Transportation Day

Today is Transportation Day at school. Jason and I have known about the "project" for several weeks now but we decided that we wanted the rush of waiting until the last minute to complete it. (sigh) At preschool each spring, they have a transportation day and depending on your age that determines the role you play in that day. Last year (being in the 3's class) the children were allowed to bring a bike, trike, or scooter to school. Once you get into the 4's class, you get to bring a box that has been transformed into some kind of transportation vehicle (car, boat, train......) Then, they get to "drive" their vehicles around in the play town that the teachers created. They had streets, stores, and even a drive-thru for them. It was super cute!! So last night after the kids went to bed, Jason and I went to the garage to work on his project. It really wasn't too bad but we still couldn't believe that we waited until the last minute to do it.

We decided to do a Hudson Hornet car from the movie "Cars." Hudson has always liked the fact that Doc Hudson's character is like his name so we figured that would be pretty cute.

Hudson is very much like me in the sense that he does not like a ton of attention or eyes on him. We got to school and I wanted to put his car on so that we could walk in with it on instead of carrying it. He didn't see any other kids with cars on so he was unsure about it. Once we got inside though, he met up with his class and was fine.

I thought it turned out pretty good considering we were scrambling at the last minute!

Today was also yellow day. The kids were told to bring a yellow item to share with the class. This morning we had narrowed it down to a cord with a yellow end or his new black and yellow screwdriver with various bits (gift from pal Trent!) He chose the screwdriver and was excited to show it to his teacher and friends. I'm sure they are all wondering "what in the world?"

***********************************************************************************

This week, I've had a vendor table at the Just Between Friends sale for my mommy necklaces. I also took a bunch of stuff to consign- clothes that both boys have outgrown, toys that no longer get played with, baby items, etc........... I told myself that I would not browse the sale because I didn't want to return with just as much as I brought. The idea was to simplify and de-clutter our house as much as we could. I did pretty good- I only got 2 things and the boys love both of them. Now that I know about this sale, we will just resell it once the new wears off!

As you can see my $5 Sit-n-Spin purchase was a good one!

My other $5 Little Tykes Bowling Ball set was also a huge hit.

Tooth and Tags

Before I begin, I'd like to make an exciting announcement. I just learned how to do a link instead of having to paste the website. I'm so pumped! Yes, I'm way behind but I'm so proud of myself for finally figuring that out!

Last Thursday night (March 20) Hudson's tooth was really loose. I was very careful when helping him brush his teeth that night so that I didn't brush over it too hard and cause it to come out. I knew for sure that he'd lose it in a day or so. The next day, Friday, Hudson was scheduled to go see his Mimi. She was off for Spring Break and she wanted him to come over for the night. When packing H's bag, I made sure to include his Tooth Fairy pillow just in case. On Friday afternoon, after a busy morning and lots of errands, Hudson came to me and said "look mom, my tooth is gone." You could tell that it had not just fallen out. The skin around the hole was completely covered up and healed so it had been some time since it had fallen out. He was not sure when he lost it and that moment was the first time he realized it. I quickly went to his room and pulled the covers back. I had made his bed earlier that morning but my sights were not set on looking for a tooth since I had no idea it was out. I scanned the bed, looked under the pillow, between the wall and bed.......no tooth. I'm not sure what caused me to say the line "I guess you must have swallowed it during the night" because I sent my child into a complete panic mode. His face turned sour and he told me that he DID NOT swallow his tooth. I agreed with him and tried to erase that thought from his mind. So, we sent the Tooth Fairy pillow anyway and explained that she would still come since it was an accident that we lost it. He was tickled to death with his 4 "monies" she left him.

You can already see that his permanent tooth on the right is coming in.

*****************************************************************************

I've been tagged by Valerie.....so let's see how this goes.........

Here are the rules:

1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Write 7 things about yourself

4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs

5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been

7 Things About Me:

1. I enjoy taking pictures- I took a photography class once but the teacher was horrible and I didn't learn one thing. I soon got pregnant with Hudson and have not made the time to learn.

2. I'm a very picky eater- just to name a few- I don't eat red meat, cheese, or watermelon. I'm weird I know!

3. I'm terrified to fly- I have always had this fear. I just can't wrap my brain around how that thing stays in the sky.

4. Spring is my favorite season- I love the warm weather, sandals (which means pedicures....that I desperately need!!), cute clothes, outside activities.

5. I've always wanted to play the fiddle. Once my kids are grown you can bet that I'll take some classes. Every time I hear "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" it gets me all excited and determined to be able to play that one day.

6. I love a new pair of pajamas- I'm a sucker when I see a cute set at the store. Something about wearing a cute pair of pj's can lessen the fact that you haven't washed your hair or put make-up on that day.

7. I hate when someone sprays perfume in a closed space. (hint, hint mom!) Nothing is worse than someone spraying themselves in a car or bedroom. Even if I love the smell, it makes me sick.

**Since I'm horribly behind on this tag, please consider yourself "tagged" if you are reading this!!

**********************************************************************************

My friend Heather tagged me 2 months ago and I'm just now getting around to do this. Yikes!

8 Things about Hudson:

1. He is very cautious. He gets scared easily and is not a huge risk taker.

2. He has now lost 2 teeth.

3. His middle name is William- named after both of Jason's grandfathers.

4. He loves Tom & Jerry right now.

5. Has a big time sweet tooth

6. Is a homebody....or maybe just a mama's boy. He will go anywhere with ME but if it comes to going to school or somewhere where I drop him off, he's not a big fan. Once he gets there he has fun but initially he will resist it.

7. He is extremely analytical. He thinks outside the box and has a wonderful imagination.

8. Does not like spiders.

8 Things about Cooper:

1. Of course, he's a monkey. He loves to climb, run and jump.

2. He is very sweet and affectionate.

3. He cries every time I take Hudson to school. He wants to stay so bad. (funny that I'm dragging H into school but Cooper wants to stay.)

4. Adores his brother. He will do or try to do pretty much everything Hudson does.

5. Loves balls and cars.

6. Will not eat Peanut Butter and Jelly

7. Loves to go outside

8. Is a daddy's boy.

I tag Kaylee, Bryce, and Stacey

Happy Easter!!

Easter was so early this year. I'm so used to it being in April that it kind of just snuck up on me this year. I'm usually very organized and know what the kids are wearing, have eggs already prepared, pictures with the Easter Bunny taken. It wasn't until this week that I began to get these things done. It just didn't feel like it should be time already.

On Tuesday, mom and I met at the mall to get the boys picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Neither child was thrilled. Hudson was just not excited and Cooper was scared to death. We were quite a silly sight considering one child had the deer in headlights look, one was crying and reaching out for me, and I was behind the camera lady acting like a dork trying to get them to smile. I was tossing eggs at the boys and making noises that one only makes when they have run out of ideas on how to get their kids to smile. So, here's our picture from this year. Notice how tight Cooper's hands are clenched together. This was the only picture where he was not bawling.

(Not the best quality- I took a picture of my picture since I don't have a scanner)

Look at the precious cake Mimi made for us.

After church, we went to Mimi and Papa Jim's house. The Easter Bunny made a delivery for the boys.

Hudson was really excited about his Tom & Jerry DVD.

My monkey immediately spotted a ball and golf set that he loved.

Since it was a little chilly we decided to hunt for eggs in the house.

Will there ever be a picture where all four of us are looking and smiling?

Nothing concludes the Easter festivities more than seeing the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine van on the highway on the way home. Both of the kids were sacked out but Jason and I got a kick out of it!!

New Trampoline

The boys got a trampoline for their birthdays. Jason and Hudson put it together on Sunday afternoon before church so the kids have not had a ton of time yet to jump (since it poured down yesterday) but I know they will have lots of fun with it this spring and summer. We decided to go with the 8 foot one since the boys are still so young. These things are not made to last forever so we figured if they really love it we can get a bigger one as they get a little older.
******************************************************************************Is this not the cutest little puppy dog you've ever seen? Thanks Robyn for the hooded towel for Cooper's birthday. We get lots of smiles when we use it.

********************************************************************************

I get so tickled when I see kids with shoes on the wrong feet. Hudson is usually really good about this. One morning we were getting ready and he was watching a cartoon while getting dressed and he put his shoes on wrong. I was laughing so hard, which made him really mad. I don't know what it is about this but it cracks me up!! What do your kids do that makes you laugh?

St. Patty's Day

Before having my kids, Saint Patrick's Day was nothing more than a day to wear green or one of those days when you could only imagine the street parties or life in New Orleans. As most of you know, I'm a big tradition person. I've read many books that talk about the importance of traditions so I've tried really hard to create some for my kids. I'm sure we will continue to add along the way but for now we already have some fun ones in place. Luckily, Cooper's birthday is the day before so I have no excuse to forget the day.

Last year we made our first Leprechaun trap. We decided to do it again this year to see if we could possibly catch him.

Decorating with stickers and glitter glue

This year brought a lot more "questions" from Hudson. He was even a bit nervous to think about a leprechaun coming to our house. He asked things like "how big is he?" and "does he have a face?" As you can see, the leprechaun came and took our cheese but left some goodies for the boys.

When Hudson woke up this morning we went to see if we had caught him. Hudson was scared and told me to "go ahead" so that I could look first.

Can you see the wheels turning......he's taking it all in and honestly trying to figure out what just happened here.

Chocolate coins!!So excited that he's eating chocolate before 7am.

Now he's got questions like "where did he go?" and "I wanted him to stay." I've tried to explain that he only comes out once a year and if we didn't catch him then we will have to try again next year..........

Cooper: A Birth Story

Once we decided to try for another baby, I quickly became nervous about the emotional roller coaster of it all. We had tried so hard for Hudson, had a miscarriage, done fertility treatments and finally got a baby. During those months leading up to it I was very emotional and upset each time I realized I was not pregnant. I knew the disappointment I felt when it didn't happen quickly and I tried to prepare myself for that again. Luckily, we got pregnant with Cooper the very first month we tried. That was so exciting! I had another hard pregnancy though. Some of it may have been that I was more tired this time around since I was chasing around a 2 year old. I couldn't just go to sleep whenever I wanted to. I was constantly dizzy (I tried to explain it to Jason like this: Remember those hamburger rides at McDonalds when we were kids? You could sit in it and spin around really fast and when you got off, the entire playground was spinning and you felt like you might see that Happy Meal again. ) That is what I felt like every minute I was awake. I threw up multiple times a day. I had a very strong nose during pregnancy- I smelled anything and everything and all of it smelled horrible. It made me sick to look at or prepare food. I could not enter a grocery store for months. I ate very bland foods. I was basically miserable. My doctor put me on Zofran for the sickness (and those of you that know me and know that I rarely take meds, you know it was bad!!) and it took the edge off and allowed me to survive the day but it never made me feel great. Around 21 weeks, I developed gestational diabetes. So I really had to watch what I ate. I also learned that I had placenta previa. My doctor monitored me closely and I got sonograms each visit the last half of my pregnancy. Once again they were telling me that this baby was already huge and I began to get nervous about that. Around 7-8 months, my sickness wore off and I was mostly just tired. I was praying for a healthy baby but wanted this pregnancy over. My due date was April 5 and it could not come fast enough. As my date got closer, we began to get more prepared (our bags packed, the room ready, a plan in place......) since Hudson had come early. Sure enough, at 37 weeks I was ready to have a baby. This time my water did not break though. I was in bed around midnight and I started having some pain in my back and stomach. I woke Jason and told him that something just didn't feel right. I was nervous though because this time we had a child and that meant calling someone at midnight to come over. I was afraid it would be a false alarm and that I'd disturb someone for nothing. Something inside told me to go. We called Jason's sister since she lives the closest and doesn't have kids. She came over and we left for the hospital. They checked us in and began to monitor me. The baby's heart rate kept dropping and they were very concerned about that. My doctor was at a convention at that time so the nurse had to contact one of the other 3 doctors in the practice. She sent our readings to him at home and he was concerned too. They continued to monitor me and decided at that point that I would stay (they usually want you to wait until at least 38 wks unless medically you need to deliver) The doctor finally arrived and he decided to do a sonogram to see what was going on. He felt that Cooper may have been squeezing on the umbilical cord, causing the drop in heart rate. He was not able to see anything so he told the nurses to give me Cervacil to get my cervix soften and labor started. After an hour and no change in my cervix (thank GOD) the doctor decided to do a C-section. I was really nervous about this and did not have time to mentally prepare for this. At my last doctor visit, I had learned that my placenta previa had moved and I was told that I would be able to deliver vaginally so I had not planned to have a C-section. It didn't take long to get us ready and Cooper was born pretty quick after it all started. I remember right as they were pulling him out I heard the anesthesiologist, who was located right by my head, say "in 27 years I've never seen it 5 times." I looked over at Jason, who was also at my head, and saw the look on his face and I could tell that something was not quite right. I then heard the other doctors all talking and I began to panic. I asked Jason what was wrong and he told me that Cooper had the umbilical cord wrapped 5 times around his neck. Everyone was in shock. The nurses began to work on him for a while and he was in distress. Once I got in to the recovery area I remember the nurse talking to me and tears began to roll down her cheeks. She told me a little more about what had happened and she told me that if the Cervacil had worked and started my labor and if I had tried to push him out that he would have died. She said it truly was a miracle that he was even here. That day was a big blur for me (because of all the pain meds and such from the C-section) and it wasn't until the next day that it all began to sink in for me. God's hand was completely in this. I know that it was Him that told me to go to the hospital, even though my water had not broke and I was not having regular contractions, it was Him that allowed the medicine not to work that day (I went so fast and responded so quickly with the meds with Hudson that it was very unlikely that I would not respond in a similar way this time around) and it was Him that allowed the doctor to see that a C-section was necessary. Obviously, God allowed that cord to not be so tight that we lost him. I'm so very thankful!! I can't find the pictures right now but he actually had a rope burn around his entire neck from the cord. It was so sad!!Cooper was born on March 16, 2006 at 8:35am weighing 6lbs 6 oz and was 21 inches long. He had very little hair and didn't look a thing like his brother.

The proud big brother!

The funny thing about both of my deliveries......neither of their doctors delivered them. With Hudson, he came so fast that his doctor missed it. By the time I had Cooper, I had switched to another doctor in that same practice and that doctor was gone when I had Cooper..........and Hudson's doctor ended up helping with the C-section for Cooper. We figured at least he now earned his money that we had paid him 3 years before!!

Birthday at Rainforest Cafe

Tomorrow, my baby turns 2. We celebrated today with the family at the Rainforest Cafe. It's weird that none of us have been (well, Jason went once a while back) since we live fairly close. It was a neat treat for all of us. Cooper especially loved it and was in awe over all the movement and sounds. Hudson was a little scared at first but he came around and liked it too.

I was cracking up at his facial expressions...........he just took it all in

Cooper and Mimi

The balloon man made a monkey for CooperWith his Curious George cake (this is a Glenda cake and it was delicious!!)
About to enjoy some cakeHe got some pretty neat gifts. Thanks everyone!!

Rays of Sunshine

We have had lots of sunshine and some beautiful weather this week and I'm so thankful. We've spent lots of time outside and the boys have loved it. Spring is my favorite season! I feel like I've blossomed this week.

Here's my other ray of sunshine. This smile melts my heart each and every time

Clowning around in his room......I think he's ready for some Little Gym

Right now Cooper is enjoying puzzles,

books,

and Baby Einstein flashcards.

I, on the other hand, am enjoying sandals. Spring here I come!!