Don't freak if your 3yr old pees in his crayon box

As they say "Boys will be Boys". I have lots of little boy stories, some as sweet as they can be and some not so sweet. Looking back now, things that seemed not so sweet at the time are my most cherished memories.
Chad has always been an excellent artist, he would draw and color 24/7. When he was three years old, his Grandmother gave him the most beautiful round tin to put his crayons in. I noticed that he had not had his coloring book and crayons out for several days, but I didn't really think anything about it. One day I went to put his clothes away and the most rancid smell was coming from his closet. I could not track the smell down enough to figure out where exactly it was coming from at the time. A couple of days later we could not even go into his room without gagging. By then there was no doubt where it was coming from. While I was trying to figure out what went so terribly wrong with his crayons, he said to me "I peed in em". When I asked him why, he said "I had to pee". Needless to say I was furious. There isn't much worse smell than crayons fermenting in urine for several days.
It is funny what you remember when your kids are grown and gone from home. Every corner of your home is a memory. This memory came back to me this morning as I was storing some of our winter clothes in Chad's closet, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

When I Realized That They Didn't Live Here Anymore

When it dawned on me that Brittany didn't live here anymore was while I was doing laundry a few days after we moved her to Eastern. I was folding clothes. I had Brent's pile, Chad's pile and my pile. When I realized that there was no pile for Brittany, I just lost it. An hour later when Brent came home from work and asked me what was wrong, all I could say was "I didn't have a pile for Brittany".
When it dawned on me that Chad didn't live here anymore was one night when one of his favorite TV shows was coming on and I went to tell him. I was at his bedroom door when I realized that he was not here. I didn't cry but my heart fell to my stomach.
After years of practices, ballgames, cheer leading competitions, band competitions, golf matches, PTO meetings, Open Houses, Fall Festivals, hauling a van load of kids to the movies, to the mall and birthday parties, all of the sudden it was over. There was no where to go, nothing to do.
I would just laugh when mothers would warn me about "empty nest syndrome". I thought that it would be nice to slow things down a little. It would have been, to just slowed down I guess, but to stop completely was like running into a brick wall. Brent and I are starting to get used to going places that we like now, but it still feels like something (or someone) is missing.

Barbie's Dream House

This weekend was so beautiful that Brent and I decided to do some spring cleaning in the Garage. We loaded up the truck with a bunch of stuff to take to Helping Hands and a lot of junk that just needed to be thrown away. Then, I came across the Barbie's Dream House that we got Brittany for her fifth birthday. It was old, stained, the plastic was brittle and cracking. Normally if the kids out grew a toy I would donate it to Goodwill or Helping Hands, unless it had significant meaning, then I put it in plastic tubs and stored it away. The Dream House was to big to put in a tub so we just stuck it in the attic. I knew that we would have to throw it away as we pulled it down, it was in to bad of shape to donate. As I carried it to the trash pile, memories of how excited she was when she opened it came flooding back to me. She couldn't wait for Brent to put it together. From the time she was five until age eleven she would sit for hours in her room and play Barbies. I would peek in the door at her and she would turn around and smile at me with a Barbie in each hand. When she was twelve she decided that she was to old for Barbie and asked if I would get the Dream House out of her room. I just could not part with it at the time, so I thought that I would keep it in case she ever has a little girl. That was the hardest time I have ever had throwing anything away. But, I have had to realize that things change and they grow up whether we like it or not. We are going with her tomorrow to purchase a new washer and dryer. Instead of furnishing Barbie's Dream House we are now helping her furnish her 's.

Our Empty Nest

After a lot of persuading from friends and family and a lot of consideration I have decided to try my hand at blogging. I felt like I did not really have anything to contribute to a blog, but people have said that they like to hear my "empty nest" stories, so that is where I thought I would start.

I am a mother of three. My first child Nathan, would be 23 had he of lived. He died during birth Feb. 26 1986. He was a full term, beautiful, healthy 6lb. 12oz. baby. His cord was around his neck. Back then the statistics were that only seven out of one thousand babies would be born with its cord around its neck. I had a really hard time with his death, but I also had faith that God knew best. Doctors said that he would have been a vegetable due to lack of oxygen had he of lived. I know that I will see him again someday. I believe that losing him made me appreciate being a mother even more when Brittany and Chad came along.

Brittany will be 22 in July. She will be graduating from college in two weeks, and moving to Indiana. She already has an apartment there and a job at a Dermatology Clinic. She moved out almost four years ago when she started college at Eastern. She was a member of Alpha Delta Pi and lived in the sorority dorm. During her freshman year at Eastern she started experiencing health problems. We had test after test run, it turned out that she had a tumor on her parathyroid gland. She had surgery at Vanderbilt by one of only two surgeons in the area who performs this kind of surgery. We pretty much forced her to transfer to Western so that she would be closer to home and to her Doctor. So she moved into an apartment near campus at the beginning of her Sophomore year.

Chad was 20 in December. He moved out almost two years ago when he started college at Western. He has a really cute little house in town, near campus. He is very particular about his yard (which he must get from his Papaw Doug). He is always fertilizing, sowing grass seed, lime, mowing and trimming. He works full time, third shift at Kroger. He has decided to take his time getting his degree instead of doing it in four years.

The only thing that keeps our nest from being completely empty is our dog Kage. We get so much enjoyment out of him. He is our shadow. Every step that we take, he is by our side. He is the smartest dog, he understands everything that we say. It has gotten to the point that we have to spell everything, and I do believe that he is learning how to spell.