My Boys

No woman, girl, or lady is as lucky as me.  I have a most wonderful Husband.  I have the most sweet Little Boy.  It is such a blessing to be Wifey and Momma to these two handsome boys.

10 Reasons I Love Husband

1.  He works so hard to support our family.
2.  He teaches me something new everyday.
3.  He forgives me when I'm a rotten stinker sweetheart.
4.  He spoils me.
5.  He introduced me to the delicious food of Texas: Braum's, Freebirds, Cheddar's...the list goes on.
6.  He's the best dad a BOY could ask for.
7.  He cuddles with me in bed.
8.  He holds my hand.
9.  He thinks he's lucky he got me.
10.  He made me a Wifey.

10 Reasons I Love Little Boy

1.  He has blue eyes like Momma.
2.  His sweet giggles when we tickle him or make faces or give him kisses.
3.  He's so stinkin' cute in his stinkin' cute clothes.
4.  His cute little hands.  His cute little toes.  His cute little bottom.
5.  His fresh clean smell after bath time.
6.  He's so peaceful when he sleeps.
7.  He makes me slow down to enjoy the little moments.
8.  His silly faces.
9.  He smiles at me when I come home from school.
10.  He made me a Mother.

The Manster

manster (n) a little boy monster

2 days old

85 days old

181 days old

They grow so fast!  It's hard to believe that it's the same baby!  It's been a pleasure to watch him change, to see him learn how to use his little body.  The best part, though, is seeing how much he's stayed the same.  He is still the quiet, happy little boy we met that first day in the hospital.  He has a gentle spirit.  Tony and I feel so blessed to be the parents of Hyrum Joseph Brown.

P.S. The swing has been retired to the storage closet.  Hyrum learned how to turn himself upside down and all around in it--even when he was buckled in!  So...until the next babe...

October

October has flown by, but that doesn't mean we weren't up to a million things.  I feel like I photographed a life's worth of pictures in the last 31 days.  Here are some that didn't make their way to the blog.

True dad, carrots and all...

Our Messmaker

Judge me for grabbing the camera.

 

POPS!!

Glad we caught the month in pictures!!

Hideout

Little Boy and I are hiding; hiding from ghosts, goblins, and princesses alike.  Judge me if you will, but we are not going trick-or-treating.  He's six months old...he won't remember.  Besides, I have a Pharm test to study for (See the trend?  I'm blogging.), the stroller has a flat tire, Tony is working, and I don't have the stamina to carry a twenty pound giraffe all around town.  And on top of all of that, it's a disappointment when all the chocolate runs out on November 2 and you're stuck with hard bubblegum and licorice. 

We did take the Aunties and Uncle to the Trunk or Treat, so Little Boy's first Halloween experience wasn't totally skipped.  He made a pretty cute Little Giraffe if I do say so myself...

Here, There, Everywhere

Since when did our calendar explode?!  This week, or last?  Or maybe it's always been a disaster and I've just been in denial...How did we get through 12 weeks of school easy peasy fresh and squeezy?  

Don't let me talk us into sleeping in.  It won't be a good idea.  Told you so.  Scramble, not eggs.  No time for that.  Just enough time to get out the door.  Kiss goodbye.  Get Hyrum here at this time and I'll get him here at this other time.  In between that, write a lesson, take a test, eat too much chocolate, deal with the trouble maker.  Ride the lightrail, hope there's no weirdies.  Laugh at Brother Janes.  Get Hyrum.  Go to work.  Sorry there wasn't time to eat dinner together.  Get the Aunties and Uncle Hayden from the bus stop.  Study my brains out.  Take care of Little Boy.  Sorry I'm asleep when you get home.  Hopefully I can stay awake long enough to pray.  I just said it?  Totally missed that.  Don't let me talk us into sleeping in.  It won't be a good idea.

How can we survive all the craziness?  How can we find joy amidst the busyness?  I'm not sure, but I'm glad we do.  If I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with this...

Super Mom/Dad Extraordinaire Convention

Today has been absolutely exhausting.  I'll spare you most of the details.  Just reading about it may exhaust you.

After today, we signed Husband up for the Task Juggling 101 class as well as the How to Get a Good Night's Sleep in 2 Hours class at the Super Dad Extraordinaire Convention.   Feed the babe, put him down for a nap, exercise, shower, dress, lunches packed, call the credit card company because they charged us twice for the bill this month (once on our current account and once on the account we closed a year and a half ago), get the babe to the babysitter, get himself to the seminary, have a heart-to-heart with the troublemaker, teach a rockin' class, book it back to the babysitter's, drive to Downtown Phoenix to pick up Momma from school, go home, change clothes, potty break, kiss Wifey and babe, run out the door for a 5 1/2 hour shift at Home Depot. Whew!

In less stressful news, the Texas Rangers lead the World Series 3-2!  One more win and Husband will be one happy cookie.  Husband has decided that when he serves his Wifey, the Rangers do well.  The other day he vacuumed and did laundry etc. etc. and they pulled off a win in the ninth inning.  See above and you'll know why they won today.  I think wearing his Rangers tie everyday doesn't hurt either. 

As for me, I'm signing up for the College and Mothering class and the How to Grocery Shop with Infants, Toddlers, and/or Children class at the Super Mom Extraordinaire Convention.  [If you want details about the convention, let me know.] 

I had class starting at 7:30 this morning, then another class, then lunch, then open lab, then a mandatory Student Nurses Association meeting.  Long day.  For real.  Luckily, I had my buddy by my side.  We had some good laughs and we suffered the nauseating BO at the meeting this afternoon.  Unfortunately, that's not the worst smell we'll experience as nursing students...

As for the grocery shopping, most of the time I try to finagle* Tony into going with me (or sometimes, if I'm really lucky, he does it all by himself).  This time it didn't work out.  It had to be done today and Husband just couldn't handle one more thing on his plate.  So, after my long day at school I came home, fed Little Guy and then we headed out the door.

Let the excitement begin.

Hyrum has upgraded to a bigger car seat, one that doesn't come out and serve as a means to tote your child around.  He still fits in the littler one, but the big one was already strapped into the car, so I took it.  Well...what am I supposed to do when I get to the store?  Dilemma.  Tote him around in my arms until they fall off OR sit him in the nasty cart and try to keep him from sucking on it?  It was a rough trip and took me twice as long as it should have.  Of course, I couldn't just go to one store...I had to go to Target as well because we were out of diapers and baby food and we still have gift cards at Target and I had a coupon for Target diapers.  Why do we have to be so frugal?  Oh yeah...because we're poor.  Although, we did pick up $0.13 in spare change between Husband and I today.

Shopping behind me, we made it home.  Now, we had to unload the groceries!  I hate unloading groceries.  I can't wait to learn how to gracefully unload the car while toting a six month old who weighs next to 20 pounds.  It took me 3 trips and my arms were dead afterwards.  I don't think I'll be able to move them tomorrow.


Enough excitement.  Time to study. 

*fi·na·gle [fi-ney-guhl] (verb) 1.  to get or achieve (something) by guile, trickery, or manipulation

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies and Service

This past Wednesday, our neighbor across the way, also known as Jeff, came by.  He was in a pickle.  His teenage son had just handed him two pairs of shorts that had lost their buttons.  "I'm a single dad," said he.  "I don't know how to sew on buttons!  Can you help me?"

Who knew that sewing two buttons onto a couple pairs of shorts could make you feel like such a good person.  Seriously.  I wanted to smile and giggle.  Service makes me happy, especially when you serve someone when they're really in need.  This unexpected opportunity to serve made me want to serve even more...

...and everyone knows that nothing says service like homemade cookies, especially cute ones!  I got my recipe for candy corn sugar cookies at Our Best Bites.  I love their food, Tony loves when I make their food, and these cookies are cute AND delicious.

So, my Sunday afternoon was spent making these adorable little cookies.  I made enough to take to the neighbor upstairs who is pregnant (everyone knows that pregnant ladies love cookies), the guy next door, my visiting teacher who is watching Hyrum for us tomorrow, my siblings, myself, myself, my neighbor Jeff and the one and only button boy, Tyler. 

And if buttons and cookies weren't enough opportunities to serve, the Lord granted me one more way.  When I went to deliver the cookies, Jeff explained to me that he had surgery on Friday and is now having complications with healing.  His surgeon wants him to come in again, but won't do any additional surgery without him taking his blood thinners.  Unfortunately, his prescription has run out and he won't have the $20 he needs to refill it until payday this Friday.  I was more than happy to lend him the $20 dollars. 

It made me think of the Primary song Jesus Said Love Everyone.

Jesus said love everyone,

Treat them kindly too.

 When your heart is filled with love,

Others will love you.

Happy Sunday!