A visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us this past weekend!  Kemper spent most of Thursday checking the driveway to see if they had arrived yet.  Once they arrived, we hung out around the house and the boys enjoyed playing and showing Grandma and Grandpa all of their toys.  

Grandma and Hudson at the park

When it was time for Hudson to nap, Grandma offered to go in and rock him when it seemed he was having a hard time settling down.  Kemper came down to the kitchen where I was fixing dinner and was pouting.  When I asked what the problem was, he replied, "She's STILL rocking him!"  It appears that Kemper wasn't keen on sharing Grandma with Hudson.  

Going down the slide all by himself!

On Friday, Grandma and I (with Kemper's help) cleaned out both pantries as well as the closet in the laundry room.  Grandma and Kemper sorted the food and after we cleaned things out, we rearranged everything and consolidated all of the food into one closet so that I could move the randomness out of the laundry room closet to "create" a linen closet.  Amazing the tiny details we overlooked when we bought this house but as we begin to think about selling, I'm trying to make a few little changes here and there so that buyers may not notice the small quirks.   

Grandma and Hudson at Kemper's scrimmage

We visited Woody's for lunch and then a trip to Lowe's to pick up a new water filter for our fridge in hopes that the water dispenser on our refrigerator would miraculously start working with that small change.  (Luckily, a change of the filter and a bit of patience means we now have a working water dispenser again!)

Vince Gill playing at the Grand Ole Opry

Friday night, James and I got to go on a date while Grandma and Grandpa kept the boys!!  We checked the movie listings but didn't see anything that struck our fancy but a quick check of who was playing at the Grand Ole Opry and we were on our way to Nashville!  Since we didn't have a ton of time for dinner, we made a quick stop for a romantic dinner at Chick Fil A on our way and I have to say that it was quite enjoyable without a child begging to go play in the play area or asking to trade their toy in for ice cream!

The lineup at the Opry that night was really great!  We saw Joe Diffie, Bill Anderson, Riders in the Sky, Vince Gill and Patty Loveless!  For buying our tickets last minute, we really lucked out and had great seats and a row all to ourselves!  It was so nice to get out with just James and have some adult conversation!  Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa!

A moment of calm at the t-ball scrimmage

Saturday brought a t-ball scrimmage against the Storm Chasers!  Since the local parks and rec won't unlock the fields on the weekends, we normally practice in a grassy area next to one of the park playsets.  This usually means that Hudson only wants to be climbing all over the playset but he had an extra set of playmates today!  Grandma helped him get to the slides and Grandpa took him for a long walk when he got a bit restless.  The scrimmage went well and Kemper did great!  He had 3 hits and got to play 3rd base and catcher.  

Hudson and Grandpa coming back from their walk.

We pushed our luck after the scrimmage and went to IHOP for dinner.  Hudson was a beast....he was completely exhausted and in no mood to wait.  James walked with him, he played in the booth next to me and once our food arrived, he devoured more food than Kemper.  Once he was done eating, he was ready to go....no matter that the rest of us were still eating!

Kemper hitting the ball!

For Father's Day, I woke up and grabbed some donuts for breakfast while everyone got ready for church.  We went to the earlier service at our church and it was surprisingly not as crowded as usual.  The boys did pretty well...with the exception of Hudson goosing the lady sitting in front of us.  Instead of pews, they have chairs and there is an open space between your upper back and butt.  All of a sudden, Hudson reaches out and grabs a handful of the lady's behind.  James said he just knew she was going to turn around swinging but she was very gracious about it and just chuckled.  Never a dull moment.

Pictures before church

We had a low key day with a little bit of organizing squeezed in.  I had wanted to go through the boys clothes to weed out the items that were too small and make room for the giant tub of summer clothes of Kemper's that we saved for Hudson.  Since we had gotten Hudson's room squared away Saturday morning, we tackled Kemper's room Sunday afternoon.  His was much easier since we were basically only cleaning out.  I'm so thankful that Grandma Rita helped me with all of the little projects I wanted to tackle!  It feels great to have all of that done!

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandsons

We rounded out Father's Day and their visit with hamburgers and hotdogs (on the George Foreman thanks to a little snafu) and a trip for ice cream!  

They got an early start home this morning and were gone before any of the boys got up.  We're looking forward to seeing them when we head to Virginia later this month and are so glad they were able to come visit us!  It's always nice to have visitors from home!

A 15 month update on Hudson

Oh boy...does this boy have a personality!  It really is amazing how different 2 kids can be!  Hudson is night and day from how Kemper was (and still is!)...definitely not mellow and laid back.  He can be quite the little bully when he wants something or is frustrated.  When he gets told no or isn't allowed to do something, the fits he throws are epic! 

He has 11 teeth (3 molars) and likes to use them.  He hasn't bitten any of us hard but he tries when he's frustrated.  He has gnawed on his crib rails (and my intentions of making a teething guard failed...I'm not as crafty as I would like to be!) and will chew on any toy that he can get in his mouth.

We had his 15-month check up this past week and he was not as happy to see Ms. Lissa as he has been in the past.  I'm not sure if he was sleepy or if he could sense something not-so-fun was about to happen but he just wasn't playful with her like normal.  It's always fun to find out how much he's grown and this time, I was a bit shocked over his height!  We always knew that Kemper was tall (always 70+ percentile for height) but Hudson has always been more average for height.  We were thinking Kemper would be tall and thin while Hudson was shaping up to be a bit shorter.  Apparently over the last few months, Mr. Hudson decided to catch up with Kemper shooting from the 57th percentile at 12 months (30in) to the 91st percentile at 15 months (32.5in).  He is in the 72nd percentile for weight at 24lbs 4oz.  

He is still a great eater and a hearty eater.  He can usually put Kemper to shame at the dinner table.  Like his brother, he loves pancakes for breakfast but will also settle for yogurt, scrambled eggs or a cereal bar.  Any fruit is gobbled up in record time with strawberries, blueberries and cantaloupe being the favorites.  Tomatoes seem to be another new favorite (much to Kemper's dismay seeing as how he now has to share them) along with sweet potatoes.  He will eat just about anything you put in front of him as long as you hand him a fork and help him stab it onto the fork.  He LOVES his milk (whole) and will only drink water out of one of our Nalgene straw bottles.  

He is walking steadily and getting faster by the day.  When he is into some mischief he can move pretty fast.  He has been able to climb steps for a few months now but just in the last week he has figured out how to come down them on his bottom or backwards.  He seems to love this new "freedom" even if one of us is always standing by him while he's coming down.  He had gotten to where he would play downstairs while I cooked dinner without trying to sneak upstairs so I had relaxed a bit and stopped worrying about that until one day, I hear Kemper yelling "OH NO, HUDSON'S IN THE PLAYROOM!!!" when he was definitely supposed to be playing downstairs.  Needless to say, he was not happy with me when I brought him back downstairs and trapped him in his highchair while I finished cooking dinner. 

He started going to hourly care on post this month for a few hours here and there and is not a fan.  He seemed to do well the first day when I dropped him off but I don't think he knew what was going on.  When I walked in to pick him up, he just lost it and sobbed when I picked him up.  The second time, he didn't cry at drop off but cried again when I picked him up (and not because he was sad to leave).  The last 2 times have just been awful and I feel so bad leaving him when he's upset but I've had appointments that I couldn't take him to and needed to give Kemper some 1-on-1 attention.  I'm hoping he'll adjust quickly but I know that I won't be using it all that often so it may be a tough transition for him.  He will be attending a nursery school in the fall 2 mornings a week and I think that will be an easier adjustment since it will be more routine and predictable.  

He LOVES his brother.  Kemper can make him laugh like no other and if Kemper goes in with me to get him up in the morning, he will just break out this big grin for him!  If Kemper is laying on the playroom floor, Hudson will walk over and lay down with his head on Kemper's belly...the sweetness lasts for a few seconds until Hudson turns it into a wrestling match.  :)  Hudson loves to play in Kemper's room but it's not exactly Hudson friendly with all of the Legos.  Anytime I let him in there, he just laughs, claps and gets so excited!  Kemper, on the other hand, is very aware that it doesn't take much for Hudson to destroy what he's playing with and becomes very concerned even if I reassure him that I won't let Hudson wreck his stuff.  

Hudson is in the middle of transitioning from one nap to two.  Most days, if we're just at home with nothing to do, he will take 2 (10ish-11:30 and 2ish-4) but if we're out and about he can make it until 12 before melting down.  If he just takes one, it is usually 3 hours long.  He is going to be around 7 but sometimes not falling asleep until 7:30 and will typically sleep until 7am (waking once or twice for his paci) but has occasionally been known to sleep until 8:30 or later!  He had been able to turn the light switch off for a month or so but in the last week, he figured out how to turn it on as well.  He woke up at 6am one morning and turned his light and fan on and off for 30 minutes.  His crib now resides in the middle of the floor until we can figure out how to baby-proof the light switches.  He loves the Rainforest soother that is attached to his crib and falls asleep each night to the lights and music on that.  When he wakes up, he'll turn it on and will usually doze back off for a bit after listening to it.  The soother was Kemper's but he never used it as much as Hudson has!

Having both boys at home has not been as bad as I was thinking but we try to stay pretty busy.  We've gone to the pool, the splash parks, had play dates, played at the regular parks and just generally tried to get out of the house daily for a change of scenery.  The hardest part is what I was expecting - keeping Kemper quiet while Hudson naps.  Luckily we haven't had too many issues but I have to remind him quite often to quiet down.  When we get back from Virginia, we're going to join the YMCA and sign Kemper up for swim lessons.  Hopefully that will mean lots of pool time for us all!