Birthday Blues

Sometimes I get a case of "BLAHrthdays"...can't quite put my finger on it, but it happens.  So today, on my last day as a twenty-something, I have compiled a list of 29 Things that I currently love and/or things I am thankful for to help remind myself just how truly blessed I am. So here were go, in no particular order:

1.       Though it terrifies me (how did I end up with a little country boy??), Brennan’s accent.  You should hear the kid say seven (say-vun) or hotel (ho-tay-el)

2.       The way Luke says most things, but particularly “C’mon Guys!” (Uh-Mon, Dies!) and “Peanut Butter and Jelly” (Pee-buhr-deli)

3.     Freshly shaven legs+clean sheets/freshly made bed...ahhhhh!!!

4.       My Friendly (Friends that are Family), because really. I don’t know where I would be without them.

5.       Reconnecting with long-lost Friendly Members this summer.  It was so wonderful being able to hug and talk and just be there. 

6.       My husband and how devoted he is to our family.  Not many men could be a full service, stay-at-home-Dad, all while maintaining a full time job to provide for us.  He is the best.  Seriously.

7.       My husband and how smokin' hot he is.  Just sayin’. He has taken to running lately and I am so proud of him!

8.       Taking Brennan to school every morning.  It’s typically a pretty quiet ride, but just being able to kiss and hug him goodbye and watch him walk in with his ridiculously huge backpack bouncing against his bum…so sweet.

9.       Naps!!  I have two kids who (usually) don’t put up a fuss about napping on the weekends.  This means that for 1-2 glorious hours on Saturday and Sunday, we all just get to sleep.  Ahhh, sleep…is there anything better??

10.   Fall.  Though it doesn’t mean quite the same thing as it used to now that we live in Texas(it is still 90 degrees outside and probably will continue to be until mid-November), I still love Fall.  How appropriate that I was born on the first day of fall!  Bring on the pumpkin-everything!

11.   Sweet bedtime prayers with my boys.  Brennan’s prayers are so simple, but his love for his friends and family shines through. Melts my heart.

12.   Those random texts from Derek throughout the day.

13.   Listening to my boys play together and laugh with each other.  Don’t be fooled…it’s not an everyday occurrence, sometimes the fight like cats and dogs!  But when they are being nice to each other, it is music to my ears.

14.   The friends that I have made here in Texas.  It has been a process, getting used to living here, but these friends that I have made have certainly made it easier!

15.   Corny Jokes.  Always have, always will.  A new favorite: “You can’t use puns with kleptomaniacs.  They take everything literally.” Love it. Can’t stop. Sorrynotsorry.

16.   Exchanging pictures and/or texts of ridiculously over-the-top Christian t-shirts, billboards, church signs, etc. with my good friend, Liz.  We have done this for years and will continue to do so because it’s just absurd what some people put on the side of church buildings to proclaim the name of Jesus.  Such as: “Bring your sin to the altar and drop it like it’s hot. Drop it like it’s hot.”  (pretty sure even Snoop Dizzle would be like "say whaaaaaaaa???")

17.   Knowing that Derek and I are so close to being debt-free and never looking back.  4 years ago we made the choice to ditch the debt.  We don’t have a lot of “stuff” and we have cut back tremendously, but the funny thing is that in doing so, we realized…we don’t need it and really couldn’t care less about half of it!  TV-Shmeevee…we aint got no bills, folks!! And THAT is an amazing feeling.

18.   Hearing Brennan recite his memory verses.  He does such a great job and it makes my heart happy that he is learning and memorizing scripture.

19.   The fact that me and my husband and my babies are healthy and have the ability to walk and talk and work and be active.

20.   Surprises! Giving and Receiving…but mostly giving.  Although I am notoriously bad about keeping things under wraps.  It’s truly a miracle if a surprise lasts until “surprise time” with me :)
 
21.   Boxers. The dog variety.  Derek and I talk about what kind of dog we want from time to time.  He says Rhodesian Ridegback (which are beautiful dogs and I wouldn’t mind) but I just love Boxers.  I miss Levi.

22.   Oh my gosh, guys…I just discovered this not too long ago, but TEA FLOATS.  I had a hankering for a float but didn’t have any soda.  I thought to myself “I like tea with sugar and cream…I wonder if iced tea over ice cream would be good??”  Spoiler Alert:  IT’S AWESOME.  Unsweetened Iced Tea + Vanilla Ice Cream.  DO IT.

23.   Being able to meet and play with (and allow my kids to meet and play with) my old friend’s kids.  It’s like Mini-Friends…and what we always talked about.  So fun!

24.   Celebrity Gossip Magazines.  Guilty Pleasure.  But I won’t buy them.  Every now and then, Derek will bring them home when passengers leave them on the airplane…happy days!!

25.   Friends Reruns. Derek gets annoyed and will very dryly say “Oh. I have never seen this episode.” But I think he secretly enjoys watching with me because it never gets old. Unlike me.

26.   The ability to fly most places for free. Perks of being married to a pilot. Sure, it would be nice if we didn’t have to fly stand-by, but I will not complain!  Free is free!

27.   Pickled Okra.  Another new discovery…evidently the country is getting to all of us ‘round here. Hey Y’all!!

28.   Hearing Brennan say “Mom…did you know I love you??” like 500 times a day.  I love this because I know that he says it because he has heard us say it to him about 501 times a day and THAT my friends, is a main goal of mine. That my boys and my man will know that they know that they know that I love them!

29.   Talking about our future with Derek…and being so excited because I won’t lie, I’m not even a little bit sad about turning 30.  I have a feeling that thirty is going to be awesome.  I got 29 Problems and a Birthday aint one. BRING IT!!

Pre-K Interview

I did a "First Day of School" interview with Brennan. So these are his answers (verbatim), at 4 years old, on his first day of Pre-K.

1. What is your favorite color? Green 

 

2. What is your favorite animal? Giraffe

 

3. What is your favorite food? Peanut Butter and Jellies

 

4. What is your favorite toy? My trash truck that has the triangle move button.

 

5. What was your favorite thing you did this summer? Play outside...and ride airplanes!

6. What are you really good at? I'm really good at building towers...LEGO towers.

 

7. What is the hardest thing for you to do? (sigh) work out in the sun...*

 

8. What is your favorite thing to do at home?  Build train tracks in my room.

 

9. Who is your best friend? Dixie Leigh because I like her the most in the whole world.

 

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A farmer. And I'm gonna have a farm and lots of animals. I'm a young farmer now.**

 

11. Where do you want to live when you grow up? Hmmm...in Dallas-Fort Worth. I want to live where you and Dad met***

 

12. If you could have a super power what would it be? I would cook pancakes with my eyes. I mean my nose. I would put the spoon in my nose and cook it.****

 

13. What is your favorite book? The Little Red Caboose and Library Mouse. Both of them are my favorite.

 

14. What is your favorite song? Jesus Loves Me. Mmm-hmm.

 

15. What is your favorite memory verse? Your teachings are worth...NO. A friend loves at all times. Provers 17:17*****

*For the record, we do not enforce slave labor. The kid practically begs to be outside at all times.

**I wonder what age would classify him as an old farmer?  Or even a middle-aged farmer? 

***Actually,, we met in Lynchburg, VA...NOT Dallas-Ft Worth! 

****BOYS! Always with the bodily function/body-part humor. I tell ya.

*****he always drops the "b" at the end of Proverbs. It's precious. Provers. Also, he couldn't quite decide...he started out with Psalm 119:72 and swiftly changed his mind.

Off He Goes...

My baby boy…the whole reason this blog was started several years ago…my precious Brennan.  He started school today.   

As we were driving to school I warned him that some of his new friends might be a little bit sad or scared today because it would be the first time they were leaving their Mommies and Daddies.  Brennan told me "It's ok, Mom.  I know how to calm them down.  I will be REEEEEEALLY kind to them." Be still my heart.  

I wasn't quite sure how I would react to dropping him off for the first time.  It was a little bit chaotic when we arrived because all of the other parents were, like me, trying to soak it all in.  Pictures were being snapped left and right, school supplies being dropped off, backpacks tucked into their cubbies.  Brennan went right in and sat on the rug to play with toys and mingle with his new friends.  As I walked away the tears came and I tried to discreetly wipe them away, but no one judged because they all knew why.

All at once I am feeling a mixture of heartache, excitement, nervousness, and happiness. How can it be that my little chubby angel baby is now a KID.  A kid that has so much energy, is so smart, so loving, so hilarious.  He is going to love school, I just know it.  I can’t wait to see how this year unfolds and to watch my boy grow some more.  And I have a strong suspicion that this whole “school” endeavor will provide MANY topics for blog worthy posts!

Happy First Day of School, Sweet Boy.  We are so proud of you and love you so much! xoxo

WHAT-A-MELON!

How appropriate that my first post in nearly 2 years would be inspired by food. I mean, it makes the world go 'round, right? (see what I did there??) Or is that love? At any rate, GUYS...you have to try this!*

I bought two Watermelons yesterday. One for eating fresh because, well, I love fresh cold watermelon. And one for freezing. "Freeze Watermelon??" You say?? YES!! Cut it into chunks and freeze it. Then when it is all nice and frozen, put it in the blender with a wee bit of lemon juice and you have yourself a Watermelon Lemonade Slushy. (And not the artificial watermelon flavor like you would find in Bubbalicious, because...bleh!) It is the perfect slushy-texture without adding any ice.  It's just straight-up watermelon and lemon juice. BOOM. Side note, methinks this would also make a fabulous Watermelon Margarita. You're welcome.

 Oh my stars, my life is complete!! This is a delightful treat. Luke wanted a straw because a spoon just wasn't quick enough.

Enjoy!!

*I realize that I am probably behind the times and everyone probably already knew about this.

Merry Christmas to All

 

Well...this is a New-Mommy-of-Two's excuse for a Christmas Card/Letter.  Also, I was really counting on that whole Mayan Apocalypse thing panning out* and I didn't want to waste any time writing a Christmas Letter if we were all going to be annihilated anyway!  So here I sit, writing out a recap of our 2012 a mere two days before Christmas.  Forgive us for this horribly impersonal mode of Christmas Greeting and please know that we love you all!

This year has been full of adventure for the Hulsey fam.  Thank the Lord that we had a mild summer compared to 2011, as I was largely pregnant for those blazing hot months.  With the lower summer temperatures, it was ensured that no one had to fear the wrath of pregnant Lindsey!  Yay!

Our chickens survived another year...kind of.  We ended up getting twelve new baby chicks in the middle of the year and found out later that of those twelve chickens we had been blessed with NINE roosters.  What are the odds of that?!  So we** had our first experience with processing our own chicken and enjoyed many fresh roast chicken dinners!

Derek is still flying as a First Officer for American Eagle Airlines.  He enjoys his job and tries to get trips that allow him to be home at least 3 days a week.  Having him gone has been especially difficult this year, but we always love it when he is home with us.  He is such a great Husband and Father.  Every time Brennan sees an airplane in the sky he stops and yells "THAT'S DAD!  HI DAD!"  It's quite comical, but mostly adorable.  I love that my boys have such an amazing Daddy to admire. 

I (Lindsey) spent most of the year growing a baby and working at a local bank.  I really loved the ladies that I worked with, but I was so very excited to know that this was my last year working a "normal" job for a while.  I am really enjoying the "stay-at-home-Mom" routine so far.  I always thought people were a little silly to say that it is the hardest work they have ever done, but as of now...I am eating my words.  Really!  For a job that you can wear your pajamas to, this stuff is hard!  Thankfully, I have a husband and children who show me grace daily and I am doing my best to learn the ropes and make it fun for all. 

 

Brennan is just as smart, funny, loving, and handsome as ever.  He has really started to enjoy going to his Sunday School class at church and it is so much fun watching him build relationships with his little friends.  Hearing him talk about his "best friends" melts my heart.  Some of my best memories are from my friends and even though he is only three, it does this Mommy's heart good to know that he loves and is loved.  He is ridiculously smart and amazes us daily with the things he comes up with.  QUITE the imagination.  He loves his baby brother so much and it is sometimes hard for us to keep him off of the baby.  All he wants to do is hug and kiss and snuggle.  We're just glad he didn't catch the jealously bug! 

 

Luke, our precious new addition...in the previous blog post you can read all about Luke's grand arrival.  We spent more than 9 months wondering if he was a He or She and we were so excited when he was born and we learned that we now had TWO sons.  Brennan had a brother!  Luke has been such a joy and now that we have figured out the eating fiasco (We have google and lactation consultants to thank for my sanity!) he is a very sweet and content little fellow.  He loves to be upright so he can see the world around him.  He recognizes all of us now and save his biggest smiles for his family.  Also, as of about 9 weeks old our sweet little Luke-y Charm has been sleeping for around 8 hours each night.  Can you hear the angels sing???  We can't imagine our lives without this precious guy!

So, to sum it up...we have been tremendously blessed this year.  We want to thank everyone who held us in prayer through this year and in the first months of Luke's life.  We love you more than you know!

Merry Christmas Y'all! (Can I say that?  I think I can since I have lived in Texas for three years now...crazy!)

*Only joking.  I knew those Mayans had it wrong.  But it seems like a nice excuse for failing to have a Christmas Letter prepared, eh? 

**When I say "we", I really mean HE...Derek handled the dirty work.  I let him know in advance that I had no problem preparing and eating the chicken, but there was no way in hades I was plucking feathers and removing innards.  BLEH.  Thankfully, a friend of ours from church works for the University in the nearby city and offered to allow Derek to use all of the "equipment" to make processing the chickens an easy task. 

Luke's Story

Let me just start by saying:

God is so good!  Since before I knew for sure that I was pregnant, I began to pray that God would allow me to have a safe and healthy VBAC delivery.  I was nervous and anxious that it wouldn't happen and that I would end up needing to have another cesarean section, but I prayed fervently for peace through the pregnancy and I trusted that everything would work out according to His perfect plan.  I knew that no matter the method of delivery I would have a precious baby and most of all I just wanted for both of us to be healthy and safe!  Thank you to everyone who prayed for us through this pregnancy.  We can never tell you just how much it means to us to have your support!

 SO, Here's how it went...

The last shot of my big old baby belly. 

It was a dark and stormy night…literally.  Those of you who think that moon cycles and weather don’t have any effect on pregnant women, HAH!  Clearly it worked for me!  …The night of September 29^th (the full moon AND a wicked little thunder storm) I felt ok, but right around midnight (the beginning of September 30^th) I began having contractions like clockwork every 15 minutes.  Consequently, I got zero sleep.  Around 4 am I let my panic get the best of me and decided to go ahead and call Derek (he was in Mexico, naturally.) to let him know that I was having contractions and he should probably head home at his earliest convenience (or RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW!), but lo and behold…the international calling plan that we had purchased failed.  Lovely.  So I resorted to sending facebook messages to him (knowing fully that he wouldn’t check his facebook until he woke up at a decent hour…why would he??)  Sure enough, the hours passed, the uterus kept right on contracting, and Derek slept peacefully in his little Mexican Hotel Room.  I have to admit…at this point I was still thinking that maybe I was just being ridiculous in wanting Derek to come home.  I mean, after all, the contractions were still 15 minutes apart and maybe I was just having “false labor”.  When he finally called me around 8:30 that morning he asked how I was doing and decided that he would come home.  Unfortunately, the earliest flight out of Mexico was the flight that he was scheduled to fly!  So he just had to wait.  Poor guy.  He landed in Dallas around 4:30pm and called me immediately.  I informed him then that my contractions were 12 minutes apart and still very consistent.  He got through customs, to his car and drove (very fast…eek!) toward home.  He called me about every 10 minutes (or so it seemed) on the way home and my contractions progressively moved to 10 minutes apart, then 8 minutes, then 6 minutes.  I figured at this point that it most likely WASN’T false labor.  It definitely felt very real.  I called the hospital and let them know that I was coming and hopped in the car with Derek’s Mom to head that way.  Derek changed his destination in the GPS to go directly to the hospital and amazingly (or terrifyingly…whatever) made it from Dallas to Nacogdoches in about 2 and a half hours (normally about 3 and a half or 4 hours of driving!)

 

This is what my face looked like when my contractions were 6 minutes apart. haha!

Finally my baby Daddy arrived!

 When I arrived at the hospital and got all checked in my dear sweet nurse informed me that I was, in fact, only 1 cm dilated.  To which I replied “Say Whaaaaaaa???  How could this BE???  And let me just say…if this is what 1 cm feels like, I am going to need an epidural yesterday because WOW…this sucks.”  Ok, so maybe I didn’t say those exact words, but I was heartbroken.  And exhausted.  But at least Derek was there with me now.  I could handle it as long as he was there.  The nurse even toyed with the idea that my doctor might want to send us back home (the nerve!) but that we would give it a little while and see how things progressed.  She suggested that Derek and I walk “laps” around the Labor and Delivery floor and see if that would spark up some dilation.  We walked for about 45 minutes and in that time my contractions started to come every three minutes and they hurt just like the dickens. (JUST like them!)  I decided to go back to the room and try out the tub to see if that would help and I will admit that I thought for sure I would be at least 6 or 7 cm dilated at this point.  It was just insanely painful.  I know…childbirth is painful…shocker.

I was on my knees (literally) in pain during our "walk" around the hospital.  OUCH!

 Anyway, we went back to the room and I was in the tub for just about as long as it took to fill it up and then I couldn’t stand it any longer and had to get out and see if I could get some drugs to help me out.  I was so tired and I just wanted to sleep and get some rest to be able to have some energy when the time came to push.  Funny thing…when I got out of the tub and she checked me again, I was still only 1 cm dilated.  ONE!  Unbelievable!  There may or may not have been a few expletives spewed.  The nurse offered to give me a drug called Fentanyl and an Ambien to help me get some sleep.  I asked how quickly the Fentanyl would kick in and my nurse assured me that it would be almost automatic because it was going directly into my IV.  She sweetly instructed me to “get some rest” (HAH!) and left the room.  The next 45 minutes were basically the worst thing ever.  Ok, maybe not the worst EVER, but certainly the most painful 45 minutes of my life!  And can I just state, for the record, that my precious little nurse told me a lie straight from the pit of hell...that Fentanyl did absolutely NOTHING for me.  When she came back into the room after 45 minutes or so I asked if I could please have more of the drug or something else to help with the pain.  She said that the baby’s heart rate was declining a little bit so they couldn’t give me anything else.  I told her I was scared because I felt like every time I was having a contraction my body had a mind of its own and was pushing!  It was such a strange sensation.  I couldn’t stop it!  I even remember the nurse looking at the monitor and saying “Gosh…you’re having some STRONG contractions, Girl!”  (Hello, Nurse Obvious.  Pleasure to meet you!)  Anyway, she decided she would check me again and as she did her face changed from “this poor girl thinks that she is in pain NOW, she’s only 1 cm!” to “Hmmm…that’s strange.” because upon inspection she discovered that I had gone from 1cm to 10cm in a matter of 45 minutes.  When she said this to me I didn’t quite understand because believe me…in that moment…I wanted an epidural.  I wanted one BAD.  But guess what??  They won’t give you an epidural when you are 10 cm and already pushing…can you believe that?!  RUDE.  So there I was, having the VBAC that I had prayed so hard for and without pain killers to boot! (not so much a specific part of my prayer, but God has a sense of humor!)  My doctor wasn’t even there because just less than an hour before the whole 1 to 10 fiasco, the nurse had called her and told her not to worry about coming in!  So now my nurse was calmly asking me NOT to push if I could.  She asked me to “breathe through the contractions” and I cried and apologized because, as I said before, my body had a mind of its own!  I couldn’t stop!  Eventually the nurse just said we would do some “practice pushes” while the doctor was on her way.  Turns out I didn’t need a whole lot of practice.  I guess I am pretty awesome at pushing!  (can we get a round of applause, please?  Thank you.)  My doctor showed up less than 5 minutes before the baby was born.  It was actually kind of comical when she arrived because she was throwing on her scrubs and gloves like a mad woman and as soon as she sat down the baby was out. 

My sweet baby boy, Luke Iven Hulsey was born at 12:45 am on October 1, 2012!

8 lbs 5 oz and 19.5" Long

So glad (and clearly feeling the Ambien) to be holding my boy!

Funny how your perspective on life (and your facial expressions) change when you aren't in Labor!

Love my family!

We are all happy and healthy and you know, even with the insane and intense pain that I experienced in the birth of this baby boy, I would do it all over again in a heart beat!  The recovery from this VBAC has been a million times easier than my c-section (even with a toddler added into the mix!) I am so incredibly blessed to have had this experience!

 

Oh, the horror...(Part II-Even MORE heinous)

So yesterday Derek decided it was time to mow our "yard" (We don't really have an official yard, per se...it's more of a boundary that we create in the hay field by cutting the grass so that we don't have waist deep hay at our front door...you understand.)  I was inside with Brennan and we watched through various windows throughout the house as Derek buzzed around on the riding mower.  Then...he stopped.  He gazed toward the house with a crazed look in his eye* and I thought "Uh-oh...what's wrong??"  So I went to the door to check and he walked up calmly and told me to get the camera because there was a HUGE spider.  (There may or may not have been an expletive thrown in there.)  I have to admit, I thought he must be overreacting, a spider big enough to get off of the giant machine you are driving?? But who am I to judge?  So I got the camera.  Much to my dismay...he was, in fact, NOT overreacting...No, not one little bit.  

THIS is what he saw whilst mowing:

Texas Brown Tarantula...discovered mere FEET from my front door.

Perhaps the most astounding thing about this whole charade is that we caught the thing.  Looking back on this now, CLEARLY we were suffering some sort of panic-induced insanity.  Why else would we have gotten close enough to first capture the beast in a tupperware container and then transfer it to a mason jar since we couldn't see through the tupperware very well?  It defies reason. 

I have to admit...I was really hoping that this little monster and the heart palpitations that ensued would have thrown me into labor...but alas, I am still pregnant.  We didn't kill the spider, by the way.  Upon doing some research we learned that the Texas Brown Tarantula is actually quite docile and not poisonous.  Also, they eat other bugs and spiders and such.  HOWEVER, we did pass him along to my Father-in-Law who wanted to get some better pictures of the mongrel.**  He has STRICT instructions to release the disgusting beast far FAR away from the residence.  

I'm thinking it might be time to move.  Who can find me a place where man-eating spiders don't exist?? Hmm??

*He was clearly disturbed, but tried to remain calm.  As we were contemplating how to catch the spider he had the idea that maybe he could just "drop" the tupperware onto the spider.  I assured him that was a horrible idea because clearly this thing could bench press us both...we needed some force behind it!   So my brave husband inched closer and closer...very slowly...and finally slammed down the tupperware as he yelled "FACE YOUR FEARS!!" It was actually more like "FACEYOURFEARS!" one swift word.  If you watch Modern Family, think "Excited-Phil-Dunphy-Voice"  HILARIOUS.  

**That's right...Mongrel.  This thing was harrier than a dog.  And had longer legs too.