End of January

Here are some pictures from our moving weekend. Ashley, Andrew and Nana came up to help entertain the kids, which was priceless!

Hudson in the Jumperoo. He loves it.Hudson and Nana getting some QT in the rocking chair.

Alden's entourage. She carried them around for a week or so.

The mermaid bathing suit was a fave for a while. She wore it over her clothes and stuck all her animals in it.Our house on closing day. Our first meal in the new house. Fajitas.Hudson in the saucer. Unfortunately, the saucer has lost most of its charm.Alden found a box of my old horses. She still carries them around all over the house and gives them baths.Grandma and Grandpa came down for a brief visit our second weekend in the house.We did a lot of raking. There is still about 2/3 of the backyard to do. Hudson ended up "helping" one day when he refused to take a nap.Here is Alden and one of her favorite past-times. Giving things baths.

Potty Progress

I think we are finally making some strides with the potty. Alden pretty consistently uses the potty to pee when we are home, although she still holds it, or goes in her pull-up at school or at the Y. We had tried panties at the Y, but ended up with a little accident last week. Oops.

She wears a pull-up at nap and at night, but always comes out of her room with the pull-up off and panties on. Today, she had hung all of her panties up on the knobs of her dresser. She reminds the panties they need to take turns, she can't wear them all at once after all, and says "Animal Fairy says 'Don't poop on me!'" (We have fairy panties, ponies, and mermaids at this point...fairies are the fave.)

This is substantial progress from a couple weeks ago when it was a trick to even get her to sit on the potty. We started by putting the potty in the living room and telling her she could watch TV, but only if she sat on the potty. This was huge for us, because Alden was not very motivated by candy, and because Bebe had just gotten her the Tinkerbell movie. Now, however, Alden sits happily on the potty and goes quickly, and we are still stuck watching Tinkerbell 2-3 times a day.

And this is pretty cool, too. We went to walk around the reservoir tonight, and Alden was wearing panties. She said she needed to pee, and we took her pants and shoes off and told her to pee in the woods. The first time, she refused after trying (whining) for 10 minutes, but 100 yards down the path she decided to try again, and peed on a concrete culvert. Then, another 300 yards down the path, she decided to go again and peed in the grass. "Just like Lily!" said Alden!

Promises, Promises

I realize I haven't updated in over a month. Patience. I promise I will get to it this week.

Snow, House, Hudson's 6th Month Bday

Well, let me just eat my words about the snow. We woke up two Tuesdays ago to about 4 inches of white stuff, and it just kept going until afternoon. What a treat! It was like Christmas for Lily. She pounced all around, ate snow and squeaked, and laid in it. Poor "Yiyay". She misses Colorado.

Matt had Alden out before 8, bundled up and on the swing set. We were supposed to have our closing that morning at 9:30, but it was postponed until the next day. Matt's office was closed, and we enjoyed having a day off together! We took the kids out for a walk and Alden was snow-angel crazy. She went sledding on "zach's sled" next door and thought going down the slide in the backyard was really cool.

Wednesday morning, we did finally close on our new house! Matt and I went by after we had signed all our papers, and before he had to go to work. Mom and I went back that afternoon and started doing some cleaning, although with 2 kids, our productive time only ended up being about 30 minutes. Thursday, I packed up the kids and took them over myself, only managing to vacuum 2 bedrooms, and wipe off a counter and mirror in the master bath before Hudson was melting down and Alden had a giant poop. My parents cleaned our carpets on Thursday night, which was a HUGE help.

Saturday was moving day! Matt and Dad had a group of YL guys who helped us, and they were done in 3 1/2 hours. AMAZING. We could not have done it without their help, or without Ashley, Andrew and Nana, who came up from Charlotte to wrangle kids. While the men were moving boxes, Amber and I cleaned the kitchen, and she and mom lined the shelves. Saturday night, we left Alden with my parents, and Matt, Hudson and I spent our first night in the new house.

I don't know how long the link will be there, but this is the house on the listing agent's website. http://www.gourleyrealestate.com/listingdetails.aspx?ListID=718833

Sunday afternoon, we made huge strides while the kids were asleep, getting our bedroom organized, and the kitchen put together. Monday, I worked a lot getting boxes out of the living room, so we could arrange furniture that night. Slowly, slowly, it is starting to feel like a home. It is almost like Christmas, too, finding things that we haven't had in 6 months. Alden has been thrilled to find 2 boxes of books and tons of old toys as we have unpacked.

Monday night, our neighbors across the street invited us over for cookies and milk. They have 2 daughters, 9 and 5. Alden and Isabel, the younger one, were upstairs reading books, and we had a bit of a riot when we told her we had to go. First thing the next morning, Alden asked if we could "go back to that house and eat cookies, and read books"??

Monday was also Lily's first night in the house. She was very hesitant to come in, and to walk on the floors. She still avoids the linoleum in the kitchen, and sticks to the wood and carpet. Funny, because the linoleum isn't slippery at all. We have taken her on some good walks on the greenway, and let her enjoy her fenced in yard complete with squirrels. I would say that she is pretty used to being there now, and I think she enjoys being able to sleep in our room again at night.

Wednesday was Alden's first day back at school in 2 weeks...and boy, was I ready. With the snow, and teacher workdays, it had been a LONG time. Hudson and I went to the Y, and I did NO work in the house. We all napped in the afternoon, and had our first dinner in the house...TACOS. Yum. The nap situation has been a little askew this week. Monday and Tuesday, Hudson was up almost the whole time Alden was sleeping, and then tired right before she woke up. Yesterday and today, we are getting back on schedule.

And, Thursday was Hudson's 6 month birthday!!!! I CANNOT believe how fast it has gone, and am very thankful to have these first 6 months behind us. He is pushing up on his hands and knees, and every now and then, will scoot one knee underneath him in a crawl-like manner. The pink medicine worked wonders for him, and since we have been in the new house, he has slept 8-9 hours at a stretch at night. HALLELUJAH!!!!!! His two bottom teeth are definitely in, and he is chowing down on cereal a couple times a day. I bought some sweet potatoes to cook for him just the other day, and some avocados to try soon. He loves watching Lily and Kaylee, laughing at Alden, and really lets us know when he wants someone to pick him up or play with him. He is super wiggly and wants to go everywhere and put everything in his mouth. The other day, he squealed and talked to the rocking horse for the longest time. Overall, he is super cute and cuddly, and very sweet.

Bababababa

Oh, the sickness continues. Since the week before Christmas there have been 4, maybe 5, nights that I have slept more than 3 hours at a stretch. Lately, Hudson has been sleeping a couple hours, waking up and eating, and then coughing for a couple hours, then sleeping, waking, eating, coughing, etc. Saturday, he got up at 4:45 (for the 2nd time that night) and was awake until 6:45. I had just laid him down when I hear the door open and see a little head poke over the side of the crib. "Haha coughing. Haha's sick." It is like a bad joke.

We are trying all the typical things, vaporizer, saline drops, nose sucker, tilted mattress, etc, and I have even given him (gasp!) some children's cough syrup. I don't know who the idiots are who removed all the infant cold and cough medicine from the shelves, but they obviously don't have sick, can't-breathe-through-their-noses babies or any sympathy for people who do. Part of the reasoning they removed it supposedly had to do with the medicine not working in infants, but that is just a lie. Hudson is much better after half an mL of "pink mediss".

Enough of my rant...had to get that off my chest. Anyways, today we went to the doctor, and I think he felt sorry for poor Hudson, because he did prescribe us some amoxicillin. Hopefully, it will do something. It can't hurt. Of course, our resident drug addict Alden, was interested in trying the new "pink mediss" too. What is she going to be like when she is older??? Wow.

Hudson had gained 1 lb 5 oz in the past 3 weeks or so. His appetite has not suffered at all in the midst of the sickness, thankfully. He has been busy lately drinking water from a cup with Bebe, saying "Dadadadada" this weekend, and "Bababababa" today. Ironically, that is also what my sleep-deprived brain function feels like too...babababababa.

Bebe and I took the kids to the mall this afternoon to ride Black Beauty and get Chik-Fil-A. Alden just really, really needed to get out and run around a little. Maybe if it snows, she can play outside for a while tomorrow. Of course, when there is a forecast for snow, it means that it will be 60 degrees. I am not holding my breath.

Bebe was helping Alden get dressed this morning, and Alden was NOT interested. She managed to get away from Bebe, and said, "Bebe, don't DO that!" She has also pooped on the potty the past couple days. Still no peeing in the potty or wearing of the panties, but we are making strides.

The Fruit of our Portrait Session

*Note: They had removed the Christmas background...at least we made it before Easter!

Haircuts, Kisses and Endos

Here I am, updating from last weekend. Saturday was a really fun family day, despite our initial dread. We had scheduled the kids' pictures for the morning, which any parent can tell you is no cup of tea. These were the Christmas pictures that didn't quite get done before Christmas in the midst of our sickness. However, much to our surprise, Alden was exceptional compared to her other picture experiences, and Hudson did great, too.

Alden's pre-picture haircut.After pictures, we went to Southpoint for some lunch in the food court, and for Alden to play on the playground, which was her incentive to behave for photos. We had a really fun time together. That night, Matt and I went out on a date to the new pizza place in Apex, which was ok, and then to Kilwin's for ice cream, which was very good. The weekend before, we has rented Batman Begins, so we all settled in for the slightly disturbing The Dark Knight.

Sunday, we went to church and I had Laura's shower at noon. It was fun to see the girls two weekends in a row, and to get excited about all the little baby things Matt and Laura received. Baby stuff is so fun. We all bundled up that afternoon and walked down to the park by the pool. Alden enjoyed walking Kaylee.This past week, we started getting back on track sleeping wise. Hudson had 4 nights in a row where he just woke up once. It is amazing how just a little more sleep can make you feel like a functioning, productive human being. But, as luck would have it, 2 nights ago, he started with the congestion and coughing AGAIN. I can't wait until spring. The good thing is, he will have remarkable immunity to all these bugs after the past 6 weeks.
Hudson also started giving kisses and hugs this week. He grabs onto Matt or I and squeezes as hard as he can, sliming us with a kiss. It is really cute. He can get up on his hands and knees, and basically moves where ever he wants to go by rolling and scooting across the floor. He is eating his cereal like a champ, which I think has helped with the sleeping. Maybe next month we will try some veggies.

One of his cool tricks is to pull himself out of the Bumbo seat using the playgym.Hudson and I got to go to school with Alden on Wednesday to help make pizzas. Her class is talking about hot and cold this month, so one day last week, they held ice cubes, and this week, the pizzas were their example of "hot". It is so fun to see her and the other kids in her class in that environment. She is still bossy.
Alden got bucked off her bouncy horse Maverick (My-nack) last night. I was in the kichen and Amber was sitting with Hudson on the couch, and the next thing we know, Alden has done an endo, over Maverick's head, onto the floor. Luckily, she was fine...and you have to fall off 100 time to be a cowboy so there's 1!