Welcome Hudson Joshua Wyatt!

The Wyatt family added a fourth member yesterday! I am proud to present our son Hudson Joshua Wyatt, born at 3:33pm on July 29, 2008. He weighs 7lbs. 14oz. and was 20 ½ inches long.

Mom is doing great, and relaxing nicely at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC. Her scheduled induction went very well and the delivery happened without any complications. Praise God!

Last Pre-Hudson Update

Well, it appears that tomorrow will be Hudson's birthday. We are thinking that we will get the call from the hospital to come in first thing in the morning. They will start me on pitocin, and possibly break my water to get things started. Hopefully, by dinner time, we will have a baby!

We had a great last weekend as just the 3 of us. We watched the end of the Tour de France, which has kept us up a lot of nights this month. Saturday morning, we took Alden to the pool again. She did a backflip in the water! I don't think she could do it again if she tried, but she laid on her back, went under, and as she was righting herself she totally flipped around. She was pretty impressed with herself! Matt played with Alden so I could swim some...but 3/4 of a mile later, still no contractions or signs of labor. It was worth a shot!

Jessica and Miles came over that afternoon, and although it was way past naptime, Alden and Miles had a great time playing together. I had told her that he and/or Lydia would come to play with her, and she kept saying "Tomorrow, Mi-uls, play with you!" They shared popcorn and seemed to enjoy copying each other. It was good for Alden to have a friend to play with.

We took a walk after Alden's nap down to the pool, and she played for a while at the park. She rioted on the way back and wouldn't walk or ride in the stroller. We eventually just strapped her in and she tantrummed all the way back home. How pleasant.

Sunday, we went to another Baptist church in Apex. It was so much better and the pastor actually used scripture in his sermon! Alden cried some in the nursery, so I had to be summoned from the service towards the end. She said she missed me. It was really sweet.

Alden is addicted to Peter Pan right now. She had a book, and now she wants to watch the movie ALL the time. Amber was over yesterday, and would "fly" Alden on her feet. Alden kept saying "I'm Pee Pa". She "flies" around the house and thinks she is the real deal.

We set up the pack and play and bassinet yesterday night. Today, Alden discovered the pack and play downstairs, and we walked in to find her laying in it. Then, she climbed up on the changing thing, and wanted her diaper changed. It will be hard to keep her out of it when baby comes.

Alden and I spent our last day just us today. She actually slept until I woke her up at 8:45, which is unbelievable. We went to the library for storytime, and ran some errands. Then, she slept 2 1/2 hours this afternoon. I got some good rest, too. We all went to Goodberry's tonight for some pre-baby frozen custard. It was delicious, although Alden was in true 2 year old form, and didn't want to sit and eat, and threw a fit in the car on the way there, while we were eating and as we left. Apparently, "Blue", which had been one of her favorite passys, has fallen out of favor because she kept throwing him out of her carseat and refused to have anything to do with him.

A quick birthday shout-out to Leigh Anne! Happy Birthday!!!! We wish we could be celebrating with you and Eric!

A Week Late

Officially, Hudson is a week late. Men.

The watermelon we bought at the store the other day was about the same size as Hudson. Luckily, he doesn't weigh that much!


Mom and I walked this morning and took it easy today, playing with Alden's new legos and the Little People.

Matt and Alden reading the other night.

Matt and I walked Alden down to the park at the pool tonight. She did a lot of climbing, and wanted to go down the slides head-first, which is new. Then, she ran almost the whole way back. Every now and then, she would say "I'm tired, take a break", wait 5 seconds and keep going. She is nuts. Maybe it will mean good sleep tonight.

I am going to post a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks to make up for my picture-less posts this week. Maybe these will be the last ones without our baby boy!

We've been to the lake a couple times to feed the ducks. They love Cheerios. And apparently, so do turtles!

Alden reading her "Peter pa" book and riding her horse.

My Aunt Jeannette sent Hudson a blanket and a crown and boa for Princess Alna.

Still pregnant...

Went to the doctor this morning, and there is no change to report. I had a non-stress test, where they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and made sure that Hudson was tolerating life and that his heart-rate was rising when he moved or if I had a little contraction. He passed with flying colors. I had another ultrasound, too, and have plenty of fluid. Seems like everything is just peachy for him right now...obviously not in a hurry to get out.

Mom and I went to the big consignment sale in Raleigh after the doctor. We found some legos for Alden and a few winter things for Hudson. There was SO much there, but nothing we really needed.

Alden had a fun morning with Auntie Ashley, and walked all the way to the pool park and back. Ashley was really great to watch Alden. Alden LOVES having her here.

We are planning a menu tonight planned around labor-inducing foods...the internet said basil, oregano, and pineapple could help. I am willing to try anything!

Tomorrow may be castor oil day. Will keep you posted....

Keeping you posted...

Nothing yet...walked for 40 minutes last night and a lot this morning with mom and Alden. It is SO hot outside! 100 degrees, but they say it will cool down and I think I just heard some thunder.

Dad and Amber drove up to Boone to pick up Ashley and move her out of her apartment. Alden can't wait to see Auntie Ashley!

We went to story time today at the library. Alden had a huge fit in Wal-mart about wanting to walk and not stay in the cart. Luckily, we were there to get diapers and go. We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and Alden and I just woke up from a nap...

There is more walking in store for the evening...

Monday morning...still waiting

Our doctor's appointment went well. I am still around 2-3 cm dilated, but have effaced to 80% and Hudson has dropped from -3 to -2. We are tentatively scheduling an induction for next Tuesday, the 29th, and I will know our check-in time tomorrow. Hopefully, we won't need it!

I am going back to the doctor on Thursday to have fluid levels checked again.

Keep praying for Hudson to come! Mom and Alden and I walked around the Apex Reservoir this morning, and I am going to keep up the walking hoping that it will shake him down some more!

That's all I've got...

Alright

Just a quick update...no baby yet, and no signs that it will be soon...

Yesterday, we took Alden to the pool at the Cary Y. It had been a week or two since we had been swimming, and she had a blast. She collected about 6 or 7 different toy animals and had them lined up on the side of the baby pool and was watering them with a watering can. Then, she would lay them all down to go night-night, wait a minute and then set them back up and say "Good morning!" When the lifeguards blow the whistle for break time, she always signs "break" like "broken" and says it is time to eat. We went to the big pool for an hour or so, and she played for a long time on the steps, jumping off the second step to Matt, and actually swimming, making real forward progress in the water by herself. I think she did this at least 25 times, before she slowed down.

Last night, we ventured out to REI to get a new double jogger, which we still aren't sure is THE stroller for us, but we had a coupon for just last night, so we figured we can always take it back. Alden busied herself trying on every pair of kids flip-flops and crocs that they had while Matt looked around. Then, we went to Coldstone for some ice cream.

Alden's newest thing, as of last night is saying "alright" after every phrase she utters. "Going to church...alright", "More juice...alright", "Last book, then night-night...alright". I think we have heard it 50 times just last night and today. She is also referring to her passys by color, and asking for "White" or "Blue" or "Pink"...and she knows which ones are missing when it comes time for nap.

Today we tried a baptist church in Cary, where people were really friendly, but the pastor gave what I like to call a "Google sermon". You know, where they have a topic, like anger, and just read little stories and quotes about anger like he just searched it on the computer. Needless to say, that one is crossed off the list, and we will continue on the church hunt.

After church, we went to Smithfields BBQ, and guess who was there? Clay Aiken. He was sitting outside in the shade with a couple people, not drawing any attention to himself. It was kind of fun to see someone famous, even if it was just an American Idol guy.

Hopefully, I will have a more interesting baby update after our appointment in the morning. Keep praying that Hudson will come soon!

Baby Update

The baby update is that there is nothing to report. I went to the doctor yesterday morning, and they did an ultrasound to check my fluid level and the placenta, which both look good. Hudson is still thriving, and not in any hurry to leave his digs.

I am headed back to the doctor on Monday morning, and they will recheck me to see if I have dilated since last week, and we will tentatively schedule an induction for the 29th, at the very latest. We are hoping that he will decide to come on his own before then. I wouldn't have ever thought that he could almost be born in August!

So, that's where we're at right now. Trying to stay occupied and get things done! Hopefully, we will be updating soon about Hudson's arrival!

Alna and the Girl in the Window

We have really tried to stay busy this week, trying to keep my mind of having/not having Hudson and keeping Alden entertained. She has been waking up between 6:15 and 6:45 lately which is NUTS. I am about to go crazy. We even got a room-darkening shade...I think the next strategy is a noise machine. Maybe it is all the birds starting to chirp at 3:45, maybe it is because she knows how to open the door now, but it is KILLING mom, even with Grammy letting me go back to sleep a few mornings a week.

Auntie Ashley was here Monday-Thursday, and Alden had a great time playing with her. She was really sad when Ashley had to head back to Boone. Ashley just finished her last summer school session and is officially a graduate! She is looking for jobs, and may end up back this way when her lease runs out at the end of the month. I don't think my parents would have ever expected to have such a full house!

We hit the Eva H. Perry library in Apex for story time on Monday, and the Holly Springs library on Wednesday. HS was packed, and nutso. We may not venture back for that one, although I may get desparate for things to do. We walked down to the park by the pool a few mornings, too, and met some new friends, a girl named Meredith and her daughter Syndey. Alden came home and was doing this little dance/signing "friend" telling Grammy about her new buddy. I wonder if she misses her little buddies in Charlotte. Probably. I sure do. Alden walked the WHOLE way back from the park one of the days. It is probably close to half a mile, at least. I kept thinking that she would get tired, but nothing doing. She did take a good nap that afternoon.

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and really like Dr. Henderson, who I met for the first time. I hope that he will be on when I deliver Alden. Things are holding steady, and I had dilated a little more...2-3 cm, and 50% effaced. It is SOME progress, but obviously doesn't mean anything is happening soon. Hudson still hasn't really dropped very much. I am trying to just think of him coming late, and if God in his mercy allows him to come early, I will be VERY thankful and surprised. I go back this week or Thursday, a day before my due date. Hopefully, I will have had him by then...They said they will probably start talking about induction 7-10 days after the due date. Hopefully, we won't be going down that road again.

Wednesday, Grammy, Amber, Ashley, Alden and I went out to lunch together. Alden really enjoyed throwing coins in the fountain.
Thursday, Mom and I endured the process of getting Alden's two-year old pictures done. We ended up with a couple good ones, which is a miracle, and no huge fits. However, there was a little bit of drama over a feather that was on one of the backdrops. Apparently, we are terrified of feathers.

Friday, we picked up Matt for lunch and went to Chick-Fil-A for Cow Appreciation Day. We all dressed up like cows, and got our free meals, which was AWESOME. We were surprised that there weren't more people taking advantage of it. Alden got a lot of attention in her costume, and I think Matt and I got some strange glances.

Alden has come up with some funny things this week. She refers to herself as "Alna" and sometimes "Alna Wyatt". When she does something great, she'll go "Yay, Alna!"

She has identified her reflection in the windows in the kitchen, which you can really only see when it gets dark. She talks about the "girl" and likes to see that she is having goldfish and peanut butter before bed, and thinks she is "noight-noight" if she can't see her in the morning. Alden even noticed her reflection in the oven, and said "Hi, Girl!" If you ask her the girl's name, she does know that it is "Alna". Is it kind of freaky that she is that interested in her reflection in the window? It seems like something from a scary movie.

Yesterday, she was playing with the old Fisher-Price Little People and loaded up a bunch of people in the boat and says"Bye, I'm going to the lake"! I don't know where she came up with that, but when I asked what they were doing there, she replied "Gol, gol"...which is how Alden refers to fish or fishing. I don't know if she will ever say "fish". A few minutes later she says "Bye, I'm going gol-gol" and then she tells me the people are having a "nic-nic". She set up the little Fisher-Price picnic set, and I asked her what they were eating. She had one of the baby people on the grill, and answered "bee-bees". Hmmm. That sounded like something my dad would have suggested, but it turns out she came up with the cannibalistic, baby-eating people all on her own. Hmmm.

We tried a Calvary Church this weekend, after trying the Baptist church last weekend. Still don't feel like we have found "the one" and are still perservering in the church search. Alden saw that this nursery had a Brio train set and practically jumped out of my arms to get in. She has been really good about trying "new churches" and meeting "new friends". We ran some errands this afternoon and took Alden to the park. On our walk tonight, she was singing a very creative song about her boo-boos and bug bites. She can sing "baa,baa black sheep" kind of...at least you can identify what it is supposed to be. And she loves for us to sing the "Giddy-up and Ride Your Pony" song from the tiny tot praise video when she rides her bouncy horse here.

Fourth (and Fifth) of July

We went to downtown Apex for the "Old-time 4th of July" celebration. It was a lot of fun...they had a ton of different carnival-type games, fair food, and inflatable bouncy things. Matt and I were thankful that Alden wasn't a year or two older because she would have wanted to do EVERYTHING. We settled for some people-watching and enjoying a snow cone. On the way out, there was a real train going down the tracks in downtown. It went REALLY slowly, and then backed up and went forward. Luckily, we had crossed to the other side just in time, because there were a lot of people waiting on either side for a LONG time. Alden loved seeing the train, and I think that was the highlight of the day for her.

We headed to Regency Park in Cary for the fireworks, and got there in plenty of time to make the hike into the lake. Unfortunately, we had only been there 20 minutes or so, and the symphony had just started playing when a HUGE storm blew in. Lightning, thunder, rain, etc. We started walking/running the mile or so back to the car, and got there pretty hot, sticky, and tired. I was hoping that the physical effort of jogging back to the car might help jostle Hudson out, but unfortunately, I just ended up feeling really sore the next day.

The fireworks were rescheduled for the 5th, so we went back that night, although we wised up and parked a little closer, just in case. Sure enough, the show was supposed to start at 9 and about 8:40, there was lightning in the distance. I think the Town of Cary guys weren't pumped about the possibility of coming back the NEXT night, so they started right then and we were able to take in the show before the rain came. Alden was a little nervous about the fireworks at first, but she cuddled with Grammy and had her passy, and ended up enjoying them. She was concerned about the geese, though, that DID seem scared and were swimming around the edge of the lake. We got home and she kept saying "Fireworks go boom-boom-boom-boom" and telling us about the colors. She has gotten a lot better with her colors lately, with green and red being the only ones she doesn't get consistently, and pink still being the default if she doesn't know.

Sasquatch and the woodpecker

I couldn't resist the comparison....

It is hard to believe that we are rounding out our second week in Raleigh! In a way it feels like we have always been here, but then sometimes it just seems like we are headed back to our house in Charlotte tomorrow.

Alden had a rough couple days of being two last week. I think she had a little bit of a cold, and wasn't taking good naps, and has been getting up an hour earlier than she was in Charlotte...I think she hears Matt get up and shower in the morning. As a result, Mom had a couple hard days, too, and I was about to ship her off to China on a few occasions. Alden is getting very testy, and is trying to get away with as much as possible. This has been an adjustment for Grammy, too, who has had to lay down the law a little bit and can't always be the "nice guy." Alden knows a sucker...

She has also learned how to open doorknobs all of a sudden, and lets herself out of her room in the morning, and then either into the bathroom, where she has surprised Matt in the shower a couple times, or into our room, saying "Hi!" and running in. It is cute to see her, but I was getting really used to waking up at 8:15-8:30 in Charlotte...

We played a lot in her crab sandbox and the little pool out on the deck. She loves being outside, and it is great to have a shady place to play. We have visited a couple of the local libraries for story time, but have yet to find one that compares to Miss Susan at Rea Road. They do sing Raffi a lot here, which pleases Alden. Last Wednesday, we went to the Cary library and after story time, Alden ran to the adult section, and ended up finding a book about whales that we looked at FOREVER. Our visit was cut a little short, though, because as I tried to divert her back to the kid section, she had a fit. So much for killing time that morning.

On Friday, Mom and I took Alden to Marbles, the children's museum in downtown. She played a long time with the Thomas the Train set, and then spent a lot of time "shopping", filling her grocery cart with food, and picking the vegetables. It was a great place to let her run around, although there were a ton of kids there with summer school camps. Alden was quick to point out the "bad boys" of the group.

Matt and I took Alden to the Cary Y pool on Saturday, which Alden calls the "Ooo Y" (New Y). They have a great kid pool, and she swam and played in the sprayground for a long time. She took a great nap that afternoon, as did Matt and I.

We tried a "Ooo Church" on Sunday, the only PCA church in Cary, and thought it was ok. One neat thing was that my high school geometry teacher was in the nursery! How about that?! We are still excited about finding a new church home, although it will be hard to take the place of Christ Covenant. After church we went to Smithfield BBQ, and Matt and I did some looking for more work clothes. No luck. Who knew the right size dress pants were so elusive?

Last week, Alden started calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy". Now instead of "Ma, Ma, Ma,..." it is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." until you make eye contact and say "Yes, Alden?"

This has been the week of three very specific books. "Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type" (Me, ma, moo) which came from Chick-Fil-A, "The New Baby" (Ooo Baby), and "Grandma, Grandpa and Me" (Ba-ba, ba-ba, a me). Alden "reads" them ALL the time, and will not let anyone else touch them, much less read them to her. No kidding, the other morning, she spent over an hour looking at them over and over. She is really bossy about who can sit on the same furniture while she is reading, too. She has told us all to move to the couch, or chair, depending on her whims and preferences.

This week has gone by quickly. We had a doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon, and everything is still good with Hudson. They checked my fluid again on the ultrasound, and said it shouldn't be an issue this pregnancy. I measured right around 36 cm, and didn't gain any weight, which was a surprise to Matt and I after a week of eating at my parents' house. I am SO tired of being pregnant, and keep hoping that Hudson will come soon...

Amber was here on Monday and helped get a lot of Hudson's things organized. I still need to pack my hospital bag, but then I think, if I don't have it packed, maybe I am more likely to go into labor earlier. It will probably get done this weekend, at the insistence of Matt and my mom.

We toured the hospital on Tuesday night, which was really nice. It will be great to deliver at Rex, with Mom and Amber so familiar with it. It was strange to see the babies in the nursery...they looked fake. We still can't believe that we are going to have one soon...and a BOY at that!

Alden and I hit up the "Ooo pool" on Wednesday, although it was a little cool. She took a lot of breaks to eat and warm up, and made some friends with the "big kids" who were playing in the kiddie pool. She slept that afternoon for 3 hours, which was glorious, because that morning had been the trauma of the week.

I heard Alden around 6:20 crying in her room "Mommy, mommy". Matt was already up downstairs, but it is unusual for her to wake up so early. I went to the bathroom before I went in to get her, and every time I heard a woodpecker outside, she would scream louder. She was terrified of the sound, until Matt and I came in and explained that it was just a bird looking for bugs in the tree bark. Unfortunately, she was not in the mood to go back to sleep. We talked about the woodpecker a lot that day, and even heard him again this morning, although thankfully, a little bit later!

This morning Mom and I took Alden to the NC Hunter/Jumper Association Show at the fairgrounds. She got to pet some ponies, and was very good watching the rounds, being quiet while the horses were jumping, and then cheering enthusiastically when they were through. She was very concerned about the horses stepping on her feet, like she was even close enough to them for that to happen. Where does she come up with this stuff??