Milestones

We've hit a couple of important milestones in our house. As you know, we've been experimenting with some solids for the last week or so. Up until now Hudson has been pretty apprehensive about the whole spoon thing. He likes the food, just doesn't dig the spoon. I've been having to gently encourage him to eat off of it. Once he does, he eats the food up. Well, yesterday something clicked and he finally started opening up his mouth for the food. It was such a proud moment and I couldn't help but cry. It's so awesome to see your child finally get something you've been working on with them.

He really likes pears.

But sweet potatoes are definitely his favorite so far!!

Licking his hands clean!


BUT the biggest milestone is that Hudson slept in his crib last night.....for 8.5+ hours!!!! Yesterday I wrote down everything we did and what time we did it in order to establish a routine, which I should have started doing a long time ago, but I don't think he was ready. Now he is. I made a point to at least try to get him to nap about 2 hours after he woke up in the morning, and 2 hours after every wake-up from each nap. It worked great! We gave him a bath a little after 8 and he was in his crib asleep at 8:40. I tried to feed him his nighttime bottle but he could only stay awake long enough to eat an ounce or two. He woke up around 10:20, finished it off and went right back to sleep, and slept until around 6 this morning! After a feeding he went back to sleep until about 9:15! I'd like to say I got like 8 hours of sleep but I can't. I was so nervous, anxious, etc. that I didn't get much sleep for looking at the video monitor all the time. But I know I'd go crazy without it, especially with him being so far away from us in the house. I kept thinking he's going to wake up any minute. Or he'd move and I'd be like, yeah he's about to roll himself over and wake up. It never happened...until 6 am. I feel like we've accomplished something so big, even if tonight isn't as good, I know he's capable of sleeping through the night, in HIS room, in HIS crib. I know we'll still have bad nights and it won't always go so perfectly, but this is a huge step for us! I wish we had done it sooner, but I don't think Hudson or I were ready.

I feel like he's such a big boy now...eating solids like a champ and sleeping in his own room. It's bittersweet. He's growing up so fast and it breaks my heart, but I am so proud of him. I guess I'll have those emotions for the rest of his life...sad, yet proud. Hopefully we'll have a good night tonight. We'll see if we can do it 2 nights in a row. :)

P.S. 2 Days, 22 Hours and 24 Minutes until Bama football!! ;)

Our Feet

Well, we're not putting them in our mouth yet, but that's probably not too far away......

He was seriously scoping them out earlier today and I was doing something on the computer so I wasn't looking at him but when I did look up, he was definitely close to them as if he was trying to figure out a way to shove them in his pie-hole. There was a good amount of drool around his calf also. Hmmm.....
And what about those eyebrows?!!?! Goodness.


His face was a lot closer to the foot than the picture depicts. He had sat up a good bit when I caught him! ;-)

In other news, Hudson is officially rolling over both ways now. This morning after he woke up and ate, I laid him on the bed with me and he went from back to tummy in probably a minute or less. It's like something clicked and BAM, he knew how to do it. He's been rolling from tummy to back for a couple weeks now(which means it's been interfering with sleep for a couple of weeks!) but hadn't figured out the other way until today. Soon he'll be doing it so good he'll be a rolling machine all over the house. It scares me a little that he's no longer just a bump on a log that I can lay anywhere. He's getting more and more mobile! :)

4 more days til Alabama football!!

The Weekend

We've kind of laid low this weekend, but yesterday we headed out for a bite to eat and a little shopping. Hudson slept pretty much through the entire dinner, but was wide awake for some shopping at BRU. We decided to go ahead and get him a highchair. I think it's nice to have a full-size highchair for home, but we can also take the top part off and take it with us for vacations or to someone's house and strap it to a chair. I still think it'd be nice to have a small one that attaches to a table for restaurants and such, but I haven't decided yet.

We put it together today and it was really easy (most baby things are NOT so easy...I know, I've put just about all of them together so far)

It swallows him whole at the moment, but he sits pretty well in it and it reclines, which is great for bottle-feeding, then I can sit him up for some solids. We've been having a little bit of solids every day and he still doesn't seem to like the whole spoon thing and must think it's some kind of torture device I guess. HA! He likes what's on the spoon though. We're getting there!


Poor sleepy baby took over an hour long nap in my lap today. I didn't mind. :-)


His teething prompted me to get some teething gel and a couple more rings. I got this Razberry teether pacifier and he loves it. He's always chewing on the plastic part of his pacifier so this is great for him.


After a few friends advising we use rice cereal in his bottle before bed, we did it the other night and he slept over 8 hours! We've thought about doing it before, just hadn't done so yet. Now, he started out in his pack 'n play and slept there for a couple of hours before he rolled over. I rolled him back over so he didn't wake himself up.(because he doesn't sleep on his back) He did this twice before I decided to just bring him bed with us. Once he was there, he didn't roll over again. It's something about the darn pack 'n play! It may be that it kinda moves when he moves that's the problem. If he'll continue sleeping well with the rice cereal I'll start trying to transition him to his crib. We shall see! I didn't do rice cereal last night and did a little bit of baby food instead and he was up a couple of times. Sooo....I'm sticking to the rice cereal! :-) He's down now but was only able to eat about an ounce or so of his bottle before falling asleep. He had eaten a good bit not too long before, so I'm not sure how tonight will go. Maybe he'll wake up in a bit and finish the bottle. Remember, my child's a night owl, and typically doesn't go down for the night until 11-11:30! ;-) FYI, although it says I wrote this at 7:49, I got around to finishing it at about 11:15. Here's to hoping for a decent night! Hope y'all had a great weekend. College football starts in t-minus 5 days(I can say 5 since it's almost midnight!) :-) I'm ready to sport my Bama best and scream and holler at the TV! Ah, my favorite time of year...aside from Christmas! HA!

Have a great week!

The Latest....

Well, the teething fairy devil is visiting us and there's some serious teething going on. The past few days have been a little rough and Hudson has been quite fussy and has been massaging his gums like there is no tomorrow. The drool is out of control too! He's been getting good use out of the teething rings, as well as his fingers and anything else he can find. Tylenol helps for a short time, but wears off pretty quickly (or so it seems anyway). I plan on going to get some teething gel and some Hyland's Teething Tablets. I hear they are really good so I'm going to try them out. I'm open to any other suggestions you have for relieving the pain and discomfort of teething!

In the midst of all that, we're still experimenting with solids. We may not like rice cereal, but oatmeal is a hit.

As are apples....

We had a busy day yesterday. We drove down to Gadsden to visit with my parents and grandparents. We try to go down at least every few weeks to see them, especially my grandparents because it's not too easy for them to make the trip up here. My Fatdaddy is alone now and cannot see or hear much of anything so he's pretty much a shut-in. He loves getting to see Hudson and I love seeing them together. Hudson was very tired and fussy yesterday and it was a tough trip. As hard as it is to get around and spend a little bit of time with everyone(especially having to get him in and out of the carseat 20 times in this heat), I enjoy those days very much. We had a come-apart on the way home though...we usually have to stop in Guntersville to eat a little bit and stretch. We always make it all the way TO Gadsden, just can't make it all the way FROM Gadsden. Well, he started up right after I passed the last bit of Guntersville. After that, there's nothing for a good ways and I wasn't about to pull over on the side of the road for someone to hit us or something. He screamed like I have NEVER heard him scream before. I was afraid he was going to hyperventilate he was crying so hard. We made it to about New Hope and stopped at a random gas station that's pretty much all by itself. I hate stopping by myself, but sometimes you have to. I always get in the backseat with him and lock the doors. He ate 4 ounces, stretched a bit, and played with Mommy for about 20-30 minutes and he was good to go and fell asleep almost as soon as we started going again and slept until we got home. I always try to make sure he eats good before we head to or from Gadsden, but sometimes he doesn't eat enough. It's hard when I'm handling it all on my own, but when I make the trip by myself I have to just suck it up and deal. I don't know how single parents do it. I commend you!! Needless to say, we were both stressed to the max and exhausted when we got home last night. I'd like to say he slept like a champ because of it but I can't. He slept a few hours before having to eat, then another 3 1/2 before getting up again. If you have any sleep training tips that worked for you I'd love to hear them. I think it may be time to start that around here. He doesn't sleep well at night, then naps rarely during the day. I am tired, obviously, but I am more worried about him not getting all the sleep he should be getting. I know he'll start sleeping better eventually, but if there is any kind of training I can do that will help, I'm open to trying it! I'm not a fan of crying it out, but who knows...it may be what he needs. I'd like to exhaust every other effort before I try that though.

Due to our tiring day yesterday, we have laid low today and relaxed.

We watched a little Sweet Home Alabama...the movie, NOT the horrible reality show!



"Like the drool on my shirt?"



Checking out the fingers.


Cuteness.



Got caught sleeping in our jumperoo! I mean, obviously he's gotta be pretty tired for that to happen..right? I thought this was the beginning of a much-needed nap, but he woke up a few minutes after I put him down. He can fight sleep like nobody I've ever seen!

Y'all have a great weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday

Our First Solids

Well, it's the day after shots and we've done a lot of this......

and this.....

Seems as though they've made us a little tired.


Last night we experimented with a little bit of carrots.

The whole spoon thing is a little weird to us.....

But, I think we like them...apprehensively.

We tried them again a little while ago and seemed to enjoy them more than yesterday. We're still getting used to the spoon and the new textures, but I think carrots will soon be a favorite. We tried a little oatmeal this morning and wanted no part of it...same as the rice cereal. Maybe he'll start coming around, or maybe those will be things we never learn to like, only time will tell. At this point we're just learning to use a spoon and experimenting with the foods and textures. :-)

4 Month Checkup

Hudson had his 4 month checkup today and he did great! He was in such a good mood and just started laughing at me when I laid him on the table. The doctor was happy with his growth and development thus far. He weighed in at 15 pounds 9 ounces, and measured 25.8 inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for both. The doctor gave us the green light for solids so we will start experimenting with them soon. In fact, we went to the store on our way home and picked a few things up to try. :-)

He was such a happy boy, even after his shots, and we talked throughout our Publix trip. He had some very interesting things to say. ;) Speaking of shots...he did so good with them. He cried for about 10 seconds and was done. I was glad to see they didn't hurt him too bad. Still broke Mommy's heart though.
I'll definitely make sure I take some pictures as we're experimenting with some solids. I'm sure there will be plenty of funny faces. :-)

Y'all have a fantastic week!

4 Months (A Day Late)

Hudson you are 4 MONTHS OLD! I'm not sure how this is possible, because just yesterday you were my tiny little newborn baby. Now you are starting to look, and act, like a little boy. This can't be right!

• We go to the doctor tomorrow so I don't have official stats, but according to our home scale and measuring tape, you weigh around 16 pounds and are 26 inches long!!
• You wear a size 2 diaper.
• You are wearing 3-6 months clothes, but 6 months fits you best.
• You eat about 4 ounces every 3 hours or so. Sometimes you can go longer, sometimes you want it sooner.
• Sleep went downhill after your 2 month shots, and went even further downhill when you learned to roll from your tummy to your back. You were rolling over after just about an hour or so, but the past few nights you've been sleeping about 4-5 hours on your tummy before you roll over, then wake up and need to eat. After you eat, you'll go down on your tummy about an hour and I'll bring you in bed with me. It's the only way we get sleep, so I do it for a couple hours.
• You still go to sleep around 11 or so, sometimes around 10. I think you're slowly going down earlier and earlier....I hope so anyway! :-)
• You still hate sleeping on your back.
  
• You haven't figured out how to roll from your back to your tummy yet, but you're getting really close.
• You are grabbing anything and everything.
• You are also putting said anything and everything in your mouth! HA!
• You are a drool monster and keep your clothes, toys, blankets, sheets, and me, wet.
• Anything with a light fascinates you....our phones, computers, the TV.....
• You are really noticing the dogs now and smile and laugh at them a lot. It's cute!
• You are not the best napper. It's either hit or miss. You catnap a good bit but rarely take a good long nap.
• You LOVE being sat or stood up. The jumperoo has been a lifesaver. You love it and will jump up and down and squeal and laugh forever! You're starting to like your Bumbo a little more....in small doses.
• I think if it were up to you, you'd just get up and start walking around. I can tell you are dying to be mobile!
• We've tried a tad bit of rice cereal a couple of times and you're not a fan at all.
• I've also just tried putting some milk on the spoon and you like that. You're getting better with the spoon, maybe you're just going to skip the rice cereal. We'll see if you ever take to it. I know you're still a little young for that though and it will come in time.
• You are a Chatty McChatterson! You "talk" nonstop and we love it!
• You have SO much personality.
• Sometimes you get stranger/separation anxiety and will cry for a little bit.
• You love your daddy and light up when you see him. You hardly ever take your eyes off of him. You're best buddies!
• You don't have any teeth coming in but I think you're teething. I can tell your gums bother you occasionally and a little Tylenol helps. You take that willingly, but your vitamin drops have to be put in your bottle. You hate the taste of them! You like to chew on your hands nonstop, as well as anything around you....preferably something softer, like a blanket.
• You have the sweetest smile and laugh ever, and Mommy and Daddy will do just about anything to get a smile or laugh from you.

Our hearts are so full and we continue to be amazed at how much we love you! We just sit and talk about how we can't believe we made you. You are absolutely amazing and the best thing that ever happened to us. You have so many people who love you and you are one blessed little boy.

We are also so blessed to have you, sweet boy! We love you to pieces!

And now for the photoshoot. ;)

The Past Couple Days...

We've done a little playing.......

And a little dog-watching! ;-)


A little shopping, I mean, snoozing.....

Isn't he good at multi-tasking?! ;)


And caught a couple beautiful sunsets......

It's felt like such a long week and we didn't do much. We ran a few errands yesterday, which included getting my license renewed...2 months late! Oops! We ran to Publix today to get things for a cookout with Joseph's family tomorrow. We don't get out too much, because it's so hot, but it's nice to get out a couple times a week for quick errands.

I can't believe my sweet boy will be 4 months old tomorrow. I swear he was just a tiny little newborn. I'll try my best to do his 4 month post tomorrow, probably sometime in the evening.

Y'all have a wonderful weekend!! Just 1 more weekend, after this one, without college (Alabama) football!! RTR!