Just a Word

Thii is 17 months and is a guy of very few words.  And with 3 big brothers at his beckon call, why wouldn't he be?  Pointing and "Uh!" elicit responses from all 3 big brothers quite well.
 "Mom, I think he's hungry."
"Mom, he needs you."
"Mom, he wants a cookie."
"Mom, he's thirsty."
"Mom, he looks tired."
"Mom, he wants his blanket."
and so forth.
And if that doesn't work, he does know the word "Mom" quite well.  I wonder how that happened???

So imagine my surprise this morning when he picked up a toy gun in the garage, pointed it directly at me and said "Die."  Yes, die.  Clear as day.

I guess Thii's been watching and listening to kids at daycare because I've taught my boys to NEVER aim guns at people and NEVER say things like "die."  Yup, that's gotta be it.  It couldn't have come from the brothers...

Before you start judging me, remember my last post?  The one where I started off with,
you know I have 4 boys right???   I tried keeping toy guns away from my kids.  They just made everything else into a gun.  I tried keeping them out of the house, the garage is a good compromise.  I tried teaching them not to aim at people, they wait till I'm not looking.  Sigh.  I tired.  I really, really did.

Elbow Milk

After Michael has left for the day and Theo gets up for his early am feeding, I have a tendency to bring him into bed with me and snuggle him before the day starts.  Once he has had his fill and he lulls back to sleep, I get the house going for the day.  Rob quickly discovered that if he gets up and dressed fast enough, he too can have some 1 on 1 snuggle time with the littlest Wix.  This morning Sam also crawled up there.  So there sit 3 monkeys on my bed while I brush my teeth and try to jump start monkey #1, Ray.

"Mom!  Teddy is being silly.  He's trying to eat my arm."  Rob announces.

I smile in spite of the toothbrush hanging out of my mouth to acknowledge Rob's comment.  My boys are very much aware of the breastfeeding process.  I have nursed all of them and I refuse to constantly hide myself and baby away every few hours to simply nourish my child.  In our home, I nurse anywhere and everywhere from the kitchen to the the couch to bedtime story time.  Out and about I also nurse just about anywhere.  I try to be discrete and cover fairly well.  In my opinion, if someone sees something they don't want to see, they were looking to hard in the 1st place.

"Ha ha ha!  No, no silly baby.  You can't get milk there.  Mom, now Teddy's trying to suck on my chest!  Boys don't have milk!"  Rob continues.

"Yea, boys don't have elbows!  Milk comes from elbows that are right here," Sam says pointing to his chest.  "Only mommies have elbows here for making milk."

I almost sprayed toothpaste all over my bedroom.  We've been through the proper anatomy terms, but I guess Sam needs a refresher.

"You are silly baby Theodore!" Sam concludes.

"Whoa!  Sam did you just call him Theodore???"  I inquire with wide eyes sure I must have misheard him.  He did almost break down in tears yesterday because some referred to the baby as Theodore.

"He he he!  I did.  That was silly.  His name is Teddy Roosevelt Bridge!" Sam laughs at himself.

Teddy Roosevelt (continued)

Maybe Theodore John was too formal sounding to Sam, or maybe he didn't have anything to associate it with, but he continues to call his baby brother Teddy Roosevelt, but he's added on to it.  Sam has officially named Wix #6, Teddy Roosevelt Bridge.  (We live near Roosevelt Bridge and it was under construction all summer thus the topic of much car conversation.)  If you want to be corrected, I dare you to refer to the baby as Theo or Theodore in Sam's presence.  You are welcome to use the whole name, but you can also get by with simply Teddy, or occasionally, even Teddy Bear, "but his name's NOT Theodore John!  He's Teddy Roosevelt Bridge!!!"

Welcome Teddy Roosevelt!

On October 4th, 2012 at 9:09 pm, the Wicks family gladly welcomed Wicks #6 to the mix.  As much as the name Six had grown on me, Iwe weren't sold on it as a forever name.  The delivery was less than ideal, in fact I told Michael if I ever heard blow it off as fine or a generic "it went well" I would have grounds to beat him.  I also told him I earned the right to name baby any name I like.  Of course I did let him have input. We both gave our lists and discovered that Theodore was the only name on both, so Theodore it is.

Grandma Wicks shared the baby's name, Theodore John, in the morning. Robby liked it. Ray would prefer Johnny. Sam was down right irked. He was SURE we should have named him Pluto.

When Sam came to meet baby, he was still not sold on Theodore but decided he could live with Teddt, Teddy Roosevelt that is. Sam continues to call him by the presidential name. He will also tell you that we named our baby Teddy Roosevelt because he's dead, so we used his name. Oh, and so you know, George Washington is dead so you can use his name too. But, Barack Obama is president and he's alive, so you can't use his name yet.

Dr. Coppes, my OB, was impressed with Sam's knowledge of American history, and so is pretty much everyone else Sam can get to listen about his new baby brother.

What's in a Name?

Poor Wix #6 may actually have to write that on his kindergarten papers because we are in quite the dilemma trying to come up with a name for baby boy #4.  The boys all have family ties with their names, and we'd like to do so much for this one.  The boys all have names that they can grow into but have nice little nicknames for the times being, we'd like that for this one too.  The problem therein lies with us finding a name that meets these criteria while not causing Michael or I to scrunch up our noses.  I say a name, he responds with silence.  He says a name, I comment about such and such a student.

Add to the mix the opinions of the three boys, whom, for the record, get minimal to no vote, and the conversations get really interesting... Take the other day for example:

We were driving and I brought up the topic of names and even tried sneaking in one or two of my faves that Michael has already less than enthusiastically passed on.  "What is your dad's middle name again?" I know he's said it 100 times already, but maybe this time inspiration will strike and I'll come up with a creative way to make it work.

"Laverne," replies Michael.

I wait for the inspiration bolt of lightening, it doesn't come, I slump in my seat.  "There HAS to be the perfect name out there.  We just need to get creative.  Maybe I can come up with a cool way to combine Dale and Lee..."

"Like what, L'Dale?  Dalee?"

"Okay, maybe not."

"Let's name the baby Apple," says a voice from the backseat. We are at a stoplight near Applebee's.

"What about Target?" says another voice.  Target is kiddy corner from Applebee's.

"Oh!  What about Chip?" I say, "We all love to eat chips!"  A Frito O' Lay truck drives by.

"Sounds good to me!" says Michael.

"If it's twins, we can name one Chip and one Dale!" says Ray.

Michael and I chuckle, "Maybe, but I don't think it's twins."

"Yea, you're right, but his first name could be Chip and his middle name Dale.  Chip Dale! I like it," says Ray.

"We'll take that name into consideration," I say, trying not to bust out loud laughing.

"If he's anything like his brother, it could be fitting..." ponders Michael.

And consideration done.  I'm sure we'll pick a name before baby comes home from the hospital...

You Don't Have One?!?!

Last night the boys wanted to see the pics of their baby brother in the making so I popped in the picture CD that I was given by the ultrasound tech  and we started looking at Wix #6 first photo session.  Using my finger to show, I traced various parts of the baby and said things like, "This is his head, these are his eyes.  See his ribs here?  This white line is a bone in his arm."  (I'm pretty sure the boys thought we were looking at a small alien figure, not their baby brother to be.)

When we got to this pic, they recognized it a lot more as baby and noticed on their own that baby had his hand to his mouth.  "Look, he's sucking his thumb just like Ray!" commented Rob.  

"I am a baby Mom, just like baby in your tummy," said Sam popping his thumb into his mouth.

"These picture all show the baby's head and tummy.  Are there any of his legs?" asked Ray.

"Here's one Ray.  This is a picture of the baby's bottom.  Kind of like he's sitting on the camera.  This is a leg and this is his bottom."

"I am boy 4," read Ray. "How do they know he's a boy?"

"Well, do you see this between his legs?  It is his boy parts."

"That's his penis?!" yells Rob "Sick."

"Our baby has a penis, and I have a penis, and you have a penis, and we all have a penis," exclaims Sam.

"You do, all of you boys do, but Mommy does not," I explain.

Sam first looks horrified with his eyes bulging from his head as he, the boy who adores his penis and has his hand on it more often than not, tries to make sense of what I just said.  "You DON'T have a penis?!"

"No, Mommy is a girl.  Girls don't have a penis." I explain.

"Yea, Mommy has a pee pee," chimes in Rob.  I decide now is not the time to expand vocabulary so I just agree.

As Sam's shock is replaced with sympathy, he looks at me with sad eyes, pats me on the shoulder and says, "That's okay Mommy."

I'm so glad it's okay and that the boys will continue letting me live in our home even if I am lacking between my legs. 

Wx #6 Revealed!

We started our evening with our menu of baby cuisine.  Baby carrots, baby pickles, baby cocktail wieners, baby burgers, baby crackers, baby cheese slices, baby pepperoni, you get the idea.  Following dinner, we took the pinata out to the swing set to bust it open!

The boys took turns swinging at the mysterious pinata and Ray took the final swing sending it to the ground.  Upon shaking the pinata, candy, confetti and ribbons oh my.  But what color where they???  That is THE reason you are reading this blog after all right?

Well, frankly, I'm having too much fun keeping you all in suspense!  The texts and alerts have been coming in all day.  (Not to mention and the cameras and computers have not exactly cooperated with me in getting this published.)  Of course I could just tell you, but where the fun be in that?  Especially since the whole reason I wanted to find out was to capture the boys' reactionsI'll show you instead.

Join our family by clicking the link below as we take aim at the pinata and discover as our family finds out if the answer to our question is pink or blue.

Wix # 6 Revealed!

Happy Baby Reveal Day from the Wx Family!

Wx # 6! Boy or Girl?!?!?!

21 weeks today!!!  Wow.  It has gone quickly.  I think each pregnancy gets faster and faster.  (Or maybe time just seems to speed up as I get older and older...)

The gender question.  It has been weighing on us for weeks now.  To find out now or have a surprise later?  Frankly, I hate surprises.  And going that route with Sam was okay, but if the doctor had told me I had a healthy baby octopus after delivery, I think I would have been okay with that. Well, maybe not. But it didn't feel anti-climatic to me, but the bigger drawback in my opinion was not being able to see the reaction on the boys' faces when it was announced their new baby was here and it was a brother.  Grandma got the job.

The boys are split.  Ray wants a boy, Rob wants a girl ("who is nothing like Sam because he a naught little guy") and Sam wants a baby dinosaur he can name Rhino.  Michael and I want a baby.  I think it might be a boy.  Or a girl.  (I had thought maybe an octopus, but the ultrasound only revealed 4 limbs.)

Using my keen debate skills, I used this line of reasoning to get Michael on board.  I laid out some reveal options to him and we settled on the current fad of cupcakes with surprise filling to help us see pink or blue.  Then I logged on to the computer.  Talk about a fad.  It seemed like FB was full or reports of the same idea.  So I got busy thinking.  What else could one use to conceal a colorful surprise that upon opening would be fun for the family??

Box of balloons?  Gift box with pink or blue gear?  Nursery room with a streak of paint on the wall?  These all seemed bad for the environment or lame.  Then I got it!  PINATA!  Who doesn't love a pinata and some candy?!?!

Off to Rochester we headed to buy a pinata and candy at Party City.  We had fun choosing just the right pinata and handfuls of pink and blue candy and confetti together was a family.  We brought the pinata home and had even more fun personalizing it.

Yesterday, at my ultrasound, the first tech had a heck of a time getting baby to cooperate and I was getting anxious that we weren't going to get to open the pinata for months.  After rolling to my side and bringing in a second tech, they were able to write our secret in an envelope and seal it up tight.  Last night the pinata, candy and card were given to our secret under cover agents for pinata stuffing.

Today is the big day.  The baby carrots and pickles are chilling.  The mini cocktail weiners are ready for saucing.  The mini-burgers are ready for patty-ing and we are ready for a baby party like none other!

When the pinata breaks, Rob's still hoping for pink, Ray's still wishing for blue, and Sam would like green.  I'm just hoping for a great picture of their reactions.

Another?!?! Take 2

November 9, 2011.  I posted a blog.  If you don't recall, let me jog your memory...
Rob said a little prayer.  His request was simple enough.  He wanted a new baby.

Well, is this proof enough for you that God hears prayers?  :)

Baby Wicks #4 EDD: October 26, 2012

I had told him to think pink because Mom really likes pink, and I do.  Frankly, I am great either way.  A girl would be fun, but we do know a thing or two about boys around the Wx house!