A Peek at the Poulsens

Aren't these the sweetest pictures? I love when they play together. I hope they're always close.  Austin thought he needed a bowtie for church. I hate this tie, for the record, even after his ten minute lecture on all the reasons it's not a terrible tie. (I call it "mauve chandelier").  Natalie wanted in on the action.  Shark Smalls playing piano at Mimi's house. I've been trying to play/practice more, and I often have little visitors to "help."  Natalie climbed up into the front seat while I was on the phone in the Target parking lot, waiting to go inside. She put the seatbelt on and giggled like crazy! She thought she was so clever and funny, and I loved hearing her laugh like that. She laughs a lot, but not her full-on, belly laugh that only comes out when she's truly tickled by something. I wish I had captured a video but at least I have the vestiges of the giggle grin.  Natalie and I got haircuts! I'm growi...

Well, now that it's been over a month, I guess I'd better say something about Father's Day. I like to think that I'm a pretty good dad: I change diapers, I help the kids in the night (when they let me haha; sometimes I don't make the cut and Jessie has to get up anyway), I do the dishes (sometimes as much as twice a week! lol), I play with the kids, I read to the kids, etc. As hard as I try, though, I will never be as good at being a dad as Jessie is at being a mom and a wife. Evidence: the pictures below. Jessie asked what I wanted for Father's Day meal, and I said Eggs Benedict Arnold, and she totally killed it. So delicious. I also asked for a pumpkin chiffon pie. I ate the whole thing in 2 sittings. It was amazing. Anyways, Jessie made these things for me while dealing with the kids all day! I couldn't have done it with an empty house and 4 hours of freedom. But back to fatherhood. This is supposed to be a post about Father's Day, aft...

It's been a tough month. I had a lot of things to manage and figure out but nothing was turning out easy or convenient - even signing up for Kindergarten has turned into a hassle involving an Appeal letter for Natalie to go to the school we want her to go to. We have had lots of random expenses that we don't have money to pay for, which is always stressful, including the car being hit while I was subbing for the paper route (it was a hit and run -_-) and a big speeding ticket in Utah. I've been stress-eating and not sleeping well and overall feeling very discouraged and anxious and not in control of anything in my life and it's just been rough. I can write about it now because I feel like I'm finally on the up and up, which is a relief. Not everything is figured out (actually, I don't think we've figured any of it out), but my attitude is better and the gloom has lifted so I can press forward with a more determined heart. Lots of people have helped...

We went to IHOP with Great-Grandma Poulsen but Stockton wasn't excited about sitting, so we roamed around and eventually took a break on this bench. I had a lot of opportunities on this trip to explain to strangers why Stockton was acting a certain way, but I was surprised that I never felt the need to tell anyone he had autism and use that as an important fact about him. I just let him do his thing and expected others to accept him that way. It was a nice parental feeling - I was proud of myself for not feeling pressured to have him perceived in a certain way, if that makes sense. I thought Jack looked so cute brushing my hair. Side note: I left this dress in the hotel room : (  Monday night of the trip we spent at Grandpa's brother's house with all the Poulsen cousins. Sanford and Julie have a beautiful house and awesome backyard. The kids were in heaven, and it was a relief to be in a place where we could let them roam! Julie made Hawaiian Haystacks which w...

We went to Hogle Zoo on Saturday, and Austin's friend Ryan and his family planned to meet us there. I wanted Austin to be able to hang out with Ryan, and I knew that even though it would be fun to stay with the group, Stockton was going to want to do his own thing, so I decided to just make it a Stockton day and let him go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted, and just follow him and facilitate his journey.  He loved it. Here is what our day looked like: playing with the gift shop door for a good 25 minutes briefly seeing Natalie for a picture at the giant spider  Sharing a drink inside the restaurant because he spent over half an hour running in and out, testing the doors, looking out the windows, and doing it all over again so I felt like I had to buy something lol. He spilled on his pants, so off they came (he can't tolerate any wetness on his clothes). pants-free down the hill  a brief meeting with Daddy and Ryan's family at th...