Merry Merry Merry Christmas

I hope your days are Merry and Bright! Our crew has enjoyed hanging out these last few days. Truett is enjoying the whole Christmas festivities, he turns 5 next month, Jett just turned 2 and is talking more and more. He also has turned the "fits" on these last couple of days. Hudson is 9 months old and took his first step TODAY! Merry Christmas to us!

I have plenty of pictures from the last few months but as you probably have guessed I have tons of time on my hands. So, hopefully, while I am doing NOTHING these next couple of days I'll try to post a couple.

By the way, amongst all the time I've had lately I still have not lost all of my "Hudson/ Jett" weight. I will be blogging about that. So, please don't burst excitement but I shall return!

Our Christmas Cards...

We've been plenty busy, but here's a look at our cards.

Wow!!

It's been over 5 months since blogging.... I'm just getting farther and farther behind. Let me bring you up to date with just a few paragraphs. Since my last post we have had our third sweet baby boy. Hudson Tait graced us with his presence on March 14th. He came 5 days after his due date and weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz., 20 inches. It was the least of a transition for our family. Our biggest transition has been going from no children to the first little one. He is such a smiley and happy baby. He started turning over really early, like 12 weeks. Maybe even earlier. He is so verbal, started sleeping 6-8 hours through the night by 3 weeks old and stayed there until about 8-9 weeks and then SLOWLY moved his way up to 12 hours at 4 months or just a couple of days after.

We made a sweet family vacation to Tennessee in July and LOVED it! The older two boys had a blast and Hudson was a huge hit! All the Aunts and Uncles got to love on him. He was the only non-mobile baby so he was held A LOT!! I don't know if I gave him his bottle while we were there. CARRAZY, I know!

Honestly, if I didn't have a ton of work to get the baby weight off each time, I would love to be pregnant again! I love the WHOLE process. But...like I've said before, it's not the pregnancy, labor and newborn stage that is hard, it's raising them. Truett is 4 and sometimes I feel like he has had more schooling in psychology than I have. It's hard to know if I'm doing the right thing.
The best thing I've found is a book called "Shepherding a Child's Heart" it is the most insightful and delightful book I've ever come across. It hits the nail on the head. It's practical and yet completely biblical. I have probably read something like 20-30 parenting books. A lot of great books and, yet, this one is THE best in my opinion.

Not that I've got "IT" down, but I'm constantly seeing areas where I need to work on and pray about. So, now that I've got you semi- caught up, maybe I can stay more updated on my blog and give you more weekly posts.

Faces...

Oh! How I love his little faces!

Hanging out... Outside

We are a typical boy family. If it is not too cold or hot or rainy we will most likely be OUTSIDE! The fresh air, the energy the boys wear off, the vitamin D on our faces, it is just heavenly.

Adventures with Daddy

Truett and Wayne are like two peas in a pod. They are so alike in so many ways. Their love for the outdoors is just one of the many ways they go together so well. Here are some pictures from an unseasonably warm February day.

Truett turned FOUR!

January was filled with birthday wishes. Truett is getting to be such a big boy. He is even a bigger helper than ever. A considerate little fella and mommy and daddy's sweet big boy. He asked for a Chuck E Cheese, pirate party.

A little catch up!

Since December we celebrated Christmas, My 29th Birthday, Truett's 4th Birthday, and Mr. Larry's Birthday (my father-in-law). Jett had a minor surgery earlier this month (any surgery is major to mommy). He was a fabulous patient and had so much attention from his nurses. They were smitten (and who wouldn't be). They asked if he was always such a good baby, to which I humbly replied "Yes 'mam". He slept the whole way home and after the first 24 hours almost acted like nothing happened. The first 24 hours he spent most of the time with his "bankie" and in my lap.





On a sad note we had a recent death in our family. My Uncle John aka Big John passed away. We will celebrate his life today and I pray he is at rest with the one true Living God. I have so many sweet memories tucked away. He has to be the biggest guy I've ever known (at the smallest I remember: 6'4'' and about 400 lbs.) and the softest. He and my Aunt Sarah (my mom's sister) took me and my 4 other brothers and sisters to our very first theater movie and made root beer floats with us. They were the only ones my parents ever left us with other than grandparents. They became second parents to me and my siblings and we have many cherished memories because of him and my aunt. I will forever remember and love the sweet man that became my: Uncle John.

I will post some pictures soon, I hope. I have a ton I need to get off my memory card.

What can I say...

I'm a slacker. No, I've just been terribly busy. I have two weeks or less before my newest handsome fella arrives, and I just started getting things together. Just last weekend I washed up the littlest outfits I could find and made a "washing day" out of it.

This week my sweet mother-in-law bought me a mattress and bedding.





My dearest mom bought me the mattress pad cover, changing pad and changing pad cover, curtains and an organizer for the closet. I was overwhelmed until the items started coming in and Wayne and I put them together.



Now all I am waiting on is the mattress to come in. The crib was a sweet gift from a sweet friend (Brittany), I'm so thankful for God's provisions.


I'm glad I spent my Christmas/ Birthday money on the other things that were needed/wanted. The car seat we bought while I was pregnant with Truett had just about had it, the canopy was irreversibly broken and the seat had a few shabby looking holes.



Also, the big, bulky stroller that we bought just for the car seat has seen better days. I really wanted a double stroller and settled on one I think is just perfect (I've already used it 3 times).




The diaper bag was just a frivolous gift, I love the "bigness" of it and can fit all of my THREE kids things into it. I still carry a sippy cup or water bottle for Truett and Jett still needs diapers, wipes, and sippy cups. We have a emergency basket in our van for the "accidents" of life. We carry changes of clothes and extra things we might need on rare instances.