Happy 27th Birthday, Daddy!!

Today is Ryan's 27th birthday. We are so thankful to have such a wonderful husband and daddy in our lives, and are so happy to celebrate his birthday today!!

We got up this morning, ate breakfast, and headed to church after Ethan woke up. He slept in until almost 10 (he woke up around 7, nursed, and went back to sleep)! He was so good at church today. We went to First Watch for brunch with Grandma and Grandpa, and Ethan slept the entire time we were there! He woke up right when we were getting back in the car, and we went to Stride Rite to try on some shoes. Ryan and I found out on Friday they were having a B1G1 half off sale through the weekend. So, Ethan had his first shoe fitting, and he's a 3.5 (wide) right now. We wanted to get the shoes bigger since he doesn't need them right now. We got two pair of size 4.5 Stride Rite's for $45, which is a really good deal! The shoes we got were on sale, plus half off the second pair. Most of their shoes are $50 each (ouch!!) so we are very happy. And super exciting news!!! Ethan was testing out the shoes in the store, and he was standing up next to Ryan by a bench. He turned right around and took two steps all on his own to me! This is the first time he has ever, ever done this. It kind of took us by surprise, like "did he really just do that??" So today Ethan took his first solo steps!! We are so very happy and proud of our boy!!

We got these two shoes, but we will probably try to exchange one pair for a monkey shoe that we saw on their website! They did not have it at the Tri-County store.

Here are the monkey shoes. How cute are they??? I think Ethan needs them :)


We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Gabbard's house to hang out and visit for a bit. We tried to get Ethan to show off his steps, but he wasn't interested. He had lots of fun cruising around the family room and visiting, though!

We went home for a bit and Ethan was acting cranky, so I went to put him down for his nap. I ended up falling asleep with him in the rocker, and when I woke up, Ryan had fallen asleep on the couch! I guess we all needed some rest, especially with the yucky rainy weather outside. We got ready really fast and went and met Grandma and Grandpa A, Brad, Lindsay, and Shawn for dinner at Outback to celebrate Ryan and Aunt Lindsay's birthday, which is later this week. The food was so good tonight!! They have a 6oz Outback special (our favorite!!) now, which is perfect, and a really great price for a yummy steak dinner! We got Ethan a sweet potato, and it was HUGE... our little piggy ate about 3/4 of it, plus bread and some bites of Daddy's steak! We were so surprised he ate that much of the sweet potato. It is his favorite!!

After we got home, we sat down to try walking with Ethan. He walked between Ryan and I about 6 or 7 steps!! He would walk back and forth from each of us, turn around, and be ready to take off again. We are so proud of our little guy!! I can't believe he is walking on his own already!!!

Pizza and a playdate

After I got home from work today, we got ready and picked up some Papa John's pizza and headed over to Tom and Sheila's to hang out. Ethan had so much fun playing with Mason and checking out his toys!! Lots of ideas :) The boys did really good together, and Mason was so nice to share with Ethan. They had fun cruising around together and 'racing' with Mason's push toys! Ethan crashed as soon as we got in the car.

Black Friday

Usually I am up before the crack of dawn on Black Friday to go out and get some deals. I am one of 'those people' who love being out in the craziness! We are pretty much finished with our Christmas shopping, though. We were going to head out early to get a special gift for Haley and Brianna that we are contributing to, but we managed to take care of it yesterday, getting part of it at Kmart when we went there early yesterday morning, and we got the big gift online yesterday! So, no freezing cold waiting in line for us today :) Mammaw kept Ethan last night, so we slept in, had breakfast at home, and then headed out with hot chocolate and coffee in hand to see what we could find. I really wanted to get Ethan a Fisher Price Rock and Play Piano. Walmart had it for $15, which seemed like a good price. Well I have never been brave enough to venture to Walmart early on Black Friday, and apparently I don't want to! They were all sold out, and we went to 5 different stores in the area and couldn't find it, so no piano for Ethan. We did, however, find the wagon we were interested in at Walmart in Tri-County that was way cheaper than we had even found it online. We have been looking everywhere for deals on wagons, which never seem to really happen for the Radio Flyer wagons. So that was a very nice surprise! Granny and Grandpa are going to give it to Ethan for his birthday :) We are very excited to have it for the summer! We stopped at Red Robin for Ryan's free birthday burger for lucnh, and our favorite waitress Rachel was there when we walked in the door. It seems like she is there every time we go! She takes great care of us. She asked about Ethan, and we told her he was at grandma's while we ventured out! We were ready to see our little man when we were all finished, so we stopped to pick him up, and then headed home and had some very delicious leftovers for dinner! I think one of the best things about Thanksgiving is the leftovers :)

Cloth Diaper Info and Giveaway

I came across another blog with some good info on CD'ing (cloth diapering). We really love our Bum Genius diapers, buying a one-sized diaper has helped us to keep the same set while Ethan is growing... more friendly for the earth and for our wallet! We are loving cloth diapering and are exclusively using the Bum Genius line.

Here is a giveaway for a super cute one-size diaper called BumWear :)

Check it out: Cloth Diaper Info and Giveaway

First visit with Santa

We took Ethan to visit Santa Claus tonight for the first time tonight. He wasn't too keen on sitting on his lap, but we managed to snap a pic... it's funny that he had the same expression with the Easter bunny and the Great Pumpkin also, lol!

Our good friend Jason's Mamaw, Dolly, passed away on Sunday. We are going to her visitation this evening. Please keep the Hudson family in your thoughts and prayers.

Flu shot #2

Ethan didn't want to nap at home, so we went ahead and left this morning to run some errands, figuring he would fall asleep in the car... which he did as soon as we left! We went to Kohl's to return some things (got a better deal ordering online!), and found a really cute hat and mittens for Ethan. He does not like keeping a hat on and always rips them off. This hat is fleece and has a strap that velcro's under his chin... hopefully this will deter him from ripping it off. It is brown fleece and has a little monkey on it :)

Then we took Ethan to the pediatrician's office to get his second flu shot. Babies have to get two separate doses the first year that they get the flu shot. He did not even cry at all! He took the shot like a champ. We went ahead and did his measurements while we were there - he is 19 pounds, 6 ounces, and almost 28 inches long. It is always really hard to get his length, and it seems like you get a different reading every time. The last time we were there, Dr. Leanza ended up getting his length because what the nurse measured was way off. So anyways, we got almost 28 inches. We know he is getting longer, because his jeans are getting shorter on him!

We got out Ethan's winter coat today and it is really cute on him :) A little big, but it works. He was so cozy! We stopped at Costco to pick up a few things and we all had cheese pizza for lunch. Ethan fell asleep as soon as we left Costco and napped for awhile all bundled up in his carseat after we got home.

Wow...

So... today has been a crazy online day. Yesterday, Target.com had two Britax Marathon carseats on sale for $43 and $59 each... they are regularly nearly $300. We are getting ready to switch Ethan to a convertible seat soon and have been looking for a seat for Mammaw's, and this was a killer deal for a fantastic seat! There was such a flooding of orders, target.com cancelled the majority, if not all, of the orders today. This topic is all the rage on many mom message boards and bargain blogs today. Entertaining :)

I also just saw an ad that Motrin had created. When I first read about it, I thought "oh, it can't be that bad". But then I watched the Motrin ad, and it is very offending and done in such poor taste!!!



Motrin has removed the ad from their website, but it is still out in the media. I am very surprised that they even created this ad!

I got put on call this morning and got called in a bit later, so Ryan and I carpooled and he dropped me off at work and went to school. Ethan had so much fun at Mammaw's house. He was there for over 24 hours... the longest we've been away from him! I was so ready to see him when I got off work. I had a very easy day and got out on time, so Ryan came to pick me up and we headed to Mammaw's. Nana and the girls had come over to watch Ethan while Mammaw and Papaw went to a visitation, and Ethan started saying Nana today!! He also called Papaw "Mammy" today, lol. So, now he is saying "Mama, Dada, Baba, Mammy, Pop-pop, and Nana", along with other versions of those syllables :)

Dropping the morning nap?

Boy, was I pooped this morning! We stayed home so I could catch up on some rest, and Ethan seemed sleepy around 10:30 so we put him down for his nap. He, however, had different plans in mind, and did not go to sleep. We are wondering if he's just going to drop the morning nap... sometimes he takes one, and sometimes he does not. It's pretty normal for babies his age to drop it, so we will see. We cooked a late breakfast at home, and Ethan ate a biscuit. He had already had oatmeal and bananas earlier. He really loves feeding himself! We give him a spoon sometimes but he doesn't grasp that he can pick up food on it. He's very much a finger-food eater.

We were just hanging out at home and Mammaw, Papaw, and Haley stopped by after they had gone to church and lunch. We were playing music, and Ethan was doing his little dance (he kind of rocks/bounces) and just loving all the attention! Mammaw wanted to take Ethan to church this evening, so he ended up just going over to their house for a sleepover since he would be going there in the morning, anyways. Ryan and I had a nice evening, we went and walked around at the mall and went out to dinner. It was nice to have some quiet time together, but we missed our little guy! It is hard at bedtime when he's not there. I have to work 12 hours tomorrow, so I think this will be the longest I have been away from him! Sweet dreams, little guy.

Pizza lover

Third shift in a row today for me - may not sound like a lot, but it is very tiring! Ryan went to class and Ethan went to Grandma A's to visit and he got to see his cousins, Jack, Philip, and Mia also. He had lots of fun playing with everyone! He had eaten lunch already, and then they got pizza from Donato's. Grandma went to take a bite of her pizza, and Ethan opened up his mouth wide wanting some too, lol!

Speaking of pizza, I didn't get out of work until about 8:15, so I picked up a pizza on the way home. We wanted to try the new Fresh Mozzarella Meatball pizza from Donato's. I sat down to nurse Ethan and was trying to multi-task, nursing him and feeding myself at the same time. Mr. Sneaky turned right around and snagged a piece off the pizza! He loves food, that is for sure.

Playing peek-a-boo

For whatever reason, I volunteered to pickup a shift today because staffing was so short. I had an awful day yesterday, and today wasn't much better! Thank goodness it was "just an 8 hour shift" (which turned into 9.5 hours with no lunch of course!) I called a few times to check in on Ethan at Mammaw's... he was in the swing and was playing with a blanket. He kept pulling it up over his eyes, and proceeded to crack up laughing, then pull the blanket down, and then do it all over again. Mammaw said he was just sitting there doing it all on his own with no prompting. She and Papaw were cracking up!!

Mammaw made beef stew for dinner and had us over after we were finished at school/work. It was so yummy!! Ethan had some beef stew also and loved it! He kept wanting more. Ethan had fun playing with Haley and Brianna. Aunt Sheila came over and was eating a sandwich and had a drink with a straw. Well, Ethan cruised right on over to her and proceeded to steal her straw right out of her cup. Told you he was Mr. Sneaky :)

Ready to crash!

Oh my goodness... today was just awful! My patients were so overwhelming and one of the families was even more so. I am so glad today is over!! I got out of work so late, and then coming home they had a lane closed on 275 for construction. There was only one lane open!! I sat there forever!! By the time I got home, Ethan had passed out on Ryan's chest, sound asleep. We aroused him to get him changed for bed, and Ryan heated up leftover au jus sandwiches (yummy!) We put Ethan to bed, and then snuggled on the couch and watched Grey's Anatomy and CSI. How I managed to stay awake through both of them, I will never know ;)

Boys can wear Christmas clothes too.

We hung out at home today and then decided to get out for a little bit. We went to Toys R Us and Northgate Mall to walk around for a bit, just doing some window shopping and getting out of the house. I am such a weirdo (yes, I know Ryan!!) and am trying to find some cute "First Christmas" outfit or shirt or something for Ethan. EVERYTHING is for a newborn or a younger baby... just about everything is 9 months or less, and that is pushing it. What about the winter babies?? And we actually have a kid that is true-to-size instead of wearing a bigger than his age size. We also looked at Carter's the other day and I am just not impressed. Also, there are tons of little girl Christmas outfits and dresses everywhere. What about the boys?? There are not very many options. We already have a nice Christmas outfit for him, a cute red sweater with stripes on the chest and some black cords. I just would like to find a few cute little things to wear for other holiday occasions. I wish the baby clothing designers would think about the boys and the January babies who are experiencing their first Christmas!

We stopped at Applebee's for some half priced appetizers. We got a quesadilla and a veggie patch pizza. Ethan ate two slices of the veggie patch pizza and loved it! It tastes way better than I remember too. They must have changed something on it. It was delish!

Yummy! Chicken Marsala

Ryan was working on dinner when I got home from work tonight - he made one of the new Macaroni Grille meals, the Chicken Marsala. It was yummy! Ryan doesn't usually like Chicken Marsala but he even liked this. It even came with a packet of marsala wine. If you haven't tried these, you should! Quick and easy :)

Houston, we have a walker!

I was so tired today, so I took a nap while Ethan did too. He slept through the night last night, but was up at 7:30, and we were up until 2 hanging out and working on the blog, so I had a little lack of sleep :) Ryan made us some grilled cheese for lunch and Ethan ate half of a grilled cheese himself. It is very fun giving him table foods now! He is ready for the next bite as soon as he is finished.

We have a walking toy that we have been trying to get Ethan to walk with. He is supposed to stand behind it and push it to walk. Today, he actually started walking with it!! It has seemed like his legs have been stronger the past few days and not buckling as much when you try to get him to take steps, so I got the push toy out and he just took off!! He had a few crashes, but as soon as we turned the toy he took off walking again!! Check back for the video!

Today is Simeon's 19th birthday, so we went over to their house for a family dinner. Aunt Sheila made delicious chicken and dumplings (Mammaw's recipe) and they were fantastic! Ethan had his first taste of our family favorite, plus peas and mashed potatoes. So, now Mammaw can stop saying that Ethan gets his chicken and dumplings from me :)

Simeon's daughter, Rylee, is one of Ethan's favorite people. She was napping when we got there, and after she ate she was sitting on the floor in the family room. Ethan spotted her and made a beeline for her crawling completely across the family room floor and gave her a big kiss!! We were all cracking up. I so wish I could have caught it on video! They had a lot of fun playing together, and Ethan showed off his new walking skills with Rylee's push toy.

Mr. Sneaky

One week since the time change. I was so nervous before, because our routine was so working for us and my work schedule. Ethan goes down around 8:30ish at night and usually sleeps until 8 or so the next morning. Well, bedtime and wake times have managed to be okay, but he's been waking up in the early morning again, but now around 4 or 4:30, which stinks :( It's too early to stay up, but then by the time I doze back to sleep my alarm goes off. Alas, my baby boy needs me, and I would rather nurse him to comfort him back to sleep than for him to stay awake. Hopefully he will start sleeping all the way through the night again soon! I think I am more tired this week than him! I'm glad that the time change didn't throw him off too much though.

Ethan did sleep in this morning until around 9:30 or so. He's usually up much earlier so we didn't set the alarm. Since we got up so late, we got ready and tried to put Ethan down for his morning nap, which he has been protesting some days... according to what I've read, it's normal around this age to sometimes drop the morning nap, so we are seeing how things go. After we got ready, we went for a drive and Ethan conked out in the car. Then we went to IHOP for breakfast... Ryan was craving the coffee cake pancakes they've been advertising. Ethan was such a good boy and ate really well - he had some pancake, ham, apples, and hashbrowns. He is doing really great with table foods! We went walking around Voice of America for a bit and then came home and hung out together.

Ethan is getting sneaky now. He LOVES cruising around downstairs checking everything out. Well, he was playing in the family room by Ryan and I was over in the kitchen making a snack. His usual barricades were setup and he was happy and content. All of a sudden, I see him poking through the side of the couch in this little opening between the couch and the end table. Mr. Sneaky found his way through and crawled right over to me! LOL! Ryan and I were cracking up.

Fun day with Grandma

Grandma came over today to play with Ethan while Ryan went to school since Grandpa Jim was sick. Ethan was so excited when she came in, and he did not want anything to do with Daddy once she got there! They had lots of fun playing and he did good with his morning nap. After Daddy got home, Ethan did not want to take his afternoon nap, so they went for a drive and he fell asleep in the car. They went over to Grandma's for Ryan to get a haircut. I had a pretty good day at work, and came home to a tidy house and dinner finished and ready to eat! That was a very pleasant surprise :) We tried to eat dinner, but Ethan was being Mr. Crankypants and wanted to nurse and go to sleep, so we wrapped up dinner so he could get to bed. He dozed off after nursing, so we cuddled for a bit before laying him down to sleep. I really cherish the time at the end of the day with him!

Something a little funny... whenever I come home from work, Ethan freaks out when I go out of his sight. If I go to the bathroom, he has to go with me or he wails. He will sit on the floor next to me and loves to play with the door... he could seriously sit there and open and close the door, and chase after it, for a long time. We are always right there so he doesn't smash his fingers, but he absolutely loves playing with the doors. I was thinking maybe we should get him one of those Fisher Price Learning Kitchens since it has a refrigerator door, but our luck, he wouldn't like that door, and would just keep going for the real ones!

Started Christmas shopping!

We have been doing some window shopping to get ideas for Ethan for Christmas and his birthday. We happened to go to Kohl's today after I got back from my haircut, and they are having a really great sale! The toy department is on sale, plus an extra 15% off, plus they have a coupon out now. So, we got some really great deals on some things that we think he will really enjoy! Most of the toys we have seem more baby-ish, so we are trying to focus on some items that will be fun and educational for him to help him over the coming year! It is hard since Christmas and his birthday are so close, we are trying to think ahead of things that will be good for him for the whole year. We picked up some soft Tonka cars and a shape sorter. Ethan Felty had brought over some of his cars and our Ethan really seemed to enjoy them, so we think they will be a hit :)

We also ran a few other errands and picked up some other good sale items: some Mega blocks at Meijer, and we went to Berean and they had some very cool kids musical selections... or so we thought! They had several Sleepytime Worship Lullaby Renditions of some of our favorite artists... Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Third Day, Jars of Clay... so we decided to pickup the MWS for a stocking stuffer for Ethan. You couldn't listen to it in the store, so we found them online to listen to music clips and they all sound SO bad! They are instrumental, but have a funky xylophone sound. Very odd... Ryan said it sounds like a midi file. So, we are going to take it back and get another Praise Baby CD - there is a Sleepytime Lullabies version and a new Christmas version as well, so we will get one of those instead. Ethan listens to this Praise Baby CD that Uncle Brad, Aunt Lindsay, and Shawn got him every night at bedtime!

I have been wanting to go to PF Chang's for dinner so we decided to splurge tonight and go. It was so yummy! We got lettuce wraps, chicken fried rice, and mongolian beef. Ethan had his first Chinese food! He did really well with rice, the crispy noodles that come with the chicken, and some beef. We even got comments from the wait staff about how good he was! I was holding him after we were finished and he grabbed the lemon that had come with my water and got a taste! He made some really funny pucker faces, but he kept going back for more, lol!!

Enjoy the little moments!

The plan today was for Ethan to head to Mammaw and Papaw's while Ryan went to school, but somehow we managed to have the extra keys in Ryan's coat, which was in the car I was driving. Oops! No more leaving coats with keys in the car!! Ryan and Ethan hung out at home, and then Mammaw came to get Ethan and Ryan got some schoolwork done. I only worked 7-3 today, so we both went to pickup our little man after I got home. He was snuggled up asleep on Mammaw's lap when we got there. I picked him up and got to rock and hold him for quite a bit! It is so nice being able to cuddle with him like that! He is a lovebug, but often likes to be on the go when he's awake, so we have to enjoy these little moments with him!!

Can't nobody hold me down, oh no, I've got to keep on movin'...

Days at home are so nice :) It seems like we are always out running around doing something or another, and the happiest days for me seem to be when the three of us can just stay home and relax! Ethan and I got up and played for a bit, he ate homemade applesauce and oatmeal for breakfast, and then we made some cinnamon rolls for me and Daddy. Ethan went down for his morning nap super easy and I woke Ryan up after he slept in with the tempting thoughts of warm cinnamon rolls and his favorite Fresh Market blend brewing downstairs :) We just spent the day hanging out together and cleaning the house. Ethan, however, does not like to be contained. We were working on cleaning the dining room and kitchen and had some barricades setup around the family room to block him in. No matter what toys we gave him, he stood at the base of the barricade and howled for us to come get him. He always wants to be part of the action!! After we finished cleaning, Ryan played some Rock Band on his new 360. I even went upstairs and brought Ethan some toys to play with from his closet, which he doesn't see much. You would think having his own guitar and maracas to play music with dad would be super entertaining for him? Oh, no... he wants to be at mom's feet in the kitchen 'supervising' my cooking skills and trying to get into everything! I love my little boy. He is much more entertained by doors, the refrigerator, and the dishwasher rack. Why do we buy him toys?

Ethan had his first taste of one of those Zwieback toasts today. Who in the world names these kid snacks? Anyways, he really enjoyed it! I thought he would make a huge mess, but really it was just smeared on his face. He went to town and loved it!

No, I have not updated the blog. I am a slacker. Soon, very soon. :)

For now, a quick peek at Ethan's photoshoot at JCP. Deliveries coming soon! If you would like a certain size/shot, let us know!