Henry points to the toilet before using it, "The pee pee sleeps in those holes."
Henry uses the toilet, points at his work and states, "That pee pee is AWAKE!"

and so it goes and so it goes...

I have a little tummy ache right now. Henry threw up earlier. I hope it's just the power of suggestion. I am a little alarmed currently. It kind of just hit me that Obama is going to be the president. I hate politics. I hate pretending like I know anything about politics. I think we should just all agree. Agree on what? Well, that America gets an F+ in Presidential Election. Larf. Evidently 'larf' is a real word, even though this blog keeps insisting, with it's little red dots, that I am misspelling some other word. Larf. Yup. Keeps happening. I miss my Sarah. I am going to see her in a few short days. (if the Lord tarries) Of course, those few days aren't going to seem that short if Henry is the first in a line of 6 (yes there are 6 of us now) people to come down with a horrific stomach virus. I hate the stomach virus. It is called rotovirus or some such thing-that must be right because I didn't get the red dots-and it is one minor illness that I am completely on board with getting a vaccination against. Chicken pox? no thank you, Flu shot? thank you, I'll pass. If I could get a shot that would insure never suffering from this again, I would. Gladly. Ick. Once when we had the "double ick" as it has been called, I was so weak that I laid in bed (when I wasn't vomiting or something) and when it was time to feed the baby, (the baby at the time was Henry, who fortunately was the most content and compliant baby in history, up to that point-Aaron wins, but he was still a twinkle, if you know what I mean) anyway, when it was time to feed the baby, I would just grab whatever part of his jammies I could reach, and pull him over to me and nurse him laying there. I have a new and different baby now and I can't imagine him laying around that long. This one is a little more demanding. I still like him, though. A lot. He came 3 weeks early. What a miracle that was. A perfect example of a perfect answer to prayer. He is really cute too, especially since his baby acne and cradle cap are gone. A guy named David saw the acne and said, "eew, ick" I told him it was normal for newborns to break out, he replied, "Oh, good, normal. I'ts normal. But eew, ick, right?" As I was typing out the "Eew, ick" story, Henry threw up again. I cleaned it up, cleaned him up, and went downstairs to start this latest load of vomit-covered laundry. I came back up with one of the previously-soiled pairs of jammies and asked him if he wanted to put them back on. (they are his very favorite Buzz Lightyear ones) "Yes," he replied "I want to wear my clean jammies. You washed them! You are such a smart girl!" By the way, don't entertain negative thoughts about David and his comments about my beautiful baby, David just doesn't know any better. I was not offended and neither should you be. That just about wraps up my thoughts for this evening, or morning, I guess I should say. It's 2:29 am. Chris the Baker is due to arrive at 8:15, (which means he should be here around 9:00) so I should try to get a little sleep. Oh. Maybe not. He just threw up again. So be it... no sleep for me tonight. Oh! and now Peter is waking up! I love being a mother.

Our First Christmas in Illinois

reunion

Me to Austen sitting in a kitchen chair in full safety gear-helmet, elbow pads, knee pads:
"You know what, I sure love you. My heart hurts sometimes, I love you so much."

Austen: "And you know what? I can't find my roller skates."

Dream

I had a dream that we went to a poetry reading by Micah

and some guy sang a song he wrote.
It went like this:
"I used to be a pig but now I'm not a pig because I'm a man."

Then he took his shoe off to prove it.
And I was mad because I thought the song was pro-evolution.
Also, Ann Schotz was there. That, and someone stole my bike.
Okay, no one stole my bike in the dream.
Or in real-life. But the rest of it happened... in my dream.

Decorating

A real tree!

Christmas cookies

Austen sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating.

Aaron Misses Chris the Baker

Chris Baker left his shoes here. Out of all the forbidden goodies in the closet, Aaron found these. I think he misses Chris the Baker.

Beautiful Boy

photography by Kris Stone

Meet Pete

so maybe they were a little more fascinated with their new toys than with the new brother

Sweet Pete

Arrived (surprise) 2 weeks and 6 days early on November 3, 2008 at 10:58 am!
Weighing 7 pounds
and 19 adorable inches long...
Here he is: Peter Wesley Olheiser







(thank you, Aunt Rachel, for taking all these fabulous pictures)

Basketball

Austen had his first basketball clinic today...

his "coach" showed him how to dribble...


he liked shooting practice much better than dribbling practice.

Fall

You would think...

One would think that I would have had a better handle on things, been able to better deal with the situation... but I couldn't. Even as Austen's Mom, I was completely out of my element. I. Did. Not. Know. What. To. Do.

Let me catch you up:

Place: Rachel Hubbart's House
Time: Friday, October 24, 2008, around 3:00 pm.

Two of my children, Henry and Aaron had been playing quietly in Drew's bedroom for some time. I had been sitting on the floor in the hostess' bedroom going through scrapbook supplies. I looked up at one point to see Henry walk across the hall into the bathroom. He had no pants on. He had appeared to have had an accident of the stinky variety. I got up, stating something like, "oops, Henner had an accident." I walked into the hall just in time to see Aaron follow Henry out of Drew's room. Something was amiss. Aaron had something on his face. Before I completely realized what it was, he popped his pacifier into his mouth and let out two small cries. I figured it out. The brown substance on Aaron's face was Henry's. Henry's #2. That's right, folks, feces. I began to scream. I screamed, "OH NO OH NO WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO" for several minutes until Rachel quieted me, stating "What, it's just an accident? What is the big deal?" She was behind me, she couldn't see Aaron. "IT'S. IN. HIS. MOUTH!"
I had no idea what to do. I have never felt this out of my element in my life. Keep in mind, I have cleaned up a lot of this variety of mess in my short career as a mother. Remember my earlier comment about being Austen's Mom? For instance the "Thomas in the mud on the tracks" incident?? (It wasn't mud) But in a mouth?!? What do I do? Here is what I did:

1. Put both boys into the tub.
2. Turned the water on.
3. Removed Aaron's shirt and used it to scoop remaining solids out of his mouth.
4. Wet and lathered a bar of soap then shoved bar of soap into Aaron's mouth.
5. Washed Aaron's hands.
6. Washed Aaron's body.
7. Repeat step 4 several more times.
8. Repeat step 5 .
9. Repeat step 6.
10. Washed Henry.
11. Removed Aaron from tub.
12. Dressed Aaron.
13. Poured mouthwash into Aaron's mouth and wiped insides of mouth with fingers. (at this point the child swallowed mouthwash and I began to panic, thinking, "there is alcohol in mouthwash, I am poisoning my baby!!!" then realized that at this point a tiny amount of alcohol would probably do more good than harm)
Finally # 14. I Dressed Henry.

Keep in mind, this all happened within only a few moments so I did not completely absorb everything that had happened when scouring mouths and sanitizing digestive tracts of said children.

For the rest of our afternoon at the Hubbart's I still smelled Henry's mess. It did not appear to be on my anywhere and I knew that Henry and Aaron were as clean as I could make them after their experiences and wearing clean clothes so I was at a loss as to where the smell was coming from. I realized it a short time later... It was in my hair. Aaron had reached up and grabbed my hair and in my panic I had not noticed it. I had to get out of there. I wanted a shower and I wanted it fast. Children and goods were loaded within moments and I was on my way home to clean my smelly, smelly hair.

As soon as I got home I got in the shower and began vigorously cleaning the section of my hair above my left ear where I had made my gruesome discovery. I cleaned my hair there very thoroughly and went on to wash the rest of my head. The hair above my ear was not the only place Aaron had touched, evidently. There was a significantly larger and smellier deposit on the very tippity top of my head. I have never cleaned my hair as thoroughly nor as many times as I did that day. I still feel contaminated when I think about it. I assume I always will.

Monticello Railway Museum on Saturday, October 11, 2008

Austen and Henry sitting in the caboose. They couldn't wait to get going!

The three of them checking out the view from the caboose window.

Lunch in Downtown Monticello.

Daddy and the boys waiting for the train back to the museum.

When siblings name siblings

Austen told me he didn't want to name the baby Peter anymore.

He told me he wanted to name his brother 'Nate'

I said there already is a Nate. (who was over today, obviously where this idea came from)

Me: "... But you know why Peter is such a cool name? Spiderman's name was Peter Parker, so our baby will have the same name as Spiderman!"

Henner: "Peter Parker!"

Austen: "Spiderman's name was Peter too?"

Henner: "NAME THE BABY SPIDERMAN!"

Austen: "Can we call him Spiderman?"
I said yes.

Big Brothers!

Today Austen, Henry, and Aaron made new big brother t-shirts to wear when they meet their new baby brother, Peter.

Smartest Child ALIVE

Henry: "Mr. Tony has pants."
Me: "Good, it's good he wears pants. He had better wear pants." (Mr. Tony and his wife are Henry's Junior Church teachers)
Henry: "... and he has arms. And Uncle Adam has pants. And he has a head."

you've got a friend in me...

mama meme

Proud Mommy Survey
If you are a proud mommy fill this out and post
1. Age?
4, 3, & 15 months
2. Name?
Austen Frederick, Henry Clifford, & Aaron Mark
3. Birthday?
Nov 16
Sept 2
June 7
4. Time of birth?
10:13 am (had to look that up! yikes!)
3:22 am
7:35 pm
5. How long did labor last?
13 hrs
12 hrs
7 hrs
6. Who was there?
Austen- Ty & my mom
Henner- Ty & my mom
Aaron- Ty & "Aunt" Rachel
7. How long was your delivery procedure?
2 hrs
10 minutes
30 minutes
8. Weight?
Austen 7 lb 14 oz
Henry 9 lb 10 oz
Aaron 9 lb 3 oz
9. Length?
Austen- 19 and a pinch inches
Henry- 20 inches (had to look that one up too!)
Aaron- 21 inches
10. Any hair?
Austen had a substantial amount of hair
Henner was virtually bald
and Aaron had and still has just enough hair to look like Gollum
11. Who does baby look like?
Austen is Tyson part 2
Henry is everyone
Aaron looks like a baby thing still so who knows
12. Be honest…how much weight did you gain during pregnancy?
16 lb
16 lb
7 lb
13. Was baby early or late?
Austen was 4 days early
Henry was 3 hours and 22 minutes late
Aaron was a week and a half early (and this, my friends, is the way to go :)
14. Who drove you home from hospital?
Ty
15. How many baby showers did you have?
3-one each
16. When did baby start sleeping through the night?
Austen 3 months
Henry 2 weeks
Aaron 4 weeks
17. Did you breastfeed?
yup for
16 months
9 months
and 10 months
18. if not, what kind of formula?
then used
similac for Henner
enfamil for Aaron
19. Who keeps your baby the most?
Me
20. When do you wanna have another?
Around the middle of November...
21.. How did you pick the name?
Ty had 'Austen' picked before he even knew me
I picked Henry's cuz I love old fashioned names
Aaron got named after Ty's grandpa who died about a year before he was born
and all of their middle names are after our fathers or step fathers
22. Did you go home or somewhere else when you left the hospital?
home
23. Anyone spend the night with you first night home?
mom
mom
mom in law/grandma in law

The appetite of a boy, age 4

He ate:
2 bowls (heaping) of macaroni and cheese
hot dogs
2 bowls of popcorn
1 bag of fruit snacks
1 roll
2 cookies
1 cupcake
1 string cheese
3 large cups of apple juice

within 3 hours.
then he asked for more.
Sensing my reluctance to feed him anything else, he proceeded to explain how hungry he was:

"I am as hungry as 11 cats, 6 chickens, 9 dogs, and 6 children."

Aaron loves The Baker

Ahhhhhh CHOO!

Today Austen sneezed.

Then Henner did.

(cuz he has a cold)

Austen got so mad, he thought, I guess that Henner was copying him.
He said, "HENNER you sneezed and I sneezed and I sneezed and you can't"
Henry: "I sneezed." (matter-of-fact, not taunting his brother-Henry is a tiny bit clueless)

Austen: "NOOOOOO! I sneezed, and you can't!"
Henry: "I sneezed."
Austen: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! MOM!!! HENNER SNEEZED AFTER ME!!!!"
... and so on
He was yelling at Henry, with anger, because Henry "copied" him.

I found myself saying something I never even thought I would never say because who thinks this, but I said "Austen, Henry can sneeze too!"

Involuntary Nap

I told Henry he didn't have to take a nap on his birthday.



















Happy Birthday, Buzz Lightyear!

update!

eleven cats and eleven dogs and 814 children and 5 chickens

that's how thirsty austen is today

Training

I have been reading a book called 'To Train Up a Child' I am not finished yet but right after I started I have begun implementing the advice. The results are amazing. For example:

Today we went to the library. I just wanted to dash in and get a video I had reserved, today was the last day I could pick it up. I didn't bother getting out my monstrosity of a double stroller, just put Aaron in the umbrella stroller and asked Henry to stay next to me. He was SO good. Henner wasn't even in the stroller he stayed with me and obeyed perfectly. PERFECTLY, with a good attitude. When we left the library we went to the bank to deposit some checks. After the bank I asked my sons what they wanted for lunch. Austen suggested pancakes. I decided to use the $10 I had just put in the bank to buy them lunch. This is a special treat and very brave of me, if I don't say so myself. One hopelessly insufficient mom and three boys in a sit-down restaurant? I decided to reward them for their excellent behavior the last few days and do it-take them out to lunch at the pancake house. We got pancakes. The boys were so good in the restaurant. And I was calm. And it could have been bad- because at first Austen messed with coffee cups and Aaron didn't have a high chair yet and was getting into stuff. But I prayed that this test of my sons behavior and the training techniques would be a success. I was calm. We got our pancakes and ate and everyone kept being good.

Then when we were leaving and the people who were in the booth across from us stopped me in the parking lot. The woman said how good they were. I said thanks. She said "really they are very well behaved children... and you... you were so calm"

I am thanking God for my boys right now

I have never had anyone tell me that before about them... and me, calm?

wow

I am in awe that they are "working" so well and so quickly. I feel accomplished but more than that I know that something bigger than me is responsible for this positive change. God is. I don't deserve such fast results. I don't deserve these blessings. I am blessed.

Spiders

Background information: buggies = boogers
When Henner wakes up with sleep in his eyes he won't let me get it out unless I call it a 'spider'

You know eye buggies?

When you wake up?

He has those almost every morning and he won't let me get them out,

because an eye buggy never hurt anyone.

But the idea of a spider, well he doesn't like that!

So he lets me take the spider off his eye.

He is the one who came up with the name, I never lied to him and told him he had a spider on his eye.

Grape Juice

"I am thirstier than eleven cats and forty nine chickens"
Austen told me this today.

Lucky!

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?
And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I didn't write this

Cherry Lime Slush and A Very Bad Day

I had both! First came the Very Bad Day. I had a WIC appointment. I hate those. I rarely say 'I can't wait' because I want to enjoy every day God gives me with my family and to savour it, but I can't wait to become a productive member of society and never, EVER go there again. Henry was bad. What's new? He didn't even have anything to be mad about so he kept making things up, screaming how he wanted this and that-things that didn't even matter. Upon returning home he was disciplined. I proceeded to go about my business. While I was indisposed, he learned how to open the front door and opened it and released Aaron, who has no sense whatsoever, and then he ran away. Fortunately, Austen played informant and herded Henry back in and got me just in time to prevent Aaron from attempting to walk down the porch stairs. So.... Tyson got me a slush while I went to the library with Austen, who, thank you Lord, was the best boy on the planet today. Then I mowed the lawn and took a very long shower. Now I feel better. 1000x better, thanks for asking. The End.

Fearless

I remember my mom standing outside the fence at my swimming lessons, dangling a pack of skittles. No bribes necessary for our son! He is fearless. He jumped off like this probably 9 or 10 times!

scurvy

Drew buddy and his pirate ship cake.

Mutiny

Austen began swimming lessons this week. He is enthusiastic and enjoys himself. Swimming is, as we all know, excellent exercise. What we don't all know is that it is useless for weight loss because it increases one's appetite. I have seen this in action. Austen's food intake has esentially doubled. I am trying to keep up with his appetite and feed him lots of healthy and filling goodies. One of the foods I fed him to keep up with his ever-increasing appetite was strawberries. My normally picky eater has devoured everything I have set in front of him. I took advantage of this by setting something in front of him that he normally would not eat. He ate them and knowing it is a fresh healthy fruit, claimed that it had made him stronger immediately after consuming it. He proved this by flexing his muscles. I explained to him that not only do strawberries make his muscles stronger, they make his immunity stronger. He asked me what that meant. I explained to him that when he is around something that could make him sick, he will be able to stay healthy because he has strong immunity. He disagreed. "Nope, it makes me strong like this" (again flexed his muscles) Oh well. I guess 4-year-olds don't need to understand the basics of their immune systems. I thought he had moved on. Wrong. The next time he ate the berries he asked me: "Mom, why do strawberries have mutiny in them?"
That I don't know.

6

1. I hate chain letters and e mails and refuse to perpetuate any similar nonsense.
2. I HATE nonsense
3. I am not a baby factory.
4. I AM 5'4''.
5. I like the cookie part of twix, not the caramel.
6. I am tired of being consoled, I AM happy we are having a boy.
7. (optional) I am in kind of a bad mood.

words

Henry is 2. Sometimes he doesn't know what the names of things are. Things he uses all the time. Like the buckle on his carseat. So he calls it a 'duh'. Similarly, he did not know what to call a band-aid. He asked me about 10 times for a skateboard while pointing to his skinned knuckles before I figured it out. Skateboard=band-aid.

Henry's top 5

Me: "Tomorrow you get to go to Mrs. Taylor's class."
Henry: "Mrs. Taylor is my best friend."
Me: "I thought Nate was your best friend."
Henry: "Nate is my best friend and Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Pinne and Austen and Dr. Stephens"

Anudder Brudder

See Baby Peter, our 4th boy:

Austen's Electrical Incident

He should know better but he draped the chain of the tub plug over the prongs to the tv plug. Then he plugged it in. From across the room I saw a spark and a puff of smoke. Then Austen turned around, looked at me, and with eyes as big as quarters said, "I am sorry, mommy." The cord did not appear to work anymore so I was on my way downstairs to switch the fuse when he blocked me from leaving the room. He wanted me to aknowledge his apology and to hug me. The fuse was blown and upon switching it everything was in working order again. It is hard to stay mad sometimes.

Sneak Peek

This is one of Henry's "3 year-old pictures"
(2 months early)























Aaron Mark, age 1
AND THERE'S MORE WHERE THESE CAME FROM!












Photographs courtsesy of Kristie Stone (you are the best!)