Land of McGovernville

I can’t help but to honestly believe this.  We are blessed.  We have 4 amazing and healthy children.  Children we always said we would have “when we made enough money.”  Let me tell ya, we make less than when we originally said that and we are doing just fine, great in fact.  I never once expected anyone to ever help us out financially when we had kids, however it happened.  These kiddos have grandparents that love to spoil them!  We average at least one box a month from UPS and 2 a month from the postal service.  My Mamaw (the kids Great Mamaw) loves to send the kiddos clothes, not just your typical clothes, adorable clothes.  My kids dress better than I do!!!  They also have more toys than most kids I know.  Nana has sent Vincent several workbooks to work on his new found love of writing.  She also recently sent Kenniston a toothbrush after her own was flushed (don’t know what possesed her to do that!).  It isn’t necessarily the things, the material possesions, that make us “blessed.”  It is the thought that went into the gift giving.  I love how my Mamaw knows how much I love the cute Teddy Bears on Baby Gap clothing and Carter’s clothing lines so she picks them up for the kids whenver she sees them.  I love how my mom remembers my children’s interests and stories (like the tooth brush incident) and follows up on them.  It is the little things like that that remind me how blessed my children are. 
It is also the people that love them that aren’t even blood related.  Aunt Mandy who would willingly fold 4 loads of laundry while watching ALL FOUR kids at 9am, that right there is love folks!  Or Aunt Tonya, who left her own toddler daughter for an entire week for the very first time, flew out here to WA to help us out when the twins were a month old.  The same Aunt Tonya also helped out at Kenniston’s 2nd birthday party, an art party.  She was brave!  Or Aunt Kristi who is a full time working mommy who also remembered a need (pacifier clips) and sent us some, along with goodies for the older kids as well of course!  I could sit here all night long and mention a friend from church who sent us a check to go towards sitters, or other friends from church who gave us grocery cards to Safeway so we could have groceries delivered (so I wouldn’t have to actually take all four kids with me, how cool!), or our neighbor who is constantly inviting us over to hang out in their pool or for dinner, or a friend from my Bible study who made us countless meals and gave us baby gifts AND just recently gave us a check to go towards a pamper day for myself.  Wow, someone thought so highly of me that they want me to pamper myself!  WOW!  Do you know how amazing that made me feel?  Do you know what I did with that money?  I ended up buying an air conditioner for our room.  I get to pamper myself everyday for the next 2 months, then again next year for 2-3 months!  YIIPPPEEE! 

I don’t normally write mushy messages like this, but I wanted to sit back and take in just how blessed we are.  People care.  People love us.  I am so thankful to God for people.

We probably did not answer the phone.  For some reason our phone isn’t working properly.  It sounds very garbled to the person we are speaking to.  We have now tried every trouble shooting thing that has been recomended by Vonage and now we are contacting them directly.  It is VERY frustrating not having a phone that works properly.  Please be patient and know that we will always have email until then! 
Loads of love to all of you!

By the way, please don’t take the “Superior” thing seriously.  It is more for fun, I don’t take myself that seriously.

98 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior

Not Vincent, Jack!  Ok, go ahead and laugh, tell me I am being silly, but he seriously said “Mama.”  And Brian heard it too.  We were driving down the road and Jack had started to fuss, then he just said it clear as day.  He may not have said as if though he actually knew what he was saying, but he said it.  Jut for the record, Kenniston said “Mama” at this age as well and every time she would get hungry she would say “Mama.”  I personally think it was because I would say “you want some Mama’s milk?”  when I would feed her. 
On a side note, both babies are rolling over now.  Jack goes from stomach to back and almost back to stomach and Ruby does both.  Honestly, I am scared to see what life will be like in 3-4 months.

Just for starters, I never once said that this would be easy or I would be exceptionally good at this.  This is hard.  Ugh.  I am trying hard, oh so hard to do all the right things and not take any short cuts, but there comes a time when you have to survive.  I am embarrased to say I have sucombed to turning the DVD player on in the van just to have some silence.  I have to nurse the twins a lot, most of the time when we leave the house for any given activity I have to nurse them at least once, if not twice.  During this time the big kids are (understandably) bored.  Despite my suggestions to do things such as sing a song, count cars etc, the older two always seem to find themselves pushing each others buttons.  The seemingly innocent touch on a arm turns into screams and hair pulling.  All the while I am trying to descretly nurse a very hungry baby.  I start reminding them to use words (ask your brother nicely to stop grabbing your arm please), then I give a reminder (you need to make good choices or you will have X consequences) and finally I find myself yelling - something I don’t like to admitt (“GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF YOUR BROTHER NOW!!!!”).  I find that I can just bypass that entire conversation (or at least the latter two) if I just pop in a DVD for the 20 minutes it takes me to nurse the twins.  Hey, at least I put on something G rated and wholesome like Veggie Tales.  So, there you go, a confession from me, an imperfect mom of 4.

Monday is the big day, the big snip snip day.  Brian has offered to *ahem* get fixed so our family will no longer reproduce.  While we are absolutely certain our family is complete, it is still bittersweet.  It is a new stage, a new chapter that will begin.  We will not send out any more video announcements telling our loved ones that a new member (or two as in this last case) will join our happy home.  No more packages filled with announcement cards or emails with pictures.  No more watching my belly grow knowing another McGovern clone is hiding inside.  It is funny actually, Brian proposed to me on March 18 2000, exactly 8 years before our last pregnancy ended (with the birth of Jack and Ruby).  It is funny how our family went full circle just like that.  I know it seems silly and mushy to type such a post like this, but it is something I can’t help but to think about.  We are certainly blessed, we have such an amazing wonderful family and I could not be more thankful to God for our family.  Just as every other chapter in our life has started I am anxious and excited about this new stage.  I am ready to see what God has in mind for our family. 
Thanks for reading my rambling.  Please pray that Brian’s body does well through the procedure and during recovery.  Also pray that I do ok too, I will be caring for everyone as he recovers

As I mentioned, Vincent’s appointment was on Thursday.  The doctor, thankfully, said that Vincent is a healthy, normal 4-year-old boy!  He did, however, mention that he is very advanced which will cause problems with behavior.  I mentioned my concerns about him misbehaving in general and the doctor told me to keep doing what I am doing.  He said that my methods of disciplining are fine.  He recommends time out (we do calm down chair), but we also spank after so many offenses.  He also recommended I have the same consequences for licking.  He told me that the licking is an undesired behavior so I should have the same consequence as any other undesired behavior. 
It was kind of funny to see Vincent unknowingly show off for the doctor.  The doctor had asked him to draw a picture of a man on the paper covering the patient table.  Vincent started to, however the pen that the doctor had given him wasn’t working probably and he got frustrated and gave up.  After a while the doctor drew some shapes and asked Vincent to identify them.  He did, then started to draw them as well as other items while the doctor and I talked.  After a few minutes Vincent stops and says “Mommy, look, I drew the word ON.”  I think the doctor realized just how advanced Vincent is!  I couldn’t have been any prouder!
One thing that did concern the doctor was Vincent’s stuttering.  I knew that stuttering at this age was normal, but the doctor said his stuttering is a little more than the typical stutter.  So, we are starting speech therapy soon.  The doctor said his speech is great, he just needs to work through the stuttering.

Jack and Kenniston are very similar.  They both have deep colored eyes, darker skin, adorable chunky thighs, and I have to check both of their clothes before throwing them in the wash….I usually end up pre-treating both of their clothes.  Poor kids take after their mommy
Either way, I love them both dearly.

Today the twins turned 3 months!  I can’t believe how quickly those three months have come and gone.  Parts of it have been a blur and I am sure will continue to be.  Both twins seem to be sleeping better, thankfully, though they still get up at least once or twice a night.  Both babies have found their hands and love to chew on them all the time (not just when they are hungry).  Both babies are starting to grasp more and more.  Jack started his physical therapy yesterday.  The doctor gave us a lot of exercises to do with him through out the day.  I learned how to best put Jack on his belly for tummy time.  I had no idea that there was a specific way to put a baby on the belly pillow!  Jack does great during tummy time and he seems to like lying on his left side during play time.  He does sit in the Bumbo chair, but we are still working on trunk control.  The doctor was impressed with how much he does have though!  He seems to hold himself really well in general.  She also mentioned how great it was that I noticed his head shape early on, she said it would have been so much worse had we waited until 4 months.  I am so happy that I went with my mommy instinct.  The doctor said his head should be close to normal within a few months! 

Oh I gotta run, the babies are calling for me….

but I don’t remember if I mentioned that Vincent writes letters.  He started doing it a few months ago, but now days he really likes to do it on his own!  It is is exciting to see how his desire to learn has exploded lately.

He read his first book today!  He has taken such an interest in reading lately so I have kinda gone along with it and taught him phonics.  While we were at the library I picked up a few beginer books just to help teach him how to read.  Everyday while I put the other kids down for a nap Vincent either works on his computer or does a few workbook pages.  After the other kids go down I try to sit down with him and read to him or do a short lesson of some sort.  Today I asked him if he wanted to read a book all by himself and he said yes. 
We started with just the first story in the book and I was surprised when he finished the last one!  I am so proud of him!!  I told him over and over again how proud I am and reminded him that he should be proud of himself.  I don’t think he realizes how big this is! 
Here is a picture of him with the book: