Lens Envy Freebie

In case you don't follow my Lens Envy blog, I'm offering a February Freebie. We all love freebies, right!? I'm feeling generous, so pass the word on to your friends. If this isn't your month for photos, never fear. I've already planned specials for March and April as well.

Who's child is that?

Whos child refuses to stay clothed in public? Whos child screams and pitches a nasty fit when his mom tries to put his shirt back on? Whos child can stroll through the freezer section of Costco completely unaffected by the low temperature? Whos child was putting on a gun show at Costco? Whos child danced for a group of women in Costco while half naked? Whos child was winking at women as he rolled through Costco eating his goldfish? Whos child was bribed into putting his shirt back on after the promise of a Coke was made to him?

...Yep, that would be mine. Although yesterday I wasn't so proud to claim him.

As we are rolling through Costco (aka Erin's grocery shopping heaven--the amount that I LOVE Costco will have to be expressed in another blog) Hudson decides that he no longer needs to wear his shirt. He decides that he is completely comfortable riding through the store half naked. I tried to convince him nicely to put his shirt back on, but he refused with a big fat ugly, "NO Mommy." I then resort to mean teeth gritting mommy and say, "Hudson you must put your shirt on or you will be in trouble. No snack and time out when we get home." That was met with another, "NO." Mean teeth gritting mommy then wrestles the shirt back on over his head and insists that he wear it. He's crying and when I turn to pick up something out of the freezer, he again removes his shirt. At this point we are in freezer section where the sweet little ladies are handing out food samples--typically our favorite part of a Costco excursion. The food sample ladies yesterday just happened to all be African-American women and to say that they were loving Hudson's repeated attempts at removing his shirt is an understatement. They are laughing at him and basically encouraging him to put on a show. As I've mentioned before, my son has NO problem being the center of attention, especially for the ladies. He starts showing his muscles, dancing, blowing them kisses and winking at them. While this was quite humorous, my inner mommy "I'm-not-going-to-raise-a-brat" voice is telling me that I must win this war against the naked child and force him to wear his shirt as I asked him to. When we get past the employees who were urging on the naked show I put his shirt back on and told him we would buy a Coke if he wore his shirt the rest of the trip. Bribery works every time, but I'm quite sure that creates a brat, right? This is only going to make him think that in order to mind, I owe him something.

I was faced with a OMG mommy moment--do I allow my child to happily ride through the store unclothed, or do I make him wear it and scream the rest of the trip? By going with the later I was afraid we would possibly end up with a ripped shirt becuase of his temper and we were sure to endure stares from other shoppers wondering why I didn't shut my kid up. Its a no win situation. Help me out blog mommies--what do you do!?!!??

By the way, while I'm on the subject. I hate the other staring shoppers when my child is being loud, or just generally being a kid. Half of them had kids at one time too!! Half of them have children in their buggies also--they just happen to be having a well behaved day, or are older kids that you can threaten and it works. If you are a parent you are sure to endure at least one miserable grocery shopping trip in your lifetime. Its like an unspoken rule, so don't look at me like that! Give me a look of "Its ok, honey. You're halfway to the register. If you can just make it past the candy aisle without WW3, you're homefree. You can do it, Mommy!"

A Lazy Day

Me and my sweet little man had a nice relaxing weekend together. We barely got out of our PJ's or off the couch. We watched several movies (gasp! I allow my child in front of the TV!). He and I rarely get that much alone time, but Lantis went hunting so we had some really good uninterrupted bonding time. This is a photo of Hudson and Bear-Bear enjoying their lazy Saturday. :)

New bedding

I think the curse of having an interior design major is constantly wanting to change things around the house, constantly wanting to have trendy things in the house, being extremely picky about buying things for the house, and being very indecisive about things for the house. I think all that eventually leads to giving up and living with things I'm not satisfied with.

You may remember from a post back in the fall--September I think--that I have been looking for new bedding and ran into a bedding dilemma. I have literally been looking for bedding for over a year and just haven't found what I wanted or could afford. Then the Christmas/spending season arrived and I put my search on hold.

It is so hard to find affordable bedding unless you want the ol' bed-in-a-bag. I have had our current bedding for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 years and I'm sick of it. Its nice and someone may want it when I put it in the yard sale this spring, but I'm done with it.

I ran across some bedding pieces that I really liked awhile back, but I had to find some things to coordinate with it. I was literally to the point of considering having something custom made when it found me today! I wanted something solid white with some bold coordinates and something I could use with my existing curtains because curtains are a whole new dilemma. (Hudson is almost two and still doesn't have curtains in his room!!) My mom makes all the curtains for our house, God love her, and I really didn't want to have to ask her to make something new. Then I'd have to go on another year long search for fabric for curtains. Yikes!

Anyway, I found what I think I'm happy with. Take a peek below! I may replace with solid white bedspread with a duvet and shams from Pottery Barn. Here it is: its the Morgan Collection. For now the solid white bedspread will suffice, but eventually I may switch them out. I'm just happy for a change right now!! :)

Next step is putting something new over my bed. I'm going to do a portrait on canvas--it will be beautiful! And we are painting. I'm shopping for paint tomorrow and we'll get out the rollers this weekend or next week. I'm going for something light since our bedroom is so dark and the furniture is so heavy. I'll share pics after the paint is complete also. Here is the bedding today...

The things they say!

Hudson has recently been saying "come here" which is accompanied by a little wave of his hand. It always cracks me up to hear him asking someone that. It sounds more like "ah-meare". So cute!! This morning I woke up to him talking over the monitor, calling for "Mommy" and "Daddy". Then he starts saying "ah-meare Mommy, ah-meare Daddy. Huddy up nite-nite. Huddy want milk!" It was the funniest wake up call and the best way to start my day!

Then we go through our morning routine and we're getting ready to leave to take him to his school. We passed through Lantis' office on our way out to tell him goodbye. Lantis' office was a small disaster zone--the typical man cave in the throws of a work day. When we walked in Hudson said, "oh Daddy made a mess!" Haha! Lantis and I both died laughing.

Hearing him learn to talk and putting sentences together is so stinkin' cute!! I know you other moms out there will agree.

Hudson ABCs

My sweet baby growing up and singing some songs for us.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday so we had a "celebrate Erin weekend". Naturally, I hated that! I don't like attention or affection...nope not one bit. ;)

We kicked the weekend off by taking Hudson to the Monster Jam. For a couple weeks prior to the show, we've seen it advertised on TV and Hudson would go crazy when he saw the commercials. After seeing him get so excited about something, I decided to put pride aside and take my precious man to see the "big trucks". I'm so glad that we took him. He sat mesmerized by the show. He would clap at all the appropriate times, he would squeal and laugh. He loved it because he could be as loud as his heart desired. He kept his head phones and ear plugs in without putting up a fight. I was concerned about protecting his ears and the show being way past his bed time, but he was so sweet and I would do it again tomorrow. Now...did we stand out in the crowd? A little...my husband in a polo shirt, me in cute boots, and neither of us with a dip in our mouth...I'll let you do the math.

A big truck jumping. Hudson loved their tricks.

Oh! It's loud!

Hudson sitting in Poppy's lap watching the big trucks.

Putting on a show.

He was mesmerized.

Our little family at Bebe and Poppy's house pre-Monster Jam.

Saturday I got out of the house for awhile and pampered myself. I had a manicure, had my make up done and my hair did. Hehe! That night Lantis threw a surprise birthday party for me at our house. I knew something was happening because he wasn't rushing me home Saturday afternoon, he'd gotten some of my girlfriends' contact info from me, told me that we needed a sitter Saturday night, and was being secretive about the plans. He had our friend Jason bring all of his audio equipment and they successfully transformed our eating area between the kitchen and living room into a karaoke stage. If you know me, you know I love to sing and I love to pretend I'm Mariah or Whitney for a few minutes. Put a hot mic in my hand any day. I'm not shy. So we had a karaoke party Hollis style. IT. WAS. SO. FUN. We had a house full of people-literally we were busting at the seams--and we had an absolute blast. I felt very loved! I loved every second with my sweet friends. I'm usually the event planner, so to not be the catalyst for such an occassion was nice and everyone pitched in. My girlfriends all went over board and helped Lantis by supplying food, snacks, drinks, and girly gifts. I'm so blessed with friends and family--they never cease to amaze me.

Me and my beautiful friends...minus a few that couldn't make it. (yes I did have a jacket, but I was hot)

Our eating area being set up for some serious karaoke.

Picture of a picture.

Lantis layin' down some rhymes. Ha!

Ryan sharing the mic with the crowd.

A little soul train broke out. This pic cracks me up!

Christa and Kathy duo

On Sunday we had family time--after I mopped the floors 15 times. We played hard with Hudson all day. We watched a couple of movies. Lantis and Hudson cooked dinner and a cake. They sang happy birthday to me which I have on video and hope to post soon. Hearing your sweet baby sing "happy day to mommy" has to be the sweetest thing ever!! I will share the video soon. :)

"Stop taking pics of me mommy! I want cake!"

Trying to wait patiently for me to cut the cake.

He couldn't stand it any longer and tried to sneak a little taste. Haha!

As you can probably tell it was a great birthday weekend! It will take a lot to top this one.