st. george's island

I am so far behind in posts, it's embarrassing. Better late than never, though, right?

We headed to the beach for a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with friends. The house that we stayed at was fantastic, right on the beach (so convenient with the little ones!) with the most beautiful views! We saw dolphins swimming each day, played at the beach, played at the pool, went surf fishing, played games and ate plenty of food. It was the perfect relaxing weekend.

Hudson's first day at the beach

Reese and Mason paling around

lots of digging in the sand and building castles

this little girl does not like to get her face wet...

...but she is always a trooper when Mom makes her do it anyway.

Michael was so excited to go surf fishing. He fished every night, and let the kids try their hand in it too. I'm pretty sure he was the favorite that night.

One night when I went out to keep him company, he let me cast the rod and look what I caught! We brought it home and he cleaned it and cooked it. I think it was the first time I've ever caught a fish and certainly the first time I've ever seen my dinner all the way from the ocean to the plate.

It was so nice to have a little getaway and to enjoy the beautiful weather at the beach. I even stole an hour away at the beach by myself with my book while the kids slept. Dreamy! Reese was in heaven having lots of friends to play with 24/7, and Hudson loved the beach so much he even slept through the night for the first time! Like I said, the perfect relaxing weekend.

sick baby

"We may have to do a spinal tap" are not words you want to hear from your pediatrician about your 7-week old, let me just say.

Last Tuesday, Hudson woke up with a bit of a fever. He usually feels warm to me when he wakes up--could be the swaddle--but on this morning, he felt extra warm. And then he screamed when I tried to feed him. And he screamed even harder when I tried to set him down. (And Hudson is not a fussy kid, so I knew something had to be really wrong.) My first thought was, "How did Hudson get an ear infection? He's breast fed! And he's not even 8 weeks old!" When I called the pediatricians office, they fit us in right away.

Hudson had a fever of 101.8. He didn't want to be moved and screamed during his exam. I was pretty surprised when the doctor said Hudson didn't have an ear infection. The doctor wasn't able to determine right away the source of the fever...which is when he said we may have to do a spinal tap. I wanted to cry, and probably would have if I didn't feel the need to keep my cool in front of Reese. But the doctor seemed calm, bless him. They gave Hudson some Motrin to see if his fever responded and did a foot prick to do some blood work. The doctor came back in the room as soon as he saw that Hudson's blood work was clear. Phew! And, while we waited, Hudson did appear to respond to the Motrin. He was finally calm for the first time all day. But, of course, I was still on edge. We sat in the exam room for almost two hours waiting for Hudson to pee so they could do a urinalysis. He never did. So, the doctor told us to keep an eye on things and come back the next day. Later that evening, Hudson did manage to eat a little bit and even sat contently on my lap for a while before bed. I was feeling encouraged.

The next morning, Hudson's temperature had spiked to 103. I freaked out and moved our follow-up visit earlier in the morning. Back at the doctor's office, we went through all the same checks--still no ear infection or other obvious reason for the fever--and made another attempt at a urinalysis. It took another two hours to get his urine sample. The doctor said at that point we had two options: check him into the hospital and give him antibiotics, or just keep a close eye on him and come back again the next day. The safer option was to go to the hospital, but the doctor said that Hudson didn't look like a sick kid and responded to Motrin; so when I asked what he would do (this was not a decision I wanted to make by myself), he said he would bring us in for another check up the following morning. I knew my doctor would be on call that night, just in case something happened and we needed to go to the hospital in the middle of the night, so I felt comfortable opting to wait to see how things played out a little bit longer. (I did call Michael and he agreed that we should follow the advice of our doctor and see how Hudson did for the next little while.)

It's a pretty tense feeling to be watching your baby like a hawk trying to decide if his situation is getting worse or remaining the same. With every cry you wonder if he is more uncomfortable than before or just still uncomfortable. Every time you feel his skin you wonder if he is slightly hotter than before, or if the fever is just holding steady. Luckily, Hudson seemed to be feeling better and even slept well all night. So you can imagine my relief the next morning to hear my doctor say that we made the right decision by not checking into the hospital, that Hudson was on the mend, and that whatever virus Hudson caught was running its course. Sigh. His fever never did go back up, he started to eat a little bit more and he slowly but surely got back to his happy self. By the weekend, when my mom came for a quick visit, you would have never even known that he had had a bad week...he was cooing again and making faces.



(see? back to his happy self! and, don't mind the pink blanket...reese loves to trade blankets with hudson.)

So scary to go through this with such a little guy! I don't think Reese caught as much as a cold before she turned at least one, so I felt completely unprepared to take care of a sick infant. So glad it is over and that he made a full recovery! So sweet to hear Reese ask Heavenly Father every time she prays to bless Hudson to be healthy and not have any more tummy aches. Here's to hoping that Hudson's immune system is now completely bolstered!

my two kids

first smile caught on camera! I was looking at Hudson, not through the camera, and once I saw the smile, I tried to snap the picture as fast as I could...so, Reese's head got cut off a little and she is holding Hudson a little sideways. still pretty cute, if you ask me.

this cuddle session starts going downhill fast...

...no reason to break the pose just because the baby's crying. look, she can replace the bink without even looking! what a good big sister. (as an aside, last week Hudson started to fuss and Reese told her dad, "Dad, just give him his binky." she's got this baby thing all figured out.)

later that day at the park. love their matching outfits. we didn't even plan it.

babymoon

You might think that a babymoon is a trip you take with your spouse before the baby comes...one last hoorah, if you will, while you still have some freedom. I took my babymoon with my baby--a couple days with just the two of us.

My grandmother passed away last week and Hudson and I traveled to Ohio for her funeral. When my mom first talked to me about going, she said she figured I wouldn't be able to go since I had a new baby and a three year old. I know she was trying to make things easier on me; but, luckily, my twin sister called me to tell me that I really needed to come--that she wanted me to come, so she could see me and meet Hudson, but also that I would also really regret not being there. Bless her. I needed someone to tell me that. So, I set up some playdates for Reese with some of my very supportive friends and booked my flight. Reese was sad for about 2.5 seconds when I told her that I was going on a trip without her. It went something like this:

Me: Reese, Hudson and I are going to go on a trip for a couple of days and you are going to stay home with Dad.

Reese: But, if you go on a trip, I will miss you too much.

Me: I know, but I set up some playdates for you while I am gone. One day you will go to Haley's house, and one day you will go to Liberty's house, and one day you will go to Julia Karen's house. You are going to have so much fun!

Reese: I love it when you go out of town!

I know she was just trying to make me feel less guilty.

So, after a delicious Easter dinner, made by my in-laws who were passing through town, Hudson and I headed to Ohio. Hudson was a dream traveler! And, although the circumstances were very sad, it was so nice to get to Ohio and see my parents, all my sisters, my brother and my two nieces (I love my nieces to pieces!)

all three baby cousins...olivia, blair and hudson

grandpa and blair

four generations once

hudson and kim

olivia and blair. apparently olivia likes to suck on her own toes, and she thought she would give blair's toes a try. the most hysterical part was that blair sat completely still and let olivia do it!

four generations twice

dean, dean and kim dean

Every one of my cousins was there for the funeral and it was really good to see and catch up with them. It had been ages since I had seen many of them! It was nice to be able to share stories and memories of Grandma with all of our cousins and aunts and uncles and to celebrate her life. She will be dearly missed.

It's hard to believe that Hudson is already three weeks old! I'm starting to understand what mom's mean when they say time goes twice as fast with your second baby. I've hardly taken any pictures, sadly. But I blame that more on the age...I mean, don't get me wrong, I think Hudson is about the most darling baby I've ever seen, but that doesn't always capture well with my camera. Either he has one eye open and one closed, or the flash causes him to make a funny face, or the camera just doesn't take the picture fast enough to capture the moment...so most of the pictures I take are of him sleeping.

(don't mind Reese's lips...she had been slathering on the lip gloss!)

Reese LOVES being a big sister. She loves to greet her baby Hudson first thing in the morning. She loves to hold him...and has only once tried to pick him up by herself (luckily Michael was close enough to stop her before anything bad happened). She is usually very soft with him, but I am constantly having to remind her to NOT touch the baby while he is sleeping. I know, it is so tempting! If Hudson is ever fussy (which is rare), Reese calmly and lovingly says, "I know, Hudson, I know." or "We're almost there, Hudson. It's ok." And only a couple times has she said, "Hudson, stop whining!" And, best of all, slowly by surely she is learning to be more patient when I am unable to drop everything to do what she asks.

When Hudson was asleep, Reese decided to share her lovey Jeffrey (or Geoffrey, as Michael likes to spell it) with him. How thoughtful!

After a very fast week, and almost a full week early, my mom was called away by a client. Talk about the saddest day ever! I realize that the day your mom has to leave after a baby is born feels like the worst day ever whether it is after a week or after a month, so I tried to suck it up and put on a brave face. (How many babies do you have to have before that feeling goes away?) One of the worst parts about her leaving so soon was that due to my seemingly never-ending cold, I was sick the entire time she was with us...which meant we really didn't get to do anything fun. Of course it was so nice to have her take care of us when we all needed it most, but it made the thought of doing all that she had been doing after she left feel that much more daunting. And we didn't even bake one thing! Blast!

Luckily, a few days after my mom left, my dad came through town on his way to Georgia. It was so fun to have him here and to show him around town. Reese, naturally, loved having the extra attention!

There was just enough time the day that my Dad was going to leave for a quick trip to Birmingham for lunch at Flip Burger Boutique. I've been talking up Flip Burger to anyone who will listen, especially any potential visitors. I originally planned to meet my dad in Birmingham when he flew in, but he arrived too late at night, so I thought we had missed our chance. But after running a quick errand in the morning, we decided to head to Birmingham for the most delicious burgers and liquid nitrogen milkshakes. As we drove, we both agreed that it was the farthest either of us had traveled for a hamburger; I certainly think it is worth it, and after tasting everything, my dad did too. We are so spontaneous!

too much fun left Hudson completely tuckered out