Baby #2 Coming Soon!

We're so happy to announce that our family of 3 will soon be a family of 4!

It took us forever to decide how we were going to tell everyone this time around, but one of my best friends, Amanda Smith, sent me an idea and it was perfect! Mom and I took the pictures on Sunday before she headed back home to Carlinville, and I got the announcement put together right away. I think it turned out pretty cute. :) Thanks Amanda!!

We are 15 weeks along today, and I'm feeling pretty well! Everyone always says that each pregnancy can be so different, and that's the truth! The first trimester nausea was worse and lasted longer this time. I've had heartburn since the very beginning when I didn't get it till the very end of my pregnancy with Hudson. I had a strange 2 week period of carpal tunnel symptoms at the beginning (thank goodness that's disappeared for now), and I actually want orange juice in the mornings! I was a huge orange juice drinker before my first pregnancy, but I couldn't drink it at all when I was pregnant with Hudson! Of course I tell Thomas that all of these differences mean we're having a girl since he REALLY wants another boy!

At my appointment last week, the baby's heart rate was between 155-160 and everything looks good so far. We should find out the gender around the beginning of September!

Here are a few of the outtakes from our photo session:

Grandma Sharon to the Rescue!

Last week was rough for Hudson. He started running a high fever on Monday evening, and it just wouldn't go away! The pediatrician said they are seeing a lot of children with the same thing - high fevers with no real cold symptoms. Strep test was negative, so we did tylenol around the clock to keep his temp down as much as possible and pushed fluids. Daddy took Tuesday off and Hudson literally slept all but about 4 hours that day. I kept him on Wednesday since I had the day off. We sent him (and the tylenol) to daycare on Thursday, and he was Mr. Crabby Pants for them. :( Poor guy cuddled with one of the teachers for most of the day.

Thomas sent me this picture of Hudson on Monday night. He was acting goofy and out of it.

This was the next picture that came through… He fell asleep like this!
When I got home, he was still there and laying in a HUGE puddle of drool!

Here he is on Wednesday when I snuggled him all day. I couldn't even
eat my fish sandwich because he was so cranky!!

Not feeling well :(

Since both of us had to work on Saturday, Grandma Sharon was so kind to come spend the weekend with us and keep Hudson on Saturday!

She left Carlinville SUPER early Friday morning and arrived in KC around 10:30am! Hudson was starting to feel a little better by that point, and he was so happy to see her!

We finally got out of the house and ran to Lowe's!
Grandma and Hudson both enjoyed the cart. But let me tell
ya, she's one crazy driver! :-/

On Saturday, Grandma texted me the following message and picture:

"Hudson was cranky by the time tubby was done. I dressed him and laid him down on my bed to clean his ears and he never got up. I covered him up and he's asleep! Damn I'm good." :)

Tubby time must have been a blast because it wore him out!


Hudson and I weren't the only ones excited to see Grandma… Thomas gets so spoiled when she's here! She cleans up everything, does laundry, vacuums, and takes care of Hudson so Thomas can just watch his TV shows. At one point when we were talking about how she had vacuumed for us, Thomas mentioned that our bedroom hadn't been vacuumed since the day we moved in (2 months ago - gross). Mom piped up and said, "Oh I vacuumed it today and the last time I was here too!" Haha! I think she's cleaned this place more than either one of us have!

On Saturday night, Hudson had a poopy diaper and I said it was Thomas's turn to change him since he hadn't changed him yet all weekend! Of course he avoided it at all costs, and Grandma came to his rescue once again. So the next morning, I told him, "The first poopy diaper is YOURS!" I think Hudson must have heard the conversation because not 10 minutes later, we had one DISGUSTING dirty diaper on our hands! I mean, it smelled like a dead animal. Thomas attempted to open the diaper and that's as far as he got before the gagging started. Mom and I were dying laughing while he was yelling at me to help him! I told him he shouldn't have avoided the "normal" poopy diaper from the night before! Payback!!!

I eventually gave in and helped hold Hudson's arms and legs while he struggled to keep his breakfast down. Mom continued to laugh through the entire ordeal, and Hudson was just looking at all of us like we were crazy. :)


Sunday had come around way too fast and it was time for Grandma to head back home. We don't know what we'd do without her help! I like to ask her why she lives so far away from us… (-;

Closing on August 13th

We just got official word that our builder will be ready to close on 8/13! It's two weeks later than the original closing date they were shooting for, but I'd say that's pretty darn good! Now if only I could just snap my fingers and everything would just move itself into the house…

They just recently did most of the tile work. Here are some pics:

Master bathroom

Basement rec room and bar

Upstairs guest bathroom

Glass backsplash in the kitchen

We are hoping to stop by again soon and see what else has been done. I think they are working on installing all the lights now!

15 Months

Hudson turned 15 months old on July 15th! We just had his 15 month check-up today. He's healthy and growing!

Here are his 15 month stats:
Height: 32 inches (80th%)
Weight: 24.4 pounds (75th%)
Head circumference: (75th%)

He got 4 shots today so we'll see how he's feeling tomorrow. As soon as we laid him back and the nurse started cleaning his thighs with alcohol swabs, he knew what was happening. She was as quick as possible while trying to hold his legs down and give injections at the same time. He was back to his happy self in just a couple of seconds!

Swingin' at Grandpa Bill's!

His favorite book… Mickey Mouse!

Hmmmm… Probably not a good idea!

He's just making sure I see him misbehaving!

Napping with dad after his shots today

House is Getting Close

Well the house has been painted and all the cabinets are done. Flooring is up next!

Walkout basement

Basement bar - The bar part is supposed to be raised but somebody didn't do what the contract said. Whoops! So the countertop that had already been installed has now been removed so they can fix the error...

Kitchen

Kitchen

Entryway

Master bedroom

Hudson's bathroom

Master bathroom

Master bathroom

Master closet

Living room

We haven't heard anything different than our original closing date of July 31st, but I doubt it's going to be done by the end of the month!!

Wedding Time!

Zac and Danielle Meisenheimer had a beautiful wedding in Greenfield on Saturday, July 12th. It was the first wedding Hudson has attended, and he didn't do too bad! Brett and Amy Oxley and their little guy, Cooper, sat right in front of us so that helped distract Hudson a bit. Grandpa Bill, Uncle Tanner, and Whitney sat with us so Huddy climbed from one person to the next. He made some noise, but overall, I'd call it a success! Thankfully the ceremony was short and sweet or it may not have been so successful!

The groom cleaned up nicely, and Danielle was just gorgeous. Her dress was stunning! Everything was so pretty. :)

We headed toward Carrollton for the reception around 4:30 that afternoon, and Hudson fell asleep as soon as we left Greenfield. He kept sleeping till it was almost time to eat. I could only hold him for about 10 minutes before my arms started to go numb! He's not a little boy like he used to be! Daddy took over till we found something to lay him on.

Shortly after dinner, we let Hudson down to run around. He went to the edge of the reception hall just a few feet from us and stood there for about 5 minutes. We figured he was waiting for us to stop watching him then he would take off! Nope… he all of a sudden came right back over to us with a VERY stinky diaper! Apparently he just wanted to poop in privacy!

Thank goodness Grandpa Bill and Uncle Tanner chased him around all night because I was wearing heels and not about to be on my feet all night! He's pretty quick… I know he escaped outside once when someone left the door open just a tad too long! He did some running, dancing, and watching throughout the night. At 9:00 on the dot, Hudson was immediately ready for bed so we headed home. We had a good time but were also exhausted!

Congrats to the newlyweds!!

Celebrating the 4th!

Hudson and I had been practicing "BOOM!" all day on July 4th in anticipation of fireworks that night. He loves loud noises and being scared, so naturally, he loved the fireworks! We headed over to Liberty, MO to watch their fireworks show around 9pm. Hudson was ready for bed but he held out for the entire show!

I was trying to keep him awake on the drive there, so I kept taking pictures of him with my flash on. Poor guy couldn't handle the flash! haha

It was the perfect night to sit outside and enjoy the show!

Family Time

It felt like we hadn't been home in forever, so it was exciting to get home and spend some time with our family at the end of June. Hudson is growing like a weed, so I'm sure he seems bigger every time we make the trip!

Hanging out with Aunt Jackie, Avery, and Callie!

Papa Frank took Hudson for a ride on the ranger. And oooooh man, Hudson fell in love immediately. His expressions were hilarious. We stopped at the bridge once to get off and ride the beaver by the bridge. He wasn't too sure about that beaver… He just wanted back on the ranger! Grandpa and I were each holding onto Hudson's legs. He thought he was big stuff and kept pushing our hands off of him. :) And when we hopped off at the end of the ranger ride, Hudson just laughed as he watched Grandpa speed away!

"Mom, what is this thing??"

I think he would have fallen asleep soon!

When we were at Grandma Shelly and Grandpa Mark's house, Aunt Trista thought it was hilarious to dress Hudson up in a hat, bracelet, and sunglasses! Honestly though, Hudson thought it was fun too!!

Hudson also got to swim for the first time! He wasn't too impressed until we got him out of the floaty thing and swung him around in the water. I had him on the ladder at one point to let him sit on it and play in the water. Once he saw someone climb out of the pool using the ladder, he was ready to get out! He had found the escape route. :)

At Grandpa Bill's, Hudson got to play with a really fun car! Once he figures out how to pedal, I don't think he'll be allowed to use the car in the house!

The ball pit was a hit too, as usual. He gets so excited when he sees someone bringing the ball pit out!