Spring Fever

Recently here in Tallahassee, the weather has been beautiful. Despite all the pollen in the air, it has been cool in the mornings and evenings and warm during the afternoons....perfect! One day as we were playing out back, it felt so warm that Madison asked if we could put up the pool. We told her that it wasn't warm enough for that yet, so we decided to turn the sprinklers on and let the kids have at it....and that they did...they loved it! We enjoyed watching them as well. What a wonderful family afternoon. Looking forward to many more to come this summer! Here's a slideshow of our fun time!

18 Month Check-up & The Dreaded Vaccines

Monday morning was Hudson's 18 month check-up. Here are his latest stats:

height: 32 inches (35th %)

weight: 23 pounds 5 ounces (15th %)

Although he hasn't grown leaps and bounds as he was in the early months, he is growing and still on his growth curve. He's just so busy and active he burns everything off that he eats!! Sounds like his Daddy!

During his visit he also received the DTaP vaccine. My pediatrician understands that I have slight anxiety over all the vaccinations, so we have been spacing them out throughout the months, so that we don't overload Hudson's system with multiple vaccines at once. However this one vaccine is really a combination of three. He took the shot like a champ. I think he was more mad about being held down, then about the actual shot. Once we let him up he stopped crying. However, Tuesday night after his bath, we noticed that his leg (where they gave the vaccine) was red, blotchy and completely swollen. I should have taken a picture, but I was too worried to think about it! After another visit to Urgent Care at 8:30 in the evening, we were told he must have gotten an infection from the injection. So my anxiety was validated!! My poor son is the 1 in 4 kids this can happen to as a result of the vaccine, and has this huge elephant leg on his little body. They marked and measured the swelling, prescribed an antibiotic, and told us to keep an eye on it. The swelling has finally started to go down today. So, I'm confident the antibiotics are working. I'm not so confident though about him receiving the other doses he is supposed to have, and concerned about how he got an infection!! The doctors and nurses who work with my children from this point are going to have to get used to a minor interrogation before the poke my kids again!!

Thankfully he seems to be doing fine, but we just have to laugh at all this poor kid has had to deal with in just 18 little months. He's such a trooper! The thought of what the future brings is a little scary!Fortunately, I can find relief knowing God is in control...there's no telling what else this kid will get into!

January and February Slideshow

As you can see by the one entry I was able to post, February was a busy and hectic month. (If you read Hudson's post, you'll have an idea why!) However, we did have lots of fun too and I wanted to share our pictures and a few video clips.
Madison has hit a few milestones this month. Her greatest accomplishment is that she learned to tie her shoes!! Yes, and she's not even in Kindergarten yet! As a former Kindergarten teacher, I can say that this is huge and I am so proud of her, and know her teacher in the Fall will be thankful too! She is also soaring on her reading ability. She is still reading level 1 books, but we think she'll be moving onto level 2 pretty soon. Now that VPK is over at her school she has gone back to her part time schedule of 3 days a week, and then home the other days. And I enjoyed having her home this week. I have forgotten how nice it was just to hang out, play and have time to do fun crafts together.
Hudson has enjoyed having her home too. They have formed a new bond and routine with each other. Hudson will bring out books from his room, bring them to Madison, have her pick him up onto the couch and then climb in her lap so she can read to him. It is sooooooo sweet to see! If he's not in the mood though, he lets her know!
Below are a few random video clips of them playing, and of Madison tying her shoes!

Hudson is 1 1/2 Years Old

I picked out a few of my favorite Hudson pics from the last month. I feel that these few photos really sum up his personality. He's definitely become an adventurous, determined, fun, sweet, strong and tough little guy. He can take a swing at a ball like you wouldn't believe. His love of balls has grown exponentially. I always keep a few in the diaper bag and in the car...you never know when you'll need them! I'm still thinking this kid will grow to be some sort of ball player...he seems to have been born with it in him!

His language continues to blossom as well. It's fun to see how much he understands even though he can't verbally communicate it. He enjoys taking orders....that is when it is fun. He loves to go get things for us, throw stuff away, take his cups/plates to the sink...sometimes putting them in the trash by mistake, and making us all laugh. Madison's usually right there behind him to correct his mistakes, though.

His favorites continue to be playing outside, climbing and hanging on things, listening and dancing to music...mainly with Madison, chasing or being chased, wrestling...which we have had to work with him on appropriate times and people to do this with, Gabi, our cat around the house, curious george and Barney!

This month, although filled with many fun times, has been one of the most challenging. As you may have read in the allergy update Hudson is allergic to a few key ingredients that seem to be in most foods. Milk, soy, rice, and nuts. If you take a look at the majority of your food labels and think about the ingredients in your family's recipes, you'll see the challenges we have been dealing with. Meal times have become a struggle, usually ending up with tears and thrown food, because he is bored of the same boring things. We have had to strip most of the things he was accustomed to eating out of his diet, and need to get creative and educated on his food options. He eats a lot of fruit these days and has slimmed down a bit...we go to his well baby check-up on Monday to get the official measurements and see how he's doing with his growth. I'm not too worried because he is one strong kid and remains really active. To add to the challenges of the month, about a week after his allergy test he developed a cold, then a cough, then started wheezing and had a fever spike up to 103.5 degrees. After a trip to urgent care, a chest x-ray, a breathing treatment, and a couple of prescriptions later, he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Poor Baby and Poor Mommy and Daddy!! Thankfully he is completely recovered from his sickness, and we are prayerful and confident that the struggles with his allergies will just be temporary.

We are so thankful he is a part of our family. Not a day goes by that he doesn't make us laugh, or make me gasp out of fright from something he is doing or getting into.

But that's our boy and we love him!