Raising A Boy

 I am officially 29 weeks and I don't think I have taken a real belly picture since week 16 or so.   I will work on getting a few this weekend but this belly is growing pretty fast and there hasn't been much time for picture posing.  We have been busy house hunting so we can make room for our growing family and busy keeping up with Hudson who doesn't seem to stop going all day unless it is to watch the Wiggles (oh joy).  My sister sent me this link this week and since I am having another boy I thought I would share.  So far it is so true.  Love my boys but I have a lot to learn!  Growing up with my sister and mom in the house most of the time was quite different for sure.

http://www.ivillage.com/raising-boy-parenting-tips-we-wish-wed-known/6-b-440087#440106

 We spent our Sunday morning at Grandma's in our pajamas playing outside before it got too hot.  Hudson is apparently a janitor at heart and insists  on playing with mops, brooms, and dusters.  He just had to bring the swiffer mop outside to mop the driveway.

 I always hate to see the daycare number pop up on my phone while I am at work.  It is never a good reason that they are calling.  Either he is sick or something happened.  Miss Maria called me on Friday afternoon to let me know that Hudson fell and hit the corner of a table.  The result was his first black eye. :(  You can kind of see it in the picture above.  Poor Hud.

 It is pretty neat that when Hudson is at Grandma's house he gets to take bath in the same blue bathtub that I used to take a bath in when I was little.  I will spare you the comparison pictures but believe me not much has changed about this bathroom.  Grandma is getting ready to do some renovations so I thought I should get a few pictures of him in my old bathtub.

Hudson figured out that he can climb on Grandma's coffee table.  When he got up there he thought he was on stage and immediately started singing and giving us a show. Rebecca caught the tail end of his silliness on video.

He has got a pretty awesome laugh...just like his Daddy. :)

After he was finished with his dinner he leaned over and started asking Wyatt if he wanted one of his "puffs".  He stuck his hand out like he was going to give it to Wyatt and then he took it back and put it in his own mouth and said "All Gone" and started laughing.  Already teasing the poor dogs.  Soon after he realized how funny it was to actually give them the food.  This video shows the end of the fun.  Since he was out of food he decided to just throw the whole bowl on Wyatt.  :-/

18 month check-up

Hudson went in to the pediatrician for his 18 month check-up today.  Here are his stats:  He is 34 and 1/4 inches tall, weighs 29 lbs, 11 oz, and his head circumference is 48 cm.  According to the pediatrician he is 98th percentile for height and 97th percentile for weight!  The chart I use online says that he is more like 90th percentile for both but to sum it up, I have a big boy!  He was a champ during his visit and laughed when Dr. Joe was checking his belly.  I put off his shot until next week so that was one less thing to worry about today.  After this he only has one more to get when he is two then we are shot free until he is four!  Yay!  I guess I can start worrying about immunizations for the next baby boy. By the way, he will be here in about 2.5 months!!! 

Hudson and I hid inside most of the day because it was miserably hot outside again today.  Later this afternoon it got a little cloudy so we went outside before the storm to enjoy the cloudy "cooler" weather.  He insisted on riding in his wagon outside but of course he decided that he had to get out and run for a little while.  This means that mommy had to try to pull the wagon and keep up with Hudson.  He really wanted to find the rabbit that we usually see on our walk and kept running up and down the path yelling "Hop, Hop!"  I am sure this scared all of the wild life away pretty quickly.  On the same path a few weeks ago we saw 3 deer and it was so funny because Hudson kept calling them "Wyatt" and trying to make clicking noises to get them to come closer.  If you know my dog, then you will know that he does actually resemble a small deer at times so it was pretty funny.  Mommy would be happy if Hudson loved the deer as much as he loves the dogs because I don't know what I would do with a son that takes up hunting as a hobby!

Kidzu

Hudson and I had a fun playdate with sweet baby Owen on Thursday at Kidzu children's museum in Chapel Hill.  Owen's mom (Kathy) and I have known each other since elementary school and lived together in college.  Although we don't do it often enough, it is always so fun to spend time together and now even more fun to see our boys playing together.  Owen is only 8 months old and he is already walking!  (poor mommy and daddy are busy now) He is really calm, sweet, and not to mention CUTE!  Since both boys are on the move it was difficult to get them in the same place at the same time for pictures.   

Not sure what this face meant but pretty funny. 

Hudson showing off his head stand skills to Owen

"Hi Owen"

Owen really wanted to pull Hudson's curls

Last week we took Hudson to REI and had fun testing out the bikes and camping supplies.  I will leave the camping up to daddy when he gets a little older. :)

 This weekend also marked the first time that Hudson got to lick the the mix off of a beater!  Grandma was making a dream whip topping for a cake and he came in the room at just the right time.  Now I am sure he will go crazy when he sees another beater.  Too bad for him, his mom doesn't have anytime for baking these days.  I will leave the baking to Grandma and Nana for now.  They are much better at it anyway.

Aunt Becca watched Hudson while we were house hunting this weekend and we came home to "pebbles".  She loves to bug Zach and put Hudson's hair up.  He was pretty cute.

Grandma/Aunt Bec Bec Daycare :)

Hudson's daycare closes for the entire week of 4th of July so that put us in a little bit of a childcare dilemma but luckily my mom is off for the summer and Aunt Bec Bec can bring Hudson to work with her so they took care of him while I worked last week.  This involved lots of commuting to and from Greensboro for me because I couldn't stand to be away from Hudson for a night but it was worth it and Hudson had a great week off of school too.  I learned just how much better behaved he is when I am not around.  They tell me that he is so good at daycare and doesn't fuss or whine but I always thought that they were just being nice by saying that. I guess this is typical of most kids but it still amazes me how he tries manipulate me even when he knows what he is supposed to be doing and not doing.  For example, he still refuses to nap in his crib during the day with me so I usually sit and read books to him until he goes to sleep.  But when my mom kept him she said that she just laid him down in the pack-n-play and he laid there until he went to sleep.  If I would have been around it would have been a scream-fest for at least 30 minutes.  But he is right...if he cries enough I usually come back in to soothe him.  Guess we will have to work on that before little brother gets here.  So far, little brother behaves much like Hudson did in the womb so I might have another non-sleeper on my hands.


As mentioned in an earlier post, Hudson thoroughly enjoyed eating watermelon outside in the scorching heat half-naked.  Here are lots of pics just because I think he is so cute in his diaper and shoes.  Speaking of shoes...we noticed that his right shoe is getting a little snug so I took him to be measured at REI and learned that his feet have grown almost an entire shoe size since I bought his Keen's in the spring!  Wish they sold more shoes at consignment stores.  This growing boy is spending more on shoes that I do in a season!

 He loves to clean the tables

 "MMMMmm"

 "Whatcha looking at?"

 As Hudson would say,  "Mess!"

 "Can I eat this part too?"

 "Hello"  Anytime he hears something that sounds like a phone ringing he says, "Hello!"  

 Hanging out with Scott and Becca.  Scott had a rare week off and came into town to visit.  Hudson loves his Scott.

 He got to go on a dinner date with Harper. :)

 So cute to watch them interacting. 

 They were giving the kisses freely.  So sweet.

 "How did you like that Harper?"

 We tried to beat the heat in the wading pool outside but it was still pretty miserable in the heat.

 My little sumo wrestler.

 Zach playing with Hudson's new helicopter that uncle Ron brought him.

 "Awesome!"  He has started saying, "Cool" and "Awesome" and usually reserves if for fun toys like the helicopter.

 Angel is also very entertained by the new toy.

 Fun at Bizi Kidz

Feeding the new Guinea Pig, Rocket.

A few other new/fun things that Hudson is doing: 

climbing on everything

saying, "Please", "Thank-you", and "Love you" more consistently

using a few two-word phrases

singing but seems to stop if he knows you are listening

saying "bye bye" to inanimate objects when ever he leaves them.."bye bye potty, bye bye guitar" etc 

saying "Are you?" when he is trying to find something

He is disliking Wyatt more each day because he barks in his face.  He says, "Wywatt Mean" or "No, No, Wywatt. He has even started covering his ears when Wyatt comes around.  : (

Last week he started saying a phrase that I couldn't figure out.  He usually said it when he was frustrated and last night I finally realized that he is saying "Don't mess with me!"  I have no idea where he heard that phrase because I asked his teacher and she said that she doesn't say it and she doesn't think that any of the older kids say it but somehow he has picked it up and said it very clearly last night when I was washing his face and changing his diaper.

Things he loves at the moment:

Mow Mow (lawn mower)

Brooms

The Wiggles

Parmalee CD on repeat

Berries (any kind)

Paci (as always)

guitar