Don't Blink

"Don't Blink
just like that you're six years old and you take a nap
and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
just might miss
your babies growin' like mine did"

Thank you Kenny Chesney (and whoever wrote it) for a great song. It seems like yesterday Will was a newborn baby, we woke up one day and now have 3 kids!! Wow, it goes so fast! And they are so big! 3 little miniature men all cute and smiley. Of course it's not always like that, but on the days where I feel exhausted and lazy and unmotivated (the list goes on, but I'll spare the details), I try to remember that it goes by so fast. Each day is a blessing and they won't be this little long. I better enjoy the moment now before it's gone.

"Take every breath God gives you for what it's worth"

"So I've been tryin' to slow it down
I've been tryin' to take it in
In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in"

"Don't blink"...good words to describe this past month. It has flown by. In an attempt to slow it down and take it in, I will recap in pictures.

Will turned 6 and Wyatt turned 3. I can't believe it, but yes, it happened. Because we were so busy with vacations and soccer and church activities and Halloween, etc., etc., we decided to have a last minute small party for the boys in between both birthdays. Will wanted a Star Wars cake and Wyatt wanted Spiderman. (it was originally Mickey Mouse - ordered and everything- until a last minute change of heart. Thanks Wyatt)

They partied with their cousins and had a great time! And opened lots of presents of course!

They both wanted new bikes for their birthday. Specifically, a "dirtbike bicycle" was requested from Wyatt and a "bike with NO training wheels" was requested from Will.

I promise they have pants fit now :)

Little Weston cuddled up and enjoyed all the attention. If there is one thing he loves, it's to be held and rocked, which he was the entire time!

On Wyatt's actual birthday, we took him to Logan's (the peanut place). He was SOOO excited and wanted to wear his "birthday hat" the entire time!

He even went up all by himself with the waitress so everyone could yell "yehaaw". Now that he's 3, he thinks he is big stuff. He always says, "that's what we do when we're big and 3."

After a good birthday lunch, we headed to Trunk or Treat at church. The boys had a blast going from car to car and getting all that candy!!

On Halloween, they dressed up again and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Once again, we got TOO much candy.

 Well, there has been so much more going on that I didn't grab the camera for, but the boys have had a super fun time this fall so far! Weston goes for his 6 month well visit tomorrow. Yes, I said 6 months. That means he is now 6 months old....I know, it shocks me too. Gotta slow down and take it all in.

Disney- The Final Chapter

Our last day in Disney World. :( But it was a fun one! We had promised Will that we would come back to Hollywood Studios so he could participate in Jedi Training and fight Darth Vader. The first time we saw this attraction, we decided it wasn't a good idea to stand in the extremely LONG line but we would come back and do it first thing on another day. On our last day, thinking we could beat the crowds,we rushed straight there as soon as the gates opened. In the few minutes it took to walk to Star Wars, the first 2 shows were already full and it was now a 2 hour wait!! This "training" is for 4-12 year olds so Will and Landon both got to fight, but they only take 15 kids per show (hence the super long wait). Luckily the kids don't have to wait the entire time, as long as they are in line 20 minutes prior to their show, it's fine. SOOO, Trent and Brent volunteered to wait the whole 2 hours in the hot sun! What great dad's!

While the "rent" dad's were tirelessly waiting in line, we decided to take the kids to other rides, etc. Papa decided he would enjoy this break and found a nice shady bench to sit and relax. He also, very generously, offered to watch Weston while we ventured off for a little bit. We were at Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground when Rachel decided she (and her kids) were ready to go back. The rest of this story is from her as Nannie and I were enjoying the playground! Rachel walks up and sees a look of panic on dad's face. Apparently while everyone was gone, Weston was in papa's lap and started grunting pretty heavily. As any experienced diaper changer would do, Papa lets him finish his business before changing the diaper prematurely. All was well until Papa noticed the diaper wasn't holding all the "business". It was now running down Papa's leg and up Weston's back. Here he was stuck on a park bench in the middle of Hollywood Studios with no one around to help. *look of panic begins* He has to cover the stroller so he can lay Weston down without contaminating everything, find the diapers, wipes, and extra clothes in the makeshift diaper bag (which is a hiking backpack packed FULL with extra snacks, drinks, ponchos, everything we might need for a day at Disney) and do all of this while keeping little Weston from screaming. He successfully manages to find everything and change Weston in the stroller -which is not easy even with a "clean" diaper! And Rachel walks up right as he is gathering up the "dirty" clothes. Whew!! What a nice, relaxing rest in the park! Nannie and I return once everything is done and get a good, sympathetic laugh at the story.

Meanwhile, the "rent's" are just about finished with the waiting marathon, Will and Landon get chosen for the upcoming show and we are ready to see our little padawans in action.



Will and Landon with tickets in hand!



They get their robes and light sabers and listen to the "jedi master" on how to fight Darth Vader.

Do a little practice fighting....

Then enter Darth Vader!

He talks to them in true Star Wars fashion about coming over to the "dark side" and the jedi master is right there telling them to be strong and use "the force".

They each get a turn one on one with Darth Vader...

Padawan Will

Padawan Landon

They have learned quickly and Darth Vader turns to leave in defeat.

Watch out for the storm troopers!!

The force is with them as they rally him off the stage.

What a great show! Totally worth the wait right?! Yep, totally worth it!

For the rest of the afternoon,we head over to Epcot to visit the countries and get a couple of cool souvenirs from Nannie and Papa.

Wyatt in his Pluto hat.

Will and his Pluto doggy.

We saw a cool sunset through the pyramid....

And ended the day like this.....Yes they had to sleep with their new toys!

Even Weston slept with his new Goofy (for a minute!)

Thanks Nannie and Papa for our Magical Memories!!

Gee Thanks :- P

This little post is coming as a request from everyone around us who think this story is hilarious. I, however, do not see the humor in it. I will go ahead and post in hopes that one day, when I am skinny again, I will be able to laugh.
Last week as we finished a very yummy supper I patted my tummy and made the comment, "whew, I'm so full. I have stuffed myself." Will looks at me and says, "yeah Mom, you're fat." Trent and I both gave him a little lesson on etiquette and how saying that would really hurt someone's feelings. We don't call people fat. In an attempt to redeem himself, he gets a big smile on his face and in a happy little voice says, "Wow Mom! I REALLY like your tummy. You must have eaten ALOT!"....."is that better?"

Yep, Will, that's SOOO much better!

My Day

To steal a FB quote from a friend "the universe seems to be puking on everyone this week". I kinda feel that way right now. No wait, that was Weston puking on me, and he added a little poop to go with it. Back to that in a minute...Today was what I call "a day of great intentions with a very low success rate" kinda day.

Lets start at 4:00am when Wyatt (you know, the sweet little boy hyped up on albuterol and prednisolone who has turned into some unbelievably hpyer, loud and irritable child) had a bad dream and crawls into bed with mommy and daddy. Fast forward to 6:00am when the alarm goes off after I have been only "half sleeping" (yes this is an actual type of sleep you learn from mommyhood) for the past 2 hours. This happened to be the first night where we didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night for a treatment so I was really hoping for a good night sleep... I digress. Alarm goes off, chaos begins. Finally everyone is dressed and ready, the kids are eating, the baby is being force-fed cereal (a total mess but hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon), lunches are made, treatment completed, oops forgot to make coffee - oh well I'm in a rush anyway, who has time for coffee, we are out the door and at Will's school at 7:56am- a whole 4 minutes early! I need to go in the school today to get supplies for a PTO project but I have to circle the parking lot twice because I pass up the far away spots in hopes of a nice near the door spot. No luck- I gather all 3 kids and slowly make it across the parking lot meanwhile dodging all the parents in a hurry to drop off their kids before the bell. No supplies left. Yes, all that extra lugging kids around for nothing. Oh well, at least it's Thursday and Wyatt goes to preschool so I'll have a little down time today, maybe a nap? We make it back across the parking lot and take the van straight to a gas station because the gas light says we now have "10 miles to empty". Because of the change up in routine, Wyatt is now whining, "But I want you to drop me off at school now mommy....Mommy, it's my turn to go to school....why are we going here....getting gas is no fun..." -I said he was irritable. Deep breath, go home for 15 minutes to gather Wyatt's things - it's the October birthday party at school today so  I can't forget to get our assigned items to bring. Back in the van and head to his school. We park, get everyone out and lugg across the parking lot only to get greeted at the door by "Oh, we're not having school today because the power is out. Sorry!"  Seriously!! I have a dentist appointment in 1 hour and now have 2 kids to bring. A very sad Wyatt whines all the way back to the car, "but Mommy, I really, really, really wanted to go to school today. What about my party?!" I console Wyatt and call Dad, luckily he is not busy this morning and can watch Wyatt for me. (This cheers Wyatt right up!) We rush to Nannie and Papa's house so I can feed Weston and get BACK to Hendersonville by the appt time. I get Weston out of the carseat and HELLO we have an explosion. Attempting to change this diaper/nuclear disaster was not easy. In fact, it took me and dad both to change him. He is now fed and changed and I make it to the dentist right as she is calling my name. Whew! By 12:30, we are back home, Wyatt is napping and I'm feeding Weston again (yes it's the story of my life right now) and all is well. I have time to email the PTO pres and ask what happened with all the supplies?! Oh she took care of it all on Monday, I guess I shouldn't have been such a slacker sorry. By 1:00pm I get to go wake up Wyatt because it's time to pick up Will from school. A whole new whining session begins. We get Will and I realize I haven't renewed the tags on the van which expire in 2 days. Okay, so now we are waiting in line at MARTA with all the other slackers that wait till the last minute. This is such a fun place to be with 3 kids for 45 minutes. While in line at the county clerk (thank goodness they have a drive thru) Trent calls to see how my day is going. So sweet! Except we can't talk because Weston is screaming (yep time to eat again), Will has unbuckled and trying to console Weston which leads Wyatt to want to do the same except he can't re-buckle himself. Will trys to help - this is apparently NOT what Wyatt wants right now - after a few threats and some loud screaming, all is calmed down and we are legal again for another year. We head home to get homework, breathing treatment and baby fed. After another bad mommy moment from me with the homework situation, I leave Will to complete it on his own. He does it correctly and quickly! Go Will!! Now we rush to get to our Halloween playdate at the park for 2 hours until soccer practice begins at 5:30pm. We get everyone costumed up and head out the door only to realize it is FREEZING outside now. What happened??? I now have a baby at the park in the wind and cold in a short sleeve shirt with no socks and no blanket and we only plan to be here about 3 hours. Another bad mommy moment.
Luckily my friends let me borrow a blanket and we stayed in the sun as much as possible. The boys loved getting candy and playing in their costumes, but now it's time for soccer practice. Give the blanket back, head to the other side of the park for practice and call Trent. Oh, he's working late tonight and can't make it to practice, great. After 30 minutes of shivering in the cold, I take Weston and Wyatt back to the van and we watch practice from there. Good thing because Weston is now hungry again. This day is almost over right? We head home, call Trent (still working) and grab some bbq from Buck's. We sit down to eat at 7:00pm and Trent walks in about 10 minutes later. Whew!! So glad he's home! He's happy to give the kids a bath and put them to bed. I want to get in my pj's and crawl into bed myself (yes I know it's like 7:30 but it's been a long week) but then I realize we have no sheets on the bed because I forgot to get pull-ups for Wyatt and he slept in big boy underwear last night. Therefore, we had a nice surprise this morning when we woke him up in OUR bed. So instead I decide to document this wonderful day. I guess I can now go put sheets on the bed and make coffee for in the morning. Good night.