days are long...nights are longer

Two months since I've blogged.

To say that we've had some stuff going on is beyond an understatement.

I've started blog posts more times than I can count.
Posts that were witty, funny, silly stuff that has been going on with us.
I didn't want to dig into the hard stuff.

But you know what? Nothing is as hard as the stuff that the parents in Newtown are dealing with.
I have my babies, and I am able to hold them at night.

Yes, there have been some scary days in our house over the last couple of months.
There has been a long night spent in the hospital.
Nights spent trying to get a  3-year-old back into her own bed.
Spent nursing babies.
Spent listening to kids cough with sick lungs.
Spent trying to ward off the insomnia that just doesn't seem to go away for this Mom of three.

Not sleeping makes for long days.
It makes for longer nights.
Wishing I could sleep.
Wishing I could stop worrying about my babies.
Wishing the prayers I've been saying lately didn't even have to be prayed for.
Wishing I could shut my mind down for even a short period of time.

But guess what....I still get to wake up to my kids.
And let's get real...that's all that matters.

 

little lola - six months old

Isn't she cute? :)
I can't believe our babe is six months old already.

What I can't believe even more is that she is acting like she is much older.

The little stinker.

Just a few of her newest tricks....

Crawling EVERYWHERE. Nothing is off limits to this little lady.

Pulling herself up on furniture {or people, or anything she can} and letting one hand go.

Going from crawling to sitting to crawling again.

Waving.

Clapping {my favorite...she thinks she's SO funny}.

Her six month weight is 13 pounds, 6 oz.

That's the 10th percentile....

A tiny peanut mover, who does she think she is!?

She popped her first tooth, and started eating oatmeal.

With the other two kids, eating food came with a learning curve.

Not for this diva. 

She never spit it out...not even once. {But her face apparently tells a different story}

And then let's talk about her sister, who would NOT stay out of the shot.

Typically these days I can't get this little lady to take a picture, but on this day, I literally couldn't get her out of it.

{Oh, heeeeeeey}

So a little bribery later, I promised I would take her picture all by herself if she let me take a few of Lo.

This is how she decided to pose:

tonsils

There is a new swear word in our house. 

Tonsils.

I knew this was going to happen some day, and that day came.

And then it lingered....and lingered...and lingered.

And although we're not out of the woods yet, things are looking up in the Hoverson House.

On Thursday the 4th, Jacks had his tonsils and adenoids removed.

After being told for a couple of years that we should keep an eye on them, a second opinion let us know they should be taken out, and ASAP. Although I knew it would be better after all was said and done, I was scared for him, and nervous for his recovery.

{Photos are both from my phone and camera}

The morning started early, but he was in such great spirits.

I had taken him on a tour of Children's earlier in the week while Brad was out of town, and Jacks felt really confident that he was going to do great.
I truly believed it helped his anxiety, but he wasn't aware of what he was in for.

Seriously, looking a bit too chipper.

What do you do when you're nervous for your little dude??

Pick your manicure off, obviously.

 We held his hands as he went to sleep, and he woke up crying for Mommy.

This is about 15 minutes after he woke up, watching a movie.

 

 I felt so sad for him.

I kept trying to do anything I could to take his pain away...

Rubbing his hair, asking what he wanted, offering anything...and all was declined.

Brad was laughing so hard telling me to stop being "all Mommy" on him for a minute.

Finally he was able to have some Tylenol, and ten minutes later he jumped up and wanted a freezie.

Thank GOD for Tylenol.

I think this was his favorite part...being able to ride in a wheelchair.

We made it home, and barely.

I'm pretty sure the ride made him sick, and within seconds of walking through the door, I had a sick little man on my hands.
At least he made it to the toilet instead of puking in the car!

It was a ROUUUUGH week after that.

Lots of screaming.

Lots of crying.

Lots of asking WHY oh WHY do I have to have my tonsils out?!?!
Lots of praying with Mommy that God would help him heal quickly.

Lots of naps.

Lots of cartoons.

Lots and lots of Mommy and Jack time.

And lots of board games.

 On day six, I was worried.

Really worried.

Things took a turn for the worse with a fever, and I couldn't even get him to take Tylenol or Advil anymore for fear of swallowing.

I posted this picture on Facebook asking for prayers...because not even a "handsome shirt" made him feel better.

And let me just say, thank you for the power of prayer. The next morning I woke up to this...

A smile.

A far far cry from the screaming match we had the day before over Advil.

That day we called the doctor and were given the OK to give him adult Advil which was much easier for him to swallow, and things have been on the up ever since.

Today is day eleven.

I know his scabs are most likely coming off, so I'm ready for a couple of more painful days, but he is finally back at school, and feeling much much better.

Brad and I were able to sneak away this weekend for a bit while my parents watched the kiddos, and Jack had a hard time with me leaving. That hasn't happened in years, but then I realized, for ten days he had been attached to my hip. Literally. He made me sit with him all day while I worked. He made me lay by him until he fell asleep. He was right by me again when he woke up, and he wasn't sure how to feel about me going away.  Those days and moments are so few and far between, I have to remember to take a moment and enjoy when he needed his Mommy again.

I just hope that what they say is true...that it really is worth it in the long run.

growing up

Let me preface by saying eventually, there will be a day, where I don't start a blog by apologizing.

I have SO MUCH to catch up on.

So while life has been getting away from us, my kiddos have been growing up so fast.

Jacks started kindergarten.

He has had good days and tough days, but he loves school.

He doesn't love his new nickname, Freckle-face, but is learning a great lesson on name calling.

And I for one love those little freckles.

 

 Jacks is such a great big brother.

Always eager to help out {even if sometimes I'd rather he just leave the girls alone!}

He is pretty good entertainment...

And this was taken a couple of weeks ago, but little lady is crawling. FULL ON crawling at five months old.

I think I'm going to have my hands full with this one :)

 

harlow 5 months

Harlow Jane, 5 months old

She's such a sweet baby. After lots of getting used to Mommy being at work, she has finally gotten over it.

She's so sweet, very smiley, and is so content.

She is sitting up by herself, and insistent upon learning to scoot and crawl.

She only weighs 13 pounds, still a tiny little peanut.

After 2 months of sleeping soundly through the night, she decided she likes to have some Mommy time in the middle of the night again. {sigh} Hopefully it's just a growth spurt.

She sits in her high chair during dinner, but hasn't started solids yet.

She goes down for bed wide awake, and still sucks her thumb...but due to her new found freedom of movement, it takes a loooooooong time for her to actually fall asleep. It's much more fun to crawl all over the crib.

Her new tricks:

Scooting.

Sitting

Still her favorite...sucking on toes.

And showing off her dimples.

Oh yeah, and of course...constantly covered with drool.

That's my girl.

city nature

I grew up on a farm.

We played outside A LOT.

We know what nature is like.

Sometimes I hate that my kids are growing up in the city.

One day this summer, I realized Jacks didn't even know how to drink out of a hose. A shame, I tell you.

Well, here you have it - how our city kids play in nature.

 

 

 

 Poor Lo, she does not look impressed. Maybe it's because the kids found it necessary to put a mini-frog on her....
over and over and over again.

harlow's baptism

So, the lack of blogging.

How many posts do you think I can start with that?

One of these days I'm going to go through and post all of the random pictures from the last year and a half, but not today....

Today is all about Baby Harlow's baptism.

In July {yep, it's now September} she was finally baptized.  We knew we needed to do it before Darcy had her baby, and finding a weekend was not easy.  

We were lucky to share the day with our friend's little gal Sophie.

Later we found out Lo was the 500th person to be baptized in our church. 

I should probably mention that Darc had every intention of holding Harlow.
She held her for the first 20 minutes of church, but when Lo fell asleep and became a heat box, Darcy looked like she was going to pass out from the heat and handed her over. The joys of being 8 months preggo!!

Harlow with her Godparents - Darcy and Joel.

We are so blessed to have them as friends, and pretty much a part of our family.

Brad and I both said the same thing when we saw this picture - Jack definitely had helmet head. Ha.

With the Great-Grandparents.

Tate really wanted a picture with Harlow. She cracks me up, she's always got her fingers in her mouth.

Grandpa Scott and Grandma Deb.

Grandpa Keith and Grandma Sandy - whoever has the camera they're actually looking at should send it to me. :)

Big cousin Jayden.

This was the day the Newman kids took my old glasses and claimed them as their own. I even saw Aves at Target one night wearing them....they love them.

Leave it to Grandma Lois to laugh at the kids and their inappropriate shenanigans. 

You're a lucky little lady, Lola.  We love you so much!

sam

Today was a very exciting day.

My kids have another friend to add to their list of favorites.

Sam Rodney Hempel {Parker's brother} was born this morning.

An 8lb. 9oz. bundle of perfection.

I got to see him as a fresh 4-hour-old.

Just one of the perks to living just a couple of blocks from the hospital.

her real bff

One day, on our way to pick up Darcy and Parker to go to the zoo, Fin said

"Mommy, Parker is my best friend. I just love him soooo much."

This could not be more true.

Both Fin and Parker ask almost every day to go to each other's houses.

They hug when they see each other.

They get in trouble together.

They will get married some day. I mean, I didn't say that.

It's not like we've given them a chance...they've been besties since day one.

And I feel lucky that his Mama is my bestie too.