More Photography Fun!

I didn't realize until just yesterday that the photo studio had included a CD of all the pictures they took of the boys last week.  I was happy to get to share the chaotic session with Ryan. 

Now a few for your viewing pleasure...

One of the photographers started tossing a ball to get some smiles.  Great idea, except my kids desperately wanted that ball, so we got about a million shots of them with their arms in the air.  Note my arm at the bottom attempting to restrain Eli.

Again with the ball!  I decided to suggest she toss something else at this point.

Then Eli decided that the whole "sit by Clayton" thing was a game.  He was absolutely thrilled with himself.  He would sit for about one second, the second that Clayton wasn't ready, and then bolt.

Speaking of bolting, we have about a million shots like this, most include an ear to ear grin.

Then we changed clothes, and things just went downhill from there (note Clayton's disinterest and Eli bolting once again).  At that point I decided we'd call it quits, mostly because I was afraid I might just have a baby right there in the studio if I had to chase Eli around anymore.

Anyway, it was certainly eventful, but at least they got a couple cute shots that don't show what a chaotic event it really was.

The New Baby is Having His Pictures Made Alone!

I've been wanting to take the boys to have their pictures made for some time now.  They had cute Christmas outfits that I thought would make a nice picture.  Time slipped away.  Then I thought we'd do pictures around Clayton's fourth birthday.  They had cute Easter outfits.  Again, time slipped away.  So now it's summer.  The last time the boys had a picture made together was March of 2009.  Eli was three months old.  I had some pictures made of just Eli that May when he was five months old, and Clayton had a school picture made in the fall, but I don't have anything halfway recently together. 

I will say that one reason this has not been a priority is because I know my children.  They have zero interest in having their picture made.  Clayton is in this really awkward fake, forced smile stage, and Eli is a crazy animal who will not sit down for anyone or anything.  I've been dreading attempting pictures, and let me tell you, my fears were certainly valid.

Wednesday morning.  We all wake up.  We don't really have anything pressing on the schedule.  I make an inpromtu phone call to Portrait Innovations.  They have a 4:30 slot.  Perfect.  Just after naps and snacks, just before dinner.  Not an hour later Eli runs into the side of the piano and ends up with a bruise on his forehead.  Oh well.  That's what he's looked like most of his life, so I don't worry about it.

We had a pretty good day with pretty good naps, and we headed over to the store for our appointment.  Things went pretty much as I had expected they would.  Eli would not sit down for anything.  Clayton listened and sat, but getting a smile, even a forced, awkward smile from him was not easy, and trying to get both of those things at the same time was nearly impossible.  Eli thought the whole thing was a big game, and he was thrilled to be playing.  I didn't want to get too firm with him because I knew it would upset him, and then there would be tears instead of smiles.  By the end the two photographers and myself were completely beat from chasing Eli all over the studio.  I thought I might just have a baby right there in the studio.  They must have taken at least 40 shots of the boys together, and of those 40, there was only one I considered buying.  One.  Period.

They were able to get a few individual shots of the boys that were cute, so that was good, and really, all I needed was one shot of them together, so mission somewhat accomplished.

The Brothers Zeitler, when there was just Clayton and Eli...

This is it folks, so enjoy it.  Nothing spectacular.  Just two little boys looking halfway well behaved and smiling.

Clayton, 4yrs, 2mo

Eli 18mo

I would have loved to have some on a white background.  Don't think we didn't try.  I would have loved to have some full body shots.  They have on really cute brown and teal plaid shorts.  Oh well, at least I got these. 

When the new baby comes I think he's going to have to have his pictures made alone.  I can't imagine attempting this again anytime soon.

The Words of a Four Year Old

I had to write this down before I forget about it.

Clayton came into my room to wake me up this morning, which is how we usually get started these days.  Mama is a tired lady.  Anyway, I rolled over and told him that I couldn't wake up until I had a nice big hug from my big man.  He told me no, he wanted to give the new baby a big hug.  Ahhhhh, so sweet.  So he proceeds to wrap his arms around my ever growing belly and hug the new baby.  What a sweetheart!

Then I asked if he was ready for the new baby to come out and live with us.  Won't it be fun to have another little brother?  I can tell the wheels are spinning.

Clayton: Mama, your belly is big because the baby is in there.

Me: Yes, that's right.

Clayton: When the baby comes, then your belly will get flat?

Ha!  I wish, but you know, I go with it.

Me: Yep, it will get flat.

Clayton (with great glee): Ohhh, flat like our flat tire!

Yes, Clayton.  My belly will probably look more like a flat tire than anything else.  Thanks for pointing that out.  It's actually a pretty good description of what I'm sure I'll look like.  You've got to love the mind of a four year old. 

I constantly wonder how much of this whole pregnancy Clayton comprehends.  He talks about the baby a lot, and he knows the baby is in my tummy.  He knows it will eventually come out.  It will be a boy, and he and Eli are going to share a room, and the baby will cry and need to have lots of diaper changes, and Mama will need lots of help, etc.  That's all he really needs to know, but it's still so fascinating to hear the little things, like understanding that my belly is big because there's a baby in there, and one day it won't be quite as big (I hope) because the baby will be out.  That takes just a little bit of thought, and the fact that he's thinking through some of this stuff is really fun for me.  I know he will be a great big brother again, and I think he's honestly a little excited about having another person in our family.  Clayton's most recent name suggestion: Roar.  We'll have to think about that one.

A little tire background:
We recently had a flat tire which was the HIGHLIGHT of Clayton's life thus far. It was definitely NOT the highlight of my life, as Ryan was out of town, I was 7.5 months pregnant with two small children, it was a million degrees, I didn't know if we could make it to the tire store, we did, they didn't have the size we needed in stock, had to have the spare put on, had to go somewhere else, blah, blah, blah... I digress.  Clayton is obsessed with tires, flats, and air pressure. I have no idea where it came from, but for the last year or so tires, and their health, have become a huge part of his life, and nothing brought my little man more joy than seeing a flat tire on our van, having to have the spare on for a day, and then getting a brand new tire to replace it.  It's like the ultimate "circle of life" experience for Clayton.

Just Call Him Chunky!

Clayton had a GI check up last week, and you could I have knocked me off my seat when the nurse told me he weighed in at 30 pounds.  What?  He was even wearing super light weight clothing and no shoes.  I was completely surprised.  Our usually completely mellow doctor was nearly giddy.  After adjusting his appetite stimulant for weight gain, we spent some time discussing Clayton's mystery vommitting issues that have been popping up now and then.  It was decided that Clayton will have an upper GI study in July to get an idea of what things look like down there.  They may or may not find anything with the study, but the mystery vommitting is pretty miserable for him, so we'll see if this turns up anything interesting.

All in all, it was an excellent appointment (except for Eli screaming the last ten minutes because I didn't bring a sippy cup).  We celebrated by picking up McDonalds on the way home.  You know, we want to continue Clayton's weight gain and all.

Bedtime

Before we go to bed each night, Ryan and I peek in on the boys just to make sure they're okay for the night.  Last night I had heard some noise after Clayton went to bed, but the noise settled down pretty quickly, and I didn't look in there for a couple more hours.  When we did check on Clayton, this was what we found.

In addition to being asleep on the floor, he had also dumped out all his cars and drug out a few other toys.  What a stinker.  I tried to wake him to ask him why he was sleeping on the floor, but he was too tired, so we just dumped him back in his bed.

Baby Boy

Everything is still looking good with our newest baby boy.  I had another specialty appointment on Friday. The doctor said everything looked really good and he doesn't need to see me again until my next pregnancy.  Ha ha.  We'll see.  They were able to get some really good four chamber views of the heart and some good views of the aorta as well, and that all looked good.  From this point on the ribs will be getting harder and harder, casting shadows on those things, so I was glad they were able to see what they needed. 

Baby boy was movin' and shakin' the entire appointment.  He also had his hands and feet in front of his face the entire time, so we didn't get any great face pictures, but the tech did manage to get these two when he let down his guard for a second. 
 

For those of you wondering, we don't share our baby names before the baby arrives.  We know so much about our babies these days: sex, approximate weight/height, all kinds of measurements, even what he looks like.  I like to hold out on one thing that will surprise people, and that's the baby's name. 

That said, we don't actually have a name picked out yet.  Gasp!  I think we named Eli about a week before he was born, and even once he was born I was still going back and forth between Eli and Elijah as I was filling out his birth certificate information (for the record, I do now love the name Eli, short and sweet, and cannot imagine him as an Elijah, so it all worked out).  Now that we're expecting our FOURTH boy, we've used up a lot of our favorites, and we're having to think a little harder than in the past. 

We had a Sunday school picnic last night, and a few of the girls were sitting around, attempting to name the baby.  They came up with Andrew as their favorite.  Yep, already used.  It's Clayton's middle name.  Jacob was also considered, and that's Eli's middle name, so they were 0-2 for baby names.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll figure out something, and when this boy arrives, we'll let you know.  My due date is August 10th, and I'll probably have my c-section a week or 10 days early.  We were waiting for good news on this last appointment, and now that we're pretty confident in this baby's heart, we'll probably schedule a date soon.  Until then, the kids and I are trying to stay cool, minimally swollen (just me), and somewhat busy having fun this summer.