone number, just in case.

Turns out the call was from the school.

I called back the office and told them that I'd just missed a call, though I didn't know who had called or why.

"Oh, yes," the secretary said, somewhat absently. "Your daughter asked to use the phone."

"Which one?" I asked.

"Which one?" the secretary repeated.

"Yes, I have three children at your school..."

"Oh, I'm not sure."

"Well, was she blonde or brunette?" I asked.

"Hmmmm...I really wasn't paying that close of attention."

Clearly.

Sleeping Babies and the Bean Museum

This evening my mom texted me to say that my sister told her about a reptile exhibit at the Bean Museum on campus that Benjamin would probably like, which reminded me that I totally (sporatically) took them there already. I just hadn't blogged about it yet because for whatever reason I'm behind on most—if not all—facets of my life. 

I seriously feel like I'm running after a bus that I've missed.

Fun fact: I have run after busses that I've missed. Often, when I lived in Voronezh, I was able to actually catch up to the bus on the next stop when I did this. Not that I did it terribly often. But there were those mornings, you know, where you just miss the bus and rather than risk waiting for the next bus you book it to the next and just barely make it on. Except in my life, currently, I never barely make the bus. I just keep chasing it stop after stop after stop.

I would blame it on the baby, but, honestly, he's one of those ridiculously easy babies (for now (please, please don't let saying that out loud jinx things)). 

Back when I had my first baby, who never slept, I sought out all sorts of advice about how to get her to sleep and nothing really worked. And then I had my second baby and she was a pretty spectacular sleeper. And then I had my third baby and, behold, grey hairs did begin to spring forth from my scalp because he was not a spectacular sleeper. And then I had my fourth baby and she never slept (and that's hardly hyperbole at all—getting her to sleep was honestly a nightmare for 2.5 years). And then in a moment of temporary insanity I went ahead and had another baby and...he's pretty great so far.

One piece of advice that stuck out in my mind tonight was that to teach a baby to sleep you just put them down when they're drowsy so they get used to going to sleep on their own. 

For about the past decade of my life (aside from Miriam, whose love of sleep has always seemed more like the exception than the rule to me) I have been convinced that there's no way that could possibly be a thing. 

But guess what: it's a thing.

My boys

Benjamin can be quite the handful. Yesterday morning I was practically screaming (definitely yelling, but only practically screaming) for him to get out the door. "Just go!" I said. "Get out of my house! I don't care if you have to walk to school in bare feet without a coat on, it's time to go! It's time to go five minutes ago!"

He had pushed every button, had slugged his way through every task he did do (while expertly avoiding the ones he didn't want to do), and had me at the very end of my rope. 

All in the course of an hour. 

"Please, Mom, no!" he begged. "I don't want to walk to school with bare feet! Please!"

I wrestled his feet into his shoes while he sobbed (when I felt like doing a little sobbing myself) and then I sent the kids on their way and sat down for a few deep breaths while I wondered how one little person can be full of so much personality.

"You have 2.5 hours to pull yourself back together," I reminded myself. 

Ahh, half-day kindergarten, I can't tell if I love thee or loathe thee.

But Benjamin, for sure, I know that I always, always love him, but yesterday morning made me question just how much I liked him. By the mid-afternoon he'd managed to make me fall back in like with him again so I'm glad it went a little smoother. 

I suppose part of the reason it went smoother was because Bob was over working on the basement and he let Benjamin "help" him carry bits of broken cement out to his big trash trailer. Benjamin really did help—he was hauling big pieces of concrete outside and filling buckets with smaller pieces—but I'm sure he also got in the way quite a bit. 

He was so excited to be put to work. I can't get him to pick up his LEGO, but Bob says, "Fill this bucket with the little pieces," and Benjamin went right to it. He shadowed Bob up and down the stairs, carrying with him bits of our old basement floor (Bob is putting in a basement and had to move some pipes, so he had to cut out some of the floor). He talked the whole way about what hard work it was and how fun it was and how when he grows up he wants to be a builder.

"I don't really want to build anything," he explained. "I just want be the kind of build that carries the big pieces of cement. Not the little ones like I carry. The big ones!"

Alexander update

I just went to check on Alexander because I thought I could hear him beginning to fuss, but he was still sound asleep. He was just, you know, breathing and we could hear him, through the closed door.

He's (mostly) totally fine though.

I made an appointment with the ENT specialist after all and when we got there, the first thing he noted was Alexander's stridor because, well, it's pretty apparent aurally obvious. We talked for awhile about his breathing, eating, and sleeping habits. The doctor looked in Alexander's ears and nose with his little light thing (I'm feeling very smart right about now) and then suggested that we do a scope, just to solidify a diagnosis.

Oh, and during this process Alexander spat up all over creation and I calmly wiped it up, as one does (unless that person is Miriam, in which case they scream and cry and take a shower (and this wasn't even a bad spit because, as you can see, her shirt is still dry)):

This picture was taken after we'd calmed her down, obviously
(picture from December 1)

These days

I didn't do anything special, yet Alexander decided to treat me well going into the new year. He slept from 9:30 pm on New Year's Eve to 6:30 am on New Year's Day. It was amazing. And then he went back to sleep and we slept until around 9:00. Here he is, still sleeping, after I woke up in the morning:

Calendaring issues

I checked my phone as I was leaving the house to head to the school this afternoon and saw that I had a voicemail, so I listened to it as I walked.

"Hi, Mom," the voice message said. "There's a parent meeting at 4:30 for the Annie play and I was just wondering if you remembered...so...can you come?"

I decided not to call her back since I currently was coming and because I had no reliable way to get ahold of her since the school office was technically closed and that's where she'd used the phone. Instead I made a note of the time and quickened my pace but was interrupted by a series of buzzes in my pocket, alerting me that I had some incoming text messages.

It was Rachel's friend Kenzie's mom.

"Hi Nancy! I'm here at he school for the parent meeting about the play. Rachel is nervous wondering if you're coming and asked me to text you."

"On my way," I texted back, and Kenzie's mom promised to set Rachel's mind at ease.

I don't know why she'd think I would forget something as important as the parent meeting for the school musical. I mean, come on...It's not as if I completely forgot what day the kids were supposed to return to school after their Christmas break or anything.

Oh, wait...I did.

NYE family mixer

We skipped out after sacrament meeting so that we could attend a family gathering at my Aunt Judy's house. I suppose that will be one nice thing about having church at 9:00 this year—it will be easier to get away to afternoon activities than it has been with church from 1–4:00. I'm kind of loathing the idea of having all seven of us—pressed and polished in our Sunday best—out the door by 9:00, though. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, my Aunt Judy held a little gathering at her house so that my cousin Elizabeth could have the chance to visit with everyone. I haven't seen Elizabeth since Zoë was Alexander's size, so it's been a few years. Her little girl Bridget loves babies. I could tell that about her the minute she let us into the house and her mouth kind of dropped open in awe and she breathed, "Baby."

"Would you like to hold him?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Let's go find a couch to sit on and you can hold him there," I told her.

She led me down to the basement and I placed Alexander on her lap and she instantly let down her guard and started chatting to me. When I took her picture she said, "Can you send that picture to my mom's iPad? I just love babies!"