Who's Afraid of the Big Bad...Duck?

Look at this sad face!!! He is absolutely terrified of his new duck tub. This is going to make a great story at his rehearsal dinner someday. My little boy...who is tough as nails, loves to play rough, loves BIG dogs, I could go on and on about how much of a BOY he truly is...but, he is terrified of a duck! There is something wrong about this!

His aunt Carrie got him this tub because he has had several incidents in the tub recently. We were hoping that this would help contain him and provide some padding! He loves to climb all over the tub, swim all over the place, and just be a boy, but sometimes he would slip before you even knew what happened. I'm always sitting right there and most of the time I am holding on to him when it happens, but it still happens! Ahh! Anyway, this was our solution and he hates it. He takes one look at the duck and starts shaking and screaming.

This was Joel trying to tell him that the duck is nice! Ha!

Oh well, so much for the duck tub. It's back to the regular tub. He now has some FABULOUS new bath toys though, so maybe that will make him stop wanting to climb the tub!

Christmas!

We have had a whirlwind couple of days, but it has been wonderful! We had the best Christmas! Warning, this post has a TON of pictures! We were a little camera crazy on Hudson's first Christmas!

We started out the festivities with Christmas Eve lunch at the Birmingham Country Club...a Whitt family tradition. It is always so fun and we absolutely stuff ourselves!

Check out Grandmother's dessert plate! She is the smallest person in the world, and she had about 4 desserts! Wish I could do that!!!

Hudson did not want to be in the high chair for long. He wanted to be crawling around, so we finally let him. He loves looking out windows!

Here is Ashley and Blaine. Blaine was so funny. He said his outfit wasn't Christmasy because it didn't have green in it. He is so into his clothes, and of course, he looked so cute as always!

Here is our attempt at a family picture. It was naptime at this point, so Hudson wasn't cooperating! He woudn't take a morning nap before lunch, so we were really struggling!

He loves watching Morgan!

Los Angeles Carrie and me...once again, she makes me look like Casper! Can you tell she lives near the beach?!?!?

We left the country club and went home to get Hudson a quick nap before heading to church and then to Joel's family's Christmas dinner. We let Hudson sit in church with us and he did pretty good. Only two talking outbursts while the preacher was talking! Everyone turned to look at us, but it was ok. He ate three church bulletins and about a hundred puffs too, but we were good to go! I just couldn't stick him in the nursery on Christmas!

Once we got to Joel's aunt's house, the power went out from all the wind and rain, so we ate Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight! The food was delicious as always.

x

We were able to snap a couple of pictures right before the power went out.

The Reed family.

After dinner, you would think we were done for the night, but no, we headed back to my parent's house for the Whitt Christmas. We open all our presents on Christmas Eve. I was a little worried that Hudson wouldn't make it through the Whitt family Christmas since he had not napped since 3 that afternoon, but we tried to put him down twice at my mom's and he wouldn't go! He was so keyed up!

x

This was part of the reason. Best present of the night! He stayed in this riding toy most of the night! We all took turns pushing him around the house, and he just loved it. He got so many other things too. You wouldn't believe our den right now. It looks like a tornado full of toys came through it!

It wouldn't be a Whitt family Christmas without my dad getting the hot new toy for the kids. Check out the Zhu Zhus! Morgan was so excited! I have to say though...I don't really see what all the hype is about, but Morgan loved them. They seriously look like little rats running across the floor!

Joel got this really old Auburn football helmet for his man room. He looks pretty funny in it!

This was at about 9:30 pm. He is usually in bed by 7!

We finally got home and put the little man to bed and then played Santa for the first time! We didn't get Hudson very much since he had no idea what was going on, and he got a ton of stuff from his grandparents (and his birthday is in 2 months!), but it was still fun setting it out. We couldn't wait for him to see everything the next morning!

Hudson had a terrible night's sleep that night, but did manage to sleep until 8. We got out the video camera and snapped a few pictures of his reaction to his new toys!
x
He loved this little play table! It was definitely his favorite.

He liked the alphabet train too, but unfortunately, when I went to put him on it the first time to ride on it, he did a nose dive right onto the handle. Of course we were videoing all that. I definitely won mother of the year for that. We have figured it out today though and we have been riding it all over the house!

He is so excited about all his gifts! Finally, some new toys to play with! And, doesn't he look too cute in his pjs?!?!?

I got a sewing/embroidery machine. I was so excited about it (it really was exactly what I wanted) until I got it out last night and tried to do it. It is so intimidating and I told Joel that he just needed to take it back. I didn't have time to figure all that out! Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. I have a whole new respect for the $10 that I have to pay every time to get something monogrammed. It may be worth that. Ha!

After playing with all the stuff that Santa brought for a little while, we headed over to the Reed's to do Christmas with them. They outdid themselves for sure. We got tons of great stuff! Unfortunately, our camera was not working and I didn't get any pictures of the gift giving part. Of course, we figured out what was wrong after it was over! Oh well, I know that they got a ton of great pictures, so hopefully they will share!
x
Hudson got this great little riding toy that he just loves! It turns into a walker too. We have ridden it all over the house today too! Hudson looks so cute in the Santa hat!

We tried to get a picture of Hudson and his cousin Mark with Papa John, but the fear of old folks came back and Hudson threw a fit!

We had brunch at the Reed's and then headed back to my parent's house for Christmas Day lunch with my other grandparents. Yes, we had to eat again an hour after we ate brunch! It was all SO good though! Our tummies were definitely full!
x

Check out our silly faces!

Hudson did manage to squeeze in a short nap at Joel's parent's house that morning, but he was definitely exhausted by the time we got to my parent's. I'm really surprised he did so well. We were so off his routine and he has been on somewhat of a nap strike, so I know he was overtired, but he didn't fuss or anything.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful families! Thank you to everyone! We loved seeing you all and celebrating such a wonderful day!

x

Joel and I are looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. We are flat worn out!!!

Santa!

Well, it started out as love at first sight...

"Hmmm...I think I know you, but I'm not quite sure!"

"I'm getting a little scared now. White haired old folks really give me the creeps!"

"Don't get near me!"

"Mmmmoooooommmmmmmyyyyyyy!!!!!!"

"I don't like this one bit!"

"Santa, this isn't helping very much...but, you sure do look a lot like my granddaddy!"

At least someone is not afraid of Santa!

Let's just say Hudson's second run-in with Santa, aka Big Daddy (my Dad) did not go over too well! He was terrified of him! He had his picture taken at daycare with Santa and did great, or so they say. The picture that we got was terrible, but they said he didn't cry or anything. I think he was a little confused at who Santa was, and he has always had this fear of old people with gray/white hair. I can't imagine how bad it is going to be next year! He probably won't even get near Santa!

x

We had a little fun after Santa left!

This pretty lady is finally in town! We picked her up from the airport today and we get her for a whole week!!! So fun!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Let the chaos begin!

Stop That Ball!

My favorite book growing up was called "Stop That Ball." It was about a little boy who had a ball that rolled down the street and ended up going all over town. I know, strange book for a girl, but I had older brothers and loved sports. Barbie dolls and dresses were not my thing. Anyway, I had memories brought back about that book when Hudson yanked off a Christmas ball off the tree and it slipped out of his hands and rolled all over the room. He had a blast trying to get it back! I managed to sneak a few pictures as he crawled through the shelf under the coffee table to get it!

I'm going to get that ball!

Almost got it!

Darn...rolled away again.

No worries, I can still get it!

He is a mess these days!

We have had SUCH a busy weekend. We had my work Christmas party at Vestavia Country Club Friday night, which was a really fun time. I actually won a door prize! Yay! I won $50 to Walmart, and sadly it has already been spent. Oh well! It sure did beat the $50 to Starbucks that I got last year, seeing as though I don't even drink coffee! However, I was still grateful to win a prize both years because normally, I am never one to win anything! Little man stayed with Joel's parents and we picked him up on the way home. We were hoping he would sleep in a little bit on Saturday morning, but nope, up and going at 6 am! Ugh! We were so tired. Joel kept Hudson all morning Saturday while I went and tried to finish up my shopping. Unfortunately, I still have some folks to go, including my hubby. My idea for him fell through so it is back to square one!

x

We went over to our friends Derrick and Nicole's house last night for some fun. There were several couples over there. Hudson actually made it until 9 pm before we decided we probably needed to head home! He did so well. It helped that there were other kids there for him to watch. Derrick and Nicole have a little boy a few months older than Hudson and I swear, we had half of the offensive line for Vestavia Hills high school covered. They don't need to worry about that in about 15 years! Hudson and Paxton are big boys! Anyway, it was great visiting with everyone and we need to do that again soon!
x

We went to church this morning and then celebrated Christmas and birthdays with Cameron and Caroline at the Tavern at the Summit. It was so fun and Hudson and I got some great gifts! Thank you, thank you! We are headed to Joel's parents' house tonight to celebrate his Dad's birthday! Lots of December birthdays around here. I'm just glad we get so much family time in this time of year. I just love it!

And the Winner is....

This was the winner for the Christmas card!

And here it is on the card. This is just a picture of the picture. I wish I had a scanner because the lighting wasn't very good, but we thought it turned out adorable! I made sure to match the outfit to the card! Ha!

And below are a few of the runner up pictures. We went out to the botanical gardens after Thanksgiving and snapped a few. We got a ton of great ones to choose from!

This one and the next one were a very close second place!

Sweet picture of my boys!

He loved this little gate!

Joel said "no" to the yellow flowers. It was a little girly, and not so much Christmasy, but I still thought it was cute!