Owen, Dallin and Miles (newborn pics)

Just for fun, I thought I would post my three boys' newborn pictures. They DEFINITELY look like brothers! It's amazing! See below:

Owen Terry Barton

Dallin Lee Barton

Miles Jesse Barton

Welcome Miles Jesse Barton

Miles was born on 04-04-11, one week overdue, and weighed 9 lbs exactly. We checked into the hospital around 7:00 PM and he came at 9:32 PM. I know, fast baby!

Mom feeling so happy not to be pregnant anymore and happy to finally meet her new little son!

Miles has tons of blondish-brown hair, very unlike our other kids, who were near bald at birth. Who knew I'd get three boys with all different colors of hair? No redheads yet, but I love my variety of boys and wouldn't change a thing!

Here's a shot of him at home, about two weeks old. He's a very sweet baby.

I have a thing for newborn feet! I love their tiny toes! I love to kiss them!

Welcome to the world little one!

Mass Apple-Picking

Last November, (I know, I'm lazy that I'm just now blogging about it.) we visited friends and family in Boston and New York. While we were in Boston, we couldn't resist the invite to go apple-picking with our close friends, the Ortons. It was well worth the drive! The kids had a blast climbing the trees and filling the bag with apples. We picked up probably five or six different varieties including Braeburn, Golden Delicious, McIntoch, etc. and it was all FREE! The orchard had already finished their big harvest for the season and said we were welcome to anything we could find. We got sooooo many apples we had to start giving them away because we couldn't fit them in our suitcases. So, the lesson for today is: "Procrastinate, it sometimes leads to free stuff."

To Infinity...you know the rest!

The official Buzz Light Year dress-up space suit, a gift from Grandma Carol that we all love! I just have to smile when they put this on and fly around the room. There's something about the purple, stretchy, spandex hemet thing that makes it especially cute (see Owen's pic above). If anyone knows where we can find a Woody costume, let me know.

Once there was a snowman...

I am so sick of the snow, but my kids sure aren't! I promised them we would build a snowman when there was enough on the ground, and boy did we get our wish. Oh well, mom kept her promise and they had a blast. Owen helped me with the snowman and Dallin ate the snow. So everyone was happy!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

Two years old and white hair already! What's a mom gonna do? I sure love my little man and I'm glad he had a fun birthday with all his cousins. Happy B-day, Little D.

Name That Tune

If you can guess what song Owen is singing, you get 50 mommy points! We call it the Nursery Mix because we have identified an itsy-bitsy spider, row-your-boat, heigh-ho the dairy-o and a snowman. I think this is what happens when your toddler misses the Primary Sunbeam cutoff by five days and has to stay in nursery another year.......can we say overload?!

Review of The Princess and the Frog

My twin sister should write movie reviews for a living. This is what she had to say about The Princess and the Frog. I couldn't resist from posting this. She hit the nail right on the head:

Tiff: My thoughts on "The Princess & the Frog"...it's kind of a throwback to an older style of storytelling (such as that from the Rescuers), not bad, but not good either....Disney is still trying to find its niche in the animation industry "post-Pixar" if you catch my drift. I think they fell from grace and they have been desperately trying to recover.

The characters are kind of cute, but a little predictable with sloppy humor. They try to make it funny for kids and it ends up being silly for adults. Pixar can appeal to both audiences, and the Muppets can do that, too. I'm not sure what Disney's problem is.

I felt the story was more of a celebration of New Orleans than a story about a frog and a princess. It takes very unconventional twists, and the story is really too loose overall. It is somewhat difficult to follow and should have remained in a fairytale period rather than the roaring 20-30s of Louisiana. There was plenty of room for great songs, but the songs were not catchy at all and you got a little bored during them.

Disney needs to go back to classic storytelling and excellent songwriting....this movie had neither. Yep, I agree with you, it is a bit lacking.

If they want to use black culture in a film they should tell stories that are truly about black culture (perhaps one with the underground railroad, or African folktales, or something else). The black characters felt deperately retrofitted into a story that really wasn't about them....other than the fact that the main heroine is from a poor black ghetto.

I'm still waiting for Disney to top Beauty and the Beast. Still waiting.

Goodbye Mia

After a few months of unsuccessful training, we have decided to take Mia back to the shelter. This was the first time we had ever purchased a dog from a shelter, and she was much harder than we thought. There were some things we just did not anticipate, and were unable to train out of her.

For one, we had to start completely over with potty-training, even though we had been told she was house-broken. We learned that she had been trained with a puppy-pad with her previous owner. Yuck! I don't know why people use those. It's like a litter box for dogs. The only place I can think of using them would be for a person stuck in a studio apartment in Manhattan.

Along with the re-potty-training, we also have had to try out several different sleeping arrangements over the past few months just to get a decent night's rest. She cried liked a baby every night when placed in her kennel. We tried doggie beds, kennels, the garage, outside, inside, all to no avail. Insanity was nearing the point of no return.

In addition to the above agonies, other reasons for giving her up include: barks incessantly when left alone, nips at both children, bolts when taken off leash, bolts when front door is open, refuses to play, lies around all day, refuses to go outside unless we go with her, and has extreme separation anxiety. (You can Google animal separation anxiety. It is a true form of mental illness for dogs and cats, especially those who have come from a shelter.)

We tried several methods of training with her, none of which corrected these bad behaviors. We have owned dogs before and have conquered these problems, but I guess she is just a special-needs dog that needs a diffrent family - one that will baby her, which I won't. I'd rather baby my babies!

At the end of it all, we just felt we were putting a lot more in than we were getting out.

I feel a little guilty putting her back into a shelter again, but at least the one we chose is a good one. It is called Lost Paws Inc., and they are a private, no-kill, 501-C shelter with a good reputation. It is the same one we got her from and I know she will be in good hands.

I am also sad that Owen and Dallin will lose their little doggie-friend. However, they are little enough that they won't remember this. Not to mention, Mia won't be wailed on every other day by two toddlers who don't know any better. That's another story.

The good news is that we will be returning a fully-potty-trained dog, and also a dog who is has put on some healthy weight. She was a scarecrow when we got her and we worked really hard to get her normal weight back up.

So today, I will say my last goodbye to her. I will miss my cuppy-cake, but it is for the best.

I think we will be fish-people for the next few years, or at least until the kids are older. Maybe then, I will finally be ready to let Jesse get his Golden Retriever or Yellow Lab that he's always wanted.

I Have Reserved Seats for Eclipse!

Yes, it's true. When your a Twi-hard like me, you have certain connections. I have already purchased tickets to the premier showing of Eclipse on June 29th. And not only that, I even managed to pull off tickets to a special showing at 8 PM, rather than having to wait for the midnight showing. Go me! I have six tickets and they are reserved seats. No waiting in line for hours. If anyone else wants tickets, post a comment. Go Team Jacob!