Thankful

I am thankful for a lot of things this week. We had horrible tornados here in Alabama on Wednesday and while I have mentioned my love for storms before, I absolutely never want to go through this again. I watched the tornados going through Cullman, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham live, and I just cannot watch it anymore. It is devastating. Our families are all ok, but there are so many that aren't.

Joel picked a perfect week to be out of town! He was in Vegas for the week for work and I had to go through this by myself! It was scary. The worst for us came around 5:30 am Wednesday morning. The sirens woke me up and I immediately turned on the weather. I went and got Hudson and put him in the bed with me, and within 5 minutes, we were heading to the basement! The power stayed on for about 2.5 seconds before it was pitch black. It was a good thing the Easter bunny brought Hudson a bug flashlight or else we would have been in trouble! I, along with many others, had no idea that there would be an early morning part to this storm! Thankfully, I heard the sirens.

From what I could hear from the basement, the storm only lasted a few minutes, but let's just say I heard a lot of trees breaking in those few minutes. My mom called around 6 in tears wanting to know if I was ok. She knew I was alone and as it turned out, she was alone too. Something had happened at her house and at the time she called, she didn't know what. She just knew it was bad. She called back a few minutes later to tell me that her chimney was safely placed in the neighbor's yard, and her bedroom windows were busted out. Luckily, our house was spared. We only had a few large tree branches fall.

Hudson and I ventured out a little while later to see the damage. Stop signs are not supposed to be flattened like this...

Most all of the stop signs near us looked like this. There were trees down everywhere. I didn't realize how lucky we were until we drove around. My mom's neighborhood, which is in our same neighborhood as well, looked like a warzone with all the trees down. I don't know if it was a tornado or just really strong winds, but you can pretty much see a clear path straight from Cahaba Heights to our neighborhood.

There are two ways in and out of our neighborhood, and currently, only one way is functional. The road behind our house has been closed since Wednesday. It is also really hard to get through Cahaba Heights with all the roads still being closed.

Hudson and I headed to my sister's at lunchtime to charge my cell phone. She had power and I had no idea when ours would be coming back on and my phone was just about dead. With Joel being out of town and us having no power, I couldn't chance not having any mode of communication! On a happy note, while we were at Carrie's, Hudson lifted up his shirt and pointed to his belly and said, "Be careful, there's a baby in there." Haha.

Once my phone was good to go, we came back home to hunker down for the next round of storms. One thing that is so interesting about all of this is that I met so many neighbors on Wednesday. Everyone was out and about and it was just nice to have someone to talk to and meet. We've been in our house for 4 years, but have never met some of the people that live so close by! Shortly after we got home, our power came back on! Thank goodness! I did not want to be in a dark house by myself for the night with more bad storms on the way! I'm a scaredy cat!

I watched the weather for the next few hours and watched all the devastating storms. When the tornado left Tuscaloosa and headed our way, I freaked out a little! Thankfully for us (unfortunately, not for a lot of others), it went north, but we were definitely in our safe place.

I can't stop thinking about all those victims from this horrible storm. This was just so close to home. Our damage is nothing compared to Tuscaloosa and north Birmingham. It really looked like something from a movie. I can't imagine losing everything you have. I want to help in so many ways! We should all do our part to help, even if it is just donating money. Say a prayer for our state!

I'm thankful though. I'm thankful that my family and friends are safe. I'm thankful that my husband is back home safely. He's never allowed to go out of town again! I need a man in the house to do things like lift the garage door when the power is out, among other things of course! :) I'm thankful for power, and for good neighbors. I'm thankful for the weathermen that had us prepared for this day (did they ever get a bathroom break the whole day???). I'm thankful for the best little boy a girl could ask for--he's just so go with the flow and didn't get scared at all this time! And, for loving parents and in-laws, siblings, and friends, who called to check on us. I'm thankful for the house over our heads, and the food that we have to eat. And for so many more things...

Happy Easter Egg!

Happy Easter Egg! Well, that's according to my 2 year old. He said that to everyone on Sunday. Too funny! We had a FABULOUS Easter weekend. I enjoyed every second of our Easter Sunday beginning with our wonderful church service and spending a full day with both our families (with a much needed nap in between!). It doesn't get much better than that!

The Easter bunny paid a little visit to our house Sunday morning. You will notice that he is holding that school bus in every single picture from here on out in this post. He's a little obsessed with school buses!

We actually got ready in time to attempt some pictures in the yard, but Hudson wasn't interested. Is he ever interested in taking pictures? I don't know why I thought we could actually get some decent ones!

This is probably the last Easter I'm going to be able to get away with bunnies on the outfit. :(

It is just torture sitting on Mommy's lap!

We got to church in time to take our annual family picture in front of the cross before going to church with the Reed's. We had a great Easter service. I just LOVE the music at Easter and seeing everyone there at one time. We have a lot to celebrate on this day!

After church, we headed to Old Overton to eat lunch with my family. When we walked in, the first thing we saw was the Easter bunny. Hudson flipped as soon as we walked in the door, so we quickly walked on by, but I just knew that this was my last opportunity to get that screaming picture on the Easter bunny's lap and no one was going to stop me this time! It was funny because Hudson could see the Easter bunny from our table and he kept saying, "We not going up there" over and over again. He did NOT want to go near that bunny, but he also didn't take his eyes off of him the entire time. Lunch was great as usual and we were stuffed! And, when we left, I got my token picture that I wanted, much to my family's dismay...

It doesn't get better than that! Aren't these the best? Or, am I the only one that loves the screaming pictures? Haha, I think I may have scarred him because he only wanted Daddy for a while after that! :) He kept saying "Hudson screamed at the Easter bunny" ALL afternoon.

After a much needed nap by all, we headed back over to the Reed's for an Easter egg hunt, which Hudson loved, and had dinner. We were all stuffed by the end of the day, but enjoyed our time with our families so much. It was much needed!

Class Easter Egg Hunt

Today was Hudson's Easter egg hunt at school. I just took Hudson for the hunt since he normally doesn't go on Fridays and I didn't want him to miss out. He was so funny. He found one egg and immediately opened it to get the chocolate out. He was done. I convinced him to get a few more eggs, and then he just plopped down and ate all of his candy. It didn't last long.

My little "frat" boy!

He doesn't need ANY help in opening the candy, and if it takes him too long to open it, he'll just plop the whole thing in his mouth, wrapper and all. He doesn't care!

He was keyed up on chocolate by this point and running around his room like a mad man, hence, the blurry picture. It's all I could get! I think he missed his buddies this morning!

Towards the end, I caught him sitting on the floor shaking all of his eggs to see if there was anything in them. Unfortunately, there was nothing left!

He was being SO silly the entire time. He did not want to leave. I loved every minute of watching him play!

This is totally unrelated to his class Easter egg hunt today, but Hudson has said some of the funniest things lately, and if I don't write them down now, I will forget them! I know I'm already forgetting some things.

- This morning, we had to take the dogs to the "doggie doctor" to get their haircuts. When we got there, there was a cat roaming around the lobby. Hudson went up to it and said, "How you doin' kitty cat?" Everyone in the lobby was cracking up.

- We still let Hudson have the paci at bedtime. It's just a battle I don't want to fight right now and he knows it stays in the crib. We have gotten rid of it at daycare at naptime...hooray for that! Anyway, I went to get him out of the crib one day this week and he had thrown out everything in his crib...stuffed animals, his THREE blankies, TWO paci's, etc. When I put it all back in the crib, he started saying he wanted his paci, to which I told him that he didn't need that paci and that paci's were only for babies. He replied, "Hudson still a baby." Well, he is still MY baby, even if he's 2!

- Whenever he drops something, he says in a REAL southern twang, "Awwww shooooooottt!" It's so funny.

- He is obsessed with his red crocs. He would wear them every day if I let him. He calls them his "rocks." I think it's a combination between red and crocs, but he LOVES his rocks and will tell you all about it.

- I had to put Hudson in time out the other morning for jumping on the bed and not listening and when I got him out, he said, "Hudson sorry, Hudson bad." I was the one that felt bad!

- On another disciplining day, I gave Hudson a pat on the bottom (on the diaper--I feel bad spanking skin!) because he did something he wasn't supposed to and after I did it, he said, "Mommy, no! Mommy don't hit." How do you teach a 2 year old that it's wrong to hit, when you need to spank as a form of discipline? It really made me think about that!

I really do have one sweet little boy. I love this stage so much!

I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter! I know we are really looking forward to it!

Meeting the Easter Bunny

This is what Hudson thought of the Easter bunny this year...

Not.a.fan. At all. We stood in line at church to get his picture made with the Easter bunny and we got halfway through the line and Hudson realized what was at the end and that was it. He refused to go any further and in fact, threw a big fit until we went across the room as far away as possible from that mean ole' bunny! It was pretty funny. I wanted to actually get the "look" with the Easter bunny for memory purposes, but Joel said it was torture enough. So, no Easter bunny on this blog!

After eating a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles and calming down a bit, he was good to go for the egg hunt. We had practiced at home so he knew what to do! Here he is waiting until "go" time. He's thinking hard about which ones he is going to grab!

I was proud of my little buddy! In the 30 seconds that the egg hunt lasted, he got about 10 eggs, which was way more than I was expecting! He helped me stuff some of the eggs last week with some of our Sunday school friends and he realized real quick while stuffing the eggs that there was chocolate inside and kept sneaking pieces when I wasn't looking. Luckily, he had forgotten about that (at least until we got into the car!) and was fully focused on grabbing eggs this time! Here he is showing me his loot! I think he had fun!

We then let him play on the playground for a bit before heading home. It was a fun Saturday morning and Hudson is still talking about wanting to give the Easter bunny a hug. We keep reminding him that he cried at the sight of him. :)

He was all about "Daddy's hat" and the "Aubun football!" He's just so darn cute. I can't stand it sometimes! He had actually grabbed 3 footballs, but I couldn't get the camera out fast enough!

In baby news, I went for my checkup today and everything was great. I got to hear the heartbeat this time and it was awesome! The doctor couldn't find it on the doppler at 12 weeks, but it was no problem this time. We set my big ultrasound for May 16th so we'll find out for sure what this sweet baby is in a month! I can't wait to start fully focusing on a name for this baby and figuring out what I'm going to do with his or her room! I'm doing something totally new this time regardless of what it is!

The "I'm Scared Stage"

Here we are, on another Monday night, dealing with bad storms at Hudson's bedtime. Can't they come at any other time?!?! Tonight, Joel actually made us hunker down in the man cave. I think when they said there was rotation at the front of our neighborhood, we decided it was best to take cover! I don't like tornadoes, but I LOVE storms, especially the ones in the middle of the night. I could seriously watch James Spann talk about the weather for hours on end. I'm a nerd. Anyway, tonight the sirens went off and Hudson was terrified...of the sirens. If I had to hear "sirens outside, Hudson scared" one more time, I was going to go crazy! He said it a million times! Actually, he screamed it a million times! Yes, Hudson, we know they are outside and it is nothing to be scared of! Haha! Then, it's, "Hudson scared of the nunder and the lighting." Over and over again! Don't you like how he uses third person to talk? Oh well, I'm pretty sure I was scared when I was little too! :) There was no way this little guy was going to bed during all that tonight!

We got the bouncy house out last weekend and Hudson had a blast. Well, until I got in and the whole thing collapsed on him! It's clearly not made for adults, but Hudson kept wanting me to get in and so I did. I didn't jump or anything, but one of the ties that was holding the air in came loose and down she went. To say that Hudson was terrified was an understatement! He didn't want to have anything to do with it anymore that day, but thankfully, on Sunday, he got back in it and went to town. Our neighbors, who are a little older, came over that afternoon and got in it with him again, and unfortunately, it was their mission to make it collapse, and so we had another freak out. We'll see if he gets in the bouncy house again anytime soon!

Speaking of being afraid, last Friday, I went upstairs to get Hudson out of the crib in the morning and he started pointing to his bathroom and saying, "Who's that, who's that?" I'm by myself mind you, and I question him further and ask him what he sees. He kept telling me that he sees a "man." I get him out of the crib and try to get him to show me (not that I really wanted to go in there either!), and he says, "No, Hudson scared!" At this point, I'm scared out of my mind too! We quickly headed back downstairs! Anyway, it was apparently nothing, but the "man" in the bathroom has become quite the issue lately. He did this about 6 months ago and he would point to the bathroom and say "see house" all the time. Joel and I just tried not to pay attention to it, and eventually, he did stop talking about house (whoever that was!). I guess "house" is now a "man." Weird, huh? Anyone want to come stay at our house??? The typical "show me your teeth" pose by Hudson. I try, but this is the best smile I can get!

We've been having major drop off issues at school lately. Hudson will talk about school the whole way there and who he's going to play with, and who his teachers are, and then we will get there and bam, he's terrified. He's been throwing all out fits once we get in the classroom. It is awful. I keep telling myself that it's just a phase, but I can't help but wonder if he really knows there's another baby coming and things are about to change. It probably has nothing to do with it, but my heart just breaks every day when I have to quickly leave (I think that's what they want you to do when you have a screaming child!). His teachers promise me he's fine the whole day. It's just drop off. Oh well, I'm sure it will end soon. When I have gone to pick him up every day, he's usually in a class that is for younger kids and every day for the past week, he's been in the jumperoo and they tell me that he won't let anyone come near him or get him out. He's even been passing on snack time to stay in that jumperoo! I think we may have to buy the school a new one soon because I think it only has like a 20 pound weight limit! Ha! I know he loves school, but he just doesn't like saying goodbye I suppose!

Well, I guess I will end with that. Hudson has definitely entered the "I'm scared" stage!

Wedding Stuff, A Royal Engagement, and a Swingset in Progress

We've had a lot of wedding planning and stuff going on in the past few weekends. It's been SO much fun! Last weekend, we went wedding dress shopping for Carrie and after falling in love with a dress that was WAY out of the price range at the first shop (my mom almost fainted when she heard the price! Ha!), she was actually able to TOP that dress at our third and final stop and found everything she was looking for in one dress. We all knew the minute she came out in the "one" that it was the dress. It took my breath away! She looked gorgeous--of course, I knew she would! It was very exciting and Andres is going to DIE when he sees her (well, I hope not literally, but she looks amazing in it and it is just so Carrie--I can't wait to see his reaction!).

Last night, I helped host a couples shower for her and Andres. The wedding isn't until November, but Andres' parents were in town from New York and we thought it would be the perfect weekend to have a party since we weren't sure if they would be able to make it back again before the wedding. We had the party at Carrie's friend Kaitlin's house. They bought their house before Christmas and did a ton of work on it to get ready for this party. It really looked awesome. The party was kitchen themed, and man, did they rake it in on the gifts! They got a great start in getting all of their kitchen stuff. It's a good thing they love to cook! The hostesses, minus one, and the bride and groom (I didn't take one picture, so I have stolen these!)

My mom, Carrie and me--I hate being the one in the middle! I look huge!

Check out the ring that my dad gave me this weekend...do you know what it is???

This is Princess Kate's engagement ring! I am now the proud owner of a real, FAKE one! Ha! And yes, I'm going to be totally glued to the tv when that wedding makes its debut! This summer, when my fingers start to swell so bad that I can't wear my rings anymore, I will totally be rocking this one! Can't be pregnant and not wear a ring! :)

This weekend, we also got Hudson's 2 year pictures made. It was such a big flop. The kid wouldn't smile for anything, so I'm not feeling too hopeful about them! I'm just looking for a few good ones, so hopefully, she was able to capture some sweet looks! I guess that's what you get with this age. He did look cute if nothing else! :)

Joel also got started on a little project for the backyard...

Did you know that a swingset could come with so many pieces?!?!? I think it might take a month to get this thing up! I'm giddy just thinking about how much fun Hudson is going to have with the swingset when he can finally use it. I can't wait! We have had the swingset since Christmas, but we were hoping to re-do our backyard this winter/spring to actually give us something to work with back there. After several proposals, it's just not going to happen the way we wanted it to, but that's fine. I guess it's not too bad! So, the swingset is going up anyway and I'm hopefully going to get my wish and get to re-do the master bathroom instead! :)

And since I can't do a blog post without putting up a picture of little man, here you go (bed head and all!).

He's my little cutie and man, is he FUN right now! And did I mention that he has slept in until 9:15 the past TWO Saturdays?!?!? He's such a stud!