Why I will soon be institutionalized...

When I chose the "Crazy? Or just insane..." title for my blog, I thought it was appropriate for my life and the subject matter I would be sharing here. Little did I know, it was just a foreshadowing of events to come.

Meyson has decided to play football. We were quite surprised to hear this coming from a kid who is normally so passive, but we thought it might be good for him. So we set out to conquer the 36 pages of information we had to fill out in order for him to play. Among the requests were spaces for mine and Brad's social security numbers. I thought it was odd at first but soon realized that this must be so that they can run a credit check to see if we could afford all the expenses that come with playing MIDDLE SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Somewhere in the packet was a page with about 2 sentences typed all in caps and in such a huge font that the whole page was consumed by these life-altering statements. It said something to the effect of we are not responsible if your son suffers a catastrophic injury. And it mentioned the word death. Meyson had to sign this page. Here is the conversation that took place afterward:

"What is a claustrophobic injury?"

"It's catastrophic, and it means like if you break you neck or something." (said with dry sarcasm, I'm not that mean.)

"That can happen?"

"Well, it sometimes happens, but not very often or there wouldn't be football in middle school anymore."

"You can die from that?"

"Ummm...I guess sometimes, but lots of people don't die from it." (wishing I had never said "break your neck")

Meyson pushes away from the table, horrified.

"WHAT!?!? I didn't even know you could break your nuts. I can't believe you can die from that!"

Astonished silence followed by uncontrollable laughter complete with tears.

"Meyson, I said neck, not nuts."

The Honeymooners

Our honeymoon in pictures:

First, I took a picture of him concentrating very hard on driving.

Then, he pulled over so he wouldn't drive off the road while he took my picture.

Our welcoming committee at the cabin where we stayed.

Brad tested the ladder to the loft to make sure it worked.

We had some...umm...water.

We tried to take a picture of ourselves. I think we were about to be attacked by a giant tarantula.

Brad thought this was cute. I thought it was hideous.

He really liked this statue too. Again, I did not agree.

This dog thought we needed a chaperon. Never left the back porch even though she lived 50 yards away.

Finally someone took our picture together.

We had some more water.

Love this picture, but the guy who took it almost died. He came very close to dropping my brand new camera.

So relaxed that I let him take my picture again. Don't get used to it.

That's pretty much it. We had a very mellow honeymoon free from children and jobs. It was so wonderful that I wish we could go back in time and do it all over again.

New Things

Ok, ok, so it has been more than a week (thank you so much Nicole for your gentle reminder).

Acclimating to life as a huge family has proven to be a bit more time-consuming than I thought, but, having said that, things are going surprisingly well.

The biggest hiccup we've had so far came this morning. Carson has been having a little trouble staying in her bed for the past couple of days, and I've been empathetic but firm. So, this morning she came in early asking to get in our bed and I sent her back to hers then rolled over and went back to sleep.

A little while later Brad got up and got in the shower and then stood there with the bathroom door open while he dried off. At some point I looked up, saw him standing there in the buff and noticed that the bedroom door was wide open. Not wanting to have to explain things to the children, I got up and shut the bedroom door and flopped back onto the bed. Hard.

In a few seconds Carson emerged from under the bed crying and saying that the bed had hurt her head. Yes, the revelation that one of your children can hide undetected under your bed is quite unsettling. Hopefully she learned something. I know I did.

And in other news, I have welcomed my new baby into our home. Here she is:

Isn't she the most amazing thing you've ever seen? She was given to me by some wonderful friends who graciously ignored my wedding registry and bought me something I would never have bought myself. I have been waiting for her for at least 2 years and now she's finally home where she belongs!