Gate

Bought a temporary gate to protect our baby's precious head and all while we wait for the other gate to arrive. :) He is trying to cope with another tooth breaking through. I would not be surprised if it is here in the morning.

aaah. baby!!

Eric returned home Sunday from his 2nd business trip this month. Hopefully this marks one of the last ones as the current project is nearing an end. Unfortunately the end of his work on the project may take up all of December, even through Christmas. :(
This week Clayton wanted to go with Jeriah to his Sunday school class and was all upset because he needed to "play with Jeriah, need to play with my best best friend" :) awwwwwww!
Mathias is still trying to grow up way too fast. He is standing and walking along furniture and trying to eat our food and crawling fast. He even almost climbed into the bathtub Sunday! Unfortunately his advanced development has caught us offguard and unprepared-he has fallen down the stairs twice this week :( We have 16 stairs! Thankfully they are carpeted and the floor at the bottom is not concrete or anything too hard. The first fall was short, i think. He must have slid most of the way down bc i only heard 2 thumps, but today i heard more. i thought eric was skipping down the steps until i heard the baby hit the floor and cry. I'm sure he is fine since he cried harder when i put him to bed than when he fell down the steps and he did not have any marks on him this time. He has a rub burn scab on his nose now from the first incident. Yes, we have a gate, but it does not fit. I ordered one a week or two ago but it has not arrived and he decided to sled down them before we were prepared and of course in the 10 seconds that we were distracted. I may have to hit up Walmart tomorrow and see if they have anything big enough. I expect that he will have two more teeth any day now. Hopefully he does not knock them out anytime soon :/ (sorry, that is kind of ill humor, but trying not to stress out too much)
I hope the next post has only positive remarks.
oh, Clay got to be the "Green Star Student" this week and be the leader and have show and tell. He did a really good job. he likes school and tells me about it when he gets home off the bus. Jeriah is enjoying school also. Tomorrow will be his 3rd day.

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Growing Like Weeds

The baby is 7 months old tomorrow and growing way too fast. He is off the charts (over 100th percentile)for his height and 75th percentile for his weight-29.5 inches and 18 lbs 14 oz. He is an avid crawler now and standing up all the time and even taking a couple steps along furniture or when holding my hands. He has hair now too and it is growing really fast. Mathias loves the water and tried to crawl back into the bathtub with his brothers several times this evening after I had taken him out. He just never stops moving! Now if I could just get him to stop teething and sleep all night, I think I would be a new woman!
Clayton had his first week of kindergarten this week and Jeriah had his first day of preschool today. They both are enjoying school. They are also still trying to recover from the wasp trauma from last month. Sometimes they are ok outside, but last week they would not go out willingly and whenever they saw a bee or flying insect Jeriah especially, would scream at the top of his lungs. The first time he screamed I thought someone was dying! He saw one at school today and did not flip out but he did run to his teacher and cling for a minute.
Clayton's word of the week is "outrage." He was in trouble for biting and told to stay in his room. He came to the top of the stairs and said, "This is an outrage!" I had to laugh at that one. Apparently it came from his favorite video-Planet Heroes.

Our vacation in Elk Rapids was wonderful. Eric was able to stay the whole time and my sister and brother were there for 4 days. We had a lot of fun in the water and in town. Eric and I did a ropes course that made us a few years younger (or maybe older ??). And I won a round of putt-putt for the first time ever!!
We were able to see uncle Charlie and auntie Kate during their stop in Michigan on their way out to Utah. We also spent a week in Kalamazoo while Eric was in CA on business. yes, again! He is still traveling a lot but hopefully in the next month or 2 that will slow down a lot. Well, i am sure there is a lot more but i am going to bed. Here are a few pics and videos. Here is my first try at posting with picasa. Try this link and let me know if it works. if it does i will add more. these ones are from Mackinac City on our trip back to Houghton on Sunday and Monday.
Sarah

No More Shopping With Daddy

So we were all in Walmart today and twice I left the boys with Eric while I looked for something else and fed Mathias. Twice I here over the intercom that my children are lost! First it was, "Sarah, please come to the courtesy desk. Clayton is waiting for you!" The second time it was, "There are two children lost waiting at the paint counter" and a minute later, "There are two girls..(silence), oh, I mean 2 boys, lost at the paint counter." Ok, so I did cut their hair this week so why are they still mistaken as girls! And how is it that my children got lost/my husband misplaced my children, twice in an hour and a half or so at Walmart?!! I think they were ready to call CPS on us or at least charge us for their services :/ No more family trips to Walmart!

Poor Jeriah woke up in the middle of the night hallucinating that bees were coming after him, for about 20-30 minutes. I finally convinced him it was just lightning bugs and dragonflies and he fell back to sleep next to me. That was strange. We tried 2 different bedrooms and he said the same thing, "they're coming at me...those...what are those?....." it was not shadows, i really think he was hallucinating or something :(

So much in one day to tell!!!

Well, i know it has only been a day or two since I updated this post but soooo much has happened since yesterday that i thought i should tell it all before I forget.
WASP ATTACK
Yesterday Eric took the boys for a hike and they were attacked by a huge nest of wasps. Eric and Clay got stung once but Jeriah got it 5 times!! He was up in a tree stand when they came out. He is doing fine but the one on his shoulder does not look very good. I am attaching a picture of his war wound

BABY STANDS
yes, Mathias pulled himself up to standing today, using the boys' mattress to pull himself up. I will try to get him to do it on camera tomorrow.

MORE FIRSTS
Mathias had his first real bath in the big bathtub and he was super excited. He was so excited to get to the bath stopper and running water that he raced forward in his first regular crawl to get to the other end of the bath tub. he did lots of splashing and moving around as well. That boy is always moving and always on his feet!
We took the boys swimming in Hancock for the first time today and then had dinner and ice cream at Jim's Family restaurant. Mathias scooched himself from the sandy beach all the way to the water with serious intent. I saw another family of 5 there with 3 boys that looked the same age as mine so I had to introduce myself. Their boys are also age 5 and 3 and the youngest is 3 months. I am not the only one, Halleluiah!! :) At dinner after swimming, Mathias just stared at our food in jealousy, moving his lips and tongue around, waiting for his bite (sorry, bud) :)He has had cereal a few times now but i am not in the habit of carrying it with me yet.

Our conversation commentary for the night is this: Clay kept getting out of bed and Eric told him AGAIN to get back in bed. Clayton stood in his doorway frowning and in his pouty/whiny voice said, "I'm tired of this! I am upset!" I could not help but giggle and say the same myself, "I'm tired of this too Clay, now go to bed"

Well, I think I must head to bed myself. More soon. Maybe :)

oh wait, i forgot. our friend dave and skye who also went to tech and live in Maui, have family here still. so skye, and their daughter Tia are visiting right now. Tia is in a couple of these pics with the boys.

6 Months Already!!

WEll, first off I am happy to say that Eric has finally returned after 10 1/2 long days away, and we are all still alive to welcome him home (just barely) :/ Sometimes I am not sure if I should be upset that the Lord has allowed sooo much to be on my plate at all times; or if I should take it as a compliment; or if I should realize I must be a really slow learner and He is still trying to teach me patience, or something :/ (see peanut butter picture above)
Anyway, the best reason for this post is that today is MATHIAS 6 MONTH BIRTHDAY!!!
Wow, time flies. He has had 2 teeth and been working on crawling for about 6 weeks now. He is not crawling across the room yet but he manages to get around pretty quick between his "downward dog" crawl and rolling. He is sitting really well now and has tried baby cereal about 3 times now. He is already starting to instigate trouble with his brothers though :) : I had Clay and Jeriah in bed and quiet and as soon as I started to pray, baby Mathias starts laughing. So of course, the boys start laughing and jumping and doing what they can to get Mathias to laugh again. :) It was funny.

Now that we are getting settled it is about time to pack up and go back downstate for our extended family vacation at Elk Lake. I have not been there in 6 years and am really looking forward to our time there. Now that we have new, regular tires, hopefully we are ready for this trip. Note to all car owners:DONT BUY "RUNFLAT" TIRES!!
Here are some recent pics, including a bike ride, a hike, Jeriah's peanut butter mess, and Clayton and his gecko swinging at McClain Park.
Sarah