Garden Update

It's been a while since I've updated about our garden, so here we go!

This was my view out the kitchen window this evening as I cooked dinner.  James weeding and Hudson digging - so precious.

 

After dinner, I went out to join them.  James was hoeing out weeds and I was in charge of raking them away.  Hudson, he was in charge of being cute!

 

Playing in the garden naked is how Hudson works!

Note the dirt around his mouth.  I had just fed him dinner, too!

Our veggies are growing!

We have about 6 watermelon plants sprouting.

There's a whole hill of carrots about 5 feet long.

Beans, beans good for your heart....

The sunflowers are by far growing the best.  Figures since we can't eat them. 
Well I guess we can eat the seeds!



Okra

 

 

Corn

Meanwhile while I'm raking away weeds and rocks, Hudson's having his own fun in the Southwest corner.


There was a crazy wind storm Sunday afternoon. 

Our yard is littered with corn stalks from the farm behind us.

 

See the hole?  Apparently Mr. Mole understands the first rule of real estate (location, location, location) as his home is about a foot from the Northeast corner of our garden.

 

 

Soon it was time to go inside and straight to the bathtub!

 

 

 

Operation: Chub

Hudson is definitely a slender boy.  Born at 20 inches but only 6 pounds, 4 ounces he's always been a long and lean baby.  Apparently pediatricians expect babies to triple their birth weight by their first birthday meaning that Hudson should have weighed 18.75 pounds at his recent check up.  He was only 17.8; a little less than a pound shy. 

First time self-feeding with a spoon.

 

 

His new pediatrician, Dr. C., wasn't overly concerned.  If you look at Hudson he doesn't "look" skinny with his chubby cheeks (both sets - haha).  But to be thorough Dr. C. went ahead and ran a complete metabolic and endocrine blood screen just to make sure there was nothing medical behind his poor weight gain.  Praise the Lord that all his levels (iron, thyroid, blood sugar, etc...) came back within the normal range.

That said, we have initiated Operation: Chub.  Dr. C. suggested putting him on the "Paula Deen" diet - basically slathering his food with butter and other healthy fats to increase his caloric intake. 

Enjoying a before bed snack of strawberries.

I'm doing baby-led weaning so Hudson is still nursing 2-3 times a day.  Basically, I don't offer but don't refuse when it comes to nursing.  We've introduced cow's milk which he will drink sporadically. Though to be honest, if it's chocolate milk he'll gulp it down like a Bedouin coming out of the desert.  He loves peanut butter and cheese, thankfully as both as good sources of protein and iron (and fat, too!).  He is obsessed with fruit and eats several serving a day: avocadoes, bananas, blueberries, grapes, and strawberries are his favorites. 

Speaking of avocados...check out this recipe for making chocolate pudding from avocados.  It's awesome.  James has eaten it twice and was none the wiser until he saw some green specks in Hudson's bowl.  Even then, he didn't believe me that his pudding was made with simply avocados, honey, cocoa, and milk.  It's that good people, thanks Kara!

I'm also making him eat more often.  Rather than just three meals - we're doing more like 5 meals.  The three traditional plus two in-between snacks, sometimes three. 

All in all, I think it's working.  I weighed him today, two weeks since his one-year check up, and according to our scales, he's up to 18.6 pounds - that's almost a pound heavier! 

In reality, I'm not too worried about his weight.  First off, the little boy never.stops.moving.  Seriously people, from the moment he awakes until he's asleep he's on the go.  I think he's just expending more energy than he's taking in.  Secondly, both James and I were skinny kids.  James was thin until he had his tonsils removed and suddenly could eat well!  I didn't even break 100 pounds until college and really didn't weigh anything significant until I hit 30 and my metabolism went on vacation.  Chances are, that'll be Hudson's lot in life as well. 

So as we try to instill good food habits, does anyone have any tried and true tips, suggestions, advice??

This picture has nothing to do with food. 
But, is anything cuter than a wee babe sleeping with his bum in the air? 
I think not.

The Birthday Party

Everyone here is asleep, but me.  Seriously... Hudson is asleep.  James is asleep.  Why am I awake?  Sigh. But since I am, enjoy pictures from Hudson's First Birthday Party!

It was a "Mustache Bash!"  We had mustache decorations, mustache games (Pin the 'Stache on Hudson and Guess that 'Stache), stick on mustache stickers, and mustache ring pops.

Hudson's cake that took three attempts.

 

I tried in vain to make a white cake.  Each time it turned out yellow.  I followed the directions; carefully separating the egg yolks and whites.  Who knows? After trying for a third time, I gave up and he had a yellow-white cake.

 

Don't laugh at my cake decorating skills.  I have zero talents when it comes to cake decorating.

But I am semi-talented at onesie-making.  Here's Hudson's onesie I made for him for his birthday party.

 

If you're wondering why he looks so sad.  I had just put his tray of food on his highchair and thought, "I should get a picture of his onesie before he dirties it up."  So this was his reaction to me taking away his food.  Poor kid, you'd think we never feed him.

 

 

 



 A while back, I found pictures and cards from my first birthday party.  On a card my Mom had written, "I made Melissa a yellow cake with sour cream icing.  She wouldn't touch it, seemed afraid of it.  We gave her a small bowl of ice cream which she wouldn't eat."  Turns out Hudson is my kid after all, even if he is James' doppelganger.  He barely touched his cake.  Poked at it a few times, licked it once, but never ate any of it.  That's OK, though - he's got plenty of time to develop a sweet tooth.

Present Time!

Nothing runs like a deer!

That face!

With sweet Richie.
 

 We had several houseguests in town for Hudson's birthday!

First cousins, Andrew and Angela.

"Aunt" Kay

Grandaddy

Grandma and Angel

 

 

All in all, Hudson had a wonderful birthday. 

 

I must confess that when the Lord called us to Missouri I did worry about his first birthday (how silly of me!).  My fear was that no one would care.  I mean, we've only been here a mere two months.  My friends in Louisville have known me for years.  Most were there when James and I got married, prayed with us through the bout with infertility, rejoiced with us when we finally got pregnant, and loved on Hudson for the ten months of his life we lived in Louisville.  Our friends here in Missouri simply don't have that history with us. 

 

But you know what?  It didn't matter.  So, so many people came out to love on our sweet boy.  That, my friends, is what the body of Christ does.  It doesn't matter if they've known you for two decades or two months - brothers and sisters in Christ are brothers and sisters in Christ.  So thankful for our sweet church family and how the Lord has given Hudson so many surrogate grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

 

EDITED TO ADD: Oh and those sweet Louisville friends?  Well, they didn't forget Hudson's birthday either!  He got so many cards, gifts, emails, and phone calls from our friends back in Kentucky wishing him a "Happy Birthday!"  Such a special day!



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