Bases Loaded with One on Deck

Our Future Veggies!

Oh sure, he's smiling now....

 

But that was before he was told he would have to eat them some day!

 

Lots and Lots of Dots

I must confess (and I know I'm not alone here) that I probably own way too many books.  I also know that I'm not alone in the fact that there are certain types of books/authors that I tend to buy more often than others.  Arts and Crafts fits in that area for me.  I'm neither artsy nor crafty by nature, so I suppose I justify purchases by convincing myself that I need all the help I can get. 

Ever hear of MaryAnn F. Kohl?  I'm slightly addicted to her right now, have been for years actually. It all started with Discovering Great Artists.  Haven't used it as much as I hoped, and with all the projects I still had left to do, I really had no business buying Great American Artists, but it was in color (the other was not) and I just had to have it.  Haven't really used that one as much as I had hoped either, so it was with a bit hesitation that I decided to purchase Storybook Art.  I really wanted something I could do especially with James. I actually checked this one out from the library first just to make sure, and believe it or not his first project is almost complete.  

We chose the book Ten Black Dots. It seemed like a simple enough project that James could easily come up with ideas for.  Here are some sample pages from his book:

  

  

James used Draw Write Now to make the train and the guy kneeling in front of the snow balls. And I know I'm a bit biased here, but I think they came out pretty darn swell. 

Should I Be Worried?

James last summer (stitches in back of the ear):

 

James last month:

James last night:

(2 layers of stitches, 11 in all.  Picture courtesy of Kent's cell phone)

OUCH!

         

       

Not that he learned anything from his injuries.  He was back that night doing the same thing that got him hurt in the first place, only this time he had on a finger splint.

Obsessed?

Even though he only plays baseball during spring and fall, 99% of the year James come down the stairs dressed for the day like this:

 

or this

 

or this

 

or this

 

(Not pictured; The Cubs, the Rockies, the Braves, the Marlins, the Yankees, the Cardinals, and the Phillies.  Being added to the wardrobe rotation as soon as spring uniforms are handed out; The White Sox (James's team) and one more Pirates shirt (Matthew's), because the three we already have just aren't enough!)

Smitten!

To say that the boys just absolutely adore their little sister would be the understatement of the year.  Never has a child been so doted over like our sweet little Catherine has over these past few weeks.   They are all constantly hovering over her, cooing at her, kissing her face and holding her hands.  There are daily fights over who gets to hold her first or next and who gets to sit by her in the car or at church.

Matthew got a camera for his birthday, and I fear Catherine will go blind from the hundreds of times a day the flash goes off in her face.  If she doesn't go blind she will certainly become deaf if James doesn't stop talking so loudly to her, for some reason he thinks babies are hard of hearing.

Catherine is certainly the boys new favorite thing.  They run to her bedside at the littlest peep to see if she's waking up, they line up at the kitchen counter to watch her at bath time, and they narrate her every possible thought that might run through her head as her big blue  eyes move around the room discovering the world around her.  Even when she's sleeping she has a constant audience.

Yes, no doubt about it, Catherine is loved and adored by four amazing boys which makes her one truly blessed little girl!

Humbled!

I must admit I was feeling pretty good about myself as I looked in the hospital room mirror last Thursday after I had given birth to Catherine.

"I only look about 5 months pregnant right now," I thought to myself, "after I had James I still looked about 7 or 8 months pregnant at this point." 

I felt even better when Kent brought my dad and the boys down to the hospital to visit and he commented about how much better I looked after this birth than the last. 

I continued to feel good about myself as the boys doted over their new sister and took turns holding her.  James was the first to cuddle with Catherine, when he was done he hopped into my bed to cuddle with me.  It didn't take him long to notice that my stomach was not quite as flat as it was before I got pregnant and he wasted no time in asking when the baby in my tummy was going to come out.

"The baby is out.  Catherine was the baby in my tummy."

This obviously confused him because he quickly replied, "Then why are you still so fat?!" as he pointed to my still pregnant looking belly. 

After coming home from the hospital and watching me nurse her, he asked if my belly is where all the milk is stored.  "Yes, James! That's where all the milk stored!"  Now, we all know this isn't true, but it sounded so much better than, "No, Mommy's just fat!"  And I'm sure by the time he gets married and his wife has their first baby, he'll know better than to ask, "Why are you still so fat?!"

There's a first time for everything

I suppose with four boys it was bound to happen sometime, and seeing that Michael is soon to be 13, I'm very grateful we've been able to hold off this long.  Last night was our first official trip to the emergency room.  The back of James's ear somehow got caught in a rough housing match between Michael and Matthew.  This resulted in a large gash that gushed lots of blood over clothes and carpet.  The remedy was a few stitches, some carpet cleaning and lots of "Shout" laundry pre-treater.  Oh, and then there was the drug they gave James at the hospital to relax him while getting stitches.  If you would have visited our house at 11PM last night and seen him try to walk and talk, you would have probably thought he had gotten into the liquor cabinet.  As for the rest of the boys, even though they are uninjured they are still feeling some pain, since James can't go swimming for a week, nobody else gets to go either.

A Dinner to Remember

I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone when I say life with James is never dull!  Dinner tonight was no exception.

For some reason just out of the blue James proclaimed at the dinner table that he was not fat.  I agreed and also stated that neither he or his brothers were fat.  James realizing that my weight had not yet been commented on quickly declared, "Yeah, but you're fat Mom!" 

After the laughter died down John decided to stick up for his whale of a mother and explained to James that it was only because of the baby in my tummy, the two older boys knowing what was good for them readily agreed. 

James has now spent the rest of the night following me around the house proclaiming, "Mom, you're fat, but only cause there's a baby in your tummy!"

Now, even thought James was "kind" enough to point out my temporary weight problem, I must also thank him for possibly ruining my appetite for the rest of my pregnancy and beyond.  You see tonight I served pan seared salmon, a dish everyone eats but him.  There were also S'mores for dessert, something he loves but could not have until he ate his salmon.  He was sulking over his food when Kent pulled out the crunchy peanut butter from the pantry.  For some reason James thought this would make his fish more palatable and asked for some on the side.  Kent obliged, and James ate every bit of that salmon dipped in peanut butter!   

Definition of Mortified

How a mother feels when she walks out of the bathroom of her neighborhood swimming pool and sees her husband pulling up the swimsuit of their four year old child, who is standing on the side of the pool while his older brothers laugh at him and reprimand him for peeing in the pool.

I'm sure the husband would have reprimanded him as well, but he was too busy laughing.