Dear Hudson

Please stop growing!
Love,
your mama
Xoxo

My little man is over two months now! It's so fun to see him grow and change but it sure is hard to let the newborn stages go.

Hudson has been such a joy to us. We really super like him. Here's a little update on his life as of now:

-feeding time can be a little chaotic lately. You see huds likes to play this new game called yank your head back and forth and swing your arms up to moms face and grab! It's really fun. For him. Its actually pretty funny so i just laugh most of the time and try and hold his head still while securing his arm away from my face. But holy moly sometimes it hurts.
-also when feeding he always lets me know when he's not done when I try and burp him by squealing an panting until I put him back.
- we've still got a grunter on our hands. He's starting to make a lot of other sounds too though which is fun. He loooooves to coo. If I sit and talk to him he will pretty much go back and forth with me. I really love that.
- he smiles more everyday! I love that toothless grin more than words can say.
- Hudson doesn't particularly enjoy naps. And by that I mean he won't usually take them. That is unless someone is willing to hold him then he is game. And usually at some point in the day he'll take a couple little snoozers. I'm hoping when he gets a little older we can figure that one out. For now we kind of Just roll with it.
- baby boy sleeps about the same every night without too much variation. We're on a 10-4 and 4:30-8 type schedule. And if I put him to bed early it just shifts forward according to the time I put him down. I can't complain too much about that.
- speaking of bed time.... Huds won't sleep anywhere but his bouncer. Problem? Maybe. But I'm a sucker for sleep so we allow it. Dr thinks he might have a little reflux and is uncomfortable laying flat.
- he doesn't really like to just ''hang out.'' If I sit him on the couch next to me he'll last maybe 30 seconds and then get fussy until I walk around with him or take him outside. This is the same case with laying him on the bed or in his bouncer when he's awake or even in the swing. BUT he does like the lay down gym thingy. That usually buys me 10-15 minutes before he gets sick of it. He loves that thing. This makes me kind of scared of how busy and active he might be when he gets bigger. But hey it keeps me from sitting around all day that's for sure!

Being a mom is such a fun experience and makes life so much more meaningful! I love my little sweetie!

HEY!

I have a friend with the cutest little 4 year old boy and she is in a contest for his room to be made-over. They just bought a house so it's perfect timing. And instead of choosing a room of her own, she entered his room. I think that is so sweet. Please take the time to vote for her (even if you don't know her or don't care--it takes 2 seconds I promise!) so that they can win!!

http://www.vintagerevivals.com/2012/08/epic-room-makeover-giveaway-contest-2012.html
#33--all you have to do is click "vote" and you can do it once a day.

Thanks everyone!

Faces

The many faces of Hudson...

bored, but happy

needs a break from eating, too tired to continue

(ps sorry about the almost exposure in this pic)

almost ready to resume eating

way too tired to even begin eating

"I know you are trying to get me to smile and I'm not really going to give in, but I'll give you this little smirk"

really mad at dad for trying to make him pose this way

surprised

thinking his parents are really weird always talking in weird baby talk to him

...and many more that I will try to capture!

One month?

We have a one month old????
It's really kind of sad how big he's getting and how fast.

As I write this, he's pretty much screaming at Mike. He's had his first pretty rough day. Stomach ache maybe? I'm really not sure. We've gone through the rest of the possibilities for his unhappiness and checked them off. The only thing that makes him calm down is feeding him so we've done that the majority of the day...although I can only let him nurse for so long and so often before I'd be nursing all day long. Mike's a sweetie though. I just heard the back door close and he's taking him on yet another walk through the neighborhood. Sometimes the sounds distract him and Mike's getting really good at getting him to sleep on these neighborhood walks.

On a good night, we change him and feed him and then rock him to sleep. If I get him into a deep enough sleep, he'll sleep for about 4 hours and then wake up to eat. Sometimes even close to 5. He's really extremely nice about going back to sleep after he eats in the middle of the night too. It makes my life really happy. Then I usually let him take Mike's spot in the morning when he leaves. He really likes it. It's my favorite thing to look over at his tiny body in a big bed. Super cute.

A few other things about him that have starting to show:

From day one in the hospital, he's been a noisy baby. But oh my gosh- this child is constantly making noise. Maybe that is normal of newborns? I really don't know, but he is ALWAYS making noise. He grunts like no body's business. Over and over and all different kinds of grunts. Low ones and high ones and louder and quiet. They get really out of control when he's just waking up. Me and Mike will just lay in bed and laugh in the morning as he's waking up and making the strangest sounds I've ever heard. He also makes sounds as he eats. Each gulp has a sound involved. It's pretty interesting to feed him in front of someone and have such a noise maker coming from under the blanket. My all time favorite though is his sleep noises. He makes a little sigh noise with each breath he takes when he's sleeping. If he's really deep asleep it goes away, but when he's cuddling or just getting to sleep he does it and it's the cutest. I can't set him down when he starts doing that. That was one of the first things I noticed about him in the hospital that I just loved so much. (I have recording of all his sounds but I can't figure out how to post them. If anyone knows how please share...)

This child can't keep his hands under control. Or his legs. But the hands are really out of control. Especially when I try to feed him. He has to have his hands right by his little mouth. Sometimes it gets extremely frustrating. Especially at 3am. But we're coping. I won't say he's getting better at moving them because he's really not, but I'm finding ways to get around them. He kicks his legs and moves his arms like a crazy man most of the time that he's awake though. Super active. He does it when he's laying by himself and it gets pretty crazy when he's hungry or upset. Sometimes I set him on my legs while I get the food ready for him and he kicks me in the stomach over and over. I'm going to assume he's not meaning to though. Otherwise I have a mean baby. 

Me and Mike always joke about the phrases that are used in our house over and over. and over. They are as follows:

"You're alright, buddy."

"Hudson, you're okay."

"Hi buddy."

"Good job bud!"

"Move your hand."

(all of these in extremely high pitched, annoying baby talk with every syllable drawn out)

The last one is really only used by me when I'm trying to feed him. It's just funny to catch how many times we say the exact same thing though over and over. 

He's starting to look at me more as I talk to him and goes cross eyed all the time. (Mike is genuinely concerned about that haha) I think he was really confused when I had him on the bathroom counter the other day and he could see me in the mirror. He just watched me in the mirror and wouldn't look at me at all. I know he's really young, but I keep trying to get him to hold toys and today he held onto his first toy for more than just half a second. And by this I mean that he's awake holding onto it and moving it around. Mike always puts weird things in his hands while he's sleeping. Like laffy taffy candies. Yeah I know, weird. But it's kind of funny that a newborn has food in his hands I guess? haha

He's getting a little more chunky. I mean being born at 9 lbs is pretty chunky already, but he's starting to fill out a bit. He has a funny little body. He has a total double chin most of the time with a big belly and then pretty skinny long arms and legs. It equates to all of his 0-3 month pajamas and onsies being too small because they aren't long enough, but then his regular 0-3 month clothes still drown him because he's too skinny for them. But I did find him some pants that fit the other day. That was a big success. 

(Above are the pants that I finally found that fit him!)

Everyone always asks about the pacifier if he's crying and here's the thing... He hates it. He doesn't really cry hard unless he's hungry anyways so we're lucky, but he does not like the binky one bit. I think he gets more upset when I try to give it to him. And he doesn't get the whole concept to keep sucking on it. He'll put it in his mouth for a minute and suck about 3-4 times and once he realizes there's nothing coming out he screams louder. If I try and hold it in his mouth he'll kind of slurp on it a little bit while whimpering. It's actually kind of heart breaking. It's like we're tricking him and he totally knows it. Maybe sometime in the future he'll start to like it more. Preferably when we are in public and it's needed.. We'll have to see. 

He's starting to get pretty good at holding his head up. When we had him in the hospital he would jerk his head a lot already, but he's getting better at controlling it. Mike has little exercise sessions every night with him where they have tummy time. It's kinda cute. It's like their boy time. haha

He's started to smile a little bit, but he's pretty stingy about giving those smiles out. I can only get him to do it every once in awhile and it's even more difficult to convince him to do it if I have the camera out. Here are a few almost smile pictures. 

Well, that's probably a good enough update for now. To tell the truth, I started this post over a week ago and just haven't been able to finish it for 100 years. 

Here are a couple more random pictures...

Introducing...

....our now 12 day old baby boy, Hudson Michael Hancock.
Here's a little glimpse of what's been going on the last week or so. (Apologies for the length. I don't want to leave things out for journaling purposes)

BIRTH
Here's our pretty simple birth story:
We had an induction scheduled at 1pm on 7/17. (hoped he'd come sooner but he had other plans..)
The nurse called and changed the appointment to 7am. No complaints on our end.
Got to the hospital that morning bright and early.
8:00 Get all hooked up to machines. Already having steady contractions. Who knew?
8:30 Doctor comes and breaks my water. Dialated to a 4. Almost a 5.
8:31 Contractions get painful.
8:35 Contractions get really painful.
9:00 I'm asking for drugs.
9:30 The nurse asks if I am scared ****less because my blood pressure is so high. They take my blood and can't give me drugs until the lab work comes back. They want to give me other meds to try and get my blood pressure down.
10:00 I want to die the contractions are so bad. My nurse says she's never seen contractions like it before and that they are right on top of each other. At this point I don't really listen to anything anyone says. I'm getting mad that they can't give me the drugs. Dilated to a 7.
10:30 They drug man comes. He wants me to do crazy positions to get this needle into my back. Does he really want me to arch my back? Do you understand I have a HUGE child in my stomach? Not to mention I am in the worst pain of my life. Arching my back is not going to happen.
10:35 I guess I somehow arched my back enough because he got the needle in. He keeps talking and telling me all this info about the drug and possible side effects. I don't really care. I'm still in pain.
10:45 Pain is gone. At this point, we are highly considering naming our son after the drug man.
11:00 We are so happy and excited for baby to come.
11:00-1:30 We are hanging out and having visitors come by. Life is happy. Nurse keeps tabs on baby's heart rate. She comments multiple times about how well he's doing with my crazy contractions. Says most babies, if not all would normally be in distress. We are already proud parents. At 1pm we are dilated to a 10. Resting and descending.
2:00 Time to push.
2:15 Pushing really isn't that bad. Reminds me of a hard work out at the gym.
3:00 The nurse is really encouraging me and making me feel like a pro pusher.
3:30 Good thing because I'm still pushing.
3:45 Doctor comes in.
3:48 Hudson Michael Hancock is born. They put him on my tummy for a minute and I am amazed that this little boy is all mine.

After all of that is kind of meshed together in my brain. I just sat and watched in awe for about 30 minutes as Mike was over with the nurses as they got him all cleaned up and ready to live in the real world. I couldn't believe this infant came out of me. He was so big! (and slimy) But I knew I loved him. A whole lot.

His stats:
9lbs 2oz
21.5 inches
Huge hands and feet.
9 and 9 apgar score.
Crazy Shaped Head.
Lots of dark hair.
My nose.
Mike's lips.. (maybe?)
Mike's lack of eyebrows.
Big eyes. Blue for now.
Cutest thing we ever did see. (assuming the head would go down.. that was a little bit scary)

THE AFTER MATH
So birth sounds fun right? It actually wasn't bad. After I got the epidural that is. Before that it was horrible.
4:00-7:00 Lots of visitors. Which is fun. But I have advice for visitors-at least visitors that first day...Be quick. At this point I had zero sleep, was dying of hunger, and started feeling like crap.
7:00 Started feeling really weird and bad. (This gets a little detailed and gross so stop reading now if you don't like that sort of thing)
7:15 Nurses kept pushing on my stomach and then telling me I was really bleeding a lot. More than normal. And that I'm extremely swollen everywhere. Weird.. Also I kept telling them that something felt weird and I was leaking. They decided I probably just needed to empty my bladder so they tried to get me up. Bad move. At this point I started shaking uncontrollably and was feeling horrible. They decided getting me up was not a good idea.
7:30 Nurses decided that since I couldn't get up they would need to put a catheter in. (Note: Epidural as been gone for 3+ hours now) I am sad.
7:30-8:00 Worst 30 minutes of my life. Nurses are trying to put a catheter in this entire time. But lo and behold the swelling (my worst enemy) is so bad that they can't get it in. And that's why I feel so bad. My tube to relief is swollen shut. I'm crying like I never have before, and Mike is just trying to calm me down and is breathing with me close to my face. Nurses were whispering a lot and I was trying not to listen. They kept leaving and coming back. I could tell they were having a hard time. So was I. They finally got it in and I felt a little better. Although I was still freezing and shaking and felt pretty awful.
8:30 Different nurse comes to take my blood to see what's going on. I have a fever. Who knows how high since those people use Celsius. (is that even spelled right? See? Who even uses the word celsius?)
9:00 They bring me bags of antibiotics and pump fluid through me for the rest of the night.
12:00am Fever is going away. I can tell because I'm literally dripping sweat on my baby.

RECOVERY
I never really thought about the whole recovery part of having a baby. I actually didn't really think there was one.. I don't know why. I guess there are just a lot of girls who make it look really easy. I figured I'd be sore for a few days and then I'd just be living the stay-at-home mom life, going to get drinks from sonic everyday...strolling around Target mid-day just looking...etc.
Well I can honestly say that recovery is kind of hard. (or I might just be a baby.. either way) Regardless, I mostly just feel weird and the pain from my stitches comes and goes. I've been really light headed and weak but it is getting better everyday.

Now on to the more exciting parts of this post:


HUDSON
Our little boy has been doing so good! He had a little bit of a hard time getting enough food at first. He left the hospital Thursday at 8lb 8oz and by Saturday he was at 7lb 14oz. The doctor said that as long as we could turn it around he wasn't too concerned because he was born so big. Good thing he was so huge!
We went back to the doctor the following Monday and after supplementing with formula and working hard to get him to eat, he was back up to 8lb 6oz.

The funny thing about him weighing so much is that he's still really scrawny! He's really long though. Scrawny and long like his dad. Some of his newborn clothes still don't quite fit, and the 0-3 month clothes are out of the picture for a little bit longer. Although, some of his onsies are a little bit too short and while they are pretty baggy around his arms and belly, they are stretched out as far as they go to make it from his neck to button at his diaper. It's kind of funny. He's been getting big fast though, so I think only a week or so and he'll be able to fit more of his clothes. He definitely has his dad's long hands and feet too. They are huge!

Right out of the womb. 

Sleeping at the hospital.

This is the face I get when changing him in the middle of the night. 

He's always pulling these little faces. I love them.

He's been such a blessing around our house. We love him to death. It's so fun just to sit and watch the things he does and we definitely get plenty of laughs at his faces and some of the things he'll do. One thing we always laugh at is how when he's finished eating he'll roll off of me onto his blanket with his arms above his head and his eyes closed and milk running out of his mouth like a drunk baby. It only takes a few minutes from him to come out of his coma and want to eat again, but it's pretty funny. He also loves to lay on my bed after dad leaves in the morning and wake up slowly. He loves it when we let him into the big bed instead of making him sleep in the bassinet. It kind of freaks me out though so he doesn't get to do that too often. Another thing he loves are his hands. He won't let us swaddle him with his arms tucked in. No way no how. He loves them constantly on his face. It was a battle with feeding him at first, but we've figured out a way he can have both hands up by his face and make it work. I love it how he always sleeps with either his arms above his head or his hands resting by his face though. So cute. Probably my favorite thing about our little guy is the noises he makes. They are the cutest, sweetest things I have ever heard. Lots of nurses commented on how many noises he makes at the hospital and I hoped that he wouldn't stop doing them once we brought him home. He makes little humming noises every time he swallows when he eats and when he's sleeping he also makes little noises as he breathes in and out. I can't really describe how they sound, but they are sooo cute. 

Anyway, this is a long enough post for now. We'll post more later!