OCTOBER?!?!?

Tomorrow? Really? ALREADY? This month has flown by. I'm not complaining. No way! I'm welcoming the cooler Fall weather with open arms. School has been back in session now for two full months. We are 1/4 of the way through the school year. Wow!

I didn't do a monthly post this month for Hudson's 25th month. I think I will just do little updates here and there, but not on a certain schedule. He's doing great, and had a good kidney check up last week. He cracks us up and amazes us at the same time each day with the things that he says. Yesterday I was in Target with him, and as I looked at a pair of boots there were a cute pair of baby girl shoes that someone had placed on the shelf beside the boots. I picked them up and said "Aww, these are so cute." He looked at me and in a matter of fact voice said..."Mommy, I'm a BOY!". Today as my mom was about to bring him home she told him that she needed to get her keys, and he said to her, "Nana, I'll drive."

He put his own shorts on by himself the other day. This was the first time that he has done that. I had taken him to the potty, and he only had on underwear. He went and got the shorts and said "I put my shorts on." He's so independant, and does not want help with anything. He tells you exactly what he wants you to know. I noticed in the tub last night when he was getting a bath that his hair is starting to look darker. It got so blonde over the summer, but we've known that it would probably turn a little darker. He loves honey mustard and won't eat chicken without it. He will quickly ask you for some "honeyme mutard to dip my chickin in". I wonder where he gets that from? (I plead the fifth!)

The only pictures I have from the past few weeks are all phone pictures from my mom, so they are a little grainy. I hope you all have a great weekend. Enjoy Fall, football, family, friends, and good food.

kidney appointment follow-up

Today was Hudson's follow up appt. with his kidney surgeon at Children's Medical College (Even though the name has changed to Georgia Health & Sciences University, it will always be MCG to me). We started the day off bright and early and were the first appt. scheduled for ultrasound. The wait in radiology was only long enough for us to check in and send our paper work back. It was great to see our favorite ultrasound tech, Brooke come out and get us. We met her at the beginning of this journey, and she even has a little boy who is only a few weeks younger than Hudson. She is so sweet to him and us. The ultrasound was typical. It took both Dave and I to hold him down with all of our strength. He screamed, and fought, but Brooke was so efficient and did her best to get the images and measurements quickly. This does not hurt him, but ever since his surgery, he gets VERY upset when he is laid down on his back for any reason at his doctors appointments.
Here's my little man after the ultrasound. You can see the sheet is in disarray, he's missing a shoe, and his face shows how he feels about the whole ordeal.We had some time to kill before our next appointment, so we met up with Mrs. Ann and she took us to this awesome playground on one of the floors of the hospital. It's floor is almost trampoline like, and all of the equipment is soft. It was a great place to cheer him up and get out some energy since we would be doing a lot of waiting. Here's my boy waiting to get his vitals taken. He wanted to sit in the chair "all by myself". I was glad to have that smile back, but it soon faded when it was time to take his temp under his arm. He let them take his blood pressure with no problem, but did NOT want his temp taken. Time for a weight check. Again, he had to do it all by himself....31 1/2 lbs. More waiting....this time watching a DVD and climbing in and out of his stroller. Most trips to CMCG result in a lot of wait time, but we totally understand that it is the best hospital for kids around and don't mind waiting because we are so blessed and fortunate to have them 25 minutes away from our house. Many of the patients you see there have traveled hours from all over the state. There are so many other sick children who also need these doctors. We count our blessings.Dr. Donohoe said that Hudson's kidney shows good growth. He obviously still has the grade 4 hydronephrosis, and always will. The part of the ureter that was tapered off during surgery looked great too. We were so relieved to receive another good check up. Nurse Reagan had to prick his finger to get a couple tubes of blood. (They were pretty small.) Hud didn't flinch when he got stuck, but got mad about having his finger squeezed. We now hope to NOT get a phone call this evening. No news is good news about his kreatinine levels.It was great to see Dr. Donohoe and his staff. He is so sweet to Hudson and always spends time talking to him. Everyone was glad to see him and could not believe how much he had grown in the 6 months since our last appointment. Nurse Reagan let him choose 2 stickers when he was finished, and he promptly told her that he wanted a "truck one and a Dora one". She granted his wish, and we were on our way.
Here he is trying to shake his band aid off his finger.The best news...Our next follow up appt and tests are in a year. A YEAR!!!! Our next appt. is Sept. 2012! I was foolish enough to believe that this boy wold fall asleep on the way home and have a long nap. As you can see he hasn't slowed down.

Thank you for the prayers. There are no words to thank all of you for caring about Hudson.

Fabulous Fall Weekend

The temperatures this weekend have been AMAZING! At times, it's even been a little chilly outside. We headed to Harrison's soccer game on Saturday morning. 4 yr. old soccer is hilarious, but there are some serious kiddos out there. It was pretty impossible to keep my little guy off the field. He wanted to get out there and play "soccer ball" with them so bad. He did run out several times to which Dave and I had to dart out and grab him quickly. I'm going to try to find a program that will take 3 yr. olds next year. Harrison (in the middle) warming up at half time.

Hudson had fun playing on the sidelines, but he really wanted to get in on all the action on the field.

I LOVE that we got to wear hoodies this weekend!

I'm not real sure what he was doing, but the center of the field had a big "G"' for Georgia. Clearly the staff that prepared this field were smart. GO DAWGS!!!

It was the perfect weather for chili and hot dogs, and these two cleaned their plates. It was delicious! Aren't they adorable in their GA garb? At 2 years old they already bleed red and black and "love those bulldogs". You should hear them doing the GA chant! SMART KIDS!

I love this series of photos. They are so fun.

This morning Hudson went with my parents to take my bro to the airport. He saw the planes and loved it. We are proud of Lee as he is off to start his career.

Hopefully the Fall weather is here to stay for awhile. We look forward to trips to the pumpkin patch and dairy farm, trick-or-treating, football weekends, and more time outside without melting. I hope that you guys have had a great weekend too! I wish they were longer.

2 yr. stats

I took Hudson to his 2 yr. well visit this morning, and everything checked out well. Dr. Nesbit was impressed with how well H talks and that he's potty trained. He weighed in at 32 lbs (upper end of the 75th percentile) and was 37 1/2 inches tall-(above 95th percentile). He gets it honest, he's got a 6'5 daddy. We are glad to have a healthy boy!

GOOOOOO DAWGS!!!- He told his nurse this, and told Dr. Nesbit..."I love the bulldogs."

Happy Labor Day

Whoever decided that we needed a holiday called "Labor Day" is my kind of person. It was SO nice to have today off. Even though I've only been back to work for 5 weeks, this was a MUCH needed day off. This weekend was the first one in a long time that we didn't have 432 things to do, and it was wonderful to not have to be anywhere or do anything on a schedule. We spent lots of time playing outside, and visited our friends who just had a baby. Hudson was excited about meeting Baby West, but when we got there, he just wanted to play. He did do a double take when he noticed me holding West. It was a great visit and even gave me a touch of "the fever".
Dave and I thought about taking Hudson to the zoo today, but decided against it last night. We have been watching the weather, and it was a 90% chance of rain here and in Columbia, S.C. where the zoo is located. We decided not to chance it and of course it didn't rain until about 5:30 this evening and only rained for about 5 mins. It would have been a perfect day for the zoo. It was breezy and coolER. Oh well, we will just have to go another day. Hudson loves to go to the zoo.
Here's a few pictures from this weekend. Several of them are totally out of focus, but they still capture the cuteness. I hope that all of you guys had a relaxing and enjoyable weekend and day off.