Ryan

Ryan is...funny. He's the class clown of the family. He loves to boss us all around when he's pretending. "Mom, you say..." and so forth. He quotes movie lines a lot, which real emotion. I can imagine him getting into drama someday.

He's pretty athletic although he hasn't been in any organized sport yet.

He's my fashionista, so far anyway. He is quite creative. For example, he often wears his cowboy books with shorts. The cutest part is that he doesn't know that it's weird or whatever. I love this about him.

Ryan is very musically inclined. Since he was a baby I have thought this. Sometimes I wonder if I should get him into some kind of lessons now (he's only 4) but mostly I think that we'll wait until he's a little older. He loves listening to music and memorizes songs really fast. Just like with the movie quotes, his singing gets pretty intense. He makes serious or sad faces and then gets a little embarrassed when I watch him. In the car he is always asking for me to turn on the music, which means the CDs we've made. Some of his favorites are: Pop! Goes my Heart from the movie Music and Lyrics, Come to my window by Melissa Etheridge, The Great Beyond by REM and Free Falling by Tom Petty. He also sits at the piano and sings Primary songs with me. Love that.

Speaking of primary, he LOVES it and is the kid that raises his hand for everything, just to talk about something. His teachers love him and even when we visit, the teachers say how good he was.

Ryan's birthday is August 9th, so he will barely be old enough for Kindergarten this fall, but we decided to put him in because he's been reading for about a month now. It makes me a little nervous because he'll be the little guy, but he is very social and smart so I think he'll be fine. He is super excited about going to school.

Ryan loves to figure out someone's relationship to another person. For example, if I say something about Grandma Aitchison, he says, "You mean Dad's mom?" Little nerd.

Oh yes, he STILL sucks his thumb but only with his blankie so I try to have him keep that on his bed. It doesn't always work. Luckily, he doesn't push on his front teeth so it's not causing any of those problems.

He's getting to be a screamer. He's loud and yells at his brothers a lot, but being the middle boy is hard for him sometimes I think. I'm trying to teach him to talk nicely when he has a problem, but he's 4 so it's a slow process.

When Ryan laughs, you can't help but laugh too. And his smile is adorable.

I could go on and on about this kid. He has such an interesting personality. I'm glad he's my boy!

Cleod

I've been thinking for a while about posting something about each of my kids...but when they drive you crazy it's a little hard. Tonight I was thinking about how I focus on the negative a lot and I need to look at the good in my kids. So...here goes.

Cleod is smart. That's the truth. He's a crazy, good reader. We've known this for a while, but now that he's starting to do more math at school, we've realized that he's good at math too and already can do much more than his age/grade level. I have been printing out first grade math worksheets for him because he likes doing homework and doesn't get much from school. I like this because I want to be in control of his education and not leave it all up to the school. I am a little worried that he's going to be just as bored next year as he has been this year, but that's another story.

Cleod's favorite song from church is "I Lived in Heaven."

He loves his sister and helps me out a lot. He's always willing to get diapers or blankets, or hold her for a bit while I do something (like clean toilets).

He loves watching movies, TV and playing computer. We do not have a video gaming system for many reasons, but one of them is that Cleod would want to be on it all day. He is really good at getting his "jobs" done before computer or TV time though, so it's not really a big deal.

He's a "gleaner" as my mom would say and he has an excellent memory. He learns from everything and remembers everything. He'll tell me random facts he's read in books or tell me about something he watched a year ago.

Cleod loves pizza, crepes, and hamburgers.

He's sensitive and cries more than your average 6 year old boy, but that's ok.

He loves playing with friends. I haven't figured out if he's a leader or a follower because really, he's both. He's the oldest so he leaders a lot, but I think he wants to be accepted at school and church so he follows the stronger personalities (not always a good thing, but ya know).

I'm not sure why we've been butting heads so much lately, but I sure don't know what I would do without my Cleod.

Why me?

OK, so I am not normally one to ask, "Why me?" when I am in the middle of a trial or whatever. We are on the earth to be tested and we are going to have trials. I know this and I try not to complain. No, that's not true. I complain, but I don't ask, "Why me?"

The last few days...weeks actually...I have been starting to wonder why. WHY? Why do I have 4 kids under 6 years old?

Well, I know why. I felt strongly about getting pregnant with each of my kids. I begged for Cora.

So WHY was I supposed to have 4 kids so quickly? Why were the first 3 boys? And why do I feel like we aren't done? I am grateful for what I have, I am, but I am NOT patient with my kids and I don't understand why this is my life.

Why do sweet boys turn into monsters some days? Today Ryan hit or kicked or scratched Cleod or Grant over and over without even being provoked. I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!

Cleod has to be entertained EVERY minute or he is bothering one of his brothers.

Grant has finally found out that he's an individual and apparently that means he doesn't have to do what his mom asks him to.

Cora's perfect, but she won't take a bottle, so I am a cow and my boys are often causing problems while I am taking care of her.

Tonight I put the kids to bed without Silas and I failed. Big time. I am just so tired of repeating myself and not being heard. Grr.

Cora smiles

 

8 weeks and she's perfect!

Life

Once upon a time, I had my fourth child and although it isn't as hard as I thought it would be, I feel like I am still on survival mode a little.

Due to this, I haven't been blogging much. Not a big deal, just how it is.

Also, every time I think of blogging I want to use it as a journal and i have realized that I complain a lot in my journal, so I don't think I should put anyone through that...until I'm dead and my grandkids find out how crazy I secretly was.

Anyway, this is the summary of my life right now:

Sick of winter.
Love my baby.
Need to lose weight.
Feels so blessed when I really sit and think but there is so much craziness to with finances that it's hard.
Can't believe we'll be registering #2 for Kindergarten next month.
Needs Spring to come.
Loves her husband and how he is "smitten" with Cora. (Those were his words.)
Is kinda tired of cleaning the house over and over, everyday and yet I love when it's clean.
Has basically accepted the fact that we will only have one car for a while longer and that one car is not a van. :(
Loves her crazy, loud, rough, loving boys.

Did I mention that winter needs to be over?

That is all.

Answers

So, I really haven't thought that my kids looked that much alike. I mean, I saw some similarities, but not much. Well, after looking at all of their baby photos and finding the bath photos from the previous post I realize that they are definitely related.

So here are the answers:
A: Cora
B: Cleod
C: Ryan
D: Grant

Kizzie, my mom (over the phone) and Deruchette got them all right. Good work! Thanks to everyone for humoring me. This was fun.

Who's who?