I Wouldn't Call Myself Holiday Barbie

Easter was over a week ago and Cameron's birthday is less than a month away. I'm a sucker for a good party or any event that I can get creative on, but as a Mama, I'm no Holiday Barbie. I fail my children.

There, I said it.

I did not do an Easter egg hunt, nor did I do an Easter basket. What he doesn't know won't hurt him? Maybe?

Don't get me wrong, I thought about both and we'll see how next year goes, but I just couldn't get into the junk this year. I'm running on little sleep and feeling a little overwhelmed in the emotions department when it comes to "my boys" and keeping them all happy (this includes Tim).  So back to the Easter stuff - Cameron doesn't like candy and every time I went to the store looking for things to include in eggs or put into a basket (that I wasn't sure we'd get around to hiding or hunting), I realized I was just adding to the junk.

Stickers, eh. 

Candy, nope.

More stuff - and well to be honest, we have a lifetime of opportunities to add to our stuff. 

What we did participate in was family! We may be running low on rest, but that's not going to keep us from moments. Egg hunting can wait, we had horses to feed, four-wheelers to ride, Aunts to laugh with and Grandparents to love on.

We don't get pictures of all of our moments, but my Mama Barbie captures moments in her heart, they last forever.

Room Makeover #1: The Little Boat That Could

(These pictures are rather old since we did Cameron's room first and apparently I never actually posted this.)  

We started with building a toddler bed (a wooden boat we made into a bed) and transitioning him from the crib. Tim did an awesome job and with all the little pieces coming together (even lights) this kid is fishing from his boat bed and loving every minute of it.

There's a surf board in the corner that has been painted with chalk board paint. Eventually, we'll drill some holes in it and hang it over Cameron's bed, but for now it sits in the corner as a prop. :)

Laughing through Delivery & The Brothers Benton

The Basics:

We induced at 5am on Thursday, April 3rd, 2014. I drove myself to the hospital, my Mom met me there to sit with me and Tim had some QT with Cameron before dropping him off at school.  We tried to do everything we could think of to keep things as normal as possible for our very particular little man.  We spent the day in the hospital room making friends with nurses, laughing with my awesome Doctor and killing time.   Nugget arrived at 6:16pm on that Thursday, April 3rd, 2014 with a full head of hair and a few extra pounds!  We were all surprised by his size and the golden shower that he gave us upon his arrival. I did everything I could to get out of the hospital as soon as we were able to.  Apparently the average stay is like 36 hours, but we pushed the envelope a bit and left within 24 hours of delivery.  I couldn't stand being in the hospital anymore and needed my own bed and Cameron!

Laughing Through Delivery:
I waited and waited all day for this little nugget to arrive. It seemed like nothing was getting the contractions going and then all of a sudden - IT WAS TIME! I kept getting asked questions like, "are you feeling contractions?" or "do you feel any pressure?"  Contractions - yea -sure, eventually, but pressure? That's kind of a generic adjective when you've been laying in a hospital bed all day with nothing but Popsicles and liquid to eat.  What's pressure really? It seems relative doesn't it?

Would you be surprised if I told you that I basically laughed this kid out of me?  There were really only 5 pushes and each one was followed by another sarcastic remark or joke, shocking I know.  I mean the fact that TMZ was playing in the background was pretty ridiculous.  We had spent the whole day watching horrible television and then when it's time to get going with labor no one even thought to turn the tv off.  Dr. A is wonderful and fit into our Benton sense of humor like a pro!  I'm not sure that any other doctor could have taken to our wise cracks and laughter and hit us right back all while delivering our baby at the same time.  Nugget came out a lot bigger than any of us expected and we were all stunned. I mean seriously, you should have heard the reactions. Tim's first comment when Cameron was born was that we wouldn't have to pay for a wedding (psh), but this time around, let's just say that Tim was commenting on Nuggets manhood.

The Brothers Benton:
Day 1: Cameron would look at "Baby", point at "Baby" and talk about "Baby"
Day 2:  Cameron gave "Baby" a high-five
Day 3:  Cameron kissed "Baby" on the head (best moment ever)
Day 4:  Cameron asked "Baby" to sit in the chair so that I could do sidewalk chalk with him
Day 5:  Cameron shows "Baby" how to have a bath
Day 6:  Cameron says "Baby" can take him to school.

Each day we have a bit more progress! (thank goodness) I can't wait for The Brothers Benton to be able to interact more.  The last few times in the car Cameron has really tried to talk to "Baby" showing him where the school bus is.  It's pretty stinkin' adorable! He loves that "Baby" sits next to Cameron and repeats it over and over again.  Cameron an Payton (or número Uno and número Dos) are sure to be two peas in a pod and I have a feeling that they will look more and more like each other every day.  There are times when my sisters and I are looking at pictures from when they are little and we have a hard time telling which is which in baby photos because they looked so much a like at that age and they were so close together.  I'm already taking notes that these two brothers will probably be the most competitive, witty, and sarcastic best friends we've ever known.

Introducing Payton!

Our little man Payton has arrived and we couldn't be happier! It's official, I am definitely outnumbered -- here's hoping for at least one of these boys to be a smidge of a Mama's Boy! :)

And We're Off...

Life is a funny thing.
What's that saying about God laughing at our plans?

We're off to be induced in the morning, something that I was hoping that we wouldn't have to do and yet I was completely prepared for it since that's how Cameron finally arrived too!

I'm a ball of emotions and my mind is spinning a bit and I honestly don't expect to sleep well tonight.

When I picked up Cameron from school today, I started to giggle as I imagined two car seats in the car. I was never the little girl who imagined her wedding dress nor did I ever really play "house".  Sure I had dreams of family and I never ruled anything out, but life wasn't about this expectation of being a wife and/or mother. It just never hit my radar, and yet, here I am!

Maybe I didn't have visions of little ones dancing in my head, but the life I've been blessed with, the life that Tim and I have built together is everything I never knew I always wanted! (I stole that line from one of our favorite movies, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.)