First full day with three boys (and a dog)

Brittny is the bomb!

With three boys, I wasn't too keen on the idea of going anywhere that required piling into the van. It just seemed like it would be a little too difficult especially when we didn't have a "reason" to go anywhere. But I didn't want to stay in the house all day either.

What to do, what to do . . .

Brittny to the rescue!

Brittny is the wife of one of the second year residents and while we have been friends since they moved in across the street a year and a half ago and we've done dinner with them a few times, our kids have been different ages and we just haven't gotten together to play. But with Keenan here and Isaac getting older it was perrrrrrfect!

The weather was gorgeous, and Brittny was kind enough to let the boys totally take over her wonderful backyard and house. Our yard isn't nearly as kid-friendly, so this was a perfect place to spend a perfect day.

First we played outside for about an hour. Here are some pics!

Keenan with the mower. He was very excited to see this in the yard.

Not a great picture, but at least I put in the effort. Here are Isaac and Keenan sharing a goldfish snack.

This is the only picture I managed of Brittny's oldest Christopher. He had things to do and had no time for my picture taking interests. This remote tractor was quite popular with Keenan -- although we started Keenan out on a speed slower than Christopher zoomed around on.

They have a dirt hole! Keenan and Isaac loved it.

Elijah spent most of the hour in the swing. He loved it. I tried putting gloves on him (it was about 45 degrees when we got there) but he took them off in two seconds flat. However, he accepted the hat.

How cute is Sophie!? What a little diva! She reminds me a lot of a girl-version of Elijah. Just very passionate and snuggly.

After playing outside for an hour, we moved into the house for another hour of play. While we didn't plan to, we ended up staying for lunch. Brittny made chicken nuggets and mac & cheese. What a gal!

After lunch at Brittny's we came home thoroughly worn out (which was all part of my devious plan!) The boys played a bit more while I changed diapers and clothes and gave out some fruit and cheese. (They were a little too distracted at Brittny's to eat as much as they should have.)

Here are the boys playing together before naps.

Around 1:15, I went for it! I put all three boys down at the same time -- Keenan in the double-bed in our guest room, Elijah in the pack-n-play in our room, and Isaac in his crib. Success! They were all out in about two minutes flat. I took Scrubs out into the front yard and wore him out with some Frisbee before moving into the house and collapsing on the sofa with Scrubs sprawled out beside me. I'm not sure I slept, but by the time Keenan woke up at about 3:00, I felt very refreshed and ready to tackle the second part of the day. Elijah followed at 3:30, and Isaac brought up the rear at 4:00. That kid is a champion sleeper.

After that, we had some apple for a snack and watched a bit of Eight Below. What a cute movie. JB got home at 5:00. At 5:45 or so we did dinner -- hotdogs, vegetables, and some pear. Before dinner I stripped all three boys down to their diapers. After dinner, we let them play for a bit while we cleaned up and got things ready for their bath. Here's some pics of the three of them playing together pre-bath.

After dinner it was into the bath and then one-by-one, the boys checked out for the night. Elijah at about 7:15, Isaac at about 8:00, and Keenan at 8:30.

The day was a smashing success. I am pretty whooped, but not that much more whooped than I am watching two kids. I think the thing that surprises me is how much of my day included changing diapers, clothes, and feeding. It was a very large part. You don't have much time to do much else with those things factored in times three.

Scrubs was a good dog for the day, although I have to tell you all, and sorry if this is too much information, but I think the dog has been getting too many table scraps again. All day I kept checking diapers only to realize it was Scrubs passing gas. While I have been typing, he keeps blowing me away. Ugh!

Keenan, is a great kid. Isaac calls him "Ri-ah" which is his sister Moriah's name. But Keenan doesn't seem to mind. He is quite active but also loves to sit next to me on the couch and read books or snuggle up under a blanket and watch a movie. His favorite games so far seem to be playing chase (he likes to be chased) and putting any toys he can find into Isaac's crib. The other thing about Keenan is that he talks like he is a teenager! He cracks me up nearly every few minutes with something new.

A lot of the funnies concern Scrubs.While eating his breakfast, Scrubs was putting his cold nose on Keenan's toes. "I'm making a river for him," Keenan said. "My toes are the river. And he can go under the river." He also tried to get Scrubs to play hide-and-seek with him. I tried to tell him Scrubs didn't know how to do this, but Keenan was pretty confident that he could.

In addition, Keenan has reminded me how many times Scrubs is a good dog. Every time Scrubs does what he is told, Keenan says, "What a good boy. He listens so good to his Mommy," or some other combination of this. It has made me realize that most of the day, Scrubs is listening. We've even recently trained Scrubs to stay in the kitchen on command instead of having to shut the gate to keep him there. Thanks Keenan for helping me see the light!

I've also realized how much of a difference one year makes. Keenan is a little over one year older than Isaac, but he can communicate with me soooo much more. He told me today that he was cold in his bed. When I was washing his hands in the sink he told me I was pressing too hard on his stomach. Actually he said "Owie. I think we should stop and I should just go watch a movie." He can convey so much of what he is feeling.

I watched the boys in the tub. Isaac can still sit sideways with his legs straight ahead. Keenan cannot. He's too tall. So much will change in the next year. They grow up so fast.

All right, time to get my sleep on so I can tackle these three little men (and the dog) again tomorrow!

Night all!