Britax Marathon

Roman has a Britax Marathon car seat. Before Hudson was even born I knew that we NEEDED another Marathon. Roman didn't ever really love the carrier car seat. Labor day weekend I found a fabulous deal on a Britax Marathon so I bought Hudson's. Apparently Roman told Hudson how much better the Marathon car seat was because ever since our trip to California Hudson will just scream when we put him in the car in his carrier seat. Since we had it already I decided I would try it out. The Marathon goes down to 5 lbs rear facing so it definitely fits him. He was happy right away. The only problem. It's not nearly as convenient as a carrier car seat. So I put the carrier seat back in the car. And the screaming started again. So I tried the Britax again...happy again. So, I bit the bullet and Hudson is no longer in a carrier car seat. (I do take it in the back of the car when we are going grocery shopping so I can put him in it in the cart. He doesn't seem to mind the carrier as long as he isn't in the car.)

Sweet Slumber

It doesn't happen very often, so it's always worth documenting when both boys take a nap, at the same time. Ah, sweet slumber. And a nice little break for mommy.

How Hudson feels about hiking...

Hudson LOVES going hiking. Last Sunday we decided to go up Little Cottonwood Canyon to see the fall colors and to do a little hiking as a family.

As long as Hudson is warm and snuggled in the front carrier. He will doze right off ...

...and not much can wake him. Not even taking him out of the carrier and letting big brother hold him for a picture.

It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains. The sun was shining, it was warm (but not hot) and we had a great time together as a family.

Last year we got a picture taken in this same spot. I love that we were able to get another one...with Hudson!

And last but definitely not least, a picture of my with my favorite little men. (look Hudson's awake!)

On our way back to the car...oh look, he's awake! I love that he raises his eyebrows and scrunches his forehead. Cute boy!

Naps

We are starting to work on getting Hudson to sleep NOT in our arms. He thinks he needs to be held all the time and that just doesn't work when you have a crazy toddler that needs attention too. So we've been getting creative on finding ways that he will sleep without being in our arms. We tried putting him in the Boppy, but ht wasn't holding him in tight enough. We let him sleep on his stomach once, but I felt like I needed to stay RIGHT next to him so I wasn't really able to do anything else while he was sleeping. One day I noticed a pillow sitting on the couch and I thought MAYBE that would work. I propped it up, made him a little nest and he stayed asleep. Hopefully we can get him to start napping in his crib, but until then at least he is not being held all the time.

Playdate with Eli

Hudson has so many friend's already. When we was just a few weeks old we went to the park for the first time with his friend Jason. Then we met his cousin Ermina and now he met his little friend Eli. Eli is my sister Becky's nephew. Becky's Sister-in-law Jessica is my friend too and she had Eli about a month after Hudson was born (Eli is just 5 days younger then Ermina). We got together at Becky's house to do lunch. We all brought things for lunch. Both boys slept while we got lunch ready but Hudson didn't want to miss out on any of the action so he woke up to come in while we ate lunch. Jess had to wake Eli up so he would be awake for a bit before they had to go pick her daughter up from school. They were both being so calm and happy that day.

Right before Jess left we tried to get a few pictures of the boys together.

I love Hudson's smile in this picture. Eli looks so serious.

I know this picture is not good at all, but I love it because it shows how crazy both boys were just moving everywhere.

Finally a mostly good picture of both boys.

Sometimes it HURTS to be the baby brother

Most of the time Roman is a good big brother. He loves him, brings him toys, and is happy to just talk to him. There there's the other times. So far we have had a few incidents that we've had some SERIOUS talks about being nice to Hudson! Roman has hit him in the head, stepped on him, pushed on his stomach, twisted his arm, put a plastic bag over his head.

I was changing Hudson's diaper one morning, getting him ready for the day. Roman came over by us and I thought he was going to give him a kiss. As soon as he touched Hudson, Hudson started to scream. I asked Roman "What did you do to him?" Roman just laughed. Then I saw his forehead, Roman didn't kiss him...he BITE him. Right on the forehead. Roman got a big long time out.

Most days he loves his baby brother....then there are the other days!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

Roman has always loved laying out on the front lawn to wait for Daddy to come home from work. We were waiting out on the lawn one night and Roman wanted Hudson to lay down too. So I laid Hudson's blanket out on the grass and the two boys waited on the grass for Daddy to come home from work. They were both laying there happily when he got home.

Don't put me down!

After all that driving to get to California, then the drive from Steve's house to Andrea's house, Hudson just wanted to be held all the time and he was pretty fussy while we were there. He didn't want to sleep at all at night, and just wanted to be held all day. I am afraid that everyone there thinks he's just a grumpy guy. Spencer's dad got a few cute pictures of him even though he wouldn't let us put him down.

He's falling asleep. Poor sleepy boy, but the second we put him down his eyes would fly open and he would start to scream again.

I love this. He is always raising his eyebrows like that, scrunching up his forehead.

California trip - Ermina's blessing

The whole reason we went to California when we did was so that we could go to Ermina's baby blessing. It was fun to see family and spend time with Andrea's family. After the blessing we were able to get a picture of everyone that was there.

Back row - Spencer, Andrea, Steve (Spencer's dad), Kristin (Spencer's Step-mom), Arther, Clair, Merna (Vince's mom), Vince's step-dad

Front Row - Wendy, Hudson, Roman, Vince, Ermina, Daniel, Brian

Andrew wouldn't come up front for us to see him in the picture. He was standing behind Andrea.

California trip - Hudson and Ermina

Hudson has a cute new little cousin that's just a month younger then him named Ermina. The whole reason that we went to California when we did was for her blessing. We knew that we wanted to go, it just gave us a time. It was so fun to let these cute little cousins meet. Ermina is a cute little chunky monkey. She is just about the same size that he is. We tried a few times while we were there to get pictures of the two of them together, but either one or the other didn't want to (usually that one was Hudson).

The first day that we were there (Saturday) we were only able to get this one where they were both looking, mostly not moving and not crying.

On Sunday we tried a few times to get a picture of the two together. Spencer's dad got these pictures that turned out pretty cute!

(I think Ermina is trying to sign I love you in this picture)

Spencer's dad also got these pictures of Hudson.

I love this one because it's his super frown that tells you "I am NOT happy and I am about to scream."

Yep, full out screaming.

How Mommy gets a shower

Sometimes I feel like I have to get creative to get anything done. Roman loves to be a big brother...most of the time. But there are these rare occasions that he is just not nice. Then there's the fact that Hudson thinks he needs to be held, or at least with us all the time. I was trying to get things ready so that as soon as we got Roman from school we could leave for California. Spencer had gone to run a few errands and every time I put Hudson down he would wake up. So I got creative.

I can't believe how well it worked. It's my new fall back shower method.

If you chance to meet a frown

Hudson has been working on some serious pouts lately. He can stick out his bottom lip with the best of them and let you know he really is NOT happy.

Male bonding time

One morning Spencer got up with the boys and gave me a chance to sleep in. I woke up and I could hear the TV on in our sitting room so I went to see what they were doing. Spencer was laying on the couch with both boys watching "Ironman." They just needed a little male bonding time.

Rollin' with my Homie's

Roman loves to play on the back deck. Last winter we brought his little playhouse and his cars onto the deck and had planned to take them back down come summer, but it's so nice to let him just go out and play on the deck all by himself. Hudson loves to be outside too so one nice afternoon (not like the afternoon's we've been having lately) we were sitting out on the deck watching Roman play and Roman said that he wanted Hudson to play in the little car. So I humored him and let Hudson drive (or sit in it rather) the little car while Roman drove his big car. Roman loved it. Hudson wasn't sure WHAT he thought about our little idea.