Eye of the Storm

Friday was an interesting day.  I was trying to prepare for a quiet, nice family dinner because I was preparing to go to the women's retreat all day on Saturday and Mark was leaving for Denver on Sunday.  I decided at about 4:00 that it was a good time to venture to the grocery store with the boys to get what I needed for dinner and get them things to have for lunch the next day.  The store is still a most "ungraceful" outing for me and I pretty much dread it.  The routine I have been working on is to unpack Grayson first and put him in the sling, then get a cart to put Davis in the back of the shopping cart and finally put Parker in the front seat of the grocery cart.  This seems simple enough but for some reason it takes me ten minutes and I feel like other shoppers look at me like I never should have left the house.  Even though Parker is usually the last one I get out of the car, God graciously allowed me to open his door early to reach Davis' shoes.  This was by God's grace because when I shut Parker's door I realized that Davis had locked the doors when I was unloading Grayson leaving my keys, wallet and cell phone locked in the car.  After checking all the doors and trunk twice just to be sure I really was locked out of my car with the three boys and no phone, I walked into Basha's to call Mark.  I didn't need any help feeling extremely flustered, but Davis accentuated the situation in true Davis-drama-fashion by bursting into tears in Basha's customer service saying things like "We are going to be stuck here FOREVER!", "We will NEVER get home" ect . . ect.  Mark said he would be there in about 30 minutes.  While we waited outside in the heat, I tried to get the boys to sit nicely on a bench.  In only about 30 seconds of sitting on the bench, Parker managed to face-plant straight forward cutting/bruising his forehead, nose and lip.  Again . . . more looks from shoppers wondering why I had left the house with three small children to sit on a bench in the AZ heat.  Mark showed up and took us home.  I made a partial dinner while we waited for the locksmith to call.  Mark had to go back to Basha's to pay the man $75 to break into my car.  Then Mark brought the Civic home, walked back to Basha's and finally drove the Acura home.  Needless to say - we did not eat together and Mark's steak dinner was most likely cold and gross by the time he got to it.  I was feeling disappointed and defeated by the events of the three crazy hours.  While I was starting the bedtime routine by bathing Grayson, I came out of the bathroom to find the boys doing this . . . sitting in a chair together . . . Davis reading to Parker (one of Parker's FAVORITE activities.  Seems average enough but it was calm, sweet and so precious to me.  This was the atmosphere I was hoping to create at dinner that I thought had failed miserably.  I was very grateful.  From there we ventured into the busy bedtime routine and the events of Saturday, but this was a quiet, very sweet, unexpected couple of moments.  I actually video taped him reading one story to Parker because it was just so precious - I will try to post it later.  I chose this picture of Parker because I think you can see the bruise that remained across his forehead from the fall.

Just So Cute

I just had to post this because it is "so" Parker.  I have one child (Davis) who absolutely hates pictures more than any other child I know.  My second born, however, walks around the house saying "Cheeeeeeese Mommy" all the time which is his way of asking me to take his picture.  This morning he was asking me to take his picture with these goggles on his head and holding his arms out like an airplane.  So sweet.

Captain Obvious

Parker loves to sit and "hold" Grayson.  He asks to hold "Gaygen" several times a day.

Davis this morning:

D:  "Hey mom, you know my 'light brother' I'm gonna call him the 'old brother'."  

Me: "What do you mean?"

D: "I am going to call the light one 'old brother' and I will call the dark one 'new brother'."

That kid cracks me up.  

Aren't they so cute - I absolutely love them!

Random things:

Parker's favorite words these days:  "I try" (to anything Davis is doing), "No way" (not just 'no' - 'no way' - yes it is special, I hear it a lot while I am nursing, some day this will probably make me laugh), 

D: "Why can't Parker talk?"

Me: "He can talk . . he says lots of things"

D: "Well why does he call me Day-Day . . that is not my name"

Me:  "Okay Mr. Particular"

(Davis didn't really say much until he was speaking in very clear phrase, thus not really talking until after two-years-old - maybe it was an intentional choice.  It wouldn't surprise me.)

Davis was watching a cartoon on t.v.  The dad on t.v. told his son that he would read to him when he was done vacuuming the family room.

D: "WHY is that Daddy vacuuming?  Isn't that CRAZY!"

Oh yes, I am not doing my future daughter-in-law any favors.

This was actually about two weeks ago - but has happened several more times since.  I was nursing Grayson which is always the setting for things to get crazy.  Parker is a "hitter" and we have been trying very hard to teach him otherwise.  I realized that he was coming at Davis with a toy hammer which I know from experience results in Davis getting a pretty good hit.  I tried telling Parker to stop, but when I realized that wasn't going to happen I had to resort to EXCELLENT parenting.  "Davis run".  Davis started to run around the couch.  "Mom, if I stop running Parker is going to hit me," Davis is yelling.  "I know, just keep running until I am done with Grayson," I tell him.  Awesome parenting right.  Well, at least I saved him from injury and they seemed to enjoy the chasing part of the 'game'.  

Again - something I hope makes me laugh in the future . . . 

Two mornings ago I was not looking my best because I hadn't dried my hair after a shower the night before which leaves me with a LARGE amount of frizzy hair.  I cringed when the phone rang and someone from Shea homes told me he was outside my front door to come in and do some repairs that they had not showed up to do two days prior.  It was a pretty sight in my house at 8 am - the boys were in jammies that were covered in breakfast, Parker made a project of spreading out every sheet of newspaper from the paper Mark left on the kitchen table, and I was hardly presentable.  I decided to throw all of my pride out the window and let him come in and do his thing.  When he left, I realized that it was even better than I thought.  I looked in the mirror and was horrified to see that the navy blue shirt I had worn to bed the night before had rings of white around one of my boobs from milk leaking.  I am sure he was horrified.  Oh well. . . . .

First Smiles

This picture is about a week old - so not current to the story - but Davis doesn't always take a picture.  This morning (9/11) I was running around like crazy to get ready before Parker woke up (he is my "sleeper-inner").  Davis and Grayson were laying on my bed.  Davis is very sweet to him.  He lays with him and talks to him.  This morning Davis got so excited because Grayson gave him a big smile.  It was the first time Grayson has ever looked at someone and smiled (other than the "fake" baby kind).  It was very sweet and so precious to me that Davis was so excited to see Grayson responding, in a very small way, to him.  

Makutu's Island Craziness

Crazy and more crazy!!

Parker's attempt to copy the big boys.

Sweet, sweet boy!

On the machines - so much fun to play up here?

We were going to go to the play center today but were trying to think of an outing that would last longer than the short round of mall excitement.  We decided to go to Makutu's Island and it was great because we were the only people there for most of the visit.  The boys could literally run around like total crazies and it didn't bother anyone.  Of course with ten boys under the age of four we did turn the eyes of some of the staff but that's okay.  One guy came to change the tickets on the skee-ball machine and found about five of the boys standing on the skee-ball ramp.  "Are they ALL boys?" he asked.  Oh yes . . and "all boy" they are.  I thought the funny face pictures at lunch pretty much captured it all.  

18 Months (Parker) and 2 Weeks (Grayson)

Brothers . . . seriously?

Parker is 18 months old and Grayson is 2 weeks old.  We went to the doctor this week.  It was just me and the three boys - which was an adventure in itself.  Parker was 26.4 lbs (60%) and 35.5 inches (100%).  Grayson was 10.1 lbs and 23 inches (both 97%).  Sorry for the boring blog info, but due to the fact that I have not made a single page of Parker's baby book - I don't see myself starting on Grayson's until he is well into elementary school so I am hoping to log this info away until I get there.  Both boys got "stuck" - Parker a shot and Grayson had blood work.  I don't recommend having two children that need to be comforted at the doctor at the same time.  The nurse actually asked me if I had any pacifiers for my kids when she was trying to finish Grayson.  I don't even think I responded to the question.  Overall, it was a memorable experience.  Later, I was thinking about how grateful I am that I have two very healthy boys.  It is easy for me to be frustrated with trying to get them in and out of the doctor's office and forget that God has blessed us with three healthy, happy little boys that I get to be home with everyday.  I don't want to take that for granted.