Amanda's Blog

One of my favorite times of the day is when the big kids go to bed, and Josh and I have about an hour with Caleb before he goes to bed.  (Do you do a bedtime dance when you finally shut the kids’ doors at the end of the day with them in bed?  Yeah, me neither:)  It is at this time of night that we get to soak up Caleb like we did Austin when he was the only one.  Last night, we had fun trying to teach him to blow raspberries.  It was so funny, that we got out the camera (iPhone camera that is, not the real camcorder camera…Poor fourth child – his life will be chronicled on the iPhone and iPad instead of a camera or camcorder. Ha!).  It was soooo cute to see him try so hard to blow raspberries that I wanted to share the video on my blog.  I know the grandparents will enjoy it!  (Ignore the crazy parents’ voices in the background…)

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Austin, my 8-year old, is such a sweet boy.  He made my week on Friday night when I was getting ready for our progressive dinner with our church group.  I am still at an awkward stage with my clothes since having Caleb.  I have lost most of the baby weight, but my hips haven’t gotten the memo to go back to regular size (I am just hoping they get that memo!!).  I am happy with my size, but I don’t fit in many of my clothes (and everyone with four kids (which isn’t a majority of people) knows that you don’t have the time or money to buy new clothes).  It just frustrates me when I go to get ready and “nothing” fits (I put that in quotes because some things fit, just not what I want to fit).

Anyhow, on Friday afternoon when Josh came home from work, I was feeding Caleb and as Josh and I were talking he could tell that something was bothering me.  He asked me what was wrong, so I told him how I had picked out an outfit in my mind to wear to the dinner, but when I tried it on it didn’t fit…and it bothered me.  (I really wish it didn’t bother me, but I am human and it did.)  Austin was looking at me the whole time I was telling this to Josh, and I could tell it was making an impression on him.

Well, after I finished feeding Caleb, I went to the bathroom to finish getting ready.  Soon after, Austin comes in and stands at the sink looking at me.  I acknowledge him, and then he said some of the sweetest words that I won’t soon forget.  He said, “Mom you will look good in whatever you wear.”  At this point, my heart melted, and I almost cried (and I don’t usually cry unless I am mad so this really touched me).  We then had a discussion of how I shouldn’t worry about what I look like and that other things in life are a lot more important.

Austin often tells me how pretty I am or how nice I look.  I am so thankful for my sweet, 8-year old boy!

We made it to the final prize for Landon getting all his marbles!!! (If that sentence doesn’t make any sense to you, you may want to check out this previous post!)   He finally moved his last marble over to the “good” jar!!!   (Tuesday night might have been the only night we had this week for him to go swimming, so maybe Josh and I rigged it a little…maybe.)  He was so proud when the jar was empty that he immediately said, “Mommy, take a picture of me with my jar!”  And of course, Brooke and Austin weren’t going to let the picture happen without them, so here you have the three of them with the jars.  (And before you ask…No, I do not pose like Brooke in pictures…she didn’t learn it from me!  Ha!).

They had a great time swimming at the YZM (as Landon calls it).  As you can see from the picture below, Landon decided to take Austin and Brooke along.  At one time, he agreed that we could all go, but only him and daddy could swim and the rest could watch:)  That wasn’t an option, so he opted for them swimming with him.  Caleb and I opted for staying home (well actually I opted for staying home and Caleb really didn’t care), which was like a reward for me because I got a quiet house for a little while!!

The swim was pretty uneventful, unless you take into account the super swimmer that was doing 25 laps in the pool, so Josh spent his time pulling children and toys from his path and the man that gave Josh the “look” after getting hit in the eye with water from our super-sonic water shooter. (Thankfully, it wasn’t one of our kids that shot it, just a girl that Josh had let borrow it…pretty funny that Josh still got the “look”!) Ha!

They really did have a great time and made some new friends, too!  Thanks to an awesome dad that isn’t afraid to venture out with three young ones to the Y alone for a nice swim!!!

As you read this blog, you will quickly learn that my third child, Landon, is quite the character!!  He is three years old and FULL of life!

So, after adding the fourth child, Caleb, we decided to try a new strategy to encourage and reward good behavior.  We started using marbles…it’s really quite simple.  We put 25 marbles in a mason jar, then labeled a second mason jar as “Good.” (I know you are thinking how creative that is! Ha!)  The object is that he gains a marble in the “good” jar when he is particularly well-behaved or when he doesn’t listen or obey, he has to move a marble from the “good” jar back to the original jar.

Now, one would think that the process of moving 25 marbles would be a fairly quick task, especially since the end reward is a swimming date with daddy at the YMCA (or YZM as Landon calls it).  However, for a FULL of life boy, this has proven to be a fairly slow task that has taken over 2 months!  (That is not a typo…I meant to write 2 months!!!)  We have had  A LOT of marble moving over the last two months…even a few times where he puts a marble in the “good” jar and takes it right back out without dropping it!  (I did mention he is a FULL of life boy, right??)  It’s been pretty funny to hear the constant refrain at our house, “Do you want to lose your marble?”…(I think I have lost a few along the way:)

Well, we are FINALLY pleased to announce that as of tonight, he only has one marble left!!!  He is so proud.  On the way home from church tonight, as we were discussing this, he says, “I am going to try to not go backwards anymore.”:)  So, maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be the day that we finally get all his marbles in the “good” jar!!! (We did spend about a week going between 4 and 6 marbles left, so only time can tell:)

Here is a picture of him with his almost EMPTY jar of marbles…

The end prize of swimming with daddy was meant to be a solo date for him if he would so choose.  However, we have learned that his brother, Austin, is pretty persuasive and has convinced Landon that swimming without him and Brooke would be no fun, so they have now conned their way into the reward…