Superhero Party!

We had Hudson's party at Pump It Up on Saturday. It was so fun! I loved being able to just show up to a party and not have to do anything. Really, I did nothing but bring a cake and party favors! 

 

Harrison hung in there the whole time and went down the slide a hundred times, bounced in the jumpy, and did the obstacle courses! He was one worn out baby last night!

One of the highlights of the party was seeing Hudson's best friend Caleb from his old school. They have a friendship that I had no idea could even exist at their age. They had not seen each other in 6 months and picked right back up where they left off! I even caught them tee-teeing in the same toilet at the same time...and talking about "its" size. :) Oh lordy we are in trouble.

He had so much fun with all his sweet friends. It was hard to get any pictures of any of the kids. All of my pictures were blurry because no one would stop for a second! I finally got four of them to sit still...

 The wind tunnel!

 Most of the kids that came! We were so very blessed to have them all come celebrate our sweet boy. Thank you to everyone!

An attempt at a family picture (best we could do!).

After two rooms of jumpy fun, the sweaty kids finally headed to the party room. Hudson had this look the entire time everyone was singing to him! I think he was exhausted.

 

My one complaint was that they put the party favors at everyone's place in the party room instead of letting me hand them out at the end, so all the kids ate them while they were still at the party (along with goldfish and a cupcake--sorry parents for probably ruining dinner!) and I felt bad that it seemed everyone left with nothing in hand! Oh well--they were so cute and tasted fabulous too!! They almost didn't arrive in time...we had to track them down at the post office only hours before the party. Joel was about to kill me for ordering something off the internet (because for some reason I have been getting burned lately), but thankfully they were worth the stress!

 

What a fun afternoon it was! Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate with us!

Happy 4th Birthday!

This big boy turns 4 today! How is that even possible?!?!?!

 

He woke up this morning and saw his presents and said, "Mom, you wrapped all the presents. That is so sweet of you!" It was just so adult sounding!

Since Joel had already gone to work, I didn't want him to open all of his presents without Joel there, so he got to pick one to start with. He got his very own superhero cape!

Then it was off to our annual birthday trip to Krispy Kreme. Both boys ate TWO donuts each!

 Show me your mean face!

Then we headed to the Galleria. I thought it would be fun for him to go to Build a Bear. We've never done that and I wanted him to do it before he got too old to really enjoy it. He loves him some stuffed animals (he sleeps with about 10 every night!). Unfortunately, the first sight of the train in the mall pretty much squashed the idea of going to make his own stuffed animal. We waited 30 minutes to ride that darn train (which lasted approximately 7 minutes). The boys loved it though. Harrison kept saying "choo choo" over and over again.

We finally made it to Build a Bear a little later than we had been hoping for. It was right at lunchtime and both the boys were getting a little cranky. Thankfully, Joel joined us for this part. I think Hudson enjoyed it, but not as much as I thought he would. Of course, he told me right before naptime that he just loved Camo so much. Sometimes Hudson is really un-emotional about things while doing them, but later you find out that he really had the time of his life and he won't stop talking about it. We'll see! It was fun though and even Harrison got a cute little puppy too.

 

 

We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a of course. Hudson has been talking about eating at Chick-fil-a on his birthday for weeks now (even though we eat there once a week!). About a week ago, Joel was putting him to bed and he got really upset and wanted me to come upstairs to his room. I get up there and he tells me that he doesn't want to go through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-a on his birthday. He was very distraught about not getting to eat there. Of course we were planning to eat there all along, but it cracks me up over the things he worries about!

After lunch, we headed home to let the poor boy finally open the rest of his presents!

 He only asked us for one thing for his birthday, no matter how many times we tried to get him to tell us more ideas. He wanted a blue garbage truck. Well, they don't make blue garbage trucks anymore! We could not find one anywhere. We searched all over the internet, stores, everything. So, we had to get green instead and when I told him we couldn't find the blue one today, he said he really wanted green all along. What a sweet boy he is.

We've had a big day so far and it's not over yet! We are doing pizza with the grandparents tonight and then the big party is tomorrow. I'm loving celebrating this sweet boy this weekend.

Hudson, Happy Birthday to you. You are such a special boy with a big heart and tons of personality. We are so happy that you are the one that made us parents. We love you to the moon and back!

Sunday Iphone Dump

I haven't managed to get the big camera out lately. I feel like all I have been doing the past few weeks is work work work. Oh well, I am in the throws of busy season and hopefully only have about another month of craziness. Here are some recent pictures from the trusty Iphone.

 

 

One really cold Saturday trip to the zoo!

I never updated after Harrison's latest ENT appointment. He was still draining so are at war with those ears right now and we go back in 4 weeks to see if it has worked. If not, he will have to get an IV for 2 weeks and a home health nurse will come to the house every day. I'm just trying not to think about how awful that will be if it happens. How do you keep an IV in an almost 17 month old??? Good news is that the past few days, we haven't seen any drainage and we have had a different child with us. He has been SO fun! He is even starting to say a lot of words! So I'm hoping we are winning the battle! And now I am knocking on wood for saying all of that...

This is NOT a true picture of how the doctor's appointment went. If only they were this sweet and happy all the time!

We purchased all of the gear for t-ball last weekend. Who knew you needed this much stuff?!?! When I played, all we had to show up with was a glove. Nowadays, you gotta have your own helmet with a mask, bat, glove, cleats, ball, etc. Today was his first practice and from what I hear, he loved it!

This was the only picture I took on Valentine's Day. We did store bought Valentine's (no Pintrest for me!) and the kids got no Valentine happies from us. Don't worry, they got plenty of goodies from school and grandparents! Joel won father of the year for attending Valentine parties at school. I'm not big on Valentine's Day though. I would much rather do special things to show my loves that I love them (and for them to show me--hint hint) on random days--not on Valentine's. It's just too cheesy for me. Just my opinion though!

 Hudson did LOVE all things Valentine's Day though. Maybe next year we will get our act together!

Harrison was in need of another haircut so we took him yesterday. Joel was the lucky one who held him down while he screamed this time. It wasn't pretty. If you see him, just don't judge the mullet (he couldn't get the back on the bottom). Just know that they did the best they could! Ha!

Joel took this one at t-ball today. I had to stay home while Harrison napped. Hudson told me when they left that it was a boy thing anyway. It made me sad! I'm glad he is having fun though! What a beautiful day they had to be out on the field too!

That's it for now!

Life With Boys

This is our den most nights...

 

 Pile of pillows on the floor...

 Couch as the launching pad...

There's usually a countdown of 3, 2, 1...

Then he jumps and lands in the pile of pillows, full of giggles before he goes at it again and again and again!

All the toys in the world can't compete with this!

Ten on Wednesday

I saw this on another blog and thought it was a great way to capture random things during the week that wouldn't necessarily otherwise make it on the ole blog. This week has been a doozy and it's only Wednesday! So here we go, in no particular order.

1. While watching The Bachelor on Monday night, they were in Whitefish, Montana, which is exactly where Joel and I went on our 5 year anniversary! It was so fun watching it and knowing where everything was. The Rose Ceremony was at the Grouse Mountain Lodge, which is where we stayed the first night we were there. I have to say that they definitely spiffed it up for the show! We went on into Glacier National Park after that (which they also went to on the show). While that trip was much more up Joel's alley, I do miss the incredible scenery and the quiet--we love our kids, but a little getaway would be pretty spectacular right now.

2. Harrison missed school yesterday and today, and will miss tomorrow and Friday too. He had fever and threw up Monday night. We went to the pediatrician and he got a shot and yet another antibiotic to see if we could try one more time to get the ear infection cleared up. The good news is that Corto pulled some strings and got us into the ENT tomorrow! Yay! And, I have to thank our families. It takes a village to take care of kids and we are so thankful that our village is in town and willing to help out!

3. On said trip to the pediatrician, he recommended that we pull Harrison out of daycare so he can build his immune system back up. Awesome timing for that.

4. Joel took the morning shift Tuesday with Harrison so I could go to work. He decided to take the dogs to vet to for them to get a BATH. Can we say LAZY!?!?

5. On said trip to the vet above, Joel got a flat tire. That's what he gets for being lazy!

6. The flat tire resulted in four new tires. That's what I get for chewing him about about taking the dogs to the vet for a bath! Ha!

7. Hudson met his t-ball team for yogurt Monday night! He is so excited about playing t-ball. His team is the Cubs, which happened to be my favorite team growing up! I always wanted to marry Ryne Sandburg. I tried to get him #1 to follow in my softball footsteps, but someone beat us to it. Hudson then decided that he wanted #2, and then changed his mind again to #5. I think he is my child--Mr. Indecisive! :)

7. Hudson got sent home from school today with pink eye. I just started laughing when I got the call. I'm sure the director thought I was nuts. The poor nurse at Greenvale and I are on a first name basis now. She laughed when I talked to her about calling in eye drops. It's always something!

8. Have you ever tried to put eye drops in an almost 4 year old's eye? Torture.

9. I decided that it was time for me to start working out. The problem is finding the time to do it. We don't exactly live close to a gym, not that I have the time to get away to even do that. So, I ordered some videos and so far they are kicking my booty! I'm so sore! I have been getting up at 5:30 though and doing it in the morning and I feel great!

10. So with this week going the way it has gone, it was high time for some ice cream tonight! According to Hudson, ice cream cures everything! I have to agree with him!

16 Months

Harrison turned 16 months yesterday. He is so much fun (despite all the ear troubles!). You still can't turn your back for a second with this one though. He is into everything! Just this weekend, I caught him eating food out of the trash can, unrolling a whole role of toilet paper in the bathroom, throwing his paci in the toilet, dumped out the dog's water bowl no less than 5 times, and throwing Hudson's clean underwear in the trash can. He has also learned to weasel his way out of restaurant high chairs so he can stand up, which pretty much makes eating out impossible since it's difficult to eat with one hand holding him down! He is so different from Hudson! Are all second children trouble??? Look at him though--he is just so cute I can't stand it!

 

At 16 months, Harrison is maybe finally beginning to talk some. It's not a ton, but it's more than last month! He is copying most of what we say. We are definitely still his translators though. He uses a lot of inflection when he "talks." He is still pointing to what he wants most of the time. His teachers claim that he says bye bye and woof woof for a dog, but I have yet to hear either of those two words! He is also shaking his head "no" for when he doesn't want something. He also understands basic commands. He claps at everything, especially when he has done something good! He is very proud of himself. He will also hold our hand when he walks, which is so sweet.

He is running like crazy. He's definitely gotten more stable in the past month. Chase is still his favorite game. He is also trying to jump so hard! I don't remember when they are supposed to jump, but he will crouch down and use his whole body to lift himself up and then he just doesn't go anywhere! He thinks it is so fun though. He's going to love getting some air under his feet when the time comes! He can, however, get some air on the bed...not that we ever let him do that or anything. :) He wants to be very independent with the stairs, which scares me so much. He will no longer let me carry him up or down the stairs; he has to do it himself, holding my hand of course. He also loves to brush his own teeth--like LOVES it. He will stand on the stool in the bathroom and smile at it until you get it for him. The minute I try to brush his teeth is a different story though.

He is also showing interest in using utensils at meal time. He will no longer let me spoon feed him anything. He has to do it. He is actually not too bad with it, but obviously it makes a much bigger mess. I guess that is all part of it!  Now if I could just get him to quit throwing his food off his high chair. Thankfully, we have dogs...can't imagine having to clean all that up after every meal time! Ha!

We have officially dropped the morning nap. He goes down for a nap around 1 and sleeps for 3 hours. I am thankful that he is still such a great sleeper.

I am loving watching Harrison and Hudson play together now. They still have their moments of stealing toys and pushing each other, but for the most part, they are great together. Harrison wants to do everything that Hudson does. They are even starting to rough house, which is a little scary, but I know that is just part of it!

He is in 24 months and 2T clothes right now. He's still big, but I can definitely tell that he is losing the baby fat. He's looking more like the kids in his class now than the bully! He still only has the four teeth, two top, two bottom. They sure are taking their sweet little time coming in!

Can't wait to see what the next month has in store for us! Love you to pieces little buddy!

Beyond Frustrated



Harrison has another ear infection...sigh. I sound like a broken record. I feel SO BAD for this little guy. It started draining last Tuesday, exactly two weeks after the surgery that cleaned his ear completely out (not even going to mention the amount of money that it cost us for it to not work). I emailed our pediatrician and told him the situation and told him that we already had an ENT appointment set up for Friday and whether or not we should go ahead with an oral antibiotic. Dr. C. immediately emailed the ENT--got a response back that said the ENT would talk to us on Friday about MRSA as he has studied kids that have this and have become resistant to antibiotics. We went ahead with the oral antibiotic and were looking forward to getting answers at our appointment. Five days of antibiotic has not even touched the infection. Even the other ear that is normally the good ear is now draining.

Anyway, so we show up Friday for our appointment and guess what, there are no doctors at the office on Fridays. They don't even work Fridays. We were only seeing the nurse, who told us that his ear was draining and we would have to come back in two weeks. Really?!?!? Thanks for completely wasting my time! I just about blew up on the poor guy. Told him we were expecting to see the doctor--that our pediatrician had talked to him about it. All he could do was say he was sorry.

 I go to schedule the next appointment and guess what, they have NO openings until the end of the month. I despise this place--not only does it take an act of Congress to even get in there within the next year, they have no sense of urgency at all when it comes to their daily appointments either. It is easily a 2 hour trip for each appointment and you only see the doctor/NURSE for 2 seconds. I went off on the poor scheduling lady. I was so mad that I was almost in tears! Thankfully, the nurse that we had met with was nearby and he was able to get us to a "higher up" person who was able to somehow get us in on the 11th. It was no problem for her. I just don't understand!

 So, until then, our little mess is going to suffer with ears that just won't clear up. Oh yeah, and I'm in the middle of busy season and every day that I have to miss means that I get more and more behind. I hope that someday we can look back on this season and laugh because sometimes it is just so hard!

Most days, Harrison has just learned to live with it, but I know it is not comfortable! I know that there are much worse things that could be wrong with him so I am thankful that we are only dealing with this. I'm not going to lie though, it has been the most frustrating thing we've had to deal with.

At least he can still make us laugh...standing on the dishwasher stealing the hamburger buns for dinner!  It is something every day.

He is also 16 months old today! Will have to do an update on that later!