Love at first sight

Ok, I've been trying to blog ever since noon yesterday when I got home with Felix, but since Dan is back to school and I now have 3 little ones to handle by myself...I know all of you are dying to know, or maybe it's just Diane, but I'M IN LOVE. This puppy is cuter than his pictures and so lovable, and he sleeps on my lap and frolics in my backyard. Hmm, never thought I'd use the word frolic in one of my blogs, but it's the most accurate term for his playful bouncing around.He slept in the kitchen last night in his dog bed curled up with an old blanket of Ty's and an old binky of Ty's that he's quite fond of. He cried for less than a minute when we locked him in there with the baby gate, and then he proceeded to sleep through the night. Good thing too, because there may have been bloodshed if Dan had to get up with him. But he didn't need to. Felix is perfect. Yep, perfect, no bias here.I took him to the vet today and he's totally healthy and doesn't need any more shots for a year, and even though I almost passed out when they gave me the bill, everybody at the vet's office (staff and other customers) told me they'd never seen a cuter dog, and they want to get one, and I'm the coolest person they've ever met...you know, that sort of thing. I'm such a proud mommy. OH, and just so you know, Dan never wants to be referred to as Felix's daddy. I can't imagine why. He's been Scrooge about the whole thing, and yet Felix was asleep on the couch next to him when I got home from the store tonight (I thought he had made a strict "no mangy mutts allowed on the furniture" rule, but maybe I misunderstood.) We're pretty much an open house these days with the cuteness of the puppy and the hugeness of the TV, so stop on by if you're in the area. And if you happen to swing by Walmart on the way, I have an ever growing grocery list...

And no, I will not be posting any pictures of the ridiculous TV. So don't ask.

The deal has been made

I can't stand it anymore. I wanted to give baby Jack at least a day to be the excitement around our family, but it's been 45 hours since his birth, and everybody loves him, he's the cutest thing ever, yada yada yada. (Kidding of course, he IS the greatest.) But now I'd like to call to your attention the deal that Dan and I made about a plasma TV and a dog. If you don't remember this deal check out my blog posting from May (http://dastump.blogspot.com/2007/05/aint-nothin-but-hound-dog.html).

Well, there is now an enormous plasma TV standing in my living room. So as of Tuesday there will be...a tiny dog standing in my living room!!! I'm sorry, I can't help the excessive exclamation points, I usually hate them, but did you read what I just wrote?? DAN STUMP IS GETTING A DOG!!! Actually the only thing Dan did to get the dog was get the plasma. The rest was up to me. So I'd like to introduce you to my new baby boy.
He is a puggle (a pug/beagle) and he may be the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life, aside from Jake and Ty. And Dan of course.

We're going to name him Felix. Dan isn't excited about the dog, but at least he is pleased about the name I suggested because of Felix Hernandez, a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, whose games we will now be watching in perfect clarity and sound from our ridiculous new TV (which I'm convinced makes our living room 200 square feet smaller.)

Marriage is all about compromises, isn't it. I have to watch all my favorite TV shows and movies on a state of the art television, and Dan has to suffer through precious floppy ears, adoring eyes and a wagging tail. We are so sacrificial, aren't we?

Jack Timothy Franklin

Congratulations to my sister Karina and husband Dan who had a baby boy last night!! (Karina was the one who actually delivered him, for which I'm sure Dan is very grateful, but he was as involved as a daddy can get.) He was born at the hospital where I work and I was actually in the ER yesterday from noon to midnight, so I got to run upstairs and be standing with my mom outside the door to listen to his first cries. I teared up myself, and I'm not a crier.

He was born at a little before 9pm and weighed 7 lbs, 12 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. SO PRECIOUS. Plus he's adorable which is really nice because I don't have to lie to my sister. Or make comments like "oh, what a...little blessing you have there. He's so...little, and such a...blessing."

Jack Timothy Franklin, I'm so glad you came out to play! A lot of people have been waiting for you. Jake is thrilled that baby Jack is out of Karina's tummy, and can't wait to see him. Ty is also thrilled (alright, he has no idea what I'm talking about, but I'm sure he would be thrilled if he could grasp the concept.)


Here's the cute little Franklin family. Big bro Matthew will be 3 in November. Brothers...priceless. Karina and Dan, you guys may have some sleepless nights and grouchy days, but looking into your little man's eyes, and seeing his big brother kiss him and hug him...wow, it doesn't get better than that.

Love you guys! Thanks for making me an auntie again!!

I've been tagged

Well, Faith has inspired me/forced me to get back to the blogosphere. I've been tagged. That means I have to tell you 8 random facts/habits about myself. This will probably take me 5 days to finish because 8 random facts/habits about myself don't immediately come to mind...besides the fact that I think using the backslash key multiple times in one paragraph is funny/entertaining. Okay, before I get to these random facts about myself I have to tell you the rules (which I have copied/pasted from Faith's blog.)

The Rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (If you don’t have a blog, email me)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My 8 random facts/habits about myself:

#1. I've seen King Tut's underwear. When I was little my dad took our family on a 2 month trip to 6 different countries to visit some of our church's missionaries. We went to Egypt and the highlight of my 6 year old life was not seeing the pyramids, it was seeing King Tut's underwear (looks like a typical loin cloth) in the Egyptian National Museum. I just read my last sentence and realized I sound like I know what typical loin cloths look like. You know, the typical loin cloths, like the ones Dan has in his top drawer. Anyway...

#2. I have never seen Gone With the Wind or Casablanca. I'm hoping I never will.

#3. I hate mucous. Not that most people don't, but because I'm an ER nurse this becomes difficult because my job pretty much revolves around bodily fluids. If the words "bodily" and "fluids" make you woozy, just skip right to #4 because I'm not done yet. Urine, feces, vomit? Bring it on. Blood? Glove me up and I'll dive right in. But when I'm starting an IV on Mrs. Smith in room 1 and she chooses that moment to attempt to provide "that sputum sample the doctor wanted," because she's had a "productive cough with green phlegm" for 2 weeks, I'm gagging like a pregnant woman opening a can of tuna.

#4. I bite my nails. Always have and probably always will. Faith said this one too when she got tagged, but unlike Faith, I've never really tried to stop. Nails are overrated.

#5. I would rather scrub my toilet than put away my laundry. Especially the clothes that need to be hung up. I lay them nicely on my bed so they won't wrinkle, then lay them nicely on the floor when it's bedtime...so they can get nicely stepped on in the morning which reminds me to either hang up said clothes or never buy clothes again that require being hung up.

#6. I have an unnatural fear of moths. I'm not the type of girl who screams and gets up on a chair when I see a spider, or a mouse, or even a snake, but for some reason I just can't handle moths. They're dirty and ugly and have huge hairy bodies, and they fly around your face...ugh.

#7. My husband is my best friend. People say that, but I mean it. I love to just hang out with him. He makes me laugh, he makes me think, he can always get me out of a bad mood. Sometimes we stay up way too late just talking about the past and dreaming about the future. We tell each other "I love you" multiple times a day, but somehow it's never cheesey. Heaven forbid I have any cheeseyness in my life after I've worked so hard to preserve my anti-cheese personality.

#8. My kids are miracles. Of course every child is a gift from God, but I was never sure I could get pregnant. I only have one ovary because of a tumor that grew on my other one, which was removed when I was in high school. After that surgery I've had 2 more to remove endometriosis which is supposed to make it very difficult to get pregnant. On top of that I have a thyroid problem which can also make you infertile. My body wasn't exactly a welcome wagon for a baby, yet by age 24 I had two beautiful and healthy boys who make me smile more than they make me sigh. As Jake would so eloquantly say, "Fanks, Jesus." Yes, Lord, fank you very much.

And now I have to tag 8 other people...good luck! Becca, Jane, Melissa, Heather, Mel, RaeAnn, Kelsey, and Holly.

Maui, HA or Wood Village, OR?

We're back. I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles to hear how our trip was. You can't wait for us to share our exotic stories. You want to hear all the exciting tales of world travelers. You want to live vicariously through us because of the amazing adventures we experienced. And so I'll tell you. Highlight #1: I read seven books. Seriously. Seven books in eight days. Do you know the last time I read even seven CHAPTERS of a book? Actually, reading seven paragraphs uninterrupted is unlikely. Seven sentences, maybe. Ok, reading seven WORDS in a row without having to stop to change a diaper or prevent a flow of blood from Ty's head from staining the carpet, is more accurate.

So reading was seriously my highlight. Before I bore you to tears, you should know that we did do other things. We snorkeled and saw sea turtles and amazing tropical fish. We saw the Bourne Ultimatum twice (there's a nauseating story about why I only saw about 1/3 of the movie the first time, which I'll leave up to your imagination because it's probably shorter and better than the true story, and no I'm not pregnant again.)Take a breath. We ate fancy but also cooked in our oceanfront condo. And last but most certainly not least, we got tan. I'm talking T-A-N. Here's my before and after photos.

Yes, I was frightened of what the sun would do to my skin.

You can see that I got over my fear and embraced the sun.


Alright, you get the point. I'll wrap things up. We had an incredible time. So, you ask, how does the island of Maui compare to the 1 square mile of Wood Village, OR? Read on, my friends.

Wood Village vs. Maui, round 1: Wood Village has an air conditioned house. Maui has a hot sticky condo...but the breeze out on the lanai from the ocean 20 feet away feels pretty darn good.

Round 2: Wood Village has a down comforter and body pillow ready at bedtime. Maui has one top sheet that wraps itself around your sweaty legs as you desperately try to kick it to the sweltering ground...but there's also no one screaming at you to get out of that bed before you want to.
Round 3: Wood Village has watered down juice and PB&J's for lunch. Maui has Mai Tai's and Cheesburger in Paradise.

Round 4: Wood Village has Jake and Ty. Maui does not have Jake and Ty but also has no temper tantrums, no snotty noses, no split lips after tripping over toys, and no nap schedules to worry about except my own.

Round 5: Wood Village has a three year old telling me he loves me and missed me, and a 17 month old who wraps his chubby arms around my neck and puts his head on my shoulder.

Wood Village wins in a knock out.

We can't come to the phone right now...

This is Dan and I August 3-10. We'll be in Maui without the kids. I'm sorry, but I just have to say it again...Maui without the kids. Love you boys, but right now we're sipping pina coladas on a gorgeous beach and getting ridiculously tan. Ahhh, life is beautiful!

Jacob Gary

Let's pretend it's August 3 for a few minutes. Why, you ask? Because we're bad parents and we're leaving for Hawaii without the kids on August 3, which happens to be Jake's birthday. Hey, we saved $100 per ticket to leave on Friday instead of Saturday, so we'll feel guilty the whole way, but I'm thinking we'll get over it as soon as we step off the airplane.

So it's August 3, and I am looking at my three-year-old and thinking, "wow, even though that epidural didn't work for 3 hours, he really was worth it." Not that I ever doubted he would be, but I am still amazed at the intensity of my love for that little boy. How can I love him more today than yesterday, because yesterday I couldn't possibly have loved him more.

Some days he's easy to love. Most days, let's be realistic...he's three. But even on those days that I consider actually letting him drive his hotwheels down the freeway as requested, I still find myself thanking God that He gave me such a precious and unique gift.

I'm so proud of the little man he is becoming. He is funny, and thoughtful. He is tough, but he still gives out hugs and kisses freely (maybe too freely, but we'll work on that later.) He loves his baby brother with a passion. He's insanely smart for his age...well, maybe it's selective intelligence. He can't remember where he put his socks, but he remembers the make and model of every person's car he's ever seen in his life.

Jacob Gary Stump, you are my treasure, my delight, and you will forever be my baby boy, no matter how many inches taller and pounds heavier than me you'll get. (Please, God let him weigh more than me someday.) I love you with all of my heart and I am so excited to see what God has in store for you! Happy birthday, Jooj-a-roni.

Ella Kate Huson

There's something about holding a tiny newborn baby that makes you feel as if the world has stopped for a moment, and God and all of heaven is smiling down upon you and this precious miracle. My friend Heather had her baby girl, Ella Kate, on July 16th and she is beautiful. I was holding her last night and there was a quiet voice inside my head saying "look at this amazing example of God's goodness to her mommy and daddy," and then there was the not so quiet voice saying "I am so glad I'm not the one waking up with her at 2am."

I've got to say, though, Heather and Steve are really doing well. Baby girl's been easy on them so far, sleeping 4 hours in a row at night. Heck, Ty didn't sleep 4 hours in a row until he was 9 months old, and because I got up every hour while I was pregnant with him to relieve my smooshed bladder, I'm estimating there were about 18 months of nights that I would have KILLED for 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Not that I'm bitter. Not at all.

Actually, as much as sleep deprivation can be a hazard to anyone's emotional stability, I tried to make the best of it by praying for my boys during those midnight feedings. There were many nights that I forgot, or just plain refused to, but I hope my prayers weren't in vain. Jake might not amount to anything because he slept through the night at 2 months and never looked back, but I'm pretty sure Ty will be the next Pope with the amount I've prayed for that child.

Heather and Steve, welcome to the greatest adventure you'll ever experience. You will laugh, you will cry, you will pray like you've never prayed before. Parenthood is the most exhausting and exhilarating task you will ever be called to. I know you're up for it!

And little Ella, welcome to the world. You've got a lot of people who love you and are praying for your new little family. You are truly a miracle, in more ways than one.

Til death do us part

It was six years ago today that Angela Alcorn became Angela Stump and Dan Stump became...the luckiest guy on the planet. Just kidding. If I were to iron his shirts like any good wife should do, THEN he would be the luckiest guy on the planet. But I have to remind him every once in a while that I'm not super-wife. So ironing is out.

Back to my love story. We've never had the gushy, whispering-sweet-nothings-into-each-others-ear type of relationship, as many of you can attest. Our nickname for each other is not honey or darling or schnookums, it's dude. Seriously. But I can guarantee you that our love goes just as deep, probably deeper, than the couples we make fun of for sitting on the same side of the booth at a restaurant while the other side remains empty.

I was looking through some old notes I'd saved from when we were dating, (because even though I fell asleep during Sense and Sensibility, I am, after all, still a girl) and I found this one, which made me smile. This was written on a piece of paper torn out of a spiral notebook, on Valentines Day of 1999, shortly after we had started dating (we were seniors in high-school). This will give you, my dear reader, a better idea of the way our relationship has always been:

"Ang--Even though I think Valentine's day is a pitiful holiday, I guess we get a chance to spend some time alone together so that makes it decent. The other night all the guys were talking about their girlfriends or the chicks that had enough talent to go out with them, and I realized that no one is even close to you. Don't get a big head or anything, but as far as I'm concerned you're head and shoulders above the rest. Deepening our friendship has truly been awesome, especially spiritually. I pray often that we will continue to strive for purity and that our relationship will be pleasing to God. I hope our relationship is as fun for you as it is for me. The last 3 months have been a blast and I know there are many more good times on the way. Later, dude."

That's my man. I don't think I got a big head, but I am confident he still thinks I'm head and shoulders above the rest. And we HAVE had more good times, more than we ever could have hoped for. And there are still many more on the way.

Daniel John Stump, you are my knight in shining armor, my prince charming, and I'm your princess with the glass slipper, and we'll live happily ever after, yada yada yada. God sure knew what he was doing putting the two of us together. But all joking aside...

I love that you constantly make me laugh. I love that you do the dishes when I'm just about to pull my hair out. I love that we have fun just being with each other. I love that you are a great father and a true example of a godly man to our boys.

I love you, dude. Happy anniversary.

Sorry, boys!

I knew I needed to do the ugly baby post while my kids are still young and can't read the things I wrote about them. (If you didn't read my last post, "An ugly contest" read that one first, you'll appreciate this one more!) Of course now I'm realizing that theoretically they are going to have access to this blog for years to come. So I'd like to take this moment to clarify that I am convinced those ugly pictures had to have been doctored. No way were my children ever as ugly as those pictures make them out to be. And now I'm going to celebrate my kids' astonishing beauty by posting the "best of" collection. This one was much easier, of course, because of how many gorgeous pictures I had to choose from. Not nearly as funny, but shockingly magnificent, I'm sure you'll agree. Cute, no...breathtaking, don't you think?

The Best of Jake collage.

The best of Ty collage.

My favorite Jake picture. It had only been one year, but I couldn't imagine (and still can't) a better thing than the love between a momma and her boy.

Jake and Ty, now you won't have to go to therapy. Even if you weren't cute, you know I'd still love you. But I'm sure glad I don't have to put paper bags over your heads when I take you to WalMart.

An ugly contest...

You know how Regis and Kelly do a beautiful baby competition? You send in the cutest picture you have of your baby and think for sure you'll win because the other 399 million babies that will enter the competition could not possibly be as beautiful as yours. I've been looking through some old pictures and thinking I should start a Ugliest Baby Picture competition. Holy moley. Or, as Jake used to say, "hohwee mohmee" some of these pictures are bad. I mean really bad. I'm posting these so that all you other parents out there with kids not nearly as cute as mine (usually) are, will be encouraged that even those adorable Stump kids are sometimes...hideous.

Jake's ugly collage. Wow. I've got this competition in the bag. Top to bottom, left to right (like reading, hmm)#1 Looking into the sun, and evidently trying to hide his lips. #2 17 days old and looking like an old man. An old, very bored man. #3 Attempting to smile, but just being ugly. #4 Never again will I let Dan near Jake's hair. #5 Slimy newborn, need I say more. #6 Futilely practicing the "hey baby" look. #7 Seriously. #8 Vomit on the face of a child, priceless. #9 Green snot is not really photogenic.

Ty's ugly collage. Are you sick to your stomach yet? #1 Afraid of the camera...or maybe just a case of rice-cereal-phobia. #2 Again, newborns are not cute. Ever. #3 Snapped right after the best picture ever taken, deciding one cute pic is quite enough for today, thank you. #4 Usually it's nice to see even one small piece of your child's face in a photo. #5 Yep, that's my baby. Sorry. #6 I tried to get a picture of the rash he had on his face, and you can't see how ugly the rash is because of how ugly the child is. #7 Coughing, and guaranteeing himself a top prize finish in my contest. #8 Why I started blogging AFTER Ty's early months. #9 Praying he would grow into his enormous head.


My favorite Ty ugly picture. The face only a mother could love.

Grown-up time!

We went to the beach this last weekend. The kids stayed home.

I'll rephrase that--the kids stayed "home" at both grandparents' houses (one night at each). I suddenly got a vision in my mind of the day we can actually leave our kids HOME, meaning our home, without supervision for a whole weekend. I'm picturing 16-year-old Jake washing and waxing his new Dodge Ram truck he's been saving for his whole life. I'm picturing 15-year-old Ty trying to help big bro, but ending up tripping over the hose and gashing his head on the driveway. Jake rolls his eyes because Ty still has stitches on his forehead from an incident last week. Jake grabs the keys and they head to the ER. They pull into the parking lot and Jake is now furious with Ty for bleeding all over his new truck, and while Ty is staggering in to the ER, Jake grabs a bottle of Windex and a rag from the glove compartment and goes to town.

We may be taking a lot more family vacations than I anticipated.

So back to the beach. We had such a great time. We went with three other couples, and it was so wonderful to have some full uninterrupted conversations that never started with "look at my eyes" or ended with "because I said so." We went to the Tilamook Cheese Factory and had 210 samples of cheese (we went through the line a few dozen times) and ate insanely delicious ice cream. We roasted s'mores on the beach and Vergil impressed us with his marshmallow roasting skills, and Kelsey impressed us with her idea of using Reeses peanut butter cups instead of plain chocolate. Yum is an understatement.
The guys built a pretty impressive sandcastle and we took a pretty impressive amount of pictures of it. We ate fish and chips and clam chowder at Mo's (I'm not a seafood gal, but their chicken strips are to die for.) We slept on air mattresses in the living room and laughed until we cried and until we wanted to shoot ourselves because of how late it was. So much for a restful vacation, but boy was it worth it.


Eric and Megan, Natalie and Paul, Vergil and Kelsey...
thanks for
an incredible weekend!

Busy, busy, busy

Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything interesting. We've been busy since Dan's last day of school. Jake's been busy playing with hot wheels and learning that though sharing doesn't seem very fun, it really is the right thing to do. Ty's been busy attempting to get more bruises on his head before the other ones have a chance to heal. Dan's been busy on ESPN.com salivating over the upcoming NBA draft, and thoughtfully doing dishes and playing Mr. Mom when he notices that I'm about to kill the kids. I've been busy working more and busy running the dryer with a pen in my scrubs pocket and busy cleaning out the resulting ink stains in the dryer and busy figuring out how to get ink out of half our clothes that ran through the dryer with said pen.

As I said, busy, busy, busy. But busy doesn't mean that we're not having any fun. We (the kids and I) have loved having Dan home for the summer. A few nights ago, Dan and Jake bought a tent and set it up in the backyard and camped out. I could hear Jake from inside..."What's that noise, Dad? It was car, I fink, no maybe a truck. What kind of truck? Probwee a Chevy. Is it a Chevy Dad, or a Ford? Maybe a Toyota? I think it was a Nissan. Yep, a Nissan. Like Poppy's..." and on and on. They didn't fall asleep for quite some time, but they made it until 6:30am.

Today we went out to lunch at Marie Callendar's because I had a birthday coupon that expires on Saturday. The coupon was for $5 off my entree and a free piece of pie for everyone who ordered. That included Jake, so we decided to let him get a piece of french apple. Um, have you seen the size of those pieces of pie? Seriously like 1/4 of a pie. Jake at the WHOLE thing in like 2 minutes flat. He kept thinking we were going to take it away from him, so he was inhaling it. By the time he was finished he had goo dripping off his face and crust up his nose. We were getting stares from the people across the aisle. They may have disapproved, but Jake is nominating us for Parents' of the Year.

Thanks Marie, for taking our minds off of our ruined clothes, dirty dishes, bruises, and sharing issues. Now if we can just get Jake to go to sleep tonight after all that sugar...

Things a 1 year old is not yet able to do:

#1. Feed themselves yogurt without supervision.

#2. Stand on kitchen chairs and bend down to pick up a toy.

#3. Tell their brother it is not okay to spray their head repeatedly with Windex glass cleaner while mom is in the other room.

26 years old

Today is my birthday. As I'm writing this, I have a pointy hat on, a party blower in my mouth, birthday cake frosting on my face and my computer is covered in streamers. Just kidding. Birthdays are sure different when you get older, aren't they? Dan has parent/teacher conferences tonight, so we had to celebrate my birthday yesterday evening after I got home from work. This is what I saw when I got home:

I couldn't have asked for a better present. My two adorable baby boys telling me they love me, and a thoughtful husband who made me dinner and gave me some awesome creative presents even though I'd given him no ideas. My birthday lists used to be 23 miles long and included a pony and a life-sized stuffed animal, but now I just want money for some new clothes and a new kitchen strainer. (Ty broke the last one pretending he was the drummer in a garage band.)

But I wouldn't trade 26 for 6 any day. I have experienced so many of God's incredible blessings in my short life, and it makes me excited for birthdays to come. Thank you to my little family for making me so proud to be your wife and mom.

God's little boy

The combination of working a lot lately and dealing with a kid at the peak of his terrible twos is what has been keeping me off the blogosphere for a while. I just had to share this story, though.

For the last two weeks or so Jake has been pushing the limits. Let me rephrase that. He's been wildly flinging himself over the limits and laughing in my face as he does it. I've never thought of him as a maliciously disobedient child, but I have begun to see glimpses of pure defiance, and it is not pretty. For example, we just got a brand new exercise bike that we're keeping in the living room. We told Jake he wasn't even allowed to touch it, much less play on it. The day after Dan assembled it I was in the kitchen doing dishes and Jake calmly walked in and said "Mom, I just broke the ekercize bike." You what? "I just BROKE the ekercize bike." And sure enough, the ekercize bike was indeed broken. He had actually ripped the console off it's stand, breaking off a piece of plastic that held it in place. He had to have been hanging on it. I thought about hanging him from it again.

There are many more stories that end with Jake screaming at me for disciplining him "don't spank me, mom" "don't send me to my room, mom" "stop punching me in the face, mom."

Ok, so I'm being a little dramatic, but he has really been pushing my buttons. Today I was trying to put him down for a nap and I asked him to go potty before we started the nigh-night routine. He started whining, then shrieking "no potty, mom, no potty" and he actually threw himself on the floor crying. He was really tired, which made it worse. I told him I wouldn't read him his book unless he went potty. Then I thought about the book we've been reading before he goes to sleep, both at naptime and bedtime. It's called "God's Wisdom for Little Boys" and it's a bunch of Proverbs put into little poems, and Jake just loves it. Because we're reading it so much, I thought he may remember some of it. There's a poem about obedience, and I started to quote it, "God teaches children that they should..."

"obey" Jake whimpered. He started to walk to the bathroom. "rules of udders, do ut day say" (the rules set by others and do what they say) "God's little boy no usseptions (God's little boy makes no exceptions) "he minds and fawows anections" (he always minds and follows directions). He quoted it again as he was on the toilet and again when he walked back to his room.

I couldn't help but smile. I'm so proud of God's little boy. And of the authors of this book for turning my whiney snotty nosed kid into a poetry quoting, potty loving angel.

Saturday to remember

Mine is a life truly blessed. My family is amazing: a husband who loves me and makes me laugh, two of the worlds cutest kids, in-laws that couldn't be greater, a sister I admire, a mom I respect...and a dad who hooks me up.

Dr./Rev./Mr. Randy Alcorn (Pops) recently met some members of the Christian rock band Third Day at an event he was speaking at in Atlanta. The bass player Tai Anderson had read some of his books, and they had some great conversations both there and later by phone and email. The best conversation they had included an invitation to a concert at the Clark County Amphitheater this past Saturday. Free tickets. 4 rows back. Dead center. It gets better. Toby Mac performed before Third Day. Ha-ha-heavenbound, I was going to marry him some day. But wait, it gets even better still. Backstage passes. Dinner with the band before the concert. Oh yes, and during the concert, a song dedicated to "some great new friends, the Alcorn family."

Dan stayed home with the kids and missed one of the best nights in recent memory, so I got to take my friend Melissa (happy b-day!!) who, besides being my chapstick sister, is now my best/only gomer sister. (Huge Third Day fans are called gomers. I really don't know why, and might not ever want to.)

Dinner was truly unforgettable. Not just the fried zucchini. It was so great to see these guys as who they really are...not just rock stars, but true men of God who are genuinely seeking His will for their lives. Plus they were funny. Melissa and I jokingly asked where the Hummer limo was to take us to dinner and Tai said, "Well we used to have one, but then we read the Treasure Principle..." Darn that book.

So thank you Pops for being the kind of man that rock stars want to hang out with. And for letting me tag along. You may not have the incredible voice of Mac Powell, or the moves of Toby Mac, but you are my own personal rock star.

And thank you Third Day for staying true to what you believe in, and paying for my delicious bacon cheeseburger.

My new best friends. Mark Lee, Brad Avery, Mac Powell, Tai Anderson, and David Carr.

We also saw that 42 year old Toby Mac is as cool as ever.

...as a jay bird

Keeping you updated on our kids: Ty's favorite thing is being naked. Jake's favorite thing (besides cars) is messing with our digital camera. Hence the fuzzy naked picture. And as you can see, my favorite thing is NOT cleaning my living room.

Ain't nothin but a hound dog

Dan and I are a lot alike in many ways. We're not the couple that has one spender and one penny pincher. Neither one of us is super outgoing or painfully shy. We both say "potato" and "tomato" like any normal American. But we have one major difference: I am a dog-lover and he is a dog-hater. When we got married neither of us assumed this would be a problem. He knew we'd never have a dog, and I knew I would talk him into it someday.

That someday is upon us. We've made a deal.

Dan has been begging me to let him buy a plasma TV since they first came out, and I've simply been pointing out that we already have a TV, 2 TV's in fact, that work just fine. But I realized recently that if I gave in to buying a plasma TV, he would have to give in to one of my requests. Plasma=dog.

It probably won't be until next summer when we move to a new house and the boys are a bit older, but it's most likely going to happen. The other night we were online looking at which dogs Dan would approve. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options. Does anyone know of a dog that doesn't shed, drool, bark, or ever get sick and preferably hunts for its own food so we don't have to ever buy any? He doesn't want a big dog inside, and I say if you have a dog, what's the point of keeping it outside all the time.

I'm posting pictures of two of my favorites. They're both "hybrid" dogs which sounds better than "mutts" but people are breeding them on purpose because they're so cute and have great personalities. Tell me what you think!


This is a Mauzer, a Maltese/Mini Schnauzer mix.

This is a Beabull, a Beagul/Bulldog mix. (We call Ty "beebs" as a nickname and it sometimes turns into "beeble," so it might be fun to have 2 Beabulls in our house) I should do another posting on the nicknames we call our kids and how they came to be. The nicknames, not the kids.

More babies!!!

No, we're not pregnant again. Just wanted to be clear from the very beginning.

Dan's sister Jane is expecting her first baby, and we are so excited for her and her husband Curtis! They live in California right now, so we're bummed we're not going to experience all the firsts with them. But keep emailing me, Jane, and be sure to take those pictures, like Faith does, of your cute little belly popping out each month.

These first pictures of the boys as newborns remind me of all the crazy emotions you have looking at your child for the first time. Excitement, overwhelming love, and also a bit of fear.

Looking back at these pictures, the fear I felt was probably not that I wouldn't be a good mother...it was that they might look like that forever. Don't worry, Jane, they're all a little scary when they first come out!
Slimey Jake...probably trying to guess what kind of car he was going to go home in.

Gooey Ty...not sure about this whole "outside the womb" thing.

From the mouths of babes

People keep telling me I'm going to forget a lot of the crazy things Jake says, and I'm starting to believe it. I had forgotten until a few weeks ago that for months he called milk "nun" (one of his first words.) He is saying so many words correctly that it makes it that much funnier when he mispronounces words, so I've got to get them written down before they're lost in time. Here are some of my favorites:

That bwankie keeps me yohm (warm)
Mommy works at the hos-uh-pull
I go potty on the toh-toht, then mommy wipes my bahbahn (bottom)
baa-bwees (batteries)

Moving on to some of his favorite foods:
Nohgle bar (granola bar) which used to be "bee-a-bah"
So-wul (cereal)
McDon-dawnts, also sometimes called "McDarnits" which always makes me laugh

And after eating so much food, it's time for:
Ek-er-cise, ek-er-cise (yells it as he's doing jumping jacks)

And when we're out of food we go to:
Maw-mawt (Walmart) or
Fred Meh-mo

As you can tell, life for a two and a half year old boy pretty much revolves around food and the toh-toht. Probably not going to change any time soon, either.

Wedding weekend

Once again, it has been too long since I've posted, but it's not because I'm a slacker it's because I've been SOOOO busy with wedding plans. Yes, Dan and I have finally decided to...just kidding. Our wedding was official, I did remember to send in the license almost 6 years ago, don't worry.

My childhood best friend Heather got married on Sunday night to a wonderful man, and I couldn't be happier for them. But the weeks ahead of the wedding were crazy, and I'm so glad (for everybody) that it's over and most of all that it turned out so beautifully!!

I had a blast with the other bridesmaids, most of whom I don't get to see very often. There were 6 of us...her two sisters Joy and Karen, me, and then Melissa, Melissa, and Alissa. Gotta love those lissa's.

Now Heather and Steve are enjoying a cruise to the Bahamas, and I'm enjoying wiping peanut butter off my couch and snot off my kids. Life is officially back to normal.

Boys, boys, boys...and more boys!

Congrats to sister Karina and Dan Franklin who just found out yesterday that they're having a boy! She's due August 31, and though there is still no pink in the Alcorn grandbaby collection, we are SO excited for you guys!! Jake and Ty were wrestling yesterday (Ty is holding his own very well) and I was so thankful for the blessing of brothers. With an older brother and 2 older boy cuzes, this kid has no choice but to be tough. Plus, you won't have to blow your budget on clothes!!

Here's a recent pic of the 3 boys with "Pops" (Jake's newest favorite word).

Walking and falling

Ty is walking! He took his first steps weeks ago, but now he's REALLY walking. I should have posted this last week when I took the video, because he has already drastically improved. Every day he spends more time on his feet. He looks a lot less like Frankenstein, though he still waddles and holds his hands out for balance.

It is much more obvious now how many toys are constantly on the floor. Our living room is an ever changing obstacle course. Learning to walk does create more independence...but also more bruises. It's amazing how quickly a bruise can heal, but more amazing how quickly another one can appear!!

12 months...

...the age of discovering how food makes it to your mouth.

1 year old Jake

1 year old Ty

Mmmm...peas

Well, if it's not one thing, it's another. I think Ty's ear infection is gone, but last Wednesday he started to break out in a rash from his 1 year shots. His doctor said this may happen because they added a chicken pox vaccine to some of the usual ones, and kids have been having "minor" rashes. Um yeah. Minor is not quite the right word. In fact, it's not minor, it's MAJOR. It was the worst on Saturday and I'm not exaggerating when I say he looked like a freak. I mean scary. His entire little face was polka dotted bright red, and the rash was head to toe UGLY. It was sad. Since I am an ER nurse and I know all...I called the doctor. I knew it was a reaction to the shots, not hives or anything dramatic like meningitis, but he just looked so darn freakish I needed to know if there was anything I could do to help him. Pretty much, no.

All that to say he's been a little needy and grumpy the last few days, but it's looking better. He slept for over 4 hours yesterday at nap time. Yes, auntie Jane, I did check on him to be sure he was breathing :)

He hasn't been wanting to eat, so I was really happy the other day when I put some peas on his high chair tray, and he was just mowing them down. I was making dinner and every time I turned around his tray was empty. I'd put more on there, thinking "yeah, he's finally got his appetite back." This is what I found when I got him down. He may not have looked pretty, but he was clever.



Nice try, dude. He ended up eating them all.