Elias and Simon had been asking to play in the snow over and over. Seeing as we have had hardly any at home, we decided to take them to Mt. Hood to play.
We dropped Caleb off at Ama and Baba’s so he could stay warm, and headed for our adventure.
When we arrived in the parking lot, the boys were super excited.
First, we tried sledding. Then we built a snowman.
We also had a snowball fight and did more sledding. A successful trip to the mountain!
Being the third born is so much different from being the first born. Caleb turned 7 weeks old this last Wednesday, and he certainly got a taste of what it is like to be the third born!
This was the first week of Caleb’s life where Daddy was at work and Elias had school at the same time. First we had Daddy home with us so he took Elias to school. Then when Daddy went back to work it was winter break. Then family visited and Daddy took vacation. This week was the real deal for us all.
I took this picture of Caleb in his car seat for 7 weeks because I feel guilty that he spent so much time in the car seat this week. (And for many many weeks to come!)
Caleb has to ride in the car seat to take Elias to school in the mornings (and home), and to take Simon to his activities and classes. Then he has to get back into the car seat to go pick Elias up from school. It really disrupts his natural “schedule.” I felt like I was constantly waking him up to put him in the car seat rather than just being able to go with what he needed as I could mostly do when Elias was a baby. He looks content in the above picture, but most of the time he was very unhappy to be in there, and he certainly let us know it!
This week I’ve also noticed Elias and Simon’s love for Caleb growing. We had some rough patches during the week, but the best part is seeing all of the boys together. I got to witness Simon giving Elias a big hug and saying, “I love you no matter what.” (I also witnessed a lot of wrestling…but that’s fun in a different way). Elias is getting pretty good at entertaining Caleb, and loves to hold him.
Simon does his best to imitate what we all do.
Caleb is just along for the ride right now. Some day he’ll have his own friends. His own school. His own activities. But for now, he’s just along for the ride and we are all growing in love for him each day.
There is nothing quite so satisfying as putting together the last piece of a puzzle.
Before we had kids, Nathan and I put together some pretty challenging photo-mosaic puzzles and framed them. I’ve always wanted to do it again, but there is no way we can leave out a puzzle with a preschooler and toddler in our house. This Christmas I asked for a puzzle stow and go mat. I thought it was a great idea if it worked, but was skeptical. Basically, you put the puzzle together on a felt mat that can be rolled up and preserve the work you’ve done. I got the stow and go mat along with a photo-mosaic world map puzzle and an easier puzzle.
I decided to try the easier puzzle first. It was 1000 pieces. I’ve been working on it bit by bit since Christmas after the boys go to bed. I’m happy to say that the stow and go mat works great! This evening I put in the last piece.
I won’t be framing this one, but it was a lot of fun to do. I’ll give myself a break and then get started on my photo-mosaic!
Today I dressed Caleb in his “Grandpa’s Sidekick” onesie so I wanted to get some pictures. All of the Smith men joined in the fun.
At first Simon was resistant so we just took a nice one without him.
Then Elias wanted to do a funny face picture. Grandpa and Daddy were game. Maybe we can write off Caleb’s crying as a funny face too. These Smith men are pretty good a funny face pics.
Once funny faces were involved, Simon decided to join the fun.
Finally, we got one of Grandpa and all of his grandsons.
We are so glad we get to have this time to spend with Grandpa!
Caleb is 6 weeks old today, and that is a milestone with more meaning than you’d think. Since my incision from the c-section has healed well it means I can hold my two older babies again. It means I can exercise. It means I can vacuum myself rather than bothering Nathan for days until it gets done.
It also means Caleb is growing up. Already we’ve noticed big changes. He is so much more alert and aware of his surroundings. He has much more quiet alert and active alert time as long as he can see me or another family member. I remember just a few weeks ago when I could not put him down without him crying…even for a minute. Today he sat in the bouncer chair for almost an hour watching Nathan and Elias and me. I also read to him a bunch and he was super interested in looking at the books.
After reading this book about 15 times, I played peek-a-boo with Caleb. At first he just stared at me with an unimpressed sort of look. But then he gave me some big grins.
Six weeks has gone so quickly, and yet life “before” seems so long ago.
Elias has been asking to play in the snow for months now. We don’t get much snow here in the Portland area, but we did promise him a trip to Mt. Hood or two this winter. We’ll still visit the mountain, but we were lucky enough to get an inch or so at home. Naturally, this combined with some freezing rain completely shut everything down and school was cancelled!
On Sunday morning the boys woke up to the snow. They were thrilled!
We determined it was safe to drive to church and were some of the few who made it in. We got home, ate a quick lunch, and bundled everyone up to go play. Elias had a very long list of things he wanted to do including a snowball fight, snow angels, building a snowman, sledding, shoveling the driveway, and more. He got to do pretty much everything except build a snowman. We’ll save that one for the mountain.
The boys had a blast pulling each other around on the sled. I helped them plan a few good ambushes on Daddy while he shoveled the sidewalk. I remember when snow was this magical for me too!
We’ve been having lots of fun with family over the last few days. Mostly we’ve just been hanging out at home and letting the cousins play. They get so excited to see each other. I hope it lasts for many more years and beyond.
We did get out to zoo lights. We went on New Years Day. It was absolutely freezing, but at least it was dry. The wind was screaming through the zoo parking lot and Simon was crying real tears from the cold. Eventually we got both boys into their snowsuits, jackets, hats, and mittens so they were good for a little while. It was just too cold for them to be happy for long, though, and we ended up staying only for a short time. Luckily I was able to keep Caleb warm enough. He was dressed in a sleeper, in a snow suit, in the wrap, inside my coat with a hat and a blanket. I don’t think he even knew we were out there in all that cold! He slept through the entire first zoo lights experience!
While we were there Simon had one of his many tantrums. Grandpa took the stroller and Simon calmed down a lot. Here they are enjoying the light tunnel together.
At home, Audrey, Elias, and Sonya had a lot of fun trying out Elias’ new Snap Circuits. Nathan was in heaven playing with them.
We always miss the Ramlals after they leave.
We’ve been busy with celebrations and spending time with family so I didn’t post Caleb’s 5 week photo.
He was being cranky again and didn’t want to be photographed. I put the camera away and sat him up facing me on my lap and he was all smiles. I was able to snap a really quick photo. It’s a bit blurry, but it captured his cute little smile at 5 weeks.
Since then he has gotten to meet a lot of family members. He met Auntie Erin, was soothed to sleep by Uncle Jared, and was declared “cute” by his cousins Audrey and Sonya. Here are all five of the Smith/Ramlal cousins on the couch. The four oldest were watching a movie together. Since no one was in motion we decided to give Caleb to Audrey for a few minutes to snap some pictures of them all together…even though no one is looking at the camera.
Caleb also has gotten to meet Grandpa. Everyone else had to go back home for school, but we get to spend time with Grandpa for another whole week! Here are Caleb and Grandpa together:
Later in the evening Caleb was giving Grandpa some pretty big smiles so I’d say they’ve hit it off!
Today the boys participated in their annual Christmas Pageant rehearsal. Every year on Christmas Eve at 4pm, the children of our church, St. Bartholomew’s of Beaverton, tell the story of Jesus’ birth in a Christmas Pageant. It is really fun seeing the gospel through their eyes.
Elias was baby Jesus when he was 3 months old, and was an angel for three years. This year he was given the choice to be an angel with the rest of his sunday school class or to move on to being an animal. He chose to be an animal and is a cow this year. He was so excited.
Simon was an angel last year and will be an angel again this year. In the car he told me he wasn’t going to sing. He said he would “Just listen”. He didn’t sing. But he was up there doing the motions to the songs.
Caleb will play the part of baby Jesus this year.
Here are my boys trying on their costumes:
Tomorrow we will do the real thing. The great thing about the Christmas pageant is that even with only one “rehearsal” it always comes together nicely. The focus isn’t a “play” or “performance.” The focus is the story being told. Telling the story of the miracle and gift of Jesus’ birth is an excellent way to start our Christmas celebrations every year.
When Elias was 4 weeks old I took my weekly picture of him sitting on the couch. When Simon was 4 weeks old I decided it would be fun to try to recreate the picture with the same outfit on the same corner of the couch since the boys looked so much alike. Thus it became a tradition.
Today Caleb is 4 weeks old so I dressed him in the outfit and set him on the corner of the couch. He wasn’t as cooperative as the other two boys. In fact he was quite unhappy for most of the photo shoot, but I managed to get a couple good ones by bouncing him happy and snapping the photo right after I set him down. I think the older two boys thought I was losing my marbles there for awhile.
So here you go…the three boys at 4 weeks:
I still say they look pretty similar!
Just in case you need a cheat sheet…they are in order from left to right. Elias on the left. Simon in the middle. Caleb on the right.
