Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning this year was more geared towards our family than our house.  Jared and I are working very hard right now to change some things, or better stated, habits, that our famiy has fallen into.  We have been doing a great job keeping our family close and running smoothly on many accounts with me working a good amount during the week.  Though I think I do a decent job keeping my work hours during time periods when kids are asleep, at school, or with Jared, I think we have fallen into some habits or forgotten some routines that just need to be recooped.  So our Spring Cleaning started with some family changes. Here's my favorite one:

I had Jared affix this whiteboard in our family room and we are now keeping job lists for the kids on it.  We had a family meeting about how it would work, etc.  I let the kids know I would not give them more than 5 jobs, and cleaning rooms has to be done before school, so that will never be a job on the list.  No rewards for these-these are just their responsibilities that must be done before any movie/play time.  So far, it is working well, and providing a lot more structure.

We shifted around when we do scripture/prayer so it is at one consistent time in the evening, right before the first round of bedtimes.

We nixed certain foods because they were being abused.  Sounds silly.  But when I find myself picking up goghurt, fruit snack, and cereal crumbs off the floor all day, I call that abuse.  So we are taking a break from cereal and certain snack/food items that have become issues.  We now rely on fruits, string cheese, applesauce, and otter pops for snacks and that's around it.  Breakfast is officially bagels, toast or eggs.

We have other routines we will be incorporating in the next few weeks, but I didn't want to overwhelm with too many changes at once, so we are giving our family some acclimation time before adding anything else.  But I'll tell you now, the next thing to happen is a set-in-stone nighttime routine to help the dinner-bathtime-bedtime activities flow smoother, while guaranteeing family time every night.

I feel like an officer in the army.  left left left right left...

First Swing!

So tickled that Becca thought to snap a few shots of this! Super cuteness!  He stayed in this swing for a good 20 minutes and didn't ever seem to get tired of it.  It was super windy, so that probably kept him entertained too.

Jackson: 4 months

Jackson is a few days over 4 months old-such a big boy and growing every single day!  Here's some 4 month stats/updates/pictures:

That was a lot of pics!  But I don't feel like moving them to be intermixed with the comments.  Oh well...

1. Doctor Updates:  Jacks is 15 pounds 3 ounces, right at the 50% mark.  He is just shy of 27 inches, right at the 98% mark.  I don't remember his head measurement, but that's right at the 50% mark as well.  Everything checks out just fine him by way of the doc, and he only had to get 2 shots, though he was super fussy that night and after I gave him some tylenol, zonked out at 7:15 without waking up until 6 this morning!
2.  Jackson rolled over back to stomach this month, though he is still working on getting his arms really up under him. He still doesn't care for tummy time all that much, though he holds his head up great-I think he gets frustrated that he can't kick around his legs freely or see as much.  He really prefers sitting up, and does great in his bumbo.  He will still faceplant if I attempt to prop him up in a sitting position with nothing around him, we'll see how that develops this month.  He bears weight on his legs perfectly, and loves to stand on my legs during church.  
3. Jackson loves to eat his fists all the time.  He will spit out his binky just to shove his fist in his mouth. He drools a lot these days, though I don't think he's seriously teething-just enjoying his fists.  He can be a talker when he wants, and has such a great giggle!  He is pretty ticklish in his ribs and hips and will pop out a huge smile at anyone who chats him up.  He is a happy baby.  He only cries if he needs something, and its pretty easy to calm him down.  I love how happy he is his smiles make my day.
4. Jackson is sleeping great-yea!  He falls asleep generally speaking around 9:30pm and I feed him for the last time at 11.  He goes right back to sleep and then doesn't wake until about 6:30am to eat again.  I want to get him to an 8pm bedtime sleeping through the night and then I'll be content; if I can get him to 7:30, even better. 
5. Jackson actually does have a daytime routine now with sleep/play patterns!  He eats at 6:30, and stays awake until 8:15 when he usually falls alseep during the drive to school.  He'll sleep until 10:00ish and I'll purposefully keep him awake until 1:00 so he can nap while I teach.  He sleeps until 3 when we pick up the kids, and will take one final nap around 5:30/6ish-usually waking by 7ish, though he could stay asleep until 8.  I need to get a little more strict about that final nap to help him actually go to bed earlier, but I'm in no real rush.  
6. In terms of being eating, Jackson is being finicky, which is pretty normal for 4 months.  He will eat every 3 hours, though I try to feed him every 2-2 1/2 to keep up my milk supply.  He gets frustrated if I don't feed him right when he realizes he is hungry, and once he's frustrated, he doesn't nurse well.  He can get through a feeding in about 8 minutes flat-so fast!  He nurses his best first thing in the morning, he can go 20 minutes then.  If I can catch him before he demands to be fed, he nurses better as well .  Its kind of like a game.  ;)  
7. Jackson's big claim to fame this month is exploring the exersaucer.  He stands up so well in it, and will stay engaged or a good 45 minutes before needing a change of pace.  The exersaucer itself is really on its last leg--if we were having another kid, I'd buy a new one.  But alas, that's not the case, so we just adorn it with separate toys and it works.  He likes that, as well as his bumby and his playmat for entertainment.  He does like grabbing toys, bringing them to his mouth, and sucking.  He likes looking at books too, his eyes get seriously big and its so funny to watch!  
8. Jackson is sporting a lovely bald spot in the back of his head...oh well, such is the life cycle of a baby.  He still has his swirls and his cradle cap has thankfully gone away.  He does still have one patch of skin on his forehead that is somewhat scaley.  I am still using head and shoulders twice a week, and using Cetaphil on that patch, it just kind of comes and goes.  
9. Jackson still loves his swing-in fact, if I need him to go to sleep, all I need to do is tuck him into his swing and flip on the music-he goes to sleep every single time.  He does love to be snuggledin his blankets still-I swaddle his upper body and leave his feet free to kick.  He occasionally kicks out of it during the night, but generaly speaking will stay put.
10. A few other notables:  Jacks had his first zoo trip this month, his first cadiology visit this month, his first slide this month, and his first splash pad visit this month.

That's about it!  Happy 4 months Jacks!

A Unique visit to the Barn Park

 No, that's not a new feature of the park, just a replacement of wood chips that made for some fun climbing adventures.

 The unique part is that I do not have allergies, but the dust that was stirring from this pile of wood chips was driving me insane.  Regardless, the kids had fun, and I was happy to give them an enjoyable outing with cousins for their spring break.

 Jackson got to go on his first slide ride today--well, his first 80 slide rides, given how many times his siblings and cousins wanted to slide with him!  He loved it....or dealt with it....honestly, I couldn't tell, he was pretty stoic.  But he didn't cry, so I call that a success!

First Swim of the Season!

Yes, it's time for that post--the first official swim of the season!  We headed to the Dump Bucket Pool (such a great unofficial name) today to bask in the heated water of the various pools.  Jared ended up taking the day off today, but he is not a fan of public pools...thus he got to stay home with Jackson and James while I hit the pool with the "big kids".  I truly enjoyed splashing around with Sara, playing tag in the lazy river with JD and Jordan, and both diving and flipping off the boards!  I can't do those things if I'm shadowing a 2 year old and holding a baby, and while I love my two little boys to pieces, it was so much fun playing around with my 4 big kids!

The trip ended on a little bit of a poopy note, but why ruin a lovely day with those details?  We'll go with that.  :)  So very much looking forward to summer simply to go swimming more often.

Random Updates

This is a seriously random list, but I haven't blogged in 2 weeks, and I need to get an update going.  I'll have to add in some more defined posts this weekend, but for now, it will be randomness.

1. I officially ended my class today-woohoo!  Did the 14 week class in 8 weeks, and now I can apply for my renewed teaching certificate and my full SEI endorsement.  That means I can start evaluating in a new area with WGU and hopefully get a good raise.  My final was tonight, and though it was a little annoying (testing center woes), I am pretty sure I got 100%.  I love taking classes-I wish it was free so I could take class after class after class....
2. We are in the middle of spring break, and I think I am doing an okay job keeping the kids entertained.  Monday was play-at-McDonalds day, where we saw two brothers wailing on each other; Tuesday was spring cleaning day; Wednesday was Grandma Lautenschlager day; Thursday will be Dump Bucket Pool Day; Friday will be Barn Park Day; and Saturday will be Zoo Day.  The kids are also doing a sleep over in the family room, and Karianna's friend Braelyn is coming with us to the zoo on Saturday. I think that is pretty sufficient for a fun Spring Break.
3. On the topic of spring cleaning--I don't know what it is about this time of the year, but the desire to clean certainly does hit hard!  I tackled 3 huge bushes in the front yard and Karianna did a ton of weeds for me....too bad we still have bees, otherwise we could have done the remaining ton that are still in the front yard.  The kids all gutted out their rooms pretty decently, and I got my bedroom/bathroom gutted out as well.  I did a good amount of toy organizing today and I plan to rearrange all our DVDs tomorrow.  We got rid of the rug in our TV room and I am actually loving the wider expanse of the wood floor.  I cleaned out the closet by the front door did a ton of laundry (only to have it replaced by a ton more laundry...same with dishes).  I made homemade pizza, both gluten and gluten free the other day-not cleaning, but it was an accomplishment!  I plan to weed out a bunch of clothes in the next few days and I need to go through and start packing away the winter clothes.
4. On the topic of bees--yes, we have them.  Still.  I can't figure out a good way to word the circumstances surrounding that, so lets just suffice it to say the bee guys are supposed to come tomorrow.  Who knows what will come of it, for now we have gotten really good at racing out to the car to avoid bees.  
5. Jared found out today he got a pretty good raise for having a fantastic review at work!  That was exciting news, and funny that he got a great review but also just moved departments and, essentially, jobs!  He gets the raise regardless, and was really relieved to have his new position, as his old boss is moving on to a different part of the company....had he declined the new position, he would have lose a great boss anywhere, but still been stuck with a position he didn't really enjoy.  Small blessings are nice!
6. Jared also got a new calling a few weeks back.  Rather, he got an additional calling....he has 3 now.  He is the assistant executive secretary, the gospel doctrine teacher, and the ward preparedness specialist.  That's a lot of stuff on his plate!
7. Karianna and I decided to sing a song for Easter in Sacrament meeting!  We are singing "Gethsemane", which is a beautiful song.  Its really Karianna's gig, I am just providing some background harmony very lightly in the background.  I am super excited.
8. We had dentist appointments for the 3 younger kids this past week.  None of the kids have cavities--woohoo!  Jordan will go back in a few months to get sealants on a few back molars just to help avoid cavities.  His adult tooth that appears to be coming in crooked isn't a concern according to the dentist. Sara and James don't need to go back at all, their teeth look fantastic, and we'll just hit the normal 6 month check up.  I really like our new dentist, even better than I liked the other one (and that's saying a lot).  Sadly, JD and Karianna now have to go to an adult dentist, so says our insurance.  That's annoying, but I'm playing the game, and I did switch our family dentist to someone more kid-friendly for their sakes.  I have to wait until 4/1 to make appointments though.  
9. I have noticed in the last few days that James has been breathing heavier at weird moments-like after climbing up onto my bed.  That's not normal for 2 year olds, or so I thought.  I called the cardiologist just in case and they tentatively scheduled him for an echo on Tuesday of next week IF I keep noticing the out-of-breath issue and feel it is not related to a cold/allergies.  He does have a little cold right now, I Just can't tell yet if I am being paranoid or noticing something real. We'll watch and see.  
10. Both Jared and I have felt lately that our family is out sorts in lots of ways.  We are working very hard on bringing more structure and routine back into our home, as well as a consistent set of rules.  We started implementing some of these changes in the last few days.  My favorite is a large whiteboard we installed in the family room.  We will be keeping joblists on the board as well as a weekly family goal and scheduled bedtimes.  I will also be making an afternoon/evening schedule to help nighttime go smoother--this is our hardest point during the day.  Other changes involve food.  We are having major issues with snack/meal times.  So we are switching from cereal in the morning to eggs, and we are nixing the snacks that lead to garbage on the floor (fruit snacks/goghurts).  So far the kids are doing great with the changes, we'll see how it works when school is back in session.

Grandma Lautenschlager Day and a Visitor

The big kids got to do one of their favorite things today:  visit Grandma Lautenschlager!  It's funny because we go over to their house for dinner maybe twice a month at least and we see them at least once a week.  But they think it is so great for Grandma to pick them up in her car and take them out for the day!  The were gone for about 9 hours, and had a blast getting lunch at McDonald's, watching Frozen (which came out today!) and making individual scrapbooks; they were so proud to show me the latter!  Im glad they had such a fun day!  

 We had cousin Megan come over to play for a little bit while the big kids are out.  Meg, James, Sara and I all cleaned the toy room together.  For me, that meant sorting toys and throwing away garbage/broken pieces.  For Jackson, that meant playing in his exersaucer.  For James, that meant playing with every battery-operated toy we own, given that I was also replacing all the batteries.  For Megan, that meant eating every toy possible!  It was funny watching which toys she deemed edible, and which toys she discarded.  She kept putting a smallish eyeball lego toy in her mouth-nothing she could swallow, but on that brink of "you probably shouldn't put that in your mouth".  Every time she put it in her mouth, I would say "Megan...." and she would immediately hand it over!  If Kristen reads this, I don't think I told you that-it was seriously cute!  It was fun having her over, she and James played so well, and Meg is so tall, she doesn't look much younger than James!  Fun times!