Perfect

Check out our little man. Doesn't he just look like an old man in a baby's body in this photo?! I absolutely love it and I love him! He's completely perfect!

And I'm so thankful for our photographer for capturing great pictures of him! Thanks Margo! I'll definitely be sharing more of these great photos later!

American Idol and Snow Days

We are enjoying the snow days here and staying warm inside. We have been having lots of cuddle and rest time!

Here he is wearing his snow day outfit, waiting to see what the "Triple Threat" was going to bring us. Luckily nothing as bad as anticipated, but enough to keep us stuck inside.

Today we ventured outside for Hudson's first snow experience. He really didn't enjoy it to say the least, probably because there was something cold and wet falling on his face. Maybe next year when he's older he will appreciate it a little more!

You can't see anything that is behind us, but we are standing in the front yard.

We are in the 6-12 inch range for expected snow.

Ryan got up for work at 7am and it was snowing then and it hasn't stopped since!

It's been nice to relax at home with my boys, although Ryan has gotten stir crazy so he and his sister ventured out! Meanwhile Hudson and I have been catching up on American Idol (thank you Tivo)! With all the craziness of having a baby I have missed quite a few episodes.

Go here and see my favorite contestant so far-not because of her voice but more her personality. She is so cute and sweet and just plain funy without meaning to be! I hope she does well in the competition! Who is your favorite Idol contestant?!

One Week Old

Hudson, you are now one week old!

Here is what you have been up to in your first week of life:

Monday:

You went from being inside mommy's belly,

to your big arrival into the world!

You arrived at 7:48pm weighing 7lbs 15oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

You got to meet the entire group of immediate Loderhose family, Aunt Ashton, your Hatch Grandparents, Aunt Cassie, and mommy's best friend (your adopted aunt) Stacia and her husband.

Tuesday:

You had lots more visitors! We spent the day with everyone holding and loving you!

Wednesday:

We waited until around most of the day to go home! We were so excited to get out of that tiny hospital room and let you see your real room! Finally after a long day of waiting and a few temperature scares we made it home around 6pm. We came home to a yummy meal of roast and mashed potatoes and a few visitors.

Thursday:

We made our first trip out of the house to visit your pediatrician. You did great and really didn't mind your carseat, but hated getting undressed to be weighed. You weighed 7lbs 4oz.

Your pediatrician loved on you and she said you're doing great! No health problems!

Friday:

You didn't love Friday morning because it was bath time. We all know that you HATE getting undressed and being cold-I don't blame you.

We made a trip to the bank, your grandparents, Aunt Erin, and Uncle Jon came to visit and some of your new friends too! We can't wait for you all to play together! Here you are with Ayden and Kinley-they were both born in November.

Saturday:

This was a big day! You had a lot of visitors and activities!

It started with your newborn pictures, those will come soon!

Then you met your cousin Katy and Aunt Jean and Uncle Jake.

Aunt Abby, Kinzie and Morgan came to visit and everyone went to eat at Qdoba then some of us went shopping at Wooden Nickel. This was your first stroller ride.

You also helped your daddy cheer on the Cowboys to their win over K-State.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with family.

Sunday:

You met your cousin John, Uncle Andrew and Aunt Mandy.

You also cuddled with your daddy lots and watched football. This part isn't really important I just love this picture of y'all. Your daddy sure loves you!

Monday:

Today is your one week birthday!

We visited the doctor for a weight check and you are now 7lbs. 8oz.

Grandma came to visit and we went to visit daddy at his first day back at work since your birth.

I can't believe that you have already been in our lives for a whole week!

Last week we were so excited for your arrival and this week we couldn't be more in love. It really was love at first sight when you were born and you have stolen our hearts everday since. We just can't get enough of you. Here are some things about you at one week old:

Sleeping: You aren't on a good night sleeping schedule. You wake up every 2 hours ready to eat. You also don't love sleeping in your bed, you were so spoiled your first few days in the world with everyone holding you and all you want to do is snuggle.

Eating: You eat every 2 hours at night, but sometimes during the day you eat every 3 or more. You take a big morning nap and that throws off your schedule!

Things you love....

cuddling and being held

being wrapped up in blankets

your hands close to your face

eating-you don't miss any meals!

your swing-it gives mom and dad a nice break from your arms and you don't mind at all!

you even like your carseat and haven't gotten mad when we have put you in it yet.

We love you so much Hudson and cannot wait for all of the upcoming weeks in your life.

We are so blessed to have you!

H squared day!

In order to remember Hudson's birth I thought I should write about "d day" (delivery day), so that someday I can look back and remember how it happened. So here is what I remember 6 days later....

It all started VERY early Monday morning. I had been up most of the night before with some contractions and really just not feeling well, part of it anxiety I'm sure! Anyway, I got up and dressed and we were off to the hospital about 7:15am.

Shortly after 8am Dr. H came in for a visit then came back around 9 or 9:30 to break my water. Sometime in there the girls in my family showed up with bagels and Stacia joined them too. Contractions started getting more consistent after than and more and more painful. I was given some pain medicine until I was ready for an epidural. I decided around 11 it was probably time to ask for the epidural and the nurses said it would be about 30 minutes due to the anesthesiologist being in a c-section. The contractions were getting worse and I was trying to sleep to help myself relax. I know by this time the boys in my family had arrived and Ashton too. I don't remember much else that was happening, I think they were all just hanging out watching tv but I have no idea really! At one point I woke up and they were all gone except mom and Ryan! The nurses kept coming in and checking on me and saying that they were really sorry that I was in so much pain and they wished I wasn't still waiting on my epidural. It was a long 2 1/2 hours of wait time! It was after 1:30 when I finally got my epidural. I remember feeling a small prick when they said they were going to numb me but that was it. Shortly after that everything in the lower half of my body was numb and I couldn't move my legs and I fell asleep.

The nurses came in shortly after and were not happy with my heart rate (it was really slow) so they put me on oxygen and had me lay on my left side to see if that would help. I ended up on my right side, since Hudson seemed to respond to that better.

Of course I slept more and I think Ryan was finally able to relax too since I wasn't in so much pain. I remember feeling nauseous so I tried to eat some jello and sip some chicken broth (it was ramen noodles without the noodles of course) but that made things worse and I got sick :(. I ended up feeling nauseous through most of the delivery. Anyway, about 5 or so the nurses came in to check me and I was dilated to an 8 so it was time to get things ready for delivery! They brought in the baby bed and all of the other things they needed for delivery and things started moving quickly! The family was kicked out and we were ready to start pushing around 6:00. Things really didn't seem to take that long once I started pushing, Hudson was being stubborn and didn't really want to make his way out but finally at 7:48 we had our baby boy!

He was so perfect and we laughed because he had a funny little cone head, that is now perfect!

He got his first bath and was ready to meet the world!

Here he is meeting his daddy!

Our new family! All cleaned up and ready to be introduced to the world!

Around 8:45 or so Ryan went out to get the family and brought them all in! We have lots of pictures of those special moments to share, but to avoid making this post incredibly long we will talk about that another day!

HE'S HERE!

Ok, so here he is the man of 2010!

Hudson William arrived Monday January 18, 2010 at 7:48pm.

He weighed 7lbs. 15 oz. and 20.5 inches long.

He is perfect in every way and we just love him! Words can't even describe it.

We arrived home last night and of course there has been no time to upload photos so here are a few that others took! Enjoy meeting our baby boy. More to come later....

We are so glad you are finally here, Hudson! We love you!

40 Weeks and Better News!

Excuse the craziness that I look like in this picture! It was early in the am and 40 weeks pregnant is just not so glamorous!

Hudson and I have officially made it through to a complete pregnancy!  A full 40 weeks!

It's been pretty crazy to think about the past 40 weeks and how much life has changed over this time. Anyway here is a little info about my pregnancy recently....

At my appointment on the 4th my belly measured 38 1/2cm and on the 11th was 39cm .I had a somewhat good amount of weight gain from week 37 to 38 and then lost weight from week 38 to 39. But it is nothing to be concerned about. Hudson is still doing great and his heartbeat was at 150bpm Monday, he sounded like one happy little boy in there!

I have not made any progress in dilating but am about 70% effaced, we are getting there...

The worst things about pregnancy right now-my shirts are getting too short and I'm missing those pre-preggo clothes, my back hurts more, and I wake up for random periods of time in the middle of the night! Oh well, it won't be long until those sleepless nights are spent holding a baby so I won't complain too much. Plus I have so much more to be thankful for than to complain about like getting induced 2 DAYS earlier! I will now get to be induced Monday instead of the originally planned Wednesday! I was so thankful to get a phone call today from my nurse letting me know. My heart was pounding in anticipation of the good news and I immediately called/sent text to everyone I could! So now Hudson's birthday could possibly be January 18th?!! My principal let me know I could inform him that school was cancelled in honor of his birth! Ha Anyway, things are working out better than we imagined and we are so thankful for the ways God is continuing to bless us in this great time in our lives. We can't wait to meet Hudson William!

THE BIG or NOT so big news....

So I had my weekly appointment yesterday and here is the BIG and NOT so fun news.

No progress in the way of dilating...my body is just not ready yet so we are still waiting. The doctor wants to give my body more time to get ready so that I don't go through a long terrible labor to end up with a c-section so we are trying to induce early next week. Unfortunately that means Wednesday January 20th could be Hudson's birthday because that is the earliest they could get me in. But if something comes up earlier in that week they will be calling me to let me know! Whatever happens it will all be perfect and exactly the way it should be.  I know God's timing will be perfect and so we are just waiting on that! There are lots of possibilities-like he could share a birthday with his dad if he came on Sunday or he could be born at 40 weeks gestation (tomorrow) or 41 weks or...... on and on are the possibilities, but none of them really matter. What really matters is that he comes when he is ready and we have a healthy baby boy! So here is to hoping and praying that we remain calm, excited and not anxious and are prepared for whatever comes our way!

Happy Almost Over Pregnancy to Me!

Waiting...

So I'm not going to lie...the last two weeks have been the longest of my life! The 37/38 weeks before this have probably gone faster than the last two. Waiting and wondering when Hudson will decide to come seems to be dragging on. My due date is not for another 3 days, but the wait sure is killer when it's so close! I guess the freezing cold weather and being stuck inside at school and at home probably aren't helping.

We have been trying to keep busy though so here are a few things that have helped my cabin fever...

Cooking-Stacia and I made the mac and cheese recipe I shared a few days ago and it is delicious! I substituted the cauliflower with chicken and left out the onions and it will definitely be a regular dish at our house. Warning: it makes a lot of food! Four of us ate it for dinner and probably didn't even eat a third! You might want to half the recipe.

My girls! I definitely think they know something is up, but they aren't really sure what yet. They have really enjoyed playing in the snow and don't seem to mind the cold weather too much. Although we don't let them go out for very long periods of time they are running around like its 60degrees outside. I'm so glad they don't have cabin fever!

I've been trying to make sure that we have everything done for Hudson.

I've made an e-mail list for his birth announcement and bought this cute little hat. With the frigid temperatures we have been experiencing I wanted to make sure he hd plenty of things to keep his little head warm whether we are at home or have to get out in the cold. Isn't this adorable? Thank you to this website for the great homemade find!

Anyone else ready for a little bit warmer weather to make getting out of the house more enjoyable?

"It's Freezing" Day

Due to the cold weather we are out of school today! I was pretty surprised when Ryan came in the bedroom at 10:30 last night to let me know school was cancelled! So it's been a pretty lazy day around here so far, I think the dogs enjoy no school days too. Why you ask? Because if you were at my house today you would see this....

This is our bed...and if you wanted to find Rylee where would she be?

How about here....

So now big plans around here today, just some light cleaning and lots of relaxing!

Tomorrow I plan to try this new recipe.

A new version of Macaroni and Cheese and I plan to add chicken.

You can see the recipe here.

But first we are watching the National Championship game tonight with friends and pizza!

Go Texas! Have to support the Big 12!

Who are you cheering for?

Update

I apologize for my lack of existence in the blog world lately. Lots on the mind and lots going on in life in general so it just hasn't been happening. But I am back and will try to keep you updated as much as possible on the arrival of our little boy! So what have I been up to lately?

1.Waiting.This is the hardest part. Knowing how close I am to my due date a lot of waiting has been happening, just wondering when he will actually make his entrance. It didn't help that over the later part of Christmas break I had a lot of time to just hang out and think about it even more. But thankfully I had my best friend around to keep me company and help me stay busy but relax while Ryan worked. We did lots of fun things like bake, watch movies, and get last minute baby things ready. We sterilized pacifiers and bottles, cleaned my house (only the greatest of friends do this for you when you are 9 months pregnant!) and just spent lots of quality time together!

2. Monday I went back to work! I somewhat looked forward to having to go back. I was ready to be back in a routine again and I did miss my littles ones! They are just as sweet as ever and we have had a great couple of days together this week. Of course they are stil saying the cutest things like "You know football is all about, right? Breaking bones!" Ha or "That's impressive" Oh the things that 5 and 6 year olds come up with!

3. I have had a few doctor's appointments (one each week) that I don't think I've updated you much on. Not much in the way of progress towards labor, things are still pretty much the same int the way of dilation. We haven't scheduled a day to induce yet, my doctor is pretty convinced he will come on his own by next week and doesn't want to schedule anthing too early. When I have my appointment next week we wil schedule to induce if there is still no baby, but hopefully he will be here by then!

4. Ryan got sick over the New Year holiday and so he has been pretty worried about trying to get better for the baby's sake. We don't want to pass anything along to a newborn and luckily he is on his way to getting better. Hopefully completely healed when Hudson arrives.

5. I have just been overly blessed the past few weeks while my family, friends, and husband have been watching out for me and taking good care of me. I have been way too spoiled and blessed. I'm so thankful for each of them and hope I'm at least half as supportive as they are. I mean only the best people bring dinner to cook at your house because you're tired and emotional, you're husband has been sick, and they want to spend time with you! I'm so blessed and thankful and think I could spend the rest of my life saying thank you and it still wouldn't be enough.

6. The pictures above are my 38 week picture (top), sterilizing fun (middle) and 39 week picture (bottom). Can you believe how much Hudson and I have both grown over 1 week?! I can't imagine how big I could be by next Wednesday! And uncomfortable too...have I mentioned that? He is one strong baby, kicking his mom like he does!

Hope everyone is having a blessed New Year!

New Year's Resolutions?

Here is my New Year's Resolution all summed up by one great Bible verse.

To live by this:

And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

What are your resolutions?