wow

It seems as if there isn't much to say if I don't have anything to complain about. ;) Tater is awesome. He's walking every where! No more scooting for this child. He is off! He's doing so well; we never could have imagined being here even a year ago. He's blessed. We're blessed. It's great.

We've had a busy summer so far without doing much at all. Leeda and her boys came for a week in the beginning of June and Mr. A and I were able to get a much needed weekend away to Atlanta for a Braves' game/our anniversary. Leeda is pretty awesome herself the way she likes to come and torture herself for our sake. 4 boys are no easy feat. I had a taste of it here and there and it isn't for the faint of heart.

We go to Birmingham on Thursday to see a new urologist and hopefully schedule a surgery he needs. We want to get all surgeries out of the way! We're having way too much fun to slow down for stupid things like surgeries and such.

We hope everyone is doing well. Toser says to tell you all that naps are for the birds and staying outside all day is the way to go!

And the World Rejoiced

Tater "Boo Boo Chicken" Stokes is walking! :
And a silly picture of Toser:

M&Ms

So, I'm wondering why my pants are tight all of a sudden. It can't have anything to do with the fact I bought a Costco size bag of Peanut M&Ms and have eaten almost the entire bag myself. The only way for me to get over this obsession with junk I've had lately is to banish all sweets to work with Mr. A and go cold turkey off all sugars. I did that back in the fall and felt great. Why is it so hard? Why can't M&Ms be good for you? Why do they make your muffin top grow out of its holder and spill all over the pan?

So, what's been up with us? The boys and I went to the beach at Fort Morgan last week and Mr. A had to stay here and work too hard (and stay at the gym until all hours and have poker night-don't feel too bad for him). My mom is at my sister's helping with The Sweet Girl and we went down to see them and some more family that joined us later in the week. The boys had so much fun playing in the sand and riding their bike around and absolutely refused to go to the beach until TyTy took them. And then they couldn't get enough of the beach.

Mother's Day was spent driving back home and the boys and I had a great picnic at a Rest Area and then Mr. A had a spotless house and a steak dinner ready for us when we pulled into the driveway (have I told you he's Awesome?).

And then on Monday, Tater and I dropped Toser off at school and came home. I've gotten a little brave lately and have begun leaving Tater in front of the TV alone while I take a shower. So that's what I did on Monday. When I got out of the shower, I heard, "Mama." That "Mama" sounded a little closer than it should have so I run out of our room to see Tater on the landing to our stairs. He has climbed the stairs a couple of times with US behind him but Monday he decided to do it ALL BY HIMSELF while I was in the shower. He was so stinking proud of himself and all smiles. I was very proud of him myself once my heart reached a normal rhythm and went back into my chest. So I will not be leaving him alone downstairs any more.

He's been doing so much lately and is now experimenting with standing without holding on to anything. He's walking while holding onto one of our hands and is so close to doing it on his own, he's just got to get over a mental block that's holding him back. One of his therapists says this is why you're supposed to learn to walk when you're 1 year-old and not 2 because at age 2, you understand pain and fear.

Toser is also doing very well and is heartbroken that his last day of school is next week. He loves Mrs. Miller and all of his friends there. But one of the boys in his class just moved with his family to our neighborhood so Toser's excited to have a buddy close by. We're planning on spending all our spare time at the pool this summer and Toser loves to be outside so he'll survive.

Except for the M&M induced weight gain, we're all well here on the Mountain. If the rain would stop for more than a day at a time, we would be down right chipper, but oh well. Hope you're all doing well, too.