Casa de Crazy...

Come As You Are..... (Ellis's birth story part 2 & 3)

2015-12-15T22:47:00.000-06:00

So funny thing, I've been trying to get this post written for almost ten months..oops. I wrote the first part in May and just finished up...

Part One:

I have been meaning to do this second post for five months now... That's life with three kids I guess. I'm tired. In the evenings, I don't want to come up with witty anecdotes for the blog, I need to preserve all my mental prowess to be able to beat my husband when we farkle for who has to do the night feeding!

Not to mention, this second half is quite emotional so it has taken me a while to get it all out.

Where was I? ....So Slade gets to the hospital where I am now getting ready to deliver. Six weeks early or 33 weeks and 6 days. We call the fam to let them know that baby H #3 is on the way.
We have good people. They all dropped what they were doing and headed to the Falls.

After I was settled in, Mom and Dad go back to the house to continue moving us in, so we would have a home to take this baby to. Stressful? Nah.

I later found out that some of my sweet friends also went over and unpacked my boys rooms, brought baby clothes, and a myriad of other things. Like I said, we have good people.

Lindsey Lunn comes in the room with Slade and I, and is writing down name options on the nurses white board and the three of us are basically trying to name the baby. See? Totally prepared.

Mandy gets there and checks me. When she does, she says, "you have GOT to be kidding me!"
Just what you want to hear when you are unexpectedly having a baby. She looks up, grimaces, and drops the third bomb of the day, "I feel the foot, baby is breech."
Oh, for the love..

So to re-cap, I've been surprised with, "Actually, we need you to go to the hospital for 'monitoring'." Followed by, "Nevermind, you are having a baby."
And now, "Baby is breech" (meaning possible c-section) and... it's not even noon.

I had a sono the day before and baby was head down. I'm then thinking this has got to be a girl, she's already a diva.

Next the words every pregnant woman wants to hear, "We've got to turn the baby."
Do what?
Like while it's still in there?
No thanks.
You know when you ask, "Does this hurt?" and no one will make eye contact with you, that things are about to get dicy.

I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't the most comfortable thing I've ever done, but, I would say having a baby naturally still takes the cake for worst pain of my life (thanks, Knox.)
After baby was manually turned, the problem was, I had so much amniotic fluid that it wouldn't stay head down. Baby just kept kind of floating and bouncing around in there and we couldn't break my water until it came down.

Finally, after hours, Mandy broke my water. It was one of the most glorious feelings ever.
I had so much fluid (top 5 most she's ever seen... Awesome) that I was miserable.
After the resiovoir was drained, I swear my stomach went down a foot. I kept saying, "You mean I would have looked like this if I didn't have so much fluid!?!" My dad came in, and thought I had already had the baby.

Now the fun part, hurry up and wait.
We had the whole gang in the room with me by this point, and I was happy to have the distraction. It was crazy, I was having this baby way too early, I suspected I was a little sicker than anyone was letting on, but, I had an amazing peace. I could literally feel people praying for me and my baby. I can't describe it or explain it. I wasn't stressed, emotional, or scared. It was just peace.

About 11:45pm, I knew it was go time. I like to have my babies in the middle of the night, after a LOOONNNGGG day, so everyone is super thrilled when I finally have them!
I was trying to have her on the 20th, because I liked the nice even number, but in true Linds fashion, nothing went as planned.
I wanted Mom to stay in the delivery room with Slade and I, and then I asked Lindsey Lunn to take some pictures and video when we found out if it was a boy or girl.

I do remember ALL the people filing in when it was "go time."
I mean seriously, are this many people really medically necessary?
I swear they invited the kitchen staff and cleaning crew of the hospital in to watch.

One male nursing student who had been with me most of the evening was standing to my right. He also had on a full face of makeup. I was actually torn between focusing on birthing a child, and wanting to ask him how his foundation was so flawless.
I mean hell, he had a front row seat to my lady bits, the least he could do was give me some contouring secrets.

I went with the former, and asked him if he had ever seen a live birth before. His response, "No, you are my first."
Fan-tastic.
I have no idea what came over me, but I looked at him and said, "Well, welcome to my delivery. These are all of my lady parts and I'm about to push a giant baby out of them."
He just kind of stared at me and then looked at Mandy, like "Is she kidding or just completely nuts?" At that point, little bit of both.

After a few pushes, here came baby. I kept telling Slade in between pushes, "We should have found out the sex. This is just too many shocks for one day, even completely sane people would think this is too much!"

Next came my favorite phrase of the day......"It's a GIRL!!!!!" I fell back on the bed and said, "OH, THANK GOD! I couldn't take any more surprises today."

She was perfection. She was a girl. She was teeny-ish. She was mine.

Part Two:

At 12:46 am, Elizabeth Slade "Ellis" Hodges came into the world. She weighed 6 pounds and 1 once and was 20 inches long with a full head of black hair.

The let me see her, give her a little kiss and by 1:00 am, she was in the NICU.

Then reality set in, and came crashing down.
All my plans of doing skin to skin and bonding with my baby, or holding her while introducing her to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends were no longer possible. Letting her brothers meet her where they could see and hold her was just not going to happen.

Finally at 4:00 am, we got to go in the NICU and see our girl.
Sweet girl was hooked to every monitor there is, and had a CPAP breathing for her because her little lungs just weren't ready. She was breathing so hard, gasping for air, and thats when I lost it.
It was too much.
The guilt, the exhaustion, the fear and the shame all just came crashing down. I couldn't hold her and tell her how sorry I was that I got sick and she had to come early.
I couldn't hold her and calm her down so she wouldn't try so hard to breathe.
I couldn't hold her and tell her how much I loved her and how badly I wanted her, and if I could have taken her place, I would have.
I couldn't even touch her really because they didn't want to stimulate her.
Hell, I couldn't really even see what she looked like, because the CPAP took up most of her face.

The next few days were rough. The Doc told us she would probably have to be in there 3-4 weeks and I didn't get to hold her for almost two days and when I finally did, I could only hold her for an hour.
On day two, she got jaundice, so they brought in the equivalent of a baby tanning bed for her, complete with little goggles.
Diva, did you say?

Poor girl couldn't have a bath because it would stimulate her too much, so her black hair was all matted, she was orange and now she was tanning. I started calling her baby Snooki.
I kept telling her I needed her to lighten up a little, or I was going to have to get a terrible spray tan just to take her home because no one would believe she was mine.

After five days in the hospital, it was time for me to be released.
Here's the kicker, my baby wasn't released and I was. How am I supposed to leave her here?
This sweet baby has been part of me for the last 33 weeks and some change, and now you want me to just leave her?
It felt like I was leaving a body part at the hospital.
I was actually...
my heart.

I won't sugar coat it and say I held it together, I also will spare you the gory details of a mother having to leave the hospital, without her baby. I was a broken woman.

We got home and everything was well...a cluster.
I wanted to go home, like to my house we moved out of, because that was home. I didn't want to come to a house I had never spent the night in and had boxes everywhere.
I wanted to go home... with my baby, and I couldn't.
I remember Slade saying, go take a shower and change into fresh clothes and I started crying because I had no idea where any of my pants or underwear were. Thats how together I was, people.
Oh, did I mention we were in the middle of icemageddon 2015? Oh yes, it was solid ice outside.

I loved being home with my boys and getting to properly love on them, and they were so excited about their new rooms, but how could I feign delight when my heart was broken? How do I explain to them that equal parts of me want to stay and love on them and then the other part wants to literally sprint back up to the hospital?

I went back to the hospital that evening for the night feeding, and when I was on my way, I ran through McDonalds to get an iced tea.
When I was in line, David Crowder's 'Come As You Are' came on the radio.
That was the catalyst for what might be my largest emotional explosion to date.
I lost my shit.
In the drive-thru.
Of McDonalds.
There is no way the sweet woman at the window had any idea what she was getting into when she said, "Do you want fries with that?"

I made it thru without causing an international incident, but then pulled over in the parking lot. The words coming out of my speakers were this...

Come out of sadness
From wherever you've been
Come broken hearted
Let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can't heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can't heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You're not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

You know what?
I did just that. I came as I was.
Broken.
In the McDonalds parking lot.
I had the most honest "come to Jesus" that I have in a long time. I completely gave it over.
My guilt, my shame, the urge to control the situation, and most importantly, my girl.
The girl I had wanted and prayed for, for so long.
I can't describe it, and it's not like I had this major "moment" afterward, but slowly things started to seem a little more manageable.
Ellis's hospital stay provided me the opportunity to get my house put together without a newborn underfoot. I got a little more one-on-one time with each of my boys, in what surly was a very chaotic time in their little lives.
It provided Slade and I some time to rest after what had been a very crazy few weeks.
No, it wasn't what we would have chosen, but God used it to provide what we needed.
No, it wasn't easy to parent three children in two locations, but we did it.
Ellis could not have been better taken care of. The nurses were more than I could have hoped for.

After 14 days, our sweet girl got to come home. The boys were in complete awe of her. They are still completely and utterly smitten with her. She completed our family. My heart is full.

I can write about this now because this girl, the one I longed for, and she busted out of me too early....she is a HAPPY, HEALTHY, BEAUTIFUL, (bit of a diva) almost 10 month old.
Those delays they told me would come at 6 months? None. Not a one.
We are actually in the 98% for height and weight.

She is my joy, my little miracle, the part of my heart I didn't know was missing, and most importantly, a daily reminder of God's faithfulness.

Four Five Seconds (Ellis's birth story... Part 1)

2015-04-05T22:53:00.000-05:00

I don't blog much anymore, however, today is Ellis's original due date and addition of our sweet girl should probably be mentioned on the family blog...(mainly, so I don't hear about this is therapy when she's 17.) This is her birth story, it's crazy, it's happy, it's sad and it's life..our life. It went a little something like this...

Goodbye old house. Hello new house. Welcome to the world Elizabeth Slade "Ellis" Hodges! When I named this blog “Casa de Crazy” I didn’t mean for my life to actually go that way…so I think I may change it, to something like, “The simple life: Where Sleep is Plentiful, Children Are Angelic, and Life Goes According to Plan.”

Then I would be delusional.

The last few weeks have been some of the craziest of my life. Apparently, the way Slade and I roll is to do all of your MAJOR life changes in ONE weekend. This is NOT a good way to roll, people. The last few weeks consisted of packing up and moving out of our home that I loved, finishing a complete renovation of our new house, moving in with my parents, unexpectedly welcoming our PRECIOUS baby girl just over 6 weeks early, leaving her in the hospital, moving into our new house, parenting the boys at home and her in the hospital, all while in the middle of icemageddon WF 2015. Good times.

At the beginning of February, I was pregnant with what seemed to be the world’s largest baby, and put on partial bed rest due to contractions. We were supposed to be moving in to our house Feb 12^th, and it’s just wasn't ready. We (thankfully) sold our house, but had to be out. We decided to ship the boys to Hereford, then try to move as much of our stuff into our new house as we could.We had to move in with my parents so the house could get to a point where we could actually live there. Not in my plan, but it was what we had to do, so be it. Funny thing about moving…it’s the exact OPPOSITE of nesting, which is what I so desperately wanted to be doing.

We had been living with my parents for a few days when I started to feel pretty bad. I was 33 weeks along and looked like I was 33 MONTHS along. Honestly, I thought me feeling bad was my body just being DONE with everything. I was trying to pack up one house, deal with workers at the new house, make decisions, raise kids, all while being 8 mos. pregnant. I was exhausted.

On Feb 19th, I had a doctors appointment and was dilated to a two. I was told…bed-rest…for real. Not the BS "bed-rest" I had been attempting for the last few weeks. So, to re-cap, I'm in the middle of a move, living with my parents and have a 5 yr old and a 2 yr old and now I'm laid up. Awesome.

My poor parents helped us pack up my old house, haul it to the new one, and were now trying to unpack my new house while dodging painters, workmen, and who knows who else all while I am trying to direct traffic from on their couch.

The next day, (Friday the 20^th) we get the boys to school and Mom and I have it all planned where she will drive me to my new house, plop me on my bed that she set up the night before, and I could help direct which boxes went where. Then that weekend, we would get the house all set up and be totally moved in by Monday. Excellent plan! I was 20 minutes into getting dressed when my phone rings. Its my Dr. office…my blood work from the day before didn’t look so hot so they need me to go to a specialist. My platelets were way too low. Okie Dokie.

A minute after I get off the phone with the office, Mandy (my dr.) calls. As soon as I saw it was her, I knew…she was putting me in the hospital. She explained that she didn’t like my blood work and after having preeclampsia with Knox, she wanted to monitor me more closely, so I needed to go into the hospital. I was more annoyed than anything because I had things I really needed to get done. I burst into tears, ran into my mom’s room and bless her heart, she came out of the shower to find me sitting on her bed sobbing. I was freaked out, scared for my baby and now SERIOUSLY overwhelmed. The Lord knew where I needed to be when I got that phone call. With my mom. Beck is good under pressure.

I get up to Labor and Delivery and tell them I am there to be monitored. The nurse looks at me and says, “Oh! Mrs. Hodges, we actually are going to put you in a delivery room because Dr. Winfrey has decided that she is going to go ahead and deliver today!” I stop mid stride, look at her with utter disbelief and say, “DO WHAT??”

Oh yes, Mandy had talked to a specialist at Cooks and it was decided that I was getting too sick to remain pregnant. The baby was fine. I was the problem. This is a lot for an overwhelmed pregnant woman to digest. I call Slade. He doesn't answer. SERIOUSLY!?! I call again... and maybe a few more times...finally, he answers and says, "Lindsey, I'm in a meeting! What is it?"

Me: "We are having a baby today."

Him: "......"

Me: "Slade?"

Again, DEAD SILENCE.

After what seems like entirely too long of a time, he says, "okay... so what do I need to do?" I tell him that if he would like, he can go ahead and come to the hospital...ya know, for the birth of his child. Poor guy, I REALLY keep him on his toes with this whole baby thing. To say he was shocked and overwhelmed would be a vast understatement. He gets to the hospital to find out they are going to deliver his baby, way to early, so that his wife doesn't stroke out. It was a lot.

Did I also mention that we didn't know the sex of our baby? Also, that our infant carrier had expired so we had no car seat? Or, the fact that Briggs was still in the crib so, technically, we didn't have a crib for the baby. Or, that we didn't have a name picked out? Oh, and that we had no baby clothes for a girl? So, you ask, who was NOT AT ALL READY TO HAVE A BABY?" These two parents, thats who.

Funnily enough, one of the most popular songs on the radio during this time was Rihanna's "Four Five Seconds" The hook of the song is, "Now I'm Four Five Seconds from wildin'" and every time I would hear it, I would think to myself, "girl.. you got no idea, I know exactly how you feel." I consistently felt like I was four or five seconds from completely losing my sh*t. Basically, I was trying not lose it in such an epic way that I ended up in a strait jacket somewhere... and this is only part 1.

To be Continued...

All I've got is time...

2013-10-09T16:23:00.001-05:00

Someone asked me the other day, "why don't you blog as much anymore?"

Two words: Knox and Briggs.

Those days of Knox napping and Mommy blogging are long gone my friends. Like now, as in literally at THIS moment...both boys are napping. However, Knox is actually in his room singing at the top of his lungs and saying to me, "Mom! Come in here, I need to pray for you!" "Mom, come in here! I need to tell you what I'm going to get you for your birthday!" not to mention singing "Simon Says" and follows with "HERE WE GO GUYS!" before each new song.

Briggs...oh sweet Briggs...he got off schedule this morning so he's alternating between whining and talking and yelling, "mama" and "dada."

So a nice peaceful afternoon to blog about the goings on in our life...absolutely.

When they are "awake" its not the peaceful Norman Rockwell you are picturing with us all laughing and baking cookies. Nope. It's basically me saying, "No! Briggs" as he tries to electrocute himself, dump all of my kitchen drawers contents on the floor, put the remote in the potty, stir the potty with his arm or walk out the front door. I have to monitor all of that while avoiding the football that is thrown in my direction at least 200+ times a day. I would guess that I rival any NFL quarterback in how many snaps per day I take.

Oh, did I mention Briggs is the 1% of kids who got the ACTUAL chicken pox from the vaccine? So yeah, that happened too. Oh! I almost forgot, he also go a vomit virus because his immune system was so depleted from the chicken pox. Oh! AND he got kicked out of school until all of his pox have scabbed over even AFTER I had TWO different doctors clear him and one send a note.

So why don't I blog as much anymore? Getting lazy in my old age, I guess.

But just about the time I think I am going to lose it.....

Knox yells at me, "Mom! I need to get up! Alex is going to call me!" Ok. This piques my curiosity so I just went in there. I ask him who Alex is and he proceeds to tell me that Alex is his brother who is 13, in first grade and lives in New York City. I literally have NO idea where this came from and all I can think is whoa, Alex must not be too bright if he is 13 and in first grade. I ask who his parents are and Knox tells me they live in College Station. Hmmm, not sure how this is his brother then....unless he knows something about Slade that I don't.

These are the types of things that happen everyday being Knox and Briggs mom, so while I would love to blog all the time, right now I need to learn all I can about Knox's other family....

Hannatizer

2013-09-16T15:53:00.001-05:00

This post was from a few months ago and never got posted .... so here goes.
P.S. it's slightly PG-13

Ever since we have had the pneumonia outbreak of 2013, Knox has been very into Hannatizer (hand sanitizer.) We pretty much have it in every room and he loves "washing" his hands. Well...this kind of became an issue the other day....

So I went to a bachelorette party a few weekends ago and one of the gifts I received for mine was a Honeymoon kit of..shall we call it... "women's personal needs for intimacy" and I thought it was a great idea, so I was going to recreate this as my bachelorette gift. I go buy a cute little bag and then fill it with all the essentials that were in mine then, as is always the case, got distracted or pulled away by a kid and forgot about it.

A few hours later, I am sitting in the kitchen feeding Briggs when Knox comes out of my room with a strange look on his face. He comes up to me and says, "Uh, Mom. I put on some hannatizer and its not working!" I thought he was just being dramatic and said, "what do you mean by "not working?" By this point, I can see that there is indeed something all over him. "It's all sticky and won't come off!" he says.

I tell him to bring me the "hannatizer." He comes back a minute later with a small bottle of PERSONAL LUBRICANT. Oh yes, my three year old has LUBE all over him because he thought it was "hannatizer." When it didn't dry up like hand sanitizer, he preceded to try to wipe it off....all over himself. So thaaaaat would be the time I remember the "honeymoon kit" on my bathroom counter. I promptly informed him that this "hannatizer" was, in fact, defective and we promptly went to the shower.

Briggs is ONE!

2013-09-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

I know...I know...I haven't blogged in forever. Well...having two babies makes things a little... busier. Shocking, I know. We have had LOTS going on, but, feel that the least I can do is post about sweet Briggs' first birthday!

This little love bug is one!

He looks like he is two. Bless him, he has been large since the moment of conception. Actually, bless ME..I am the one who has had to haul this kid around, in utero and out! Funny thing, after a pregnancy in which I looked like I swallowed a small whale and just about shut my body down... does he love and adore me? No. That would be reserved for his father. The one who DIDN'T birth him. Good thing he's cute. Briggs is the ULTIMATE Daddy's boy. Literally, if Dad is in the room and not holding him...he's probably crying or screaming, "HAAAYY!!!" at him.

We celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago with "Briggs' First Fiesta," and it was so much fun for all the fam to get together and celebrate this special little man.

Knox helping Bebo with the cooking.

Uncle Thomas! (all of us squinting)

Briggs and his best friend/main love ...Gan

Grandad and Briggs

first sugar ever....

He LOVED it...shocking

Briggs and Bebo

Besties

Bob and Bebo with the grandkids

Little guy that snuggles...

2013-08-21T21:35:00.001-05:00

Me: (lying in Knox's bed) Man, I am lonely up here on this bed.
Knox: "Well! Here comes a little guy that snuggles! Get excited!"

Poor Sweet Briggs...

2013-05-20T10:51:00.001-05:00

Poor kid, by the time Knox was 9 months old he already had quite a few posts under his belt and his accomplishments were chronicled by his mother. Poor Briggs. Mommy got tired...and busy. So here goes, he got his top two teeth yesterday and so now he has 4! He's not quite crawling but wants to REALLY bad. He gets frustrated because he tries to go fwd but for some reason goes backward.

He loves to play patty cake and is in the 90% for height and weight!! He weighs 23lbs and is 9 mos old. Pretty sure he's going to be bigger than me when he's six. Oh joy. Overall he is just the sweetest, happiest little (err not so much) guy.

Sick boy.. Sweet brother

2013-02-02T10:49:00.001-06:00

Took Knox to the Dr. Yesterday and he has strep and possibly pink eye. Funny thing is, no one really explained Pink Eye to him so yesterday I notice he keeps looking at himself in the mirror... Well, more than usual. When I finally ask him he said, "mom! I really don't think I'm sick... My eyes are still blue!" Poor kid thought his iris would turn pink.

I do think its so sweet that he's not sad about missing school, hasn't said anything about missing a birthday party, but he's DEVASTATED that he has to stay away from Briggs. He keeps saying, "I promise I'm not sick, I feel so much better. Please let me hug Briggsy now!!"
He just ask me, "after my nap if I don't cough at all, can I please hug Briggs." I said maybe, it will be a quick one and he says," no it's gotta be a long one, I didn't get to hug him at all yesterday!!"
I hope he is always this adamant about loving his little brother... Probably wont be, so ill enjoy it now!

little bro...

2013-01-23T20:41:00.002-06:00

Apparently being the 2nd child in this house means living in your pajamas for the first 5 months of your life...awesome. #babyproblems
-Briggs

Laundry

2013-01-23T20:13:00.005-06:00

Knox kept telling me he was "doing laundry"..I thought he was just pretending. It wasn't until about 45 minutes later when I heard the dryer ding and he says, "Oh! My undies are done!" I followed him in there and sure enough...he had washed and dried his undies and had his shirt in the washing machine..it was RUNNING! Thank the lord he didn't use soap or else things could have gotten very dicy. I didn't even know he could reach the buttons. I said, "Knox..you cannot use the washing machine..you are only 3." He replied, "well I TOLD you I was doing laundry!"
#hesonly3 #momfail #lordhelpmewhenhe's5

Obama...our neighbor?

2013-01-23T20:11:00.003-06:00

While watching the inauguration, I realized that ever since the election when one of our neighbors had an OBAMA sign in their yard, Knox has thought Pres. Obama lived down the street from us. He just saw him on TV and said, "Mom, there is Obama on TV! We should have been invited, we are neighbors!" When I said, "No, he lives in the White House." He replied, "Well ya, sometimes he does but he also lives down the street. He puts out the sign when he's home!" Not even sure where to start in explaining this one...

5 Months!

2013-01-22T15:51:00.000-06:00

I can't believe my little nugget is 5 months old! Seriously, I feel like I had him yesterday and poor guy, I think Knox had a zillion blog post by now and this might be his first...oops. Those people who tell you it's not different with two....liars. It's A LOT different! However, I think we are finally getting the hang of it!

Briggs is the SWEETEST little snuggle bug ever! He is so happy and is such an easy baby...well, he is now that I stopped over feeding him to the point of puking all day. Oops. He is cooing, giggling (my favorite) and LOVES his big brother. It's a very mutual love affair. Knox gets so excited every time Briggs wakes up from a nap, or basically enters the room. He still talks to him in some weird baby voice but I have come to accept it...even though it drives me batty.

Briggs is rolling over, he pretty much hates tummy time and loves sitting in his Bumbo and "talking" to everyone. He is OBSESSED with Slade. It's pretty cute actually, he just lights up when Slade enters a room. We are all three smitten with our little man!

Detox Bath

2012-11-15T21:23:00.000-06:00

So... according to Pinterest if I took this "detox bath" it would make me feel like a million bucks, cure all my ailments, and give me enough energy to run a marathon...I'm have an infant so I figured why the heck no. I don't know exactly what I thought it would do but leave me smelling like salad dressing was NOT it....easy on the Ginger and Vinegar, Pinterest!

Dentist!

2012-11-13T13:10:00.001-06:00

Knox had his first trip to the dentist last week and naturally he did great! We went to Alisa and he kept asking, "where is Hutch's mom? Where is Alisa? She want to see my teeth?" He sat still and LOVED everything about it.. Especially the toothpaste. Pretty sure he was sucking it off her brush as fast as she applied it. He was great to sit there and talk to the hygienist while Mom got her teeth cleaned as well. Since we've been home he brushes his teeth about 7 times a day.... There is toothpaste everywhere ;)

Rolled over!

2012-10-29T16:02:00.001-05:00

Briggs rolled over today! Put him on the bed for tummy time and when I looked back over he was on his back! I think that's very advanced for 2 months! At the dr his stats were 12lbs 11 oz and 23.5 inches long! 80% for height and weight!

2 months old!

2012-10-29T15:54:00.001-05:00

Briggs was two months old... On the 21st (little late getting pics up 😉) He, like his brother, loves the camera!

Holy...Poo!

2012-09-26T13:12:00.000-05:00

It's me Briggs and you may be wondering why I am in the bath (sink) at 10AM? Well let me tell you.

Mom has been handling this two kids thing pretty well and honestly I figured BORING.. let's mix things up a bit. Apparently I have some tummy issues so now I am on my third different formula. This kind is super fancy. Mom and Dad have to get it from the pharmacy. Is regular, good ole' "over the counter" formula good enough for me..nope! It's also really expensive so that MUST mean it's super fancy.

So we started the new formula last night and honestly it may be fancy but it does not taste or SMELL very good..so I spit it up a lot. It has made things a lot "smoother" coming out on the south end and its a fancy neon yellow color! So fun! So now that things are easier I like to poo A LOT.

This morning my tummy was still adjusting so I woke up early to let everyone know. Mom fed me and I had a super colorful diaper for her! When she was burping me I threw up on her a little but I didn't want to tell her cause she was in a hurry to get Knox to school. So she might have taken Knox into school with throw up on her shoulder and she might not have realized it until later. She also might not have realized that when she was washing her face this morning, I started spitting up after she only got her eye makeup off of one eye. So she might have forgotten to do the other one and she might have gone into Knox's school looking like a black eyed pea. Ha! That one still makes me chuckle..maybe they will thinks she was just practicing for Halloween.

When we got home I decided to spice it up. Here is my current tally...

Pee'd on Mom 4x

Poo'd on Mom 3x

Spit on on Mom (can't count that high yet)

I have been through SIX outfits and it's not even noon

2 different nap nanny covers

3 changing table covers

Mom finally gets me down and while she runs to the restroom for the first time today, she hears me and oops I threw up..again. This time I made SURE to hit any and every thing in a foot radius. I even got it in my hair.

I then throw up on her again on the way to the bath. She strips me down (and herself) and sticks me in the sink. So there we are..me chillin, sucking my thumb, enjoying the good life while Mom washes me off (pretty sure she might be cold since she's only got undergarments on.)

When she was getting me out, I was just so relaxed that when the cold air hit me...well, to put it frankly, it scared the poo out of me....and....maybe all over Mom. I don't mean to throw anyone under the bus here, but someone might have said a bad word at this point. Only one of us can actually speak so, you do the math. Actually, she may have just been saying what she saw...literally.

I, for one, am exhausted. I'm a little worried that if I doze off, when I wake Mom is going to be sprawled out on the floor, covered in puke, pee and doodie in only her bra and panties simultaneously drinking wine and vodka out of the bottle. Needless to say, sister had a rough morning.

patience...

2012-09-18T23:26:00.001-05:00

Lately we have been working on "patience" and "obeying" with Knox. Those are our "buzz words" for the past few weeks if you will. Yesterday, Briggs starts crying while I am washing some dishes so I ask Knox to give him his pacifier. This is what I hear from the other room....

"Briggs, where's your paci?"
..crying...
"well Briggs, if you aren't going to tell me where your paci is, then you are going to have to have a little patience!"

at least he's getting the concept!

First day of school!

2012-09-09T15:53:00.000-05:00

Knox had his first day of school last week. He has moved up to Mrs. Margaret's class and he LOVES her. He also loves her assistant Ms. Rebecca. We are sad because Ben, Charlotte and Henry won't be in his class this fall but he is thrilled that Maycee will still be with him....

Ready to go...he LOVED his new lunch box...Ha! Easy to please!

Baby Bubbles is here!

2012-08-28T22:26:00.000-05:00

Briggs Bolin Hodges was born last Tuesday at 1:30 am. He was 5 weeks early but weighed 7lbs 4 oz and was 20 in long! So needless to say he really was a baby giant!

The day started out with me feeling pretty ugh and so Knox went over to play with Gan. I stopped by my parents and while talking to them in the kitchen felt like I may have tinkled myself. Turns out it was not tickle and I was leaking amniotic fluid. I wasn't as freaked out as I would have been, him being 35 weeks, but I knew he was already weighing 7lbs. I headed to Mandy's office to check out the situation and sure enough she told me to go to the hospital because we were having a baby that day.

My husband did not take this news as smoothly as some might expect. Cool, Calm and Collected...umm not so much. He was running around like a crazy person...I think he changed shirts 3 times, didn't remember to bring anything he might need to the hospital and got in to the car to go to the hospital with NO SHIRT ON. Ummm, Slade...pretty sure it may be a "No Shoes, No Shirt- No Service" type of deal...

Thankfully, my epidural worked this time so labor was MUCH different and MUCH better! Knox got to come to the hospital and Slade ordered him some little scrubs that has his name on them so he was, "Dr. Knox" and would only answer as such. As you can imagine after being there almost a week, "Dr. Knox" had quite the fan club. He kept telling me, "Mom I textin Mandy." I would ask him why and his response, "well we both are Doctors..we both have skubs" (Scrubs)

He was also thrilled because Bebe & Grandad, Bob, Dodo & Dede, Heather, Thomas, and Gan were all up at the hospital so it was pretty much like a party for Knox.

Briggs had to stay in the NICU for a few days to develop his little lungs and basically just cook a little longer...but he got to bust out on Friday and come home! We are already SO in love with him and Knox is beyond thrilled to have a little brother...he loves patting him and telling him he loves him. It's really sweet.

Snapped a quick pic to show how HUGE I was before we left for the hospital.

lets do this!

Dr. Knox is SO excited!

a little nervous about all that's going on

so happy to be a big brother!

My first time to hold Baby Briggs

Daddy gets to hold Briggs

loving on my little man

Briggs already loves Grandad

baby Briggs first picture with no feeding tube or CPAP

in his little incubator in the NICU

Knox checking in on his brother

wanted to "pat" him

loved his "Big Brother" button he got

making sure everything looks right

he's already so in love!

holding hands

We got to bring him to our room for a visit!

Knox was thrilled

first pic as a family of four

wait...you mean I'm stuck with these people?

loving on my first born

Grandad was pooped...Knox was faking

Bob and Briggs...Knox had already lost interest

Well...maybe not

first brothers pic...Neither looks too sure about this

it's love

Grandmothers and the boys....Bob, Knox, Bebe and Briggs

Gan and her new bff

daddy loving on baby briggs

Baby Briggs and Daddy

Daddy and his boys!

Headed Home!

Baby Bubbles...errr Baby Goliath

2012-08-13T20:59:00.002-05:00

So we went to the Dr today and needless to say it was a bit of a surprise. Knox and Slade came with me because we had a sono and were going to get to see how big baby bubbles is! Well....he's not big, he's HUGE! I am only 34 weeks and 4 days and he already weighs almost SEVEN POUNDS! He weighs more right now than Knox did when he was born. If he goes full term he will be over 10lbs...not gonna happen.

Good thing is I am dilated to a 4 and 75% effaced, so it looks like it will be this week or next. Bad thing is, I'm only almost 35 weeks so I worry about Bubbles lungs and development.

Supposedly I also have an excess of fluid around the baby so that means that if my water breaks it will be a gusher...yippee! Knowing my luck, this WILL probably happen in public. We are so excited to meet this little bambino and Knox was SO pumped in the sono today to see him. He kept saying, "He's waving at me!!" and then would wave back at the TV. He is going to be such a great big brother...I can't wait to see how it is!

Big Boy Room!

2012-08-01T21:01:00.001-05:00

After having to go to L&D with contractions, slade and I decided to go ahead and move Knox into his big boy room. Actually August 1 was always my move in day, the pre-labor just made it easier to convince Slade.

Knox is THRILLED! Slade is a little devastated his baby is growing up :). Knox was jumping on his bed and looked at me and said, "mom, this is great! I LOVE it! Thank you!"

We will see how tonight goes...

farmer and the dell

2012-07-25T13:23:00.003-05:00

Knox just told me, "Mom, I'm in a band."
Me: "Oh really, what songs do you sing?"
Him: "The Farmer and the Dell. It's a great song, the Farmer takes a wife AND the cheese stands alone!"

Potty Trained!

2012-06-08T14:17:00.001-05:00

We are officially potty trained! Well, by potty trained I mean 90% of the time he goes to the potty in the toilet and he is wearing pull-ups at nap and night time. BUT STILL...I consider this to be a top notch achievement on my parenting belt. I did the "3 DAY POTTY TRAINING" and it really worked like a charm. I believe a lot of it is that I didn't rush it and let him tell me when he was ready to go in the potty.

When I asked him, "Knox, do you want Mommy to teach you to go pee pee in the potty?"
He replied, "No Mom, Both! I need you to teach me to go pee pee AND poop in the potty!"
Well okay then.

We went to Target to pick out his potty and he decided that he needed a big boy potty and a little potty as he didn't know which he would like best. In an effort to make this as painless as possible I did just that...got him both.

We went to pick out underwear and I said,
"Knox we are going to get you some big boy pants to wear instead of diapers!"
He looked at me like I was from Mars and said, "Mom, do you mean underwear?"
Me: "Oh, you know what underwear is?"
Him: (still looking at me like I am the dumbest person on earth) "Uh, yeah..my friends at school wear it"
I swear this kid, he is two going on 25.

He decided he likes the big boy potty much better and has only had maybe 10 total accidents in 2.5 weeks. We still haven't mastered going #2 in the potty but that may have changed yesterday.....

Knox tells me he has to go potty but does NOT need my assistance...okay. I realize after about 5 minutes that it's VERY quiet in there. I go in to find him sitting on the potty where he proudly announces, "Mom, I hoo-wee'd in the potty!" (that means poop...I hate it when little kids yell, I POOPED!) I was immensely proud until I took a look around....

Before he went #2 he tried to STAND UP and pee ...just like Daddy. Well Daddy has better aim (most of the time) and Knox had gotten pee on every possible surface. Seriously this kid must be some type of camel because there was A LOT of it. He even had little pee puddles in his crocs. That takes talent. He knew I wouldn't be happy so I figured that's why he went #2... he knew he had to rally with something big to make me not be mad about the pee.

Well, he was right...it was a parenting dilemma I had yet to face. Be mad about the pee because he KNOWS BETTER than to stand up or be thrilled that he finally did what I've been asking for the last 2 weeks...I went with the latter. Well played Knox, well played.

All in all, I would say it was a pretty painless experience. Knox is such an easy kid that I am terrified Bubbles is going to be a tiny terrorist. Oh, well...one outta two aint bad!

Congrats Bob!

2012-05-21T14:57:00.000-05:00

It's me Knox and I had a big weekend! We went to Hereford to celebrate Bob because she is retiring after a really long time teaching and principaling. Her teachers threw her a retirement party and I of course was invited. When I got there I went into the office, got on the intercom and said, "BOB! I HERE!" She was SO surprised to see me!! I was also very excited because the retirement party was at Bob's school, so I got to go see all my friends (her teachers) especially Inella, Nancy and Boppy.

I know her school is going to miss her but I couldn't be more thrilled that Bob is retiring. I have big plans for us now that she is going to have more time..I mean seriously, why wouldn't she want to spend it all with me!?! Dodo and Dede were there and Heather too...so a good chunk of my fan base was with me all weekend!

Daddy and Dodo played in a golf tournament and Daddy played with my new friend James Tate...I love him. It really was an action packed weekend; I got to see Meme, go to the park, play basketball in the gym at Bob's school, play in the sprinklers with Daddy and Dodo, go on walks with Bebo and basically have someone to entertain me 24/7...just the way I like it.

My big finale was Grandad sent his plane to come get Mommy and I because Dad had to stay in Hereford. I was SOOOO pumped. When we were on the runway I looked at mom and said, "We are going so fast, then we are going go really high, then Grandad is going to pick us up...I so excited!!"

Mom is an amazing stewardess. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm no diva... I just made her feed me gold fish, get my water, adjust my air about 423 times and may-ve read the same book about 14 times. I know she was happy to do it!

Bob and her boys

Knox had to get in on the action

Knox and Daddy

Heather and Bob

The diva headed home

All in all it was a GREAT weekend, I was pooped when I got home!