Precious life

Two of my friends lost their baby boys this week and watching them start the healing process has been really hard. It is just another reminder how precious life is and to thank God daily for the wonderful blessings he has given us. I want to hold them tighter, play more, give more kisses, and say more "I love yous." When life gets hectic and stress begins I want to remember that this time will pass too quickly and to appreciate every minute.

Thank you God for Hadley Brooke and Hudson Jake. Thank you for the time you have already given us. They hold our hearts in the palm of their hands and our lives are much richer because of them. Thank you for all the smiles, tears, giggles, and breaths. We are forever grateful for these incredible blessings!

Playing on the bed

Hudson loves to be in his diaper and nothing else. Yesterday, Hadley decided that since Hudson didn't have any clothes on that she wanted to wear only her panties. Since no one was coming over, she took off her clothes and both of the kids played on our bed together. She loves to play with him, tickle him, and is just waiting for the day to chase him. Here are some pics:

The only picture I could get of them both looking at the camera:

Love this one:

"Stop kissing me!"

Trying his hardest to get away!

It's days like these...

...that make me glad I work. I LOVE my job. I always thought I would like doing pediatric dentistry but I had no idea how much I would like it. Maybe it makes me feel young to get down on a kids level, make them laugh, and hopefully help them enjoy coming to the dentist. I work mainly with very low-income families and I really enjoy educating the parents and children on the simple things that you would think everybody knows. There are, however, hard days for me when I have to tell a parent that every tooth in their child's mouth needs to be crowned, or worse, pulled. Or when I question whether a child is being taken care of like he/she should be. I often times have to hold back my emotions and judgements to make it through particular appointments.

But back to the title of this post...

I came home Wednesday at noon because Hudson has been teething, had a cold, and been pretty needy. I was only here about an hour when I was thinking how much easier it was when I was at work! Working four days a week is hard...for me. I want to be with my kids more, I hate missing out on little things, and it is hard juggling housework, errands, activities, and work. But after 4 hours straight of crying I was reminded that at least work gives me a little breather. And I really do feel like I am a better mom when I am with my kids because I don't take the time I do have for granted. I hope to, really soon, cut back to three days a week and look forward to having one more day with my kids! Until then, let's pray Hudson gets through teething and this cold quickly. We are ready to go play outside again!

Sick...

Hard to believe from this picture taken yesterday, but this little boy has not been happy!

We have been soooo extremely lucky with dodging all these terrible winter illnesses. Hadley had a little stomach bug for one day and Hudson had a short cold in the fall but otherwise we have been healthy! This was very unexpected because I assumed Hadley would bring everything under the sun home from preschool and Hudson would remain sick all winter. So just as I had begun to take for granted how lucky we have been, Hudson developed a nasty little cold Saturday. So the child that is typically a pretty good sleeper has had none of it for the past two nights! The poor kid just can't sleep when he can't breathe. I have realized the hardest thing about losing sleep is that two kids keep you from ever catching up on sleep. After not sleeping at night, Hudson has been taking great naps....but, Hadley is ready to play! This child wants to play pretend ALL day long and is go, go, go. We MAY get her to watch tv for about 10 minutes and then its time to play some more. So here I type this, hoping for a better night tonight and a healthy baby soon!!!

Another quote from my favorite little girl...

The other night I was laying down with Hadley and our conversation ended like this:

Hadley: I love you, Mommy

Me: I love you too, Hadley

Hadley: But I really love you.

Me: I really love you too.

Hadley: I wish I could be in your tummy again so I could be with you all the time...

She melts our hearts daily with all the love she gives us!

yea!!!!

Hudson got his first tooth! You know the two parents are dentists when I looked in his mouth yesterday and yelled, "Matt, Hudson got P in!" The two middle, bottom teeth are numbered (yes, it's called numbered even though they are actually letters) O and P. Hadley got O first and a week later P came in. I am excited to see how fast Hudson's next tooth comes in. Hopefully I can add a picture soon but for now his tongue WILL NOT get out of the way!

still no picture of teeth but this at least shows the massive amount of drool we have dealt with lately!

We have a very happy boy in our house...

....Matt.

Matt decided the other day that he could not possibly go any longer. He just HAD to sign up for the golf membership at our neighborhood golf club. I have a feeling I may be losing my husband to golf a little more this summer! But we are so ready for Hadley to start playing golf so hopefully this summer she will enjoy getting out there with him. On this perfect Saturday morning he is going to play golf with some friends down the street and I get to have a day with the kids, probably spent outside all day! Hadley already has plans of waving to her daddy as he passes our house on the golf cart and then going down to the park.

Hadley playing with her new golf clubs her daddy got her

Daddy giving Hadley some lessons

A few pictures from the park:

Hard to keep him on the blanket anymore

Hadley swinging...with her hair covering her face but its the best I got!

I LOVE weekends with warm weather and look forward to many more. Tomorrow we are going to the lake for the first time this year and I am guessing we are going to be spending many, many weekends there. We already have one lake rat, lets hope #2 loves the lake just as much.

On another note, we had a LOT of fires in Oklahoma yesterday. We need rain....bad! My parents actually got a phone call yesterday that they were evacuating parts of the lake due to a fire heading that direction. Pretty scary but although many people had some damage, the fire did not come too close to my parents house. Thank you, God!

Hudson is 6 months old!

A half a year already?!?! I love the little boy this baby is becoming. He is all smiles (as long as he is getting constant attention) and such a cuddler. As I have said in previous posts, this is an ACTIVE kid. He is still mastering spoon feeding but he loves anything you feed him. He LOVES to be outside. If at anytime he gets fussy and it is nice outside, we go in the stroller. He is a good night sleeper but an early riser and fights naps. However, we have had the most wonderful weekend of four 2-3 hour naps! Mommy and Daddy feel refreshed. He LOVES balls. If you bounce any kind of ball in front of him he squeals and giggles. We think he is the cutest baby boy around. But aren't parents supposed to think so?

Our pictures this month are not great because we COULD NOT get him to sit still. None of our distractions were working!

15.4 lbs : 12th percentile

28 inches: 90th percentile

"Are you taking a picture of ME?"

"Get me out of this chair!"

Here are a few more pictures from his 6 month birthday:

Trying so hard to pull up!

Tiny Dancer

Hadley's first pair of ballet shoes

Hadley LOVES to dance. When she hears music she dances. Before she even turned 3 she was begging me to let her take ballet. I was so hesitant because I didn't think she was ready for it and thought the recitals, dance costumes, and rules were too much for a 3-year-old who should just be having fun! I even called one studio that told me the girls had to have a bun (with no stray hairs), specific tights and leotards, no tutu (until the teacher decides the student is ready to move up to a level in which tutus are allowed), and their bows tucked in (for non-dancers like me this means to tuck the bows into the ballet shoes so that the shoes do not loosen). REALLY?!?! I actually think the only reason Hadley wanted to take ballet was for the tutu! So I put it off, and off, and off. But one day I came across a gym here in Edmond that has a half ballet/half gymnastics class. The girls can wear whatever they want and they begin to learn the basics of ballet. After 30 minutes they go to gymnastics which Hadley has taken and loved since she was 18 months old. How perfect! Well, Hadley loves ballet!!! She is one of the smallest in the class but it doesn't bother her a bit. She likes to practice at home and loves her teacher. And it alternates every 10 weeks with tap/gymnastics combo so she gets to take tap too.

We've got a crawler...

....well, almost! Hudson has developed this way of crawling where he gets on his hands and knees and the flops forward. He does this over and over and over until he finally gets to where he wants to go. Hadley did not crawl until she was almost 10 months and then walked a month later and I was so content with that. Life is much easier with a non-mobile baby! However, I am so anxious for Hudson to crawl because I just know he will be a happier baby. At his 6 month appointment our Dr. basically told us watch out because this kid is ACTIVE. He NEVER stops moving and gets so irritated when he can't get what he is wanting. Another big difference in our two kiddos is that we did not babyproof anything with Hadley. She never put anything in her mouth, opened doors, played in the dog waterbowls, etc. But I know we are in for it with Hudson because everything goes in his mouth and he wants anything that is not one of his toys. So wish us luck...

Little cheerleader

Hadley, Hudson, and I were playing in the playroom the other day and Hadley stood up on the chair and said she wanted to be a cheerleader. Since I pretty much always have the camera in my hand I started taking pictures. I have no idea where she got this from but I do know it didn't come from me...

she even made up some words to go with her cheer

This is just another picture I took that day that I thought was really cute!