What a merry Christmas!

As our instagram followers know, we went to Disneyland for Christmas this year. 

It was so much fun! 

Instead of writing a bunch of boring stuff about it, I'll just post some pics we took and narrate a little. 

First we went to Vegas. It would be real mean to expect Hudsie to ride in the car for 12 hours at once, so we split it up a bit. On the way down, we stayed at the MGM. It was really nice and Hudson was sooo happy that we got to our destination after the 7 hr. drive. He did pretty good though, only crying a little. 

The next day, we drove to California. About 20 minutes before we got to our hotel, the car broke. It just stopped accelerating on the freeway. That's really scary. But we were really lucky to be right at an exit when it happened so we just kinda coasted off. The next 5 hours consisted of waiting for my parents and then a tow truck when it we had tried everything else. Finally Ronny, the tow truck driver, showed up and saved the day. 

The next day, we went to Disneyland. We spent 3 days there total and one day at Knott's Berry farm. We also spent one day shopping. One of my favorite things about going on trips with Mike is that he always lets me get my shop on. If you know my husband well at all, you know that he grew up with a Mom and a sister who loved to shop. This guy has the tolerance of an angel.  I really love that they trained him so well. He knows all the best places to go and he can just hang out or entertain himself while I enjoy it. He's the best.

I love baby feet. And especially baby socks. These were supposed to be in Hud's stocking but I took em out early. 

While we went on the first ride of the day, Papa outfitted Hudson with these. They even have his name embroidered on the back. So cute. 

One of my favorite things about our trip was that my little brother, Todd, was our roomie and hung out with us the whole time. Hudson looooves Todd. (even though this pic doesn't really show it) Todd really likes Hudson too. They make a lot of the same expressions and Todd is really hoping that Hudson's hair turns red like his haha. He really missed his gf on the trip though. Isn't that just soooooooooooooo saaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddddddd? Psh I told him to get over it. High schoolers..... 

(disclaimer: I really like his gf...he was just being a little love sick puppy dog about it. But I suppose I may have been the same way at 17. Heck I might be the same way now... Mike can't go on a over-nighter without a breakdown from me)

Hudsie spent a whole lot of quality time in his stroller. But he loves to be out doing stuff so he didn't mind most of the time. 

This is Mike's extremely large cookie. I think it was bigger than Hudson's head. We ate a lot of junk like this. Good thing it's time for New Years resolutions eh? 

Don't be alarmed about this picture. A couple people who saw it were really concerned about Huds being decapitated or something. His head is still nicely intact. This is what happens when he gets bored shopping. You see, he likes to be able to see everything, so sometimes we'll let him sit in his car-seat in the stroller backwards so he can get a better view. Recently he's really grown fond of arching his back and kicking his legs out to escape from where ever it is he's sitting. Well Mike looked away for one minute and looked back and this is what he saw. I laughed my head off when he told me and showed me this pic.

This is our happy family. Addie is the little girl in my arms. She's my little bud. She's actually my little sister. So Hudson's aunt. We have complicated families. 

Christmas Eve night. We went Disney crazy and Huds even had Mickey PJs. Aren't we just cheesy and cute? 

This is when me and Huds got bored in the hotel room. It's my creeperish smile and his super cute face. 

Hudsie's hair doesn't stay quite in tact sometimes. This is a mild version.  

Our Christmas lamp with all the presents under it. 

He likes to drink water from a bottle now. It's really cute. 

Addison loved the characters.  

I wish I lived in this castle. 

Hudson got really tired sometimes. He doesn't sleep much during the day, but he took some pretty awesome naps on our trip. 

John and Katy showed up to party with us. Mike spotted em first, and I tried to get a pic but was shut down by their body guard who sure didn't look like a body guard. Luckily Mike had my back and while I was being told no, he snapped this one. I think they really like each other, but it's bound to end because John Mayer is a womanizer and the whole world knows it. 

Addie really likes to pose. This is her doing some awkward poses for me in the hall. You should have seen her with the car in Cars Land. She was getting so into it. I think she's seen some shows with girls posing on cars....... She was laying on it, putting her chin between her fists...so funny. Had to be there probably.

We went to dinner at Medieval times one of the days.  

 This one just warms my heart. Todd is such a cute big brother/uncle.  

Well, since I can't get the SD card on my camera to read on the computer, that's a wrap! We had lots of fun! 

3-5 Months

So I thought once I was a stay at home mom I would have a million chances during the day to craft, and blog, and whatever else. And I was the wrongest of wrong. I have so much less time. But I love it. So here's my first blog post in like 3 months. (if you can even count the last one of all pictures...)

His 4 month Stats:
Weight: 17lb 1oz. (90%)
Height: 27 in (off the chart)

Hudson's personality is showing through like crazy and I love it. I love that I can already see so many character traits that I think will stay with him. I just love his little personality so much. Here are a few things about him:

-He is extremely persistent and determined. If he has something in mind that he wants, he'll stop at nothing to get it. Ever hear people say to let your kid cry it out? I honestly don't think mine would ever give up. I've never tried for very long because I'm kind of a softy, but I've been through loooong rides in the car with this child and there is no giving up until someone gets him out of that seat. (we'll get to more on that later) I started to notice this when he was really little and would try new things. He would grunt and grunt until he could do it. One of the things he learned was to army crawl himself over a boppy pillow when it was supposed to be tummy time. This started when he was about 5 weeks old. I would prop him up on that thing and he'd start to kick his little feet over and over until finally he'd get over the pillow and usually roll onto his back. Another glimpse of this came when I would stop feeding him before he was done. He has this specific cry when I do that it's kind of a high pitched annoyed kind of cry. Now he's started to do that when I take something from him that he wants. Like his wipe container. He loves the sounds it makes, and I don't care if he plays with it but sometimes he starts to try and eat the wipes and that's no good. He gives me the saddest faces and cries until I give it back. Or when he drops his favorite ball in the car. If only I had an extra hand back there to give it back. Now he arches his back whenever I have him sitting on my lap to slide down my legs because obviously sitting is super boring. Very determined this child. But I'm thinking this could do a lot of good for him in his future.

-Okay the car.....he hates it. Hates. Some people say that they take their kids in car rides to calm them down. This is not the case at our house. And he doesn't just fuss or cry in the car. The car has a specific cry... actually it's more of a scream. A very angry scream. And you know what makes it 100000x worse? Someone being back there with him. You'd think they could soothe him... ooooh no. He wants out and they are sitting there doing nothing. The only thing that I've found that works to calm him is to roll the window down a little on the freeway and sometimes it puts him to sleep. If he's tired enough... But...He's getting better now that he can play with toys and distract himself, but now it's more black and white. He's either fine or he's extremely mad. It's a work in progress.

-He does awesome being out and about. I think he really likes being busy. He seems to get a little stir crazy at home all day. I can take him anywhere and he does really well usually. Sometimes the car ride can be a little difficult, but he loves to be out. I can keep him out all day without worrying that he'll get sick of it or get fussy. If he gets tired, he'll take a little snooze but he mostly likes to just take everything in.

-He's a little shy. He reserves his smiles for his mama and is slowly starting to save them for dad too. But in public he is pretty stone faced. He'll flash a little smile here and there which I love to see. But he tries pretty hard to keep those in. And he doesn't like to be held by new people most of the time. Which makes me feel bad for the people who want to hold him but makes me feel kind of loved. This is how the scenario goes....I hand him off. He looks at the new person. He looks at me. He looks at them again. He looks back at me. He gives me the saddest lip I've ever seen in my life and then he cries the saddest cry I've ever heard. I secretly think the lip is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life, but how can my baby being so sad be cute? ha.

-He wants to see everything. He has to get a good view of everything. He likes his stroller alright but if we are in a store and he can hear lots of things going on, he wants me to hold him. He'll fuss until I take him out and then he's totally fine just looking around. His carseat kind of has big sides that don't let him see very much. (this might be why he hates the car so much) He looooves to watch everything and see all the people. It's his very favorite.

-Sleep. I think this child took after his dad on this one. 20-30 minute power naps is about all I can get out of him during the day. And these naps are on his own time. Before I had him I had marvelous plans of getting him on the best schedule ever. I read Babywise and was ready to be the best mom in the world with the best napping baby. Then I met my son Hudson, and we threw all that out the window. Maybe a different child will do better with that, but this little one is happy as can be if I don't force him into a nap and he just falls asleep when he's ready. Before I understood this we had some pretty crazy crying fits. Since I've accepted it and gone with the flow, he's been so much happier. He loves to sleep on the go, or when dad's just walking around with him. He's never been able to fall asleep just laying there. I can't even imagine what that's like. haha
As far as nights go..... well he does alright. But I kinda screwed it up by letting him into my bed some nights after he wakes up from his crib. That's my fault. And I don't blame him. I'd rather cuddle him all night too, it's just not the most comfy and not a good habit. So that might be our new years resolution--getting him into the crib. For now, he sleeps in his crib the first half of the night and then he doesn't like to go back in there. haha he's pretty smart though...if I try to sneak him into his crib after he's fallen asleep in my bed, he immediately wakes up. And guess what cry I get? The "you took away my food/toy" cry. I'm just not sneaky enough for him I guess.

These are just a few of the many things that I've learned about him. I never imagined that he would be a little bit high-strung because both me and Mike are pretty laid back but he is... and all I can say is that I love it. I would never change anything about him. I love that he is so curious and that he already has so much spunk. I could never have imagined loving my baby as much as I do and I love him more and more everyday. Being his mom is such a blessing and I can't ever be thankful enough for him.

already loves to watch the games with dad

I could probably watch him sleep for hours

church clothes... the flash always makes him pull funny faces

2 weeks to 4.5 months haha what a little chub (don't mind that crazy hair either. I hadn't quite done it yet haha

morning hair

always happy when he wakes up

haha this is him when I handed him off to Nana before he had warmed up to her.. 

almost too big for his bouncy seat. This kid is looong.

this is the face he always makes looking up from his car seat. I think it's just the sweetest.