NICU Reunion

September 18th we were lucky to attend our 2nd Waukesha Memorial Hospital NICU Reunion. It's a little get together for anyone who is a graduate of the WMH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Will was a proud resident for nearly 7 weeks after he was born and we became quite close with a number of our nurses.

We are so blessed to have access to a Level 3 NICU and Will was saved daily by the angels who are there. They are truly special people who saw this scared mama through many scary days and nights, and just as many uneventful, let-him-grow, lets exchange recipes because it's 1 am and these little nuggets are just sleeping, nights. :)

It was truly emotional to reunite with them, and even more so that they remembered me, almost 4 years later. Will is one of a few preemie buddies attending the NICU reunion, and was so excited to see one of his BFF's Brody there to wreak a little havoc.  I waited 7 long weeks to be sure one day I'd watch him tear it up like that, and I think those nurses did too.

BIG Train

My sweet Nani is a woman after my own heart. She likes to make an entrance. She loves a big splash. And she is all about making memories. She's taken all of her grandkids on a "BIG train trip". My sister and I were the first, and we went all the way to Chicago at the tender ages of 4 and 5. Nani promised Will she'd take him on a BIG train ride when he was finally potty trained. A laborious sticker chart and just under a year later, we were on the Amtrak to Illinois. We didn't go far, just the small town of Glenview, but it had a restaurant, library, and ice cream stand, so Will was good to go. He loves his Nani just as much as the rest of us, and we are so blessed to have her (active, funky, funny self) in our lives.

Turning Summersaults!

Everything is allllllllll "I CAN DO IT!".
Of course you can kid. That's why God gave you a mom, and safety gear, and the paramedics.
But I digress.
Right now, this kid is a tumbling maniac. Decided this was his new project and will practice it anywhere. Including but not limited to: the backyard, the living room, the movie theater (as The Lion King 3D is exiting) and McDonalds. Impressive eh? :)

Alllll Out of Order But....

Just want to get everyone updated on some of the things we've been up to since we last checked in.  The most recent, and most fun, has been starting PRESCHOOL!  Yes, folks, he has finally mastered potty training, so he was ready for the big leagues. We started the Bethlehem Lutheran Little Lambs 3 year old preschool program at the beginning of September, and it has been....interesting. On the first day, I got to attend with him through the whole 1/2 day program, and he loved it. He was chosen as the "Prayer Helper" for that week, they got to look at some cocoons and chrysallises forming moths and butterflies and read "The Kissing Hand" which has become a new tradition for us. I proudly dusted my hands thinking, look at this brave boy.

Then came day 2. My mother in law is being charged with dropping him off daily, since the program doesn't start until 8:45. With that, she got the pleasure of having him peeled from her body by the teacher as he sobbed uncontrollably. The preschool director assured me that he was fine withing minutes and happily doing a project. Mmmmkay. I'll just take her word for it.

Every Tuesday and Thursday since has been met with "I don't wannnnnnna go to preschool!" and "I'm never gonna have fun there!" and "I"m not eating snack or doing playdoh or ANYTHING! EVER!". But every Tuesday and Thursday night he's all smiles and shows me the projects he's practiced and promises he'll "Never cry about preschool again. EVER!".

I definitely think he might be learning a thing or two though:

Oh My My...

What a busy summer it's been!
I can't believe I've slacked so much on updating this blog. We've been busy, I guess I've been hoping you've been busy too, too busy to notice?? :) Anyway, I'm gonna throw up a few random photos, to give you a glimpse of what we've been up to, but I promise to dedicate some blog time soon, to get some REAL stories of our crazy world!

A Growing Group!

Not only do these kids keep growing, and growing and GROWING, this group gets larger and crazier every year!  We're up to EIGHT children under the age of FOUR!  I was thinking back to when we took this picture:

And we thought it was the craziest and most difficult thing EVER.  There was crying, shifting, hat removing, nuk-finding, waving and clapping for smiles, newborn Brody falling over....

Then, we tried this one:

Then this one:

And again:

Then THIS one:

And here we are now...

Wow. We're getting GOOD at this.

As our group grows, and the kids grow, I am continually overwhelmed by how blessed we are for the friendships we have formed. My friendships and bonds with my girls. Will's connection with each new little friend. The men in our lives who are the best daddies I've ever known. Growing to love each of these little ones like they're my own.  We are lucky to have so much love in our life and I don't care if the sheer volume makes my eardrums burst, I'm happy to sweat and jump and clap like an idiot to snap a photo of our ever-growing family.

Headlining the All Star Preschooler Comedy Tour....

I swear I think this kid thinks he's on stage. At all times. I maintain that I don't know where he gets it.

First, there's the constant singing. He sings EVERYthing these days. On his way to daycare: "We're off to find schoo-ool, We're off to find schoo-ool, We're off to find schoo-ooool!"  And often, "I don't want tooooo" with dramatic flair. (enter, jazz-hands. I'm not even kidding).

Then, there's the big "explanations". This week, "No kisses today mom, I'm a doctor, and doctors don't kiss. Now hold still while I fix you".  After whacking me with the aforementioned foam sword "That's part of my story mom, 'William.then.hits.his.mommy.with.a.sword". Everything is part of his "story". He always says it like he's reading from a telegraph. Stop.

Lastly he's been trying to figure out jokes. He seems to know that knock-knocks must be the basics, so he's starting there, but he can't quite figure out a punchline. He is HAPPY to oblige in a HUGE fake laugh to my old stand-by of "orange who". Oh well, I can't tell jokes either, unless I read them in Maxim magazine, so they probably aren't the most appropriate ones to tell him.

I'm not sure, but I think he gets that he's a funny kid, because he seems to know when it's time to put on a show. Maybe he gets it, maybe not, but to quote him today (please read in dramatic voice): Yes, MOM! I.under.STA-AND".