WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!

Man, it has been a beautiful October to be a St. Louis Cardinals' fan! It has been the most amazing ride, and if you haven't been following the story, here it is in a nutshell: every time we weren't supposed to win, we did. One game after the other, one series at a time, we just kept right on beating teams that were supposed to be beating us.

Then there was Game 6 of the World Series, two nights ago, which was THE most exciting baseball game I have ever seen - maybe the most exciting sporting event I've ever seen, period. And finally, last night, a Game 7 winner-takes-all showdown in St. Louis. Before the game, all the sportscasters picked the Rangers to win.

But it was the boys in red who were celebrating mid-field in the end, with Cardinal Nation roaring its ecstatic approval from the stands, the streets, and from our little couch here in Nashville.

And the unlikely hero of the Cardinals post-season was David Freese, who just so happened to be my high school classmate. It was so exciting to see him have such a huge part in the team victory and be handed the World Series MVP trophy at the end. I'm pretty sure he just became St. Louis's most eligible bachelor.

Such a wonderful few weeks following the sport I love the most. Thank you, Cardinals, for playing every game like it was your last, until you were standing alone on top of the world.

Five Months!

Hello my Sweet Baby James!

I can hardly believe it, but you are FIVE months old! Wow! Here are five things that describe you right now:

1. ACTIVE - You like to go, go, go! We try to get out a lot because you get bored just hanging around the house for too long. Your favorite activity is to wheel around the kitchen in your walker. When we first put you in it, you would sort of just hop/lunge to push yourself forward, but now you put one little foot right in front of the other. It is so cute and it really keeps you busy! You also just love to be outside and thankfully we have had lots of beautiful fall weather to enjoy. I'm kind of dreading the cold dreary winter that I know is around the corner... we are going to have to find new ways to fight the cabin fever!

2. AWARE - You notice everything around you, and you want to touch/chew/reach for/grab whatever you see. I love to watch you watch your world! You see and reach for specific items that you want. Practically, this is great - you can now totally get your own pacifier back in your mouth whenever you want! If I'm holding you or nursing you, you like to look up and smile at me. And you love to look at me and Daddy and then reach your little hands out and touch our face. You are not exactly gentle about it, hence we have lots of little scratch marks, but it is so cute we can look past the nails.

3. AWAKE - Sleeping... yeah, you're not so great at sleeping. You mostly take short naps, and you still wake up every three hours all night long. This is exhausting, I won't deny, but we'll get there. I'm not in a rush to rock your boat with any severe sleep training, because you're just doing so great with all other areas of development and temperament. So right now we are just working on you going to sleep without having to be held or rocked. You're getting pretty good at it; we just lay you down and then lay next to you and most times you will eventually go quietly to sleep. The next thing we want to work on is weaning you from your swaddle, but one thing at a time!

4. AMIABLE - This is just a fancy word for friendly and good-natured, but I wanted to stick with my 'A' theme. It's funny, but ever since I wrote that blog about you not being a happy boy, you have set out to prove me wrong! Sure, I wouldn't call you particularly flexible or easy-going, and believe me, you can still cry (and now scream) when things aren't going your way. But overall, we have so many smiles and laughs to fill our day! I love your laugh so much; you sound like you swallowed a squeaky toy. Unless you are overly tired or upset, you don't mind when strangers hold you. You enjoy playing with other people - we've even left you in the church nursery two times!

5. ADORABLE - This is somewhat subjective, I realize, but c'mon. You know you're pretty stinkin' cute. Everyone - and I mean everyone - who meets you always comments on your bright blue eyes. Those big peepers plus your sweet rosy cheeks are a lethal combination! We are obsessed with taking your picture, and you already seem to be a pro at posing for the camera. Here are a few of my favorite shots from your fifth month of life:

You & Daddy after our trip to the pumpkin patch

At the Battle of Franklin Civil War Reenactment

You & Me at the Immanuel Church picnic

Dressed in your game day gear to cheer on the Cardinals in the World Series

I love you so much, my sweet little Huddy! God has blessed us richly by adding you to our family.

Love,

Momma

Holding Huddy

If you haven't picked up on it from my previous posts, Hudson is high-maintenance. He has like zero self-soothing skills, and so going to sleep is difficult for him. He has to be tightly swaddled and then he usually has to be held until he falls asleep before we put him down. Sometimes you have to sway or rock him and pat his little bottom. And of course, he needs his white noise.

Sometimes this is annoying. I find myself clock-watching, wondering how many minutes more I'll have to hold him before he'll be sound enough asleep to move to his swing. I think about how much easier it would be if I could just pop him in his crib when he started getting sleepy and then go about my business while he drifted off to sleep on his own. My arm gets sweaty from his hot little head and my back gets sore from leaning over him.

But then I am looking down at his sweet little face, and feeling how much he needs me, how he calms and rests in my arms, and how is it possible it is that he's already so long that his feet are falling off my lap?

Soon he won't need me to rock him to sleep. And I'm going to blink and it will be his first day of kindergarten. And then I'll blink again and he'll be graduating high school. Blink. His wedding day. Blink. I'm a grandmother. Blink. I'm an old lady at the end of my life, and I'm willing to bet I won't be thinking, "I wish I'd held my baby less."

We do want Hudson to have good sleeping habits. And in the next few months we'll be working on helping him learn those things, gently and lovingly.

But for now, I just want to cherish holding Huddy.

4 Months Old!

Sweet Baby James,

Hello my little love! You are napping right now, and while I should probably be taking advantage of that and sleeping myself, I just decided to write you a little note.

Here you are getting your bath in the kitchen sink. Look how big you are! You just love having your bath, although you do NOT like the water to get in your face. You sputter and make a big show of being very put out if that happens.

I feel like you have changed so much in the past couple weeks. You've definitely grown - at the doctor yesterday you were 25 inches long and weighed 14 pounds, 5 ounces. Just another pound and you'll have doubled your birth weight. You always want to sit up or stand, and you love jumping! We got out your bouncing gym thing and your walker - that's right, a walker. You like to push yourself around the kitchen in it, but you don't have any control over your direction, so you just go from one end to the other, then we turn you around and off you go again. When we were in St. Louis last week, we got out the highchair that I used to sit in as a little girl, and we padded you in with pillows and towels. You really enjoyed sitting there and banging your toys on the tray!

Everyone always comments on your big bright blue eyes. You use them to look around and notice everything! You follow Scruffy as he walks across the room, and you notice all the activity around you. It is so fun to watch you interact with your little world.

Daddy and I love you so much, Huddy, and everyone who meets you thinks you are pretty great too. We can't imagine our lives without your sweet toothless grin and your rosy kissable cheeks and your feisty, go-go-go personality. We're so thankful to God for giving us you.

Love Always,

Momma