Labor Day Weekend

It would only be appropriate that this year it would be 90 degrees+ on a weekend when we are normally in jeans and long sleeve shirts. But it was the boys' favorite holiday of the year (yes, even more than Christmas perhaps), so we spent a full day of our Labor Day weekend at the Rock River Thresheree.

Ian and Sean save up all their money for the entire year for this weekend. They earn their money by helping Grandma when she comes (she always gives them quarters), filling up their jars with warm fuzzies for good behavior, or digging through mom and dad's pockets. I also tend to put coins in their banks when I find them in Charles' pockets while doing laundry. The day before the Thresheree, I took them to the bank to cash their coins in. They were so excited to see who had saved more! They were very close (perhaps it was set-up a bit by mom?), and came in at just about $35 each. They picked up a little more when a man in line at the bank saw how long they had been saving their money and he gave them each $2.

Of course as soon as we arrived, the boys wanted to start looking at all the different toy tractors so they could decide which they wanted to get. They have both pretty much set their hearts on getting a tractor and some sort of implement. If you've ever bought toy tractors, you know these things are not cheap. Charles and I were pretty clear to them that while we would help them figure out what they could and could not afford, we were not going to give them money for any toys. We said we would pay for their train tickets (which ends up being a moot point as you read on) and their lunch, but any extras were on them today! After much debate, they found a box set of 2 Farmall tractors (a brand they do not have yet) that allowed them to split the cost and still have enough for Ian to get a plow and Sean a gravity box. Good gracious, that is just too much for this city mom to handle!

This year, Jim was the Treasurer of the Thresheree and it turns out when you are the child/grandchild of the treasurer, you get to each your lunch in an air conditioned building! This was a relief and blessing since it's difficult enough to try to manage a lunch in a festival-like setting with 3 little ones. After lunch, we walked around the grounds and took in all the usual attractions. A new one for the boys this year was the corn box (which I've only ever seen at the County Fair before), and the pedal tractor races. I personally enjoyed the corn box because it was shady and the corn felt nice and cool on the hot day! If you haven't sat with your bare feet in a corn box, you haven't lived.

Following a break from the sun in the corn box, Ian and Sean rode in what can only be explained as "oil barrels painted for different tractor brands and pulled in a train like formation behind a tractor." This is Ian's 3rd year riding them, Sean's 2nd. Last year we had to chase the train o' barrels down when Sean started crying during the ride. This year was all smiles! The guy who puts this on is just awesome. He doesn't charge anything and does these rides all day. It's not sponsored at all by the Thresheree, it's just his own tractor he brought to show that pulls the train.

 Finally it was time for one of the boys' favorite activities  the steam train! I can still remember the first time I rode the train at the Thresheree. I was pregnant with Ian and still confused about what this whole Thresheree event was even about (although sometimes I'm still unsure...) If you don't know how steam trains work, because I didn't, they are powered by coal. Dirty coal that spatters you when you sit in the train cars behind the engine. I am quite sure that my one 10 minute trip on this train each year will shorten by life by at least 5 years. Anyhow, I have come to realize that kids get dirty and I must just deal with this part of the day that brings them so much joy. When we were eating lunch with Jim earlier, he had mentioned to Charles that he had talked to the train conductor and asked him if his grandsons could ride up front. Cool, I thought! The boys will LOVE that! Well wouldn't you guess they were just thrilled to ride up front... IN THE COAL CAR. Yes, my children (well, 2 of them) sat in the coal box with my husband for the train ride. You bet they had a blast, but man were they ever dirty.  They had a THOROUGH wash down after this event and I declared that to be a once in a lifetime event, aka not happening again next year.

It wasn't long after the train ride that it was about time to go home. We caught a few more little things here and there, but then worked our way to the exit and caught the next tractor to the giant parking lot in the farm field. If you are in the Rock County area and have kids that are interested in tractors, I cannot suggest this event enough. Just walking around and looking at all the different tractor models is entertainment enough for my boys, but there is so much more to do!

Are you wondering where Emmett was through all of this? He was there just being his sweet old self. Sleeping. Waving. Sweating.

Happy Half Birthday, Emmett!

Happy Half Birthday (on May 22nd) to my littlest man! At 6 months old, our blue-eyed boy is still incredibly smiley and flirts with everyone! He can sit up on his own and rolls tummy to back and back tummy. He loves eating his toes and anything else he can get into his mouth. He babbles a lot, his favorite saying being "Ba! Ba! Ba!".

At 18 pounds 11 ounces, he's at the 71st percentile for weight for his age (and the largest of our 3 boys at this age!), and 26.25 inches puts him at the 43rd percentile for height. He is mainly in 9 month clothing with a few 6 and 12 months mixed in, depending on brand.

We just started solid foods and we're taking it slow. So far his favorite foods are sweet potatoes and oatmeal.

Why you should teach your child to wipe their own a$$...

Since my birthday was on Saturday and we were at a wedding, Ian and I went to the grocery store to buy me a cake tonight. Normally, I'd be all fancy and bake a cake from scratch, but I'm tired. So cake from Woodman's it was! It was so cute watching him pick out the cake. He made sure to pick something that was for Mommy. He couldn't decide between the chocolate cake with white frosting and pink flowers or the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and pink, purple and green sprinkles. We ended up coming home with the chocolate cake.

After we were home, him and Sean went downstairs while I did some work on the computer and Charles rocked Emmett. After a while, Sean came upstairs and sat with us. I kept thinking I was hearing something so I muted the TV a few times. We had the dining room windows open, so it sounded like the little boy down the street playing outside since it was so distant. About 20 minutes after Sean came upstairs, I muted the TV again because I heard this distant sound. I decided to go check on Ian, although he will usually play with his trains downstairs for a long time or he'll get on his computer and go on PBSkids.org. I get to the top of the stairs and realize it's HIM screaming. I hear this tiny, muffled screaming and bolt down the stairs as fast as I can. In my head I'm trying to figure out WHY it's so distant sounding. Then I realize he's in the bathroom with the door closed!

There are few sights as sad as walking into the bathroom to see your child barely holding themselves up on the toilet SOBBING! The first thing he says to me, "I've been crying for HOURS!". If you know Ian, you know he's a tad dramatic. But in reality, poor kid has been sitting on the John for a good 20 minutes waiting for us to wipe his butt! I wiped him, gave him lots of hugs and apologized over and over. Then explained to him that he could have hopped off the toilet and came upstairs! He was so worried about getting wiped correctly that he wouldn't leave the toilet!

We went upstairs and he was telling us about it. I asked him what he was yelling and he said he yelled, "Mommy! Daddy! Sean!" he also said he yelled, "I'm going to miss the cake!". As the story unfolded, it turns out Ian actually told Sean to come upstairs and get one of us. Sean did come upstairs, but he apparently got distracted by something and ended up finding a candle and brought that up to show us, not mentioning anything about his poor brother stranded downstairs!

Lesson learned: Get an intercom system for the downstairs bathroom, or teach Ian to wipe his own ass.

Unrelated, how adorable is this picture of the three boys at the wedding on Saturday?!

Emmett 3 and 4 months old!

My Sweet Boy!

After Charles got the boys into bed last night, I went in to kiss them goodnight. I noticed Ian had a small piece of paper in his hand and I asked him what it was. He said, "It's a picture of Emmett". I asked him why he was sleeping with a picture of Emmett and he said, "Because I love him." What a sweet brother!

Emmett at 1 and 2 Months

At 1 month old, Emmett weighed 10 pounds, 15 ounces.

At 2 months old, Emmett weighed 12 pounds, 5 ounces. He was 23 inches long.

Project 365 + 1: Day 12

Emmett watching his first snow!

Project 365 + 1: Day 11

Brotherly Love

Project 365 + 1: Day 9

At work with Mom

Project 365 + 1: Day 7

Project 365 + 1: Day 4

Emmett's 6 week smirk

Project 365 + 1: Day 1

Kristina and Brooklyn came down to visit for the weekend and we had all the cousins in their matching PJ's! Brooklyn LOVES holding Emmett (or Omlette as she calls him).

Well Visits x2!

I have yet to be by myself for more than a couple hours with all 3 boys (tomorrow will be my first FULL day) but today I braved something that can be stressful with even one child! There is something about hot, enclosed exam rooms at the pediatrician's office that makes my kids bonkers. Today I took Ian for his 4 year well visit and Emmett for his 2 week well visit. First though, we had to get out the door and get Sean to the farm.

I thought I had it all planned out. I was up with the bigger boys earlier while Emmett was still sleeping. They ate breakfast while I got ready and got all their clothes laid out. I had them fed, dressed, bags packed and ready to go 30 minutes before we had to leave. Then I woke up Emmett and had planned to feed him, then get him changed and dressed. Unfortunately, he wasn't hungry yet, so I changed and dressed him first. Mistake #1. With 5 minutes before we had to walk out the door, I was almost done nursing Emmett and it looked like we'd make a flawless exit. Then Sean walked over to me and I realized he took a duke and needed his diaper changed before we left. Mistake #2... never get a kid fully dressed in pants, shoes, sock who hasn't taken a #2. Emmett finished nursing, I sat him up to burp him and he proceeded to unload his entire meal all over myself and him. PANIC! Got everybody changed and we were out the door only 10 minutes late. This led to me pulling up to Raymonds, getting Sean out of his seat and taking him in and running out in order to get to their appointment on time, but we made it!

Now, for the stats! Ian is 39 pounds and 40 inches tall at 4 years. That puts him at about 70% for weight and45% for height. Emmett is 9 pounds 8 ounces and 20.5 inches tall. That puts him at almost the exact percentages. Emmett has gained more than 2 pounds since his discharge for the hospital on 11/24 (he was 7 pounds 4 ounces). Both boys are perfectly healthy! 

Below are pictures of Sean and Emmett at just about the same age. Sean is on the left and Emmett is on the right. I think they look very similar! You can tell Emmett is still a bit jaundice, but other than that, they share a receding hairline, round nose and pouty lips! I wonder if he'll look more like Ian or Sean as he gets bigger?

And Emmett makes FIVE! Warning.. birth story!

On Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011, we welcomed baby boy #3 to our family! At 1:48pm, Emmett McIntyre Raymond made his way into the world weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 19 1/2 inches long!

Monday evening after Charles came home from work, I told him I thought I had food poisoning and it was causing contractions. Several hours later, I will still have consistent contractions (although not incredibly painful). We decided that since Sean's birth was so quick and we had an hour drive to the hospital (not including dropping the boys off at the farm), we should make our way in. Actually, I did not want to go in because I didn't believe it was the real deal and didn't want to be sent home. Charles was of the "better safe than sorry" mind.

We arrived at the hospital around 9pm and were put into triage. At that point, I was about 1 1/2 cm dilated and the contractions were 4-7 minutes apart. We walked the halls and watched the remainder of the Monday Night Football game. At 11pm, I was 2 1/2 cm dilated, but they still wanted me to stay in triage. More walking, Charles took a nap on an awfully uncomfortable sofa. At about 1am, they checked and I was just over 3cm dilated. Finally, they decided to admit me.

We got into our room close to 2am. At this point we hadn't slept since the night prior. I was too anxious to sleep so I watched Harry Potter 7.2 and Charles took a nap on a slightly less uncomfortable couch. The OB on call was the same OB who was on when I had Sean. Neither of us are big fans of her. She's pretty grouchy and not really into the whole natural childbirth thing. She came into my room for all of a minute and I'm not entirely sure what she even had to say.

Luckily there was a shift change not long after and the OB and resident who came on were very nice. I was 5cm dilated at this point and they broke my water at about 10am. In order to keep things interesting, just after the OB left the room, I got incredibly nauseous and threw up and passed out. We had warned my nurse about it possibly happening when we were admitted, but she still freaked out. Charles of course has seen it quite a few times and just made sure I didn't choke. Our nurse however was frantically pushing the call button for help. I was only out for 15 or so seconds and afterwards felt much better. She really wanted to give me an IV at this point, but we refused. Initially she wanted us to sign a waiver, but the OB said it wasn't a problem.

I bounced on the exercise ball for quite a long time and slowly but surely, contractions started picking up. At about 1pm, things started to get crazy. I was in the worst possible pain, my  nurse was hard to come by (she was admitting another patient) and the OB and resident were in surgery! I was checked somewhere close to 1:30 and I was 6cm. So frustrating considering how much pain I was in! After the next contraction, I told Charles to call the nurse. She came in, I was 8cm. She left again and said to call her if we needed her. After the next contraction I told Charles I felt like I had to push so he called her back. At that point, I couldn't even get on the bed I was in so much pain. Another doctor came in and said he would likely be delivering me since the on-call doctor was in surgery. I told him I was pushing NOW! Lots of people were flying around the room getting set-up and just a few minutes later, Emmett was born!



Immediately, Charles and I both said he looked so much like Sean as a newborn! We actually kept accidentally calling him Sean! It didn't help that we didn't have a name for him till several hours later. The big brothers came and visited us that evening at the hospital and we announced him name by whispering to Ian and having him announce it.

Emmett is a name that Charles and I both like, and let me tell you, that was not easy to find one we agreed on! I initially liked Elliot slightly more, but now that we named him Emmett, it really fits him! McIntyre is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. She passed away when I was in high school, but she was just about the coolest lady you could ever meet.

We look forward to seeing how Emmett adds another dynamic to our family!