The Sounds of Monday Morning

It is Monday after a busy weekend but the sounds coming from my living room sound nothing like a tired family.

Benjy is off to work. The big boys are at school.

Here is what I am hearing in the other room...

Hudson: "c'mon Piewsen, let's wessle"

Piersen: "okay, okay....wooooooooooo...total smackdown!!!"

I hear a few "kind of" rough interactions so I peek around the corner to see Hudson running full throddle towards Pierce - who simply sticks his leg straight out in the air as Hudson slams into it and onto his back"

Me: "guys, you need to be careful. Pierce take it easy on him"

Hudson (very quickly): "I'n okay Mommy, I'n okay"

Me: "Are you sure?"

Hudson: "uh huh. I'n sure. I'n sure. let's wesssssllllleeee Piewce!"

What can I say?

Hope your Monday has as much energy and gritty desire to take on the world :)

A Pea Or Two On My Shoulder

Boys never cease to amaze me.

They are crazy and creative. Wild and then cuddly. Seriously sentimental and then hilarious.

With 4 of them, there really is a rare chance of experiencing boredom.

Hudson brought me an unusual first time experience this week. I am learning that this little one is not following suit to the older 3 in many ways. He is quite the little character!

We had spaghetti and meatsauce and peas for lunch on Monday. I glanced over at him and he had his finger up his nose - really, nothing out of the ordinary in a house full of boys.

Much later that evening, I picked him up and was tickling him when he sneezed. Out flew a green pea onto my shoulder. It surprised me and was a little gross all at the same time - but did create some laughter.

Fast forward to the next evening - bedtime routine. I am pulling Hudson out of the bath. He wasn't pleased that swimming time was over so as he flails his head back ...I... catch a glimpse of a bright green object in his nostril. I could not believe it. Seriously. Without a doubt: another pea!

The next string of events caused me and the other 3 boys to try to make him snort like a bull, grunt like a pig, sniff pepper to sneeze again, and so on. Yes, it was some live entertainment! But completely unsuccessful.

I was home alone with the kids - Benjy out of town on business. I was not overly concerned because on one hand, the pea had now been lodged there for the past 36 - 38 hours and everything had been business as usual. But it did cross my mind that strange things may begin to occur if we did not get it out sometime soon.

I decided to do what any modern woman does: consult Google for suggestions :)

You would not believe how many posts popped up to this search: "how to remove a pea from your toddlers nose"! There was even a youtube video demonstration - which ultimately became my source of salvation. Numerous lame suggestions did not convince me - but what we finally did was tackle the mad child, who at this point, was rather irritated that we were all in his face and trying to get up his nose - and after pinning him down in the awkward position that had his head trapped and his arms and legs secured - I simply plugged his other nostril, gave him a CPR breath over his mouth and....2 attempts later.....waahhh laaahhhhh - I had another pea fly onto my shoulder!

As any typical little boy - Hudson - and all of the brothers - wanted to see the bright green evidence and laughed so hard at it all.

I simply dusted off my shoulder and chalked it up to another wild and crazy experience of raising kids (with thanks to google for saving me a copay for such a ridiculous purpose).

A Teaser

I miss my blog.

And I think, by the looks of things, my blog misses me.

Countless moments have passed that I want to record and because I like things in sequence, I have fallen way behind...

But Hudson turned 2 and when I went back to revisit my recorded words, I am reminded of how valuable it is to write.

So, somehow I am going to re-prioritize it into my life.

Without chronology.

To be continued...

Hudson's First Little Boy Haircut

Hudson has had his first haircut already - the one where the uneven whispy hair is simply evened out and no one even notices it except the Mom who traditionally and lovingly collects the precious locks for the baby book...

But that was a long time ago.

This time the haircut transformed him into a little boy!

His hair had grown significantly and the time had come to clean him up. Hudson has the sweetest little habit. He is a paci boy - he loves the thing! Once the paci goes into his mouth there is another automatic response that happens to him - his arm goes up and he begins to twirl his hair. It is the cutest thing ever. He twirls and twirls it until he falls asleep - I guess it brings him some kind of comfort. He used to reach his little hand up to my hair and twirl mine when I was feeding him as a baby.

With his hair being longer, the twirling was creating these little dred lock knots at the back of his head. Like I said, the sweetest ever - but it was time.

Thankfully, I was able to sneak in one afternoon to catch him about to fall asleep before his nap - and I was able to capture this special memory on video:



Here are the pictures of my Handsome Hudson after the haircut. He looks so grown up - so much like a little boy - and so so so cute.

Non-Traditional Breakfast Manners

Sitting IN your seat and using a SPOON is highly overrated!

 

 

The Brednich Running Club

 

This string of pictures was taken on Father's Day....what a good group of guys!

A long time ago, Benjy had looked ahead to the day when he might have some running partners. Hard to believe that that day is kind of here.

Everyone gets all in a mad frenzy when they see their Dad getting the running gear on - they all want to go with him. He is sometimes kind enough to let them go a little ways with him - yes, even Hudson. The other night Reece went out and ran 2 miles with his Daddy.

I am trying to catch the running fever myself. A new pair of shoes got me started...and although it isn't always easy to find the time, I was enjoying it AFTER I ran each time. Getting motivated wasn't always so fun. Then, I practically if not actually, broke my baby toe, playing soccer barefoot with Reece in the basement so I am in recovery mode...almost ready to put the shoes back on and run for my own fitness, not just running after the boys! :)

 

 

 

Free Hugs!

"We need 4 hugs a day for survival.

We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance.

We need 12 hugs a day for growth."

Virginia Satir

In an effort to create a little better atmosphere in our home this week, I shared with the boys the importance of hugging one another.

A quick google for the research behind it lead to be to some neat discoveries that have, in turn, taken over our morning activities. My boys are loving one another and showing it through hug after hug after hug. I hear them saying things like, "please, one more, I need to survive today" :) They are creating secret HUGshakes and forming into HUGgles. It is making me laugh....of course, it is a fine line between a hug-fest and a wrestling match, but hey, so far so good.

Check out these pics of my crew first (the sign they made says "free hugs"), and then see the video below that was their inspiration. And then, of course, go hug someone you love, or someone you don't even know and make their day!

Oh, and just to correct the false assumption that we have this super harmonious hugging home all day through these summer months, or ever, is exactly that: false. We go from hugging to fighting and back again more often than this Momma would care to see. But I do know they truly love one another and I am just thankful we have some hugging too!