Friday mornings are donut morning!

SSSSSMOKIN'!

Yes, this is my husband and yes, he is HOT AS FIRE!

Luke brings the hotness, Ben and Patrick bring the cuteness...

Be still my heart!

We got our pictures back from the fire department and as you can tell, I am very pleased! LOVE these pictures! I was a little worried because the lady who took the pictures was competing with numerous fire trucks entering and exiting the compound, but now I am impressed that she managed to get two shots with all three boys looking at the camera...and looking handsome as well! I *heart* my family!

P.S. Sorry for the bad quality of the pics...I guess I need to clean my scanner.

It's Mother's Day! Play Ball!

It's that wonderful day of the year again and Patrick celebrated by getting his hands on something far better than any old MOM, he landed a real authentic catcher's mask and mitt!!! I am not sure why Luke chose not to mention earlier that this was sitting out in his shed (I mean, it could've saved us a lot of embarrassment)...but for whatever reason, yesterday was the day he deemed appropriate to dig it out and make Patrick's young life even sweeter. Ma fixed the straps on the back and voila! Instant happy kid.

So as Patrick caressed and whispered sweet nothings to his new catcher's mask, my parents came up to spend Mother's Day with us. I can't even remember the last time my parents came up for a visit, so it was really good to have them over. My mom brought me some flowers to plant in my gardens and we took a long walk around the lake and then Luke hauled out the smoker and made his awesomely famous smoked pork tenderloin. It's like heaven on earth. Anyway, we were busy and I didn't think to snap pictures of all the fun (bad blogger that I've become), but I did remember to get one group shot before they left.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone--Mom, Luke's mom, Great-Grandma and my Grammy, Sandi, me and all my mommy friends. Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did!

Summer Vacate

Today was Ben's last day of preschool for the year (BOO), so I had to take a picture of him with his ladies for posterity. On the left we have Ms. Phyllis and on the right is Ms. Donna. I have to admit, even though they were paid very handsomely for the eight hours a week of babysitting they provided, they were totally awesome to Ben. It wasn't easy putting my almost-new baby in the care of two strangers, but they really earned my confidence quickly. They saw him through a lot this year, from the times when he could barely glance at a baby swing without getting drowsy to giving up his paci to finally walking. They encouraged him every step of the way (no pun intended)...soothed him when he cried, cheered for him when he succeeded, taught him lots of great stuff and truly helped shape his personality. I know he really loves them. I just don't think he'll know how much he's going to miss them until three months from now when he's back in the toddler room next door and sees them again! At least they'll share a playground.

Have a great summer Ms. Phyllis and Ms. Donna! Thanks for everything!

Birthday Shout-out!

Today is the birthday of the one and only Katie, and since she's made it perfectly clear on her blog, I'll go ahead and reiterate that it's a biggie--it's her 30th birthday! Katie is awesome for many reasons, but today she is awesome because she was nice enough to turn 30 just before me, so she can try it out and tell me how it is. Like getting in the pool first. It's inevitable that we're both going to do it, but she can prepare me. You're awesome like that girl!!!

Anyway, here's a birthday shout-out from me and the boys that love you!!! We hope your birthday is the bomb!!! This day's all about you girl, so spend it like you mean it!!!! Happy Birthday!

An update

Not that there's too much to update you all on, unless you need to know the details of our family's diarrhea...no? Well, here's the watered-down version (pardon the pun). Patrick's Linda Blair-inspired moment on Friday night turned out to be the last of the throw up, but the mere tip of the stomach bug iceberg. Tuesday rolled around and he was still feeling the effects (as was our can of air freshener), but by Wednesday he felt well enough to go back to preschool...juuuust in time for Ben to start it up. Lucky me! But I prefer to look at the bright side: diapers are an excellent means of control for those little "surprises" that so often come with the runs. No carpet clean-up this time! :)

In unrelated news, Ben is getting to be very chit-chatty these days. I have enjoyed reliving the whole "learning to talk" experience with him...I had forgotten how cute it is. Patrick used to go to the bottom of any random staircase and yell "SCHELL!!!" (you'll have to ask Schell's mom about this), and now Ben is doing something similar. He goes to the top of the stairs and yells "AAAAAA-DA!!!" This is derived from our frequent calling for Savannah to come upstairs so we can drag her into the bathroom and give her heart palpitations by making her think it's bath time. Good cheap family fun.

So that's my last five days in a nutshell--diarrhea and AAAAA-DA. By all means, stay perched on the edges of your seats. There'll be more to come.

Score!

We got tickets to Friday night's ball game as a surprise for Luke, who has been working hard in rookie school. I must say, Patrick is getting to be quite a celebrity over there. He was on the big screen two times AGAIN and spent some quality time with his celebrity BFF, Romey the mascot. But we all know that with fame comes embarrassing pictures, and my little guy was not spared, no sir!
Patrick has warmed to the idea of being a catcher on a baseball team. Scratch that. He is totally obsessed with the catcher and spends all the time he is not being The Firefighter in a rousing game of being The Catcher. We all know about his dress-up standards--that they are low to nonexistent--so you should completely understand that wearing his hat backwards with his glove perched on top constitutes being the catcher.

So we had to endure half the game with him looking like this while the cameras loved on him, until it finally got so embarrassing that I was forced to get stern. He was bummed for a while, but as you know--with all the free swag, celebrities never stay sad for long. He scored a free large pizza during the "Scream for the Pizza" section of the game, and then the visiting pitcher rolled a ball over the dugout for him. We had a little conversation that went like this:

Patrick(with glee): Who gave me this ball?

Me: I think it was the pitcher.

P: The catcher?

M: No, the pitcher.

P: You mean the catcher?

M: No, I mean the pitcher.

P: I think it was the catcher!

So it was awesome all in all. We won, his favorite player (besides the catcher) hit a home run, and after the game, we went up to the press box to visit Uncle Jim, who was announcing the game for his radio station. I think Jim was going to put Patrick on the air, but for some reason, Patrick was not cool with that at all...hence the face. But he did get over it in time to give Jim some sage advice: "Watch out for porcupines." As sensible as this little tidbit is, I really wish he would have given us some other kind of warning, like how as soon as we got home, he was going to go all Exorcist on us and spew vomit into all four corners of his room. I'm just saying, THAT would've been a good heads-up. That's all I'm saying.

We *Heart* Firefighters

Lately in this house it's been all firefighters, all the time. But hey, that's cool--whatever keeps my boys happy, right? Here's Patrick decked out in his get-up, ready for action. Go ahead, try to get yourself into an emergency situation...he'll get you out of it faster than you can say "Turnout Gear by Carters Childrenswear"!

Today Luke had to get his picture taken for the department directory, so I hauled the kids over to the fire station to get a few shots with him. You never know how they'll turn out with three boys looking in all different directions and me having to yell "Look at the camera!!" at all three of them, but hopefully we got one good shot and I'll scan it in when they come back. For one of the pictures, Luke had to put on his jacket and helmet and then they smudged soot on his face and sprayed him with some sort of fake perspiration. That was the hotness right there!!! I will definitely post that one, and then Tom will see what all the hype's about!! ;)

After the pictures, Luke walked the boys around the bay and showed Patrick all the different trucks. Ben happily tagged along and got his hands on anything he could. I love this picture below, with Ben driving as Patrick shouts orders. They make a good team...

Classic.

A Grand Slam Night

Last week Luke took Patrick to another ball game and even though he had a ticket for me, I opted to stay home for the evening...so wouldn't you know that would be the night that Patrick steals the show. He got on the outfield big screen twice--once just for being so darn handsome and once for this little number with the mascot:

That's my boy...he climbed up on the dugout and shook his moneymaker for the crowd like nobody's business...and loved every minute of it.

I would have loved to see it, but when you're an almost SAHM, it's only fair to let the hubby have some of the great moments. Luckily, a friend of Luke's uncle Jim was sitting nearby and snapped these pics, so I didn't totally miss out.

The Mighty Beast

If there's one thing Luke has wanted since we moved into his house, it's a riding mower. Poor guy, I empathize with him--because I know it must be hard to cover all that yard with a push mower and have to push it up and down our steep hill--but have you seen the price of those things??? Sorry honey! Not gonna happen!
But last week he got the opportunity to store someone else's mower for a friend of the family that will come pick it up sometime in the summer. He was psyched because that meant he could use it for a few months. I was glad, too...however, I had to laugh when he came home toting this giant piece of machinery circa 1938:

Whatever, it got the job done in half the time (and trimmed back the remains of my daffodils...not on purpose) and Patrick was ecstatic with our new temporary acquisition. But I did tell Luke that he wasn't really going to look right on that thing until it had a white basket with plastic yellow Gerber daisies attached to the handlebars. Time to start scouring eBay, I guess...

Yes, he's a dork, but I love him...a lot.

As Patrick continues his obsession with masks, breathing apparatus and the like, yesterday he dug out my snorkeling stuff that Luke and I took on our honeymoon. Ahhhh, those were the days...those warm, warm waters of the Caribbean...anyways, while we transplanted bushes and performed various other gardening tasks in preparation for spring (which I am told will show up one of these days), my uber-cool son prepared for summer by "scuba-diving" in the "ocean" alongside "sharks".

When he got all the stuff out, we discovered that the strap to my mask had melted in the summer heat (you know, back when we used to have hot days). Undaunted, Patrick ran to his room to get his goggles that came with his Home Depot workbench set. I'm just throwing that in so you all don't think I went snorkeling using a pair of child-sized plastic goggles with no nose guard.

Then it was my turn to try it all on. Unfortunately, we missed snapping a picture of that, but I can tell you that the snorkel was still nice and salty. Luke told me that from now on, whenever I get a taste for the Caribbean, I can just come out to the shed and stuff my snorkel in my mouth, and that ought to take care of that.

"Daddy, you are so cool!"

Today Luke brought home his turnout gear that he will use in his firefighter training. Patrick was of course in heaven. The two of them went through it all piece by piece as Ben and I watched. Patrick enthusiastically tried on everything. He thought the helmet and the mask were the coolest, especially since the mask has a speaker on the side of it so the firefighters can talk to each other and hear what the other is saying more clearly. Patrick knows a lot about turnout gear from watching his firefighting videos, but this speaker was a new development for him, and he very much appreciated it.

After that, Patrick and I both said we wanted to see Luke in full gear, so he gamely put it all on for us. The helmet, mask and boots are his, but this is a used pair of pants and jacket. He will get his own by the time he starts his shifts. I thought Ben would get scared, but he was okay as long as I held him in my lap, though he never took his eyes off Luke for even a second. Patrick helpfully reminded us that "it's not scary--it's a just a friendly firefighter coming to help!" That's the video again.

Egg Hunt 2: Bigger, Better, Colder

Who goes Easter egg hunting like this? I don't know who's crazier, us or Mother Nature. I honestly believe if Jesus had walked out of his tomb all freshly resurrected and the weather was like this, he would have gone right back in and waited for a thaw...or at least gathered his shrouds to bundle up in...

Still, though...Gigi and Sandi put on one heck of an egg hunt. I am not sure we even got them all. Patrick gathered lots and lots of eggs and was especially thrilled to find one with a car in it. Ben found about four eggs with Grandpa's help, but as soon as he discovered what was inside of them, he opted to stop hunting and start munching.

I love this picture of Matthew, taking pause by the good old Blessed Virgin Mary!

This is one for the ages, I think. I've already got it as my wallpaper. It's not too often that we can get the three grandsons together, and even less often that we get a decent picture of all of them. Here we could at least distract them with candy for five seconds! I love it though...it's such a sweet picture, and it will always remind us of Easter 2007--the year the South froze over!

Happy Easter everyone!

We came, we froze, we lost.

As promised, on Thursday night we went to see the old boys of summer--er, I mean dead of winter--and rung in the new season by turning into popsicles while they racked one up in the L-column. There's not much to say except that it was cold (although merely a taste of what's to come this weekend), but as long as you stayed under five or so blankets, it was still fun.

Patrick was sorely disappointed that ice cream didn't come with the deal. He asked everyone but nobody would buy it for him. Ben, being the child genius that he is, thought "Cold weather + religious holiday weekend = It must be Christmas!" And come Sunday, they may well be wearing their Christmas outfits to church, so it wasn't bad thinking on his part.

Today it's off to Gigi's house for more Easter fun--wrapped up in coats and hats of course. Stay warm!

The Egg Hunt (no guns allowed)

Although it might not have been a bad idea to bring one anyway so I could off the mommy who made everyone eat outside in the freezing cold weather so her carpet wouldn't get messed up. Did I mention she's a Chick-fil-A foster parent? She's got nine kids--NINE--and she's worried about her carpeting? Yeah. So here's an idea...if you're going to ask Truett Cathy for deluxe Stainmaster carpeting, why not go ahead and get a steam cleaner too? That way, when you have people over, they won't actually know that you value your carpeting more than their company. But I digress...

Freezing temps aside, the egg hunt was not too bad. Patrick was as enthusiastic as I'd hoped he would be. The whole thing was very short. We basically picked up the eggs, ate on the driveway and then got kicked to the curb. All this in under an hour, which counted as Patrick's school for the day. The rest of the morning, I had to tote him around with me as I tried to get my work done. I'm lucky I have an understanding boss.

I am definitely looking forward to the egg hunt at Gigi's house on Saturday so much more. For one thing, Patrick will be allowed inside should his extremities start turning blue. Tonight however, will be a different story. Not foreseeing this early-April arctic blast, we got tickets to the season opener minor league baseball game. So we're going to go park our butts in some cold plastic chairs and root root root for the home team, and if we survive, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

A different spin on Easter...

This morning I had some plastic eggs sitting on the counter, waiting to be filled:

Mommy, what're those eggs for?

On Thursday, you're going to have an Easter egg hunt at preschool!

An egg hunt?

Yeah.

Can I take my gun?

Hell, thy name is Alabama Hwy. 68

Yesterday Ben and I drove over to Lake Guntersville, AL to see Luke and Patrick, who have been camping with Luke's parents for the past few days. I was not really looking forward to the drive so much, but now that I have made the trek twice in one day, I can safely say that I'd rather have another child--without an epidural--than drive it again. First of all, Luke told me that it was an hour and a half trip...which is probably true if there's been a nuclear fallout and there are no people or pesky traffic signals and stop signs to slow you down. Also, he failed to tell me that it was a two-lane road FOR THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE TRIP. I don't do well with two-lane roads. I prefer the good old Eisenhower interstate system, which people driving tractors tend to avoid, and where you can leave those people with their trunks dragging the ground and decals of Our Lady of Guadeloupe on their back windshield in a fine trail of asphalt dust. I tell you, I don't know where people from Alabama all learn to drive, but I know they all go to the same place, and I know that they are probably instructed by some half-wit cross-eyed circus monkey. Yes, that sounds about right...the final driving test definitely includes primal screeching and throwing poop at each other. And if you're from Alabama and you're reading this...I'm sorry, but it turns out you suck at driving too.

Anyway, a little over two hours later when even Ben was attempting to stuff his blanket down his throat in an effort to end it all right there, I seriously considered turning around and going home, just so at least I would not have to drive the last twenty minutes twice in one day. But I did want to see Patrick, so I grudgingly pressed on. As it turns out, we had a very nice day, although after making the harrowing trip home, I'm still too weary to go into detail about all the fun. We did all the normal outdoorsy camping stuff. Here are the pictures...see for yourself and enjoy.

Blogger Spring Break

This past week was the boys' spring break, and since as of late the blog has been about as exciting as watching the paint dry, I took my "Blogger's Spring Break", and thoroughly enjoyed it too. I filled my time the old-fashioned way--with a book. And not the normal chick-lit fluff I normally clog my brain with...nope this time it was real, gritty literature called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's about "Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy through the horrific invasion of the Taliban." The story itself is fiction, but the events are straight from the history books, and it truly is amazing how little I knew about the place. Afghanistan, even in its glory days, was a completely forgotten country until 9/11 essentially put it back on the map. I don't remember learning anything about it in school. The only world history we ever learned was history that had to do with the western world. I guess now Afghanistan and the rest of the Middle East have become part of that and our children will be studying it. Anyway, I had no idea it was such a modern and cultured place before the conflict began over thirty years ago. What it has become and what we see on the news is all I've ever learned about Afghanistan until now. I'd recommend this book to anyone, but I think Mandy would especially like it.

Anyway, on to the real reason you all read my blog--the kiddies. They have had a fun time together the past few days. Over the weekend, we took them to a friend's pond where the fish are practically trained to bite the line. Patrick was all for it until until he saw the first fish that came up--a catfish--and said he wasn't going to have anything to do with fish that had whiskers. He spent the rest of the time running away when ever anyone got a bite. We did finally get him to pose with one of the bigger ones, but that was it.

Tuesday I took them to a petting zoo which was being showcased by my college's agricultural department. Patrick took a special interest in what was under the cow (yes, Katie--a cow and yes, I thought of you when I snapped the picture), but there were also horses, goats, bunnies and lambs. Ben had the most fun scaring the poor goat to death by screeching and rattling its cage. Ever the good blogger, I patiently snapped pictures instead of removing Ben to spare the poor goat's life...

The rest of the time, we've just been hanging around the house playing outside and watching our favorite shows. It really warms my heart to see the boys playing together the way they do now. They seem to really like each other. Now...how do I make it last???

Happy Spring Break Bloggers!

Pride (In the Name of Love)

I normally prefer to bring a little comic relief into my life by making fun of my family on the blog, but today I have to take a moment to jive. I am unmistakably proud of my husband, who has gone and landed himself a job as a firefighter! And I'm stoked not only because the whole application process is somewhat competitive and he really had to prove himself, both physically and objectively, but also because this is something he has wanted to do for a long time. And I think sometimes when we become adults and have families, it's hard to keep sight of what we really want, and we sometimes forget to chase our dreams. I mean, my dream is to sit here family-free for a year, but doing that at this point in my life would make me sort of a deadbeat prick-type mom, so that'll have to wait...but I digress. Anyway, my point is to say that I'm proud of him for following his dreams, and making the huge effort of going to work every day, followed by school in the evening for twelve hours every week and then coming home to hit the books, and then getting back up the next morning and doing it all over again, without ever complaining.

So here's to Luke, who is my hero and definitely Patrick's hero, and well, Ben just loves his daddy, so he's Ben's hero too. Congrats to you for going after and getting what you want! We love you and we're behind you all the way!!

Flashback: A Dog Grows Up

From bundle of yellow fur...

To bundle of complete neurosis...

Yesterday I sat on the patio watching Savannah and wondering how it had all come to this. She spent much of the afternoon licking the cement and fighting with her shadow, stopping only to wrinkle her forehead in puzzlement when it disappeared. When she caught sight of the light reflected on the side of the house by my camera lens, it was all over. She canceled all other appointments in order to spend the rest of the afternoon with her nose pressed to the siding, waiting with unabashed anticipation for something, anything to happen. Honestly, she used to be so cute and sweet. I don't know at what point exactly that she lost her marbles, but I think it was around the time when we used to torture her by shooting laser pointers all over the house for cheap entertainment. My apologies, girl.

For Katie...

...who always likes new ideas for preschool crafts. Patrick brought this home today and I thought it was a trip. And by trip, I mean look at this dude's face...that's not just any old grass he's growing...

Yes, preschool can be an enlightening experience kids. You can really come out of it with an altered state of mind, if you know what I mean. Haha! I kid of course--I'm not implicating Mrs. Cindy of anything (although with eleven boys in her class, I wouldn't begrudge her a little "medicinal" help to get through the day). She's a great teacher and I thought this project was adorable. As she pointed out to me, you can cut his hair when it gets too long. I just hope I remember to water him.

Post from the Clearance Bin

We went for a walk around the lake last night, which is always an adventure of some sort. Patrick was feeling hammy, it seems. He started out by doing his best wind-up doll impersonation. All he needed was yellow braided pigtails, a dainty frock and two red circles on each cheek and he'd be shelf-ready.

The lake trail is about mile long, give or take a half-mile (that is, I have no idea how long it is, except I know it's too long for a four-year-old, but we're mean parents and we don't care). He always starts out walking, but last night he needed to "take a rest" realllly soon. Don't ask me what's up with the face...he's not my kid. He looks like an old man who's coon dog just let one rip.

Speaking of smells, this was one of the best shots I could get in front of this Bradford Pear. The poor kid pleaded with me: "Mommy let's go, it smells like pee-pee." Well, yes it does...in fact, it smells like something a lot worse, but let's not go there. Just smile so I can take the picture.

A good son smiles through his suffering.

Meet Dylan

This weekend, some friends of Luke's family were in town from Kentucky, and Patrick got to meet his newest buddy, Dylan. Patrick's Pa and Dylan's grandpa have been best friends since childhood, and they each had two sons who grew up hanging out a lot...so naturally, they were very excited about getting a third generation together for some manly fun. The boys did not disappoint. They bonded over Dylan's toys from the movie Cars, which Patrick has never seen but apparently still loves. He's such a people-pleaser.

Dylan's 3rd birthday was just a few days ago, so of course that meant an impromptu birthday party. This is where I came to really like him; see him disdainfully eyeing the cake? He is a kid after my own chocolate-loving heart. Get this--the boy refuses to eat any sweets other than chocolate chip cookies. How great is this? How can I get my own kids to see this point of view? I don't know why it appeals to me so much, but I love it.

Anyway...while Dylan munched on his cookies, everyone else chowed down on cake, and then he opened presents, which mainly consisted of 1) Cars merchandise and 2) Cars merchandise. Oh all right, there was a little Thomas thrown in for good measure. But the boys had a good time playing with it until it was time to leave, at which point Patrick became insanely jealous and decided that if Dylan was going to be able to keep all the good stuff while he left empty-handed, then maybe he didn't like him so much after all. Tough break, kid...it's only nine months till Christmas.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2007!

Wilson the Imp

Wilson would like for you to think his life is tough...I mean, look at the pathetic expression, the Yoda ears, and for all we know he's hiding mutant paws behind that outdoor fireplace! But don't be fooled by his take on gansta rap, people. This dog hasn't been street-wise in a loooong time. He's got the good life like few other dogs have ever known! So he had to sit in the rain for five minutes today while I tended to the human subjects he's forced to share a house with...we can pity him now, but at 11:00 tonight--trust me--he'll be warm and cozy on my pillow, dreaming about three-legged squirrels and milk bones...

Ben celebrates his 16-month birthday

Another warm day yesterday, so we all headed outside to get really dirty and put more holes in the knees of our pants. Ah, well...what's a mom of two boys to do? It's best to just not fight it and let them become one with the earth. So instead I lounged in the hammock and got some cute shots...

And then it happened...

There are no words to describe the moment, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Everyone else is doing it...

The Firstborn Survey (with the second-born thrown in for good measure):

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
no
yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
yes to both

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
went and got my childhood teddy bear and cried in bed since Luke was in the New Mexico wilderness for two weeks with no way of contacting him
said "huh", woke up Luke to tell him and then went back to sleep

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
That is a disgusting question

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
25
28

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
home test, both times

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Mandy (see #3)
Luke (see #3 again)

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
yes, I had just painted the extra room light blue and I wanted to know if I would be re-painting
yes again, for no reason this time

9. DUE DATE?
March 2, 2003
November 7, 2005

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
yes, both times

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
strawberries and milk
peace and quiet

12. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
living people
my firstborn

13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
I hoped for a girl with both, until I found out, then it was like "oh well!"

14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
20
25

15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
yes--many
no ( I feel like this is the wrong answer, but I can't remember having one)

16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew about them all.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
no, neither time

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Floyd Medical Center both times. Great L & D staff...they made me feel like I was the first and only person to ever have a baby. The first time, Luke's uncle Tom was a floor below me giving birth to a kidney stone.

19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
36
less than 6

20. WHO DROVE YOU THE THE HOSPITAL?
Luke--it was a leisurely drive. We stopped at CVS for film and stuff.
Luke--a little more manic this time. I dared him to run a red light with the traffic camera on it.

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Luke, both times.

22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
natural, both times.

23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Why would I NOT? They weren't offering award money for those who do it without...

24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH??
8 lbs. 6.5 oz.
9 lbs. 4.6 oz.

25. DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS??
Patrick had his cord wrapped around his neck, but it turned it to be no big deal.
Ben came out and his face was this color, but they didn't seem too concerned, so I guess not.

26. WHAT DAY WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ON?
March 4, 2003
November 13, 2005

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
John Patrick
Benjamin Paxton

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
Just turned 4
16 months tomorrow (and still not walking)

OK mommies repost this as "MY FIRST BORN" :)

Ben , Ben and more Ben...

Gorgeous weather lately, huh? Patrick was with his Ma and Pa today, but the rest of us headed outside to do a bit of yard work that hadn't been done yet. Ben was cute as can be, exploring everything he could get his hands on...even the dogs seemed to be different outside. I wish we could all experience our minor daily happenings with the innocence and exuberance of a toddler...

Uh, remember when I said that Ben was--and I quote--"days from walking"? Well, I'd like to eat those words now--hold the salt--with a side of ranch dressing, please. I feel like a complete nimrod for ever letting those words leave my mouth. All I'm going to say is, please note the gaping holes in the knees of his jeans--and remember, these are the good pair. The only good thing about those holes is that they give me permission to toss the jeans in the garbage when I'm done with them. As opposed to all the other baby clothes I own, which are carefully stored away in an effort to trick fate until my childbearing years are over. Because we all know the fastest way to get pregnant is to get rid of all your stuff.

Flashback: A Day in Maine

Mandy and I took an impromptu day trip to the coast of Maine a few years back, and all I can say is: Maine rocks. I could definitely do summers there. Winters...not so much. It was a great day though, as I'm sure Mandy can attest to. Browsing through my pictures, I am always happy to look back at the ones from that day, so I thought I'd throw it on up for my flashback today...with a little something extra. ;)

Leave it to the blog...

...to take something like me arguing with my kid about a truck and turning it into a morality issue. Let's move on. Here's a boring picture of my kids sharing some yogurt at dinner. Please, let's all try to keep our minds from straying into the gutter...

Conversations

The following conversation takes place immediately after Patrick received a new rescue truck for his birthday and then proceeded to expose himself to all the world in Victoria's Secret...

Mommy I want my new rescue truck!!!!

Sorry Patrick, you'll have to wait until you get home. You're lucky you'll get it then , after what you just pulled.

Please!!!! *sob, sob*--I want it!

Stop crying and you can have it when you get home.

*Sniffle* Okay, I stopped crying.

Good.

So can I have it now?

When we get home you can have it.

(Crying again) *Sob, sob* But please can I have it now?!?

Patrick, you may not have it in the car because you need to think about what you just did in the store.

What did I do?

What did you do?

Nothing!!!!

Did you pull your pants down?

Ummm...no.

You didn't pull your pants down in the store?

Nope!

Well, now you're just lying and I'll have to put the rescue truck away when we get home.

Uhhh...oh yeah, I DID pull my pants down. I'm so sorry!

Well, that's why you don't get to have your truck in the car--because you did that.

(Crying again) But PLEASE can I have it now? PLEASE??? I want it!!

Patrick, stop crying and you can have it when you get home!!!! Do you understand that? I don't want to hear another word of it. WHEN. WE. GET. HOME. YOU. CAN. HAVE. IT.

Okay...*sniffle, sniffle*...okay...I stopped crying.

Okay, good.

Can I have it now?

This is the point where, instead of continuing to have this chat, I choose to open the door and throw myself in front of oncoming traffic, effectively ending all talk about the truck. I highly suggest using this tactic next time you find yourself in this kind of conversation with a four-year-old.

The birthday weekend...

I need a bumper sticker that says "I Survived Patrick's 4th Birthday Party". Haha! In all seriousness, it wasn't that bad. The sun could've r.s.v.p.-ed to let me know that it wouldn't be making an appearance, but the kids had fun and nobody went home with a violent stomach virus like at his last birthday party, so that was good.

The party got kicked off with playtime in the backyard. Katie brought the jumpoline, which was a big hit, and then the "hired" entertainment--aka the fire truck--showed up. They kicked things off with a really weak rendition of Happy Birthday to Patrick. Then all the kids got to sit in the cab and one of the men showed us how they put on their turnout gear, which scared the living daylights out of my poor son when he got to the face mask. But he recovered fairly quickly, which was good because at that point the firemen got bored with all the rugrats and faked a call to hightail it outta there!!! Ahh, well, who cares? The kids enjoyed watching them leave.

After that we went inside for lunch, which went without too many disasters, but things started to get a little hairy during present time. I'm not sure what happened, but I got a little overwhelmed and somehow ended up with men's underwear on my head. Check out Trevor's face as he gives fair warning to all the other kids. I snapped back to reality in time to sugar the kids up with birthday cake and the send them back outside.

After the birthday, while Joe and Patrick searched the house (quite successfully) for any spare pieces of sugar to ingest, Katie, Andrea and Mandy stayed on for a little ping-pong round robin tourney. That's when we found out that Katie was freakin' Forrest Gump in another life. Not even Luke could match her mad ping-pong skills. She beat every last one of us to a pulp, and I daresay she enjoyed doing it...

This morning, on Patrick's real birthday, we went to the Palladium to eat lunch after church. We had saved a few more presents for him to open today, so he tore right into them as soon as we sat down. Luke and I gave him a rescue helicopter to finish out his extensive emergency vehicle collection. Now all we have to do is build the addition to the house to store them all. His most coveted present though, was a pack of Big Red. He's been dying for this stuff and we said he could have it when he turned four. You could see the anticipation in his eyes as he unwrapped that first piece, followed by shock as he promptly spit it out, screaming "HOT!" and diving for his juice. Well, I'm glad we got that out of our system.

Flashback with Sentiment

Almost four years ago, on March 4, 2003, I became "Mommy". Today was actually my due date, but I didn't start having contractions until the 3rd. If the doctors had listened to me, I would have had him on the 3rd, but you know how doctors are...yadda yadda yadda--I was forced to wait the night in the hospital. Finally, on the 4th, they realized that I was never going to have this baby without a little help (I think Patrick would still be on the inside if we had allowed labor to take its natural course), so we induced, shot me up with some drugs and had a relatively easy time after that. Three pushes and I was a parent.

I will never forget the first time I saw Patrick. It was comical and emotional at the same time. The doctor lifted him up and for some reason it surprised me--like he had actually pulled him out from underneath the bed and said "Tah-Dah!!!!" But a split-second later it all came together in my mind and I burst into tears. The greatest part was when I first held him. He had been screaming bloody murder and the second I spoke, he quieted and turned his head towards me. It was like he had known me for so long, why did I not know him as well? That was our first bonding moment, and it must've been a strong one, because we had a great time after that. He was such a good baby for me.

I think back to those first few months--and even though I hated the nighttime feedings and it seemed like I could never really get him to eat well, so I was completely lopsided for four months--I recall it as pure bliss. I remember creeping in his room at night and my eyes welling up as I watched him sleep. We spent all those beautiful spring days together, taking walks and sitting on the swing throwing the ball to the dogs. It was hard--because all babies are--but he made me so happy. I love you Patrick. You are my firstborn son and you mean the world to me. And even though you are a complete rascal, I am so proud of the little boy you've become. Happy 4th Birthday!!!