Summer Progress

11th Wedding Anniversary

I can’t believe it, but here we are with only three weeks of summer vacation left. Phew! We’ve been working towards this goal all summer, and yet there are so many things on my “summer to do” list that have been left undone. You really cannot imagine or remember how difficult it is to get anything done with a new baby around. I always forget just how much work it is!

I mean, sure, he sleeps most of the day, but that’s in increments of time, so every three-ish hours I must be available to feed the little man. Then once he’s been fed, he is awake for a little while (not long). Then it’s nap time again. There are 2 hours between each feeding and play time that I have to work with feeding the family and taking care of the other children.

These were my goals for the summer:

1. Give birth (check) : )

2. 6 weeks of recovery = no expectations

3. Make sure each boy completes his 15 books read for the library.

(Hurray! We have finished this, but now I have to find time to take them to the library to get their prize booklet. I bet they will freak out when they discover the “prize” is a coupon booklet. Why? Because my kids, like most kids in this city, are spoiled. *sigh* Maybe they will surprise me, but I’m banking on disappointment.

If everyone could refrain from buying these boys a single thing until Joshua’s birthday, that would be great.

4. Make Caleb practice writing daily……….(yeah that’s been more like weekly…..regret #1. Add that to my new list.)

5. Teach both big boys to ride their bikes w/no training wheels.

…….So I started on that with Joshua today. It was going really well until he spotted Zoe. Then he panicked, and he went from sweet 7-year-old to horribly crabby and embarrassed 7-year-old. Will try again this week.

6. Finish Caleb’s baby book. check!

7. Start and finish Daniel’s baby book. ……oops

8. Lose 30 pounds. hmmmm Do you think I can lose 10 more pounds in 3 weeks? Because I’m thinking probably not.

9. Train back up for 5k in September.

New List:

1. Begin meal planning and cooking dinner. ; )

2. Make Caleb write Nicholas B. back.

3. More bike riding lessons……. No one ever told me that that KILLS your back. Seriously.

4. Forget the baby book. That can wait. Reduce blogging to every other day.

5. Lose 5 more pounds before school starts.

6. 3 months. 3 months forgiveness policy on recovering from new baby. : ) That’s the new rule here.

Me and John David, ready for our night out

For our 11th Anniversary, Alan, John David, and I went on our classic go-to date: Outback and Target. It is perfectly acceptable to act like an old married couple when you are, in fact, an old married couple. ; ) A good time was had by all. John David only got upset once–right when they brought us our food. Thankfully, we’ve had this same baby four times now, so we knew that would happen and were well prepared.

We occasionally get around to making him practice his writing.

I thought his truck was cute.

Joshua, hard at work, and you can see Daniel’s coloring contribution. You know what Daniel calls his brothers? He doesn’t call them Joshua and Caleb. He says, “Brubber! Brubber! Where brubbers?”

7 weeks

Alan cut Daniel’s hair!!

Thankfully, it has not been so long since I exercised that Daniel had forgotten. I said to him, “Daniel are you ready to exercise!?” And Daniel did not miss a beat! He ran to the cabinet, pulled out the 2s for him, and the 5s and 6s for me. He was doing the postnatal bootcamp right along with me.

****John David****

Our smallest man is doing really great. The other night he slept 7 hours straight! Success! Most nights he sleeps a 5-6 hour stretch, so for a 7 week old, we are quite happy. He’s growing like a weed. According to my bathroom scale, he weighs 13 pounds, and we’ve moved him up to size 2 diapers. He smiles often, seems genuinely entertained by his brothers, and…….and now he’s awake so I’d better go. Babies must be fed!

Quote of the week:

Caleb: “So do you have like a hole in your stomach that you feed him from?”

aprilmomoffour

April is an upbeat, Christian, blog-obsessed, military wife, and home schooling mom of four little boys. She writes about education, travel, and humorous adventures in parenting. Follow along if you’d like a little bit of encouragement and a whole lot of crazy.