House of Hudds

Times are Changing

2009-04-11T14:22:00.003+11:30

They won't stop growing! We will start potty training Jeffrey in a couple weeks...this will start with just introducing him to his little toilet :)I'm excited about it, he's been giving me some "cues" lately - tugging at his shirt and pants like he wants to take them off and then getting into a specific cabinet when he poops. lol! So no pressure, I don't care if he pt's or not right now, but if he's ready, we're ready. We'll see!

I think he went through a little growth spurt, because all of a sudden he is reaching things he's never been able to reach before. Trouble! And with that, he's tall enough to get into the dining room chairs by himself. This leads to me walking in to the room to find him dancing in a chair, which is TOTALLY funny, but not allowed. It's hard not to smile when he looks so darn cute up there.

Along with all this, I'm considering instituting a "time out" area. I'm asking friends and reading up on strategies. He isn't a bad toddler at all, by any means, but I feel like I should be doing more than just saying "No" and removing him from the situation. I don't feel like it's getting us anywhere because he just goes right back to it.

He says "Doggie" (or "Daaahh"), "Sissy (or "SShhhSS"), "Juice" (or "Deuce"), "Trash" (or "Tassh"), "Oh no!" (or "AH NAH"). LOL And of course mama and dada.

He is now sleeping in his big boy bed :) I can't believe it! It took a couple weeks of him sleeping on his floor with his HUGE stuffed doggie for us to put 2 + 2 together. We put the doggie in his bed and now he sleeps there with the doggie.

Seeing him grow up so fast really makes my skin crawl because I have no control over it and he's just becoming more and more independent and needing us less. I know he'll always need us, but in different ways.

Adrianna is rolling, and loves playing with her feet. She's so beautiful! She started eating solid foods a couple weeks ago. She does fine with that. Quite a piggy actually! I think I will make her baby food - all it takes is fresh fruit/veggies and a blender, so it's no trouble at all, and should be a good $$ saver. Meanwhile, I've got a nice stockpile of store bought food in the cabinet already.

We think she's teething. She's drooling & biting. The next step is a lot of crying in the middle of the night, and I am NOT looking forward to that! Our medicine cabinet is prepared.

She's been sleeping through the night since mid-March. She may wake up a couple times, but I just replace her pacifier or put her on her tummy and she goes back to sleep. She's very talkative! :) She continues to be an excellent nurser.

It's the sweetest thing to see Jeffrey kiss her and hold her and hug her. It's awesome!

Meanwhile, Jeff & I are still chugging away at our school work. I will be done in Jan '10 - as long as I don't take a single day off between now and then. GEESH. All this work and all I will get is a piece of paper and a ton of loans to pay back. Alright I know I'll get more then that, but I'm working my butt off and it's taking forever! And, I don't have any "career plans"...it all revolves around the kids, because as long as they are home, so am I. I don't get a high salary, or even daily showers - but we feel very strongly that it is the best thing for the babies.

We are also discussing Jeff's future career plans. Lots of options.

I think that's it. Next time I update, Jeffrey will probably have conquered a ton of new things!

We need an update!

2009-01-31T13:21:00.000+11:30

Sorry it's been about 2 months since I've posted anything. Those 2 months have been crazy, with the holidays & packing & moving & school work & adjusting to having 2 under 2! It never ends around here. We've moved into a much much bigger place and are very happy here! There's room for our family here. Now that we're here, I can't believe how long we stayed in the condo, and how small it really was.

Jeff continues to excel at everything he does...he finished up his last college class with a 100 average, and is at this moment returning from a formal school he took in NC, where he performed so well yesterday that the teacher told him he didn't have to take the final exam today! He makes me sick ;) We're almost opposites in that respect. He over-achieves, while I do just enough to get by. Not because I want it that way, of course. But because that I can't afford to put any more time into anything else around here! I just can't hold myself up to those standards anymore.

Jeffrey is a full-blown walker now. Almost as soon as we moved in here, he just took off. I guess children really do need ROOM to grow, and that condo just didn't have enough room. Makes me sad because I feel like it's my fault, and that I slowed him down. Oh well, no biggie I guess. It's a lessons learned. He's definitely understanding what we're saying now. I can ask him if he wants to go potty with mama and he walks to the bathroom. :) No, we're not potty-training yet, but it's never too early to introduce it I suppose. He's a picky eater, in my opinion. Some of his favs are PB&J with milk for lunch, grape juice, fruit parfaits from McDs, ckn nugget kids meal from McDs, stuffing, and cheerios for breakfast. He shovels them in by the handful!

Adrianna is smiling, cooing, and just being a happy little girl :) It was very difficult for me for the first 2 months...she seemed to cry for no apparent reason, Jeff didn't take any middle of the night feedings because I'm breastfeeding - so I got crappy sleep, and trying to take care of Jeffrey during the day was just plain hard. But now that we're moved and we have room, we're all much happier, and it's much easier! Adrianna has her own room with her own crib and dresser. She sits in Jeffrey's old bouncer (of course, we got her a new, expensive one that she doesn't seem to like near as much!) and talks to the fish that move around when she kicks. She's an excellent nurser, and I typically only have to get up twice in the middle of the night to feed her. The 2nd feednig is so close to "wake up" time that I might as well not even go back to sleep...

There are little playgrounds all over the place here in the community, and we have a nice sized fenced in back yard. I can't wait for summer and spring so that Jeffrey can experience the outdoors as a toddler. Lord help me.

Adrianna Rose =)

2008-12-10T10:47:00.017+11:30

Born November 11th, 2008 @ 2:44am
7lb 4.9 oz 19 1/2"

In the NICU:

Out of the NICU:

3 Weeks Old:

Doc Appt 11/6

2008-11-08T00:36:00.003+11:30

Dropped my pee off (I'm sure I looked ridiculous carrying a starbucks in my left hand and a jug of pee in my right), had my NST. The stupid monitor wouldn't continually pick up her heart rate so after 1.5 hrs of trying they sent me to L&D to monitor me there (I was supposed to have my reg OB appt after the NST but they decided to have me skip it). So I went to L&D, where their monitors picked it up just fine. They checked my cervix...still just 2 cm dilated.

My bps were good, but my protein from the pee test I dropped off a few hrs earlier had gone back up (it was 380 last Monday when they wanted to induce me, dropped to 178 that Thursday when they said I'm "not sick anymore", and today it was 301). Apparently 300 is where they start to consider inducing. So they said they want to see me twice a week now and I have to go back Monday for an NST and to "discuss" inducing. I got the feeling that they don't want to let me go to 39/40 weeks like they said a couple weeks ago. I'm getting good at reading what they're not saying.

I get that feeling because they didn't tell me to do another 24 hr urine...and they've been having me do one practically every few days over the last 2 weeks. So I don't think they're just letting it go. I just keep reminding myself that my body is much more prepared for an induction this time, and that it won't be as horrible and we won't have a tiny baby that's immediately taken away from me. It's gonna be different. It's really mentally exhausting. It makes it easier to remember it's a disease, so I don't feel like such a failure. I'm anxious to get this over with!

Jeffrey's Goofy Grins 11/5

2008-11-06T07:01:00.006+11:30

I love his silly little face :)

Playing in the leaves

2008-10-28T00:38:00.009+11:30

I took Jeffrey to the park yesterday so Daddy could have some alone time to wrap up some school work. We're trying to take advantage of the few "park weather" days we have left before we're stuck in the house with a newborn for the winter. He had to taste test the leaves of course ;)I can't believe we made such a beautiful baby.

I think he's mastered the art of the sippy cup. Or at least he's on his way...he's finally drinking from it instead of chewing on it or rolling it around like it's a toy. Boy does he love apple juice! He's learning how to be impatient and demanding, so it's an important time to show him who is boss. But I still smother him in kisses...and he's smothering little girls in kisses. At the park and at play-dates - he seems to understand that boys are to play with and girls are to kiss.

The solid foods he happily eats now include: chicken (nuggets or baked), hot dogs, toast, peas, mac n cheese, pancakes, banana in a mesh feeder (it looks like a pacifier but the part he puts in his mouth is mesh and I put fruit in it for him to chew), french fries.
The ones he just picks at and occasionally gets into his mouth are: broccoli, pasta, and cantaloupe in a mesh feeder.

I'm still feeling decent, although my right foot has looked like a marshmallow for a couple days. So I've been trying to do housework in one run so I can sit down and elevate it for a while. Jeff has got November off from school, and I will have a little over a month off beginning around Nov 5th.

The doc I saw last week said that they want to induce me at 39/40 weeks. I totally didn't expect that, so I questioned it and he explained that being as the baby will be ready to come out and be healthy at that point, there's no sense in keeping her in there when she's putting a lot of strain on my body by increasing my blood pressure. I can't really deny that, I know high bp is dangerous, and she will be big and healthy at that point so I don't think I'll fight their decision. 40 weeks will be the day before Thanksgiving - and I'm NOT spending Thanksgiving in the hospital. So I think I'll give them the go ahead to schedule an induction for 39 weeks, which will be Nov 19th. That way we'll both be out of the hospital for Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that I'll go into labor by myself before Nov 19th. If they do induce, I don't expect it to be the nightmare it was last time, a lot of things are different this time around.

35 Weeks - Doc Appt

2008-10-24T23:04:00.000+11:30

Jeff and Jeffrey came with me, because I was getting an u/s and Jeff wanted to see her. The NST went good...the whole time I was laying there relaxing, I could hear Jeffrey out in the hallways going "DADADADADADADADADAADA!!!" lol

The u/s went really good...they say she weighs 6lbs now! When they said that, let out a few tears. Just the thought of having a "normal" weight baby makes me so happy!!! They were going to confirm that she's "still a girl"...so the guy doing the u/s (he was a student) was looking for her lips - yes - that's what he called them. Not labia, her lips. Jeff squirmed in his seat lol
And they took a 3d pic of her face for us.

Then for my doc appt - apparently they want to induce me at 39/40 weeks, which took me by surprise because no one ever mentioned it before, I kinda assumed I was on the right path for a good, "normal" delivery, but they said that being as the baby is the cause of the high bp, as long as she's healthy and ready to be out, they want to take her out. Everyone kept saying "So we're inducing at 39 weeks..." and after a few times of hearing that, I said "Well you know, there IS a chance I can go into spontaneous labor!!"

And they want me to do another 24 hr urine test. Yay, because I really enjoy collecting it the 4 times I go during the middle of the night and keeping it in the fridge!

So hopefully I'll just go into labor like a normal person would...I don't know, I've never made it that far before! I'm not having any ctx or anything yet, but hopefully next week we'll get rolling!

Future Einstein

2008-10-20T05:26:00.004+11:30

I think we may have almost everything ready for our little girl :) We've got the bassinet & swing out of storage, washed them both and washed the infant car seat (wish I could find the base for that but I think it's buried in storage so that's out of the question). Washed all her clothes so they're pre-shrunk and took out all the preemie, newborn, 0-3 months, and a few 3-6 months outfits just in case we're here in this condo that long (grrrrrr). The next thing on the list is to order some diapers for her. We'll be trying a different kind of diaper for her than we did with Jeffrey (partly because Jeffrey's diapers are $20/piece and won't fit a newborn anyways). Also in preparation, I bought a playard for Jeffrey (http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/superyard-xt-play-gate-by-north-states-industries). I bought it used and off of Craig's list. The one in the picture has 6 gates, but the one I got has 12, so it's super big! It takes up almost all of the living room and there's just enough room for us to walk around it. That way, I don't feel bad about "confining" him to his crib or him jumper while I do something (ANYTHING!) and I know he's safe and happy with all his toys. I just had to get something like this with another baby coming. Jeff and I like getting in there and playing with him without having to worry about him crawling at high speed to the computer corner and getting into everything he shouldn't get into.

I'm kind of in new territory now, never been pregnant this long before! I know that every day counts and so I'm thankful for every day that she's still nice and snuggly in there! We have an u/s on Oct 23rd (the day before my 25th birthday!), so I'm excited to see how much they estimate she weighs at that point. She's very active and pretty mean sometimes. I usually have to get up at least once in the middle of the night to give Jeffrey back his pacifier (plus a few trips to the bathroom!) and I try really hard not to wake her up because it makes it that much harder on me to get back to sleep.

I think Jeffrey is showing interest in walking. He's recently started letting go of his toys while he's standing and not falling. It's just for a second or two though. And when we hold out our hands for him to grab on to and walk to us, we don't have to coax him into walking, he does it by himself :)

And last but not least - enjoy these pictures taken last night after bath time with Daddy!

Trip to the beach

2008-09-20T12:41:00.010+11:30

Jeffrey went with me to Ft Story to take some pictures today (my friend Jackie watched him while I worked) and he was looking so big!!

Pregnancy update

2008-09-17T11:31:00.001+11:30

Got a lot of not-so-great news at the doc today. Well...I just didn't want to hear it. Doc said that Adrianna will come early, it's just a matter or when we "turn the corner" and they decide it's time to induce. I did a 24hr urine test last week and my protein count was 107. Early in the pregnancy it was 0 (which is good). When it reaches 300, there's a problem. So basically, I'm well on my way to another little dance with pre-eclampsia. *sigh*

My bp was "decent" for me (lol), 140s/90s. She said that when I start having 160s/110s, that's when we'll start meds and bedrest.

So now that I'm high risk, I get the privilege of going to Portsmouth twice a week for a non-stress-test. I still need to take the time to do my glucose test, and get an EKG done. I went to do that after today's appt but the cardio clinic had closed 5 min prior.

So it's officially time to get everything ready. I also asked if I had a somewhat good chance at another vaginal birth. Every doc I speak to has told me how lucky I was to get to push Jeffrey out at 34 weeks. It sure wasn't easy! She said that if I get induced and my cervix is a no-go state, I will have a better start than I did with Jeffrey because it won't be my first time. So that was about the only good news I had lol

I'm a little flustered at the thought of having Jeffrey and needing to go to the hospital twice a week and being there for about an hr each time...which would be about a 3 hr round trip. Obviously he can't go with me. Jeff is going to be able to come home to watch Jeffrey while I'm there, and I'll give him "the call" if they decide that it's "time". But I don't want him catching any flack at work about needing so much time off. They're a really relaxed command, so he keeps insisting that it's not a problem.

Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know how we're doing! Sorry for the venting!

Pregnancy update

2008-09-17T11:31:00.000+11:30

Got a lot of not-so-great news at the doc today. Well...I just didn't want to hear it. Doc said that Adrianna will come early, it's just a matter or when we "turn the corner" and they decide it's time to induce. I did a 24hr urine test last week and my protein count was 107. Early in the pregnancy it was 0 (which is good). When it reaches 300, there's a problem. So basically, I'm well on my way to another little dance with pre-eclampsia. *sigh*

My bp was "decent" for me (lol), 140s/90s. She said that when I start having 160s/110s, that's when we'll start meds and bedrest.

So now that I'm high risk, I get the privilege of going to Portsmouth twice a week for a non-stress-test. I still need to take the time to do my glucose test, and get an EKG done. I went to do that after today's appt but the cardio clinic had closed 5 min prior. Confused

So it's officially time to get everything ready. I also asked if I had a somewhat good chance at another vaginal birth. Every doc I speak to has told me how lucky I was to get to push Jeffrey out at 34 weeks. It sure wasn't easy! She said that if I get induced and my cervix is a no-go state, I will have a better start than I did with Jeffrey because it won't be my first time. So that was about the only good news I had lol

I'm a little flustered at the thought of having Jeffrey and needing to go to the hospital twice a week and being there for about an hr each time...which would be about a 3 hr round trip. Obviously he can't go with me. Jeff is going to be able to come home to watch Jeffrey while I'm there, and I'll give him "the call" if they decide that it's "time". But I don't want him catching any flack at work about needing so much time off Rolling Eyes They're a really relaxed command, so he keeps insisting that it's not a problem.

Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know how we're doing! Sorry for the venting!

Time Out!

2008-09-07T10:04:00.003+11:30

This is how I found Jeffrey this evening - whining because he couldn't figure out how to get out. I had to get Jeff to help me "free" him. Boy he'll get into anything he can find!

TS Hanna ended up being a whole lot of nothing. We had some rain come in through a window in the living room, but that's happened before during a thunderstorm. It was supposed to have been fixed, but apparently not. I can't wait to get out of this place!!

At the park...

2008-08-25T12:27:00.006+11:30

He's been "kissing" everything lately...

Holy toofers!

2008-08-21T11:37:00.002+11:30

Jeffrey is getting new teeth!! It looks like 3-4 on top :) It's weird, I knew it would happen, but I wouldn't mind keeping him with just those 2 cute bottom teeth!
Also, this little girl is crazy! Moving more Jeffrey did, and in places Jeffrey never reached. At least I know she's healthy! Jeffrey slept 11 hrs straight last night without waking up ONCE...but Adrianna had me stumbling to the bathroom 3 times! Oh well!

Pool Time!

2008-08-17T09:36:00.005+11:30

I went out to get Jeffrey a pool today, no realizing that they are technically "out of season". I wanted to get him the hard plastic one...but after 1 walmart and 2 kmarts, I finally found a little blow up one - on clearance for $5.44. So we went home and I blew it up and put a couple duckies in there and watched him have fun!

Jeffrey's first playdate

2008-08-12T03:27:00.003+11:30

It was a lot of fun. The playgroup is called "Little Ones Under One" and it's new (found it on my tidewatermommies.com mommy site) so there were only 2 other little ones there, but Jeffrey still had a blast! Our next playdate is Aug 22! Here are a few pictures:

Doctor Appointment this morning and some pics

2008-08-07T10:23:00.005+11:30

My blood pressure was 125/86! The lowest it's been yet! Next appointment is Sept 9th and we'll be doing my glucose test for gestational diabetes.

Here are a few pictures from a shoot I did last night - a 9 month old sweetheart :)

The First Blog

2008-08-05T11:06:00.002+11:30

I decided it would be a nice idea to create a blog to update family and friends on what's going on with our growing family. Lets see...let's start with the #1 man around here!

Jeffrey is just amazing. Now 10 months old, and weighing in at 18lbs, he's constantly moving. He's recently decided it's time to pull-up on everything, and is learning to cruise from one thing to another. His most recent achievement is learning to wave at us. Just when you think it can't get any cuter! He's had "mama" down for a couple months now, and we're working on "dada". I'm in the process of thinking about/planning his first birthday party!!! So far the only thoughts I have is that it will be Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme, and on September 27th (I think that's the date...it's a Saturday) in the early afternoon in the Roanoke/Vinton area. It's a little early to get the invitations out but as soon as the urge hits me, I'm going to jump on it because I'm really excited!

Jeff seems to be enjoying his work here with his new command much more than his previous command. It seems to be an almost completely different work environment, and much more friendly. He's currently resting his right foot from an injury he obtained because he was working out too much and too hard. He's in a course right now to formally teach him how to do what he did on his first tour in Iraq - being a Unit Operations Specialist (how to do digital overlays and look at anyone who has a gps device). Apparently he's doing so well that he's finishing his work an hour ahead of the others. :)

I'm in my last week of Statistics 2, thank God. Next comes Business Law. If I weren't to take any breaks from school from now till graduation, I would graduate 09/09. But as much as I'd love to be super mom/super student, I have to take a (probably 6 weeks) break when Adrianna arrives. That'll push my graduation back 6 weeks. I'm just a year away, so close I can almost taste it. I feel great, no pregnancy troubles (that I can see or feel at least). I wish Jeffrey's pregnancy would've been this comfortable, and I hope the the rest of my time follows suit! My little photography venture is busy one week, dead the next. I really enjoy it, I'm not bad at it, and I am trilled to contribute financially and to be able to work it around my school work/doc appts/Jeff's schedule so Jeffrey doesn't go to daycare. I've recently joined a mommy-group for mommies in the area (tidewatermommies.com) and met some really nice women with children of all ages and this Friday Jeffrey and I are going to a "Little Ones Under One" playgroup and I'm so excited to see him with babies his own age!