"Gentle! Gentle!"

This was what I was saying for a couple hours this afternoon as Carson and I had a great playdate (after visiting Aunt Becky!) with three wonderful mommies and sons. Carson is the oldest, and we are working on him not mauling the littler guys. Here you can see he's giving Nathan quite a push in the gut. Also notice the beautiful alpaca rug at the Marr's.

It was so neat to see all the baby boys together and it's so incredible the love I feel for those that are not even my own. I think going through the pregnancies and births with each of their mommies just reminds me how precious their lives are. Plus, they are incredibly CUTE! It was hilarious trying to get all of them to hold still for a pose. Henry was by far the best behaved...and he held still the longest. :)

Say "Mommy's psycho!"

These pictures don't have anything to do with the topic of this post, but you just can't have too many pics.

In the past few weeks/months, I've discovered a really strange cultural and verbal phenomenon centered around babies, particularly babies who can't yet talk. That phenomenon is that we, as adults, talk for them. About half the time, we use the phrase: "Say '_________,'" and the other half of the time we just say something in a baby-ish voice, indicating to all present that you are now vocalizing for the child. If you are around babies, you've probably done it, whether you realize it or not.

One of the most common examples is when I want Carson to seem polite. So, at the store, when someone says (TO him) "You are a cutie!" I feel the need to follow with "Say 'Thank you!'" Why do I do this? Is it because in complimenting him, I feel she's actually complimenting me, therefore I'm obliged to reply? Why don't I just say "thank you"? It's certainly not that I'm trying to communicate what he is truly thinking, because, in truth, it probably is more along the lines of "Your breath stinks," or "You wear a lot more makeup than my mom," or "You have a huge head."

But the funniest use of this strange vicarious communication is when I noticed Trent and I have occasionally used it to be slightly passive-aggressive with each other. (Okay, I'm usually much more guilty.) Especially when Carson was very little, I would find myself going "Daddy! That's too much powder on my bottom!" or "Daddy, your farts smell worse than mine!" or "Mommy, how come Daddy is more interested in his video games than in playing with me?" etc. etc. It's like I found a whole new way to tell Trent how to parent or that I frown on his gas-passing ways or that I want him to watch the baby for a while, without actually saying it MYSELF.

If you haven't watched the movie "Look Who's Talking" recently, you should rent it. It was infinitely more funny after I had a kiddo. We all wish we could know what thoughts are going through those precious little heads, and that those thoughts would be as developed as ours. Since that's not happening any time soon, we'll just have to speak for them. "Carson! Say, 'Bye-bye!'"

Where did this little boy come from?

And where did my baby go?
Jacket: from Auntie Sarah K.

Shirt: hand-me-down from Gassaways
Pants: from Aunt Tara
Shoes: new from Target
Watching our infant turn into a toddler: priceless

Carson the Friendly Ghost

This morning I was in the kitchen and Carson was in his room. He started getting quiet, so I went to go check on him and this is what I saw, coming down the hall on his knees.... He was being very quiet, so I thought he might be scared, but when I lifted up the blanket, he was smiling! I couldn't tell if he could get the blanket off or not, but I think he could see through the holes and was just curious about moving around with it over him. Then, of course, he didn't want me to take it off. Jan, if you're reading this, your blanket is still getting lots of use!

Experimental Faces

In the last couple of weeks, Carson has been making this new face where he squints up his eyes when he smiles. It is pretty funny, and I would be lying (sp?) if I said I didn't encourage it. Today at breakfast I snapped as I encouraged so you all could see it too.

A couple more NYC pics...

OK, this is a funny story. The first night we were in NY, we ate at

Juniors. (Shout out to Sarah and Tommy, who introduced us to the best cheesecake EVER!) We were sitting at a window right near an empty patio. All of a sudden, we see video cameras and hear singing. Soon, this crew of smiley-face-sign holding people in Walmart getup start singing and dancing down the alley towards us. I was thinking, good grief! I knew this was Broadway, but do they really tap their way down the alleys with soundtracks playing? It turns out it was a promo and interview with a local TV station for an off-broadway musical called "Walmartopia" in which an employer sues the company or something. Let's just say the only lyric I heard was "The prices are low, but our wages are lower..." But it was fun to get a front-row seat!
We laughed. A lot.
This was the lobby of our hotel: Milford Plaza. I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area. Don't judge it by the couches.

Start spreadin' the news...

That's the first lyric in the song "New York, New York," in case you didn't know. And I just got back! My mom and I had a wonderful trip and managed to squeez in quite a bit. My favorite part were the two wonderful broadway shows we saw: Tarzan and Spamalat...oh yes, I said Spamalot. We also met Ann Curry on our NBC studios tour! She chatted with mom and I for several minutes since we were from Oregon and so is she. My mom was a real trooper and got used to the city really quickly. We had so much fun! I missed Carson an awful lot, but I brought him back a little piece of the city.

Multnomah Falls Picnic

Mouth full of Kix and eyes full of concentration.

SplishSplash

There really is only one good way to cool down. Even if you have to taste the chlorine.

My New Favorite Picture (this week)

What I love is that instead of me always placing Carson in a pose I want him in for a photo, he is now getting himself in all kinds of funny poses for pictures. He crawled into this IKEA box all by himself, and stayed there for several minutes (which, I've already pointed out is equal to hours in the attention span of a 10-month old) and I can tell by his mouth and eyebrows that he was talking away when the shot was taken.

I'm so in love, it's ridiculous.

The Moment We've Been Waiting For

Sunday was also our first opportunity to take the first picture of the three baby boys together. We've been excited about these three boys for so many months, it was great to get them all together.

It all started with everyone being very civil and doing their own thing. Carson even did his signature move and petted Henry's head.

But soon all heck started breaking loose as Henry got tired of all the pictures, Ethan decided he wanted Henry's blanket, Carson wanted to use Ethan's head for leverage to get up......and Uncle Mike's hands got VERY full!

Ethan Bites Back

Whenever the "big" boys get together (as they are now the big boys compared to Henry), Carson seems to poke and pet Ethan to death. He especially likes to put his finger in Ethan's mouth.

Looks like Ethan finally got tired of it! "Take that, Blondie!"

29

Even though I'm 29 years old today, and 30 is so close, it doesn't bother me yet. Probably because in my mind I'm still 22 and could be hanging out in my dorm room studying for finals, watching FRIENDS with MY friends or going to the beach any time I want. Maybe it's also because I'm pretty darn happy with my life. When I think about turning 30 or 40 my mind doesn't jump to the wrinkles that will be added to my face or the widdening hips and sagging... you get the idea. When I think about the future, my first thought is about my kids. (Don't worry...that's not an announcement. ) I think about Carson and future mini-Tompkins and what they will be like and what my relationship will be with them. I wonder if they'll have good friendships like I did and find godly people to marry. Will they have acne to worry about? Will they have their hearts broken? I wonder if they'll get good grades or if Trent and I will follow through with our plan to take our teenagers to Europe. Heck, 29 feels young! There's SO much life to live. Then again, ask me again in 365 days. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune!

Future Tiger

I know...not the most creative title. I'm sure every parent who has taken a picture of their kid with a golf club since the late nineties gives it the same title. He actually does love this __________. ( I want to insert here that I just asked Trent what kind of club this was so I could use another noun other than "club." I asked if it was a driver or a putter...? He said "fairway wood" which was a more specific than I wanted, but such an answer from a golfer. Sigh.) Carson actually does love this fairway wood. He plays with it for minutes at a time, which for a ten-month-old's attention span is like three hours for us.

Also, I kind of have a personal policy of not letting Carson go out in public in just a diaper, but since this was just in our backyard area and it was freaking hot, I guess it's OK. :) Plus, he's so darn cute.

God is Faithful

Henry James Marr was born this morning, weighing in at 8 lbs 13 oz. Since the new Mommy and Daddy surely won't have time to blog any time soon, I wanted to post pictures of this cute little guy. These were taken a few hours after Henry was born. We are all praising God for bringing this healthy baby boy into our lives and for giving him to such amazing parents. I think this picture says it all. Jim and Steph, our joy for you is overwhelming. Steph went into labor during the night, they checked into the hospital around 4:30am, and Henry was born around 10:30 am. At last their arms can hold their precious miracle. Thank you, Lord.

More Pictures of Henry

Who ME!? I dn hv anythng n my mth!

We've all heard funny stories about mom's catching their babies putting nasty things into their mouths. So far I have nothing gross enough for blog-worthiness, but I do think it is funny that Carson is definitely experimenting with what can fit into his mouth. I have to be pretty diligent about keeping the floor clean and watching him. The funniest part is that he is currently still in a phase where if he does find something to put in his mouth, he's not very covert about it.
Usually when he's wandering around playing or exploring or whatever, I can hear him chatting or banging things or opening, etc. But when he gets quiet, I know he's found something. Throughout the day, if we make eye contact, he has his mouth open, tongue out or he'll give me a real smile. However, if he has put something in his mouth, his lips are pressed together and eyes and brows are concentrating. When he's trying to be sneaky, he'll actually give me a partial, close-lipped smile. It is the proverbial cat with the canary in his mouth look.

So far, the collection of items have gone from the harmless (piece of graham cracker, part of a napkin, actually just chewing on his own tongue) to the potentionally dangerous (penny, baby fingernail clippers, water bottle lid). I'm dreading the day when I reach in there and find a dead bug or something. But for now, I'll just try to keep him from choking on the random remnants he gets his chubby little hands on and keep one eye on the kiddo.

Daddy Tompkins, DPT

Today is Trent's birthday, but he is not really into checking the blogs, so I won't really bother saying Happy B-day. Maybe I'll talk about him behind his back. :) This year all he wanted was an iPod, so that's all he got. (Thanks to all who pitched in.) We've been having fun checking iTunes and dancing with/for Carson.

Yesterday we got a random call from a woman whose 16-month-old daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. If I got the story right, she got Trent's number out of the phone book after she heard about him from a woman she met in a Yahoo mom's online group who recommended Trent as a pediatric PT. I was pretty proud of him and told this stranger on the phone how wonderful he is with kids and what a great physical therapist he is. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of my birthday boy.

Old Carson, Young Carson

A moment of balance.....
Strange pool + cool water + hot day + little swimmers = happy baby.

First taste of blueberries

Did I already put this pic up? Oh well. We might need some new ones. Yesterday at church this old(er) man named CARSON was baptized. It was cool on a superficial level, since it was fun to see someone from another generation named Carson. I wondered what Carson will be like when he is in his late 60's. But when they asked "Carson, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God" and he answered yes, I got tears in my eyes. I know that my child is also a child of God, and above all my prayers for him, I pray that someday he will answer a loud and confident YES to that question.

My Favorites Vol. 2

Trent

Mike
Becky
Jen
Do you know the feeling you get after you have tried something new and enjoyed it? Even if you weren't sure you wanted to do it? That's one of my favorite things. This weekend when we were camping, we went over to Ski Bowl, which in the summer has some "adventure" attractions so they don't go bankrupt during the off-season. The four of us did the alpine slides and then we tried the "slingshot" which is basically just being tied to a bungee cord and jumping on a trampoline. The bungee (sp?) gives you the adrenaline rush because you can go quite high and do flips, which, lets face it, this scaredy cat would never do on a normal trampoline. As we were getting harnessed up (awkard!) I got that fun/nervous feeling like you get right before going on a scary roller coaster. (Seeing the 8 year old go before us really took the edge off, though.) I read an article that said part of not spoiling a child is not rescuing them from uncomfortable situations. I really want to let Carson go through some nerve-wracking experiences, even if he doesn't think he's ready, because I know that each time he tries something new and succeeds, it will build his confidence. Then again, maybe he'll be that kid that wants to jump and do flips when he's four. That would be his father's genes.