Happy Boy!

My Favourite Boys...

Photo Update

 Time to load up some pictures!  Danielle took this photo when we took Aaron to McMaster for his pneumonia.  He had fun being wheeled through the halls in an enormous geriatric wheelchair, haha!

Smiles from little Nate

He likes being bounced on our knees

 Big blue eyes! 

 Aaron loves his little brother!

I don't have a photo of Aaron in this coat and hat, 

since he was more of a summer baby

 Enjoying our first snowfall with a little bit of accumulation

 

 Since he's given up his naptimes, Peter gets to help me with all my 

holiday baking.  He liked putting sprinkles on the truffles

 When Aaron woke up from his nap, we were still working on 

the truffles... and he was very interested as well!

 Reading baby Nate a book (aka "getting smothered")

 A blurry photo of my three kiddos

 Aaron being Aaron, what a goof!

 Packing up to go to Grandpa and Grandma's house!

Aunt Andrea had her baby! 
Congratulations on the birth of a healthy little boy! 

Derek Benjamin was born on Dec 11, weighed 6lbs 7 oz, 

and we are so thankful for his safe arrival

 Little Derek, so tiny!  Nate was a full 4 lbs heavier at birth!

 Uncle Mike and Aunt Rachel meet their newest little nephew... 

this makes 7 little boys in the family!  Not a single girl, crazy! 

Question Period

Peter can be incredibly inquisitive, and he doesn't just stick to the "why" or "why not" questions.  He gets into a mood where basically everything he says is a question, and then they come non-stop like verbal diarrhea.  Just for interest's sake, I decided to count today, and Peter asked me 68 questions in 5 minutes - which works out to one every 4.5 seconds, believe it or not.  Somedays, I need an triple-extra-large dose of patience!  The following is a brief sampling of my day today to give you an idea of what he can be like: 

What are you doing, Mom? 
Is Nate hungry?
Why is he hungry?
Are you feeding him Mommy?
Can I touch you Mommy?
Can I touch Nate?
Can I touch your chair?
Do you want me to sit in my chair?
Do you like it when I do this Mommy?
Can we talk?
Can you talk to me Mommy?
Is Nate all done now?
Mommy, is he full now?
Can I touch him now, Mommy?
No?

His diaper is dirty?

Nate has to poop now?
Does his diaper have poop in it?

  Is his diaper wet, Mommy?
Does he need a new one?
Are you changing his diaper?
Does he like to have a new diaper? 
Is he happy now? 
Are you happy with me, Mommy? 
What's I'm driving you nuts for, Mom?
Why am I driving you nuts?

The Night Wanderer

Sometime during the night last night, Peter woke up crying.  Mike got up out of bed, made his way over to the boys' bedroom, and crawled in bed with Peter to calm him down.  I didn't wake up with either Peter's crying or with Mike getting up, which is a little strange.  What is more strange about this story though, and actually quite hilarious, is that Mike didn't wake up either.  Actually, he woke up in Peter's bed at some point later on in the night, not sure exactly why he was there, only knowing he'd been gone long enough for his spot in our bed to have grown cold...

Update

While I'm on a roll (three posts in one day?? Count yourselves lucky, readers! I think I've done my quota for the next month or two, haha) I should do an update on the kids.  Let's start with Nathaniel.  Nate has been the baby with the best sleeping habits of all my kids - and probably of all babies that I know.  Last night, I put him to bed at around 9:30, and he woke up this morning at 9.  He didn't wake up ALL night, and although I went into his room with much anxiety this morning to check on him, he was still happily sawing logs.  He usually takes two naps during the day as well, one of them often 2-3 hours long, and then a little cat-nap while I do the dishes after supper.  Combined with my two other kids who usually don't wake up until 7:30 or 8 (8:30 this morning!!), I'm not sure how I deserve all this extra sleep but it's pretty wonderful and I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  I've been taking some specific vitamins and supplements which have been helping me sleep better, and I feel like I am catching up on the weeks of insomnia I had after he was born, and the months and years before that of very crummy sleep.  Nate is almost 3 months old now, and growing well.  He was just over 15 lbs when I had him weighed two weeks ago, so he's probably creeping up on 16 lbs now.  He's growing out of his clothes so fast, as he is a very long baby and fitting into 6-9 month clothes, sometimes even 12 month clothes.  He's not particularly chubby, but is just large for his age - both his height and weight are way off the percentile charts.  It's such a blessing to have a healthy and happy baby, and so nice that I'm able to keep up with nursing him.  He is a little sweetheart, giving us lots of smiles, starting with little laughs, and loving to talk to us as well.  Peter and Aaron were not very talkative babies, so I am enjoying this stage a lot.  He loves to be held, and I love to hold him.  It can be hard to get things done around the house but they are only little for so long.  We don't really need to eat supper on time anyways do we? 
Aaron is growing up so fast - looking at pictures from just a few short months ago shows such a difference from the little boy we have today.  It's amazing how much kids grow in cognition at this age - the first year of life seems to be much more of a physical growth, while the second year their mind expands so much.  He understands so much of what we say, and although he doesn't have a huge vocabulary yet, he's working on that every day.  I love listening to him singing along with the CDs I play for the kids.  One of his favourite words right now, unfortunately, is "no", and this is the source of much frustration for Peter especially.  Peter knows he isn't allowed to say "no" to Mommy or Daddy, but when Aaron says "no" to him, he gets SO mad!  "Mommy, Aaron said 'no' to me!".  If I'm not in the room, Aaron gets spankings from his brother for his obstinence.  Of course this is not allowed and in a "trying to see the bright side" way, I find it a little amusing.  Aaron watches everything his brother does and wants to take part in it as well.  He loves to tag along with Peter when Peter goes to the bathroom, claiming he has to "pee".  He'll stand there at the edge of the toilet and Peter will tell me that Aaron is peeing with his tummy.  Hopefully this means that toilet-training will be just as easy with Aaron as with Peter when the time comes!  Aaron is recovering from a bout with pneumonia that started about two weeks ago.  He had been sick with a cold and runny nose for about 2 1/2 weeks, but all of a sudden his breathing became quite laboured and shallow.  I took him to McMaster with Danielle (we were in Hamilton for the day) and a chest x-ray confirmed the pneumonia.  He was on antibiotics for a week, and it took a few days up and down with fevers and struggling to breath before he started to get better.  His appetite is just returning now.  No fun!  We're glad no one else ended up with it. 
I've done a number of updates with little things that Peter has said or done in the last while - he continues to be a lot of fun as well as a big stinker.  He is the oldest and so we have no older sibling to compare his development to.  Part of the adventure of parenting I guess!  I feel a little bad not having much to write about him here that I haven't already posted but just look over the last bunch of posts and you'll see some of his antics. 
Anyways, I've got some pictures of course, so here you go!

Nathaniel, getting bigger every day.  His acne 

has cleared up nicely!

 A little bit of anger at Peter's birthday - no fair!  

Only he gets presents??

 We went to Swiss Chalet on Peter's birthday, and the 

servers sang for him :)

 Always a goof! 

 Little sweetheart!  He keeps changing so fast!

 Watching the cookies baking...mmmm

 Playing in the cupboards is so much fun!

 Enjoying some creative time with paint - this time not 

licking the brushes thankfully

 Middle children unite!

 Snuggling with my littlest man

Weight and height charts for Nathaniel - definitely off 

the charts for both!  He's the average size of a baby 

several months older than him

 Aaron was also at the top of the charts, but his weight has 

gone WAY up.  He's a solid little guy! 

 Peter's charts - you can definitely see where he started on formula

Baking With Children

Since it's always more fun (well, I try to tell myself this anyways) to bake WITH your children, Peter and I made some chocolate peanut-butter balls this morning.  Things always take waaaaay longer when you have this kind of "help", but he certainly loves to bake with me and gets so excited when he gets to wear his own kid-sized apron.  I am admittedly not the best chef in the world, actually very far from it, but here is are the results of our efforts.  Here are the peanut butter balls:

And here are some of the ones that Peter helped me make (the ones I didn't 'fix').  He informed me that he was making worms and turds.  Lovely... nothing makes you want to snack more than chocolate-covered turds!

Things Where They Shouldn't Be

I'm discovering more and more that my kids are quite good at hiding things in unexpected places.  Aaron is particularly good at this, and it keeps me on my toes - or rather it keeps me searching high and low for items he probably tucked away in some dark corner.  Observe the following:

 There are often random objects in my cupboards.  Here is a tractor 

parked by my blender, along with a book to keep it company.  

Hey look, another tractor.  This seems to be a favourite of Aaron's - 

parking his tractor in strange places and forgetting about them.  I've also 

found them in the bathroom cupboards (strictly off-limits, by the way).  

 

I reach in to grab some potatoes to peel for supper and AGH!  

What could that be?  Oh, it's a metal scrubby.  In my potato bag.  

Thankfully it was a new one, slightly pulled out of shape by some curious 

little hands who gave it a new home with the spuds.

Why throw a perfectly good juice container into the recycling when 

you can use it to hide the night-light?  A light-sensitive night-light,
I might add - which is dutifully lighting up the inside of the can. 

What a fun little cupboard!  This is the old milk-delivery door by the side
door, and I find random toys stashed there more often.  Usually toys,
but if I'm missing a sippy cup or two, this is one of the first places I look. 

Talking about sippy cups, this is another one of Aaron's favourite
past-times : Hide The Sippy Cup.  I'd show a picture of one of his cups
INSIDE our boxspring but I don't really want to show you the dust that
may or may not have accumulated there.  There is currently a sippy cup
hiding somewhere in our house that I have not been able to find
for about three weeks now.  

 While we're on the topic of things that are missing, I haven't been able to 

find one of my pan lids for about a week now.  Peter and his Oma were 

busy in the kitchen last week when I took Aaron to the doctors, and

somehow Peter managed to hide this lid SO well that I haven't been able

to find it since then.  It's not tiny, and my kitchen is pretty small, so it's a 

little puzzling that he found such a good hiding place. 

Story Hour

This week was the first time I made it out to the ladies' morning Bible study this year with all three kids.  It was a bit of a juggle to get us all out the door on time and in one piece, but we made it and it was good to be there.  It was Peter's first time at story hour and he was looking forward to it - although he played pretty shy once we were actually there. 

This is the paper he brought home with him.  Discussing it with him afterwards, we wonder how he will do when he gets to school - I think we might be in for some interesting parent-teacher conferences.   Here goes some of our discussion:
"Peter, what was the story about?"
Peter:  "It was a bad story"
"Oh dear.  What was it about?"
Peter:  "I don't know"
"Ok then.  What about this paper?  Did you colour it?"
Peter:  "No.  I drew a big O" [yeah, he did.  It goes around the whole circumference of the page. Note also a few half-hearted scribbles on Shadrach]
"There's a cloud here.  Did you glue the cloud on?"
Peter:  "No.  The lady did it."
Well, at least he's honest.  

Hawk Sighting!

Check out this hawk!  On Saturday, Mike and Peter were out in the carport working on putting up the Christmas lights.  This hawk came swooping through the carport above their heads and perched in the apricot tree in our backyard and I managed to get a picture of it before it flew away.  I think it's a broad-winged hawk but that's a fairly uneducated guess.  Pretty neat though eh?

Beware!

Peter comes up to me yesterday as I am washing the dishes.  He proceeds to bite me in the bum.
Mommy:  "Peter, WHAT do you think you're doing??!"
Peter:  "I'm an alligator, Mommy.  I'm eating you!"

Sweet Kid

This morning at breakfast, Peter says to me, 
"Mommy, you are really cute. I like you very much, I'm exciting about you!" 
And proceeds to give me this goofy grin:

I kind of needed that today.

Happy 3rd Birthday Peter!!

This past year has been another one filled with so much learning and growth.  You've gained 2 inches and 5 lbs in the last year (compared to 5 inches and 8 lbs the previous year), but it has been your vocabulary and your personality that has grown by leaps and bounds!  We love teaching you things, having hilarious conversations with you, and watching you learn about the world around you.  Sometimes your observations make us laugh and laugh and laugh!  You're all done with diapers and soothies, sleep in a big boy bed, sit with us in church, and like to help out with your brothers.  So much so in fact that I have caught you several times trying to toilet-train your poor younger brother - pants and diaper at his ankles bawling in the bathroom.  You want to do all the things you see Mommy and Daddy doing - whether it be cooking and baking in the kitchen, going to get groceries, play with the tools in Daddy's workshop or figuring out how to use the nail clippers to cut various things that are not nails...  Although you are a strong-willed child and often stubborn enough to drive your parents up the wall, we love how you ask us for hugs and kisses and how you love to cuddle.  We greatly look forward to what the coming year has to bring for you and all the fun that we will have!  Happy birthday Pete!

Mid November

Well, time just marches on here and we're busy as can be.  Life is full with three little boys at home, and the days are filled with playing and laughter, tears and frustration, hugs and kisses, diaper changes, laundry, cleaning, cooking, feeding, and a myriad of other random things.  How blessed we are!  I have to say that having three kids has kept me quite house-bound, as I'm not quite sure how to manage three very young children who want to go in different directions and are liable to become stubborn or upset at any moment.  I'll have to brave it one of these days but for now, it's the limits of the property for me as even in the evenings Nathaniel tends to be quite fussy.  I'll miss these days some year in the future right? 

As you can see by the posts that have gone up lately about the older two kids' antics, they keep us busy and laughing.  The phrases "partners in crime" and "monkey see, monkey do" have become much more real to me lately, as Peter and Aaron tend to get into lots of imaginative trouble together.  Pulling chairs up to the kitchen counter to eat sugar out of the sugar bowl or splash in the sink, or climbing up to the buffet to play with the crystal glasses (!!).  Sitting on the bathroom floor discovering what's hidden in the cupboards under the sink, breaking into the cold storage room downstairs and throwing toilet paper rolls around, or discovering what happens when you try to microwave a travel mug.  Whatever trouble one child can get into on his own, two can get into much more trouble than you would think if trouble is a proportional thing.  It's more of an exponential relationship I think, and I worry about the days when I will have three little boys thinking up ways to be "creative" when Mommy has her hands full. 

Nathaniel is not quite so much of a handful yet and is relatively easy to keep in line.  He is a fairly happy baby, aside from evening fussiness which can be expected, and he of course would rather be held during the day than spend time on his own.  His super cute smiles and sparkly eyes just melt your heart and he is very easy to cuddle and "talk" with.  At his 6 week visit at the midwives, he weighed in at 13 lbs 5 oz, and 24.5" long.  According to the scale at the doctors when I took him for his 2 month visit, he weighed 11 lbs.  Yeah, our doctor is a bit out of the loop and seemed quite surprised when I told him there was no WAY Nate is only 11 lbs.  My guess is more around 15 lbs, but I'll have to wait and see if I can get him weighed at the midwives office again before I know for sure.  He has been doing very well at nights, going down around 10 pm and getting up once or twice to nurse before 8 or 9 the next morning when he is up for the day.  Certainly nothing to complain about there, especially considering how Aaron used to be up for the day regularly around 5:30 am.  I am certainly appreciating the extra sleep - it has been a very long time since I have been able to sleep more than two hours in a row.   Nate also naps quite well during the day, and although we don't have a strict schedule in place, things are getting more regular and predictable.  This is important when there are three little people's lives to coordinate.  

Anyways.  That's life here for now. Enjoy the pictures!

After Aaron's naptime, Peter went in there, dragged his crib across the 

room to his own bed, and they started having an enthusiastic jumping fest   

Nate with his Oma and Opa

Raking the leaves on a beautiful sunny day

My serious little guy

Having tons of fun playing in the leaves!

Aaron loves it too!

Reading a book with Aunt Lauren

Ummmm... how do I start cleaning this up?  And this isn't even close to 

the worst diaper I've had to deal with from this little guy... he's quite 

the expert at poop explosions.  Either he really likes baths, or 

dislikes my clothing choices and wants to try on something different. 

Such a sweet smile from my little guy!

Mussche family picture a few weeks ago

Grandma and Grandpa with their SIX little grandsons!  What a blessing!

Nathaniel and his cousin Lucas, born almost a month apart

I love this picture!  Must be lots of fun to wear Mom's sweater!

And here is a progression of pictures..
trying to take a photo of all three boys together

Not too bad, everyone is looking at the camera...

And another one, maybe getting a little more wiggly...

Agh!  Time for some Mommy-intervention to save the baby!