As usual time is limited so here is a dump of all that I can call to mind that has been happening recently:

- My life is one big runny nose.  Sometimes it's clear, sometimes it's yellow, sometime it's green, and sometimes is a twisted mix of all 3.  I am pretty sure that poor Augie has been healthy for at most 3 and a half months of his short time so far on this earth.  In the past couple months he has had a right ear infection, then a left, and now we are back to treating the left.  B currently also has a pretty wicked cold right now.  Andrew insisted that I keep her home from school on Wednesday because of her cough and I am glad I did because not long after he and Elek left for FBI, B's nose started pouring.  Today she is at school though because she seemed to be feeling better and because, quite frankly, I might have lost my mind if I didn't get a little peace this week!  Sleep has been rough this week as well.  Between the chorus of chesty coughs arising from all 3 of our little pipsqueaks (Elek doesn't have a cold (yet) but he somehow always manages to provide us with a nighttime cough that pierces through the house), Augie waking up to eat no fewer than twice a night, and the "bad dreams" that Elek has been waking up crying about in the middle of the night (usually a wailing "maaaaaammmmmaaaa, mamamamamamama, maaaaaaaammmmmaaaaaa, " is the sound that yanks me out of my cozy spot on the living room couch (yes, I am still sleeping on the living room couch, having sacrificed my room to Augie).  And this week Augie has decided to wake up for good one hour after his 4:30 feeding so this morning I put the ear plugs in and let him cry it out.  Not sure how long he cried but I do know that when Elek was pressing on my cheek this morning to wake me up at 8 (woohoo!) I heard him babbling in his crib.

- Augie is army crawling all over the house and is far more active than I remember either Elek or Beata being at this age.  Diaper changes have become all out wrestling matches and he hates having his behavior redirected (e.g., chewing on cords, eating dirt from the park that is probably ridden with pesticides).  He is a great tantrum thrower, tossing his head back and letting out a really pitiful, frustrated scream and I usually find it pretty hilarious.  He still only has two upper teeth but started gumming table food a couple weeks ago. Yogurt melts, cheerios, cheese, etc.  He will sign "more" when he wants more food and can wave "bye bye." He loves to clap and continues to enjoy being scared.  He also loves going to the park and army crawling all over the ground.

- Andrew has found a new addiction in buying new board games (new to us anyway..he usually picks them up at our favorite thrift store, The Lamb Shoppe, after boxing) to try out with the kids.  Set, Pirates of Katan, Swish, and Blokus to name a few.  Each time I tell him that I am not so sure that they will be able to grasp the game and every single time they prove me wrong.  Elek is a pro at identifying "sets" in Set and B had all of the resources needed to purchase a Cocoa the Parrot in Pirates of Katan memorized after playing just once.  It is so much fun watching their little brains at work.  Andrew pushes them much harder than I ever would have and I am so glad that he does because his theory about expecting more out of them than what they show us they can do seems to be working.  And they really do love it.  They will abandon playing on the computer in an instant to play a board game with their daddy (which says a lot if you have ever seen how much they love playing on the computer)!

- Elek had his first soccer practice two Wednesdays ago and he LOVES it!  I don't think I have ever seen him so happy to be physically active for such an extended period of time (1 hour).  It is a team with about 7 or 8 boys and 2 girls, one of whom is his good friend, Madeline.  Augie and B also have fun running and crawling around in the grass while he plays.  It is a very nice way to wrap up Wednesday evenings and I think we will all be looking forward to wrapping up the week in this way when his Friday games start next week!

- Andrew has started working in the mornings, coming home in the afternoons, and going back to work at night sometimes.  He does it to get more time with the kids when they are not exhausted, to get some more house projects done (he is finally putting in a hot water shower outside!!!), and to get more focused time at work after everyone else has gone home.  Pretty quickly after he started the new schedule (last week) he realized that he missed playing chess with his buddies so rather than doing it everyday we kind of decide his schedule when we wake up in the morning.  It definitely has its perks.  I have more freedom during the afternoon to go out on my own or with just Augie to run errands which is awesome.  The two drawbacks are having to get three tired, cranky kids fed, teeth brushed, bathed, and to bed on my own and not having time with Andrew in the evenings.  So I am glad that we are switching back and forth between the regular and new schedules!

- This past weekend while my parents were in town Beata pointed to the moon and said, "look, it's just half a moon!"  "Hmm, what do you think happened to it?" someone asked.  "Maybe someone cut it in half so that half of it could be here and the other half could be at your house in St. Petersburg!"

- An example of Elek's bad dreams: A talking moose in a cabinet that was saying strange things.  These are the things that I get woken up for on a nightly basis.  Oh life!

-Beata is obsessed with washing her hands and brushing her teeth and when we are not paying attention will stand on the stool in the playroom bathroom for as long as it takes us to notice just messing around in the sink.  I wish I could capture this girl in words.  She is....Beata.  I know everyone probably feels like their child is special but man, I could swear that this girl really is.  She prefers to be barefoot where ever she goes.  She always has an explanation for everything.  Always has a plan for everything.  Her nails are always really short but we never see her bite them.  I asked her why they were short the other day and she said that she bites them in bed at night so we won't see her and tell her to stop.  She changes into different dress ups no fewer than 5 times a day.  She is sneaky to the max.  She is very easily brought to tears by the thought of different things and oh her "I'm about to cry but I am going to try as hard as I can to hold it back" face is so darn cute.  The other night at Da Kines we told her that dinosaurs don't exist anymore and for the rest of the evening she was holding back tears about not being able to see a real dinosaur and truly feeling sorry for the extinct species.  Her voice always sounds like she is yelling and we constantly have to tell her to keep it down.  She is such a thinking child and you can so often find her deeply immersed in the thoughts running through her brain.  Ugh, none of these descriptions really do her quirkiness and unique spirit justice.  Just know that Andrew and I adore her and are always exchanging knowing glances with one another about how insane, smart, and hilarious she is.

- And while I am bragging on my kids, both of my older ones have become pretty darn self sufficient.  They get dressed and undressed on their own, put their clothes away when they are done with them, clear the table after a meal, get their own drinks, put their wet towels on the closed toilet after a shower, take their shoes off and put them in their assigned baskets when they come through the front door.  I think that the token system we are using is at least partially responsible for these actions but they are definitely becoming second nature.

- We are in the process of getting quotes to redo our kitchen and close off the playroom to make it another bedroom.  All of our kitchen appliances are broken in one way or another so it is definitely time.  I am also trying paint the dining room, living room, and hallway which has proved much more difficult with 3 kids than it was with 1 and 2.  It will get done eventually I suppose.

Aguie is still napping so I think I will attack some of that painting right now!