The Dennison Family

4 months old!

2012-02-06T19:12:00.002-06:00

What a little joy this 4 month old is!

- At his dr appointment today he weighed 14lb10oz (50%), and is 25 inches long (50%). His head circumference is 16 inches (50%).

- He's not rolling over yet, but he's about to. When he's playing on the floor, he will roll all the way over onto his side and stretch his little head around him. It's only a matter of time before he figures it all out.

- He LOVES to be naked. He could be really irritable, and then I put him on the changing table to change his diaper, and he's immediately all smiles.

- He is very ticklish (but really, what baby isn't, right?).

- He takes 3 naps a day. His morning and afternoon naps are usually around 2.5-3 hours, and his evening nap is about 1 hour.

- He sleeps roughly 11-13 hours at night. All 3 boys now to go bed at the same time: 7:30/8pm, which makes the evening time with Dave so much more relaxing.

- He discovered his hands awhile ago, but he has now figured out that it's super fun to put them in his mouth and get them all nice and slobbery.

- He continues to be a very good baby. Evenings are usually a little fussier than the rest of the day, but he is still a very good natured little guy.

Swings

2012-02-06T07:33:00.000-06:00

I put Crew on the swing at my parent's house last week for the first time. He seemed a little indifferent, but William and Hudson sure had fun!

My Baby is SIX!

2012-02-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

It's happened in a flash...just like I was warned when he was born. William turned 6 yesterday, and I'm still in denial. After he got up he said to me, "mommy, now that I'm 6, I'm going to start acting like an adult." Sure, whatever. He also proceeded to tell me "don't worry mommy, I'll always be your baby. I'll always give you hugs, kisses, and cuddles, even when I'm an adult." I have to document him saying this, as I'm sure in a few short years he will start to heavily resist!

Around here, birthdays are a big deal. It's the one day in the year that each person get "their" day. Every meal is their choice, and we just like to celebrate!

I got everything read the night before:

which was fun, because it was the first thing he saw when he got up:

We let him open 2 of his gifts before school. First, an animal encyclopedia from my sister:

then, a Connect 4 game from Hudson:

He wanted donuts for breakfast, so Dave went and got everyone donuts before they got up...and it was especially a fun morning because he went into work late. Normally, he leaves so early that the kids don't get to see him in the mornings.

When it was time to pick William up from school, I left these 2 guys with Mimi:

and I picked up William and his friend, Lilly, to have a fun afternoon together...getting Starbucks and new binoculars (and William was so sweet, he wanted to get Hudson some binoculars too!)

His dinner of choice was tomato soup from Panera (go figure). I had told him I would make him anything he wanted, or we could go to any restaurant he wanted. We went to dinner with my mom and Aunt Ami and Uncle Jeremy. And then we followed it by coming home for a few more presents!

a cool helicopter/book from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Ami:

a new Rokenbok power sweeper from Grandma and Grandpa:

oh, and a quick birthday call from Uncle Garrett:

not pictured: sidewalk chalk, a magic set from Aunt Tasha, a boomerang from Aunt Tasha, a zoo membership from Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige, a new video game, and birthday calls from Grandma, Papa, Keira and Emery, and FaceTime with Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige.

And of course, what's a birthday celebration without CAKE?!?!

Ahead of the game

2012-01-30T14:20:00.001-06:00

One of the things I love about William's school is that he doesn't have school on Fridays. This gives us 1 day during the week that we get to have fun together, just me and the boys. This past Friday we decided to have a crafty morning.

The boys got a jump start on their valentines for their school friends. Not exactly "high quality" work here, but they had a blast!

the brothers

2012-01-26T22:00:00.001-06:00

There's nothing sweeter than 3 boys loving on each other...

until someone gets tired...

(poor baby gets man-handled by his brothers!)

the munchkin

2012-01-24T14:45:00.001-06:00

Ok, all you baby stalkers (you know who you are)... here are some new pics of "Crew boy" (that's what my dad calls him). And while you looking, make a comment...

I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of this little munchkin!

Photo Compilation

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

It's been several weeks since I've unloaded pictures from my iPhone. As I was doing an update, I realized that I have several treasures!

I love this shadow pic of all 5 of us. The only problem is that you can't see Crew who is
safely tucked away in my sling.

it was a BEAUTIFUL day on Hudson's birthday, December 31

everyone loves morning cuddles with Crew!

We went to the zoo when Trent and Paige were here. They bought the boys each a year-long
membership for their birthdays. It's the gift that keeps on giving!!

Dave was on "daddy duty" while I was teaching piano lessons...

Crew was thoroughly enjoying a quiet house when my parents took William and Hudson
to Oklahoma for a few days.

I think Crew is about to be done with swaddling, don't you think?

We bought Crew an exersaucer the other day, and he's LOVING it! He's still a little wobbly, but
if his arms are propped up in front of him he's usually safe. His feet don't touch the ground yet,
but he doesn't seem to mind.

William LOVES to draw. He drew this the other day, and he was just SURE daddy and
Aunt Tasha would love it. (We're still working on the cheesy grin...)

33?!

2012-01-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

It is still very strange to me and Dave and I are in our 30's (Dave is ahead of me by TWO years). Besides the fact that we have 3 kids, I still think of ourselves as just out of college.

We had a low-key birthday celebration. Dave requested pulled pork, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and key lime pie for dinner. No problem. I whipped up 3 Pioneer Woman recipes, and she did not disappoint. I also got him his favorite beer, New Castle.

not pictured: super yummy Key Lime pie!

some new Old Friend slippers from my sister. If you've
been to our house this winter you know how
desperately he needs these!

he'd really been wanting the new Tiger Woods golf for
the Wii. It now includes August National, which I'm told is
exciting because it's the first time it's "out there" to be played
on video games. Yeehaw. Where's Nick when I need him (MOLLY!)?

my personal favorite from me and the kids: Coldplay tickets!!
I got the tickets to go with Tasha and Christian in June,
and I have no doubt it'll be a BLAST!

Captivated by the lights!

2012-01-16T07:08:00.002-06:00

Crew loves the playgym! He will stare and stare at the musical, light-up star practically endlessly. He hasn't started "batting" at the toys, but he's definitely noticed that they're there.

I call this look the "blue steel", but Dave calls it the "magnum." If you don't get it, you really need to watch Zoolander!

Racing

2012-01-15T08:57:00.000-06:00

I sat down on the couch to feed Crew the other day, and I looked behind me to find this:

Apparently, they were racing. Looks like Lightning McQueen was in the lead...

A Few new Tricks

2012-01-14T10:08:00.001-06:00

Crew has discovered a few new things this week (well, in recent weeks). He loves his tongue! He will almost always copy us when we stick our tongue out, and he thinks it's so funny.

Also in the last week he has discovered his hands. It was so funny because one day he grabbed his hands together, and then looked at them like "oh my, look at these things attached to me!" He'll just stare and stare at them. (You would think on our 3rd go-around with babies, it wouldn't be newsworthy to me, but it's just as exciting as it was with William and Hudson)

Crew has been really good with holding his head up lately. Sometimes he's still a little "bobble-head-ish," but he's gotten quite stable. So, yesterday we tried out the Bumbo. Yep, he was ready! He loved being able to sit up and watch his brothers play.

I just love his "Crew" shirt, and it's finally not looking like a dress, although it's still a little too big. William was so excited that Crew was wearing it yesterday, so he immediately put his on. Hudson didn't want any part of the matching, as this shirt isn't "cool" enough for him.

4th Birthday Party!

2012-01-09T22:38:00.000-06:00

Hudson had his first "friends" birthday party last night. We had it at The Little Gym, and it was a BLAST! We had 18 kids there, and I think every single one of them ran themselves ragged.

We came home, and Hudson opened all his gifts before bed. He really didn't need anything new with just having had Christmas and gifts from family. But, 1)he's never had a friend party before this year, so I wanted him to have fun with the whole friend party experience and 2)I don't want to punish him for having a birthday right around the holidays!

He made out like a bandit too! He got some awesome gifts: Legos, Transformers, Trucks, Coloring books, Puzzles, Books, and Cars 2 paraphenalia.

I guess that's the end of celebration Hudson's 4th.

Hudson, Crew and I celebrated Aunt Ami's birthday today with her. Hudson picked out her birthday gift (it was a hit!), and we treated her to lunch at Mi Cocina. Next up: Dave (13th), Uncle Trent (22nd), William (Feb 1), Mimi (Feb 17), and Emery and Aunt Paige (Feb 26). There's a light at the end of the birthday season tunnel!

The best burger?

2012-01-08T22:22:00.001-06:00

We have had a long standing debate with some of our friends about where to get the best burger around here. We have several "fast-casual" hamburger joints that we like to frequent. These are not fast food, but not sit-down-order-with-a-waiter restaurant. There are 4 places that we all argue about what's best. We finally decided to put it to the test. We got 5 couples, and we decided to hit all 4 places in one night. Last night was that night.

Dave and another guy were super hungry, so they decided they'd split a burger at each place. The remaining 8 of us would split 2 burgers at each place, which would end in each of us eating 1 full burger by the end of the evening. We told each restaurant when we ordered what exactly we were doing so that they could have the opportunity to be on their A-game.

Each restaurant had 4 categories that we rated (Burger: bun, toppings, and meat. Fries. Atmosphere/Service. Overall Experience), with each getting rated 1 to 5. Each restaurant could get a total of 300 points. The best a burger could get would be 150.

This was our first stop for the evening. It was good, I have to say. The burger was good, but the bun was the highlight for most of us. It was buttered and toasted, which really made a huge difference.

The burger had 3 categories to judge: bun, toppings, and meat. I felt like the meat was a little dry...too well done, and not a whole lot of seasonings.

The fries were a big part of the evaluation. Chapps did not impress me with their fries. They were crispy enough, and they were fresh...but too many of the fries had the skins on them. I felt like they were the "bottom of the barrel."

Burger score: 116

Overall Chapps score: 243

Our next stop was Mooyah

The bun stole the show here. It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. They cook their buns on-site, and they're amazing. I will admit that it would have been even better if they'd buttered and toasted it, but it was still amazing nonetheless. The meat was fantastic. It was slightly pink in the middle, and the flavor/seasoning was scrumptious.

The fries were also good. The nice thing about the fries at this place is that we ordered 1 large fry and it was enough for all 10 of us. It's great value, and they are super yummy.

Burger score: 118

Overall score: 229

Stop number 3 was Five Guys

The burger here was good, but I have to say that the bun was not good. It was WAY too small for the meat/toppings. This made for messy burger, which isn't gonna get high ratings.

The fries were fantastic...pretty comparable to the fries at Mooyah.

All 10 of us!

Burger score: 114

Overall score: 232

Our 4th and final stop was Kincaids, a Fort Worth original

The meat was decent, the bun was despicable, and the toppings were average.

The fries were on par with fast food.

It's kind of unfortunate because we all really wanted Kincaids to win. It's a fun place with picnic style seating, it's local and fantastic service. It just didn't cut it this time. My friend Jason enthusiastically noted: "It's like a picnic in here!" To which Kyle replied: "Like a picnic with a crappy burger." That about sums it up.

Burger score: 89

Overall score: 179

So, while Chapps won the overall competition with 243 (5 Guys: 232, Mooyah: 229, Kincaids: 179), Mooyah won best burger with 118 (Chapps: 116, 5 Guys: 114, Kincaids: 89)

One comment was: "If you put a Mooyah bun on a 5 Guys burger, you've got yourself a winner."

We ended the evening back at my house with some Pioneer Woman's Milky Way cake (YUM, by the way). It was so much fun!!! We're looking forward to our next evaluation: pizza!

ALL boy

2012-01-07T10:47:00.000-06:00

My parents got back from Europe on Wednesday evening, and they decided to take the big boys to Oklahoma for 2 days. My dad needed to get a bit of work done before they leave for Brazil next week, so my mom thought it would be fun to get to spend some concentrated time with the boys and give me a little break at the same time. So, they left Thursday evening (another benefit of having William at a school that doesn't have school on Friday!), and they'll be back later tonight.

Yesterday afternoon they spent the afternoon with Papa at the leases. They LOVE getting to explore out there, and I can totally relate. I loved going with him when I was a kid, and they had a blast at the same exact spots...

3 months

2012-01-04T15:42:00.002-06:00

Today Crew is 3 months old! Time is flying by...

We don't go to the pediatrician for a 3 month checkup, so weight/height stats will have to wait until next month.

A few things he's up to lately:

- He's a pretty happy baby, which is a nice relief coming from my last experience (Hudson). He cries when it's time to eat or when he's ready for bed. He'll sometimes cry when he wants attention also, particularly if the boys are around. He loves to get attention from his big brothers!

- He smiles A LOT, and it never gets old. I like to think (since I have zero experience) that getting a smile from a baby is like getting a drug high. I love it. We're getting giggles too lately, which is also super fun

- He eats 4 times a day, goes to bed around 9pm and gets up between 7/8am. He's been sleeping on this schedule for several weeks now, which I'm loving. William and Hudson started sleeping through the night around 10 weeks (Crew was about 7 weeks), but they didn't start sleeping 11 hours until they were about 4 months old.
- He still wears size 1 diapers, but we're on our last pack...so, when these are out, we'll move on to size 2
- He can still wear most of his 0-3 month clothes, but the ones with "feet" are cramping his little toes. So, I think we'll start slowly transitioning to 3-6 (which makes me sad because I LOVE some of his little outfits!!)

- He is becoming a champ at sleeping in his carrier. With school, activities, holidays, etc, he just doesn't always get the opportunity to nap in his bed. It seems like we're always on the go. I have a feeling Crew is going to be our flexible child!

So far, the transition to #3 is continuing to be a breeze. I'm loving have 3 boys, even though I never thought I'd be able to say that. It's a good thing God knows more than I do about what I need!

Crew's Covenant Baptism

2012-01-03T14:04:00.001-06:00

What a way to start 2012!

While Dave's parents were here, we wanted to have Bill baptize Crew (since he's ordained). It was even more special because he also baptized William and Hudson. The only sad part of the day was that my parents weren't there to celebrate with us. Of course, they were there in spirit. Trent and Paige (and Paige's mom and 2 sisters) as well as Jeremy and Ami were there with us, so we had quite a "crew" at church on Sunday!

Our elder, Doug, asking us questions about our commitment in raising Crew:

Bill talking about the promises of generation to generation (which is why Dave's mom is up there. My parents would have been up there as well, if they'd been in town):

How great is it to see 3 generations of Dennison men here??

Hudson was very fascinated, and he actually got himself a few extra sprinkles. :-)

4!

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001-06:00

I simply cannot believe that my little guy is 4 years old. It's been a marvelous 4 years, and I look forward to (Lord-willing) many more years with my sweet, tender hearted little guy. He has promised me that he will not turn 5...he'll stay 4 forever. I looking forward to having a 4 year old around for a long, long time.

We had a great day! We started out the day by having homemade cinnamon rolls (thank you, Pioneer Woman!) and fresh pineapple with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige. We followed breakfast by opening lots and lots of gifts!

We spent the day pretty much exclusively outside. It was a PERFECT day. We played with the new scooter, played sports, went to the park, built a new tent, played with race cars, etc.

We went for an early dinner with Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige, Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Ami, and Paige's mom and 2 sisters, Hannah and Lydia. It was quite a party! We followed dinner with a yummy Cars 2 cake.

The kids were in bed by 9:30, after a LONG day. Then the adults finished off 2011 with some Settlers of Catan, Puppy Chow, and Caipirinhas. It was a great birthday and New Years Eve!

Texas!

2011-12-30T12:43:00.001-06:00

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I am not a fan of cold weather. I'd be perfectly happy if I never had to wear covered shoes or a coat again. Sure, there's something cozy about a cold day and a fire...and I do love snow skiing. But, generally speaking, I just don't like the cold, especially now that I have kids. It's just a pain in the rear to get socks, shoes, jackets, hats, etc all on the kids and then load them up for wherever we're going. I love summer-- throw in the flip flops and out the door we go.

It doesn't get super cold down here, although we do have some ice/snow every year. It's been fairly cold lately-- mid-40s. But yesterday and today (and supposedly tomorrow), it's been GORGEOUS! Yesterday the boys spent nearly all afternoon outside, William on his skates and Hudson with his scooter and playing sports.

Hanging out ON the Christmas tree....

Grandpa had to try out the scooter

I went for a run this morning, and it was such a perfect day for a run. And now the boys have been outside playing in the sandbox

THIS is why I love living in Texas. Dave and his dad picked a perfect day for golf. And it's a good thing I got a pedicure yesterday...the flip flops are coming out!

Grandma and Grandpa

2011-12-29T10:46:00.002-06:00

Dave's parents are here for the week, and the boys couldn't be happier!

new stuff

2011-12-27T22:14:00.002-06:00

The boys have been having a fantastic time with all their new things. Here are a few of their favorites:

Hudson is currently obsessed with Cars, so we got him a Cars 2 car launcher.
He's a big fan.

William BEGGED for roller skates, and he has since
been living in them. He's slowly getting a bit more stable...
But, it's provided me with hours of good laughs.

These are probably the biggest hit of the year: Rokenboks. I got them for William,
but really it's good for both of them (and us adults are also fighting for turns). If your
kids are into construction/remote controls/building, I highly recommend investing in these!

Not pictured, but getting lots of good play time: a totally awesome fold out wooden pirate ship, new MobiGo video games, Garnet Hill shark and rocket slippers, and a few DVDs.

Day 25: Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T09:24:00.002-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas morning/day/evening. Thankfully, the kids didn't get up at the crack of dawn like I anticipated they might. The kids (and adults) loved all their gifts, and it was a fun time seeing the excitement in their eyes. We followed all the gifting with a big, huge yummy breakfast.

Hudson's big gift was a pirate ship. It was a bit hit!

We got William a set of Rokenboks.

Crew had a fantastic time taking in the sights/sounds of the morning.
He was a perfect little baby.

We all got Dave's mom a new camera. We're crossing our fingers that it will
actually get used. Ha!

Toys from his cousin Zoe. He's a fan.

Trying to get a good picture of all 5 of us is becoming quite the challenge!

playing with pirates while daddy works on the ship. They are pretending that
Hudson's shark slippers are attacking the pirates!

Hard at work...

Then, we headed off to church and returned to find a houseful of fun waiting for us.

We all had a very blessed day.

Day 24: Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T21:03:00.002-06:00

Matching jammies, and The Night Before Christmas. Crew was enamored!

Day 23: Christmas breakfast!

2011-12-24T20:58:00.001-06:00

We went to some friends' house for Christmas breakfast fun yesterday. It was so fun to decorate ornaments, eat lots of food, and have an ornament exchange. William and Hudson were in heaven amongst a houseful of girls!

Day 22: the little guy and me

2011-12-22T17:16:00.001-06:00

Photos courtesy of William:

William said, "mommy, make a super silly face!"

Day 21: Santa

2011-12-21T22:14:00.000-06:00

I took the boys to see Santa today. They were pretty excited about seeing him and letting him know what they'd like for Christmas (they BOTH told him things that they hadn't told me...they're going to be disappointed!) Hudson got a little nervous when it was about to be our turn, but when I told him that I needed him to help out with Crew, he stepped up to the plate.

I tried to convince the boys to wear their Christmas clothes, but it just wasn't worth the fight. I pulled that card yesterday for a Christmas get-together, so I knew it was pushing my luck to ask for 2 days in a row. :-) Oh well, Santa didn't mind!

Day 20: Buzz and friends

2011-12-21T08:24:00.001-06:00

It was nap time yesterday, and I was looking for Hudson so that I could read to him and tuck him in.

I walked in the toy room, then in the toy closet, and this is what I found:

He was just sitting on the floor amidst all the stuffed animals, working on Buzz's wings.

Day 19: a rainy day

2011-12-19T16:56:00.001-06:00

So, what do we do on a dreary, rainy day? Well, for starters, the big kids slept in until 10 (William) and 11 (Hudson)!!! How crazy is that???

We hit up McDonalds with a bunch of friends for an impromptu lunch. We were supposed to have breakfast at a friends' house, but one of her kids ended up with a fever so we had to cancel last-minute. I knew I needed something fun for the boys since they were going to be so disappointed about breakfast plans falling through.

After lunch, we played checkers, legos, superheros, and then this:

Angry Birds is just as fun as a board game as it is on the iPhone!

Now, it's time for a "mommy break" and some Wild Kratts. And on this yucky day, soup is for dinner!

Day 18: the Michael Jackson Experience

2011-12-19T00:00:00.002-06:00

We had some friends over tonight for breakfast for dinner, and afterwards we decided to bust out some MJ. We let the kids play for the first time, and they loved it. William and Hudson both actually did pretty well (I mean, they didn't come close to beating my scores, but for first timers, they were decent!)

"Dirty Diana" (yep, we let our kids dance to Dirty Diana)

Naomi thoroughly enjoyed watching all the MJ dancing

"Thriller"

Day 17: Who says play gyms are just for babies?

2011-12-17T09:17:00.001-06:00

In the last 2 weeks or so, Crew has really started liking his play gym. All 3 of my babies have loved this, and it's still just as entertaining as ever (except the musical light-up star is on the fritz).

(again, I apologize for the poor quality iPhone pic...I quickly switched to my "real" camera)

Always eager to give baby brother some kisses!

I managed to snap him mid-sneeze! Ha!

Day 16: "Uncle" Garrett

2011-12-17T00:14:00.001-06:00

We don't like the fact that Garrett has moved away from us. I guess it's for a good cause...finishing his degree and all. So, when he comes back to visit, it's always fun. He was here for a quick visit today, just passing through on his way to Stillwater for our other cousins' college graduation.

But, the boys took advantage of having him around for a short time...doing what they do together: watching superhero movies on YouTube. (sorry for the poor quality iPhone pic.)

Day 15: Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-15T21:23:00.003-06:00

Last Year the boys were much more 'messy' with their houses. This year, at our 3rd annual Gingerbread House decorating party, the boys were much more meticulous with their houses.

It was a fun time, as can be expected when my friend Cindy is hosting!

Much candy was consumed!

Look at all those kids...and all that candy!!!

Day 14: morning lovin'

2011-12-14T09:34:00.000-06:00

We are usually scrambling around in the mornings trying to get everyone/everything ready to leave for school. Thankfully, school doesn't start until 9:15, but it seems that no matter what time we have to leave, we are always running late! There are exceptions (like last week when the boys got to Skype with their cousins), and today we had a small window.

These guys just LOVE their baby brother. Crew looks a little skeptical about
what they're doing to him!

When the boys are around, Crew is always trying to arch his head around so
that he can get a good look at them! This is what he's doing here: trying
to get a good look at William.

Crew really does love Hudson, and I promise Hudson
isn't torturing him! This was at the end of about 5 minutes of
getting tossed from brother to brother...Crew was OVER it!

My friend, Jen, usually takes William to school on Wednesdays since she's already taking one of her girls. It makes it so nice to have a day that we don't have to get all of us ready and out the door so rushed. So Hudson, Crew and I get to stay in our jammies a little bit longer than normal. It was particularly nice this morning since it's so rainy out!

Day 13: Baby Jesus

2011-12-13T17:11:00.001-06:00

This afternoon was William's school Christmas play. William was one of the wise men (purple 'headdress'), and he did a great job. After the "play" they sang several Christmas songs, complete with motions/actions. It was so special, and we had a great time seeing all the kids perform. (His school BFF is Lilly-- the angel)

Day12: sweet toddler

2011-12-13T09:15:00.001-06:00

During last year's DDP, I posted about a sweet baby, who is no longer a little baby anymore, but still just as sweet... (and not a fan of her momma holding another baby!)

Day 11: Candlelight service

2011-12-11T21:58:00.001-06:00

Day 10: Date night!

2011-12-10T22:00:00.000-06:00

Tonight my parents volunteered to keep all 3 boys for the evening so we could go out. They're keeping the big kids for the night, but I don't think they were quite ready for Crew for the night.

It was so nice to go to a nice restaurant, not have to cut up the kids' food, take away cutlery, clean up spilled drinks, snarf down food, etc...

Day 9: cookie decorating with friends

2011-12-10T21:55:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we had William and Hudson's good friends, Emily and Sophie, over to decorate Christmas cookies. It. was. crazy. It's amazing how 4 small children can make such a big mess of cookies, icing, and sprinkles. But, so much fun!!

Day 8: love from afar

2011-12-08T10:44:00.001-06:00

If you read my blog last year, you might remember this.

The boys got around extra fast this morning, so we decided to have an impromptu "play date" with Keira and Emery before heading out for school. Buzz, Woody, Bullseye, and Jesse all made appearances as well...

Day 7: S'mores

2011-12-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

I have a feeling this is going to become a tradition over the next few weeks!

and Crew as a spectator:

Newborn/Brother/Family pics

2011-12-07T14:57:00.001-06:00

I am taking a brief break in the December Photo Project to share Crew's newborn pics from a while ago. I posted several a few weeks ago, but those were just "preview" shots. I got the remainder today, and they are amazing. I would like to apologize for the onslaught of pictures you're about to be inundated with, but how in the world can I just put some of them??? My children are just too cute to keep some out.

Day 6: it's winter!

2011-12-06T15:32:00.001-06:00

I do not like to be cold. Give me 100 degrees any day over the cold. I like flip flops. I like tank tops. I hate bulky clothes and coats. But, I will admit that a nice cozy fire is nice...especially at Christmas-time!

Day 5: 2 months old!

2011-12-05T15:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was Crew's actual 2 month birthday, but since he had his 2 month well-check today, I wanted to wait so I could post his stats!

- He weighs 13lbs (50%), 23inches long (50%), and he has a 16" head (50%). I'm sure some of these %s will change-- particularly the height!! I think he probably lost about 2-3 ounces after they weighed him, as he pooped A TON as soon as I put on a fresh diaper. Typical.

- He is a happy, content baby 90% of the time. The other 10% he's letting me know that he's hungry, needs a change of position, or has gas....

- He is sleeping anywhere from 8-11 hours at night. Usually it's closer to 8/9, but last night, he went 11 hours! A lot of people say to me, "oh, you're so lucky that he's such a good sleeper." While I do recognize that some babies sleep better than others, my opinion is that sleeping through the night is a learned behavior. One of my main goals when I have babies is to get them sleeping through the night. Mama loves her sleep! It doesn't come easy...there's crying (from both of us)...there's waking (I believe in waking him up during the day, so that he has a full belly to go to bed on)... eventually, there's sleeping!

- He smiles, but mostly it's just at mommy. Daddy and Mimi have gotten a few out of him, but he's stingy with them. William and Hudson have also gotten a few.

- He LOVES his brothers (and they adore him). When I'm holding him, if William or Hudson come in the room, he will turn his head towards them.

- We are all absolutely LOVING having this little man around.

This is one of the 10% unhappy moments:
"mommy, please STOP taking my picture!"

Day 4: the Three Amigos

2011-12-04T22:01:00.001-06:00

This morning we had some good cuddle time after everyone got up. It's tradition around here (as I'm sure it is in a lot of households!), that, on the weekends, one by one the kids start trickling into our bed as they get up in the mornings. This morning was no different (except, I had to go get Crew from his bed to join in the fun!)

Day 3: Spooner Board

2011-12-03T08:40:00.002-06:00

This is a Spooner Board. I have never heard of them, but apparently they are a hot item nowadays! My mom bought this the other day, and the boys are having a blast figuring it out.

Day 2: the big kids

2011-12-02T11:07:00.001-06:00

These guys fight a lot, and it stresses me out to no end. But, they also love each other very very much. This was a REAL hug.

Day 1: Trimming the Tree

2011-12-01T22:14:00.001-06:00

Dave, William and Hudson hanging the ornaments, while
Crew looks on!

They only let me hang a few!

December Photo Project

2011-12-01T22:09:00.003-06:00

I participated in this last year, and I had so much fun... so here we go for round #2!

Monkey

2011-11-30T07:46:00.002-06:00

We put up a pull-up bar upstairs a couple of weeks ago, as I'm preparing to start P90X (although, I can't seem to find time to do it!!! UGH.)

I caught this guy being a total monkey:

(that's William, in case you can't tell.
He totally shimmied his way up the door frame!)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T14:53:00.002-06:00

Dave was able to take the whole week off of work last week for Thanksgiving. It was like the perfect balance of quiet laid back, just the 5 of us along with fun, busy, lots of family. We spent the first half of the week here in Texas, and then on Tuesday afternoon we headed to Oklahoma. William and Hudson couldn't get there fast enough.

The "men" (my dad, Dave, Garrett, William, and Hudson) spent most of the day Wednesday at the oilfield, and then went fishing on my dad's new boat. The boys have been so excited to actually fish on an actual boat, but as luck would have it, they didn't catch a single thing. That's ok because apparently they had more fun playing with the minnows than actually trying to catch a fish. And because I wasn't there to document the fun they had, there's nothing to "show" for their adventures...

Thursday was spent playing outside (before we headed to my aunt's house for dinner).

When we were kids my dad built us a really cool playhouse (we have always called it the treehouse, but Dave says we can't call it that because it's not technically in a tree). Anyway, it's always been to the side of the house. The kids love it, but they didn't play in it a whole lot because they couldn't see us. So, we've been asking my dad for quite some time if he'd move it to the front so we could watch them from the deck/living room. Well, Thursday he, Garrett, and Dave tackled the job.

He had to lift it up a smudge so that he could cut the wood that was in the ground.

They put super long boards under it so that he could drag it on the ground.
Essentially, the playhouse was going to "ski" to it's new location

Here it is in it's new spot!

A very happy customer!

This is the view of the house from the playhouse. Perfect!!

When the guys got back from their adventures on Wednesday, they had some leftover minnows that they were going to use to fish in the pond at my parents' house on Thursday. When we got up on Thursday, the minnows had all died (no idea why!). Hudson decided to take it upon himself to get a few as "pets", even though they were dead. He carried those nasty dead minnows around for a good 3 hours. It was disgusting, but he was having so much fun with them.

While his brothers were exploring the wild outdoors, Crew was enjoying the peace, quiet, and warmth of the indoors!

Word.

I just love his little turkey butt!

We spent Thanksgiving dinner with the Shockley family (my mom's family). It was a delicious meal (as always), and a fun time with family. Crew got to meet lots of new family members. Friday my Aunt Trish came up from Tulsa to visit and to meet Crew, and then we had lunch in Norman with my Aunt Ruth and her family.

We came back Saturday evening, which was nice. We had all day yesterday to recuperate and relax. Now, back to real life!!

a well-dressed little man

2011-11-21T14:56:00.001-06:00

One of my main complaints about having a boy is that it is so hard to find cute clothes!! Having said that, I will say that it's easier this time around than it was when William was born. Or maybe I just know where to look. We haven't been fortunate enough to be the recipients of gobs of awesome hand-me-downs, so it's been up to me (and my 'team') to find good stuff.

When I was pregnant with Crew, I knew I wasn't going to have to buy much since I already have a house full of boy clothes. But, I wanted to get him a few things...plus, who doesn't love shopping for teeny tiny clothes???

Following is one of my favorite outfits that little baby Crew is currently wearing.

You've probably seen him sporting this outfit in other posts, but I'd like to dedicate this particular post to this outfit (and of course, the cute little man wearing it)

Papa's boy

2011-11-15T10:51:00.000-06:00

It looks like we're going to have another Papa's boy...

He has no idea how spoiled he is going to be, with all the toys/playground in their backyard, all the fishing trips he'll get to go on, all the truck/tractor driving up in Oklahoma, and just general spoiling that goes on when the grandkids are with Papa!

Newborn session

2011-11-14T13:11:00.000-06:00

When Crew was 2 weeks old, we had his newborn pics done. Last week we got our "preview" pics from the photographer, and I couldn't be happier! We will have to wait a few more weeks to get the rest of them, but she wanted to get me a good selection since she knew I wanted to get out a birth announcement.

Here are a few of my favorites (I'm not going to put the "chosen" birth announcement pic, because I want that to be a surprise!):

I'll be sure to post the rest of them in a few weeks once I get them!

My Knight in Shining Armor

2011-11-13T21:52:00.000-06:00

This little outfit is one of my personal faces. I love that it's such a dark color, which is hard to find in baby clothes! My sister got this for Hudson when he was born, and it still looks brand new! It has little knights on horses, if your can't tell. I'm lovin' this little man!

who doesn't love a cute little baby's butt?

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-09T14:08:00.001-06:00

This is a little late, but the day the Tracys left we decided to hit the pumpkin patch. It's a good thing we did because their last day is Oct 31, which I didn't know about. I assumed it would be open until Thanksgiving.

Is it possible to get 5 kids under the age of 6 to look and smile at the camera, all at the same time?
Of course not!

We can't wait for them to move back!!!

getting ready for Crew's very first hay ride

I wasn't going to make him do this, but Dave and Tasha insisted that
since it was indeed his first pumpkin patch experience,
I had to subject him to the torture. Poor kid.

And because I've started the trend of comparing all 3 kids in varying outfits/positions/circumstances, I may as well keep it up.

William's first pumpkin patch: 8.5 months

Hudson's first pumpkin patch: 9.5 months

More Family!

2011-11-08T10:46:00.000-06:00

We had an exciting extended weekend...this time with Dave's side of the family. Dave's mom came to visit us and to meet Crew for the first time. It was a very special time, and of course, William and Hudson had endless amounts of fun making cookies, playing games, helping with dinner, working puzzles, and being spoiled rotten! Of course, I had my share of spoiling as well, which I definitely won't be complaining about.

While this wasn't Aunt Ami and Uncle Jeremy's first time to meet Crew, it was their first photo op:

Next up: Crew gets to meet more Hudson/Shockley family members at Thanksgiving and then Grandpa Dennison at Christmas...

1 month old!

2011-11-07T10:45:00.000-06:00

This month has gone by so fast, not surprisingly! We are growing more and more in love with him every day. His 1 month dr appointment isn't until this Friday, so I don't have any "official" stats, but I weighed him on Friday (his actual 'birthday') and the scales said 10.5lbs. If that's the case, he's growing much slower than the others, only gaining 1lb 11oz since birth. I'll update with the "real" results on Friday.

But seriously, how cute is this little butterball???

He's OVER the photo shoot!

For comparison purposes, here are the other 2 on their 1 month birthdays:

William. 9lb 11oz at 1 month (2lb 4oz gained since birth)

Hudson. 10.5lbs at 1 month (2lb 13oz gained since birth)

Never Fear!

2011-11-06T15:01:00.000-06:00

It's good to know we are safe here in the Dennison household:

In case you can't see it, Crew is on "monster patrol" :-)

William and Hudson were also on patrol when they were babies...

Brothers!

2011-11-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

The newness of having a baby around has definitely not worn off for William and Hudson. While it is sweet 99% of the time, it does wear me out occasionally. They constantly want to hug, kiss, and hold him. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it's just not feasible (like, when I'm feeding him or when he's sleeping or when we're driving in the car or when he's crying...you get the point).

But, when they do get the chance to love on him, it's super duper sweet.

Each time they hold him or cuddle him, I can't help but think of the line from Tommy Boy: "Brothers don't shake hands. Brothers gotta HUG." That's William and Hudson's mantra-- the more hugs and kisses, the better!

Jungle babies

2011-11-04T19:43:00.001-05:00

William, 17 days old:

Hudson, 6 weeks old:

Crew, 4 weeks:

You decide. You think they look alike?

Storytime with Uncle Trent

2011-11-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

One of the nice things about having my brother and sister in law stay with us while they were here, was that it made the usual morning hectic-ness a little bit more sane. I managed to not have to drag all 3 kids to school every day, which was super nice. Either Paige would do school drop offs and I would stay with the non-school kid(s) or vise versa. When William had his choice, he 100% of the time chose Aunt Paige. Go figure...

One morning while Paige was taking William to school, Hudson and Crew took advantage of having Uncle Trent at their disposal:

clearly, Crew is uninterested in the Clown of God, but thoroughly enjoying the cuddle time

What precious memories!

31 and counting

2011-11-02T08:04:00.001-05:00

Sunday was my 31st birthday.... If you compare it to last year (click here to read about it), it was pretty anticlimactic! But I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. We had just come down from 2 weeks of family in town, so it was nice to have a low-key day.

Of course, my boys treated me like a princess. Dave made me delicious blueberry pancakes (which was a real labor of love for him because 1)he doesn't cook and 2)he doesn't like pancakes, but he knows I do!)

Dave got me a dress that I had been drooling over that one of my BFFs was sporting on her blog. William had Dave take him to the store on Saturday to get this:

he picked out the flowers and the little balloon all by himself. So sweet!

My friend Jen and I got pedicures in the afternoon. And then I got the spend the evening with just the 5 of us. It was very low key, but I couldn't have asked for anything better! (Oh, and all of this doesn't even account for the loot I got from my family: a new fixed lens for the Nikon, fancy new shoes and an awesome shirt from England, 2 yummy looking cookbooks, and even an homemade gift!)

Trick or Treat 2011

2011-11-01T10:40:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic time with our friends for our 3rd annual Trick or Treat-fest! This year, our friends the Smiths hosted since we've been a little busy with the new baby, company, etc... But, we were still in the same neighborhood, but just on the other side of the street. As always, it was SO FUN...and the kids got lots and lots of candy. (Side note: not sure it's good that both boys are in school today, and that candy is sitting unattended...)

William and Gracie were so excited to be matching skelatons!

All the trick or treat kiddos!

The kids literally SPRINTED from house to house for nearly a solid hour. No time to waste!

Digging into the loot

In case you're wondering, YES, that is a sweaty head. The kid wore his batman cape the whole time he was running to get candy. His head was totally drenched at the end of the evening.

Crew had a fabulous time at home with Mimi while his brothers were wreaking havoc in the neighborhood

It was another successful year of trick or treating! Here's hoping Hudson picks a different costume for next year since this is year #2 for being Batman! The good news: I didn't spend a penny on costumes this year!

The need for Speed

2011-10-31T13:28:00.000-05:00

While my family was in town, we took an evening and headed out to the go kart track from some racing. It was really fun (even though the race track was pretty lame...oh well, it was a cheapo groupon!).

Uncle Trent and Keira

Even my grandma go in on the action!

Me and Hudson. I'm pretty sure we smoked everyone...

Tball and cute baby

2011-10-27T10:25:00.001-05:00

William was super excited to have Emery and Keira at his game on Saturday...maybe a little too excited since it doesn't look like he was paying attention to the game!!

I love this handsome guy!

And what's a blogpost these days without pictures of this cute little man???:

How awesome are his lips???

I realize that these are all very similar, but I couldn't pick just one!!!

Early Thanksgiving

2011-10-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we celebrated an early Thanksgiving. Since we were all together, and we won't be again for who knows how long, we decided to celebrate! My dad went up to Oklahoma to get my Grandma so that we could spend time with her, and plus she's been dying to meet Crew.

My grandma and her 11th great-grandbaby

4 Generations!

at 87 years old, she's still as silly as ever!

Thanksgiving dinner

YUMMY!

I'm sure we'll still celebrate Thanksgiving at the "proper" time, but who says we can't be thankful multiple times?

Rahr!

2011-10-23T10:22:00.000-05:00

I found out recently that we have a brewery nearby! The Rahr brewery is downtown Fort Worth, and on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons you can go for a tour/tasting. So, we headed out with the whole clan on Wednesday. It was so fun...and YUMMY beer.

No, my dad didn't just have his wisdom teeth pulled...I caught him mid-chew!

Reunions and Introductions

2011-10-19T20:58:00.001-05:00

My sister (Tasha) and my nieces (Keira and Emery) arrived last Friday! The boys (and me too) were so excited to see them, but we were particularly excited to introduce them to the newest member of the family. Before we headed into the airport, Papa got a quick chance to hold baby Crew for the first time. My dad wasn't feeling great when he was first born, so he didn't want to hold him until he felt better.

Papa and his boys!

Then we headed into the airport just in time to greet the girls!

We headed to my parents house, and the girls were very excited to get to hold their new baby cousin!

Getting some good lovin' from Aunt Tasha

On Saturday morning we all went to Hudson's tball game. It was a gorgeous morning!! My brother (Trent) and cousin (Garrett) had arrived late Friday night, so they got to meet Crew for the first time at Hudson's game.

"Uncle Garrett"

Uncle Trent and his newest nephew

We spent the afternoon at home, and Emery had to put on her Little House on the Prairie costume while Hudson kept on his tball jersey. How cute are they???

Late afternoon, my cousins came up from Houston for the day/night to see all of us, the Tracys, and of course, to meet baby Crew. Somehow, this is the only picture I got!! My cousin Kelly has a way with the little babies! :-)

It was such a great weekend full of precious time with family that we don't get to see very often, as well as introducing our new precious baby to lots of special people. (**Crew also met his Aunt Paige, Aunt Julie and cousins Hannah, Haley, and Gus...but I didn't get any pics!!**)

Bath Time!

2011-10-18T18:35:00.000-05:00

Crew had his very first bath last night! Well, I had given him a few "navy baths", but his umbilical cord only fell off 2 nights ago, so this was our first opportunity for his "real" bath. He was not a fan. I wasn't surprised, as William and Hudson had the same sentiments during their first baths. In fact, I think it took them a good month or 2 to get used to (and liking) the idea. I'm guessing Crew will be no different. The good thing about that is that it gets him good and awake for his last feeding of the day! (He slept the longest stretch so far after that: 5.5 hours! I'm thinking there will be bath time EVERY night)

Our good friends, DJ and Kami, gave us this ultra soft Pottery Barn Kids towel with his name on it (his first personalized item!). It's so soft, I wish it was big enough for me!!!

Little Man

2011-10-13T09:29:00.000-05:00

When we found out we were having another little guy my mom went out and bought him a few new outfits. He wore one of them the other day, and I think it's SO cute!

I LOVE little baby toes!

Rock Climbing

2011-10-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

The weekend before Crew was born, we went to the local Oktoberfest. It was really fun (albeit EXPENSIVE), and the boys got to do something they've never done before...and have wanted to do for quite some time: Rock Climbing

Where you see Hudson is about as far as he got. He was doing great, and loving it...and then he looked down. He f.r.e.a.k.e.d. It really scared him, even though he was totally secure. So, down he came. Of course, later, he was talking pretty big talk about how awesome it was and far up he got.

William did it 3 times, and each time he got a little higher. He never quite got to the top, but he did get about 5ft from the top. He won't be defeated though. He says next time he'll go all the way, and I believe that he fully intends to do so!

Photo Op

2011-10-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

One issue I'm having is that I'm still having the whole "nesting" thing that I had towards the end of my pregnancy. I'm constantly wanting to clean, organize, and pick things up. Part of it is that I know how out of control things can with a newborn and 2 crazy kids...and I want to stay on top of things! And I just feel so much better when things are at least picked up. So, this morning I decided to change the sheets on our bed. Crew was awake and happy (for the most part), so I took the opportunity to capture a few pics on the white sheets.

Ok, so he was a little irritated here....

Why does b&w make everything so much cuter?

Thoughts on 3

2011-10-09T11:08:00.001-05:00

I sort of thought, while pregnant with Crew, that once he was born, it wouldn't be a big deal since he was my third baby. Yes, I knew I'd love him. I knew he would be super special. But, I sort of thought that having your third baby would be like "old news". That couldn't be farther from how I feel! It's like he's my first... I don't think having a sweet new baby can ever get old.

When I look at this sweet baby, I wonder how in the world I ever wanted a girl. This little guy already has me smitten, and I know that I will continue to fall more in love with him.

Getting ready to go home!

YEAH! Going home!

First car ride

Sweet lovin' from Mimi

"Power to the baby!"

First 'all family' car ride. Hudson is SO excited that he gets to sit next to Crew. William is excited that he can see his face while we're driving.

Cross-eyed baby... :-)

You can never give a baby too many kisses!

I just can't get over how sweet this little guy is!!!

morning cuddles

a little baby burrito

New Life

2011-10-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

We welcomed Crew James Dennison into this world on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 5:10pm. It was a pretty smooth labor (except for the whole pain thing...), and it all went very quickly. I was admitted into the hospital at around noon (which, really was closer to 1 since I had to answer and sign 40-million questions).

For those interested in how it all went down (so, don't read on if you don't like TMI): at 3:40pm the nurse checked me and I was 5cm dilated. I had grand plans of a no-drugs delivery, but at that point, since I was only 5cm, I decided, as my dr had recommended, "not to be a hero". I went ahead with the go-ahead for the epidural. Right after that I told Dave I needed to go pee, so he helped me to the bathroom (I was strep B positive, so I was hooked up to IVs etc). After I went to the bathroom (and at this point, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart), as I was still sitting there, I told Dave that I really felt like I needed to push...and it felt good to continue to sit there. At that point, Dave marginally freaked and called the nurse. She rushed in, made me move to the bed, and she checked me again. I was already 8cm...not 10 minutes after I was 5! She shouted for the anaeseisiologist, who quickly came in with his gear. If you're familiar with the epidural process, you will know that to get one, you have to sit with your legs over the edge of the bed and curl over your back. Well, this was going to be impossible for me because as soon as I sat up I felt like I need to push with every contractions, which were 1.5minutes apart by this time. The nurse checked me again, and I was 9cm. The dr was hesitant to go ahead with the epidural because I could nearly start pushing. BUT, the baby was still pretty high up, which could take anywhere from 5-30 minutes for him to descend fully. I wasn't prepared to wait 30 minutes...without dying anyway. So, the dr proceeded with the epidural with me lying down on my side. He was good. He was fast. But, unfortunately, because I was so far along, it only marginally numbed the pain. But, by that point, I was ok with marginal numbing. As long as I wasn't having to scream out bloody murder, I was good to go.

Because I was partially numb, I wasn't having the excessive urge to push. It was there, but not uncontrollably so, like before. About that time, my mom got there (just in the nick of time!!). By 4:50 it was time to start pushing, and 20 minutes later he was born! Even though it's my third baby, it doesn't get old. It's such a miracle, and I am so very thankful for my new little guy.

After about 1 hour in the delivery room, it was time to head over to my post-partum room. My dad brought William and Hudson up, and they were waiting for us in our room there. Hudson was immediately smitten, while William was a little more shy at first. But, it didn't take long for both of them to "get" what was going on...and to show their excitement in meeting their little brother. They both kept coming up to me and saying "I love baby Crew." So sweet!

On Wednesday my mom brought Hudson up to the hospital while William was at school so that he could see the baby and spend some time with us by himself. It was a special time for him for sure! My parents took him home for a nap, and then my mom brought William up for his alone time visit while Hudson was napping. It was nice, and less nerve-racking to have them up individually!!

They all came up for dinner, and more cuddle time with the baby! William and Hudson sported their "Crew" shirts for the occasion, and Crew showed off his little bro tshirt.

William and Hudson were a little sad to leave, as they're ready for us all 5 to be home together. We are optimistic that this afternoon will be a sweet reunion for all of us as we begin this new crazy chapter in our lives!

Beautiful Weather

2011-10-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

It looks like we've finally exited summer and entered fall (well, Texas fall). It's still nice and warm (I love my flip flops and tanks!), but not so hot that we can't be outside during the daylight hours.

Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon at my parent's house with several other families, and we were outside the whole time. The kids had a blast on the zipline, swing, tire swing, and running around in the big yard!

The boys LOVE the swing (can you see Hudson crying in the background? He's mad that William got on first) Ha!

Even Dave was loving the weather! :-)

Sweet boy... (and I think he looks like my cousin Dylan in this picture)

"Super high, daddy!"

Such a goofy kid. And here, he is acting like his Uncle Trent.

Fun on the tire swing with Gracie and Mia (Hudson wouldn't go on it because he gets motion sickness VERY easily...just like his Papa)

It was such a fun, beautiful afternoon with friends and family. Maybe it will be the last "relaxing" weekend day before the baby arrives? I certainly hope so...

Fall Sports

2011-09-26T09:16:00.000-05:00

Every spring and fall we give the boys the option to play a sport. This fall they both picked tball. It's very convenient because the tball field is only about 1 mile from the house, and the games never conflict. It's a pretty small league since it's in the fall. They both had their first games on Saturday, and it was actually really fun to watch (despite the 100 degree heat!).

Hudson's league is 3/4 yr olds, and he loves it.

2nd base

William is actually playing "modified tball." Each kid gets 3 pitches from the coach, and if they can't hit it then they get to hit off the tee. Surprisingly for these 5/6 yr olds, most of them can hit when pitched to. They each get 2 "at bats" per game (so, 2 innings). William hit the first one, but his second time he used the tee.

Sweet Faces

2011-09-22T09:53:00.000-05:00

I just love these guys!

Blessings

2011-09-20T16:55:00.000-05:00

Last night I got to be one of 2 guests of honor at a baby shower. It was such a great time, with such sweet friends. I am so thankful for such an amazing church family that loves me and my crazy kids. This "go-around" they showered us with diapers. What a treat!

Jennifer and I-- the 2 preggos!

She is due 1 week before me, but I'm definitely bigger!

checking out the cake. A friend of ours from church, Aaris, made this cake! You can't see it from this far away, but there are super cute little pacifiers around the bottom, and baby booties on top! ADORABLE!

boy booties (for Crew) and girl booties (for Dorothy, Jennifer's baby girl)

the "LOOT"-- I think we're going to be set on diapers for awhile! Thankfully, I think there's only 1 or 2 packages of Newborn size, which is a good thing...this little man is packing on the lbs (or ounces...)

A special thanks to all these ladies who planned, spent money, spent time away from their families, made food, etc. One of the best gifts we received: they gave us the gift of NOT sending ANY thank you notes for all of these diapers, gift cards, and cash! With 3 kids, that is HUGE! I am so thankful for such a special group of friends.

Brotherly Love

2011-09-16T07:44:00.000-05:00

I know this is no surprise to anyone with more than 1 kid, but my boys fight. I do wonder sometimes if they fight more often than other brothers. It's not that they are necessarily physically fighting all the time, but they are at each other's throats NONstop. They fight over who's looking out the other one's window in the car, who gets to play games on which iPhone (when Dave and I indulge them to play games..), who's playing with what toy (even if the other has NO interest whatsoever in what the other one is playing), what show to watch, what plate to eat on or cup to drink from, and the list goes on... That doesn't even count all the antagonizing that goes on, also NONstop. I have tried asking them WHY they do this to each other, since it doesn't seem to go down well... I know this is no special phenomenon (as my mom frequently likes to point out), but as a parent, when you're the one going through it, it feels that way!!

There are moments of sweetness, though, like the one below.

And moments like that are what keeps me sane and realizing that there might just be hope that they (and me) will come out of this alive!

just the 2 of us

2011-09-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

This morning after we dropped William off at school, I asked Hudson what he wanted to do today. He knew we were going to Target for a few items (which meant that he'd get to explore and play with toys). He was desperate to go to Starbucks for some hot chocolate. I was going to just go through the drive thru and pick some up for him to drink while we ran errands, but he wanted to sit inside with me.

It was really fun, and we just sat for about 30 minutes chatting together. I treasure these special moments with my little guy!

The Room

2011-09-09T15:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I've finally (well, 95%) finished the baby's room. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I think Crew will grow to love it as well. :-)

I wanted to do something new, this being our 3rd boy and all. Truth be told, I needed something to get me excited about a third boy, and since I didn't have him in my arms to love on, I had to turn to decorating. And I have to say, it worked!

We bought this dresser at IKEA a couple of months ago. It game with dark grey knobs, but the colors in the room are dark blue, light blue, grey and orange, so William and I painted the knobs to match the decor. I love how it gives a nice pop of color!

It's a little crowded in there, I realize, but really, how much space does an infant need?

We were given this super nice glider with an ottoman when we found out we were pregnant, but it was pink. So, I bought this fabric, and we had it reupholstered. I just picked it up on Wednesday, and I love how it turned out. As an added bonus, it's SUPER comfy! I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of baby rockin' done in that chair (and I can't wait!!).

After MUCH thought and scouring the internet for ideas, we (ahem, I) decided to go with a robot theme. I found the bedding at Land of Nod and fell in love. It's boyish, but not too babyish. William and Hudson are also big fans.

This is the artwork above the twin bed/glider. William and Hudson drew/colored these. William did the one on the left, Hudson on the far right (I know, it's kind of hard to see), and they both contributed to the one in the middle. They both had so much fun being creative with drawing robots for the baby's room.

Hanging above/in front of the window are gears/spare parts that my dad picked up from his shop and the leases. I thought they would be super cute to hang from the ceiling to give it that 3D look and also add an element of family to the room. He will, I have no doubt, encounter these parts when he's working with Papa in the years to come! William immediately recognized the parts when he saw them, and he loves how they all look like robot parts!

This is the room from the door:

The unfinished part is I want to buy a piece of robot artwork to hang above the crib. The wall is currently blank, but hopefully it will be filled soon. I also have a bunch of bigger parts that my dad gave me, and I plan to put those on a ledge shelf somewhere in the room. But, even as it is, we love it!

Busy Busy Busy!

2011-09-06T07:27:00.001-05:00

We wanted to have big plans for Labor Day weekend, but it just didn't happen. Of course, we didn't decide we wanted to go somewhere until less than a week beforehand, so it just didn't work out. We weren't the only ones with that idea. It was a fairly low-key weekend, which was actually pretty nice. Yesterday, though, we decided to go go go.

We left bright and early at 9am for the Fort Worth Zoo. We knew it'd be packed there since it was a holiday, and we wanted to get there before the crowds did. (side note: and it was a good thing too. When we left around 12:30, people were having to park over a mile away!!). It was a BEAUTIFUL day to top it off. I don't think it got above 85 degrees, which was a nice break compared to our 20 degrees higher days from 1 week prior.

LOVE the meerkats!

Giraffes and Ostriches

Elephants

The lion was super cool this time because he gave us quite a big "roar" which terrified a few unnamed members of our party... :-)

My least favorite thing about the zoo (and course, William's favorite): feeding the birds.

Hudson managed to get this bird on his feeding stick all by himself!

Another one of the boys' favorite parts of the zoo is the MOLA (Museum of Living Art). The last animal is the Kimono Dragon, which I have to admit, is pretty amazing.

Taking a ride on the Yellow Rose Train

It was the perfect ending for a morning at the zoo!

After the zoo, we headed to a super yummy bakery/cafe called McKinleys for lunch. Afterwards, we were planning to forego afternoon naps and do some other fun outdoor activities, but Hudson was obviously in need/want of a nap. So we came home for a quick 2hr power nap.

I don't have pictures, but after the nap, we headed out to the park for some t-ball practice (the boys start in a few weeks), kite flying, and playground playing. It was a blast! We came home, ate some leftovers for dinner and headed out again.

Our last stop for the day was Putt Putt with Mimi and Papa.

After we finished our "round" the boys wanted to ride the go-carts. Normally, this is MY thing, but Dave wasn't sure I should ride. So, Dave and Papa rode with the boys. You would have thought they were driving the real thing. It was really fun to watch!

Dave and William

Papa and Hudson

It was such a fun day-- 12 hours of pure activity (with a small nap thrown in for good measure)! I will say that I'm paying for it today. I plan to put my feet up a bit while the boys are at school.

What's in a Name?

2011-09-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

When we were pregnant with William, and we found out he was going to be a boy, we knew immediately what his name would be.

William David Dennison III.

Dave's dad is the first, and he goes by Bill. Dave, of course, is the 2nd, and he goes by his middle name, Dave. We decided from the start that he was going to be William. Not Will. Not Willy. Not Billy. Not Trey (a common nickname for a 3rd). I was going to be "that mom" that corrected people when they shortened his name, or nicknamed him. For some reason, I really wanted him to be called William. I don't know if I would have ever picked those names, had I randomly chosen his name from a book. But, I LOVE the tradition, and the legacy that it brings. And now, he could not be anyone other than William.

So, when we were pregnant with #2, and we found out that he was going to be a boy, we were pretty sure we know what the name was going to be. But, since we didn't have the whole "name book" experience with #1, we at least gave lip service to looking around at random names. But, within a short time, we knew that his name had to be Hudson. For those of you who don't know, Hudson is my maiden name. We were unsure of a middle name. We knew it would be a family name, and we were deciding between James (Dave's paternal grandfather) and Bentley (my maternal grandfather). It wasn't until he was born, and we had the paperwork in front of us to sign for the birth certificate that we finally picked his full name.

Hudson Bentley Dennison.

We loved the sound of both James and Bentley as middle names. Bentley was a little more unusual, and since William had all Dennison names, we decided to go with my family for this baby. I absolutely love his name.

Here we are at #3. We never really discussed boy names when we found out we were pregnant. We had pretty much exhausted the boy family names that we LOVED, particularly first names. For various reasons, there really weren't any more "family" names that we wanted to use for a first name for a boy. Of course, there are plenty of very good boy names in both of our families, but we just never felt great about any of them. We did decide, however, that we wanted to use James as a middle name.

Dave was fairly indifferent, but I have a self-imposed requirement that this baby has to have a family name. I just couldn't name him some random name and in 15 years he asks me where his name came from. I'd have to say: "from a book", when his brother's have such strong family heritage behind their names. So, the hunt was on to find a name that we loved and went well with James. Some suggested busting out the family tree on all 4 sides, but I just felt like going back more than 2 or 3 generations is sort of pointless. I mean, if we have absolutely no idea who this man was or what his character was like, why would I name my child after him?

I finally resorted to an online baby search, when I ran across the name Crew. No, it's not a family name. No, it's not common. But, my brother rowed Crew in high school when we lived in England and in college when he was at Harvard. It was a big part of his life. He was pretty good at it. And it just so happened that Dave and I both really liked the name, and it sounds good with James. As it stands now, our baby boy #3 will be

Crew James Dennison

Could we change our minds? Sure. Will we? Doubtful. Now that we both like the name, we've pretty much put a halt on the discussion. So, unless something strikes us in our sleep, or we get a really fantastic idea, this will be it. To somewhat seal the deal, I found this the other while will perusing one of my favorite children's clothing stores:

Just Hudson

2011-09-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

William's kindergarten is Monday-Thursday (which is one of the reasons I picked this school...to give us one day a week that we can still have FUN together), and Hudson goes T/Th. That gives Hudson and me 2 days a week to just hang out together. I rarely have individual time with the boys, so this first week of school has been fun. I have to admit that it feels a little weird to only have 1 kid around during the day. Although, I know our days will be quite busy once #3 gets here (in a matter of weeks)!

On Monday, as we were eating lunch, Hudson asked me if we could go to the park and feed the ducks/fish and play on the playground. With it being 104 degrees out, I REALLY didn't want to. But, he was desperate to go, and I couldn't turn him down. We were only there for about 30 minutes, but it was fun.

He asked me to take this picture, but because it was so bright out, I couldn't really see what it was aimed at, hence the chopped off head!

Now I just need to find some time to spend with JUST William!

Hudson's turn

2011-08-31T20:56:00.001-05:00

Tuesday was Hudson's first day of Preschool, and he couldn't have been more excited.

"Mom, just take the picture already!"

He was trying to make a silly face here,
but he didn't want to let go of his lunchbox!

If he had his wish, he'd go to school every day that William does. But, I think he's enjoying time with just me. And I know that once the baby is born, he will really enjoy having the little one to himself!

The first of many...

2011-08-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for William! It seems impossible that he could possibly be old enough for Kindergarten, but he is for sure ready. It's definitely bittersweet seeing him go off to "real" school. He was absolutely thrilled, so it was hard for me to be sad. Hudson, on the other hand, was very sad that he didn't get to go to school today (he's going T/Th). But, I think he's enjoying time with just me!

Despite the weird look on his face, he's actually very excited!

Hudson had to get in on the photo action...pardon his gloves.

Family Time

2011-08-18T10:33:00.000-05:00

While my sister and her family were here visiting, before I went on my Girls Trip, we made a quick visit up to Oklahoma. The girls wanted to see my Grandma, and they were dying to go to Kiddie Park. It was very hot up there, but they had fun, as always.

As an added bonus, Ashley and her boys were there from Hawaii, so my boys were particularly excited to see Keaton and Mark.

We went to the new Oklahoma Aquarium in Tulsa one day, and it was fabulous!

No trip to Oklahoma is complete without at least 1 visit to Kiddie Park. And as always, it did no disappoint. In fact, because of it being so hot and the end of the summer, it was nearly empty. The kids loved having the place nearly to themselves.

32 weeks

2011-08-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we only have 8 weeks to go (or maybe even less??!!) until this little guy makes his appearance. We are still somewhat undecided on a name, but I feel like we're getting there. His room is coming together nicely (I'll save that for another post once it's complete).

It seems impossible for me to get myself together to have Dave take a true "belly" shot, so I decided to just do it myself while my camera was handy.

32 weeks in all it's glory!

My only stress point right now is about the car seat situation. Word out there is that car seats expire after 5 years. Ours is 6 years old. Does anyone out there know if this is a money-maker for the car seat industry, or if it would be truly unsafe for me to put my baby in my 6 yr old Peg Perego car seat?

Girls Trip 2011

2011-08-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Well, my annual girls trip concluded today, wrapping up our 8th year of getting together sans husbands/kids/responsibility! This year, we headed down to Ocean Reef in Key Largo, Florida. You can go here to see what it's like there. Melissa's dad has a friend who is a member at the Reef, so he gave us a nice little hookup. It was AMAZING.

To recap, our previous girls trips have been:

2004: Perdido Key, Florida

2005: Amelia Island, Florida

2006: Homestead, Florida

2007: Fowl Cay, Exumas, Bahamas (the Munz's private island)

2008: Homestead, Florida

2009: Fowl Cay, Exumas, Bahamas

2010: Kaneohe, Hawaii

2011: Ocean Reef, Key Largo, Florida

Not too shabby, you think??? Yes, we realize we are spoiled rotten.

Melissa, Ashley and I flew to Miami on Wednesday afternoon, and we went straight to the Munz compound. Melissa brought 2 of her kiddos with her, for her mom to watch while we were in the Keys. We (well, Ashley and I) managed to sleep in until nearly 9:15...had a lazy morning and then before lunch we headed to the Reef.

Craig (the man who arranged everything for us while we were down in the Keys) got a house for us along with a golf cart for cruising the streets of the Reef. We spend the better part of Thursday afternoon exploring the place on our golf cart. We went out for dinner at a yummy restaurant on the bay side, and then spent the remainder of the evening at our house.

We spent the better part of Friday and Saturday at the pool, reading, relaxing, laughing, eating, lots and lots of laughing (let me just say that being 32 weeks pregnant and laughing extremely hard can cause some problems...). It was one of our more relaxing girls trips, and it was just what we needed.

What a blessing it is to have such great friends. We haven't been together all 3 of us since May 2010, and it's like we were never apart. And what great parents/husbands we have that are willing to let us jet off every year and leave the kiddos behind while we live a few days of luxury!

Side note: if you need a good laugh, please go to these 2 videos: CathyMay15 and Ed Bassmaster. We spent quite a bit of time watching these 2 videos, which contributed a lot to our laughing fits.

Water!

2011-08-03T15:38:00.003-05:00

My sister and her family have been in town for 5 days now, and we're having a blast! One of the highlights for my nieces has been (besides playing with William and Hudson, of course) going to the pool. Since it's cold most of the time in London they don't get to swim. And swimming never gets old for my boys, so we've spent quite a bit of time in the water. And when our pool was closed, they played in the sprinkler/slip-n-slide at my parents house.

Photo Shoot

2011-08-02T21:58:00.001-05:00

I had the boys' pictures taken about 6 weeks ago. It had been nearly 2 years since we had any pics done, and I didn't want to have family pics taken since we will have them done in October after the baby is born. And since that session will mostly be focusing on the the baby, the 3 boys and family shots, I really wanted to have a few individual ones of William and Hudson. Plus, I wanted to try out the photographer that I'm considering using for the newborn session. The pics turned out GREAT!! How am I EVER going to decide which ones to have printed???

Not your average Monday

2011-07-25T21:49:00.001-05:00

Today started fairly normally: I got up around 7, Hudson got up around 8, William got up around 8:30. Hudson was downstairs with me, I was fixing their morning OJ, and I could hear William playing upstairs. (side note: William is a perfectionist, and we have been working with him on not getting overly frustrated when things don't work together just the way he envisions it. i.e. trying to teach him self-control so that he doesn't throw tantrums/tear apart his toys when he's frustrated). A few minutes before 9, I hear William stomping down the stairs, so I knew we were going to have to have a discussion about his temper/frustration levels. I was in my room, and I hear him SLAM the pantry door shut on his way through the kitchen. LONG story incredibly short, the entire top shelf of the pantry door (which happens to house 4 large bottles of liquor) came crashing down into the pantry, shattering glass and liquor all over the pantry. It was not a good moment. In fact, I had to call Dave to come home from work so that I could maintain sanity. Only by the grace of God did I manage to keep my cool, but I didn't want to take any chances. :-) I will spare you the details of what ensued after that, but by 10:30, I had a nice, clean sparkly pantry. I'm trying to find the silver lining in the losing of all my favorite booze. :-)

The rest of the morning/afternoon went fairly well. The kids behaved, William maintained self-control (and so did I), and we even managed a trip to McDonalds with friends.

After dinner we decided to go to the neighborhood spray park since our pool is closed on Mondays. It's only about 5 blocks from our house, so the boys rode their bikes while Dave and I walked. About 15 minutes into their playtime, William started crying hysterically. He turned around and we saw lots and lots of blood coming down his face. Dave scooped him up, and we could see that he had a pretty good gash on the upper part of his forehead. Thankfully, there was another dad there that volunteered to drive Dave home to get our car. I got the bleeding to stop just about the time Dave arrived with the car. He loaded up the bikes, and we tossed the kids in the car and headed to Urgent Care.

Because of it being "trauma" they got us in right away. In fact, the whole process was only about an hour, which was MUCH shorter than I anticipated. Another long story short, William ended up with 2 stitches. He was a champ through the whole thing.

the unstitched wound:

all stitched up:

a happy little patient!

Since he was so good we took him to get shaved ice across the street. As we sat there enjoying our dessert, I told William that the word of the day for him was "Karma." He asked what that meant. I told him that it meant that he got what was coming. He replied with "Oh, I like that word since I'm having shaved ice right now." Not really the reaction I was looking for, but it was funny nonetheless!

I'm pressing the "restart" button for tomorrow...

1st and 2nd Cousins!

2011-07-12T14:38:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, my cousin, Tara and her family came to visit. They live in Florida, so we rarely get to see them. In fact, it had been at my brother's wedding, nearly 3 years ago, since we saw them last. So, the boys were much smaller and didn't remember their 1st cousins-once-removed and 2nd cousins. :-)

Even though they are a little older than my boys, all 6 kids go along GREAT. One of the most fun things about them getting together is that my cousin has a son named Hudson too. My Hudson thought that was the best thing ever: to have a cousin with the SAME name. We called them Big Hudson and Little Hudson.

My cousin took this when they were in Oklahoma. I love it because my Grandma looks great, and she's doing what she loves most: FISHING!

The 2 Hudsons:

William, Camille, Hudson, and Hudson:

Checking out the cows. My dad, Hudson, William, and Camille:

Playing with Contraptions. William, Hudson, Hudson, Camille, and Adrianna:

Before the pool one day, we headed to Tutti Frutti (one of our favorite ice cream stores). Olivia, me, dad, Adrianna, William, Hudson, Camille and Hudson:

It was a great time together, and we are hoping that we won't have to wait that long before we see them again! In fact, we're thinking of making to a trip to Orlando next summer to visit them...and Disney too, of course!

The 4th

2011-07-11T16:37:00.001-05:00

While Dave was in Chicago with his cousins and going to the U2 concert, me and the boys were sweating it out in Oklahoma. It's always fun when we're there because the boys are running wild, playing outside, going to Kiddie Park, seeing Great Grandma, staying up late, sleeping in (some of the time), visits to Woolaroc, and long naps...but this time was extra special because Uncle Trent and Aunt Paige were in town! Plus it was the 4th of July, and since we were out in the country we decided to take full advantage and set off our own fireworks. William, being the cautious one, was a little skeptical at first and every time someone lit a firecracker he'd say "hurry, run away!" (again, I apologize for the poor quality...these are phone pics)

the "spectators":

Great Grandma, Hudson and Uncle Trent:

silly faces with Grandma (I absolutely LOVE this picture!):

William (oh, and this was my table when I was a kid...):

Sparklers!!!

Paige made this YUMMY tart:

In Disguise

2011-07-10T09:04:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday night we picked Dave up from the airport (he'd been in Chicago at the U2 concert), and we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Nothing particularly unusual, but they did have a face painter there for the kids! Normally, my boys don't like having someone else paint their faces, so they elect for a hand or an arm. But, that night, they were adventurous. Here's what they picked:

Hudson:

William (as usual, he refused to pose):

Grandma Dennison

2011-07-07T10:21:00.001-05:00

Dave's paternal grandmother died about 2 weeks ago. It was a sad time, but she was 94 and had lived such an amazing life...and she left an incredible legacy! I admire her so much, and she was a very feisty lady! When she died, she had 18 grandkids and (counting our unborn baby) 34 great-grandkids! She was a very loved lady, and we will miss her greatly. If you've read this blog for awhile, you might remember THIS. We are so thankful that we were able to go visit her. Until about a week before her death, she was still sending out cards (she was SO faithful about acknowledging every birthday and anniversary for every grandkid, their spouse, and great-grandkid), and I got an email from her about a week before she entered the hospital. She didn't let anything get her down!!

So, Dave and I flew to Pittsburgh last week to attend the funeral. It was a special time because we got to see many family members that we rarely get to see, plus I got to meet our newest niece, Zoe (Atria's baby girl). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me (the one downside to having a big, fancy camera is that it can be a pain to lug on an airplane!!), so these were all taken with my iPhone..please excuse the quality!

Meeting baby Zoe!

Dave's mom and dad arrived on Pat's birthday, so we got to have a little mini-celebration!

Dave meet's Zoe, and understandably, she's skeptical...

a pic capturing all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that were able to attend the funeral.

It was a sad occasion, but we were thankful to get to spend some time with our family from across the country!

Superheroes and more...

2011-06-28T08:57:00.001-05:00

We hadn't used our science museum membership in a few weeks, as we've spent most of our free time at the pool. But this past Saturday was Superhero Day there, so we decided to go down there and check it out. It was pretty cool, plus they had a neat Aerospace exhibit (so you KNOW Dave was pretty excited...)

Hudson and Dynamo

Hudson and Batman (William was too shy to get his pic with his favorite, Superman)

Every angle of William...

and every angle of me and my 25 week belly...

This was a cool tube thingy in the airplane exhibit. The boys loved it!

They had to pull themselves through by tugging on the rope above their heads:

Daddy thought this was a cool fighter jet:

William was mesmerized by the spinning top on the pen:

so was Hud:

coloring fighter jets:

It was a fun afternoon at the museum with my boys, and definitely a nice break from the heat!

Summer!

2011-06-23T15:22:00.001-05:00

Here is what we've been doing a lot of, and plan to continue for the next 2 months...and I LOVE every minute of it!!

The Mavs and me

2011-06-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Last night Dave and I went to game 4 of the NBA finals. Dave managed to get the tickets from his work, so we didn't even have to take out a 2nd mortgage for the tickets! We got there nice and early...you know, to take in the "feel" of the game. We had pretty good seats: section 112. We were on the floor about 15 rows from the court, behind the Mavs basket and to the left a little.

As soon as we sat down (and collected our 'thunder sticks', noise makers, and 'Our Time is Now' tshirts) a man came up to us and introduced himself to us. He worked at the arena, and he wanted to know if I'd be willing to be in a contest during the game. Of course, I agreed. It was to be during the 2nd time out in the 2nd quarter. Blackjack was the game.

As soon as the 2nd quarter started, I headed down to the court and stood on the sidelines with the rest of the crew until it was my time. As soon as the timeout came, they rushed us out onto the floor. A huge "King" was placed on the floor in front of me, with 6 turned down cards a little further out. I had to pick a cards, one at a time, until I reached 19, 20 or 21. Each number had a prize, going up in value depending on how well I did.

you can sort of see me in the middle of this pic. I'm standing next to a guy in black pants, and behind a "guard" in a red jacket:

Dave resorted to taking pics on the jumbo tv to get a better view!

I ended up getting 20 points, and winning a 4G phone and $400! Not too shabby for a quick game. I was just excited to be down on the court!!!

The atmosphere at the game was AMAZING. Everyone was super excited, and we did A LOT of standing up. But, it was very fun. Oh, and the Mavs WON! WOOHOO!