Not Quite Pizza, But It's a Start!

June 26, 2008

Zane ate his first rice cereal tonight! He was pretty into it, trying to push my spoon hand into his mouth faster. Apparently he was ready! Isaac, Ian and Colby were super excited that Zane was eating real food (Isaac even thanked God for it in his dinner prayer) and each of them tried a bite of his cereal, too. I wish I could have gotten a picture of each of their reactions, too. They had the same funny looks on their faces when they tasted it as Zane did...I think they'll be glad to let Zane eat his fill from now on!

Multi-tasking with "Baych" and "Beath-ovan"

June 26, 2008

This was so cute. I was making dinner when I saw Isaac reading "Firehouse Dog" to Ian in the guest room. They had taken a break from building caterpillar habitats (not sure how many caterpillars I found crawling on each of the boys today, but it was certainly plenty for me!) and pulled up these chairs in front of the CD player. I was told that they were listening to "Baych" and "Beath-ovan".

Psalm 139 and What Am I Doing Up So Late?

I learned and re-learned some really fun things about the boys this weekend. Not sure why it's taken me so long to absorb these, but here are some things I realized and enjoyed:

As soon as Isaac hears or sees or reads anything new, he wants to try it out. He is definitely a competitive doer. For example, I brought a shortened version of Treasure Island from the library this weekend and as soon as Isaac read it, he found a little box and filled it with "treasures" (pipe cleaners, beads and his soccer medal) . Then he buried it in the yard, drew a map and had us look for it. He was soooo excited! Later this weekend, I gave the boys some plastic dinosaur bones (that I'd been saving for nice weather) to bury and uncover. Isaac dove right into the excitement of hiding them and pretending to discover them and then hiding them and helping Ian and Colby find them as well. I just love that excitement and creativity and story telling capability, even though many times it involves a whole lot of work on our end, too, as he wants us to be involved and has very specific jobs for us. He is a go, go, go-er all the time and it is sure fun to see all the things he loves. There are so many! He just exudes energy! I just need to expend a little more energy to help him see how much I love his energy!

What I realized about Ian this weekend is that he really has a little scientific mind. There have been times that I have wondered why he doesn't play in that same story-telling, doing way that Isaac has. It took two things this weekend for me to come to the (what should have been obvious) conclusion that God has given him some really neat different gifts. One was when I was reading a chapter in the book called "The Year of Miss Agnes" to Isaac. Miss Agnes is such a creative teacher and she helps the children in her class discover the things that they are really good at and then to be excited about them. Anyway, her description of one little boy in her class just really made me think of Ian and then, when I held his hand as we were walking through Curt Gowdy State Park, I had this huge epiphany about him: He sees the world in a sort of scientific manner. He is always interested in what is going on around him...what he sees, what he feels, what he touches...the caterpillar on the bush, the grasshopper in the grass, the spider on the wall, the moth in the bathtub, etc.

So, this is how our walk went: Isaac running and pretending and seeing how fast he could be and Colby seeing how fast and independent he could be. Ian contentedly meandered next to me, sometimes holding my hand, sometimes running a couple of feet, always holding a caterpillar in his hand (all the way to the falls, which was about 1 1/2-2 miles). And on the way back, he had so much fun meandering again, hardly taking more than a baby step without finding something new and exciting to grab: every kind of fern and leaf and rock and stick that he could find. He had so many treasures in his hands that he couldn't get anything else in without dropping what was already in his hands!

I can't even describe the joy I had watching him enjoy himself so much with the little things. Has it really taken me this long to appreciate his take it slow approach to observing and enjoying life? Wow, I really need to slow down and appreciate what he sees!

What I learned about Colby this weekend is that he is a real comedian and I've just noticed a huge surge in his humor! He loves to laugh hearty, hearty laughs and just about everything is funny to him! The boys watched Disney's Robin Hood today and Scott and I just couldn't help grinning at Colby's long and humongous belly laughs! This weekend I really noticed Colby teasing us and doing silly things and then doing his own commentary and sound effects about those funny things that he just said and did! He just gets such a kick out of things. I'm figuring out that I really need to lighten up and appreciate his little budding humorist personality more. I have a feeling that there will be lots and lots of pranks on his end as he gets bigger.

What a joy to see the special traits that God has given to each of us... not to be used as a label, because certainly the things we observe in each other are not the depth and entirety of our being, but still, doesn't it just open a new understanding of how individual and unique and intricate he made each of us. Reminds me of Psalm 139 ...For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

The Dog Days of Summer

June 20, 2008

Poor Oquirrh! Not only was she spayed on Thursday, but she also had her back dew claws removed... which I'm sure was a good time! Of course, she then proceeded to tear out about two inches of her belly sutures and chew up a good portion of her little pink "casts". So, Saturday morning before we could take the boys on their long awaited hike up to Hidden Falls, we (Scott) had to take her back in to the clinic, have her re-anaesthetised, re-stitched up (this time with metal sutures), re-bandaged and given a very flattering and comfortable lamp shade bonnet to wear!

Sleeping Like a Baby

June 17, 2008

This was just too cute to pass up! None of our other boys ever sucked their thumbs or hands or fingers, so I just couldn't resist this little picture of sweetness!

Grandpa and Grandma Balyo

June 12, 2008
Scott's parents drove out from Cheboygan, MI and spent June 7-12 with us...having water balloon fights (even though it wasn't very warm!) and helping us get our house ready for selling (we listed it on the 7th). I, personally, spent a good portion of the time they were here grousing about selling this house that I have enjoyed so much and basically throwing myself a pity party...so, I'm sure I was pure joy to be around!

June 11, 2008
Ian, Colby and Isaac help Grandpa and Grandma Balyo clean the basement!

Four Months Old

Zane hit the four month mark on June 6th. Still a happy little baby with lots of shrieks, gurgles and coos. Not quite as good of a sleeper as he was last month, but still..."better than a kick in the pants" as my dad sometimes says! His brothers are super great at entertaining him! What a delight!

Shoe Shenanigans

Ian has a thing with shoes (Shoeless Shaw/ Barefoot Balyo, anybody?! He may or may not have picked up this particular trait from his mother!):

He is the first one to discard them; the first one to lose them; the first to forget about them; the first to have his toes run over by little wheeled vehicles; the first to stub his toes on rocks; the first to have slivers in his foot and the first to step on cactus each spring (thanks for your patient work on that one, Angela!).

It should not, then, have been a surprise when on a recent Sunday we got out of the car at church, only to find that Ian wasn't wearing any shoes...nor did he have any shoes or socks in the car available to him! It had been such a beautiful morning when we'd sent the boys to the car that he'd forgotten all about them. When he stepped out of the car in bare feet and responded to our question of "where are your shoes, Ian?" with an "I don't know?!" Scott and I just looked at each other and started laughing.

We were a little embarrassed about the no shoes, but that wasn't the extent of it! Apparently Isaac was wearing Ian's khaki pants as waders and Ian was wearing Isaac's khaki pants as Jr. high fashion. We sheepishly took our entourage into the church and began explaining what had happened to Ian's Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Sudlow, when we looked down at her feet and had to laugh... because of all things and of all days, she was shoeless as well! Her only comment was..."You know, the Bible does tell us to remove our shoes when we are standing on Holy ground!"

Aren't you thankful that our Creator God has a sense of humor!

Hairy Weather

A couple things today...

All right... what is with the snow today! I have been a bit of a Pollyanna about the weather for about, hmmm, well, probably since March, but today I wore Scott's parka liner while we loaded some stuff into the Suburban and frankly...I was still cold. The wind was blowing SO HARD I thought I was going to have my legs taken off at the knee when the doors blew shut on them!

Is that the furnace running again? Scott thinks it's February or October or November or March or ...

Also, I got my hair cut today. Bit the bullet. Chopped it off. I'd been thinking about it for about a year but just didn't have enough pluck to do it. Well, today I did it. Everybody knows that a big change needs reassurance from the people you love, right?! Here is the reaction I got when I came home...

"Mommy, you look...different!" Ian

"Mommy, your hair looks like a boy's hair. Will you grow your hair out again? You look pretty. You may look different, but you'll always be our mommy!" Isaac

"Mommy? You got new hair?" (this was followed by little hands forcing my head to turn so he could see the back of my hair again and again) " Oh... wow!" "Oh... wow!" I then asked, "Do you like my hair?" Long pause and then "hmmm..."

Luckily, my loving husband greeted me with a positive "I like it" or I think I'd have to head back into town and have my hair glued back on!

Grandpa and Grandma Shaw with the boys

May 19, 2008

My parents graciously came to help us out before, during and after I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled. Yep! You can feel pretty badly for me...I'll take your sympathy! It hurt! But, the good news is...I am NEVER going to have my wisdom teeth EVER pulled again! By the way, if you are wondering what Ian has in his hand, it is at least one grasshopper. :)

Return of the Underwear Jedi

May 7, 2008

Colby, 2 3/4 years old, always enjoys a good helmet/sword combination!

Grandmother Sibble III's Wisdom

I just love children's literature! Isaac and I just finished reading a book called "The Wheel on the School" by Meindert Dejong. It's about a group of Dutch children who want to have some storks make a nest on their school and have to figure out how to get them to come. The very first chapter I read made me smile and smile again and again. It's just that kind of perfectly thoughtful and sweet book... a book about people on the sidelines being important despite their apparently average role. And each time you realize this about a new character, it's like a breakthrough of "why didn't I see that in the first place?"

For example, an old grandmother had seen a little girl (Lina) thinking very hard and had started talking with her to find out why. During the time of talking, Lina was surprised to discover that Grandmother Sibble III "wasn't just an old person any more, miles of years away, she was a friend. A friend, like another girl, who also wondered about storks." What a sweet little revelation.

That actually wasn't what I was going to post. I kind of got side tracked. The part I was going to post was this little pearl of wisdom from Grandmother Sibble IIIto Lina, "You get us each a [candy] out of the tin. Then I'll sit on my stoop and you sit on yours, and we'll think about storks. But we'll think better each on his own stoop, because often thinking gets lost in talking."

I just love that. Isn't that the truth. No wonder DeJong won the Newbery Medal for this.