Hudson - 1 Month

Hudson,

You are now 1 month old - holy moly, where did the time go?  It feels like we just got home from the hospital.  You still seem so little and delicate, but maybe that's just in comparison to your big sister.  She can be a little rough with you and we try to remind her that you will soon be bigger than her!  Speaking of BIG, buddy, you primarily wear 3 month clothes now.  We mostly dress you in soft onesies...I love touching your bare little, soft baby legs that are so long and lean.  You are such a handsome baby boy - I love to just look at you.  You have a lot of "mom" in you my son.  We have always said your sister is just like your dad, but you are definitely mine.  Even your Cici says that your demeanor resembles mine as a baby.  You love to be held, loved on, have companionship, need companionship, demand companionship (notice a pattern here?).  You don't like to be left alone.  You love to be held, bounced, walked around, and just all around loved on.

The adorable faces you make, the sweet baby coo's, and your little movements completely make my day.  You have the most beautiful, soft, long hair and I give you more baths than is normal for a newborn because when it's freshly washed, it looks and feels so mmm...mmm good.  Unfortunately, at week 3, you displayed a rough patch of baby acne thanks to crazy hormones passed to you by momma, but as of this week, it's about 75% better.  All of my research says that it can take several months to go away so I'm not sure if it will come and go or if we are just on the downhill side of it.  Regardless, I cannot stop kissing those beautiful, lovable cheeks!  

STATISTICS:
At your new pediatrician, we don't have a 1 month check-up like we did with your sister so we have to wait until you are 2 months old to get your stats; however, one thing is for sure - you are growing, growing, growing!  As of your 2 week check-up a few weeks ago, you measured as follows:
  2 Week Check-up:
    Length: 21.5 in
    Weight: 9.7 oz
    Head:  38cm

EATING:
Just like with your sister, you seem to have a milk protein allergy so I have had to cut out dairy from my diet.  The allergy is not too bad --> it just causes you to spit up thick and gross.  Otherwise, you eat really well (and often!).  I was breast-feeding your sister only 1 year ago, so I brought some good and recent experience to the table for both of us to get the hang of it pretty quickly.  When you were born, I fed you on-demand and you have since settled into your own little pattern / schedule.  During the day, you eat every 2.5 - 3 hours.  At night, you have one appx 4 - 5 hour window and then eat consistently 3 hours after that.  Oh, I almost forgot the best part...you will take a bottle (unlike your sister who wouldn't allow me any freedom until she was almost 6 months old!).

SLEEPING:
We thought your sister was a good sleeper...well, you win sweet boy!  During the first few weeks, there was no Eat, Play, Sleep pattern...it was just Eat, Sleep, Eat, Sleep - you were barely awake and it made me a little nervous.  The past 2 weeks, you have been awake more during the day and able to "play" more.  At night, you wake to eat and then go right back to sleep with little to no effort at all; and I actually go right back to sleep also; it's pretty awesome.  I'm much more rested (as far as sleep goes!) than with Harper.  We barely move when you wake to eat at night and I don't change your diaper in between every single feeding (why did I think I had to with Harper??...hello, baby wake-up!).  There has only been 1 (yes, no exaggeration...only 1) night that you needed to be walked around in circles and put back to sleep between a feeding.  To all of this, I say "thank you".  You also take your longest nap of the day (full sleep between feedings) at the exact same time Harper takes her nap.  This was nothing I did - you must just have good instincts to which I say, again, "thank you".  You hate to sleep laying flat - in fact, you will NOT sleep laying flat (which is one of the reasons we thought you might have reflex...I still think you might a little bit).  Last night, I even tried laying you in your bassinet for just 5 minutes and you began choking on spit-up...ummm...no thank you!  Thus, we will continue to keep you in a semi-upright position to sleep and that makes us all content and happy campers.

CRYING:
While you are a phenomenal eater and a great sleeper, you do cry more than Harper did.  At first, we almost labeled you as "colic".  Then, we examined if you had "reflux".  Finally, we determined you were just "NORMAL".  Harper hardly ever never cried and so in comparison, it seemed like a lot but you are just a normal baby getting your exercise through crying (primarily at your witching hour in the evening when you just want to be bounced).  Oh, and in the car - the car is the worst.  I never want to drive anywhere with you and it has to be something special for me to put you into the carseat because you just cry scream at the top of your lungs!  When we finally get where we are going, I am ready to puke because I get physically ill listening to you sound like you are in that much pain and the mommy guilt of driving you anywhere kills me!  We have got to figure out a solution for this soon.  The best part is, your sister stares at you and sympathy cries (fake cries) right along with you.  I know all my friends are jealous of my new car soundtrack...

LOOKS LIKE:
Many people have said you look somewhat like a good mixture of your dad, me and your sister; however, the most votes definitely go towards your dad.  After digging out a baby picture of your dad, we have decided that you are a spitting image of him.

Baby Hudson

Baby Matt

BIG SISTER:
Harper calls you "Huds" because she cannot say "Hudson"; thus, this has become your nickname around the house (aside from Huddie and Pincher).  She loves to pat you, touch you, kiss you, and always wants to help you out.  If you're crying, she brings you a blanket or a pacifier and says "sorry" (unless we are in the car, where, as I mentioned earlier, she will sympathy cry for you).  Her face lights up like I've never seen it the few times she's gotten to "hold" you.  When you are doing tummy time, she likes to say you are going "night, night" and sets up a pillow and blanket to go "night, night" next to you.  I think she's pretty darn smitten with you (just like everyone else!).

Dressed up in your little tie for your first day at church

LIKES/DISLIKES:

  You like tummy time
  You looove mommy to hold you (for now, you are a momma's boy)
  You like to be bounced, walked, patted, cuddled and loved on
  You like to stare into my eyes and for me to stare into yours
  You like the baby swings and bouncy chairs
  You like the moby carrier and love for mom & dad to "wear" you
  You like baths
  You like your pacifier
  You like windows and lights --> a lot!

  You dislike the CAR!!!
  You dislike a dirty diaper
  You dislike being left by yourself - you always know if we step away for just a sec
  You dislike laying flat on your back (hello spit-up!)

Freshly bathed

Playing

Swinging

Lovin' your pacifier

So content in the Moby wrap - once we figured out how much you looove this, we pretty much let you hang out there most days!

You are the perfect addition to our family - just what we needed to complete our little world.  I hope you always know how loved you are and that we will be here for you always - to love, to support, to cherish and no matter what, we will always be proud of you.  Happy 1 month birthday Huds, our precious son.

Love you SO MUCH,
Your momma.

In case you haven't noticed, you have a very proud momma!

A typical day - except for the part with me shopping online - that doesn't happen every day :)

School Days

So proud to bring in her teacher appreciation gift

A few weeks ago, we enrolled Harper into Pre-School and she goes twice a week for 4 hours a day.  Harper is extremely smart and I've been able to teach her tons in our time together (annoying "mom-brag alert" - her pediatrician even said she is ahead of the curve in smarts); however, we recognize socialization is NOT something that can be easily taught by this momma.  Heaven help me in showing her how to share, take a turn, don't take other kids food, don't hit, etc.  We have already seen her learning so many social skills from school and my favorite part is arriving for pick-up a tad bit early to spy on her in the room.  I've noticed she interacts SO WELL with the other kids and loves to get attention from her teachers (imagine that!).  She also has absolutely no problem standing outside of the crowd and doing her own thing (not out of shyness but out of curiosity and a desire to find something new before anyone else...just like her dad!).

Each day I pick her up from school, I inquire the following:

Q: Did she take any toys from the other kids?
A: On average, just once per day.

Q: Did she try to take the other kids food?
A: No...never...not once even though they all eat together at a table  (unbelievable because she steals kids food on play dates!)

Q: Did she eat all her lunch?
A: Sometimes...we have 100% success rate if I include mac-n-cheese as the main course.

FIRST DAY:
Harper struggles with the dreaded "drop off".   We've taken her to a few drop-in daycares, the church daycare, the daycare at MOPS, etc and each time is a struggle (for her AND for us).  She screams and cries like we are leaving her forever and it is incredibly heart breaking for both mom AND dad.  Thus, on her first day of school, I knew what was coming.

As soon as we walked through the doors, Harper grabbed onto my leg for dear life - she could tell it was a "drop off" kind of a place.  We walked into the room and she started crying and reaching for me immediately.  I sat on the floor and began pointing out all of the toys to her as most of the kids in her class came to hover around and see who this crying child was.  One kid came over and began to pat her back because she was crying - it was adorable.  Then, I pointed out a baby doll to Harper that was laying on the floor; another little girl saw me point it out and she picked up the doll and brought it over to hand to Harper.  Harper stopped crying and smiled slightly.  I told Harper to give her a high five and when Harper put her hand up, the little girl froze - but out of the corner of the room, the rambunctious, awesome boy "Maddox" came charging towards Harper with his hand out ready to high five over and over and over until both Harper and Maddox were laughing.  Where in the world did all of these incredibly kind hearted children come from?  It was awesome.

I waited until Harper was fully engrossed in a toy before slipping out.  After about 10 minutes of filling out paperwork, I went back to the window to take a peek at her playing so happily...mommy fail because she saw me in the window and started bawling again. Dang!  When I picked her up she was so happy and so exhausted.  Two motorcycle cops had been by that day and brought their motorcycles onto the playground for the kids to see and touch.  It was pretty cool because she loves the sign language sign for "motorcycle" but hadn't seen one in person (only on TV).  Overall, it was a successful first day.

Right after Harper started school, it was Teacher Appreciation Week.  Hello - she had only been to 3 classes, but hey, I am an avid Pinterest user and I love this kind of stuff!  I made a different gift for each of the two days she attended that week:

Pincher

Hudson has quite the grip for a wee-little-fellow.  When he is upset, he will grab our hands, arms, whatever is within his reach and pinch the crapola out of us.  Each time totally warrants a high pitched "ouch!".  He also has a lovely collection of crab outfits (which we LOVE!)...so, we have appropriately nicknamed our son "Pincher" thanks to his two little crab pincher hands.

The Horse Says Nay

Harper absolutely loves to make animal noises.  We go through books, stuffed animals, "Little People" animals, animal magnets on the refrigerator, etc, and practice all of her animal sounds.  She especially loves that a horse says "nay".

This weekend, Harper got to ride a horse for the very first time (okay, it was really a pony).

We were at a catholic church festival just a few blocks from our house and they also had a cute little petting zoo, lots of games, bands, a diverse collection of food tents and a ton of bouncy houses.

After a baby goat came right up to her rather swiftly, she was afraid of the animals

...but she slowly warmed up to them

There were goats, ducks, a pig and a pony

The weather was really pretty but a tad windy so we kept little man sleeping and covered in the stroller the entire time.

Harper was too small to play most of the games, but we did play one game on our way out where you pick a number between 1-30 and they spin a wheel...if the wheel stops on your number, you win a prize.  We one with lucky #8 and got Harper a stuffed horse in memory of the fun day...."nay!"

Totally random, but this girl's bangs are outta control...she reminds me of Donald Trump here.  With the wind blowing and her hair absent of a clip, it provides the perfect combination for this shot!  We've gotta learn to keep clips in.the.hair because momma ain't cutting these little bit of locks!

Hudson - 2 Weeks

Hudson,

Happy 2 weeks little man!  You are such a beautiful blessing in our lives and we are beyond thankful that God entrusted you into our family.  What an surprising 2 weeks it has been.  I did not really know what to expect after you joined our little family but I have been so surprised by you.

FUN FACTS:
Naturally, we are constantly comparing you to your sister as a newborn.  She is our benchmark for all that we know about babies so we are constantly saying "Harper didn't do that" or "Harper did it this way", etc.  Here are some fun facts about you and Harper:

• You enjoy tummy time (your sister did not)
• You enjoy baths (your sister cried all through her baths)
• You do not like when we stop at stop lights in the car (your sister didn't either)
• You often sleep with your mouth open - adorbs!
• You do not like to be swaddled at all (your sister loved it)
• You are a fabulous sleeper - I.mean.fabulous.  Last night, you slept for 4.5 hours in a row and the night before, you slept for 5.5 hours.  I've even googled "can my baby sleep too much?" At night, right after you eat, you go back to sleep...you seem to know night from day already and I'm WAY less tired than I was with Harper.  Your dad and I mainly remember taking turns dancing round and round and round in circles with your sister to try to get her to sleep at night when she was your age.    
• You are typically fussy right after eating.  We know it's not reflux because you want to be bounced, but maybe gassy?  We are still trying to figure it out...we offer lots of burping and gas drops until you are comfortable.    
• You don't spit up very often at all (same as your sister)
• You are soothed by the pacifier (your sister was not)
• You want to be bounced constantly.  If we stop bouncing, you cry!
• You love to be held - I hold you in my arms to sleep or else you sleep in your bouncy. 
• You have abnormally large feet; the pediatrician even said so.  Harper had what the pediatric nurse referred to as "abnormally small feet" when she was a baby.  
• You bite half of your bottom lip when you sleep (just like your sister did!)
• You hiccup A LOT.  About 50% of the time, after you eat, you get the hiccups.  The doctor said this is because your belly is full (good feedings!); supposedly you are so full that stuff is pushing up on your diaphragm causing the hiccups.    

DOCTOR APPOINTMENT:

Your birth weight was 8lbs and 12oz and at your 2 week appointment you were 9lbs and 7oz (granted, we went 3 days after you turned 2 weeks)...whoa baby!  You grew out of newborn diapers and into size 1 diapers during your 1st week.  You also cannot fit into several of your newborn clothes - I've been frantically taking pictures of you in several of them before they will no longer snap closed!  

SISTERLY LOVE:

Your sister absolutely loves to give you kisses and hugs and likes to "pat" you.  You enjoy watching her move around.  I pray for you and her to grow up close and bonded and together, grounded in a strong faith.  

A few weeks before you were born, a stranger & I spoke briefly about having a second child.  I mentioned how scary it was to think about me sharing my love of Harper with another baby...to which she responded, "your love doesn't get divided, but rather, it multiplies".  And multiply it has!!!  You are the missing puzzle piece in our family...our son and Harper's brother...our family is now complete.  We embrace and love you with all of our being, Hudson.  We will always love you, always support you, and will always stand by your side.  I pray you will always know that You.Are.LOVED!  

Love,

Momma and Daddy

Big Huddie!

Biting the bottom half of your lip just like Harper did

Even "Tough Guys" cry...

Look at that big-kid foot!

Bright Eyes!

You dig this giraffe paci that we tried to get your sister to dig!