Dragon Babies

They kids all have such adorable imaginations, and they are all so different.

Charlotte plays "house" with her babies all day long. She carries around this one baby and this little pillow all day. The baby, and the pillow, have to go everywhere with us.

Porter has his own language. He makes up words for everything that sound like gibberish. For example, apparently "blukie" means soup. Don't ask.

Paxton will play with his action figures and robots and cars and trucks all day long. I can hear him in the other room making up these elaborate stories about what all of his characters are doing.

One day several weeks ago, Porter and Paxton were playing behind this chair in my bedroom for what seemed like forever. Paxton would come out from behind the chair and bark some orders at Porter to stay behind and "protect the babies." When they are playing so nicely and independently like this I don't want to say a word to them as not to distract them from this pleasant play. Finally, I had to know what was going on, so I asked Paxton what they were doing behind the chair. "We are protecting our dragon babies." I looked back behind that chair and what do you think was back there...about 500 Q-tips! Apparently the Q-tips were their dragon babies and Porter was the mommy and Paxton was, of course, the daddy. Needless to say, the term dragon babies stuck.

I was talking to my mom the other day telling her about the doctor's appointment I had just finished up with the boys, "Well they have a virus, I guess. The nurse stuck that dragon baby up their nose and they tested negative for the flu."

Scott's ear was itching the other day and I saw him scratching it. I said, "what's wrong with your ear?" He replies, "it is itching like crazy. I wish I had a dragon baby so I could scratch it on the inside."

Porter, having to go back to the doctor still sick, says, "please mommy, don't let them stick that dragon baby back up my nose!!!"

So if you ever hear me refer to a dragon baby, at least you are up to speed on the terminology now!

Unconditional Love

The day Scott and I got married I didn't think I could love him any more than I did that day. We spent the first year of dating just staring at each other. Seriously, we would just sit there...and stare at each other. We spent the next year talking a little more and staring a little less, which made me love him even more. I knew unconditional love before I met Scott from my family and friends, but this was a different kind of love than I had ever felt before.

Then we had Paxton. The unconditional love I once knew had changed again. It is unexplainable. Of course, I loved Paxton more than I could have ever imagined and now I loved Scott in a different way than before too. My heart was overflowing.

When I was pregnant with Porter I was so scared. I thought there was no way I could love another child the way I loved Paxton. Then he was born. And sure enough, oh my goodness, did I seriously have 2 perfect children and a husband that I was crazy about?

And then comes Charlotte. This is getting too good to be true. I cried pretty much my whole pregnancy with Charlotte. I wondered if it was the extra estrogen inside my body, but seriously, I was just so in shock at how wonderful it was that we were having another baby...and a baby GIRL at that.

And now I know unconditional love like never before. It is something that I can't describe in any other way.

Scott and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage next month. We dated for 2 years before that. 10 years we have been together. I am 30 years old. I have spent one third of my life with Scott. Experiencing this love like no other. Watching my heart grow and change in ways I didn't know existed. My love for Scott, my love for my children, and my love for God have grown by leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. I can't wait to see what the next 10 will bring.

Thank You Mother Nature

It has been so beautiful! We have taken full advantage of the beautiful weather going to eat lunch outside at Whole Foods, going to the park, driving with the windows down and the music up! It has been the best January I remember in a long time. I am not much for snow or cold weather so the 60+ degrees is just fine with me!

What a great way to start the new year!

Awe, tute mommy!!!

We have always wondered if Charlotte is going to be a girly girl or a tomboy. With two older brothers the potential to be a tomboy is extremely high. But with a mother like me... it could go either way.

She is rough and tumble, but the girl LOVES girl stuff. She is always going through my makeup and putting on my lipstick. She loves her baby dolls and she loves shoes. Every time she sees my toenails painted or sees me with lipstick on she says, "Awe, tute mommy!"

So today when I got home from my pedicure and she saw my polish change she takes one look and says, "Awe, tute mommy! I too! I too!" and runs into the bathroom. So what was a girl to do but paint her little piggys!!!

I Whim

The boys started swim lessons this week. They both did really well and seemed to like it. I was surprised at how they don't waste any time putting them under on the first day. I have high hopes that they can swim by the time summer rolls around. I am highly paranoid around water, so having 2 of the 3 swimming would greatly calm my nerves this year. We shall see.

**Disclaimer: I realize that these pictures are horrible because of the glare of the flash off of the glass, but hey at least I remembered my camera!**

I was most dreading dealing with Charlotte during the 30 minute lesson. Charlotte LOVES to swim. She asks on a daily basis to go swimming. Some mornings the first thing to come out of her mouth is, "I whim. Go bye bye. Go poo." I knew that her feelings were going to be so hurt that she didn't get to swim with the boys. The lesson started out like this...

Luckily there was a vending machine and I bribed her with a huge bag of fruit snacks. Note to self: come equipped with $.85 to every swim lesson. I really do feel bad for her, but you have to be 3 years old. I am going to have to figure out a way to get this girl in a pool some time soon! The girl loves to "whim!"

Laughing at The Letter Show

Paxton knew his ABC's by the time he was 15 months old. At 18 months he could identify every letter of the alphabet in no particular order. We had all of these fridge magnet letters and you would say to him, "Paxie, go find mommy the X," and he would run in there and grab it and bring it to you. Everyone who witnessed it couldn't believe it.

He also has an incredible memory for numbers and vocabulary. It would always shock strangers in the grocery store, for instance, when he was a baby and people would ask how old he was. This little boy would say, "Um 16 months." And then when he was 17 months and 18 months and so on, he knew that too.

I am pretty sure Paxton has a photographic memory. This doesn't surprise me because I do too. People have always thought I was smart because I did well in school. It wasn't because I was smart, necessarily, I just have a really good memory so I did well on tests. As a result of his photographic memory, Paxton has pretty much every book that we own memorized. And I'm not talking the short little dinky books. I am talking the Bearnstein Bears and Dr. Seuss books. EVERY ONE OF THEM! To the point if you say the instead of that he will correct you. Because of this he has been able to read since he was barely 4. He knows quite a lot of site words and can sound things out bizarrely well.

Because of all of this I forget he is just a little 4 year old boy sometimes. Our Pediatrician in OKC always used to tell me, "Since Pax is so verbal you will always have to remind people that he is only 3 or only 4. Emotionally he is just a little boy." I do have to remind myself of this from time to time, but he does a good job or reminding me of this too. He is a silly little boy. He gets his giggle box turned on and can't turn it off. This gets me to laughing, which gets Charlotte and Porter laughing and then we are all cracking up and half the time me and the other kids don't even know why.

Tonight we were watching Wheel of Fortune. My sis and I have always loved The Wheel and because of Paxton's love of letters he has always loved it too. He was just a little boy and would ask if we "could watch the letter show." For some reason the dummy's could not figure out the puzzles tonight. One of the before and after puzzles was "Just in the nick of time magazine." This guy guesses "just in the nick of time machine." WRONG! I see Paxton's eyebrows narrow and can tell he is concentrating really hard and then he says, "just in the nick of time ham sandwich." WHAT?!?!?! I start cracking up, he starts cracking up, the other two join in, and we are laughing until we cry for about 5 minutes. I don't know why I thought that was so funny, but we laughed on and off about that ham sandwich comment the rest of the night. He was really proud of himself for making everyone laugh.

Everyone is good at something. Some people are good at sports, some people are good with tools, some people are good at art. Paxton is good with words and numbers, but he could care less. What he wants to be is funny!

December

I am a horrible photographer. This is the best photo I got of all 3 together over the holidays! Seriously?!?! I need some help. I keep telling Scott I need a fancy camera, I think that is the problem! :)

December was so packed full of fun stuff I feel the need to document it here...

We wrapped up gymnastics. The boys had their last class of the session and, unfortunately, we won't be doing gymnastics in the spring. We are going to start swim lessons so hopefully by the time summer rolls around the boys will be stronger swimmers. Since I don't like to have the boys in too many activities at once, we decided to take a break from gymnastics while we do swimming. They absolutely LOVED gymnastics though and will pick it up again in the summer. And they LOVED their coaches. One of the coaches happens to be my sister's best friend since childhood who has known me since birth. Pretty cool for my kids to get to know her better and for them to learn from her. Loved the experience.

Paxton had his Christmas program at school. It was adorable. They sang 6 songs and did such a wonderful job. The only bad part is that Pax was sick as a dog! The weather was changing back and forth from cold to warm and this always gets him coughing. I took him to the doctor and she gave him some steroids for his asthma. He had a bit of a reaction to the steroid and it was making him feel crummy, not to mention he was as pale as a ghost. He did a great job though and I was very proud. Of course I was choking back tears the whole time looking at my big boy up there. Luckily I didn't lose it since I would have looked like a total goober crying at the Christmas program.

We went to OKC a few days before Christmas so I could have some much needed time with my girlfriends. I went to dinner with friends 2 nights and it was such a blessing to spend time with some of the best people I know! Nobody in the world has better girlfriends than I do. Seriously, I don't know what I would do without these people.

While we were there we went to the zoo and went to see Santa. We spent some great time with my mom and dad and the kids had a total blast. The only bad thing is that our Baby Avery was sick, sick, sick. After a sky high fever and a trip to the ER she was feeling good enough to spend some time playing with the cousins on Christmas Eve, thank God.

We also checked into the Hampton Inn in downtown OKC so the kids could swim and feel like they had a little vacation. The only problem is that somehow we managed to get out of town without Paxton's swimsuit in the pool bag. I was in the bathroom getting my suit on and I hear all hell breaking loose in the room. I go out and find Pax having a nervous breakdown over the swimsuit. I felt awful. He was so looking forward to this swimming experience and all we had in the pool bag for him to swim in was this...

Being the perfect little angel he is, he sucked it up and had a blast. I really couldn't stop laughing the whole time we were swimming. I also felt like I needed to explain to everyone at the pool why he was wearing this goofy looking swimsuit. He is so sweet that the next morning when we were getting ready to go swimming he said, "I really still miss my other swimsuit, but I had a good time in this one yesterday so I guess I'll wear it again. Just this one last time." I love that kid so much it's crazy.

We headed back to Tulsa where Santa Claus came to visit. This was a super fun year for the whole Santa thing. Pax was super into it and Porter loved it too.

We went to Scott's mom's house and had Christmas over there on Christmas Day. The kids love to play with their cousins, and it was really warm for December so they got to play outside a little too. It was awesome!

We wrapped up the month of December and 2011 with a quick dinner of sushi for me and Scott and then home to play with the kids and ring in the new year as a family. Pax really wanted to stay up until midnight so we let him try. Porter was out by 1030. Paxton hung in there until about 1115 and then started asking every 2 minutes what time it was. At about 1120 he dozed off on the couch and sprung up really quick to say, "I think I fell asleep for a second on accident. What time is it?" We told him it was midnight and kissed him happy new year and put him in bed. It was a perfect ending to 2011 and beginning to 2012.

Throughout the whole month we were all battling colds and croup and ear infections and snot galore, but we had such a fantastic month it is definitely one for the books.

I was thinking tonight while I was watching the kids play in the backyard that every day of my life is better than the one before. I am not one for "resolutions," but this year I am going to show my gratitude for this amazing life better. I am going to soak up every minute of everything and praise God for all the amazing gifts bestowed upon me more than ever before. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Everything!

Just let Charlotte do what she wants

Charlotte has a little bit of a reputation for getting her way. The boys both threw their fair share of fits when it came to getting what they want, but I guess I wasn't near as exhausted at this point in my life and made it a point to NOT let them get away with it.

Charlotte, on the other hand, I give in...every single time almost. There is usually a lot going on in the grocery store, for instance, when Charlotte starts in screaming "SNACK!!! SNACK!!!" so I will find what it is she wants and just hand it to her. With the boys I would stop in the middle of the grocery store and do the whole, "Please do not yell at mommy. How do you ask nicely? Can you practice using your nice inside voice and ask mommy again for a snack." Now I just rip open the package and start handing her stuff. Anything really. And I think the boys are starting to pick up on this.

Today the boys ate a great dinner. When they were finished they asked for some chocolate chips. As I started pouring some in a bowl for the boys Charlotte runs over and asks for some too. I look in Charlottes bowl and she hasn't eaten anything really. I say to her, "No Charlotte, only kids who eat their dinner get to have dessert." She of course starts screaming, "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" Paxton turns to me and says, "Mommy, just give Charlotte what she wants." Really?!?!? Busted. I guess I am going to have to start sticking to my guns a little bit better!

But this sweet little face gets me every time! Especially when she says, "PEASSSSSSE!?"