Sick Little Man and Halloween Rudeness!

The sick bug hit our house again this week. Hudson had another double ear infection and also a fever virus this week. Yuck! His temperature got up to 103 on Monday. He was so pitiful and just wanted to be held all the time (I was so sad that he was sick, but I thoroughly enjoyed being able to hold him all day long--he was so sweet!). Anyway, he is feeling MUCH better today and we are all looking forward to a FUN weekend!

Speaking of this weekend, I was just in Target (by the way, I think I'm in Target every other day--what did we do before Target?!?!) and the cashier was checking out the lady in front of me. She asked her if she was looking forward to Halloween this weekend and the lady looked at her and said in this awful tone, "We don't DO Halloween." Instead of leaving it at that (the lady was obviously in a bad mood), the cashier asked why she didn't do Halloween and the lady, looking very annoyed at this point said, "We don't believe in Halloween and our kids turned out just fine--maybe you should try it." I think my mouth about dropped to the floor at this point. Did she really just say that??? Her poor kids...not solely due to the fact that they don't get to participate in Halloween (which I do think is a tragedy, but I know that there are some people out there that aren't fans of it), but mostly due to the fact that their mother is mean as a snake! Anyway, I just thought that was so uncalled for.

We are SO looking forward to Saturday night. I know Hudson won't really know what is going on and it probably was ridiculous that I even bought him a costume, but it is his first Halloween and we have got to do it up right...in other words, take lots of pictures in his costume for everyone to ooh and ahh over! We are doing the hayride/trick or treating thing with some friends and their babies and I can't wait! I'm sure the blog will be loaded up with pictures next week. I am a little sad that we will be missing some of the trick or treaters at our house, but I have a feeling Hudson won't last too long and we'll get to see some of them anyway. We seriously have over a 100 trick or treaters come to our house. The first year we ran out of candy at 6:30 so last year I bought about 10 large bags and we didn't run out--we finally cut the lights out at 9:30 or people would still be ringing the doorbell! It is so fun to see everyone dressed up...especially the little ones. I don't much care for the older kids that think they can make it "just one more Halloween." However, I know I went trick or treating several years beyond what I needed too so I can't say too much about that!

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Halloween! I can't wait to see pictures of all the kids...and adults too! I wonder how many women are going to be Kate Gosselin for Halloween? I heard there is a Kate wig out there! Haha!

Trip to Gulfport/Baton Rouge

Joel and I survived our first weekend away from Hudson. It was so hard leaving him with my parents on Friday, but I knew Joel and I needed the break and were especially looking forward to a couple of good nights sleep! One of the things on our "bucket list" is to go to all of the SEC football stadiums. We try to knock out one a year and this year was LSU. We might should have picked somewhere else for this year, but oh well. We still had a glimmer of hope that the Auburn team from the first 5 games of the season would miraculously come back for this game, but, not so much.

One of my best friends from college, Meggan, lives in Gulfport, MS. We lived down the hall from each other freshman year, pledged the same sorority, were in each other's weddings, and lastly, had baby boys exactly one month apart! Austin was born at the end of March of this year and it was my first time to meet him. He is such a cutie! Meggan works as a TV anchor in Gulfport and has to wake up at 2:30 every morning to go to work. She really is supermom. I don't know how she does it and still functions. Meggan cooked us a yummy meal Friday night and we had such a good time catching up. We don't get to see each other often, but when we do, it is like we never left each other! We also spent half of the day on Saturday with them before heading over to Baton Rouge for the game.

Here's a picture of the cute family! Oh and by the way, Austin has just started crawling and was so cute to watch! He is so much smaller than Hudson too. It made me realize that I am carrying around a ton of bricks every day! Haha...wouldn't trade it for the world though!

Once we got to Baton Rouge, we ate at TJ Ribbs. It was highly recommended to us and did not disappoint. We were able to catch the first half of the Alabama game before heading to campus. We wanted to make it in time for Tiger Walk, but the parking at LSU is awful and we had to park probably 3 miles away! It was a really fun walk after the game too, let me tell you. Anyway, we finally made it on campus and stopped at Walk-Ons for a drink with my friend Ashley. Ashley and I went to college together as well and have been great friends ever since! It was so good to see her, if only for a little while! We had some other people that we were supposed to meet up with, but it just didn't happen. We were too late getting there to have much time to do anything. I guess that is probably a good thing. There were so many LSU fans there. I know there are a lot at Auburn, but it was nothing compared to LSU. We saw some very interesting people down there. Oh and after we ventured to West Virginia and endured the horrible heckling up there last year, we couldn't wait to see what LSU fans had in store for us. We had heard they were terrible too, but like Joel said, we are still in the south and people are just friendlier here. It was nothing compared to West Virginia. The only thing that LSU fans would say to us was "Tiger Bait", and we thought that was funny since we are the Tigers too. They should have thought about that one before they said it, but they were all too drunk to realize what they were doing. Seriously, everyone was drunk. It was a little frightening walking down some of the roads!

Here is a picture of the LSU stadium. This is really more for our "bucket list" to remember that we went here! It was nothing special at all. It was not nearly as nice as Auburn's stadium. It was pretty loud though, and their fans were obnoxious. The "Auburn" section was filled with LSU fans, so it was not like some of the other away games that we have been to where the Auburn fans kind of cling together. And, they put our band far away from everyone so we couldn't even hear them. I guess that was all part of their plan! Honestly, I think a lot of the Auburn fans sold their tickets. We might should have done the same!

We did get a picture of the two of us in the stadium. All in all, it was a fun trip, regardless of the game. Notice that I am not mentioning too much about the game. I'm sure it was as frustrating to watch on TV as it was in person. We won't give up on Auburn though...we're thinking about knocking Kentucky off our list next year!!!

We are so glad to be back to our little buddy today though. He had such a fun time with my parents. I'm not sure he really wanted to leave them! He got to go to the zoo, the park, on stroller rides, out to eat, shopping...they had so much fun! And, he slept great for them too!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend. We are looking forward to Hudson's first Halloween next Saturday! Can't wait to update the blog with pictures from that!

Rocking, Downward Dog, Puffs, and a Funny!

Well, Hudson is STILL not crawling. I swear a month ago we were giving him a week before we knew he would be on the go, but he has still not figured it out.

He is up on all fours rocking back and forth. He tries to take a step and then collapses. He is very persistent though. If he falls, he's right back up there trying again!

He also assumes the "downward dog" position for all you fellow yoga-ers. For all you non fellow yoga-ers, it is like a bear crawl. He's on his hands and feet with his bottom straight up in the air. That hasn't seemed to work either, but wouldn't that be funny if that is how he crawls???

He does get to where he needs to go though. I'm not sure how, but he can get across the room when I'm not looking.

I thought he looks like such a BOY in this picture below. I mean, I know he is a boy, but he just really looks like one to me!

We've started giving him puffs. Some people call it "baby crack", but Hudson isn't very interested in eating them just yet. I will put one in his mouth and he just gags like it is choking him. They are supposed to dissolve in his mouth, but he doesn't even let it get to that point before he spits it back out! I think it is still early, but they have worked to occupy Hudson for a little while. He loves to pick them up and hit them on the high chair, and then throws them down to the dogs. The dogs love puffs way more than Hudson does!

And a quick funny to end this post on. I got another hilarious note on the daycare sheet this week. It said, "Hudson had a great time today dancing with scarves." Should I be worried????

A Cold Day in Auburn!

Hudson made his debut in Auburn yesterday. My aunt, uncle, and cousin from south Florida had made plans to go to the AU/Kentucky game months ago, and we wanted to see them so we thought this would be a great game to go to. Ha! We were wrong! We debated all week whether or not to take Hudson because the weather was going to be so cold and it was a night game, but the bottom line was that we won't see him all next weekend so I didn't want to leave him with someone this weekend too! So, we decided to just layer him up and go down there. We didn't know whether or not we would actually go into the game. We decided that we would just go with the flow and see how it went and if we had to leave, we would just leave. We even had Hudson a ticket to go! It is absolutely ridiculous that he has to have a ticket, but oh well. We got down there around noon and started our tailgate.

I think we were the first ones there at noon!

Hudson reminded me of that kid in "The Christmas Story" that had on that outfit that he couldn't move in. We had so many layers on Hudson that his arms wouldn't even go down to the side!

Do we look cold yet???

Hudson had so much fun with all the attention! We didn't know how we would react down there being out of his normal routine. He did great though! He didn't even want to nap at all, but wasn't fussy either so it was great. He just went with the flow. He really likes being outside so I think that was the trick.

This was his little tailgate chair. So cute!

Hudson and Joel's dad, Pop! He loves laughing at Pop!

My sweet boy!

My aunt and cousin from Florida.

Hudson finally caught a quick snooze!

We absolutely froze down there. I think we were so concerned about Hudson getting too cold that we forgot about ourselves! We didn't take gloves or a hat or anything, and by the way, Anders and J&M were sold out of gloves. We went everywhere, but couldn't find any.

x

Needless to say, a couple of hours before gametime, Joel and I decided that this was not going to be Hudson's first game to attend. We just couldn't put him through that cold. Oh and did I mention that it rained too??? Joel and I were miserable ourselves, so we packed it up and headed back to Birmingham. We heard on the radio that the wind chill at times was 25 degrees! It was a bit chilly for October! The good news is that we really feel like Hudson would have done fine had we gone in the game. He was such a trooper all day so that was great. We won't be afraid to take him down there again, but hopefully we will have better weather the next time! It was good to be with family and friends though. There is just something about Auburn that is always so fun. We miss being down there and can't wait to show Hudson all around!

x

Notice I made no mention of the game...it was TERRIBLE!!! What happened to our team that started out the season so well??? Oh well, chalk it up to a rebuilding year I suppose.

Sneak Peak!

I've got something to show you....

It's really really cute....

Mommy told me I had to wait until Halloween to put it on....

But I think it is WAY too cute to wait that long!

Aren't I a pretty cute little lion???

Race for the Cure

I completed my first 5K this past weekend. I did the Race for the Cure downtown with some of my co-workers. The plan was to take Hudson and stroll him, but the weather had other plans for us so he stayed at home! Luckily, the rain held off for most of the run. It actually felt good and wasn't too hot. I about died as I crossed the finish line though...maybe I need to do a little practice before I try the next one! I was feeling a little lightheaded, which is sad, but I have not run in probably 2 years. I was so sore the next day! Anyway, I finished in a slow 35 minutes, but we did walk some so that's not too bad!

Here are some pics from the race.

Our group in front of the pink fountain, Team SRHWians.

Kelli, Cameron, and me before the race. I was getting a little impatient. There were so many people and I was so ready to just get on with the race!

It was a fun time for all and it was great to be a part of such a good cause!

Sunday Sermon

Have you ever sat at church on a Sunday morning and felt that the preacher was speaking directly to you? I had one of those days on Sunday. It was like there was no one else in that church, but me and the preacher. I will start this off by saying that I tend to "sweat the small stuff." Something small will really get to me and it takes several days to get me out of the funk. Most of the things that get me in such a funk have to do with work...although the Auburn Tigers got me in a funk this weekend too! Ha! Going back to work after having Hudson was one of the hardest things that I have had to do. I will say that I am truly blessed that I can work part-time. I know that, I really do. However, working part-time has presented its challenges and it feels like there have been a lot of those since coming back! I like what I do and I love the people that I work with (even with all the drama that is part of the accounting profession--believe it or not, it's filled with drama!). I have felt all along that I am getting the best of both worlds by being able to stay home for part of the week with my sweet boy and also being able to assist in providing for my family financially and allowing Hudson to learn in an environment other than our home. I know that will help him as he grows up. But, there are some days at work that just really get me down, and last week was one of them! I'm not going to say why, one because I know there are some co-workers that read this, but mostly because the reason really isn't worth mentioning. It just was a bad week/weekend and I will leave it at that.

Some days I just wonder why I put myself through all of this...why don't I just go back full-time? I wouldn't have to think twice about buying that shirt at the mall, or taking that trip to the beach, and I would be able to get all of my work done and not be as stressed (keep dreaming, right!), but I wouldn't get to spend much time with Hudson and for 3 months out of the year, I have no life because of busy season. Or, on the flip side, why don't I just stay home? Then I really couldn't buy that shirt at the mall and you can forget about that trip to the beach, but I wouldn't have the stress of work, and I would be able to spend all my time with my little man and wouldn't miss a thing! That sounds wonderful, but motherhood has its ups and downs too and I will be the first one to say that there are some days that I just need a break (and Hudson needs a break from me too!), and not having that extra income really would put a damper on things, although, I'm sure we could make it work. When I write all of this down, I realize that the best thing for me and for my family is to do what I am doing right now. For 4 days out of the week, I get to play with him, love on him, feed him, love on him some more, read to him, hug him...what else could I ever want! And for the rest of the time, I'm helping to make the money we need to help us not have to sacrifice anything and to give Hudson a great life. On a side note, I'm not trying to take anything away from those mothers that have to work full-time or are stay at home moms--I definitely respect both so very much and I could do either of those in the future...this is just what is right for me and my family right now!

As I woke up Sunday morning, I was still in a funk. I was mad at Joel because he got to sleep in and I had to get up early and take care of Hudson (how mature of me, really). I didn't really want to go to church, but I decided that maybe something would happen at church that would make me feel better. It's funny how that happens, because church was exactly what I needed. For the most part, the sermon was about giving back to the church, whether it be in money or in giving time, and this is one way that we can show God how much we love Him and how thankful we are for all that He does for us. It just made me take a step back and look at my life--do I really take the time to do that? All my complaining and getting down about little things and asking why does this happen to me...shouldn't I be thanking God for all that He has given me instead of complaining? There isn't one thing in my life that I have to complain about. I have a wonderful husband, beautiful child, two families that mean the world to me, a great house, great job...I could go on and on. There are so many people in this world that have it so bad, especially right now, and here I am, getting upset over something small that happened at work. It is so not worth it. I should be thankful that I even have a job! I get so wrapped up in the day to day details of life and forget to thank God for all that He has provided me with in life. In the sermon, the preacher talked about a couple that he knew that had a baby several months ago. When this couple got ready to take their new bundle of joy home from the hospital, they made a stop by the church first to thank God for this miracle gift that He had given them. That alone brought tears to my eyes, and to a lot of the other members of the congregation as well! How lucky is that child to be raised with parents like that?!?! I just thought that was so wonderful. A soloist then went on to sing, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", and it was so good and so true!

I left church in the best mood and I am going to try my hardest to forget the small things and to remember that I am so lucky and so blessed with all that I have and I have so much love to give. I am thankful for everything God has given me and I am going to prove that to him with the way that I live my life. Yes, there are going to be some things that get me down and I know there always will be, but hopefully I can remember to be thankful for all that I do have.

Laughing Boy!

This is my first attempt at adding a video to the blog. If you are having a bad day, this is sure to make you smile! This was shot on a rare occasion that Hudson was in a good mood after daycare. This is normally not the case, hence the reason the video camera was broken out!

I promise we don't talk like that all the time, especially Joel! His voice is really high pitched on this video! And, Hudson is about to take my shirt so sorry about that part too!

7 Months

Here is Hudson a month ago at 6 months...

And here he is at 7 months old!


He has added some hair over the past month!

He is full of smiles and laughs (and a lot of fussing too!).

He still loves his feet!

He's just all around cute!

It is so hard to believe that my baby is 7 months old already.

Here is what he is up to this month:

• He's up on all fours rocking back and forth, but he just can't figure out how to crawl yet. He gets so frustrated that he can't get moving. We think that is part of the reason he has been so fussy.
• He rolls to where he wants to get, even if it is all the way across the room! We've found him under the coffee table and under the bed so far. What's next?!?!?
• He is still going crazy in the jumperoo. This has probably been the best purchase so far!
• He loves to bang on stuff. His favorite thing to do is to sit outside on our deck and bang his hands on the table. We've got to get him a set of drums! Ha!
• I can't believe we have gone another month with no teeth! We keep thinking any day now, but nothing. He has been drooling and feeling in his mouth, fussy, and pulling at his ears--all signs of teething, but no tooth yet!
• He laughs at the dogs constantly. He absolutely loves them and they love Hudson too! They love to give him kisses and Chloe is always putting her toy up to him to get him to throw it! She hasn't figured out that he can't do that yet!
• He will eat anything now. Our picky eater is gone! I'm so thankful. He loves all kinds of baby food and cereal and oatmeal too! He is getting two baby food meals a day now, one in the morning and one at night. He usually has oatmeal and a fruit in the morning and then a fruit and a veggie at night. He eats it up! You can't get it into his mouth fast enough. He also makes an "mmm" noise after every bite. It is hilarious! He does that and then opens his mouth wide for the next bite. Feeding time is so much fun!
• He is now on all formula, which is not going too well so far. He does not like it at all, but I can't go the rest of my life attached to my "little black bag"! I have been pumping since day one and giving him bottles, and I'm so proud of myself to have made it this far without stopping because it has been rough! I feel so free now! I just hope Hudson gets used to formula soon.
• We've started giving him a sippy cup and he loves it. He is still trying to figure out how to use it, but he loves to pick it up and put it in his mouth. I don't know how much juice he's actually taking in, but it's a good activity and keeps him occupied for a while.
• He is back to sleeping through the night again. Thank goodness! He will wake up sometimes at night, but he gets himself back to sleep so we don't have to go up there. Some nights I just turn the monitor off when he starts talking. I feel bad about that, but I never know how long he's going to talk and I figure if he starts screaming, we'll hear it anyway without the monitor! He's been fine though.
• He is wearing 9-12 month clothes now, and size 3 diapers.
• He moved up to the next class in the church nursery. It made me so sad! He still has a while before he moves up at daycare, but it is hard to believe that he has already grown out of a class!
• He seems to be over his fear of gray-headed people! He used to just scream at the sight of my dad, my grandmother, and Joel's grandfather, but he hasn't done it in a while. I don't know what the deal was with that, but I'm glad it was just a phase!

We have had a fun month with our little man and can't wait to see what the next month has in store. I feel like it is going to be filled with a lot of babyproofing!

This month, Joel and I are going to the Auburn/LSU game in Baton Rouge and we are not taking Hudson. It will be our first time away from him. I am so nervous about it, but I know that Joel and I need a weekend away with just ourselves, and I also know the grandparents have been dying for a weekend to keep him so it is good all around!

We also have Halloween coming up and I ordered Hudson's costume this weekend. He is going to be a lion and it is SO CUTE!!! I can't wait!

Happy 7 months old little buddy!

*New post below

Beautiful Day at the Park (and Recap of Our Weekend With CJ!)

We have had a wonderful weekend! Carrie was in town again this weekend and brought home her boyfriend, Andres, from LA. We were so glad to finally meet him! Carrie's has not brought home very many boys in her life for us to meet, and let's just say her taste in men has always been a little different. Well, much to our surprise, Andres was great! We all loved him and thought he and Carrie made such a cute couple. We are so glad that she has him out in LA to take care of her! She needs it! Anyway, of course I took no pictures of the two of them to post here, but they were cute.

We all hung out at Mom and Dad's on Thursday night. Mom cooked a yummy lasagna and we ate and drank the night away! Haha, Andres probably thinks we are a bunch of alcoholics with the amount of wine and beer we took out, but it was a great time. Friday, my mom kept Hudson while Carrie, Andres, and I went to lunch and then showed him around Birmingham. He had never been to Birmingham, much less the south, so we took him to Vulcan and drove around town. He is from Oregon and he said Birmingham looks a lot like Oregon. Who knew!?!?

Friday night, Joel and I went to Mafiosa's in Crestline with Megan and Reese and baby Hunt. It was a lot of fun and great pizza too! Hudson and Hunt are going to be best friends!

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful day! We went out to Trussville to watch Blaine play soccer and then came back to watch Alabama stomp Kentucky. Hudson and I took a great nap during the second half of the Alabama game and then we headed down to the park for a little play time! Hudson had fun in the swing and also went down the slide a few times! I know that we have many years at the park ahead of us and I can't wait to chase Hudson around out there! Here are some pictures at the park.

Saturday night, I went to my friend Anna's wedding. Joel stayed home and kept Hudson and watched the Auburn game. I was able to catch the second half of the game and wow, Auburn looks good this year! I'm so glad! Who would have thought we would be 5-0?!?! Awesome!

We met my family for lunch today at Old Overton for one final get-together before Carrie and Andres had to head to the airport. It was a lot of fun too and very good food! I was a little sad that it was already time for her to leave. At least we get to see her for a whole week at Christmas! I'm counting down!

I think we are all in for a big nap this afternoon after this busy weekend! It was a lot of fun though. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow!