2011: Year in Review

What an amazing year it has been. I was thinking about this while I was in the shower this morning (Okay...maybe it was late afternoon before I got around to that). This time last year Hudson was just a wishful thought, and now here he is, keeping me up all hours of the night. It's unbelievabled how much things can change in only a year.

12:00 am January 1, 2011

 Danny and I decided to start our family in December and on January 17th I found out I was pregnant. It was absolutely unbelievable at the time that we concieved so quickly and I am so thankful now that things worked out the way they did! I had convinced myself that it was going to take months and months to get pregnant, so needless to say when it took one month I was surprised. Hudson is my sweet little miracle. 

This time last year Danny had just decided to start back at Verizon. A few months later his store closed and his District Manager asked Danny to take a position as an Assistant Manager to keep him in his district (far far away). He's now an Assistant at Plainfield, and I'm hoping to have an update next year that will have him closer to home. (The hour long drive each way is too much!).

For Valentines Day Danny was so sweet and surprised me with flowers, candy, ballet tickets, and a promise to rub my feet every week until I delivered. (That did not happen). He isn't usually the best about getting me things for Valentine's Day so it was a really sweet surprise!

My favorite candies in one box!

Apparently nothing exciting happened between the months of March and May because I can't think of anything worth mentioning! In May we found out Hudson was a little boy, and after MANY scares that there was something wrong with him, the specialists put our mind at ease that he looked perfect just in time for our vacation.

We had planned on going to Boston and Cape Cod in August, but with getting pregnant so soon I thought the last thing I would want to do is go to a beach in August 8 months pregnant. So we made plans to go to three cities we had never been before but had always wanted to go to in May. First we went to Nashville, then Savannah, then Charleston. It was a great trip with a perfect mixture of beaches, food, site seeing, and history.

Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, TN

Spanish Moss covered Oak Trees in Savannah, GA 

Dream Porch in Charleston, SC

 It was a great "Babymoon" and I look forward to going back to all those places again! Although, not all in one trip this time. It was a little too much crammed into 8 days.

I had my first babyshower in June and it was absolutely perfect. Katie threw it and did a great job! It was so me and everything and everyone made me feel so special. Not to mention all the great gifts I snagged!

A small example of all the adorable decorations!

The worlds best chicken salad made by Kathy

Cake made by Art Z

Kathy, Katie, Me, and Mom

I quit my full time job in July and watched the triplets and Emily for a few days a week the rest of the summer.  It was so much fun to spend time with them since I don't see them much anymore. And, they are such fun kids we had a great time every day! I'm sure I wasn't as much fun as I have been in past summers being hugely pregnant and it being unbearably hot outside, but I hope they still had fun.

We also had Hudson's 3D ultrasound done in July, which was amazing!

 

 

Hudson at 30 weeks gestation

And I had my second baby shower in Ohio hosted by my Aunt Bonnie for all my Ohio family.

Aunt Bonnie, Mom, Me, Bryston

I spent most of the month of Augst either laying in mom's pool, taking naps, or having nervous breakdowns that we were about to have a baby. Sometimes all at the same time!

September Hudson made his appearance. We were in the hospital for 2 days before he came, and 3 days after he came. But it all went by so fast...

yuck.

Two minutes old

on our way home!

Danny was off almost the whole month of October with me which was SO nice. It was so nice to have him there to help but even more nice just to have him there! It felt like a mini vacation. (A vacation where we were very tired). He was a sweet monster for Halloween...

Maybe a little bit of a serious, and grouchy monster

 And in November started smiling!!

Hudson and Daddy

cheese!

We had a delicious and fun Thanksgiving with both sides of our family...

baby's first Thanksgiving

Family picture

And December brought all kinds of fun celebrations!

Christmas Card Front

Christmas Card Back

Gifts from Nanna, Aunt Kaite and Uncle Mike

Christmas Morning

I am so excited to see what the next year will bring. I know there will be so many more fun changes as Hudson grows up and I can't wait to see them all! I hope you all had as great of a year as we did.

Christmas!!

Well, it's the 26th and Christmas is over. Other than our Christmas with my moms side of the family (Grandma, Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike, and Bryston) we are done with Christmases! Usually we have lots of Christmases to go to at this point but this year we got them all over with early. (Apparently all you have to do to hurry people along is have a baby).  Our first one was with Danny's mom and Katie, and it is where Hudson got the most loot probably.

We had a great breakfast made by Danny's mom and a great time! Danny had to work in the afternoon so we left around 12...it was strange to be by myself (and a sleeping baby) for the rest of the day after Christmas. The best gift of all went to his Uncle Mike who got him the sweetest thing. I thought it was just a bottle of Whiskey but then we saw that it has the inscription "Hudson Applegate Don't open until 21. Have your first drink with Uncle Mike." Sooo thoughtful. We love it.

 

Look at all his stuff! 

 

I love this picture with his Aunt Katie. 

The next Christmas was with my dad, step mom and step sister. Last year we had our Christmas in APRIL so we vowed to have it earlier this year.

They got Hudson a giant teddy bear.  We obviously put him in it ASAP for pictures.

They stayed for the night and left in the morning-it was fun while it lasted! Christmas morning Hudson slept until I finally woke him up myself to go to my moms at 7:45. While we were waiting for him to get up I woke Danny up at 5:30 so we could have our Christmas together. He got me the sweetest gift-a ring and necklace with Sapphires and diamonds because Sapphires are Hudson's birthstone. And he got me my all time favorite movie as a child Fivel Goes West and An American Tale so I can watch those with Hudson. He also got me another Krinkles raindeer to add to my collection.

 

I got him some clothes, a PS3 game, and 2 DVDs that he was excited about (Workaholics season 1 and Idiot Abroad season 2). And some other small stuff and stocking stufers. Oh, and I got ahold of his dad and got some ornaments Danny was telling me about that he made when he was a child that were his favorite so I was excited to give him those! And it will be nice to have them on our tree next year. So we woke Hudson up and took a quick picture in front of the tree and then headed to my Mom's house.

As usual Mom and Dean got us way too much stuff. (We weren't complaining though). Most exciting was the Christmas PJs I have been lusting after.

 I have a feeling Santa will bring me extra things next Christmas if I wear these. Hudson was excited about his stocking (especially because I couldn't find one cute enough so he didn't have one at our house this year...)

We played...

 

Read some educational books...

 

Snuggled...

 And then had so much fun we needed a nap.

After Christmas with them and breakfast we headed back to our house and Danny's dad came over and we exchanged gifts with him. He got Hudson an adorable Mickey mouse outfit (no pics yet) and then we went back to my mom's for Christmas dinner with my grandma, Aunt, and cousin. He changed outfits to this totally cute one...

 And he got a fun new drum that he was pretty into!

After that we headed home and opened the gifts we got Hudson for him, except I bought him Lion King and can't find it anywhere. No clue where it is hiding.

He had a really big day but did great! Only a few fussy moments. He's been so sweet and funny lately! (He's laying beside me right now laughing and kicking). Christmas with him was everything I imagined! I can't wait until next year!

3 Months!

Hudson turned 12 weeks yesterday...it has gone by so fast! I wanted to update his weekly pictures on here...

I didn't think it was possible that he would cuter, but I think he has!! He is smiling so much right now and laughing. It is the cutest noise on earth! I just love him so much. Now that he is sleeping through the night things are A LOT easier! We found out he had reflux last week, and now that he's on meds he is doing much better. He started arching his back and screaming and kicking me every time I tried to feed him...at first I thought maybe he was getting frustrated with the bottle and we needed to move up a nipple size, but once I bought new nipples he still was doing it. We took him into the doctor and by the end of the weekend he was doing much better! I hope he's feeling better too.

He had his first thanksgiving this month, which was a lot of fun. We had it at our house and it was nice for everyone to spend time with Hudson I think. Danny's mom made all the food and it was absolutely delicious! Mom and Dean and Mike and Katie came over as well, and it was nice to all be together.

He has all of his Christmas celebrations coming up soon, starting tomorrow! Tomorrow is Christmas with Danny's family and I am excited for good food and presents! We are really looking forward to Christmas this year with Hudson! I have a few fun toys for him, and The Lion King and Bambi (even though it is most certainly the saddest of all Disney movies). I'm making him a book called "family" that we can put pictures of our family in so he can look through them even if he doesn't see them every day. Hudson is lucky to have so many people that love him. I'm in the middle of wrapping all our gifts right now, and am almost finished! Unfortunately Bernard thinks the tree skirt is his personal dog bed and isn't leaving much room for presents.

He's still as cute as ever. I'm feeling bad for the dogs because we aren't letting them sleep with us anymore....they are too loud and wake Hudson up. So they are confined to downstairs, and I don't spend as much time with them as I used to! They are driving me crazy with the hair and dirty dog prints everywhere though...I wish the ground would freeze again and it would quit raining! I mop and sweep at least once a day. I'm sick of that.

We sent out our Christmas cards last week, and I must say I am IN LOVE with them.

Here are a few that didn't make the cut:

I need to get back to wrapping gifts while Hudson is still asleep! Just wanted to update quickly while I had the time. I will be sure to update about his first Christmas :)