I love you Ethan

Just now, I asked Ethan, "Ethan, why do I love you so much?" and he told me "cuz I berry wuv you again." It made Dan and I laugh. He is so cute!

Yummy....Pool chalk!

Isn't this the epitome of my life? It's quiet for 10 minutes at Papa's house and when I finally check on Aidan, look what has happened. He ate pool chalk (from the pool table) for heavens sake! Seriously, every one of my kids has done this at Papa's house one time or another. If I remember right, Ethan did it about 10 times, he must have really loved the flavor. Well, the poor kid had to be scrubbed to death. I even scrubbed his tongue with a dishcloth. I guess we'll see if he liked it enough to do it again, or if this will be the first and last time. By the way, the smile on my face, is just there to mask my frustration, and because it was kinda funny.

Andrew Kent Rowley

Well, here he is! Andrew Kent Rowley. I figured I'd better add a post that stated his name. For those of you who don't know, Dan's Mom and Dad had a baby boy (the one right before Dan) who died a day after he was born, and his name was Andrew. So, that is where the name Andrew came from and Kent is Gilbert's Dad's name. He looks like an Andrew, doesn't he?

I love being a Mom.......most of the time

Yesterday my sister and I were talking and she told me a terrible story about a family in her ward that just found out their 5 year old son had leukemia and two days later, he died. The thought of it absolutely broke my heart. One day your child is fine, the next day he is very sick, but curable, the next he is gone. It reminded me of a dream I had a week ago. I dreamed that Ethan died, and it was the most realistic, terrifying dream I have ever had. It was so real that I woke up sobbing in my bed, and I got up and held him while he slept for about an hour. The next day was Easter Saturday and I couldn't shake the feeling the dream had left me with, so consequently, I let him get away with murder all that day long and held him every chance I got. I've found myself ever since, having to re-prioritize my life. I've always tried to be a good mother, but I do worry much too often about things that really don't matter. How clean my house is.....whether or not it's decorated......How much weight I've gained......the list goes on and on and on. Well, today, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by my kids constant demands, and the fact that I have already swept my floor 3 times today and wiped my counters off 4 times. I had food sticking to my shirt from holding Aidan when his mouth was messy and I just had to take a deep breath and remind myself....."I love being a Mom!"

Introducing...."Baby Boy" Rowley

Angie and Gilbert had their beautiful baby boy this afternoon. He was 7lbs 7oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Both Mother and Baby are doing great. His name has yet to be decided. We are so thrilled for Angie and Gilbert and we can't wait to get their little boy home so we can all smother him with love! Isn't he gorgeous??

Aidan Levor-19 months

Here is just a little bit about Aidan at 19 months old.   Aidan loves to eat. He spends about half of his day sitting in his highchair eating. None of us can figure out why he doesn't weigh about 300 lbs. He is by far my best eater out of the 3 kids. He will eat pretty much anything, which is amazing, especially after having two of the pickiest eaters of all time. He is a major ham. He will do anything to get attention, and he thinks he is the funniest kid ever. He has about a million expressions and they are constantly changing. I don't think I've ever seen such an expressive face-he would make Jim Carrey proud. He doesn't talk much yet, but he understands pretty much everything. His main words are "No", "Mom", "Dad", "uh-oh" and just recently "thank you". He nods his head yes, but doesn't usually say it. I've learned recently that "Mom" doesn't necessarily mean me, it sometimes means, "I want" or "look at that". I hear him say "Mom" about 3,000 times a day, and it always has a different meaning. Aidan is my best cleaner. He loves to clean up toys, other people's food, and he loves to spill on purpose, so he can get a rag and wipe it up. He is usually very obedient. If I ask him to put something away, or not to touch something he is "usually" very good about it. He is learning to fold his arms and be reverent. Our only setback here is that he likes to cheer for himself when the prayer is over, so he claps his hands and says "Yay!" after every prayer (even in Sacrament Meeting). He loves blankets and cuddles. He just started to enjoy carrying blankets around with him all over the house. He doesn't care what blanket it is, he just likes to have them handy. He doesn't like time outs. He just started getting time outs for when he is being sassy, or picking on his brothers. If I ask him "Do you want a time out?" He immediately says "No" and most of the time, adjusts his attitude. Well, all in all, he is a wonderful little guy and I don't know what we would do without him. He makes me laugh and smile all day, and occasionally want to cry. I love him with all my heart!

Responsibilities

I don't know about the rest of you, but Dan and I have discussions about twice a week about how we need to teach our kids to be hard workers. Especially since we have all boys, who will someday serve missions and have to provide for their families. Well, we talk about it alot, but that seems to be as far as it ever goes. It's so hard to let my kids work, when it is so much easier to just do it myself! I know that is a terrible attitude, but I know if I do it, it's done right and done quickly. If I let them do it, it takes forever, there are always tantrums involved, and I have to be there for the whole thing, which means I can't do the million other things that I need to get done. Well, for Family Home Evening last night, Dan suggested that we put together a chore chart for the kids. I already had one that I bought for Mason a year ago, so we pulled it out, and picked out the chores that we wanted the kids to do. While we were doing it, I suddenly realized that I do WAY too much for my kids, and sometimes my husband. I tend to "baby" everyone around me, without thinking about it. So, this morning, I had the kids go upstairs and brush their teeth and make their beds, without my supervision. Dan told me I should probably go supervise, but I wanted to give them a chance to do something without me nagging them the whole time, and let them see that they can do things by themselves. Well, I think it was a miracle, because they actually did it. They brushed their teeth and made their beds (not perfectly, of course), all without me there, getting frustrated! Anyway, we'll see how long the "chart" actually lasts, but maybe it will at least get us into a few good habits. If anyone has a system that works really well for them and their family, please let me know! Dan refuses to give rewards (not money or candy) for chores. He says it's just part of being in a family and pulling your weight. So, any suggestions that don't involve those things would be awesome!

MESS!

Well, disaster struck yesterday afternoon. Our red brick house in town, that we have 2 separate renters in, flooded yesterday. What a nightmare! The upstairs bathroom got a big leak under the sink while our renter was gone, and when she came home, it was all over in the master bedroom. She thought that was the extent of it, but then she went to the basement and lo and behold, it was an inch deep everywhere down there. Luckily, the basement renters, are out of town, so atleast they won't have to move out while we get it all cleaned up. We got the worst of it taken care of yesterday, and today we have a professional water damage company in the house cleaning it all up, taking up the carpet and tearing out the damaged drywall. All I can say is, THANK GOODNESS FOR INSURANCE!

Easter

We had a way fun Easter Saturday. We had a ward Easter Egg Hunt at the Church, and the boys loved it. I had to go help hide Easter Eggs in the morning and I was surprised to find that we had over 1100 eggs! We asked the families to make donations of eggs and candy and they really over-did it. We only had about 50 kids, so each kid got to find 20 eggs each. I wish I would have taken pictures of it before the kids started hunting, because all you could see was eggs. It was lots of fun. Then, we went to "Liberty Press" and had our extended family Easter Egg Hunt just like every year. The kids loved that too. Luckily, some of the older cousins helped Mason and Ethan find eggs, so I could focus on taking pictures of them all. Cassidy helped Mason, and Elizabeth helped Ethan. Dan took Aidan. I love it when we all get together for big family get-togethers. It's so fun to see everyone and their kids. They also do fun things like 3-legged and wheelbarrow races, which are way fun.