5 Months

Hudson is 5 months old! I really think each month goes by faster than the last...

Hudson weighs about 14 lbs but we don't have a Dr. appointment this month so that isn't the most accurate. He holds his arms up for us to pick him up. He belly laughs and he smiles all the time. He sleeps 12 hour nights and is now a pretty awesome napper too. He recently started playing with toys and he just started sitting up (completely unstable though) if propped up by his hands. He loves squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes...still working on peas. I am positive we will be seeing a tooth very soon. This kid chews on absolutely everything right now and the past couple days have been a little rough. I am not used to this since Hadley got tooth after tooth without us even knowing it.

And yes, just like Hadley at this age, he has us wrapped around his finger!

Florida, Disney World, and the Gasparilla parade

What a wonderful weekend!

We have been planning a trip to see Drew, Padgett, Sloan, and Davis for a LONG time, with plane tickets booked, and it just kept getting postponed. First, it was because are house got finished early and we were able to move in the weekend we were supposed to go. Second, we planned on going late October and Hudson had some unexpected Dr. appointments that made us decide to postpone a little longer. And finally, one week before our plane tickets expired, we made it...and it was a perfect trip!

So Thursday morning we finish packing and are ready to leave for the airport. Hadley was precious when she told Hudson goodbye and that she was going to miss him so much and to be good. I just tried to keep my mind off the fact that we wouldn't see our sweet baby for 4 days! I would be lying if I said a few tears weren't shed. Thankfully, we felt completely comfortable with Hudson staying here with Mama and Papa on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. Then aunt E came over Saturday afternoon and watched him the rest of the weekend. And he even remembered us and smiled when he saw us again...

Hadley was so excited to fly on an airplane:

Hadley had been talking about going on an airplane for weeks. She couldn't wait. She has been on a plane a few times before but the last time was a little over a year ago so I don't think she really even remembers it. Ryan and Peyton were going to take us to the airport and for some reason Hadley had this idea that Ryan was flying the plane. Then, while on the plane she proceeded to tell everyone sitting around us that they were invited to her cousin Sloan's house also. Of course, she slept a total of about 30 minutes, was hyped up on coke, and sugar and was running on pure exhaustion when we arrived in Tampa at 8. But don't worry, Hadley and Sloan were still awake at 10:45 chatting in bed and then awake at 5 because they were so excited to play and go to Disney World!

Looking out the airplane window:

Disney World is about an hour from Tampa and the drive was hysterical as we listened to the girls talk about what they were going to do and what they were going to tell the princesses. We had a few showers on Friday which turned out perfect because the temperatures were cool and the lines were short! Hadley rode her first roller coaster and wasn't scared a bit. They rode on dumbo, It's a Small World ride, and met all the princesses and fairies. I was surprised how much longer the line for the fairies was but I guess they are much more popular now! Hadley and Sloan were starstruck and loved taking their pictures with each. After about 8 hours in the park the girls were exhausted and fell asleep in the stroller. Matt, Drew and I went to eat a great Italian dinner and they slept though the entire dinner. We ended up waking them up to see the grand finale of fireworks at the parks closing. I can't even begin to document how wonderful the day was. Hadley was exhausted but to see the excitement on her face at the sight of Disney World, the Magic Kingdom castle, and the princesses was priceless and a memory I will never forget. We can't wait to go back!

Let the Memories Begin:

First time in a racecar:

Here is Hadley meeting Sleeping Beauty. I think she was a little star-struck!

Cinderella and Hadley

Hadley and Belle (her favorite at the time)

Posing with Lydia

The girls and their daddies in the teacups

On Saturday I got a massage, Matt and Drew played golf, and in the afternoon we went to the Gasparilla parade. This was a HUGE parade that runs along the bay and it was a lot of fun. It is a little like a Mardi Gras for kids where all the floats throw beads and the kids collect as many as they can. Unfortunately, it was freezing (we apparently brought the cold weather with us) but still so fun. Here are a couple pics:

Pirate invasion re-enactment:

Trying to generate some business with a bag full of cotton candy!

Sunday afternoon we got back on the plane with an exhausted little girl and came back to Oklahoma. Hadley fell asleep as we were taking off and didn't wake up until we got home. She then slept until 7 the next morning. I think she may have had fun...

Hadley couldn't wait to give Hudson his presents the next day!

Mickel Donalds

I could not be happier with how Hadley has adjusted to having a little brother and not getting 100% of our attention anymore. In fact, she loves him more than I could have ever imagined! She kisses him every morning, wants to change diapers, cries if I let him cry because she says it hurts his feelings, and tells him she will miss him everytime she leaves. She is such a good big sister. But Saturday she had had enough. He was in a fussy mood of needing to be held all day and she finally cried and said, "I don't want you to hold him, I just want you to play with me." So I decided we needed a little time together. Matt watched Hudson and I asked Hadley what she wanted to do. I wasn't really expecting her to say play at Mickel Donalds (which is what she calls McDonalds) but that's what she wanted and that's what we did! We called LaNeale and Holland to meet us and the girls had a blast. Here is a funny picture:

The girls pulled up these infant highchairs to the tv and climbed up in them all by themselves. I guess for a moment the Disney channel became slightly more important than the giant indoor playground....

Happy Birthday Nana!

Hadley and Hudson's Nana (Matt's grandmother) turned 98 on Saturday. This is the first year she has admitted to how old she is and I can understand why, because you would never guess she was 98! We love her so much...Happy Birthday Nana!

A not-so-successful attempt at babyfood

At our 4 month appointment with Hudson the other day our pediatrician told us he is changing the way he recommends baby food. He no longer recommends cereal first for two reasons.

1. Grains are one of the most common allergies so putting them off until they are a little older can help prevent an allergy.

2. many babies do not like cereal and it can create a spoon aversion making them leary to try other foods.

So he now says do veggies first, then meats, then fruit and finally add some cereal to the fruit. He also says some babies aren't quite ready at 4 months and if they are not to wait a couple weeks and try again.

So...we tried peas. Hadley loved them and we were hoping for the same with Hudson. Not quite. I did not take pictures of the first night because he not only didn't like them...he hated them! We waited a few days, tried again, and had a little better luck. Still only got a few spoonfuls in but a little more successful. Maybe a few more attempts and we will be able to get some weight on this kid!

Stunned:

"You're expecting me to swallow this":

Getting a pep-talk from sissy:

Girly Girl

As all of my friends and family know, I have always been a jeans and t-shirt girl. I love to dress up but when around the house, I am most often in pajama pants and t-shirts. I wear very little make-up and if I didn't have to straighten my hair I would consider myself very low maintenance. My daughter, however, is the complete opposite and I love it! Where it came from, I have no idea. From the time she started walking she was obsessed with shoes. She is a little bit shy but at 18 months if she saw someone wearing shoes she liked she would try to get them off their feet and put them on. This can be quite embarrassing when it happens at the mall...twice! Here are some older pictures when we first realized we had a fashion queen...

18 Months old:

2 years old:

3 years old and getting a pedicure the day before Hudson was born.

She has always wanted everything to match. She loves wearing dresses, shoes, bows and jewelry. She wants to watch me put on make-up and fix my hair. She asks me questions about what each thing is and she will repeat the word until she knows it by heart. She puts a bow, or lately a headband, in her hair first thing in the morning and picks out jewelry to match her outfits. And every time she gets dressed she has to run to her daddy to get approval.

Lately she has started a new habit each night and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Before Hadley goes to bed she goes upstairs and picks out the outfit she wants to wear the next day. Then...she lays the outfit out on the floor just as it will look on her. Headband, shirt, panties, pants, socks, and shoes! Here is her outfit last night:

Yes, we have a girly girl. But as impressed as I am that she can coordinate so well, we have an important task at hand. It is our job to make sure that Hadley knows that beauty comes from the inside. That dressing up is fun and we all want to look pretty but what makes her so beautiful to us is her sweet demeanor. How she has sensitive feelings for others and wants to be friends with everybody. She notices when people are sad and she wants to make them happy. Her teachers tell us she always listens in class and is the first to help. She loves her baby brother and hates to hear him cry. She is such a blessing to us daily, and for this blessing we pray that she will always be beautiful, but particularly on the inside...

We need more weekends like this!

After a very busy holiday season, we were so excited to have no commitments this weekend. We relaxed, played, and even got to go on a date! Saturday Matt went to the OSU game and got courtside tickets. Winning made the game even that much more fun. I stayed home with the kids and we played all day (in our pajamas). Saturday night Lolly and Pops came over and we went out to eat at a steak restaurant across from our neighborhood and then we saw Country Strong. It has been SO long since Matt and I were able to go to both dinner and a movie and it was such a good stress relief. I actually think we had very little talk about kids and just enjoyed a night together.

Sunday morning we woke up to a sleepy 3-year-old with baby and blanket in hand trying to crawl in our bed at 4:00 in the morning. We thankfully have a really good sleeper and we are also strict about her sleeping in her bed but....

...Sometimes it's hard to turn down this face!

On Sunday, my parents, Ryan, Lisa, and Peyton came over and spent a couple hours with us. Hadley, of course, was ecstatic that Peyton came over to play with her. And then even more ecstatic when she got to go play at Peyton's house. When I went to pick Hadley up we got to watch Peyton pull her very own tooth! It was her second one to lose but I was shocked that she was brave enough to pull it out herself. Now Hadley is claiming her tooth is loose and she is SO ready for the tooth fairy to come. Hate to break it to her that she has a couple more years! Here are a couple of pictures of Ryan playing with Hudson. He is such a smiley baby!

So, we got caught up on some sleep and relaxed a little. We also did some more organizing around the house. I would like to say the house is fully together and decorated after living here 6 months but we still have a ways to go. Baby steps....

One more of Hadley keeping Hudson happy.

Money something

Hadley loves to put coins in her piggy bank so last night we gave her some coins to put in there. Before putting them in she took them to her daddy and said, "Look Daddy, I have lots of money. Can we go to the store and money something."

4 Months

Hudson turned 4 months old on New Years Day and we had his 4 month check-up and vaccinations today. He is 13 pounds (12%), 26 in (83%), and his head is 41cm (30%). This makes me laugh because for two kids to look so alike, he and Hadley could not be more opposite in stats. She was 75% weight, 50% height, and 97% head. Dr. Stephens said Hudson looks great and to get ready for food. We talked about how this is such a fun age of smiles and giggles. Hudson smiles sooo much, especially at Hadley. He is a great night sleeper (as long as you don't mind an early riser) but doesn't love naps. We are so in love...

Since I started this blog so late I thought I would post his 1, 2, and 3 month pictures as well.

Catching Up

A couple pictures from Christmas Eve

I would love to write an entire post about Christmas this year but it would take me forever and I am ready to move on to this year so I am going to give a short synopsis of possibly the best Christmas of my life...

Like many people, Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I am such a family person and I love when everybody is together, more time is taken off work, and we have an entire month to decorate, wrap presents, and get prepared to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Of course, growing up I loved getting presents (and still do), but I had NO idea how much fun it would be to see my children (well, just Hadley right now) believe in Santa and get sooo excited to open presents. This was the first year that Hadley REALLY understood Santa and we started the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition. We sang Christmas songs and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. I know that we only have a few years of this true Santa experience and if I could stop time in the month of December I absolutely would. I want to always remember the excitement Hadley has had for the past three weeks.

Hadley got a chef's hat and apron from my mom and she was ready to cook us all dinner:

Hadley, Peyton, and Story (after a slight meltdown from Hadley)

Family time...we had lots of it this year! Both Amy (Matt's sister) and Drew (Matt's brother) and their families were in town this year so Hadley got to play with all her cousins that she doesn't get to see that often. We had many playdates and were sad to see them go back home. We had our traditional Christmas Eve with my family and Hadley, Peyton, and Story had a blast. We did Christmas morning at our home and then we went to open presents and have lunch with Matt's family on Christmas day. The day after Christmas we had a family get-together with Matt's extended family and this past weekend we finished up Christmas at my parents lakehouse with my extended family. Needless to say, we are exhausted, a little heavier, and ready for a new year. I wish I had the time to write about all of these gatherings but I will stop at that..

Nana and Hudson

All of the Holloman grandkids.

But one more very exciting event happened this Christmas. On Christmas Eve my brother proposed to his girlfriend, Lisa. I could not be happier for them and feel so lucky to be getting such a wonderful sister-in-law. She is so perfect for my brother and Peyton and we cannot wait for all the memories to come!

New Year, New Ideas

So I have never had any interest in starting a blog even though I love to look at my friend's blogs. I have actually gotten some great ideas on things to do with the family and especially with my kids. But the reason I decided to start this blog came from an idea off my friend Kristen's blog. She compiles all her blogs into a software program that then prints out a book. I figured this will be the perfect way for me to journal what is going on in our lives and all the things I never want to forget with our kids. Hopefully, it will be something fun to look back on as we grow as a family. I am not the best writer and have absolutely no intention of my blog being spread thoughout the web for people to read, maybe just some family members if they are at all interested.

Looking forward to another year of memories....