Vacation, Part 1

We are finally back home from a great week of vacation. We took so many pictures that I'm just going to have to break this up into a few posts.

The first stop on the road trip was Albany, Georgia, for a wedding. One of Joel's good friends from high school and college got married there and we really wanted to go. We decided to make a stop in Albany on the way to the beach and we are so glad that we did! It was good to see Greg and the wedding was beautiful and reception was a lot of fun.

We didn't leave as early on Saturday as we were hoping to leave, since it was over a 4 hour car ride and we lost an hour due to the time change. We got stuck in traffic on 65 due to road work and then we didn't time lunch very well and ended up having to stop in Union Springs, AL at the only place there to eat...Mickey D's. I went to the restroom in McDonald's and when I came out, there was a homeless man (on some kind of drugs) sitting in the booth next to Hudson, asking Joel for money. Joel gave him the amount of change that he asked for, and then the guy proceeded to ask for more and would not leave! He finally got up and proceeded to heckle all the other customers the entire time we were there. I was very uncomfortable and couldn't wait to get out of there! Anyway, after lunch, we cranked up the DVD player and Hudson got his fill of garbage trucks and fire trucks for the next few hours! He really did so well on the drive.

We made it to our hotel 30 minutes before the wedding was starting. We had to change clothes, and Joel quickly realized that he had no dress socks. We weren't in the best part of town, but Joel refused to just go to the wedding in what he had so he drove to the Family Dollar about a mile away and bought some socks, and then came back to the hotel to change. We actually made it to our seats in the church with a minute to spare! Phew! We were sweating bullets (it was like 100 degrees in Albany!), and we had been in such a rush, but we made it. It was Hudson's first wedding experience and we had tried to drill in him that he needed to be quiet. We had some toys and some crayons, but that didn't stop the fidgeting and Joel kept getting looks from the lady next to him, so halfway through the ceremony, Joel told me to get him out of there! Oh well, he really was quiet...he just couldn't sit still. I saw what I wanted to see...you know, the important things like the bride's dress and the bridesmaids, etc. It was in a beautiful old church in downtown Albany and the bride looked stunning!

After the ceremony, we headed to the reception at the country club in Albany. It was part inside and part outside, with a dance floor outside. We found out while we were there that we were "below the gnat line" and the gnats were terrible, but despite that, it was a good reception and Hudson did really well there. Joel got to see some of his old college buddies as well as got a short visit with the groom, so it was well worth the trip! We were glad to be able to go. It was so frantic getting out of the hotel to the wedding that I forgot my camera. I snapped the pictures below to document we were there! Ha!

Hudson was a wild man in the hotel room. He thought it was so cool to get to sleep with Mommy and Daddy, although he absolutely will not do it at home (which we know is a good thing!).

We actually slept pretty good with him in the bed, although he liked to sleep sideways and unfortunately my belly was at the end of his feet. I slept with a pillow over my stomach for most of the night to protect little baby boy! Haha.

Sunday morning, we woke up and headed to the beach! We were so excited to get there. It was about a 3 hour drive from Albany, so we were there by lunchtime and ready for a fun afternoon. We first had to go find a swim shirt for Hudson because Mama made a sunscreen mistake on his poor back at his class pool party and he got burned. I felt so bad and wanted to make sure we did everything we could to keep him from getting too much sun at the beach! We finally found one and then hit the grocery store before heading back to the beach for some pool and beach time. Hudson LOVED the pool. He jumped off the side probably a thousand times. We then went to the beach for a little while and Hudson tolerated the sand. He wasn't 100% sure, but didn't hate it. He kept calling it "the big sand box." So cute. He did not like the ocean. We cooked in that night and got to bed early so we could have a fun filled day on Monday.


Monday started with a walk through Alys Beach and then a trip to the pool and the beach for the morning.

He loved wearing "Mr. Crab" (his floaty thing) and kept telling us that Mr. Crab would hold him up. So cute! He really did good kicking his legs and using his arms to swim.

I got so much joy watching Joel and Hudson play in the water. He just loves his Daddy!

This picture below cracks me up because Hudson is staring at none other than....

The beloved "blowerman". He watched the man do the blower for forever! He was so fascinated!

The sand was still "ok" on Monday for Hudson. He helped his Daddy dig a big hole and build a sandcastle.

This was Hudson running away from the water. He did not like it one bit.

Lunchtime arrived and Hudson got his first popsicle. Let's just say the sun won the popsicle battle and it all melted before he could finish it!

We got Hudson in the ocean after naptime. It was short-lived, but at least he did it!

That night, we headed to the Red Bar for dinner. Hudson was SO exhausted that this was how he acted most of the dinner...

He finally perked up a little bit and bothered another table that was on the other side of the curtain. Thankfully, they were good sports about it!

We made it back to the condo just in time to see the sun go down. Hudson had his "basketball goal" with him (that is what he called the fishing net no matter how many times we corrected him!). We tried to get him to go down in the sand to catch crabs (not that I really wanted to do that anyway--crabs are not my thing!), but he refused--an obvious sign of things to come for the rest of the week with the sand!

I can't get enough of this place...

Ok, enough for one night. More pictures to come on another night!

End of Year Party

Hudson had his end of the year party today at school. His teachers thought it would be fun to have a pool/water party and it was a total hit! They loved it!

We attempted a class picture. This was the best we could get with ten 2 year olds!

Hudson was a wild man and didn't hold back at all. He was all over the place, splashing everyone, jumping in the pools, dumping water on his head. He had NO fear!

I never thought they could get ten kids holding hands in a circle doing Ring Around the Rosie, but they sure did and it was adorable!

At the end, all the kids clapped for their teachers. Hudson has loved his teachers this year and thankfully, they will be his teachers for the summer as well. I wish I had gotten a picture of Hudson with the three of them, but it was a crazy day with all those kids running around. It's going to be rough saying goodbye to them in September, but I'm sure that there will be a great new group of teachers next year!

Summer is here! Yay!

It's a...

BOY!!!

We couldn't be more thrilled about having another boy! I didn't think I would be as excited as I am today since we've pretty much known since 12 weeks, but I'm just giddy about it! October needs to hurry up and get here so we can meet him! I can't wait to see my two boys grow up together. I hope that they are the best of friends. Little bit is healthy as can be and we're right on track so that's the best news of all!

I will spare the blog the "money shot", but trust me, he's ALL boy! Ha! Isn't he already SO cute?!?!? His profile looks a lot like Hudson!

We have a potential name that we are thinking about, but it could definitely change. I know I've said this before, but boy names are hard for us. Naming a child in general is a hard thing!

I told Hudson the news and who knows if he understands! He was more interested in his new slide today!

A friend is letting us borrow her puddle jumper for the beach because her son wouldn't wear it and she told me I should try it first before purchasing one so I brought it home today and Hudson wouldn't take it off! I'm thinking I need to send him to school in it--maybe he wouldn't come home with so many bumps and bruises! Ha! We'll see if he will actually wear it at the beach! I'm hopeful. He kept talking about going to the pool "right now!"

I'm just so thankful that we have a heathy baby growing in there and I know that I'm supposed to be a boy mom. Maybe a girl is in the cards someday, but I'm really ok with having boys! I've never thought of myself as a girly girl, and like my mom said, I wouldn't have a clue about ballet and bows! Anyway, boys are wonderful and I can't wait to add another one to our family! I hope he will be just as fun as this one is!

Well, He Did It

I think buying big boy furniture must have been a jinx. I was telling someone at work early this week that we had bought the furniture, but since Hudson still loves his crib and has never tried to get out, that we would probably wait until late summer to make the transition. I have eaten my words!

I came out of my room this morning to head upstairs and get him up for the day, and was shocked to find him in the kitchen! I think he was looking for breakfast! :)

This was shortly after I found him. He was so proud of himself and told me immediately that he had climbed out (as if I couldn't tell!).

Not only did he make it out of the crib, quietly I might add (I heard no "thump" like I thought I would the first time he did it, especially since his room is right above ours!), but he went down a flight of stairs with his Ra-Ra, the beloved dog on the lawnmower above, AND a blanket, and of course the paci in the mouth that is supposed to stay in the crib with Ra-Ra. Now, tell me how he held onto the stairs too?!?! It scares me to death to think about. I'm glad I didn't actually see it, and so thankful that he did not fall. I never heard anything on the monitor. He was a quiet escapee.

Tonight should be interesting! Maybe he will forget that he did that this morning! Ha! Thankfully, his new furniture will be here in a couple of weeks, but I've got to get cracking on getting the room ready. I thought I had all summer!

Mother's Day Weekend

It is hard to believe that this is my THIRD Mother's Day! Wow! I woke up this morning (after getting to sleep in of course) to a "Happy Mudder's Day" in the sweetest little voice. It was perfect! Daddy trained him well during their time this morning!

It has been a good, yet tiring weekend. Thursday, my firm allowed me to go volunteer in Pratt City for the day. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go and help out. I wish I could do more than just one day, and hopefully, I will get to. These people will need help for a long time...long after all this initial help passes. Our group had the option of either going out to cut down trees and work on roofs, or go to the school and help at the disaster relief center. I went to help at the school and did a number of different things, including unloading donations, handing out Mary Kay makeup that was donated (you would not believe how grateful the women were that got makeup--if you lost everything, makeup would not be on your list of things needed, so they were VERY excited about this!), serving 1,000 plates at lunchtime, and giving out boxes of food to the victims. It was actually very uplifting to see all the help that was out there, and to see ALL of the donations that had been given. I thought it would be a sad day, and it was to a degree to see some of the victims that lost everything and to hear their stories, but it was awesome to see the support that was being given to these people and amongst some tears, there were a lot of happy faces as well. With our help, they can get through this! It was an exhausting day though...I'm not used to being on my feet all day and while I tried not to lift anything that was too heavy, I was definitely sore. I think I crashed at about 8 that night!

Friday, we headed up to my parent's cabin to spend the night. I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures. My brother and sister in law, and niece were there as well and we had a fun night playing on the Cam court (my parents built a basketball court/ride on toy area with the proceeds received from the sale of their national championship tickets, hence, the Cam court!). We also had a fire on the bluff and did a little riding on the gator, which Hudson did NOT like! One of the funniest times of the night had to be at the end of dinner. We had eaten spaghetti and I had just undressed Hudson so that he could make a mess with it and of course, it had gone everywhere. My mom was cleaning off his face and hands, and he looked down at his tummy and diaper, and said, "Awww man!" at the mess he had made. It was hilarious! Needless to say, we were all on the floor laughing. Unfortunately, Hudson decided that he did not want to sleep at the cabin and we had a really rough night.

Saturday, Joel and I went to Dogtown to buy big boy furniture for Hudson! It was an exciting, yet a little sad, day at the furniture store! We walked to the kid's furniture section and Hudson looked at a bed and said, "Hudson's new bed!" Of course, that's the one we had to pick! It was fate I guess! We got him two twin beds and are planning to do a fire truck room. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to make the transition yet, but sometime this summer, he will be moving into a new room! After buying the furniture, we headed to an art show where my mom was selling jewelry. It was at a sheep farm and they had a little lamb out for the kids to pet. It was so cute! I would have taken it home! Hudson was sweet to it and fed it some grass. We then got to watch them herd sheep with a sheepdog and it was really interesting. Hudson loved it, and they also had live music so Hudson loved that too. We left and headed back to Birmingham after that. We were ALL exhausted from the night before and couldn't wait to have a good night's rest! After a yummy steak dinner, we called it a night very early!

This morning, we went to Sunday school to celebrate our class' one year anniversary. I was supposed to bring sausage balls for the class. I did make them, and took them all the way to church, and Joel said I shouldn't take them inside because they weren't edible! Oh well! I'm a terrible cook and I know it. I will say that since then, Joel has eaten about half the bowl so they couldn't have been that bad! We then came home for naps. Hudson took a 3.5 hour nap! He was one sleepy little boy. We then visited Joel's parent's, had dinner, and now we're relaxing. It has been a simple, yet great Mother's Day, and a good end to the weekend. I'm so happy and thankful to be a mom!

I also want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mother in law! I hope you have all had a wonderful day today!

Zoo Day

A few Saturdays ago, Joel had to do a full day of yardwork, so Hudson and I ventured out to the zoo. I didn't realize that we were going on the opening weekend of the new Trails of Africa exhibit, but luckily, the crowds weren't terrible. We really did have a blast! Hudson LOVED the elephants, lions, and the tiger. He roared at the lion and the tiger! He walked up to every animal and said, "Hey, so and so, how you doin'?" He also said "See you later" when we left them. He told everyone that the gorilla was chewing gum.

The train was a nice break from all the walking. I was in "wear the kid out" mode and refused to take a stroller, so I was ready to sit down too!

They put the carousel in the worst place! Obviously, I know it was designed that way, but you can't go to the petting zoo or kids area without them seeing this thing, and of course, it isn't free! Oh well, he loved it.

He wanted to ride the giraffe, which didn't go up or down at all. I tried to tell him that, but he was dead set on riding that giraffe! I, of course, kept one hand on him while we were going round and round, and he kept shoving my hand off of him. He's SO independent!

It was a really hot day, and they had the splash pad open. I think we will be back a lot this summer! I'm thinking, really hot day, big and pregnant, and sitting in the shade watching Hudson have the time of his life. I'm not sure it's going to get much better!

I let him just get soaked in his clothes. I wasn't prepared for it to be open this early!

And I was that poor mother carrying out her soaking wet child, wrestling him the whole time, while he screamed bloody murder because he didn't want to leave. That was fun. Ha! It was a great day though. You take the good with the bad to see your child have a blast!

Royal Wedding, Kobe, and Helping the Cause

I don't know about anyone else, but I was thankful that the royal wedding was on tv on Friday! After all the sadness of last week, I needed something happy to watch. I couldn't stop watching it. Poor Hudson may have been a bit neglected on Friday! Ha! I tried to make up for it by taking him to the park. :) I think in all I watched it 3 times, not to mention all the shows that just did commentary about it. I thought Kate looked absolutely gorgeous, and her dress was beautiful! It was very elegant, and not at all what I had expected! It was so surreal to watch them have to be so formal the whole time. Don't you know she just wanted to hold his hand and hug him and kiss him, but instead, there seemed to be a huge space between them the entire time and they didn't really even look at each other that much! Oh well, the life of a royal. I thought the two kisses on the balcony were sweet.

Saturday, we all went to meet my sister's new addition...sweet Kobe!

Is he not the cutest dog you have ever seen??? I stole this picture from Carrie's facebook page. He is a french bulldog and was SO personable and friendly! I want one! I think our two dogs and soon to be two kids is enough though for now! Kobe loved Hudson. Surely, he will figure out soon that his life is at risk any time Hudson is around! Ha! Actually, Hudson was quite sweet to Mr. Kobe and talked about him all night long! I can't wait to go visit him again!

On a heavier note, Joel and I decided that we needed to clean out our closet and donate clothes to the tornado victims. It is the least we can do. So today, we started that task. I mean, it was a task...can you tell??? This is the before...

Yikes, what a mess! It was a little out of control. Here is Joel's side...

We have a total of NINE bags to donate. That is just between Joel and me.

Ahhh, it feels good to be able to walk in the closet again! And, it feels good to be able to give these clothes to people who really need it.

We've still got a little bit of work to go to clean it up, but for the most part, the closet is much, much better.

It feels good to be able to help in some way. I know the need is so much greater than the little bit that we can provide, but it is something. And, something is better than nothing. I now want to tackle all of the other messes we've created in this house over the last 4 years. Let the nesting begin!