And Time Goes On!

I dutifully brought our camera to Strathroy for the Thanksgiving weekend - and left the memory card in the computer at home.  So much for taking pictures!  I was able to borrow a 16 MB card from Mom, on which I was able to take 3 pictures, lol.  One third of these pictures is posted below, along with a few others I have taken recently. 

One of my only Thanksgiving pictures - here is Peter 
enjoying his dessert!!  I think he was just about in heaven - 

until he learned he had to share it, that is. 

And I wonder why the kids' socks seem so warped 
out of shape sometimes.  Maybe this is why:

It's pretty fun to give each other rides in the laundry basket.  

Not as much fun when you're both in it, but that's still a little bit fun too

Peter, almost always so serious and unwilling to smile for the camera.  

He's concentrating hard on playing with his garbage truck

Aaron's a little more willing to ham it up for the camera.  

Here he is in a typical pose:  in a container of some sort.  

He seems to have a thing for climbing into boxes and containers 

After the exciting opportunity to have a ride in a combine 

on the Thanksgiving weekend, Peter has been talking a LOT about 

combines, wagons, and soybeans.  This baby gate has been his 

"combine" lately - might be hard to see the resemblance but 

that moveable bar is the "pipe" that the "soybeans" (blocks) 

travel through to the "wagon" (an empty ice-cream bucket).  

Gotta love that imagination!

My littlest little man looking all handsome!

He is getting so alert now.  5 weeks old today! 

And who doesn't love little baby feet?  So sweet!

Coffee Child

Peter:  "Mommy, what are you doing with the coffee machine?"
Mommy:  "I'm making coffee"
Peter:  "You're making coffee for me?"
Mommy:  "No, I'm making coffee for me"
Peter:  "Oooohhh, you're going to make me cry!  I don't like juice, I like coffee!"

Excavators, Diggers, and High Hoes

Peter:  "Mommy, please sing the excavator song!  The excavator song, please Mommy?"
Mommy:  "I don't know what the excavator song is, Peter.  Can you sing it for me?"
Peter:  "No, Mommy, you sing it.  You sing the excavator song.  Sing the high hoe song"
Mommy: "Oooooohhhhhhhh.  The high hoe song, now I know.  'Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go, doodoo doo doo doo doodoo doo doo doo, hi ho, hi ho!'"

Help me!!!

Peter:  "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy..."
Mommy:  "Peter, you only need to say 'mommy' once.  What is it?"
Peter:  "Mommy, say 'mommy' once, mommy, say 'mommy' once, mommy, say 'mommy' once, mommy, say 'mommy' once, mommy..."

Sometimes, I wonder how it is possible that I have not yet been driven entirely crazy.

Three Weeks Old!

Three weeks later, and we are as busy as can be.  Things are going fairly well here with three boys at home - it is busy but most of the time things are relatively under control.  Of course I haven't tried to take them all out by myself yet, and I imagine that won't be happening very often.  Peter and Aaron are quite in love with their little brother, and offer him many hugs and kisses during the day.  Aaron especially is very excited to introduce anyone who comes in the door to the "baby", and he loves to come up to Nate and watch him.  So far, they have been quite gentle with him although I am sure to keep a close eye on them to make sure Nathaniel doesn't get smothered with their affection. 
Nathaniel weighed in at 10 lbs 15 oz at his two week appointment (at that age, Peter weighed 8lb7oz, and Aaron 10lbs7oz).  He continues to be a fairly content baby, which is a huge blessing considering the busy age of the older two boys.  He is awake and alert more and more during the days, although there are some days still where he seems to sleep almost the whole day.  Since he was just a few days old, he has been giving us quite a few smiles, to the point that we can't really believe they are involuntary gas smiles, as it seems that he is smiling on purpose.  He's even giggled for us a few times!  Maybe they are all accidental smiles, who knows, but we enjoy them greatly.  He is eating and sleeping well, often going for one four or five hour stretch at night and then a few shorter ones.  It will be nice to get out of the sleepless-haze that comes with a newborn.
Peter is growing up so fast it seems.  We enjoy listening to him talk and reason things out, and find it amazing how much he picks up and what he takes in.  Sometimes he says the most ridiculous things - our kids certainly give us a lot of laughter.
Aaron is also growing up quickly.  He's not the baby of the family any more, but has been promoted to "middle child".  I gave him his first haircut last week and it was a little sad to see all those little red curls laying on the floor but also good to have him looking a little less scruffy and a little more grown-up.  He's saying a few more word lately - Mommy, juice, up, tractor, soothie, among others.  He said "Hi Daddy" yesterday when Mike came home from work, and the other day he even attempted "helicopter"!
Anyways.  I have a whole bunch of photos to load up for your enjoyment, and the kids are up from their nap so I have only a short amount of time before some disaster or toy-sharing-fiasco unfolds in the living room. 

"Mommy, I am giving Nate blankets, he is cold"

Oh dear.  I'm going to have to keep a veeerrryyy close eye on these kids! 

 Big eyes taking in the new world

 Aunt Dell visiting with the boys

 No luck getting a picture of all three boys with their aunt, so 

two at a time will have to do!  Cute shirts eh?  Thanks Aunt Dell!

 Sweetie!  What a lot of hair he had before that haircut!

 So good to have these boys back home again!

 Caught mid-yawn

 Somebody was a wee bit too tired to finish lunch

 Reading books with Aunt Dell.  I just realized that I loaded up a lot 

of pictures of you, Yell.  Thanks for all your help and company!  

I do actually play with my kids too but there usually isn't 

anyone to take pictures...

 Giving my middle munchkin his first haircut - scissors on the top and 

the buzzer on the sides.  He wasn't too pleased with me but the 

job got done, and it turned out to be a half-decent haircut

 When someone is too grumpy to eat supper, 

perhaps a change of utensils might help!

Aaron has definitely developed a love for books just like Peter,

and they both love to sit with us and have books read to them

 This picture of Nathaniel reminds me very much of Peter as a baby

Nathaniel was baptized on October 3.  Here he is wearing the Eleveld family

baptism gown - he was number 29 to be baptized in it!  It was first worn in 
1917 for the first of my Oma's siblings, and has been worn by almost 
all the babies born into the Eleveld-Vos-Mussche family since then.  

Carefully getting the buttons done up on the fragile gown

Danielle had the honour of holding Nathaniel during the service

A family picture taken after the service

 Aaron loves to give his brother hugs and kisses!

 And Peter's quite in love with his brother as well

Trying to get a good smile picture is hard, but here's one

Mike insists Nate was excited about this picture as well, but decided

to "deadpan" for the photo so his Dad would look like a dork.