What's in a Name?

Daddy's home! Brian has been gone to California since Tuesday, and for two little boys (and mom), that is entirely too long. It was a bit of a stressful week for him to be gone because of everything we had going on last week, but we managed and everything worked out pretty well.

I must admit though, it was rather discouraging to get a call from Brian in the middle of the week as he drove through the canyons and hills of Malibu in his good friend's Porsche 911 convertible while I was at home convincing Nathan that there is nothing funny or proper about going potty on the living room (or bathroom or bedroom) floor. However, I am glad that Brian was able to go to the lectureship and to some really good classes. It gave him a chance to be filled spiritually, as well as gain some useful tools to use in his ministry. As an added benefit, he was able to spend a little time with his good friend, Nathan and his wife and kids.

I am very thankful for Nathan and Brian's friendship with Nathan. It is one of those friendships that has lasted through time and they are really more like brothers than friends. Since we don't live close to them, Brian and Nathan just don't get to see each other very often. Although they get to talk on the phone, it just isn't the same as when they get to see each other and spend time together. Brian walks away from those times with Nathan renewed and ready to face the world. (I know; it sounds corny worded like that, but I don't know how else to describe it.)

Now, if you haven't already guessed this, our little Nathan is named after the best friend Nathan. Names are really important to me. I read an article the other day about how your name tells if you are going to be successful, and honestly, I just don't buy into that kind of stuff. However, I do think that it is neat to be named after someone special to the family.

Both of my boys are named after people who mean the world to us. David is named after my grandpa, who was my hero and mentor, and Nathan's (the best friend Nathan, that is) dad, who baptized Brian and played a big role in Brian's conversion and spiritual walk. Then his middle name comes from Brian's uncle, who was more like a father to Brian. With Nathan, we knew even before I became pregnant with him that, if we had another son, we would name him Nathan.

Both my boys have big names to live up to. We don't care if they are successful in the eyes of the world, but we hope they walk in the knowledge that they were named after men that we love and respect very much. We hope that we teach them the qualities that these men possess and how to impact others in the way these 4 men have impacted us.

Right now though, the only thing they associate with these great names is how I say them when they are in serious trouble!

What Do Mommies Do?

Kids are so humbling. David was walking around with a clipboard this morning making up checklists. (Sorry Brian, I did not mean for him to inherit the list gene!)

He came up to me and said, "I am making a checklist for you. What do mommies do?"

So I asked a rather dangerous question: "What do you think mommies do?"

Here is his checklist in the order he told them to me:

1. Put on makeup
2. Get dressed
3. Dry hair
4. Brush teeth
5. Spit the toothpaste out of mouth
6. Make lunch
7. Make supper
8. Make dinner
9. Play croquet

At the beginning of the list, I was nodding and agreeing with him. When he got to number 8, I did ask him how many meals he thought we ate in a day. I get the impression that dinner is his fancy word for a snack.

Number 9 just made me laugh. I asked him if he even knew what croquet was. He was a little put off by my laughing and responded, "I know what croquet is! It is....well, you....what is croquet?"

Since I am already ready for the day, have spit the toothpaste out of my mouth, and it is not time for lunch yet, I guess I will break out the ol' croquet set and go do whatever you do when you play croquet.

I Am in Charge

I never knew that 5 year olds felt such a need to be in charge of something. In the past couple of days, David has been telling me, "Well, those are my toys and I am in charge of them" or "That's my room and I am in charge of it." Usually these comments are made after he is told to pick up his toys in the living room or his bedroom. My motherly response has been that if you are in charge of something, then you are supposed to take care of it and put it away when you are done with it. (If only I would practice what I preach!)

Today, Nathan walked in the room wearing a pair of David's Rescue Hero underwear. They were HUGE and were sagging almost to his knees. I started laughing and told him that he had on a pair of David's underwear instead of his own underwear. He told me he wanted to wear super hero underwear today so he had picked some out from David's drawer. I guess Bob the Builder just wasn't cutting it today.

David then walked over to him and looked a little more closely at the underwear. I thought that there was going to be a big fight over the fact that Nathan was wearing David's underwear since David has become quite protective of his stuff recently. I quickly told Nathan that he needed to take off David's underwear and put on a pair of his own underwear.

David put up his hand to stop me and said, "No, it's okay. He can wear them if he wants. They are my underwear and I am in charge of my underwear."

What?! Who in their right mind wants to be in charge of underwear? I think I need to work on finding some more normal things for him to be in charge of. In the meantime, I should let him know that there is some underwear in the laundry basket in the boys' bathroom that needs to be washed, dried, folded and put away.

The Sky is Banging!

Last night, we had some serious thunderstorms. Needless to say, I had two scared little visitors who were not impressed by the amount of lightening and thunder going on outside their windows in the wee hours of the morning. David made his way to our room first and snuggled in next to me for safety. About 30 minutes later, Nathan trotted in, poked me in the arm, and said, "The sky is banging out there and it is too loud for my ears." I asked him if he was scared and he nodded. So he climbed in bed too, and everyone was safe.

Well...everyone, but me. You see, Nathan is a nightmare to sleep with. He doesn't often make his way into our room and climb into bed, but when he does, my patience is tested beyond belief. He flops around, pokes me in the face, messes with my hair, lays on top of my arm...and that is what he does in the first five minutes. From there it just goes downhill until I return him to his bed.

After about 15 minutes, I told him that if he touched me again I was sending him back to his own bed. I felt bad because I know that he was really frightened from the storm, but I desperately needed more sleep at 4:00 in the morning. So, what does he do? He leaves me alone and starts picking on David. How typical!

Now I Know My ABC's

Nathan was singing his ABC's tonight and came up with a version that I have never heard of before. This is how it goes:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - K - E - L - M - N - O - P

Q - R - S - T - U - B - W - X - Y AND B

NOW I WONDER WHERE YOU ARE

NEXT TIME YOU CAN BE L - M - N - O - P

(He may not have it all right, but at least he can rhyme!)

And to give David his fair share of blog time, here is his version of the Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
United States of America
to the hall which it stands
one mention, under God, invisible
with liberty and justice for all.

Here Comes the Cleaning Bunny

Easter weekend was a whirlwind of activity at our house. We started it off with a Spring cleaning of sorts. Ever since we moved, there has been a bunch of "stuff" in our garage that we have needed to go through. There were boxes from every room in the old house containing that junk you just can't live without even though it hasn't been touched in the past six months. So, I had a "great" idea. I decided we were going to do a clean sweep of the stuff in the garage.

Now, if you haven't seen Clean Sweep on TLC, you have missed out. It is a show with a team of people including Peter, a master organizer and declutterer, and an interior decorator, carpenter, and a bunch of helpers. This group of people work with the homeowners to declutter 2 rooms and completely redo them. So, I am thinking, "It's just one garage. We can go through all the stuff in a day." (First mistake!) So, we get up Saturday. I put the sheets on the ground for the keep, toss and give-away piles. Then I decide that we probably need to make it even more organized by sorting our keep pile by room in the new house so we don't have to sort through it twice. (Second Mistake!)

We carry all the stuff to the back yard and the boys go nuts looking through all of it and grabbing stuff that they must have. I never knew they had so many favorite toys! We sort and sort and sort and sort. It just never ends. We had stuff all over our back yard. It was the most horrific thing I have chosen to do!

The end result...We have stuff to put away in EVERY room of our house. We have a ton of stuff to get rid of and probably need to have a garage sale to accomplish that. I ended up with a horrible sunburn. One of my arms is so sunburned that it turned purple, which I don't think is normal.

So, the next time I have a "GREAT" idea, I am going to go hide in my closet or something. Yes, I am glad that we have sorted through stuff and this is one of our few weekends that we could get it done. The problem is that I really thought we could get everything done Saturday and Sunday, and...well...to put it nicely, that did not happen! The moral of the story is either don't accumulate so much junk or don't believe what you see on T.V.

The state of our house left the poor Easter Bunny wading through a bunch of stuff to leave Easter baskets for the boys. Nathan proceeded to eat all the chocolate in his basket for breakfast Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church. (Sorry Sunday school teachers!) During rest time, he snuck into David's room and ate all of David's chocolate. (Sorry David and Christian Soldiers teachers!) Our house was so messy that we drove down to the Big City for lunch and a somewhat relaxing afternoon before evening services. It was a busy, but fun day!

Hope all of you had a clean, decluttered and fun Easter weekend!

When It Rains...It Pours...AND Floods

I think it is going to take us at least a week to recover from the events of yesterday and today! Brian was gone all of yesterday and most of today. The boys and I are expecting him back any moment now and let me tell you, it won't be a second to soon! I don't know what it is about Brian being gone, but every time disaster strikes and it's always a test of my coping skills!

Things were going pretty well Friday until a little after 5:00 p.m. I had gotten some laundry done, cleaned the house, worked on my online class and was getting ready to grade some papers when it happened. For the second time of being in this house, my washing machine overflowed. What a mess! And of course, it happened right after 5:00 when our appliance repair guy had already left for the day...actually, had left for the weekend. So, I cleaned up the mess and emptied the water from the washing machine and was left with a ton of soaking wet towels to wring out and dry.

This was all on a day when, if you read the last post you know that neither boy took a nap. So, in addition to having a flood in my laundry room, I had two grouchy little boys. The mess was not horrible though, and I got it cleaned up, fed the boys, put them to bed about 7:00 p.m. and settled into my comfy chair in the living room to get some work done.

Well...not quite. Nathan started coughing...and coughing...and coughing. I checked on him several times and then finally had him come sit with me. Needless to say, I didn't get just a ton of sleep last night.

The dawn of Saturday would surely bring a more relaxing and less eventful day, right?

Wrong! Around 8:00 a.m., Nathan accidentally pulled David's arm out of socket helping him up off the floor. (or as David says, "My arm got sock-ed) I got David calmed down, and then started rushing around to get everybody ready to go. I also had the great dilemma as a parent. Do I wait until 9:00 when the clinic opens to be able to take David to a pediatrician who he knows and is going to be more comfortable with or do I take him to the Emergency Room? Knowing that David would probably handle the doctor's office better and seeing that he was staying pretty calm, I opted for the clinic.

David wanted to tell his Daddy about his arm while I was getting everybody ready, so we called Brian, filled him in on the injury, and then headed to the doctor's office. David did remarkably well; however, even after the doctor said it felt like it was back in the socket and the x-ray looked good, David was still in a lot of pain. I convinced him to put on the sling that the doctor gave us and thought the soreness would get better in a few hours. I even called my mom to see how long it used to bother me after my arm would come out of socket.

Now, seven hours later, it still hurts bad when he moves it the least little bit. The doctor told us if he was still having problems tomorrow to take him to the Emergency Room to have them try to put it in socket again and if that didn't work, he would need to see an orthopedic doctor. So, it looks like tomorrow may be an exciting day too. (As Aunt Judy would say, "Bless his heart!")

As an extra bonus, while I was typing this, Nathan proudly came and told me to come see what he had done in my bathroom. The sweet boy had cleaned part of the floor with a scrubbing brush...and toilet water. (Did I mention that he had just gone the bathroom in the toilet?) I guess I now need to go mop my bathroom floor!

Calgon, take me away!

Naptime...A Horrid Thing

Naptime has become a difficult thing at our house...again. Nathan has always been a fairly good napper. We have had short periods of time where he tried to assert his independence and refuse to take a nap, but he has now reached that stage where he almost doesn't need that nap (almost being the key word). If he doesn't have it, life is a nightmare from about 5:00p.m. until bedtime. The key is convincing him to fall asleep because he tries everything to keep himself awake. Today was the ultimate naptime moment!

The first time that Nathan came out from his room, he said, "Look mommy. I need to wear my yah-yo's." (Yah-yo's translated is overalls.) I took off the yah-yo's and sent him back to bed.

The next time he came back, he was wearing every pair of clean underwear from his drawer...all 12 of them. It then took 5 minutes for him to get all the underwear off and for him to get climb back into to bed. This episode came with a stern warning that he needed to close his eyes and go to sleep...or else!

Well, about 10 minutes later I hear the door open. Nathan walks out very slowly with his eyes closed, and he is snoring. He walks over to me with eyes still closed and snoring loudly. I walk him back to bed while he kept his eyes closed and snored even louder. I make him climb up in bed and he never once opened his eyes. I think he thought he had me fooled...or at least his hysterical laughing when I closed the door suggested that.

Oh my! At least I am still two steps ahead of this one...well, for now that is!

Little Gems

You know how people say things that just stick with you forever? Sometimes they are funny; sometimes they are little nuggets of wisdom. Here are some funny little gems from the boys:

David: In his prayer Sunday night..."And thank you that our house wasn't blown away by the tormado." (And I didn't mean to type tornado. He really calls them tormadoes.)

Nathan: Monday morning when he woke up..."MOMMY, it stopped raining. It's not night anymore. The floods came up." (They are studying Noah and the Ark in Bible class.)

Nathan: Every other morning..."Mommy, it's today! Get up mommy...you can do it!"

David: Looking at Carissa (his girlfriend) with an awed look on his face while at Playworld at his birthday party..."She's so beautiful!"

David: After I tucked in his shirt..."Can I unplug my shirt when I get to school?"

Nathan: After I asked him if he was daddy's boy..."Yes, and you are my girl!"

Nathan: After being asked NOT to go potty in the bathtub..."But I like it. It's fun!"

Confessions of a (crazy) Mom

I stooped to a new low last week when Brian was out of town. Nathan and I were out running errands and he announced he had to go the bathroom. We were nowhere near a bathroom, and I didn't really think it would be appropriate to stop and let him go potty in someone's front yard. (Call me crazy!) I knew I had to think fast because when Nathan has to go, he HAS TO GO! He had been having a lot of accidents in the days leading up to this, so I knew I really needed to prevent a bad situation.

This is the point that the story starts going downhill...

I remembered that I had seen a cup in the car, and I thought, "I can use the McDonald's cup and everything will be okay, right?" WRONG! I got out of the car, threw open the van door, and the cup was gone. (Since when did I start throwing the trash in my van away?) All I could find that would even remotely work was a Sippee cup. I thought about having him go on the parking lot, but there were too many witnesses. So, I did the unthinkable, I rationalized the use of the sippee cup. After all, I can thoroughly wash and then sanitize a sippee cup through the boiling process. And this was an EMERGENCY. So, I then had Nathan go potty in the sippee cup. At some point while he was peeing in the cup, he looked at me and said, "This is so much fun!"

So, where does this leave us now...

First, I tried boiling the sippee cup and it melted in my pan.

Second, Nathan is now even more obsessed with his bodily functions than before this incident. He actually told me a couple of days ago that he had made two big poopies...one looked like his daddy and one like him and they were so cute. (I am not sure we will ever be able to pay for enough counseling for this kid!)

Last, and probably the most frightening, I would probably do it again if I had to. (Maybe I am the one that needs the counseling.)

The Birthday Bash

I know what you are thinking...I have not posted in a LONG time. Life has been crazy and I honestly have not had a lot of extra time. In my defense, I did try to post once, but our internet went down and I lost everything.

So, to catch you up real quick -- My cousin is now back home after his surgery. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. They did have to cut his nerve, so he has no feeling on the left side of his face, but it seems like the pain is being managed with medicine right now, which is an answer to many prayers. Thanks to everyone for the emails and for praying for him!

At our house, we had a BIG day yesterday. David celebrated his 5th birthday. Man, talk about time flying. It seems like it was just yesterday when we brought him home from the hospital. I pulled out some of his baby pictures and showed them to David. We talked about bringing him home from the hospital and how much we adored him. He loved it.

I also thought to myself about all that happened along the way to get him to this day from the tough pregnancy with 3 months of bedrest, being told he might have Down's Syndrome, the emergency c-section delivery, the problems he had after birth with his blood sugar and eating to the "growing-up" problems that have made us worry, cry or pull our hair in frustration. I don't know if I thought about all this because David turning 5 just seems so impossible or if it was because I really saw him yesterday and was so thankful for him and being at this point with him.

I have always thought that David was a kind-hearted little boy, but he truly showed me his heart yesterday. He offered to let Nathan help him open presents and even said he could have one if he wanted. David and I went on a date for lunch and talked about growing up. He told me that when he grows up he wants to be a Big Kid (a.k.a teenager like the ones in the youth group) and a race car driver. He thanked me all day for everything we did. The moment that touched me the most though was when he blew out the candles. I asked him if he made a wish and he said, "I wish that I will stay with Daddy and Mommy and Nathan forever!"

If I could bottle up time, this would be one of those moments I would keep forever. I would pull it out when he is throwing a fit or yelling at his brother, just to remind me of how thankful I really am for him rather than getting caught up in the frustration of the moment. He is a blessing.

So to my dear, sweet David, you will always be with me and Daddy and Nathan forever because you touch us with your kind heart every day. But, if you want to live with good ol' Dad and Mom for forever, then you better get paid a lot as a race car driver because we charge a lot for rent!

Some of the Greatest Superheroes

As I write this post, my cousin, Doug, is in surgery to remove a tumor from his trigeminal nerve. The tumor is right in the center of his head between his brain and his brain stem. It is serious stuff and all of your prayers on his behalf would be greatly appreciated.

Doug's surgery started at 9:18 a.m. and will probably last 6 to 8 hours. They will biopsy the tumor, but right now the doctors are pretty confident it is benign. The main concern is that he could have permanent double vision and hearing loss. The doctors are not sure if the feeling will come back in his face and there is the possibility that the pain could get worse, which seems . So, please, please, please...offer up prayers for his health and for there to be no complications. These doctors are good, but God is better and is in charge right now.

Doug has obviously been on my mind a lot lately, and it has taken me on a trip down memory lane. Doug is my oldest cousin and we are 11 years apart. (I am the youngest of the family.) In between the two of us are his three younger sisters and then my older brother. The six of us spent our summers at my Grandparents farm in Nebraska and we sort of grew up with each other. We played together, put on programs with crazy skits together, worked together, had adventures together, teased each other and fought with each other. I think that we would all say that we love each other very much. My cousins seem more like siblings than cousins to me. I have spent my life idolizing each and every one of them as well as my brother, all for different reasons.

I can vividly remember hearing my cousins and older brother sing all the words to THE most popular songs of the late 70's and early 80's and getting so frustrated with myself because I didn't know the words and had a hard time even understanding what the words to the songs actually were. I thought that they were so cool, and I wanted to be cool just like them. I only cared about knowing the words because they did. (Looking back it is kind of frightening that this mattered to me, but you can't reason with a pre-teen girl.) I also remember how I was in awe of Doug because he was soooo adventurous. He would try anything, and I was always a little more on the cautious side (otherwise known as the boring kid). Now I have Nathan who reminds me of Doug on almost a daily basis!

As all of us have grown older and started our own families, we just don't get to see as much of each other as I would like. They are all still some of my greatest heroes -- still for different reasons but now also for some of the same reasons. Over the years, my reasons for admiring them have obviously changed. It is not so much about the fact that they know the words to all the songs or will try just about anything anymore. It is now about the character that they show during tough times. With Doug, it is about the way he jokes to keep everybody from worrying about him. It is also about the way they love their kids and how they are raising them to be servants of God. All of my cousins and my brother have seen a lot of good times and a lot of hard times, but they have all upheld the knowledge that God would see them through and be by their sides during the good and the bad.

On this blog, I have shared my boys' favorite superheroes, so now it is time for me to share some of mine. Doug, Sandra, Jane, Linda, and Steve, you are all my superheroes. You have been since the day I was born. Thanks for all you that you have taught me and continue to teach me! Mom and Judy and Larry, you guys were the ones who taught these guys how to use their super powers and become these superheroes. Thanks even more to you!

And for everyone else out there reading this, be sure to tell your superheroes thanks today!

A Nathanism

Quote of the day from Nathan after he spent a little time alone in the bathroom:

"THAT is the biggest poopy I have ever heard!"


Enough said. :-)

Spring Break Super Hero Fun

It is Spring Break and the boys have been playing like crazy. Yesterday, they were pretending to be super heroes. At one point, I saw David dressed in a long-sleeve t-shirt, his batman underwear, a batting glove on one hand and my beanie from when I was a Brownie on his head. Apparently, the outfit is what makes a great superhero. (I am not sure what powers he had, but honestly, I was too afraid to ask with that outfit!)

I have been Spring cleaning and trying to (finally) get all of our stuff put away from the move. I spent the day in David's room purging his collection of paper and reorganizing toys. I had to work hard to convince him that there are small children somewhere with no toys and that he no longer needed the baby toys that had infiltrated his room. He finally agreed and even helped go through some of his toys. After yesterday, I decided that my children have way too many toys, and we really do need to adhere to the "one toy comes in - one toy goes out" rule.

Today, I will work on Nathan's room. While his toys are already a little more organized, Nathan will be working on scrubbing his "artwork" off of the furniture. He so kindly announced this morning that I needed to come quick and look at how he colored his room. He used a colored pencil to color his furniture. He stood there with pencil in hand and asked, "Isn't it beautiful mommy?" I told him that his art was beautiful, but he needed to only color on paper. He then bowed his little head and said, "I am sorry that I colored a beautiful picture on my room." I sort of felt bad until I saw him glance up with a sly little smile and then when he realized I was looking, sobered up quick and bowed his head again. (Note to self: Watch out for that kid!)

Everything I learned this week

I have learned some very valuable things this past week, and I thought I would share them with you.

1. Apparently, I am going to be a grandmother -- David's little girlfriend, Carissa, announced that she is going to have two babies and David is the father. (Oh My!) They will be named Charlie and Lola (FYI -- This is from a show on Disney.) When her mom asked her if David was okay with those names, she said that he would be soon enough. And just in case you are wondering, Carissa informed her parents that she and David would be getting married because David said so. (How's that for a submissive wife?) I don't know how much these kids will enjoy being in Junior High and having parents that are in Senior High, but it will make some good material for the Jerry Springer show.

2. Pupils that are unequal in size can be a bad thing -- Brian had a small collision with a kid in the youth group during a flag football game. The kid was running towards Brian while Brian was diving to catch a ball and the kid's knee hit Brian in the head right at the temple. He had a headache that day, but it became worse the next day. He was kind of whining about it, and I wasn't being real sympathetic until I looked into his eyes and noticed that one pupil seemed rather large and the other seemed rather small. I kindly suggested he rest and call his Aunt Becky who is our favorite neurologist in the world. She advised getting it checked out if he continued having problems because it could be a sign of a more severe brain injury such as bleeding in the brain. Aaaagggghhh! (I think his headache got a little worse after hearing that!) So, the next day he went to the doctor to get his head checked out and walked away with a mild concussion and a great sense of relief. Through this, I did learn that 20-25% of the population's pupils are different sizes all the time. So now, you have also learned something new this week...unless you already knew that.

3. While he is creative, David is not the one to go to if you need a definition for a word -- If you have read much of this blog, you have probably come to the conclusion that David likes to talk. Well, not only does he like to talk, he uses words that he doesn't fully understand the meaning of out of context. Now, in his defense, I did this as a child; however, David has perfected my feeble attempts at using big words by adding a new twist to it. If he gets the least little hint that he has used a word wrong, he will then ask us if we know the definition of the word and then define it for us using his own definition. For example, the other day he said, "We'll have to intact them." I kind of snickered, and before I got a chance to ask him what he meant, he asked, "Do you know what intact means?" I shook my head no and he said it was when people were trying to get something...like when people were trying to get balloons. He then asked me if I knew what Tacky meant. So, I shook my head no again, and he said it is when something bigger is going to happen. It gets really funny when he realizes he said something wrong and then says it is a word in Spanish that means whatever he was intending for it to mean in his sentence. Silly Boy!

and finally...

4. Little boys come up with the best stalling tactics for bedtime -- Our boys have refined the art of stalling at bedtime or naptime. A few of my favorites from Nathan are...
"The puppy is ruffing at me." (referring to the dog next door that likes to bark)
"I can't sleep out there. It's raining." (as if we were going to make him sleep outside in the rain.)
"My pillow is wet/hot/bumpy." (There might be one drop of water from his cup on the pillow and it will always affect his sleeping. He doesn't realize that he drools like a madman while he is sleeping and soaks his pillow during the night.)
David just wraps his all up into one -- "These sounds are trying to keep me awake!"

Like I said, this week has been full of new and exciting revelations. I hope your week has been just as much a learning experience!

His Batteries Are Dead

I have come to an important revelation about toys. Manufacturers have crossed the line in the number of toys produced that require batteries. It has reached the point of insanity when every toy that enters our house requires AA or AAA or C batteries. I remember the good ol' days when toys were extremely special if they required batteries (like the doll that would eat and then wet her pants or my brother's programmable remote control car.)

Now, you may be asking yourself, "How did Stacey come to such an amazing and profound conclusion?" (interpreted to mean, "Will she just get to the point already?!") I realized this because of my children's attitude about batteries. My boys now think that if something doesn't work correctly, it needs new batteries. If there is something wrong with the computer, bathtub, couch, etc., one of them will say, "Maybe it needs new batteries." If I disagree with them or try to explain that the broken item doesn't require batteries, they will just look at me with a look of pity for not understanding the world of battery operated items.

At the end of last week, the boys were playing in the other room and laughing so hard. They came into the room where I was at and I asked David what they were playing. He told me they were playing the battery game. I asked him about the game, so the boys decided to show me the game. Nathan would lay down on the floor and not move at all. David then said, "Nathan your batteries are dead. I will get you some new ones." He then put new batteries into Nathan's back, and Nathan immediately jumped up and started dancing around the room. Then he threw himself back down on the floor. David looked at me and said, "Uh-oh, his batteries are dead again."

A little frightening, isn't it? I think I can use it to my advantage though. Every once in awhile, I threaten the ultimate punishment of taking the batteries out of a toy, and it usually gets the desired results. When they are running around like wild animals, I may have to threaten to take their batteries out if they don't calm down. I'll let you know if it works!

Curious Nathan

In the true spirit of Fun Friday, we had fun until we all dropped yesterday. The boys and I started out the day with a trip to the playground to meet some friends. We then went to the Present Store (a.k.a Dollar Tree) to pick out some fun gadgets with the dollars that Grandma Sandy sent in the boys' Valentine's Day cards. Our next stop was to pick up Daddy for a 2 hour car ride to watch one of the high school girls' teams in the state basketball tournament. (That was a little bit of a hard sell for 2 little guys, but once they found out Rebecca, one of our "Big Kids," was playing, it was a pretty neat thing.) They weren't real excited about a quick stop at a furniture store either, although David thought it would be a great idea to get a couch and TV for his bedroom. (I know men like their toys, but I honestly didn't realize that it started this young!) The ultimate thrill of the day, though, was our last stop at the movie theater to watch Curious George.

If you haven't seen it yet, it is a pretty cute little movie. After it was over, Brian pointed out that it did start a little slow. When he said that to me, I just looked at him with an "Are you serious? Don't you remember that this is a kids' movie?" look. Some people's expectations are just a little too high! The boys seemed to like it though. Keeping in nature with their personalities, David helped to commentate the movie and Nathan sat entranced with a silly little grin on his face.

For me, it was a strange moment of deja vu. About 5 minutes into the movie, I realized that Curious George is the epitome of Nathan. George had the exact same expressions as Nathan, and he even had that same look in his eyes when he was about to get into trouble. It was funny and frightening all at the same time. I looked over at Brian and started to tell him about my revelation, and I didn't even have to complete my sentence. He was already thinking the same thing.

On the way home, the boys conked out pretty quick. After they were asleep, Brian and I started talking about the similarities between Curious George and nathan and laughing at the irony of our lives. I told Brian that during the movie I wondered if I should work harder at seeing the wonders of the world through Nathan's escapades and learn to appreciate his curiosity a little more. I was feeling pretty proud of my deep revelation until Brian responded to my deep thought with, "I was just wondering if animal control could help us at all." Hmmmm...that might not be a bad thing to remember either!

No Monsters Here

A couple of nights ago, Nathan came into our room around 3:00 a.m. and asked, "Mommy can I be with you?" More than just a little groggy, I woke up enough to ask Nathan what was wrong. He responded with "There are monsters rarrrring at me." I could tell he was a little scared, so I did what all the books and child psychologists tell parents not to do. I told him to climb into bed with us. So he clamored over me and snuggled in between Brian and me. Once he was comfy and sufficiently tucked into bed, he looked over at me and said, "Mommy there are no monsters here. I'm not scared anymore." Then with a sweet smile, he drifted off to sleep.

What a great moment! I looked over at Brian so I could share one of those special knowing looks -- you know, the ones that between a husband and a wife that say "Life just couldn't be any better than it is at this moment." Well, he wasn't looking back because he was too busy sawing some serious logs. (And I do mean that it in the most literal sense!) My guess is that unless Nathan ended up sticking a knee in Brian's rib or hitting Brian in the face in all of his tossing and turning, then Brian didn't even know he was there.

The moment was still nice. It reminded me of one summer when I was a little kid. I was staying at my Grandma and Grandpa's farm, and one night I woke up really scared and probably a little homesick. I went into my grandparents' room to get some comfort and Grandma told me to climb in bed with them. I remember laying in between Grandma and Grandpa and feeling so safe because they were sooo big and strong. Looking back, all I can think is how in the world do you fit two adults and a restless, floppy sleeping kid in a full size bed? Poor Grandma and Grandpa! They made it work though, and the memory is great. Maybe Nathan will someday remember feeling safe that night. My guess is that if he does remember it, he will just think, "Man, do my parents snore loud or what?"

The Dark Side

It has been a long time since I have posted. My greatest apologies to the grandmas! We are struggling through some illness that keeps being passed around the family and life has not been normal or productive for the past week and a half.

Through this whole epidemic, I have once again been reminded of the dark side of my children. Now, don't get me wrong. They are great kids, and I love them dearly. However, even in sickness, you can only be truly sympathetic for a reasonable amount of time before those little "quirks" begin to make you a little crazy. Now you may be sitting there saying, "What quirks? They are just sick little boys."

Well, take Nathan for instance. When he is sick, he becomes the most demanding momma's boy you can imagine. He will not allow anyone besides me to touch him, help him or do anything for him, which makes for fun times in our happy little home. The first night that he became really sick, Brian and I were putting him to bed, and he threw up everywhere. While I was comforting Nathan and calming him down, Brian asked what he can do to help. I gave him the option of giving Nathan a bath or cleaning up the mess. Can you guess what he chose? The smart guy went with the easy task of the bath, at least that is what he thought. Nathan screamed his lungs out the entire time I cleaned up the room. Seeing that Nathan was refusing to even get in the tub, I told Brian that I would trade spots with him and asked him to find our little hand held carpet cleaner. As soon as I went into the bathroom, Nathan was all excited about getting a bath and jumped in of his own free will. (Just mildly frustrating to a somewhat edgy dad.)

So, I get Nathan changed and nestled into the big comfy chair in the living room in time to find out the carpet cleaner is leaking. While I am trying to reattach the hose, Nathan yells for some apple juice. I filled the cup, but gave it to Brian to take to Nathan so I could clean the carpet. That was a mistake. The small child began sobbing uncontrollably and yelling, "I want mommy to do it!" The sobbing started the coughing, which resulted in a close call to more throwing up, while poor ol' dad stood there helplessly saying, "Nathan, mommy filled the cup. It's okay. SHE made it."

David, on the other hand, plays up being sick for all it is worth and likes to be waited on hand and foot by anyone and everyone in sight. He has this "sick" voice. You know the one that makes you think he is using his last breath to tell you something. He will say, "I have such a bad cough. I need to see a doctor. I am very sick, and I don't think it would be good for me to ___" and you can fill in the blank with any thing that requires effort or is not fun. He wants to be held and cuddled and fed lots of milkshakes. However, if the illness interferes with anything fun like a birthday party, playing outside, or eating massive amounts of sweets, then the sickness is gone quicker than you can say cough syrup.

So, here you have it -- two little boys with two entirely different personalities in sickness and in health. And don't get me wrong, I did feel sorry for the boys because they were both pretty sick little guys. Besides that, they come by their actions naturally. After all, taking care of two little sick kids and not feeling so hot myself, all I can say is "I Want My MOMMY!"

Yet Another Embarrassment to the Family Name

So, I went to pick Nathan up at "school" today, and you will never believe what I saw. It was Nathan running around the gym trying to get away from his late 60's-early 70-ish teacher, who is chasing him and repeatedly saying, "Nathan, please come back here." I wanted to crawl in a hole, but instead, the mean mom side of me came out.

Imagine Nathan's surprise, when he heard my voice say, "NATHAN ANDREW! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me. Then he gave me a huge grin and kept on running. (That is NOT how it happens in the parenting books!) When I finally got my hands on him, he got in trouble and then had to go apologize to his teacher. She responded to his apology by saying, "You'll obey next time." In a sing-song voice, he said, "I don't think so."

Nathan's teachers have the best attitude about Nathan's "free spirit". All three of them laugh about his candor when it comes to obeying. He will just openly say, "I not going to listen today." Then, he just doesn't listen. Other days, he will say, "I listen today." Then he listens all day. While he does have a little devil side to him, at least he warns you in advance so that you have time to prepare for it!

Now, I would love to blame this trait on Brian, but I don't think Brian was ever like this. I don't think he completely got it from me, but I do know three men in particular from my mom's side of the family who he reminds me of on a daily basis. And that gives me hope because I love and admire those men very much!

For now though, we just try to survive the day in hopes that we will still be able to show our faces at the end of it. If that doesn't work, we always have the option of changing our names!