Pirate's Ahoy!

Back in June Dean turned 4 and it was quite a celebration at the park. He decided he wanted a pirate party and we did it up right for him. Complete with a surprise pirate guest...Pirate Ottie. Since this was only the third time in my life to see Ottie in costume myself it was a fun surprise for all. It would be foolish for me to assume that he wouldn't do such a thing since the "one eyed one horned flying purple people eater" appeared at a youth group event when I was in the 8th grade.

Big Man, you are a blessing to our family. You are my helper, often times the voice of reason for your fearless siblings and most definitely your own man. I would say those three things sum you up pretty well.

As I sat down to type this letter today I could not help but smile thinking about you. Here we are a typically loud family and you are right in the middle of it all soft spoken, happily doing your thing. Don't get me wrong you are all boy running around, getting hyper, wanting to play catch, etc. but even in all of that there is a gentleness running through you. Thinking about the way you relate to your siblings, each so differently, amazes me. With Anna Grace for the most part you go with the flow, play what she asks and you enter her world. With Caleb you laugh and cut up, wreck cars, wrestle and stand your ground requesting he conform to your plan. And then with Hudson you get on his level and laugh and talk to him in the sweetest voice, and hold him and kiss him - truly dote over him. To be four you are incredibly complex.

I love and appreciate your predictability, for example you are currently watching Stuart Little 3 for rest time for about the 4th day in a row. You almost always want the exact same thing for lunch - peanut butter and jelly with yogurt, fruit and a glass of milk; you will pick David and Goliath anytime you get to pick a Bible story; you will ask every chance you can if we can go to the enchilada restaurant. You are consistent!

You have made your dad so proud with your excitement for the PS3 and Wii. Don't tell her (she may have figured it out actually) but you are certainly better than Anna Grace at the Batman game and LittleBigPlanet and you are way better than I ever thought about being at either. Your excitement about baseball is also something that you share with Daddy. I know he is looking forward to fall ball - we are all excited about watching you play. As we should be because you have been so gracious to watch Anna Grace dance and sing for the past year.

It has been so much fun to watch you get more and more comfortable swimming and riding the tube this summer as well. I know that there can be no one in the world who enjoys a boat ride as much as you however everyone loves cheering you on in the tube after observing your patience as others tube and ski first. Daddy just reminded me that when he asked you if you wanted to tube during one long afternoon in the boat while we taught Anna Grace and the Triplets to ski you said, "No, I want Caroline and Anna Grace to get up on skis first." You exhibited the patience of Job that day.

You have one of the most amazing gifts - one that I certainly don't have; you know everyone's name. I am constantly amazed as we walk through the halls at church and you see children of all ages (close to yours but not in your class) and you say hey and call them by name. I still have not figured out how you can do that or how you know them. I guess it is only fitting that Mrs. Dana at the barber shop each month calls you by name out of the line up to come get your hair cut even though you don't say much more than hey, thank you and can I have a sucker.

You love your family and we sure love you, Big Man! I say it all the time you are our gentle giant...you blend in, kind, thoughtful but you are opinionated, you know what you want and you go for it - usually when we are not paying attention - and often times you bring a few people along with you in your endeavor. I hope that you never get too cool to give me a hug and a kiss and the girls better look out because if they are anything like me your dimples will make them melt...we will have to address girls and how to deal with them another time but for now ask nicely with a smile and they are bound to say yes and share.

As always I will continue to pray that God will shower down his grace and mercy on you, fill you with a spirit that longs to serve him and a heart that passionately knows and follows his word. Years ago Daddy prayed the charge of David (1 Kings 2:2-3) for your life and this day I pray something so similar that you would "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10)

I love you, Dean Freeman!

pictures from the day

A Two Year Old

Caleb, My Sweet Caleb...

I am in disbelief that you are now 2. Where does all of the time go? We had a super fun "block party" for your birthday. You loved your building block cakes and being able to pick your cake color for days.

You really are a hoot, Caleb. Just a few days ago your Daddy and I laughed so hard at you when you ran through a crowd of people you did not know and stopped in the middle to give a kick, flex your muscles and growl before continuing on your way. I could not help noticing several bystanders laughing as well. You do love to get a laugh but you also love to laugh and it is infectious. It amazes me that you are the toughest around here but if you think someone is hurt or sad you are usually the first on the scene to check them out and offer a hug or a gentle pat. You enjoy being loud (What can I say; you are a Hatchett.), you roar and growl all over the place at people and things and the faster you run chasing your older siblings the harder you giggle.

You love your siblings, especially Dean. It is monkey see, monkey do around here. You stand like him, want to do the same things he does, and have even been known to snub food that you liked after noticing that Dean was not a fan. And that is saying a lot because you have quite a love affair with food. You are the only person in our family who wanders into our room in the morning saying "EAT!" Your ear is in tune with the oven timer always; you can hear that sound from anywhere in the house, yell "eat" and then start calling people to the table. I got a little side-tracked though. You have a very sweet relationship with Hudson. You get the biggest kick out of watching him get a diaper change and then getting to lean over him and give him a kiss...right on the mouth of course. I have to watch closely because you have been known to lay on him, being a little over zealous with your hug. And then there is Anna Grace. You long to "cook" with her which drives her crazy because you don't "cook" the way she would want you to but you do try so hard to play with her.

You have the excitement about little things that your Daddy has. Just this morning I said something about having popsicles after dinner tonight and you were over-joyed. You seem to be an aggressive little fireball yet when the girl pinched the fire out of your arm in VBS this year you did not get mad at her. (I am still trying to figure that one out because she pinched you so hard I wanted to pinch her back for you.) You get a thrill out of helping out - holding the door, singing a song to cheer Hudson or taking the diapers to the trash. You love to sing songs and do the funniest dances, probably trying to copy your sister. You meet no stranger with your big eyes and big smile. You are the most persistent child I know. I have thought many days of the biblical Caleb and how after 45 years of waiting he still had his heart set on the inheritance that God had promised him. At 85 years old he was excited to conquer his promised hill country (Joshua 14:6-15). There are days around here that I think you have your heart set on the "hill country" and there will be no stopping you from completing your task even if it is at the expense of your siblings. You are happy the large majority of the time. Your are strong and determined. You spend so much of your day making sure that your 5 1/2 year old sister and your 4 year old brother (as of today) don't get ahead of you in any way.

At 2 years of age I would describe you as my loving, stubborn, happy warrior (I am not sure all of those seem to go together but they do describe you well). I love kissing your fat cheeks and cherish each kiss knowing that one day you will think Daddy is more fun (everyone around here does at some point...but I will say you are making him work hard for his status) and it is not cool to let your mom kiss you.

My charge to you...a life-long charge..."Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Joshua 22:5) Impossible in your own strength, my son, but I pray continually that the Lord will bless you with a heart that loves Him, loves His word and most importantly belongs to Him.

Your nap time is over now so I am going to go wake you up (and probably kiss on you until you get mad at me).

I love you, Little Man,
Mama

some faces from the day

DOOT!!!

He has risen indeed!

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

(2 Corinthians 8:9)

We had a great Easter. There are pictures of our Easter egg hunt at the Lake but those are for another post when I have more time. For now here are some Easter day family photos.

Dean and Anna Grace were hamming it up.

We realized about this time that Caleb is quite the picture poser.

I am sure one day he will be hamming it up with Dean.

We happened to mention that there was candy to enjoy after pictures.

(This is by far my favorite picture.)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

yeah spring!

While Hudson took a nap we spent some time outside finger painting. Our family is very thankful for the pretty weather.

if you wondered how i was spending my days

I know that lots of you have been in this boat for some time now and some have already completed this never-ending voyage but here is how I spent my day....

And this is with one load already put away before things got out of control and another load currently in the dryer. Now I am remembering why for the past few weeks I was doing a load a day. (And to think I thought I was going to get to the grocery store this afternoon. Ha!)

Oh and it was intentional that Hudson was in the picture because when I was not moving laundry around the house I was taking care of him. I figure Anna Grace, Dean and Caleb did not require near the effort today that the laundry and Hudson did so no need to try and make room for them on the bed.

On a side note, Dean just asked me if there was another baby in my tummy. I quickly said, "No."

Hudson 2.0

I took Hudson in this morning for a 3 week check-up with our pediatrician. He is currently 9 pounds, 21.5 inches long with a head circumference of of 14.75 inches (all around the 75th percentile). The best news is that he felt Hudson was ready to be taken off the Apnea Monitor...which leads to the title of this post, a new and improved Hudson is now available for our family; no more hauling him and a monitor around. After being home for a few hours and not having to remember to pick up the monitor or keep the cords out of the way for diaper changes I can say I am extremely thankful and feel so free.

He is a little mischievous looking here...maybe a glimpse

of what is to come.

all under one roof

I hope you have not been looking here to find out when Hudson came home...because he came home on Saturday. Things have been a little busy though so I am just now taking a moment to update the blog.

Needed Blog Name Change...

As most of you know I have needed to change the blog title from "5 Please" for some time now since it no longer applies. I was having a hard time coming up with what made sense to me until Saturday when we were all at home for the first time. I quickly realized things around here were spinning almost out of control between making sure the big three did not hurt Hudson during their aggressive helping, caring for Hudson with his obnoxious (but we are thankful to have it) apnea monitor, and meeting the needs of the others. All of that was with extra adult help in the house of course but Neal and I still found ourselves saying "Wow!" a lot. Around lunch time - which was about an hour after we got home from the NICU - it hit me...From here on out we will have four children...no easing into this it is just ready, set, go with four from here on out. I have often wondered during the past few days if it would not be more accurately spelled "fore" but the verdict is still out on that.

As for Hudson...

He started out with a rocky start spending almost 2 weeks in the NICU. He seems to be doing extremely well now. He is growing well, eating sufficiently (probably not as well as I personally would like but we had to get him used to not taking a bottle when he first came home) and doing the normal infant things...sleeping, eating and pooping. Other than seeing him on the monitor, he appears to be a normal 3 week old. Anna Grace, Dean and Caleb adore him. Anna Grace and Dean have enjoyed holding him and helping me (getting stuff for me). Caleb, who we all feared was going to be extremely jealous, has been anything but jealous; his favorite thing to do is hold Caleb and either kiss his head or point to and name his body parts.

Over all life with four children has been a busy adventure. We are adjusting to our new routine but so far it is slow going. For example, I started this post Friday morning and it is currently Sunday afternoon. I suspect that within the next few weeks we will get it figured out. Thank you all so much for your prayers, support and meals during the past few weeks. They have all been greatly appreciated. Neal and I have truly felt blessed though it all.

Maybe sometime later this week I will post some of the funnier moments from the past weeks because there have been some funny ones that will not be forgotten for a long time.

Pictures...

Hudson's Birth Party

Even though Hudson had been taken to the NICU we went ahead and had his Birth Party. Viewing pictures of Hudson had to suffice for our King Cake celebrate. For the record Anna Grace and Dean did not like that they could not see him but did like that he was in a "special room with a special doctor getting well." Caleb on the other hand was not concerned with the lack of Hudson's presence; he was just fired up to eat cake.

Hudson's Homecoming and First Holdings

Hudson

Courtney wanted me to post the latest goings on with Hudson here on the blog.

He was born on Tuesday 3/1 at 7:36am. He weighed 7lb 10oz and was 19" long. His head is 14" around....a Hatchett head.

Shortly after he was born it was soon discovered that he had some fluid in his lungs so they took him to the NICU for observation. They did a chest x-ray to determine the extent of the fluid and after seeing it decided that he needed to be admitted into the NICU.

Right now he has an oxygen dome over his head to help him breathe and is getting all of his nourishment from an IV. He has been steadily improving so that's good. Because of the dome we are unable to hold him so that's a little frustrating.

From what the nurses have told us, if things keep progressing along it should be about 7-10 days before he can go home.

Please pray that the fluid will continue to go out of his lungs and that he'll be able to come home soon.

If you're reading this and you also use Facebook but you're not friends with me send me a friend request, the latest Hudson updates usually go there first.