diaper butts

I love 'em. Seriously. They are one of my favorite things. So the next announcement comes with very mixed feelings...Hudson went potty today!!! At his daycare they put the kids on the potty every 15-30 minutes and today he went! I know we are probably several months away from big boy undies, but I am still in shock. What will I do without a kid to diaper? What will I do with that extra chunk of change in my purse? I can hardly wrap my brain around it...

who invited you?

Three down, two to go. The lovely stomach virus that swept through the Whitaker house not too long ago has migrated north and set up camp at 522 Fairland. So far, Abby and Hudson have avoided it. And can I just say thank goodness we have 2 bathrooms downstairs as Andy and Jake were playing musical toilets last night. One more reason I love Andy...he can handle kids throwing up a LOT better than I can. Hopefully we've seen the end of this and we'll all be back to normal tomorrow.

more favorite things

• the way most kids under the age of 6 say "caterpiller"
• rocking my babies to sleep
• sonic dr. pepper
• pedicures
• the office
• andy's lips
• laughing until you cry

It's been a rough couple of days here...Hudson threw up on me at 3 am Friday (see Shannon - you are in great company!), I went to the zoo with 100 first graders, got all 3 kids to bed finally and then got sick myself around 1:30 this morning. Needless to say NONE of these are my favorite things.

PS- Happy Birthday Betsy!!! Can't wait for our margarita! Love you!

My Top Ten Favorite Days

Don't expect anything as eloquent as Kathryn... :)

Here are my top ten favorite days of the year:
1. The last day of school! It's so exciting to have the whole summer ahead and to know that I get to hang out with my favorite people as much as I wish I could all year long.
2. The first day of school. It's crazy, I know, but everyone is so happy and energized. I get to catch up with friends I haven't seen all summer and I love meeting my new class (and finding out who I can blame my drinking problem on this year!). Just kidding!!!
3. Labor Day weekend. I know, this is actually 2 days I'm talking about, but they are identical...sleep in a little, throw stuff in the coolers, walk about 100 feet, hop on a tube, link on with a friend and float the frio for a few hours. Then we come back and put our chairs in the water and sit a little longer. Clean up, eat dinner and sit outside playing redneck golf and laugh and talk until we can't stay awake.
4. Jake's birthday
5. Abby's birthday
6. Hudson's birthday
7. Everyone's favorite...Christmas! I love it even more now that I have kids.
8. Thanksgiving...especially now that the game is back on!!!
9. The one Aggie football game we make it to each year. I love being back in College Station, although as each year passes I feel older and older around all those college kids. Why is that? ;)
10. July 3. I love celebrating the day God blessed me with my wonderful husband Andy. That sounds a lot 'shmoopier' than I am, but it's true. Almost 9 years and counting...

so great

Andy is so great. Seriously. I am very blessed...I have an incredible husband. I am crazy about him. He's my best friend.

I have been thinking of feeding off the whitakers and doing a top ten along with kathryn each week. So tomorrow...look for it! :)

Bad words

As I was talking to Jake while tucking him in last night, I started to ask him about some of his new neighborhood friends. They are 8- and 9-year-old boys and I am not always within earshot. I wanted to know if they were friendly to him or considered him a "pest", etc. We already had to talk to him about using the word "sucks" so I was also curious about the language he may be hearing. This is the end of our conversation:
me: Do they ever use bad words around you?

jake: no...just stupid and sucks - but we've already talked about that mama and I'm not going to say that word anymore.

me: That's good. I'm so proud of you.

Jake: Jordan in my class says bad words though. He calls people a bad name and also does the sign.

me: What name does he call people? (Knowing that "shut up" and "stupid" are bad words to 6-year-olds)

Jake: He calls people "b*#$&" and does the sign too. (The sign, he shows me, is sticking up his pinky finger.)

So we talk about how people sometimes use those words to look cool and how they make people feel really bad when they hear them. They make you feel bad when you say them and most of all, they make God sad. I ended it with "They make God cry."

Jake: Well, God must cry every day because Jordan says it ALL the time.

Probably so, Jake. Probably so.

We'll see...

I've been kind of down the past week or so, stressed, tired, out of it...and it's starting to beat me down. I've tried really hard to brush it off and I really AM happy when I'm with my family. But I can't seem to fully snap out of it. I was thinking earlier as I was loading the dishwasher that maybe I should try to think of some things that I am grateful for and I might start to feel better. You know...the whole power of positive thinking thing. So here goes:

I am thankful for my sweet Abby who tells me at least 50 unsolicited times a day that she loves me. She is so happy and funny...she is my heart.

I am thankful for my smart, creative, sensitive Jake. I love watching him play soccer and baseball and ride his bike/scooter/skateboard. He always knows when I need a hug.I am thankful for Hudson. I adore him. I love how independent he is. I love when he grabs both sides of my face and smashes his mouth on my mouth to give me a kiss.

I am thankful for Andy, my best friend and the love of my life. He coaches soccer, listens to me vent, makes me laugh, lets me cry, and pretty much is the best person I know. I am thankful I get to spend my days, my life, with him.I am thankful for my parents, who would do anything for me.

I am thankful for my in-laws...how lucky I am!

I am thankful for my new home. I love that my kids can play outside until dark, that I already have an awesome friend as a neighbor, that I live so close to my school and closer to my family and friends.

I am thankful for my friends - they are TRUE friends and that is a real gift.

I am starting to think of really trivial and silly things now so I'll save that for another post. I feel a little better now. I'm gonna go get my kids to bed :)

35 days

Is it summer yet?

What's so great about sleep?

The question should be "What's NOT so great about sleep?" After 3 consecutive nights of 3-4 total hours I am wiped. Between the storms blowing through around 4 am and sick kids throwing up in my bed...I can't even think straight today. I was all set to wish Hudson a happy 20-month birthday yesterday but I just couldn't do it. So I will try to get to it this weekend. For now, I'm gonna go eat the yummy Pei Wei Andy picked up so that I didn't have to cook, watch The Office (finally, a new one!) and then crash.

all things hudson

They moved Hudson up to the "Toddler" class at daycare, and I have mixed emotions about it. I am sad that he's no longer considered a baby and I miss all the things that go along with him being at that stage. But I love this age too...the new words and growing personality. A few Hudson-isms are:

si-side = outside (He wants to be outside ALL the time.)

nook = milk

nak = snack (He's not missing any of these.)

bye-ee = Abby

sye-syes = french fries (said almost everytime he sees the McDonalds sign)

ma! = Emma

Hudson, you are growing too fast.

Meet Mr. Messy