Daddy's Home!

Do not be fooled by these sweet little faces from our morning at the pool today......

We had a bit of an afternoon. Well, nap time anyway.  Maybe this whole Cal and Jack happily sharing a room for nap time and bedtime is not going to work out after all.  I'm willing to try a bit longer, but today tested my patience with the process.

I'll spare you all the details, but after Calvin revived nearly-asleep-Jack and Luke by yelling as loud as he could for help with a fingernail, I thought I'd have his hide.  Of course, 20 minutes later Calvin was sweetly sleeping away while Jack and Luke were deliriously crying because they needed to sleep so badly.

Eventually the tide turned, and Jack and Luke found sleep. Everyone was much happier when they woke up, and Daddy coming home redeemed the whole afternoon!

Calvin's Role Play

Cal has been pretending a lot in his play lately. This morning he has been trying to play with Luke's mobile.....not too surprising. He has also been saying things to Luke like, "He's so sweet" and "Awww" and "Good job, Luke!"

However, Calvin has had many not-so-predictable scenes as well. For example:

Yesterday he said, "I'm just going to lay down on the couch for a while while you and Jack start eating dinner because I don't feel very well." One of the classic moves in the "Rocke Infirmary." Thankfully the infirmary has been inactive apart from Calvin's role play for a week now!

This is Calvin with his moving truck....lined up next to the curb just like the moving truck in the neighborhood about 6 weeks ago. The people were moving to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Guess where Calvin is heading?

Apparently Mr. Moose just had a birthday where he turned 10, and Daddy Lion and Symba both just recently turned "26 or 27." I am assuming this is in honor of Jack's birthday last weekend.

And Calvin has been walking around with an apron (suppose to be a tool belt, I think) cooking on the grill ("griddle") with all his tools in the pouches. I am not sure where he gets the apron idea because Dan certainly would not be caught dead wearing an apron. However, since our grill is broken, I have been using the griddle....poor guy thinks that a grill is a griddle.

And yesterday at the pediatrician both boys starting slapping their knees and laughing while saying "Daw Gone it!" after Calvin dropped a cracker on the floor. I was glad that I had not used other exclamations at home for them to copy at that moment!

Cooing and cooking

I got a little one-on-one time with both Luke and Jack today while Calvin was taking his nap.  Jack helped me make some corn bread.  He looked so precious sitting there on the counter with his after-nap-sleepy-eyes.

Licking the beater perked him right up!

Luke and I just laid on the couch together, and he had quite a lot to say to me. So sweet!

Happy Birthday John David!

Jack is 2! We aren't great at throwing a big celebration for birthdays, but I was glad to get to celebrate this little guy today! He is such a precious gift to us, and I was glad to get to focus on him for a day since his brothers have been taking so much of our time lately.

Jack has been loving garbage trucks these days and loves his new garbage truck "Fah-ree tuck" from Grandma and Papa and dump truck from me and Dan. Calvin did a great job being patient and letting Jack play with his new toys first. It was all the self-control he could muster.

And the birthday food....

Chocolate Cake




































And Ice Cream...with the imitation pose. I am not sure which one of us was resting our heads on our hands, but Jack took note. =) Sweet buddy.

Jack has a new-found phobia of the "Happy Birthday" song. We weren't really sure what to do with it....felt a little anti-climactic.

And a birthday walk around the neighborhood after church.

Unfortunately Jack's birthday spankings exceeded his age today, too. Welcome to the 2's! 

Sam and Abbey

Uncle Sammy and Aunt Abbey came to visit us this weekend! So far, Jack has insisted on having Sam carry him everywhere...including up and down a pretty rugged trail at the Eno River this morning.

Abbey ran up the trail back to the car with Cal, and he has been wanting to be with her ever since!

Dan and I love having them here, too...and not only because they help with the boys  and brought us a GDO to replace the one we lost! 

Round 2

Bedtime went great last night!  The only casualty was "Baby Jesus."  Jack kept petitioning me this morning saying, "Uh, oh Baby Jesus." Cal translated that Jack dropped his new favorite (plastic) lovie under the bed.

When Jack got out of bed last night, I overheard Dan say, "If you get out of bed again, I am going to take Baby Jesus away." There it's just something a little disturbing about that...

I was a bit anxious about nap time for Jack, but he is asleep!

3 new beds!

We've been talking for a while about a systematic, gradual transition to new beds.

Cal to top bunk.
Jack to the bottom bunk.
And Luke from drawer to crib.

Instead we got a wild hair and just did it all tonight. Here goes!

Attention

The biggest challenge since Luke was born 8 weeks ago has been giving each of the boys the attention that they need.   I have been praying that God would help me to know how to love each of the boys in the way that speaks to them in the time that I have with them.

Calvin and I are similar in that as long as we are talking throughout the day, we are good. That has not been too difficult since I can talk while doing anything. Yesterday I was tired after a fun few days with Amanda, Mac, and Corrie, so I was zoning out a bit in the afternoon. Calvin kept saying, "Mommy, why aren't you answering me?" That little man knows how to advocate for himself =).

Jack has been another story. He loves to wrestle, chase, and be held, but he does not initiate...much more unnatural for me.  Over the last couple weeks, I have been spending a lot more of this kind of time with him, and he is doing a lot better....and it has been fun to be with that sweet little man!

Jack has also started talking more, which helps me out, too. One of my favorite new things he is saying is, "ky....for okay." I love when he uses it. In this picture Jack is having a time out....when I told him to go to timeout for drinking the water after I told him not to, he said, "Ky," in his raspy, low little voice before scampering to the timeout chair. I just wanted to tell him to not worry about going because he is so darn cute!  

Luke is almost 8 weeks old and still sleeping/eating most of the time. When he is awake, I am often protecting his sweet blue eyes from Cal and Jack, who literally try to point them out...only because they are so excited to see him awake.

Today Luke was awake during the boys' naptime, so I got to play alone with him a bit...man, he is so sweet!

Then he went back to sleep...

We lost our GDO

Aka the garage door opener...the only key to the house we carry around. Ugh!
So Dan, Amanda, and I took the whole crew to look for it for the hundredth time. It was quite a sight!

Jack found lots of goose poop, which he pointed out by sticking his finger on. And Calvin and Corrie were amused with this stick Cal found...Cal managed to balance it on his ear the whole way home.

But still no GDO. If and when we find it, maybe I'll take Cal's lead and tuck it away safely behind my ear from now on.

Calvin caught a fly with his bare hands

I am pretty sure it was the same one that Dan unsuccessfully chased after all night....

Eno River

It seemed really complicated before we left, but it was not bad at all and a lot of fun! Cal is in his element whenever he can hike and act like a big guy. Jack wanted Dan to hold him for most of our (really short) hike and playtime at the river. That made Jack in his element, too...sweet buddy! Luke and I did what we always do. I loved it, and can't wait to see all 3 boys teetering along trail steps, roots, and rocks together in a couple years!

Luke is in his drawer...

Here is a favorite bedtime lullaby in our house lately...to the tune of Three Blind Mice. Sung by Calvin, Dan, Jack (sort of), and me.

"Three sweet buddies, three sweet buddies,
Are going to bed, are going to bed.

Calvin's in his bed.
Jack is in his crib.
Luke is in his drawer.

Three sweet buddies."

I've gotten some odd looks from friends and even the peds resident at the hospital upon mentioning Luke's humble abode, but I would highly recommend it.

He can be easily transported from his room to the master bathroom to downstairs on the living room bench. All reasonable places for a nap or night time sleep!

He likes his temporary bed...for now.

Smile!

Love this little man!

4th of July

Yesterday was Dan's first day of "senior call." He was home most of the day, but had to go in just as all three boys were waking up at the same time and we were ready to go to out friends' house for the evening.

There was much crying in the throes of getting out of the house, but once we made it, our friends made the juggling act much smoother.

They carried children and food for me throughout the night, but I am most thankful for their simplicity with their kids and mine. Most of the 8 kids between the three families present were naked or nearly so the whole night...playing in the pool and sandbox. It was pretty sweet to see them all together, and who needs a swim diaper or swimsuit with friends anyway?...at least when you are 3 and under!

Provision

It is naptime, and I feel awake...for the first time in a long while.  

Could it be because Kim was just here, allowing me to sleep 2+ hours every afternoon?  Yes. 

It was so good to have her here playing with the boys and hanging out with me!  She was so good, especially with Jack, who has needed a little TLC lately.   She just gets him and connects with him by playing peek-a-boo, joking with him, and pushing cars around.

This might be my favorite moment of her being here....we were both trying really hard not to laugh audibly when Calvin and Addie both landed themselves in timeout at the same time. The body language and eyebrows say it all! They were not nearly as pleased as we were!

Could it be because Luke slept from 9-5 last night? DEFINITELY!

I am thankful that God has provided all the rest I could need despite having a newborn and 2 other little goobers to take care of.

As if rest were not enough, God made a way for us to get a new high chair for Jack, which I have been wanting for a while now. He loves Calvin's wooden chair that a friend handed down to us, so I wanted to get him one of his own. Upon searching online for one, I quickly realized I could not make this happen on my own because they are so expensive and too new/trendy for people to be posting on craigslist.

Dan and I went on a little date to the Habitat for Humanity "REstore" this weekend while Kim babysat during naptime...just to look around. Dan asked if I wanted to look for anything, and I said no. He said, "A highchair?" knowing I have been pining after one. There was NO WAY a place like this would have one.....none on craigslist, none on ebay, etc, so I just laughed.

We walked over to the kitchen furniture area just in case and, sure enough, no wooden highchair.  Then, as we were walking by a random hallway-ish aisle by the back, there, holding a few misplaced books was the exact high chair I've wanted to get him, in perfect condition, sitting there with a $10 sticker on it, not $200 like it costs new. CRAZY! Dan and I just looked at each other like we were getting away with something. I think we were....the volunteer who stocked/priced it surely did not know what the heck it was and how much it should have cost.  And I know God wanted it that way because he wanted to provide for us in this small, but so tangible way right now. Thank you, Lord!