Christmas 2009

Here's a recap of Christmas at the Pearce house.....Wednesday night we celebrated in Bahama with Marty's family. We had some good food (I mean good!!) and opened presents.
Thursday night we went to my parent's house. We ate, talked, and listened to my Maw Maw recap her and my Paw Paw's wedding day. It was such a cute (and funny) story! Their 61st anniversary was the day after Christmas.
Marty had to work Christmas Eve but another fireman graciously offered to work for him that night so he could wake up with the kids on Christmas morning. We had a great time that night wrapping presents and getting the room ready for the Little P's.
Then Friday morning was just plain fun! It gets more fun every year watching the kiddos rip into their presents. I love it!! Hudson got a dirt bike. Yes, we lost our minds and bought him one (used on Craigslist). He loved it even though he refuses to ride it before we buy him a helmet. (smart kid!) Addison got a kitchen set, a few stuffed animals and some furniture for her baby dolls. Hudson's already wants to know when Christmas will be here again!

The "before" picture.

As soon as he sat on it he tried to do tricks like he sees on tv. Oh my!!

Addison with her "baybeeee."

Organizing her kitchen.

The most played with toys that morning were the .25 super balls they got in their stockings!

Merry Christmas!

Our greatest wish for all of you is that you have a fun filled day celebrating the birth of our precious Savior.
Love to all,
Marty, Laure, Hudson, Addison

"Unto you therefore who believe, He is precious."
1 Peter 2:7

*I would like to point out that Addison's toy of choice on Christmas morning was an empty paper towel roll :)

Santa vs No Santa

As I peruse my friend's blogs and other blogs that I stalk, I've noticed a common post this month is the Santa vs No Santa debate. I thought I'd give my 2 cents to my 5 readers who frequent this blog :)

I grew up in a "no Santa" house. I never really felt bitter about it. I knew there would be presents under the tree for me come Christmas morning. However, my brothers and I were the obnoxious kids in the neighborhood who told everyone else there was no Santa. Shame on us!!

Marty grew up in a "Santa" house. He knew how to play the game but he really didn't have strong feelings one way or the other when it came to our kids.

So...we decided we would be a "no Santa" house. To some people this is a terrible form of child abuse and we get many weird looks when we share this with others but, well, we just don't care :) The biggest reason for our decision was that we just didn't want to keep up the lie. There's the initial lie (Santa comes down the chimney....) then you have to follow up that lie with more lies when questions start being asked. And believe me, Hudson has plenty of questions!

Then the argument is raised, "It's not a lie. It's just make believe. Kids love to pretend! It's just part of childhood." Our kids do like to pretend. Hudson pretends everyday that he's a dirt bike rider. Addison is already pretending she's a mommy/princess/ruler of the house. At the end of the day, Hudson realizes he's not a dirt bike rider. It's a clear cut line between reality and fantasy. With Santa, parents go out of their way to make their kids believe he's real. Kid's can't destinguish between reality and fantasy when there is no clear cut evidence of the reality.

The next question that is asked is. "Do your kids still get presents?" Of course they do!! And, might I add, more than they need. Our kids know that Mommy and Daddy buy their presents but they also know why we buy them. If you ask Hudson why we give presents on Christmas, he'll tell you it's because it's Jesus's birthday and he was the best present of all. We want our kids to know that gift giving has nothing to with whether they've been naughty or nice. Jesus didn't come to earth just to save the nice. He came in spite of our naughtiness (is that a word?) and we should in turn extend that same grace to others.

Oh and FYI, we do not judge others when it comes to the Santa vs no Santa debate. I know how fun it is for kids believe in Santa and it's just as fun for parents to play along with them. I'm sure there are plenty of things we do in our family that others find odd. We don't want to be juded because of our convictions and in turn we choose not to judge others for theirs. We are going to teach our kids to respect other's beliefs and not ruin the fun for them. Hudson actually asked me the other day if Santa brought him presents too (we've been watching a lot of Christmas specials this week). I told him that Santa was a fun story about a man who brings presents but that Mommy and Daddy were the ones who bought him presents. I also told him that some boys and girls believe that Santa does bring them gifts and we need to let them believe that because it's fun. Then he asked me if he was going to get a dirt bike so he got over that topic pretty quick!

Which ever side of the debate you fall on I hope that the center of your Christmas doesn't revolve around gifts. Come February, all those nice new presents will be old news to your kids but the real meaning of Christmas goes far beyond what you can buy them. Instilling the truth that Christ came to earth to reconcile the worst of sinners to himself and to give us undeserved grace and love is a far more precious gift than anything you can find at Toys R Us. Our biggest challenge this year is convincing Hudson that the gift of Christ is more precious than dirt bikes!

Preparedness

Undies: Check
Snow Boots: Check
A weather forecast cast calling for snow: Check!

Look Who Got Her Glasses Today!

So far so good. She's kept them on her face and I think she's a little awe struck by what she can see. We walked in the house and she took her time looking around the room. She was so happy to pick up her baby doll that she started dancing in place and singing to it! Poor girl. She must have been blind as a bat. I put them up to my eyes and wow! Those are some thick lenses! I think she looks adorable and very studious :)

Hudson, The Library and A Funny Looking Man

I took the Little P's to the library today for a change of scenery and to scope out some dirt bike books. Everything was going well. Hudson wasn't running around like wild man. Addison managed to pull only half of the books off the shelves and we even found a great book about dirt bikes. We were headed to the check out counter when all of a sudden Hudson let out the loudest ear piercing scream I had ever heard. I stopped in horror thinking his skin was melting off his body when I looked over and saw a group of disabled adults. "Oh no," I thought to myself. "Please tell me he's not going to...."
"A funny looking man!!" "I'm scared of the funny looking man!!"
That's what my 3 year old yelled out for the entire library to hear. He was screaming so loud, it scared poor Addison and she stared wailing right along with him. Not only was Hudson screaming, he was so scared of that poor man that he was trembling from head to toe. So...I proceeded to do what any other rational mother with 2 screaming children in a quiet library would do. I dropped my books and ran!! As soon as we got to the door, Hudson got himself together and asked to go back in and get his dirt bike book. I put aside my embarrassment and calmly walked back in like nothing had happened. As we got to the end of the lobby, Hudson saw the entire group of disabled adults walking towards us. Yep. You guessed it! More terror filled screams, tears and pointing. I pulled him into the bathroom which, thankfully, was only 3 steps away from where we were standing. I thought we could hide in there until the group made it out to the parking lot. I also took the opportunity to explain that God made everybody different and that just because somebody looks different doesn't make them scary. As I was handing out my words of wisdom, a blind lady from the group walked into the bathroom with one of her caretakers. All my wise words must have fallen on deaf ears because Hudson let out a blood curling scream along with the words "A funny looking lady!! Oh, how I wanted to curl up and die. If looks could kill, the blind lady's caretaker put me 6 feet under. I mouthed a heart felt, "I'm so sorry" and ran for the door. Of course as soon as we opened it, we were standing right in the middle of the group of people I was so desperately trying to avoid. I told Hudson to close his eyes and we ran for the checkout counter. I thought that if they were out of sight, I could distract Hudson with his dirt bike book long enough for the group of adults to make it out the door. Not the case. We picked up our books where I had dropped them, sat Hudson (who by the way was still bawling) on the counter, and tried not to notice everyone in the library staring at me. From the way Hudson was acting I was so sure they all thought I told my children that disabled people ate small children. The sweet librarian told me I could take the kids out the back, through the employee entrance. As soon as we got the parking lot, guess who we saw? Yep! The same group. For their sakes, I hope they were all deaf or at least out of their minds enough to not notice that my child was screaming and pointing at them. As we drove away, Hudson told me that he never wanted to go back to the library again. I happily agreed. I don't want to show my face there anytime soon!

By the way: I'm laughing to myself as I'm reading this. Oh the joys of having a 3 year old :)

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Happy 1st Birthday to my cutie pie niece, Cameron! Cameron was born a year ago today (obviously) but she came in her own special way. Can you believe this big girl was a premie? You'd never know it! She's a perfectly healthy little girl full of personality! We love you sweet girl!

Oh...and did you know I'm going to be an aunt again? That's right. Grant and Andrea will be welcoming their first baby in June! Yay! We love you too Baby L and we can't wait to meet you :)

Addi's Eyes

I took Addison to the ophthalmologist yesterday to have her eyes checked. This was a very new experience for me since neither me or Marty wear glasses or have any type of vision problems. The doctor dilated Addison's eyes and by using a special light and some lenses determined that she accommodative esotropia. Oh my goodness! Is it contagious? No, it is not :) Please take out your pen and paper and take notes on my optometry lesson for the day... Basically, Addison can see things far away and close up. Her eyes work like a camera lens. She can focus her eyes but it takes her a little extra effort to do so. That extra effort is what is making her eyes cross. The solution? Glasses. She may grow out of this but for now and through most of her childhood, she'll have to wear them. I was a little bummed when I heard this but I decided to put on a happy face and find her the cutest pair of square frames I could find. Then I saw the choices of frames for an infant. Bummer!! I guess no one takes into account that a 15 month old may want to look fashionable. Sigh. We went with the oval, mocha colored wired frames. I tried to put my happy face back on when they told me her prescription was so strong that it would probably magnify her eyes and make them look huge (hello coke bottle eyes) and I really had to work for that happy face when I saw the bill for glasses. I hope she was wanting to pair of glasses for Christmas this year! Her glasses will be in next week so the next challenge is getting her to wear them. The lady who helped us fill her prescription said that once young children realize that they can see better with glasses they'll want to wear them. We'll see. Stay tuned.

On A Lighter Note

Ok, I refuse to write about anymore sickness. Enough is enough! So on a lighter note.... Last Friday we attended a surprise birthday party for Marty's grandpa, Daddy Riggs. Marty and Daddy Riggs have a very special relationship, almost like father and son. Marty's mom put together a great party complete with catered barbeque. Yum!! Daddy Riggs was totally surprised. I know it meant so much to him to spend time with all his friends, kids, grand kids and great grand kids.

All the P's.

As soon as we got to the party, Addison spotted the nearest balloon and yelled "boon" until we gave her one. She carried it around all night.

Cheesy smile. Love him!!

Daddy Riggs with all his grand kids and great grand kids. Do you see Charlie? He's the second from the left. Hudson looks most like him out of anyone in our families. Their baby pictures look almost the same!

Addison was telling Marty, "please take me home!"

Two

Two kids. Two ear infections. Two more trips to the doctor. Two more rounds of antibiotics. Sigh, Sigh.

Stromboli Eyes

Some of you have asked about Addison's vision problems that I mentioned in my last post. We don't have many answers yet but we do know that she has a condition called strabismus. I was trying to remember the word a few weeks ago when I was talking with Marty about it but the only word that came to mind was stromboli so we've nick-named Addison "stromboli eyes." Anyways, strabismus is basically when the muscles in the eyes are weak and the eyes can't track in the same direction. Sometimes Addison's eyes will cross when she's trying to focus on something and other times only one eye will turn in. The solution is either minor surgery or a patch. We'll find out more when we see a pediatric ophthalmologist on December 1st. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like.

Dear Funk...

Get the heck out of my house!!!

I don't really like to dwell on the woes of our family but it seems like we've been a bit woeful this past month (maybe two.) Here's a little recap of the past 6 weeks.

Marty: strep, chest cold and stomach bug
Lauren: wisdom teeth out, strep, chest cold, weird episodes possibly related to hypoglycemia, extremely tired (mentally and physically) from dealing with sick people
Hudson: stomach bug, strep, fingers slammed in the car door, strep again and mild pneumonia
Addison: she's stayed healthy (thank you God!!) but she has cut 4 teeth in the past month and we're dealing with possible vision issues. I'll post about that one soon.

The tally stands at:

9 doctors visits
3 urgent care visits
1 ER visit
6 new prescription

We have officially filled our sick quoto for the next 10 years.

Girls

I just love having a little girl that looks so stink'n cute in pig tails and bows.
I mean...I just love having a little girl that looks so stink'n cute.
I mean...I just love having a little girl!!

Better Late Than Never

Happy Halloween!!

Hudson vs The Car

It may not look like it but Hudson won! Poor little guy. After a fun lunch at Panera with my Little P's, I decided the next thing on the day's agenda was to shut my child's fingers in the car door. If that wasn't bad enough, when I opened the door to get his fingers out, I did it in such a rush that the door slammed on them...again! I calmly sat him in his seat to exam his fingers and saw that his finger nail had come clean out of the nail bed. There was blood, there were tears and there was one frantic mommy who was trying to keep it under control. There was an urgent care right around the corner so I took my screaming child in and a PA immediately came out to access the situation. She told me that they could fix his finger but it would be extremely painful and traumatic for him and that I should take him to the ER where they could put him to sleep to fix it. I called my mom so she could stay with Addi while I took Hudson to the ER. Meanwhile, I was trying to get in touch with Marty, who was at the fire station, and trying to figure out what to do about the bridal shower that was taking place at our house in three hours! Long story short, the bridal shower was canceled and I finally got in touch with Marty after 2 hours in the ER. There were no broken bones but poor Hudson had to endure the doctor numbing his finger and putting the nail back in the nail bed where it belonged. If that wasn't bad enough, she then tried to stitch the nail to his finger to hold it in place. When that didn't work she resorted to steri strips and a huge bandage. After 5 hours at the hospital, I took Hudson to Target to pick out a toy and then home to bed. We went to the pediatrician this morning where I was informed that what we went through at the ER was "a little over-kill" and that it should have just been cleaned and bandage. That made me hot!! If I ever see PA Dossenbach (the ER doctor) in a dark alley, she better watch out!!

Addison Update

Oh, our little Addison. She just gets cuter everyday. She's 14 months old (14 months going on 3 years) and has quite the personality. Here are a few things she's been up to.

• She points at everything. If she wants something, she'll whine to be held and then point and say "da" at whatever it is she needs.
  
• She can say mama, dada, bye, baybay (her word for baby), ni ni (her word for goodnight), wow, ah-oh, ba ba (bottle) and nana (Granna). Her favorite word is "hey" and says it to everyone. She can sorta say "yes mam" (yeah mum). She can tell us what a monkey and cow say. She shakes her head "no" when she want to tell us..well..."no."
  
• She loves dogs and cats. When she sees them she lets out a high pitch scream.
  
• She's pooped in the potty...twice!! I'm not trying to potty train a 14 month old but I'll dangle her bare bootie over the toilet before I put her in the bathtub and she strains and laughs. She thinks she's hilarious.
  
• She likes to chase Hudson around the couch. This is the only game he'll play with her so she's happy to do it.
  
• She loves her Granna (my mom.) As soon as she sees her she holds her arms up and whines to be held and has an absolute fit when she leaves.
  

That's about all I can think of. Here are a few pictures.

Pointing at the camera. Check out that morning hair!

She smiles on command. It's too cute!

Riding a horse at the Fall Festival. She squealed the whole time.

This picture pretty much sums up my kid's personalities. Too bad Addison's head is chopped off!

Playing with her friend Micah at Hudson's preschool Halloween party. She thought she was big stuff!

Did He Really Just Say That?

For those of you who we see on a regular basis, you've experienced first hand what a chatter box Hudson is. He can talk your ears off, mostly about dirt bikes, but you really never know what's going to come out of his sweet little mouth. Here are just a few things we've heard this week......

In Walmart to the cashier: Bye! Love you!
Watching me fold laundry: Mommy? Is that the bra Daddy use to wear when he was a lady?
Reading a Bible lesson from his AWANA book:
Mommy: Hudson, why did God give us eyes?
Hudson: To see things.
Mommy: Why did God give us a mouth?
Hudson: To eat things.
Mommy: Why did God give us a nose?
Hudson: To pick things!

Fair Time!

Last week me, Marty, Hudson and Marty's mom (Ma) headed out to the fair. Ahh....can't you just smell it now? The hot dogs, roasted corn, cow manure...mmm. We didn't do much cow gazing this year. Hudson was more interested in the rides. He's an adventurous little things. The kiddie rides bored him this year and he tried to get in line for much wilder rides like the zipper. He actually asked the ride attendant to get him off the bumper boats because they weren't fast enough. Next year he'll be tall enough to ride the "big kid" rides with an adult. Oh my, I better prepare myself!

Me and Marty in front of Hudson's all time favorite...the bounce house!

You can't tell in the picture but he has his arm arould Elmo. He ran up to all the wooden characters and put his arm around them for a picture. Marty said he would make a great politician!

Family shot in front of the monster truck.

Hudson looking bored on one of the kiddie rides :)

He was a little more enthusiastic about the roller coaster!

Pumpkin Patch: Round Two

So...I'm a bad blogger. I think this is my second post this month and the month is almost over! I have a lot to cover...fall festivals, pumpkin patches, the fair, Halloween. I better get on the ball. Here we go...

Last week Hudson's preschool class took a little trip to Belinda's Pumpkin Patch. Even though it was a 50 minute drive from our house, it was well worth it. Ms. Belinda is one of the sweetest ladies I've met and she genuinely loves little kids. She only charges $5 per family and that includes a hay ride, a pumpkin for each member of your family, pumpkin painting and a snack. She only does this for preschool classes and members of her church and I would highly recommend her if you're planning an outing with your preschooler. Hudson had a great time and found a friend for Moley Solstice (see last post). His name is Mootsie. Mootsie has been painted blue and is now sitting on our porch along with Moley, Addison's baby pumpkin and a huge gourd that Ms. Belinda's husband gave me.

*This has nothing to do with this post but I cracked myself up when I was doing spell check. It didn't recognize the word "Addison's" and I accidentally changed it to addictions. He,he,he....

Little P's on a hay ride.

Hudson's class minus 4 kids.

These pumpkins were actually picked right off the vine. Ahh...are we in touch with nature or what?

Family shot!

Me, my best friend Anna and our wild bunch. I can't figure out why they're all looking to the left.

Little P's In The Pumpkin Patch

In an attempt to get out of our germ infested house, we took the Little P's to our local pumpkin patch, a.k.a the festive pumpkin set-up on the side of Leesville Rd. Addison had a blast trying to pick up the pumpkins that were bigger than she was. When she got tired of doing that, she just sat on them. Hudson wanted to find one that was just right so he could paint a strawberry on it. Don't ask. We found a beauty! Hudson decided to name it Moley Solstice. Don't ask.

This was not our official "Pearce family pumpkin patch trip" because the kids didn't have matching outfits that coordinated with the backdrop of the pumpkins. I didn't have the energy to tackle that project so there will be more pictures of Little P's picking pumpkins. Get excited!!!

Believe or not, this was the best picture of the 2 of them.

Hudson trying to find the perfect one. Me in the background instructing him on what the perfect one should look like :)

Addison with the biggest cheesy smile she could muster up. I think her cheeks are going to explode!

I'm Back!

You can all breath a sigh of relief because I"m back in the blogging world! I know you've all missed me and are just about to jump out of your seats with anticipation over what has been going on with us. Well...not much, just a bunch of sickness! Thankfully, the Little P's are well (and we pray they stay that way) but me and Marty are hurt'n. We both have strep and have been pretty pitiful this week. Where did we pick up strep and how do you take care of 2 wild kids while you're both sick? Great questions. First, we have now clue where we got it from but we decided to be generous and share it with each other. Second, our parents have been helping us out. Poor Addison is having a hard time because I can't love on her like I usually do. Thankfully we shouldn't be contagious after tomorrow and maybe life can get back to normal. I had a rough few weeks before the strep showed up. Two weeks ago I had, what I thought, was a panic attack. It threw me because I had no clue what would cause me to feel like this. I'm not an anxious, high stress person so I just blew it off as a "weird experience" but it happened again a week later! This time I went to urgent care where they told me I was just having an anxiety attack and prescribed me anti-anxiety medication. This really bothered me, not because I don't believe that people can have anxiety issues but because I didn't want to be one of those people. I couldn't figure out what was making me anxious other than the fact that I was afraid I was going to have another "episode" at any minute. Well, I discussed all this with my doctor today and he thinks I may be hypoglycemic which basically means I have low blood sugar. I go back in 2 weeks for a more thorough blood test and until then I've been instructed to eat very little sugar, lots of protein, and 4-5 small meals a day. We'll see what happens??!! I'll try and play catch up with some pictures soon.

I Just Wanna....

squeeze 'um until their little eyeballs pop out!!

PS: I tried. They didn't like it.

Lately....

So...what have the Pearces been up to? Well, I know you're on the edge of your seat. Our lives are just that exciting!! Well, here's a run down...

Marty: What can I say? He's a hard working man. Marty's been busy with the fire department and inspections. These past few days have been filled with "mommy duties." I had my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday and my sweet husband has taken over as care giver and home maker. He's done a great job! The kids are happy, the pantry is well stocked, the house is in order and I'm still in one piece :)

Lauren: As I mentioned, my wisdom teeth came out on Friday. This was very last minute and not at all planned. I was suppose to have had them removed 6 years ago but....I'm a huge chicken and put it off until it was absolutely necessary. Wednesday night, when half of my tooth decayed right into my hand, I figured it was absolutely necessary! Thankfully, the oral surgeon had one spot open Friday morning and graciously scheduled me at the last minute. I have to say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated and I even enjoyed getting to spend the day all doped up in the bed :)

Hudson: Little man has spent his days dreaming of....you guessed it....dirt bikes!! We're beginning to wonder if this "phase" is really a phase at all. We're thinking he truly loves dirt bikes! Every now and then we'll take him to the Kawasaki dealership on Highway 70 and let him drool over the bikes. He's made the salesman, Dwayne, into his new best buddy. Dwayne always lets him sit on the "little dirt bike" and even gave him a catalog that he insists we read to him every night before bed. Yes, we read him a motocross catalog as his bed time story. Here's a picture of him on this beloved "DR Z70." He's informed us that he wants this for Christmas. Not too much to ask for right?

Miss Addi girl spends her days playing Mommy. She is loving her baby dolls. She picks them up, slings them into her stroller, drags them around by their arms and just loves on them. I made her a little sling and she thought she was hot stuff. She is beginning to exert her independance more and more and has a little "Addi-tude" when things don't go her way. She went for her 1 year check up and weighed in at 20 1/2 lbs and measured 28". That puts her in the 45 percentile for height and 50th for length. Hudson was always in the upper percentils (no less than 65th) so our little girl is quite the peanut compared to her brother. Here she is with her baby.

Birthday Pictures

I'm finally getting around to posting pics from Addison's birthday party last week. We had a great, low key time with our families. Addison stole the show in her birthday tutu. She was adorable! I had to stop myself from squeezing her!! It was a fabulous first birthday :)

The birthday girl showing off.

So sweet!

A little too much birthday.

Four generations of fabulous females :)

Sitting in her pile of presents.

How cute is that cake? Lowes Food people!

The best shot I have of her whole outfit.

Love this!

How could you not want to squeeze that sweet girl?

We have a hard time getting family pics :)