Work permits

We were very happy to hear today that Carrie's work permit for Papua New Guinea is likely to be approved this week.  In order to legally work in the country in any capacity, we both need work permits.  Mine has been approved for several months.  We thought Carrie's approval was our last hurdle before applying for visas for all eight of our passports.  It seems now that we need to apply for work permits for all the kids, too.  Very frustrating, indeed, given the time that we have left before we are supposed to leave.  This is something we never needed to do before for Isaac.  On the other hand, we've never needed one for Carrie until now, either.

An interesting challenge to this situation is coming up with vocations/jobs to fill in on their work permit application.  Young as they are, we want to choose something that is suitable to their character and their skill set.  We don't want them to feel locked into these lines of work should their desires be different further down the road, so our choices must be careful and thoughtful.  The pictures below represent each child's propensity (thus far observed) and thus, their chosen profession:

Isaac:  Toy weapons engineer

Will:  Opera singer

David:  Automotive ergonomics engineer

Marcie:  Soil quality analyst

Seth: Food taster/Cook

Grace:   Face painter/makeup artist 

Toddler fun around the house in the past few days

Marmi took most of the pictures, so once again she's not in them. 

Watching Praise Baby (peace and quiet!!): Gracie, Seth, David and Marcie

Playing with an iPad toddler app with Papa and Mommy

Gracie is fascinated! Will and Marcie are thirsty.

Will is quite happy about getting to touch the coveted iPad!

Enjoying the contents of Mommy's bag. The "penalty box" Pack 'n' Play was the happy place to be right then! They all wanted in, and I didn't want my stuff scattered everywhere, so it was a great 10 minutes or so. :)

Gracie is tired but so precious!

Isaac and a very happy Marcie

Three random cute photos

I was tempted to edit out the dirt and/or food on Seth's face, but isn't it the quintessential boy face?? To me, it's the picture of health and an answer to prayer. Hard to get dirt on your face in the hospital! :)

Precious little pixy Gracie! I love the BIG eyes and the pursed little mouth.

Marcie and me. The kids love bringing us books to read, but sometimes their choices aren't very readable for babies.
This one is called How to Have a 48-Hour Day  :)

The Backyard Bunch

Will

David

Seth

Marcie Jane

Gracie

David again

The whole gang. I love Seth's laughing face!

Will wants to be King of the Backyard Bunch! (See previous post.)

 Marmi was the backyard photographer, so she doesn't get to be in any of the pictures. Instead, here's one more photo of her having fun with the Bunch at the Arboretum. :)

Latest family pictures

Sadly, Marmi and Papa have headed back to California. Happily, we got some good family pictures with them before they left!

We love you, Marmi and Papa! THANK YOU for all your help and love and care and FUN!
L to R: The two Marcies, Gracie, David with Isaac, Will and Seth. The kids were not in a smiling mood. We're glad we got even the pictures we did.
The weather was changing and stormy just before the photo shoot - I wonder if that affects them?

L to R: Seth, Grace, David on Isaac's lap, the two Marcie's, and Will.
Gracie had been crying, poor baby. She's been really clingy lately. 

Left to right; Will, Marcie, David on Isaac's lap, Gracie and Seth
Don't you love David's mischievous face?? It's quite frequently lit by a "I'm gonna be naughty but cute!"grin. :) 

The two Marcies!

A typical baby Marcie Jane face

"Howdy, Ma'am. Me and my trusty Nerf ammo belt'll be taking care of yer son this afternoon."

King of the Backyard Bunch

Marmi and Mom feeding the crew

A happy mess! Thank God for patient grandparents. :)

Seth + Grace = best friends

Hall races with Isaac; new sandbox

Thank you for the sweet comments you've been posting! You're right, it's such a miracle to see these kiddos doing so amazingly well. I like how Seth's face has been filling out, even though he's still less than 5th percentile for weight, as is David. They're both normal height, though, so that encourages me that they don't have any stunting due to poor nutrition. They're just skinny preemie boys. Will . . . not so much. ;)

Isaac remains the favorite playmate around here. Marcie asks about him constantly: "Ishaac?" or I-aac," depending on how clearly she's speaking. Gracie seems to call him Isey. So cute! And Marcie said "Day'id" yesterday for David.

 As you can see, the "sandbox" is actually a kiddie pool that Gavin filled with sand from Home Depot. The kids LOVE it; the big kids who come play do too!

It was warm enough Will could go pant-less. He loves being naked.

Seth wouldn't let his naked foot touch!

We're having major issues with biting. I would be interested in some advice, especially if it pertains to twins or higher order multiples. Will and David especially see it as their most powerful weapon. David, for instance, tried to bite Will and Seth to keep them from coming through the gate when he wanted to be the only one on the other side playing with the empty diaper box. I don't know how much to discipline them because I don't know if it's serving any purpose at this young age when they'll just do whatever works regardless of the consequences. And I have to act so quickly because they forget what they've done within seconds! I have been trying a couple of things but to no avail yet. Maybe it's just going to take time. I know it's a stage, but it's a painful one for the victims. :( I appreciate prayer for wisdom!

Love and gratitude,
Carrie

Re: Dallas Arboretum

I forgot to say a huge thank you to Naomi, our babysitter extraordinaire who also happens to be a photographer extraordinaire! How blessed we are to have her along on our adventures - in fact, it was her Zoo membership that got us a fabulous discount to the Arboretum!

Also, poor Grandma had to work on Friday so she couldn't come with us. I know some of you would wonder where she was on that gorgeous day out with the other three grandparents. (Gavin was able to take the day off since he was awaiting delivery of the necessary parts for his forklift repair job anyway.)

Dallas Arboretum Friday: playing with Daddy

Daddy lay down, enticing Will and David to attack him immediately

Will and David also ecstatically attacked these stairs with intense single-mindedness. There was a platform at the top they could look out from (behind glass and walls), so they and Marcie played around up there for a while.

David peering out at me. He was excited to have this spy-hole.

Will with Daddy and Grandpadad at the top of the stairs

Marcie joined in

Marcie