Balloons+feet+sitting=fun

BALLOONS
The other day G1 brought me a blue balloon and asked me to blow it up and "make it tight"(tie the knot) for him. I did just that. He played with it for a little while and then it popped. I'm not sure what happened. He was within a few feet of me when it happened. I think it was just old and weak. Poor little boy and the saddest look on his face. It made me have tears in my eyes. He just couldn't understand how that could have happened when he didn't mean for it to happen. I hugged him and tried to console him the best I could. Then I remembered that I still had balloons left from G2 and G3's birthday party. I only had to remember where I had put them. So, I looked through the dining room closet and found them.
I blew up 8 or 9 of them suckers. I drew on them and the Gs had a blast playing with them. Sometimes I forget how fun the simple things can be. I get too caught up in everything else and I forget to see things through the eyes of my babies. It was fun to watch them all play and laugh and just have a great time.
I wish I could always have fun with them like that. Some days (most days it seems) I get too stressed out and can't enjoy the Gs like I wish I did. I've been trying to let things just roll off my back and have fun. I hope when my children look back on their childhood they remember the days that I am down on the floor playing with them, instead of the days when I am yelling and stressed.

FEET
G4 has "found" her feet. She is really starting to play with things and people. When she found her feet she seemed to think that was the greatest thing ever. She held onto them so tight and laughed and talked to them. I thought to myself I need to get a picture and/or video of this. I got up to get the camera. As I sat back down to turn the camera on she lost her feet. Poor little girl was devastated. I tried helping her grab hold again but it just wasn't the same. I finally managed to get pictures of her playing with her feet a couple days later.

SITTING
G4 can almost sit on her own. She has sat for a few seconds at a time without me holding on. Sometimes she thinks it's great and gets so excited she falls over because she's laughing; other times it is the worst thing in the world. She is totally female, not being able to make up her mind. :-P
This morning we tried to get a picture of her sitting by herself. We managed to get a few good pictures of all the Gs. The "big" Gs think it is absolutely great that I let them hold G4 sometimes (as you will notice in the pictures).

G2 and G3 are 21 months today. They will be 2-years old in 3 months. It's amazing how fast the time has gone. They are so big and so smart. They are still on the smaller side (but so is G1). Other than that you would never be able to tell they were preemies.
Today they were stink pots though... G1 came downstairs from nap-time and says to me "The girls don't have their diapers on." I head up the stairs and sure enough they have their diapers (which were duct taped by the way) in their hands and are headed down to me. I go into their room to see if they had gone potty anywhere. While in there I could smell poop but could not find it anywhere. I figured it was just my mind playing tricks on me so I go back downstairs. I get the girls and put new diapers on them. Sure enough G3 had pooped. I went back upstairs to look for it and still can't find it. I will have Matt look when he gets home. Pretty gross story huh?? My children pooping in mystery places is my life though. This is just the first time I haven't been able to locate it.

G1 has quite the imagination now. It's fun to watch him. The other morning, must have been Saturday morning, he was picking up "snails" and putting them in a can. He would bring me a can that he was pretending to put stuff in and tell me it's snails. It took me a minute or two to figure out what he was saying. I did not know this boy knew the word snails. So, I pretended to be grossed out and said "Eww icky-slimy-snails." He just thought that was great. I then told him that some people eat snails and actually like them, he thought that was funny. He showed them to Daddy too. Daddy reacted to G1's liking and G1 kept playing. G3 was observing all this and thought this looked like a good game. She went over and somehow ended up with the can. She would put the snails in and bring it over to me. Most of the time she was cracking up before I ever pretended to be grossed out. Then G1 and G3 started "dumping" the snails into their hands to "eat" them, just so Mommy would say "EEEWWWW!" It was a good time.

I had mastitis end of last week/over the weekend. I am feeling pretty good now but man that was not fun. I learned that breastfeeding (especially on that side even though it is EXTREMELY painful) really is the best way to get rid of it.
G4's eye was a little cruddy for a couple days but seems to be fine now. Maybe it was because of the mastitis and she got some of the "germs"??? Matt finished the light/vent in the bathroom upstairs (YAY MATT!!) and managed to slice open his finger at the knuckle. Pretty sure that wasn't fun for him.
G3 keeps conking her head on things.
G2 trips over everything. I joke that she walks like she's drunk.
G1 is G1, not really anything to say about him--he's been pretty normal for him.

**To all of you out there reading: PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT. I love to hear from everyone that reads about our lives. It doesn't have to be much of a comment. Anything is greatly appreciated.

Just rambling...

We don't have too much going on right now. Just trying to stay cool.
We have a new cousin (well the Gs have a new cousin). Rob and Katilyn welcomed a little boy into their family on July 31st. He looks absolutely perfect (I've only seen pictures). Lydia is going to be a great big sister. Congrats again to all of you!
Matt is working 12-hour shifts all week (11A-11P). It will make for a nice paycheck but it sure does make me tired when he works this much.
G1 is talking so much now and we can understand almost all of it. A year ago I didn't think he would ever get to this point! We are still working on potty training. I'm pretty sure if I could dedicate a day or two just to him we could get him out of diapers. But I don't have the time or energy for that. He is so smart--always amazing me with what he knows.
G2 is talking a lot now too. Everyday I can understand a little bit more. I think she's going to talk as much as her mommy does (just a warning to all!). She loves to mimic what G1 does; which doesn't always make Mommy very happy.
G3 is still my more quiet one. But I understand more of what she says than I do of what G2 says. Probably because she doesn't ramble as much. She just gets down to business and says what she needs.
G4 is so much fun. She trys to "talk" to me all the time. She loves her big brother and sisters. She's still not laughing much but she smiles all the time. I can't believe how big she is getting. She is almost completely out of 0-3 month outifts (only the really big ones fit her). She has a few 6-9 month outfits that fit her really well. It's crazy.
I am trying to come up with what the Gs will be for Halloween. I have no clue. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share.
I am also working on things for G2 and G3's birthday. Yes, I know their birthday isn't for 4+ months, but if I don't get started now then I will feel too stress later. I know the theme (which is normally the hardest thing for me) but I can't figure out what decorations and stuff I want. Since I make most things I need to get that figured out...
Anyway, that sums us up right now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Oh, and some pictures just because.

Tummy Time and other pictures

G2 has a black eye right now (actually it's almost gone). What happened is--G1 knocked her down (not sure if it was on purpose or not) and she hit our bed frame. Poor girl--it looked so bad. She looked like she had dark purple eye shadow on.

This is G3's "CHHHEEEESSSEE" face.

The "big" G's love playing in G4's swing--I'm not sure how to convince G1 that he really is too big though (this is G2 by the way)

This is one of the few times that G4 did not throw fit about having tummy time. I've never had a child throw as big of a fit as she does about being on their tummy. Of course I think it helped that G3 was sitting/laying with her, playing with her.

G3

Yesterday we went down to Mom's (Grammy's). G1 has a new friend--it is the "Chief" that she has on her front porch. G2 (in blue) and G3 (in pink) were a little apprehensive about him though.

G4 yelling at me

G2

G4's favorite thing is her swing. If nothing else (including nursing) will make her happy we know we can put her in her swing and she'll be fine. It's so cute; sometimes she gets so excited, her little feet get kicking so much.

I can't believe how big all the Gs are getting. G1, 2 and 3 have all caught up (mostly) to the size of other kids their age. The are all talking so much. We are starting to understand a lot of what G2 and G3 are saying. When they are getting along they are so much fun. I love that they can all communicate their wants and needs to us so well. G4 is smiling and "talking" so much. She only laughs a little bit; me and the girls are the only ones she's laughed for so far (that I know of). She is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes and she's not 2 months old yet!! They all love each other so much. It's wonderful.

Oh, a big milestone for me--yesterday before going to Mom's; I took the 4 Gs to the grocery store all by myself (Matt was with Poppy) and other than getting back in the Mountaineer, it went really smoothly. I was so excited to know that I can do it. (Not that I really doubted that I would be able to...)

One Month Old

G4 is one month old today. She seems so big now. Every once in a while she will smile for me (still pretty rare). Today she was really smiling for Matt--it was cute. We have her one month check-up on Monday. I'm anxious to see how big she is now. The 3 older Gs still love her to pieces. None of them have hurt her yet *on purpose*. So that's good.
She is awake a lot throughout the day. I've never seen a newborn awake as much as she is. She is still sleeping pretty well at night--as long as it is with me (which to be perfectly honest, it does not bother me as much as I expected; in fact it makes life easier and I love having her there). She still is nursing practically all day long.
That's the update on her.

This weekend is Railroad Days here in town. So, we walked to downtown (that's where it's going on) to enjoy the festivities. It was a nice walk and we had fun.

We got a sling from Target to get us through until I find material I like enough to have one made for me. G4 is starting to like it:

Me and the 3 girls:


The boys:


The Children's Museum was doing free face painting. G2 got a purple flower, G3 got a pink flower, and G1 got a train.





G1 got to ride on a train ride. He absolutely loved it:



Daddy got to ride too:



We got to check out what the inside of the train was like. Here are the pictures of us waiting in line:



G3:

G2:

G2 loves her Aunt Ginny:

The first of these 2 pictures everyone but me looks good. The second one I still don't look good but you can kind of see G4:


This is a video of G1 on the train ride. He is the front car. For this ride you had to pedal with your hands. I wasn't sure how well he would do with that, but he did pretty good. You can see him pedaling a little at the end of the video.



Okay, so onto updates about everyone else.

Matt is still working as much as he can (or as much as I will let him). There isn't anything exciting going on with him.

I am finally able to pick up the older three. Mom has still been coming to help me out, but I am gradually "learning" how to take care of all my children. I am feeling pretty good. I would feel better if I could just lose the rest of all this weight. Nothing exciting with me either.

G1 will be 3 in a week and a half. He is getting to be more and more of a monster everyday. I love him to pieces and when he is being nice he is the best little boy. But when he isn't wanting to listen or be nice he is a terror (at least to me anyway). He is getting to be so smart though. It amazes me all the time all the different things he knows.

G2 is a biter. She can be the meanest little girl (with the sweetest voice). She does like to cuddle and give kisses though (is that supposed to make up for the bitting??). She is becoming more and more vocal (with words we can understand even). Her newest things she says all the time are "Stop" "No" and "Don't."

G3 is a sweetheart. But she is taking to bitting now too. I guess she finally got sick of G2 bitting her all the time and thought it is time for payback. She is getting pretty vocal too. The things she says the most right now are "Happy" (name of all of the Gs lovies) "Poppy" and "Bubby."

All in all there really isn't anything exciting going on right now. I promise to let you all know when something "real" happens. :-)