Mayhem is 2!

We celebrated Tristan's birthday with a "Just Like Cam (Newton)" Party, since Cam was #2 at Auburn.

I feel like Tristan has been causing Mayhem for much longer than 2 short years, but I guess time flies when you are cleaning up mess, after mess, after mess...that's the saying right?! I absolutely love the chaos he causes in our life. He's so full of personality: sweet, with a little devil on his right shoulder! He's always entertaining, whether it be his infectious dimpled filled giggles, or the hysterics he displays while flailing his body on the floor after everytime he gets told "No!" I love the way his little voice sounds (when he's not whinning). How he uses a "p" in place of an "f" for all words that start with an "f": pish, pinger, peet, pace...all are my favorite! And, speaking of "p" words and the #2, I am thinking Potty training isn't too far off in the future! He definitely is aware of when he needs to go! I have a picture of what occurred in my house last night, but I've chickened out and don't think I want to share such a sight! But, Tristan came out of his room and told his Daddy that he had poopooed. So, Thomas changed him, and they immediately left to pick up TJ from church. About an hour later, I sent TJ to his room to get ready for bed...and of course Tristan followed. Where Tristan goes, I must follow to make sure he isn't painting the carpet purple (like we found him doing during nap time on Sunday), or coloring on the walls with crayons, or pulling every.single.wipe. out of the container to clean up such messes! So, I make it to the hall and come upon what appears to be a LARGE pile of dog crap on my floor...and it looks like it has been stepped in...so my eyes follow the crap prints through their carpeted (white) bedroom! So, first I was trying to figure out how our dog, who is known to perform stunts of her own, opened the gate outside, let herself in the back door, crapped on my floor, and let herself back out and into the cage! Once I realized that was ridiculous, I yelled "Who pooped on the floor?!" Everyone denied it...except Mayhem...when I asked him if he pooped on the floor, he said "Yep." I'm still baffled how he managed that, considering he was fully clothed...at all times??? But, nevertheless, I'm buying a potty today! Can't wait for more excitement from our Monkey in the Middle!

Nothing like a Friday Morning...

with Mayhem!


Intially he started with a spoon and empty popcorn bucket...

Mayhem: "Mommy feed Sissy. Titan (Tristan) make mess!"



Mayhem: "Daddy, Sawee (Sorry) Mommy no keen up!"



One more thing: Mayhem-ette in the making?

A Reason to Celebrate

So, last week was my 31st birthday...and we celebrated...a lot. We went to dinner with my favorite in-laws on Tuesday night. Went to my mom's house for a delicious home-cooked dinner and cake (Death by Chocolate...yummy) Wednesday night. My sweet husband arranged for my mom to watch the kids so we could have a grown-up birthday dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant on Thursday night. And then, the best part, I got to spend an entire weekend with only the Hubs! We just relaxed on the sunny, sandy beach, ate lunch, ate dinner, read books, and ate some more.


But, mostly we celebrated good news! No, I'm NOT pregnant again! At the end of February, just when I thought our family may have made it through all of our sicknesses, I found a large lump in the front of my throat. I immediately knew that whatever it was, was growing on my thyroid. Of course, it happened to be late on a Friday afternoon when I noticed it so I couldn't get in to see a Dr. until Monday afternoon.
If you look closely at my neck, you can see that my right side is swollen in this circus picture.

After an agonizingly long weekend of worrying, while trying to put on a happy face at the circus and our sweet daughter's baby dedication, I made it to my appointment. They immediately ran a CBC to rule out possible lymphoma, which they did. Then, the Dr. came in to examine me. She confirmed that I had a large growth of some sort on my thyroid. She tried to calm me down a little by telling me that thyroid cancer is rare, but was a possibility. Then, of course again, came the waiting game. I had to go back the next morning for a thyroid blood test, and then they immediately sent me over to the hospital to have an ultrasound. After sitting in the waiting room full of cancer patients, laying on the hospital gurney during the ultrasound, trying to make out what I was seeing on the screen, the ultrasound tech came back in and said the radiologist said it appeared to be a cyst. "Ok, that could mean a lot of different things...so???" She said if he thought it was cancerous they would've done a biopsy then and there. I immediately broke down with relief. They set me up with an ENT for the next week. The ENT had reviewed my case, but wanted to perform his own ultrasound. The right side of my thyroid was extremely swollen with the cyst, but my left side appears normal. He still wanted to perform a biopsy to confirm that it was for sure benign. So, he numbed my throat, told me not to swallow, or breathe, and stuck a 3" needle in the front of my neck...TWICE! He drained the cyst as much as he could with the 2 needles. It didn't hurt, but felt really strange, almost like pressure on the inside. Thankfully, the biopsy did come back benign!!! So, for now, they are just going to watch it closely.

That kind of thing sure can put into perspective what's really important in life. And, I'm trying to keep that perspective in my everyday!

Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace. (NKJV)

So Fresh, and So Clean Clean

A New Mayhem Story:

Last night Mayhem had a total of 3 baths...all within a span of about 30 minutes time. First bath, he pooped in the tub. And, this is after we had already changed a stinky diaper first! This has become a habit. We have tried everything to keep him from pooping in the tub...other than just not bathing him at all! So, he was moved to the other bathroom and finished with a shower for bath #2. Immediately after getting out of said shower, we ate dinner. Yes, I know...our own fault! We should've given him baths #1 and #2 after dinner, but we like to do extra work at the end of a long day...and long week for that matter! During dinner, Mayhem rubbed all things into his skin, hair, even eyebrows. We weren't tempting the bath-time poop again, so on to shower #3!

Then, this morning, I guess he assumed he didn't get clean enough last night, I found him with a box of wipes...rubbing himself clean...hair and all!

I LOVE Mayhem, but he makes me tired!

Circus and Dedication

Those 2 words aren't usually said in the same context...I guess, unless you are a clown! But, this weekend we did them both! Saturday, KK & Papa took us to the circus in Columbus. It was so much fun, and the boys really enjoyed the show (and so did I)!









Sunday we had Tanner's Baby Dedication at Church. It was so funny, because Tanner cried the entire time...and she never cries!!! But, it was definitely memorable and we were so blessed to spend time with our family after the service.





And, a special thank you to Nana for making Tanner's gorgeous dress!

Mayhem, Sweetness, and the Princess

Well, I've got it...I've officially figured out the best way to describe Tristan in all of his glory! Meet "Mayhem!"



I absolutely love those commercials, and the other day it just hit me...that's my Tristan! He is absolutely hilarious, a total mess, and quite hard to control:


This was after about an hour of trying to get him to stay in his bed! Not sure if this is a "win" for me, or for him?! (And, yes those are Christmas pj's in February!)

After this getting out of bed fighting has gotten progressively worse over the last few nights, TJ said he would sleep with Tristan to help him feel better! Sweetest.BIG.brother.ever. And, sweetest.son.ever.



And, Princess Tanner is growing up so fast! She is already 4 months old and is such a doll. We are really enjoying her!

My Loves

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, which I'm not a huge fan of, really. I mean, why do we need a day to show and tell those that we love how we feel about them? We should do that every day...theoretically, anyway! My mind is somewhere else today, worrying with things that I cannot control, or fix, or really even understand. Yet, I feel the need to express TODAY how blessed I feel to have such wonderful loves in my life.


I love this man. Those dimples. And, the amazing way he loves me and our wild bunch of kiddos.



TJ. I love these eyes. And, his magical imagination and playful spirit.



Tristan. I'm partial to dimples...and I love these too...and that fiery, feisty, stubborn temperament...hopefully one day it'll get you somewhere other than time-out!



Tanner. I love this infectious smile - it lights up a room. And her extremely pleasant, happy, go-with-the-flow disposition.




I am so very thankful that God has given me these precious blessings in my life. They all bring me so much joy and teach me new things about myself and make me want to be a better mother, wife, and friend. Happy Love Day!