Outnumbered! (and Kids in Church)

Toby is here! That makes 3 little boys and 2 VERY outnumbered parents. Oddly enough, we couldn't be happier!

Baby Tobias Vaun Young was born via a scheduled C-section (which was phenomenally easier than an emergency one, by the way!) at 7:58 AM on Friday, December 14th, 2012. He weighed 6 lbs 9 oz, was 19 inches long, and had the cord wrapped twice around his neck. The doctor said that we would've ended up having to do another C-section even if we had tried the other way. This proves again that Heavenly Father was guiding us in our decisions, just like with Johnny and Zach. All three of our babies are such miracles!

Our lives have greatly changed, and we love it! Johnny and Zach love Toby more than I ever thought they could, and it's so amazing to watch them bond. They try so hard to be soft with him (TRY is the key word there), and it's so sweet!

So, the real purpose of this post is to begin a series of posts depicting different segments of our amazing life as parents. These are moments that I just don't want to forget. I dedicate this to all you parents out there thinking, "My kids are nuts." As I am about to show you, ALL of them are nuts. This particular post, I plan to highlight a few of the joys of taking kids to church. Here you go!

• One of the first Sundays we took Johnny to church, he pooped on a lady during sacrament meeting. I don't mean he tooted in her lap - the lady had POOP on her dress! Luckily it was time to go home. 
• When Johnny was about 6 months old, we were sitting in sacrament meeting and he had one of those long, explosive toots that make everyone turn and smile at you. As all the turners and smilers were watching, he smiled up at me and belched with all the force he could muster. What a charmer.
• Round binkies, otherwise known as little devils, do not like church. Zach went through a throwing phase, and there was one poor bald man that he particularly liked to aim for. Every Sunday. 
• You could easily stock an entire grocery store with the fruit snacks, cereal, goldfish, and raisins that we've ground into the seats and carpets of the chapel. 
• A few months ago, we had to take Johnny out in the middle of a musical number because he was screaming bloody murder, presumably trying to upstage the soloist. 
• And now, I present to you the mother of all awful Sundays! Enjoy:

About 10 months ago, Paul was asked to speak in sacrament meeting. We had only been in the ward about 3 weeks, so we didn't know a whole lot of people. I knew I was going to have to handle an 18-month-old and a 2 and 1/2-year-old all by myself that day, so I packed WELL. Little did I know, it really wouldn't matter WHAT I packed.

When Paul got up to speak, the boys both got really excited and kept pointing and yelling, "DADDY!"  I was completely embarrassed, but that was just the beginning of my troubles... Johnny decided he needed to be up there WITH Daddy, and started trying every escape tactic in the book. I had a few good evasive maneuvers and was actually faring pretty well until Zach started screaming. I looked away for a split second to help Zach, and Johnny was gone.

At first he stood just out of reach (I had Zach on my lap so I couldn't just jump up and grab him), taunting me with a big grin. I showed him every single car and fruit snack I had packed trying to lure him back in, but no luck. The second I stood up to grab him, he was off. People were most definitely watching us at this point, which was okay since Paul was just beginning to introduce us from the pulpit. Speaking of the pulpit, Johnny was on his way there. He hesitated at the stairs, gave me one last look of triumph, and darted onto the stand. One of the bishopric members caught him and held him on his lap for a minute, at which point Johnny looked out at the congregation and suddenly became very serious. He knew he was in trouble! He got down, came down the stairs, caught my eye yet again, and turned to run across in front of the pulpit. I set Zach down, who immediately started screaming as if he were in mortal peril, and ran to grab Johnny.

Johnny saw me coming and darted up the other set of stairs to stand by his daddy at the pulpit. Zach was still screaming, and I hesitated to go onto the stand and add more fuel to the fire. I ran back to take Zach out, and Johnny followed me - thank heavens! However, as soon as we were out the door, I tried to reach into my bag for ANYTHING that would calm Zach down, and Johnny seized the moment to run right back into the chapel....and back onto the stand. The poor bishopric member snatched him up and brought him out, at which point several sweet women came out to help me. After the meeting, every single person in the ward came to talk with us. What a way to meet the new ward: HERE WE ARE!!!