Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 by the numbers

Emergency room visits: 3
Surgeries: 3
Pounds of furniture moved (approx.): 8,000
Loads of laundry: 412
Family vacations: 1 (yay!)
Adults-only vacations: 1 (double yay!)
New cousins welcomed: 2 (just in time -- welcome, baby Leigh!)
LEGOs stepped on: 357
Clothing items sewn or repaired by Yami (min.): 10
Airplane rides: 2 (Mike and Liam)
New pets: 1 (but he's a doozy!)
Teeth lost: 2
Teeth gained: 11
Trees chopped down: 1
Trees planted: 1
Easter prayers interrupted by one of our children screaming "Dragonoid!": 1 (thankfully)
Works of art shown in galleries: 1
Photos taken: 1,658 (not counting all the ones I deleted right away)
Blog posts: 82 (including this one)

I'd say it all adds up to a pretty good life. Here's to more great things in 2011!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

timber!


We almost made it to Christmas without one of the boys/pets pulling down the Christmas tree. We were so close! But this morning, Henry managed to walk (!) off by himself just long enough to get behind the tree, give it a shove, and send the whole works crashing to the floor. There were countless ornament casualties, though Max was very pleased that the candy canes seemed to have survived unscathed. We've got a lot of work to do to replace everything (including the fake tree, which was probably in its last year of service anyway), and the plans for next year will definitely include a barrier. Look, but don't touch, kids!

The boys reenact the scene.


The survivors.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

anatomy of a tantrum

Henry objected vigorously when I asked him to act as the scale model to show off the new bed, though he eventually grudgingly relented.



Wednesday, December 01, 2010

this is not what it looks like


Charlie is amazingly patient with Henry, and lets him pet (read: smack repeatedly) him all the time. This picture looks pretty scary with the teeth and all, but really Charlie was just getting ready to lick Henry's hand (lots of food residue lives there, no matter how hard we try).


They're just two friends, forever separated by a gate. But at least they can -- and do -- pass each other things over the barrier. Henry offers toy cars, pacifiers, cups of milk, and, of course, his dubious affections. And in return, Charlie offers squeaky toys, hanks of rope, and plenty of slobbery kisses. Just the other day, I caught Henry sharing his Oreo cookie with Charlie over the gate, and I couldn't decide which sound to make: aww or eww.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

there, i fixed it


Friends, we have moved every bed and dresser in this house this week. We really wanted to move Henry upstairs, but we were pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy having his own room after sharing with us for so long. But we ran into a problem: Neither Liam nor Max was willing to have his own room, either. The solution? Bunk beds. So on Black Friday afternoon, after the place had been cleared out, we headed to our local big box store to get an inexpensive but surprisingly well-crafted and sturdy set. We got it home and into the house (barely -- that thing weighs a ton!), but we still had to dismantle both twin beds upstairs and haul them down to the basement (where they will live until one of the boys decides he wants his own room after all), then haul the new bunk bed upstairs and assemble it, then dismantle Henry's crib downstairs, haul it upstairs, and reassemble it -- all with the "help" of three very eager boys.

The ceiling in the boys' bedroom is slanted, so I searched high and low for a short bunk bed, to no avail, but we thought it would be fine if we just scooted it out to the middle where the ceiling is higher. But once we got it assembled, we decided that just wouldn't do. So really, at that point, what choice did we have but to haul in a saw, jack the thing up, and chop off six inches at the bottom? None, really. So that's what we did Saturday afternoon. For a while there, we had most of the bed up on blocks, much like a car in a yard -- except that we used the boys' wooden building blocks.

Eventually, the bed was successfully shortened, and there was much rejoicing. Honestly. Can't you tell how much Max is rejoicing?

I won't bore you with any more details, except to say that we got new bedroom furniture (finally, we are adults with an actual headboard!) so we had to move all the dressers and bed and nightstands out of our room and get everything arranged once the new stuff got here on Monday. One good thing is that it forced me to deal with going through my closet and the boys' clothes and weed out stuff we don't use. It's all done now, and everything is looking great. And hopefully this is the last time we have to move any furniture for a nice long while!

welcome lucy!


The boys had an extra-special treat this Thanksgiving: They got to meet their brand-new cousin, Lucy Leigh! Lucy was born Monday evening (6 lbs, 12 oz if you're interested), so she was only three days old when we saw her on Thanksgiving. She is a sweet baby with lots of hair, and the boys liked her right away. I'm sure they're already trying to figure out when she'll be old enough to play with them, but in the meantime, they really liked hanging out with her.

Welcome to Lucy, and congratulations, Johnny and Erin! She's beautiful.



henry's big week


Last Monday, we took Henry to the hospital to get his ear tubes. It was a very quick surgery (15 minutes!) and we were on our way home less than an hour afterward. Once we got home, we decided to do a little family pool on when Henry would walk after the surgery (he hadn't walked yet, and we were thinking it was because the fluid on his ears was messing up his equilibrium). Mike picked Tuesday, Max picked Wednesday, I picked Thursday/Thanksgiving, and Liam picked Sunday. We eagerly watched him for signs of walking that first day. He didn't show any, but he DID show rapid verbal improvement. By Monday afternoon, he was clearly forming sounds and saying "cat" every time one of the cats walked by. Progress!

It turns out that I picked the right day. Henry walked for the first time at his grandparents' house on Thanksgiving Day! Mike and I sat on the floor facing each other, and Henry walked right to Mike, and then back to me. It was really a sweet moment with everyone watching and cheering for him. I think the applause confused him a little, but it also made him laugh. Every day since then, he's walked a little bit more.

But that's not the end of the big week! On Friday, Henry took another unprecedented step: He finally moved out of our bedroom and into his brothers' bedroom upstairs. It took some rearranging, but all three boys are now sharing a bedroom, and so far they all seem to love it. Henry especially thinks it's a whole new world up there, with so many new toys to play with, and he loves waking up in the morning and jabbering at his big brothers until they wake up and play with him.

So yes, it's been a very big week for a little boy. Baby steps? Who needs 'em?!?

Monday, November 15, 2010

a real classic


It's good to know that so many years later, the boys are still lining up to watch the big car chase from Bullitt.

quick hit: old equals tall


Saturday, Liam and Max got haircuts, and the stylist gave them each a balloon afterward. Henry loved the balloons, and cried and pointed every time one escaped his grasp and floated up to the ceiling. For reasons unknown, Max and Liam at one point decided to untie the string from one, and of course, it floated up to the ceiling and they couldn't get it. So they asked Mike to get it, which he did handily.

Sunday, Max and I drove to Oak Park for my friend Val's birthday party, and Max got to pick three balloons to bring home (one for each boy). In the van, one of them popped unexpectedly -- it scared the crap out of both of us! And once we got home, Max got out of the van in the garage, and lost control of one of the strings. The balloon floated peacefully into the rafters.

Max looked up at it thoughtfully, then said, "We are gonna need somebody really old to get that one down!"

And then a minute later: "Or I guess we could get a ladder. I don't know anybody that old."

Monday, November 08, 2010

sale of the century


My brother went to an estate sale a few weeks ago with an unbelievable number of bargains. Seriously unbelievable. He and my mom and Loni scored a table, a ton of tools, a china cabinet, etc. But the most unbelievable deal of all was an old and enormous desk -- for $15! Showing evidence of the mutant power formed by the combination of my mom's inability to resist a bargain and my dad's compulsive pack rat nature, he bought the thing, loaded it up, and brought it home. He didn't have any place to put it (it would take up half of his room!) and he didn't actually know anyone who needed a desk, so it went out to my dad's shop, a place with a very low turnaround, if you know what I mean.

Luckily, Lon happened to mention that they hit the yard sale mother lode. I've been looking for a new desk for a couple of years now, off and on. I definitely needed more work space, but man, those things are expensive! So I waited, and watched Craigslist. And waited some more. But now, friends, the wait is over and the price was right. I might even go so far as to say this was the best $15 ever spent by anyone, ever. Yes, that's right: two evers. Check this thing out:



Looks fairly normal, right? Aside from the size (the top is 60 inches by 35 inches, much bigger than my old desk) maybe. It has a middle drawer, three drawers on one side, and a cabinet on the other. When we opened it up, we found some interesting surprises.



This is the cabinet side. It's got a spring-loaded shelf that pops out and up (I say "pops" because that is what I assume it did at one time; now, it kind of groans and protests and requires a lot of pulling) to make a typewriter stand. There were even holes for the cord! The plan was to put the computer tower in the cabinet, but once we discovered this fascinating feature, I couldn't bear to rip it out. But we came up with the perfect solution, and now the typewriter shelf is home to the printer.



The drawers are really deep, and have the usual complement of partitions, but the bottom drawer had these cool wooden dividers for file folders. And the very very best part about the drawers is that there's some kind of lever system that locks all of the side drawers when the middle drawer is closed. It's the perfect defense against a baby who loves nothing more than a good drawer to gleefully empty.

It was a really long day breaking everything down and getting it all set up again, even with my dad and J sparing us by hauling it over here, but here's the finished product:

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

say what?


I've posted before about how Henry gets ear infections really often. Well, yesterday Mike and I took him to an ear-nose-throat specialist, and the verdict is that he needs tubes. Which will be a very good thing for him, not just to help with the ear infections, but because it turns out that all the fluid that's stuck in his ears has made it so he hears things like he's, well, under water. Which is probably why, at almost 14 months, the only thing he really says with regularity is "uh oh." And since fluid in the ears affects balance, it's also probably why he isn't walking yet.

The first available time for the doctor isn't for three weeks, and now that we know what the problem is and how to fix it, three weeks feels like such a long time. How many words could he have learned in that time? How many steps could he have taken? I know, I know. It's not so bad. I just want to get on with it already.

quick hit: maxisms

Max is constantly asking questions. Seriously, it's nonstop from the minute he wakes up in the morning until he zonks out at night. Mom, why do I have to wear long sleeves? Mom, do you want to know more about space rocks? Mom, do you know that's Jupiter in the sky? Mom, why are there so many planets up there? Mom, do you eat cereal with a spoon? Mom? Mom? Mom?

But yesterday, he came up with a really good one: Mom, are policemen allowed to have houses?

It took me a minute to get what he was asking, but then I realized: He thinks that police officers have to live in their police cars 24 hours a day. Like it's one of the supreme sacrifices they make in order to serve and protect. Which is really pretty clever, and shows that he's given policing an awful lot of thought. [Note: This is also in evidence by the at least 10 questions he asks me every single day about that time I got a speeding ticket and had to go to traffic school -- seven years ago.]

Sunday, October 31, 2010

happy halloween!



I suspect this year is one of the last years -- if not the last year -- that I'll be able to persuade the boys to do themed costumes.* So we made the most of it with one of their favorite subjects: Mario Bros. Liam and (especially) Max love all things Mario. They know all the names of all the creatures, they discuss what happens at each level of the game (even when they're not playing it!), they draw pictures of the various levels. Their love affair with Mario dates back to last Christmas, when I got New Super Mario Bros. Wii as a gift. And even Henry loves it. Whenever we turn it on, as soon as he hears the first few bars of the music, he perks right up and starts making the excited noises that he usually reserves for cat sightings.


So this year we were beyond excited to find a Mario costume in Max's size. A couple weeks later, we went back, and they had a single Luigi costume -- in Liam's size! Perfect. The only thing left was to figure out Henry's costume since the only other pre-packaged Mario character costume was Princess Peach (we tried to talk Klaudia into getting that one, but she was having none of it). And then my mom came to the rescue again. We decided on the character Toad (a mushroom man who is a servant to Princess Peach and often assists Mario and Luigi) and I printed out some pictures. Then Marlene worked her magic, and a few days later, we had a wonderful little Toad hat and vest to go with his basic white shirt and light tan pants. Perfect!



Of course, when the big night came, it got pretty cold, so we had to rethink Toad for that part of the trip. Instead, Henry wore Max's old monkey costume, which was nice and warm and had a hood. We walked around trick-or-treating for about half an hour, then Max abruptly decided that he was done with all the walking and just wanted to sit at home and hand out candy to other kids. I was flying solo because Mike had a mandatory weekend work shift (boo!), but luckily I worked out a trade with Laura: Liam accompanied her, Kelsey, and Emma, while Max and Henry stayed home with me and cousins Jimmy and Gracie. And everyone was perfectly happy, except for poor Charlie,** who did not enjoy the comings and goings of so many strangers. After a while, Jan*** and the Holiday kids dropped by, and once the official trick-or-treat time ended, we headed to Grandpa's house for one last treat for the night.



On actual Halloween, we went trick-or-treating to Bethany's house, where the boys collected sweet bags full of toys and treats, and to my mom's house, where they got non-edible but fiercely coveted Kung Zhu pets. Whew!



*Full disclosure: Liam had two costumes. He went as Darth Vader to his school's fall festival, but went trick-or-treating as Luigi.
** Charlie was persuaded a few days earlier to wear a costume of his own. That post to come.
*** Janis had the best trick-or-treat strategy ever: Head to Laura's house, then sit down and enjoy a beverage and the Notre Dame game while her kids scoured the neighborhood. Then head to my house and repeat the routine, minus the beverage and football. Genius!

Monday, October 25, 2010

vacation: all we ever wanted?


A couple of weeks ago, my aunt Chris sent out an email inviting the adults in the family to head to Vegas for a big family trip, some gambling with Grandpa. We, however, already had plans for our first-ever family vacation, so we had to decline. Chris offered me some parting advice: "You're in for a treat traveling with the brood. I speak from much experience.... Hint: you'll need a personal vacation after the vacation!"



As usual, she couldn't be more right. We packed up the people mover and set out on the 5.5-hour drive to Wisconsin Dells Thursday morning. Since Chicagoland was about at the halfway point, we stopped in Schaumburg to check out the Legoland Discovery Center, which I have to admit was pretty awesome. They had a miniature Chicago all made of Legos. Plus plenty of other impressive creations. The boys were positively giddy running from place to place. They even went on a roller coaster ride (in the middle of the building!) with Mike. We actually managed to time it just right so that we got there in time to have lunch and run around the place before it got too crowded, then got back in the car just in time for all three boys to crash out for some long afternoon naps.







So, the "resort." We booked the space suite as an extra treat for the boys, and it turned out to be, um, much less than we expected. The boys didn't seem to notice that the whole place was held together with black electrician's tape and magic marker, and they were definitely impressed by the four-person jacuzzi tub. They were more impressed with the brand-new indoor waterpark, where we spent most of the day Friday. There was a zero-depth entry where Henry and I mostly hung out (though I did manage to go down a water slide or two myself), some shallow water with fountains and squirters and tiny slides that was perfect for Max, and a big climbing area with all sorts of shooting water and different tall slides for Liam. Liam was also a big fan of the croc walk, a thing where he had to swing from pad to pad to get across a pool. We took a break for lunch (in a cafe inside the waterpark!) and then Mike, Liam, and Max went back for more watery fun while I took Henry back to the room for a much-needed nap.






On the way home, we stopped at the best possible place for lunch and a traveling break: Mark and Katie's house in Wheaton. The boys were thrilled to see Linus and Leo again, and Linus was pretty excited to have some friends to wrestle around with for a while. We let them all run around until they were wiped out again, then piled back into the van for the rest of the trip back.



Overall, I'd say it was a pretty great trip for the boys, though Mike and I were flat-out exhausted from all the fighting, misbehavior, and putting out fires that you get when you travel with three small boys. It's definitely true that we are relieved to have them all back in school today, and that we could both use a couple of days to recharge on our own (sadly, that's not going to happen). But this trip was also partly a test run to see how they would handle the car trip (better than expected, especially Henry) and being away from home (again, pretty well) should we have the opportunity to take a longer vacation sometime down the road. I think in that respect we have a lot of ideas for how to tweak things to make them smoother. On the other hand, I think it'll be a while before Mike and I have recovered the mental wherewithal to do anything more than a weekend trip with these monsters. We'll just have to see.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

bowl baby

Henry's got this habit of getting into every cabinet and drawer his little hands can reach (yes, we've really got to get on that baby-proofing thing). Yesterday while I was cooking, he managed to get the salad spinner out and take it apart, then we proceeded to do a little dance that went something like this.

1. Henry climbs carefully into the salad spinner bowl.
2. Henry laughs hysterically.
3. Henry realizes he is stuck in the salad spinner bowl and starts crying.
4. I pull him out and put the bowl back in the cabinet.
5. Henry works determinedly until he gets the bowl back out of the cabinet.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until I give up and scoop him up, bowl and all, to take him outside to play.