we are still alive

Just letting everyone know we are still alive! We took a trip this weekend to Iowa to visit Papa and Binga and Hudson and I made a long weekend out of it - went up Friday with Jenni and the kids and came back Tuesday. Jamie and Aaron came up late Friday night then left Sunday evening to get back to work.
The trip was good, but really long, and unfortunately, Hudson and Jamie are both sick now. :(

So I'll be back eventually to post some pictures of the trip and keep you updated, but for right now, I am too busy taking care of my sick boys.

all-nighter

Hudson pulled an all-nighter last night, only this is the good kind - he slept till 7 am!!! Yeah!! He woke up at 4 and Jamie was able to just put him back to sleep so I didn't have to get up to feed him and then he didn't wake up again till 7. Then I fed him and he went back to sleep till 8:30. That's the most sleep I've gotten in exactly 4 months and 7 days. It was great!

4 months pictures

I took some pictures of Hudson today to commemorate 4 months. I even got brave enough to take the diaper off for a few - but it went back on really quick, cause he was laying on my favorite wintertime blanket and I didn't want an accident on it! You can see all the pictures on the slideshow to the right...

4 months

Hudson was 4 months old on Wednesday - I know parents always say it, but you don't understand till you have your own, but I can't believe how fast he is growing up! We took him in for his 4 month check up yesterday. He weighs 14 lbs 15 oz and is 25 3/8 inches long. That puts him in the 55th percentile for weight and 75th for height - so looks like he might be tall! Jamie is proud!

The doctor said his head was a little flat on the right side. I'm not surprised since he likes to only look to the right! I try to always put his head at the opposite end of the bed every night, but since he just likes to look to the right, not look at anything specific in the room, that doesn't work. The doctor said those helmets that some kids have to wear to reshape their heads cost $2500-$3000 and insurance won't cover them because they are considered cosmetic. So we'll watch it now and not let it get that far! His isn't very bad so he just said to try to get him to lay the other way. So I am having to actually turn his head so he's looking to the left when he's sleeping - without waking him up when I do it, which can be tricky!

His lungs sounded fine (He's still been kind of rattly from the cough he had) and they retested his hearing and he passed that fine. They told us at the hospital to bring him back in after a few months to retest, (He passed the test at the hospital but because of the family history they recommended retesting when he was a little older). So I was worrying about that so I'm relieved that he passed this test fine too.

So all in all, he's a happy, healthy growing boy!

feeling neglected

Zeus and Athena have been feeling pretty neglected since Hudson was born. I am getting better about remembering to feed them (it was pretty bad at the beginning, luckily Jamie was around to remember) but they still don't get as much attention as they were used to. The other day I found Athena like this - I think maybe she thought if she acted like a baby I would pay more attention to her! Luckily Zeus hasn't tried this- he would break all of Hudson's chairs! Athena sleeps in this chair most of the time now, evidently it's much more comfortable than her own bed!

look alike?

Notice a resemblance? And no, we didn't put Hudson in a dress!

This is me at 5 months.

This is me at 2 months.

Laughter

Hudson started giggling and laughing last week and it's too cute. Jamie was kissing on his tummy and neck and he was screeching with laughter, so I had to get it on video.

Hudson isn't feeling too well today, so no laughter - hardly even smiles today. Not sure what it is - Binga thinks he might be teething so I froze his teething ring and gave it to him. He seemed to like it a little bit, but since he has that thing about plastic/rubber in his mouth- won't take a bottle or pacifier- he wasn't real sure about it. He seems to be over the congestion from his cold, still has a little bit of a cough though. And I thought maybe his tummy was bothering him cause we went out to eat last night and I tried some new food at a new restaurant here - but I stayed away from the dairy, so not sure if it's that either. It would be a whole lot easier if he could just tell me what hurts! Mostly he just wants to be held today - so I finally was able to put him down a little bit ago and he stayed asleep, so I am taking a few minutes for myself. We'll see how long that lasts!

UPDATE: Before I could even get this posted he woke up from his nap. He smiled at me 3 times before he remembered he wasn't feeling well and started crying again. But the good news is he is now (2 hours after I started this post) feeling good because he dirtied his diaper and that seemed to make all the difference. Either that or he knows Daddy will be home soon!

politics

Well, I think we might have a future politician in our midst! Hudson was totally enthralled with watching Governor Palin's speech last night at the RNC. He sat on Jamie's lap and stared at the TV through the entire thing. Jamie finally had to turn the TV off so I could get him to nurse!

Go Governor Palin! Tell it like it is!

So this morning I was discussing it with Hudson and we think maybe he'll be President someday. He seemed to like it when I sang "Hail to the Chief" to him anyways. And he can't wait for McCain's speech tonight!

Labor Day

Well, we had a big holiday weekend and just got back home late last night, which is why I am just now getting this posted. Hudson is doing much better with his cough - still hanging around a little bit, but much better than he was a week ago. We were worried about how he would do traveling all weekend - but he did great. Slept fine at night, no matter where we were and was a happy boy the whole weekend.
Friday night Papa and Binga (Jamie's parents) came and stayed with us and then on Saturday afternoon we drove out to Burdett for our nephew Jacob's 1st birthday party. Jamie thought it would be fun to ride his motorcycle out there. (He's always begging me to let him ride it to KC or Des Moines and I won't ever let him. I think it's too dangerous on such a long trip, but mostly I just can't imagine it would be fun to sit on that thing for 3 hours. But I finally gave in.) So Hudson and I rode with Papa and Binga and Jamie drove his bike. Should have remembered to put some sunscreen on cause he was pretty red by the time he got to Burdett. And he wishes he had a seat on his bike after sitting on the metal for 3 hours!
So Saturday night we went to the park for Jacob's party, then Sunday was Jamie's grandparents' 25th anniversay and we went to that party. Then Monday we all drove back to Sterling and spent the evening there at Jenni and Aaron's. Jamie had to go back home for work on Tuesday, but since I am now unemployed, I didn't have anywhere I had to be, so Hudson and I stayed in Sterling for the day. Christin had a volleyball game at the college last night and Jamie drove back up and we went to that. But I didn't take into consideration how loud it would be in the gym and Hudson kept getting scared, so he and Jamie went back to Jenni and Aaron's instead of watching the game. They won 1 of the games but lost the match, but already they look better than they did last year, so hopefully they'll have a better season than last year.

So Hudson met lots of his cousins and we had a good weekend with the family.

Here are some pics from our weekend:

Our handsome boy all dressed up for the anniversary party!

Hudson and his cousin Daniel. Daniel is 2 months older than Hudson, but not a whole lot bigger.

Jacob at his birthday party - Jacob is 9 months older than Hudson and a whole lot bigger! Not sure Hudson will ever be able to compete with his rolls!

Jacob got 2 tractors for his birthday and Hudson loved to look at the wheels on the tractors!

Jamie and Hudson in front of the post office in Burdett. We went on a walk Saturday night through town and Jamie asked me "Can you imagine growing up in a town like this?" After I reminded him that he did grow up in this town, he said he had meant could I imagine raising Hudson in a town like this. I told him that even though I am a 'homebody', I think I would go a little crazy having no where to go. He said - "Yeah, and you'd have to cook every night too!"

Hudson laughing at Great Grandpa.

Anna loves Baby Hudson!

Jacob swinging Hudson in the baby swing. I think Hudson wasn't too sure about it!

They were smiling and looking at each other until they realized I had the camera out - then they both had to "cheese" for the camera!