Weekend Fun

 These boys have been keeping me CRAZY busy lately.  I am worn out constantly.  That sweet little face is one of three growing "boys" eating me out of house and home!  More on that later!

Last weekend we went to stay with my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday!  On Saturday, daddy and papa were doing some boat cleaning, mom and I took the boys to the aquarium.  Moses loves it there and I was curious to see how Sutton would react now that he was old enough to understand his surroundings.  He was very interested!  The first few times we saw a tank he would peer in and smile.  Then he reached his hand out expecting to grab a fish and was a little frustrated when he hit glass!  He especially liked the otters and was delighted to see them swim by.  Moses was so busy the entire time and was hard to keep up with.  While we were there Gaga bought us a two year membership to the zoological society!  It is really a bargain and lets us visit any NC aquarium and our zoo FREE.  I'm seeing many more visits in our future!

 Sutton also enjoyed his first boat ride while we were there.  Moses begs to go on the boat every day when we are at my parent's house.  (Note, any time of the year!)  The weather was overcast, but no rain  was in site so we headed out.  Sutton was ok, not too thrilled with this life jacket but tolerated it really well!

 The most exciting thing for Moses during this trip was getting pulled by the Coast Guard!  It's a regular thing for them to be out checking boats, kind of like a license check point on the road.  However, dad hadn't been stopped in years so we hadn't had the opportunity for Moses to meet the police on the water!  All of the guys were SO nice to Moses.  I wanted to take a picture but when they are inspecting your boat and checking credentials you don't want to bother!  Papa checked out perfectly and we were on our way back.  Sutton fell asleep just like Moses often does and ended up sleeping another hour snuggled up to Gaga on the couch.  I don't think she was upset!

Back to my growing boys...the amount and variety of food they are eating these days is CRAZY!  I cooked pretty much all weekend but of course the men had to use the outdoor kitchen to prepare some seafood.  There were steamed clams and crabs and Moses devoured them.  He tried a clam last year and didn't like it, but this year he LOVES them.  I am so glad that he is so willing to try new things!  Love these boys of mine!

Picking Time!

 Do you guys every get tired of us doing the same thing over and over again?  We are SO predictable.  I think these boys are going to look at this blog and wonder if we ever did anything out of the ordinary!  Well, since it's April we went to Porter's Farm to pick strawberries!  Last year Sutton was a sleep in his car seat.

 This year he not only can eat the strawberries he can pick them too.  He had a great time running up and down the rows helping us find strawberries!

 This big boy has been upgraded to expert picker.  He knows to push back the plants so you can find those hidden really red berries.  He got so excited every single time we found one to put in our bucket.

 Not too shabby!

Our favorite thing is to get a fresh squeezed lemonade.  They will put fresh strawberries or cherries in them too.  Sutton had discovered how to drink out of a straw recently and found out about sweet drinks when he got ahold of Brett's lemonade.  I didn't think he would get another sip!  Love my sweet boys and their sweet teeth!

Dear Sutton,

When I was a young girl, I prayed I would have at least two children.  Maybe because I was only child I idealized that relationships of siblings!  Sweet boy, you were an answer to that prayer.  I was a little more scared this pregnancy and you didn't help by hiding during an early check up, but you were there already playing games with your mommy!  The time seemed to fly by to the date we expected your arrival and I knew it was important I cherish every minute of your kicks and pokes in my belly.

 It's been a year since we met face to face.  We spent nearly forty weeks alone together and that day I got to peer at your little face for the first time I was just delighted!  I wanted to stare at that face and snuggle that sweet body for as long as could.  That seemed just fine by you too!  Those first few weeks were spent with you sleeping quietly on my chest or in my arms and I wouldn't change it for anything.

You personality came on strong in the beginning!  As soon as you learned how to smile, you hardly ever stopped!  That sweet grin is as genuine as they come.  With it you can be bashful, funny, sneaky or a million other things.  You seemed to be an easy baby to me and I relished in the fact that you seem to take your time in trying new things.  But when you did, that was it.  You seem to wait until you knew exactly how to do something and then would show off to the world.

We did have some bumps in the road those first few months.  For unknown reasons you just didn't want to go to the bathroom and your ears were a constant problem.  You took both problems in stride and barely made a peep about them.  Mommy was WAY more worried than you ever were!

From beach trips, the fair, zoo, pumpkin patches and then Christmas trees...things just seemed to fly by and you enjoyed it all.  We took you everywhere to experience as much as you could.  I know you wont remember these things but having you there was the most important thing.  

These past few months have been especially special.  I am really starting to get to know you even better.  You are starting to show your mischievous side!  If a door opens you run towards it hoping to be allowed outside or in a different room.  You want to climb stairs, stool, chairs and well just about anything!  You chase everyone around hoping for some fun.  You dance along to music and laugh when your brother does something silly.

When I look at that face, I see so many faces I love.  You seem to have gotten many of your features from my side of the family.  When you smile I see my mom and those eyes remind me of my dad.  I guess we got the name right!  I love that you also favor your daddy and brother.  You three are quite the team!

When we talked about adding to our family a couple of years ago, I knew something was missing and that was you!  You are a blessing to us in every way.  You add more laughter and love than we could ever imagine.  I am thankful that God saw fit to intrust you in our hearts and home.  I pray every day that you grow up to be a man of faith and carry a servant's heart.  I already know that God has a special plan for you even if we don't know exactly what the future holds.  He has already used you to make my life better!

I love you little bug!

Easter Weekend

 There are not many times when I have everything together.  It's always hard to get everything in place when you have kids.  But once in awhile, a miracle occurs and I get my act together.  Last Easter, I had  newborn and was still recovering from my c-section.  I hadn't bought a new dress and I felt a mess.  I had grand plans this year.  The boys had matching Easter outfits (or costumes as Moses says).  I had a new dress.  Brett was going to help carry the cross in during services at church.  We were going to have brunch afterwards.  We were going to take beautiful pictures around the flowers in the yard.  Wrong, wrong, wrong!

 Sutton woke up feeling worse than he did on his birthday.  His nose is a faucet and he is GRUMPY.  I have never had either one of my children be as clingy and generally unhappy has he was today.  No way were we going to church.  Brett's allergies were bothering him too so even he couldn't handle it.  So we did Easter baskets for the boys and I had hid eggs for Moses to find.  I made a big breakfast and then we proceeded to a lot of nothing all morning!  I snuck away for some quiet time with my Bible and enjoyed being in the word even if I couldn't be at church.  Easter is so sacred to me because Jesus paid a debt I can never repay.  The weight of it all is so amazing!  It was important to take time to remember that and have it in my heart the entire day.

We couldn't take Sutton out to lunch, so Brett insisted that Moses and I go with my parents for some lunch.  We had a nice lunch and came back home and took out the wagon.  The  ONLY thing that makes Sutton content is being outside and in that wagon.  It's his happy place when he feels puny.

 Moses must be working on combating his brothers sick cranky behavior.  He has been the sweetest thing all week.  His manners have been great and he is just angelic most of the time.  I don't have to worry about him much at all lately!

Can you tell Moses was jazzed about his Easter presents?  This little boy is so into Transformers it's not even funny.  It is a 24/7 thing.  It's all he wants to do and all he wants to talk about!

Here's hoping for a better spring!  We suffered greatly last year with mono and sinus/ear infections so I am REALLY REALLY hoping this brood gets well and stays well!

Sutton Turns One!

 Our sweet Sutton turned ONE on Saturday!  I had gone back and forth on whether or not to have his party on his actual birthday because I knew that a lot of people would be out of town or busy because it was Easter weekend, but I went ahead and decided to do it.  When ended up having a few friends and family and it was just fine with us!  Unfortunately, Sutton has been out of sorts all week.  He is suffering from some sort of cold/allergies/sinus infection/teething issues and was not his usual happy self.  He was such a trooper though!  He woke up and sang to him and gave him his first Krispy Kreme doughnut for breakfast!  Last year I was buying them for the nurses and now my sweet boy was eating them himself!  His brother gave him a little people airplane that he happily played with that morning!

 His other favorite thing about his birthday were the balloons.  We tied them to his jumper and they lasted about 15 minutes before they became untied and flew away.  Pretty much all of the party was spent playing in the back yard.  We have a great fenced in area and got a lot of big bouncy balls for the kids instead of goody bags.  They played with them and had a great time!  It was such a nice day and since Sutton loves to be outside that made it all the more better.

 By the time we got him his cake he was OVER it!  He just did not feel like pretending to be happy anymore (he gets that from me!).  He ate a few bites of icing but did not want his cake.  He has not felt like eating much with those teeth coming in.

We washed him off and put some comfy clothes on and let him back in yard.  The above picture is pretty much the only real smile I got from him.  This sweet boy just needs a birthday do over!  All of our friends and family had a great time, especially big brother!  Hopefully, he will be better next week and I can sneak him a little treat!  Happy Birthday Little Bug!

Moses Remembers...

Tonight I asked Moses what he remembers about meeting his brother for the first time.  He replied, "I put together a pirate puzzle with Papa."  Well, he did!  I guess something made an impression that day!  When reminded he talked about the cake and singing to him.  We talked about how small he was and then Moses said, "He didn't have any teeth or a tongue!"  Close buddy, but not quite!  So Sutton, this is what your brother remembers about the day you born!

Getting Ready

We've got a big week a head of us!  Sutton will be ONE on Saturday.  Um, what!  That little bug has grown up way too fast.  In true Barker fashion, we celebrate birthday week.  We had dinner with my parents in Emerald Isle this weekend and ate at Rucker Johns where Sutton had the waitstaff sing to him and bring him some dessert.  He had his first bite of cake and he loved it of course!  He will have a party on his actual birthday with some friends and we are excited to do all the first birthday fun again!

Birthday week overlaps Holy Week this year.  Probably the most important week in the year!  Even though Easter falls a little earlier this year, I love that all of the beautiful flowers and trees are in full bloom already.  Even the flowers seem to scream out, He is Risen!