Trip to Charlotte, NC

This weekend we took an extended weekend trip to Charlotte, NC where John's sister and her husband live. We had such an amazing time! John was off on Thursday and I worked a half day so we left around 4PM, after I had Heidi's new big girl car seat inspected.

*side note - did you know that 7 out of 10 kids buckled in seats are not buckled properly? Food for thought...

Heidi did such a wonderful job on the trip up there! At least until the last 1 minutes, but it was bedtime and she can get cranky near bedtime if we are not in her routine. Charlotte had received some nasty storms and Rebecca and David had lost power around 5PM. We arrived around 8 and the power was still not on, but we had flashlights and Heidi entertained us with some scary ghost stories. David's parents arrived about 15 minutes before us and all of us sat and chatted for a bit. Later than Heidi's normal bedtime I finally took her up to our room and she went to sleep. The power ended up coming on around 4:45AM. I woke up at about 5 after 5AM freezing because the air had come on and I was not under the covers :) So I got up and closed all the windows and snuggled under the covers.
Friday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast and decided to head to the Lazy 5 Ranch where we had the most amazing time. We went and visited a few of the animals and then took a "hayride" through the park to feed all of the animals. {You also have the option to drive your car}. The ranch had all sorts of animals - sheep, goats, deer, zebras, a rhino, giraffes, ostriches, birds, kangaroos - and probably more! Heidi {as well as everyone else!!} just loved every bit of the hayride; she was captivated the entire time.

We ended up leaving later than anticipated {later than Heidi's nap time} and headed to Chic-fil-a for some lunch. It was unbelievable how wonderful Heidi was - considering she didn't have a nap. The last 5 minutes of the trip back to the Cooper's Heidi fell asleep. When we got to the house I took her upstairs and we napped. After nap time we enjoyed a "friendly" game of Rumi where David's father threatened to break my arms off :) and then we had delicious hamburgers and hotdogs off the grill. Once our bellies were full we went to the pool in the neighborhood for a little swim. When we finished at the pool we put Miss Heidi to bed and then we went to bed shortly afterwards.

Saturday we woke up and went out on a boat in the lake! It was so much fun! I really enjoyed the boat time and the lake. I could not get over how warm the water was. It felt like bath water. Heidi had a fun time on the boat as well - except the life jacket part. It was super uncomfortable for her. We ended up putting a life jacket on me and hooking it to the boat and I just held her in the water. She liked that much better :) Lunch was at T-Bones and then we boated for a bit more, Bec tubed, and Heidi nursed and fell asleep for the rest of the boat ride home. Surprisingly once we got back Heidi napped for a little bit longer in the bed. After the boat ride and naps we all just chilled at the house. Well, David's parents left - but the rest of us chilled out after the long day in the sun. We ordered pizza for dinner and then Heidi and I went to sleep at about 8:30.

Sunday we got up and went to the Discovery Place in uptown Charlotte. Such a great place! Heidi {and us big kids!!} really enjoyed all the science/learning spots as well as the aquarium and kids center! We had lunch at Rock Bottom and then headed back to the house for nap time! After naps we went to the pool and had fun in the water center and slide! Even Heidi enjoyed the slide! For dinner we headed to seriously one of the best restaurants ever - Sammy's in Belmont. Oh my, it was delicious. I already know what I am going to order the next time I go! Yes, there will be a next time!! After dinner Heidi went to bed and then we played cards for a bit. Then we went to bed.

Monday morning we all lounged around the house and we got on the road around 1PM to make the trek back home! Heidi slept for a little over an hour for a nap on the way - which was nice.

We had such a wonderful time with our family and cannot wait to go again! I feel like there are so many fun things to do in the Charlotte area and we barely touched the surface on all the fun there is to have! Thanks Bec and David for being such wonderful hosts and tour guides!!

Heidi - 14 Months

Heidi - you are 14 months!

{well, actually, I am 2 weeks late in this post}

- You are wearing 12-18 months and 12 months clothes.

- You love to pull clothes out of your drawers.

- You love to hide objects or "place" them in your favorite spots.

{like my keys you put in the recycling bin}

- Some words: up, down, sit, dog, meow, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, no, done, dada, mama, bubba

- You can get off the couch with hardly any assistance.

- You love the stairs and are pretty good at climbing and getting down.

- Books are a favorite!

- You love to bring a toy or something and back up to sit in our lap.

- You are still nursing.

- You love fruit! Especially watermelon. We still have not found anything you do not enjoy.

- You love to dance and pick your feet up really fast - like you are jogging in place.

- Outside is a favorite place to be.

- You are now in your rear-facing big girl car seat.

Finally!

I finally caught up on blog reading. Wow - its has taken for.e.v.er. Seriously. No, really. I was at least 2 weeks behind for a couple of months. Personal time at the computer is limited to reading blogs (catching up!) and a facebook post here and there.

I had mentioned about a friend that started a cleaning business and that they came to our house a couple of times. Dear friends you are going to learn something about me tonight/today. I hate to clean and I am a messy person. There - I said it. If John and I ever argue about anything (which is pretty rare!) its about housework. I look at it as if I am already working about 13 hours a day which would be 7am - 8pm with Heidi and my job. I feel as if I cannot spend quality time with Heidi if I worry about the housework. I also cannot have a moment of time to myself if I worry about the housework. So, I don't :) Now, do not get me wrong - I hate dirt and the house being dirty. I just don't want to take the time to clean it! Heidi does not allow me to clean either :) She would much rather we spend our time playing and snuggling!

A few weeks ago my friend started this business and I thought, what the heck. I am stressed and I want to have a clean house for John. So in came Dazzling Diva's to the rescue! Can I tell you how much better I feel? SO MUCH! I feel like I can keep up with everything now. As much as I feel relieved it also feels kind of like a let down. Like I have failed at being able to do everything. I feel like I should be able to handle it all. Work, take care of Heidi with all the wonderful activities we can do together, spend time with John when we can, clean, cook, laundry, and a little bit of me time. I have no idea who I was talking to the other day about guilt, but she said that she never knew how much guilt she could feel until she became a parent. How true that is...

I always tell myself, well if I were staying home with Heidi I would have it all clean and spotless - have dinner on the table homecooked each night. If I were staying at home I would not feel guilty for wanting a little bit of me time and I would not feel guilty needing to take her to a sitter or MDO if I needed to clean the house. Even though my job gives me the opportunity to take off when I need to and to have Heidi up there if I need to its just not the same.

SO - I got up to finish some laundry and I definitely forgot where I was heading with this post. Oh well, just some thoughts I guess :)

I guess to sum it all I feel great about having a clean house and I just hope that maybe some of the guilt can be swept under the rug now that the dirt is gone from it. Just waiting for that day when I am at home with the kiddos. Well, just Heidi for now, but there will be more at some point in time! Who knows when!! Hee-hee-hee!

Post!

- I think we're on the mend from the teething. Heidi has been in a much better mood. Sleeping is much better. Hopefully we'll start working on the crib again tomorrow.
- I have been sucked in to the worst show in history - Bachelor Pad. Why? Why do I love trash tv like this?
- We're taking a trip to Charlotte, NC in the near future. Anyone have any recommendations? We're visiting John's sister and her hubby.
- Work is going well. I am on a mission to sell a couple of cars to pay for a trip I want to take in a few months.
- Hubs has been working extremely hard at work; I am super proud of him :)
- We had a friend start a cleaning business and we hired them to come a couple of weeks ago. I will write a post all about it. I will say that it was so nice to come home to a spankin' clean house!!
- We bought Heidi a new carseat. Our little girl is growing up. *sniff* I hope she loves it! I hope to install it tomorrow and then have it checked out during lunch. So many carseats are not installed properly...

Yes-No

Times have been busy here in Henninger Land! We are full of belly buttons, Bubba's, and no's :). Heidi is obsessed with her bellybutton and ours as well. She tries hard to say the word and sometimes it comes out, but it mainly comes out as "BB". Constantly Heidi is calling for Bubba, which is a nickname we have for Hunter. I don't know why, but John and I have always called him that as a nickname. She has picked up on that big time - and she probably says that word more than anything else. Next, of course, would be mama.
The past few days Heidi has been teething something awful. Nights around here have been horrible. I feel like I am taking naps rather than actually sleeping. We were doing so great about getting a routine at night and her sleeping in the crib, but the past few nights we have just put her straight into our bed. I really love our routine and how Heidi has been responding to it. We get home, play, eat dinner, take a bath, Heidi has naked time to play, get pj's on, sit in the rocking chair to talk about our days, read a book, nurse, and then go to the crib. She loves to say "night-night" and then put her head down on something. When I say, "its time to take a bath" or "let's go night-night" she goes straight into the appropriate rooms for those events.
Back to the teething - the poor thing does not want anything in her mouth except her hands and to nurse. I am so thankful we are still nursing because I don't know how I would get her to eat anything. Its also so soothing to her to nurse. Maybe I will need to keep nursing until she is completely finished teething. We have tried teething rings/toys, frozen food, ice chips, cold water - anything and everything. She refuses to take Tylenol at all. Last night John went to Wal-Mart to pick up some baby oragel/teething tablets; neither of which she wanted to take. Heidi feels like a furnace, but tonight she is not feeling quite as hot.
This morning I was holding Heidi and I asked her if she wanted daddy to hold her and she so cutely said, "no". She has recently been answering no to things. It is really the cutest thing. I will try to get a video of it. Tonight was the first of many "no-yes" fights.
On a completely different note - please keep my cousin Nick and his wife Alyson in your prayers. They had their twins a couple of days ago at 28 weeks. Everyone is doing well and the boys are great - most likely to be in the hospital for about 8 weeks. Just say a little extra prayer for them! I hope to go visit them tomorrow.
Have a great night everyone!!

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...