What's he up to?

Well, I missed the official 6 month mark, but I'll just do a little "Brody is almost 7 months now" update. (For my own personal records...:)

And I'll make the obligatory, "Wow, I feel like he was just born!" Because what kind of mom would I be if each day actually felt like an eternity to me in this household. Just kidding, only one or two days a week actually feel like an eternity :). Really though, Zac and I were talking and discussing how each day feels so long, but the week is over in a flash. How is this possible? Anyone else feel that way about life?

Back to Brody...

He's still a big guy. Tall and somewhat chubby.

He's sitting up and can do it alone, but will eventually get frustrated or tired and just snap back onto the floor. He doesn't cry when this occurs, but looks scary to me, thus, the Boppy pillow around him for protection :)

He's eating squash, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, and those little puffs. He looks like an old man without his dentures when he gums those things, it's a hoot. If I was a more adept videographer, I'd post a video.

He rolls. Everywhere. Now I have to be really careful about all of the little toys the boys leave around because he's also at the age where everything goes straight to the mouth.

He's a pretty quiet guy. Not lots of babbling or laughing, although I swear he said Mama twice last week. And at Bible study last Friday, he was sitting on the floor next to a one year old boy and couldn't stop making all kinds of noises. The mom said to me later, "Wow, he's quite a talker!" "Not really, that was the most he's talked in his entire life combined, he just likes your son!" It was strange. I think he's just learned that it's pretty tough to get a word in around this house so he may as well not even try yet.

And my favorite--separation anxiety is beginning. All of my boys have had some serious bouts with this. I like to think it's because I am so irresistible :), but I now have a child semi-permanently attached to my hip. I say semi because occasionally he will be entertained by the boys on the floor, but then one of them will scare him or a "give" him a toy a little too enthusiastically, and then he cries again.

But all in all, he really is SUCH a sweet baby, and we thank God for his blessing to us every day!!

Whew!

We are wrapping up what's been a crazy week! We have had 4 different party/get-togethers at our house in the last 5 days...lots of cleaning, partying, dirtying, cooking, re-cleaning, partying, dirtying, cooking, re-cleaing, etc. It was all very fun though, and so worth the effort, as always. Zac and I both really enjoy having people over. Sometimes it's something more formal that we plan weeks in advance, and other times it's a spur of the moment "wanna come over for dinner" type of thing.

I pray that as our kids get older, they also develop this enjoyment and that our home will be a place where their friends andours always feel welcome! At one point on Saturday evening, I did a double-take as all of the kids ran down to the basement to play...it seemed like they had multiplied. Sure enough, I discovered that they had invited some of the neighbor kids over (via the an invitation over the back fence). I guess we are on our way!

The few nights this week we haven't been entertaining, Zac's been working, and I've been trying to maintain some order around here by myself. It's not going too well, as evidenced by the 8 loads of clean laundry sitting in my hallway. But hey, at least it's clean and not 8 dirty loads. I have made some progress!

What's been goin' on

So I haven't written very much about this, although it's been a HUGE part of the Hicks' family life for the past 4 months (that's a full 2/3 of Brody's life :)!

Zac is recording an album. It's an 11 track album of worship songs that he has written. Several years ago, he developed a strong love for old hymns, and was sad to see them being used less and less in churches. They have amazing theology and beautiful poetry, but unfortunately, aren't always that easy to sing. Or engage with. And frankly, sometimes the music just doesn't really match the text. Think "Rock of Ages" set to the tune of a marching band song. Not so much.

He began to take the texts, mold them slightly, add choruses, and write new music that is more relevant and fitting. And if I do say so myself (and I can because this is my blog and I'm his wife), he's done an amazing job. He released 3 of them on an EP several years, but has been gearing up to do a full album for awhile.

Being at our incredible church has now provided the awesome opportunity to begin recording. It's been a really long process but hopefully, they are coming to the end of the tracking process (recording all of the music--each instrument, for each track, several times--so that each track ends up having 30-40 mini recordings that all get blended together to make a great sound). It will then be mixed and mastered and tweaked a little more, with an anticipated release date of September, 15, 2009. Be on the lookout because I will post a widget on my sidebar that will enable you to purchase individual tracks or the whole album from his website.

Doing this has been a huge sacrifice for Zac--lots and lots of time spent, in addition to his "regular" job, learning new skills, singing, playing guitar, editing, editing, editing--and me feeling like a single mom as he spends many hours working on this. But we truly feel like God has opened the door to one of his dreams, though, and we are praying that through this album and Zac's passion for thoughtful, meaningful, and articulate worship, others will be drawn into a deeper worship of God.

So, we're getting excited around here and I'll be sure to keep updating the progress as things get closer. Spread the word. Buy the CD. Share it with others! I've attached a video that Zac made giving some background on this project. (Excuse the fact that he looks like he just rolled out of bed--I think he shot this in the wee hours of the morning after a long recording session. Did I mention we both are a bit tired?)

Sweet boys.

Joel really missed Jesse while he was away for the two days. He asked almost incessantly about when he would get to go to the point that I got sort of annoyed. But what I realized was just HOW close these two little boys are. They are just over 1 1/2 years apart in age, but with Joel's developmental delays, in a way they have been growing up together.

This morning at breakfast, this is what I overhead.

Joel: "Jesse, I get to go to Nana's in two weeks when my preschool is over. And you get to come with me, because you're my brother."

Jesse: "Yes!"

Joel: "And I love you, Buddy."

Jesse: "I love you too, Joel."

Giggle, giggle giggle.


Oh, my heart!

He's outta here...

Wow it's nice and peaceful around here. Jesse is spending a couple of days with his Nana and Papa. We had friends over for dinner last night and enjoyed almost two hours of peaceful conversation on the deck. Brody was already in bed and Joel just played around the table and ocassionally threw in his two cents. It's amazing how taking just one child out of the mix really changes the dynamic.

Anyway, now that preschool is out, each of the bigger boys gets to go to my parent's house for a few days this month to have some special time alone with them. I think Jesse especially needs it. He's had a bit of a hard time ever since Brody was born. He sees things that Joel does and thinks he really wants to be a big boy, but I think deep down inside, he really still wants to be the baby. After all, he is only two. Unfortunatley, there's a new baby in town and so Jesse's just not sure where he fits in anymore.

On top of that, he's potty training. One minute he's crying because he wants his diapers back, then the next he's crying because he wants his red big boy underwear. Poor guy, that's pretty much a picture of his life right now.

And let me tell you, potty training is a whole new animal. Let's just say it's pretty hard to get a child who doesn't like sweets to use the potty. It makes the whole M&M bribe void.

Oh, and things just might have taken a turn for the worse yesterday when Jesse fell into the toilet at church. It wasn't really my proudest mothering moment. Just picture me trying to hold a screaming 6 month old while undressing a resistant 2 year old, then somehow hoisting him one-handed onto the toilet, only to have him fall right in.

I scooped him right up out of there but then hysterical crying commenced. Now I have two criers but I can't comfort either of them because they can't HEAR me over all of their tears.

And because I always try to be prepared, I did have backup shorts and underwear in case of an accident, but why would I have thought to bring an extra shirt. when, of course, that is the one item that got truly soaked in the toilet. I pondered putting one of Brody's extra shirts on him (I did have one of those), but I didn't want to humiliate poor Jesse even more by making him wear a 9 month size onesie. I do have some decency.

Yet still, after several years of counseling people in therapy, a picture of Jesse sitting in a counselor's office in 20 years popped into my mind, with him saying, "I think it all relates back to when my mom dropped me into the toilet...". Maybe I could at least save him few bucks and BE his counselor.

He just threw me under the bus.

So I've always had this sneaking suspicion that Zac thinks I let the boys watch TV all of the time during the day. He makes certain comments here and there and I'm not really sure why he thinks this. They get to watch 30 minutes in the morning when I take a shower (otherwise it's total anarchy in the house) and 30 minutes after their naps or while I make dinner.

And usually, it's something on PBS kids or the Wiggles or something. It's not like I'm letting them watch Bret Michaels "Rock of Love" or anything (Disclaimer: even I, the reality show queen have NEVER watched that show). It just seemed like a good example of a bizarre show.

This morning Zac was said, "Hey boys! Let's go outside and play."

To which Jesse promptly responds, "But there are no TV's outside."

Great, Jesse, thanks. Now Daddy will never believe me.

Yes.

Yes, I changed my blog again.

Yes, I do get bored very easily.

Yes, I actually did sit through an entire movie last night for probably the first time in over a year (well, I did get up once but that was to check on a crying kid and so that just makes me a good mom).

Yes, I think I have ADD (seriously...I'm high-functioning, though :)

Yes, I did add some sweet pictures of my "men" under my profile to the right.

Enjoy!

Thoughts from Joel...

Someone asked me the other day if Joel asks "Why?" a lot. I thought for a moment and said, "No, not really, he's more of a hypothetical kid." These are the phrases that start most of his conversations:
What would happen if...?

Could it...?

Would you/I/it ______ if...?

If I....?

We had one of these conversations before he went to bed last night. He is sort of obsessed with plugging things into outlets and he had found a plug-in air freshener without the insert in my closet. He carried it around for quite awhile and wanted to take it to bed with him. I knew he'd try to plug it in after I left and I'm just not completely wild about him playing with outlets while alone in his room (call me crazy!) so I told him I needed it back. Here's what followed:

J: What could happen if I plugged it into the wall?
M: It could get too hot or hurt you.
J: If it got too hot could it start a fire?!
M: Maybe.
J: If it started a fire could it burn me and could I die and go to heaven? (suddenly this silly conversation turned a little bit deeper :)
M: Yes.
J: Then you wouldn't be able to see me anymore?
M: No, not until I go to heaven.
J: Then you should die and I should die together so we can both go to heaven at the same time.
M: (uh, what do you say to that?) It would be nice if we could be together, wouldn't it?
J: And Brody should die. And Jesse and Daddy should die, too. So we could all be together. (I know what he means!!)

And on a lighter note...this afternoon Joel woke up from his nap and found me and Brody in the playroom. He ran over to Brody to give him a kiss and said, "Mommy, when Brody gets as big as you is he going to get married?"

So interesting how his little mind works. I know that we have never really talked about how kids grow up and usually get married, or how when people die, they go to heaven (other than in the context of Jesus at Easter).

It's interesting this new dynamic that we are entering into as parents, it keeps me on my toes!

Uh, Happy Mother's Day...

Joel came home from preschool yesterday with two laminated placemats that he had made. One was for me for Mother's Day and the other was for Zac for Father's Day. At the bottom of the placemats there was a little card where the teachers had written Joel's dictation to them of why he loved us.

Mine said, "I love my mom because she makes me pizza, spaghetti, and macaroni and chesse". That's right. I'm a culinary genius, thank you very much.

Seriously?! That's all of the good he has to say about me? It's ironic that his favorite thing about me is one of the things I feel guiltiest about as a mom. Is it too often to have pizza and mac & cheese weekly? I promise I give them vegetables too!

And Zac's card said, "I love my Daddy because he plays with me and makes me laugh." Uh, I'm not jealous or anything but I think I do that too :). At least he didn't say, "What Daddy?" (See this old post...).

In addition to these very sentimental placemats, Joel had a little M-Day program yesterday morning at school. All of the moms were in the classroom and the kids lined up in front of us to do their thing.

This darling little girl next to him kept pointing to her mom and smiling when she was singing the song about how wonderful moms are, as if to say, "Yep, Mom, that's you! You're the best!"

Joel maybe sang two words and was just sort of looking around like he had something better to do. At that point, I didn't feel so bad that while I actually remembered to bring the video camera, I didn't realize the battery was dead. It probably wasn't a moment we needed to record for posterity anyway!

Finale

Brody's first time swimming. I'm not sure, either he was just ready for a nap, or he just didn't like the pool.

By the end of the trip, this is how the adults felt.



Obviously, this kid wasn't as tired.

Palm Springs

The second part of our trip was spent at my parent's place on a golf course in the desert. It was a bit more relaxing!





Oh, and Zac having a little too much fun on Dumbo!

More...the cousins!

The boys had a great time being with their two girl cousins (why did both of our siblings have girls, but not Zac and I?!). Zac's sister and his niece, Joanna, drove up from San Diego to visit with us for awhile at Downtown Disney before we headed out to Palm Springs.

They all enjoyed playing with Mickey Mouse swords that my mom got them.



Joel and Stella (my other niece) are good buds!

Trip pictures

Joel had the best time!! Although if you ask him about his trip, he'll be most excited to tell you that "yesterday he lived in a hotel!!!"






Unfortunately, this picture summarizes how Jesse felt. Although, he did have a few perky moments here and there (more pics of that to follow).


Here we are...the stroller brigade.

We're back!!

Took a small blogging break so we could go to...

DISNEYLAND!

Oh, yes, we did! 4 kids, 4 and under (my niece was with us, too). We were quite the crew with our three strollers (one being my large double stroller).

And we survived to tell about it. Jesse almost didn't make it though. :) Poor guy, he got sick the day before we left for California and had a fever and nasty cough for the amusement portion of our trip. I felt so sorry for him and finally took him to an urgent care to get him some antibiotics. Another sinus infection. This child gets them often and they are always really bad. Any advice on prevention?? (Other than the standard humidifier, lots of water, eat healthy, saline nose drops, blah blah, blah...I already know all that--it doesn't really help him).

Anyway, we were tired. Think one hotel room + Jesse coughing all night long = bad combo.

But, my parents were very kind and took Brody in their room so at least I didn't have to get up with him too. I actually got 3 pretty decent nights of sleep--my first in 9 months!!

I'll post lots of pictures soon. Still a bit in recovery mode with a busy week ahead.

And until our youngest child is 5, I'm re-naming vacations to instead be called "Change of scenery" trips. Because, let's be honest. It's not your typical idea of vacation with three small children. It's just a busy life made even harder by being somewhere other than home with all of our "kid" things. But, it sure is fun to do something different for awhile!! Lots of great memories :)