Cereal Update

You gotta watch this little booger...

This almost ended up on his head!

Instead, most of it went in his mouth...I think.

Cereal is going great! I can't get it to his mouth fast enough. He whines and fusses until he gets some more. We have made great progress over the past week! It is so fun feeding him, although it is quite the mess. Do they ever eat it without getting it all over them? He has already hit the bowl and hit the spoon out of my hand and cereal has gone everywhere! I fear for the day we start carrots and green beans...I think we will be going back to feeding him in just the diaper!

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We put together the high chair this weekend and decided to start feeding him in that. It is working better, although, Hudson likes to slump over like he is in the picture above. Every time I would straighten him back up, he would go right back to this position. It is funny! I guess he likes being close to the bowl!

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I changed up Hudson's feeding schedule this weekend to 8 ounces every 4 hours instead of 6 ounces every 3 hours. The pediatrician recommended doing that to see if we could stretch it out a bit. I didn't think he would be able to make it the full 4 hours because most of the time it is a struggle making it the 3 hours, but surprisingly, he has made it the full time and I have been able to get him in a better schedule with naps and such by doing this. And, I feel like I have more time to do things between feedings as well, so it has been a great change all around! He is doing the cereal one time a day before bath time at night.

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We had a very low key weekend. We were all exhausted. This was the first weekend in a while that we didn't have anything. I did take Hudson to his first, and last according to Joel, Arbonne party on Thursday night. I didn't want to take him, but the hostesses guilted me into it! He had a lot of fun being the only guy at the party! He flirted with everyone, and stayed up WAY past his bedtime! It was a great time though!

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The weather was amazing this weekend! We went on a long walk Saturday morning and it really felt like a fall day. There was definitely that football feeling in our minds! Only another month until we get to see our Tigers play! I don't know if we will be taking our little man down there this year. We have tickets, but I'm not really sure he would be a whole lot of fun at this age. I definitely don't want to take him down there when it is so hot, so we'll for sure wait until sometime mid-season if we do take him. I can't wait to chase him around down there though. We have a lot of fun years to come! I just wish we didn't have to buy him a ticket! So ridiculous!
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Our other babies got haircuts this weekend. And, they got some new toys. We felt like they never get any attention anymore, so we spoiled them a little bit! They look so cute!

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I don't have much else to report on. I am going to be switching my days at work. Apparently, being gone from Thursday to Tuesday is too long, so I have to figure out something else. I will probably do Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but may do 5 half days. I just don't want the 5 half days to turn into 5 full days! I really like the Tuesday through Thursday schedule now, so I will miss that, but I have to do what works best for everyone.
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Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the wonderful weather as much as we did!

Four Month Appointment and Fourth of July Pics

Hudson had his four month check up on Friday. He weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds, 15 ounces, was 26.5 inches in length, and had a head circumfrence of 17.75. He was in the 90th percentile for weight and height, and sadly to say, his head circumfrence was off the chart. Ha! We just think he's got extra brains in there! He is a big boy! It is so funny because neither Joel nor I was a big baby. We don't know where it is coming from! I told Joel that I am glad that he is at least proportional. It is not like he is tall and thin, or short and fat...he's just right! Anyway, we got the go ahead to start the cereal and we tried that last night (see previous post!). It did not go so well, but we probably shouldn't have started it last night. Yesterday was a big day for Hudson and I think he was just exhausted. We are going to try again tonight to see if we have some better results! He was trying to eat it so I do think he is ready for it, but I may change my mind after we try it again tonight. It sure was messy though. The doctor said everything looked great with him and he will see him again in a month and a half right before he has a little surgery procedure at six months old. :(

We had a great time over the Fourth of July weekend. We started out in Mentone at my parent's cabin and spent a couple of nights there before heading over to Weiss Lake to spend the rest of the weekend with Joel's family. It was a lot of fun! Below are some pictures from the weekend.

Mom with Hudson at Desoto Falls. This was about as far as she would go with him! The ground was a little uneven so I'm glad she didn't take him too close to the edge!

Mom showed some of her jewelry at the art show in Mentone on Saturday morning. Her jewelry is really pretty! We had a fun time hanging out at the art show while all the boys were playing golf.

Here is Hudson looking cute in his Daddy's hat! Maybe a future golfer???

We put Hudson in the lake for the first time. I think he liked it...although he was in the lake maybe 5 minutes!

Hudson in his funny hat! Migi gave him this. I thought this picture was so cute!

One of my clients gave me a huge box of fireworks last year, so we shot those on Saturday night. Hudson had already gone to bed so he missed out. Although, if he is anything like his mommy, he will hate fireworks! I can remember being at the beach every fourth of July sitting in my granddaddy's lap on the 6th floor of the condo building as far away from the fireworks as I could get because I was scared to death! I am really just now overcoming the fear! Don't ever ask me to hold a sparkler because I will have no part in that!

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Hope everyone had a great 4th!

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* New post below!

Hudson's Baptism

We have had such a wonderful day today. Hudson was baptized this morning before a church full of family and friends. It was so special and a day we will never forget! We thank everyone for coming to be with us and celebrating this joyous occasion with us!

When Hudson woke up this morning at 8 am, the first thought that went through mine and Joel's minds was that oh no, he will be hungry right at the 11 am service! This is going to be a nightmare! As we were all getting ready, Hudson didn't nap at all, so again, we were so worried that he was going to be fussy during the baptism. Never in our wildest dreams did we think he would be as good as he was! He was in the best mood and stayed awake for the entire baptism, and even smiled to the congregation as he was walked up and down the aisle by the minister! As soon as we sat back down, Hudson closed his eyes and was out. He slept through the sermon and woke up right as the music was ending at the conclusion of the service. It was an absolute dream! I think we had some help from above today!

He looked so cute in his gown. My mom made the gown for my brother Vann, and he would have been 32 years old in October, so it has been in the family for a long time! I wore it, my sister wore it, and Vann's son Blaine wore it as well! I am so glad that Hudson was able to wear it too. It means so much! And, it is beautiful to say the least!

Funny story about Blaine...he is raised Baptist, so he was dedicated when he was a baby, and the actual baptism comes later. So, he knows virtually nothing about baptisms...or so we all thought! He told Ashley on the way to the church today that baby Hudson was getting "flicked" with water today. She asked him what he meant by "flicked", and he said, "You know, flicked", and he acted like he flicked some water. Apparently, kids know way more than we think!

Here is Hudson waiting to get his gown on!

Joel, Hudson, and me with the preacher. He did so well with Hudson. When Hudson wasn't giving smiles to the congregation, he was staring at Dr. Styes! It was so cute!

The next few pictures were taken once we got home. The gown is a little wrinkley, but Hudson was all smiles, so we decided to take a few more pictures. These turned out great!

I love this little guy!

After the service, we headed to my mom's house for some punch and then across the street to Mama Jean's house for lunch. Mama Jean has moved to assisted living, but she still has her house. My parent's put several tables in her living room and dining room and it worked great for the occasion!

Here is my grandmother and granddaddy with Hudson.

Here are Trey and Morgan with Hudson.

The food was great! I ordered a couple of casseroles from Ashley Mac's in Cahaba Heights. They were delicious! My mom made a basket out of a watermelon and we had fruit salad, a green salad, and rolls. I didn't get a picture of the desserts, but they were the big hit of the day! My mom had made key lime pie, hershey bar pie, and strawberry shortcake, and put them all into individual martini glasses. It was so creative and they were delicious! I wish I had taken pictures.

Migi and Pops with Hudson.

And, if today was not enough alone for Hudson, we TRIED rice cereal. (key word is tried!).

4 Months

This was Hudson one month ago at three months old...

And, here he is today at 4 months old! He is even telling you how old he is by his fingers! Ha!

You can tell how animated he has gotten over the past month. It was actually a little bit difficult to get his picture next to the stuffed animal this time. He was moving all over the place and kept wanting to grab the stuffed animal! He used to just sit there! I think we are in big trouble when this little boy starts moving.

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Over the past month he has really developed a personality! He loves to squeal and laugh, especially at Pops! No one can make Hudson laugh like his granddaddy! It is hilarious.

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He is really starting to follow Joel and me. He wants to keep his eyes on me at all times and when Joel is around, he is all about his daddy! He just loves to look at Joel and smile. It is so cute. He isn't really getting upset when we aren't around just yet, but he wants to keep an eye on us at all times!

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He is rolling over from back to front and has gone from front to back once. He isn't too crazy about tummy time at all. They are working on it with him at daycare. It is funny because he will roll over onto his tummy and then can't get back over and he gets so mad!

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He loves his jumperoo now and really likes to be in a sitting up position wherever he is. He is starting to not like the playmat as much these days which is terrible because that is my go to thing! He used to just love it! The jumperoo is going to quickly become my go to though. He loves you to sit with him on the floor and pull on his arms so he can sit up. I think he is going to be sitting up early. We will see though.

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Hudson is grabbing things like crazy. Anything that he can get his hands on is good with him! He will even play his his burp cloth if there is nothing else around! Oh and hair is always a good thing too! He loves toys though and he takes them straight to his mouth every time. I guess they taste good!

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He is still sleeping great at night, although he has been waking up a few times a week crying. Luckily, he will cry himself right back to sleep and Joel and I don't usually have to go check on him. It still wakes us up though! I have been reading that 4 months is a time where babies start to become more aware of their surroundings and this can sometimes cause them to get off their sleep schedule at night because they would rather be playing! We haven't had it too bad yet though thank goodness!

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Hudson is still wearing 6 month clothes, but I went and bought a bunch of 9 month outfits this weekend because he is quickly growing out of the 6 month clothes! It is so sad!
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Daycare seems to be going good so far. We are a month into it now. His teachers tell me that he is a very happy and content baby, and is just the sweetest thing in the world. I already knew that though! He gets to have water play on Wednesdays and they say he just loves that. He still doesn't nap at daycare very well, so we have a very sleepy baby on our hands at night. It is all we can do to keep him up until 7:30 or so.
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We have Hudson's 4 month doctor's appointment this Friday so I'm hoping we will be getting the go ahead to do cereal. He is so interested in what we are eating so I think he is ready. We will see what the doctor says though. He is also getting a bunch of shots. I am dreading that!

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He is getting baptized next Sunday so we are all looking forward to that! Joel can't wait to see his little man in a dress! He will be wearing the same gown that I wore, along with my brother and sister, and my nephew Blaine all wore. It will be really sweet.

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Joel and I are loving this age that Hudson is in. I think we have said that every month, but I just love seeing his little personality come out. Happy 4 months little buddy! We love you!

My Name is...

H-U-D-S-O-N, pronouced "HuD-son" (key letter being the D!). To the nice lady at daycare, it is not Hutson, like hut, as in hike the football. It is Hudson, with a D, not a T. I know you like to call me Hutson every morning, but that is not my name. Also, it is not Huddy like Big Daddy likes to say (although I know he just does it to push my mommy's buttons!). And, it is not Hud...that was one of my uncle's good friends from high school. Feel free to call me H-Dub, or just plain ole Hudson...that is my name, don't wear it out.

Oh, and I LOVE my bumbo and tomorrow, I will celebrate 4 fabulous months of life! Woohoo!!!


***Please excuse the naked chunky monkey in the picture above...he had SEVERAL blowouts yesterday and went through all his outfits at daycare. He came home in someone else's outfit so we had to get that off of him and wash it so that they would have it the next day. Oops!!!

Lunch Fun

Hudson and I met up with a couple of friends from high school for lunch on Friday. Megan and Sally went to Alabama for college, while I went off to Auburn, so we pretty much lost touch until about a year ago when we reconnected. We've been getting together ever since! I missed these girls and it is so fun catching up every time. We are never at a loss for words! It is amazing how much has happened in a year though. Last summer when we met up for the first time in several years, it was just the three of us enjoying a nice, quiet lunch. Hunt was in Megan's tummy, and little did they know, Hudson was in mine! I was not telling the news just yet. Now, the boys are here and I just know that they are going to be great friends! Sally is a nurse and works every other week, so on her off weeks, she keeps baby Cate below. We love for Cate to come with us too! She is absolutely adorable! So...our nice quiet lunch is not so nice and quiet, but we wouldn't change it for the world! I had so much fun with you girls and can't wait to do it again!


I just know these boys are going to be trouble in a few years! When I put Hudson down to see Hunt, Hunt immediately socked him in the face! Hudson then decided he would lick Hunt's arm. It was hilarious! I'm so happy that they are going to grow up in the same community, play sports together, church together...so much fun!

Thank goodness we have a short week coming up! Joel has been working all weekend so I'm looking forward to a long weekend next weekend with my little family. It was this weekend last year that I found out that I was pregnant. It is hard to believe that we have an almost 4 month old now!

Random Post

This is going to be an extremely random post. I have so much to blog about, but nothing is huge so I didn't want to do it in separate posts.

I survived my first week alone with Hudson. Joel went out of town last week. I've always been afraid to stay by myself, and then add a child to the mix, I was pretty much freaking out! Ever since our house got broken into last year, I get so jittery when I'm home alone, especially at night. The break in didn't even happen at night, nor while I was at home thank goodness, but the fact of the matter is that someone did break in and the thought of that still sends a shiver down my spine! And, to make matters worse, the dogs have this uncanny ability to know when I am uncomfortable and they go into extra protection mode, which means they bark at any sound that they hear...all night long. So, it was a long few nights, but we made it. We were so glad when Joel got home and are thankful that he doesn't have to travel too much with work! I also gained a whole lot of respect for single parents. I don't know how you do it and have time for yourself too! It was hard work and I have an easy child to take care of!

Hudson has a new talent. I'm sure all parents do this, but ever since he was just a few weeks old, we would make noises at him to try to get him to smile or react to us. We still do this to this day--I'm sure we look like idiots doing it, but we'll do anything to get Hudson to laugh and smile at us! Anyway, one noise in particular that always worked was when we would vibrate our lips and make a sound (it is hard to describe it, but you get the point). Hudson just cracks up when you do this. Well, he has now learned how to do it himself. I have got to get a video of this because it is so cute, but he will look at you and do this non-stop. We can't even really get him to talk much any more because he is too busy making this new noise! He knows that we think it is funny too, and that just eggs him on to do it more! Joel and I have been wondering if maybe we need to stop making the noise, but we are glad that he has learned something from us if nothing else!

Hudson has always been a big kicker. We always laugh at him because when he is on his play mat, most of the time it looks like he is riding a bike too. He is going to have some killer abs because his legs are always doing something in the air! He always likes to stand up when you hold him too, and now he is really trying to sit up, although he doesn't really have all the muscles for that yet (it won't be long though!). For these reasons, we decided it was time to get him a jumperoo. He is still a little bit too small to be in it, and he hasn't really figured out that he can jump up and down, but he loves to look at the lights and play with the various things on it. More than anything, I think he likes to be able to see everything. I took some pictures recently of him in the jumperoo. He is so cute!

Now onto the randomness--If you get grossed out easily, you may want to just skip this paragraph. I would not recommend reading it while eating either. That is my disclaimer. Joel and I had the outside trim and shutters painted on our house this past weekend. We use a guy named Oliver to do all of our painting at our house, inside and outside. If anyone needs a great painter, let me know. He is really good and is not expensive at all. You feel like you are stealing from him! Anyway, Oliver brought a crew with him this time to do our house. None of them spoke a lick of english as you can imagine, but that is beside the point. When Oliver got to our house Friday morning, I told him that if anyone needed to come in and get water or go to the bathroom, to just come on in and it wouldn't be a problem. We have left Oliver at our house by himself on numerous occasions. He is very trustworthy. Fast forward to Friday night. Joel and I had picked up La Paz for dinner and took it back home to eat (very fitting that we at Mexican that night!). We had been eating maybe 5 minutes when Joel asked where Chloe, our dog, was. She has slipped out of our fence several times and Joel wanted to make sure she was in the yard so he went out to find her. You probably know where this is going by now, but in case you don't, I will keep going! The next thing I knew, Joel had Chloe and was cussing and threw her in the house. He said do not touch her and don't let her leave the kitchen. I still had no idea what was happening. Joel then said that one of the Mexicans had pooped in our yard and Chloe was eating it...yes, eating it. Now that our appetites were totally gone (darn it!), Joel went out to shovel up the mess and we had to figure out what to do with our stupid dog. I think we brushed her teeth about 5 times and gave her 3 baths! It was so disgusting. Needless to say, Joel had some words with Oliver the next morning and he personally showed Oliver's entire crew where the bathroom was and held up a roll of toilet paper so that they would know where to go and what to use! It is hilarious now, but it was so not funny on Friday night!

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Here is another picture of our little man. I think there were some belly laughs that came along with this shot! Gotta love the belly laughs!

Anyone who knows me really well knows that I love reality tv. I especially love the Bachelor/Bachelorette. Joel can't stand it, but he is so sweet that he takes care of bath time on Monday nights just so I can watch my show. Anyway, I was so glad that Jillian was picked to be the next Bachelorette. I loved her on the Bachelor and thought that she really deserved to find a good man. Up until this point, I felt like she had done really well in her weeding out of all the guys. She really did have some good guys left! Kipton has been my favorite since day one, with Jake and Jesse at a close second and third. I don't understand why she sent Jake home this week! She even said herself that he was Mr. Perfect. He is a little bit sappy for my liking, but he is so cute and accomplished and seems like he comes from a good family. She sent him home and kept Wes! I can't believe that! He is a sleezebag (is that how you spell that?). Anyway, I don't think she should have kept Michael the break dancer either, but I know that he would love her unconditionally and would make her happy...he is too young though...and, he is a break dancer. Do people really do that? I think that Ed is coming back on the show this week coming up. I really like him too and was sad when he left for his job, but in this economy, the chances of him ending up with Jillian were small and he really didn't need to lose his job over that! But...maybe he is coming back and it will work out?!?! Stay tuned...

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Lastly, am I the only one that is sad about Jon and Kate? I know that there are two sides to every story, but I don't think anyone with 8 kids (or anyone in general for that matter!) should say that they are excited about getting a divorce like Jon said. And, it blows me away that they say the "show must go on!" That "show" is what has caused this to begin with. And another thing...they say that they are going to both live in their multi million dollar home part of the time. Now, tell me how that is going to work??? And Jon's new earrings??? I could go on and on, but that is my vent on them. It does not appear that they did anything to try to reconcile this marriage, and I am so sad for those kids more than anything. I just read through this paragraph and it sounds like Jon and Kate are my close friends! Oh how I love my reality tv!