Kansas! (Also, Kansas: The Sequel)

A big chunk of this extended trip that Huddy and I have been on has involved traveling to Kansas to visit family. Both my parents were born and raised in the same small town in south central Kansas, and all of my mom's side of the family still lives there. It is challenging to get out there for a visit because it is a long drive - about eight hours - and even more so with a little one. When we went with Hudson for Thanksgiving, we flew to Kansas City and then my parents picked us up to make it the rest of the way. But this time my mom and I would be driving with Hudson all the way from St. Louis. For the most part, he was a great car napper and God bless the iPhone, which kept him pretty well occupied for any awake time!

Huddy had a great time at Great-Grandma's house. It was a little tough because their place is (understandably) not exactly baby-proofed. I found myself having to say "no" a lot more than usual, which I hate, but it was tough to balance between letting him explore and keeping him (and Grandma's knick-knacks) safe! Still, he was so sweet and happy and did great with all the people he's only met once. We were confined indoors for the most part because every day we were there it was over 100 degrees. But he found plenty to keep him entertained.

Mom tied a tea-towel around him like a cape and then he decided he wanted to wear it at all times!

Showing Great-Grandma Anita his little car.

My mom with my grandma and grandpa

Huddy really took a liking to my Uncle Phil. So cute!

He got this little car from some of the family. He loves riding it but mostly pushing it around.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Sandy got him his very own Harley Davidson gear.

Hanging out on Great-Grandma's front porch.

My cute grandparents!

Truth be told, there's not much in Wellington, Kansas. But there is a Braums. What's that, you ask? Oh, just some of the world's finest icecream. Which, tragically for the rest of us, is pretty much only available in Oklahoma and Kansas. We made a daily trip for our icecream fix. On our last day, I decided Huddy had been such a wonderful boy on our trip that it was high time he saw what all the icecream fuss was about. Baby's first icecream cone was, needless to say, a HUGE hit.

"What do I do with this?"

Lightbulb moment.

Once the top part was gone, he tried to drink it out of the cone.

Took the icecream away for a second to get this messy-face photo...

I WAS NOT DONE GIVE IT BACK WHYYYYY

"Never do that again."

Once we wrapped up our time in Wellington, we headed back to St. Louis. On our way, we made stops in Topeka and Kansas City to visit even MORE family. It actually worked out well to help break up the car time for Hudson, and I was so grateful to see some relatives I hadn't seen in far too long. In Topeka we stopped to see my Uncle Joe. He was at his mom's house making tortillas so we joined in the fun! They are Mexican and I love getting little glimpses into the culture when I get the chance to spend time with them.

 

Huddy approves of the final product.

Me and Hudster with Mary, Uncle Joe, and his mom Jenny

Finally, we made our way to Kansas City to see my cousin Mitchell (Joe's son, if you're trying to fill in your own personal copy of my Family Tree). I hadn't seen him in practically two years, during which he had gotten engaged and had a baby of his own! Knox is only about 2.5 months younger than Hudson, so they were fast friends. It was pretty awesome for my boy to be playing with his second cousin.

New friends with fun toys!

Me, Hudson, Courtney, Knox, and Mitchell

Such a cutie and so many teeth!

In fact, we had so much fun with Knox and Co. that we decided to come BACK to Kansas City the following weekend for his 1st birthday party! We were also excited that we would get to see my cousin Katie (Mitchell's sister; I'll wait while you jot that down). Again, we hadn't seen her in ages and it was wonderful to introduce her to Hudson in person. He had lots of fun being the only other baby at the party and getting to "borrow" some presents while Knox was otherwise occupied. 

Love this shot of Hudson holding on to my dad. :)

Hudson "helping" Knox with one of his presents.

Katie finally gets to meet Huddy!

Unfortunately, the party proved to be too much fun for Hudson, as he then spent two of the four hours of our drive back to St. Louis awake and crying. Yikes. I guess he just loved Kansas so much he was sad to leave.

Thus ended our adventures visiting everyone to whom we are related within a 500 mile radius. It was exhausting but wonderful. There's nothing quite like family, is there? We are pretty blessed with ours.

Meet Me In St. Louie, Louie

I know, I know. It must seem like I've vanished. Both from this blog, and from my actual life. So where have I been? Well, three weeks ago I came up to St. Louis for what was supposed to be a week long trip. Only... I'm still here. It happened something like this.

Three weeks ago, Hudson and I drove (well, I drove and Hudson rode) to St. Louis. We were planning to attend the wedding of a family friend. In addition, I've been trying to get Hudson over to Kansas to visit my extended family there, whom he hadn't seen since Thanksgiving. So we decided that I would come to St. Louis, spend a couple days, go to this wedding, and then drive with my mom to Kansas, spend a few days there, then drive back to St. Louis, then Huddy and I would go on home to Nashville. In the meantime, Ben was supposed to have been on this big work trip to New York and California, so we would be gone at the same time. 

Still with me? All this happened according to plan, except while we were in Kansas, it turned out Ben's work trip had been canceled, so he decided to fly to St. Louis and we would meet there, spend the weekend all together with the families, and then drive back to Nashville together.

Except THEN, when we were in Kansas City visiting my cousin, we found out that the next weekend was their baby's first birthday party and my OTHER cousin who I haven't seen in two years would be there. She lives in Boston and rarely gets back out to the midwest. So when we got back to St. Louis and met up with Ben, we decided it would be better if I just stayed an extra week so I could go BACK to Kansas City and see her. Except I wouldn't just stay ONE extra week. I would stay TWO extra weeks. Because we had already planned to be BACK in St. Louis this coming weekend when we had tickets to a ball game and The Lion King. I really hated to be apart for so long ("People are going to think we are having marriage problems or something," I said), but knowing Ben had a crazy time of work ahead which would mean long hours home alone, we decided it was for the best that I stay put. Ben would take the car (which I had originally driven to St. Louis -- please keep up, dear reader) and go back to Nashville since he had to work. Then when he drove back for our baseball/musical weekend, we would all finally drive back together.

Do you feel confused? I feel confused. Suffice to say, we haven't been in Nashville in what seems like forever! But we are, I promise, coming home this very Sunday. 

We've packed a LOT into these past three weeks! We've been to the zoo (twice), Kansas City (twice), southern Kansas, Forest Park, the pool, a wedding, a baseball game, a 30th birthday party, and more. In the meantime Huddy turned 14 months, Ben turned 30, I turned 29, and my parents celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary. Sheesh! Hopefully I can get my act together and blog about all of it. Or at least some of it. Or maybe none of it. Gotta keep your expectations low, people.

Quick, let me distract you with a pictorial sampling of our adventures from the past month:

Playing with second cousin Knox

Now claps for himself every time he plays the piano

Teaching him to pet a horse at Forest Park

Hudson with Auntie Ashley at a wedding. Let's just say this outfit was a big hit.

We watched a lot of Olympics. Go America!

Reading with Great-Grandma Anita

We now require a cape for most activities.

I'm only turning 29! No, seriously. 1983. Check it.

Skyping with Daddy makes us happy!

At the Cardinals game two weekends ago

Train ride at the StL Zoo

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I'm fairly certain I've used that as a previous blog title. #creativity

Speaking of, do you think it is weird that we use hashtags now outside of Twitter? I see them all the time on Facebook and other places online. I love it. I kind of wish there was a way to use them in actual conversation. Would you say the word "hashtag," like people say "quote" and "unquote" or would there be some sort of gesture you'd do? "Hey! Wanna go get mani/pedis this weekend? Hashtag AKA margaritas." I don't know if it would work. Something important to consider.

Anway. Yellow is probably my favorite color, but I just needed a background change! I'm trying out blue waves for now. Seems nice and summer-y. Refreshing. Like the pool or the beach. Or anywhere other than my house where I keep getting barfed on by my poor sick baby.

And if you needed an explanation for why I sound a little crazy, you just got one. 

#motherhoodyall

Hudson Lately

I'm a terrible mommy blogger. Seriously. And the worst part is, I know if I don't write it down, I'm going to forget all these wonderful milestones and sweet moments. I don't want to forget! So here's a few bullet points and photos of the past month and a half.

• Can say "mama" and "dah-dee."
• Points to eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
• Understands lots of what we say, especially the following words: Up, down, upstairs, downstairs, outside, snack, ball, toy, gentle.
• Finally learned the sign for "more" and uses it adorably. I can never turn him down now! He is also getting the hang of "all done" and "milk."
• Loves to clap his hands proudly when you tell him "Good job!"
• Taught him how to get down off the bed/couch by himself (get on his tummy and go feet first), and he's very good at it! He's slowly also learning to go down the stairs. As soon as he has that mastered I'll be relieved.
• Still has no teeth. I saw this chart recently and had to laugh. What if when he finally does start teething he gets all the ones he is supposed to have by now at once?! Yikes.
• We were down to nursing about once or twice a day. However, in the past week he's been acting a little off, like he's either sick or (maybe, finally) teething, and he's been refusing to eat almost anything. So I'm thankful that I am still nursing and can offer that to him a little more. At least then I know he's getting some calories and hydration.
• He loves to find our shoes around the house, put one on each hand, and run around with them. I don't know. He's weird.
• Such a little reader! Not only does he love for us to read books to him, but he really likes sitting by himself with his books and "reading" them on his own. It is SO darling and thrills this book-loving mama!
• Going through some separation anxiety - church nursery is pretty much right out unless mommy or daddy is in there too. If a mom friend is in their working, I feel a little better about leaving him even if he is crying. I know he'll get over this phase soon but it is tough.
• Figured out how to give blowbellies and thinks it is very funny to make me laugh by giving them to me!
• Still waffling between one and two naps daily, depending on when he wakes up and how fussy he is. Bedtime is usually 7:30-8 and he sleeps until about 7 the next morning.
• Can "throw" a ball and tends to do it with his left hand. Not sure if that means anything yet.
• Getting a little more picky with his eating. I have to remind myself that pickiness can come and go in waves and is a pretty standard toddler challenge. I am an incredibly picky eater and I just don't want him to end up like me! 

Hopefully in the next couple posts I will be able to recap his birthday as well as our recent trips to Washington DC and Atlanta!

Hudson: A Year in the Making

Ben surprised everyone (including me) at Hudson's birthday party with this video he made chronicling year one of our sweet baby's life. He even recorded the first song you hear, and he used Huddy's little instruments - his baby guitar, Fisher Price drum, monkey bell, and toy maracas. He's a pretty wonderful guy, that husband of mine. :)



The second song in the video is "Umbrellas," by Sleeping At Last. The words are pretty great: "Give me your hand, it's time/It's time to show new eyes their home/We'll bring a child into this world/We'll say the one thing everyone should hear/You were meant for amazing things."

Happy Birthday Baby!

One year of life with Hudson. Every tear he (and I) cried, every giggle, every diaper, every cuddle, every moment... seems like too much for one little year to hold. My son is such a joy in my life. I feel so special that God allows me to be his mother.

Here's a little bit about Hudson at one.

He loves books, balloons, bathtime, and airplanes. This morning I got him a balloon at Publix, and except for naptime, he literally has not let it go.

He eats a lot, but favorites include strawberries, bananas, oatmeal, and pretty much anything else so long as it comes off someone else's plate. If you're eating it, he wants some. We call him the Baby Vulture. Right now he is trying (and succeeding) to get some of the cupcake I am eating.

He still nurses a few times a day, but mostly at night/naps and in the morning. So strange, this whole breastfeeding thing - in the beginning, it is all you do and it is so frustrating and difficult that you want to quit. And now, every time he is nursing I see how much he has grown and how independent he is becoming, and I don't want it to end. I think if it was up to him, he would just do it at bedtime and in the morning. I think I will slowly try to let that happen, though it is bittersweet for me!

He has zero teeth. Zilch. Nada. Toothless.

He walks almost exclusively; even if he falls down, he rarely crawls anymore. Just picks himself up and continues toddling along.

He doesn't talk yet, but makes lots of sounds and knows several objects by name and can point to them when asked, like puppy, mama, and daddy. Just this past weekend he finally started saying "mama" but not to or about me. He just says it while he's playing or jabbering. I still love it!

He had his first major sickness a few weeks ago, when he somehow caught Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease. And then I caught Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease. And Ben was out of town. We were a pathetic mess. It was awful.

He takes one nap, usually around noon, and it lasts for 2-3 hours. He goes to bed about 7:30pm and sleeps basically all night. Sometimes he wakes up around 5am, nurses, and then I can usually get him to go back to sleep for another couple hours. He sleeps in his own crib in his own room, and that is the way HE wants it. He's not a snuggler and he won't sleep in our bed anymore, not even in the morning like he used to. I miss it. But sleep - for everyone - is also wonderful.

I'm reading back over this and it seems like such a surface-level summary of who he is. Hudson is so much more than a list of his milestones. He is our baby-becoming-a-toddler, a little boy of quiet confidence and curiosity, with smiles and happy laughter to spare. He is everything I was terrified he would never be in those first few months when all we knew was crying and exhaustion. And while motherhood is still exhausting, most days it is from having too much fun and trying to keep up with Huddy and housework. I'll take that trade in on sleepless nights and endless sobs!

I am so excited to watch him grow and learn each day! Here are a few pictures of our new one year old.