Christmas Times Two!

The fact that I actually have time to sit down and post to the blog means that the holidays are officially over. :(  We spent the last week and a half traveling to see family, celebrating Christmas, the New Year and a First Birthday!  Hudson actually got to celebrate Christmas and his birthday twice this year.  Once in North Carolina and once in Texas.  He is one lucky boy and it was so nice to celebrate with family.  Hudson loved all of the Christmas trees and now says "tree" whenever he sees one.

We spent Christmas Eve Eve in North Carolina and opened presents with Grandma, Uncle Ron, Aunt Bec Bec, and Scott.   Since Hudson doesn't quite get opening presents he got lots of help from our dogs!  Surprisingly all of our dogs love to open presents so they all think that any present laying on the floor is up for grabs.  His favorite toys were a drum set, a little wind up duck toy, and a new container of peach flavored puffs! :) We ate lots of good food, hung out with the family, and Hudson entertained us.

On Christmas Eve we flew to Dallas to spend a week with the McCalls.  Luckily our flight was not delayed and we made it on time.  Hudson was pretty good for both plane trips but did not sleep during either flight.   It made for a long 3.5 hour trip down there trying to entertain him on our laps.  He played with cell phones, watched a little Mickey Mouse, played Peek-a-boo with the people around us, and loved looking out of the window.  Hudson had a big Christmas morning.  There were 11 people and 5 dogs in the McCall house for Christmas morning so you can imagine all of the wrapping paper, boxes, bows, and toys that filled up that living room.   He got so many cool toys and books.  His immediate favorites were two old-school toys: A push toy that is filled with balls that pop when you push it and a hammer and peg set.  He also loved his stocking gift of puffs there too!  We spent Christmas afternoon at a nursing home where Zach's Mimi used to go.  Zach's mom organized music, singing, cakes, and little gifts for the residents on Christmas.  All the the residents and staff seemed very happy to have visitors and Hudson was a big hit.  He laughed and giggled and enjoyed the music too.   Here are some pictures of his two first Christmas celebrations.  Birthday pictures to come soon!

 Roscoe helping Hudson and aunt Bec Bec open their presents.

 Electric foam drum set!

 Drum lessons from Scott

His "Please give me more puffs" face.

 Of course Scott will give in.

 The weather was really warm so of course Hudson wanted to be outside as much as possible.

 His newest awesome toddler move.  Arching his back when he doesn't want to do something.  Oh boy!

 Hudson's first view of all of the family and presents on Christmas morning in Texas.  A big thanks to Aunt KiKi for taking such sweet pictures for us on Christmas morning.

 Getting excited

 "Is that for me?"

 Big grin for Papa

 Daddy got a Red Rider bee bee gun from Santa.

 Checking out his new car.

My loves

 Taking it all in :)

 "Whoa"

 Hmm..what else is in this stocking?

 A new Sing-a-ma-jig!

 Aunt Emma just chillin.

 Hanging onto his prized puffs.

 Mickey Mouse guitar!

 Playing with Uncle Jason

 Aunt Kailee and her new glitter pink guitar.

 The McCall's newest addition, Allee.  Sweet dog that they rescued from a puppy mill.  :(

Hudson loved Allee.  She is just his size. :)

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

He has always loved to play with the remote control and push the buttons but this weekend he started actually pointing it at the T.V. It was so funny to watch because he knew something was supposed to happen and he would get frustrated when it wouldn't change to one of his favorite shows. He would only do this when I had it on the Christmas music channel. I guess we have used the TV enough times to get him to calm down that he totally learned from watching what to do. He still won't clap his hands on command but he will try to change the TV channel. Boys!

A Classic First Santa Visit

Unfortunately, his face says it all.  He is not a fan of Santa yet.  Luckily we went to the small mall here in Chapel Hill and didn't have to wait in line for hours to get a picture of him screaming on Santa's lap.  He was finally feeling a little better this weekend so we thought we would try to get his first picture with Santa.  Oddly enough this week he has also started becoming more shy and clingy when we are in public.  Whenever he sees new/unfamiliar faces he clings onto me and lays his head on my shoulder and either stares or gives them a half-smile.  Now I know this is typical development but I am pretty sure sitting him on an old man's lap who has a scary beard and walking away did not do anything to help build his confidence with strangers! I really wanted to get one of him smiling in his cute outfit but this one turned out to be one we can laugh at for years to come.  It may also be a good one to show his future girlfriends. :)  He did stop crying pretty quickly after I picked him up and did give Santa a little smile before we left.

Croup: 1, McCalls: 0

Hudson is sick just in time for the holidays. :(  He had a cold all of last week and this weekend the cough started sounding scary and brought back bad memories of the horrible RSV hospital stay.  We took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with croup.  We are having a rough week with not much sleep. We are praying that he will be better for Christmas and his big first birthday!  Even though he was pretty miserable during our peds visit today he did mock the doctor when she was giving me an example of what the croup cough sounded like.  She said, "Does is cough sound like this...?" and the Hudson looked right at her, cocked his head and copied her "Ah, Ah, Ah."  We both cracked up.  He is too funny.

Our nightly outing before bed or whenever he starts coughing.  They recommend the cool night air to help with his breathing.  He absolutely loves that he gets to go outside in the middle of the night!

Although he has been a little whiny and clingy he has still been playing full-force and getting closer to his first steps everyday.

 The bath always makes him happy when he isn't feeling well.

 It only took about 5 minutes for him to figure out how to turn it on.  Now he just wants to stand in the bath.

 He gets confused when his excessive splashing actually gets in his eyes.  He usually looks at me like I did something to make it happen.

 Loves chewing on the washcloths.

showing off

Curly crazy hair!

Kind of like a curly mohawk.

Sweet Angel just trying to get some camera time.

Ladies' Man

 Hudson had a busy weekend filled with lots attention from the ladies.  He seemed to love it and was actually really good all weekend.  Saturday we had a visit from two wonderful friends from Atlanta.  This was their first time meeting Hudson and he was full of laughs and and loved hamming it up to get attention.  Rachel and I took him shopping on Saturday and it was the first time that I have made it through more that two stores at a time with him.  He must realize that I really have to get some Christmas shopping done!  On Sunday, he was one of only two boy guests at a baby shower for sweet baby Emalyn.   He got to try ice cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, and what it feels like to wear a bow. ;)  See below.

 He even wore a tie to the shower ;)

 Grandma, Aunt Bec Bec, and Hudson.  Hudson is trying to figure out how to get Becca to share what she is eating.

 Trying to figure out how to pick up an ice cube.

This kept us laughing for awhile..

Cold!

He knew that he wanted this sprinkled covered marshmallow the second that he saw it.

As soon as aunt Bec Bec turned her head he decided to have a taste.

And he really liked it :)

His sprinkle-covered mad face when I took it away.

Why is it so warm in December?!

Being a super star and wearing his sunglasses inside

He also wanted to try the carmel apple...maybe next year Hudson.

Doesn't he look thrilled with all of the "girl talk"?

My little man :)

Emalyn got such cute bows and we just had to try one on. :) (Zach is going to kill me) Poor little guy, he has no idea why all of the ladies are laughing at him.

Hudson and the ladies

Lately, he has started showing his temper when he can't go outside when he wants to.  I can't even go near the door knob or lock the door with him in my arms because he thinks that we are going outside and gets SO angry when we don't.  

Love it when he just chills.  

Love him.