Liam Turns 3

So way back in the last days BC (before Colette), this handsome guy turned 3. I spent the weeks leading up to his birthday wondering when Colette would come and how that would affect him... would we have to delay his birthday party? What if they ended up sharing a birthday--would either of them feel cheated? And so on... It seems more than a little ridiculous to admit it now, but I guess it went hand-in-hand with my unhealthy birth story obsession this time around.

And sure enough I woke up the morning of Liam's birthday party (Sunday, November 1st) with clear signs that we would be meeting Colette in the next 24-48 hours. Or so I thought. Little did I know that I had nearly two full weeks of prodromal labor ahead of me--but that's a story for another day.

Labor signs, fears, and contingency plans aside, Colette did not in any way disrupt Liam's birthday party. Or his actual birthday. Our celebrations were pretty laid back, but the birthday boy seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.

the birthday boy in his "engimeer" hat

Liam absolutely loves hats, and although this was not going to be an all-out themed birthday I thought it would be fun to get something that would be a fun dress-up accessory for him and could serve as party favors for the cousins (although I don't know how excited they were about them). Amazon to the rescue with a cheap pack of one dozen train engineer hats. Liam was delighted and still wears the hats around the house most days.

my Aunt Lisa's chocolate cherry bars in cupcake form for dessert--a hit, as usual :)

a boy can never have too many trains

Oh my Liam--in that precious/infuriating stage between toddler and little boy. I love how he phrases things. Every request begins with "Should I..." Should I have another cookie? Should I go play trains? He loves telling knock knock jokes and reading stories. He has the sweetest little singing voice. And he has a bit more than his fair share of temper when things don't go his way... a tendency which is in no way improved upon by his determination to never nap again. sigh The joys of three... But they truly are (mostly) joys with this sweet little boy who suddenly looks so big and tall and sounds so old when he says "I love you Mom!"

Happy birthday Liam Roderick!

She's here!

Okay, yes, she has been here for two and a half weeks, and I am just now getting around to this blog post.

And yes, my mom was here for the first two weeks of her life. And my dad was here as well for the second week. And thanks to paternity leave + a snow day + Thanksgiving, Alex only had to work one day of those first two weeks. And for some reason I waited until I was totally on my own with all four of the littles before even attempting to blog.

But she is here, and she is wonderful, and we are all so very in love. Birth story, more pictures, and tales of figuring out life with four under five (at least until M's birthday in January!) coming soon. Ish. Soonish. Like, probably next summer. [Edit: birth story here]

Colette Cynthia, born November 14th at 9:37am, 8 lbs, 20 1/4". Let the adventures begin!

Boy Talk

Michael (4 1/2)

Alex: Mama's pretty awesome, isn't she?

M: Yeah. And pregnant!

M: (enunciating very deliberately) My ears have yaks in them!

Ash: Um, wax, not yaks. 

M: (much screaming from the basement)
Ash: Michael! What's wrong? Are you hurt?
M: (sobbing) No! My church fell over and that's not what I expected it to do!
poor guy... sometimes Legos are more trouble than they're worth...

M: I think I'll need grown-up underwear.
Ash: Um, okay. Do you need some new underwear? Are those getting too small for you?
M: No, when I'm a grown-up.
Ash: Yes. You'll need grown-up underwear when you're a grown-up.
M: And then I'll live in my wife's house.
Ash: Oh, okay.
M: Across the sea.
Ash: Oh! That will be far away!
M: Well, I will have some vacations.
Ash: I think vacations will be a good idea.


Liam (almost 3)

L: (much screaming from the basement)
Alex: What happened?
L: John Paul took it from me!
Alex: What did John Paul take?
L: John Paul did it!
Alex: But what did he do?
L: John Paul took it away from me!
Alex: I know Liam, but what did he take away from you?
L: I don't know...

L: Knock knock!
Alex: Who's there?
L: Banana.
Alex: Banana who?
L: Banana orange!
and then he laughs hysterically like he just told the best joke in the whole world... it's the only joke he ever tells--and he cracks himself up each time

L: Hey, I have an idea! I have an idea!
Ash: What's your idea, sweetie?
L: I don't know...
Ash: You don't know what your idea is?
L: It went downstairs.

Ash: Liam, you need to eat some of your chicken if you want ice cream after dinner.
Liam: I have an idea!
Ash: What's your idea?
Liam: No!

the boys with Grandpa this summer

7 Quick Takes (vol. 41) -- The Laudato Si' Edition

I know I'm a bit late to the game with responses to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', but I'm late with pretty much everything these days. And of course it's never too late to get started. So here are seven ways we've been living out care for our world in our little corner of it. Or maybe I'm just totally exhausted and overwhelmed with toddlerness and third trimesterness and beginning of the school yearness. You decide.

Ready to be awed and inspired?

--- 1 ---

Leave the scrambled eggs on the floor. The 18 month old decided he wanted to dump his breakfast on the floor instead of eating it? No problem. Don't bother cleaning it up--in an hour or so he will rediscover it and eat every. single. crumb. for snack time. The 2 1/2 year old will probably help. Team work? Check. Waste not, want not? Check. Clean(ish) floor without breaking out the broom? Check.

--- 2 ---

Don't pull the weeds. So maybe you had grand plans for landscaping and gardening and all the green thumb things way back in April and May. And maybe the budget for that stuff decided to disappear down the drain of the master bathroom project that became never-ending. And maybe all your creative energy disappeared into growing one tiny human and keeping three others alive and (mostly) happy. But guess what? Bees like the weeds better--and helping out the bees is super important. And the weeds clearly have very low water needs (see next point), and are therefore the environmentally-friendly option. So stop feeling guilty about the overgrown au naturale look of your front flowerbed. Encouraging native flora is definitely Laudato Si'.

an actual bee on an actual weed native wildflower in my actual flower bed

--- 3 ---

Only water the grass/flowers every couple of weeks. Because water is a precious resource. And expensive. And your brownish lawn will make your neighbors feel a lot better about their yards. And if you don't water it you will rarely have to mow. (Note: may be a problem with heathen HOAs).

--- 4 ---

Bathe your children once a month. Or less. Really, if they aren't too smelly or sticky they are totally fine. This encourages a healthy immune system (or something like that) and conserves water. And when you do bathe them, throw as many as you can possibly fit into the bath or shower all at once and scrub away.

--- 5 ---

Bonus points if you combine tip #3 with tip #4 and just kick the kids outside to run through the sprinkler instead of actually showering them.

he looks clean to me!

--- 6 ---

Let the kids run around in their pajamas all day. For multiple days in a row. You will save on water and detergent for laundry and justify uberminimalistcapsule wardrobes. Bedtime is that much easier because everyone is already in their pajamas! Our current record is approximately 72 hours in the same set of pajamas. I can tell that you're impressed.

--- 7 ---

Use as few dishes as possible at mealtimes to save on clean up. This will likely involve the kids eating directly off the table or counter, but you know they weren't going to keep the food on their plates anyway. Silverware is a waste of time and water. And if your kids are anything like mine they sometimes forget that they aren't puppies and lick their food straight off the plates. It may not be acceptable for public, but at home we'll just chalk that one up concern for the environment. Cups, unfortunately, are pretty much necessary at this age... although I can just imagine the boys' excitement if I let them start drinking milk straight out of the jug. We're not that hardcore... yet.

So there you have it. Are you impressed? Horrified? Think you can do better? I'd love to hear it!

Linking up with Kelly for Seven Quick Takes!

Happy (crazy belated) birthday John Paul!

So, way back in March our little John Paul turned 1.

Clearly, I am right on time in posting pictures of his birthday and waxing nostalgic about the last 12 18 months of his life, because we haven’t had another family birthday yet.

Oh wait, I turned 30 in June. Whoops!

we celebrated my birthday with ribs and otter pops... everyone liked the ribs, everyone except John Paul liked the otter pops

Regardless, John Paul did turn 1 and no matter how late I am I can’t fail to blog faithfully about the about-to-be-middle-child, and better late than never and all that jazz. We had a lovely little family celebration, with meat pie (treasured Rappana family recipe) for dinner and Pope cakes topped with strawberries and chocolate for dessert. Dessert was most definitely a hit, especially with the birthday boy.

Although it was only the middle of March the weather was perfect for dinner outside--which was a really good thing, because cleanup was much easier. And even though we have a great dining room and lots of leaves to put in the table, it is getting really hard to fit everyone when we are all together.

and cleanup was... not insignificant

So that was John Paul’s birthday… and it feels like it was forever ago. He was sprint-crawling everywhere in an attempt to keep up with his brothers. He was napping really well, but was still waking up multiple times a night and generally wanting to nurse. He was full of smiles and laughter, had a few consistent signs (“more” and “all done”), and no words yet.

And only five months later (only… almost a third of his life) he is running AND climbing all over the place. He definitely thinks he is one of the big boys, and he’s close to being able to hold his own. He has finally started saying “mama” consistently and it absolutely melts my heart every time. He is sweet and affectionate and cuddly, but also overflowing with mischief and 110% wild little boy. He excels at giving bazoomers (rasperries) and loves to wrestle with his daddy and brothers.

Other words in his ever-expanding vocabulary:
pees--please
datoo--thank you
wa-wa--water (or sometimes milk)
no
yeah
ahge tuck--garbage truck
ash--crash (I remember M saying it exactly the same way at the same age)
soos--shoes (he gets very excited about shoes)
ou-sy--out side (ditto on the excitement)
dou-says--down stairs
ha--hot
dai--bye

And lots and lots of gibberish that perfectly mimics speech patterns and inflections, but has few recognizable syllables. He definitely thinks he’s talking, and half the time I think I understand him.

playing at Roubaix Lake during our vacation to the Black Hills in June

He loves books and his brothers and being outside. He also really loves his crib and I am so thankful for my (currently, knock on wood) wonderful little sleeper. He started sleeping through the night pretty consistently at the beginning of summer, just in time for my pregnancy insomnia and million nightly trips to the bathroom to take over. Naturally.

he sucks his thumb and twirls his hair and we all think it's the cutest thing ever

I can’t get over how big John Paul is getting, but at the same time I’m cherishing (or at least trying to cherish) these last few months of him being my baby. I’ll never forget how huge Michael looked the first time I saw him after Liam was born, and again with Liam suddenly looking so much older and bigger after John Paul came; and I’m already looking forward to/mourning that instantaneous transformation from baby to big brother that is coming in November.

And in case you're like me and absolutely completely obsessed with thoroughly enjoy a good birth story, here's Part 1 and Part 2 of our little Pi Day Baby Story.