Cute Overload!

Brian's parents stayed with the kids yesterday while I was in surgery. Once we had Hudson back from the nursery they brought the kids up to meet their new baby brother!

Wyatt was absolutely adorable before we left the house. He woke up and said "Mommy, today is Baby Hudson's birthday!" He asked a bunch of questions about how the day was going to go and how long it would be before he got to see him. Oh yeah, and he asked why I wouldn't be able to bend over as much once the baby came. We've been having lots of talks about what I will and won't be able to do post C section. I now expect him to go find and pick up sippy cups, etc. because it's something I won't be able to do for awhile.
We got each one of the kids V Tech cameras so they could take pictures of their baby brother. They also picked out a toy for them to give Hudson. Wyatt chose a Gloworm and Reese picked a monkey lovey.

Waiting (not so patiently) to hold their new baby brother! Doesn't Reese look thrilled?! Hospitals are not the most fun place to try and control 2 year olds! Especially when all she wants to do is climb on the bed and I'm not really in a condition to allow that to happen.

Wyatt was most concerned about checking on his brother's feet. He wanted to make sure he had them!

Reesie have him a kiss...

And then proclaimed "He's not Baby Gooey anymore! He's Baby Hudson!"

This little guy is super excited to have a baby brother. He just figured out yesterday that they don't come out crawling!

And yes - this is all Hudson's hair! I think he has the cutest little full head of dark brown hair. It's so funny that all three of our kids have come out with different colors of hair. Wyatt's hair was dark with a lot of blond, Reese came out with strawberry blond hair, and Hudson is the darkest brown. It's pretty awesome! Hudson also looks a lot like his big brother. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to watching these three bond and become great friends!

Hudson Ellsworth is Here!

Hudson Ellsworth was born on November 5 at 10:17 am. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces at birth and he is 20.5 inches long. We are completely in love with this little guy!

Fortunately the Neo-natologist let us know immediately that Hudson is perfectly healthy and that he sounded great within minutes of his birth. We are so thankful for his good health! He was able to latch on very well, and he is breastfeeding like a pro! He looks a lot like his big brother, but he also has a ton of really dark hair. He is an amazing little guy and we can't believe that he's finally here. He met his big brother and sister yesterday and they are really in love with him.

He really just has the sweetest little face! We can't wait to bring him home!

And his name? Well Hudson was on each of our top 3 name lists, and we both just love it. His middle name was actually Brian's grandfather's first name. We think that it sounds great together, and we think it fits him perfectly!

Conversations with Wyatt

I keep meaning to share the things the kids say on here, but I never do. Today I had a conversation with Wyatt about what he learned at school today and I had to post it.

Me: "Wyatt, I turned on the Thanksgiving Max & Ruby for you."
Wyatt: "Mommy, we talked about Thanksgiving at school today! Thanksgiving is coming so soon, and then it's going to be Christmas."
Me: "I know! What did you learn about Thanksgiving?"
Wyatt: "We'll eat with our families. Mommy, did you know that there used to be aliens at my school? They had dinner there. And then all the children started knocking on the doors, and then aliens just ran away!"
Me: "Wyatt, that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving."
Wyatt: (shrugging his shoulders and smiling) "I know. Nothing."

Tonight he re-told the story to Brian and Brian asked if he meant Indians (not that it would make sense if he did mean Indians). Wyatt said "No Daddy," and then went and got his Toy Story 3 case. He pointed to the box and said "No Daddy, the ali-ens. Like these guys." He then went through the entire story again with Brian, but instead of all the children knocking on the doors and scaring the aliens away, it was just him and his friend Joshua. I don't know where he gets this stuff!

The Making of the Joker

First, you start with a little girl who is excited to be the Joker.

Switch out her shirts and push her hair back with Mommy's head band.
Then paint her face white. Shockingly, she needs three coats. Even though her face is basically only one or two hues darker than the white paint.

Trace her Joker face on with a red paint crayon.

Fill it in with grease paint with a brush, and add green "eyebrows." Try to tell her not to smile. Otherwise she'll look like a friendly Joker.

Place her pigtails in buns and bobby pin in the balloon string green curls.

Give her her trick or treat bag, and she will basically double the amount of candy her brother collects. Seriously. People kept passing them the bowl, and I suspect that her brother just took one piece while she probably took more than one.

Happy Halloween 2010!

The kids have been talking about Halloween for months! We asked them in August what they wanted to be for Halloween and Reese said "Joker!," and Wyatt followed up with Batman. Reese is kind of obsessed with being the Joker. There's a toy at Target that is called the "Joker's Lair" and when you press a button it says, "The joke is on you, Batman. Ha ha ha ha ha!" And that's what she says all the time. So when she said she wanted to be the Joker we knew that was pretty much the end of the story.

Wyatt was going to be Batman until about two weeks ago when we couldn't find a Batman costume that was "good enough," and he saw the Iron Man costume and changed his mind. While it would have been cute, and more people would have gotten that Reese was the Joker, they both still looked really cute. I think they both did a great job for this being the first Halloween that either of them have really chosen what they were going to be!

We had a lot of fun walking around the neighborhood trick or treating. Since we moved and love our neighborhood, this is the first year that we've stayed home to trick or treat. It was nice to see our neighbors and be able to come home quickly. The kids walked almost the entire time and didn't even ask to get in the wagon until we were around the corner from our house (I wanted to be in the wagon from the time we left our court). They had a great time! I have some pretty cute pictures of me doing Reese's make up that I'll post later (blogger is being difficult), but here are there pictured before/during/after trick or treating.

Iron Man and the Joker
I'm not sure what was going on here. One thing that I love about Reese's costume is that it's all just regular clothes (minus the tutu) that she can wear all winter. She will tell you now that her favorite color is purple and she LOVES her purple Converse.

Group shot! (Yes, there are only 5 DAYS left until Gooey is here!)

She wanted to take a break from wreaking havoc on Gotham City. For about 10 seconds.

Wyatt was kind of obsessed with the flashlight.

Our neighborhood is constantly under construction, so we have portable toilets everywhere. And Brian can't miss a photo op.
Cheesing, It took me awhile to figure out what I was going to do with her hair. I didn't want to spray paint it and I couldn't find a wig. I came up with the balloon ribbon idea last week and I think it turned out really cute!
Reese walked in the door, climbed up on the couch, took her shoes off and started going through her candy.
And he pretty much followed suit!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

This has been a crazy week! Monday was soccer and Tuesday we took the kids to get their pictures taken and we didn't get home until 8. Wednesday I had my pre-op appointment with Dr. George-Ward (seriously, LOVE her) and I got all the info for delivery. I just have to say that I think I have the best doctor in the world delivering my babies. She sat down and talked to us about any concerns we have for the delivery (the main one - I don't want to wait forever to find out how the baby s doing) and gave practical advice. She's just amazing and I'm so glad she's delivering all of my kids!

I went back to work after my appointment and then came home around noon. I was surprised to find both Brian and Dave's cars here. Apparently my awesome husband recruited our awesome friend to help de-stress me. That meant that they went and got a ton of plywood and spent the (really hot) day putting it down in the attic so that Brian can move all the storage boxes that are currently in Gooey's room into the attic. Thank goodness! I am so incredibly ready to get this house ready for him, and that is exactly what we needed to get the house in shape!

Yesterday started a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. We traded this in...

For this.

I have never been a person who swore off minivans. In fact, I've been wanting a minivan for months. We just weren't sure that it was practical for us to do it now. But we got an awesome deal on the trade in and the new Honda Odyssey, and now that we have it we are so excited to have the extra space. But I LOVED my Rav 4. I loved that it was my first brand new car. I loved that Brian picked it out so carefully for me and Wyatt (and eventually Reese). From the Bluetooth to the MP3 connection to the color and the incredible trunk space, I just loved it. But we outgrew it. And we needed a van instead because I couldn't figure out a way to practically seat a 3 and a half year old, a two year old and newborn in a car without somebody getting hit in the face. And I love my van! I just miss my Rav4!

And finally...I am now officially a stay at home mom. Well, maybe not officially. I'll still get paid for two days. But I'm not going to work anymore. It was a rough day. I love being an analyst, I love the insurance industry, and I love the Gecko, but it was time. I am going to really miss all the wonderful people that I worked with, who not only made me laugh and saved my sanity, but also were incredibly kind and generous. But I know we'll still be friends :).

With three kids under 4 there just doesn't seem to be a way to swing working and have it make financial sense. Plus, I really want to take this opportunity to be with the kids when they're small. And I totally get that this isn't for everyone - I have my days where I wonder if staying home full time is "me." But I think that actually staying home is the best way to find out!

Sacrifices will have to be made and I've even already cut back on my Target trips. I went last Saturday and then today - almost a WHOLE WEEK between trips! My record is 40 days when I gave Target up for Lent in 2004. And no, I'm not kidding, and yes, Brian probably will try to make me do that again this year. But I'm still excited to stay home with this little guy after he turns 12 weeks old and to take Reese to story time and the park. I would be excited to take Wyatt to school, but I'm not sure that Brian is giving the rides to and from school up. Even though school is 5 minutes from here and about 25-30 from Brian's office, he really loves the carpool!

So hopefully we'll be able to take a week off from the craziness and get everything organized and ready for our baby boy to be here! We can't wait to meet him!

Pictures!

We took the kids to get their pictures taken last night. It's something we've been meaning to do for months, but for various reasons (like the fact that we don't have any pictures on the wall right now anyway) we haven't done it. Plus, seriously, once they reach this age it's a miracle if I have a free window of time without a scratch or bruise on someone's face!

These two were like little models last night. I don't know what it was, but they were "on" as soon as the photographer pointed the camera at them. These are all of the pictures of the two of them together. I'll probably post some of them solo later this week (they're also in the sidebar over there ->), but I didn't want to send anyone into overload!

I love them all, but the first and last are my favorites. Anyway - enjoy!