Hill Brain

There is never a single second in my life that I don't wonder what is going on inside of Hill's little brain.  He's so detail oriented (like his mama) and very ingenuitive (like his dada) that it scares me to death to think that by age 2 he will be probably be doing quadratic equations.

He knows so many words that I can't even name them all.  If you ask him to say something, he can say it.  Thanks to his Dada, if you ask him what a snake says, he says "ssssssssss."  This never gets dull at the Hawkins household.  He's like our little play toy that we get to quiz all the time.  It's so cute and he is so proud of all the things he knows.  Needless to say, we are beyond proud too. He knows things like all the names of his friends at school and can go get the remote to the tv and bring it to you if you ask him.  (Not that I've done that or anything...what? Don't tell me you've never...)

His lip is healing beautifully.  Chip took him to visit Dr. Shell on the 16th and Dr. Shell said he couldn't be more pleased with everything.  All the "landmarks" are lining up and the red/ pink part above his lip will be the last part to heal, hopefully leaving everything perfect.  We are thinking and still praying that this was his last surgery.  He did take a fall at daycare (on June 14th) a couple days before his appointment with Dr. Shell and I miraculously didn't spin into spazmatic convulsions thanks to Mrs. Melinda up at daycare -love you Mrs. Melinda!  It was swollen, it was red, it was bleeding...I really almost threw up - it made me nauscious to think he'd hurt his lip.  Mrs. Melinda gave him a popcicle and we pulled him around in the wagon for a bit which made everything better for me Hill.  Dr. Shell said he could see that he hit it his lip, but it didn't do any damage.  Praise God.  Instruction are to keep his neosporin ointment on it a couple times a day and come back in a month.  Yay!

Even though we may be entring the alledged terrible two's a bit early he still loves his mama and wants me for everything.  What do I do?  Eat it up and thank God for him every day.  What do I do about the tantrums?  Walk away, which really really really makes him mad.  Tough love kiddo.  It's breaking my heart more than yours, so cliche, but so true.

I leave you with these pictures of my creative little boy with his brain at work...

It takes concentration

it takes dedication

and pure talent

to put a stick pretzel into an apple jack hole.

New Clubhouse

The other night after Hill got out of the bathtub I was cleaning up the water that didn't stay in the bathtub and putting away all the bathtub toys that barely leave enough room for him to bathe.  Then things got quiet...

Where is Hill?

The cabinet door flew open...

HERE I AM!!!

Then he proceeded to get in and out and in and out.
You get the picture.  That went on for a good 30 minutes.

Then he invited me to come in

and just hang out for a bit because it's cozy in his new clubhouse.

That silly, creative, hilarious kid of mine.  He's a keeper.

Father's Day 2011

What an awesome day last Sunday was, even though the start of my day was on the wrong foot.  At 5:00 am I woke up to two sick dogs; yet I made the most of it.  I tried to go back to sleep, but after 15 minutes of laying there I decided to get up and have some Rachel time and catch up on things.  I did laundry, dishes, made muffins, bacon, and eggs, and about 10 other things that I would never do before 8:00 am ever.  It felt good.  I was showered before anyone else in the house awoke, so getting ready for church was a breeze.  I let both of my boys sleep in and they both woke up at 8:30.  I don't want to jinx anything but Hill has been a sleepy head in the mornings and I've had to wake him up all week for school.  I hope, pray, give my kidney that he sleeps late during the weekend hours.  I love sleep.  Ok anyway, here is the Father's Day layout.

Strawberry muffins, bacon, cards & gift from Hill.

He made this at daycare and I thought it was super sweet.
It had his footprints on each side.

 We went to church and Hill did fantastic.  He didn't throw toys at anyone and only tried to run off once and managed to only bump his head on the hymnal holder once.  Chip rated his behavior a 7 out of 10.  Not to shabby for an hour and a half with a one and a half year old!

Later that afternoon we went to Nana & Papa's to eat quail and swim for Father's Day.

Aunt Meryl, Hill and Shane Preston coloring

And it's never a trip to Papa's house without playing the drums.

Shane Preston on the organ and Hill on the drums. 
Are we the next Partridge family?

What a great Dada's day.  We sure love our Dada more than anything in the world.  He's the best.

Playing with the Marquerdt Crew

Last Saturday, June 18, we went out to our friends Pearce and Swayze's new house.  I got to spend some much needed catch up time with their sweet mama, Marsha. Hill got to play will his long lost classmate / friend, Pearce since he's not in daycare this summer. We had a blast swimming and playing on the slide, riding in Swayze's Barbie car, playing in the rocks, looking at pictures from their trip to Disney, doing everything Swayze does and then we got hungry and loaded up and went to eat in Winona.

Big boy on the slide all by himself

Pearce coming up behind him

Hill was holding up progress

Then when it was Pearce's turn Hill would get impatient.
We need to work on our sharing / taking turns skills.

Swayze taking Hill for a spin in her Babie car.

Pearce running behind them.
Don't forget ME!!!

Then Swayze wanted her bike so Hill is moving over to the drivers seat

But he couldn't reach the pedal to make it go so he ran around the house to chase Swayze on her bike.

Then he decided to take a rest on the front patio

While Pearce pushed his tricycle at 100 mph through the yard.

Then they thought it would be fun to hide behind the storm door.

Playing with rocks in the drive way

Alone, probably because he can't share

Then they all decided to play together.

Everyone in the phone booth at Pizza Inn
(Swayze, Hill & Pearce)

Hill says, "get me outta here"

So Hill had a very very stank diaper after dinner.  We were in the play room at Pizza Inn and it truly stunk us all out.  He was making the push face, where he turns red, but this time it was serious because he would stick out his tounge for pushing leverage.  It was hilariously awful. So I gathered the goods to go change his diaper.  He was throwing a fit because he wanted to play, but little did he know - - no one wanted to play with him!  I took him in the bathroom was trying to hold him down with my forearm while doing a one handed maneuver with the diaper and praying I had enough wipes - - when the lights went out.  Seriously.  No lights?  I somehow got the diaper on (no pants) and made my way to exit the bathroom when the lights came back on.  I went out and asked Marsha if the lights went out in here?  She said no...Swayze then informed me that the lights in the bathroom are on an automatic timer or something.  Well well, I guess they didn't budget time in there for temper tantrum poo poo diaper episodes.  We left - pantless and full.

We survived, took the Marquerdt's back to their casa and headed home for the evening. 

What a fun day, we had a blast! Thanks Marsha!

New Computer

After I got back home from Texas I found this Mac on a table in my house.  
It's like Oprah came over and had a big give away - "A new comm-pu-dah!!" It wasn't Oprah though, it is from my sweet sister in law, Jane Claire.  She decided she didn't use it enough and found it a good home, with me.  Thanks JC!

I think my house is officially ready for MTV Cribs to arrive and film now that I have this ghetto sized large and in charge computer screen.  Seriously it's re-donk-u-lous-ly big.  Now, if I only knew how to work this thing.  I've always been a PC girl.  Rome wasn't built in a day so I guess I'll have to take time to learn.  Are there any takers on who wants to teach me?  I feel like my grandma - (in my best old lady voice) "Where is the power button?"  "Does this thing have the internet?"  "I only want to type a letter - where can I find a blank document?"  rah rah rah.

To give you an idea of how big it is.
To the right is my 17" laptop.

So this blog is now brought to you today by my monster computer.  I'm up for suggestions on naming it. It is large enough to be a part of the family.  Is it a boy computer or girl computer?  

Give me your thoughts.

Texas Trip - Monday, June 13th

The return...
Monday we left El Campo around 9:00 am so we could stop and visit Papi before we left and also have lunch with my mother's brother, my Uncle Donald. I ate Mexican food 3 times while I was in Texas and I'd have eaten it for every meal had I not wanted some Mikeska's or home cooking from Mama Lou too.

Hill and Mama Lou
Sweet faces

Uncle Donald, Hill & Mama Lou

Uncle Donald is cool

Since Uncle Donald works right by the airport we had Mama Lou drop us off.

They had cute little tables and stools for the kiddos to sit at.

or climb on

Hill looking out at the runway at the "eh-pain" with his cowboy hat

We figured since we were in Texas we needed to get him a cowboy hat.  Had we bought it anywhere else I'm sure it would have been affordable, but we bought it at the airport so it was a $30 hat.  He loved it so that made it worth it.

"eh-pain"

The flight back home was not as smooth sailing as the flight to Texas.  It was a full flight which was odd because it was a Monday at 3:00.  I was sure my awesome planning skills would pay off since I intentionally planned our return flight at an odd time on an odd day.  Whatever, I didn't get to board until half the people got on the plane.  Once we grabbed a seat, me on the aisle, empty seat in the middle and lady at the window I thought we were home free.  Until the flight attendant asked if Hill was a lap child.  I said yes even though I wanted to say no.  She directed an older lady to come sit by us and the lady said nope, she refused to sit next to a baby.  I sort of wanted to kick her in the knee as she walked by.  I held my tongue, and my foot.  Truth be known I wouldn't have wanted her sitting next to me anyway.  Punk. 

A sweet girl sat next to us.  I apologized to her in advance and told her he really is a good baby.  Hill sat in my lap - which ended up not being too bad.  It was only an hour flight and he only got ants in his pants about 10 min before we landed.  He was a good boy, no fits, which is a bonus these days.  He liked to look at the guy across the aisle from us who was sleeping.  He'd say night night, which everyone thought was hilarious.  Then the guy across the way pretended to drink his sippy cup which Hill thought was the funniest thing he'd ever encountered.  Everyone was nice and accomodating and knew I was preapologetic for anything my son did or didn't do during flight.  When we got off the plane I apologized personally to the gentleman in front of us that Hill kicked his seat a few times.  He said it was no problem.  All was well on flight 464 to Jackson.

We were home safely and headed to swim lessons once we landed.  We never stop. 

Thank you to everyone in Texas for being so wonderful and loving us so much.  We love you guys too!

Texas Trip - Sunday, June 12th

Sunday Mama Lou cooked lunch for us.  Uncle Jason and his lady friend, Maria, came and we had a great time!  Uncle Jason is the best.  Hill woke up Sunday morning carrying a framed picture of Jason around saying, "Jason, Jason."  You see, Hill loves my brother Jason because even though he is in his mid late 30's he is on Hill's level ...which makes everything so animated and lively for our year and a half old son. (Love you Jay-ston.)  Jason buzz cuts his hair in the summer time.  I call it his Brittany Spears drama / Sinead O'Connor look.  He's still a cutie though.

silly Maria

Uncle Jason you are crazy!!
I'm drunk off your hilarity.

and weird

but we love you to pieces.

Later that afternoon we went to the Freeman's house to play with our twin friends, MoJo.  Molly & Joey.  I was able to catch up with one of my greatest friends, Christy while we let the kiddos play.  Hill and I may have had the best time ever in the history of ever.  The kiddos played so well and so hard we didn't want the day to end!  Joey showed us that in order to live out in the middle of nowhere you have to be naked when you play outside.  It saves money on swim diapers according to his mama.

So Hill stripped then sat at the Toy Story table and drank his juice...naked

Then he and Joey swam

Played naked slip and slide

Silly Joey

LOVE those tiny hineys!

Joey (blue swing), Molly (pink swing) and Hill running in the buff!

Joey, their daddy Billy and Molly, who is wearing a diaper and has a little more modesty than her brother and Hill.

naked swinging

Joey wearing his Mama's sunglasses

and to true boy fashion, drinking water from the soaker hose.

You can't see it, but Hill is behind him trying to do the same thing.

Hill Hiney!  Don't cha wanna pinch it?!?

Bath time!
(L-R) Molly, Hill, Joey

I'm not sure that Hill has ever played so hard in his whoel 17 month life.  I thought he ran ragged at the baby shower on Saturday, but the Freeman folks don't have nothing on anyone.  They are fun!  Always have been so I don't know why I would expect anything different from their kiddos!  Thanks Christy & Billy for a fun afternoon and the boombostic chicken spaghetti.  Love you guys!