The Many Adventures of Hudson

Oh how I wish I could freeze time at this age for Hudson! He constantly keeps us laughing and his eyes melt my heart. I wish someone could follow him around with a video camera constantly because he says so many cute, funny things as well as just does lots of silly antics I would never be able to describe.

This picture typifies Hudson most of this year...never seen without his hat or his hook. Hudson has always been one to become attached to an object and need it around him at all times. I'm not sure how these two things became his favorite...maybe it was from watching Peter Pan...but we couldn't go anywhere (except church) with out hat and hook.

Before Austin was born, Hudson was our little baby. He loved (and still loves) being held and cuddled. We were so glad to have our family members help after Austin was born so there was always someone for Hudson to cuddle with.

Hudson has a very crazy side too. He loves to play dress up with Ethan, run around the house with flashlights looking for dark rooms to hide in, build tents, make piles of pillows to jump on, and just run around.

Hudson's two year old birthday celebration was fun because some of his cousins and Grandma Cowser were able to be there. Hudson loves angry birds and ice cream...I think he loves ice cream with sprinkles better :-)

Our travels took us to Miami in February. Awesome time of year to be at the beach in Miami. Hudson LOVES the water and sand and would have stayed there all day if he could have.

Hudson is an imitator...of Ethan and Daddy. Here is is trying to be like Daddy who keeps one pen behind his ear.

This is typical Hudson...collecting rocks at the playground instead of playing on the playground. This was right before he got a black eye from falling on the stairs. Hudson is the one prone to black eyes and bloody noses. Hope this isn't a a sign of things to come!

We were able to spend a week at my sister's house. It took a few days for Hudson to get over his fear of Dixie, but once he did, they were pals. I love Hudson's eyes in this picture!

Since Hudson is sandwiched in the middle of brothers, he loves to have one on one time. This was just Hudson and Grandma hanging out on the deck one day. He loves to say "swim, swim, swim" while he is lying down like this. He does this in the bath too...probably why there is water all over the floor after Hudson takes a bath!

Hudson learned how to hit a baseball, drop kick a ball, and ride his tricycle this spring/summer.

He is so different from Ethan in that he will just entertain himself most of the time. He is very imaginative. He cleared out all the toys from the toy box and climbed in his "rocketship."

I wish my mommy brain did better at remembering the funny statements of Hudson! My two favorite that I can remember are "up-a-side down" for upside down and "grill" for girl. Hudson loves watching Little Einsteins. He loves to pretend that he is like one of the boys on the show who has a baton to conduct. So he finds anything straight that can be his "time" (baton) and stands on his stool and says "Beshendo!" (crescendo). He also uses anything he can find, most often his hand, as a rocket ship, making it fly through the sky.

Hudson is by far my best sleeper. He is very observant and can tell me which way to turn to get to church or the library or home. He knows his colors and most of his shapes and letters. He recognizes some numbers and loves to sing songs. He loves to read books and is pretty good at angry birds, for a two year old. Anytime he is scared to go into an uninhabited room he says, "there's a cow in there." He is very sensitive and easily scared by new loud noises. 

He's an all around loveable little boy!

Does your baby sleep through the night?

I have this picture positioned in a very visible spot in my living room for one main reason...encouragement. Through the days, weeks, and months when Austin was such a restless sleeper, this picture gave me a glimmer of hope.

I have asked the question many times of mothers with infants..."So, how does your baby do at night? Are you getting any sleep?"

I'm sure you have asked that question too, out of curiosity, out of sympathy, maybe out of a lack of not knowing what else to say.

I used to not mind it when people asked me that question. I felt like I was doing a great job with the fact the my first two boys slept through the night from early on. I was thankful for good sleepers, and I couldn't understand how other moms had a hard time getting their babies to sleep at night. 

Now I know not every mom thinks like this, but is there anyone else out there that felt a little pride in the fact that your babies successfully slept through the night? I sometimes felt like I earned my mommy badge in the sleep department and I could move on to bigger and harder problems. 

I was very black and white about the whole sleep thing...if your child didn't sleep, you were obviously doing something wrong as a parent.

Then along came our third boy. I felt like my mommy sleeping badge was ripped off my chest. I felt like a failure. I tried everything I had done with my other children. I read books on sleep and tried different techniques. Nothing consistently helped.

It was about that time that I felt like everyone was asking me, "So, how are you sleeping at night?" As if they new my failure. 

In my tired state I wanted to shout back at them, "I'm not, I'm exhausted, and I don't want to hear your suggestions!"

I was discouraged, and tired, so tired. I was desperate too. I remember so many times falling on my knees before God without even knowing what to say. I wanted to complain, I wanted wisdom, I wanted sleep. 

In the midst of my tears, He kept assuring me, "Be still and know that I am God."

I wanted answers, not silence. But silence was what I needed. I can't explain the peace that came when I stopped searching for sleep solutions. In the stillness before God, I realized that I didn't need a solution or a quick fix to my problem. 

I needed to know that my God was near me when I felt so discouraged. That He heard the wordless prayers of my desperation. That He gives grace upon grace to face the challenges of each day. I had to set "Emily's Solutions" aside and rest in the fact that God would guide me through this time in my life. 

You know, the pressure of finding answers to pressing problems fades away quickly when you give the problem and the need for answers over to God. "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Proverbs 16:3 Yes, God even cares about guiding me with wisdom in how to care for my children. AWESOME!

So I never found a complete sleep solution, and there are still nights when my 10 month old is restless. But I realized that just because my baby doesn't sleep at night, doesn't mean I have failed in some way. (I'm not writing this for sympathy at all, it is just something I had to come to grips with.) I also learned that just because someone else's child may not perform specific things at certain milestones doesn't mean that they are parenting incorrectly. They may just do things differently, parents and babies alike. And that is okay! 

And in 15 years from know, I bet my third boy will be the hardest one to wake up in the morning :)

10 months of Austin!

Austin Daniel...our third boy! When I found out I was pregnant with Austin, I wasn't quite ready to have a baby in the house again. I'm so thankful that God has a perfect time for all things. I remind myself of this often when I am overwhelmed with 3 little boys.

OH Photography

When choosing a name for Austin, we felt like we had hit a brick wall. We had lots of girl names ready but not another boy name we could AGREE on. I kept holding out for Caleb or Jacob. We also liked Owen, Gavin and Brandon and my husband liked Evan. The stipulation for the first name was that it had to end with an "n" (like our other two, Ethan and Hudson). The middle name was required to start with a "d" like his brothers. We settled on the Daniel for the middle name pretty easily, but the first name came  close to the end of the pregnancy as a suggestion from a couple in one of the churches we were doing a tournament at. The meaning of a name is pretty important for me as well, so no wonder we had a hard time deciding with all our stipulations!

OH Photography

Austin :: useful, revered

Daniel :: God is my judge

Austin was born in the midst of sickness in our house, but praise the Lord he was a healthy little jelly bean! He was my smallest baby.... 6 pounds, 9 ounces, but very long...22 inches. I love the memories of Austin tightly swaddled with his hospital hat on and his tiny little eyes looking for me. From the start he seemed to be a good baby and all were thrilled to welcome him home.

OH Photography

He came 15 days before Christmas, so he was my special Christmas gift. Very alert little boy that didn't seem to require as much sleep as his brothers. He is a very fair boy, fair light blonde hair and fair flawless skin. He was my only child that didn't have jaundice.

OH Photography

Jonathan is an awesome dad! He has survived watching 3 c-sections, which is saying a lot for my easily queasy husband. He takes over and helps out with all 3 children and knows how to care for me and make me take it easy. He's really good at making cereal for breakfast too :)

I'm am so thankful for the help of my family after Austin's birth. My sister and dad took Ethan away for a week and my mom cared for Hudson at home while I was still in the hospital. She then cared for me and Austin while I recovered from my c-section. It was special to have my dad around for this baby's birth. He has never been able to make it when my other boys were born. We all celebrated Christmas together too.

Austin fattened up quickly and loved watching his brothers play. He adjusted to a schedule nicely and slept well through noise those first few weeks of life. Here he is at one month old...

At two months old, we started traveling with him. He did a good job for such a little baby! He did develop a bad cold when he was 9 weeks old with such a wheezy cough and squeaky breathing. I spent many nights helping him try to sleep through the difficult breathing. Thankfully he checked out ok and it did eventually clear up.

Austin started smiling "for real" around 9 weeks old. At 10 weeks he celebrated his first Valentine's Day.

At 11 weeks, we took Austin on his first outdoor walk in the stroller in Ft. Lauderdale. At 12 weeks he visited the beach for the first time. We visited the beach in Miami, FL where Austin just slept in his stroller the whole time. About this time, Austin was a very good sleeper...took great naps and slept for about 6-8 hrs at night. Even after I tried to wake him during the day for a feeding, he continued snoozing in the corner of the couch. I have learned that if Austin is having a growth spurt, he sleeps AWESOME, but if he isn't he is very restless.

3 months old and happy traveler!

At 4 months old, Austin started rolling over and constantly practicing his new trick while he was sleeping. He stopped sleeping soundly at night and was so hard to get to settle down for naps. But no matter how much sleep he got, he was always the same happy boy during his awake times.

Visiting Aunt Laurel's house

First Easter

Visiting Grandma and Papa's house

Meeting Pop-pop

At 5 months Austin loved to roll around, jump and jump and jump, make sounds and play with toys.

 At 6 months Austin started sitting all by himself. He lost most of his hair, and it started coming back in very fine and light blonde. By the end of 6 months Austin no longer sat in one spot. He figured out how to move from place to place by propelling his body forward while still in the sitting position. Austin began to say "dada dada"all the time.

At 7 months, Austin started crawling! He crawled an army crawl by walking one leg and crawling on the other. Towards the end of 7 months he began pulling up on furniture. He began to roll his r's and say "dada" and his favorite words seem to be "book" and "Jesus."

 At 8 months, Austin was on the go, moving around furniture, jumping, and crawling. He favored any toy that made noise or that he could chew on. He started taking a bottle or sippy cup again and got his first two teeth!!! He also enjoyed eating baby food more than previous months.

During his 9th month, Austin has added several sounds to his vocabulary..."Mama," "Baba," "Nana." He loves watching the boys play and has started climbing on his brothers when they are lying on the floor. He has even climbed up the first stair on occasion. He loves to hide in small spaces and likes to push the kitchen chairs around. He loves going on walks in his stroller. Sweet potatoes and fruit are his favorite baby foods. He has also started eating solids like puffs, cheerios, cheese, and banana bread. He loves to put toys into containers and take them out again. He goes down our little slide and excitedly recognizes the neighbor's cat. He is now pushing his walker around while walking behind it. His favorite place to hang out is the open dishwasher and the front door where he can watch all that goes on outside. He is starting to show displeasure when toys are taken away from him or he has to be confined in his high chair.

A huge answer to prayer is that he is sleeping through the night again and seems much more settled while sleeping than he has ever been before. I never thought I would make it to the point of getting a good night's sleep again, but God has answered many, many prayers. More on this to come! It deserves its own post.

Here is the happy boy at 10 months! What exciting things will he do this month?

Adorable Memories

(One year overdue! All these are from October 2012)

Westminister,CO

Happy to be near rocks he can throw

Wearing Ethan's helmet

Neat play area in the Denver Mall

Hudson - 1 1/2

Wyoming

All week long, we threw rocks into the river (not pictured)

First we had to dig the rocks out of the ground

A little boy's paradise

Ethan could throw farther than his pregnant mommy (although, I don't know if
my pregnancy had anything to do with it. Ethan has an arm!)

Silly faces

Love my boys!

7 months pregnant

Loves to put things on his head