On July 26th I took London for her 9 month check up. Luckily, she did not have to get any shots this time but she did have to have her finger pricked for an anemia test...which may have been just as bad as shots! Here are her stats:
Length: 28.25 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs. 9 oz. (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.5 (75th percentile)
During our Ohio Vacation she started waving, clapping, and dancing! She has been on the verge of crawling for about a month but she became an official crawler on Saturday, July 25th. She started crawling but didn't really know she was crawling so she wouldn't go very far. I told her teachers about it on Monday and they made trails of puffs for her to follow and by the end of Monday she was a crawling, giggling, exploring bambino!
She also started teething a lot. This has been a busy time for her!
There was some sort of emergency in the room next to us at the Dr's office so we had to wait a while. London kept herself entertained with the paper on the table!
London got her first 2 teeth a little bit after her 9 month birthday (July 26th). On the 28th, her school called me to ask if they could give her some tylenol. They said she had been crying all morning. She never cries so they knew something was wrong and suspected she was teething. You could really see her top 2 tooth buds and her gums were red and swollen. It was pretty obvious this was the source of her discomfort. It is hard to say the exact day her teeth actually broke through because she didn't like me to touch and feel them...I'm sure they were pretty tender (but I think they offically came through on the 31st). About 1 1/2 weeks after her top 2 teeth came through, her bottom 2 teeth decided to come out and join them. It is so tough to get pictures of her milestones, like clapping and waving, because she tries to come after me and grab the camera everytime!
Here she is nibbling on a cold Nemo while trying to get some relief from those teeth:
I caught a shot of all 4 teeth while she was giggling and reaching for the camera!
I took some pictures of our sweet girl snoozin' away...
I walked in to check on her the other day and saw her sleeping in this position! She has always been super flexible. A lot of times, when I'm holding her, she will stretch one of her legs out all the way while holding her toes. It looks like she is doing a cheerleading jump called a herkie and sometime she grabs the toes on both feet to look like a toe touch. Her teachers always tell me they think she's going to be a dancer for sure based on her flexibility and her love of music. (Oh, and I moved her out of this position after taking the picture because it just didn't look very comfortable!)
*The same day I posted this, I went to pick London up from school and her teacher told me she fell asleep in her bed in this same position! Maybe it IS comfortable! : )
Hudson started his 1st day of Pre-K August 23rd! I was very sad when I received a letter in the mail preparing me for this day. The letter informed me that Hudson would have to start wearing uniforms in this class. I was sad because time has flown by and it just seems completely impossible that it should already be time for Pre-K and grown-up uniforms. However, Hudson was also told at school about his upcoming move and he was THRILLED!!! Any time you mention the word 'BIG", he gets a surge of excitement and he knew he was moving up to the 'big boy class'. His excitement made all of my sadness disappear in an instant and I began getting excited about ordering his uniforms and waiting anxiously for them to arrive on our doorstep. Almost every night from the moment he found out about moving up to Pre-K until Aug. 23rd, we had to measure how big he was on his growth chart! The first night this started, I was laying beside him in bed telling him a story. He was prompting my story and this one just happened to be about a dinosaur who was moving into Pre-K at school....hmmm....I wonder how he came up with that idea?!?! In the middle of our story, he suddenly sat up and asked, "Mama, how big am I?". Based on where we were in our story and this question...I totally realized the direction his mind was going in. He jumped out of bed and ran up to the growth chart on his wall. I had him stand up nice and straight and flat up against the wall. I told him to step away so I could see the numbers and then I said, "Oh my gosh!!!! You are 40" and that is exactally how big you need to be to go into the Big Boy Class!!!!". He put his fists up in the air and yelled, "YAY!!". He ran and JUMPED back into bed with a very BIG, very proud smile on his face. He told me had to get some good rest so he could keep growing and then he fell sound asleep.
Here he is getting ready for his first day of BIG Boy Class in his new uniform (the school also gave them new backpacks on their 1st day):
This was also London's 1st day in the older infants class. Man, this growing up stuff is hard on a mom!
This past Saturday I was home with the kids by myself all day and we had a great time! Hudson made sure I was giggling almost all day. He surprised me with this song he learned at school. As soon as I heard it, I thought of my Dad and his distaste for all of the trash people throw on the side of the road. So this song's for you Daddy-O!....
Jeramy invited Jason to go to the Texan's vs Cowboys game. So after Hudson and I planted some flowers (he's been asking me to plant flowers for a month now) we turned the game on to see if we could spot Daddy in the crowd. We had the best time watching the game!! He was really into it and asked me questions like:
Mama, why did that man just say, "1st and 10"? Football has always been a little difficult for me to understand and I really don't know all (well maybe any) of the rules. I decided to point out the numbers marked on the field and tell him how the players were trying to run to the different numbers with the ball before the other team tackled them. He got the Mommy version of how football is played so it may be completely wrong!
Mama, why are they all piled on top of each other? I had to answer this question with a disclaimer that this is only done when playing football and that we don't do this to our friends at school. He's been getting in trouble at school a lot this week for wrestling and hitting. I may have to have an entire post dedicated to that subject.
Mama, why isn't Daddy playing on that field? I had to explain to him that the football players on the field are there because it is their job and no one else is allowed to play on the field with them. Of course, his follow up question was: Mama, why isn't Daddy's job playing football? I told him his Daddy hurt his wrist playing football a long time ago so he can't play football as a job.
Then after a little while later he said, "Mama, I wish that one day I could run and play football on that field and you and Daddy could watch me on tv!!" This kind of melted my heart...it was so sweet to hear him dreaming out loud.
I also heard lots of, "oooooh! Mama, they're being really mean! That's not nice."
Plus a million, bazillion more questions! He also really loved the commercials! I have to say, the sports channels have the BEST commercials. Hudson was laughing so hard that he would get what we have termed 'the giggle-ups' during every commercial break.
We decided we are going to take Hudson to a game for his birthday! We bought him a new 'football shirt' and he was sooooo excited. Infact, the following morning he told me, "Mama, I love you for getting me new spiderman jammies and a football shirt!".
We had a really fun evening together! Jason also had a lot fun with the guys at the football game. Thank you Jeramy!!
The new Children's Museum in The Woodlands just opened up so we took Hudson to check it out. He had so much fun and has asked to go back a million times. It is a way smaller version of the Children's Museum downtown but it is still super fun for the kids and it is close by.
We were so excited to have Tom & Micaela and their family come down to visit us!! The kids had such a great time playing together! Hudson and Evan loved wrestling and playing rough. I was given strict instruction on how and when to cheer during their wrestling matches. Once they wore off some of that aggression, I decided it was time to make a little art work. They all had fun painting and making their handprints. Then we went swimming and had dinner over at Shawna and Jeff's house while the boys talked business. You would have thought the kids would have been nice and worn out after this but when we all came home and got the kids ready for their slumber party in Hudson's room...we heard nothing but chatter and giggles in there! I stood by the door to listen for a little while and I heard Hudson saying, "You guys, you guys...I just can't sleep while you are talking. You just need to be quiet so we can sleep" I giggled because he sounded like such a goodie-two-shoes! Then as soon as I made it back to the couch, we saw the lights come on! I went in to investigate and of course they all decided they were thirsty all at once! I went to get them drinks and then I was given instruction to close the door because the light coming in might be what was keeping them awake! hehe...Then the light came on again! I'm not sure why this time! Chayse decided she had enough of these boys and asked to sleep in the bed with Micaela. Then Hudson wanted to move down on the floor with Evan. After all of the shuffling around was complete...they finally went to sleep!
The next morning, Tom & Micaela treated all of us to kolaches and doughnuts. We had the pleasure of eating breakfast with table full of super heros! Then, the kids had fun cruising around in Hudson's jeep until it was time for The Black's to head back home. Next time they come, they will have a new addition...Karsyn (#4)! We can't wait to meet her!
After some coaching at home and some re-explaining how soccer worked, we took Hudson to his 2nd soccer practice. It started out really well but he started lose interest about half way through. I think the bad experience of that first game kind of did him in. He was looking forward to going but once he started getting hungry for dinner he really didn't want to participate. I did learn that most of the kids on his team were 4 and not 3 so maybe that makes a difference too. I still wasn't ready to give up just yet and tried to get him pumped up about his next game.
His 2nd soccer practice was full of more drills. They learned how to pass the ball from person to person and how to kick the ball with more precision (well, as much more as possible for a 3/4 year old!)
We got up nice and early on the 4th to drive to the airport in Cleveland. Uncle Bill and my Mom were very nice to get up early too and drive us there. We got all checked in and boarded our plane. Flying back was much easier. We were all in the same row so it made everything much, much smoother!
As soon as we go home, we stopped at a fireworks stand and got Hudson a package of fireworks that he would be able to do. He was so excited!! It was like torture for him to wait until it got dark outside to light them. We let him do all of the things that didn't require it to be dark outside to enjoy as soon as we got home and got unpacked. Shortly after we finished doing some of the smoke bombs and firecrackers with Hudson, Jeff called and invited us over to swim. We took the rest of our fireworks over and did them in the cul-de-sac once it was dark enough. It was a good way to round off our vacation! I love summer time!!
The next morning, since we didn't have any groceries, we went to Rise & Dine for breakfast and then we went to the park until it got too hot! It was also our anniversary--13 years!! Wow!
Fireworks!! We celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd! Uncle Bill’s neighbor always does a fantastic fireworks display and we get front row seats by the water! Plus, there are always some great firework displays by Charlie Frye (who is Willard's claim to fame and my Godfather's nephew) and a couple other families on the lake that we also get to enjoy. The weather was perfect. We had lots of family and friends to celebrate with---which also means more super yummy food!! This was our last day in Ohio. Boo! I had to spend much of the day rounding up all of our stuff and getting packed up. We had to get up early the next morning to go to the airport and fly back home. We had such a fabulous vacation and really, really enjoyed the time we got to spend with our wonderful family. We are very grateful to Uncle Bill and Aunt Beth for letting us stay with them and for hosting such a great week for everyone!
Hudson finally got to play a little cornhole!
Fireworks over the lake: While we were in Ohio, London turned 8 months old! During our week there, she started clapping, waving "Hi" and "Bye", and she started dancing!! Here she is in her 4th of July outfit that Uncle Josh got for her:
More fun in the sun! We took Hudson and London to the beach to swim and play in the sand!
Don’t worry, I didn’t leave London out in the sun to bake her precious skin…I just posed her for the picture. : )
Hello! My name is Hudson Kade Holladay. My mom says I have eyes like an endless sunny sky & eyelashes like long, feathery spider legs. She says I have a smile that will brighten any day and a giggle that is contagious to anyone within hearing distance. And she says I have a soul that is so pure and sweet that every person that I meet can taste the sugar on my cheeks! So pucker up and enjoy the story of my everyday life! : )
I'm proud to announce I now have a new baby sister! London Elaine Holladay joined our family October 26, 2009! I always hold my arms out as wide as they can stretch and I say, "I love London tttthhhhhhiiissssssss much!!". She has beautiful blue eyes that are as bright as the sun and sparkle like a shimering diamond. She makes the most precious, sweet sounds to let us know she is happy and loves us too! I am so excited to grow up with her and to have her as my forever-friend!
