A Special Message from Hudson...

Hudson has a BIG announcement to share. He's going to be a...

He's pretty excited!

He's looking forward to having a buddy around!

I'm glad to finally let the secret out! I'm almost 13 weeks and I'm feeling great! I haven't been sick, and I really haven't had the exhaustion like I remember having the first time around so I'm thankful for that! I guess I don't have time to be exhausted these days. I'm due around October 6th. Five short weeks later, I'm the matron of honor in my sister's wedding. We cut it close!

I had my 12 week ultrasound today and everything looked great. The doctor even told us with 95% confidence what it is, BUT, we're going to wait until the big ultrasound just to make sure!

We told our families the week of Hudson's birthday. We had Hudson wear the shirt and it was so funny to see how long it took them to actually read the shirt! We had to instruct all of them to read it, except for Joel's mom--she saw it immediately. It was fun to have them share in our excitement.

It's going to be one long, HOT summer, but there will be a great reward at the end of it. We can't wait to meet our sweet new baby!

Petting Zoo

Most people are pretty sad that Spring Break is over...not this gal! We had a bit of a rough week last week. Hudson was under the weather for most of the week with some sort of stomach bug/cold thing that lasted forever. He didn't eat for a solid week. I got the stomach bug on Thursday, which happened to be one of my days to stay home with Hudson since he was out, and let me tell you, I really don't know how I got through that day. Joel did come home around 10 that morning and helped me get to noon before he had to go back to work, but the rest of the day was all me. It was rough. Then Joel got the cold part of the bug and he is awful when he's sick! Oh how I wished it was a week day so that I could just get away from him! Ha! And now, unfortunately, I think I'm coming down with the cold. We just can't seem to shake it!

Anyway, our big plans for Hudson to have a fun filled week last week ended up not happening and he had a pretty boring week. He had three days of no naps, which totally messed him up. He did get two days with his Migi which included a trip to the fire station and a trip to Bass Pro, which I know he loved so that was good, and we certainly appreciated the help. We managed to muster up some energy to go to dinner with some friends on Saturday night and Hudson fell asleep on the way to dinner (which you know is bad when he falls asleep at 5:30!)--he was pretty much out of it for the whole dinner, but he didn't act up so it was actually pleasant! It was good to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather! We all needed it!

When Sunday rolled around, I was feeling better so I decided to get Hudson out of the house and took him to the petting zoo at Oak Mountain. I had heard to steer clear of the regular zoo last week because it was so crowded, but I thought he would like to go see the farm animals at Oak Mountain. When I told him we were going there, he got all excited and started talking about the lions and the tigers. Too bad he got smelly goats and sheep instead! There were some points that the goats and sheep acted like lions and tigers though! The goats were a little feisty at times and tried to eat my shoelaces and my shorts! I love Hudson's arms in the picture below. He's in fighting position! :)

He was fascinated by the peacock and of course, loved the rooster. He wanted to let the rooster out of its cage. I didn't want to get too close to that peacock!

We saw some ugly pigs and some donkeys, and then there were the ducks.

Here he is running from the ducks. Let's just say he wasn't too keen on the ducks!

The horses were fun to look at.

The petting zoo was actually really fun. It was a big grassy area that Hudson could run around in, although there was poop everywhere so we just had to deal! After we looked at the animals, we went over to the lake and checked out the boats before heading back home. It was a good $3 morning out!

Wonderful Weekend...Rough Start to Monday

Our Saturday morning started a little like this...

And don't knock the Christmas pajamas! They still make an appearance around here, even in March! :) Joel had to put the drawer back in the train table. He had a great little helper! If you can't tell, Hudson has his play drill in his hand and was actually drilling in the holes. He caught on very quickly! He then helped Daddy with the screwdriver and held all the screws for him...it was all so cute to watch.

I headed out a couple of hours later to do a little bridesmaids dress shopping with Carrie. We picked out the dress and it's beautiful! I'm excited about it--she made an awesome choice. We had lunch at Urban Cookhouse in Homewood, strolled around At Home, and then it was time for me to head home.

After nap time, we decided it was a great day to bring out the bouncy house that we gave Hudson for his birthday. It was a HUGE hit! Hudson went nuts in there.

Saturday night, Joel and I actually got a date night! Woo hoo! We went to dinner and had a great time. It had been a while since we had had a stress free dinner out. Thank you to the Reed's for keeping little man for a little while.

We had good intentions of going to Sunday school and church yesterday, but with the time change, we didn't get up in time to make it to Sunday school. We could have made it to church, but decided to head out to Oak Mountain instead. It was a beautiful day! We hiked to Peevine Falls. Joel decided to take us on the treacherous path down to the bottom of the falls. With two dogs and a two year old, it was rough, but we made it! Hudson did awesome with the walking. He really hung in there and actually didn't fall at all! I was surprised!

We took a break at the bottom and let Hudson play in the water. He started by just throwing sticks and splashing around in it, but then he got up and walked in it. He was NOT afraid in the least, nor did he care that the water was ice cold.

I have no idea what Hudson is doing with his hands in the picture below.

It was a fun trip and a great family outing (and I'm so not the hiker!). It was short, so that was good! :)

This week is spring break so Hudson's school is closed. Joel's mom is graciously helping us out this week. She had planned to keep Hudson today so I could work, but something came up and so she's going to keep him tomorrow and Wednesday instead. Good thing it worked out that way because Joel started off to work this morning and had a dead battery...I mean dead, no jumping off potential! So, we had to call a tow truck to tow the car in, and all of my morning plans for outings came to a halt when I was left carless! We were lucky that this happened when I was off though. And, the bright side of it all was that Hudson had a blast watching the tow truck! We also watched the garbage truck come by, and they even gave Hudson a little honk. With his garbage truck obsession these days, that was as big of a hit as the tow truck!

We then took the dogs for a walk, and we got attacked by a dog. This was the second time that this particular dog has gotten out of its electric fence and come at us, although the last time Joel was with me! It bit me the last time, but this time, I kicked that dog about 5 feet! He yelped and then ran back into his yard...I was shaking half to death! Hudson and I were walking and didn't have the stroller, so I was afraid for all of us. Anyway, we survived. We came back home and played some more and then Joel got home with lunch (part of my plans this morning was to get to the grocery store--we had nothing!). We then headed to the car place to get Joel's car as it was already ready, and dropped my car off since it needed some work done too. After that, headed to Joel's parent's house for Hudson to see Joel's granddad, Papa John, who was just passing through town, and Joel's dad took Joel back to work since they work at the same place. It was complicated!

While we were visiting with Papa John, Hudson took a spill. He tripped and hit his mouth on a pull on a kitchen cabinet. Blood went everywhere! He has two teeth marks on the outside of his mouth where his teeth came through (or almost came through, who knows), and then a couple of big gashes on the inside of his mouth. Luckily, all of his teeth are still intact and aren't loose, so I think he's going to be fine. I just have a hard time seeing all that blood on my child and hearing him scream! It was awful! We were able to get him calmed down and the bleeding mostly stopped, so I headed back home for a much needed naptime for Hudson. I'm hoping he will sleep ok with his mouth the way it is because it sure was swelling up. We might be headed to the doctor later to get it checked out if it starts to look worse!

Here's to hoping the rest of our afternoon is problem free!

Two Year Checkup

Hudson had his two year checkup this morning. He weighed in at 30 pounds, 5 ounces (75th percentile) and was 36 inches in height (100th percentile). We have one really big boy! Everything was great and he is a very healthy two year old! We are thankful for that! Hudson actually got to weigh on the big boy scale today where he had to stand up on it. It made me a little sad! He got one shot, but 3 stickers to go with it, so he wasn't all that mad for too long--no more shots until he's 4! We found out his tubes are just about out. I couldn't believe they only last for a year. It makes me wonder if it is really worth it to get tubes because he still had plenty of ear infections after he got the tubes last year. It's only been in the last 6 months that he hasn't been sick at all (knock on wood!). I kept telling Dr. C that he's such a talker, and Hudson had been talking about going to see Dr. John all morning, but of course the minute he walked in, Hudson clammed up and wouldn't say anything and wouldn't hardly look at him, and sure wouldn't leave my arms for anything!

After I took the above picture, I showed Hudson and he said, "Awww cute." So funny.

We've been having so much fun with the train table in the middle of our den, although, he is having a hard time keeping the train track together. He just wants to destroy it. We decided to put some building blocks on the table too and that's been fun! Pretty much anything and everything goes on the table...as you can see, there is a firetruck and a garbage truck on the table too!

Tonight we headed to my grandparent's to eat dinner. They live in independent living at Brookdale and we don't see them enough! Hudson just LOVED Granddaddy's scooter. Granddaddy kept trying to get Hudson to ride it with him, but he wouldn't do it. He wanted to do it himself...imagine that!

No More Chocolate Milk!

I made a big boo boo the other night with Hudson. I gave Hudson...gasp...chocolate milk with dinner. After downing one sippy in about 2 seconds, he asked for more, and what did I do? I poured him some more. I'm not always this stupid! I just thought he was thirsty! After he started downing the second cup without eating a bite of food, I took it away. You would have thought somebody died. An all out fit insued, and there was nothing that could be done. Dinner was over. I thought I was giving him a treat for being so good! Instead, he got to go straight to bed with only chocolate milk in his tummy. But, there was a lot of it in there! Ha!

Fast forward to a few minutes ago. I asked Joel to get him some milk for dinner. I didn't say "chocolate" milk. I just said milk. Joel does as I ask, and puts it at the table. He then tries to put Hudson in his booster seat while I got the plates prepared, and all I hear is "no, no, no, chocolate milk," with lots of kicking and screaming. He was not going in that booster seat. There were tears streaming down his cheeks. We took him to time out. The time out worked, for about 2 minutes. He said he was sorry, straightened up, let me put him in his booster seat, and then once again, he realized he had regular milk and the wailing began again, only this time with a mad swipe of the milk off the table. Joel took him back to time out this time, and again, he came back with no tears and seemed ready to behave. He wouldn't eat anything on his plate though. He just kept telling me no, in between some tears and me pleading with him not to cry! So, finally, we offered a hot dog (I know, we gave in, but not to the chocolate milk!) and he jumped on that and ate TWO of them. He was still asking for chocolate milk, but he finally broke down and drank his regular milk without a fit. Who knew that chocolate milk could cause this much commotion? Dinner lasted an hour tonight--and it was NOT fun.

I will NEVER make that mistake again! I might not even buy that stuff anymore. It is like crack to kids apparently (and husbands!).

The Train Party

We had a family birthday party for Hudson on Saturday. The theme was trains!

The weather was yucky all day. I'm thankful that I didn't end up inviting a bunch of other kids to our house as our outside plans for a bouncy house were definitely NOT a go with all the rain. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun and we had a great time visiting with both of our families. It is rare that everyone is able to all get together, and we are so thankful that everyone took time out of thier Saturday to come celebrate our little guy's birthday!

I kept it simple and did a few appetizers, pizza, fruit salad, and had cupcakes.

Joel and Pops (his dad) built Hudson a HUGE train table and it was definitely the hit of the party. We couldn't hardly tear Hudson away from it! In fact, it is still in the middle of our den as Hudson has played with it non-stop since the party.

Joel had to stay up until midnight the night before finishing the train table and then Pops got there early on Saturday to help with the final touches before bringing it up to the den for the party. About 5 minutes before everyone got there, they were furiously trying to build a train track to make the table look all pretty (it just didn't happen, but that was totally ok!). Hudson still had fun showing it off! Thanks to the both of them for building this! It really is going to be great, not just as a train table, but something that Hudson can build legos on or whatever he wants to use it for!

Hudson LOVED it when we sang Happy Birthday to him. He just looked up at everyone and smiled the whole time, and then clapped when it was over! It made my day!

We tried to get a family picture...not so good, but oh well. Hudson is actually smiling in a picture, and that is rare so I'll take it!

Here he is clapping after he blew out the candle.

One happy two year old...

Almost burning the nose off....oops!

He tried a little bit of the cupcake first...

Before digging in!

I love this picture below. My face is hilarious. He is wiping his face with blue icing, which by the way, totally stained his face! It was impossible to get off!

One of Hudson's presents from us was the Dance Star Mickey. It was a huge hit! Here is Hudson kissing Mickey...or, I should say that Mickey is kissing Hudson!

This little latch puzzle was also really awesome for Hudson and his engineer brain. He loves to open things and figure out how they work, so this was right up his alley!

After everyone left, Hudson went straight down for a nap. He was exhausted! When he woke up, he was right back with playing with Mickey! I hate that this picture is blurry, but he was dancing around with Mickey and it was just so funny. I would highly recommend this toy!

"Hey, Mickey, my name is Hudson! Nice to meet you!"

We had a fabulous day and enjoyed celebrating just one more time with our two year old! I think we are finally done with the birthday week. Phew! I hate that I didn't take any pictures of anyone that was there, but that's how it goes I guess. My sister in law took all the cupcake pictures--thanks!!! It was a full house. Hudson is one lucky little boy to have such a great family! Happy Birthday little man!

My TWO year old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Hudson! I can't believe he is two. Seriously, can't believe it. Where have these past two years gone? They sure do go by fast.

We started out the birthday week (and I do mean WEEK!) by making cupcakes on Monday night for Hudson to take to school on Tuesday. I had a really good helper! He was all about making some cupcakes. Somehow, the most important thing to him was the sprinkles! Too bad he had to wait a while for those!

No, Hudson, don't pour the sprinkles in the batter!

Helping me stir...

There were a lot of "Hudson do its" going on. He is definitely Mr. Independent right now. It has gone from "Mommy do it" to "Hudson do it" and it makes me sort of sad!

Finally, the sprinkles! If you look closely, you will see the sprinkles are face down in the cupcakes! He was very serious about it though!

The finished product! That's pretty good for a two year old, right?!?! I guess he might have had a little help. :) It was fun baking with my little guy! I couldn't believe how interested he was in doing this, but I guess when it involves food, especially sweets, he wants to see it through until the end!

Today is his actual birthday. I think by the end of today he knows that it's his birthday! I went into his room this morning singing Happy Birthday. He's been saying "Happy Day Hudson" all day! I love it. He will also tell you he's two if you ask him how old he is.

This is a random picture below and I know he's cut off, but he was making this face the whole car ride this morning and it just made me laugh so hard! I'm trying to take the picture while driving...don't recommend doing that!

Since poor Hudson has an accountant for a mother and his poor birthday is right in the middle of busy season, I had to go to work today. But, not before we had a Mother/Son breakfast date at Krispy Kreme! Nothing like a chocolate (chocwate) donut with sprinkles AND chocwate milk! Heaven! And by the way, he picked this for breakfast! Again, sprinkles does it every time (well, and maybe chocolate!)!

He threw a little fit when I wouldn't let him drink his milk out of the container with a straw, but hey, priorities here--we had to keep the shirt clean! Ha!

He devoured his donut. He had never had one, but boy did he like it! He also loved to watch them make all the donuts! It was a fun little morning date. I got a little teary when I told him it was time to go to school and he said, "No, stay with Mommy." If he only knew how bad I wished the same thing! Of course, a few minutes later he was talking about going to see Caleb and Miss Alison and Miss Taylor, so I knew we were going to be ok!

I did apologize to his teachers when we got there for all the sugar consumption that he had already had that morning! It was only going to get worse with the cupcakes that we took for lunchtime! Oh well, you only have a birthday once a year!

I stole the picture below from his class blog. The shirt didn't make it past the blue cupcake. Ha! They also put a video on the blog of them singing Happy Birthday to him and he was just SO happy! It makes me smile every time. Hudson made me replay it about 20 times this afternoon when we got home! He would cheer and clap at the end of the song every time!

Tonight, Migi and Pops came over to see Hudson on his birthday and brought him the cutest book so he would have a present on his actual birthday. We held out all the other presents for his party on Saturday! Migi brought cupcakes and so they ate dinner with us and then we sang to Hudson one more time and he blew out his candles. I didn't even know he knew how to blow out candles, but he sure did!

I'm happy to report that Hudson drew the line with these cupcakes and refused to eat any. I, on the other hand, gladly ate them! They were good! I think Hudson was on sugar overload for the day.

Like I said before, this is Hudson's birthday WEEK! Tomorrow night, we are headed to my parent's house to eat dinner and celebrate, AND see my sister and soon to be brother in law, who have just moved back tonight from Los Angeles! Woo hoo! I couldn't be happier. And then, Saturday, is the big train party with both of our families. Should be a fun rest of the week.

It wouldn't be a yearly post without mentioning what Hudson is up to at TWO:

• He is definitely two. The lay on the ground, kicking and screaming fits are back with a vengeance! It just seems like every time he doesn't get what he wants, this is what happens. There is no reasoning with him. You basically have to just ignore him, which is so hard. Oh and the choosing to not mind--this one's going to do me in I think. He minds about as well as our dogs, and that's not saying much.
• On the flip side to the above, he can turn the switch real quick and give you a hug and tell you that he "wuvs you" and that just gets me every time. Those are probably the sweetest words I've ever heard in my life and makes this motherhood thing SO worth it!
• He is definitely all boy! He loves to climb anything, play outside in the dirt, and loves to build blocks and subsequently knock them down by hitting them across the room. This can be very frustrating when you've built a very neat and tall tower and Hudson just demolishes it. I try to remind myself that he's two. :)
• He loves trucks, trains, cars, buses, planes, motorcycles, and everything that moves! It is really fun riding in the car with him. We find every single truck, bus, garbage truck, etc. that we see, and he lets out this high pitch "buuuusss" or "truuuuuuuck" every time! He just gets so excited!
• He knows his colors really well! He can point out yellow, red, blue, green, purple, and white. He loves for you to ask him what color something is.
• His new sayings are "Look at that!" in a high pitched squeal, "Oh shoot," (yep, he says it--could be worse), "I don't know," and "Who's that?" for just about anything and everything. I've tried to teach him the difference between "who's that" and "what's that," but it's "who's that" for everything. He said it the other day to some old lady in the grocery store--I'm like, I don't know who that is! Sure does get the conversation going! But, today, he said "who's that" to a fire hydrant. He just wants to know what everything is! Oh and he told me the other night while eating dinner that it really was not that bad. Thanks, dude. We were laughing so hard because it's no secret that I'm a pretty terrible cook.
• He likes to "tee-tee on the potty" before bath time every night. Still no action there--he's really more all about the toilet paper (which we finally had to remove!). He does know what to do with it though! :) He is still telling us when he has pooped, but we're still no where near ready for all this.
• He's been getting up at the crack of dawn! I'm ok with it during the week, but up at 6 or earlier on Saturdays and Sundays is really not cool! We've tried keeping him up later at night thinking that maybe he just didn't need as much sleep, but that seems to have the opposite effect on Hudson. He will just wake up earlier, so I know he needs to be in bed by 7:30 at the latest. He's just been very cranky getting up so early! I hope it is just a phase. He is getting his pointy teeth (two down, two to go) so maybe that is causing all of this.
• Knock on wood, but Hudson hasn't been sick in 6 months (other than one cold which did not require a doctor visit or missed school)! We have not been to the doctor since his 18 month checkup. That is incredible seeing as though this time last year, I thought I was going to be fired with all the work I was having to miss with him being sick--poor thing just couldn't catch a break!
• He loves playing with our next door neighbor, Tony. He's 7 and is SO nice and patient with Hudson. Hudson want's to do everything Tony does! It's so cute. And, we are loving this warm weather we've had lately. We've had so much fun being outside, whether it's going to the park or just playing in our yard, it is so much better than being cooped up inside all day!

Hudson, Happy Birthday to you. We are so lucky to have you and we can't wait to see what TWO has in store for us! Should be interesting!