Happy Thanksgiving from the Hobsons!

Holden and Hunter want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much to be thankful for.

I am so blessed to have married my best friend, Jay, and to be the Mommy of our two awesome little boys. I wouldn't want to enjoy the ups and survive the downs of parenthood with anybody else!

I am thankful for this energetic, strong-willed, smart, funny, creative, and enthusiastic 3.5 year old little boy named Holden Jay. He keeps me on my toes and reminds me of how wonderful and amazing the world is through the eyes of a child.

I am thankful for this sweet, cuddly, drooly, smiley, wiggly, happy-go-lucky little ball of motion named Hunter James Paul, who will be 8 months old in a few days! He loves us all unconditionally, showers us with smiles, and reminds me of the newness of the world and of the excitement of simple discoveries as only a baby can.

I am thankful that they will share the journey of brotherhood together,

that they will have somebody by their side in life,

that they will have each other's backs,

and that they will always have somebody there who's on their side through the years.

To play, to laugh, to cry, to encourage, to forgive, to discover, to teach, to learn, and to appreciate with.

To lend a helping hand.

My big helper,

and my little ray of sunshine.

Growing so quickly...

that I want to freeze time.

And keep them this way...

...two little turkeys with half their clothes off half the time, with runny noses and drool/food on their chins, with crazy cowlicks and piles of toys everywhere, with easy giggles, hugs, and kisses to make the sleepless nights and whiny moments worth it...

...as long as I can.

Big and Little

I have so many cute recent pictures of the boys and am so behind in blogging. These are from about a month ago. I love these shirts by Carters that I found for them. It is so fun for me to have them match. I know there are a few years where I can get away with that before they protest! :) I love having two boys and watching their relationship blossom as they grow. I am so glad we were able to have them close enough in age that they will be buddies. (And partners in crime, I am sure!)

Hunter loves the swing! He is such a happy boy. The more he's jostled, thrown around, or rough-housed with, the more he loves it.

This was another set of matching shirts that say, "Mommy's Little Man." I ordered them before Hunter was born and hoped the sizes would work. I never did get a great shot but these are very typical of the boys' antics on a daily basis. Holden thought it was hilarious to start sticking his hand in his mouth to copy Hunter.

I love lazy weekends when we can hang out in our pj's, especially now that the weather is colder. These were back a few weeks ago when Hunter could still sit in the Bumbo seat without flipping himself out of it. They were watching Shrek together side by side. Hunter just loves doing anything Holden is doing. Holden enjoys his role as big brother and is already very bossy, telling Hunter, "Sorry, you're too little to eat ice cream; you have to be bigger like me," or, "Hunter, too bad for you, but you can't go down the slide because you don't sit well yet." Hunter just grins and drools. He is scooting around; not quite army crawling but close, and also gets up on all fours but proceeds to go backwards. He is able to get into Holden's toys which irritates Holden to no end because he slobbers all over them, or as Holden says, "MOMMYYYY! He SLIMED my tractor again!" Gotta love it.

I with the sound had worked better on this one! It's hard to hear what Holden says, but I repeat a lot of it. You can also hear Hunter in the background. :) Holden has this new game where he pretends to "Billy the Workerman." He has a very stern, tough face, and talks in this gruff little voice. He generally pretends to be building something. I finally figured out the other day that he came up with the name "Billy" from one of his big books about trucks. Some of the construction workers have nametags on, and he always makes me read them. One of the particularly tough looking guys (long hair, facial hair, hard hat) is named Billy. Crack me up! He also says "Worker man" instead of workman, which I think is cute. He is very into imaginary play/role play right now.

I love being their Mommy!

7 mos!

My little guy hit the 7 month mark 4 days before Halloween. I love him more every single day. It takes my breath away at just how quickly his first year is going. He is such a sweet, happy little guy. Mommy loves you SO much, Hunter James Paul Hobson!

Love this expression! And his big, beautiful brown eyes.

This is SO Hunter at 7 mos. On his belly, big grin, fingers shoved in his mouth, and a wet face.

"You're funny, Mommy!"

At 7 mos: Hunter is right around 20 lbs, not sure on length since we haven't had another checkup yet. But we know he is looong! He is wearing 12 mo. clothes, and some 18 mos. if the outfits are one-piece or shirts that snap. Some of his jeans are already looking like capris! :) He continues to be a big fan of mealtimes, and is eating three times a day and having 4 six oz. bottles. We have been trying the little puffs and some other teether type foods, but so far while he likes the taste, he tends to gag on them. We'll keep working at it! He still only has his two bottom teeth, but he is working hard on a mouthful. His poor gums are so puffy, and he has been a snotty, drooly, coughing mess. Twice I have taken him into prompt care only to be told it is a "very mean case of teething." The Dr. said he could see 6 that he is working on. Poor little guy! He still has his sunshiney disposition for the most part, but just constantly has his hands or toys in his mouth. I feel so bad that nothing is popping through despite all of his efforts! We have been using the teething tablets and they do give him relief-when I can get them to dissolve in his mouth without him swallowing them! :) His sleeping has been interrupted quite a bit due to his discomfort with his mouth, but he has started (dare I say it?) sleeping through the night without a bottle often. He usually stirs sometime between 3 and 4 am, but just babbles and self-soothes himself back to sleep without the major crying fits we were having a few weeks ago. He generally gets up for the day around 6. The time change messed with his schedule a bit, but not too badly. We tried our hardest to keep him up a little later on the night we switched the clocks back! He stayed up until 7:30; a half hour past his bedtime. What a party animal! Ha! Hunter enjoys the Bounceroo and Exersaucer, anything that lights up and makes noise, his teething rings, and rolling/attempting to scoot around on the floor, especially if his big brother is with him. He ADORES Holden, and thinks that anything he does is hilarious. I love seeing his face split into a big grin whenever Holden is around. It is just heartwarming. Now that he is big enough, they already "roughhouse" a bit together when they are both on the floor or in my bed. They give each other the giggles and feed off of each other's antics. Hunter is really close to sitting up without assistance. He does well with the Boppy pillow around him and a pile of toys in front of him. That way if he does slide down to one side, he ends up laying on the pillow. :) He can't go in the Bumbo seat anymore because he is able to maneuver himself out of it and onto the floor. It was hysterical to walk into the room and see him laying there on his tummy, arms and head propped up, grinning at me with the Bumbo seat still stuck to his butt! He is also really close to scooting, and can move himself backwards. If I lay him on the floor, he moves all around between wiggling, scooting, and rolling. He can get himself clear across the room and is really motivated to get into Holden's toys. :) I am seriously debating if I need to get him a haircut. The "V" that is coming down his forehead is getting really long, and his hair is curling around his ears. But I just hate to do it before he's 1! I know he will look so much older once we trim it. It is so baby-soft right now. He is LOUD at all times unless he's sleeping; grunting, babbling, saying "Da," "Ba," "Goo," and "Voo," and is even verbal while eating. I swear it sounds like he is saying, "Mmm!" when he takes each spoonful!

Dinosaur Date!

Holden and Natalie had a date to a dinosaur show recently. Bridget and I chaperoned. ;) They had a great time together! The show was at the Bloomington Center for Performing Arts. They had games and crafts for the kids before the show that were all dinosaur centered. The kids got dinosaur tattoos, did "dino bowling," and colored dino pictures. I love how Natalie had to have her pink tutu and bring her Jasmine doll...girly girl through and through! They are so cute together.

My little dinosaur fan! He had to wear his dinosaur shirt and shoes, and was very proud of his T-Rex tattoo.

Gabrielle was at the show, too! Holden is always happy to see her. Don't worry though, Natalie, you are still his "main squeeze!"

Ready for the show! It was very interesting...in the pitch dark with very loud music and sound affects. The dinosaurs were people dressed in black with these light up things on them. You couldn't tell they were people; you just saw the lights. Natalie was SO brave! She was scared at first, but by the end she was saying how much she liked dinosaurs.

Holden took these last two. He is really into using my camera (can't imagine where he gets that from!) and is actually pretty good at it! I think it's fun to see the world from a 3-year-old's point of view. Everything is lower to the ground and up close and personal. :)

Thanks for joining us, Bridget and Natty! We had a fun day!

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 in Normal was chilly but sunny. The boys and I went to church, I made sure they had good naps, and then we were ready for tricks or treats!

Hunter woke up before Holden. I just loved his little Halloween outfit, so I stuck him out in the leaves in our backyard for a photo op.

Hunter also really enjoyed our candy tub and its contents. I have very similar of Holden in this same tub during his first Halloween. :)

Once Holden got up, we put the costumes on along with some winter hats, and were ready to go. Holden also had quite the light-up gear going, courtesy of Grammy and Papa. His Spiderman hat cracks me up because it is about 3 sizes too big, but he insisted on buying it and the matching gloves when we picked our new winter gear. I figure we won't have to buy new ones for awhile! I loves these pictures of the boys together. They have such a fun little relationship already. Hunter just adores Holden, and thinks anything he does or says is wildly funny. :) Holden, of course, eats this up.

Family pictures! Grammy and Papa were kind enough to come "man the house" and pass out candy so that Jay and I could both trick-or-treat with the boys. Then we passed off Hunter to Grammy so that she could ready him for bed once he got cold and tired. Memaw went trick or treating with us. We also stopped by her house to see Pepaw and Aunt Allie. (Like Jay's wig? Holden picked it out of the clearance section for him.)

Some of the neighborhood crew. Kylie and Brady were Buzz and Woody, Hannah was an angel, and Owen and Gwen were the most adorable little monkey and banana! We are so blessed to live in such a friendly, family-oriented neighborhood.

"Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat up and down the street..."

Some of the neighbors had the most creative (if not a little sadistic!) pumpkin carvings. I always love seeing all of the decorations and "spooks."

I thought the autumn sky was absolutely beautiful as we were walking along. Holden loves to point out all of the criss-crosses across the sky from the planes.

We weren't out all that long because Holden's fingers got cold. By the time we went back for his gloves, he decided he'd rather pass out candy with Daddy instead. He had fun seeing all of the costumes this way. My dad had a little fun of his own, heading next door to sing an Elvis song! Our next door neighbors buy the HUGE size candy bars, pixie sticks as long as your body, entire boxes of Peanut Brittle, you name it.They go all out. BUT-you have to earn your candy by doing a performance of some type. It is always so fun to sit and watch from our porch! Well, this year Dad saw what the kids were walking away with and decided to go over and get some himself! He put Jay's wig on and danced and belted "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog." The neighbors were in stitches! He got a big box of peanut brittle and then was enjoying the attention so much that he just kept singing. Ohh....Dad......! I did get it on video, but unfortunately not on the digital one so I can't post it here.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! I can't wait to see what the boys will be next year. :)

(Here is a little video clip of Hunter sabotoging the candy.)