a countdown, "don't cut his feet!" and where's the hamburger

The countdown began about a month ago. The dreaded countdown. I vow never to tell the kids...especially a 4 year old that his Nana is coming in 35 days. That's 35 days of "Is Nana coming today?" It's just too much. I tired of the constant questions of when Nana was coming very early on in this countdown. Finn, on the other hand, just doesn't understand how long a day is or how many days there are in a week and so on. My mom had a great idea of making a chain out of paper where each link represents a day. When I threw away the first few days of the chain, Finn got upset that I was throwing "Nana's chain" away. So, we made a second one so that when all the links from the first chain were gone and on the second chain Nana would be here. It's confusing to me even as I type it, but that's what I told my 4 year old hoping against all odds that he would get it. He didn't, and still doesn't get it, so it has turned into a gift for Nana that we will give to her when she gets here in 1 day, 13 hours and 16 minutes. It's to remind her of the constant, incessant questions that I endured for the 35 straight days before she arrived!

Clubfoot in our family...if you're a child in our family and don't have it, you are the minority. You wouldn't think it's a big deal for clothes, but it really is when it comes to casting while they are really young and then older when they wear their braces at night. It's cold here! It's Minnesota! It's January! I only put the boys in footie sleepers in the middle of winter here in case there is a draft. Finn loves the feet on his sleepers, but it doesn't work AT ALL with the Ponseti braces that Piper and Oliver wear every night. So, I've begun looking on our local FaceBook garage sales for anyone selling second-hand footie sleepers for cheap. I've found some great deals and have ended up buying 6 pairs for $10 off of FaceBook. I settled in one nap time with the 'new' sleepers and a pair of scissors to cut the feet off for Piper and Oliver. Finn woke up early and walked in just as I was about to cut. He got a horrified look on his face and told me "don't cut his feet!". I thought it was apparent that Piper wasn't actually wearing the sleeper at the time, but I did tell him, "Piper isn't wearing them now". I then explained exactly why I was cutting the feet off the footie pajamas. He still doesn't understand why he is the only one that doesn't get to wear braces at night...maybe that's a good thing for Piper and Oliver to share together.

We had a potluck dinner at our church last night. It was an official meeting to affirm the new nominees to become elders (of which Matthew was one) and also to welcome new members. Hamburger hot dish (I have to MAKE myself not call it a casserole) is among one of the favorites up here and so I decided to make it. I set the frozen hamburger, frozen vegetables and frozen tater tots out to thaw. About an hour later I went to check on each ingredient to see how they were thawing. the hamburger was missing. I tried to think of all of the places Piper had been in the last hour as I was sure, without a doubt, that he had taken it. I asked him, "where is the hamburger?". He didn't even know what I was talking about, so I showed him the place on the table that it had been sitting. He stared at me blankly. I thought, how crazy is this? I've lost frozen hamburger! I started looking. I looked under the couches, I looked in the kitchen cabinets, I looked in the toilet! (what 2 year old doesn't love the toilet!) Thankfully, it was not in the toilet, but it wasn't in any of the other places either. I spent a good 20 minutes looking all over the house for some half-thawed hamburger before I thought to open the freezer door. There, sitting exactly where I had pulled it out over an hour ago, was my re-frozen hamburger. I defrosted it, baked it and got some compliments on this very Northern 'hotdish'. They'll never know that, at one point, I thought their hamburger was in the toilet!

the 'l' word

I've posted about the 'L' word (AKA laundry) before. I've abhorred doing laundry for years and my hate of laundry hasn't diminished. I just have an organized hate of it now as I try to do at least one load per day. Finn and Piper, on the other hand, absolutely love doing the laundry. So, I have a good plan...and it's working. The boys will help collect the dirty clothes/sheets and put them down the laundry chute. Then, whenever I go downstairs to wash clothes, one of the boys will go down with me and help do the laundry. Finn now knows how to measure and pour the detergent into the washing machine and he's learning how to separate the clothes (I don't totally trust him in this area as last week he did a load of whites and I found a little red sock in there. Thankfully, I hadn't added bleach!). Piper mostly likes to put the clothes into the washer and then push the clothes into the dryer. He thinks it's a treat when he gets to push the button for the dryer to start. As I take the basket of laundry upstairs, they get a piggyback ride up. They both like to help fold. Finn has gotten really good at folding laundry and is meticulous in stacking them. Piper likes to 'fold' but it's the same as wadding up toilet paper to throw away. He doesn't quite have the patience, but I can tell that he'll be interested in actually folding them in the near future. Both were helping me fold laundry earlier and Finn said, "I wuv hewping you do the cwoze!". I asked Piper if he liked helping do the clothes and in his most Northern accent (there's no hope for a Southerner in that boy), he said, "Ya!!!"

The countdown has begun for when I don't have to do anymore of the 'L' word!

Piper and Oliver checkups - december 29

Piper and Oliver had well-child/baby checkups on December 29. Piper is doing very well. Dr. Bell was so good to involve Piper in his checkup and let him play with her otoscope. She asked him where his mouth was and then looked in his mouth which made it more fun for him. She then asked him where his ears, eyes, etc were. He loved when she asked where his belly button was. He'll show that to ANYONE. But, he expected her to tickle it and, of course, she didn't know that. Ha! I don't have the stats for their visits, but I'll get them from the nurse and enter them later. We are keeping an eye on his speech--informally--as I know he's doing just fine. He learns new words every day and attempts to say new words on his own. Finn is so good to help him sound words out too. Unfortunately, Finn still can't say his L's, so Piper doesn't say L's either.

Oliver is doing well and growing like crazy. He's cooing like he should and sitting pretty well. He doesn't like tummy time so he doesn't get up onto his knees yet, but that turned out to be okay. He only loves his belly when he's sleeping. Oliver got 3 shots and Finn insisted on staying. Finn has been very interested in injections since he had to get one at his 4-year checkup and then again when he had his most recent CT scan in October on his neck. So, at the foot of the exam table he stood so he could watch Oliver get his shots. The first shot, both Oliver and Finn did okay. The second one is where they started to fall apart. Oliver started crying and Finn had his hands up by his mouth and they were shaking. I talked to Finn about the shots and he decided just to stand by the exam room door (more like he was standing in the corner) and not watch. They were both fine a minute after the injections. Lisa, our nurse, thought it was sweet that Finn wanted to stay with Oliver. Lisa then offered Finn a sticker and he asked for 3. For a split second I thought about telling him to just take 1, but I knew why he wanted 3. Lisa brought Finn back into the exam room and told me that he had gotten a sticker for Oliver, a sticker for Piper and a sticker for himself. I think she really loves Finn. =) By this time, Oliver, who was 30 minutes late for his morning nap was asleep in his car seat, barely sucking on his thumb and snuggling with his blanket. 

super happy ollie - december 20 and 21

People at church ask me all the time where my baby is and if we really have a 6 month old. They've never seen him! We get to church at about 9 and he goes to sleep in their crib at about 9:15. He doesn't wake up until 12:15 when it's time for me to feed him and then leave. He sleeps so well (except during his afternoon nap when he rolls to his back and can't get back over). Since he was 2 months old he's been sleeping through the night. If I hear anyone fussing in the night, I'm 99% sure it's NOT Oliver. I have to wake him up at 8 in the morning (not sure how long he would sleep) and when I wake him up, he's just ready to get up and smiles that whole-body smile that babies have. I wake him up after his morning nap at about 11:30 and, again, he acts like he was just about to get up anyways and smiles. Afternoon naps have been different the last couple of months with him rolling, but once he gets into a deep sleep he will usually be okay. By the way, he's been rolling from his front to his back for 2 months and I've only seen it once because I sneaked into his room to watch him. Matthew has never seen him roll. 

It is not unusual for Oliver to just be smiling for no reason. I left the vacuum cleaner out one day next to his jumperoo and he talked and smiled at it for 30 minutes. It was hilarious!

December 21 was the first day that I felt okay about sitting him up with a blanket around him so that he could play. He was steady without help for a few minutes and loved sitting up. Of course, he smiled the whole time. 

piper turns 2!

To keep from having Piper's party run right into the Christmas busyness, we had it the weekend before his birthday. On December 17, Bob and Darlene, Steve and Melissa and their kids, Allie, Anna, Meg, Grady and Kate; and Kristen and Monty came to celebrate with us. It was a full and fun house and Piper had a great time. We had his favorite foods--pizza, green peppers, carrots and peaches. I know it's a weird combination, but he loves them all. Ha! Matthew spent the whole afternoon making a tractor cake for Piper. He and Finley were so excited about the cake!

Here's our 2 year old!

 Darlene (half of her), Oliver, Melissa, Grady and Anna. 

Anna, Meg, Finley, Piper, Allie

Singing Happy Birthday. We had practiced all day blowing out the candles after we sing the song. Unfortunately, he couldn't wait and blew it out in the middle of the song. 

Eating his John Deere tractor cake. 

 Opening his gifts. 

Anna (far left), Allie (middle) and Meg (far, far left in the pink toed socks) made a pillow for Piper. How special!

More gifts...

On the morning of his birthday, he opened the gifts from Nana, Papa and us. He got his own nursery rhymes book and a Doug and Melissa car transporter from Nana and Papa; a car from Finley (he used his own money and was so excited to give Piper a gift!); and a John Deere tractor from Mommy and Daddy. 

Happy birthday, Piper! We love you!

in love with a hat - december 17

Is it possible to love a hat? Just ask Piper. He wore this hat around the house all day on December 17. He would walk up to everyone and make sure that they noticed his new hat and as soon as you saw it, you had to have some kind of surprised reaction. Then, he would beam in pride and run away. I do like the hat, but I absolutely love that cute face!

"us handsome guys" - december 14

Finley and Piper got new clothes/pajamas and were wearing them when Finley said, "Let's take a picture of us handsome guys and send it to Nana". How do you say no to that? So they both sat down and said, "Cheese". What handsome guys!