Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!

This week has not gone exactly as planned. Hudson has been a little sick and as it turns out, he has an ear infection in both ears and also had Bronchiolitis. He is taking an antibiotic and also taking nebulizer treatments. We can clearly see 2 bottom teeth showing now. So Hudson has been through it, but is still a mostly happy kid. I think he is talking more.

At school this week, Raegan had a pajama party (maybe pictures will come later). She has been excited about Christmas. She has still been afraid of Santa but that's OK, because she understands that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday.

We have been mostly hanging around the house with Hudson being sick, but below are two slideshows. One showing some pictures from the week, from Christmas Eve & even a couple shots after Christmas. The other slideshow is Christmas Day.

But first... a fun video. Most of us would say the Christmas season is pretty hectic. Well the video below will help you experience this if you didn't get your own frantic Christmas experience. On Christmas Eve, we decided to drive to see a Christmas light show at a nearby neighborhood. It was raining and Hudson was sick, so maybe not the best idea to begin with. But you can hear in the video that Hudson got upset, Raegan was entertained at first but then wanted a toy... and the light show is crazy anyway. And I don't think Raegan & I usually sound as southern as we do here. Regardless, this video captures the emotions of the holidays...

This slideshow is just some shots from the week leading-up to Christmas, Christmas Eve & today.



This slideshow is from Christmas Day.

Hudson is 9 Months old!

Hudson turned 9 months old on the 19th. He crawls like crazy now and pulls-up on everything. When on hard surfaces, he sometimes crawls to where his knees don't touch the ground. Pretty clever. He has a great temperament. He has great smiles and warms-up to people quickly. He has a little bit of a tooth starting to show. He is starting to get upset when we leave him... so I guess he is getting more attached to us.

Today, we took him to the Pediatrician because he had a fever on Friday and he has had a bad cough since then. And he has been less cheerful than usual. They said he has Bronchialitis. So now he has to do breathing treatments every 4 hours. They said he may only have to do this for a month. We hope that's true! Right now, he really doesn't like the treatment!

Here are a couple shots of his 9 month in the chair in his room.

Below is a slideshow noting some of what we did this past week.

Crazy Christmas week...

This has been crazy Christmas week. On Sunday was the CFA Open House (where I took Santa pictures), Sunday evening was the neighborhood Christmas party, Tuesday evening was Hannah's girl friend Christmas party, Wednesday night was Hannah's neighborhood Bunko Christmas party, Thursday night was my department Christmas party, on Friday night was the CFA Children's Christmas party (where I took Santa pictures) & Saturday we hosted part of the Miley family Christmas.

It was all good and all fun. But also exhausting. Below is a slideshow that tells a lot of the story from the weekend. Raegan is in the same dress made by Nana throughout the whole weekend. There were actually two other dresses that Nana made that we planned on Raegan wearing at some point but the way things worked-out, she wore the same one the whole time. Pretty amazing that a 2yr old can wear the same dress for 2 days!

Christmas events have begun...

Things are already really busy! Christmas events have begun. Preparing for & doing these events as well as normal work and working Chick-fil-A events are really keeping us busy.

On Friday morning, I helped "stuff the dome" with Chick-fil-A to prepare for the SEC Championship game. That's actually always fun.

On Saturday evening, we watched some football & we met Jason & Mina (& kids) at Stone Mountain. We watched the Polar Express 4-D movie and walked around the Christmas setup. It was really nice but too cold for Hudson. We couldn't keep Hudson out there for the laser show & parade. So we had to leave.

On Sunday, I took Santa pictures at the CFA Open House for a couple hours. Then we went to our neighborhood Christmas party. Raegan was pretty happy until Santa came into the clubhouse. Then she wanted to get out of there. She still doesn't like people dressed like Santa. But she does like Santa decorations & songs.

This week will be a crazy week with multiple Christmas parties. I hope we survive!

By-the-way, Hudson is little crazy man now. He cannot be still. If you're holding him, he is twisting & turning to get down. If he is down, he is crawling really fast or pulling himself up on something. It's difficult to even change his clothes or diaper now because he can't be still. How long does this phase last? I don't remember Raegan being this determined to move.

Here are some shots from this past week...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So much has been done in the past week! On Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving at Granddad & Mimi's house. It was fun. You can read commentary on the slideshow below...




Then on Friday, I went to work and Hannah stayed home with the kids. They went to the playground and I think this was the first time Raegan & Hudson rode in the wagon together. You'll see a picture in the slideshow below.

Also on Friday, I got to catch the last part of the Auburn/Alabama game when I got home. I thought we would have been destroyed. So at least I expected to lose. I thought it was odd, when I got home, how calm Raegan was. It turned out she had a fever of 102. She never just lays on the couch but that's what she wanted to do. After some medicine, she was back to herself and the next day was a little better and then today she seemed good.

On Saturday, I took Hudson with me to a mattress store and bought Raegan a full sized mattress. While I did that Hannah took Raegan to do other shopping. Both kids seemed to enjoy their outings apart.

We bought the mattress for Raegan because she was outgrowing her toddler bed. By Saturday night we had her toddler bed converted into a full sized bed. She liked it but she did wake-up a little upset around 5am. But I think she'll be OK tonight.

The rest of the weekend, we worked on Christmas decorations, playing & organzing. See the slideshow below for some pictures & captions...

Hudson 8 months, Raegan with Madison & a trip to the Lake...

This week Hudson turned 8 months old! I didn't get the best shots but here they are.



Hudson is doing great. He is crawling more. He is pulling himself up on things. Mostly to his knees... but occasionaly he pulls himself up to his feet. He still has no teeth but maybe soon. He is almost always happy. He eats really well and really loves his sister Raegan.

This past week we did some of our usual things - work, small group, tennis practice, walking, TV. On Friday, Hannah's sister brough Madison over (who she nannies) and Raegan & Madison got to play together. You can see some pictures in the slideshow below.

Also, this weekend we went to the Lake and saw Nana & Papa. We had a fun relaxing time. The slideshow has some pictures from both my camera as well as Nana's camera. The better shots are Nana's camera.

AU vs UGA & a B'day party

I'm a little late with this update. I don't even have a slideshow!

Hudson is really doing a lot more crawling. He goes back and forth between army crawling and classic crawling. On Monday we took him to the doctor because he had some rashes on his face and legs. The pediatrician said it looks like he may have had a mild ear infection a few days earlier and that the rash comes sometimes a little after being sick. That explains why he was a little fussy last Saturday. But he is good now! He still has no teeth, but it really seems like he is close to getting some.

Here are a couple shots of Hudson being cute...



Look out ladies...


Also... Hudson has started doing the P90X workout program. Here he is doing some push-ups.

...and here he is doing the Yoga part of the workout. This is called "Downward Dog".

...and this is a stretch that is part of the yogo sequence. I don't remember the name... but if you have ever done yoga, you'll recognize this position...

...of course he is not really doing P90X. But there is a striking similarity from what he naturally does and the P90X program!

We got back the kid's school pictures. The shot of Raegan & Hudson together turned out good. It seems that it is illegal for me to scan the picture and post it so I won't do that. Both kid's individual shots didn't turn-out. About half the kids at school had this happen. They gave us some gift cards for free service for the goof-up... but we hate that we didn't get to see those pictures!

On Saturday morning, we went to a 4yr B'day party for Zack Martin. At this party, Raegan finally overcame her fear of moon-walks or jumpy houses... or whatever you call them. Anyway, she has always been scared of them but once she was able to get in without other kids around, she loved it. Even once other kids got in. Below are a couple shots...

Below is a picture of some of the kids at the party before the cake... Zack is the one in the blue shirt directly behind Raegan.

After the party, Granddad & Mimi came over and spent time with the kids while we went with Carrie & Chad to the UGA/AU game. It was fun... and was an exciting game... until Auburn lost. Neither team looked all that great... but it was fun to get to go! We tailgated a little before hand and then enjoyed the game. Thanks to Carrie & Chad for letting us use the extra tickets! And thanks to Granddad & Mimi for taking care of the kids!

That's it for last week!

Hudson took first real crawling moves...

It's been a good week. Today we witnessed Hudson do his first crawling with his knees. He has been crawling by using his arms (to drag his legs basically)... but today he did a few moves of classic crawling. I got a video with my Blackberry but I still need to convert it to something I can post.

On Monday I started back tennis lessons. There are 6 of us doing lessons with the same guy Hannah was taking lessons with. He is really good... but I'm really rusty! Also swim training has started back with CFA. So I did that on Friday and it was really good. I plan to do at least one triathlon next year.

On Thursday, Hannah went to a Mom's club meeting in our area. They discussed school options... but we still don't know what we'll do... luckily, our kids are both a little ways off from that!

On Saturday, we went to a dog park with the Cohens. The dogs had fun and so did the rest of us. Hudson seemed kind of sick all weekend but I think he's OK. He is transitioning to a new room at church... since he is mobile now.

Raegan is noticing letters everywhere. I think she can recognize most of the alphabet now and points the letters out everwhere she sees them. And she usually says what else starts with that letter... like "A" for apple! She is also starting to be able to sound out a word and determine the letter it must start with.

OK... enough of my babble... below is our slideshow with captions. Enjoy!

Halloween Activities...

We had another exciting week! This week of course was filled with a lot of Halloween activities. Before I get into that, I have to share that Raegan was "Artist of the Week" at school! See below...



Also this week, both kids got their H1N1 vaccination. So far... no side-effects!

On Friday, we had a children's costume parade at my work. Hannah didn't get to go because she pulled an all nighter with work and was still working in the morning. She is a hard worker and I hate it made her miss out on the costume parade. She was also planning to take them to the Aquarium but that didn't workout either. Luckily, there were plenty of other festivities for her to take part in.

At the costume parade at my work, I didn't think about a stroller or baby biorne. So I carried Hudson the whole time and tried to keep Raegan straight and her costume in tact. It wa exhausting but the only thing I lost was Raegan's wand. I'm not sure what happened to it. Anyway, both kids liked walking around my office and seeing all my co-workers giving them candy.

On Saturday we spent the first part of the day around the house. You can see in the slideshow that Hannah started us off with a festive breakfast. We carved a pumpkin. Watched football. Went to the neighborhood Halloween party. And of course Trick-or-Treated. It was a full day. See the slideshow...



Then on Sunday, after church we went down to Hannah's parent's house. Raegan & Hudson both enjoyed seeing Mimi & Granddad, Uncle Jacob, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Jennifer & Great Granddad! See slideshow...

Hudson 7 months, Boo @ the Zoo & Pumpkin Patches...

This week Hudson turned 7 months old! Here are shots we took of his growth in respect to the glider, pillow & his little bear. I wanted to keep this to like 2 shots but I think these 5 shots capture his personality. He is just a really pleasant kid. He is such a content baby. We have started feeding him more varieties of baby food and we have also started giving him puffs. He is doing really well with all of that. He is kind of crawling and is very mobile. He can sit-up if we sit him that way but still hasn't gotten into the situp position on his own. He seems to spit-up a little more than he used to but I guess that's just because he eats more. And so far, he still never meets a stranger. He seems to love attention from anyone.

This week we worked a lot and we also had fun. On Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo and then we met Mimi & Granddad at a Pumpkin Patch. On Sunday Hannah had her last Alta match for the season at our home courts. So the kids and I got to go down and watch and play on the playground. Below is a slideshow walking through this past week.

Crawling, New office space, Fall parties & costumes...

This week has a few things to share. But first I forgot to mention something from last week. I ran across this picture I took from my Blackberry at the Catalyst Conference I went to last week before we left for Boston. It was a huge conference with many Christian speakers and worship music. My brother was there too so I got to sit with him. This picture shows you how big the conference was.

Back to this week. Tuesday night we had small group. We've been doing a study by Francis Chan called "Crazy Love". It is really good. Hannah had a girl's night on Saturday night to celebrate her 30th B'day. And she had tennis on Sunday afternoon - she won.

Starting Wednesday night and then really late on Friday night, I helped with the move of 250 PCs from our main Chick-fil-A corporate office to a new facility across the street. We've outgrown our current space and for a while now they have been fixing-up this rental space to help handle all of our people. This space is really modern (current space is traditional) and has an almost IKEA look to it. I really like it.

One of my favorite things is their furniture. Have you ever been frustrated by all the cables and cords wadded at your feet under your desk. Checkout the two shots below.

Mess of cables...

...now they're hidden behind the door... genius! (maybe only those of you who are OCD like me will care about this)

Anyway... if you care to get a glimpse of the new building from shots taken from my Blackberry, see this slideshow. These picture are the calm before everyone moves in on Monday. So it will probably never be this uncluttered again...

On Saturday morning, we went to a neighborhood Halloween party hosted by Drew & Tyler. Hudson wore Raegan's first costume... a cow outfit. See below... which one is Raegan from 2 years ago and which is Hudson? OK... they don't look that much alike...

Below is a slideshow of a few pictures I took at that party. After the party, I went to a dance ministry service project with our small group. I didn't really get to do anything but I got to watch some cool dancing. See the slideshow...

Lastly, here is a quick silent video of Hudson's forward motion. He's not quite crawling yet. And last week it looked more like an army crawl. This week it looks more like the worm. But he can definitely get to what he wants now. (it's silent because there was too much random noise in the background of the videos...)

Tomorrow Hudson turns 7 months old!

Weekend in Boston

This past weekend we went to Boston for Hannah's 30th Birthday. Granddad & Mimi stayed at our house with the kids for the first half of the weekend and then Nana came for the second half.

We had fun in Boston. We stayed at the Liberty Hotel (which used to be the Charles Street Jail). It was very nice. We got to visit Heather (Hannah's sister) & her family in Hull. We got to see their Coast Guard base. We tried to see a lot in Boston in our short time there. We didn't really have time to get history on a lot of what we saw - or to even know what it was we were looking at. But we got a taste of Boston. Speaking of which, one of the main things we did was eat. I've tried to narrate some of the slides below. I don't know that we did the best with our picture taking but this gives you a slight record of our trip.



One of the best stories we have from the weekend is that getting back into our hotel at night was like trying to get into the most popular night club in town. Luckily we flash our room key and they let us through. So our lobby was very popular and you had to be on the list to get in. To make a long story short, we were in the area between the elevators to the guest rooms and the club scene lobby. Out of the club scene came Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes to go to their room. Security held most of the crowd back from the elevator area where we were. So we were standing 2 feet away from both of them. They both made eye contact with me. But... I was too star struck to speak or get a picture. Oh well. But it's cool that they were staying in the same hotel as us!

This is a slideshow of pictures from the grandparents with the kids. They all seemed to have fun. We really appreciate our parents for staying with the kids so we could have a get away!




Other interesting things are that Hudson seems to be almost ready to crawl! He definitely can drag himself forward. And now he is putting his knees under him and doing the rock. And even moving a little that way. It's crazy!

We have a squirrel problem. We have a lot of columns around our porch. Hannah discovered that we have a family of squirrels living in the one by our swing. See these pictures.

Finally, the other week was Grandparents Day at the kids' school. Hannah's parents went and they just gave us copies of the pictures they took. Below are some of those shots.

A weekend at home...

This past week was spent working and staying around home.

I thought this past weekend would be spent with me trying to get a handle on all the things I've let slip. I did some of that but I also got to have more fun than I originally thought I would.

One thing we did was managed to transform our breakfast room with a new light fixture and a smaller table (that was my parent's first piece of furniture ever bought when they got married). I think it makes our breakfast room seem bigger and is better for the four of us to eat meals together.

Hudson seems so close to scooting toward objects on the ground and is sitting-up better. Raegan is getting more and more confident. She is really friendly to people that she used to be shy around. She is even initiating conversations with them. And where she used to stay away from the playground if other kids were on it, she now runs up and plays - And talks to the other kids.

Below is a slideshow of some of the things I mentioned (& I'm starting to add captions to dialog).

Grandparents Day & the Lake...

This has been a good week. Tuesday was Grandparent's Day at the kid's school. Granddad and Mimi were able to make it. They have more pictures that I don't have yet... but below are a couple shots the daycare gave me. They had a good time and Raegan was proud to show-off her Granddad & Mimi! (thanks to Granddad & Mimi for taking time from the middle of your day to make it to this event. I know Raegan & Hudson were very glad you came!)



On Friday, Hudson had a doctor appointment. He is healthy. He is cleared for starting Stage 2 baby food! Also, he is now 19.9 pounds! Still heavy for his age! He got shots & Hannah said he did really well.

Friday night we went to the Lake. Below is a slideshow. Nana as usual helped me gain about 10 pounds of good food. Nana makes irresistable food. Raegan did her usual playing Papa for his attention the whole time. We did something we haven't done in years. We went to one of the islands on the Lake and we tied-off the boat and played in the water. This particular spot is one where the sand goes out under the water a long way before it gets very deep. So it was perfect for Raegan to play in shallow water. She did really well with swimming (w/ water wings on). Hudson just chilled on the boat with Nana. The dogs really liked this little "beach" too.

Some of the shots I added to this slideshow are just because Raegan makes funny expressions sometimes. I can't help but post so many pictures.

Hudson is 6 months old!!

As promised in last night's post, below are Hudson's 6 month pictures. He's always been a big boy but we think he is starting to grow into his age.

He is still very pleasant. He has his moments of frustration but over-all... a pretty low-maintenance kid who smiles a lot. He loves his sister, Raegan. He lights-up anytime she shows him attention.

He is eating more and more solid foods (Stage 1 baby food) and so far, he has no allergies and is very healthy!

He is becoming more and more mobile. I think we better enjoy these last days of us not worrying about him getting into everything!

Rae dance class, Lewis family gathering & DC Trip...

We had a busy week. On Monday, Raegan had her first dance class at school with Ms. Gilda. Below are a couple shots from that - she loved it! Since starting school as an infant, in every transition, Raegan has had her friend Alana with her. And Alana is doing the dance class too. Also... on Thursday Raegan had her first Spanish class.




I don't have a shot of this but Hudson is pretty close to sitting-up. He can also do a little backward scooting. And rolling to get things. We think he will really be doing some new stuff in the next couple weeks.

I went to Washington DC for a planning trip for our annual Chick-fil-A seminar. In February, we'll be hosting all of the Operators to the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in DC. This property is really nice. We had a few meetings but we also got to do some site seeing. (these pics are from my Blackberry so not great quality)



I'll share just one story from that trip. And I'll try to make it quick. Chris Waddell & I walked the National Mall area on Friday afternoon. Chris wore an Auburn T-shirt to see how many "War Eagles" he could get. I kind of gave him a hard time for wearing a T-shirt & trying to run into other Auburn people. Within an hour or so, we had already gotten 2 "War Eagles". We were walking on the back side of the White House when a Secret Service agent walked out of a booth and said "War Eagle!". We talked for a few minutes and he is a big Auburn fan. He also went to a rival high school of my high school (T.R. Miller). I guess we all hit it off... because then he asked if we had a tour of the White House scheduled. We said no... we're just wondering around on a little free time we had. He said that if we want to tour the White House the next morning, he could probably arrange that. The cool thing about this offer is that you usually have to write your Congressman at least 30 days in advance to try to get your name on the list for this. We weren't sure he would come through for us... but he did! So the next morning, we showed-up to the White House at 7am for the tour. He took us in ahead of the line of 100+ people waiting to get in. Chris & I were the first to get into the White House for a tour that day. Our Secret Service buddy gave us the tour along with about 20 other people. He told us that they come to Atlanta often and he would try to get us into the next event they come to Atlanta to do. We also told him we would host him and his secret service guys to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Below is a shot of us with our new buddy. I guess being a part of the Auburn family is a good thing!


While I was in DC, Hannah had her sisters over to spend the night. Heather has been in Boston for a while now and Hannah hadn't seen her in a long time. Heather also had her daughter, Skyla with her. So Raegan & Hudson were getting to meet their cousin really for the first time. Below are a few shots from that visit.

I got back from DC & on Saturday we just hung around the house, watched college football & got ourselves back in order.

Today, we went down to Mimi & Granddad's house for a Lewis family gathering. It was a fun time and most had not seen Heather, Mike & Sky in a long time. Below is a slideshow.

One really big thing that happened 2 days ago is that Hudson turned 6 months old! We failed to take the 6 month pictures in the chair like we normally do. So we plan to do that tomorrow night and I'll add a post for that.