Valentine's Day

Josie got her first bath Thursday night. Like most newborns she was not a fan of getting half her body warm and the top half cold. I should have filled the sink full but was afraid the kids would make me lose grip of her. The kids had a blast pouring cups of water on her. Everett decided the computer was more interesting than dousing a baby with water. Pouring cups of water is right up Evelyn's alley. After Amelia introduced Evelyn to tea parties a couple weeks ago the kid cannot get enough. All I have to do is follow the sound of running water to locate her. She has stationed a tea cup, saucer, tea pot, spoon, and a large cup at every sink in our house. I will not be surprised if our water bill doubles this month. She often leaves the faucet running. Our house also has random puddles of water/liquid from spills as she carries around her tea cups of water. I am glad she is staying well-hydrated.

Amelia is turning into my afternoon baby holder. She loves to sit and hold Josie as long as possible after school. She calls her Princess Bright Eyes. Amelia is convinced that Josie's favorite position is upright on her shoulder. I love it! The kids had a fun day off on Friday. We started the day with photos of all the kids together. Michelle Rognon came over to assist me. I used my new barn wood wall for the occasion. The kids did pretty well considering. I was lucky to capture Evelyn and Amelia sitting nicely and smiling while I got everything ready. Good thing my camera was ready. Right after the kids got dressed and we visited Justin's work. All his coworkers were pretty excited for the diversion we provided. Little Josie was quite the star. Phillip holed up in Justin's office. He made a couple phone calls (no kidding), listened to a voice mail or two, accounted on the 10-key, and made Justin a collage of windows on his door, since he needed more windows in his enclosed office. I think the kids used half a roll of calculator paper as they made long and complicated calculations. Everett was especially impressed with the 10-key. He made about 10 long receipts. Phillip made the longest receipt, his feat was tearing the strip of paper up on his head. Yah, know! Boys. Amelia made Justin a Valentine drawing on his office white board. We kept our yearly tradition of lunch at Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. It was very busy when we arrived, Everett about had a meltdown because he had nothing to drink. We got that settled before critical meltdown. The kids loved filling their plates on their own from the buffets. Everett ran out of sprite at one point. He tracked down the waitress, patiently waited his turn to talk to her. He grabbed both her hands and batted his brown eyes: "may I please have a refill of cold sprite?" What a ham. She brought him a sprite with a twinkle in her eyes. He may have made her day!

Sunday we enjoyed Valentine's day. While everyone else was at church I cleaned up a bit, spread out Valentine goodies, and put dinner in the crock pot. The kids exploded through the door at 1:10 ready for mac'n cheese. It took them a moment (or two) to discover their goodies. We got to FaceTime with several folks throughout the day. Justin brought home a bouquet of lovely yellow roses to brighten our day (on Saturday of course). Amelia even got a cute little rose bush from Justin. Our day was very low key, soaking in our family togetherness. Everett was my sweet Valentine boy all day. I loved all the kisses, hugs, and smiles throughout the day.

Monday was also a holiday for President's day. I can't rightly remember what we did. Justin may have picked up his snowblower and worked on the carburetor. By the end of the day everyone was over the top crabby. Everett lost all electronic privileges, Amelia was in time out for screaming at everyone like a banshee and hitting and such, Phillip was busy pestering and ignoring the parental figures, Evelyn was running around naked with her cups of water, Josie was unsettled with all the loud noise. We had to put everyone out of misery with an early bedtime. Even FHE was a terrible mess. Someone is always out of sorts, usually Everett because he is not in charge of the game or Amelia because no one listens to her. Justin went to bed at 9 wondering how I could stay home all the time and not go crazy. I wonder that myself.

Everett was a perfect angel the next day with his electronic privileges revoked. He needs that more often. I am finally feeling human enough to deal with the loss of such a privilege. Jane McNally is picking up Everett from school for the next 2 weeks. Such a blessing to have my kids brought home to me. Josie and I are struggling to find a schedule that works with the demands of a larger family. I've never had a newborn that sleeps as much or eats as long as Josie. Her current schedule is nursing at 7:45, noon, 4:00, 8:00, midnight, and 5 am. I worry she is not getting enough since I usually nurse on a 3 hour schedule. this 4 hour stretch is new to me. She eats is awake for up to an hour, naps for 3 hours, then eats (burps, spits up, does her business, eats again, burps, spits up, and nurses). She is very content when she is full and free of burps. I am trying more of a baby-led nursing regime this time instead of the strict 2.5-3 hour schedule, she won't wake up before 3.5 hours anyhow.

Evelyn likes to eat her lunch in the antique high chair while I nurse Josie. She can get in, plop down her plate, eat and get out all by herself. I enjoy interacting with her while she eats! That girl is silly and funny. We are down to less than an hour of electronics each day, it is so nice to see her playing instead of nose pointed down to my old iPhone.

I made a large batch of play dough last Sunday. The kids play with it off and on as their fancy directs. Evelyn and Everett played with it for an hour on Friday. Everett slept in until 10:00 am, ate breakfast then played with dough until lunch time. The kids were delighted to use my rolling pin, cookie cutters, butter knives, and tooth picks to make shapes. Saturday the older three played Alien Mouse with the play dough. Amelia made a nest and each kid made their own mouse. Hearing them play just delighted my sense of humor. Justin took the kids to Walmart and Cabela's Saturday afternoon to get them out of the house. The kids spent their money on a bag each of candy and a blind bag. Blind bags are sort of like mystery toys in a mylar bag, Amelia got 2  Princess Pet bags and scored a peacock and deer, Phillip chose a TMNT bag and won a Mikey figure, Everett got a minions bag. They happily played with their new toys the rest of the day. Josie celebrated her 2 weeks old mark. Slow down already.