These Things Will Change...

Here are some of the things that I've been hearing on a daily basis lately (in no particular order)...usually an exponential number of times. :)

• "Dah-be" - Thank you
• "Eeebeetrain" - Airplane
• "Uh draw!" - I wanna draw!
• "Yuv ewe" - Love you
• "Dumbo eyes...hat own" - (pointing out Dumbo's eyes and that he has a hat on) 
• "NoYES!" - not really sure if this one really means "no" or "yes" :)
• "Boo Red" - either "blue" or "red," depending on what marker he's using! :)
• "Uh Mic Mouse, Goosey, Dahnuh" - I wanna watch Mickey Mouse, Goofy & Donald
• "Whittie, pay me!" - Whittie, come play with me!
• "Oh TAY!" - OK
• "One, two, see, soar, sigh, six, seben, eight, nine, ten!" - yes, he's 23 months and can count to 10 on his own...most times. :)
• "Set Doe!" - Set, go (followed by a tackle)
• "Seebah, dame, hehmet!" - Football, game, helmet!
• "Peas" - Please
• "NO!" - no
• "Uh paaaaaaaci" - I want paci (and drawn out like a cow!)
• "Uh Baz sock own" - I want Buzz socks on! (I ended up buying him 2 extra pairs after he wouldn't take them off...even for his bath!)
• "Weh Baaman doe?" - Where'd Batman go?
• "Psspss, hat own!" - (referring to the Spiderman gloves and fireman hat on from school at church that he plays with every time he goes)
• "Baby Husson dink mach" - Baby Hudson drinks milk
• "Oh Tito! Mouse, eye, hat own" - Oh Mr. Potato Head! (and then put in his mouth, eyes & hat)
• "Juicy, eat snack! Meemo" - Juice and eat snack, Nemo! (Nemo fruit snacks)
• "Ahuh yike ____" - I don't like (fill in the blank with anything that he typically does like, like snacks, juice, paci, outside, etc.)
• "Uh bach bach" - I want chicken (typically Chic-Fil-A) :)

As you can tell, I'm not having the typical daily conversations of "chart analysis" or "up/down in spins" or "adds" or "please oh please play my record even though you know it won't even chart" or even where to order lunch. Before I left for Christmas, I found out the the label I worked for was closing its doors at the end of the year. We saw it coming, and truth be told, it really is a good thing. I'm a very fortunate girl. I know that's a bizarre thing to say after being laid off recently, especially considering the state of the economy, but I really am. I have the very unique opportunity to step away from a job I wasn't exactly happy in while maintaining very good business relationships, but also staying very busy and saving money by babysitting (and yes, nannying for the 2 most adorable boys ever) when there are ultimately zero jobs on the market at the time (and more people laid off every day). If I didn't have those kids to look forward to every single day, I'd for sure be super-stressed and worried about what is next (and when is it gonna come??). God has been good about working things out for me until the next great thing comes along, so that is why I'm fortunate...and also so busy lately! So along with the change of conversation is also a change of scenery...the sweetest perk of them all!

She's In Love With The Boy...

I've gone on and on about how much I love this kid and how he's my main man......

Well he's got some competition now, thanks to this guy...

Yep! Little Hudson was born this morning and he weighed exactly 9lbs and is 21" long! He's a handsome little devil, isn't he? I think they're both gonna grow up to be heartbreakers! I kept William last Friday night as the last night as an only child and we (we meaning Lindsey & William) played "Set doe" (set, go...which just means running up and down the hall for about 45 minutes!)

And he gave me lots of kisses!

I got to the hospital this morning and waited with Julie's family and friends to hear the good news (which, by the way...I totally was convinced he was going to be a girl until I had a dream last night that it was a boy...and the heartrate was pretty low this morning too).

Then Tom came to show us a picture to let us know it was a boy! William went back to finally see his mommy and new little brother for a while.

When he came back we asked him who he saw. "Mommy."

And what did she have? "Baby."

And what does the baby look like? "Hat!" :) (he did, in fact, already have his hat on)

I went to work for a while and Lindsey and I went back to the hospital a little after lunch and got to love on the sweet baby for a while and visit with Julie. She looked amazing! Definitely did not look like she had just had surgery and had a 9lb kid taken out of her!

Here are a few more shots of the gorgeous little one, as well as THE cutest picture ever! ;)

Our first look at Hudson Murray!

I love his tiny hands!!

Look at all that hair! And it's so thick!

William wasn't quite sure what to think at first...

But he loves his little brother already! How precious?!

Wanna Hear Some Happy Baby Talk...

This is the sweetest video ever, I'm just going to warn you. I don't know how to do all the cool video editing like Lindsey does, and I'm too impatient to wait for her to work on it because I wanted to share it now! :)

Some of the words you'll hear, in case you can't quite understand that precious 21-month-old mouth:

• Oh, juice!
• Coke
• Sprite
• Mmm-mmm (no)
• Cheese!
• Whittie :) (the first time it's "Whit tweet," then "Whitwie" the next 2)
• Hold on...
• Down
• No ride-ride
• Please (Peas)
• No
• Tea
• Play please!
  

This Is Halloween...

On Friday I got to bring my precious Paisley with me to work. Supposedly there weren't going to be very many people in the office, but that wasn't exactly true, but Paisley enjoyed sitting on my desk looking at my lava lamp (yes, lava lamp. I've had it since about 5th grade. Be jealous.) or in the window watching cars drive by. At lunch, she changed into her Snow White Halloween costume. :) She loves dressing up. Well, maybe not loves, but she doesn't mind it either.

For lunch, we ran to our favorite Friday spot - Gigi's - for a delicious Halloween cupcake.

Linds wasn't feeling too spunky that night and I was indecisive on whether I wanted to do anything, so we opted for a BFF night watching Hocus Pocus. Not quite as eventful as last years' Halloween (and since it was pointed out to me that I didn't say anything, the picture of Linds and me from her birthday post was of us at Halloween last year!), but in all honesty, I had more fun dressing up than doing anything else, so I was completely content to have a night in!

Five Little Pumpkins...

Last Sunday Julie and Tom were having some people from their church come to their house for a leadership meeting. Instead of keeping William cooped up in his room or stuck in the yard the entire time, I thought it would be fun to take him to the pumpkin patch! I had originally wanted to go to the one in Smyrna that Alison has talked about, but they closed too early. Instead, we headed to Gentry's which was a good deal closer. We got there right at 4:16 (fyi...they end admission into the activity area at 4:15, even though the farm doesn't close until 5:00 and a 20-month-old couldn't care less about the corn mazes...so we may or may not have had to sneak in without them noticing...) and got to have a good bit of time in William's favorite areas.

William loves animals and as I've posted before, loves making their animal noises just as much. How great that he woke up the goose that was sleeping by the door and it started honking at him! He squealed and squealed about it, and when the goose would go back to sleep, he'd say "Night night goose!" This was the very first thing he told Julie about when we got back to the house! :)

This is a new face...he does it all the time!

His next favorite thing to do was ride the tractors around and around. He's all boy!

All the pumpkins were "apples." HA! I would try to tell him it was a pump-kin and he'd say "No, apple!"

As soon as we got back to the house he ran to Julie and stomped his little feet over and over and squealed. That's his oh-my-goodness-I-am-so-excited move! After we told Julie about our fun afternoon, he ran back to his room and said "shoes? Shoes?" and picked up his red Crocs to put on. I've never in my life seen such a fashion-oriented toddler. He also loves the brown Polo he's wearing in the pictures...he cries when it's time to take it off!

Baby, One More Time...

I posted on Pete's blog the other day that when I was little, I used to say that I wanted to be a babysitter when I grew up. I think I was probably laughed at then, and I know I laughed about it as I got a little older and had a more realistic "career" goal...but truth be told, I have "grown up" to be a babysitter. I love kids so much. Throughout college, I didn't babysit pretty much at all and I really missed it. One day I was at Anne Taylor Loft and kind of in a bad mood because the outfit Mom had given me didn't fit and I had to do an in-store exchange and couldn't find anything I wanted. So I started to leave thinking it was a wasted trip, but in walks Julie. Julie and I both grew up in Selmer and our families are really close, so I went over to say hi and love on her adorable baby boy (then about 4 months old). I am so thankful for that "wasted" trip now, because had I not gone, I may not have run into them and started keeping the sweetest little boy in the world! That family has become so important to me in the past year, and I honestly don't know what I'd do without them now. I keep William about once a week...sometimes more, and I can't wait to start keeping Baby #2 in a few short months! Seeing Julie that day was just the beginning, and now I babysit for them, several of Julie's friends, and my work and church friends! Here are a few pictures from the past few months of some of the kiddos I have kept...including some of my sweet babies in the nursery!

How cute are Emma's little hands when she sucks her thumb?

These boys are SO much fun! After a "rip off" experiment last time, I made sure to test this one before I took it to them. We had so much fun with the cornstarch and water experiment, and I'm so thankful we did it outside! They were hosed off before they could go back inside, but I think that was Brewer's favorite part!! What a fun way to spend a summer night! (**FYI: the clothes were washed and the boys were spic and span after it was all over!**) :)

Cooper, Parker and Carter, and baby sister Lucy below.

I can't say enough how much I love this kid.

My sweet nursery babies!

It's Been A Long Time Coming...

I have been a terrible blogger. Almost as bad as this one, but not quite that much. :)

Just thought I'd post a quick update on things since I last wrote, and then hopefully I'll get my pictures loaded onto my computer correctly so I can do a little backtracking.

• First of all, I'm so sad Labor Day has come and gone. Where did the summer go? I had so much planned for the summer and had intended on quite a bit more happening than actually did...but that's life, right? Time flies!!
• I've done a ton of babysitting this summer, which has been wonderful because I love my kiddos so much. But also because it's helped SO much in keeping me afloat after dealing with all the lovely car issues from the past few months.
• I might also add to the car issues that this weekend my battery completely died on me. Shouldn't there be a warning or something telling me that it's going dead? But no. Fortunately it was while I was in Selmer, after filling up at the gas station which is about 2 minutes from my parents' house. So my wonderful dad came and helped me out and took me to get a replacement. Thanks, Daddy!
• Things have been changing a ton at work lately too. That is a story within itself that will just need to hold off for a bit. Let's just say I'm trying my best to be patient, but patience wasn't exactly one of my God-given natural qualities...
• Also want to say how EXCITED I am for 3 different couples: Chip and Mallory are finally engaged and I'm a bridesmaid! Can't wait. The two of them are so great together and I love them bunches and bunches! Second, Will & Beth are going to have a baby in March! I'll be a pseudo-aunt...how fun! ;) They are so amazing and will be incredible parents! Finally, Julie & Tom are expecting too!! I've actually known about this for quite a while, but didn't want to say anything. William's new baby brother or sister will be born in December, and my money is on a little girl! I'm super excited about this baby, too, because I started keeping William when he was about 5 or 6 months old, so it'll be so much fun to keep one from the time it's born!
• Finally, we had a great weekend in Selmer this past weekend. I got to see Reed's very first ever high school field show. It was fun getting to yell for him and he did such a good job! I don't get to make it home for a lot of things that he does, so I'm really glad I got to be there for something that was so important to him. It was also a great lake weekend and had such a good time spending time with Mom & Dad...now if they'd just come to Nashville more often! ;)

Sweet William!

When Julie goes out of town, she always makes sure that my weekend is pretty much blocked off so I can come at the drop of a hat if Tom needs me. Last weekend was no exception and I got to play with my sweet boy almost the entire day Friday, since I got to leave work early. I hadn't seen him in a little while, so I had some surprises for him. He loved his new fish cup! This is him giving the fish a sweet kiss! How precious?? (**FYI: if you look closely you can see my new tattoo! More on that later...**)

Here he is with his new puzzle that he got too. He loved making the airplane fly into its place!

I've posted about how much William loves to read. He'll sit down and look at a book in his rocking chair all on his own or come crawl in a lap to have it read to him. A new favorite activity is "flying" on my feet.

Finally, I'm trying to figure out how to post some cute videos, but you'll have to bare with me if it doesn't work! Both are less than 20 seconds, so you totally have time to watch him! The first video is of William telling me what a lion says. It's by far his favorite animal sound and he has a pretty vicious growl! :) He also knows his horse, monkey, puppy and snake sounds...and more! He's getting very mimic-y now! It's so precious to see what all he's learned since the last time I've kept him.

Lastly, this is a video right after he woke up from an afternoon nap and eating his "Finding Nemo" snacks. Even though Nemo is Nnnnnneeeeeeemo and he says "Mehmo," it definitely means Nemo. Such a sweet little voice, and look at those little pursed lips!

Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend has absolutely flown by, and I'm oh-so-glad that it's a 3 1/2 day week this week. Long weekend in S-Town!!

One day earlier last week, I had a last-minute babysitting job with my little man! As I've said many times before, he's my little sweetheart, my baby. But this day, he saw Lindsey first and her Fruitista Freeze drink (the new slushy-things from Taco Bell) and flew to her first and absolutely wouldn't come to me. He's so in love with her, it's precious. But he'll always be my baby! :)

Friday night, I made my way after work to the Wilson household! I haven't kept Pete and Brandi's 3 sweet boys before and I was really looking forward to it! We had a great time playing Mario Kart (of course!) and baseball (Jett had 3 homeruns!) and building forts in the living room! Here are Brewer and Gage in the fort, and the that adorable Brewer just getting waked up from his nap!

After Brewer went to bed, I had a special experiment ready for the older boys. They were so excited! Who am I kidding? I was so excited! We were going to make the Glowing Mountain Dew experiment that I'm sure most of you have gotten in emails. Well, after waiting all night and building up the anticipation, it was a total let down...or rip off, according to Jett. We were all really bummed, and I was convinced that I had done something wrong. I went to youtube to show the boys what was supposed to happen, and in the "related videos" field, there were about 5 videos showing how the original was a fake and used a broken glow stick. Boo! I promised Jett that if he'd let me come play with him again, I'd bring a really cool experiment that I tested first!

Saturday, Lindsey and I spent some much needed BFF time together and got in some retail therapy! Oh, how I love my best friend... someone's got to! ;)

That night, we went with some friends to see Wall-E. It was really cute! But I'm a sucker for all Disney movies (shocker there, right?) and enjoyed it even though I fell asleep in it!

Baby, Baby!

This weekend was very crazy and baby-filled! :) Right up my alley! Ha! Friday night, I got to see my little man for the first time in about 3 weeks! It's so weird seeing so much of him and then going for a while without seeing him. He's changed so much and is so much bigger every single time I see him! First of all, he's talking so much more plainly now. He has the most adorable little mouth when he says "Mama" and "Daddy" and he's starting to repeat random things. He sang "E I E I E I" to me in the bathtub ("Old McDonald") and when I got on to Aspen and Belle, he copied me and said "Stah!" (Stop). Of course, he'll mimic me all day long but still grins from ear to ear when I try to get him to say "Whittie." That little rat... :) Unfortunately he walked right into the kitchen door frame when he wasn't looking and had a good little goose egg pop up on his forehead and even his "pappy" (paci) wouldn't soothe him, so we looked for a movie and found "Mehmo" (Nemo) and all the tears dried up! Look at this precious boy!

I had gotten frustrated with myself earlier in the week and committed to a day of organizing on Saturday! I completely emptied my 2 desks and my entire closet. Let me tell you...I feel so much better. I tend to feel a little claustrophobic when things are cluttered and I have to straighten things up. After I was done with that, it was off to Bellevue for another babysitting gig! :) This time, it was to Nathan's house for the first time...a guy that I've become really close to at work. He and his adorable wife, Lori, have Garrett (almost 6) and Lily (just turned 4) and they are precious. They just got a Wii and haven't been sure what games would be good for their ages, so I brought Mario Kart for them to test out. It was a hit! Garrett was a pro at it once he got used to the steering wheel and Lily loved playing the Princess Peach at the mall (with the help of Lindsey on steering). :)

After 4 hours of sleep, it was back up and over to keep the nursery at church. Linds and I had our normal schedule, the 6-12 months babies, for the 9:00 service. They are so precious. I've been meaning to take pictures several times, because they grow up so fast and I get so attached to them so quickly, then it's off to the 1-year-old room with them! So here is one of our "regulars" while she was the only one there. She's such a petite little princess and always has the cutest clothes!

Then it was off to the 4-year-old room for "Recharge" for the 11:00 service. This is such a fun room to be in because there are so many different personalities and they pick up on everything so quickly. Here is the class with their "party hats" that they made.

Finally, it was home for a much-needed nap and puppy attention! But a great weekend, altogether, and already planning for the next one!