Just for Aunt Angie...

We found this in the front yard this afternoon. The kids decided it died because "it must have stopped flapping its wings." Since Aunt Angie has an odd fascination with pictures of dead birds, we took some pictures for her...

The kids thought it would be fun to poke the poor dead bird with sticks. They are warped little munchins... (ok, ok... I may have suggested the sticks would be fun...)

My lame attempt at an artsy fartsy version for Angie...

Bucktooth binky...

Poor kids inherited their father's giant teeth, instead of their mom's little Chiclet teeth. They'll probably have to get a tooth pulled every time they visit the dentist, just like I did...

Ella:

Levi:

Noah:

I guess there still might be hope for Luke though...

Kid's Growth

Since we started this blog, and started reading other people's blogs about their kids, I've noticed one popular style of photo. People choose some adorable stuffed animal, and take a picture of their newborn with the stuffed animal. Then as the munchkin grows, they take pictures with the same stuffed animal so you can see how big they are getting (see here and here.)

I thought it would be fun to do something similar with Luke. Only I am not all that fond of cute stuffed animals. So I came up with something a little more... unique. It's an old wrench that I saved when we cleaned out all of my Grandpa Walcott's treasures from his garage.

Luke (19 days old):

The other kids had to join in as well...

Ella (4-1/2 years):

Levi (2-2/3 years): Poor kid still has a fever of 102.5° and didn't want to take a picture...


Noah (2-2/3 years):

For the record, this was not my original idea. My original idea was much, much better. It was much more politically incorrect, and more fitting with my sense of humor. Paige's exact words when she saw what I was up to were "You are disturbed! Disturbed!" She refused to let me post it, even though she laughed every time she saw the picture. So I had to find a backup, and you have all been deprived of a thoroughly funny set of pictures...

Email Paige or post a comment that you promise not to be offended, and maybe she will be swayed to let me post them...

Nevermind...

Levi woke up this morning with a fever, and has been tossing his cookies all day. Here goes round two...

Weekend...

The weekend was fairly uneventful after all. Noah had a 103° fever almost all weekend. For a while, we thought it might be due to a bug bite, cause he had a big nasty welt on his leg. None of the other kids got sick, so maybe that was the cause. His fever seems to be gone now though. Still no good idea what the cause was.

Paige was exhausted on Sunday, so I took the three oldest kids to Grandma's to go swimming. They had a great time in the pool, and playing at Grandma's. The aftermath, however, was brutal. We put them to bed at 8:30. Levi screamed and cried in bed until 11:30. Multiple spankings and threats did not convince him to stay in his room. Noah coughed and cried all night long, and was up at 5:50 AM, and cried for the next 2 hours. Add a 3 AM feeding for Luke, and Paige was running on very little sleep today. Paige emailed me today that Levi got more spankings for hitting and kicking her because she wanted to change his poopy diaper. He ended up crying himself to sleep at the bottom of the stairs. The terrible two's seem to be the terrible three's at our house...

However, the kids are not without their moments of humor...

Noah, with a poopy diaper: "Momma, change me before my buns get red like Clifford" [the big red dog]

The kids enjoyed an ice cream and brownie treat after Ella's pre-school graduation today. I asked all the kids who was going to share a bite with me. Noah replied... "Daddy, you can have a bite of... Levi's!" So generous of him.

Could be an interesting weekend...

I got a call at work from Paige today at 4:30 saying that Noah had a fever and had thrown up. By the time I got home, he had thrown up again. A couple of more times tonight as well.

After dinner, Noah was upstairs watching Charlotte's Web. We put a Looney Tunes movie on downstairs, trying to keep Levi and Ella away from Noah. Noah promptly came stumbling down the stairs and said "Wait for me! I'm all better now!"

In a further attempt to keep him away from the other kids, he is sleeping in our room tonight, in a pile of blankets on the floor. Also reduces the laundry required if he hurls tonight. I just went into our room to check if he was asleep, and found him like this...



Poor kid. It's going to be an ugly weekend if the rest of them get it...

Look Ma, no... training wheels!

Ella saw a little boy from his neighborhood go by on his bike tonight, with his dad helping him balance and no training wheels. She decided that she was ready to take off her training wheels too. So off came the wheels, and we made a few passes in front of the house. After about five minutes of galloping down the street like the hunchback of Notre Dame, trying to hold on to a bike seat a mere 6 inches off the ground, I had had enough. I decided that bike needed some engineering. A few hose clamps and a spare piece of pipe later, we were in business!



Ella had a huge smile the whole time, and was as brave as I have ever seen her when attempting a new experience. New experiences for Ella usually involve tears and lots of convincing from Paige and me. But she was all pumped up about riding her bike.

I kept going back and forth, thinking that my redneck contraption worked really well. Heck, there might even be other parents who are sick of hunching over and hobbling around behind their kid while trying to teach them to ride a bike. People might even pay for such a contraption! And there are like, 348 million kids in the US alone. Every one of them could use one of these, at a mere $19.99 each. It's a bargain! Finally, the invention that will make me rich and allow me to retire early! Then Paige burst my bubble, and said "Ummmm, honey... I think they already sell those in the store." Sure enough, someone stole my idea already... bugger...

Ready Rider

After bike riding, the kids were filthy. They also had been asking to play with the glow sticks ALL day. So we had our first ever glowstick bath. Cracked open all the glowsticks, fill the tub up, and turn off the lights. They thought it was the best bath ever!

Eight Days Old

We took Luke to the mall on Saturday for his 8 day old picture. We started this with Ella, kind of by accident. She was asleep when we took her in for pictures, and I think this pose was really the only one that turned out. But it was so cute, we repeated it with the following kids. Now I just need to find a frame that matches the other three. After we had Levi and Noah, I went out and bought three matching frames. When I came home with just three, Paige said "You should have bought four of them!." According to her, I said something like "Nope. We only need three of them." Apparently I changed my mind after the twin sleep deprivation had faded to a vague memory... :)

Ella:


Levi:


Noah:


Luke:

Elvis has left the building!

We had to go drop Grandpa and Grandma Meyer off at the airport today. We were all sad to see them go. Grandpa provides hours of entertainment for the kids, and had the boys completely worn out by the nap time every day. Grandma scurries around and cleans up after all of us, making the rest of us feel guilty for being slackers. And they got to spend a week snuggling with their newest grandchild. Here's a slideshow of a week with Grandpa and Grandma...

The Rock Gym

We took all the kids to the Phoenix Rock Gym this evening after dinner. The kids did pretty good. I think all three of them made it above about 6 feet up the wall at some point during the night. Even Grandpa and Grandma made it to the top of a wall, with the grandkids cheering them on.

Ella:


Levi:


Noah (He did actually have fun at one point during the night, I just don't seem to have a picture of it):


Grandma at the top:


Grandpa (way in the background, with the black shirt):


A few more pictures...

080509-Rock-Gym

When we got in the van to leave, Ella asked me "Dad, are you going to be a rock climber when you grow up?"

Who does Luke look like, part two...

From Stan Huisman... "Luke strikes me as having the same facial expressions that
I imagine Winston Churchill might have had as an infant."

I'm not sure if Stan just called our baby ugly or not... but there is an uncanny resemblance. Hey, if he grows up to help lead the free world in defeating the invading barbarians... we'll take the little old man faces.

More sleeping pictures

I ran across a few other pictures of me sleeping with the kids. Apparently I do this quite a bit. I found about 5 more of myself and Ella in her baby book, but I don't feel like scanning them all in. I also found some funny ones of Grandpa Meyer, Aunt Gina, and Paige... but I won't embarass them.

With Levi on my lap...

I think Ella climbed into our bed one morning and went back to sleep. Somehow I managed not to crush her in my sleep. Amazing, considering that she is literally under my shoulder.

Ella and I tucked in bed...

The classic. Out cold on the couch, head slumped to the side, mouth agape, and Ella giving me a "Is this guy really competent to raise me?" look. Hey, at least I didn't drop her when I dozed off...

Who does Luke look like?

People keep asking "So who does Luke look like?" The nurses at the hospital thought he looked like me, but I think it's just because we make the same grumpy faces. I'm horrible at this game though. So here are some pictures of Ella, Levi, and Noah as newborns. Who does he look like most?

Luke, for comparison...


Levi and Noah. Don't ask me which one is which. I think Levi is on the left here... but I could be wrong.

Levi and Noah. Levi is on the left. I only know because we have a labeled version saved on our computer.

Ella. She and Luke apparently both got their grumpy faces from me...

Ella again...

Back home... one of us at least

Grandpa Meyer flew in to town today to meet his new grandson. Here he is holding Luke, while Luke makes funny faces at him.


Grandpa is staying at the hospital with Paige tonight, so I came home and relieved my mom and sister of babysitting duty. Levi and Noah just fell asleep, nearly 2 hours after I put them in bed. The combination of a Red Robin chocolate shake and the excitement of having dad home does not make for nice quiet bedtimes.

I however, will have no problem sleeping. The 3 AM feedings are going to take some getting used to again. Sometime around what felt like 3 AM last night (I have no idea what time it really was), Paige managed to get her first photo of me sleeping with Luke. She likes sneaking up on me and getting a picture when I fall asleep with the kids. All I remember is hearing clicks and whirs in my sleep, and seeing flashes through my eyelids, and dreaming that I was being abducted by aliens.

Luke got to wear his first real clothes today, instead of the goofy little shirts they give you at the hospital. Here he is in his outfit, flashing gang signs for the camera...

Ella wanted a girl

We have been explaining to the kids that we didn't know if we would have a boy or girl, but we would find out when mom had the baby. Ella thought for sure that she was going to get a baby sister. We called Ella first yesterday to tell her that she had a baby brother. A few hours later, my mom and sisters brought the kids over to meet Luke. On the way over, Ella told my mom "Mom and Dad picked out the wrong baby!"

Sorry kiddo, we didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. But the upside is that Ella gets a room all to herself now, while her poor brother's will be crammed in the bunkhouse room for the rest of their childhoods...

More pictures

Aunt Angie posted the last few posts with photos for us. Thanks Angie! Our good friend Denese came to visit today, and brought her husband's laptop so I could use the hospital's wifi (thanks Eric!) Our camera isn't as fancy as Aunt Angie's, and half of them were taken at whatever time last night that Luke needed to eat, but here are some more photos. I think the slideshow should have a link to the Picasa album if you want to look at the photos individually.

Meet your baby brother...

A few photos from the munchkins' visit:

Ella and her baby brother


Levi giving Luke a kiss




Noah