Baby, where are you?

Has anyone seen baby Hudson?

He's not here reading a book with a friend.

 

 He's not here sitting quietly looking at picture books. 

He's not here chasing after a duck.

 He's not here carefully petting our frog.

 He's not here having a tickle fest with second cousin, Aiden.

 He's not here swinging.

 He's not here splashing water at his mother during bath time.

He's not here playing hide and seek. 

He's not here jamming on his drums.

He's not here climbing on those tiny playground steps.

And, he's definitely not here going down the slide ALL BY HIMSELF.

Where the heck is my baby?

The one I could hold in my arms for hours on end. 

The one I could rock to sleep.

The one that let me feed his bottle to. 

The one that rolled over and army crawled.
The one with a toothless grin.

Oh, right. That baby is gone and a big boy has taken his place.

Some days I want my baby back. 

And right now is one of those days.  

How do mothers do this?
He's only a year old and I already dread this growing up business. 

Birthday #25

It's crazy how fast birthdays come around. When I was younger, I couldn't wait for a birthday. But now, I think birthdays should come a little slower. I was just starting to enjoy 24, and now I'm a year older. A quarter of a century old, to be exact. I feel so blessed to have made it to this point in my life. The past 25 years have been good to me. I can only hope the next 25+ will be just as good.

One thing is for sure, birthdays tend to get more laid-back as the years go on. At least for me. My birthday this year consisted of grocery shopping, no cooking (thanks to lunch at Noodles & Co. with some "girl" friends and a birthday sandwich from Firehouse Subs for dinner), and then dessert at our place in the evening.

A few friends came over to help us consume all the birthday sweets. So glad they came because there was plenty to go around.

We didn't have enough candles, so we had two candles on one side and five candles on the other side.

I even forgot to make a wish! How does one simply forget to do that?

Logan made this Peanut Butter Silk Cake the night before.

I offered to make it myself over and over again (mainly because I was worried he wouldn't get it right). Luckily, it turned out perfectly and I enjoyed it. And so did everyone else. 

Birthday singing and candle blowing video

A few days later, Logan and I went out to dinner (sans the toddler - thanks to our friends, the Hills, for watching him) to celebrate my birthday.

We went to Sushi Nine and it was perfect. 

We grew to love sushi while living out in Utah - Happy Sumo anyone? 

We have had a hard time finding a sushi place here in Raleigh that is affordable and still good. 

Well, we are happy to say we found one! 

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so great. It was a very sweet, very simple birthday. 

Just what I needed.  

Hello September

We lived up the last week of August. Summer is quickly coming to an end, not weather-wise but in all the other elements - back to school, pools closing, etc. We've had a great summer. Lots of fun days. Awesome vacations too.

But. I am seriously SO excited for the fall. You see, last year around this time I was a brand new momma. I rarely got out of the house so I missed out on many fall related things - NC state fair, corn mazes, camping, pumpkin carving, planning Halloween costumes, and a bunch of other things. This year is going to be different. We are definitely NOT missing the state fair; people talk about that the whole year through down here. It is a big deal. I'm also planning more cohesive Halloween costumes for us this time around. And, we are going to find a giant pumpkin to carve. Maybe we will get around to finally going on a camping trip post-baby too.

Here is what our last week of August looked like:

As you can see, Hudson is still wishing he was at the beach (and his parents feel the same). 

But playing at Pullen Park sure brought a lot of smiles and sand in places we didn't want. 

 Trying on fall/winter clothes at J.Crew. 

As cute as H looked in that tan jacket, there was NO way we were going to dish out $150 for it.

Good thing Hudson can't talk yet, otherwise I'm sure he would have begged for it right?

Browsing the Disney store for costumes.
Too overpriced and not very good quality stuff. But wait, isn't that what Halloween costumes are?
H thought the Hulk's fist gloves were awesome though.

This kid loves popcorn, and I feel like a bad mom for giving him such an unhealthy snack.
But, whatever, popcorn is addicting. And we are suckers for it.

 Going on walks and feeding the ducks (who get way too close for comfort, especially when H eats the bread instead of sharing).

Bouncing around and going down slides at Monkey Joes.

 Really glad Logan had the day off so he could go with us.

 No make-up and no blow-drying hair days (haven't used a blow dryer in about a year, just air dry).
It's amazing how much more time I have when I don't fuss over how I look.
It's awesome. I'm learning to embrace it.

 Getting excited about college sports, especially BYU football.

 Cute kid. And look at those peppers! Growing!
We did such a good job with our mini-garden this summer.

At the N.C. Museum of Art on a Friday night.
Our favorite piece of art? The Hudson Exhibit: Sitting Still.
Rare treat.

 This is what H is doing around 5:30 every night. Watching Yo Gabba Gabba (trippy show, but he loves it) while I make dinner.

Fat cute kid eating his ice cream at Coldstone. We had a buy one get one free coupon (love those)!

It's hard to teach him to eat things one at a time when it comes to popcorn.
Heck, it's hard with anything. This kid loves food. Too bad he doesn't gain much weight though. Must have a high metabolism like his parents, right?! ;)

Note: I realize that the ice cream and popcorn video are on the same day. What kind of mother gives her child unhealthy, but delicious snacks? Guilty.

It was such a fun, quick week! But we are ready for September AND the fall season!!  

To the beach

We were lucky enough to go to the beach TWICE this summer (minus Logan who was only able to go once). It was such a treat to be able to go, but it was even more fun since we were able to go with my family, and then Logan's family.


Carolina Beach, NC (with the Sangbouasy Family):

Look at that crazy beach hair! What a happy kid! 

Playing in the sand at night is the best! You don't get all the sand stuck to you. 

We went to check out the famous Britt's glazed donuts. They were delicious. Much better than Krispy Kreme's glazed ones, in my opinion. 

Holden Beach, NC (with the Corbett Family):

He loved this bucket and hose more than the actual beach

 All the Corbett kids sat together for dinner.

We are just missing Carson - who gets back from his mission this NOVEMBER!!

Way too many leftovers after having dinner at Chili's.

 Heidi took this family photo of us with her nice camera. 

I think it turned out cute, but I'm a little biased. :) 

LOVE this picture of H with his Grandma Corbett.

We were half of the ward on Sunday. 

Corbetts, Goodfellows, and Blodgetts.

It's been a tradition for like 5+ summers for these families to go to Holden Beach together. 

So glad we got to be there. It was fun catching up with everyone. 

 Cantaloupe boobs/moobs (man + boobs = moobs).

Heidi and Austin are such good sports and funny too! 

 Chasing the birds

Thanks families for wonderful beach experiences! We had a blast and can't wait to do it again.