Retirement Party, Thanksgiving, Beach Days, Christmas Tree Hunting, Hudson Playing with his Baby

It's only been 2 1/2 weeks... ha.  So much life to write about when you got little 'uns.



On Friday, November 21st, my mom had her retirement party.  SO much fun!  I organized a little of it since one of her coworkers is a little controlling.  I got a cute cake, blew up her nursing graduation pictures, had a 4 1/2 min slideshow that took forever to make and then wouldn't play, and a 'photo booth' with tons of props and a polaroid camera so people could take a fun picture and leave my mom a message.  I made the pages and then put them into a book.  I had fun with it all, and I think she had a good time too.

The next day we flew to San Diego for Thanksgiving week.  It was a nice visit except that we all were a little under the weather for a few days.  The first night Hudson slept great, but the second, he was up for 3 hours with a cold and I had nothing with me.  (Actually, my packing job sucked this time around.  I forgot so many necessities, including baby tylenol.)  So, at 2:30am, Dave drove into San Diego to get meds for the poor guy.  He never caught up on his lost sleep, so he had a pretty tough week.  Thanksgiving went well, I didn't cook anything, but I did clean up.  We took the girls to a movie, which ended up being 2 movies... and Naomi's first experience in a movie theater. She fell asleep.

We also saw a play, 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas, at The Old Globe Theater.  It was cute, and very well done!  Naomi was a rockstar and she loved it!

We went to the zoo, of course, although we were all feeling kinda crappy.  It was the first time I wasn't very excited about being at the San Diego Zoo, and ready to leave after an hour and half or so.  Kind of a bummer. We got a lot of nice walks in, and it was BEAUTIFUL!  Having left Boise when it was between 1 degree with a high of 20-something, the 75 degree weather in Coronado was such a nice change.  We were hot.  This is how we all felt:

We hung out on the beach under an umbrella playing in the ocean water in our bathing suits.  So amazing.  Both Naomi and Hudson are scared of the waves, but they love the sand, and it was actually a very relaxing couple hours sitting watching them play in the sand; completely content.

 This was trying to keep Hudson out of the Bay (not scared because there are no waves) and he was not happy!

This is the beach:

Another day walking on the beach:

We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, but after sitting in the airport for 2-3 hours, they finely told us our plane had a maintenance issue and our flight has been cancelled.  OMG.  So, our choice was to leave at 10am the next morning, or wait until Monday at 3pm.  We were ready to get home, and wanted a day before things started up again, but OMG, we didn't get to Boise until 6:30pm.  2 stops, 3, 2 hours flights, Naomi 1 nap, Hudson zero and I was spent. It was such a long hard day. Naomi was AMAZING and just did her own thing while Dave and I spent the entire time trying to keep Hudson entertained and not screaming to be let down.  Also, peeing alone in a regular size airplane bathroom is gross. Peeing with a 3 year old in a very small airplane with no sink is disgusting.  NEVER AGAIN.

We got home, didn't even pick up Liza that night, and went to bed.

Last week was back to normal with the always looming, 'Christmas is coming. Presents. Presents. Presents' that Im sure everyone has in their heads throughout December.

I love Christmas, and I LOVE giving presents.  it's like a game, figuring out what someone will like and then wrapping it up.  I love gifting. seriously love it.  I also love the decorations, the festivities, the feeling Christmas gives me.  But I have to say, this year has been a struggle to get into the mood.  It's is only the 8th, and I do feel ready, but just not super excited to do all the work.  Dave's entire family is coming to Boise for Christmas, and I am a little nervous about that, so maybe that's what the hesitation is about.  It will be A. Lot. Of. Work.  but I'm planning now, so hopefully it will go smoothly and everyone will help.

Last week, I had my second book club meeting.  I love it.  And I'm so proud to say I not only finished the book (Dark Places by Gillian Flynn), I read a second one (finished it a few days later, Gone Girl also by Jillian Flynn).  (The last book group I was in was before kids, and I only finished 1/2 the books we read.)  I had a lot of fun with the ladies too.

I also volunteered for the 1st time in Naomi's YMCA classroom.  It was fun... but tiring.  I may have been tired already from the book club the night before and i think I'm starting to get Migraines, and I had the preemptive migraine symptoms the day I volunteered, so I only stayed for an hour and 15 min.  It was fun though, and I hope to continue it every other week or so.

This weekend, we went Christmas tree hunting with Gdad and Paw-wa (Dad and Paula).  It took 3+ hours to find a tree.  In years past, it's only taken 45 min-1 hour and last year we had the most perfect 12+ foot tree.  Im not sure what this one will be like since it's still on the deck... opps. now on day 2 of not being in our house.

Naomi is excited to decorate and has been asking for days.  Maybe she will push me into the Christmas Spirit!  Love that girl and her nice-deas! "Let's decorate, is that a nice-dea, mom?'




 A few more pictures from the last couple of weeks:

A blurry Family Photo from Thanksgiving in SD:

Naomi rubbing her baby's back just like I do for her:

A walk along the beach while Naomi napped and Hudson screamed:

Date Night!  Out to eat and then to Jersey Boys this past weekend.  We went to Jersey Boys for our 1st 'real date' 8 years ago!

Hudson kissing and hugging his baby.  What a sweetie!

Halloween - November 20th

Wow, I was doing so well and then life got busy!  The last time I wrote anything was right before Halloween.  So, about Halloween.  It was fun.  Naomi was Dorothy, Alex was the cowardly lion, Chloe was the wicked witch of the west, Lily was the good witch, Crystal was the scarecrow, Vincent ended up taking over Bromley's costume as the tin man and Meg and I were Munchkins.  Hudson, of course, was a flying monkey.  and an adorable one at that.  Naomi really got into it this year.  She had the 'Trick or Treat at every house, and at most she said thank you as well!  It's how-o-ween to Naomi. Hudson loved it too, not for the candy, but for the walking around and the interaction.  He's such an easy fun kid!  I'm trying to soak him in because soon enough he will turn 2... and then he will turn 3. Help.

That same day, Naomi got ice cream because she filled her jar to the top with pom poms for going to sleep without crying.  I cannot believe how well that has worked.  Until last night, when we took her to the Cirque Dreams Holidaze show at the Morrison Center and we didn't get home until 10pm.  She screamed until 11pm.  I was not happy.  She had a rough day overall yesterday, so maybe that played into it.

Last week, Thursday, it snowed.  9-12". In November.  I cannot believe it. today, a week later, it's still on the ground.  and now it's icy too.  The roads are awful.  It hasn't broken 30 degrees.  We took a walk on Tuesday, it was 16 degree, but with the wind chill it felt like 2.  It was so cold, we made it 1 block before Naomi started crying because her face was so cold, we made it 2 more only to meet a new babysitter, and walked 3 blocks home as quickly as possible while I was carrying Hudson in the backpack and holding Naomi's hand so she wouldn't slip. Plus Liza was tied to me and had to poop twice  - in 6 blocks. of course.

Naomi's First Snow Angel:

The first week of November I had surgery, it was the first day that Dave was in charge of both kids all day long, alone.  (Well, alone until I came home.)  I have had pretty bad sciatic ever since i was pregnant with Naomi, but now it only hurts when I'm on my period, so the doctor thought it might be endometriosis flaring up and pushing on my nerve causing pain.  Good and bad, it was not endometriosis.  He removed 2 cysts and some scar tissue, but that didn't help the pain.  The following week, Dave had his 3rd sinus surgery.  It was a 4 hour surgery, and luckily G-Dad came over to watch the kids while I went to 'pick up' Dave.  Once I got there, I waited for 3.5 hours.  He had a hard time waking up from anesthesia. He had the stints removed this morning and hopefully he'll only improve from here and stay healthier through the winter.

Two days after my surgery, Saturday November 8th, Hudson nursed for the last time.  (Unless he wakes up in the middle of the night while we are in San Diego next week and I don't know what else to do with a screaming boy who I've ALWAYS just nursed back to sleep...)  I am a little sad that it's over, but glad we made it 14.5 months and I didn't feel forced to stop like I did with Naomi.  With Naomi, she stopped nursing early because I gave her the bottle early due to mastitis and massive over-production.  Once she stopped nursing I didn't really know to only offer her the boob so I just kept pumping and giving her bottles, offering the boob every once in awhile hoping she'd take it.  I nursed her for 6-9 weeks until she continually refused, and then I pumped until she was 6 months old.  It was tiring and annoying, even though I could get 3 bottles full in one pumping session.  Around 6 months, my milk changed and I started getting plugged ducts, again, and I was emotionally done.  I could tell I started getting those with Hudson as well at different points, but since he nursed, he was able to get the milk out completely, always.  The pump doesn't do that.  After multiple extremely painful plugged ducts and possibly thrush, I was fed up and I slowly weened myself off the pump, and Naomi off breast milk.  It was sad for me, but I think she's okay...

A few funny moments from the past few weeks:

After the snow, Dave asked Naomi if she wanted to take Liza for a walk.  Her response? "I don't want to go outside, it's too wintery."  Well said, kid.  Me either.

Naomi Loves hide and seek, so since we play it so much, Hudson gets in on it too.  When he hears someone counting, he puts his head on the floor (because Naomi always lays on the floor with her face covered when she counts) and grunts in spurts that sounds like he's counting: "Uhh,  Uhh, Uhh, Uhh"  It's absolutely adorable.

Not sure if I've written this already, but one of Naomi's favorite saying is "Nicedea".  She's trying to say, 'Nice Idea' since that's what I say when she wants to do something that is sweet or fun. Now she screams it from her room when she should be asleep, "I need you to come up here and rub my back, is that a nicedea for you, mommy?  moooommmmy!"

Bath time is not my favorite time, but it is Hudson's.  He loves it, he swims around, drinks the water, splashes way to much, and cries when I take him out.  Last weekend, I got him out of the bath, dried, lotion-ed, and clothed and then he goes back in to watch Naomi play before i snag her out.  Well, I guess he's growing.. He fell head first right back in, fully clothed. The mental picture is both scary and hilarious.  I was right there, so I pulled him out before he even choked on a drop of water, but if I had a picture of that, it would be framed.  feet up in the air and everything!

Naomi is learning her letters at school.  She knows N, H, T, S, and K. Maybe some others, but those are the ones that she's pointed to unprovoked and told me what they are.  She is enjoying school a lot!

Hudson's personality is really shining these days.  He has always been an easy baby, and luckily he's an easy, active, little toddling baby too.  He mimics us all the time.  The other day I poked him belly and beeped.  He loved it and started poking himself and making a mock-beep noise.  so cute! He has the most infectious belly laugh.  It's so fun to make him giggle.  He gets so into it.

Naomi 'helping' Mike and Kim rake leaves:

Sweet Picture of my Two Love Bugs!

 Miss Thang.  Dressed to impress. With Sass.

Pumpkin Patch, Reward Jars, Milestones

We took a trip to the Farmstead last week while Daddy was in New York.  His sinuses don't really enjoy the hay so he's okay that he missed out.  Nana came with us instead.  I got a bunch of cute pictures of Hudson and only one of Naomi.  (Earlier in the week, Hudson walked down a little hill toward the playground, fell in slow motion, and hit his nose on the cement border around the swings.  He's still got a couple scabs from that - over a week ago now!)  Even with his war wounds, he really enjoyed the pumpkin patch since he got to run free.  He rode the ponies and touched the animals, jumped on the big jumpy with all the big kids and even went down the slide with me.  Naomi was very busy with her friends.  She even rode a pony! First time since she was 16 months old at a friend's birthday party.  Ever since then she's been very scared to get on, and nothing traumatic happened.  When she did get on, the pony moved without warning and I wasn't near her.  She started screaming and wanted off.  I was able to talk her into getting back on with me holding on to her and she finished the $5, 2 minute ride.  She won't feed the animals or touch them, or go down the slide, but she is fearless in other ways.  Like standing up for herself, or claiming what is hers, which is everything.  

We've implemented a new reward system.  We have 3 jars, one for Being nice to Hudson, one for going to bed without crying, and one for eating dinner.  They are labeled and next to them is a bowl of pom poms.  When she does one of the three things, she gets to put a pom pom into the appropriate jar.  When the jar is full, we go get ice cream (or a toy or a cupcake, but she wants ice cream).  It's been 6 days now and we have 3 pom poms in the Being nice to Hudson jar, a bunch in the going to sleep without crying (this one includes naptime) and zero in the eating dinner jar.  Although it's not helping her eat dinner, it seems to be helping her go to sleep easier, which really decreases my frustration, exhaustion, and yelling.  I'm hoping it keeps working.  Liza has also been sleeping in her room off and on and that seems to help when she's feeling scared.  I've told her that Liza will leave if she cries because it scares her.  Naomi also knows that Liza only barks if there is someone there, so if she barks, I will run upstairs very quickly.  She often repeats this to me after Liza comes up to make sure that's still the plan if she should bark.  

Hudson is completely done with crawling and seems to have mastered walking very quickly.  Compared to Naomi who wouldn't walk without a hand for months! Hudson never wants to hold a hand.  he is very independent; until 5pm and then he needs to be held until dinner.  The witching hour.  He is working on some new teeth, number 7 and 8.  I cannot believe he can eat almost anything with only 6 front teeth.  By 12 months, Naomi was missing only 1-2 teeth, so she had 18-19.  Possibly less because i have no idea when she got her molars. Glad he has his front one for pictures. They're pretty cute little teeth!

Last year this hat was too big, this year it's clearly too small.

I asked Naomi what her favorite part of the pumpkin patch was and she said, 'Alex'.   Alex likes Naomi equally as much as she likes him, but Alex also loves Hudson.

This is Hudson staring at the entrance to a haunted house.  It was decorated with scary things.  I'm not sure if he was interested or scared himself.  He doesn't seem to act scared with things that scare Naomi yet.

Naomi's funny sayings

I have a book called 'My Quotable Kid', and I need to start writing these down, but I thought I'd add them here too.  They're too funny to forget.

As I've mentioned, Naomi is having a difficult time getting to sleep for naps and nighttime.  It's been rough on me.  I'm really trying not to get mad, but at 9:30pm, when I started the process at 7:30, and Hudson is asleep and Dave is gone... I sometimes loose it.  Anyways, last week, Naomi was in the middle of her screaming fit yelling 'mommy! mommy! mommy!, i need you to come up here, or I need new water, or i need a fish kiss, or I want you to tuck me in (Or as she screamed, last night, 'I want a spanking'. That was my threat...it obviously didn't work.)  While she screams, she often stands on her bed and looks directly into the camera because she knows I'm watching on the monitor.  She was trying to climb on the head of her bed and must have fallen, then the screams really got bad, so I went up there.  When she hears me unlock the gate, she immediately lays in her bed.  This time, she's sobbing laying with her head down and her butt in the air, crying, 'Mommy, kiss my bum.  Kiss my bum, mommy!  Kiss my bum!'  It was so funny, and even funnier in the middle of it when she was very serious about me kissing her butt.  (yes, I kissed the top of her bum, and tried to keep from cracking up.)  At least it lightened my mood!

A couple weeks ago we decorated for Halloween and Nana came over.  She told Naomi she almost couldn't get to the front door because she was so scared.  Naomi, the little therapist, said, "It's okay to be scared, Nana.' and walked inside.

Mike and Kim came over on Saturday night for a glass of wine.  Naomi Loves them!  They always bring some treat for her and are very interactive.  Naomi took Mike downstairs and was making him ladybug soup. (Last week when she made Ladybug soup for me, I asked what she put in the soup.  She said salt and wine.  Humm... I guess she has the basics covered.)  She then told Mike that the soup will be ready in 2 minutes and that, 'You need to be patient!'  We all thought it was pretty cute.

My favorite quote so far was about a year ago while she was playing in the basement.  I came down to check on her and I asked her what she was doing.  She said she was 'playing in Daddy's House'. I stopped and asked her what?  She again said she was in Daddy's house and that I shouldn't be in Daddy's house.  Where do I need to go? Upstairs.  what's upstairs?  Mommy's house.  at a little more than 2 years old, she picks up on a lot.  Daddy often sleeps downstairs when he can't fall asleep, and for the first few months of Hudson's life, Dave slept in the basement full time since Hudson woke up every 1.5 hours for 4-5 months!  Plus he showers downstairs, he watches TV downstairs, he has his beers downstairs, and I cook and clean upstairs.  Humm...



The kids got their flu shots last week so I took their weights:
Hudson weights 21.1 lbs with clothes and it was on the adult scale so it's probably not very accurate
Naomi weights 33.5lbs

Shower in peace. Clean freak.

Showering seems to always be an issue once you have kids. For me it started when I was pregnant with Naomi! I was so sick and so tired I started skipping every other day because it was just too hard! Crazy to think about that now. Then when you have an infant your entire life revolves around their nursing and pooping schedules, and showers don't seem to fit into that. With Naomi, I just set her in some baby holder in the bathroom while I showered or had Dave take her.  Now with hudson, since I am home, I don't shower before Dave leaves. I had luck with the baby holder for a little bit, but then naomi would pick at him, then he could sit and play in the bumba, but naomi would take away the toys and he would cry, or he would throw them and then cry for them back.

Then he sat by himself and that was great for awhile... Until he started crawling and then Naomi had to make sure the door stayed closed so he couldn't get out. She actually caught on to that quickly. Then he caught on to the cabinets and all the 'goodies' they held. Now he's 13.5 months and walking efficiently. He can open the drawers, pull stuff out, stay standing, walk away with the toilet paper trailing behind him, even open the toilet and get into the water.  He seems to like the garbage can as well. Naomi was never into the toilet, toilet paper, or trash! I've somewhat successfully taken a few showers by providing toys and food, showering quickly, putting the toilet paper up, locking all cabinets, and having something on top of the toilet. Hudson has now learned how to get the sliding hidden door open, so now it needs to be locked which means Naomi cannot come and go. Today I had a brilliant idea! I showered while naomi was at preschool and instead of locking hudson in the bathroom, I closed the huge door that separates the master bed and bath and office from the living room, closed the master door and left the office and the bathroom doors open so he could walk around and play with toys in the office. Fail! He figured out how to turn the doornob and open the door. As soon as it was opened a crack, liza helped, from the other side, push it open to get in. Liza came in, hudson went out and closed the door! I'm watching this as I'm trying to wash very quickly since now my 13 month old is on the loose!!! At least I had the gate to the stairs closed today - last week I turned around for a minute and hudson was in his room playing with his sound machine! I had no idea he had gone up those scary stairs! 

Naomi has always been a clean girl. I thought it was from Dave, but my

Mom told me I was the same way! She was so easy to potty train. I barley did anything. She did not like being wet or dirty, so the whole process took less than a week and not much on my part. She quickly got the nighttime down too and has been in panties since early 2. We could have started before her second birthday but I was so sick and in pain from pregnancy that I didn't have the energy to try it. 

She never gets her hands dirty and if she happens to get something on her fingers she holds them up and out and almost cries for a wipe. She does like painting but it's pretty controlled. At our mommy and me preschool she has a lot of painting options and she never chooses them! She won't even play with the clay or play dough much. I'm hoping this cleanliness doesn't turn into anything more severe! Like daddy, like daughter!

Games we Play, races we run, and walking, kissing, and blowing

October 12, 2014

I'm writing this as Naomi is screaming and kicking directly above me in her room while Dave reads a book in the background, trying not to lose it.  She is refusing to do EVERYTHING!  She wants to read a book, but won't pick it out.  If we pick it out, she doesn't want that one.  OMG.  It's a bit unreal. I thought her twos were bad, but if today is what the rest of 3 will be like, I'm really in for it this year.  She holds it together sometimes, but man, when she loses it, it's very hard for me not to lose it too, especially when she wakes up or keeps up Hudson who naps and goes to bed around the same time or earlier.

Hudson has been sleeping much better starting a few night ago, and has also taken off.  He loves his new walking skill!  He practices, or maybe he's showing off, walking around the living room couch.  He has learned so much in the past month!  He can wave, he can blow on his food, he can blow his nose, and even kiss.  It's a wide open very slobbery kiss, but I will take it!  It's too adorable to resist.

Naomi has been wanting to play hide and seek a lot, so much that she asks me to play in clever ways. "Mommy, I have a nice-dea, let's play the Bee game' (That's Naomi language for Nice Idea!)  and then the Lion Game, etc...  all of these game have a strong similarity to Hide and Seek and nothing to do with Bees or Lions or any other animal/insect she choses for the day.  She counts to 10, sometimes to 11, and sometimes to 12, and then she seeks me.  Yesterday during my turn to hide, she forgot we were playing when distracted by the glass of water on Dave's bedside stand.  I waited for a long time and then snuck up on her as she drank water and looked out the glass door.  Really?  Want a nut.  When it's my turn to count, she rarely makes it 'hiding' long before she jumps up and say 'i'm right here!'  If she does happen to stay 'hiding' and I use that term loosely, she's been known to 'hide' on the floor with her eyes covered, with her head under Hudson's musical play stand, or even standing in the corner.  I thought by now she would get the game more, but clearly not.

Naomi ran her 2nd running race yesterday.  Her first was 1/4 mile around the zoo last Spring.  No problem.  This one was the Harrison Classic and was a little over a mile.  I ran with her.  It was awesome; she did so well.  Dave and I were quite impressed that she ran the entire thing.  There were a few steps here and there that she started walking but with a little encouragement, she started right back up again.  She was pretty excited herself and even wanted to run home.



We took Liza in to the vet today to get her annual check up and ready for a teeth cleaning.  Thank God I asked my mom to meet me there and help with the kids.  They whined and needed something every minute we were there. Liza is a healthy girl with yucky teeth, cataracts, arthritis in 3 out of 4 legs, 1 fatty tumor, and 1 cyst; both benign.



A few other pictures from the week:

Hudson asleep...

On our own... All fall

October 9, 2014

Dave has been traveling almost every week since early September. It's not bad, except for the witching hours, 4-6pm. And then of course from 6-9 getting them down by myself. Hudson has continued his neediness, and now it seems he's needing me while he's at parents day out- the daycare that he goes to while Naomi and I are in the mommy and me preschool down the hall. The staff had to call me today because he wouldn't stop crying. They thought he was sick... But once we got home, he was back to normal. I am planning to do a spin class tomorrow morning at the y, and he will be in child watch. I really hope he can hang.

He is starting to wave more- it's the upside down open close movement. It's too cute. And oh my, his conversations with himself are adorable. I wish I could understand all that he says. It seems very important. He seems to talk on the phone ( his hand) often... No comments please. He still throws himself backwards as hard as he can when he doesn't get what he wants- something he's been doing since he could sit. He slams his poor head so hard on the hardwood floor, you think even a baby would learn?

The other day I went in the office, I came out 2 minutes later and Hudson had climbed the stairs to his room and was happily playing with his sound machine. I had a small heart attack for the second time last week. The first was when I found him in the laundry room inches away from the top basement stair. Luckily Liza's bowls of food and water were more entertaining than the stairs.

Today Naomi threw a major fit on the majority of our walk and while she was riding her bike. She wanted to go to the park right then, but I said we needed to walk Liza first. Poor Liza. She gets more attention now that the baby stage is over, but not what she used to get. Finally Naomi lost it, got off her bike, screaming and crying. I kept walking, and then I hear... ' I'm just having a rough day.' My heart melted a little and I picked her up. So sweet. It's the first time she's expressed a feeling like that, even though I know it was more mimicking than anything. (I had asked Hudson earlier today when we picked him up from the daycare if he was having a rough day..) but I'll take what I can get from Naomi. 

I has success last night getting Naomi to sleep without crying! I left the door open and told her that I would come back up in 5 min if she didn't cry. Unfortunately, I was ahead of myself and thought I had solved our going to bed problem... And I was wrong. I visited Naomi's room 4 times tonight. Only 1 of which was a promised visit if she was quiet. Oh well, i'll have another chance tomorrow night! ;) and then Dave gets home at 11pm, so he can take Friday night! Ha!

Hudson never falls asleep anywhere but his crib... Unless he wakes up 12 times the night before. What a snuggle bug.

Naomi feeding Hudson:

Hudson feeding himself: