Home for Christmas

For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas,
when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.
-Charles Dickens

The obligatory Christmas Morning-Just Waking Up Picture

Present Time!

Clothes = Dull
Tissue Paper = Super Cool



Reaching for Daddy's Present

H is a fan of open-mouth kisses

Hmmm....paper

Christmas Eve, James and Hudson got to play Joseph & Jesus in the Advent Reflection.  They walked
the stage while Joseph's Lullaby played.

We have one more Christmas left - as James' parents are driving in tomorrow from WV. 

Buckeye Christmas

Today we made the trip to Ohio to see James' Mom's family for Christmas.  For much of the extended family, this was the first time they'd met Hudson.  A fun time was had by all.

Kim and H

Uncle Keith and H

Aunt Mary and H

Granna and her boy

H listening very carefully to Papaw

H with cousin JD

Opening one of many presents

Hudson's first Christmas is turning out to be quite the treasure trove for him.  He's gotten so many sweet gifts.  Granted, he just wants to eat the paper, but we appreciate the gifts for him.  I really hope to develop an attitude of gratitude (that rhymes - haha) in him.

And Christmas is far from over.  Monday we will celebrate first at our church's candlelight service then head to Mr. and Mrs. B's house for Christmas Eve fun.  Then Christmas Day will be spent at home followed by Granna and Papaw coming to KY for Christmas sometime that week.  I love when a holiday spreads out for the whole month - so much fun!

Photo Dump #5

Blame it on the Christmas season, but I've taken more pictures of Hudson in the last few weeks than ever.  Here are some random ones capturing our days.

Playing with Daddy's Marshall hat that he grabbed off of my head!

First time with his sippy cup.
I have no idea why this is sideways :(

Five minutes without a bib and this is what you get.

So this picture needs a bit of an introduction.  Hudson grabbed my napkin and started making this ridiculous face.  It is by far the funniest thing I've ever seen.  It's like crazy eyes on steroids.  I laugh everytime I see it.  In fact, just tonight I started laughing when I looked at it again.  So hard was I laughing that I was on the verge of tears and sweet Hudson started laughing with me.  Poor kid, he had no idea I was laughing at him.

Sweet baby falls asleep in my arms.

He thinks the Christmas tree is just an extension of his ExerSaucer.

Hudson's bedtime has been 8pm for about a month now.  But randomly tonight, he was just so happy and smiley and obviously not sleepy at all that he stayed up until 9.  I just couldn't bear to put him to bed.  He was eating up the attention, as was I.

 

I do believe this one below to be the most perfect picture ever of my sweet boy.  It captures his personality so well - sweet smile, happy eyes, and thumb in the mouth.

6 Month Collage

In honor of Hudson's recent 6 month birthday, I thought it would be fun to do a little collage to show how he's grown and changed.

 

 

My how he has grown.  You can see that months three and five appear to be his "chunkier" months - haha.  And thankfully, he seems to have grown into his nose.  Love this little guy so much!

Six Months

So I'm only 2 weeks behind - haha.

Hudson didn't grow much this month.  I, of course, was worried but Dr. B didn't seem concerned.  He is 10% for weight, 50% for height, and 25% for head circumference.  Though he's definitely slender, he's face and body definitely have some fat to them.  Dr. B thinks he's just got a fast metabolism.  I was super, super skinny until after college as was my Daddy so perhaps Hudson's inherited those Proctor genes.

He is thisclose to sitting up by himself.  He can do it for about 5 seconds until he loses his balance and falls over.  We basically have hardwood floors throughout (in actuality the floors are covered with thin commercial carpet so it's super hard) so I've been hesitant to let him practice sitting up too much because I'm afraid he'll hurt his little noggin, but I'm thinking we need to practice more.

He's still nursing about 5-6 times a day.  I'm so glad to have made it nursing this far and hope to continue as long as Hudson wants to.  We recently tried a sippy cup with some water in it and it was a moderate success.  He liked holding it, but didn't really drink from it - haha.  I think he thought it was a new toy.

I think this is my favorite age for babies.  He's so observant and notices everything.  He looks at me when I call his name, or even say "Hey Baby!" so I know his little brain is comprehending language more and more everyday.  He babbles all the time, particularly when it's just us and even "sings," especially when tired and trying not to fall asleep.  It's simply cute.

So far the one mild cold he had back in September has been his only illness.  We're so thankful for a healthy baby!  He has been fussy some due to teething.  He's got two prominent bumps on his lower gum but no teeth yet.  Dr. B confirmed that they are the beginning of teeth but said it could take up to 6 months before they actually come in.  Considering that he's bit me twice while breastfeeding (ouch!) I'm not necessarily wanting them to rush in. 

Can't believe that he's half a year old - crazy times!

Tender Tennessee Christmas

This past weekend, we all loaded up and headed south to TN to celebrate Christmas a few weeks early with my family.

I always have the hardest time knowing how to pack for Hudson.  I pride myself on being a light packer and usually pack less than James - haha.  But for Hudson, I overpack out of fear that he'll need something and we won't have it so I pretty much bring everything.  Sweet baby, he had the biggest suitcase of all of us! 

It takes 3 hours to get to where my family lives in TN.  I truly expected Hudson to sleep the entire time and he probably would have had he kept to his somewhat normal schedule of napping.  But the little stinker went down for a nap at 11:30 (we were leaving at 2) so he was wide awake for the first two hours.  He just babbled, looked out the window, waved his arms and legs; you know being generally adorable.

Then about 2 hours in, he got sleepy.  Look at that sweet yawn.

 

By the time we hit Bowling Green, which is about a hour away from our destination, he was out.

Hudson has traveled before, particularly when James was preaching in Northern Kentucky this past summer/fall.  However this was his first "more than one night" trip so I was eager to learn how he'd do.  As far as riding in the car, he was amazing.  But he struggled with sleeping away from home. 

We have a hand-me-down pack-n-play which he's slept in before, but now that he's older he is too aware of his surroundings.  As I was trying to get him to bed Friday night at my sister's house he kept looking around his cousin Andrew's room, where we were sleeping.  He had this concerned "where am I?" look on his face.  At home in his crib, silly boy likes to hold onto the bumper as he sleeps.  Who knows why?  I hadn't thought about this much but as soon as I laid his sleepy head in the pack-n-play he started reaching for the bumper.  And you guessed it - the tears started rolling.  After several attempts, he ended up sleeping in the bed with us which means he got about 3 hours less sleep and this mama got hardly any because I simply can't sleep soundly with him in the bed with us.  Same thing happened at my parents' house Saturday night - sigh.  Sweet baby's old enough to recognize that he wasn't at home, but too young to understand that it was safe to sleep.  But in spite of his little sleep, he had a blast visiting with friends and family.

We started the festivities at Marvin & Kay's home.

Looking at Mama being all picture crazy.

First present EVER!

He was a natural :)

"Give that back, Daddy!"

The real "gift."

A very cool ball - it sings, spins on its own, etc...

Daddy thought it was pretty cool.

Kay helping Hudson open his second gift EVER!



Flashback to the coffee-drinking during finals seminary days
using Marvin's cool SBTS mug.

 

Sunday we had Christmas with my family.

Cousin Lisa and Hudson.

Grandaddy & his baby boy!

Grandaddy & his big boy!

Aunt Sharon and Hudson.



Uncle Chuck and Hudson

Hudson's great-great aunts: Mildred & Elma.

Gift Time!

All in all it was a wonderful trip.  Hudson brings us a ton of joy and I can't explain what a blessing it is to see the joy he brings others in our family.  To see my great aunts (Hudson's great-great aunts) love on him is so heartwarming.  We are so blessed!