A Voice from the Eastern Door
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It should have come to no surprise to me that a third son would be even more adventurous than the first two before him. Now I see what a cautious little thing big brother was as a baby. Shy, stayed close to mom type of child. Little brother was a tester of limits for sure. However, the baby has no match. I now realize this is the child that will give me gray hair before my time. Sure life is busy, throw in a job where you take care of a few other babies while you have the opportunity to also care for your own new baby, things definitely speed...
The baby has grown so much and so fast the last month. He’s gone from jumping and rolling to crawling everywhere he wants. At times he struggles to wiggle right out of my arms or off my lap because he wants to get on the floor. A joke at home is, that nothing is safe. He’s after the Blue Rays, the shoes, our poor little dog Marf too. When he gets after the dog, Marf just lays there with the saddest look on his face. A new phrase that our dog hears is, “run away Marf! He’s coming run!” So then that pitiful puppy goes from end to end of the house...
The baby has been entertaining his big brothers with how mobile he has gotten. He hasn’t actually crawled yet, but he sure can get around simply by rolling to his destination. So far we have counted five rolls in one direction. His big brothers crack up because they can’t believe how he manages to make it to them. Then he’ll start kicking them. Which prompts them to get up and move out of his way. Well you know he makes it to them again and will start the footed attack. We had to give the boys the extra chore of making sure that nothing is on...
I’ve always referred to little brother as little brother, even now that there is an even littler one in the house. I try to give each of my boys all the attention and time they deserve. I feel though that with all his patience and understanding about how much baby brother needs us, he waits for plenty of things. He waits for us to sit down and read to him. He quietly watches as we cook dinner before loudly telling us that he “doesn’t like that!” about what we have cooked. He is our loud one. The picky one, he was supposed to be born a long time...
Big brother and little brother have really come around and taken on their roles as big brothers to the baby quite well. Little brother is especially sweet to him. I love when he talks to him and the baby smiles a huge mouth-wide-open smile. The baby just started laughing this month so a big goal of little brother’s is to get a laugh out of the baby. It seems to be the best reward for all his silliness. There are moments of pure love between them. Where little brother will lie close to him and rub his head and tell him he loves him. Big brother...
Monday I had the day off from work and so did the brothers. It doesn’t really matter to the baby because he goes with me to work everyday. Home, work, wherever as long as he’s with mommy he probably thinks it’s a day off. It started out great, the baby was up on and off throughout the night but I wasn’t required to actually get out of bed until almost ten. I was so grateful and happy. The plan for the day was get to the mall so I could finally buy myself new sneakers. I’ve been stuck between seasons, switching between a pair of sandals a...
We wake up late, my alarm didn’t go off. Here I am thinking I still had an hour before we had to start getting ready. It’s Monday morning and we are rushing. I usually have to give myself a solid hour to get a newborn, two kids and myself out the door. No matter how good and cooperative big brother and little brother are, I can count on the baby crying because he’s wet, hungry, or that I’m not holding him. Most mornings I have to have my husband just hold him while I hurry up to pack everything he needs for a day at work with me. So back to...
By an anonymous mom When someone asks how’s life with three boys, I usually answer, “It’s busy” or “You know everything is go go go”. What goes through my head though when someone asks, is like a highlight reel of all the surprising and not so surprising antics and moments. There’s mud on my walls not just the floor or the chair. With car windows up one of two of them pollute the air, if you catch on. There’s always pee on the floor in the bathroom. When I do get the bathroom scrubbed down that’s when little brother runs in the bathroom and...
We finally welcomed our new baby to the family. Big brother had a long wait. Everyday he would ask me, “How many more days until the baby is born?” Once we hit the one week mark he was beyond excited and talked about who he thought the baby would look like, hopes that the baby would have hair and lastly he was sure his baby brother would not cry much. Little brother on the other hand was quiet about it. Since he had a hard time with the announcement that there was even going to be a baby, we watched him go through this whole process while he...
Big brother has been having a hard time getting up in the morning and coming to work with me. Today he dreamed that he got up, brushed his teeth and had gotten dressed. In reality I had asked him to and he had fallen back asleep. By the time I noticed I was about to run out the door and saw him still in a deep slumber. He jumped up like a ninja when I woke him up the second time. Poor kid, not exactly his idea of a summer ‘vacation’. Little brother not so much because he likes to tail me wherever I go. He wakes up as soon as I do and gets rea...
The second day in Washington was more relaxed. We all slept in and really only planned on roaming around to find a place to eat before making our way home. Big brother and I were the first ones up, so we went walking around downtown Washington DC. We marveled at the architecture of the buildings we passed and laughed about how there seemed to be a Starbucks every other block. We found a walking trail that was parallel to the river and we could see all the monuments we had passed by the day before; the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument,...
We had been promising the kids a trip to Washington DC for the last two summers. Something always came up though. Someone got sick, only one parent could get the time off work, there was extreme weather warnings. When we were on our way home from Myrtle Beach we decided to stop for the weekend in that city. Big brother was so excited since he’s the big history buff who knows what museums are there. The night we arrived it was late and we had to really fight to make the boys go to sleep. They were just so excited to go exploring that all they di...
As my due date approaches the more clingy the boys have gotten. They are with me when they get back from school and I’m home with them until they go to bed, unless they get a surprise pick up from their tota girl or grandma. It doesn’t matter how much I’m home for them, they will follow me in and out of the house as if I’m taking off on a month long vacation when I am just going to check the mailbox at the road or taking out the garbage. At first I thought they were being helpful but they were really just following me around. This weekend...
We spent a week down in Myrtle Beach for Spring Break. It was just the four of us. Little Brother was in his glory. He’ d been waiting for the snow to melt all winter so he could go to a beach. When we left home it had just snowed so he was unsure if South Carolina was really a place where it wasn’t snowing. One day in January he even made us drive him to Barnhart Beach so he could see for himself what a beach looked like in the dead of winter. He stopped asking when he could go and turned his focus on when was winter going to go away. Imagine...
There have been some habits and preferences of the boys that I notice more now. Little brother is more vocal about pointing his out or doing them. He will kick his boots off. No matter if they are soaking wet from snow or covered in mud. He kicks them off into the wall, the couch, once in a while me. I asked him, “Why do you do that?” And his answer was, “well I’m not going to touch it with my hand!” Now that spring is on its way I should probably buy an extra mop to keep by the door to make him wipe off my walls. Another signature move is c...
After a couple weeks of careful planning we have taken the brothers on the longest road trip of their lives. Big brother had no school on Friday so we left as early as we could on Friday. I had mentally prepared myself for the boys possibly arguing with each other in the car and needing to stop every hour on the hour for bathroom or stretching breaks. They were great in the car. We drove four hours before they got really hungry. I was the one who had to stop for a water or to use the bathroom. We stopped off somewhere in Pennsylvania for supper...
Saturday little brother and I took a drive up to Plattsburgh. Big brother stayed behind with my husband. We had big shopping plans. All week little brother had been waiting to go shopping because his dad promised him Skylanders for his Wii U. Finally it was Saturday and he had his ride to Target. You see we had to go to Target because the same old Skylanders are at Walmart in Massena and little brother had managed to buy them all with his birthday money. We made it all the way to Plattsburgh when little brother fell asleep. I woke him up to...
Its no secret that when we broke the news to the boys about another baby they had polar opposite reactions. Big Brother excited and Little Brother mad at the world. Big Brother would talk about the new baby on its way to anyone and everyone who asked. Little Brother’s whole face would drop and he’d say something like, “I don’t want to talk about it.” or “I’m not gonna be a big brother.” People’s reactions to him were mixed, some thought he was kidding knowing he’s always been a jokester. Others looked at me as if to say, “How could you do that...
Little Brother has been saying or telling us everything that pops into his head. It’s not just that there are his little comebacks to Big Brother’s conversations with us. Those are pretty funny too. He’s especially talkative during car rides. I have to turn the radio off to really listen to him or he will become upset. And Big Brother better not dare to talk while he’s speaking or he’ll fall apart. During our car rides, laugh inducing questions and quotes from Little Brother: “Don’t tell me I have banana feet! I won’t fall ok.” “Look how...
A pogo in the backseat door handle. A timbit between the car seat buckles. A shoe on the front steps. A sock in the sink. A ninja turtle in my bed. A hot wheel car in my purse. Legos in the couch. Batman in the dish water. A GI Joe in my boot. Socks stuffed in the snack cupboard. Remote control in the fridge. Glove in the driveway. Hat in the bathroom. Angry bird toy in the silverware drawer. Crayon melted on the heating vent. Goldfish snacks swimming in the bathroom sink. Carrots in the dog’s dish. Juice box in big brother’s bookbag. Too...
I have always been about time management. I hate being late, it is a pet peeve of mine. Even though I feel that way, I tend to be late for so many things and appointments it’s frustrating. In the morning I get up extra early to make sure I have time to get the boys and myself ready before we leave the house for work and school. Something always happens to us though. We will be on time right down to the minute. Then the dog runs away and I’m chasing him through the yard trying to herd him back into the house so he doesn’t freeze all day. The w...
When we got our first snowfall little brother was beyond excited. He yelled, “it’s finally winter! I love winter!” He rushed in his room to get dressed. He came back out with shorts on, a sweatshirt, and mismatched socks. I had to tell him he needed different clothes and he just about fell apart. I had to go pick him out some weather appropriate stuff to go on under his snowsuit. Once he got outside he was in full explore mode. He dug in the snow like it was sand. He used his backhoe to push around snow and pile it up. He ran back in the house...
Little brother has turned into a storyteller since his words have become clearer. He loves when strangers understand him and we can see the boost in his self-confidence. He is now all about speaking for himself. When we go out to eat he will now order food himself where before he would whisper it to us and then we would tell the waitress. He now eagerly bounces in his seat as he waits for the waitress to get to him. With a big smile on his face he will say, “for a drink I want a chocolate milk” followed by a giggle and an ear-to-ear grin. Tha...
This weekend big brother turned nine. He didn’t want a big party, he couldn’t even pick out what kind of present we could buy him. A month ago he wanted to go to New York City for his birthday and invite a few friends over instead of the party. As the time came up we asked him about his birthday plans. He said he’d like his friends to come hang out, go eat Chinese food and just relax. What a kid! We went to eat at a Chinese restaurant over in Cornwall. I’d have to say it was a treat not to decorate and clean up. It’s always a team of us, grand...
Little brother is a very entertaining four year old. We always joke about what an old man he is. He takes his sweet time doing anything and is ever so careful doing tasks that most would rush through. If he’s getting into a car he slowly walks up to the door, which I will open for him, he never forgets to say thank you and if he is wearing a hat such as a fedora he will tip it at me. Then he will place one foot on the step up to get in. He then must grab the door handle, check that it is sturdy before he proceeds to actually step up and get h...