Grant's reverse-evolution

Last falls PBS premiered a new children's show that airs every morning called Dinosaur Train. I have personally come to really enjoy the show, and it has done a fantastic job of making Grant and Christian up and coming dinosaur experts. I also loved dinosaurs as a child, and the way this show is put together is ingenious in my humble opinion. The songs "Hungry, Hungry Herbivore," and "Every Dinosaur Poops" should be required viewing for children of all ages world-wide.

A couple nights ago, this dinosaur fascination reached new heights in our family. Grant was chasing Christian around the house after dinner with a T-Rex toy he has, and that quickly turned into me suddenly getting eaten by this toy. As I rose from my chair and declared my lack of fear for a tyrannosaurus-rex, justified by my bold announcement of being a Daddysaurus-rex, I delighted in the screams of my two oldest sons as they ran down the hallway towards their bedroom to get away from the family's newest version of the daddymonster. My joy was short lived...

Upon reaching their bedroom, the boys realized that they had effectively trapped themselves and guaranteed their quick demise. This epiphany held Christian in wide-eyed giggling fear as the Daddysaurus-Rex slowly came down the hallway, shaking the whole house with each step. But this epiphany did not have the same effect on Grant. In one of those moments of fatherhood that completely amazes you, my oldest son stepped in front of his younger brother and thundered at me in complete and total defiance of his fear the following:

"I'm not scared of the big bad Daddysuarus-Rex, because I'm a Monkeylawfulsaurus!!! ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

After this shockingly brazen statement of fearlessness, I did not have a moment to think or act or respond in any sort of way before I had this new and unknown creature flying down the hallway at me with nothing in its eyes other than reckless abandon. Imagine my confusion and shock- I was the Daddysuarus-Rex, the terrifying king of the household, and I was suddenly being attacked, ATTACKED, buy this strangely courageous new villain. So great was my shock that I could not respond, I was spellbound by the defiance, the boldness, and the hilarity of my sudden change of circumstance. "Monkeylawfulsaurus? How the heck did he come up with that?" I thought to myself as I was pushed down the hallway and into my bedroom by my new nemesis. I was still chuckling at the name of my attacker as I was shoved onto my bed face-down. My mirth, however, quickly turned to utter horror as the reality of what a Monkeylawfulsuarus was capable of doing to a Daddysaurus-rex. Who would think that such a silly little creature with such an hysterical name, would be so devastating? My laughter became screams as the Monkeylawfulsuarus ferociously plunged his face into the small of my back, shaking his head violently back and forth, roaring like a bloodthirsty demon, and using JUST enough teeth to make me wonder if I was about to get bitten for real. The worst part was that it tickled. It tickled TERRIBLY!!! For a solid five minutes I lay face-down on my bed writhing in agony, screaming like a little girl while under the assault of this fiendishly wicked man-eating monster. I begged for mercy, I screamed for help, I flailed anything I could flail, but it was to no avail. From the dining room I faintly heard those most cruel words ever shouted, condemning me to my fate:

"Sorry I can't help you right now, I'm feeding Justin."

Eventually, the villain had his fill and victoriously climbed off his prey, turned off the light, and left the room, shutting the door behind him while I was gasping and choking for air. Never before have I known such fear. It is difficult for me to sleep at night now, knowing there is a Monkeylawfulsuarus lurking in the very next room. I do not know if I will ever be attacked by one again, but it is something I would not wish upon my worst enemy. I have been permanently scarred, psychologically speaking, from this terrifying event. Does Aflac cover Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? I should look into this. In the mean time:

FEAR THE MONKEYLAWFULSAURUS!!! AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS!!!

Christian Speak

It seems like Christian is talking and talking nowadays. All of a sudden I recognize about 99 percent of the words coming out of his mouth. However, just because I know the words he is speaking, doesn't necessarily mean I understand what he is trying to say! And sometimes he makes up funny words on purpose - just to throw me.
His imagination is just exploding right now, too. He loves to pretend that he is a character from a book or movie that he has read or seen. And the rest of us always get assigned a character as well. It is really fun to see who I get to "be" each day.
Recent funny things Christian has said:
One morning I came out of my bedroom before sunrise and heard a little voice saying something, but couldn't quite make out what it was...The door to Grant and Christian's room was open a crack and the hall light was on. As I opened the door to the boys' room, I saw Christian put his hand over his eyes and say "Aaaaahhhh! It's the Ghostlight!" This will only be funny to you if you have seen the movie "Cars". It was so funny to me that I am still laughing about it.

The other day Christian was sitting cross-legged for a while and tried to get up and told us that his foot was "broken". We think he meant that his foot was asleep.

Today he was playing a game with Grant called "Hullaballoo" (not too sure of the exact spelling). At one point in the game, Grant was supposed to do a dance. Grant's idea of dancing is running around the room as fast as he can. When he was finished Christian said, "Grant, that's a great funky dance!"

Amazing what little it takes from my children to elicit a smile from me.
~Andi

Grant's Sleepover

Grant's sleepover went off without a hitch. He was such a big boy about everything - he even packed himself. It was interesting spending that much time with Christian without Grant. He seems so much better behaved without Grant around...imagine that. It was quiet, too. Grant is our little "bossy boiler" and thinks he runs the show around here. While it was a nice break from him Friday night - both Christian and I were happy to see him on Saturday.
~Andi

An Update...How's That For a Catchy Title?

I can't say that I started this New Year off quite the way I wanted to. January is nearly over and I haven't even posted Christmas pictures yet. By way of excuses, the rest of the family (and daycare) and I have been sick for over two weeks now. We've all had a cold, and just when I thought I should be getting better by now, my ears started hurting mercilessly. Good thing I gave in and went to the doctor yesterday - I have a double ear infection. Apparently adults CAN get ear infections. I just don't think I've had one since I was a child. Antibiotics - what wonderful inventions! This is the first time in two weeks that I have had the energy to do much of anything after putting the boys to bed for the night. Unfortunately, my post will still be short as I have A LOT of housework to catch up on as well.

If the Christmas pictures look like they were taken by children, it's because they were. Grant and Christian both received "Kid Tough" digital cameras from Santa, and they took lots of pictures, about 300 each to be inexact. Most weren't worth saving, but they did manage to get some good ones. Grant's favorite subject is Justin, so he took lots of pictures of him. That's great since he is growing and changing so fast right now. I can't believe he will be eight months old next week! He had a checkup earlier in the month, and measured 28.5 inches long and 18 pounds, 3 ounces. His weight was (shockingly) only 50th percentile, but his height was 90th percentile. I could tell he was tall, as he has already started wearing some 12 month clothes, but it didn't really hit me how tall until that checkup. He is doing well, now that he is mostly over his cold. He still has a lingering cough (we all do), but he is back to sleeping through the night and smiling and laughing and being himself. Christian is mostly potty trained now. At least he is staying dry most of the time...number two is still a work in progress. He is not too happy about leaving nursery for Sunbeams in primary, but he is adjusting slowly. Grant, on the other hand, seems to really enjoy being the older brother in Primary. He takes Christian by the hand and walks him to the Primary room, and has even started participating at times. He has another "big boy" moment coming up this weekend. For Christmas, his Grandma Pabst gave him a little red duffle bag and told him that he could use it for sleepovers at her house. Grant has never slept over anywhere without Mommy or Daddy. He thinks he is ready now, but Grandma lives in Hannibal, and he wants to do a trial run a little closer to home. This Friday night he will be sleeping over at "Grandmommy's" house without Mommy or Daddy there. He knows we are just across town from them, so he will be fine. We'll let you know how it goes. All my babies are growing up. It's exciting and scary at the same time.

Happy New Year!
~Andi

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!