Destiny and Tylan did NOT prepare us for Avery and Paxton.
Guess the Lord likes to keep us as parents humble, doesn’t He?
The first 2 were easy, laid back, didn’t get into trouble much, were very tender-hearted and then…….
Sunshine to thunder clouds and back, all in a matter of minutes.
No middle ground.
I will never forget when she was 5 months old and threw her first fit, arching her back and practically sliding down my leg, limp as a spaghetti noodle. I gasped and stared at Dale across the room, whose mouth had also dropped open. We knew then, we were in for a WHOLE new ballgame!
I wouldn’t have it any other way, my sweet, sassy little Peanut!
Then there is Paxton, who takes Mischievous to a whole new level.
He is the naughty to her theatrics.
Did I tell you about the time I went out to photograph Banana Caramel Pinterest Pie and when I came back he had dragged over a kitchen chair and helped himself?
How about the morning where he dumped the entire bowl of Oatmeal on his head?
Or, when he dumped flour all over the place? Escaped out the back door for the first time, or helped himself to the contents of the fridge?
In the last 2 weeks it has been as follows:
Threw his binky in the toilet. (Yes, the toilet was being used, otherwise the lid is not allowed to be left open. Yuck.)
Threw Avery’s special prayer bunny in the toilet, again it was being used. Ew.
Hit Avery in the head with Dale’s golf club.
Hit Avery in the head with a golf ball.
Hit Avery in the head with her high-heeled church shoes.
Hit Avery in the head with a utensil.
Hit Avery in the head with a train.
Poor Avery needs a helmet! Paxton will smack his own bottom afterwards, “No no”, he says.
If you know it’s a no-no, THEN QUIT, DUDE! Your sisters health depends on it!
This torment seems mostly directed at Avery, as you can tell! He just frustrates Destiny when he trashes her room and Ty when he knocks down his lego towers.
He stands at the island to “help” with supper, those little grabby hands dumping salt and noodles faster than I can stop him.
I clean up water messes at least 5 times a day as he crawls up on to the table and dumps his siblings cups out, then plays in them.
{Sigh} A mother’s job is never done it seems. If it’s quiet and you can’t find Pax, don’t walk, RUN to find him. You will be sorry otherwise!
Now, our latest issue is……….
Markers.
I hide them, he somehow finds them. I hide them again, higher. He finds them again, using a kitchen chair to do his job. Hopefully they are all so high he can’t reach them (I barely can) and this will stop. OF COURSE, I didn’t think to take a photo of my “decorated” walls, doors, couch and carpet before I scrubbed them, but here is how he looked afterwards:
(When he first came to me, I was very concerned that he was bleeding. This quickly turned to exasperation, as I realized he had found yet another marker!)
Oh my gracious sakes! Who drew marker all over the walls?
Ok, ok, you are right. It was me. {sigh}
I decorated my sock, too! See?
What do you mean that is a “No no”?
This is some of my BEST work!
You aren’t going to tell Daddy about this, right?!
You ARE????????
Sorry about the mess, Momma.
Even though I am naughty, you think I’m pretty cute, don’t cha!?”
Come on, you know you do……
I sure love you, Momma! I will be a good boy now.
Sweet baby Tank, what would my life be without you and your siblings? I love that each and every one of you are different and special in your own way!
God is good and life with kids is great, so we’ll just smile and roll with it! 🙂
~T
Oh my you do have your hands full at times 🙂
But hey this to will pass and you will miss every “mess” of it I promise!
We have so many memories as your making here of going through these daily “stress” patches with our kids as well.
I just hope Avery can hang on a little longer ..LOL!
And it sure makes your blog a fun place to visit!
Sending you Hugs to draw on when needed 🙂
That is too funny! Justice is so sweet and I seem to remember a little girl that was, well, …….let’s just say that paybacks are awesome!! Dad
The personality in that boy is OUT THERE huh? Gotta love him…I think it’s sooo amazing that you get so many shots of him that perfectly tell your story. He’s a busy busy boy for sure…but no doubt, he’s loved dearly. And who could resist those adorable eyes and smile!? Hang in there Mama. God knew perfectly what He was doing when he put Pax in your precious family. It’s a comfort to wrap your heart around that sometimes huh? Have a happy day!
Oh Tonya! This sounds so familiar! David, our first, was so calm, easy-going, tender-hearted, etc-no need for any discipline other that saying his name sharply and he would burst into penitent tears. So we thought, hey, this parenting thing is soooo easy-let’s have another! And it was Mark-David’s polar opposite! I can still remember swatting his little hand away from the electrical outlet as he continued to reach for it anyway! But the Lord knew we needed both ends of the spectrum to make likfe complete, and I wouldn’t take anything for either of the boys. They are true blessings!
Paxton is so expressive, I love looking at all the cute expressions in every picture!
Oh my gosh, those faces of Pax are too funny!
Each of your kids is so very special in their own way….of course they are, God made them that way. But there is just something about Pax that captures my heart….I think because he and Derek are around the the same age and I think the same temperment. He was so joyful to see me when I arrived home from the hospital yesterday, but I had to be careful that he didn’t knock me over. God is so good to gift us with our precious children and grandchildren. Be a very good boy for mama today, Pax. And smile that gorgeous smile, Avery…..And Destiny, lead your sister and brothers in all the wise ways you already know, and Ty, I just have a feeling you are going to be capturing ladies hearts very early.
this blog was so funny!! poor avery!! lol. i bet they will be best of friends when they grow up!!! it helps to know that your kids act up too i always wondered if they were all little angels since your like a stinking superwoman. (thats a good thing)
LOL 🙂 You are sweet, but YES they are naughty and misbehave!!!!! They just know the consequences for their actions don’t change.
Super woman, huh? Nope, I’m pretty sure my cape might be buried in the dirty laundry basket!
How can he be SO CUTE while he’s being naughty?? It’s incredible. I don’t know how I would ever discipline that little guy, seriously.
Tonya, I love how you capture your childrens expressions in photography. Whether they are naughty or nice they are still adorable. This post had me laughing so hard and truly made my day. Thank you for this post….
Tonya,
yes, children are challenging, but they can be soo, sweet,too. They do ahve markers that will only work on special paper, Crayola, I believe. Enjoy your kiddos, because they grow up so fast.
Any kid with a face that adorable could pretty much get away with anything with me as mama–so glad he’s yours! haha–I wouldn’t even try to stop him. Such a fun post!
Oh my oh my. That Pax is SO stinkin adorable I don’t even know how on earth you get such adorable expressions from him. I have to tell you, Katie came home from school and asked me if I saw your blog today and I said no. She raced and got my computer and said I HAD to let her read it to me. (She had read it on her phone during school and was literally laughing out loud!! (I know, she’s not supposed to be on her phone…..) We both were laughing so hard I was crying,.. Her reading your narrating and showing me pictures…..oh man, he is SO cute and just has TROUBLE written all over him…. so thanks for making us laugh today… almost wet my pants… that qualifies as down right HILARIOUS!!! And for a 17 year old….. you know it’s good stuff here girlfriend! 🙂 Love and hugs your way today as you wrangle your little tank with a smirk behind the camera!!
Praise the Lord for the little ones in our lives. Delightful gift. thank you for sharing
Ohhhhh boy….this is just a LEETLE intimidating, as we approach life outside the womb with Miss Peanut! I hope at least the first baby is mellow…kinda break us in gently, don’t you think? 😉
Ummmmm, sure! Let’s just take that up with the Big Guy Upstairs, ok?! 🙂 haha
The best thing you can do is read Baby Wise and prepare for a scheduled life. Man, I loved it! That way when baby was crying at 20 till 1, I didn’t have to be like “What is WRONG?” I could say, Oh, its 20 minutes until her 1 feeding. Or, oh, she is sleepy, it’s almost time for her 2 nap. Takes the guess work out right of it!!!! No matter what, you will do GREAT! I know it!
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Oh my, you are blessed with incredibly beautiful (& energetic) children!!
My baby just left home (he is the youngest of 6, ages 32 – 20) and when he was little he kept me on my toes!!
If I ever heard ‘Hey, I gots an idea” I had to run because the idea was NEVER good!!! He was notorious for flushing everything & getting into more things than you can imagine. His siblings regularly tried to outrun him so as to get into their rooms to avoid the messes he would make. Unfortunately that often meant he’d get fingers slammed in doors; I was always amazed & so grateful when the fingers recovered.
Seems my son figured he still had 3 seconds on me and whatever he wanted to explore was worth the discipline he would get for it afterwards. I felt as though he spent a lot of time with his nose in a corner while I cleaned up his latest disaster…..what is it with us putting things out of reach and them still getting into it??
When I got frustrated (sadly more often than I would have liked, he was a horrible sleeper so there wasn’t much recovery time) I tried really hard to just speak blessings over him. — That he brought joy to everyone he met, that he had a tender heart, that he was a leader not a follower, that he was obedient and respectful, a dilegent and focused worker, that he honoured his parents etc., etc.
I am pleased to report that our energetic boy is all the things I spoke over him daily 🙂
My advice: lace up your sneakers, document his antics with your camera and enjoy every second!!
Love this! I love to hear the “end results” of praying over your children, we do every night and one of our sentences is that they would be natural born leaders, not followers! Thanks for the smile, Lynne!
Such a cutie!
We had a shirt that went through all four of our(Earth living) kiddos at age 2-4. On it are the words ” I think my name is No, No!”
Too cute!
I came across your blog when I typed in a general search for my husband doesn’t want anymore babies but I do. We miscarried our 6th on May 23rd, just 6 days before we would be telling our kiddos and then other family our big news of expecting another Bond baby. It would have been our 6th, 5th on Earth. Our 3rd is a Heaven living baby:)
Anyway, your blog came up having nothing to do with what I posted, but I read on. It was God sent, I believe that completely! You sharing your heart, thoughts, faith and strength helped me when I was down and it gave me strength to just let it go and let God decide if He wants us to have another and to not be upset if His answer is no because He knows so much better than we do anyway. Now I am not saying it is easy now. Nope! It is just easier. Now when I start feeling the ‘baby bug’ I just pray and give it to God. This soon after miscarrying that happens oh about 4 or 5 times a day.
Each time though since reading your blog, I feel strength in letting God have the control and He just makes me calm and feel oh so much better:)
So all this ti say thank you for opening your heart and using your gift of writing to help others!
Polly
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