Father's Day

This is my handsome hubby on his first Father's Day.


I'm really not sure I can put into words how much I appreciate and love Joel more now that he is a father to our precious son. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not a sappy person, but having a child and watching the man that you love take care of the child that you created together is something that makes me happier than anything else in the world! He loves Hudson SO much. It is hard to believe that just three short months ago, Joel held a baby for the first time ever (or so he claims!). Now, he is changing diapers, giving baths, and loving our sweet child unconditionally! There is nothing like seeing a dad hold his son. It is so sweet! I can't wait to spend many more Father's Days with Joel.

I thought it would be fitting to include some of my favorite pictures of Joel and Hudson on this post.

This is Joel and Hudson on Easter.


Hudson and Joel catching some sleep together. I love how Hudson is wearing his "I love Daddy" bib! How fitting!

This is Joel being our rock in the NICU. Those were some hard days!

Joel mentioned on several occasions that he wanted a new weedeater or a new driver for Father's Day, but I just couldn't get him that for his first Father's Day! That is not sentimental at all! Hudson got his Dad several gifts, and wrote him a note to go with each gift. I took pictures of them all, so maybe I will post them on here sometime soon. I think Joel thought it was sweet. Hudson also made Joel a picture at daycare that had his little footprints on it. It was cute.

x

I also want to wish my dad and Joel's dad a Happy Father's Day as well! We are so lucky to have you as our dads and we hope that you both had a great day.

3 Month Pictures and Another Fun Weekend

Below are a few of my favorites from Hudson's 3 month pictures. I'm going to go broke on pictures! I was absolutely thrilled with how they turned out, especially since Hudson was so fussy on the day of the pictures.

We had another really fun weekend! My mom had a jewelry show at Brookdale Place on Friday. All of my grandparents live at Brookdale Place, so they thought it would be fun for mom to show her jewelry there. Since I'm off on Fridays, Hudson and I decided that we would go help! It was a lot of fun and my mom did really well. Her jewelry is so pretty! She is very talented. I'm going to take some pictures of some of her stuff and put it on the blog soon. All of her jewelry is made out of glass, which she does herself! She is very creative, and it was all a big hit on Friday! Of course, Mama Jean and Grandmother and Granddaddy loved having Hudson there to show off to all their friends! He was absolutely perfect the whole day. I think he smiled at every little old lady that came up to him, and there were a ton of them! They would have scared me a little bit, but he just flirted with them all and loved the attention!

x

Friday night, Joel and I headed to a surprise party for his friend Cayce. Hudson stayed with Joel's parents so we could have a few hours out! It was a lot of fun too! Of course, about 30 minutes into the party, the power went out because of all the storms, but the party still went on in the candlelight! It was great seeing everyone. We haven't all gotten together in a really long time, so it was fun catching up.

x

The weather was terrible Saturday, but luckily it cleared up in the afternoon so Joel and I cooked out steaks Saturday night and watched Grand Torino. It was a great movie. I highly recommend it! The highlight of our night was getting to see Hudson roll over for the first time! It is so funny how we get so excited for every little milestone. He tried for about 2 hours, and finally got all the way over! It was a struggle, but he was persistent in getting over! Once he was on his tummy, he got mad because he couldn't get back over! He's still got a little work to do on going from his tummy to his back, but we have the back to tummy mastered! He did it all day on Sunday!

x

Sunday was another rainy day! I cleaned the house and Joel did yardwork before the rain arrived, and then I headed to Gadsden for a friend's wedding tea. The tea was at the home of Ronnie Watkins, who owns Ronnie Watkins Ford in Gadsden. Let's just say that that house was huge...and beautiful! It was way up high on a hill and overlooked a lake. We were all a little nosy and ventured out all through the house. We even made our way through the master bedroom and bathroom! That was probably horrible of us to do that, but the house was so beautiful that we just had to see everything! Ashleigh, the bride to be, looked beautiful as always, and got tons of great stuff! I can't wait for her wedding on August 22nd! It is going to be a lot of fun.

x

I headed back to Birmingham and then we had dinner at Joel's parent's house. It was a great ending to another great weekend! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as well!

Going, Going, GONE!!!

Going...

Going...

Still going...

Gone! Finally!

Man, that was hard...I'm tired now!

We officially have a roller now! Yay!

Beach Trip in Pictures

We had a WONDERFUL trip to the beach this past weekend! The weather was beautiful the entire time and the water was crystal clear and like a lake. We had not seen the beach like that in forever. Here are some pictures from our trip.

"Daddy, I don't know about this!" His arms are clinching Joel's hands so tight! He was definitely not sure about it and didn't want Joel to drop him! This was his first time in the pool. He didn't like it at first, but then he loved it!

"Ok, Daddy, I like this!"

"I could hang out here all day!"

My sweet buddy chilling on the beach.

We had Hudson in a tent like thing on the beach. It worked out so well. We didn't have to worry about him being in the sun so Joel and I were able to lay out and read. Hudson took naps most of the time on the beach. It was great!

"Daddy, please don't put me in this freezing water!" This was Joel putting his toes in the water on Day 1. He didn't like it much! The water was a bit cold, even for my liking!

"Much better now!"

"You mean ole Daddy! Don't do this to me again!!!" This was Joel trying him in the ocean again on Day 2. It wasn't much better than Day 1!

"I HATE THE OCEAN AND I'M GOING TO LET EVERYONE ON THE BEACH HEAR ABOUT IT!!!!!" I think we headed up to the condo after this shot! Haha, so much for people's nice relaxing morning on the beach!

Look at how well he holds his head up now! I am so proud of him!

He even started playing with the toys on his playmat this weekend! It was very exciting for us all! He just kept hitting it and squealing. So cute!!!

And, he started to grab onto his teddy bear!

We were NOT ready to come home on Sunday, but it was time to get back to reality. I can't wait to get back down to the beach. I'm hoping we can go again soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Quick Update from Day 3

I know everyone is just DYING to know how yesterday and today went at daycare. Haha, you probably couldn't care less, but I'm going to write it down so hopefully I will realize that it really DOES get better when I have to do this again with the second child!

When I went to pick Hudson up at daycare on Tuesday, he was screaming. This is not what you want to walk into when you've dropped your child off at some random place to watch him all day! His teacher told me that he was due up for a bottle an hour, I repeat ONE HOUR, prior to the time that I got there. I was not happy, but then they said he had just woken up. I know that he probably did just wake up and realized that he was hungry, but the thought occurred to me that he could have been screaming for the entire hour and I will never know. This child does not miss meals...ever. So, I went on my not so happy way and prayed that Day 2 would be better.

And it was light years better. I did not cry dropping him off, although I was still sad to do it. I knew this was progress though. As I drove off, I just kept saying to myself that it is only 3 days a week...it could be a lot worse! His granddaddy went and checked on him at lunchtime, which I was so grateful for. His teacher actually told me today that when his granddaddy got there, he just started laughing and wouldn't stop. Apparently, he had the whole room laughing! That was so good to hear! So, thanks Pop! I really appreciate you doing that! Anyway, things were great when I picked him up yesterday afternoon as well. I got a smile as soon as he saw me, which made me feel so much better! And, he was in a great mood when we got home. We played for about an hour and a half before we gave him his bath and got him to bed. He didn't even make it through his bottle...he was SO tired! I'm going to have to get used to him being so tired when he gets home.

Today was even better than yesterday. I won't say I was excited to be going to work, but I was ready to get here to get my work done. It is nice to have some adult interaction. I realized that I have not had much of that since he was born! I feel like I can do this now and I'm so glad.

Ok...back to work now. We're leaving soon for the beach and I have a lot to do!

Day 1...Not So Good!

Well, I have survived the first drop off at daycare. There were some tears shed...a lot of them...and unfortunately, they are still coming! Every time I think about him I get sad and the waterworks get going! I've had so many people come into my office this morning to welcome me back (which I am thankful for!), but I have gotten upset every time. I knew I was going to cry, but I didn't think that I would still be crying at lunch time! I mean, whatever happened to "out of sight, out of mind?" Haha, I guess that doesn't work when it comes to your baby! Everyone keeps saying that Day 1 is the hardest and that each day will get better. I really hope so! Joel is going to check on him at lunch today to make sure he is doing ok. I just can't go...I handled one good-bye this morning and I'm pretty sure I could not handle another one today! We'll just have to wait until tomorrow! I'm sure he is great though. He is in good hands. Hudson did send me off with a reminder of him. When we got into his room at daycare, he spit up all over my dress. And I mean, ALL over my dress. I'm still finding spots that I missed. I think it was his way of saying, "Thanks mom for leaving me!" I can't wait to see my little buddy tonight though. Forget the piles of laundry that I need to do tonight...I'm spending every second with him!

Anyway, on a much much much lighter note, go to http://www.sfisherphotography.com/, and click on the Blog, and there is a sneak peak of Hudson's 3 month pictures. They are so cute!!! I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Three Months Old!

One month old...

Two months old...

Today!!! Three months old!!!

My little buddy is a whopping 3 months old today! It is so hard to believe that he is already 3 months. It has flown by. He wasn't really into taking pictures for me this afternoon, so these aren't the greatest, but you can definitely tell how much he has grown. I can see it for sure in his legs and his feet. His arms have really filled out too! He definitely has some rolls on him!

x

Here are some of his accomplishments over the past month:

x

1. He has started laughing! It is the cutest sound in the world. We love to sit on the floor and make funny faces and sounds at him to get him to laugh. It doesn't take much to get him going.

x

2. He is sleeping through the night! Yay! His first night to sleep all the way through was on Mother's Day. That was at around 9 or 10 weeks. He had a couple of bad nights that week after that, but has been sleeping great ever since! We used to put him down around 9 or 9:30 and he would sleep to around 6 or so, but now we put him down around 8:30 and he will sleep until around 7 or sometimes even 8!

x

3. He talks all the time! I guess you are supposed to call it "cooing", but whatever it is, it is loud and he loves to do it! I feel like we have real conversations sometimes! The other day Hudson was playing on his play mat and Joel and I were watching something on tv, and we ended up just turning off the tv because we couldn't hear anything...Hudson was talking up a storm! We just had to get on the floor and play with him. So fun!

x

4. He is reaching out to touch things now. If you put a toy or a stuffed animal in front of him, he will reach out and touch it. He's not really grabbing anything yet, but he is definitely starting to check things out a little more. I'm so excited about this.

x

5. He is holding his head up great! We still have some bobble head moments, but for the most part, he can hold it up very well!

x

6. He rolled over on the bed the other day. Sometimes if he gets up early, Joel and I will just put him in the bed with us and he will go back to sleep (don't judge the putting him into our bed...I swore I would never do this, but you will do anything just to get some more sleep!). When we do this, for some reason he really likes to bury his head on the pillow, face down. I know...this isn't the most safe thing, but it's what he likes and we're right there listening to him breathing! Anyway, I had him on his back the other morning and he rolled over so that he could be face down. He hasn't done it on the floor yet...we're still working on that!

x

7. He smiles when Daddy gets home! It is so sweet and it makes Joel's day! I hope he smiles at me when I pick him up at daycare tomorrow!

x

I'm sure there are some things that I am missing, but that is all I can think of. He is wearing 6 month clothes now...so much for all those cute outfits I got him before he was born! Haha, the next baby will have some brand new clothes to wear when the time comes (not anytime soon by the way!). He has outgrown them all! He still loves to eat. He is eating around 5.5 to 6 ounces every 3 hours. We are lucky if we make it 3 hours!

x

We had his 3 month pictures done this morning. I will post pictures from the session as soon as I get them. I'm really excited about them. I had to wake Hudson up at 7:30 this morning to get ready...I was hoping he would wake up on his own because I knew he would be in a better mood, but he didn't. Then, the minute the photographer gets here this morning, he spits up about 10 ounces of milk! I was so embarassed. It was one of those spit ups that came out the nose...really bad! It was in his hair, down his back, all over the couch...everywhere. So, once we got that cleaned up, he was good to go. He lasted about 30 minutes before he got fussy again and wanted to take a nap. I felt bad because I wanted to do the pictures in the morning since that is always his happiest time. He was not happy this morning! Anyway, she got some cute pictures of him sleeping too, and thank goodness, she was so very understanding about his fussiness! I think they will turn out great despite his mood! There's definitely one thing I've learned about having a baby and that is that you have no control over anything and you can't get upset about it if things don't turn out the way you want them to!

x

Well, it's time to go start labeling all his clothes for daycare tomorrow. I'm soooo sad. I told Joel last night that I wasn't sure about this whole going back to work thing. He kept telling me that Hudson will be in great hands, but that is not what I'm worried about. I know he will be fine...I'm just going to miss my little buddy so much!