Christmas 2010

Christmas Pics... Take 29

So this year for our Christmas card I had already decided that there was no way I was going to attempt just a single picture of all five boys or even a family shot with the chances being slim to none of getting a good picture, everyone looking at the camera.... etc. So we opted for a card with several different slots for pictures and I just took lots of shots of each boy or some with a few of them together. It turned out great. This first shot of all five was taken on Christmas Eve so it didn't make it in time for the card... not too bad, um Judah!

Hickman boys- Christmas Eve 2010

Goofballs

The three oldest

Asher Kirk- 6 1/2 years old

Maddox Andrew- 6 weeks

Caleb Leslie- almost 5 (6 days shy!)

Nathaniel Jackson- 3 years old

Judah Riley- 2 years old

Elliott and Timothy

Both Caleb and Asher have classroom "friends" that each student in the class takes turns bringing home for the weekend. They each have a little book that comes home with them that the kids get to write about what they did with their "friend" and they are encouraged to draw pictures and put pictures of themselves with their "friend" in it so everyone in the class can share in their adventures. We had Timothy over Asher's Thanksgiving week long break... he actually brought him home the day after Maddox was born and Elliott came home a week or so later from a Thursday to the next Tuesday. Too bad they weren't both here at the same time to meet each other!!

C at Monkey Joes with Elliott the Elephant

Asher at the hospital with Timothy meeting Baby Maddox for the first time!

Alot of This

Had to get a quick shot of this the other day when the boys were watching one of the many Christmas shows we have been enjoying around here lately! Nate, Judah, and Asher.... Caleb was the lucky couch sitter :)

Reindeer and Legos

two Rudolphs, a Star Wars set, and a Toy Story set

Asher and Judah with their lego purchases

Caleb and Nate "building" their Rudolphs

The week before Christmas we took the boys to Crabtree (a mall for those of you non-Raleighites) to spend their Christmas money from my parents (Nana and Papaw). We were quite the sight on that Monday before Christmas.... all SEVEN of us trooped out with two strollers (one double!); seven winter coats; 5 children age six and under... one of which was 5 weeks; stops at two of the busiest kids stores; especially right before Christmas; not to mention just a very crazy, busy, crowded mall! Yes, we were crazy, but fortunately we survived and the boys had a great time and were super excited about their presents. It was Nate's first time at Build A Bear and Judah just sat in his stroller mesmerized by the whole process! (Of course he was clinging tightly to his "Buzz" legos the entire time!) We tried to talk Nate into building the abomidible snowman from Rudolph, but he was insistent on doing a Rudolph like Caleb. Thus we now have Rudolph and Rudolph! Thanks Nana and Papaw for such fun gifts!

Coming soon to a mailbox near you...

Just a sneak peek of one that didn't make this year's Christmas card!

Who's Two?

Can our little Judah Bug really be two? It is truly hard for me to believe that my sweet baby isn't my baby anymore! We had such a fun, crazy night celebrating J complete with cake and Buzz! We got Judah a Buzz Lightyear and a Jessie doll to go with his Woody. Judah has always loved these characters and has always affectionately referred to Buzz as Bum! J has been a big brother all of two weeks (he and Maddox are exactly 2 weeks apart!) and has done great! I tell everyone he is cautiously interested in M. He likes to pay attention to him when no one is looking at him! Judah is most definitely a little cuddle bug and loves to cuddle with mom and dad :) Of course we both love it too! He loves being anywhere that the older boys are and can usually hang with their rough and tumbleness. J has been slower to talk than any of his brothers, but I think it's just that he can't get any words in with all the talkers we have around here! Might not be a bad thing to have a quiet soul! We love our sweet Bug and are so thankful for the sweet blessing he is to our family! Happy TWO Judah!

playing with the Little People nativity

BUZZ! (Although as J would say, "Bum"!)

Brothers

What? Just eating my cake!

Ready to blow out the candle

December Snow in Raleigh!

Am I back in Colorado again??? Unbelievable that it is only the fourth of December and the boys are outside playing in the snow! It started falling around 1:30 and as soon as Asher saw it he got SO excited and started talking about how he was going to go out and play in it as soon as his quiet time was over. Of course Blake and I just smiled and told him that it was just supposed to be a dusting and there wouldn't be enough snow to cover the ground, so it probably wouldn't be the kind that you could play in! Well an hour and a half later it was still snowing and Asher was exclaiming that "This is what I prayed for, God heard me and let it snow alot so we could go outside and play in it!" It has now been snowing for 2 1/2 hours and it's still coming. When you live in the south, it is a very rare treat to get snow that actually sticks to the ground. Everytime it is forecasted, you learn to take that forecast lightly because chances are it will change before the projected snow comes! We are loving it though and it's fun to have the Christmas tree up and just all be home and cozy to enjoy it!

Nate, Asher, and Caleb watching the snow

Brotherly Love

I can hardly believe that little M is almost 2 weeks old already! With all the holiday craziness, having a newborn is even crazier! Maddox is adjusting well to being the youngest of five! He seems to sleep the best when the house is loud.... which is alot of the time :) He's on a great 3 hour schedule already and doing some 3 1/2 hour stretches at night. He was a bit jaundiced when we brought him home from the hospital and had to go to our pediatrician three days in a row to have his bilirubin level checked. All is well though and he goes back this Friday for his 2 week check. It worked out perfectly with Judah's 2 year check, so I will take both of the little boys at the same time. We have been working on getting back to "normal life" around here with Nana and Papaw back to Arkansas, Daddy back to work, and Asher and Caleb back to school. Today Nate, Judah, Maddox and I ventured out to Harris Teeter to order a birthday cake for J whose second birthday is Thursday! The boys did great, Maddox slept, and we stopped by the Dunkin Donuts drive thru on the way home!

ready to go home

relaxing in my boppy

hanging with Caleb

Getting some love from Nate

Asher and his school buddy (Timothy the sheep) came to visit

The Fifth Time Around

So here is the fifth and final birth story... last Thursday the 18th was my due date. I have never made it to a due date before without either a baby or already being in labor (Nate was born at 4:30 am the morning of his due date!) I had my 40 week doctors appointment that morning at 9:30, so since my mom and dad were here entertaining and watching the boys, Blake and I headed off to the appointment. We found out that I was dilated to 3- 4 centimeters and left knowing who would be on call that day/ night and over the weekend. I still hadn't had any contractions (not really even any Braxton Hicks) since last Saturday so I wasn't expecting anything different. Blake and I decided to spend the morning leisurely at North Hills. We did some Christmas shopping for the boys, ate lunch at McAllisters, and of course hit up Starbucks on the way home. We picked up Caleb from preschool and came home where we left again. This time we went to Crabtree and finally made the purchase we have been talking about making for the past year or so.... yes, we are the newest owners of a Macbook pro! Seriously when we left the store, I felt like I had just given birth to a Macbook with how many people told us congratulations as we walked out of the store!

Okay, back to the birth story.... We picked up Asher from school and then decided to take Nate and Judah for haircuts. I was still having not a contraction. While we were at Snip Its though, I started having some contractions here and there. Nothing to intense, but I knew if they would continue that this just might be it. We got home around 5:00, still having contractions. From 6:00- 7:00 (crazy hour around here!) I timed my contractions which had gotten harder and were consistently now coming about 5 minutes apart. Blake got the boys finished up with their baths and 2 of the 4 in bed before we left for REX. We got to the hospital around 7:30 and were all checked in and settled in our room about 8:00. My contractions were still around 5 minutes apart. The nurse (Ann) checked me and found that I was a good 4 cm at this point. We hung in for about an hour until the epidural arrived :) I was about a 6 at this point and Dr. Zimm broke my water. From there I had a few girlfriends stop by as well as my mom who was up at the hospital by now. After I had had the epidural in for 30 minutes or so, I was still feeling contractions in one spot on my left side.... nothing really seemed to help them totally go away. My nurse kept giving me more medicine, but it didn't take the pain away. The nurse then realized that Baby M was transverse and could have been the reason I was feeling such intense pain in that one spot. This lasted about an hour or so and when he finally turned, I immediately dilated to 10 and was ready to push! By this time, I just wanted him out I was hurting so bad. Dr. Zimmerman got there and with two pushes he was OUT! Baby #5 was here!

Maddox Andrew is here!

Last pregnancy shot (EVER!)

Maddox Andrew born November 18, 2010 @ 11:22 pm

Us with our sweet #5

Our fav... Dr. Zimmerman delivered Maddox

Caleb and Nate meet their little brother

Baby M

So the "new" nursery is ready... all we need now is Baby M! Yes, we have graduated from Baby Cheesy and have shared with everyone that our fifth little boy's name begins with the letter M! We have had lots of interesting guesses :) Back in the summer I ordered all new stuff for the nursery. Blake had told me regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, I could redo it. Of course we were assuming that we would be in a new house by then, but obviously God had other plans. My sweet husband graciously obliged me and painted the light green walls of the old room white to match all my new bedding I had for baby boy! He kept saying "I can't believe that I'm painting a room that we're only going to use for a few months"... we shall see I guess. It is definitely fun to have something new and different :) I had my 39 week appointment last Thursday and the doctor that I saw definitely got things moving so to speak! For those of you that know me and my labor stories though, my body tends to warm up with false labor/ contractions for a couple days, even up to a week before actual labor! We are definitely in that period now so I'm anticipating Baby M being here soon! Stay tuned!

Blake's Masterpiece

I think that Yoda speaks for himself!

PBC Fall Festival

Last night we loaded up and headed to our church's annual fall festival. The boys had such a fun time this year and loved the pony rides, giant slide, and all the fun carnival type games. Of course they especially loved loading up their pumpkins full of candy! We hit one house on our cul-de-sac up trick or treating when we got home and then threw the boys in the bath and bed! And do you know we only had ONE group of trick-or-treaters ring our doorbell!! Must have been because Halloween was on a school night this year!

J on the way to the fall festival
fun pony rides

enjoying the first "treat" of the night

holding on TIGHT! (He was unsure of going at first, but ended up LOVING it!)

waiting their turn for more games

Hickman Mario crew with Roark Superhero crew

Super Mario Halloween

Giddy Luigi
Proud Mario

Pensive Toad

.... and our makeshift dragon, Bowser