Ups and Downs

    Today was a day of ups and downs for me as a mom. Hudson is very fickle in his love for me during the morning hours. He prefers Daniel over me every single morning. If Daniel is holding him and I talk to him, he gets very upset and likes to tell me no. Basically, he is telling me to get lost! Today was no different. He wanted nothing to do with me. He cuddled with Daddy, but then Daddy left for work and Hudson lost it.

    He eventually calmed down and since I was the only one around, I guess he figured I would do for a playing partner. We played cars for a while and played on my phone taking pictures. This is where the morning took a turn. We were on my iPhone playing with the camera and he could see himself and we were making silly faces and he loved it. He giggled and pointed to himself and had a great time. Until...my mom called. Once he couldn't see his face anymore he was furious! I picked up the phone and told him it was Momo and to tell her hi. (I thought this would make him happy since he loves Momo!) He continued to scream so I just began talking to my mom. I hadn't made it 20 seconds into the conversation when he grabs my hand and bites the fire out of my thumb. I am not exaggerating when I say I have never been bit this hard. There was a little blood and lots of throbbing. I was sooo angry! I couldn't believe that my precious baby would do such a thing to his mom out of anger. He, of course, was disciplined and made to tell me he was sorry. I made him kiss my thumb too. I then asked if he was going to be my sweet boy. His response? "No, no, no, no!" haha At least he is honest!

    About 20 minutes later I am still thinking about the incident and feeling like a horrible mother. I would be lying if I said I had a perfect child.  He can be so hard. He can test my patience and make me want to pull my hair out. He loves to disobey and test his limits, as most toddlers do. He is definitely a little stinker! I was crying thinking I am failing as a mom because Hudson doesn't like me (not dramatic at all!). I was thinking that I wasn't disciplining him the right way because he is still acting out. I was just feeling very sorry for myself and wondering how I was going to help make him a sweeter, more obedient child. As I am feeling all of these things, Hudson begins spinning in circles about 15 feet in front of me. He suddenly stops, looks at me for a few moments, and then runs right over to me, gives me a big hug and lays his head on my shoulder for a few seconds. He gets up, gives me a kiss, and runs back to start spinning again. Now if I wasn't crying before, I really was now! He stops spinning and runs over and does it again! It was such a sweet moment. 

    This isn't one of those blog posts that talks about how perfect our day was and how perfect my child is. He is definitely not perfect! He is perfect for me though. Apparently I was lacking in patience before I had Hudson because I am having to work on having more every single day! Even though today started out really ugly, Hudson was able to show me in his own little way that he was sorry for his actions. The rest of the day was so much better and I didn't even get bit again!

My little stinker...disobeying!

  

Queso Lover

The other day my family went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. As I mentioned before, Hudson loves to dip things. He had his own little plate of queso for him to dip some chips in. Apparently, the queso was so good, he decided to forego the chips and just dig in. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

18 Months!

Hudson,
    How in the world has 18 months already passed?! It seems like yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with you! The time is definitely passing too quickly for me. I love how fun and independent you are and I wouldn't trade where you are now, but I also miss my tiny baby!

    You have made a lot of changes this month and you are learning so many things each day. You wake up each day around 8 a.m. and go to bed about 8:30p.m. Your naps are not so great. We are working on it though. You will take 1-2 naps each day. Lately you have decided that you are good taking 40 minute naps! You are so sweet for about an hour after your nap, but you quickly melt down because you are still tired! You are a great breakfast eater. You eat scrambled eggs, cereal bars, or waffles for breakfast. You like two of everything for breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 cereal bars, 2 waffles. When you finish one, you always say "baah" (more) while signing more. It is pretty cute! You eat lunch and dinner with mommy and daddy and have a few snacks in between the meals.
    Your new words this month are snack, egg, star, Matt, no (this is you answer for EVERYTHING now!), star, help, outside, go, waffle (wawa), stuck, and trash. You still babble a lot. You tell us a lot of things (very emphatically!) so I can't wait until I understand everything you are trying to say.
    You have started doing a new smile this month. You mainly do it while you are in your car seat but it is just about the cutest thing ever. You try to show all of your teeth!

You like to "help" a lot. You are mommy's sweet little helper. You love to help with laundry. You like taking clothes out of the dryer and putting clothes into the dryer. You like to dust, sweep, and wipe up messes.

   

















    You have discovered two new loves this month: The Lion King and dipping food in sauces. If there is a dip you can dip your food into, you are all about it. You barely get anything on it, I think you just like the idea of getting to do something with your food. You ask for a movie every single day. If we would let you, you would watch The Lion King 3 times a day. If you want a movie, you say "ba" (movie) and will roar if you want to watch The Lion King. You love Simba. You especially like the part where Simba sings. We were a little concerned when you started cheering for Scar after his song. Hopefully that just means you liked his vocal performance and not the plan he was singing about! ;) j/k

    The big things that happened this month were you got tubes in your ear and you celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving. You got tubes because you had gotten your 7th ear infection in a year and we were tired of watching you hurt and putting you on antibiotics. You are currently suffering through another ear infection after your tubes, but hopefully this is the LAST one.

On our way home from the hospital. The medicine hasn't worn off yet so you were still loopy.

   You currently weigh 22.8 lbs and are 31 inches tall. You are so tiny! People are always surprised when they find out your age because you are so little. You have 6 teeth right now: 3 on top and 3 on bottom. You are working on cutting another top tooth and a molar. Those molars are no fun at all!
   Some of your favorite things to do lately are playing ball. If you can throw it, you are having fun. You like to sit with your back against something and play catch with mommy or daddy.

    You love to play on your train and jet ski. You love Kinley! She is so sweet to you and I know one day you will be the best of friends. You love playing with Presleigh too. You two fight a lot over toys, but you also like to hold hands when walking together and y'all give each other hugs and kisses.

Goofy Wal-Mart kids! Y'all had to wear your hats!

    You have definitely showed me lately how strong-willed you are! At times it is the most frustrating thing to deal with because you know exactly what you want and you are going to do it, even if it gets you in trouble. (Example: getting into Kinley's dog bowl, throwing your food, standing up on a piece of furniture) I know that one day it will be your best quality. God is going to use your strong-willed personality to do great things for Him. You make me laugh every single day. You are so much fun to be around. You bring so much joy and laughter to this house. There isn't a day that goes by that I am not filled with gratitude that I was chosen to be your mom. I love you so much Hudson Porter!
-Mommy