6 Miles

Like most of the country we have been dealing with the hot, humid weather for a long time (we set a record for the driest July ever and 2nd hottest, or was it the other way around? Who-hoo?). Tuesday was the hottest day of the week–and then we’ve had a ‘cool down’ where its only going to be in the high-80s instead of mid-to-high 90s.  Just an aside– we were ONE day away from tying a record for the longest stretch of 90+ days, set in 1936. If we hit 90 today, Thursday, we’d tie it…and we’re only supposed to get to 88. DOH! So close! We might as well get a record out of it, right? Oh well, we enjoyed the cooler day today at the park along with everyone else it seemed, it was crazy busy. I was too busy chasing over Marcus to get pictures, so you’ll have to look at pictures of what we did Tuesday to stay cool. (And when Marcus was contained by a fence! )  Edited to add: We did it! We hit 91 today and tied the record! Who-hoo! Let the cooling begin now.

So this is how we stayed cool today! Marcus enjoyed playing with the hose.

The older boys had to be watched to make sure they didn’t splash him in the face or just take it from him–they had their turn at the same age to play with the hose, I wanted to make sure HE had a chance!

The older boys also played with him and the pool.  David stayed inside with me, in the A/C. As you can see, he’s discovered his hands and loves to chew on his fingers. He’s not sucking his thumb…yet. Could I possibly have ONE child who doesn’t suck his thumb?!?

Even with the water fun, I wanted to get us out of the house. This is our last week before school starts (yes, we start next week–BUT the kids have half of December off and will be out May 24th if we don’t have too many snow days. I’d rather they go back now when we’re all hot and tired of this, and we’re out in May when the weather is nice.)  So I’ve been trying to get things that I had planned for break that we never got to.  Last fall we got a deal on a group membership to the Indiana State Museum. We got it so we could use it to get in other museums (like the ones in Chicago) for free.  So we’ve had it for almost 8 months and we’ve never gone to the museum it is actually for. (I had planned to take the kids during Christmas break but we were all sick then).  So we finally used it today. It went about how I expected, its an interesting place for the kids for about an hour or so and then they were done. We lasted almost 2 hours there with a snack outside but then Marcus was DONE.  The older two might have lasted a bit longer (they would have loved to explore more outside along the canal…but Marcus wouldn’t want to stay in the stroller and letting him run along side an open body of water is just not wise right now).  It got us out of the house, the boys learned a bit, and we were in the A/C.

And a picture of all four! I figure 3 out of 4 looking at the camera is the best its going to get right now. Marcus was excited to be OUT of the stroller and had gone up theses stairs and was enjoying going back down–I had the older two sit a few steps lower then him and got the picture as he came down. Right after this he was down to the next step. And yes, David does look like he’s eyeing Will’s cracker. Poor kid, you’d think we were starving him or something! (And another random aside, I was looking at pictures of when David was born and remembering how he had SO much hair and Marcus had not too much–now Marcus has that thick head of blond hair that needs to be trimmed but I love how thick and straight it is, and David has so little hair. Just funny how that worked out.)

Poor 4th child, he doesn’t get his picture taken as often!  I decided to do an afternoon photo shoot the other day. (Sorry the lighting wasn’t the best but you can still enjoy the smiles).

David doesn’t get much time on the floor (due to Marcus trying to show his love, though he is getting better at being a bit more gentle!), but you can see he’s working on trying to roll from his back to his belly.

And he’s very much loved by all his brothers–Will and Alex are just better at showing it! (This is after I realized I needed to move to get better lightening, but I didn’t get any adorable smiles like I did in that top picture.)

Marcus saw me cleaning up some spit up and decided to do the same.

This made me laugh! I don’t think he’s growling at Marcus, but it sure looks like it! Whats also funny is if you ask Marcus what any animal says, he growls like a lion. Now David is starting to make a growling sound.

The next day Marcus was enjoying strawberries, and he kept showing them to David. I’m not sure if he was trying to share or just show him “Look what I have!”  As you can see, David looked a little sad he didn’t get to join in the snack. I sense we’re going to need to start giving him “big boy” food soon so he can feel a part of the action.

Last week we spent our annual visit at the family farm in Pennsylvania. We drove out last Saturday and it wasn’t as bad as I feared–Marcus did pretty well and David only had 2 crying fits (Marcus had one during the same time as David. Yea for crying in stereo.)  We also stopped a great deal, so it took us almost 14 hours to get there.  Some how we’ve managed to visit the during the hottest week of the year both last year AND this year.  But we prevailed! We had fun! We got reacquainted with farm animals (ok, the chickens).  The cousins had great fun playing together. (More pictures can be seen here).

We went to the beach on Tuesday. The water was colder then last year but the waves were bigger. And it went much better then I thought it would. Marcus didn’t wander as much as I thought he would and David managed to sleep for FOUR of the five hours we were on the beach in a cool tent thing a friend gave us. (It sat off the ground so no sand got in and had a solid + mesh top that zipped up so he was in the shade but had fresh air and it was PERFECT!)  Sadly it rained that afternoon (but the rain held off until after we were able to pack EVERY thing up and get changed and get to a restaurant for supper, then it POURED).

We spent the rest of the week hanging out together and trying to stay cool. Friday night we went to a local minor league baseball game. James’ Dad belongs to a singing group that sang the National Anthem.

It was a rather warm night.

(That was at 7 pm when we got there. It was down to 96 by the time we left at 10.) And super muggy. But Alex said it was his favorite part of the trip–so obviously a fun time for him.  It was so hot and muggy I really planned on the boys showering as soon as we got back to the grandparent’s house.  Alex fell asleep on the way home. We woke him in and he was following along side Will, and we stopped once we got in to talk to Grandma Lo about the game (since she stayed behind and watched some of the younger kids who’d not like the game, like Marcus). We then realized Alex just laid down on the living room and went back to sleep.  Guess he was a tad bit tired. Everyone ended up sleeping in the next day–ending any thoughts of leaving at 8. We finally left at 9 and it was a long drive home. There were many more crying fits. Needless to say we were all VERY thankful to be home!

Today we went to the doctor for the younger boys Well Baby Check-Ups. (Marcus was there for his 18 month and David for his 4 month).  As soon as we got there I realized Marcus was stinky. I went to get the diaper bag and realized as I looked that all the diapers were David’s size…and the wipes were in the van. Doh. As I took him to the bathroom to do the best I could with wet paper towels and a too small sized diaper I had a weird feeling of Deja Vu. I realized that the same thing happened LAST time I took the two boys to the Doctor for their check-ups! Shesh! You would think by now I’d know!

Aside from that, things look and went great. Both boys are growing well. Marcus has shot up 2 inches and gained 3 pounds in the last three months, up to the 75% in height.  David is up to 16 pounds and remains in the 70% for weight.  Both boys are developing well and look great, the older two boys behaved well while the other two were being examined. And we get to go back on Friday to let the older two have their turn.

Whew, what a week!  I kind of ‘stalled’ on updating, I was waiting to get the pictures from last weekend.  I grabbed Dad’s camera and took pictures of Heidi and the boys on it and then he took pictures of our fun.  Today I was able to get the pictures downloaded off his camera and was able to do some updating (you can see those below). But there were other things that happened that weren’t photographed, and I finally have time to sit down and update.

Last Saturday we had two couples from our church over for a cookout.  One couple has 3 kids the same ages of our older 3 (2 boys and a girl two months older then Marcus).  It was fun to let the kids run around in the back yard while we all were able to talk. The other couple has a baby a few months older then David. She is quite a cutie–not that I’m trying to match them up or anything!  Last summer I kind of gave up having people over. It rained the first few times we tried and I was discouraged at the size of our indoors. I was convicted over that attitude and we’ve hosted quite a bit in the last few weeks, when we’ve been able to go outside and take advantage of that added space.  Its been a great time.

Sunday we went to our small group meeting that happens twice a month. The boys continue to love going to play with their friends in the group. We love going as well, I really appreciate what great friendships we’ve developed in the last two years that we’ve been in this group.

Monday was the 4th and we had fun hosting Mom, Dad and Heidi. The 4th of July has kind of become the holiday we get to host, instead of going places (I say kind of because we’ve only done it twice, last year we went out to PA).  I rather enjoy that, I love being with family for holidays but its also nice to have ONE that people come to you!

Tuesday was catch up day. We caught up on laundry and the younger boys tried to catch up on naps.  Wednesday was our first Summer Ladies Bible Study. We meet each week in July and after taking a semester off, it was nice to be back. Its going to be wonderful to get back into that routine this fall!  Thursday was a play at home day and Friday we got to get ready to host Grandma & Grandpa Miles! AND we were getting to go visit a friend’s family lake house! Our small group was all meeting there on Saturday.  So Friday was a frenzy of cooking/baking food to bring PLUS cleaning so we’d come back to a clean house. Of course, in that craziness, Marcus managed to burn his hand. It was totally my fault, I was rushing to get bread in the oven because David was crying to eat and I wasn’t careful and he reached up to grab a hot oven rack I was taking out (why I didn’t just move it down to the bottom of the oven I don’t know. I just was rushing and not thinking, the bread didn’t fit, so I was just going to put the rack in the garage, something I often do when I’m doing baking that doesn’t fit in the oven).  He burned his right hand just between his thumb and pointer finger, in that soft, fleshy area. Poor baby. It was a bad hour or so as he cried and we waited for the pain killers to kick in. He hated me running it under cold water (though that did lessen the crying some) and any other attempts to help him were met with more screaming. Finally he fell asleep and when he woke up you’d have never have known it had happened (until today when he broke the blister, but that’s another issue).  James came home early to help me out and we were able to get out the door a bit earlier then we thought possible if James had worked until his usual time.

We got to the lake house and got to do a boat ride around the lake (the two pictures above are from that–I thought the two younger boys were adorable in their life vests!). Then it was time to get the little ones to bed, then the older ones and we adults enjoyed time to talk. The kids get up early (the older boys all shared one room so it just took one to wake up early for all to be up, but we expected it and I think that’s why we were the only ones who spent the night!), so we were all up early to have fun the next day. Will and Alex were excited go to go on a row boat ride before James and I were even up! Later that morning James and the older boys went tubing on the speed boat,  more friends from the small group showed up, we went on another boat ride to a beach/play ground area and had lots of time for swimming/jumping in the lake.

(On the left is Will jumping, on the right Alex is the one in the air.)

Two more couples and their kids came by lunch time and we enjoyed feasting together.

Here are just a few of the kids. We have 17 kids in our group between the 6 families. Only 15 were at the lake house.  It was a nice time, even thought it resulted in some crazy moments to get ready to go.  We’re so thankful for our friends who want to share the lake house with us. I know its lots of work for them to host us there. It was a fun time for all of us.  The boys were quite sad when it was time to go, but we knew we had to get home to meet Grandpa and Grandma Miles. We were racing to beat them back, but they won.  They were enjoying sitting in the shade on the back deck when we got home.  We had a nice time catching up with them and today we celebrated David and had him dedicated at church.   Sadly they had to leave this afternoon to move on to IL.  But it was great to spend time with them and my parents today.

Now, as I look ahead to the week, it some ways, thankfully it is much less crazy. Will is going to Cub Scouts Day Camp…so I’ll be looking for ways to keep Alex entertained. (That’s why its not totally less crazy.)  Alex has gotten quite used to playing with his brother and is going to miss him. But I think it’ll be good for the boys to have a break from each other as well.  It’ll be interesting!

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12  Enable David to live a life worthy of his call, giving him the power to accomplish all the good things his faith prompts him to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way he live, and he will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Aunt Heidi came for a visit for July 4th! We had a fun cookout and time with her and Grandpa & Grandma Harbin. Then she had to head back home and the rest of us went to our town’s festival.

We walked there. It was hot. (Wow, that sounds like something Will would have written! Maybe he did!  I didn’t want to complain about it. So I kept it simple, it was very warm. I didn’t really want to go, this was something I did for my kids because they LOVE going. Sadly the games they loved to play most–putt-putt and the water balloon launchers–were no longer there. And the games that were there were WAY more expensive then they used to be. Not a good change, Boo CarmelFest planners!)

The boys saw this game and really, really wanted to play it (it lessened the disappointment of not getting to do the usual ones) ! They got to drive mini racecars…

…on this track.  Will’s car ran out of battery right at the start of his turn, so he got to go again. He switched cars and THAT one ran out of juice. Finally, the third time, he was able to go.  When each boy actually was able to race they did a great job and had fun.   After that we had to get some ice cream to cool off. We walked around and looked at the free stuff, had some corn dogs, and headed back because Marcus was tired of sitting in the stroller.  We were thankful to be home to get more water and be in the A/C!  Mom and Dad left a bit later and once it got close to 9, James and the older boys left to see the fireworks.  I stayed home with the sleeping younger boys. I discovered I was able to see about half of the firework show out our front window, just the lower ones were blocked by the trees.  A nice celebration for a great holiday.

David turned 4 months old on the 4th of July! So we had fireworks in honor of him! Oh wait, that’s not what those were for?  :)

He continues to be (or is even MORE) a JOY! Look at that smile! I can’t stay in a grumpy mood with him smiling at me!!!  You just have to look at the cutie (while he’s awake, of course) and he’ll give you the biggest grin and just start talking away. The ladies in the nursery at church have confirmed that he’s a talker. (Sometimes I just wonder “Do I just not remember the others doing this as much, or is this a bit different?”  It was nice to have them say “We’ve NEVER had such a talker!”)

Not that he’s always smiling–we still get some hilarious faces, like this grumpy one.  Really he was just working on chewing his tongue.  (But I call these looks his Grumpy Old Man looks.  When we had the cookout the high school students found it so funny how he could go from grumpy old man to cute happy baby so quickly.)

Sadly, most of his thick dark hair has fallen out.  Now he looks more like his brothers! I’m still hoping it’ll grow back thick and curly, like Alex’s.  (And I won’t let James shave it so he gets used to it curly and won’t make us keep it short so it’ll be ‘straight’ like Alex does. I miss his curls.)

David continues to be a patient little guy. He’ll put up with delays and getting dragged to activities but when he reaches his breaking point–watch out! He’s quick to let us know he’s had ENOUGH! He doesn’t mind others holding him and he’ll grin at anyone (so far).  :)  As you can see in the first two pictures he’s pushing up well. He can roll from the belly to his back (he first started doing that during the week of VBS and woke me up two different nights that week when he got stuck on his back).  The next week he was back to wanting to be up with us  all evening and wanting to be held.  Thankfully he’s now back to doing a better job going to bed and staying asleep. Usually when I put him down he goes right to sleep. Morning naps have become shorter (thanks to VBS and all the morning activities we have going on) and then he’ll get a good long nap in during the afternoon, and a 3rd nap later in the day. (Rough life, huh?)

We don’t go to the Doctor until the end of the month so no update on weight/height yet, but he still seems smaller to me then his brothers. Which is fine! I end up carrying him in a front-carrier more then I did with the others and he’s heavy enough, he can stay small longer! He’s obviously thriving, eating well and growing, he doesn’t need to pack on the pounds like the others did.  We’re very thankful he’s with us and adjusting well to the family life. His laid back attitude has made the adjustment from 3 kids to 4 not bad at all (really, he’s easy at this point, its Marcus that gives me the issues! But that’s another post–this is all about David!). We’re very thankful for the little guy, he’s been a blessed addition.

James let Marcus hold David one day and since then he’s wanted to try other times as well. So I let him try when I had the camera out. You can tell Marcus enjoyed it more then David did.

I’ve been wanting to have the boys paint some larger rocks and then use them as name plates for flowers or herbs in the gardens for, um…a long time now. (Seriously, like several years.)  This year as herbs starting coming up for the second year and I wasn’t totally sure what I had, I decided I REALLY wanted/needed to do this. And today was the perfect time to do so!  It was a mild, dry day and Marcus went down for an early nap–so I grabbed the paints out of his room and had the boys gather up rocks and start washing them off.

Once they were dry, the painting could begin.

I enjoyed getting to paint with the boys.

And here they are! I just need to paint the names of various herbs/crops on them.