Fifth Disease

From somewhere, Luka picked up fifth disease...or the slapped cheek disease. It is mostly harmless but highly contagious so here we go with the rounds of illness again! His little cheeks or bright red. I thought that he was just wiping his snots on his cheek and they were getting chapped, but no! Well, at least he doesn't feel too bad--but he is getting annoyed with skin rashes! He said "spots, spots, spots like chicken pox!"

Here comes the bride and there runs the groom! Run, Run Alyosha! I heard the girl say that she was going to have the most perfect princess wedding that is so beautiful, EVER. And she is going to marry Tom, if Alyosha isn't Tom then she will just change his name to Tom--there you go. I think it is time we start training Alyosha which girls are acceptable and which ones are to be avoided!

Niki isn't worried about fifth disease, he is under the immune protection of Mama's Milk. It's funny that these little infants are so vulnerable yet they have such a veil of protection.

It's a good thing that Niki has some special protection, because with two brothers that love him as much as Alyosha and Luka do--there is no way to prevent germ sharing!

The Boys

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

We had a Friday Nature Walk with friends at the Rhododendron Garden--which might as well be called the duck and goose playground. Along the entire walk we had a company of ducks waddling along behind us. Luka was afraid of the ducks, and geese (the geese I don't blame him for, they are bigger than he is!). Alyosha put on a very brave face around his friends--but once he was surrounded and we were ahead of him on the trail; when I looked back to see if he was catching up there was sheer terror on his face because the gaggle of geese and ducks encircled him and his bag of bird seed, a full zip lock bag. I saw him pour the entire bag out, then he made a run for it. By the time he reached us you could still see the wet, blotched tears on his cheeks and the redness in his cheeks, but he was trying to smile.

The kids and Nikolai staring each other down to find out what they are made of.

In front of the waterfalls. I don't know how, but we made it over the steping stones without falling in... Niki on my chest in the sling and Luka dangling from my hand--Alyosha was on his own.

The Canadian goose that was chansing the others away from his food--there were also mallards, wood ducks, scaups, red head ducks, northern pintail, shovler, cinnamon teal, chinese swan geese, and more....

The life of kids

We were interviewed and photographed today for a little story the Neighborhood Notes newsletter is doing about families who live in the Pearl District in Portland. After Rome and I thought about it for a while, we decided that we most likely have the biggest family that lives in the Pearl! If our family of 5 isn't the biggest, we must be on the top of the list! Most people have the idea that not many children live downtown because it isn't child friendly. Well, that totally isn't the case--downtown is very child friendly. The main hinderance is there aren't any first time homes to buy downtown. We are lucky to be where we are right now, even though we are renting. All of us have enjoyed living in the Pearl. I don't know where our future will bring us, but for the first few years of our kids life, this has been almost perfect. Now, if they would just build us a 1,500 sq. ft. condo, for about $150,000, next to Centenial Mills and the new park, we may stay longer. We can't rent forever, but we will enjoy it while we can!

April Fools' Day! We went to OMSI this morning -- Mom and 3 boys, for the first time. The boys made April Fools' Day Jester Hats. The 3 boys together are doing great!

Found in the Graham Leader we got in the mail today. All 3 boys were announced in the Graham Leader, I have Alyosha's somewhere, here is Nikolai's but Luka's is missing. If anyone out there in the world has the paper from December 2006 or January 2007, we don't want a kid to be left out! That reminds me, I have to look for the May 2004 one to make sure!

Luka likes to nurse his baby while I am nursing Niki. Two minutes later his baby is laying face down under the futon behind the skateboards. Fortunately, Niki isn't so easily forgotten.

Whose Baby is it?

Leave a comment, who does Nikolai look like? If I don't have your picture in the collage and you are related, send me your baby picture and I will add it (Mama??).

Edited to add: See that Rosi's baby picture is there now! Anyone else to add???