Every little boy's dream

This weekend Ethan and Aiden will get to do something that every little boy dreams of...they will get to climb into real life firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, limousines and more!

In addition to experiencing the vehicles first-hand, there will be food, bouncy houses, a petting zoo and all kinds of fun family activities! {For those with sensitive ears there will be a horn-free hour from 2-3pm.}

Tickets are just $4 in advance and can be purchased online by visiting the Touch-A-Truck website, or at the door for $5.

Sweet pun'kins

So you know those super annoying requests that fill up your Facebook feed or your inbox from friends and family asking you to "vote for my super cute kid/cat/puppy" in this super annoying contest thingy? Yep, that's where this is headed.

I'll make this short and sweet: I'd love for y'all to do me a HUGE favor and vote for my boys' picture in a local Pumpkin Patch Photo Contest. 



I mean, really, how could you NOT?

So please, just follow THIS LINK, then click the "VOTE" button (NOT the Facebook "like" button) to make sure your vote is counted. It will only take 2 minutes of your time, I promise. The contest ends on Friday, Nov 2nd at midnight so I won't be bugging you about this for long. And as of today we are behind by 10 votes!!!!

What's in it for me? 
I could win some brand new baby gear like a jogging stroller or a Britax car seat.

But more importantly, what's in it for you? 
A very sincere "thank you" from the one and only More Skees Please :) Oh, and a promise to return the favor for all your kids/cats/puppies needing a vote too!

Body after Baby: Week 9

I have successfully completed 4 boot camp classes. That is two weeks of Tuesday/Thursday 9am classes where I've managed to juggle getting the boys up and ready for school, feeding Hudson at just the right time and bringing him along with me while I work out. He is SO good and usually sleeps next to my mat snuggled in his car seat stroller throughout the entire class. How? I have no idea because our trainer pumps super loud music just 10 feet away from him. I guess he is used to the noise with his two big brothers at home :)

Yesterday morning the weather app on my phone showed it was supposed to be overcast and possibly rainy. I didn't sleep very well that night and the timing was off for Hudson's normal feeding schedule so I REALLY did not want to go to class. I thought for sure he would want to eat smack dab in the middle of it and I'd have to leave. I decided I'd rather stay in my pj's and cuddle with him all morning.

Then, a funny thing happened. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was "skipping" class. I felt guilty. I texted my friend Melissa (who is the reason I signed up for this boot camp in the first place) to see if she was gonna go. Knowing that she'd say yes, I hoped she would encourage me to go too and that it would be the kick I needed. Sure enough, it was. (Thanks Melissa :)) Oh, and by the way, Hudson was perfect this time too. Was awake for a while, then conked out the last half.

I was really proud for making myself go. Even more so afterwards when I had made it through and felt energized for the rest of the day. It's truly amazing how a good work out can make such a difference in how you feel about yourself.

What's even more exciting is seeing the numbers drop on the scale. Down almost 2 pounds this week! Just 5 pounds to go until I reach  my pre-pregnancy weight and 20 until my goal!

Three Months

Who knew 3 months could fly by so quickly? If I didn't have a calendar telling me it was already the end of October, I simply wouldn't believe it.

The tiny little pieces of clothing that I carefully washed with Dreft and tucked neatly into Hudson's nursery drawer are beginning to pile up in a bin marked "Newborn/0-3 Months" as he outgrows something else everyday.

He is smiling more and more. When I peek over him as he wakes in the morning. When I tickle all the best spots (under his neck seems to be his weakness). When I play patty cake and sing silly songs. I would imagine I am not the only parent who feels this way - but when my babies smile, it seems as if my heart could actually explode out of my chest. There is nothing better in the world.

This little baby is the epitome of sweetness. He has such a go-with-the-flow disposition which is perfect because we are definitely on the go more and more these days. He loves his brothers and watches every move they make. I won't be at all surprised if his first words are "Ethan" and "Aiden", not "mommy" or "daddy".

And oh.my.goodness do those boys love their baby brother just the same. They have taken all of the changes in stride - helping fetch burp cloths, pacis and blankies at any given moment. They want to hold him all the time. If they aren't holding him they want to talk to him, kiss him and try to make him smile.

We are finally getting a bit of a routine down as far as bedtime goes. He usually eats around 7pm, sleeps for a few hours, then eats again around 9:30-10. We've transitioned him from a bassinet in our room to sleeping in his crib. Our master bedroom is on the main floor which makes it harder to get to him when he cries and we don't want to risk waking the boys so because I'm still nursing and he still wakes up once or twice to eat, I've been sleeping upstairs in the guest bedroom. When he sleeps longer than 4 hours at night, I will finally sleep back in my own bed... Any day now Hudson!!!

This week we are getting a new family photo taken. Our first "official" picture as a family of five. This is going to be such a special and bittersweet moment for me. Last year, on the day we had our first family pics taken here in Texas, Ricky and I told the boys that we were expecting a baby. I miscarried just a week and a half later. As much as I loved how those photos turned out, every time I looked at them it reminded me of what we didn't have.

Photo credit: Brandie Lynn Photography

But now, here we are with a beautiful baby boy to capture new memories with. So much has changed in just a year's time. We are incredibly blessed.

Body after Baby: Week 8

I've totally been slacking on the blogging thing lately. It's a result of all the running around and having very little energy. I'm  in a really good mommy groove with this three kid thing and it feels great - but the late night/early morning feedings for little Mr. leaves me so drained that by the end of the night, before I start it all over again, all I want to do is post up on the couch with a glass of wine. Or go to bed at 8:30pm. Yep, totally do.

Therefore my computer is collecting dust on my desk. And not for lack of topics to write about. I have plenty. Perhaps the task of getting through them all is enough to keep me from sitting down and actually DOING it already.

But on to this fitness thing. I've been at this for 8 weeks already?!?! Craziness. I was hoping to be down 12 lbs at this point (1.5/week) and yet I've only accomplished half of that goal. Could be because the past two weeks I've been losing steam...

I'm hopeful that this Camp Gladiator boot camp will get me going again. The first class I went to was run by trainer Rob who looked as if he'd been ripped from the front cover from Men's Health magazine. As I was struggling to hide my apprehension (and just struggling. period.) he was bouncing around yelling all sorts of "You can do it" annoyingness that made me want to punch him in the face. Seriously.


However by the end of the class, when I had that work-out glow and my endorphins were running high, I was actually thankful for his energy and enthusiasm. He was patient with my out-of-shapeness and encouraging just the same. When I could hardly lift my head off the mat for my modified crunches he would remind me gently, "Remember you just had a baby. And you're here. That's awesome!" (Not sure if 3 months ago still counts as just...but so be it).

By Tuesday morning I could tell that my body was screaming "What did you DO to me?" HOLY MUSCLE SORENESS people. Every step I took reminded me of muscles that have not been paid attention to in quite awhile. Day 2 post-workout was even worse...as it usually goes.

Then, I had to get ready to do it all over again. Thursday's class was with trainer Carole. This woman is seriously fit. And she's a grandma. My self-esteem plummeted a bit at that realization.

I give Carole a ton of credit for making the class fun while also whipping us into shape. It started with a short run (which might as well have been a full marathon to me). Then we played "golf", Camp Gladiator style. Think Bozo buckets meets scavenger hunt. There were 9 cones labeled with exercises about 30 yards from where we had to attempt to make balls into buckets. If it was a par 3, we had three chances to make it in; par 4, four chances, etc. However many balls it took to make the bucket was the number of reps we had to complete on the coordinating cone. Once we made a ball (or when we missed them all) we had to run to the cone, see what the exercise was, then run back and do the appropriate number of reps by our mat. We did this 9 times.

Thankfully I was pretty good at the game part. Or I'd probably still be at the park finishing up my workout.

While I've got a LOT of work to do in order to get where I want to be physically, it says a lot that I'm actually looking forward to the next boot-camp class. Group workouts with someone there shouting at motivating me is obviously what I need.

After all that, I only lost about a half a pound. Hopefully it will start to gradually fall off as the weeks go on.

Again, sorry about the lack of pictures. I've decided that for every 2 lbs lost I will include them. Otherwise it seems kind of a pointless comparison.

Body after Baby: Week 7

Body after Baby: Week 6

Quick post as we've got a jam packed weekend, but wanted to be sure to get this out there because...

Good news for Hudson!

We took Hudson to a pediatric dermatologist today for a confirmed diagnosis of the bump on his forehead. The doctor took one look at him and said with 100% confidence that it is in fact a combined (or mixed) hemangioma. This gave us great relief.

We already pretty much knew this was the case due to my incessant Googling and internet research, as well as a phone conversation with Aiden's craniofacial team in Dallas who gave us an opinion based on photos we emailed. However we are no stranger to having curve balls thrown at us so hearing it from a specialist eased all of our concerns.

So what does this mean for Hudson? Well, a hemangioma is basically a bunch of blood vessels that are tangled together. They can present underneath or on the surface of the skin - or in Hudson's case, a little of both, which is why it is called a combined hemangioma. The specialist said that these types of vascular spots go through very predictable stages: pinkish appearance at birth, growth until about 6-8 months of age, a period of time where the growth levels off for about a year or so, followed by gradual absorption of the cells into the body over about 3-4 years at which time the spot should almost completely go away.

I realize that a hemangioma is "no big deal" in the grand scheme of things, especially compared to the medical issues we have with Aiden. But I'll admit it threw us for a loop. We kind of felt as if we were holding our breath just waiting for it to be something more serious. Having a confirmed diagnosis and hearing that this lump on his forehead requires no surgery or even basic treatment seriously took a load off of our shoulders and worry from our hearts and for that we are so very grateful. Thanks to everyone for keeping Hudson in your thoughts and prayers as we awaited some answers.

I'll tell you what though - sometimes I feel like my journey as a mom has earned me an honorary medical degree. I have learned so much in the past 5 years...things some medical students might not ever encounter in their entire careers!

So God, if you can hear me, I'm letting you know that I have no desire to be a doctor or even a nurse. I don't want to learn about any new medical terms or diagnoses. Just let me be a plain old boring mom for a while, please :)