I Love You More

A couple of weeks ago we went to Grand Lake for my mom's birthday. We left on a Thursday and came home Sunday. It was absolutely perfect. Being back at the lake made me miss our lake house even more but also made me appreciate all the memories I have. This was Hudson's first trip to the lake and he LOVED the boat once we took his life jacket off! lol
So unfortunately we only took him out that one time since he refused to be content with the life jacket on. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and spending wonderful time with my precious family. On Saturday afternoon Hudson had a hardcore meltdown. Now we all thought it must just be from being in a new place, less sleep and the fact that he was teething. This was a different cry though. It was the blood curling eardrum bursting kind of cry. In fact while I was holding him and singing to him to try to calm him down I even started crying because we had no idea what was wrong. After taking him for a walk outside he finally relaxed and did pretty good the rest of the night. On Sunday we headed home and he slept the entire way home without waking up which is totally unlike him. He is not one of the babies that goes to sleep as soon as he gets in the car. Then Monday he did pretty good with only a couple times of crying which I attributed to teething. Tuesday rolled around and he had another major meltdown that afternoon and he was extremely congested all of a sudden. With it being late in the afternoon I decided to wait it out and see how he did.
That night we were literally up all night long cause he kept waking up just crying. I called the doctor first thing Wednesday morning and sure enough he had an ear infection in BOTH his little ears. Now getting anything done at all with a sick baby is nearly impossible. So we pretty much laid around the rest of last week and cuddled. :) What precious moments! While the crying almost sent me to my grave early the sweet little moments were unforgettable. Being able to stop and simply spend the week with my baby without many distractions was much needed.


I was standing in the kitchen tonight making some food for tomorrow and my mind kept going to my sweet little man. He consumes my thoughts most of the time now :) Not only was he coming to my mind but also the song by Matthew West called More. The chorus is "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine you are mine and you shine for me too. I love you yesterday and today and tomorrow I'll say it again and again I love you more." What a wonderful song showing how our Father loves us. Having a child gives you a whole new meaning of love. I never would have thought it was possible to love someone with all that you are before you ever even meet them. From the moment you know you are going to be a parent your life will never be the same. The love you begin to feel can only be described as sent from above. I do love Hudson more than most things. Other than the love I have for my heavenly Father, the love I have for Hudson and Bryan surpasses everything else.

Hudson is in such a wonderful stage and I simply wish time would stand still for just alittle while. He is to the point where he no longer wants to lay on his pallet on the floor and play with his toys. He things he must be sitting up or standing the entire time he is awake. Now this is much more challenging for me because now he wants my attention alot more. Thank heavens for his Jumperoo to help me entertain him while I get a few things done.

Some of my favorite things he is doing right now that I LOVE are...
*The way he smiles when he wakes up and sees me
*How he stands up and holds on to the couch and anything else without any help
*How he talks and squeals all day
*The way he looks at me like nothing else in the world matters more to him
*The way he reaches for us to pick him up
*His hugs and sweet slobbery kisses
*How he starts laughing every time I ask him if he went poopy
The list could go on and on and on :) instead I'll leave you with a precious picture I took yesterday. Such a sweet smile.

Mommy's New Toy

At Hudson's 4 month appointment his pediatrician told me we could start on solids. Although at the time I didn't feel like he was quite ready yet. Well in 2 weeks he was eating 32-35oz of formula a day and I knew it was time to start with some real food. We started with rice cereal. He refused. I tried to mix it with breastmilk and formula and he wouldn't have it. Thankfully my pediatrician said he could have the rice mixed with half apple juice/half water. He seemed to like it alot better. However he started spitting up ALL the time and he never spit up before. Going on my mommy instinct I decided to stop the rice and start veggies. I started him on sweet potatoes and he HATED them with a passion.

After a few tries with the sweet potatoes I knew we might have a problem cause he would not eat them at all. So I made the decision that from then on I would make all of his food homemade. Bryan and I went to William Sonoma and bought the Beaba Babycook! I'M OFFICIALLY IN LOVE WITH IT!!!! You definitely know your a mom when you get REALLY excited about your new baby food maker! :) The first foods a baby should eat are grains (rice, oatmeal, barley), sweet potatoes, acorn or butternut squash, avocado, apples, or bananas. Our first attempt would be sweet potatoes.

HE LOVES THEM!!!!!

So yesterday I spent the afternoon making baby food!!! We started on our second food this morning...Acorn Squash! He loves those too! And they are pretty delicious I must say!

Within a couple of days we are going to try some oatmeal and see if that sits better with his stomach than the rice did.

Needless to say I'm one excited mommy about my new toy! :)

This is the precious face I got to look down at while I wrote this! Oh how I love my little man!!!!

Birthdays, Belly Laughs & Blessings

This last weekend was my 24th birthday and man I feel old. :) I remember when I was a kid thinking people in their 20's were sooooo old! Little did I know I would get there in such a short time and feel old! As I reflected on the last year soooooo much has changed in my life. Last year I was only 2 months pregnant on my birthday and still trying to grasp the fact that my next birthday I would be a mom. I still think about being a mom and can't really believe it. My life has a whole new meaning now and reaching another birthday isn't about me anymore. I was praying on my birthday that I would make it another year so I could see all the wonderful things Hudson learns each day. As a child your birthday is all about you and your gifts. Now I am so incredibly thankful for each year to spend with my precious husband and little man. (The gifts are just an added bonus!) :) Friday night we went out to dinner with some of my favorite people Jake, Lauren, Mindy, Jeff, & Maicee. We had a blast as usual and I am sooooo thankful for my sweet friends. Saturday morning I got to sleep in. (If you call sleeping in until 8:30 really sleeping in, thank you natural alarm clock!) I haven't gotten to sleep in for many months, not that I have complained, but it was sure nice. Then my precious husband made me eggs, bacon and biscuits. Bryan could hardly contain himself so I opened part of my presents that morning. He got me a wonderful Hobo wallet! I absolutely love it! The three of us had a nice relaxing morning together and then went to lunch and headed out shopping. The other half of my presents were new clothes and Bryan knows how picky I am so we went shopping together. :) College football started on my birthday so heaven forbid we missed the OU game :). We ended up going over to my parents where my precious Daddy made me steaks, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and strawberry salad. My all time favorite meal!!! For desert we had a delicious Ribbon Cake from Raspberries n' Creme. To die for!
My wonderful parents got me a Tiffany's Charm bracelet for my birthday with a charm that says mom and a blue lollipop. It has already become on of my favorite pieces of jewelry. Aaron got me a new pair of shoes that ended up going perfectly with most of the clothes I had purchased earlier in the day. My 24th birthday was a wonderful one. I am so thankful for Bryan who is truly my other half and very best friend, my amazing baby boy who is my world, my precious parents and brother and last but not least my amazing friends. Each and every one of you made my day unforgettable.

I have decided there is absolutely nothing in the world sweeter than the belly laugh of a baby. (Mine in particular, not that I'm biased or anything! :). Just the sound of Hudson's laugh can make the world a better place I am convinced. Yesterday all I had to do was look at him and he would start cracking up. Then two nights ago I got the hiccups and he thought it was absolutely hilarious! Little booger was laughing at my misfortune! I am so thankful for such a sweet baby who is literally happy and smiling all the time!

The last few days I have been frustrated about money. Since Hudson came along we no longer have the freedom to do whatever we want whenever we want. While all this was expected, it is still frustrating some times. So needless to say I had been alittle down in the dumps that I can't just go out and buy stuff for the house any more or other random things. I actually have to plan for it! :) Anyway I got a call from Lakeside Womens Hospital yesterday afternoon telling me that they were putting a refund check for $744.20 in the mail today. WHAT??? I literally almost started crying! Such a blessing from my sweet Father just showing me to not worry about little things and He will take care of it! But seriously who had ever heard of a hospital calling and telling you they are sending you a refund check??? Anyway so I kept running my errands and came home and got the mail. We canceled our Cox Cable and got AT&T a couple weeks ago and Cox had sent me a new statement saying they reduced our payment from $50 something dollars to $7.26. Once again I about started crying. :) I love how even when I am frustrated about something not that important my Father knows and cares. What a blessing!!!

I'll leave you with some of my recent favorite pictures of my little man.

Burglars & Protectors

I didn't really think my first blog would be titled burglars, however, after yesterdays experience there wasn't a better title. Yesterday Hudson decided he was going to go on a sleep strike. So from about 12:45pm-3:45pm I tried to get him to take a nap. He refused. Although I couldn't leave him alone he was perfectly content just laying in bed with me as long as I didn't try to put him down. Finally around 3:45 he fell asleep in my lap. Sometime between 4 and 4:15 the doorbell rang. When I am home by myself I usually never answer the door but look out of our peep hole and then go on doing whatever I was doing. Well by the third ring I went to look cause the dogs were barking and I was afraid they were going to wake Hudson up. I looked out the peep hole and I could tell it was a really tall black guy and his back was to my front door and there was a van in front of my mail box. At this point Hudson had woken up and I was starting to get alittle nervous. Then he started pounding on my front door and rang the doorbell a total of 9 times. Thanks to the thunder my precious doggies were in the house with me and Emma was the only one out of her bed because she is scared of thunder. She went running to the door barking and growling and he left. I was on the phone with Bryan at this point and he was like well try to go peek out the window and see if you can see them. They were both sitting in their van in front of the driveway. Then they started to back up in front of my neighbors house and the passenger got out again and started walking up to their house. So Bryan was asking me what all they were wearing and once I started describing them to him he told me to get off the phone, call the police and he would be there as soon as he could. Thankfully he only works about 5 minutes from our house. Anyway I went to our guest bedroom and dialed 911. When I was first telling the operator what was happening I saw the passenger wave to the driver to come up there. So the driver backed the van up to their house and at that exact same moment I heard him kick their door down. Because they backed into the driveway I was able to get their license plate and give it to the lady and she said she had officers in route but to stay on the phone with her. About 30 seconds later they ran out with what I thought was a small flat screen and jumped in the car and left. When I got off the phone with 911 I went and tried to call Bryan and it wouldn't go through so I called my mom. As soon as she answered I fell apart. While I was on the phone with her I saw my neighbor across the street who I'm good friends with outside of her house wiping her face so I went to talk to her. They had done the exact same thing at her house and her dog scarred them away. Then she watched them at my house and said after banging awhile he had waved for the driver to back in. I'm sure all of this happened right as Emma ran to the door barking and growling and she said he ran down the sidewalk and jumped in the car. She then saw everything that happened at the neighbors and was on the phone with the police as well. Bryan arrived shortly after and the police a couple minutes after he got home.

I just can't stop thinking about the what if's? What would I have done if he had busted down my door and I was standing there with Hudson? What would he have tried to do? Would he have run away, beat the crap out of me, raped me? Who knows???

More than anything I have been thankful beyond belief. My God who is MY Protector was watching out for me and Hudson yesterday. I was looking up verses on protection and Psalm 91:1-2 & Psalm 32:7 really stood out to me.

Psalm 91:1-2
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Psalm 32:7
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

God sent the thunder storm yesterday so my sweet Emma would be in the house and bark at just the right time. The entire time she was growling and I kept telling her to be quiet. She wouldn't listen. Now I know why! :) My precious little puppy that I rescued from the animal shelter was my guardian angel yesterday. The bond I have with her was already crazy and anyone that knows me and has met Emma can see it. However after yesterday I know without a shadow of doubt that God let me find her on the internet and get yelled at by my parents for bringing home a smelly little puppy all for a divine purpose. God gave her to me for a reason and I will forever be grateful.

On a happier note I just spoke to the police and they were about to bust the guys. They found their van and had me describe the guys to them one more time. I will sleep alittle easier tonight knowing they are in jail where they are supposed to be.

Never take things for granted or think that it could never happen to you. I thought that way up until yesterday. I always gave people the benefit of the doubt and apparently in today's society in that sort of situation you can't. I am so thankful for my God who is my protector and for my sweet Emma!!!!