Holy Pants and Pop Tarts

I don't think that there are many things in this world as fun as doing something embarrassing in front of a lot of people. There is just something joyous about it. It brings laughter to yourself, to others and creates a story that you can share for years to come . . . The only thing that I can think of that can beat it is doing something embarrassing in front of plenty of people and not knowing it until later. I was doing my laundry a couple days ago and found this:

I don't know how long I walked around throughout the day with that big hole in the rear end of my pants, but I just hope it was long enough to bring a smile to someone's face! I'd like to think it did.

One of my favorite memories of doing something embarrassing and not knowing it until later happened a few years ago while we were living in St. George.I had just had Ada and was taking her in to see the pediatrician Dr. Twiggs. I hadn't eaten yet and was in a hurry, so I grabbed a pink poptart of some sort and ate it in the car on the way.

Dr. Twiggs is a great doctor. He was Drew and Hayden's pediatrician while we were there. But he never was extremely friendly per se or very talkative. But at this visit he was very attentive. He was answering all of my questions, discussing all sorts of things with me, and for the first time I really felt like he cared . . . the visit actually lasted quite a long time. It was rather nice to have him spend so much time with us. When we left and I got Ada's car seat in the car I got into the driver's seat and looked in the mirror. I was completely horrified. My face was completely covered with pink gooey pop tart filling. I am not exaggerating either. It wasn't just a little speck of goo . . . it was all over my entire face minus my forehead. I started laughing hysterically just thinking about how in the world he kept a straight face while he talked to me all of that time! He talked to me forever, and I never had a clue that I was covered in sugary pop tart goo. How did he do that? Doctors aren't paid all those big bucks for nothing. They are truly skilled. Oh fun times!!!!

Tilson Boy

Tilson is 3 months old on Monday. Time goes by too quickly! I can't believe it's time to put away 0-3 month clothes and get out the 3-6 month clothes. Babies get big so fast! But I love watching all the new things they do. Tilson is smiling up a storm. I love it when I'll be feeding him or just holding him, and I look down at him and he is just looking up at me grinning! He is a happy baby. He is very content. If he is fed and changed, he will just sit and watch me do dishes, or hang out with me while I help the other kids. And he is a great sleeper. Since I brought him home he has been sleeping for long hours at night. He usually will sleep from about 9 until 5. I can't really complain about that now, can I?!! He is just a little guy. At his 2 months checkup he weighed in at 9 lbs 15 oz. I have friends whose babies are born bigger than that. So he is pretty little. But he is pretty much adorable. And here is what his brothers and sister think of him:
Drew: Has become Tilson's second caregiver. He is so cute with him. Drew was never too interested in Hayden or Ada as babies, but he has been very involved with Tilson. He loves that he is so big and can hold Tilson and wants to hold him as much as possible. I have to be careful because Drew often picks up Tilson himself if I'm not watching and will take him places. One time I went to the bathroom and when I came out there was Drew with Tilson on the floor in the hallway. Another time Drew took Tilson into his room so that he could lay on his pillowpet. Tilson has never cried or objected to this, and Drew does a pretty good job at holding him, but I still am trying to drill in that he needs to ask me before he takes Tilson anywhere. Yesterday Tilson was crying and Drew said, "Mom, I know what to do." He then went to pick up Tilson and I said, "Wait Drew, let me hand him to you okay?" So I helped Drew hold him, and Drew started walking away with Tilson. I was making sandwiches for the kids and knew that Tilson was crying because he was hungry, and I had to finish the sandwiches first. So I finished them and then went to get Tilson from Drew. He had taken him downstairs and had put him in this baby rocker/swing type thing that we had and the music was going and Tilson was just crying. Drew was just laying on the floor next to him. I said, "Here Drew, I think he is hungry." And Drew just looked calmly at me and said, "No mom . . . it's okay. I pressed the sleep button. He is going to fall asleep." I thought that was so funny. He was certain that since he pressed the sleep button . . . that it was a done deal. Eventually he said, "Maybe you should feed him first." "Ya, I think you are probably right" I agreed. I am so glad Drew loves him so much and wants to help.There has been plenty of times that Drew has rocked Tilson for me or has tested out the lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby" that he learned at school knowing that for sure that it just had to work. He's cute. Yesterday Lamon told me not to worry that Drew had put a sleeping potion on Tilson and that he was going to fall asleep. Drew just nodded his head affirming that that was exactly right.

Hayden: Hayden loves Tilson too. Haydens favorite thing to do is to kiss Tilson. And he kisses him a lot! It is so funny. Hayden once after kissing his head said, "Tilson loves my kisses." And once asked, "Mom, can I give Tilson one of my beautiful kisses?" He is funny. Most of the time he doesn't ask though and just comes and plants them on him. I feel like I am constantly trying to get the kids to scoot back away from Tilson because they like to maul him. But Tilson actually doesn't seem to mind too much. In fact, I have found multiple times when the kids are crowding him and I am saying, "Kids, scoot back. Get away from Tilson, he doesn't like that." I will be proven wrong because Tilson will just be looking up at them smiling.

Ada: Oh how she loves Tilson. She is with Tilson for most of the day. But for as much as she likes to get in his face and make annoying little sounds with a high screechy voice, she also spends plenty of time fetching me diapers and wipes willingly, getting him outfits when he has leaked through, rocking him when he cries, and even when she gets in his face with too much energy she has never tried to hurt him or be too rough with him. She really does love him to pieces. And I think they are going to be pretty good pals.

Easter

Oh holidays are so much fun with kids! The kids were so excited for Easter. Hayden especially was excited. He was counting down the days the entire week waiting for Easter to arrive. We focused on the real reason we celebrate Easter on Family Night and throughout the week,but this didn't keep the kids from being excited for and anticipating the arrival of the Easter Bunny. On Easter morning I was awakened by Hayden who came to the side of my bed and whispered, "Mom. I saw something downstairs."
"What did you see Hayden?"
Still in a whisper, "I saw lots of eggs. I don't know who put them there, but I think Drew must have set them up."

"I don't know Hayden. Is Drew still asleep in his bed? I don't think it was him . . . Let's go wake him and Ada up and go check it out."So we woke up the other two and headed downstairs, and for sure they all agreed that the Easter Bunny had been there. They were so cute as they gathered up their eggs.

Hayden got so excited and he yelled out, "I'm so excited! The Easter Bunny came and Jesus died for us!" And he said it just like that all in the same breath. It was pretty funny.

They were trying to help eachother find all the eggs and Drew came up with a plan he said, "Hayden . . . you look up high and I'll look down low." Hayden then immediately looked straight up at the ceiling and started walking around. It was hilarious. I don't think he found many eggs "up high" but they managed to find them all and it was so fun to watch.

We had a lovely day at church and then the Barksdale clan came over for an Easter egg hunt and some food. It was fun. I like our family!!

Garbage Bag Hoarder

There is a difference between a "cluttery" house and a "dirty" house. The other day my neighbor came over when my front room was decorated nicely with children's toys. I of course started apologizing for it, but I made the comment that my house was cluttery but at least it wasn't "dirty" like sanitarily unsafe or anything like that.

We talked about the show on television called "Hoarders" where professionals go into the homes of these people who just hoard all sorts of things. Some of these homes are pretty scary and a bit disgusting. So man, at least my house isn't like that eh? How fortunate that I don't have that problem!!!

So this last week I decided that I would try and clean out and rearrange some of my kitchen cupboards. I looked in the cupboard that I keep my cleaning supplies and used plastic grocery bags, that I have saved to use as garbage liners, in. I thought, "I think I could probably throw away some of these." So I started pulling them out and . . . it was quite astounding. I think that I must have had garbage bags that dated back to 2008 in there. By the time I finally got all of the bags out of the cupboard the pile was about 4 feet wide and went up to my waist. Wow!

I am a hourder after all. I have been in denial all of this time of my garbage bag saving obsession. But I am happy to say that I have come clean. I admit it was a problem and am happy to say that I am recovering. I have a very reasonable sized brown sack behind my garbage can now that I plan on putting my bags in and I won't allow myself to keep more bags than can fit in that sack! So feel free to check up on me with that one, and make sure I'm sticking to it! :)

Fighting over Ada

So right now the kids are fighting . . . not an unusual occurence. But I find the context pretty funny. Usually the boys are trying to get Ada to get lost and leave them alone, but right now they are both trying to convince Ada to play with them. Drew wants Ada to play Star Wars and be Princess Leah, and Hayden wants her to to play Super Hayden with him. Here was Drew's convincing argument: "Ada? Do you want to play Star Wars? You can be PRINCESS Leah!" Pretty good Drew . . . appeal to the princess in her . . . Unfortunately it didn't work. So then Drew says, "Ada! Princes Leah is really Rich! . . . Do you want to be Princess Leah and be really rich?" . . . Not bad . . . but Ada wasn't too interested. Drew told us yesterday that he knew what he was going to be when he grew up. We asked him what that was and he said, "When I grow up, I am going to ge a King!" He then went on to say that "If I were a King I would be rich and I could do whatever I wanted." We tried to explain to him that if he were a King he would have all sorts of responsibilities and he would have to lead a country and make all sorts of hard decisions . . . etc. To which he responded, "Ya . . ., I'll still be a king." We started laughing at that. So that is where the appeal to riches originated from. The last one was the best though. "Ada! Princess Leah has a gun!" . . . He totally lost her on that one. Funny kids. Super Hayden won this battle.