I... I will survive...

It's happened! Yes baby has arrived. October 23, 2008 at 11:28 pm. Really cute. 7 lbs 10 oz 20 1/2 inches. IT'S A BOY!!! I gotta tell ya, it was a surprise. But a welcomed one. He broke all sorts of molds. He doesn't look anything like the other two. Maybe the nose. He's the runt of the litter, and now there is more than one Hogge boy. It's all new. He's so sweet. Oh yeah, his name...Carter James Hogge. Ethan is absolutely in love with the little guy. He wants to hold him all the time. He said the cutest thing the other day. I was trying to get a burp out of Carter and Ethan said, "Here Carter, I will show you." And then he burped. It was so cute. Autumn just wants to poke his eyes out. She is still running around saying, "Were da baby?" She hasn't quite figured it out yet.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Since we didn't know gender, we had to play it safe with a costume, so Carter was a dragon, Autumn was a princess, and Ethan was a Knight. It was perfect weather! It was like 72. They had a Halloween Parade at Ethan's school, and he got to lead his class outside with his teacher. Ms. Stephanie was a princess, and she told Ethan that Knights are Princesses boyfriends, and then she asked him if he would be her boyfriend. OF COURSE he said yes. So she would just say, come on boyfriend. And he would grab her hand and away they went. I figured if I picked something with at least a weapon, I wouldn't get any crap, and it worked out. I know I said this last year, but this is probably the last year I will be able to get away with a themed Halloween. It was a lot of fun. I especially love Ethan in Carter's costume. When it got here, we had to open it right away! Then it got quiet, and when I asked Ethan to come down and show me what he was doing, out popped a scary dragon! I don't know how he got himself in that thing, because it took both of us to get him out.

In other news... I have been replaced. Or at least the dish washer has been. What a wonderful upgrade. Our old one was falling apart. And speaking of upgrades, we got a new grill too. Talk about all sorts of fun.

As for family cutes and updates, Autumn has found a new way to hide. She thinks if she barries her head, you can't see her. It makes hide and go seek a lot of fun. She has become our mocking bird. She will repeat almost anything you say to her. She follows Ethan around like a puppy dog. Most of the time, they play SO CUTE together. When he gets home from school she lights up. She will run to the door and give him a great big hug. She thinks he hung the moon. She loves to sing and dance, and oh yeah, like most girls with an attitude, she likes to tell you what to do.

Ethan has just come out of his shell. He is site reading now, and doing really well with it. We had our first Parent/Teacher conference, and it looks like I've got a lot of teachers to warn. We were supposed to go to Parent/Teacher Conference on Thursday night, but we were in the hospital, so the teacher pulled me aside after I dropped him off. I'm not gonna lie to ya, I was wanting to hide myself under a blanket, but she said some things that gave me quite a chuckle. She said he is extremely smart. He is picking up the reading thing really well. He knows his numbers, shapes, etc. He just HAS A PROBLEM WITH AUTHORITY. Just needs some good direction. She also said I am going to have my hands full with his teachers in the future, because he needs to be challenged. Boy does that sound like a guy I'm married to!!!

As for tramatic experiences... I always seem to have one of these right after I've had a child. We have been trying to transition Autumn into sleeping in Ethan's room. We got her a bed and everything and Carter brought each of them a fish. We put our fish tank up in Ethan's room, and we have just been trying to make it the place to be. Well, little did we know what a hip happenin' place we actually made it. We had been putting them to bed at the same time, which was really hard, because they were staying up and playing for until about 10:00 at night, which would be okay if they weren't still waking up at the same time in the morning, so I decided that I would put Autumn down first, and then put Ethan down. Which I thought was brilliant, but then at 11:00 at night, she woke up and would not STAY IN HER BED!!! It got my blood boiling. My Mom and I kept the hallway pretty hot with every threat in the book. I just felt like I was being out smarted by my children. Then I broke out the pack and play and put that in Ethan's room, thinking if I could just pin her in, the party would stop. Not so. I asked Ethan if he would sing her a song, which always turns out to be I am a child of God, and what do I see Autumn doing... Dancing. Finally, my Mom pulled out the big guns. She told Ethan she was going to get Corey. He freaked! Of course, all of Corey's siblings know how pleasant he is when you wake him up. Well, so does his son. So Ethan calmed down. And finally, at 3 am, the party stopped. We woke up at 9:00. I have never had such a laugh though in all my life, hearing those same threats come out of my Mother that she used to say to me. I cried I was laughing so hard. Just thinking about it makes me chuckle. So that's that venture. We'll try transitioning later. When lack of sleep is common place.

These are just a few of the happenings going on around here. Enjoy!