He's here!

Katie, Jay, and Holden are proud to introduce you to our newest addition:

Hunter James Paul Hobson

Born Saturday, March 27th at 4:36pm

Weight: 7lbs, 14oz. Length: 20 inches

We are quite biased, but we think he is absolutely perfect! Everyone is doing well and we are adjusting to life with TWO special little guys at home! :) Mommy promises to work on loading her zillions of pictures soon and telling the whole story.

Birthday Letter from Mommy

To Holden Jay: My dear, sweet, funny, persistent, independent, strong-willed, adorable, potty-training, truck-loving, pizza eating three-year-old:
You are three years old tomorrow, March 24th, 2010. How can that be possible? I can still recall vividly your arrival on this same date in 2007. So like you to push the envelope-a month and a day early, ready to greet the world. You have always done things in your own time and your own way. Daddy and I love you more every day. You are such a special little boy!

At age three:
-You are all boy. You are fascinated with trucks and trains and vehicles. You love watching for the garbage truck each Friday, and are thrilled if the “claw truck” accompanies it to pick up large items. Any time you hear a siren, you run to the back sliding glass door as fast as your little legs will carry you, then announce as it passes if it is a fire truck, ambulance, police car, or combination of these vehicles. You know the difference between diggers, bulldozers, dump trucks, tractors, etc. and will point them out to us as you spot them. Our home is overrun with miniature replicas of the real thing in all shapes and sizes, and on an average day at any given point, we can hear your little voice saying, “Vroom! Vroom!” or “Choo choo!” You know that the train station is behind the Discovery Museum, and you love when a train is leaving or pulling in so we can watch it. If we hear a train while outside, you will say, “Oh, that must be at the “Discovery Oseum!” (your version of museum.)

You also think motorcycles are way cool, much to Daddy’s dismay! He sees too many accident scenes involving them-at least he has taught you to look to see if the rider is wearing a helmet. If not, you will often shake your head and say, “Dey are not being smart. Dey’re not wearing dere helmet!”

-You are very articulate and talk up a storm. People have commented since age 2 at how well you can talk and communicate; I’m not really surprised since you come by it naturally from your Big Mouthed Mommy! You do still say a lot of words incorrectly, but close enough to the real thing that people understand you. Some cute things that you say differently are: “Grink” for drink, “I’m DIRSTY!” for thirsty, “Oseum” for museum, “Dat” for “that,” “Dere” for there, “Sink” for “think,” “feel me better” instead of “help me feel better” (ex: “Dat grink feel me all better!”) "Ganks," for thanks, "Dench Fry" for french fry, and our personal favorite, “Hotown” for “hotel,” which cracks us up. You can make the “r” sound, but a lot of times your w’s become r’s, such as saying “Gween” for “Green.”

You are the king of questions. You want to know everything about what is going on around you. I have to actually make up names for the people in vehicles around us when we drive, because you will persist and persist until I give you an answer. You must think I know everyone! If you ask us an answer and we say, “I don’t know,” you will not accept that. You will say, “You tell me, Mommy?” until I give you one. You can keep stretching “WHY???” into every answer we give. Ex: “Mommy, where is that truck going?” “I don’t know, buddy.” “Mommy, you tell me?” “Maybe it’s going to Target.” “Oh, I like Target. Why it going there, Mommy?” “Well, maybe to deliver some toys.” “Why?” “So people can buy them.” “Why they want to buy them?” “To play with.” “Why they like to play with them, Mommy? You tell me?” “Playing with toys is fun.” “Why is it fun, Mommy?” “It gives us something to do.” “Why??” Until finally I will start laughing, roll my eyes, and say, “You tell ME, buddy!” Usually then you will laugh and give me some sort of answer.

You crack people up with some of your funny thoughts and quotes. Here are a few recent examples:
“Mommy, we have a BIG PROBLEM!” I come running, thinking you have had a potty training accident or spilled something. “I don’t have a microphone and I NEED to sing! Tell Memaw to buy me one!”

While playing your little farm game, in which you roll a die that has animals on it, you rolled a rooster. You smiled and said, “Ooh! I got a cock-a-doodle!”

This past week, you insisted on wearing your orange safety goggles from your tool bench out to feed the ducks, into the gas station, and to the park. You looked hilarious, and you thought you were so cool. While feeding the ducks, a man in extremely short shorts was jogging. You burst into giggles, pointed, and quite loudly said, “Dat man isn’t wearing any PANTS!!”

“Mommy, you need to do somethin’ with your hair. It’s black on top and under dere.” Nothing like a tiny child noticing your roots!

You love to lay your head on my ever-expanding tummy while we are watching TV. The other night, Hunter kicked pretty hard, and I waited for you to scold him. Usually you’ll say something like, “Hunter, we don’t kick!” On this night, you smiled and said, “Hey, little fella!” We don’t even know where you learned that phrase. So cute!

We recently encountered some obnoxious teenagers when we took you to a movie. They were very disruptive, and afterwards Daddy said, “Holden, don’t act like them when you grow up.” You turned to him and said, “No, Daddy, I am going to drive a red choo choo, and you can climb aboard, okay?”

We had a power outage one night due to an accident on the street near our home. The power came back on once, only to immediately go out again. I was complaining about the power company, (“If they can get it on, why can’t they keep it on?!”) and you sighed like an old soul and said, “Mommy, you have to be PATIENT!” That humbled me a bit!

When you want something, you try to butter us up…like the time you told me, “Mommy, you have cute eyes.” I said, “Thanks, buddy, I like your eyes, too.” Then you said, “Yeah, they’re really cute…you wanna give me some candy, Mommy?” I told you it was too close to bedtime. Then I asked if my eyes were still cute. Your response? “NOPE!”

-You have a sensitive side to you, and can be very empathetic. You will cry at movies or TV shows when someone else is sad, like when Big Bird misses his friends in “Follow That Bird,” or the dwarfs are crying about Snow White being asleep. You are quick to ask if someone is okay if they get hurt, and you can’t stand when other kids are crying or upset. Anytime we hear a baby crying at the store, you’ll ask me what’s the matter with them. I am thinking you will be a great big brother! You are very loyal to your friends and family. You are definitely Mommy’s boy, and will often defend me if Daddy is teasing me. But you idolize your Daddy, and often say “When I get big I will drive a police car like Daddy.” (When you aren’t saying you will drive a fire truck. You also like to say when you get big you will drink coffee.) J Your best buddies right now are Brady Pollett, Colin and Cade Cunningham, and Natalie Scott. You also enjoy seeing/talking about Baby Corinne Thompson, Baby Ava Cunningham, “Ky Ky” (Kylie) Pollett, Lauren Stille, and Bella, who you know through the Polletts. And you are a big fan of Hannah Fansler down the street. She is a “big kid,” and gives you lots of attention. You think she is pretty cool!

You enjoy animals and talk to them in a high-pitched voice that is quite humorous. You don’t understand why your kitties, Callie and Tiggy, won’t let you get closer to them. You have a love/hate relationship with Memaw and Pepaw’s lab, Maggie. She loves to lick you which irritates you to no end, and her wagging tail often whacks you somewhere. Sometimes you pet her and have even tried to RIDE her, and other times you scowl and scold her to leave you alone. I think as you get bigger you two will be fast friends. She is very protective of you!

-You continue to be a picky eater, but at least at this age you can tell us what you want, and you can (usually) be reasoned with to eat something healthy, esp. if the promise of dessert is handy. J Lately you have taken a liking to pizza, and would eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we let you. This is awesome, because it includes lots of food groups and can be found just about anywhere we go if we are out to eat. You will eat it reheated, too. You also eat mac n’ cheese, chicken fingers, gogurts, apples, bananas, peanuts, and of course anything non-healthy. J You have a definite sweet-tooth and will lick every last bit of frosting off a piece of cake. You tend to enjoy fruity candies better than chocolate, though. I can’t get you to sample vegetables to save your life, so I give you a big glass of V-8 Fusion juice every day that tastes fruity, but has both fruits and veggies in it. You also take a Flinstone vitamin and love those. Somehow, you keep growing! Your favorite foods at this point are French fries, popcorn, Cheetos, and fruit snacks.

-Other interests right now:
TV shows: Scooby Doo, Yo Gabba Gabba, Dora the Explorer, Diego, Chuggington, The Wonder Pets, Max and Ruby, and Fireman Sam are all favorites. You are also into movies right now and enjoy the Disney movies, Polar Express, Stuart Little, and many others. You like to fixate on one and watch it over and over, then eventually a new one comes along. We laugh when you watch your Scooby movie with the singing rock star girls. You grab your Wiggles guitar, make one of us play your little keyboard, and jam along with them, spouting out the parts where you know the words at top volume.

Kindermusik: You go every Tues. night to the same class as Cade and Natalie. You love it! Lots of singing, dancing, and movements. You and Cade make Annie and me laugh during the “quite song,” when the lights are turned out and we are supposed to be having rest time. You two will fake snore, call out, “Nigh night!” tackle each other, and giggle hysterically. Naughty little boys! You know many of the songs by heart, and will put the CD’s on during the week at home on your little Diego CD player. You have always loved music of all kinds, so this class is right up your alley.

Swim lessons: You take lessons in the “Starfish” group every Monday at 4 Seasons. Daddy takes you during the school year. Getting your head under the water frightens you, but you are doing quite well and always tell me at night, “I go-ed under the water today, Mommy! You proud of me??” After lessons, you and Daddy stay and swim for awhile. You love to wear your floaties and swim in the big pool, or play in the baby pool with other kids. Usually you go in the hot tub to warm up at the end.

The Zoo: You love visiting the Miller Park Zoo, and have the exhibits memorized. You are a big fan of the wallabies, tiger, and sea otters. You also love to ride the carousel!

Discovery Museum: You’d go here every day if you could! At this age, you are so fun and really enjoy all of the exhibits now. It’s neat to see your interests change as you grow. Your current favorite areas are the paint wall, pizza station, Dr.’s area (you doctor the baby dolls), and of course the trucks/cars table and train table. We also go to some toddler classes there in the evenings about once a month which you enjoy.

Firefighters: You are obsessed! You love everything about them-their trucks, their cool hats, spraying the hose, etc. We do a lot of imaginative play involving things being on fire and people being in trouble, and we have to rescue them. You dictate all of the role-playing, down to what we say and where we lie down if we are hurt. J Natalie got you a firefighter outfit for your birthday, and you love to wear it when you play. A new restaurant near the Discovery Museum, “Firehouse Pizza,” combines two of your favorite things: pizza and fire fighter memorabilia! You get a little plastic fire hat to wear each time we go there, and you love to look at the photos and the real hoses hanging on the wall.

Favorite songs: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “Twinkle Twinkle,” “Baby Mine” (from Dumbo), “Wheels on the Bus,” “Old Macdonald,” “Where is Thumbkin,” “Jesus Loves Me”

I realize this is probably the longest blog post in history, but you are growing and changing SO very quickly, and I want to make sure I chronicle what you are like at each age. I love you so much and am so blessed to be your Mommy. I can’t wait to see what age 3 holds in store for us!

Visit to the Easter bunny!

What a difference a year makes! Holden was so excited to wear his "big boy" Easter outfit and go visit the bunny this year! He spotted him from far across the mall, and began wildly waving at him until we got close. Then he hopped right in his lap, gave him a high five and a hug, and cheesed it up for the photographer. I think his picture turned out really cute! (Are Easter bunnies supposed to wear blue eyeshadow? I'm just sayin'....)

Easter 2010-Holden is two days shy of 3 years old.

A walk down memory lane....

Easter 2009-Holden just turned 2, and NOT HAPPY about the bunny!

Easter 2008-Holden 11.5 months old, oblivious to the bunny.

We didn't take him to the bunny on his first Easter because he was only a few days old. :)

I feel like Holden is growing up soooo quickly lately, and really becoming a little boy instead of a toddler. I am afraid to even blink!


We started potty training on Monday since I am home for spring break. I have dreaded this event and procrastinated, so I decided it was now or never. Day 1 went fairly well; he was excited about wearing his big boy undies and going on his little truck potty. I put it smack dab in the middle of the living room, and he ran around in undies all day and did a lot of sitting and practicing in front of the TV. It helped that the weather was cold and nasty out, so we had reason to stay inside. He had 4 successes and 5 accidents; not bad for the first day. On Day 2 he only had 2 accidents! One was first thing in the morning and I don't think he was really awake yet, and the other was when he did a #2. I have a feeling that will be our issue for awhile, which I have heard is common with boys. But I took him to church and Target, and he went potty both places and had no accidents while we were out. I was so proud of him for doing that well only on Day 2! I put plastic pants on over his undies just in case, but he didn't even need them. We are now on Day 3 and he has had NO accidents all day!! I am so proud of my buddy. We went to McDonald's and the zoo this morning, and to the mall tonight for the Easter bunny. He went potty all three places. He also started telling me some of the times today when he had to go, and being able to hold it until we got to the potty, rather than me just making him try. We played outside this afternoon, and I know he HAD to have needed to go since he'd drank a whole cup of juice before we went out and we were out awhile, but he obviously didn't want to go in because he kept saying he didn't have to go. When we did go in, I thought the pee would never end! But I was encouraged to know he must be able to start to control it/hold it when he needs to. I never would have thought by Day 3 he'd be doing so well!!! I am sure we will have setbacks, but still, I am amazed. He must have just been ready. However....he has NOT gone #2 all day and he usually does like clockwork; I suspect he's holding it...so like I said, we may have some issues with that. I also expect he may regress a little when the baby comes. But all in all, it hasn't been as bad as I had anticipated. He even made sure to let me know tonight that he promised not to go pee or poop on the bunny! Ha!


Another new thing is holding the door for me. He has been quite the little gentleman, wanting to open and hold the doors for me when we are out; they can be quite heavy for his little body and sometimes he will even make a face like he is straining himself, but he insists on doing it. He especially loves the doors at the zoo and the mall, with the handicap button you can push to make it open. He will race ahead to push the button for me. :)

He insists on doing everything "All myself." I am trying to be patient with this even if it takes him minutes more than it would take me to do it for him. He wants to dress and undress himself, get the juice out of the fridge for me, wash his hands on his own, etc. He is very strong-willed and persistent, which is both a strength and a weakness. I am glad to see him wanting to be independent, though.


All of his jeans and pants are waiting for a flood right now! He looks like a little hobo, but I am not buying new ones since it is almost time for shorts anyway. My little peanut is getting taller!


He has also put on some weight; he's now 28.5 lbs....almost to 30! That is something for him. I think his new-found love of pizza may be helping with that ;).

Can't believe he will be 3 on Wednesday. How time flies. I love my big boy!

Holden's 3rd birthday party!

We made it! I was so worried Hunter would decide to arrive around the date of Holden's 3rd bday party. He is still hangin' out in my tummy. :) We had a blast celebrating on Sunday at Chuck E. Cheese! His real bday isn't until the 24th, but we also wanted to have it early because a lot of friends and relatives are on spring break that week. We plan to do something fun with just our little family that day. Here are some pictures (just a few! ha!) from his "big day." He was so excited to be the "birthday star!"

Mommy and Holden with his big balloon.

Daddy and Holden are ready to celebrate!

It was great having the party on a Sunday morning (esp. the day after the time change!) because it was not crowded at all. This was nice since most of the kids at the party were really little. It was easy to see them the whole time, and they got to go on everything they wanted and play all of the games. Holden even got brave and went up in the climber/tunnels, which he is usually too timid to try when all the big kids are in there. (I wanted to get a picture of Jay crawling around up there, too, but he was too quick for me! He was up there like one of the kids. Which I am sure does not surprise anyone!)

Here are Holden's bday buddies: Cade, Isabella, Natalie, Colin, Brady, and Kylie. We were so happy they could all join us!

Family shot: Jay, Aunt Allie, Pepaw, Holden with Memaw, Grammy, Papa, and me (plus Hunter!) :) Can you tell Holden wanted to get down and play?

Family close up

Playing the water game with Memaw and Aunt Allie. This is a favorite of Holden's; he takes it very seriously!

The birthday group eating pizza and watching the Chuck E. show.

Party time with Chuck E. Cheese! Holden had a Diego cake that our friend, Kam, (also his babysitter three days a week) was nice enough to make for us. It was sooo yummy! Nothing like homemade cake! Holden got his own crown and medallion from Chuck E. and thought he was hot stuff! It's hard to believe that until recently, he was terrified of the big mouse...he adores him now!

Our special boy on his special day.

On the dance floor with Chuck E! (Cracks me up that Jay has pizza in his hand.)

Eating frosting (the only part of the cake he eats!) and dancing with Chuck E. Holden was cracking everyone up with his white boy moves! (See bottom left picture for an example!)

My favorite soon-to-be 3 year old!

Opening presents. He loved everything he got: a Cars car wash system, first computer system and an extra game to go with it, ambulance, fire fighter outfit, a dinosaur that roars and walks, the Melissa and Doug birthday cake that he always loves to play with at the children's museum, walkie talkies, and a big green ball for playing outside with. (He told Kam for weeks that's what he wanted, so she found him one and wrapped ribbon around it! :) Just like at Christmas, he didn't understand why we couldn't open it all right then and there,which is why he looks so serious in some of these pictures! He also got a cool aqua pics packet with all of his ticket earnings from the games; his grandparents, Aunt Allie, and Daddy played a lot of games and gave him all of their tickets, and our party helper was nice enough to let him go over his amount a little bit to get it. :) It is nice he has some new things to play with right before becoming a big brother.

He thought he was hot stuff on the car ride home with his balloon and his gear. He wore the crown and medallion all the way home.

My funny little guy.

I just love him!

It was nap time when we got home, but we let him pick one thing to play with so he wasn't too disappointed. He chose the firefighter outfit and got right into role-playing! :) Jay and I had to lay on the floor and pretend to be accident victims while he chopped down the car door with his ax and sprayed us with the extinguisher! (Maybe the car was on fire???) Then he wrapped our legs up with a blanket cast.

For dinner, we always go to Memaw and Pepaw's house down the street on Sundays. Great Grandma and Grandpa Schulz joined us and we had another cake that Holden picked out from Walmart; this one was Thomas the Train. I love this picture of the three of them. Needless to say, he had one fun day! We love you, Holden Jay! We can't believe how big you are getting. We feel so blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy, and to watch you grow and learn new things each day. God gave us the most precious gift in you. Always remember how special you are to us, and even more so to Him!

Cuteness

These are just some randoms from the week that I thought were too cute not to share. :) Several are from my new favorite toy Jay got me; my i-phone! That is why some are a little fuzzy.

We finally got some nice weather mid-week. It was great to be out in the sunshine!

Here are Holden and his girlfriend, Natalie, (rockin' the shades!) in his wagon.

Love this picture of him! We walked down to the nature trail by our house.

Having a play date at Natty's house. Loving her outfit-princess top, wings, and her Disney-mobile.

Holden and his neighborhood pal, Hannah. He got a little cold, so she loaned him her jean jacket and rolled the sleeves for him. So cute!

My little picky eater now loves pizza!! I am thrilled with this development, as I know he is getting bread, dairy, meat (his fave is pepperoni) and tomato sauce for a veggie! :) He would eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner if he could. This is at Subarro's Pizza in the mall. They make enormous slices and don't have kids' sizes. He ate this entire piece up to the crust-I think it was the same size as his head!

Sleeping on the couch with Daddy after a hard day of playing. Lately he's had a hard time sleeping in his bed at night; I think it has to do with the baby coming. He is so snuggly, and I try to remember that before we know it he will be too big and cool to sleep with his parents.

Riding the carousel at the mall with Memaw. This was the first time he held on all by himself and would not let her touch him. We went back this weekend, and he rode without an adult. Such a big boy!

Funny little side story: we were at the mall yesterday, and ran into Memaw, Aunt Teresa, and cousins Jenny and Chelsey. Holden loves to run up and down this ramp, and 9 year old Chelsey was trying to keep up with him but he was getting quick for her. I caught up and told him he could not run away from us or the mall cop would think I wasn't being a good Mommy. I told him he might even give us a ticket. He understands this concept well from Daddy being a police officer, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Well, the mall cop is kinda a big guy, and apparently I inadvertently scared Holden to death with this warning! A little while later, he and Chelsey were on the carousel, and we noticed he was squinting his eyes, glaring at something, then puckering like he was going to cry. I thought he was scared riding the carousel without an adult. Then we realized he was watching the mall cop's every move! He would follow him with his head; craning it backwards to see where he was at. I think he thought he was there just to watch him!! When he got off, I explained that he is a very nice man, and he doesn't need to be scared of him as long as he is following the rules. Apparently, he wasn't convinced, because when he showed up at the food court a little while later, Holden jumped into Memaw's lap and sat there with his lip quivering!! I feel so bad he is scared of him, but part of me thinks, well, at least he'll behave at the mall now!

Hunter is still cooking away. :) For those of you that have asked, his official due date is April 5th. Today we are having Holden's third bday party a little early (his real bday is March 24th) at Chuck E. Cheese. I have been praying that he would either arrive early enough that I could still go to the party, or wait until after. So far, so good...a few hours to go! My next appt. is tomorrow (Monday), and they are going to schedule a sonogram since he's looking on the large side if he doesn't come early. I have one week of school until Spring Break. I'm ready to take it easy! (As easy as can be done with a very energetic almost-3-year-old!) Another cute story from the other night: Holden was laying on the couch with his head on my tummy. Hunter kicked fairly hard, and Holden turned to my tummy and said, "Hi there, little fella!" It was so cute! I don't know where he heard that phrase.

My busy boy

As usual, Holden has been keeping busy! Here are some recent activities:

Jay added us on to his 4 Seasons membership through work this winter. It's been great to be able to go swimming in the evenings and forget that we are in Illinois! We get free swimming lessons with the membership, and Holden is enjoying his new class, "The Starfish." Jay is able to take him on his Mondays off, and they usually swim afterwards. Holden loves the baby pool, and also looking like a hotshot in the adult pool with his water wings. Then they both hop in the hot tub to warm up. I can't wait until I can join them!

Holden is really into painting and art projects right now. I brought this easel in from the garage, and he is quite the Picaso. :) I look forward to the day when he starts making the little "tadpole people," as I call them...with legs and a head. For now we just get what looks like modern art. But he can tell me what he drew, and usually it is quite an elaborate story. ("This is a big dump truck and an alligator climbed on top of it.")

One recent evening, he decided to transport the water bottles from the kitchen in his truck.

He was very excited about his idea!

He'd take them out to Daddy and unload...note the growing collection next to Jay!

Do you love Jay's Illinois socks?

He's always thinking and keeping us busy!