We went to New Mexico last week to visit my grandparents. The boys did awesome traveling on the planes (seriously, I couldnt have asked them to be any more well behaved than they were) and had so much fun playing outside, riding the golf cart, feeding the birds and bunnies and hanging with Grandpa Tommy and Grandma Guin.
At the Airport on our way out there.
Golf Cart - the boys LOVED riding around in this looking at bunnies, quail, roadrunners and the "alligator" in the water trap on hole 13.
Hanging around the house. Can you see the bunny??
Sopapillas - they LOVE making and eating these delicious treats. Cannon even thought he was helping!
Hudson celebrated his birhday for about a week. We went to Chuck E. Cheese (his choosing) before his actual birthday, then went to Blakley's birthday party on his actual birth day (and she was nice enough to share her celebration with him), and then he celebrated again on Easter (the day after his birthday). That's a lot of sugar! Happy Birthday!
Waiting for scary Chuck E. Cheese (Cannon gives Chuck a high five then starts bawling).
Hudson is three. Sigh. Big Sigh. I cannot believe it. On the one hand, our days are long, tiring and I often find myself looking forward to each evening. While it often feels like our days go by slowly, the years seem to be flying by too fast. I cannot believe he is three. Three seems so much bigger/mature/older than two. Two seems like a baby. Three is like a big kid. He talks like a big boy, acts like a big boy (most of the time) and is such a funny person that we love being around. He cracks us up but is also sensitive and kind. He can be shy but is mostly fun, outgoing and the director of all business around the house. He is sly and mischevious. He knows what he wants and can talk is way into getting what he wants most of the time. And if that doesnt work, he still knows how to bring on the waterworks and throw a good tantrum. He is so smart and has an amazing memory that constantly surprises me. His imagination can bring tears to my eyes with his excited story telling and the excuses that he can give. He is our first born and he is responsble for making JR and I into a family. He is the big brother and the life of the party. He is the "biggest boy ever" and he is so incredibly loved it hurts. As a mother, one of my biggest fears is that he will never know how much he is loved. But I know one day, if he is lucky like us, he will have his own children and he will know then how much his own parents loved him. Happy 3rd Birthday, Hudson Cole. We love you more than you know.
Both boys got hair cuts this week. And both boys got "spiky hairs," as Hudson says. At 16 months, this is Cannon's first haircut. He didnt, and still doesnt, have much hair but it definitely needed trimming. And his hair looks so cute now that we should have done it sooner!
I cannot wait to hear what is going on in Cannon's head because I LOVE the funny things that Hudson says. Here are a few from the last couple weeks...
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Me to Hudson (after he fits into new and bigger shorts that I got him): Hudson you are getting bigger! I dont want you to get bigger! If you get bigger, I am not going to be able to hold you and I want to carry you forever.
Hudson, near tears: NO! I WANT TO GET BIGGER! I am growing and getting muscles and I am gonna get bigger. I will just carry you.
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Hudson: Mommy can you bring the legos to me? Me: Hudson, you can go get them. You are big enough. Hudson (while flexing his muscles): I cant get them. My muscles just arent big enough yet.
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Hudson (right when he wakes up in the morning): I just need my Grandma. Me: Ok let's go call her. Hudson to Grandma on the phone: I just need you to come get me so we can go get Gia. Then I will be so happy. ____________________________________
Hudson to JR: Daddy, I have a 'stomach-egg'. See right here [pointing to his stomach], there is an egg right here.
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Hudson's teacher told me this funny little story just now -
Teacher to everyone: No running in the classroom! Hudson: The only time we are allowed to run in the classroom is when we have to barf or go poop in the potty! _____________________________________
STORY TIME with Hudson Reynolds My parents go to dinner with Gianna and Hudson on Wednesdays. During dinner they started "Story Time" where evertone takes turns telling stories. When Hudson got home from dinner a few weeks ago, I asked him to tell me his story. Here it is:
We recently watched the movie 'Marley and Me' for the first time. The narrator calls Marley "the world's worst dog." We have two dogs similar to Marley and watching the movie made us think about them - in both good ways and bad ways. You see, before we had kids our dogs WERE our kids. Once we had kids, life gets busy and changes and dogs become DOGS (it is the same for most of the people I know). Not everyone, but MOST. I know one family who still treats their dog like their kid after having kids. ONE. Everyone else I know that has small children is pretty frustrated with their dogs most of the time. Dogs need attention. Dogs cost money. Dogs wake up sleeping babies. Dogs get in the trash and spread it all over the place. Dogs need walking EVERY DAY. Dogs are a lot of work - which is fine - until you have kids. Then dogs become another thing that needs attention when all you want to do after a long day at work or a long day of watching kids is sit in peace for two minutes without a dog whining to go on a walk.
Anways, back to the movie. So we watched the movie and couldnt believe how similar our dogs were to Marley. Here we go:
1. Our dogs are nearly impossible to walk. One is 75 pounds and the other is 45 pounds and I can no longer walk them with the kids in the stroller. I have tried and I am done. D-O-N-E. They both bark at other dogs and pull and pull and dont stop barking - even if the other dog they are barking at is long gone. And we have a lot of dogs in this area so it is hard to NOT run into other dogs on a walk. Maya also likes to lunge at passing byciclists. Yep. They pull so hard and lunge away that the last few times I took them the stroller was close to tipping over multiple times. Not to mention my hand and arm nearly falling off. So I am DONE. Sorry Honey, but that is now your job. And honestly, when JR takes them I am worried about him. He often takes them rollerblading and a couple times in the past they have seen a skunk or racoon or cat and have pulled JR hard and unexpectedly and he has fallen. He is frustrated and tired and upset that they are now a CHORE to walk as opposed to a nice evening out of the house or a little exercise.
2. They bark. If you have a child with sleep issues then you understand how much you want to strangle the source of the noise that wakes your hard-to-put-to-sleep and easily-woken-up child. When the kids finally fall asleep and then one or both of the dogs finds something to bark at, believe me, you want to do things to the animal that you previously didnt want to do before you had kids...back when the dogs were your kids.
3. They get into things. Our dogs havent eaten the couch or pillows like Marley did but they get into the trash (and remember our trash has diapers in it). Maya has eaten a pair of shoes and two nice pairs of sunglasses. They do eat and tear apart their own dogs beds and we often find the fluff all over the place. And like Marley, Jagger eats drywall. Yes, we have holes in the garage from Jagger eating through the wall. Not sure if he is trying to escape (which is what I think Marley was trying to do) but Jagger has eaten holes right near the open doggy door, so not sure it is for escape purposes. We have had the holes fixed and yet there are more. - I'm trying to get photos of the dogs next to their "work"
4. They cost money. Oh the dog food alone is expensive. Not to mention boarding if you ever go out of town. Plus, if your dogs get boarded at all then you need to be up to date on vaccines. Let's not forget vet visits for those things that happen unexpectedly. Like when Maya ate the neighbors dirt which had snail poison in it. Or the multiple visits Jagger has had to get his stomach pumped after he ate socks.
It makes us sad and it makes us feel guilty that the dogs have taken a back seat to our kids (and yet how obvious is that - OF COURSE our dogs are going to take a back seat to our kids). Everyone gets busy - I know it isnt just us. It isnt the dogs' fault. They dont know what happened. Kids made our lives busier than it already was. It doesnt help that Cannon is allergic to dogs either. But if these dogs were a little less like Marley then they would have a better life. I could walk them EVERY day with the kids while JR is at work. I could let them out in the front with the other dogs in the neighborhood if they didnt run away like Marley did. I could take them to parks and the beach with the kids if they listened and came back when I called them.
I feel bad but at the same time I am also upset with them. We cant seem to exercise them enough. Unfortunately everyone I know with kids has a similar story with respect to their dogs. In fact, MANY of the families I am talking about have considered getting rid of their dogs and a couple even have. The only thing stopping us at this point is guilt and feeling sorry for them. It isnt their fault but if they werent like Marley, then maybe things would be better for them (and us).
I love when I learn something from my kids. It happens all the time. The other day, when it was raining, I took the kids to the mall to see the carousel, the toy store, the Disney store, the toys in Pottery Barn Kid store and the animals and fish tanks at Rain Forest. That is a lot to see and we were moving through the mall. Except Cannon. He was stalling. He wasnt moving. I was telling him to keep up (which normally he does so well)! But he was stopped. And he wouldnt move.
He was looking up.
So I followed his gaze and saw something that I had never seen even though I am sure it has always been there. I just hadnt ever paused to look.
Cannon is so funny. Thanks for making me slow down and look at pretty things, Cannon!
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