A Few Things

Augustine drew up some blueprints of a house he decided to build out of boxes. He confidently found five big boxes at the grocery store and brought them home for the project. Some of the detail on his blueprints are the best I've seen him draw so far...the Windows, dining room table, and door. 

Lewis thinks it's funny to put any pair of shoes on except his own when I ask him to put on shoes. 

I don't usually let him sit like this on the back of the couch, but he was very serious about studying whatever truck was outside that morning. 

They love taking the car in for repair because they get to play trains. It's a dirty, discussing table with only 4 train cars. I take a full bottle of sanitizer. 

Fr. Kishore from India is at our parish for a year and he is the sweetest priest. Everyone loves him. He often walks the 'hood and stops to chat or play with the kids.

No cavities! But he was upset because his train conductor badge he picked from the (super crappy quality) prize shelf broke when we got in the car. Shocking. 

No cavities! He was just irritated that I wanted a photo. His "wowie wormie" (big worm) is his new favorite. 

Happy Easter!

After doing absolutely nothing for Lent with the boys this year (way too pregnant to care about activities, sorry) I did a little bit for Easter.

We had breakfast together Easter morning. Each boy had some little treats in their basket. 

Banana bread is a favorite in our house so I made that, and the boys dyed hard boiled eggs on Holy Saturday, which we all actually eat, so they went fast. 

Augustine slept in on Easter morning, so Lewis and I made resurrection rolls while Daddy told the Easter story. 

We uncovered our religious art and crucifix. It's tradition to cover art, statues, crucifixes, etc during Holy Week to keep our focus on the Lord's Passion. You will see this done in Catholic Churches. The Stations of the Cross are not covered because, obviously, they help us focus on the Passion. 

We then went to Mass, ate lunch and took naps. The rest of the day was spent celebrating with my family. Grandma Kathleen was going to join us too, but wasn't feeling well...we missed her! Lewis helped prepare the twice baked potatoes. My mom made a delicious dinner. 

Cousin Kolya played fire fighters and he was awesome at it! The kids were so happy playing with him...as usual. It was a lot of action so this was my best photo. 

We also played Easter Jeopardy and the kids were super into it! They knew the Easter story well, so they got almost all of the questions answered correctly. Forgot to get a photo. :(

On Easter Monday we made stain glass window crosses at home. Augustine made his all blue. He made two of them. 

Lewis decided the tissue paper needed more cutting, so he made a huge mess shredding it, and then made a stain glass window. 

Happy Easter!

Together, a lot

My photos have been Lewis-heavy lately, but he's still home with me all. the. time. and he's at that funny age where he just doesn't stop. 

He made me a LOT of "luddul pizzas" when we made fresh playdoh. They are on a pan to be put in the oven. He informed me they cook for five. 

I did this fine motor activity with Augustine when he was three and got the same reaction. They both filled the skewer with Cheerios one time and then couldn't have cared less to do it again. 

Again with the scarf stuffed in his shirt because he has a "baby in me tummy". This time "me baby pop out, need milky" so he sat down to nurse his "baby". 

Holy Thursday Pilgrimage

Logan started a fun Holy Thursday tradition with Augustine two years ago. This year Lewis was old enough to be included!

In the evening on Holy Thursday Logan picks seven* churches around town. He and the boys write down an intention to pray for at each church. Then they drive to each church, visit the reposed altar, and pray for the intention they chose. We call it the Holy Thursday Pilgrimage.

It's a fun way to teach the boys about the Triduum, pray together, and enjoy a family tradition. 

Logan very cleverly made each boy a check list. They wrote down their intention for each church stop, and could check the box once their stop was complete. 

Both boys chose people to pray for. Logan had a sheet too, but we didn't take a photo because the new baby's name was on it. ;)

To make it work, I nap both the boys in the afternoon so they can stay up about two hours later than usual. They are usually gone about 1 1/2 hours on the pilgrimage. The boys LOVE it!

*Going to seven churches is a Catholic tradition dating back to the 1300s. 

Making Plans

Lynn: What should we do tonight?

Logan: I don't know. 

Lynn: I'll go play canasta with my mom. 

Logan: Lewis, do you want to go somewhere with me?

Lewis: Daddy. Take me Lulu's house. Me play. You home. Me done playing, you pick me up. 

Lynn: Lulu can't play tonight. 

Lewis: Um....Elsie house?

Lynn: No. She's in Arizona. 

Lewis: Um...Mimi house?

Lynn: Lisa lives too far away. 

Lewis: Me go Daddy. 

Big & Middle

I think this photo ^^^ is my best brother photo since this one...

Baby in me tummy

Guess who had a baby in his tummy all morning? Actually, he had about three by nap time. He kept telling Augustine and I "Me baby pop out!" and then we had to do all the things to take care of his old lady scarf, er, I mean baby. 

Meeting Maylee

We were perpetually sick for weeks when Maylee (NOT two syllables, all one word like "Bailey") was born so the boys finally got to meet her this week! It was a spontaneous play date...which are the best kind. Lewis likes babies, but Augustine is just head-over-heals for them. He will sit as long as the adults will let him with a baby in his arms. I was the same way as a kid. 

Two More Weeks

Thanks to Logan I have a handful of photos while pregnant with #3. This one is decent. 

The Right Balance

I'm currently, well, still working on how to organize toys. I absolutely love toys and watching my kids delight in them, but I also can't stand toys unless they are open ended and span many ages. 

My newest phase of this never-ending organizational task is creating a toy library. It's basically an effort to rotate toys and not have too many choices out at once. The boys can check something out of the toy library by checking a toy that's already out back in. Make sense? Then we don't have a million toys out, and some toys aren't seen for longer periods of time and become exciting again. 

I've been reading lots of organizational, simplifying, children's play kind of books the past few months, as well as observing my boy's play patterns, and finally it all seems to be coming together as I read Simplicity Parenting. 

A few examples: I grouped the kitchen, babies, and laundry toys all in one area creating a "house" and poof! It's all being played with again. 

I put the Duplos away for a while and now this week poof! They have been building daily. 

We did a little Easter art...which really has nothing to do with toys...but Lewis likes art and we don't do it very often because my energy is too low at 37.5 weeks pregnant. 

I also think the warmer days help. We are in the house less so we aren't constantly trying to think of something we haven't already done ten times over. 

Worms

Logan is great at getting books for the boys from the library. I'm sure I've mentioned this before. His latest win is a strange worms book. Lewis LOVES worms. His favorite one in the book is the Giant Austrailian earthworm. 

He was tickled pink when we made one out of play dough. 

He wanted to hold it just like the guy in the book. 

Laughing

One of my favorite things that happens right now is Lewis will say something in his unique language-is-finally-developing way, and then Augustine and I look at each other and crack up. Of course, Lewis loves the attention so he starts laughing too.

Here's a good one from today:

Augustine gives most of his art/projects away to people or the recycling bin. He has no attachment to any of it whatsoever. He gave Lewis a leprechaun hat (see previous post on Lewis Happenings), and Lewis gave it to Beth. 

But Beth didn't understand she'd been given the hat, so when he found it still at our house he was annoyed.

"Uh! Beth no take me hat?!"

Our friend Ashley was over today and Lewis gave her the hat, but as before, she didn't understand he was giving it to her. Upon finding it yet again in our house he said,

"Uh! People come me house, eat me food, hat...no!"

Augustine and I busted a gut! The rough translation for those of you who don't speak Lewis is: These people come to my house, eat my food, and don't accept my gift!

Augustine Happenings

Augustine likes going to the (new) baby doctor with me, so he went this week for our ultrasound. He loves seeing the baby and asking questions and telling all the nurses all the things. He especially likes that my doctor gives him a sucker at the end of the appointment if he asks politely. She is a good grandma and it definitely shows when she interacts with Augustine. 

Nicholas spent the night at Grandma's, and Grandma invited Augustine to spend the night too because Nicholas and Augustine play pretty well together right now. They had lots of fun saying Mass and fire fighting together. 

Aunt Beth spontaneously spend the night with us this weekend and, as always, we had a good time together. We didn't do anything special...she just came to be with us, which is my favorite way. 

Lewis Happenings

Lewis has been very busy filling his socks with things. I don't know why. 

He filled his sock with small Legos one day, twisted the top and started squirting things very carefully. I finally asked what he was doing. He said, "Fosting" (frosting). 

Lewis will start preschool in the fall. He is happy about getting to go just like A! Our favorite preschool that Augustine attended is closing its doors which is very sad, but we found another great program that I'm very excited about. I was a practicum student at this preschool (ahem...15 years ago) and in all the best ways it has remained the same. Lewis has visited twice now and is very comfortable there. I think he will have a great year!

By far, his favorite part about school is being able to reach the soap. He washed his hands three times at the open house. 

Augustine isn't very attached to anything he makes at school. He usually brings his projects home and has someone specific in mind to gift them to. Beth recently received a pair of lamb ears, and Lewis received a leprechaun hat. Both were quite pleased. 

So Close!

Baby Boy #3 is three-ish weeks away from his due date! I'm very ready to have him on the outside. It's not more work to have them on the outside, it's just different work, and I'm ready for the switch. 

This week was stressful with him because of potential GD complications, but my new ob was wonderful and helped us work through each issue. My blood sugar levels are very good due to diet control, my fluid levels are normal, and he is not too big size-wise. It's a huge relief not to be induced next week! We will take the last couple of weeks one week at a time, but I'm already happy to know that my efforts in controlling GD are paying off because it's not easy. I needed that motivation, and there's this motivation too:

His face!!! It just helps so much with the reality that I'm working hard for a specific person, this one, this little smooshy-faced boy (who looks exactly like Lewis when he's sleeping!).

Ideas

It's been a while since I found a killer deal at Once Upon A Child, and honestly it makes me really irritated when I go in randomly for months and there's NOTHING good. I'm talking about toys mostly. 

I went in to attempt finding some Easter shirts for the boys, and it was a fail. As always, I browsed for golashes and toys. No golashes. No amazing deals, but I will admit I'm more picky than I used to be. It's partly because we have a good selection at home after 5.5 years of parenting, and also due to my new rule of only open ended toys that span more than one age.

I did manage to find Dado Planks. They are a Fat Brain Toy that sells for $40 new, and they are open ended...and I got them for $6.50! 

We've had a great time creating with them. These were our first three ideas:

Augustine had the idea of building an elevated train, so we imagined living in Chicago and riding the El. 

Then it was demolition time and the legs were taken off of each elevated section, leaving a palette type form. So naturally we got the fork lifts and started transporting palettes. 

Then the boys got out the big rig and loaded/unloaded beams for delivery. 

I'd say there's a lot of fun still to be had!

Adventures

We've had a lot of fun adventures over the last few days! First up, the Babymoon!

My family went in on a very thoughtful gift for Logan and I this past Christmas. They gave us a Babymoon complete with child care, fun money, dinner out, a new dress, and a B&B of our choice. We tweaked it a little bit and made it a staycation since my body only likes MY bed when I'm pregnant. We traded the B&B for massages at a spa!

Lisa picked up Augustine on Friday evening, so I made her family dinner and then they were on their way. Augustine spent two nights with them and he absolutely loves it at their house! He can't wait for summertime when he gets another Vrana Vacation! He just loves to be with all the kids, learn how to joke around with Aunt Lisa (something he refuses to learn from his parents), there's endless fun outside, and let's face it...Uncle Jeremy always has the coolest projects going on with building the basement. 

Lewis spent the night at the G&G B&B, along with Aunt Beth and Coco. He still wasn't feeling great (he had a low fever) and only wanted Grandma, but he still enjoyed his adventure overnight. Other than when Logan and I went to NYC last summer, he hasn't really stayed overnight anywhere solo, so he was SUPER excited it was finally his turn. He can't wait until "Mommy baby pop out, me seep Mommas more more more". 

As for Logan and I, we thoroughly enjoyed uninterrupted conversation, massages at a spa (Logan's idea!), lunch at Fuzzy's Taco Shop, uninterrupted afternoon naps and binge watching Parenthood (such a great show), hanging out at Barnes & Noble, dinner at JTK (still our favorite restaurant),  conversation and a movie with friends, and a quiet Mass at St. Patrick's newly rebuilt church. It was a great weekend!

We all came back together at dinner time and shared our adventures with each other. Then Logan and Augustine decided to go for a bike ride, while Lewis and I went out to feed the baby. Lewis had a sore throat so he got ice cream and told me all the things about being at Grandma's. I love his language right now.

Thanks for the awesome gift, family!!!

Second up, city bus ride: 

Yesterday the boys and I took the city bus downtown. They LOVE this adventure. 

We spontaneously visited the fire marshal's office and he was awesome! His main job is educating kids in schools about fire safety. He was so good with the boys. They got coloring books and he told them some fire stories of his. They didn't want to leave. 

Then we had to feed the baby again. Have I mentioned I hate GD?!

Then we walked to Daddy's work, played with the missionaries, and rode home with Daddy. It was a great afternoon adventure!