Eight Years Old

Happy Birthday, Kyrie!  Wow, eight years old sure does seem like a lot.  It feels like a big girl number rather than a little girl number.  A number in which Math and Reading are a way of life instead of something being learned (though there's still LOTS to learn).  A number in which the moments of maturity outnumber the moments of immaturity.  A number in which you can be trusted to pick up her brother all by yourself, help out with all sorts of tasks (like cooking), tell jokes and write poems.  Eight seems like a great number to be!  I sure am happy to have eight year old you and I look forward to all that another year in your life brings!  Happy Birthday, Kyrie!

For her birthday dinner, Kyrie chose hamburgers, cantaloupe, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.  We sang happy birthday to her at exactly 5:27pm, but she had to wait to receive her present - Nana got her something that we purchased something else to complement it.  Guess she's just gonna have to be patient...something the number eight is apparently NOT known for!

Celebrating My Mom

Roasting a  marshmallow - her birthday dessert - S'mores!

How fun!  My siblings (except Tim - bummer), spouses, Matt and I, and both my parents all went out for dinner to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.  It was so nice to get out without the kids - we could hear each other (for the most part) and talk about anything we wanted without worrying about language or needing to tell someone to put on their earmuffs.  Unfortunately, I did have to bring Hugo, so when I say "without kids" I guess I mean walking-talking kids.  While Hugo did pretty good, he was a distraction for me and everyone at the table, but I still think it was a great time.  My mom has done way more than a lot for us all over the years, I hope she had a nice birthday dinner to celebrate her sixty years!

Birthday Eve

Kyrie, Lari, and Declan are all going to spend the night at their Grandma and Grandpa's house and as such will not be home for breakfast on Kyrie's birthday.  So...we decided to have a little birthday breakfast today, instead.  What did we have?!  Quaker Oatmeal Squares with ice cream.  Yummmm!

2-Month Check-Up

My how he has grown.

Weight: A whopping 11 lbs. 15 oz.!  I can't believe that!  Surprisingly, this only puts him in the 50th percentile.  Still, that is better than the 10th!

Height: 23-3/4 inches, 85th percentile!  The nurse originally measured him at 24 inches and then couldn't believe that could be correct, since he was 21 inches (50th percentile) at his last check-up and then changed the number.  I believe he could be 24 inches though, so I guess we'll see at the four month check-up if he goes up to the 90th or 95th percentile.

Just for fun, I will add that his head circumference was 39 cm (50th percentile, I think???).

Matt and I both noticed a major change in Hugo on Wednesday morning.  All of the sudden he is chunky!  He slept 10 hours straight the night before (9:30pm to 7:30am!) and woke up a new man.  It was crazy.  Talk about a growth spurt.  We are glad it happened right before going to the doctor so that it is documented and proved.  We thought he just might be a lot smaller than Declan, but no...watch out, Declan, your wrestling partner is growing fast.

Sadly, Hugo also woke up with some exczema issues and so this Mommy is now taking herself off of all milk products.  Declan's milk allergy first showed up as exczema so we want to give Hugo a chance at not being exposed as much as Declan was which will hopefully help him to not be allergic to milk.  Sigh.  I am hopeful that he just spit up in his crib and it irritated his cheeks, but we are not going to take chances.  No cheese, ice cream, or fun for me.  Guess I am going to lose this weight even faster now.  I will try to look at the bright side.

We are so proud of our Hugo-potamus (as Matt has taken to calling him - I like it!) - he is just a really good little boy.  Sleeping so well.  Cooing.  Batting.  Reaching.  Grabbing.  Singing.  Trying to giggle.  Tracking his siblings.  So adorable (to me).  We just love him.

Piles of Smiles

 Darn, do I wish I had caught this one straight on.  Such a huge beautiful smile, just for Declan.

Half of a smile.

Birthday Buddies

Kyrie and Will have birthdays just a little over a week apart.  This year, Kyrie will turn eight on the 31st and Will turned six on the 23rd.  We celebrated tonight at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Kyrie requested tacos for dinner and to get to go to Grandma's house to help decorate the cake.  Wow!  Did she and Grandma do a great job.  Such a cool cake.  And, Kyrie and Will both got a lot of very nice presents.  To make the evening even more special, Gma and Gpa brought home presents from Hawaii.

Happy early birthday, Kyrie, and late birthday, Will!!!!

Parenting Poise

A story that I think will pass the test of time...

Declan keeps bringing a Pump It Up ball from the Playroom into the Family Room and I keep telling him to take it back as I don't want him to break any more of my picture frames than he already has. When he didn't listen today, I took the ball away from him and put it on the table in front of me, since Matt and I were in the middle of a conversation.  At some point we were so engrossed in our conversation that Declan must've taken the ball back off the table without our noticing, because he was once again throwing it in the Family Room.  Matt, who was upset about once again being interrupted, grabbed the ball out of Declan's hands, took the pen he was holding in his, and stuck it into the ball.  Pop!  Quite shockingly that ball's life was ended.  We were all so surprised and dumbfounded that we just stared for a few seconds before the waterworks finally began.  Kyrie was crying because she had gotten that ball at her birthday party last year, Declan was crying at the loss of such a fun ball, and Lari I think was crying because everyone else was.  I wasn't a very happy camper, since I had planned to put the ball outside and let the kids play with it out there, but...what can you do?  I try to stand by my man.  I don't think I succeeded very well, since I was feeling bad on Kyrie's behalf.  It wasn't her fault, after all.  Still, I think I will chuckle for many years to come when I think of that moment.  It was such a perfect "Pop" and we were all so surprised.

I have a feeling that Daddy felt sufficiently guilty that he will be making it up to his daughter on her birthday.  Ahhh...parenting.  God help us!

Two Months Old

Hugo is two months old!  Our cutie-pie is smiling like a champ, expertly reaching for objects and getting his hands to his mouth, and sleeping pretty darn good.  He is such a trooper, dealing with being pulled out of the crib to go to church, school, the store.  He has as much gas issues as his older siblings, which is to say a lot, but he deals with it pretty well...or maybe now on my fourth child I have just finally given in to giving lots of the relief drops.  Overall, he is just a really content, happy little boy.  I am very fond of him (which is to the say the least). 

We are looking forward to finding out all about his growth at his appointment next week!

The Great-Grandma

Grandma Richards hasn't been feeling so hot do to the treatments she is on for her cancer, so we were very happy to see her on Sunday.  And, Hugo was priveleged to be held by his Great-Grandma.

The Godfather

Princess Party

We celebrated Teagan's 3rd birthday at Nana's house this evening.  Her mommy put together a very fun princess party for her.  The kids wore their princess dresses (Declan had a custom-made Knight costume - thanks Nana!) took swings at a pinata, and Cinderella visited!  So fun!  Happy Birthday, Teagan!

Princess Kyrie and Cinderella

 Cinderella and...Cinderiska!

 Sir Declan and Cinderella!

The girls with Cinderelly

 The boys with Cinderelly

 Sir Declan took some major swipes at the princess crown pinata.  He was pretty funny.

 Aw, Auntie Cathy and Princess Kyrie

Saints and Angels and Demons

Matt and I feel very fortunate to have made some new friends.  There is a boy who has been on Kyrie's soccer team for the last two years named Joe Wilde and Matt and Joe's dad (Jason) quickly realized that they were like Fantasy Football soulmates, or something.  They actually talk on the phone and e-mail and text one another throughout the FF season.  It's kinda cute - Jenny and I like to tease them about their love affair.  Anyway...it's fun when you like the parents of your children's friends! 

The Wilde's invited us all over for dinner this weekend and we sure did enjoy ourselves.  They held an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, we mowed on Jenny's delicious enchiladas, and watched some football playing in the front yard.

But, there was one very tense moment when the kids were screaming to us that Declan had fallen off the playground in their backyard.  Joe told us the story that Declan fell off face first, but at the last second flipped and landed on his back - probably saving us the cost of plastic surgery and dental work!  I ran outside as fast as I could and Declan was just getting up from the ground.  He had this horrible look on his face as he walked toward me, but he hadn't taken a breath yet!  Finally, he sucked some air in and then let it out in a terrific cry.  I think he had the wind knocked out of him, but miraculously nothing was broken or really even bruised!  I wiggled each arm, and every finger, flexed his legs, and scoured his head, but there was nothing!  Just a red mark on his cheek and some dirt in his mouth.  Can you believe that?!  All I know is that there were some heavy angels watching out for our little demon.  I was so relieved, I was practically crying.  There have been no broken bones in this family, yet, but I feel certain that Declan will change that statistic at some point - hopefully not for many years to come!

P.S.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We kind of celebrated yesterday at school during Lariska's Star of the Week, but we all wore green today in honor of the semi-homeland, Ireland.

Brothers

I have told lots of people this, but I think it is worth posting on the blog.  For the past weeks since Hugo came into our lives Declan has told anyone who has asked him, "That's my brother!" and, "I love my brother."  His words are stinking adorable.  But, if you ask him to hold his brother, to kiss him, to touch his hand?..."Ewwww....he's icky!" 

Until...today!  Today he finally held his brother of his own volition and kissed him several times on the top of his head.  I was so proud.  Finally we can get some photos of the brothers.

Smile!

Finally!  I caught it on camera - Hugo's beautiful smile.  While this is not straight-on, and not at the key moment of smilicousness, it is still pretty cute...or so I think, anyway!

Star of the Week

Lariska was Star of the Week this week in Kindergarten.  She got to bring in an item each day to share more about herself with her class.  And, on Friday, the entire Kons family came to visit her class.  (I took lots of video, but alas - no pictures...hopefully her teachers will send me some and I can update then.)  We answered questions, showed off Hugo, Matt and Lari performed some magic tricks, and then we showed Lari's baby video along with some green popcorn for a snack.  It was a lot of fun.  We sure are proud of our Star!

Here is a photo of the poster she made had to fill in all about herself.

Declan

What am I going to do with this kid? 

The three oldest were outside playing this afternoon - I check in as often as I can, but I am tending to the needs of the baby and trying to get dinner on and laundry done.  Declan comes in and says, "Mommy, the soda is spraying all over the place!"  Ummm...what?!  He has gotten into the refrigerator?!?!  Drinking our soda???  I come outside to find two beer cans on the back of his Big Wheel - he is toting them around with him wherever he goes and one has fallen off the back end.  It is indeed leaking all over the place.  At this point I am most concerned that he has not dranken any of said beer, which he assures me he has not.  I dispose of the beer, the can, and put the other beer back in the wide open fridge (in our garage) and threaten his life if he ever goes in there again.  Sigh.  T-R-O-U-B-L-E, that's the way you spell Declan.

By the way, if Declan is outside you will see him as he is in the above picture - with a pink t-ball helmet on.  He loves that thing.  Ahhh....isn't he special?!