Dinos Grow Like Me

We got Hudson these growing dinosaur capsules for his birthday. Mainly I think Mike wanted to see them but we all ended up getting in on it! Hudson put the pill in the water and then kept trying to splash around in it. Slowly the dinosaur came out of the capsule and grew! It was cool to watch. (Apparently it doesn't take much to amuse us!) It was fun though and Hudson really liked it! I also forgot to post his one year picture with his bat! How fun to see how much he has grown since his first month!

Shots!

Hudson had his shots yesterday. I hate that part of being a mom!! It probably hurts me more than it does him. I can't stand watching and I have to have Mike come to hold him. Hudson does really well after the shots too. He cries a little during and then he is fine. I give him a little tylenol usually to help with the pain but I just don't like watching him go through all of that!! Here is one of his chunky thighs all bandaged up: They gave him this cute bee too. It says "Bee Wise, Immunize." Kind of a clever saying!! I thought it was cool that they gave him a toy. They always give him something when he gets shots though but usually it is just tylenol or a thermometer, nothing he really gets to play with much!

Happenings!

Thursday night was the last JRC Girls Night Out for the year. We had a blast at this Thai place. There was chatter about Quelf, men being pregnant and many other random things. I am glad there are so many girls out here to have a great time with!

I can't believe the first year is almost over. We have one week left before finals start. Then we can officially say we are 2L's (aka Mike is a 2nd year law student)!! Wow! It sounds so old! hehe Mike finished up his writing class yesterday. He had oral arguments he had to present in front of a group of "judges" (aka professors). It went really well and he was told he has a confident persuasive voice. I am so proud of him! (Now maybe he'll understand why I always have him call places or return things for me!!) Also, I sold my first apron on etsy which I am excited about!! We've been "Burb'd" and are gearing up for finals! Life is super busy but good!

Ouch!

Hudson face planted into the hardwood floor this morning. It was right on his cheekbone! There was an instant bruise on his face. Poor little guy!!

These pictures don't even do it justice! He is pure boy with bruises everywhere!

I looked out the window...

Today at lunch, I noticed that the tree outside our window was full of budding flowers. I think Spring really is here! I had to take a few pictures of how beautiful they were!

Uggh!

We had to take Hudson to get his lead and hemoglobin levels tested as a requirement of our insurance. I was so bugged by the lady trying to draw the blood. She ended up sticking him in both arms and still didn't get any blood. It really made me nervous when she was going on about there being an artery right there and she didn't want to risk it. Uh, yeah...you think??!! So she called for reinforcements. I was about to just take off and forget it all together but this other phlebotomist came in and she was exuding a sense of confidence. I figured she could do it and if after one try she couldn't, I was so out of there! Luckily she got it but by then, poor Hudson was traumatized! He did really good on the first try but by the 2nd one he was doing a really sad slow sob. The 3rd try he was immediately sobbing! It was making me so sad. Mike felt really bad for him too so we took him to McDonald's and got him an ice cream cone.

Here is our little guy running around half naked with his arms all wrapped up!

Etsy ~ Sew Flirty!

I have opened an etsy shop...hence having no pictures of what my mom and I were up to. That is because we were sewing and shopping for fabric. It was a blast!! We have just a few items in our shop right now but I have ideas for so many more. I love it! It gives me a great creative outlet and its fun to make new things! I am planning on adding a few more funky hostess aprons and a few halter aprons. I also will be adding some headbands soon too. They are my staple accessory lately so I have to put those on too! So check out my shop at http://sewflirty.etsy.com/ Let me know what you think!

Here is a sneak peak of the hostess apron I am working on right now:

T-Rex!!

On Sunday we went to KC to take my mom to the airport. We also went to Legends mall (which is great if you haven't been there!) and we went to T-Rex. It is part of the Rainforest Cafe chains if anyone has been to the one in Vegas. T-Rex is awesome. Huge dinosaurs, ice caves and aquariums! We all loved it. They have good food with HUGE portions too!

Hudson loved the dinosaur that came around to say hello. He kept trying to rip off his teeth and stick his hand all the way in his mouth!!

We had a great time while my mom was here visiting. It was fun to have her here to celebrate Hudson's birthday too. The time always flies by too fast though. We were sad to see her leave. We worked on a lot of projects so I don't really have a ton of pictures to post but I do have some things in the works to show soon enough.

One year checkup

We went to the Dr last week and had a great checkup. Hudson was still wheezing so he got put on a steroid to help him get rid of that junk! We got the green light to feed him pretty much whatever and to start him on milk. Kinda crazy that he is old enough for all of that. So far he seems to love milk which is good because he really didn't like formula that much lately. Dr Dan said he was doing great and couldn't believe how well he was walking. Hudson weighs 21 lbs 10 oz and is 30 inches tall. Still in the 90th % for head size, he must be a brainiac! He also is a big boy now...riding forward facing in the car!

Cake Secrets

I got some really great tips on making a boxed cake into something even more scrumptious! This is from Freebies for Mom.
Here's what you'll need:

• Any box cake mix
• 1 small box of instant pudding that matches cake flavor or else Vanilla if you can't match the flavor
• 1 small container of yogurt that matches cake flavor or else plain or vanilla will do if you can't match the flavor.
• Following the directions on the back of your cake mix, add 1 extra egg and substitute milk for the water. You can use chocolate/strawberry/vanilla milk to match your flavor of cake.(Example: To make an awesome chocolate cake, you would need a chocolate box cake mix, chocolate instant pudding, chocolate yogurt, an extra egg and chocolate milk.)

Just mix the wet ingredients together, then the dry. And bake just like the directions on the box. It is super yummy and moist!

The aftermath.

Hudson decided during mid-chomping that he would throw some cake on the ground. Then he thought that was hilarious so he kept doing it. Take a bite. Throw it on the ground. Take a bite. Throw. There was tons of cake all over. So he had a quick bath compliments of Grandma. We cleaned up the festivities and the birthday boy was sent to bed!

Now we have a one-year old. Pretty crazy!

The devouring.

Hudson immediately jumped into his cake and started chowing down! He was in heaven! He loved the icing especially and kept picking it with his fingers and sucking it off. Here is one of him chilling after eating his cake. Just might be one of my favorite pictures of him!!

The presents.

Hudson really got into opening his presents more than I thought he would. He helped rip the wrapping paper off and he kept peeking into them to see what they were. It was so much fun to watch him get excited about the gifts. He kept wanting to stop and play with each thing.

The cake.

Hudson's birthday cake was definitely fitting. We made him a baseball mitt and ball cake. It turned out pretty much like I wanted so I was happy! I also tried adding some stuff to the cake mix that really helped make it moist and taste yummy. I will share those tips with you tomorrow!!

While Hudson was eating dinner, he kept checking out his cake. He finally went for it but luckily my mom saved the day and the cake!!

Hudson's 1st Year

Happy 1st Birthday!!

Hudson is one year old today! I cannot believe this day has finally arrived! I am thinking back remembering this:

and this:
and even this:
The day you were born was exhilarating and scary, which for anyone that hasn't heard the story can read about here. I think most first-time parents probably feel that way about their child's birth too!

We enjoy having you in our family so much. The things we really enjoy the most though are:

• you sleeping through the night since about 6 weeks old
• your giggles
• your smiles, which you are rarely without
• your toothy grins
• your snuggles and kisses
• hearing you jabber on with a few words here and there that actually make sense
• your first time crawling
• your first steps
• you throwing balls or anything else you can get your hands on
• how easily you have traveled all over with us
• how much you can eat in one sitting and then still beg for our food
• your obsession with anything electronic
• how much you love to be in the water, bath or pool or rain
• watching you sleep

You are one of the best things that have ever happened to your Dad and I. We love how much you have helped us grow and realize we don't know anything at all! hehe We can't wait to see how much you change everyday to come! We love you!!

I'm Gonna Getcha!

Gone are the days where Stacey was content with me giving her ideas and then looking at her wonderful blogwork. Now she actually expects me to make a post of my own. This time around I am willing to oblige. One of my favorite memories is when Hudson would start crawling into the kitchen and I would say, Hudson! Then he would turn to look at me with a cheesy smile and I would say, I'm Gonna Getcha. Hudson would start laughing and turn back around and start crawling into the kitchen even faster than before. Crazy that it won't really be that much longer before he starts running from me. What a kid!

Seriously?!!

I thought today was going to be relaxing. I was looking forward to it after being at the Dr's for so long yesterday. Unfortunately, it has been nothing like I had planned! I put Hudson down for his nap this morning and decided to throw some laundry in real quick. This is where all the trouble started.

I noticed the floor looked a little wet. Boy was I wrong, it was sopping wet and was oozing into my boxes I have stored down there! Thank goodness for plastic storage totes that we have most of our stuff stored in. That saved me from having a real huge mess on my hands! I still had 4 soaked towels, over 1/2 bucket of water and still inches of water to clean up. I was so grateful when the plumber came out and pumped out the drain pipe. Then one of the maintenance guys did a huge cleanup down there including putting my towels in the washer for me! Wow! What a great guy! I went down there and did another bleach cleaning after he left just to be sure the yuckies were all gone. Now my hair reeks of bleach scent and my hands are all dried out from washing them so much. I am hoping the rest of the week turns out to be less complicated than it started out to be!

On the bright side, at least we don't have carpet in the basement!! And Hudson is still wheezing a little but not as bad as yesterday. Now there is also bright green snot to play with. Yummy. Oh well, things could be worse.

Oink, oink

Hudson is our little oinker! He has been such a good eater from day one. Since this is a big part of our day, I am so glad I don't have to fight with him to get him to eat! I used to think all babies ate like him but I have learned differently since then. When we started him on cereal at about 4 months, you could tell he thought he was in heaven! He kept eating and eating. He pretty much hasn't stopped since! He isn't a real chubby baby since he started moving around more but he can sure pack that food away somewhere. He loves all vegetables and fruits. Rarely does he refuse something and when he does its usually because he has had a lot of it recently and I think he just wants something new to eat.

He also loves to try any food we are eating and usually demands more. He cannot get enough graham crackers. He will even search through my bag for the container he knows is in there and take more out to eat on his own! Right now he weighs about 22 1/2 pounds which isn't bad considering how much he eats! I think he is going to grow up to be one of those boys that eats you out of a house!

The Neb.

Coughing. Runny Nose. Fever. Wheezing. That last one is pretty much the last straw for me. I don't worry about the first 3 symptoms but once my little guy sounds like he can't breathe, I get worried. We took Hudson into the Express care today. Care we got. Express, not so much. After taking his oxygen levels, they said it was a good thing we brought him in. That made me glad that I wasn't being an overly concerned parent just a caring one. He got breathing treatments from "The Nebulizer." They were surprised he didn't scream, cry or carry on. They said he was the best baby they had seen in a long time. I was also surprised at this. Two and a half hours after he should have gone down for a nap usually makes a little guy cranky. But he held on and on and on. He flirted. He played. He "nebbed." And afterwards, he was doing better. Then he zonked out on the way home.

Mom and Dad did a little Neb searching. Apparently getting a prescription for one doesn't really mean anything on a Sunday when the medical supply stores are closed and none of the pharmacies carry it. I was about to call in the troops when we found Knoll Patient Supply. (Mike had a little misunderstanding from them when he called and thought the cranky lady was being rash by saying "No Patient Supply." So he says thanks and hangs up.) This set me off into hysterics. I tell him the name of the place is Knoll Patient Supply and he probably didn't hear her right. But oh well, they were our knight in shining armour tonight when they home delivered one to us. (Allyson you can be our other "knight" for rushing over the Vaporizer. Thanks again!) They even showed us how to use it, where to put the medicine and how to keep it clean. Hudson was about due for another treatment with all his wheezing and hacking. The best part about our neb is that the mask is a little fish face! Hopefully he sleeps well tonight. I hate seeing my little guy sick. Craziest thing about this whole scenario was that he hasn't even been sick. Just a tiny cough that started Friday night. How quickly these things change from good to bad.

Bombs bursting in air

One of my favorite memories of Hudson was our first 4th of July in Topeka. We had lots of fun experiences that day, which included a tornado siren going off that we didn't realize at first! But my favorite part of Hudson that day was watching him with the fireworks. We went over to the Reynolds' house for a BBQ and a true Topeka 4th bash!

Hudson was enthralled with all of the lights and booms. He was loving it! He would sit and stare at the bright colors. He loved watching the kids run around with sparklers and other bright fireworks. He was content the whole night! Then the big show started with all of the close neighbors pooling together and doing one big finale fireworks show. I have never seen anything like it!! There were fireworks high in the sky throughout the whole neighborhood. It started to get a little crazy!! They saved the "biggest and baddest" blast for last. It was shooting off all sorts of bright stuff in the air and then it let out an extremely LOUD screeching noise. That was the end of Hudson enjoying the show. He started bawling and we knew he had had enough!! It was a great 4th and some great memories!