milestones aplenty

Still here. Sleepy, but present. Though some may argue the two are mutually exclusive. Matthew is 3 weeks old and he got a super report from his pediatrician this week. He had gained 14 ounces in 11 days, which exceeded all expectations. He spends most of his time eating and sleeping but in the past few days we have been seeing more of his beautiful dark blue eyes.Sometimes when all eyes should be closed....





He loves to be swaddled, he's always willing to eat, he's ambivalent about tummy time, and he loveslovesloves attention from his big brothers.





Davis has, in three weeks time, gone from jibber jabber and only occasional phrases to speaking in (grammatically atrocious) sentences. Every day brings new words that we have been trying to pry out of him for months. It's as if he woke up one day and decided to grace us with his vocal vocabulary. I love this stage, but the excitement has not yet distracted me from his constant failure to listen. He's either going to break something very expensive or he is going to hurt someone very badly. Fearless toddler without his "listening ears" + mama who can't race across the room with a nursing baby = a disaster waiting to happen. Mark my words.

Peter has had a big time. He was able to spend a solo weekend at the lake with the Bryants while on hiatus from camps. Swimming, boat rides, bath-skipping, dessert before supper... a boy's heaven, right? Then he had a date to a bug festival with Aunt Callie. It was a little soirée at the nature center about nighttime insects and he was able to learn about fireflies and all sorts of bugs while on a nighttime nature hike. Kids were encouraged to dress up, so Hayes and Peter threw together a little fire ant costume. He was so proud!




He is back in camp, only this time it's a new place, new people and new routine. My little bookworm jumped right in without hesitation and loves it. That's really remarkable for him. How things have changed!

For at least 4 years, Hayes has been talking about building a workbench to replace the one in his workroom. Saturday afternoon, he decided to finally do it. By Sunday night, it was done. He needs a few more man hours to shellac it but he worked like crazy and built a really practical, efficient and versatile workspace. I'll take pictures when it's done- and organized.

As for me and my mom... laundry, dishes, diapers, road running, feeding, more laundry, more road running, more feeding... You get the idea. I think we are all a bit concerned about how I am going to do her workload and feed Matthew for 45 minutes of every 3 hours. Oh, and keep the big boys from killing each other.

This I gotta see.