Daxton's Adventures in the Womens Locker Room

We decided a while ago that we wanted to have all of our kids take swimming lessons this spring since we are taking them all to the beach for a vacation in a few weeks. We are hoping that they will be all used to the water and ready to swim all day. We luckily found a time when there was a class for Arden and a "mom (and dad) and me" class for babies happening simultaneously and signed ourselves up. We have been going for a couple of weeks and the kids are all doing GREAT! I was worried that Corbie wouldn't like it since the pool isn't as warm as the bathtub she is used to, but she has been amazing. She isn't afraid of the water at all, and Daxton is a champion leg kicker.
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But the first week was a little bit of an....adventure. The classes went okay, except Daxton had just gotten over a bad virus and must have still been a little off because he was freezing by the time the lesson was half over. All he wanted to do was kick his feet and swim around the river...he didn't want to play "humpty dumpty sat on the wall," because the wall was cold. He let everyone in the class (let's face it...everyone in the pool or the 1 mile radius around the pool) know of his displeasure. Then, with about 15 minutes of class left to go Arden's teacher brings her to me because she really has to go to the bathroom NOW. She of course did NOT have to go when I asked her right before class started. So, I smiled, handed Dax over to Preston who was already holding Corbie and took Arden to the bathroom. Not a lot got accomplished by the babies while we were gone with only one arm each. Luckily by the time we got back class was almost over and they let us just play around so Daxton got his wish of swimming around the river and kicking his feet and was happy as a clam.

Whew! We made it through the class!

Now comes the hard part....
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I have to figure out a way to get me, Arden AND Corbie dried off, showered off, and dressed. I wrap up the girls and head for the locker room. Somehow we make it through the showering and changing, and we are sitting by the lockets gathering up our stuff and putting our shoes and jackets on. Arden is sitting closest to the edge of the bench and is looking down towards the showers. She says to me, "I see Daxton." I say, "No, Dax is with Dad in the men's locker room. That must be some other little boy that looks like Dax." Arden says, "No, I see Daxton." I am struggling with Corbie's silly baby shoes and mumble something like, "Okay." A little bit later I heard some crying that sounds a little like Daxton's, but I didn't pay too much attention, figuring it was some other kid and concentrating on trying to zip up Arden's jacket for her. Finally we are ready!

We head out to meet Preston and Dax in the hallway. Preston does NOT look pleased. The reason why? Apparently, it WAS Daxton running through the women's locker room.
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Preston got Dax dressed first, and then was getting himself changed when Dax made a break for it. Before Preston knew what was happening Dax had bolted from the changing room curtain and was headed out of the locker room. Preston quickly finished pulling on his pants and tried to chase Daxton down, but Dax had made it out of the men's locker room by now. Preston, shirtless, was following as fast as the slippery floor would allow, yelling desperately for Dax to stop. Daxton, however, had his goal in sight: that goal was the women's locker room where he had seen his mom and sisters go. Preston tried as hard as he could to catch Dax before he got through the door, but he was not fast enough. Dax successfully made it around the corner where Preston dared not follow.

Dilemma.
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What to do?
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While Preston was pondering this sticky question, he was luckily saved.

A nice woman had witnessed the unsuccessful chase scene and volunteered to retrieve Daxton from the forbidden realm of the ladies' lockers. Apparently once Daxton got inside, he wasn't quite sure which way to go and was kind of running in circles, and it was pretty easy for the kindhearted woman to capture him. Preston's savior carried the screaming Daxton back to a mortified and still half naked Preston who was waiting outside.

Needless to say, Preston was not too happy.
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I thought it was HILARIOUS.
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Unfortunately, there are no pictures to go along with this story, so here is one of my old favorites of Dax from simpler times when he was not mobile:

Can you believe this sweet little face could someday be capable of such mischief??

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Hope everyone had a great St. Paddy's Day! Last year we were a lot more festive and had lots of green food and Preston even made corned beef. However, this year Preston was out of town so all I could manage was putting the kids in green shirts this morning and these rainbow cupcakes:
I like them better than corned beef and cabbage anyway! The kids liked them too. Here is Arden showing that even though she is a big four-year-old, she can still get frosting all over her face on the first bite....and yes, I know her shirt is not green. She got jelly all over her green shirt at lunchtime and had to change. At least I got to pinch someone this way.
Daxton is too busy concentrating on the cupcake to give the camera a smile.

Corbie is more of a multitasker than her big brother. She can eat and smile at the same time:

It was such a nice day that we went to the park for a while to play. The only problem with going to the park in March is that after you have been at the park for 10 minutes, Arden will remember that she has to go to the bathroom, and the bathrooms at the park are locked until May. Bummer.

Daxton forgave her for cutting our park trip short:

Say it with me....aahhhhhh!

Birthday Happenings

Arden's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I better post a couple of pictures from her parties before I completely forget. She had a small party on her birthday with the grandparents and us. We went to her favorite restaurant (Wingers...gotta love that popcorn).Then we came back to our house for cupcakes, ice cream, and of course...PRESENTS!
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Preston and I decided to get her a real "big-girl bike." As soon as Preston brought the bike up the stairs, Daxton's eyes lit up, he got a big smile on his face, and he started running towards the bike shrieking "BIKE! BIKE! BIKE!" He was sure the bike was for him. When we told him it was for Arden and she climbed up on it...well, see for yourself:Poor little guy...I guess we know what he wants for his birthday this year, but maybe since he is only turning two we will have to get him a tricycle instead. :) Arden loves her bike, and is getting really good at riding it around with the training wheels on, of course. We live on a hill, which presents some challenges, but we will get it figured out.

Then a couple of days after her birthday, Arden had a few friends over for a "beach party." They smashed a pinata shaped like a fish...(well, they whacked a pinata shaped like a fish as hard as they could for 10 or 15 minutes before Preston gave up and broke it open for them):

Then we had Hawaiian (or pepperoni) pizza and some MORE cupcakes and ice cream. Then, more PRESENTS!!!Corbie wanted to be right in the middle of the action with the other kids :). Arden had a great birthday, and is already asking how much longer until she gets another one.

Corbie had her 11-month old birthday a couple of days ago. She is getting soooo big:

And today is my mommy's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom!!!

More Than Ready...

I am more than ready for spring to be here! Are you with me? It is sllloooooowwwwly getting warmer, but I am ready for 65 degrees now, please! Or better yet, 75! But right now I am trying to make the most of 50 degrees. We are all going a little stir-crazy after all these months of being cooped up inside, so a few days ago we took the kids to the park on a warmish day. It was a little chilly at first, but once the sun came out it felt amazing. Oh, how I have missed the sunshine on my skin.

The kids had a great time. The last time we went to the park, Corbie wasn't really big enough to enjoy much, but this time she had great fun. She went down the slides on my lap a few times and really liked it, but her absolute favorite thing was the swing. She loved to swing back:


And forth:
It was so fun to watch her giggling in the swing. Of course, Corbie had to reach that other all-important park milestone: Her first mouthful of sand! (sorry no pictures). Not as much fun as the swing.

Daxton had a great time too. Last fall he was still a little hesitant to play on the playground without me helping him, but he is totally ready to be his own independent self this spring. His current favorite thing is the slides:
Oh, he is so dang cute. He was soooo excited that he was big enough to climb up the stairs and go down the slide all by his big boy self. I am so proud of my little golden boy! He had a bit of a hard time remembering he had to climb up the stairs and not up the slide, but by the time we had to leave he had it figured out and was going up and down and up and down as fast as his little legs could go.


Arden was running around so fast that she was just a blur and I didn't seem to get any pictures of her. I am so excited to be in "park season" again! (The playland at Arctic Circle just wasn't going to cut it for very much longer.)

Cute Orange Mess

Who likes macaroni and cheese?

Corbie does!

Have you ever wondered who in the world likes that atomic-orange mac n' cheese that they offer as a side dish at KFC? The answer: Dax and Corbie. They LOVE it. I have no idea why. The kids do NOT like coleslaw, so one day we thought we would try it and Dax ate nearly the entire disgusting I mean delicious tubful. Today, Daxton does a much better job than Corbie of actually getting it into his mouth without smearing it all over his cheeks, chin, nose, forehead, hair, arms, hands, you get the idea.

Mmmmm...who's hungry?

I Have a Four Year Old?

Arden is four years old today. FOUR. Years. Old. It has been four years since the day she was born. I keep telling myself these things, but they still don't seem real. I don't have a four year old!! I have a little baby girl who looks like this:

But no, it has really been four whole years since the night she was born. I remember that night so well. It was three weeks before the due date, and I remember getting the phone call that Arden was going to be born that very night. It didn't seem real to me. As Preston and I drove to the hospital around 10:00 p.m., I remember feeling so excited and terrified and happy and worried all at the same time. I remember waiting all night in a freezing cold waiting room, watching Conan O'Brien and sitcom rerun after sitcom rerun. I kept getting cramps in my feet because it was so cold and because I was so nervous. I tried to sleep but got NOWHERE close. Preston snored on the ground. Finally around 4:30 a.m. the nurse came and got me and I followed her into the room where Arden was going to be born. I remember feeling like I was in a fuzzy dream. I remember one of the nurses pointing at a wrinkly purple thing and telling me, "there's her head." I thought the nurse must have been crazy because I didn't see anything that looked remotely like a head. But soon the wrinkly purple thing did turn out to be a head, and it was attached to a wrinkly purple baby! The baby quickly turned pink as she screamed a loud and beautiful scream.

Arden was 5 pounds and 13 ounces of heaven, born at 4:57 a.m. on March 2, 2006. After the nurses wrapped her up, they handed her to me. I looked into her eyes and tried to think of something profound to say, but I think I mumbled something like "Hi" instead. The next day we brought her home from the hospital. Even though we had a ton of baby stuff and I had read baby book after baby book, I remember that feeling of sitting on the couch and looking at this tiny little stranger and thinking: "I have no idea what I am doing!"

But, somehow, we made it through those first few sleepless days and nights and that teeny little peanut has turned into this:

I love this little girl so much. I am so thankful to be her mother. Before she came along I thought I knew a thing or two about love, about hard work, and about how much sleep I needed to function. I know now that I didn't know anything about any of that. Arden came along and completely changed my life, and I am grateful every day to have her. She has made me a better person. I feel so incredibly blessed that her birth mom chose us to be her family.

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl!