Little Birdy!

So, what do you do when you have a hungry screaming baby and a bird flies into your house??? Oh and you have 2 dogs that are just starving to eat the little birdy??? And, the birdy poops all over your kitchen and dining room???

Here's what you do...

You put the baby in one arm, grab a broom, open all the doors to the outside, and swat at it until it flies out...and pray that the dogs don't get to it before you do!

Luckily, this birdy was lucky to survive another day. And I'm the ridiculous one who has the baby in one arm, broom in the other, and had the camera handy to take a few pictures all because I thought it might be blogworthy. That is terrible.

4 Weeks!

On Sunday we reached 4 weeks. It's hard to believe that it has been that long! We've had some rough days and days that we thought would never end, but looking back, the time has flown by! Hudson is getting so much more interactive and is starting to stay awake much longer (during the day thank goodness!). We are still not going more than 3 hours at a time at night, but I think we're all starting to adjust to that schedule. It's amazing what you can do on such little sleep. I'm starting to adjust to motherhood a little bit more. Those first few weeks I wondered whether or not I was cut out for this! It has been way harder than I ever thought it would be, but when I look at my sweet little boy, it's definitely worth it! My favorite time of day with Hudson is right after his bath every night. I just love the way he smells, and he is always extra cuddly! Joel and I fight over who gets to hold him after bath time! I just love it when he looks at me with his big blue eyes! I'm hoping that the blue eyes stick around, but I would be shocked if they do with Joel and me both having dark brown eyes.

We weighed Hudson last night and he is up to 10 pounds, 4 ounces. He is getting huge! He no longer fits in his newborn clothes. It is so sad! I just remember when we brought him home at how big the newborn clothes were on him, and now they don't fit!

We started putting Hudson on his play mat this weekend, and he seemed to really like it! I thought it may be a little early for it, but since he is so opposed to his bouncy seat and swing (screams every time you put him in them), I thought, well maybe he will like the play mat! So far, so good. It's nice to have somewhere to put him during the day so that I can get some things done. Otherwise, it's him in my lap, which I don't mind of course, but I don't want him to get used to it! The play mat has a bunch of things to look at and touch, and he actually grabbed one of the little monkeys on it and pulled it down this weekend. I don't know if he meant to do it or not, but it was so cute and we were so proud that he's starting to grab things! Just one of the many milestones that we have to look forward to! Next up, smiles. We're hoping we're going to get one of those in the next couple of weeks that is not related to gas pains! Haha!

Joel and I had our first night out alone on Saturday night. Hudson's Mimi and Pop kept him for a few hours while Joel and I went to the PE banquet for Joel's work at Ross Bridge. It was nice to have some adult time for a while, but we were missing our little guy! Engineers are strange people...often awkward. My husband knows this, so I don't feel bad saying it on here. One of his co-workers came up to us when we were heading to leave and Joel told him that we had to go home to see the baby. He did not know that we had had a baby, and him, being socially awkward, looked at me and said, "Well I can see that you've just had a baby now that I look at you", and he made a gesture to his stomach like I was pregnant. Ok...I know I've got some weight to lose (it's only been 4 weeks!), but here I was, feeling really good about myself because I was wearing a slim fitting black dress that I wore before I was pregnant, hair done, make-up on, wearing heels for a change! I thought I looked pretty darn good...but, he totally put me in my place and brought me back to reality. And, to make matters worse, he said it again! I hope he felt bad about it later! He must have just been uncomfortable...that's what I'm going with anyway!

Here are some recent pictures. He'll be exactly a month old on April 1st, so I'm going to start taking his picture next to a stuffed animal on the 1st of every month to see how much he is growing from month to month. I can't wait!

Chloe loves Hudson! Well, sometimes anyway. We also love our overalls that Uncle Jordan gave us! So cute!


I thought this picture was cute...it looks like he is starting to discover his hands, but I'm not sure if that is what he was doing or not.


His outfit even came with a hat! It was a little big, but he looks like a conductor!

Hudson enjoying the play mat.

Chunky Monkey

Joel and I took Hudson to the pediatrician on Friday for his 2-4 week checkup. He was 3 weeks old on Sunday. He weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces!!! At the appointment two weeks before that, he was 7 pounds. The pediatrician asked us if we ever feed him...haha! He is gaining about an ounce and a half a day. He said that on average, newborns gain about an ounce a day, so we are a little more than that, but he's hungry ALL the time! I feel like all I do is feed him! He is only in the 50th percentile for his weight, but I have a feeling we'll be moving up on that chart at this rate! He was still only 21 inches long, which is what he was a birth. We are thinking that they didn't measure him right at birth because he is definitely longer than he was. Hudson had to get his heel pricked and it broke my heart when he started screaming! I don't know what I'm going to do at his 6 week checkup...he has to get 4 shots!

This past Saturday we had a full day out of the house. This was another first for us. I usually take him out of the house in between feedings, and I make sure I'm back quickly. I had never had to change him or feed him while out and about before. Hudson met his cousin Blaine and Aunt Ashley on Saturday for the first time. They both had the stomach bug when Hudson was born, so we had been staying away from them until that was gone. Ashley's best friend and next door neighbor Abby is a photographer so she came over and took some pictures. I can't wait to see how they turned out!!! I think there are going to be some great ones. As soon as I get them, I will post them. I didn't take any pictures myself since she did, so we'll have to wait on hers. Blaine wanted to hold Hudson the whole time. It was so cute. He wouldn't even let his mommy hold him! From there, Hudson went to meet Joel's aunt Susan and uncle Alan for the first time. We had dinner at Joel's aunt's house. It was a really fun time, although Joel and I were exhausted by the end of the day. I think Hudson was pretty worn out too. He was passed around a thousand times on Saturday! I didn't take any pictures Saturday night either. I'm really bad about this! Here are some cute pictures from the past week though.

I think we're going through the three week growth spurt this week. Hudson has started eating every 2 and a half hours and is eating almost 6 ounces a feeding! When he's not eating, he's screaming. The only thing that will calm him down is if you hold him. I don't want him to get used to being held, but I'll do anything at this point to keep him from crying! Hopefully this is just a stage though and it will be over soon.

Two Weeks (a little late!)

I have been meaning to update the blog all week for last weekend's activities, but I have not had a chance to do it until now. I'm really not sure where this week went! Last weekend, Hudson met his great granddaddy, Papa John, for the first time. Papa John just moved to Birmingham from the lake to be closer to family, and we are so glad that he is closer so that we can see him more often! We definitely want Hudson to know Papa John. He is a great man. Anyway, here are some pictures from the first meeting.

Trey, Shondra, and Morgan also visited last weekend. Morgan held her new cousin for the first time. It was so cute, although, I really think Morgan was more interested in the dogs than Hudson. I'm sure that will change as he gets older though! I have a cute picture of Morgan holding him, but it's on the video camera and I can't figure out how to get those pictures off! I'll upload it as soon as Joel can help me!

Cameron, Kelli, and Caroline also brought us dinner Saturday night. It was delicious! Cameron made this chocolate and peanut butter dessert that was out of this world. I ate so much of it that it made me sick! It was definitely worth it though. Thank you all for bringing dinner (and Jennifer too, we missed seeing you). Finding the time to cook these days is very difficult, so Joel and I really appreciate your generosity and are so blessed to have you all as friends! Thanks again!

Joel's good friend John was in town this weekend from New York and wanted everyone to go to dinner on Sunday night. He had brought his new girlfriend Janice home with him and wanted us to meet her. Joel and I were a little skeptical about meeting them for dinner because we wanted them to meet Hudson, but this was our first real outing with him and the thought that he might scream bloody murder in the restaurant scared us to death! And, after all, he was only two weeks old. But, we did it anyway, and it was a success! He slept through the whole dinner! We went to Sweetbone's at the Summit and it was delicious. We loved meeting John's girlfriend...she's definitely a keeper. We're hoping that she's the one! She's from LA, so just maybe they will end up getting married and have the wedding out there...Carrie, we may be coming for a visit!!! Below is a picture from Hudson's first dinner out. I completely cut him out of the picture! Oh well, I promise he was there next to Joel!

Well, I have more pictures to upload, but the little guy is letting me know it is time to eat, so I will upload those later. We are also off to the pediatrician in a little while, so I'll update that visit later.

One Week Old!

Yesterday, Hudson turned a week old. I can't believe it has already been a week. Joel and I had a great weekend with the little guy. Sleeping has been pretty good so far. We have only had to get up once, maybe twice a night to feed him, so we still can't complain! We went on our first walk on Saturday afternoon and it was great! The weather was beautiful and it was so good to get out of the house for a little while. I think Hudson enjoyed it...he slept the whole time! Above is a picture from yesterday. I thought he looked so cute in his little outfit. We normally keep a bib on him at all times because of all the spit up, but I took it off for two seconds to take some pictures. Unfortunately, we spit up all over the outfit as soon as I took this picture so this was all we could get! Oh well...we are loving playing dress up these days!

Joel had to go back to work today so this was my first day with Hudson by myself. It has been pretty good so far, although we miss having Joel around! He did come home for lunch today, so we haven't gone the whole day without seeing him! Below is a picture of our future baseball star!

Hudson is Home!

Hudson was finally discharged yesterday afternoon from the NICU. The doctor told us that his issues were caused by one of two things: he either has bad reflux, or he swallowed a bunch of stuff during delivery that he had a hard time getting out. They completely ruled out any kind of infection in his blood, which was their concern when he went in there. We think it is the reflux because he is already a projectile spitter upper, but who knows! I think we went through 4 outfits in about 3 hours when we got home yesterday! It is so nice to have our little guy with us though. That was a long two days that he had to be there. We actually got a great night's sleep last night too! If we can just keep up this schedule, we will be doing great! Our other babies, the puppies, were in for a surprise when we got home yesterday. We thought Chloe would not leave Hudson alone, but it is Jack that is the one that is the most curious. I think Chloe is just mad at us! Hopefully, she'll come around. We gave Hudson his first sponge bath last night, and let's just say he was not too thrilled about it! I wish I had taken pictures, but they would have just been of him screaming! Maybe we'll try to take some tonight. He went to see the pediatrician today, and everything checked out great. He is almost back up to his birth weight...he is eating like a champ! He had a little bit of jaundice when he was in the NICU so they wanted to check that, but when the doctor saw him, he didn't even check it because he said he looks great. Anyway, here are some pictures from yesterday when we came home.

To the NICU

Sunday night and Monday morning, Hudson had a couple of "episodes" as we call them where he basically starts choking, and then holds his breath, causing him to turn a blue color (or dusky as the neonatologist called it) due to the lack of oxygen. Both of these episodes occurred while he was in the nursery. Monday morning the neonatalogist checked him out and seemed to think he was fine. They did a few tests on him to rule out any kind of infection, and everything came back negative. He was fine all day on Monday so we assumed he had worked out whatever problem he had. This morning we were planning on going home. We had been discharged from the hospital with the ok from the pediatrician as well as from my doctor, and had everything packed up. I was going to nurse Hudson before we left. While I was nursing, he started spitting up and then began acting like he was choking. He turned the blue color as well. Of course, Joel and I freaked out. We were able to calm him down, but unfortunately, the neonatalogist decided that he needed to be admitted to the NICU. They believe that it is due to bad reflux and not an infection, but they wanted to run more tests on him and keep him for at least 48 hours before letting him go home. They changed the formula he was being supplemented with in hopes that it might help the reflux, if that is what is causing the episodes. It breaks our hearts, but we know that this is the best thing for him right now. We would much rather him be in the good care of Brookwood until he's better, but it is terrible going home without a baby. The hospital is letting us stay in our room until 11 pm tonight, but then we have to go home. We have to come back and feed him every 3 hours, although, they suggested we go home and get some sleep tonight after the 11 pm feeding and come back in the morning so that is what we are going to do. He has had a good day today with no more episodes after this morning, and the new formula seems to be sitting well with his stomach, so hopefully that is the solution. We are hopeful that he will be able to come home on Thursday. Here are some pictures of day 3 of Hudson's life.

The below picture is hilarious. He is trying to eat his IV needle. He's really ready to go home!!!

He loves his daddy! They are holding hands...so cute!!!


I forgot to add the below picture to the first post earlier. This is Hudson with his GREAT grandparents! What a cute picture!

Hudson is Here!!!

Beware, this is a really long post! We have a lot to update!

Our sweet baby boy was born on Sunday, March 1st at 3:04 pm. He was about 10 days early according to the doctor (I personally think he was just a few days early, but who's counting!). He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 21 inches long. We are such proud parents! He is absolutely perfect! Here are some pictures of our little guy from Sunday. We're not sure who he looks like yet, but he's just adorable!


Like I mentioned in my last post, I started having contractions Friday night. Saturday, they were about 8 minutes apart for most of the day, so we knew we were getting close, but they were not horrible and didn't seem to be getting closer together, so I didn't think we needed to go to the hospital yet. Of course, snow was predicted for Sunday and we were a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital on Sunday if it got worse, but we didn't want to go to the hospital only to get sent home. I felt like I could hold out a little longer. Right before we went to bed Saturday night, the contractions started to strengthen. I told Joel to get some sleep and I would let him know when we needed to go. I was absolutely miserable until 2 am. The contractions were getting unbearable and coming about every 6 minutes or so, so we decided to call the doctor, who told us to go ahead and go to labor and delivery and get checked out. We packed up the car and left our house around 3 am. The snow was really coming down at 3 am, but luckily, the roads were fine.

When I got to labor and delivery, I was still only 2 cm dilated. I just knew they were going to send us home and that was the worst part! The nurse told me that the doctor would be in around 7 am to check me again and evaluate whether or not I was actually in labor. I literally died for the next several hours. I was in so much pain, and the thought that I had not made any more progress just killed me. I just kept thinking about how we were going to get sent home and I was going to have to deal with this pain all of Sunday. I had really bad back labor. They aren't sure if Hudson was coming down facing the wrong direction, and that was the reason for the back labor. At 8 am, the doctor had still not arrived. Apparently, she had to put on a pot of soup for her family before she came in. She was really worried about me! Ha! Anyway, she finally arrived about 9 am and checked me, and much to my surprise, I was at 4 cm! She broke my water and told me that we were going to have a baby today! Joel and I were so excited of course, but I was in so much pain that all I could think about from our childbirth class was that I could get the epidural when I got to 4 cm so I requested that immediately! I got the epidural at 9:45 and it was wonderful! It was not painful at all, especially compared to the contractions that I had been having. My blood pressure dropped right after the epidural, which they said was normal, but I got sick and threw up! I felt better immediately though so it was great. I spent the next few hours resting and visiting with family. The doctor had told us that she did not expect us to have the baby until late that afternoon or early evening. Around 2 pm, the nurse checked me and I was at 10 cm and ready to start pushing! I was so surprised that it was already that time.

I pushed for exactly an hour before Hudson decided to make his appearance. Pushing was much harder than I thought it would be. It was a workout! It was not near as bad as I was thinking it would be though. Really, it wasn't as bad as the contractions! When he came out, I think I shed a few tears! Joel and I were so thrilled to finally meet our little guy! I'm pretty sure I kept saying he is beautiful over and over again. I still can't get over the fact that he was in my tummy all this time. It really is such a miracle, and we are so blessed to have him in our life now!

Joel was really amazing throughout the whole day. He didn't know what to do when I was in all that pain, but he comforted me and made me feel so much better. I am so lucky to have such a good husband. He couldn't wait to go out to the waiting room to tell our families that Hudson had arrived. I think Joel said that we had about 13 people in the waiting room. We really are thankful for everyone that came and shared in this wonderful moment with us! We let our parents come in first to see Hudson before letting the rest of the crew in. Unfortunately, as soon as the big crew came in, I got so sick and started throwing up again! It was terrible! They were pumping my IV with a bunch of pain killers and I had nothing on my stomach, so it made me so sick. I apologize to everyone that was in there that witnessed that! I'm sure it was not pleasant to look at! I think everyone got a quick glimpse of our little guy though, so that is good!

We have had so many guests the past couple of days. We have loved visiting with each and every one of you, and are so happy to finally get to show off our little man! We thank you so much for coming and spending time with us.

Here are some additional pictures of Hudson over the past couple of days. He has already changed so much!