Daddy photos, and still SO in love!! *sigh*

Thank you for the comments on my last entry! We didn't realise that you should stand stock still when faced with a snake, so have passed this information on to Arthur - thank you! I am surprisingly more scared of snakes than I ever was before (I was never scared of them, just didn't like them), since Arthur's incident. I mean, I am lying in my bed at night and suddenly start thinking about snakes out of nowhere, and literally break out in a sweat and palpitate. Tsk! So annoying! I am praying about it.

We've all been ill AGAIN, hence the gap since the last entry. Matthew got an infected finger! How do we keep getting infections and viruses lately?! Especially Matthew. But God has been faithful - this is the third time he has seen a doctor and they've prescribed him antibiotics, saying he'll need it (he had a mild ear infection last week at the end of that tonsillitusy-conjunctivitisy yeurghiness), and every single time we have laid hands on him when he's asleep and prayed that he will not need to take them (because he spits them out, and it's nigh on impossible, and they'll mess his bowel up), and each time his infection has resolved! His middle finger was a big swollen red thing with really pretty luminescent green pus under the skin all around his fingernail. I have noooo idea how that got started. It was completely sealed in, and we tried but we couldn't get it out. The doctor said he must have antibiotics. The next day (before we'd given him any), we looked at his finger and it was pink and normal size/shape, and clean! He has his fingers in his mouth all the time these days, so my thinking is that he chewed on it, it burst (uggghhh!) and yeah. He has chewed on more disgusting things (believe me) so it is possible. Anyway, yay! No antibiotics again! We've cleaned it with antiseptic cream and it seems fine still.

Matthew ran a temperature at random one night (10 days ago?? I can't remember now), and that's why we took him to the doctor. She said he had a mild infection in his right ear, but that since his fever was so low and he seemed happy and well, and not bothered by it, she'd give us the antibiotics but we should wait and see if he got a worse fever before giving them to him. He didn't get ANY more fever, so we happily disregarded the presecription! :) Then the next night, Arthur was shivery after his bath and looked really strange in his face. He was pale and said he felt funny when he stood up, and he just wanted to go to bed. He didn't even want bedtime milky! He went to sleep really fast, and a couple of hours later when we checked on him, he was burning up. He had a fever of 101.5 (who knows what that is in C, I only speak F!). He was really restless and kept talking gobbledy-gook, and seemed like he felt unwell, but wouldn't sit up to take anything for it. He seemed okayish the next day and we stayed home from church. That night he had a fever again - it started by about 4pm, but at least we got him to take some Calpol at that point, since he seemed to feel really unwell with it and retreated into a corner. He was fine 20 minutes later.

Bennie wanted to come round with Thea on Monday, so we told him about the fevers, and that we'd seen the doctor that day who looked at Arthur and saw nothing wrong with him, and speculated that it must be the end of this weird virus or something. Bennie was happy to bring Thea over anyway (she socialises a LOT and they're past worrying about what she does and doesn't catch!).

So it was lovely to have them round! The boys loved her company, and she loved their toy cars, haha! She took her first step a couple of weeks ago! We'll see her again at Grandoug's traditional birthday bash on July 5th - my parents are coming over from France for that too!! I just can't WAIT! :) I hope we're healthy. We seem to never be at the moment.

Anyway, Thea arrived with a runny nose, and 2 days later 3 of us were streaming and aching and coughing and feeling like absolute rhubarb (me, Arthur, and poor sweet tiny Nathan). I still had a sore throat from the 2/3 week throaty thing, but it was almost gone. It's sore now from the cold. This cold has really kicked our butts! I haven't felt so ill and achy and weird with a cold since I can't remember when. I think Arthur and Nathan have had slight fevers but I didn't check. They just felt a bit too warm to me. Arthur and I are getting a bit better now. Matthew came down with it yesterday and both boys have been dropping on the sofa and napping at weird times of the day (they NEVER nap on the sofas, and Arthur hasn't napped in like a year!). Poor Nathan has been really poorly :( His eyes are red-rimmed and he's so horribly squelchingly congested. I have been up with him such a lot in the night times. He's 100% co-sleeping at the moment - I'm not even bothering with the cot any more. It's so much easier to tend to him in the night when he's poorly, if he's right there next to me, and he sleeps a lot better next to me than in the cot too, and for longer blocks. My poor tiny snufflet! I love him so much!

Soooo, please pray that we won't get ill again this summer! It's 2 months solid for us now, and I'm feeling really fed up with it! It has been hot today and yesterday, but still so cold and un-summery before that, so maybe that's part of it?

Anyway.

Our money has run out! Four maxed out credit cards (that's so terrible!) and in the red in the bank. Not a scrap left to buy food, or shoes for Matthew (he's been wearing Arthur's handed-down sandals even in the rain, poor love!), or anything. I'm so excited to see what God will do! This is the part where our faith in Him is going to be really tested, and that's exciting. I know He will provide. I trust in Him completely. The garden sale is going ahead but there are lots of bits and pieces to tie up before we can get the money. It has gone down to £13,500 from £15,000 though. But that's still fine :)

Neil has a job interview on Wednesday, over the phone for half an hour. It's for a really well-paid job in Hampshire, close enough to be just about commutable, but somewhere we would not mind moving to as well. It happens to be in the same town where my SIL (Rosemary) lives!! Who, by the way, was due yesterday! Excitement! :) That job is the same kind of work he was in before, so stuff he can do. And it's more interesting to him than his previous work, so that would be good. He is also applying to be a train driver! He would need 6-9 months of training on a scarily tiny wage, and then after that he would be on a pretty good wage.

Also he has applied for a job very locally to us, which isn't quite so well paid as we need, but it would be a great opportunity. So, there are more jobs out there all of a sudden, which is encouraging.

I'm kind of sad that I can't buy Matthew any more birthday presents, which I had planned to do. I know he won't care, but I feel sad anyway. He does already have some Matchbox-style cars and a tractor, and a couple of tractor books, and the ELC sand and water table from my parents arrived! My grandparents gave him a cheque, and I am desperate for it to hurry up and clear so I can use it to buy the thing I wanted to use it for (the big roadmap carpet) in time for his birthday (which I'm not sure will happen now). Anyway. He's getting plenty, so I shouldn't feel sad! We are raiding the loose change box for entrance fees to the same farm we went to for Arthur's 2nd birthday, on Saturday!

I can't believe he will be two on Saturday! So nearly there. I really want to work on a little montage/letter type thingy for his birthday, to post here, but I feel sad about that too, because I feel sure I won't get time, and that feels bad. I will try though.

I STILL have to write about my leg and Matthew's haircut, lol! But there isn't time now. Again! ;)

I had a few more (favourite!) photos that I meant to post soon after my last entry, so I'll post them here. They're all of a "Daddy" theme :) Here's a set of three photos, of Matthew and Nathan on the mat on the floor with Daddy - Nathan was interested in Neil's wedding ring (he loves rings!) and Matthew was interested in Nathan (as always!). In the second one, Neil was giving Matthew a gentle back-rub/neck-tickle. Matthew always goes sooooo still and quiet for these, and eventually gets kind of sleepy. He is JUST like Neil in this respect - Arthur isn't like this, but it's something I used to do for Neil all the time when we were dating :)

He's such a lovely Daddy!!! :)

Here are all three of my sweet little boys hanging out with their daddy. Matthew is chewing his hand in this photo, which is a constant sight at the moment. All 4 of his canines are still coming through (about halfway down and changing his smile now, but I love his new "filled out" smile!), and he is having quite a lot of pain and discomfort from the 2-year-old molars at the back (hence the hand-chewing), though I can't feel them anywhere near when I check. Thank goodness they are the LAST ONES!!! Wheee! And then we start all over again with Nathan, who is having teething pain a lot already. Poor teethy boys!

I am in love with this last photo. ALL the men in my life, hehe! :) And look at all the small boys I've had in the space of 3 years?!?! Photos like this always make that kind of reality hit me with a bump, but I love "re-realising" it every time :)

I just adore having my little boys! I mean, they are HARD WORK (especially the older two right now) but I am just pinch-yourself happy right now, with my three sweeties! I make several trips per evening upstairs to lean against door posts and sigh contentedly as I watch them sleep, or kiss sleeping faces and whisper how much I love them. My heart leaps for joy when Nathan wakes, even if he's woken NINE times already that evening and I feel crummy myself, because OH how I love that boy and delight in every opportunity to take his sweet little body into my arms and hold him to me and sway till he is just making little snuffly whimpers instead of crying, and ohhhh just feel his soft little downy head nuzzling jerkily against my neck and shoulder as he tries to settle. Matthew's sweet little profile last night when he was sleeping - oh my heavens. I just NEVER wanted to leave his side and go downstairs again! If I didn't think I would disturb him, I would have spend ages kissing every square mm of his face as he slept. He looked so beautiful to me! I just whispered to him instead about how much I love him, and how 2 years ago exactly, he was due to be born any time, and how much I wanted to meet him, and how I can't believe I have had two years getting to know him and how DELIGHTED I am to be his mummy! *sigh*

Arthur is also a sweet treasure, but he is less of a cute lil baby bean these days and more rude and demanding and DIFFICULT, etc. But my heart melts nonetheless when I stroke his hair and kiss his face when he's sleeping. Sometimes I look at him and he's such a sweet tiny! I forget he has two little brothers and remember that he's only a baby himself, in many ways. If I had an 8-year-old, Arthur would seem such a LITTLE one to me!

I have such a TON to write about things the boys are saying, that I'm trying to jot down in pencil during the day, otherwise it will get lost in the sands of time, and that would be so sad! Matthew is talking much more, and says so many words that I couldn't possibly count them. He says some words that I didn't know he had heard before! And he frequently puts two words together now. He plays imaginary games by himself (just started that), and with his sweet new talking thrown in, it's just ADORABLE to behold! :) He and Arthur play imaginary games together a lot now, which is what I've been waiting for all these years (well, the last two anyway, lol!). I must write about them more next entry, and the things they're saying.

It's getting late now and I need to change the sheets (oh the MILK staining at night when co-sleeping! I'd forgotten!) before I can go to bed. Back soon! :)

Scary encounter. And millions more photos...

Back, but as briefly as I can manage, as it's already really late!

Thanks so much for the comments on my last entry with all the photos! I still have soooooooo many more photos to post - I will try to post some tonight in a minute. Jemma, I actually wrote the notes about my leg and Matthew's haircut BECAUSE I wasn't planning to write them last entry, hehe! It's not that I forgot to write them! ;) I knew if I wrote a one-liner in that entry, somebody might remind me another time (I knew I did not have time to cover them), or I might scan the entry and be reminded. Heh. I sometimes do that because I know I'm scatty like that :)

As it goes, I don't think I'll have time to write about them properly this entry either. Tsk! I so want to write about all the jumble in my head!

Oh the other one I forgot to leave a reminder for was that Arthur came face-to-face with an adder (or viper) snake at the park! London's vast parks (the wilder ones anyway) do have snakes, and the visitor information at our local one tells us that there are grass snakes and adders there, but that adders are extremely rarely seen. Adders are the UK's only venomous snakes. My mum saw a dead one by a pile of rubbish bins once when she was six, and that was quite a big deal!

Anyway. We don't KNOW that it was an adder, because we didn't see it. Neil took the boys to the park as usual and they were in the ferns and undergrowth leading to some lakes a way off. The boys just roam and roam there. I don't know anybody who has ever seen a snake there - even a grass snake which is much more common compared with the adder. Well Arthur was forging ahead of Neil and Matthew (as usual), and suddenly came running back to Neil, kind of shaken but not scared/crying. He said he saw a snake that "sliddled" into the grass out of sight when it saw him. He seemed a bit like I would feel if I saw any snake (I don't like them!) - they give me the "willies" for want of a better word! He looked like that.

They left that area and when they came home I asked Arthur a lot of questions about the snake. I presumed it must have been a grass snake and I wanted to turn it into a learning experience by looking them up with him online and learning about them, maybe drawing one, etc. I also wanted to be sure that he really HAD seen a snake, having never seen one before. I asked if it might have been a worm, and he gave me a disgusted look and said, indignantly, "No! Worms are small and PINK! This snake was really long and black!" At which point I froze and said, "What colour was it?" and he said, "Black. With sort of orangey bits."

So, he was right there with me in the living room, but I swear my blood ran cold for a moment! I looked up creepy videos and photos on YouTube and other Googled places, and first I showed him grass snakes. Grass snakes in sunshine, grass snakes coiled up in a heap, grass snakes in motion all slithery, etc. I said, "Ah ha! Was THIS what the snake looked like?!" and he said (again with the indignance!), "No Mummy! That snake is BROWN, not black!" So, rather shakily I brought up the photos and video clips of the European viper (adder), and he cheerfully said, "Yes, that's the one!" the moment he saw it.

*shudder*

Now, they are not highly venomous snakes, but they could kill a small child. Arthur said it hissed at him and its tongue "slithelled" at him and he didn't like it, and then it started to "slidder" away so he turned around and ran back to Daddy. We (very over-enthusiastically!) praised him heavily for what he did, and said he did the right thing to turn and run away. We had a good talk about snakes and how to behave around them (ie, RUN AWAY!). I don't want to instill a fear of snakes into the boy, but I DO want to HAVE my boy to grow old with, and I also don't want him to learn the hard way that it's not a good idea to mess with snakes, even a non-venomous one. He doesn't seem upset by the incident at all, but snakes definitely appear to give him the heebie-jeebies. I think I can safely say he's not a fan!

Apart from the HORROR STORY side of the incident (!!), it's actually quite exciting that he saw an adder, as nobody ever sees them - they're so rare! :)

But, yeeeuuuuaaaaahhhrhrhrhrhhh.... I will now change the subject!

My leg and Matthew's haircut will have to wait till next time (again!).

Oh! I almost forgot! I am DESPERATE for an Ergo baby carrier, and obviously can't afford one, but they are good for babies from 5 months old in the back carry. It's the back carry that I want the thing for, so with only a couple of weeks till Nathan turns 5 months old, I'm starting to get itchy for an Ergo! I've been watching second-hand sales lists, but they get snapped up the second they're listed, and it's still too expensive anyway. But a girl can "window-shop", can't she?! I really need one soon as Nathan has almost outgrown the Baby Bjorn, and everything else hurts my back (well, the Bjorn does too, but at least it only lasts the early months while their weight is still relatively low). The Ergo is supposed to be the BEST carrier out there for distributing weight and preventing back pain. I do have a couple of Mei-Tais, but I think he's a bit little for back carries in those, for me anyway.

So, I just found a link to a competition to WIN an Ergo at the January 2008 babies buddy group I read from time to time (having a January 2008 baby, after all!). I went to enter but it says in order to enter, you have to link to the competition in your blog or at a forum you use, etc. It closes at midnight TONIGHT (thankfully not UK time, otherwise I'd have missed it by now, lol!), so quick, here's the link! If you're super quick, you might get in with a chance to win the Ergo yourself! :)

http://www.alongfortheride.biz/contest-s/49.htm

And now I shall go and enter with about fifty million other hopefuls, and very likely NOT win the Ergo, but hey, there's a teensy chance! :)

ETA: Have just discovered that it looks like it's US/Canadian residents only! Poo! No rules that say as such, just won't take my "non-US" entry :( Oh well!

I have a lot of photos to post, so I'll get on with that, and then go to bed. Nathan is waking really frequently at the moment. I don't know if it's another growth spurt or what, but he's feeding 2-3 hourly round the clock at least. He pretty much has done that from the start though, and it hasn't changed, but it feels a bit more intense tonight and yesterday - he sometimes isn't making it to 2 hours between feeds. That's okay, but it makes for a very up-and-down night! Thank goodness it's just me and him and a kingsize bed with a cot pushed up against it! He spends the last few hours of the night in with me usually, as I lose the capacity to put him back in his cot by then! ;) This evening he has woken 3 times already. For the FIRST time ever, the last time he woke I picked him up and patted his back and rocked him for a moment. He was SO CROSS with me! ;) I added his dummy to the mix and he went off to sleep peacefully, and settled fine when I put him back in his cot. I think he was a little bit chilly or something. He's used to being put to the breast every time he wakes, day or night, so it's understandable that he's cross when I don't, even if he's not hungry for a big feed yet!

So, photos! :)

When Arthur was tiny (2.5 months, I think), I took a photo of him (just one of many random photos at the time) wearing a white Gap sleepsuit with green stars on it, and he was lying on one of my home-sewn changing mats. When Matthew was about the same age (3 months), I put him in the same outfit and lay him on the same mat and took a photo. It really showed how different they are in body/head shape! So, a few weeks ago, Nathan reached that age (adjusted for his early arrival - he had just turned 4 months old and his adjusted age made him just 3 months old) and I put him in the outfit and lay him on the mat, and took his photo! I have been eager to post all three photos here to compare, but haven't got around to it for a while. So I'll do that first. I'll do them in order of birth - Arthur's photo first, then Matthew, then Nathan:

Arthur:

Matthew:

Nathan:

Matthew and Nathan really are a LOT more similar to each other than Arthur and Nathan (or Arthur and Matthew, for that matter). It's so interesting to compare! Arthur's head-shape and size was quite unique, and still is! Matthew and Nathan have similar heads, but Nathan's is definitely in-between the two boys, even though it looks so similar to Matthew's, because Matthew's head is really tiny for his age and Nathan's has always been bigger in terms of measurements. Arthur's has always been huge! :) Even their measurements at their 21-week scans showed this.

Anyway, onto other photos! Here are some of my little Nathey sweetie pie when the weather was warm and we were about to head out in the garden for some water play (STILL haven't uploaded those photos, but they are the only ones outstanding to upload now):

Nathan next to Mummy's (as yet still enormous) leg, and on the floor mat:

Nathan looking around at interesting things! He is so interested in everything lately. He loves the touchy feely Usborne books, and likes to use his jerky batting movements as best he can to put his hands on the textures on the pages and grab the book, etc. He looks so excited while he looks at those books, and he drools and smiles continually, hehe!

Matthew in the ferns at the park (*shudder*):

Sitting on my tummy as I tried to lie on the floor for a bit, one tiring afternoon (the monkey!)!

Arthur in the ferns at the park (soooo don't think they'll be going to the ferny locations so much after this! There's plenty of flat grass there too):

Showing me a fire engine (very seriously!):

Painting with me one afternoon while the little boys napped. This will be our "school" time as it has been for a long time. Nothing formal planned yet though, we just enjoy crafts and cooking and things right now :) We painted pasta that day which was just for fun, but I noticed how much it really honed in on Arthur's fine motor skills, more so than any other painting we've done so far, so it was great. Then he did handprints, and after that I let him loose with the remains of the paint, on the newspaper covering the table. He has so much imagination right now. He was making different creatures' footprints with the paintbrushes and different colours, and leaving "trails" behind the paint "glasses" (need to buy a palatte of some sort eventually!), and then making up stories and being a detective following the trails! :)

My "monkey" little dude :)

Blurry, fluffy-haired, and self-photographed, but who cares! It's ME and my precious baby BOYYY!! :)

Cheeeeeeese! (why do they always say this, it's never what I want them to do when I point the camera at them?!) - I love Matthew's hair in this! It has NEVER lain flat in his life! The new hairdresser (more next time I hope!) said it needs to grow long on top to have any chance of lying flat, so he's growing it out on top. It's so springy and long there right now, hehe!

Okay, I think that's definitely enough photos for one entry! I have saved my favourites for last, but I will do them in another entry. They're too special to just bung on the end of an over-photo-y entry! They are all of Neil and the boys. I'll post them next time.

Now I am going to brush my teeth and go to bed before Nathan wakes again! Back soon! :)

Ridiculous amount of photos

Thanks for all the comments last entry and for missing me! I'm sorry I haven't updated in 11 days!!! I have so much to write about! It's already midnight and I have had a horrible headache all day that painkillers haven't touched, so I'm nuts to even be sitting at the computer instead of going to bed. I just couldn't let ANOTHER night go by without an update of some sort. I've been meaning to update every evening for five days now!

The virus we've had STILL continues. We've had an adenovirus of some sort. Matthew had awful conjunctivitis with his that STILL hasn't completely cleared up. Arthur and Nathan have miiiilld conjunctivitis, just slightly pink eyes with mild irritation (no goop). I have had tonsillitus and my throat was soooo painful for seven days straight. The whole thing lasted me 10 days, and I only have a bit of a cough now, thankfully! I also had laryngitis and NO voice for a couple of days. I hate losing my voice as I love to use it so much (hehe!), and was ever so glad when it finally started to come back, even if I did sound like Barry White for a few days (feeeeels so good....).

Currently the boys are doing lots better, though not 100%. Arthur has tonsillitus but he's doing fine despite that. It's a viral type as part of this adenovirus thing so we haven't needed antibiotics. His throat looks awfully sore and he has white spots all over his tonsils, but he only complains now and again and touches his neck a lot, poor love! Matthew is cutting all four canines at once and I think that's bothering him more than his sore throat. Neil has JUST come down with the sore throat 2 days ago so he has another 8ish days of FUN yet. *sigh*

This season has been SO GERMY! Where's the summer and the respite from All The Germs?! It bugs me that there's only 4 months till the next flu season starts, which means this last season seems to have somehow been EIGHT months long!?!?!

I MUST write about my leg - don't let me forget! ;)

And Nathan is rolling both ways! Tummy-to-back and back-to-front! He rolls over and over now in the same direction, and yesterday when I put him down in the living room, he rolled 7 times in a row to get across the room! This is exactly what Matthew did, but I can't remember if he was older or the same age as Nathan. Nathan seems so little for it yet!

I know there were other things that have been on my mind to write about, but they've fallen out of my head tonight. Matthew's birthday is in just over 2 weeks!!! I'm using Freecycle and eBay so far to search for affordable presents for him. And since not a lot is coming from those (though we did get a FREE lawnmower through Freecycle after Neil mowed a golf ball on our lawn with our old one!), I have sold a few items of maternity clothing on eBay that I really don't use much when I'm pregnant, and bought a couple of tractor story books and a couple of toy tractors from Tesco, and a top with a tractor on it. I'm going to bake him a tractor birthday cake. Anyone noticing a theme here?!?! Hehe. The boy ADORES tractors (twaa-twaa!!). He also loves cars, woh-wees (lorries), emergency vehicles, and trains. And planes. Okay, so he's not picky about his vehicles! But his favourite vehicle is definitely a tractor at the moment, so I'm going to tractorize (?!) his birthday as best I can.

My parents are buying him the sand and water table from The Early Learning Centre, that I wanted to get him. I just asked them if they would mind buying it for his birthday present, as we can't afford to. The other thing we can't afford that I REALLY want for him, is this road playmat that's actually carpet. We have a much smaller, cheaper playmat that isn't real carpet and it is not living up to the wear and tear it is put through! I wanted a real carpet one originally but couldn't find one. Anyway, I am thinking of asking my grandparents to help me buy that for him. They always give a cheque for birthdays, but I might ask (like at Christmas) if they'd mind giving me the money early so I can buy this for him to open on his birthday.

If there happens to be any money left over, I would love a couple of items from the Playmobil 1.2.3 toddler range, notably these ones:

I think he would LOVE those! :)

We might go to the farm for his birthday, just like we did for Arthur's 2nd birthday (but less wrapped up for a winter outing, that sort of thing!) - mainly to see TRACTORS though! I think he might be like Arthur and get a bit scared of some of the animals up close, at his age. I have to finish figuring it all out, because his birthday will be upon me in NO time! My niece, Ella, will be three that day too! It's a shame they don't live nearer to combine birthday outings or something. They might be just a TAD busy this year because Rosemary is currently 38.5 weeks pregnant! We don't know if it's a girl or a boy, but her pregnancy is NOTHING like Ella's, and every. little. bit. like all three of mine, so I'm thinking BOY! Rosemary told me they are stopping at two children, which seems crazy sudden to me! But that's partly because it feels like yesterday that they were just STARTING with Ella (after I had my own first baby, which was oooooh.... last week?!), and partly because I slightly insanely (?!)want a bunch of kids, and now when I think of someone stopping at two, I automatically think, "What?!?! Are you crazy?! You've only just started!!" hahaha! ;)

Okay, I must must must go to bed. But not before I post a ridiculous number of photos in a hopeless attempt to catch up with the huge backlog (just uploaded another 105 photos from the last week alone, and STILL haven't caught up with the 135 from the previous two weeks! Aaargh!).

Oh! Did I write about Matthew's haircut?! I MUST write about Matthew's haircut! Soon.

Here are a few photos of Matthew and Nathan from AT LEAST a month ago (sorry!) - the last one is from a couple of weeks ago though:

Hehe, Matthew was newly awake from his afternoon nap in the third one there! ;) I LOVE that one, for some reason!

Three little boys = Happy Mama!! :)

A typical sight in our household - the boys play cars like this ALL day long, on the sofas mainly, but also all over the floor. It's SO cute to see them side by side, so focused on the same game, now that Matthew is older. They play together with the cars and interact - Matthew will often hand Arthur the cars one by one (saying, "Heeeere....") and Arthur will put them in a traffic line or car park.

Arthur and Matthew watching something on TV together (they look so BIG!):

Three little monkeys (two weeks ago)!

Nathan in The Ring (see photo of Arthur in it, if you open up the comments box!):

Everybody in the ring!!

That's probably reeeally enough photos for you in one go! But I have so many more to post! I would post them all NOW if I didn't think it was going to be too overwhelming and start to make each of them less special or something because of there being so many at once. But instead I'll be back SOON to post the rest! :)

Now I'm going to bed! :)

Nathan is 4 months old!

Late, so a short entry (honestly!), but I have got sooooooooo many photos to post that I need to make a start!

I uploaded photos of Nathan from my camera first, all taken since he turned 4 months old on Monday (four months!?!?!). I think there are still some from before then which I haven't posted, but oh well. I will try to get to those soon!

Also, must write about Matthew's haircut. And we're a bit germy at the moment. Matthew had green goo hanging out of his left eye last night at bedtime, but it looked otherwise fine and wasn't bothering him so I figured we'd keep an eye on it (I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. I lead a simple life, you know!). By the time I went to bed I had a weird sore throat, not awful, but just ALL over my throat rather than just in one place like I'm used to. In the night I didn't get much sleep at all, nothing before 4am, and then very broken after that. My throat felt swollen and it was hard to force a swallow, but it still wasn't horribly sore. Matthew woke lots of times in the night crying, and he wouldn't let Neil comfort him, he only wanted me, which was unusual as well.

Anyway, by the morning, his left eye was clearly NOT WELL! He had so much goop coming from it, and after we'd de-gummed his eyelashes so he could open the eye, it was pink and SO swollen. Naturally it was Saturday (no GP surgery open) because that's when we always need to see a doctor in this house! So we took him to the emergency clinic and they were really anxious about the swelling in his eyelid. They prescribed a TEN day course of oral double-strength antibiotics, urrrgh! In my gut I did not feel like it was right for him. I have had conjunctivitis a fair few times myself as a child/teen, but I don't think I had the swelling. They were worried about cellulitis and said he might need to come back for IV antibiotics!! Yikes!

So, by a few hours later, his eye was way less swollen, and his other eye had rapidly gone from fine-and-dandy, to pink and goopy. Also we got him the antibiotics and he promptly spat them out everywhere and wouldn't swallow even a tiny bit (even bribed with Smarties!). Soooo we called the clinic and they said to come back at 6pm to reassess him. I took him this time with my "mama guns" loaded! ;) I had googled and googled and just did not understand the need for him to have such mega antibiotics.

I prayed on the way there in the car and thankfully we saw a great doctor who didn't know why Matthew had been prescribed antibiotics, because eye drops would do the trick! :) Hooray! So Matthew has to have eye drops 4 times a day for a bit. It's no fun but at least we can ensure his eyes are treated this way!

Meanwhile I looked at my throat in the mirror with a torch and it's COVERED in blistery spots! What is up with that?! The whole thing. They are red/yellow. I asked the doctor to look at my throat and he said it is not bacterial, so I guess I wait it out. I feel crummy, nauseous and achy and off my food, so I hope it goes soon! And that the boys don't get it.

Matthew is coughing a ton in his sleep tonight, almost a croup-like cough, but not croup. Poor sausage! I think it's pretty likely that we'll all have pink eyeballs before the next week is out, but oh well. I just hope the boys don't have it too badly. We have to stay home because it's super infectious, which is a bummer with church tomorrow, but never mind. I just hope it goes quickly! Nathan is really disturbed in his sleep this evening (up hourly so far), so hmmm. Could be a fun night! ;)

Here are the photos of Nathan!

Four months old! And - recent discovery - FEET! :)

In his blue ducky vest that never fit the other boys when they were the right size due to the huge cloth nappies they were wearing! Still using disposables at the moment. I feel sad about it because.... I just do. I think I should use cloth on Nathan even if I can't do all three boys at once in cloth right now. Anyway. This vest is size 6-9 months!

I could eat this boy. Whole.

Here he is having JUST woken up from a nap a few days ago. His neck is so much stronger than it was just a couple of weeks ago! He sleeps on his tummy - see his little red patch on his forehead/cheek where he was sleeping - I go to mush over little things like this. *sigh*

Chewing (a constant activity these days):

BEAMING!! I love my baby boy! :)

He's so haaaappy! Such a sweet, easy-going baby, so much of the time. I'm so blessed! He's going a bit bald on top now, and there are tiny fine hairs everywhere. I have to change his sheets more often now because of the hairs! But in a couple of months I will be able to see his new REAL hair, and I can't wait to see that!

I have a billion more photos, including some nice ones of all three boys together, so I'll try to post those soon, and write about the haircut, etc! :) Thanks so much for the comments on my last entry, and the encouragement!

An update about recent things...

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my last entry! :)

Today, just so I don't forget:

Arthur weed twice in the potty.

Matthew weed twice in the potty!

Nathan rolled from back to front for the first time (he got front to back down a few weeks ago).

Neil was out from 10am to 4pm AND I SURVIVED!!! ;) In fact, the day was uncannily smooth and straightforward, hmmm. The boys had lunch by noon, Matthew was down for his nap by 1pm, Nathan napped within 90 minutes of waking up, all day (and even had a long-ish morning nap! He is a bit of a 30-minute boy, which I'm trying to CHANGE!), everybody had nappy changes at good regular intervals (no big boy poos, hoorah! Those are no fun! ;) But, three blow-out Nathey poos - yayness!), and I set up a big water play for the boys in the garden for the last 2 hours before Neil got home, with three big see-through tubs of water, and like a HUNDRED (okay, maybe 30 or 40) containers, floating toys, and pouring toys in bright colours, etc.

I slathered the boys in kiddie sun cream and put their hats on, and they both said, "Wwwwooooooowww!" when they saw the bright tablecloth on that grass (that we use for crafts) with all those things scattered like Hundreds and Thousands around the tubs of water! The grass is somewhat prickly at the moment because the neighbour has cut down a portion of his conifer hedge in preparation for buying the end of our garden, and the bits and pieces from it have dried in the sun and can act like thorns in little feet (twice so far :( Must get the boys some summer shoes or sandals soon - Matthew fits a pair that Arthur grew out of last summer and has plenty of growing room, so that's good! But Arthur has no summer shoes. I am hoping to get him some Crocs eventually because those seem like they will be the best for his feet with the problems he has with them). So, the play/craft mat. It's huge so it was very useful!

They sat and tipped and poured and splashed for an hour straight, and then they were both soaked through and cold when the wind blew on them, so I stripped them down and put a pair of big boy pants on each of them (Thomas the Tank - age 3-4 - Matthew's were a little baggy, hehe!) and a dry T-shirt, and Arthur carried on for basically another hour! Matthew got bored of water play so roamed around the garden riding on the ride-on cars or just running about. I LOVE having a garden all of a sudden! I remember this joy from last summer! Hopefully we'll maintain the garden better this year, now that it's going to be smaller and just a lawn to mow. We have brambles growing out of the patio and need to remove those asap, and do something about how we store our rubbish bins there. And scrub the patio down. And mend the fence that's leaning over! And then the boys can play there all the time without a worry. It's sooooooooooo easy for me, and they love it!

Tomorrow it's going to be water play again because they loved it so much. Arthur asked if we could do it again tomorrow. When Neil got home the boys were playing in the garden after 2 straight hours of fun and sunshine, and I had Nathan in the baby bjorn (I yearn for an Ergo, for when Nathan's head control will be good enough for a back carry in a couple of months!!) and was busy loading the dishwasher! Yay! I feel great about today.

I KNOW I have only just begun in terms of having all three on my own all day, all the time (Neil is still at home with no job, so it's just a practise day today), and I KNOW there will be some disasterous days! But I feel so confident about it. I feel - dare I say it? - like three is somehow easier than two, when Matthew was Nathan's age. I know that sounds crazy, but really. The two older ones can entertain each other and so there isn't one lonely child while you're trying to settle the baby for the millionth time. You've had two babies, so you are finally starting to iron out a couple of the mistakes you made the other times! ;) Especially with naps and routines. Nathan fits in just fine because he just gets up and naps 90 minutes later, ALL day. However long he sleeps. I am SO MUCH less stressed this time than I ever was the other two times. About naps and stuff. The whole world was about to crash and burn if Arthur did not get his nap because Matthew was up and down like a yo-yo and would not settle, when it was just the two of them. And if Matthew's naps weren't JUST SO, I would stress about making them just so. This time, yes, Matthew still breastfeeds to sleep (thus requires my presence to go to sleep for his nap, like Arthur did), but it's so straightfoward! And I can't figure out HOW it's this straightforward, when it was soooooo difficult to juggle last time with two nappers at the same ages.

I put Nathan down. If it's between 12.30 and 1.30pm, as soon as he's asleep, I change Matthew's nappy and take him to bed, nurse him to sleep and go back downstairs to Arthur, who has usually been quietly watching CBeebies while I've settled the little ones. I expect Nathan to wake on the dot of half an hour, and when he does - because I'm expecting it, and it's now the THIRD time I have had little ones waking at the 30 minute mark - I am not stressed about it. I do leg it upstairs and attempt to get Nathan back to sleep, which he sometimes does, but if it doesn't work then I'm fine with bringing him down.

Mind you, some of the variables are easier this time. I have been working with Nathan a lot over putting him down to sleep (learning from my previous mistakes/experiences!). I am now at the point where I know he's tired, or I know it's "time" for him to go for a nap, because of the GLORIOUS 90-miunute rule. I take him upstairs, kiss his sweet little head, and lay him straight down (on his tummy - he's still a tummy sleeper for now) in his cot. He pretty much always makes a big fuss and squirms about crossly! I then do one long "shhhhhhhhh" sound as loud as I can (I used to do that to cut through the major screaming for a moment so that he could hear me start a "shh shh shh" rhythm! But I haven't had to do that for a while now :) ) and offer him his dummy. The "shhhhhhhh" stops him crying with a start, and then he usually takes the dummy straight away. I sometimes pat his bottom a few times if he's squirmy still, but usually he starts to roll his eyes shut the instant he's sucking. And I leave the room! It's becoming more and more usual now for him to take himself off to sleep. Occasionally he won't have the dummy and chews and sucks on his fingers and fists, and his eyes do the rolling thing and he goes to sleep by himself. So he is EASY to settle compared with my other babies! But I really have worked with him to achieve it, as I soooo did not want to have the same experience again!

That helps! And Matthew is a better sleeper than Arthur ever was, with naps. When Matthew was a baby, every time he stirred, the noise would wake Arthur, even in another room. Arthur never did nap well, from start to finish! So then I would have a baby to settle and a toddler to settle, because both had got up too soon and both needed more sleep! But I found it so hard to meet both needs, and often found it soooo stressful. But Nathan goes to sleep by himself almost, and it's quick if he does need my help. And Matthew stays asleep through Nathan waking and crying. Matthew naps about 90 minutes still, which is wonderful! But if he DOES wake earlier than that or I can't get him to sleep in time for him to have a nap, then I won't stress about it this time. Unless it gets to be every day.... But I don't see that happening till it becomes obvious that he's ready to drop his nap.

Anyway so it's much less stressful! When Nathan is up, he is being talked to by me (or Neil), and by Arthur. He goes under his play gym thing and watches the stuff hanging, and bats at things a little if I hang bright coloured things low enough for him to reach. He has tummy time and back time on a mat or towel on the floor. I do the EASY plan (a la Baby Whisperer) this time, which I partially did (or started but didn't continue, I can't remember which) with Matthew - as soon as Nathan gets up, I breastfeed him as long as he wants (not for long - the boy can STUFF himself full in less than 5 minutes these days! Occasionally he's more leisurely, espacially if he's sleepy, and will nurse for 10 minutes, say. That feels like SUCH a long nursing session to me when it happens!), and then he is on the floor or in his bouncy chair (constantly trying to crunch his abs and sit up in there now, so maybe not much longer in that?), or under the play gym, having his "Activity" time. Sometimes I read to him with picture books, or touchy-feely books (we have lots now!) and I take his hand and stroke the textures with his fingers somewhat awkwardly, but he seems to love it and pay attention all the same! When he fusses after a while of one thing, I hold him for a bit while I do stuff with the boys (or Neil does), and he just sits and watches life going on in the house really. He also loves being held in front of the mirror right now! Mostly he talks and smiles to our reflections, but sometimes he sees himself (so cute!). And he gets a nappy change. And then I can never believe it when I check the time and it has been like an hour and 15 minutes already since he got up! Or he's fussing and rubbing his face on me or yawning, and I can't believe it's nap time already! So I put him down, and off to sleep he goes, and thus another cycle begins! He's a very easy baby so far. I just love him to bits!

My definite plan is to potty train Arthur and Matthew together over the summer. Yikes! What fun that will be! ;) But soooo worth using the summer months. I am not sure Matthew will be ready for it, because he's only just coming up to 2, and he's a boy. Boys are generally ready later than girls. And just turning two is on the early side for either sex. But I think it will be worth a try, because he is already showing most of the signs of readiness (according to the lists!). He can tell us when he has done, is doing, or is about to do a poo or wee, though less often for the wee. He has great bladder control in that he can stop and start the flow of urine instantly if we ask him to, and has been piddling in stop/move-to-new-spot/go manner all over the living room when he doesn't have his nappy on since he was FOURTEEN months! *sigh* He is really interested in the potty and loves to have a turn sitting on it, even fully clothed! ;) He has an added incentive in that his big brother (who he adores and always wants to copy) will be potty training this summer. So it's worth a try, right? But I won't expect too much of him. I'm excited that he weed twice on the potty today. He got a Smartie each time, just like Arthur does. He also weed on the carpet twice.

Arthur has been weeing and pooing on the potty a LOT, most days, and sometimes several times a day, for a couple of months now. We haven't done ANY formal potty training with him, and he is still 100% in nappies. He is perfectly able and ready. He just has so far expressed a desire NOT to wear big boy pants instead of nappies, so we haven't pushed it. He has no trouble whatsoever performing either way on the potty, which is good.

He's three-and-a-half, by the way!!!! I can't believe we are already halfway to another birthday! It's crazy how fast the time is going. He was 3 years and 6 months old on the 9th. Nathan turned 4 months old yesterday (so his adjusted age is now 3 months old, since he was due almost exactly 3 months ago). And Matthew turns 23 months old tomorrow - one month till his 2nd birthday!!! I still haven't thought about what to dooooo. I wasn't sure if we might be in France (wheeee!) for his birthday, but it has taken a while to get the passport applications sorted out. I finally got them countersigned and tonight I put everything in the envelope for all three applications (Neil, Matthew and Nathan), and it can be posted TOMORROW!! Yay! Then it's a 2-3 week turnaround, so hmmm, I'm not sure if we'll fit in a visit to my parents this side of July. They are coming over for a weekend at the beginning of July, because it's the traditional family get-together at Grandoug's birthday. He will be 83 this year! This year everyone is able to go so I'm excited! I have a tiny family (lots of only-children) so it's a small do, but getting bigger nonetheless! :) Every year there is a new baby! I was pregnant with Arthur in July 2004, and had just found out he was a boy that week! I remember showing the u/s pictures around :) Then in July 2005, Arthur was the centre of attention, hehe! He was nearly 8 months old. In July 2006, Arthur was 20 months old, and Matthew had arrived! He was 3 weeks old. In July 2007, I had my two little lovelies (with Nathan newly on the way!) aged 2.5 and 1, and Thea was the new baby at 6 weeks old. THIS year, Nathan is the new baby!

I figured out that if we are all able to be there NEXT year, the little ones will be aged 4, 3, 2 and 1! How lovely :) I'm not sure that there will be a new baby next year though! I don't know when Bennie and Sarah are thinking of trying for another baby (I know they want another though), but I don't think I would have had another baby by then! Nathan would only be 17 months old. I would really hope to be pregnant by then though, maybe even quite pregnant!

I'm waffling. Ho hum....

It's Thea's first birthday tomorrow! We went to her birthday party on Sunday. She had a picnic at the park with other babies her age that they socialise with at baby groups. And us! Nathan hated the outdoors again and cried the whooooole time. He had a tiny nap and breastfed several times but was generally miserable. It was very hot and sunny and windy and he doesn't like any of those things! He's like Arthur, and me. Neil and Matthew don't mind the summery weather when it gets hot. Anyway it was lovely to be at her birthday party! We had to buy some T-shirts for Arthur as he doesn't have any in his size! He has really grown these last few months and doesn't fit a thing from last summer (fairly understandably, since's he's between 3 and 4 now, not between 2 and 3 like last summer's clothing says!). I've been looking for a cheap deal on eBay for about a month, but T-shirts seem to be selling well on eBay right now (probably the time of year!), and in the end I looked at the prices at Next and figured I might as well buy a couple of multipacks of T-shirts there for about as much (when you include postage at eBay). Also, I know Bennie and Sarah were hoping for summer dresses for Thea for her birthday rather than lots of toys (they have a small-ish maisonette), and so I wanted to check out the girlie clothes there. Yes, I know we have no money.

I bought this sweet little set. The shop we went to didn't have a very big selection, but OH how fun it was to browse with purpose the GIRLIE clothes!!! :) Yay for having a niece! Hehe!

Oh, I forgot to write about the shopping trip when it happened! I meant to write an entry about it. I took Arthur out on his own for some quality time and to buy him a sunhat, some T-shirts, and a couple of pairs of shorts. We did get the shorts and the T-shirts, but they didn't have any hats in stock in his size (sold out quickly with the hot weather!). Arthur was very excited about it! We drove to a shopping complex that we haven't been to before, because there was a bigger Next there than our local one. It was HUGE. It reminded me of the big retail lots in the States with masses of parking - a big sprawling lot with the (huge) shops in a big horse-shoe shape, and parking in the middle of the horse-shoe, sort of. A pavement wrapped around the car park area, running around the horse-shoe of shops. We parked right at one end of the horse-shoe because that's where Next was. But, when they didn't have any hats, we set off hand-in-hand to look in the other shops.

Now, Arthur is one for darting about manically in shops and not doing as he's told. *sigh* It's an ongoing issue, and something we're really trying to fix at the moment. He climbs behind displays and disappears 0.5 seconds after I finally clap eyes on him, etc. He moves about soooo fast. I had a talk with him in the car about getting lost, and what to do if he does get lost, and who to talk to and who NOT to talk to, etc. He didn't get lost. In Next, he bounded all over the shop, but stayed in the children's area thankfully. He just would not mind me at all. He DID come over if I asked him to, but not the first time I asked, and he wouldn't stay. So, he had already been a monkey in Next. I talked to him about that as we left, and when we got into another shop, which was waaaaaay bigger and open-plan with a ton of mobile racks of clothing everywhere, I told him he was to stay by my side. He shot off within seconds of walking into the shop, and would NOT do as he was told. I was constantly saying, "Come here!", or "Come here NOW!" or "Do as you're told!" in not-too-quiet a tone due to him not hearing me over the distance he'd run otherwise. I hate that! I hate being in a shop with parents doing that! I hate being the one doing it! He bounced around the place with a permanent massive grin on his face. He came to me sometimes, and sometimes not. In the end I just told him if he did not stay by my side, we would go home and NOT buy a hat for him (I couldn't see any children's hats in there anyway, by then). He did not like this so he came over and walked about 5 paces by my side, before suddenly sprinting off ahead of me again.

Soooo, I took his hand and said we were going home, and that was that.

And then. The Tantrum began. Oh how I long for the joyful easy days of the Terrible Twos! ;) Three has been much worse in so many ways. I think Terrible Twos is a myth. It ISN'T easy, but it's easier than three, in my experience so far!

The Tantrum was about the worst one that Arthur has thrown yet. Except that one over macaroni cheese. And he's twice that age now! He went weak at the knees, you know the one? He lay on his back on the floor, me still holding his hand, and switched his voice to "Amplified Whiney". He would not get up! I picked him up under the arms to carry him out of the shop, and he turned into a fireman's pole with arms up above his head. He's so big and heavy now, and his limbs are so long and boyish! It's hard to deal with physical tantrums out of the house. It has been ages (over a year??) since I had one to deal with like this, so it's not usual for Arthur really. But ohhh, I hauled his butt out of the shop with people goggling at us with open mouths (WHY do they have to do that?!) as they passed us going in. Once he was out the door, I stood him on the pavement and squatted down to talk to him on his level. I was NOT happy with him, and he heard about it!

He did listen but when I said we WERE going back to the car, he wailed anew about the fact that we were leaving without the new hat that we'd set out to buy. I knew I had to stick firm to what I'd said because, consistency people! But my heart sank because we were SUCH a long way from the car! We had walked right to the top of the horse-shoe shape and it really was a massive complex. We would have to walk back past all those shops and cars, in front of all those people, on a nice open-plan shopping complex! I knew he would be unlikely to behave better on the way, once he was that wound up. Urgh!

He screeched and yelled and cried and wailed, and had no ability to move below the waist, etc, and refused to stand up and walk. I somehow managed to stay calm and just wait holding his hand till he got the picture that I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't backing down. I did not want to discipline him in public. I told him he could walk or be carried, but we were going back to the car one way or the other. People just STARED. Again, WHY do they have to do that?! Surely they know it does not help, and isn't very nice besides?! Not one sympathetic smile or look, nothing! Not even from women with kids! Just cold condemning stares. Tsk. It really didn't help me feel any better.

I carried Arthur a few yards and then thought better of it - it wasn't a nice mutually accepted carry! I just grasped him round his torso and walked, and he is so big! It wasn't easy.

About halfway back to the car, he notched up that tantrum to a force 5, and lay on the floor flinging his limbs about and SCREAMING angrily at me! Think nails on blackboards and distorted sounds of pneumatic drills too close to your ears. He was also sobbing and crying and had tooootally lost it (long ago!). Arthur really doesn't do this much at all - at home sometimes, but still not often to this degree! It was awful! People stopped in shop doorways to watch us pass, and stared from benches and cars. Urrrgh!

In the end I think I told him that I would discipline him when we got to the car if he did not get up and walk with me RIGHT NOW. He stayed flailing about and screaming on the floor, and I just got that surge of mama-strength (I know you guys know what I'm talking about, hehe!) and picked him up and put him under my right arm, and stomped off to the car with him like a plank (well, a writhing plank) under my arm - how thankful I am for child-bearing hips, hehe! That good old hip supported all his weight! With the mama strength also came the I-don't-care-what-anybody-thinks thing, which also helped looooads.

Back at the car (ours is big enough to stand inside and talk things out!), he did get disciplined (smacked, in case anyone thinks I'm being a bit vague with the use of the word "discipline"). Then we talked about it long and good. What reeeeeally helped me to let go of the whole thing, was when I talked to Arthur about forgiveness and what it means. When I could see he understood what I was talking about, I told him that this whole thing was forgotten, that I forgave him and I loved him, and I would not remember it again. Daddy would not be cross with him when we got home because Mummy has forgiven him, and now I won't be cross with him when I think about it any more. That was as freeing for ME as it was for Arthur, I think. I should put that part of our discipline process into practise more often. I sometimes forget.

Then I changed the subject and talked excitedly with him about his new T-shirts, and he was red-faced and a little sobby, but I could really see the relief in his face, and our journey home was happy and trauma-free, thankfully!

But I hope not to have to deal with too many more tantrums like that one again!

I was going to write about more stuff, but Neil went to the Christian Resources Exhibition today (that's why he was out), looking for job ideas and browsing seminars, and he came home with a bag full of "mystery" stuff that he's picked up as he went round the place. I am so nosey and really want to rifle through that bag! I forgot to ask him about the stuff in it before he went to bed, and I guess he got too side-tracked to show me. But I saw the corner of a magazine poking out of it, so I took a peek, and it's Above Rubies!!! I was so excited when I saw it! I don't know if he picked it up because he thought of me and knew I would love to read it, or if he just got handed it somewhere - I'll have to ask him. If he picked it up just for me, I just LOVE that man! I love him anyways though :) So, since I started this entry, I went and found the Above Rubies magazine and nowwwww it's embarrassingly late because I've read article after article and thoroughly enjoyed myself and completely lost track of the time! So I must stop and go to bed. But I will post photos asap. I have so many backing up! I took at least 20 today, and many to post before those.

Back soon! :)