it was time

Last week was still a beautiful week.  Friday was even 70 degrees, and a great day to be outside.  And then Saturday it happened.  It got cold and snowy.  Winter had to come sooner or later!  After much effort, I THINK we're all set with coats, snow pants, boots, hats, and gloves.  Phew!  Of course the snow is gone already, now today is just rainy and cold.

During the good weather last week Mike hung a tire swing and started working on a fort in the woods.  So fun!  I can see the boys having hours of enjoyment with the fort.  What an awesome dad.  :)  Caleb and Logan are getting some tools for their birthday next week, we'll see if we get some decent weather for them to help Mike with more of the fort.

Monday and Tuesday this week we had some busy days.  Monday morning after dropping Caleb and Logan off to school, Levi, Jackson, and I headed to a Moms and Muffins time.  It's always nice to have a chance to chat with some of the other moms from school.  After that we made a quick trip to the store and then had to head to the doctor for Jackson's 12 month check-up.  He's nice and healthy!  21 lb 9 oz (50%) and 31.75 in (96%).  His measurements are pretty close to what Caleb's were at that age.  Fun to see him crawling around the room, hiding under the exam table.  :)  He's doing everything he should developmentally, and there are no concerns!  Praise the Lord for another healthy child.

Jackson is mostly eating table food, I just still do some baby food as that's a way of getting some veggies in him.  :)  He's drinking whole milk out of a sippy cup now, no more bottles.  He's been doing some spitting at meal time, which we're trying to nip in the bud, but he often thinks it's funny when we he gets a swat on the hand.  Hmmmm...  A few times now he has stood for several seconds on his own.  He walks really well pushing his walker or scooter.  Jackson loves his big brothers, and tries to get in the mix with them.  :)  I think he has said "bye bye" and "nigh nigh" a couple times - so hard to tell for sure when they're just starting out!

The older boys are on Thanksgiving break now, and overall we've had a nice day so far.  They played for quite a while this morning before even having breakfast.  We did run a few errands which included flu shots.  The boys did pretty well!  Caleb and Logan hardly flinched or reacted, I had to hold Levi down, and he did cry a little, but at least didn't scream.  :)  Of course we had to go through McDonald's drive-thru for cookies after that.  Levi was upset for quite a while afterwards, but finally snapped out of it.  We'd been listening to The Magician's Nephew in the car, so now at home we're watching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Nothing like The Chronicles of Narnia!

fall

We have had an absolutely gorgeous fall!!  It can stay like this for another month as far as I'm concerned.  I'd be good with just a solid month or so of winter.  A couple Saturdays ago Mike went to a U of M game with some of the guys from his family, and they had a really great day for it.

Last Tuesday was our country's presidential election.  Such a crazy time.  So many thoughts going through my mind.  I don't have time right now to put it all down here, and I don't know that I will.  Although, it would probably feel good to just get it all out and this would be a fairly safe place since only 1-2 other people read my posts.  Ha ha!

Wednesday night we dropped Caleb, Logan, and Levi off at church and then went to Russ' with Jackson for a semi-date.  Oh how nice!!  To be able to sit and have a conversation is a pretty nice thing.

Mike took Wed and Thur off of work to help my dad finish up harvesting corn.  Worked out nice since the boys had 1/2 days at school, and pickup time would have been right when Jackson was napping, so Mike was able to pick them up.  Thursday afternoon we had parent/teacher conferences for Caleb and Logan.  Mrs. Steenwyk seems like a tough teacher, but they are doing really well!  ;)  So thankful that she understands little boys, and she's excited about what they're learning.  Both Caleb and Logan got good and great marks on all their subjects and behavior.  As expected, Caleb has a little more 'energy' shall we say, but nothing out of bounds; and Logan is a little more reserved and conscientious with his work.  Logan loves bugs, which I knew was going to make him a good match for Mrs. Steenwyk; and she knows how to handle boys with some spunk like Caleb.  Sounds like they are respectful, obedient, and get along with all the other kids just fine.  Phew!  Let's keep that up!  :)

Friday was no school, and Caleb and Logan went to a friend's house for a few hours.  Levi was able to help Mike with some work, which was a good thing since he hadn't been able to ride the combine Wed/Thur and was quite disappointed about that.  (He is obsessed with combining.)  In the afternoon we went as a family to help another family clean the bathrooms at school.  Wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't too bad!

Saturday was a beautiful day for a drive to Grand Ledge to visit my Grandma Tiemeyer.  Her dementia is worsening, but she's very pleasant and still knows who we are.  The boys handle it very well, I'm so glad.  We were able to go for a little walk with her and Ginger, and visit with my Aunt Joy a bit as well.  Afterwards we took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch - good times!

one

Taken from my Facebook post earlier today: "It took a little while to dawn on me what was happening, but by this time one year ago today, I realized that I was most definitely in labor and needed to get to the hospital! (I had never gone into labor on my own before, and had a c-section scheduled for the next day, hence the skepticism at what I was feeling. ) Amy Smith was here wishing me well for the next day; I called Mike to tell him I thought things were happening and we'd better head in to get checked out, but I failed to tell him I wanted him to HURRY. When he got home from work and said he wanted to take a shower before leaving, I just about flipped. But, we had to wait for his mom to get here for Levi anyways. Thankful she's close, thankful Mike takes fast showers, and thankful the hospital is only 5 minutes away. Got to the hospital and ran into Mike's cousin's wife on my way in (who had her baby the week before and didn't wait for me so we could be in the hospital at the same time!). Didn't take too long before they had me in surgery and we were anxiously waiting to find out whether we were continuing the boy theme or completely changing things up with a girl. At 2:01pm we were thrilled to meet our fourth baby boy! Certainly the birth of each of our children is special in it's own way, but this one was special because it was the most "with it" and the best I felt for any of them (really helps to not have been in labor for several hours/a couple days before delivery...). We didn't decide on a name right away, but after I was able to spend my recovery time with him and we were brought back up to my room, we decided on Jackson. They weighed him and I was floored that he was only 8 lbs! (After having an 11 pounder, you have no idea what to expect.)

Jackson's big brothers were excited to meet him, and one year later the excitement still hasn't worn off. They LOVE playing and interacting with him, to the point of driving us batty with their baby talk. :) A few days of peace and quiet at the hospital and then it was time to go home and embark on our adventure of managing the chaos of four little boys. I LOVE IT. There are plenty of days that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it and I don't think there's any hope of guiding these hooligans into decent, functioning members of society, but oh how I love these energetic, rambunctious, thoughtful, creative, imaginative BOYS. From not being sure what God's plan was for our family regarding children, to having four boys...that's pretty intense!

On the one hand, I think God is using Jackson to teach me even more flexibility and that each child is unique and different, but he also fits right into our family. To make sure he doesn't get forgotten, he gets quite vocal (it's a last born thing, trust me, right Mom?), and he loves playing with his big brothers. I can only begin to imagine the trouble they are going to get into together.

Happy 1st birthday to my baby! Like it or not, you'll always be my baby. We love you and are so thankful that God chose to bless our family with your arrival!"

I know it's cliche, but seriously, how did this last year go so fast??  I suppose part of it is just a blur because of lack of sleep and constantly trying to figure out WHAT IS GOING TO GET THIS KID TO SLEEP MORE?!?!  And, then there's the busyness of the three other boys, that kinda makes things fly by, too.  One year ago and for several months following, I had a snuggly little baby that nursed for a long time and fell asleep on me.  Now, I've got an almost-toddler that won't sit still and snuggle for anything and just wants to be on the go.  

This age is a lot of work (what age isn't??), but boy is it fun.  The more interactive he gets, the more his physical development progresses, the more his personality comes through, the better it gets.  Jackson is doing really well walking with his walker, and he almost stands without hanging onto anything.  He eats lots of table food and holds his own bottle.  He has six teeth.  He still uses a pacifier, but mostly just for bedtime.  He can clap, almost do "peek a boo", and sign "more".  He loves having his brothers push him around on his new scooter.  That really gets him smiling and laughing.  He's very vocal - our drive home from church on Wednesday evening's just makes us laugh.  I don't know if it's the excitement of his brothers getting back in the van and being all jazzed up or what, but he really starts jabbering (loudly) then for most of the ride home.  

Love the addition that Jackson makes to our family!  

color

It is absolutely gorgeous out right now!!  Sunny, warm, fall day with leaves changing and falling.  Fall is so bittersweet for me.  I do love the season itself, but I end up dreading it as summer ends just because I know what comes after fall, and that it's cold, dark, and lasts sooooo long.  Certainly the bright side of winter is having Mike around so much more.  That helps!  I SHOULD be out mowing the lawn right now (for probably one last time this year), but Jackson is napping and Mike took the other three boys to help my dad with the combine.

Last week I managed to pickle some peppers!  I had completely forgotten that I wanted to do that, and then Mike mentioned it.  (I love having a garden, but when the season comes to an end I am more than ready for a break.)  Thankfully I have a few pepper plants that have still been going strong, so I didn't have a problem gathering enough to do several jars.  It was easy, and Mike loves them!

Last Thursday Levi, Jackson, and I went on a little adventure to South Haven.  Mike's cousin who lives in Indiana bought a 1/4 cow, so we met her halfway with the meat.  (We've done this a couple times before.)  I'm so glad that South Haven is a good meeting place for us because it's such a neat little town.  We took a quick look at the lake (it was too cold to get out), then stopped downtown for a little treat.  It was a nice day for a drive, and both boys did great!

Friday Mike took Roxy to the vet for a check-up.  She's doing great!  She's only about 52 pounds, which is small compared to what Brandy and Sadie were, but the vet said she looks great.  It's always *interesting* taking our outside dog who is not leash trained into the vet's office.  Kinda like taking our rambunctious country boys out in public.  We all fit well together, I guess!

Saturday was Jackson's birthday party!!  I can't believe it!  We had things pretty well under control, so Mike was able to help my dad combine earlier in the day.  We had a nice party for him in the evening.  My parents, Mike's mom and stepdad, Kara and the kids (Harold was gone hunting), Eric and Lea Anne and the kids all came.  Being close to Halloween we told the kids they could wear their costumes to the party, so that was fun.  I don't think Jackson knew quite what to think of all the people in our house at first.  And, he was unsure of his cake when I first gave it to him, but he ended up digging in.  :)

Early Sunday morning Levi woke up puking, so I ended up staying home from church and Mike took Caleb and Logan with him.  So glad it was just a quick little thing and no one else got sick!

Yesterday was Halloween and it was my FIRST time trick or treating!  We took the kids to Eric and Lea Anne's neighborhood and it was so fun to be out and about with so many other people (it was a beautiful night) and see the kids really getting into it and enjoying it.  Levi tired out after a bit, but handled it well.  Now we have SO MUCH candy and I've got to exercise some willpower.  (And it would be helpful if I actually exercised my body as well...)

I won't be able to describe it very well, but I hope just the mention of it will jog my memory enough that I'll remember it clearly...  So, last night we're walking around Eric and Lea Anne's neighborhood and there's a guy with one arm (for real) who has his stump and his shirt made to look all bloody and he was walking his dog who was dragging along a fake arm.  Pretty good.  (If I ever lose a limb or something I hope I can make the most of it with a good attitude like that.  Anyways.)  From a distance us adults are watching my niece Heidi notice this guy.  She's terrified of dogs, so first she is wary and giving him plenty of space because of that. But then she noticed that he was missing an arm and boy was she dumbfounded and staring at him.  Oh the look on her face!!  It was great.

My baby turns 1 tomorrow.  I'm not sure yet how I feel about that...