He definitely didn’t want kisses and was letting us know…but he was also half laughing. That growl you hear in his voice? That’s what his “tantrums” are like (I know, not bad—I’m not complaining).
Category Archives: Tom
Early birthday presents!
We normally don’t buy each other birthday (or Christmas) presents—we just buy what we want throughout the year. But this year, I thought of the PERFECT gift(s) for Tom…and unfortunately, I kinda had to spoil it at almost the last minute to make sure he didn’t buy it himself! (He made a comment about “still needing to get” it and I just told him NOT to shop for anything the few weeks before his birthday. 😮
Tom wears my old (circa early 1990s) MSU jersey. Owen’s MSU jersey is too small (4T). I don’t have one (my old one doesn’t fit, which is why Tom wears it). MSU’s season opener is coming up soon. So I decided to get new jerseys for everyone (well, not for Katie—she has a onesie). I was going to get them all personalized, but not once I saw the price tag. 88| So, Tom just got one and the other two were from eBay. 🙂
I was going to wait until right before the game to give them to him (still before his birthday) but he had had a crappy day at work, so I decided it was time. And he LOVED them, of course…
When he saw that his was personalized, he says “How did you know my high school number was 72?!?” I said “I didn’t—I got your birth year!” (I should have kept my mouth shut to keep him really impressed—because truth be told, I never even THOUGHT about trying to find out what his number was.)
The best thing? Owen was even more excited than Tom was! He had to have his on right away, and then he made both of us put ours on, too. Then he and Tom had to play football in the living room (Owen is GREAT at recovering fumbles). And apparently his number is a quarterback number (or at least was from last season) so he thinks he’s a QB now. 🙂
Stay tuned for a family photo on game day.
Owen cuddle time!
Target practice almost worked
Tonight, Tom asked Owen if he wanted to try target practice in the potty, and Owen was immediately excited. So of course we BOTH got excited, since this was really the first interest he’s shown in trying to use the potty. So we threw in some Cheerios, Tom showed him how to do it, flushed, let Owen throw in his own Cheerios…and then he just stood there. Nothing. We left the Cheerios in there and let Owen go bottomless, telling him to tell us when he had to pee and we’d go in there.
Well, it didn’t work, but there was a tiny bit of progress. I was downstairs while Tom had the eagle eye on him, and apparently at one point, Owen reached down and grabbed himself, Tom asked if he had to pee, Owen said yes and they tried to get to the potty, but Owen peed (well, dribbled) in the bedroom. But at least he knew the feeling.
So it looks like one of these weekends, we’re going to just bite the bullet, leave him naked all day, and keep trying to get him into the bathroom.
Happy 11th Anniversary
Eleven years. Wow. It just kinda sneaks up on you every year (and even moreso this year since we’ve been a little busy with Katie).
We didn’t even try to get a sitter to do anything this year, though I’m sure our friends would have obliged. Instead, we made a family trip to Wilmington to go to Costco…and have our traditional Chinese meal (we did lunch instead of dinner, though).
Katie was a complete gem, sleeping the entire hour ride down, our entire hour in Costco, and about 75% of our lunch…then took a bottle and slept the entire way home. Of course, Owen was just as awesome, sitting in the cart with stuff piled all around him, not even noticing really because he was having fun with daddy’s phone. 🙂
We had a slight brush with fame at Costco…we saw Keith from Top Chef Texas fame (we’ve eaten at his restaurant, Catch, before). That’s as close to famous as I’m likely to get living here. And he said hi to me in passing, likely because I was staring at him. 🙂
Our lunch was really, really good. I picked a place off Yelp pretty much at random…just going by reviews and proximity to Costco…and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. Everything on the menu at Double Happiness was tempting, but I ended up with the Dry Wok Chicken and Tom got the Coconut Shrimp with Candied Walnut (and we got a Double Steamer dim sum basket). And surprisingly good Hot & Sour soup—as close to mine as we’ve ever had. We definitely want to go back there to try more of the menu!
All in all we had a really good day. How can we not when we have such a great little family?! 😀 (The only downside is that I forgot to take a picture of us to celebrate the day!)
Thank you to my awesome hubby…
If I haven’t mentioned it publicly before…I want to thank my awesome hubby for giving me the amazing opportunity to stay at home to raise our children. I know how extremely lucky I am and am super thankful each and every day I get to watch them grow up. :heart:
Daddy & Katie
Katie Pictures 2
This is how Owen reacts when Katie cries…
Our first family photo!
The awesome banner our friends had waiting for us when we got home!
“No take Katie home!”
So we were getting ready to leave the hospital. Owen hadn’t been thrilled with Katie (she’s loud when she cries!) but it wasn’t anything bad or worrisome.
Well, as it happened, he smacked his leg on the hard plastic side rails while he was getting off the bed so he was already whining a bit. And then Katie was crying because Tom was strapping her into the car seat…which was agitating Owen even more.
So as we’re walking out of the room, Owen starts saying stuff like “NO KATIE! No take Katie home! Leave Katie here!” and was actually trying to push the car seat back into the room.
😯
😥
And so the sibling love begins, we thought.
Thankfully by the time we got out to the car, he was okay.
Katie’s Birth Story
July 9 » 4:00pm
As directed, I called Labor & Delivery to see if I was still supposed to come in at 6 and the charge nurse wasn’t available so I was told they would call me back.
4:30pm
We assumed we were still on schedule and dropped Owen and Maggie off at our friend’s house, then headed to town for dinner.
5:07pm
I called Labor & Delivery back since no one had returned my call. They said they had a few people admitted and deliveries going on, so wanted me to call back around 6:45 for an update. Since we were already in town with nothing to do, we thought we’d try to go to a movie but out of eight theaters nothing was even on at 5:30 so we just headed home to wait, keeping our fingers crossed that it would still actually happen. (We REALLY wanted to have her on the 10th, to match the birthday of her namesake, my Grandma Katie.)
6:44pm
The process is still on hold. The charge nurse is now with a patient who’s delivering and they said they would call me back soon…but they still hope to get me in tonight. This is sooooo frustrating.
7:59pm
Just as I was about to give in and call them back (again) they called and said things had calmed down and we could come in if we still wanted!
8:25pm
Here we go! Eating a last-minute snack on the way in since I won’t be able to eat anything once I get there and deliver.
9:44pm
Waiting to be checked now to see which induction drug I get…If I’m dilated at all, it will be Pitocin. If I’m not dilated, it will be Cervidil. An IV line is started and I am hooked up to monitors for me and the baby. Tom and I just hang out, prepping for what we assume will be a quiet night resting/sleeping waiting for the drugs to work and then a morning labor and delivery.
10:15pm
The midwife came in to check and see if I was dilated at all…and holy shit that was painful. I honestly don’t remember having my cervix checked before but Tom said “Oh, you did. And you screamed the same way before, too.” I said it felt like she was in up to her elbows…and he said “That’s exactly what you said the last time, too!” :meh: I was 4cm so they decided to start the Pitocin.
11:00pm
The nurse came in to ask how I was doing and I said “Fine, nothing is going on” and she laughed and said I’ve been having contractions for awhile now! Hmmm, that’s news to me but the machines don’t lie!
July 10 » 12am-2:00am
The contractions started off pretty tame and I actually tried to sleep (they gave me Benedryl in the IV but it didn’t even touch me). I couldn’t have slept anyway as the blood pressure machine kept going off every 20-30 minutes and I could hear the fetal monitor beeping. I had to get up and pee a few times and that was a chore since you had to unplug the two fetal monitor cables, the blood pressure machine, and then drag the IV stand along. Interestingly, we got to listen to a woman give birth in the suite next door (through the wall) and she was NOT having a good time. Really screaming and yelling—VERY much in pain—and I thought “Wow, I wonder if that’s what I sounded like when I gave birth to Owen?” and then as it became apparent she didn’t have an epidural I just kept thinking “Silly silly lady, why wouldn’t you get an epidural?” If only I realized the foreshadowing…
2:00am
I’m guessing this is about when my water broke (there was no clock and I didn’t have my phone out). I assumed this would be like last time my water broke (where it didn’t really have any effect on the process) so waited 5-10 minutes before I even paged the nurse. She checked and said that there was meconium in it (which means Katie pooped already) which wasn’t a problem at all except that at birth they would have to take Katie right away to make sure she was okay instead of being able to put her directly on me.
3:00am-ish
Still no idea what the actual time was, so I’m guessing… The contractions had started getting a little too painful—moreso than I remember them being with Owen when I got the epidural—so I paged the nurse and said it was time, then made one last trip to the bathroom. The anesthesiologist seemed to take his sweet time getting there and when he finally did arrive, it appeared he didn’t have ANY of the paperwork I had already filled out so he was going over every little thing and asking me a ton of questions and I was only half paying attention because I was having majorly painful contractions every few minutes and was just thinking GET TO THE EPIDURAL ALREADY. By the time he brought me the sheet to sign (of course, in the middle of a contraction) I was barely coherent and my signature was pretty illegible.
3:25am
Needless to say I never got my epidural. >:XX By the time he was done messing around, it really felt like I needed to start pushing—like it was going to happen with or without my consent—so the nurses and midwife told me to go ahead because it was too late for the epidural anyway. I seriously thought the process might kill me…the pain was SO much worse than what I experienced with Owen. I know I said “I can’t do this” at least 20 times and I know there was a lot of swearing involved overall…and I’m pretty sure I told them to just do a C-section and be done with it because otherwise this was going to kill me. And I pushed.
3:29am
Four minutes later (according to the paperwork I got at discharge) after only 2-3 pushes (according to my memory), she shot right out. Like literally SHOT right out—I could feel it clear as day and Tom said the midwife actually had to catch her. And it was over. JUST. LIKE. THAT. In four minutes. Of course they still had to deliver the placenta (which I’m guessing was the 12 minutes listed on the paperwork) which wasn’t comfortable but it was certainly easier and less painful than the birth. I was pretty incoherent as to what was going on around me—I was just glad it was over and completely stunned that I did it without drugs. I do remember telling Tom to at least go get a picture of her!
4:06am
Her stats and first official photo were posted on Facebook:
Katie Jean Hudson
Born July 10th 0329
8 lbs 1.4 oz
20.5″
4:10am
I did need a few stitches, but had asked the midwife if I could have some time to rest before we did that part and she said that would be fine. So I had some time with Katie.
4:45am
The midwife came in and shot me up with a bunch of lidocaine (at my request, as I had warned them I felt everything the last time I got stitched up). And it still wasn’t enough as I felt each stitch she put in. 😮 :'( But then, finally, it was over.
5:40am
Tom was snoring away in the chair/bed next to me and I wanted to sleep but was wide awake and just watching Katie in the bassinet next to me. All of the recovery rooms were currently occupied (they apparently had six births that night!) so we were just waiting out our time.
Katie Heart Kiss
We tried to get the same cool picture of my Katie belly as we did with my Owen belly…but without a photographer! They didn’t come out quite as good, but at least we have the memory. 🙂
The Bargainer
Owen not wanting to take a nap: Can I have a story?
Tom: We’ll see.
Owen: But I had a nice haircut!
Tom: You’re right…you get a story!
Introducing Major Hudson!
Waiting in the Colonel’s office
Ceremony
Pinning
Tom had his best friend (and fellow Major) Tom pin one side and I did the other. The colonel lifted Owen up so he could see as well!
The happy group
Best friends, Major Tom and Major Tom!
We’re a good team!
Tom and I make a good team. He came to me with bad news—he couldn’t find the power cable for the baby swing. I knew right where it was in the mess of our garage. Later I went to him with bad news—I couldn’t find the charging cable for the breast pump. He knew right where it was in the storage closet. Yay!
#awesomeparenting
Tom’s phone just dinged with a message and Owen took it to him. No training involved whatsoever.
Daddy loves giving Owen grandpa pants!
Date night!
Our friends offered to watch Owen so we could have one last date night before Katie arrived… But, technically it’s a date afternoon since we like to be home by his bedtime. 🙂 So it was dinner at 4:30 and a movie at 5:30! Hey, it works for us!
Promotion! Yay! New uniforms? Yuck!
Project Nursery
What started as Project Nursery turned into Project Move Owen to What Was Going to Be the Nursery Because We Didn’t Have Room to Store the Queen Size Bed and Then Turn Owen’s Room Into the Nursery.
Phew, I know. 😀
Project Nursery, Part 1
Yeah, so we don’t have room to store the Queen bed (so would have to sell it), so we thought Owen could use it…but it’s just too big for his current room (the nursery is a good 3′ wider) which means he’d have to switch rooms. I didn’t want to uproot him at all with the whole baby thing coming…but it seemed like the best plan as I think we have room to store the Full bed (that Owen currently uses).
But, of course, the decision wasn’t THAT simple. Because a room switch would mean he loses all the decals he currently has (alphabet and Cars, though the Cars ones are big enough they might be able to make the move). I had JUST bought a second waterproof mattress pad. We weren’t sure what color we were going to paint, which would have an effect on bedding we already had or needed to buy. We would need new Queen sheets (we only have one summer and one winter set). Again, depending on the color(s), we might need a new dust ruffle and/or curtains (which I had just bought the curtains like six months ago). All little things, but they add up.
So we decided to ask him if he wanted to switch rooms—and of course he said YEP. (That’s it, YEP.) So he seemed to like the idea of a new room, but I’m guessing he doesn’t really FULLY understand. He also picked green over tan paint and seemed excited about his bigger bed (he went to grab cars to play with in there immediately).
So while it was kind of exciting, I honestly was not looking forward to it, as it was going to be enough work just getting one room ready and now we had two rooms to do (oh, who am I kidding, Tom now had two rooms to do as I can’t really do much). So I decided to make it more fun for me and do a full-fledged online search for the bedding I really wanted for Owen’s room…basically a multi-colored plaid…or madras as it turns out. So the stuff I love? Of course it’s at >:XX Pottery Barn Kids: $159 for either a quilt or a duvet cover. Yuck.
Tom was painting while I was shopping…
So I kept my fingers crossed that the bedding Owen was currently using would look okay with the new paint. And, of course, it didn’t—the two different shades of sage completely clashed. I know he won’t care…but but I do. Now before you think I’m nuts, let me remind you that I didn’t care one bit what his nursery looked like (it was never matchy matchy—I just tossed up some monkey decals and called it a day). And then when we moved back here, the room was a medium yellow, which went just fine with the sage curtains/comforter/bedskirt stuff we already had.
So, knowing how I am, I know that the clashing colors would drive me insane every single day. I had a quilt I could put on in the meantime, but it’s a girly flowery pink/tan/sage thing that I know I wouldn’t want on for good so why not just get what I want NOW? Right? 🙂 Besides, other than two sets of sheets, we hadn’t really spent any money on bedding for him…so I felt okay buying something specifically for him… Hence my online search.
But since I couldn’t get it out of my head, we headed out to Ross and Marshall’s. We also went to Bed Bath & Beyond (as it was right next door to Ross)…and found what I wanted. Not quite as expensive as the Pottery Barn Kids stuff (though still more than I would have preferred to pay) but pretty much exactly what I wanted—and of course I could use a 20% coupon! While I was checking out, Tom said “HOW MUCH?!” and I said “Not as much as what I wanted from Pottery Barn Kids!” and he knew well enough not to argue with a hormonal pregnant woman. 🙂
In the end, it all worked out. We were able to (re)use the white dust ruffle and the tan blackout curtains. I already had a waterproof mattress pad cover. The comforter is reversible and BOTH sides match so we can change it up a bit. I just need to buy a set or two of sheets…
And you can see how comfortable he is in his new room—this was about three seconds after we told him to come check it out:
Project Nursery Part 2 starts tomorrow with the dismantling of Owen’s old Full bed, the building of the crib, and the switching of all the clothes and closet stuff…
BONUS VIDEO:
“It’s a super celebration happening!”
Tom was just putting Owen to bed and out of nowhere Owen claps his hands and says “It’s a super celebration happening!”
Clear as day.
No, we have no idea where he heard that.
He just kills me.
Sleeping in the sleeping bag!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1sU8YwsDXA
He really loves this thing! (And you can hear one of his new favorite words—yep!)
Sleeping bag!
Someone likes playing in daddy’s sleeping bag. 🙂
Hand in hand.
Awwwww. :heart:
Watching my boys watch TV
Owen got a pool!
Well, I guess technically we all got a pool… 😉
After some thought, I decided I’d rather spend the money on a smallish above-ground pool (even if it only lasts for a season) instead of $400 for the three-month Country Club pool pass. (If you remember, the community pool is close, but the hours and dates stunk, the kiddie pool wasn’t very good, and it’s quite expensive.)
This way, I don’t have to convince Owen he wants to go during the limited hours they’re open (and be upset that we’re wasting money when he refuses to go), I don’t have to haul everything down there (toys, diapers, snacks, sunscreen, water, towels, etc.), we can easily work around his nap schedule, and when Katie arrives we can be outside when she’s napping and I don’t have to drag her along. Oh, and Tom and I can use it when Owen is napping or after bedtime.
So, we did a tiny bit of research (I asked for recommendations on Facebook and read Amazon reviews) and we ended up at Walmart picking up a 12′ x 30″ pool. It sat in the house for a day, during which time Owen was very excited and kept asking daddy to build his pool. 🙂
It took Tom quite a bit of work to get it set up (it has to be on very flat ground, and nothing in our yard is flat) but once it was up and filled and tested, we were good to go. Except then Owen refused to go in. |-| And once Tom physically grabbed him and lifted him in, Owen clung to him like a spider monkey.
It took a good five minutes before Tom got Owen’s feet in the water, then deeper, then setting his feet on the bottom…and then Owen LOVED it.
Then daddy had to get out to start grilling dinner, so it was mama’s turn with Owen.
I think if we wouldn’t have had to eat dinner, he would have stayed in all night. 🙂
Wilmington Children’s Museum
We had been wanting to take Owen to the children’s museum, so Tom took today off and we headed over early. Once we actually found it (the address in Yelp was wrong, plus it’s in a quiet residential neighborhood with bad signage) it was pretty good.
Owen got to plant some basil with daddy:
He liked the circus mirrors:
And this mirror—“Look at all the Owens!”
Playing grocery store (he likes the buttons):
Here he got to be on TV with daddy via a green screen:
We had fun, but it’s not somewhere we’ll be rushing back to.
Daddy splashing Owen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0-2dPme-nc
Tom thought he’d surprise Owen by splashing him… Little did he know he’d LOVE it and want more. And more.
(Here’s the HD link for the same video.)
School screenings findings meeting
Long story short, the school didn’t really seem to think Owen was in dire need of any special education—which, yes, is a good thing—but they did notice some areas in which he was on the lower end of normal (some language and social stuff)…but still normal (and said he was actually quite advanced on a lot of language stuff).
That said, we were able to request a more formal language evaluation (since that’s what we’re most concerned with) and classroom observation (his speech issues we’re concerned with might be better observed—or negated—by seeing him interact with kids for a longer time period)…so we are waiting to schedule those. Best case scenario, we are hoping that we can get him into a social situation (preschool) with other kids which will improve certain aspects of his language skills because he will learn from the other kids and also have to use his language to communicate with them (instead of with us who already understand him pretty well).
As a sidenote, these findings have NO effect on our ability to get the ABA (applied behavioral analysis) Therapy benefits through the military, so even if we don’t qualify for any special education programs through the school district, we will still get the one-on-one therapy.
Volcano Take 2 & Owen’s first s’more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipn1Pmmqlw
Watching the volcano.
Attempting to roast a marshmallow. He looks close, but he was actually about two feet too far away. We kept trying to move his chair closer, but he kept dragging it back. I guess all our warnings of “FIRE! HOT! DANGEROUS! STAY BACK!” worked a little too well. 🙂
Investigating the still-cold marshmallow.
Where the marshmallow actually spent most of its time…
Daddy to the rescue!
When it finally came time to eat it, he was more interested in watching himself eat it than actually eating it.
Volcano, Take 1
Well, we were going to have a “volcano” (fire) tonight with s’mores (Owen keeps asking about marshmallows)…until Owen was eating a marshmallow and didn’t quite chew it fully before swallowing…so he half choked and ended up barfing all over Tom. So that was the end of the volcano (good thing Tom hadn’t started the fire yet) for the night.