March 2009 Update

We’re having boy #4!!!
"Sometime in the first trimester, a boy fetus begins producing male sex hormones that bathe his brain in testosterone, for the rest of his gestation. 'That exposure wires the brain differently,' says Arthur Arnold, professor of physiological science at UCLA. How? Scientists aren't exactly sure."
-Newsweek, January 30, 2005

Here are answers to the many questions we’ve been asked:

YES

• We are excited about and fine with another little ball of endless energy.
• Clint is still working on getting the bonus room finished.
• I was a little disappointed that I could not pass on my Barbie Dream House or my doll house made by my Uncle Jim (that had real shingles) and I loved playing with growing up. So it’s up to my siblings to have a little girl now!
• Four is a good number for us- we’re WAY outnumbered now!

NO

• We weren’t trying for a girl.
• We aren’t going to keep trying for a girl.
• We aren’t trying to have a football, soccer, volleyball, or baseball team
• We don’t have a name picked out yet. And when we do, we aren’t telling!

Bryce
Bryce auditioned to be in “Milledgeville’s Got Talent” back in January. He and his band (Jamie Tanner on electric guitar and Bradly Pfohl on bass) will be competing against 9 other people/groups on Friday, March 27 at 7pm in Russell Auditorium. It should be a really good show- there will be singers, dancers, rappers, a classical pianist- it’ll be fun and a great experience for Bryce.

He will be playing baseball this Spring and has already begun practicing everyday in our backyard after school. He finishes his homework, changes clothes, then tries to talk Preston into hitting and catching with him. Preston goes out for about 2 minutes then comes back in saying there are too many bees outside to practice ball. If I hear terrified screaming like there is someone stabbing his flesh, then I know that a bee is somewhere near Preston. I used to run outside with fear and horror when I heard this shrieking thinking a bone was broken or blood was gushing from some extremity but now I just know that Preston has spotted a bee.

Bryce reminds me a lot of myself when I was little. Mostly in the way that he treats Preston- he loves him but yells at him a good bit. The other day they went on an “adventure” (Bryce’s idea) to the creek beside our house all dressed in their Bible Man/Superman/Power Ranger/ Batman costumes. I heard Preston’s screams so I walked out onto the back porch to see Preston running in his too-tight Power Ranger costume with “boots” which was actually black mud all the way up to his knees. And boy did that mud stink- he just happened to get stuck in the mud where the cows like to drink so it was mud mixed with cow poop! Bryce said, “I jumped over the creek but Preston got stuck in the mud and then he just cried like a little baby and wouldn’t get out!” And did Bryce help him? Nope. Such compassion- sounded just like me years ago yelling at my brother because he couldn’t “tie his stupid shoes” or “climb a stupid fence.” I made him follow me and do things with me but got mad at him when he couldn’t do all the things I demanded. I have already apologized to him a few times so I will say again, “Sorry Ralphie!”

Preston
Preston continues to do well in school. His newest interest is Tee-Ball. He announced to us that he would like to play this year. Clint and I looked at each other knowing that it would be quite a challenge for all of us. See, Preston’s coordination is not one of his best features. Preston falls at our house at least 5 times a day for no apparent reason. He’ll be sitting at the bar and just fall off the stool onto the floor. Or he’ll just be walking through the house and boom, he’s on the floor. He also doesn’t have any kind of ambition or perseverance when it comes to exerting any kind of energy. One example is the new bike he got for Christmas. It has training wheels but you’d think it didn’t the way he falls off of it and the way he cries when he is trying to go up the slightest incline. We went to the River Walk to let them ride and I just wanted to throw that bike in the river at the end of our outing. I had to push Maddox in his stroller as well as push Preston on his bike for much of the way. The sounds that day consisted of “Mommy, (cry cry) Mommy!” and “PRESTON, pedal, use your muscles God gave you!!”

Clint and Preston went and bought all his equipment so that he could start practicing for Tee-Ball. On Saturday, Preston wanted to practice hitting off his new tee. We got out all his equipment except for his batting helmet. Preston said, “I need my helmet.” And I said, “No you don’t” but little did I know that he did need his helmet and so did the rest of us! At the end of our family practice session, Preston had not only hit himself in the head with his bat but poor little Maddox got whacked in the head with Preston’s bat as well! By the way, Preston doesn’t run after the balls- he skips, frolics, & hops as he is chasing it into the outfield.
So if you want a good laugh, you should definitely come out and see some of Preston’s games. You may want to wear a helmet!

The newest Prestonisms:

• “Daddy why do they keep cutting down all of God’s trees at the High School? We’re not going to be able to breathe!!!”
• “Dear Lord, thank you for the birds and the bees and the trees and please send the bees away to somewhere else so they won’t sting me."
• “Hey Mommy, remember one time when you ate a pig’s rib for lunch?”
• Hey, your baby smells like he has egg poopy.”
• I asked Preston to put up the puzzle that he had left unfinished on the table and he said, “But Mommy, I was waiting for God to finish it.”
• Bryce asked Preston why he wouldn't hug him when he saw him in the school lunchroom and Preston said, "Because I don't like your spiky hair!"
• "Dear Lord, please help Maddox's breath to not smell like poopy anymore."

Maddox
Maddox turned 2 on February 8. He was peeling icing off the cake and eating it as we were singing to him. Now any time he sees a candle burning he exclaims, “Birthday!” He is the parrot of the house, repeating anything anyone says. Nothing is missed by Maddox- whatever we do, he must do. I was at Bath & Body Works the other day trying out lotion and he demanded to try everything I was trying. If I rubbed lotion on my hands, then I had to put it on his hands as well. If the big boys are climbing a tree then you can bet he’s going to be trying his best to get up that tree any way he can. He insists on practicing baseball with his brothers and can actually hit off the tee pretty well.

Maddox has begun to use incomplete sentences like "Preston head." Which means "Preston hit me in the head with the bat." His most used words are typical 2 year old favorites- "no" and "stop." He still enjoys dancing and every Wednesday night dances in the aisles at church when the youth praise band plays. He has become quite picky about his music and is now very demanding in the car when it comes to songs. If he doesn't like what is on the radio he starts hollering, "Song, uh song." Which translates to "I want a new song, I don't like this one" or " This news is boring, I want music." It's been fun watching him continue to develop into his own little person.

And if you haven't seen him recently, his drooling problem is much better. He had his adenoids out in January. They were enlarged which made it difficult for him to breathe through his nose so he always breathed through his mouth instead. So his mouth, therefore, was always open with drool coming out at all times and soaking all his shirts. Then his shirts would sour because of the wetness. Yuck! The surgery went well, but his breath smelled like a dirty diaper for a week. (That's where Preston's quote came from.)

To conclude this post I do want to say one more time for those of you who insist that we "keep trying for a girl" and want us to keep populating the earth with more offspring- "NO chance!!" I would like to leave you with a conversation the other day that helped in the decision making process:
Bryce- "Mommy, what are those purple things on your belly?"
Me- "Those are called stretch marks. That is what you, Preston, and Maddox did to my body so you all need to tell me you are sorry for those."
Bryce- "We're sorry- but we didn't know we did it!"

We love our boys! They stretch us, keep us busy, make us laugh, cry, & want to strangle ourselves sometimes... life is never dull. We thank God for them and thank God for our wonderful friends and family that help us chase them around (especially WyWy & KK running after Maddox), encourage them, and help us keep pointing them towards being young men of God. The Joy is In The Journey!!