control

I'm not sure that I'll ever really truly learn, but somehow the Lord keeps finding ways to gradually teach me that I can't always be in control...  I kinda like to have my day planned out and be in control of the situations, but this fourth child is proving to be a bit of a challenge.  :)  He's gone back to napping only 20-30 minutes at a time, but for the most part I think I'm doing better at just rolling with it.  It's okay if I'm not getting other stuff done, I won't have a baby to snuggle forever.

I've also taken a different approach to my household management in order to hopefully lessen my stress, especially on Monday's.  I was seeing a pattern of Monday's being really difficult (to the point of me standing there in tears holding a crying baby, and feeling like I just can't do this (mother four children, cook, clean, be a good wife, etc, etc...) and I don't know how I'm going to go on).  After thinking it through I think one of the problems is that I wasn't doing as much around the house on the weekends, so when Monday rolled around I felt overwhelmed with everything that should get done. I am now trying consistently stay on top of things so that I don't find myself on a day with way too much to accomplish.  Rather than waiting until it's "too late" with the cleaning, I'm trying to just focus on one area each day, and not let it get out of control.  This past Monday was definitely better, and today I was able to have a friend over for coffee without scrambling to clean the house because it was already in decent shape.

Two weeks ago Caleb woke up sick and threw-up several times throughout the morning.  I felt so bad because he kept puking so much and was getting so weak.  But, by mid-afternoon that day he was ready for a snack, and he was back to his normal self by evening.  And, no one else got it!  Phew!!

This past Monday I was able to go help out at Caleb and Logan's school Valentine's party.  I love having the chance to see them at school, and interact more with their friends.  It's also a nice chance to meet some of the other moms.

We've still got full on Star Wars fever over here.  The guys just keep watching the movies over and over again (a little bit each evening).  I do enjoy it too, and it's fun to have something that Mike enjoyed as a child that he can now get into with our kids, and they'll hopefully be able to with their kids someday.  :)  I wonder for how long we'll be as into it as we are now, though.  :)

Caleb and Logan are doing well at school, and it's really neat to see them learning to read and write!  We've mentioned to Levi how we're planning to send him for one day of preschool next year.  Today he said something to me about being worried there wouldn't be a backpack for him.  :)

For the most part Jackson is doing well at night, so at least he's got that going for him.  :)  He's becoming more and more vocal, which is one of my absolute favorite things.  Love that smile with his little tongue sticking out, love the sounds he makes when he's "talking" to me.  I love watching him interact with and smile at his brothers, they love him so much and it's really sweet to see.  

3 months

As of yesterday, Jackson is 3 months old!  He's definitely growing, and becoming very interactive, which is so much fun to see.  He smiles a lot, coos, and almost laughs.  He mostly keeps his eyes on Mom, but enjoys watching Dad and his big brothers some, too.  :)  We had a miserable day on Monday - lots of crying inconsolably and hardly any napping.  But, yesterday Jackson was like a completely different baby.  Not just different from the day before, but different from the whole first three months.  He actually napped!  For like a couple hours at a time!!  This is completely unheard of with him.  As much as I was doing my best to get used to and work with the 20-30 minute naps, there were still times that it was very frustrating, so I sure hope we've turned a corner here.  Just a few minutes ago he had been napping for about 45 minutes and woke up, but I WAS ABLE TO GET HIM TO GO BACK TO SLEEP IN HIS BED.  This is huge (in case you can't tell).  Holding my breath that we're starting on a new trend of taking longer naps...  Jackson had been eating 6x a day still, but with his long naps yesterday he dropped a feeding and still made it through the night fine.  And, oh yeah, I can't forget this part (because Jackson will really appreciate this someday) - for the last month he's pooped only every 2-3 days.  On the one hand it's nice to mostly only change wet diapers, but when that one dirty comes, boy oh boy!!  Yikes!  It's not a nice one.  And, he never does it for Mike, only me.

One of the fun conversations we've had with the boys lately is about all the things they can do when they're adults and have their own house.  You know, things like jump on the couch, eat whatever they want, jump off the top bunk, etc.  Mike even made sure to point out that they can even bulldoze their house if they want, but they CAN'T burn it down as that's illegal.  :)

This morning Caleb and Logan had a two hour delay for school.  Unfortunately, I didn't discover that until I got there and the parking lot was empty.  Not only that, we somehow got loaded up early today, so I drove around a bit before heading to school!  I ended up getting groceries with all four.  Not ideal, but we managed.  :)  That was actually the first time I've taken them all with me to the store.

thoughtful

Logan's wife is going to be one lucky girl.  Certainly, all my boys will be a great catch, but whoever ends up with Logan is going to be spoiled rotten!  For now I'll enjoy being the focus of his affection before he turns his attention elsewhere.  He is often wanting to give me little things, talking about things he wants to get for me/do for me, drawing thoughtful pictures for me, and writing little notes.  And the boy has good taste!  Recently our family was in a local jewelry store as both Mike and I needed our watches resized (Mine was the one they gave me for my birthday last year, and it's been tight for a long time I just never got around to have it taken care of; and Mike's was a new one I got him for Christmas that came way too big.).  Anyways, Logan was pointing out all the things he liked and wanted to buy for me - of course he was choosing the biggest, sparkly-est pieces.  He'd better get a good job someday, and I sure hope I get to go with him when he's shopping for an engagement ring!  :)

health

A couple weeks ago Caleb and Logan had their 6 year well-child visit to the doctor.  Mike took them while I stayed home with Levi and Jackson.  Caleb weighed in at 57 lbs, which is 91st percentile; and he is 4 ft 2.75 in tall, which is 99th percentile.  Logan is 47 lbs, which is 55th percentile; and is 3 ft 11.5 in tall, which is 81st percentile.  We are so thankful for healthy boys!  The doctor mentioned to enjoy the window of about 6 yrs to 12 yrs.  :)

Caleb has had a rash (athlete's foot, actually) between his fingers where he's had to wear the splint.  I've been letting him go without it more the last few days as the finger is looking much better.  Tomorrow afternoon he goes back to the orthopedic surgeon for the official word.

Caleb and Logan got report cards last week and we are so proud of both of them!  They both had very good grades and good comments from their teacher.  They were rewarded with a trip to see Star Wars in 3D with Mike (and Levi got to go, too...).  :)

Jackson has been sleeping well at night for the last couple weeks.  THANK GOODNESS!  He's still not a good napper, but I keep trying to remind myself this won't last forever...

Friday's

I absolutely positively LOVE Friday's during this time of the year!  Mike has Friday's off during the winter, and it's become a special time for our family, especially after the kind of year 2015 was.  Just knowing that he has a whole extra day to spend with us is so nice.  Sometimes on Friday we go do something special (like going to see Star Wars together), sometimes we just run errands and end up out for lunch, and sometimes we're just spending the day at home, but no matter what it is I am so grateful to be able to enjoy that time together.  Kinda dreading springtime and next summer...

dedication

Last Sunday was Jackson's child dedication at our church.  What a blessing to be able to do that, and that so many of our family members were able to be there.  We certainly hope that as Jackson's parents, God will use us to bring Jackson to a saving knowledge of Him and to grow up to be a godly man.

So, all six of us got to be up front for the dedication.  And, for the many that were expecting a good show from The Krol Boys, they were disappointed!  :)  Amazingly, everyone behaved very well.  Levi was a little antsy, and I think Caleb kinda jumped down the stairs at the end, but compared to performances in the past, that was tame.

Afterwards we had our family over for brunch to celebrate.  HOW WONDERFUL TO HAVE A USABLE BASEMENT!!!  This was our first gathering here since the project, and it was just so great to have that space for the kids.  Even though this is a decent sized house, the layout on the main floor isn't real great for large groups, so having the basement now is a huge help.  Mike worked hard getting the basement cleaned up and guest ready, and it's the perfect space for kids to ram around in.

thumb

Another quick post...  Maybe I'll eventually get caught up on what I want to write!

Levi quit sucking his thumb a week ago!!!  There's been just a couple slip ups, but overall he's doing SO good.  It started with the boys running around last Tuesday wearing those stretchy gloves.  The next day Levi made some comment to me about not being able to suck his thumb with the gloves on.  Later we were running some errands and I went to Gemmen's for a couple things.  Levi wanted to look at the toys and said maybe he could pick something out to get for not sucking his thumb (we've been talking about that for months).  I figured now might be the time, so he picked out a new combine and I told him he had to go for 7 days to earn it.  A few times he held up his fingers and said, "That's a long time..."  :)

The first couple days I noticed there were a few times that it was especially hard for him.  I would be snuggling on the couch with him, and that would normally be prime thumb sucking time, but he was just real fidgety with his hands and not sure what to do with them.  Today in the car on the way to the grocery store he was real quiet listening to the music, and normally he'd be sucking his thumb, but I looked back and he was just sitting there no thumb in the mouth!  He must have sucked it during his nap today, so he's got a little time added before he gets his new toy, but we're not terribly concerned about since he clearly has it under control most of the time.