The Luckiest No Matter What!

My Bing Bong is a lot closer to a year right now than he is to 11 months.  AH blogging... I love you when I'm top of things and hate you when I'm not.  Alas, Carter is wonderful, busy, funny, happy, and growing like CRAZY!  Here's what's been going on with him... What We Learned About Carter: The big things going on with the Bing Bong right now are all about three things: walking, talking, and eating. Carter took his first step this month (March 30th).  Originally, I was expecting Carter to be one of those babies that walks at nine months because of how earlier he was crawling and how much he wants to do what his big brothers are doing.  Thankfully, he slowed down just a bit.  Carter continues to balance between the way his brothers did things.  Judah would not try something until he was ready to be a master at it; Nolan would try anything at anytime whether he was ready or not.  Carter really does do both.  In reference to the walking, ...

Okay so I wrote this in February and never published it... ;) I was terrified of this winter long before it ever arrived.  Thinking of having a newborn plus two toddlers who were going to be stuck inside a lot freaked me right out.  I knew Nolan and Judah were going to be old enough to WANT to go outside and play.  I knew Carter was going to be little enough where I wouldn't want him outside for long periods of time.  How was I ever going to combat that?! Here we are in February and I feel lucky.  Lucky first of all that this winter had randomly not been as cold as others we've had in the last few years.  This has allowed me to go outside and play a WHOLE lot more than we might have if it was -20 with windchills like it was last winter several times.  We even went on a stroller ride, the whole family, on Christmas Eve! I also feel lucky that Nolan and Judah have been troopers and not complained or whined at all about wanting to go outside.  W...

Over the weekend I made one of the biggest To-Do lists I've ever made.  I am in one of those states where it feels I have so much to do that I can't even start.  Where you wander around from room to room knowing there are things you need to take care of so you clean a little, organize a little, grade a little and nothing actually gets completed.  It's overwhelming and makes me feel heavy.  My need to control things aka "my crazy" really gets out of wack. I say that because I should not be writing this right now.  I'm supposed to be grading papers, but I saw something today that made my To-Do list go out the window and compelled me to write this blog right this second. I read an article posted on a former co-worker's facebook page about a Saturday Night Live skit.  It was poking fun at medicine's like NyQuil, but it was called "Heroin AM."  I found myself frustrated, saddened, disappointed, but especially angry reading the article and seei...

Our not so little Bing Bong is TEN months old.  Here's what's been up with him... What We Learned About Carter: This month Carter has been all about practicing to walk.  He LOVED to use the toy walker thing we have and he also likes to practice while holding on to someone's hands.  He can stand on his own now for a moment, but hasn't been brave enough to try to move his legs.  I'm assuming taking steps will be anytime now.  Since day one, he's been wanting to do what his brothers are doing; certainly walking is no exception.  His brothers are doing a fantastic job of making sure he stays safe.  If we are upstairs in a bedroom, Judah will rush to shut the door so Carter can't crawl away to head for the stairs.  If we are in our family room, they will make sure he stays there so he doesn't go heading towards the basement stairs.  Nolan and Judah, especially Judah, love to regulate on his behavior and make sure he's not touching, eating, or g...

Josh and I work hard to take our three kids to church.  I will honestly say it might be the longest, hardest, most difficult hour of our week.   We will attend whatever church seems to have the most convenient time for us on any particular week, but would choose every time, if we can get up, dressed, fed, and ready on time, to go to the 8:00am church at St. John's Student Parish in East Lansing. We started driving there, from Holt, when Nolan and Judah were probably six months old.  The 8:00am mass was a perfect for us at the time: We could totally be up and ready to go (boys were waking up at 6:30 on a good day) and we'd be home in time to put them down for a morning nap when we got home.  We went there for convenience, but stumbled upon an amazing "church family" there that we now love very much.  There are several families that have been sitting in the same spot, at the same mass, for years and years.  We, on accident, picked to sit by them and have ...

I'm sorry, but I am in awe of this child and how fast time goes.  My belly still looks pregnant for goodness sake!  How can I have a nine month old already?! What We Learned About Carter: Carter is in the stage of 'I'm always getting new teeth' so, what we affectionately call 'bite kisses' are in full swing.  MAN! Do those ever hurt :)  Carter has six teeth now, which pretty much came all at the same time and he sure acts like he could be sprouting some more any second.  I think there is no denying that Carter is a mama's boy so far.  He loves me and I love it.  He has been getting sad sometimes when either Josh or I might leave the room.  Like, huge tears sad.  In addition, he gets super excited when one of us (especially me) gets home.  Nolan and Judah love to run to the window in our TV room and jump up and down and yell when they see anyone's car that they know pulling up the driveway.  Carter now will crawl over and join r...

One of my biggest mom struggles is how to give individualized attention to all three of my little boys.  Living with three kids under three, it can be difficult, on the daily, to feel like you had special bonding time with each child in a meaningful way.  Sometimes it's all I can do to dress, diaper, and feed all of them (those things are taking FOREVER right now by the way).  Each one of my boys is special and unique and different.  Each one has talents and struggles and experiences a variety of feelings and emotions in any given day.  It is SO important to both Josh and I that we spend one-on-one time with Nolan, Judah, and Carter.  It is SO important to both Josh and I that we can foster a sense of confidence and self-worth in each boy as well.  It is SO important we let our boys explore and practice and experience things that they are interested in.  We want also, especially for Nolan and Judah since they are twins, that each of our ...