Two {and a half}

Today is Hudson’s half birthday so I wanted to post about all that he is up to! I know it has changed a lot since he turned two and will change a lot more before he turns three, so here goes!

You wear 2T shirts and jammies but mostly 18-24 month pants/shorts. You wear a size 7 shoe and size 5 diaper.

You are 36 inches tall and I’m guessing about 29 pounds.

You are still a really great eater. You really LOVE breakfast and usually eat a granola bar and a bowl of cereal every morning. You are usually ready for a snack about an hour later. You are not a great lunch eater (you just eat a few bites), but eat a great dinner and always snack after naptime. You have foods that you really love like rice, beans, tacos, cottage cheese, salad and chips. But you mostly everything. You definitely don’t like bananas and have recently decided to not like pickles.

You talk all day long about everything you are doing and about what everyone else is doing. You love to watch people and are very observant then you like to ask questions about what they are up to. You always want to know where everyone is like “Where’d grandma go?” Right now you are really into calling me mama. I think it’s super cute! You don’t EVER stop talking! Ok maybe when you are playing shy around new people.

You have a great sleep schedule. You go to bed around 8:30 but we have been a little lenient on that this summer. You are usually awake by 8am and nap at 2 each day. You still nap for two hours and I am SO thankful for that! You are a bear when you don’t get a good nap! Your favorite thing to do before nap or bedtime is “lay on the couch.” You beg to have a few minutes before you go to bed.

You are really NOT into potty training right now and that’s ok. I’m hoping and praying that you will decide to before the new baby, but you I’m not pushing when you aren’t ready. You HATE wearing underwear even though you picked it out yourself and only want to sit on the potty for 2.1 seconds. Oh well, it’ll happen when you’re ready.

 

You are into a few movies lately-Toy Story, Cars, and Finding Nemo. You are also in LOVE with Thomas the Train.

You love to play outside, dig in the dirt and help water the “rass.” You could blow bubbles for hours and you are never ready to go inside.

Your favorite inside toys are definitely your car (which really is an outside toy), your guitars, and your trains & cars. You love to read books and your Bible. You pretend to put your stuffed animals to bed by reading them a Bible story, turning on your music and shutting them in your room. You are really good at playing by yourself around the house, but LOVE when your aunts or uncles come over and play in your room with you.

You are definitely having fits in your “terrible twos” and we have our moments of battle. When you get upset you will hit or kick, but you are learning that it’s not ok. It’s definitely a process and we’ll get through it.

You love to “write” to Gigi and Pops! Anytime daddy or I try to write you spell your name for us. You can count almost to 10 when you focus and do it! It’s hilarious to hear you count on your own though because you’re always skipping numbers like “4,5,13” ha!

The sweetest thing about you is your concern for others. You have a very sensitive side and you really care. You get upset when someone is sad and love to pray for people. Every night you say thank you for a list of things and it’s so honest and sweet.

The biggest change to your life right now is getting ready for your baby brother. You have days where you want to talk about and sound excited and days that you do NOT! But that is definitely expected. I know you will be a great big brother because you are so caring, but it will definitely take some adjusting to for you!

Daddy and I love you MORE than you will ever ever know!

 

Our Week {Picture Overload}

Trying to do better with writing about everyday activities so here is a glimpse at our week.

 

We started our week with a play date at the park. Hudson was especially fond of this park’s train and he enjoyed the splash pad too. This was our first SP trip this summer so it took him a while to warm up!

He and Annie had a great time running around though!     

Tuesday was a birthday {mine}and my boys treated me to a sweet day! We went to lunch at a Japanese Steakhouse. It was Hudson’s first hibachi grill experience and he definitely enjoyed it. I thought he would be a little scared of the fire, but he just kept talking about how hot it was and staring so intently.

He even tried to eat with chopsticks! I wouldn’t say he was very successful though it was a good effort.

After some shopping, a pedicure, and a nap {I told you it was a good day} we met up with family for Italian! YUMMY! Hudson also helped me blow out my ice cream cake candles. A special thanks to Ms. Janice for the yummiest ice cream cake EVER!

Wednesday we decided to use our Groupon to the zoo! Hudson’s favorite animal is the {baby} giraffe. He also likes to watch the sea lion swim and see “Happy Feet” aka the penguins.

Hudson had a lot of fun at the petting zoo too!

And besides riding the train {twice} he will tell you that this boat was his favorite thing about the zoo. We take him to see the animals and all he really wants to do is drive the boat and ride the train. He cracks me up!

The rest of the week H was pretty under the weather so we laid low at home. He was SUPER excited that we got to meet his buddy Brax for breakfast this morning and he got to spend the day with Papa & Mae Mae while mommy was at photo class!

My friend Julie and I got to spend some time learning about using camera settings and trying out them out. Thanks to my sweet friend for the Groupon, I am now more knowledgeable with the camera {not perfect by getting better}! Can you see my baby bump in the glass? I can’t wait to try out some of these new techniques on my boy!

Well another week down and a new one begins. Our weeks at home together are quickly becoming numbered so we’re trying to enjoy them as much as we can! Next week’s agenda includes Mae Mae’s birthday, swimming and time with friends! What are you doing to beat the heat?

22 Weeks

^{{excuse my squinty eyes}}

How Far Along: 22 Weeks

Size of baby: the length of a spaghetti squash

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +11lbs {haven’t checked lately}

Maternity Clothes: a few, but I can still wear a lot of my regular clothes.

Gender: It’s a Boy! {Hayden Greer}

Movement: Feeling the baby move a lot. It’s always when I am laying down and after I eat!

Sleep: Just having wild dreams! I already had my first back to school dream and school is more than a month away!

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach.

Cravings: FOOD and water! I feel like a hungry hungry hippo!

Symptoms: crazy dreams and a big belly ;)

Best Moment this week: Hud and I went on a date to the movies. We ate popcorn mixed with sixlets and Hayden danced around in my belly the WHOLE time. He either loved the loud noise or really loves popcorn and chocolate!

And of course a picture of my guys! Notice they are both in the middle of saying cheese!

The Fourth

I hope you had a great time celebrating the Fourth of July! We started celebrating with swimming with family then after some cooking and naps we got together for ribs! YUM!

{he swam in his Mickey hat & this is the only picture I got of the whole swimming time}

Hudson got one of these flags a few weeks back at a garage sale and ever since he has thought they were the coolest thing. He carries it around the house waving it around and did a lot of that on Wednesday too!

After dinner we did some firework shopping and threw lots of poppers. Hudson LOVES poppers, but doesn’t care much for anything else.

He spent most of his time doing this

and this when the fireworks shows happened. Tuesday evening we had the community fireworks show which we could watch from the backyard. He ran inside with tears flowing and peeked out every once in a while saying “Fireworks loud.”

When it hit dark on Wednesday we had a little family homemade fireworks show. Hudson did much better, but still covered his ears occasionally.

We tried to take a picture of all of the girls doing sparklers. It obviously turned out quite comical.

It was a great way to celebrate America’s birthday! I hope you had a fun celebration too!

Branson (cont.)

I’m continuing yesterday’s post about our trip to Branson. I didn’t want it to be so lengthy!

We visited the fish hatchery, the family went swimming while Hud and I napped, and we made a quick stop at the outlets.

We met up with some long time friends for dinner at Danna’s BBQ. It was really good!

While my parents visited with friends we walked back to The Track so the guys could ride go carts.

Hud was just too small (and probably too scared) to ride any of the kiddie carts so we just watched daddy and Jon ride.

The guys continued to fish every morning and Hudson was always SO excited when they got back!

On our last day in Branson we headed back to SDC. Can I just take a moment to say that this picture makes me look HUGE!

The guys took the cave tour so Hudson played in the train again, rode the real train and

played with toys like legos, blocks, and even sand. It was Kids Fest so there are lots of extra kiddie things to do!

We spent more time in the different kids areas and Hudson was just tall enough to ride, however he really didn’t want to. He was NOT going to go by himself and was not interested in the things daddy could ride with him. (I’m afraid he’s going to be a roller coaster chicken like his mama).

He was perfectly content to play in Geyser Gulch shooting water, vacuuming balls,and going down the slides and that’s ok too!

Before heading home we stopped in Springfield for our favorite cashew chicken and a visit with Gigi & Pops. It was so nice to have a change of scenery for a few days and spend time together as a family, but it was also so nice to go home. Hudson had a BLAST! I know that because he is still talking about the hotel and Silver Dollar City! But he was SO excited to be home too. He immediately dumped out his toys and ran around the house saying “Hudsee happy.” I think he missed his bed and his room :)

Happy Fourth! We’re going to wake up daddy so we can get to celebrating!

Branson

For vacation this summer we took a little last minute trip to Branson. We had planned to go to Virginia & DC but things are busy and we just couldn’t pull it all together. Branson ended up being a great little trip though!

The first evening we arrived we got checked into our rooms, ate some Fuddruckers and then hit the Landing to see the water show (note the crazy coloring).

And it wouldn’t be a complete trip without having to visit Bass Pro several times.

We kept our sweet boy out pretty late and he was TIRED! He held daddy’s hand and fell asleep on the drive to our hotel.

The view from mom & dad’s balcony.

We stayed right on the water so each morning the boys would go fishing for several hours. Hud, mom & I would hang around, eat breakfast, get dressed, take bubble baths and watch movies with H.

We spent our second day at Silver Dollar City playing in toy trains and riding the real train.

The trains are really the only thing H cares about (anywhere).

The boys rode some roller coasters, we ate some delicious food and watched some good shows!

When we finished up at SDC we grabbed some pizza at Mr. G’s. It’s a local place downtown and very smoky inside, but it has YUMMY pizza!

We also had to make a quick stop at Target and Hud picked up some new shades! We finished up our second day by laying around the hotel room and watching Thunder basketball!

And to avoid making this post super lengthy, I’ll be back later to post about the rest of our trip!