Higgins Family Reunion at Myrtle Beach

The Higgins Family (~25 people, headed up by Great Grandmama Nell) spent a week at Myrtle Beach.  Chris and the boys made it for the whole week, and I flew over for the second half of the week.

The boys and their Dada

Hewie's best beach bird impression

Handsome Harrison

Running so fast!

The Chris Higgins Family

The bigger Higgins Family

The whole crew!

Four to Six

That's how many pairs of little boy underpants we're going through each day.  Not necessarily because someone is having accidents in them -- just because sometimes they need a change, and once one boy changes, the other one has to, too. 

So if you've been over lately and noticed all the pairs of little boy underpants scattered about the house, this post might answer your un-asked question...  :)

New Baby Name Idea From Harrison (Via Grandaddy)

"Hippopotamus."  Try keeping a straight face when your 4 year old suggests that for his baby brother's name!

I managed to answer with "Oh, now that's an idea! Note that there was no comment on whether it was a good idea or a bad idea.  It starts with an H -- just like Harrison and Hewitt!"

Thank you, Grandaddy.

Fast As Lightning!

The boys and I were on our way home from school the other day when I said something about driving "as fast as lightning." 

• Harrison : "How fast, Mom?"  He tends to call us "Mom" and "Dad" more than "Mama" and "Dada" these days...
• Me : "As fast as lightning, which is really fast, but only as fast as is safe."  We talk alot about driving a "safe" speed.
• Harrison : "I don't know, Mom -- he's pretty fast."
• Me : "What?"
• Harrison : "Lightning.  I said he's pretty fast.  Haven't you seen how fast he is?" 
• Me : "Oh!  Yeah -- you're right.  I'm probably not driving as fast as Lightning the Queen (Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie)."  And by the way, that is the only full-length movie we have ever tried to watch with him -- we started it the night of his birthday party and it took us two days to finish it because he didn't want to sit still for that long.  :)

First Belly Lumps!

Don't like the magazine resting on you, little guy?  Okay, then -- just roll around in there until you knock it off.  :)

~22 weeks pregnant

A Post About "Nuffin" (Nothing)

Hewitt just loves to say "nothing" -- especially when he is feeling grouchy!  If he's hungry and grouchy and you ask him if he would like some grapes or some crackers, he'll tell you that he wants "nuffin" to eat.  If he's thirsty and grouchy and you ask him if he would like some juice or some water, he'll tell you that he wants "nuffin" to drink.  If he's hot and grouchy and you ask him if he would like to go inside to cool off, he'll tell you "nuffin" (which we all know does not make sense).  If he's just plain grouchy for no apparent environmental reason, he'll tell you "nuffin" without being asked anything.  We love it, and fortunately we still laugh at it and even use it often ourselves.

Dada reports the following debate from the backseat of his car...

• Hewitt : "Nuffin." (apparently unprovoked)
• Harrison : "Something."
• Hewitt : "Nuffin!"
• Harrison : "Something!"
• Hewitt : "NUFFIN!"
• Harrison : "SOMETHING!"
• Dada : "Nobody!  Somebody!  Everybody!" (just to stir things up)
• Boys : Odd looks at each other as if to say "What is he talking about?  Crazy old man..."

They're Listening!

Chris and I are very intentional about building the boys up and keeping their "love tanks" full in an effort to keep them confident in their value to us and to head off some naughtiness perpetrated in search of attention.  We tell them that we love them and that we are proud of them and that we appreciate how helpful they are to us and that we are so lucky to have them as our boys.  Apparently they are hearing us, because when we tell Hewitt that we love him, he will smile and say, "So yucky to hab yew!" which is his version of "I am so lucky to have you!" (plus a special treat with the mis-pronunciation of "lucky"!).

Go, Braves!

Grandpop and Uncle Josh bravely took our two young men to the Braves game today.  As Josh said when he e-mailed over some pictures, "Thanks again for letting us borrow your dudes. And even more importantly, thanks for letting us return them."  :)

From what we can tell, the boys had a fun and educational time -- Hewitt has spoken on several occasions of Bop's tomahawk chopping skills (but failed to mention Josh's chopping skills, so they must need some work), and Harrison gave a surprisingly accurate historical report of Fulton County Stadium being demolished and the new stadium being built.  Also, Hewitt apparently ate 1 1/2 hotdogs, and both boys drank roughly a gallon of PowerAde.

And they're off!

"Thanks for a fun time, Bop and Josh -- can we come again next year and eat more hotdogs, please?"

Harrison at 4 Years / Hewitt at 2 Years

Harrison's stats...

• Weight -- 33 pounds (23rd percentile)
• Height -- 40 inches (26th percentile)

Hewitt's stats...

• Weight -- 30 pounds (80th percentile)
• Height -- 35 inches (79th percentile)

Baby Is Named

"Popcorn."  Because when he pops around in there, it feels like popcorn!

That's just his in-utero name, though -- we still have (and will most likely need...) 20+ weeks to decide on his on-the-outside name.

The boys both love to come and kiss Baby Popcorn through Mama's ever-expanding belly.  They say "Good morning, Baby Popcorn!" or "Hi, Baby Popcorn!" or "Good night, Baby Popcorn!" and then hurry on their way to somewhere.  Occasionally they have time to kiss the mama, too, but sometimes only Popcorn gets a kiss.

Just One More???

Chris is out of town for a few days, so Grandaddy came to stay with us and be an extra set of hands.  Here are the boys finagling one more story out of him before we go up for baths...

"Mama so pretty"

The first thing Hewitt said to me when I walked into his room this morning.  :)  I'm so "yucky" to have him!

It's Another BOY!

Which Harrison knew all along, of course. :)

Wish us luck with the 10-15 years of messy, stinky, noisy, male chaos on its way to our house! And even more luck with naming a third one... Harrison is still insisting on Kinsery, Chris is liking Bernardo, Hewitt votes for Elco (the name of the 85 year old man who lives across the street), and I am undecided.

 

I am so excited to see what three brothers can get into -- it's amazing to watch our current Hs play together, take care of each other, and be each other's biggest competitors and biggest supporters at the same time -- what will three of them be like???  Both of the boys' grandpas are from families of three boys each 2 to 3 years apart, but none of their parents are living now, so I can't ask them for a real, honest, well-now-that-50-or-60-years-have-gone-by-I'll-tell-you-what-it-was-really-like evaluation of life with three little guys peeing in the yard.  Also, as Chris said, I'm "not that good with girls anyway."  Which is true!  Any daughter of mine would have had to save her drama for someone else's mama -- when the boys start getting dramatic, I'm the first one to put my hand up and say, "Whoa -- I want to hear what you have to say, but I need to you tell me in your boy voice, not your whiny voice.  Please try again."

 

Chris and the boys came with me to my 20-week visit so they could see the ultrasound (although we just had the ultrasound lady write boy/girl on a note that we opened later), and sweet Harrison kept reaching over to pat and kiss my hand and say, "Mama -- I see our baby!"