Fall times

We've been back at the museums, Jackson knitted a blankie for Cort (on Bille's lap). Cort smiles at Daddy. Hammock time for the boys and a rare shot of me doing (because i also do fun things with the kids, though you would never know it from looking through our photo albums...)

writing letters

didja get that? Jackson has taken to writing letters. Here's one: Bile kan i rit yir bik...no, he hasn't learned turkish yet...that's English that SOME people might spell it like Billie, can I ride your bike? but it's pretty brilliant for him to figure this all out. His first letter to her said
Billie STOP BEIN MIN- you can figure that out if you know that sometimes I makes an 'ee' sound. He said he wrote her a letter "because that way she couldn't interrupt me".

Gobble, gobble, gobble

Guess what! Cort is SO smiley. It's very cute and we're all peering over him with odd sounds and ridiculous faces the minute he wakes up to get a chance to see that sweet smile. The picture shows more of a spazed out 'you-people-seem-very-very-tall' look and doesn't convey the ultimate cuteness we experience in person. other news: We're moving to Turkey! Yeah, I know...that's supercool. Billie is a Brownie, Cort is a rock star, we climbed on The Awakening on the Potomac River and had a picnic this morning.
Everything is confirmed for us going to Ankara, Turkey sometime early next year (no dates yet). Bill has had a good/boring time in the general training classes so far. i STILL can't find a blog of foreign service homeschoolers so that will be something new to figure out. i am VERY happy we're doing this for now, it would be hard on Billie if she'd just started school in Sept, stopped in Dec. moved to a new country in Jan and had to start over again with a new teacher/class/environment where everyone else involved already had the routine down pat.
Also, the first grade CAT test we need to take at the end of the year, to like, prove that she's not just letting her brain atrophy while sitting around eating twinkies all day. That CAT test is so eeeeeeeeeeasy- Billie could have passed it if we'd given it to her last year; Jackson could pass it tomorrow with a decent score.
I can either feel happy that my kids are pretty smart or concerned that the standard is so low...

Sloane would get high marks in stubbornness and also excels at 'testing the limits'. Which, apparently, means that you don't have to listen when I say 'no' the first time...when Mom gets up and stops what she's currently doing (knitting or eating)...then and only then is when you close Cort's diaper cream lid/stop making long distance calls by hitting the redial button on the cordless phone/instantly cease drawing in our beloved Babar books and hide the marker you were using under your dress. Getting up is like, SUCH a pain!

Billie has totally embraced Girl Scout- goodness. We got the books, read the 'Girl Scout Promise' all with the "promise to be honest and fair...considerate...blah...blah...blah" all the things i'm constantly badgering her to be. But then she DID IT! she was like the KINDEST KID EVER (almost as good as Suzanne) for a couple days. It's worn off a lot but not completely and Jackson is quick to remind her when she slips into a selfish proclamation of "Why I should always be allowed to keep everything to myself and never ever have to share. Ever." Jackson says "Billie, you're a BROWNIE!!" the technique doesn't always bring about instant results but she will usually find a nicer voice to state her case and throw in some reasons why this is actually beneficial for Jackson: "That way, if you don't have any of your own toys...you won't have to move them when move to Turkey."

Cort was a catapillar

and Cort went as a catapillar

Nerd worlds collide

Billie wanted to wear a princess gown to the RennFest, which works because everyone there is in a princess gown. Jackson wants to dress up too. But weapons are not permitted and who wants to be a knight if you can't carry around a sword? That's just wearing a helmet on a hot day. In fact, his entire 'knight outfit' consists of one sword and one shield. So...um...he decided to explore some other costume options. Billie got herself on stage in a performance but Jackson stole the show.

3 outta 4

I am SOO tempted to use this on our baby announcement...it may stand out among the other beautiful faces on your fridge door and make you snicker. But it's just too cruel- I'd have to include that in his baby photo album and then he'd grow up to be like angry like eminem and that wouldn't be worth all the giggles i'd get...would it? Eminem is pretty successful...
No, really I do want Cort to be happy, so I'll just post it here and use it as a launching pad to say that Cort is expressing Sloane's sentiment.
The honeymoon is over and she's MAD. I must say, it's still nothing near the havoc I thought this would cause for her, but she isn't totally pleased with Cort all the time anymore. She tells me "Cort is ALL DONE nursey!" And she isn't as interested in holding him as often.
It's clear now that she has been promoted to 'big kid' now that Cort is in the 'baby' position, which makes Jackson a double big brother and Billie is still ruler of the world. Sloane plays with the big kids now, on the big kid facilities and has even made it clear that she's ready to be potty trained. Which is, of course, a major inconvenience to me because a diaper can wait 3 minutes while we finish checking out of line at the library with our 47 books and "Mom, I have to use the bathroom" is a drop everything and RUN type thing for the first couple weeks. Ugh, like I want to do THAT with 4 kids. Not that we're EVER going to the library again...because today Sloane had a total fit ( laying on the floor and kicking complete with baby taradactyl screeches.)
um, yeah...so, that was NOT FUN and I had to be like "get out...locate the nearest exit...get out without checking out NOW...you can not check out that star wars book and no, not even the paper airplane one...do NOT collect $200...do not pay library fine...just drag screaming child out away from all these nice,quiet, library go-ers RIGHT NOW (while continuing to nurse Cort in the sling)). Sooooo....
That was my morning.
And I know I should have had this experience much earlier...I have been lucky enough to never have a full on uncontrolable tantrum in public before. Billie and Jackson were not much of the tantrum type. Whining and crying while in 'time out'; yes...screeching in a store; never happened. Until now. I have a sinking feeling that Sloane might make up for all that.
As for Cort, this picture is about the worst thing he's ever done. I DID hear him cry once in the van when he woke up hungry 10 minutes before we got home...but that's about it. Billie: the other day when we were doing 'lesson time' she said "Let's do the word problems Mom! Word problems are my favorite!!" (and she meant it). Jackson: super sweet and helpful, even when he's bad he's good because he goes right to time out (stomping up the stairs). 3 out of four ain't bad. that about sums it up 3 out of the 4 aren't bad.
Maybe one day i'll write about something other than Sloane...maybe when she's 30.

Big news!

If you're thinking "Big news for the Solley family? pregnant...again?" that's not it. That would REALLY be something since Cort is just 3 weeks old. So...not pregnant...what's something else major that we do every couple years? If you guessed move to some far off land...you're correct.
You probably all know that we've hoped to work for the Foreign service for a long time. We're doing it, serious pay cut and all. Come visit us now because we'll be off to Botswana or Lisbon early next year! (You can come visit us then too, but you'll have to fly.)
We don't have any idea of our future destination but we should have at least some idea by October. As for right now, Cort is wonderful and Billie and Jackson are the colicky ones!!! They have been totally acting out and sorta rude for the last few days. It's an adjustment and they're used to waking up and getting like 3 fun activities each day with all the grandparent attention (spoiling). I think they need some kind of kid re-hab for when the grandparents leave...time for them to come down. But once they're back in their routines and we get back on track with some school time and reading time...i think (hope) they'll calm down and be back to their old silly selves.

I shouldn't post this without bragging about how amazing Bill is- he's super smart and has mad skills so that everyone wants to hire him...such a good breadwinner/best dad and provider/bike riding teacher/swim instructor/tickle wrestler/chili maker/infant on chest couch napper/arm wrestler/sore loser/ in the universe.

Sloane reigns supreme

Just to remind me that I have NO idea what my kids are thinking and NO ability to figure out what they'll do next...just in case I needed to remember that life is full of suprises Sloane has decided to embrace big-sister-ness. Of course, it's not big sisterhood to her as much as it is possessivehood, Cort is HERS and she does let me know when he needs something. It's much more exciting than the plastic baby version because Cort actually 'coos' and has moveable limbs so she can let me know when he needs 'nurse-y time' and she loves to do the 'wipes' part of the diaper change...not actually being of any help but if it keeps her happy...well, I'll go along with it.
And that about sums up our theme for the last two weeks: "wow! Sloane is happy...let's just let her do WHATEVER she wants and keep it this way." Each day we keep waiting for it all to fall apart but at 8:48pm tonight it will be two weeks and mostly happiness.
Billie and Jackson go back and forth between extreme highs and pathetic lows. The grandparent factor brings on a lot of the highs (think chuck-e-cheese and ratatouille) and fighting with each other (Jackson turns five and is no longer willing to follow blindly along
with Billie's rules and rationale...did that friends thing only work for 4 years?! yikes!)
accounts for the lows and SO MANY lost priveleges. It's very possible Jackson will go the rest of the summer without another popsicle.
In any case, Cort is adorable and very easyily going along with all our adventures.
He's been content to sling around the grocery store, park day, Glen Echo, the craft store,
the library and he sleeps well on his lambskin spot on the couch (DO NOT JUMP ON THE COUCH WHEN CORT IS THERE!!) while obnoxiously loud ring-around-the-rosey and castle games exist around him. He doesn't seem to mind the constant snuggling requests "can I hold Cort now?" and he's really just a good little guy.
So good that I'm hesitant to write this because once I'm convinced of something...it usually changes. Or maybe the theory was right and chaos reached it's peak at 3 children...4 is on the plateau? I guess we'll find out soon.

Everybody loves Cort

Cort Catlett Solley

All in love

So, it turns out there was no need for my aromatherapy candles, it worked out fine that I had eaten all Bill's labor snacks (how many days can I just leave the chocolate covered pretzels and luna bars un-opened?) before we went into labor...I didn't have time to use my 'songs for birth' list on the I-pod...and we had the 'non-intrusive' birth we wanted. No drugs, no interventions, no fetal monitors. I can't say it was easy that way but we'd do anything for Cort and now we get to see all his little baby expressions. His thoughtful eyes wondering how all of this came into his little world and his sweet soft little hair spiked up all over the place, his mouth searching all over for whatever fingers, blanket, or clothing that he can get near enough to it.
Ahh...this is what we've all been waiting for and it's wonderful to finally meet him! I'm shocked that Sloane seems incredibly pleased with him, giggles at him, interested in him and clearly thinks he is HERS. Billie and Jackson are thrilled with him- Jackson is glad he's a boy and he's gotten back his usual gentle, protective cuddling attitude for newborn babies. Billie asks all the time if she can hold him and is happy when she's allowed, but is generally busy doing her own things and artwork.
Today has been peaceful, Bill reading while Cort naps on his chest, me having bagels with jam, knitting and nursing...the kids are playing around making things from cardboard and duct tape. Sloane wants another story. It's heaven - somebody stop all the clocks.

Jackson's Birthday party

Jackson is growing up faster than a speeding bullet. He's a bird..he's a plane...he's TURNING FIVE.

Here's what we've got lined up for Jacksons 5th birthday:
a backyard water slide ride
grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots, raisins, & other healthy snacks
a superhero cake which will not be healthy in any way
popsicles

Here's what you need to bring:
yourselves with cape and or bathing suit (cape and bathing suit are optional)
towels (i think most of ours might be in use laying in pathways throughout the house)
no gifts, please

and we can almost guarantee:
a grossly muddy backyard,
a certain little girl in pigtails screaming her head off for any amount of time that she is NOT going down the water slide on her Daddy's lap,
Jackson speaking excitedly in his high-pitched squeal voice, which he assumes for moments of great excitement,
the birthday boy parents (I) will not have to think up or orchestrate any clever games, imaginative craft ideas and thereby avoid doing anything that would require effort
at some point you will be getting splashed in the face by people much shorter than you

All together...a superfun time that's sure to be the high light of your summer (or at least your weekend)!

the clock is officially ticking!!!

Are you excited? It's JULY and you know what that means...this baby is going to arrive soon. Yay! Yay! Yay! I'm determined to hold him in (I had a dream it was a boy a few weeks ago, confirming my prior intuition) and yes, I do know that I'm setting myself up here by writing about it so that you can all see how wrong I was if this turns out to be a girl. But that sounds like a lot of fun in itself and we'll all be so surprised....but mostly i'll just be thrilled that someone else can wear all the clothes i've made for Sloane and Billie. If i DO have a boy i'm really optimistic that Meg will have my first little niece and once in a while she will make her sweet little girl wear some of my odd creations out of pure guilt, if nothing else, because i slaved over them with my own two hands!!!
Oh, you just don't know how i've been waiting for July. I know i wasn't this complain-y with my last pregnancies. And with each pregnancy I increasingly think that we were kinda made for doing this all at 20. Age 30? it's fine, i'm never sick, or bed-ridden or anything at all drastic. But man it was EASIER when i was 24. My body was all just fine with growing a huge belly and not feeling like a slug. I'm not saying this is my last baby...who knows what the future holds? but I'm NOT as up for getting pregnant again as I was after the last 3.
And spacing!!! That's another concern i have. It was all SO good with Bean and Jackson- 15 months...it's the way to go...I want to shout it from the rooftops. Have your babes CLOSE together. Sloane was so much easier a few months back. A 2 year old is all into "no!"and "ME DO IT!" and all crossing the boundaries. A 15 month old is all like not speaking so much and holding your hand and so manageable!!! Now if she's trapped in some grocery cart or sling Sloane sees something exciting and she's all "OUT! OUT! OUT! DOWN!" and then it's with the screaming if I don't let her get down and fondle whatever interesting piece has caught her eye right at that very moment. Not so manageable if you get my drift.
Stay tuned for how this will up the ante in the adventures of our daily lives. I've always heard that going from 1 to 2 kids= no biggie, 2 to 3 kids= MAJOR adjustment, 3 to 4= no biggie. And that always sort of made sense to me...because there has to be some point where it levels out...where it can't get any crazier. Like, there's 4 of us everywhere we go...3 car seats to get into, many snacks and water bottles to bring along, I haven't been without diapers in the car for like 6 years, i know some distraction techniques, i know some discipline stuff that works for 2 of my kids, i mean...how much will adding a little newborn; tucked into a little sling across my chest (much like the 27 lb belly i'm toting in my front right now) who just sleeps and eats, how much can that little guy add to the chaos that has become our daily ritual?
Is this just me trying to re-assure myself? Crap, yes!!!! because Sloane has never been EASY but now she's nearly 2 and she's SO WILD, she runs the show, she's the boss of everyone, the center of the universe and what on earth is she going to feel like when i'm holding some other kid?! She still gets mad if Bill puts his arm around me and forces Jackson out of my lap during story time and takes a swat at Billie for sitting in *her* rocking chair. It's not that she's clingy...she's ALL over the place running off on her own but she's POSSESSIVE to the nth degree. Once i saw her share, but that might of just been a mistake on her usual pretending to make an offer and then quickly renege so that she can laugh at the dismay on the face of the 'almost gifted' sibling or playmate....

photos!

The camera is not lost! If you know me, you know I don't really keep track of my things too well...and things go missing...and it's no big deal, things are replaceable and they mostly turn up again at some point. So, that happened to the camera for a while (no big loss because i HATE it) and then it appeared under the sofa so here's some pictures. Since the last post the kids have both turned into super strong swimmers on their own (floaty suits and noodles have been cast off) and we have been to the library like 8 times.

Here we have Jackson knitting on a loom (though he prefers knitting with sticks now...this was taken like, 2 weeks ago) while Sloane dusts him off with her duster and a shirt I made her from her old baby onesies. And Sloane in a dress I made her which is SO the best thing I've ever sewn. And Billie with her girlfriends who came over yesterday and played all afternoon

simple living...who knew it would actually WORK?

So...I'm feeling a little guilty about my post yesterday and when the kids grow up they'll know how totally slack i could be at times. I think i should write about some things i'm proud of. Lately, i've been feeling really good about our home and the amount of crapola it contains. I think we've FINALLY reached a manageable level (of crapola). For the most part; the house basically stays clean (not perfectly dusted or anything worthy of me sharing with Flylady). There are no toys upstairs, things get put in their place. The kids have a simple morning routine which involves making their own beds and getting dressed, putting their reading time books back on the shelf, etc. This can take 6 minutes or over an hour depending on how focused they are...that's okay...there's no time limit on it, they just can't get to lessons until it's done. They've been doing this since each turned 2 so the beds didn't actually look 'made' for several years..but that's alright too. I just say "Nice job!" if they've made the effort and let them wear whatever clothes they wanted. While they're doing this i have time for my own morning routine and our morning ritual makes for a good start to the day.
Mostly i give credit to having a small house. This house is the PERFECT size for us right now (and if the kitchen had major modifications and doubled in size i'd want to live here forever). There is no room to throw clutter and procrastinate sorting...and that's a very good thing for me. All the rooms stay pretty straightened and if needed we can do a quick run through for guests and have it looking quite nice (granted, my standards may be lower than yours 'quite nice' is a relative term) in under 10 minutes. Another thing that helps with is this is that my certain belief that Finished is better than Perfect. It makes for some pretty 'creative' knitting projects that i DO complete.
I'm proud that my weekly donations to the thrift store, not shopping, being VERY selective in my purchases, and weeding through all the loads of stuff we somehow constantly acquire has finally gotten me to the point where i feel control over the stuff and keeping house. I can hear some of you snickering that I never stressed about a messy house...this is true...because, honestly, i just don't care that much. But i still did wish for a house that stayed pretty clean and to not be a big job i dreaded doing.
I'm there! Yay! Thanks, Roomba- I love you!
Other things I'm proud of: The kids have never slept away from us until last weekend. In all 11 birthday parties no one has ever had one of those gross frosting, tacky, store-bought cakes. Most days I don't cry or yell at the kids and we have really lovely, wonderful days together. Some days are so much fun you wouldn't believe me if I told you and I feel like I could burst with love. I'm proud I taught Jackson to knit on sticks yesterday and he's sitting on the chair with a furrowed brow, working very hard on his SECOND animal cape creation right now. I'm proud that Billie just said "Jackson look at the kite I made...do you want me to make one for you? I'll need to cut off the string to your balloon...but it'll turn out to be an excellent kite."
There. Some good things. I'll get out of the hammock again in August, I won't keep up reading four books a week forever. And it won't really hurt Sloane if she grows up and when reading Anne Tyler books somehow, they remind her of Curious George.

Billie, enterprising as she is, created a 'Rootabega stand' hoping for some pocket money at the playground. Sloane finds herself in the mirror and sadly waves goodbye to the tent and Grampa Les as it's time for us (the lame members of the family to go home and sleep in air conditioning). Sleep is hard enough even with my 1000 thread count sheets...i'm NOT attempting anything else. Seriously, sleep is just something i NEED more than other people. So two nights ago when Billie woke up with her first ever ear ache and I had to rub her back and tell her stories in a 300 thread count bed...well, it was just not the most fun. When we finally moved downstairs to watch a movie on the computer (the only TV is in the basement) so that she could be distracted. Then i had to curl up on the love-seat with NO SHEETS and wonky pillows...so the next day...well, was probably one of the worst days as a Mom i've had and i did not get through it without tears and yelling at the kids. Billie is sort of the same way (affected by any upset in her nightly 11 hours of sleep) and was SO ROTTEN to Jackson and myself that I could not believe my ears. Thankfully, today she's been kind and friendly...helpful even and I am going to be more appreciative of what I thought was brattiness before yesterday. She's not really bratty...so much.

I should mention Jackson here- because I write (complain) a lot about Billie. Jackson is super nice and good. He's smart and says the funniest things and he has the most clever thought process for figuring things out. Jackson can come up with a possible outcome for the stories we are reading "maybe he could disguise himself as a dragon and when Ruggedo tries to attack him he will be frightened off at the sight of a reliable dragon" His vocabulary is the funniest because he knows all these outstanding words but can't really place them all correctly in a sentence. He is totally into games and asks me at least 4 times a day to play a game with him. "Wanna play candyland? Can we play chess? How about a convincing game of scrambled states of 'merica, Mom?" Get ready for another (yes...another) Mom confession. I am TOO tired to play the games with him (which would involve really nothing more than sitting on the floor or at the table and lifting my arm to move my piece when required). So, I say "okay, I'll play...you set up the game" and then he just ends up sitting at the table in front of the board...so eager that he starts without me...thrilled with the game I get a fully commentary "Mom! You got a moose! You just need one fox and a zebra or I'll have to block you with my giraffe if I'm so sneaky for you...you'll be pretty amazed at that. My turn! I'm just so pleased I didn't get a penguin!" and he proceeds to finish the whole game of Sequence by choosing cards for me, placing my chip, and then himself...and then getting totally frustrated if i win!
What am I doing while all this goes on? I'm on the couch reading, of course, while holding open a kids book that Sloane forces at me each time I sit down. Then I just hold my own book in the other hand and make silly voices reading The Secret Life of Bees aloud so that Sloane is under the impression that these are the words of her book. Ha ha ha! Her book doesn't even have anything about South Carolina racial tension in 1964...but she thinks it does. So easily fooled, I'm embarrassed for her.
So...are you wondering if there is anything...anything at all that I am willing to get off my selfish bottom for (butt is not polite)? Well, yes there is. There is one thing I jump up for and it's a plastic baby. We have two main baby dolls here; Peach and Lola. Sloane calls them both 'Ma Ma' just to be ridiculous and she has decided that they have a lot of needs. She comes to me saying "change...change" "should we change your diaper?" I ask. "ma ma! ma ma!" "change the baby's diaper?" "yeah" (she says yeah ALL THE TIME) rather than learn more words she just makes us guess at what she wants and when we finally get it right there is an instant one-syllable "ya!" So, I jump up and we lay down the baby and change the diaper and then I have to go get a cup of cheerios for the baby with a baby spoon so that we can feed the baby. Sometimes the baby wants to nurse and sometimes to read "Book! Ma Ma!". Nursing is the most absurd but i hold the baby and nurse each time she asks. What do you mean that's retarded?!!! It's so good for her to see me taking care of some other baby...holding someone else in my arms and taking time to do things for some random baby who is not Sloane. She hasn't really seen me do anything for anyone else in the last 6 months. Billie and Jackson are fully functioning at managing the house and coming up with their own games by now (see above how Jackson plays a game with me without me even participating). I hope this is making some kind of impact on Sloane so that when the baby gets here she will allow me to hold and cuddle someone else. Oh Sloane...your world is about to change. I have to go narrate Ina May's Guide to Childbirth over the pictures of Ferdinand the Bull right now and hope Sloane understands.