Like a Weed

All the little ones are growing like weeds.

 

 The ducks are HUGE. It's hard to get an accurate picture of them, but they've doubled in size since last week. And every day I kind of freak out a bit because they're all getting bigger day by day. The gray one is especially large. The yellow one is not particularly smart. He wanted to eat today, and tried to get to the food, but wouldn't walk around the other two ducks that were drinking.  He tried to lean over the other two but they'd pop up and he would just try over and over.  I was cracking up.  All he had to do was walk around the other ducks.  Anyway, it was funny.  Just trust me. 

 

Andrew asked to play outside the other day.  I told him he needed to get dressed (since just underwear doesn't work in 50 degree weather), and he ran off and this was the result.  I love my little guy.

Charlie is growing just WAY too fast for this mama.  He will be 11 weeks old tomorrow and is in 3-6 month clothes.  He is such a little sweetheart.  I keep telling him that he needs to stop growing up so fast, but he just smiles at me and keeps on growing. 

 Mr. Serious Face

 

GAH!  He is so adorable!

 

Emily has also been growing like crazy, but you'll have to just trust me. :)

Duck Tales

Andrew and Emily love ducks, especially Andrew.  We decided to take the kids the other day down to the park to feed the ducks.  They loved it, although they were either giving them miniscule peices or they were throwing down huge hunks.  That's okay.  :)  Also, we ended up feeding geese mostly.  (Am I the only one who absolutely detests the stupid little birds?  Ducks, I like.  Geese, I hate.  They're mean and greedy and hiss at you.  I seriously don't like them.)  Anyway.  They had fun.

 

And Emily was all decked out in sunglasses and a hat of course.  That girl loves her accessories.

 Then last night, Mike brought home 3 little ducklings for the kids to have as visitors for the next little while.  After they've grown up a bit (or we get sick of having them) we'll send them to Mike's co-worker.  Emily kept saying, "Hi gucks!  Come here!" Andrew has been over the moon.  He told us that they looked like Emily and Charlie, and every time they make any noise (which is very very often) he will say, "Hear that?  That's our guckies!" 

I have to admit, seeing those little guys swimming around in our tub is pretty adorable.

Two Months

It's really hard to believe how fast time has gone by.  It seems like just yesterday that we were first meeting Charles, but it's been 2 months already!  He had his checkup and the doctor said he looks great!  His boil is almost gone (it had come back - oh so fun) and he is strong, healthy, and very alert.  He now weighs 12 lb 2 oz and is 24 inches long.  Further proof that I am not starving him, as he is likely to tell anyone who is within the sound of his very loud little voice.  The boy likes to eat.  A lot.  And when he wants to eat, he wants to eat immediately.  :)  He's a good baby, though, and makes our happy family just that much happier.  We love you, little dude!

 

Huge smiles.  He usually accompanies this with a squeal.



His "slightly amused" expression.  Also, his drunk on milk expression.

His "I'm about to cry" face.  I wish I could get a picture of his pouty lip.  When he's upset, he sticks out his lower lip so far.  It's so adorable, you just have to pick him up and give him anything he wants. 

He makes the absolute best faces.  I'm always laughing at him, because of faces like this.  Too funny.

Way to survive two months of life with big brother and sister!  :)



Kids and the Atonement

Have you seen that commercial from a couple years ago about herding cats?  I live that, every day, now.

Having three kids is, in a lot of ways, not at all as difficult as I thought it would be.  Andrew and Emily adore Charlie and are very nice to him, and Charlie is a very good baby (who likes to be held 24 hours a day, but I don't blame him.  I'm awesome.).  That's IN the house.  Taking them outside of the house is a totally different matter.  That's where the herding cats thing comes in.  My friend Liz warned me of this, but I had to learn it myself.  Charlie went to the doctor on Friday for his 2 month checkup and afterward, Andrew ran out the doors leaving me with the two youngest and me trying to scoop up Emily, the carseat with Charlie in it, and my ridiculously overloaded bag.  We get outside where Andrew is just standing there (luckily he didn't run into the parking lot, he was just waiting for me) and I get down and, without yelling at him, sternly told him how upset I was that he ran away from me and how dangerous it was, etc.  I was doing it out of frustration and anger, instead of thinking first of how to best handle the situation.  I felt terrible.  He covered his little eyes and quietly cried.  I wanted to rewind time and start over.  But, as I couldn't, I told myself that I could ask him to forgive me, start over, and explain it all over again.  So I did.  And it went much better.  He was still sad, I still regretted my reaction, and Emily was still saying, "Andew?  Otay?" over and over.  But thinking about it on the drive home, I was so grateful for the Savior and his atonement.  Because of his sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane, I was able to ask forgiveness, be forgiven, and put that behind me.  And I am so grateful for that.

I was a little frazzled anyway, because our doctor takes a REALLY long time, and the kids had had enough of the waiting game anyway.  Then Andrew ran out the door.  Then after I got them all to the car and started loading them in, Emily somehow managed to slip from my grasp and ran into the parking lot, right towards a car that was pulling out.

These kids are going to turn my hair gray.

Smarty Pants

Within the last week, the kids have become even more amazingly intelligent and charming.  (I know, shocker.  And remember, I am a totally neutral party.)  Charlie sneezed!  It was amazing!  Okay, I'm kidding.  And I know I'm the farthest thing from a neutral party.  But here's what the kiddos have been up to.

Andrew:  As I put in my last blog post, he can write most of the letters of the alphabet, some numbers, and can count to 20 with no problems.  He has taken to calling himself my "best helper" and cleaning up when he sees trash or diapers on the ground. 

Emily:  She knows how to sing the alphabet song, and can count to 13.  She counts like this - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13........I love that little broken record. 

Charlie:  He has found his voice and likes to coo and talk to me, especially while getting his diaper changed, or right before burping in my face.  He also laughed for the first time a couple days ago.  He is a very ticklish little man. 

Spring? Is that REALLY you?!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I was really starting to think that Spring had decided it didn't love us anymore and wasn't going to come around this year.  And just when I had resigned myself to that sad fact, Spring decided to come back around!  Yay!  Not only did we get to listen to the prophet and apostles speak to us this weekend, we also got to spend time outdoors.  It was awesome.

He wasn't a huge fan of the glasses, but it amused us greatly.  And he looks just like Mike's grandpa here (his namesake).

Andrew looking cute in his sunglasses.

The clover in our front yard makes everything look so beautiful.  It's practically covering the whole yard, and making it all a gorgeous blend of purple and green.

Does this picture frighten anyone else?  :)  Andrew and Daddy played catch for the first time.  And no, no one was hit in the head except me.  :)  I caught the ball over my head and then accidently let go of it.  It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done.

Mike drew a picture of a kid holding a kite, and Andrew was extremely impressed.  It was a cute picture.

My Andrew has grown up, officially.  Today he sat down and started writing letters and numbers.  I have tried to get him to trace letters I write before and he just wasn't interested.  I watched him today thinking about the letter before drawing it, and he did a really super job!  Here he was writing an "E."  It's sideways.  I was so impressed!

Turn your head to the side and you can see the letters.  The A is at the bottom, I accidently got the B cut off right at the top, the C is almost a circle, and then the D.  He is incredible, and I'm so proud of my little guy.  Before he would write another letter he would say, "Don't forget "P"! etc. 

Not to be outdone, Little Miss Sunshine started pretending to write letters, too.  I just love my little sweethearts.  All 4 of them.

You're Sick!

The past couple of weeks have not been the healthiest in the Jacobs family.  First I was sick with a stomach bug for 4 or 5 days.  Then Charlie developed a boil on his tiny tush and had to have it lanced this weekend.  Then Michael and I got a different stomach bug that lasted about 4 days.  Let's just say, I'm really looking forward to not being sick for awhile!  We feel extremely grateful that Andrew and Emily have avoided any sickness.  Having Easter around this time has given me an interesting perspective.  I haven't loved being sick (at all) and am so very grateful that I have a Savior who sacrificed all for me so that someday I can live with a perfected body that will never be sick.  But watching my poor little Charlie be in pain and so upset had me thinking of how grateful I am that someday they also will have perfected little bodies.  Because it was so terrible watching him be so sad and feeling so helpless.

In the hospital, feeling sad for our baby while he stands to alleviate the pressure on his bottom and beats his little fists in anger.

The doctor was so kind, and did a great job helping our little guy.  He knew Mike's dad, so that was nice too.  Charlie wasn't too happy about the whole procedure, and decided to exact his revenge by projectile pooping all over the doctor.  He said, "Well, I guess I deserved that one.  I'd do that too if someone was stabbing my bottom." 

Poor little fella.  And poor Charlie, too.

Just to depress you guys.  It's not fair that we had to be depressed alone.  :)
 

By the way, Charlie is feeling really well now, and was basically feeling fine the day after.  No wonder he was feeling so cranky this weekend.  I felt pretty terrible when I saw the boil.  We're glad to have our happy, smiley baby back.  :)

A Real Delight

This little number is called Striped Delight.  And although the ingredients don't include any addictive drugs, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.  It is the most amazing tasting stuff.  Mine doesn't look anything like the picture from the link to the recipe, but it is incredible stuff.  Just as a warning, don't make it unless you have a lot of people who are going to eat it.  Or you will eat it all.   Also, the longer you let it sit, the better it tastes, so try to let it sit overnight.  Yum!!!

http://momsnmeals.blogspot.com/2011/02/oreo-striped-delight-kraft-foods.html

Bolivar - City of Brotherly Love

Andrew? Do you want to take some pictures with Charlie?

"Oh!  Sure!"

 

"Oh, Mommy.  Look at his tiny cheeks."

I think Charlie is thinking, "Get back over here, buddy.  I like this attention."

He was caught mid-blink, I think.  And Charlie was caught mid-smile.

 

Andrew adores his baby brother.  I mean, he really loves him so much.  They are so sweet together, and it really warms my heart to watch.

Easter Happenings

Easter this year was pretty fun, despite some health stuff that I will save for another post.

I tried to make rolls shaped like bunnies.  Instead they kind of resemble hamsters being suffocated.  And that amuses me.

On the way to Salem to  play with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  The excitement tuckered them out.  Charlie was asleep, too.

Grandpa Barnard, Uncle David, Noah, and two more cousins watching trains.  This was a hot spot.  :)

One of Andrew's favorite parts of the weekend was playing with his great-uncle David.  Mine, too!

Charlie got to meet lots of people this weekend.  He was fussy, and we weren't sure why but that will be for another post.  :). Anyway, he was still a sweetie pie.  Not that I'm biased.

We also did Peep Jousting.  You basically put a toothpick in two peeps, face them together, turn on the microwave, and whoever stabs the other peep first wins.  It was pretty fun, even if I did lose....twice.  Wahhh!!!  My poor little pink peeps.

Here we are at the church after Charlie's blessing.  The lighting was pretty bad, and Emmie's hair was a little out of control, but hey!  We're all there!  :)

Here's Emmie-girl on Easter morning.  She dug right into the candy in those eggs, and insisted on wearing the glasses and jewelery right away.  I guess the Easter Bunny nailed it.

 

Um, why does my baby loook so grown up?!  Andy was super excited about all the candy, as well as a toy snake and a coloring book.  He is such an adorably sweet little boy.