The Baby Brother we all wanted!

Okay since Markie just had his birthday and he's getting ordained a Teacher on Sunday I thought it only appropriate to blog about him. So everybody share fun stories of little brother!

When Mark was a baby I would take him with me to the store and get the dirtiest looks from everyone. You know the "look at that unwed, teenage mother" look. I loved it because I would just think to myself, "Its my brother! You mean people. If you only knew!"

When Mark was about 18 months, Mom and Dad went somewhere for a night and left me in charge. He could not sleep without his mother. He cried all night. I tried everything to calm him down. We watched Barney and that worked for a while. But he just wouldn't stop, so I put him in Bertha and drove around town at 2 am with no glasses on and totally exhausted. It sounds so safe, doesn't it?

Mark wanted to go with Dan and I to register at "the eye ball store," aka Target. I warned him that it would be very boring, but he knew I would buy him something so he was willing to suffer. As soon as we walked in he saw the krispie kream doughnuts and quickly told Dan, "You know Dan, those are really good doughnuts." That was his way of saying buy me a doughnut. Later he was bored to death and I told him he would be! But he let us know that everytime mom took him to that store she bought him a toy. It was probably true and so I had to buy him something. But I only had about 5 dollars so his choices were limited. When I told him that I didn't have enough money for what he wanted he told me, "That's okay, you can just swipe it!"

When I got married, Dan was his Half-Brother. And Dan was quickly introduced to "Somebody come and wipe me." As well as his garment rubbing addiction.

When Grace was born I remember him getting really worried because something was wrong with her belly button and he was shocked that she didn't have ANY teeth. It was his first experience with a baby and he didn't know much about them. Now he's a pro at being an uncle. We had him over a few weeks ago and he was so protective of my kids. It was interesting to see him as the responsible one who was taking care of the little ones. I sometimes only see him as the little boy I would buy anything for but he is growing up. Life just wouldn't be complete without Mark. I love you, buddy!