A onesie story

When Jake was born, my mom gave me a pack of onesies that are different colors and have the days of the week embroidered on the front.  Jake wore them and then when Allie came along, she wore them too.
Sam wore them, and so did Nate.
Now Jason is wearing them.
When Jason was just a few days old, I got into the drawer to get him dressed and saw the onesies all folded in a neat little stack.  My mom had washed them and put them in the drawer to await my cute little Jason.  I looked through them remembering all the cute little Schwabby babies and started to cry.  Sunday was missing from the stack.  Sunday is missing because that's what Sam was buried in with his beautiful little white blessing outfit.  The Sunday onesie was pure white, so that's why we used it.
A mom shouldn't have to bury her baby.  It's something that I think of whenever I hear of another child that goes to heaven. 
I think about Sam all the time.  Throughout my pregnancy and when I found out about Sam's heart, I connected with his spirit and I know that he lives on.  So, although I feel like something is always missing from our earthly life, I do know that his spirit is very much alive and helping us from the other side of the veil.
 
Jason is growing out of these onesies.  They can barely snap over his chunky little body.  They'll be washed for the last time and folded up for me to save forever.  It's a sad thing for me to say goodbye to the baby stage of our lives, but I am grateful for every stage and for every day that I have with these kids here on earth.  I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that we will be together as a family and that I will get to be with my sweet Sam again, because I ache for him some days.

So, today, I wanted to share this story because my Savior Jesus Christ made all of that possible.  He lives.  I know that, and I am so grateful for that knowledge.

Good Morning!

This kid knows how to make me smile...I dare you not to get happy when you look at these pictures.

 

I wish you could hear him too.  He does this deep growl as he tries to eat his toes. 

Hair cut time!

Allie hates having her hair brushed.  It's a big part of our daily morning battles.  So, she begs to get it cut.  I want her to grow it out but have realized that there is just no point...I'm losing that battle.
So, we went to visit our pal Syndee and she gave the girl a cute new do.

 

 

 

 

Nate was in bad shape in the hair department too.

 

It's funny how a cute hair do can make it harder to get mad at the boy who just dumped out a pitcher of juice.  We'll have to keep this boy's hair looking sharp :)

Derby Car

Mike has been working with the young men of the ward for a while now and he decided that he wanted to get them going on a project...a demolition derby car project.  He has great memories of working on derby cars with his dad as a kid and thought it would be fun to get going with some of the boys in our ward. 

At first, I resisted.  Who does that?  He went ahead with all the plans though and found a car and got started.  Now I realize that it really was a great idea.  They have a great turn out of kids on the nights they work on the car. 

I don't think I took any "before" pictures, and for that, I am disappointed in myself.

 

When Mike brings the car home to work on it, our kids always get to help.  This day, Jake was breaking out the tail lights.  Allie has torn off trim.  Nate learned to say "derby car" and says it often.

When the boys come over, it's pretty chaotic.

On this day, they were using a cutting torch and breaking out all the glass.  The cutting torch filled our house with smoke.  The glass left our garage littered with tiny shards that seem to find their way into the house too.  Just the other day, I picked a piece out of my foot.
It's complete chaos, but it's great for boys.  I hope they all love it and remember it as a fun project.

I'll have to keep you updated on the progress.

I know it's terrible to want your child to be sick, but I always have a hard time wanting to take my kids into the doctor when they are sick.  I hate to be turned away with the news that it's just a virus we have to wait out.  So when Jason was screaming all evening and I had to take him in to Instacare, I was grateful that he was screaming for a reason.  He had another ear infection.
So, now he's taking this pink stuff each day.
The point of the post though, is about Nate.  He watches me give Jason the yummy looking stuff and he is so jealous.  He wants it too.  He tries to open the container and begs for it.  Yesterday, he was successful in getting the lid off.  Luckily, Jason had been on it for 7 days and it was mostly gone.  I did call the pediatrician though, in case it was something that I needed to worry about.  They all just laughed when I told them that Nate had gotten through the child proof lid...it wasn't too surprising.

First bite

I haven't been in any hurry to get Jason on solid foods.  It's sort of a pain to feed babies solids and I just haven't wanted to get started on that mess.

The kids have begged though.  So one night, we gave him a little taste.  That little chunky monkey gobbled it up and wanted more.

 

He thinks rice cereal is pretty good...just wait till he gets a taste of pears.  Yum!

Rainbow drink

For St. Patrick's Day I made the kids these cute rainbow drinks.  I got the idea off Pinterest.

 

The kids loved them.

Picnic

Most of our snow is gone now, but at the time of these pictures, we still had quite a bit.  The sun was shining though and these kids thought it was the middle of July.  So they asked for a picnic.

 

Then they got dressed up in crazy fairy garb and went out to play.

I am going to be sad when these girls go to school for the full day.  I have enjoyed their funny activities and crazy plans.

More Stats

Our insurance is good to pay for well child appointments, so even though Jake doesn't need any more shots, I took him in just because we could. 
We were a little late and now he's been 8 for a few months, but it was still good to go.

He's growing up right on track.  I wish I could have told the mom to 12 month old Jacob to ignore the doctor that was stressing me out because my boy was such a shrimp back then.  She had me all worried and forcing food down his gullet.  I was even feeding him Pediasure because she had me convinced that he was malnourished.  It's true that he was a small boy, but he has caught up for sure.  In fact, he grew 4 inches in one year.  He is now 54 inches tall which is the 90th percentile.  It's about time he showed some height...how can he not be tall with us for parents?

He seems to be doing well in all the other areas of growth and I was proud to hear him answer all the doctor's questions with confidence.  He's a good kid.  I'm proud of the boy he is becoming.

 

I looked for a picture to add, but couldn't find one of just Jake lately.  So here's one of him helping his little brother so they could go out and play.

I also have to add this picture he did in art...I think it's a zebra.  It makes me smile :)

 

Stats

I took Nate to his 2 year old appointment.  He's happy and healthy.  I was surprised to see that he weighs 27 pounds (40%).  Now that Jason is almost 17 pounds, that means I am carrying around well over 50 pounds when I carry both of them around with Jason in his car seat.  I do that all the time :)  In fact, as I was walking into the appointment (making quite a scene as usual), a lady offered to help me by carrying Jason's car seat.  I was struggling to keep a wiggly Nate in my arms and had set down the car seat to get a better grip.  She picked up Jason and started to walk into the building.  As she walked, she said "I don't know how you young mothers do it with these contraptions!  This is heavy!" 

To tell you the truth, I love car seats.  They keep kids safe in the car, but they also keep them contained.  Can you imagine trying to drive somewhere with Nate on the loose?!  It's so nice knowing they will all stay where you last put them.  In fact, when Nate is happy in the car, it is nice and relaxing for both of us.  I know he is contained, and he seems to be content to sit and look out the window and sing "boba ran".  That reminds me, the irony is never lost on me as we listen to the Beach Boys and drive around in sub zero weather with pelting snow, yet Nate requests it as soon as we start the engine some days.  I'm excited for summer to get here so I don't have to feel like I am being slapped in the face when I hear the lyrics of sunny days.

Anyway, moving on, Nate is 35.25 inches tall and that is the 75%.  He's a tall boy. 

He had to get one shot and rather than cry, he tried to punch the nurse's hands away and yelled "why'd you do dat?!"  He wanted to cry, but he was tough.  Nothing a "suckie" didn't fix a few seconds later.

 

 

Nate is a good boy and I am so grateful for him.  He makes my life chaotic at times, but he brings me joy and happiness as well.  Love you boy!

Birthday Celebrations

Nate had a great birthday.  He started the day out with pure excitement when he found out there were balloons.

He didn't let go of them for a long, long time.

 

Normally, the kids get to pick their birthday cereal.  This kid saw a can of spaghetti o's when we were showing him cereal options, and that's what he demanded.  It's his special day, so that's what he got!

 Here he is, all spiffed up for the day.

The cleanliness didn't last long, because he wanted to help with the cake.

 This boy isn't afraid of much, but the mixer made him a little nervous.  He got over his fear though and helped me stir things up a bit.

He got to eat lunch with his two favorite girls.

 

 Then it was time for a nap, and when he woke up, Grandma was here!

 

 

 Dinner was grilled cheese and his favorite, tomato soup.

 

 

The motorcycle cake was a total hit.

 

I love how he crashes everything and makes great sound effects. 

 Allie and Jake helped him open his gifts.  He was happy with everything, but still hung on to that motorcycle.

He loved his new books.

 This was the last thing I saw as I tucked my cute little 2 year old into bed for the night.  It was a great day.  I love this boy.

 Happy Birthday Nate!