PICTURES

Just a quick note before you enjoy the pictures. Sunday when I watched Keri's kids went slendidly! There were only a few issues, mostly because of age differences J is almost 7 the boys are 5 so there are some play style differences and Julie feels like the only girl, she kind of is...and Levi has a power wheel GATOR, J likes to drive it, well, she is a bit of a woman driver and backed up, not watching where she was going and ran over her brother, G, up to his shoulder. G is 13 months, yeah he was alright, he's pretty tough, being the youngest of 4...
ENJOY, I tried to make the comments match the pictures...
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FUTBOL??? Levi informed me he is not playing football-he's playing soccer...











The swarm... the black team is Levi's in this pictue are on the left L, in the middle R (Levi's best buddy), and then Levi on the right

Levi fell and his friend K was there to help him up! Great teamwork, later in the game Levi passed the ball to K and she scored!

Levi's glasses-not sure if you can see the lighter blue flames. Jacob is amazed at how unkidlike he looks with his glasses-he looks so much older...

These are my kiddos being kiddos...

What is with kids and verticle blind? In these pictures Levi was getting annoyed with me taking pictures, hence the poses...

These are at Jasmine's son A's birthday party...

I saved the best for last! I gave Benjamin his first haircut this weekend (Saturday afternoon). He was the second haircut I gave...

Levi got what he wanted and I was good with it, he's 5 and his hair goes so fast...Plus this is the first time he's wanted his hair to do anything but lay on his head.

Benjamin's hair is A LOT longer than Levi's I tease Jacob that I am going to keep the sides short and let his hair grow to his ears!

Here they are right after the cuts!

On the way to church, where I must admit the people th0ught they were cute. Later that day I had Keri's kids, I heard R saying he wanted a mohawk to look like Levi, Levi said "but this way they can tell us apart easier". Everyone gets Levi and R mixed up and if any of us adults are with them people will "how old are your twins" they are always so surprised when they find out they are just friends--no relation at all...

I am so lucky-but I am ranting and raving

I have really gotten "hooked" on a blog- Freezerbuns. I must admit that her struggle and so many others struggle to get pregnant makes me feel very strange. I remember my miscarriage and then the "hard time" I had getting pregnant, but the emotions that D has gone through to get her twins is amazing. The determination that some people have to have children is amazing and I am in awe of them. I love my children, but honestly I'm not sure how I would have felt had Levi not come as kind of a surprise-I had resigned myself as a childless woman. I know that I have mentioned Amber in the past, but I see how much she wants a child, and just hasn't gotten pregnant. I have another friend, M, who has had several pregnancies and only 2 children, and one on the way, but she is SICK. I don't mean just a little bit of morning sickness I mean hyperemesis (yes, it's a medical diagnosis). M is nauseated all the time, unless she is puking. She takes medication to help her keep food and fluids down EVERY 90 minutes AROUND THE CLOCK. Yes, she sets an alarm clock so she wakes up to take her meds. I remember having to set my alarm clock to pump-that SUCKS. When M was pregnant with J (now 3) M was honestly green. She would puke so hard she would pee, then the soles of her feet would get burns because her urine was so concentrated. M had always wanted a big family, so she tried again after J even went on Clomid with no baby, now she is pregnant and unable to keep food down again. With this case in mind I think of all of those who cannot get pregnant and try so hard, how awful would it be to finally get pregnant and not feel good. Before Benj was born I didn't know that I didn't feel good, but WOW did I feel lousy. I hope those who are having trouble getting pregnant feel good while they are pregnant, otherwise what a double whammy. I know that Freezerbuns is really feeling big-my gosh she has twins! I hope she has a healthy delivery... and a healthy baby. My friend D exposed me to another blog about a little girl with CDH (congenital diaphragm hernia) and little baby Elli's struggle and how sad to see the end of her struggle. It could happen to anyone. When reading babygirlreed2be it really angered me, I got to hold Benjamin when he was a couple of days old (I love Overland Park Regional Medical Center's NICU), but Elli's parents did not get to hold her until her 19th day, just the hours before she died. She was at the same Childrens hospital that Keri's 3rd baby, K, was at- Keri did not get to hold K until discharge was in sight. It just seems dumb that we in the medical community would believe that these babies would do better with tubes and wires and not human contact? I mean seriously? There can not be that big of a difference between a preemie and a sick baby-touch is what it is all about.
I think that reading some of the infertile blogs made me appreciate my family, and how much compasion I have inside of me.

I think I have gone crazy

Last night at soccer practice we (the soccer moms who all happen to be EMS widows-I mean wives also) were talking about Saturday's game-it is at 0900 and it is about an hour away. So much for sleeping in at all...anyway one of them Keri has to work and she was talking about her husband John getting all the kiddos ready that early-it is hard I'm sure-I'm not looking forward to it and I only have 2 not 4. Then the conversation turned to Sunday's training for the rescue team. Keri again has to work. I never watch her kiddos, not sure why-she always says the 6 is a long way from 2, but she watches my kids and doesn't mind saying that 6 is not far from 4. Anyway I know that finding someone to watch kids on Sundays must be hard and expensive! So I offered to watch all 4. I think it will be fun, I have some stuff to do and the big kids will help, the only thing that will be a challenge is managing the 3 little ones-Benjamin is not used to sharing my lap with anyone, but tolerates Levi, I will have to feed G, and K is always wanting to sit on my lap. Hopefully I will keep them all busy enough that it will go fine.
Levi got his glasses last night. I took pictures and I will post them when I can. He looks SMASHING in them. I still am not totally sure he needs them. The other day we were walking to the car and he saw a snail on the driveway. I could hardly see it. He claims he got close to see it. It looked like a rock-I'm not all together clueless. I guess he just needs them for close up. Last night Jacob went over how to open the case and put them on/take them off without touching the lenses. He also showed him how to clean them, put the cleaning cloth in Levi's backpack with a note to his teacher for her to help him for a while. I imagine soon the fun of glasses will subside and he will not want to wear them, then he will have to wear them...Oh, he even had me take a picture of his profile to show off the black flames. I'm not sure the pircture really shows the detail, but I will post it.

only 2

Yesterday Jacob started a 48 hour shift, which usually means that I am worn out before the first night, but yesterday my friend Keri called and asked Levi to visit her son, Levi's best buddy R. So I was down to just on kiddo. Benjamin is so funny, he was sooo very tired, but was not going to stop moving until I had the laundry done. He has been such a bear lately he is cutting 2 molars! Oh yes, so fun, there is no amount of oral gel, ty*nol, ibu*profen to ease his tender gums, which results in gross poop and a tender butt. Yes, the fun of TWO. I got laundry done and he and I sat he napped and I watched TV, wow there was not much on...Then we went to Keri's for supper. She has FOUR children--6,5,3,1--all I can say is WOW. I sat and entertained Benjamin and the 3 year old and 1 year old. Her youngest probably weighs more than Benjamin and he is only one! But Benjamin is still cute and amazing. Yeah, I am so glad that I have only two. As I sat there being mulled by 3 kiddos I noticed that Keri was just cooking away, completely unbothered, she offered to have me over every night to entertain so she can cook. The diner was fabulous with good company, and good conversation!

HEY- FOUR EYES!

Levi needs glasses. He is getting them as I write. The new requirement that all kids entering kindergarden must get their vision checked. I guess this is the reason.
As I understand it he had been complaining about his eyes hurting and that he could not see the board at school to his dad not to me, so I did not know that he was having any issues until Jacob told me. Levi has been requesting Tyl*nol almost every school night for a headache, I just figured he was tired-let's face it I was kind of right--his eyes were tired. Anyway I had to pick up my contacts and made him an eye appointment and helped him pick out some frames, just in case he really needed glasses it would make Jacob's life a little easier. I picked out 2 different pair-one cheap, on not so cheap-both cool, both blue, both square. I figured Jacob would guide Levi to the cheap ones--HE IS FIVE! Well, no such luck both Jacob and Levi liked the not so cheap ones they are Conv*rse, they are blue, they are square, and they have black flames on the sides (yes, that is the only difference between the two pair). Good thing open enrollment is coming up, I guess we will be signing up for family vision coverage!
I will probably be taking Benjamin to have his vision tested also we might as well get all of us in glasses! After all he's the one who had retinopathy!
When Levi gets his glasses (yeah, it will take a week, we live in hicksville) I will post pictures!

this morning

I just remembered something that I wanted to post...As most of you know I'm not too sappy, nor do I think that every thing that my kiddos do is the cutest thing...BUT this morning (must have been early) Levi came in and went to sleep in my bed (Jacob was working and I slept through it), then Benjamin came in about 5:30AM. I got up at 6:30AM and left them sleeping. I had just gotten out of my shower and I hear Levi singing "Good morning to you, good morning to you, no need to be blue 'cause Levi loves you, he loves you". My heart swelled, that is the song I most generally sing (although I say Mommy loves you) to Levi to wake up-Benjamin only gets sung to occasionally, because he usually just wakes up. Levi sang that a couple of times after each verse I would hear Benjamin either laugh or say "vi" (pronounced vigh for Levi). I wished at that moment I had a video camera in my room that could have videoed that interaction. I would have loved to see the body language.
Wow, my little boy is growing up and will be in college soon, I better not blink...

on the chart

Benjamin is on the charts, finally! He is on 33 inches tall that puts him in the 10-20 percentile for a "normal" (no adjusted age) 25 month old! His weight is still below the chart at 23 pounds! They had to weigh and measure him twice because he had such a big growth! He is still "needing" to potty every time he goes into the bathroom, some success. He tells us every time he poops in his diaper and he will go and get the diaper and wipes when he feels he needs to be changed. He thinks that is is the funest thing to watch Levi go to the bathroom, so at least he is interested. I've been through this before, so I'm really not overly excited and making plans to stop buying diapers. All the literature says he'll be a bit slow in that department, and since he seems to be meeting milestones earlier and earlier I suspect he'll be done sometime around 3, just like his brother...
Thought I'd keep you all updated.
Levi is loving kindergarten even with the nightly homework-imagine that homework...