A Moment to Breathe

I'm sorry for not blogging sooner, but things feel extraordinarily crazy lately. Thank goodness for this moment to relax (shhh... don't tell Matt!). T2 and T3 are down for a nap and T1 is at a movie with his funky unky (uncle Jared). It took the little ones over 30 minutes to go down for their naps, but surprisingly it wasn't T2's fault. T3 really fought the nap, crying for over 30 minutes and I only went in there to comfort him every 10 minutes. What was funny is that I could hear T2, the one who usually fights taking naps, saying "shhhh!" to T3 several times.

So, T1 went to church camp for a week recently. Wednesday was family night, so Matt and I packed up the little ones and drove to the camp so we could spend a few hours with our big guy. Surprisingly, not many parents were there, leaving T1's friends "parent-less" and T1 feeling burdened by our presence because he couldn't hang with his friends. He hung out with us for a few minutes, but he was really anxious to be with his friends. At one point we asked T1 to show us his cabin and he almost started crying because his friends were in the cabin and he was scared T2 was going to embarrass him. Weird. He eventually warmed up and showed us around the camp, played a few games of tether ball, shared snacks with us, and played with his little brothers for a little while. We all ended up having a good time.

T2 is up to his usual antics. I mentioned his use of the word 'dinosaur' in a recent post because there were a few days there where every time he was in trouble he would look at you and say "dinosaur!". Why? I don't know, but it went like this:
Me: "T2, stop picking your nose!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, don't run your little brother over with the wagon!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, stop throwing balls in the house!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

Me: "T2, don't give your food to the dogs!"
T2: "Dinosaur!"

You get the drift. He later added the following to his response when getting in trouble: "Roar! Grrrr! Shhhh!" He has since dropped the use of "Dinosaur", but he's still saying "Roar! Grrr! Shhh!" regularly. Yesterday, after having already put him in timeout for doing something (I don't even remember what for), I asked him "Do you want to get in trouble again?" to which he gleefully replied "Yes!". I tried not to laugh, but...

So you saw below that T3 took his first steps, right? Well, crawling is still the preferred method of getting around, but he is starting to walk more and more. Up until yesterday, he had really only walked when prompted, but yesterday he started walking on his own as he was chasing a ball, reaching for his toy shopping cart, and following T2. His little chunky legs need to get stronger before he's able to walk proficiently, but he's making great progress and I'm thrilled for him. He's also started waving goodbye and giving kisses. He's a little under the weather right now, so his kisses are flavored with flem, but they are so sweet nonetheless. Open mouth, of course! :)

Before I go, I'd like to share that I'm watching a rerun of an Oprah show that is incredibly moving. The major guest on the show is Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon who only has a few months to live because he's dying of pancreatic cancer. His last lecture was rich in life lessons and inspiration to be a better parent and spouse. It's available on You Tube, so check it out when you get a chance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo -- you won't be disappointed.