I missed writing about Alex’s birthday because it came right in the middle of a family tragedy.  We had no birthday party or big celebration, but we were able to take Alex to the Children’s Museum and let him pick out some trucks from the gift shop the day before his birthday.  On his actual birthday we had cupcakes and a few presents, and he’s still young enough to not notice the lack of a party.  He was so happy with all of his presents and wanted to play with each one as he opened them.  That’s one thing I loved about that day.  He didn’t rip through each gift and then demand another.  We had to remind him that he still had more presents to open.  And he loved being sang to.  He thinks the birthday song was written for him especially.  For days he walked around singing “Happy birfday to Awex! Happy birfday to you!”

While each day seems to be a struggle with Alex, he still brings much joy to our lives.  My poor middle child gets lost in the mayhem of our household but when there is one less child around or when he is by himself I can see what an amazing and funny little boy I have.  He makes me laugh every day.

Alex has always been a daddy’s boy and that remains true still.  No one can make Alex light up like his daddy.  And it’s such a blessing to all of us to have a husband who loves his boys as much as they love him.

Happy Belated Birthday to my Little Middle!  We are so blessed to have our sweet Alexander.

Robert is our big boy four year old.  He loves to help me clean (and the little vacuum he received for Christmas has aided him in that), and is usually more than happy to help me out with Ben.  He loves to help me cook and regularly asks to help make something “special, like brownies.”  The funny thing is he will help make something but then will refuse to eat it, whether it be that night’s dinner or something sweet like brownies or cookies.  He is so smart and is doing very well in school.  This month marks two years since his open heart surgery and Robert is still keeping us on our toes.  He has a very high energy level and often encourages Alex to run around the house with him.  Robert’s cardiologist believes that we can put off another surgery for 3-5 years which is great news.  We pray for that time or longer.

Baby Ben turned one on December 20th.  He says mama and dada.  He can give high fives, he can clap, he is slowly learning how to wave, and he can give kisses when asked politely.  He crawls all over the place (and has gotten holes in the knees of a couple of his pants all ready) and he can pull up on anything.  A couple of days ago he pulled up on my arm and then let go and stood on his own for a couple of seconds.  He is not too close to walking yet, but that is okay.  I’m perfectly happy to keep him a baby for a while longer.  He is such a sweet little guy.  He adores his big brothers and his daddy.  He loves to observe Robert and Alex playing or fighting or yelling and then Ben tries to join in.  He is all ready making himself a pest to his brothers but they love him and generally do well with him.

This year will see Alex turning three, Robert five, and Ben two but we won’t rush into all of that.  I’m trying to enjoy my blessings one day at a time.

I love being a mom but it is a huge daily struggle trying to balance the kids, the house, the laundry, meals, and then finding time to do what *I* need to do (I forgot to add in the husband, too).  I’m so busy taking care of everyone else’s needs that mine have to be put aside- I’m only able to pump one time in a day instead of two so I’m miserable all day long. I have to put off going to the rest room until the very last second. I can’t eat until the kids are done eating and often not until they are in bed.  I get tired and frustrated and I lose my temper.  I yell at my kids.  A lot.  And what does that teach them?  Certainly nothing good or positive. We have a lot of trouble with first time obedience in our home and I am realizing that that is my fault.  I yell instead of discipline and I have found that Robert doesn’t listen to a thing I say.  He isn’t respecting me because of all the yelling I do.  So three days ago I determined to stop the yelling.  I made it through Tuesday and Wednesday without yelling at all.  And I have made it through most of today only yelling once.  This is a huge improvement and I learned that when I talk to my children instead of yell at them we are all happier and in better moods by the time their daddy gets home.  I also enjoy my children more when I’m not yelling at them.  I need to show these little people love and respect.  I need to discipline them patiently and kindly and when I do so, they respond better. And most of all, I need to remember that as I serve and take care of my little people, I am doing it all for the Lord (“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40).

On another note, Ben will be seven months old tomorrow.  He can now sit up all by himself and he is getting so close to crawling.  He talks and babbles and squeals.  When I read a book to Ben, he screams every time I turn the page.  I love it.  He has two bottom teeth.  Sharp little things.  Robert found that out the hard way when he put his fingers in Ben’s mouth.  I don’t think Robert will be doing that again.

It looks like Robert will be in a K3 program this fall.  It’s a home schooling program where he’ll go to school two days a week and the other three I will teach him at home.  We are excited for Robert and are working hard to prepare him. We thought and prayed about this a lot and both Christopher and I feel that the structure and learning will be good for Robert.  He is so smart and is just not being challenged enough at home these days and I am at as loss as to what to do with him.  It’s going to be weird not having Robert around two mornings a week.

Nothing new to report on Alex.  I really want to get him potty trained but he has zero interest.  His speech improves almost on a daily basis and it’s so much fun to hear him talk and to find out how much his little brain has been soaking up these past two years.  He knows the entire alphabet and what each letter sounds like and he can count to 10.  He is still learning his colors but he’s getting very close.  He’s a great little fellow and continues to make us smile.

I am blessed to have a job I love- motherhood.  It’s tough but definitely worth it.  Each day is a struggle to love my children more than I love myself because I am finding that I am very selfish person.  But I am being sanctified through this work and I pray that they grow into godly men and count themselves blessed to have me as their mom as I count myself blessed to have had my own mother.  And each day I remind myself that I am doing a good work and I pray that I “never tire of doing what is good” (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

It’s so easy to write about babies because they are constantly doing something new and exciting (from the parent’s point of view anyway).  Ben is five months old today.  He weighs almost 16 lbs and is somewhere over 27 inches long.  He has learned the very important skill of rolling over all the way.  He has been rolling from his stomach to his back since he was 2 months old but a few days ago he finally mastered the more difficult roll from back to stomach.  He smiles all the time, and getting him to laugh is almost effortless.  He still adores his big brothers, and Robert and Alex are very sweet with Ben.  I have some really great boys.  Ben is learning how to give wet baby kisses and while it’s a bit gross, it’s the sweetest thing in the world.  He has such a beautiful little baby face and the craziest curly mop on his head.  I love having a baby around because there’s always something new to anticipate.  We still get to look forward to Ben learning how to sit up and crawl and eat solid foods and the list goes on and on.

Robert is thriving.  He eats almost all day long and I am finding out what mothers of boys mean when they talk about the children eating them out of house and home.  Just this morning for breakfast Robert had two bowls of cereal, a cereal bar, and a bowl of goldfish.  I don’t usually give him goldfish for breakfast but my gracious I hadn’t gotten to the grocery store yet and I didn’t have much else to feed him!  He is still as skinny as ever but with his evening routine of running circles around me in the kitchen and dining room, that comes as no surprise.  He is a bossy big brother.  Just last night Robert was watching a little tv show and he had been told that when it was over it’d be time to get ready for bed.  So as soon the show was over Robert approached Alex who was busy playing with his cars and said, “Come on, Alex, time to come to the couch and read the Bible.  Come on, Alex, let’s go.”  When Alex did not respond, Robert said, “Alex!  Alex, look at my eyes!  Look at my eyes, Alex!  It’s time to go to the couch!”  (The look at my eyes bit comes from us telling Robert to look us in the eyes when we are speaking to him. It’s always fun and humbling to discover what kind of things my children pick up from my words and actions.) Then Robert came to me in the kitchen and said, “Come on Mommy.  It’s time to sit on the couch and read the Bible and pray and then go to bed.”  I laughed and followed him to the couch.

Robert is also discovering how fun it can be to pee outside.  I think this is a phase (that perhaps lasts a life-time?) that all boys go through- a fascination of peeing outdoors and discovering new things to pee on and in.  Robert has so far confessed to peeing on the fence, on our firewood pile, in the wood chips that he and Alex play in, and inside the seat compartment of his green bike.  Ugh.

And now on to Alex.  Alex loves cars.  The first thing he does every single morning without fail is run into the living room and dump out his large basket filled with nothing but cars and starts arranging them and playing with them.  He never wants to come to the breakfast table to eat because he’s having so much fun with his cars.  Alex adores Robert and always has to be where Robert is.  If Robert is playing at the table, then Alex has to, too.  If Robert is playing with his bike, then Alex needs to play with a bike, too.  If Robert is on the swing set, then Alex has to be there, too.  You get the idea. It’s fun watching them play together.  Alex also feels the need to aggravate Robert.  He loves to steal a car from Robert and laughs and runs away with the car when Robert protests. It’s pretty funny but it can often become too rowdy, especially when Alex decides to throw the car and it hits Ben on the leg and leaves a nice little bruise.  While Alex is getting better and better with his words, he still has quite a bit of work to do.  He calls me “ommie” and Christopher “adda.”  He calls Robert “Bert” and is always very excited to see him.  Alex is finally warming up to Ben although he does still feel some jealousy there.  He really did hit Ben with a car yesterday and I could tell by the look on his face that not only did he realize how much trouble he was in but he also felt bad about hurting Ben.  Alex rubbed Ben’s head hoping to help him calm down.

Ben is three months old now.  He loves his big brothers.  Robert is very helpful and often plays with Ben and exclaims how much he loves Ben and  how cute Ben is and how he loves babies so much.  Ben smiles at Robert and laughs and usually seems comforted just by having Robert near.  It’s very sweet.  Ben is responding more and more to us.  If I smile at him, he smiles back at me.  He laughs and giggles when we play with him.  He’s such a good baby.  He can roll over from his stomach to his back and he can lift his head up very well.  He scoots from one end of his crib to the other and often is turned around in the opposite direction of how I laid him when I get him out of bed.  He’s growing up way too fast in my opinion.  I don’t want him to stay a baby forever but I do wish these stages could last a little bit longer.

We are enjoying our boys so much and we are so blessed to have them.  I never thought I’d be a mom of all boys but here I am and I love it.

From the French Reformed liturgy:

Do not fear, says the Lord, for I have redeemed you, I called you by your
name, you are mine. When the mountains shall depart, and the hills be
removed, says the Lord, my kindness shall not depart from you, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed. Little child, for you Jesus Christ came into the world, labored and suffered; for you, he went
through the agony of Gethsemane and the darkness of Calvary; for you,
he cried: « It is finished! »; for you, he died and for you he triumphed over
death; yes, for you, little child, the declaration holds true, We love God,
because he first loved us. Amen!

Our baby Alex is not a baby anymore. He turned two this past Friday. He was absolutely clueless as to what it meant to have a birthday but he sure did enjoy the large dump truck we bought him. And he knows how to hold up two fingers to show his age.

I always have such a difficult time writing about Alex. It’s not because of a lack of love for him.  I just can’t seem to find the words. We adore our Alex. He has such a chubby face that lights up frequently with his big adorable grin. He is happy and playful. He loves to read and play with his cars and trains. And thanks to Grandma Betsy he is crazy about buses.  Sometimes he throws his arms around my neck in a giant hug and just clings to me and it melts my heart.  He’s not a big kisser but he is very friendly and sweet and does give his hugs pretty freely.

Alex is such a smart little fellow.  He already knows the entire alphabet.  Not only can he say the letters but he can also recognize them all.  He can almost count to ten.  And his vocabulary is expanding rapidly.  We are so proud of him.

God has really blessed us with this little guy.  He has been a wonderful playmate for Robert and he was always such a good baby.  He is currently affected by the horrible “terrible twos” disease but he is still a very lovable boy and he brings so much joy to our lives daily.

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Alex’s birthday with lots and lots of family.  There were nine cousins running around (well, I guess seven really as two of those cousins are very small babies) and it was absolutely chaotic and wonderful.  I am so grateful that God has blessed us with this wonderful home that is big enough for all of us to fit in.  Alex enjoyed opening his presents and making a huge mess in his cake.  See what I mean?

Happy Birthday sweet Alexander.  We love you so very much.

From this

To this

Ben was born Tuesday, December 20th at 3:24 PM.  I was one day shy of being 40 weeks along.  That’s the longest I’ve ever been pregnant.  My entire third trimester was really tough for me.  My body was in nearly constant pain and I was so tired all the time.  On top of that we were trying to get our apartment packed up and get us moved and settled before Ben arrived.  By 38 weeks along, my doctor seemed to want to get Ben out as much as I did.  We tried a few little tricks that worked with my other two boys and my doctor felt confident that Ben would be born before the weekend was out.  I felt the same way.  But just in case, we scheduled an induction for Wednesday the 21st.  All they would do is break my water and my doctor believed that would be all it took.  I agreed as I knew I’d be 40 weeks along by then and I really wanted to be home with all of my boys on Christmas.  The day before my scheduled induction, Ben still had not arrived.  I was getting anxious about having to be at the hospital at 5:30 the next morning.  My doctor called at around 10:30 that morning asking if I wanted to be induced that day instead of the next.  Christopher and I agreed so we headed to the hospital.  The doctor broke my water at about 12:30 and immediately the contractions started coming.  I knew I was definitely in labor but it wasn’t bad yet and I figured I’d have lots of time so I sent Christopher to get some lunch.  Not 5 minutes after he left I was have to stop and breathe through the contractions and I called Christopher and told him to hurry.  He got back and we walked the hall for a bit and then watched a tv show.  The contractions kept picking up until I finally asked for an epi at around 3:00.  The nurse said that it was too late and 15 minutes later I was pushing.  Ben was born nice and calm.  He just laid on my chest looking around, taking everything in.  Of course he looked just like his brothers. We seem to be pretty consistent in that department.

I had joked around that since my labor with Robert was only 9.5 hours long and my labor with Alex was only 6.5 hours long that my labor with Ben would probably be 3.5 hours.  I never really believed that that would be true, but Ben was born after only 3 hours in labor.  We are so blessed to have our newest son here.  God has been good to our family.