Fun at the park

We took advantage of the nice weather at the end of this week. We went on a walk to the park in our neighborhood on Thursday and Hudson got to experience his first trip in the swing. He loved it! I wish I would have had my flip camera because he just sat in the swing cracking up! We met some friends at another park on Friday and had a picnic lunch. Dawson loves going to this park. We usually always feed the ducks and make our way to two different playgrounds.

Throwing mulch is so fun!

Taylor and Dawson feeding the ducks. I love how he's staring here.

Hudson rode around in the Bjorn for the majority of the time we were at the park. He loved checking everything out. The Bjorn is one of my favorite baby gear items!

Dawson and Charlie enjoying their lunch together. Poor Charlie has a black eye due to a run in with a pole a the science museum.

Sweet Hudson

Dawson and Charlie climbing on the playground.

My parents came over on Saturday and spent some time with us. We went out to eat for lunch, made a trip to our favorite new cupcake place, and then went on a walk to the neighborhood park.

I can hear my mother now....."Why did you put that picture up on your blog?" I love this picture because it shows exactly what it's like to take a picture of grandparents with the grandkids! Priceless! ;)

It's a lot easier to get a good picture of just two of them.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time there were two sweet little brothers who played together on the floor. The littlest brother loved his big brother playing with him. He thought that tummy time was so much more fun with big brother there with him. Then the big brother started getting protective over HIS blanket and didn't want the little brother touching it. The big brother kept trying to push baby brother's hand off of it. Big brother was warned a couple of times and finally had to go sit in time out for pushing.

The big brother wasn't very happy about his trip to time out! After a little time, he finally gave in and decided it was okay for baby brother to touch his blanket....just a little bit!!

(notice baby brother's hand)

The End.

The next American Idol?

Dawson has just recently started singing songs either with us or to us. It's kinda hard to understand the words as he tries to sing to a melody but it is sweet. The first song is a little prayer that we have started singing before bedtime. We usually repeat each line twice however I'm impressed that he sang through it by himself once.

Here are the words to it b/c it's hard to understand:

"God our father, God Our Father, We thank you, We thank you. For our many blessings, For our many blessings, Amen. Amen."

He started singing to me today and I realized that he was singing "Jesus Loves Me." He only knows the first two lines but it was the first time that I have heard him sing that song. The last song on the video is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." He got a little happy on the "rows" this time! I'm not so sure that we have the next American Idol but we are proud! ;)

Two other exciting things at our house this week:

1. Hudson slept in his room ALL NIGHT last night! Last night was the fourth attempt at this. He made it part of the night the first 2 tries but kept by about the 4th run up the stairs in the middle of the night for a binky replacement, he moved back to the pack n' play in our room! He then caught the cold and was congested so we just kept him in our room. We tried earlier this week and failed before I even got in bed. Last night was great. Cross your fingers that tonight is the same.

2. Dawson wore big boy underwear to school yesterday and used the bathroom for his teachers. I think he's been holding it all day at school for the past few weeks. I talked to his teacher about it and let her know I was concerned with him holding it. He was bribed with "Gordon" (a train from Thomas the Train). I'm all about bribes when needed.

Chair upgrade

I decided that it was time for a chair upgrade this weekend. Santa brought Dawson the "My first anytime chair" on his first Christmas. He has used that chair so much. They are not exactly cheap chairs but worth ever penny. Dawson was getting a little big for his so we decided to get him a new big boy chair and get a new cover for the other one so Hudson could have it. We made our trip to Pottery Barn Kids (at the mall) and I ran in to get everything while everyone else waited in the car. I got home and realized that the guy gave me the wrong color chair cover for Hudson's chair. Okay...I can deal with that. I then started putting Dawson's new chair together and could not get it to work. The man working messed up yet again and gave me a bean bag cover! Fantastic! I had to make a trip back to the mall! I hate the mall. Hate! It's germy. It's crowded. If I have the kids then I have to wait on elevators because someone perfectly capable of taking the escalator wants to take a joy ride on the elevator. Shopping with a stroller in the mall really sucks, especially a double stroller. So you get the point....I hate the mall and wasn't happy about going back to that dumb place where people were fighting over parking spots/parking on the grass. (Not kidding....this girl screamed and JUMPED out of her car, ran to my parking spot as I backed out and stood there so the car she was in could REVERSE to get my spot!) You would have thought it was Christmas Eve or somthing. Okay....enough mall talk. The precious little boys finally got their chairs. It was worth it. They look precious and love their seats. ;) That little outing was our only adventure for the weekend. Geoff is fighting off a cold, Hudson still has a cold, and Dawson had a polka dot looking rash. I'm thinking that it is from his antibiotic that he was on for his double ear infection. His pediatrician changed his medicine and the polka dots are now gone. I spent today cleaning and spraying Lysol all over this house. I'm so ready for the sickness stuff to go away and for summer to get here.

A Dawson update

We usually always get out during the morning to run errands, go to the gym, play dates, gymnastics, etc. We have stayed in more the past two weeks due to cold weather and/or sickness. We have been getting creative with things to keep us busy and entertained. I decided to try finger painting with Dawson again. We tried this one time last year but he wanted nothing to do with it! He decided that he now likes it and doesn't mind getting dirty. Looks like I need to stock up on some more painting supplies.

I've also realized that I've added the monthly updates for Hudson and all of the things he's doing but haven't updated on Dawson in a while. Here is the long overdue update.

-Dawson has really started talking a lot more in the past month or two. He talks non-stop! As soon as Geoff got home yesterday he just started telling him everything that he did during the day. "I pee peed and pooped in potty." "I do somersault." "I painted." "I play with boats in bath." "I draw bug".........the list goes on! He's now to the point where we can have a conversation with him.

-Dawson loves his friends and talks about them constantly! I can really tell when he's ready to see some friends and is tired of hanging out with me.

-He is a wonderful big brother! He loves to help Hudson play with toys. Every morning he looks at Hudson and says, "Good morning, Hudson." He's constantly telling him that he loves him and giving him kisses.

-Dawson can count from 1-11, knows his colors, shapes and can tell you the name/color of every Thomas the train character and the name of every kind of construction truck.

-He loves to read books. We read every night before bedtime and also books throughout the day. He brings me a book frequently and says, "read it, mommy."

-He loves going to school and church. Both were two places that he wasn't fond of at one point in time.

-He has recently started singing songs to us. I've always sang songs to him but now he's singing them with me or to me. Precious!

-Dawson is hilarious! He's always doing and saying something that cracks us up. He's the sweetest little boy and he just melts my heart!

Playtime pics

Gymnastics fun

Dawson and Charlie had a great time at gymnastics again today. The other little girl in their class wasn't there today. They had their own private lesson. I think that the gymnastics coach certainly earned her money today! They did a pretty good job listening, with just a few little forgetful moments.

Hudson is feeling a little better today. He doesn't have a fever anymore but is still really snotty and has a cough. Geoff also made the discovery last night that his head (cradle cap) is really itching him and it REALLY ticks him off! He's been itching it. I video taped him just scratching his poor little head tonight. He has some cradle cap and some excema. We have some new stuff to try out for both so hopefully that helps him soon.

I also keep forgetting to mention this in my posts but Dawson is now potty trained! He has been for a while now, I just keep forgetting to post about it. He's doing great and we are so proud of him. It is nice to not have to change two sets of diapers now. He still wears a pull up at night time but usually wakes up dry. Hopefully we will be pull up free sometime soon!

Look a likes/Cooties part 3

Can you guys which one is Dawson and which one in Hudson?

Hudson is on the left, Dawson is on the right. They are almost the exact same age in these pics. It's funny to see how much they look a like at this age. I put this same picture on Facebook and it was fun to see the guesses that people made. Now for cooties part 3: Hudson is sick now! The poor little guy has a fever and is so congested. I took him to an urgent care place today to make sure his ears are okay. His ears look good and the flu test was negative. They did not test for RSV at that place. If he still has a fever tomorrow morning, we are supposed to take him in to his pediatrician. Say a prayer that his fever is gone and the little guy is feeling better. It breaks my heart to see him feeling rough! Just for the record, I was bragging to Geoff last week how Hudson and I haven't been sick at all this fall/winter. I'm eating my own words now!

Cooties part 2

I am still snotting, coughing, sneezing, blowing, hacking......it's not fun. I wanted these antibiotics to work miracles and it's not happening. We haven't done much at all this week because of either the cold weather (Monday) and then feeling like crap (Tuesday-Friday). Hudson must have felt left out in the mix of health issues. The little guy had not pooped since Sunday. I decided to call the pediatrician and see what they suggested. Sometimes I feel like I need to be on a first name basis with them. Anyway, they told me to give him 2 oz. of pear juice a few times until he pooped. If he didn't, they needed to see him today. He had a diaper explosion yesterday evening.....15 minutes before Geoff came home. ALWAYS works out that way! I never thought I'd be so happy to clean up a mess from an exploding diaper. Now fast forward a few hours..... I was co-hosting a "sprinkle" for a friend last night. We were going for dinner and pedicures. I felt like crap but made myself go for pedicures. When I walked through the door, I found Geoff standing in the kitchen. He was cleaning his cell phone and wearing nothing but his boxers. Hudson had projectile puked all over the place! Geoff, himself, Geoff's phone, the couch, carpet, etc. I'm guessing that the pear juice didn't mesh too well with his stomach. That's my only guess as to why he puked so much. Dawson decided to fight sleep last night, which is totally uncommon for him. We couldn't ever figure out what his deal was. Finally by 9:30, I just went and turned his lights on and told him to get up a play. He did just that. I walked in his room at 10:30 to find him reading his books on the floor. He still wasn't ready to go to bed then but gave in. So as you can see, it was a fabulous night at our house! As I just wrote that last sarcastic sentence, I thought of another funny Dawson story. I know that I say the words "terrific" and "fantastic" a lot and usually in a sarcastic way. Here is a conversation between Dawson and I today: Dawson: "I wiped it." Me: "You wiped what?" Dawson: "I wiped a booger on mommy's car. Fantastic booger. Fantastic booger." Me: "Yep, that sure is a fantastic booger!"

Cooties

We have cooties at our house right now. Dawson and I both made a trip to the doctor today. I noticed the other day that Dawson's eye looked a little crusty but not really like pink eye. The next day he had green snot coming out of his eyes! Gross! I decided to go ahead and call his doctor to get their opinion if he needed to be seen. The nurse quickly told me "yes, that is a sign of an ear infection." We made a trip today to the doctor and he has a double ear infection! I made my trip to the doctor today to get antibiotics for a sinus infection. I get at least 2 of these stupid things every year!

iPhone pics from this week:

Watching Thomas the Train with his daddy (and laying like daddy).

Who said that the Bumbo seat is for babies? Hudson has became a big fan of this. He's at a difficult stage right now. He wants to sit straight up. He doesn't want to lean back at all. When he's in the "I have to sit mood" we basically have to rotate him between the bumbo, jumperoo, and holding him or letting him sit on our lap. Whenever he wants to change, he starts arching his back and waving his arms around. I'll end this with another funny Dawson story. Geoff and I have noticed several times over the past week or so that some of Hudson's toys have been placed in Dawson's time out spot. Dawson would tell us that the toy had to go to time out but never said why. I finally figured out what on earth these toys were doing to make them have to go sit in time out. If Hudson cries loud and Dawson doesn't like it, he takes one of his toys and puts it in time out! The loving big brother is already punishing the little one!

Gymnastics

Dawson started his first gymnastics class today. We enrolled him in this to burn some energy and thought he would have fun doing it. We have no plans for him to do this for a long period of time! I keep reminding Geoff of this! Regardless, Dawson had a lot of fun! There are only 3 kids in his class and one is his best bud, Charlie. We were running late (as usual) so I didn't have my good camera with me today. I tooks these videos today and will take pics next week.

First cereal

Hudson had his first taste of rice cereal last night. He seemed to like it. We will keep this up for a little bit and then try veggies.

Now a random story for the day:

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but Dawson is afraid of ketchup bottles. Seriously! He used to totally freak out when we would get it out b/c he hates the sound it makes when we squirt it out. Well he's been better the last couple of months. The fear is now back! We were at Louie's tonight for dinner and Geoff grabbed the ketchup bottle. Dawson jumped out of his chair, ran to the corner of the restaurant, got in a little ball and started screaming and crying! Everyone around us turned around to see what on earth was going on. Geoff picked him up and brought him back to the table and he was fine, as long as he didn't see anyone touching the ketchup bottle. ;) I sat there laughing. I know, terrible mother!

The Pre-cereal video

I mentioned in the previous post that we would try rice cereal soon. Well we decided to try it tonight. I'll post that video later but had to post the "pre-cereal video" tonight. We had the highchair out and Hudson sat in it while we ate. We finished eating and I gave Geoff the video camera to video Hudson's first big meal. He just started video taping the boys while I walked into the living room to get the regular camera. Make sure your speakers are turned up to hear everything. This is what happened:

I love Geoff's reaction! I'm so glad I married someone who can make me laugh as much as he does! For the record...it was a blowout! ;)

Hudson at 4 months

Sweet Hudson had his four month appointment today. He is very average. Hudson: 14lbs. 13oz. (49th percentile), 25 inches (55th pecentile) Dawson (at 4 months): 16lbs. 12oz. (75th percentile), 25 inches. We were given the go ahead to start rice cereal and start adding in veggies, then fruit later on. It's funny how we were so excited to start that stuff with Dawson and I'm in no big hurry to start Hudson. I did buy some rice cereal so we will try it this week. Hopefully he does better with a spoon than he does a bottle. He's still not very good at taking a bottle. He takes an ounce or two and then gets mad. I have made the decision that Dr. Brown's and Tommee Tippee should combine (but come up with a solution for less parts that Dr.Brown's). I think he likes that vent flow system but he tried to shove the entire nipple in his mouth and that didn't go over so well. He will get there! Right? He better! Here's what Hudson is up to these days: -You go to sleep around 9:00 but wake up for a "dream feed" around 11:00. -You sleep until about 6:00 every morning but always go back to sleep after eating. You get up around 8:30. -You take a morning nap around 10:00 and an afternoon nap around 2:00. -You are still sleeping in the pack and play in our room but that will change very soon! -You like the jumperoo and love this little ball rattle. -You love watching Dawson and smile everytime he talks to you. -You haven't rolled over yet but look like your thinking about it. -You LOVE your binky!

Dawson at 4 months

Here is a video I took of Hudson the other day.