Dear Hudson

Dear Hudson,

Three years ago today I found out I would be having you :) Little did I know I would never be able to see you breath, open your eyes, or grow up to be a boy/man. You are such a precious piece of my life and there is never a day that goes by that I do not think about you. Because of you, my sweet boy, others have learned to not take life for granted and have learned to appreciate what life is all about. You are more amazing than anyone could imagine. I know you would have been the best big brother in the world to Heidi and she, in turn, would have adored you completely. I cannot wait to tell her all about you.

Not a moment passes that I do not long for you to be here. Life will never be complete until our lives on earth are over. I am more than honored to be your mom and privileged that God gave me your story to help touch the lives of so many. Because of you, my sweet son, others have learned to put more faith in God; that out of anything is the best thing that could have happened out of this whole situation.

Three years ago you were just a little bean growing inside of me.

I miss you each and every day,

Love, Mommy

Bad Day

Have you ever just had "one of those" days? Last week I had one - a major one. I think it was Tuesday. The morning started out great and I was actually going to be early for work! I called up to the groomers to see if they had any openings that day for Hunter to be groomed and they did. I really thought the day was going to be absolutely perfect judging it solely by the first hour I was awake. On the way out Heidi was playing with my keys and I was trying to get her in her car seat while she mashed the buttons. I took my car key, house key, and the little clicker thing off the key chain and let her play with the rest. From there I started the car so that I could go back inside to grab Hunter and lock the house door. I grabbed Hunter, locked the door and headed back to the car - the locked car.
What?

How did this happen?

Oh yes, the little angel playing with the buttons and mommy did not check after her.

At least the car was running.

I ran inside, called Pop-A-Lock and told them what was going on and they were sending someone out immediately. When I heard immediately of course I instantly think someone is going to show up within 1 second, right? Nope, 30 minutes.

At least the car was running...

I wait and wait and call the dispatcher several times checking on the status of the guy in route. Meanwhile I am trying to entertain a child who clearly would rather be in the hot sun with me than in the nice cool running car - she is crying and seriously upset. It would make it worse if she saw my face, but it made it worse for me not to see her face.

At least the car was running...

Finally the pop-a-lock guy made it. He was so nice and instantly got to work and Heidi was out of that seat within seconds! She was still upset and very confused :( Did you know that Pop-A-Lock will unlock your car free of charge if a child is in it? Good information to know! I had no idea - I would have paid thousands...or sold my soul.

After the drama I took Heidi inside who was still sobbing every-so-often. Pitiful, really. Of course I am no longer on time for work or the groomers, but that was not a big deal. I rallied the troops again and we headed on our way.

At some point in the day I had to get a Blizzard because I was so frazzled.

I kept saying - this has been the worst day ever. I started thinking about what a bad day might be to others. You know like tornadoes crashing homes, tsunamis, hurricanes, losing a loved one, etc. I couldn't believe I was saying it was my worst day when clearly I had my worst day years ago. I couldn't believe that I was even complaining at all about my day - in fact it might of had a few bumps in the road, but it was a good day. As much as we all complain and use phrases like "worst day ever", "epic fail", or what have you, we really should be thankful some of those "bad days" aren't really so bad after all...

Heidi - 13 Months

Heidi - today you are 13 months!

What have you been up to?- You are officially walking this month - as of June 19. You started walking/running and have not stopped! Its so much easier sometimes now that you are walking because you can follow me everywhere or go where you want to go!

- This month you went to the beach for the very first time and you loved it!! I am so happy you aren't scared of many things - you love new experiences.- You're new favorite word to say is "bubba" because we sometimes refer to Hunter as Bubba. You wake up saying it and looking for him!

- You are wearing 12-18 month and 18 month clothes right now. You seem to be falling right on track with all of the clothing sizes. Luckily your Grandmother is an excellent seamstress so we have plenty of outfits made just to fit you perfectly :)

- Eating is easy - you love to eat :) You are still breastfeeding/nursing, but I have stopped pumping at work. So, during the days when I am not with you whole milk is your new beverage. Milk and water :) You love ice water and you also love to eat crushed ice. Oh, and little pop-ice things!- You and Hunter are finally interacting more, mainly because you are walking. You have always love him, but not you can run up to him to play or shout "bubba!" He is learning that you are a great food source, so he stays close to you when its time to eat :)- You love attention. Kind of like your mom when she was younger (because now I hate it) and you will smile so big at people when they are looking at you. You love to dance too!

- I am not sure how sharing is going to work yet, but we are working on it so that you will share with others. You do love to share your food with us a pretend to feed us.- We are still a co-sleeping family, but we have slowly started working on the crib again. You aren't screaming anymore and sleeping in it a little - baby steps :)

- You still love baby dolls and all your stuffed animals!

Next month I will be able to write more because I will post it on time!! HA!

Sunday Funday!

Quick post of our Sunday Funday! Sunday we headed over to Ossabaw Island for a fun day of boating and beach time! We all had a great time at the beach and enjoyed our little picnic lunch. There really is nothing better than a PB&J on the beach - seriously. After the beach my friend Karen and Heidi's friend Cassiday came to visit for a bit!

Daddy and HeidiThe Divas under their tentGetting into trouble!Playing!

..and because I love to compare...

Picture!

So, thankfully I have at least one local reader (besides family!) and she happened to be with me the other day. I mentioned I did not get a picture of Johanna and I when she was in town and voila - her sister (my local reader!) sent me a picture she took while we were at the pool! YAY!! This definitely made my day :)And an oldie (graduation day)

**If I do not blog after this post its because one of the girls (Jo, Heather, or Erin) have killed me and buried me somewhere. Send a search party***

Happy Birthday Dear Hubs!

Today we celebrated John's birthday! We went to eat at Longhorn and then came home to sing "happy birthday" and to eat a delicious red velvet/cream cheese icing cake.

4th of July Weekend

Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone! This weekend was jammed packed! You will be able to tell by the millions of pictures to follow on this post :) I cannot even remember what I did Friday. I know that I was supposed to meet up with my friend Johanna because she was in town from CA visiting her family. We ended up getting together on Saturday and I forgot to get a picture :(. My tummy was not well and caused me to forget my mind a little. On Saturday we hung out for a little and then hung out by the pool! I always love my visits with Johanna - we only get to see each other about once a year, but we never skip a beat.

Sunday was my dad's side of the family, family reunion. It was a pool party - fun and relaxing! My dad is an only child - so mainly my immediate family and second/third cousins of mine were there.

Heidi and mom in the pool

Tina and Olivia

Great Aunt Lois and the 1st cousins

Adding the spouses

The Kirkland Family

Heidi Jewell and Daddy

Monday was a day at the river! We went boating and tubing - and the kids ran through sprinklers!

My little "redneck baby" :)

Sprinkler time!!

Dinner was at my sister's house - followed by pictures of the cousins :) They all actually posed together - maybe a first??

Ice cream at Lovin' Spoons!

Followed by fireworks that were being set off in our neighborhood when we got home!

Tuesday evening we had family pictures at Tybee Island. This was Heidi's first, and definitely not last, trip to the beach. She loved it! Well, she loved everything except falling on my bracelet and getting a little black eye :(

4th of July - in Pictures!

I will write a post with more pictures, but here is all I have time for right now :)

Birthday Celebration!

This week we headed to North Atlanta for our niece Olivia's 5th birthday! The party was held at Bounce U and was a great place for the kids to run around and slide/bounce. Heidi even had a chance to use the slides and the bouncing ring! Now that Heidi is walking around everywhere she seems to feel like such a big girl and so excited that she can go anywhere she wants!

Here is where I learned that I chew gum like a cow would chew cud. Awful. I think I will never chew gum in public again. Anyways, if you can get past the horrible gum chewing you will see that Heidi had a fun time on her first slide!

Playing in the boxing ring

Big brother :)

Olivia blowing out her candles and letting everyone know she was turning the B-I-G 5!

Heidi's first time on a swing! She loved it! We might have to think about getting one!

Trying to get this many kids to take a picture together - what a task! Georgia is going through a "I don't want my picture taken" phase and then the other kids argue about who will get to hold the babies or who will sit where and then no one ends up smiling at the same time. I will have to find some similar pictures of me and my cousins going through the same exact poses!

On the way home we stopped to buy some fresh peaches, tomatoes, and cantaloupe.

It was a short trip, but a ton of fun! Other things that happened -

- John, Heidi, and I stayed at my cousin's house and the kids were so excited to have Heidi come over and spend the night. Julie said they were talking about it for days! Phrases used, "please turn on the lights for our guests"; "this is our guest room, we like to make it nice and comfortable for our guests".

- Went to pick out fabric for the girls' dresses for family pictures coming up.

- Heidi crawled up an entire flight of stairs.

- The phrase "yeah, its over there, by that place" was used when in the process of buying peaches. Another "Danny-ism"

- Poor Missy (my brother's dog) is getting to be so old. She went out on the back deck and peed. It wouldn't be funny, except for that the kids were underneath the deck at the time - ha!