Brooks Michael McMains

To my second baby boy,

    We are so excited you are joining our family! We love you so much already. Your daddy and I always knew we wanted another little one after having Hudson and we are glad to have the opportunity to raise you. I found out I was pregnant with you on May 1. I wanted to have you so badly that I took several tests way too early. I finally decided on Sunday, April 29th that I would take the final test and if it said I wasn't pregnant I would just accept it. The test came back negative and my heart was broken. I was so upset because I just knew I was pregnant. I had a feeling and when the test said no I just couldn't believe it. I wanted to have you so badly. Two days later I was feeling really sleepy and nauseous and I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was pregnant. I took a test again but didn't tell your daddy because I had promised I wouldn't take any more. This test came back positive and I was so excited! Tears rushed to my eyes as I imagined you growing in my tummy and thinking about how our lives were going to change, all for the better. When I told your daddy that afternoon he couldn't believe it! We were thrilled!
   I got to see you when you were 9 weeks old. My doctor doesn't normally do an ultrasound that early but she did for us and I was so thankful. You were so tiny. I was so thankful to see your little tiny heart beating. Around this time, my belly started growing! I am definitely bigger with you than I was with your brother!
   I got to see you again 3 weeks later for our big ultrasound. You looked so precious on the screen. You are measuring big, which is different than your brother. We got to see your profile and all of your organs. You looked so perfect! They saw a blood clot on this ultrasound, which scared mommy to death, but the Lord healed that and it was completely gone by 20 weeks.
    We found out that you were a boy on August 18th. We did a pinata filled with candy like we did for your brother. We thought it would be fun to start this little tradition. Your family came to find out what you were and we were so surprised when blue candy came out! Because this pregnancy has been so different than it was with Hudson, we all just assumed I was having a girl. We are so excited that you are a boy though! We are thrilled that the Lord is blessing us with another boy and that you and Hudson will be best buds. 

Look at those lips! 

   A few days after we found out you were a boy, I got a call from my doctor saying they found cysts on your brain. I was so scared that it was something serious, but we just had to wait and check again at your 30 week ultrasound. We prayed that the Lord would completely take them away, and He was so faithful and healed that too! We were so very thankful.
  I don't really know when I felt you start moving. When I first started feeling you it was so tiny. I only felt you at night and it was very sporadic. I thought that this would be how you were throughout the pregnancy but I was very wrong. You are a little ninja! Your kicks are punches are pretty intense! You will wake me up at night with your movements! You are not letting me forget that you are a strong little boy!
   I am now 37 weeks pregnant and we cannot wait to meet you. Everything is almost ready for your arrival. Hudson talks about you all the time and we are just so ready to see you! You can come whenever you like little buddy! We love you so much!
                                                                                                            - Mommy

   

Public Disasters!

    This blog post has been brought about due to some rather unfortunate events that have taken place the last couple of days. On Friday my sister and I decided to take the babies to McDonald's to play in the play area since it was too cold to play outside. After about an hour and a half of playing and getting close to nap time, we decided to go. On our way out to the car Hudson decided to flip out because I wouldn't let him walk to the car. I let him down and told him he must hold my hand since we were walking across the drive through area. He hit my hand away and wouldn't hold my hand. I picked him back up and told him he couldn't walk since he wouldn't hold my hand. He then proceeded to lean his head back and ram it into my ear as hard as he could. I am pretty sure he bruised my cartilage because I couldn't even sleep on that side of my head that night. I was lying in pain thinking, why does he do this in public every time? At home, he would have gotten a spanking or time out. In public, I can't just put him in time out and I am so scared if I spank him in public that I am going to get turned in. I was just thinking "I guess I will just have to work through this. It will get better with age."
    THEN, Saturday night happened and I knew I couldn't just make it work. I have to figure out what to do when we are in public. We took Hudson to a Chinese restaurant after church and the first five minutes weren't so bad. He threw a small fit about getting in his high chair, but after he had some food, he didn't really seem to mind. Five minutes later, you would have thought we were killing him. He kept screaming "Sit!" and pointing to me. (Hudson doesn't pronounce his "s's" very well and all of his s's sound like sh. Put that together in your head and he was yelling something very loudly that was pretty embarrassing!) I took him out of his high chair and he kept screaming. I took him to the bathroom to spank him, but by the time I got there,  he had calmed down. I talked with him, he told me he was sorry, gave me a kiss and told me he would be better. He lied. As soon as we walked out, he was back to screaming. I was mortified so we just got to go boxes and high tailed it out of there.
    So here is my dilemma...He is too young to understand going to the bathroom to get a spanking. By the time we get there he has forgotten what we are going back there for. I know this because I tried a different time to go to the bathroom for discipline and the whole way back to the bathroom he was making silly faces at customers and laughing. I can't put him in time out in public. I really have no idea what to do in public when my son misbehaves. He is smart enough to know he is getting away with it. At home he doesn't act out like that very often, but when he does, he gets in trouble. So this is why I say I have reached a failure in my parenting. I have no idea what to do. I need help!

By the way, I used to be one of those people without kids that would look at children misbehaving in public and think "I will never have a kid like that. If they got in trouble for stuff like that at home, they wouldn't act that way in public. The parents must be doing something wrong! I will never do that!" And now I just laugh at my stupid, pre-kid self. So maybe this is God's way of showing me never to judge a situation I know nothing about. I am just eating crow...3 years later.

19 months

Hudson,
    You are now 19 months old! You are getting so big so fast! This month was a lot of fun. We spent lots of time with family and you learned new things.

New words: purple, yellow, Minnie (nana), door, bubble, right there, and again. You can repeat a lot of words that we ask you to say but they don't always sound like they should! These new words are ones that are easy to understand and you say them often.

What happened this month: The biggest event that happened this month was Christmas. You had so much fun and apparently you were on Santa's nice list because you made out pretty well. Santa brought you a rocking horse, tool set, and a couch just your size. You love your couch. If you get on it you start yelling movie. You love to lay on it and relax while watching your movie. You also love your rocking horse. The horse sings this song and you must play each time you ride. It probably gets played 250 times a day it seems!

 
   

















    Another love that you discovered this month was Christmas lights. We took you driving around town to see some lights and you absolutely loved it! One house in particular was playing music with their lights and you hung out the window and yelled out in excitement. We also took you to the Chickasha light festival. This place is special to your mom and dad. Your dad took me there for our first date. After you were bundled up you ran around so excited to see all of the lights around you. You also met Santa this month. You are not a fan of him yet. Maybe one day!


 


















    You are showing your silly side every day. You try to make people laugh and you show off a lot! You will spin in circles or fake laugh to get people to laugh at you. You love to go. If we say bye bye you run to the door saying go until we are in the car. Once you are in the car you like to talk. You just sit back there and jabber away. You love to make your frog noise. You do it most while you are in the car. You will make the noise and grin so big. You are pretty proud of that frog noise!
    You love to have your back tickled. Sometimes when I go to get you out of your crib, you flop on your belly letting me know you want your back rubbed. You will lay there for a little bit while I tickle your back. It is so cute! Another funny thing you do is each time you sneeze, you sneeze at least twice. You have done this since you were two months old. It is the strangest thing but you think it is pretty funny!
    You are definitely the sunshine to my day. There isn't a day that goes by that you don't make us smile and laugh out loud. You are such a joy to be around and I love you so so much!