Sound Asleep

I am uniquely blessed in the fact that my kids are REALLY hard sleepers. Maybe it's because I made it a point never to tiptoe around them when they were babies, so they learned to adjust to a somewhat noisy environment. There are 2 things that I absolutely LOVE about this: First, I can pick them up and move them around while they are asleep, and they won't wake up. If they fall asleep in the car, I just carry them inside. If they're asleep in their beds, I can go in and pick them up and hold them or rock them. I LOVE sneaking them out of bed and bringing them into my room to snuggle (I get to enjoy cuddling up to them, and they don't wake up to realize it and get spoiled!) I can also get really cute pictures of all three of them when they're asleep because I just wait till they're out and then position them however I want to.

The second thing that I love about them being hard sleepers is that they can fall asleep just about anywhere - on the floor, in the car, on the couch, in the highchair, and even inside a box!! Last night, Avery came into my room and asked, "Where's Brynn?" (They share a bedroom). I asked, "She's not in her bed?" Avery said "no," so I went in the room and looked. Then Avery said, "Oh, here she is...asleep inside this box." I looked inside, and sure enough, there was Brynn fast asleep in a box.

It got me thinking about all of the funny places I've caught them sleeping, so I decided to round up some pictures - old and new.

Brynn in the box - 9/26/08

I came home one night from PTO at school, and Brynn had fallen asleep on the floor. Bryan left her there for me to see! 9/7/08

Left: Asa fell asleep right in his ExerSaucer - 6/15/08

Right: Too pooped to even eat! 3/2/08

Christmas Eve 2007 - YES, they are REALLY asleep.

Christmas Card pic of the girls in 2006. They didn't even wake up when Bryan and I were manipulating those hats to look just PERFECT!

Avery fell asleep while watching a movie in our living room chair - 3/16/07

Avery read herself to sleep. 6/19/07

Avery was so tired after gymnastics one day, that she crashed on the sofa. 5/10/07.

OK, I guess you get the idea! I could literally look for pictures forever because there are dozens of them....

My Weekend Without Julie (posted by Bryan)....

Well, it's better late than never, but here is what Bryan had to say about his weekend without me when I went to Fernandina with my girlfriends...

Okay, so Julie goes away for the weekend with her girlfriends, and I'm keeping the kids. So how was it for me?
First of all, Julie left on a Thurday around noon. So when she takes a weekend, she takes a weekend. I kept Asa while the girls went to Athena Leskovic's house and played. I took advantage of a nap, about a half hour, while Asa was asleep. Then I delivered him to Grandmommy so I could work a little more. Picked them up after work, brought them home. Night's almost over right? Wrong.
Brynn would NOT stay in her bed! No matter what I did, she would not. I spanked her over and over again to no avail. After spanking Brynn who knows how many times for getting out of bed (literally Brynn would not obey), Brynn fell asleep. Avery was still awake, and I asked her why in the world did Brynn keep getting out of bed when I kept spanking her? Avery said, "Because she's 2." I laughed and told Avery that sometimes God speaks through the mouth of a child, and I think He just did.
It was awesome. After that night's battle royal with Brynn, she was the first to wake up. She came in the bedroom, and I asked if she wanted to get into my bed. She said yes, and we just laid there together, and I loved on her. Then she said, "I love you." It was awesome b/c I was so concerned about last night's stuff. The first (or one of the first) words out of her mouth were "I love you." How great is that? Even in discipline, per God's word, she felt loved.
So I take them to the Tattnall homecoming game. Avery wants to wear a cheerleading outfit. The only one she has is a Georgia cheerleading outfit. Brynn wears Avery's old TSA cheerleading outfit.

Tripp has his jersey retired before the game, and during the ceremony I recognize a wailing cry over the crowd. . . it's Avery. I have to leave the ceremony to go take care of Avery who scratched her leg.
Go back to the ceremony, finish up. Asa's got a poo-poo. I change it, and then I cannot find Brynn. They're doing the invocation before the game and I'm the only person walking around looking for someone. Shawn finally sees her on the field near one of the end zones. We stay till halftime. It's late, so I let the girls sleep in their cheerleading outfits.
Wake up the next morning, cook pancakes upon Avery's insistence. Then she doesn't eat any b/c Brynn poked her in the hand with a fork. Brynn also decided to pour the syrup on the dining room table.

Off to Tanner's football game . . . of course in the cheerleading outfits. I guess if it were up to me I'd probably change their clothes only twice per week. Grandma Shirley bought the kids pizza, and Avery gave me "your favorite part" (the crust).
Went to Arby's for lunch (a big deal for me b/c I've never taken all three of them out to lunch on my own before). Got the car washed (which it needed) and the kids loved that. Off to Burns Park (it's hard to swing three kids . . . kinda like that guy that spins like 20 plates on sticks). Back home, nap time for Asa, and though I try to get some shut-eye, Avery and Brynn decide they want to get in bed with me and cut up. Baths, off to Grandma Shirley's for spaghetti, and back home.
Somewhere along the line I find during the weekend a roll of toilet paper undone and stuffed into the toilet. I wonder who would have done that? Asa's not coordinated enough, and Avery is, at her age, too responsible. That leaves me or Brynn.

Off to church on Sunday. I take Grandma Shirley and Papa up on their invitation to go to S&S Cafeteria. Man was that crazy! In the middle of that long wait line, Avery has to go to the potty. She holds it as long as she can until "it's about to come out!" Grandma Shirley takes her to the bathroom, leaving me and Papa with Brynn and Asa and 4 trays of food. When we sit down, Asa's fussy, Brynn just wants jello or Papa's congealed salad, alot of screaming, crying, and craziness and we're out of there. It was chaotic, but it was wierd, after the whole thing, I told God that it was awesome. It's one of those things you look back on and laugh, and count your blessings.
Mommy came home to a clean house (picked up about 2 hours before she arrived). It was a fun weekend, but having Mommy around sure helps!
- Daddy

This is a Bandaid!

Just a second ago, I walked in on Brynn, who was in my bathroom getting into something, I was sure. I looked at her, and she said, "This is a bandaid" and pulled up her dress to show me. This is what I saw...so typical of Brynn!! I'm still cracking up!

My Weekend Without Bryan

I must say that I have wondered how I would handle this weekend when it finally arrived. Bryan was at the beach with his buddies since Thursday, and I've had the kids by myself. You have to know that in the past, when Bryan has even been gone for the night, I have run over to my parents to spend the night. So, you see, I've never really had to do this by myself. I guess I wanted to see if I could really handle it. Well, it's Sunday, and I am happy to say that I have survived...(but not without a little help!) Here's a not so brief summary of the weekend.

OK, now don't go writing me off yet - I DID spend Thursday night at my parents, but it was because Papa K was taking all three kids to school on Friday morning since I had to be at work at 8:00. At 10:15, I got a call from Asa's teacher that he had the runs, and I had to go pick him up. Normally, Bryan would've been able to handle this, BUT not this time. I had to leave work to go get him, and then I took him over to my father in law, Al's, house, so I could go back to work. By the way, he's not sick - just teething. My Mom picked them all up at noon and took them back to my house where Hope, my other mom, was keeping them until I got home. The weekend has just started, and already I've used all THREE sets of grandparents!!! You have NO IDEA how blessed I am to have grandparents in town! I honestly don't know what I'd do without them! When I got home, the routine was pretty much cook supper, bathe the kids, read books, have our devotion, say prayers and go to bed. As expected, Asa and Avery went to sleep GREAT, but Brynn pulled one of her late nighters (see previous post) and didn't fall asleep until about 10:00. I stayed up until 12:30 working on the computer! Why do I do that when I know I have to wake up at the crack of dawn?

Yesterday morning, I took the kids to Burger King where my parents and Aunt Nettie and Uncle Rob usually go in the mornings. We ate and played on the playground before taking the girls on a "field trip." Papa kept Asa, and Mom and I took the girls to Lane Packing Company (with a short detour by Hobby Lobby, of course). We ate lunch at the Peachtree Cafe, played on the playground and tractors, and, of course, ate peach ice cream. We had to take Mom back to her house, and I had to pick up Asa from Papa, so while I was there, I caught a 20 minute power nap to get me ready for the rest of the night. I came back here late afternoon and did the normal night time stuff. This time, Brynn hadn't taken a nap, so she was asleep by 7:30. I was feeling pretty good about myself when I had ALL asleep by 8:30. I was much smarter this time and went to bed at 10:30.

This morning, I got all of the kids up, fed, dressed, and ready for church, and I even got an early enought start to swing by Starbucks for a Mocha! I talked to Bryan on the way home afterwards, and he was ON HIS WAY!! By the time both Brynn and Asa had a nap, and we did a quick "once over" on the house, it was almost time for his arrival. He ended up getting home around 3:30, much to our delight!

So, there you have it! Obviously, I couldn't have done it without the help of ALL the grandparents! Hats off to my friends who have to do this ALL THE TIME without help!) We did nothing really spectacular, but I MADE it! All of this while keeping the house clean, cooking supper, nursing boo-boos, doing 4 loads of laundry, being a household referree, washing/unloading dishes, building forts and castles, creating 2 photo books on Shutterfly, finishing a layout in Brynn's scrapbook, proofing a birthday invitation for Asa's First Birthday party, babysitting Avery's class mascot "Friendly Frog" for the weekend & typing up his journal, having my OWN devotional times, making sure that our Webkins are taken care of, and finally posting a blog to tell all about it! I have to say, I feel like I have passed the test. (For the record, I NEVER ONCE got on Facebook!! Maybe that's why I actually GOT something done!)

And lest you say, when do YOU get a weekend with YOUR friends at the beach? Well, I'm leaving for Fernandina on Thursday. Stay tuned for Bryan's weekend without Julie...I may even make him type up the post!!

The Sounds of Bedtime

Bedtime at the Scott house is not exactly bedtime. I try get the kids in bed by 7:00, which is no real problem for Asa. He's the easiest one to get to sleep - just put him in the crib, and he's off to la-la land! Easy enough! Now the girls are another story altogether. On a typical night, we get them in their room around 7:00. First, we brush teeth, then we read together, then it's time for prayers, hugs & kisses, tucking in and LIGHTS OUT!! That's when the drama begins...

Brynn loves to climb all over the crib and sit up on top of the rails. If she's not on her pillow, she's perched like a bird on the railing! It's quite a sight to see! Avery is constantly getting up to inform us that "Brynn's out of the bed!" or "Brynn turned on the light!" Brynn gets out of bed incessantly, crying "Avee's hits me!" or asking "I'nna get in Avee's bed!" Sometimes we let them get in Avery's bed together for a while, which can be good or bad. On many nights, they'll sing or play school, but often they nearly drive each other crazy (at which point Brynn has to go back to her crib, and she pitches a fit!) Sometimes (like in photo below, taken last night) Brynn will sneak back into Avery's bed, but we won't discover it until we check on them right before we go to sleep. They will both be snuggled up together fast asleep. So sweet!

The other night, Avery sneaked out of bed after Brynn was already asleep, and we found her under a dining room chair just hanging out listening and watching us in the bedroom. Glad we weren't DOING anything!

All of this to say, on a typical night at bedtime, our house is filled with a conglomeration of the sounds of praying, reading, singing, tattling, crying, laughing, talking, teaching, whining, fighting, and loving. At some point each night (maybe by 9:00), they all 3 are visited by the sandman, and then there is peace and quiet!

Asa's First Steps

This past Saturday, Asa took his first step (11 months old). Since then, he's gotten more and more confident standing alone and trying out his legs! This morning, he took 2 steps for Daddy, and this afternoon, he took 2 for me. Tonight as I was trying to capture a picture of him walking, he took 9 steps!! I couldn't believe it! My little boy is growing up, and I can't stand it! If only I could freeze time and keep him just like he is right now...forever!!

By the way, if I can ever get computer savvy enough to figure out how to import a video from my camcorder, I will replace this pic with live footage of the momentous event! But, I'm in the process of trying to figure it out...we shall see!!!

Labor Day Weekend in St. Simons

For the long weekend, we went with Shawn and Ash and their kids to Myra's house in St. Simons. This is a small "beach shack" on Ocean Boulevard that was owned by Bryan and Shawn's grandmother, Myra. She owned it back when you had to take a ferry to even get ON St. Simons. Now Shirley, Bryan's mom, owns the house, so we are blessed to have a place at the beach that we can go whenever we want. We love it! It's not fancy, so you're not afraid to sit on the furniture or walk on the floors. But the best part is the memories that Myra's house holds. Bryan and Shawn spent many summers there as kids, and it holds a special place in their hearts. That's why it's such a cool thing to be spending summers there now with OUR kids - in the same house, on the same beach. This weekend was definitely interesting as we were outnumbered nearly 2 to 1! We had 7 kids under the age of 7! It sounds like it'd be absolutely wild, but the cousins have so much fun together that they really entertain themselves. We spent every moment we could on the beach, getting out there around 10:30 and not leaving until 6:00 each day. The kids were so exhausted by the time they finished supper that it was not difficult at all to get them all to sleep. I'm sure that this will be the first of many vacations to Myra's beach house with the 11 of us! (As of now, neither couple plans on adding to their family, but we never know if God's plan is the same as ours.) Anyway, it was an absolute blast!
Myra Jane, Avery and Carson

The younger 4 under the tent. (Myra, Carson, Asa and Brynn)

Avery and Baylor were inseparable!

She was pretty taken with Myra too, since she's the "newest."