The List

I should just create a blog for all the things Hudson says. I hope you all don't get sick of reading it. I just like to post them so I remember them later. If I just write it on a paper it usually gets lost.
I just loved his prayer last night. There were more things on the list, but thought these few in this particular order was pretty funny. Jeff and I were both peeking at each other and giggling.

H: Thank thee for...

golf balls

church

bubbles

underwear

ropes

Thanks

Thanks everyone for all your love, prayers, and tears! I didn't mean to make the last post so sad (ok, maybe I did a little)! I mean, it really was a sad, terrible, horrible day, but I tried to put the funny part at the end so it wouldn't be so depressing! :)
But we really do love all of you and we're so thankful we have all of your love and support, and most of all prayers. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

Pregnant for a Day

Yesterday morning I took a test. It resulted in two pink lines. I couldn't believe it and showed Jeff. We held each other and cried and we were pretty much in shock. We decided we weren't going to tell anyone for a while. We both saw or talked to our families and wanted to share our news but enjoyed keeping our secret to ourselves. I got all excited and figured out what my due date would be, thought about cleaning out the office and pulling out my maternity clothes, thought about which doctor I would use, how we would creatively share the good news to our family, and Jeff immediately started not letting me lift heavy stuff. We were exhilarated.
Then, this morning, Jeff found an unopened pregnancy test. Then he looked at the opened wrapper of yesterdays test. I had mistakenly used an ovulation test which always result in two pink lines. I didn't know how to react. I was in tears and denial. Jeff insisted I take another pregnancy test, which was negative. Needless to say, I have cried and been depressed and feeling all sorts of emotions today. I told Jeff to go to the store and buy me a baby right now. He suggested we rent "Raising Arizona" so we could see if we could get any tips. Later I asked him what he was going to do about the situation (wanting him to solve all my sorrows). He said, "Love you." I said, "Love doesn't make babies," to which he replied (and I knew I had set myself up and what was coming next), "Actually...". We laughed. We are still broken hearted, but really, it's just back to life as we know it.
But it was fun being "pregnant" for one day.

A Little Dirt Never Hurt...

It started out simple enough. We were soaking an area so we could till it up the next day. Hudson wanted to help. Then his cute little friends came over and wanted to help. Then they decided they needed to cool each other off, and they had a nice little water fight.

Then they discovered the mud....

And thought it would be fun to have a mud fight and put it down each others shirts...

We took his clothes off so we could hose him off and go in the house, but he needed to play just a little bit more...

Then he decided Mom and Dad weren't dirty at all and needed to get some mud flung at them, too!

They had the time of their lives and I'm so glad Hudson has such good little friends who like to get good and dirty. And I'm glad their mom didn't care, either!

2009 Garden is IN!

I just got in from finishing planting our garden! We are doing much more this year than last year. Here is what we have planted:

• green beans
• carrots
  
• cucumbers
• potatoes
• 2 varieties of peas
• onions
• scallions
• 2 varieties of corn
• summer squash
• zucchini
  
• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• mini pumpkins
• big pumpkins

I am so excited the work is done and now we just get to sit back and watch it grow!

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More fun things Hudson has been saying lately...{I can't get enough of it!}

Yesterday morning, after Hudson just woke up.
H: I had a bad dream (visibly upset).
N: What was it about?
H: A scary guy.
N: What did he do?
H: Daddy saved me.

***
After his nap that same day.
N: Did you have a good nap?
H: Yes.
N: Did you have a good dream?
H: Yes.
N: What was it about?
H: Mickey Mouse.
N: What did he do?
H: He was sleeping in my bed!
N:He was!?
H: He was happy!

I don't think Hudson has had too much exposure to Mickey Mouse, but this is a pretty frequent dream for him, I think.

***

N: (Holding and rocking Hudson) You're my baby Hudson.
H: No, I'm Hudson!
N: You're my baby Hudson!
H: No! I can walk! See, like this!

***

Me trying to pry more sweet things out of him, and see what he really thinks of me.

N: Am I a scary mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a mean mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a nice mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a fun mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a sleepy mommy?
H: No.
N: Am I a silly mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a.....
H: Diamond! You're a diamond!

He's been obsessed with diamonds since watching The Rescuers. But I still don't know how he comes up with this stuff!

Art Blog

I usually hate when people ask me what I do with my time or what I like to do. I feel like I'm a pretty boring person. I just do the stay at home mom stuff. Laundry. Dishes. Yard work. Vacuuming. Pour a bowl of cereal. Read a story to Hudson. Wipe Hudson's bum after he goes potty. You know. Mom stuff.
But when I get asked this question I usually fall back on my old reliable answer to sound at least the tiniest bit interesting--art. But then I know what question will follow which makes me uneasy as well. "What kind of art?" or "What are you working on?". The answers are "I don't know. A little of everything." and "Nothing".
My Grandma Schumann, who is an artist, has been all over me for years about getting out the paints and just doing something. I am a terrible granddaughter as I usually just fan her away and try to get out of the conversation. I don't know what it is. I think I fear failure. I read an article today that probably sums it up pretty well:

Fear of failure causes delayed or abandoned projects. One way to avoid failure is to never start. Otherwise you may learn something you would rather not know. For example, you may think of yourself as an artistic person. If you never try to paint a picture, you don't risk learning the truth. Perhaps you could become a great artist. Fear of failure prevents you from finding out. Fear makes anything you want to do appear difficult and unpleasant.

Yup. I think that's me. So....
I am no longer going to fear failure! I think I'll try to take the plunge. I might make an art blog (because everything is more fun if you blog about it!) and try to get back into it. I'm always looking at things with an artistic eye. The other day Jeff and I were watching Dirty Jobs and they were working at the Le Brea tar pits in California (which I thought would actually be a pretty cool job. They find dinosaur bones and stuff in there and I loved that it was almost all women working there. It would also just be a cool place to visit someday.) . So in this pit I was looking at the old tarry wall behind them thinking that would make a cool painting. I see things like this all the time. I guess I also fear that if I painted something like that, people wouldn't appreciate it or would say "anyone can paint that".
Or I lay awake at night and have fabulous ideas that are gone by morning. Or I can visualize a painting in the scenery while we are on a 4-wheeler ride but don't have a camera with me or don't want to stop everyone every 5 minutes to take a picture.

Pit 91. Le Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles, California

I'm just making excuses. Dumb ones. I'm gonna do it. It makes it easier for me when I commit myself to the 5 of you. :) I'll make an art blog and hopefully post some projects once in a while. I'll let you know when I get it going. Thanks for reading this long schpeel.

Happy Girl

Hudson has been saying the sweetest things lately. . .

Yesterday we were getting our car licensed and I was holding Hudson while the lady was entering things into the computer. Hudson was lovingly rubbing his face all over mine. Then he looked at me and said high pitched and all drawn out "You're so cute!" The lady said "Oh! That's so sweet!"

I agree.

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Today Hudson was watching "The Rescuers".

H: Why is she (Penny) crying?
N: Because she doesn't have a mommy or a daddy.
H: No, she has a bad mommy (referring to Medusa). I have a happy girl!
N: Am I your happy girl?
H: Yes.
N: Am I a nice mommy?
H: Yes.
N: Oh good!

He makes my day.

Mother's Day Part 2

This is my mom with all of her 6 children.
(Bryant, Valerie, Derek, me, Natalie, Mom, Teresa)

These are my mom's parents, Grandma & Grandpa Schumann.

My mom and me.

Jeff and his mom

Hudson was having a good time with this stick horse.

Then it got even more fun when Grandpa Walker decided to start roping the horse.

(Remember to scroll down to read Mother's Day Part 1! :)

Mother's Day

I had Jeff take some pictures of Hudson and I and I think we got some really good ones!

Hudson wasn't cooperating (trust me, it took everything we had to get the pictures above) so we told him that we wanted pictures of his worm and to show the worm how to smile for the camera.

It's a little embarrassing posting a picture of just me, but it's a rare thing, so I thought I'd post it anyway.

My Stars

We got home late tonight and Hudson and I were out in the back letting Oakley run around and Hudson was shining his flash light on everything. Then he looked up at the stars.

H: Oh! Look at all those stars!

N: Yeah, they're pretty, aren't they?

H: Yeah. They're your stars.

How sweet is that? A perfect little early Mother's Day gift.

Meanwhile, Jeff was pumping refrigerant into our new car! We got a 2002 Isuzu Rodeo. I am pretty excited about it. I had had enough of our other car which was losing it's transmission. We put it for sale Thursday night just by writing on the window and parking it on the street in front of our house. We got a call on it Friday morning, he came and test drove it Friday afternoon, said he'd take it, and came and paid for it and took it away this morning! It was like a Christmas miracle but we'll call it a Mother's Day miracle instead.

Happy Mother's Day all you moms!

Acupuncture

I went to a chiropractor and got acupuncture today! We are going to try it for a while for my infertility. I wasn't too nervous until I actually got on the table and he started taking the needles out. Then I got really nervous when he told me 4 of them were going in my stomach! But it wasn't bad at all. I got 2 needles in each foot, 2 or 3 in each arm/hand, and the 4 in my stomach.
I also got my back adjusted and that was pretty cool and I really do feel better! I also got the electro-stimulation pad things on my shoulders with a hot pad and that was pretty relaxing. It almost felt like a little pampering session!
I am going two times this week, then probably on a weekly basis for a while. We'll see how it goes. I'm pretty interested to see what the results will be!

Quilt Update

So.

I washed the quilt.

I apprehensively put it in the washer, watched the water fill up, and held my breath as the agitator started. I just stood there for a few minutes...watching. Maybe subconsciously sending good vibes and well wishes to the little blanket. Or maybe to the washer saying "Please be kind to my little piece of work".

Then I shut the lid and walked away. I pounded out 3 miles on the treadmill. Then I went to see what was in store for me in the washer. It wasn't good.

It was in shreds.

Almost all of my little squares had fallen off or were just hanging by a thread. Some were missing entirely and must have been eaten by the washer. The bigger purple squares had a lot of seams that had come undone, too.

Maybe it was all the endorphins I had running through my body from having just exercised, or maybe it was just one of those "I've-lost-it.-No,-I've-really-lost-it-and-this-was-the-last-straw-and-send-me-to-the-loony-bin-now-please" kind of laughs, but that's what I did when I pulled that poor, tattered blanket out of the washer--laughed.

Oh well. I have since started to work on fixing it and it will now be even more "shabby chic" than anticipated. Isn't it great that that kind of thing is in style so we can pass off our mistakes as intentional shabbiness?

This little setback made me miss my deadline for the gift giving, so...ummmm....I think I'll be keeping it? We'll see. But I'm so glad I decided to wash it first. How embarrassing would that have been to have given it as a gift and the first time it was washed it all fell apart? Whew.

Oh, and thanks for all your compliments and words of encouragement and advice!