Mini Vacay!

I'm 30 weeks pregnant, turning 30 on FRIDAY, and Joel and I had our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday. So what did we do???

We went to the beach! Just us! No Hudson, no dogs, no cooking, and absolutely NO responsibility. And, it was GLORIOUS!!!!!!

We left after work on Thursday and got there late that night. Friday morning, we slept in until almost 9! We haven't done that in I don't know how long. It was great. Then, we went to the Great Southern Cafe in Seaside for a wonderful breakfast. It was SO good. Beignets, fruit, eggs benedict, fried green tomato benedict, etc. DELISH. It was so nice to not be in a rush to do anything, not stress over a meal out, and just having adult conversation was fabulous!

After a beautiful day in the sun on the beach, we headed to the outlets to get some things and then ate at Mitchell's in San Destin. We've been there before, but for whatever reason, this meal was the best we've had. Maybe it was the fact that we were alone! Ha! Don't get me wrong, we missed that little guy so much, but I think every parent needs a break to rejuvenate every now and then!

Saturday, I wasn't able to sleep past 8:30 (but still, that's LATE for me!), but Joel slept until almost 10! I think he needed the sleep! I went on out to get some sun while he slept. I read a whole book this weekend! I went in around lunchtime and we hopped on the bikes and rode down to Rosemary for lunch. It was HOT, but really fun. We had to take a picture of me being 30 weeks pregnant riding a bike! It was a sight for sure!

After another relaxing afternoon at the beach, we went to our absolute most favorite restaurant down there, Cafe Tango. We crave this place and haven't been since we have had Hudson...almost 3 years! They only have about 10 tables in the restaurant and you have to have a reservation (and you would not want to take a child!). It was such a special treat and a great way to spend our 6 year anniversary! We joked that it will probably be 20 years before we get to go back.

I never took a belly shot with Hudson, so what the heck. Here's me and baby Harrison at 30 weeks! Yikes!



Here we are at dinner...it's been a great 6 years! (Joel was so embarassed that I asked the waiter to take our picture!). Oh well, he'll thank me later!

And now, we have been reunited with the CUTEST little boy in the world. We missed him like crazy, but enjoyed every minute of our little vacay! Thanks to my parents for keeping him and the dogs for 3 nights. They went to the cabin and I think he wore them slap out!

What a wonderful weekend we had, and even more wonderful to come back to this smiling face! We sure did miss him!

Bachelorette Interruption

I hate it when special reports take over my TV shows! I know the debt of America is VERY important, but does the President have to talk about it during The Bachelorette?!?!? Seriously, of all the times...not my one TV night of the week! So, while Barack has taken over my show, I thought I would put up some pictures from the weekend. We didn't do much at all, yet, I feel like it was somewhat productive.

First up...much needed haircut for Mr. Hudson.

He LOVES getting his haircut. He thinks it's just about the most fun thing you can do. He sits as still as can be, probably because he knows there is a treat at the end of it. You can kind of see his green mouth in the picture below! You can't beat a sour apple dum dum. He looks so old now! Then, it was off to see Mama Jean. Hudson always loves visiting his great grandmother. I think it's because she gives him lots of treats! :)

Second up...new tires for my car. :( Gotta love taking your car in for a routine tire rotation and oil change only to be told you need new tires. Oh well, such is life.

Third up...we went to the Blocker's house for dinner Saturday night and had the best time! I wish I had taken my camera. Shelley cooked us a fabulous dinner and Hudson earned himself a new nickname...WILD MAN. He was ninety to nothing at their house and acted like he had known all those people forever. He was Mr. Personality for sure and I loved it! I expected him to clam up as there were no other kids there, but he wanted nothing to do with Joel and me! He picked on all the adults! At one point, I heard him in the other room asking Cayce and Hunter what a peacock says. What does a peacock say???? I have no idea. Anyway, he was so good and so funny the entire night. Thanks to the Blockers for having us over. We really enjoyed getting to hang out with everyone and talk about baby Will that is set to arrive in just a few weeks!

Fourth up...I packed up my sewing/embroidery machine, put it on Craig's List on Saturday, and sold it on Sunday. The lady picked it up tonight. Sad, but something that needed to happen. I just didn't have the time or the patience for it, and I know it's only about to get worse! I'm happy to know that I at least gave it a try. It just wasn't my thing! I did learn that paying the $10 to get something monogrammed or appliqued is TOTALLY worth it. Once we packed up the sewing machine, we made the room that it was in a playroom/movie room for Hudson upstairs, so I'm excited for the room to hopefully get some use now!

Fifth up...we FINALLY got the train table out of our den and took it to the playroom downstairs. It has taken over my den for the past 5 months and I'm glad to have the space back! We're knocking things off the honey-do list! Woo hoo!

Oh and Hudson told me tonight that I was "stanky" and I "needed a baf." Thanks buddy.

Ok, The Bachelorette is back on! Yay!

All About Baby

This post is dedicated solely to the baby! It's officially time to kick it into high gear to get ready for this new addition! I will be 29 weeks tomorrow. I can't even believe it. This pregnancy has FLOWN! I can't complain at all. It has been so easy so far. So easy that I don't even think about it that much! I just feel like when I was pregnant with Hudson that we talked about it non-stop, but this time, I think we might finally realize it's real when we're at the hospital! There are even some days that I don't even think to notice the baby kicking until I'm laying in bed that night. I'm just so busy with everything else. It still is a sweet, sweet feeling though! And, the kicking is now making my whole stomach move, so that's always neat in a weird way!

I had a doctor's appointment last week and everything looked great. I had my sugar test and actually passed this time! I learned the first time around that you need to fast before the first test (despite what they may tell you!), so I did it this time and passed with flying colors. I also limited my sugar intake the whole day before. Last time, I ate normal before my appointment and failed the first test, but then passed the 3 hour test. Anyway, I'm thankful for no diabetes!

I've gained about 15 pounds so far this time. With Hudson, I gained a total of about 32 pounds, so I think I'm doing better this go around! However, 8 of those 15 have come in the last 2 months, so I'm gaining ground quickly!

The most remarkable thing to me is that I haven't had the swelling like I did the first time. Now, I know I still have 11 weeks to go, with the hottest month of the year coming up so there is probably NO way to escape it, but at this point the last go around, my ankles were unrecognizable! I think that was the one thing I was worried about when I found out I was pregnant this time with the worst of it hitting in the middle of summer--I didn't want to be wearing cute maternity dresses with cankles the size of Texas! Ha! The heat really hasn't been awful yet either, although in the past few weeks, I've just been hot a lot more than usual, but not unbearable.

Now, for the fun stuff! We have decided on a name! It is going to be...

Harrison Walker Reed

We will call him Harrison. We chose Harrison because it's just a name we both like, and Walker is a family name on the Reed side. I love how Harrison goes with Hudson! He will also have the same initials as Hudson. I was hesitant about that at first because I thought it was a little cheesy, but the more I think about it, it's going to be good that we can re-use all of the monogrammed stuff! Doesn't it look cute monogrammed on a gown?!?!?

As for the nursery, it's a work in progress. We moved the furniture in the room, but it's not in the right place yet. I finally ordered the bedding last week from www.polkatotdesigns.com. Here is a picture of it from the website...

I wanted to do something totally different than the brown and blue that I did in Hudson's room. I feel like Harrison will have enough hand me downs that he deserved a new room that was all his own! And, I needed some color this time! The walls have been painted a soft yellow.

I'm thinking about doing some or a combination of the below paintings in the room. I just haven't decided if I want to pay for them! I'm blessed with a Dad that can replicate any painting you give him, but I think we may have overdone it with the firetruck paintings (which, by the way, have exceeded all my expectations and are just fabulous--I can't wait to share!)! I don't feel like I can ask him to do any more. I think they would look cute though!

I'm also going to do some sort of wall monogram over the crib. I have found a few that I like, but haven't ordered anything yet.

I started going through Hudson's old clothes to see what I could keep and what I could not since I didn't throw away a thing and some things just don't need to be kept. Let's just say that spit up stains on outfits aren't too cute--I guess I was just being so sentimental that I couldn't throw them out when I first went through them! All the clothes are strewn everywhere in the room right now! It's a mess! Needless to say, the whole room is a work in progress and it probably won't even be ready by the time he gets here, but I guess he won't be sleeping in there for a while anyway!

My good friend Meggan had baby Avery Grace yesterday and seeing the pictures of her just makes me SO giddy about having another baby in the house! Just remind me of these thoughts after the first few weeks when I'm sleep deprived and totally overwhelmed! Ha! But, seriously, there is nothing like a newborn. Time just goes SO fast and I hope that this time around, I'll be able to soak it up a little more since hopefully I will know what's coming. I was so not prepared for the changes that we went through when Hudson arrived. It was just a total shock for me and the hormones didn't make it any better! This time, I think the hardest thing will be juggling two and making sure that Hudson still gets all the attention he deserves! It makes me sad to think his world is about to be rocked, but I know he'll adjust in time.

That's about all I have to say about the baby! I felt like he needed some attention on the ole blog! I'm just so excited for October (or late September if he's ready to come early like Hudson was). We can't wait to meet our sweet Harrison!

Mowing in Our Sunday Best

This kid LOVES to mow the grass, especially when Daddy is mowing.


These are the only 2 pictures I've taken in a week! There's not really that much to report. We've had a couple of weekends in town which has been great. Life is about to get crazy again here soon so we have enjoyed some low key time. Hudson and I survived being alone for a few days last week while Joel went to Vegas for work. The only bad thing that happened while Joel was gone was that our mailbox was bashed, as well as half of the mailboxes on the street. Time for school to start...the teenagers are running out of things to do.

Hudson had his first big fall this weekend. The weather was actually not too hot on Saturday and Hudson refused a nap, so we headed for the park. We had a great time until the very end. We were trying to get Hudson to leave, and he wanted to do one last thing (as always). He climbed up on one of the tallest platforms that had a stair that went up even higher, and when he was coming down, he tripped and fell backwards. Joel and I had two of the three openings covered, but he fell towards the one opening that we weren't guarding. Down he went, backwards, and landed on the ground flat on his back. It was horrible. He cried of course, but he was more concerned that he had lost his shoe in the process! I was the one trying to make sure he had all his teeth and he wasn't paralyzed and Joel was checking his eyes to make sure they weren't dilating from a concussion! Ha! He was absolutely fine, but I think it took Joel and I a few minutes to breathe again. I know these things are going to happen, but I expected it to happen during a time when only one of us was there! Joel and I were BOTH there and it STILL happened. I'm thankful he was ok though.

On a lighter note, we joined Costco this weekend! It was very exciting...well, until we reached the checkout line and heard our total. But, I'm hoping that it is really going to save us money in the long run! We'll see!

I have to end with a few Hudson funnies.

- Hudson - "Mommy, look, an airplane!!!"
Me - "I see it, Hudson! Where is it going?"
Hudson - "It's going to the North Pole, Mommy, to see Santa!" (Christmas in July, maybe??? Who knows where this came from!)

- Hudson - "Look, Mommy, Old McDonald on that building!" (in reference to the inflatable Ronald McDonald sitting on top of McDonald's on Acton Road)

- Me - "Hudson, you need to start going tee-tee on the potty."
Hudson - "No Mommy, I have diapers." (Potty training is going to be difficult!)

- Hudson - "Mrs. Taylor is stanky!!!"
Me - "Why is Mrs. Taylor stinky?"
Hudson - "Mrs. Taylor went poo poo on Ellie. It was yucky yuck yuck." (Mrs. Taylor is his teacher and Ellie is Mrs. Taylor's daughter, who is also in Hudson's class. Not sure what happened at school that day, but so funny!)

- Hudson - "Mommy, I want a silly bar." (in reference to a cereal bar)

- Hudson - "Mommy, I want a freaky sun." (in reference to a "capri" sun)

IJump

Hudson and I are always looking for fun (indoor) activities to do on Fridays in the summer. This Friday, we headed to IJump with my friend Kristi and her 3 year old Beckett. It is only $5.99 for 2 hours, and we had a buy one get one free, so for a little over $3 a piece, we had a fun morning out. Can't beat that! We lasted about an hour and a half, which was just perfect. The bigger kids had started to take over at that point, so it was in our best interest to get our little boys out of there! They were red faced and sweaty and ready to leave at that point too (with the promise of chicken nuggets from Chick Fil A once we left!).

I would definitely suggest getting there when the doors open at 10 because it got so crowded and there are not age limits on the bouncy things, so it did get crazy at times. But, the boys LOVED it and Hudson has been asking to go back ever since! Oh, and it resulted in a GREAT Friday afternoon nap! We'll definitely go again!

Little did we know that it was dress up like a cow and get free chicken day at Chick Fil A. It was a madhouse! They even had employees dressed up in cow costumes, which Hudson HATED. I don't know why I was surprised, seeing as though he has never been a fan of Santa or the Easter bunny!

We did get cute cow hats and fans, and a little cow stuffed animal, so it was fun. Hudson decided that he needed to dress up like a cow and used his chocolate milk to give himself spots! I couldn't help but get tickled at how cute he was, even if he did intentionally pour most of that on himself!

You'll be happy to know that Oxy Clean and a little bleach did wonders to get every bit of that chocolate milk out!

Next fun Friday indoor activity--the dollar movie theater! We'll see how long he lasts!

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a great Fourth of July weekend with our families. Friday, we headed to my parent's cabin, where we stayed for the weekend. Hudson ran straight from the car and jumped in the baby pool. This kid is a FISH!


A few minutes after we arrived, Trey, Shondra, and Morgan got there and Hudson immediately asked Morgan to go put on her swimsuit!

He's very shy around pretty girls!

On a side note, make sure you put a swimmy diaper on, even if it is the baby pool! We had a diaper explosion and it wasn't pretty! Regular diapers are not made to hold that much water. Trust me, you will be cleaning up all kinds of foamy stuff...not pretty!

Morgan and Hudson drew all over the court with chalk...and all over Trey too! Ha! Well, that was Hudson's doing. Morgan knows better!

That night, we headed to Mentone for a fish fry and a concert. It was SO fun, except for the fact that they ran out of fish right as we got there! So much for dinner! It didn't matter though--it was still so much fun sitting in our chairs, drinking our beverages, watching the kids play, and watching the Mentone crazies dance!

Hudson and Morgan found a cat and we could not get them away from it! Finally, it ran away, but not before we caught Hudson trying to climb under a deck to get to it.

We witnessed one of the most redneck first dances you have ever seen. A couple and their family (who we were told by the innkeeper make swamp people look good), got married in front of the bed and breakfast while the concert was going on around back, and then headed back to the concert for their first dance. It was pretty wild...picture, tie dye shirts (and dresses for that matter), mullets, mohawks, lots of cigarettes, zombie t-shirts, and a 40 year old groom (with one ear pierced) who appeared to be marrying a girl that is still in high school (or maybe his daughter???). Jury is out on whether or not there was a baby in that tummy! Yikes! But, hey, they looked very happy and it provided some great entertainment for the rest of us. I did sneak some pictures, but for the sake of the blog being public, I'm not going to put those on here for fear someone might know someone who knows them!!! Highly doubtful, but you never know!

Back to the concert, Hudson LOVES music, so he had a blast! I love this picture!

Once we got back to the cabin, Mom threw together some dinner and then we sang Happy Birthday to my mom (she turned 29!) with yummy strawberry cake! Then, it was bedtime. We tried new sleeping arrangements this time at the cabin. Hudson is no longer willing to sleep in the crib, so we put him in the kid's bedroom that has 3 twin beds, and so Hudson, Morgan, and I slept in there. I didn't want Morgan to have to deal with Hudson's wake up calls in the middle of the night by herself! Morgan thought it was going to be a fun slumber party. You know, once you turn the lights off, you talk ALL night long? Well, maybe when we were like 12 we did that, but this almost 30 year old can't hang like she used to. After a thousand questions from Morgan, including questions such as "what is your craziest dream, what is the funniest thing you ever said to anyone, your most embarassing moment" she told me that she could just stay up all night...I thought I might die! Ha! But finally, the talking stopped, and we actually had a great night's sleep once it got started. Hudson went right to sleep the minute he hit the bed and slept through all the talking. I was shocked! So, after a late night for at least one of us, the three of us headed down to Weiss Lake on Saturday morning for a day at the lake with Joel's family. We are lucky that it's only about a 30 minute drive from the cabin.

Hudson is now obsessed with the boat (no pictures on the boat this time). I did take one stroll on the boat in the morning when the lake was still smooth, but by the afternoon, there was no way I was going out in it in my condition! Hudson loved swimming, even more so than Memorial Day. He would have stayed in the lake all day had we let him.

He jumped off the dock probably 1,000 times, but only to his daddy and to Pops. Some of the others tried to get him to jump to them, but he refused. He knew who he could trust!

We had NINE dogs at the lake. It was total chaos. Four of them never got out of the water. It is amazing that they didn't drown!


There was even some brotherly fighting going on as usual. It actually looks like Joel is winning this battle! Shocker! :)


After a full day at the lake, we headed back to the cabin, where we had dinner and then headed out to the porch to watch the fireworks in the valley below. Little did we know that Dad was right below us lighting up some fireworks that about scared me to death! I grabbed Hudson so fast because I just knew that he was going to be in freak out mode, and he was just a smiling and laughing and pointing. He thought they were great. I am not one to want to be super close to fireworks, so them being about 20 feet over my head about did me in! Not Hudson though!

On Sunday, Joel, Morgan, and I went kayaking! It was a blast! These pictures were taken with my phone, so not the best quality, but we really had a fun morning out on the river!

Morgan was my kayaking partner, and about 2 minutes into our trip out, she decided she wanted to swim. She swam alongside the boat for about a mile before I made her get back in. I was afraid she was going to wear herself out! Sure enough, she fell asleep right after we turned around and I was alone again trying to paddle our two person kayak. We laughed that the pregnant one had to do all the work! It was fun though and it was such a great workout! Hudson got to go to the park with my mom and apparently wanted nothing to do with the playground, but rather wanted to play in the creek the whole time. Poor Mom!

We all took fabulous naps that afternoon. Hudson did not have a nap at all on Saturday and we were staying up late and getting up early, so he was exhausted. Joel had to go home on Sunday afternoon because he had some work he needed to do on Monday. Hudson and I stayed up there and showed off Hudson's new look...

Aren't these hilarious?!?! I had to slick back the hair and put on the white shirt for the full effect. Thanks to my dad for making the jean diaper purchase. I've wanted to buy a pack for a while now just for fun, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm now the proud owner of an entire box!

Monday, Mom told us to be ready at 9 am for a little activity. So, of course, we donned our red, white, and blue and met at the front of the house at 9.

My mom had planned a great Fourth of July parade for us all to partake in, complete with patriotic music and all! It wasn't cheesy at all, I promise! :)

The parade wrapped up at the flag pole, where we said the Pledge of Allegiance, and of course, sang Happy Birthday America. My little Hudson is STILL talking about waving his flag and singing Happy Birthday to America. He loved every minute of it!

Mom kept talking about these 3 tenors that she just loves, so Dad played a song by them. We all had a good chuckle over the fact that we were listening to Italian music on America's birthday! Don't worry, we did get some Lee Greenwood in eventually!
Then it was off to a ride in the big gator with Big Momma.
And a ride in the little gator--that we could NOT get Hudson off of all weekend. We had to set the steering wheel to go around in circles. He didn't quite have the steering down pat (don't worry, he only went off roading once by accident!), but he was obsessed with this thing. One night, he was so tired that his eyes kept closing while he was going around in circles. Talk about hilarious.

We spent most of our weekend outside. The weather up there is so much better than here! It did get hot, but it was bearable.
We played numerous games of horse on the basketball court. I finally did whip Trey, much to his disliking! I quit while I was ahead! Hudson even got in on the action and dunked it a few times. Oh how he LOVED playing with Unk Trey!

It was a GREAT weekend. We had a blast with our families. We ate entirely way too much. Let's just say my doctor is probably not going to be happy with me next week at my appointment because we ate dessert after lunch and dinner every night, AND in between! Hudson even asked for dessert after breakfast one morning. That is how bad it was! It was all so delicious though!