Saturday, July 28, 2018

Another week:

Mom captured these sun-bathing beauties last weekend:
Look at Jonas and Layla's bodies: identical!  

At the start of this last week Kellan was still in his 3rd developmental leap, and boy was it impacting his sleep.  Naps were rough for a while, unless he was being held.  The wisdom of #4thchild is that I now know to just hold my baby and not fight it.  Yesterday was the end of his leap, and wouldn't you know it?  He slept so much better last night.  Babies are so predictable, man.  Know the science and be free from fear and guilt and "baby training"! :)

UPDATING TO ADD:  Kellan's naps last week were 20 minutes if I put him down, 45 minutes if I held him, but all very fitful and not very restful for sure.  He was in developmental leap #3 last week, which ended yesterday.  His morning nap today??  He went down at 10:30 a.m. and I went up to nurse him at 12:30 p.m.  He then slept another 1.5 hours in my arms!!  3.5 hours total!  Crazy.  Trust your own babies, Mamas.  They know what they need.  When their naps are awful it's not their fault...those little bodies are doing SO MUCH on the inside.  :)



Here are the kids singing happy birthday to Grammy on the 24th!


What a Schaefer face, eh??  I can't see any Berube in him other than a bit of his nose and his lips...haha. :)







Finn wanted me to save his white board drawing of Dinosaur Land Made Out of Food for the record.  He took this photo using my phone.
 We took Kellan to the library on Thursday.  Of course, he made the 2 mile drive seem like 20,000 with his car-screaming ways, but we managed to survive.  Ask me how much I am DREADING our drive up to Bemidji for family vacation soon?? :(



My cousin Erin and her kids came over to play and swim on Friday.  She brought all the best summer foods to feed me...we had a great time.  :)







Finn and Will bonded over love of legos.  












Pre-bedtime love



Kellan got one of his first baths ever last night.  He's 3 months old.  I know this sounds gross to some people, but hear me out:  he doesn't sweat.  He doesn't get dirty.  He's not ever touching the ground or dirty things.  He had his FIRST diaper blow-out in his life a day or so ago, and he rarely if ever spits up.  Why would I bathe him??  Americans are obsessed with bathing kids, but in reality it just depleted good oils from their skin and then you have to try to replenish it with artificial oils.  So...minimal bathing for my baby children it is!  Haha.  :) Kellan quite enjoyed it, for what it's worth.
Cora, on TOP of Finn, trying to get as close to Kellan as possible.  AGGRESSIVE LOVE, man.



Laura Schaefer got this $7 bath sponge for Layla before she was born.  LOVE that this $7 item is my favorite, and has lasted 9 years...haha!  All those money-pit baby bathing systems, and this is still my favorite! :) . It's also the one that is the least scary for babies, and most comfortable.  


Kellan turned 3 months old on July 24th, Sue Schaefer's birthday.  :) It's so fun to start seeing him come into his personality more and more.  As far as development goes, he couldn't be more average and dead-on when it comes to the regular leaps babies go through...haha.  At least we're confident what is happening inside his body and brain at any given moment.  Bedtime is getting slowly earlier and earlier, which Mama always appreciates, and he is still amazingly smiley when he wakes up.  He often wakes up smiling, which is pretty adorable.  The boy loves to be well-rested! He's still very interested in sucking on his fists and NOT on a pacifier, and rarely a bottle.  We are just on the cusp of him enjoying toys, so that's going to be fun, and hopefully it'll help him in the car when Layla can hand him toys and show him shiny things.  Kellan is still quite opinionated on who can hold him:  mostly it's just me and Jonas, with everyone else getting immediate cries when they pick him up.  Stinker!  Babies are born WHOLE PEOPLE, man, with personalities and opinions from the start.  What fun! :)

And, in true-to-me form, as soon as I was 3 months post-partum I have started losing hair like a chemo patient.  In the shower it's almost comical, and I'm constantly brushing hair off my shoulders and picking it off Kellan and EVERY SURFACE IN OUR HOUSE.  It's so gross.  I'm shedding everywhere I walk!  It's the worst in the summer, too, because I'm always wearing short sleeves and the loose hairs end up feeling like spiders or bugs on my arms.  *blech!* If I remember correctly, this lasts for like 2 months, too!  


Saturday, July 21, 2018

This past week:



Layla in crafting heaven.



I bought a subscription to Curiosity Stream for $2.99 a month.  It's mostly science and history videos, but really well done professional ones.  It's for homeschooling next year, but Mr. Science Guy here has been requesting them regularly right now.  Good enough for me! :)

On Monday we went to Wabun wading pool and park for Lar' birthday party.  It's SUCH a lovely place.  The pool is fully fenced in, so no stress for Mamas of little ones.  And then the park is just so cool, and it's right on the river bluffs with great shade trees, so the breeze is always wonderful there.  If Kellan didn't hate the car so much I'd be willing to drive the 20 minutes there more often...
Normally there is water spraying out from that structure in the middle of the pool, but I think they were in some sort of water conservation mode, so just the pool was up and running that day...not the "splash pad" style extras. 





Finn.  He has his father's hips.  I.E. no hips.  Keeping swim shorts up on him is perilous.  ;)

Love the shoulder naps.








So much imaginative play going on...










Renee gave us some of Henry's unused dress up clothes, and Cora found the box on Tuesday morning.  She opened it, dressed herself in this Blues Clues costume, and then came SCREAMING with giddy joy to jump in front of me.  Haha.  :)

Then she found the blue wig too!

Finn 100% commits to every costume identity.



He asked me to take these pictures of him at the bottom of the box with pirate stuff.  Not sure why.

Tuesday night ice cream tradition after Layla's swimming lessons.


On Wednesday she asked me to give her pig tails.  She has for sure been wearing this costume all week.


Thursday night our next door neighbor came walking over with this MASSIVE barbie house.  The kids DIED.  They all mobbed him and hugged him, which made him very uncomfortable I think...haha.  :)







 My phone keeps offering me these "extras" made out of my photos.  So here you go!  Enjoy.