A Video From Jackie To The Boys

The boys have been spending the last few days with Grandma and Grandpa Baer up north. So---Jackie the Hamster made a video for the boys. I tried to e-mail it but it was too large I guess.
So--here it is!

Too Much to Blog About...So I'll Blog About Nothing

For me, its been a while since I have blogged. I have had so much going on----like everyone else out there on summer break.
Luke and I just got home this evening, from a weekend at my parents' house, when I sat down on the computer and said, "I have so much to blog about, I mine as well not blog at all." I just feel like I am so behind on "things" I don't know where to start.
But---since Grandma and Grandpa Baer invited us up again for the 4th of July and asked to keep the boys this week (meaning Luke and I are ALMOST childless---with the exception of Scout :) ) I should have some extra time to catch up on what the Hogue's have been up to. But since we will be heading back up north for a LONG holiday weekend I only have 3 short days to catch up on the blog (and go out on some dates with my sweetie).
On that note--how come it always SOUNDS better to be without your kids for a few days....when the reality is my heart aches for them the minute we are apart?! Hugs and Kisses to my little bugs who are hopefully having some fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bertsie and their cousins Cooper, Nattie-Bug, Holden and Autumn. I hope the boys enjoy their 3 days without mama and papa---but that they come running into my arms when we pull up to the house later in the week.
XOXOX

200

Yes--the day has finally come.
I had an impromptu Dr visit this afternoon and what's the first thing a pregnant woman has to do when they call her back from the waiting room?

Step on the scale!

I hate that scale! (Even more than my scale at home because I think its off by 5 pounds) :)
I try to strip off as much clothing/accessories as I can. At that point the the rubber band in my hair adds at least another pound.
In my pre-pregnancy (more slender) days the slider on the bottom bar of the scale would be on "150." Well today, I could have sworn the nurse should have left that bar on 150---but she broke my heart and moved it up to "200."
If I wasn't so tired from working all day and going to bed late last night I would have been a little more concerned/annoyed at the time. I normally schedule my monthly check ups in the early morning because I am sure I am 5 lbs lighter. So today when the nurse told me to come in late in the afternoon I had mixed emotions:
YAY---I could leave work a little early
YUCK--- I really don't want to go sit in a waiting room FOREVER---then get weighed....and checked. Poo on that. But thankfully today the doctor was quick---so I could only whimper about the 9 lbs I put on the last 5 weeks.
Of course as I am writing this I am slurping down my Hawaiian shaved ice from the "Sno-Shack." I just started craving snow-cones Monday and I hope my husband starts ignoring my pleas to take me over there. I even got online today to check out prices on a snow-cone machine. I tried showing them to my husband and he calmly replied, "We are not getting an ice machine for sno-cones." I could feel my heart break in a million pieces.
Of course he probably could imagine me and the boys bouncing off the walls all summer from the delicious, sugary snow-cone syrup.
Mmmmmmmmmm.......

Check out the Hot Pants!

I could have titled this post: "First Swim Meet," but I think I am seriously in love with my boys' Speedo racing shorts.

They are just so darn cute on their little physiques. THANKFULLY they don't have to wear the Speedo "briefs." Those are not so cute---and should actually be illegal.

Tubbs and Landon trying to pose serious for me

The 2024 Olympic Relay Team :)

This is our first season of swim club and the boys are liking it most of the time. Tubbs is NOT a fan of the Speedo. Thankfully he can wear regular swim trunks for practice. Bubba doesn't really care what he wears---which is one of the reasons I love having boys. Tubbs is a little picky when it comes to wearing clothing that is tight around his butt cheeks--- and I think that's OK. (I am not a fan myself!)

Its neat that the boys get to practice and race against their little buddies from church. I can see these boys growing together in the next few years and looking back on these early years with a lot of laughs.

Tubbs swam the Boys 6 & under 25M Backstroke and 25 M Freestyle. Bubba swam the Boys 7 yr old 25 M Freestyle and a 25 M freestyle relay.

I frankly was a bit shocked Tubbs' coach chose to enter him in the backstroke event. He just learned the stroke a few weeks ago and I didn't think he could make it down to the end of the pool on his back. I thought for sure he would be DQ'd.

I laugh and get teary-eyed at the same time when I watch this video of Tubbs swimming the 25M backstroke---Because he is my baby and yet he is such a big boy. I am very proud of him for making it to the other end of the pool without turning over or giving up.

I left the swim meet early to go to my baby shower, so I didn't get to watch the boys in their freestyle events. Luke told me afterwards they worked very hard and did their best--which is what we have been talking to them about non-stop all week. I was bummed but Luke recorded them on the camcorder....which I cannot figure out how to upload to the computer.

Sorry--but I will do better next swim meet. In fact--you will probably get sick of reading about swim meets and looking at pictures of boys in spandex shorts! But I love it!

Summer Break- Week 1

For some of you its week 2...But for us, its week 1 of Luke and the boys being home together.
Only 7 weeks left until Luke returns to work and I start maternity leave. I am not looking forward to Luke going back to work but I am really looking forward to being home.
Luke loves his time home with the boys.....thankfully. As I have mentioned before I feel really fortunate to have a husband who can handle being home with the boys alone 9 hours straight Monday-Thursday in the summer time. Over the last few summers he has worked on potty-training, site words, taught them how to swim, read, ride a bike...and if he were here he would remind me of more. I think its a safe bet that if I was home with all of them in the summer time Luke wouldn't get as much as he does.
But being at work while they are at home (or anywhere else) isn't always easy. If I am not in a meeting or busy working on a project I catch myself wondering what they are doing. Luke will call me on their way to Sonic or the donut shop and asks me if I want him to pick me up something. (Sometimes I take him up on his offer) :) This is the first summer I am not taking any vacation time because I am saving for the end of my maternity leave.
Anyways---the boys have had a busy 4 days with daddy so far.

• A few trips to Sports Chalet for swim caps and bike helmets
• Breakfast at Carl's Jr
• A few trips to the local library where they got their new library cards
• Bike Rides
• Toys R Us (to browse for future allowance purchases and book chart prizes)
• Beverages from Sonic
• Swimming in the backyard
• Rent movies at BlockBuster
• Lunch at Burger King
• Trip to Budget Bolt
• Get daddy's air tank filled for his Jeep
• Grocery shopping at Winco
• A special field trip to the ghetto (by daddy's work)
• Swim practice every afternoon

Makes me tired just thinking about it. Luke took the boys to swim practice this evening. I took advantage of the quiet time and fell asleep on the couch. Maybe this means I might be able to stay up past my usual bedtime of 8pm tonight.

Taking Care of Brother

A few months ago Tubbs figured out that at bedtime if he didn't want to go to sleep in his own bed, he could ask "Can Bubba could take care of me tonight?"

It was so cute and with the sincere, pouty look on his face, we couldn't say no.

So---a few days of the school week we would tuck them in together in Bubba's top-bunk. I think one of the reason's Bubba was up for the challenge was 1)He would have his buddy to coke and joke with until he fell asleep and 2) this might ensure he wouldn't get woken up in the middle of the night by Tubbs' crying. Bubbs is our sleeper and he requires at least 8-9 hours of sleep each night. (Tubbs is the polar opposite) Bubba can sleep through almost anything and at 7 years old will still nap for 2-3 hours if given the chance! So, if Tubbs wakes up in the middle of the night screaming because he is scared, it will occasionally wake Bubba up. Bubba gets so annoyed, but I have seen him crawl down from his bunk bed and take Tubbs by the hand and take him down to our room. (He is such a good big brother when he wants to be). Since its warmed up (and PG&E prices have gone up 25%) Luke and I have two fans in our room now on each side of the bed. Because of this we can't hear the boys as well as we used to if they call for us. Nevertheless, I feel bad that Tubbs sits in his bed and cries out for one of us until either Bubba wakes up or we wake up and go get him.

Anyways---last night around 9pm it was time to put the boys to bed. They hadn't had one of their best days so they were in a little trouble by 9pm. Considering they got to stay up that late, when Tubbs asked if he could sleep with Bubba we told him no. Tubbs went into hysterics and was very upset. 2 minutes after we tucked both the boys in, Tubbs comes wandering into the den where Luke and I were watching TV. With his little tear-filled eyes he asks Luke if he will come lay down by him in a little while. Luke promises he will.

10 minutes pass and its quiet, so I know Tubbs has fallen asleep. I went into the bedroom to check on the boys and this is what I found:

Clever little Tubbs knew that he wasn't going to wait for daddy to come lay down by him---so crawled up on the top bunk and burrowed in. He even brought his own pillow. (Little turd)

A Million Pieces

What comes to mind when you think of a million pieces?

The answer:
Any piece of furniture from IKEA.

IKEA---the place I love to hate.

I love their prices, but I hate to watch my sweet husband assemble their stuff!

We looked and looked for a white dresser for the baby's room. I read reviews and checked out prices on stuff from Target, Wal Mart, Craig's List, Land of Nod, Pottery Barn....and anywhere else it seemed. We bought quite a bit of stuff from IKEA when we furnished our first house in 2001 so were familiar with their stuff. We ended up finding a dresser we liked that wasn't too pricey--- but looked like good quality. I am always thinking years down the road when it comes to decorating and I have decided that when the baby outgrows the crib we will not be sticking with the white furniture. For this reason I didn't want to invest in a white dresser from somewhere as expensive as Pottery Barn. (We ended up doing white furniture in the room because Luke's mom had a white crib she bought when we first had Bubba and she said we could have it).

Ok---back to the IKEA story.

We were looking online Friday night and came across the IKEA dresser. I suggested we pick up the dresser from an IKEA up north on our way home from my parent's house in a few weeks. Luke woke up Saturday morning and said he wanted to drive to the Burbank IKEA to pick up the dresser. Part of me was excited to get our first piece of furniture in the baby's room. But part of me felt bad because I didn't want him to spend half his Saturday on the road and in traffic. I stayed home with Bubba and Luke took Tubbs on his mini-road trip.

As a wise man who just moved to Littleton (and used to work at Thomasville) informed me, "I think the most cruel and unusual thing you can ask any husband to do is go to IKEA, especially if it's the one in Burbank on Saturday. That place is a nightmare and all of the customers speak 5 other languages, none of which are Spanish...and the parking is a nightmare, he must really, really love you."

I do think he must really, really love me....(and his daughter) since it was his idea.

On every trip we have ever taken to IKEA over the years their parking lot has been insane. You can only park in their parking lot (loading zone) when you are done shopping and ready to load up. So---when you get there you park up the street or in the mall parking garage around the corner. After you purchase your stuff you are supposed to go get your car and then head to the IKEA parking lot to load up. Well, we have made at least a dozen trips over the years and we got smarter about parking-----we would fib (a little). We would pull in the parking lot and tell the security guard we were loading up. We weren't lying exactly since we would be loading up---at some point. We would zip in the store, find our stuff, check out and load up.

Yesterday's trip was no exception. Luke went in to buy one item and knew exactly where he was going.

What was funny was honest Tubbs almost blew it for Luke. When Luke pulled in the parking lot (loading zone) he told the security guard his wife was inside with the receipt. Tubbs blurts out, "Mama is inside?!" I wish I could have been there to see Luke's face. Luckily Luke was able to park and the security guard didn't tell him to take a hike. I do think the parking situation there is a big joke, but luckily we don't head down there often...or will hopefully need to go again anytime in the near future.

Wa-la!

After 3 hours of listening to power tools and the boys fight over who can hammer next we have a dresser---- Now we just have to fill it! :)

Could It Be Any Other Color.....

But Pink!

Yes, we decided on a paint color for the baby's new room. I always swore if I had a girl I would not paint the room pink. To top it off the color is called "Baby Girl." (I am so lame)



I picked up one gallon of paint last Friday (thinking that was plenty) and we started Saturday afternoon. Or I should say, Luke started painting Saturday afternoon....I supervised. We got the room 60-70% done before we ran out of paint. When we cleaned up Saturday night Bubba walked in and said, "Is that the best you can do?" Luke was up on the ladder doing some touch up but I saw him smile. I just laughed because I didn't know exactly what Bubba was implying. You know how kids say things but they don't really know what they mean---or I should say, I don't know what they mean. Was he referring to the fact that the walls were only painted 3/4 of the way up? Or did he think it looked bad?
The last thing we have painted ourselves was Bubba's nursery 8 years ago in our first house. That room was smaller than this one. We ended up going through 1.75 gallons of paint on Scout's room. But I think Luke did a fabulous job. I picked up the second gallon of paint on Monday and Luke worked from 8 pm - midnight getting most of it done. He waited until Wednesday night to put finishing touches on it and hang the blinds back up.
I think he did a great job and we now have a pink room in the house! Scout will hopefully be a fan of pink---at least the first 2-3 years of her life. After that she can help repaint her room.

(My hot painter)

(In the middle of painting last Saturday Bubba and Tubbs came in the room and said they were going to put on a show for us. I guess they got impatient waiting for us to finish and when I looked on the bedroom door there was this sign posted. I love it when they write notes for us) :)