the past few days...

I'm feeling the heat from Irving Texas for another blog post!
I doubt it is what you are wanting to read, but I thought I would make your 3-4 visits per day, worth your while, and catch this thing up to date!  ;)

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The boys are good.

We finally got a little rain last week.
Not nearly what we need-- but enough for the boys to play a little.
Get stuck...
And me to get my shoes covered in mud to push them out.

We met up with Candace and Audrey for lunch at Chickfila last Friday.
Right as we were walking up, Beckham looks over at a table of 3 little girls eating with their mom on the patio and cat called them with a "booyah babay!", loud and cocky...
Maddox laid his skills onto a lady in the play area who was probably my age, yet super fit and cute.  I could see him talking to her through the glass and then she started laughing and made her way out to us.  She said, "he is so cute... he asked if I worked out and when I told him yes, he said, 'that's cool.  My momma and I do yoga.'"
We have done yoga together ONCE. 

The play area was just as crazy as it always is,
and B laid the goodbyes on heavy this time.
(but not without her rejecting him a few times first!)

I went to the movies with a couple of friends to See The Other Woman, that night.
it was pretty funny-- not The Heat or Bridesmaids funny-- but funny.
Our friend Jennifer couldn't make the trip out, so we brought her there in spirit!

We played in the sun on Saturday at my mom's.
And went to Hibatchi for dinner that night.

Sunday's Mother's Day service was amazing.
I cried like a baby the entire sermon and Lance might have wiped a tear too.
They had each mom stand up to be recognized and gave each of us a rose on the way out.

I was on call that afternoon, so we just hung around the house and rode around on the Ranger.
Aside from church, there wasn't much 'mom celebrating' going on around here and as I was taking a break from cleaning the kitchen to stuff clothes into the dryer, Beckham started acting like a three year old, crying and screeching out:
"I don't want dis cup", "is purple... I don't wike purple", "I want a diprent one.  I don't wike dis one!"

I wasn't sure if I was going to join him in his fit by telling him that this was MY day and thousands of other moms are getting pampered with fancy meals, beautiful flowers and jewelry-- while I was WORKING and CLEANING and COOKING for THEM...  like I do every single day of my life, unnoticed and rarely appreciated...

But before I could react, Maddox said, "Please don't throw a fit, Bubba.  Today is Mother's Day and mommy works really hard for us.  Just trade cups with me."

And then I sat on the floor and bawled like baby.

I would love to go on to say that this boy of mine gets me...
except Thursday night, when I was carrying dinner outside to the table for a surprise picnic style dinner, he shouted out a few more things that we needed from inside and then said, "it's fun to have momma get us things.  She's always like our butler."  And then he tried to talk Lance into making me sit in the broken chair, while Beckham ate the last piece of garlic toast-- leaving me none.
But I certainly appreciated his words, and I'd say that receiving them unprompted was better than flowers, a gift or a fancy meal.
For real.

Tuesday, Beckham had his 3 year check up.
He was 33.2 lbs (65% for weight) and 38.75" tall.  (78% for height.)
Maddox weighed for fun and was 43lbs.... which made me decide to look back and see what Maddox was at his 3 year check up, and was shocked to see that they were the EXACT same for both weight and height! And they were only an ounce and a half off on their 2 year check ups as well, and same exact height.
So crazy!

I split my boys vaccines up on an alternate schedule but I thought we caught up to the rest of the world at his 2 year visit so I was not prepared when she said he needed three shots.
It broke his tiny heart.
And if I am honest, it broke mine too.
We had to go to the lab for a simple blood test after the immunizations but he had not completely regained his composure so he spiraled out of control in the lab, crying loud and shaking all over.
The worst part was watching Maddox deal though.
He tried comforting him, but then started shaking all over (just like I do when I am nervous) and buried his head into Lance crying.

Beckham refused to walk the rest of the day.  But his soft hearted Daddy let him pick a toy at Target for being so brave, which added with motrin-- got him walking again.
I know he honestly hurt because he randomly yelped out, saying ouch throughout the night.
I finally talked him out of his bandaids Wednesday evening, and he hasn't complained about them since.

Wednesday I went to a dance class the a friend from high school hosts.
It was a lot of fun, and maybe just possibly will build up my endurance so I can get back into some kind of shape.
However, I'll have to learn to ignore my inner voice telling me that I deserve icecream afterward.

I also found out that there is a kid's version of the Love Languages test that night.
Honestly, just because Maddox is a kid, I thought that gifts would be a big winner for him.
Crazy enough though, his results were pretty similar to mine.
He likes to be with us and he likes to be verbally praised.
I wish Beckham were old enough to take it... I am super intrigued by those sorts of things.

Thursday, my friend Jenn invited us out to their farm for the boys to play.
We had lunch, talked, and threw rocks in the creek.
She is so inspiring and every time I leave her, I have this tiny urge to be strong and fit and healthy like her.
But it never lasts long-- mainly because I am the WORST goal keeper of all time.
And you know... the icecream.

Thursday night's call was busy.
I would try and get on a roll, knocking them out but it never failed that for each one I would call, another would come in and I was at the end of my patience rope.
In the midst of that, both kids started crying because Lance wanted them to take a shower and they wanted a bath and apparently the world was over, and negotiations were off.
The only thing worse than your kids wailing out in the background when you are attempting to do your job, is the sound of a grown man scolding them both for crying (while they of course cry louder and harder) in the back ground while you are trying to get caught up on call.

I am an incredible silent cusser-outer, sign linguists, and finger-snapper in times like these--
and have been known to file for divorce with my arm movements while keeping a fake, "everything is perfect over here" in my voice.

Lance got them showered and ready for bed and I was down to my last call when Beckham started crying that real cry that isn't high pitched enough to be a pain-cry but is too committed to be a bratty-I'm-not-getting-my-way cry.

I ran over to him (who was just sitting next to Maddox playing Minecraft on the iPad) and was trying to figure out was was wrong. He was so upset though, that I couldn't understand a single thing he was saying.
Just as I would get him calmed enough to talk to me though, he would start back crying again and each time it would be harder with more tears than the previous.
The only thing that I could ever get was "gone poreba."
Reluctantly Maddox decided to dictate what he was saying.
Apparently Maddox had built a tower in the Minecraft world and told Beckham that he was going to jump from it and if he landed on the blue bricks then he won but if he landed on the red, then he was going to go away forever.

It honestly broke my heart because I think it was the first time that Maddox intentionally hurt Beckham's feelings (without anything to gain from it) and furthermore, that Maddox is the same tenderhearted soul so he knows how it feels to be worried and scared and overwhelmed.

We talked about it, Maddox apologized, we all 3 cried, and Maddox got grounded from the iPad.

Friday evening I was suppose to have an eye doctor appointment.
I had lasik 10 years ago and after checking my eyes against a chart the other day, I think that my eyes have started to get bad again.
I cancelled my appointment though because Lance finally had a softball game early enough for us to go to, and 2 kids in a new doctor's appointment without help sounded like tiptoeing across a bed of Lego's.

Lance's team won.

We had dinner at Noodles BTH after the game and then stopped by our old neighbors'.
I was so tired when we left there that I leaned my seat back and tried to sleep on the way home.
Except I couldn't and by 2:00am I still had the same story to tell.
Frustrated, I grabbed my pillow and moved to the boys' bed and I guess I finally fell asleep but by 4:00, I was up to a seal barking cough that wasn't stopping.
For a moment, I thought "I just got to sleep-- I have to work in the morning, SURELY Lance is going to get him" but he wasn't stopping so I headed back to my room.

That poor little peanut was sitting up on his knees, holding his throat, with the most scared look on his face.  He had strider and I swear he was wheezing also.
I spent from 4:00-6:00 up with him and finally decided that I needed to call in--  which I have not done in 3 or 4 years.

The doctor on call called us in some steroids and while we were waiting on them at the pharmacy, Maddox taught himself to skip!!!
He shrieked out in excitement  and Beckham responded that it was "freaking him off".

I died.

Not to be outdone in the funny department though, Maddox continued to make some noise with his mouth while we were unloading groceries and Lance asked him to stop.
Without a smile, he matter-of-factly said, "dad, I am trying to sound like a didgeridoo.  It's one of Africa's oldest instruments."

They make me laugh a lot.

We napped and laid around the rest of the day-- just took it easy.

Beckham seems better today, but we skipped church and a birthday party just to make sure we didn't spread it...
So far, Maddox has been spared, and we hope it stays that way.