family vacation

Hello all! I just had to post this picture of Hudson. He is teething and as a result when he eats he bites on his spoon and sometimes refuses to let go. He gives us a little glare when we try and remove the spoon and I just had to capture that look for all to see. He is our little dude with attitude!

On a separate note, this past Memorial Day weekend Jim, Haleigh, Hudson and I went on a little family vacation to San Antonio.
We set out from our house in Pearland and made a pit stop in League City where we got to see Haleigh earn her green belt in Tae Kwon Do. I wish you could have seen her. She took down a classmate (pretending) to choke her and she broke a board with her foot! It was so cool to watch. She's very talented.

After Haleigh got her green belt we hopped in the car for the drive to San Antonio. Along the way Haleigh taught Hudson how to hold his own bottle. I think he likes trying to impress his big sister.

When we arrived in San Antonio we met up with our friends Amanda and Andy and hit the riverwalk, which I quickly learned is not very stroller friendly. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then headed to the riverboats for a night time boat ride. Here is a picture of Hudson on his first boat ride. He was a little tired by the end of boat ride and ended up falling asleep on Jim's shoulder.

The next morning Hudson and Haleigh had some brother sister time before we headed to the Alamo.



The Alamo was nice but very hot! As you'll notice in all of the pictures Hudson is not wearing his helmet. It was just too hot for him to wear it during the day so we made the executive decision to just have him wear it at night, in the cool hotel room.












After the Alamo we all went back to the hotel room and took a nap. After we were all well rested we took the bus down to the Market and spent the rest of the evening down there at a really nice Mexican food restaurant.

We took it easy on Monday and did a little shopping, then we grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road for the very tedious drive back to Houston.

Been Awhile

Well it's been a really long time since my last post but I'll try and give you the updates in as condensed a way as possible. So much has happened since January. Hudson is growing by leaps and bounds!
In February my mom (Mimi), Hudson and I all flew to Seattle to see Suzanne, Aaron and my best friend Rita. He did amazingly well on the plane ride (which was 4 hours long). So well in fact that when we landed the guy in front of us stood up to get off the plane and said he didn't even know there was a baby on board! Here are a few pictures from that trip...
The first is of Hudson and Auntie Reet. He just loved getting kisses from her.
Next is Hudson and Aunt Suzanne playing in the living room.














And finally Hudson and Uncle Aaron. Uncle Aaron taught Hudson how to make "the angry face", which he still does to this day.

We had such a good time with everyone and it really made me miss everyone so much!

Easter came quick this year and the Easter bunny was really good to Hudson. He got an Easter basket with all kinds of cool stuff. His favorite toy is a stuffed duck hand puppet. When you put your hand in it, it makes an awful quacking noise that he just thinks is fabulous! He smiles every time he sees it! Easter Sunday also marked a small milestone in his life. He finally rolled over from his back to his tummy. He has been non-stop ever since. Now when we put him to bed at night that's the first thing he does.

This is a picture from the weekend after Easter. These are the beautiful flowers that are in the flower bed in front of our house.

Now for Hudson's medical update. He was born with what they call torticollis which basically means that the ligament on one side of his neck was considerably shorter than the other side. In Hudson's case it was his left side that was the problem. For months we could not figure out why he won't look left. Now we know. Because of his torticollis he developed plagiocephaly. This means that the back of his head was REALLY flat, mostly on the right side, and this has caused malalignment of his ears, eyes and jaw. To correct the problem and so he won't have serious problems in the future, like lock jaw, the specialist we saw recommended the use of a helmet. He wears the helmet 23 hours a day only taking it off for baths and wardrobe changes. He doesn't seem to mind it at all and it has not disrupted his sleep habits (thank goodness). He's had the helmet now for about 3 weeks and we can already see a big difference. We were told that he will need to wear the helmet for 3 to 5 months. Here is a picture of Hudson in his super cool helmet.

Hudson is now sitting up on his own, and rolling like a little mad man. He gets up on all fours as if to crawl but for now he just ends up going backwards. Occasionally if he rocks himself hard enough while on all fours he will launch himself forward. He does sleep through night occasionally waking up between 4 & 5 to take a bottle and then he goes right back to sleep. He LOVES spending time outside. We try and spend as much time outdoors with him as possible. He is eating rice cereal, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, bananas, pears and carrots. He despises peas. Jim and I decided to make his food which has been a real money saver for us. I buy everything fresh, puree it, put it in ice cube trays and freeze. So far the butternut squash is his favorite!

Occasionally we will get a call on Saturday or Sunday from my parents requesting that he come spend the night with them. If he goes over on Sunday night he and Gramps (my dad) get to spend the day together on Monday. Gramps has taught him how to pick kumquats and he is currently in the process of teaching him how to drive the tractor...

We still don't know who he takes after more. He looks a lot like Jim but my dad says he looks like my uncle Charlie when he was a baby, and my mom says he looks a little like my grandfather. All really good qualities to have in my opinion.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I took of Hudson tonight. These were taken just after his bath (hence, no helmet).

It has really been a long time since my last post! I thought I'd take some time this morning and try and give everyone a few quick updates.

I went back to work the week before Christmas. It was not as hard as I thought it would be, because I was leaving Hudson with my mom & dad for the first two weeks that I had started back. He loved spending the time with my parents and that first week I think he really got spoiled because my grandma was also there and he got to visit with her all week.

Christmas was very nice. We spent the day at Mom and Dad's and Suzanne and Aaron came over and we all hung out for the day. Santa was good to everyone this year and it was fun watching Hudson's expressions when we would rip the wrapping paper off the gifts...I think that was his favorite part of the day.

The next weekend we moved out little family out of our apartment and into a house in Pearland. We are LOVING all the extra space we have now! I still can't believe we filled a four bedroom home with the stuff we had in our little two bedroom apartment!

Hudson is now staying with a wonderful woman named Rosa during the day. It was really hard leaving him that first day. I cried all the way to work and called her twice that day. It has gotten a lot easier since then. He sings all the way to her house in the mornings and he smiles when we drop him off and pick him up. Oh, and I think he is learning Spanish; his cries sound a little more "Mexican" now...haha.

I'm putting a little video of Hudson so everyone can see just how big he is getting! This video is of Jim and Hudson playing the choo choo game :-)

Louisiana

Well Hudson has had a busy week. We had a very nice Thanksgiving over at my mom and dad's place on Thursday. My Aunt Donna, Uncle Clay and cousins Mason and Morgan came over for the feast and a little baseball in the backyard. Suzanne and Aaron came a little later and visited for a while. Saturday we went over to cousin Penny's for a second T-day feast, which was very nice. Although we didn't stay long, we sure did enjoy seeing everyone!

Monday, Hudson received his first injections, which he handled quite well! He's a tough kid. On Wednesday we packed up the car and drove over to Louisiana to visit our relatives. Our fist stop was Great Grandma Derouen's house. Grandma got to hold and feed him and luckily Hudson let her sleep at night! Here is a picture from Grandma's house.
She sure did enjoy feeding him! He also got to meet his great uncle Booga and his great aunt Sandy! I think one day Uncle Booga will have to take him for a ride on his motorcycle.

Next stop was to see his great grandma Klentzman. She was SOOOO excited to see him. She sang to him while he slept. It was very sweet!















Here is a photo of Hudson with his great aunt Carolyn. He loved meeting the family!














After visiting with the family in New Iberia we then set off to Breaux Bridge for some quality time with the Mitchell's. We did stop off first in Avery Island to see the Tabasco factory and shop the store for some goodies :-)


Logan with Hudson


Playing with cousins Logan and Callie

Cousin Ali feeding Hudson dinner



Hudson with Great Aunt Sheri



to see more pics from this trip feel free to visit the photo album at the following link:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=sz1xkcj.27layei7&x=0&y=hxl724

Time

Well we are now heading into week six with our newborn. Time is really going by fast!! We are all doing well. Jim has been working really hard lately. He is the only sales rep now for the Houston office so even when he is home he is taking calls from builders and clients. Thank goodness for weekends! Haleigh is also doing well. She is currently in Tae Kwon Do and she loves it! She has a birthday coming up at the end of the month. She will be 15 years old!! I am also doing well. I'm enjoying motherhood. Everyone tells you that it is hard work being a mom, but I honestly don't think you can truly grasp that until you are actually a mom. It is definitely one of the most rewarding things I've ever done though!

Hudson is now cooing more than ever! He started smiling at us last weekend. I got so excited I called my mom and dad to let them know. I get so excited over the smallest things. I've discovered that if you say "I Love You" in a sing songy voice he responds by smiling. It's the cutest thing ever! He went to his first barbecue last weekend where he got to meet his first friends. We have two friends who had babies a couple weeks before Hudson was born and we all got together at my parents place to eat, drink and socialize.

Here are some pictures from the BBQ:

This first is of all three boys. From right to left...Hudson, J.G., and Curt


Hudson and Curt. They both look a little scared in this picture.


Hudson "talking" to J.G. (FYI...Hudson loves to talk)


Hudson and J.G. holding hands. Aren't they cute??


J.G. and his mommy Michelle.


Curt and his mommy Michelle and Hudson and me

We all had a good time and it was really nice to talk to other mom's who are going through the same trials and tribulations that I am.

So Cute

I wanted to put up some of our recent pics...
This is one with his Aunt Suzanne



This is Hudson's first Halloween pumpkin, carved by his daddy. Didn't Jim do a good job?

This is Hudson's second pumpkin. He was not as happy with this one.

Hudson with Mimi. This picture was taken right after the pumpkin picture, so he was a little worn out and needed some comforting from his Mimi.

All dressed up to go see Great Aunt Cindi and Great Uncle Jimmie


I had to take this picture. We call these his little old man pajamas. haha

Leaps and Bounds

It seems like time is going by so fast! Yesterday was Hudson's four week birthday. Hudson, as of last week, weighed in at 7lbs 1oz. He is still our little runt...hahaha. He has started cooing at us and we look forward to hearing those sounds...it really is music to our ears! It seems like he gets more and more attentive with each passing day.

This past weekend was our first time to leave him. My mom & dad watched him for a couple of hours so that Jim and I could go socialize and get some much needed adult time. I did really well I think. We left him at 5:30pm and got home at 9:00pm and I only called twice to check on him. Hudson didn't even know we were gone because he slept the entire time we were at the party. I really did miss him while we were gone, I'm not looking forward the day I go back to work and I have to leave him for a full eight hours. I'll try not to think about that now.

Here are a few pictures from last week. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=sz1xkcj.6wro78iv&x=0&y=-shxqwl

I'll try and send out another post later this week...if Hudson decides to take a nap during the day...we are still working on that one, hahaha