Conversations with Charlie

I'm not sure how I feel about this conversation...

Me: (as Charlie is holding a smooth stone) Be careful with that stone, don't leave it on the floor.
Charlie:  Why?
Me: Because it's not good for Carter.
Charlie: What if he dies?
Me:  That would be very bad. You would miss him and you would feel guilty for the rest of your life.
Charlie: When I grow up, I will make a special salt and when you put it in his mouth he will be alive again.
Me: Oh, that would be awesome!  But, what if it doesn't work?
Charlie: It will work. (This is said with a tone implying that the possibility of his invention not working is an absurd proposition - if he can imagine it, he can make it happen, I love the optimism.)

~~~~~~~~~~~
Me:  (detecting an offending odor) Did you fart?
Charlie: No.  I just let some air out of me.

Adventures in Diapering

Uploading pictures from my camera... Actual text to be added soon.

Triad Moms on Main

For local readers -
There is a new website for all kinds of information about family friendly stuff in the area. It's called Triad Moms on Main and it has some great articles about all things parenting: food, travel, school stuff, shopping, day trips, local activities, etc. It's a great resource, so check it out and sign up for their weekly newsletter.

Rally to Restore Sanity

Ever since this summer, I've been trying to plan a quick trip up to DC to see my brother and take the kids to visit the museums, but it just hadn't happened yet. So when Jon Stewart announced on The Daily Show (our cable news source) that he was holding a Rally to Restore Sanity and Casey didn't have to work and the Friday before the rally was a teacher's workday for Coulson - well, it just seemed like a rational thing to do. Taking 3 kids to the rally? Well, perhaps not the most rational thing, but taking the boys to the museums was one of the main reasons for the trip, so they could tag along to the rally with us.
And actually, aside from a few small snafus, the kids were great. I brought some snacks for the kids to eat, planning to buy some food from a vendor at the Mall, but the crowds made any such plan impossible. So the boys cleaned me out of my snacks - next time, pack a lunch. And there was no cell phone service! If we pushed our way through the crowd out to the street, we could sometimes get a text message through, but phone calls were impossible. This was annoying at first because we had trouble finding some friends from our church, I was hoping to connect with a friend from college, and I couldn't post cool things on Facebook about being at the rally. But the cell phone coverage suddenly became more than just annoying when my brother and Coulson went to explore and couldn't get back to our spot because the crowd got too thick while they were gone. So we were separated for more than an hour, I started to freak out a small bit, not because I thought something bad had happened or would happen to Coulson, but it was just so crazy crowded and I wanted my son back, close to me. Eventually they made it back and I could enjoy the rally.
We made a few good decisions that turned out to be especially helpful. We splurged on a hotel in downtown DC, within walking distance from the Mall (about 7 blocks), so on rally day, we didn't have to deal with any transportation issues - the Metro was packed and it would have been impossible with strollers. We got there early and although we didn't get a super good spot, we found a nice place where we could see a TV screen, hear the speakers and even had a little space on the grass to move around. There were other places where the crowd was as dense as a wall (I had to push my way through these walls when I was out looking for Coulson, it was not fun) so we were blessed to have found a good space.
The boys did great. Coulson read a book most of the time and Charlie played games on my internet device thingy. Since Carter had spent most of Thursday in his car seat and most of Friday and Saturday morning either in his stroller or in my arms, he only wanted to sit and wiggle in the grass.

And of course the signs were great ---

And my favorite...

It's hard to read, but it says: "Protest signs are an ineffectual way of communicating nuanced views on issues that cannot and should not be reduced to simple pithy slogans"

A Day at the Museums

We're in DC for the weekend and have had a wonderful time so far. Me and my 3 boys met up with my brother (who lives near DC) and his 3 girls for dinner Thursday night. It was great to see them again and the cousins had a great time playing together.

On Friday we went into the city to visit some of the museums. We saw the Air & Space, Natural History and American History. We really wanted to see the Art museum too, but didn't make it Friday. (We thought we might try to visit it Saturday after the rally, but that was a crazy idea - with 200,000 people around the mall after the rally, it was impossible to do anything). Charlie didn't actually see the Natural History Museum, but that didn't seem to bother him too much.

Carter was also very comfortable while visiting the museums.

My brother from NY came down on Friday and joined us for some museums, hanging out and the rally on Saturday.

It was fun to get to see 2 of my brothers and my nieces. The boys did a great job exploring the city and we all had a great time. We are already plotting everything we would do if we came to visit for several days...

Fine Print = Fine Lashes

On a commercial for mascara that adds length and volume -

"Lash inserts were applied to this model's lashes to add lash count before applying LashBlast Fusion"

I expected better of Drew Barrymore....

10 Year Reunion

We had a great time hanging out with our college friends again! On Friday night we met up with our old roomies and their two kids. We were staying in the same hotel and went out to dinner together at Isaac’s, one of our local favorites from the college days. Both of their kids are a year younger, respectively, than our 2 older kids. They took a while to warm up, but by the end of dinner, they were running all over the restaurant and causing general mayhem like old buddies.

Saturday morning we went to the reunion. It was nice to walk around the campus. It still looks beautiful and they’ve added some nice new buildings, but there were also a lot of things that were still the same. We met up with another old roomie of mine, Anne, and her husband and adorable little girl. Casey and his roommate and Anne and I have all been friends since the first week of college and their spouses-to-be joined our group of friends the following year, so we all have a lot of fun memories together. There were a few friends that couldn’t make it to the reunion, but we’re hoping to get together next year for a girls’ weekend (and maybe the guys and kids can all get together for their own weekend?) It was a great time and I’m so glad that I had such great friends in college!

Playing by the Yellow Breeches

The Roomies!

The boys goofing off!

Coulson was impressed by the massive college library.
So many books, so little time - must start right away!

More Pictures from Natural Bridge

The Sound of Silence

When Charlie gets too quiet, you should always investigate. If he's not into the Nestle Quick, he's eating spoonfuls of sugar. But he's so cute about it!

Natural Bridge

On the way to PA, we decided to take our time and break up the trip a little bit, so we stopped in mid-Virginia for the night and visited Natural Bridge on Friday morning. It was an easy diversion and pretty amazing. It wasn’t too much walking for the kids and Carter did great in the backpack carrier - even though we had to wake him up about 10 minutes after he had just fallen asleep for his morning nap, so our timing wasn’t great for introducing a new method of travel, so I was concerned as we were putting him in it. But he loved it, being up high and being able to look around and see everything. Although the backpack carrier puts him right behind our head and this baby loves to grab hair! So I quickly learned to wear the hoodie on my jacket to protect my mane. It looked weird, but it was effective.

It's a small world after all...

This past weekend we traveled to Pennsylvania to attend our 10 year college reunion. We took our time getting there, leaving Thursday afternoon and driving to Lexington, VA for the night. Along the way, we stopped for dinner and encountered a wonder of probability –

So if a woman leaves Winston-Salem at 3:30pm traveling to PA at 70 mph, and another woman leaves Knoxville, TN in the afternoon traveling to NY, what are the odds that both women will eat at Cracker Barrel off some random exit in VA and that those women will be related and haven't seen each other in 10 years?

I was facing the entrance of the dining room and I watched as the hostess led a woman, holding a small baby, and a man to their table. The woman looked at lot like my cousin, and my cousin had just had a baby shortly after Carter was born, and the man following them looked just like her husband. It took me a while to process since I wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew at some random Cracker Barrel off I-81, but I decided that yes, that was definitely my cousin. So I told Casey, “that was my cousin who just walked by…” and I got up and went to her table to say hello. They joined us for dinner and it was fun to catch up on life in person (she blogs regularly at Raising Olives and we’re facebook friends, so we had a vague idea of what’s been going on in each other’s lives, but face-to-face is always much better.)

So what are the odds? Casey wasn’t hugely surprised since I have over 50 first cousins, so I’m bound to run into them sometime, right? It reminds me of when my brother was walking down the street in Nairobi, Kenya and saw someone wearing a shirt with my alma mater on it. So he stopped her and asked her if she knew me. Turns out she was one of my hall-mates in college and lived right across the hall from me. Also in college, one night my roommate and I were talking about our parents growing up and it turned out that our moms went to the same church in New Jersey when they were teenagers and her mom often spoke of my aunt and uncle who were her age, but we had never known of the connection before.

So maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe a Divine appointment. Either way , it was fun!

A sweet moment caught on video

I don't think Casey knew I was watching them...

Carter sits and blows raspberries

Carter is getting much better at sitting. I took this video 2 or 3 weeks ago. If the video posts at all, it's wonderful (I'm posting from my cell phone). So if you have to adjust your computer screen to view the video correctly, just bear with me and be amazed that there is video at all.

Hey, it worked and you don't even need to rotate your computer monitor! I like this new feature from my phone. Speaking of my phone, I broke down and let Casey get me an iPhone a few months ago, despite my ridicule of AT&T's service reputation and a general loathing of all things apple. I kept protesting because I rarely used my cell phone, so why did I need a fancy phone? After having the phone for about a week, it finally clicked. It's not primarily a phone. It's a mobile internet device! I do use the internet all the time, so my new phone has been very useful. But I don't think I should call it my phone, I think I'll call it my "internet thingy."

Charlie and Carter

If I can figure out how to blog and upload pictures from my phone, I
might start posting again. If you're reading this and admiring a
picture of 2 of my fabulous boys, then I've had success!

Carter at 5 months

Carter is now 5 months old! He smiles and laughs, he giggles and he's ticklish, he likes to discover his toys, thinks his brothers are the greatest thing ever, thinks Chester is the next best thing ever and blows raspberries. He grabs at faces and hair which his brothers don't appreciate. (Charlie doesn't understand why Carter doesn't get in trouble for pulling his hair.) This is a great age because he's fun to play with, but still pretty easy and portable - he doesn't take long naps and he's not on solids yet, so I can easily (mostly easy) just bring him along without needing much extra planning. He's not teething yet, so he's only fussy when he's tired or hungry or sometimes just needs to be held. About a month ago he started rolling from back to front and this week he's been working on sitting on his own. These videos below are from a couple days ago, but yesterday he was able to stay up much longer, so I think he's on his way to mastering this skill.
He sleeps well at night - I finally got him to go for an early bedtime, around 7:30, so I can put him to bed while the boys are quietly reading books in bed (or playing legos) and then once Carter's down, I go and put the older boys to bed before 8pm. He'll wake up between 6 and 7 am. He doesn't nap so well during the day yet - usually only 45 minutes at a time, but he'll take about 4 naps a day. Coulson started school this week (that's another post, hopefully soon) and Charlie starts after Labor Day, so I'm hoping once we get into a regular routine, we can consolidate some of those naps.
And now he's feeling ignored, so I've gotta go!

Irksome

So you know how on Facebook you can "like" a witty sentence about some random topic? Well one my of my FB friends liked this sentence -

"Don't judge . . . you never know what a person's story is . . . leave that up to God!"

then 2 minutes later, she liked this sentence -

"If I need to take a drug test to get a job, then you need a drug test to get welfare"

Had she already forgotten the first sentence????????

The Future Politician

Charlie absolutely adores his baby brother. Actually he adores all babies and can't stop himself from kissing their heads and squeezing their cheeks. He is constantly smothering Carter. The most ignored words in the house are, "Stop touching the baby!" I cringe when I watch him smushing Carter's face because I'm sure he's irritating the baby, but Carter only looks up at him with a huge smile. (As I'm writing this, Charlie is kissing Carter's head)
Last year my friend had a baby and Charlie loved holding him and he would hold any baby he could. When we decided to have another baby, I knew that Charlie would be such a proud big brother and I have truly enjoyed watching him shower the baby with love. It's also fun to see how much Carter has grown, obviously thriving on all the kisses from his brother.

In the hospital

One week

5 weeks

A little over 2 months3 months

BookWorm

The best part about this past year has been that Coulson can officially read!!! I've probably mentioned before that he is an intense child who doesn't like to play by himself. About 3 years ago Casey and I realized in exasperation that other than constant playdates with friends, the only relief we can hope for is for him to learn to read. And so we have been anticipating this wonderful achievement for a long time now. I tried to teach him myself a little without being too pushy, but he could only handle about 5 minutes a week, so we didn't make much progress. Last year he could read simple one-syllable words in easy sentences, but he would get way too frustrated to try to sound out anything he didn't know. Somehow during the school year, he just started reading, like something clicked and a light bulb turned on and he was reading. Casey and I are both readers (or would be readers if we had more spare time, but we can consume a stack of books on vacation) so we proud to see that Coulson seems to be a reader also. Right now, he is devouring any Magic Treehouse (think Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but with 1st graders who speak standard English) or Junie B. Jones (reminds me of Ramona Q. as a kindergartner/1st grader) he can find at the libraries and even finished a more advanced Star Wars book this weekend. I realized that he will now surpass me in Star Wars knowledge if he continues reading all of the books (there are A LOT of Star Wars books out there that go beyond the movies) since I only know the movie stuff. The other day we went to Borders to get a book for Casey for Father's Day and he behaved as badly as if he were in a toy store, whining for me to buy him a book and getting upset when I told him he would have to save up for it. I was completely annoyed at his behavior at the store, but happy that he valued books so highly. He told me tonight that he is saving his allowance to buy a book. Yeah, we're proud of our bookworm!

He looks forward to being "in a grade"

So Coulson's last day of school was a few weeks ago and he's no longer a kindergartner. I had a mini-conference with his teacher the other day and he's doing great in the three "R"s. He's in the advanced reading group in his class and has no problems with anything, but he when I told him that I had a conference with his teacher and she said that he'll be ready for 1st grade, he showed visible signs of relief that he passed kindergarten, as if there were some doubt about moving up. I guess it's good to never take anything for granted.

A couple days before the end of school, all the kindergartners presented their parents with a wonderful musical program. Coulson has severe stage fright - when we joined our church a few months ago, while we were in front of the congregation, he hid behind me so no one could see him. Whenever the kids at church sing in the front for us, he refuses to join them. So I was amazed that he not only got up in front with his class, but he also sang the songs and did all the hand motions. It was a very nice program. Casey had to work initially and had a hard time finding a substitute for his shift, but finally the day before, he was able to switch shifts. My parents were out of town, but Casey's mom was able to come for the program, so that was a nice surprise to make the celebration more special for Coulson. Afterward, we went out for lunch at Coulson's favorite restaurant (Golden Corral, because you don't have to wait for your food) with his best friend's family.

Coulson had a great year at school. We were concerned at first because we didn't know what to expect or how Coulson would adapt to school, but I have to say that everything went extremely well. He's very social and he made a lot of friends. He seems to enjoy learning, which to me is the most important part of kindergarten (learning to love learning) and hope he can carry that attitude throughout life. He has gotten the notion that kids are expected to not like school, so he will say say that he's glad school's out and say that he doesn't like school. But when we ask him specifics, our conversations go like this:
Me: What don't you like about school?
C: I don't know
Me: Do you like your friends?
C: Yes.
Me: Your teachers?
C: Yes.
Me: Learning to read?
C: Yes.
Me: Math and numbers?
C: Yes.
Me: Playing on the playground?
C: Yes.
Me: Art?
C: Yes.
Me: Music?
C: Yes.
Me: Homework?
C: Yes.
Me: Worksheets?
C: Yes.
Me: Media Center? (Library)
C: No.
Me: Why not?
C: I can't find any good books.
So other than navigating the media center, I think he actually likes school.

Raising Olives

My cousin writes a blog called Raising Olives. She's pregnant with her 10th child and homeschools. I have trouble blogging once a month with three kids, so I don't have any idea where she gets the time to blog. She offers a lot of great parenting advice, time saving tips, money saving tips and organizing ideas. She also reviews parenting and educational products and offers giveaways from time to time. Right now she has a giveaway for an ERGO baby carrier. You can read her review and find out how to enter the giveaway.
(And yes, writing this blog entry is one way that I can enter the giveaway!)