Warm Afternoons

We have had some really warm afternoons here lately and we have taken full advantage of them and spent a lot of time outside. These are just some pictures from the past couple of weeks that haven't made it on the ole' blog yet.

Harrison had his first stroller ride--well, not exactly his first, but his first sitting like a big boy facing forwards. He loved it! And let me tell you, that stroller was a lot easier to push without that heavy carseat in it!

Hudson rode in the wagon!

I didn't think I would ever really use a double jogging stroller so we didn't even ever consider getting one, but now I'm thinking that it sure would be nice to have one with all this nice weather we've been having and spring being on the horizon. I'm ready to get back to exercising again and I have come to the realization that I just won't ever get the time to do it without the kids, so the best solution is to get a double jogging stroller and take them with me! Anyway, I'm on the hunt for a good deal on one.

Mama Jean gave Hudson a remote controlled helicopter for Valentine's Day. I think it's for like 8 year olds, but of course my almost 3 year old has learned how to do it and absolutely will not put it down. It's already about to fall apart due to all the crash landings, but it has provided hours and hours of fun for this little guy. We may have to invest in another one very soon!

Here is a short video of him flying it!

These last few pictures are from a few mornings in the past couple of weeks. Everyone is always so happy in the mornings. Some mornings, I just have to sit in play for a few minutes before we head out. Who would want to leave this sweet face?????

And this one too????

It is officially BIRTHDAY week around here and Hudson is SO excited! His official birthday is Thursday and we are having his party on Saturday. I'm hopeful the rain is going to hold off on Saturday. It is not looking so good right now, but I'm trying not to worry about it!

Auburn Basketball Game

We headed down to Auburn yesterday to see Auburn play basketball. To say Hudson was excited would be a huge understatement! He could not wait to go watch them play!

I think Harrison is almost as big as Hudson! :)




I didn't get any pictures of us actually in the new arena, but I promise we did go! Hudson was enthralled with all that went on with the game for the first half (which ended up being the only half Auburn showed up to play!), and then I chased him around the arena the rest of the time. I may or may not have almost punched the rude balloon man in the arena after we waited in line for 15 minutes to get a balloon sword and he told us he was done right when we got to the front of the line. Talk about one very sad two year old. It broke my heart to see Hudson so sad! He ket saying the whole rest of the day that "the sword was going to make me happy." Poor buddy. We finally made it over where we could get close to the band and Aubie, and he loved watching all of that. Sweet Harrison didn't make a peep the entire game. He tried his hardest to get a cat nap, but all of the excitement of the crowd kept making him jump. He didn't fuss a bit though and was a perfect angel as always!

It was a fun afternoon despite Auburn's loss, and we can't wait to go back again next year! It sure was fun being in Auburn. I miss that place!

Dinosaurs

Saturday morning, we took Hudson to see the dinosaurs at the BJCC. My parents and I took him about a year ago to a similar exhibit in Chattanooga, and Hudson took one peek in the door and was scared out of his mind, so we obviously didn't go in. I was a little worried we might have a similar reaction this time, but he's a year older and really into dinosaurs these days, so we tried it anyway! He was pumped about seeing T-Rex--actually, all of the dinosaurs ended up being T-Rex's (and don't you try and correct him on that either!).

He was a little nervous at first, but he warmed up quickly! As you can see below, he was giving his best T-Rex roar!

Not to leave little bitty out--he was there too and enjoyed it! Although had he turned around and seen that dinosaur behind Joel, he might have been a little terrified!

Hudson loved riding the T-Rex!

They also had dinosaur bounce houses and they let kids in every 15 minutes. I was wondering how they were going to get all the kids out when the 15 minutes were up. Sure enough, my child was the one throwing the fit and hiding in the corner of the bounce house, refusing to get out. They had to get a staff person to go in there and get him. Embarassing!

The best part of the day might have been riding on Pops' shoulders!

It was a fun Saturday morning out!

Harrison's Baptism

Our sweet Harrison was baptized this morning. We had a large gathering of family in attendance with us and it was such a special time.

Here is the star of the show, anxiously waiting to put on his beautiful gown!

And here is big brother, who proclaimed over and over all morning that, "Baby Harrison was getting baptized and the preacher was going to put water on his head, and that he (Hudson) was supposed to hold the candle." He had the general concept down for sure, and he did a great job of holding that candle!

The beautiful flowers on the baptismal font were given to Harrison by Migi and Pops. Thank you!

Harrison was very sleepy at the time of the service and got a little fussy while we were at the front of the church. I was up there trying to do the "jiggle" as my Mom calls it, to get him to not bust out in screams. We managed to make it through it and once our preacher got a hold of him, he was absolutely fine. In fact, I think the preacher just about put him to sleep!

Harrison wore the gown that my Mom made for Vann many many years ago, and Carrie and I wore it, Blaine wore it, Hudson wore it, and now Harrison. It is very special to us!

I love the way that our church does baptisms and it was so wonderful sharing this day with so many!

Once we sat back down, Harrison zonked in Joel's arms for the rest of the service. Hudson, however, was another story. We debated beforehand whether or not to let him stay in the service after the baptism or take him to worship care, but decided that since he did so well at the Christmas Eve service that he should stay with us. Well, he was quiet, so that was good. But, he went up and down the row and pulled out every hymnal and drew on every piece of paper there was. When he started doing the bear crawl in the aisle, I decided I might need to remove him from the situation! He did make it almost all the way to the end, and really never made a peep, so I think he did just fine! After the service, we did a few pictures with our families. Somehow, we didn't get any pictures with my parents or with Mama Jean.

We had celebretory brunch at the Village Tavern afterwards. Harrison got loved on some more!

Valentine's Day

This may be the longest I've ever gone without blogging. I told Joel tonight that I needed to update the blog, but I really don't have anything exciting to write about. So, this is just going to be random (and I might just throw in a pity party or two along with it--sorry about that in advance).

Carrie and Andres and all of us were planning to head up to the cabin last weekend until my mom called and said they were going to the beach instead. We thought about going anyway, but it's more fun when they are there and let's be honest, the help is one of the main the reasons why we go up there. Also, Hudson would have been devastated to go up there and Big Mama and Big Daddy not be there. He just wouldn't understand! So, we opted to stay in town and went to dinner with sis and her new hubs at Sumo. It was Hudson's first hibachi experience, and I just knew he was going to love it. Unfortunately, he was less than thrilled with the whole thing and midway through the meal, he said he was ready to go home and go to bed. What? Sure enough, he came straight home and went to bed--no bath, no books, no nothing. He was flat worn out I suppose. The littlest guy was happy as a clam with all the entertainment. He just kicked and cooed and smiled the whole time. What a dream baby!

I had to work on Saturday anyway so I guess not going to the cabin was probably for the best. This 28 hour a week part-time gig isn't really working out so well these days (insert pity party here). I have been a pill and I know it--I'm sorry to anyone that I might have been a bit snippy with. Joel is also working like a dog, so it makes it extra hard. Any free time that we get is spent working, and we are having to do a lot of "passing the kids off" to each other. As the saying goes, this too shall pass. I am very thankful to have a job and to be able to work part-time (for most of the year). I hate to even complain about that because these hours are temporary and will be over soon! I know it could be WAY worse.

Coming home to this on Saturday made me happy. This is the scene in our den on many a nights...when we're not playing with trains of course. This little almost 3 year old is obsessed with his trains right now. He wakes up (at 5 am no less--that's a whole 'nother issue) talking about wanting to go play with his trains.

We had the Geek Squad at our house all day on Sunday getting the downstairs room completed wired up. It is now the ultimate man room, with quite a few toys sprinkled in of course. I took the boys to church that morning so that they (Hudson) wouldn't bother the Geek Squad. While we were driving home, Hudson said, "Mommy, I'm a guy now just like Daddy so I get to go help them when we get home." Since when is my little boy a guy??? It sure is cute that he wants to be just like his Daddy.

On another note, this is how we keep our 4 month old from getting sick in the cold weather...

Just kidding, poor thing probably rode the whole way home with hat over his face. I guess he didn't seem to mind too much!

I hate that this picture is blurry, but Jack (our dog) is on the far left of the picture giving Harrison some kisses. He was just smiling away!

Tuesday was Valentine's Day. I am so jealous of all these cute crafts and homeade Valentine's that everyone did for their kids. The whole day just kind of snuck up on me and so we settled for some store bought Toy Story Valentine's, which of course Hudson loved. I stayed up late Monday night putting his friends names on them and putting Hershey kisses on them, and Hudson even helped put little heart stickers on them. They actually did turn out pretty cute. He was so excited about giving them to his friends. We put them all in his backpack to be handed out at school the next day. When I picked him up Tuesday afternoon, all of his Valentine's were STILL in his backpack. He had a bag full of Valentine's from all his classmates, but his teachers forgot to give his out. It sort of broke my heart (insert pity party again).

I did take a picture of the boys as we were running out the door that morning. Here is Harrison on his first Valentine's Day! I can't get enough of this sweet boy.

And my other handsome Valentine, who makes me so happy (even if he is a handful these days!).
I'm embarrassed to say that I did not even get the boys any Valentine's gifts, including Joel. Thankfully, my Dad came to the rescue and brought some loot over for the littles. Of course, when he got out the present he had gotten for Hudson, Hudson said, "I don't like that--I don't want it." Talk about wanting to crawl under a rock. I'm so glad that he's learning how to be thankful for things. And naturally, he spent the rest of the night (and ever since then) playing with that toy that he said he didn't want. Why do they do that??? We celebrated the night with frozen chicken pot pies. Romantic, huh?

Wednesday night I started a new Bible study at church. We are reading Fearless by Max Lucado. I think it's going to be really good, and for an hour I was able to not be stressed and I got in some good girl time! I'm really going to enjoy it.

We've got a great weekend planned and I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to get a hold of my sweet boys and spend some quality time with them. I feel like I haven't seen them much this week and I miss them SO much! We are hoping to squeeze in a trip to the BJCC to see the dinosaurs and then Harrison has his big day on Sunday--he is getting baptized! Stay tuned!

Alone Time

I did not take a single picture all weekend until tonight and even then, I just took them so the blog would have some pictures! I only got Harrison as Hudson was in some kind of mood tonight! Whew! He was showing his age tonight for sure! It was one of those nights where he went to bed kicking and screaming and we have no idea why.

I'm not going to lie, life has been tough lately. Joel and I have both had to miss work a lot and everyone has been sick and it's just stressful sometimes to be "on" at work and then be "on" at home. There's not much downtime. I feel like I don't see the kids much all week except for during the craziness that is trying to get out the door in the morning, and then again at the dreaded arsenic hour that starts around 5 and doesn't end until they are tucked in their beds (I think most moms can relate to how bad that time of day is with sleepy babies!), and so I can't wait for the weekends so I can get my hands on them and spend quality time with them, but then I feel like I really can't get anything done on the weekends because I'm too busy taking care of the kids. Sorry, that was a really long sentence! I guess we're just still trying to figure all this out. One thing is for sure though--we love these kiddos to pieces and even when we feel like we need a break from them, 5 minutes later we're missing them. We wouldn't trade this life for anything in the world!

Anyway, with all that said, we needed this weekend. It was a weekend full of time with the kids AND alone time, so I feel like we hit the jackpot!

Friday night, the girls in our Sunday school class got together and did a recipe swap. We brought either a dip or a dessert and had so much fun being together. I love getting to know all these girls. I'm very thankful for our class and the friendships that I have made. The night was full of laughs and good times. We were all very thankful for our husbands as they gave us all a nice break for the night! I did take my camera, but did not get it out the entire night. I had too much fun running my mouth!

Joel had to work most of the day Saturday, so I got to spend my day with the boys (it still sounds so weird to me saying "the boys"). We had a fun morning together and I was even successful at getting them both down for a nap at the same time and watched a whole Lifetime movie in a quiet house! What a great Saturday it was so far.

After naptime, Joel and I dropped the boys off at Migi and Pops and finally got to celebrate his birthday. We shopped for a bit and then had a fabulous dinner at Bonefish. It was so nice having some alone time with Joel. Some days I feel like I don't even have time to talk to him, so we enjoyed every bit of our date! The kids had a great time with Migi and Pops and were exhausted by the time we picked them up.

Check out these thunder thighs...

We skipped out on church today and hung around the house. It was kind of a boring day, but nice at the same time. I cooked wings for dinner and watched as much as we could of the Super Bowl...well, I should say I watched as much as I could of the Super Bowl. Joel has been asleep for an hour!

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind. I have 7 audits going on starting tomorrow, so busy season has arrived. If the blog suffers over the next month, you know why. I'll be stuck in accounting land. :)

4 Month Stats

Weight: 17 pounds, 5 ounces (95th percentile)
Length: 26 inches (75th percentile)

We had a good checkup this morning (despite all the shots!). Dr. C. wasn't too concerned about his spitting up since he doesn't seem uncomfortable and he is gaining lots and lots of weight. :) He just said he's one of those "fat happy spitters!" He did say we could try to put a little cereal in his bottle to see if that helped. He also said to put cereal in his last bottle if nothing else, and see if that would help him sleep all night. Otherwise, he said it's time to let Hudson stay at Grandma's and let Harrison cry it out. Let's hope the cereal works!

I think we are going to wait a bit on doing cereal and food from a spoon. We started right at 4 months with Hudson and I just felt like he really wasn't ready for it at that point. I'll probably give it another month or so and then try it. There's no rush on it.

We are still watching Harrison's flat spot and trying to keep him off it as much as possible, but Dr. C. was not as concerned with it thankfully! He's looking both ways and is not leaning one way or another, so that was the major concern at first. It's definitely flat, but he thinks it will resolve some once he starts sitting up. That was very good news!

P.S. Blogging that we were improving in the sleep department totally went out the window last night. I was up with him at 2 am, broke down and gave him a small bottle at 3:30 and then he still woke up once every 30 minutes after that until wanting another bottle at 6. Couple that with Hudson waking up crying at some point during that time, I'm a tired mama today.

4 Months

Our sweet little Harrison is 4 months old today! We have his 4 month checkup in the morning, so I'll have to update the blog later with his stats. I know he's going to be off the charts. He is one big, big boy! I LOVE all the rolls he's getting!

He is still such a great baby. While he does smile some (mostly to me), he is very serious most of the time, which makes me think he's going to have more of Joel's personality in him than Hudson does. He just takes it all in. If you asked me a week ago, I would have said that he is a very quiet baby, but in the past week, he has started squealing when he gets excited and it is the cutest thing ever! He has definitely found his voice.

He is grabbing anything and everything he can get his hands on. I love to rock him at night before I put him to bed and he just grabs my face the whole time. He will smile and laugh at me and I just love that connection that we have! There is nothing like it and I know this will not last forever so I cherish every second of it.

He thinks it is hilarious when I get him dressed and pull something over his head. I have no idea why, but he always gets the biggest grin and lets out a chuckle.

He LOVES bathtime! He is a splasher!

He really wants to sit up. He is much happier that way as opposed to laying down. I will put the boppy pillow behind him and he loves playing with his toys like that and watching Hudson.

He still loves being on his playmat and also in the jumperoo.

Knock on wood, but I think we are finally making some progress in the sleeping department. Don't get me wrong, I still have to go in there several times during the night, but we are improving. I've cut out the middle of the night bottle, which makes a huge difference in the amount of time I am up. I thought we would never get to that point. He's over 17 pounds, so I know he doesn't need that bottle, but there were some nights that there was no way he was going back to sleep until he had a snack. I think it was just more comfort to him than anything.

He is a major spitter upper. I'm going to talk to the doctor about it at his check up tomorrow, but he never seems fussy or uncomfortable, and he's obviously gaining weight, so I don't know if it's reflux or not (or whether it's anything to be concerned about). Hudson spit up a lot too, so maybe my babies are just that way? We go through so many outfits, bibs, and burp cloths each day. I know at some point that Hudson stopped spitting up--I just can't remember when that was. I hope it is soon, but I have a feeling we have a few more months of it!

He's still eating 6 ounces every 3 hours during the day. He is still wearing his 6 month clothes, but he's also wearing 9 month too!

Happy 4 months little buddy!