Just a few pictures

Here are a few pictures and one video clip of our adventures at the playground on Sunday! Enjoy.

Judd's 1st time swinging

Poor Raymond is suffering from a severe cold and croup. He looks so sick and tired in this picture. I love you Raymo.

Up to my ears in Sh**

Do you ever feel like you are drowning? What do you feel like you are drowning in, debt, bills, sorrow, boredom, etc.? Well I feel like I am drowning in poop. Baby poop, husband poop, dog poop, and "bull" poop.
I change about 9 - 20 diapers/pull ups a day, then I wipe little tushes about 10 times a day, then I have to scrub the toilet bowl every time my husband goes #2, which is a whole other topic. Why is it that when men do their business, it's like an explosion in the toilet? It's disgusting. Then they get up and walk away like you either have to accept the mess or clean up after them. Ugh. What is wrong with you guys?
This weekend I literally picked up about 80-100 pounds of dog poop. I usually stop cleaning up after our two dogs, Ruby and Boscoe in Nov. and don't start again until, well...this last weekend. It's pointless to try and pull dog poop out from under snow and what not. I used three garbage bags full and they weighed combined about that much! Ridiculous!!!
I know this post is graphic in a sense, I just had this epiphany that I am surrounded by lbs. of poop all the time and Tony called me the Poop master, which I don't know if I appreciate or not! So to all you other Poop Master mommies out there, I applaud your poop clean up ability and know that I am right there with you!

Here Comes the Sun...

Today was the most beautiful day of the year so far. It was a sunny 73 degrees. There was a slight breeze, sunny skies with no clouds and just absoultely perfect! We took total advantage of the warm day. We spend all morning in the backyard, that was newly freed of dog waste this last weekend thanks to moi! Then this afternoon we went back outside. Tonight I even BBQ'd some chicken in celebration of the upcoming spring and summer months when this is simply what you do. It was so nice to not be cooped up in the house. Judd crawled all over the yard. Owen and Raymond played hard and Tony took them to the park this afternoon. Then tonight while Tony went to a meeting at church, I loaded up the boys in their wagon and we went for a long walk around the neighborhood. It was like a warm summer night.
It's supposed to be nice tomorrow too then the forcast calls for rain from Wednesday through next week!!! We will be in a swamp.
The warm weather motivates me. It motivates me to actually work on some landscaping in our yard this year, to get it all cleaned up so we can have BBQ parties every weekend, and to be more active with my kids. I want them to learn to play hard and LOVE the outside. I want them to beg to go outside when it rains or when the weather is bad and not just be satisfied watching a movie or doing nothing healthy. I want my boys to be able to eventually ride their bikes around the neighborhood (well, if we move out of the 'hood' someday), and I want them to not be afraid to get dirty, run and climb and be a little rough. Next week I am going to register them both for summer t-ball at the Y and I am so excited for them. I love watching them play sports or do group things!
So, I hope you all had beautiful weather like us today, but if not don't fret it will come! :) All day I've had that song stuck in my head, which I will leave you with..."Here comes the sun..doo da doo doo, here comes the sun and I say, it's all right....."

Professional Pictures

See my previous post for updated pictures on Judd's new hair cut. Here are his professional pictures that I had taken yesterday for his one year old pictures. I don't mean to brag, but could he be any cuter??? Enjoy!

1st Everything!

I know it seems like I have been blogging about nothing but Judd lately, but it is his time to shine, so I suppose it is only appropriate to have another post about him.

Of course he just celebrated his first birthday last week, so to continue on with firsts yesterday I took him to get his one year old pictures taken and to get his first hair cut.

He's had pictures taken before at the studio, but of course as a baby and he didn't know the difference. This time though it took him a little while longer to warm up but I still think his pictures turned out adorable. Judd admittedly has absurdly long hair. Every mom of girls his age are so jealous of how much hair he has, I've been told. It was super cute though. It had curls in the back and little flippy wings on the side and these side swept bangs. I wanted to get his pictures taken with his long hair because that is part of him as his first year of life. I have a strict rule, as I think I've stated before, about getting babies hair cut before their first birthday. I don't think that it should happen. I think that little babies don't need that, but at your first birthday if you are in need of a hair cut then it can take place.

After we left the picture place I took him to get his hair cut with me. He did amazing. He sat perfectly still and sucked his thumb and didn't get worried or cry. The lady did a pretty good job. I told her to leave most of the length but to clean it up and make him look a little more boyish. Since then, however, I am liking his new hair cut less and less. She left certain spots long that should be shorter and she squared his hair across his forehead and around his ears so he looks a little like MO from the 3 stooges. I feel bad for him because he is so dang cute and happy and totally oblivious to his bad hair cut. I thought about cleaning it up myself tonight after baths, but after looking at his pictures taken yesterday with his long hair, I told Tony I want to let his hair grow back out a bit and I NEVER do this, but I admitted that I regretted getting his hair cut. Now for those of you who really know me, you know that I NEVER back down and I argue even if you are probably right. It's just me, I don't know why I do it, that's just the way I am and obviously you all still love me! :) So it must mean a lot if I can admit that I regretted my own decision. Ugh. So he will have to go through a little awkward stage of hair to get it back to the way it was.

Here are a few more fun pictures of the boys including the before and after pictures of Judd's hair cut! Enjoy!

Silly Judd. He was biting the block in just the right spot to make him look like BOZO!

Judd got lots of laughs, so Owen had to copy him. Silly Owen!

A side shot of Judd's long hair (the before picture)

The front before picture of Judd with his long hair.

The after picture. This is not bad with his bangs swept over, but when they come down over his forehead he looks just like one of the Three Stooges. Always a cute boy though.

I think this picture is funny. He was just holding a crayon and babbling, but he looks like his is telling me what's what about not wanting his hair cut! I should have listened!! :(

Happy Birthday Judd!

This week has been a whirlwind. I have been crazy busy trying to finish the church cookbook I offered to create and getting my house caught up on cleaning for company this weekend for Judd's Birthday party, and taking Judd out on his actual birthday.

So here is what went on. First on his actual birthday on Thursday we took him out to eat pizza because he loves pizza. That was a lot of fun and he was so happy! Then on Saturday night we had his actual party. My parents and sisters came, Tonys mom and husband came and so did my friend Sheila and her family. I made a huge lasagna, garlic bread, and an awesome salad. I decided since no one eats birthday cake anymore I would just make my amazing chocolate chip cookies! They were a hit (4 dozen and they were all gone!). Then I just got Judd a little circle cake that he could smash, which he did happily. We ate dinner, opened presents and then watched him smash his cake.

He got presents that I love. Usually the boys always get something that I am like, I know he won't play with that in the next couple of weeks or something, but Judd got a BUNCH of Little People toys, which I love and he does too. He also got almost a whole new Spring and Summer wardrobe which I love because his hand me downs are almost five years old and times have changed, he deserves some new clothes. He was soooo happy all night and played so hard. He has slept a lot today because yesterday was exhausting for him.

When it was time to give him his cake he stuck his fingers right into it. Tony videotaped a couple minutes, and my sister Kelly took a short video of him on my digital camera so I could upload it, but my sister Kimberly videotaped the entire cake process which turned out to be hilarious when he realized that he didn't like the feeling of his hands encased in cake that he couldn't get off! She's going to e-mail that to me so hopefully I can share with you all. It was a lovely birthday.

A year ago Thursday, we went up to the hospital at 7:00 am to be induced. They got the meds started and broke my water and labor progessed. After 7 hours of labor and NO pain medication - yes he was born all natural, no meds, no relief - Judd bug was born. Here's how it went down...my midwife and nurse had me sitting on a birthing ball at the foot of the bed with my head on the bed trying to breath through contractions. My midwife asked me shocked if I felt any pressure yet and I said no. Then all of a sudden a horrible burning sensation ripped through my lower region and I yelled, I think he's coming. Within one minute they had me back up in the bed and Jenda, my midwife, was trying to get her gloves on and get the table with all of the supplies out and ready. Two minutes later he was here. I only had to push for about 2.5 minutes. CRAZY! He weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 in. long. Emotion flooded the room of course but the only thing I could think about was that I wanted Owen and Raymond up there right then. I cried for them in fact. When they came in to meet their little brother, it was one of the best moments in my entire life, I will never forget their faces, their reactions or their emotions. It was amazing! So for your viewing pleasure I have posted birthday photos, a birthday video and some memorable hospital photos from last year. So please forgive the long post! Enjoy. Happy 1st Birthday Judd-a Bug!

Little Judd Bug

Happy Birthday Juddy! Tomorrow is Judd's 1st birthday and today I have been reflecting alot about what has happened in the course of a year. I have also been thinking alot about his birth and how awesome he was when he was born.

It's very hard to believe that an entire year has already gone by. He now has 12 teeth, eats whatever we eat, is down to only nursing at bedtime and that will start to be weaned now over the course of this month, walks, and plays with the big boys. He sings and dances and gives the best open mouthed kisses! His favorite game is peek-a-boo, but he also loves to wrestle with his two older brothers and to play chase. He'll crawl really fast and the older boys will pretend to be scared and scream and run away and Judd will growl and chase them all over the house.

He still surprises me at how good he is at climbing the stairs because I will be upstairs putting clothes away and I turn around to Judd playing with something in my room. He is very quick on the stairs.

He sucks his thumb and plays with his ear and has the longest hair in the baby world (which will be cut after he gets his one year old picture taken hopefully next week!)

He has been taking steps for awhile now, but this week he just stood up and took off walking across the room all by himself. He still gets down and crawls when he knows he wants something fast, but he is officially a "walker", it is already written in his baby book.

Tomorrow on his official birthday we will be doing something fun for him, not sure what yet though. Then Saturday my parents, sisters, Tony's mom and husband, and my friend and her kids are coming over for a lasagna feast and his official birthday party. The theme of his party is....you guessed it....a bug theme to honor his nickname and the fact that this is probably the only birthday I will be able to get away with it!

Since no one eats birthday cake these days, I have opted to only get Judd a little cake for him to smash and make chocolate chip cookies for everyone else. Since he is the third of three boys, unfortunatley for him he may not get a lot of "fun" birthday presents because I have toys literally in every nook and cranny of my house. So we voted for mostly clothes since we are on third round of hand me downs, styles have changed and things are really worn out since Owen was 12 months old.

It will be fun and I will post pictures after Sat. I have taken video of him walking but have a new computer that doesn't have the right video download stuff on it to get them off of my camera yet, so when that happens I will get them posted too!

Happy Birthday Juddy Bug I love you!