enough!

Sickness just won't leave us.  And, of course, it couldn't be uneventful.  Last night was the Krol Christmas Party.  We were in a church gym, Caleb would run around and play fine, then lay down for a minute, or say he needed to go to the bathroom and nothing would happen.  I kept trying to see if he could describe how he was feeling, but that's kinda hard for a four-year-old!  So, at one point when he was laying down after running around, he puked.  Quite a bit.  Right in front of a bunch of people.  And almost on Aunt Linda's shoes!  Mike took Caleb out to clean him up and get him in the van, with the help of a few others I cleaned up the floor, and then we got out of there.  Caleb ended up sleeping on the couch, and I 'slept' in the recliner so I could take care of him.  He puked several more times.  Poor guy - had nothing left in his stomach to get out, but it wouldn't stop.  :(  This morning while Mike and I were in the kitchen before he went to work, Caleb got up, came over and said he felt better.  Now he's been sleeping for awhile again, so we'll see!

Logan has been up a couple times, but no sickness yet.  Just throwing a fit because he saw that Caleb's not in his bed, so he wants to come downstairs, too.  Ah, yes, the fun of trying to reason with a four-year-old in the middle of the night when you're in the middle of also trying to take care of a sick child.  And, when Logan wakes up in the middle of the night upset about something he gets REALLY worked up and there's not a whole lot you can do.  He's been quite for awhile now, so hopefully he keeps sleeping in and doesn't wake up tired.

So far so good on Levi, too!  The cold he had is getting better (still some congestion), and no sign of the pukes yet.  He has been getting more attitude with us again.  :(  When he first got sick a couple weeks ago I was hoping our "Sweetie Pie Levi" would come back when he got better, but I'm not so sure that's going to happen.  I think the sickness crankiness is just transitioning us right into early terrible two's.  :)

I do have to say, Caleb is ultimate sweetie pie when he's sick.  At one point last night when I was helping him he said, "I love you, Mom."  Wow, there's nothing like getting an unprompted "I love you" from your kids.

sick

Welcome, Winter Sickness!  We've had some sickness going around for over a week now.  Plus, Levi has four teeth coming in, and he has NOT been happy.  Currently, Caleb and Logan are congested, but it's not really slowing them down.  Mike has a runny nose as well.  Levi still has a bit of a runny nose and cough, but I think he's on the tail end of it.  There was a day last week that he didn't want to do anything - poor guy.  He just sat on my lap.

Levi is picking up new words like crazy and it is so much fun!  The ones we hear a lot now are: on (concerning lights), button (on toys, not on clothes), blanket, chocolate (asking for chocolate milk), and buckle.  Levi learned how to whisper about a week ago and it's so stinkin' cute!  At lunchtime one day either Caleb or Logan came over to me to whisper a "secret" in my ear.  Levi leaned forward in his high chair like he wanted to get close to me, so I put my ear up to him and he whispered some noises.  :)  He kept wanting to do it, and we've had alot of fun with it.  He's also gotten good at screaming and making loud noises while at the table - big brothers have something to do with that.

Caleb and Logan keep improving at counting, and figuring out sounds and letters.  Fun to see how they're learning.  I got them some letter and number tracing placemats for Christmas, so hopefully they'll have fun practicing writing with those.  I can hear Logan in quite time right now singing the ABC song.  :)  (Levi also likes to sing it, of course that's super cute.)

Both Caleb and Logan are observant and really think about some things, and I love it!  Even though they come up with some interesting and difficult questions sometimes.  :)  They ask alot of questions about God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell, etc.  It's SCARY to know the weight and responsibility I have in handling this stuff with them!  Gotta pray every day that the Lord gives me the right words to teach these boys.  Anyways, so the other day I was sitting in the chair with Caleb and Logan talking about Christmas stuff.  I mentioned that Jesus was born in something like a barn, and it was just him and his mom and dad.  Logan says, "But he's not his real dad, God is Jesus' dad."  !!!!!  A funny thing that came up the other day, Logan asked Mike how he has three moms because he calls, Grammy, Grandma, and me "Mom".  :)

different

Today we got the numbers behind how different Caleb and Logan are.  :)  They had their 4 year well-child visit to the doctor, and they did great!  They were both a bit nervous about getting shots (they got 4 each!), but it didn't ruin the whole visit.

Logan weighed in at 34 lbs (32%) and is 3 ft 4.5 in (54%).  Caleb is 43 lbs (92%) and 3 ft 7.5 in (97%).  Logan has been making more comments (and he did at the dr today) about Caleb being bigger than him, and it seems to bother him.  I just keep telling him that's just the way God made him, the two of them are different, and one isn't better than the other.  I can definitely see how this could be a significant issue in years to come.  Even though Logan is completely normal sized, having a twin that's so much bigger makes him feel like he's too small or something.  I hope that my experience on the other end of the spectrum (being a tall female, and having some rough times because of that) will help enable me to be an encouragement to him.  :)

We worked hard at prepping both of the boys for this doctor's visit, and they really did well.  They talked nice to the doctor and nurse, and behaved very well while waiting in the room.  Caleb took his shots like a champ - cried a little and stopped pretty quick.  Mike stayed with him for his shots, and I took Logan out of the room.  Then I brought Logan back in the room for his shots, and he was a bit out of sorts for a little while after, but eventually calmed down.  No more immunizations until they're 11!

food

Today Logan asked me if they could see the food in my tummy when they were in my tummy.  :)

He also asked if Mike's dad could hear them in Heaven - this was in relation to them singing in church for the Christmas program.  Which, by the way, went better than last year.  I did get video this time, so I'll have to post it.

great parents...

Great Parenting Moment number *who knows what we're up to...*:

Last night after supper Mike and I were sitting on the couch actually having a somewhat uninterrupted conversation.  Levi came running into the living room with a big smile on his face, and a steak knife in hand...  Oops!  Logan was still finishing up eating (due to there being a discipline issue during the meal), and we hadn't completely cleared the table yet.

A word I forgot about Levi saying is "cold".  It's so cute, he says it kind of like "go-o-o-o".

FOUR

I have REALLY gotten behind in blogging!  How could that be?  It's not like I'm busy or anything...  :)

While I've been away from blogging, my boys have turned four!  That just seems so grown up (even though most of the time they don't really act grown up...).  Since their birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year, and we had all sorts of family stuff going on, we had a small party with grandparents on the 26th.  They were pretty excited (Caleb and Logan...I don't know about the grandparents...)!  They've been talking about their birthday for pretty much the whole year since their last birthday, so it was a big deal that we were FINALLY to their birthday.  On the actual day of their birthday it worked out that the family was gathering for a birthday party for my niece (who will be turning 16 next week!!!), and my bro and sis-in-law were nice enough to make it more of a combo party.  We got on "Optimus Prime" pinata, and the kids had a ball with that.  :)

One of the presents we got Caleb and Logan was Nerf bow and arrows for each of them, and Uncle Mike and Auntie Em got them blaster guns (I think that's what they're called??).  So, now living in this house is even more like a war zone than it was before.  I'm dodging arrows and these little balls from the guns all the time...

I don't have any four-year stats yet as their well-child appt with the doctor is next week.  They'll be getting shots, and Logan especially is worried about it.  :(  The other day when he brought it up and we were discussing Caleb said, "I want to do it right now!"  He's all about just getting it over with.  We'll see how things go next week, it could be interesting.

Caleb is my little helper.  He is frequently asking if he can do something for me or if he can help me with something.  Logan would love to help me in the kitchen more, I really need to do something we can do together.

This Sunday is the Christmas program at church.  Remember last year??  Really hoping this year goes better...  We were talking about it the other day and Caleb said something like, "I want to be funny up there." and I was just like, "Oh, no you don't!!"  :)

Levi is taking a break from being a little stinker and is back to being quite the sweetie pie!  He actually snuggles for a bit here and there, he hasn't been messing with the trash/tv/dishwasher/etc. as much, he's ready with a kiss whenever I ask, and gives unprompted "thank you's" quite often!  He can do pretty well playing on his own - he likes to put a train together, line things up, and things like that.  I'd say he's a nice mix of a momma's boy and daddy's boy right now.  :)  Last week he didn't cry when I dropped him off at nursery either - he looked a little concerned, but he didn't cry.  He's talking like crazy, repeating almost any word you tell him to (within reason, of course).  It's still "Lo-guy" for both Caleb and Logan.  Other words he says are: Mommy, Daddy, Sadie, puppy, monkey, piggy, choo-choo, truck (sounds more like "uck"), stinky (what a boy!), ball, book, hello, bye-bye, please, more, hot, hat...