different levels of crazy

 I take a lot of pictures with my phone...a lot.

I go through them every few days and delete what I don't want and post what I think is worth saving. My standards must be low apparently, because I'm posting these next few.

They really just show how crazy we are around here and how possibly mundane our lives are.

Is it nuts to admit how much I love mundane?

Oh yeah...and monotony is good too.

 My sister and her little girls sent Saylor a package of girly fun and we got it yesterday!

Thanks a ton for the candy Jolyn...thanks a ton.

Payback is going to be awesome.  Mwwhaaa ha ha ha.

 Colby adopted this box as his home last weekend and cut a perfect Colby sized hole in the top for his head.  (it was kind of a big hole) He then screamed bloody murder if anyone touched it.  He even watched a movie in its two hour entirety the other night...in the box.

Truly creepy?  Seeing his head spin around.  

Why in the world do we buy toys?

 Heard from the kitchen Sunday afternoon, "Andrew, you can't iron a tie when it is still on you!"

But apparently someone else can.

 There are many pictures over the years that show our classiness...but this one might take the cake.

Please don't sneeze Andrew, you might lose your nose.

 Carter brought this to me yesterday while I was feeding Grady. 

"Look mom, a dictionary can be so funny!"

Thanks Webster for the 3rd grade boy bathroom humor.

 Grady is molting like a snake.

Couldn't pass up taking the snowy hair picture after I brushed off all his loose skin yesterday.  The other kids were grossed out.

He has since been bathed and defluffed.

 I think Saylor might need some anatomy lessons and quick.  I better teach her before she says something in public and embarrasses me.

As she pointed to her hip yesterday she exclaimed, "Mom, my nipple really hurts."

Ok...maybe this picture and commentary takes the classy cake.

(And for the record... I DO NOT say the word nipple around my daughter.  Ick.  Thanks boys for teaching this word to your sister.  I owe you.)

We don't watch tv as a family very often.   There isn't much but trash on tv.  But our family has discovered The Voice and my kids insist on watching it every Monday and Tuesday night.

I hope this counts as a wholesome recreational activity...because this will be FHE for the next few weeks.

I do make them clean and do small chores during the commercials.  This alleviates my guilt a little.

The next few pictures are posted for their cuteness level.

We are big Grady fans around here.

Missing Warm Weather

It snowed today.

Blech.

It wasn't enough to stick to the ground, but what fell from the sky was white and cold.

Double Blech.

It's April 16 and I'm missing warm weather.

In fact, I'm missing some of the weather we experienced in Richmond.

And, along with that weather, I'm missing some of the places we used to visit when the weather was nice.

 The best place ever when it was toasty outside were the fountains at Stony Point.

In the middle of a fancy-shmancy mall was the end-all-beat-all spot for cooling off in the hot summer.  Sadly, I don't have many pictures of the many times we would go, so this darling one of Carter that my cute Virginia neighbor took will have to do.

The boys would play in the water for an hour or so, and then we would head home for lunch and to sit on our air conditioning vents.

(Virginia heat is mean.)

However, in the spring and fall, when the weather in Virginia was PERFECT, we would spend hours outside at a few favorite places.

The best was the Botanical Gardens.  The last year we lived in Richmond we bought a season pass and would often spend our evenings there as a family.

We loved everything about it!

 

We loved the flowers...

We loved the climbing trees...

 We loved the huge tree house with the great views...

We loved the tunnels...

We loved the sandbox...

 We even loved the crazy monkey statues...

 Most of all though, I think the kids liked the snack bar!

We loved this beautiful place so much we even had our family pictures taken there.

So many memories!

The boys still talk about our outings to the Botanical Gardens.  If we ever make it back to Richmond, I think we will have to visit!

The last place that we would visit when the weather was beautiful was Maymont Park (mostly because this place was free free free!)

These pictures are from when my brother Jon and his wife Caprice came and visited!

Maymont was huge and I know we never saw the entire park.  Our kids would get tired after walking around the petting zoo and we would usually head home.

 I miss having places like the fountains, the botanical gardens and Maymont to visit with my kids.  There aren't many places close to Twin like these.     

...there isn't a Krispy Kreme here either.

Man, sometimes we REALLY miss Richmond!

The Story

Grady is three weeks old today and it's probably time I write down the actual story before I forget it.  

As I previously wrote, Friday the 22nd I felt tired and was hoping to go into labor.  I even went as far as sitting on an exercise ball to speed things up.

Little did I know...

Steve and I put the kids in bed late on Friday night and then we turned on a movie in our room.  I was really uncomfortable and was having weird pain.  They weren't contractions...but I just hurt.   At midnight we turned out the lights and Steve kissed me goodnight.  Honestly, 30 seconds later my water broke.  I jumped out of bed and ran as fast as a pregnant woman could run to the bathroom.  

Steve yelled out, "Whats wrong?"

I yelled, "My water broke!"

"Are you sure?"

"Uh...yeah I''m sure!"

I have never had my water break on it's own before.  New experience.  

I can only describe it as having the flood gates open full force.

...there is no privacy or decency involved.

It's wet, wet wet.

Steve called my friend Annie who is a labor and delivery nurse.  She had just come off a 12 hour shift, but got out of bed and came to my rescue at the hospital anyway.  Love that woman.

Steve then called my mom who came over to stay with the kids, and finally I called my sister JaNae in Boise who crazily got in her car and drove the two hours to Twin.

We drove to the hospital (two blocks...so a short ride) and got checked into labor and delivery.

By the time we got to my room, I was soaked to my shoes.  Lovely.

Annie helped deliver Saylor so she knows how my deliveries can go really fast.  After being at the hospital for only an hour, I was checked in, hooked up to my IV for antibiotics and had my epidural placed.  Beautiful.

An hour later, my sister JaNae showed up and an hour after that my mom walked in after having my dad replace her at my house.

So it was a WALKER GIRL PARTY!!!   

I was numb, in no pain whatsoever, and had two of my best friends there.  Perfect way to have a baby!  (poor Steve)

Only way it could have been better is if my sister Jolyn could have been there too.  Why does Kansas have to be so far away? 

Due to the speedy nature of my past deliveries, I was sure this boy was going to arrive by 3 am.   However, because my epidural was SO good, it slowed my labor and around 4 am, I was given pitocin to speed things up.  In the mean time, we all sat around made jokes and tried to stay awake.  We also made bets on how big Grady was going to be.  My mom won and was only 5 oz off.

Only at one time did I feel really awful during this experience.  It was when my blood pressure dropped- also due to my fabulous epidural.  It was short lived, but please enjoy the picture.  

When one goes to the hospital at 12 am, make-up and hair are not on the agenda.

My sister JaNae took control of the photo taking and was wonderful enough to document the experience.  My only regret is I don't have any good pictures of her!  

Contracting away.

When I was dilated to a eight, Annie told me Grady was stuck sideways in my pelvis and was not dropping.   She had me roll over onto my hands and knees.  Please remember I was numb as the day is long.  I joked all throughout my pregnancy that I felt like a bloated marine animal.  After being flipped over completely numb from the waist down, I can honestly say...no joking aside...I have experienced beached manatee.  

After a ton of laughing over my precarious situation and two contractions, I rolled back over to my back and SURPRISE!  Grady had descended and was ready to be born.

When it was time to push, I had to ask Steve to get his handsome self over to help me.  He was sitting on the couch minding his own business.  Apparently me not being in pain made him skeptical of how close I was to having a baby.  Also, he was in the same room as three Walker women and that can be overwhelming.  Add one of those Walker women being in labor and you might describe Steve's own personal...well you get the idea.
Thank you JaNae for capturing the look of angst on his face perfectly.
Steve doesn't enjoy the birth process.
(I find this hilarious and I tease him WAY to much about it.  Love you Steve.)

Two contractions and a few pushes later...

Grady Paul came into the world!

Oh man how we love this little boy!

Thank you JaNae and Mom for being with me during this miraculous moment.   There is nothing better than a newborn and sharing him with my mom and sister was beyond words.  

I'm so grateful for Grady and feel honored to be his mother.  How lucky Steve and I are to have five healthy happy children in our care.  We are truly blessed.

Spectrum of Stupidity

I walked into this scene yesterday.

If you are thinking he really isn't doing what it looks like he is doing...um...yes he is.

It's been coming for a while now, but as of yesterday at 3:35 pm, Andrew's ever increasing testosterone has officially disolved any and all neurological connections in his brain.

He will not be 13 for 3 1/2 months...but his level on the stupidity spectrum ranks him as a teenager, dispite his tender age of 12.

The only bright side of this gatorade snorting situation???

He had enough sense left, despite his lack of brain power, to aquire a seperate straw for drinking.

Good job Andrew.

I'll try not to cry myself to sleep tonight mourning the loss of your cognative ablilty.

But, I might dress in all black with a veil for the next six years.

snippets

Snippets are how I'm surviving life at the moment.  

Three hour snippets.

Three hours between each Grady feeding, burping, diaper changing...and then it starts all over again.

It's a challenge to see what I can get accomplished in the time between.

Some things that make me feel most like myself are, fixing my hair, fixing Saylor's hair, napping, making cookies (not helping in other ways though) and having my house picked up.

None of these have been done on the same day.

Oh well.

At least my kids aren't starving or wearing filthy clothes - yet.

Here are few snippets of  life from the past few days I captured with my phone camera, because really,  who has time to pull out the real camera.

I was feeding Grady on my bed when Saylor plopped herself down on the pillow next to me and proceeded to feed her giraffe from her belly button.

It's "monkey see monkey do" around here...with only slight modifications.

"Hey Mom, its a 3-D picture!"

This boy cracks me up.

 All of the kids (minus one) working on a project with no wailing or gnashing of teeth?

Miracle.

FHE's like this are rare rare rare.

 Got Milk?

(Seriously the best content baby face is the milk face.  I adore it.)

 First "real dunking" bath.

Grady's umbillical cord fell off two days ago and a sink bath is the right of passage that comes with losing your belly button stump.

 He was unimpressed...

 and then quickly annoyed.

It was a short lived bath.