“It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”

 

Me and the babies walking to get the boys from the bus stop on our last non-snowy, nice day. 

It has been a strange winter everywhere this year, right?  No snow for anyone!  Except those poor people in Alaska with 15 feet or something.  Crazy.  It was so strange that I did something that I still can’t even believe that I did.  The end of Josh’s schooling is finally in sight, by that I mean 2 1/2 years away still, but that is nothing compared to the 8 years we’ve been at it, and we were discussing residency places after he graduates.  For the first time in the 5 winters we have been here I said, “I don’t think I’d mind staying here if we matched here.”  What?!  Every winter previous to this I would say something more to the effect of, “I want out! Send me somewhere warmer where I don’t have to bundle my kids up EVERY day in full snow gear to go to school!” 

But this year was special…warmer, no snow.  We have snow now, and I want to report that my previous feelings came rushing back as I took my first step over the mound of discarded snow pants, wet boots, hats, gloves, coats, and neck gators, just to have my freshly socked foot land right in a slush puddle in the middle of my floor.  I want out!  or at least I want a mudroom to contain all of the yuck.  It really is winter now.  My car is all salty.  My socks are always a little wet, and then when I take those off because, brrr! wet socks make for cold toes, my bare feet land squarely on the bottoms of my cold wet pants which can’t help but soak up the slush as I try to push my grocery cart through a hardly plowed parking lot, rendering the wheels on that thing completely useless.  It might as well be on 2x4’s because it’s through pure muscle power that this mama bear hurries us into the store to protect my cubs from the cold.  So winter, now that you’re here, please don’t stay too long, I really don’t like you, not hardly at all.

Around Here

Now use your imagination and take Jameson’s smile from the above photo and place it on his cute little fleece jacket in the below picture and then we have the perfect picture.

It has been a while since I wrote a general update post. 

I mentioned before that Josh is working a lot.  He is still working a lot, only even more now.  I joked with someone at church that I see him 2 minutes a week, and I was willing to give up 30 seconds of my two minutes so that they could speak with him.  He is gone a lot, but people’s sympathy expressed to me is completely unnecessary.  He is blessed to be in the situation he is in, and so am I.  We’re the lucky ones, so the next time the ladies at Wal-Mart look at me with my four kids and say, “My! You have your hands full!” I can honestly respond that yes, I do, but hands full of kids is better than most things.

On to this guy.  He is almost 6 months old now.  It’s nuts to think that this is how old Josie was when I got pregnant with Jameson.  I stand by my original feeling…it felt crazy then, and it still does.  Jameson, however, is my little squishy and is so worth it.  Doesn’t his chubby face just look heavy with all those cheeks?  He is such a lovable baby.  He is a lot more accepting of others than Josie was at this stage.  He’ll let pretty much anyone hold him as long as they’ll talk to him and smile at him.  Josie was already exclusively mine at this point.  It seems that to my babies my hip is the equivalent of a lazy boy recliner, because they love to sit perched there facing out at all the action.  Jameson is no different, except he is heavy, and by the end of the day my not so sturdy back is screaming. 

He started rolling over just before he was 5 months old, and then took off.  Within the first day of rolling over, he could roll both ways (back to tummy and tummy to back) and then just started scooting all over.  So at not even 6 months he is scooting all over the floor.  Pretty good for a little chubby kid!

Jameson is sometimes the sanity at the end of my days.  It’s his chubby neck and gummy grin that make everything worth it.

 

Jo dressed for church.  Josie is…what’s the word for her?  Josie is a riot.  She is hysterically funny, sassy, stubborn, a tease, solemn around strangers, and delighted at the prospect of eating pancakes.  She adores Jameson.  She is for the most part gentle with him now, and lights up when he wakes up from a nap.  He returns these feelings.  She loves her older brothers, and one of the highlights of her day is picking them up at the bus stop.  She is learning more and more words.  She is easily won over if you’ll read to her, and moments of quiet come for me when she is occupied with Yo-Gabba Gabba.  What a bizarre show! 

 

William.  Will is changing from a little boy to a kid.  You know what I mean?  It’s an interesting change for all of us since he is the oldest.  He is smart as a whip.  Just like his dad.  He likes to read, but only if it’s non-fiction.  He doesn’t see the point of reading about something if it isn’t true   (also like his dad)  He is Mr. Football right now.  He is counting down the days until he is old enough to play little league football.  If he is home you never see him without the football in his hands-if not in his hands then heading back toward his hands after he has thrown it up in the air for the 50th time in a row despite my constant warnings to “get that thing out of my living room!”  He is still so enamored with his dad.  I’m ok with that sticking.  No need to grow out of that.  Daddy is a pretty good one to have as your best friend.

Mr. Gigglesworth.  I chose this picture of Isaac because he happens to be licking something sticky off his fingers, so it captures the true Isaac.  Isaac makes us laugh all the time.  At all the times as a parent when you are not supposed to laugh because they are misbehaving, you just can’t help it.  Isaac proudly claims that he is the stinkiest in our family, and will some day be the chubbiest because of his love of junk food.  The other day he got off the bus and told me that someone had thrown up on the bus that day.  I asked if the bus was really stinky.  He looked at me puzzled and said, “No! not because of the throw up.  It’s only stinky around me when I fart.”  Gross.  I looked at him horrified that he was farting on the bus, and he quickly responding, “what?  it’s just those quiet little ones!”  That is our Isaac.

In addition to his silliness he is also a super sweet big brother.  He now shares a room with Josie, and he takes such good care of her.  (Between us, she loves him the most).  He is doing great at school, and his teacher loves having him around.

Whew!  See what I mean?  We are blessed.