5 Months!

On Sept. 15th, Hudson turned 5 months! I can't believe how old he is. He's going to be a big one-year old in no time! We kicked off 5 months with a trip to the Southeast Missouri District Fair in Cape Girardeau. He loved it! He never once fell asleep. He was just looking at everything and everyone the entire time. If he caught you looking at him, he would just wiggle and smile with excitement! It was too stinking cute. The only time he got upset was when we were at the Tater stand (where they basically peel two potatoes into thin curly twists and then fry it) - they had the music turned up really loud and it scared him for a second. Here's a pic of the potato thing... pretty good!

Best thing about the fair!

All smiles! The weather was perfect.

I've told him about my fear of roosters before, so I don't think he really enjoyed the rooster  aisle!

He's not normally this messy with baby food. He was misbehaving
for the babysitter and she snapped this pic. BUSTED! We've done peas, carrots,
green beans, and sweet potatoes. By far, his favorite is sweet potatoes!

Thanks for the shirt Emilee and Uncle Tanner!

Don't worry, it couldn't tip backwards and we were ready to catch him!
We don't call him a monkey for no reason! 

He's always trying to get my phone.

Goofball!

Snuggles with dad

Once again, being spoiled at daycare!

Getting brave

He loves napping on dad's pillow!

Me and my boy :)

27 Years Young!

On Monday, Aug. 26th, I turned 27 years old. As you may have seen on facebook, it was not a fun day! Here's why:

1. On Sunday, I made one of my pharmacy technicians (the pharmacy team lead) go to the doctor because I could tell something was wrong. She ended up being admitted to the ICU where she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She is doing great now, thankfully! But that meant I had to try to replace all of her shifts for the week on very short notice... So because of this, Monday was short-staffed.

2. Hudson woke up early - at 4:30am. He's never done that since he started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old!

3. I had to drop Maddie off at the vet's office that morning for knee surgery.

4. My staff pharmacist called in sick - she forgot it was my birthday!

5. The fire alarm kept going off at work because they were working on it. The alarm in the pharmacy is right above my head...

6. The printer kept jamming.

7. The A/C wasn't working so I was a sweaty mess.


Although most of the day was pretty awful, there were some good things too!

1. I received the "Happy Birthday" song via video and voicemail from my nieces and Aunt Roycelyn.

2. I received numerous happy birthday wishes/cards/gifts.

3. The scheduler replaced the evening shift with a float pharmacist so I could leave.

4. I got flowers at work from a couple different family members.

5. Thomas got me a german chocolate cake from my favorite bakery.

6. Thomas got carryout from my favorite restaurant.

7. A co-worker got me Starbucks.

8. And my pharmacy team made me keep smiling alllll day long! Don't know what I'd do without them!


Looks like the number of "good" things outweighed the "bad," so I guess it could have been worse! Either way, I'm glad it's over. :)

4 Months!

Hudson turned 4 months while we were in Jamaica! He rolls from his belly to his back and vice versa. He is constantly grabbing his feet and anything else he can reach. He started to throw little tantrums where he would arch his back and throw his head back. His 4-month shots weren't near as easy as his 2-month shots. He got a little fever and was crabby for about a week. That's when he did the back-arching trick! He wanted to sleep all day and he didn't really want to eat very much. He was back to normal in no time, thank goodness!

Getting tired of me taking pics...

Starting to "fake" cry! He's over-dramatic like his Dad...

And now he's getting really mad! Notice his face is turning red!

When we got back from vacation, we started leaving one arm out of his swaddle at night. He did just fine like that, so we left both arms out. Never had any problems and he still sleeps like a champ!

He loves to snuggle his blanket! 

We started rice cereal when he was about 4 1/2 months!

Being the loudest kid at daycare means you get to hang out with the director at the front desk
so the other babies can sleep! Who needs a nap when you sleep from 6:30pm to 6:00am anyways??
He is so spoiled!

Soooound asleep :) 

Staring contest with Grandma Shelly!

Avery is holding his hand so he doesn't grab her hair again!

He is still fascinated by Great Grandma Hazel. No matter who was holding him, he wanted to smile at her!

He loved the bright colors on her shirt too :)

Aunt Jodie was trying to clean the outside of his ears and it must have tickled!

Together these two are quite the pair!

He thinks he's big stuff. 

Hudson and Callie!! (This was taken just before they were both covered in drool and spit-up haha)

My two blue-eyed boys!

He loves his Meisenheimer Farms shirt!

Thomas couldn't wait to put this hat on him!

I call this his Bob Marley hat/wig :)

He wouldn't wake up for anything!

Jamaica, Mon!

Normally I have to request vacation 3 months in advance at work, but we received an email stating that there was some extra pharmacist coverage. This meant you could request vacation for anytime and it was first come, first serve! Well of course I jumped on that offer! As we talked about where we were going to go, all that kept coming out of my mouth was, "BEACH." Thomas was all about the boring stuff... New York, Maine, Niagara Falls, etc. (Nothing compares to the beach, right?!?!?) Then I finally told him to just book something and I would get to book the next vacation on my own (knowing that the next planned vacation would be longer). So the next night when I came home from work, he was booking a trip to JAMAICA! He found a groupon for a really nice place, and I was ecstatic. Of course, he didn't pay any attention to the fact that we only had time for a 4-day trip and he booked the 5-day trip. Oops! Luckily you have some time to cancel without being penalized, so I got it fixed and we were set. And oh man, I felt like a child before Christmas...

We stayed at The Jewel Dunn's River Beach Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios. And it was maaaaahhhvelous! It used to be a Sandals property, but they sold it. The only complaint I had was that the suites were a little small, but we weren't in the room much so it doesn't really matter! It was a much smaller resort than the others we've been to, but that's what made it so fun. You knew most of the guests because you talked to them everyday. If you forgot something in the room, it was literally a 2 minute walk from the ocean. You knew most of the staff and bartenders. Aaaaand, most importantly, they had PLENTY of bartenders at every bar! In Mexico, there was always 1 bartender to each bar... that's just dumb!

I may have been slightly terrified of the ocean because Shark Week had just ended...

Beach volleyball is a blast, but it requires WAY too much energy to play while on vacation!

The beach was perfect.

Of course Hudson had a blowout the first time I put him in this when we got back!
Luckily, my mom knows a thing or two about laundry... She made it look like new! 

Bonfire on the beach after the reggae dance contest (which was hilarious!)

This was my favorite place to get food. They had this massive oven to cook a bajillion pizzas at one time. 

I'd say I did pretty good with the sunscreen after day 1! Still glowing white!

I know nothing about Chess but Thomas enjoyed watching this match!

One of the swim-up bars

He was bringing me that purple drink... Not sure what it was but it must have been vodka.
I may have gone into a coma if I would have finished it!

Evening stroll on the beach!

My love :)

Emerald Tree Lounge

Sun is coming up... time for the beach!

I was a little worried about how the vacation would be since I'm breastfeeding, but there was really only one time that posed a problem. When we were in the airport in Jamaica on our way back home, we couldn't find a "family room" that I could use to pump. We didn't have much time either! Once we finally located one of these rooms, we discovered it had no outlet. That meant I needed batteries because the ones I had were about dead... Luckily, we had just enough time and we made the flight! "Pumping and dumping" was no fun because I hated to waste it, but I wasn't about to try and get through security with a cooler of breast milk!

While we were having a blast in paradise, Hudson was having a blast back home with family! He stayed with Mark & Shelly on Wednesday night, Trista & Joel on Thursday night and Friday night, and my family on Saturday night. And it sounds like he had plenty of visitors too! It was so cute to watch Thomas monitor facebook for pictures or messages anytime we walked through the lobby with free wi-fi. It was so fun to see pics and hear how he was doing! We sure did miss him!