Yesterday morning, Hudson and I flew to Dallas for a last trip to visit my parents before baby boy #2 arrives. I’m 27 weeks pregnant now and my flying days will soon be over and I’ll be staying close to home. Hudson loves his KK and Poppie and I miss my parents so badly, so trips to see them are always built into our plans.

TC stayed behind to work. When we come to visit my parents, we stay for a week– minimum. This is one of my favorite things about being about to stay at home with Hudson. My family is so far away and those visits are so important to me and I want Hudson to have a great relationship with them. We always miss TC so much while we’re away, but I know that he would be here if he could. It’s just not really feasible for him to take so many weeks away from work during the year.

This morning, my mom, Hudson, and I are driving over to Louisiana to meet up with family in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. We’re very excited to see everyone and always wish we could make it to every stop on the map and see everyone we love. There’s just never enough time!

I will be without a computer, but will have my lovely new iPhone. So I think I’m going to take a few days off from blogging so I can enjoy my trip and come back inspired.

And I’m going to take pictures. When looking for a good picture of Hudson with me, his KK and Poppie, this was the best I found. It’s over a year old. Not good, friends!

Thank you all for your sweet, encouraging words yesterday. We definitely had a rough day, but as soon as I prayed about it and put my thoughts in writing on my blog, I felt so much better. And your sweet comments made me feel even better.

I’m not abandoning “truth-telling Fridays,” but I feel like I kind of spilled my guts already this week and after yesterday’s big brain dump, I wanted to end the week on something super positive and fun.

At SPOTS this week at my church, our Children’s Minister, Mimi Brookshire, spoke to us about family. Our struggles, our triumphs, our good days and bad days. We talked about discipline and she gave us some recommendations for some great parenting books. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe that God puts people and ideas in our lives at the right time to remind us to turn to Him when things are tough. And I know that Mimi’s words came at the right time for me after experiencing the day we had yesterday.

Mimi concluded her talk by encouraging us to do fun family activities together such as…

Have family movie nights.

Play games.

Bake a cake and lick the bowl.

Read books out loud with joy.

Laugh until you cry.

Play dress up.

Camp out in your yard and your living room.

Roast marshmallows.

Make homemade pizza and let everyone touch the dough.

Slide down your stairs on a blanket or a cardboard box.

Have tea parties.

Make superman or super girl costumes.

Wash dishes and babies until the bubbles tumble over from the sink.

Paint.

Play play-dough.

Play in the rain and the mud.

Enjoy your family!

Look at your kiddos each day and thank God for them.

Rejoice in the day that the Lord has made.

Hug Often!

Because here’s the reality (Mimi wrote these to fit her family, but I know we could all think of our own “realities” that make things perfectly imperfect)…

“Family is a little bit of heaven on earth. We are a strange group of characters walking through life sharing colds and hairbrushes, desiring one another’s soda ( we didn’t have soda in our house when my kids were growing up so it was huge), hiding video games( he cannot play it, I bought it with my own money), locking each other out of rooms( no girls are allowed…sisters have cooties!), borrowing stuff ( sometimes without asking…most  of time without asking), causing pain and kissing to heal the pain all in the same moment, laughing, loving, defending to the death, and working hard to figure out what makes us a family. We don’t choose our family.  God chose that for us! Enjoy and cherish your family!”

I know it’s really supposed to be “a case of the Mondays” but it’s Thursday and there’s some wacky stuff going on.

Hudson is going through some stuff. I like to blame teething because I can see those super sharp canine teeth poking through his gums. And his entire hand is always in his mouth. And his nose is dripping like crazy. But maybe teething is just a convenient excuse for the terrible twos?

I know my sweet boy isn’t terrible, but oh my word. I need a break. Or a good cry. Or a pity party.

All of Hudson’s symptoms are amplified because of my pregnancy. My body hurts and my fuse is short. My dogs are getting on my nerves and I need my space.

How much sense does it make that I want to cry because Hudson is constantly having mini-meltdowns? Do I need my own melt-down? (How old am I?)

He is always so happy to be awake in the morning and as soon as there’s a misunderstanding or miscommunication (because even though we try, we can’t understand everything he’s trying to tell us), the day takes a turn for the worse.

Then all of a sudden after sulking in the corner, he’ll come walking back to say, “Mommy, hold you.” And I know he didn’t mean to get upset with me and I don’t mean to lose my patience with him. It’s just part of the family dynamic where we are most hurt by the ones we love the most. I don’t want to see my child act out or disobey me. And the reality that he is not flawless or perfect is hard to take sometimes. But it’s reality and Hudson is learning.

And so am I. Every single day.

I learn my lesson about what battles to pick and what time is appropriate to introduce a new activity. Or what time of day is off-limits for shopping. I know that when Hudson has had a rough day, I need to give him a break and not leave him in the church nursery so I can do what I need to do.

Today I just wanted some help. And some company.

I watched the clock like a hawk until it was finally nap time.

I know this is just a phase and it will pass. I’m irritable and Hudson is irritable and that puts us on a collision course. There are many moments when I just walk away. I walk to the other room to remind myself that he’s only 20 months old and even though I’m irritated, I can’t take it out on him. And holding a grudge against a 20 month old isn’t even a thought in my mind.

These are just little moments and they’re fleeting. But in the midst of a growing belly, stretching stomach muscles, aching backs, teething, cold season, limited vocabulary and life, I’m in need of a good cry. Or a nap.

And so is Hudson.

So I think we’ll both allow ourselves each of those things today.

I mentioned my hospital packing list in a post last week. I recently found the list I made for my hospital bags when I was about to have Hudson, so I thought I’d share the list with everyone and let you know how I’ve modified it a little after my first hospital experience.

photo via here

*I’m assuming it’s understood that there is lots of bleeding post-baby

• Socks- hospital floors are cold and yucky
• Robe- you will wear the hospital gown for a little while
• Cute Pajamas- something with lots of coverage. Pajama pants are good because they hold in all the absorbent pads and stuff you have to wear after the baby is born. It’s also nice to put on your own clothes for the 1-3 days that you may be in the hospital.
• Pads- the hospital gave me some heavy duty absorbent pads, but I also brought my own just in case
• Going home clothes (definitely still maternity clothes for me)
• Full coverage underwear (no Hanky Pankies)- if you’re wearing pads, you need full coverage undies
• Nursing bras or tanks
• Flip flops- for just walking around your room. My feet were so swollen (it was June) that I was so happy to have flip flops that were easy to get on and off.
• Make up- duh.
• Shampoo, tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant, etc.- I didn’t wash my hair in the hospital because I’d had an awesome blow out the day I went into the hospital. But I did shower and it was nice to have my own shower stuff.
• Personal documents/identification/insurance information- you never know when you’ll need it
• Folders for new documents for you and baby- we had to fill out a lot of paperwork and came home with lots of documents for Hudson, so it’s good to have a place to keep up with all of that.
• Notebook and pen- for recording details about the birth story, baby’s height and weight, gifts you receive in the hospital, and most importantly, keeping up with the baby’s feeding and sleeping schedule in the hospital.
• Ponytail holders
• Headband
• iPod
• Pillow
• Boppy- this was helpful for when we had visitors who wanted to hold Hudson and after a long labor I was really weak, so I loved having the Boppy to support him while I fed him.
• Snacks- for you and for Daddy. I was in labor for 25 hours and TC never left my side. He loved having snacks. It was also nice to have some of my favorites for after the delivery when I could finally eat again!
• Phone charger
• Laptop- assuming you’re a blogger! hee hee!
• Laptop charger
• Camera
• Video camera
• Chargers for camera and video camera
• List of who to call after baby is born
• Going home outfit for baby
• Swaddling blankets- the hospital has their own swaddling blankets, but my favorite swaddling blanket is Swaddle Designs and I wanted to practice swaddling with that blanket in the hospital
• Diaper shirts for baby- the hospital where I delivered puts babies in the little paper shirts, so I brought the snap-on diaper shirts and gave them to the nursery for Hudson to wear so he could wear something softer
• Lovie for baby- I had been sleeping with the lovie for a couple of weeks before Hudson was born, and he kept it in the nursery when he was away from me.
• Pillow and blanket for Daddy (or whoever stays with you in the hospital room)- the hospital provides some stuff, but it’s hard to sleep when you’re hot or cold, so we brought extra just to be safe.

* I wasn’t allowed to wear my own, prettier version, of a hospital gown. I also wasn’t allowed to wear my rings or earrings. All hospitals are different, but those were the rules where I delivered Hudson.

*I brought Hudson’s baby book to the hospital for his birth and it really got in the way. I just ended up recording everything I needed to remember in the notebook and transferring it to the baby book when we got home.

Any of you moms want to add to the list?