Now I (almost) know my ABC’s…

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hudson’s new potty chair

For several weeks now Hudson has been talking a lot about going potty and telling us when he’s poopy, so I decided we would start working on some early potty training.  So I would occasionally put him up on the toilet and tell him to go potty.  Only thing was he is scared to sit on the toilet and prefers to stand on the seat instead.  So I decided it was time to get him his own potty before we made too much of a habit of that! 

I did some online shopping and found him the perfect potty chair as you’ll see in the video.  He loves it.  As soon as I took it out of the box he knew exactly what it was and how to use it (well, to a certain degree anyways!)

From the beginning he seemed to kind of understand the concept that something is supposed to go into the potty, he just didn’t understand where it comes from or what it is.  When we would stand him up on the toilet seat he would lean over, spit and then say “need to flush.”  As you’ll see a little bit of in the video. (Please note the potty chair has never been used in this video – hence my allowing him to stick his hands and face inside the potty!)

Last week I think he made a breakthrough as to the whole concept of going potty.  I have been taking him in to use his potty chair occasionally when we change his diaper so he gets the feel for doing so without his diaper on and we were in there for awhile.  He likes to use the big potty and the little potty – mostly because his favorite part is flushing.  So we went back and forth a few times then I went to throw his wet diaper in the trash and he took off running into the living room.  When I came back in I heard him from the dining room saying “Mommy, what happened?”  I knew, even before I saw him, what had happened.  Sure enough, I go in and he’s standing in a puddle, pointing down at the floor saying “What happened?”  !!!!!  So I made a big deal about him going potty and next time we will do that in the potty chair and I think something might have clicked for him when he actually saw himself potty on the floor! 

One other cute thing to note is his “sigh” of relief as he sits down on the potty. 

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

OK

“OK” has to be one of the cutest words Hudson knows.  He used to always use in conversation like this:

Hudson: “Need snack mommy”

Me:  “You want a snack?”

Hudson “ OK.”  With the inflection that makes it sound like the whole snack thing was your idea, not his.  Too  cute.

Well lately he has started using it differently.  He seems to think that when he says “okay” then we can’t tell him no.  So now our conversations go like this:

Hudson:  “Need snack mommy.  Okay.”

Doesn’t even give you a chance to respond!

Future Gamer

Once again, as long as it has a ball in it  - he thinks it’s the greatest!  We got a new computer last week – it’s an HP Touchsmart so Hudson can play games on it just by touching the screen – he loves it.  I have a hard time keeping him off the computer desk.  Unfortunately though, the Polar Bowler game was only a free trial so we have to pay $6.95 to buy it – might be worth it with this kind of reaction.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Numana

Yesterday Jamie and I took part in a Numana event at the Kansas Coliseum. The goal was to make 1 millions bags of rice casserole for the people in Haiti. It was all day Saturday and Sunday. So many people showed up you had to wait for at least an hour before you got to a table (Saturday's wait was even longer) and then they limited you to 1 hour of working so that others could get in. As we were getting to our table they announced that they had already hit their goal of 1 million bags. There were still several hours left and plenty of food left so they upped the goal to 1.25 million bags of rice. I don't know for sure that they met that but I bet they did since there was still several hours left and every table was full of volunteers.

Getting ready to go in to package the food.

The bags we packed. They are filled with soy, vitamin supplements, dried veggies and rice. Each bag is 6 cups of cooked rice. The bottom right corner of the bag says "This food is to be given freely because Jesus loves little children."

It was an assembly line process and Numana has it figured down to every step. Put the food in, weigh it - each bag had to weigh close to a set amount- pressure seal the bags shut, then stack them up 3 rows, 6 across, 2 high. Then when you had 36 bags, you filled a case and started on the next one.

Our table did 12 cases while we were there. That's 432 bags which will feed 2592 people.

Signing one of the boxes we did. We went with the Andover Rotary Club so he signed that on the box.

li'l quad and big quad

Garret got a new 4 wheeler for Christmas. The weather was finally nice enough (close enough, anyways) yesterday to take it outside and ride around. Hudson liked riding around with Garret until he went a little too far away from all of us and then he decided to get out. Without waiting for Garret to stop the car first. Garret did stop once he was halfway in/halfway out and Hudson then fell the rest of the way to the ground. Then Garret took off and ran over his leg! Must not have hurt though cause he didn't cry! But he did decide he liked driving better once he got on Garret's old quad!

From quad

From quad

From quad

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pinball

Last Sunday we went to Knollas Pizza for lunch with Ms. Callista. The two had great fun sharing their pizza but the greatest part of the afternoon was most definitely the pinball machine. Papa spoiled Hudson by keeping the quarters coming and playing several games. When the quarters finally ran out Hudson could be heard from the game room screaming "Need money. Need money."

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dance, Baby!

Check out those moves! (Sorry about the lighting.)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Muffins

Hudson has gotten to be quite the "helper" in the kitchen these days. He loves to get up on the counter and help me mix batter and put ingredients in. We made cookies a few weeks ago and yestserday I made muffins to take to Christin. He mixed the flour bowl and gets it everywhere of course. Then repeats everything I say " 1 tablespoon" or "2 cups". There's also a lot of "Hudson do it" when he wants to pour the ingredients in the bowl. Then, of course, he always helps "wash" up cause then he gets to play in the sink. So it was quite the mess but the muffins were "yummy", according to Hudson.

Road Trip

Mom, Celeste, Annie, Hudson, Callista and I all went to McPherson yesterday to spend the afternoon with Christin. We had lots of fun going to lunch and hanging out at the gym (so Hudson could watch basketball and baseball practice, of course).

On the way to McPherson my brother-in-law, Nate, called and asked Celeste if we could stop in Sedgwick, KS to take some pictures of arrowheads at an antique store. Celeste, ever willing to do crazy stuff like that for her hubby, agreed. Till we pulled up to the "store". She was a little scared to go in but she braved it for her man! Then her camera battery was dead so she had to come back out to the car and get mine. But she was in and out in 10 seconds probably. She said the place was wall to wall, floor to ceiling, with junk!

The esteemed arrowheads. Except when she called Nate afterwards he had thought they were arrows, not just arrowheads. So after all we went through, I don't know that he was even interested in them!

The house next to the "store". This is what we saw from the highway first and Celeste said there was no way she was going in there! Not sure if the guy actually lives in this house. I hope not!

The actual antique "store" next to the house. Hudson and I stayed in the car!

Doggy Door

So far Hudson has not figured out that he too could fit through the doggy door and use it to go in and out as he pleases. I was worried that all was going to change after Jacob came over for a visit Saturday. He loves the dogs and crawling in and out of the doggy door with them. Hudson observed the behavior but - so far - has not tried to copy it! I am sure some day soon though I won't be able to find him anywhere and finally find him playing in the backyard!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My little artist

Hudson loves to draw so the other day I thought I'd brave the paints. He didn't do too bad. I cut up sponges into shapes and let him press those on the paper. He enjoyed it and only got a little bit of paint on his clothes - but it's the kind that washes off so all in all it was a successful project!

(And yes, this was another day that he needed "bandaids" on his owies. He found these return address labels and was SO excited because there were lots of them. But we will NOT be using these as "bandaids" ever again! They didn't come off! I ripped the first 2 off and he cried and left big red marks. So the last 2 I washed off in the bath and then he had sticky residue stuck to his cheek and forehead for the next day until I could hold him down long enough to scrub it off!

And I would be remiss to not show you his Noah's Ark drawing below since we are talking about what an artist he is.

Don't you see all the lions, bears, zebras and giraffes? He draws a "picture" and then asks me what it is. So I make something up and he seems to agree with me. A few times I have gotten a tiger mixed up with a zebra but otherwise I am usually right! ;) He also likes to write his letters - specifically H, M, and W. There's a few of those in the picture above too - if you look really close.

Can't play basketball without the proper shoes...

Converse hightops! Thanks papa and gigi! Even though they don't have lights on them like his other basketball shoes Hudson thinks his hightops are pretty cool.

Basketball practice

You got to start them out young!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The secret to naptime

We might have figured it out. It only took us 20 months to do so but if this is it - I'll do it. We have tried this 3 times in the last couple of days and he has taken a 3 hour nap, a 2 hr 45 min nap and one 2 hour nap. I'm worried cause they are getting shorter each day but they are still better than his usual 45 minutes! Hopefully the long naps continue - I don't even know what to do with myself after an hour and a half has gone by!

The secret to his naptime - it can be summed up in 4 letters - ESPN!

He's all boy!!

On Saturday Jamie watched Hudson all day while I was helping clean at Melissa's house. And Hudson took a 3 hour nap on the floor in the living room while Jamie watched football! So Jamie says he just has to hear the sports in the background and it lulls him to sleep! Evidently the Disney lullaby CD I play in his room is not his type of background sounds - sports is! So we have been putting him down for his nap on the floor in the living room and, so far, it's working!

first haircut

After Aunt Traci gave him a rat tail I finally gave in and said it was time for a haircut. (Jamie has been saying it for a few weeks now.)
No tears were shed - Hudson didn't cry either! He was already in a little bit of a bad mood before we started - it was getting late and he hadn't had dinner yet. So he didn't sit still very well but Gigi got it cut.

My little man. It took a while today to get used to it. And Gigi missed a curl over his right ear - so I still have one little one to look at!

Meeting Isaac

The new family

This was our first time to meet Isaac. Hudson has been talking about Baby Isaac for 3 weeks now not really having a clue who/what he was talking about. So when they got him out of his carrier Hudson was pretty interested. He got a little jealous when I first started holding him but then quickly got to be more curious than jealous. It took Celeste and I both to hold him off so he wouldn't smoosh, squish or squeeze him too hard! But he gave him several sweet kisses and was very interested in the pacifier in his mouth.

Making cake

We had the whole family get together yesterday evening to welcome Baby Isaac home. My sister and I - and Hudson - made a cake for the big event.

Extreme Makeover: Nursery Edition

I am excited to announce the arrival (to Wichita, finally!) of Isaac Keaton Graham! After 3 weeks in Oklahoma the paperwork is finally complete and they were able to come home today.

While they have been away we have been working on a makeover at their house.

The sign Christin made. We spent all day over there today cleaning the house, putting the finishing touches on the nursery and grocery shopping to get the house ready for them to return!

BEFORE: the nursery before we got started (or as we got started - we forgot a true before pic!)

It's yellow!

Hudson had to try out the bed for Isaac!

Garret helping me cut letters with my cricut machine.

The letters we cut. (Isaac means "He will laugh" in Hebrew.)

The finished product - the curtains are still a work in progress but the room got new paint, new outlets, new ceiling fan, new bedding, new curtains and new artwork. And I must admit that though it looks like I did a lot of work, most of the work was done by my sisters and mom and dad...I just used all the pics of me so it looks like I did it!



Welcome home Isaac, Justin and Melissa!

Huff and Puff

Hudson's favorite book is The Big Bad Wolf. So no surprise that he finds it really fun to huff and puff and blow things over...especially his BIG towers he likes to make!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

splish slash

he fell into the bath!! I turned around to put the bubble bath away and next thing I know he's head first into the tub! Didn't seem too phase him too much once I got him out. Little bit of gasping and shock - but he quickly was ready to get back to playing with the bubbles!

and the obsession continues....

His first bandaid lasted till after naptime yesterday. Then he and Daddy were playing in the office and Hudson came out to show me all his new "owies". "Tiss it right here Mommy." And he wore these till after dinner...

Band-aid

One of Hudson's newest things to say is "Owie. Tiss it Mommy." (kiss - he says "t" for "k"). Which I happily oblige. Today I was "shopping" on ebay and he was playing in the office. He came to me with a book of stamps and said "owie" while pointing to his forehead. So I obliged - even though it's a pretty expensive band-aid. He'll probably wear it all day. He remembers every once in a while and points to his head and says "owie".

Snow, Snow, Snow!

There was about 15 inches of snow on the ground in Iowa this weekend! But unfortunately the temperature outside was not conducive to us getting to play in it. :( It was WAY too cold to be out in it. It was too powdery for the guys to even build a snowman! I was disappointed cause we had packed Hudson's new sled, his snow gear and boots thinking he would get his first play in the snow! Of course with that much snow on the ground he couldn't really have done much playing - he wouldn't have been able to walk in it!

This is the extent that the kids got to play in the snow!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

boys being boys

Over the weekend the boys made all sorts of bets with some silly (stupid) consequences. Most of the day Saturday they entertained themselves with seeing who could balance on the exercise ball the longest without touching the ground. The loser had to stick his head in the snow for 30 seconds - as you'll see Aaron do in the video. They also had a bet as to how many points KU would win by and if it wasn't within 30 points (I think that was the spread) Jamie had to eat 25 extra hot tamales at once. They won by more than that so he ate them. But the best one of all was the one Cecil lost. It had something to do with a play that was overturned in one of the football games and Cecil was wrong so he had to make a snowangel for 30 seconds. Keep in mind this was late at night and the temperature was never above 0 degrees the whole time we were there - and at night got to be 15 below or worse! I was afraid he might have a heartattack but he survived - and made one of the best snow angels I have ever seen!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Iowa Christmas

We spent an extended weekend in Iowa celebrating Christmas with Jamie's family - minus the Floridians. :( We all had a great time, and as you'll see from some of my posts - the boys got out of control and did some silly (We don't say stupid at our house anymore - little ears hear everything we are discovering!) things - probably could even be considered dangerous! But it was a good time of staying up WAY too late every night and hanging out. We got back late last night and are ready for 2010 and all it will bring.

A few pics and video from the Christmas program and gift exchange...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our attempt to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree...

See, the tongue is a Stinemetz trait...