January Transition

January has been a month of transition...

 Ever since we went to Florida for Christmas (pictures and posts of our vacation coming soon!), Torsten decided that he was all done with sleeping through the night.  I have heard that there is something that can happen at four months old that affects a baby's nighttime sleep. I'm assuming since he was sleeping 12 hours straight every night for two months prior to turning four months old, this has been our problem.  I have spent the majority of the month trying to get Torsten to sleep through the night.  Even though this seems like it would be a night-time job, it's really not.  Eat and sleep times during the day totally affect nighttime sleep, so it has been a month of trying to figure out what exactly will be the perfect trick for little T to start sleeping through the night again.  (Although I say he's not sleeping through the night, for the record, I need to document that he is sleeping seven hours, waking up to eat, and then sleeping five more, so it's really not that bad!)

 Maida brought "Bunny," home.  Bunny is a little stuffed penguin from her classroom.  We were supposed to do some fun things with Bunny for Maida to journal about, but with Erik working the night shift, we kept it pretty low-key.  Maida didn't seem to care.  She still found things to journal about - three pages (front and back) worth!

 Torsten learned how to grab his toes and roll over from front to back and back to front!  None of my other babies rolled this early!  No more changing diapers or naps on the couch!

 Erik had an afternoon off, so he took Skogen skiing for the first time this year!  They were able to do a few runs and Erik was proud of the progress Skogen is making.

 The boys wore their matching shirts that they got for Christmas from Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jay.  The shirts say, "Best big brother in the history of the universe."  Fitting.  :)  I absolutely looooove having three boys!

 Torsten gained a few rolls this month!  :)

 And by the end of January, he was sitting like a pro!  None of my other three sat this well this early, either!

 School was canceled one day because of an ice storm we had and so the kids enjoyed some morning TV together.  Scooby Doo has this effect on them!

 We finally realized this month that Torsten is really starting to look like Skogen.  Skogen loves to call him his twin and beams if anyone else tells him that Torsten looks like him.  I'm thankful my computer always puts the date on the pictures because I have a feeling we'll have a hard time telling their baby pictures apart.

 Erik and I had a date night!  We went to hear a talk on life insurance and got a free dinner!  Although we didn't really get any significant time together, it was fun to be away from the kids for a little bit, and have an excuse to wear heels!

 Now that Erik is back to work, the boys have been very clingy when he's home.  They love any kind of attention he will give them.  The other day when Skogen woke up and realized Erik was home, he said, "I'm so happy to see Daddy here."

 Torsten puts his toes in his mouth whenever he sees them and whenever I take his diaper off to change it, his legs immediately come up and he grabs his toes, as if it's his job to hold his legs for me!

 Torsten is also trying to crawl!!!  He watches the boys zoom around him pushing their cars and wants their cars so badly.  He would much prefer a fire engine or digger over a baby rattle.  If the boys come close enough to him, he will launch toward their car!  His favorite car is by far Skogen's new remote control police car that has lights, sirens, and a radio!

 With Maida being in school everyday this year, Skogen and Klaasen have developed a great friendship.  They want to do everything together.  At the beginning of the month, we had a playdate with 20 kids (most of them were boys) and Skogen and Klaasen chose to only play with each other.  They weren't interested in playing with anyone else at all.

Since Torsten is sitting up now, I started giving him baths in the kitchen sink!  He loves being able to sit and splash and I love not having to try to hold on to a slippery baby.

Overall, this has been a great month of transition.  Having Erik at work (and working mostly nights) hasn't been as hard as I originally thought it would be.  I'm actually enjoying my evenings alone to catch up on whatever I feel like doing and having the bed to myself isn't too bad, either!  We are so thankful that Erik was able to return back to work.  It's nice feeling like we are moving in a forward direction in life instead of just standing still.