...where to begin...

The baby is sleeping in my room right now (oh, did I forget to blog that she was born? oops!). My boys are at my parents' house. I should be packing boxes (we're moving!) or cleaning (it's a freaking pig-sty up in here), but I'm just too entranced by the idea of sitting in a quiet house to do anything else.

I'm sure you could have imagined that our house has been the embodiment of chaos for months. Jared is traveling three to four nights per week, and he has been since the baby was a little over six weeks old. I'm so thankful for the job, the livelihood, the provision...I am less than thankful for the long, hot days of three little kids under my roof. Pre-school started a few weeks ago, so at least that has been saving my sanity. Well, that and parents who are usually amenable to the kids and I coming over a few evenings a week.

My little people are growing and changing more than I can even say. Henry is in Pre-K this year. He is so very bright and articulate, and he loves his school and friends there. I am proud of everything about him and how far he has come since beginning school last year. He is engaged to be married (hehehe) to a little girl in his class, and he regularly comes home with stories of their fun and adventure. Today, in fact, he got in trouble for punching another boy who was threatening to hit his girl. He told me, "mommy, sorry I hit L, but I had to protect H!" So it begins. He is curious about every detail of the world around him, and you can keep his attention for hours explaining how things work or what specific words mean. About a month ago, he realized that he could draw a face...then a man...and since then, he's delighted in time to draw and color. Before this, he's arguable hated coloring, because it frustrated him to not be able to draw whatever thing he intended to draw. He is active and busy and often mischievous, and he's also always brimming with love, care, and kindness. I could write a book about the way he is with his baby sister - maybe the most beautiful relationship I've ever seen come into being.

James is sweet and feisty, as his age would probably give away (2 1/2). I put him into one-day-a-week MDO this year, so he's off to that on Mondays. I was really on the fence about sending him, but after seeing him in his little class, I'm so happy I did. Not to mention, it's a wonderful opportunity for me and the baby to have some time alone together. Jamesies loves his teachers and friends, like Henry, but he especially loves the structured play of MDO. He enjoys stations and a schedule and knowing what to expect next, and he tells me all about it for at least one hour straight after I pick him up. We have known for a long time that James is our music kid, and that is even more apparent now that he has a true outlet for it. He remembers so many of the songs they sing, and he's constantly singing or dancing around our house now. Even more than the music, his favorite part of the day is naptime! I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes, but my little nap-giver-upper goes right down onto his nap mat (and falls asleep in seconds!). They turn off the lights and play sweet sleepy songs for the kids, and he seriously looks like he's in heaven. He still has his long(ish) curly hair and impossibly sweet babyface, but his body is becoming more lean and big-boyish all the time. He loves any toy that we put in front of him, blowing his nose by himself, trying new foods (this is SO new to us, because H is super picky), "privacy" when on the potty, and his daddy.

Emerson Elizabeth was born on May 10, 2012, at 2:03 p.m., weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. She came into this world with a head full of dark hair and wide, watchful eyes that have since turned blue. She goes back and forth between looking like Henry then like James, and I think I've decided she's just a perfect mix of the two. Her personality is as perfectly precious as she is, and I count it one of my life's greatest blessings to have her as my own. She loves her family (especially her brothers), having her hair brushed, sleeping swaddled, and squawking at anyone who passes by and doesn't pay her enough attention. :)

Jared and I are trying to make the most of the insanity. With him gone so much, we both know how important it is to make the days at home count -- for our whole family and for just the two of us. So, we do. We joyfully celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary last month, and at dinner that night, we promised to slow it the eff down for the next five years. Well, after we get into the new house of course. That's really the biggest thing going on right now. After three years and two babies, we decided we had outgrown our home and began the search for a new place. We closed on the new house last Friday, and we will officially move in on Tuesday of next week. I will probably post pictures one day, but for now, just know that we found a fantastic home for our babies to spend their childhoods. It's in Kingwood, and it's exactly what we were looking for.

Okay, kids, that's about all the catching up I can do for one evening. Since I began this post, the boys came home, everyone got a bath and put to bed, and I've cleaned the kitchen...so it's been a few hours start to finish. I hope to be back more often than once every 8 months, but I'm not making any promises yet.   

the biggest brother

Henry, my getting-way-too-grown-up-for-my-liking 3 1/2 year old.

You know how, sometimes, your my kids are acting like heathens and running rough-shod all over you me and there's not a snowball's chance in hell you'd I'd try to take their picture? Well, you I used to try, despite the chaos...but after enough stink-eyes, ugly faces, and blood-pressure jumps, you've I've learned.

To capture my babies' best faces (or, not their worst ones anyway), I've gotta wait. I've gotta work for it. I've gotta have my bribes at the ready.

In this case, he was already in a glowing mood (James had just been put to bed...no further explanation necessary), and I told him that if he made a nice smile for my camera, I'd tickle him to smithereens afterwards.

See, everybody wins.

treasures

My great-aunt called to say she had something for me...

Isn't he awesome?!

He's lived at her house for several Christmases, and she thought it would be nice for him to move in with some cookie-eating heathens.

Nice, indeed. I'm in love.

An open letter to mothers of girls...

Dear Mothers of Girls,

Please stop standing by and allowing your daughters to behave like little bully b*tches to every child that isn't their 'best friend' - whatever the eff that means to a 3-year old, anyway. You are teaching them NOTHING by a) pretending not to notice, b) laughing off, or c) ignoring their selfish, conniving, snooty behavior. You are, in fact, promoting their inborn egocentric world view and creating little diva monsters incapable of serving any purpose in the real world but to 'look cute' and make everyone else miserable.

Of course, I do not expect you to force your kid to play with mine. Of course, I do not expect you to intervene on every single altercation that arises on the proverbial playground. I just expect the same thing of you that you would expect of me if my big, brawny, imposing, in-your-face boy was screaming at your daughter five inches from her face to "GO AWAY!!! YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND...I AM NOT TALKING TO YOUUUUUUU BECAUSE YOU ARE UGLY!!!!!!"

See, that sucks doesn't it? You'd want it addressed, wouldn't you?

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that girls do it differently. They're more sneaky about it. They turn on their heel and say things under their breath. They convince their mommies that it was the yucky boy being mean to them first. Stop believing them, moms. Start paying closer attention. This is bullying. It looks different, but that doesn't make it any less WRONG or HURTFUL or IN NEED OF CORRECTION.

Stepping down now. Thanks for reading.

EHC

P.S. I realize that much of this letter is full of generalization and stereotype. Of course, I recognize that there are exceptions to those...I'm just coming hot off the playground and wanted to tap the beginnings of my thoughts on this out as soon as I got home. Also, no need to remind me that "I'll understand once I have a daughter of my own"....I have empathy, common sense, and intelligence enough to see the other side just fine.  

17 weeks...

Her name is Emerson. She's due May 16th. We'll likely have a repeat C around the 9th. Jared is adorably excited. Henry is over the moon. James likes string cheese and raisins. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world...humbled to be on the brink of this little pink dream coming true.

Thanks for sticking around through my blogging hiatus, friends. It was a rough first tri, it's been an exhausting and family event-filled second, and I just haven't had much left over in the way of creative energy. I hope that we're back to regularly scheduled programming...but I won't make any promises.

re-entry

What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No-eyed deer.

What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
STILL, no-eyed deer.

What do these lame, life-of-the-party jokes have to do with my blog?
Nothing...they're just my ice-breaker to help get my fingers moving across the keys again. Shwooooo, it's been awhile.

So, what's new with y'all?

Here's what we've been doing since September:

We've been sick a time or three...here they are keeping hydrated on their "floor bed."  

We made a big day out of the Texas Renaissance Festival again this year. The boys traded in their pirate garb from last year and decided (well, Henry decided...James just copied, obvi) to be knights.

 James enjoyed many, many pre-school days home with mommy and daddy. While big brother is at school, James loves to sit in Henry's chair at the kitchen table (the blue and green one) and play with all of Henry's toys. He may enjoy it a little too much, to be honest, but it's hilarious...so we roll with it.

 Mr. Bigs had his very first school picture day. This is a shot I got of him as we were leaving the house. He is growing up so fast, and I swear he gets more handsome everytime I look at him. He is still really loving pre-school, and his teachers and school have been such a blessing to all of us in more ways than I can recount here.

 Henry had the best time at his school's Halloween Parade and class party. Here's our little knight (note: his costume got upgraded and accesorized from RenFest...all credit to daddy for keeping our guy authentic)...

 Here he is playing Pin the Tail on the Cat during the party...so cute. His class has 9 girls and 4 boys, and 6 of the little girls were princesses this year. That said, I find it notable that Henry's favorite girl at the Halloween party was the one dressed as a dinosaur, and his second favorite was dressed as an true-to-life Dora (backpack, short brown wig, and shorts and a tee).

 We played super hero in our street A LOT. Most of the time, we had pants on...of course on the day I had the camera out, we were in our skivs. Oh well. Art imitates life, and you all already know we have a very undressed house in the toddler department.

 We trick or treated. This year will go down as the one that Henry "got" Halloween. He didn't try to eat each piece of candy as it was put into his pumpkin this year, he wasn't ready to go home after three houses, and he said thank you at every single door! James did almost as well, but he was absolutely done after three houses. After that, he just wanted to go play with everyone's yard decor and yell "Happy Weeeeeeen" from the wagon. Following the trick or treating, our boys both had a ball handing out candy to the kids that came to our door late. Henry sat outside on his big armchair calling kids over "Candy over here, everyone!! Come get your candy!!!" and his festive mood was only sullied when we finally ran out. He was sure to save everyone a trip up the walk to find out that we were out, too..."We're all out, folks...no more candy this way!! Try again next year!!!!!"

 We've gotten enormous since September. At least an inch taller each...

 ...and James has discovered the wonder of big-boy underwear. Of course he's a total poser and still wearing a diaper underneath them - anything to look like big brother. Here he is paying homage to his favorite cartoon on Nicke.lode.on..."Um.i Zo.omi"...he's showing us his "belly, belly, belly screen!!!"

 And the brothers spent a lot of time just brotherin'. This pic is adorable from this angle, imo, but if you turn it around, you can actually see that James is not making the happiest face. He's totally annoyed that Henry is on his blankie. As we are all learning around here, personal space is a hot commodity. :0)

Okay, that just about catches us up for now. I'll try to do better...with the holidays fast-approaching, y'all know we'll be out and about and hopefully, I'll have my camera on-hand to capture some of the fun.  

is it over yet?

In the past 7 days, the following ridiculousness has transpired:

Henry slipped and bumped his chin causing his teeth to slam down on his tongue. His sharp canine tooth dug in extra hard and came as close to going all the way through his tongue as you can imagine. Profuse bleeding, gaping wound, sore mouth...what next?

Just as we were recovering from the tongue-piercing, Henry slipped off of the bench seats of my parents' hot tub into the 'deep' part in the middle, and he panicked as his head went under. I was right next to him the entire time. Although he didn't breathe water, he was scared half to death. As I was fishing him out.................

James slipped on the steps next to the outside of the hot tub and bumped his chest on the bottom step. I was holding a screaming Henry still, so my mom raced to James. By all outward appearances, he was fine. Oh, except for the fact that he wasn't breathing. He got the wind knocked clear out of him. After more than 20 seconds, he took a breath. About 20 seconds after that, he took another one. Holy scariness. Normal breathing resumed shortly thereafter......are we done yet.....................no.

The next morning, both of them were sick with a cold. Green noses and coughs. Of course, it was our first assigned day to work in James' Sunday School class, so I had to go on to church to work while Jared stayed home with the sickies. I told J that if he brought them outside, the humidity would probably help loosen up their stuffies. I got to church where not one single 18-20 month old soul showed up for my class, so I was given the go ahead to clean up and leave. It's a good thing, too, because 5 minutes later.....are you ready for this.....................

Jared called to tell me that he had taken the boys outside, and Jamesies got stung by a bee. His finger swelled up twice its size, but Jared was able to keep the reaction under control by dosing quickly with Benadryl and keeping it iced. He didn't seem to be having trouble breathing, so Jared was pretty sure we weren't headed for anaphylaxis. Lovely.

On Tuesday, Henry had to miss school because he was still sick with the crud. After we had been trapped inside just about all day, I decided we should go outside for an evening ride in Henry's truck. Henry was driving and James sat shotgun. Normally, we only drive in straight lines. On that particular day, we were driving in the street when Jared arrived home from somewhere. Henry was beyond excited to go see him, so he accelerated to our driveway and whipped that truck right in behind his daddy. Of course, as they are turning in, James chooses that precise moment to look over his outside shoulder to see where I am. So, after a tongue-piercing, a head dunk, a breathing cessation, and a bee sting,..........................

James toppled head first out of the side of the truck. He didn't land hard, but he gashed his head open on the ground. When I picked him up 2 seconds later, there was just a tiny cut visible....within 5 seconds of that, the cut started GUSHING blood. Words cannot explain how much this thing bled. As I passed Jared running into the kitchen with James' head and hair covered in blood that was dripping down my arms and legs at this point, I heard him say (trying to convince himself, I think), "don't panic...he's going to be okay." The bleeding was under control quickly, and I had my mom come over to the House of Accidents to help me decide if we needed to get stitches. She thought it would be more traumatic than beneficial, and based on the tinyness of the cut, I agreed. So, phew, we thought we were done.......................

But, alas, one more for the scrapbook...

This morning, as Jared was holding Henry in his lap to help him put his shoes on for school, Henry decided he wanted to play with Jared's phone. We weren't in a hurry to get to school, so Jared let him. A few seconds later, Henry pushed some buttons that made the kid program close down on the phone, so Jared told him to 'let daddy have it to fix it.' Henry pulled it tight to his chest. Jared reached his hand in to take the phone from Henry, and the H-man screeched and jerked the phone away from Jared...in an upwards and backwards direction...right into Jared's front tooth...which abruptly cracked in two and fell into Jared's throat.

All that said, Bosephus my sweet hubs and I would like to calmly warn all of you to steer clear of our place. We've got a black cloud overhead this week. The only good news around here is that it's almost Friday.