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.

Quick Update

So Hudson is about 3 days away now. Crazy to think but we are here.

The past week has been a challenging one - Of course I had all sorts of plans of things I wanted to do before his arrival for myself, with the children, around the house, etc and I ended up sick. Thanks to the lovely doctors within my clinic I think I am finally on the road to recovery. It has taken a few tries to get the medicine right and the current medicine makes me feel gross but hey I would rather feel gross today than Tuesday. The medicine gets Hudson all stirred up in there; I actually had to ask a friend yesterday about contractions. Ha! I have three children and still don't know about contractions...ask me about c-sections all day long but about contractions and going into labor and I know nothing.

Neal was kind enough to work it out with my parents yesterday to get the current 3 to them for the weekend so I could have some time to rest. After laying on the couch for an evening and sitting around for a morning I have quickly determined that is really hard for me. Isn't it amazing how God orchestrates our circumstances to teach us. As I sat in bed this morning "resting" I could not help but think of all the things I would rather be doing. Crazy. I am so thankful for the time but realize that in some strange way I am wasting part of it by being discontent with the one thing I know I need.

Well enough of that for now...

What I really sat down to tell you is that for a few weeks now I have been consumed with thoughts of food. What sounds good, where would I like to go eat, and how good these pancakes are. I was not sure at first if the crew around here would like them (not sure why because we like just about everything) but I tried them anyway. I have been eying them in one of my cookbooks for years now. So here they are...

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 tespoons kosher salt

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

2 extra-large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Unsalted butter

2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving

Maple syrup

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle batter into the pan to make 3-4 at a time. (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup.) Add a rounded tablespoon of diced bananas to each pancake. Cook until bubbles appear (2-3 minutes) on top then flip and cook until browned. Wipe out pan with a paper towel and repeat until batter is gone.

I kept the pancakes warm by setting the oven to 200 degrees and placing each batch on a plate. The whole process went rather quickly. I think the recipe says you will get 12 but I only got 11, oh well. Even Anna Grace who is not a huge banana lover asked for seconds. They were a big hit with our family.

Okay, so I am hungry now...does going out for breakfast count as resting? I mean a pregnant girl does have to eat and it seems to me that if I go in there and cook that would not be resting!

Its Official

Hudson Knox Hatchett is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, March 1st.

It seems that this pregnancy has been lost on this blog due to all the other things going on around here. However things have been moving along the whole time. I am now 36 weeks (tomorrow) and the hospital decided to kick it into high gear to get us in the book (should have happened weeks ago but God's timing was a little different).

Neal and I have finally embraced that we will most likely welcome Hudson home to our current home - since it has not sold - which is fine. We are now figuring out where to put everyone and think we have that settled but of course will not know for sure until we bring the little man home.

You may be asking why Hudson Knox and the short answer is that we like it. The long answer is Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, is one of my favorite missionaries (with a normal name) - I really love his story of how God called him...God directed him...God moved him. Knox comes from John Knox, great reformer and often considered the founder of the Presbyterian church in Scotland. He was a man impassioned by truth, full of courage, a powerful preacher and nicknamed "The Thundering Scot."

We will keep you posted on the events to come!

The Beginning

The children were ready to begin their National Championship Celebration not last night - they went to bed instead of watching the game...pre-game yes; actual game no - but instead when Neal returned from Arizona.