Hudson is One!!

Stats:

Height: 31.5" (93%)

Weight: 21lbs 15oz (36%)

Check out Hunter's 1st Birthday

Hunter was 25lbs and 32 inches at 1 year. 

I can't believe my baby is no longer a baby, but I'm also so excited to see him grow up! He's just so sweet and I've noticed that I really do baby him more than I did with Hunter. Hudson still loves his pacifier (which I'm trying to break besides sleeping this week) and uses a bottle. I was not having any of that with Hunter by this age, but things change. Plus...he really isn't showing any interest in learning how to use a straw or a sippy cup. It will come. 

He's gone up the weight curve a bit from his last appointment, which made me happy. Since birth, except at his 9 month appointment, he's steadily been in the 30-40 percentile range, glad to see him back on that. He's a chow hound still! This last weekend he refused to eat raw mushrooms, which was the first food we've seen him show any dislike for. He's strictly eating table food now, no baby food for this big guy. He usually eats whatever we are eating, just cut up in bite sized pieces. And in the last couple weeks we have transitioned him to whole milk.

He's still in size 3 diapers and 6-12 months clothes. I think he'll have to wear 12-18 month pants for length once it's not 100 degrees here everyday. He's still sleeping like a pro. He goes down around 7pm and wakes up between 7-8am each morning. Still liking his two, two hour naps each day. Today he actually took a four hour nap because we were late getting him down due to the doctor appointment. 

He got all four first year molars in the last month... yes, 4 molars during his 11th month. So, he's got 12 teeth by his birthday. He's still not walking yet, just keeping a hand on the wall or furniture and cruising around. He's stood for a couple seconds on his own, but that's it. No rush for me!!! 

He's said "mum" a few times, but no words or "ma-ma" or "da-da" yet. To be expected, I suppose. BUT.... he's consistently used FOUR signs this much and I couldn't be more proud. He does "eat", "more", "duck", and "milk" and uses them often.

We had a little birthday party for him at our house last week. It was so much fun to have a couple close friends over to celebrate his big day. A friend from church made his birthday cake, which I loved!! 

The Big 3-0

Yup, it came and went... I turned 30 on Sunday. (Hudson turned 1 on Saturday, post coming.) We celebrated our birthdays by spending four days in Dallas.

Back in April, I made this list of things to accomplish by my birthday:


1. Finish reading the entire bible. I just started a couple weeks ago and am almost through Numbers. Sadly, I did not make it through the whole Bible, not even quite close. I'm about halfway through the Old Testament, but I'm slowly, but consistently still working on it. In Proverbs right now.

2. Lose 15lbs. I have not talked about the baby weight that I have not lost...it's a sore subject. Well, not sore, just depresses me a bit. I'll post about this soon. Another negative. I've probably lost about 5 pounds since April. But this week I'm kicking it into gear! (More on that later)

3. Make a trip to Dallas with the family. Do some shopping, hopefully see a baseball game, go to the aquarium and zoo with the kids. Accomplished!!

4. Start and finish C25K. Sure did! Ran a 5K in 31 minutes. Pretty proud of this accomplishment.

5. Start learning how to quilt. Nope, haven't sewn at all lately. I feel okay about that though.

6. Have straight teeth. Getting Invisalign this next week and it should take about 5 months. Yes! I finished by Invisalign program! But... I'm electing to get some additional trays to refine my teeth and make them even straighter. 

Well...didn't accomplish all my list, but the losing weight thing is the only one I'm that bummed about. I've been reading the Bible quite a bit, but also along with other Bible studies.

Now... here's some pictures of our four days in Dallas.

On my birthday, we started the day at Gateway church in South Lake, Texas. It was awesome, great worship and a great message.

Then we ran around, had lunch, went to Costco...and then ended up at Benihana for dinner.

 

On Monday, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium.

 

 

And on Tuesday, we went to the Dallas Zoo.

And there you have it... pretty much sums up our time in Dallas in pictures! :) 

 

Hudson is 11 Months!

Yup, you read right. My baby is only a month away from not being a baby anymore. The time sure has flown by. To party plan or not to party plan? Right now we are thinking of just getting out of town since his 1st birthday is the day before my 30th birthday. We're thinking either Dallas or Branson for 3 or 4 days. I bet get on that.

Hudson is cruising on the furniture like a wild man, not quite walking yet though. I'm kind of liking that he's not walking yet, trying to keep him more baby-like for as long as possible! But he's still pulling up on everything and crawls over obstacles like nothing is too big for him. If he's on the couch, he easily gets down on his own.

This boy was made to eat and sleep. That's pretty much what he does with the majority of his time. He sleeps 12-13 hours straight at night and then takes 2 two hour naps each day. He's not really on a schedule on what time he goes down for naps and bed, we just kind play it by ear each day. He usually only likes to be up for 2.5-3 hours between each nap/sleep. This kid eats anything and everything still. We have yet to find a food he doesn't like, he just gobbles it all down. I keep meaning to take a video of him eating a whole banana...it somehow only takes about 20 seconds for him to accomplish the task.

He has a completely different temperament than Hunter did at this age. Hunter was more content to do whatever, he would sit on your lap, watch TV, play with whatever toy you put in front of him. Hudson, not so much. Don't get me wrong, he is a very easy baby.... as long as you feed him or put him down for a nap the very minute he wants it. He's not very patient. And he's into everything, never stops moving, and rarely wants to be held. Much more opinionated and independent than Hunter was.

We went to Oklahoma City to take him to see the audiologist for a behavioral hearing test and for a follow up with the ENT to see how the tubes in his ears are doing. They did the test without his hearing aids and his hearing is quite a bit better than what the sedated test showed last month. The audiologist seemed quite puzzled. (Here's a rundown of all the test results we have gotten, which my explain why is this so frustrating. Diagnosed in October with mild-moderate loss, behavorial test in April was mild, sedated test in July was moderate with a small dip into severe, yesterday's behavioral showed mild.) He's always done much better in the behavioral tests than the ones that measure his hearing level with brain waves. Anyways...we are continuing to pray for improvement and healing.

He's still not making any consonant sounds, like ma-ma or da-da. Not stressing too much about it yet. I don't think Hunter did until 10 or 11 months and Hudson's "hearing age" started when he got his aids at 3 months old. So they would expect him to be at least 3 months behind. We'll see...

Hudson still loves playing with his brother and dog all day long. Three little buddies, I love it! He's still easily in 6-12 months clothes and size 3 diapers. I weighed him on our scale today and he's about 20lbs, so that means he's put on over a pound in the last month. Woo-hoo!!

Women of Faith

This last weekend, I went to Women of Faith in Oklahoma City with a group of ladies from church. I'd never been to a large Christian convention/conference before. And I have to say it was pretty darn amazing. So many great speakers and musicians. I left feeling inspired and motivated to keep moving and growing with my walk with God.

Sometimes I feel like my faith is sitting stagnant, not moving forward, but then I force to think about my walk and the huge steps I've taken in the last several years. And I realize how incredible to change in me has been through Christ. Wowza. I can't wait to see where the Lord takes me in the coming months and years.

Lysa Terkeurst spoke first and her message moved me the most by far. She spoke on our feeling and our reactions. How as women we have emotions and they allow us to love and feel, but we also have to be disciplined in how they cause us to react. I know that I tend to be highly reactive and explosive in my home. When I feel like Jesse has done me wrong, I explode into a tirade. I keep track of wrongs and I let them be known. Yeah...not good.
Lysa talked about addressing the issue and not attacking the person, putting the issue into perspective, putting the relationship before the situation, and thinking about whether proving that you are right is more important than improving the relationship. Those keys hit me hard. She ended her message with the advice to never take your eyes off the Master because He knows things that I don't know.

Craig Groeshel, Patsy Clairmont, Christine Caine, and Priscilla Shirer also delivered powerful messages.

And the worship....so amazing!! The worship team from Gateway church near Dallas, Kari Jobe, and Mercy Me were all there to lead. It was great to be in a room of thousands of women that have given their hearts to Jesus.

If Women of Faith are coming to an area near you, I recommend checking it out. It was amazing. Here is their tour schedule for 2013.

Meals Ministry

After reading Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I really brainstormed ways to serve and what my spiritual gifts are. My top gifts are giving, serving, and hospitality. I love to cook, bake, and most of all, give the food away to others. There's something about feeding others that brings me so much joy.

I decided that starting up a Meals Ministry at church would be great. There was a need, I was willing to lead, Jan was willing to host it at her house, and I knew of so many ladies that were willing to help. PERFECT!!

The life group that I go to on Tuesdays was so supportive when I mentioned it a couple months ago. Their enthusiasm was what really motivated me. They immediately started brainstorming ideas for meals and names for the ministry. It was awesome!!  They were more of a blessing to me than they know. Our group got together a few weeks later and made six meals to keep in the freezer and disperse as needed. We also decided on the name "Seasoned with Love".

Jesse designed this logo for us and had it printed on stickers to put on top of the casserole lids. LOVE it!

We've met one more time since then and were able to get several other ladies from the church to join us. We made four more main dishes and then some desserts as well. I plan the menu and then let each lady know of an ingredient or two to bring, it works out great. While all of us can't be in the kitchen at the same time, we read "Bible Questions Answered" and put together plate, utensils, napkins, and a note card together to grab and add with the meal later on.

So far, we have made meatloaf, chicken pot pie, meatball sub casserole, chicken lasagne, lasagne, brownies, and frozen peanut butter pie. The meals have all gone to great homes and have gotten great response back. We are getting together again in a couple weeks I'm I think we'll be making a layered enchilada casserole, ham and white bean soup, and four layer nougat bars. Mmmmmm.

It's just so wonderful to get together with other women and serve the Lord and his followers.

 

Wonderful women of God from our last gathering. Love these ladies so much. 

I'll try to remember to take more pics next time and also share the recipes!  Also...if you have any recipes that freeze great, I would love for them to share them with me!! You can e-mail them to me at turnersa@gmail.com 

Have a blesssed day.  

My Little Patriot

 

Hunter was playing out in the backyard the other day when I heard the national anthem start (4:30pm everyday on base). I wanted to make sure he was being respectful, so I glanced outside to find this. He stood like this for the entire song. I love this little boy so much and his heart to respect and honor his country. Brought tears to my eyes. 

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
 Proverbs 22:6

Lately

I don't remember the last time I blogged without it being a update on Hunter and Hudson. Not sure if I'm just not feeling it lately or if I just don't have anything exciting to write about. But this is what has been going on around here.

1. Finally got around to hanging pictures in Hudson's room, 6 months after we moved here, thanks to my good friend Georgia's help. Now I've got to think about doing the same in Hunter's room.

 

 

2. My parents drove out to Oklahoma to visit for a little over a week. We had a great time. We went to OKC, checked out the wildlife refuge, went bowling, went to the pool, and just relaxed. Hunter was so sad to see them leave, it broke my heart. He's really understanding the distance between "home" and Oklahoma now.

Here are some pics from the Wichita Falls Wildlife Refuge. So thankful Jesse took the camera, because they are the only pictures that were taken all week. Whoops. 

3. Just finished reading This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. SO good. It's a fictional book about a town that is struggling with spiritual warfare. It just paints a visual picture of the angel and demons that surround us daily and also reminded me to pray with authority over the negative forces in our lives. I fully recommend this book.

 

4. Hunter and Hudson are just melting my heart these days. The truly love each other. Hunter gets upset whenever I put Hudson down for a nap or for the night because he says he's not done playing with him. They really play all day everyday. They wrestle, play with toys, look at books, etc. Love it!

 

 

I've got a couple more things going on around here, but thing they are worthy of their own posts. Hoping to get back to blogging more, if not for anything else, but to have photos and words to look back on in the future.