Four Months Old (Charlie's Monthly Photo)

Charlie is four months old!  I love this age.  Four and five months -- the best.  He's laughing and often happy.  He's solid and squishy and huggable, and he loves being thrown up into the air. 
 

He naps great -- just put him down in the crib when he's sleepy, and he falls asleep within a few minutes.


He's gotten more used to the wrap, and although he's not a huge fan of it, but he's pretty content in it a lot of the time. 


Breastfeeding is going great, and he only needs a bottle once every 4 hours when I'm away at work.  He's an awesome baby right now.  Two thumbs up.


He is every bit as beloved by his siblings as when he was first born.  Oliver still loves giving kisses, and Lucy and Elliot both love to hold him.  Lucy says he is "so huggy," and that she loves him "the best!"


Charlie can now roll from front to back and from back to front!  We learned that the hard way.  No more getting set in the middle of our bed.  Also, he sucks his ring finger.  Backwards.  It's pretty funny.  I've never seen a baby single that finger out, but he's pretty consistent about it.  
 

Charlie, you are an absolute delight right now.  So fun and happy.  A breath of fresh air.  We love you and will keep loving you even when days are not as fun and care free. 


 What a gift it is to be your mommy!    

Cell Phone Pics

I end up posting cell phone pictures on Facebook sometimes because it's convenient and quick.  These are some of those moments I want to remember, even if I didn't have my camera handy.



This was the kids' first ever "long walk" (3 miles) on their scooters!  I was so proud of them.  Plus, the triple stroller is a LOT lighter without them in it!  We stopped on the way home to admire the new street and cement mixer.  We learned the Spanish word for rebar -- "barilla."



This was SUPER ANNOYING.  I specifically told Oliver not to write on Charlie's head.  With dry erase marker.

I got him all cleaned off and then went to deal with the other three kids.  When I came back he was sleeping.  As Carrie said... #4thchildproblems.

This pretty much speaks for itself.  

We were giving Lambie a check up, and I asked Lucy what kind of medicine she needed to feel better.  Lucy goes, "Umm... alcohol?"

Lucy and Elliot were "doing chins" at the lunch table.

Because nothing says, "welcome to our home" like a big pile of sand.

Babies wearing babies.

The carousel is our favorite end-of-zoo tradition.  It feels like a victory lap for me.  YES.  We did it.  Again.  Made it through the zoo.  It's a feat.  



Elliot's not quite 3 and 1/2 but the other day asked me how to spell "Hazel" and then--sure enough--started writing the letters!  Crazy second child.  Guess I should actually start teaching him how to write the letters?  Seems early, but whatev.



Get a load of those blue eyes.  We call him "Charlie Bear."  Whenever we say it, Oliver starts "ROOOAARRRRRR-ing" all over the living room.  That's right, Oliver!  Bears say ROOAAAR.



I'm looking forward to many nature hikes this next year, as we start homeschool kindergarten for Lucy.  We explored this one the other day with our friends Becca, Fisher, and Ellie.



Elliot seems to have really heeded our warnings about the electric gate.  He informed us recently that his imaginary friend CinnamonRoll was killed by his gate, which looks like ours but is black instead of brown.  He doesn't seem too bothered by the death.  In fact, he says he has a new friend -- also named CinnamonRoll.  Let's hope this one is more careful around his electric gate.

Can you sound out the words on this page?  Hint -- the i is short, as in "squish."  This is Lucy's illustration.  I love it.

Night Time Reflections While Daniel's Away

Hmmmm what is there to say.  Let's see.  As I type this, all four children are asleep and Daniel is out of town on business.  When I manage to put all the kids to sleep by myself, I feel like a magician with ninja powers.  I am aware that I actually owe all the glory to God, who mercifully created kids to require sleep.  At some point, their own physiology sabotages their attempts to stay awake forever, complaining about covers slipping off their feet or the unacceptable lack of light in the room.  Seriously, praise be to God for the sleep wake cycle.



We've had some notable visitors the last couple weeks -- Aunt Karen from Iowa and Aunt Heidi from Ohio!  They didn't visit together, of course.  But the kids really enjoyed seeing both aunts.



Aunt Karen is a no-nonsense professional educator who enjoys "telling it like it is," choir, and having tea parties with my kids.  



Lucy liked showing her how she can button her sweater all by herself.



Aunt Heidi is an exceptional narrator.  The kids loved listening to her read stories.



She also went with us on a 3 mile fast-paced walk, with Charlie strapped to her the whole time!  She did great.  He did great.  The kids did great.

Can I just saw how grateful I am to anybody who reads to my kids?  I really enjoy reading to them (when Oliver's not screaming at me to turn back the pages so he can wave bye-bye to the truck two pages back... and when the kids aren't fighting over who gets to sit in my lap).  But it always seems like there's something else that needs to be done.  

Dishes, laundry, wiping bottoms, changing diapers, breastfeeding... the list goes on and on and on.  And it seems like there are precious few reading moments in a given day.  

So any day that someone reads to the kids -- I am grateful.  (Get a load of that laundry!  Haha.  Get it?  Load?)

How many kids does it take to change a record in a vintage record player?  Three.  And one infant, for moral support.  

This particular infant is delightfully smiley nowadays.  

He's also a big laugher!  He laughs a ton at being tickled and also at being thrown up in the air.  

We took him with us to our small group this past Sunday, and boy was he a hit!  It's really lovely to see the joy in people's faces when they make eye contact with him and he smiles from ear to ear.  Strangers seem instantly transformed -- from bored or busy to completely engaged and excited and just delighted.  

I know that will be me some day, making eyes at some baby in some young mother's arms in a park or at church.  Right now it's just a real gift to be able to brighten someone's day with the sheer presence of my baby.  

And speaking of babies, can I just tell you how ridiculous it is to see Oliver pretending to be one?  He crawls around going, "mama.  mama."  

And he climbs into Charlie's swing and bats at the mobile.  

The kid seriously has like 10 words at this point.  He is mostly baby.  And yet he is such a little boy, too.  His new hobby is sitting on the potty about 20 times a day and flushing a square of toilet paper down after each "dry run."  

I expect him to either start peeing in the potty or totally give up the whole thing any day now.  

Anyways, that's how we're doing.  We're doing bed times, meals, snacks, pottying, reading, and walking.  And I'm trying my darndest to keep my sanity while (in the kids' words) Daniel's away "getting money for our family."  Sleep long tonight, kiddos.  Sleep long.