Out of the Mouth of Hudson

Hudson was telling one of his traditional "tall tales" one night at my parents house. Chase leaned over and whisper to my mom, "FICTION" and Hudson immediately leaned over to her other ear and whispered "SPANISH".

The first time Hudson saw me nursing Davis he was super intrigued. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Hudson, can you give mom some privacy while she nurses Davis?
Hudson: Nursing?! I want to see! (Runs over and plops himself on the bed next to me)
Hudson: Huh? Where's the bottle?
Me: I'm not using a bottle. He's getting special milk from mommy.
Hudson: Oh yeah. It's celebration milk.
(and ever since then he's called nursing "celebration milk" which has helped my attitude towards these hard first weeks of nursing immensely)

When my mom told him that Davis's middle name was Jack he responded with "NO! It's supposed to be Davis Michael Jack-went-to-monkeys Hugo! Quick, someone FIX THIS before he gets any bigger!"

While burping Davis, he told me that Davis "needs to pop his bubble." and then went on to explain "Davis has sharp bones in his body that pop his bubbles."

Chase: Mom do you cook for fun?
Me: I don't mind cooking for my family, but I don't really cook for fun.
Hudson: So you just cook for boring?

Hudson: Dad can we go get donuts now?
Ben: No buddy, it's too close to dinner.
Hudson: But dad! I promised you yesterday that we could get donuts today after naps.

Heidi gave him this cute little log for Christmas that had five little woodland animals in it. He loves it and plays and imagines with his animals all the time. One morning right after Davis was born he brought his little bear, fox, raccoon and chipmunk in to me and said "Mom, these guys kept me up all night they were so fussy!"

And then later Heidi asked him if the animals slept in their log at night, and he replied "No, that's how they get neck injuries!' (Neck injuries?!?! We laughed so hard at that one)

He said one day, "Mom, I couldn't figure out what to get Monkey for her birthday. Then I figured she could use a new nursing cover!" (And then he showed me how he turned his Paw Patrol pillow case into a very functional nursing cover for Monkey, under which both Seamore and Chipmunk nurse. A few days later I asked him to go play in his room and he replied "I can't, Monkey is nursing in there and she needs peace and quiet." Sure enough, he had Monkey all set up, laying against a pillow, with her nursing cover on and Seamore nursing underneath.

One night he said, "Mom, we are having a meeting and you and Davis are invited."
I came upstairs to find the meeting on the landing area in our hallway, on top of his carefully spread paw patrol blanket, with all his animals lined up on one side. We were instructed to sit by the animals. Then he called us up, one at a time, to "take the stand." Once on the stand we were to share our favorite food, then he "recorded" it in his little book. It was hilarious. (For future reference, Bear's favorite food is blueberries, Chipmunks is "chipmunk nip", Seamore's is peaches and celebration milk (just like Davis), Monkey's is peaches (just like me)- I can't remember the rest.)

One day I overheard him telling Davis "Don't believe mommy Davis! Don't believe her!"

Ben: Hudson please go clean your room.
Hudson: Oh figgle-bars! (throws up hands in exasperation and then falls face forward in the hallway and lays there for awhile to really make a dramatic point)

Hudson started telling me all about a friend he met at the gym day care. "I call him Max" he kept telling me. So I questioned what his real name was, "Holden? Eden? Something like that mom. But I just call him Max."
So the next day at the gym "Max" greeted Hudson right by the door and they ran off to play together. I asked the workers there if that little boy was named Max. They answered, "No, that's Eldon" "Does anyone else call him Max?" "Nope, just Hudson."
So then I asked Hudson afterwards why he calls him Max-
Hudson: He's just fine with it Mom!
Me: Why don't you call him Eldon?
Hudson: Eldon is just a funny name. I like Max better. And he's fine with it.

All the Other July Stuff

July was an emotional roller coaster, full of fun activities, lots of family time, and some major disappointment. It's all part of our life journey, so I'm recording it all here.

7/11 was free day at Chick Fil-A if you dressed up like a cow. Ben usually hates stuff like that (dressing up, plus crowds) so when I off-handedly mentioned it to him around 5:30 pm he said, "sure! let's do it!" I was surprised! I hurried and made cow spots that would go on our shirts and we went! True to my boys natural personalities, Chase was super hesitant to wear the shirt, afraid of looking silly. Hudson, on the other hand, asked if next year I would please make him cow pants and cow ears to go with it. We had free dinner and it wasn't even too terribly crowded. 

We had a fun adventure to the Treehouse Museum with Nana and all the grandbabies. The kids had a great time. They were so cute playing in the diner (for a long time) cooking up a storm and serving us all food. They all love that place and it was such a fun morning, complete with a delicious lunch at Blue Lemon (which we did last year and the boys still remember it and talk about it). 

 When I got home from the Treehouse that afternoon, Ben had some bad news for us- he lost his job. It came as a surprise and such a sucker punch. We both just felt sick and so sad and frustrated. He has loved this job, and put so much into it. A few weeks prior they let Ben's boss go- and the guy who took his place was a real dirtbag. Ben told me right when it happened that he was worried- he did not trust this new guy. And for good reason. Ben realized quickly that everything this guy had ever told Ben was a lie. As we processed and talked about what happened we came to the conclusion that a company that acts this way (let's people go with no notice, no reason, no warning) isn't a company he should be working for. But it didn't really soften the blow by much. My mom watched the kids so we could go to the temple that night, which was probably the most emotional we have ever been attending the temple. We found it interesting that while we were there we were able to feel a little peace, although it didn't take away the feelings of hurt and betrayal.

I can say a little time has helped heal this wound. For the first few days we both struggled with eating and sleeping and I cried a lot. As time has passed it's gotten much easier to swallow. One thing that really helped was that just  two days later we had a camping trip planned with our good friends from BYU. Ben and I really didn't want to go, but our boys were looking forward to it so much that we packed up anyway and went. It was the best thing for us. We camped up Hobble Creek Canyon and it was beautiful. We had so much fun with our friends and the boys had the best time playing, getting dirty and sleeping in the tent.

 Bennetts couldn't spend the night this year, but Virgins did. We put all the kids to bed and stayed up until 1:30 am talking with Russell and Ashley by the fire. It was probably the most therapeutic thing we could have done (although we were all so tired the next morning). Russell and Ashley are kind and wise and encouraging and not at all judgmental. We talked all about life, the crazy job thing and all kinds of other stuff. It was honestly the best, and something I'll remember as a bright spot in an otherwise dark time. I know this all sounds a little dramatic, but for a little while it felt that way. We quickly realized that we have so much to be grateful for, our healthy boys, each other, supportive family and friends, living in America, the list goes on and on. But this night I was so thankful for these wonderful friends!

Our big boys have really bonded this summer in a really great way. They spend hours playing and pretending together. Every night all summer they've slept together on the bottom bunk of their bunk bed. They usually have some blankets and sheets hanging from the top bunk, making it a "fort" or "ship" depending on the night. They giggle and play and read and pretend in there until late into the night, but Ben and I don't really even care because we love the bond they are forming. When summer ends we will probably make Chase start sleeping up in his bed and make them both go to sleep at a better time. But for now, this is darling and so sweet. 

Chase really wanted to do a lemonade stand this summer. I just never got on the ball to do one with him. Luckily his sweet friend Paisley invited him over for one! He was so excited. Paisley's mom does everything up really cute, hence the matching aprons and cutesy sign. He loved it. It was a pretty hot day so they only last about an hour, but he made $4.50 and was thrilled about it! He was even more excited that Nana stopped to buy some lemonade from them (not even realizing at first that Chase was there). Chase loves Paisley and plans on marrying her someday.

 The great thing about Utah is that after the 4th of July, we get to do it all over again for the 24th! The boys really wanted to go to the Bowman's pancake breakfast, so we did. We met Nana and Papa there and all enjoyed our pancakes. Later in the day I took the boys back for the kids activities there, including bounce houses, cotton candy, hot dogs, face painting and balloon animals. I had to laugh at the face paint they chose (totally unprompted by me) because Ben and I joke that Chase's spirit animal is a puppy and Hudson's is a bear.

Our last fun outing in July was another Nana adventure to the Museum of Natural Curiosity! We hadn't been there in three years and the boys LOVED it. In fact, Chase says it was his #1 favorite thing he did all summer. This place has a whole mini city, a jungle to climb in, a whole room of water play (Chase's favorite), a science room, a bear cave, playground and so much more! We stayed for several hours and the boys loved every minute of it! 

I'll say, this new baby in our lives has made this summer really different than the last several. I'm desperately trying to do lots of fun activities for my big kids and trying to preserve a good nap schedule for the baby- which has turned out to be really tricky at times. Somedays the big kids have a more boring day so the baby can nap, some days we go out and do fun stuff and tote around a slightly fussy, tired baby. Mostly it's worked. I actually like looking back on these pictures because they remind me that we did get out and have fun- but it has been a lot more work than the last few summers. Either way, I'm so glad we had these experiences. I love doing activities with my kids and seeing their little world expand.