Easter

I'm doing a short live retell of Easter so I can remember Hay's first ;)

Saturday morning we went for an Easter egg hunt at Silver Creek. We took some photo opportunities at the cute & festive photo booth!

He had no idea what was really going on!

Addie ALWAYS has to hold this boy!

Hud dyed eggs with Gigi.

Hud hunted eggs and got more sweets than we needed!

Hay sat in the Easter eggs and was NOT too happy about it!

And then Addie sat in the eggs with Hay. He liked that a little better.

More photo booth fun!

Sunday morning we started with Easter basket fun.

Hayden got some cereal and Sophie the giraffe {kept it simple for a little guy who has no idea}. He loves that little squeaker!

Hud was SO excited for some new sandals!

And a water bottle which he got up and down the pew to drink one million times during church.

Side note: Wearing Christmas pajamas while opening Easter basket presents=real life.

Love that face more than words can tell.

They were the most handsome things I've ever seen in those matching bow ties. A.dor.able.

Three of my favorite guys in the world.

We were so lucky to have a slew of family around for the weekend! Just for my memories sake I'm listing the family we had: Dave, Judy, Bobby, Angie & Connar (and friend Thomas). Plus the whole clan of us Oklahomans! The house was packed!

Cute couple!

Don't know how he ended up with these!

Cousins!

So toddlers and lunch and cute outfits don't mix. So before church Sunday evening we had a little outfit change and therefore took another photo opportunity.

I am so thankful for three great guys!

My handsome man!

Above all it was great to sing and worship and celebrate our Jesus who died and rose again. It's so cool to hear Hudson talk and ask questions about what happened. He wants to know about the "bad guys" that he sees in his picture bible taking Jesus away and the crown He wore and what Easter means. I could care less if he remembers that we dyed Easter eggs or what was in his basket. I just want him to know that Jesus that loved us enough. Enough to die. Thank you, Lord, for your perfect plan!

But take heart!  I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Hayden Green {5 Months}

Little Man you are 5 months old!

Here are your unofficial (mommy taken) stats:

Height: almost 25 inches!

Weight: approximately 16.4 lbs.

You wear 3-6 month clothes and a size 3 diaper.

You LOVE to eat. You still pretty much eat every 2-3 hours(mostly closer to two). You always eat at 7:15am, 5:00pm (when mommy gets home), and 9:30pm.

Your sleep schedule has been kind of crazy for the last month or so. We finally got back to normal last week and then you weren't feeling well and it went down the drain...bummer. Hopefully soon we'll get a schedule (new or old) down and stick with it.

You are a moving machine. You do not stop for ANY reason. You even move when you sleep. You are so hard to hold because you about jump out of our arms. We got out your exersaucer so you can get some more movement in! You roll and hate to be on your tummy too long so you kick your legs and try to get yourself somewhere. You mostly love to be standing. No, not an adult standing and holding you. You want to stand up and someone's lap.

You chew on everything! I'm sure we'll have teeth soon!

You love to kick your feet in the bath water.

You love holding onto your feet and you have the strongest grip! You get ahold of things and it's like tug of war getting them back!

You smile and laugh a lot! You love your feet and that makes you laugh. You also have a little tickle spot on your neck by ear ;)

Your brother still loves and adores you. Tonight he sat by you and said, "he's my best friend."

Hayden Greer {4 months}

My little man you are FOUR months old!

Here are your stats:

Weight- 14lbs 11oz (35%)

Height- 25 1/4in (50%)

Head circumference-42cm (40%)

You wear 3-6 month clothes and a size 2 diaper.

You LOVE to eat. You still pretty much eat every 2-3 hours(mostly closer to two). When mommy's working and you're tired of the bottle you push it away...you are a mama's boy. You always eat at 5:00am, 7:15am, 5:00pm (when mommy gets home), and 9:30pm.

Your sleep schedule has been a little off lately. You've been having some wild schedules lately, but I'm blaming it on that runny nose. Hopefully we will get back to "normal" soon, whatever that is....

On March 1st you rolled over on your own for the first time! You roll from back to belly ALL the time, but don't return to your back too often. You kick your legs and act like you're going to get somewhere. You haven't successfully moved yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. 

You love to stand up and you are really strong. 

You are constantly putting your hands or anyone else's hands in your mouth. You just chew and chew and chew and drool and drool and drool. I'm wondering how early you'll get teeth.

You like to lay on your play mat and kick and check it all out. I can't wait to pull down the exersaucer because I think you will LOVE that!

You smile SO much and I love that. Of course for your birthday pictures you wouldn't...But it's the sweetest smile. You smile the most when you first wake up and you smile at mommy when she gets home in the afternoon. It's the sweetest thing.

You are a cuddle baby and love to be rocked or cuddled to sleep. You like blankets and stuffed friends to hold onto. Mommy loves that you love to cuddle ;)

Hayden Greer, you are so much fun and love in one little ball of baby. We LOVE you SO SO much. Happy four months Mr. Man!

Hayden Greer {3 months}

Hayden Greer, you're three months old!

You weigh almost 13 pounds! You are my chunky monkey. 

You are about 24 inches long.

You just started wearing size 2 diapers this week. And we have moved up to 3-6 month clothes mostly, there are still a few 0-3 months that you wear. 

You LOVE to eat! Usually while I'm at work you will eat 14-18 ounces. You mostly eat every 2-3 hours, you aren't very consistent right now and that's mostly because our schedule is crazy. You have taken to the bottle really well and haven't complained much. Thank you for being so easy going! 

You had an awesome sleep schedule and then mommy went back to work and messed you up a bit. Thankfully this week we have gotten into a routine. We go to bed around 9:30 and you wake up at 2 and 5 to eat. If you can you will sleep until 7:30-8. But on days when you go to Mae Mae's mommy wakes you up much earlier.

You don't really have any kind of nap schedule, it varies daily. You mostly cat nap, but some days you will take a few really long naps.

You love to cuddle when you sleep! When you're tired you want to be rocked with your paci and a blanket near your face. I promise you're watched closely so you can still breathe.

You are getting really good at sitting up and trying to control your head, but your favorite thing to do is stand. It's so funny how you wobble around and try to hold yourself up. You think you're big stuff!

You have the best smile and you laugh a lot when we put your feet to your face. You also love your changing table and smile so much when you lay up there, silly boy. You are also starting to smile more when certain people talk to you {like mommy ;)}

You are a wide eyed baby and you love to watch what's going on around you! I can't really figure out what color your eyes will be. I think they almost have a blue/gray hue.

You have really started watching and figuring out your feet. You love to kick, especially in the bath tub.

You are working on rolling over and get onto your side really well. You haven't made it completely over though. Your brother is working on teaching you, it's really sweet. He tells you, "I'll teach you to roll over, baby. "

Mommy went back to work this month and you've done so well. I'm so thankful that you're easy going and don't fuss about much of anything. I think it's way harder on mommy to leave every morning than you realize. Mae Mae did say the first day you completely refused the bottle in the afternoon, but other than that you have been awesome! I'm so proud of you!

You're brother is as protective as ever of you. He won't let the little boy at Ms. Heather's come near you and he tells everyone, "That's MY baby brother." He thinks you're so cute, loves to play toys with you and help bathe you. It's so precious to watch him love on you.

You are such joy and light to our day. We can't wait to get home to you {and your brother} and snuggle you. You are a wide eyed, hairy, smiley boy and we ADORE you! We love you to the moon and back, Hayden Greer! Happy 3 months!

Workin' Mama

It was the normal bedtime routine-teeth brushing, Bible reading, prayer, and the usual question.
But this time I was dreading it, not because he would be upset with the answer. Because the answer would upset me. And here it came:
"what tomorrow is?"
I was trying to get the words out, "Tomorrow we have to get up really early and go to Mae Mae's house." Tears were filling my eyes, "because mommy has to go to school." By this point I wasn't really holding anything back, my face was wet.
"Mommy, you sad?"
"Ya I'm sad"
"Who hurt you?"
pause.
" I made you sad? Hayden make you sad? Daddy make you sad? The wall make you sad?"
{side note: whenever we get an owie-scrape a leg, break a nail, etc Hud always wants to know who hurt us or made us sad. And sometimes it's just that darn concrete we fell on or the chair we bumped our toe into etc.}
"No, mommy is sad in her heart"
"Mommy your heart sad? My heart not sad. Why you heart sad?"
"Because mommy has to go to school tomorrow and she's going to miss you."
"I not going to miss me."
(insert some random 3 year old talk that is really not pertinent to the story)
"Mommy, Jesus live in you heart?" (and he says you not your-that's not a typo!)
"Yes, does Jesus live in your heart?"
"No, he's flying in the sky." (this answer changes quite often, so I'm not too worried...)
We finished our normal bedtime routine and made it out of the room before I completely lost it. Sobbing. Eyes filled with tears. I can't leave them. I don't want to do it. I'm going to be a crying mess in front of all those kids, grandparents, and teacher friends.
I continued to snuggle Hayden and we made our way to bed. I knew that 5:30 am was going to come way too soon, especially with some feedings thrown in there.
The morning went as planned, I showered, grabbed my phone and headed in the other room to blow dry my hair (no need to wake the sleeping baby). I clicked YouVersion on my phone while holding the blow dryer to my wet head and went to my daily reading plan. I began reading and got to these words:

"We serve a God who doesn't just save us from our sin, doesn't just redeem our life from the pit, He also says-Hey, whatever life situation I hand you for the sake of my glory: if it's plenty, if it seems like not enough, if its easy or rough-I'm going to give you the strength to get through it. Because I love and because that's the best way for it to happen and you can trust Me."

Then I read in in Philippians 4 in verse 11, "for I have learned to be content what the circumstances."

and in verse 13, "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength."

Really Lord? There is a reason that I should have completed this plan a week ago, but was too distracted to focus on You and now you nailed me with it on the exact day I needed it? Really? You're that good God? 

You see that verse was exactly what I needed this morning, on this day, and in this circumstance in my life. Because to be quite honest, I haven't really wanted to be a working mama since November. I want to be a stay home and snuggle babies and bake and take care of the house kind of mama. But Hudson had it all right, "Mommy, Jesus live in your heart?" And because He does, just like the devotional says, He doesn't just redeem us, He strengthens us too. He strengthens us for the things He has planned for our life. Not the things we plan or think sound better, but for His will. 

Because as much as I miss those sweet babies {and boy it's a check your phone whenever you can to see if you have any messages about the babies from Mae Mae kind of miss them} it's not the plan. At least not right now. Because His plan is that I'm a working mama. A teacher mama. A mama of two at home and twenty five in the classroom. And I have a purpose in that. And He has a plan for it. And He strengthens me to be a working mama of two. Because without Him I am nothing and I am not able. 

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not he ability to carry it out." Romans 7:18

But thankfully I can say, "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Check up

Hayden had his big two month doctor's appointment and Hudson the 3 year! I updated Hud's stats on his 3 year post, but need to get Hayden's written down posted!

Hayden weighed in at a big 12.4lbs (50%)

He measured 23 3/4 inches (75%)

His head circumference is 15.5 inches.

We took on the 2 month shots and he conquered them! Besides the immediate tears and terrible sad face we didn't have too bad of a day, nothing some cuddling couldn't fix!

 The doctor thought he looked great, but mommy already knew that ;)

Kidding. I'm very thankful for two happy and healthy and growing baby boys!

Hudson William {three years}

Hudson, you are 3 years old big boy!

You weigh 31lbs 11oz and are 37 inches tall!

You have grown a 1/2inch since November!

You are wearing 2T clothes, but are about to move to 3T for length!

You also wear big boy undies! Yay! You have been since October, but I will say that you are probably just now getting to be 100% potty trained (having a little brother gave us some set backs).

I could go on and on about the things you love, but I made this little poster as a shortened version ;)

You LOVE trains!

You also really really love Toy Story (the movie & toys). You recently got cowboy boots which you wore almost two months straight and we had to write your name on the bottom. 

You have an imaginary friend Jesse, which I can't help but picture looks just like the red headed movie character. You call her on the phone, talk to her when you're playing, ask to buy her stuff at the store, etc.

You other favorite things to do are play play dough and draw & color.

You are quite the talker! You talk ALL day long about EVERYTHING! I wish I could record some of the things you say, you keep us laughing. You are really into talking about what everyone is doing, what cars they drive and what they like to drink. You say "what are doin'?" all the time.

You are really good at reading environmental print (ya the teacher coming out in mommy). You name every restaurant and store we pass when driving. 

You also have memorized several stories that you "read" to us. You "read" to us from your Bible about Palm Sunday, the crucifiction, and the resurrection.  You also "read" Love You Forever. You love to read stories and visit the library.

You are bound to be a musician, besides it being in your blood you are absolutely obsessed with the guitar. You stole a ukulele from mommy's classroom and you haven't stopped playing since. You got your first acoustic guitar for your birthday and you have played it constantly. You play and you make us sing songs like ABC's, Lover of My Soul, Twinkle Twinkle, the color songs, and on and on.

You love to go to school! I think it has helped you so much in becoming independent and learning about letters and numbers, and socializing. Not that you can't learn those things from home, but it's so good for you to learn from others too.

You LOVE your baby brother and are very protective of him. You tell everyone, "He is MY baby brother." You love to give him his paci, help change diapers, and you always have to know where he is. You don't like when we are away from him. We are so glad that you love him so much, we were a little worried about how you'd react.

Hudson William you are not always easy, but you are worth it. You are strong willed and VERY independent. You don't like help from others and like to do everything your way and by yourself. But even through the tough times we are so thankful that you are ours.  

You bring us so much joy! Three years ago we celebrated one of the best days in our life getting to meet you and we wouldn't trade you for ANYTHING! We love you just the way you are! Happy third Birthday sweet boy.

Love you forever,

like you for always,

as long as I'm living my baby you'll be.