New baby thoughts (a quick start)

It's hard to find a few minutes of focused time to sit and write. I so often have these little things that I want to write about and remember, but now that I have a sleeping Isaac by my side and all the kids happy in quiet time, I can't quite remember all those thoughts that have been floating around in my head for the last month! Hmm...

+ I love this little Isaac. When we were brainstorming names, I read that Isaac means "He will laugh" and something about that was jus so delightful to me. I think because all the time I was pregnant, I felt like this was kind of a serious little guy, but I loved how right it felt that he would also be one who would be happy and laugh. Landon brought out some very first almost-laughs the other day from Isaac and was as excited as can be.

(an unfinished post from a month or so ago that I still wanted to remember :)

So long sweet summer

The kids are back to school today!

This really has been such a sweet summer. Having little Isaac to love and the slow summer days to just work our schedule around him has been really wonderful.

A few favorite moments of this summer:

*   Floating in the lazy river with Porter. I'd hold on for a minute as the river floated us along. Then I'd let go and Porter's eyes would widen as he floated away just a bit in his life vest -- not worried, but watching me carefully and anticipating, what's going to happen now? Then I'd scoop him back up and he'd just laugh with such delight that I'd laugh out loud too.

*  Reading books with Owen and Porter during our school time while Landon worked on the day's activity (with his glasses taped) and Ellie practiced piano -- it's already hard to remember quite exactly what it was like with just those four!

*   Sitting at the pool during swimming lessons holding Isaac, with Owen and Landon happily inside in their classes and Ellie and Porter playing together in the pool as I watched. And just realizing this is working.

Happy Birthday Porter

In honor of Porter's birthday, here's the first minute or so from our morning walk today (Porter's side of the conversation) I sure love this three year old boy!

Mommy! Look! ("wook!") There's a tree growing!

Mommy! Look! There's another tree growing!

Look! There's another tree growing. This tree is growing up to the sky! This tree is growing up, up, up to the sky!

Who's house is this?

Yep, it's Sister Matthews house.

What's this called?

What's this sidewalk called?

Yep, just called a sidewalk.

Look at all the flowers!

I spy (fingers up to his eyes like binoculars) lots of flowers!

Yep, those are roses. Let's see if we can find some more roses.

What flowers are those?

(fingers up to eyes) I spy with my little eye... a puddle!

Swim Lessons

We all had fun with two sessions of swim lessons this summer. For the first session early in the summer (before Isaac was born), I swam with Ellie, Owen and Porter outside while just Landon had swim lessons (practicing freestyle and back stroke).

I almost canceled our second session because I couldn't figure out the logistics of how to take care of everyone (Watch Ellie's lessons to help her not feel anxious, hold/feed Isaac,  keep an eye on Porter...) But at the last minute I came up with a possible solution and it turned out really great. Landon and Owen did lessons, I held Isaac, and Ellie took care of Porter in the outside pool (with me watching). Then, Ellie got to have her own personalized swim lesson by Jordan for the last day. It was a happy way to spend these summer mornings!

Happy Birthday Landon

Landon had a great birthday party last month to celebrate turning 10! When he told me he wanted a lego party, I was pretty quickly stumped about what to do for activities. Everything I thought of seemed pretty little kid-ish. But then I asked Jordan for some ideas, and it took him only a second to tell me several great ideas that were just perfect for these 10-year-olds. 

They had a race car building contest -- first for judged for overall awesomeness, then on to the blue track battle crash. That was my favorite part. Two cars were randomly chosen and had to race down the blue track from each side. Whoever best survived the crash got to move on the next round.  Then a lego bridge building contest with judging by how much money in coins they could hold (which quickly turned into how much money + how many cans from our pantry because those bridges were strong!). Last they had a rubberband shooting minifigure war (shooting the legos, not each other) then cake & ice cream and presents. Very fun and hooray for Jordan's good ideas!

Little Olympians

We had an Olympics watching party this evening while Jordan and Landon went to help a neighbor move. We watched about 40 minutes of gymnastics and then the kids decided they were ready to join in on the fun. (This started when Porter watched a floor routine and said, "I can do that!" then started to show off his own tricks across the front room floor). So fun.

Also, this is the first time I've watched any of the Olympics since I was probably in high school. When we started watching the women's gymnastics team with the kids, I was so surprised at how young they were -- just kids! The last time I was watching this, I was looking up to those girls, imagining what it would be like to be like that 'someday'. Now they're as close or closer to my children's ages than mine!

From Porter this morning

Isaac was crying this morning as I was changing him and getting him dressed.

Watching, Porter said "Mommy, Isaac is sad! I think because he is growing too much!"