Barber Bustlings

Last night for Family Home Evening Bailey wanted to act out the nativity scene. Myles did not want to dress up or hold the sheep and Landon cried during most of it. Bailey played the part of an angel and then was a precious Mary. I will have fond memories of this forever.

Landon cries a lot. Whenever anyone asks Bailey about him, that is her answer. She says she loves him and is so glad he is here, but he likes to eat and cry. She cracks me up. Yesterday was his best day, though, and Myles had a grumpy start, too. Now he is a very happy and sweet little boy. Landon will pull out of it. He is growing right before our very eyes. Someone told me that with each kid they grow up faster and it is sad and true. Yesterday Bailey told me that her friend, Emilee, was very lucky because she has the wii. I took the opportunity to teach her that we will always encounter someone who has more than we do. Having things will not make us happy but who we are and how we treat others will. I don't know if the message sank in, but it will one day. At the dentist's office she told the hygienist that she wanted two horses and the wii, but she will have to wait until we have a bigger backyard for the horses. Scott and I have no plans of owning a backyard big enough for...

I woke up to the lovely sound of my screaming newborn at 1 am this morning and my right eye was burning. Turns out I have pink eye; I have never had it before and neither has Scott or the kids. I cannot believe how painful it is! I remember my greenie, Hermana Pocock had it in Venezuela. The revered cure-all down there is the lemon. Everywhere we went the people would tell her to squeeze a little lemon juice into her eye. Can you imagine how painful that would be? Not to mention what it might do to her eyesight. All I can say is thank goodness for medicated eye drops. It temporarily relieves the pain and I can't wait to be cured from this. 24 hours cannot pass soon enough! Yesterday our lesson was on the Second Coming. Bailey often asks me about when the Savior will come and what it will be like. I cannot wait to see the Savior and see what life will be like then. Aside from the spiritual wonders I also look forward to not being tired or being subject to physical ailments. I sure a...

One of my dearest friends, Michelle Mason, flew down from Utah to help me out this weekend! She is so fabulous to give up a weekend with her own family to come and serve mine. I cannot even list all the ways she has helped us. I got a nap Saturday and Sunday, she put up our Christmas tree and other decorations, played with my kids, watched all three kids while Scott and I went out to dinner, cleaned out my fridge and freezer, organized Myles' dresser drawers, held Landon for hours on end, stayed home with Landon so I could conduct and teach Relief Society, paid a lot of attention to Bailey and Myles and just allowed me to get things done that have been neglected. My house is clean again and looks ready for Christmas. Thanks so much to my wonderful friend, Michelle, for the best gift anyone could have given me. I love you, Michelle!

I was really sad when I saw that I had the two boys and Bailey pulled this face! After a few minutes, Myles got tired of smiling and stopped looking at the camera Two out of three is not bad Scott fixed the camera so I thought I would try to get a cute picture of all three kids. It's harder than I thought it would be!

Of all the worst times to have a camera that doesn't work, now would be it. I want to put pics of the kids and Landon on my blog. We are looking around to get a new camera, but for now, here are the pics Scott took while we were in the hospital. Just follow the link to his facebook album. Sorry! http://www.new.facebook.com/ album.php?aid=69691&l=044e4& id=648535311 For all who are interested, I'm hanging in there. Three is tough, but it helps that Bailey is in school since she is the busiest and most social of us all. Landon doesn't sleep much at night (reminds me a lot of Myles) but I try to get at least an hour nap while the boys sleep in the afternoon before Bailey gets home. We are thrilled to have Landon here and cannot believe he is almost 2 weeks old. Scott is way too busy with work and we are both ready for the holiday season to be over so we can see him at home more often. Bailey is wonderful with the baby; she loves to hold him and is a big helper to me. M...

It's me - Scott, filling in for Bec today. Little Landon James Barber was born on Monday, Nov 17th, 2008 at 11:26am. To Becky's delight and surprise he weighed in at only 8lbs, 2oz and is 20.5 inches long. Not bad for a week overdue! Unfortunately he is jaundiced and won't be coming home until tomorrow if things go well. At least it's only jaundice and not something life threatening. He's a quiet little boy so far and doesn't cry too loud or very much. We can't wait to have him in our home. Bailey has been worried about him, and she's so excited to have mom and baby come home. More pics to follow later.

Apparently, Bailey is a tween. I had no idea what I was in for, but we have entered that stage. She saved up her allowance and bought the High School Musical 2 CD; she listens to it morning and night. It's the first thing she asks for in the morning and after school and all night long. I can't stand how every song sticks in my head but I do love watching her dance and sing and rock out to her CD. She is so adorable. Today she and her friend were discussing politics. Bailey has been very interested in the Presidential election. At school her class voted and she was very excited about McCain winning. She was very sad to learn that he lost in real life. Scott and I aren't McCain fans (but we weren't impressed with Obama, either) so I am surprised to hear her so interested. She and her friend were so funny! Her friend said, "I wish we had a sign that told Obama he couldn't win" and Bailey was, like, totally agreeing with her. I love how grown-up my little 6-ye...

My little Cinderella and Thomas the Tank Engine had a wonderful time getting candy. The weather was really, nice, too. That translates to "we didn't sweat that much walking around." Myles caught on to the candy thing after a few houses but once we opened up a sucker for him, he didn't care if he got anything else. Bailey had a great time; she rode around on her scooter so she could maximize her loot. We ended up at my friend, Rebecca's house. They had the right idea: grilled chicken and steak, appetizers, drinks and smores all set up in their front yard. I'm not much for candy, anyway, and that feast was perfect.

At my appointment two weeks ago my doctor told me, "Let's try not to have another 9 pounder." Uh, gee, doctor, I really liked being 8 days past my due date with Myles and then having an enormous baby boy to lug around. At the last appointment he says, "You can go into labor anytime now." Hmmm. And how am I supposed to do that? I am not dilated (I wasn't even to a 1 the day before I had Myles) and my body doesn't like to be induced. We tried to induce Myles three days before the due date and I was in full labor for 12 hours and didn't dilate at all. Please don't tell me to take castor oil, either. If being induced doesn't work, then castor oil will only make me very sick and dehydrated. I would much rather wait for when my body decides. I am truly okay with that. I have already planned to be a week late and we aren't buying newborn size diapers or clothes. I padded my due date by a week and have been able to mentally stick to it. I thought...

I remember how hot it was in Venezuela and yet we could not find ice-cream anywhere! Sure, some man in the street was selling some kind of icee (we were always wary of the artificial flavoring, especially the YELLOW ones) but we were not allowed to buy street food; that was a very wise rule from our mission president. I missed ice-cream terribly while on my mission. And peanut butter. And real chocolate. We all know my Kryptonite is chocolate and peanut butter. I just LOVE ice-cream. Very rarely do I go one day without eating an ice-cream cone at night. I love to sit with Scott and talk and indulge. It calms me and erases the stress of the day. Of course, when Scott is at work really late then I will have an actual bowl and put peanuts and magic shell in with the ice-cream. And I'll actually turn on the TV and watch something that Scott would not enjoy, like Biggest Loser or Samantha Who. Thank goodness for TiVo! So, the moral of this blog is: get some ice-cream and if you haven...

Bailey has had her front, middle tooth hanging by a thread for a few weeks now. Of course she wiggled it everyday and we ate lots of crunchy foods, but this stubborn tooth would not budge. She wouldn't even let us try to pull it out but today she bravely told the dentist he could do it, as long as it didn't hurt. Of course he pulled it out in two seconds flat. It is so fun to have Dr. Cook (a father of one of my mission friends) as our dentist. Both my kids just love him. Bailey looks so cute with this huge whole in her mouth, although I'm glad we did pictures a couple of days ago. I still have to take both Bailey and Myles to do pictures together so we'll have one picture with the gaping whole. Scott's sister cannot stand loose teeth so we were thinking of mailing it to her anonymously with some fake blood on it.... Just kidding, Holly! Good luck when Brooklyn's teeth start to come out. I can't wait to see how you handle it. We all have our things that cree...

"For where your treasure is there will your heart be also" -Matthew 6:21 My kids are my treasure. Cheesy, but true. Bailey helped Myles say the family prayer tonight before bedtime. It was one of those moments where everything is right: the kids are getting along, Scott is home so we are all together and the house is peaceful. She said these grownup sentences, like, "Bless Mom to be okay and Landon to be healthy. Bless Dad to get the things done that he needs to." Myles would just say the last word or two of each sentence. It was so sweet and my heart melted. My kids are growing up so fast and I can't stop it. I just love the ages that they are at and wish I could freeze time for awhile. Myles is going through the potty stage (we're not even close to potty-training him) but he likes to say, "poo poo, pee pee" and laugh like it's the greatest joke ever told. Bailey told him tonight that "those words aren't appropriate" and Scott an...

Well, last night was our big Enrichment (the first I was in charge of) and we had a great turnout! We had 50 out of our 95 ladies attend and, unfortunately as many other Enrichment counselors know, that is pretty good. "The Great Experiment" is a month-long "spiritual strength-training" program that my Enrichment Leader experienced in another ward and we implemented in our ward. We split our ward up into 7 groups with one leader per group. Each leader was responsible for making a weekly contact with each person in the group as motivation to continue in the program. The program had four parts: personal prayer, daily scripture study, journal writing, and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Each of the seven leaders hand delivered a packet to the ladies in her group. The packet had a welcome/introduction letter and a great talk by Bonnie D. Parkin on "Personal Ministry." http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=11599 The talk was to motivate the s...

Well, I try not to count down the days, but I do get excited when I log into my blog and see the floating baby. Today it says only 45 days left. If only that were a guarantee. My two other kids were a week late, so let's just plan on that with this one, too. I am too cheap to buy more clothes so the "waistlines" of my maternity shorts just go lower and lower. Thank goodness for DownEast maternity shirts. They go down to my knees! (not really, but they do reach my hips) I am hot, big, uncomfortable and tired. Who cares? When people ask how I am do I tell them the truth? Of course not! Fortunately, the baby is healthy, kicking and certainly growing. Will he be as huge as Myles was? I am counting on it. Will I care? Nope. Once he is in my arms it will all have been worth it. If only I could just sleep through the next 45 days.....

We had a wonderful day at the Scottsdale train park on Saturday. We spent the afternoon on the train, carousel and playground. I can tell the air is a little bit cooler, but I still can't say it is fall weather. The reality is that I might not be able to enjoy the weather here until this baby comes out. The kids loved it and Peggy and Jill had a good time, too. I am amazed by both of them; they are able to find joy in daily life and it is an answer to so many prayers! I am always so happy when the kids make them laugh. I am so grateful to be here anyway, but the added element of living by Peggy and Jill is fun. I'm sure they would be okay without us, but the kids love them so much and I don't like the thought of not being here. If only my siblings would move down here..... After the train park we went up to see Scott and his new server room. His company is expanding and he spent the weekend moving and organizing. It was a tiring day, but well worth it.

One good thing has come from the past few weeks. Scott and I have finally agreed on a name for our little boy! We like the name Landon James Barber and are getting anxious to get him here. We still have two months, but it feels great to at least have a name picked out (and one that we both like!) I never thought naming kids would be this complicated, but I didn't want to force Scott on the name Hudson. Landon fits our family better, although I still love Hudson for a boy. Maybe someday one of my friends, sisters-in-law or sister will use that name? Little Landon will be grandchild #8 on Scott's side; there are four girls and he will be the fourth boy. Bailey and Myles had a great time visiting with cousins. We missed Holly's kids, Brooklyn and A.J., but look forward to someday having all eight cousins play together.

Yesterday was Willy's funeral. For a day that no one wants to endure, it was wonderful. The funeral was very uplifting and I know Willy enjoyed it. Scott gave the eulogy; he did a wonderful job highlighting his father's life and gave a sweet tribute. Chris spoke on the plan of salvation; many people of other faiths were in the audience. We hope that Willy's family learned a little about our beliefs and I think it would be hard for anyone who was there to not have come away knowing of our deep devotion to and faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Jill won the audience over with her "little know facts about my dad." She had everyone laughing and really gave a wonderful feeling to the meeting. I loved learning things about Willy that only she and Peggy knew. Several people got up and shared fond memories as well. It was a fantastic funeral. Bailey had a wonderful weekend with her cousins. We didn't see her at all; she adopted Chris and his family as her own. It was ...

Thank goodness for children. Amidst our grief over losing Willy, Bailey provided some comic relief. After seeing this sign she said, "Look, Mom! Free Smoking!" We got a kick out of that. Willy passed away today at 12:37pm. We will miss him terribly. Thanks to all for your love and prayers. Please keep them up on behalf of Peggy and Jill.

Unfortunately, Scott's father is not going to recover. The surgery removed the tumor, but his immune system had been compromised from a year of chemotherapy and radiation. An infection in his body spread to his brain, causing a massive stroke on Friday. He has been unconscious ever since. On Monday the doctor confirmed that, although his organs are working, his brain has been seizing and he will not wake up again. Scott's brother arrived today and his sister will fly in tomorrow night. This awful news comes with so much pain and sadness. He was only 52 and very healthy. I know we were all hoping to have more time with him. No one was prepared for this. Thank you for your prayers. I know that Scott's mom and family will continue to need love and support for a long time. Despite our faith and belief in eternity, our hearts and minds are subject to pain and grief. Death reminds us to live each day as if it were a gift. I hope to live without regret and to have a life full of l...

Scott has a new girlfriend. I call his laptop his "mistress" and his newest love is his Iphone. He got a really great deal from someone at church who had to have a new one. He is so excited about all that it can do that I can't help but be happy, too. I'm so glad he found a great deal and knows how to make it work with T-mobile. Now I get my Ipod back that he "borrowed" (i.e. stole) from me when his video Ipod stopped working. Happy days in the Barber technology department. Bailey is having a hard time with first grade. I think we were spoiled with how wonderful her kindergarten teacher was. Her first grade teacher is not as warm as I guess I was envisioning. This is her first year teaching this age group and I think she is expecting a little too much from these kids. They are still only six. We are having great teaching moments with Bailey, though. She is learning to pray in her head when she needs help and she and I are also bonding better. I just love her...

Bailey is such a lucky girl. Grandma Peggy knows a lady who has horses; Bailey was able to go meet and pet several horses. She got to feed them carrots and loved being near them. This woman doesn't allow kids under 8 to ride her horses, but Bailey enjoyed her time with them anyway. Look at how happy Bailey is! I cannot believe how expensive lessons are and we really don't know anyone with horses. We have been telling Bailey how expensive horses are and how her only chance to be around horses would be to make some rich friends. We are so glad that Grandma Peggy could arrange this for her. Grandpa Willy had surgery last week and has recovered very quickly. Fortunately, he is young and strong. We don't know the diagnosis (having received many differing opinions last week) but are hoping and praying to have him with us as long as possible. If I ever wanted a baby to come early before, it was nothing compared to how I feel now. I just hope for as much time for Willy and our baby...

Sad news for the Barber family: last year at this time Grandpa Willy discovered that he had a brain tumor. After months of prayers, surgeries and chemotherapy, the doctors declared him tumor-free. He has had regular MRIs every other month and has had to do chemo once a week each month for the past year. His MRI in June was clear. A couple of days ago Willy had a hard time speaking. The tumor has returned and is on the part of the brain that controls speech. In less than 2 months the tumor has grown to 1 and 1/2 times the size it was last year. We are anxiously awaiting the doctor's recommendations and analysis. Please keep Scott's wonderful parents, Peggy and Willy, and their family in your prayers.

On July 31st your turned thirty-one I hope you still consider this fun 'Cuz I have a feeling it's only just begun! 7 years ago in the temple we married Who knew how much responsibility life carried? You have two kids now and one on the way Did you ever picture our life this way? Truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way. A good man like you is hard to find But I lucked out because God is kind. You are loved and adored by a feisty wife Who hopefully doesn't add too much strife To your crazy schedule and busy life. Church, Family, and Work demands on your time Makes us grateful His plan is divine. You work hard at all required of you. I appreciate all that you find time to do and hope to somehow help you through. You handle all of the pressure so well No one knows the true stress since you don't tell. So here's to you, the greatest person I know. May this eternal marriage never cease to grow For in life's ups and downs to you I will always go. I love you!

We had a wonderful time in Utah this past week. Friday we left about 4:30am, thinking we would have the kids sleep for a few hours of the trip. We were sorely mistaken! The kids were wide awake, even though it was dark and Scott and I didn't even talk. Myles took about an hour nap during the 12-hour trip. Fortunately the kids were so good in the car. We even made it to Page without putting a DVD on; that is four and a half hours of just singing and talking, quite a feat in the media-dependent age. That night we were able to meet with all the sisters who served with me in Venezuela (who live in Utah) for a fun pizza/pool party. Saturday we spent the day with Tyler and Shelley before they left on their vacation. Arycca was able to give up her Saturday to be with us, too. Sunday was a Barnes family reunion of sorts. We loved seeing Aunt Shae from Texas and visiting with my dad's family. My cousins' kids are so cute. Myles had a good time with their boys and I enjoyed seeing my...

Whenever I can get Bailey to sit still long enough I try to have her read a few books to Myles. I am so proud of her for reading. She says she doesn't like it but if she actually concentrates then she does a great job. Scott and I love to read so we are hoping she will one day pick up this love, too. Myles likes to sit with his books all day long; I love when he entertains himself! I can't wait to share good books with Bailey and watch her get lost in the new worlds that books will open up to her. I think she will really enjoy the Harry Potter series one day. Unfortunately, we are at the Junie B. Jones level. Enough said!

Bailey and Myles are in swim lessons and the stark differences in their personalities are entertaining, to say the least. Bailey has always loved the water and has a natural propensity for swimming. In her class she is always the first to volunteer. She loves to try new things. She is very confident and does really well in the water. Myles, on the other hand, does not like to do what is expected of him. He will not do what the other kids are doing, but shouts, "No!" the whole time. An example of this: the teacher asks the kids to blow bubbles. Myles refuses and cries. The rest of the kids comply and blow their bubbles. When the teacher moves on to back floats, (which is like death to Myles-he detests being on his back) then Myles quietly blows bubbles to himself, after thrashing around and screaming to get out of me forcing him to float on his back. Swim lessons are over tomorrow and I am glad! I don't like having to be somewhere at a certain time every day. It is at 10:1...

Last night we took the kids to see the fireworks. We weren't really planning on it since it was so hot and we are going to see some fireworks in Utah for Pioneer Day. About 8 o'clock it was still 101 outside and we were trying to convince Bailey to settle for fireworks on TV (lame, but it's hot outside!) Out of nowhere it started raining across different parts of the valley and the temperature dropped 10 degrees in 2 minutes. We made a mad dash to get the kids ready and headed away from the storms to a little town called Apache Junction. We found a great parking spot behind the high school there and watched in the baseball field. The city had planned for the fireworks to shoot directly over the stadium, where all the people had been waiting, but with our great luck the wind blew all the fireworks southeast, directly over where we were sitting. By the time the fireworks started it was only 85 degrees. The weather was perfect, we weren't bombarded with people and my kids ...

We had a great weekend that involved good friends I made on my mission to Venezuela. Friday we went to Jill and Jeremy Wright's home. They have three adorable little boys and our kids got along really well. Just watching our husbands and kids together I could not help but remember when Jill and I were out on the streets knocking doors and reminiscing about America. I never really could have imagined what life would be like, eight years later, with our own little families and living in Arizona of all places! Saturday night we went to Marci and Carlos Hernandez' home and I experienced the same nostalgia. Marci made the best Venezuelan meal and I loved being with her cute family, too. She and I never served together, but we lived together in Merida, too, and our love for our missions and the gospel sealed our friendship. I am so blessed to have served with these amazing women and to now be able to live so close to them. Another friend from our mission, Janene Wirthlin, posted on h...

Our sweet little Bailey is 6 years old now! We started the celebration with a surprise-Scott took the day before her birthday off. We went to visit Scott's grandma (whose birthday is the same as Bailey's) and then went swimming at a fun water park. On her actual birthday she had an action-packed day and said she wished that every day was her birthday. She got to go to lunch with Grandma Peggy and Aunt Jill, pick out presents from them and finished it off with Coldstone ice cream. We are so grateful to have family close by; Bailey loves to be spoiled! We had a mini-birthday party for Bailey (only 2 guests) with dinner, cake, presents and 100 tokens at Chuck E. Cheese. The girls went crazy with tokens, games, rides and noise. Even the $0.20 "prize" at the end of the night was a thrill. The pictures didn't turn out very well, as the girls were over-stimulated and very tired. They will all sleep well tonight, so a job well done on our part. I am really enjoying the su...

It's a boy! We are very surprised and excited to be expecting another boy. Bailey was sad, especially since she has been praying for a sister for such a long time. I was surprised and now am eating my words since I "felt" like it was a girl. Since the ultrasound yesterday this pregnancy feels more real and we now trying to imagine what he looks like, if he'll be high-energy like the other two, how he'll sleep (actually only I worry about that), how large he will be, since Myles was a tank, etc. I still can't believe how long we have until we meet him. I guess I should enjoy the time now because once he gets here, we'll be very busy. I am nervous about the transition from two kids to three, but Bailey will be a big help this time around. Now we have to agree on a name.....

Myles turned 2 yesterday. We celebrated with bad pizza and fun games at Peter Piper Pizza, swimming and the most delicious cake (compliments to Costco). Bailey lost another tooth during dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, too. Myles has been a great addition to our family. He is happy (most of the time) and loves to make people laugh. He still loves to give Mom hugs-I will be sad when he outgrows that. When he gets angry he yells in the cutest, unintelligible jibberish but we get the gist of what he is trying to say. When he wants your attention, he pokes your arm until you look at him. He loves to dance and sing. He likes to do things on his terms; he's very independent. We love you, Myles!

Yesterday we went bowling as a family; it was our first time and we did pretty well. The highlight was Myles taking the family trophy with a high score of 134! Actually, Myles won both games, thanks to the contraption in the above picture. Bailey had a good time alternating between rolling the ball between her legs and trying to bowl normally. The whole family benefited from the bumpers; Scott got several strikes rebounding the ball off the bumper. The best outcome was that we were able to spend a couple of hours together doing something new. Who knows when we will attempt this again? By the middle of the second game Myles had lost interest and I was just warming up. Maybe in a few years when the kids are older Scott and I can join a league with some friends and get those cool shirts. For now, we'll bask in our high-scoring glory as a family. Game 1 Myles - 134 Becky - 132 Scott - 128 Bailey - 104 Game ...

When Bailey is determined to make something happen, watch out! After pushing and pulling her tooth every which way, it came out last night at a birthday party. I cannot believe how tiny her teeth are! This is the 2nd tooth she has lost so far. The tooth fairy set the stakes pretty high last time, delivering a certificate and a $1 bill. I am trying to explain to B that the very first tooth is a little more special than the others. One kid in her kindergarten class got $5 for a tooth last year. It makes me wonder what I would have received had I put all four of my gigantic wisdom teeth under my pillow when I was 18! Probably a laceration through the pillow; they were so sharp and fang-like.