November 2020

November was a blur.  I lost a week due to some sinus trouble and so the month felt even faster than usual.  Even with it going by quickly, plenty happened over at the Maes household.

Atticus taught himself how to do cartwheels!  They're what I have always called "oompa-loompa" cartwheels but it's a great start.  I can't wait for our local recreation centers to open again so he can take some more gymnastics classes.

Another very exciting development has been the end of pullups.  He no longer needs them at night.  Hooray! 

His artwork for school is killing me.  You can see his loves daily: animals (often accompanied by little known animal facts) and the military.  He also likes to add blood to get a reaction, the little stinker.  His teacher is awesome and totally gets him (and all little boys, for that matter.)

He spent a LONG time drawing this gun case, with all sorts of weapons he would put in it.

Here he is with his friends from his kindergarten class.  Notice their computers.  He's never met these boys in person!  He was so happy when he finally made new friends from class.

Here are some wolves hunting.  You can see the "blud" coming from their prey.

He knows so much about animals that I've stopped arguing or looking up the animal facts he shares with me.  He's been right.  Every time.  It makes us laugh.  You gotta love the Kratt brothers!

And the biggest milestone that has happened?  He turned 6 years old!  Technically, it's in the month of December, but since I'm posting this late I'll share it now.  He requested pumpkin pie instead of cake on his actual birthday but we will be making cake with a battle scene on it for his army birthday party.  (You can see the pumpkin pies he drew below when asked about his favorite Thanksgiving food.) 

The kid is still one of the most appreciative children I've ever seen.  He LOVED every present he received so much and used them all throughout the day.

His reading skills just keep improving (he wowed me today) and he is such a sweet big brother.  He always tries to help when he hears Lucy crying, holds her whenever needed and has even learned to hold her while standing up.

What's really cool is how much Lucy loves him.  She's a little more hesitant about Hinckley (he's a little unpredictable) but is visibly relaxed whenever held by Atticus.  Makes my heart so happy.

Atticusisms:

• "You meanie head!"
• "I don't think I'll knock on _____'s door as much... She has a crush on me!"
• "Don't eat it all.  I know how much you eat... to make your milk."
• "Oh no!  Rudolph is swimming in the lake and he drowned!" (while working on an assignment.)
• "That picture is so good!  You should put it in a museum so people can see it!" (To his teacher.)
• "Best present ever- you, Lucy, Hinckley and Daddy." (said first thing in the morning on his birthday.)
• "Best birfday ever." (Said multiple times throughout the day.)
• "Worst birfday ever." (Said a few times, especially after banging his thumb.)
• "It's my birfday!" (Said to everyone he saw at the store and on the street.)

Things have gotten a little easier with Hinckley this month.  He's still very hard (without love and logic I think I would be at a total loss!) but man is he cute. 

He's still absolutely obsessed with Batman.  He wears his mask all day, every day (he has to take it off to sleep, to eat, to bathe and if he wants to wrestle.)  He is in character whenever his mask is on.  In fact, once I pulled it up while he was talking to see what would happen and he changed his voice, mid-sentence.  Honestly, it makes almost everything he says hilarious because it's done in his gruff, Batman voice.

We do have to draw the line when it comes to praying.  He's tried many times to pray with his voice.

He even went to his 3-year-old appointment with the helmet on at the beginning of the month.  The nurses and doctor loved it.  He was so quiet and afraid, it hurt my heart to see him cry.  He was trying so hard to be brave.  Thank heavens, after the initial inspection (with no shots or pain) he perked right up and got more chatty with his Batman voice.  He prayed at dinner a little later, "Help Eekee (Hinckley) to be brave again."

Speaking of his doctor's visit, he weighed in at 33.5 lbs and was 36 in. long.  So he's at an average weight but on the short side.  No surprise here.  He's a little muscle man, I tell you what!

Another obsession he has is with our new next door neighbor.  They moved in over the summer and she has a son Atticus's age.  He talks about her all the time (he'll wake up from his naps and the first thing he'll say is about seeing her and playing with her.)  He even told me he wanted to kiss her on the lips, ha ha!  I didn't realize boys this young could like girls but he definitely has a crush on her.  It's adorable.

As hard as he can be, he is still so sweet and compassionate.  Whenever Atticus is in pain he responds immediately.  A friend teaching Joy School said that when one of the girls started to cry he ran to her and hugged her, asking, "Are you okay?  What's wrong?!"  When I was struggling with my sinus headache (it got pretty bad for a couple days) he was so sweet and concerned and insisted on putting a bandaid on my forehead.  He has such a soft heart.

He has a favorite friend at Joy School who he gets to see three days a week.  When I asked him who his hero was Hinckley didn't hesitate- Huddy.  You can see his reasons in the picture we drew together.

He doesn't have any confidence in his ability to draw (I think he's a perfectionist- he'll say, "I can't do it!  You help me!" so he'll hold the pencil with me) but man, can he trace well for his age!  Here is one example below (Atticus wrote "Hinckley" above it.)

He came home from Joy School a couple weeks ago with this cookbook and it had us in STITCHES.

Hinckley Speaks:

• "You meanie head!"
• "You da wost mom evuh!"
• "I hope you have a pinata!" (Said to his cousin on his birthday.)
• "I'm okay!" (Said in his Batman voice after tripping and falling.  Such a funny moment!)
• "We never hit or kick or push..." (Sung with his Batman voice to Atticus when he was getting rough.)
• "Right now I Eekee ("Hinckley") but after I eat dinner I be BATMAN."
• ("Stop hitting the wall!") "But I'm hitting the pinata!" (He was practicing on the wall...?)
• "Mom, could you put Baby Lucy back in you tummy?"
• ("What did they bring to Baby Jesus?") "Gold, fwankincense and muw." (Said in Batman voice.)
• ("Wow!  You're a smarty pants!") "No, I a Batman smarty-pants."

Oh, Lucy.  She definitely has all of us wrapped around her little finger.  She is just so darn cute.

Here she is, below, on her first Thanksgiving.

She smiles a lot now.  Smiles are saved almost exclusively for when she can see someone's face.  We even had her first real laugh on December 3rd.

At her two month appointment at the beginning of the month she was 11 lbs 4.5 oz and 22 inches long.  So she's at an average weight and on the tall side- our tallest baby yet, so far.

She LOVES music and singing.  That's when we get our biggest smiles.  In fact, she coos so much when I sing to her that I'm almost positive she's trying to sing along.  Just the possibility of having a daughter who might sing with me makes me so happy!

Here she is in an outfit both of the boys wore at this age:

Atticus

Hinckley

Our favorite hour of the day right now is just before her bedtime.  We put the boys down and I'll hang out with her by the Christmas tree.  She loves the lighting and can get so animated as we sing Christmas songs.  

There is so much in the world that is filling us with anger and fear but for that hour or so we can forget it all and find peace.  It's a great, daily reminder of another tiny infant who changed the world- our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

October 2020

 October is so lovely here.  And having Baby Lucy with us made it all the more beautiful.  

COVID-19 cramped our style so we decided not to go to a pumpkin patch but we were still able to celebrate Halloween.  Of course, Hinckley dressed as Batman (he did have a wardrobe malfunction on Halloween day so he ended up changing into his Spider-Man costume) so I dressed up as Cat Woman.  Atticus was going to be the Mandalorian and even earned half the money for his costume but decided last minute to be a bat (one of Hinckley's bats).  Lucy was the cutest Bat Girl you ever saw.

Even though things were different, we were still able to make the holiday special.  We still had a party at church, which was fun (it was just shorter and everyone had to wear masks.)  We ate spooky foods and Atticus designed and carved his first pumpkin!  Hinckley helped pull the guts out of a pumpkin for his first time.

Something else that made the month special was having my mom and brother visit.  They came for Hinckley's birthday and it was wonderful.

We had one more photo shoot with my sweet friend, Kariann (her business is Baby Led Photography.)

We had had one in September when Lucy wasn't quite two weeks old.  The photos are spectacular.

I waited to post these because I hadn't been able to pay her yet.

Then we met with her again in October with the boys when she was a little over 5 weeks.

This photoshoot was not quite as magical.  Can you guess why?  (A certain crazy head just couldn't seem to stop being silly!)

We still love the photos, even with all the craziness that went on behind the scenes.

Speaking of crazy heads, Atticus is still trying to be good.  He very often doesn't succeed but he is trying.

Some of my favorite moments from the month:

• He bought flowers for his friend, Ellie's birthday.  It was his idea but I loved it.
• One night he told a scary story about his alligator head (a small one he has on his shelf.)  He scared himself so much he asked me to give it away afterward.
• His ever growing birthday list that gets crazier and crazier (a lot of it is just made up- he described what he wanted once and I finally figured out that it would be a camouflaged drone that could deliver toys or weapons to his house.)
• We saw a woman on the side of the road with a sign.  He asked me to read it and when I did he asked me to help her.  Hinckley was late for his nap, the baby was crying in the back and I didn't have any cash on me.  When I told him it wouldn't work out that day he started crying and got pretty mad at me.  I didn't blame him but I was so frazzled already from a sleepless night and a horrible shopping experience with all three kids that I just couldn't make it happen.  As sick as it made me to be in that position, I also loved seeing how soft his heart is.  And you can bet that I will have cash on me the next time!  
• He learned to play chess and was able to play with my mom.  

Atticusisms:

• "Awesome!"  "Ew, ew, ew!  Girl stuff!" "Hinckley would love this!) (While looking through a toy magazine.) 
• "Let's listen to 'It's raining turkey-toes'!" (Parry Gripp's "Hailing Taquitos")
• "My teacher said I was doing great and there was no bad news!" (His summary of parent teacher conference.)

Hinckley is still so cute but so hard.  We had our first poop art experience.  I didn't handle it very well (I was very angry) but I got some good suggestions from family members about how to handle these things and try to avoid them.  So far we've been good.  Only time will tell if it will happen again.

Speaking of poop, he goes on the potty fairly often now.  He still likes to go in a diaper while in bed but I'm happy to report he is no longer afraid of pooping on the potty, which is a huge step in the right direction!  The secret is that we let him watch a clip from The Dark Knight if he is successful.

He got a haircut this month, courtesy of our awesome new neighbor who happens to be a barber.  

He still loves Joy School and going to see "the fwiends."  

He was so lucky- the Joy School Halloween party happened to be on his birthday so he got an actual party at school with all his friends.  They painted pumpkins, decorated cookies and had a little presentation where they sang and danced.  He was adorable. 

Here he is with his favorite friend.

Here is the pumpkin he decorated.  It was truly frightening.  

One thing I wanted to note this month is his careful, deliberate nature.  While Atticus is like a tornado, racing through every room and leaving a disaster behind him, Hinckley takes his time doing everything.  He is careful about closing doors and leaving things the way he found them and will even clean up behind us (closing cupboards that Atticus and I have left open, etc.)  It is a great strength in some ways but can be so difficult when we are in a hurry (which is most of the time!)  I also think this is why he is so easily frustrated with his costumes and has become increasingly particular about how his clothes fit.  He wants everything to be just right, even if his idea of "just right" doesn't correspond to the clothing's design.  As much as we butt heads over this, I have to admit that I have a lot to learn from him about taking my time and being more intentional.

The biggest highlight of the month for Hinckley was his birthday.  He is three now!  He is still struggling to make a three with his fingers but fingers or not, he's three!  It was interesting buying him presents.  He is so darn agreeable that it can be difficult to know what he really likes.  If you ask him what his favorite color is he'll reply, "Good."  It's the same with animals.  I finally pestered him enough about it that he made an animal up ("monster fish.")  I do know his favorite food, however- "Pasghetti sauce."

In honor of our new three year old, we had a little family party on his actual birthday with spaghetti and then had a giant Batman pinata with our neighbors on Halloween day.  It was awesome!

Hinckley Speaks:

• "I don't like you.  I like daddy."
• "I don't like Mommy or Daddy.  I like Atticus."
• "Spider-Man (or Batman) loves you."
• "Mommy, where is Leia?  Let's find her." (While watching Star Wars for the first time.)
• "Mommy, where is Leia's tummy?" (While reading a Star Wars book.  Uh oh...)
• "If you say that again I will punch you/spank you/kill you!"
• (When meeting a new friend.) "Hi, I'm Batman!"
• "Where is Jesus, Mommy?"  (We have had a few conversations about Jesus and Heavenly Father.)
• "You can do it yourself." (This is his sassy way of saying no when we ask him to do something.  He'll even say it in a cheerful way sometimes to throw us off guard.)

Lucy

A large portion of our month was pretty difficult as far as the baby was concerned.  It felt like any time Lucy was awake she was crying and just wishing to go back to sleep.  Her night sleeping was way better than the boys' ever was at this age (getting 4-4.5 hours for her first stretch at night!), even with it taking a long time to burp her and get her back down.

Then something magical happened.  We took her to a chiropractor.  After that small adjustment she had a good 5 days of peaceful, normal newborn behavior during the day and sleeping 6 hours for her first stretch at night.  It was glorious and we tried very hard not to take it for granted.  I'm not sure if it was the chiropractor that did the trick or if I finally got all of the dairy out of my system.  In any case, we have our fingers crossed that we'll have some more days and nights like those.

Here she is the first time she was ever babysat.  Phew!  I was so relieved that she was easy.

Here is a poor picture of her neonatal teeth.  They are so rare that our doctor called all the nurses and the other doctor in to see them.

Here she is at one month old.  She weighed 9 lbs 8 oz.  Little cutie-pie!

We have discovered that Lucy likes to suck on her fingers (sometimes she even finds her thumb.)  She loves trying to stand and she's getting so good at holding up her head.  My personal favorite, however is smiling.  She started flashing smiles at us shortly after turning 6 weeks and I finally caught a smile with a camera at 6.5 weeks.  Hooray!  It makes everything better. 

And that was our October.  She is growing so fast.  They all are.