A Cat's Ramblings

Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T04:39:00.000-08:00

We started the holiday off by celebrating with just our family on the 23rd. We read the story of Jesus' birth and then had the kids come downstairs to see their stocking stuffers. The highlight of Harper's morning was the wrapping paper, of course. I know she had fun, but most of the pictures I got of her she was giving me really interesting faces. Owen had a very "yellow Christmas"...he got a box full of tractors, backhos, trackhos, etc. He was in heaven. And Ethan's favorite gift was the box of Legos. They'll probably be my least favorite as I step on them...

The 24th we headed to Stillwater to celebrate with my family at what will be the last Christmas in the house I grew up. (my parents are moving to OKC as soon as they sell their house) It was a little bittersweet, but with all the craziness of 15 people in one home, there wasn't much time to think about it!

Mimi as always did a wonderful job of picking out stocking stuffers for everyone. It was the first time I got to see the stocking she'd made for Harper - it was so cute. After we went to church Christmas morning, the kids opened their gifts together. Owen LOVED his cement mixer, Harper was thrilled to get a doll (the only gift she's been excited about to date!), and Ethan was excited to get a new Batman and Wolverine. The adults enjoyed opening gifts that evening when all the kids went to bed.

Micah & Harper seemed to bond over bath time. Just the beginning of a good friendship!

The rest of the time we enjoyed hanging out together. We spent time playing in the back yard where Jon and Josh had an entertaining wrestling match. The frisbee and football were thrown around, and the kids had fun playing together. Donuts were eaten, Aspen Coffee shop was visited multiple times, and there was a lot of laughter! And in true Dodson fashion, we all shared the stomach bug. It's been the gift that has kept on giving...I think we're ready to end that tradition and start a new one! Next year will definitely be different celebrating in a new town and a new house, but I think we've all agreed that as long as the same people are there, we're good to go!

December, where did you go?

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Man, I have really not done a very good job of staying up to date. So here is a re-cap of the past month...

After we got back from celebrating Thanksgiving, we busted out the Christmas decor and got in the holiday spirit. Well, all of us but Owen. He was in a terrible mood that whole day... We all managed to enjoy ourselves in spite of his tears!

We also went to the skating rink for the first time. We were so excited when they opened it last year, but with me being pregnant and Chris having a bum knee, it didn't happen. This first time there I think we only made it around the rink twice, but we had a good time going at a snail's pace. Ethan tossed the blue "guide" by the end and was doing really well. I, however, needed a back rub after pushing Owen around! Harper and Chris enjoyed cheering us on.

One of our holiday traditions is making decorating cookies with our friends the Marleys. Harper and her buddy Jett enjoyed chilling on the floor while the older kids ate more icing and candy than what made it on the cookies. As always, we had a blast with them. Next year should be fun with the two little ones running around...

We also had our annual Christmas party, and the theme was "Holiday Cheer". (aka: wear whatever you want) I loved the eclectic mix of attire that we had - everything from sweats to sequins. We also played "the favorites game", and even though it was a tad confusing, I think everyone ended up with some really fun gifts. I also can't help but mention that the women dominated in our own version of Taboo. I was especially thankful this year at our party b/c the Harris' were able to attend. It is SO good having them back from NE, and James' boisterous laugh throughout the night was a wonderful sound to hear!

2011 has been a full year...full of immense joy (Harper's birth!!!), tears as we've walked with good friends struggling, thankfulness as the Lord has been faithful in it all, and so much laughter with these three amazing little humans the Lord has blessed us with. We give the Lord the glory for it all, and we're looking forward to another full and blessed year!

"I'm 9 Months Old!"

2011-12-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first time since Harper has been born that I have had that feeling of "MY BABY IS GROWING UP TOO FAST!". I don't know what exactly has happen to make me feel this way, but I find myself wanting to soak up every little moment that she's at this fun stage. I have even tried to cuddle with her at night before I put her to bed, but just like her older brothers, she will have none of it.

She's doing better at eating table food, and seems to prefer feeding herself than having someone else feed her baby food. (independent little lady - go figure) She can wave good-bye, clap, nod "yes" and "no" ("yes" is my favorite b/c you can tell she really has to think about it), roll all over the place, make kissy faces when you ask for a kiss, and she's started pushing up but hasn't figured out how to get on her knees yet. She loves pulling things out of baskets or buckets, and she can throw a nice left hook when someone (ie: a brother) gets too close. She also seems to really enjoy having an audience...she loves having people watch and laugh at her. Oh, and she got her first tooth! I felt like a horrible mom that found it WAY after the fact. Come to find out she was cranky for a reason.

Yesterday I took a box her her baby clothes and all her baby gear/toys to be stored (thanks to the Harris storage unit!), and I also lowered her crib down a notch. As I was feeling nostalgic about removing all the signs of a baby, I am also really excited to continue to watch this fun little person grow and change. She is only going to enrich our lives more every day and entertain us like crazy, and that is something to look forward to!

(Think Daddy is going to be able to tell this face "no"??? Doubt it.)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T03:57:00.001-08:00

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year, and I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten that much in a lonnnng time! We started out the day celebrating with Chris' mom's side of the family. Man, those Smither women know how to cook! After we ate, the kids had a blast playing with their cousins, and the adults enjoyed good conversation over full bellies. Debbie and her sister had a "grandma sleep challenge" while we were there...who could rock/sway/bounce their grandbaby to sleep first. :) Grandma Debbie and Harper blew all competition out of the water - Harper was out cold in just a minute or two. We were so thankful that we were able to get together with this side of the family even though we didn't have Nanny and her house to bring us all together.

Later that afternoon, we headed to Greg and Kerri's house for another amazing meal. Kerri flat knows how to cook, and she puts on some wonderful meals for the family. I'm so thankful for her mad cooking skills! The kids, as always, loved playing with their big cousins. Alyssa is by far Harper's favorite babysitter, and Ethan was Adam's shadow the entire time. Owen is pretty much stuck to Paw Paw most of the time too.

The following day we spent at Paw Paw's, and the boys were in heaven. Owen got to feed all the different animals, collect eggs, and ride tractors and 4-wheelers. He even found some old tractor toys that belonged to Chris and Greg, that when he wasn't outside on the real things, he was inside playing "tractors". Ethan loved playing with all the action figures inside, and playing outside with Adam. I even snuck in the latest Twilight movie with Kerri and Alyssa. Good times!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. 2011 has been full of ups (Harper being born!) and some downs (really good friends dealing with crazy illnesses), but through it all we've been reminded that the Lord sustains us in all things and that He's always good. We feel blessed and rich beyond measure. Thank you, Lord!

7 Months, 8 Months & a Baptism

2011-11-23T08:16:00.001-08:00

So we're doing a little bit of catch-up with poor Harper. The joys of being the 3rd child. She's had a busy last two months. She's mastered sitting up by herself - something she enjoys so much that it kept her up at night thinking about it. (or at least that's what I am blaming her waking up numerous times on!) She loves to clap, watch her brothers play, "dance" to music, and to be talked to. If someone isn't talking to her, she knows how to yell loudly to get attention. She's also finally figured out how to roll back and forth, thankfully. For about 2 weeks, she would get stuck on her belly, wake up and scream. (yes, I haven't been sleeping well these past two months!) She also loves to babble...we're hearing things like "Dadada", "Bub-bub-bub" and "Mama". I am sure she's talking about her family. Oh, and she's finally overcome her tongue thrust and seems to be enjoying eating baby food. She is still not taking any sort of bottle or sippy cup though...

This past weekend we finally got Harper baptized too. My mom made her a beautiful white dress to wear, and I am planning on putting it in a shadow box so Harper can have it as a keepsake. (I LOVE having a daughter!) Harper did wonderful during the baptism and her brothers did too. Thanks to Mimi and Papi for coming to share in the special day!

The LIghting of the Square

2011-11-21T04:15:00.001-08:00

My parents try to come every year for the lighting of our downtown square. (Last year we were fighting a stomach bug, so they didn't make it.) BUT this year everyone was healthy and we had a blast hanging out with them. The guys played baseball outside and superheroes inside while my mom and I managed to fit a little bit of shopping in. I think Mimi and Papi read every book we checked out from the library at least 4 times to the boys, and Harper enjoyed being held and wearing Papi's hats. The square lighting was fun - we got to listen to a choir sing and the boys enjoyed dancing. After the lights were turned on, we took my parents to the original 5 & Dime/WalMart museum. I think the highlight for Owen, though, was playing on the construction site on our way back to the car after the night was over! Thanks Mimi and Papi for visiting!

The Nina & The Pinta

2011-11-20T13:31:00.001-08:00

This past Monday, we decided last minute to head to Ft Smith to see life sized replicas of the ships The Nina and The Pinta. They travel all over the US every year, so we thought it would be fun to see what the ships that Christopher Columbus sailed on. It was quite the adventure... It took us awhile to get on the road, and about half way there Owen threw up. Had we been by ourselves, we would have turned around and gone home, but it killed me to make the Higley girls miss out. So after a lot of cleaning and much debate, we decided he had just been car sick and we headed on South. His clothes were covered, so we had to hit a WalMart before we went to the ships. I ended up carrying Owen into the store with just his diaper on, buying clothes, air freshner and Lysol. Good times. After he changed, we headed to the ships. We managed to catch a tour, and that helped keep the kids interested. (The people giving the tours actually live on the ships and sail them from place to place on the tour.) After about 30 minutes, we were done, so we stopped at a local burger joint for lunch. It was not fast food by any means, but it was good and the kids had fun talking about the ships. We ended up getting home 3 hours than we'd initially planned, and poor Elli's car seat will never be the same, thanks to Owen...but we made some memories!

I'm a Sucker

2011-11-12T14:49:00.001-08:00

I came downstairs one afternoon after putting Harper and Owen down for nap to hear a faint meowing sound. And then I saw a grey streak in the living room with Ethan following behind laughing. (mind you, we do not own an animal of any sort) It never crossed my mind to clarify that we do not let animals into the house, but apparently I should have because Ethan was playing with a stray cat in my living room! I couldn't decide if I was grossed out or thought it was sweet. A little startled I reprimanded Ethan and told him to get the cat outside. He burst into tears, sobbing, "The cat is my best friend! He will be sad and lonely outside without me!" And my heart melted. A little. Next thing I know we're giving the cat a bowl full of milk and some extra lunch meat. I try to justify the treat by telling myself that the cat WON'T poop in our sandbox and he'll catch lots of mice as a "thank you" for the food. Regardless, that cat has become a permanent fixture in our backyard. I guess as long as he stays out there...

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T04:32:00.000-07:00

It was another fun Halloween as we celebrated with our neighborhood and a few friends again. We grilled out hotdogs, ate lots of candy, and had fun watching all the kids run around together in their costumes. Ethan started out the night as Captain America and closed it down with War Machine. Owen was Bob the Builder, and Harper was a cute lady bug. Owen wasn't overly happy most of the evening b/c he didn't like his overalls, but once he realized exactly what Trick or Treating consisted of (getting candy) Halloween became his favorite holiday!

Phone Pictures

2011-10-31T04:32:00.000-07:00

I finally pulled the images off of my phone - it had been awhile. I found some funny ones I couldn't help but share....

Ethan was laughing really hard one evening when he was taking a bath. (laughing or crying are generally not great signs.) Concerned, I went in there to find this. There really aren't any words, but I had a good laugh.

This was another instance of where I got a little concerned. I was getting Harper ready for bath when she got really quiet. (I guess I should add quiet to my list of "warning signs") I found her cuddling with Ironman. I guess we don't need to worry about getting her any dolls.

And Owen has provided us with some "material" as of late. I don't know if it's the age/stage or what, but he's been making us laugh a lot AND ask each other "what do we do???"

He potty trained for about 5 hours a couple weeks ago. He woke up and insisted on wearing big boy underwear. I've always known that if it's going to happen it was going to have to be his idea, so I've been waiting for him to initiate. Of course this particular day we had different people coming to the house to work on our kitchen, a billion errands to run, etc. But we went with it. Oh, he was excited. He did really well all morning with no accidents. We decided to eat lunch at a park since I didn't have my kitchen, and while we were there it all fell apart. It fell apart all over our picnic blanket. After that he decided big boy underwear didn't "work" and he needed his diapers again. I have no idea when we'll try again...but I do know I am not looking forward to it.

And the last Owen story came from last week. I let the boys take turns going first picking out a cartoon they want to watch in the afternoon. It was Ethan's turn to go first and Owen threw a fit of massive proportions. I told him it was Ethan's turn to go first and that he didn't have to watch Ethan's show if he didn't want to. He replied, "FINE! Me not watch it at all!" And he didn't. He laid face down on the couch with his eyes closed for the entire 20 minute show. I'm pretty sure he didn't open his eyes once. When it was his turn, he popped up had a big 'ole smile on his face, asked for Bob the Builder and all was right with the world again. He truly is more stubborn than I am. Oh, my....

Grandma's

2011-10-22T05:15:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Grandma Debbie last weekend. When we got there, the kids were greeted with hugs, smiles and some peach water (much to the boys great delight!). It was a gorgeous weekend, so we spend a lot of time out on Debbie's great back porch. Owen and Ethan stripped every cushion off of the patio furniture and played "cement workers", "astronauts", and "pilots" for what seemed like hours. Harper loved having as much attention she could get when her brothers were playing outside!

I was really not feeling well the whole weekend (I caught whatever virus the kids had and it then turned into a sinus infection), so I didn't do a very good job of capturing all that we did while we were there. The boys and Grandma went to the park on Saturday morning, had a fun lunch at McDonald's, and then we went to the zoo that afternoon. The boy's favorite animals to see were the monkeys! Afterwards we ate dinner at Ted's Escondido and I think that may have been the highlight of my weekend! Oh, Ted's how I have missed your tortillas...

Sweet E

2011-10-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I took of Ethan the other day while still trying to figure my camera out. I am working at learning to make eyes "pop". I find myself staring at his eyes trying to figure out what color they are!

My first born is growing up... I rely on his help more and more with his brother and sister. I was trying to get dinner on yesterday when Harper decided that all she wanted was to be held. Ethan said he'd be her babysitter and proceeded to sit on the floor with her, giving her toys and making her laugh. So sweet. I feel like at times he is my little clone (poor kid). I understand his sensitive feelings and what makes him tick. It's helpful, but there is something uniquely difficult dealing with a person that is very similar to yourself! I honestly don't know if we'll be able to home school...he and I butt heads almost immediately when we try to do something! Regardless, I am so proud of my little guy and thankful for his sweet little spirit!

The Three Kids at 6 Months

2011-10-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

It's been funny hearing comments about how much Harper looks like her brothers. For the most part people think she looks like Owen, but I definitely see some of Ethan in her expressions. Chris was looking at pictures of all three kids, and he said the one thing they all have in common is their large heads. He said it looks like I Photoshopped a big head on a small body...surely one day they'll grow into them, right?

OU vs TX

2011-10-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

OU vs TX is kind of like a family holiday at the Hoyle house. Chris informed me that it might be bigger than Thanksgiving to them... Anyway, we headed to Paw Paw's to watch the game and hang out with the family. My morning started with my boys yelling Boomer! Sooner! It's still odd to me that MY children are OU fans...

Owen could have cared less about the game; all he wanted to do was to ride the tractor and 4-wheeler. As soon as we go there he told Paw Paw it was time to go get the eggs. That boy is in heaven on farm. While everyone watched the game he played outside driving his 4-wheeler around (a little tricycle).

Chris enjoyed watching the Sooners win big as well as playing some catch with his brother.

Harper hasn't been real sure what to think of Paw Paw's deep voice, but it didn't take long for her to warm up to him on this trip! They were buddies by the end.

Harper also LOVES her big cousin, Alyssa. Alyssa fed her lunch, held her, and played with her most of the day. I have a feeling Harper is really going to look up to Alyssa... Of course Ethan loved playing with Adam, and he could spend all day in the play room going through all the old action figures Paw Paw has.

Thanks, Paw Paw, for the wonderful day!

A New Blog

2011-10-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

About 4 years ago (?), our friend, Shawn, suggested that we do a meal swap once a month. Everyone would make one meal for multiple families and then we would swap those meals between us so we only had to make one thing but would get several different meals. (does that make any sense?!) I was skeptical, honestly, but boy, was I wrong. It's been a genius idea that we've continued ever since. We've had some really good recipes come through the mix and there has been some discussion on how we could get a place to compile all the "keepers". So, we've started a new blog where we're going to post our favorite recipes. Feel free to check it out, and definitely let us know if you have any recipes to share!

Harper is 6 Months Old

2011-09-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

A half a year has gone by since my little lady was born...that does not seem possible. At all. It's been a fun and fast 6 months...

She's becoming more and more vocal - to the point where we're having to talk over her at dinner. Owen has even told her she's loud, and coming from him, that speaks volumes (pun intended). My favorite thing right now is her belly laughs. Her brothers and our neighbor, Emma, can make her laugh hysterically. It's a beautiful sound! She also loves to pat things. When someone holds her she pats their arm. When she's at the table, she pats it. When she lays in her crib to go to sleep, she pats her tummy. Maybe we'll have a drummer?!

She's finally rolled over (from back to front), but mostly she likes trying to sit up on her own and take in everything. She's sitting pretty well on her own, but her head does seem to pull her over. (I took her in for her 6 month well-check, and she's in the 10th percentile in weight, 15th in height, and 70th in head size. A true Hoyle baby.)

She tried eating "solids" for the first time last week, and it hasn't gone over very well. She has a serious case of tongue thrust, so nothing is staying in right now. She still doesn't take a bottle or a sippy cup. Surely one of these days she'll be able to eat without me!

A Visit from Mimi

2011-09-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Mimi came to visit last week and it was so fun having her around for two days! She managed to whip together curtains for my room that I have been too scared to start myself, as well as getting some good time with the kiddos. Thanks for the visit, Mimi!

Oweo

2011-09-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm having fun playing with my new camera and trying to figure it out. I'm also realizing that the whole editing process is a completely different world that I'm going to have to try and learn too. I have no clue what I am doing right now, but I'm having fun trying... This picture was pretty cute to look at while playing in Photoshop. (I am sure I have bathrooms or something I should be cleaning right now...)

Guy's Morning

2011-09-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

As much as it pains me to have the men in my life wearing OU paraphernalia, I have to admit I think they're pretty cute all dressed up together. They all decided to don their red for a Saturday morning donut run, while Harper and I had a quiet morning at home. I guess she and I will have to wear our OSU orange together and go for quiche or something.

Rosemary Beach 2011

2011-09-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

We took our first family vacation as a family of 5 this past month as we went to Florida with my brother and his family. Flying with 3 kids seemed a little daunting, but we decided it was worth trying with a beautiful beach as our "prize". (sorry this post will be annoyingly long and full of lots of pictures!)

We flew from Tulsa and met my brother's family in Houston. We were so excited that it worked out for us to fly together at least one leg of the trip, and we felt a little sorry for the other passengers as we had 6 kids 5 years old and under with us! The kids, however, did amazing and I think they could have been happy with just a family trip of flying on airplanes. I think one of the more comical times of our trip was getting all our luggage at the airport when we arrived. Between the two families we had 12 bags (thank you Southwest for letting us check so much stuff!), 2 double strollers, and 6 really excited kids. I felt like we were the 3 ring circus entertaining all the people in airport. At one point I had a woman ask me if they were all my kids. Right.

We got to the house around 5:30, unpacked our bags and headed straight to the beach with the kids. The sunset was gorgeous and the kids couldn't believe how much cooler this was than just riding an airplane! Ethan had no qualms about jumping right into the water, and it was so fun watching his complete joy swimming in the water. Owen was a little more hesitant, but he was thrilled to play in the sand.
Our first morning there we ate and headed straight out to the beach. This was Harper's first time to see it all, and she wasn't overly impressed. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that she was NOT feeling well. She did grab a handful of sand and try to eat...so she was checking it out!

True to form the boys approached the beach very differently! Ethan was in the water the minute we got there and didn't get out till it was time to leave. Owen, however, was not a fan of the waves and chose to let them touch him a little bit - if he wasn't busy "cooking" with Claire in the sand.

All the cousins got along wonderfully. Jack and Ethan picked right up where they left off last time, and they loved swimming together. Claire and Owen were the most surprising buddies of the trip...they both have the tendency to play in their own world and not with other people. Fortunately, their worlds meshed well together, and they both seemed to love playing together. By the end of the trip, Claire was calling Owen "punkin' " and Owen called Claire "Clairey". It was pretty cute.

We went to Seaside one afternoon for lunch at the Modeco Market. We also hit a fun ice cream shop that was on the Today for having chocolate dipped key lime pie (it was wonderful!). We also were sure to hit "The Sugar Shak" that was around the corner from our house. It was every kid's dream full of candy for any taste. One morning we walked to The Donut Truck only to find it closed, so we settled for powdered donuts from a convenience store to appease the distraught kids. They seemed just as happy with the donuts, but we adults were saddened because they did not taste as good as we remembered from our childhood!
The last night Chris and I went on a date to Cafe 33 (Jon and Katie went to The Red Barn the night before), and we enjoyed some AMAZING seafood and a beautiful walk on the beach afterwards.

It was such a wonderful vacation, and we are so thankful that we were able to share it with our family. I am pretty sure we're all ready to go back in 2012!

A Harper Taco

2011-09-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if Harper should be a little less laid back. I was making dinner and Chris was playing with the boys, and Harper was content on her mat. Little did we know she was IN her mat... It scared me a first - until I saw her face.

The Rest of LABOR Day Weekend

2011-09-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

The rest of our Labor Day weekend was pretty relaxed. Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market and ate crepes for breakfast. Owen loves watching "The Crepe Lady" make our food, and he spend the rest of the day pretending to be the Crepe Lady making us food. (we need to introduce him to a crepe making MAN) We enjoyed spending as much time outside as possible and soaking up every minute of the beautiful weather! On Monday, we went to the lake with our friends. I wasn't sure how to handle a boat and a 5 month old baby, but we borrowed a friend's infant life jacket and decided to try it out. Harper is mostly very chill about things, but as soon as that boat got going she was NOT happy. I think she and I lasted 5 minutes on the boat till I took her home. When the wind hit her face she couldn't breath, and when she'd catch her breath she'd scream. I was sad to leave the boys and Chris on the boat and miss out on the fun, but it wasn't worth it. I guess there's always next year... All in all though, it was a perfect Labor Day weekend. Now on to our Florida trip to finish telling summer good-bye!

Starting LABOR Day Weekend Off Right

2011-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

Chris had Friday off, so we decided it was time to head down South and visit Paw Paw on the farm. I forgot my camera, so I didn't capture a lot of the fun we had, but I did get some of it with my phone camera. The boys had a good time collecting eggs, and I am enjoying the fruits of their labor with almost 200 eggs in my frig now! (thanks, Paw Paw!) They visited and fed a lot of the animals on the farm, rode the four wheeler, and they even got to see some of their cousins for a little bit.
We also made it down to the creek. It was Harper's first time to be down there, and after she realized all she needed to do was lay back and enjoy the ride in her boat, she was happy as can be. I think Owen preferred being around the animals and on the 4 wheeler, but he did enjoy floating down the creek with Chris and his big brother. Ethan, however, loved every minute of the water and enjoyed the rope swing. It's fun that they both have different aspects of the farm that they REALLY enjoy.

Artistic Spiderman

2011-08-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by Pinterest lately to do some re-decorating, and painting the kitchen was something I did two weekends ago. I also painted the chalkboard and cork board that were in the mudroom a cream color and then moved them into my new blue kitchen so the boys could draw on it. Ethan broke the chalkboard in by drawing me a picture. When he was done he said, "Mom this is a picture of you. It shows how I feel more in love with you every day." Ah, he's going to make some woman very happy one day with his romantic side. As long as she can handle his mood swings...

5 Months

2011-08-28T15:43:00.001-07:00

My girl is closer to 6 months now than 5 months, but better late than never, right?! It's been a fun last month as Harper is becoming more engaged with her surroundings. She's really close to rolling over, but lifting her head up seems to be a really big task thus far. (she graduated to the 60th percentile in head size at her 4 month check up...35th in weight and 20th in height) She still has refused to take a bottle, so I am attempting to get her to start a sippy cup. It's been our breakfast entertainment watching her try to get the cup to her mouth. The boys do not understand what is so difficult about it! She's obsessed with her hands and constantly has them in her mouth. I keep trying to give her a pacifier thinking it might be an easier habit to break, but she'll have nothing to do with it. She also seems like she has a lot to say if she could just get the words out. When someone talks to her, she gets her mouth all ready but all that comes out are coos. It's pretty cute. I am hearing that she looks a lot like Owen these days...with a smaller head. Thank the Lord.

The Many Faces of Ethan

2011-08-23T04:32:00.001-07:00

I found a good tutorial online on how to make eyes in pictures stand out/sparkle. The whole photography and image editing world is completely overwhelming at this point, but I decided I need to at least try it out. I asked my trusty model, Ethan, to head outside and strut his stuff so maybe I could get some good pictures of his eyes. (I promised a cookie if he would stand still and not keep running off) He's my very emotionally in-tuned child, so it was hilarious asking him to show me "sad"...give me "angry"...how about "happy"...."sad"..."scared"? (I've always thought him watching Thomas the Train and observing all their moods and faces helped develop this side of him, but Owen has watched the same thing and could care less about emotions. He seems to have two emotions: happy or really unhappy...) I'm not sure I got any stunning photographs, but I was able to start playing around with making his eyes stand out a bit more, and we both enjoyed a nice cookie after all the hard work!

Brothers

2011-08-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

The boys are having more and more fun playing together these days, but Ethan still is a bigger brother who enjoys getting a rise out of his little brother. This particular day they started out riding together and singing as they went down the street. Until Ethan started going down the driveways. Then anytime he'd go up an incline, Owen would freak out thinking he was about to fall out. Ethan would laugh a horrible laugh, Owen would scream...then they'd be fine...till the next driveway.
Harper is taking notes for now. I'm sure she'll put all that she's learning now to good use some day soon.

Grandma Debbie

2011-08-08T19:21:00.001-07:00

Chris' mom and her husband, Lynn, came to visit last weekend. They drove the "bus" here, and the boys thought it was the coolest thing being able to drive around in a vehicle with a bed, couch, kitchen and bathroom in it. That really is the way to travel! The boys loved playing on the bus and drinking peach water (a Grandma Debbie trademark drink). We had a fun Saturday that started out with crepes and smoothies at the Farmer's Market, and then the boys took Debbie and Lynn to the pool to show off their swimming skills. That afternoon a random rain shower hit, and the boys entertained us all with a dance party in the rain. It was so fun having them here and making memories! Now if we could only talk them into borrowing their bus to take a few trips of our own...

My boys

2011-08-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

It's been sooooo hot lately. We've stayed inside more than usual because of the heat, and it's been fun watching the boys entertain themselves and seeing just how different that looks for each of them. Regardless of the heat, Owen wants to be outside mowing or playing in the sandbox. This particular day he was playing "Dad" and was wearing his stuffed dog in his "moby wrap" (aka shirt) as he mowed. Ethan, however is completely content sitting inside imagining a whole world with his action figures or acting something out himself. As Owen was mowing, Ethan was pretending to be Han Solo in a blizzard looking for Luke Skywalker. It seemed a little weird getting all the hats and gloves out, but whatever it takes to help out his story!

Look out your window...are pigs flying?

2011-08-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

My mom is an amazing seamstress. She made me clothes growing up, and now she's making all her granddaughters adorable clothes. Since having a daughter of my own, something has sparked me to be creative in a new way, and I had an urge to learn to sew for the first time ever. (I never thought I'd say that. Ever.) While we were in Stillwater I had my mom teach me how to sew a VERY simple dress for Harper. It is by no means perfect, but it's a small step in learning! I put it on Harper to wear to church today, and it was fun seeing her wear something I'd made!

Mimi's & Papi's

2011-07-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

This past week Chris had a business trip, so I decided to take the kids to OK for a few days. It just so happened that Jon and Katie had a trip planned as well, so their three kids were already staying at my parents. I decided we could go "help out" with things, but I am not sure how much we helped out rather than adding to the chaos!

The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. My parent's family room was in a constant state of disarray as Jack and Ethan had chairs, tables and stools overturned to make camp sites, doctor's offices, and who knows what else. Claire and Owen actually played together for the first time too, and it was really, really cute. Owen had his lawn mower and Claire had her shopping cart, and I think they logged several miles going in circles over and over again around my parent's fireplace. They went on "dates" to get coffee and cupcakes (with sprinkles), and the last day was spent with Claire lying on the couch making a grocery list for Owen to go to the store for her. (I have no idea where they're seeing this modeled...)

We also spent a lot of time at the pool, although I wasn't brave enough to take my camera there to document it. The kids loved swimming, and I think my mom and I enjoyed having them get their energy out somewhere other than inside the house! My dad was wonderful as he watched the Lily and Harper while we went to the pool. The sweet younger girls spent a lot of time observing the craziness put on by their siblings!

My mom amazed me as she managed to feed all nine of us, keep a relatively clean house, AND teach me to sew all in the meantime. (I'll have to blog about that a little later) She's truly superwoman. Thanks mom for all that you did for us!

Harper is 4 Months Old

2011-07-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

My little lady is 4 months old - where is time going?!! She continues to be so easy and sweet... Her hands have become her new favorite toy, and when they're not in her mouth, they're grabbing for anything remotely close. She has started getting bored just laying around, so we put her in the bouncer and she has LOVED it. I think it helps that she can have a full view of what her brothers are doing... She's started belly laughing too, which has to be my favorite thing a baby does.
She's still sleeping like a champ at night, and we're starting to work on a little more consistent naps. The poor thing gets dragged all over in the mornings when there are things to do for her brothers; luckily she rolls with it pretty easily.
The "rolling with it" causes her to be tired some days, which is why she can fall asleep in the strangest positions. These are just a few of the places she's fallen asleep!

Bye-Bye Plugs

2011-07-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

It was a big week for Owen; he told his "plugs" (aka pacifiers) good-bye forever and ever. I think Chris and I dreaded getting rid of them more than Owen did. It had turned into a crutch for us when we needed him to be quiet and go to sleep. But after he cried for an hour in the car on the way back from Tulsa b/c he wanted a plug, I decided it was time to be done. We waited for a trash day so he could watch the trash man come and take them away. He loves watching the trash men anyway, and it was just a plus that someone else could be an unwitting scapegoat! We talked it up for a few days, and then on Thursday morning we collected all the plugs, put them in a baggy and I let Owen put them in the trash can. He waited all morning for the truck to come. His patience paid off; while he was playing at a neighbor's, he heard the truck and managed to see it take his plugs away. He was certainly a big talker as he told everyone his plugs were gone for ever and that he was a big boy now. That talk ended as soon as it was nap time. I'm pretty sure he cried for over an hour and it sounded something like this... "Me want my plugs! Me no like that trash guy! Bad trash guy! Me never sleep, ever ever again! Me need my plugs NOW!" I should have gotten some audio... That night it helped that he was over tired b/c he fell asleep pretty quickly...only to wake up a midnight crying. That lasted about a half an hour, and then he was done. The last two naps have gone smoothly, and last night he slept all night. It really wasn't as painful as I had anticipated, thank the Lord! Now on to potty training...yeah, right.

4th of July

2011-07-06T04:32:00.001-07:00

We had an incredibly fun and memorable July 4th holiday weekend this year. My dad's side of the family had its first ever reunion, and almost everyone on the Dodson side made it. (My rough estimate is that 37 people were there!) My cousin, Becky, and her husband, Brian, opening up their house to all the insanity, and fed us all almost every meal, had rooms/beds for three different families, clothed several kids, provided entertainment, and organized the entire weekend. (THANKS, Carlozzis!!!) It was so fun seeing all of the cousin's kids play together, and Owen even became very attached to a couple of my uncles. ("Hey, Unca Bob. What you doin'?") My kids had a blast with so many people to play with, fun things to do, LATE bedtimes, and great food to eat. (They now think that Sprite should come with every meal...) Even us "big cousins" were able to go out one night while our parents watched our 12 kids. It was a blast hanging out with everyone, and the major rain storm that we had to run back home in will forever be a fond memory. (minus my graceful run-in with a sidewalk that resulted in my sliding across concrete and almost breaking my toe!) I am so thankful for family, and it was such a good reminder that although it takes work to make things like this happen, it is so worth it for the memories and the relationships that get strengthened.
One of the things we did while we were there was go to the OKC zoo. I think the sea lion show was by far the boy's favorite thing, but they also really enjoyed seeing a lion up close, and they were pretty pumped to see a baby elephant too.
We came back the the afternoon of the 4th pretty much exhausted, but we made it to a cookout hosted by our friends the Walkers, and we came back to our driveway for some sparklers and to see some of the fireworks put on by the city. It truly was one of the best 4th of July holidays we've ever had!

The Kiddos

2011-07-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

The boys have really started playing together, and I love it! It's hilarious hearing their imaginations work together. They've been on a recent kick of "going camping". Owen packs all the food in his Thomas the Train back pack, and Ethan packs all the guns they'll need to protect themselves from "the bad guys". Last week they were "headed to the mountains" and they needed some hats and gloves. This is what they put together.
Harper has started cooing and chatting when someone talks to her. It's pretty cute. I think she has a lot to say...

Finally...

2011-06-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

Father's Day

2011-06-19T04:46:00.001-07:00

Growing up I was pretty sure I would never find a man that was as good of a dad as my dad was. In my eyes he was pretty much perfect, so any man I married had a lot to live up to! Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with an amazing Dad AND an amazing dad for my kiddos.

I have to admit, Chris blows me away at what an amazing father he is on almost a daily basis. When he comes home from work he is completely present. He engages the kids, plays with them, loves them, enjoys being around them, teaches them, and strives to continually to understand them so he can pray for them better. Going back through the last four and a half years of pictures, it was so fun to see all the memories the kids already have made with Chris. From playing together, having dance parties, taking naps together, swimming, boat rides, making chores seem like fun (ie: wearing a 30 pound toddler while mowing), having "guy's time" at Krispy Kreme, singing to his daughter, wiping tears, introducing Star Wars...I could go on... Basically, I want to thank Chris for being such an incredible dad to our kids! You are a true blessing to our family, and you're showing your kids a reflection of our heavenly Father's love. You rock. :)

Cousins

2011-06-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, Harper and I made a trip to Oklahoma to meet our newest niece/cousin, Mica Joy! It was kind of like a vacation for me with just one kid that didn't talk...the car ride there and back was SO quiet. It was so fun seeing Josh and Caylee and meeting Micah. Her and Harper could not look any less related at this point in their lives. Micah is long and lean with bright blue eyes and fair skin. Sweet Harper looked like a dark little butterball next to her cousin! They both managed to punch each other in the face in their first meeting, but I am sure they will become best of buds soon!
While Harper and I were gone, Chris and the boys had a "guy's weekend". It was full of tents, watching Star Wars and eating at Steak & Shake. This is the picture Chris sent me from his phone. I couldn't help but laugh...

3 Months & Strange Happenings

2011-06-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

My baby girl has been with us for three months now! I feel like every morning when I get her she's grown and changed since the night before. She's smiling all the time now, and she's even "talking" to us in sweet little "cooing" sounds. She's continued her "best sleeping baby" streak as she is now sleeping 11-12 hours every night. I still can't believe it. She's taking about three naps a day and goes down really easy. Thank you, Lord, for such an easy baby... She's becoming more aware of her hands and she's constantly trying to get them in her mouth. She's also started trying to grab the toys on her car seat. Having a girl is doing really weird things to me. I actually pulled out my sewing machine and sewed some baby leggings a few weeks ago. My friends, Shawn and Leslie, inspired me - thanks, guys! And then I started making hair flowers/clips. I admit, I am addicted... The ironic thing is that I hardly ever put them on Harper b/c they constantly end up in her eyes, but thankfully I have lots of friends with girls that I have been able to share them with! I've been eyeing a dress that is on Etsy that I think I may attempt to sew when I get my machine back from getting fixed. I'm not sure what's going on with me!!!

In motion

2011-06-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I like this picture, but I do. I love this little face.

It's the simple things...

2011-06-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

My Shadow...

2011-06-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

From an early age, Owen has not enjoyed being by himself. As a baby he wanted to be carried all the time, and as a 2 year old, he is always at my side wanting to help out. It's taken me a little bit to get used to this as Ethan has always been content playing by himself. I've had to get creative in finding ways for Owen to "help" and still get things done. He decided since I was on my computer one morning that he should have a computer himself. This was his creation... The whole time he was working, he was talking about selling gum and candy (his dad's job as far as he knows).
Owen sticking to my side doesn't just limit itself to the house either. He generally stays busy in my general vicinity mowing or weed eating when we're at the park, in the front yard, etc. His buddy Elli is very similar with her mom, but I think they may have turned a new leaf as they both decided that playing together might not be a bad idea! This was very exciting for us moms. It was pretty cute watching them hold hands playing in the water. They were a smaller version of Ethan and Elli's big sister, Gracie. (Ethan's already claimed undying love for Gracie.) Maybe we should arrange a double wedding...

Road Trippin' to see the Granparents

2011-06-02T04:23:00.001-07:00

Harper took her first trip down to Mulberry last week. It was very impromptu, but Chris was out of town, and we had the third round of bad tornadoes coming through. (Chris has impeccable timing being gone during bad weather...he's missed the last three major blizzards in the last two years!) I generally do not get too nervous about tornadoes after growing up in "tornado alley", but after seeing Joplin AND having three kids of my own, it's a little more sobering. So, we decided to head south and spend the night with Paw Paw and his partially underground house. It was quite the adventure as he was in the middle of having most of his floors redone, but we made due and made some memories in the process! Chris' brother's family spent the night there too, so we were on mattresses in halls, bathrooms and the laundry room. I didn't sleep much, but we were safe. AND the boys got to take 4-wheeler rides the next day with Paw Paw to see all the animals, so in their mind it was the perfect trip.
Last weekend was Chris and I's 7 year anniversary, so we made a quick trip to Stillwater so my parents could watch the kids while we celebrated. We were able to eat an amazing dinner just the two of us and carry on an entire conversations without being interrupted! So nice! We then got Harper who stayed at the hotel with us since she's still not a fan of the bottle, but she was a gem and slept till 7 that next morning. (it's funny how perspective changes...now it's a vacation having just one kid and "sleeping in" till 7!) The three of us had a big buffet breakfast, I was able to take a jog around my alma mater's campus, and I even went back to bed just because I could! I think Harper enjoyed the day too b/c she was the center of attention and didn't get mauled once! It really was a relaxing 17 hours. Thanks, mom and dad, for taking care of the boys and letting us do that!

Catching up...

2011-05-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

I've had a hard time keeping up with the fun events in our world lately. I've lost my camera, but I finally got all the pictures off of my phone and onto my computer. The kids are doing great. It feels like we're starting to get into the groove of things somewhat. The boys still adore their sister, and I am still saying "GENTLE" about a million times a day. She gets this look on her face like she's bracing herself for some pummeling whenever they get close.
A splash park that is about a half a mile from our house opened up two weeks ago, and I am pretty sure it's going to be my favorite place to go to this summer. Water and no fear of drowning. Sign me up! The boys have loved it so far, and I am still finding it very entertaining watching them get sprayed in the face and then squeal in delight.
Grandma Debbie came into town last weekend to watch the kids while Chris and I went to The Heart Gala. While she was here, we enjoyed taking her out for a belated Mother's Day breakfast, and the boys tried to steal every minute of playing with her that they could. Harper also got some good bonding time with Grandma as she waited up for me to come home that night and feed her! (we've got to work on taking a bottle)
It's been really fun watching the boys become friends lately. They most definitely have their moments, but overall they've really seemed to enjoy playing together as we've been at home more than usual. They love pretending to be the Kratt Brothers (characters from a PBS show) and becoming different animals. They've recently been setting up campsites all over the house, complete with "food" and tents. We found them a few mornings ago out of their beds (before they were supposed to be), hiding behind their curtains, "camping" together. It was pretty hard to get on to them because they were so cute together! I pray they continue to be friends as they grow up...

She loves her Daddy...

2011-05-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

2 Months Old

2011-05-16T05:06:00.001-07:00

My little girl turned two months old this weekend. It's gotten to the point where I can't remember life without her around. She's continued to be the best baby ever. In fact she slept from 8:00 to 4:30 this morning for me, and I had to give her a big 'ole kiss for that. Last week she started smiling - one of my favorite milestones. We still have to work at earning it a little, but the work is definitely is worth it! She's working at getting her hands into her mouth...it looks more like she's punching herself in the face! And this past weekend she was left with her first baby sitter. Chris and I had a "gala/event" to go to, so we called in Grandma Debbie to watch the kids. (I'm still not ready for just anyone to watch my baby girl!) Harper did great, but she didn't take a bottle...she is not a fan. We may need to start working on that...

A Good Weekend

2011-05-02T13:23:00.001-07:00

We had a fun and full weekend this past weekend. It started out on Friday afternoon with a Family Day at Chris' work. The boys had a blast eating cotton candy, hot dogs, and candy, as well as playing basketball and jumping in a jump house. They know how to do it right over at Kraft. Saturday morning was the Race for the Cure. Chris' mom is a breast cancer survivor, so we all wanted to support the cause. I had to go early to meet some friends, and Chris, being the super dad that he is, managed to get out the door with all three kids and to the race by 7:30 that morning. Yes, he is amazing! The turn out was incredible, and it was so fun walking with family and friends. The rest of the day was beautiful, and the boys spent pretty much all of it outside mowing, weed-eating and playing with the neighbors. I was able to get dinner that night with some friends, and then Sunday was spent catching up on sleep.
Harper joined in on most of the festivities. She got a great nap while Chris wore her for the walk! I am so thankful for how easy she has been. She had her 6 week check up this past week, and she's up to 10 pounds (mostly in her cheeks!).

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T04:25:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday was a bit insane because Chris had to help set up at church. I didn't manage to get a picture of the kids before we (barely) made it out the door, and by the time we got home they were ready to be done with dressing up. BUT I did manage to get a few quick pictures...much to their disdain! We also were able to start the tradition of "resurrection rolls". (you put marshmellows dipped in butter and sugar and wrap them in crescent rolls. Bake them and the marshmellow melts...similar to Jesus' body leaving the burial cloths...) Anyway, the boys loved making them and thought it was so crazy that the marshmellows were gone. It provided a great way to talk about Jesus' resurrection from the dead! (and they tasted really good too!) We had Easter dinner with our buds the Harris' later that evening, but I forgot my camera. So sad!

Healthy

2011-04-25T04:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a good last two weeks as we've all enjoyed being healthy. The boys seem to be adjusted to our new way of life for the most part. They're back to their goofy selves... Owen continues to crack us up as he is always in his own little world. He does not seem to care one bit about playing with other kids - he's always on his own mission of grilling, mowing or doing something productive. Ethan continues to be my little melancholy artist...he's started drawing again, and he can entertain himself for hours as he plays with his "action figures" or pretends to be a Wild Kratt (his newest television obsession). Harper has started sleeping in her crib, finally, and seems to be getting into a nice little routine. She loves laying on the floor and watching everything around her. It's nice having a baby that's content by herself since I have two others to keep up with!
Two weekends ago, my wonderful friends threw Harper a beautiful baby shower. The food was amazing, it was decorated beautifully, and it was so fun getting baby girl clothes! Harper and I felt very loved! Thanks, guys!
That same weekend, we threw our neighbors the Chuas a going-away-cookout. They have lived here the past year for a job, but it was time for them to head back to San Francisco. We had a great time eating good food, watching the neighborhood girls put on a show for us, and talking with our neighbors.

1 Month Old

2011-04-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Wow...what a blur the last month has been! Harper has had an eventful first month of life! It started out with the day after she was born, Owen got a stomach bug and was really sick for 24 hours. Thankfully, the rest of us stayed healthy, but it was an adventure juggling a throwing up toddler, a doctor visit, and a day old baby. She had her Mimi stay the first week of her life with us, and we all were VERY sad to see Mimi go. Chris took a couple days off after my mom left, and when he went back to work the three kids and I braved our first major outing to Jump Zone. It went swimmingly...until a day later when we realized that Ethan and two other kids we were there with came down with a stomach bug from hell. It took Ethan six days to be able to keep any fluid in him, and in the meantime he passed it on to Chris and Owen. In between nursing Harper, I was doing laundry and disinfecting like a mad woman! Chris lost 8 pounds in three days, and at one point said, "I think this is the hardest week of our marriage." Good times. After 10 days of the horrid illness, we managed to get into the swing of things. The one thing I can say from that time was that it makes having three HEALTHY kids seem really easy! I guess it's all about perspective!

In between all the sickness, Harper had her first photo shoot. I had never done infant pictures of the boys, so I thought it would be fun to at least do one thing new with my third born! Harper was a little champ during the hour shoot. She did leave her mark though...I had left the room to get Owen and came back to the photographer holding Harper while covered in Harper's poop. She'd managed to cover the back drop and everything! I guess what do you expect when you put a naked baby on a heating pad for over an hour, huh?!? We did get some incredible pictures. Thanks, Chelsea, and sorry about your clothes and blanket!

The boys seem to be acclimating pretty well. They both adore their little sister. Owen calls her "Harper Waine, my baby sister", and Ethan is constantly laying next to her talking to her and patting her belly. She is going to be one taken care of little girl. She has already been accidentally stepped on (just her hand), been introduced to light saber action, and lightly punched (all in fun, of course), so she's going to have to be really tough too.

Harper has been such a sweet and easy baby. Really all she does is eat, sleep and make lots of grunting noises. She's very content laying in her bouncy seat watching the boys or sleeping. She's gained weight like a champ - at her 2 week check she weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and then at her month check she weighed 9 lbs 1 oz. All our hard work is paying off! The last two nights she's even stretched her sleeping out so she's waking up at 1 am and then at 5 am. I can do that! I am finally starting to get comfortable with all the accessories that go with a little girl..sort of. I haven't ventured into tights or bloomers yet, but I have loved the little head bands that she wears. Baby steps, I guess. :) It's still a little surreal that I have a daughter, but I am loving every minute of it so far!

Can you tell which one is which?

2011-04-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing that Harper looks a lot like her brothers. Mostly Ethan. I have seen some Owen in her too, so out of curiousity I decided to find pictures of them them all about the same age. This is all three kids at about 10 days old. I had forgotten that the boys did have some hair at that age - I just hope Harper keeps hers as opposed to going for the "old man" look!

The first two weeks...

2011-04-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Harper's 2 week birthday, and it's been a fun last two weeks getting to know her. My parents left last weekend, and Chris went back to work on Tuesday, so the boys and I are working at figuring out how to function with me waaay outnumbered now! It's been a really good week - we've had enough low key things to do so we don't go completely crazy being inside. Harper is settling in to somewhat of a schedule, and thanks to her sweet dad, I am figuring out to get chunks of sleep at night. (She is so loud that Chris takes her to a different room to sleep...he can amazingly sleep through anything!)

Harper had her two week check up yesterday with Jennifer, and she's doing great. She now weighs 7 pounds 8 ounces...all our hard work is paying off! She had new born pictures taken this week too. She did great until the end when she pooped all over the photographer. Awesome. She is having more periods of awake time, and she has a lot to soak in with her brothers running all over the place. They still adore her, thankfully!

Harper Laine

2011-03-28T08:41:00.001-07:00

Harper Laine made her appearance into the world last week on March 19th at 7:08 in the morning! She weighed 6 pounds and 4 ounces, and everything about her birth was a testament to God's goodness and grace. We are in complete awe of how He worked out every little detail that we had been praying over...

The 19th was the date of the "super moon", and we had joked around how that would be what Harper to make her arrival. Well, I woke up about midnight and couldn't go back to sleep. At about 2:00 I felt a small pop and then my water broke. This was such a good sign because with a "false alarm" a few days earlier we were really hesitant to call our midwife and my parents and have everyone head this way yet again only to send them home. Water breaking was a pretty sure thing! Amazingly, after my water broke my contractions really didn't pick up for two hours. We were expecting fast and furious, but this was a blessing because it gave everyone time to get on the road, and it allowed me to get my head around what was happening. We pretty much took it easy until 4:00 and that's when it got fun. :)

My contractions really weren't horrible for the first hour or so. They came at about 10 minutes apart and lasted a minute and a half. About 5:30 I started getting weepy and I knew that we were entering "transition". I got into the tub shortly after that, and then my parents arrived shortly thereafter. I couldn't believe they made it...I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that they wouldn't be there, but God was good! I started pushing around 6:15, I think. It's the first time I didn't have doctors or nurses telling me I could/couldn't/when to push, and it was the best feeling to just allow my body to do the work when it was ready. The closer we got to 7:00, the more nervous I was that the boys were going to wake up and wonder what was going on. Owen consistently wakes up at 6:30, but this morning both boys didn't make a peep till 7:15. Seven minutes after Harper joined us. They were able to get out of bed, meet their new sister, and then go down stairs to my dad making them breakfast. Another "thank you, Lord!". When Harper did make her arrival, it was amazing seeing Jennifer catch her and then lay her in my arms. Once she got her first breath, I then allowed myself to make sure she was a girl, and that was a very cool moment. I have a daughter! Looking back, this was by far the best birthing experience I've had.

The after birth part was pretty crazy - in a good way. I was able to get into my own bed and let the midwives take care of me and Harper. I was really concerned about bleeding afterward b/c that would be the main reason we might need to transport to the hospital, but again, the Lord took care of that. My midwife said she'd never seen so little bleeding in the 350 babies she'd delivered. Craziness. Recovery this time around has been so easy, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I have been able to do it all in my own home.
Chris' dad was the first family to make it in to meet Harper, and I think she slept in his arms most of her first afternoon of life. Jon, Katie and kiddos showed up later that afternoon, and the boys were thrilled to have their cousins there to play with. Grandma Debbie wasn't able to come till a little later, but the boys hogged every minute of her time that she wasn't holding Harper!
With the first week under our belt, I fall a little more in love with my little lady every day. She's been SO easy. She is eating well, and sleeps well. When she gets hungry she starts grunting, which I prefer to crying, and her brothers adore her. They both have gotten really upset when she starts crying or seems to be in uncomfortable. I can only hope that this nurturing spirit continues!

Thank you to all who prayed with us. Seeing God answer our prayers even down to the little detail was so humbling. We feel so blessed to have this new little member in our family, and I look forward to posting many more entries about Harper Laine!

It has to be a girl...

2011-03-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week as we wait for the arrival of Harper. She woke me up Sunday morning with an hour and a half of contractions, but they then stopped. Owen did the same thing only to come two days later, so we assumed we had a little bit of time. My parents were driving back from St Louis on Sunday and decided to come here just in case. Of course nothing happen Sunday or Monday night. I had my weekly appointment with Jennifer, my midwife, last night and we decided to give it another night before my parents headed back home. Harper woke me up at midnight and I started having contraction that last two minutes long, and this went on for two and half hours. We called Jennifer, woke up my mom, and decided this was the morning we'd get to meet Harper. Owen's labor was only 4 hours long, so we've been expecting something fast. Wrong. Harper is apparently not done primping. My labor stopped about 3:30 this morning... I'm dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced but she's so low Jennifer said it would really only take a few good contractions and two good pushes for her to come out.

So we wait.

Happiness

2011-03-10T04:27:00.000-08:00

I wasn't paying attention while cleaning up dinner last night, and this is what I found when I turned around...one happy, naked boy on his "way to WalMart". He wasn't sure what I found so funny.

Home birth is a go...

2011-03-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

We had our 36 week risk assessment appointment yesterday, and everything looks good for us to have Harper at home! The doctor said her head was so low that he couldn't really tell how dilated/effaced I was, but he didn't think it would be long before she made her arrival. He also mentioned being somewhat concerned that our midwife might not make it in time on several occasions. He told Chris to call him and he'd talk him through delivering the baby. Awesome. She's still "sunny side up", so we're praying that she flips before I go into labor... We set up the birthing tub last night, and while we were waiting for it to fill up, I decided to snap a few "belly shots". I can't believe I am posting them, but Leslie, I promised. :)

2011-03-05T05:18:00.000-08:00

I am finally starting to understand how to channel Owen's desire to be doing something productive... Ethan has always played well by himself, and I haven't known what to do with Owen never leaving my side. Well, I finally had the idea to have him set the table for me. He set it plate by plate, and fork by fork, and was SO proud of himself. Now I just need to teach him how to really cook, and then I can stay out of the kitchen...

Let the coutdown begin...

2011-03-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

Both boys have had their birthdays, and now it's time to think about Harper Laine Hoyle's birth day. If we are on the same delivery time frame as the boys were, we're looking at her coming around the 15th of this month. That's really soon... It seems like it's taken forever to get to this point, but now the time is flying by!

We had our home visit with our midwife last night. She came to see the house and where we're planning on doing most of the "work". We have all our birth supplies ready to go, and we will be picking up the birth tub this week... My "to do" list is virtually complete, and I all have yet to do is hang pictures on the nursery wall. This coming Monday is our 36 week risk assessment with my regular Doctor, and once he gives the "thumbs up", we're free to move forward with a home birth. It's still a little surreal to me that we're planning on having our baby at home, honestly. My biggest prayer right now is that the Lord will give Dr J discernment and wisdom to see if there any reason for us not to do this at home. But with his blessing (and lots of peace from the Lord), we feel really comfortable with our choice to have a home birth, and I am so incredibly excited to not have to drive to a hospital again in the middle of hard labor. We also adore our midwife, so that helps!

I am really curious to see how much I have progressed when I see Dr J next week. When our midwife palpated the baby last night, she said that Harper was verrrry low (I was not surprised) and probably at station zero. She also found it quite funny that the baby is measuring at about 5 pounds, but the head is measuring at the size of 7 pound baby. Awesome. The Dodson head prevails yet again... I guess it's a blessing that I go early b/c I cannot fathom delivering a big baby with a bigger head!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Owen!

2011-02-25T04:27:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Owen's 2nd birthday last weekend, and it was the hardest party I've ever planned! Ethan has always had very focused, pretty conventional passions (ie: super heros, sports, etc), so I knew exactly what kind of party he's wanted. With Owen, though, it was hard to plan a lawnmower, grilling or cooking themed party! I ended up doing a "decorate your own cupcake party" with party favor aprons for the kids to wear, fun boxes to take your creations home in, and cupcake toppers of all things that Owen likes.
The highlight of Owen's day was getting a toy grill from his Grandma Debbie. He hardly left it to play with anyone else at the party, and anytime anyone would get close to the grill he'd yell, "No touch! Hot! Back out." He still won't let anyone near it... We finished the day off with a "cactor" (tractor) ride with my dad. I think Chris hopes his passion for lawn mowing continues WAY into his teenaged years.

It's hard to believe my "baby" is 2 now. He's been so fun to watch grown and get to know. Happy birthday, buddy!

Mud

2011-02-17T04:52:00.001-08:00

The two feet of snow we got last week is virtually gone now. We've had 60 degree weather that has contributed to the rapid melting, and now we're left with mud everywhere! In Owen's opinion, mud is much more fun to play in than snow. He has an uncanny ability to find the biggest mud puddle and head straight for it. This particular day, he found so much joy in walking through it, I decided not to care. Sure enough, 45 minutes later and soaked clothes, he was one happy and muddy guy.

Snow Days

2011-02-10T12:38:00.001-08:00

It's been snowing a lot around here in the last two weeks. I think the combined total of accumulation is 26". That's crazy for us Southerners. Chris has been out of town for all of it, and so the boys and I have had to be very creative surviving without being able to get out and do things. We've gotten several projects done while it's been snowy. The boys each painted their own canvas to hang up in their rooms. It was funny seeing their personalities come out in their paintings. Owen was done after about 5 minutes and was ready to go back to "cooking". He could not stand to have paint on his hands at all. Ethan took about 45 minutes and covered his entire canvas (and himself) in red paint. He had a whole story about how it's a view of Europe from outer space... They've also developed a new favorite game of getting every single cushion and pillow in the house and putting them all over the living room floor. They spent an entire morning in their pjs (and then underwear) running back and forth over the pillows. Whatever it takes, as far as I'm concerned! The past two weeks have also made me incredibly thankful for such amazing neighbors. Two different neighbors shoveled our driveway, which was a huge blessing for this pregnant lady. And I know the three of us wouldn't have survived without having several shared meals and play dates with the Crawford clan. What do people do in times like this when they don't have friends on the same street?!?

23 Months

2011-02-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

As I am typing this entry, I can hear Owen in his bed alternating between singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" at the top of his lungs and yelling for his brother to wake up... (Amazingly, Ethan appears to still be asleep.) It's been another fun month with Owen. He survived his traumatic face plant into a paint can, and his face seems to be healing up really well. He still enjoys telling the story of the incident..."Brother hug. Fall. Bonk paint can. Cry." His poor Sunday school teacher heard that over and over again... He's started calling me "Cat Hoyle". There's nothing like hearing him yell, "Cat Hoyle. Come!" when he needs something. His stubbornness and single-mindedness continue to amaze me - he's virtually impossible to distract when he's got his mind set on something! That is balanced out, though, by his charm...he can make you feel like a million bucks when he says your name, runs up to you and asks for a hug and kiss. He also has yet to meet a stranger. I am starting to worry about his transition when his baby sister comes... He slept in the crib the other day when he wasn't feeling well, and when I went to get him out I told him we were done sleeping in Harper's bed. He looked at me, yelled, and then said, "No baby Harper. Me push her out. Punch. MY crib." Lovely.

4 Years of Ethan

2011-01-29T07:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was Ethan's 4th birthday, and it's hard to believe how fast 4 years has flown by. My firstborn has changed my life probably more dramatically than anything else ever has... It's been so fun to watch his passions shift from sports to superheroes to Star Wars, his artistic talent grown, and his imagination run wild. He's guarded around new people and new situations, but he's super loyal and loves new experiences with a little prodding. He's not overly affectionate, but when he is, you know he means it! Oh, and he's a total sucker for blonds. I have watched in complete amazement my little, reserved son go completely goofy the minute he sees a cute blond girl. At one point he was even running in circles hitting himself on the head. Not something this mom is ready for! I'm so excited to see him continue to develop and see how the Lord uses and molds his character.
To celebrate Ethan's birthday, we kicked off the day with his choice of breakfast: biscuits and bacon. We then had family come for lunch. He requested everything-bagels with cream cheese and turkey, and salt and vinegar chips for lunch. (he's definitely my kid!) He had a blast playing with his grandparents and cousins before his party...
Since his 3 year birthday party was canceled due to the flu, we decided to "do it big" and have a super hero party at Jump Zone. It was hilarious watching three Spidermen walk in the door together and have no clue who the kid was underneath! I think all the kids had fun running around, and Ethan definitely enjoyed all his friends and family in one place showering him with gifts. I think we all left completely wiped out but with lots of good memories. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a special day!

January

2011-01-22T04:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a fast and interesting month so far... With the cold weather, we've more time indoors than we normally do. It's been really good for me to get stuff done around the house, and the boys have really seemed to enjoy playing together. Well, most of the time!

We had an exciting first of the month as Ethan went to the ER for the first time. He was standing on a toilet to reach the sink when he fell and hit his head. He was with a sitter, so we weren't for sure how bad it was, but that night he woke up throwing up. His eyes were fine, and to confuse the matter, Owen had thrown up two days prior due to a stomach bug. He was fine the next morning, but I still called our pediatrician who asked us to go to the ER to have him checked out. So, we spent 3 hours as a family at the local hospital. Ethan thought it was great...he got to eat food from a vending machine, watch tv and hang out with his dad. The ER is a pretty cool place in his mind! After he was checked out, the results were "inconclusive"... And just yesterday, I was sure Owen was going to head to the ER for stitches. He and Ethan after playing in the snow were hugging each other by the door while I was grabbing the last of the toys outside. The hug turned into a tackle, and Ethan fell on his back with Owen on top. Owen's face hit a paint can and blood was EVERYWHERE. I know that head wounds bleed worse than they are, but it's a different story when your baby is bleeding all over the place. Luckily, our favorite nurse/next door neighbor was home and checked him out. No stitches were needed, and he now looks like Rocky. I am so not ready for more "boy" accidents that I know are coming in the future...
We've had a lot of sword fights around here this month too. Ethan's latest obsession is Star Wars, so he dresses up as Luke and Owen is Yoda. Other than sword fighting, Owen's passion is cooking again. He does not play with any toys...just my entire kitchen. He will get every pot, pan, lid, spatula, bowl, etc and make biscuits, burgers or smoothies. (those are his specialties) It drove me crazy to have everything spread out all over the floor, but since it makes him so happy, I have given up the battle!
We've also enjoyed the snow that showed up this week. I've decided it's A LOT of working making snow play happen, but I guess those 10 minutes of happiness are worth it! Owen was not a fan of stuff at first, but once he saw that you could eat it, he was content sitting and eating snow. Ethan had no qualms about it; he jumped right into the first pile and made a snow angel. It was also very entertaining watching the neighborhood kids have a snow ball fight.

Christmas Part 2...finally....

2011-01-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

Nothing like almost a month after Christmas getting pictures posted! I think the first phase of nesting has hit me b/c I've been in a frenzy working around the house rather than doing things at the computer!
We headed down to Mulberry to celebrate Christmas with Greg and Kerri on the night of the 23rd. Kerri always has an amazing spread of food and a fun game of "white elephant" to play. Owen was more excited to hold the kitty than anything else. Christmas Eve was pretty low key... Paw Paw worked all afternoon on a fabulous dinner, and we enjoyed family over for games.
Christmas day was spent with Chris' mom. Things were a little different since Nanny wasn't with us this year, but we still had a great time eating wonderful food, playing Bingo and opening gifts.

We went to Stillwater the following weekend to celebrate a late Christmas with my family. The flu bug hit Jon and Katie's family this time (we had it Thanksgiving), so it was a really short trip. But we still managed to see everyone and enjoy the time together. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of it!

Christmas Part 1

2011-01-09T04:58:00.000-08:00

We celebrated four different times for Christmas, so it's taking awhile to get all the pictures from different cameras into one place. (pictures from the grandparents to come...) We kicked off the holiday with our family of four on the night of the 22nd... We had the grand plan of getting the boys in the matching "Christmas pajamas", making hot chocolate for us all, and driving around looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. The idea was a little better in our heads...the boys thought the hot chocolate was too hot and we heard about it the whole time while we were in the car. Owen couldn't get enough of Frosty the Snowman; every time we'd see one he'd start asking for more. I think by the end of the ride he was screaming "FROSTY" at the top of his lungs over and over. And Ethan was "bored" (I hate that word!) 10 minutes into our drive. It's up for debate if we'll ever do that again... The next morning went exceedingly better. The boys were so excited to see their gifts, and they loved everything they got. Ethan's favorite gift was not the Leapster video game that I was just sure he'd love though...his favorite was his Batman sticker book. Note to self... Owen, of course, loved all his Yoda stuff, but his car was the big hit. The morning took a Star Wars theme (much to Chris' delight)... It was really fun this year having both boys involved in opening gifts and helping make our traditions more memorable. It's hard to believe next year there will be another little personality in the mix!

21 and 22 Months

2010-12-20T11:56:00.001-08:00

Poor Owen is getting months lumped together...I cannot imagine how it will look with Kid #3! Six months at a time?!

It's been a fun and somewhat challenging last two months with my beloved 2nd born. His vocabulary is expanding like crazy, and it's hilarious the words he's saying. My favorite being "Wuv woo!" when he's pretending to leave for work. Not so favorite is "Fight. Die!" I can't imagine where he's picked that one up. He's still very affectionate and I love cuddling with him after naps. He's really started exerting his will, and he's proving to be even more opinionated and stubborn than his big brother. We're convinced that once these traits are channeled in the right direction, they'll be strengths...right??! Some funny quirks of his:

- He LOVES carrying around his soon-to-be little sister's dress...he doesn't try to wear it (thankfully), he just wants to "hold it". I keep putting it back in the closet, but he knows where to find it and is not happy till it's in his hands.
- He now has a strong opinion on what shoes he wears. Rather than wear any of the new shoes I bought him, he wants to wear Ethan's old Nike tennis shoes. He calls them "Runnin' shoes".
- He's really become attached to Frosty the Snowman. He is constantly asking for the Frosty song to be played, and tears ensue when when it doesn't come on.
- He loves to dress up - just not as super heroes. Currently being a frog is his favorite.
- He likes to tell people to "COME!". When he's on the phone with my mom or dad, he'll very adamantly say, "Papi/Mimi, COME!". He can't understand why they don't suddenly show up at our door!
- He's constantly spanking his bunny rabbit and telling it to obey. Hmmm...

We're approaching 2 years old, and it's been so fun watching Owen become his own little person! I'm so thankful for my Owen Christopher!

December thus far...

2010-12-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy month so far with parties and all the fun festivities that come with December. The boys kicked the month off with making a gingerbread train. It was a good exercise in self restraint for me letting them do all the work...my Type A personality started to show very quickly!
We also went to the annual Downtown Parade with our friends, the Crawfords and Miss Pattie. In spite of the FREEZING weather, the boys enjoyed watching the floats go by and getting candy thrown at them. Owen was pretty much done with the parade and his puffy jacket the minute we got there, but he managed to stay in one piece for the whole thing...
My mom came in town and watched the boys for us while Chris and I went to his Christmas party... I decided the beauty of being pregnant during Christmas parties is that I don't have to worry about "sucking in" while wearing a dress, but all in all, I'd much rather be wearing pajama pants!

This past Monday we had a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party, and I have to say I was so very impressed with my amazing momma friends! It started out as a simple kid's Christmas party and it quickly evolved into a serious extravaganza!!! We have four "stations" of activities, a birthday cake for Jesus, food provided by the wonderful Miss Pattie, a Veggie Tale Christmas cartoon, and a gift exchange...
My friend Kari and I manned the cookie decorating table. I'm pretty sure more candy and icing went into mouths than did on the cookies, but the kids didn't seem to care! My favorite was watching Chaucer lick the table clean.
Two other moms worked the ornament making table, and all the kids had adorable ornaments to hang out the tree when they got home.
The third station was music and the story of Jesus' birth... I didn't get to hear much of the singing, but what I did hear was pretty cute. And the fourth station, of which I didn't get pictures, was a gift/box stacking game. I think the knocking down of the gifts was the best part.
After a wonderful lunch, we sang Jesus happy birthday, and the kids enjoyed some more sugar. We then opened gifts from the kids that drew each others names. All the kids seemed to love what they were given, and they were hilarious watching them show their friends their new toys.
I have to say that we are so very blessed to have such good friends. I could not survive momma-hood with the women that put this event on, and I am so glad that the boys are seeing what true friendship looks like at such an early age. We all joked that we're going to have to rent a place out next year because none of us have a place big enough to host the expanding group!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving went a little different that we'd planned this year. It all started the Friday BEFORE when Ethan woke up in middle of the night throwing up... Of course my parents were in town (this is the FOURTH time we've been with them at the start of a stomach bug...) As Ethan started to recover, Owen got it and was throwing up by Monday morning. Chris wrapped it up by getting sick Wednesday morning. It's the total grace of God I didn't get sick b/c I was immersed in bodily fluids for almost a week. (gross, I know) We didn't want to get my family sick, so we decided to enforce a self imposed quarantine till Friday morning. I was really sad knowing my whole family was together for Thanksgiving without us, but we made the best of it. Ethan watched all of the Thanksgiving Day Parade while Chris and Owen put up the Christmas tree. We had a turkey lunch at Mimi's Cafe (quite ironic since we were supposed to eat at the REAL Mimi's house!), and we were all in bed by 8 that night!
I was determined to see my family if even for a little bit, so we were out the door by 7:15 Friday morning heading to Stillwater. We managed to get about 30 minutes with Josh and Caylee before they had to head back to St Louis, and we even got a family picture to document our brief time together!
We managed to get several activities all crammed into Friday and Saturday. Papi helped the boys cut rifles out of wood, he took all the grandkids went out for donuts, and (Owen's favorite) they all went for a lawnmower around the yard.
Mimi of course had tons of great food, loved on us all, managed to get the Christmas tree put up in spite of the "help" from the grandkids, and took Katie and I for coffee and shopping.

Even though things turned out differently than planned, I was still thankful for such a fun, memorable time with the family. We are so incredibly blessed!

It's a Girl! We're pretty sure...

2010-11-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

We had another ultrasound this past Friday, thanks to our favorite Dr Karns, and we basically got the same results as the week before. Sigh. I really wouldn't be concerned if I didn't know two people who had multiple ultrasounds and ended up having a baby of the opposite gender! I've been practicing saying, "We're having a girl", and I have received my first two girl clothing items. I even bought a cute dress online last night when I was ordering a gift for my new niece. So, I am taking baby steps into "pink waters" and praying that I really get to use the cute clothes and girly nursery! Since I cleaned out Owen's closet and moved him into Ethan's room, the nursery is really looking empty. The two lone girl items are just the beginning of some fun shopping!

Just like Daddy

2010-11-29T13:03:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Chris' dad brought us a TON of Chris' clothes, toys, and memorabilia from when he was growing up. We've had a lot of fun going through it all and coming across some very exciting finds. Chris was thrilled beyond belief to find his missing box of baseball and basketball cards, while I was excited to get some very vintage clothes for the boys! There were some really fun shirts and jeans that looked like a lot of the clothes that are in style now. We had fun dressing up this morning seeing what would fit... Amazingly, I think Chris was skinnier than the boys are!

Bunkbeds!

2010-11-28T19:31:00.000-08:00

I had truly expected this post to be much more entertaining...or to at least have a good story or two...but amazingly enough, it's been pretty uneventful around here with two boys sharing a bed room! We got the bunk beds a few weeks ago and went back and forth on when we were going to transition Owen from his crib to Ethan's room. We tried him in the bunk once, and he was totally for it until the light went off. Tears ensued along with cries of, "No bunk beds. Crib!". Last weekend, though, I got some sort of nesting bug and moved all of Owen's clothes over to Ethan's closet. I guess Owen decided that he needed to move too. He grabbed his plug, blanket, and animals, and climbed up on his bed. He hasn't gone back to the crib since. I was SO nervous that they would wake each other up. I hardly slept the first night listening for Ethan to yell out he had to go potty or something. But like my other friends had told me, they can sleep through anything! Owen has since thrown up in the middle of the night, Ethan has had nightmares, and the other one hasn't moved. Needless to say, I have been very encouraged. It's still a little weird walking by an empty nursery. I almost got a little sad the other night, but then I remembered that we will be filling it up in about three and a half months, and I wasn't sad anymore. Just thankful for a full night's rest!

Silver Dollar City 2010

2010-11-22T05:28:00.000-08:00

We took our traditional family trip to SDC last weekend to see the Christmas lights and do some Christmas shopping. The weather could not have been nicer on Friday when we went to the park. (last year it was barely 30 degrees...this year is was a balmy 75)
Ethan is finally tall enough to ride the kid rides; unfortunately, Owen is not, and he was not happy about it. Chris and Ethan went on a few rides while Owen and I waited.
We spent most of our time in the "tree house" area where the boys climbed, went down slides, and play in the ball area. I kept wishing we had something like that closer to our house...we'd have a good nap time everyday!
We also took the traditional Christmas train ride and heard the Christmas story. Owen was so excited about the "choo choo". We stayed long enough to eat dinner, drink some wassail and catch the parade with the Christmas tree lighting. The boys were more than exhausted at that point...Owen was asleep before we left the parking lot!

The next morning we enjoyed breakfast with our buddies, the Harris', and then we all went for a swim in the indoor pool. We attempted the outlet mall briefly, but it was INSANE. All in all, it was the perfect little family trip!

It's a...

2010-11-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

...a healthy baby! Yes, that's right, we still do not know the gender of Baby #3. We had our ultrasound this past Friday, complete with grandparents in attendance, but this baby decided to be either shy or stubborn (or both). As we kept looking for some clear indicators, I kept thinking, "This has to be a girl. She's already giving me grief!". The doctor worked for about 30 minutes trying to get a clear shot, and from what we could see there were no "boy parts"...but there were no super clear "girl parts" either. We were told we could go out and start buying pink things but to leave the tags on. Not the answer I was looking for! Thankfully, our dear friend Dr Karns has agreed to do an ultrasound this coming week when we're in Stillwater for Thanksgiving. Hopefully then Baby will be a little more cooperative. I seriously have some shopping to do if this is a girl!

Even though we didn't find out the gender as soon as we'd planned, we do feel VERY blessed to have a healthy baby. It is truly a miracle that I am able to grow life inside of me, and it never gets old seeing that baby move around in there. We found out that baby measured exactly one day off from my expected due date, which was encouraging, and we told the doctor that we were planning on doing a home birth if he didn't see any "red flags". He was able to give us the go ahead saying he saw absolutely nothing to be concerned about. So, Lord willing, we're going to move forward meeting with our midwife, Jennifer, and meeting this little one around the first of April!

Fall, Fun, and Friends

2010-11-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when our trees dump loads and loads of leaves into our backyard. In the past it's just been a pain, but as the boys are getting older, seeing them get so excited to jump in piles of leaves has given me a little more incentive to rake them up. Last week the boys and I spent a full morning outside raking (done by me) and jumping (done by them). It was so fun watching them take such joy obliterating my piles that it made the blisters worth it! (yes, blisters...I am a city girl.)
Later that afternoon we had our buddies, the Crawford boys, over to enjoy the leaf jumping. Owen and Sawyer could have cared less when they saw pop corn for snacks. It was so cute watching them eat and interact together. I think we may have another set of buds forming.

19 and 20 months...

2010-11-16T04:55:00.001-08:00

Oh, my sweet little Owen is growing up! It seems like lately when I look at him, he's less and less my little baby and is becoming a little boy. I know that's really going to be the case when Baby #3 gets here...

He's still my little cuddle bug...he loves to give hugs and make an "awwww" sound when he does it. Every night he asks to "rock" before I put him in his bed, so I happily oblige. (I'm really not used to having a kid that likes cuddling!) He's more of a "momma's boy" than his big brother ever was, but as he's getting older I see him really enjoying rough housing and playing with Chris more and more. He and Chris have bonded over Yoda from Star Wars. After Owen got over being scared of Chris dressed up as Yoda for Halloween, he's started requesting to watch Yoda on YouTube with Chris. Owen's impersonation of Yoda is hilarious.

Owen's little personality is definitely developing more and more. He's really laid back when he's laid back...and then when he's unhappy, he's really unhappy. I have watched in shock as he's thrown some of the biggest fits I have seen! In fact, I ended up on the phone with my mom yesterday asking what in the world do I do with him!!! But when he is happy, he's hilarious. He's really into dancing and singing (very loudly). He still loves lawn mowers and weed eaters. He's really gotten into praying at dinner or when he's in trouble (very convenient). His meal time prayers consists of him saying "Paw Paw", "Papi" and "Daddy" over and over again. Those guys are definitely covered in prayer every day. And my favorite "new thing" is him singing and talking to the baby my belly. He's quite sweet - giving it hugs, kisses, and talking sweetly. I pray that continues when the baby is out in the world...

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Halloween over several days this past weekend. It was kicked off by a party at Chris' work where the boys broke in their Batman costumes. Then on Saturday Grandma Debbie and Lynn came in town to help us celebrate some more. The boys enjoyed getting spoiled with some fun gifts and candy, and of course getting some quality time with them. Saturday night we went to a park near our house where a church was putting on a Halloween event. The boys were able to walk around in their costumes, get a little candy, play a few games, and still get home for a relatively early bedtime. Both boys were Batman that night, and they were amazed at how many other Batman there were around!
Sunday afternoon we had a neighborhood party in our driveway complete with friends, wonderful food, games, and a bounce house. Ethan started out as Batman but ended up as Ironman (and I think was Superman at one point in there...). Owen started out dressed as our neighbor, Bob, complete with khaki shorts, plain t-shirt, yellow hat and a lawn mower (all-Bob uniform). As the night got cooler, though, Owen reverted back to Batman with more layers. I was Bat Momma, and Chris was Yoda - till he made Owen and two other neighbor kids cry.
We closed the night off by some trick or treating all the way to the downtown square where another church had some festivities planned. At that point, all the kids (and parents) were pretty wiped out and ready to wrap up Halloween 2010. As my mom likes to say, "We made some memories!" Now on to Thanksgiving!

Homecoming 2010

2010-10-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

We made a quick trip to Stillwater last weekend for OSU's Homecoming. Half of the family that had planned on coming didn't end up making the trip, sadly, but we thoroughly enjoyed the family that did make it. Friday night the boys got to experience "walk arounds" (looking at all the house decs done by the fraternities and sororities). I was able to see a few dear friends in the middle of all the chaos, which was a fun surprise, and the weather ended up being perfect. OSU may not hold the football game excitement as say another Oklahoma school might, but at least maybe the boys seeing one of the largest homecomings in the US might entice them a bit..
The following day, after the traditional guy's donut breakfast, we went to tailgate with the Stow side of the family. Owen was in heaven with hot dogs for lunch, and Ethan loved playing with cousin Hillary. We didn't make it to the game, but we listened to the heart breaker on the radio driving home. There's always next year, right?!

How to Train Your Dragon Party

2010-10-27T04:32:00.001-07:00

Our neighbors, the Crawfords, had an impromptu How to Train Your Dragon watch party two weeks ago- complete with "dragon eggs" (green dyed eggs), "dragon claws" (Bugels), and a few other dragon type foods. Of course the kids LOVED it, and Owen even makes a nice dragon sound now as he crawls around on all fours. We were a little concerned how the two little girls would take the movie since they've never seen any movie with fire/fighting and have been pretty much immersed the world of princesses, but it turns out that Gracie is the biggest Toothless the Dragon fan of all. She's traded in her princess dresses and runs around making dragon noises and pretending to blow fire. I hope her parents don't think we're being a bad influences...

Brothers

2010-10-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

The boys are starting to play more and more together, and I LOVE it. Of course they fight...I have watched Owen head butt and punch Ethan recently, and it took everything I had not to laugh. We are working on resolving conflict; some days it works better than others. I pray that they're good friends as they grow up...

Catching up

2010-10-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

I've done a horrible job of carrying my camera around with me lately (just getting me and the boys out the door has proven to be enough work), but thankfully I've captured some moments with my phone camera. It's been a fun beginning to fall as we have spent as much time outdoors as possible. Ethan has enjoyed exploring with his friend, Kate. (she always manages to get to the really crazy places Ethan can never reach!) We've spent lots of time in front of our house playing with neighbors, and we've met a new addition to our playgroup, Baby Timmy, as well as telling goodbye to one of the original members of the group, Davy (he moved...the millions of kids on top of the rock was at his going away party).
This past weekend was also a lot of fun as we spend Saturday in Mulberry. We got to see Chris' mom briefly, and sadly I didn't get any pictures. I did manage ONE picture at Chris' dad's of Owen watching the OU football game. I missed the 4-wheeler ride that Owen hasn't stopped talking about, and the good food and time with cousins... We also hit a pumpkin patch on Sunday with our friends, and we all had a blast picking pumpkins out, taking a hayride, and playing in hay mounds. Luckily, I am going to steal some pictures that the other families took.

Batman

2010-10-01T04:45:00.001-07:00

Since I am not a scrap-booker, and this has turned into my sort of digital scrap book, you'll have to bear with me as I brag on Ethan. He's started becoming interested in drawing again (much to my delight). Of course he's only wanting to draw super heroes, but hey, it's drawing! This is the Batman he drew on our back porch yesterday. If you'll notice, it's complete with Batman's utility belt (a very key part of Batman's defense).

Bob. Lawn Mower.

2010-09-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

One of Owen's favorite people is our next door neighbor, Bob. (actually his name is Robert, but Owen has named him Bob because it's easier to say) Owen associates mowing and weed eating with Bob. He will walk along side Bob the entire time Bob mows his yard (luckily it's a small yard), and every time we walk outside Owen is looking for Bob and the lawn mower. Bob bought Owen his first lawn mower yesterday, and Owen is in heaven. He hasn't stopped playing with it since he got it.

18 Months

2010-09-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Month 18 has been a month of firsts for Owen. He got his first object stuck in his nose. It was a cranberry...I didn't see it happen, but after an hour of him fussing and me trying to plunge out his nose, a good sneeze launched it out. I really thought that would end his fascination with putting things in his nose, but it has not. Owen also got his first sibling haircut. I had cut the boys hair one morning and went to get a broom. (mistake, I know) I had unplugged the electric clippers thinking this would solve any issue, but apparently they can still cut unplugged? I came upstairs to Ethan holding the clippers (still unplugged) and a huge chunk of hair on the floor. Lovely. And the last big thing is that he's gone "#2" on the toilet, per his request, one two different occasions. He claps for himself and then asks for candy. I am so not ready for this. I haven't decided if we're going to let this be a phase or if I should actually see if it goes somewhere...

Owen's cooking infatuation has cooled, but he's as passionate as ever about lawnmowers and weed eaters. Every morning and evening when he's in bed I hear him say "Bob" (our neighbor that holds Owen when he mows) and then a weed eater sound. Everything from sticks to fishing poles become weed eaters. He's also quite passionate about Dog his stuffed animal and his "banket" (black blanket). Those things would go everywhere with him if I wanted to try and keep up with them. He's getting more words, my least favorite being "no" and "mine" - both of which are his favorite.

This little guy continues to baffle me, and always provides plenty of laughter. Happy year and half, buddy!

Labor Day Weekend '10

2010-09-12T04:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Stillwater last weekend for OSU's first home game, and to see family from my dad's side of the family. There were 8 kids under the age of 4 there, several of my cousins, and both of my brother's and their families. Needless to say, it was a packed (and FUN) house! We spent a lot of time in parents back yard watching the kiddos run around, eating, and catching up with the New Mexico Dodsons. Josh and Caylee surprised us with news that they're expecting their first baby about 2 weeks before our baby comes! It's hard to believe that my parents will have 7 grandkids in 2011. My dad is already talking about adding on to their house!

Baby #3!

2010-09-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's a little surreal to be posting about another Hoyle baby on the way. It seems like I just started blogging about becoming a new mom and Ethan as a new baby. Man, it's flying by. We've known that we were pregnant for awhile now (the "morning sickness" has been plenty of a reminder!), but today we were able to actually see Baby 3! It was SO nice to see ONE heart beat. (I had a dream a few weeks ago there were twins in there...I was not able to go back to sleep that night.) All that to say, I was a little anxious to see what was going on in there. Thanks to Miss Pattie and Loving Choices, we were able to get a sneak peak. This is the earliest ultrasound we've ever had, so it was a little strange to not really be able to figure out what was what, but I did see the heart beat. And the technician kept commenting on how active the baby was. I think her word was "bouncing". That sounds about right for our offspring...

I now have an appointment with my doctor to see if I am a good candidate for a home birth. (very hippie, I know) If he gives us the "thumbs up", then I think we'll move forward with a midwife. We're still praying through it, but it's sounding like a pretty good option for us. More to come...

The Moores

2010-09-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Our good friends the Moores came to visit us last week. Jake was Chris' good friend and college, and he married a friend of mine from high school. They've spent the last 5 years in Ethiopa, and we've been praying for them and talking about them as long as Ethan can remember. (he gets them confused with Adam and Eve..."Ethan, who were our first parents?" and he responds, "Jake and Erin."!) Anyway, it was fun for him to finally meet them and their three fabulous kids. They played non-stop together and Chris and I were able to enjoy some "big people conversation". We were so encouraged by their family and loved the time with them.

G Court Lake Trip

2010-08-31T04:34:00.001-07:00

Our sweet neighbors, the Higleys, rented a boat for an afternoon at Beaver Lake and invited several people from our street to go with them. The kids were beyond excited as they all got new fishing poles and got to skip naps for the day. We had enough amazing food to last us a week, and the swimming and diving off the boat made the time fly by. It was the perfect day to go to the lake and hang out with some fellow G Court-ers!

Cousins

2010-08-30T04:31:00.001-07:00

The boys have gotten to see their Oklahoma cousins quite a bit lately, and it's been fun watching them play together. Claire and Owen are still working out their relationship. She wants him to be a baby so she can take care of him, but he's not loving her trying to carry him around. So, they end up just fighting over the same toys and their Papi. Jack and Ethan spend their first hour or so together working through who is in charge. I can't decide if they ever really figure it out, or if they just get tired of fighting. I was able to capture a few of their first interactions together...
They do always end up having a great time together, and there are generally tears when one has to leave the other. So, at least we know they like being together!

A few random pics...

2010-08-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when your big brother gets stickers in the mail and mom tries to check her email...

And I admit it...I have been appealing to my boys sense of pride in an attempt to get them to eat... Ethan has weighed a pretty much steady 30 pounds for the last year and a half, and Owen has held steady at 22 pounds for the last 6 months. I know I will never have linebackers, but I still try to get them to eat in whatever way I can. Apparently telling them that each bite makes them stronger and their muscles bigger causes them to eat a little more. Is that bad??! Here is a picture of my much stronger guys with clean plates (and Iron Man symbols drawn on their chests).

Family Pictures

2010-08-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

When we were in Stillwater last weekend we were able to get family pictures taken by CAT Photography. Charity took pictures of my brother's family, and they turned out so well we decided we had to copy. In spite of the 104 degree heat, she did a great job of capturing the boys. Thanks, Charity!

My Supermen

2010-08-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

My Chef

2010-08-02T03:57:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I am a little slow... For as long as Owen has had the ability to express his desires, he has always wanted to be in the kitchen with me when I am cooking meals. This has boggled my mind b/c for one, I don't want to be in the kitchen, and also b/c Ethan has never had any desire to help out with meals. So I would spend most of my time trying to convince Owen that he really did want to go play with his brother somewhere else... (bad, I know) Finally, after seeing him play "cooking" at Josh and Caylee's house it hit me that he actually wants to cook in the kitchen with me! Craziness. So, I cleared off a shelf in the kitchen for him to have as his counter top and have given him bowls, tongs (his favorite), spoons, and a few lids to pots, and he is as happy as can be. He "cooks" all day long. (apparently he's quite passionate like his brother - just about something totally different!) It's pretty funny to watch b/c he'll say "hot", blow on whatever is in his bowl, stir, and then put the lid back on. We are going to have to figure out what to do with snacks though...I thought he was eating them, only to find an eclectic mixture of crackers, apples, and fruit snacks in his "pots and pans"...gross.

St Louis

2010-07-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

We took a short trip to see my brother, Josh, and his wife, Caylee, this past weekend. It had been waaaay too long since we'd seen them, but it didn't take the boys long to be super crazy about them both. They gave us a great tour of the city, took us to an amazing farmer's market & Trader Joe's (YAY!), fed us wonderful food, and played non-stop with Ethan & Owen.

One of the fun (and free) things you can do in the city is go to the Science Museum. The boys had a blast checking out the different exhibits. I think their favorite was the life size T-Rex that roared and moved. Because it was SO hot, we didn't make it to the zoo or botanical gardens, so I think that means that we'll have to go back soon...

16...17 Months

2010-07-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I really fell off the blogging wagon with Owen's birth months...July has been a busy month!

Owen continues to entertain us. He's still pushing "ding dings" around the house, and he never, ever sits still. He's really gotten into dancing, and I was able to capture his latest "car seat dance" while we drove to St Louis this past weekend.

It amazes me how much he understands. I have to remind myself that he really does understand what I am saying when he's choosing to do the opposite. The dreaded word "NO" has entered his vocabulary unfortunately! It is fun watching him learn how to communicate in ways other than screaming (although that is quite effective!). My favorite is when he says "Peeese" (please). He has taken several nasty falls and hit his head in the exact same spot every time. I am afraid he's going to have a permanent goose-egg on his head. He is STILL putting everything in his mouth. I really thought he was doing well coloring with markers one day, until...

Owen definitely has a sensitive little heart. The past several weeks when his big brother has gotten into trouble (usually for some offense to his little brother), Owen bawls until he sees that Ethan is okay. He generally asks for his "Bubba" (yes, we're officially Arkansans) first thing in the morning too. I hope that they are lifelong friends...

A Pretty Fabulous (and busy) 4th

2010-07-06T04:44:00.001-07:00

We started out our 4th of July weekend by going to 1st Fridays on the Square. We had fun listening to music, seeing friends, and looking at all the things the vendors were selling. Ethan, however, had a one track mind and was dying to jump on a trampoline that was there. Chris, being the sweet dad he is, agreed to wait with Ethan in the LONG line to let him get try it out. They waited an hour, and Ethan was completely stoked...until he actually stood on the trampoline. His "super hero demeanor" completely changed, and he last one jump before they unharnessed him screaming. Ah, well. It was worth a try!

The next night we headed to Missouri to join some friends celebrating an early 4th. There was great food, sparklers, games, a huge tree house, and wide open spaces for our boys to run wild. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures...

On Sunday, the actual 4th of July, we threw an impromptu block party with some of our neighbors. We didn't actually start planning it till the day of, but I was pretty impressed with how well it all came together. We had a ton of great food, a jump house, fireworks and a ton of kiddos running around. Owen didn't stay awake long enough to see the fireworks (he wore himself out running all over the driveway stealing food from people). Ethan did manage to stay up and watch them (in spite of a burnt foot from a sparkler...apparently stepping on them is not a good idea). The weather turned out perfect for the evening, and everyone had a blast.

To wrap up the fun weekend, we spent Monday morning with friends at Miss Pattie's house. The boys swam, played in the sandbox, ate pizza and YUMMY ice cream sandwiches, and went down the inflatable slide about a million times. (THANKS Miss Pattie for having us over!!!)

I really am afraid it's going to take several days to detox from our fun, extended weekend! We're so thankful for such good friends, and this was one memorable holiday that I'm sure we'll be talking about for awhile!

Two ISR Graduates!

2010-06-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't think it would happen, but Owen graduated his swim class this past Friday! Even at the beginning of his last week, he wasn't completing his rolls like he had been the 2nd week of class. But for some reason it all came back very quickly to him. I think he was finally feeling better from his ear infection... He completed all his tests in both summer clothes and winter clothes, and even though he never really enjoyed it, I am so encouraged with how he finished things up. Next spring we'll probably bring him back to an ISR class so he can learn how to add swimming to his sequence. Until then, we're going to practice his float/roll every time we go to the pool and enjoy the water after that! (I didn't get as many good videos of him in his winter clothes, so I included the summer clothes from the day before...)

As a reward for both boys graduating, we took them to Build A Bear Workshop and let them get an animal. (this is something Ethan has wanted to do forever!) Ethan knew exactly what animal he wanted - the panda bear - and when asked what he was going to name him, "X Ray" was the only option. (I have no idea.) Owen attached to his dog early on, but towards the end he was more interested in pulling all the clothes off the hooks.

I have had several people ask me if doing this class was worth is - I believe it was. The time of going every day was a huge commitment, but it flew by and didn't really seem to keep us from doing anything major. Ethan loves the water now and LOVES swimming. As he jumped in to the pool and swam to me over and over this weekend, I was so thankful for the classes. Even though Owen screamed every swim lesson, he still loves the water and wanted to go down the water slide with Chris over and over...so it's a relief knowing we didn't scar him! There is peace of mind knowing the boys know what do if they ended up the water unexpectedly, but it hasn't made me any less obnoxious about trying to make sure it doesn't happen. (that probably will never go away!) The cost of the classes is the only hang-up I still have about it all. It's hard trying to convince people to spend that much on a swim class when floaties or a life jacket seem to be just fine right now. I do, however, think that it's hard to put a price tag on preparing you child as well as you can for an unforeseen accident, so for that reason I am at peace with the money spent.

Going forward, we'll spend the rest of the summer enjoying the pool! Ethan won't wear floaties or anything from here on out. (which has been one small downside b/c I can't just let him go to the "big pool" with his friend's in floaties by himself b/c he's not completely self sufficient in the water...but I know he'll get there...) It's been easy to practice his skills since swimming is all he wants to do. With Owen, we'll have to get him to roll once every time we go to the pool, but he'll be able to spend time in "flotation devices" since he didn't learn to swim. We may send Ethan for a refresher course when Owen goes back to learn to swim this next spring. And we'll probably enroll Ethan in some sort of swim class next summer so he can start learning the different strokes, etc. I'm realizing that this education will be ongoing! For now, we wrap up this chapter of the boys swimming education!!! Thanks for reading. :)

Pa Pa & Papi

2010-06-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

The boys got to see both of their grandpas this past week. As Ethan would say, "It must be my lucky day!"
My parents came into town to watch the boys swim and to celebrate an early Father's Day. Of course my wonderful dad watched the boys while my mom and I did a little shopping, and then he hung blinds for me in my office. Happy Father's Day to me! Thanks Dad, for being so wonderful!
We then went to see Pa Pa David on Saturday to celebrate Father's Day with him and his birthday. We swam on the creek, the guys played some pool (pretty sure Pa Pa has continued his winning streak...), and we enjoyed a feast prepared by Aunt Kerri (man, she's a good cook!). Owen was in heaven as Pa Pa let him drive around in the truck. Of course he's spoiled now, because he thinks he should be able to drive all the time!

Week #5 of Swim Lesson Complete

2010-06-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

Ethan graduated from his swim lessons this past week! He finished out his lessons with swimming in jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, and a heavy fleece hoodie. Other than swimming slower, he seemed really unaffected by the extra clothing. I can't believe how far he's come in the past month. Seeing his new love of swimming and confidence in the water, has really made this commitment all worth it. And it's been really nice to have peace of mind when he's by water knowing that he can swim. Now we have the summer ahead to enjoy the pool!

(these videos were so large, I couldn't upload video of Owen last week...)

We closed out week 5 a little concerned about Owen and his lack of progress. Poor Miss Courtney was losing some serious sleep! We're realizing that in the middle of week 3 (when his regression started) he probably got an ear infection. It took me a week and half to realize that it wasn't teething or allergies and to get him into the doctor. (bad mom!!!) The doctor said the infection was pretty bad, so the pressure of rolling under water was probably pretty painful. Which would explain why he was suddenly freezing up mid-roll. So, now he's had a week on antibiotics, and seems to be feeling much better. He has started this week out rolling like he used to - praise the Lord! I am hopeful that he'll finish out his final week of lessons getting his roll back down and getting comfortable in the water...

Lily's Baptism

2010-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the honor of being a part of my newest niece's baptism. Jon and Katie asked Chris and I to be her godparents, so for our very first Anglican church service we walked down the aisle with Lily to present her to the priest. I held Lily as she was baptized, and it was one of the most moving moments of my life. We are pretty new to this whole godparent thing, but as we have learned a little more about our role, I think it is really amazing that I have the privilege of being tied to my niece in this way. We look forward to celebrating this day with her for years to come!
While we were in OKC for the weekend, we got to stay with Grandma Debbie. The boys loved drinking peach water, watching tv on the patio, and getting a few extra Oreo cookies than normal!
We also got to cook out with the Dodson family, and we had a blast watching the kids play and have fun with each other. As always, the time together was too short.