I may have spoken too soon...

Before I said in my last post that life was beginning to calm down, I should have taken a moment to stop and think how badly I'd be jinxing myself by saying that. It seems like if Ben or I ever say or even think that things are settling down, it seems to trigger something in our kids' brains that lets them know that it is time to ramp up the chaos. Today was no exception, and all of the boys in the house (my husband included) had a few stressful moments that contributed to me becoming old before my time. First, Ben decided to make Hudson laugh by sliding across our hardwood floors in his socks, Risky Business style. Midway through his slide, Ben screamed and crumpled to the floor. I thought this was part of his act for Hudson, since Ben frequently makes him laugh by scaring the life out of him, but he was actually hurt. An inch-long piece of wood tore off the floor and went deep into his foot, which started bleeding all over the place once I pulled it out. Not all of it came out, though, so Ben had my dad do some digging to get the rest of it out. Not to be outdone, Sawyer had one of those explosive poops where you change the diaper and just think, "How can so much poop come out of such a tiny little person?" He managed to shoot it all of the way up his back, which meant that cleaning it up required twelve wipes, three wet and soapy cloths, and two cloth diapers (yes, I counted, it helped distract me from the fact that I was getting baby poop all over me). Hudson, witnessing the shenanigans of his father and brother, must have decided that he needed to top them both by the end of the day. After dinner, I noticed that he had something orange and sticky coming out of his nose. I looked up his nose, but it didn't seem like there was anything up there. Still, the sticky orange stuff kept coming. About 10 minutes later, we were playing and he laughed really hard and something came flying out. It was a partially melted, orange-coated chocolate candy from the top of the Rice Krispie treat he ate for dessert. Needless to say, I'll be keeping a much closer eye on him when his hands are up around his nostrils from now on. Even though today was chaotic and stressful, I did learn a pretty important lesson. From now on, no matter how well things seem to be going, I will never again under any circumstances say, think, or even wish that things have calmed down or will calm down. I think we're in for a pretty wild ride from here on out, and even though it gets stressful, it's definitely entertaining!

Long overdue

I highly doubt that anyone still checks our blog since we've been so bad about updating, but things are finally calming down in our house so I thought I'd sit down and write a little before bed. I haven't had many chances to sit down and do much of anything since Sawyer came along, so being able to now is nice. Our holidays were crazy with the arrival of a baby, exams and papers for three weeks afterwards, graduating, then Christmas, Hudson's birthday, and lots of illnesses thrown in for good measure (Hudson had the flu, Sawyer had some mysterious stomach problems for the first seven weeks of his life that just cleared up on their own, and Ben had a pretty awful sinus infection). Everyone is well now, though, and Sawyer has started sleeping through the night, so we're finally on a somewhat normal schedule. Here's what has been going on since I last posted:

I finally finished my degree. It may have taken 5 1/2 years and three different schools, but hey, done is done. I had five papers and three exams to write after Sawyer was born, which was stressful, but our families and friends really stepped up and helped us out a lot. My wonderful friend Lindsey organized meals three times a week for four weeks, which was absolutely amazing. I can't stand to cook on a good day, so not having to worry about it when I had 20 other things going on was fantastic. I can't even describe how great it is to not have to worry about homework and I love being able to focus all of my attention and energy on being a mum.

Sawyer had his first Christmas and Hudson had his first Christmas where he actually understood what was happening. He had fun opening his presents, but he wanted to play with each toy for a while after he opened it so Christmas lasted a LONG time. He's a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan, so Santa brought him lots of new engines and buildings for his train table, which was a gift from my parents. Their gift and Ben's parents' gift of the Deluxe Roundhoue were definitely his favorites. They were my favorites too since he can play with them for hours without getting bored. They keep Ben pretty busy, too. He's become completely obsessed with figuring out the optimal track layout for the table. It's cute to see him spend so much time on little projects for Hudson.

Hudson spent his birthday getting over the flu, so he had a pretty low-key celebration. One of his big presents was a "guy's trip" down to Atlanta with Ben and my dad to see his first ever NHL game. Unfortunately, the Thrashers weren't playing the Devils, so he didn't get to see his Mummy's favorite team in action, but he had a pretty good time anyway. The next day, our families came over for cake and pizza and he opened his presents. He also had a few meltdowns from the combination of feeling yucky and just being overwhelmed by all of the parties and events that took place over the holidays. It was a lot for a toddler to handle in such a short amount of time, so maybe next year we'll have a half-birthday party in the summer when there isn't so much other stuff going on. Now that he's feeling better and things have calmed down a bit, he's back to his happy little self and has really started talking up a storm! He's also super affectionate and will give lots of kisses and hugs without any prompting. The toddler phase can be hard with tantrums and lots of defiant behavior, but I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite stages.

Sawyer is growing quickly and is heading into the sweet, chubby baby stage. He was a little over 13 pounds at his 2 month checkup and was 23.5 inches long. He's a much more intense baby than Hudson was - he's either extremely happy or very, very mad, but now that he's settling into a routine he's become a little less extreme. He hates to sleep and is constantly moving, so I'm sure he'll be very active and into everything when starts to crawl and walk. He's already learned how to roll from his tummy to his back!

Christmas card picture

Sawyer at 5 weeks

Christmas morning

Sawyer at 6 weeks

Hudson and Ben on their Polar Express train ride

Welcome Sawyer!!!

Sawyer Henry Hazlewood was born on November 14th, 2008. He was huge, as expected - 9 lbs, 3 oz and 21 1/4 inches long! We're so happy to have him at home and we'll try to put up some more pictures when we have a little more time.

Shoulda married someone shorter...

Not really, I love my husband, but carrying around his giant babies is tough. Hudson was a pretty big newborn, and according to the ultrasound I had last Tuesday, Sawyer is already getting close to 5 pounds. The ultrasound tech said that his leg bones are really, really long, which is exactly what she said whenever I had an ultrasound with Hudson. Considering I still have around 7 weeks to go, I'm starting to get pretty nervous about delivery. Needless to say, an epidural will be involved.

Oops...

Well, clearly I was delusional about my blogging abilities and way too optimistic about the amount of spare time I would have this fall. Running around after Hudson, growing a baby, trying to fix up the house and yard (I've only been putting this off for over a year), and finishing my last semester of school has left me with very little spare time. I have lots of work to do this week, but I'll try to post some updates early next week!

Hudson's new bed

Hudson is about to be nineteen months old, and I can't believe how quickly he's growing. Last week he started sleeping in his "big boy" bed. He's getting too tall to sleep in a crib and I was concerned that if we waited too long to put him in a bed, he'd associate the move with Sawyer's arrival. I know it will probably be pretty tough for him to adjust to having a little brother around, so Ben and I are trying to make any big changes to his routine well in advance. I thought it might take him a while to get used to sleeping in the bed, especially since it's so big, but he loves it! He's always so excited to start bedtime and he's a big fan of his new fish bedding. He also loves that he can get out of bed whenever he wants, which is usually between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning. Hopefully he'll start to sleep in a little more once he gets used to it, but that's probably wishful thinking since he's always been a really early riser.

We finally caved...

Ben and I have noticed that we seem to be the only people we know who don't have a blog. We resisted the temptation to start one because a) we're total idiots when it comes to computers, and b) we're usually too busy chasing Hudson around to focus on much else. However, since we've been horrible about calling and e-mailing friends and family to let them know what has been going on in our lives, we decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. It seems like this will be the easiest way to keep everyone updated, especially in terms of news and pictures about Hudson and Sawyer. Hopefully we'll be better about putting up pictures and posts than we've been about phoning and e-mailing!!!