For Brenn and Baby

So I am going to be an aunt!!  I am extremely excited about it.  So excited!!!!! Brenn came to AZ for a quick trip a few weeks ago before she hits her "no fly" part of her pregnancy.  When she got to the house it made it all so real to see her cute baby bump.  It is adorable and of course she looks amazing.  We got to spend a few days with her and had a little luncheon to celebrate the soon arrival of her baby girl.  I really didn't do much to decorate but did put together a few things for nautical decor.

We had a nice brunch that Brenn had made from scratch because she is a wonderful cook and wanted to home make all of the food.  She had a crepe station that was delicious! We ate and played a few games, then opened presents.

I felt so grateful to get to have her come stay and spend some time with her.  The kids were so excited to see aunt brenn and get to play with her.  She is going to be a great mom and I smile just thinking of all the fun and joy that is ahead for her and Kaulin for the rest of their lives.  Oh my how I love her.

I have gotten to feel the baby move a few times now and it was really special for me. I feel a bond with her already.  I love her so much.  Sweet baby girl, you have such wonderful parents.  I can't wait for you to meet your mommy... she is amazing.

10 months

So of course I am behind and now Hudson is actually 11 months old. He is such a busy guy these days.  He is still nursing but is onto eating all sorts of different new foods even though he HATES having to sit in his high chair and thinks that he should be able to eat and wander.  He is a great water drinker and likes to be able to hold his own bottle.  Favorite food is still avacado but he also enjoys steamed carrots and anything off of mom's plate.

He loves for one of the older sibs to pick him up and carry him around places.  He loves to play peek a boo with them around the couches or have them chase him and then catch him and tickle him.  They can get him belly laughing so hard. He is pointing at everything and then makes all sorts of sounds.  Wish I knew what he was saying.

He says "ball" and they are one of his favorite toys.  He has a ton but it doesn't matter he loves them all and will gather them all together.  He already tosses it to deke or I and then chases it when we roll it to him and then sits back on his bum and throws it again.

He is a major climber and has discovered the kitchen cabinets.  When I am making dinner he loves to sit on the ground with bowls and spoons and the whisk and stir magnet letters.  He loves the slides at the park but still is afraid of the swings and does not want to be sat in the grass.  He refuses to crawl on it.  He climbs on and in just about everything.  In between the couches, in the drawers of the toy cabinet, inside the cupboards of the kitchen, under the end table in the living room and in the toy car bin.  He also bounces up and down and waves his arms up over his head now to "dance" when music is playing.

One night he was sitting on my lap for dinner and making it extremely difficult for me to try to eat my spaghetti.  I tried to take a bite and he reached up and yanked my fork and this happened....

Right on his face and down the front of his shirt.  Sorry dude but that is why you need to sit in your own chair.

He is busy busy but such an easy going, happy baby whose smiles melt our heart.  He is just content and loves his family and we are all crazy about him :) :) :)

Finally a crib dweller

Well I knew that eventually I would be able to make this transition with Mister man and feel ready and okay with it.  Hudson moved into his crib last month at almost ten months old!! He was definitely in our room longer than any of the other kids.  I was just not ready.  Then I started to realized that it was really getting uncomfortable for him and that Deke was right I would probably sleep a lot more sound when he was in his own room.  Of course like his easy going personality he adjusted perfectly, even on the first night.  I stood outside the room and waited and waited, thinking that surely he was going to start crying for me to get him out.  Nothing.  After awhile I started worrying that maybe something was wrong so I snuck in to take a peek.  He was sound asleep.  Completely content.  There were tears both happy and sad about this.  It just feels like that first big step away from needing me and now stopping nursing is just a month or two around the corner.  I am having a hard time.  I want him to stay a baby.

That first night before we said family prayer we put him in the crib with the lights on and all laughed as we watched him explore it.  He would crawl from one side to the other and then sit back on his bum and grin at us.  Then he would lay back and sprawl out almost like he was going to do a snow angel.  He was thrilled at all the space.  Then he pulled up and started pushing all the buttons on the ocean soother.  Grabbed the top rail and tried bouncing up and down laughing at his new game.

He loves his crib.  I had a few days of adjustment and then I was good.  I do sleep more soundly and I like that Deke and I have our room back to watch movies and have our own space at night.  Not gonna lie though, you'd better believe every morning when that little guy wakes up making his cute little sounds I smuggle him into bed with Deke and I to nurse and snuggle.

She wrote her name!!!!

So Emma and I have been doing preschool everyday really working on her letters.  All sorts of letter identification games that I can come up with.  Then a few weeks ago we started hitting up formation and she randomly started working on writing some.  She knows how to spell her name if you ask her and often you'll hear her wandering around the house saying "Emma... e-m-m-a."  Then she will try her hand at random words,  "Brenn- b-n-e-s-e-e" "cat- c-r-r-l-o" pretty much she at least gets the first letter right.  The other day we were working at the Y and she was over coloring with a group of kids.  "Mom, look I writed my name!" she waved me over.  I walked over and saw the paper above and almost fell over.  She wrote her name!!!!  All the correct letters, in the correct order and had even capitalized the E!! I was floored.  We had worked on spelling her name and she knows letters and how to form a few of them but I had never sat down yet and shown her how to write her name.  She had just put all the steps together herself and done it!!  She is only three!  I started asking all the kids and other teachers if anyone had helped her, showing them the piece of paper.  They all said no.  I grabbed a fresh piece and asked her to write it so that I could watch and sure enough, she quickly wrote it out for me again with her little orange crayon.  Clear and adorable in her own handwriting.  It was so neat.  Everyone was teasing me because I was so excited and quickly got my phone out to document and then tucked the little piece of paper into my purse because you'd better believe I'm keep that! Way to go Miss E, you are awesome!!!!

He prefers showers.

He loves showers.  He sits in the bumbo with a wash cloth and grabs at the water.  He tips his head forward and it drenches him and he doesn't even fuss.  This guy loves the water, bath or shower but not gonna lie I can tell, he'd prefer a shower any day :) :)

Admirers of the rain

One day not too long ago we got a day full of rain.  Not just a powerful short lived down pour like we usually get but an on and off all day steady, nice rainy day. It was awesome.  It was peaceful and every one in the house was relaxed and sort of mellow.  We enjoyed an afternoon of board games and quiet reading with blankets.  I went in to check on the boys and found them perched at their window together.  Hunter had Hudson standing on the window sill and he babbled away as he looked around and pounded his little hands on the glass.  

 They sat like that for quite awhile until I heard Hudson fussing.  "Mom, every time I take Hudson down from the window to give my arms a break he starts having a melt down" Hunter called to me.  I headed in to take him and relieve Hunter.  "Here mom, can you hold him until I get my jacket on?" he asked me.  "I am going to take him to sit outside to watch the rain instead."  He ran and grabbed a jacket and headed out the front door as I reminded him to let Hudson look but not get him in the rain.  When I walked out they were sitting out front on our little bench together and Hunter had put him inside his jacket with him.

 They looked so cute sitting there together.  Hudson was so content.  Normally after five minutes he would've been wiggling off Hunter's lap eager to explore things and crawl around.  It was like the steady sound of the rain sort of mesmerized him and he just sat there and stared.  They were out there for a good thirty minutes until I came and scooped Hudson up for his nap.  Hunter is an amazing big brother.  Even though they are nine years apart I am so glad they have each other and moments together like this.

Origummy

 Hunter has been itching to start some sort of "business" for awhile now.  At first he wanted to try to do food of some sort but then I think he realized that mom was going to have to help with it and that I could only help him at certain times of the day.  Last year when I got home from my trip to San Francisco I had brought Hunter some origami paper and a book about folding.  He loved it and had a lot of fun with it.  A few weeks ago he decided that it was the perfect product to sell.  So he used the techniques he knew already as well as practiced some new ones and built up quite a little inventory.  He came up with a name for his business, Origummy.  He asked if he could make a sign on the computer and created a logo and a pricing sheet with only minimal help from mom.  He also included at the bottom that he offers origami lessons as well.  Deke and I told him the rules of no going to people's doors, only selling to people he knows in the neighborhood or friends.  The first day he came home grinning, he had made $.75 that afternoon and he was thrilled.  It has been fun to watch over the last few weeks.  He has learned to make some new items to provide to his "regular" customers and has even had a day where he had a sale on a few items.  To date he has made $11 and some change which is fun.

He has also come up with the idea to skype with grandma's or other family members and offer origami lessons that way.  He is super excited that Grandma has already "put in her order" for which pieces she is going to receive lessons on next time we skype. I think it is great all the things that he is learning about running a business and he has been having a lot of fun.  I look forward to getting to take my own origami lesson from him soon :)