"Here are your BEAUTIFUL baby boys,
Mrs. Sloan!"
May 8, 1984
Lakeview Hospital; Bountiful, Utah
"Who are you trying to kid? Those are the ugliest babies I've ever seen in my life! I love 'em, but don't lie to me. They are NOT beautiful."
So, I think I mentioned yesterday, in Mason's post, that I've never thought babies are particularly attractive. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love kids, but I'm afraid I look at them all too realistically when they're newborns. And I mean, really... take a look!
 |
| Brandon Carl Sloan 6 lb 13 oz |
Barton Randall Sloan
5 lb 13 oz
May 8, 1984
So? What do you see? First thoughts that have come to most people's minds when they've seen these pictures over the years have either been aliens or baby birds. I liked to attribute their appearance to their early arrival (due June 2), but come to think of it, they don't look much worse than most newborns, right?
Anyway... I was hospitalized about three weeks before they took the boys by C-Section. I had gone in for a regular doctor appointment and forced the doctor to LOOK at my face. When I told him I was smiling and he could tell that the right side of my face didn't move, the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital with Bell's Palsy! Then, worry over having to farm the girls out to people from church 'til Grandma could get there from Illinois and worry about Randy having to relocate The Corn Crib (our popcorn shop) yet again without me to help him, I developed stress ulcers. Then the doctors said I had to have complete rest. No TV. No phone calls. And an occupational therapist who kept pressuring me to embroider some bibs to relax. Left me with nothing to do BUT worry! April 30, they did an amniocentesis to see if their lungs were developed enough to take. I was hoping they'd be able to deliver the babies the next day, my mother's birthday, thinking it would be fitting to have my twins then, since she was a twin. But, they weren't ready. The amnio did show that Brandon was a boy! Barton wiggled around too much and they couldn't tell his gender. So I had something else to worry about. That not only would this one poor little boy have three big sisters, but he'd have a twin sister too. A week later, they repeated the amnio and found out that the second baby was a boy! Woo Hoo! But, it didn't matter if they were ready or not, because I went into a kind of seizure on the table and they rushed me back to my room and monitored me until early the next morning when they wheeled me into surgery.
The whole time I was in the hospital, they'd come to check the babies' heartbeats, etc. on every shift. The bottom baby, Brandon barely moved. Just rolled from side to side, but stayed in the same position. The top baby, Barton, on the other hand, did gymnastics in my belly. They actually started to ask me where they'd found the heartbeat last and then checked the farthest point away first to find him. His gymnastics did him in though. They actually removed Bart first, but his foot was caught in my ribs and they had to put him back in and take Brandon so they had more room to wiggle Barton around to release his foot! It cost him two minutes and a lifetime as the "baby of the family."
When we brought them home, people had a hard time telling the boys apart. I don't know why, but to ease everyone's mind, I painted Brandon's toenails with purple nail polish for the first few months. Bringing twins home to an apartment with three little girls (ages 4, 3 & 16 months) created many challenges and I frequently wished that Brooks had been a triplet instead of 16 months older. She knew when I had my hands full of baby!
 |
| Megan, Brooks, Sami Brandon & Barton October, 1984 |
In the beginning, we couldn't get the boys to sleep in their cribs. They'd cry and cry. Finally, one night, Randy got the idea to put them in the same crib. He figured they'd been in such close quarters for eight months, maybe they needed each other. He was right! The boys migrated right toward each other and slept well ever after! Even after they got to be too old to share a crib, we had to push the two cribs close enough together so they could reach through the bars and hold hands! Even as children into their teens, we'd frequently find them in the same bed! My boys!
As you can tell from the picture above, the boys got cuter as time passed and by the time they were a year old, they were pretty darn cute!
Brandon & Barton
June, 1984
Contrary to how the above pictures look, the boys were RARELY dressed identically. They were usually dressed to coordinate; same outfit; different colors. Brandon was always in blue; Barton was always in red. Partially because I thought it would help people tell them apart better. Partially because I wanted them to have their own identity; to know that they were different people. Funny thing though, Barton would point to a picture of himself and say "Brandon" and Brandon would point to a picture of himself and say "Barton." Barton learned to differentiate himself from his brother by the mole on his knuckle. So many people came to learn to tell them apart that way that when people would ask Barton "Which one are you?" he'd just hold out his hand!
The boys were destined to be musical and theatrical from an early age. They were singing before they could even walk! When they were about 9 months old, Meg was going through an "Annie" obsession and we had to watch the musical at least once a day. Imagine my surprise one day when I walked into the living room to find the boys pushing a footstool between them while they sang over and over again "Too-ma-woe, Too-ma-woe. Too-ma-woe, Too-ma-woe.."
A bit more advanced in their musical skills!
Brandon, Barton with friends Ian Durant & Nick Hall
Forever Plaid
2001-2002
Always the more outgoing, comedian, Barton broke into theater first, but Brandon wasn't far behind and really showed that Barton wasn't the only entertainer in the family when he broke into theater as the Cowardly Lion to Barton's Tin Man in the Uintah High School (Vernal, Utah) production of the Wizard of Oz. The even created their own Acapella singing group called "4 White Guys and a Korean" because, well, that's what they were.
 |
| 4WK Nick, Joe, Brandon, Ian & Barton |
The boys always had similar interests. They were in the Ashland Symphony Orchestra Youth Chorus (with Brooks) when we lived in Ohio. They played football for Jeromesville Middle School (although I think they did that for Mom; it sure wasn't because they enjoyed it!) They were in HiLites, the show choir at Uintah and had leading roles in the high school plays.
Senior Year-2002
(Still with the red & blue)
Even for all their similar interests and their wonderful closeness, my boys are two very different young men.
Barton was always the joker in the family. Because he was always the goof, he had it a little tougher than the others. He'd goof around, they'd pick on him and he'd end up in tears. Even still, he was always the one who would lighten a situation with his corny jokes and just doing something so ODD... there was no choice but to laugh. Looking back on it now and knowing who he has grown up to be, I think it has always been his sensitivity to others' feelings. He can't stand to see others sad or hurt or upset. He has an internal need to help and make things better. And he always had a ready-made audience in Brandon, who was always there to laugh at his jokes. Even today; he's the family peacemaker; the mediator and the one who can still make everyone laugh. He used to want to be a Disney artist, until he visited Disney World and found out that there's little done by hand anymore. Instead he's used his artistic ability to help him in dental school and he wrote and illustrated a children's book about a visit to the dentist for one of his class projects. He's a great dad who is amazed and moved to tears when he talks about his adorable little girl. And he's a devoted husband. Who else would spend hours on the phone singing to his lovely fiancee until she fell asleep because she missed him? Still the entertainer, making things better for his family. And three days ago he graduated from dental school. Who'd-a-thunk our goofy little Bawty would be a doctor someday?
Abigail, Emily & Barton
Brandon was the more serious one; quite a bit quieter than Bart, but with a great sense of humor (and a funny wrinkly nose when he gets tickled by something his brother does). After my divorce, Brandon took his role of "man of the family" very seriously. I'm still amazed that he's the one of my children who's broken the most bones, beginning with his nose (I know it's cartilage, but still....) when he was just a few months old. All in all, I think he's broken his nose five times; falling down stairs, jumping down the clothes chute, etc....; and he's broken each arm once. Once from punching a boy in the head! Speaking of which, he's also the only one who ever got suspended from school---for fighting (different time, different kid, different school). He's the "gamer" in the family. He loves all kinds of games, keeps us all in line with the rules and even has a Monopoly game collection! Brandon is my mathematician. I recently found his 6th grade "Brag Book" wherein he claimed, "I, Brandon Sloan am the best mathematician ever...I am always the first one done when everyone else is on number one... Someday I want to be in the Guinness Book of World Records by doing one hundred problems in two point seven seconds. My first word when I was a baby was math." Well, he hasn't accomplished THAT lofty goal, but he just finished his third year of optometry school and gets very excited when he talks about how calculus and physics are useful in the study of the eye! He enjoys being a dad; shows his three boys a lot of love, but insists on discipline too. He sings with them, plays with them and teaches them new things. And he adores his beautiful wife. And he named his second son Barton.
Krew, Diedre, Bennett
Brandon & Gray
The day my boys left the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah to leave on their missions, I thought I was going to die. My heart was breaking. Not so much for myself, even though I was now, officially, an empty-nester. Nope. It was because for the first time in their lives, my boys were going to be truly apart. Not just by a room or 150 miles or a state....they were going to be in two totally different parts of the world! Brandon was going to Alaska. Barton was going to the Philippines. For two whole years! And I was hurting for them. BUT.... it was a great experience for both of them. They survived. They grew. And they came back to attend BYU-Idaho just three days later...and their lives were changed forever!
Pre-Mission Picture
(Yes, Bran's hair is red.)
Now, I say changed forever because they came home, went to school and met their lady loves; the two lovely young ladies who took my place as THE woman in their lives, but they're still my babies. So much so they got their lady loves to conspire against me and get me to a talent show when I went to BYU-I Mother's weekend. I don't remember, but I think they told me they had to work. Anyway, the girls took me to this talent show. I remember just wishing they were there with us. A little awkward to be at a Mother's Weekend event without your son (or daughter) with you... until I looked up at the stage when an act was about to begin. A figure standing on the stage in silhouette...and I thought, "That sure looks like Brandon's nose...." (I mean, really... I told you how many times it was broken!).... and then I heard the voice and then both of my baby boys were on stage.... singing for their mom... a special Mother's Weekend birthday surprise for their old me. Them's my boys....
Crazy 'bout my babies......
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
BANNY & BAWTY
I LOVE YOU
No comments:
Post a Comment