This crazy weather!!!!

WE GOT SNOW!!!!! and then a 75 degree day! Oh did I mention this was in a 5 day span??!!!!
Crazy I know but none the less it was exciting :) Hensley has seen snowed several times but being 2 I am positive he didn't remember it at all! He was sooooooooooo excited about it. Memorized is probably a better word. He stood at the door and watched it fall for so long!

Anyways, we didnt get much prob an inch and half but it was just enough to look pretty play in for a few hours and it was gone :) The perfect snow :) And it kept Andy out of work for a day of fun :)

We ran and played (the dogs loved it too!) we threw snowballs and Hensleys favorite part was jumping on his snow covered trampoline :)

                                     

So after a cold beginning of the week with a fun day of snow on monday we skip forward to Friday....75 and sunny :) It was amazing. Weird...but amazing! We spent the day yet again at Country Park but this time we invited Deanna (DD as Hensley calls her) and Blake :) They had not been before it was a great time. The boys chased the ducks around and fed them cookies and cheetos and gummies ...thats what ducks eat...right??!!! :) They took off their shoes and played in the pond, rode bikes, ate, and played on the playground. It was a perfect outing for two very energetic little boys. Hensley has been totally fascinated with Blake for a few months now and when they are together Hensley is truely Blake's shadow! Its so cute to watch them play. Hensley was never the type of boy to care much for trucks or cars or playing with them like most boys are but.....since Blake's come along....that's ALL Hensley wants to play with, talk about, and watch! Blake's def rubbed off on him and opened him to a whole new obsession...MONSTER TRUCKS!

We ended the afternoon with a quick bite at a local restaurant and some milshakes :) Hensley was asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking lot to go home. Really good friends are hard to find in this world and really good friends with sweet loving kids are even harder to find! HAHA! But with Blake and DD (and aaliyah too who had school this day) we have found that. Its a blessing to have that.

As our children get older we will not always approve of or even know their friends but I believe if we start them off with good people around them with great kids who are kind and loving we are instilling a good base for them in order to pick friends in the future. Hensley has so many little friends his age who are just amazing little people, I hope these are children he'll be lifetime friends with. Its so hard to keep friends close with the everyday hustle and bustle of life. A lot of time life gets in the way and too much time goes by without seeing each other but you never know when your time will be up..or theirs.....so don't make it an option to have those amazing people in your life on a daily basis. Friends are our chosen family ;)

An eventful weekend in Feb

What an eventful weekend in the Whitt home this past weekend. This weekend was filled with love, laughter, friends and family, and memories :)

We spent Friday afternoon at a place my husband and I take Hensley a lot! Country Park in Greensboro. We love it there its so relaxing! Two playgrounds, several huge ponds full of ducks, lots and lots of trails and nature. If you know Hensley you know he couldn't be happier outside. Its a definite favorite for him. We always take bread to feed the ducks and we walk and run and swing :) Its always a good time. The weather was perfect on Friday and we had an amazing time :)

So anyway....Friday was awesome :)  on Saturday we had plans with some close family friends of ours and a their kids who we love love love. We went to a local place called Safari Nation. Its a huge bounce house facility with snacks and games and bounce houses :) Hensleys favorite place!  Andy also brought along his two other children which were visiting this weekend (yep..I'm a step mom too). They all bounced and rode the zip line and ate junk food :) It was perfect!

the boys playing bowling

 hailey on the zipline

 SO so SO proud of CJ for doing the zipline. this was a huge accomplishment for him!

 Hensley got a boo boo :/

 the boys going down the slide

 My beautiful Boy

 Brotherly Love

 Katelynn :)

 Hailey :)

 Hensley and Daddy's favorite thing to do...EAT!

We went to Elizabeths Pizza after jumping! YUMO :)

                     Aaron and Hensley at lunch

Kevin and Hensley playing after lunch

And while the weekend didn't stop here in a way this where it began for me. At this lunch I got some great advice and learned a few lessons from someone I would never expect. And thus another adventure that weekend was born. But that will be explained next time :)

Bringing up a family should be an adventure --Milton R. Saperstein

The Loss of a Child

As I sit here watching my sweet precious boy play in the bath with such excitement and laughter I have to think about so many out there who have lost children. I hear so many stories day after day of precious little ones passing away for some reason or another, just today a friend posted on facebook about someone she knew losing their five year old little boy. Another friend of mine recently lead me to a blog about a mother who lost her 7 month old...just like that...out of the blue. No explanation at all.

Its a harsh reality of life and as foriegn as it seems to have to bury a child it happens daily all around us. No warning. No reason. It. Just. Happens. It hits home for me so much because before this little energetic, perfect little boy entered our lives we too suffered the loss of a child. It was different from alot of people's story because we never got to know her, or see her, or hold her. But the loss is just as devastating.

It's not something we talk about....ever...really. We never met our little girl we named Ava Grace. She was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 when I was 6 months pregnant and we lost her shortly after. I never got to hold her, kiss her, see her face, touch her sweet soft skin. We were told she had alot of severe abnormalities and I wonder daily if i should or shouldnt have seen her. I have a vision of when she looked like in my mind: beautiful, perfect. I suppose thats the image to have not the one of reality. Ava was a surprise to us but after the initial shock she was someone we were dying to meet and to love. She was originally due in mid July of 08 but we lost her in April of 08. It was a devastating time for me and my husband. Luckily for us it brought us closer together. I hear all the time where the loss of a child tears a couple apart because the loss is just so devastating and heartbreaking. I am thankful it didnt do that us. Soon after this loss we moved into our new home that we had purchased and planned for because of Ava Grace. We were living in a one bedroom apartment living our young carefree lives before we got the news of Ava. We bought our home because of the yard, the space, the kid friendly neighborhood. We knew it would be a good place to raise a family and even though she were no longer anticipating her arrival we moved in our large three bedroom house with only one bedroom to fill. It was a hard time but in mid July of 08 when I thought I would have the hardest time knowing we should have been expecting her delivery we got yet another "surprise". We were expecting!

One the same week that our little girl should be entering the world we were finding out we were pregnant again. We had not planned for another baby right away figuring we needed time to heal but GOD has a plan for us all and although i'll never know why we couldnt have our little Ava I do know that had that not happened we would have never had Hensley, and I can not imagine life without him. He is our miracle child. With all the problems and health concerns with not only Ava but myself during that pregnancy Hensley blew our minds. I never had one problem carrying him (not even morning sickness!!!) and he was the easiest labor and delivery ever. I figured since this blog was about our lives as Hensley's parents and all the adventures he takes us on it would be good to start out letting you all know how he came about. He was a gift to us in a time of mourning. He was a light in our dark times. He is our miracle and the light of our lives.

We miss Ava Grace everyday. Think about her everyday. Wonder what it will be like in Heaven one day to meet her. We trust in GOD's plan for us and 100 percent believe that Hensley was sent to us to help us move on and recover from what is life's greatest loss.

Third Week of Feb already???!!!!!

Jan 2012: Started my blog....was so happy excited to see what i would write next.....

skip to almost a month later....i haven't written a single thing! UGH!


ok...so back on track with it :)

I plan on eventually including all the amazing events and memories we have with Hensley before i started this blog....EVENTUALLY lol

But for now I just want to get this year (so far) caught up. Hensley has slowly over the past month started to seem like my little "boy" instead of my little "baby" :( if you know me you know this is an extremely hard thing :(  As his third birthday fastly appraoches he is talking up a storm, being more indepentdant, and .....wait for it........POTTY TRAINING!!!!!!


I have read "How to Potty Train Your Child in One Day" HA! I have looked on several websites for tips and tricks, bribes, schdules, etc......and I have realized Hensley is just on his own path when it comes to this adventure. He'll sit on the potty all day if I let him but 9 times out of 10.....nothing comes out :/ I guess I need to be thankful he is cooroperating at all lol!

With that said there have been triumphs!! We have had one poop and one pee :) The poop was very traumatic for him :) (hes a hiding pooper usually) so being exposed was a little tough for him.


He is so obsessed with any sport involving a ball ( he starts t-ball in april ahhhhhhh) his blue monkey muno (from yo gabba gabba) and girafee. THEY GO EVERYWHERE HE GOES! Esspeically Blue Monkey. The poor monkey has been in the ocean, taking more baths then he'll ever need, been thrown out the car window....the list goes on! I can't to show Hensley that blue monkey one day when hes long outgrown him :) He brings him so much comfort and security.....and FUN! With Hensley STILL holding on to the the paci I am so thankful he has attached on to some other items....HOPEFULLY making the transition to no paci easier.


GOAL: no paci and potty trained (or really close) by his birthday! Stay away March 31st ...we need all the time we can get! :)


Off to part planning! It will def be an adventure to remember :) As they all are!

                          oh yeah...hes in love with pirates...this is pirate face....saying ARRRRRR

                                                              in big boy underwear :)

 our living room after a fun filled morning :)

                                                                    my heart and soul :)