Let the wait begin...

As some of you may know I have been trying to get a job in NWA for the past few years so that I can be closer to home. I decided around January to add an elementary education license to my music Ed. license to open up more opportunities. I was supposed to complete an Arkansas History course and take a Praxis exam to add the additional license. I called the state dept. last Thurs. to ask when the deadline for test scores was and they informed me that my life will be put on hold.  The state dept. is in flux right now and is changing the certification to a k-6 instead of p-4. They haven't decided the Praxis exam they want to count for that license and they will decide around August or Sept.  That means I will not be licensed by the fall and most likely will not get a job again. The demand for a job in NWA is high and they are not going to jump through all the education hoops to have me as a teacher.

In other news, Jack is learning so much with his new baseball team. He is realizing that he is not the best at something and that he has to work hard.

Nolan is being Nolan and we are trying to learn what his grunts and  screams mean. He does not like the inability to communicate with us and frankly neither do we. He is almost running now and has learned how to take small steps on a staircase on his own. At 16 mo. he can say the following: mama, dada, Jack, awesome, bye-bye, uh-oh, whoa, and he can roar like a bear.  He is a ladies man and a southern gentlemen. He has to say bye to everyone at the daycare when we leave and he blows kisses to certain people. He has a young southern lady who watches him in the afternoon and he has picked up on her accent. He has the most drawn out byes. I'll try to video it and post it.

Now or never....

Well, I'm back for those who follow....crickets.  Yes.  Anyway, I really want to keep a journal of some type to document how our life is going and our feelings and all that and this seems to be the only way.  I see the last time I was on here was when I went back to maternity leave so I'll catch up quickly.

Nolan is now 15 months old and was the perfect baby for the first year..haha!  I swear there is colic for older babies because he has it.  I think a little bit can be attributed to the fact that he got almost all of his teeth over Christmas break and that we probably have a little bit of a communication issue going on.  He is one stubborn and hard headed child...I know, I don't know who he could have gotten that from.  Anyway, we are plugging along with him and trying to teach him how to talk really fast.

He did have his first bang up job the other day.  I have always said that the fact that this kid does not listen when I say "no" that he is going to get himself in trouble.  Well, I was right in the bad way... We were outside and I was doing yard work and the boys were playing in the back of JR's truck.  Jack had gotten out and Nolan stayed in and was just exploring the cab.  All the sudden I look up and he is climbing on the tire cover and as I'm yelling "no" and "stop" he, of course, doesn't listen and continues to head dive over the side.  He landed on his head on the concrete driveway and I about flipped out!  Luckily, I am pretty calm in those kind of situations and I got him and put ice packs in the appropriate places and gave him ice water because he had bitten his tongue as well, twice.  I watched for symptoms of a head injury and he was sleepy but only took a short nap.  The next day he woke up with a bounce in his step like nothing happened.

Jack is doing fantastic.  He turned 6 on March 5th and I still can't get it in my head that he is a 6 year old!  We just finished up his first season of basketball and are going to begin baseball next week! JR and I both like baseball the best and can't wait to see how he does with coach pitched baseball.  He is picking up on JR and I's sarcastic humor and has become quite the little smarty pants.  We are teaching him when it is appropriate and not to be a smart mouth. 

That is enough catch-up for now.  I will post pics and such later!

1st day back!

Well we started back from maternity leave a little earlier than I had planned. I was supposed to go back March 12th but Jack was not handling maternity leave well and needed to go back to school and some structure. We went back on February 23rd because it was Nolan's 3 month birthday and it was also a Thursday. That way we would only have to go through two days of school and then be off. I figured it would be best to not start off with a full week!

Jack was so excited about starting school back and he even handled the first day of waking up at 5:50am pretty well. All the kids at his school were so excited to see him and were in his face all day, which overwhelmed him a little bit. It was good for him to be with his friends though and play and talk with other 4 year olds!

Nolan was great on his first day as well. The ladies said he never cried and was just the happiest baby! This kid is really easy.

I thought it was funny at work for me that most people asked me how I was doing with taking the kids to school that day. Most people were looking for me to be really upset maybe even tear up a little. Now, with Jack yes I did....when it is your first kid and they are going to a daycare you do worry about them. Now though, I've been through it, I know what to expect and everything will be ok! If I was dropping him off at some shady place, which I would never do, then I would be worried, but these people at Jack's school have taken excellent care of Jack and I know they will do the same for Nolan. So, two days down and many more to go!! All is well in the Hinkson household!

Nolan's first bath!

Nolan actually enjoyed his first bath unlike his brother. The only time he cried was when I put the lotion on him at the end.

His awesome pout that he does when he gets mad or is beginning to get upset.

Nolan's first few weeks!

We borrowed some hats from Uncle David and Aunt Jillian and took a nice shot! You can see he is enjoying this.


Him in the swing looking so serious. He was a week old.


Just hanging out...what babies at this age do best.

Nolan's Birth!

Nolan's birth story is completely unlike Jack's story. I went in to see another doctor, other than my own, the day before Thanksgiving. Nolan's due date was supposed to be Thanksgiving day but the office was not open on that day so I was to be seen the day before. This doctor examined me and realized I was still at a 2 and about 20% effaced. She said it was tricky to pick induction dates since there was a holiday and the weekend coming up so she asked if I had any ideas. I asked for that day and she easily agreed. She said "ok, that is fine, go on upstairs to L&D." JR was at work, I still had Jack and I had not brought our hospital bag with us. I asked if I could have an hour or so and she agreed.

I called JR at work and told him we were going to have a baby that day and to get home! I then proceeded to call the rest of my family and tell them to make their way to Fayetteville. We got Jack squared away with our friend Logan, which Jack was more excited about going with him then getting a little brother, and headed to the hospital. We got there around 1:00pm and were thinking this baby was going to come faster than Jack....no such luck. I did get an epidural for this child as well and man it took big time! The delivery of it was even better than the first time as well! I started feeling the effects right away and got worried at one point that I might be getting too much medicine because I couldn't even move my legs or butt to move around. It was obviously helpful during delivery! Afterwards though I wasn't able to fully feel my legs until around 3:30am. The first time I got up and tried to stand I nearly fell over. Thankfully I had a nice bright yellow hospital bracelet that I said FALL RISK.

I slowly progressed all day and took full advantage of the free popsicles as you can see! At about 9:00pm the nurse wanted to check me one last time before the doctor went to the sleep room. I had just sent my dad and brother's family to eat since I thought it was going to be a lot longer. The nurse said "well I think you're ready, I'll call the doctor." Everybody started getting the room ready and warming up the baby warmer. The nurse wanted to make sure I remembered how to push so we tried one and she stopped me at count 4 because the baby was coming! The doctor arrived and got her scrubs on and we started pushing at 9:21pm and he was born after two pushes at 9:25pm. I couldn't believe how much easier it was this time around. The baby nurse had to run and get the medicine she forgot for Nolan and she didn't even make it back in time! He was born on November 23rd at 9:25pm weighing 8lbs 9ozs and 21 1/4 in. long. We were so happy to finally meet him!

Flowers sent to me by JR's work.

Me enjoying popsicles and being pumped full of fluids and my epidural.

....and he's here!!


First pic with big brother the next day! Jack was so excited to finally see him!

Jack's 5th Birthday!!!

Well it is here. We can't believe our little baby is finally going to turn 5! It has not sunk in yet and probably won't until he starts Kindergarten in the Fall....sniff, sniff. We are doing a low key celebration this year again because Jack is going to Walt Disney World with me on March 8th with the H.S. band. We are staying at the Coronado Resort on the Disney property and I can't wait to see his face with all the exciting things he is going to see! I will post pics after our trip!

Personalize an invitation

Baby #2

Well, I'm going to try again to keep this up. I feel bad that I did pretty well with it during Jack's childhood and I would like Nolan to have the same thing when he grows up. I'm not promising a ton of posts but hopefully something worth while!

The first thing I'm going to start with are all the belly shots I took during my second pregnancy. I wish I would have done this with Jack because all I have from his pregnancy are a bunch of random shots and I don't know how far along I am in any of them. So, here we go....


23 weeks!

27 weeks!

29 weeks!

30 weeks!

33 weeks!

34 weeks!

38 weeks and having to conduct on this day! I called this my Johnny Cash outfit.

38 weeks as well! Jack took this picture which explains its great angle! Turns out this was the last week I took pictures. Oh well...you get the idea...I was huge!

Caught up....for now!

After some prodding from friends I decided to update the blog. I tried to go in chronological order on the posts. Enjoy and I'll try not to wait 3 more months before the next entry!

Jack's 4th Birthday!

Jack's photo for his birthday card.


On his way to his party!

The cake. He was excited because you can actually play with the figurines on the cake!

Cousin Alexander representing in batman gear!

Opening presents!

After eating some cake!

Playing with his new batman toys.