Dear Hudson

My Sweet Lovebug,

You are 2 weeks old today and we are falling more and more in love with you.  Everyday we are so thankful for you.  You were more than worth the wait -God gave you to us at His perfect timing.  You have been such a great baby so far.  You are an excellent napper, I am working hard at getting you on an eat, play, and sleep schedule.  I still have you nap in the cradle in the office with me.  You are eating 8 times per day.  You have a bit of a fussy period from 9 pm to 11 pm, but I really can't complain because you are so easy the rest of the time.  You are usually ready to eat between 2-3 am and then again about 6 am.  Yesterday at your doctor's appointment you weighed 7 lbs 3 1/2 ounces- you are gaining weight appropriately.  I love your sweet little smiles, even if they are gas smiles, it still makes me melt.  Your Daddy and I love watching you sleep, you're just so peaceful.  For the first 10 days of your life you slept in a family cradle next to our bed.  We have since moved you to your crib and it nearly broke my heart that first night having you so far away, but we both knew that the longer you slept next to us the harder it would be to get you out of our room.  You've adjusted great.  We want you to know that you have so...many people who love you - grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends, and your Daddy and I love you so very much!  xoxo

So...Thankful

 

Hudson just melts my heart!  ~Thanks Mom for taking these photos.

 

This picture makes my heart smile - I love seeing these two guys together

We're so thankful for this precious little guy!  

He's so tiny in his car seat

Happy Thanksgiving

Our cup runneth over!  Brian and I have so much to be thankful for this year - God has blessed us abundantly.

1.  Hudson.  We are so...thankful for our precious baby boy.  He is a huge answer to many prayers.  We continue to fall more and more in love with him daily.  Like I've said before, we can't believe God has entrusted us to raise Hudson.

Hudson wanted to say, "Happy Thanksgiving!" 

 

Cute little turkey butt

Attempt at getting a picture of the cousins

2.  My Husband.  I love him more and more daily.  He is also a huge answer to many prayers.  Brian is my perfect match.

3.  Our marriage.   It's been a great 5 years - a million times better than I ever expected.
4.  Our parents, brothers, sister, brother-in-laws, and sister-in-laws.  We have wonderful families.  They are so loving and supportive.

5.  Friends.  We have the most caring and loving friends - from Indiana to Kentucky, they're all great.  God has placed the perfect people at the perfect time in our lives.
6.  Our church.  "To love God and love people." is Southland's mission statement.  We love that our church gets out and loves people - being the hands and feet of Christ.
7.  Our Salvation.  (My list is obviously not in order of importance.)  The more I try to understand Jesus' love for me on the cross, the less I understand it.  - How could a perfect person die for me knowing all He knows about me?
8.  Our Jobs.  We both have jobs that we love and wonderful people to work with.

The list could go on and on, but I'm getting tired.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Just Born

Oh, how we heart this little guy!
I took these pictures when Hudson was 3 days old.   I couldn't get any pictures of Hudson looking at me and with his hands out of the way. 
Here are a few:

 

Just a little cross-eyed, but I think this picture is precious

Love this picture of him yawning

Getting hungry - he started sucking his fingers and hands

Hudson Lee

Our precious baby boy arrived Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 at 2:50 am.  We are so in love with this little guy.  What a blessing and privilege it is to be his mommy and daddy.  We can't believe God has entrusted us to raise him.  God is so good! 

This was his going home from the hospital outfit.  It's a newborn size, but swallowed him up.  It's so...cute!  My mom bought it for him.  I'm glad he is small enough to be able to wear it again. 

 

Delivery was an emergency and the poor little guy needed some extra attention for a few minutes (I want to document the labor and delivery process so I don't forget it, but I really need some time and sleep).

 

He looks a lot bigger than what he actually was. 

 

This is also a newborn outfit - just a little big. 

 

We had several dear friends come to the hospital to visit us.  I'm sad that I don't have pictures of everyone holding him.  Kristin and Madison, Julia and Hudson (I'm so pale now that I really didn't want to be in the picture with 3 beautiful girls), and Amanda and Alex

Such a sweet little guy!  I can't kiss him enough.

 

Home from the hospital - we had to show Hudson his room - too bad he wasn't awake. 

New Dad Thoughts

Thankful to God for providing me with such an amazing family.
Thankful that Mom and Baby are doing great!
Thankful that we had an awesome doctor to take care of them.
Thankful for our wonderful friends and all their thoughts and prayers.
Thankful that so far Hudson has been a great sleeper.
Ready to sleep in my own bed tonight.
Ready to eat a real meal.
Ready to show Hudson off to family and friends.
Ready to get to know my new son!

I'm sure Ashley will kill me for posting this picture, but I like it.

Hungry little guy

Once again I'm sure Ashley will hate this picture, but I love it -there were a lot of bad things that happened to get Hudson in the world, so I'm just so grateful for both of them.  I'll let Ashley explain what all happened, if she wants.

Me and my son

1st family picture

Hudson's Nursery

One weekend Brian got motivated and decided to work on the nursery.  I love it!!!  We wrote different bible verses around the room so little man will be surrounded by the word of God.  The room was pink before and used to be our guest room and everyone who ever slept in there complained about the color, so it was about time to get rid of it.  I personally loved it.  We didn't paint it pink- the people who lived here before us had a little girl.

We replaced the light fixture.  The old fixture was a really cute pink fan with flowers on it.

The colors match the bedding.  The colors are beige, chocolate brown, and a light green/blue color. I wanted something that would work well for a little boy, so I didn't go with any baby themes.  Here is the final product. 

 I stole this idea from my friend Julia.  She has a big "C" framed in her daughter's nursery.  Thanks, Julia!

 

I absolutely love this little chair!!!  It was built in 1908 and has been in Brian's family ever since.  It's a really sturdy chair.  Brian's sister bought the cute little blanket and had Hudson's name sewn on it.  It's so cute and fits the chair perfectly.  I so desperately want to buy an embroidery machine and start embroidering his name or initials on everything. 

 

One of my shower gifts - the colors match perfectly!

 

I found its match at Hobby Lobby and had to buy it

 

My mom made this adorable blanket.  It's so cute!  I'm scared to let Hudson use it.  I don't want it to get ruined.  I love the colors and fabric - so...soft!

 

This cradle was built around 1870 and has also been in Brian's family ever since.  There is a list of all the babies in Brian's family that have slept in it.  I think that's pretty cool.  We are planning on using it for a couple of weeks and keeping it in our bedroom and then moving Hudson to his crib.   My cousin Amy got Hudson most of the stuffed animals you see in the basket.  My mom also made the cute blanket laying in the crib -actually it's a car seat cover, but I haven't put it on there, yet.  I also love the colors and fabric on it. 

 

Brian's dad made us this great changing table.  It's really nice and will transition well into a dresser.  I guess I have 1 thing left to buy - I am planning on buying baskets to go in the open space so it doesn't look so cluttered. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!  Now we just need Hudson in there to make it complete. 

A View I Love

 

My man with his bible and study guide.