Our Update

My cousin, Jenny, sent me a link to a cool experiment and I knew I had to try it with Amy. It was really simple, just put an egg in a cup of vinegar and let it sit. The vinegar eventually eats away all the shell... just leaving the membrane and insides. Below, Amy is holding the shell-less egg.

From there you can do many things to further the experiment. We had done step 1 on the Wednesday before my kidney stone, so by Friday, when I had gotten home, we just took it out of the vinegar and I let her hold it. Then we put it in the sink and popped it. I was amazed at how thick the membrane was! Anyhow- it was cool.

So far, Amy is loving school. Yesterday was her first full day and I think it wore her out. Apparently at one point, she was laying down and the teacher thought she was asleep. She told me she was really just 'bored of school." But I think she was just on overload. The long days take some adjusting to. She got a good nights sleep last night and seemed excited again this morning. I dread the day she doesn't want to go and is grumpy and fights about it.

It's been a little weird not having her all day long. In fact, during the boys nap times, it's been really quiet- which is definitely weird!!  Yesterday, for a treat, I made cupcakes in ice creams cones. I gave some to the neighbor's family (the man who always mows our lawn) as a thank you and we ate the rest. When Will ate his he said, "Mmmmmmm! Ma-wish-cious!" (which is his way of saying "delicious.") It's so cute when he says it.

Speaking of Will.... on Sunday, Mom had forgotten her church clothes, so her and Dad stayed home with all the kids. Yes, church was oddly quiet without our kiddos. It was amazing actually- we actually heard the talks! When we got home Mom said, "That Will! You have to keep your eyes on him! That boy has the devil in him!!" We died laughing. So true, so true. This little boy is something else! He already knows all his letters, their sounds, his numbers, color and shapes. Now he's started associated letters with words, for example, he'll hold up the letter K and say, "I kick the ball." He found the laminated letters I used for Amy and won't put them down. He sleeps with them, pretends they are airplanes or cars or just talks about them non-stop, "its a R, rrrrrrrrr, an R, play with R, jump R jump, etc." Its so funny. I have no idea where he gets all this or how he knows it all. He just picks it up on his own. I mean, whats next?? Teaching him to read?? What 2 yr old can read? It's so bizarre to me. He's way more brilliant than I can handle. He's at least a year ahead of where Amy was at this age. Maybe his big head is for something after all. He really needs to be in Kindergarten with Amy! Of course, he'd drive the teacher crazy and create chaos for everyone. We started calling him Tornado Will as you can always tell when he's been somewhere- and anywhere he's been, there's destruction. I am constantly cleaning after this kid.

And then there's sweet Tyler. I spend a large amount of my day with a protective hold on him. But even he wants to be up and going with his siblings.

He doesn't really like to be laid back in his bouncy chair anymore, but prefers the upright position of the bumbo chair. When you hold him, he's always standing and has started practically jumping out of your arms with his back arched. If you lay him on the ground, for tummy time, he really likes it and even somewhat army crawls/inches forward bit by bit. It's really comical. He also loves to be holding on to things... in this case, he loved the balloon. His smile lights up the room and we just love playing with him. His siblings do too. Today, he was dozing in his chair, when Will walked by him. I saw Tyler open his eyes, really big, really quickly, then when Will continued past, he closed them again. I had to laugh- he's developed a 6th sense for whenever Will is around!

The changing of the kids rooms has worked out well. Amy and Will finally (somewhat) settle down for bed at night and seem to like being together. At least they laugh and play like they enjoy it. It's actually cute to listen to them. Although since school started, Amy needs her rest, so we don't let them play too much. Tyler is also sleeping really well in the crib, most night's he'll do at least one 6-7 hour stint and then I'll feed him and he'll go back down for 4-5 hours. So I'm not complaining! He seems to prefer his bouncy chair in the day, and somedays never takes a super long nap. Which hey, if he sleeps at night, I'm ok with.

I'm doing better since the "stone" incident. I had the stent removed today and it wasn't too bad. Nothing is bad after you've experienced 3 child births and 1 kidney stone. haha. I've been trying to change my eating habits as well, so I don't have to go through that again. That and drink a LOT of water. I thought I did, but I guess with nursing, I wasn't drinking enough for that as well. I always said that if something "happened" to me, health wise, I'd consider it a wake up call and get back on track. Well, this was certainly a wake up call!

Lee heads back to school tomorrow. It's been great having him home this summer! And more specifically the past 2 weeks where he's been dissertation free. He's been a big help this summer and I'll miss that, for sure! He loves to take Amy to and pick her up from school. He just loves seeing her run with her backpack on. "She's just so cute," is what he says. haha. What a man. I've got a good one for sure!

So we are all well and surviving. It'll be nice to settle into a schedule, and I'm excited for that.