Baking Cookies

Of Wiggly Worms and Sleepless Nights

Last night our little Cameron had a horrific nightmare that kept all of us up for nearly four hours. Apparently he was dreaming of worms and it was so vivid and realistic to him that is continued even after he was awake. We brought him into our bed so that the other boys would not be disturbed and that helped for about 2 minutes upon which he realized that the worms had followed him in to our room. Oh boy did he scream.

The poor kid was shaking like a leaf in the wind and when we held him he was stiff as a board holding on for dear life. Nothing we said or did consoled him- he just stood there pointing at the floor to where the worms were lurking and screamed at us like we were the insane ones. After an hour of attempting to convince him it was all a bad dream Daddy decided to just play along and attempt to shoot the worms as Cam had requested. But he kept missing. Because he couldnt see them. A screaming, halucinating 3 year old and a half asleep Daddy shooing the floor with a finger gun while shouting "Bang, Bang" is quite a site.

We kept trading off so when it was my turn I was able to lay him down as long as I kept my arms wrapped around him tightly. However every 10 seconds he had to lift the covers to inspect for intruding worms. He trembled, he wimpered, and finally he had worked back up to a scream.

At this point Daddy was hungry from being awake so long so he took Cam out to the kitchen for a snack. I knew Aiden would be waking at any time so I just went ahead and got him up to nurse while Cam and Daddy were snacking. After munching on some cheese Cam was so exhausted he was falling over- Daddy took him into his own bed and after some careful investigating for worms they both FINALLY slept soundly. As did Mommy. It was 4am.

Aiden woke at 5. Life is good.

Between Brothers

N- Hey Cameron, I have a great idea

C- What?

N- You can share your pumpkin bread with me.

C- Nah, I want to eat my pumpkin bread

N- You need to share

C- I'm sharing with myself

N- Cameron if you do not share I am going to hit you.

(This is where mommy intervened)

5 Wonderful Months!

Our sweet baby Aiden Christopher is 5 months old today! I can not believe he is so big already-it makes me sad that he is growing so fast. It seems like only yesterday I thought I would be pregnant forever, then he was here- a sweet, fresh little newborn. Now he is so big and chubby, full of smiles and giggles. Aiden is an absolute joy each & every day. He wakes up and goes to sleep with a smile on his face. He has been such a wonderful blessing to our family and we thank God for him each day!

Right now Aiden loves to be naked and cries when he has to get dressed, he enjoys squealing and saying ba-ba-ba-ba. When he watched us eat (he sits on Daddy's lap for dinner) he imitates us by smacking his lips. He is very proficient at bouncing in his jumper and mommy is afraid he is going to shoot right out of it one day. Aiden is happy being held and loves to give slobbery open mouth kisses, he also is content to play with his toys on his blanket- where he has a nice view of what is going on around him.

Everyone who encounters Aiden comments on how pleasant he is! Mommy and Daddy surely agree!

Our family

We enjoyed a quiet, relaxed Thanksgiving at home yesterday as the stomach virus continues to move its way through the boys. Today I am letting the boys lay around while I do laundry & some disinfecting around the house. Hopefully Shane will be home early. We have a ton of pie and the boys are still not feeling well enough to eat it!

I am Thankful For....

Much To Be Thankful For

Wow, where has the time gone!
We had planned to travel to the Eastern Shore tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving with our extended families but it seems that God has steered us in another direction. Little boys with tummy bugs have led us to plan a dinner here at home. This will be our first Thanksgiving with only our own little family unit.

The boys are all growing beautifully- I am blessed beyond measure to be the mother of these children. Our little one Aiden is growing so fast- I am trying to cherish each moment. He is positively the most joyful baby I have ever known! Cameron and Benjamin are now 3 years old- where did my babies go?? They are big boys! They alternate between loving and beating one another! They are such neat little people. Cameron is our "Dinky Peanut" and Ben is our "Curly Top". Nathan just turned 4, and he reminds us daily that 4 is very big. He loves to change his name to "Leo" and he is thrilled with all things red. Brendan has become quite a handful, but underneath his spirited persona is a heart of gold. We are bringing him back home to homeschool and I am so excited to have him with me each day.
God has blessed our family so much- I am just so humbled by His grace & mercy. Even with the world around us so chaotic there is much to be thankful for....

A Savior
A Husband
Five Beautiful Boys
Food to Nourish Us
A Home To Shelter Us
A Fire To Warm Us

1 month old!

I just can not believe that Aiden Christopher is one month old today! He is just a delightful baby! He is happy and smiley most of the time- even when he is covered in spit up! He is nursing well & very frequently. He wakes about every 2 hours at night. I put him to bed (with us) between 9 & 10 pm and he is usually actively awake between 7 & 8. His eyes are getting very blue and he is getting chubby rolls all over! His interests right now are mommy, his fashionable diapers, and staring at the ceiling fan.

School Time!

We started our preschool homeschool this morning and things really went well. I decided to use the basic curriculum idea from Letter of the Week with some modifications that I choose. Here are some pictures of our Monday lesson.




Here is this weeks learning poster. On Monday we introduce the concepts on the poster and concentrate our focus on the letter sound and the theme words. We focused on the theme word Apple today.
Here are Cameron & Ben coloring their Apple pages. We are working on following directions such as 'Color the apple red, the leaf green, and the stem brown. On the reverse side of their page I have written their name in large letters. We spell each name when I pass out the papers. Nathan can spell his name very well, Cameron can spell his when he is looking at it, and Ben knows most of the letters in his name. (he does have the longest!)


If you look closely you will see that the boys are trying to make the ASL sign for 'A'.

Our books for today support our theme word of Apple. We also read out Bible story- 'Adam and Eve'.
We finished up school time with a snack of apple slices.

And Aiden makes five!

Aiden Christopher joined our family on July 2,2008 at 8:28am two weeks and two days past his 'due date'. He is an absolute dream of a baby and I am just as in love with our fifth child as with all the others. It is quite an adjustment getting used to our life with five children- four of them being 3 and under- but we are so thankful for each one of them that even the chaos is a blessing.
Thanks to co-sleeping and breastfeeding I am feeling pretty good, and Daddy is just amazed that Aiden does not cry at all at night- meaning he is getting a full nights rest. I dont mind at all though because Daddy has been a huge help with the other boys- getting up with them and doing morning diaper & potty duty and fixing breakfast.
Our family routine is going through a lot of changes and thanks to our Mothers Helper we hired we are trying to keep the other boys on track while I re-evaluate how we plan our day. Its a good thing it is summer time and I dont feel as much pressure with schooling! I am having a hard time taking them outside though- and that can hopefully change soon. I love the boys spending time outside but I worry about the pool and I feel like I cant chase them fast enough.
Im sure it will all fall into place as we move along in this adventure called life- even on the hardest days I feel so blessed to be home taking care of my children.

9 months!!