oranges

Hudson loves to eat oranges! As you can see... Now he drops all his food on the floor instead of eating it, so it's already not as cute as it was last week!

And yes, Zeus ate all the oranges off the floor!

Hudson meets Callista

So Hudson didn't get to meet Callista on Sunday at the hospital because he was sick. (Yes, AGAIN. He ran a fever for 3 days but had no other symptoms so we were sure he was finally teething. But then Monday night he broke out in a rash all over his body. At first we thought he was allergic to soy because we had just given him tofu for the first time the day before but it turns out that he had the exact symptoms of roseola - it's a cold virus that just manifests itself differently than the sneezing, coughing kind. So since he had a fever on Sunday we didn't take him up to the hospital, which turned out to be a good decision on our part since he was actually contagious, not teething.)
So he finally got to go meet his first cousin today. And he LOVED her! I didn't think he would even really notice her but he was pretty excited about her. Not so sure when she cried a little bit but as long as she was quite he thought she was pretty great!

This was actually a ribbon off of a present but since she has so much hair we thought she needed a bow!

future quarterback??

Hudson has started working on his throwing arm....by throwing all his toys - which I think is cute now but wait till he does it when he's throwing a fit, right? :)

Callista pictures

Here she is - beautiful little girl. I can't believe Hudson was ever that tiny - they grow so quick! Callista and Mom are doing well and ready to go home. She has looonng fingers and fingernails (I'm jealous!) and a beautiful little face. She has lots of dark hair too!

Callista Jane

Congratulations to my brother and his wife (Chase and Annie) on the birth of their daughter - Callista Jane! She was born at 1:58 this morning - weighed in at 7 lbs, 19 inches long and I'm told has more hair already than Hudson has now! Going to see her in a few hours then I'll post some pics - can't wait! My sister called at 3:30 this morning to tell me and I've hardly slept since! Of course, some of that has to do with the fact that Hudson didn't sleep well either.... maybe he is just excited to meet his new cousin!

trip to the zoo

It was beautiful here yesterday - 60 degrees! - so we went to the zoo. Most of the animals were still pretty sleepy - it is winter after all, guess they're in hibernation mode - but a few of them were up and active. Hudson had a great time although I don't think he really saw very many of the animals since they were mostly just laying out in the sunshine and not moving around.

He did see the giraffes. They came right over to us and looked at us for a while so I know he could see them. And the peacocks just wander around the zoo and he noticed them too. I am pretty sure he saw the gorillas and elephants too but his absolute favorite was....the Canadian Geese. Yeah, the same ones we see in our own backyard. Go figure! Some of the geese were in a fight - I think a male was being a little territorial - so it was causing quite a ruckus so that got his attention!

We were there almost 2 hours and Hudson was asleep before we even got to the gift shop on our way out...and then he slept for 2 hours!! So it really wore him out!

Trying to get him to look at the animals but he was looking everywhere else instead!

Ummm....Mom...not too sure about this guy!!

I guess he's okay!! But hurry!

This was where he saw the geese fighting - the highlight of the day!

Couldn't get Hudson to look at me but Jamie definitely has the model pose going on!

Giddy up!!

By the waterfall in the jungle. Hudson liked the jungle quite a bit - lots of colors, birds and fish - and the waterfall of course!

tongue

Hudson has discovered his tongue this last week and unless he's sleeping it's always sticking out. It's too cute! And he's getting better and better about tummy time. Now he'll spend 5-10 minutes playing before he gets mad and rolls over. He scoots around in a circle and yesterday I think he even scooted backward a little - but it might have just been wishful thinking on my part!

fun game

Hudson's favorite thing to do in his highchair (besides stuffing food in his mouth!) is to drop everything on the floor. This morning he shared his banana with Athena but she wasn't too interested in it.

mama

Hudson has started saying "MaMa" all the time now - I love it. He especially likes to say it when he's mad but he does it a lot of other times too. Jamie is working on dada but mostly it's just "mama" or "baba" or screaming.

Hudson slept from 10 pm last night until 6:15 this morning - which is the longest in a loooonnng time - so that was pretty exciting for me. And the best part was when he woke up he didn't wake up crying - I woke up hearing him call for his "mama". How sweet! :)

Finger Foods

This week Hudson started eating finger foods and he LOVES it. He still hadn't been eating well since he had been sick 2 weeks ago so I decided to try something different and evidently he was just ready to move on to something new. He will eat anything you put on his tray now and just keeps going and going (although I do find half of it in his seat when he gets up)! And he won't eat much pureed baby food anymore either. He thinks he is too big for that now!

taxes and middle-of-the-night feedings

So I have been working all day on clinic stuff. Ugghh! My dad and I spent the whole afternoon figuring out our taxes - not fun stuff when you have to pay! Jamie likes it when we have to pay instead of getting a refund - "The government shouldn't get my money interest free" - but I like it a whole lot better when we get a refund check! :)

So once Hudson went to bed this evening I started working again and I am done now, but just waiting because I know the minute I lie down and close my eyes - Hudson will wake up to eat. Yep, there he is now - it's like clockwork!!

giggles, smiles, talking and throwing up - again!

Hudson has been talking up a storm these last few days. He's back to saying "mama" again- which I love! Otherwise it's lots of jibberish and screaming. But it's so cute. He has been feeling good for several days now, enjoying playing with all his toys and talking, talking, talking. Till last night. I was nursing him and about 2 minutes from putting him in bed and he started throwing up again. All over me and himself - several times. Ugghh! We are pretty sure this time it was a reaction to the amoxcillin (although he has been taking it for 8 days now) but we had given it to him just 10-15 before the throwing up started. He didn't eat a lot for dinner so we think it was just the medicine on an empty stomach. Hopefully not antoher round of the flu! He seems to be feeling fine so far this morning.
I better get going - I have some laundry to do from last night. We both went through 2 changes of clothes and Jamie had to change once. Plus all the blankets and clean up towels! Yuck!

feeling better

Hudson is finally feeling better - he has actually played pretty good all week, just been fussy at night and nap time - which isn't too unusual for him :) He finally started eating a little bit of food yesterday again too, so that's good. He's been getting up 3 times at night again, which is because of both being sick and not eating good so he's hungry. So hopefully that will get better as he starts filling his tummy more. We'll see. His sleeping has actually been better as far as rocking him to sleep and putting him down, he usually stays/goes right to sleep instead of the crying fits we had been having. So we'll see how long that lasts. Hopefully it's here to stay. It's much nicer than listening to him cry for hours at night! I have officially decided that he just isn't a long napper - 30 minutes max - that is all he does. He has been waking up pretty grumpy the last week too, but that could be contributed to being sick. Plus on top of everything else he might be teething. No teeth peeking through yet, but he is still drooling a lot. Last week I was contributing that to his stuffy nose and cold, but it is still hanging around so maybe it's more than that. We'll see if we see any white in the next few weeks maybe!
We started Hudson on some finger foods this week. He loves to pick them up and is getting really good at using his fingertips but so far doesn't put them in his mough. Which is weird considering he puts everything else in his mouth that he can get his hands on! He loves playing with all the toys he got for Christmas too. I am amazed watching him because he has gotten much better picking things up and using his hands - and he loves standing/walking behind his walkers. No crawling yet but he does stay on his hands and knees for a little bit before getting mad and rolling over. Not long enough to do any moving yet though!

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom

Before I was a Mom I slept as late as I wanted and never worried about how late I got into bed. I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom I cleaned my house each day. I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby. I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

Before I was a Mom I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Spit on. Chewed on. Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts..... I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests. Or give shots. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down. I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt. I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child. I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

trip to the doctor

Well, when we got home Sunday night, Hudson was inconsolable all night and Monday morning so we took him in to the doctor on Monday afternoon. His cold and cough seemed to be getting better but he was the fussiest he had been so far so I thought there must be something else we weren't seeing. She said he had an ear infection in both ears - no wonder he didn't sleep the night before! I had a lot of ear infections when I was younger - and still have them sometimes - so I know how miserable that is. So we got him some meds and went home and took a nap and he woke up an hour later throwing up. So on top of everything else he also has the stomach flu! My poor baby. He threw up for about 5 hours and hasn't since then, but he started having diarrhea this morning as well. But hopefully the worst has passed.

Just thought I'd share the pics of Hudson at the doctor yesterday - does this look like a boy with a cold, a cough, double ear infection and the stomach flu?!?!?!

family pics

While we were in Iowa, since this was the first time all 6 grandkids had been together we wanted to take them to get their picture taken. Boy was that a lot of work! See for yourself:

Christmas program

Our first annual kids Christmas program...

Stinemetz Christmas

Every year we gather out in Burdett/Hanston, Kansas for the big family Christmas. This was a fun time for Hudson to meet and play with all of his cousins...

The dinnertable at the Christmas dinner. We had 45 people there this year, which is a record.

Hudson playing with his cousin Addison.

Cousin Addison giving Hudson a kiss...

Playing with Cousin Hunter...

The Christmas program...every year we sing carols and read the story of Jesus' birth. This is hte first (since I've been attending anyway) that we have done by candlelight. Hudson loved it - I think he is going to be a pyromaniac...he loves looking at fire!

The picture frame all the grandkids gave Grandma and Grandpa. It has all the grandkids and great grandkids pictures and Bible verses in it.

Christmas Day

Hudson and Jamie waiting for Santa to come....

Jamie took the bow off his head pretty quickly!

Yeah! I'm so excited for my shopping cart!

My family goes to the movies on Christmas Day, so we decided to try it out with Hudson this year. Before the movie started he sat in the chair all by himself and played. Then he slept through all but the last 30 minutes of the movie. A motorcycle race at the end scared him cause it was loud, but other than that he did really good.

We had the family over to try out our new basement after the movie - a little family game of Twister. I didn't last too long! Getting too old!