Last minute trip to Indiana

Chris' dear grandmother passed away in February.  His mom's mom is now gone - and my heart hurts for Chris' mother and her family.  I unfortunately only met Grandma a few times, but I have loved hearing the stories come out about his grandmother in the past month since her passing... she was truly amazing and she raised an amazing family.  One great thing about my part time/from home job, is that we were able to immediately leave and drive to Indiana as soon as she passed to be with Chris' mom and the rest of Chris' family.  My company would have completely understood and would have given me the time off if I was working full time at the office, but being able to immediately leave with our entire family with just a day's notice is absolutely a blessing in a situation like this.

Chris and I both lost our grandmothers in only a few months.  I lost my grandmother in December... and I still can't bring myself to even devote a blog post about her in her memory.  In my mind, she's still here, with me, and I pick up my phone several times a week and dial her number thinking she'll answer.  Maybe I'll get to the point of facing the truth soon... but not yet.

SO - even though we were in Ohio and Indiana for some really sad circumstances, we made the best out of it and tried to have some fun with the family while we were all together.  We went to the Cincinnati Zoo and Parker loved it!   Here he is with the "ef-a-lunts" as he calls them. 

Oh look it's my husband ;)

Chris' cousin, Kelsey, with Parker and Campbell at the zoo.

Ummmm Parker got a nice "mommy daddy" lesson while at the zoo.  "Mommy, why are those bears hugging like that!"  I sort of felt like we were invading their privacy by taking this picture, but c'mon, get a room.  Really.

I wasn't able to snap a picture of this on my phone but this is a mommy and daddy monkey-type animal and they were so stinking cute as a family.  They had a little tiny baby who kept jumping on the mom and breastfeeding!  She would shove him off, then swing to another tree.  And a few minutes later the baby monkey-type animal would jump back up to her and would hold on to her and start chugging down.  I literally started tearing up... I guess as a breastfeeding mommy myself, it was just so sweet to see it in action in the wild.

Parker said, "Mommy it's Simba!"

THIS was amazing.  These peacocks would just walk around the zoo and when were on our way out, he gave us a show!  I could have stared at this animal all day long.  But as you can see, Chris has to run and grab Parker to walk away because Parker thought it would be funny to run at the peacock and yell at it.... boys.

We stayed with Grandpa Hull while in Indiana for a few day... he LOVES his baby time.  

This picture is priceless...

Here he is getting some snuggle time with baby Catherine on the floor... nothing can keep Gpa away from these sweet girls...

Aunt Phie is Chris' aunt who we just love.  Aunt Phie has a special connection with Chris - mostly because she practically was with him more than anyone else besides his parents the first several years of his life.  Aunt Phie loooooves all her little great nieces and nephews.  She has a very special heart for kiddos and our kids know it... they flock to her as soon as they see her and talk about her non stop when we leave!

Parker thinks she's hysterical!

So does Griffers!

Griffin's daddy, Uncle Jeff, started a tradition of telling REALLY great stories to the kids while we were in Indiana... Parker LOVES hearing stories now.  All of Jeff's stories are different but they ALL include a few details.  (A truck, a tractor, a car wash, and mud.)  He is constantly asking us to hear another story about Uncle Jeff and Griffin and a tractor and mud and a truck and the tractor PUUUUUUULL PUUUUULL PUUUUUULLING the truck out of the mud... then going to the car wash of course!

This is what our families do for entertainment now... just sit around and watch the kids interact... Parker and Griffin (one month apart) and huge goof balls together.  I can't wait to see what the three youngest girls (all born within 8 months of 2011) are like in a few years!  TROUBLE.

I love this one of Griffin!

On the morning that we were leaving for Indiana, I LITERALLY had not gone to the grocery store in several weeks - so - Parker got M&Ms and fruit snacks for breakfast.  Mom of the year right here y'all.

Since we literally never go anywhere while at home, Caroline finally had a reason to get all dolled up in this precious outfit our neighbor got her.  Grandma never got to meet Sweet Caroline so we had to make sure C-line was all dressed up for the funeral service. 

 

SO, one thing I must record for my memory are the storms that came across Indiana and Ohio (and also through the rest of the southeast) one of our last nights up in Indiana.  WOW.  Tornadoes were ripping through Ohio and Indiana and at one point, we looked outside and actually saw circling clouds above.  I have NEVER seen anything like it.  I was READY to grab my kids and run into the closet at Grandpa's house.  Apparently the sirens were going off, but we couldn't hear them because of all the wind.  Well, literally THREE miles away from us, two people were killed by storms and lots and lots of homes were destroyed.  One our trip back home, we passed some areas that were completely demolished.  It was so sad and tragic... my heart hurts for those people who lost their loved ones and homes and belongings.. but it also puts things in such perspective.  Our Lord gives, He takes away...  There were a few minutes the night of the storms that I was literally scared for all our lives.  What a scary feeling.


On a much lighter note, the trip to Indiana - there and back - was AMAZING.  Caroline literally slept the entire car trip, Parker watched movies, slept, read books, talked NON stop and kept us entertained.  When we finally got to Indiana, they both slept amazing all night and started the next day with no problems.  We all stayed in one room the week we were up there and they both did amazing.  Parker slept with us in a king size bed for a few of the nights and he did wonderfully.  I simply owe their good sleeping habits to Moms on Call - look them up if you want an amazing baby.  :)  www.momsoncall.com.

So - what does a nearly 3-year-old do in the car when he gets pretty bored?  Hmmmm - inspect his toes?

Or maybe chew on them.... gross!

More February Updates! Again!

Parker truly loves his baby sister and it comes out more and more each day.  He love to lay down with her, show her things, hold her hand and when she's crying he loves to pat her shoulder and say, "It be aw-right Car-o-wine." Unless he's watching Little Einsteins... then it's... "Mommy make her stop crying!"

We love our double stroller!  Family sent us money to go towards it and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was skeptical... thinking the only good strollers were the $600 one that everyone talks about.  I was so wrong.  This $200 stroller from Wal Mart is a dream to push two kiddos around in.  I love it.

Our dear friends from Tifton, Ga, the Campbells, got Caroline this sweet outfit and she wore it to the Super Bowl party with our Life Group!  You can never get too dressed up for the super bowl!

Her eyes.....

How can ANYONE not believe in God after looking into a newborn baby's eyes... and at their fingers... and their fingernails.... and the little tiny wrinkles in her fingers...

AND - she turned 3 months in February.  How. Did. This. Happen.?  Still no smile for the camera!

 And near the end of the month, she FINALLY smiled for the camera!  I think it was worth the wait!

The First Five Years.

Chris and I renewed our vows at our church in February.  This April will be our 5 year wedding anniversary so we thought it would be a great way to kick off our next 5 years.  Looking back, what we've overcome, accomplished, grown from in the past 5 years... I can't even begin to imagine what God has in store for our next 5.  A friend who was in a difficult place in her life recently told me, "Hillary, you don't understand.  You have the perfect marriage with no problems."  Um.  I beg to differ.  Chris and I do have an amazing marriage.  But it is NOT perfect.  And it is NOT without problems. And it's so easy in a "post the good moments on facebook and blog" world to make it seem that way.  I will tell you that we fight.  But we fight fair. We disagree but we work through it.  We are BOTH stubborn... me probably more than Chris... but when we both seek God first in ALL the we do... it just all works out.  We break down our walls of sin and come together, before our Maker, and we grow... together... closer.


Here are a few words to describe our 5 years together.  Bliss. Beautiful. Growing. Growing. Growing. Together. Chris the Student. Hillary the Breadwinner. Wonderful first year of marriage. Fights. More fights. Awful fights. Hurtful words. Chris the college drop out. Fights. Trials. More fights. Pregnant. FREAKING out. Scared. Growing. Together. Chris the student. Chris the intern. Building our first house. Baby Parker. C-section recovery. Chris the unemployed. Chris the college graduate. Chris the unemployed. Devoted. Blessed. Growing. Together. Chris EMPLOYED! Chris in his dream job. Bliss. Beautiful. Growing. Together. Pregnant AGAIN. EXCITED! JOYFUL! Scared. Baby Caroline. VBAC recovery. Hillary quitting her full time job. Hillary working part time. Hillary the Stay At Home Mom. Bliss. Beautiful. Growing. Together. Looking back... I wouldn't change a damn thing.  Period.

More February Updates!

For February being such a short month, I sure did do a lot!  Here are more updates!

 

Our AWESOME church had free babysitting a few weeks in a row on Saturday evenings from 4 pm til 9 pm!  We took advantage of the night and went out to dinner with our dear friends, the Markhams!  This is the couple that always babysits Parker for us when we go out - and we babysit their kiddos for them when they go out!  SO - we were so excited to actually go out WITH them for once!  We had a blast hanging out and talking without the noise of 2 babies and 2 toddlers surrounding us!

The boys...

I took this one morning just to let everyone see the chaos I deal with every morning when home girl wakes up... brush and bows are the first thing on our agenda... sometimes even BEFORE changing the diaper!

Parker had TRANSPORTATION day at school in February and he had to have a helmet to wear when he rode his bike during the "bike day" portion of the day!  After we bought him his new helmet (Lightning McQueen) he wore it around the house ALL day!  Our friend, Sienna, was having a little trouble "liking" her helmet so her mom, Amy, texted me one morning and asked me to send her a picture of Parker in his helmet so she could show SiSi and maybe she would wear it.  Wouldn't you know, SiSi saw the picture and soon began to wear the helmet!  :)  Love those two kiddos.

All in one morning, he got to see and pet a REAL sheriff's horse, get inside a SWAT team truck and look around, get right next to a hot air balloon AND ride his bike all around a "pretend" town AND even pick up his lunch at the Chick Fil A drive through in their "pretend" city.  Mommy got to go through the drive thru, too and get her meal!  We LOVE his school.  Such cute ideas.  This is Parker and his class and teachers in front of the SWAT truck!

 This picture was taken after the pretend CFA drive through got hit a few times by some "cars"!

 Our dear friend, SiSi cruisin' around town with Parker.

 Getting his lunch from the drive thru!

 Sisi's turn!

 Ms. Penny let all the kids get IN the CFA drive thru after lunch...

 I can totally see her workin' the drive thru one day!

Random Photo Updates - February 2012

These are just a few really random pictures that I don't want left out of my blog books!

This daddy is already WRAPPED around this little girl's finger.  This mama has some strong competition for attention now!  :)

I get this text message from Chris one afternoon... to say that my jaw dropped to the floor is an understatement!

So while all the family was in town for Garrett's baby dedication, my mom, sister and I spent the entire day of Saturday shopping around town, running errands, and of course, taking a "nursing" break at North Point Mall.  If you are EVER in the North Point area and need a place to nurse, the "mommy's lounge" at Von Maur is AMAZING!  I felt like I was nursing in luxury and the lady cleaning the restrooms went ABOVE and BEYOND to help us clean up after sweet little Caroline's POOP explosion - which landed in EVERY single crevice of her car seat!  That's talent, y'all (on C's part).

My other sister's family came up Saturday evening and we all met at Whit's house for a yummy chili dinner!  The first thing Miller wanted to do when he arrived was "Hud Cawin"... and that he did.  :)  C looks a little frightened.

All of the fam at Baby Garrett's dedication at First Baptist Roswell!

And on Sunday after the dedication, the ENTIRE family and friends who came to the dedication (about 25 people) went to eat dinner... Hoppy had no problem helping me get Caroline to sleep!

This was yet ANOTHER attempt at getting a picture of sweet C's smile... no such luck.  She was ACTUALLY crying in this picture... but it looked close enough to a smile that I thought I may try to pass it off as her firsts smiling picture... but I would always know the truth. 

We got this shirt from our cousins Campbell and Catherine!  I LOVE it.

This is just a random shot of our sweet SiSi - our sweet friend's daughter and Parker's best bud.  She came over to play one day but Parker hadn't woken up from his nap yet so this crazy girl made herself RIGHT at home by plopping herself in Park's rocking chair (after dramatically throwing off all his stuffed animals that were in it!) then picking up EVERY book out of his book box, opening up the first page, then literally tossing it on the floor.  This girl is a speed reader if I've ever seen one... must be cause she's Asian.  :)  (Now before you go on and think I'm racist... this is a long time joke between Amy (who is Asian) and me!  I am convinced that she's perfect in every way... and she's Asian... so that just seems to be the best answer of how she's so perfect and I am SO not!  OK - so maybe that is racist... but it's pretty much true!)  Anyway, I LOVE this little drama queen.  :)

Now that Parker is home with mommy most of the time, mommy has had to learn to be a much more strict "rule enforcer" or else this kid will WALK a mile over me.  He goes to time out multiple times a day and he has mastered the "Feel Sorry For Me" face... cracks me up.  How pitiful?  Oh - and how could I forget to mention George.  He obviously got put in time out, too.  George is Parker's "baby" who he LOVES with all his heart.  Aunt Whitney gave it to him for Christmas and George is very loved in this house.  George gets to "ride" on Parker's back all day long (lucky George).  The only time Parker likes George to be taken out of his "back" is if he's going to the bathroom.  Pretty much - all other times - you can find George safely tucked in Parker's shirt back.  Oh - or unless he's taking one of his many naps IN Caroline's crib, WITH the sound machine on and a paci nearby.  At least he knows the routine!