His Wake Is Wide

It seems like the bulk of my day is newborn care and cleaning up the messes Lewis has made. He's has periods of time where he's so incredibly busy that I can't keep up. 

He wanted to build a water tower, so this is what we came up with. 

Go find something to do, I said. Be quiet, I said. SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP go the flippers on wooden floors. 

He likes to try out all baby gear. 

He was shunned to the back row, which makes me want a van. So much so that I looked into trading in our car. It would cost us four more years of debt...oy. 

After a year and a half of refusing  to ride his bike he's off! Hasn't stopped for two days!

Except for food. Priorities, people. 

It takes every ounce of my energy to love him some days, but he's totally worth it.  

I'm telling you...he tests all baby gear. 

Mother's Day

I didn't get a photo with all my boys on Mother's Day. Oops. We spent the day at my sister's with family and then had a quiet night at home. Logan gave me a book and Augustine made some very nice art for me at school. 

We made all the moms and Godmothers cards and fortune flowers because Augustine is in to HyVee fortune cookies. 

Here's my Goddaughter with her baby cousin. :)

Here's a tired Momma. 

Here's a loved mom/Grandma. (Grandma Kathleen was out of town or else we would have a photo of her too!)

Livin' the Dream

Lewis, Elias, and I were sitting in Conroy's Bakery enjoying a celebratory donut when the mailman walked in and delivered the mail to the bakery worker. The bakery worker said "How's it going?" to which the mailman replied "Livin' the dream!" and I chuckled. 

As I sat there celebrating the little successes of motherhood with my chocolate apple fritter, I realized he was right. I really am. The life I've been given is what I always dreamed would make me happy. A man who is really good at loving me, children of our very own, a home we love, our needs met, and extended family close. 

So here's a little glimpse of my dream life as of late...

It's a whole different ballgame when nursing goes well. Praying with every fiber of my being that it continues to go well. 

Augustine is SO good with Elias. He will hold him any time I ask. Even if his friends are outside playing, he will forgo bike riding and hold his baby. (Elias is yawning, not crying.)

He found his thumb three times so far, but more exciting is his willingness to use a binki!!!

My mom took this photo. My heart...

Constantly helping me with his brothers. He loves to massage Elias' head with the hair brush. At the doctor's office he even helped Lewis use the bathroom!

We popped into AAA for their free bike helmet event. Yep...free. Goes all month until they run out! Lewis' head was too small for the sizes they had...maybe next year Mr. 11th percentile for growth. 

Said donut. 

Babies who sleep without help are THE BEST. 

He was driving me to drink so I gave him this plate and asked him to make some mud brownies. He was happy to! He made them and set the plate of mud cookies (he switched it up) on the back step. I heard him yelling "ding dong!" over and over. When I got to the door he stood up and ran away. I quickly realized he was playing May Day. He was ticked pink that I understood. 

Speaking of May Day...I made these for $1 each!

Augustine spent the day with my mom the other day and they were very busy. He practiced his cake decorating skills. He also washed dishes (which he begs to do at home), helped Grandma take 48lbs of shredding to a shred day event, scrubbed her toilet (which he offered to do!), and watched a well-earned Paw Patrol!

Throwing his all-out daily fit about food. 

He got Elias to sleep! Logan and I just can't believe how good he is with babies. 

Ben Franklin

The penny store in my childhood neighborhood is closing. My family has lots of fond memories at that store. We would walk or ride our bikes the five blocks down, spend our coins on candy, and then eat it on the way home. If we spent a whole dollar on candy we had to eat some before getting home so Mom wouldn't know we'd eaten so much candy! It was so fun. 

We would take our cousins there too when they would visit. Here's the photo you requested, Michelle!

My family gave me their orders and I found all but Chewy Runts...sorry Rachel! I'm pretty sure I got Beth 300 Tootie Fruitys. I even bought the basket right off the candy shelf. 

I was not prepared for the insanity...no parking spots left (I parked illegally like tons of others), shoulder-to-shoulder  people in the aisles (but everyone was having so much fun that no one was rude), and hour-long check out lines. After 10min of waiting in line my mommy instincts kicked in...Elias was at my Mom's house and I knew he would be hungry soon. So I asked the 30-some people in front of me if I could cut because I had an 11 day old baby at home who would need to nurse soon. Only one lady (see her in the photo in the red shirt still glaring at me?!) was irritated with me. Everyone else was very understanding. I was one block from  my Mom's when she called to say Elias needed to eat...thank goodness for mommy intuition. 

I'd still like to get a photo outside of the store, but otherwise I think I have closure. :) It's been a good 35 years, Ben Franklin. Thanks for the memories!

Brothers

Sleep

No, we don't let him sleep here. He just dozed off during a diaper change as we prepared for Sunday Mass.

I have this photo of all my boys. 

This one too...maybe I'll get to a comparison post. Maybe. 

Elias has had more decent nights than hard nights so far. 

A friend let me borrow her ring sling, and she gave me refresher course in how to use it. Amazing. 

Lewis as Big Bro

Lewis is slowly settling into his big brother role. He's wild and busy and thinks everything is "so funny", but he has slowed down a little to take time to hold his baby brother and notice things about him. 

"Me wear me baby hat."

"Me take picture Mommy phone."

"Me ride stroller me baby."

"Me baby sleeping. Me wake me baby up?!"

"Me make Mommy pies!" (This one is random, but he actually thought of a game to play on his own and set it up all by himself and PLAYED.)

"Me please hold me baby." 

"Me baby happy."

"Me baby soft head."

"Me like me baby tiny head."