Just hit her back!

Porter was getting all of his markers and paint perfectly set up so he could enjoy craft time. Charlotte comes over to do what she does best, destroy Porter's perfect arrangement. If she just glances in the direction of where he is sitting, and he knows what she is up to, he will start screaming bloody murder. This gets her even more revved up to complete her path of destruction. She runs over there with her arm cocked back in the "I'm going to hit you" position, and in 2 seconds flat she performs her perfect follow through. Porter is still screaming, but just taking it like the sweet little dude he is. Never on earth would he think of hitting her back. I was across the room with my hands full of something and couldn't get over to the slugfest in time. Porter looks at me with this look in his eyes like "what do I do?!?!" so I say, "Porter, just hit her back." This is not our conventional approach to problem solving, but I kinda felt sorry for the little guy getting beat up by his little sister, and quite honestly we go with other forms of discipline to get her to stop hitting with little to no luck so I thought that maybe that might work. If she got whacked back just one time maybe she would STOP!

Charlotte, still slugging away, Porter, still taking it, looks at me again with those eyes. I say, "Porter, just hit her back!" He looks at me funny and takes his hands and turns her around and hits her on the back! He had no idea of this concept of retaliation and took my words quite literally. He whacks her on the back and she whacks him back. He looks at her again, turns her around, and hits her on the back once again. By this time I had cleared my hands and ran over to stop the madness, all the while dying laughing.

I love that my sweet little dude would never even think to hit his baby sister. Good thing because we will not be using this method in the future. Apparently that just fuels Charlotte's fire to hit harder. We will be going back to time out!

5

Paxton,

You are 5 years old. 5! 5 years old! I can't believe it! 5 puts you into a whole different category of life. You really are a big boy now! And I could not be more proud of the big boy that you are.

The thing about you that makes me most proud is your kind heart. You are patient, you are kind, and you are considerate, even at 5 years old. You listen. You try so hard at everything you do. You are amazing.

I cried the whole day of your birthday this year. Tears of joy. Tears of disbelief. I know it sounds so cliche, but I just don't know where the last 5 years have gone. It seems like today I woke up and all of a sudden you were a 5 year old little boy. You are no longer the tiny baby we brought home from the hospital that had a tummy ache and was so uncomfortable, but still had the best belly laugh I have ever heard in my life. You are no longer the toddler who was a little unsteady on his feet, running around our house so fast you fell head first into the wooden door frame and dented the wood with your hard head! You are no longer the 2 year old who would sing "Thhhhhaaatttt'ssss Elmo's World" over and over but instead of Elmo you would replace it with the different names of people in our family. You are no longer the 3 year old boy who's role as a big brother of 1 was revised to a big brother of 2. A job that you do so well and take so seriously. You are no longer a 4 year old boy who would tell knock knock jokes to no end that made absolutely no sense. You are now a 5 year old boy. Who is missing his bottom front tooth. Who is learning to swim so well. Who has conversations with his mommy and daddy that are well beyond his years. Who is nice to everyone. Who loves to draw pictures of superheroes and shares everything with his brother. You are a 5 year old boy who thinks he loves attention, but once it's upon you, gets shy and quiet. You are a 5 year old boy that reduces his mommy to tears daily remembering the sweetness and perfection you have displayed that day. You are a 5 year old boy that is a perfect role model for his siblings.

Paxton, you are the first child to ever have my heart. You are sweet and smart and sensitive and thoughtful. You are funny and silly and full of joy. You are different. You are perfect. You are mine. And I love you more than anything in the world.

Happy 5th birthday big boy!

Love,

Mom

A Birthday Poem from Pops

MY PAL PAXTON

On March the 8^th 2007

A Gift Came Down To Us From Heaven.

A Handsome Big Boy and Number One Son

Whom Kate and Scott Named Paxton.

He Loved To Smile And Play All Day

But At Night He Acted Another Way.

He’d Toss And Turn And In Sleep He Would Cry

So Mom And Dad Asked The Doctors Just Why.

They Ran Lots Of Tests On Our Little Boy

And Thought He Might Not Like Soy.

Finally They Decided With No Ifs Ands Or Buts,

That Pax Was Allergic to Dairy and Nuts.

What Pax Couldn’t Eat Gave His Mom And Dad Fits

Until They Discovered Chicken Nuggets.

What Else Can Pax Eat His Mom Thought With A Sigh.

How About, Said His Dad, Hideaway Pizza Pie?

On His Special Diet Pax Just Grew and Grew

And Spread Happiness To All That He Knew.

He Learned All His Letters And Started To Talk

It Seemed That He Did It Before He Could Walk.

In Owasso He’d Run, Jump And Play Very Hard

In Robert And Noni’s Green, Spacious Backyard.

With Mimaw He’d Snuggle And Ask For A Story.

Then With Old Papas He’d Sing “That’s Amore.”

He Loves Brother Porter and Charlotte His Sis

And Makes Them Feel Special With A Bubba Hug And A Kiss.

To His Mother And Father He Brings Only Joy.

They Love Him So Much, Their First Baby Boy.

So On His Fifth Birthday We All Say Out Loud,

We Love Our Boy Paxton, He Makes Us So Proud!

Happy Birthday, My Pal!

Papas

Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

I prayed for you. Before I even knew you were to be, I prayed for you.

It was the longest I have gone without being pregnant since I learned I was pregnant with Paxton in June 2006. I found out I was pregnant with Porter shortly after Paxton's first birthday. I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte when Porter was 9 months old. Charlotte was over one and a half, and I wasn't pregnant. It was about that time. But was it?

We always knew we wanted a "big family" before we even started having kids. How big is a "big family" anyway?

We went through all of the usual questions, I guess you could say. How would the kids respond to having another sibling? Can my body handle this again? Can our marriage handle this again? Can our bank account handle this again? The answer was simply, "We don't know." But we have never known. Not before Pax or Port or Charlotte. We never knew how all the pieces would fall together, but what we did know is that our lives would be richer, our hearts would grow bigger, and we would slowly figure the answers out. But with all of that being said we weren't really sure if it was time again. So I prayed.

I prayed that I would KNOW. I would know if it was time now, or later, or ever. I prayed and I didn't think about it anymore. I didn't think about it anymore until that day I drug the babies into Walgreens on the way to pick Paxton up from school. I was anxious and impatient. We had plans after school and I knew I wasn't going to be home for a while, so what else is a girl to do but take the pregnancy test right there in the Walgreens bathroom with the babies slithering around on the dirty floor. It was one of those pregnant/not pregnant tests so it seemed like an eternity before the word PREGNANT popped up in that window. WHAT?!?!?! I mean I know I had asked for guidance just a few weeks before, but I thought that I was going to get this feeling like "oh yes we are supposed to have another baby." And I would go to Scott with this beautiful story of how it had been in my heart to have another baby. Instead when we got home from the park I sat him down and said point blank I'M PREGNANT!! And what does Scott say? I knew it!

So there you go, baby. We are over the moon excited to meet you. Do we still have all of the same questions? Of course. But now we have other more important questions to ask ourselves, like, are you a boy or a girl? What are we going to name you? Who are you going to look/act like? And all of that other fun stuff. The unknown will all come to be known in due time. The one thing I know NOW is that you were meant to be a part of our family, and each and every one of us loves you more already than we ever knew we could!

Love,

Your momma