Update

I know, I know it has been 10 days since I posted. Puke fest 08' took a lot out of me. Then Brandon got a runny nose, then Connor, then me, now Hudson. Brandon is at the end of his & Hudson's just began yesterday. So, I have been grabbing every free minute to recuperate. Oh, and clean toys. But, I have been taking that Zicam stuff & maybe it is just in my head, but I think it is working.

Let's see. What have we been up to?

Hudson is speaking in complete sentences about 1/2 the time. It is pretty cool. He says things like "more chocolate please" and "I made stinky poop". My favorite word he says his maraca. I love it because he actually pronounces it mah-kah-rah-kah. He shows some interest in the potty and I think we are going to start potty training earlier than I thought. We will probably start in may or June. I can barely imagine being done with diapers. A taste of freedom like that may squash that urge to have a 3rd baby. He can say his ABC's and count to 20 (he leaves out 4 & 14). He is also singing Happy Birthday.

Connor is doing great at school. Still switching hands when he writes. Who knows when we will be able to tell if he is left handed or right handed. He eats, writes & plays with both hands. We had to buy him left-handed & right-handed baseball mitts. He will actually stop half way through writing a letter & switch hands. Maybe he will be ambidextrous. He is counting to 100 and writing his name on his own. He is trying new foods and learning to control his gag reflex. Not to jinx anything, but we have had a solid week of good dinners.

Brandon is busy again at work. He is in the process of building me new shelves for the playroom. (thank you!) Plus, he is only a few pounds away from his high school weight. Impressive!

I think I have finally found a punishment that works for Hudson. The kid could care less about a spanking. I put a chair in the middle of the kitchen & made him sit there until a timer goes off. He is not a fan of time out.

Well, maybe it's not so bad.

Doesn't everyone take pictures of their kids while they are in time out?

On Saturday Connor & Brandon went to the monster truck show.

They had a blast. They didn't get home until midnight. That is way past Connor's bedtime (mine too!) Connor wore his head phone to drown out some of the noise. Brandon said he left them on the whole time.

Hudson tried on the head phones as he was sure he was going to Monster Jam with the boys. He has been saying "I'm going to Monster Truck Mash" for weeks. He has been telling everyone he sees. Poor kid was devastated when Brandon & Connor left. Luckily Katina & Erin came over with Ella & Olivia for dinner. They provided a distraction for the little guy.

I made the kids chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Here is Olivia, the ever dainty, clean little girl that she is. Just one little dab of chocolate on her mouth.

Then there's Ella. Not quite as clean.

And then there's Hudson. He's such a boy!

Our weekend

On Friday I took the kids to the park for a while. You know spread the sickness like all good mother's do. Seriously, we were all ready to just about go crazy from being stuck in the house all week. Then we went to the mall and played for a while & had lunch. Hudson had a PB & J sandwich & lo mien, so I am sure he is all better. The sight of that combination made me want to puke. We even stopped by the shop for a visit with Daddy and Pops.

On Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese for a little while (might as well spread the sickness there too!) Then we went to the Mall. Brett & Erin happened to be headed there as well so the kids all played for a while. They all had fun digging money out of the fountain and throwing it back in to make wishes. That is what happens when you leave the Dad's alone with the kids. On Saturday night Brandon's parents came over so Brandon & I could escape for dinner. We didn't go out for long. Just dinner and we were actually home in time to put the kids to bed. I just really needed some grown up time.

Today we went to church EARLY so I could help get things organized for Scottish Sunday. The Presbyterian church has its roots in Scotland so once a year we celebrate the Scottish heritage. Bcause I was helping I got to stand in the aisle as the bagpiper was walking down. Too cool! I know I am a dork, but I love the piper!

This afternoon Connor had a birthday party to attend. We all went along as they invited the families to stay. It was a bunch of fun, but Brandon & I are tired. The kids are napping. I think that sounds like a good idea. I promise I'll try to take pictures this week.

The longest week EVER

WARNING.... Gross stuff ahead!

This has been the longest week EVER! If I have not called you back or if I don't even remember that you called please forgive me, but here is why. Here is how our week went.

Monday night / Tuesday morning 1AM - Hudson wakes up, puking. We change sheets (like I hadn't cleaned enough sheets last week!) We put him in our bed. He pukes 3 more times through out the night. I continue my never ending cycle of sheet changes. i finally get smart & put down towels & blankets.

Tuesday morning (after 3 hours of sleep) Brandon calls from work. He is sick, but has to stay to get some stuff done. (He has only stayed home from work 1 day in the 10 years I have know him. That one day he came home from work I thought he was going to die.) He walks in the house looking like a zombie. He eats chicken broth and falls onto the couch shivering. I take the boys out to Publix for cookies & shopping. We pick up prescriptions for the month. The insurance deductible has started over for the year, so the bill comes to almost $600 dollars. Holy Crap! And this is for 2 healthy people. Brandon's asthma inhaler is $250. Good thing we have insurance. Once we meet our deductible everything is covered 100%. We get the prescriptions, some Gatorade, pedialite (cause i know Connor's gonna get it), some ginger ale and other things we don't need. I get the kids ready for bed & somehow make it to bed myself before 8pm. I pray that the boys will sleep through the night and that Connor can hold out until Wednesday because Brandon & I are useless at this point.

My prayers are answered and the boys make it through the night. Brandon wakes up like a new man and all is right with the world. We have a good day. We helps Pops drop off another cop car. It still amazes me how slow traffic gets around a police car. The must think I've got some nerve tailgating him the whole time. We all go to the toy store after dinner to get Connor's $20 toy that Brandon promised him after his stitches came out. Instead he agrees to a $10 toy and one for Hudson too. Transformers for both as that is the new craze in our house.

Then, the 2ND shoe drops! At 9:30 Wednesday evening Connor comes downstairs. He says my belly hurts. What I should have done was get a bucket and stick the kids outside. But instead we put him on our couch and let him watch the biggest loser with us. He must think we watch the most boring TV. 10 minutes later he pukes all over the carpet. I manage to get him into the bathroom where he pukes all over the floor and himself. I leave the huge mess to Brandon. (more on that later) I take Connor into our bathroom & he & I get into the shower. Poor kid is not happy. I get him cleaned up. I cover the couch and floor in towels & we wait. This time, with a bucket! He proceeds to puke a few more times, but hits the bucket every time.

At 11pm we put him into bed with me( on top of a layer of towels), while Brandon sets up camp on the floor next to Connor. About 10 minutes later I let Brandon know that I am not feeling so well and we may as well switch places as I need to be close to the bathroom. At 12:30 I start too. The next 6 or 7 hours is a blur. Poor Connor has my weak stomach. While Hudson was sick for about 6 hours, Brandon 12, Connor and I had it for 24 hours.

Brandon stayed home from work on Thursday morning and let me sleep until about noon ( something I haven't done in about 10 years). He went to work around 12:30. I put the kids down around 1:30 and when they woke up at 3, I called him and he came right home.

OK, now for the more about Brandon cleaning up. I know some of my friendly college students are reading this. If you are dating a guy who wont clean up puke, dump him NOW. When you have kids it is priceless to have a man who says "go honey, I'll clean this up". That is worth more than any diamond ring in the world. I have no idea how I would have gotten through this week without Brandon.

So, now it is Friday and all is right with the world again. For now.....

Sunday, that's my fun day

On Sunday we had our usual morning. Church, Sunday school (for Brandon & Connor, Hudson & I get coffee & shop) and then home for lunch. Then we decided to go over to Fun World. If you live in the area you may have heard of this place. It is attached to Flea World. Yes folks, the largest indoor air conditioned flea market. OK, so I was kind of apprehensive to go. I was thinking "redneck city". But, Connor had a blast. They had a few kiddie rides. They let him ride the big bumper cars (with Brandon). The best part of all were the go-carts. These things were fast! Connor had a blast. I, of course could barely watch. Then while on the really fast track it started to rain. Apparently this made the ride even more fun! I wish I had brought my camera & I will next time.

In the evening we went to our monthly church dinner. The boys actually ate baked potatoes for dinner. The dessert was cookies & we know that made Hudson happy. The program for the night was trivia, so we bolted when that started. As much as I love trivia I didn't think the boys would enjoy it.

Cool news about Hudson. The other day he just started saying his ABC's. He got every letter except D. I haven't been working with him on this. But, I guess he pays attention when Connor & I are doing our lessons. What a cool surprise!

Oh, here are some pics from the fishing fun. Thanks for sharing them Kathy.

Aunt Judy & Cool Janet playing in the sand

Uncle Bruce helps Hudson

The soon to be shark!

Fishy business

This morning I was going to go on a walk with some friends from church. Brandon ended up having to work at the last minute so that squashed my plans. I thought i might try to take the kids, but Connor decided to sleep in that morning. The ladies called me & asked if I would like to join them for breakfast. I got the kids ready in record time & met them at the restaurant. When I got there my wonderful friends had positioned the kids so neither was sitting next to me. Then they proceeded to entertain, cut their food and make sure they ate. I got to drink my coffee while it was hot. I ate my food at a leisurely pace. It was nice! Then Judy looked at me and asked if I had any plans. I said no and she said "can we have your kids?'. Kathy (Tara's Mom) handed me the key to her beautiful brand new Acura TSX. They whisked the kids away and left me there with a beautiful car. I drove to the mall. I tried on clothes I didn't even need just because I could! I went to a book store. Oh, the joy of taking my time in a bookstore!

Judy & Kathy took the boys to Kathy's to get Bruce (Tara's Dad) and then they went to the park where they met with Cool Janet (Connor named her that). They played with the boys a while and then all went back to Bruce & Kathy's. They have a pond in their back yard. The four of them took the boys fishing and Connor caught his first fish. They were fed ice cream & who knows what else! The boys had a blast! When Connor tells the story the fish gets bigger every time. He said they had to throw it back into the water so it can get bigger. Then he said "maybe next time it will be a shark!".

We are so blessed with AMAZING friends. I can't say it enough. We are surrounded by amazing people who love our kids. These are the kind of friends who drop everything to do you a favor. We love you guys!!

Fun in the Sun

Yesterday my friend Alison came into town. She and her husband are running the a local half marathon. Her Mom has a time share about 1/2 hour away from my home, so they all stayed there. I got a chance to see Ali, her husband and their adorable son Avi (14 months), her Mom, step-dad, sister & brother in-law. It was great to see the whole family at one time. But lets face it, the kid is always the best part of the visit. Avi was even cuter than his pictures, and super smart! I, of course did not remember my camera, but maybe Ali will fwd me some pics so I can share them with you.

We had a blast at the time share. They had a pool, beach, water slide, fountains. Tons of fun stuff for the kids. I was pleased that Connor remembered how to swim. I was bummed that Brandon couldn't come with us. But it was for a good reason. After weeks of slow business we are finally picking back up. So, I can't really complain about that.

A dirty week

So, I am going to try to make this a positive post, but Uuuggghhhhh!!!!

On Monday, as you know Connor puked in his car seat. Then on Monday night before we went to bed we checked on him & he has peed the bed. We changed the sheets. At 4am we checked and he peed the bed. We changed the sheets. Then on Tuesday night again 2 more sheet changes. Wednesday morning Hudson diaper leaked for the first time in weeks. I washed his sheets. On Wednesday Hudson puked in his car seat. I could not figure out how to get the cover off, so I CUT it off. All while using some not very pleasant language in my driveway. My neighbors must have thought I lost my mind! I washed it & sewed it back on. Why would they make those things so hard to take off? Did I mention that I had washed the sheets on Tuesday because Tuesday is sheet day anyway.

So that is 2 pukes and 5 pees I had to clean up in 3 days!

So, we have decided that Connor isn't ready to sleep in underwear. The more research I do, the more I find that this is pretty normal at 3 years old. So, we will try again later in the year.

Hudson has completely taken to his new dog. The old stinky dogs are gone. That was too easy!

resolutions

So for New Years we each made a resolution. Connor was to sleep in underwear instead of a pull up. Hudson's was to crush his stinky dog tail sucking habit. Mine is to lose the 5 lbs. I gained last year and Brandon's is to get to a certain weight goal. Well, looks like the kids are kicking our butts! Hudson told me yesterday that he wanted a new dog. So, I gave him the choice of any animal we had. He picked the same dog that Connor has. We had a spare in case Connor ever lost his. However after 3 years of love you would never know they are the same dog. Hudson slept with the new dog last night and did great . He woke up once because he could not find the dog. Connor wore underwear to bed for the first time last night and woke up with dry sheets. He usually wakes up with a dry pull-up, but we thought it was time to give up the security of it. Eventually he will want to have a sleepover (can you believe they already talk about that at 3 years old?). I didn't want him to be called a baby for sleeping in a pull up. Thought I admit I was the one who didn't want to make the transition to underwear yet either. Who wants to change sheets at 3am? So far, so good.

Brandon and I are a different story, but I'll keep you posted!

stitches out, not so fast

Today we were supposed to get Connor's stitches out. The Dr. said they are not ready so we will have to wait until Thursday.

After the Dr., Brandon needed me to follow Pops to drop off a customers car & give him a ride back to the shop. Well, the customer was the sheriffs department. So, I followed Pops driving a cop car. This would be fine except that all the traffic slows down around a cop car so the ride took longer than expected. On the way home we stopped for gas & Connor puked at the gas station. He tasted a cranberry & didn't like it. I feel bad for his future wife. I can see it now, she puts broccoli on the dinner table & he pukes all over it!

weekend

Saturday morning Pops took Connor to home depot to make their monthly project. They made a castle that opens. He has decided to use it as a bank.

We went over to Paul (one of our minister's) and Marci's. Brandon went to repair a hole in their garage ceiling. Looks like while the good minister was putting away his Christmas decoration he put a foot through the drywall. Well, while they were at home depot Brandon & Paul decided to purchase some attic stairs & install them. Brandon went back while the kids were napping & started the project.

On Sunday I had promised John (another of our ministers) and Judy that I would bring them a meal. Judy had some surgery a few weeks ago and I didn't get on the team to bring them meals, but I thought they could still use one. Their kids both just left to go back to college so I made them a romantic dinner of chicken Marsala, bread, salad, wine. I had dessert, but forgot it at home and was forced to eat it myself. I also made them a huge lasagna for their freezer to be enjoyed when the kids come home to visit.

I guess this was a good deeds weekend. Fells good to do something nice for someone else. But we really need some stuff done around here too. We will have to get started next weekend. There are toys everywhere in the playroom! It is driving me crazy. I had a place for everything and then Christmas happened. I want custom shelves so I will have to wait for Brandon to build them.

Oh, and on Sunday I was ordained, along with some good friends as an Elder in our church. It was a nice ceremony. I found out that I am on 2 committees as well. Teach me to miss the first meeting where everyone picks their committee. So, I will have a minimum of 3 meetings a month. Plus I have a retreat in February. Looks like Brandon is going to get even more quality time with the kids.

A sad goodbye

This morning Hudson woke us up early and got in bed & asked to take a shower. Connor woke up early as well and caught Brandon getting out of the shower. Usually Brandon is gone when Connor wakes up. Connor watched Brandon put his uniform on & tears filled his eyes. He said "Daddy, are you going to work today?" For the next 15 minutes he just sat on Brandon's lap & cried. Brandon works a half day every other Saturday, but I think it may be time to have a discussion about closing on Saturdays. It was so sad.

No Dog, day 2

Hudson did great last night without the dog tail. He didn't like the shortened tail, so I stayed & comforted him for a minute. He was asleep within 5 minutes. I did hear him cough a few times through the night. I figured out that he was sucking as if the dog tail was in his mouth (in his sleep). This was causing his throat to get dry & then he would cough. I brought him some water & that cured the problem. A couple of more days & the other dog is going to lose his tail too. Hopefully this will cure the habit and allow him to keep his dog.

Connor is doing great with the stitches. His hair is starting to smell a bit funky. Good thing the stitches come out before school starts again. I don't want him to be the smelly kid.

Off With Their Tails!

For the record, it was in the 20's last night. Brrrr

New favorite things Hudson says:

I don't want to

I don't know

Where did it go?

Each of these statement are shortened to sound like one word. Kind of like forgetaboutit

Every time we are in line at a drive through he screams "no pickles" over and over again. The girl at McDonald's thinks it's funny. The one at Starbucks doesn't get it.

Hudson has started to tell on Connor when he does something. This is bad news for Connor.

I cut the tail off of 1 stinky dog today and shortened the tail of the other one. Yes, he has 2 stinky dogs (actually3, but he only chews on 2). Yes, I know this is a horrible thing to do to my child and I will probably scar him for life and he will tell his therapist all about it one day. I just think this is a gross habit. If he had taken to a pacifier I would have taken it away by now. If he sucked his thumb I could just put that nasty tasting polish on his fingernail. But you can't take away the stuffed animal your kid loves. So, in true Queen of Hearts fashion, I say "OFF WITH THEIR TAILS!" I even cut the tail off of the lion that I keep in my bed. When Hudson gets in bed with me in the morning he chews on the lions tail. I told him that the dog got a boo boo & his tail fell off. surprisingly he seemed to believe me. He cried for a minute when I put him down for a nap, but he got over it pretty quickly.

Cold enough for ya?

It's official.... I'm a Floridian. The temperature is about 50 degrees right now and I am freezing. I had to take the kids to the grocery store this morning to get supplies for Connor's stitches and we froze. It took 10 minutes to get us all bundled up. Another 10 to get into the car, warm it up, adjust the car seats to fit over the coats. Connor said "Can we make it warm again, I don't like the cold". I was really looking forward to a cold snap, but I was thinking like 65 - 70. It is going into the 20's tonight. Brrrrrr

We were thinking about going to NY next winter, but maybe we will go in the Fall instead!

To all who asked, Connor is doing just fine. He let us clean his stitches & put on new bandages last night & this morning. He never cried and stayed very still while we took care of him. I called my pediatrician & asked if they could see us Monday morning to take the stitches out since I didn't want to have to go back to the hospital for this. Our Dr. is going to take care of him first thing Monday morning.

I noticed that my Christmas post was kind of short on details, but I was pretty distracted while I was writing it. Connor was very excited about the train set. About every 30 seconds Hudson said "Oh Boy". They were very cute while opening their gifts. It was nice that we were home so they could spend the day playing with all of their new toys. Brandon spoiled me as usual. He got me a new flash for my camera, pretty clothes from my favorite store, new make-up, shoes, a crock pot, a panini maker, & the list goes on. He told me that I was not that good this year!

Happy New Year stitches

This morning the kids got up & got in bed with us. Then Brandon made us waffles. We played for a while & then decided to go to a park near the mall. Our plan was to play for and while & then go buy Connor new pants. Just as I was suggesting that we head over to another park before shopping Connor ran over to the baby section to play with Hudson. He tripped & landed head first into the bottom step of the play structure. Poor little guy split his head open. It was bad. We knew right away & ran to our car. I rode in the back to control the bleeding and keep him calm & Brandon did his best ambulance driver impersonation. Connor ended up with 7 stitches directly above his eye. He was very brave. They wrapped him up in a sheet to keep him still while they did the stitches. He cried when they stuck the needle in, but then he was pretty calm. After each stitch he asked "Am I done now?". Then of course we took him out for junk food & ice cream. I was so proud of him. Kids are so much braver than adults.

New Years Eve

Last night Erin and the kids came over for a New Year's Eve "party". Brett had to work 7 we didn't have anything planned so we thought we would try to do something special for the kids. We made them fun food like mini pizza & pigs in the blanket. We had sparklers & we roasted marshmallows.

Hudson likes chocolate
We found Hudson & Olivia behind his crib together.