Grant Turns 5

I have been trying to complete this post since Grant's birthday over two weeks ago. I keep getting interrupted by children or other things, so I'm just going to go ahead and post what I've done so far. At this rate I'll be posting Christmas pictures before I get done with Grant's birthday.
~Andi










Hard to believe that my baby is 5 years old. I think he had a fun birthday. He kind of got two birthdays since his birthday fell on a Wednesday, but we didn't have his party until Saturday. On his birthday, he got to pick everything we had for dinner. I even made his favorite homemade French bread - a first for me! After dinner, he wanted to go to the last MU volleyball game of the year. The Tigers lost the game, but Grant still seemed to have fun watching Truman and the game. My favorite part was Grant pretending to be grumpy with the team that they lost on his birthday...how dare they? On Saturday the 28th, we took the boys to Going Bonkers to play before going home for cake (carrot cake, which made Daddy and others happy) and ice cream and birthday presents. Bonkers was made all the more fun for Grant by having Uncle Eric, Uncle Kevin, Grandma & Grandpa Pabst, and Aunt Sarah join us there. At home, we were joined by Aunt Brenda and Grandmommy and Grandpapa (Moegling). Grant got so many nice things, I'm not sure what there is left for Santa to bring him for Christmas...although according to Grant there is still plenty he needs.
Grant and I are so much alike that we butt heads a lot, I'm afraid. He can be a little obsessive compulsive about things and a bit of a control freak. He has a photographic memory (mine used to be, but it barely exists since having children), and he loves to learn new things - especially about construction trucks, outer space, dinosaurs, or sports. He likes things to make sense to him. He has an unusual desire for someone so young not to be embarrassed. He will not do the "silly" actions to the primary songs - not in public, anyway. He is very cautious about anything new or unfamiliar. He is however, still a boy at home. He is loud and plays rough with his dad and brothers.

Our Adorable Boys

As I sit down to write this, Justin is smiling and cooing at me and everyone else is napping. Bliss! The sun is shining as a cool breeze flows through the open windows (yes, open windows in the middle of November!). It is the month for gratitude, and I am feeling very grateful for my children and numerous other blessings.

Grant's birthday month has finally arrived. He has been looking forward to his birthday all year it seems...but now that November is here, all he wants to do is talk about Christmas. He asked me last week if we could set up our Christmas tree. I told him it was too early, but he argued that the store already had their Christmas decorations up. Even though he is a masterful negotiator, I won this one - simply telling him that our family tradition is to wait until December to put up the Christmas tree and other decorations. My answer, however, did not keep him from asking if we could bake the Christmas cookies a few days later. I'm secretly glad that he is so excited for Christmas (and not just the presents he knows he will receive). I believe children hold the key to the magic of Christmas.

The best Grant moments are when he is "teaching" his little brothers about things. He has been teaching Justin all about what to expect during his first Christmas season. Justin will smile and kick his legs excitedly as if he understands what Grant is saying. It's really cute.

Grant was very excited about his Halloween costume this year. He knew exactly what he wanted to be: Darth Vader. The strange thing is that he has never even seen any of the Star Wars movies. I didn't realize he even knew who Darth Vader was. Christian didn't want to dress up at all (I guess it wasn't his idea). Justin got dressed up as a skeleton - kind of funny since he is such a chubby little baby.


Christian hasn't completely given up the "terrible twos" just because he is three now, but he does seem to be easier to reason with lately. His head is full of ideas and stories. He is either making us laugh or pull our hair out. There's not much in between.

Some recent "Christian-isms":
Grant and Christian have been watching this new children's show on PBS called "Dinosaur Train". Each episode teaches about a different type of dinosaur. One such dinosaur was the giganotasaurus (prounounced jig-a-note-a-sore-us). Christian calls it the "Chicken Nugget Saurus", so it has become a little family joke: he is our little chicken nuggetsaurus, in more ways than one.
Earlier in the week Christian had a cough which made him gag and throw up a bit. He hasn't vomited in a very long time, so this was strange for him. He said "Mommy, I blew up". He meant "threw up", but it was so funny, I had to laugh.
Here is Christian - thoroughly enjoying the remains of his birthday cake.

Well, Justin has stopped smiling and is now fussing and ready to eat. I will have to finish my thoughts another day.
~Andi

Christian's Birthday

The weekend before last was filled with much celebrating. Brian and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Oct. 9th (I know, I can't believe it either). And Christian turned 3 the following day. Grandma and Grandpa Pabst were wonderful enough to come stay with all 3 of the boys on Friday night, the night of our anniversary, so that we could go out to dinner. Then they stayed over and helped us celebrate Christian's birthday on Saturday. I had planned to have a party at the park, then it was supposed to be quite cold, so we moved it to our house. When the morning of his party arrived, the sun was shining, and it felt pretty nice, so we moved the party back to the park. Somehow it felt much colder when we actually got to the park! We ended up crammed around a little bitty picnic table and trying to keep the babies out of the wind and cold. Everyone is probably a little annoyed with me for asking them to endure the cold, but I know that Christian had fun...and that's what matters (I'm pretty sure "Uncle Eric" had fun, too.) Unfortunately, I was holding Justin most of the time, trying to keep him warm - so I did not get to take any pictures. I'll have to get a picture of Christian on his Hot Wheels motorcycle. He loves that bike.
We still haven't pinned down Christian's personality. He is an enigma, and has been since he was born. One thing we know for certain - he is much smarter than he lets on. He is a whiz at puzzles and sorting/matching things. He still loves to listen to music (particularly Baby Einstein), paint, and do any kind of art work. He is super independent, but he can be very whiny and needy at times, too. He can count to 20 and is very close to being able to read. He can name all of the planets in the solar system, and he has memorized a repertoire of at least 10 books, most of which are either Sandra Boynton or Mo Willems...his favorite authors. His sense of humor is downright weird. He is small for his age, but moves very, very fast (just ask Grandma about the corn maze!). His favorite thing to do in the morning when he first wakes up is to snuggle on the couch under a blanket with Mommy or Daddy while watching a Baby Einstein movie. I wish I had time for more of these moments. He is still our little "Dimple Britches".

Here are some recent pics of the boys. Justin is growing fast. He is so much bigger than either Grant or Christian were at this age. He will be five months on Nov. 1st, but he already fits comfortably into many 6-9 month clothes. He is over 15 pounds, and over two feet long. (I don't have exact stats because his 4-month checkup got postponed because his doctor had a sick child the day of his appointment).
He slept through the night for the first time last night, and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. Way to go, Justin! Keep it up! He is a great baby - very smiley and giggly.
~Andi


Go Mizzou! Beat Nebraska! Well, at least we beat them for 3 out of 4 quarters. We can blame Brian for the loss since he chose to be obnoxious and wear his Cornhuskers sweatshirt that day.

Justin loves to play peek-a-boo with his burp cloth. Here he is playing his favorite game.

Grant and Christian enjoy Justin's floor gym as much as he does!

The 3-Month Old

Not much time...just a few pictures and updates.
Justin is now 3 months! He is a happy and healthy baby. He loves to smile, talk, play, take baths, be outside, and (of course) eat. He sleeps pretty well now, too. He will go 4 or 5 hours at a time at night. I couldn't ask for a better baby. My one complaint is pretty small: although he sleeps fine in his bed at night, he does not like to nap there. If we can get him to take a nap in his crib, it is usually very short. On the other hand, he loves to nap in his swing. He will take 2 or 3 hour naps in that swing, even with chaos going on all around him. Here he is fast asleep in his favorite napping spot.

For the first month of his life, Justin hated bathtime. Now he really seems to like it. He has even figured out how to splash, which he thinks is a lot of fun.


Justin was wearing this baseball outfit one day, and Grant (the baseball fan) had to take some pictures of Justin. So these were taken by Grant:

Here is a picture of Justin smiling. This is what he looks like much of the time, even though the pictures do not reflect it. For some reason, when the camera comes out, his smile goes away. I don't think he likes the flash.

More about Justin

I thought I'd add a little to what Andi posted; there's much more to the story of this little boy.

In the past couple weeks Justin has began to show some personality. He's becoming interested in things like kicking his bouncer to get the bubbles going. He's beginning to respond to being played with. But most notably he is turning into a TERRIBLE little flirt. He is learning that Mommy responds very positively to big smiles and lots of soft, sweet, adorable baby talk. He goos and coos at her while trying out his many different smiles. He is learning to work eyebrow movements into his expressions for added emphasis and expression; and Andi is absolutely eating it up. I'm sure most of you think Andi is far too practical to be affected by such silly things as flirting, but, take it from a man who knows, that could not be further from the truth. If this keeps up that little boy is gonna get away with murder when Daddy's not around....

2 Months Gone in a Flash

It seems every time I think I have enough time to sit down and add to our blog, a baby or a child wakes up and needs to be changed or fed or played with or snuggled. But somewhere in the midst of changing, feeding, burping, and rocking Justin, he turned into a really fun (and really cute) 2-month old. Yesterday he had his 2-month well check and immunizations. He was such a good boy for the doctor, and he is as healthy as he can be. He checked in at 23.5 inches long and 12 pounds, 12 ounces...up 3 inches and 5 pounds since his birth. He seems so big that I was surprised to hear that his weight is only 50th percentile. He is already outgrowing many of his 0-3 month clothes, but he also seems to have outgrown his colicky phase (fingers crossed that it's not just temporary). He is a much happier baby these last couple weeks. He's still not sleeping great at night, but 3 to 4 hours at a time sure beats the 1 or 2 hour stretches he was sleeping.

Justin's starting to stir. It will soon be feeding time once again. I'd better wrap this up and make sure it will save to our blog. I attempted to publish this same blog yesterday, but got an error message and couldn't even save what I had written. So frustrating because I just don't feel like I have any time to waste right now...and that was time wasted. I'll close with some pictures of Justin from the last 2 to 3 weeks.
Andi

Exorcising Demons......

I PASSED!!!!!!! I GOT MY C!!!!!!!!! PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYYY TIME!!!!!!!

Another session down....

Tonight was the final of my college algebra class. I think I did ok. I needed a C in the class to continue having a prayer of being able to graduate in December. At this point I don't know any more if I will or not. I feel like it's out of my hands. The right four classes must be offered at the right times, and a couple other things must happen as well. Most colleges are known for completely screwing their seniors however they can to milk that one extra semester (or two) out of them, and I have no reason to believe this school is any different. In fact, quite the contrary.

Things at home are moving along. Justin's in a race to see who can grow out of Christian's clothes first- him or Christian. He's starting to coo and smile and interact with those around him a little when he's in the right mood. He's also learning that he can do simple things like kick at his fish on his bouncer.

Christian is rapidly developing and refining his language skills. He's becoming easier to understand, and you can see his brain racing beyond the limits of his speech. Unfortunately he is also mimicking facial expressions and verbal behaviors, and he's sadly learning an awfully lot from his Daddy. If any of you ever think looking into a mirror is cruel, have a child; you'll see a reflection of yourself in many new ways.

Grant's continuing to enjoy being the oldest son. He feels useful and empowered. He knows that he's a leader and he revels in it, although sometimes he goes too far and gets taken down a peg. He is HIGHLY competitive- something his parents never take advantage of....of course not...that wouldn't be right..................

Andi's unthinkably amazing. There's not much else I can say. She carries on day after day, despite sleeping in bursts and having a motor that rarely winds down. And the most wonderous part is that through it all she still puts up with me...

And here we have our first video post. If this works out well, there will be MANY more to come; both new videos and even some old ones I have stored away, if they come with a good story to tell.

This video was taken this past week. I think it speaks for itself.

Why Am I Awake?

This is Andi. I'm new to this blogging stuff, so I guess I'll figure out later how to assign my name to the posts I write. Brian and I discussed the fact that we do not want to be held accountable for what the other blogs.
Here I am, all by myself with 7 children ranging in age from 5 weeks to 4 years old. They are all blissfully asleep, and yet I am not...even though I am exhausted and had less than 3 hours of sleep last night. Now the question is why am I awake. I guess I am duty bound to write a little something in our new blog - especially since I have failed to send my monthly family newsletter for the past 2 months. When I began the newsletter, I believe I said that it might turn into a blog. Well, since our family now has a blog (and a new baby), there likely won't be any further newsletters. You can just come here to find out what we're up to, and to see pictures of our three adorable little boys.
Enough said for now. I think it's nap time!

Blissful Silence

Oh what the peace of a quiet Sunday afternoon can do for the soul!

The past month has been a blur, to say the least, but we knew that was how it was going to be. When a new baby comes many things also come with it. Most of these things are wonderful- like all the help and support from friends and family- yet some of it just adds more stress to things. The only perspective that brings with it the sanity to survive is to know that this, too, will pass and some semblance of a "normal" life will come again in time.

Well today was the day we got over the hump. Justin was blessed in church today and most of the family has been around here and there for the past few days. Now everyone has returned to their homes and things here have settled down.

As grateful as we've been for the abundance of help we've had since Justin's birth, it feels really good to have things back to being just us. Of course it won't be life as we knew it, but it will be life as we make it once again. There's something calming and restful in that thought.

Brian

And then there were 3...

June 1 was the scheduled day for the arrival of our 3rd son, Justin Charles. He came as planned, and as I believe these pictures all illustrate, we couldn't be more thrilled. Grant is an extrememly proud oldest brother, and Christian is doing well with Justin, too. Andi's recovery has been utterly amazing, and she's now officially allowed to resume all previous activities. She's very glad to be allowed to drive again. Now if any of you have any advice on how to survive raising 3 sons..... please feel free to share.

Sheeping the Moon?

Today there was a gathering of friends at Hu-Hot Mongolian Grill; a first-time meeting for some of us. We all share the same sordid fascination with a little computer game called World of Warcraft. Prior to the event I was threatened with horrific things if I didn't get a picture taken of all of us, so there it is. This maniacal band of ruffians are responsible (from left to right) for the creation of the toons named Tayeris, Pesti, Muergglyn, Thoringar, Krunsh, and Udor. The food was good, the conversation was what you'd expect from half a dozen gamers, and no property damaged was caused by the roasting of marshmallows. If you ever have the chance to consume cheesecake rangoons drizzled with chocolate sauce....carpe diem!

In the Beginning.....

Ok ok we'll avoid the existential stuff....for now. Here's my shot at being web-savvy. We'll see how it goes. If you're reading this you likely know me, so there should not be a need for an in-depth intro.

I'm gonna post this just to see how it looks. :P