Michael is 4!!!

Michael is 4? How is this possible? How is it possible that this time, 4 years ago, I was at Presby Dallas, trying to figure out this new position in life God blessed me with...being a Mommy! It is surreal, becoming a mommy, at least it was for me. One moment I was pregnant, being wheeled into surgery, the next thing I know, Dr Lutich placed this little person in my arms and POOF! I was a Mommy! I have loved EVERY moment of it! Honestly, I think looking back on what we have gone through to get to where we are today, Geoff and I are pretty darn lucky. Grant it, Michael gave us a run for our money, and I know this is only the beginning, but by God I would not change a single thing! Every moment, every event we have gone through, has made us the Parents we are today. From having absolutely no idea what in the world we were doing the day we brought Michael home from the hospital...1. We set an alarm clock to wake up every 3 hours to make sure he ate...(Rookie Mistake:) 2. Staring at the monitor, anticipating his wake up for a feed, burp, poop, anything that makes these little humans stir...(Rookie Mistake #2) 3. Taking Michael to Children's for his first hospital trip at 5 weeks, followed by his first ambulance trip to Children's Dallas...(Welcome to Mommyhood) 4. Surviving Colic/Reflux...(What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?) 5. Children's Hospital Trip #2 for RSV...(Thank goodness for Children's Legacy, that is all I can say)

6. Tubes..best decision ever! 7. Taking several plane rides to Boston, Atlanta, South Carolina and to top it all off, Hawaii...Michael was the best traveler ever, minus the puking in the woman's weave on the descent into Atlanta...although, I think she deserved it:) Michael taught us so many things over the course of our crash course into parenthood, no book could have ever taught us. Through everything we have experienced with Michael, I think the most important lesson we learned is to have faith. Not only faith in that we know what in the world we are doing, but faith in the fact that God blessed us with this little boy and knew that Geoff and I had some clue as to what we were doing. And you know what, he was right. He blessed us with another crazy little boy to follow in his Big Brother's footsteps!

 I think Geoff and I have done a darn good job navigating this new found territory and I cannot wait to see what else our little boys have in store for us!
Happy Birthday Michael Geoffrey Hatch! We love you to the moon and back:)

Halloween...a little late

I had big plans for the boys costumes this Halloween. I figured it would probably be the last year I was able to choose their costumes and could make them match, like last year, when they were Luke Skywalker and R2-D2. I had everything planned, Michael was going to be a big, strong Fireman and James was going to be super cute Dalmatian puppy. Unfortunately, when I presented this plan to Michael, he did not agree with my costume choices.
Michael wanted to be a Transformer. Not just any Transformer, but Optimus Prime. And to top it off, Michael then informed me that James was to be the Transformer, Bumblebee- well, we had to negotiate on this one- James would be a Bumblebee, however, a real bumblebee, wings and all:) Thank goodness we already had a bee costume that James could use.
I have to admit, the boys were pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself:)
 
At my school, they held a Halloween Costume Parade. I had the boys in it, of course, and Michael did such a great job! Last year he was very overwhelmed by all of the people and the cheering so he spend the parade outside with Miss Erin. This year, he did great! He was still timid, however, no tears and he stayed in the gym:) James was a total HAM! As the teacher was introducing the 7th grade contestants, James decided to march his little Bumblebee self in front of the kids and DANCE! The entire middle school then began to chant, "Bumblebee! Bumblebee!", and James continued to dance and wave to his fans. HE is such a mess, but I have to admit, he was a precious little bee:) 

Our good friends, the Kotaseks, came over to trick-or-treat with our boys, they have two little ones, Parker and Mason, who are close to Michael and James' age. We had pizza and went our way with our little men dressed in superhero costumes to receive ridiculous amounts of candy in a short 1 hour period. Needless to say, we had a great time:) Lord only knows what Michael will decide he and his brother will be next year:)