Phew! Not quite a month passed!

Too much cute stuff to recount, but I’m falling WAY behind again!

First of all, Caleb is FOUR! My baby boy is so big! The time has NOT flown, as so many moms are wont to say ~ however, I do find it a little amazing that I have had two other babies that I have loved just as much as I love him in the time since he was born. Whew!

We had a party for him. Before we even knew how many kids we were going to have, we decided to only do parties every three years for the kids so that we weren’t overwhelming friends – or ourselves – by trying to do an “event” every year for everyone. How convenient that we ended up with three children!

(And on that note, Jonny Fashbaugh got that wonderful surgery that should ensure that we have only three children for quite some time. Or until we realize how AWESOME big families are, and start adopting.)

Caleb’s party was so cute. I didn’t want to try to do too much, so I had a piñata and only planned one game – musical chairs. There were only a few kids Caleb’s age, and a few kids younger. Luckily, one of the younger kids was Gavi, so musical chairs had its true competitive spirit realized. He was cutting kids off right and left to get to a chair. And if he happened to be the one without a chair, he’d shove some other kid off theirs. I really, really wish we had it on video.

Gavi also has started praying at meals and when he wakes up scared at night and when someone is hurt, etc. “Dear Jesus, tankoo a Deckun, tankoo a Daddy, tankoo a Deckun’s smile. Amen.” It’s so precious. Caleb actually prays powerful prayers. One time he insisted on praying for Daddy’s headache, and I’ll be darned if that thing wasn’t gone fifteen minutes later. They are such fantastic kids!

Declan is the sweetest, most precious baby ever! God really, really did me a solid when he gave me such a mellow third baby. And he’s super cute. We’re trying to figure out if he’s actually teething right now, or just a super-drool bucket. (He’s not quite three months old, so I guess I have to face that it’s the latter.)

Caleb is playing with some new birthday toys now, launching matchbox cars at a pile of what used to be Doc Ock, a diet coke can, and some laundry. He’s counting before the launch, and it’s hilarious to hear. He goes to twelve, then fourteen, sixteen, then on up to forty. Who needs thirteen and fifteen?

Gavi’s fears at night are limited to what he knows ~ the two biggies right now are cheetahs and peacocks. It sounds so funny to me, but when he’s really scared at night, it’s not such a giggle. I go running in after he screams for me, and he reaches out for me and says, “I afwaid a peacocks. Pway.” So we do, and he goes right back to sleep. It was getting to be an every night event, but less so lately. Thank goodness.

Declan is sleeping through the night! Caleb was almost a year old before that happened! (And Gavi was six months when I cut him off cold turkey because I was about to go insane.) So not only is he a sweet mellow munchie, but he lets me sleep six or seven hours in a row almost every night already. We had some houseguests last week, so his routine got a little fried and recovering has been tough, but he’s getting there. I praise God hourly for that precious boy.

Life is pretty darn sweet here for the Fashbaugh clan. God is doing good things in our family. Jonny’s job is going well even during the slowdown in the economy, and we made the decision to stay in our tiny condo until we get out of debt. (Darn Dave Ramsey and his impeccable logic!) It’s a good thing we adore each other and our three kiddos!

October? Already?

Today we had TWO little boys’ doctors appointments. I was blessed, blessed, blessed to have Grandma Garmane along for the ride, as Gavi screamed his way through being weighed, measured and examined. It wouldn’t have been so bad if those three things hadn’t taken nearly twenty minutes – BEFORE he got his shots! Oy.

On the other end of the spectrum, Dex was awake through the entire appointment, and barely cried even after his two shots. Two little squeaks before his natural calm demeanor reasserted itself. He is such a sweetheart! I don’t know if this personality will continue as he gets older, but I have to admit that I’m crossing my fingers.

A lot of cute things happened in this appointment, which if I had been on my own would have been an absolute disaster. (Thanks again, Mommy!) First of all, I had been reassuring Caleb all week that he didn’t have to get shots at this appointment, since that’s a dread fear of his. As soon as we walked in, they offered to throw flu shots in for the two older boys. Bad mommy that I am, I thought that was a great idea! But when the nurse approached Caleb, he hid behind my mom’s chair and said, “It’s not my TURN! This is Declan and Gavi’s appointment!”

And then after Gavi was done at his appointment, I went to talk with the doc in his office, and his first comment was that Gavi was strong.

“I know.” I said.

“Really strong,” said he.

“Yes. I know.”

“Really strong.”

He is rather old, so it could have just been a little senility seeping in, but I doubt it. The kid really is unnaturally strong. (He also gained nine pounds and grew six inches in the last six months. Yikes.) Then the doc went through the list of questions he always does, but got caught up on the words. When he asked me if he knew at least six or seven, I guffawed a little, then bragged a smidge on my baby. I can’t even estimate how many he knows, so I said a hundred or more. He raised his eyebrows and started writing on his chart. Then I said he knew his alphabet and could count to twenty. He stopped writing and just looked at me.

“He’s smart.”

“I know.”

“Really smart.”

Before we could get back into the above conversation, I interrupted. “Yeah, and he’s got the attitude to go with it.” (I had already apologized to everyone in the office for their potentially burst eardrums from his tantrum.)

And Dr. Lewis said there's a correlation between the intelligence and strong will. I’ve been reading James Dobson’s book on the strong willed child, and I’m terrified by what could potentially be in front of me. Ohmigoodness, PRAY!

Let’s see what else is going on: Caleb is memorizing ever-longer books these days. I can tell he’s not actually reading them, because he’s not looking at the words, but I am, and he’s saying them verbatim. He told me the original Curious George story word-for-word for eleven pages before he skipped a couple of sentences because they didn’t really have much bearing on the story. He’s reading to Dex, it’s adorable.

And Gavi is starting to “read” to me, too. His big one is “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” It’s awesome. All of the animals hear the lion roaring, but it’s still fun to listen to.

On our way to MOPS last week, I was doing my usual spiel about how the teacher is the authority and I expected them to be obedient, and they needed to be kind to everyone around them. Kindness entails NO kicking, NO hitting, NO biting - *ahem, GAVI* - and anything else that would hurt anyone else.

“And NO SCRATCHING,” said Caleb. “Unless they have an itch.”

Gavi has started praying. We noticed it first earlier this week when he took Declan’s hand while we were all reading, and prayed to this effect: “Dear Jesus, thank you for today and Deckun. Amen.” I seriously started crying.

We were at the zoo on Tuesday and got to see a VERY pregnant zebra. A photographer was helping us find the perfect angle to see her from so we could see how distended her tummy was. We were looking at her and were able to see the baby kick, even from a distance. Caleb asked what was going on, and the lady said that the baby was still inside, kicking his mommy. Caleb looked at her and said, "He's just a baby. He doesn't know the rules." Precious much?

With a little more consistent sleep under my belt, life is getting pretty good. We’re finding a routine, and God continues to give me the grace to find the beauty in every single day. Each day has felt like a challenge that lasted a lifetime, but when I look back on the last two months, I don’t know where the time has gone. Whoo! I guess that’s what they mean when they say that the time goes by in a blink. I’m excited to see what the coming weeks bring!