Summer reading

We have recently discovered Tin Tin and have as many as we could find at the library. Mr. 2 calls them Ninja books. I think an older brother movie night is in our future (just for the Varsity team) if the movie is as good as the trailer.

More proud big brothers

Meeting the big brothers

The big brothers were so excited to meet the new brother that during the induction we actually didn't want to call home because of the chaos that we heard whenever Nana answered the phone. (Thanks again to the amazing Nana who watched over our three enthusiastic older brothers including Mr. 2 who has strong opinions about everything!) They arrived at the hospital Saturday morning when Mr. 0 was only a few hours old to greet him. Mr. 2 had picked out a little elephant for his brother and was so proud to give it to him.

If you ask Mr. 2 who is a big brother he will usually answer "Ethan!"
And who else? "Isaac!"
And who else? "Micah?"
And in general he says he is "Big guy Asher man" and refuses to believe he has a middle name. "I'm Asher and I two years old."

Micah's arrival

Micah Robert Saff (soon to be known as Mr. 0) arrived early Saturday morning at 3:08am. He was a small 8lbs 5oz which made for a much easier delivery than his older brothers. He was 20.5in long and looks most like little Ethan although part of that is likely size.

Breaking down a little bilirubin

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Wrestling

Do you think he can take on all four?

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Memories of sleep

As sweet as this looks we've been trying to prevent an all day nap as we prefer sleeping at night. Time to wake up small one!

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Going home

Everyone always seems surprised I don't just want to hang out in the hospital as long as possible. I've spent plenty of time eating hospital food and sleeping in hospital beds and I'd like to minimize additional time if possible. Plus there are so many people waiting for us and I just want to be home with them.

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In the engine room

There was some sort of heat problemin the engine room today so a group of scientist had to do some quick work to get things under control. The scientist was hard at work with the astronaut when a small biologist arrived on the scene to help. So far all is peaceful with no explosions but you never know when disaster may strike.

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Still waiting

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A day in the life

Kronosaurus

We visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History yesterday for the first time in quite some time. Mr. 2 is the perfect age for it and loved seeing the animals. His favorite room of course was the dinosaurs, especially Kronosaurus. Mr. 8 asked him if he wanted to give Kronosaurus a hug so Mr. 2 ran up with his arms spread wide to show the Kronosaurus how much he loved him. The glass prevented the hug he wanted to give but there was a bit of a wet spot on the glass at about 3 feet. I'm not sure he would be my first choice for a big hug but everyone has their own favorites. They continued "hugging" all the animals throughout the museum like this.

We stopped at Henry Bear Park on the way home and everyone spent their allowance on new Playmobil sets and there has been hours of pretending since then with knights and Robin Hood as well as ninjas and space explorers. All ages are welcome in our house - from the Stone Age to the Medieval Age to the Space Age, we love them all as long as they have weapons and fight for the good guys.

Nana

It's nice to know that when you need help, you can always call your mom - no matter how old you are.

Brothers

Enjoying the sunshine

Given that we're still baby-free (that sounds like it's the state I was hoping for which is not the case but we're making the best of it), we headed downtown today to see the Maparium. We talked yesterday about world and european geography and thought it went well with our discussion. The map is circa 1935 and it was a quite a testament to This Day in History that the boys knew about the USSR, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and Germany being split then reunited. We spent quite a while enjoying the beautiful weather and then had a lovely lunch at Wagamama before heading home.

As nice as it was, tomorrow we hope to be snuggling a baby!

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Nature at work

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Still a novice

I should have known it was much too quiet but he was sitting reading quietly in his room and so I thought I'd throw a load a laundry in while the older kids were occupied with choreographing a music video. And then I did put a few dishes in the dishwasher after working out a few arguments about the creative process. Only then did I think that it was a bit too quiet. I found Mr. 2 soaking wet with his arm in the fishtank. He had thrown rocks into the filter (and one of the snails), pulled out all the plants, and knocked over the castle. Somehow the snail survived and I managed to get the rocks out of the filter and clean up all the water. I feel like by the time you are having your 4th child (and 4th boy no less) that I should have some sort of intuition that these things are going on but sadly I need those few quiet moments or we may never have clean clothes or clean dishes.

On a bright note, Mr. 6 and Mr. 8 with their friend Ms. S made a great music video with costumes and choreography. They're not quite ready for Hollywood but maybe Youtube. The new OK GO video has been quite inspiring - and did you know they used HTML to make it?

Our park

Not just a playground - also a ninja hide-out, frisbee field, baseball field, building site, and anything else you can imagine. Definitely on our list of blessings.

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Summer reading

Even a late night couldn't keep Mr. 8 from being up early with his recently borrowed programming books.

On the train home last week, Mr. 8 was reading a book on Scala (a programming language but that's all I can tell you - you'll have to ask him for more details). The man sitting next to him kept glancing over at it - likely trying to decide if it truly was what he thought and if Mr. 8 was actually reading it. Finally the man asked Mr. 8 if that was a programming book and which one. Mr. 8 told him it was and the man threw out a few questions to make sure Mr. 8 actually knew what he was talking about. I think he must have passed the quiz because the man mentioned he was a programmer as well expecting his first child. I'm sure he has visions of what his 8 year old will be reading in a few years. Meanwhile, Mr. 6 happily joined the conversation and told him all about our family with as much detail as possible. They do keep train rides interesting!

Enjoying time with friends

The frisbee crowd gathered for some pizza and beer here last night. Altogether that included 12 kids and 14 adults in our little house - a bit cozy with the humidity but a great time was had by all. Especially the kids who entertained themselves quite well with minimal injury (even with all the sword fighting). The older girls adopted Mr. 2 and read him quite a few stories while the rest of the crowd created an entire Lego world.