Giggles

Hadley was throwing a balloon in the air yesterday and Hudson thought it was so funny!

My kids laughing may be my favorite sound...

No sleep for this kid...

Yep, Hudson decided that he must be missing out if he takes a nap so apparently he decided he would not nap the entire day yesterday! He was absolutely NOT going to give in and by the end of the day I was one tired mommy. However, after tears and tears and tears in the crib this is the face I got when I finally got him out and brought him downstairs:

And some belly laughs:

I could not love this face anymore and I would like to say the entire day he was this happy. I think we hit full on meltdown mode about 4:00. Boys will be boys...trouble!

Sing-A-Long

Hadley goes to preschool at Church of the Servant's Warm World and we LOVE it! She begs to go to school everyday and has so much fun. She is such a social girl and could play with friends all day long. Peyton goes there too and is in the class above Hadley. We have had a few functions at the school but last night had to have been my favorite so far. The entire preschool had a Sing-A-Long last night where all the kids sing the songs they have been learning in music class to the parents. All the kids sing a couple songs together and then they break up into classes to sing some more. Hadley loved singing and did such a great job...well we couldn't hear her and could barely see her but at least she was having fun!

Here are some pictures from before we left for the program

Can she already be in preschool? And can she be any cuter?

Here are a couple pictures of the girls singing their songs:

Remember the books "Where's Waldo?" Well, good luck finding Hadley. She's the kid looking our direction with the big smile on her face:

Pictures from this past weekend

Hadley and Hudson watching TV together

My two favorite things on boys are basketball shorts and polo style shirts. So I wasted no time when I saw these. He is my baby, why does he look so big?!?!

We spent so much time outside because the weather was wonderful this weekend! Here are a few pictures I took while sitting out on the patio, watching the golfers go by:

Storytime with Ariel

Uptown Kids is a relatively new store that has a lot of really cute clothes and they also have lots of activities for kids almost every weekend. One weekend a month they have storytime with a different princess and this month was Ariel. Hadley's favorite princess changes every couple of months but right now it is Ariel so you can imagine her excitement when I told her we were going to storytime and she was going to meet Ariel. She waited patiently for about 10 min while the room got more and more crowded and finally Ariel arrived. But of course it was my kid that screamed as Ariel walked in, "That's not Ariel, her hair is not red!" Some of the parents laughed but the kids seemed a little confused. Oops! We still had a great time. Hadley got a new outfit, and we got to play with one of Hadley's best friends, Presley. She is a couple months younger than Hadley and lives a few streets over from us. As I type this Hadley is over at her house playing. It is still so strange to me that my little girl is at the age that I just drop her off to play with friends rather than staying there also. Slow down time....

Hadley and Presley

Why suck your thumb....

when you can suck your big toe instead?

Hadley was sucking her thumb at 4 months old and was very partial to only her left thumb. In fact, she got a sore on that thumb and cried because she couldn't make her right thumb feel the same as her left thumb. Neither of our kids would take a pacifier though. Thankfully, Hudson isn't quite as much of a thumb sucker...he just wants ANYTHING in his mouth! When we feed him he makes such a mess that we take off all his clothes. The other night he discovered his big toe was pretty tasty and he would not keep it out of his mouth.

...or why not the thumb AND big toe?

Sweet

Each night when Hadley goes to bed I tickle her back for a little bit and we talk about what she did that day and what she liked the best. We love this quiet time with our little girl and she says some of the sweetest things before going to sleep. Here is a conversation from the other night:

Me: Hadley, I am glad you had fun at the park today.

Hadley: I am glad you had fun at work.

Me: I am glad you had fun with Miss Julie.

Hadley: I am glad you came home from work.

Me: I am glad I saw you when I came home.

Hadley: I am glad Daddy's friend painted my lamp for me.

*Realizing this could go on forever:

Me: Ok, good night Hadley, I love you so much.

*About 2 minutes later she rolls over, gives me a big hug and says:

"I am glad you love me and I am glad daddy loves me"

SO excited about this...

A double jogging stroller! I have been eyeing these and wanting one for a long time but I really only wanted a BOB since I have heard bad reviews about practically every other jogger. Anyway, it is not uncommon for me to think I HAVE to have something only to find out it really was something I could have done without. So I have refrained from buying a jogging stroller until my sister-in-law, Amy, said she was selling hers!!! It is in perfect condition and we have used it every night so far. Hadley loves it and our baby that loves to be fussy in the evening is an absolute angel when put in this stroller. So we walk...and walk....and walk...and we are all happy!

But I do keep reminding myself that we are having an unusually warm week in February and I better not get too dependent on this stroller. It has, however, made me extremely excited for spring!

Valentine's Day

Matt and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Sunday with a wonderful dinner by ourselves. Not only do we rarely eat alone, we are typically inhaling our food so that we can make sure Hadley and Hudson also eat. And more often than not Hadley ends up wanting what is on our plate and we are left eating a kids meal! But not this night. Matt surprised me with dinner at Red Prime and we had a quiet, wonderful steak dinner and a couple glasses of wine. We talked, we laughed, and we enjoyed every minute. It was a perfect end to the weekend.

Can't believe I forgot to take a picture of our night out. I think I was too excited to get out of the house...

How did I get so lucky?

To get these two incredible boys:

Abby and Katie's Birthday Party

For only the second time in 3 1/2 years, Hadley went on a little vacation, leaving us at home. The first time was to Great Wolf with my parents when Hudson was born as a "big sister" present and this time was to go to Ft. Worth for her cousins 5th birthday party. Hadley could not have been more excited to spend the weekend with her cousins and have TWO sleepovers! Aunt E and Lolly picked Hadley up on Friday and they drove to Ft Worth. Erin told me that night they were deciding what to eat and Amy said she had a frozen pizza she could fix. Hadley was quiet for a minute, then turned to Erin and said, "I don't like my pizzas frozen, I like them warm."

Saturday, Abby, Katie, Hadley and 4 other girls went to the American Girl Store for a birthday party with their babies! They got their hair done, picked out some new clothes, and ate lots of cake. This is right up Hadley's alley and she had a blast! So much fun that when I called to talk to her she told Erin to tell me she was playing and didn't want to talk. All I got was a "hi Mommy." I know she had so much fun with her cousins and we are happy she got to spend an entire weekend with them.

We had a pretty quiet weekend with just Hudson. We got to have 3 years with only Hadley so it is nice to have some time with only Hudson sometimes. But I also know he will be just as excited as us to see her walk in the door...

Buddies

As I have said before, I know I will be in for some fights in the future between these two. However, for now, there are few things I enjoy as much as watching Hadley and Hudson interact. He lights up when she talks to him and she is so gentle and loving towards him. She has such a sweet nature and always wants to help him...even if it means attempting to pick him up and carry him to me, only to end with him back on the floor! Here are some recent pictures:

Teaching him how to play her alphabet game

Making him smile...she is definitely the best at this

And then sometimes we walk around the corner to see she has done this to him:

But, of course, she was only wanting to share her stickers and..."he likes it." Sure.

And finally, this is quite possibly my new favorite video:

Our Daisy Duke

A few days ago my mom brought over a stack of clothes that she saved from when I was a baby. They were the clothes that were special to her, many of them being outfits my grandma had made for me. It was so fun to go through them, I just wish I had had them earlier and could have put them on Hadley when she was a baby. I will, however, continue to store them along with some of Hadleys outfits that were pretty special to us.

Anyway, one of my favorites was a pair of Levi cut-offs that I wore when I was 2 years old. Hadley loved them too and wanted to put them on. Since then she has slept in them, worn them while it is 0 degrees outside, and only taken them off to take a bath. How cute is this....

Here are a couple more of the outfits:

Everyone had these shoes. Usually just a one or two pair and you wore them with everything. Obviously, from the looks of them, mine got a lot of use.

This is a jacket that my grandmother sewed for me. It is this one that really makes me smile.

A good report

Today we had Hudson's 3 month follow-up appointment with his pediatric urologist. We had a great night of him sleeping 14 hours straight and he woke up rested and ready for an entire morning (so we thought) at Childrens Hospital. Oh, and add to that an extra hour of driving since I was a little bit paranoid to drive on ice with my baby. Thankfully, my mom went with me to make the morning a little easier.

So I dressed him in his tough-guy skulls and crossbones outfit to remind him to be a big boy during his appointment. We arrived at Childrens and they immediately got him back for his ultrasound. The ultrasound was to check the left kidney (the non-functioning kidney) and make sure it was shrinking or had stayed the same size and to check the right kidney to make sure it was growing. He did so great during the ultrasound and only cried when he got irritated with having to be still. Then we only had to wait 30 min for the Dr to come in. Needless to say, I made a much bigger deal out of this appointment than was necessary. We were actually only at Childrens from 9-11.

Here is the gist of what the urologist told us:

-Hudson's left kidney has shrunk down significantly to only about 2cm by 2cm. The right kidney is growing wonderfully. At one point we were told he would have to be seen every 3 months for the first year. However, now we don't have to go back for a year!!! We obviously have an overachiever...

Thank God for answered prayers!

Snow Day!

Well, the weathermen were not over-dramatic this time...we got a lot of snow today.

And best of all, this means an entire day with my family, forced to stay at home and enjoy being lazy. We did do a little organizing and cleaning but for the most part we watched tv, played on the floor with the kids, and braved the -13 windchill so that Hadley could play in the snow. After last year's snow storm I told Matt that I didn't care if we wasted the money and it got no use, Hadley would have a snow suit each year in case we got that much snow again. But....I forgot that I had made that statement, and therefore, forgot to get her snow attire once again. So she looked like this:

She is wearing my hat, windpants with three layers of leggings underneath, rainboots, a dress she insisted on wearing, two not-so-warm jackets, and gloves that were not even close to being waterproof. Poor kid was outside for maybe 15 minutes before it hit her that she was miserable! Next year I will be a better mom and have her properly dressed for snow angels and snow ball fights... if I remember.

Here are a few pictures of some views from inside our house:

Even the dogs were lazy. They only went outside twice when they could absolutely not hold it any longer.

Hudson, unfortunately, was only able to experience the snow behind glass. I don't think he really minded:

Back to work tomorrow...as long as we don't get stuck in a snow drift.