Random thoughts

- We had two friends welcome sweet baby girls into the world this week. Maci was born on Wednesday and Grace was born Friday. We were so happy to be able to share that special joy with our friends. Babies are truly amazing. Hudson was not so sure about Mama holding baby Grace.


- Hudson was a super hero at his allergy testing. He did awesome. We packed a bunch of toys and he just sat on the floor and played for hours. His hives and rashes from some foods are a result of natural allergies found all around. He is not "allergic" to any food in particular. This was such exciting news for us! Sometimes kids skin just reacts to certain foods based on outside allergies and they can outgrow this with time. We can avoid this by putting cream on his face before he eats. What a relief to know that he is not allergic to food!

- Our wedding anniversary is Monday. I am so lucky to be able to spend my life with such a great guy. I love him more everyday. Although I am pretty sure if he learned to put his laundry up or unload the dishwasher; I may love him more.

- Snow flurries are coming down right this moment. We were eating lunch and Hudson got so excited to see snow. He kept pointing and saying, "snnnnnow, snnnnnnnnnow!"

- I sent Jonathan to the grocery store with a big, fat list. I cannot wait to see what he comes home with. It is usually half the list and a bunch of random stuff. Last time I sent him it took him 2 hours and about 30 text messages to get through the entire store.

-Hudson is napping and I am watching "Father of the Bride Two." I love, love, love this movie.

-This morning I was cleaning up and asked Hudson if he could help me organize all of his toys. He looked at me and said, "No danks," turned around and kept playing with his trains. I am in for it with this one.

- Do you watch Hawaii Five-O? It is really good. Jonathan and I NEVER agree on TV shows but we watch this one together. The only other shows we agree on are Southland, Jersey Shore, The Middle, Better With You, Modern Family and Man vs. Food. Most nights I end up watching TV upstairs and he watches it downstairs. So romantic.

- One of my favorite parts of the week was talking to Woobs during the premiere episode of The Bachelor. We get way to involved and laugh so hard at each others commentary. I have hated this show the past few seasons but Brad is back. And Brad is HOT!

- We have fallen into the trap of eating the same meals over and over and over. Jonathan has been traveling so much and working late nights when he is here and I am not cooking a big meal for just Hudson and myself. We either end up eating Moe's or grilled cheese. (Or eating with Papa and Lisa!) I spent a large part of the day yesterday reading cookbooks and finding new things to fix. I will let you know how that turns out.

- I am finally ready to admit I have an obsession with buying Hudson clothes. I had two people ask me this week if he has ever repeated an outfit. I also realized that I have not done his laundry in almost THREE WEEKS and I could go a few more without needing anything. That's a tad too many clothes.

That is all of my random thoughts for now. Have a great weekend.

Prayers, prayers, prayers

Please keep Hudson in mind Thursday. We go into the allergist for 3 hour allergy testing. He is not a fan of the doctor and I know this will be a very emotional, stressful visit. We are very much looking forward to finding out why he gets so many rashes and hives when he eats and seeing what foods to keep away from him.

Silly boy

Hudson is at the age where I can leave him in a room to play alone and know that he is going to be ok. I never leave him for long. Usually it is just to switch out laundry, unload the dishwasher or some other household chore. But somehow in a 2 minute period, he always gets into something or does something silly. Here are 2 things that occured today.

While I was in our room getting all the laundry into the basket, Hudson was in his room brushing his teeth.



While I was preparing dinner, Hudson found the to-go cups and was having a party with Bailey.


He is so silly and sure knows how to make his parents laugh.

Happy New Years Eve!!!

I hope your New Year's Eve is wonderful. Be safe and NEVER drink and drive!!!

Pajama Day

I apologize for being so slack with this blog. Hudson and I are both very behind on checking our email and loading pictures.


We finally finished our 7 straight days of Christmas celebrations. It was wonderful. We have so many people we love around us and enjoyed sharing such a special holiday with everyone. Jonathan made it back safely yesterday and we enjoyed a quiet night for the first time in a week. Today is National Mommy and Hudson pajama day and clean up the house day. It looks like a bomb went off. Christmas is getting packed up and toys are getting organized. The 13 loads of laundry scattered about are getting tackled and the grocery is calling my name. Hudson may even be allowed to watch the entire "Happy Feet" movie so I can get so much done.

I could ramble forever about how wonderful our family and friends were to us and to Hudson. We were truly overwhelmed by all the love this Christmas and there are not enough words to thank you all. We are so lucky to be surrounded with love.

My sister and her kids were unable to come due to snow. I was so disappointed. We had a surprise 60th birthday dinner planned for my dad. But I hope we can do something else soon. My mom was still able to come and we had a great time. Poor Hudson has been carted all over Raleigh. He appears to be exhausted and truth be told, so am I.

Jonathan flew in yesterday morning; so mom and I took Hudson to the observation deck first. Pardon his outfit. He wore pajamas, rain boots and his new winter jacket. He was so excited to see the planes but nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his daddy!



I hope to be more focused on regular blogging soon. I just have a mile long to-do list to tackle first. Have a safe and happy New Years!

Holly, Jolly Christmas

I have to say, this Christmas was my favorite. Seeing everything through Hudson's eyes was so amazing. He had the best time and is so lucky to have so many people who love him. I could post 1,000 photos but I will refrain...

Christmas Eve






He LOVED coming downstairs Christmas morning and seeing what Santa left him and playing with gifts




Who knew a box would be such a hit! He had a fit for Bailey to join him.


And to top it all off we woke up to snow this morning!!!!





This may be my favorite picture that was taken. Bailey is OBSESSED with snow. She goes absolutely crazy for it. She runs around like a nut job. Hudson thinks it is hysterical and always gets right in her face. For once, she got a little payback.

Merry Christmas

18 months!

It is so hard to believe 18 months ago I was in the delivery room awaiting the 7:11 AM arrival of the most perfect child. (Almost as hard to believe.... I am blogging before 6AM thanks to a husband who is too loud in the mornings).

Hudson has really expanded his vocabulary recently and acts like he has so much to say. He loves to walk around our house and "talk" about and to anything but is still really shy around other people.

Hudson also has his not-so-polite moments and does not handle hearing the word “no” very well. The tantrums haven’t slowed down this month like we hoped. We’re working with him and hoping that this is a phase.

He is still completely and utterly in love with Bailey. He will stop what he is doing, yell "Sissy" and walk over to her just to give her a kiss and a hug. He asks for her when we are in the car, in a store, at an activity or out to eat. He loves anything that involves seeing her, feeding her or taking her to potty and play.

Hudson loves shoes. He even wants to wear them when the rest of his body is naked. He will say "dooooes, dooooes" until you put them on his feet. He also really loves to try and walk in mommy and daddys shoes.

He loves to look at pictures of family and friends, read books, play with his train table, matchbox cars and anything that makes a noise.

We love him so much more everyday. I just wish he was not growing up so fast!


Height: (We go to the doctor today)

Weight: 30 pounds (95th%)

Shoe Size: 6

Clothes Size: Mostly 24 month, but some 2T. A lot of the 24 month stuff is already too small!

Diaper Size: 5

Food: grilled cheese, peas, carrots, green beans, apple sauce, bananas, blueberries, sometimes chicken nuggets, fish sticks, cheese, oranges, quesadillas, kiwi, oatmeal, pancakes, pasta, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, doughnuts (He has been having a lot more allergic reactions to food so we are going to a specialist in January)

Words and Phrases: "dank" you, that, dog (but he regularly calls all dogs sissy), wheee, poo poo, Mommy, Daddy, shoes (doooooes), juice (ju-ju), milk (my milky), book, meow, moo, bye bye, hey, uh oh, ball, no no, oh shoot!, there, up, yeah, teeth (he has more, it is just too early to think right now)

Making cookies with Hudsy!

There are so many things about Christmas that are more exciting with a toddler around. Watching him discover stockings, countless moments stairing at the Christmas tree, Santa (traumatizing) and even making cookies. Jonathan makes fun of me because I make a list of people we "need" to make cookies for. Our neighbors, doctors, friends, Santa and even our UPS and mail man. OK..... I understand that the last two may sound strange but they are both so nice.

I sent Jonathan to the store for cookie dough the other day. I specifically said, "make sure you get the kind I can cut it into shapes." (I know.... lazy me for not making it from scratch.) Not to my surprise, he came home with pre cut dough. Surely I thought I could roll it out and still cut it into shapes. Nope. Does not work. But Hudson sure looks cute trying.





Hudson is never allowed to sit on the counter so he had fun discovering the paper towels, coffee pot, sink and playing with the cookie cutters.



Taking these things away from him did not make him happy.



Even though our cookies were not in the shape of Christmas trees, snowflakes, stars and hearts, we still had a great time and they turned out delicious. In the words of Hudson, "ohhhhh, yummmm."

Go Pack!

Hudson went to his first basketball game of the season. He did so well and loved howling with the wolf. We love our Wolf Pack! It is a shame my husband called me paparazzi and made me put our camera up.... Russell Wilson (our quarterback) sat right in front of us.





(I promise other people sat around us..... we got there early)

Oh my sweet boy....

You know by now that haircuts are very traumatizing for Hudson. This morning we went to JJs Kids Cuts and he LOVED it. If you can find a place like this in your area, I highly recommend it. While you wait there is an indoor play area with a slide, a kitchen, video games and toys. They have a few little cars you can choose to sit in when it is your turn. Each "chair" has a tv infront of it and you get to pick out whatever video you want.



Look at that daze..... Thank God for a video! His haircut turned out so adorable and he actually cried when he had to get out of the chair. When we were leaving he waved goodbye to Miss. Marlie who cut his hair and blew her a kiss. I could have melted right there.

Hibachi Night

I am going to tell you a little secret... my husband is a MUCH better cook than me. Truth be told, I hate to cook. I dread it every single day. When Jonathan and I started dating he wooed me over with all of his cooking creations. To this day his hibachi dinner is my favorite. He will not give me all the secret details of how he makes it but I did take pictures of him cooking the other night. It is a great dinner, very time consuming though. We rotate between using chicken, shrimp and steak.

What you need:
your choice of meat
zucchini
onion
1 egg
rice
soy sauce
sesame seeds
butter
far east sesame ginger seed
rice vinegar
a wok



He cooks the egg and then adds rice, chopped zucchini and onion in a wok. He then puts it in another pot while he cooks the chicken (or other meat)



Then he cooks the zucchini (my favorite)



Add it all together and MAGIC in your mouth. He has the recipe for seafood sauce but I am not allowed to give it out. It is an amazing dinner. Even Hudson is a fan!



(Woobs- if you are reading this..... doesn't it remind you of skipping school to go eat at Kanki and then sprinkling rice on people's car?!?!)


And what was my sweet boy up to today..... I found him today sitting in Bailey's toy bucket (sans toys) reading a book. He is such a character! As soon as I snapped this picture, he pulled the Christmas candle down behind him and used it as a light.


He also attempted to shove crayons down Bailey's nose and color on her ears. That child cannot be left alone for a minute!

Wordless Wednesday - new Chuck Taylors