Halloween Fun at School

Happy Halloween to all! The boys have been OBSESSED with Michael Jackson lately, especially since watching the "Thriller" video more than a few times on the computer. They are so cute trying to copy the dance moves in their MJ outfits (above)

The boys' nana is in town this week to help them with their actual Halloween costumes, which I'll post pictures of hopefully early next week. She was glad to come in this week because she got to go to their school on Wednesday to have lunch and participate in Sammy's Halloween party.

These are the treats we made: Oreo spiders (with a few "albino" ones thrown in, per Chris's suggestion) and banana ghosts. Check out this table full of food for the kindergarteners! I was a big fan of the "fingers" made from string cheese with a piece of pepper for the fingernail. YUM!

There were a few fun crafts for the kids to do, including making jack-o-lantern treat bags, ghost hand puppets and cookie decorating.

This is Sammy's best friend, Ryan. He talks about him all the time. But certainly the best part of the day for him was sharing it with his Nana!

Back with Halloween pics in a few days - I promise! Have a great weekend!

Back by Popular Demand

Ok, not really popular demand, just a request from my former roommate, Lisa, who lives in Germany and seems to be a bit hungry for updates on life in the U.S., or at least rural southeast Wisconsin. (Hi Lisa!)

I just can't believe how quickly the weeks fly by these days! People have warned me that as your kids get older, you actually get busier and busier but I never believed them. What could be busier than changing diapers, warming bottles, etc? But it's true that it takes a lot more effort to keep the two older boys from wrestling/fighting/destroying and most of the time that effort involves getting in the car and going somewhere....anywhere...

Anyway, I'm only going to post pictures today of my two little boys. Luke is almost 13 months old now and has been walking for about 8 weeks. He is really learning a lot - he says bye-bye, mama, dad, high five (with the action), bird, ball, bear and hi. He also gives kisses on command. (Thank you, Daddy, for teaching him that!)

William is about the only person in the world who hasn't fallen in love with Luke, as you can tell in this picture. He says "Beh-Beh is not my friend!" and does mean things like slam doors in his face and pushes him down. Any toy the Beh-Beh has is ripped from his hands the minute William sees him with it. It's quite sad, but of course we know it's a phase and we're just trying to ride it out while discouraging that behavior as much as we can. Hopefully soon he'll realize how adorable Luke really is and that he definitely IS his friend, a friend for life!

I'll be back with more pictures of Owen and Sammy soon, along with reports of how they're doing in school.

End of an Era

I'll admit, I'm getting a little weepy these days realizing my days with an infant in the house are numbered. Luke will be a year old on September 20 and I just can't believe how quickly this year flew by! I was thinking that in order to keep me from getting TOO sad about not having a baby anymore, I would put together a list of the things I will NOT miss...

I won't miss labor and delivery pains....but, oh, how I'll miss that moment when I met my sons for the first time....

I won't miss midnight feedings...but I will miss the feel of that warm body snuggled up against me, making those little cooing sounds....

I won't miss diapers...but I will miss the smells of baby powder and baby lotion...

I won't miss having to babyproof the house and move all my fragile stuff out of reach...but I will miss witnessing all the milestones and seeing things through the innocent eyes of a baby...

I won't miss cradle cap (YUK!)...but I will miss brushing that soft fuzzy hair...

I won't miss all the crying...but I will miss being able to comfort and make everything ok, especially knowing that someday they will cry and nothing I say or do will make it better...

I won't miss lugging that stupid pump to work every day....but I will miss stopping what I'm doing several times a day to take care of my baby, even when he's not with me...

I won't miss all the laundry...but I will miss all the tiny socks, onesies and outfits that say things like "Mommy's New Man." (I doubt they will wear anything like that in high school!)

For all the things I won't miss, there are hundreds of more that I will cherish in my memory forever. But for now, I still have this at home so I'm trying to live in the present...

Luke Christopher, 10 months old

Why Breastfeeding Is So Cool

I've been planning on doing a post about this for some time and since August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week, I figured now was the time. Luke is over 10 months old now and I'm still nursing him, which is the longest I've nursed any of my babies. I think I'm getting a bit nostalgic about it since this is my last baby and I've really grown to appreciate it over the years for several reasons.

1. The Calorie Burn: some people might criticize me for listing this first, but they can just go on their own blog and write their own list if they don't like it. I can tell you that all those times I'm sitting in that horrible 100 degree closet at work that's full of spiders and has a pipe leaking on my head pumping milk, it's the thought of the calorie burn that keeps me going. I consider it my daily "workout" and that's how I'm able to get through it 2-3 times a day. They say nursing burns around 500 calories per day and I believe it - I was able to lose a lot of weight and am now 25 lbs below what I was when I got married. (Yeah, I was a porker!) I'd still like to lose another 5-10 lbs and would like to do it by Luke's 1st birthday, as that's when I plan on saying goodbye to the spiders and throwing the pump in the garbage! I can't stand that thing!

2. It's FREE! It's not just that breastmilk is free, it's that formula is SO EXPENSIVE! Seriously! How can they get away with charging $20+ for a can of powder??? Anyway, our budget would never allow such extravagance so I'm glad my body allowed for the free alternative.

3. The Bonding: I really didn't feel much of a bond when nursing Owen and Sam (sorry, guys!) but I think that's because with only two kids, there was a lot more opportunity for me to bond with them at other times. With #3 and #4, there is so much going on and I'm so incredibly busy, it's only nursing that really stops me in my tracks and FORCES me to spend quiet time alone with my babies. I need that, otherwise I would just keep running and running the whole time I'm home and ask Chris or maybe even one of the older boys to give the baby a bottle. Actually, I'm so busy I might even resort to just handing Luke his own bottle at this age! Anyway, I d0 appreciate that I need to lock the door to the nursery and have those few precious moments every day with Luke, who I'm sure also enjoys the quiet time with his mama. This is the reason I plan on continuing to nurse in the morning and before bed for as long as I can, maybe until he's two. We'll see how it goes.

4. The Baby's Health: please don't make me feel like a bad mom for listing this last. It's not like it's a distant 4th place on my list because it IS really important. But I think the reason I list this last is because I dont' really think about it very much. Yes, they say breastfeeding is BY FAR the best way to feed your baby but I guess I don't really notice it because (thankfully) I've never had anything to compare it to (i.e. a formula fed baby). I did stop nursing Owen when he was around 7 months old and he got his first ear infection the following WEEK! At the time, I felt really guilty but didn't realize that I could have gone back to nursing even after a week off, otherwise I would have!

Again, I'm so glad I was able to nurse all my babies. It's been worth all the discomfort, 45 minute feedings at the beginning, having mastitis once (HORRIBLE!), inconvenience of pumping at work, spiders and leaky pipes and even sticking with it through teething (OUCH!). I'd recommend it to any new mom for sure!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Busy Summer

Oh gosh, I'm too embarrassed to even look to see when I last posted anything on this blog. The summer's been so busy for me and it's just flying by. It's so hard to believe it's almost August, but at the same time I can't WAIT until the fall!

We just wrapped up a whirlwind of activity. My in-laws came to visit on July 3rd for a whole week. Owen's birthday was on July 7 and we had his birthday party at the gymnastics center in town on Saturday the 10th. Chris's sister and her family rented an RV and came up for that and then continued on to the Dells for the remainder of the week. We had about 17 kids total at the party and it was really fun. Here are a couple of pictures from the day...

My big boy is 7 years old now!
Can you find me in this picture?

The Sunday after the party, Owen and Sammy took off to MI with my in-laws. I was so sad to see them drive away. Chris was working until 8pm so I was alone with the two little guys and it just seemed so EMPTY without those two running around! But I got over it and came to enjoy that week with William and Luke because we were able to focus on them. They seemed to like all the attention as well.

Luke with his Nana during their visit. Can't you just see the love between them???

Last Saturday, we packed up the two little ones and drove to MI to collect their brothers and to help celebrate my older brother's 40th (gulp!) birthday. We stayed until Wednesday and got to go to the Toledo Zoo (my fave zoo!) and a great pool near my mom's house where the boys showed off the new swimming skills they had acquired while they were at Nana and Pa's house.

So it seems like July went past in just a blink of an eye and now we have just a few short weeks left before TWO of the boys will go to school. How did this happen? How did my babies grow up so fast??? How am I ever going be able to live in a house with FIVE MEN??? EEGADS!

Owen's Nana taught him how to catch fireflies while she was here.

They were so over excited for the birthday party, they crashed HARD right before and we had to wake them up to go.

My boys at Chuck E Cheese on Owen's actual birthday, July 7.

DAY OF BLOGGING SILENCE FOR THE MIGHTY COHEN

Sometimes the smallest feet leave the largest footprints.

Lazy Days of Summer?

It's been so incredibly busy lately so I haven't had time to post. I've taken a few cute videos of the boys, but no pictures (sorry!).

Chris's birthday was Saturday and on Sunday we went to the Henry Vila Zoo in Madison, WI which was completely FREE and AWESOME! Being that it was FREE, I expected to basically see some deer and squirrels but I was SO WRONG! We saw giraffes, a tiger, seals, buffalo, prarie dogs, rhinos, a polar bear, a grizzly bear, chimps and other monkeys, as well as snakes, alligators and a Galapagos tortoise! I was SOOO impressed! We got there when it opened and saw just about all of it in 2 hours which was great, because that's just when it started to get crowded and hords of people give Chris hives.

Yesterday I arranged for the day off and got to smuggle Sammy onto Owen's 1st grade field trip to a local YMCA camp. The kids learned about all sorts of animals that live in WI including snakes, turtles, salamanders and wolves. Sammy blended right in with the other kids. When the guide introduced us to a turtle named Bertha who was 25 years old, Sammy piped up with "Our dad just turned 78 years old!" Of course all the other chaperones looked right at me, which was pretty funny. That Sammy!

It's busy with weddings at work but next week I have two days off in the middle of the week so we're contemplating taking the boys on their first overnight camping trip. Still not sure how we're going to do this with Luke - we might need some sort of a pen for him because he is ALL over the place now, crawling with his tummy off the floor and pulling up on furniture. He's also up to 6 teeth, 4 on the bottom and 2 on the top. He loves to show them off with his big smiles every morning. AWWWW!

I can't believe Owen has just a few more days and will never again be a first grader. It truly seems like yesterday that I welcomed him off the bus on his last day of kindergarten! Next week both the older boys will start summer school for 1/2 day. Chris will have 3 weeks of quiet mornings with just the two little boys. He's not thrilled with packing up William and Luke at naptime to go pick up the older boys, but I think after about 2 days of having all 4 of them home ALL DAY he'll be WISHING they would give him a couple of hours of peace and quiet!