7 months old!!

Hudson you are 7 months old!!!!

Wow!  Time is just flying!!!  

At 7 months old, you still don't have any teeth but they must be getting close because you are a drooling machine!!!  We made the switch to a convertible carseat and you're doing better in the car. You don't mind drives around down and you no longer cry all the way to Kemper's school and back!  You look pretty comfy in that new seat of yours....I think you have the best seat in the car!

At 7 months, you weigh 19lbs 2oz (weight was taken at 7.5 months when you went back for your 2nd dose of the flu shot).  You are wearing 9 month clothes and a few 12 month pieces.  All of the 3 and 6 month clothes have been packed away!   I have definitely noticed your weight gain slowing but that's normal for breastfed babies to rapidly gain weight the first 6ish months and then start to slow down.  Your thigh rolls were where we noticed you starting to slim down....luckily you're still holding on to those cheeks!

You are an eating machine!!  You still nurse every 2-2.5 hours and eat lunch and dinner.  So far, the only food that you doesn't like is avocado.  Anything else we have offered, he has eaten!  You don't care for green beans or peas but you will eat them.  Parsnips was one of your new favorites this month!

You still LOVE your big brother and he can make you belly laugh like no other!  You are sitting up very steadily and starting to play with more of your toys.  The exersaucer doesn't hold your attention as long as it used to.  You prefer to be sitting on the floor with your music table or activity cube.  

You're still not the greatest sleeper.  Bedtime is anywhere between 6:30 and 7pm and you are still swaddled.  You can usually make it until 11:30 before you wake for the first time and as soon as we pop your paci back in, you are back asleep.  On good nights, you wake to eat around 4 and then sleep til 7.  On bad nights, we're up anywhere from 2-4 times between 11:30 and 7am.  Daddy usually sleeps through these until I wake him up to relieve me.  

You are a very happy baby!  When we come in to get you in the mornings, we're greeted with a HUGE smile!  As soon as Daddy comes in after work, your face just lights up and you start wiggling for him to come give you kisses.  When we pick Kemper up at school, you give him a big smile when he runs over to us.  As long as someone is paying attention to you, you are happy and content.  We're starting to notice the beginnings of separation anxiety but I'm hoping that you will sail past that without too much of a disruption.  

We love you Hudson Ryan!

Beach Trip 2012

We visited Myrtle Beach with MeMe and Pops at the end of September.  James wasn't able to get off work to go with us so Pops drove to Tennessee and then rode with the boys and me to the beach.  I was so thankful to have an extra set of hands and company on the trip.  He did most of the driving and it ended up taking us close to 12 hours to make the drive.  Hudson did fairly well up until the last hour or so of the drive. Kemper was, as usual, an awesome little traveler.  

The first thing Hudson did when we sat him down in the sand was take a fist full of sand and try to shove it in his mouth.  Yum!  He wasn't sure what to think of the ocean but enjoyed hanging out on a blanket chewing on one of Kemper's sand toys.  

Casey and I were able to pull of a pretty big surprise for Joey and Kemper.  They came down to Myrtle Beach on Sunday and met us on the beach.  The kids had no clue until they saw each other....it was incredible sweet to see their faces light up and see them run to one another.  I'm pretty sure Casey and I were crying seeing them when they realized they weren't seeing things and it was real!  They played in the sand, they played in the water (Kemper doesn't like the ocean but Joey told him to play in it and so he did....no questions asked!), they ran around and acted silly.

Pops giving Hudson his first toe dunk in the water!  

We finally got to meet COOPER!!!!!  Such a sweet baby....wish they were still in Clarksville because I can see Cooper and Hudson turning into big time partners in crime!

They picked up right where they left off.  I love these kiddos!

We also got to visit with another old friend - my college roommate, Brandy, and her daughter, Ella Kate!  They drove down from Wilmington and met us for dinner.  It was so nice to catch up with Brandy and to meet Ella Kate. She is such a sweetheart!

Everyone is smiling and looking at the camera!  Yipee!

MeMe and Pops and the boys.

Kemper got a balloon sword....and 10 minutes after we got back to the hotel room, he popped it.  He was devastated.  

Hudson hanging out on the beach.  

Kemper loves playing in the sand....he likes for Pops to build castles so he can destroy them.  This has been his favorite beach activity for a few years now!  

Before Joey left, she told him that he had to play in the water even when she wasn't there.  This was about as far as he would get in.  I kept reminding him that Joey told him to play in the water but he said he could only do that when she was there with him.  Such a loyal friend.

Kemper didn't want to have his picture taken with Hudson and me. 

Hudson was such a little trooper at the beach.  I am so thankful that our kids are pretty adaptive and travel well.  With our lifestyle, they basically have to be.  Kemper had his own room and MeMe and Pops had a room so that left Hudson to share with me.  By the end of the week, I was sleeping on the pullout sofa and Hudson had a room to himself.  Once he realized that I was in the room with him when he woke up at night, the only way he would go back to sleep was if he was in the bed with me.  While cosleeping works well for some, it does not work well for us.  I cannot sleep with him in my bed (even though he slept like a log).  Once I moved out to the couch, things went a bit better.  I'm convinced that James and I just cannot make a child that sleeps really well.  

Waiting to eat at our favorite place - Drunken Jacks!

Ahoy, mateys!

Hudson was having a blast just hanging out watching Kemper play.  Give him some shade and a good breeze and he was pretty content!

Just don't set him down by the water....I think the crashing of the waves was a bit too much for him.  

Watching the water coming towards him.  Shockingly, he did not try to eat the wet sand...probably because he was paralyzed with fear.

Hard to believe this was Kemper's 4th year going to the beach!  

It was also his first time to play putt-putt!  He had seen Jake (and the Neverland Pirates) play putt-putt and had asked if we could play. 

Pops did his best to teach Kemper how to putt....

Hudson and I just watched.

I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to go on a beach trip again this year.  I love introducing my boys to different experiences and even Kemper was excited that Hudson got to go to the beach for the first time.  

The drive back seemed to go a bit quicker.  James met us in Knoxville with Dad's car so he could head back to Virginia and we headed back to Clarksville.  Hudson was so sad to leave the beach that he cried on and off for the last 3 hours of our drive.  Poor guy....maybe we should tell Daddy that we'd like to be stationed closer to the beach next time! ;)