The BABY is 14 months today!

That's right. Hudson Hartman Forcey is 14 months old today. It sure doesn't seem possible. This is also the same day last year that I returned to school after enjoying my maternity leave. I was a stressed out mommy when Evan was born. However, I truly enjoyed my maternity leave with Hudson. We definitely got some good bonding time in during those nice fall days last year. My beautiful little boy is growing up so fast. There is a part of me that wants him to stay this little and precious forever. Then there is the other part of me that wants him to be Evan's age because life is a lot easier! One thing I know for sure, that child can grin his amazing little smile, and my heart melts!

Baby Genius

I enjoyed a cute baby moment tonight. Hudson (who turns 14 months tomorrow) was in the bathtub splashing around. He stood up and tried to pump the soap out of his baby soap. He held his other chubby little hand up to the pump and when he "dispensed" his soap, he rubbed his hand across his belly washing himself! It was too cute watching him "wash" himself.

More proof he is a genius: When I put his socks on in the morning, he turns to grab his shoes. And lastly, when someone is standing in the way of something he wants, he will resort to biting to get you to move. Not pleasant if you are the one being bitten, but sure resourceful for the 1-year-old!

Okay, so I may not have a genius on my hands, but Hudson sure delights us to no end.

A little Halloween catch up

I know it's November, but here are some photos of Evan and Eric carving Evan's pumpkin. I truly don't enjoy carving pumpkins, so this is a "boy" tradition. I am perfectly happy to be the photographer. Less than a week after they carved the pumpkin, the dang thing imploded on itself! I had said pumpkin sitting on a plate in the dining room. Apparently it was rotten and just folded in on itself. Pumpkin juice was all over the table and the floor. It was pretty gross. I really wanted Eric to take a picture of the nasty little thing, but he doesn't exactly view all the events in our life as a scrapbook moment!



Evan and Dad digging into the pumpkin.



Proud boy with his pumpkin.

New technology (for me anyhow!)

Eric got me a card reader to be able to copy photos from my camera to my laptop. It's all very exciting for me. I know the rest of the technological world has been able to get their pictures from their cameras and into their computers for some time, but I'm a little slow on the uptake. Here's the first picture I uploaded all by my little bitty self! It's Evan looking rather sleepy. It's just about time for bed.

The Birthday Weekend is Over

I sure love this man who is a wonderful husband and father.


Eric and I had the best weekend. My sister and BIL agreed to take the kids for the weekend so we could celebrate Eric's birthday. His birthday isn't until the end of November, but this weekend worked out for everyone involved.

We enjoyed going to the Bulldog game on Friday night. They lost, but we like being there. We slept in on Saturday morning. Yes, I slept in until 7 a.m! That may not seem like sleeping in, but when you are used to getting up in the 5 o'clock hour, 7 is definitely sleeping in! We spent much of Saturday shopping for Evan. It sounds weird to spend our day doing that, but it was nice to putter around town and shop without dragging two children along.

We had a relaxing afternoon, and then got ready for dinner. I had been looking forward to this dinner for over a week. We had reservations at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Oh my goodness. That was the best steak I have ever had. It arrived at our table sitting in sizzling butter! Butter on steak...could it get any better?! The entire meal was decadent and delicious. The service was superior, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

We again slept in. What a delight when that never happens on the weekends. As much as we enjoyed being alone, as we drove to my sister's to get the kids, we both agreed that we missed the kids and were looking forward to seeing them. Hudson snuggled into my shoulder for the longest time. Such sweet little snuggles and smiles. Evan ran and leaped into our arms. Both kids had a great time playing with cousins but were ready to come home.

Happy Birthday my love! On your real birthday, I'll talk about you some more. For now, it was amazing spending time with you and only you! I love you!

Business as usual

Here are pictures of us at the Fair. Hudson spent his time in a backpack, and Evan loved raking straw.



I meant to post this particular story last week after the chaos happened, but almost a week later, here it is.

I picked Evan up from school, and he immediately started in with his usual plea of, "Can I have a popsicle when I get home?" I didn't really answer him so he started whining and screaming. Not fun. Then he asked me if we were going to get Hudson. Yes, of course. "I don't want to get Hudson! He bites me!" I talked to him about how I understood what it is like to be the older sibling.

We went to the grocery story first, and he insisted on walking 10 paces behind me. Frustrating to say the least with me having to turn my head every 4 seconds to make sure he was still there.

We finally get Hudson and head home. This is where it all fell apart. Evan decided to run in the house without waiting for me. No big deal expect that the alarm is triggered when you run in. I turn the alarm off with my key-fob, but somehow in my long journey from the driver seat around the the passenger seat to get Hudson, I couldn't find my keys. Don't ask me where they went. As soon as I heard the chirping of the alarm, I started panicking trying to find the keys. I looked like a mad woman jumping in and out of the car. Well, the alarm went off. Evan came running back out to the garage screaming in terror, "Hurry! Hurry!" Since the alarm was blaring, I figured I'd take my time and CALMLY look for the keys. I found them and shut off the alarm.

Once inside, I grabbed the phone and hung onto it waiting for the alarm company to call. Instead Eric called. I guess they called him first. He knew we were fine because I had just talked to him before getting home, but he called me to see what was going on. As I'm trying to have a conversation with him, Hudson trips over his own feet and does a face plant into the wood floor. He busted his lip open and there was blood everywhere. Lovely. He's screaming, I'm trying not to get blood on my school clothes, and I still have Eric on the phone. I got Hudson cleaned up, but then Evan decided he wanted to play with his Legos. He refused to wait for me to pull them off the counter, and pulls on the box himself. Three hundred miniature Legos went flying all across the kitchen floor.

Very calmly I told Eric that I was going to take the baby and go into our bedroom and shut the door. It was that or lose my temper all over Evan. I did just that. I closed my bedroom door, got in my bed, and stayed there until I heard Eric in the house about 5 minutes later! Hudson had a ball wandering around our bedroom getting into stuff, but I didn't care, as long as he didn't have anything sharp!

The alarm, bloody lip, and Legos all in less than 5 minutes. I was at my wit's end. Like I said, business as usual.

All Saints Day

Yep, it's All Saints Day for those of you who didn't know that. It's the day in the Catholic Church when we honor all saints. I remember my first year teaching, my class had the All Saints Day Mass. It was the FIRST time I had ever had to put together a Mass, and I was so nervous. It turned out well, but I'm glad that nine years later, putting together a Mass feels much easier.

I am sorry I haven't posted lately. I have wanted to. My excuse is that Eric took down our server, so I don't have access to pictures. I haven't wanted to post any posts without pictures. I don't think the server is being shared with me yet, so still no pictures. Hopefully soon.

I'll just have to post belated events like pumpkin carving and Halloween at a later date. We did have a good night trick or treating. Evan's pumpkin is literally filled to the brim with all the sugar he collected at his school, my school, and the neighborhood. He started out as Scooby Doo, but said his costume was hurting him. For trick or treating we pulled a puppy costume out of the closet. Hudson was a pony. He was cute!

Evan lost his candy for the day. Little monster woke us up at 6. I told him to lay down on the floor under the huge blanket left there for him. He said no and proceeded to scream. Ugh! I told him if he didn't stop, he'd lost his candy. He didn't stop. He lost his candy.

I haven't touched any of his loot. I so badly want to eat all the stuff in there, even the candy I don't care for. But I haven't.

Lastly, we had a visitor in our house last night. Mac T was sitting in the corner of the couch, but he had to jump down because Hudson was near. When he jumped down I thought there was a pile of poop left behind. Gross, I know, but you never know with kids and dogs. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a frog! Ewwwww! I flipped out and grabbed Hudson and ran to the kitchen! Eric kept asking me what it was. I kept trying to yell frog frog! Finally he saw it, the frog hopped onto the floor, and Eric managed to get it into a little box to put it outside. I have no idea how that frog got in the house, much less on the couch. Yuck.