God Bless America

We had a fun 4th just the four of us :) Grace had a blast playing in the backyard water park Lance set up for her and after we got everyone cleaned up, we had lunch at Chili's followed by ice cream after nap time. While we missed our traditional grilling hot dogs & burgers, it was nice to have a low key day, all the while remembering those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Little pumpkin ready to go for an ice cream treat Yum, yum, yum! Choices, choices...hmmm All the while, the little guy just snoozed... And later when we got home, we enjoyed lots of this lots of this :) and sweetness like this (yes, even with his frown!) A little squeeze and a BIG squeeze Check out Grace's crown, I mean kerchief. She insisted on wearing it like a princess tiara :) Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day holiday!

Hot Wheels

Last Monday my sweet goddaughter Madeline had her 6th birthday party...at a skating rink! I remember spending MANY a jr. high nights at the local skating rink feeling all cool and grown up :) And seems Lance was quite the skater back in the day too. I think he even held some sort of skating champ title :)

I stayed home with Hudson and Lance took Grace skating for the first time!!! I made him take the camera to document this first in her life. From the look of it she had a great time!

Getting laced up and giving the cheesy "cheese" Getting used to the skates...not too sure OK, I think I'm ready! Skating is serious business! Looking on as Madeline opens her present She couldn't stop talking about it when she got home - she had so much fun!

Happy 6th Birthday, Madeline!!!
Aunt Jessica loves you! XOXO

Surviving Week 1

Now anyone who has brought home a baby knows how much of an adjustment the first couple of weeks can be. For our part I will say that bringing home Hudson has (so far) been easier than when we brought Grace home 2+ years ago. Maybe because he's our second and we're (I am) more relaxed...maybe because he's a full-term chub and not a preemie...maybe because his jaundice didn't require an around the clock bili blanket like Grace's did...maybe because nursing is going so much better the second time around...maybe because he sleeps so much during the day (more about nightime a little later)...maybe because with 2 or more you can't help but just go with the flow...maybe because seeing the little pumpkin love on her brother melts my heart a million times over...whatever the reasons, I'm thankful it's been a good week!

Here are some pictures from Hudson's first week at home...

Right after we came home Look what the stork dropped off at our house :) Deep in thought Full belly = Happy baby (catching this smile may have been a fluke, but isn't he so sweet??) All curled up and oh, so cute! Chubby little cheeks About nightime...first two days not too bad then for the next three nights Hudson cried pretty much the entire time from 12-3am. We tried everything we could think of and nothing seemed to help the little guy. It's so hard to watch your baby be in pain and not be able to make it better.

Called my mom for help in the middle of the night and she suggested putting him in his car seat on top of the dryer and he was able to calm down. That night he slept the remaining 2.5 hrs. until the morning in his car seat on our bed (like I said - second child, you go with the flow of whatever works!). The next day I had mom call him in a little medicine to help his colic/belly troubles and last night FINALLY the combination of the medicine, his seat and the Graco Sweetpeace worked like a charm...he was able to sleep comfortably!! (And mama and daddy were able to get some much needed rest!)

Enjoying my sweet kiddos And last but not least (all you mamas out there can definitely understand this one) I had my 1 week post partum appointment today and was happy to find out that I've lost 23 of the 26 pounds I gained during the pregnancy!!! Seems that breastfeeding not only does a baby good, it does a mama good! ha, ha, ha... Now there's still a jelly belly in there that needs lots of toning and more weight to be lost, but at least we're headed in the right direction :)

AND, my learning curve for Week 1: changing a boy diaper is MUCH harder than changing a girl diaper! You can fill in the blanks :)

at 2:13 in the afternoon on monday, june 22nd...

...we welcomed our beautiful baby boy into this world,

fresh from the hands of God and into our loving arms!

with hearts full of love we introduce Hudson Rowe
06/22/09
2:13 p.m.
8 lb. 8 oz.
20 in.

This is what falling in love looks like Father and son meet for the first time Grace meet your little brother Hudson,
Hudson meet your big sis Grace I don't know - he's kind of squirmy......but I love him.
The little pumpkin kept telling me, "Awwww...he's so cute." Just when you think a heart can not possibly hold more of "that" type of love...it just happens. Feeling incredibly blessed. Our family of four. Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes! We came home yesterday and have been adjusting to our newly expanded family (so far, so good!).

About the delivery...
It was an incredibly easy delivery, for which I am so thankful! The induction was much better than I had imagined. We had wonderful nurses - most were the same ones we had with Grace which was nice. I got the epidural when I was 5cm and this time it worked like a charm! Things moved right along and I went from 7cm to 10 and complete in 20 minutes. I told the nurse I was feeling a different kind of pain. She came in, checked me and said "don't push". My doctor came in. I had asked Lance to take a picture of the wall clock when I started pushing (2:03 p.m.) and Hudson was born just 10 minutes later :) If I could skip the pregnancy part, I would definitely do the labor part again to end up with another lil bit of heaven in my arms!

we're going to the hospital...FINALLY!

We're all packed up and ready to go! God willing we'll soon get to meet and hold little Hudson in our arms. Thank you for all your prayers - they mean so much to us !

I love you daddy!

One of the benefits of not having had the induction on Friday was that we were able to spend Father's Day together at home rather than in the hospital. Grace colored cards for her daddy and three grandpas. Noonie & Papa J joined us for church and lunch and then Noonie treated us to a homemade brownie cheesecake at home. I'm not a big cheesecake fan but this was really yummy! Grace was quite the little helper and volunteered to open all the presents :)

Daddy & Grace acting quite silly (actually I was trying to get a picture of the two of them which was almost impossible with the little energizer bunny running all around) Grace loves Curious George and got a kick out of saying her daddy was "the man in the yellow shirt" :) Little helper at work Time to help Papa J with his gift (check out the little hair flower - love how cute it looked with Grace's dress!) A big hug for Papa J Happy Father's Day to all the daddies and grandpas out there! Hope your day was wonderful! And Happy Birthday to my sweet grandma!!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

is it time yet?

Images by Creative Breathing

Back up with me for a second to last Tuesday at my doctor's visit...OK, Great! Seems things were progressing right along, but maybe Hudson needed a little push - quite literally you might add. Well after worrying for weeks that he would be early, we were now navigating a whole new world...the world of inductions. Long story short it was decided that I would be induced at 5:30 a.m. on Friday (as in today) if Hudson hadn't arrived by then. I would be right at 39 wks. WOW!

Okay, now fast forward to Thursday morning (are you confused yet? I think I am). Seems God had different plans for baby Hudson. I got a call from my doctor's office to tell me that due to a rush of emergency inductions and deliveries at the small private hospital I wish to deliver at, my induction had been bumped to Monday morning, same time. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty bummed. I had already psyched myself up for Friday morning. We had all our plans and arrangements made. After spending some time sulking about the whole thing I finally came to terms with it reminding myself that God's plans are not always our plans...but He's always in control.

So who knows, maybe Hudson will make his debut some time this weekend...without the need for an induction (can you tell I'm a little scared of the whole induction thing?). And if not, then come Monday hopefully the stork will be paying us a visit... Tick tock...
Tick tock...
...is it time yet?