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.

State Fair

Hudson went to the state fair for the first time on Saturday. We love going to the fair. Hudson loved it too.

We saw the animals...

He slept.

We saw tractors, diggers and steam rollers....

He slept.

We ate....

He slept.

All in all, Hudson LOVED the fair.

All about family

Daddy and Hudson

Mommy and Hudson (That's one very tired looking mommy)

Roman and Hudson

Grandma and Papa with Hudson

Grandpa with Hudson (Hudson was hungry when they took these pictures, I love the look he has on his face)

Grandma with Hudson (LOVE her face!)

Great-Grandma with Hudson in his blessing suit

looking like big brother

I took this picture of Hudson a few days ago.




Reminds me of this picture of Roman when he was 2 months old. Roman was chunkier then Hudson is.

Blessing Day

Sunday was Hudson's blessing. I have been thinking a lot about what a blessing he is in our family. How blessed we are to have so many friends and family member that support us and have supported us through all the ups and downs and how thankful we are for these blessings.

Hudson is so little, we can't wait to really see his cute personality. These are the things that I know about him already.

Hudson is a fighter - He fought against all odds to make it here. I had a great doctor who is also LDS, when things were looking uncertain, he gave me the best advice any doctor could give me. He said that there were two things we could do right then. 1 - get a blessing. 2 - pray. After every ultrasound I would say a prayer of thanks that he was still growing and thriving, he wanted to be here, and he made it!

He is loved - He is so loved by so many people. Some who haven't met him but have and will always love him. I am always surprised that even now, 7 weeks after he was born, I will talk to someone and realize find out once again just how many prayers were said in his (and in our) behalf to get him here.

He is so tolerant - He has a very loving big brother, who loves him too much a lot of the time. He puts up with a lot. Roman will even come right up to him and yell to try to wake him up, which barely stirs him most times.

He is social - He loves to be spoken to, and is starting to find his voice. He cooes and smiles and giggles in his sleep.

He has the cutest smile and he is just so sweet.

He has already blessed us so much, and I can't wait to see more of this sweet little man as he grows.

The story of the suit

I had an idea of just what I wanted Hudson to wear for his blessing. I really wanted him to have a white suit. I loved the cute suit that Roman had for his sealing and blessing. Roman was 6 months old so his would not fit Hudson. I started looking online casually and I wasn't really finding anything. Last weekend I decided that I was going to keep looking until I found what I was looking for. It actually didn't take long that night and I found one. A 0-3 month suit. It was still a little bit big, but I knew I could make it work. I was about ready to order it and realized it was in San Diego. Spencer was leaving for San Diego the next day for a conference. I checked and the store was just 2 miles from the hotel Spencer was staying at so he was able to go pick it up for me. Spencer was coming back from California on Thursday evening so I would have just enough time to take the sides in a little before Sunday.



I sent my friend Heidi (my friend that took Hudson's newborn pictures) a text on Monday asking her if she could take some pictures of Hudson in his blessing suit. She said that she could on Thursday or Friday. I decided I could do the minor alterations Thursday night for pictures Friday.

Next I talked to my sister Brenda and asked if she could make some little white booties for him to wear. They were perfect, except we forgot to put them on him for most of the pictures. They were perfect for his blessing though.





Spencer was supposed to be home at 9:30 Thursday night, his first flight from San Diego to Phoenix was on time. The flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake was delayed leaving so he was late getting home. Then his bag was one of the last off the plane. So we finally made it home at about 11:00 and Hudson was starving. I was finally able to try to suit on Hudson around 11:30 and it needed MAJOR alterations. Hudson just started wearing 0-3 month clothes so it was still pretty big on him. I started out just taking the waist band in on the pants and hemming them up. but the sides REALLY needed to be taken in too. Then it was on to the jacket and it was super big too. I was running out of time (and steam) fast so I ended up using safety pins and pinning the sides and back in on the suit so that it wasn't insanely huge for pictures.

We were able to do pictures with our temporary alterations (we did most without the suit jacket anyway because it was just too many layers and it was bunching up around his face) then I asked my mother-in-law, Kristin, if she would help me do permanent alterations.

We ended up taking about an inch out of every seam but in the end it was perfect. He was adorable.