Happy Birthday Pop Pop

Happy Birthday to Pop Pop Hinson. His Birthday is actually on Saturday, but Evan wanted to start the celebration early!!!

Embracing the Camera: Day Three

If nothing else, today I learned that I cannot for the life of me take a decent picture when I am not looking through the view finder. I can't focus the camera and I have a hard time even getting us in the frame. These 3 pictures are literally the only ones I got of like 30 pictures where you can even tell it's a picture of Evan and I! I was going to have Daddy take a picture of us when he got home from work last night, but I blinked and I missed him!!! He got home after the sun went down and left at 5 am!!!

And because my scrap booking days are on hold for now (who has the time for that?), my blog has become my scrapbook for my kiddos. So for that reason, I need to share an adorable thing Evan said yesterday, otherwise I may forget it.... As I was checking the temperature of my London Broil last night with a meat thermometer, Evan looked at me and said "Is the meat sick Mommy?" So sweet.

Embracing the Camera Challenge Day 2

Sorry this picture is so small, please click on it if you want to see it larger. Taking a picture of yourself and two squirmy little boys is harder then it looks. I know I make it look so easy breezy (I kid) but really... it's not. Evan is already at the point where Drew isn't allowed to touch him. If Drew grabs onto Evan's shirt, Evan comes and tattles on Drew. So I had to keep making super funny faces (come on, they are super funny, right?) in order to get Evan to forget about the fact that Drew was tugging on him.

My super serious little boy and I had a really fun date last night. I took Evan to Disney World after Paul got home last night from work. I am not brave enough to take both boys to Disney by myself and I was having trouble finding a sitter for Drew yesterday (the last day of my 4 day pass), so I just took Evan for a short evening trip. We had a blast! We only stayed for a couple of hours, but that's the beauty of living 10 minutes from there. And it was good to be alone with Evan for a bit. He has to share me with Drew pretty much 100% of the time, so he really enjoyed having me all to himself. That and all of the fun Disney rides of course!!

Embracing the Camera Challenge: Day 1

Ok, so there is a blog that I follow written by a local photographer (check it out here if you would like) and she is doing a challenge for all of us Moms out there who are constantly taking pictures, but are rarely in any pictures with our children. I am so guilty of that and I know I will regret it later. But who has time to do their hair and makeup? And who wants to be in pictures with out makeup... NOT ME!!! All those years of breastfeeding and pregnancy has done a number on my skin. But I need to get over it. That's what photoshop is for, right? So every day this week I will post a new picture of me and one or both of my boys. I am a day behind, as the challenge started yesterday. Better late than never!!!

Happy 8 Months

Happy 8 Months Baby Drew!!! In some ways, I feel like it was yesterday we were visiting you in the NICU twice a day, me with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes almost 24/7 and you with tubes down your nose and throat and IVs in your scalp. And in other ways, I feel like I have been wishing you would sit up for months now. It seems, the more you can do, the happier you are. And now it's official... you are one of the happiest little boys I have ever seen. You are finally sitting up (as of this week, and are a bit tipsy still), you are rolling all over the place ( no need to crawl when you can roll across the room) and you are enjoying all sorts of different baby foods. But by far, your favorite thing in the world to do, is watch Evan. Other then when you are super tired, the only time you fuss is when Evan is sleeping and you are wide awake. It's as if you are trying to wake him with your cries. As soon as he wakes up, your tears dry up and you immediately start giggling with glee!! At one point, I must admit, I was hoping time would go by a little faster. But this was when you wouldn't nurse, wouldn't sleep more then an hour or two at time and were pretty much miserable every waking hour. But now, we are having so much fun with you, I want to stop time and enjoy every second over and over again. You are so adorable, your blue eyes mesmerizing. Your smile so wide. Your sweet little neck my favorite place to kiss. I am so sorry your first 6 months were so difficult, but it looks like you are making up for lost time. Happy 8 months buddy!!

Happy Birthday C-Girl

Eight short years ago, the perfect dog was born. Corky, if I could clone you, I would. You are amazing and loyal and sweet. You are man's best friend and then some. Of course, that isn't to say we love you more then your sister, Farley. But you certainly are easier to take care of at times.

Tackling Mama

Here is what a typical afternoon entails in our house. Cuddling with my two boys on the couch, each fighting for my attention.... but I don't mind it one bit.

Prepping for Father's Day

Perhaps one of Paul's presents is going to look something like this.....in a nice frame of course!

Daddy Duty

Here are the all the Daddies taking time out of their busy work schedule to be the boy's "special guest" at their school picnic. I just love this snapshot that Mrs. B got of the Daddies holding the babies. Too cute!

Evan's First Swimming Lesson

We finally put Evan in swimming lessons. I started a bit late, living in Florida. Most of my friends put their kids in when they are infants, or at the very latest, one year old. When Evan was a baby, I read some new research on the subject that proposed that early swimming lessons can cause a fear of the water. And I have actually seen it happen with many of my friend's babies. But you gotta weigh the pros and cons. Living near so much water, the risk of drowning is definitely there, no matter how "on top" of your baby you are. I am a bit over protective of my boys (me? what? no.). So I think I will use any excuse to not do something that is scary for me or for them! I sware, everything I dread in life, never turns out to be as bad as my vivid imagination will make me anticipate. And this experience is no exception. I found an amazing private instructor for Evan (yes, we will soon be living on welfare, she is so pricey). But every penny is so well worth it. She is so loving with him. It's all about creating a love for the water. It's a very gentle way of showing him that water isn't scary, all the while teaching him how to swim. He actually cries very little and so far, he looks forward to his lessons. The only thing he isn't too fond of is "monkey hands", as you can see in the picture. That's what she teaches him to do if he falls in the water, you grab on to the side of the pool and shimmy your way down until you hit some stairs. She makes the funniest monkey sounds when he is doing it to try and make it a game, but he just isn't having it!

Much Needed Girl's Night Out

Thank you Jen, Christina, Kristen, Dawn, Carrie and Stephanie for a MUCH needed Girls Night Out the other night. So much fun!!!

Silly Evan, Silly Mama

Evan is making silly faces here, purely so he can prevent me from getting a decent picture of him...I am convinced of it!

On the subject of being silly...I dialed 911 the other day. Was Evan choking? No. Did I start a fire...Nope. Was there an accident...Negative. Did I hear the garage door opening at 5:15pm and automatically assume that someone stole my garage door opener out of my car and was coming into "get" us? Yup. You would too if you husband hadn't gotten home before 7pm on a weekday...well, EVER!!! No joke. I dialed 911, because my husband got home early.

G Rated Naked Pics

New Tricks, Same Ole Big Blue Eyes

Having a preemie baby, even if only 6 weeks premature, means having a baby in the newborn stage for much longer. Even though he was only 6 weeks premature, being out in the world is much harsher then growing a bit longer in my tummy, so Drew was just concentrating on growing for the first four months or so, and not much else. Therefore milestone-wise, he is behind, but he is catching up like a champ. He is now rolling over from back to front and front to back, and is starting to sit up for a second or two at a time (work in progress). Before I know it, he will be crawling and walking, so I am savoring this stage we are currently in. He hasn't been to the doctor in a couple of months, so I don't know how much he weighs, but I weighed the two of us on my scale at home and subtracted my weight, and it looks like he weighs about 16 lbs. On super exciting news, we have been doing sleep training with him and *knock on wood* he has slept through the night for the last few nights with a few fussing sessions here and there, but nothing major. I kept putting it off and putting it off, because I wanted him to gain more weight. So if he fussed I ran in there and fed him. But 7 months later, fatigue (er, uh, more like exhaustion) set in and I decided to start sleep training! Best decision EVER!!! My body didn't initially know what to do with more then 4 hours of consecutive sleep a night, but now, it remembers... and it likes it.

Get Better Baby

My sweet first born, Evan has been sick now for almost a week. Every time I think it's over, he spikes another temperature. He hasn't eaten a bite (except for one bite of chicken nugget on Tuesday) since last Saturday. This poor boy doesn't have any fat reserves either, so of course I am concerned. The only thing good about this week is all of the extra cuddle-time I am getting in with him and all of the extra sleep he is getting (which is kind of fun for me and Drew). Evan has been sleeping 17 hours a night and taking 4 hour naps on top of that, which means Drew and I have oodles of one on one time. But it also means, I have only left the house twice since Sunday, which means I am going STIR CRAZY. I just may pop open a beer in a minute, because this desperate house wife is starting her weekend early. Thankyouverymuch.

Hypocritical Maybe, But I am OK with That.

Drew has quite the diverse palate now and he enjoys all sorts of new flavors and textures. None as much as pears, but he really does love to eat his baby food now! Currently I am making him homemade baby cereal (ground and then cooked organic brown rice or millet) with one added protein (tofu, egg yolk, Tahini paste) and one or two veggie servings (sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli or squash) and sometimes one fruit (mango, avocado, banana, pears, apples, peaches, blueberries, apricots) mixed with expressed breast milk and occasionally some wheat germ sprinkled on top!!! All of that mixed together in one bowl. I sometimes substitute the homemade cereal with plain yogurt. Sounds terrible I know. But it's really healthy and he seems to enjoy it. Wish I could eat that healthy, but it's not likely. Last night I made us homemade Sloppy Joes with sweet potatoe fries and then I fed Drew his Super Baby Porridge (it's what they call this concoction in the book I am reading), and it just seemed a little hypocritical. But I'm OK with that.

Rare Pictures

It's one of only a handful of pictures I have of me with my two boys. And it's the only picture I have of Ugbie and Drew. Ugbie and I are both a bit camera shy I suppose. I need to get over that. Otherwise, I know I will regret it when my boys are older and don't want to be in a picture with me! Now if only I could get one where we are all looking at the camera at the same time!!!

Built in Toys

Who needs rattles or toys when you have two feet and two hands to play with and chew on?