Our neighbor Jim

Jim is the boys favorite person to play with outside. He is married to an awesome lady, Helen, has 2 children (Chris & Melissa) & works seasonally, so, he has been able to be around to play with the boys in the mornings & they LOVE it. Honestly, it was my salvation towards the end of my pregnancy. I couldn't really play with them (especially outside...too hot!) & they were getting restless. We would walk out to say good-bye to Brett or get he mail...something and if they say Jim that was it. He would soon be out playing games with them & entertaining them for quite a while. He took out his hockey gear in the first two pictures to teach them how to play.

Here, they were playing cops & then a duck hunt (or something). They would put their "guns" down, walk away, Jim would make the sound of a buzzer & they would run for their guns and shot at something in the sky. It is so fun to watch them. The other day I couldn't see Taft (the rule is they stay in front of the house), I walked out and he was down at Jim's ringing the doorbell & knocking. I told him to come home and he kept yelling back at me, "I want to play with Jim." His wife, Helen, & I joke about Jim being their favorite playmate but it is true. Jim keeps telling me how much he is going to miss the boys. We will truly, truly miss wonderful neighbors like them as well. They are a wonderful family.

A deer in our yard!

How cool is this!!! We were playing in our living room when Taft said, "there's a deer ourside". I wasn't sure what he was talking about until I looked out the window and saw it. I am pretty sure that is not something we will see in Las Vegas.;0) There are not a lot of places where that would happen. Brett walked out one morning for school and looked eye to eye with a 4 point buck. I could do without the crazy wild cats that go to the bathroom on my lawn all the time, but this is pretty cool. And yes, the boys are sitting on a 4 wheeler in the living room. A doctor Brett is working with gave it to us (his children have out grown it) but it needs 2 new batteries that cost $40 each, so, we will probably be getting rid of it. Until then, the boys really enjoy pretending. I spent the whole first day setting the timer so they could take turns on it.

Sleeping on the floor

I am not sure why we buy beds!? Taft just loves to sleep in the floor (when I let him...he doesn't sleep as well no matter what he thinks). With Brett working late on Tuesday's & Thursdays bedtime has lost a bit of its routine those days. Last week Brett was gone ALL day Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. I couldn't sing or lay down with them any of those nights, so, I offered to trade me for sleeping on the floor...it was the easiest bedtime yet (alone that is); I will have to remember that. I do miss laying down with the boys each night...someday we'll get that down again, as for now, I will enjoy it when I can & negotiate when I need to. :0)

Our little man is growing

These are just a few snap shots of Nathan over the past 6 weeks and his growing. Not a huge difference to some but he really has grown a lot. He smiles a lot now & even makes cooing noises (mainly to Brett). We just love him and feel so blessed to have him, as well as Taft & Zea, in our home.

Race Day

A good friend of mine, Jordan Johnson, put together a race for the kids one night. They even had numbers for each of them (left over from a race her husband helped to run). They had a great time. Taft got second in his race and had to learn that you can't always get first & to congratulate those who beat you (good lesson to learn...I was impressed he got second). Zea...well, after the race started and he was behind a number of people he just stopped and cried. We will have to work on that sportsmanship as well. He may be our distance runner because before the race started he ran around the whole track at least once. Pretty far for those little legs. They were so cute and everyone had fun. They even had a race for the parents. Brett was in his work clothes (more importantly...shoes). I tried but got left in the dust (it was 3 weeks after Nathan was born). I will have to work on that. :0) These are the boys with their friends. The first is Jordan's boys, Colin (Taft's age) & Brannon (Zea's age). Then it is Tamar's girls (our neighbors), Emma (oldest) & Abby (between Taft & Zea). They have a lot of fun with all the kids here. We are blessed to have such great friends. By the way, Emma won first.

Our Clayton Boys

Zea came in one morning while Nathan was asleep and just laid next to him. Taft soon followed. I just thought it was a cute picture of the boys. They are great brothers. They absolutely love Nathan. Zea thinks everything he does is funny and Taft loves to get right in his face and talk to him (something we are trying to teach him to do with a bit more distance). :0)

I sure love having these boys.

Taft's Graduation...a little late...I know!

With everything else that has happened, I am sorry to say that I never got to post Taft's preschool graduation (which happened the end of May), so, here you are. He did a great job this year and learned a lot (thanks Jamie). He loved going and we LOVED watching all the kids sing and say there parts at the graduation. After a very emotional & unsure decision to put him in (nothing to do with Jamie, just not having him at home with me for that time) I am so glad that we did. He has grown a lot in so many ways this year & I know he had a great time. We are very proud of the wonderful little man that he is (& has always been).

A rocky start to life

Right after Nathan was born the doctors discovered that he had some testicular problems. They called in a Urologist to check him out (as he was possible going to have to go in for surgery immediately). We were very blessed to have the Chief Urologist, Dr. Figueroa, from Dupont Hospital in Delaware on call that day. He was the greatest doctor I have ever had to deal with. He was very kind, thorough, knowledgeable, & considerate. He told us that there was nothing to be done about that problem at the moment, that he was still to swollen in that area to know enough to make any decisions at the moment. He wanted to see us at his office that Thursday. Well, we went Thursday and that problem seemed fine enough but he also had a mild hernia, and his hydro-seal was not closing. We decided to go in for surgery that next day. Nathan had 4 procedures done in that area (good thing he won't remember or isn't trying to crawl around right now). The first picture is Nathan putting his surgical gown on (it was the smallest they had...so cute & sad at the same time). The next picture is him in recovery. The last is Dr. Figueroa on the left & the resident on the right (probably could have guessed that but you never know).Everything went very smoothly. Because of how young he was I had to stay overnight in the hospital with him to make sure he didn't stop breathing from having to go under for the surgery. He was fine, the hospital was great (it made me grateful that this was the only reason we were there...so many children with much more serious and permanent problems at that children's hospital). After the okay from Dr. Figueroa & his resident the next day we were off. Brett & the boys came and picked us up (there is a huge playground there...works great for bribery to be good), so, we let them play for a while after we were discharged. He is great now & had his check-up this last Wednesday. He is fine and is already growing a lot. We have no doubt that part of the reason we are out here was for this...to be surrounded by so many wonderful hospitals (specifically children's hospitals) in one area. Were else to does one get the choice of 2 of the nation's top hospitals along with the option of a couple other great ones. Thanks again to everyone for the concern & prayers and for those who provided meals & especially those who watched Taft & Zea through all of this. It has meant so much to our family!

Nathan Paul Clayton

Okay, so, after 9 months (to the day...born ON his due date) our beautiful little boy (#3) is here! He was born on June 6th (6/7/08...pretty easy to remember) at 10:01am. He weighed 7lbs. 12 oz. & was just over 20 inches long. He has Brett's mouth but other than that I have no idea who he looks like, except he looks like one of our babies (they seem to look rather similar coming out and then they get more distinctive features later). He does look more like Taft than Zea did & Brett says that he looks more like my side of the family (which Taft does), so, we'll see. All I know is he is pretty cute & we are thrilled to have him here and be the proud parents of 3 adorable boys!!! Isn't he gorgeous!! Nathan (from the very beginning) likes to stick out his tongue. Here is his proud father doing it right back to him...I thought it was pretty cute.