Etsy, Nesting and Easter

So I will attempt to do a quick general update on our "happenings" over the past month and a half.

So my etsy shop hit critical mass. Shane and I have been so so so busy keeping it a float. It has been a blessing and a curse. I wish there was a better way to regulate how much I sell. In one month we had over 400+ sales. That is a lot of sewing for one tired Mama. I have my shop essentially on vacay mode right now just trying to catch up and get ready for the baby.

There were still 62 orders left pending when these went out. CRAZY!

With the little guy coming, we have had to do a bunch of nesting to get ready. We moved Cooper into Hudson's room(with unbelievable success). Cooper had still been sleeping in his crib, but thankfully since the bunk bed we got is quite high off the ground and we have a bed rail up, Cooper stays in his big boy bed. I really was not sure how it would all pan out, but it has been better than I expected.  I will share a photo of the boys room when it is all done- it is the one room we did not manage to get painted)

We got some new furniture for the nursery, and I have fabric to make some bedding, so hopefully I will be able to get it done before he comes.Shane has been super busy with all of my honey do list items, and has been building furniture like a mad man. I was going to do a full redo of the room, but I just don't have it in me. I found an amazing tutorial on Pinterest to make some minky soft crib sheets for the crib mattress, and they turned out AMAZING. I always wanted to make them for Cooper, but didn't get them done. I LOVE soft fabric for babies, so I am glad the little guy will have a soft crib (sorry Cooper).

On to our room. I did a really crappy paint job a couple years ago, and decided I needed a wardrobe for my clothes. It really really was not working. I have hated the layout and furniture in my room for so long, but thankfully we have now fixed it. We are planning on moving, but we feel like we need to wait until the massive renos are done at our condo and sell it before we move. I decided if we are staying here for another year, we all need more storage, and better beds. That included us this time-yay. I got rid of the over sized under functioning wardrobe, and got two dressers, that give me way more space and storage. We got rid of our Cal King bed, which I did not even know was such a crappy bed until we got our new king bed. The layout of our room works so much better now. Shane fixed our headboard and lowered it so we can see out the window in our room in it's new location, and Jodie and Serena came and painted the whole room for me doing a complete and great job. It is so so so so much better. I am just waiting on a couple last details and it will be complete.

We have been working our little butts off to get everything done before the baby comes. I hope we can finish!!

Hudson and Cooper have been seriously amazing the past little while. They are hilarious. They have really become close and listening to them talk together is so fun. As the weather has been better they have loved playing outside together. Cooper insists on calling Hudson Huds which totally cracks me up. They are just the best. We really are ready for spring, park visits, walks, bike rides, and the baby to be here.

 While the boys were gone to Jodie's we had general conference. It was such a different experience not having kids around to distract us. The messages were amazing. Again, I am just so so thankful that we have continuing revelation and that we are able to have our prophet and apostles speak to us regarding today's issues. I am sure it will be many years before we get to listen to all of conference without kids:)

 This last Sunday was Easter Sunday. We had a very low key weekend. It was great. On Sunday we were blessed to have an apostle, Elder Christofferson come and speak to us. It was really special. The talks at the conference were great. At then end, he invited all of the children to come and shake his hand. Hudson was pretty excited and told him to say hi to President Monson.

This past week our family also had some really exciting news. Cody(my oldest nephew) got his mission call. He is just the best kid ever, and I am so so proud of him. He will be serving in the Santa Rosa California Mission, but does not leave until September 17th. I am so excited for him, as I LOVED my experience as a missionary, and I know he will benefit from it as well. I just love him:) We all got to listen on the phone as Cody read his call. I think it made an impact on Hudson, and I am so glad he has such a great role model in his life.

Pregnancy Update

DISCLAIMER:If you like being pregnant or are sensitive about pregnancy, don't bother reading this.

33 weeks

I am 36 weeks and miserable! For real. The way I feel right now is the reason I HATE being pregnant. I have major insomnia, heartburn, and the pressure in my pelvic area makes me look like I have 2 broken hips when I walk, my hands are swollen and ache, I am itchy ect ect. I have learned that Pregnancy is not equal among women, and for me it just plain stinks. Good thing I only have a month left.

A few weeks ago I started leaking amnoiotic fluid which has resulted in me having A LOT of Doctors appts. I go for a non stress test at the hospital every week as well as an ultrasound every other week, and now I see my Doctor every week as well. It has just been so busy!

My outie! No more room!!

I have been so blessed to have angel sisters who have literally saved my bacon!
Leanne came to Edmonton and brought the boys to Slave Lake for a few days, then Cassidy came to Edmonton with the boys and helped me out. When Jodie came to pick up Cassidy she brought the boys up to Grande Praire with her. A few days later she came back, and stayed for a few days and literaly painted my whole house. UNREAL. (more about that later:)

So far, I still have enough fluid, and everything is okay with the little guy. He is so so so active, and kicks non stop. I had an ultrasound this week, which was super cute. I got a 3D picture of him and the tech even got a crazy video of him peeing. The US techs told me that the baby already weighs 6'11. I almost died. She said there is still lots of room for him to grow(I wanted to faint).

Mr. Chunky

I as usual am huge and having a hard time moving around. I feel so bad for my kids, they are so neglected. They still try to climb all over me, and just don't understand how dang sore I am. My back is always sore. On a typical day I take 3 baths. I bought a snoogle pillow to help me get more comfortable in my bed, and it has helped a bit, but really, I still don't ever fall asleep.

35 weeks(a rare smile)

Well that is enough whining. Hopefully next time I am "updating on the baby" he is on my arms instead of pressing on my pelvis:)

Birthday Quiz

 I have been meaning to include Hudson's five year old birthday quiz for a while, but literally things have been insane around here!!!

Q: What are your favorite things?
A:Spiderbear, My nook(tablet)

Q:What is your favorite color?
A:Black and Red

Q:What is your favorite TV show?
A:Johnny Test, Phineas and Ferb

Q:Who is your Best Friend?
A: Valentina, Parker and Landon and Cooper

Q:What do you like to do?
A:Play battleship, ride my bike, paint, play with my umbrella, go for walks

Q:What is your favorite thing to eat?
A:Candy

Q:What is something that you are good at?
A:Riding my bike, playing soccer,being a brother

Q:What do you want to be when you grow up?
A:An inventor(he is watching cloudy with a chance of meatballs as I quiz him), Spiderman

Q:What is your favorite song?
A:Owl City, Ellie Goulding (thanks Shane)

These are somewhat forced answers, but our Hudson is just such a fun/great kid. He has really improved with his listening and patience with his little brother. He is so excited for his next brother to arrive. He often comes and kisses my belly an tells the baby he loves him. Huds has a wonderful memory and unbelievable comprehension with words. I love this special 5 year old boy of mine!!!

 

Birthday Time

How is my biggest boy already 5?????. It is so weird to me because I remember being 5. Hudson has been waiting for this birthday for a long time. He is so proud to be 5 years old!

I asked Hudson to show me how old he was, and he kept switching from 4 fingers to 6 fingers-haha

Hudson's Birthday festivities have been dragging on because I could not get everything organized for him on time. Hudson's birthday was the 21st.

The morning of Hudson's birthday I had some balloons and streamers up to help him feel special. Afterwords, we went out for doughnuts and went shopping to find the perfect Pinata for Hudson's birthday. We got H some birthday outfits, and he picked out a"gymnastics sweater" that he is in love with. We decided to meet up with Daddy for lunch and since our 2 little preemie baby friends were staying at the hospital Daddy works at we went to see them first. It was such a fun and special part of Hudson's birthday to see those sweet girls!!

Me Looking extra "orcaish" and my boys clearly following the universal precautions-haha

Beautiful Whitney with Gwen

After work we had a little party at home with Hudson. We gave him some gifts and we got to eat some delicious ice cream cake Hudson picked out.(which of course had to be the most expensive cake in the store)

Batman Cake

As you can see Hudson dressed up for the occasion:)

The very best part of Hudson's birthday were that his very special Auntie Jodie and all of her kids came all of the way to Edmonton just to celebrate Hudson's special day. Jodie's kids are 18, 16 and 12, and they came for my boy. They are such special people to us, and we LOVE their visits. On Saturday we took Hudson to WEM. It was tiring, but just so much fun. Auntie Jodie decided to spoil Hudson with a Build-a-Bear. I have always groaned when I have walked into that store(and trust me with all of my nieces, I have been MANY times) but seeing Hudson's eyes light up as he got to experience making his own bear was magical. It really was so fun. He picked out his bear, gave it a scent, nnamed it and bought him some clothes. It was such a fun memory for this mama. Huds has not gone anywhere with out his "Spiderbear". We truly are always so depressed when Auntie Jodie leaves. We love her and her family so much!!!

Sunday after church Hudson got another visitor, as Grandma Jan was in town and she came and spent the day with us. Hudson got to show off his Battleship prowess and Grandma Jan was kind and patient enough to play multiple games with Hudson, enduring all of his smack talk.

Hudson has had a great time telling everyone he is 5. He hold up all of his fingers with such pride when he tells people, and he always makes sure to let people know that Cooper is only 2.

This past Saturday, I mustered up enough energy (not sure how) to have Hudson's Batman Birthday Party. Honestly, I am so so super wiped lately and  my insomnia is totally kicking my butt!!! My poor kids!

We invited a few pals, and they all came and made Hudson feel so loved and important. I totally did not get everything done like I wanted it to, but in the end Hudson had a blast. Sunday morning Hudson woke up(in my bed, yes I know, so lame) and exclaimed "Mom, that was the best birthday EVER" making all of my limited efforts worthwhile!!!

Since we did a batman theme, I decided to do the dumbest thing ever and make all of the "guests" capes. They were nothing fancy, but making 8 of them was time consuming. It was so cute seeing all of the little batman's run around the house, and more than anyone else, Cooper loved sporting his little cape.

The capes:)

Hudson is so lucky to have such fun and cool pals. He was so excited for all of his birthday gifts and to bash his pinata with them. Each year I think, no pinata this year, but the kids LOVE  it. This year Shane rocked the Pinata and made it a bit tougher to hit, and it was just hilarious to watch. We even gave Cooper and Baby Jaye a turn and I was surprised at how in to it they were. So fun.
Now that the party is over, I no longer have to endure the constant, "but I am the birthday boy, and birthday boys always get what they want". I am glad that the festivities are over, but it sure was fun to see my boy so happy!

No Batman Pinata's available so His bud Spiderman had to fill in:)

The mad scramble(my favorite part of this photo is Fernanda hooking Cooper up-haha. Shane and I thought he managed to get all of his candy on his own.

I died when I saw this picture. Hudson LOVES Parker and Landon. They are such great pals!!(Hudson is also sporting his "gymnastics sweater")

Gorgeous Davey Siakuluk and Huds

Hudson's favorite gift from Ethy Anderson.! An electric toothbrush and flavored toothpaste, with some other cool goodies. Cooper is clearly jealous-haha. My kids are OBSESSED with brushing their teeth.

I am so proud of my Hudson. He is a very fun, sensitive boy, and just what our family needs. Hudson is a kind big brother, and I know that he will be a great help when the baby comes. Hudson is incredibly bright and has such a keen memory. Hudson is very spiritual and loves his Heavenly Father. Hudson already has a testimony of the power of prayer, and has great faith that his prayers are answered. Hudson can also be a real stinker, but his shenanigans keep us all on our toes. (Like today when he went to get his immunizations and the health nurse was talking to him about nutrition and he interrupted her to say"Who cares")
More than anything else Hudson, I hope you will always know how much your family loves you. We really do and we are so glad that you are our boy. Love you Huds, and Happy 5th Birthday my boy:)

Happy Hearts Day

This year, I have been pretty busy so I decided not to decorate for Valentines Day.
Hudson loves decorations and holidays so I thought maybe we could try something different(that didn't require as much work)
I saw on Pinterest that someone put a heart on their child's door everyday leading up to February 14th. I have kept it VERY simple, and moved Hudson's hearts to the fireplace, but have done a new one each night so when he wakes up in the morning he can find his new heart. Shane has done a couple as well. Hudson LOVES finding his new heart and getting me to read it to him. He beams when I tell him the reason I love him. This has been just the best little tradition. It takes less than a minute a day and it has really made my boy feel special.

We had a fun, uneventful Valentine's Day. Just the way this Mama likes it!!
I set up a couple treats for the boys when they woke up. Hudson opened all of Cooper's candy and toys before he woke up. Then they scrapped over who got which toy. We had a Valentine's Breakfast, but the boys refused my idea of pink heart shaped pancakes and asked for hot cereal (more healthy anyway-heehee).

We worked on some Valentines for Daddy, and then our best pals Parker and Landon (and crew) came by for a short exchange of Valentine's treats. Hudson was so happy, as these guys are his best buds.

Tonight we opted to stay in and get delicious deep dish pizza. I ate too much:)
Shane brought me home pretty flowers. The cutest was when Hudson saw Shane come in the door with them, and he gasped"Mom, Dad loves you".

 As far as gifts go, I now opt for favors in lieu of gifts and have Shane roped in to help me do some painting and building me some laundry basket shelves! Wahoo! I will take favors any day over gifts!!
Here they are in all of their organizing glory:)

My favor to Shane was to hem the pants of his "new suit"-we bought the suit in June-AHHHH Check out that sweet hem job.

Love my Valentine!

I wanted to write about my Valentine's Day, because I remember many Valentine's Days spent alone. Those days were lonely and a bit sad. Now I have so much and I am so thankful for my three sweet Valentines and how lucky I am to have each of them in my life. We are all getting so excited for our baby boy to get here and join us in our crazy journey.

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

1000

This weekend my little etsy shop had it's 1000th sale. It sometimes seems crazy, but I  have spent a lot of time over the past year sewing so it should not seem too crazy.

I have learned a lot over the past year, and it has been fun. I like doing my own thing, and I LOVE being home with my guys. I was really sick of being away from them all of the time. They were learning so much and changing so much and I was missing it. It would not have been so bad if my kids didn't go to bed at 7, or if I had any energy after work, but  that was not the case. 2 hours with my kids which included cooking dinner, feeding them , bathing them and getting them to bed was not working for me. My little shop has provided me a way to continue to help my family financially, but be with my kids, which is really what all of us needed.

 I like being in charge of my little shop, but at the same time, I have to hand it to my sweet husband who is my only "employee". Shane deals with the constant messes all over my house, a major lack of dinners, and is always up for a mail run. Shane helps out all over the house, and is definately a hands on Dad which to allows me to have this little shop. He knows that I enjoy it and it has become important to me and he has truly given me wings to fly. He really is my best friend. I used hear that your husband would be your best friend, and I totally expected something different. I have never had a guy best friend before, but now after 7 years together I am finally understanding it. Anyway, I am thankful for my number one fan and biggest supporter, Shane!!

A typical sewing day mess.

Now off to get sewing:)

Embarrassment, Art, Bowling and Battleship

Sometimes I think I should have named this blog, How my kids embarrass me on a daily basis. I think it may be more fitting for my life.
The missionaries popped by the other day(the Elders-boys) and Hudson and Cooper were in fine form. They acted like I gave them speed. The missionaries awkwardly stood in the door I think a bit in shock, when Hudson decided to start throwing down my dirty underwear and bras down at them. You can imagine how fun it was to be me at that moment.

Right now I am a bit obsessed with Hudson's art work. He loves to draw. We play a game where he draws a question mark and gives me the first letter of whatever he is going to draw, then he draws it and I guess what it is. It is so fun. I have so enjoyed being able to keep Hudson busy and he is so happy when we do "Art". I obviously can't keep all of Hudson's art treasures, but I try to keep some and snap some pictures of my favorites. Sometimes Hudson will draw the baby pictures, and I think he is finally okay with having a brother. We talk about the baby a lot, and Hudson has agreed to help by making the baby laugh and taking his diapers out to the diaper pail in the garage:) Another thing that Hudson has been doing are some workbooks I bought him from Education Station. He will literally sit for an hour at a time and do the different activities.

Hudson Drawing himself-note:the red "pelvic area" part was "where his poop comes out"- nice!

melts my heart

Hudson decided that he wanted to go bowling a few days ago, and had started to ask me everyday if we could take him. On Monday he drew me a card with him bowling and asked if we could go for FHE, so I knew he REALLY wanted to go. I quickly looked on groupon and found a super great deal. 19 bucks for an hour of bowling with the shoes included for up to 6 people. I bought the groupon, and I am so glad I did.

I die!

At first Shane tried to control the situation and make the boys take turns and act like humans. He offered them lessons and suggestions but after about 10 unsuccessful minutes we just let them go crazy like the wild animals that they are. It was insane.

SCORE!

Cooper using the ball helper as a slide.

More than once  there were 3-4 balls flying down the lane at the same time.  I am still in shock there were no serious injuries. I snapped a couple videos of Hudson lobbing the ball, and I can't believe we did not get kicked out. Overall, it was crazy, but super fun too. The boys were in HEAVEN, and Hudson has asked me to go again everyday since.

Holy, I love these guys!!!

Cooper has decided that he hates nursery again, and now refuses to go. He is also sporting a new fake laugh, which is pretty hilarious. He fake laughs at just about anything.  He is talking and communicating more and more and it is so fun to get to understand him. The other day Shane scolded Cooper for climbing on the dishwasher door. Cooper was so offended, and sat with his bottom lip out, when suddenly we hear "rude Dad" then "Daddy bad"-hahah. Cooper's favorite song right now is Once there was a Snowman, he could sing it for hours. I am so thankful that Cooper is still such a snuggler. I love cuddling with him, and that he loves his Mom. If he wants to be held, I try to drop anything I am doing to give him cuddles. It is good for both of us and I know that my time snuggling him is marked.

Cooper enjoying the fort he and Hudson made together.

Cooper fitting Spidey with some shoes

My little etsy shop is still thriving. I have been quite busy, and for the first time since I opened the shop I am not working another job, so I have been able to stay on top of it. It is such a relief.  I feel like I will maybe be able to run it the way I have always wanted to now that I can focus on it a bit more.
I ordered some new supplies and business cards, and I am trying to get all of my listings updated. It is a lot of work, but totally enjoyable work, so it is good. Plus I get to be home with my little guys:)

New stickers.

 I am now just a bit more than 24 weeks. I am now feeling and looking pregnant. I would say that my biggest complaints have been insomnia and heartburn. The insomnia has been crazy, and I know the heartburn will only get worse, so I believe this is exactly what the third trimester is supposed to be like.

Weird doing a preggo selfie-but I have never done them before, and somewhat regretted it.
24 weeks.- I wrote this about 2 weeks ago, but just finally added the pictures today-oops

Now onto the Heath boys latest obsession. Battleship. Shane decided to teach Hudson how to play battleship this week. Now that is all he wants to do. It is so funny to hear him talk smack to his Dad. The other morning Hudson was up in the bonus room, and Shane was downstairs, and we hear Hudson yell" Happy New Year", followed by an evil laugh as 2 homing missiles took out some of Shane's ships. Hudson is hilarious playing with his Dad, and it is fun to see them together.

Playing Kung Fu

An epic battle with Daddy