Author: Jodi

The boys and I had so much fun decorating gingerbread houses with MeMe this morning!!! Jonas was sneaking one too many licks of icing, trying to tell MeMe what to do as she was working hard to keep the roof from sliding down every few minutes (a cookie manufacturing issue), and being very particular about the way he wanted to decorate. Xander was sampling candy right and left (especially the sparkly gumdrops and the “little baby” hard candies), enjoying his decorating freedom, and, in general, was more into eating candy than decorating with it. It got a little crazy after Roman woke up from his nap when Xander spilled a bowl full of the “little baby” hard candies all over the kitchen floor. As we were scurrying around trying to pick them all up so that Roman wouldn’t have a hundred choking hazards to try out his pincer grasp on, I saw Xander’s finger go up his nose. Everything kind of went in slow motion for me then, as it suddenly dawned on me after I told him to take his finger out of his nose what he had done…yep, you guessed it, he stuck one of those “little baby” hard candies UP HIS NOSE!!! Unbelievable. Sheri was so sweet and calming and helped him try to blow his nose while I ran upstairs to get the tweezers. I ended up taking her good advice in lieu of tweezering for any longer than a half a second and called the pediatrician. The nurse and I had a good laugh, MeMe graciously offered to stay home with Jonas and Roman, and Xander and I zipped off to the pediatrician’s office to see if Dr. Huss could get it out. By then it had disappeared and our attempts at getting the offending object out failed, so we just decided that it would probably dissolve on its own (he said if it didn’t and it got infected that we’d have to take him to the ENT to get it out…but hopefully it won’t come to that). Ah life. It really was pretty funny. Happy Ho Ho Ho to you!!!

Jonas is really into dressing up like a super hero these days (he likes to be Super Why…the hero on the modern day Reading Rainbow)…here he is in his super jammies, super socks, super cape, and super goggles.

Xander has such a servant’s heart (I think his love language is acts of service). Before he went down for his nap today, he set about picking up all of the clothes I had piled up next to the washer and put them in the dryer (I hadn’t washed them yet but I still totally let him do it and gave him a big hug and kiss…what a sweet boy, helping his mommy).

Here’s to the best $5 I’ve ever spent…

We started a tradition not too many years ago where the newest family addition puts the star on the Christmas tree, so this year it was Roman’s turn. (Of course, his big brothers wanted to get in on the action too.)

In his thirty-ninth week, Roman is: continuing to rip off his bib at mealtimes (he’s been doing this for a while now, and it totally wears me out…I finally got him a bib with a stretchy collar for toddlers); putting the turbo on when he crawls; pulling up on and cruising around anything and everything; climbing the stairs (all the way to the top with Daddy right behind him…God help us); and proving to be every bit the explorer that his brothers were at his age (and still are).

We decorated for Christmas this weekend…it’s always interesting (and a bit frustrating) decorating for anything with preschoolers, toddlers, and babies…but (in hindsight) it really is more fun with kids. HaHa!!!

We have a new addition this year…a little Christmas tree in our play room. Tom bought some shatterproof ornaments, I strung them with sparkly ribbon, and the boys had a BLAST decorating the tree all on their own.

It ended up just being Jonas in the end…he sorted the ornaments by color and texture (that’s my son…haha) and clustered them all together. The perfectionist in me, who motherhood has been chiseling away at for the past four years, had passing thoughts of rearranging them BUT decided against it. I’m trying to learn how to let things go and let other people’s perfect (including that of my children) be perfect. I asked Jonas if he wanted to pick out a few handmade blankets from our closet to wrap around the bottom of the tree, and he went directly to his room and brought back one of his favorite “cozes” (that he used to sleep with as a baby and now uses as a “cape” when he’s playing). It made me think of Linus and A Charlie Brown Christmas and about made me pucker up and cry. What a sweet boy…he ended up choosing two blankets that Aunt Teresa made for Xander and him to grace the bottom of the tree. And it looks beautiful!!!

At thirty-eight weeks, Roman is: saying “bath”; starting to cruise; continuing to be the happiest little baby with a smile always at the ready; sniffing through his crinkled nose when he’s particularly excited about something; enjoying getting into his favorite things…the wipes container and the toy shopping cart with all of the play food (he likes the chicken leg and the ice cream cone the best); taking a bath in the big boy tub (he started crawling out of and trying to pull up in the other one); and providing the background music to all of our meals with his contented humming.

I was SO excited to take Jonas and Xander to the library after nap time today, so Jonas could read to Lily. (When I told him what we were going to do, he jumped into my arms and said, “I love you!!!” He was singing, “Jonas loves everything!!!” the whole way there. HaHa. I love that we get excited about the same things.)
Lily is a READing Paws dog, and she loves to listen as children read stories to her. Jonas was a little shy at first and wanted me to sit next to him, but once he started reading he was just fine and seemed to enjoy it just as much as Xander, Lily, and I did. I can’t wait to take them back and make it a regular thing.

When we pulled up to the library this afternoon, Jonas and Xander couldn’t wait to get out of the van and check out the giant Christmas tree. Jonas said, “Mommy, we need to get one of these for our yard!”

Jonas, Roman, and I had so much fun at Cousin Annabella’s birthday party this afternoon (Tom enjoyed some quiet time at home while Xander napped). It was so cute to see all of the kids playing together….the girls running around, being girls in Annabella’s room and the boys running around, being boys in Val’s room. I always love spending time with my dear cousin, Heather, and her precious children (it’s hard to believe they’ve gotten so big…I remember when Val was Roman’s age…twirling his little hands and feet in excitement in the high chair over yummy food at the dinner table…it’s crazy really). Aunt Heather put together the CUTEST painting activity for the kids…they had a blast with it. (I can’t wait to frame the one Jonas made, and have Xander make one too that I can frame for their room.)

Yesterday, the boys and I dyed pasta after naps. Today, when Grayson was over playing with us, we had fun experimenting with it.

In his thirty-seventh week, Roman is: saying his first word “bye bye” (he even put his little hand up in the air to wave) and his second word “ball”; doing the sign for “change”; making a bee line to pull up on the potty whenever the door is even remotely close to open (I think he does it because he knows we’re going to wash his hands afterwards and he really likes that…haha); and enjoying bouncing up and down whenever he’s standing.

A little while after I became a stay-at-home mom to Jonas, I remember looking at a dear friend’s blog from college and seeing a picture of her surrounded by a group of fellow mommy friends and children and desperately longing for and praying for that kind of community in our lives.

Fast forward three and a half years, and I am SO grateful to say that God has richly blessed us with just that.

Here are Jonas, Xander, and Roman with some of their best buddies from our neighborhood, moms’ group, etc.

When Jonas got home from preschool this afternoon, I took him to the library to get his very own library card. (I think I might have been a little bit more excited than he was, but he was still pretty excited). On the way home, he started reading one of his books out loud to me!!! It sounded pretty darn close to what I thought would be about right, so when we got home, I sat down with him on the couch and had him read it to me again. With the exception of a few pretty big words (like hooray, machine, and fixed), he read it…sight words and all. Tom and I were floored but, knowing Jonas, it totally made sense that he could do it. So cool…it was a Pre-Level 1, Rebus book…Bob the Builder: Wendy Helps Out. Yay for library cards! Yay for Rebus books! Yay for Jonas!