Fall Means Football

To his father's delight, Hudson has come to learn about many sports, including football. At the first Stillwater home game, Hudson started to say "football game." If you know Hudson, you know when he talks he often draws things out and kinda sings them. This phrase is the same way. Very funny.

We've been to several Stillwater Pioneer games to watch a few of our youth boys play. Hudson has enjoyed all the action and the lights. When we went to the Stillwater-Union game, we cheered for Stillwater, but I did try to teach him the Union fight song. :)

We also made a trip to Nashville to see Jay's side of the family and watch Mississippi State play football. As usual, Susu had a great outfit for Hudson to wear to the game. We got to stay at Opryland and enjoyed the visit with family. The Bulldogs won, making the trip even better. Way-to-go, Papa Rock!

This past weekend was OSU homecoming, so we participated in several of those fun events. The Pattersons came up and filled our house with activity for a night. Hudson was just so excited for them to be here! We went to Walk Around with all the crowds of people. Hudson and Spencer were not so sure about the event. My favorite q uotes from the night were: Spencer, "This is not fun!" and Hudson, "No! No! No!" as we walked away from one of the first house decs. They did warm up to the concept as the night went on. We also enjoyed the OSU parade. Hudson's favorit es were Pistol Pete, horses, and the fire trucks. He kept asking for "Mo Pete-Pete."

Hudson watching as Pistol Pete drove by!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

October 7, 2009, Hudson turned two years old! We have so many great memories of Hudson in these two years, giving us many reasons to celebrate.
So...we celebrated over several days. The morning of Hudson's birthday we started by enjoying chocolate chips muffins complete with a number 2 candle. Hudson loved the "party song." He liked it so much so that he asked us to sing it to him several times that day. He opened a few presents from Mom and Dad. Then we spent the morning at the Tulsa Zoo. He loved the monkeys and the train! His memory is getting so much strong. We've only been to the zoo once before, but he knew where we were as soon as we crossed over the bridge. We then had lunch with Pa and Gigi afterwards. Hudson was delighted to see them. He got a cool fire truck and a great cookie, then a balloon from the hostess. That night we went to church, a fun place for Hudson. He got a few more yummy goodies from sweet friends and lots of birthday wishes.The celebration continued on Saturday with Hudson's birthday party. It was a special day because so many of our favorite people were there. Susu and Stephen drove all the way from Mississippi, and the cousins/my sisters came despite feeling a little sick (germ-x should have been given away in the favor bags!). Fire trucks were the theme, and they were everywhere! We even had 2 great fire truck birthday cakes. Hudson didn't like opening his presents much more than last year. He opened a present of matchbox cars from Uncle Stephen before the party started and really just wanted those. Hudson received some great gifts, even a new swing set. One of the highlights was seeing Hudson's face light up as we sang him Happy Birthday and brought him a cup cake. This year he blew out his candle on his own. He did try to touch it again though. Maybe we'll be better at that by next year. Somehow I don't think so!

We love you, Hudson!

Who Does He Look Like?

Jay has always told me that Hudson has my face shape, particularly my chin. I think I believe him now after looking at this picture. I take it as such a compliment that my beautiful little boy might resemble me!

I Diddd It!!

(No, I didn't misspell "did;" that's just the way Hudson says it!)

After accomplishing great feats such as putting a piece in a puzzle or some equally daunting task, Hudson loves to say with pride "I diddd it!"

There seems to be an internal clock within him telling him that it's time to make some changes now that he is almost two. I recently started a book about two year olds (Making the Terrible Twos Terrific...very good read, thanks Susan), and it seemed the next day Hudson was exhibiting some of those two year old behaviors. He would insist on independence one moment, and then frantically chase me down the hall wailing the next moment because I tried to walk out of his room. I wondered if maybe he read the book while I wasn't looking.

Part of me must be a little crazy because I have actually enjoyed hearing Hudson use the word "no." It has tickled me to hear him begin to exercise his opinion. He does not like putting his head in the water during a bath, so when we've asked him to do so recently, he shakes his head and makes a little noise for no. His "no's" are usually just a polite refusal. Of course, there are times when I have to go against his request of no, but he has handled that okay so far.

Growing up will bring some disappointments for us as parents as we have to let Hudson be more independent, like today when Hudson decided to read books to himself before nap instead of letting me read to him. But it's also so wonderful to watch him grow and develop. We've had so much fun these past 2 weeks letting him fill in the blanks to songs and books. We were shocked at what all he has memorized. It's amazing how much knowledge he has been storing in his little mind...and a warning for us as his parents to realize how much he is soaking up of what we say.

I love watching Hudson as he gains confidence in new tasks and will say triumphantly, "I did it!"...even if is just a puzzle piece.

Meet Baby Zachary

On Tuesday, August 4, Zachary Ryan was born. We were all quite surprised as Teresa had a c-section scheduled for two days later. Zachary still would have been about 2 weeks early then. He decided that wasn't soon enough, I suppose.

Hudson enjoyed meeting "Baby Zach." Uncle Seth gave him a toy to play with while Mommy held the new baby, so he wasn't not bothered at all. The cousins/big siblings all got to wear cool matching t-shirts thanks to Aunt Kandace.

Zachary will be a special baby to our family as he would have been such a close cousin to our Eliot. They would have been about 6 weeks apart.

My Favorite Friends...

After Kelly's wedding last weekend, Hudson learned the names of some of my friends. Here is Hudson naming off the other girls of the Fab 5...love those girls and love this boy! :)

These are a few of his favorite things...

Right now Hudson's most favorite book is one about trucks. It simply displays pictures of all types of trucks and lists their names. That's it. And yet he loves to read it over and over. Tractor is about the only type of truck name that he can say right now. For the others he points at the truck and says "ba," which we believe means "tell me the name of that one." He really doesn't even need us to name the trucks for him. We were shocked one day recently when we put his knowledge to the test. He was able to identify almost all of the trucks in the book...backhoe loader, track excavator, lifter, street sweeper, and on and on. He could even tell the difference between types of fire trucks. We grow tired of reading this book to him so much, but it's really amazing to see how much he has learned from this one book.

We've also seen his imagination flourish. He is beginning to play more independently as a result. He loves to take little cars or trains and just drive them all over. I have also found him taking objects and pretending they are something else. At the youth house, he loves to play with markers in the tray of a marker board. He lines them up and says "choo, choo" as he pushes them along. This has been an exciting milestone.

He still loves to watch videos of himself. I've been showing him little clips on the computer. We had so much fun this morning watching videos from his first year. My, has our little baby changed!