Rain day

Our vacation was extended by an extra day due to freezing rain all through the interior. Roads were just way too dangerous to drive on and it was just safer to stay at the cabin. We even had a rain day for the water trucks and kept them parked. 

This meant belly up to the kitchen bar for cards and drinks 

And indoor play and floor hockey

And naps all around, can't be too safe..

Eventually Gwendolyn snow shoed over to visit Rhonda and escape her brothers 

I kicked them out before dinner to play in the rain and apparently that meant "bury your sibling" Alaskan beach style. 

First winter weekend at the lake

Off to a wonderful start. Left a little wary from school so we could arrive before dark as we had a cold cabin to come to. It was about 18 degrees when we got here and had the cabin warmed up in under an hour. We brought aunt Linda with us for the weekend. 

Trevor is happy playing with the diaper basket and toddling around on the larger deck

Blake is learning about the outhouse and isn't a huge fan, so we are allowing the indoor bucket to keep the potty training momentum 

Owen is thrilled to be running around on his snowmachine again

Gwendolyn is wanting to do it all at once, par for her personality, games, sledding, movies, s'mores, snow machining, visiting at Rhonda's....

  

Biggest brother

Owen is also swimming and has competed in few meets this winter and continues to improved each meet. His coach Becky even said today that he rocked the flip turn. His best stroke is the back stroke and he will also swim the free style at meets. 

We have arranged a carpool plan with another swim family at watershed and he said to me last week "Audrey's moms car is cleaner than yours" my quick response was to ask him what he thought he would be doing this next weekend. Smartly he said he would be cleaning my car haha. He had a phase 1 of his teeth work done this winter and had his palette expander installed. 

As you can see from the pre-molds his wicked cross bite needed to match up. After 3 weeks of expanding the key twice a day his palette was plenty apart and ready to start setting up. He will have a retainer for a while and then braces once he has more adult teeth. Finally at 18 he will have his permanent fake tooth installed where he has no adult tooth to use. Silly mouth. 

 

Big sister

Gwendolyn rules the posse and likes to do it in pink. She is gaining more independence and has officially babysat on a Friday night. She also went to an afternoon movie with Natalie and Gwendy and NO adults. They were so tickled with the responsibility. 

Speaking of responsible, poppa Rufus had both his knees replaced a couple weeks ago and she went over every day and cleaned his incisions and gave him blood thinner shots. No hesitation. I think she has a future in medicine and I have always thought that. Though if you ask her right now she says she wants to be a 5th grade teacher like Me Harper. A couple years ago she wanted to be a baby nurse and an artist. All remains to be seen and is part of the fun. She has found her groove with reading and will stay up reading and has gotten sucked into a mystical cat series. 

She is still swimming but her passion lies with her eclipse soccer team. She played goalie last year but wasn't feeling it at the end of the season and let her amazing coach John Mayer know that she wanted a different position if he had a place for her. She has been playing forward and that is a good fit. 

Full on toddle

Trevor is now walking more than crawling and it is happening so very fast. My last baby is getting zippy and confident. 

He says momma and likes to give kisses and blow kisses. I think he is catching on to signing thank you but it could just be a blown kiss. He is still waking mostly twice a night to nurse. Bed is 7:30-7:30 and he usually gets 1 nap a day but the length varies with sibling activities. The life of a younger child....

He is a hungry kiddo and likes bites of everyone's food but not if it is a green veggie. He had his first haircut a couple weeks back and tolerated it well enough.

He is already a hockey lover and will try to connect his stick with the ball while scooting around on his butt. Hasn't quite mastered standing and swinging the stick. 

End in sight

Blake has been diaper free for 5 days. I have jumped in and he is sorta on board. There have been more accidents than I remember fromast time of doing this. 

There is something so adorable about a little boy hiney in underwear. 

New intentions?

I had great aspirations last May at keeping back up with my blog and then I dropped my phone in the sink and lost the photo ability and blog mojo. New phone and a renewed desire to record great memories of my kids finds me back to the simplicity of the app. I linked an old blog post to a friend this week and had to glance back through till I found the right post (Owens eye tube surgery). In doing that I giggled at my trip down memory lane and loved some of the similarities of the big kids and the little boys. Blake is 3 1/2 and engrossed in hockey. He is always asking me to sing in his nonverbal way by placing his had over his heart. He wants the national anthem so that his guys can start playing hockey. I came across the post where I was reminded how much Gwendolyn loved the hockey song and how much I sang it for her too. Sweet memories 

Blake 2.8 version

My little bundle of energy boy!  He has been such a fun addition to our family. I think he spends all his time and energy on moving and playing that he has nothing left to turn into words. At a couple months shy of 3 he only has a few words (momma, ball, and Owwo for Owen). He gets everything else accomplished with sign and pointing and grunting or just taking you where he needs you. He does not seem frustraed by the lack of communication. In fact, I think I am more frustrated by it than him. He will start speech therapy this next fall when school starts. As well as starting at ABC preschool. 

He shows little to no interest in potty training, again that would mean slowing down and that just ain't his thing. He is happiest with a hockey stick in his hand or a soccer ball at his feet or both. He has such natural athletic ability. I have random strangers come up and comment on his ability to dribble the ball down the field with no effort. Fun to watch. He starts every hockey game with his rendition of the national anthem. Such spirit. 

He successfully gave up his Yiyi this spring with little backlash. Nice to not have to worry about where a pacifier is and not care if one is available. He spends 2 days a week with grandma Mary and they have been enjoying the pool and swimming together. He has one day with Aapa and they have their work routine and visit the ladies at the bank for a lollipop. 

He is an amazing big brother and is so gentle with Trevor. I have no worry about leaving him laying on the floor. If anything I will find Blake laying next to him when I come back I the room. There has been little to none jealously. A couple times he will hear baby cry and know that I will go to pick him up and he will race and try to claim my lap first. But he willingly shares it in the next breath. 

I look forward to the day when his stories contain words to round out all the animated gestures to what he is trying to tell. There is amazingness trapped in there just waiting to bust out. 

My family grew while I have been away

Gwendolyn 10.0 version

My one and only favorite daughter is officially in her double digits. She is a ball of energy and uses that through her natural athletic ability. She has been a member of the a Stingray swim team for two years now and excels at the freestyle. She has made some good friends on the team and has finally gotten to know the neighbor girls and they frequently walk between our house and theirs. 

She has always played summer league soccer but was asked last fall to try out for the Eclipse comp team, which she made. She gravitates to keeper position by her desire and participated in additional training for that this last winter, but I see her ability better used as a striker and she typically plays half of each game in each position. I look forward to these great girls playing and growing together for the next 8 years. 

School is going well. She just finished up 4th grade with Mr Decker. She has a great grasp of math and is making strides with her reading and spelling, which has always been a challenge. 

The biggest news of her last year was helping with the birth of her littlest brother, Trevor. She was there for the whole delivery and helped catch as he was born and cut his umbilical cord. I truly think medicine is her future, she has such curiosity and desire. 

Owen 8.5 version

The start of my boy brigade is such a joy to be around. Owen had a fun year choosing to play hockey again after a year off. He played with the Mites and learned a lot. He tried out goalie quite a few times. Had fun with it but was bummed that the goalie doesn't rotate out to the bench like the rest of the team, as the bench seems to be his favorite position. 

He joined the Stingray swim team on the copper level, which is essentially pre-team. Really enjoys the water and is excited to move up and swim more. 

He just finished 2nd grade with Mrs Arnason. He is making progress with reading and writing (I think he will be an avid reader when he gets the hang of it) but has a natural aptitude towards math. 

I think he will have a future career with the making and creating of commercial. He remembers and quotes any commercial he has seen or heard. He thinks he will be a gamer and play video games for the rest of his life. His current favorite if Skylanders. 

Owen takes great pride in being a big brother and loves showing off his little brothers. 

New and improved us

With new technology and this app at my fingertips I hope to rejuvenate my blogging intentions. My family has doubled in children size to the new completed version of BUNCHS. We added Blake Benjamin to the crew August 5, 2011 and finally Trevor Fielding December 12, 2012. We are a family FULL of love and energy. I feel complete and look forward to what each day will bring. I love seeing all the new and exciting things they discover daily. 

More name thoughts

Apparently Matt wants to keep the "W" theme going, not that I knew we truly had one LOL. Both kids names do have a W, but I thought the whole Gwen/Owen thing was more catchy. I have actually been hesitant to say anything or act excited to Matt for fear of jinxing it. He was the one who brought it up and asked if I had been thinking about names last weekend when we were driving to the lake. I mentioned the Nicolette name and he didn't like it at all. I threw out the boy names and he was interested in Harley but then mentioned that he expected there would be a W in the name. Back to the boy drawing board.
I brought up Whitney last night and he really liked that for a girl. Does that mean it would be girl for us? I have heard that the first name you settle on is the gender. That was true for Gwendolyn, we had that from the day after we knew we were pregnant. It took us till I was 7 months pregnant with Owen and knew he was a boy before we had that name.
I still have no intention of finding out what the prospective baby would be, so the mystery will be a long one....

Matt has agreed!!

He has finally agreed to another child. 2 would be my preference, but I am so excited at even 1 more. It is in our future, but likely a year or so out. It warms my heart that we are going to add to our family. Gwendolyn often tells me that she prays from another baby. She even prayed the other day for twins, one boy and one girl, so they could each have one. I asked then what I was going to get, who was my baby then. She laughed and said, you already have Me and Owen. Well duh, LOL. She is so nurturing to babies and toddlers. I think she will be a much better big big sister than she is as just a big sister.

Random thought of future children names
As for boys, still love Blake and Harley and Sheldon is a new favorite
Girls, Eden is still high, but I like it better as Grace Eden but we already have a Grace in the family. Nicolette Love is another favorite.