For a couple of months I've been wondering if Peter and William's clothes were shrinking. We just recently checked and marked our growth chart and discovered it was them - not their clothes that were changing. These boys both experienced quite a growth spurt in the past six months and I guess that also accounts for all the food we are going through. Just this morning we went through a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread, bunch of bananas, a box of LIFE cereal and half a gallon of milk in one meal! That is not including Paul and I. Paul was off early to work and since our prepared meal was already consumed before I could sit down I resorted to some leftover spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast (actually it tasted great and when you're hungry and nursing you'll pretty much eat anything). I'm just starting to wonder what my food bill will look like when these kids are teenagers.
As for the growth chart, I made it almost two years ago out of some scrap lumber, scrapbook paper and decoupage glue. One side displays standard measurements and the other metric because for some reason the boys are sticking to metric. Using a sharpie we mark it twice a year for each child.
Both Paul and I grew up charting our growth on a specific wall. Nowadays families tend to move around a bit more so our children's "wall" had to be transportable. Another unique feature of this growth chart is it reaches above 6 1/2 feet tall just in case they actually do catch up to their Dad. If they do it will be worth recording because it is still fun for me to visit Paul's Mom's laundry room and see his growth of 7" in just one year!
On a side note, today Cathy asked me what projects I've been up to. I told her, just one - growing kids, so I thought I should blog about it.
"Paul was off early to work" = Paul is also wondering what the food bill will look like when these kids are teenagers
ReplyDeleteI think the teenage food bill might break the bank! But hey, at least they are growing. I love growth charts. We had ours on a wall in our old house and sadly didn't get around to copying it before we left. I need to make a portable one like that.
ReplyDeleteI like the portable growth chart...Such a fun idea. I've started looking through my fabric in anticipation of my fool stool project. Thanks again for the pattern.
ReplyDeleteI love the growth chart. You forgot to mention that you made and then, it wasn't totally perfect, so you stayed up really late and redid the whole thing. That is when we decided that you only do "perfect projects"
ReplyDeleteAndrew really liked this picture. He loves Peter's shirt and he said he hopes that Peter can "sell" it to him if when he grows out of it. Andrew was also asking where he got that cool shirt.
Becca- if it really was a perfect project I'd have to re do it again because you ca see the paper bubbled up from the extreme temp changes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the shirt, or shall I say Pajama top, Peter got it for Christmas from nanny & poppy. I don't know if there will be much wear left as he wears it both day and night often digging through laundry piles to find it.
Al, you are growing some great kids! As your baby grows you will just melt away. I think it takes a LOT of time to grow a little baby. At least 3 to 4 hours a day. Good thing they are so cute!
ReplyDeleteAl--great idea. We mark on the wall behind our door in the mudroom. One day one of my children had to wash walls for punishment and accidently washed half the marks off. The kids were sad they were "wash away".
ReplyDeleteI don't know if we kept growth charts. So many growing at once.
ReplyDeleteI do remember the breakfast consumption. Mom would buy two CRATES of eggs at one time. We went through 30 or more loaves of bread in one week and at least ten gallons of milk; hence the day old Pepperidge Farm bread and the half and half. We could not bake it fast enough! Good work Al'
I am a friend of Emily's and I love your blog! You are an excellent writer and write about such fun things! I hope you won't mind if I drop in and read about your darling family from time to time! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDad- we did have a growth chart.... don't you remember the blue toile wall paper in the dinning room. Not the classiest place to mark heights but there they all were - Well not all of them only the youngest 9 - Rob on down.
ReplyDeleteWe kept some scraps when mom re-did the wall paper.
hbrady- Glad you enjoy our blog and I'm sure you can relate to much of our experiences because it looks like you're right there with 6 of your own kids!
ReplyDeleteWow! 7 inches in one year! Did Paul's joints hurt from growing too fast? Jerome was amazed at James's big feet. I am sure he is going to be a tall boy. We have a portable height chart that Scott's brother -in-law made for us. We need to start marking it before the kids get too tall.
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