16 and 17 Months

Ok, so I'm combining months! I busy, what can I say. I have to say this is really a fun age with Hulse and Olivia. They just have so much personality and are literally learning to do or say something new everyday. We've had a touch of a stomach bug and some molar cutting, but (knock on wood) it's been a good spring/summer. We've been swimming, playing outside, hanging out with friends/family, and loving long (hot) days.

Trey and I are also celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss. It has been a fantastic 7 years if I do say so. We're not perfect and a marriage takes a lot of work, but the blessings from God have been too numerous to count. Trey and I both give God the glory for our success. I love you Trey. You're a wonderful man of God, husband, and father. I look forward to what God has in store for us for our 8th year, and I'm praying he'll challenge and strengthen our relationship.

16 Months

Kisses

17 Months

Bad Blogging!

I know, I know! I'm a terrible blogger. We've just been so busy enjoying our long days of sunshine that I've been neglecting the blog.

Everything is great around our house. Hulse and Liv are not only growing but learning something new everyday. Hulse loves to say words and is great about repeating words or trying to say new words when prompted. Olivia's vocabulary has really taken off as well. She's starting to make lots of different sounds and say lots of new words as well. They are both eating really well and are right in the middle percentile for weight. They LOVE pasta, especially with red sauce. They both also love fruit and Sprite is also a big treat. The only things they really won't eat are macaroni and cheese (Hulse) and they are not big on red meat. They also are still undecided on ice cream, which is totally crazy, but I think they are just not used to the cold.

We've been out and about a lot lately. My parents took the motor home down to Riverfest so we met them down there a couple of times over Memorial Day weekend to eat. The babies also got to see their first fireworks show and seemed to like it despite being kept up past the bedtime! Trey and I have been out of town lately for a couple of big kid trips so the kids also got to go swimming for the first time with their Nana and Papaw. Olivia has no fear and swam right in, but Hulse needs some convincing that it's fun to float around in water that's not as warm as a bathtub. We're planning a mini vacation with our friends, the Peoples, so I'm sure we'll have more updates to come.

In non-baby news, I wanted to recommend a book I've been reading lately that God is really using to challenge me. It's called Radical:Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. The book was written by a pastor named David Platt. I've been in a place of disillusionment with people lately, and God has really been challenging me to look at who He is to me and what my response to Him should be. It's a challenge to me because I've been blessed by God in so many ways and my role in showing the love of Jesus is to help those who haven't been so fortunate. As a Christian I really can't say that I haven't been called to help those around me, because that's what loving Jesus is all about. I could go on and on, but you should pick it up for yourself.

Updating the previous post

So, in the last post where Jennifer said:

"The babies love to be outside and the backyard has been the go to lately."

That's all been changed now. . .



Wow. Look at those awesome bird feeders in our backyard. We should really clean the smudge off our window. What’s that? It’s not a smudge?



I hope it scared all of you as much as it scared me this morning when I was cutting up bananas for breakfast! AH!

15 Months, You came too Quickly!

We've been doing a lot of playing outside at our house. The babies love to be outside and the backyard has been the go to lately. We've also been to a couple of parks and played on the swings and slides. We have really been enjoying the weather before it gets too hot to stand. Hulse and Olivia are not just walking but running everywhere and talking up a storm, there are new words everyday. They have been growing up in front of our eyes! Here are some recent pictures.

15 Months!

Happy Easter!

We had a blast with the babies this weekend. It's been a tough week at our house. I've been sick with some sort of virus since last Monday and really have felt like death warmed over all week. But, with Easter coming I wanted to focus on preparing my heart for Sunday and trying to really introduce Christ's death and resurrection to the kids.

We have a really great book called "The Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd-Jones. I love the language of the paraphrasing and the illustrations are phenomenal. We decided to read a portion of the passion week story every night for our bedtime story. I know they are too young to understand any of it, but I just pray that God would already begin to take root in their little hearts and lives.

In other preparations for Easter, we got the baskets and the plastic eggs out this week so they could practice their egg-hunting abilities. Hulse is pretty into it because he loves to play with balls and a dozen eggs is like ball heaven to him. Olivia loves to pack and re-pack things so she practiced putting eggs in the basket and taking them out, over and over again. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and they had a big time at our church's egg hunt. It was so neat to see so many of our friends there with their families celebrating together. We started Easter morning with a visit from the bunny before we got gussied up and headed to church. After church we headed to be with family for lunch and more egg hunting. All-in-all, it was a pretty fantastic weekend to focus on the cornerstone of our faith,the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and the fact that we serve a risen living Savior!

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:10-11

Thank You Jesus.

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5

Airport Photos

For the baby's first birthday we had some professional photos taken by a great photographer, Danielle Davis. You can check out her work at danielledavisartphotography.com

Here are the GREAT shots from our session!

13 AND 14 Months

So, I'm a bad blogger but we've been in fast forward at the Hankins House! Hulse and Olivia are growing like weeds. We went to the doctor today for their one year appointment (just a couple of months late!) and here are the stats from their visit.

Hulseman,
You're weighing in at 24 pounds 12 ounces (60th%) and are 30 inches long (25th%). You are turning into a very hilarious little man. You are so smart and love to talk. You are trying to repeat everything your Dad and I say. Your real words are: Dada, Mama, Papaw, Uh-oh, book, duck, bye, hi, ball and thank you. (There have even been reports of you saying "Wivia" and Cracker. We think we've heard a Wivia every once in a while, but we can't be certain.) You are a typical boy and play rough so you constantly look like a prize fighter, much to the dismay of your mom. You love to run around and play with your friends and with your sister. You are a great eater. There is really nothing that you don't like, except milk. You're not really into drinking your milk at meal time. You are a precious little boy and make your mom and dad laugh every day. We love you to the moon and back!

Livi girl,
You are a whopping 23 pounds 5 ounces (75th%), and they measured you at the same 30 inches (50th%) - although we can see that your brother is slightly taller by 1/2 an in or more. You're a sweetie pie! You are all girl, until it comes time to wrestle with your brother and then you're in it to win it. You also love to talk but tend to stick to your own words. You do say dada, mama, uh-oh, and bye. You are also a really great eater but unlike your brother you LOVE your milk. You have no problem putting a sippy cup full of it away. You are our sweet baby girl and are a joy to your dad and I. We love you to the moon and back!







Yes, we know they are wearing the same PJs. It wasn't intentional, and we even remembered before we took the 14-month picture. But we decided to go with it anyway. We could always add those pajamas to each picture during year two to see how long it takes before they literally burst out of them.

More about what's been going on with us. . .
Olivia got her first black eye. This picture was taken the first night after she hit her head on a window sill at daycare. We'll try to find one from the last couple days where you can see it is now truly a "black" eye.


Then, Sunday morning, Hulse turned mom's big stand-up jewelery case over directly onto the bridge of his nose.

And because Trey is generally not a fan of cleaning up huge messes, we leave the spaghetti sauce to daycare. Unfortunately, we thought it would be ok if they had some ravioli last week. Bad idea:

What We've Been Up To...

Well, not too much exciting has been going on lately at the Hankins house. We've had a busy February with my birthday, my mom's birthday, a Valentine's Day trip for mom and dad, and plenty of snow days. Hulse and Olivia have been walking for quite a while now and are able to get where ever they want/need to go with no problem. This is super fun for them and quite a bit of work for mom and dad! They are doing really well drinking real milk and the elimination of bottles/formula at the house has been a real blessing. They go back to the doctor in March for immunizations so I'm sure I'll have some stats to report back. I've posted some pictures from around the house (playing in our new tent, thanks Aunt Andrea!) and some from cousin Asher's birthday party at Playtime Pizza. The babies had a blast! There is also a picture of a first for Hulse, his first busted lip. He fell on the window sill at daycare and got his first fat lip, the first of many I'm sure.

Happy, Happy, Birthday Babies!

Hulse and Olivia,
One year ago today you came into the world. I honestly cannot believe that you are one! Your dad I and went to the doctor for a normal check up that afternoon and 8 or 9 hours later you made your grand entrance. Of course, you came when you were ready and not as we had planned, and you picked the middle of an ice storm to do it. From that moment on, life as we knew it has never been the same. This year has been much different than I imagined your first year would be. It has been easier in some ways, harder in others, frustrating at times, and a complete joy at others. There are many days where I think to myself that I have no idea what I'm doing and other times where I seem to have it all under control. Above all we love being your parents. I am amazed everyday at how you change and grow and absolutely enchant us with your personalities. You are gifts from God, and we are thankful each day for the privilege we have in being your mommy and daddy. We look forward to the next year of your life and all of the things it will bring. Thanks for being the best kids ever!

Hulse man,
At one year old you are a funny and smart little guy. You love to play and push all your toys around the room. You like to explore in cabinets and drawers, and it only takes a minute for your to empty them out. You're not quite walking yet, but you are very close. You love to eat and are eating real food and drinking whole milk with no problem. You especially love to eat fruit of all kinds and gobble it up. You have the funniest belly laugh when you get tickled. You are quite the talker and can say all kinds of words (ball, book, mama, dada, papaw, uh oh, bye bye). You are a sweet little guy and are pretty laid back for the most part. Your favorite "toys" right now are the ball(oons) that we had at your party. You've got three teeth on the bottom and one poked through the top a couple weeks back.

Livi girl,
You are a total mess. You also love to play and get into all kinds of stuff, and you get really excited with yourself and love to clap. You have just started walking and are getting more surefooted each day, already making lots of progress since you started last Monday. Your favorite toy is anything that you can convert into a push toy and motor around. You're also a good eater and on big kid food and milk as well. You love to talk as well but seem to speak in your own Livi language - although you do say mama, dada, and bye bye. You don't have any problem with people you don't know and seem to be very outgoing. You're always on the go and have something to do. You got your first two teeth in August but didn't add another until several weeks back when 4 came in all at once on the top.

Good and Bad

We'll start with the bad. It all started Friday night. We took the kids to their first basketball game to see their cousin Tanner play against Sylvan Hills.

Let's pause here and give some backstory. The last time we went to Sylvan Hills it was to hang out with Tanner while he watched his high school play football. During that game, someone stole Jennifer's purse out of the car. Good times.

Sylvan Hills continued its string of good fortune as just minutes into the game Hulse got sick - a lot. So, we left, and he appeared to immediately feel better.

On Monday, Jennifer was off for MLK day. Unfortunately, she woke up sick in the middle of the night. At 3:30, Trey actually had to be driven home from work because he couldn't sick up straight without feeling nauseated. And then, it hit Olivia last night. She's usually a great sleeper, but at about 10:30, we couldn't get her to stop crying - really crying. Jump ahead to this morning when she appeared to be feeling fine. Nope. She waited until she was completely dressed and we were about 10 minutes from heading out the door.

Enough bad news. The good news is that by noon or so everyone appeared to be on the road to recovery. More good news is that Olivia took advantage of everyone's day at home to start walking just one week before her birthday. Check out the video -


It's becoming more and more apparent how different the kids are. Olivia's got the walking skills. Hulse has the talking and entertaining skills. Hulse can say dad, mom, ball (bahh), book (boouh), and this week he added pappaw (papawwwww). Back before Christmas he actually started this awesome fake sneeze thing. Because he has stage fright, we never got a good version of it on tape, but we were actually able to get this -

UPDATE: Livi got sent home from daycare Tuesday morning. Guess we weren't as recovered as we thought.

R.I.P. Oreo

We don't know exactly when our first child, a cat named Oreo, was born, but this morning at around 1:45 am, he died at the emergency clinic in Maumelle. A poor, untrained diagnosis on my part put any chance for his recovery behind the 8-ball. By the time I finally took him to the clinic tonight around 10:15, it was really too late.

I'm going to miss you Big O (Olivia is Little O). You were my first ever pet. I know I might have complained because you often took up a lot of my side of the bed, but I know that already tonight I was missing you there with me.

Here's the oldest picture I could find from back around Christmas 2005:


And here's one from February 3, 2007, looking as handsome as ever:


Big and Little O


During the above photo shoot on Nov. 15, 2009, you got in on the action:



And finally one of your favorite pastime:


You hated car rides, loved meeting us at the door after work for your treats and did extremely well with your little brother and sister considering how they sometimes treated you. I'll miss you buddy. I'm sorry I didn't get you there sooner.

- Your dad

Hulse and Olivia's First Christmas and their 11-month birthday

Hulse and Olivia,

Your first Christmas was so much fun. I've always heard that Christmas is so much more fun with kids and I totally agree. Even though you didn't quite get it yet, you seemed to really enjoy all the attention you were getting. My heart is so full this year with memories of a first Christmas with you and our family and friends. I want you both to know the childlike joy of Christmas. I want you to know the fun and magic in cookies, trees, ornaments, lights, cold night air, reindeer, cheer, and of course Santa. These things are all so wonderful and I know that you will come to know your own special Christmas magic in years to come. Sweet babies, I also want you to know the joy in a Savior who loved you with such an unnameable passion that he sent his ONLY son to this world to save you from your sin. He sent that son knowing that in the end he would have to die to give that salvation and yet He knew there was no other way. And you know what? He would have sent that son even if it had been just the two of you that needing saving. The enormity of that sacrifice is more than enough reason to celebrate Christmas all year long! But we can't leave the tree up all year, so we'll say good bye to your first Christmas and wildly anticipate the many more to come.

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15



In other news, you both turned 11 months on the 26th. (How can that be possible?!) Things are wild and crazy around our house these days. You are both so mobile now that if we turn around for even a second the toilet paper is off the roll, the trash is turned over, or you're eating the cat food. I know we're in for more and more of that to come. You are both awesome eaters and are pretty much done with baby food and eating what we are for meals. That's been nice on the wallet and baby gear factor of not having to lug jars and utensils everywhere we go. You are also done with the bottle and using only a sippy cup for milk or juice. I think this will be nice when we hopefully try milk in another month or so. You are such big kids to me now. I know you're still my babies but everyday you do or say something that makes me think that you're so big.

Olivia,
you have morphed into our laid back child. You're easy to please, easy to smile, and a sweetheart. You are good about playing by yourself but you really love your big brother and want to play with him when you can. You talk all the time but your real words are mama and dada. You say something with a B sound and are starting to do an N sound as well. You are ever so close to walking. As soon as you get the nerve to let go and try it you will be gone. You've got 3 teeth now and are a good little eater.

Hulse,
you are such a mess. You are a little high maintenance at this time and are prone to a little fussing if something isn't happening just like you think it should. You don't always want to share with Livi and sometimes that causes a little sibling argument. You're a talker as well and say mama, dada, and uh ohh. You also know that when someone sneezes people say bless you so you've decided that anytime someone says bless you you'll fake sneeze. That little trick has been killing at the family get togethers! You're a little behind your sister in the mobility department but are practicing walking everyday. You've got 3 teeth and another top one peeking in. You're totally into food of any kind and get super excited when it's time to eat.

Quick Changes

Hulse and Olivia,

you have been up to so many new things it's hard to keep track. It's hard for your momma because I'm always excited about what you're doing but sad because it means you're leaving another stage too quickly. You both saw Santa for the first time and did pretty well. No one had a meltdown, but you were too enamored with the jolly old elf to look at the camera. You are also both way into people food and getting ready to leave the jar stuff behind. Saturday I couldn't believe that I was making a grilled cheese and cutting up a banana for my babies, they just can't be that big!

Hulse,

Your new tricks are waving and saying "uh-oh". There is a little boy at daycare who just learned to wave and I think he taught you. You haven't quite mastered hi or bye-bye yet but you'll throw that little hand up when we save wave and go to town. Saturday night you were pulling all of the contents out of my sock drawer and you dropped a pair of socks and said "uh-oh". I couldn't believe you were using it in context but you were and have done many times since then when you drop something. What a genius baby!

Olivia,

You are also waving but you're main new trick is cruising everywhere. You've been cruising around the ottoman for a while now, but now you can go from the ottoman through the kitchen and out the other side. It's going to be no time before you're walking baby girl.