2 1/2 Years of Love

Hudson,

    To simply say that I love you is inadequate. I had no idea how incomplete my life was until I held you for the very first time. Every minute with you has given my life a new meaning and a purpose. The last two and a half years have literally flown by. We will be welcoming your baby brother Grayson into the world any time and it seems like just yesterday I was anxiously awaiting your arrival. Waiting for you was like waiting an eternity. All my life I had wanted to be a Mom. I had no idea just how destined I was to be a mom and to be your mom. I thank God every day for giving me the opportunity to be a Mother, but not just to any child, to you. Being your Momma has been the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me but it has also been the hardest thing I have ever done. I never realized how my heart really could live outside of my body. Watching you go through your tonsillectomy and all the pain and discomfort almost killed me. My heart physically hurt like it has never hurt before. While I have hurt in your times of pain I have also been overjoyed almost every single day at something you have done. I love every single thing about you. I can’t kiss you enough. I can’t hear you laugh enough. I am the luckiest person in the world because you are mine.

Since I missed your 2 year letter, here are a few things you have been up to lately.

-At your 2 ½ year checkup you weighed 32 pounds (75^th%) and were 39 inches tall (over 100%) You have always been long and lean.

-You are wearing size 5 diapers and we are going to start potty training very soon. Due to the lack of communication and the fact that baby brother is almost here we have waited longer than I wanted to originally but it hasn’t been a big deal. You are now very interested in the potty and will sit on it and pretend to wipe when you think you are done. You just haven’t actually gone on the potty yet.

-You are wearing all 3T clothes now. You started wearing 3T shirts around your 2^nd birthday cause of the length of them, but wore 2T shorts all summer because you are so stinking skinny. Now that you are in pants you have to wear 3T pants cause you are so tall and they fall off of you. Thank goodness Baby Gap still has adjustable waist in your size because they have to be synched all the way up.

-My absolute favorite thing to do is watch you act out movies. You will imitate every single thing they do on the movie and it is absolutely hysterical! You LOVE watching movies.

-The only thing I think you love more than a movie is playing outside. Momma has learned to live with lots of flies in the house because you want to be out as much as you possibly can and therefore I can never get anything done unless I leave the door open and check on your every couple of minutes.

-You have just started to enjoy playing by yourself. Up until now you have wanted me to do everything with you. While this is a nice break for me it also makes me sad cause I miss those times with you. Just part of you growing up I guess.

-You are now saying about 50 words and communicating is sooo much easier now. The combination of your ears and not being able to hear and then your tonsils being so swollen that they almost touched made it almost impossible for you to talk. You came up with your own language (which is hysterical) and the hardest part is getting you to want to talk in our language J Your speech therapist has said that you make every consinent and vowel sound there is you just have to have the desire. We think that has finally happened and you are starting to repeat lots of things we say.

-Your diet has finally started to improve since you got your tonsils out. Dr. Santos believed that you were so picky because your food had to squeeze through your tonsils every time you swallowed. How annoying and uncomfortable. No wonder you ate like a bird. Now you will try more foods and your list of foods you like is finally starting to grow. You still love your nutrigain bars, cheezits, chips and fries the best though. The best thing you have added to your diet is Chick fil A chicken nuggets. Even though they are fried it is about the only time you will eat meat so we live with the fried chicken J

- You are to the stage where you want to do everything we are doing especially if its something your Daddy is doing. If he is outside chances are you are outside trying to imitate him or digging in the dirt.

-The way you love your Daddy melts my heart. Every time I see you run to him after you haven’t seen him all day makes me almost tear up. You two have such a special, silly, and fun relationship. I think your favorite part of the day is when he gets home so you can wrestle and act like a wild Indian.

-I have had a hard time lately because I haven’t been able to do near as much stuff with you due to all the issues with this pregnancy. We didn’t get to do all the fun things I had in mind for this summer like going to the zoo and park because I couldn’t lift you and go without someone else. However all the moments we have snuggled on the couch and watched movies when I’m not feeling good have been perfect. I wouldn’t change them for the world. Next summer we will have lots and lots of fun I promise.

-You absolutely love your dogs. Right now as I’m typing this I’m watching you out the window standing at the fence talking to them as they stand there and wag. They love you just as much as you love them. Emma is by far your favorite because she is so calm with you. The other morning you were following her all over the house. At one point I looked towards our bedroom and she was laying with her front legs on the wood floor and the rest of her in the bedroom and you were laying on your stomach propped up on your elbows right next to her watching me make breakfast. Precious moments I hope to never forget. One of your other favorite things is taking her on a walk around the neighborhood. You hold her leash and everything and think you are such big stuff. Emma is laying right by you right now as youre playing in the dirt. She loves and protects you.

-You got your big boy bed sometime this spring. The first few nights you did great, but then started waking up terrified and screaming for almost an hour at a time before we could calm you down. One of us started sleeping with you and that fixed everything except now that’s what you want. We have to break that habit soon. However some of my favorite recent memories with you are laying in your bed and you talking to me at night and snuggling as you go to sleep. You are the best snuggle bug around. I haven’t rushed the issue because I know one day I will miss laying in bed snuggling with you and you will think I’m crazy cause you are all grown up. Just know you will always be my baby.

Every second with you is treasured and I can’t even begine to imagine what I would do every day without you. I think I need a break sometimes and after being gone 30 minutes I miss you and am ready to be back with you. I’m sure having your little brother is going to totally change and rock your world. I just hope you never ever forget how much we love and adore you and another sibling will never change that. Give it a few years and your brother will turn into your very best friend. I can’t wait to see the relationship the two of you will have. I love you more than words. Life is so much better with you in it!

Always,

Momma 

Yum Yum Yum

The Pizza Casserole turned out delicious as always but I forgot to take pictures and stuff while I was cooking it so next time I make it I will post the recipe!

One of my all time favorite meals is Easy Chicken & Dressing!! I have made if for people who just had a baby and when people come over to my house and EVERYONE loves it!

Easy Chicken & Dressing

*6 Chicken Breasts
*1 bag graded mozzarella
*1 can cream of chicken soup
*1/2 soup can of water
*1 small package of chicken dressing mix
*1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
1. In a 9x13 dish, lay the chicken breasts on bottom and put the cheese over them.

2. Mix soup and water in a bowl and pour over the chicken and cheese.

3. Sprinkle the dressing on top.

4. Melt the butter and pour over the dressing
5. Bake covered with foil for 1 hour, then remove foil and continue baking for 30 more minutes.

As you can see I only use two chicken breasts. Basically I just judge how much cheese I on want on the chicken, use about half of the soup mixture and then cover with dressing. I use about half a stick of butter also. Anyway it is by far one of the easiest recipes and most delicious that I have!

Crockpot Orange Chicken & Fried Rice

Since I have started cooking a lot more my main goal has been to be easy and fast! If you have a toddler you understand that some days they might allow you to cook a 2 hour gourmet dinner and the next day you might get a good 15 minutes. So anything I post will recipe wise will be fairly simple and quick!! 

Last night was the first time I have not enjoyed our dinner. :( In fact the orange chicken didn't turn out at all and Bryan stopped and got us some orange chicken from a chinese place by our house :) The fried rice was delicious however! I'm still going to post the recipe cause I know what went wrong.

Crockpot Orange Chicken

*3-4 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks

*1/3 cup flour

*olive oil

*1/2 Tbs salt

*1 tsp balsamic vinegar

*3 Tbs ketchup

*6oz frozen orange juice concentrate (thawed)

*4 Tbs brown sugar

1. In a bowl mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt and ketchup.

2. Pour the flour in a small bowl. Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.

3. Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken. (Here is the first place I think I slightly messed up. I think I cooked the chicken a little too long.) It does not need to be fully cooked since it is going in the crock pot. 

4. After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir. 

5. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3

(Here was the second problem!! I followed these directions. And because it was a not feeling good, already tired of being pregnant kind of day, I only checked on the chicken once or twice. 5 hours is WAYYYYYY too long in my crockpot! This is what the chicken looked like after 3 hours 

At this point I was thinking oh my goodness this is going to be delicious! And I think 3 hours was all it needed! It was completely dried up and burned by 5 hours. So if you attempt this I would suggest making sure you have extra time the first day to be able to check on it often to make sure it doesn't dry out like mine did. 

Now on to the fried rice! 

Fried Rice

*3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best)

*3 Tbs sesame oil

*1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

*1 small onion, chopped

*2 tsp minced garlic (2-3 cloves)

*2 eggs, slightly beaten

*1/4 cup soy sauce

1. On medium hight heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok

2. Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender

3. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of the skillet and stir fry until scrambled. (I scrambled them in a separate small skillet because mine wasn't large enough to scoot everything else over. It worked just as good.)

4. Now add the rice and soy sauce. (I made my white rice yesterday morning and left it in the fridge all day and I think it worked just like cooking it the day before.)

5. Stir fry until thoroughly heated and enjoy!!!

Overall this was a quick dinner and I was able to do certain parts at different times of the day which is helpful with a certain little munchkin running around. If you happen to make the orange chicken let me know how long you cook yours in a comment!!! 

On the menu tonight Pizza Casserole! One of Bryan's favorites! I'll post the recipe tomorrow! 

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

And so it goes

So I fell off the face of the earth for awhile! I'm back! I can't even believe how long it has been since I last posted because this blog is such an outlet for me even if no one reads it :) Many things have happened since my last post that's for sure!!! 

I'll start with Hudson. He continued to get better after his tubes and we had a wonderful Christmas! This last Christmas was so fun because of seeing the joy on his face this year as he opened his presents! The best was when my parents gave him his new Ford Rapture truck. He was in love and still is! 

The beginning of the year brought with it lots of preparation for weddings. My cousin Whitney married Mr. Tyler Ferguson in March and it was a fabulous wedding! The week before their wedding we got a big surprise and found out I AM PREGNANT!!! We absolutely couldn't wait and told my parents, brother and soon to be sister in law that night at dinner. I got my dad a cookie cake (it was a week before his birthday) and I wrote on it Happy Birthday Popi! Love Hudson & Baby #2. Now the funny part of this story is no one could read the writing. :) Bryan had to sit in the car with Hudson during the end of dinner and the cake sat in the floor with the heater on so it kinda melted :). Anyway after a few minutes and finally telling them what the last part said everyone started screaming and crying. We had planned on starting to try within the next few months, but obviously God had other plans. We are expecting our another precious boy Grayson Daniel right before Thanksgiving. 

This is the video we posted to spread the news!!!

Hudson turned 2 on April 2nd and we had a wonderful time with him, family and friends. After his birthday my brother got married on April 14th. Their wedding was on a ranch in Tahlequah and it was absolutely perfect! Rain was in the forecast and we even planned on having the wedding inside the barn where the reception would be. Of course God cleared every worry and it was absolutely beautiful all day! 

After the wedding we went with my parents to Disney World! What a magical trip! We had so much fun even though we all vowed we wouldn't be going back for many years. All those people can really get to you after a week! We got up each day and went to one of the parks. After lunch we would head back to the condo so Hudson could take a nice nap. After his naps we either went back to the parks, went swimming or just hung out! 

While we were there my parents sold their house in Oklahoma City. It was such a huge blessing for it to sell after being for sale for over a year. However it was a pretty emotional thing for me and my mom especially. This was my parents dream house and they figured they would live there forever. I had always dreamed that my kids would grow up in the same house I did and continue to have many wonderful memories there. This isn't what God had planned though. Once the house actually sold and everyone was moved up here for good things got alot easier and we have already made some wonderful memories at my parents new house. 

The next big event in our lives happened when we took Hudson back for his ENT check up on his tubes. We all expected it would be a quick easy visit because everything seemed to be going fine. However alittle background, Hudson still had yet to really start talking. We got a new pediatrician at his 2 year appointment and she suggested speech therapy which we were in the process of getting started. Anyway our ENT started asking me all kinds of questions, like how he sleeps, his eating habits, was he talking yet. I was totally confused as I answered them all. He told us Hudson needed to have his tonsils taken out because they were so large they were touching every time he swallowed. He believed this was a part of his bad eating habits, long afternoon naps and lack of speech. So we scheduled his tonsils to be removed the beginning of July. 

Him getting his tonsils out was the absolute worst thing I have ever been through in my life. I would have done absolutely anything to take the pain away from him and I couldn't. The surgery went flawlessly, it was the recovery that was miserable. He would not drink anything, which was a huge problem. The other huge problem was every time we tried to give him his pain medicine he threw up. We never knew how much he got if any. After a horrible first day and him being up half the night screaming I called the Childrens hospital and spoke to the most precious nurse. She told me that the pain medicine burns anyway, so when he would let it sit in his mouth it would only burn worse. Then he would end up gagging on it and throw up. Anyway the first 48 hours were absolutely terrible. I didn't sleep, he didn't sleep, we almost had to go to the ER for an IV of pain meds and fluids. I can't even begin to describe how awful and helpless I felt. Anyway after two weeks he was finally back to himself and it was such a relief. I will post again soon about all the speech issues and other things going on with him. 

Now all the drama seems to be over for now and we are trying to patiently wait on Mr. Grayson Daniel to arrive and survive this awful heat in the meantime! I plan on updating this much more often in the future. Now once I have a newborn and a toddler I can't guarantee anything :) With my newfound love for Pinterest I have found a newfound love for cooking! :) WE have been eating at home most evenings and I'm really enjoying trying all sorts of new recipes I find on Pinterest! In fact tonight we are having Crockpot Orange Chicken and Fried Rice. Maybe I will post those recipes tomorrow! Until next time friends!