The week of the 4th of July, Camarron and I had the opportunity to watch our 3 little nephews. When my brother Joshua asked me to do this I had two feelings go through me. The first was, "Are you CRAZY!?" and the second one was, "This could be kind of fun!" Well let me tell you, going through the experience, there ended up being a really good mixture of both. We had the boys for just about 7 full days so our 3 bedroom apartment was filled with Cam and I (who is 24 weeks pregnant), North (5 1/2 yrs), Railay (2 yrs), Sammantha (18 months), Rowan (14 months I think) and Bear our dog. What an adventure! There were many things that we were able to experience that we never had before. For example:
Morning of Day One:
We woke up to Railay having wet the bed, and Rowan having had a poopy explosion in the crib. So our whole apartment had a very pungent smell and baths were very much in order. This happened to be Sunday morning, so it gave us a jump start to all the baths that we had to do anyway.
Meals: As many of you know, the regular diet that Cam, Sammee and I eat is quite different than most families. So I was concerned about how these little boys would do eating the food I prepared. However, Railay is allergic to many foods and is currently eating a very strict diet himself to see if he can start feeling better. For the most part the boys were champs and ate what they were served (or at least tried what they were served). However, there were several meals that were saved by the good old western family Mac n' Cheese. We did have a few nights where there were little ones who sat at the table until bedtime because they didn't want to finish dinner, but interestingly enough they didn't whine or complain about it, they just sat there and quietly played by themselves until I told them it was bedtime. I won't lie though, it takes much more energy to prepare dinner, dish it up for four little kids, and help two, and sometimes three of them actually eat it. By the time I got to eat and dinner was over I was ready to collapse and go to bed myself. There were many nights (most of them actually) that Cam would come home from work and have to do all of the cleanup in the kitchen because all of my gas had run out.
Diapers: Let me tell you, when you have 3 children in diapers, that means there is a lot of poop to clean up. A LOT!!! Cam would say every morning when we woke up, "Yup, it still smells like poop in here." The other thing we learned really quick is that boys, unlike our very innocent little girl, have weapons, that you never know if they are loaded or not, when you change them. If you aren't careful or quick enough, they will use those weapons of attack and spray all over the place. Thankfully, we never had to deal with that, but we have a little boy of our own on his way and we are sure that that isn't going to be the case with him.
Bedtime: My favorite part of the day!!!! After dinner I would clean all of the kids up and put the two little ones to bed. Then the two older ones and I would play for another hour or so until they went to bed. After they were all in bed, I prayed that everyone around us would be quiet so they would all stay asleep. We live on the ground floor with a playground right outside our front door. There are lots of little kids who stay out playing until it is dark, and they aren't quiet. We also have very loud neighbors above us. So I would hold my breath every time the noise escalated. However, the only child who had a hard time sleeping was my daughter. And for some reason I found that much less stressful than if the boys weren't sleeping.
Movies: As you can see in the pictures, there was plenty of time spent watching movies. The very first day I told the boys that I would allow one movie a day and that was it. That sure changed fast! For the most part, all of the little kids were great at playing with toys, coloring, doing puzzles, and things like that. But in the afternoon and around dinner time it got difficult because I couldn't take everyone plus Bear outside unless Cam was here and since he goes to work at 2:30 in the afternoon, there was a lot of inside time. So that was when the movies turned on. They usually always watched a Disney movie while I cooked dinner and sometimes that is what happened when I made lunch too. I have to admit, I felt a little bad about how often they ended up watching Disney movies, but they sure were a lifesaver for me. That kept everyone occupied long enough for me to go to the bathroom, shower, sit down and breath for a minute or two, you know, some of those things that you obviously take for granted when you only have one child.
Playmates: Another thing that I really came to enjoy was the fact that when there is more than one child, they tend to occupy each other. There were many times during the day that just out of habit I would go and check on what Sammantha was doing because I couldn't see or really hear. Normally when this happens she is quiet because she has gotten into something she knows she shouldn't have. But every time I found her, she would be playing with the boys and having a wonderful time. She loved having them here and got so excited every time we got up in the morning and the boys were still here to play with. She did however, feel like all of her toys were only hers and we had to explain how to share...many many times. In all reality though, I was quite impressed at how quickly she caught onto the concept and when I told her she had to go get something else to play with she did. I wish I had a picture of the face she would give me though. Almost every time I made her go find a different toy because Rowan or Railay were playing with what she thought was hers she would turn and look at me with this look of, "but MOM, that is MY toy!" And sometimes the look was joined by a shout of, "MINE!" But she learned quick and I was quite proud of my little sharer by the end of the week.
My Sister-in-law Lindsey is one amazing woman! She has some very well behaved children who are helpful, and for being little kids, are extremely obedient. I was quite concerned that my apartment would be turned completely upside down by the time the week was over, but those boys, especially North, are great helpers. They always picked up their toys and activities when asked and they helped me with little chores as well. So when they went back home I didn't feel overwhelmed at all because my house wasn't a disaster. Those boys have TONS of energy, and I am amazed at all of the things that Josh and Linds do with them. They are so much fun and we had a great time with them here. I do have to admit though, the day after they left, Cam, Sammee, Bear, and myself had major nap time and we all slept for 4 hours in the middle of the day. It was heaven!
Thanks boys for coming and staying and giving us a taste of what we will get to have coming our way here in a few more months!
All of them playing together with Sammee's toys.
There were many times where North and Railay would find a toy they like and just lay on the floor or the couch and play with that one toy for hours it seemed like. They would make their little explosion noises and make up characters and such while they just lied there and played by themselves. I thought it was so funny!
The little ones LOVED bath time. They would scream if the older boys got baths and they didn't.
Rowan is one very laid back little man. I was grateful for that since my babe is a little high maintenance at times.
Rowan and Sammee loved to play together.
Movie time, and as long as they all had something to snack on, they sat and watched the entire movie.
This one happened to be Hurcules
Sometimes watching a movie was the only way I could get little Railay to fall asleep for a nap. :.)
Railay had little hummus packs that he enjoyed eating. We also found out that Sammee enjoyed them as well. She thought the little container was so cool and she is getting to be VERY independent and headstrong like her mother, so she insisted that she eat them all by herself. It kept her occupied for quite a while, then I just had a big mess to clean up afterwards. :.)
Railay would do these puzzles over and over everyday. Thank heavens for Grandma's puzzles!
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| North and Rowan playing ball together. They did this for almost and hour. Rowan would chase the ball and take it to North. Then North would kick it or throw it, and the cycle continued. They were super cute together! |
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