Happy Father's Day!

Thanks for being such a great dad to our three little hooligans!

I love me some babies!!!

This week I am so thankful for babies. I love how babies never have morning breath or stinky feet. I love that a baby's skin is always soft. I love that they smell sweet and love to snuggle. I love the way babies have to completely trust and rely upon you.

I love that babies cannot talk back or criticize. I love the innocence in their eyes. I love that babies can burp and fart in public and everyone thinks it is cute. I love how the fatter the baby the more you want to kiss and squeeze them. I am just disappointed that those same feelings don't last throughout adulthood.
I love that babies have very simple taste--milk! I love how you can show even a tiny baby a picture of the Savior and she seems to remember Him and smile.

I love me some babies, especially mine!

Reminder

Yesterday as I was cleaning blueberry tinged vomit off of the carpet in my car from Atley's latest bout of sickness, and putting up with Nash complaining because he was convinced that his desire to be tickled was far more important than cleaning up Atley or the car seat, all while my sweet newborn baby was screaming because she was hungry and needed her mommy to meet those needs, I remembered. I remembered this cute little poem that Nash gave me on Mother's Day, complete with two construction paper cut-outs of his chubby hands. I am so glad I remembered, because remembering made me smile instead of cry.
I thought I would share it with you all, just in case you needed a reminder like I did.

REMEMBER

Sometimes you get discouraged because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints on furniture and walls
But everyday I'm growing, I'll be grown someday
And all those tiny hand prints will surely fade away
So here's a little hand print just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked when I was very small.

Thanks Nash!

Thankful Thursdays!

I am trying to be more thankful for the many things I have been given, so, I have decided to designate Thursday as my day to express gratitude. My goal is to try to recognize the less obvious things. The things that perhaps I often overlook. That being said today I am thankful for MODERN MEDICINE.



My babies nor myself would have survived childbirth if not for the blessings of modern medicine.



Nash would have most likely died without the surgery he had when he was just six weeks old. Those are huge blessings!
Last week Atley had a terrible headache. I gave him some Motrin, which made him feel better, temporarily anyway. I took him to the doctor. They administered a throat culture. We had the results in minutes. He had strep. He was put on a prescription and within twelve hours he felt like new. Just less than one hundred years ago, he might have suffered for weeks without relief and the strep could have developed into even more serious illnesses. It might seem so simple and mundane but really it's a blessing!
Harley has already been vaccinated for several childhood diseases. She will never have to worry about the debilitating effects of polio or hepatitis. I know that vaccines are a bit controversial but I for one am very grateful for them and what they have been proven to prevent.

Rehoboth Beach-Unofficial Start of Summer

Even though Atley still has more than 3 weeks of school left, we unofficially started summer this weekend with a trip to Delaware to the beach. I also thought it would be tons of fun to try and squeeze into a swimming suit 4 weeks postpartum and boy-oh-boy was I sexy!!! Despite the humbling experience of the swimsuit, we had a great time and baby Harley was perfect, the boys-not so much. I think the sound of the waves made Harley feel like she was in the womb again because she would instantly fall asleep when we got to the beach. We went with some of Scott's co-workers, who were tons of fun and very understanding and patient with our children. We also had the most gracious hosts who allowed us to stay in their beautiful beach house and eat their yummy food. Thanks DJ, Erin, Bobby, Nikki, Sabrina, Eileen, and Mark! It was an amazing weekend.

CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE!


OUR BEACH BABY, KEEPING COOL!

Arlington Digger Park

So, maybe this isn't blog worthy, but I find the whole concept totally amazing. In Arlington there is a park that my boys fondly refer to as the Digger Park. It has all of the normal park toys but there is also a giant sand pit full of dump trucks, diggers, ride on toys, buckets, shovels, etc. Why is this amazing! The toys are always there. There isn't a security guard or a plastic device attached to the toys that beeps wildly if you leave the park, but still no one steals them. This is especially surprising because when I first saw the park my thought was CHRISTMAS SHOPPING! Of course, I am kidding, but I am shocked that no one else thinks these thoughts. Need I mention we live in a major metropolitan area. I guess it just restores my faith in humanity a little. Maybe there are a few honest people left in the world. Here are the boys and baby Harley enjoying the park! By the way, Harley does occasionally venture out of her car seat.