Bread and Cheerios

 During chemo yesterday, my Aunt Terri stayed with the little boys.  They had loads of fun--grocery shopping, baking bread, and playing with new games.  It's been so great having visitors who can be here to help out with my little ones while I'm getting my weekly dose of poison. 

Po making bread

Evan eating Cheerios--one didn't quite make it to the mouth!

A Few Little Things

We have been having so much fun with all of our recent visitors!  I'm just sad that I haven't thought to get the camera out much. 

Thank you, thank you to all who have given so much help already.  It is immeasurable.

A few things I don't wan to forget:

I cut my hair off on Saturday.  It's been a hard few days trying to adjust to the new timeline of losing my hair.  I was prepared to keep it for a few more months, but it really started coming out like crazy, so I cut it off like my doctor suggested.  It's still coming out too much for my liking, so I'll be shaving it soon.  When I walked in the door after getting my hair cut, Kyle said, "Mom!  You have crazy hair!"  Ryan has told me several times, "Mommy, I like your hair."  Just this morning he was talking to me and told me again.  I love those kids.

 

Kyle's baseball games are going well.  He really seems to like it and is improving quite a bit.  One thing I love is how well he listens to his coach.  He seems to take everything in and try to improve.  After the game, I had to text the coach--again--because Kyle forgot his glove at the field--again!  Luckily, coach picked it up---again--and said he'd bring it to practice.  He also sent me this text:
"Kyle had a great game.  He is going to be a phenomenal player."  That really made me smile. 

I guess I'm really just trying to make it day to day these days, grasping on to the little things that make me smile. 

Nap Time?

When you take all of the blankets out of our coffee table, it makes a great double bed!

Happy Valentine's Day

 We had a nice Valentine's Day! 

While Evan was taking his morning nap, Ryan and Claire decorated some sugar cookies.  They were delicious! 

 Kyle got to do a few when he got home from school and all the other kids were napping. 

We didn't get any pictures of Evan on Valentine's Day.  Rest assured that he looked adorable/was still a baby monster. 

Julia was lovely enough to stay with all the children so Stephen and I could go to a movie, go grocery shopping, AND go out to dinner.  THANK YOU!  {She even remembered to snap a picture of us before our date!}

It was practically a perfect day--minus the grocery shopping and the little part about throwing up the minute we walked in the door from dinner.  That put a damper on the Valentine's Day mood, but we put the kids to bed, I took a nice bubble bath and a Zofran, and all was soon right in the world again! 

Valentine's Eve

 The 2 younger boys have several holiday shirts to choose from as hand-me-downs, so I got to have love-themed shirts all week long.  Here's a sampling from today:

 I'm a lover, not a fighter:

I'm a ladies' man:

Our Valentine's Eve was spent with doctors.   Today was my shot day.  {Worse than chemo.}  I planned to not over-do things today to try to better handle the after effects of the chemo + the shot, but Evan had a well-check today, and it just so happened that his doctor was running AN HOUR behind.  Not the most stress-free morning ever. 

Evan is doing well, developing and growing fine. 

Height:
30.25" {24%}

Weight:
22 lb. {16%}

HC
46.5 cm {30%}

Other fun things:

I got my hair done this evening.  It's amazing what that little thing does for me!  There's something about having those grays washed away, some chatting time, being pampered, and feeling back to normal that can make a tough day disappear!  Hooray for new hair!

Kyle had tball practice.  He's liking it and having fun.  Plus, he's tired.  {I love it when a plan comes together.}

There was also quite a bit of this today:

It's fun having cousins over!

Happy V-day Eve!

School V-day Party

 Kyle had his Valentine's Day party at school today.  Don't ask me why it was on Tuesday when he is actually at school on Thursday, but that was the way it went.  I didn't get to go because I was at chemo, but he was excited to give out his Angry Birds cards, which he addressed and put together all by himself! 

 A friend sent me some pictures of the fun party, complete with ice cream sundaes and a 'love bug' craft.  Looks like fun! 

I'm sorry I missed out, but I know he was having a great time! 

15 Months Old!

 Evan is already 15 months old!  I can hardly believe how much this baby has grown up.

He is CONSTANTLY on the move, looking for something to get in to or destroy.  He literally walks around the house, searching for a basket, drawer, cabinet, etc. to get in to.  It never ends--unless he's sleeping.  He is quite the baby monster, but we love him.

 Evan is a big Daddy's boy.  He is also a great eater.  He eats just about anything....and lots of it.  He also likes to come back for the scraps, so we've started calling him "Scrappy."  And then he burns it all off in 5 seconds after getting down from his high chair because he's running around tearing up the house. 

Evan LOVES to play outside.  If I say those words, he goes STRAIGHT for the door and starts begging.  He also will bring me his shoes all the time, thinking that if he puts his shoes on, we are leaving or going outside.

 He plays well and loves to be around his brothers.  

Evan still only has 2 teeth, the bottom 2, but there are about 7 trying to break through right at this moment.  {You can see all of the drool marks on his shirt in all the pictures!}

This baby is also the most expressive in his language of all of our boys.  He already says a few words, makes gestures, and communicates pretty well.  Maybe I've just forgotten that these things might be "normal," since both the other boys were very slow in their language.

As far as personality goes, Evan is starting to lean to the stubborn, strong-willed, "poop scoop" category.  We call him Kyle #2 every now and then and try to talk to him about learning from the mistakes of his brother and being more like Po.  I'm not so sure how well that one will go.  Only time will tell.

We love this adorable, little monster so much.  It's a good thing he's so cute some days!


{His 15 month appointment in on Wednesday, so I will post his stats then.}

Kyle's First T-ball Game

 Yesterday Kyle started the journey into a new sport. 

After only 1 1/2 practices, we set a bunch of 5 year-olds  loose on a baseball field, and watched the hilarity commence.  They definitely all need some help with fundamentals, but I think they all did pretty well and seemed to have fun.

Kyle got to bat twice.  The first time, he swung and hit more of the tee, but made it to first base. 

 After that, the next batter got the 3rd out. 

 Kyle played on the pitcher's mound.  He looks good there, no?  I think we need to work on left-handed pitching and growing a good several feet, and we might have something great going. 

 Kyle's 2nd time at bat, he had 2 little fans watching. 

He had a much better swing and hit this time.  

 He made it all the way back home to score! 

Great game, Kyle! 

Mom's Night

 When you're having a terrible, HORRIBLE, no-good, very bad day of feeling sick and barely able to function, it's nice to have something to motivate you to get out of your pajamas.  It's even nicer when the thing that motivates you to get out of your pajamas actually allows you to say IN your pajamas! 

Last night was Mom's Night at Kyle's school, and we had a PJ Party!  All the moms and kids got to wear our pajamas, do centers, eat a snack, read a couple of stories, and play games.  Kyle has been SO excited about Mom's Night, and I'm so glad I felt well enough to go to school with my boy.

All the students in Kyle's class answered the question of why their moms are special.  I'm glad Kyle knows that I really like to play with him. 

Kyle answered more questions about me and drew a picture of the 2 of us.  His answers are spot on.  Well, the age is a little off, but who's counting?  

So much fun, and I didn't even need to get out of my Pjs!

Christmas in February

Santa's sleigh wasn't quite big enough to hold the boys' Christmas gift this year, so he left us a note that a new swing set was being delivered by some elves on a big truck.

Santa also forgot to check with our HOA about the height requirements of said swing set, and we had to refuse delivery of the first truck and have the elves deliver us a new swing set which fit the rules.

We FINALLY got the right one in--even though it ended up being a different one than we picked out for the 2nd time because that one was no longer on sale and this one was!  {Everything was delivered EXCEPT the slide, so we're still waiting on that one *slightly* important piece.  

A few more elves stopped by to put the gift together on Monday--they were supposed to do the work on Saturday, but their truck broke down---and the kids were finally able to play enjoy their Christmas gift on Monday.  

They love it, and the only problem---other than no slide---is that it hasn't stopped raining long enough to really enjoy playing.

Here's some proof of the fun that can now be had in our backyard!